Latest / The Hugh Hewitt Show: Highly Concentrated / The Budget, Medicare Reform, and Blue vs Red Higher-Ed

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The Budget, Medicare Reform, and Blue vs Red Higher-Ed · The Hugh Hewitt Show: Highly Concentrated

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to today's podcast sponsored by Hillsdale College. All things
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Hillsdale at hillsdale.edu. I encourage you to take advantage of
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the many free online courses there. And of course, to
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: listen to the Hillsdale Dialogues, all of them at hueforhillsdale.com
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: or just Google Apple, iTunes, and Hillsdale. Good morning, glory,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: and evening grace, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Oil's at $ 90
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: a barrel, and we smashed up the Iranian something good
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Over the last two days, and they've decided to go quiet,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: so I don't have any news of ongoing attacks or
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  Speaker 1: anything like that. I've got a lot of Abdul El-Sayed news.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: I've got some James Tallarico news. I've got lots of news.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Scott Besant news. I've got lots of good guests. John
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Podhortz is coming up. Mary Catherine Hamm. A lot of
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: good people coming up today. I'm going to start, though,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: with an admonition that what you think you know absolutely
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: may not be true. All right, what you think you
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: are absolutely positively sure of, you may be, in fact,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: remembering wrongly. Montaigne wrote an essay, French essayist from the
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  Speaker 1: 16th century. And in there somewhere is the line, the
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  Speaker 1: more certain I am, the more certain I am absolutely wrong.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: And I've never been able to find it because it
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: was a decade ago when I read him closely. But
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: it's in there somewhere. And so for the last four months,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: I've been telling you my left shoulder is a, something's
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  Speaker 1: wrong with it. And for the last many months, I've
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  Speaker 1: been telling a physical therapist, both in Virginia and in Maine,
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  Speaker 1: and that, yeah, I got a shoulder problem. Let's work
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  Speaker 1: on it. It doesn't feel as bad as my right
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  Speaker 1: shoulder did when I had rotator cuff surgery on it.
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  Speaker 1: And Dwayne remembers when I had rotator cuff because we
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: were doing events for AM 1280, the Patriot in Minnesota.
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  Speaker 1: back in the day at the Minnesota State Fair, and
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  Speaker 1: we'd go once a winter because they liked to do something.
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  Speaker 1: So I'd hue-hue it on ice, hue-hue it on ice twice,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: hue-hue it on ice thrice, hue-hue it on ice Roman
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  Speaker 1: numeral four, and we just did various things, like a
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  Speaker 1: hockey game. But one year, Tarzan and Joe went with us,
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  Speaker 1: and we played a hockey game, but I couldn't play
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  Speaker 1: in the hockey game. I would have been fabulous, by
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  Speaker 1: the way. Dwayne was not so fabulous. He did not
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  Speaker 1: fall down. not particularly mobile, but he did not fall down.
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  Speaker 1: And I couldn't because I had that rotator cuff surgery
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  Speaker 1: thing on where you, like you wear a shoulder bumper
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  Speaker 1: and your arm is immobilized and you hurt all the time.
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  Speaker 1: So I flew with it. I got there. I had
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  Speaker 1: that thing on there and it eventually got better. So
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  Speaker 1: I told PT1, PT2, and a physician's assistant, a nurse
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  Speaker 1: practitioner today, well, I I had my rotator cuff done.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know. I can't remember when. On my right shoulder,
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  Speaker 1: but this is my left shoulder. And she smiled and said,
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  Speaker 1: what shoulder? I said, my right shoulder. And she turned
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  Speaker 1: the x-ray around. In fact, the screw, that's what they
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  Speaker 1: used back then, is in my left shoulder. So I
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  Speaker 1: had completely misled everyone because I was certain it was
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  Speaker 1: my right shoulder. It was 20-plus years ago that I
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  Speaker 1: tore my rotator cuff. Lifting weights, which will bring me
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  Speaker 1: to El Sayed and Ahsan Piker in a moment. Lifting
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  Speaker 1: weights is bad for you. This is what I learned.
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  Speaker 1: Don't do overheads. Because that will snap your rotator cuff.
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  Speaker 1: But I had the wrong shoulder. So she flipped the
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  Speaker 1: x-ray around. And there's a screw in my left shoulder.
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  Speaker 1: And this leads to a lot of different things with
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  Speaker 1: a rotator cuff. And none of them are great. But
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  Speaker 1: I said, you know, it just wasn't pleasant. I had
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  Speaker 1: the best doctor in Southern California, Dr. Ben Rubin, of
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  Speaker 1: whom she was aware. Because he was like Mr. Shoulder Surger.
