In this conversation, Gavin Wax, President of Young Republicans, discusses the potential risks of war and the globalist-live world order. He suggests that political reforms may be necessary, but there is still concern among politicians and people. The conversation also touches on the political climate, the need for support for the American Jewish community, and the potential for radical change. The conversation ends with a discussion of Trump’s political career and the potential for new Republicans to emerge.
Dr. Olga Ravassi: Welcome to the state of affairs in partnership with Serbian Radio Chicago. We are having conversations that matter, and I am so happy to be joined by Gavin Wax today because Gavin is not only a renowned columnist and a commentator, but he is the president of Young Republicans, and he just took an awesome trip we’re going to talk about. So, Gavin, welcome to Serbian Radio Chicago.
Gavin Wax: Olga, it’s great to be on. Thank you for having me.
Dr. Olga Ravassi: Absolutely. So, you just took a trip to Serbia. I understand for the first time ever. Tell me what that was about, and how did that even come to be?
Gavin Wax: Absolutely. Listen. It was my first trip, to Serbia, to Belgrade specifically. I had a very good time. I was attending, the Cross Continental Conservative Conference with, many like minded conservatives across Europe, and the United States, many Colleagues, friends of mine, including Jack Posobiec, other, representatives of college Republicans, young Republicans, you know, leaders from Italy, from Lega, from France’s Rassemblement National, from Austria, the Freedom Party, From, Germany, the alternative for Deutschland, and from Hungary, from Fidesz.
So it was a great gathering of, like minded individuals. We’re all fighting the same fight in our individual countries. And it was an interesting experience being in Serbia, obviously, given the history of the last 20, 30 years, particularly the relationship between the United States and Serbia. It was interesting to be there. It was interesting to build bridges, and I hope we continue to do it because it’s a lovely country, with a lot of rich history, and hopefully, our bonds and ties and bridges can be rebuilt, as they once were, a long time ago.
Dr. Olga Ravassi: That is actually a wonderful segue into what I want to ask you given that you are so familiar with that history between the United States and Serbia being traditional and historical friends and allies through both world wars. And then fast forward to the 1990s, you lead Young Republicans, but you’ve been around a long time. You understand what the conservative movement is about and how we view certain elements of our foreign policy. What do you make of what happened in the 1990s now in retrospect having now been to Serbia.
Gavin Wax: Listen. I think there were a lot of things clouded by the fog of war. I think the fall of communism was a Destructive period for much of Europe, much of the wider world. And I think what we saw in the west is they wanted to make an example out of Serbia. They wanted to make an example, out of Belgrade, and they wanted to push them into a corner, and I think a lot of mistakes were made.
I think in many cases, the United States has historically made Mistakes geopolitically, citing, in many cases with radical Islamists, whether they’re in Bosnia or Afghanistan or wherever else, and then those same Islamists, end up turning on the United States.
Serbia is a Christian country. Serbia is a country that we have been allied with, fighting both the Germans and Austrians in World War 1 and then the Nazis in World War 2. You know, the Serbs were victims of their own genocide by the Croatians during World War 2 as well that people don’t talk about. It was a very bloody period of time.
It was a very messy period of time. But the fall and the disintegration of Yugoslavia Basically shows that the West’s experiments with multi ethnic, multi religious societies are bound to fail. We should learn from the dissolution of Yugoslavia, and we should understand that nation states need to have borders. They need to have borders that correspond with the people that live there. And, you know, if people happen to be orthodox and they happen to be Serbian, that they should be governed by a Serbian orthodox, country, and they be put into, you know, a failed state like, say, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which doesn’t really exist beyond paper.
So, a lot of things were done wrong. There, conflict needlessly escalated. Certain lies were promoted to justify said conflicts and justify military intervention. Obviously, there were a lot of broader geopolitical things going on with the fall of the Soviet Union, wanting to flex, wanting to show, you know, the sort of Pax Americana, Pax NATO, you know, in the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. There were a lot of different elements going on, and Serbia was on the losing end of those developments.
But, Ultimately, I think in the end, I think people are going to realize that, you know, the status quo is not tenable, that borders need to be Adjusted from time to time to reflect the realities on the ground and, that NATO wasn’t always the force for good that many people try to pretend it was. In fact, it’s, in many ways, been manipulated and turned from what was supposed to be a defensive alliance to counter the communists, and now it has morphed into this sort of, you know, military bludgeon of globalist interest.
So, A lot of things that happened in the nineties in in in the former Yugoslavia and more particularly Serbia are beginning to rear their ugly head, Today, as we look to issues, you know, across the world, Ukraine, wherever else, and, we still have a lot of learning to do.
Dr. Olga Ravassi: Well so that is a great point in terms of all of these things haunting us even today. What lessons can we actually learn, and are we learning them as Americans in particular? Are we learning from that history? And there was always that funny saying of Americans learning by going to war, at least we learn geography. I don’t know if we learn much, but do you think we have given this current administration and the implosion of the entire globe essentially after president Trump left and ushered peace everywhere.
Here we are on the verge of World War 3 and nuclear war. So have we really learned anything?
Gavin Wax: I think I’m optimistic that people are beginning to, you know, catch on to what’s happening, that they’re beginning to understand that these types of foreign military adventures and interventions have only made the worst less safe, that our leaders have not exactly been particularly smart or sophisticated in terms of how they Established enemies and established allies and when they decide to get involved in conflicts and how.
