WEBVTT - The Rhetoric of Donald Trump 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:09.440 Every week. Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn joins Hugh Hewitt 0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:14.120 to discuss great books, great men, and great ideas. This 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:19.320 is Hillsdale Dialogues, part of the Hillsdale College Podcast Network. 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:25.680 More episodes@podcast.hillsdale.edu or wherever you find your audio. 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:34.559 Morning glory and evening Grace America. I'm Hugh Hewitt, welcome 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:38.159 to the Hillsdale Dialogue, the last broadcast hour of the week. 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:41.120 As is usual, when we are blessed, we have Doctor 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:44.559 Larry Arnn with us today. He's the president of Hillsdale College. 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:49.879 All things hillsdale@hillsdale.edu, including your application for next year. All 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:53.080 of you rising seniors, including online courses for everyone in 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:55.640 this audience that they ought to be taking, including a 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:59.820 new one on classical rhetoric and all the Hillsdale Dialogues 0:00:59.820 --> 0:01:04.819 going back a decade now, all found@hughforhillsdale.com. In the next 0:01:04.819 --> 0:01:06.780 two weeks, not today. In the next two weeks, we 0:01:06.780 --> 0:01:10.140 will finish The Gathering Storm, this book. So do not 0:01:10.140 --> 0:01:12.819 miss the next two two weeks. But we are taking 0:01:12.819 --> 0:01:15.700 a break from that. We are also taping on Tuesday 0:01:15.700 --> 0:01:19.300 before the deadline, President Trump set at 8 p.m.. So 0:01:19.300 --> 0:01:21.380 I want to let you know that we're working under 0:01:21.380 --> 0:01:24.340 that constraint this week because of both of our schedules. 0:01:24.540 --> 0:01:26.100 Doctor Ian, how was your Easter. 0:01:26.860 --> 0:01:29.660 Hillsdale, Michigan a good place to have Easter. Yeah. Easter 0:01:29.660 --> 0:01:32.460 is of course very sad until right at the end. 0:01:32.500 --> 0:01:34.100 But it was a great Easter. 0:01:34.300 --> 0:01:38.700 I am curious about Easter services in that beautiful chapel. 0:01:38.740 --> 0:01:41.059 Does your music program go all in? 0:01:42.140 --> 0:01:45.380 Oh yeah. We um, so first of all, there's a really, 0:01:45.660 --> 0:01:49.780 really great thing. Uh, Hillsdale College, as you probably know, is, uh, 0:01:50.540 --> 0:01:54.500 all Christian denominations are thriving at Hillsdale College. So we 0:01:54.540 --> 0:01:58.040 don't have Sunday morning services in our chapel, But on 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:02.600 Good Friday, there's a big alliance of churches that we 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:05.840 help to organize around here, and they have a good 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:12.120 Friday noon service. And it's just a chapel is full. 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:14.720 Lots of people in it. And of course, everybody looks 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:17.600 up and stares at it because it's the most beautiful 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:21.399 building around. And it's just a very fun thing. And 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:24.400 it's a college slash community thing. 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:29.080 And anyone driving through southern Michigan, even if you're not 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:31.639 looking for a college for your student or you're not 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:34.880 a student, just stop and see the chapel because it's astonishing. 