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  Speaker 1: He might be listening right now. Great man, running around
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  Speaker 1: Southern California, fine doctor, excellent doctor. But over 20 years,
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  Speaker 1: you forget, right? You don't want to remember that. So
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  Speaker 1: I think it's like blanking out uncomfortable experiences. So just
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  Speaker 1: be careful. If you can't remember your left shoulder from
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  Speaker 1: your right shoulder, and it's been 20 years, you can't
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  Speaker 1: be certain. I am certain, however, that Abdul El-Sayed is
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  Speaker 1: a very bad, radical candidate that you should not vote for.
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  Speaker 1: Anyone in Michigan listening to me in Michigan right now,
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  Speaker 1: Here he is on The Breakfast Club, cut number 14.
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  Speaker 2: As a Muslim man, you know what it feels like
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  Speaker 2: to have an entire community judging you through the actions
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  Speaker 2: of a few extremists, right?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Do you have a special responsibility to recognize when Jewish
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  Speaker 2: Americans feel that same collective judgment happening to them?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: I mean, this is the thing is, Judaism and the
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  Speaker 5: Jewish people are not the same as... Israel and AIPAC.
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  Speaker 1: They're not the same.
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  Speaker 4: I wish more people would say that.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, and I think it needs to be said. And,
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  Speaker 5: you know, I always use the example of Egypt. My
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  Speaker 5: family immigrated from Egypt. When I'm elected, I'm probably going
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  Speaker 5: to be the loudest critic of the Egyptian government in
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  Speaker 5: the whole U.S.
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  Speaker 1: Senate.
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  Speaker 5: And I would hate if somebody were to say, well,
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  Speaker 5: you're now accountable for what the government of Egypt did
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  Speaker 5: because you happen to share the same ethnicity of the people.
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  Speaker 4: Who live there.
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  Speaker 5: And so I think we have to take great care
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  Speaker 5: not to allow what are righteous criticisms of the Israeli
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  Speaker 5: government to then cast upon Judaism or the Jewish people anywhere.
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  Speaker 5: And holding that line is really critical. And you asked
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  Speaker 5: me earlier about Hassan. That's the point at which when
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  Speaker 5: you look at the clip that was circulated That's the
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  Speaker 5: point at which you're like, hey, you have the right
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  Speaker 5: to your advocacy, even if it's something I disagree with.
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  Speaker 5: And nobody should ever feel justified to do harm to you.
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  Speaker 5: And whether it was intended to be said, or that's
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  Speaker 5: how it came out, is really important for us, whatever
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  Speaker 5: platform we have, that we're constantly operating in that like
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  Speaker 5: first do no harm principle that I, you know, I
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  Speaker 5: learned in med school, which is you cannot... put communities
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  Speaker 5: in harm's way as they advocate or you advocate. You
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  Speaker 5: just advocate for the thing that you believe in and
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  Speaker 5: why and make the argument with the passion you need
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  Speaker 5: to make it. But recognize that because you disagree in
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  Speaker 5: an argument does not ever justify anybody doing physical harm
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  Speaker 5: to the folks with whom you disagree.
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  Speaker 1: All right. Word salad time. Word salad time. He's going
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  Speaker 1: to be a critic of the Egyptian government. I would
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  Speaker 1: love to find out why. I'd love to know what exactly...
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  Speaker 1: Is it because they've walled up Gaza and they won't
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  Speaker 1: let people leave Gaza? Is it because they disowned Gaza
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  Speaker 1: after owning it for centuries? Is it because they overthrew,
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  Speaker 1: el-Sisi and the military overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood when they were...
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  Speaker 1: What's he going to be a critic of the Egyptian
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  Speaker 1: government for? And by the way, he snuck AIPAC in there.
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  Speaker 1: He's not talking about... He didn't even articulate an argument
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  Speaker 1: about why he's upset with Israel, which would require... what
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  Speaker 1: would the appropriate response to the massacre of 10-7 be? Well,
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  Speaker 1: what should they have done? Should they have waited for
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  Speaker 1: the next one? That would require, actually, him going in
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  Speaker 1: harm's way and talking to someone like me, who would
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  Speaker 1: like to know, why did you throw AIPAC in there?
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  Speaker 1: It's the American-Israel Political Action Committee. It is primarily, probably overwhelmingly,
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  Speaker 1: probably 95% made up of Jewish Americans, and it represents
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  Speaker 1: the interests of Jewish Americans, which are overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly pro-Israel
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  Speaker 1: and the Jewish state's right to exist as a self-proclaimed
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  Speaker 1: Jewish state. And there are many Muslim states in the world,
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  Speaker 1: and they have a right to exist. Why are you
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  Speaker 1: singling out AIPAC and Israel? What is your position on Sudan?
