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Speaker 1: Welcome to today's podcast, sponsored by Hillsdale College All Things

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Speaker 1: hillsdalet Hillsdale dot ed or. I encourage you to take

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Speaker 1: advantage of the many free online courses there, and of

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Speaker 1: course I'll listen to the Hillsdale dialogues, all of them

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Speaker 1: at Hugh for Hillsdale dot com or just Google, Apple

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Speaker 1: iTunes and Hillsdale mornin Glory and even Grace. Welcome to

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Speaker 1: the Big Weekend Pod America. Sorry I missed last week.

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Speaker 1: I was traveling from west coast to east coast and

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Speaker 1: hardly anything that's going on, not kidding. We're in the

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Speaker 1: middle of a war. We're in the middle of a

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Speaker 1: war that, as you will hear in the conversation today,

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Speaker 1: could change the next thirty to fifty maybe even one

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Speaker 1: hundred years of life on this globe, certainly the lives

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Speaker 1: of your children and of your grandchildren. It's that important.

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Speaker 1: The stakes are that high. That's why I'm talking with

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Speaker 1: John Ellison, Matt Conteney and Ben Dominic and Eli Lake

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Speaker 1: all about what those stakes are and how best to

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Speaker 1: understand this war. But if anyone tells you that we're

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Speaker 1: not winning, they're wrong. We are winning. We haven't won

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Speaker 1: but we are winning. No one tells you that the

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Speaker 1: Straits of Hormuz is an insolvable military conundrum. That's simply

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Speaker 1: not true. There, I mean, far worse conundrum in the

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Speaker 1: history of military conflict. Will solve it. We will get

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Speaker 1: it done. What you shouldn't believe as well is that

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Speaker 1: there's an easy path to victory because the Islamic Revolution

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Speaker 1: is organized to break into small pieces and do the

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Speaker 1: insurgency thing with missiles, So even on its worst day,

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Speaker 1: it's going to be around for a long time. Good

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Speaker 1: news is all we have to do is secure this

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Speaker 1: trait of hor moves. The rest is up to the

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Speaker 1: Iranian people. With that said, let's turn to our first guest,

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Speaker 1: John Ellis. After that, Eli Lake, Matt Contneti, Ben Dominicic,

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Speaker 1: enjoy this Weekend in Review at a big weekend Pod,

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Speaker 1: and thank you for listening. I'm Morning Glory and evening

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Speaker 1: Grace in America. I'm Hugh hewittt of the Weekend Review.

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Speaker 1: Show has begun and we begin it as we do

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Speaker 1: most weeks, with John Ellis, the editor and founder of

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Speaker 1: News Items. He one stopped shopping center in the morning

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Speaker 1: at six am for all the news of the day,

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Speaker 1: and each week John sends me a few stories that

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Speaker 1: we should go over, and he begins with number one,

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Speaker 1: the host plan. Now, John Richard Hass has been on

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Speaker 1: this program every time he's done a book. We sometimes agree,

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Speaker 1: we sometimes don't agree. His last two substack postings I

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Speaker 1: haven't agreed with at all. So what's the house plan?

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Speaker 1: What's Richard to they?

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Speaker 2: Well, the host plan is the Strait of Hormuz enables

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Speaker 2: traffic from the Persian Gulf to get to the Gulf

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Speaker 2: of Oman and then out to the European Sea and

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Speaker 2: out to its points. You know, it's destinations. The Iranians

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Speaker 2: have quotes shut down end quote the Strait of Hormuz,

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Speaker 2: and so the question is what do you do about

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Speaker 2: that they are letting through. The Iranians are letting through,

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Speaker 2: or have let through ninety tankers full of oil, some

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Speaker 2: destined for China, some destin't for India. So the host

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Speaker 2: plan is to essentially set up a blockade in the

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Speaker 2: Gulf of Oman that prevents any tanker that Iran is

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Speaker 2: letting through the Strait of Hormos from going any further.

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Speaker 2: And so essentially it's a blockade of a blockade, and

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Speaker 2: the message would be, look, unless you open up the

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Speaker 2: Strait of horm Moves, no tankers are going to get through,

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Speaker 2: which means you're not going to get the revenue that

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Speaker 2: you get if the oil is delivered to China, and

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Speaker 2: it will piss the Chinese off that they're not getting it,

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Speaker 2: so they'll presumably pressure you to reopen the street.

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Speaker 1: That's an excellent idea. No oil for us, no oil

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Speaker 1: for you. But carg Island might end her into this

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Speaker 1: as well. That's not a permanent solution though, John, and

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Speaker 1: what has been laid bare is in fact just how

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Speaker 1: crucial the Strait of horn Moves is, and the Iranians

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Speaker 1: have been threatening for years to close it. They never

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Speaker 1: had the ability until they built the missile array. Can

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Speaker 1: we allow it to there exposed? No we can't, No,

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Speaker 1: we can't.

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Speaker 2: I mean I think you should sponsor with the Service

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Speaker 2: academies and the leading you know, diplomacy institutes at contest

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Speaker 2: who can come up with the best idea of how

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Speaker 2: to resolve the Strait of Hormu's issue, because it's absolutely

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Speaker 2: critical that it be resolved. The longer it goes on,

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Speaker 2: the greater the economic impact. And it's not just that

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Speaker 2: the price of gas goes. It's a little bit like dominos,

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Speaker 2: where if this, if this happens, and that happens, and

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Speaker 2: then that happens, and all of it is bad. So

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Speaker 2: it's essential that it be resolved. And the terrible thing

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Speaker 2: is that the Iranians have gotten better at mines sea

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Speaker 2: mines that you know, you think of mines as something

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Speaker 2: kind of like big balls that float on the top

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Speaker 2: of the ocean, and you know, a battleship runs into

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Speaker 2: them and blows up, like in the World War two movies.

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Speaker 2: But now they're anchored to the floor and you can't

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Speaker 2: see them, and you know by acoustics when when the boat,

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Speaker 2: when the destroyer US destroyer gets close, the mind gets off.

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Speaker 2: You need mine sweepers to take care of that, and

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Speaker 2: as it happens, the US Navy has none.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm told by retired to six that some of

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Speaker 1: our high tech people have got some solutions, but we'll

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Speaker 1: be testing them in real time. We have no mind sweepers.

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Speaker 1: We're running through our tomahawks and indeed through everything. But

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Speaker 1: if we win, I think it's going to be worth it.

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Speaker 1: And by when I mean regime alteration, not replacement, just

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Speaker 1: coersion into a non fanatical theocratic regime. Where do you

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Speaker 1: think we are in this, John, I think it's a

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Speaker 1: toss up.

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Speaker 2: I mean, it really depends on how much pain the

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Speaker 2: Iranians are willing to withstand. They show that they're willing

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Speaker 2: to withstand unlimited pain the Irano in Irantorek war. It

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Speaker 2: strikes me that those days are different from these days.

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Speaker 2: And it's certainly the case that US and Israel. Israeli

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Speaker 2: firepower is exponentially more lethal than what they were up

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Speaker 2: against in the Iraq War.

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Speaker 1: But some of the men at the top of this

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Speaker 1: regime walked through minefields. Is ten years old. I like

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Speaker 1: to remind people that this generation was the product of

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Speaker 1: the nineteen eighty eighty eight death match with Iraq, which

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Speaker 1: was as bloody and as brutal war as any It's

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Speaker 1: like Ukraine Russia right now, maybe even worse. But they

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Speaker 1: are not for bending very easily. They have to be broken.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about the politics of it.

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Speaker 1: John Hollis Harry Anton of all people, CNN did a

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Speaker 1: poll of self described MAGA voters. One hundred percent of

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Speaker 1: his polling sample support Donald Trump. Some people might have

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Speaker 1: opted out of MAGA by virtue of what's happened over

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Speaker 1: the last three weeks. But it's still a pretty stunning number.

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Speaker 1: It's it's not fractured.

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Speaker 2: Well, there are two there are two narratives in what

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Speaker 2: we call the mainstream media at the moment. One is

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Speaker 2: that the megabase is fracturing, and the other is that

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Speaker 2: the great Blue wave is coming. The mega fracturing story

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Speaker 2: is simply not true. And had you know, one hundred

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Speaker 2: percent NBC News had eighty five percent. I've seen other

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Speaker 2: stuff that says ninety percent of the quote mega base

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Speaker 2: end quote is sticking with President Trump. So that's you know,

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Speaker 2: that narrative is wrong. And the second narrative, the blue wave,

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Speaker 2: nothing like that is going to happen. You know, there's

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Speaker 2: seventeen seats that are that are you know, maybe going

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Speaker 2: to go the Democratic way, maybe not. There are three

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Speaker 2: more that you could make the case that they could

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Speaker 2: go democratic, but anything like the normal historical average of

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Speaker 2: twenty six seat switch it seems extremely unlikely. And that's

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Speaker 2: not you know, that's not just me saying that. That's

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Speaker 2: you know, Charlie Cook, whose Cook Political Report is as

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Speaker 2: good as any in terms of analyzing Elections has pretty

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Speaker 2: much said the same thing.

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Speaker 1: So now I think you if Louis John Cornan wins

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Speaker 1: his Senate primary, he has a layup against tall Reno.

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Speaker 1: But I also think Tallerino probably beats Ken Paxton. I

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Speaker 1: don't think Graham Platner can beat Susan Collins. That would

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Speaker 1: be very strange. North Carolina is a toss up. Ossoff

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Speaker 1: is a tough candidate, Michigan's always tough for Republicans, and

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Speaker 1: John Houston in Ohio is a pretty good candidate, but

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Speaker 1: so is shared Brown. It's possible to lose the Senate. John,

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Speaker 1: do you agree with this? Absolutely? Yes.

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Speaker 2: I think the range is no change to plus one Democrat,

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Speaker 2: so plus three R to plus one.

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Speaker 1: D O D. It's gonna be a while. To that end,

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Speaker 1: I have been urging Republicans put their arms around the war,

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Speaker 1: throw the two hundred and fifty million a billion dollars

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Speaker 1: onto a reconciliation bill, jam at through the House and

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Speaker 1: the Senate, and stand by Trump and say we have

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Speaker 1: to take it run off the map. Because they're stuck

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Speaker 1: with the war anyway, they might as well be patriotic

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Speaker 1: about it.

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Speaker 2: Well, the other thing is the Democrats appear to be

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Speaker 2: hoping that we lose. So, you know, that's an interesting.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna say that, but I'm you're the objective neutral guy.

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Speaker 1: It sure does look that way to me. I don't know.

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Speaker 2: I read this stuff every morning, you know, from one

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Speaker 2: to six o'clock in the morning, and it sure sounds

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Speaker 2: to me like they're not all in on the war.

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Speaker 2: It sounds to me, you know, in the coverage as well,

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Speaker 2: is all negative. There's plenty of bad news here. It's

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Speaker 2: not that it's that there's there's almost no There was

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Speaker 2: one day this week where the quote narrative end quote

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Speaker 2: of the mainstream media switched dramatically, and oddly enough, it

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Speaker 2: was because of a piece that ran in El Jazeera

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Speaker 2: where the author said, basically, the US is winning.

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Speaker 1: Yes, there is also a non good piece of news

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Speaker 1: today and if third thirty five got hit by something

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Speaker 1: that was able to land, but we didn't think that

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Speaker 1: was possible. So that's not a good bit of news.

