Speaker 1: Welcome to today's podcast sponsored by Hillsdale College, All Things
Speaker 1: Hillsdale Hillsdale dot ed or I encourage you to take
Speaker 1: advantage of the many free online courses there and of
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Speaker 1: at Hugh for Hillsdale dot com or just Google, Apple,
Speaker 1: iTunes and Hillsdale Morning, Glory and Evening Grace. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the Big Weekend Pod America. I'm Hugh Hewett. We had
Speaker 1: a lot of fun this weekend talking with our regular lineup,
Speaker 1: John Ellis of News Items, and you get news items
Speaker 1: by going to news Items in your Google machine and
Speaker 1: add John Ellis. It will take you right there, the
Speaker 1: best substack available. It just consolidates all the news and
Speaker 1: John and I picked four five stories every day that
Speaker 1: you might have overlooked.
Speaker 2: Eli Lake is back.
Speaker 1: We're talking about Iran, of course, Matt Continetty and I
Speaker 1: are talking about Iran and everything having to do with
Speaker 1: the tariff decision by the Supreme Court on Friday, as
Speaker 1: is the case with Ben Dominic, with a little bit
Speaker 1: of an Olympic thrown in at the end. And yes,
Speaker 1: I know the usual suspects are mad at the Chief
Speaker 1: Justice really, really, it can't be. It's not like people
Speaker 1: didn't see this coming. And Justice Barrett and Justice Gorsich
Speaker 1: agreed with them. The liberals just agree with him because
Speaker 1: they're liberals and they don't want anything to do with
Speaker 1: Donald Trump. The Chief Justice reads the statute. The statute
Speaker 1: says no, can't be done. But the President's got other
Speaker 1: things in front of him, and he's gone off and
Speaker 1: done them. And this is by no means over. It's
Speaker 1: not the end of the world, not even that significant
Speaker 1: a decision, as I will argue with Matt and Ben today,
Speaker 1: but I will play for you the President's highlights. I'll
Speaker 1: call them highlights after the Ben Dominic interview. Stick around
Speaker 1: if you missed President Trump's Friday press conference because there
Speaker 1: was a doozy and then just settle back and enjoy.
Speaker 1: Who knows, I won't be talking to you for a week.
Speaker 1: I expect the war to be underway and maybe over
Speaker 1: by the time I get back from my vacation next week.
Speaker 1: But Kurt Schlichter will be in for me, and he'll
Speaker 1: be doing the big weekend pod as well as the daily.
Speaker 1: You will not be left alone. Adam Harley and Dwayne
Speaker 1: are here for you. Thank you for listening to the
Speaker 1: Big Weekend Pod America. What a significant Friday war is
Speaker 1: looming in Iran and the Supreme Court rule six to
Speaker 1: three today, Chief Justice Roberts writing, quote, our task today
Speaker 1: is to decide only whether the power to regulate importation
Speaker 1: is granted to the president in the IEEPA embraces the
Speaker 1: power to impose tariffs, it does not. With that decision,
Speaker 1: everything is up in the air, and John Ellis is
Speaker 1: here to tell us what's going to happen next. John
Speaker 1: Ellis is the editor of news Items, and tomorrow's news
Speaker 1: items of the weekend is going to be full of this. John,
Speaker 1: But what's your initial reaction to the six to three decision,
Speaker 1: which included Justice is Amy, Cony Barrett, and Neil Gorsich
Speaker 1: with the Chief Justice and the three liberals.
Speaker 3: I wasn't surprised, and I don't think the Trump administration
Speaker 3: was particularly surprised. They had an immediate rejoinder to it, So, I,
Speaker 3: you know, I think it's pretty The Constitution is pretty
Speaker 3: clear on the point, so I think that part is
Speaker 3: not a surprise. The question really is, you know, if
Speaker 3: the president insists on, you know, putting in this ten
Speaker 3: percent tariff and then using this section in that section
Speaker 3: to impose more tariffs. There's no real constituency for that.
Speaker 3: That's the political problem. Not a lot of people want
Speaker 3: to have tariffs imposed on products that come from all
Speaker 3: these various countries. So it puts him, I think, in
Speaker 3: a sort of perilous political situation. And we'll see, you know,
Speaker 3: we'll see if I'm right about that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't think it actually ends the discussion so much
Speaker 1: as makes sure that it doesn't have an ending, because
Speaker 1: remaining to the Court of Claims doesn't really tell us
Speaker 1: what's going to be upheld or refunded. And he's added
Speaker 1: a bunch of new impost duties today pursue at the
Speaker 1: different sections. It's a big cloud of dust. Behind that
Speaker 1: big cloud of dust, though, is this amazing armada that
Speaker 1: has been assembled off the coast of Iran. The Ford
Speaker 1: should be there today or tomorrow, completing the arrival of everything.
Speaker 1: I think he has authority under the Authorization for the
Speaker 1: Use of Military Force and is in here at Article
Speaker 1: two Power. What's the contrary argument, John?
Speaker 3: The argument is that Congress has to authorize, you know, declare,
Speaker 3: confirm made declaration of war. This armada is certainly doesn't
Speaker 3: look like an incursion or a targeted strike. It looks
Speaker 3: like the onset of a war. Presidents Bush senior and junior,
Speaker 3: so to speak, went to Congress and got authorization for war.
Speaker 2: Trump has not done that.
Speaker 3: And in the context of the of this Tariff's ruling,
Speaker 3: you know that it does raise the question is what
Speaker 3: he's doing illegal? So we again will have to see
Speaker 3: how that plays out. We also don't know, obviously if
Speaker 3: we are going to in fact bomb Iran or invade
Speaker 3: Iran or whatever, So that that part we obviously.
Speaker 2: Don't know either.
Speaker 3: But two similar cases where authorization by Congress is required
Speaker 3: and he gets turned down by the Supreme Court on
Speaker 3: the tarist's decision, and the question is this Congress is.
Speaker 2: Going to go along with a war?
Speaker 3: Should know one breakout without congressional authorization.
Speaker 1: Now, you're absolutely correct. Both President Bush's forty one and
Speaker 1: forty three sought and received specific authorizations. However, for the
Speaker 1: Libyan bombing campaign, which lasted months and months in twenty
Speaker 1: eleven that's President Obama, and the Serbian Montenegro Yugoslavian campaign
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety nine by President Clinton, number forty had
Speaker 1: no such authorizations, and so there is a gray zone here,
Speaker 1: and the court is very reluctant to get into that
Speaker 1: gray zone. This is a statute ip, It's just another
Speaker 1: statue ory construction case. I'm not surprised by this, but
Speaker 1: I do think I'll put it this. I'll put it
Speaker 1: my answer in the form of a question, doesn't Donald
Speaker 1: Trump suffer irreparable political injury if he doesn't strike injury Iran.
Speaker 3: Now he's put himself in a situation where if he
Speaker 3: backs down, he looks incredibly weak. And you know, to
Speaker 3: be faced down by the Iyahtola and the Iahtola couldn't
Speaker 3: possibly be in a weaker position, would be beyond embarrassment.
Speaker 3: So I think they're hoping that the is just this
Speaker 3: sheer mass of force that has that hadn't brought the
Speaker 3: bear on the situation, will cause the Iyatola to at
Speaker 3: least agree to disagree, to agree that more talks should
Speaker 3: take place, and so on and so forth. That has
Speaker 3: to be the exit ramp if if we do attack.
Speaker 3: The thing that people I think don't fully appreciate is
Speaker 3: that Iran has a way, a lot of ways to
Speaker 3: attack back. And the last thing President Trump wants to
Speaker 3: do is get caught in a long war, sort of
Speaker 3: asymmetric war in the Middle East. So it's for my
Speaker 3: I don't I'm unusual in this regard and that I
Speaker 3: think the Iranians are in a much better position than
Speaker 3: people think.
Speaker 1: Yeah, initial, at least you're the first person to say that.
Speaker 1: And I try to get guests from all points of view.
Speaker 1: Most people believe they can't really mount much of a
Speaker 1: counter attack if they're hammered. But we will see. Let
Speaker 1: me move to the AI stuff. Today's news items is
Speaker 1: choc a block fall with stuff that I kind of
Speaker 1: got because John makes it gettable. But now you've sent
Speaker 1: me a new piece that compares Google and Claude and
Speaker 1: one is better than the other in some ways, and
Speaker 1: the other is better than the other and the other way.
Speaker 1: What are we to think? We lame it and we
Speaker 1: view we ignorant view about AI.
