Speaker 1: OK, I've not been covering the
recent White House press briefings very much. It's mostly very procedural and sort of perfunctory
announcements combined with relatively benign and sometimes dumb questions from the press
corps. And I hate that that's how I'm breaking it
down. But I think it reflects the reality of recent
press briefings. But this past Friday, there was a really great
example of White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki using super basic, simple epistemology
techniques that I've talked about on the program for a very long time to make a Newsmax reporter,
I guess they're calling her a reporter, attempting gotcha questions look like the fool that she
is. And you really have to look at this clip almost
second by second, because it's a veritable treasure trove of instructive, critical thinking
material. I won't even tell you anything about what's
in the clip. Let's just start the clip, see if you can
start identifying the logical fallacies here. Speaker 5: Thanks to I questions on a couple
of different topics. First, given the number of former Obama administration
officials that are now in this Biden administration and the president's relatively light schedule,
there's a growing perception that this is really just the third term of President Obama. Speaker 1: OK, so already we have conclusions
that do not follow from premises and we have false premises. This is basic, basic, critical thinking stuff. The premises are. And she actually says, given that that's how
we you know, it's a premise, given that there are Obama officials in this administration
and given that Joe Biden is keeping a very light schedule now, these are terrible premises. There are Obama officials in this administration,
just like every administration has, officials from prior administrations. It's not unique. It doesn't tell us very much one way or the
other. Second, given Joe Biden's late schedule, this
is part of the Biden's senile and demented and can't do anything. Joe Biden doesn't have a light schedule. He has a completely normal presidential schedule. Given that there's a pandemic still going
on. Trump did not work for the final six to eight
months of his presidency. He golfed on nearly 20 percent of the days
of his presidency. So two false premises. And the conclusion by definition has to be
false, but also it's false because there is this is not an Obama third term. What does that even mean? False, false premises. Conclusion doesn't follow. Let's continue going back a few seconds and
then going further forward and Speaker 5: the president's relatively light
schedule. There's a growing perception that this is
really just the third term of President Obama. What do you say to people who say
Speaker 6: that who were saying that Hussein, Speaker 5: that you heard that a lot in the
media and the media, different people. Speaker 1: OK, so Jen Psaki. Well done. Well done. Trump, people are saying, says the Trump Beon
reporter, she turns it into. Well, who is saying that? Who exactly? The reporter has nothing. And look at what happens next. Speaker 5: Well, there was lots of questions
about when you had Japanese Prime Minister Sagat here on the one and only so far in person,
bilateral head of state meeting. It was Vice President Kamala Harris who greeted
the prime minister. Many people feel that I'm OK. Speaker 1: So now we get an example. But still, many people found that odd. Hold on a second. What people, media, people, politicians, random
voters. Who are you talking about? Speaker 5: She's already taking Independent
101 calls with key allies like Prime Minister Morrison and Justin Trudeau. So I just want to get your reaction to people
who question that. Speaker 6: Well, it's hard to react when I
don't know what people you're talking about. I will say that the president met with the
prime minister, as you know, and had a full meeting, a full press conference afterwards,
and they even shared a meal. So the president has had dozens of conversations
and calls with world leaders and should be no surprise that the vice president is also
playing an important role, engaging with and having discussions with foreign leaders. Speaker 1: It's there's really nothing there. As you can see, this was false premises, a
bogus conclusion from those premises, and then an out of context single example when
she just said, well, there's all of these different examples and she's able to come
up only with one and it's weak and it's barely connected to what they're talking about. This stuff falls apart under basic questioning. Supply side economics implodes if you ask
two or three basic questions debt, deficit, political football, talking points, they fall
apart, they have to be questioned. And it really doesn't take exotic methods
to expose the stuff. And a lot of times people will call in and
they'll say to me, how do I deal with at the Thanksgiving table my crazy Trumpy uncle saying
this, that or the other thing. And very often, you know, if you don't want
to start a huge fight, it's just about asking how they came to know or believe the things
that they tell you and it will very quickly fall apart. Let's look at a little bit more now. This is the same reporter apparently named
Emerald trying some other gotchas. The first one didn't work on Jen Psaki, so
she moved on to some other gotchas onto Dr. Fauci conspiracies and other things. Take a look at that. Speaker 5: The NIH and Dr. Fauci had provided
funding to the overlap of virology. That's the question when we talk about the
Ladley theory. And given that gain, functioning research
is dicey, why would the U.S. fund that in China? Speaker 6: OK, I'm happy to send you to the
NIH about more specifics of what program they funded and more details of that. Speaker 5: Now, I do have one more follow
up, OK? The president hasn't really weighed in. Dr. Valge is one of the voices who discredit
the Lavallee theory. But now there is more officials in the Biden
administration, like the director of national intelligence, the CIA director, and now also
the NIH director, who say that this cannot be ruled out and there's calls for more investigation
into it. Does the president agree with Dr. Fauci or
the other officials that he think it was a lie? Speaker 6: Well, the president has said and
I've said from here many times that there needs to be a credible, independent investigation
through the World Health Organization and that one that relies on data, relies on participation
from China and other countries that may have information. That's certainly something everybody has called
for. And we look forward to that happening
Speaker 5: before President Xi about the origins of the coronavirus. He said just a few weeks ago he had yet fact. Speaker 6: I think we have given a readout
of his call and also that the president believes there should be an independent investigation
led by health experts and one where their data is provided. That's provided transparently to our medical
and science experts here in the United States. And we look forward to reviewing that. We're going to have to go on. Go ahead. I'm sorry, Aminals. I think you've had plenty of time to go ahead. Go ahead. Speaker 1: Really embarrassing. I mean, if these people were able to feel
shame, she should be leaving with her tail between her legs and never showing her face
in that briefing room again. I'm not even sure how she's in the briefing
room, quite frankly, but that's another topic altogether. I know that Jen Psaki has young kids. She deals with these reporters almost like
dealing with little kids. You've gotten enough time. I let you say your thing. I've Huma, you let me go on to somebody else
now. OK, kiddo. We can do more tomorrow. Maybe if she's allowed back in. Well done there. But it's not you know, there's nothing exotic
or special that's happening. It's just. Well, hold on. Let's listen to what you're saying and actually
figure out if there's anything behind it. This is a really good technique. We've talked about it before and I'm sure
that we will talk about it again. Let's take a quick break. Make sure you're following me on Twitter at
David Pakman. And we'll be back right after this.
