Speaker 1: Welcome to today's podcast sponsored by Hillsdale College, All Things
Speaker 1: Hillsdale at Hillsdale dot ed or I encourage you to
Speaker 1: take advantage of the many free online courses there, and
Speaker 1: of course I'll listen to the Hillsdale dialogues, all of
Speaker 1: them at Hugh for Hillsdale dot com or just Google, Apple,
Speaker 1: iTunes and Hillsdale Morning Glory and even Grace America. I'm
Speaker 1: Whugh Hewittt. Welcome to the Big Weekend Pod. Quite a
Speaker 1: week President called into my program on Monday. Talked to
Speaker 1: him for thirty minutes, most of which was focused on Iran,
Speaker 1: and he laid it out very very straightforward. There have
Speaker 1: to be some red lines. Number One, they renounced being
Speaker 1: in nuclear power, they being Iran. Number Two, all the
Speaker 1: enriched uranium comes to us to the United States. Well,
Speaker 1: help theme get it out that it's got to come
Speaker 1: to us. Number Three, inspections of their missile programs. Now,
Speaker 1: the President indicated that hey, they live in a dangerous neighborhood.
Speaker 1: They might need some, but they don't need everything that
Speaker 1: they've got. They can't go forest and missiles to protect
Speaker 1: enrichmentd sites. And then he added in an assign they're
Speaker 1: going to not have any money to give to the
Speaker 1: terrorist proxy but implied in that is they can't give
Speaker 1: any money to the terrorist proxies. That's four points. I
Speaker 1: don't know what the fourteen points are, and at the
Speaker 1: time I'm recording this, I don't know whether or not
Speaker 1: they're going to respond. But they're firing on our destroyers
Speaker 1: like constant fire on three guided missile destroyers that went
Speaker 1: through the Strait of War moves and we blew up
Speaker 1: a bunch of their small boats, and Marco Ruby have
Speaker 1: said afterwards, We're not a stupid country. You fired us,
Speaker 1: We're going to fire at you. And I believe that
Speaker 1: we have given assurances to our allies, both the Saudi
Speaker 1: Arabia and United Arab Emirates, that if the Iranians fired them,
Speaker 1: we will return fire on the Iranians. And so not
Speaker 1: much progress. I don't expect much progress. I don't believe
Speaker 1: it's a forever war to take six months to wreck
Speaker 1: this most malign regime on the planet. I don't think
Speaker 1: it's a forever war. To stay vigilant and suck it up,
Speaker 1: even if it means higher gasling prices through the election.
Speaker 1: Far more important than the elections is bringing this regime
Speaker 1: down to its knees, to the recognition that they might
Speaker 1: stay on into they might stay a terrible place, but
Speaker 1: they're never ever going to have nuclear weapons. I talked
Speaker 1: about all this with our regular lineup, Elilake, Matt Continetti,
Speaker 1: and of course Ben Dominic and we cover a lot
Speaker 1: of ground as well, because the Virginia Supreme Court did
Speaker 1: the right thing, though by a vote of only four
Speaker 1: to three, struck down those maps because they broke every
Speaker 1: rule in the book when they got to the initiative
Speaker 1: that barely passed. So it was a good week all around. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: the Republican states, the red States are busy changing their
Speaker 1: maps where it is either compelled by virtue of the
Speaker 1: Supreme Court decision having to do it Louisiana last week,
Speaker 1: or because they can, as in Tennessee, and they're playing
Speaker 1: like Massachusetts and Chicago. Republicans are being to play by
Speaker 1: Democrat rules and we're going to see that all over
Speaker 1: the country. States blue states, very few purple states. And
Speaker 1: when that big sort is over by twenty thirty two,
Speaker 1: Republicans are going to have a decided advantage because they're
Speaker 1: the party of common sense. And growth and national security.
Speaker 1: I think that's what wins elections in the long run.
Speaker 1: I think that the Virginia Supreme Court also stood up
Speaker 1: for the rule of law. Applause to the four justices
Speaker 1: who got it right. Well, that's itt on to the
Speaker 1: Big Weekend Pod having glory and even greats America. Good
Speaker 1: Friday to you. I hope you have a wonderful weekend ahead.
Speaker 1: Eyed do Mother's Day weekend, and we like to celebrate that.
Speaker 1: And I begin this Friday broadcast with John Allis, editor
Speaker 1: in chief, founder of News Items, and he always gives
Speaker 1: you the ten to fifteen items need to know every
Speaker 1: morning at six am. It's what I begin my day
Speaker 1: with my news day. And at the end of every
Speaker 1: week we kind of look back at the week and
Speaker 1: see what's important. John, welcome you pick for me first,
Speaker 1: the situation in Russia. Only minutes ago, President Trump announced
Speaker 1: a three day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine that will
Speaker 1: extend over Victory Day. That makes Mother's Day a lot
Speaker 1: less likely to be lethal for both sides, But generally speaking,
Speaker 1: three days is not a solution, and Russia is starting
Speaker 1: to wear down. Tell us about it.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, a big day in Russia's World War
Speaker 2: two victory day, when the exact date is May nine,
Speaker 2: and ordinarily we've all seen the pictures of you know,
Speaker 2: the rockets and the missiles and tanks and all of
Speaker 2: the military hardware, and you know, hundreds or thousands of
Speaker 2: troops in lockstep marching before the reviewing stand. That has
Speaker 2: been or that was completely scaled back to a minimal
Speaker 2: parade in front of the Kremlin because the Russian government
Speaker 2: couldn't promise the citizens and its people and its government
Speaker 2: that Ukrainian drones wouldn't come and kill everybody. So, you know,
Speaker 2: when you have a government that is incapable or doesn't
Speaker 2: think that it's fully capable of preventing drone attacks on
Speaker 2: its most important parade, if you will, then you have
Speaker 2: a government that's in trouble. And that's been a major
Speaker 2: theme of the press coverage this week is that you know,
Speaker 2: Putin is paranoid, he's hunkered down in his bunker, he
Speaker 2: doesn't trust anybody, and a lot of people that have
Speaker 2: been very supportive of him, on the military side and
Speaker 2: the security side, are now talking darkly about a coup
Speaker 2: or worse. So it's a dramatically when you think about
Speaker 2: where we were, you know, four and a half years
Speaker 2: ago to where we are now. It's just a remarkable
Speaker 2: change of circumstances.
Speaker 1: You know, John, you and I are both old enough
Speaker 1: to remember that when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in
Speaker 1: the late seventies, it took a decade for far fewer
Speaker 1: casualties to force the regime to change and to withdraw
Speaker 1: from Afghanistan and to give up to Do you think
Speaker 1: everything happens faster? Thesis applies to Russia now as opposed
Speaker 1: to back then, that maybe they've reached their limit in
Speaker 1: half as much time.
Speaker 3: I think so.
Speaker 2: I mean, first of all, the casualties are over a million, right,
Speaker 2: and the economy, despite the surge and oil prices because
Speaker 2: of US sanctions and other things, the economy is in
Speaker 2: dreadful shape. And the mood, you know, four and a
Speaker 2: half years of this war is ground apparently, ground people down.
Speaker 2: Support for the regime is you know, falling something precipitously,
Speaker 2: and you know, can it fall faster?
Speaker 3: Yes? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: Now. Yesterday, I want to switch a topic too, Ai.
Speaker 1: Yesterday it was downtown at the DC Convention Center, Eric
Speaker 1: Schmidt's annual Big Expo on AI was held, and I
Speaker 1: let a conversation between former Speaker McCarthy former Chairman of
Speaker 1: the Banking Committee McHenry, and I began by pointing to
Speaker 1: one of the stories you called out of the New
Speaker 1: York Times called out and Thropic experienced extraordinary growth. They
Speaker 1: went from ten x growth to eighty x growth in
Speaker 1: the first quarter, and their revenue run rate went from
Speaker 1: nine billion last year to an expected thirty billion this year.
Speaker 1: Expansional growth is great when it comes to like railroads
Speaker 1: in the eighteen fifty, not so great when it comes
Speaker 1: to the Luftwaffe in the thirties. What is this, Well, you.
Speaker 2: Know, it's a remarkable obviously, it's probably the most important
Speaker 2: technological development, certainly in the last century.
Speaker 3: And you know they're building on the.
Speaker 2: Success of the prior model seemingly every three months. And
Speaker 2: as the as a AI gets more sophisticated, more capable,
Speaker 2: it becomes more problematic because it can be used for
Speaker 2: many good things, and it can be used for many
Speaker 2: bad things, and there's tremendous concern that the many.
Speaker 3: Bad things may become reality.
Speaker 1: Do you expect anything out of the China US g
Speaker 1: Trump summit that is actually concrete when it comes to AI.
Speaker 2: I certainly hope, so I'm not sure. I think for
Speaker 2: President Trump it's actually it offers the opportunity to begin
Speaker 2: what would be a major achievement. If the US and
Speaker 2: the Chinese can reach an agreement on let's call it
Speaker 2: governance of Ai, that would be an enormous help to
Speaker 2: the world. Since the US and China are the two
Speaker 2: leaders in AI. You know, the cat is sort of
Speaker 2: out of the bag on AI, so it's a very
Speaker 2: difficult thing to get it back in the bag. But
Speaker 2: if any two nations can do it, the Chinese and
Speaker 2: the US are the only two. And I think that
Speaker 2: the Chinese understand the AI threat every bit as much
Speaker 2: as we do, and so I think there's there's possibility
Speaker 2: there for something constructive.
Speaker 3: To come out of it.
