Latest / The Hugh Hewitt Show: Highly Concentrated / Sec. Bessent announces "Operation Economic Outcast"

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Sec. Bessent announces "Operation Economic Outcast" · The Hugh Hewitt Show: Highly Concentrated

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Speaker 1: Welcome to today's podcast sponsored by Hillsdale College, All Things
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Speaker 1: iTunes and Hilldale. Good Monday to you. We have a
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Speaker 1: week left in August. I hope you're ready to enjoy
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Speaker 1: your last week of August twenty twenty six. I was
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Speaker 1: until Saturday and Deshaun Watson ruin the season for the
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Speaker 1: Browns fans. Can I just play one clip from that?
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Speaker 1: Please cut number thirty one.
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Speaker 2: No, I don't regret anything about life.
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Speaker 1: I don't regret anything in my life. Thank you, mister Watson.
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Speaker 1: More on that next hour. I got to do the
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Speaker 1: news first, and there's a lot of news. Secretary Besson
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Speaker 1: announced Operation Economic Fairy Times ten. It's going to be
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Speaker 1: the collapse of the Iranian economy. It's going to happen
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Speaker 1: in fairly rapid fashion. We got a trade war going
0:56
Speaker 1: on with Canada, and Mark Carney asks for it, he's
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Speaker 1: getting it. They're going to lose it. Bad for our
1:01
Speaker 1: Canadian neighbors. We like Canada, but they've been freeloaders for
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Speaker 1: about fifty years. And you can't spend two percent on
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Speaker 1: GDP on defense and expect us to pick up the
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Speaker 1: tab on trade as well, and the President's not going
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Speaker 1: to put up with that. We've got a lot to do,
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Speaker 1: but I want to begin with Hassan Piker, who is
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Speaker 1: the living, breathing heart of the Democratic Party in twenty
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Speaker 1: twenty six. Hassan Piker, who lifted Abdua al Saya the
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Speaker 1: victory in Michigan in the primary. Who's out there on
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Speaker 1: tour this past weekend exciting the young, radical left wing
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Speaker 1: base of the Democratic Party, the DSA ers and others.
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Speaker 1: I don't think Piker's himself formally DSA, but the's DSA
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Speaker 1: adjacent and he is the face of the Democratic Party.
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Speaker 1: Hassan Piker's a radical left wing Islam's apologist, and he
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Speaker 1: had this to say. He went to the Fear and
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Speaker 1: Live tour in San Francisco this weekend and mocked Charlie
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Speaker 1: Kirk the anniversary Who's assassination is coming up on September tenth.
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Speaker 1: Cut number four afraid ducats on Biker is mocking the
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Speaker 1: grief and some of the songs that were sung at
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Speaker 1: Charlie's funeral, and perfectly within his First Amendment rights to
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Speaker 1: do and perfectly thin the right of America, and to
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Speaker 1: be repulsed by the fact that he is monetizing grief
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Speaker 1: over Charlie's assassination on the anniversary of it. Senator Scott
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Speaker 1: brings this up on meet the pressure yesterday. Christian Welker
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Speaker 1: won't let him go there. Cut number five.
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Speaker 3: All right, let's talk about another state that you raised,
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Speaker 3: Another big state, Michigan, the face off between Democrat Abdullah
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Speaker 3: Sayed and former Congressman Mike Rodgers. The NRSC continues to
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Speaker 3: put out social media posts claiming that Abdullah Sayed has
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Speaker 3: quote unquote terrorist ties, and yet there is no evidence
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Speaker 3: that he has terrorist ties. Senator should the NRST stop
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Speaker 3: running those ads?
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Speaker 2: Well, we know.
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Speaker 4: Without question that he had family members who helped resource
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Speaker 4: Osama bin Laden. We know without question that he campaigns
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Speaker 4: with Piker, who said at one point that America deserved
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Speaker 4: nine elevee.
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Speaker 3: Let's stay focused on all Sayed though, Let's stay focused
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Speaker 3: on and what he said.
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Speaker 2: No flawed, can't stop here.
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Speaker 1: Why you ask for what evidence is there that Elsai
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Speaker 1: had traffics in terrorist alliances. Al Sayed has said he
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Speaker 1: supports a moss over Israel. Al Sayed not I said
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Speaker 1: Piker and Piker campaigned with l Sayad on the day
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Speaker 1: before It's it's undisputable. I can't even believe it that
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Speaker 1: Kristin would bring that up. Scott Jennings, on a panel
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Speaker 1: with Dana Bash and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona, attempts to
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Speaker 1: bring up what Piker did, uh to insult the memory
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Speaker 1: of Charlie Kirk and exploit the grief of those who
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Speaker 1: feel a great sorrow at his murder. Cut number seven.
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Speaker 5: Scott, Well, you know, I opened up my social media
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Speaker 5: algorithm this morning, Maria to find that the principal spokesperson
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Speaker 5: for the Democratic Party, Hassan Piker, was leading a rally
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Speaker 5: reading arolysed to celebrate the assassination.
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Speaker 6: Of Charley Kirk.
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Speaker 5: I love the recitation of the talking points. All of
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Speaker 5: the energy in your party is behind a bunch of
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Speaker 5: violent socialists who have taken over the messaging operation of
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Speaker 5: the Democratic Party. And look, Mick, terms are historically good
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Speaker 5: for the party out of power. I wonder if Democrats
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Speaker 5: are squandering their opportunity because they've outsourced all of their
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Speaker 5: energy and messaging to people who want to fundamentally rip
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Speaker 5: out the United States of America root branch.
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Speaker 7: That message s creaks of desperation.
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Speaker 1: On can't answer it because asan Piker did do that.
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Speaker 1: You just saw the video. If you're watching on the
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Speaker 1: Salem News Channel on Fast TV, on Roku, on Amazon,
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Speaker 1: on Samsung, on Pluto TV, you saw it. You can
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Speaker 1: see it. I put it on my ex account. On Saturday,
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Speaker 1: Democrat Congressman Jake Auchincloss was on Fox News with Shannon
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Speaker 1: Bream and he gets to see the Piker video cut
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Speaker 1: number nine.
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Speaker 7: So there is a of somebody who's been campaigning a
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Speaker 7: lot with Democratic candidates or Democratic Socialist candidates who say
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Speaker 7: they belong in your party. Hassan Piker, he has not
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Speaker 7: disavowed this video that's out there circulating this weekend where
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Speaker 7: he's singing a song that appears to be mocking the
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Speaker 7: death of Charlie Kirk of people who would you be
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Speaker 7: worshiped as Christians worshiping Jesus. What's your message to those
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Speaker 7: within your party who are campaigning, fundraising and appearing with
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Speaker 7: Hassan Piker.