I think the United States and the Republican Party are becoming much more skeptical. Of these things, you see the sentiment very broadly with, you know, support for funding for Ukraine now reaching all-time lows, you know, support for new wars and interventions overseas becoming all-time lows. And I think even the average American, not necessarily a Republican, sees that the world is far less safe, and is a far more dangerous place than it ever was.
And if you compare it just to the Trump administration, you know, where they were working to build more peace and permanent solutions, not just in the Middle East, but also in the Balkans. You see what they did in North Korea.
You see where they did even in the former USSR. There were no military incursions during Trump’s 4 years, in the former USSR. All these things looked in tandem, looked combined. You can understand that, you know, it’s peace through strength. That is the model we have to go to, that it’s weak leaders and it’s weak nations.
It’s weak regimes that have to resort to, you know, bombings and interventions and constant calls for war rather than trying to understand the dynamics on the ground, try to understand the street. The complicated history, the messy history, that’s world history. It’s true for Serbia. It’s true for the Middle East. It’s true for Asia.
Wherever you go, it’s very complicated. And I think the idea that America can just come in and, you know, bomb a few places and do a few things will be all kumbaya. I think the average American is beginning to reject that notion, and I think we’re looking for deeper understanding. I also think that there’s a global realignment going on.
You know, I see, you know, particularly American conservatives were forming stronger ties with, say, Hungary And other countries, we’re looking to countries that are upholding more traditional values, that are upholding more sensible values, you know, Christian values, however you want to describe it, Countries that are proud to be western, and I think Serbia is part of that.
I think Serbia obviously has had history and hasn’t been kind to the Serbs, But, you know, being in Serbia and being there, at least you see a sense of pride in Serbia. They’re proud of their country. They’re proud of their people. You don’t necessarily see that in the streets of Paris or London. You see a very different story there, and you see, countries that are very much devolving.
So, I think in many ways, maybe 20, 30 years ago, people looked to say Eastern Europe, Central Europe, Southern Europe is a little bit more backwards. I think today, we’re seeing, the opposite is true. I think we’re seeing some of the worst scenes come out of major western cities, whether it’s in Western European cities, whether it’s in Germany or in France or in the Netherlands or in Belgium or in the UK, they’re sort of in a decline.
And I think, in many ways, there’s a lot of hope, and potential, in, say, Eastern Europe or Southern Europe that doesn’t exist anymore in Western Europe, sadly, but that’s the result of their own leaders.
Dr. Olga Ravassi: But so, do you think and looking at our political landscape here, obviously, we’re bound by the 2 party or what we now call the unit party. Yes, there are some others, but, you know, let’s be realistic about what it is that they can do. Europe is maybe blessed and Europeans are blessed because they have the multiparty system. And AFD, for example, as, in Germany is really increasingly growing, and it’s the fastest growing party in Germany. So, do you think that the plurality in Europe can potentially save them because clearly what you’ve just outlined, what you told me who you met, in Belgrade, there is that good populist conservative, landscape that is broadening and that we are cooperating with.
Are they going because we look at Europeans currently and they seem like they’re shooting themselves in the foot? But do they have a way out given the growth of the conservative movement there?
Gavin Wax: No. It’s a good question, Olga. I think Europe definitely has some advantages over the United States Politically and electorally, there are disadvantages and advantages. Everything is sort of a give and take, but you brought up one of them. I mean, they have a much more competitive A party system.
Now sometimes that leads to a little bit of instability, politically, but at the same time, when you have these emergent ideological movements, whether it’s the sort of populist conservative nationalist movements in Europe that we described with some of these parties. They’re able to sort of galvanize support, much more quickly and much more, clearly and form coalitions, form political parties, and actually have influence. In in the United States, it’s a bit differ it’s a bit difficult.
It’s a bit different because we operate under the 2-party sort of system. And what we see, particularly in the Republican party, is a lot of these fights are internal, and there’s a lot of internal fights, you know, over the speakership, over these different r and c battles, and these different primaries.
And, you know, the movement that Trump started in the United States, he was very much president. Trump was very much ahead of his time. He created a movement, and there really wasn’t this big infrastructure behind him. And that’s why you saw in the first four years of his term, you know, he had a lot of people that backstabbed him. There were a lot of Saboteurs and leakers and people that really weren’t committed to MAGA and Trump. Why was that?
Because he was working in this 2-party system. He was working under the auspices of the Republican party, so it made it a little bit more difficult. But, you know, there are pros and cons to both. I’m very optimistic about Europe. I’m very for some of these countries.
You know, we’re seeing, you know, improvements being made. You know, Hungary, Italy, you mentioned Germany, but also Austria. All of these countries have very large and growing and ascendant, populist conservative parties on the rise, many of whom could be in government very soon. And I think it has a lot of People very worried in Western Europe and Brussels, etcetera. They’re very worried about the rise of these different ideological streams because they are effective, that they’re gaining support organically, and they’re able to call out the problems as they see it.
The problems have been this sort of neoliberal globalism, this neoconservatism in the US, these open border extremists, these, you know, postmodernists, these cultural Marxists, they’re doing everything they can to destroy what made Europe great, what made the United States great, you know, the basis of Western civilization, and people are rejecting it. They’re rejecting it wholesale. They don’t want, you know, forever wars. They don’t want, you know, inflation. They don’t want other countries to resemble the 3rd world.
