WEBVTT - The Big Weekend Pod 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.720 Welcome to today's podcast sponsored by Hillsdale College, All Things 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.280 Hillsdale at Hillsdale dot ed or I encourage you to 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:08.800 take advantage of the many free online courses there, and 0:00:08.840 --> 0:00:11.119 of course I'll listen to the Hillsdale Dialogue all of 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:14.560 them at Hugh for Hillsdale dot com or just Google, Apple, 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:18.640 iTunes and Hillsdale Morning. Glauria and Indian Grace. Welcome to 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:22.200 the Big Weekend Pod America. I'm Hugh HEWITTT. Good pod today, 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:25.720 great pod, if I may say so myself, Prompted in 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:29.880 part by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's Bankers Address to 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:32.400 the Bankers at Davos. I got a standing ovation, got 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:35.080 a big standing ovation at Davos, Mark Karney did. I 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:37.920 don't know what's happened in Canada, all right, Stephen Harper 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:41.400 was a great prime minister, Brian mulroney, great partner with 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:44.400 Ronald Reagan and facing down the Soviet Union. They had 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:47.159 the clown Trudeau for a long time. Now they've turned 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:50.440 to mister Davos himself, Mark Carney. I want you to 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:52.960 make time to listen to it, so I'm going to 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:55.880 have Harley had the fifteen minute speech not the Q 0:00:56.000 --> 0:00:58.520 and A. It's only fifteen minutes. Mark Carney, the fifteen 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:01.320 minute speech. I talk about it with my guests today, 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:05.440 John Ellis, Well, I'll lead off with Matt Contnetty, than 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:10.400 Ben Dominic, then Eli Lake, then John Ellis. But listening 0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:15.760 to Mark Carney thing, it's quite quietly but quite definitely 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:20.679 anti American turn trough. It's also very cowardly because Carney 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:23.600 avoids naming President Trump for the United States. You got 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:26.679 that big standing o though at the Banker's Annual PEP 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:30.119 rally and Davos. Of course he would. But as you listen, 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:32.720 keep in mind some facts. First, CARNEI purports to speak 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:35.800 for the so called Middle Powers. That's a variant I 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:37.960 guess of the non aligned nations of the Cold War, 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:41.920 which is odd since Canada depends almost entirely on America 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:44.800 for its national defense and for the freedom of the seas. 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:48.440 That allows it to sell its major asset, which is oil. Now, 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:52.000 I like Canada. My in laws are Canadian, my daughter 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:56.960 in law is Canadian. Love Canadians love maple syrup. There's 0:01:57.000 --> 0:02:00.200 even a hockey joke in the introduction of Carney. Who 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:04.160 who doesn't like Canadian Adam is Canadian man who's producing 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:08.440 this second. Canada has a population of forty two million 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:12.040 people and a GDP of two point four trillion, but 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:15.680 it doesn't even spend two percent of that GDP on defense. 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:19.080 It promises that it's going to get to two percent 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:22.560 two percent by twenty thirty. Right, it just isn't really 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:24.520 a middle power, if there's any kind of a definition 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:29.040 of middle power, which would begin with consistent spending of 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:32.519 between three and five percent of your GDP. Carney says 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:34.440 he stands in the course of the speech with Greenland 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:37.400 and Denmark. He didn't say he's standing against because it's 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:40.120 a uniquely cowardly approach to Reddick, like I said that 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:42.799 named the president of the US, but when he's asking 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:46.720 question the answer if there's an off ramp on the subject. 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:49.679 Carney says he's hopeful that the quote discussions have been 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:52.440 catalyzed in an unusual way. In other words, Trump's getting 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:56.400 it done because we need golden doll. Carney talks about 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:59.880 the need for Europe and the transpecific partnership to get 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:04.160 together to expand trade and counterock the hedgemons. First of all, 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:09.160 you should know there is no Transpacific partnership. It's a dream. Secondly, hedgemons, 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:14.080 China and the United States are the big superpowers. I 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:17.359 guess we're the same. He really did say the two hedgemons, 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:20.200 the Middle Powers have to stand against the two hedgemons, 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:23.680 US stand against US. No difference at all between China 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:27.040 and the United States. He doesn't mention the sixty two 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:30.480 billion dollar trade surplus that Canada has with the US. 