WEBVTT - The Big Weekend Pod 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.760 Welcome to today's podcast sponsored by Hillsdale College, All Things 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.440 Hillsdale Hillsdale dot ed or I encourage you to take 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:08.920 advantage of the many free online courses there, and of 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:11.280 course I'll listen to the Hillsdale Dialogue all of them 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:14.560 at q for Hillsdale dot com or just Google, Apple, 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:18.880 iTunes and Hillsdale Morning Glory and even Great America. Welcome 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:21.200 to the Big Weekend Pod. I'm Hugh Hewett. Thank you 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:24.439 for listening. The weekend is going to be full of 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:28.520 speculation about what President Trump did and what he didn't do, 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:30.680 why he did what he did, and didn't do what 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:32.599 he didn't do, and the fact of the matter is 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:36.640 it's all premature, all of it, because we're at the 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:40.680 end of the beginning of the showdown with the Mullis. 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:44.400 And I'm not a big believer that their regime is 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:48.560 going to collapse anytime soon. But I believe it can 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:52.720 be cabined. It can be trained not to kill thousands 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:55.040 of people, not to threaten Israel, not to threaten the 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:58.000 President of the United States, not to engage in the 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:00.800 export of terrorism. And the way you train it is 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:04.160 the same way you train a vicious dog. And you 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:09.160 hit them really, really hard and put down some of 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:12.399 them when they've bitten too often. And we know the 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:14.640 names and the addresses of most of the people at 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:17.840 the top of the regime. It's a vast structure, though, 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:22.720 a vast structure of terrorism, the vast structure of repression. 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:26.720 If you haven't listened to Haviv Reddick Gore, ask k 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:31.240 Aviv anything. His most recent addition is on the sober 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:35.040 reality of the depth the defense and depth around the 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:40.520 Ayatolahamini provided by the RGC the besiege, the police in 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:44.520 the street, the ordinary cops, and then they imported Taliban, 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:48.600 They imported Iraqi militias, people who spoke Arabic not Farsi, 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:52.800 to just mow down people. So you can't underestimate what 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:57.000 it is that the demonstrators are up against. But the 0:01:57.040 --> 0:02:00.200 civilized world ought to deliver a message that we will 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:02.520 not accept and we will hit you every time you 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:05.880 do something like this, even if it doesn't result in 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:09.239 regime collapse. But I am not one of those who 0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:17.360 thinks that the president promised to act Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:20.519 whenever it is don't put me in the category. There's 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:24.400 a time limit on this because there's no talon with 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:26.880 Donald Trump, which is one of the great beauties of 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:27.639 Donald Trump. 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:30.679 That having been said, other people have different points of 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:33.680 view on it. So we turned to The Big Weekend 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:38.520 Pod with our regulars Matt Continetti and Ben Dominic and 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:42.760 Eli Lake and of course just a little apertif actually 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:46.000 non aperteef what do we call it? Dessert douglah Marie, 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:49.880 a little warm up on Indiana's a likely crushing defeat 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:52.880 in Miami on Monday Night. All that and more coming 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.760 up on this The Big Weekend Pod. Thank you for 0:02:55.840 --> 0:03:03.320 tuning in. Quarner Back America. 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:08.040 No Weekend in Review show would be complete without Matt Continetti. 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:10.680 You can follow him on ex at Continetti, you can 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:12.840 read him at the Wall Street Journal. He is the 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:17.360 senior scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and Domestic Policy Studies. 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:20.520 And I do three segments a week with Matt and 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:22.280 if I were a Jeopardy game, this would be the 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:25.760 segment called Iran. The segment off air today will be 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:30.280 called Minnesota, and then category three is pot Pirie and 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:33.520 the third segment, let's start with Iran Matt I just 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.720 talked with Eli Lay. Nobody knows nothing, but what's your 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.560 assessment of where we are at the end of a 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:44.000 week of incredible brutality, such a blood soaked evil regime. 