Speaker 3: Well, one thing that we don't want AI to do
Speaker 3: for us when we you know, search or you know,
Speaker 3: seek answers to complicated problems, we don't want the AI
Speaker 3: to hallucinate. It's called so it you know, it gets
Speaker 3: an inquiry and it makes up that Hugh Hewett is
Speaker 3: a Muslim who is working for Hezbollah. Right, It's just
Speaker 3: complete craziness and it happens quite frequently. And what's happened
Speaker 3: with Gemini three point one, which is the Google product,
Speaker 3: is that they've drastically reduced the hallucination problem. So they
Speaker 3: they haven't eliminated it, but they drastically reduced it. So
Speaker 3: all of these products, I mean, Chat, GPT and Claude
Speaker 3: four point six are you know, spectacular feats of technology,
Speaker 3: but there's been this hallucination problem. And the thing I
Speaker 3: guess that sort of allows Google to leap frog a
Speaker 3: little bit ahead of the other two is that they've
Speaker 3: addressed the hallucination problem and they seem to affect considerable success.
Speaker 1: Yeah, John, I've run into this repeatedly when I'm looking
Speaker 1: for something specific that I know is in a book
Speaker 1: and it's a fact and it's a person saying something
Speaker 1: for Jample and William Blake's Israeli and I want the quote.
Speaker 1: They can't find it, and I'm astonished that they can't
Speaker 1: find it. But I can go find it myself later.
Speaker 1: So they're not yet even close to being comprehensive.
Speaker 3: Right, Right, So you know, the hallucination problem is a
Speaker 3: really big problem if you are you know, doing doing
Speaker 3: work that a lot of people depend on, or a
Speaker 3: lot of people lives depend on their livelihoos depend on.
Speaker 3: So reducing that is devowed me to be wished. And Google,
Speaker 3: Google has you know, moved the ball significantly on that,
Speaker 3: which is great.
Speaker 1: Yes, all right, let's move to I already put this
Speaker 1: my ex account earlier in the week when you highlighted
Speaker 1: it in news items SRCC insurance against strikes, riots and
Speaker 1: civil commotion.
Speaker 2: The demand is going up.
Speaker 1: I suppose the price is going to get pretty high
Speaker 1: in a hurry too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean in the story that you cited that
Speaker 3: I put in news items was in twenty thirteen so
Speaker 3: called SRCC, which it strikes, riots and civil commotion insurance,
Speaker 3: and the return on you know, the business on that
Speaker 3: was negligible, and it's now a eight billion dollar business
Speaker 3: and it's expected to, you know, expected to continue to
Speaker 3: grow as a business. So you now have you know,
Speaker 3: insurance companies offering home insurance, life insurance, et cetera. And
Speaker 3: the sr CC product is something that we're going to
Speaker 3: be reading about more and more and more as the
Speaker 3: world gets more fractious.
Speaker 1: All right. Last question has to do with the robotaxis.
Speaker 1: I myself am sworn never to get into one. However,
Speaker 1: if they destroy the market for Uber and Lyft, I
Speaker 1: may now have no choice. Is Governor Hokel helping me
Speaker 1: or hurting me?
Speaker 3: Well, Governor Hokel has banned robo taxis from New York
Speaker 3: City and from the surrounding areas, the surrounding counties, and
Speaker 3: the big problem for a lot of people. I mean,
Speaker 3: if the way that the demographers characterize the US is
Speaker 3: there are urban areas, suburban areas ex Surban areas, and
Speaker 3: rural areas, and the ex Surban and rural areas are
Speaker 3: drastically underserved in terms of car service. And given that
Speaker 3: for many people who live in rural communities, getting to
Speaker 3: a health clinic, for instance, can be as much as
Speaker 3: a fifty minute or one hour drive, if you don't
Speaker 3: have some kind of car service, you may never get
Speaker 3: to the health clinic. So robo taxis are the answer
Speaker 3: to this problem. And you know, these rural and ex
Speaker 3: Surban counties are underserved not surprisingly by Uber and Left
Speaker 3: because they're not enough business. But if you had robo
Speaker 3: taxis out there servicing those communities, then that would be
Speaker 3: a very good thing. So you and I are for that.
Speaker 1: You, I guess, I'm still very skeptical. I'm run to
Speaker 1: out to see it for a lot. Mike Gallagher got
Speaker 1: in one, my radio colleague, my tail news channel colleague,
Speaker 1: and so if Mike isness serialist, I guess I have
Speaker 1: to be. But I'm not sold yet. John Allison News items.
Speaker 1: Go to news items, Google news items John Allison subscribe.
Speaker 1: You'll thank me stay tuned.
Speaker 2: The President to the running people off at Toronto talks
Speaker 2: with them. Do you have any message to the running people.
Speaker 4: To running people in Iran or the people here people
Speaker 4: in Iran.
Speaker 1: They better negotiate a fair deal.
Speaker 4: You know, the people of Iran are a lot different
Speaker 4: than the leaders of Iran. And it's very, very, very
Speaker 4: sad situation. But thirty two thousand people were killed over
Speaker 4: a relatively short period of time. They were going to
Speaker 4: hang eight hundred two weeks ago, hang hang some by crane.
Speaker 4: They lift them up with a tall crane and they
Speaker 4: play them around the square. They were going to hang
Speaker 4: eight hundred and thirty seven people. And I gave them
Speaker 4: the word, if you hang one person, even one person,
Speaker 4: that you're going to be hit right then and there.
Speaker 4: I wasn't waiting two weeks and negotiating, and they gave
Speaker 4: up the hanging. They didn't hang eight hundred and thirty seven. Supposedly,
Speaker 4: they didn't hang anybody. But no, I feel very badly
Speaker 4: for the people of Iran. They've lived like they've lived
Speaker 4: in the hell.
Speaker 2: Welcome back America.
Speaker 1: That is President Trump at the White House today. I'm
Speaker 1: joined by Eli Lake of the Free Press. He's a
Speaker 1: host of Breaking History, He's one of my go to
Speaker 1: guys on all things Iran. Eli, what is your reporting
Speaker 1: at this hour about the imminence of war? And the
Speaker 1: headline from the Wall Street Journal yesterday, Times of Israel
Speaker 1: today that President Trump is considering limited strike on Iran
Speaker 1: to coax it into accepting deal on his terms, which
Speaker 1: is the dumbest idea I've heard in many a months.
Speaker 5: I'm very frustrated, Hugh. You know, if Trump wants to
Speaker 5: establish a kind of deterrence for Iran to do terrible
Speaker 5: things against its own people, I'm all for it.
Speaker 2: But he didn't.
Speaker 5: He failed to deter the slaughter, which he acknowledged just
Speaker 5: then he says he has deterred the executions hanging by cranes.
Speaker 5: But I would like some clarity for the American people.
Speaker 5: I mean, I see both sides of the argument. I'm
Speaker 5: not saying that he's violated in the Constitution. I understand
Speaker 5: the war powers debates and Article two authorities for the
Speaker 5: president and so forth. But I just want to get
Speaker 5: back to here's what our strategy is. I don't understand
Speaker 5: the point about, like, you know, what are we negotiating?
Speaker 5: When I hear nuclear in Richmond, They're not enriching anything
Speaker 5: right now. We decimated their nuclear program. What is there
Speaker 5: to talk about? And I'm not getting any clarity from Trump,
Speaker 5: and I just would I think the American people deserve
Speaker 5: this is what we plan to do?
Speaker 2: Is it a regime change war? What are we talking about?
Speaker 5: And I understand the ambiguity is helpful in a limited sense,
Speaker 5: but I just think there are other values at stake.
Speaker 5: I am getting frustrated, even though I still think he's
Speaker 5: going to end up striking it run.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not here next Friday. I'll talk to Kurt
Speaker 1: schlector Eli. But when I come back the following Friday,
Speaker 1: I believe by then war will have begun. It may
Speaker 1: well be over and I don't believe it's going to
Speaker 1: be a symbolic tap on the wrist. I think it's
Speaker 1: going to be a massive, overwhelming first strike, because to
Speaker 1: do otherwise is to put American servicemen and women in
Speaker 1: our allies at great risk. Because the iatolis are on
Speaker 1: a hair trigger, I don't know if they're going to
Speaker 1: be able to distinguish between a tap on the wrist
Speaker 1: and an all out for a strike. I don't know
Speaker 1: who's giving him that idea other than maybe more dust
Speaker 1: in everybody's eyes. So that's what I think is happening.
Speaker 1: But you don't have me be reporting one way or
Speaker 1: the other.
Speaker 5: No that I can't tell you. I mean, I don't
Speaker 5: think anybody could do any reporting right now, Hugh. We
Speaker 5: know who's the decider is it's Trump? We know generally,
Speaker 5: we think we know where you know, people around him,
Speaker 5: or what they're considering.
