Franklin Camargo, a Venezuelan refugee and PragerU commentator, told Breitbart News editor-in-chief Alex Marlow that he was shocked to learn the left hates America.
Speaking with Marlow on Friday’s episode of The Alex Marlow Show podcast, Camargo explained that “the biggest culture shock” for him when he came to America was the anti-American politics of the left.
“When I moved to the United States of America, there were many cultural shocks — new language, new tradition, new habits, but the biggest cultural shock was actually about politics,” Camargo said.
“We’re approaching my first 4th of July — that is actually my favorite holiday — and I asked [my friend], ‘Are you going to celebrate?'” Camargo continue, adding that his friend had replied, “No, I’m not going to celebrate. I never celebrate the 4th of July.”
When Camargo asked his friend why, the friend replied, “Because I hate America.”
“That was a real cultural shock,” Camargo said. “How could someone hate America, a country that was founded on valuable, great, wonderful ideas — a country that became the most successful, the most powerful, a country that has saved the world at least two or three times?”
“In Europe they would be talking German right now if it were not because of the United States,” he added. “This is a country that has allowed many people like me to escape totalitarian regimes and to come here and fulfill dreams and achieve so many goals.”
“How can you hate this country?” Camargo queried.
Camargo went on to suggest, “The best way to talk to young people is to actually explain to them how amazing this country is, and that it wasn’t a coincidence. It wasn’t an accident. It was about ideas. It was about the foundation. It was also about culture.”
“And this is very important,” Camargo emphasized. “It was about the principles of liberty. Every individual has the right to be free — to pursue our own happiness.”
“We have a Christian foundation that we cannot reject or deny, and that actually taught us that our rights do not come from the government, do not come from politicians,” he added.
Camargo explained:
That’s why they shouldn’t change our rights and be like, “You know what, hate speech is dangerous, so we’re going to limit the way you can talk” — in the end, it’s about that: teaching young people to not take freedom for granted, to not take America for granted. This is a country that is the greatest nation on earth, and we should be proud about being here, and we should feel blessed about being here. That’s something that young people are not listening to. They are being taught lies about America, they are being taught lies about its history, about its fundamental values.
“If people hate America, they’re going to embrace leftists ideas, because what the left tells you is that this country is racist, it’s evil, and we should change it completely. Well, conservatives, we believe that we should preserve the things that had worked,” Camargo said.
“And the way you’re going to embrace those ideals is, first, you appreciate what this country is, and I think PragerU does a really good job when it comes to that,” he added.
Watch Camargo’s PragerU video below about fleeing Venezuela:
The Alex Marlow Show, hosted by Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow, is a weekday podcast produced by Breitbart News and Salem Podcast Network. You can subscribe to the podcast on YouTube, Rumble, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
