Speaker 1: This is the US Report with James Moro.
Speaker 2: Well, good evening and welcome to the program. Got a
Speaker 2: huge show for you tonight as Operation Epic Fury approaches
Speaker 2: the end of week two. Plus is the MAGA coalition
Speaker 2: splitting over Iran. I've got some surprising new polling numbers
Speaker 2: on that, Plus the last minute push to save the
Speaker 2: Save Act and finally fixed voter ID, and suddenly it
Speaker 2: seems like the separation of church and State isn't that
Speaker 2: big a deal to the left anymore. We'll take a
Speaker 2: look at that too, but first there is an awful
Speaker 2: lot to get through, so I don't want to take
Speaker 2: too much time before we get into it tonight with
Speaker 2: tonight's all star lineup of guests including Michael Dorin and
Speaker 2: John Heindraker. However, there is one story that has been
Speaker 2: making a lot of news on the left side of
Speaker 2: politics in America that hits at the absolute intersection of
Speaker 2: media cluelessness, the military, and America's effort to wage a
Speaker 2: successful war against the molows of Iran. You see, it
Speaker 2: seems that the Democrats and the left have finally found
Speaker 2: a piece of government spending that they disagree with, not
Speaker 2: you know, billions of dollars funneled through USA to quite
Speaker 2: literally try and explain the conceptual art of barcel duchamp
Speaker 2: to Afghani tribeswomen, or the similarly huge sums of cash
Speaker 2: to fraud schemes close to the home, like Minnesota's infamous
Speaker 2: Quality Leering Center. No, no, no, no no. They're angry
Speaker 2: about this defect.
Speaker 3: Has steak and love.
Speaker 4: I'll just think you love?
Speaker 5: All right, I'm here, decent, I'll Lewis I war.
Speaker 6: Going to war?
Speaker 2: Yes, that's right. They are angry about steak and lobster
Speaker 2: dinners for American servicemen and women before they go off
Speaker 2: to war. They have finally found, as I say, a
Speaker 2: piece of spending they want to cut. Let me explain
Speaker 2: all This got started a few days ago when a
Speaker 2: writer for the New Republic magazine, a woman named Molly
Speaker 2: jong Fast, wrote a piece criticizing Secretary of War Pete
Speaker 2: Hegseth's management of the Pentagon's budget. In this she wrote
Speaker 2: that hag Seth bought quote an astronomical amount of shellfish,
Speaker 2: including two million dollars for Alaskan King Krab and six
Speaker 2: point nine million dollars worth of lobster tales as well
Speaker 2: as get this fifteen point one million dollars for Ribbi steak,
Speaker 2: And then you know what happened next. The left got
Speaker 2: hold of it. It got shoved through that weird Blue
Speaker 2: Ski Network and the Bulwark and sites like that, and
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, it became officially a thing. Democrat
Speaker 2: Adam Schiff was one of the first to jump on
Speaker 2: the bandwagon, criticizing, of all things, fruit purchases.
Speaker 7: So how much did you spend last year on fruit
Speaker 7: basket stands?
Speaker 2: Well, the Pentagon spent twelve thousand.
Speaker 8: That's a lot of fruit basket stands.
Speaker 3: But that's not all. They've wasted a whole lot more
Speaker 3: money than that.
Speaker 2: And predictably, of course, Late night Comedy got into the act.
Speaker 9: Hag Zeth also went all out on the buffet. Reportedly,
Speaker 9: the Pentagon spent two million dollars on crab legs, six
Speaker 9: point nine million dollars on lobster tail, and over fifteen
Speaker 9: million dollars on Ribbi steakes.
Speaker 6: No, no, no, no, no boo.
Speaker 9: They're just hearkening back to our founders, As Paul Revere
Speaker 9: declared on his famous ride one if by Surf two
Speaker 9: of by Turf, that.
Speaker 2: Guy by the way had a whole team of writers
Speaker 2: behind him to come up with that gag. But to me,
Speaker 2: the really fascinating thing was how the audience booed the
Speaker 2: idea of troops getting a nice meal when heading off
Speaker 2: to war. That's the left for you, seth Meyer two
Speaker 2: had some fun if that's the word with the system
Speaker 2: A clip from former Biden flak Jensaki.
Speaker 4: Today, we've got reports that initial estimate showed Trump's war
Speaker 4: cost American taxpayers five point six billion dollars in.
Speaker 1: Just the first two days.
Speaker 4: At the same time, a new report from an external
Speaker 4: government watchdog finds that Pete hegxas Pentagon was already on
Speaker 4: a massive spending scree before the war began, dropping fifteen
Speaker 4: million dollars on wait for it. If you haven't seen
Speaker 4: this story, look it up steak and another six point
Speaker 4: nine million on lobster tail in just the month of September.
Speaker 9: They spent fifteen million dollars on steak in one month.
Speaker 2: Who are you, sterling, Cooper.
Speaker 1: Draper and Price.
Speaker 9: If you're gonna eat that much steak, you better have
Speaker 9: come up with a new campaign for Lucky Strike.
Speaker 2: Oh and by the way, all of this puts Seth
Speaker 2: Myers and Stephen Colbert and Adam Schiff on the same
Speaker 2: side as Vladimir Putin's favorite propaganda channel, Russia Today, which
Speaker 2: criticized hag Says spending frenzy in a long tweet and
Speaker 2: overlaid it with some old footage of Hagg Ceths eating
Speaker 2: barbecue on a breakfast TV program. I gotta say it
Speaker 2: is all, as the man said, so so tiresome. I mean,
Speaker 2: you get the implication here. Millions spent on steak and
Speaker 2: lobster tails by Secretary of War Pete Haig says like
Speaker 2: he's just blowing the corporate credit card on having the
Speaker 2: boys around, not you know again, feeding America's war fighters.
Speaker 2: I'm not kidding. They really are this stupid. Here's CNN's
Speaker 2: Paul Bagala.
Speaker 5: He has spent fifteen million dollars, yeah, in one month
Speaker 5: for Ribbi's steak, six point nine millions for lobster tail,
Speaker 5: two hundred and twenty five million dollars for furniture. He
Speaker 5: spent more than the month of September than most countries
Speaker 5: on Earth spent in their default.
Speaker 10: Do you believe you?
Speaker 3: For himself lobster tails.