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:38.639 The campus is also beautiful, with wonderful statues throughout and 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:43.280 incredible history. But the chapel is remarkable in America, probably 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:46.120 the equal of any chapel anywhere in America. And there 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:49.560 are a few beautiful ones by the same architect, uh, 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:52.440 Dominic Stroik, uh, his first name, right. Or is it 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:57.780 Duncan Stroik Duncan. Duncan. All right. But it's truly. He 0:02:57.780 --> 0:03:00.220 may be the best guy working in America. Is he 0:03:00.260 --> 0:03:01.820 doing your new buildings, by the way, doctor? 0:03:03.340 --> 0:03:07.140 He's doing a war memorial right now. We're building a library. 0:03:07.180 --> 0:03:12.140 We just finished a Masters of Classical Education building, and 0:03:12.139 --> 0:03:15.460 it's going to be beautiful. I mean, the master's classical 0:03:15.460 --> 0:03:20.940 is beautiful. It's just if you face the chapel, the 0:03:20.980 --> 0:03:25.859 building immediately to the east or the left. West or left. Sorry. 0:03:26.340 --> 0:03:29.100 And then the library to the right of the chapel 0:03:29.100 --> 0:03:32.060 is the student union. And just beyond that is the 0:03:32.060 --> 0:03:35.980 library that we are greatly expanding and giving it a 0:03:35.980 --> 0:03:41.060 classical look throughout. And it's those those two things are 0:03:41.060 --> 0:03:44.100 going to be I mean, our quad is very beautiful. 0:03:44.900 --> 0:03:48.300 It's soon to be harmonious and beautiful and more beautiful. 0:03:48.340 --> 0:03:50.860 I think we have we have serious things to talk about. 0:03:51.660 --> 0:03:53.700 We have to talk about destroying things in a moment. 0:03:53.700 --> 0:03:56.040 So I want to make sure we lift up the 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:58.320 fact that beautiful things are being built in the world, 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:01.480 especially at Hillsdale College. I also want to lift up 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:04.680 the fact that a second of your alumni, Philip Wegman, 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:06.720 joined the Wall Street Journal this week, and I was 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:10.520 talking to him offline. You're taking Hillsdale graduates are taking 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:13.080 over media. I'm very, very pleased with this. 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:15.080 Well, a lot of it, yeah. Yeah. 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:18.000 Yeah. Phil Wegman is a great kid. I had him 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:22.080 in class and his brother too, and he's thriving. He 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:26.200 I remember he's what he's worked for real Clear Politics, 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:29.640 I think, and several outlets. And he got admitted to 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:34.479 the presidential briefings in the white House. And that was 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:36.279 a big deal. And of course, you know, in my 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:38.120 line of work, you get to watch him grow up 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:41.160 and they go on and do great things. And I 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:44.640 remember Phil and I corresponded when he found out he 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:46.640 was going to get to do that. And I was 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:49.320 so excited for him. And now he's at the Wall 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:50.600 Street Journal. So yeah. 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:50.760 I. 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:51.560 Think I. 