Speaker 2: We can get a sense of what he's asked for.
Speaker 5: We know that he's asked for significant war plans that
Speaker 5: are far more than just a tap on the wrist.
Speaker 5: I've reported that out and you've reported that. But I
Speaker 5: don't think we know at this point the direction he's
Speaker 5: going to go and that's kind of the frustrating part
Speaker 5: of it. At a time like this, we would normally
Speaker 5: have an address to the American people from the Oval Office,
Speaker 5: laying out the history of Iran, what they've done to
Speaker 5: the United States, the opportunity that the United States has
Speaker 5: now that the regime is wobbling, and you know, assurances,
Speaker 5: you know, that's the kind of thing we would get. Instead,
Speaker 5: we're relying on, you know, little bits of pieces here
Speaker 5: and there when he does press conferences and background senior
Speaker 5: administration officials from reporters.
Speaker 2: I would like a little bit more clarity now.
Speaker 1: I happen to believe it's a guess, right, it's a
Speaker 1: complete guess. He's going to announce it during the State
Speaker 1: of the Union, And when he does announce it during
Speaker 1: the State of the Union, it's going to have an
Speaker 1: electrifying effect. If he does it well. Rhetorically he can.
Speaker 2: Be quite good.
Speaker 1: He is often not focused and not quite good. But
Speaker 1: if it's a short focus, if he doesn't, nobody cares
Speaker 1: about tariffs except Donald Trump. Please don't make the State
Speaker 1: of the Union about tariffs. I'm afraid he will. But
Speaker 1: if he just makes it about time Supreme Court, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, nobody really knows what the court ruled. I've
Speaker 1: read it. Chief Justice said you can't do what you did,
Speaker 1: but he didn't say what you can do and what
Speaker 1: you can't do. So the president's out doing other stuff.
Speaker 1: It's a punt disguised as a kickoff. It's not really
Speaker 1: a kickoff, right.
Speaker 5: Well, I don't have a lot of insights into it.
Speaker 5: I'm just disturbed when I see quotes from him about
Speaker 5: foreign influences on the Supreme Court, which just sounds crazy
Speaker 5: to me.
Speaker 1: Well, I haven't seen that one yet, but I haven't
Speaker 1: gone through that taping stuff earlier. Let's go back to
Speaker 1: an overwhelming force. Israel is allegedly on high alert, but
Speaker 1: no change in instructions to the public. Does that really matter?
Speaker 1: Doesn't the public know they might want to stay near
Speaker 1: the bomb shelters.
Speaker 2: I think that's the case.
Speaker 5: And the other thing is is that, I mean, they
Speaker 5: can't necessarily share this, but we know that the Israeli
Speaker 5: penetration of Iran is so great right now. I Mean,
Speaker 5: the one thing that I would want to know if
Speaker 5: I could see access to everything, is what are these
Speaker 5: railies telling Trump about who might be willing to turn
Speaker 5: inside the regime, or what a limited strike of some
Speaker 5: of the leaders might do in terms of motivating other
Speaker 5: leaders to then embrace some sort of transitional transition period.
Speaker 5: And Iran, I'm only interested in one thing. It's the
Speaker 5: end of the regime. It sounded in the beginning of
Speaker 5: the year that Trump was there, and then the language
Speaker 5: we're getting from him is that this is a negotiation
Speaker 5: about nukes and missiles. And you know what can I say?
Speaker 5: I'm disappointed?
Speaker 1: You know, I am on the report tonight, special report panel,
Speaker 1: and you always have to give winners and losers. And
Speaker 1: my lining this week is Foreign Minister Arachi. Am I
Speaker 1: pronouncing that correctly? Eli?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's right Arachi?
Speaker 1: Or he can't win. He's supposedly preparing a homework assignment
Speaker 1: for the Americans, but the Eye toldally, we're going to
Speaker 1: check his work before he turns it in, and if
Speaker 1: it's a real concession, he'll be shot behind the barn.
Speaker 1: If it's not a concession, you'll get bombed and killed
Speaker 1: by the American. The guy's in a bad no win situation,
Speaker 1: isn't he.
Speaker 5: He could pull up Tarikazi's which is that he could
Speaker 5: be pretending to negotiate on behalf of the regime and.
Speaker 1: While you're gonna have to fill that in for dealers, fancy,
Speaker 1: I got the joke, but they won't know who Tarikazi's is.
Speaker 5: Tarikazi's was Saddam Hussein's foreign minister, and in the end
Speaker 5: we know that he was working with us. We didn't
Speaker 5: know that at the time, but so there's all kinds
Speaker 5: of duplicity. I mean, I would hate to be in
Speaker 5: his position, although you know, I have no sympathy for
Speaker 5: the man. He's part of an evil and foul regime.
Speaker 5: But I mean, the whole thing just seems like, why
Speaker 5: are we going through this? There is not going to
Speaker 5: be a deal. As you said, and as you've been
Speaker 5: saying in your programming, and you've been terrific on this heel,
Speaker 5: there's nothing to negotiate at this point. They're not enriching anything.
Speaker 5: There's nothing that would be acceptable to them. So why
Speaker 5: are we even talking? I mean, the only thing I
Speaker 5: can think of is to get our forces in place,
Speaker 5: make sure there are enough interceptors. And then you know,
Speaker 5: when you see these stories about limited strikes, and who
Speaker 5: knows that could be wish casting from someone who would
Speaker 5: like to influence it in a certain ways.
Speaker 1: Either's smoking our eyes or wish casting. Eli, can you
Speaker 1: wait for two more minutes. I got to ask you
Speaker 1: about the uranium that's flowing in the four Dough and
Speaker 1: I want to know what your reporting is on that.
Speaker 1: I'll put it on the big weekend pod in America.
Speaker 1: Don't worry about it, or I'll play it later in
Speaker 1: the program. Stay tuned. Coming right back with continenty after
Speaker 1: the break. I'm back with Eli. I had one question
Speaker 1: that no one's reporting on it, assuming for a moment
Speaker 1: that the regime topples, don't they have an amazing Chernobyl
Speaker 1: like problem on their hands at four Dough and every
Speaker 1: place else that we blew up that had yellow cake
Speaker 1: or uranium or whatever they were working on.
Speaker 5: Well, we also have to worry about the reports at
Speaker 5: the time, right before the bombing that they were moving
Speaker 5: out some of the highly enrichment material.
Speaker 2: So where is that?
Speaker 5: And I'm sure that that's an important factor that we're
Speaker 5: trying to get, But it would be a very bad
Speaker 5: deal if we just got the remnants of that, because
Speaker 5: they have no capacity to enrich it right now. If
Speaker 5: that's really what we were giving up, So I'm not
Speaker 5: entirely sure, but yes, we do have to worry about that,
Speaker 5: but there are you know, this is why we have
Speaker 5: a wonderful military that makes lots of contingency plans with
Speaker 5: our CIA and hopefully in the Masad. That's the number
Speaker 5: one thing, one of the number one things that Israel
Speaker 5: has to worry about. So I would imagine that there
Speaker 5: are people who worked wanting to keep an eye on it. Again,
Speaker 5: I think that the Israelis have the place wired, so
Speaker 5: let's let's wait and see there.
Speaker 1: And a final question. There was a one off story
Speaker 1: maybe six weeks ago that when the Iranians bombed Ali
Speaker 1: Sad in twenty twenty, they had agents either chemical or
Speaker 1: biological on their warheads that may have hurt American I've
Speaker 1: seen nothing since then. I know people who are on
Speaker 1: Ali Sad they said, no, we're not sick. Did you
Speaker 1: see that story? And is there anything to it?
Speaker 5: I made okay, So I say I made a couple
Speaker 5: of perfunctory compune calls. I didn't really dive into it,
Speaker 5: but I was waved off of it as well. Okay,
Speaker 5: But it doesn't mean I mean there may be something
Speaker 5: that we'll find out. I mean but at this point
Speaker 5: I have not seen to follow up on it. But
Speaker 5: that I mean it was true, that would be extraordinary,
Speaker 5: but it doesn't really follow because it was so coordinated.
Speaker 5: If you remember, it's like the Iranians were looking for
Speaker 5: an out in some ways. You know, they wanted to
Speaker 5: say we struck back, similar to what they did after
Speaker 5: the Twelve Day warn.
Speaker 1: Anything on the discombobulator, Eli.
Speaker 5: Well, I told you before my theory on that that
Speaker 5: was a It was a technique plus a new technology
Speaker 5: that was able to basically blind an opponent's command and control.
Speaker 1: You said you're going to write some several hours, you
Speaker 1: said you're going to write a piece.