Speaker 2: I don't even know where to begin, So instead, I'm
Speaker 2: going to leave it to Begala's fellow panelist, the far
Speaker 2: more sensible Scott Jennings, to take it from here.
Speaker 5: You believe the Secretary of Defense is personally eating all
Speaker 5: the lobster The troops are getting lobs frequently, troops are
Speaker 5: going to watt.
Speaker 2: Well, the internet has in fact been full of clips
Speaker 2: now from troops posting about their steak and lobster dinners
Speaker 2: they've been given before heading off to the fight. And
Speaker 2: you know, I have to say, this is really kind
Speaker 2: of funny to be because for as long as I've
Speaker 2: been around, the left has always loved to accuse the
Speaker 2: right of being all Marie Antoinette and saying let them
Speaker 2: eat cake when it comes to people less privileged than them.
Speaker 2: But when it comes to the fighting men and women
Speaker 2: of America, they get all tetchy about them getting something
Speaker 2: nice to boost their morale. Well, you know what, forget
Speaker 2: let them eat cake, I say, let them eat steak,
Speaker 2: all right. Well, to discuss how America's war against the
Speaker 2: Mullas is going, let's bring in Hudson Institute's senior fellow,
Speaker 2: And as far as I'm concerned, he's one of the
Speaker 2: best in the business when it comes to this stuff. Michael,
Speaker 2: Dori and Michael, welcome to the program. There's been some
Speaker 2: news today from the Iranian government, or what's left of it.
Speaker 2: They've issued a statement from the new Ayatola Iatola most Tama,
Speaker 2: and he said, I sympathize with the families of the martyrs.
Speaker 2: I have a similar experience to these noble people. In
Speaker 2: addition to my father, I've entrusted my wife and my self,
Speaker 2: sacrificing sister, her husband to the caravan of martyrs. Mike,
Speaker 2: this was essentially a tweet from the regime written a
Speaker 2: written statement. We haven't seen the guy, and as far
Speaker 2: as I'm concerned, this has about as much legitimacy as
Speaker 2: a new written statement from Elvis. What are your thoughts?
Speaker 11: Well, hello, James, thanks for having me. I agree with
Speaker 11: you one hundred percent. Nobody is certain that he's among
Speaker 11: the living. If he is among the living, there's no
Speaker 11: certainty that he's not in a coma. No one really
Speaker 11: knows at this point. He was the consensus candidate of
Speaker 11: the ruling elite because he assured everyone, all of the
Speaker 11: power centers in the regime, that nothing would change the
Speaker 11: regime of course, is under unprecedented, unprecedented pressure as a
Speaker 11: result of the Israeli American campaign and all the different elements.
Speaker 11: And when I say the different elements, that means the
Speaker 11: IRGC first and foremost, this is the dominant element in
Speaker 11: the regime, the revolutionary Guard, the praetorian guard of the regime.
Speaker 11: Then the household of Ali Khamanei, his Muchtuba's father. When
Speaker 11: I say household, that's the that's what they call it
Speaker 11: in Iran. But we're really talking about a multi billion
Speaker 11: dollar economic empire and the power center of the regime
Speaker 11: under his father. So there's a lot of people there.
Speaker 11: I want to make sure they weren't going to lose
Speaker 11: their jobs. And then finally the clerics, who are not
Speaker 11: as important to the Islamic Republic as they used to be,
Speaker 11: but there's still a significant element. And so he's the
Speaker 11: consensus candidate that assures everyone the boat is not going
Speaker 11: to be rocked. But his job, his job really is
Speaker 11: not to rock anyone's boat. So a dead person can
Speaker 11: do that, a person in a coma can do that,
Speaker 11: or a relative non entity simply because he's his father's son.
Speaker 2: Sure, well, Mike, before we get to the US prosecution
Speaker 2: of the war. Then this brings up another question. If
Speaker 2: mush Taba is in a coma, if he's incapacitated, if
Speaker 2: he doesn't even know he is the new supreme leader,
Speaker 2: who is actually calling the shots in Iran, And who
Speaker 2: does the US talked to eventually about a surrender or
Speaker 2: a treaty or a deal.
Speaker 11: Well, it's a good question, and I think it's a
Speaker 11: bit of a murky question at the moment that the
Speaker 11: simple answer is the commanders of the Revolutionary Guard.
Speaker 3: They are the.
Speaker 11: The i RGC commanders are the most powerful people. Also,
Speaker 11: Ali Lera Johnny, who was who was deputized by Ali
Speaker 11: Khamanei before he died to take over the executive the
Speaker 11: executive functions. But it seems like Lara Johnny was sidelined
Speaker 11: a little bit in this decision to to select Muchtaba.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 11: Pozzeshkian, who's the the president, came out last weekend and
Speaker 11: he apologized to the neighboring states for the attacks that
Speaker 11: Iran carried out against them and he promised that they
Speaker 11: wouldn't there wouldn't be anymore. And then the commander of
Speaker 11: the Revolutionary Guard came out and said, don't listen to possession.
Speaker 3: He represents nothing.
Speaker 11: So you don't have to have it, you know, you
Speaker 11: don't have to read the tea leaves and figure out
Speaker 11: what's going there.
Speaker 3: The IRGC is in charge.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, but twos in charge of that, who knows.
Speaker 2: But onto the American side of the equation then, you know.
Speaker 2: One of the things that struck me all week is
Speaker 2: that there's already as there always is whenever there is
Speaker 2: this sort of campaign by the United States, a massive
Speaker 2: amount of doom saying, people saying, oh, you know, it's
Speaker 2: Vietnam all over again. Trump has no plan. Can I
Speaker 2: get your take, as somebody who studies and thinks about
Speaker 2: these things very deeply, your take on how the US
Speaker 2: Israeli prosecution of this war is going from a strategic
Speaker 2: point of view? And are the critics from the various
Speaker 2: news outlets and so on in the West and in
Speaker 2: the United States particularly, are they right or you know,
Speaker 2: or do they need to give Trump more credit for
Speaker 2: how this is going, particularly at this stage of the game.
Speaker 3: So uh, they they're wrong. The war is going extremely well.
Speaker 11: It's a war, and the enemy, the Iranian enemy, is
Speaker 11: more resilient than I think a lot of people expected,
Speaker 11: possibly even more than the Trump administration expected. I'm not
Speaker 11: sure about that. Uh, but it's it's not a cake walk.
