WEBVTT - What excuse do Democrats have for keeping DHS closed during wartime? 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 0:00:06.320 --> 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 listen to the Hillsdale Dialogues, all of 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:14.560 them at q for Hillsdale dot com or just Google, Apple, 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:18.720 iTunes and Hillsdale. Joined now by the United States Senator 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:22.000 Tom Cotton from the great state of Arkansas. Senator Cotton, 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:23.520 thank you for joining me. I hope you have a 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:26.279 happy Easter week with your family. I appreciate you taking 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:30.080 the time to talk to me. First question, I was 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:33.760 on Fox earlier today and I cannot believe the Democrats 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:37.040 have closed the Department of Homeland Security thirty days into 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:39.479 a war. What are they thinking. 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:44.720 You They're scared or they're in league with their radical 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:47.360 left wing base. I can tell you last week that 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:50.080 on more than one occasion, Chuck Schumer had agreed to 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:54.560 a deal that would fund all of Homeland Security aside 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:57.520 from ice and border patrol, which we pre funded last 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:01.440 year in our big budget ill in which we plan 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:03.440 to return and pass a new budget that will fund 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:07.200 them even further into future. And they constantly moved the 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:10.840 goalposts on those agreements and reneged on them. One key 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:14.960 sticking point he is the issue of masks. I don't 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:17.720 think ICE officers want to wear masks to you, but 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:22.240 they have to because otherwise the radical left will dox 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:25.600 them and then left wing street militias will prize their 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:28.319 wives and their kids at their homes. And that's where 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:31.320 Chuck Schumer and Democrats have drawn a line in the sand. 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:34.319 We'll obviously, we're obviously never going to agree to that, 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:37.680 So we'll continue with the plan we had in place, 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:40.800 which is to use the budget reconciliation process to make 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:43.800 sure that we fund ICE and border patrol well into 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:47.120 the future, probably the TSA now that we know chruction 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:50.080 where in the Democrats are willing to inflict long lines 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:53.600 on the American flying public and no paychecks on TSA agents. 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:56.600 And then at that point you assume that the Democrats 0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:59.120 would go into town, because why would they continue to 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:02.240 stay hold the Coast Guard and the Secret Service hostage 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:06.200 that they have nothing to show for their extremism and obstructionism. 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:09.760 Senator, When I looked into DHS two hundred and forty 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:12.480 thousand employees, and there is something called the Cyber and 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:16.880 Infrastructure Security Agency, as well as the Coastguard, FEMA, Secret Service, 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:20.760 a bunch of other things besides TSA in wartime, isn't 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:24.560 everyone basically an essential employee at the Cyber and Infrastructure 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:26.799 Security Agency and they're not getting paid. 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:31.920 He It's an important agency, little known agency, but they 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:36.320 do very critical work. And that's again another example of 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:41.040 just how radical and ideological Democrats have become. We're fighting 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:46.440 against the enemy that has well known cyber capabilities that 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:49.880 have used them against US interests in the past, and 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:54.360 they would rather keep the cyber Security Agency inside of 0:02:54.840 --> 0:03:00.160 DHS unfunded rather than allow the men and women of 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:02.920 Ice and Border Patrol to do their jobs to protect 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:05.639 our nation from dangerous illegal aliens. 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:08.880 Now. I was on Fox earlier today and Sandra Smith 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:10.920 asked me to make sense of this, and I really can't. 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:13.600 Forty five days ago, we weren't in a battle, and 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:16.760 so maybe there was a political argument. But if anything 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:19.679 happens now, and these lines at airports are the softest 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:23.520 target in the world, but anything happens anywhere by a 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:27.840 Hezbollah or an Iranian proxy, that's on the Democrats. Don't 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:28.680 they realize that? 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:34.079 And you just again to stress again. Republicans in the 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:37.720 Saria anticipated that the Democrats might full a stunt like this. 