WEBVTT - The U.S. Report | 5 September 0:00:02.400 --> 0:00:05.800 This is the US Report with James Morrow. 0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:10.600 Good evening and welcome to the program. Huge program coming 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:13.560 up tonight. Here's a bit of what's coming up. No 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:17.920 more mister nice guy boom. Trump's taking out drug cartel 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:21.040 boats and you'll never guess who's angry about it. 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:23.280 Plus Maja Farrage. 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:26.120 Comes to town, will free speech, worries over Britain, bust 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:30.560 up the Special Relationship, and Bobby Kennedy, well. 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:33.479 He's blowing up the swamp. It's Maha time. 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:38.600 But first, Donald Trump's war on crime and how he's 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:41.959 trying to use the issue to set the Republicans up 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:45.959 for midterm wins in twenty twenty six as well as 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:48.840 for his eventual successor to hang on to the White 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:53.120 House in twenty twenty eight. Now, what Trump started in Washington, 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:55.520 DC last month of the effort to clean up the 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:58.640 nation's capital is going nationwide. 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:01.200 Next stop Chicago. 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:06.000 This is the best issue of all. They are against 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:10.200 preventing crime. They are fighting us. I want to go 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:13.920 into Chicago and have this incompetent governor that doesn't want us. 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:16.640 Do you know that this weekend seventy two people were 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:19.920 shot in Chicago. I'm embarrassed to say it in front 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:23.720 of the President of Poland. Eleven people were killed, seventy 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:27.040 two people were shot. So in three weeks I lost 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:31.920 almost almost thirty five people were killed. It could have 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:35.120 been stopped. If you look at Washington, d C. Three 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:39.680 weeks ago, it was the same or worse. And now 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:41.880 it's considered a totally safe zone. 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:46.080 Indeed, and you know what, he's got a point. Last 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:48.400 weekend was the Labor Day long weekend in the US, 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:51.200 and it was an absolute bloodbath in Chicago. 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:52.480 And it's the. 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:56.960 Same story almost every other weekend in the Windy City. Now, 0:01:57.440 --> 0:01:59.360 call me crazy, but it seems to be cleaning up 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:02.760 this problem. Might be a good idea, but not everyone, 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:07.000 as it turns out, agrees, particularly not the Democrats who 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:12.840 run the joint and think that everything is well, just fine. Indeed, 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:15.680 the left, and in this I include much of the media, 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:19.320 seems very defensive about this idea that Chicago was somehow 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:24.040 particularly violent. Newsweek put on its encyclopedia Brown Detective hat 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:27.360 and came up with a list of major cities with 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:31.120 a higher murder rate than Chicago. Where would we be 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:35.720 without fact checkers Hey and Nicole Wallace over at MSNBC 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:39.040 or ms NOW or whatever they're calling it. Try to 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:43.519 fact check the president as well. 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:44.440 And all of it designed to scare people. And let's 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:46.240 do a little bit more fact checking, because I think 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:48.119 if they were on solid ground, they wouldn't be lying 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:50.560 so much, would they. Donald Trump said this in the 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:53.400 last hour quote, Chicago's a murder capital of the world. 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:54.760 Fact check false. 0:02:54.800 --> 0:03:00.440 That's actually distinction that Tijuana, Mexico has right now the 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:01.919 highest homicide rate in the world. 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:06.359 Oh sorry, it was Tijuana for the moment. At least 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:10.680 that would be outside the president's jurisdiction. And then Wallace 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:13.000 went on Trump. 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:15.200 Posted in that weekend post, you're talking about bond quote, 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:17.840 Chicago's the worst, the most dangerous city in the world. 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:22.720 That is also false. That of the US. 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:25.280 City that cracks the top ten, there's only one, and 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:27.960 it's a Memphis Tennessee has a White House addressed what 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:29.880 it's going to do for Memphis Tennessee today. 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:32.959 Von Yeah, great question there, Nicole. 