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Speaker 8: I reject Hassan Piker's ideology, whether it was seeming to
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Speaker 8: celebrate or at least excuse nine eleven, whether it is
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Speaker 8: seeming to excuse the assassination of Charlie Kirk, which I
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Speaker 8: condemned immediately. The Democratic Party does not stand for what
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Speaker 8: Hassan Piker stands for. The Democratic Party also needs to
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Speaker 8: be able to reach young voters from all walks of
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Speaker 8: life who are angry at a status quo in which
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Speaker 8: they cannot afford to buy a home, in which the.
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Speaker 1: Social sitting points. Once you get away from Piker. Meghan Hayes,
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Speaker 1: a former bind aid on also with Shannon Breem about
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Speaker 1: Hassan Piker Cut number ten, want.
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Speaker 7: To circle back to the Sissan Piker video. We haven't
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Speaker 7: independently verified that, but he's not disowning it on his
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Speaker 7: own social media. Megan, what does this mean for the party,
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Speaker 7: because there are a lot of candidates under the Democratic
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Speaker 7: banner who are fundraising and campaigning and appearing on stages
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Speaker 7: with him.
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Speaker 9: No, they should not be doing that. Absolutely not. Everything
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Speaker 9: he says is disgusting. He's anti Semitic, he's a misogynist.
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Speaker 9: The Democratic Party should be disavowing him. Nobody should be
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Speaker 9: campaigning with him. You're actually seeing some of the Democratic
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Speaker 9: people who are running, who work close to him in
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Speaker 9: their primaries now distancing themselves, like Abdul al Sayet in Michigan.
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Speaker 9: And so the Democrats should take note here, this is
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Speaker 9: not what we want in our party. This is not
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Speaker 9: the kind of person we want in our party. He
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Speaker 9: does not represent us, and he should.
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Speaker 1: Not too late. You got El Saad over the line.
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Speaker 1: He's out there mobilizing every young Democrat who went to
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Speaker 1: the San Francisco event, and Democrats are afraid to condemn
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Speaker 1: it because they have no spine. Josh Holmes, our friend
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Speaker 1: from Ruth, was on Fox News with Shannon Briem on Sunday,
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Speaker 1: Cut number twelve.
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Speaker 10: All right, Josh, no question.
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Speaker 11: Let me first say, just on the Hassan Piker front,
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Speaker 11: there are no takebacks in politics. You can't use Hassan
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Speaker 11: Piker to go get yourself a nomination and be the
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Speaker 11: standard bearer of the Democratic Party and then show up
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Speaker 11: in a general election pretend like you don't know who
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Speaker 11: he is. And I think an awful lot of Democrats
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Speaker 11: are trying to do that on the Republican side. Look,
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Speaker 11: I don't think it's any secret this is going to
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Speaker 11: be an extremely difficult election. All of the environmental factors
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Speaker 11: point to what should be a successful run.
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Speaker 2: For Democrats in a midterm.
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Speaker 11: You start with the historical bias obviously of a party
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Speaker 11: in power, but then you go through presidential approval, rating
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Speaker 11: economy and where some of these states are up, and it's.
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Speaker 10: A tough map.
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Speaker 11: I think when it comes down to money, though, this
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Speaker 11: really boils down to Texas. Republicans can win Texas and
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Speaker 11: secure a Senate majority, unquestionably with the electorate that is
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Speaker 11: in Texas, but they're going.
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Speaker 2: To have to spend.
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Speaker 11: And you look at all the various super PACs.
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Speaker 10: MAGA Ink is.
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Speaker 11: The one right now that has not made any reservations.
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Speaker 11: And we enter into September, they got four hundred million dollars.
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Speaker 11: It gets pretty hard to spend that quickly. I wonder
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Speaker 11: how that's going to impact Texas ultimately, because I think
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Speaker 11: the outcome may be based on that.
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Speaker 2: Now.
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Speaker 1: I do think James tell Rico is DSA Jason. He's
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Speaker 1: not a member of the DSA. I don't even know
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Speaker 1: if he's been endorsed by DSA. He's so weird, he's
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Speaker 1: so not Texas. If in fact, James tell Rico is
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Speaker 1: elected in Texas, they're going to have to pull Friday
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Speaker 1: Night Lights off of every streaming service. They're going to
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Speaker 1: have to collect the DBDs that are out there and
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Speaker 1: smash them. They're going to have to repudiate the Alamo tall.
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Speaker 1: Rico is like Bay Area wacky, completely left wing lunatic,
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Speaker 1: but he's not a hater like a Sandpiker and abd
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Speaker 1: el Sayed. There is another controversy which I just began
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Speaker 1: to break about some thing Hassan Piker said about Jeremy Moss,
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Speaker 1: and Abdul Elsayed is busy trying to run away from
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Speaker 1: it too late. As Josh Holms said, you don't get
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Speaker 1: to climb into the into the car seat with Abdul
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Speaker 1: Sayed for the primary and then pretend he's not there
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Speaker 1: with you as your running mate through the general. Dido
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Speaker 1: Troy Jackson in Maine. He's a DSA or up against
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Speaker 1: Moderate Susan Collins, who chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
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Speaker 1: It would be insane for Manors not to vote for her.
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Speaker 1: Ditto for John Houston in Ohio running against the infirm
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Speaker 1: old Shared Brown. Ditto for Mike Wattley in North Carolina
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Speaker 1: all across the count Ashley Hinson's gonna win in Iowa,
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Speaker 1: Ruby Red State. People will come home. I have more
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Speaker 1: news for you after the break. Stay tuned, book.
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Speaker 2: I'm back America.
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Speaker 1: I'm dohuett joined by Ambassador Michael Oran. Doctor Oran is
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Speaker 1: the founder of the Israel Advocacy Program Project doctor orin Welcome.
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Speaker 1: I've been waiting doct you for two weeks. Last week,
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Speaker 1: Israel dispatched its jets to bomb airstrips in Syria that
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Speaker 1: had something to do with Turkey. But the way it's
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Speaker 1: been explained in the Israeli English language media makes no
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Speaker 1: sense to me. What happened and why did Israel do it?
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Speaker 1: What did it help to accomplish?
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Speaker 12: Well, first of all, grate to be back with you, Hugh.
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Speaker 12: Let's let's put it in context. The context is Israel
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Speaker 12: post October seventh. October seventh was the result of successive
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Speaker 12: Israeli governments being passive while massive terrorist forces, enemy forces
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Speaker 12: built up on our borders, on Gaza, in Lebanon, et cetera.
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Speaker 12: That's never going to happen again. Post October seventh, Israel
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Speaker 12: is a very different Syria.
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Speaker 10: Israel.
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Speaker 12: And you know, after many years of effort, finally Iran
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Speaker 12: was forced to withdraw from Syria. Syria is the lynchpin
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Speaker 12: of the Middle East and astride our northern border, and
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Speaker 12: that was a huge, huge event for Israel I think
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Speaker 12: for the entire Middle East.
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Speaker 10: But now there's a vacuum in Syria.
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Speaker 12: There's a government there of.
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Speaker 10: Ahmed al Shara, which is a new government. It's not
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Speaker 10: a strong government's a weak government.