Speaker 2: And for President Trump, it would be the single most
Speaker 2: important thing he did during either of his two terms.
Speaker 2: It would be an enormous benefit to all of us.
Speaker 2: So I think it's an opportunity, whether.
Speaker 3: They sees it. I don't know.
Speaker 1: News items covers AI better than anyone else, so that
Speaker 1: get most of AI information from news items, But I
Speaker 1: haven't seen a structure that makes sense because there's always
Speaker 1: going to be someone who's going to sneak out the
Speaker 1: latest chip and the latest meet those mit thos iteration
Speaker 1: of clot There's always going to be a leak, right,
Speaker 1: That's that's part of the problem with AI. It is
Speaker 1: it's virus like. It's sort of the worst nightmare movie.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: No, you need enormous surveillance capabilities, if you will, And
Speaker 2: eventually I think you have to have a sort of
Speaker 2: central switching station for all compute so that anything that
Speaker 2: you do in AI goes through one toll booth, if
Speaker 2: you will. But the only two nations that can you know,
Speaker 2: do this to try and put a cap on what
Speaker 2: is a very very dangerous technology in China and Russia,
Speaker 2: and you know, and I think g understands that, I
Speaker 2: think Trump understands that. And it's a good thing if
Speaker 2: those if the two countries can come together and try
Speaker 2: to you know, build the toll booth and and get
Speaker 2: the cat back in the bag. If we don't get
Speaker 2: the cat back in the bag, then a bag bad
Speaker 2: actor with access to these enormously powerful technologies can you know,
Speaker 2: wreak havoc on the world.
Speaker 1: So the time there you said China Russia. I think
Speaker 1: he meant China US.
Speaker 3: China US. Excuse me, sorry.
Speaker 1: Now, the Gary Mannering Wars is also on your list,
Speaker 1: and it came in before the Virginia Supreme Court handed
Speaker 1: down their four to three decisions striking down as unconstitutional,
Speaker 1: and it really was. I mean, they ran through all
Speaker 1: their self erected barriers to Gary Mannering in order to
Speaker 1: put the ten to one map in place. But that
Speaker 1: doesn't stop Tennessee, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio has already done it,
Speaker 1: California has already done it, Texas already done at Utah
Speaker 1: has already done it. When it's all said and done,
Speaker 1: I just think it's it's a battle that will never end. John,
Speaker 1: What do you think?
Speaker 3: I agree?
Speaker 2: I mean, I think the Gerrymander Wars are almost anesthetical
Speaker 2: to you know, our political system. You know, you're we're
Speaker 2: looking at a situation where in twenty twenty eight or whatever,
Speaker 2: twenty thirty, the state of California thoroughly blue control of
Speaker 2: both houses of the legislature and they'll have the governorship.
Speaker 2: Can create a situation where every single district is a
Speaker 2: Democratic district and the largest collection of Republican voters in
Speaker 2: the country is in California, so you're essentially they would
Speaker 2: be essentially disenfranchising, you know, millions and millions and millions
Speaker 2: of Republican voters. If we take this all the way
Speaker 2: to its logical conclusion, we'll have no competitive seats number
Speaker 2: one and number two. We will polarize the country even
Speaker 2: more than it is now. So I think the gerryman
Speaker 2: or wars are really really scary and unhelpful.
Speaker 1: And Anthony Kennedy spent a lot of his time on
Speaker 1: the bench trying to come up with an alternative to
Speaker 1: what we've got, and he couldn't. And the Court just
Speaker 1: finally said, the states have got to decide what to do.
Speaker 1: I think they're going to decide to go with their
Speaker 1: partisan majority. We shall see, let's finish on it up.
Speaker 1: Note we got a minute. Coffee is still good for us.
Speaker 1: This is the good news. Coffee is still good for us.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, of course, the anti coffee lobby, one of
Speaker 2: the most evil groups of people in the world, have
Speaker 2: been spreading misinformation and lies about coffee. But science will
Speaker 2: out and it turns out that coffee is in fact
Speaker 2: good for you and particularly for gut health. So we
Speaker 2: hear News Items urge everybody to have an extra cup of.
Speaker 1: Coffee at least three cups a morning. John allis always
Speaker 1: good to see you. Follow him on exit Elis Items.
Speaker 1: Subscribe to news Items if you want to be up
Speaker 1: to date on everything by just googling news items and
Speaker 1: John Ellis and we'll take you there. Well worth the money.
Speaker 1: It is well worth the price of twenty subscriptions because
Speaker 1: it condenses everything into one. John, thank you, have a
Speaker 1: great weekend. I'll go anywhere America. Our friend Eli Lake
Speaker 1: is next on the you Heal It Check Welcome Back
Speaker 1: in America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Each week at this time,
Speaker 1: Eli Lake of the Free Press, the host of Breaking
Speaker 1: History podcast, joins me from his attic, But he can't
Speaker 1: get to his attic because he's stuck in traffic, So
Speaker 1: I'm going to talk to him anyway. Because the new
Speaker 1: Breaking History is so interesting about artists who hold evil
Speaker 1: views but their art is good. And that would include
Speaker 1: Voltaire and Plato and the children's book Off Their Doll
Speaker 1: we'll talk about that in a second, and Founding fathers
Speaker 1: enslave people. You can't get worse than that, Jefferson. We'll
Speaker 1: talk about that in a moment. But Eli, you're stuck
Speaker 1: in traffic, you're up to speed on the news. What
Speaker 1: do you think is going on with Iran in the
Speaker 1: fourteenth point deal? The President told me on Monday, right
Speaker 1: on the show there were four red lines. Then we
Speaker 1: sent them fourteen points. I don't understand.
Speaker 4: By the way, that was a superb interview, and I
Speaker 4: used it was very helpful to me in terms of
Speaker 4: getting a sense of where the president was. And because
Speaker 4: of that interview with you, I want to credit you.
Speaker 4: I did not freak out later in the week when
Speaker 4: you were concerned about making a bad deal.
Speaker 1: I did. I don't want to go backwards.
Speaker 4: I liked where he was, yeah, exactly, and I thought,
Speaker 4: even though he didn't exactly commit, I felt like he
Speaker 4: was in this place where he was holding really firm
Speaker 4: on the basics of the nuclear side of it, which
Speaker 4: was important. I understand what his point was, that you
Speaker 4: can't just say they can't have any missiles, but he
Speaker 4: seemed to, I think, indicate that he was not going
Speaker 4: to take a bad deal. And I was less alarmed
Speaker 4: than you and John Padaritz, although I was listening to
Speaker 4: that conversation later. I've got more alarmed, if you know
Speaker 4: what I mean, I.
Speaker 1: Do, and Mark Tison got more alarmed all the Yeah,
Speaker 1: Iran Hawks got more alarmed because we don't believe in
Speaker 1: negotiating with these people. They don't negotiate in good faith.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So let me zoom out because my take on
Speaker 4: this is that I don't think I think that the
Speaker 4: president's for good reason, doesn't want to commit ground troops,
Speaker 4: doesn't want to get caught in a quagmire, doesn't want
Speaker 4: to repeat the mistakes of Iraq, doesn't want a nation build,
Speaker 4: doesn't want to keep the peace after the regime falls.
Speaker 4: But I think he also has to understand that the
Speaker 4: only way out of this is for the regime to topple.
Speaker 4: That doesn't necessarily that doesn't mean that he has to
Speaker 4: then commit the ground troops and do all the things
Speaker 4: he doesn't want to do. But I think it's very
Speaker 4: important at this point to say there's a difference between
Speaker 4: saying that we support the Iranian people and we should
Speaker 4: support people who are representing the Iranian people in some
Speaker 4: ways like res apology, and then saying that we're going
Speaker 4: to do another Iraq. And I think that the problem
Speaker 4: that we're in right now is that as long as
Speaker 4: he is going to say that we're going to get
Speaker 4: some sort of deal with the remnants of the regime,
Speaker 4: or that he's going to try to find the right
Speaker 4: person to negotiate with and then back that person in
Speaker 4: the regime, that's gonna that's I think a fool's Errand
Speaker 4: at this point, they understand that they think they have
Speaker 4: this leverage, they think they won, or the HIGHERGC guys
Speaker 4: think they won, and it's very important to make it
Speaker 4: clear that they have not won, and that I would
Speaker 4: I want to credit the US military at this point.
Speaker 4: I mean, everybody's looking at this as like, well, why
Speaker 4: aren't you calling it a war? Hey, they repelled a
Speaker 4: significant threat to our destroyers, and they have I think
Speaker 4: established a route through the straight of woe moves. Now
Speaker 4: it's time to act on that, using our military power
Speaker 4: to begin the escort missions, And if the Iranians want
Speaker 4: to make war on us, then we have all the
Speaker 4: capabilities to make war on them, and they're going to
Speaker 4: be really sorry. And I think that that's the focus
Speaker 4: right now. Everything else is I think you wait for
Speaker 4: a deal with it. If the regime emerges and they're
Speaker 4: moderate and they want to make a real deal. Great,
Speaker 4: but I think that we're acting too much like we
Speaker 4: want at this point. We're falling into the Obama trap,
Speaker 4: and I'm concerned about that.
Speaker 1: I am too. Now. They did keep up. I learned
Speaker 1: the detail today, continuous fire three of our destroyers as
Speaker 1: they made their way through the strait. They didn't hit it,
Speaker 1: but we sunk all their fast boats and we blew up.