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:54.900 Think he is now at the best news platform in America, 0:04:54.940 --> 0:04:57.900 as is Jack Butler over at their editorial page to 0:04:57.940 --> 0:05:01.180 Hillsdale Ians. So your your effort to take over the 0:05:01.180 --> 0:05:04.180 world is proceeding apace now. Let's turn to the very 0:05:04.180 --> 0:05:06.620 serious stuff tonight at 8 p.m., which we will be 0:05:06.620 --> 0:05:10.339 broadcasting this on Friday. There's a deadline that President Trump 0:05:10.339 --> 0:05:13.339 has re-emphasized. All the bridges and the power plants get 0:05:13.339 --> 0:05:15.500 blown up. Those are not war crimes, by the way. 0:05:15.700 --> 0:05:18.859 They're all dual use. I just want to assure people 0:05:18.900 --> 0:05:22.580 who have been reading left wing blogs and hysterical commentators. 0:05:22.980 --> 0:05:26.860 Bridge is a classic bridge over the river of Toko RI, 0:05:26.860 --> 0:05:29.140 or the Bridge of Toko RI and Bridge Over the 0:05:29.140 --> 0:05:33.420 River Kwai. These are all traditional military targets, as are 0:05:33.420 --> 0:05:36.860 power plants used by the IRGC. What do you make 0:05:36.860 --> 0:05:40.060 of the reaction to the threat? And we're out on 0:05:40.060 --> 0:05:42.859 prediction limb here. I think he's going to do it. 0:05:42.900 --> 0:05:44.299 What do you think, doctor? Answer. 0:05:45.420 --> 0:05:46.099 Well, I'm. 0:05:46.140 --> 0:05:49.660 Happy to report that I don't know uh and. 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:50.839 And, uh. 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:56.360 And we, uh, can't know. And yeah, I, I do, 0:05:56.400 --> 0:06:02.520 I'm of the opinion that he understands that we can't know, uh, uh, 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:07.320 of the war effort so far. It's just awesome. Uh, 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:11.279 the hardest part. Uh, more than 50% of success is 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:14.640 at the end. And how do we end it? Uh, 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.720 one way to end it, uh, I mean, first of all, 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.799 there are some definite good things that have happened here 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.719 so far that are beyond question. One of them is 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:29.320 the war making power of Iran is set back, and 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:33.599 that's good. They use it to attack us and friends 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:37.440 of ours. Uh, a second thing is our relations with 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:42.360 the Gulf states seem to have been thriving. And I 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:44.960 think that's partly because there's something really good going on 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:50.419 in some of those Gulf states. They have diminished their support, 0:06:50.420 --> 0:06:54.900 and some of them ended their support of the crazy 0:06:54.940 --> 0:06:58.820 forms of Islam. They're not all as crazy as some are, 0:06:59.779 --> 0:07:02.540 and some of them are probably not crazy, but I'm 0:07:02.580 --> 0:07:06.779 not expert enough to be sure of that. It's certainly 0:07:06.779 --> 0:07:08.660 a very big and important thing, and it ain't going 0:07:08.660 --> 0:07:11.020 to go away. And so it's nothing but good for 0:07:11.020 --> 0:07:15.940 the world if it moderates. And so one possible end, 0:07:15.980 --> 0:07:17.820 I mean, first of all, we've got those two things 0:07:17.820 --> 0:07:21.900 and those are good. Uh, the question of the Strait 0:07:21.900 --> 0:07:27.180 of Hormuz cuts in two different directions. Um, because of 0:07:27.180 --> 0:07:29.260 all the great powers in the world, we're the ones 0:07:29.260 --> 0:07:33.060 who need it the least. And this has given Trump 0:07:33.060 --> 0:07:36.780 an opportunity to make a point more forcefully than he's 0:07:36.780 --> 0:07:39.660 been making ever since he emerged into politics. And that 0:07:39.660 --> 0:07:43.860 is the people closest to the danger most affected by 0:07:43.860 --> 0:07:47.840 the danger need to carry the main burden of the danger, 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:49.440 or at least they need to pitch in as much 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:53.560 as they can. And. And the Strait of Hormuz is 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:57.760 a very hard nut to crack, I think, and they 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:02.640 should crack it, and maybe we should help them crack it. 