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  Speaker 1: What is your position on the Assad genocide? What is
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  Speaker 1: your position on the Khmer Rouge? Why are you so
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  Speaker 1: obsessed with Israel? I would like to hear that talked about.
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  Speaker 1: But Abdul El-Sayed, just as a gift that keeps on giving.
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  Speaker 1: Cut number 15.
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  Speaker 5: The point I make is I'm not a socialist. I've
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  Speaker 5: never called myself a socialist. People like to call me
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  Speaker 5: a socialist, right? People like to call me all kinds
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  Speaker 5: of things. But I'm for small business. And I want
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  Speaker 5: our tax dollars to be spent on infrastructure and small business.
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  Speaker 6: That's what I want.
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  Speaker 1: And health care, right?
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  Speaker 5: And I would ask that you move that message as
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  Speaker 5: you're having that conversation.
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  Speaker 1: Did he say white people? Let me hear that again.
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  Speaker 1: Cut number 15.
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  Speaker 5: The point I make is I'm not a socialist. I've
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  Speaker 5: never called myself a socialist. People like to call me
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  Speaker 5: a socialist, right? People like to call me all kinds
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  Speaker 5: of things. But I'm for small business. And I want
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  Speaker 5: our tax dollars.
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  Speaker 1: White people. This guy is so fixated on race and
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  Speaker 1: identity politics. This guy is a bad news guy. Here
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  Speaker 1: is Abdul El-Sayed talking about 9-11. Cut 22.
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  Speaker 7: We noticed that there were some resurface posts on 9-11
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  Speaker 7: that And I was wondering if it's making.
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  Speaker 8: It challenging to reach more Republican or more moderate voters
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  Speaker 8: in this race.
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  Speaker 5: Well, I mean, I think all of us look back
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  Speaker 5: and say 9-11 was an awful thing that happened in
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  Speaker 5: this country. And I think all of us also look
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  Speaker 5: back and say, think about all the wars that were fought.
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  Speaker 5: And how much safer do we feel like they made us?
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  Speaker 5: How many lives did they ruin? And my point is
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  Speaker 5: just to say that what happened on 9-11 is a disaster.
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  Speaker 4: It was a terrible attack on our country.
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  Speaker 5: And our responsibility is also to think about how do
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  Speaker 5: we build.
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  Speaker 4: An America where we are protecting our servicemen.
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  Speaker 5: And women from being asked to fight wars we have
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  Speaker 5: no business fighting that ultimately end up doing harm to people.
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  Speaker 1: And we're saying that right now. I understand Joe Biden
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  Speaker 1: screwed the pooch on this. And we're coming up on
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  Speaker 1: the anniversary again of 9-11 and after that. Every year
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  Speaker 1: on September 1, we're going to have an anniversary of
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  Speaker 1: when we scampered out of Afghanistan and left it in chaos.
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  Speaker 1: But I just, think people need to hear him when
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  Speaker 1: he talks this way. He is a radical. And when
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  Speaker 1: I think of 9-11, I don't think about Iraq and
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  Speaker 1: Afghanistan because we have not been attacked at home by
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  Speaker 1: Islamist radicals since then. We have kept the fight far
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  Speaker 1: away from the United States. There has not been another
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  Speaker 1: 9-11 because of the actions of W and Obama and
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  Speaker 1: Trump and Biden. And I don't think Al-Sayed gets that.
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  Speaker 1: And I think he's a really bad guy, a really
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  Speaker 1: bad guy, a really radical bad guy who needs to
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  Speaker 1: be asked some serious questions about what he would have
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  Speaker 1: done and what he would have said and what he
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: thinks America ought to do about Islamist radicals. Because I
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: don't think Michiganders are going to like those answers. Stay tuned.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Hugh Hewitt. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Pleased
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  Speaker 1: to welcome back Congressman Steve Womack. He is from the
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  Speaker 1: 3rd District in Arkansas. But more importantly to me, he's
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  Speaker 1: a member of my favorite subcommittee. My favorite committee is
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  Speaker 1: the Committee on Appropriations. My favorite subcommittee is the Defense
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  Speaker 1: Appropriations Subcommittee because that actually protects the United States. Ken
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  Speaker 1: Calvert's the chair. Steve Womack's on it. David Joyce is
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  Speaker 1: on it. They've got great members. Congressman, welcome. We did
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  Speaker 1: a CR until after the elections. is there going to
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  Speaker 1: be a serious defense spend after the elections?
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  Speaker 9: Oh, there has to be. At least that's our goal. But,
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  Speaker 9: you know, I speak like an appropriator. That's my committee. Ben,
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  Speaker 9: I'm a little surprised that you touted the fact that
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  Speaker 9: I'm a defense appropriator, but I also chair the Transportation
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  Speaker 9: and Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee, so I write that
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  Speaker 9: particular piece of legislation.