Speaker 1: Maybe we the President may have told a little bit
Speaker 1: too much about the defensive weaponry on the destroyers. I'll
Speaker 1: leave that alone, but we add the complete success going through.
Speaker 1: I wonder we've got an arsenal of moabs and we've
Speaker 1: got the one right below that, the deep penetrator. Isn't
Speaker 1: it about time to tell the Iranian citizenry to move
Speaker 1: away from the coast the one hundred miles that are
Speaker 1: the Strait of Horror moves and then just lay havoc
Speaker 1: to the coastline, like level it out so you can
Speaker 1: you can put a level using building on it and it
Speaker 1: won't move. Isn't it time to a demonstration of force
Speaker 1: at this point for the benefit of everyone.
Speaker 4: I think the demonstration of force will be good. I
Speaker 4: would add to that if we don't want to use
Speaker 4: American ground troops for all kinds of good, smart, prudent reasons.
Speaker 4: I think, you know, this is an opportunity for not
Speaker 4: an Arab Emirates maybe to foot the bill for some mercenaries,
Speaker 4: because what we really need to do is hold that
Speaker 4: territory around the coast enough to persuade the insurance companies
Speaker 4: and persuade the shipping companies that you can that we
Speaker 4: will prevent the Iranians from doing harm. The other thing
Speaker 4: I think to keep in mind is that they did
Speaker 4: a little bit of laying of minds in the Strait
Speaker 4: of Her Moves, but they didn't do as much as
Speaker 4: they could have done. And I think that they understood
Speaker 4: that if they did that, China would cut them loose,
Speaker 4: they would become the enemy of the world. So I
Speaker 4: think it's also time to maybe call their bluff on that,
Speaker 4: because there's a huge difference, as we both know, between
Speaker 4: dropping one thousand minds or five hundred minds in the
Speaker 4: Strait of Her Moves, which would shut it down for
Speaker 4: five months or more, versus the threat of these drone attacks,
Speaker 4: cruise missiles and fast boats.
Speaker 1: Now, I had not thought about mercenaries Eli, there's a
Speaker 1: great novel by Stephen Preshfield about the future of war
Speaker 1: being fought by mercenaries. I recommend that I want to
Speaker 1: go to the Breaking History podcast, though, because, as you
Speaker 1: pointed out, if we didn't allow ourselves to be influenced
Speaker 1: the art or the thought of people who had moral imperfections,
Speaker 1: a no one would get that make any art or anything,
Speaker 1: because we all have moral imperfection. The Plano, Gogan, the
Speaker 1: Founder's Voltaire, and then Doll. I mean, I've read the
Speaker 1: Doll Books to my kids and my grandkids. I had
Speaker 1: no idea it was an anti semi.
Speaker 4: The Raal Doll books are the treasure. I think he's
Speaker 4: one of the great children's authors of the twentieth century.
Speaker 4: And I could not imagine, you know, raising my young
Speaker 4: daughter without you know, Roaldal. She's a little young for
Speaker 4: it now, but I can't wait to read her. James
Speaker 4: and the Giant Teach and Willie Walk on the Chocolate Factory,
Speaker 4: And I just think that it's important that when the
Speaker 4: time comes and it shows up, you just sort of say, listen,
Speaker 4: this is somebody who had horrendous views of Jews and Israel,
Speaker 4: and it's a problem I mean there were other authors,
Speaker 4: by the way, that I didn't mention on that podcast.
Speaker 4: If you look at the politics of two of my
Speaker 4: favorite spy novelists, John Lecare and Graham Green, you would
Speaker 4: be repulsed. During the Cold War, they were pretty much
Speaker 4: false support of the Soviets. You know, in my opinion,
Speaker 4: that's an absolute moral stain. But should we not read
Speaker 4: should we not? Should we not read Laca and Graham?
Speaker 4: You know, I mean if we do not read The
Speaker 4: Quiet American, The Quiet American is an is a fascinating
Speaker 4: and important book. We have to read that book.
Speaker 1: So I didn't know Laca was a lefty. He just
Speaker 1: crushed me. I've read every page of every locare, but
Speaker 1: probably twice.
Speaker 4: Yeah, what's your favorite.
Speaker 1: Easily Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy.
Speaker 5: That's I was.
Speaker 4: That's that's mine too. I was guys gonna say, that's
Speaker 4: the great, that's the that's it.
Speaker 5: That's like at his best.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I had little drummer girls great too. I mean,
Speaker 4: there's there's a I mean, he was at my sixth
Speaker 4: he left, he left the service, but you know, yeah, that's.
Speaker 1: Why I'm amazing, am I Well, I guess we did
Speaker 1: have Kim Philby. But he wasn't a spy, was he.
Speaker 4: No, No, he wasn't a spy. But he was show
Speaker 4: up at the Soviet backed literary festivals, and he was
Speaker 4: you know, a major. You know, he was crazy. He
Speaker 4: was crazy about He would say lunatic things about Reagan.
Speaker 4: He would, as I said, soft supporter and Graham Green,
Speaker 4: if I'm not mistaking, I have to check this. But
Speaker 4: Graham Green wrote the forward to Kim Philby's memoir.
Speaker 1: Oh oh my gosh. Well, I'll tell you what. It's
Speaker 1: a fabulous episode of Breaking History. The Free Press is
Speaker 1: lead podcast, Eli Lake. Always good to talk to you
Speaker 1: next week. Lead more time for the drive because we
Speaker 1: like to see you as well up in your attic
Speaker 1: h and Eli Lake call him on exit. Eli Lake.
Speaker 1: Listen to Breaking History wherever podcasts are available. Subscribe to
Speaker 1: the Free Press, and come right back to Matthew Cottenetty
Speaker 1: his next week norcom Back in America. I'm Hugh Hewittt,
Speaker 1: joined now by Matt cotton Netty, columnist for the Wall
Speaker 1: Street Journal and The Free Expressions, vertical head of Domestic
Speaker 1: Policy Study, an American Enterprises too, and all around good guy.
Speaker 1: Matt you're a dad and a husband. I have to
Speaker 1: ask you the question that presses on many of us
Speaker 1: this weekend. Do dads of moms or husbands of moms
Speaker 1: have any obligations on Mother's Day? Do we have obligations?
Speaker 6: We have a list, we have a catalog of things
Speaker 6: to do. But I have noticed something that as my
Speaker 6: kids grow older and they're in they're tween years now,
Speaker 6: the burden on me on Mother's Day has lessened.
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 6: I think dads of newborns and toddlers up to about
Speaker 6: six seven years old, that day Mother's Day, you are
Speaker 6: on the job. You're on call because you need to
Speaker 6: give some relief to your wife. But as they get older,
Speaker 6: you can, you know, you just have to range for
Speaker 6: a nice meal, you know, kind of get the kid,
Speaker 6: encourage the kids to do the breakfast in bed.
Speaker 1: So oh my, we have a list. Yeah, Mother's it's
Speaker 1: always on stee myself for it. It's not my mom
Speaker 1: My Mom's gone, so it's up to them to do everything.
Speaker 1: And as a result, the fetching missus hut calls it
Speaker 1: mother's minute, not Mother's Day. All right, to the serious stuff.
Speaker 1: What is going on with Iran on Monday, the President
Speaker 1: told me four red lines, and they were pretty pretty
Speaker 1: bright red lines. They're not going to have nukes, we
Speaker 1: get all the enriched uranium missile programs got to be
Speaker 1: subject to inspections. And they're not going to have enough
Speaker 1: money to fund the proxies, which means they're not going
Speaker 1: to fund the proxies I think. And then we went
Speaker 1: from four bread lines to fourteen points. What is that?
Speaker 6: Well, it's a callback to Wilson, which is never a
Speaker 6: good sign if you're conducting international diplomacy. But I am
Speaker 6: having trouble myself figuring out what's going on, Hugh. The
Speaker 6: way I describe it right now is we're in a
Speaker 6: shooting seasfire. We're in a ceasefire that's been going on
Speaker 6: for over a month, and yet the Ranians haven't abided
Speaker 6: by at all. They've attacked commercial vessels trying to get
Speaker 6: through the Strait of Hormus. They've attacked American ships, they've
Speaker 6: attacked the UAE, and we have responded. In recent days,
Speaker 6: we've attacked Iran, we have continued to uphold our blockade.
Speaker 1: So what is this all about?
Speaker 6: What I think my current guess is, Hugh, is this
Speaker 6: has a lot to do with President Trump's trip to
Speaker 6: China next week. I think what President Trump wants these
Speaker 6: negotiations to continue through his visit with Hi Jinping in China,
Speaker 6: so it's not to cause any diplomatic interruptions or confusion
Speaker 6: while he's engaged in these talks with Hi Jinping over
Speaker 6: the economy, over military issues, security issues. So that's where
Speaker 6: I think we are. I think we have a we
Speaker 6: have a time. We have to get through this trip
Speaker 6: to China with this low level of violence, but then
Speaker 6: we might actually see what needs to happen, which is
Speaker 6: a return to military operations, a restoration of operation freedom,
Speaker 6: to allow safe passage to the Strait, and to finally
Speaker 6: conclude this war on America's terms.
Speaker 1: That is actually a very good theory that would account
Speaker 1: A good theory has to account for all of the facts,
Speaker 1: and a low level of reciprocity of violence does not
Speaker 1: preclude Iran becoming the top item on the agenda when
Speaker 1: they want to talk I think about AI. So John
Speaker 1: Ellison and I were talking about the beginning of the show,
Speaker 1: what do you think is on the agenda? I keep
Speaker 1: trying to push Jimmy Lai onto the agenda But what
Speaker 1: do you think is on the agenda with g Well.