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:05.760 So I even think, you know, but I don't I 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.320 don't know, first of all, we don't know. It's a 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:12.600 very fluid situation. The president is talking to us and 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:17.280 to the Iranians at the same time. And everything, everything 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:21.200 he says is conditioned by that combination. And so that's 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:23.200 why I don't know what he's going to say tonight 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:28.560 or do tonight. I think, you know, one strategy that's 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:34.119 appealing to me for ending the war is, uh, walking 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:38.880 away and continuing to build up the Gulf states. And 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:41.200 I think, by the way, we, uh, I read a 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:44.360 very intelligent thing the other day. And remember, the word 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:48.230 intelligent is not the same thing as true, because these 0:08:48.230 --> 0:08:51.390 are all things that are hard to know, right? But 0:08:51.390 --> 0:08:54.350 this intelligent thing that I read said that we have 0:08:54.350 --> 0:08:58.470 actually gained massive leverage in the world because we're an 0:08:58.470 --> 0:09:04.110 energy exporter and the main competitive world regions in the 0:09:04.110 --> 0:09:07.829 world that compete with us on that are Venezuela, whose 0:09:07.830 --> 0:09:12.550 disposition has changed, and the Gulf states, and both of 0:09:12.550 --> 0:09:16.350 them are sort of brought around to a better place, 0:09:16.390 --> 0:09:21.630 at least Venezuela. So the point is, maybe we've gotten 0:09:21.630 --> 0:09:26.910 stronger from this. That's to be proved and seen with time. 0:09:27.750 --> 0:09:30.270 But that's one of the ways you judge a war. 0:09:30.790 --> 0:09:33.670 Are you stronger after it's over or are you weaker? 0:09:34.110 --> 0:09:36.510 And I think it's going to be very hard for 0:09:36.510 --> 0:09:39.790 us to emerge weaker from this. But I think it 0:09:39.790 --> 0:09:43.150 could go on. I've been telling, uh, my friends I 0:09:43.150 --> 0:09:46.689 expect it to be over in early June, but not before. 0:09:46.730 --> 0:09:50.090 And I think that includes cleanup. But I agree with 0:09:50.090 --> 0:09:52.930 you completely that he's talking to the Iranian people and 0:09:52.929 --> 0:09:58.050 the Iranian elite through his post, primarily to whomever is 0:09:58.050 --> 0:10:01.170 running that country during the rescue, which we'll talk about 0:10:01.650 --> 0:10:04.450 after the break. We hit a command bunker with more 0:10:04.450 --> 0:10:07.930 than 50 IRGC senior leaders in it, because they weren't 0:10:07.929 --> 0:10:12.090 expecting in the middle of this command, this amazing search 0:10:12.090 --> 0:10:15.850 and rescue operation, they were not expecting the B-2s to 0:10:15.890 --> 0:10:19.810 arrive from the Midwest of America and drop the massive 0:10:19.809 --> 0:10:24.650 Ordnance penetrators on their Supersecret command bunker. That wasn't super secret. 0:10:24.850 --> 0:10:29.050 So for the third time in five weeks, they've had 0:10:29.050 --> 0:10:33.569 a mass casualty event among the leadership meeting. They don't learn, 0:10:33.570 --> 0:10:36.050 but we'll talk more about that right after the break. 0:10:36.170 --> 0:10:40.570 All things hillsdale@hillsdale.edu. Of course, all the Hillsdale dialogues are 0:10:40.570 --> 0:10:43.550 found at hue for hillsdale.com. I'll be right back with 0:10:43.550 --> 0:10:47.710 Doctor Orange. Stay tuned. Welcome back America. Hugh Hewitt with 0:10:47.710 --> 0:10:53.750 Doctor Larry Arnn, president of Hillsdale College. Everything about Hillsdale is@hillsdale.edu. 0:10:53.750 --> 0:10:58.790 You can sign up@hillsdale.edu for the Imprimis newsletter for all there. 