They want strong borders. They want strong economies. They want strong leaders, they want people that are going to stand up for their values and their traditions. So, there’s a lot of positive trends, but it’s still an uphill battle. But, you know, between that and Trump, I mean, if you look at the United States right now, I mean, Trump has a lot of things to be optimistic about, but he also has a lot of things to be worried about.
It’s a very interesting time. Obviously, the polls. Every time I go online, I see another poll showing them up even more and more. We never saw this in 2020. We never saw this in 2016.
So, it’s optimistic. But then on the other hand, you have the court cases. You have the indictments. You have the civil cases. So, it’s a never-ending battle, but I think we’re in a position now where, obviously, we’re gaining ground.
We’re gaining traction because if we weren’t, they wouldn’t be throwing the entire kitchen sink at us, to try to stop it. They wouldn’t be so scared. They wouldn’t be resorting to such desperate tactics and desperate rhetoric in Europe or in the United States if they didn’t think that we were a threat to the powers that be.
Dr. Olga Ravassi: So you mentioned something about the world realigning. And, obviously, we are walking away from the unipolar world where a lot of conservatives will tell you even here in the United States, you know that. But around the world especially, they are really tired of the American hegemony or the globalist American empire. But the embodiment of that, which I personally am finding surprising these days, is what is happening in the Middle East. And people seem to think and and perceive that the position that Israelis are finding themselves in is almost an extension of that American hegemony.
And, again, surprisingly to me, it seems like Israel is used to losing the information war. And so tell me about what you think, this entire process will be. Because one thing that I see, Israel will never be the same after this. I think we can all agree on that. But where do you see this going and why now?
Gavin Wax: No. It’s an interesting point. One, I’ll state. Yeah. We are definitely in a multipolar world order now.
I think there’s no doubt about it. The age of Arkana is over. It was very short lived, and we didn’t really do much with it, to be honest. You know? In the early 19 nineties, everything was going right for the United states with a strong economy.
You know, the Soviet Union had just collapsed. Things could have really been, moving in the right direction. And in 20, 30 years, we squandered it all. We wasted all that blood and treasure on nonsense. You know, our elites, you know, sold our country short, and the country got weaker as a result.
And now, we’re in a multipolar world order, but honestly, I’m not. I’m glad we’re in a multipolar world order because multipolarity serves as a check on the globalist elite. Because of the globalist elite, you know, it’s a form of checks and balances because, now, you have one uni-party. You have 1 unipolar world order. You have this single little cohort of globalists. You know, they get to run amok and they get to advance their agenda, but multipolarity actually forces countries and nations to be, you know, actually being sensible and realistic and pragmatic and sick and pragmatic and making political decisions based on their own self-interest.
So multipolarity isn’t a bad thing. It’s only a bad thing for the elites. A good thing for the average American, because it forces the elites to be a little bit more rational. So, I’ll mention that, but it’s certainly a fact. I think there are many in Washington that don’t realize that we’re in a multipolar world order, and they’re trying to act as if we’re still living in the 1990s or 1980s even, and the country is the same.
We’re in a much weaker position. We’re far more militarily stretched thin. Our economy is far weaker. Our country is far more divided. It’s a sad state of affairs.
I wish it wasn’t this way, but that’s the reality, and we have to operate accordingly. And look. I think information warfare, to your 2nd point, is critical. I mean, listen. You look at the breakup of Yugoslavia and the conflicts that sprung out of that, a lot of things really fell back to information warfare and the Serbs Absolutely.
They lost the information warfare. They lost the narrative. And narrative control and narrative formation is critical in modern warfare. That’s how you make or break a conflict. You could be losing militarily on the ground.
You could be losing tanks. You could be losing artillery. You could be losing men. But if the propaganda is so strong that people think you’re winning, as we see in Ukraine, the money keeps flowing. So, information warfare is key.
It makes or breaks countries. It makes or breaks support both from the people and from the politicians running them. Serbia experienced that in the 1990s. There was a ton of information warfare against Serbia. And now I think Israel is also facing a similar crisis, but Israel has never been particularly good with information warfare.
They’ve always sort of Been a step behind their PR and their comms. They’ve always had, you know, sort of a step down compared to the Palestinians, but I think what’s different now is that they’re beginning to realize that the United States, these the United States is becoming much more leftist in many ways, and the and the former Democrat party that used to be generally pro-Israel is no longer pro-Israel, especially in their grassroots and their base, and all these college campuses. These indoctrination centers are pumping out people that hate Israel with a passion.
And, I think the Israelis are scratching their head, and I think, the Israeli, you know, support network and infrastructure was sort of based on the strategy that they could have one strategy to deal with liberals and one strategy to deal with conservatives, And I think it’s backfiring on them because now, there are segments in both that are sort of moving the opposite way. So, I think Israel is in a very bad position, a very precarious position in terms of information warfare.
As far as the conflict on the ground, I mean, that that remains to be seen, but, it’s certainly never going to be the same again, and I think, you know, you can only go so long, with this sort of disparity between, you know, your supporters and your you’re detractors, and I think, Israel is certainly at a massive disadvantage right now in the sort of the narrative battle. You know, whether it’s true, whether it’s not whether each of these incidents could be in pro Israel, pro Palestinians.