Speaker 6: I think there's several things. I do think Ai will
Speaker 6: be a part of the discussions. I think that Jimmy
Speaker 6: Lai and some of the other political prisoners, especially these
Speaker 6: Christian pastors like Pastor Jin who have been imprisoned by
Speaker 6: the Chinese authorities, they should be on the table. I
Speaker 6: think there's a shot that Jimmy Lai is released, though,
Speaker 6: as President Trump I think has said, Shijinping is very
Speaker 6: sensitive about Jimmy Lai, in particular because of his opposition
Speaker 6: to the CCP's takeover of Hong Kong. I hope actually
Speaker 6: nukes are on the table. I think we need to
Speaker 6: have some type of dialogue on strategic arms with China.
Speaker 6: I think that's one reason why we can't continue down
Speaker 6: the Cold War pattern of just simply engaging in arms
Speaker 6: control with the Russians. In the new world, where China
Speaker 6: is a rising nuclear power, they have to be included
Speaker 6: as well. But then I know that President Trump is
Speaker 6: going to emphasize the economy, and I think he wants
Speaker 6: that big trade deal that he's been seeking with China
Speaker 6: throughout his two terms. And here I think we have
Speaker 6: to be a little bit wary right now. I think
Speaker 6: America has a lot of economic leverage over China at
Speaker 6: the moment. You consider the effect of the tariffs on China.
Speaker 6: You look at how our economy is doing. We just
Speaker 6: had a fantastic job report. Great today, we have growth,
Speaker 6: while we're also reducing immigration, which is incredible. We can't
Speaker 6: give up that economic leverage in China just for purchases
Speaker 6: of soybeans. The Chinese will never make I.
Speaker 1: Will be right back with Matt Continetti during the break.
Speaker 1: It will be on the Big Weekend Pod. We're going
Speaker 1: to talk about the Virginia re districting decision and Gary
Speaker 1: mandering generally during the break, and when we come back
Speaker 1: on the other side, bigger issues, the vote and the president.
Speaker 1: We don't go anywhere on it. Back now with Matt Continetti.
Speaker 1: He liked me a Virginian, he liked me. I'm sure
Speaker 1: pretty happy with the decision of the Virginia Supreme Court
Speaker 1: to strike down the ten to one Gary mannerd map,
Speaker 1: which was the right decision because the state constitution put
Speaker 1: up all sorts of guard rails a few years ago
Speaker 1: to this happening. But boy, is the left up set
Speaker 1: Matt because they've been they've been countered in seeing rais
Speaker 1: and like watching this thing. Paul Newman has all the
Speaker 1: four ages.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's something to behold. You know, this redistricting war
Speaker 6: that's been going on since last year has been a
Speaker 6: roller coaster, and Democrats are really counting on the Supreme
Speaker 6: Court of Virginia to uphold this new map that was
Speaker 6: approved by referendum and would give the Democrats a sizable
Speaker 6: advantage in the Virginia Congressional delegation, going from six to
Speaker 6: five Democrat to ten to one if this new map
Speaker 6: were allowed to take place. But I think the Virginia
Speaker 6: Supreme Court, in a close decision for to three decision.
Speaker 3: Made the right call.
Speaker 6: Here for you, it's actually kind of shocking to me
Speaker 6: when you look at the specifics.
Speaker 1: Yep, just how.
Speaker 6: In how many ways this referendum had map violated the
Speaker 6: Virginia Constitution. They needed to have an election in between
Speaker 6: that didn't happen. They needed to have compact maps. It's
Speaker 6: in the language, of course, those districts are not compacted.
Speaker 6: And if there's any benefit, one of the great benefits
Speaker 6: of this decision is that that awful gerrymannered Lobster District
Speaker 6: Virginia seven, which like stretches its claws into central Virginia
Speaker 6: from the north. It's base in Fairfax County. That's ended.
Speaker 6: So I think the Virginia Supreme Court made the right
Speaker 6: call here when they said, look, our commitment is to
Speaker 6: the rule of law, and the rule of law was
Speaker 6: violated on a procedural basis here, and that's what all sides,
Speaker 6: you know, if it had gone the other way. Every
Speaker 6: side needs to uphold the rule of law because that's
Speaker 6: what makes America a successful Democratic republic and one that's
Speaker 6: got to celebrate its two hundred and fiftieth birthday in
Speaker 6: a couple months.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 1: I can hold two thoughts. What California did grieves me
Speaker 1: because it's bad for the state, But it was perfectly constitutional,
Speaker 1: and they've screwed the Republicans thoroughly. Texas did is fine.
Speaker 1: What Louisiana has to do has been ordered by the
Speaker 1: United States Supreme Court. Tennessee's playing hardball. It appears to
Speaker 1: me that at least one other state, maybe Missouri, is
Speaker 1: going to play hardball. Georgia's going to take a pass.
Speaker 1: Indiana took a pass. When it's all done, the smoke
Speaker 1: will clear by twenty thirty two. What's the map going
Speaker 1: to look like, Matt, You've got a crystal ball.
Speaker 6: Well, the twenty thirty two map will look different in
Speaker 6: the twenty twenty six map. I'll start with twenty twenty six.
Speaker 6: At the end of the day, it looks like Republicans
Speaker 6: will have netted about four, maybe five seats from the
Speaker 6: different redistrict things, and that does give them some cushion
Speaker 6: as we head into this competitive House election where the
Speaker 6: Democrats need only to net four seats to win the
Speaker 6: majority in the House of Representatives. So the Republicans, I think,
Speaker 6: after this decision by the Virginia Supreme Court, they have
Speaker 6: won the redistricting war in twenty six. By the time
Speaker 6: you get to twenty thirty two, other things happened, Hugh.
Speaker 6: One is the twenty thirty census. One of the biggest
Speaker 6: stories in American politics over the last decade. There's the
Speaker 6: number of Americans, millions of Americans fleeing Blue states. States
Speaker 6: run on the blue state model, high tax, high spend,
Speaker 6: high regulation, terrible public schools, lots of public disorder.
Speaker 1: Americans coming to hold it right there, Matt, we got
Speaker 1: to come back on the network Quarterback American. I'm at continent.
Speaker 1: He is still with me from AEI. He is also
Speaker 1: a comment for the Wall Street Journal. And we're talking
Speaker 1: about the great sort when we left off our break
Speaker 1: between the live segments on the Sale News Channel. And
Speaker 1: the great sort is the fact that many Americans are
Speaker 1: moving in response to state policy. And I think that's
Speaker 1: going to continue, Matt, and I think it's going to continue,
Speaker 1: so that the twenty thirty census makes the Republican advantage
Speaker 1: in the electoral College and the Congress not just minor,
Speaker 1: but actually significant. You agree with that assessment.
Speaker 6: That's exactly right, Hugh, And the smarter Democratics, just like
Speaker 6: David Pluffs, the former Obama advisor who also helped Kamala Harris,
Speaker 6: they know it too. And this huge transfer of population
Speaker 6: and wealth, by the way, from blue states to the
Speaker 6: red states is really going to, I think, affect our
Speaker 6: politics in the twenty thirty two presidential election and beyond. So, yeah,
Speaker 6: Republicans came off pretty well at the end of the day.
Speaker 6: It was a high risk, high reward enterprise here redistricting.
Speaker 6: But when you get to the twenty thirty census, I
Speaker 6: think Republicans are going to reap even greater advantages. And
Speaker 6: by the way, you know, it was so interesting to
Speaker 6: me during the California Democratic gubernatorial debate this week where
Speaker 6: you have Katie Porter saying, yeah, she knows that California
Speaker 6: is losing population, and her proposed solution is to offer
Speaker 6: illegal immigrants free healthcare because the legal immigrants the only
Speaker 6: way they're gathering, they're gathering grading population. I mean, how
Speaker 6: crazy can you be. And by the way, that reinforces
Speaker 6: the fact that we need some reforms here that illegal
Speaker 6: immigrants are not counted in the census for congressional apportionment,
Speaker 6: right because what what the what you're doing is Roden Burroughs, Yeah,
Speaker 6: I think that's a constitution.
Speaker 1: Uh. You know, Dwayne has chosen to Jane Duyne has
Speaker 1: chosen to remain in California, and it's his own dog
Speaker 1: on fault if that's the case, because I left, and
Speaker 1: if Virginia raises Texas do I I'll find another place
Speaker 1: to live. Because if your mobile, if you're if your
Speaker 1: business is mobile, if it's a microphone and a camera
Speaker 1: and some lights, you can go wherever you want. You're
Speaker 1: stuck here, AEI is downtown. You don't get to go anywhere.
Speaker 1: But I'm telling you that the people are rational economic actors.
Speaker 1: They're going to vote with their feet and they are.
Speaker 1: Now let me turn to the Pope and the President.
Speaker 1: Secretary of State Rubio had to do diplomacy with his
Speaker 1: holiness this week, largely because of the President's ongoing battle,
Speaker 1: which I may have exacerbated accidentally on Monday. I thought
Speaker 1: it was a throwaway question. It turned into the Pope
Speaker 1: wants Iran to have nuclear weapons, which was really kind
Speaker 1: of a rage. I put it off as being from
Speaker 1: Chicago and a boomer president doesn't really understand it. Boomer Pope,
Speaker 1: what do you make of this? Is it significant that
Speaker 1: the president and the Pope are tangling?
Speaker 6: I think it's always significant when you have the president
Speaker 6: and take issue with the Pope. Of course, you know,
Speaker 6: the Catholic Church's stances on issues a kind of defy partisanships.