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:41.080 That's why last summer we pre funded ice and boarder 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:45.520 patrol for several years. So the Democrats are getting nothing 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:48.680 out of this. Not only are ice and boarder patrol 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:53.160 working because they're essential government employees, they are also being paid. 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:56.800 But the Democrats are willing to inflict long lines on 0:03:56.840 --> 0:04:00.400 the flying public or withholding pay checks to SAAH answer 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:04.480 Coast Guard officers or people who are working at the 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:07.600 Cybersecurity Agency or at the Secret Service or at FEMA 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:13.360 because their radical left hates our immigration police and wants 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:17.040 to defund them even though it has no immediate effect 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:17.479 on them. 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:21.760 So SATA, how long will this? This is actually a 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:24.960 vulnerability with Iran is down to two things, the straight 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.440 and whatever they can do the terrorists, I guess three 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:34.400 things and the internet cyber attacks that's all they've got. 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:36.479 Less how long are the Democrats going to leave us 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:37.039 naked on this? 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:40.880 I think they're willing to do it in definitely think 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:43.840 that's why we've said that we're done with Chuck Shimmer 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:46.480 continuing to move the goalposts. We're going to move out 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:50.560 on a republican budget reconciliation process that will allow us 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:53.480 to fund these critical agencies. You can give the Democrats 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:55.800 holding the bag with nothing in return. 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:59.400 All right now, the last time we talked about reconciliation, 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:02.720 the gone hat and sent over an official request. Have 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:06.520 they done that yet for a supplemental I. 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:10.200 Don't think so yet. To you, it takes some time 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:12.360 to make sure all the eyes are dotted and the 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:15.039 t'ser cross, not just at the Pentagon, but also with 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:17.800 the budget reconciliation process, So we still have some time. 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:20.800 I would remind all your listeners to you that we 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:25.520 still have two more shots at the reconciliation process as well, 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:28.960 so we don't have to include all the needed funds 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:31.320 to protect this nation in one single bill. We might 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:33.919 try to move out and do that. It's to be 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:36.080 determined on whether or not the Pentagon will be in 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:38.200 a position yet to provide us those numbers. But there 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:40.520 is the possibility that we could pass two more bills, 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:43.000 one for homeland security and one for our military. 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:46.400 All right now, I want to switch to the actual battle. Senator, 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.200 you're a soldier, you're a vet. You know the costs 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:52.720 that's already been born by thirteen families and thirty additional 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:55.960 seriously wounded people, and hundreds of people with injuries. And 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:59.679 that's just the American side. How much can the United 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.960 States put up with in terms of months of this 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:04.440 kind of conflict? Do you think. 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:09.120 I've set from the beginning that I expected this campaign 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:12.240 with the last weeks, not months. Here, four weeks into it. 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:16.440 I'll stick to that for now, because whenever I get updates, 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:19.600 and I get updates, whether it's in briefings or fearings 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:23.280 or phone calls or meetings with administration officials, almost every day, 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:27.039 I hear the same consistent message. We are on time 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:29.559 or head of schedule on every single line of effort, 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:34.080 their missiles, their missile launchers, their drones, their navy, their 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:38.919 manufacturing sites, their commanding control facilities. The military campaign is 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:42.760 going exceptionally well. I agreeve, as do all our cantons 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:45.280 for those soldiers who we lost and for their families, 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:48.320 and for the injuries, for the losses of equipment at hardware. 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:51.600 We may have more losses ahead, but in the long run, 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:56.480 it is to our great, great national security advantage that 0:06:56.520 --> 0:07:00.600 we finally defame in New York, this terroriced revolution regime 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:04.359 that has been spreading chaos and violence against the United 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:07.000 States and the civilized world for forty seven years. 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:09.840 So last question, Senator, It's crept into some of the 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:12.880 discussion from analysts, and none of us know anything because 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:16.080 we're not we don't have clearances that we don't we 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:20.080 can't dislodge, we can't defeat the IRGC. They are veterans 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:22.280 of the eighty three eighty eight long war with Iran 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:25.640 in Iraq and that they will never ever surrender. Do 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:26.400 you believe that. 