Is the new Donald Trump tape a big deal? Andrew Klavan argues that Trump’s bad character is actually protecting personal freedom — at least for now — on Wednesday’s episode of The Andrew Klavan Show.
“I know the Left does not want to be free, they do not want me to be free,” Klavan said. “They want to be able to tell me what to think, when I can say certain things, what kinds of things I can say, and that’s what I want to stop, that’s what I’m here to oppose. It’s not everybody on the Left obviously, it is the people that we see at the top who really want the government to be in charge.”
Shortly thereafter in the segment, Klavan brought up the recently-released tape from Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer. The tape shows the two discussing payment to a Playboy model. Klavan said Trump was “bulletproof” when it comes to the type of character assassination the Left had deployed against other Republicans, such as President George W. Bush and Gov. Mitt Romney.
“But they don’t care about Bill Clinton, they don’t care about Teddy Kennedy, they don’t care about anybody on the Left,” Klavan said of the Left. “So when they try to assassinate Trump’s character, they can’t, he’s bulletproof! Because we already know what a bad guy he is. His badness, his personal badness protects my freedom, it is a weird, weird thing.”
Video and transcript below:
Since we know, as I pointed out earlier this week, since we know from the experience of Teddy Kennedy – not to mention Bill Clinton – but Teddy Kennedy especially, we know the left doesn’t care about character. So we ask ourselves “what do they want?” and “what do I want?” Now here’s the thing, I’ve said this a lot but it’s important, I want freedom. When I say that, I feel I don’t explain that enough. That doesn’t mean I can do anything I want. I can’t run around punching people in the head or live any lifestyle. Freedom is part of a network, a community, a political entity, that allows me to think and speak and do what I want as long as I don’t physically harm somebody else. As long as I’m not immediately harming someone else, I can say anything I want, as long as I don’t threaten death to someone, and I can think anything I want, and I can do almost anything I want, but I have to consider “am I harming the structure that preserves my freedom?…”
I know the left does not want to be free, they do not want me to be free. They want to be able to tell me what to think, when I can say certain things, what kinds of things I can say, and that’s what I want to stop, that’s what I’m here to oppose. It’s not everybody on the left obviously, it is the people that we see at the top who really want the government to be in charge. They say it! When you cut back regulations they protest, when you say “we’re gonna obey the Constitution” they protest. We know that this is what they want, so that is the argument we’re having, we’re not having an argument about Donald Trump, I do not care.
So yesterday Michael Cohen released a secret tape – a lawyer taped his clients conversations, and the thing is, the tape is a little bit unclear. But it’s essentially saying that Trump slept with this Playboy model Karen McDougal, and she was gonna sell her story to the tabloids, and he wanted to buy the rights to the story so that this story wouldn’t come out…
Just remember how I started, talking about “what do I want?” That’s what I’m looking at. I’m thinking, “what do I want? I want my freedom.” So you’re telling me that this tape reveals that Donald Trump banged a Playboy model and then wanted to pay to keep her story secret before the election. I mean, call me a feather and blow me away, right? You are telling me that Donald Trump has a bad character? You’re trying to character assassinate Donald Trump? You can’t assassinate his character, his character sucks! He has a terrible character. I mean, the stuff he said about Ted Cruz during the election, the fact that he fired a guy like Rex Tillerson using a tweet, he used to brag about sleeping with other men’s wives! By the way, I don’t say this in a judgmental tone. You know, I spent the first 20-plus years of my life practically insane. I’ve done terrible things, I’ve done things that wake me up at night sweating. I don’t pass judgment on anybody about this stuff. But you know, I tried to become a better man, I think I have become a better man, I think I put that old guy away. I think I put him down, basically, I think I killed him.
But Donald Trump has been the same guy all his life! All his life we knew who he was, and the wonderful weird thing about Donald Trump is: his crappy character protects my freedom. Why? His crappy character protects my freedom because every time somebody gets up and does something on behalf of freedom, the left [character] assassinates them. They don’t care about Bill Clinton, they don’t care about Teddy Kennedy. But George W. Bush – Dan Rather sacrificed his career to get a thirty five-year-old plus story about him going AWOL in the national guard, like who cares? He sacrificed his career, anything he could do to assassinate that man’s character. Mitt Romney, they assassinate his character. But they don’t care about Bill Clinton, they don’t care about Teddy Kennedy, they don’t care about anybody on the left. So when they try to assassinate Trump’s character, they can’t, he’s bulletproof! Because we already know what a bad guy he is. His badness, his personal badness protects my freedom, it is a weird, weird thing.