Speaker 6: So there's been plenty of Democratic presidents who take issue
Speaker 6: with Catholic teaching on gender and sexuality, for example, or
Speaker 6: the life issue. President Trump and that the Pope are
Speaker 6: fighting over immigration and they're fighting over whether the Iran
Speaker 6: war is.
Speaker 3: A just war.
Speaker 6: What I think is this points to Hugh is the
Speaker 6: growing importance of the Catholic vote in the United States.
Speaker 6: Trump did very well with Catholics in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 6: and I think Marco Rubio's mission to the Vatican to
Speaker 6: see Pope Leo is a sign that Republicans don't want
Speaker 6: to lose the Catholic vote ahead of these crucial midterm elections. Now,
Speaker 6: many conservative Catholics have their own criticisms of what Pope
Speaker 6: Leo has been saying in terms of foreign policy or
Speaker 6: in terms of our border, but nonetheless I think this
Speaker 6: is an acknowledgment that a fight with the Pope could
Speaker 6: alienate Catholic voters who are going to be very critical
Speaker 6: in the midterms.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know if you've got a scholar
Speaker 1: at AEI who focuses on the Catholic population in America.
Speaker 1: There are three groups. There are boomer Catholics like the
Speaker 1: Pope and me, who are used to guitars at mass,
Speaker 1: terrible music, left wing people coming back from South America
Speaker 1: and having liberation theology. There's the lost generation that stopped going.
Speaker 1: And then there are younger Catholics who are actually much
Speaker 1: more traditional, not rad trads. But much more traditional. So
Speaker 1: it's not really one Catholic demographic anymore. Does anyone at
Speaker 1: AEI study that.
Speaker 6: Well, you know, AI used to be the home of
Speaker 6: the great Michael Novak, one of the true brilliant Catholic
Speaker 6: intellectuals of our time, but we don't really have someone
Speaker 6: who's so focused on the Catholic community at the moment.
Speaker 6: But I think your description is absolutely right. And you know,
Speaker 6: like all religious communities, there are different levels of observance
Speaker 6: and commitment, and the higher your level of observance and commitment,
Speaker 6: the more likely you're going to be a conservative and
Speaker 6: vote for conservative candidates at the polls. So that I
Speaker 6: think has helped the Republicans in the past. But a
Speaker 6: high level fight between the Pope and the president may
Speaker 6: get some of those kind of you know, low propensity
Speaker 6: voters or people the boomer Catholics you mentioned certainly lost
Speaker 6: generation that might alienate them from supporting Republicans.
Speaker 1: All right, let me go back and finish where we
Speaker 1: begin on the Iran war and November. I don't think
Speaker 1: it's a forever war. No one's defined a forever war.
Speaker 1: I think a forever war is not six months. If
Speaker 1: it takes six months to bring Iran to heal. That's
Speaker 1: a world class achievement by President Trump. I would fight
Speaker 1: it out in the election. I would argue for it
Speaker 1: in the election. But what is it forever war? And
Speaker 1: how important is the battle with Iran to the November
Speaker 1: election as compared to the job numbers today which were fabulous, right?
Speaker 6: Well, Look, we were in Afghanistan for twenty years, you know,
Speaker 6: we were in Iraq of the first major deployment. That
Speaker 6: conflict lasted about eight years, and then of course we
Speaker 6: went back in in smaller numbers after the rise of
Speaker 6: ISIS in twenty fourteen. So if you talk forever war,
Speaker 6: I think you mean two things. You mean a generation, right,
Speaker 6: and you mean nation building, which was part of both
Speaker 6: those efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Neither condition applies to
Speaker 6: Operation Epic Fury and to our intervention in Iran or
Speaker 6: our shooting ceasefire that we have right now. There is
Speaker 6: no nation building involved. Donald Trump doesn't do nation building.
Speaker 3: We know that.
Speaker 6: And we're about two months in here, that's not twenty years.
Speaker 6: And I think there will be a resolution the CIA,
Speaker 6: which seems to me to be pretty much against Operation
Speaker 6: Epic Fury.
Speaker 1: Oh, and that have leaked to.
Speaker 6: Study that's leaked to study that says that the Iranian
Speaker 6: economy can survive for another three months with the blockade. Now, look,
Speaker 6: three months is a long time, but three months to
Speaker 6: end the Iranian regime. I mean that's a pretty good
Speaker 6: trade off in my view, when you consider the war
Speaker 6: that the Iranian terrorist regime has been conducting on the
Speaker 6: United States and our allies for fifty years.
Speaker 1: The CIA has been wrong about it.
Speaker 6: The CIA predictions, yes are usually are usually dead wrong,
Speaker 6: So the end might come sooner. The most important point
Speaker 6: here is that we do not give up the blockade.
Speaker 6: That is our major leverage. And I think it's important
Speaker 6: too that we resume Operation Freedom to open up that
Speaker 6: straight as soon as possible. Those two things happen, and
Speaker 6: we're in very good position in Iran, and I think
Speaker 6: Republicans are helped in the term.
Speaker 1: I agree Matt Continetty. Always good to talk with you.
Speaker 1: Follow Matt on exit CONTINENTI read them in the Wall
Speaker 1: Street Journal, Free Expression vertical and stay right there. I'll
Speaker 1: be right back on the cucuage. Thank you for listening
Speaker 1: to highly concentrated Hugh, and don't forget one of our
Speaker 1: great sponsors is Consumer Sellular one eight hundred four four
Speaker 1: fifty hundred forty four fifty four. When you call them,
Speaker 1: and you should, because you should want to save money,
Speaker 1: make sure you use my promo code Q Hugh. You'll
Speaker 1: get your second month free. If and when you switch
Speaker 1: to Consumer Cellular, whatever plan you switch with, you'll get
Speaker 1: your second month for free. I want you to call
Speaker 1: and investigate because you're probably paying too much for whatever
Speaker 1: you're doing right now with Consumer Cellular. Well, you can
Speaker 1: go online Consumer Cellular dot com slash you. They've got
Speaker 1: great plans for every kind of person in every kind
Speaker 1: of data usage. However, they really target people who are
Speaker 1: fifty years and older. Listen to this. You get a
Speaker 1: single line with Consumer Cellular with unlimited talk, text and
Speaker 1: data for just thirty five dollars a month. That's a
Speaker 1: single line if you're fifty years and older for with
Speaker 1: unlimited talk, text and data for just thirty five dollars
Speaker 1: a month. When you call Consumer Cellular eight hundred and
Speaker 1: four to one one forty four to fifty four, and
Speaker 1: everybody he can be under fifty you and be over fifty,
Speaker 1: everybody gets their second month free. When you use my name, Hugh,
Speaker 1: I means it's time to talk with Ben Dominance. Ben
Speaker 1: is the opinions editor at The Daily Wire. He is
Speaker 1: also the host of the Big Ben podcast and a
Speaker 1: contributor to Fox News. And I hope someday soon I
Speaker 1: was thinking about this, Ben, I hope you're allowed to
Speaker 1: guest host. You're not too far from my studio. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you're free ever from three to six,
Speaker 1: but it's really not very mechanical, and you don't have.
Speaker 5: To be a probably make that happen.
Speaker 1: That will be fun. That would be a lot of fun. Now,
Speaker 1: I want to compliment you on the interview with Kevin McCarthy.
Speaker 1: It's not on my list of topics, but I used it. Yesterday.
Speaker 1: I interviewed the former Speaker and former Chair of the
Speaker 1: Banking Committee, Patrick M. McHenry yesterday at the Big AI
Speaker 1: Expo downtown, and I began just by quoting your very
Speaker 1: lengthy interview with him. That was a fine interview. How
Speaker 1: hard is it to get people to shit down and
Speaker 1: let you do that?
Speaker 5: Well, you know, I thought to myself, you know, who's
Speaker 5: the right person to sort of have some perspective on this?
Speaker 5: It needs to be somebody who's won the majority before,
Speaker 5: and people will listen to and it's like, oh, Kevin,
Speaker 5: Kevin will probably be honest. And he was, I think,
Speaker 5: very honest about what he thinks Republicans need to do
Speaker 5: and what they should have done differently to this point.
Speaker 5: And you know, I mean, you can have whatever opinion
Speaker 5: you want of Kevin, but he's somebody who has a
Speaker 5: long history in Republican politics. You know, engineered that narrow
Speaker 5: majority that is still the narrow majority today and got
Speaker 5: iced only because of the idiocy of Matt Gates and
Speaker 5: a few people who went along with him. But I
Speaker 5: think that his perspective on this, which is that you've
Speaker 5: got you have to earn the voter's respect when it
Speaker 5: comes to trusting you to get your job back, and
Speaker 5: you've only got twenty four months to do it. And
Speaker 5: so the idea that you're going to take time off
Speaker 5: or that you're not going to be passing eighty twenty
Speaker 5: bills on every opportunity to put the Democrats in a
Speaker 5: tough position, you know, on crime, on energy, on all
Speaker 5: these other things. You know, that's I think that's a
Speaker 5: very valid point, and I think coming from him as
Speaker 5: opposed to just some consultant. I hope that it's something
Speaker 5: that folks on Capitol Hill pay attention to. What I
Speaker 5: may ask. What was Patrick's response. He's a very smart guy.