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:32.160 They may not ever surrender, Hugh, But we're defeating a 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:34.640 lot of them every sale day as we continue to 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:39.360 target and kill their leaders. And remember, the Revolutionary Guard 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:42.240 boards very different today than it was forty seven years ago, 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:45.720 or even thirty seven years ago against the Iran Iraq War, 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:50.240 after they still in the flush of revolutionary fervor. It 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:52.760 is now well documented. In fact, I think the Wall 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:55.000 Street Journal has a story about to day that much 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:57.560 of what holds the Revolutionary Guard core together is not 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:03.480 ideology but corruption and get backs and payoffs and bribes. 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:08.480 And that's something that once the regime is defamed militarily, 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:12.800 once the security services have their wings clipped that the 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:15.360 Iranian people, I would imagine, are not going to put 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:15.840 up with. 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:18.960 Senator Tom Cotton. Happy Easter to you and your family. 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:20.720 Thank you for joining me, and I hope you can 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:22.600 get the Democrats to wake up to the fact that 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:25.840 we are playing politics at our peril. I appreciate your 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:28.160 joining me to take care. Welcome back to Americay, Hugh 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:32.080 Hewett inside the Beltwagh joined from Israel by doctor Michael 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:35.480 Orn former is really ambassador to the United States Doctor Orran. 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:37.120 I had a four hour drive this morning, so I 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:42.440 listened to every podcast that matter, Dan Senor talking with 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:46.760 Fred Kagan and Adobt a commentary to Jonathan Schanzer, and 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:49.160 the one thing that stuck out, well a lot suck out, 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:52.000 but Fred Kagan said, the Iranians have no idea how 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:54.880 badly they've been hurt. You know, I got to thinking 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:57.800 about that. They don't do they nobody's talking to each 0:08:57.840 --> 0:08:58.520 other in Iran. 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:02.920 Well, it's possible they're going to wake up in the 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:04.920 morning after, if there's a morning after, and. 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.040 Find out that they don't have very much. 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:10.760 Again, they have a different cut concept of victory. 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:12.720 Than we have in the West. You know, we count 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:13.880 boats sunk and. 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:17.199 Factories destroyed or unfortunately reminds me of a lot of 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:19.600 the Body Council of the Vietnam War. They have a different, 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:22.640 different definition of victory is that they just want to survive. 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.680 They're like Hamas and Gaza, and they don't think in 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:27.640 terms of you know, days and weeks and months. They 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:30.520 think in terms of years and decades. Oh, we'll be rebuilt, 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:34.000 especially we can get sanctions relief, then we'll rebuild. We 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:37.280 have to fight two wars that seeks victory by our terms, 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:38.720 but also victory by their terms. 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:43.000 So in terms of whether or not a regime is 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:45.080 left in place that we can do a deal with, 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:48.840 are you optimistic about that at all? In other words, 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:54.240 here's our enriched uranium. Here, send your inspectors anywhere they want, 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:56.200 and we'll blow up the missiles that you don't want. 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:58.920 But we want to stay in power. Is that possible? 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:02.679 Yeah, it's possible if you look at how the Iraq 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:04.319 Iran War ended. 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:06.840 When the leaders of the Iran regime said, we know 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:09.000 we have to drink from the poison chalice kind of thing. 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:11.760 You didn't have a poison chalice moment, but you're still 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:13.040 gonna have to verify that poison. 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:18.400 Chalice very compliance with it, very very closely. But it's unlikely. 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:19.200 It's unlikely. 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:20.040 That's all I can say. 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:23.760 And there may be very well at tipping point, a 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:27.920 breaking point, whether it's internal or external, people in the 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.320 street as a breaking point. The major issue here is 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:35.680 whether the United States and Israel can continue to stand strong, 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:38.400 stand together and see this through to the end, because 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:39.319 there is an end. 