Latest / 3 Martini Lunch – Political Humor & Commentary / Why CIA Director John Ratcliffe Secretly Went to Russia

Transcript

Why CIA Director John Ratcliffe Secretly Went to Russia · 3 Martini Lunch – Political Humor & Commentary

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Three Martini Lunch. Grab a stool next
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to Greg Karambas of Radio America and Jim Garrity of
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: National Review. Three Martini's coming up.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: So glad to have you with us for the Friday
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: edition of the Three Martini Lunch. And Jim, one of
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: the first things President Trump did after taking office the
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: second time was to rename the Gulf of Mexico the
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Gulf of America. And one of the first things he
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: did after winning in 2024, even before.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: He took office was to kind of poke the bear.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Not really a bear, they're Canada. Poke the moose. To
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: poke Canada, poke the moose.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: To poke the goose. The goose and the moose. Yes,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: calling them.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: The 51st state. And then, of course, there have been
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: tariffs involved and tariffs pulled back and tariffs put back
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: in and pulled back. Anyway, so earlier this week, the
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Canadians decided to reject the latest trade agreement. And as
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: a result, the Trump administration has now issued an order
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: renaming Lake Ontario Lake America. Here's the official statement yesterday.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: As you know, we took something called the Gulf of Mexico.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: We changed it and now it's very routinely the Gulf
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: of America. So if you think about it, we have
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: a Gulf and we have A lake? Now all we
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: need is an ocean. So maybe we'll have to change
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: the name of the Atlantic and or the Pacific. Maybe
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: we'll change them both.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: So Jim, this obviously doesn't accomplish anything. And most people
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: I don't think are going to acknowledge that. For those
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: of us who grew up on the Great Lakes or
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: even just learned the Great Lakes in school anywhere, you
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: have to have the acronym of HOMES, which this completely ruins.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: And again, if you're a Republican looking for a boost
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: heading into November, this doesn't quite do it for you.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: So first of all, you don't have homes anymore, Greg,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: but you do have shame. First of all, have you
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: heard anyone refer to it as the Gulf of America,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: down between Mexico and Florida and Texas? Some people, but
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: not a lot. Really? I've never heard anyone refer to
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: it in the last year and a half. This is stupid.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: This is astonishingly stupid. And the fact that he felt
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: the need to do this White House ceremony, officially announcing it, Look,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: today's Morning Jolt is all about how we got here.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: First of all, there were no tariffs on almost all U.S.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: goods going to Canada and vice versa under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: trade agreement, which was negotiated by President Trump. Fast forward
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: to this second term. There's an interim Biden term in there.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Trump gets very upset with this, and he announces that
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: he's going to have a 25% tariff on all goods
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: from Mexico and Canada in, like, February 1st. So, you know,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: he's been in office for 10, 11 days. Right out
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: of the gate, he does that. Then Canada does what
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: it calls retaliatory tariffs. And they can point to the
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: fact like, look, you did this, so we're doing that.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: And since then, there's been this constant tit for tat
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: going back and forth over this sort of thing. Now,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: here's the other problem. I went back to the White
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: House document of how they justified this latest round of tariffs.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: And they talked about, you know, the sales of U.S.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: cars in Canada have declined. Yes, because they imposed the
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: tariffs on U.S. automobiles. A lot of Canadian cars get
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: sold here in the United States. A lot of U.S.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: manufactured cars get sold up there in Canada. A lot
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: of auto parts go back and forth. This is a
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: huge problem for people up in your home state of Michigan,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: the auto industry. Say, do you think Mike Rogers wants
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: the U.S. to have a big trade war with Canada?
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Is this going to help him between now and November
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: or is this going to hurt him? It's not going
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: to do any good for them. And then the next
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: question is, you know, why we have a whole bunch
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: of real problems in the country is facing. The US total,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: you know, US total trade with Canada in 2025 was
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: 872 billion. So it's a lot. So the other problem
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: is like out of a $ 30 trillion economy. So if
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: you're trying to say, how do we help the economy
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: between now and, you know, or just in general, we're
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: not really having that much of a hard time getting
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: US goods and services to Canadian consumers. We could quibble
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: about this. We could argue about this in the margin.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: This is really not, it's not like gas prices in
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: terms of problems facing the U.S. economy. So you go
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: down this list and also in terms of dairy products
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: was another thing that the U.S. cited. Well, I went
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: back and checked. U.S. dairy exports to Canada have increased
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: nearly 80% since 2020. This is from the U.S. Department
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: of Agriculture, Foreign Agriculture Service talking about 2025 numbers. So
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: this is in Trump's first term. So we're kind of
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: left with, what problem are we trying to solve here?