It remains to be seen, but, ultimately, they are losing the information war, even if they may be winning the war on the ground, and I think Hamas understands that. And I think, some others in Iran and Syria and Lebanon, wherever it may be, they also understand that Israel is slowly losing the battle for people’s hearts and minds. And I think The Israelis and the pro-Israel infrastructure needs to understand that their only allies are on the American right.
They are conservatives. And, you know, they can continue to play footsies with certain Democrats, you know, with APAC, whoever. But, ultimately, in 10, 20 years, the only people you’re going to find supporting Israel and the United States are conservatives in the American right, so they need to embrace that.
They need to understand that it’s time for a realignment, and they also need to realize that, in this multipolar world order, they can’t simply rely on the United States anymore. They need to build allies elsewhere, because the United States is not the power it once was, And the world is rapidly changing, so they need to build alliances.
They need to build more friendships and bridges. So, does the United States, because, you know, the world is changing. There are accesses being built. There are different bridges now. You know, Russia, India, the BRICS, all of them, they’re forming new coalitions.
And if we don’t keep up, then we’re going to be on the short end of the stick.
Dr. Olga Ravassi: So, I’d like to stay on this subject just in terms of the information warfare because some of the even influencing conservatives that we know that we follow are now seemingly on a different side of this issue or different sides rather. You look at Ben Shapiro, but then you look at Candace Owens. You look at what came out of Charlie Kirk.
And I think the prevalent narrative here is just as you said there should be some realignment within, the Jewish community itself even within the United states understanding who their true allies are because there seems to be this element of the other side of the Jewish community which predominantly still continues to vote democrat and still continues to uphold the policies that are now putting them in danger. Especially, even looking at higher education.
Well, those institutions, let’s look at ADL and some others, are actually ushering in this diversification action and all kinds of Marxist liberal agendas. And now are expecting the conservatives who are I have to say then there’s a white element to it. The anti-white narrative that comes out of some of these organizations should not now be expected to turn around and have everybody support them because they are very vocal against certain elements of conservative movement.
Gavin Wax: No. Absolutely. I mean, listen. I’m pro-Israel, but I think what we’ve seen out of a large number of left-wing of ostensibly Jewish nonprofits has been horrendous. I mean, the ADL should be disbanded.
I mean, they’re basically a left-wing rag. They’re a left-wing organization. They don’t really do anything to fight antisemitism. All they do is advance the left-wing cause. You could describe it as anti-white, and it’s ridiculous.
And I think there is this weird disparity. There’s this weird conflict and realignment, and we keep using that word, but there’s this weird realignment right now where you have these legacy institutions that are still peddling this narrative about antisemitism. They’re still peddling this narrative about where antisemitism comes from. Meanwhile, you know, I’m here in New York City. You’re seeing all the protests on the streets.
They’re not evangelical Christians from Arkansas like Saad was claiming. It’s immigrants. It’s migrants. It’s Palestinians. It’s Arabs.
It’s not white people from Arkansas. And I think to be, you know, if we’re going to be serious, if we’re going to be honest with ourselves, we have to admit that. And, you know, there’s nothing wrong with the truth. That’s just the sad state of affairs. And if you want to tackle You need to be serious about where it’s coming from, and you can’t deflect to these sorts of stereotypical old tropes about the anti-Semite being this blonde haired, Blue eyed, you know, southerner from Tennessee or something.
It’s ridiculous. So, I think what we’re seeing is, you know, the American Jewish community needs to get serious. They need to understand that the Democrat party, doesn’t support them, doesn’t support Israel. And if you want to support Israel and you actually, want, you know, to support policies that don’t import millions of people that hate you, then either vote for Republicans or or just step aside. Because if you’re not voting for Republicans, then you’re just creating the problem.
You’re just, you know, making the problem even worse. And I also think, you know, I think it’s fair to say, you know, there has also been a lot of hysteria. I think that a lot of people there’s a lot of conservative commentators. You mentioned Charlie Kirk, for example, Tucker Carlson, whoever it may be. These are all people that have been pro-Israel.
They’ve been consistently pro-Israel, but they’re being attacked now. They’re being attacked because they’re not pro-Israel enough to support Israel the day the attack happened, before we even knew all the details that were coming out. I’ve been consistently supportive of Israel on all my social media, But I was attacked by certain people because I didn’t explicitly support, you know, a certain foreign aid package or something like that to Israel.
And I’m sitting here and I’m saying, you know, this is quite ridiculous. You know, we’re already supportive, but these types of attacks are like you have to be you know, you have to, you have to say exactly what we want you to say when you want To say it, otherwise, we’re going to disown you.
I find it counterproductive and ridiculous, and I think that kind of mentality and that kind of rhetoric is only going to backfire on those who were trying to support Israel and help Israel. So, the whole thing is very messy right now. I think, also, I think it’s fair to say That even myself being pro-Israel, I do find it a little bit cringey when I see politicians and when I see elected officials Talk about Israel in completely different terms than they talk about their own country.
You know, there’s one thing to be supportive of Israel, and I am supportive of Israel as I’m a supporter of the broad western world, which I think Israel is a part of. But you could be supportive, but you should also be equally, if not A greater supporter of your own country.
And I think the way we see people talk about Israel, it’s just Well,…
Dr. Olga Ravassi: Or even Ukraine. Speaking to Ukraine first or America first.
Gavin Wax: It’s Ukraine. It’s Israel. It’s all these countries that are not the United States. They talk about them in such glowing language with such passion, with such, you know, nationalistic, jingoistic fervor. They never have this type of emotion.