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Speaker 12: Is going to be regional powers and perhaps international powers
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Speaker 12: are going to try to take advantage.
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Speaker 10: Of that weakness.
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Speaker 12: And of course the primary suspect here was Turkey. Syria
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Speaker 12: has a Sunni majority. Turkey is a Sunni country, and
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Speaker 12: it is led by mister Erdowan who is in a
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Speaker 12: Pan Islamisist and began to move in to to Syria,
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Speaker 12: and that was a totally intolerable situation for the State
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Speaker 12: of Israel. Turkey under its current leadership, is not a
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Speaker 12: frenemy country, is an enemy country. It supports every effort
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Speaker 12: to destroy this country, to to kill Israelis put it
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Speaker 12: in the most prosaic form. And mister Dawan likely always
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Speaker 12: compares Israel and Natano to Hitler, to the Nazis and
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Speaker 12: questions our right to exist. So the presence of Turkish
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Speaker 12: troops military troops in Syria was an utterly intolerable situation
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Speaker 12: for post October seventh, Israel, and Israel acted to send
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Speaker 12: a message received information intelligence and I have for my
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Speaker 12: own sources that was very good intelligence that the Turkish
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Speaker 12: Air Force was planning to install systems around that air base,
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Speaker 12: Abdubla Air Base in northwest Syria, and Israel is going
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Speaker 12: to act to preempt it. And Israel did, and I
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Speaker 12: think Turkey has gotten the message. People are going to
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Speaker 12: describe this action by Detias to attempt to flex muscles
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Speaker 12: before the election.
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Speaker 10: I don't think that's true.
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Speaker 12: I think this is an issue of national strategic importance
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Speaker 12: and it was a very essential message.
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Speaker 10: It's interesting that President Trump, in contrast.
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Speaker 12: To many Europeans and most humil Eastern Europeans tales, Trump
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Speaker 12: has not come out and condemned this.
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Speaker 1: What kind of systems were they trying to install, Michael
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Speaker 1: Lauren where they're radars, defensive arrays, sam's that sort of stuff.
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Speaker 12: Yeah, d all of the above, and they have access
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Speaker 12: to very advanced systems and including by the way, Russian systems.
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Speaker 12: As you know, it's one of the issues that is
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Speaker 12: holding up the sale of F thirty five to Turkey
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Speaker 12: is because they have these Russian advanced anti aircraft systems
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Speaker 12: three hundred, four hundred and on.
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Speaker 10: We've worked so hard to.
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Speaker 12: Remove these systems from around our airspace, both in Syria
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Speaker 12: and Iran and elsewhere. We're not going to have them
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Speaker 12: reintroduced to a backdoor in Syria. It's just not going
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Speaker 12: to happen. And you know, we have no animasity to
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Speaker 12: tod the Turkish people. We had many, many years of
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Speaker 12: very close relationships, half a million iss relations to have
14:21
Speaker 12: summer vacations in Turkey every year, including my family. We'd
14:24
Speaker 12: like to go back to that, but not under this government.
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Speaker 12: And they pose a strategic threat to the state of Israel.
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Speaker 12: I would just qualify that by saying it's not of
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Speaker 12: the same magnitude of the strategic threat posed by Iran.
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Speaker 12: And I can explain it in two sentences. One is
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Speaker 12: that Airedwan is not the supreme leader, so needs to
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Speaker 12: not look upon him the way she ice to look
14:42
Speaker 12: at the supreme leader in Iran. And in addition to
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Speaker 12: being a Pan Islamicist, he's a Pan ottomist. He seems
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Speaker 12: to think that Arabs in the Middle East are longing
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Speaker 12: to go back to the Ottoman Empire.
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Speaker 10: They do not want to go back to the empire.
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Speaker 10: So that's a check on air tow.
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Speaker 2: I want to ask a second question.
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Speaker 1: Mark Dubloitz, who is well known to you, CEO of
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Speaker 1: the Foundation of the Event of Democracy, has written that
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Speaker 1: he expects Iran to try a quote October surprise, Actually
15:08
Speaker 1: a couple of them, one at Israel designed damage net
15:12
Speaker 1: and Yao before the election, one at everything that moves
15:15
Speaker 1: designed to damage President Trump before the November elections.
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Speaker 2: What do you make of that scenario.
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Speaker 10: I think he's half right, and I'll explain what I
15:23
Speaker 10: mean by half right.
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Speaker 12: I do think that the Runians are not stupid and
15:27
Speaker 12: not going to wait around to be strangled by the
15:30
Speaker 12: naval blockade. And you'll recall that I said down on
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Speaker 12: this program, what is it back in April and March,
15:34
Speaker 12: that the military phase of this war is over. Now
15:36
Speaker 12: we have to move to the naval blockade. That the
15:39
Speaker 12: model would be the Cold War, not the Iraqan Afghanistan War.
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Speaker 12: It's great, I think it's working, but the Irunians are
15:44
Speaker 12: not going to sit by passively and go near to that,
15:46
Speaker 12: you know, quietly, into that dark night, and they will
15:48
Speaker 12: try to precipitate or provoke a military engagement with the
15:52
Speaker 12: United States to get those oil prices spikings once again
15:56
Speaker 12: and probably get the Democrats back into one, if not both,
15:59
Speaker 12: how of Congress.
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Speaker 10: That's going to be their goal.
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Speaker 12: And and America has to be very vigil and very
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Speaker 12: cautious not to get dragged into that trap where I
16:07
Speaker 12: think Mark Airs, I don't think the Iranians want to go.
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Speaker 10: I think the Nights want to say for several reasons.
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Speaker 12: One is that there may be there may be a
16:16
Speaker 12: very different prime minister who's going to have to prove
16:18
Speaker 12: his metal, someone like Salmon, like Godi Eisencott, someone like
16:23
Speaker 12: Nftali Bennett, who could be much more aggressive, you know,
16:26
Speaker 12: is Netanelle is his his his reputation, this was much
16:31
Speaker 12: different than it was in the United States and abroad
16:32
Speaker 12: and the broad he's thought of being as militaristic and
16:34
Speaker 12: very aggressive. In Israel, he's thought of being very reticent
16:37
Speaker 12: and conflict of herse and and I think the Iranians
16:40
Speaker 12: may share that, not just that what could be better
16:43
Speaker 12: for Iran's pr in the world than having Benjamin Natanielle,
16:46
Speaker 12: who is regarded by large swaths of Western public opinion
16:49
Speaker 12: as toxic. No one knows Bennett don't vary for people
16:52
Speaker 12: though Benett Almost nobody knows Gotty Eisencott, And that would
16:55
Speaker 12: give Israel a free reign for a certain.
16:57
Speaker 10: Amount of time.