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:41.560 There is an end of that, I'm certain. 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:45.040 And you know, we've just had two missiles fired at 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:48.839 us in the last hour, Hugh, We've got my daughter 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:50.920 was under constant fire from his bulla in the north 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:51.880 in the Galilee today. 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:55.120 We're tough people, We're resilient. We're willing to see this 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:57.920 through the end. Uh. And you know we're asking the 0:10:58.040 --> 0:10:58.480 United States. 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:00.400 We understand the American people are paying more at their 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:01.319 gas pumps. 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:05.000 Through that the prices are going up in many fields 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:08.400 that are related to petroleum. We understand that, but we 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.280 ought to make the case that this is essential for 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:13.400 the peace of the United States, the peace of the world, 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:17.760 and to the presidents. If he sees this through, he 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:19.240 will not go down as one of the great presidents, 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:20.600 will go down to one of the great leaders in. 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:24.760 History now, DoD Oran. There are at least thirteen American 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:28.280 families who will not have someone coming home from this war, 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:32.600 at least twenty in Israel. Our golf allies have twenty 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:37.400 five plus. The cause in human loss is extraordinary. That said, 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:41.480 how much more can the two countries take in terms 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:44.160 of casualties before one of the other blinks? 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:49.000 You mean Israel and the United States, or the two 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:49.840 of us in Iran? 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:52.719 No, two of the Israel in the United States. Never 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:55.040 forget about Iran. They'll tell their people all day. 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:57.160 I can't speak for the United States. I can speak 0:11:57.160 --> 0:11:58.760 for the Essays speak for the state of Israel. We 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:01.040 know we have no choice. We know if we don't 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:03.880 prevail against his bull and Lebanon, and basically his bull 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:06.680 is just a branch of Iran, right then we lose 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:08.440 the galley, lose part of the country. 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:11.880 And this country's tiny, so it's an existential. 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:12.000 Issue for us. 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:15.640 We understand that it's really military has called up four 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:20.440 hundred thousand reservers. That's proportionally significantly more Americans than fought 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.040 in all of World War Two, and people are leaving 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:24.760 their homes, leaving their families and their jobs to go 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:26.800 out and fight, pick up a gun and go out 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:27.960 and fight because. 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:29.600 They know they have no choice. 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:32.319 We do all do and it, believe me, it's unpleasant 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:34.240 to run to this bomb shelter several times a night, 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:36.920 but we know, we know that at the end of 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:39.560 the day, this is our lives, these are our families, 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:40.400 this is our country. 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:43.240 And I don't want to believe the point, but it 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:45.199 literally is no choice. 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:47.400 Now, doctor, And you know everyone in the government and 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:51.959 outside of the government to what extent is Hezbollah hanging 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:55.040 by a thread or are they as resilient as Hamas 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:57.640 in the tunnels? Do they have that kind of network 0:12:57.920 --> 0:12:59.480 to retreat into and hide. 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:03.840 They actually have a deeper network, because Lebanon is signifally deeper, 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:05.120 bigger than than Gaza. 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:05.600 But not just that. 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:07.640 They can hide in the cities, They can hide in villages. 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:11.240 They can use the entire population of Lebanon as human shields. 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:14.640 The major thing with his Bula is can we cut 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:17.200 them off from their oxygen? And their oxygen is Iran. 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:19.040 Now the Syrians have closed off their border. 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:19.720 I don't know how. 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:23.160 Poorous that border is even when it's closed. But if 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:25.720 we can defeat Iran, we will defeat his bula. That 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:27.440 is what we call here, cutting off the head of 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:30.000 the snake or the head of the octopus, whatever you know, 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:31.040 reptilian or. 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:35.360 Marine metaphor you want to use. 