They never have this type of passion for the United States. They don’t care what’s happening in Chicago. They don’t care what’s happening in the Rust Belt or the South or the Midwest or wherever. They don’t care about what’s happening, you know, the destruction of this country. They don’t care about what’s happening on our borders.
They don’t care what’s happening on our city streets to our own people. You know, people are dying from Fentanyl. People are losing their jobs. People are committing suicide. People are having mental health issues.
People can’t support their families. You know, the country is kind of falling apart in many ways, but we never see that same passion from them when it comes to domestic issues. And I think it’s fair to bring this up and say, hey. Listen. You know, we’re supportive of Israel too.
We just want you to be as supportive of Israel as you are your own country. I don’t think that makes you a bad person for saying that. I don’t think that makes you a radical. I think that’s where most Americans are. But I think, Sadly, our elected officials and many of our commentators, people like Ben Shapiro, are completely disconnected from that.
Dr. Olga Ravassi: 100% agree. Speaking of Fentanyl, talk to me about this Biden c, meeting in San Francisco. What do you make of it?
Gavin Wax: Listen. I wish Xi would visit more American cities. I mean, it just goes to show that all these problems we’re facing in the country could be fixed very, very quickly and very easily overnight with the right leadership and the right will. So when people tell you, oh, we’ll never fix this, Oh, we’ll never have our factories back. Oh, we’ll never be able to deport the illegals.
Oh, we’ll never be able to get the drugs off the street. Oh, we’re never going to be able to stop crime. They’re saying that because they’re weak and they don’t want to solve the problem. But if you look at what happened in San Francisco, they took a city that’s filled with homeless, that’s filled with syringes, that’s filled with Trash and human feces, whatever you want to say. They took a city that’s literally on the brink of just, like, complete collapse.
And in a few weeks, it looked like a whole to a totally different place. You know, you saw the before and after pictures, and why did they do it? Because they wanted to show off, to the communist Chinese premier who is visiting, I think it just really goes to show where the priorities are of our ruling class, of our leaders. They don’t care about America. They don’t care about Americans, but they have the ability when they want to fix problems.
They just choose not to. And I think it says a lot because our problems are self-inflicted, and the problems are allowed to continue, because they simply don’t care to solve them. And I think that says a lot about the state of the country, and where we’re heading, but it also gives me hope. It shows that we have the ability to fix these problems. It’s just a matter of changing leadership and cleaning up, cleaning house.
Dr. Olga Ravassi: So then let’s pivot. Can we change our leadership? 2024 coming around. We just had a few local elections in different states. You’re obviously sitting in New York.
I’m in Florida. We have a radio station in Chicago. Several different things going on across the country in terms of do we still believe in our democratic process given what’s happened in 2016 and then the tragedy, I would say, of 2020 that we really have not fixed. And we’re moving yet into another election. What are you hearing on the ground?
Yes. We understand that our leadership is completely detached from the people. Seemingly, our leaders are now becoming selected for us rather than elected. We have this entire narrative of non-elected officials, which poster child, for example, would be doctor Fauci, who actually has so much power to lock us up, to do all kinds of things, inflict wounds on the entire country without ever being on the ballot, and as ever voting for them. So that’s what I perceive and what many Americans perceive as the parallel deep state or permanent bureaucracy.
How do we get rid of them, number 1? And then how do we and can we fix the democratic process where the voters are actually going to trust the process again as we go now into 2024.
Gavin Wax: Well, look. It’s not going to be an easy battle. None of this is going to be easy. It’s certainly going to be a big Fight a big battle ahead, but we have to understand that the stakes are high, and this is what comes with a high stakes fight. And, you know, I think the first step, if you want to defeat your enemies, is to convince them that the battle’s already over.
So, you have to instill nihilism. You have to tell them that it’s all rigged, that, you know, we can’t win Because that makes the cheating easier, and that makes everything they do easier because you just create this sort of demoralization, and everyone just kind of throws their hands up and gives up. Again, I point back to what I said earlier. If they didn’t think that we were a threat, they wouldn’t be resorting to a lot of the things that they had to resort to in terms of their corruption, in terms of their machinations, in terms of all the different things that they’re doing against Trump and others. But listen, I think it’s also a multi front war.
I mean, the political side of it is just one battle, but we got to win, we got to win over hearts and minds, the culture wars, spiritual wars, all these different things. They’re all part of it. On the electoral front, though, listen. I think there’s a lot of optimism. I think what we have to separate, though, is that there’s support for Trump And then there’s support for Republicans.
And I think Republicans and the Republican party, they just don’t have the level of support that Trump does. And without Trump, they’re very weak, and they lose. And I don’t. I see it as pretty, you know, simple. I mean, people don’t trust Many Republican party officials, they don’t trust many Republican candidates or Republican elected. They do trust Trump.
They do like Trump. They’re loyal to Trump. And when you take Trump out of the equation, you know, these Republicans lose. So, either the Republican party fully embraces Trump, fully embraces MAGA, his populist America First Movement, or we’re going to continue to lose. But if we do that, and I think we’re moving in that direction, and I think Trump on the ticket come 2024 is going to be very strong for us, and I and I’m very optimistic that he has his best chance of winning, of all his races.