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:48.520 Well, I think where we are is the Iranian regime 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:53.280 is severely weakened, Hugh. It's lost the legitimacy whatever it 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:56.320 had left among the Iranian people. The Iranian people no 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:59.360 longer fear the regime, and as the Stanford scholar of 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:01.520 bas Milan pointed out in The New York Times this 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:06.840 morning in a very perceptive piece, repressive regimes need fear. 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:11.240 Once the people lose fear, the regime is in severe trouble. 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:12.960 And so what we're at. 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:17.000 Right now is President Trump has said that he's not 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:20.479 going to attack because of what he's. 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:22.200 Heard from other of our allies, and. 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:25.400 Also because of actions that the Iranian government has taken 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:30.880 in delaying or not engaging in public execution and slightly 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:34.920 pulling back on some of the most violent repression it seems. 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:38.360 But that doesn't mean that the Iranian regime is out 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:38.920 of the woods. 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:39.440 Far from it. 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:43.080 In fact, I think one reason Trump has delayed any 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:46.080 action is we don't have all the assets in place 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:50.280 necessary for a strike that would truly help the protesters, 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:53.080 truly punish the Iranian government in such a. 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:55.600 Way that it would both. 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:58.000 Lack the capacity to suppres its own people and to 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:01.479 retaliate against the United States in our allies. But those 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:03.839 assets are moving. We have an aircraft carrier group moving 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:07.920 to the region. Now we are getting other armaments and 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:11.760 platforms in place. So I think we're at the one 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.680 stage of the crisis, but that Iran will continue to 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:17.159 dominate American foreign policy in the months ahead. 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:20.159 I keep saying mac Conna that this is the end 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:24.479 of the beginning of the Trump policy towards Iran. The 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:29.560 beginning was Operation Midnight Hammer. Then he's had eight days 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:32.960 of ramped up threats beginning on this program eight days ago, 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:35.000 and then he kept it up sort of Sean Hannity 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:37.200 through the weekend. Then he began to dial it back. 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:39.520 I have no idea what he's going to do. Nothing 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:43.040 will surprise me. But as he opened to criticism, if say, 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:46.320 sixty days from now, nothing has happened, and the thousands 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:48.799 who were jailed, in addition to the thousands who were killed, 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:52.799 are still jailed, that he baited and switched the Iranian 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:55.200 public into demonstrating. 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:58.880 You never want to draw a red line and then 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:03.440 back down from it, because that erodes American deterrence. And 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:07.239 Donald Trump has built up American deterrence over the course 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:11.680 of his two presidencies, and most spectacularly with Operation Midnight 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:14.880 Hammer against the Iranian nuclear program, and then just two 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:19.760 weeks ago with Aberration Absolute Resolve extracting and arresting Nicholas 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:21.400 Madureau from Venezuela. 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:22.800 He's built up our deterrence. 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:27.560 So if ultimately that red line is not enforced, that 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:30.800 would erode American deterrence, and our enemies throughout the globe 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:34.400 would notice it and be prepared to act and exploit it. 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:36.279 But I don't think we're there yet. 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:39.160 I think what Trump has said is he's laid kind 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:42.560 of the predicate that, Okay, he's changed some of the 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:48.440 regime's behavior. He has coerced the regime into delaying these executions, 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:52.159 into backing off some of the worst, most egregious killing, 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:55.400 and therefore he doesn't need to enforce the red line. 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:58.760 But I think he's going to face another crisis down 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:02.200 the road where he'll be tasked again. Are you going 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:04.440 to enforce the red line. The question who is what 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:09.920 does Donald Trump want out of Iran? Donald Trump doesn't. 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:12.920 He's not in the regime change business. He's in the 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:16.840 regime coercion business. He wants to shape what these governments do, 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:19.480 and in this case, what he wanted them to do 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:23.680 was stop killing the protesters. And in larger Iranian policy, 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:29.640 he wants a complete and verified denuclearization and massive restrictions 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:33.160 on their missile program. If he doesn't get it through diplomacy, 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:36.160 he's going to act militarily. We've seen that before. 