Speaker 5: Did I say it was? Well, I've been working on
Speaker 5: some domestic political things. I've got a good piece on
Speaker 5: Jesse Jackson coming out on Saturday.
Speaker 1: I hope you make a breaking history about Jesse. I
Speaker 1: enjoyed Meetingum in person in ninety one and what a
Speaker 1: skezophrenic political persona.
Speaker 2: So good luck with that one.
Speaker 1: Eli like always a pleasure breaking history. Always enjoy follow
Speaker 1: him on exit, Eli Lake, stay tuned in America. Welcome back, America.
Speaker 1: I'm Hugh Hewett. Continetti is a commis for The Wall
Speaker 1: Street Journal. He is the head of domestic policy studies
Speaker 1: at American Enterprise Institute, and when we are Lucky, he's
Speaker 1: our guests for the Weekend Pod and the Weekend Review Show, Matt. Today,
Speaker 1: Jan Crawford of CBS News declared that the tariff case
Speaker 1: was quote the most significant US Supreme Court loss for
Speaker 1: a US president I think in modern history.
Speaker 2: Close quote Jeez.
Speaker 1: I thought Nixon lost the tape case.
Speaker 6: Matt, Yeah, and the Clinton decision on the grand jury
Speaker 6: testimony that also had real repercussions for the Clinton's presidency.
Speaker 6: This is a big blow to President Trump, There's no question.
Speaker 6: Of course, he raised the stakes throughout the year as
Speaker 6: this case was being litigated, saying that if the Supreme
Speaker 6: Court knocked down his tariffs under APA, the country would
Speaker 6: be destroyed.
Speaker 7: Well, we're still here.
Speaker 6: The country will exist, and in fact, as President Trump
Speaker 6: pointed out, he's going to pursue his tariffs under different authorities.
Speaker 6: I really think this decision came down to did the
Speaker 6: President have the authority under this one statute to have
Speaker 6: these extremely sweeping tariffs that he could set at any
Speaker 6: level he wanted, and not have to submit them to
Speaker 6: review by either the judiciary or the legislature, and the
Speaker 6: six to three majority, with the Chief Justice Roberts writing
Speaker 6: the decision, found that he did not have authority under
Speaker 6: this one statute, but he has authority under other statutes, Hue,
Speaker 6: and he's about to use it.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Man, I was predicting a big punt by the court
Speaker 1: that they would just kick it all back and say
Speaker 1: sort them out between the nationals. They just didn't. They
Speaker 1: struck them all down. But it's still a punt because
Speaker 1: the Chief Justice said they can't do it, and then
Speaker 1: he didn't tell us what happens everything that's been done,
Speaker 1: or the terriff trade treaties that have been agreed to,
Speaker 1: or the other authorities. It's a very very modest decision
Speaker 1: that simply says the IAAP may not be used in
Speaker 1: the way President Trump is used it, but it doesn't
Speaker 1: tell us about anything else. So I kind of think
Speaker 1: it's a lot of hazah about not much.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, I do think it's it's a major decision,
Speaker 6: and President Trump put a lot of effort into this
Speaker 6: policy and really kind of backed it to the hilt,
Speaker 6: and I think they are going to have to go
Speaker 6: back to the drawing board on some of these tariffs.
Speaker 6: But you know, we don't talk about it much here,
Speaker 6: but the fact is after Liberation Day last April, where
Speaker 6: these reciprocal tariffs were imposed on every country in the world,
Speaker 6: including uninhabited islands where they were only penguins, the administration
Speaker 6: has course really kind of clawed back.
Speaker 7: A lot of the tariffs and they imposed.
Speaker 6: And so if we get the ten percent global tariff
Speaker 6: that Trump is now going to pursue under a different
Speaker 6: statutory means when where I think he'll have a stronger case,
Speaker 6: that's not too much different from the about fifteen percent
Speaker 6: average tariff we have on most countries right now. So yeah,
Speaker 6: I guess in that sense, you're a claim that maybe
Speaker 6: this is much ado about nothing is supported.
Speaker 1: Here's the nut of the ruling. Chief Justice Roberts, right.
Speaker 1: Our task today is to decide only whether the power
Speaker 1: to quote regulate importation close quote as granted to the president,
Speaker 1: and I ee PA embraces the power to impose tariffs.
Speaker 1: It does not. That's the whole ruling, Matt. And so
Speaker 1: there's so many ways out around and over and under
Speaker 1: that ruling that I think the President was way too
Speaker 1: ticked off.
Speaker 7: That's more.
Speaker 6: My favorite thing about this decision, Hugh, is that if
Speaker 6: you read it, Chief Justice Roberts says that this law,
Speaker 6: the AIPA, says that the president has the authority to
Speaker 6: regulate trade and given emergencies. But Chief Justice Roberts says
Speaker 6: it does not give him the authority to tax trade
Speaker 6: in an emergency. Well, where if we heard that language
Speaker 6: before from Chief Justice Roberts.
Speaker 2: In the o BI.
Speaker 1: I remember Decision twelve.
Speaker 6: Yes Obamacare, the difference between a regulation and attacks. In
Speaker 6: that case, the mandate was a regulation and not attacks,
Speaker 6: and therefore it was constitutional. In this case, the tariffs
Speaker 6: are attacks, not a regulation, therefore they're unconstitutional. All we
Speaker 6: know is that Chief Justice Roberts, a landmark figure in
Speaker 6: any ways, pays very close attention to the difference between
Speaker 6: a regulation and attacks.
Speaker 2: He is a landmark figure.
Speaker 1: I know he gets a lot agree from our team,
Speaker 1: but he's a very appropriately modest officer of the federal judiciary.
Speaker 1: And I can't I haven't read Justice Kavanaugh's opinion yet,
Speaker 1: because I would have thought Kavanaugh was with the six
Speaker 1: given the major questions doctrine and is ruling on Chevron.
Speaker 1: But he's with the three and I just don't know
Speaker 1: what to make of this. I think it's going to
Speaker 1: end up being one that we skip over in a
Speaker 1: hurry and con lock Hay case books in the future.
Speaker 1: But it does the president a little bit, but it's
Speaker 1: not a slam down. He's not going to jail. However,
Speaker 1: if he does this, I have a theory, Matt Continent,
Speaker 1: We're going to lose the House, the Republicans being we
Speaker 1: this will be an article of impeachment as well, ignoring TikTok,
Speaker 1: They're just piling up articles of impeachment for the House.
Speaker 2: Do you agree with me?
Speaker 6: Yeah, well, I mean I think it would be a
Speaker 6: weak article of impeachment because Trump isn't defying the Supreme
Speaker 6: Court all once again, all the talk about Trump being
Speaker 6: a dictator out of control, the Supreme Court rules, he obeys.
Speaker 6: That's Donald Trump. He's just going to pursue another message.
Speaker 6: So I think the Democrats are going to impeach him
Speaker 6: on other grounds.
Speaker 1: I will talk impeachment during the break, and then Matt
Speaker 1: will be back to talking Iran after the break. Stay tuned.
Speaker 1: Back in the days when Matt Continent, he was a
Speaker 1: regular panelist on the commentary podcast. He would also often
Speaker 1: point out that the TikTok statue was not being enforced
Speaker 1: by the president. I think that was you, Matt, wasn't it.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I've pointed it out on several occasions.
Speaker 1: Yeah, don't you think that's an impeachable offense not to
Speaker 1: execute the laws of the United States has written.
Speaker 6: This would be something that I do think the Congress
Speaker 6: Democratic Congress would raise and have inquiries not adjusted to
Speaker 6: why the law wasn't obeyed, but also the structure of
Speaker 6: the deal that has been announced. It's still unclear actually
Speaker 6: where we stand in the TikTok's ownership or actually whether
Speaker 6: China will really be giving up control of the algorithm,
Speaker 6: the secret sauce at all. I think I expect TikTok
Speaker 6: to be up there with crypto in terms of the
Speaker 6: most heavily investigated subjects. Under a Democratic Congress.
Speaker 1: This is what I see happening. I think we're going
Speaker 1: to lose the House because that's just the tie title
Speaker 1: charts of American history. They got nothing to do because
Speaker 1: you'll veto anything even if they got the Senate, and
Speaker 1: so all they can do is impeachment, and that's a
Speaker 1: lot of fund and it raises a lot of money,
Speaker 1: and they're going to impeach them on Like Nixon was
Speaker 1: impeached on four different things. People only remember Watergate, but
Speaker 1: he was impeached for bombing Cambodi. Yeah, he was impeached
Speaker 1: for I can't remember what the other obstruction of justice.
Speaker 1: He was impeached on many different things. I think they're
Speaker 1: just going to go on an impeachment parade. Matt good
Speaker 1: or bad for their party.