0:10:58.830 --> 0:11:01.510 I know dozens of free online courses that will make 0:11:01.510 --> 0:11:04.430 you smart and maybe wise. And all of our previous 0:11:04.429 --> 0:11:08.430 Hillsdale dialogues are found at hue for hillsdale.com. I want 0:11:08.470 --> 0:11:12.150 to ask you about your reaction to you had a 0:11:12.150 --> 0:11:14.910 child in the American military. I've had one in the 0:11:14.910 --> 0:11:16.630 American military. I still have a son in law and 0:11:16.630 --> 0:11:20.270 a nephew on active duty, and I have never been 0:11:20.270 --> 0:11:23.470 more amazed in my lifetime. And TB was always the 0:11:23.470 --> 0:11:27.790 greatest display of daring and moxie that I'd ever seen. 0:11:27.790 --> 0:11:31.190 But that was against Uganda. And Israel had the element 0:11:31.190 --> 0:11:34.150 of surprise beyond any element of surprise. But I think 0:11:34.150 --> 0:11:38.950 this past weekend the rescue of these downed airmen was 0:11:38.950 --> 0:11:41.850 just Astonishing. How did you react to it? 0:11:43.050 --> 0:11:43.410 Well. 0:11:43.690 --> 0:11:46.970 I, um, it's two days old now, but I watched, uh, 0:11:47.010 --> 0:11:49.929 there's a guy on YouTube named Ward Carroll. 0:11:50.130 --> 0:11:50.650 Yup. 0:11:50.690 --> 0:11:53.290 He's got another guy named Jack who joined him, and they. 0:11:53.330 --> 0:11:57.329 And what they are is old military jocks. I mean, 0:11:57.330 --> 0:11:59.730 they're not that old, but they're retired or out of 0:11:59.730 --> 0:12:00.209 the military. 0:12:00.250 --> 0:12:03.330 Ward's younger than I know. Ward. Yeah, Ward's a fighter pilot. 0:12:03.370 --> 0:12:04.290 Yeah. Yeah. 0:12:04.929 --> 0:12:07.890 That's pretty amazing. You know, I hear these guys talk 0:12:07.890 --> 0:12:09.970 for an hour about what's going on. First of all, 0:12:09.970 --> 0:12:13.050 they know all the weapons. Second of all, they're getting 0:12:13.050 --> 0:12:16.490 intelligence all the time while they're talking, and they call 0:12:16.490 --> 0:12:20.090 it that. And sometimes it's just something they read on X, 0:12:20.650 --> 0:12:23.250 and sometimes they'll hold up a paper that somebody sent him. 0:12:23.250 --> 0:12:25.330 And they know a lot of people who are involved 0:12:25.530 --> 0:12:30.209 and they're just marveling at this, right. And, uh, you know, 0:12:30.250 --> 0:12:34.449 questions come up like apparently in the Air Force, there's 0:12:34.490 --> 0:12:39.150 a team of people whose specialty is pilot rescue. That's 0:12:39.150 --> 0:12:42.510 what they do. And they're fairly, very tough and very 0:12:42.510 --> 0:12:44.910 good at it. They go in harm's way. That's an 0:12:44.910 --> 0:12:47.670 expression they love and they go in harm's way. You know, 0:12:47.830 --> 0:12:49.429 and there are a lot of people in the military 0:12:49.429 --> 0:12:51.710 who don't go in harm's way. And so they make 0:12:51.710 --> 0:12:55.470 that distinction all the time. Well, I don't think those guys. Well, anyway, 0:12:55.510 --> 0:12:57.910 for some reason, maybe those guys were involved and maybe 0:12:57.910 --> 0:13:02.270 they weren't. But Seal Team six was involved. And then 0:13:02.270 --> 0:13:06.390 we use Hercules. And those are precious because we don't 0:13:06.390 --> 0:13:10.870 make any more. And they're extremely versatile. And we didn't 0:13:10.870 --> 0:13:15.310 use the Osprey. And the Osprey is a marine mostly 0:13:15.309 --> 0:13:18.590 used plane. I think that can take off like a 0:13:18.590 --> 0:13:23.309 plane and do 250 knots, which is some number bit 0:13:23.350 --> 0:13:26.270 higher than miles an hour, I think. And it can 0:13:26.270 --> 0:13:29.950 also hover land up and down straight. Why didn't they 0:13:29.950 --> 0:13:32.110 use the Osprey? Well, maybe it wasn't close enough. So 0:13:32.110 --> 0:13:33.910 they go on about all that. But the point is 0:13:34.470 --> 0:13:38.170 they were more and more than 70 aircraft involved in 0:13:38.170 --> 0:13:38.570 this thing. 