16:58
Speaker 12: So I would disagree with Mark that the want to
17:00
Speaker 12: replace Natanelle. I think they want to keep them. I
17:03
Speaker 12: don't mean they don't want to provoke us. They may
17:05
Speaker 12: not want to, they may want to provoke us last line,
17:07
Speaker 12: in order to further further degrade the Republican's chance of
17:12
Speaker 12: winning in November.
17:13
Speaker 10: Why because if Israel gets dragged into this war, then
17:15
Speaker 10: once again people in the United States will.
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Speaker 12: Say, look, the Republicans are doing Israel's bidding and being
17:19
Speaker 12: dragged into a war which is not in America's interest.
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Speaker 1: All right, Mean, this is the first of eight recommendation
17:25
Speaker 1: or a prediction job to make in the next eight weeks.
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Speaker 1: Dr Oran, who's going to be the next Prime Minister
17:30
Speaker 1: of Israel.
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Speaker 12: Well, I've been coming out saying that there's a wild card.
17:35
Speaker 12: His name is a Victor Lieberman, who's not very well
17:37
Speaker 12: in the United States. And I don't know how much
17:39
Speaker 12: time I have to discuss this, but Lieberman is a
17:41
Speaker 12: person who would probably get about ten seats in knesse It.
17:43
Speaker 12: We saw how enough Tolly Bennett back in twenty twenty
17:45
Speaker 12: one became prime minister with only seven seats in kannesse
17:48
Speaker 12: It because there was a There was basically a tie
17:51
Speaker 12: between all the various camps, and the only way that
17:54
Speaker 12: Israel could move on to not half yet another round
17:56
Speaker 12: of elections was by making him prime minister.
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Speaker 10: Well, the same that can happen again right now. According
18:01
Speaker 10: to all the polls.
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Speaker 12: There's basically a tie, and Israel we could go from
18:05
Speaker 12: election to election election. Netti now would remain the prime
18:07
Speaker 12: minister for months and months at a time. Pejor Liepman
18:10
Speaker 12: could say, we could do this, or you can make
18:12
Speaker 12: me prime minister and we can end the Netsenau era.
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Speaker 12: He's been a former foreign minister, former defense minister and
18:19
Speaker 12: a former finance minister, and he succeeded at all those jobs,
18:22
Speaker 12: so it wouldn't be the worst outcome.
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Speaker 1: All right, Doctor Michael Uran, always good to talk to you.
18:27
Speaker 1: Follo him on exit d R Michael Oran, follow me
18:30
Speaker 1: the next segment of today's Hue Huge Show. Thank you,
18:32
Speaker 1: Ambassador Orren. Stay tuned. Welcome back to America. I'm Hugh Hewett,
18:39
Speaker 1: joined by United States Senator Tom Cotton, represents Arkansas up
18:43
Speaker 1: for reelection this year. Don't know if he's in Arkansas
18:45
Speaker 1: this week campaign, It wouldn't be surprised. Senator Cotton, good
18:48
Speaker 1: to talk to you again. I would like your assessment
18:52
Speaker 1: of what Secretary Bestent announced today, Operation Economic Outcast.
18:57
Speaker 6: You good to be back on with you. Well, I
18:59
Speaker 6: commend the Secretary for taking these important steps right now.
19:02
Speaker 6: Maybe the single best tool we have for putting pressure
19:06
Speaker 6: on Iran is the economic pressure that the blockade is
19:09
Speaker 6: imposed on them. That's up to five hundred million dollars
19:13
Speaker 6: a day in lost revenue for the outlaw terrace regime
19:16
Speaker 6: in Iran. And second, the new suite of sanctions and
19:21
Speaker 6: other economic measures for any company or any country that
19:26
Speaker 6: does business with the RUN. And honestly, why would any legitimate,
19:32
Speaker 6: honest company want to do business with the RUN. I mean,
19:37
Speaker 6: it's got an economy barely besize of some of the
19:40
Speaker 6: smallest US states. There's plenty of other opportunities around the world.
19:45
Speaker 6: If you face the threat of Uncle Sam coming down
19:47
Speaker 6: in the Acatona bricks. No matter where you are in
19:50
Speaker 6: the world, it seems to me like you want to
19:53
Speaker 6: play ball and not start trucking with the Revolutionary guard
19:56
Speaker 6: core in Iran. So I hope that every company around
19:59
Speaker 6: the world and every country around the world will heed
20:01
Speaker 6: what Secretary best In announced today.
20:03
Speaker 1: So, Senator Cotton, you're a member of the chairman in
20:05
Speaker 1: fact of the Senate Intelligence Committee. You're always careful not
20:08
Speaker 1: to disclose anything that's classified. What I can tell by
20:12
Speaker 1: following open source intel is that Iran is really struggling.
20:17
Speaker 1: That the real is now trading at one American dollar
20:20
Speaker 1: gets you two million, thirty three thousand realls. That's the
20:24
Speaker 1: exchange rate one for two million, thirty three thousand, and
20:27
Speaker 1: the real is going down further. There is nothing getting
20:31
Speaker 1: into the country. The statements coming from the civilian side
20:35
Speaker 1: as opposed to the the Hedi junta side are desperate.
20:39
Speaker 1: How do you read that situation from open source materials?
20:43
Speaker 2: Yeah?
20:44
Speaker 6: You, I think you're right based on every indication we
20:46
Speaker 6: have is that the economic advice heightens every single day
20:50
Speaker 6: on Rand. And sure the revolutionary finatics who are in
20:53
Speaker 6: charge in Tehran are not feeling that they're corrupt. They
20:56
Speaker 6: have lined their pockets for decades the expense of the
21:00
Speaker 6: Iranian people. But each day it gets tighter and tighter,
21:03
Speaker 6: and the pressure on them gets more and more. And
21:08
Speaker 6: we can continue to keep that pressure on. We can
21:10
Speaker 6: keep the straight certainly the southern side of the straight
21:12
Speaker 6: up from Who's open to make sure we're getting out
21:13
Speaker 6: enough oil to keep gas prices under control for Americans.
21:18
Speaker 6: There's no reason for us to strike any kind of
21:20
Speaker 6: bad deal with the revolutionary plematics in charge of Iran
21:24
Speaker 6: who have been trying to kill Americans for forty seven
21:26
Speaker 6: years now.
21:28
Speaker 1: Last question on the Senator Mark Biblowitz of the Foundation
21:31
Speaker 1: for the Defense of Democracy is worrying out loud in
21:34
Speaker 1: the New York Post and elsewhere that a desperate Iran
21:37
Speaker 1: will try in October surprise to injure Donald Trump's reelection
21:43
Speaker 1: chances for the Republicans like you or on the ballot
21:45
Speaker 1: in the House. Do you think Dubowitz's warning is is
21:49
Speaker 1: well taken.
21:51
Speaker 6: I think Mark may be right. The leaders in Iran
21:55
Speaker 6: certainly take note of American politics and our political calendar,
21:58
Speaker 6: and as I said, they trying to kill Americans for
22:01
Speaker 6: forty seven years, so I don't think they've turned over
22:04
Speaker 6: a new leap. I don't think they're going to change
22:06
Speaker 6: their mindset in the next ten weeks before our minterm election.