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Speaker 1: Let's close with a bit of good news, though I'm

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Speaker 1: a little bit worried. I have birder friends like Dan

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Speaker 1: Paraman and they're kind of crazy about birding. And now

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Speaker 1: if it turns out that birding is good for your brain.

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Speaker 1: I really fear getting forced into the birding world. It

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Speaker 1: seems a little eccentric and it seems resource intensive.

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Speaker 2: Well, you know, we have a weekly newsletter called bird

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Speaker 2: News Items.

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Speaker 1: I know it's now.

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Speaker 2: Scientific scientifically proven that it prevents dementia. So my advice

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Speaker 2: to you is get with the program, get yourself a

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Speaker 2: subscription to Bird News Items, and you'll be doing this

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Speaker 2: show well into your nineties.

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Speaker 1: Are you a birder I thought, family members, No, my brother.

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Speaker 2: My brother is a former board member of the Cornell

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Speaker 2: Ornithology Lab, which is sort of the mit of birds,

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Speaker 2: and he's the sort of person that goes to Minnesota

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Speaker 2: to look to the Iron Range in Minnesota to look

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Speaker 2: for a specific bird. In other words, he's crazy, but

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Speaker 2: apparently he's not demented.

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Speaker 1: Well, great, he's going to be doing it for a

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Speaker 1: long time. I go also have to tell the audience

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Speaker 1: John stuck In that the Buckeyes lost last night. However,

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Speaker 1: the red Hawks, the Miami RedHawks, play this afternoon, So

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Speaker 1: Ohio is still represented, John Allis, We're not down yet.

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Speaker 1: We're not out yet. John Alis, thank you. Get your

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Speaker 1: News Items by going to Google and just news items,

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Speaker 1: John Allis, it will take you there, this one substack

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Speaker 1: that every morning will make you as smart as anybody

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Speaker 1: else in your office, carpool, or that you're talking to

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Speaker 1: for the rest of the day. Thank you, John. I'll

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Speaker 1: be right back in America with Eli Lake. Stay tuned,

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Speaker 1: Welcome back to America. Eli Lake is a correspondent with

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Speaker 1: The Free Press. He's also the host of the Breaking

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Speaker 1: History podcast, frequent contributed to commentary podcast as he was

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Speaker 1: this morning. He's also part of a I don't know

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Speaker 1: twenty hour conversation with Andrew Sullivan about Iran this week,

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Speaker 1: which I found very interesting between Eli and Andrew, and

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Speaker 1: two of programs by Aviv Reddy Gerr on Hominius the Ideology.

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Speaker 1: I feel like I'm overwhelmed, But Eli, let me hand

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Speaker 1: you this accolade. I have been waiting for this moment

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Speaker 1: for forty seven years, an honest to goodness attempt to

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Speaker 1: take down the regime. And I cannot believe that so

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Speaker 1: few people are focused on how important this is. Do

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Speaker 1: you think they understand how important this is?

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Speaker 3: No, and I don't think people are paying attention to

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Speaker 3: the right metrics. I want to open the straight of

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Speaker 3: her moves like everybody else, and that is important in

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Speaker 3: the short term. But the story to watch are the

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Speaker 3: drones that Israel controls over besiege checkpoints.

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Speaker 4: It's the come.

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Speaker 3: Conversation that you know. The Wall Street Journal heard a

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Speaker 3: recording of where a massade officer is talking to a

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Speaker 3: senior Tehran police commander, and at the end of it

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Speaker 3: he says, I swear on.

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Speaker 1: The Quran, I'm already dead.

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Speaker 3: Please come and save us. That's the That's the metric

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Speaker 3: that I'm looking at, Not you know what the remaining

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Speaker 3: of Iranian stooges or regime officials say. Not the straight

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Speaker 3: up Hormuz, not the you know back and forth between

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Speaker 3: European allies and Trump over mind sweepers and so forth.

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Speaker 3: The thing that matters is the plan that I think

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Speaker 3: Israel has been working on for some time and that

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Speaker 3: we're going to start seeing other parts of It. Might

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Speaker 3: be Resipolo who comes back, It could be people on

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Speaker 3: the inside, It might be a combination of both. But

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Speaker 3: I think my hope is that I think that there

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Speaker 3: is a plan to do this, that this war ends

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Speaker 3: in a velvet in a color revolution, as they call it.

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Speaker 1: It is the most significant geopolitical moment since nineteen eighty nine,

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Speaker 1: because a long standing enemy of the United States could

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Speaker 1: be cracking, and the cracking might go on for some

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Speaker 1: period of time, and there are costs of that cracking,

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Speaker 1: including economic costs. And the straightah Horn moves isn't inconvenience.

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Speaker 1: But the Battle of the Atlantic almost starved Great Britain

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Speaker 1: to death. This is not that this is a dollar

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Speaker 1: more gallon of gas and production problems for Japan, China,

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Speaker 1: and India. It's not the end of the civilized world.

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Speaker 1: So I don't even think it's that big of a

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Speaker 1: military problem. Once you get your assets in place, it's

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Speaker 1: twenty three miles long. We have two EMUs coming now,

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Speaker 1: one from Asia, one from San Diego. I believe, to

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Speaker 1: big decks with marines on them. A lot of stuff

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Speaker 1: we can do. I mean, why do people want us

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Speaker 1: to lose? It just seems like a lot of American

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Speaker 1: media wants.

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Speaker 3: Us to lose, well, to put it charitably, or to

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Speaker 3: maybe steal man the other side. I think that so

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Speaker 3: many people who follow and you know, Iran policy and

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Speaker 3: this conflict, they can't imagine a world without the Iranian regime,

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Speaker 3: without the Islamic Republic.

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Speaker 1: It's hard for.

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Speaker 3: Them to even imagine it, so they just kind of

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Speaker 3: revert back to, of course, there'll be some regime that

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Speaker 3: sticks around after this war. David Ignatius, who I think

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Speaker 3: is a fine reporter, but his column he wrote this

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Speaker 3: week is about, you know, there has to be no

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Speaker 3: clear winnable goals and you know, to think about sort

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Speaker 3: of an exit ramp, and he gives.

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Speaker 1: His thoughts on it.

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Speaker 3: And my view is that even if the combat operations

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Speaker 3: end and there is a rump of the regime in place,

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Speaker 3: I think we have to really work. The world has

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Speaker 3: to hope that Israel and the Iranian people and what

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Speaker 3: they have cooking ultimately works, and I can see it.

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Speaker 3: I'm hoping it does.

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Speaker 1: You know. For the last year I've been reading with

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Speaker 1: Larry or on this book, The Gathering Storm, and the

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Speaker 1: one thing that looking back to the thirties tells me

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Speaker 1: is if England and France had fought a complicated, risky

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Speaker 1: battle with Germany in the thirties, the world would not

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Speaker 1: have burned. And this regime has revealed itself. That's the

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Speaker 1: biggest takeaway for the first three weeks from me. I

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Speaker 1: want to know what you think of the first three weeks,

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Speaker 1: the nature of the regime. It's actually for two months

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Speaker 1: now since they murdered thirty five thousand of their own people.

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Speaker 1: But they're firing at the Alaska Mosque now. They have

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Speaker 1: absolutely no inhibitions about chaos because chaos is their theology.

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Speaker 3: Yes, one hundred percent. And I would say this as well.

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Speaker 3: All of the people who think that we're losing the

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Speaker 3: war and are focusing on negative elements. Contrasts that with

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Speaker 3: the governments of our golf allies, including now Kuttar, that

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Speaker 3: are all in that right there. They have the skin

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Speaker 3: in the game. Do you think we're sacrificing at the pump?

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Speaker 3: United Arab Emirates And they're really feeling the brunt of

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Speaker 3: it because the Iranians are firing at hotels and civilian

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Speaker 3: targets and their airport and so forth. They're saying, keep going,

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Speaker 3: they want to finish the job. That tells me everything

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Speaker 3: I need to know. It also tells me that the

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Speaker 3: Iranian theory of this war was all wrong. They thought

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Speaker 3: they could intimidate our allies to regret hosting our bases.

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Speaker 3: The opposite happens. It strengthened their resolve and now Iran,

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Speaker 3: as I've never seen a country this isolated before, not

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Speaker 3: even Russia and China last week voted against the UN

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Speaker 3: Security Council resolution condemning Iran's behavior as incredible. They were

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Speaker 3: extensions on that they have zeer allies in the world

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Speaker 3: right now.

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Speaker 1: I do want to have any for a worst case scenario.

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Speaker 1: If I understand the Mosaic plan, Iran divides into thirty

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Speaker 1: to thirty five different regions, each with a commander in chief,

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Speaker 1: each with missile supplies, and they can wage guerrilla war

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Speaker 1: in the mountains and the plains in the deserts for

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Speaker 1: years to come. Is that the worst case scenario That

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Speaker 1: would be a pretty bad one.

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Speaker 3: I think another worst case scenario is, and I don't

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Speaker 3: think I don't see signs that's happening, is that if

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Speaker 3: something happened and Trump dramatically just withdrew without any kind

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Speaker 3: of agreement, that would give the Iranian regime a sense

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Speaker 3: of victory that was left, and then they would then

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Speaker 3: proceed to slaughter even more of their own civilians to

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Speaker 3: sort of teach the people a lesson, and we would

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Speaker 3: have a weakened regime in place, but one that would

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Speaker 3: kind of feel emboldened that they were managed to survive

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Speaker 3: a war against the great powers.

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Speaker 1: That would be even I didn't consider that eli because

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Speaker 1: the one guy who's not on the krak, Donald Trump.

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Speaker 1: I just can't I think that's right. Yeah, I can't

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Speaker 1: see it either. Now, the politics MAGA has not splendored.

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Speaker 1: Some traditional Republicans who hate Trump still hate Trump, and

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Speaker 1: so they're against the war. Some of the national security

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Speaker 1: elite think it was a bad idea, but they've been

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Speaker 1: isolated from the rest of the country for a long time.

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Speaker 1: Is there any political risk here other than losing.

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Speaker 3: Well, I mean, losing is a huge political risk. So

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Speaker 3: then you'll get the podcast or class that is against

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Speaker 3: it doing a series of I Told you so's, and

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Speaker 3: they'll probably blame Israel and the people who support Israel

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Speaker 3: in the country. So losing would be bad. But that's

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Speaker 3: the truth. That's true in every war. You I mean,

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Speaker 3: you know, it's better to win, and I think Trump

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Speaker 3: gets that more than anyone, So I think he wants

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Speaker 3: to win it. That's I think he's focused on that.

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Speaker 3: And then at that point, it'll be very interesting to

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Speaker 3: see what happened, what becomes of MAGA and what becomes

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Speaker 3: of what may be called the dissidence within MAGA, who

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Speaker 3: have very big platforms, but apparently not many followers.

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Speaker 1: At least we will sit not much influence, big platforms,

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Speaker 1: not much influence. Eli, I think you're doing Yeoman's work.

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Speaker 1: Keep writing, keep reporting at the Free Press and at

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Speaker 1: the Breaking History. The episode with Andrew Sullivan is just

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Speaker 1: so much fun. Andrew's been on his program twice one week,

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Speaker 1: threw bricks at each other for an hour and a half,

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Speaker 1: and then we had eleven ten years later, So I

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Speaker 1: really think it's fine. Excellent conversation, Eli Lake. Follow him

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Speaker 1: on exit, Eli Lake, read him in The Free Press.