0:13:38.610 --> 0:13:38.970 Yep. 0:13:39.330 --> 0:13:42.410 And, uh, we didn't take any casualties. There was a 0:13:42.410 --> 0:13:45.689 firefight in the middle of it. We used the big 0:13:45.690 --> 0:13:50.330 bombers B one. They said, uh, and we sealed off 0:13:50.330 --> 0:13:54.250 the area as best we could. There's still a firefight. 0:13:54.770 --> 0:14:00.610 And this colonel, still unnamed at this, uh, at this talking, 0:14:01.250 --> 0:14:05.770 he had a bad ankle, maybe broken, maybe sprained. And 0:14:05.770 --> 0:14:09.050 he went up 7000ft in a mountain to hide in 0:14:09.050 --> 0:14:10.410 a crevice crevasse. 0:14:10.610 --> 0:14:12.890 The detail, he had been knocked out. He had been 0:14:12.890 --> 0:14:15.810 out for hours when he woke up and realized where 0:14:15.809 --> 0:14:19.729 he was and then got it together. He's not young, either. 0:14:19.970 --> 0:14:22.210 He's an oh six. He's not a young guy. 0:14:23.890 --> 0:14:24.650 Yeah, yeah. 0:14:24.650 --> 0:14:27.610 So he's a big deal, right? And, uh, and he's 0:14:27.610 --> 0:14:33.090 a weapon specialist operator or something. And, uh, that's, that's 0:14:33.090 --> 0:14:35.670 how they, and they got all these Acronyms. And then 0:14:35.670 --> 0:14:38.350 once in a while, intelligence will come in while these 0:14:38.350 --> 0:14:42.230 two guys are talking and, and, uh, it'll have an 0:14:42.230 --> 0:14:44.990 acronym in it and they don't know what it is. 0:14:45.270 --> 0:14:47.590 And that's all fun, you know, because they know all 0:14:47.590 --> 0:14:52.470 the acronyms almost. And, uh, yeah. And, and we went 0:14:52.470 --> 0:14:55.430 and got that guy and a lot of people were involved. 0:14:55.470 --> 0:15:00.390 I mean, that means hundreds of people were involved actively 0:15:00.390 --> 0:15:05.430 there in the forms of attack. We we don't make 0:15:05.470 --> 0:15:08.870 C-130s anymore. And we haven't settled on a replacement yet. 0:15:09.150 --> 0:15:11.710 And then also we used little birds, which are little 0:15:11.750 --> 0:15:14.620 bitty helicopters that are very lethal and carry 6 or 0:15:14.620 --> 0:15:18.070 8 troops at a time and carry some guns. So 0:15:18.110 --> 0:15:21.310 we use that in the C-130s and we use something else. 0:15:21.910 --> 0:15:25.070 It's a lighter, more modern version of the C-130 that 0:15:25.070 --> 0:15:27.990 doesn't carry as much stuff. And so we had to 0:15:28.030 --> 0:15:33.030 leave some stuff and we and the point is. Yeah. 0:15:33.130 --> 0:15:37.010 And the stuff we left, uh, they had pictures of it. 0:15:37.050 --> 0:15:41.810 We destroyed it. We left 1 or 2 C-130s or 0:15:41.930 --> 0:15:45.050 one and two. 1 or 2 little birds. Couldn't get 0:15:45.050 --> 0:15:49.570 them out. And so we bombed them from the air 0:15:49.770 --> 0:15:52.730 into smithereens. And darned if they didn't have a picture 0:15:52.730 --> 0:15:57.890 of that. And it looked like devastation itself. But, uh, so, 0:15:58.290 --> 0:16:03.370 you know, precision bombing is a major development in human 0:16:03.370 --> 0:16:04.770 history and. 0:16:04.850 --> 0:16:09.050 Its impact on our adversaries not named Iran. Iran. We 0:16:09.090 --> 0:16:10.530 got two minutes to the break. What do you think 0:16:10.530 --> 0:16:13.730 is the impact on our adversaries not named Iran, of 0:16:13.770 --> 0:16:14.890 doing that mission? 0:16:15.690 --> 0:16:16.250 Well, I think. 0:16:16.250 --> 0:16:19.650 The Gulf states are important, and I think Trump knows that. 0:16:19.650 --> 0:16:21.730 And I've learned since he gave a speech that I 0:16:21.770 --> 0:16:24.970 liked a long time ago, uh, months ago, after he 0:16:24.970 --> 0:16:27.530 got reelected, he went over there and he gave a 0:16:27.570 --> 0:16:29.610 really tour de force speech with a room full of 0:16:29.610 --> 0:16:33.590 Arabs in Qatar, I think. And he said, you know, 0:16:33.830 --> 0:16:36.630 you guys have done great things here according to your principles. 0:16:37.230 --> 0:16:39.350 We're doing great things. We're going to trade, we're going 0:16:39.390 --> 0:16:41.990 to get along. We're going to all get more prosperous. 0:16:42.270 --> 0:16:44.750 And if anybody tries to hurt my country, I'm going 0:16:44.790 --> 0:16:47.470 to kill them. That was more or less his speech. 