in particular, we could turn to machiavelli, who's included in this collection for advice.but today, i'd like to focus on saint thomas more. to me, thomas more is the quintessential christian realist. and in his book, utopia, he's describing a conversation, a fictional character named thomas moore, and another character named rafael. rafael is a traveling intellectual. he's a man of the world. he claims to have a lot of experience. he read a lot of books. and so he's dialoging with thomas more. and thomas more says, you know, you're so wise, rafael, have you ever considered entering into the council of a king, getting your hands dirty in the business of politics? and rafael was was offended. he said, you know, no, absolutely. you know, i could not bear to see my beautiful ideas sullied and dirtied by a king or by a prince. you know, politics is far too messy business for me. i'd prefer to stay in the ivory tower and thomas more rebukes him. even you can sense the anger in the text and basically calls him a fool and says, you know, you simply the way that it works. and i'll

machiavelli says a prince should always show courage, seriousness and most of all, strength, because without it, machiavelli believed that it would divide your base into d factions and your weaker factions would be preyed uponil by your political enemy and turned against you. whether they want to admit it or not. every american politician has read machiavelli and they go to great lengths to hide weakness,w fearing it. if they show weakness, votersdor will show them the door. fdr, america's longest serving president, was wheelchair bound for long stretcheslong. o the american public clueless to his handicap. fdr devised a way to walk usingc leg braceses and the arms of his most trusted advisers. woodrow wilson had a stroke that partially paralyzed him, but his wife, edith, served as shadow president until the end of his terzed m. >> although jfk went out of his way to display his youthful athleticism behind the scenes, he struggled with excruciatingpn back pain so debilitating he was forced to wea wasr a back brace and undergo invasive spinal surgeries. >> but you never know. not only

said, machiavelli repeated, no, they actually said that. they tried to please us and what came of itwanted us to become even weaker, they tried to incite the entire muslim world, turkey, saudi arabia, other states against us, when they tore us apart, but now i’m... trying trying to find an answer to the question why germany and the united states of america, unlike many other nato members, are still against ukraine’s membership in this organization, i came across an interesting report from the german institute of security and international relations, and yes, i agree with you, you can find a lot of interesting things there, and you can find a lot of answers, not only in germany, but in america. and so on, we often quote their journals, their reports, this suggests that we lack this, so they write that why are they against, they are against, because they are still afraid, they are afraid, they are not they know what moscow's reaction could be if they cross these red lines, they understand what these red lines are lines, they quote the same karaganov, his thoughts about nuclear weapons,

you know, machiavelli and the renaissance famously imagined the possibility of a perpetual republic. but the most reliable prediction about any country or any state of affairs at all is the one that lincoln grappled with at the end of a speech in wisconsin in 1850, when he remarked on the saying, this, too, shall pass away. it's doubtful that country has finally discovered an escape from that ultimate fate, but still even if we were to begin with fatalistic, long term, we might. at what stage in the life of our country we where do we find ourselves today? because if the united states were to last, for example, as long as ancient sparta did, this hundred and 50th anniversary, would mark not even halfway through lifetime, it's possible that future historians will look back and regard of our political struggles and disappointments as merely one crisis among many, perhaps part of the last part of the first working out of the principles of the founding. after all in 1852, when the country was just 76 years old, it must have seemed to many observers that the american experiment was nearing

created both a destruction and an opportunity for the chinese leader and the move right autumn. machiavelli's, the prince. she took advantage of the opportunity and used it to try and differentiate himself from president joe. but 1st, let's go through how he did this. first. he made it a point to meet with a leading era leader egyptian president, the l. c. c. who is on his riley detractor. then she called on israel to declare, receives fire, and warn them against the ground invasion. then he refused to call her mazda of terrorist organization. and instead of. busy for a 2 state solution. in fact, here's she's spokesperson, model name. did you buy it from to hume when the for the phone, say you know, sure. yeah. both on trees on file. this is catlin, pete, so you can go to them to function. sure. see. and trim yet torsion. teach you it should go from the clique. once you go down to the phone junkie, she's going to do so who you don't wait to go to machine. let's stay on this. but let me ask you this. what is it behind the geo politics of? she's reaction. in other words, what is she real play h

and the move right out of machiavelli is the prince. she took advantage of the opportunity and used to try to differentiate himself from president joe biden. 2 first, let's go through how he did this. first. he made it a point to meet with a leading era leader egyptian president the lc, who is on his riley detractor. then she called on israel to declare, receives fire, and warn them against the ground invasion. then he refused to call her mazda of terrorist organization and instead of. busy for a 2 state solution. in fact, here's she's spokesperson, model name. did you buy it from to hume when the for the phone? say you know? sure. now both on treat on ballast totland, pete, so your total courtroom to function. she and trim yet torsion due to it should go from the clique one to go down to phone junkie. she's going to do so who you don't, which is or to machine. let's stay on this. but let me ask this, what is it behind the geo politics of? she's reaction. in other words, what is she real play here? here it is. israel is the united state

created both a destruction and an opportunity for the chinese leader and the move right out of machiavelli, the prince. she took advantage of the opportunity and used to try differentiate themselves from president joe by. 2 first, let's go through how he did this. first. he made it a point to meet with a leading era leader egyptian president, the l. c. c. who is an, is really the tractor. then she called on israel to declare a sage fire, and warn them against the ground invasion. then he refused to call her mazda of terrorist organization. and instead of. busy for a 2 state solution. in fact here's she's smokes person, model name. did you buy it from torsion when the for the to say you know? sure, yeah, cool side treat them palaces, catlin, pete, so your tongue courtroom to function. she sent you a me a torsion to do it, should go from the clinic. once you go down to content issues, what do you show where you don't, which is which will function let's stay on this. but let me ask you this. what is it behind the geo politics of? she's reaction. in other words, what is she real play here? her

and the move right out of machiavelli, the prince. she took advantage of the opportunity and used to try and differentiate themselves from president joe. but 1st, let's go through how he did this. first. he made a point to meet with a leading era leader egyptian president, the l. c. c. who is on is really the tractor. then she called on israel to declare, receives fire, and warn them against the ground invasion. then he refused to call her mazda of terrorist organization, and instead called for a 2 state solution. in fact here's, she's smokes person, model name. did you buy it from to hume when the for the phone. say you know sure. now hold on to don't buy this is catlin, pete. so your tongue courtroom to function should see and trim yet torsion to do it should go from the clique one to go drop off the truck to phone down to choose from . what do you so who you don't, which is or to machine? well, let's stay on this, but let me ask this, what is it behind the geo politics of? she's reaction. in other words, what is she real play here?

so so look , the machiavelli italian so look, the machiavelli italian political theorist has a greatt in seven times, you've lost in seven times, you've lost in seven constituencies, even though the most influential though he's the most influential conservative generation. though he's the most influential con: i ervative generation. though he's the most influential conzl know,; generation. though he's the most influential conzl know, but generation. though he's the most influential conzl know, but it generation. though he's the most influential conzl know, but it must eration. though he's the most influential conzl know, but it must hit.ion. no, i know, but it must hit. >> i was about to say that's just a fancy way of saying you miss 100% the shots. you miss 100% of the shots. you don't take. >> well, yeah, it's true, >> well, yeah, no, it's true, but must. but it must. >> it must, it must hit home in a way you don't want to be the butt of that joke again. but my goodness, we have been goodness, we have never been closer a complete evaporation closer to a complete evaporation of the