If we’re able to get him back into the White House, I think This time, he’s going to come in with a sort of new energy, a new fervor because it’s going to be sort of on the warpath. It’s going to be a war path. It’s going to be a revenge path. It’s not going to be business as usual. When he came in in 2016, he was willing to be conciliatory.
He was willing to work with the establishment of both parties. He was willing to work with people because he wanted to make deals. He wanted to be even sort of this bridge builder. But I think now he realizes that those times are over, and now it’s a different country. It’s a different year.
It’s a different state of affairs, and he wants to go in there and he wants to bring about radical change because that’s what’s necessary right now, to take back the country. But listen. I think another year of another term of Trump will do a lot of good. I think we’ll be able to get a ton done just from appointments, just from the legislation, just from the executive orders, a lot can be turned around very quickly with the right leadership, and I think he’s building out a great list of people, a great team of people Who could potentially fill all these important positions in his next administration. So I have a lot of reasons to be hopeful.
I’m hopeful at the presidential level. I’m hopeful down ballot with him at the top of the ticket. So I think, you know, does that mean we have to rest on our laurels? No. I think they’re still going to be engaged in a lot of cheating.
Think they’re still going to do a lot of nefarious things, but I think his support has only grown and has only solidified that the margin of fraud can be overcome. And I think really when it comes down to it, you look at what happened in 2020. At the end of the day, 2020 was 40,000 votes in 3 states. You know, he can now do that 4, 5, 6, 7 times that. People have seen the Biden administration.
They’ve seen what it’s brought. They remember the Trump years. They remember what Trump did. We talked about, you know, the global, you know, peace and tranquility that existed under Trump. We talked about Economic successes under Trump.
People can compare, you know, how their lives were and how the world was, you know, 3, 4 years ago till today, they understand that the world was a much better place when Trump was running things in the White House than when Biden was, you know, being, you know, puppeted around and controlled from the White House. So, I think, you know, we’re in a good place. We still have to be vigilant, and we have to focus on, you know, these victories where we can get them, instituting change. I think I still think there’s a lot of things stacked against us, like you mentioned from, you know, the election integrity front, etcetera. But at the same time, the biggest victory was that we now know about these things.
We’re now aware of these things. It’s more common knowledge. Was it common knowledge necessarily in the months leading up to 2020? Maybe among some people, but it wasn’t as widely spoken about. You know, it’s going to be much harder to pull off the things that they did, in 2024 With the general knowledge and information we now have, and 2, the fact that there isn’t a global pandemic to cover their tracks.
Now I don’t know what they have up their sleeves. Yes. I don’t know what they have up their sleeves, but as of now, I’m optimistic, but, you know, it’s a day by day thing. Let’s see how things unfold over the next few months.
Dr. Olga Ravassi: And that’s a great point because I think the greatest legacy of president Trump is the fact that he actually was able to uncover for the general population, the levels of corruption that many never actually realized.
Gavin Wax: Right.
Dr. Olga Ravassi: He shook it to the core. And I think no matter what happens in the future, of course, we’re going to rally our troops again around president Trump. But this is the greatest thing that he’s done not only for the United States, but I think for the world. Everybody realized what is actually chaining us down and where we are. Prediction.
We look at president Biden and wonder, is the dementia patient really in charge? And who is in charge, and, who are we going to have against president Trump, hypothetically, in 2024. What do you think?
Gavin Wax: I mean, I think the sad thing is that Biden is the best person that the Democrats have. They have a very weak bench. Kamala Harris would be far worse. You know, many of these other goofballs will be far worse. I think Biden, many people, many older Americans, they remember Biden from, you know, 30, 40 years ago.
They remember him as this moderate Democrat. They don’t have those same fond memories of, say, Kamala Harris. So, in many ways, Biden is probably the best candidate they have, but it’s kind of a catch 22 because he also has a lot of volume.
It does. It does. Now listen. I’m scared of people like Gavin Newsom. I do think he is, he is going to be a big threat.
I don’t think he’s going to be a threat in 2024 because I think he’s too smart to run now. But I think in 2028, he’s going to be very he’s going to be a big threat. Why? You know, he has the looks. He has this all-American family.
You know, he comes originally from the Democrat party in California when he first ran from San Francisco City Council. He ran with Republican support, so he can point back To his old history, I’d say, hey. I was a moderate dem. I had Republican support. I was fiscally conservative, and he knows how to talk.
He knows how to be slick. He knows how to lie. And I think he can run circles around anyone who isn’t named Trump because DeSantis is a goofball. He’s going to run circles around DeSantis and that debate they’re having Later this month, he’s going to run circles around all these other losers. So I am scared about 2028 because I do think that’s when the Democrats, if they deploy Gavin Newsom, they’ll have more strengths.
But as far as 2024 is concerned, I think they’re kind of stuck because they’re stuck with Biden. I think as of today or in a few weeks, there’s really not going to be any mechanism to really replace him, in the primary. So, they’re pretty much stuck with him unless he’s replaced by Kamala. And, again, she would be far worse. So, I think what they’re going to try to do is they’re just going to pump him full of drugs, And hopefully, he lasts until November, but I think it says a lot.
I think it says how bad they are as a party. You have to understand that we have a lot of problems going against us. There’s a lot of issues that remain unsolved, but the Democrats also have a lot of issues. They’re not exactly in a perfect position.