Speaker 11: And and so you can look at the challenge and
Speaker 11: then you can you can say that you can turn
Speaker 11: the challenge into uh a sign of of of complete
Speaker 11: disarray and lack of a plan and so on. But
Speaker 11: I think that that's that that's terribly you know, terribly
Speaker 11: one sided or I would say very tendentious. The the
Speaker 11: military uh, the military plan is going extremely well, and
Speaker 11: they it's this is exemplary, and they the the losses,
Speaker 11: the huge the losses of American and Israeli soldiers have
Speaker 11: been very very small. Now, if you're a family member,
Speaker 11: you know that this is a this is a catastrophe.
Speaker 11: But from the point of view of of comparison with
Speaker 11: other wars, it's going extremely well. The what what the
Speaker 11: the regime had though, the Iranian regime had a strategy
Speaker 11: that I think caught everyone a little bit by surprise,
Speaker 11: and that was to focus in on the neighbors, the
Speaker 11: Gulf States and in particularly the UAE. The UAE has
Speaker 11: absorbed more blows from the drones and missiles from Iran
Speaker 11: than Israel. Has I think they may have surprised people,
Speaker 11: uh the closing of the straits of a strait of
Speaker 11: hormones that didn't happen in June, and this time they're
Speaker 11: they're they're doing it. The resilience of the missile core
Speaker 11: that this is the key, the key instrument that Iran
Speaker 11: has in its arsenal. Are these ballistic missiles. They're still
Speaker 11: getting off the shots. It's they're they're down by about
Speaker 11: ninety percent in terms of the volume, but the accuracy
Speaker 11: is increasing because they're getting targeting data from the Russians
Speaker 11: and possibly from the the Chinese.
Speaker 3: But they're gonna be broken.
Speaker 11: It's just a matter of time before the US and
Speaker 11: Israel breaks the back of these of these resilient missile forces.
Speaker 11: It's hard to get at them. They're decentralized. They have
Speaker 11: they they they've been they've been broken into about thirty
Speaker 11: different units which have their own uh which they which
Speaker 11: have their own autonomy. They don't have to ask Mother
Speaker 11: may I to shoot off a missile and and they
Speaker 11: they're good at shoot and scoot. So it's it just
Speaker 11: takes it takes time to destroy all of them, but
Speaker 11: they will be destroyed. And once those missile forces are destroyed,
Speaker 11: then Iran doesn't have a major it doesn't have another
Speaker 11: major card to play.
Speaker 2: Finally, Michael, there's only a ben min orso left here.
Speaker 2: Just want to ask you very quickly about this story
Speaker 2: that I I think the White House kind of shot
Speaker 2: down about the threat of Iranian tax sleeper cell attacks
Speaker 2: on California. But what are the risks around Iranian sleeper
Speaker 2: cells in the United States. I've heard this spoken about
Speaker 2: for years. Just quickly, is this something that they need
Speaker 2: to worry about.
Speaker 3: We have to be worried about them.
Speaker 11: They have their backs to the wall, and they will
Speaker 11: do They've shown they'll do anything. They have no compunction
Speaker 11: about hitting civilian targets or carrying out terrorism. But we've seen,
Speaker 11: you know, in recent years, their usual mo is to
Speaker 11: work through biker gangs, drug gangs.
Speaker 3: And so on.
Speaker 11: I don't believe that there are super sophisticated cells waiting
Speaker 11: to be waiting to be activated that are gonna really
Speaker 11: surprise us greatly. But they may have a few, they
Speaker 11: may have a few tricks up their sleeve.
Speaker 2: Fair enough, Michael, thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 2: Has always really appreciated. Thank you now, on to other
Speaker 2: news out of the United States. This week, President Donald
Speaker 2: Trump has a peace to the Supreme Court to terminate
Speaker 2: the temporary protected status of more than three hundred thousand
Speaker 2: Haitian migrants. This comes after a ruling by a federal
Speaker 2: district court last month. Yeah, you know, those guys that
Speaker 2: blocked the administration from just letting the statuses expire. Justices
Speaker 2: are also considering the administration's decision to end similar protections
Speaker 2: for more than six thousand Syrians. To talk about this
Speaker 2: and a whole lot more, I'm joined by the president
Speaker 2: of the Center for the American Experiment, John Heinraker. John,
Speaker 2: thanks so much for coming on today. The Supreme Court must,
Speaker 2: I would assume, wind up having to do the right
Speaker 2: thing here and overturning this latest activist judge who has
Speaker 2: once again blocked Trump. I mean, this seems to be
Speaker 2: a real pattern here, and as lawyer, you would know
Speaker 2: how to talk about this and explain this. These judges,
Speaker 2: they keep attacking Trump, but they keep wind up getting overturned.
Speaker 2: It's a huge waste of time.
Speaker 12: Well more often than not, that's true, James. So what's
Speaker 12: going on here is that the temporary status for Haitians.
Speaker 12: Goes back to twenty ten when there was an earthquake
Speaker 12: in Haiti, and these people have been temporarily in America
Speaker 12: ever since, so that the temporary status has been renewed
Speaker 12: a number of times, and if it's up to the Democrats,
Speaker 12: of course, it will never expire. It was last renewed
Speaker 12: by the Biden administration for eighteen months in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 12: So now it has expired, and by law, the administration
Speaker 12: has to either extend it again or terminate it. And
Speaker 12: Secretary Christy Noam terminated the temporary protected status rather than
Speaker 12: extending it again. So, as you said, last month, a
Speaker 12: liberal a district court judge of Washington, d C. Issued
Speaker 12: an order barring the administration from terminating that temporary status. Well,
Speaker 12: the case is being litigated again a temporary order, and
Speaker 12: as you say, this is one of many orders that
Speaker 12: liberal judges have entered temporarily blocked in the administration from
Speaker 12: carrying out really just about any of its immigration policies.
Speaker 12: And the strategy here really is just to delay implementation
Speaker 12: of the administration's policies on immigration, hoping to get a
Speaker 12: Democratic president in twenty twenty eight that will reverse those policies.
Speaker 12: So now it's all heading to the Supreme Court and
Speaker 12: we'll see what happens there.