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.560 In fact, his speech is free of hard facts. He 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:36.360 does mention, I should say, he does mention that Canada 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:41.680 has submarines. It does. Four submarines, the newest of what 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:45.640 was commissioned in twenty fifteen. The other three were commissioned 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:47.840 in two thousand and three, two of them, and in 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:50.480 two thousand I got a twenty six year old submarine 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:54.640 like a Beatles song. Canada has a standing military of 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:59.960 sixty eight thousand. Unlike Poland and Finland, they are frontlines 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:02.480 states with Russia. They do as much as they can 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:05.280 with as much as they have. Canada doesn't really actually 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:08.240 have the ability to repulse a conventional incursion from Russia 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:10.400 without the US to back it up quickly. You know, 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:13.200 Finland's got reserve forces. They only have standing on me 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:15.840 at twenty three twenty four thousand, but they have reserve 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:18.160 forces of two hundred and eighty thousand that can mobilize 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:24.440 immediately if Putin gets pesky up North and Poland spends 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:27.800 close to five percent of their GDP on defense. Those 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:32.159 are middle powers. Now the big power, Israel punches so 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:34.680 far above them with ten million people. So it's not 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:37.680 like they can't do it. They're a free writer. Canada 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:40.039 is a free writer. They're a nice free writer. We 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:42.080 like hockey, we like maple syrup. We like to go 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:46.160 to Toronto and Montreal. People like to visit there. But they 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:50.599 are a free rider. And when he compares us to 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:53.200 China and he just got back from China said he 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:55.280 had a good, great meeting there, and he has an 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:59.000 alliance with China. Twice in this speech. It's at the 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:01.719 end of this he mentions human rights. Just keep in 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:04.400 mind the genocide of the Wigers, the crushing of Hong 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:08.520 Kong's freedoms, the ongoing threat to Taiwan, Jimmy Laive's imprisonment. 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.839 None of that distinguishes that Hedgemond from our being a Hegemont. 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:19.000 So the truth is hard truth. Canada lives under the 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:21.919 umbrella of the United States and has for eighty years. 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:25.080 It has its excellent standard of living because of the 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:27.839 freedom of the seas guaranteed by the United States Navy 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:33.320 and by our trade with them. When you hear Carney declared, 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:38.000 and you will Canada be an energy superpower, ask yourself 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:40.159 which countries doesn't sell its oil too? That would be 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:44.640 US mostly, And to which countries it could sell the 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:48.920 oil should freedom of the seas be contested? Justin Trudeau 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:52.440 was a clown right Mark Carney appears to be the 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:55.880 vain banker from the Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:59.400 Will the master of the universe in an imaginary world. 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:03.200 Of course, he got a standing ovation at Davos for 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:06.960 his middle power at chess thumping. What in the world 0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:10.560 has happened in Canada since the days of Harper and Mulroney, 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:13.400 I don't know, but that's on my mind today when 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:16.960 I talk with Kontinetti, with Ben Dominich, and we're going 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:20.240 to cover Jack Smith, We're going to cover Greenland, We're 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:22.920 going to cover everything that happened during the week, especially 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:26.000 whether or not President Trump should and will strike Iran. 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:27.760 That's the most important issue in the world. That's, by 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:29.520 the way, he doesn't mention that Karnee didn't mention the 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:32.279 fact that President Trump got rid of the nuclear program, 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:36.200 obliterated it to the benefit of the entire world, something 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:38.599 that no other power, the other hedgemond wasn't going to 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:40.480 do because the other hedgemon buys all of its oil 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:43.440 from Iran, which allows Iron to mo down fifteen thousand people. 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:45.840 Mark Corney doesn't know that you think I'm a little 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:49.839 bit upset with Mark carnieat he's a banker. It's like 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:57.840 Mayor Frye had submarines and oil that he's just basically 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:01.000 a blue state mayor, the blue state mayor of Canada. 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:05.599 Mark Carney. What a smarmy speech. But that just leads 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:15.760 us in to the big weekend pod enjoy. Welcome back, America. 