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  Speaker 10: And, you know, Let's give a little bit of a
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  Speaker 10: tip of the.
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  Speaker 9: Hat to our transportation and our housing programs as well.
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  Speaker 10: But defense, you're right, Hugh. Defense is a huge deal.
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  Speaker 9: It's a trillion-plus dollar expense to the United States of
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  Speaker 9: America to protect our freedom. And it is essential that
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  Speaker 9: we finish our work here before the end.
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  Speaker 10: Of the calendar year.
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  Speaker 9: It's not going to happen before the 1st of October,
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  Speaker 9: but certainly when we come back after the midterms, we
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  Speaker 9: have to get a defense bill out. And I've got
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  Speaker 9: to tell you, the bills are piling up right now. They've,
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  Speaker 9: you know, robbing Peter to pay Paul in the Pentagon
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  Speaker 9: to be able to prosecute the war and to be
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  Speaker 9: able to carry on, make payroll, those kinds of things.
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  Speaker 9: We had a big discussion yesterday among the cardinals on
• 12:29
  Speaker 9: our committee about that very subject, that, you know, making
• 12:33
  Speaker 9: payroll in September could be difficult there in that second,
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  Speaker 9: the last two weeks of the month.
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  Speaker 10: I hope that we get all that ironed out, but
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  Speaker 10: at the end of the day.
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  Speaker 9: We've got to get a defense bill out because we've
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  Speaker 9: got some very serious issues mounting that are going to
• 12:47
  Speaker 9: require resources.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Congressman Womack, it does cross over, transportation and defense.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if ports are in your portfolio. Are
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  Speaker 1: they in your portfolio?
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  Speaker 10: I've got maritime.
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  Speaker 1: I do. Yeah, that's part of the bigger picture, and
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  Speaker 1: we've got to build some ships in the United States
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  Speaker 1: for this, but the immediate need The president's ask is
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  Speaker 1: for a trillion and a half dollars. And the CR,
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  Speaker 1: the Democrats agreed to. I don't know how we're going
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  Speaker 1: to replenish the stockpiles. And you've got some builds going
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  Speaker 1: on in Arkansas with the munitions. Senator Cotton tells me
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  Speaker 1: about that. We've got to pay for all this stuff
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  Speaker 1: before I worry about anything else. I worry about the
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  Speaker 1: defense of the United States. Do you think your colleagues
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  Speaker 1: across the aisle get sober about defense spending when they
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  Speaker 1: come back after the election?
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  Speaker 11: Well.
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  Speaker 9: In many cases, Hugh, the only way they get sober
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  Speaker 9: on defense spending is if you can go dollar for
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  Speaker 9: dollar for the non-defense piece.
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  Speaker 10: And we know we can't do that.
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  Speaker 9: But, look, we have some serious concerns about, you know,
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  Speaker 9: the magazine depth of a lot of our munitions, the
• 13:51
  Speaker 9: ability for this country to be able to prosecute some
• 13:54
  Speaker 9: conflict elsewhere, you know, other than Iran. Read maybe in
• 13:58
  Speaker 9: the South China Sea articles. And our adversaries look at
• 14:01
  Speaker 9: us right now, and they know, they read our stories.
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  Speaker 9: They know exactly what we're doing. And we have to
• 14:09
  Speaker 9: send to the defense industrial base a real demand signal.
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  Speaker 9: And Congress has to be ready to step up to
• 14:17
  Speaker 9: the plate and resource a lot of this. We've given
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  Speaker 9: multi-year funding, and we've got all these.
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  Speaker 10: Projects that we need to execute.
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  Speaker 9: But whether it's shipbuilding or munitions, magazine depth, or you
• 14:32
  Speaker 9: pick from the menu of all of the other associated
• 14:35
  Speaker 9: intricacies about providing for the common defense of this country.
• 14:39
  Speaker 9: And you've got to know that Congress has a big
• 14:41
  Speaker 9: role in this, and we need to get our work done.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: Now I'm going to judo you and do a backflip.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: You were chair of the Budget Committee. The bond market,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: the international bond market, is in revolt. over the borrowing
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: that's going on worldwide. No one is a bigger offender
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: than the United States, $ 40 trillion in debt, but we
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: have the largest economy in the world. What do we
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: do about this? Because I believe we've got to spend
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: on defense what I just said. You've got entitlement. What
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: are we going to do?
• 15:10
  Speaker 10: Well, you can't speak with forked tongue.