Speaker 2: John. The great irony about all of this is that
Speaker 2: the left of the Democrats are always the ones who
Speaker 2: are saying the right is a threat to democracy. Trump
Speaker 2: is a threat to democracy. And yet the will of
Speaker 2: the people is quite clearly to do something about borders
Speaker 2: and migration, because that was the number one thing Trump
Speaker 2: ran on and won big time on. Now they just
Speaker 2: don't seem to accept this. And I want to show
Speaker 2: you an incredible exchange which unfolded during a Senate budget
Speaker 2: hearing this week. Republican Senator Bernie Moreno pressed former Biden
Speaker 2: advisor Brendan Duke on illegal immigration and whether this is
Speaker 2: even a crime. Have a look at this bizarre response.
Speaker 10: Do you think it should be a crime to enter
Speaker 10: the country illegally? I don't know anything about this.
Speaker 2: I'm here to talk.
Speaker 10: You don't have to like I'm not a lawyer.
Speaker 3: You don't have to be a lawyer.
Speaker 10: It's a simple question. Do you have a home, hi, right?
Speaker 10: Do you have a place that you sleep in?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 10: Is should it be a crime for people to enter
Speaker 10: your home without permission? Yes, you're pretty certain on that one, okay,
Speaker 10: But you're not sure if it's okay to enter America
Speaker 10: without permission, which is our home, by the way, you
Speaker 10: don't know about America.
Speaker 2: Okay, John, I thought that this kind of gave the
Speaker 2: game away. And I've noticed that there's a number of
Speaker 2: think tanks, including some libertarian ones on the right, that
Speaker 2: are pushing this idea that no, it's not illegal to
Speaker 2: enter the country illegally. Tell us about this, and am
Speaker 2: I right that this is undermining a very democratic principle here?
Speaker 12: Well, it really is, James. I mean, the question should
Speaker 12: illegal immigration be a crime kind of answers itself. Thank
Speaker 12: you at Entering the country illegally is a crime under
Speaker 12: Title eight of the United States Code, Section thirteen twenty five.
Speaker 12: It is punishable by six months in prison. But keep
Speaker 12: in mind, James, that the Biden administration, instead of enforcing
Speaker 12: the law, invited millions of illegal immigrants to enter the country.
Speaker 12: They gave them cell phones, they bought them plane tickets,
Speaker 12: and they put them up in hotels around the country.
Speaker 12: And so it's not too surprising that former Biden administration
Speaker 12: officials really don't want to talk about the fact that
Speaker 12: illegal immigration is in fact a crime.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, and I mean I think John, if
Speaker 2: they really want to go to the election on that
Speaker 2: in the next presidential election in twenty twenty eight, I'd
Speaker 2: love to see them run on this as a platform.
Speaker 2: But speaking also of other people who are running, I
Speaker 2: also need to get your thoughts on this question of
Speaker 2: how old is too old to be in office, because
Speaker 2: eighty five year old Representative James Clyburn from South Carolina
Speaker 2: has said he's going to seek an eighteenth term. And
Speaker 2: this is part of a sort of a longer problem
Speaker 2: with a kind of a gerontocracy that's seen our Congress be
Speaker 2: the third oldest in US history. Does something need to
Speaker 2: be done? Do you think, John, constitutionally to maybe bring
Speaker 2: some new blood into the game here? I mean, is
Speaker 2: this why young people are so disillusioned with politics?
Speaker 12: Well, James, especially on the Democratic side, it is a gerritocracy.
Speaker 12: I mean, I mean, a guy like Chuck Schumer, I
Speaker 12: think he's what seventy five years old, He's a spring
Speaker 12: chicken compared to James Clyburn and Nancy Pelosi and many others.
Speaker 12: And of course, to be fair, Donald Trump is what's
Speaker 12: seventy nine. It's a really hard problem, James, because conservatives
Speaker 12: have often proposed term limits in the past, that you
Speaker 12: shouldn't be able to serve in Congress for forty years
Speaker 12: or whatever. And yet the reality is that the voters
Speaker 12: keep re electing these people, and so it's democracy at work.
Speaker 2: Indeed, finally, I just want to ask you too about
Speaker 2: while President Trump was out campaigning in Kentucky this week,
Speaker 2: he invited social media star Jake Paul on stage two
Speaker 2: give some words and seemingly endorsed him for political office.
Speaker 2: Have a look at this, you guys have that swag.
Speaker 13: There's a lot of young kids in here, the future
Speaker 13: of America. I grew up just a few hours away
Speaker 13: from here, and my dad taught me to fight, and
Speaker 13: all of our voices matter in America.
Speaker 3: Now. He's a great guy.
Speaker 12: He's a courageous guy and a talented guy. He's a
Speaker 12: hell of a fighter too, by the way.
Speaker 2: You know what I find fascinating about this is that
Speaker 2: Donald Trump, at his age, manages to be so plugged
Speaker 2: into who young people are into, into this whole internet
Speaker 2: meme culture. This seems to give him an advantage in
Speaker 2: his campaigning. Do you think that advantage will be able
Speaker 2: to translate into the midterms into whoever winds up taking
Speaker 2: up the Maga mantle in twenty twenty eight.
Speaker 12: Well, we'll see. So it's true that Trump, despite his age,
Speaker 12: does have a good sense for contemporary popular culture. We
Speaker 12: saw that in twenty twenty four. Reportedly it was his
Speaker 12: son Baron who encouraged him to go on various podcasts
Speaker 12: during the campaign and it really helped him. But don't
Speaker 12: forget that Trump himself was a star of popular culture
Speaker 12: as the host of the television show The Apprentice. That's
Speaker 12: one of the things that really made Trump famous. So
Speaker 12: popular culture comes naturally to him more so than any
Speaker 12: other recent president. And I don't know whether it's going
Speaker 12: to rub off on his successors and the Republican Party
Speaker 12: or not.
Speaker 2: Well I don't know, but if it's Marco Rubio, he
Speaker 2: has certainly been the star of some pretty funny memes lately.
Speaker 2: John Heinriker, We're going to have to leave it there,
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for your time. Now stick around
Speaker 2: because shortly we're going to be asking the question is
Speaker 2: MAGA splitting over Iran? And also what happened to that
Speaker 2: push to make American voters show ID. But first, by
Speaker 2: now you're going to have seen the footage of the
Speaker 2: cardboard on a toll of the Iranians brought out to
Speaker 2: mark the inauguration of the new leader, the real Ayatola being,
Speaker 2: shall we say, unavailable for comment. But if you see this,
Speaker 2: it's supposedly Trump unveiling a portrait of the cardboard Ayotola
Speaker 2: in the Oval office or is it?