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:35.400 But this is one of those moments where two things 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:38.440 can be true at the same time. Trump could be 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:41.680 serious about wanting to clean up Chicago, but you can 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:44.960 also have a real political purpose for wanting to do so, 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:48.880 because at the moment, none of those other cities our 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:51.440 friends in the media are referring to is in a 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:54.000 state where the governor is setting himself up as a 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:57.080 leader of the Democrat Party and a potential rival for 0:03:57.160 --> 0:03:58.600 the Republicans come the. 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:00.520 Twenty twenty eight presidential contest. 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:04.040 So again, while I believe Trump is sincere in his 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:08.280 desire to clean up Chicago, after all, this is a 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:11.800 man who hates urban carnage. The formative years of his 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:14.960 Manhattan real estate career took place in the lawless New 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:19.880 York of the pre Giuliana years. Well, Trump's real target 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:21.400 is this guy. 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:26.640 Just during the last week, I've been in neighborhoods across Chicago, 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:30.680 from Bronsville to South Shore, to Chatham to Little Village. 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:35.360 The President's absurd characterizations do not match what is happening 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:38.840 on the ground here. He has no idea what he's 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:43.000 talking about. There is no emergency that warrants deployment of troops. 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:48.480 Yep, that's Illinois Governor JB. Pritzker, of the billionaire Pritsker family, 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:51.280 who has made no secret about his desire to become 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:56.120 the de facto opposition leader of the Democrats now, Pritsker 0:04:56.200 --> 0:05:00.000 is directly in Trump's sites, even featuring an AI video 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:04.120 Trump's social media set up as a super wrestler paddling 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:07.760 Chris Christie feeding the poor downstairs neighbors there. 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:10.120 But Pritzker, a sworn. 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:12.560 Full of Trump, has no place to hide on this 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:15.480 issue of crime. Here's what he had to say when 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:18.320 he was confronted about it by a journalist the other day. 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:22.240 You're going to hear people, especially pat this past weekend, 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:24.920 fifty four shot, seven dead. 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:27.960 They're going to say the city's not safe. 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:30.400 Would you ask your friends to ride the l after 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:33.520 midnight or after nine o'clock at night, even to come 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:35.360 down to the city from O'Hare. 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:39.520 Look, big cities have crime, There's no doubt about it. 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:42.600 Big cities have crime. 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:46.479 Okay, sure, Look, Pritzker is sorry to say, this a 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:49.360 big target here. And while Trump might not be able 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:51.919 to run again in twenty eight, he also knows that 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:55.720 whatever he achieves this term will be quickly undone if 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:59.000 the Democrats regained the White House at the next contest. 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:01.799 That's why he's doing what he is doing right now 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:07.039 and working to freeze, isolate and take down Pritzker. It's 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.160 very similar to every race he's ever been in, Just 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:15.040 like in twenty sixteen the presidential primaries, when he systematically picked. 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:16.840 Off each of his rivals one by one. 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:21.400 Today he is setting up to start smashing potential Democratic contenners, 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:25.000 knocking them out of contention by making them look, in 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:28.400 Pritzker's case, like a soft on crime joke. 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:30.320 Yet crime is. 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:33.600 Another one of those eighty twenty or even ninety ten issues. 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:37.960 I mean, like, sorry, you've got dozens of shootings a 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:42.200 weekend and you're against the National Guard, You're against doing 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.919 something about it. This is such a loser issue for 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:49.400 the Democrats, and Trump knows it, and even some on 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:55.320 the left are waking up. Even on MSNBC here's Joe Scarborough. 0:06:56.560 --> 0:06:58.039 But you know, we had the mayor of Chicago on 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:00.760 last week saying, oh, we don't need any more police officers. 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:04.200 Police officers aren't the answer. No police officers. And you know, 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:06.200 I think he said no five times. You look what's 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:07.040 happening this weekend. 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:11.120 He looks. You know, I actually think that JB. Prinsker 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:12.440 should do something radical. 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:15.880 I think you should pick up the phone, call the 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:18.840 president and say, you know, and I know you don't 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:22.120 have the constitutional authority to deploy the National Guard here 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:24.600 and the police. My my, you can do that in DC. 