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Speaker 1: Listen to Breaking History. I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere.

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Speaker 1: Continetti is next on the Hugh Hewitt Show program Back America.

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Speaker 1: I'm Hugh Hewitt. Matt Continetti is the Senior Fellow for

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Speaker 1: Domestic Affairs at the American Enterprise Institute, also a columnist

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Speaker 1: for the Wall Street Journal. Had a very good column

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Speaker 1: today in the Journal on the complexities of the Iran

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Speaker 1: where Matt Kannetty. I want to begin by asking you

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Speaker 1: to describe how you see the first three weeks of

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Speaker 1: the battle with Iran well Hugh.

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Speaker 5: I think the first three weeks of the battle with

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Speaker 5: Iran have been an overwhelming military success for the United

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Speaker 5: States and for Israel. I think we're rapidly pursuing our

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Speaker 5: main objectives is ending the nuclear threat, destroying the missile threat,

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Speaker 5: destroying is Iran's ability to cement terrorism in the region

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Speaker 5: through its proxies, and then laying the groundwork the conditions

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Speaker 5: for a potential regime collapse where the boots on the

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Speaker 5: ground are not American or Israeli soldiers, but they're the

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Speaker 5: Iranian people themselves. So I think we've made extraordinary progress

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Speaker 5: along all those lines. There have been some costs, but

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Speaker 5: I think compared with what has been gained, those costs have.

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Speaker 4: Minimal.

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Speaker 5: And right now we've had this new challenge in the

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Speaker 5: last week or so with the Strait of Hormuz. But

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Speaker 5: the battle for the strait, for control of the strait,

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Speaker 5: for the safe passage of all the vessels that transit

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Speaker 5: through the strait, I think will be won by the

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Speaker 5: United States. Has to be won for the future of

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Speaker 5: the world and for freedom of navigation. It will just

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Speaker 5: take a little bit more time.

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Speaker 1: You know, Matt, I've been telling people this all week Long.

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Speaker 1: I'm somewhat of an amateur student of World War Two,

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Speaker 1: the Battle of the Atlantic, which ranged over two years,

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Speaker 1: that was about actually whether Great Britain would have anything

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Speaker 1: to eat. The Strait of the Hormuz is about the

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Speaker 1: cost of gasoline and whether or not Japan, India and

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Speaker 1: China can operate at full capacity. It's not an existential

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Speaker 1: crisis for the world. It's a crisis of economy, but

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Speaker 1: not anything remotely like the severity of a serious battle

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Speaker 1: at sea. And I also don't think it's a problem

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Speaker 1: that we won't be able to solve once we have

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Speaker 1: a chance to turn our attention to it. Do you.

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Speaker 4: I think we're already turning our attention to it, Hugh.

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Speaker 5: You know, one of the interesting things to come out

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Speaker 5: of yesterday's briefing from Secretary Hegseth and Chairman Kane was

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Speaker 5: that the United States has now introduced the A ten Warthog,

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Speaker 5: my favorite aircraft, and.

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Speaker 4: Apache helicopters to the fight.

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Speaker 5: What that means is that those are close air support platforms.

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Speaker 5: They fly low, and I think what they're doing is

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Speaker 5: engaging in hunting destroy missions for these fast boats and

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Speaker 5: mind layers in the Strait. So that means that we're

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Speaker 5: already tackling that challenge. Of course, we dropped the five

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Speaker 5: thousand pound bombs earlier this week along the Iranian coast

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Speaker 5: to go after the Missilan drone teams that have been

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Speaker 5: harassing traffic through the state. It'll take some time to

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Speaker 5: get our naval assets in place, but I think it's achievable.

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Speaker 5: I think what we've seen in the past month, three

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Speaker 5: weeks a month is the overwhelmingly ability of the United

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Speaker 5: States to achieve its military objectives, especially when working with

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Speaker 5: a capable ally and willing ally like we have in

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Speaker 5: the state of Israel. It's really something to beholden. You know,

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Speaker 5: your mention of World War Two just made me think

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Speaker 5: you could you imagine if we had today's media covering

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Speaker 5: the Second World War three weeks in after Pearl Harbor,

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Speaker 5: The New York Times, The Economist, all of the network's CNN,

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Speaker 5: they'd be saying that Japanese are winning. Hitler's on the March,

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Speaker 5: Roosevelt's strategy failing.

433
00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:40,000
Speaker 1: Do you remember the D Day rehearsal that resulted in

434
00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:43,160
Speaker 1: the deaths of thousands of Americans and brit troops because

435
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:46,400
Speaker 1: the rehearsal went bad. And the tide was wrong. I mean,

436
00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:50,760
Speaker 1: we had so many scrups in that. Let me ask

437
00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:54,520
Speaker 1: you about the worst case scenario. Thus far, the Iranians

438
00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:57,960
Speaker 1: are firing at the Alaska Mosque and the Western Wall.

439
00:24:58,359 --> 00:25:01,520
Speaker 1: They're trying to actually hit the third most sacred place,

440
00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:03,560
Speaker 1: and Sunni is 'n done matter much of the Shia

441
00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:07,359
Speaker 1: as Karbala does. But are they out of their minds?

442
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:12,400
Speaker 5: Well, I think the answer to that question is unfortunately yes.

443
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:15,480
Speaker 5: I mean, this is why Iran is a threat. This

444
00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:18,080
Speaker 5: is why we can't allow the Iranian regime to obtain

445
00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:23,520
Speaker 5: nuclear weapons. They're apocalyptic, religious fanatics, and that goes down

446
00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:26,560
Speaker 5: through several layers of the regime. I forgot to mention

447
00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:30,040
Speaker 5: in my summary of all we've accomplished militarily that in

448
00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:35,000
Speaker 5: the opening moments, the United States and Israel decapitated the

449
00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:39,800
Speaker 5: Iranian leadership forty one major leaders, including Nyatola. The replacement

450
00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:44,520
Speaker 5: Ayatola Kameni's sun has not been seen publicly.

451
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:46,359
Speaker 4: It's unclear whether he or heard.

452
00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:50,199
Speaker 5: It's unclear whether he's alive, much less what condition he

453
00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:55,199
Speaker 5: may be in. So I think the behavior of this

454
00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:58,760
Speaker 5: regime is in fact revealing why it was necessary for

455
00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:02,200
Speaker 5: the United States and Israel to take the action they

456
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:07,000
Speaker 5: have taken. When you're considering that they've launched missiles against

457
00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:12,000
Speaker 5: twelve different countries, when they are holding civilian populations at risk,

458
00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:14,080
Speaker 5: when they're trying to hold the global economy at risk,

459
00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:18,840
Speaker 5: and now they're targeting Islam's own religious sites. You see

460
00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:22,240
Speaker 5: how they could not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons

461
00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:24,880
Speaker 5: and what was better to strike now rather than wait

462
00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:25,840
Speaker 5: until it was too late.

463
00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:28,920
Speaker 1: They are making the case for President Trump. I'll be

464
00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:31,120
Speaker 1: right back with Matt Continety during the break. We'll put

465
00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:32,840
Speaker 1: it on the Big Weekend Pod and you'll be back

466
00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:34,520
Speaker 1: on the other side as well. Don't go anywhere if

467
00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:37,720
Speaker 1: they tuned to the ushow on the sale Mustaine, I'm

468
00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:41,200
Speaker 1: back with Matt Continetty. Matt I asked enable historian friend

469
00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:45,639
Speaker 1: of mine, what sort of an attack, a decapitation attack

470
00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:50,080
Speaker 1: could have been done by Imperial Japan upon the American

471
00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:55,320
Speaker 1: military in December of forty one. He wrote back, on

472
00:26:55,359 --> 00:26:58,080
Speaker 1: December seven, forty one, we had less than two hundred

473
00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:01,320
Speaker 1: flag and general officers across the Army, Air Corpnavy, and

474
00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:04,360
Speaker 1: Marine Corps. Within the US government. There were twenty two

475
00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:08,600
Speaker 1: civilian and national security leaders, so two hundred and twenty two,

476
00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:12,119
Speaker 1: and we would have been on our back for a

477
00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:14,280
Speaker 1: year and a half trying to If they've gotten George

478
00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:18,320
Speaker 1: Marshall and Nimets and a bunch of the other people

479
00:27:18,359 --> 00:27:22,560
Speaker 1: who took over, we wouldn't have known what to do.

480
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:24,959
Speaker 1: Do you how do you imagine it is in Iran

481
00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:28,280
Speaker 1: right now? Matt? You're pretty imaginative.

482
00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:32,159
Speaker 4: What's it like of an overactive imagination?

483
00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:36,439
Speaker 5: Well, look, I think it's clear that the leadership is

484
00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:40,040
Speaker 5: in disarray. I think it's clear that there is some

485
00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:43,879
Speaker 5: dissension in the ranks. It's hard to tell how much

486
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:46,760
Speaker 5: because Iran is a black box right now because the

487
00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:49,399
Speaker 5: regime is shut off the Internet because they're going after

488
00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:53,240
Speaker 5: people with in inside Iran who have the starlink terminals

489
00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:55,560
Speaker 5: to connect with the wider world. We don't really know,

490
00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:58,679
Speaker 5: but we do know that when you're getting down to

491
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:02,719
Speaker 5: the second and third level of leadership, these are folks

492
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:05,200
Speaker 5: who are not at the top of their game.

493
00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:06,880
Speaker 4: And just thank you.

494
00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:10,159
Speaker 5: You know the strike against Costan Solomani in January of

495
00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:14,680
Speaker 5: twenty twenty, that Trump ordered the kind of commander in

496
00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:18,679
Speaker 5: chief of Iranian terrorism, if you will, that truly disrupted

497
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:23,520
Speaker 5: the Kods force that he ran and the IRGC's operations

498
00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:27,080
Speaker 5: and denied them a real kind of strategic brain.

499
00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:29,000
Speaker 4: And think of that.

500
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:34,119
Speaker 5: That's how many Solomonis have been killed through this operation,

501
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:37,959
Speaker 5: through targeted strikes, or through just the general course of

502
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:44,080
Speaker 5: the war. When you have Israel contacting actual Bassiege militia commanders,

503
00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:47,360
Speaker 5: this is the militia that really enforces the rule of

504
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:50,760
Speaker 5: the regime on the street. When you have Israel contacting

505
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:54,360
Speaker 5: individual commanders and saying, we know where you are, we

506
00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:58,960
Speaker 5: know what you're up to, you better be ready to

507
00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:04,080
Speaker 5: join the revolution when it comes. I can understand that

508
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:10,040
Speaker 5: the intelligence penetration that we have there, the just general confusion,

509
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:14,480
Speaker 5: the potential dissension. We have reports of IRGC and Basiege

510
00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:18,240
Speaker 5: commanders not showing up for work. Yeah, I think they're

511
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:21,280
Speaker 5: in this array. But I will say this, I think

512
00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:23,880
Speaker 5: the regime planned for this. And so you know this

513
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:27,280
Speaker 5: concept of mosaic defense that they've been deploying where it's

514
00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:31,600
Speaker 5: decentralized and these missile and drone teams they're just operating

515
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:32,240
Speaker 5: on their own.

516
00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:33,760
Speaker 4: And what it means is.