Speaker 1: His response. We mostly talked with him about AI. He
Speaker 1: did not have a comment on your interview. But those
Speaker 1: two are very chummy. The only trouble with the speaker
Speaker 1: is that he's got Frank Lunz disease. He collects political memories, memorabilia,
Speaker 1: and we were talking about that, and it's very dangerous
Speaker 1: to get into that because once you get attracted to
Speaker 1: political memorabilia. He's got a page from Teddy Roosevelt's speech
Speaker 1: when he was shot in the chest and the speech
Speaker 1: saved him. So I look at pictures of that. Those
Speaker 1: people are crazy, right, that's an addiction.
Speaker 5: Well, there's a different so between that and building a
Speaker 5: model oval office in your own restasement. And has failed
Speaker 5: to the chief play when when you open the door
Speaker 5: without you, I want to.
Speaker 1: Talk to you next about fraud. I did not know
Speaker 1: until I was in the Big Ben podcast about the
Speaker 1: Ohio fraud story. And I'm from Ohio. I know about
Speaker 1: the California Unemployment Insurance ninety billion dollars ninety with a
Speaker 1: b billion dollars in fraud during COVID to inmates in
Speaker 1: the California penal system. But I did not know about
Speaker 1: the Ohio healthcare program. Tell people about it so they
Speaker 1: go read about it in the Daily Wire.
Speaker 5: Sure so, Luke Rosiak, one of our best investigative reporters
Speaker 5: at the Daily Wire, did a huge and time bestweming
Speaker 5: deep dive along with you know, other fellow reporters that
Speaker 5: looked into this situation with Ohio's home healthcare policy and
Speaker 5: particularly with the facts that there are numerous places essentially
Speaker 5: that have claimed to be home healthcare businesses that he
Speaker 5: then did you know, I mean, Nick surely did it.
Speaker 5: First give him credit, but he did the business of
Speaker 5: going to actually check out what these places look like.
Speaker 5: Some of them. You know, it's buildings that are clearly absent,
Speaker 5: you know, mail that's never been picked up, you know,
Speaker 5: doors that don't even have doorknobs on them. In a
Speaker 5: couple of instances, and when he calls and checks in
Speaker 5: on what they're doing, they you know, basically get skittish,
Speaker 5: deny everything, and and even in a couple of cases
Speaker 5: threaten him pretty explicitly including saying they know who his
Speaker 5: family is and stuff like that. Basically, what you've got
Speaker 5: here is just a slew of connected entities that have
Speaker 5: used Medicaid dollars for home health care, meaning the kind
Speaker 5: of care that you know, a younger typically family member
Speaker 5: would offer to take care of an older family member
Speaker 5: and then go to Medicaid and go to the government
Speaker 5: and basically say, you know, the apply for for grants
Speaker 5: that can range. They range into like the forties sixty
Speaker 5: thousand dollars kind of range. The problem is that when
Speaker 5: you add up all that money, it amounts to millions
Speaker 5: and millions and millions of dollars. I mean, it's still
Speaker 5: unclear how much is there, but it is a gargantuan
Speaker 5: system of fraud and it's one that is also I
Speaker 5: think a perfect example of the fact that people don't
Speaker 5: understand this fraud is in your own communities. When the
Speaker 5: Minnesota story happened, everybody, initially a lot of the combinators,
Speaker 5: I should say, initially went out and said, oh, this
Speaker 5: is an indictment of Tim wats is an indictment of
Speaker 5: Blue policies. It's an indictment of you know, the kind
Speaker 5: of social welfare that gets endorsed by these folks on
Speaker 5: the far left, and my initial reaction to it was,
Speaker 5: you have no idea how much of this is going
Speaker 5: on in your own community and is under your own nose.
Speaker 5: And now maybe you know it's not going to be
Speaker 5: as bad if you live in a red state and
Speaker 5: the programs are not quite as generous. But no matter
Speaker 5: where you live, this is going on. It is not
Speaker 5: being chased by anybody. And now that we have the
Speaker 5: information that came out of the Dose program and the
Speaker 5: ability to analyze it using AI tools and the like,
Speaker 5: it can flag a lot of the suspicious behavior in
Speaker 5: ways that a human person who is overloaded by everything
Speaker 5: that they're you know, confronting when it comes to these
Speaker 5: applications and the like, can't necessarily handle it. So I
Speaker 5: think we're just going to learn this is so much
Speaker 5: more widespread than Americans have understood. And it's one of
Speaker 5: the reasons why when it comes to things like you know,
Speaker 5: Medicaid expansion and all these different programs that many Republicans
Speaker 5: have even embraced and said, you know, we have to
Speaker 5: do this in order to win. We can't really fight
Speaker 5: these types of things. I think that it raises huge
Speaker 5: questions about whether these programs can even exist without this
Speaker 5: level of fraud.
Speaker 1: Then there are two reactions that I'm a California I
Speaker 1: used to be. I left in twenty fifteen, and so
Speaker 1: I became inured to radical fraud. Right, We've spent billions
Speaker 1: of dollars on homeless billions of dollars on homelessness, and
Speaker 1: Spencer Pratts out there pointing it out that for billions,
Speaker 1: we've housed three hundred people. It's ridiculous. Then you look
Speaker 1: at the unemployment scandal, which is the biggest scandal of
Speaker 1: my life. Ninety billion dollars to incarcerated people are filling
Speaker 1: out forms and asking for COVID money and they're getting it.
Speaker 1: And I just kind of I just sort of got
Speaker 1: inured to it, immunized to the scale. But is there
Speaker 1: a tip one?
Speaker 5: I just want to say, I don't think you're alone
Speaker 5: to that. I think that there's a lot of people,
Speaker 5: and you know, there's there's been a lot of criticism.
Speaker 5: I would say that it's fair directed at a number
Speaker 5: of Republican governors and the like who've accepted a lot
Speaker 5: of these grants and these additional medicaid dollars that they
Speaker 5: basically say, well, you know, there's going to be a
Speaker 5: certain amount of fraud, but it's the price of doing business,
Speaker 5: and we do want to help people, and you know,
Speaker 5: we do want at least some people who deserve it
Speaker 5: to get these kinds of funds. On some level, I
Speaker 5: think that that has to be completely rethought. You know,
Speaker 5: I'm not sure people understand. You know, we still think
Speaker 5: about welfare reform as being the sea change, and it was,
Speaker 5: but it was about one program. It was about Tannis.
Speaker 5: It was not something that was widespread in terms of
Speaker 5: the way that we wanted it to be. When it
Speaker 5: came to work requirements in the life where you have
Speaker 5: to prove that you're doing certain things in order to
Speaker 5: qualify for this money, and when it comes to the
Speaker 5: experience that you've had in California, I just think that
Speaker 5: that's very much the way that a lot of Americans think.
Speaker 5: They just sort of think, well, it's probably going on,
Speaker 5: but it's it's probably not that significant. Maybe it's ten
Speaker 5: twenty percent of the money, and you know, we want
Speaker 5: it to go to the eighty percent who need it.
Speaker 5: I think that the truth is that it's almost flipped
Speaker 5: it's a situation where the majority of this cash is
Speaker 5: going to people who don't deserve it, or who don't
Speaker 5: qualify for it, and who are just lying and not
Speaker 5: getting checked.
Speaker 1: Okay, so the big yesterday or Tuesday won every county
Speaker 1: in Ohio. He's going to be the next governor. Is
Speaker 1: it an opportunity for him to go in and say,
Speaker 1: we're red state, we have fraud. I'm going to triple
Speaker 1: the number of investigators at the whatever agency investigates, probably
Speaker 1: the training in general, and we're going to put more
Speaker 1: police in every state, and we're going to We're just
Speaker 1: going to expand our law enforcement and fraud investigation. We're
Speaker 1: going to become the state that defines honesty in government.
Speaker 1: I think there's a winning's ambitious. Is that a winning message?
Speaker 5: I think it's a huge winning message. And I'll tell
Speaker 5: you the other thing about this, this is not a
Speaker 5: conservative issue. It's not actually even a small government issue.
Speaker 5: It's one that appeals to independence as well. And it's
Speaker 5: a point that I think people forget about. When you
Speaker 5: look at the different issues that independents care about, a
Speaker 5: lot of the time it ends up being about government spending,
Speaker 5: fiscal responsibility, debt deficit and alike. It's stuff thats things
Speaker 5: that kind of actually get pushed to the side a
Speaker 5: little bit because Republicans lean more into the culture war
Speaker 5: and so do Democrats and things like that, which is
Speaker 5: obviously the way to appeal to their basis. But I
Speaker 5: think that when it comes to this kind of expenditure,
Speaker 5: it's something that applies to everybody else. And on a
Speaker 5: certain level, Democrats are in this awkward position where they've
Speaker 5: defended these programs for so long. They've defended the idea
Speaker 5: that these need to just persist in perpetuity without any
Speaker 5: kind of questioning of whether they ought to exist or
Speaker 5: whether they're still needed, that they're still acting as if
Speaker 5: we're living in the pre Great Society kind of existence,
Speaker 5: that this is a situation where where people are you know,
Speaker 5: you know, in need of these massive programs to be
Speaker 5: not just renewed, but expanded on a ready regular basis.
Speaker 5: I think you can argue against that from a technocratic perspective.
Speaker 5: That is very hard for Democrats to argue against. And
Speaker 5: that is all about saying the taxpayers dollar is being stolen,
Speaker 5: we are making sure they're keeping more of it, and
Speaker 5: that it's being spent. It's going to the people who
Speaker 5: serve it.