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:39.640 So thirty seconds do we go to break matt and 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:42.040 turn to Minnesota. Well do you think Prime Minister and 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:45.600 at Yahoo asked of him or didn't ask of him. 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:49.040 It's hard to say, but every time you draw a 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:51.360 red line, you have to be prepared for all the 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:55.720 secondary consequences. And a strike on Iran by the United 0:07:55.720 --> 0:08:00.200 States would mean that the Iranians would retaliate, and that 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:03.840 retaliation would be most likely directed to the Little Satan 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:08.440 what the Iranians call the Israel the Jewish State. And 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:10.880 I think we're at a place, after the Twelve Day War, 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:15.680 after Operation Midnight Hammer, where we need to replenish our munitions, 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:18.560 in particular our air defens It's not just Israel, but 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:23.400 also American forces in the region and our offensive munitions, 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:26.200 right the actual bombs that we would drop in any campaign. 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:30.280 So it's a moment of preparation. The action may come later. 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:32.680 Stay tuned in America. I'm going to talk with Matt Off. 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:34.440 They are put it on the podcast and he'll be 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:36.520 back on the other side of the break. Follow him 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:40.319 on at CONTINENTI stay tuned. I'm back with Matt CONTINENTI Matt. 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:43.040 I'm on special Report tonight, and if Minnesota comes up, 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:44.960 I'm going to make the obvious point, which I don't 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:48.079 know if any many people know. Minnesota is a wash 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:52.320 in privately held handguns. It's an open carry state. It's 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:56.040 a consailed carry state. The permits are shall issue permits. 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:00.520 The ICE agents have every right to be there. The 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:02.800 state and the local government are not cooperating. 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:05.480 But Boyle boy Is. 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:08.360 It's already one dead, and I think it's going to 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:11.000 be justified force. But how dangerous a moment is this 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:14.160 for the people in the Twin Cities and for Donald Trump. 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:18.360 Well, it's an incredibly dangerous moment for the people in 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:23.280 the Twin Cities, and for America's federal law enforcement Agency ICE, 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:28.040 which is there to enforce the law, to enforce the 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:31.960 law against illegal immigration and in particular against the legal 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:35.880 immigrants who have committed violent crimes. You know, amidst all 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:38.120 this debate, Hugh, you have to step back and ask 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:41.840 who is responsible for this combustible situation. And I have 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:45.040 to say, I don't believe it's either the government, the 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:48.880 elected government of Donald Trump, or the agents who are 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:52.440 trying to enforce policy in the law who are responsible 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:55.800 for this mess we have in Minnesota. I believe it's 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:58.480 the elected officials at the local and state level who 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:01.800 have turned both many outs Bliss and Minnesota at large 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:05.199 into a sanctuary for illegal migration, and who are not 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:08.840 providing any assistance to the federal law enforcements, who are 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:14.079 there by an elected government to actually make sure that illegal, 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:17.560 violent criminals are taken off the streets now. And yet 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:20.960 all of the discourse I see is placing blame on 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:25.520 the ICE agents. I think that's a complete misallocation of responsibility. 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:31.880 And unfortunately, no one at the state level is trying 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:33.199 to quiet the situation. 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:35.160 I think it'll be an issue in their governor's race 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:35.640 this year. 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:38.959 But I have heard that Florida has had forty thousand 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:42.640 apprehensions by ICE without an incident, and that is because 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:48.080 Florida assists ICE in doing their job, and I just 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:50.880 wish that point were made more often. I do think 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:54.240 it's a political net negative for Donald Trump. 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:55.400 Do you agree with me, Matt? 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:00.360 I think that you've definitely seen an uptick in people 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:04.040 who are leery of some of ICE tactics, and you'd 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:05.480 see people. 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:08.080 Who are like, what's going on, but they don't like 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:08.560 the chaos. 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:10.600 They get into the kind of that cocoon, that crouch, 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:11.560 that defensive crouch. 