You know, they have a weak bench too. So, we got to play the cards we’re dealt, and we got to make sure we have the best hand, going into 2024. I think right now, we’re in a good spot, but Things change day by day. I think if there are many of these court cases, it looks like many of them are going to go beyond, 2024, beyond the 2024 election. If they can be pushed off until he gets back into office, I think he’s going to be in really good shape.
I think his poll numbers are only going to keep going up, and I think he’s going to remain strong, into November of next year. And, you know, again, I’m optimistic, but let’s see what curve balls come out.
Dr. Olga Ravassi: Michelle Obama. I’ve heard that many times. Roger Stone came out, even on my show and said, I’m confident that’s going to be it. That’s the thing.
Gavin Wax: She definitely has strengths, but I don’t think the Obama name is as strong as it was a few years ago. I think it’s been a brand that’s deteriorated. I think she’s going to bring out the black vote. I think she’ll bring out, More leftwing voters.
I think she’ll energize the Democrat base, in a way that, say, a Newsom or a, or a Biden or a Kamala won’t. But at the same time, the energy that she brings out on the left, is going to be counteracted by the energy that’s going to be brought out on the right, the visceral energy against another Obama. And I also think Americans are really sick of political dynasties. I mean, we’ve seen several political dynasties, and I think Trump killed 2 political dynasties. He killed the Clintons, and he killed the Bush dynasty. So I think a new political dynasty, the Obama dynasty, it’s going to be viewed in a similar fashion.
It’s going to be sort of rejected in many ways. And I think in this day and age, I think people are sick of those dynasties, and they want, you know, sort of an and Trump is still an outsider, in many ways. He’s still a threat to the establishment. He’s still a bull in a China shop. So While Michelle would probably have many strengths, I think her strengths will be concentrated in areas that Democrats already do very well.
She’s going to get out the left-wing vote in California and New York and other blue states. But is she really going to do well in the Rust Belt? Is she really going to do well in some of these purple states? I don’t know. I don’t know if she will.
But I think right now, she’s sort of a paper tiger. She hasn’t been tested politically. She hasn’t been thrown into the political arena. Her entire husband’s record will be subject To, you know, condemnation, attack, and ridicule, and examination. And there’s a lot of material to work with there, as Trump said Famously on a debate stage.
So, there’s a lot there. That’s why I’m confident. I I don’t think they have any. There’s no perfect candidate on their side. Anyone they bring to the table, they’ll have some advantages, but it’ll be outweighed by the disadvantages. That’s why I think they’re sticking with Biden because if they had a better person, they would have already replaced him.
He already would have been gone if they had anyone better. But they’re looking at the polls. They’re looking at the data. You know, they’re looking at the same numbers we’re looking at, and they’re trying to figure out, well, what’s the better option? And I think Newsom is trying to prepare for 2028.
I think what he’s doing now is for the future when Trump is gone. I think Michelle is kind of lying in wait, but look, they just had a scandal.
Their chef just mysteriously drowned in a few feet of water late at night going paddle boarding. I mean, they have a lot of issues. They are not exactly in a position of strength, necessarily. So it remains to be seen what happens, but I think overall, there’s a lot of reasons to be hopeful.
Dr. Olga Ravassi: Speaking of dynasties, Kennedy. Who is he taking voters from? Our side or their side?
Gavin Wax: So, when it first came out, I was a little bit on the fence either way because I understood the arguments on both sides. There were good arguments on both sides, but I recently penned an article that basically said that I think this is only going to hurt Biden. I think there’s a historical analysis here. The 3rd party candidates always hurt the incumbent, so they’re always going to hurt Biden. I think also you have to remember that a lot of the things about Kennedy are very much dependent on what states he actually gets on the ballot in. And I think he may run up numbers in states that don’t matter.
Maybe he’ll create an issue in In in a in a New England state, for example, but that’s not a state that’s really in the running for us. I think his support is going to be very geographically misplaced, And I think any support that he would have been pulling from a Republican can be easily destroyed with enough attack ads and with enough rhetoric against him. So, if we’ve seen the polls recently, the polls have actually validated that argument because a lot of these polls that have been coming out have actually shown for the most part that when RFK is in the race, Trump actually does better. Okay. There have been a few that have been okay, but there’s really been no consistent trend.
But again, these polls are assuming that Kennedy is going to have the resources and the ability to get on the ballot in all 50 states, which I don’t think he’s necessarily going to have the ability to do. And then you also have to add into the fact that if RFK is getting on the ballot in many of these states, well, then so is Cornel West, and he’s also going to be pulling votes away from Biden.
So, I think the more people on the ballot, it’s actually probably going to hurt Biden more than anything, but it’s really going to be a case by case basis. It’s really going to be a state by state issue. And, ultimately, if RFK Junior gets on the ballot in enough states to matter, at that point, Trump just has to flip the switch and go after him, and there’s a lot of stuff to attack him on.
He has very left-wing positions on guns, on affirmative action, on abortion, on a whole litany of issues. You know, do I respect his views on the vaccine controversy? Yeah. Absolutely. He has a few good things.
I think he has more sensible foreign policy positions as well. He’s basically a democrat from 2013
Dr. Olga Ravassi: Although, even that’s been criticized lately because he sounded very antiwar. I knew congressman Dennis Kucinich was great
Gavin Wax: Yep.
Dr. Olga Ravassi: But he resigned. So, all of a sudden, Kennedy was heard 180 talking foreign policy, and it wasn’t was not received very well.