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  Speaker 9: You can't, on one hand, say we need to spend
• 15:14
  Speaker 9: more money on defense and then turn around and say,
• 15:17
  Speaker 9: but we've got to satisfy a $ 2 trillion hole in
• 15:20
  Speaker 9: our budget and try to do that at the same time.
• 15:23
  Speaker 10: Look, don't shoot the messenger, Hugh.
• 15:25
  Speaker 9: Let me just tell you the problem. And this is
• 15:29
  Speaker 9: an inconvenient truth for a lot of people. We have
• 15:32
  Speaker 9: overpromised our nation to our people. And the social safety
• 15:37
  Speaker 9: net structure, as was written back in the 1930s and
• 15:42
  Speaker 9: in the 1960s, read Social Security and Medicare, are not
• 15:46
  Speaker 9: consistent and wouldn't pass a basic actuarial study that if
• 15:52
  Speaker 9: you were trying to apply those metrics to the conditions
• 15:55
  Speaker 9: of today. Most people are living well into their 70s
• 16:00
  Speaker 9: and 80s now. When those programs were crafted, life expectancy
• 16:06
  Speaker 9: wasn't anything like that. So people are in these programs longer.
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  Speaker 9: And in the time you and I are talking today,
• 16:12
  Speaker 9: on this day, 10,000 people are going to age into
• 16:16
  Speaker 9: those programs. And so The social safety net program and
• 16:21
  Speaker 9: what we call the mandatory spending of the country continues
• 16:24
  Speaker 9: to go higher and higher, unchecked by the politicians in Washington.
• 16:28
  Speaker 9: We have to do something about that. Now, what something
• 16:31
  Speaker 9: looks like can be anybody's debate, whether it's going to
• 16:35
  Speaker 9: be tax increases or benefit cuts or age of eligibility
• 16:40
  Speaker 9: or means testing. I mean, there's a whole lot of
• 16:43
  Speaker 9: things that you can put on the table to try
• 16:45
  Speaker 9: to fix this problem.
• 16:46
  Speaker 10: But as this.
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  Speaker 9: Problem continues, Hugh, it is straining the discretionary budget of
• 16:52
  Speaker 9: the U.S. government, and that's precisely where and how we
• 16:55
  Speaker 9: fund our national security apparatus.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: So, Congressman, this is the 27th year of this program,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: and I've been saying for 27 years that back when
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: I was at OPM, we moved out of the guaranteed
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: benefit program to the guaranteed contribution program for federal employees,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: and it took 30 years to make the transition, but
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: it's over now. So you can look 30 years. Why
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: doesn't anyone sit down and simply say we're going to
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: raise retirement by a month, a year for the next
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: 40 years, or we're going to add a quarter of
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: a percent tax to the Medicare eligible for the next
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: 20 years just to get five? Why don't we do that?
• 17:36
  Speaker 10: It's pretty simple. It's a hard vote for a lot
• 17:38
  Speaker 10: of people to take.
• 17:39
  Speaker 9: I'm ready to take the vote because I fully understand
• 17:41
  Speaker 9: the problem. I was a chairman of the Budget Committee.
• 17:44
  Speaker 9: Back in 2018.
• 17:46
  Speaker 10: I did one thing.
• 17:47
  Speaker 9: A lot of people don't know this, but when I
• 17:50
  Speaker 9: was doing my budget resolution for 2019, I did one
• 17:53
  Speaker 9: thing in the area of the social safety net program
• 17:57
  Speaker 9: that made my point.
• 17:59
  Speaker 10: As to why this is a tough vote.
• 18:01
  Speaker 9: And all I did was I equalized the age of
• 18:04
  Speaker 9: eligibility for Medicare with Social Security, took it from 65
• 18:08
  Speaker 9: to 67. Of course, it was a ramp up type process.
• 18:12
  Speaker 9: But when I presented that budget, to my committee. I
• 18:15
  Speaker 9: got it out on a party-line vote, but when I
• 18:17
  Speaker 9: took it to the leader.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: At the time, Mr.
• 18:19
  Speaker 10: McCarthy, he told me he couldn't put that bill on
• 18:22
  Speaker 10: the floor.
• 18:23
  Speaker 9: When I asked why, and of course I knew why,
• 18:25
  Speaker 9: it was because we were messing with Medicare. It is
• 18:29
  Speaker 9: a toxic vote for a lot of people to say,
• 18:33
  Speaker 9: we've got to.
• 18:34
  Speaker 10: Do something to this.
• 18:36
  Speaker 9: If we're going to sustain the program, if the program
• 18:39
  Speaker 9: is going to survive, if it's not going to implode,
• 18:41
  Speaker 9: Congress has to act.
• 18:42
  Speaker 10: Now, here's what's important and what I want your viewers
• 18:45
  Speaker 10: to understand.