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: What is the actual problem that the Canadians are being
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: so unfair to us for? And why is the solution
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: to cause, let's start a large scale trade war with
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: the Canadians like two to three months before election day.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: But oh, by the way, what are states that export
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: a lot to Canada? Well, what is Michigan? What is Maine?
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Is there anything important happening in Maine this year? How
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: about New Hampshire? Are there any important Senate races going on?
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Like every possible state, Ohio, right? These are all states
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: that are reliant upon trade with Canada. And the president
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: is picking this fight. Now, the other thing I'm going
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: to point out, and this is, you know, I could
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: rant about this all day, but just kind of observing,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: would you call Canada the 51st state? Or you call,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: like I enjoy making fun of Justin Trudeau as much
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: as the next guy. But when you call him governor
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: instead of prime minister, and I know they have Carney
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: who's in charge now. By the way, we've punished Justin
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Trudeau enough because he's dating Katy Perry. And apparently she
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: genuinely believes she was an astronaut because she went up
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: on the Blue Origin trip. So like really, Trudeau's gone.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: We don't need to worry about punishing him any further.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: But when you constantly scoff at the notion of Canadian sovereignty...
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Do you think that makes them more cooperative in trade negotiations?
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Do you think that makes them less cooperative in trade negotiations?
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: I think it's pretty obvious. You take the most antagonistic
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: attitude as possible. People end up, and no less a
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: figure than Wilbur Ross, who was Trump's Commerce Secretary in
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: his first administration, who negotiated U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. He says, look,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: it is extremely difficult if you're a Canadian leader to
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: make any concession to Donald Trump right now because the
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Canadian public hates Donald Trump. And again, when you talk
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: about them as the 51st state, nobody wants to make
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: any concessions to you. So this is entirely self-made. The
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: entire routine about renaming the lake or something like that,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: it's silly, it's unresponsive. And oh, by the way, when
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: you impose new tariffs on stuff, that makes products less affordable. Hey,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: what are people thinking about as they head into the midterms? Affordability,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: the cost of living, all of this is self-destructive on
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: the part of the administration.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Well, you mentioned Maine and Susan Collins with a pretty
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: long tweet yesterday saying, I really appreciate Canada's decision to
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: remove seafood and fish products from the retaliatory tariff list.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: These tariffs would have caused tremendous harm to Maine's lobstermen,
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: disrupting one of their most important markets during the fall
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: fishing season.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: I urge the U.S.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: To respond in a show of good faith. Canada's not China.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: Canada's one of our closest allies. And she's strongly stressing
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: everybody to go back to the table. So like you said,
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: there are certain states more than others, but... I don't
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: think this is good for any state necessarily to keep
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: doing this. My youngest daughter right now, as she starts
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: the school year, is mapping North America. She's going to
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: have to pretty much map the entire world and label
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: it by the time this lesson is over. But they're
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: starting with North America and they're starting with Canada, actually,
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: because they're going from top to bottom. And I told
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: her to leave it as Lake Ontario because... It's not,
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: it's not changing because like I said, you got to,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: at least if you're going to change it and you
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: shouldn't change it, but if you're going to change it,
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: you got to start with a no. And I'm not
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: sure what he would want as to starting with a no. Uh,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: so let's just, let's just keep it Ontario.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: I can't come up with an O joke that, that quickly. Sorry, Greg.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: That's okay.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: My, my bad joke was that Buffalo's on Lake Ontario
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: are very close to it, but, uh, Their most famous
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: player probably took himself out of contention due to other
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: activities in his life about 30 years ago. So Lake
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: OJ is not going to happen.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Because for a second, I'm like, Jim Kelly? You're right.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Maybe their most infamous player.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Known for his slashing attack through opposing defenses. Oh, man.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: Let's go and talk about your home and protecting your home.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: And there's no better way to do it, at least
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: in terms of saving huge money from unexpected repairs like
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: sewer lines, water lines, hot water heaters and that sort
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: of thing. Then with HomeServe for just a very small
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: monthly fee, you can make sure that whenever that happens
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: and at some point it probably will, all you have
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: to do is call HomeServe and you won't have to
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: pay a dollar more.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: You know, today your HVAC is probably working fine, plumbing,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: you know, your AC probably got fixed sometime this summer. So,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: you're feeling good about today. Maybe tomorrow. How about the
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: day after that? At some point during winter, your heating
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: system is going to not work or your pipes will
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: freeze or some issue is going to happen. And look,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: homeowners insurance is not going to cover that stuff. So,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: with HomeServe, it's super simple. You choose a plan that