517
00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:36,600
Speaker 5: They can still pack a punch, not as severe a

518
00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:39,560
Speaker 5: punch as at the start of the war much less

519
00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:44,320
Speaker 5: years years ago. They can still pack a punch, and

520
00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:48,560
Speaker 5: so it's very imperative that we continue the operation until

521
00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,960
Speaker 5: those those missile and drone teams are devastated.

522
00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:55,680
Speaker 1: Now they can also drive their missile truck deep into

523
00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:59,400
Speaker 1: the woods, throw the keys as far as they can,

524
00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:03,400
Speaker 1: and start walking out. I just keep thinking, if you

525
00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:07,160
Speaker 1: fire that thing, you'd better be very very fast. You've

526
00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:09,320
Speaker 1: just got to run very very bad. I'll be right

527
00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:16,600
Speaker 1: back with Matt Continetty. Don't go anywhere. Welcome back in America.

528
00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:19,160
Speaker 1: I'm Hugh hewittt with Matt Continey of the Wall Street

529
00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:23,760
Speaker 1: Journal the American Enterprise Institute. Matt, have our allies surprised

530
00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:24,440
Speaker 1: you in any way?

531
00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:28,480
Speaker 4: I think they have surprised me, Hugh.

532
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:33,120
Speaker 5: I think the United Kingdom in particular has really surprised me.

533
00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:37,760
Speaker 5: I should maybe I shouldn't have been surprised considering Keir

534
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,720
Speaker 5: Starmer's atrocious record on the Middle East, recognition of the

535
00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:45,000
Speaker 5: State of Palestine after October seventh attacks on Israel.

536
00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:46,960
Speaker 4: It's general kind of.

537
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:54,920
Speaker 5: Appeasement posture he's taken toward Islamism in general. The domestic concerns,

538
00:30:55,040 --> 00:31:00,560
Speaker 5: the links between radicalism and the labor part he runs.

539
00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:02,440
Speaker 5: Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised, but I do think

540
00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:06,200
Speaker 5: that their initial reaction to President Trump's call for an

541
00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:09,800
Speaker 5: alliance to free the straight in a way that will

542
00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:15,160
Speaker 5: benefit Europe and China most of all. America is energy independent. Sure,

543
00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:19,240
Speaker 5: the market for oil is global, so our gas prices

544
00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:22,440
Speaker 5: are rising, but really the oil that flows through the

545
00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:26,080
Speaker 5: Strait is benefiting Europe and China more than it does

546
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:30,400
Speaker 5: the United States. So yeah, France has surprised me. Some

547
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:32,960
Speaker 5: of the other allies now it seems like they're kind

548
00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:36,920
Speaker 5: of understanding that they're the losers if they don't contribute

549
00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:40,320
Speaker 5: to some type of multifaceted Sorry.

550
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,840
Speaker 1: General Ruda is doing his best to kind of slap

551
00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:46,000
Speaker 1: them and throw a little cold water bucket in their face.

552
00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:48,120
Speaker 1: Let me talk to you a little bit about the

553
00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:52,520
Speaker 1: ideology of the enemy. Our new ally is Israel, and

554
00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:54,480
Speaker 1: I listen to the v Ready Gore and A meet

555
00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:58,160
Speaker 1: Sagal and Nada ve Al and Michael Lauren, because there

556
00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:00,320
Speaker 1: are now our closest enemy in the world when it

557
00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:02,800
Speaker 1: comes in our operability, and we ought to understand the

558
00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:06,560
Speaker 1: war from their perspective. Avid did two long shows or

559
00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:09,400
Speaker 1: ask Aviv anything number ninety three and number ninety nine

560
00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:13,760
Speaker 1: on the ideology of the Harmoniast, which is different from

561
00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:18,720
Speaker 1: the al Qaeda ideology, the Sunni extremesm, the Shia extremism

562
00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:23,280
Speaker 1: is a blend of Marxism and Times scatology. Do you

563
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:28,160
Speaker 1: have you seen any mainstream American outlet attempt to explain

564
00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:31,280
Speaker 1: the ideology of what we're up against here?

565
00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:34,400
Speaker 4: No, no, I haven't.

566
00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:36,040
Speaker 5: I mean, I think it goes back to what we

567
00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:38,680
Speaker 5: were talking about before the break. On the way the

568
00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:42,000
Speaker 5: media has approached this war. It's really remarkable. I mean,

569
00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:45,400
Speaker 5: a coverage in Western media is so one sided against

570
00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:50,920
Speaker 5: the United States, against Israel, against Trump that it's even

571
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:52,640
Speaker 5: kind of remarkable to think that we could get an

572
00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:56,560
Speaker 5: article or a television segment like you suggest, actually exploring

573
00:32:56,600 --> 00:33:03,880
Speaker 5: this Twelfth imomism from the Sheaite radicals that govern Iran.

574
00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:09,320
Speaker 5: It's very different from twenty years ago. You know, after

575
00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:11,200
Speaker 5: we were tacked on nine to eleven, there there was

576
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:15,240
Speaker 5: a huge kind of cottage industry about why they hate us, right,

577
00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:17,640
Speaker 5: and Bernard Lewis kind of jumped to the top of

578
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:21,320
Speaker 5: the best setherlists explaining what had gone wrong in the

579
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:24,960
Speaker 5: Middle East, and of course even when we launched the

580
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:26,880
Speaker 5: war in Iraq in two thousand and three, Yes, there

581
00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:30,360
Speaker 5: was a debate, but most Democrats sided with the operation.

582
00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:34,920
Speaker 5: They turned against it later when the insurgency started killing

583
00:33:34,960 --> 00:33:35,880
Speaker 5: American troops.

584
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:39,720
Speaker 4: Now we've like fast forwarded.

585
00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:44,920
Speaker 5: Right to the endgame where Democrats are uniformly against the war.

586
00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:49,240
Speaker 5: The media is totally negative in its coverage. And yet

587
00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:51,960
Speaker 5: if you actually take a step back and look at

588
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:57,080
Speaker 5: what's happening, America and Israel are succeeding in our military campaign.

589
00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:00,200
Speaker 5: And when you know the situation is bad, Hugh, when

590
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:03,360
Speaker 5: you have to turn to Al Jazeera for a fair,

591
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:08,800
Speaker 5: imbalanced explanation of what's going on in Iran. An excellent

592
00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:11,600
Speaker 5: article by an analyst in Al Jazeera who points out

593
00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:16,760
Speaker 5: in Cutter sponsored media that America is winning in Iran,

594
00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:19,399
Speaker 5: which is I think, what is happening. But you won't

595
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:22,960
Speaker 5: hear that in almost any news outlet, much less some

596
00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:27,120
Speaker 5: type of investigative reporting on the ideology of our adversary.

597
00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:29,640
Speaker 1: Well, I do want to hear, have my audience here

598
00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:32,799
Speaker 1: from you, Matt, the best case scenario. I don't think

599
00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:38,080
Speaker 1: anyone understands how important this is. China is our pacing adversary.

600
00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:40,640
Speaker 1: They are our greatest threat. Russia is a gas station

601
00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:44,160
Speaker 1: in nuclear weapons. We understand that. But Iran is a

602
00:34:44,239 --> 00:34:47,839
Speaker 1: malignant force in the world. What would the world look

603
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:50,439
Speaker 1: like if that regime collapsed.

604
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:54,279
Speaker 5: Well, it would be a much safer world. There's no

605
00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:57,920
Speaker 5: question about that. It's already a much safer world because

606
00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:01,680
Speaker 5: the United States and Israel have stated the Iranian war machine.

607
00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:07,680
Speaker 5: They've tackled and trounced the nuclear program. The missiles are down.

608
00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:10,960
Speaker 5: That not just the missiles, but the missile production, the

609
00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:15,440
Speaker 5: drone production facilities, they're gone, The navy is sunk. It's

610
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:19,560
Speaker 5: already a safer world. Without the Iranian regime, you would

611
00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:23,080
Speaker 5: have chance for real peace in the Middle East. You

612
00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:27,600
Speaker 5: would have the main source of terrorism around the world

613
00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:31,600
Speaker 5: gone from the face of the earth. You'd also weaken

614
00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:36,200
Speaker 5: You'd weaken that axis of aggression you mentioned, because not

615
00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:41,000
Speaker 5: only have we now taken Venezuela's oil right and are

616
00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:45,480
Speaker 5: using it with the United States's strategic purposes in mind.

617
00:35:46,239 --> 00:35:49,600
Speaker 5: In Iran that was pro Western or at least not

618
00:35:49,719 --> 00:35:52,760
Speaker 5: hostile to the United States may take a very different

619
00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:55,960
Speaker 5: approach to China and may not supply the Shah head

620
00:35:56,040 --> 00:35:59,359
Speaker 5: drones to Russia to be used against Ukraine, which, by

621
00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:02,120
Speaker 5: the way, you as you know, is actually me making

622
00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:06,600
Speaker 5: gains on the battlefield right now, Ukraine is reclaiming lost ground.

623
00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:09,640
Speaker 4: So at the last point, turning point.

624
00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:12,839
Speaker 1: I question, Matt, if you're the Republicans, the Pentagon asks

625
00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:15,919
Speaker 1: for two hundred billion dollars, do you put your arms

626
00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:18,799
Speaker 1: around that in a reconciliation and jam it through. Get

627
00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:21,800
Speaker 1: the Budget Committee and the Appropriations Committee and the Armed Services

628
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:25,000
Speaker 1: Committee to do a straight reconciliation. We can do that

629
00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:28,080
Speaker 1: fifty one votes in the Senate, a simple majority in

630
00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:30,440
Speaker 1: the House, and just jam it through and put your

631
00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:32,160
Speaker 1: arms around the war and say it's a good war,

632
00:36:32,160 --> 00:36:34,400
Speaker 1: it's a just war, it's good for the world, and

633
00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:36,600
Speaker 1: we're Republicans and we support it. What do you think

634
00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:36,879
Speaker 1: of that?

635
00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:40,000
Speaker 5: Well, I think you have to put it to the

636
00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:42,759
Speaker 5: Democrats first. I think you have to get the Democrats

637
00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:45,720
Speaker 5: on record. Are the Democrats really going to vote against

638
00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:49,760
Speaker 5: resupplying our forces while they're engaged in a fight against

639
00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:53,720
Speaker 5: a deadly enemy. Our casualties have been minimal, as I said,

640
00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:56,400
Speaker 5: But really that's what the Democrats are going to do.

641
00:36:57,200 --> 00:36:59,440
Speaker 5: You're going to show them if they do vote against

642
00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:03,200
Speaker 5: it for kind of the Trump deranged opposition that they are.

643
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:07,600
Speaker 5: If that, if that vote fails, then that's when you

644
00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:08,640
Speaker 5: move to reconciliation.

645
00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:11,280
Speaker 4: Interesting, but I believe, I believe we should.

646
00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:15,080
Speaker 5: We should make a political debate about this really and once,

647
00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:17,120
Speaker 5: once the votes are on the record, if it doesn't

648
00:37:17,120 --> 00:37:19,520
Speaker 5: go through, okay, then you use your fifty one vote

649
00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:23,120
Speaker 5: majority to get the troops what they need to finish

650
00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:25,520
Speaker 5: this fight against a terrorist enemy.