• 18:47
  Speaker 9: This year, something important is going to happen in this regard.
• 18:52
  Speaker 10: The people elected to the U.S.
• 18:53
  Speaker 9: Senate this year, including up in Michigan, when they run
• 18:58
  Speaker 9: for reelection in 2032, they are going, by the time
• 19:03
  Speaker 9: that vote takes place, they are going to have had
• 19:05
  Speaker 9: a position on how we fix this broken social safety
• 19:09
  Speaker 9: net program. And the next president will have to do
• 19:12
  Speaker 9: the same thing. And so time is up.
• 19:15
  Speaker 10: We've got to act. It's fish or cut bait.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Steve Womack, keep coming back. We need to talk about
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: this often because it is that time and the bond
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: market is screaming at the world. It is that time.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Thank you for your time, Congressman Steve Womack, 3rd District
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: in Arkansas. Great to have you. I'll be right back. America,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: stay tuned. Welcome back. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Jonathan Williams is
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: the president of our sponsor, the American Legislative Exchange Council.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: He's also an ex-tax economist because Jonathan is an economist
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: and a pal. I'm going to go off script here
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: and just ask him. Here at the end of Steve
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: Womack there, Jonathan. what's the bond market telling us and
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: what do the states, what can the states do about that?
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: Well, I mean, it's a great question.
• 19:58
  Speaker 12: I really appreciated your interview there with the Congressman, because
• 20:01
  Speaker 12: I mean, at the end of the day, following the
• 20:03
  Speaker 12: history of, debt issues across countries, it's a whole lot
• 20:07
  Speaker 12: better when policymakers can tackle the problem directly than wait
• 20:11
  Speaker 12: for the bond market to enforce discipline by seeing rates
• 20:15
  Speaker 12: continue to go up and to see it more difficult
• 20:18
  Speaker 12: to carry the interest on our debt. And so what
• 20:20
  Speaker 12: state policymakers need to do is, A, raise their voices
• 20:24
  Speaker 12: like we have with ALEC efforts every single day to
• 20:27
  Speaker 12: our alumni members, more than 100 in the current Congress,
• 20:30
  Speaker 12: to say, Hey, let's enforce some real fiscal rules at
• 20:34
  Speaker 12: the federal level like we have at the state level,
• 20:36
  Speaker 12: where almost all of the states have balanced budget requirements.
• 20:39
  Speaker 12: States like Colorado that we talk about all the time,
• 20:41
  Speaker 12: you have real spending limits through their taxpayers' bill of rights.
• 20:44
  Speaker 12: And there's lots of great solutions here. But, I mean,
• 20:47
  Speaker 12: we've got to start now. And that's the thing.
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: I mean, if we were at $ 40 trillion.
• 20:51
  Speaker 12: There's lots of great state stories. And, you know, it's
• 20:54
  Speaker 12: really time, as the congressman said, is to take action
• 20:58
  Speaker 12: today to address this debt issue, because it's been a
• 21:00
  Speaker 12: bipartisan issue going back decades now.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Time to act today. And the country's out of time,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: as the bond market is telling us. Now, Jonathan, ALEC
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: is nonpartisan. I want to stress that. The American Legislative
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Exchange Council has 2,000 members, state legislators, Democrats, independents, Republicans
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: are all welcome. But there is ALEC envy among progressives.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: They want an ALEC lookalike. What are the Democrats and
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: lefties saying about what they need to set up to
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: rival ALEC? Because they got a bad case of ALEC envy.
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: Well, they really do. You know, it's sort of ironic.
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: You've followed this, Hugh, for many years.
• 21:37
  Speaker 12: You know that the left threw everything but the kitchen
• 21:40
  Speaker 12: sink at us to try to destroy ALEC. back 10
• 21:43
  Speaker 12: or 15 years ago. They came up short. As they say,
• 21:46
  Speaker 12: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. We built a
• 21:48
  Speaker 12: much more effective organization coming out of that, thanks to
• 21:51
  Speaker 12: the leadership of Lisa Nelson here.
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: Our CEO, our great board of directors.
• 21:56
  Speaker 12: But it's funny that the left tries to kill Alec,
• 21:58
  Speaker 12: and yet then they try to emulate Alec at the
• 22:00
  Speaker 12: very same time. They've been trying to do this for
• 22:02
  Speaker 12: years and keep pouring in millions of dollars of progressive
• 22:06
  Speaker 12: donor funds to try to create a left-wing version of ALEC.
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: And guess what? They've come up with about Zilch.
• 22:12
  Speaker 12: They have not been able to do it.
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: After so many years of trying.