Speaker 1: Ben Dominich will be back with me during the break
Speaker 1: and on the other side during the break we'll talk
Speaker 1: about Virginia Redistrict. King. You can get that on the
Speaker 1: Big Weekend pod. And when we come back, Iran, of course,
Speaker 1: don't go anywhere on I am back with Ben Domeneed,
Speaker 1: she of the Big Ben Podcast, Daily Wire opinion editor
Speaker 1: and The Foxman's contributor. He and Ilia Shapiro have been
Speaker 1: putting the penalty box on X for making jokes about
Speaker 1: the Lobster district. Ilia was worse than yours, he said,
Speaker 1: it took a shell acking. What'd you make of the
Speaker 1: Virginia decision? Ben?
Speaker 5: The Virginia decision is interesting for a couple of reasons.
Speaker 5: First off, Hugh, I would just point out it's the
Speaker 5: Democrats getting bit by the fact that they have pushed
Speaker 5: for so much early voting. There were forty five days
Speaker 5: of early voting in Virginia, okay, and the Supreme Court
Speaker 5: in Virginia found that those forty five days constitute part
Speaker 5: of an election. And if you know the way that
Speaker 5: the Democrats in the General Assembly tried to sneak this
Speaker 5: in is they waited until October thirty first, when the
Speaker 5: vast majority of early voting had already happened. Forty percent
Speaker 5: of the vote was already in before they showed their
Speaker 5: hand and did this extreme thing because they wanted to
Speaker 5: get away with it and also get their politicis and elected.
Speaker 5: The upshot of this is that early voting sent Jay Jones,
Speaker 5: who a lot of Democrats frankly didn't really want to
Speaker 5: be saddled with, who proceeded to lose this case in
Speaker 5: front of the Supreme Court the Attorney General because he
Speaker 5: was arguing, you know, among other things, that this was
Speaker 5: something that did not count as being part of the election,
Speaker 5: that there was therefore an intervening election, which is what
Speaker 5: the Virginia Constitution requires. The court disagreed, and so they
Speaker 5: found against it on process reasons. The other thing that's
Speaker 5: interesting about this, by the way, nobody really seems to
Speaker 5: read decisions anymore. It's like they just read tweet.
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, yes, oh.
Speaker 5: Tim Kaine, the Senator from Virginia, immediately orders had said
Speaker 5: why didn't they rule on this before the vote happened
Speaker 5: in this referendum, Well, j Jones and his entire team
Speaker 5: as part of the representation of the Commonwealth argued that
Speaker 5: the Court couldn't rule on it before this referendum was
Speaker 5: actually considered because the process of law was currently happening
Speaker 5: and they had precedent to argue for that. So it's
Speaker 5: the Democrats themselves who are arguing you can't rule on
Speaker 5: this yet. Now the court ruled on it. It's a
Speaker 5: four to three decision. So anybody who's telling you that
Speaker 5: like Republicans were geniuses for saving money by spending less
Speaker 5: to fight in Virginia, they're full of crap, because they
Speaker 5: are because it was one vote margin. But the argument
Speaker 5: here is very basic and very clear, and it's consistent
Speaker 5: with what Ken Coochinelli and Jason rs both former attorney
Speaker 5: generals now you know, argued beforehand. One thing that I
Speaker 5: think is just some damage done to Democrats here. Barack
Speaker 5: Obama went all in for this. They amen more than
Speaker 5: seventy million dollars on this, all told, you know, including
Speaker 5: I mean it's untold amounts from the sources, because they
Speaker 5: have a network of people. It's estimated to be around
Speaker 5: twenty million that they just blew on ads and on
Speaker 5: I mean, I've gotten the flyers. I'm sure you did too,
Speaker 5: pushing this and making this argument that also lit the
Speaker 5: the sort of reputation if she still had any of it,
Speaker 5: of Abigail Spamberger as a moderate or centrist on fire,
Speaker 5: you know. And so from my perspective, she went from
Speaker 5: being somebody who could potentially be a Democrat veep for
Speaker 5: somebody like Avenue and to being somebody who is absolutely,
Speaker 5: you know, completely off the board. But also they spent
Speaker 5: all of this money in a cycle in which they
Speaker 5: are already in debt where they could use that money
Speaker 5: in other places, and House Democrats are furious about it.
Speaker 1: Came Jeffries agreed with doing it. Don't go anywhere, Ben,
Speaker 1: We're coming back on the network. Don't go anywhere America,
Speaker 1: Northern back America, Ben Dominic. She is still with me,
Speaker 1: he Hewett. I want to get to it, Ron, but
Speaker 1: I want to finish the thought on redistricting, Ben. I
Speaker 1: still think the redistricting was ought to go full forward.
Speaker 1: The Indiana rebuke of Republicans was pretty definitive, meaning you
Speaker 1: cannot refuse to fight when Republicans are getting hammered in
Speaker 1: California and Illinois and Massachusetts and everywhere.
Speaker 3: Do you expect the.
Speaker 1: Districting wars to continue for as long as the great
Speaker 1: sort continues in America.
Speaker 5: I think that they absolutely will, especially considering that, you know,
Speaker 5: just people look around in their communities and they say,
Speaker 5: this doesn't feel right, this doesn't feel like what actually
Speaker 5: it would be an accurate representation of the communities that
Speaker 5: we are in and that we have these very funky
Speaker 5: districts that are, you know, in many ways vestiges that
Speaker 5: should be you know, reconsidered, just given the fact that
Speaker 5: they no longer feel like they are accurately representing what's
Speaker 5: going on. Of course, this is a partisan fight. It's
Speaker 5: always going to be a partisan fight. I do find
Speaker 5: it very amusing on a certain level that Matt Iglacius
Speaker 5: and Jammel Bowie are out there finding their inner John C.
Speaker 5: Calhouns suggesting that, you know, Virginia once again discover the
Speaker 5: beauties of nullifications. But it's one of these things where
Speaker 5: I just I think the Democrats have chosen poorly, in
Speaker 5: part because this is more desperate than I believe people understand.
Speaker 5: We've seen this great source that you've mentioned for happening
Speaker 5: across the country in ways that are going to dramatically
Speaker 5: increase the populations, the legal American populations to be clear
Speaker 5: in states across the country because of all the people
Speaker 5: who have fled these Blue states, and the Blue states
Speaker 5: are holding on to the numbers that are assigned to
Speaker 5: them from illegal immigrants, in many cases, people who should
Speaker 5: not be able to vote, despite the opinions of many
Speaker 5: Californians in this week's debates, and people who should not
Speaker 5: count when it comes to the sending of federal aid
Speaker 5: dollars to those states. They're holding on to that money
Speaker 5: and to that power by using people who are not
Speaker 5: American citizens. And that's something that I think is going
Speaker 5: to be an increasing problem, only going to expand in
Speaker 5: all likely that after this forthcoming census, which I think
Speaker 5: could be significantly damaging to Democrats when it comes to
Speaker 5: winning the House.
Speaker 1: I agree now I want to move to Iran. On Monday,
Speaker 1: the President called into the program. I felt very good
Speaker 1: after that call because he had four red lines. They're
Speaker 1: not going to be a nuclear power. They have to
Speaker 1: announce it. They don't get to keep any enriched uranium
Speaker 1: none zero, they have to have caps on their MESSI
Speaker 1: program and inspections, and don't worry about the proxies. They
Speaker 1: won't have any money anyway. And then we get a
Speaker 1: fourteen point memorandum a lah Woodrow Wilson, and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, I'm wondering who's running the bus over there?
Speaker 1: Are you worried about the ben Dominich? I am.
Speaker 5: I'm worried about it. Quite a great deal. And I
Speaker 5: think you can already see the outside conversation. There's a
Speaker 5: piece of Fox News, there's Mark des and feats in
Speaker 5: the Washington Post. There's others as well, basically saying that
Speaker 5: the president should not just accept a deal because there
Speaker 5: are people in his ear saying that we need to
Speaker 5: move forward, We need to move on. You know, people
Speaker 5: people who feel like this war, you know, and many
Speaker 5: of those people, by the way, were critics I think
Speaker 5: before this war even began, of taking the risk and
Speaker 5: doing the courageous thing, which I think the President did
Speaker 5: because he believed it was important, and he's believed for
Speaker 5: basically his entire life. It's one of those handful of
Speaker 5: things that we know is the most consistent political opinions
Speaker 5: that he's had about Iran and about the threat of
Speaker 5: them being in nuclear power. Look, the President himself is
Speaker 5: someone who I had a lot of confidence in on this.
Speaker 5: He knows what is a bad deal and a good deal,
Speaker 5: and I don't think that he's going to accept a
Speaker 5: bad deal. But I do think that there are a
Speaker 5: lot of people around him who are nervous in the
Speaker 5: short term. They think of things more in terms of
Speaker 5: election cycles than in terms of like record and heritage,
Speaker 5: in the way that you'll be thought about by history.
Speaker 5: I have confidence the president because I think that's the
Speaker 5: way he thinks about things.
Speaker 1: I hope that I want. I also they're wrong on
Speaker 1: the election. I think that if you wage war to
Speaker 1: win war, it's different than this is not a forever war,
Speaker 1: that a six month war at max. And if you
Speaker 1: wage it to win it and you win it, I
Speaker 1: mean you make them capitulate, and that is easily done
Speaker 1: after their oil doesn't export anymore and they're broken, there's
Speaker 1: no food. It's tough, it's hard, but it's a slog
Speaker 1: that can be done. Don't you think that's winning? In November?