651
00:37:26,040 --> 00:37:29,799
Speaker 1: Better thought, that's why you're at a Matt Connetti, thank

652
00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:32,439
Speaker 1: you as always follow him at Continetti read his Wall

653
00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:36,120
Speaker 1: Street Journal piece today in the Free Expression vertical on

654
00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:38,600
Speaker 1: whether or not President Trump ought to make the traditional

655
00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:41,880
Speaker 1: appeal to the American people about national interest, which is

656
00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:45,480
Speaker 1: not yet done. Matt and I diverge a little bit

657
00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:48,040
Speaker 1: on that, but it's okay, it's a small deal. Go

658
00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:50,520
Speaker 1: and read it and thank you. Matt. Coming right back

659
00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:53,840
Speaker 1: on the Uuit shose. Clean water is not complicated, but

660
00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:57,920
Speaker 1: it is essential. Without it, public health suffer, education declined,

661
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Speaker 1: economic stability. Well we can if it doesn't collapse. Across

662
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Speaker 1: Latin America and the Caribbean, families are facing that reality

663
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664
00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:13,000
Speaker 1: Children are exposed to preventable diseases because they haven't got it.

665
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Speaker 1: Communities are held back by the absence of basic clean

666
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Speaker 1: water access, but strategic compassion changes outcomes through food for

667
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668
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669
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670
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671
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672
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673
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Speaker 1: Hewett Hgwitt. That's Hewett Hwitt to five one five point

674
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675
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Speaker 1: or visit Hewitt dot com right now and click on

676
00:38:57,160 --> 00:39:00,440
Speaker 1: the blue giving living water banner at the top to

677
00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:04,879
Speaker 1: provide living water today and thank you on Fridays when

678
00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:07,359
Speaker 1: we are lucky with Ben Domin that she's the head

679
00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:11,000
Speaker 1: of the Daily Wires commentary section, he's a Fox News contributor,

680
00:39:11,040 --> 00:39:13,880
Speaker 1: He's a friend of the program. Ben. I want to

681
00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:18,120
Speaker 1: start by saying I watched the Daily Wire with you

682
00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:21,560
Speaker 1: Ben Shapiro, Michael Knowles, who was the fourth person at

683
00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:25,440
Speaker 1: the shootout at the OK Corral, and all right, Andrew

684
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:27,759
Speaker 1: was there. Andrew was duck in the whole time. I

685
00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:31,359
Speaker 1: think that that is the McLaughlin group be born. I

686
00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:34,720
Speaker 1: think you should guys should do that every week. Maybe

687
00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:38,279
Speaker 1: bring in Mary Katherine Hamsey. You don't lose, you know, composure.

688
00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:42,600
Speaker 1: But is that a regular feature that's gonna that's gonna

689
00:39:42,640 --> 00:39:44,919
Speaker 1: score an enormous hit every week.

690
00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:47,120
Speaker 6: Well, well, I will tell you. I will tell you

691
00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:51,080
Speaker 6: this you uh uh. This was my first experience with it,

692
00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:53,759
Speaker 6: you know, and and thanks for being so kind about it.

693
00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:57,520
Speaker 6: I just got back from from Nashville yesterday, and I

694
00:39:57,560 --> 00:39:59,880
Speaker 6: will tell you that the folks they were like that

695
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:03,200
Speaker 6: it's the hottest thing we put out in in a

696
00:40:03,280 --> 00:40:05,280
Speaker 6: long time. And I was like, well, let's do it again.

697
00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:07,759
Speaker 6: And so I think we're both in the same same way,

698
00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:08,759
Speaker 6: both peple no.

699
00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:14,680
Speaker 1: Appointment appointment viewing is everything. My best advice to podcasters

700
00:40:15,239 --> 00:40:18,120
Speaker 1: is put out the same amount on the days like

701
00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:22,359
Speaker 1: Ruthlesses Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday. Let people know do it. But

702
00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:24,719
Speaker 1: that was McLachlan group fun and I haven't had that

703
00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:27,399
Speaker 1: much fun in a long time, because, I mean, poor

704
00:40:27,480 --> 00:40:30,759
Speaker 1: Michael's got the do you know, the Catholic disability? You

705
00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:34,000
Speaker 1: can't call someone an anti semi you cannot do it.

706
00:40:34,200 --> 00:40:36,600
Speaker 1: So I don't know if Ben knew that, but he

707
00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:41,080
Speaker 1: couldn't say what Ben wanted him to say, but he

708
00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:44,960
Speaker 1: didn't pull the Catholic cards. So much respect to everyone involved.

709
00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:48,400
Speaker 1: Now to the issue straight up explanation. How do you

710
00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:50,160
Speaker 1: describe the first three weeks of the war.

711
00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:57,239
Speaker 6: I would describe them as both phenomenally military and militarily impressive,

712
00:40:57,280 --> 00:41:00,560
Speaker 6: but also I would say that in terms of the

713
00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:04,880
Speaker 6: communication with the American people, I think it needs to

714
00:41:04,960 --> 00:41:08,520
Speaker 6: improve and improve significantly. You can't just have the President

715
00:41:08,560 --> 00:41:11,720
Speaker 6: out there saying trust us, things are going to be okay,

716
00:41:12,040 --> 00:41:15,399
Speaker 6: or JD out there saying this is only temporary. That's

717
00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:17,399
Speaker 6: not enough. I think they need to be specific, more

718
00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:20,000
Speaker 6: specific about you know, this is what's going to happen.

719
00:41:20,040 --> 00:41:22,359
Speaker 6: And I think that that you know is a good

720
00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:24,279
Speaker 6: example of that. Actually is just what played out in

721
00:41:24,320 --> 00:41:26,560
Speaker 6: the last you know, forty eight seventy two hours, where

722
00:41:26,920 --> 00:41:28,880
Speaker 6: you know, the President says, well, I think the Europeans

723
00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:31,160
Speaker 6: are going to come around and then you start to

724
00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:35,640
Speaker 6: actually see the Europeans at least, you know, reluctantly having

725
00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:38,719
Speaker 6: their arms twisted in the direction of coming around. And

726
00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:41,359
Speaker 6: I think that that's important. You know, they are hit

727
00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:44,480
Speaker 6: more by the straight being closed than we are. That

728
00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:47,200
Speaker 6: it's an indirect hit for us, it's a direct hit

729
00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:50,360
Speaker 6: for them, and I think that explaining that the American

730
00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:52,560
Speaker 6: people would be would be very helpful. But I also

731
00:41:52,640 --> 00:41:55,399
Speaker 6: think that there are limits again to what you can

732
00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:58,120
Speaker 6: do with that. And the President really, you know, as

733
00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:00,120
Speaker 6: he made note of this week, you know, he likes

734
00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:02,600
Speaker 6: the idea of surprise, and so it's one of these

735
00:42:02,600 --> 00:42:06,920
Speaker 6: things where I think the White House would be well

736
00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:10,799
Speaker 6: served and have more people out there and have I

737
00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:12,560
Speaker 6: think too much of the focus, to be quite honest,

738
00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:16,680
Speaker 6: right now, is on heat. That that's they're kind of

739
00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:19,279
Speaker 6: using him as their main messenger to the people, and

740
00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:21,160
Speaker 6: the press is glomb on to that. So it's Starday

741
00:42:21,239 --> 00:42:24,399
Speaker 6: Night Live, and Teach should be one voice among many,

742
00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:26,640
Speaker 6: you know, it should not just be you know, kind

743
00:42:26,640 --> 00:42:30,719
Speaker 6: of him standing out there and making what I think

744
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:35,239
Speaker 6: are actually you know, e cogent and coherent arguments and

745
00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:38,160
Speaker 6: by the way, taking some tough questions too, despite what

746
00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:40,120
Speaker 6: you might hear from the media, I just think that

747
00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:41,560
Speaker 6: you need more of it. I think you need more

748
00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:43,279
Speaker 6: people who are out there who are talking about what

749
00:42:43,320 --> 00:42:46,560
Speaker 6: we're doing and why. And I think the administration would

750
00:42:46,560 --> 00:42:49,160
Speaker 6: be well served if they took that under advisor.

751
00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:54,239
Speaker 1: How do you grade the American media legacy division on

752
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:55,760
Speaker 1: a patriotism scale?

753
00:42:58,280 --> 00:43:01,320
Speaker 6: I mean, if there's something worse than fail, you is

754
00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:04,319
Speaker 6: it possible? Is it possible that they could flunk out

755
00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:08,239
Speaker 6: of school entirely on this test? I mean, this is

756
00:43:08,360 --> 00:43:11,880
Speaker 6: here's here's the well and you know this, here's the

757
00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:16,240
Speaker 6: great and ridiculous nature of what they're doing here. Many

758
00:43:16,320 --> 00:43:20,160
Speaker 6: of these people are the same exact people who warned

759
00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:23,000
Speaker 6: that the that the Iranian regime was such a great

760
00:43:23,040 --> 00:43:26,440
Speaker 6: threat to the American people and to the future of

761
00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:29,320
Speaker 6: the world, that we had to do what Barack Obama

762
00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:31,680
Speaker 6: wanted to do when it came to those palates of

763
00:43:31,719 --> 00:43:35,000
Speaker 6: cash and everything else associated with that terrible deal. That

764
00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:37,920
Speaker 6: was the justification at the time. And then they were

765
00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:40,680
Speaker 6: the same people who when protesters were getting slaughtered in

766
00:43:40,719 --> 00:43:44,560
Speaker 6: the streets and Iran were basically calling out Trump and saying, well,

767
00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:46,600
Speaker 6: he's not actually going to do anything to help them,

768
00:43:46,640 --> 00:43:49,480
Speaker 6: because that would be difficult and dangerous and you know,

769
00:43:49,520 --> 00:43:51,279
Speaker 6: could blow back, and he's not you know, he's not

770
00:43:51,400 --> 00:43:54,400
Speaker 6: courageous enough to actually live up to sending help or

771
00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:57,560
Speaker 6: something along those lines. They have completely gone in the

772
00:43:57,560 --> 00:44:00,759
Speaker 6: opposite direction, and they're going back with equency to the

773
00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:03,799
Speaker 6: same people who arranged for that stupid deal in the

774
00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:06,960
Speaker 6: first place, which of course bolstered the regime, gave them

775
00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:08,920
Speaker 6: the kind of cast that they could play around with,

776
00:44:09,239 --> 00:44:11,920
Speaker 6: allowed them to project power more around the region, and

777
00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:13,840
Speaker 6: put us in this position in the first place, that

778
00:44:13,880 --> 00:44:16,440
Speaker 6: we had to rely on the Israelis to scale them

779
00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:18,600
Speaker 6: back over the last year to such a degree that

780
00:44:18,640 --> 00:44:20,759
Speaker 6: we could have the opportunity to do this. There is

781
00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:23,360
Speaker 6: absolutely no willingness to look in the mirror on this.

782
00:44:23,840 --> 00:44:26,800
Speaker 6: And you know, I mean just on a patriotism scale.

783
00:44:27,239 --> 00:44:29,400
Speaker 6: Let's set that aside for a second. How about a

784
00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:31,480
Speaker 6: faith scale. I don't know about you, Hugh, but when

785
00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:34,680
Speaker 6: I you know, typically you know, any church that is

786
00:44:34,760 --> 00:44:37,280
Speaker 6: you know, whether you're when you're listening to a prayer

787
00:44:37,719 --> 00:44:41,040
Speaker 6: that invokes Saint Michael to protect our troops overseas, whether

788
00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:43,440
Speaker 6: you're listening to something from the book of common prayer

789
00:44:43,760 --> 00:44:46,800
Speaker 6: that calls for the protection of our leaders and our troops.