Speaker 13: And it's very cool?
Speaker 10: Oh my gosh, is that great?
Speaker 13: Just what up yesterday?
Speaker 4: Wow?
Speaker 2: Actually, no, you're right, that was ai but pretty good.
Speaker 2: Ai at that's so good. In fact, I had to
Speaker 2: check because you could totally see Trump doing something like this.
Speaker 2: Right anyway, I'm sure the latest iatola will be gone
Speaker 2: by the time we have the next recycling collection out
Speaker 2: the front. Stick around because we're going to ask the question,
Speaker 2: has MAGA gone sour on the war? You Polling answered
Speaker 2: the question in a tick. Welcome back to the program.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Donald Trump has been hitting the road again this week,
Speaker 2: campaigning ahead of the upcoming critical midterm elections later this year,
Speaker 2: and as we saw earlier in the show, he popped
Speaker 2: up in Kentucky came to get rid of Thomas Massey,
Speaker 2: a Republican representative there who has been a troublemaker four
Speaker 2: months trying to harm the Trump administration. Now, Trump took
Speaker 2: to the stage to endorse candidate Ed Galleryl.
Speaker 6: Now, Thomas Massey is attacking a great Navy seal hero.
Speaker 8: This is a real hero, Ed gall Ryan. I want
Speaker 8: to just give.
Speaker 12: Me somebody with a warm body to beat Massey.
Speaker 9: And I got somebody with a warm body but a big,
Speaker 9: beautiful brain and a great patriot.
Speaker 3: He's unbelievable.
Speaker 2: Well to unpick this and other potentially key trouble spots
Speaker 2: to look for at the midterms. I'm joined now by
Speaker 2: Chairman of Republicans Overseas UK, Greg Swinson. Greg, welcome to
Speaker 2: the program. Tell us about this ongoing fight between Donald
Speaker 2: Trump and Thomas Massey, because I think a lot of
Speaker 2: people hear me, have seen the headlines, but they may
Speaker 2: not have that much detail on. Tell us about this
Speaker 2: and how is this all playing out?
Speaker 6: Yeah, so, so Thomas Massey is an eccentric and you know,
Speaker 6: in many ways people respect him and I think he's
Speaker 6: you know, he means well, he wants what's best for America,
Speaker 6: but he doesn't he doesn't cooperate, he doesn't play well
Speaker 6: with others games. So, like he voted against the big
Speaker 6: Beautiful bill because it didn't cut enough spending. But I
Speaker 6: think what he forgets is that, you know, we need
Speaker 6: enough votes to pass the bill. You can't, you know,
Speaker 6: you can't have everything you want, and so you know, look,
Speaker 6: I think he's he's a libertarian for sure, but unfortunately
Speaker 6: libertarians can't win elections in many places besides Kentucky.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, look, I think that's right. I'm actually surprised
Speaker 2: to hear that there would be a libertarian winning in
Speaker 2: Kentucky all of all places. I kind of would have thought, oh,
Speaker 2: that would have been important postal thing. But also just
Speaker 2: all these mid terms and what's leading up to them.
Speaker 2: There's also special elections coming up in Georgia and Texas
Speaker 2: at the moment. Tell us about these, what's going on
Speaker 2: with those and how what is that portending for what's
Speaker 2: going to happen in November.
Speaker 6: Well, I always am really cautious about using these off
Speaker 6: year elections or you know what we call the UK
Speaker 6: by elections as predictors of the bigger elections. And the
Speaker 6: reason is Democrats tend to vote in much greater numbers
Speaker 6: in the off year or off term elections, and so
Speaker 6: when a Republican actually surprises, I'm impressed because Republicans typically
Speaker 6: don't vote. They don't they're not very good at voter
Speaker 6: participation except for election year, I mean for our presidential
Speaker 6: election years. So if President Trump's on the ballot, Republicans
Speaker 6: turn out. If he's not in the ballot, the Democrats win,
Speaker 6: And so I don't think it's a big deal when
Speaker 6: a Democrat wins. A much more surprised when we're Republican one.
Speaker 6: So I'm not putting too much weight on it, but
Speaker 6: it still might be a good indicator of what we
Speaker 6: can see. And I think the challenge was in the
Speaker 6: elections in November, which were very much off your elections.
Speaker 6: The Democrats were winning districts that President Trump won, or
Speaker 6: at least they were closing the gap, and that's always
Speaker 6: worries and for Republicans.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I think Look, I think that's right. And
Speaker 2: of course we have to remind viewers here that America
Speaker 2: doesn't have compulsory voting like in Australia. So these elections
Speaker 2: tell you a lot less specifically about where things are going.
Speaker 2: But one thing that I think is very interesting and
Speaker 2: because this war is hanging over everything now politically. And
Speaker 2: one thing that many people in the media are trying
Speaker 2: to push this idea that there's a huge split down
Speaker 2: the MAGA base involving Operation Epic Fury. But I've looked
Speaker 2: at some of the polling, and many of the polls
Speaker 2: are showing that instead of splitting the base, the base
Speaker 2: of Republicans, particularly MAGA Republicans, are between eighty five and
Speaker 2: ninety percent in favor of what's going on in Iran.
Speaker 2: It feels like there's a bit of fake news being
Speaker 2: pushed by people here who are hoping for a split
Speaker 2: in Mega.
Speaker 6: Yeah, they've been looking for the split for the last
Speaker 6: ten years and they never actually find it. And so
Speaker 6: they found a few outliers, you know, a few people
Speaker 6: that you know, maybe you're in the media or they're
Speaker 6: looking for, you know, for clickbait, and they and they
Speaker 6: talk about, you know, the MAGA wing being opposed to this,
Speaker 6: and it's just not true, as you pointed out, James.
Speaker 6: And so what we found is Republicans in general are
Speaker 6: in favor of what the president is doing by about
Speaker 6: eighty percent eighty twenty. But the MAGA wing is even
Speaker 6: more in favor of it, as you pointed it out,
Speaker 6: and that was a great table that was shot around
Speaker 6: this morning. And so yeah, that's just a myth that
Speaker 6: the Democrats and maybe some on the on the MAGA
Speaker 6: media right are trying to perpetuate to get more attention.