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: fits your needs and your budget. When something on your
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: plan goes wrong, you just call their 24-7 hotline. They
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: will get the repair process started.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: Your next costly home repair is already coming. So act
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: now and get protected with a plan through HomeServe. For
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: 50% less your first year, go to HomeServe.com slash martini
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: to find the plan that's right for you. That's HomeServe.com
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: slash martini for 50% less. Savings compared to renewal price
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: void in Florida. All right, Jim, one of the most
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: depressing general election matchups is, of course, out in Los
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: Angeles for the mayor's race between Karen Bass, who was
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: trained by Cuban revolutionaries back in the 1970s, and somehow
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: a councilwoman who's even further to the left than Karen Bass.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Her name is Nithya Raman. We, of course, documented that
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: race and Spencer Pratt trying to make the runoff and
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: not getting in. But he is commenting on Nithya Raman's
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: latest brag online. Here's what Nithya Raman wrote. The Los
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Feliz Neighborhood Council alerted our office in late 2025 to
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: the need for a crosswalk at Sunset Drive and Bates Street,
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: which has just been completed. Thank you to our incredible
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: CD4 field team for continuing to problem solve, push for solutions,
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: and make our streets safer. And Spencer Pratt says, my sides.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Nithya Raman's big accomplishment is taking nine months to paint
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: seven yellow stripes over a cracked street. How dumb do
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: you have to be to post this? You could tell
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: by the post, it's a badly cracked street. So we're
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: not going to fix that. But apparently they finally made
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: their way over to Home Depot or Lowe's or something
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: and found some yellow paint.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: I guess if you pour enough paint into the crack,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: eventually maybe it would harden and fill, but that's enough. Um,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: when Spencer Pratt lost, first of all, there were a
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: lot of conservatives and just right of center folks or
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: folks who were just exasperated with Karen Bass and just
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: the general entire way the city has been governed for
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: a long time. Who were just, I just think people
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: felt like morally defeated. I think there was just this
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: sense of exhaustion, this sense of, you know, how could
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: you possibly do this? And one of the explanations that
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: came out of this is like, look, it's Los Angeles.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: people don't move out there because they want to get
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: involved in politics. People don't go out there because they
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: want to pay attention to politics. People go out there
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: because they want to live their dreams. They want to
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: be Hollywood stars. And it's just even by the standards
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: of California, Los Angeles apparently has this very detached, politically
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: oblivious mentality towards local government. And, you know, blame it
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: on the crystal waving, blame it on all the sun
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: tanning they do out there, the beautiful weather, whatever. Los
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Angelinos don't like to pay a lot of attention to
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: local politics and local government. And I get that. I
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: think as conservatives, we believe in limited government. We would
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: like a government that we don't have to think about
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: too much. I think what we see here are the
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: consequences when you don't pay any attention to government for
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: the better part of a generation. It does not get
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: better on itself. It does not get more responsible by itself.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: it tends to decline to the point where they feel
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: like painting a crosswalk on a road that desperately needs
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: to be repaved is a major accomplishment to brag about. Look,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: I very much would prefer to see Spencer Pratt be
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: the mayor of the city. At minimum, I would like
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: to see him, you know, make the runoff. Did not happen. But, Greg,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: I could see him kind of be... Like, there was
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: an old saying in medieval times that Jester was the
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: only person who could speak the truth because he was
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: funny and because he was kind of seen... He was
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: seen as a fool, but he was allowed to say
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: truths that no one else was. I almost feel like
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Spencer Pratt is turning into like the court jester of
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Los Angeles politics, that he can say things that everybody
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: else can see, i.e. the emperor has no clothes or
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: something like that, and kind of point out the fact
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: that they are bragging about doing the bare minimum and
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: to doing it behind schedule. And I don't know how
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: much they paid for it, but I'm assuming they paid
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: like $ 8 billion for the paint for that crosswalk or
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: something like that.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I always thought big government and people who lean
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: towards socialism, I thought their whole thing was being responsive
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: to the needs of the people. That's their rhetoric anyway.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: The actual response, the actual reality from the socialists and
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: big government is that they don't do well at those things.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: They don't respond well to what the people need, despite
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: having massive budgets and the ability to do it. They
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: just don't do it.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: You know, Greg, given a choice between unresponsive government that
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: has high taxes and lots of spending but never gets
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: anything done, or limited government, smaller government with lower taxes
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: that doesn't get much done, I'll choose the latter, right?