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:14.600 Make it stop right, yep. But look, you think of 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:15.960 twenty twenty. 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:18.480 In the summer of twenty twenty, amidst all the rioting, 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:22.080 people thought, oh, Trump might be hurt by all this chaos. 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:26.240 What happened in the twenty twenty election. Republicans overperformed. Why 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.720 Because at the end of the day, voters want law 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:33.760 and order. They don't want anarchy and violence. And the 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:37.640 anarchy and violence that we're seeing in Minnesota right now. Yeah, 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:39.800 it might hurt Donald Trump and some of these polls 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:42.160 we're looking at, but in the long term. If the 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:46.920 Democrats are on the side of abolish ice and contest 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:50.839 and open borders and allow illegal, violent criminals to remain 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:54.400 in place, the Democrats are going to suffer from. 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:56.800 Your word, from your lips to the ears of every voter. 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:59.559 Stay tuned. I'll be right back with Matt Kottenetty. 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:03.320 Well with it. 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:06.000 To see Data has been dealing with us on Greenland. 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:09.640 We need Greenland for national security very badly. If we 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:12.199 don't have it, we have a big hole in national security, 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:15.560 especially when it comes to what we're doing. 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:17.760 In terms of the Golden Dome and all. 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:19.600 Of the other things. We have a lot of a 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:22.560 lot of investments in the military. We have got the 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:25.440 strongest military in the world that is only getting stronger. 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:28.920 And you saw that with Venezuela. You saw that with 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:32.240 the attack on a run, with the knocking out their 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:38.600 nuclear capabilities potentially. So yeah, we're talking to Data. 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:42.480 We're welcome back America, President Trump on the White House 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:45.440 lawn today, Matt Continetty is still with me from AEI 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:48.439 and the Wall Street Journal. Matt Greenland, I made a 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:52.240 big case for taking Greenland. On America's Newsroom with Dana 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:55.959 Brino Bill Hemry yesterday Golden Dome aside, and that's a 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:59.040 big deal on Golden Dome because hypersonics can come over 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:02.400 the pole and regularly icbm's come over the pole. But 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:06.400 because there's a two hundred and thirty mile exclusive economic 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:09.800 zone around every one of the twenty seven thousand miles 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:14.120 of shoreline that Greenland has, and that's fishing, and that's oil, 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:17.719 but fishing primarily. And then today the Solect Committee on 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:20.520 China did me a solid by putting out the report 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:24.240 on Chinese overfishing that they are predators, they destroy environments. 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:27.320 Do you think the message is getting past the late 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:29.559 night comics that this is a serious issue? 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:35.040 Hard to say, you know, it's hard to go out 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:39.160 there and see who is in favor of Donald Trump's 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:42.439 policy toward Greenland other than President Trump. 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:46.560 And I mean I would like Greenland as well. 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:51.040 I think it's extremely important geopolitically, economically, as you say, 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:55.120 in terms of the resources, where we think about building 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:58.920 up our stockpile of rare earth minerals, they are plentiful 0:13:59.240 --> 0:13:59.840 in Greenland. 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:00.640 It's important. 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:04.200 But the type of approach Trump is taking the Greenland 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:08.400 I don't see much public support for in the polls 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:10.679 are in Congress. Even what I do see is this 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:14.439 a parallel between Donald Trump's approach to Greenland and the 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:18.840 second term and his approach to NATO in the first term. Remember, Hugh, 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:22.360 when Donald Trump started telling NATO that they needed to 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:26.280 anti up, they need to begin contributing to the burden 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:29.480 of defense in the European continent and in the Alliance 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:34.440 at large, the Europeans screamed, they protested, and we were 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:39.600 treated to endless news cycles about is Donald Trump going 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:40.480 to destroy NATO? 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:44.560 Donald Trump against our allies? What was the net result? 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:48.680 They're paying, They're paying the five percent. And it was 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:52.080 a you know, it was a difficult process. It was 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:53.240 a contested process. 