Speaker 6: But it's just not true.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 6: The Democrats, on the other hand, because they hate America,
Speaker 6: are only twenty percent in favor of the action. So
Speaker 6: that's not surprising.
Speaker 2: Well, so, I mean, obviously everything's going to come down
Speaker 2: to the next couple of weeks here with this greg
Speaker 2: here with Operation Epic Fury, whether or not this thing
Speaker 2: is wrapped up tidally or whether it drags on. But
Speaker 2: if this thing is, if there is a reasonable outcome
Speaker 2: and a settlement and an end that can pautiously be
Speaker 2: called at least some sort of victory here and things
Speaker 2: get back to the petrol price wise, gas price wise here.
Speaker 2: Do you think that this will have a hangover effect
Speaker 2: that might use that Democrats might be able to use
Speaker 2: to turn out their base, an anti war Democrat base,
Speaker 2: to knock off Republican candidates in the midterms.
Speaker 6: I don't think so. For a few reasons. One is
Speaker 6: American voters really don't care about foreign policy. They do
Speaker 6: care when there's a hot war and when there's American
Speaker 6: lives at risk. So I don't want to underestimate how
Speaker 6: difficult war can be voters. But generally speaking, you know,
Speaker 6: since the election is still nine months away or the midterms,
Speaker 6: this thing will be settled down by that. So foreign
Speaker 6: policy doesn't usually rank for American voters. What they care
Speaker 6: about are the pocketbook issues. They care about affordability, they
Speaker 6: care about all the woke garbage that the Democrats were proposing,
Speaker 6: you know, during the Biden years. So I don't think
Speaker 6: this will be a you know, a burden or some
Speaker 6: sort of headwind for the Republicans. What I do or
Speaker 6: what I do worry about, is if we don't really
Speaker 6: win on the economic issues, and that's that's a much
Speaker 6: bigger issue.
Speaker 2: Indeed. Hey, and finally, just before I let you go,
Speaker 2: I just want to talk about where we're up to
Speaker 2: with this Save America Act, which we've been speaking about
Speaker 2: for weeks and weeks on this program this year. Now
Speaker 2: it's sort of reached a bit of a standoff here,
Speaker 2: and this is all about presenting voter ID to vote
Speaker 2: and proving your citizenship Where is this up to you
Speaker 2: right now? Because my understanding is now Trump is potentially
Speaker 2: threatening to say on any legislation until this thing winds
Speaker 2: up getting passed. What's the latest? Where does this land?
Speaker 2: And could it lead to you know, more government stalemates,
Speaker 2: shut downs, that sort of gear.
Speaker 6: I think, I mean, there's a lot of that right now.
Speaker 6: And it's really a shame because this is one issue
Speaker 6: where the polling suggest that eighty five percent of Americans
Speaker 6: are all for it, So why wouldn't it pass? It
Speaker 6: doesn't have to even be a Republican versus Democrat. Then
Speaker 6: it's polling at eighty four. It pulls in the nineties
Speaker 6: with Republicans, it polls in the high seventies with Democrats.
Speaker 6: African Americans, it polls at seventy five or eighty. In
Speaker 6: other words, this whole drama has been has been created
Speaker 6: by a handful of radical senators of Democrat centers that
Speaker 6: you know are trying to call it, you know, Jim
Speaker 6: Crow two point zero or saying that somehow it's racist,
Speaker 6: when I think, you know, it's condescending to suggest that
Speaker 6: it's racist that minorities don't know how to get a
Speaker 6: driver's license or don't know how to get at get
Speaker 6: a photo ID. It's really it's an eighty twenty issue,
Speaker 6: and I hope that the Republicans can figure out a
Speaker 6: way to pass it.
Speaker 2: I mean, let's just have a little little book at
Speaker 2: a little look at Senator Chuck Schumer, our old friend,
Speaker 2: having a talking about just what you were saying.
Speaker 14: But their bill isn't voter ID number one. It is
Speaker 14: about voter registration. It makes it. It allows ICE to
Speaker 14: kick tens of billions of people off the rolls, off
Speaker 14: the rolls, and they don't tell them until election day
Speaker 14: and you show them and you say, you're not registered anymore.
Speaker 14: You're not registered here, you're not on the rolls.
Speaker 2: I don't mean to be Gliba Greg, but it seems
Speaker 2: like Schumer's kind of admitted all those that there are
Speaker 2: people on the rolls who shouldn't be there.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, it's it's the only way they can
Speaker 6: win in some places, and I think it's it's criminal.
Speaker 6: I mean, you know what, most of it in red
Speaker 6: states already have voter ID rules, maybe cities and they're
Speaker 6: red states because Republicans tend to win when only citizens vote.
Speaker 6: So it's really it's very hypocritical of shootmor to try
Speaker 6: this businesses when again, when eighty percent of the people
Speaker 6: in America are all for it, including minorities who he
Speaker 6: claims will be the victims of this thing. So it's
Speaker 6: really sad. But I think the Democrats will do what
Speaker 6: it takes to win. They're all for you know, they'll
Speaker 6: they'll cheat, they'll they'll whatever it takes. And that's that
Speaker 6: Since the sixties, that's been their model. You know, it's it's.
Speaker 2: Yeah, whatever it takes has been been a long standing
Speaker 2: motto of left wing politicians everywhere. I can tell you
Speaker 2: that great, thank you so much for talking. We're gonna
Speaker 2: have to leave it there. And now don't go anywhere
Speaker 2: because New York is going broke ed. You're not going
Speaker 2: to believe why the guy in charge of the city's
Speaker 2: finances has gone to ground. This is a doozy. But first,
Speaker 2: have you gotten enough of the cardboard? I totally yetes
Speaker 2: I have. I saw them over to the Pretenders nineteen
Speaker 2: eighty three, Just kidding anyway, Comedian Doug's statement has gotten
Speaker 2: into the act. Here he is as Palestinian actress Lyle Culpepper,
Speaker 2: belting out a few bars.
Speaker 15: Sometimes we are need to hear.
Speaker 8: So true and holy recycle holy.
Speaker 13: Right now.
Speaker 1: Need the leader.
Speaker 3: You're gonna change the game.