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:28.640 You can't do that in Chicago. But let's partner up. 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:30.760 Dead right. 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:34.520 Joe Scarborough nails it. What people like Pritzker need to 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:37.840 do is admit the problem and in doing so, disarm 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:41.240 Trump and look like the bigger person. It's a far 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.679 better way to manage the situation than taking the side 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:49.720 of gangbangers. Because guess what, even if the Democrat Party 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:54.920 machine hates the idea of cleaning up crime, well, Chicago residents, 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:57.240 let's hear what they think. 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:01.400 The National Guard has to come, even if it's for 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:03.680 a scare attack, they have to come here. 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:06.000 There's no control, there's no law and order. 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:10.880 Hey, Trump, Trump, you need to bring the National Guards 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:11.400 to Chicago. 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:13.760 Man, you got kids, kill the kids. 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:17.920 Man, that's not good man, Washington, DC is not much 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:19.360 going on compared to Chicago. 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:23.520 Man, in Chicago, everybody gotta get down. 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:26.160 Everybody gotta get down because they shooting. 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:28.280 Everybody down. 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:31.440 Look, look the kids. 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:33.280 Are running, they shooting. 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:37.040 We can't have no fun in Chicago, man, no fun, man, 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:39.359 This is terrible. 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:42.160 Out of thought. 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:43.360 God damn flag. 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:45.760 Because this y'all neighborhood. 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:53.000 Well, let's get straight into it now with my first 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:56.240 guest joining me now is political journalist John Fund. John, 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:59.240 Welcome back to the program. I spoke a bumma the 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:03.520 go the effort to clean up crime in Chicago. It 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:06.360 seems to me that Donald Trump is turning into almost 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:10.240 the mayor of America with his efforts to clean up crime, 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:13.959 first in Washington, now in the Windy City. But it 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:16.080 also seems to me it's about picking a fight with 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:21.120 Illinois Governor JMI Pritzker. Tell us about what he's doing here. 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:22.240 What's your read on it? 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:24.000 Well? 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:24.319 J B. 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.680 Printzkier is clearly running for president, and Donald Trump isn't 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:30.400 happy with him or the fact that he may be 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:33.520 the Democratic candidate, so he's trying to diminish it, which 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:38.720 is not hard. Despite JB. Pritzker's weight. JM. Prinskier has 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:42.480 had a horrible governorship. Illinois is a mess. Chicago is 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:46.120 an even worse mess. And Brandon Johnson, the mayor of Chicago, 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:50.520 and JM. Pritzker the governor, are perfect punching bags for 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:55.520 Donald Trump. Chicago is a mess. I'm not a fan 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:59.720 of having federal enforcement sweep into a city, but threatening 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:03.680 it has some benefits. For one thing, it focuses the 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:08.560 attention on the horrible job the Chicago Police Department is doing, 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:11.560 not because of its own problems, but because the mayor 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:14.559 has too many constraints on them and doesn't back them up. 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:17.960 So just having the debate, even if Trump doesn't intervene, 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:21.640 is useful because it may force the mayor to actually 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:23.880 pay attention to public safety. 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:27.480 Well, and does this apply then more broadly to a 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:30.640 lot of others Democrat run cities across the country that 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:33.160 all have their own crime problems. I mean, I played 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:38.720 some clips a moment ago of Chicago residents who all said, yes, please, 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.959 mister Trump, do something help with this issue. Have the 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:44.440 Democrats got themselves on the wrong end of another eighty 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:48.160 twenty issue, not just in Chicago but nationally here. 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:52.000 Well, the only Democratic mayor who seems to be handling 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:56.000 it well is Muriel Bowser, who, after some initial resistance, said, 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:59.160 we are happy to cooperate with the National Guard. After 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:03.400 that's in Washington. Yeah, yes, that's it's a federal city. 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:07.720 They have ultimate jurisdiction here, and we'll we'll work with them. 