Gavin Wax: He’s he has he’s been walking club footed on a tightrope, and he doesn’t really understand which camp he wants to fall in, which position he wants to take. If he does this, he’s going to piss off these people. If he does that, he’s going to piss off those people. He’s going to piss off these donors.
So, that’s the problem with RF Kennedy. You know, he was people who started to like him in the beginning because of one issue, the vaccines. But outside of that, people don’t really like him. He doesn’t really have a support base. So, he’s going to alienate, you know, he’s going to probably take some disaffected Democrats.
He’s going to take people that would have voted for him on a single issue. But in the areas, it’s going to count, I don’t think he’s going to actually make a big difference, especially as we get closer to the election, especially as the stakes begin to become more, you know, in our face, and we understand that the polling is actually reflective of the ground and things are actually a lot closer than people will think. I think people are going to come home The Republican party, understanding what’s in front of us, and they’re going to, you know, abandon any flirtation they had with RFK or someone else.
Dr. Olga Ravassi: I actually, by default, and just a side note, was involved in the transition that took place within his campaign. And I’ll tell you about that off screen and why his opinions changed dramatically overnight. Just happened to know, because I was on the phone. But, anyways, one last thing. Yes.
You talked about 2028. Within our conservative realm, we’re kind of divided for now. We’re all hoping that we’re going to gather around president Trump. All these court cases will be pushed. Governor DeSantis.
Here I am sitting in Florida. We have been doing well. He’s been a good governor. But what would you do if he had not done the political moves that he made, I think he would have been shoe-less in 2028. But now probably that is over.
What are we looking at given our field of candidates who are competing right now? What is our future if you say, let’s juxtapose that to somebody like Gavin Newsom?
Gavin Wax: Yeah. Listen. I think DeSantis is certainly out of the running for 28. I think he has destroyed his political capital in A crazy fashion. You’ve never seen anything like it in modern American politics.
But, I’m somewhat hopeful. I mean, we definitely need to be doing some bench building once Trump gets in, if Trump gets in. But listen. I think we have some rising stars in the senate. I think we’re going to have a lot of elections Between now and 2028, there’s going to be a lot of rising talent getting elected to governorships, getting elected to senate positions, getting elected to the house.
I think we have a new breed of Republicans that are starting to emerge. And I think with Trump in this scenario finishing a successful, 2nd term. I think there’s going to be a lot of people who are willing and ready to take up the mantle and take up his torch.
Think what we’ve seen in 2024 is that this little joke of a primary, it’s all these candidates that are trying to run from Trump. They’re trying to pretend that they’re not Trump, they’re anti Trump, that they’re trying to get this 10% of the vote that is never going to vote for Trump.
But in 2028, it’s going to be different. 2028, you’re going to have a bunch of people who are competing For the Trump torch. They’re gone be competing to get the approval of Trump and be his successor. And I think that’s going to open up a lot of great doors and a lot of great Possibilities, and I think as a result, we’ll actually see much better candidates. We may not even know their names right now.
Maybe they haven’t been yet. Or maybe they’re going to run for a different office than the one they’re holding. But I think there’s a good talent pool. I think we’ve seen a lot of leadership Coming out of some of the more conservative members of the house, I think we’re seeing some new great members in the senate. So, I think there’s a reason to be up.
There’s a lot of reason to be optimistic. I think, overall, our bench is a lot stronger than the Democrat bench. I do think in 28, Gavin Newsom will be the strongest, but we need to have someone who’s as articulate as Newsom, who’s as slick as Newsom, who’s as, you know, ferocious as him, and that person isn’t going to be Ron DeSantis. I think we’ve seen a lot of these candidates. They’re kind of paper tigers.
They appear good on paper. They appear like they’d be a strong candidate, but you throw them in front of a camera, you throw them on a debate stage, you throw them side to side with someone, and they end up being a lot weaker than we once thought. And that’s what makes Trump so unique. The guy’s a brawler. He can go into adversarial interviews.
He can handle himself in these situations. He has a sort of, you know, he’s sort of dynamic and flexible in a way that a lot of these other politicians aren’t because they’re so controlled by their donors, they’re so controlled by their consultants, And they’re just not real people. They’re very robotic. And I think in the age of social media, you need to be flexible, you need to be dynamic, you need to be authentic, and you need to have a real personality. And if you could, you could have the best policies in the world.
You could be the best governor. You could check all the right boxes. But if people don’t relate to you, If people think you’re weird, if you can’t carry on a conversation, if you can’t carry on a debate or a discussion, without appearing weird and robotic and alien, well, you’re going to lose an election. I’m sorry. But that’s how elections are won and lost.
People are going to vote partly because of how they feel about you, how they relate to you, if they like you. And, if you’re in politics and you don’t understand that, then you need to get a new job. It’s not just only policy. Policy is great, if you want to enact that policy, you have to be able to win elections. And if you want to win elections, you need to understand that people also view things like psychology.
They view things like your gate. They view things like your charisma and how you carry yourself as importantly as policy, if not more so. I’m not saying it’s great, but I’m just saying that’s how the world works.
Dr. Olga Ravassi: It’s reality.
Gavin Wax: Yeah.
Dr. Olga Ravassi: Well, very positive messaging. I have to say after this conversation, I’m coming out of it very optimistic as well. Thank you for being with us today.
Gavin Wax: Thank you for having me, Olga.