Speaker 6: I think, well, it would be bad for their party
Speaker 6: in the long run. I think it's where their party
Speaker 6: is right now. Hugh, there's no question. And I think
Speaker 6: a lot of Democrats are going to run this year
Speaker 6: on elect Us to check Trump.
Speaker 7: Trump needs a constraint.
Speaker 6: A Democratic House will be a constraint on Donald Trump.
Speaker 6: But of course voters might want Trump to be a
Speaker 6: little bit more constrained. But I don't think they're interested
Speaker 6: in another impeachment drag out fight. And so I think
Speaker 6: actually Republicans might have an argument there to say, no, Look,
Speaker 6: they're talking a good game, but do we really want
Speaker 6: to live through another impeachment process. Donald Trump's third for
Speaker 6: the next two years, and we have much more pressing
Speaker 6: concerns and I think you'll be the crux of the argument.
Speaker 1: They'll raise so much money they cannot not do it.
Speaker 1: The consultants will make so much money, Matt. Finally, Alexandria
Speaker 1: Casio Cortes Whitmer's out she'd dumb. But AOC, as Josh
Speaker 1: Holmes pointed out on this show, when she dismissed the
Speaker 1: idea that the Spaniards brought horses to the United States,
Speaker 1: he said, you know, her last name is Cortes, which
Speaker 1: I found very amusing. But she also made a comment
Speaker 1: about the enslaved African Americans. Want a word, What in
Speaker 1: the world did that mean? They didn't bring any horses
Speaker 1: with them on the slave ships.
Speaker 6: Well, I'm still trying to figure out AOC's answer on
Speaker 6: whether she would defend Taiwan if China invaded. I mean,
Speaker 6: that was an incredible word salad. She looked as though
Speaker 6: she were a contestant on who wants to be a millionaire?
Speaker 6: You know, she wanted to ask if she could call
Speaker 6: a lifeline for an answer, but unfortunately rechs Fhilbin wasn't available.
Speaker 7: So I think she really took.
Speaker 6: A hit in terms of her political fortunes this year
Speaker 6: at Munich over the weekend. Que she has time to recover,
Speaker 6: but it's going to be hard to escape the fact
Speaker 6: that she avoids tough interviews. And if that was too
Speaker 6: tough for her, imagine what the future might hold.
Speaker 1: Oh please God send her to me. I'll be right
Speaker 1: back with Matt Contenetty. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewett.
Speaker 1: Matt Contenetty is my guest. She's had a domestic policy
Speaker 1: Studi's at the American Enterprise Instute. He's a columnist for
Speaker 1: the Wall Street Journal, and he's a contributor most Fridays
Speaker 1: here on the program. And I appreciate that, Matt. Yesterday
Speaker 1: the Journal ran late in the day the story that
Speaker 1: has now been picked up by the Times of Israel
Speaker 1: with this headline. Trump says considering limited strike on Iran
Speaker 1: to coax it into accepting deal on his terms. I
Speaker 1: don't believe it because it's so stupid, because he's not stupid.
Speaker 1: If they hit Iran with a pop gun, Iran could
Speaker 1: go off on Israel with everything they've got. It's got
Speaker 1: to be a massive preemptive first striker or no strike
Speaker 1: at all. Do you agree with me?
Speaker 7: I think you're right.
Speaker 6: I mean it's telling, isn't it that the leaks aren't
Speaker 6: about Trump not striking, They're about the severity.
Speaker 7: And timing of a structure to have.
Speaker 6: So I think that that in itself suggests that the
Speaker 6: White House is pretty set on a particular course of
Speaker 6: intervention against Iran. I think I think anything America does
Speaker 6: is going to have to be broad. It's going to
Speaker 6: have to be pretty sudden and pretty fierce. Let's not forget, though,
Speaker 6: the Iranian air defense system is as severely, severely weakened
Speaker 6: still from the Twelve Day War, and so America and
Speaker 6: then if Israel joins a fight as well, I will
Speaker 6: have I think air superiority pretty rapidly.
Speaker 1: And I allow a Greenway on the program on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: Arci Greenway from Heritage is Allison Center, former NSCA for
Speaker 1: DIA Special Forces. He said, probably if there's a more
Speaker 1: dangerous place to be in the world than on an
Speaker 1: Iranian submarine, he doesn't know of it. I do believe
Speaker 1: all of their navy and their five submarines and all
Speaker 1: of that will go down to the bottom of the
Speaker 1: ocean in round one, because we're not going to let
Speaker 1: them get near our ships. You agree with that assessment.
Speaker 6: Matt, Yeah, I mean I imagine that anyone at the
Speaker 6: Pentagon planning this type of operation is going to say,
Speaker 6: the first thing we need to do is make sure
Speaker 6: that the Iranian capacity to retaliate against our forces and
Speaker 6: against the Israeli civilian population will be diminished. So that means, yeah,
Speaker 6: going after the navy, going after the air defense system,
Speaker 6: going after the missiles and the missile launchers in particular,
Speaker 6: because you know, the missiles are no good if you
Speaker 6: don't have a launcher. But then you know, I've also
Speaker 6: been thinking a lot, Hugh, we need to pay attention
Speaker 6: to the Huthis because the Iranians have different ways of
Speaker 6: retaliation and they still have this proxy network. Of course,
Speaker 6: there's Hesbolas been defanged in Lebanon, but still.
Speaker 7: Could cause some trouble for Israel. But the Houthis, you.
Speaker 6: Know, they're still there in Yemen and they can still
Speaker 6: threaten the Gulf of Aiden as well of our as
Speaker 6: our naval assets. They've been weakened, for sure, that's our operation.
Speaker 6: Rough writer did that last year, But I assume the
Speaker 6: Pentagons has an eye on the Houthis as well.
Speaker 7: If we enter conflict with Iran.
Speaker 1: I was only in the Beltway for a week. I
Speaker 1: did not have a chance to talk to people who
Speaker 1: wouldn't know. But Mohammed bin Zayad, who's the ruler of
Speaker 1: the Emerds, Uae and Bahrain and the leader of the
Speaker 1: Gulf states that are smaller other than Gutter, is allegedly
Speaker 1: at loggerheads with NBS, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
Speaker 1: What do you make of that, because they've always been
Speaker 1: as thick as allies could be.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 6: I think it's another byproduct you of Iranian weakness that
Speaker 6: we spent the past decade or so with the empowered
Speaker 6: Iran really ruling over a Sheite crescent in the Middle East,
Speaker 6: extending its tentacles into Iraq, into Syria, into Lebanon, and
Speaker 6: into Yemen. As I just said, with the Huthis and
Speaker 6: all the other powers in the Middle East were aligning
Speaker 6: against Iran. Well after the Twelve Day War, after Operation
Speaker 6: Midnight Hammer, after Operation Rising Lion, and the Israeli war
Speaker 6: on Hesbalah and Hamas, Iran is weak, and what we've
Speaker 6: seen as a result is that the other powers are
Speaker 6: beginning to flex and change their alignments.
Speaker 7: In the region.
Speaker 6: That means that NBS, the leader of Saudi Arabia, he's
Speaker 6: become much more of a wary of Israel than one
Speaker 6: might expect.
Speaker 7: We see Airdiwan and Turkey.
Speaker 6: He's trying to assert himself in Syria, and yes, a
Speaker 6: power like the UAE and NBZ, they're going to try
Speaker 6: to cut against the Saudis in their own way, and
Speaker 6: they of course they have a dispute over Yemen as well.
Speaker 6: So you know, ironically, the weak in Iran is better
Speaker 6: for America, it's better for Israel, it's better for the world,
Speaker 6: but it's actually contributing to a more chaotic landscape.
Speaker 1: Well, this is very clarifying though, Ua, which General Mattis
Speaker 1: is always called Little Sparta, has fought alongside us in
Speaker 1: every theater since the Long War began, and their special
Speaker 1: forces are pretty good UAE and they have a good
Speaker 1: jet force. Saudi is not, although Saudi was involved in
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety one. Also clarifying, we got a bunch of
Speaker 1: c big planes I think they're one thirty five parked
Speaker 1: in Serbia, non in Serbia, in Bulgaria at Sofia Airport,
Speaker 1: and we're not allowed to use the airports in United Kingdom.
Speaker 1: How clarifying a moment is this, Matt Well, it's.
Speaker 6: Just another sign that the starmer government in the United
Speaker 6: Kingdom is off the rails and there's so much political
Speaker 6: chaos in turbula. What's happening in the UK right now.
Speaker 6: It's sad, you know, for our great ally of Great
Speaker 6: Britain to say that we can't use are bases there
Speaker 6: against Iran. And Ron threatens not just the Middle East,
Speaker 6: not just Israel, It threatens Europe, it threatens the United States.