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: That's deliberately not getting much stuff done as opposed to
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: accidentally not getting such much stuff done, which is what
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: they have out in Los Angeles. Exactly.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: Unbelievable. Like we said, not that long ago, having that
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: choice and knowing that one of those people will be
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: mayor for the next four years and that it's probably
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: not going to get any better after that, that's probably
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: time to give U-Haul a call.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: I don't know. Good luck, Sergeant Powell. Yeah, exactly. All right.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: Well, your business might not last that long in LA
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: either with this type of leadership, but for the time being,
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: wherever it is, you definitely want the best possible business
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: communication system so that you can keep your customers happy
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: and attract new ones and respond to those trying to
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: check you out as quickly as possible. And that's why
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: today's episode is brought to you by Quo, spelled Q-U-O,
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: the business phone system built so you never miss a call.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: You know, Greg, Unlike the phone system in Nakatomi Plaza,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Quo works every time you need it. All your calls, texts,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: and voicemails will live in one place, so anyone on
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: your team can pick up a conversation, see the full history,
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: and respond to a customer fast. It's the number one
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: business phone system on G2, trusted by more than 90,000
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: businesses who rely on it to stay reachable and look
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: professional every single day.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: They did use a chainsaw to disable the phones at Nakatomi,
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: so they do have a little bit of an excuse.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: But money is on the line. Always say hello with Quo.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: Try Quo for free. Plus, get 20% off your first
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: six months when you go to Quo.com slash 3ML. That's
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: Q-U-O dot com slash 3ML.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Quo. No missed calls.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: No missed customers. All right, Jim, on to our kind
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: of a mystery martini here, but it seems to be
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: getting cleared up a little bit thanks to the Wall
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Street Journal. We had heard just dribs and drabs of
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: CIA Director John Ratcliffe heading to Moscow, and no one
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: was really sure why. But here's what the journal reports.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: John Ratcliffe's diplomatic mission to Russia this week was so
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: sensitive that even some senior White House officials didn't know
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: about it ahead of time. President Trump personally dispatched the
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: CIA chief and kept trusted allies and military leaders who
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: normally would have been briefed on the trip in the
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: dark about the message he would deliver to senior Kremlin officials.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: By sending the spy agency chief, Trump relied on a
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: different aid after previous rounds of negotiations using other trusted
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: envoys failed to stop the fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: Over the past few months, Moscow has escalated its attack
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: on Ukraine, boosted support for Iran's regime, and resisted America's
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: attempts to improve economic ties. Ratcliffe's secretive journey, which included
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: flying into Moscow in an unmarked USC-17 military cargo plane
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: from Latvia, sent European officials scrambling for information after news
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: of the visit spread. Some of those officials said after
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: being briefed, two European officials said the CIA director reinforced
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: to his Russian intelligence counterparts that the U.S. remained committed
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Article 5, which says
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: that an attack on one member is considered an attack
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: on all. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Ratcliffe
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: warned Russian officials not to attack NATO countries. So, Jim,
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: if it was that super secretive, that suggests that we
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: must have some intel that they've Maybe we're planning to
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: attack an actual member of NATO, which Ukraine is not
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: at this point. But how do you read this and
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: what do you make of the fact of how this
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: was carried out?
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, first of all, listeners who are fans of
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump, hit record. Donald Trump handled this one just right.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: Good job, Mr. President. Good job, CIA Director Ratcliffe. This
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: is exactly the right message to send to the Russians.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: And sending the CIA director is a very clear and
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: direct way of sending that message. So bravo all around.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: End quote. Now, the next thing, the fact that they
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: felt the need to do this is kind of ominous.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Listeners probably recall that I was out two weeks in Finland,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Latvia and Poland talking to NATO officials, talking to military officials,
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: foreign ministers, folks like that. And one, you know, it's
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: no surprise. Yes, Russia has been involved in hybrid warfare
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: against NATO for a long time. Sometimes it's drone incursions.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it's cyber attacks. Sometimes it's propaganda and misinformation and
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: things like that. A wide variety of fronts. And it
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: generally is getting worse. And the general sense is that
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: this is probing. This is basically a sense of like,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: how much can we do until NATO reacts? And then
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: how do they react? And how quickly do they react?