22:09
Speaker 6: That is one reason why from the very beginning queue
22:12
Speaker 6: of this kind of stop and start period of cease
22:15
Speaker 6: fire and strikes have been in now since the beginning
22:17
Speaker 6: of April. I've suggested the President he should simply let
22:20
Speaker 6: Central Command finish the job militarily. You know, you're looking
22:23
Speaker 6: at you know, two three four weeks of military strikes
22:27
Speaker 6: against targets that are closing the straight queue and threatening
22:30
Speaker 6: the flow of oil and therefore making it harder for
22:33
Speaker 6: our Kansons to afford gas and diesel. That's the thing
22:36
Speaker 6: is like missile defense or coastal defense, batteries and radars,
22:41
Speaker 6: cruise missile sites, drown sites, manufacturing capabilities. It's not a
22:46
Speaker 6: extensive campaign left, it's a short term campaign that would
22:50
Speaker 6: further degrade ability of Ron's ability to use the straight
22:53
Speaker 6: up moves to hold American's hostage to drive up the
22:57
Speaker 6: price of gas in America. I still think that would
22:59
Speaker 6: be the course of action. And then you simply keep
23:01
Speaker 6: the blockade in place, keep the straight open, keep these
23:05
Speaker 6: new economic measures in place, and let's run revolutionary leader
23:09
Speaker 6: sweat under all that pressure.
23:11
Speaker 1: Now center if I can switch to politics over the weekend,
23:14
Speaker 1: the ghoulish Hassan Biker, a Maoist Islamist apologist he is.
23:22
Speaker 1: He mocked Charlie Kirks and his grieving family, friends and
23:26
Speaker 1: colleagues by singing in a video.
23:29
Speaker 2: That's gone everywhere.
23:30
Speaker 1: And then last week it turned out he said some
23:33
Speaker 1: astonishing things about a Jewish state senator in Michigan, Jeremy Moss,
23:38
Speaker 1: that if Jews keep putting this idea out that they
23:41
Speaker 1: are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone is going to
23:44
Speaker 1: come around and take action. Not against the State of Israel,
23:47
Speaker 1: mind you, but against American Jews. I don't know how
23:50
Speaker 1: people don't recognize how dangerous this predicament is, how dangerous
23:53
Speaker 1: this is for Jews. You're running around basically tying your
23:57
Speaker 1: entire country to that what we'll inevitably see as basic
24:00
Speaker 1: Jewish isis, and you're saying, is Jews, this is all
24:03
Speaker 1: we care about. You're making anti Semitism work worse. I've
24:07
Speaker 1: got a little bit of that clip which I want
24:09
Speaker 1: to play for you cut number three.
24:12
Speaker 13: And you want to know why, because people don't know
24:14
Speaker 13: with Israel any longer. And if Jews in America keep
24:19
Speaker 13: putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested
24:23
Speaker 13: in Israel, eventually someone's going to come around and take action.
24:28
Speaker 13: Not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against
24:30
Speaker 13: American Jews. Okay, we're teaching people the wrong lesson. I
24:36
Speaker 13: don't know how people don't recognize how dangerous this predicament is,
24:41
Speaker 13: how dangerous this is for Jews.
24:44
Speaker 1: All right, So he's he's crazy and an extremist, Senator Cotton,
24:49
Speaker 1: but I think he is the face of the Democratic Party,
24:52
Speaker 1: certainly in Michigan, for Troy Jackson in Maine, for Peggy
24:56
Speaker 1: Flannagan in Minnesota. Do you think Democrats realize they have
24:59
Speaker 1: to spelled them him from their party?
25:03
Speaker 6: Well, well, I'll confess that I don't closely follow the
25:06
Speaker 6: social media postings the Hassan Piker, but everything you told
25:11
Speaker 6: me sounds like something he would say from my understanding
25:14
Speaker 6: of him, and that clip you just played, I think
25:16
Speaker 6: is very notable. I don't know many or any American
25:19
Speaker 6: Jews who have a singular attachment to the State of Israel.
25:23
Speaker 6: They have a singular attachment to America. They're great patriots,
25:27
Speaker 6: and they're friends of freedom all around the world, and
25:31
Speaker 6: they want to support our allies all around the world.
25:34
Speaker 6: And we have no better ally, as was proven in
25:38
Speaker 6: Operation Epic Fury than Israel. It fought alongside us in
25:41
Speaker 6: a way no nation has since Great Britain in World
25:44
Speaker 6: War Two. And for Hassan Piker to essentially say standing
25:50
Speaker 6: with our allies is going to get Jewish Americans killed
25:55
Speaker 6: is the height of irresponsibility. But it's also, as you suggest,
25:59
Speaker 6: he the de facto position of his al Abdul l Sayed,
26:06
Speaker 6: radical Tera sympathizer who the Democrats have nominated for Senate
26:11
Speaker 6: in Michigan, or for Troy Jackson in Maine who has
26:15
Speaker 6: called for an arms embargo on Israel, or Peggy Flanagan
26:18
Speaker 6: in Minnesota, or for that matter, the de facto position
26:22
Speaker 6: of the Democratic Senate Cook is led by Chuck Schumer. Remember, Hugh,
26:26
Speaker 6: this is the same Chuck Schumer who we now know
26:29
Speaker 6: was advising the presidents of all those Ivy League collegist
26:32
Speaker 6: who had disgusting anti Semitic encampments on their campuses to
26:38
Speaker 6: hang in and not give in to Republican investigations because
26:42
Speaker 6: they would pass over the Democrats. They think that they
26:46
Speaker 6: need to distance themselves from Hassan Piker because he's politically toxic.
26:51
Speaker 6: But I promise you they don't have the nerve to
26:54
Speaker 6: actually distance themselves, and that's the way they would vote
26:58
Speaker 6: if they take the majority of them center.
27:01
Speaker 1: Tom Cotton always good to speak with you. I look
27:03
Speaker 1: forward to talk to you when you're back in DC.
27:05
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining me. Don't go anywhere, America.
27:08
Speaker 1: I'll be right back on the Hugh Hewett Show.
27:10
Speaker 14: Oh God knows.
27:13
Speaker 2: Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewett.
27:16
Speaker 1: I'm wondering if my guest, Selena Zito, even recognizes that voice.
27:19
Speaker 1: Do you recognize that voice?
27:21
Speaker 2: Selena?
27:23
Speaker 15: No, but I didn't really hear it that well either.
27:25
Speaker 1: Okay, it's Carly Simon, who released a new album last
27:29
Speaker 1: week called Comes in Waves.
27:30
Speaker 2: At the age of eighty three. I salute her, don't you?
27:35
Speaker 15: Oh heck yeah. I was always a big Carly Simon fan.
27:38
Speaker 15: She's like the background music to our lodge.
27:41
Speaker 2: Growing up exactly, So good for her.