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:19.600 I'm Hugh Hewett. I'm joined by Matt Contadenny, who is 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:22.880 of course head of domestic Policy Studies at the Canadian 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:26.960 Enterprise North the American Enterprise Institute. He's also the Canadian 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:31.200 Journal Wall Street Journal columnist, and he's just back from Canada. 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:33.920 I was going to call him the Kim Philby of Canada, 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:37.080 but I think Don McLean or Guy Burgess sounds more Canadian. 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:40.000 What were you doing up north in the land of 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:41.160 hockey and lander? 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:47.800 That's Flanders on my character, comparing me to those Cambridge spies. No, 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:51.520 I was in Canada engaged in high stakes diplomacy. Hugh 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:55.400 went to Toronto Wednesday evening, spent a whole twenty four 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:57.680 hours there with our northern neighbor. 0:07:58.000 --> 0:07:59.400 Touchdown in Ottawa. 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:02.080 Briefly on my back to DC, and I can report 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:07.400 the following Canada is not happy with President Trump and 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:10.280 his rhetoric on Greenland or the fifty first state. 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:12.040 And so my job there was. 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:15.600 To explain what Trump is up to in shaping the 0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:19.760 world in order to create kind of the sinews, restore 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:23.920 the sinews of Western civilization in preparation for the competition 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:27.040 with China. I'd like to think I convinced a few 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:30.840 of my Canadian friends, but it was tough going. 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:33.200 You need to sit down with Mark Kearney. Have you 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:35.760 listened to the Mark Kearney address at Davos yet? 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:37.160 Oh? 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:40.160 Yes, you know that speech was the talk of the 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:43.760 chattering class here in d C almost as soon as 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:46.440 it was delivered. And so ever curious, I went and 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:48.679 I looked it up. I watched the speech, and I 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:50.160 have to say, I don't know what all the fuss 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:50.559 was about. 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:52.400 Hugh Oh, I think it's one of them. More we 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:57.560 have anti American speeches because it's cowardly. He never mentioned 0:08:57.640 --> 0:09:00.920 America or Donald Trump, but he talks about the Hedgemonds, 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:04.200 meaning that China and US are alike, and then he 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:06.480 runs through I'll just give you some of the highlights. 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:07.240 Cut number four. 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:12.320 We placed the sign in the window, We participated in 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:16.959 the rituals, and we largely avoided calling out the gaps 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:23.360 between rhetoric and reality. This bargain no longer works. Let 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:27.120 me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture. 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:31.000 Not a transition, all right, Matt, A rupture. They are 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:34.880 not protected from the world without us. They depend upon 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:39.280 our nuclear umbrella, our military. They have four submarines, sixty 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.960 eight thousand soldiers. They spend less than two percent of 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:46.720 their GDP on national defense, and the oil they send 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:49.720 abroad is only because we maintain freedom of the seas. 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:51.920 If we didn't, they'd have to sell it all to us. 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:55.440 It was the most arrogant, two faced thing I have 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.680 heard from a world leader who depends upon America to 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:02.360 the extent that Canada does. It really enraged me, So 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:03.360 tell me why I'm wrong. 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:06.360 No, I don't think you're wrong. 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:09.080 I think there are two main problems with this speech 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:12.160 that Prime Minister carneg gave. The first one is there 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.240 was no action item. It was all rhetoric. It's all 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:19.760 quotations from Thucydides and Bossil of Hovel. But he never 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:22.520 said what he was going to do except have this liberal, 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:27.080 pluralistic society that he is oversees he governs in Canada. 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:29.720 But that what does that mean? Is he actually going 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:31.679 to spend more more money on defense? Is he going 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:37.200 to correct the wreckage that Justin Trudeau caused Canada through 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:39.320 socialism and through the Green New Deal? 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:41.000 You know, the Canadian economy. 