0:16:48.030 --> 0:16:49.910 And it was kind of a new and I want 0:16:49.950 --> 0:16:53.390 to make this point. What's different about the this Middle 0:16:53.390 --> 0:16:55.710 East war, whether it works out or not and it 0:16:55.710 --> 0:16:59.470 may not, is that we are not saying that the 0:16:59.470 --> 0:17:04.030 only security for us is democracy everywhere in the world. 0:17:04.350 --> 0:17:04.870 You bet. 0:17:05.030 --> 0:17:08.070 That is a good. That is beyond our power to produce. 0:17:08.070 --> 0:17:10.030 And it makes for infinite warfare. 0:17:10.430 --> 0:17:15.390 A recognition of a limiting principle that has gone unremarked upon. Actually, 0:17:15.390 --> 0:17:18.310 until you just said it right now. Don't go anywhere, America. 0:17:18.310 --> 0:17:20.830 I'll be back with Doctor Oren right after this, except 0:17:20.830 --> 0:17:28.070 a hillsdale.edu or hue for hillsdale.com. Welcome back America. Doctor 0:17:28.070 --> 0:17:32.050 Larry Arnn is the president of Hillsdale College, which it 0:17:32.050 --> 0:17:35.170 is high season for admissions, and I'm sure it's high 0:17:35.210 --> 0:17:39.490 season for disappointment. Up at Hillsdale and high season of 0:17:39.490 --> 0:17:43.210 appeals to the president. Uh, so good luck there, doctor. Aaron, 0:17:43.210 --> 0:17:47.609 do you get appeals to the president after admissions season decisions? 0:17:49.010 --> 0:17:52.129 Always. Uh, I didn't used to, but now I do. 0:17:52.170 --> 0:17:54.570 It's gotten kind of hard to get in. And, uh, 0:17:54.970 --> 0:17:58.290 I remember years ago, I said to the admissions counselor, 0:17:58.890 --> 0:18:01.410 I said, he said, how many applications do we want? 0:18:01.450 --> 0:18:04.330 I said a lot. He said, how will we know 0:18:04.330 --> 0:18:06.730 when we have enough? I said, we probably never will. 0:18:06.770 --> 0:18:10.130 I said, but, uh, because, you know, it's I can 0:18:10.130 --> 0:18:12.690 tell you the conditions of success in higher education if 0:18:12.690 --> 0:18:14.770 you want, but it has very much to do with 0:18:14.770 --> 0:18:17.409 how bad you want to. In other words, there's a 0:18:17.410 --> 0:18:19.450 thing that we can all have if we choose to have. 0:18:19.450 --> 0:18:22.410 And that is an urgent wish to learn. And if 0:18:22.410 --> 0:18:26.290 we have that, we can learn. Anyway, I said, maybe 0:18:26.290 --> 0:18:29.070 I'll be able to tell when important people start calling 0:18:29.070 --> 0:18:30.750 me about their kids and I won't be able to 0:18:30.750 --> 0:18:33.030 help them. And that happens now. 0:18:33.630 --> 0:18:37.909 Ah, well, my my friends who run colleges say the 0:18:37.910 --> 0:18:42.510 most difficult issues are alumni, children and parking for faculty. 0:18:42.550 --> 0:18:45.070 I don't think you have the latter problem. So let 0:18:45.070 --> 0:18:47.550 me move on to the next question. You have a 0:18:47.550 --> 0:18:51.869 brand new online course, Classical Logic and Rhetoric, which I 0:18:51.869 --> 0:18:57.869 would recommend everyone in the country to investigate over@hillsdale.edu. President 0:18:57.910 --> 0:19:03.270 Trump's rhetoric is not classical. He is a reality TV 0:19:03.270 --> 0:19:09.830 trained developer who uses Truth Social and X. What do 0:19:09.830 --> 0:19:12.869 you make of his rhetoric since it's not classical? 0:19:14.590 --> 0:19:19.990 Well, you can use the classical tools to analyze them. 0:19:20.510 --> 0:19:24.710 First of all, obviously President Trump's rhetoric is effective. Never 0:19:24.750 --> 0:19:26.490 mind that it puts a lot of people off. It 0:19:26.490 --> 0:19:31.250 attracts more. I mean, in elections at least more. It 0:19:31.250 --> 0:19:36.129 is unique in my knowing, because here's a guy who 0:19:36.170 --> 0:19:40.210 talks about himself all the time and only and only 0:19:40.210 --> 0:19:43.970 has one kind of adjective, the superlative. I've never seen 0:19:43.970 --> 0:19:48.890 that before. And, uh, he makes that work better than 0:19:48.890 --> 0:19:53.290 anybody I've ever seen. Uh, I've never seen anybody try 0:19:53.330 --> 0:19:56.649 before to that extent. I have been fitted in my 0:19:56.650 --> 0:19:58.570 life to sit directly in front of him 4 or 0:19:58.570 --> 0:20:02.330 5 times and watch him give a speech, and I 0:20:02.369 --> 0:20:06.010 think I can tell that he means it. Uh, I 0:20:06.170 --> 0:20:08.690 here's what he means. I mean, first of all, he 0:20:08.690 --> 0:20:11.330 does have a wonderful sense of humor. And a lot 0:20:11.330 --> 0:20:14.649 of what he says is for effect. And when I 0:20:14.650 --> 0:20:17.250 say he means it, I think he knows the difference. 