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:11.880 I think the other Democrats around the country are suffering 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:15.079 from Trump derangement syndrome. As soon as Trump mentions I'm 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:17.920 paying attention to your city, they start frothing at the mouth, 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:22.439 and it makes it appear as if they don't care 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:26.880 about their own shortcomings in public safety. Whether that's true 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:30.720 or not, the appearance is horrible politically because once again 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:34.439 Trump has steered the Democrats down a blank cul de 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:36.080 sac from which they have no exit. 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:39.160 Well, that's the thing, John, I mean, I've been watching 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:41.640 Trump play this game for almost a decade now. It 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:43.880 really has been on the scene from a decade in politics. 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:46.880 It seems like they just keep falling for the trap. 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:51.400 But I did also show Joe Scarro from MSNBC. He 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:54.520 actually said, you know, the smart play here would be 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:58.360 for Democrat mayors when Trump comes to town, say yes, please, 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:03.080 can we work together and diffuse this trap that Trump 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:05.600 keeps setting up for the left on these issues. 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:12.960 Well, the mind is often overridden by the heart and 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:17.360 emotions here. You know Pavlov's dog. The dog knows it 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:22.000 probably shouldn't salivate, but it's been trained to do that, 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:23.680 so it can't help itself. 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:26.160 Yeah, yeah, no, I think you're right about that. 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:28.600 But you know, also just this issue of crime seems 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:31.640 to be a really big thing for the president here, 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:34.560 and we saw a new move in the interdiction of 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:38.680 drugs coming into the US. They conductul a strike on 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:42.319 a Venezuelan drug boat, killing eleven on board. Here's how 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:46.640 Marco Rubio described what happened, why they took this action. 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:49.679 In addiction doesn't work because these drug cartels, what they 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:51.400 do is they know they're going to lose, you know, 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:55.319 two percent of their cargo. They bake it into their economics. 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:58.199 What will stop them is when you blow them up, 0:12:58.240 --> 0:12:59.160 when you get rid of them. 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:03.200 And yet John, I've seen Democrats say, oh my god, 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:05.480 this is a terrible thing. You can't go blowing up 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:06.280 drug runners. 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:12.320 Well, there's another aspect to this. Remember these drug runners 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:17.280 were from Venezuela. The Maduro administration, the dictatorship there is 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:20.680 certainly at odds with Donald Trump. This sends a message 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:25.440 to Maduro. If your people are involved with the drug running, 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:28.320 and we can prove it or strongly suspect it, they're 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:31.319 at risk too. And in fact, we have just doubled 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:35.160 the reward money for someone who removes you from office, 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:38.079 So it's up to fifty million dollars. The message here 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:39.880 is not just to the drug runners, is to the 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:43.840 military advisors around Maduro. You want to make fifty million dollars, 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:48.360 help us overthrow Maduro and we will richly compensate you. 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:49.880 Absolutely right. 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:52.560 Hey, I want to show you too this footage that 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:55.520 has just emerged of Joe Biden in Delaware. It's from 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:59.160 apparently last weekend, but on it you can see the 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:01.880 form president having a massive wound, a sort of scar 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:02.760 on his head. 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:04.240 Now, we don't know what happened. 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:06.320 Yet here to cause this, and of course we wish 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:09.600 him the best, but this sort of thing would suggest 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:12.520 again that all of that talk that Joe Biden was 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:14.920 the fittest Joe Biden ever and could have you know, 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:18.439 taken on Trump and won and served another term. Well, 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:20.840 I kind of look at this footage, I look at 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:23.360 how he's looking in general, I kind of think they 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:24.240 were having us on. 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:28.920 Well two points here. First of all, the Joe Biden 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:31.760 footage here just demonstrates if you're beyond a certain age, 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:34.840 make sure, no matter what happens, that you don't fall. 