Michael Knowles

And so, you know, I get asked the question a lot.

Do we think that there's going to be a reversion to a sort of normal politics after this?

I mean, the only way that that happens, if the Democrats get absolutely shellacked,

And I think that, unfortunately, because of the polarized nature of the political system right now, the chances that they get totally shellacked is pretty low, actually.

Well, one of the things that actually is unique, and Ben, you're pointing it out here, is that in the history of the United States, when there are assassination attempts, typically it is people who are involved directly in the business of politics.

It's RFK getting shot or MLK getting shot or even Charlie in the line of MLK just being a political activist and not to say they were saying the same thing or anything.

But the reality is that it is now extended out to almost Russian Revolution-style violence, like going after people who are just captains of industry, as you say, people who are running companies, people who are just engaged in the marketplace, like the actual marketplace.

If you had said to me 15 years ago that there would be an assassination attempt on the president, I would have said, okay, that's kind of like unfortunately a relative norm in American political life.

Even if you had said to me there would be an assassination of a high-level political activist like Charlie, I'd say that's unique and horrifying, but not totally unexpected.

If you would say to me that we would be at a point where people like a Jeff Bezos or a Mark Zuckerberg or a Sam Altman –

These are people who have to walk around with 24-7 security for the crime of creating products and services that people want to buy.

And these are the bad guys now.

The UnitedHealthcare CEO is now considered the bad guy, engaged in quote-unquote social murder.

You're talking about true Russian Revolution-style revolutionary violence directed against an entire class.

And that's scary stuff.

I mean, that is a completely different thing.

And also, these are all soft targets.

Well, we'll get to more on that in just one second.

First, we need to talk about, you know, how you talk.

And I mean, like actually talk like on your phone.