0:20:17.290 --> 0:20:20.210 Probably because if you just watch his face when he's 0:20:20.210 --> 0:20:23.050 talking and there you are. If you're sitting there, you 0:20:23.690 --> 0:20:26.510 you know, I'm not an important man in the Trump administration. 0:20:26.510 --> 0:20:30.110 I just help them with the Declaration of Independence. Uh, 0:20:30.710 --> 0:20:34.830 but I've been around them some and, uh, and I, 0:20:35.190 --> 0:20:38.870 I think he means it, and I think he makes 0:20:38.869 --> 0:20:44.550 it work and yeah, so, but he's very, uh, singular, 0:20:44.950 --> 0:20:48.229 maybe unique, I don't know, and I think he means it. 0:20:48.270 --> 0:20:51.390 And that's the one thing I'll add to that. I'll 0:20:51.390 --> 0:20:54.229 add Doctor Aaron. I've had the opportunity to interview him 0:20:54.230 --> 0:20:57.869 and question him in public more than 30 times. And 0:20:57.869 --> 0:21:01.270 I have learned he is very unique because he is 0:21:01.270 --> 0:21:06.510 unrestrained by the conventions that attend most politicians. I'm. I 0:21:06.510 --> 0:21:08.709 think politicians are is a fine thing to be. I 0:21:08.710 --> 0:21:11.750 think you to aspire to want to be a political 0:21:11.750 --> 0:21:13.910 leader is a fine thing to be. But I've been 0:21:13.910 --> 0:21:17.149 rereading Battle Cry of Freedom by McPherson about World War Two, 0:21:17.310 --> 0:21:20.430 about the Civil War, and Lincoln would always throw away 0:21:20.430 --> 0:21:22.510 the letters he'd write to people like George Meade because 0:21:22.510 --> 0:21:25.449 they became intemperate. This is not a problem or a 0:21:25.450 --> 0:21:28.449 restraint that President Trump feels. Do you agree with me 0:21:28.450 --> 0:21:29.010 on that? 0:21:30.930 --> 0:21:34.330 Well, I think he uses the fact that he transgresses 0:21:34.330 --> 0:21:37.650 that artfully. I had an argument with a friend of mine, 0:21:37.770 --> 0:21:40.770 a good man, and who was and is a never Trumper. 0:21:41.330 --> 0:21:43.490 And he said, how can you believe a word he says? 0:21:44.010 --> 0:21:46.490 And I said, well, there are two reasons this isn't 0:21:46.490 --> 0:21:49.450 a public argument. One time, a kind of debate. We 0:21:49.450 --> 0:21:53.209 had several hundred people there. I said, there are two reasons. 0:21:53.210 --> 0:21:55.970 I said, one is he's been saying the main things 0:21:55.970 --> 0:21:59.450 he's saying for as long as he's been talking about politics. 0:21:59.450 --> 0:22:01.570 And at that time, the earliest instance I knew were 0:22:01.570 --> 0:22:05.810 in the late 80s. This is in 2015. The second 0:22:05.810 --> 0:22:09.810 reason is he does say it so outrageously that people 0:22:09.810 --> 0:22:13.490 get to thinking he means it. And that's a point. 0:22:13.530 --> 0:22:18.770 How do you, uh, like, uh, in politics, you know, 0:22:18.810 --> 0:22:23.870 when you're beset with, uh, controversy. Every word you say 0:22:23.910 --> 0:22:27.030 and any word you say can echo around the world 0:22:27.030 --> 0:22:29.630 in an instant. One of the things you learn is 0:22:29.670 --> 0:22:32.909 kind of bureaucratese, you know? Yeah. 0:22:33.310 --> 0:22:37.989 And repetition, which he uses, he uses repetition. I'll be 0:22:37.990 --> 0:22:41.590 right back with Doctor Arnn. Don't go anywhere except to hillsdale.edu. 0:22:41.990 --> 0:22:44.590 We're going to talk birthright citizenship and the attorney general 0:22:44.590 --> 0:22:48.909 right after this. Welcome back America. I'm Hugh Hewitt since 0:22:48.950 --> 0:22:51.790 last doctor and I spoke on the Hillsdale dialogue all 0:22:51.790 --> 0:22:56.790 things hillsdale@hillsdale.edu. There have been two major changes in the cabinet. 0:22:56.790 --> 0:22:59.230 The Department of Homeland Security is now headed by former 0:22:59.230 --> 0:23:02.990 Senator Markwayne Mullin, and the attorney general is now acting 0:23:03.030 --> 0:23:07.190 Attorney General Todd Blanche, Attorney General Pam Bondi out. I 0:23:07.230 --> 0:23:09.430 don't know any of the back stories. They're always more 0:23:09.430 --> 0:23:12.510