Speaker 1: Just stay out the rain. God.
Speaker 10: I so you are my king, I episoldier nucking me
Speaker 10: anything you want.
Speaker 1: Me to be.
Speaker 2: Love your work, Lyle, and love that cardboard I had
Speaker 2: told up. Anyways, stick around because Manhattan, Mom, Donnie Madness
Speaker 2: is coming up after the break, Welcome back to the program. Well,
Speaker 2: there's been some shocking vision out of New York this
Speaker 2: week where there was a showdown between pro and anti
Speaker 2: Islam protesters in which explosives or attempted explosives were thrown,
Speaker 2: all of this taking place outside the official residents of
Speaker 2: New York City Mayor Zoron Mam Donni. Now, the incident
Speaker 2: is being investigated as being Isis inspired terrorism, and nineteen
Speaker 2: year old Ibrahim Kayumi and eighteen year old Amir Balat
Speaker 2: faced federal charges in connection with the allegations surrounding the incident,
Speaker 2: and the explosives appear to have been thrown allegedly by
Speaker 2: them at anti Islamic extremism protesters. But the reaction to
Speaker 2: this incident has been absolutely shocking. CNN's political combinator Anna
Speaker 2: Navarro falsely claimed during a panel discussion that the attack
Speaker 2: was aimed at Zoron mom Donni, the mayor himself, rather
Speaker 2: than the protesters. Have a look.
Speaker 7: Supposedly, some of these comments are as a result of
Speaker 7: the attempt against I guess Mayor Mandani in New York
Speaker 7: who was raised Muslim?
Speaker 6: Was he not?
Speaker 2: So there you go. And meanwhile, CNN primetime host Abby
Speaker 2: Phillip did the exact same thing and in fact had
Speaker 2: to wind up taking to social media to apologize and
Speaker 2: say that the wording of her comments were inaccurate. You
Speaker 2: can say that again. Joining me now to discuss this
Speaker 2: and more is the New York Posts Enter at Large,
Speaker 2: Kelly Jane Taurus. Kelly, thanks so much for coming on
Speaker 2: here this whole inversion of this alleged incident where they
Speaker 2: made it look like it was actually anti Islamic extremism
Speaker 2: protesters committing an Islamophobic attack. Well, no, wonder people don't
Speaker 2: trust the media.
Speaker 16: It's crazy, isn't it, James. And as you know, those
Speaker 16: are not the only examples. It wasn't just CNN. Every
Speaker 16: major media outlet, you know, minus their post of course,
Speaker 16: was doing this. You know, The New York Times others.
Speaker 16: They had in their headlines, very misleading headlines that made
Speaker 16: it sound again like it was the you know, supposed
Speaker 16: right wingers who had actually thrown the explosives, when in fact,
Speaker 16: it was these two guys who were inspired by ISIS
Speaker 16: apparently and you know, had gone training in the Middle
Speaker 16: East just to do this sort of attack. So it's
Speaker 16: quite crazy that the media would try to paint it
Speaker 16: the opposite of what it does. But let's face it,
Speaker 16: a lot of journalists do live in bizarro world. It's
Speaker 16: just incredible that they are allowed to get away with it.
Speaker 2: Well yeah, I mean, look, you think some journalists through
Speaker 2: bizarro world. I live in the inner west of city.
Speaker 2: That's Sydney. That's pretty bizarrow itself. But you know this
Speaker 2: is pretty wild because I want you to listen to
Speaker 2: how Zion mab Dani himself described these two alleged terrorists.
Speaker 8: Two men Amir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, traveled from Pennsylvania
Speaker 8: and a tempted to bring violence to New York City.
Speaker 8: They are suspected of coming here to commit an act
Speaker 8: of terrorism.
Speaker 2: Okay, but listen to how he described the anti extremism
Speaker 2: protest that they were targeting.
Speaker 8: This was a vile protest rooted in white supremacy, entitled
Speaker 8: stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City.
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 2: It seems like he was more cross about the protest
Speaker 2: than people who are throwing an alleged improvised explosive device
Speaker 2: that was full of nails. That doesn't seem like, I
Speaker 2: don't know, white supremacy to me being the problem.
Speaker 16: No, it's not James. And notice he used the word
Speaker 16: vile to describe that protest. He didn't use the word
Speaker 16: vile or anything like it to describe these two guys
Speaker 16: that came here. And really, we're just lucky that there
Speaker 16: weren't victims of this, were lucky that the explosives did
Speaker 16: not go off. And of course, you know, thanks to
Speaker 16: NYPD officers of whom I'm Donnie is constantly called racist
Speaker 16: in the past, they were able to apprehend these guys.
Speaker 16: And you know, one of the devices was dropped right
Speaker 16: by some of those police officers. So again, this could
Speaker 16: have really harmed and who knows, even been fatal to
Speaker 16: some of our great police officers here in New York City.
Speaker 16: But again, Zahn Mamdani cannot say a word of negativity
Speaker 16: or or of course the motivation behind those guys who
Speaker 16: were attacking that day.
Speaker 2: And you know, the thing about this whole story too,
Speaker 2: is that this is really, of course centering the question
Speaker 2: of Islam and America, Islam and New York and Zoron
Speaker 2: Mamdani himself being the first Muslim mayor, and you know, look, frankly,
Speaker 2: I think it's great to see people celebrating their faith
Speaker 2: whatever it is. But Zoron mam Donni being the first
Speaker 2: mayor of the Big Apple, many of his top appointees
Speaker 2: are Muslim as well. And there has now been these
Speaker 2: photos that have emerged of mom Donni breaking the Ramadan
Speaker 2: fast at city Hall, and we've seen the prayer take place, supplications,
Speaker 2: carpets being put all over the floors to give it
Speaker 2: sort of a Middle Eastern kind of feel. And one
Speaker 2: of the things that I think is really interesting is
Speaker 2: that it used to be that the left wood protest
Speaker 2: about putting a Nativity scene, you know, on the steps
Speaker 2: of a town hale somewhere, and now there are actually
Speaker 2: SEMs to be like, oh, hey, how great is this.
Speaker 2: We're having a Ramadan religious feast inside city hall in
Speaker 2: the biggest city of the greatest city in America.
Speaker 16: That's a great point, James. I mean, there are actually
Speaker 16: organizations here in America that were founded to stop, you know,
Speaker 16: to stop any sort of religious observance in public spaces.