Speaker 6: You have this apocalyptic millennial power driven by radical Islamic
Speaker 6: fundamentalism that has done nothing but so chaos. Terrorism, kill
Speaker 6: innocent people, kill its own people, pursue the world's most
Speaker 6: deadly weapon, a reckoning against the Mullahs in Tehran. Is
Speaker 6: in the American interest, it's in the British interests, it
Speaker 6: is in everyone's interest. So it's very sad to see
Speaker 6: some of our closest allies say that they won't be
Speaker 6: a part of it. Other European powers, yeah, other European
Speaker 6: powers are i think moving into position where they could
Speaker 6: contribute to Poland.
Speaker 1: But if the United Kingdom does this, does that not
Speaker 1: assist the so called restraint are anti NATO people. I've
Speaker 1: allayn pro NATO, but this is an argument against NATO
Speaker 1: if they're not going to help.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, well, you know it's I think that's something
Speaker 6: too that if they really do stick with the current position,
Speaker 6: you know, as we know, once once fighting starts, things
Speaker 6: can change very rapidly. But yeah, if the Alliance isn't
Speaker 6: coming to aid America, if they're not proving good on
Speaker 6: the commitments they've made to increase defense spending, then it
Speaker 6: does empower people who say, what is the purpose of NATO?
Speaker 6: But I think that's you know, the more pressing concern
Speaker 6: is is President Trump prepared to explain to the United
Speaker 6: American people at the State of the Union next week
Speaker 6: what is at stake in Iran, what the potential cost
Speaker 6: might be, but why intervening is necessary.
Speaker 1: Remember when the State of the Union's on President Reagan
Speaker 1: joke bombing and Russia begins in time minutes that could
Speaker 1: show up in the State of the Union. That Continetti
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Speaker 1: Com slash shoot. Welcome back America, Morning, Glory and evening grace.
Speaker 1: I'm Hugh Hewitt on this Week in Review program. Ben
Speaker 1: Dominis joins me. It's been a very busy week. Ben Dominic,
Speaker 1: host of the Big Ben Podcast, is also well. Ben,
Speaker 1: would you give me the URL for the Big Ben Podcast?
Speaker 1: I always screwed up. It's a Fox News but it's
Speaker 1: got its own url.
Speaker 10: Yeah, it's you can go to radio dot foxnews dot
Speaker 10: com and you'll find it along with all of our
Speaker 10: other podcasts. But you can and you can follow our
Speaker 10: social Instagram and on the X at Big Ben Show, Fox.
Speaker 1: Big Ben Show Fox. All right, Ben, let's start with
Speaker 1: the Tariff earthquake on the assumption that while I was
Speaker 1: taping earlier today, war is not broken out yet? Am
Speaker 1: I right about that? War is not broken out?
Speaker 10: Not as we are currently talking? All right, gret war
Speaker 10: war were not yet declared.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it may or may.
Speaker 1: Not happen during this show or during the week I'm
Speaker 1: off up next week. Of course, that means the war
Speaker 1: will happen when I'm off.
Speaker 10: Next That one hundred percent means it will happen next week.
Speaker 10: Put your bets in the prediction markets. Now, will Iran
Speaker 10: war happen while you is off?
Speaker 1: There you go, people can go right tell whatever that is.
Speaker 1: President Trump said thirty two thousand people were killed from
Speaker 1: the Iran protest today. I think he's low. The Crown
Speaker 1: Prince told me thirty five five to forty doesn't really matter.
Speaker 1: The point is he gets the regime will come to
Speaker 1: the tariff rolling in a second, Do you think he's
Speaker 1: going to get the regime since he gets the regime.
Speaker 10: I believe he is. And I think that one of
Speaker 10: the things that we have been paying attention to over
Speaker 10: the course of the past week is simply the movement
Speaker 10: of American resources and material. You do not have the
Speaker 10: kind of representation of the American armed forces in that
Speaker 10: area for an extended amount of time. You've got such
Speaker 10: a significant portion of the US Navy there right now,
Speaker 10: and that's they're not just there to sit around and
Speaker 10: do nothing or to just intimidate from close by. And
Speaker 10: in terms of trying to get the Iranians to come
Speaker 10: to a deal, I think that the Iranians are dug in.
Speaker 10: I think the regime really does not, you know, have
Speaker 10: any kind of decision making process other than to battle
Speaker 10: to the end. And that creates a very difficult situation
Speaker 10: for Donald Trump to do anything, I think, other than
Speaker 10: to pursue what has been our policy as regards around
Speaker 10: for a very long time. And I think that, you know,
Speaker 10: when I say hour, I should say Republican policy.
Speaker 7: Now.
Speaker 10: The President obviously has his own misgivings about this. His
Speaker 10: whole political career is in large part due to the
Speaker 10: fact that he was someone who is willing to go
Speaker 10: and criticize the regime change wars that have been you know,
Speaker 10: the bread and butter for a number of years under
Speaker 10: George W. Bush, something that certainly a lot of Americans
Speaker 10: disagreed with in the aftermath. I always try to remind
Speaker 10: them how popular they were at the time that they
Speaker 10: were launched. But it's one of the things that I think,
Speaker 10: you know, was critical to his career. But in this
Speaker 10: particular moment, he's facing a situation which is very different
Speaker 10: than the other foreign policy decisions where he's pulled the trigger.
Speaker 10: He has made the decision to go and expel trait.
Speaker 10: You know, a leader in Nicholas Maduro who obviously was
Speaker 10: going to be difficult to do, but he did it
Speaker 10: without the loss of a single American life. The achievement
Speaker 10: when it came to the setting back the Iranian nuclear
Speaker 10: program obviously impressive, unbelievable. What went into that. Those were
Speaker 10: fundamentally different than what you would be dealing with in
Speaker 10: this situation. I think the President knows that. It's why
Speaker 10: he's been a bit hesitant. But if the Iranian regime
Speaker 10: is as dug in as they seem to be. I
Speaker 10: don't think that there's really another decision here. I think
Speaker 10: it's already been made for him to a certain extent.
Speaker 1: Now, yesterday the Wall Street Journal ran a story that
Speaker 1: I thought and said yesterday at the time, that doesn't
Speaker 1: make any sense that Donald Trump would do a symbolic
Speaker 1: strike in an effort to bring them back to the table.
Speaker 1: That would I think unleash as everything that Iran has.
Speaker 1: I think they're on a hair train. Yeah, so you've
Speaker 1: got to either preemptively strike them with everything or not
Speaker 1: strike them at all. That's my exactly what you.
Speaker 10: Are you've got to do, is you've got to do
Speaker 10: the whole thing or not do anything. I don't believe
Speaker 10: in the idea that there would be some kind of
Speaker 10: symbolic gesture here, because, as you said, they would respond vociferously,
Speaker 10: and I think that you would see American lives as
Speaker 10: part of the penalty for whatever was done. And understanding
Speaker 10: that that's a very real risk, I believe that you
Speaker 10: actually have to do you have to go the full
Speaker 10: thing if you're going to do it at all, and
Speaker 10: there seems to be in this administration they believe that
Speaker 10: this is a moment that is unique, where the regime
Speaker 10: is as weak as it has ever been and certainly
Speaker 10: within my lifetime, and that you have the type of
Speaker 10: opportunity here that rarely presents itself, and as well that
Speaker 10: the degree to which there has been a human cost
Speaker 10: to this, we should not underestimate this. By the way,
Speaker 10: Donald Trump always talks about that. I don't know why
Speaker 10: people don't pay more attention to it. He talks about
Speaker 10: human loss when it comes to these wars, including in
Speaker 10: the Ukraine, with a difference than a different attitude than
Speaker 10: I think we hear from a lot of other politicians,
Speaker 10: as it's something that I think weighs on him to
Speaker 10: a certain degree. That you know, the idea that if
Speaker 10: I had made a different decision, or if others had
Speaker 10: made different decisions, this could have been avoided, or we
Speaker 10: could have had less of a loss of innocent human life,
Speaker 10: particularly as regards these protesters, And like, I don't think
Speaker 10: we should underestimate that as motivating.
Speaker 1: And I'm so glad you said that. I have said
Speaker 1: repeatedly he's the most visual president. Cerebral people read, visual
Speaker 1: people look, and when he looks and he sees, for example,
Speaker 1: he ordered the first strike against Syria after he saw
Speaker 1: children choking to death. He ordered the second strike. That's
Speaker 1: the same reason against Syria. He looks at the Ukraine pictures.