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:45.040 America has opened up a tremendous gap in per capita 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:50.480 GDP and productivity with Canada. Canada has real domestic issues 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:53.760 that the United States did not cause, Canada caused them, 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:56.199 and he needs to address those. And the second thing 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:58.520 about the speech was I thought it was really really 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:03.200 rich because he delivered the speech obviously directed toward President Trump, 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:07.079 less than a week after he met with Sijinping, Yes, 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:12.800 who does not believe in freedom, wants to set the 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:16.160 rules of this new world order in a way that 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:21.520 would disadvantage any country not named China. And Carney there 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:26.520 was extremely solicitous, even slavish, towards Si Jinping. And so 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:30.200 if you're going to quote Vaslovhavel about speaking truth to power, 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:33.600 why don't you do it to the Chinese communist dictator? 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:37.439 And instead of going up to the applause of Eurocrats 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:39.360 in Davos, Switzerland. 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:42.560 Thank you, Because at that meeting with Jijenping, he said, 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:44.600 we're entering into an alliance. And I thought, oh, the 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:46.920 Whiggers will love that. And I thought, Jimmy laies in 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:49.320 a prison cell, and I thought, to what, Taiwan is 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:52.439 being threatened every day, and that Hong Kong has been crushed. 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:56.000 And he talks in this speech about the hedgemon. It's 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:59.840 clearly China enough that I don't really really know how 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:03.640 to absorb this other than he is of the It's 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:06.800 like Jacob Fry with submarines. He's of the banking class, 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.959 and the banking class likes China because they do a 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:13.400 lot of business with China. Am I two hearts. 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:18.800 Well, you're right about the banking class and the financial elite. 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:21.120 But I think there's another thing at work here, Hugh, 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:23.280 and that is domestic Canadian politics. 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:23.959 Not true. 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.480 You know, the thing about nationalism is every nation has it, 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:32.240 and so we have American nationalism through President Trump, but 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:36.600 sometime he's awaken nationalism in India and in China traditionally 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:39.040 allies of ours, and so Carney was playing through a 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:43.480 domestic audience as well, and I can report it's way 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:44.000 he liked it. 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:46.600 When we come back, I'm talking with Matt during the 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:51.840 break about the new superstar of American of repartee, Scott Fassen. 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:53.839 And then when we turn back on the other day, 0:12:54.200 --> 0:13:05.880 Jack Trump Wiltennet, I'm back with Matt Connetty to play 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:09.200 from at two pieces of Scott Bessant and Davos if 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:11.280 you may have missed it. First of all, here's Scott 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:15.280 Bessant talking about Gavin Newsom and Davos on Tuesday cut 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:19.160 number eleven. I think it's very, very. 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:25.240 Ironic that you know Governor Newsom, who strikes me as 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:30.280 Patrick Bateman Sparkle beach Ken maybe the only California. 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:32.559 Enough good enough. And then cut number eight. 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:35.760 We've seen the. 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:45.200 Lack of energy security from this manic push for net zero, 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:49.160 which I think we've seen in some recent scientific journals, 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:53.000 has been pushed back. Even Bill Gates is saying the 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:56.319 one degree, two degrees, three degrees. 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:57.840 I'm not sure it matters. 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:00.960 If you look at what he's doing with his own money, 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:04.280 it looks like he believes we're going to innovate our 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:09.320 way out of any perceived climate problem. 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:12.880 So I think that's on one side. And then again 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:14.400 I think this. 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:18.400 I think we almost reached a Saturday Night Live moment 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:21.440 a few years ago when it was you're not going 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:23.960 to own anything, You're going to eat insects. 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:26.600 I mean it was just the inmates were running the 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:29.280 asylum at that well. 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:33.480 I can tell you, after a few days of Swiss 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:35.360 German food, I may switch to bugs. 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:40.400 Got Eddy who knew that gott Besson was going to 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:43.280 be up there with Marco Rubio for verbal dexterity? 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:45.520 Yes, you know, Q. 