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:38.720 This is what happens when you fall. Now a better story, 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:41.760 a bigger story in New York Post is that the 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:46.560 Biden pardon attorneys and the Biden people who presided over 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:49.840 the auto pen were unsure that the President had actually 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:52.280 given permission for the hundreds and hundreds of people he 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:55.040 gave clemency to. There's now email that it has been 0:14:55.080 --> 0:14:57.840 revealed showing the White House in complete confusion of the 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:00.800 last days of the Biden administration. Who's in charge, who's 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:04.400 on first. This shows that Joe Biden was not the 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:06.960 captain of his own ship, at least in the last 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:09.600 days of his presidency, and probably for months before then, 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:11.120 which of course we all suspect. 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:13.400 Yeah, no, we all suspect it. I want to hear 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:15.680 a lot more about these pardons in the autopen in 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:17.960 the months to come, because I reckon there's a lot 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:20.680 of people who got off that shouldn't have. John, I 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:23.960 want to ask you. Also here in Australia, there's been 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:26.680 a lot of concerns about our relationship with the United 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:29.680 States and with the Trump White House. Our own Prime 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:32.240 Minister has been accused of not being in touch enough 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:35.720 with this White House. But apparently overnight last night the 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:38.640 Prime Minister did speak with Donald Trump on the phone. 0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:42.359 They talked about trade, critical minerals, and economic cooperation. 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:43.920 John, what's your read? 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:48.920 How important is Australia Are we on this White House's 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:52.280 radar at the moment? We have the aucut subs deal, obviously, 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:57.520 but how concerned are they about Australia just as a 0:15:57.640 --> 0:15:59.960 part of the US global alliance structure. 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:03.920 Well, we're eight months into the Trump presidency and the 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:08.400 Prime Minister has had four conversations with President Trump. That's 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:12.880 pretty good. I believe that Australia plays a vital role 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:16.320 in not only US trade policy, but policy towards China. 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:19.640 And of course we have lessons to learn from Australia's 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:23.320 chandling of migration issues. Britain, by the way, should pick 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:26.360 up on some of those. And I believe Australia is 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:29.840 in pretty good shape. The foreign leaders can't afford the 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:33.240 luxury of Trump de rangement syndrome. They have a country 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:38.040 to represent, they have people with vested interests. They aren't 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:42.840 about frivolity or fads. They have to deal with who 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:45.520 they are dealing with. And they don't have to like 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:47.760 Donald Trump to work with him. And as long as 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:49.920 they respect him, he will respect them back. 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:52.760 Well, yeah, that's a good message for our prime minister 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:55.400 who maybe played a little bit fast with the TDS 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:58.240 for his own domestic base. But that's another story. Hey, 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:00.640 before I let you go, John two. Just speaking of 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:03.600 presidential health, there was this crazy rumor last weekend. It 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:06.760 was the holiday long weekend, after Trump hadn't been seen 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:09.120 for a couple of days. There were all these crazy 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:12.159 conspiracies since the president had passed away. 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:14.240 He was asked about this. Listen to this. 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:18.080 You know I have heard it's sort of crazy. But 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:22.040 last week I did numerous news conferences, all successful. They 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:24.960 went very well, like this is going very well. And 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:27.520 then I didn't do any for two days and they 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:28.760 said there must be. 0:17:28.720 --> 0:17:31.800 Something wrong with him. Biden wouldn't do him for months. 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:34.520 You wouldn't see him, and nobody ever said there was 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:37.000 ever anything wrong with him, and we know he wasn't 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:38.320 in the greatest of shape. 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:41.640 Yeah, but at the same time, though Tim Waltz remember him, 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:44.320 he could have been the vice president with Kamala Harris. 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:45.560 Well, he had this to say. 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:49.119 You get up in the morning and you doom scroll 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:52.840 through things. And although I will say this, the last 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:53.560 few days. 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:57.600 You woke up thinking there might be news, just saying, 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:01.480 just saying the news sometime. 