27:44
Speaker 1: Okay, uh, Selena, you know football, you're a Steelers fan.
27:48
Speaker 1: Have you followed the Deshaun Watson fiasco and Cleveland?
27:54
Speaker 15: Yeah, obviously not to the intensity of you. But look,
27:59
Speaker 15: I'm on the same age as you are.
28:02
Speaker 1: Well, I want to ask if Pittsburgh fans have ever
28:08
Speaker 1: hated the club's decision making. I mean, you've only had
28:12
Speaker 1: like three coaches in fifty years, and you've had the
28:16
Speaker 1: same family owning the club, and they were bad for
28:19
Speaker 1: a long time. But like, you never hated the situation,
28:23
Speaker 1: did you?
28:25
Speaker 12: Now?
28:25
Speaker 15: Not to the intensity that you guys are going through.
28:28
Speaker 15: And I feel in one way I can relate. But
28:31
Speaker 15: it's not fliptball. It's baseball, and there's an and it's
28:36
Speaker 15: not that we hate the players, but the ownership is
28:40
Speaker 15: not beloved in the way that the Rumies are beloved,
28:44
Speaker 15: even if you get irked with them in Pittsburgh.
28:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, the Pirates.
28:51
Speaker 1: Now, I am of the opinion Jimmy and d Haslam
28:54
Speaker 1: are good people. I'm of the opinion they're trying to
28:57
Speaker 1: do the best they can, but sometimes the decisions are
29:01
Speaker 1: so inexplicable that well, try and explain to people how
29:06
Speaker 1: much sports means along the Pennsylvania Ohio border.
29:11
Speaker 15: Look, these teams and are are real affection for them
29:17
Speaker 15: basically happened in the sixties and seventies when they were
29:22
Speaker 15: the one thing that was winning, and even if they
29:25
Speaker 15: weren't winning, they had a way to draw people together
29:29
Speaker 15: and make them feel as though they're part of something
29:32
Speaker 15: bigger than self, in particular in the places where they're located,
29:38
Speaker 15: because things were falling apart, right, But you can always
29:41
Speaker 15: count on your team to make you feel good about
29:44
Speaker 15: your town, or yourself or your family. And that's what
29:48
Speaker 15: both of these change. And I want to argue that
29:50
Speaker 15: Green Bay has the same mystique. Right, These not huge
29:55
Speaker 15: cities that have a very hardcore, working class fan base
30:01
Speaker 15: who spends a decent portion of their salary on their
30:07
Speaker 15: season tickets, and it cuts across.
30:10
Speaker 1: So there's just race, class, ethnicity, religion and the backdrop.
30:18
Speaker 1: And I always try and tell people this about Ohio
30:20
Speaker 1: and it's it's actually true about Western Pennsylvania too. The
30:24
Speaker 1: local television affiliates in Youngstown it would be twenty one,
30:26
Speaker 1: twenty seven, and thirty three. They would spend on Friday
30:31
Speaker 1: and Saturday night thirty minutes of their.
30:33
Speaker 2: Hour on high school football. No other market in the
30:36
Speaker 2: country does that. Maybe Texas. I don't know, but thirty minutes.
30:42
Speaker 15: Yeah, we did two in western Pennsylvania. And I'm wondering
30:45
Speaker 15: if you saw today the arrest or, I think he
30:49
Speaker 15: was arrested, the owner of the forty nine ers.
30:53
Speaker 2: Lord Bardo, in Youngstown.
30:59
Speaker 16: Yeah.
30:59
Speaker 15: I got really angry because someone put out there that
31:02
Speaker 15: that's the middle of nowhere, Ohio. Because that nothing makes
31:07
Speaker 15: me more angry. You know that when people talk about
31:11
Speaker 15: towns like Youngstown in Pittsburgh and East Palestine, but you
31:16
Speaker 15: know in that there was a very unique situation in
31:19
Speaker 15: Youngstown when we were growing up, you and I both
31:22
Speaker 15: where there was this three ways split between the Browns,
31:25
Speaker 15: the Steelers, and the forty nine Ers because of the
31:28
Speaker 15: Debarto de Bartolow family owned the forty.
31:31
Speaker 1: Nine Ers, and there were some people and it still
31:35
Speaker 1: goes on. It's a very complicated thing you get over.
31:38
Speaker 1: But I'm just pointing out for parts of the country
31:41
Speaker 1: that don't understand football and sports is a way of life.
31:45
Speaker 1: I wonder, if you're fine, does that go for the
31:47
Speaker 1: United States of Appalachia? Does it go all the way
31:50
Speaker 1: down to Georgia?
31:52
Speaker 6: Oh?
31:52
Speaker 15: Yeah, absolutely not. Every state has their every region has
31:57
Speaker 15: their own football team, but they sure have their little
32:00
Speaker 15: football team. Right, they're the local high school or college team.
32:04
Speaker 15: And they're very parochial about it.
32:07
Speaker 6: Right.
32:07
Speaker 15: They love them. They dress up, they have spaghetti dinners
32:11
Speaker 15: the night before, they had big parties afterwards. Even if
32:15
Speaker 15: they lose, it is the center of the community. And
32:19
Speaker 15: you find that all the way along Appalachia. Friday night
32:23
Speaker 15: is sometime Friday night lights are sometimes the only thing
32:26
Speaker 15: that is continuously holding a community together.
32:29
Speaker 1: Now, I want to play for you. Quickly cut number
32:31
Speaker 1: fifteen and talk over it as we roll it. This
32:34
Speaker 1: is President Trump arriving at the Freedom two fifty in Washington,
32:38
Speaker 1: d C. On Sunday, and it is a It was
32:44
Speaker 1: a remarkable event and it was not political, though some
32:47
Speaker 1: people tried to make it political. I'm not a Formula
32:50
Speaker 1: one guy or an ASCAR guy. What did you make
32:52
Speaker 1: of this extravaganza, Selena z Ito? Since you're his favorite columns.
32:57
Speaker 15: It was absolutely amazing. I'm going to have to give
33:00
Speaker 15: kudos to Fox. They covered it very well, very professionally.
33:07
Speaker 15: And I was watching commentary online of people that aren't
33:11
Speaker 15: that I follow or who follows them, that aren't particularly political. Right,
33:16
Speaker 15: they're into farming or racing or you know, whatever it is,
33:20
Speaker 15: they're not politicals, and they were just marveling at this event,
33:25
Speaker 15: how beautiful our nation's capital looked, how amazing that they
33:29
Speaker 15: were able to pull this off, and how non political
33:33
Speaker 15: it was. And it was again one of those you
33:36
Speaker 15: and I talk about this all the time, one of
33:38
Speaker 15: those aspirational moments. Americans love those. Americans love to be
33:43
Speaker 15: part of something bigger than self, and this was definitely
33:46
Speaker 15: one of those.
33:48
Speaker 1: And even people who are not Formula one racing fans
33:52
Speaker 1: were swept up in the physical, extraordinary display of speed.