Speaker 16: And you know, they've made money over the years, and
Speaker 16: they have people that are employed just to fight the
Speaker 16: sort of things you mentioned, Nativity scenes, crosses on property.
Speaker 16: But of course they are not saying a word about
Speaker 16: this very very very public space, Gracie Mansion, the storied
Speaker 16: residents of the New York City mayor, and it's all
Speaker 16: over the place, and of course the media as well,
Speaker 16: you know if again you know, they've they've certainly not
Speaker 16: reported fairly on you know, Christian or Jewish, you know,
Speaker 16: space celebrations in public spaces. But they are quite happy
Speaker 16: to spread Mamdani's Ramanan feasts, especially when he broke bread
Speaker 16: one evening with Mahmood Khalil, who was the Columbia protester
Speaker 16: who was you know, the Trump administration tried to deport
Speaker 16: for causing so much trouble on the Columbia campus and
Speaker 16: he had to bread with him one night. You know,
Speaker 16: That's that's what he wants to send with this he's
Speaker 16: not even you know, breaking bread with you know, Muslim
Speaker 16: leaders who are for peace and and for uh, you know,
Speaker 16: getting along with everybody. He's he's picking really the the
Speaker 16: you know, the violist. You know, some might say, people
Speaker 16: to celebrate.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I mean it's just interesting though, how you know, again,
Speaker 2: the Mamdani's Muslim faith is being treated completely differently from
Speaker 2: any other public figures faith because the budget director of
Speaker 2: New York City is also of the Islamic faith, and
Speaker 2: he was supposed to be explaining away a five point
Speaker 2: four billion dollar budget deficit. But listen to this. It
Speaker 2: turns out that the budget director, Shearif Solomon, is himself
Speaker 2: using Ramadan as an excuse to avoid answering questions about
Speaker 2: the city's dire finances.
Speaker 15: Now, usually the mayor's budget director will kick off testimony
Speaker 15: at the first council budget hearing, but City Hall says
Speaker 15: that the director will testify later in the month because
Speaker 15: he is fasting for Ramadan.
Speaker 2: Hi Kelly, again, it just seems to be weird that
Speaker 2: the left, in a place like New York, which is
Speaker 2: always opposed to religion in the public square, is suddenly
Speaker 2: just kind of giving this all a pass. Because it's
Speaker 2: Mom Donnie and he's on the left and he's progressive,
Speaker 2: and I guess Islam isn't you know, nasty like Christianity
Speaker 2: or Judaism, which you know they get the old the
Speaker 2: icks about.
Speaker 16: And what's crazy, James. And to think about it, you know,
Speaker 16: if you are I didn't do our jobs because you
Speaker 16: know we're feeling hungry, we wouldn't have those jobs anymore.
Speaker 16: And let's face it, you know they have to you know,
Speaker 16: Muslims have to quit eating around sunrise, so you know
Speaker 16: about five point thirty five forty five am. He can't
Speaker 16: then have you know, a big meal at five and
Speaker 16: then testify, say at nine am. It's it's absolutely outrageous
Speaker 16: that he's using this as an excuse. I mean we're
Speaker 16: talking about you know, twelve to thirteen hour fast. There's
Speaker 16: certainly you know, he can eat breakfast, he can eat dinner.
Speaker 16: There's no question he can testify and reports New Yorkers
Speaker 16: about why the budget deficit is much much bigger than
Speaker 16: he and Momdani are telling New Yorkers. And this is
Speaker 16: of course because the controller of the city actually found
Speaker 16: this out and is telling New Yorkers what's actually going
Speaker 16: on and we can't find out why because this guy
Speaker 16: refuses to answer questions.
Speaker 2: It's amazing to me that we are, what you know,
Speaker 2: barely twelve weeks into this new administration. Everything has can
Speaker 2: to custard so quickly, Kelly Jane towards thank you so much,
Speaker 2: as always always loved to chat. Now, don't go away,
Speaker 2: because Only in America is coming at you before you
Speaker 2: know it. But first, enough politics, Let's talk Turkey, specifically
Speaker 2: Henry the turkey who had cops stuffing around trying to
Speaker 2: get him off a road in Cobb County, Georgia this week.
Speaker 1: Have a look with a loose turkey. It tried to
Speaker 1: attack me.
Speaker 3: Why did he keep coming out for me?
Speaker 1: Get out here, Harry.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they really had to leg it with that Turkey. Sorry,
Speaker 2: bad pun, you know, but I guess I just wanted
Speaker 2: you to be a breast of the situation. All right,
Speaker 2: that was bad too. I was just winging it. Stick around.
Speaker 2: Only in America is next. Welcome back to the program,
Speaker 2: and now it's time for a little segment we like
Speaker 2: to call Only in America. Well, you know what, the
Speaker 2: Washington Post says, Democracy dies in darkness. Of course, they
Speaker 2: and the rest of the US media have had a
Speaker 2: lot of trouble also shedding light on the truth about
Speaker 2: people like the dead Ayatola and other Iranian troll makers.
Speaker 2: So in honor of that Instagram star that seventies jew
Speaker 2: she's really funny, by the way, give her a follow.
Speaker 2: Imagine how The Washington Post might have written the obituaries
Speaker 2: for other historical bad guys.
Speaker 17: Austrian born public servant and amateur artist passed away quietly
Speaker 17: in Berlin due to a self inflicted wound. A mustachioed,
Speaker 17: avuncular team builder known for his commitment to workforce relocation
Speaker 17: initiatives and surprise performance reviews. A visionary agricultural reformer who
Speaker 17: popularized the Janangshan suit. A career palace advisor who briefly
Speaker 17: streamlined Agriba's leadership through hypnotic negotiations. A passionate advocate for
Speaker 17: organizational efficiency within the Galactic Empire. Unambitious alumnus of Hogwarts
Speaker 17: who pursued innovative soul fragmentation strategies and led a passionate
Speaker 17: pure blood advocacy group.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, somehow, I don't think they'll be as
Speaker 2: nice to me when my time comes. If they notice
Speaker 2: it all, and on that cheery note, that's all the
Speaker 2: time we have this week. See you next time, and
Speaker 2: I'll see it right here, bright and early Sunday morning
Speaker 2: for outsiders, Bye bye,