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: And can we develop countermeasures for the way that they're
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: reacting and stuff like that? And month by month, even
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: since that trip in May, it's gotten worse. You're seeing
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: more drone incursions and things like that. There was a
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: drone with explosives that was found near the airport in Leipzig, Germany,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: that people fear might have been an attempt. There was
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: also a plane in Germany that had a collision with something.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: They're not 100% sure what it was, but there's fears
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: or suspicions that it was some sort of drone that
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: the plane was able to safely land. But basically, it's
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: a question of, you know, is this a test run
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: for something much worse? So on the one hand, great job.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: On the other hand, they felt the need to do this,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: which indicates that basically what's happened already so far I
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: certainly suggest they saw something worse coming down the pike.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: And one of the things that I've heard quite a
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: bit of talk about is that Russia at some point
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: could attempt a minor military incursion. Basically, there are small
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: villages in the Baltics that are right next to the border.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: When I was out there, I got to go to
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: the Polish border with Belarus. Belarus is very closely aligned
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: with Russia. They've got a large fence. The Polish military
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: guys out there seemed really ready to deal with anything
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: that was there. But the fear is, Russia would make
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: some sort of basically just symbolic incursion of we're going
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: to take this tiny patch of land here. What are
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: you going to do about it? And kind of this
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: question of basically, is America really willing to risk an
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: all out war with Russia over this tiny patch of
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: land in Estonia or Latvia or Lithuania? And if the U.S. doesn't,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: does that kind of demonstrate that Article 5 isn't really
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: in effect, that we won't honor our promises and that
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: we don't really treat an attack on one as an
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: attack on all? So hopefully this has the deterrent effect
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: we would like to see. Apparently, I just already this morning,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: I saw there were more reports of incursions into Finnish
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: airspace up by the Arctic Circle. So maybe not. But
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: I'm glad the administration did this. And I'm hoping this
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: sends a clear message and Russia dials things down. This
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: is something worth keeping an eye on in the weeks ahead.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: See, this is why you want a republic or a democracy.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, Putin for the last four years has probably,
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: I don't know, you know the number, I don't exactly,
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: of how many Russians have been sent into the meeting.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: grinder that he couldn't care less about. And now he's
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: thinking about going to another country when he's getting his
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: butt kicked in many different ways in Ukraine.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, just killed in action. Last I checked, I want
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: to say different groups will give you different estimates, but
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: the number was 300,000 to 400,000. That's just killed not
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: counting missing in action, not counting injured. Injured, I think
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: they're now the 1.5 million. For perspective, the United States
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: had 55,000 soldiers killed in the Vietnam War over a
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: 20-year period. So I guess we're coming up on like
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: four and a half years of warfare. Russia has experienced
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: six to eight, maybe it's even up to nine Vietnams
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: in that time period. Russian demographics are going to be
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: changed by this war. It's been absolutely disastrous for them.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: But they keep doing it because this is what Putin wants.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: And I suppose he gets briefed all the time. Oh,
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: we're just, you know, one more month away from a
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: big victory. We're going to break through the lines. We're
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: going to take Kiev, blah, blah, blah. So, you know,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: on the one hand, it's kind of maddening. On the
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: other hand, you know, if you, he thinks eventually he
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: will win this contest of wills and it's up to
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: us to make sure that he does not.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: Wow. If he's pushing 400,000, he's getting close to the U.S.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: death total in World War II, which is amazing. Of course,
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: the The Russians lost over 20 million in World War II,
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: so by that standard, I guess he probably thinks he's
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: doing pretty well.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: But they are not.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: They are not at all. So crazy that he's thinking
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: about expanding this war. Anyway, in a moment, we'll be
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: talking about how Jim reported something very clearly, and others
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: somehow just couldn't get the message.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Music All right.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: As you know, Jim not only writes The Morning Jolt
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: and many other things for National Review, he's also a
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: columnist with The Washington Post and both The Washington Post
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: and National Review. He's mentioned that if AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: runs for president in 2028, she'll probably be a fairly
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: formidable candidate because she'll probably get the Bernie Sanders endorsement
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: pretty quickly. And that, unfortunately, carries a lot of weight
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: in Democratic circles. And he said that'll particularly affect a
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: helper in a couple of early states that Bernie Sanders
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: did well in. And one of them where she'll be
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: competitive is Nevada. And so one of the writers or
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: maybe multiple writers over at Politico Playbook say conventional wisdom
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: in Washington suggests a progressive a la Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: a shoe-in to win Nevada's Democratic presidential primary in 2028.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: They say the theory is making the rounds from X
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: to the Washington Post editorial page and the National Review.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: And then goes on to say, you know, what we
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: just summed up here. And they say that theory is wrong,
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: according to Nevada Democrats. The fun part is, is that
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: whether it's X or the Washington Post editorial page or
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: National Review, they're quoting Jim, but they couldn't put those
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: pieces together. So, Jim, this had you pretty fired up today.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: First of all, Greg, thank you for accurately characterizing my
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: views and taking the time to do that. And also
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: thank you for calling us National Review. We're not the
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: National Review. Batman is just Batman. He's not the Batman, right?