33:58
Speaker 1: I mean, I've never seen anything like that. Of course
34:01
Speaker 1: DC never. The traffic's the worst in the world. It
34:04
Speaker 1: doesn't move, But so that that was fun to watch too.
34:07
Speaker 1: I just I just thought it was a very nice
34:09
Speaker 1: weekend surprise. Selena Zito read everything Selena writes at Selenazito
34:15
Speaker 1: dot com, comms for New York Post, commns for the
34:17
Speaker 1: Washington Examiner, commas for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, commas for
34:21
Speaker 1: the Washington Post. President Trump's favorite journalist, and you can
34:24
Speaker 1: follow her on x at Zito Selena, I'll be right back, America.
34:28
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34:31
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34:33
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36:40
Speaker 1: Morning, Laurin Evean, Greats America. I'm you you at good
36:43
Speaker 1: Monday to you. I'm joined by Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery, retarded,
36:47
Speaker 1: United States Navy Senior Fellow with the Foundation for the
36:49
Speaker 1: Defensive Democracy. Admiral, thanks for joining me again. Oil is
36:54
Speaker 1: at eighty four dollars and ninety four cents a barrel
36:57
Speaker 1: at this hour. Down two and a half were sent
37:00
Speaker 1: today after a weekend full of your colleague Richard Goldberg
37:04
Speaker 1: and others pointing out that oil is flowing through this strait.
37:09
Speaker 1: What is going on in the strait in your assessment.
37:14
Speaker 16: So, I think what's happening first, thanks for having me, Hugh.
37:17
Speaker 16: And what I think is happening is that they are
37:21
Speaker 16: is that we're able to using the Southern Transit lay
37:24
Speaker 16: the southernmost through Omani waters with US aircraft overhead and
37:30
Speaker 16: a diminishment of Iranian situational awareness tools mostly radar and
37:36
Speaker 16: UH and video kind of systems they had on Small
37:41
Speaker 16: Eye and electronic warfare systems they had on Small Eye,
37:45
Speaker 16: the small islands in the Strait and on their on
37:48
Speaker 16: the coastline around Banderabas. They used to have a lot
37:50
Speaker 16: of systems that would tell them where merchant ships were.
37:54
Speaker 16: Now the ships are going dark. They're automatic intellig information
37:58
Speaker 16: signal turned off with US aircraft providing defense against whatever
38:03
Speaker 16: missiles might come out or drones might come out, and
38:06
Speaker 16: they're able to successfully get I think over the last
38:08
Speaker 16: three weeks probably seven million barrels a day, but over
38:11
Speaker 16: the last week maybe nine million barrels a day of
38:15
Speaker 16: fossil fuels through that Southernmost scheme. I think there's some
38:21
Speaker 16: others that come through the through the Iranian transit lanes
38:26
Speaker 16: that come from Arab states. I imagine there's some kind
38:29
Speaker 16: of illicit payment occurring on those.
38:31
Speaker 1: So would we miss would open source intelligence miss a
38:36
Speaker 1: strike by the IRGC on an LNG tanker or a
38:39
Speaker 1: two million barrel tanker from UAE or cut her.
38:46
Speaker 16: First, I think Sentcom would acknowledge it, so we wouldn't
38:49
Speaker 16: miss it because of that. Second, I think the UAE
38:52
Speaker 16: or the host nation that owned the tanker would acknowledge
38:55
Speaker 16: it because they have to make claims against that attack
38:59
Speaker 16: and that loss, and it could be loss of life
39:01
Speaker 16: as well, so I do not believe that strikes are happening,
39:05
Speaker 16: and you and I aren't hearing.
39:06
Speaker 1: About it, okay, So extrapolate that out in light of
39:10
Speaker 1: what Secretary Vestant announced today, the operation designed to cut
39:15
Speaker 1: off all economic activity with Iran. And this is in
39:20
Speaker 1: addition to the blockade. Your source, do they think Iran
39:24
Speaker 1: will collapse?
39:26
Speaker 10: So here's what I would say.
39:27
Speaker 16: First, the blockade is working, right, The blockade is increasing pressure.
39:31
Speaker 16: We know the changes in inflation and Iran. We know
39:35
Speaker 16: the economic problems are having because their leadership has their
39:41
Speaker 16: secular leadership has on occasion discuss that publicly. The leadership
39:45
Speaker 16: of their banks have mentioned this. So we are stopping.
39:49
Speaker 16: You know, ninety percent of their fossil fuel deliveries to
39:52
Speaker 16: anywhere through the very effective blockade. They can still do
39:55
Speaker 16: some land delivery, but it's really limited. So that's number one.
39:59
Speaker 16: Number two, this is now about squeezing the rest of
40:01
Speaker 16: the economy. You know, it was a good announcement. I
40:03
Speaker 16: kind of wish it had been a we have initiated this,
40:06
Speaker 16: not we have initiated initiated phone calls to tell people
40:10
Speaker 16: if you do not stop, we're going to initiate it.
40:12
Speaker 2: But Okay, you know.
40:13
Speaker 16: Let's make that phone call period like twenty four hours.
40:16
Speaker 16: If we don't get a response, we'll take that as
40:17
Speaker 16: we don't care and downcome your sanctions. But I think
40:21
Speaker 16: we have to isolate Iran from the international economy, and
40:27
Speaker 16: unfortunately this isolation runs through China.
40:32
Speaker 1: So expand on that a little bit, Admiral, do you
40:35
Speaker 1: think China will play ball with us?
40:38
Speaker 2: I think they're going to test us.
40:40
Speaker 16: They're going to see if we'll really sanction what are
40:42
Speaker 16: called teapot refinery. So twenty five percent of Chinese refineries
40:49
Speaker 16: or refineries that specialize in avoiding sanctions, they take fuel
40:53
Speaker 16: from Iran, from Russia and previously from Venezuela. That's all
40:57
Speaker 16: they do. They literally specialize around us O FAC and
41:02
Speaker 16: other sanctions UH and dealing with getting discounted oil from
41:07
Speaker 16: these uh you know, from from these renegade states like
41:11
Speaker 16: Iran and Russia. And so I absolutely think it's the
41:15
Speaker 16: proper thing to do. The Chinese should do this. If
41:17
Speaker 16: if we were openly openly having the MOB run you know,
41:22
Speaker 16: import exports that that undermine the Chinese economy out of
41:26
Speaker 16: La and San Francisco, the Chinese would ask us to.
41:28
Speaker 2: Shut them down.
41:30
Speaker 16: We've asked nicely. I think it's time to very rapidly
41:33
Speaker 16: move from this kind of like, uh, you know, we're
41:36
Speaker 16: going to request by a telephone to sanctions are in
41:40
Speaker 16: place on these teapot refineries and anyone in China who
41:44
Speaker 16: does business with them, so that is to say, the
41:45
Speaker 16: banks that facilitate these payments.