• 22:16
  Speaker 12: And I think at the end of the day, it's
• 22:17
  Speaker 12: just because on the left, one of the pieces in
• 22:21
  Speaker 12: this Stateline story that I found just really fascinating was
• 22:25
  Speaker 12: there was a comment by one of the progressives in
• 22:27
  Speaker 12: the story saying, They were shocked that it's almost like
• 22:29
  Speaker 12: people at ALEC are friends. They're real friends who are
• 22:32
  Speaker 12: in this effort to try to pursue conservative ideas. And
• 22:36
  Speaker 12: if you look at the left of this, I mean,
• 22:38
  Speaker 12: it's kind of a coalition of the coerced that are
• 22:40
  Speaker 12: coming in to look to grow government and get their
• 22:42
  Speaker 12: own piece of the pie versus what we're trying to do,
• 22:45
  Speaker 12: which is to build the pie for all Americans. I
• 22:47
  Speaker 12: think that at the end of the day is why
• 22:49
  Speaker 12: the left will never be successful at trying to replicate ALEC.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: You know, if they had one model policy, just one,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: they would have a shot at this. But the left
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: doesn't have even one model policy that anyone wants. They
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: try a lot of things. None of them work. Jonathan,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: the Energy Academy in Kentucky, I was looking at the notes.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: Energy is cheapest in Kentucky. And by the way, I
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: was doing a separate piece for Fox tomorrow on blue
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: blight and how it spreads out. And I was looking
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: at refineries in California went from 24 in 2000 to
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: 11 today. Cost of energy in California, $ 5. 50 a gallon.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: In Indiana, it's $ 2 cheaper. What is the Energy Academy
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: in Kentucky, and what are the conclusions you're coming up with?
• 23:32
  Speaker 6: Well, it's hitting records this week.
• 23:34
  Speaker 12: As we speak right now, we have legislators there gathering,
• 23:36
  Speaker 12: talking about how to build real energy abundance across the
• 23:40
  Speaker 12: states to stop the war on energy that was started
• 23:43
  Speaker 12: in the Obama years and certainly continued in the Biden years,
• 23:47
  Speaker 12: stop this ESG-style legislating to shut down affordable, reliable energy
• 23:52
  Speaker 12: across the states. And it's not rocket surgery, as we
• 23:55
  Speaker 12: say often with some of these common-sense ALEC policy solutions.
• 23:59
  Speaker 12: It's increasing supply of and continuing to meet the demand
• 24:02
  Speaker 12: where it is today. And that will hit this affordability
• 24:05
  Speaker 12: challenge that we all face today. It's done through real
• 24:08
  Speaker 12: abundance and actually building more reliable, affordable energy. So we're
• 24:12
  Speaker 12: going to be having some great conversations over the next
• 24:14
  Speaker 12: couple of days here in Kentucky with legislators from around
• 24:17
  Speaker 12: the country to accomplish those goals.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Quick exit question, Jonathan. Is anyone building refineries anywhere?
• 24:25
  Speaker 6: Well, there needs to be more of it, right?
• 24:27
  Speaker 12: And a lot of that has been federal requirements pre-Trump
• 24:30
  Speaker 12: administration that stopped it. I mean, thankfully, we had the
• 24:33
  Speaker 12: new major nuclear facility in Georgia go online. We're seeing
• 24:36
  Speaker 12: the small module facilities, but there needs to be more
• 24:39
  Speaker 12: oil and gas refineries, absolutely.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: Well, I hope at the Energy Academy that you do
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: in Kentucky, you'll ask for volunteers because, boy, do we
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: need to build that. Jonathan, always good to see you.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Everyone needs to go to alec.org slash you. including progressives
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: who've got ALEC envy. They should actually investigate what the
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: model policies look like. First, you've got to have model
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: policies that work, and then you can build an ALEC
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: of the left if you want to, but it ain't
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: going to work because socialism doesn't work. Jonathan Williams, always
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: a pleasure. Stay tuned, America. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: I want Sarah Bedford to come on here. Sarah, you
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: have been covering the Iran war from the beginning at
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: the Washington Examiner. Do you think President Trump's strategy has
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: changed in the last month?
• 25:29
  Speaker 7: You know, obviously, we've seen attacks escalate again. There's, you know,
• 25:34
  Speaker 7: some actual kinetic stuff going on after a prolonged period
• 25:38
  Speaker 7: where we weren't seeing fire being exchanged. But President Trump
• 25:42
  Speaker 7: has sort of held the line all along that, look,
• 25:44
  Speaker 7: this combination of economic sanctions, the embargo on the Strait
• 25:49
  Speaker 7: of Hormuz, and the constant threat of attacks if Iran
• 25:53
  Speaker 7: steps outside of the parameters of any sort of tentative
• 25:56
  Speaker 7: ceasefire MOU is going to eventually be enough to get
• 26:01
  Speaker 7: Iran to cave, that economically they can't sustain this civically,
• 26:05
  Speaker 7: that the Iranian people are going to stand up against
• 26:07
  Speaker 7: the regime at some point if the quality of life
• 26:10
  Speaker 7: continues to be so.