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:40.640 And so these fights are all interrelated. 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:44.559 And again we're going to have to keep fighting his bula. 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.040 We've made a new defense line along the Tani River. 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:50.640 It's about about ten miles from our border, about ten 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:51.640 miles north of our border. 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:52.960 But the fighting there is very intense. 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:55.160 It is very intense, and his Bulla is far from defeated. 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:59.320 Right now, earlier today, maybe in the last hour, the 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:03.400 ID they've completed another wave of attacks in Tehran and 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:06.319 that they finished their primary target list and they're moving 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:10.640 on to economic targets, meaning the industrial base of Iran. 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:13.040 Is that consistent with what you've seen on the air. 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:18.560 Yes, definitely, And it's a decision not taking lightly because 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:21.000 the last thing you want to do is to hurt 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:25.360 the people of Iran. And you heard Secretary of State 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:28.000 Rubio said that these are our peace loving people. 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:30.240 For the most part. We want peace with them. 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:32.000 We had peace with them before nineteen seventy nine. 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:32.960 We want to go back to there. 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:35.880 And it is with a great regret that we would 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:40.280 cause them any discomfort or worse, but we may have 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:45.760 no choice. And again, if Iran keeps on pounding energy 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:48.640 sources in the Middle East, and today they shot at 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:51.680 both at the Haifa refinery, set one of them ablaze, 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:54.600 and you know, we could be sitting in the darky also, 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:58.080 so we may have no choice, all. 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:02.000 Right, So closing our in here. When the American people 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:03.840 look up and there's been gone for thirty day, I 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:05.440 think it's going to go to June. To tell you, 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:09.200 that's Hugh Ywittt's opinion based on not knowing anything except 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:12.840 talking to smart people. And I'm an American, so I'm 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:15.000 not paying anything other than a dollar a gallon of 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:18.640 gas ken Israel lasts until June under these circumstances. 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:22.520 Of course, of course we can listen. 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:25.280 We've been in this war for three years with very 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:28.600 little let up, by the way, and there have been 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:30.440 times in this war where it's actually been much more 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:33.240 difficult than it is now. Iran, during the twelve Day 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:35.800 Battle last summer, was hitting us more intensely with more 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:39.160 missiles every day. During the opening months of the Gaza 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:41.840 war and with his bullet in the North October November 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:45.680 December twenty twenty three, and then twenty twenty four, far 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:49.200 more intense barrages from both the South and the North. 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:50.880 We are a very resilient people. 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:53.200 We will be celebrating Passover this week. 0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:56.280 We got through slavery in Egypt. We got through forty 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:58.360 years of wandering in the desert. We're going to get 0:15:58.360 --> 0:15:58.880 through this too. 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:02.120 Well. Get through a commercial break. I have one political 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:04.720 question for you, but if you can't, don't worry about it. 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:06.920 I know you're a great demand and I appreciate the time. 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:09.920 Doctor Michael Lauren, former israily Ambassador of the United States 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:11.880 may or may not be back after the break for 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:15.840 politics here America. I'm Hugh Hewittt. Welcome. I am joined 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:19.040 by John pod Hortz, editor of Commentary Magazine. He is 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:22.440 also the host Monday through Friday, most Monday through Fridays 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:26.360 of the Commentary Magazine podcast, John, I listened to you today. 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:29.600 I listened to have Ready Go talk about Passover with 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:32.040 a Rabbi. I listened to Dan Senor and talk with 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:35.520 Fred Kagan and with Nadavi Y'all. I listened to Jonathan 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:37.880 Sandser to the FDD. So I've had a four and 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:39.960 a half hour drive this morning, so I might be 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:41.960 a little bit mixed up on where I heard what, 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:44.600 So give me a little grace here. I want to 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:48.160 start with the most important question always, Have you seen 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:49.960 Operation Mincemeat on Broadway? 