Speaker 5: You know, I was rereading Have you ever read the
Speaker 5: book Men at War? The collection that they were giving
Speaker 5: to gis in World War Two. It's edited by Ernest Hemingway. No,
Speaker 5: you had an introduction to that, and I have recommended
Speaker 5: it over the years to a number of people. It
Speaker 5: has this normal blunt wit and one of the lines
Speaker 5: in it is is, once we have a war, there's
Speaker 5: only one thing to do, and it must be won,
Speaker 5: for defeat brings worse things than any that can ever
Speaker 5: happen in a war. And I think that that is
Speaker 5: absolutely true. And so the idea that we are going
Speaker 5: to accept some half measure here is just it's just
Speaker 5: not on the table.
Speaker 1: You cannot do that.
Speaker 5: And for the politicians who think, I mean, this is
Speaker 5: one of the points that Kevin McCarthy's made in the
Speaker 5: interview that I had with him. For the politicians who
Speaker 5: think that they can back away from this, no, you
Speaker 5: have to defend it. You have to understand how you
Speaker 5: can defend it. You defend it in the context of
Speaker 5: the overall foreign policy attenda as president, but you also
Speaker 5: have to you know, when it comes to the people
Speaker 5: who are actually prosecuting this, you have to understand that
Speaker 5: you need to win this. This can't be a half
Speaker 5: measure situation, because that is not acceptable, not based on
Speaker 5: what Secretary of Rubio has said, what Secretary Head Says
Speaker 5: has said, and not based on what the president has said.
Speaker 1: Well, Matt con Netty had the one explanation that accounts
Speaker 1: for all the facts, which is usually persuasive, which is
Speaker 1: the President wants to get through the China summit, and
Speaker 1: therefore he doesn't want a ridiculously wild war without abandon
Speaker 1: war without limit going on when he's in Beijing, but
Speaker 1: that when we come back, it's time to restart at
Speaker 1: all the engines. What do you think.
Speaker 5: I think that's definitely possible, And Matt's a well connected guy,
Speaker 5: so it's certainly something that he could be hearing from
Speaker 5: his sources inside. Look, the summit with she is something
Speaker 5: that's been long expected and is very important on a
Speaker 5: number of different fronts. You know, I'll be paying a
Speaker 5: lot of attention to it on the Taiwan front. And
Speaker 5: I think that that there's also potential that there's going
Speaker 5: to be something that comes up regarding human rights. We'll
Speaker 5: see whether that's something that the President wants to bring
Speaker 5: up or whether it's something he stayed away from. The
Speaker 5: Other thing that I think we have to keep in
Speaker 5: mind here, though, is the President is thinking about this
Speaker 5: in different terms than a lot of the people who
Speaker 5: are thinking about it in temporary, short term language. He
Speaker 5: is thinking about this, I believe in legacy space, which
Speaker 5: is where he's been thinking about a lot of them.
Speaker 1: Okay, so let me get a quick question. Ford would
Speaker 1: not meet with soul Zeniatsen it dogged him. If President
Speaker 1: Trump brings back Jimmy Lai, that's a win for the ages.
Speaker 1: Do you think there's any chance he can do that?
Speaker 5: Look, if anybody can, it's him. But gosh, that's a reach.
Speaker 5: I mean, it's it's gonna be really tough, But I
Speaker 5: mean I think he's I think he you know, the
Speaker 5: question is if we've gotten them to the point where
Speaker 5: they're willing to do that in exchange for something else
Speaker 5: that they want, or you have to get back and forth.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we have to give something.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean it's gonna be it's gonna cost something
Speaker 5: to get him back. And I think that that's understandable.
Speaker 5: But I also think, you know, the President has worked
Speaker 5: deals along those lines before with other nations. It's very
Speaker 5: possible that he could do something like that in this case.
Speaker 5: And it's absolutely, of course, as we all know, it's
Speaker 5: definitely on his radar.
Speaker 1: Okay, thirty seconds, Lindsey Graham has gone remarkably quiet. You
Speaker 1: know him, well, I think that means I'm confident about Iran.
Speaker 1: Is that how you read it? Yeah?
Speaker 5: Probably he does. He does sometimes he goes, He goes five.
Speaker 5: I thought you were gonna ask me a James Harden question.
Speaker 4: No, I'm not no bad on you, bad on you.
Speaker 1: It's going to be a four fourth series when we
Speaker 1: talk now, actually three fourth series with the calves ahead.
Speaker 1: When we talked to take no.
Speaker 5: Calves are going to take a couple of games in Cleveland.
Speaker 1: That was harsh. That was really a low hit. Ben
Speaker 1: Dominas from the Daily Wire Fox and this contributor hosts
Speaker 1: of the Big Ben Pod. You ought to go and
Speaker 1: listen to it and stay tuned to the Hugwit Show.
Speaker 1: I was on with John Roberts earlier today talking about Iran.
Speaker 1: Here's that segment on Fox, Santa.
Speaker 7: Let's take deeper on all of this by bringing in
Speaker 7: Hugh Hewett Fox and he's contributed host to the Hugh
Speaker 7: Huge Show. You always good to have you on the program.
Speaker 7: Good Friday afternoon to you. So you have concerned about
Speaker 7: this deal that the President is pursuing. You posted this
Speaker 7: on X You said this would be a terrible deal.
Speaker 7: I hope the terms of any deal would be significantly stricter.
Speaker 7: No enrichment ever, highly enriched uranium to US, stat no
Speaker 7: more proxies turn on the internet. President Trump never gives
Speaker 7: up leverage. Why would he start now with Iran on
Speaker 7: the ropes? He wrote that a couple of days ago.
Speaker 7: How are you feeling today?
Speaker 1: I'm feeling better about the president. I've never had fear
Speaker 1: about the President. John he called my program on Monday.
Speaker 1: He was very clear about his red lines which he's enforcing.
Speaker 1: They've got to renounce nuclear weapons. They've got to give
Speaker 1: us all their enriched uranium, not just the sixty percent HU,
Speaker 1: but down to the three percent. No enrichment. He said
Speaker 1: that very very very firmly. He also said they cannot
Speaker 1: have missiles beyond a certain level, and they've got to
Speaker 1: have a very robust inspections regime imposed upon them. And
Speaker 1: he out they won't have any money to give to
Speaker 1: the terrorist proxies, adding sort of a fifth part of it.
Speaker 1: So I've never had any concern about the president. However,
Speaker 1: a fourteen point memorandum has stuff in it that don
Speaker 1: On included within those four to five points that the
Speaker 1: President went over with me, So I don't want them
Speaker 1: to get mixed signals. I think the President is very firm,
Speaker 1: and I think Secretary of Rubio is very firm. Today.
Speaker 1: We're not a stupid country. Do not send us back
Speaker 1: anything that suggests you're going to play us. You're not
Speaker 1: going to play Donald Trump, You're not going to play
Speaker 1: Marco Rubio, You're not going to play anyone. They can capitulate,
Speaker 1: they don't have to be humiliated. They can just get
Speaker 1: out of the nuclear game. They can simply renounce that
Speaker 1: and turn everything over, and therefore it will work. But
Speaker 1: if they send back fourteen points to say, well, we'll
Speaker 1: give you half now, and we'll give you half in
Speaker 1: five years, and we will only enrich in fifteen years,
Speaker 1: that's a major loss. It's a major loss of face
Speaker 1: for the president. So I'm not worried about that. I
Speaker 1: am worried about people who think there's a middle course.
Speaker 1: There isn't. There's either a nuclear Iran or a non
Speaker 1: nuclear Iran, and the President's on the non nuclear Iran side.
Speaker 7: Capitulation will be highly out of character for the Sardian regime.
Speaker 7: Though I fear to say, you know you and Martisa
Speaker 7: are very much in the same page when it comes
Speaker 7: to your concerns. He had this excellent op ed in
Speaker 7: the Washington Post yesterday titled Trump risks stanching defeat from
Speaker 7: the jaws of victory in Iran. He goes on to
Speaker 7: say Trump says he holds all the cards, but Tehran disagrees.
Speaker 1: Why is that?
Speaker 7: Consider the events of the past few days from Iran's perspective. First,
Speaker 7: the President launched Project Freedom to guide ships through the
Speaker 7: Strait of our moves, warned that if Iron dared to
Speaker 7: fire at American vessels, it would be quote blown off
Speaker 7: the face of the earth. Iran defied his warning, not
Speaker 7: only firing out of US warship, but launching twelve ballistic missiles,
Speaker 7: three cruise missiles, and four drones at the United Arab Emirates.
Speaker 7: In response, the United States did nothing, and that's what
Speaker 7: really ticked off the Emordis and the Saudis and had
Speaker 7: the pullback used to their bases. I think that's been
Speaker 7: fixed now, but there's some mixed signals coming out of
Speaker 7: this White House.
Speaker 1: Well, the UAE has a right to be angry. They
Speaker 1: struck out a port that was in the Gulf of
Speaker 1: Oman's side and we didn't do anything, and I don't
Speaker 1: know that that had been discussed beforehand. And now that
Speaker 1: the understanding got to be crystal clear that our allies
Speaker 1: are our allies and we will protect them and we
Speaker 1: will you know, I amount of time here, John Roberts
Speaker 1: and Sandra run the best news show in the afternoon.
Speaker 1: They really do focus on the important stuff. And John
Speaker 1: and Sandra know this stuff cold and they read everything
Speaker 1: like fatis and editorial mar quit very on point. Yesterday
Speaker 1: in the post stick out put all that in the
Speaker 1: big weekend pods, which we'll post laated today. I hope
Speaker 1: you listened to it all in stay tuned with the