790
00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:49,880
Speaker 6: This is something that is as normal of a Christian

791
00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:52,719
Speaker 6: activity as you possibly can have. At the Daily Wire

792
00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:56,000
Speaker 6: right now we have a piece from Daniella Greenbaum saying

793
00:44:56,000 --> 00:44:58,600
Speaker 6: that as a Jew, she could not possibly be offended

794
00:44:58,640 --> 00:45:01,440
Speaker 6: by what Pete Heex has said about praying for our troops.

795
00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:04,000
Speaker 6: And the fact that Margaret Brennan, someone who has one

796
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:07,719
Speaker 6: of these legacy media positions that should be reconsidered at

797
00:45:07,719 --> 00:45:10,440
Speaker 6: the top of face the nation, would call that into

798
00:45:10,520 --> 00:45:15,920
Speaker 6: question is absurd. It is absolutely to a Christian nationalist statement.

799
00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:17,920
Speaker 6: Come on, I mean, that's I've.

800
00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:20,360
Speaker 1: Given Barry a lot of time, this one.

801
00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:22,440
Speaker 6: That you got it.

802
00:45:22,800 --> 00:45:24,640
Speaker 1: Come on, it's got to be over it.

803
00:45:25,320 --> 00:45:25,520
Speaker 6: Yeah.

804
00:45:25,520 --> 00:45:28,600
Speaker 1: Now, let me ask you about the other side. When

805
00:45:28,600 --> 00:45:31,399
Speaker 1: we went to war with Imperial Japan and not long

806
00:45:31,440 --> 00:45:35,279
Speaker 1: thereafter Nazi Germany, American media worked hard at letting us

807
00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:40,160
Speaker 1: know how evil they were. Have you seen any single

808
00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:45,600
Speaker 1: episode of Network News explain the Iranian regime over forty

809
00:45:45,640 --> 00:45:49,799
Speaker 1: seven years and how depraved, malignant, and medieval it is.

810
00:45:49,960 --> 00:45:53,000
Speaker 1: It may be the worst regime on earth because it

811
00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:55,880
Speaker 1: doesn't even work to provide minimum levels of food to

812
00:45:55,920 --> 00:45:56,440
Speaker 1: its people.

813
00:45:57,160 --> 00:46:00,960
Speaker 6: You know. The stounding nature of this, by the way, Hugh,

814
00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:05,560
Speaker 6: is that that is regardless of your position ideologically, whether

815
00:46:05,560 --> 00:46:07,640
Speaker 6: you think this is a good war to fight, a

816
00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:09,719
Speaker 6: good war to have, you know, whether you support the

817
00:46:09,719 --> 00:46:13,160
Speaker 6: president or oppose him, that's an important story. That's an

818
00:46:13,160 --> 00:46:16,399
Speaker 6: important story in the world to tell. And the fact

819
00:46:16,440 --> 00:46:19,080
Speaker 6: that they're looking in the opposite direction. I mean, look

820
00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:22,839
Speaker 6: at the blit that this latest round of slaughter has

821
00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:26,000
Speaker 6: had in terms of the public executions of people who

822
00:46:26,040 --> 00:46:28,680
Speaker 6: participated in this. You would think that it was something

823
00:46:28,680 --> 00:46:31,280
Speaker 6: that exists, and I mean, I haven't seen the data

824
00:46:31,280 --> 00:46:32,600
Speaker 6: on it, so I don't want to speak to it.

825
00:46:32,600 --> 00:46:35,560
Speaker 6: But it seems to exist entirely in the conservative or

826
00:46:35,640 --> 00:46:39,040
Speaker 6: right of center ecosphere that something like that happened, And

827
00:46:39,160 --> 00:46:43,520
Speaker 6: to me, it is incumbent upon these institutions to tell

828
00:46:43,560 --> 00:46:46,719
Speaker 6: that story. And basically, you know, if you do tell

829
00:46:46,719 --> 00:46:49,359
Speaker 6: that story, the idea that that is going to in

830
00:46:49,360 --> 00:46:53,160
Speaker 6: some way care to the current administration again is just

831
00:46:53,480 --> 00:46:56,719
Speaker 6: a complete denial of their responsibility as media entities. You

832
00:46:56,719 --> 00:46:59,239
Speaker 6: have to tell that story, regardless of your position on

833
00:46:59,280 --> 00:47:00,759
Speaker 6: the current war, and have.

834
00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:03,000
Speaker 1: They prepared it. I think the enemy is not to

835
00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:06,279
Speaker 1: be underestimated because of the mosaic approach. They've broken into

836
00:47:06,320 --> 00:47:09,880
Speaker 1: thirty one military districts, thirty one commanders in chief. They

837
00:47:09,960 --> 00:47:14,319
Speaker 1: all have missiles. It could be like the proverbial Japanese

838
00:47:14,360 --> 00:47:17,520
Speaker 1: imperial soldier on an island somewhere, not knowing that they'd lost.

839
00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:19,720
Speaker 1: This could go on a long time.

840
00:47:19,800 --> 00:47:24,000
Speaker 6: Ben, Yeah, and I think that we are seeing right

841
00:47:24,040 --> 00:47:28,080
Speaker 6: now a good ground being laid for something that can

842
00:47:28,160 --> 00:47:32,399
Speaker 6: happen only internally. And then look the president is going

843
00:47:32,440 --> 00:47:34,520
Speaker 6: to do. He's going to take some steps I think

844
00:47:34,560 --> 00:47:38,360
Speaker 6: here that more of his supporters may question, including the

845
00:47:38,400 --> 00:47:41,279
Speaker 6: deployment of marines, including what he could be doing I

846
00:47:41,280 --> 00:47:44,680
Speaker 6: think and already being sort of telegraphed. But one thing

847
00:47:44,719 --> 00:47:46,960
Speaker 6: to keep in mind too is that you know, this

848
00:47:47,040 --> 00:47:49,239
Speaker 6: is a military that has been preparing for this for

849
00:47:49,280 --> 00:47:51,960
Speaker 6: a very long time. We have done the kind of

850
00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:57,000
Speaker 6: war gaming on this, the kind of tests before that

851
00:47:57,160 --> 00:48:00,400
Speaker 6: led us to this point, and we've seen the results

852
00:48:00,400 --> 00:48:03,880
Speaker 6: that they've been able to achieve, and frankly, the targeting

853
00:48:03,920 --> 00:48:07,040
Speaker 6: that the Israelis has been able to achieve with you know,

854
00:48:07,080 --> 00:48:09,560
Speaker 6: our assistance in some ways, but really on their own

855
00:48:09,600 --> 00:48:10,040
Speaker 6: as well.

856
00:48:10,520 --> 00:48:13,200
Speaker 1: Ben. You let us know that you were a nerd

857
00:48:13,440 --> 00:48:14,960
Speaker 1: when you were a little kid, and you watch the

858
00:48:15,080 --> 00:48:18,520
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety one invasion, you know, taking notes, and so

859
00:48:18,640 --> 00:48:21,400
Speaker 1: you watch twenty and twenty one, I mean two thousand

860
00:48:21,440 --> 00:48:23,879
Speaker 1: and one, two thousand and three very close like this

861
00:48:24,120 --> 00:48:28,239
Speaker 1: makes those look like tinker toys. This is remarkable.

862
00:48:28,760 --> 00:48:32,040
Speaker 6: It is remarkable. And I mean the speed at which

863
00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:35,120
Speaker 6: I mean I had, I had notebooks filled of you know,

864
00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:36,920
Speaker 6: this is what the news is saying today, and it

865
00:48:36,920 --> 00:48:38,839
Speaker 6: would you know. And by the way, when I say

866
00:48:38,840 --> 00:48:42,160
Speaker 6: the news, i'm talking about MTR and CBS and ABC

867
00:48:42,440 --> 00:48:45,080
Speaker 6: and ABC, I'm talking about Peter Jennings. I'm talking about

868
00:48:45,239 --> 00:48:48,320
Speaker 6: you know, I was We were reliant on a news

869
00:48:48,560 --> 00:48:51,920
Speaker 6: broadcast medium that was telling the story of the Wars

870
00:48:52,200 --> 00:48:55,400
Speaker 6: as it happened, and not basically a bunch of people

871
00:48:55,480 --> 00:48:59,440
Speaker 6: sitting around a table at CNN headquarters debating, you know,

872
00:48:59,480 --> 00:49:02,399
Speaker 6: whatever the latest true social post is, which is what

873
00:49:02,480 --> 00:49:06,320
Speaker 6: they do. And it's just it's just not media anymore,

874
00:49:06,400 --> 00:49:06,719
Speaker 6: you know.

875
00:49:06,960 --> 00:49:09,920
Speaker 1: No, it's Scott Jennings slapping down Josh Rogan, something of

876
00:49:10,040 --> 00:49:12,359
Speaker 1: which has gone wrong with him. I'll be right back

877
00:49:12,400 --> 00:49:14,839
Speaker 1: with Ben Dominic after the break. We're going to talk

878
00:49:14,920 --> 00:49:18,520
Speaker 1: during the break about the political fissure in the Republican Party.

879
00:49:18,560 --> 00:49:21,000
Speaker 1: If there isn't one, it's in the Big Ben podcast

880
00:49:21,040 --> 00:49:23,319
Speaker 1: this week. You want to go and listen, like and

881
00:49:23,360 --> 00:49:26,880
Speaker 1: subscribe to the Big Ben Podcasts. Conversation with Jamie Kirchik

882
00:49:27,320 --> 00:49:29,239
Speaker 1: is amazing, and then we'll be back on the other

883
00:49:29,280 --> 00:49:32,560
Speaker 1: side of talk a little basic politics. Stay tuned.

884
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:35,200
Speaker 7: The qu Huge Shoe coming to you from the Relief

885
00:49:35,239 --> 00:49:56,879
Speaker 7: Actor studio is brought to you by Reliefactor dot Com.

886
00:49:57,320 --> 00:50:00,880
Speaker 1: I'm back with Ben Dominic's brand new Big and Dominich

887
00:50:01,080 --> 00:50:05,480
Speaker 1: Podcasts is available wherever. Podcasts are one of his guests

888
00:50:05,520 --> 00:50:08,520
Speaker 1: with Jamie Kirchik, who's one of my favorite reporters. His

889
00:50:08,600 --> 00:50:12,360
Speaker 1: book on Secret Washington. Am I remembering the name correctly?

890
00:50:12,360 --> 00:50:14,799
Speaker 1: Bend about being gay in Washington up until.

891
00:50:14,560 --> 00:50:16,760
Speaker 6: The Secret History of Gay Washington.

892
00:50:16,840 --> 00:50:20,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a fabulous bit of reporting. Who knew and

893
00:50:20,880 --> 00:50:24,400
Speaker 1: he's a great smart guy. You two got in to

894
00:50:24,520 --> 00:50:28,640
Speaker 1: the Republican Party. And whether or not Marco Rubio has

895
00:50:28,719 --> 00:50:31,920
Speaker 1: to be thinking about challenging jdvans Now. I tend to

896
00:50:31,960 --> 00:50:37,160
Speaker 1: think people overstate JD's quote restrainer credentials. I think he's

897
00:50:37,200 --> 00:50:41,080
Speaker 1: a marine or anither grunt. But what do you explain

898
00:50:41,080 --> 00:50:42,879
Speaker 1: to people what you and Jamie were talking about, because

899
00:50:42,880 --> 00:50:43,520
Speaker 1: it's fascinating.