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:55.840 But at the end of the day, NATO was stronger 0:14:56.280 --> 0:15:00.040 for the Donald Trump's intervention than it was before. I 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:03.080 wouldn't be surprised that if the end of Donald Trump's 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:07.120 second term, NATO is committed to Greenland's defense. There's a 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:11.000 much larger American presence here. America has a greater role 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:13.520 in Greenland's economy and has a. 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:17.840 Secure foothold in it geopolitically. And that will be the result. 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:22.880 Despite all of the battling and negotiations and crying just 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:26.000 like we saw in the first term over defense spending overall. 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:28.880 Now, by the time we talk again, Matt Conney, we'll 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:33.160 be past the one year anniversary of Donald Trump's second term, 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:37.960 so he's got first year done next Tuesday. Who's the 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:40.920 best communicator after the President and the Vice President and 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:43.120 Secretary of Rubio, they're one, two and three and whatever 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:45.760 worder you want to go, Who communicates well on behalf 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:46.680 of this administration? 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:51.520 Well, I think Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt is a fantastic 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:55.040 Press Secretary and an excellent communicator. I think you're looking 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:58.960 at other cabinet members who I think Secretary Duffy at 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:03.640 Transportation has been very good, very effective, and Secretary Hegseth 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:08.000 has definitely achieved the goal that Donald Trump gave him 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:12.000 at the outset of his second term, which is reinvigorate 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:16.160 America's military. And so we see that because of Hegeset's 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:21.280 personality and his dynamism, among other factors, a recruitment has 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:23.960 shot back up, and the services are fulfilling their goals, 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:27.000 and there's a real emphasis on war making rather than 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:31.360 identity politics and environmentalism at the Pentagon, like you've seen 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:34.520 in democratic administrations. So I think there's a wealth of 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:38.360 talent in this cabinet. And let's not forget that Secretary 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:40.840 Kennedy has an entire constituency all. 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:41.240 Of his own. 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:44.040 And the way in which they've introduced some of these 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:49.040 dietary reforms I think has been well received in all quarters. 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:54.080 So there's definitely a lot of communicators in this administration. 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:55.840 But some of them have been sent to the witness 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:59.520 Protection program. Peter Navarro comes to mind. Yes, he's been, 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:02.840 and he puts out a column every now and then. 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:05.480 And I've known Peter for forty years, so it's I 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:08.480 can see him, I'm aware of him. Are there others 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:11.199 who ought to go into the witness protection program who 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:15.360 don't do help, don't do good by the administration's messaging? 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:19.320 Now on the cabinet side, I mean, in addition to 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:24.880 the individual you mentioned, of course, the d NI Chelsea Gabbard, 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:29.320 seems to be you're right, absent from many crucial decisions. 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:31.320 And I heard the joke in Washington that d and 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:34.919 I now stands for do not invite, So that might 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:39.480 that might reflect the President's view of that of that 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:44.080 personality within the cabinet. Well, I think I think the 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:46.800 biggest challenge facing the administration as it goes into its 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:49.440 second term is focus. 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:52.760 Donald Trump called himself the upgrader. 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:54.399 In his interview with The New York Times, and I 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:56.240 think it's a great way to think about what he's 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:58.200 trying to do in his second term. He's trying to 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:01.000 upgrade America, and that is not going to be easy. 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:04.280 But when you ask American voters what they're most concerned about, 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:07.480 it's the economy, and they really need to get to 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:11.320 the point where their wages are not only outpacing inflation, 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.320 which they've they've been doing under Trump this past year, 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:17.760 those wage gains need to make up for all the 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:19.480 ground we lost during Biden. 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:20.640 Now not there yet. 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:24.480 Some controversies are self selected with that. One of those 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:28.280 is Senator Kelly and Secretary hag Seth. If I have 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:31.320 I had twenty minutes with the President. They didn't ask 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:32.760 for my advice. But if they ever did ask for 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:35.560 my advice, I said, take everything off the table except 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:37.960 the economy. And when you smash somebody up like Iran, 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:42.359 don't talk about Senator Kelly, don't talk about Democrats, and 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:43.240 get the job done. 