41:48
Speaker 2: All right.
41:48
Speaker 1: And next question, because the blockage has been in place
41:51
Speaker 1: effectively for months now, Uh, what happens to the harbors
41:58
Speaker 1: and the facilities that Iran normally uses to process their oil.
42:04
Speaker 1: We heard about storage issues, but what about the actual
42:07
Speaker 1: maritime facility? If they don't work, do they fall apart?
42:13
Speaker 16: I think they'll be okay in that regard. You know,
42:14
Speaker 16: pumping stations are pretty basic. I think carg Island, you know,
42:18
Speaker 16: maybe the first hookup once they're allowed to, you know,
42:21
Speaker 16: in some future world where they can start pumping from
42:24
Speaker 16: their you know, maybe it takes a few extra hours,
42:27
Speaker 16: a few extra days to get the first one hooked
42:29
Speaker 16: up and going.
42:30
Speaker 2: But they'll be all right. I don't think they decay
42:32
Speaker 2: away that fast.
42:34
Speaker 16: The bigger issues you've heard is that they've kind of
42:37
Speaker 16: they're filled up.
42:38
Speaker 2: They can't fill tankers anymore.
42:40
Speaker 16: They're full. The ones they have in the Golfer full.
42:42
Speaker 16: They can't fill their their actual stowag is because they're full.
42:46
Speaker 16: So they're having to secure they're having to secure pump,
42:51
Speaker 16: you know, the actual pumping and withdrawal of fossil fuels.
42:56
Speaker 1: So wrapping up back to the original question about effectiveness
43:01
Speaker 1: of this entire blockade, in this entire embargo, when Mark
43:05
Speaker 1: Dubowitz warns, as he did on Friday and Saturday in
43:09
Speaker 1: the New York Post, you're calling it fdd that the
43:12
Speaker 1: Iranians will lash out in order to try and inflict
43:15
Speaker 1: maximum political damage on President Trump in October.
43:20
Speaker 2: What can they do that they wouldn't already do.
43:25
Speaker 16: So, I think they'll repeat, They'll try to repeat what
43:28
Speaker 16: they successfully did during the forty day air combat campaign.
43:32
Speaker 16: That's when they used drones to strike close in infrastructure,
43:37
Speaker 16: that is the infrastructure of bah Rain, Kuwait, Qatar, Eastern
43:42
Speaker 16: Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates and hit them with
43:48
Speaker 16: short range head drones that historically that got through during
43:52
Speaker 16: those forty days. Now, hopefully we've been working hard, you know,
43:55
Speaker 16: getting Ukrainian and American drone systems into our in partner
44:00
Speaker 16: countries so that they can defend themselves better. You can't
44:03
Speaker 16: use the air based the ones on aircraft because the
44:06
Speaker 16: aircraft would have to be feet dry at low altitude
44:08
Speaker 16: over Iran to shoot down these drones, and that's unhealthy
44:11
Speaker 16: for the aircraft. So you really need these ground based
44:15
Speaker 16: drone systems, something we really were short of. You know,
44:19
Speaker 16: we failed in twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five
44:22
Speaker 16: to recognize this threat from observing Russia and Ukraine. The
44:26
Speaker 16: Iranians did see the impact of the Jaran and Shaheed
44:29
Speaker 16: drones and they became dependent on them. So I think
44:32
Speaker 16: we have to be good on that. If we're good
44:34
Speaker 16: on that, I don't think Iran has a good you know,
44:37
Speaker 16: I don't think they have a second, you know, tier
44:40
Speaker 16: another weapon that they could use effectively.
44:43
Speaker 2: All right, last question.
44:44
Speaker 1: I believe you were the carrier group commander for the
44:47
Speaker 1: Washington out of Japan for a period of time. The
44:50
Speaker 1: Washington tended to replace the Lincoln might be there already.
44:53
Speaker 1: How long does it take to do that and does
44:55
Speaker 1: the fact that they've been a Pacific ship all these
44:58
Speaker 1: years impact their ability to quickly learn and adapt to
45:02
Speaker 1: the Persian golf and Indian Ocean.
45:05
Speaker 16: So here's good new. Yeah. I commanded a carrier strike
45:07
Speaker 16: group for two years, the George Washington Carry Striker for
45:09
Speaker 16: two years, best two years of my most enjoyable years
45:12
Speaker 16: of my career.
45:12
Speaker 4: Uh.
45:13
Speaker 16: The it that that destroyed the carrier strike group, the
45:17
Speaker 16: one in Japan has four times now gone to the
45:21
Speaker 16: Arabian Gulf, you know, for OEF Rocky Freedom uh uh,
45:26
Speaker 16: for the Afghan War, and for not for Desert Store.
45:31
Speaker 16: So this is not uncommon. This carrier strike group and
45:35
Speaker 16: its air wing or had the highest readiness in the fleet.
45:38
Speaker 16: So they're going to be just fine going over doing that.
45:40
Speaker 16: They're there already, they'll do great. You know, they're using
45:44
Speaker 16: slightly different weapons systems and they're probably prioritized when you're
45:48
Speaker 16: thinking about fighting China. But that's a something they learned
45:51
Speaker 16: in the two weeks going over. I'm sure the carrier
45:54
Speaker 16: air wing was fully up and ready to go. There'll
45:56
Speaker 16: be no loss of readiness with them. Replacing the Lincoln.
45:59
Speaker 16: In fact, might be a slight uptick, only because the
46:02
Speaker 16: carrier air wing has slightly more aircraft than a continental
46:06
Speaker 16: US based one like Abraham Lincoln. So it's actually a
46:09
Speaker 16: better deal for a Sentcom commander, and Brad Cooper knows
46:13
Speaker 16: that because he was stationed out in Korea and he
46:15
Speaker 16: knows the capability of the four deployed Carrier Strike Group.
46:19
Speaker 1: So do you think the George Washington Carrier Strike Group
46:23
Speaker 1: is happy to have this assignment? Is there something they're
46:27
Speaker 1: eager to get to?
46:28
Speaker 2: I know on a.
46:29
Speaker 16: Deeply personal level that they are happy to have this assignment.
46:33
Speaker 16: And you know, you, you know, the ability to carry
46:36
Speaker 16: out your nation's tasking is the highest, you know, service
46:41
Speaker 16: that an American warfighter can do. So the sailors and
46:44
Speaker 16: airman of the George Washington Carrier Strike Group are excited
46:47
Speaker 16: to be there doing with the President's ordered. You know,
46:51
Speaker 16: powerry are allies and partners in Northeast Asia a little
46:54
Speaker 16: less happy right now.
46:56
Speaker 1: But I just I thought that would be your answer,
46:58
Speaker 1: but I didn't know an I'm as so I'm glad,
47:00
Speaker 1: I asked. Admiral Mark Montgomery, retired United States Navy, thank
47:04
Speaker 1: you for joining me from the Foundation for the Defense
47:06
Speaker 1: of Democra