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:47.920 As soon as we finished last week's interview where we 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:50.440 were talking about some of the great communicators in Donald 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:54.000 Trump's cabinet, I slapped my forehead and said I left 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:57.360 out Scott Besson and sure enough, he showed why he's 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:00.440 one of the more effective communicators in this The other 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:05.480 thing about Besson is he established a profile in financial 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:09.520 markets long before the Trump era began, and like Donald Trump, 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:13.280 he was a politically independent character. Right, but he has 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:17.520 I think seen the light through the Biden Harris years 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:21.400 and the Obama years, but the dangers of government regulation, 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:26.680 high taxes, spending, all of the different energy regulations that 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:30.320 limit growth. And so he's become a warrior for markets 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:33.440 and for the Trump agenda, and he's entertaining. I mean 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:37.240 that line about Newsom was extremely cutting, to the point 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:41.000 where I think it left Governor Newsom speechless for a moment, 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:42.680 which is a rare occurrence. 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:46.480 Indeed, it's going to leave on Mark sparkle Ken is 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:49.960 going to leave on Mark Matt Continey. We've talked about 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:54.000 Joseph Epstein before, the soul of wit and written word. 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:56.920 How do you know when you when you have wit? 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:00.360 Because obviously Scott Besson has wit. We got we got 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:01.600 a minute. What is wit? 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:02.360 You know? 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:08.040 It's a quickness, it's the comeback. It's being able to 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:11.960 turn a phrase on a dime in response to something 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:16.000 somebody has said or something that occurs. Joseph Epstein has, 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:19.080 Scott Besen has it. Of course, in my view, the 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:22.720 founder of American Conservatism, William F. Buckley grow is the 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:26.480 exemplar of wit because he was able to come up 0:16:26.520 --> 0:16:29.160 with a one liner really just at the drop of 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:29.480 a hat. 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:34.400 It's a superpower. Trump, by the way, recognizes wit, but 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:37.280 he doesn't practice it very often. He can get off 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:38.880 a good one liner once in a while, but he 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:42.720 recognizes it always as a good entertainer. Next Jack Smith, 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:47.760 after the break, stay tuned, Welcome back to and you 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:50.480 do it? Maat Cottonetty is with me, of course. Matt 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:52.760 is with the Wall Street Journal, way right a column. 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:56.280 He's also head of Domestic policy Studies at the American 0:16:56.440 --> 0:17:01.360 Enterprise Institute and our special envoy to Canada. Uh Matt 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:05.760 last night. You know, Britt Brett Behar is so good 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:08.280 at what he does with the panel. He realizes when 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:10.720 he has to stretch the moment because smoke is coming 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:13.760 out of someone's ears. I had a Democrat on who 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:16.640 said Jack Smith did great yesterday and it was wonderful, 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:19.520 and he showed him up. And then Brett turned to 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:24.000 me and said, Hugh cut number three. Hugh final word, 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:27.320 oh oh he I think Jack Smith effectively killed the 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:31.000 appointment of special prosecutors. Today, I think Eileen Cannon's decision 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:34.560 that she ruled his appointment on constitutional has been validated. 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:37.040 He did not give answers, he gave evasions, and I 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:38.720 believe that that will go down as one of the 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:42.199 worst appearances before Congressional history, the other that I can 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:45.480 actually remember in real time. So there was a differenceive 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:47.720 opinion on the panel. What did you think of Jack 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:50.560 Smith before the House Judiciary or Oversight Committee. 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:53.880 I think it showed that he was the wrong man 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:57.480 for the job. He wasn't prepared for these questions, and 0:17:57.560 --> 0:17:59.840 there are real questions. I mean, there are questions about 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:06.120 his approach to the First Amendment and whether Trump's actions 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:10.680 surrounding January sixth are exercise as a free speech, which 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:13.720 I think there were. He showed lack of judgment on immunity, 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:16.160 taking the case all the way to the Supreme Court 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:19.159 and losing it. There are questions about the speech and 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:23.040 debate clause, which I think representative guilt really got into 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:27.160 when describing the way in which they pursued under arctic frosts. 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:32.280 The communications of senior congressional leaders, including describing former Speaker 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:33.399 Kevin McCarthy. 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:34.520 As a potential flight risk. 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:36.600 Now there's one thing I know about Kevin McCarthy. 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:37.640 He's not a flight risk. 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:38.960 No, he's not a flight risk. 