Speaker 1: He now looked at the pictures of thirty two thousand
Speaker 1: people massacred. He is very visual developers are they just
Speaker 1: see stuff. I've worked for enough of them over the
Speaker 1: years when I was a lawyer. They're visual people, and
Speaker 1: he reacts to visual stuff.
Speaker 10: Yeah, and I think that that's true here, as it
Speaker 10: is true with a lot of the other decisions that
Speaker 10: he makes. I will just in the side say, as
Speaker 10: a developer, he has to enjoy the fact that the
Speaker 10: Obama Museum so ugly, the way that it's the ugliest
Speaker 10: thing I've ever seen, so ugly, so ugly. But frankly,
Speaker 10: I think it's kind of consulting. Like I mean, Obama
Speaker 10: was it was a bad president from my perspective, but
Speaker 10: it's like, wow, this is really bad.
Speaker 2: This is really bad.
Speaker 1: And you know, they had their pick of anyone in
Speaker 1: the world would have done that, and they have this
Speaker 1: great I know the space, it's where the Chicago World
Speaker 1: Fair was and I visited the Unity of Chicago. It's
Speaker 1: a beautiful space. They could have done anything, and they
Speaker 1: built the Martian landing craft that got banged up by
Speaker 1: a meteor on the way here. Let's turn now to
Speaker 1: the big news of the day. Assuming we aren't overtaken
Speaker 1: by tonight and Saturday night by a war, and that
Speaker 1: is John Roberts and five other justices said not now,
Speaker 1: not ever, and ever, you can't do tariffs, and it
Speaker 1: was it's not very clear about what happens next. President
Speaker 1: Trump wlaited about two hours, walked out and said, effective immediately,
Speaker 1: all national security tariffs under Section two three two in
Speaker 1: all existing Terra Section three oh one tariffs remain fully
Speaker 1: in place and in full effect. Today I will sign
Speaker 1: in order to impose a ten percent global terriff under
Speaker 1: Section one two two, over and above our normal tariffs
Speaker 1: already being charged.
Speaker 2: Now that is a direct quote.
Speaker 1: I have no idea if what that means or what
Speaker 1: if he can do it, then what's it means that.
Speaker 10: You I wish that you did, because I'm not going
Speaker 10: to be the one to say it all rast for you. Unfortunately,
Speaker 10: I don't know what that means either. And one of
Speaker 10: the other things that I don't know is is this
Speaker 10: a situation where we are going to just have the
Speaker 10: president doing something and then having these having to have
Speaker 10: it work through these processes because you know, all over again,
Speaker 10: because this is this is a situation that Congress itself
Speaker 10: is incapable of resolving. They do not have the ability
Speaker 10: to resolve this just given the makeup as they currently.
Speaker 1: It's an impeachable offense. Yeah, you see that that Immediately
Speaker 1: I thought, oh, he doesn't care. I's gonna get impeached
Speaker 1: anyway for not doing the TikTok law. He's going to
Speaker 1: get impeached for not listening the court on the tariffs.
Speaker 1: But he doesn't care.
Speaker 10: Yeah, it's no longer a threat. It's like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 10: what you know, I get three now? Okay, well, you
Speaker 10: know whatever called me in the morning. The thing, the
Speaker 10: thing that I think is interesting.
Speaker 2: Though about this is.
Speaker 10: This is one of those issues where if we had
Speaker 10: a functional Congress, if we have the ability for them
Speaker 10: to work through this, then you could have a tariff
Speaker 10: process that is more orderly and that and where you
Speaker 10: know certain there there's certain expectations about what we're doing. Instead,
Speaker 10: we are stuck in this situation where people are getting
Speaker 10: jerked around. And I had a bunch of people, you know,
Speaker 10: texting me just you know, as this decision came down,
Speaker 10: saying what does this mean for what's already.
Speaker 2: Been in effect?
Speaker 10: You know what about clawback situations and lawsuits that are
Speaker 10: you know, a fallout because of this decision. And the
Speaker 10: truth is I just don't know the answer to that.
Speaker 2: It's well, I.
Speaker 1: Read as quickly as I could the Chief Justice's opinion
Speaker 1: and excerpts of the other The Chief Justice does not
Speaker 1: answer that question. No, classic Supreme Court, The question before
Speaker 1: us is whether he can do it. The answer is no.
Speaker 1: Let's go to the next case. And there's no nothing,
Speaker 1: not even a clue. Now, by the way, it's remanded
Speaker 1: to the court a client for further proceeding consistent with
Speaker 1: his opinion. I don't know what that means.
Speaker 10: Yeah, this is this is I think going to be
Speaker 10: quite chaotic, and I'm not I'm not sure what's going
Speaker 10: to be the outcome of this. But one thing that
Speaker 10: I would point out is that the President is not
Speaker 10: wrong when he says that his teriff for GI has
Speaker 10: not resulted in the in the effects that so many
Speaker 10: of the doomsayers, including by the way at the Journal,
Speaker 10: who were predicting, you know, utter catastrophe because of it
Speaker 10: that has not happened. And we have seen decisions made
Speaker 10: because of an in response to these parists that are
Speaker 10: logical decisions and that you know, I think have some
Speaker 10: predictability to them. But now I think all that gets
Speaker 10: chucked into a cocktac.
Speaker 1: I have a talk with Ben during the break. He'll
Speaker 1: be back on the other side. If you don't talk
Speaker 1: about the Olympics on the other side, but during the break,
Speaker 1: I want to talk to him about the markets and oil.
Speaker 1: So don't Cony or America. If you want to listen
Speaker 1: to it all. It's on the Big Weekend Pod when
Speaker 1: it posts tonight of the month. I'm back with Ben Dominich. Now, Ben,
Speaker 1: after the terrorists were announced, the markets were up and down,
Speaker 1: up and down. Right now gold is up by about
Speaker 1: two percent, Crude oil is up by a little bit,
Speaker 1: and all the markets are well off. That crude has
Speaker 1: gone up to sixty six and a half bucks. The
Speaker 1: oil markets think there's are war coming, right.
Speaker 10: They definitely do, and that's being priced into that as
Speaker 10: an indication. Look, I don't think that you need a
Speaker 10: prediction market in order to see that that's happening, and
Speaker 10: that it's going to happen soon. I believe at this
Speaker 10: point it would be surprised if it doesn't happen. And
Speaker 10: I don't say that with any particular happiness, but I
Speaker 10: think that we have gotten to this point because of
Speaker 10: every decision that the regime has made that has led
Speaker 10: it to it. It could have backed off in so
Speaker 10: many different ways. It could have tried to do another deal.
Speaker 10: I think that Donald Trump probably would have been receptive
Speaker 10: to a deal that a lot of Republicans, including our
Speaker 10: friend Tom Cotton, would have criticized, you know, But in
Speaker 10: this case, because of their unwillingness to really even entertain
Speaker 10: any of those ideas, they have now put themselves into
Speaker 10: the target sphere. And that's going to be something that
Speaker 10: I think will ultimately lead to the end of this
Speaker 10: regime one way or another. Now that doesn't mean that
Speaker 10: what comes next is going to be you know all
Speaker 10: you know, honey and roses. But it's one of these
Speaker 10: things where the the ultimate I think blame for this
Speaker 10: is the fact that they have misjudged, as so many
Speaker 10: other people have, Donald Trump and his resolves and what
Speaker 10: he prioritizes, and when it became clear that he had
Speaker 10: been convinced by a number of people around him, including
Speaker 10: I believe Secretary Rubio, that this is that this is
Speaker 10: a moment in which something good can actually happen that
Speaker 10: will help remake the Middle East. And you know, I
Speaker 10: think that you know, Jared Kushner has wow. I mean,
Speaker 10: talk about the role that he has played in not
Speaker 10: one but two Trump terms in terms of what he's
Speaker 10: been able to do there. I believe that this is
Speaker 10: going to be, you know, a legacy making decision one
Speaker 10: way or the other, and the President is going to
Speaker 10: have to reckon with the fact though that there's going
Speaker 10: to be a lot of people who supported him early
Speaker 10: on who are going to be very dubious about this,
Speaker 10: and we're going to raise concerns that he has been
Speaker 10: you know, had people in his ear again including Secretary
Speaker 10: of Rubio, who he should not been listening to, and
Speaker 10: that they wanted to to have a foreign policy that
Speaker 10: was less active, that was less willing to lean into
Speaker 10: even opportunities like this victory.
Speaker 1: Has a thousand fathers and seventy seven million voters. We'll
Speaker 1: talk about that after it happens, if it happens. Coming
Speaker 1: right back with Ben Dominich Stay Tunes Welcome Back America.