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.480 With ice without talking about it. What would your advice be. 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:48.520 I think that's I think that's right. 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:52.920 I think that the government can really only accomplish one 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:59.160 thing at a time. But Donald Trumps personality is everywhere, 0:18:59.359 --> 0:18:59.840 all the time. 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:00.960 He doesn't stop. 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:04.880 I mean, he's renovating the East rebuilding the East Wing, 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:08.200 He's thinking of renovating the West Wing. He's repainted the 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:12.080 Trump Kennedy Center. He's renaming the Department of Defense to 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:13.080 the Department of War. 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:15.520 He closed the Southern borders. 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:18.920 He ended the Iranian nuclear program, which the Iranian foreign 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:21.360 minister admitted to our friend Brett Berry this week. 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:24.000 I'm sure you notice that as well. He is the 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:27.840 very embodiment of an activist president, just like Teddy Roosevelt. 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.600 They need to focus on the economy, but that's just 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:33.040 not in Donald Trump's DNAX. 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:35.159 Yeah, if we just got everyone else to focus on 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:37.520 the economy and let the president set his on agenda, 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:40.240 that would be helpful for Republicans. I think Matt Conney, 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:42.800 thank you stay tuned in America or any even Grace 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:43.360 in America. 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:46.800 The Big Weekend Pod and the Weekend Show underway, Ben 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:49.520 Dominance showing us as we do on most Fridays when 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:51.720 he's awake. He's got a newborn, so it's all a 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:54.760 question of whether or not he's awake. However, with a newborn, 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:55.600 you get to catch. 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:58.800 Up on the late that's deeply unsair you I am. 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:02.879 I am typically awake nineteen to twenty hours out of 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:03.159 the day. 0:20:03.400 --> 0:20:06.639 Don't drop the baby. Don't drop the baby, That's all 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:07.080 I would say. 0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:07.920 Ben. 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:09.320 That means you're up in the middle of the night, 0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:12.040 so you're caught up on everything that happened with Iran 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:12.480 this week. 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:15.080 I'm starting there and we might we might end there 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:16.240 as well. On a half an hour. 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:21.280 What do you think, Well, personally, I think that the 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:25.200 President was trying to send the signal and he did. 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:28.240 I don't know that it's going to result in the 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:33.639 effectuation of what he'd like to achieve. But look, I 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:37.200 think that we're dealing right now with the situation that 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:42.800 is basically unprecedented, certainly in my lifetime, and is closer 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:46.240 to the kind of upheaval that could lead to a 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:49.320 regime change there that we than we have seen in 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:52.399 the past, and certainly under Obama where we saw the 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:55.720 Green Revolution and everything that led to we have seen 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:58.760 so much in terms of the bad decisions of past 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:02.080 presidencies relates to Ron and so we have a glimpse 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:07.000 of possibility here, but we're also operating. I think, Hugh 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:12.680 in in really a dearth of internal knowledge to a 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:15.640 greater degree than we've had with a lot of other conflicts, 0:21:15.680 --> 0:21:17.760 a lot of other protests, and I think that that 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:22.000 hampers our ability to analyze the situation, just given the 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:24.840 fact that there are so many moving parts, there are 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:28.240 so many people involved, and we don't really have a 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:31.439 clear indication of what is going to come next. Now 0:21:31.480 --> 0:21:34.040 we have seen a number of different you know, other parties, 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:36.560 wigh in, We've seen the you know, the simple facts 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:40.880 that I think, you know, the the presence, the continued 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:47.240 presence of the ability of the Iranians to access outside internet, 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:51.359 you know, capabilities which you know, the regime has obviously 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:54.200 attempted to crack down on and has had hit or 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:57.920 miss success with. Is is really you know a major 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:00.360 factor here, because the more that the world and see 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:02.840