900
00:50:44,080 --> 00:50:46,040
Speaker 6: Well, I think that, you know, the thing that is

901
00:50:46,239 --> 00:50:48,960
Speaker 6: really weighing on people right now is that a lot

902
00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:51,160
Speaker 6: of this I view everything that's going on right now

903
00:50:51,160 --> 00:50:54,520
Speaker 6: as a proxy war over JD And I mean everything

904
00:50:54,600 --> 00:50:56,479
Speaker 6: is perhaps in the exaggeration, but it's not too far.

905
00:50:57,080 --> 00:50:59,080
Speaker 6: You know, the fight that the Wall Street Journal is

906
00:50:59,120 --> 00:51:02,880
Speaker 6: having with Chelsea Yabbert blaming her as a you know,

907
00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:06,600
Speaker 6: a their reference, I think was to a resistance wing

908
00:51:06,640 --> 00:51:09,520
Speaker 6: inside the Trump administration. I don't think that's true at all.

909
00:51:09,520 --> 00:51:12,879
Speaker 6: By the way, the fight that's happening over Joe Kent,

910
00:51:13,000 --> 00:51:16,080
Speaker 6: the fight that Tucker Carlson is having, this is all

911
00:51:16,200 --> 00:51:19,239
Speaker 6: kind of as a proxy over the fact. And Ben

912
00:51:19,280 --> 00:51:21,920
Speaker 6: Shapiro has pointed this out. None of these people are

913
00:51:21,960 --> 00:51:24,239
Speaker 6: willing to name Trump. They're not willing to go out

914
00:51:24,280 --> 00:51:26,600
Speaker 6: there and say, you know, Trump is wrong, Trump is

915
00:51:26,680 --> 00:51:29,759
Speaker 6: you know. Instead, it's he's had his mind melted by

916
00:51:30,160 --> 00:51:33,319
Speaker 6: you know, nefarious Jews have you you know, who have

917
00:51:33,520 --> 00:51:34,520
Speaker 6: convinced maybe as.

918
00:51:34,440 --> 00:51:36,960
Speaker 1: A magician, right, it's silly.

919
00:51:37,239 --> 00:51:40,880
Speaker 6: Things, you know. Well, I mean, we all know as Jamie.

920
00:51:40,960 --> 00:51:43,120
Speaker 6: Jamie said it more eloquently than I, but it was.

921
00:51:43,160 --> 00:51:45,440
Speaker 6: You know, we all know that that Donald Trump is

922
00:51:45,480 --> 00:51:49,040
Speaker 6: known as being this personality, the easily moved by all

923
00:51:49,120 --> 00:51:50,200
Speaker 6: the people around him.

924
00:51:50,640 --> 00:51:51,000
Speaker 3: You met.

925
00:51:51,239 --> 00:51:55,200
Speaker 1: The power suggestion works on him very easily.

926
00:51:56,040 --> 00:51:58,800
Speaker 6: The truth, of course, is that this is all about

927
00:51:58,840 --> 00:52:02,600
Speaker 6: what comes next. And I actually I incur with your

928
00:52:02,640 --> 00:52:06,160
Speaker 6: analysis as JD. I don't think he actually is as

929
00:52:06,239 --> 00:52:08,480
Speaker 6: much of a restrainer as people have said, but I

930
00:52:08,480 --> 00:52:11,440
Speaker 6: think that the restrainers have glommed on to him, and

931
00:52:11,520 --> 00:52:14,200
Speaker 6: by the way, it goes further than restraint, because you know,

932
00:52:14,280 --> 00:52:19,040
Speaker 6: the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan are ones about America's humility,

933
00:52:19,080 --> 00:52:21,440
Speaker 6: I think in terms of what we can achieve, but

934
00:52:21,480 --> 00:52:25,200
Speaker 6: they are not the lessons I believe, certainly about humility

935
00:52:25,200 --> 00:52:28,160
Speaker 6: about the need for America to achieve certain things in

936
00:52:28,160 --> 00:52:32,080
Speaker 6: the world, and those I think are two separate paths.

937
00:52:32,120 --> 00:52:34,440
Speaker 6: And if you believe that, you know, in the absence

938
00:52:34,480 --> 00:52:37,320
Speaker 6: of American might, things would be worse in the world,

939
00:52:37,600 --> 00:52:40,880
Speaker 6: and that in the absence of American investment in the military,

940
00:52:40,960 --> 00:52:44,600
Speaker 6: et cetera, that our European allies would be totally incapable

941
00:52:44,640 --> 00:52:46,799
Speaker 6: of keeping up the slack of Britain with their two

942
00:52:46,840 --> 00:52:51,080
Speaker 6: floating ships effectively. You know, it's absolutely ridiculous to make

943
00:52:51,080 --> 00:52:53,640
Speaker 6: those arguments. This is a proxy war that's playing out

944
00:52:53,680 --> 00:52:56,080
Speaker 6: in front of us on a daily basis. They just

945
00:52:56,120 --> 00:52:59,320
Speaker 6: won't actually name the people that they're being proxy for.

946
00:53:00,000 --> 00:53:02,560
Speaker 6: It's because everybody's waiting to see what's going to happen

947
00:53:02,800 --> 00:53:05,560
Speaker 6: with Markoo, with JD if there is going to be

948
00:53:05,880 --> 00:53:08,400
Speaker 6: some kind of contest there. And I think the further

949
00:53:08,480 --> 00:53:11,480
Speaker 6: things go along, you know, this seems to me more

950
00:53:11,560 --> 00:53:13,360
Speaker 6: and more likely that there is going to be a

951
00:53:13,480 --> 00:53:14,040
Speaker 6: very real.

952
00:53:14,000 --> 00:53:17,320
Speaker 1: I think there isn't kp R I on Mike Pompeo,

953
00:53:17,800 --> 00:53:20,800
Speaker 1: maybe even Tom Cotton. I'll be right back with Ben Dominic,

954
00:53:20,960 --> 00:53:24,960
Speaker 1: don't go anywhere America and Glenn Youngkin the UHU Show continued.

955
00:53:29,239 --> 00:53:33,080
Speaker 6: For the love of America. They speaking of foreign land

956
00:53:33,520 --> 00:53:36,799
Speaker 6: with weapons in every hand. Whatever they try, We've got

957
00:53:36,800 --> 00:53:40,879
Speaker 6: a reply and language then they understand, for the.

958
00:53:40,840 --> 00:53:43,480
Speaker 1: Love of them, Welcome back America arms for the love

959
00:53:43,520 --> 00:53:47,200
Speaker 1: of America. Irving Berlin, nineteen forty one. Ben Dominic, have

960
00:53:47,239 --> 00:53:48,200
Speaker 1: you ever heard this before?

961
00:53:48,920 --> 00:53:52,960
Speaker 6: I have, Actually my grandfather had a record of early

962
00:53:53,200 --> 00:53:56,080
Speaker 6: perfect for land, but it's a long long time since

963
00:53:56,120 --> 00:53:56,600
Speaker 6: I've heard that.

964
00:53:57,080 --> 00:53:58,880
Speaker 1: I used to play it all the time during the

965
00:53:59,360 --> 00:54:02,040
Speaker 1: Long Wars, beginning in two thousand and one, when Lilacs

966
00:54:02,080 --> 00:54:04,880
Speaker 1: brought it to my attention, and he reminded me of

967
00:54:04,920 --> 00:54:06,840
Speaker 1: it this week, and I bring it up in the

968
00:54:06,880 --> 00:54:10,440
Speaker 1: context of the Pentagon asked for two hundred billion dollars

969
00:54:10,440 --> 00:54:13,879
Speaker 1: for the war. It is my view that the Republicans

970
00:54:13,880 --> 00:54:16,719
Speaker 1: ought to put their arms around that double it, put

971
00:54:16,719 --> 00:54:19,760
Speaker 1: it on a reconciliation and make the Democrats vote against

972
00:54:19,800 --> 00:54:23,200
Speaker 1: funding the military tomorrow. I mean, I would say, and

973
00:54:23,239 --> 00:54:26,480
Speaker 1: we want Golden Dome, and we want Golden Fleet, and

974
00:54:26,520 --> 00:54:29,160
Speaker 1: we want three more of everything that the Pentagon asked for,

975
00:54:29,239 --> 00:54:31,040
Speaker 1: so we can give them the Ukraine or whoever else.

976
00:54:31,640 --> 00:54:35,160
Speaker 1: Just put their arms around it. What do you think, Well.

977
00:54:35,120 --> 00:54:36,800
Speaker 6: I agree with that you And one of the reasons

978
00:54:36,800 --> 00:54:38,520
Speaker 6: that I agree with it is that you know I

979
00:54:38,560 --> 00:54:40,799
Speaker 6: have said before, and I said it actually last night

980
00:54:40,880 --> 00:54:45,360
Speaker 6: on such a report, that we misunderstand the state of

981
00:54:45,400 --> 00:54:48,400
Speaker 6: the American military, in part because they're so good at

982
00:54:48,440 --> 00:54:51,080
Speaker 6: what they do, but when it comes to the resources

983
00:54:51,080 --> 00:54:54,600
Speaker 6: that they actually have, we are climbing out of essentially

984
00:54:54,680 --> 00:54:59,560
Speaker 6: two decades of resource deployment that has never really been

985
00:54:59,600 --> 00:55:02,359
Speaker 6: back the way that it ought to be, and new

986
00:55:02,400 --> 00:55:07,120
Speaker 6: technology that has not necessarily come to fruition as quickly

987
00:55:07,160 --> 00:55:09,320
Speaker 6: as we would like it to be. We still struggle

988
00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:12,600
Speaker 6: to build basic things, you know, the conversation around you know,

989
00:55:12,640 --> 00:55:15,880
Speaker 6: building shifts in particular. These are just skill sets that

990
00:55:15,920 --> 00:55:19,239
Speaker 6: we don't have to the same degree within the population

991
00:55:19,400 --> 00:55:21,880
Speaker 6: that can do those things as we need them right now.

992
00:55:22,200 --> 00:55:24,080
Speaker 6: You know, we needed all we need all the people

993
00:55:24,080 --> 00:55:28,160
Speaker 6: who are currently in these various engineering schools across the country,

994
00:55:28,239 --> 00:55:31,000
Speaker 6: who are eighteen nineteen and the like. We need them

995
00:55:31,040 --> 00:55:33,440
Speaker 6: now and we don't have them yet, And so we

996
00:55:33,520 --> 00:55:35,440
Speaker 6: have to do things, I think, to step that up

997
00:55:35,440 --> 00:55:38,839
Speaker 6: and understand that even if we have incredible might, you know,

998
00:55:39,040 --> 00:55:41,480
Speaker 6: we look at how strange we've been just with the

999
00:55:41,520 --> 00:55:45,359
Speaker 6: actions that Donald Trump has taken thus far. And that's

1000
00:55:45,400 --> 00:55:47,160
Speaker 6: not to say that you know, we are in any way,

1001
00:55:47,200 --> 00:55:49,040
Speaker 6: you know, a weaker military for it. It's more just

1002
00:55:49,080 --> 00:55:51,920
Speaker 6: that we need more things, and we need them faster.