Speaker 1: If you want to catch what I talked to Ben
Speaker 1: dominic about during the break, you have to listen the
Speaker 1: Big Weekend Pod. Ben two questions. One is about the Olympics.
Speaker 1: But first fourth quarter growth was only one point four
Speaker 1: percent at an annual rate. I thought it was supposed
Speaker 1: to be five percent. What happened?
Speaker 10: I mean, I think that we have seen a turn
Speaker 10: in this economy that is unfortunate, and it's one of
Speaker 10: the reasons why the Republican ideas that have been infecting
Speaker 10: them of late in Washington that things perhaps are not
Speaker 10: as bad when it comes to the midterm elections. That
Speaker 10: they have a bunch of silver linings that keep getting
Speaker 10: pointed out to me by staffers and folks who've been
Speaker 10: trying to convince themselves that the big, beautiful bill it's
Speaker 10: going to is going to write the ship, you know,
Speaker 10: internally and for their future. I think that they have
Speaker 10: a much bigger hill to climb, especially with the in
Speaker 10: the minds of the American people than we expected. I
Speaker 10: don't think that they they can look around and say,
Speaker 10: you know, energy costs or low gas costs are low.
Speaker 10: All these different prices for food goods, you know, are
Speaker 10: our staples are lower than they were when President Trump
Speaker 10: got into office, but there's still not low enough. That's
Speaker 10: the point that I keep making about those things. The
Speaker 10: gas price thing, I think is you know, a huge
Speaker 10: boon to them. I think they should lean more and
Speaker 10: more into it, especially in contrast with the agenda that
Speaker 10: Democrats are offering. And quite quite frankly, I think it's
Speaker 10: perfect that they chose someone like Governor Spamberger to be
Speaker 10: the opposing voice. Following the State of the Union, I
Speaker 10: realized those things don't always get a lot of attention,
Speaker 10: except as fodder for for humor when they go badly.
Speaker 10: But I do think that in this case there is
Speaker 10: a real contrast. And you know, for someone who runs
Speaker 10: on affordability and then embraces an agenda that's only going
Speaker 10: to increase energy costs and the like, that's something that
Speaker 10: Republicans should be highlighting about Democrats. They should be leaning
Speaker 10: into it and saying, look, we are headed in the
Speaker 10: right direction. It's not as good as we would like
Speaker 10: it to be. It needs more time in order to
Speaker 10: work and to have an effect on the economy that
Speaker 10: we believe will happen. We have faith in this, but
Speaker 10: we I think that there should be more done at
Speaker 10: this point by the Congress to try to get something
Speaker 10: else across the finish line before November that people can
Speaker 10: point to to say, this is another thing that's going
Speaker 10: to be helpful beyond just folks getting better tax refiles.
Speaker 1: Now Q two first Trump quarter gross with three point
Speaker 1: eight percent, second quarter four point four percent, and the
Speaker 1: astimates after that came out was you might hit five
Speaker 1: percent in Q four and it goes down to one
Speaker 1: point four percent, and they're blaming the shutdown. I did
Speaker 1: not think the shutdown could have that kind of thing
Speaker 1: a sequence to you.
Speaker 10: I did not, and I'm still not sure that it did.
Speaker 10: I think that you know, this is this is one
Speaker 10: of those areas where, you know, people like to blame
Speaker 10: government shutdowns on all manner of things, but I don't.
Speaker 10: I'm not entirely convinced that it has as big of
Speaker 10: an effect on the economy as some people do.
Speaker 1: Now, okay, last topic. I'm doing special reports night winners
Speaker 1: and losers, and my winner, I'll tell you in the
Speaker 1: audience will hear, but it'll still surprise most Fox News
Speaker 1: is the American women's talking team, because that may be
Speaker 1: the most thrilling victory.
Speaker 10: That was fantastic, wasn't it. And well, have you seen
Speaker 10: what the Canadians put out?
Speaker 2: They got a bunny?
Speaker 10: No, no, no, the Canadians. The Canadians be tweeted out
Speaker 10: silver shines just as bright. Oh no, the Canadian single
Speaker 10: or talk about I'm sorry, that sounds like what a
Speaker 10: loser says.
Speaker 1: That is so bad. I saw the film of them
Speaker 1: getting a bunny or a stuffed animal, and everyone looked
Speaker 1: like they wanted to stuff it down the throat of
Speaker 1: the presenter because they you know, it hurts, It really hurts.
Speaker 1: Nobody wants to get a silver medal. I mean they
Speaker 1: do later, but they don't want to. And I still,
Speaker 1: you're a hockey guy, right, yes, I am, okay. So
Speaker 1: whatever that that Keller did with Megan Keller, right, Megan Mallard, Yes,
Speaker 1: Megan Keller, what.
Speaker 10: Does she do?
Speaker 1: I still, I've watched it twenty times.
Speaker 2: Is that normal?
Speaker 10: No, that's not that's not normal. I've not I've not
Speaker 10: seen that move for especially from a woman's team, that
Speaker 10: I can recall. But I will tell you this, there's
Speaker 10: just something so satisfying about being the Canadians that the
Speaker 10: things that they think that they're best at. And and look,
Speaker 10: I realized not everybody likes the Olympics. You know, some Republicans,
Speaker 10: some conservatives are like, ah, you know, the Olympics is
Speaker 10: this you know, global thing. I view it in very
Speaker 10: different terms. I grew up watching the Olympics with my
Speaker 10: family and cheery on the United States, and I believe
Speaker 10: that it's essential to to inject that into your kids.
Speaker 10: You should have national pride about a performance and root
Speaker 10: for our teams. It's critical, it's important. And that's one
Speaker 10: of the reasons why I find everything surrounding this whole
Speaker 10: Eileen Goose story as the most disgusting thing. You know,
Speaker 10: where she's being held up by the American sports covering left.
Speaker 10: You know, Pablo Tory going on and talking about her,
Speaker 10: and you know all these other people who basically are
Speaker 10: using her as kind of a foil for Donald Trump
Speaker 10: or something like that.
Speaker 1: Ask her about the Wigers. I just keep waiting for
Speaker 1: someone to ask her about the Wigers. No, the thing
Speaker 1: that was satisfactory is that Carne gave that speech in Dava.
Speaker 1: I like Canadians. My daughter in law is a Canadian
Speaker 1: who has become naturalized. My in laws are Canadians. They're
Speaker 1: lovely people. I like Canadians. But Carnie gave that speech.
Speaker 10: No words against Selene Dion.
Speaker 1: But if you go to Davos and you punch us
Speaker 1: below the belt repeatedly and you're too cowardly to say
Speaker 1: what you mean, and then you get hand your hat
Speaker 1: and your other guy cheats and curling, which is really
Speaker 1: kind of.
Speaker 10: Despicable if you haven't if you haven't seen it yet, hugh. Uh.
Speaker 10: The there's a trend going on on Instagram and TikTok
Speaker 10: of people posting, oh, I'm just unleashing my inner Canadian
Speaker 10: and just showing them like lightly shoving and people food
Speaker 10: on their plate, you know. So look, I mean this
Speaker 10: is this is embarrassing for them. It's it's deeply embarrassing.
Speaker 10: But man, I love the fact that the women's hockey
Speaker 10: team did that, and I love the fact that, you know,
Speaker 10: my my girls love hockey and they pay attention to it,
Speaker 10: and in both both of them want to play. I
Speaker 10: think only one of them will. But but it's one
Speaker 10: of these things where it's it's inspirational to see that,
Speaker 10: and hey, I'll be cheering on the US team as well.
Speaker 1: So last question, it was wonderful to see them saying
Speaker 1: the national and yeah, full throat crazy, no one holding back,
Speaker 1: no one taking a knee. It's the way it used
Speaker 1: to be. But I guess it's kind of nice not
Speaker 1: to have any controversy.
Speaker 10: And this is the thing, huge, that's what these sports
Speaker 10: journalists are always trying to inject when they get into things.
Speaker 10: Think about the questions that we're happening. I believe it
Speaker 10: to be Australian open. You know that we're directed to
Speaker 10: the American Stacey, it's ridiculous. And the truth is in
Speaker 10: that moment to see that national tribe, it's great and
Speaker 10: we should be able to unite and say that it's great.
Speaker 10: And the fact is that you know that's to me,
Speaker 10: that's a good sign. It's like we're moving forward. We're
Speaker 10: healing in order to be able to come together and
Speaker 10: sing like that and you know, not hold back at all.
Speaker 2: Nature is healing. Ben Dominic, thank you.
Speaker 1: Listen to Big Ben Podcast, follow him at b Dominich
Speaker 1: on x, and you can find them anywhere. You'll love
Speaker 1: this week's conversation, So go to Big Ben Podcast.