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:04.080 Just so you know, there will be news. That's pretty 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:05.840 ghoulish and bad taste, isn't it. 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:11.200 Look, let's be very clear, Tim Waltz is not a governor. 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:14.520 He's a cartoon character. You remember Elmer Fudd in the 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:19.239 Yes Funny cartoons. Yes, that man is Elmer Fudd. And 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:23.399 he's just as stupid and completely incoherent as Elmer Fudd 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:25.960 was in those looney tunes. And in fact, Tim Waltz 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:26.719 is a looney. 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:30.800 To be very very quiet, John, we're hunting webbits. Thank 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:33.120 you so much for your time, John fund As always, 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:36.160 thank you well to more of this week's headlines. Now, 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:40.159 this week we saw China hosted its largest ever military parade, 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:44.040 with guests of honor including Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:46.119 and of course Dan Andrews. 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:46.360 Well. 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:48.919 Donald Trump had a lot to say about this, And 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:50.560 I'm going to break this down with the author of, 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:54.600 among other things, Blood Money, Why the powerful attorney blind 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:58.000 Eye while China kills Americans? And he's also the president 0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:02.520 of the Government Accountability Institute, Peter Schweitzer. Peter, thanks so 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:04.920 much for joining me here. Donald Trump reacted this big 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:08.280 parade on true social saying, May President g and the 0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:10.399 wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:13.800 of celebration. Please give my words regards to Vladimir Putin 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:17.639 and Kim Jong Un as you conspire against the United 0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:21.880 States of America. Peter, he's not holding back his feelings 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:22.480 on this, is he. 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:25.520 No, he's not. And look, he's quite right. I mean, 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:29.240 the only thing that really unifies Russia, the People's Republic 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:32.760 of China, and North Korea is this hostility to the 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:36.000 United States into the Western world, including Australia. That's what 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:39.960 unites them. There are historical animosities. If you throw India 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:43.880 in there with this new quasi alliance they're talking about, 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:46.639 they have a long history of disliking each other. So 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:50.680 that is the unifying principle. And what you saw demonstrated 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:54.359 during this meeting was over hostility to the West in 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:58.159 a desire to beat back the Western world so they 0:19:58.200 --> 0:20:00.879 can gain superiority on the world world, sit on the 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:01.760 world stage. 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:04.160 Yeah, Peter, I want to ask you about that question. 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:07.600 You just mentioned India. A moment ago. People have been 0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:11.080 talking here a lot about oh, Trump has lost India 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:14.240 because he puts sanctions on them. But it seems like 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:16.199 Donald Trump has been put in a no win position 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:19.920 here because either he lets India continue to on sell 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:23.800 Russian oil and provide money to Moscow's call fers, or 0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:26.480 he tries to do something about it. But by the way, 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.720 the press seems to have this as Trump loses. Tell 0:20:29.800 --> 0:20:32.200 us about that India Russia partnership. 0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:36.200 Yeah, no, that's a great point, an important point. Why 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:40.439 did he impose these sanctions or these additional tariffs on India. 0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:44.800 It's because they are circumventing aggressively. And it's basically three 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:49.400 or four wealthy companies in India owned by powerful families 0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:53.240 who are making a killing because they are taking Russian oil, 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:55.639 they are processing it, and then they are selling it 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:59.240 to Europe and other places around the world, totally undercutting 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:02.760 our effort to UH put pressure on Russia for the 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:05.480 Ukraine War. So at the same time that the foreign 0:21:05.560 --> 0:21:08.879 policy establishment decries what Russia is doing in Ukraine, and 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:12.880 the rightfully so, Donald Trump's efforts to pressure Russia gets 0:21:12.920 --> 0:21:17.240 him criticized for pushing India away. I don't think India 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:20.640 sees their future with Russia. I think they understand Russia's 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:24.760 in declining power. They have historical animosity with China. They're 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:28.880 they've been they've been shooting at each other along the border. 0:21:29.520 --> 0:21:32.280 So I don't think that this is something that's long term. 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:36.240 This is an effort by India to try to FLEXUS muscles. 0:21:36.280 --> 0:21:39.920 But I don't think there's any serious alliance here involving 0:21:40.000 --> 0:21:43.680