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:53.560 I have not, but my wife went to see it 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:55.840 last week or the week before, so I consider that 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:56.440 I've seen it. 0:16:56.680 --> 0:16:59.760 Okay, So the premise of it is the ally spend 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:02.880 the w a lot of time cooking up elaborate ruses 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:06.680 to fool the enemy. Why should we believe anyone saying anything? 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:12.400 Now, that's very very important, and it is very important 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:15.920 to note that one in the tactics of the Trump 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:20.200 administration is to throw a lot of lines in the water. 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:22.720 We're gonna take card, We're not going to take card. 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:25.600 We're negotiating package. There's going to be negotiations in Pakistan. 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:28.520 We are not doing regime change because we've already done 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:32.960 regime change. Maybe we should go get the the nuclear 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:39.120 materials out of the Ifsahon. Maybe we should not do anything. 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:43.840 Maybe we are done. Maybe we're going to land ground troops. 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:49.600 So it's not that you shouldn't believe anything. It's that 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:55.960 everything is on the table, and therefore you should view 0:17:56.040 --> 0:18:01.280 this as the United States, having achieved military supremacy in 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:04.800 this war, is using its military supremacy in the war 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:10.240 to continue to signal to the Iranians that they kind 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:15.720 of have one last chance to give up, and giving 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:19.240 up would mean a lot of things, including telling us 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:21.600 where the nuclear materials are and allowing us to go 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:26.080 get them, among other things. And aside from that, there's 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:30.760 nothing to believe or not believe. Nothing is said determtively. 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:35.360 That is, by the way, exactly nodding through the commentary podcast, 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:38.320 which is fabulous today. By the way, I'm watching. I 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:41.440 sent my wife a tech about Kevin Klein and Laura Lenny, 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:43.639 which are two of her favorite people, and said she's 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:46.400 on the West coast. Watch this immediately. John doesn't get 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:48.959 excited about much television, so watching to me, we'll come back. 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:51.639 That's true. That's a show called American Classic that you 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:54.920 were talking about. MGM plus. You have to subscribe through Amazon. 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:57.960 Kevin Klin, Laura Lenny Betsico, I'm seen in years. Okay, 0:18:58.040 --> 0:18:58.359 let's go. 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:02.240 Back to the series. Stuff is the US the United 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:04.680 States as a whole better off today than we were 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:05.640 thirty one days ago. 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:11.560 Yeah, I mean, I don't think we were at any 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:16.280 particular immediate risk thirty one days ago from Iran, and 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:19.000 we're better off because now if we had been and 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:21.199 we didn't know about it, Iran is obviously in no 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:24.639 position to inflict any harm or damage on us. I 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:27.399 do think we need to finish the job, and that 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:30.439 what we've done is prepare the way for a huge 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:35.800 geopolitical historical triumph if we can just you know, put 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:39.439 our noses to the grindstone, and Trump can silence the 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:43.040 voices in his ear that are telling him that maybe 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:46.560 there's going to be there's a better off ramp and 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:52.280 do end this thing with an unambiguous American victory that 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:55.920 will reshape the geopolitics of the twenty first century. 0:19:56.560 --> 0:19:59.240 I think that could be where we're headed. And I'm 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:01.640 glad to hear that you're at least in the realm 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:05.720 of possibility with me. There is Israel our ally better 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:08.040 off today than it was thirty one days ago. 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:11.640 I mean, unambiguously, although you have to say less serial 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:14.120 It hasn't been tough in the sense that you know, 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:19.480 for Israeli normal Israeli life in this period has been canceled. 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:22.400 You know, people at kids aren't going to school. People, 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:24.760 it's very hard for people to go to work. People 0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:27.040 are going in and out of shelter six or seven 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:32.600 times a day. There has been relatively minor damage inside 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:37.760 Israel and relatively few deaths related to a gigantic number 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:41.919 of barrage of ballistic missiles being fired at it, so 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:46.320 life is harder immediately. The Israelis themselves seem to believe 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:48.840 that what is going on is not only righteous but necessary. 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:53.600