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:41.760 And then you know, you think about you think about 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:45.560 Smith's resume and his case against Bob McDonnell, which was 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:49.200 then thrown out by the Supreme Court. So you have 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:51.159 here a kind of a pattern on the part of 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:53.760 Jack Smith. And he is a relentless prosecutor. But I 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:58.080 think one who is so determined to indict that he 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:01.240 is ready to kind of walk all over the Constitution 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:02.000 in the process. 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:06.160 I keep referencing Javert from Lea Mease, and I wonder 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:11.320 my question is did Merrick Garland know that and want that, 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:14.119 or did he make a mistake. I know that Eileen 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:17.600 Cannon's opinion needs to be revisited by everyone. She held 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:22.120 his appointment is unconstitutional because he had never been confirmed 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:24.520 as a prosecutor, for example, as the US Attorney would 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:28.040 be and the prosecutory power. Robert Jackson wrote a very 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:30.280 great I gave a great speech actually a Department of 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:32.639 Justice to prosecutors about how dangerous it is to be 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:34.960 a state prosecutor. He had to be careful. Do you 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:38.399 think Garland knew what he was getting or just screwed up? 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:42.600 He must have known. I mean, Merrick Garland has been 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:45.879 around Washington, d C. For a very long time. He 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:48.880 knows about Jack Smith, and he knows about his relationships 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:53.320 with Komee and Fitzgerald and that whole crew. So I 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:55.800 think he had a sense of what was going to happen, 0:19:56.359 --> 0:20:00.240 and it backfired. And we know that primary reason Donald 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:03.480 Trump as president today, not just the total collapse of 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:08.359 the Biden administration, not just Donald Trump's own extraordinary resilience 0:20:08.400 --> 0:20:11.200 and talent, But it's because of the Lawfair. It's because 0:20:11.200 --> 0:20:15.080 of the Lawfair that was spearheaded by Jack Smith. So 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:17.080 I think this is a moment where we need to 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:19.080 look in the mirror. But you know, Hugh, I was 0:20:19.160 --> 0:20:21.600 hoping you'd ask me about the Oscar picks, well, like 0:20:21.760 --> 0:20:24.000 you've been asking people about then Oscar nominee. 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:25.680 I asked, if there's my chance. 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:27.439 To weigh in, Well, there are ten of them. Did 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:30.960 you see any of the ten out now? I've only 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:33.720 seen one of the ten, and that's f one me too. 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:37.240 I did not see in the theater and I thoroughly enjoyed. 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:39.480 So as soon as you said that earlier this week, 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:42.120 I said, Okay, I'm rooting for f one to win 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:43.520 the Picture of the Year now. 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:45.680 But I want to ask you about the most important 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:48.520 question in the world, and it really is should Donald 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:51.879 Trump hit Iran harder than it's ever been hit? As 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:54.399 he pledged in me, if they would kill people? And 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:55.720 do you think he will? 0:20:57.720 --> 0:20:59.800 He needs to take action. You know, he drew a 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:02.960 line there. He has called for new leadership. 0:21:03.600 --> 0:21:06.960 He has sent this signal of force by sending the 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:11.760 aircraft carrier group back into the region, and he's told 0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:13.680 the Iranian people that help is on the way. 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:15.880 So action needs to be taken. 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:19.480 You know, they've stepped up sanctions, they've stepped up the 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:23.000 maximum pressure. But I do think that a strike directed 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:26.200 at kind of the pillars of the regime security state, 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:31.159 in particular the Basiji militias and the IRGC, which has 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:34.560 caused so much havoc in the region and killed Americans, 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:38.439 would be completely justified, and it would back up President 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:42.320 Trump's credibility, and it would extend America's deterrence, and it 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:46.359 would help the Iranian people who clearly believe that this 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:49.520 government is illegitimate and should fall. 0:21:49.840 --> 0:21:52.720 Now there's a question which requires a little bit of prophecy. 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:56.920 Barack Obama will never escape erasing the red Line. Joe 0:21:56.960 --> 0:22:00.760 Biden will never escape the collapse in Afghanistan. Donald Trump 0:22:00.800 --> 0:22:03.320 has already done the world a great thing by obliterating 0:22:03.480 --> 0:22:07.560 a nuclear program and by grabbing Maduro. But we're walking 0:22:07.720 --> 0:22:12.560 back from the threat of force. Here be a lasting 0:22:12.680 --> 0:22:16.240 mark on his legacy. As the historians assessed the Trump presidency. 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:21.440 I think Trump's goal should be that there are new 0:22:21.480 --> 0:22:25.359 governments in Venezuela, Iran, and Cuba by the time he 0:22:25.480 --> 0:22:29.600