1003
00:55:52,560 --> 00:55:55,799
Speaker 6: Fixing that resource situation is something that I hope this

1004
00:55:55,920 --> 00:55:58,759
Speaker 6: administration can take major steps toward. And I think this

1005
00:55:58,800 --> 00:55:59,960
Speaker 6: is an opportunity to do that.

1006
00:56:00,239 --> 00:56:03,040
Speaker 1: And I hope the Republicans realize one way to hold

1007
00:56:03,040 --> 00:56:04,960
Speaker 1: off a disaster in the fall is to be the

1008
00:56:04,960 --> 00:56:08,399
Speaker 1: Patriotism Party, because it's right. Ben, I want to ask

1009
00:56:08,440 --> 00:56:10,279
Speaker 1: you one more thing. By the way, sixteen minutes has

1010
00:56:10,560 --> 00:56:14,520
Speaker 1: posted an announcement they're doing a segment during March Madness

1011
00:56:15,000 --> 00:56:17,520
Speaker 1: about shipbuilding in the United States. So I call all

1012
00:56:17,640 --> 00:56:22,520
Speaker 1: your attention to that, Ben, in terms of what the

1013
00:56:22,560 --> 00:56:26,239
Speaker 1: fundamental message on the war should be, if you had

1014
00:56:26,400 --> 00:56:29,200
Speaker 1: ten minutes with Donald Trump, what would you tell him

1015
00:56:29,239 --> 00:56:32,400
Speaker 1: to tell the American people about this war? Because I

1016
00:56:32,480 --> 00:56:35,160
Speaker 1: think it's how good the world will be when Iran

1017
00:56:35,320 --> 00:56:37,839
Speaker 1: is gone. But I've already given the audience my two

1018
00:56:37,920 --> 00:56:39,759
Speaker 1: cents what has been Dominic's think.

1019
00:56:40,960 --> 00:56:43,399
Speaker 6: I think that you add to that because I think

1020
00:56:43,440 --> 00:56:45,880
Speaker 6: that's what you should lead with. I think what you

1021
00:56:45,960 --> 00:56:49,720
Speaker 6: add to that is if we don't take the opportunity

1022
00:56:50,320 --> 00:56:54,680
Speaker 6: to kick these people, these evil, horrible people, when they

1023
00:56:54,719 --> 00:56:58,960
Speaker 6: are at their weakest, they will only get stronger, they

1024
00:56:58,960 --> 00:57:02,200
Speaker 6: will only get more desperate, and they will only get crazier.

1025
00:57:02,520 --> 00:57:05,800
Speaker 6: We have a unique opportunity at this moment, having chopped

1026
00:57:05,840 --> 00:57:07,719
Speaker 6: off so much of their leadership, the head of the

1027
00:57:07,800 --> 00:57:10,680
Speaker 6: snake to lean into this and make sure that this

1028
00:57:10,800 --> 00:57:13,719
Speaker 6: is not a problem that future generations have to deal with.

1029
00:57:14,160 --> 00:57:16,640
Speaker 6: And as Donald Trump, I think he can say, you know,

1030
00:57:16,720 --> 00:57:20,920
Speaker 6: and regardless of your thoughts on his past meanderings on

1031
00:57:21,360 --> 00:57:24,520
Speaker 6: foreign wars, he can say, look, I am in this

1032
00:57:24,720 --> 00:57:27,440
Speaker 6: war because I hate wars, and the future war that

1033
00:57:27,480 --> 00:57:30,200
Speaker 6: would have to be fought in order that would be

1034
00:57:30,280 --> 00:57:33,120
Speaker 6: caused by a nuclear power Iran, by an Iran that

1035
00:57:33,120 --> 00:57:36,680
Speaker 6: can project power again, would be so bloody and so

1036
00:57:37,320 --> 00:57:40,160
Speaker 6: terrible that it would cost the lives of millions of

1037
00:57:40,200 --> 00:57:44,600
Speaker 6: people in our allies, including Americans, including our resources, including

1038
00:57:44,880 --> 00:57:47,360
Speaker 6: everything that we care about, and it would upend the world.

1039
00:57:47,440 --> 00:57:50,320
Speaker 6: I am working to prevent that by having a small

1040
00:57:50,400 --> 00:57:53,680
Speaker 6: war today that can take out something that would be

1041
00:57:53,720 --> 00:57:57,760
Speaker 6: of enormous evil and horrible intent in the future. And

1042
00:57:57,760 --> 00:58:00,000
Speaker 6: that's I think Americas could understand.

1043
00:58:00,640 --> 00:58:03,760
Speaker 1: I think that what last question. You've known Senator Lindsay

1044
00:58:03,800 --> 00:58:06,479
Speaker 1: Graham a long long time. He appears on this show

1045
00:58:06,520 --> 00:58:08,800
Speaker 1: every six years in an election year. Luck you, I've

1046
00:58:08,840 --> 00:58:10,360
Speaker 1: been on for twenty five years, so I get to

1047
00:58:10,360 --> 00:58:14,400
Speaker 1: talk to him fairly frequently every six years. But he

1048
00:58:14,560 --> 00:58:18,040
Speaker 1: was angry this week at NATO, and I've never heard

1049
00:58:18,120 --> 00:58:21,160
Speaker 1: him be mad at an alliance partner before, but he

1050
00:58:21,280 --> 00:58:23,280
Speaker 1: was pissed. What does that.

1051
00:58:23,240 --> 00:58:28,040
Speaker 6: Mean to me? It means that he feels, I think accurately,

1052
00:58:28,120 --> 00:58:30,840
Speaker 6: that the Europeans need to pick up the their freight

1053
00:58:30,840 --> 00:58:32,880
Speaker 6: when it comes to the Strait and there were a

1054
00:58:32,960 --> 00:58:35,280
Speaker 6: lot of I think he's gotten a lot of promises

1055
00:58:35,320 --> 00:58:38,360
Speaker 6: behind the scenes personally, because he's someone who likes to

1056
00:58:38,360 --> 00:58:41,120
Speaker 6: work behind the scenes. My vision of Lindsay and knowing

1057
00:58:41,160 --> 00:58:43,600
Speaker 6: him a little bit and being from South Carolina, is

1058
00:58:43,600 --> 00:58:45,640
Speaker 6: that he is simply a politically animal. This is a

1059
00:58:45,640 --> 00:58:47,520
Speaker 6: person who wakes up in the morning and goes to

1060
00:58:47,520 --> 00:58:50,000
Speaker 6: dead to night and only lives politics in between. And

1061
00:58:50,280 --> 00:58:52,880
Speaker 6: the thing that is going on there, I think is

1062
00:58:52,920 --> 00:58:54,920
Speaker 6: that he is back channeled. He has worked, he has

1063
00:58:54,960 --> 00:58:57,760
Speaker 6: tried to do different things with our allies around the

1064
00:58:57,760 --> 00:59:00,400
Speaker 6: world because he thinks it's important to hold that alliance together.

1065
00:59:00,880 --> 00:59:03,200
Speaker 6: But you know, and he's done that sometimes working. I

1066
00:59:03,200 --> 00:59:05,600
Speaker 6: believe at odds with what Donald Trump. You know, his

1067
00:59:05,680 --> 00:59:07,840
Speaker 6: attitude is just kind of let him go, you know whatever.

1068
00:59:08,280 --> 00:59:10,960
Speaker 6: I think that he is frustrated with them because they

1069
00:59:11,040 --> 00:59:13,360
Speaker 6: know and he knows that they need to be part

1070
00:59:13,360 --> 00:59:15,439
Speaker 6: of this. They have the mind sweepers to help out

1071
00:59:15,480 --> 00:59:18,040
Speaker 6: clear the straight They have the resources that we actually

1072
00:59:18,040 --> 00:59:20,120
Speaker 6: would like to be brought to beer, and they have

1073
00:59:20,160 --> 00:59:22,520
Speaker 6: a vested interest in this. And look, a lot of

1074
00:59:22,560 --> 00:59:25,160
Speaker 6: this is behind the scenes diplomatic stuff. The Europeans they're

1075
00:59:25,280 --> 00:59:29,439
Speaker 6: very touchy, they very they take things very personally over there.

1076
00:59:29,560 --> 00:59:30,880
Speaker 6: I wish they had a little bit more of an

1077
00:59:30,920 --> 00:59:33,680
Speaker 6: American attitude toward it, but you know.

1078
00:59:33,640 --> 00:59:37,840
Speaker 1: Then they were a humor. So last question, Big Ben

1079
00:59:37,880 --> 00:59:41,600
Speaker 1: pod is great, But I hope you get Senator Graham

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00:59:42,080 --> 00:59:44,840
Speaker 1: and say we need ninety minutes or two hours and

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00:59:44,920 --> 00:59:48,200
Speaker 1: we're just gonna go unplugged, and we're gonna go long,

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00:59:48,640 --> 00:59:50,720
Speaker 1: and we're just gonna go wherever it goes. Because I

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00:59:50,760 --> 00:59:51,720
Speaker 1: know you and you know me.

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00:59:51,840 --> 00:59:55,400
Speaker 6: I mean, I'll tell I'll tell, I'll tell you. I

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00:59:55,480 --> 00:59:58,320
Speaker 6: that is a conversation that has long, that could be

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00:59:58,720 --> 01:00:01,640
Speaker 6: that could deal with a lot of So I will

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01:00:01,640 --> 01:00:03,160
Speaker 6: take that under advisement because I.

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01:00:03,080 --> 01:00:05,800
Speaker 1: Am it could be a two parter. I would Jamie.

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Speaker 6: Here's the thing, I know, if he asked, if I

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01:00:08,000 --> 01:00:11,200
Speaker 6: asked him, you would say yes. And so if if

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01:00:11,480 --> 01:00:14,000
Speaker 6: if that's to be had, if that is to be had,

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01:00:14,040 --> 01:00:15,680
Speaker 6: then you will hear it okay.

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01:00:15,400 --> 01:00:18,320
Speaker 1: Because I think the voters of South Carolina would love

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01:00:18,360 --> 01:00:21,160
Speaker 1: he gonna win anyway, But I would love it because

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01:00:21,160 --> 01:00:23,320
Speaker 1: I think he's a lot more complicated than people know.

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01:00:23,800 --> 01:00:28,320
Speaker 1: But his patriotism is so obvious and his love of

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01:00:28,360 --> 01:00:31,720
Speaker 1: freedom is so significant that if he was comfortable with

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01:00:31,760 --> 01:00:34,280
Speaker 1: the interviewer and didn't have his gloves up, it would

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01:00:34,320 --> 01:00:36,680
Speaker 1: be a fabulous interview. Great work on the Big Ben

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01:00:36,760 --> 01:00:40,120
Speaker 1: Podcast this week and the Daily Wire, Ben, thank you

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01:00:40,160 --> 01:00:42,720
Speaker 1: for joining me. As always, always a pleasure talking to you.

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01:00:43,560 --> 01:00:46,920
Speaker 1: Like and subscribe the Big Ben Podcast. Like and subscribe

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01:00:46,960 --> 01:00:49,200
Speaker 1: the Big Ben Podcast. I'm right back on you here