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: I know on this podcast, I come across hopefully as
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: a nice, funny, easygoing guy, and I can be that.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: But when I feel like someone has wronged me. I
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: get possessed by the spirit of the late Sam Kinison.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: And I just kind of get really. And Mrs. Garrity
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: thought that I was going to lose my mind this morning. Now,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: in the grand scheme of human history, this is probably
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: not as bad as say, Chairman Mao. But to me,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: the outrage level is roughly comparable. So one, like the
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: bizarreness of saying from X to Watch Post editorial page
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: and the National Review, Like, they only provide links for
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: two of them. Both of them are to me, right?
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: So there's a question of, like, why can't you just
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: say Jim Garrity? But then the second thing is, is
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: that she's a shoe. I never said that. And as
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: you characterized, one, Bernie Sanders did win by a very
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: wide margin in 2020. That was the last time there
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: was a competitive caucus out there in Nevada.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: If she runs, I think it's very likely she gets
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: endorsed by Bernie Sanders. And I think that would be
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: a pretty big advantage. Now, the argument that they're talking
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: to from this Democratic Party official or this culinary union
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: official out in Nevada is that Nevada is more populist
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: than socialist. It's more so it's not really a progressive angle. OK,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: I'm willing to listen to that argument. I still think
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: she's fairly, you know, got a decent shot at that
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: at that state. But at no point did I say
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: she was a shoo-in or that she was a certain,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: you know, I just think that being the Sanders endorsed
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: candidate in a state that Bernie Sanders won by a
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: lot is probably going to be an advantage in this state. Also,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: she's got high name recognition. She's going to have a
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: ton of money, all this other stuff. But they didn't.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: And I think my suspicion is that they got that
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: and then they started looking for who's saying AOC is
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: a shoo-in. The problem is there isn't anybody who's saying
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: she's a shoo-in. But my comments of saying, you know,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: she'll probably have some advantages here. That's as close as
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: they could find. And they went with that. And it's
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: not an accurate characterization of my views. I think the bizarre...
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: By the way, the Washington Post... I'm a contributing columnist, right?
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: Once a week, I send in a column. They either
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: like the idea or they don't like the idea. Thankfully,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: most weeks, they like the idea. But when I'm writing...
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: That's me. The Washington Post editorial board did not sit
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: around and say, oh, let's kind of agree with this.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: I kind of feel like it's unfair to one of
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: my employers. It's unfair to National Review because we're– dang it.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: We are National Review. We're not the. There's never been
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: a the. You're not the Politico. This is the three-martini lunch.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: But nonetheless, I just– But the last thing, first of all,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: there's seven people who are involved in writing Politico's playbook newsletter. Seven.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: I write The Morning Jolt. The great Sarah Schuette edits it,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: tries to save me from myself, picks out the typos
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: and all that stuff, makes it coherent and literate. And
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: then there are other folks who are involved in production
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: and it goes out there, right? And so if it's bad,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: if it's screwed up, blame me. There's nobody else for
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: me to blame. They have a team of seven. And
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: this all got through all of this and blatantly mischaracterized
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: my views. And it couldn't even save me by name.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: So like, yeah. I'm in a great mood for the weekend, Greg.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: I can tell. I think everybody's ready for the weekend.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: So let's get to it. Jim, have a good one.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: I'll see you Monday. See you Monday, Greg.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: Jim Garrity, National Review. I'm Greg Karumbas of Radio America.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for being with us today. Please be
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: sure to subscribe to the 3 Martini Lunch podcast. If
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: you don't already, tell your friends to listen as well.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: We'd love to have them. Thanks also for your five-star
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: ratings and your kind reviews. Please keep those coming. Get
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: us on your home devices. All you have to say
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: is play 3 Martini Lunch podcast. Follow us both on X.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: He's at Jim Garrity.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: I'm at Greg Karumbas.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: And follow 3 Martini Lunch on Facebook and Instagram. Have
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: a terrific weekend, and please join us on Monday for
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: the next Three Martini Lunch.