• 26:11
  Speaker 13: Bad because of the U.S. pressure regime. So no, I
• 26:14
  Speaker 13: don't think it's changed that much.
• 26:16
  Speaker 7: Republicans in Washington would probably tell you they hope it
• 26:18
  Speaker 7: would change.
• 26:19
  Speaker 13: Actually a little bit more, but Trump appears to be
• 26:21
  Speaker 13: holding the line.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Here is Energy Secretary Chris Wright this morning on CNBC,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: cut number 25.
• 26:30
  Speaker 14: So Monday was our record ever since the conflict began.
• 26:34
  Speaker 14: Over 17 million barrels of oil flowed through the Strait
• 26:38
  Speaker 14: of Hormuz on ships on Monday. If you add the
• 26:42
  Speaker 14: bypass export pipelines, more.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: Than left the region in the pre-conflict.
• 26:47
  Speaker 10: So is Iran trying to challenge that?
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 26:50
  Speaker 15: Are there challenges?
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 26:52
  Speaker 10: But this is the United States Navy.
• 26:54
  Speaker 14: And President Trump taking the one card out of Iran's hands,
• 26:58
  Speaker 14: which is to try to hold the world economic hostage.
• 27:01
  Speaker 10: That's what they've got. They're all in on it.
• 27:03
  Speaker 14: They're causing some disruption, but they are losing that card.
• 27:06
  Speaker 10: President Trump is using the.
• 27:08
  Speaker 14: United States military might and alliances across the world that
• 27:12
  Speaker 14: with or without Iran, oil and gas will flow out of.
• 27:15
  Speaker 10: The Arabian Gulf region.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: And it's happening today. So, Sarah Bedford, one, do you
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: believe him? Two, do you believe Secretary Besant, who said, look,
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: we're at $ 90 a barrel because Ukraine took out half
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: of Russia's refining capability, which they have done with drones.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: And so the $ 90 a barrel isn't the Strait of Hormuz,
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: which is open now to exports from our allies. It
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: is Russian exports not moving out. And that's the worldwide market.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: I am persuaded.
• 27:39
  Speaker 16: Are you?
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 27:41
  Speaker 7: I mean, I think this is a metric that the
• 27:43
  Speaker 7: Trump administration has kept perhaps its closest eye on because
• 27:46
  Speaker 7: they know the political sensitivity at home of the cost
• 27:50
  Speaker 7: of rising energy. It's probably the thing that Trump hears
• 27:53
  Speaker 7: most when he talks to Republicans who are worried about
• 27:56
  Speaker 7: their chances in the midterms, that you've got to make
• 27:58
  Speaker 7: sure that gas prices don't go up, whatever you do
• 28:01
  Speaker 7: in Iran. So I absolutely believe that this is the
• 28:03
  Speaker 7: thing the Trump administration and cares about, at least it's
• 28:07
  Speaker 7: high on the list. And there's no reason to suspect
• 28:13
  Speaker 7: that they're wrong about that.
• 28:15
  Speaker 14: All right.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: So that leads me to the Senate races. The House
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: races are going to be almost impossible to call because
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: of redistricting. I don't know if that Republicans can hang on.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: It would be unprecedented for a six year of a presidency.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: But I follow the Senate races pretty closely. I think
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: El Sayed is so upside down, he can't see the top.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: I think he has just absolutely plummeted in the polls
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: because he acts so erratically. However, the polls say, and
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: I mean three or four of them, that it's tied
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: or he's a little bit ahead. They were off by
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: anywhere from 18 points wrong to seven points, was as
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: close as they came in the primary. Do you even
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: look at them anymore, Sarah?
• 28:53
  Speaker 7: I mean, the primary polling has been an absolute mess
• 28:55
  Speaker 7: from House races to Senate primaries. It's really not painted
• 28:59
  Speaker 7: a clear picture, especially in these races where you had
• 29:03
  Speaker 7: progressive insurgents. I mean, look at what happened in Wisconsin.
• 29:06
  Speaker 7: We were so sure that Francesca Hong was going to
• 29:08
  Speaker 7: be the Democratic gubernatorial nominee. And then it was someone
• 29:11
  Speaker 7: who a few weeks earlier had like dropped out of
• 29:13
  Speaker 7: the race, a total surprise to pollsters. So, you know,
• 29:16
  Speaker 7: there's every reason to believe that the polls aren't painting
• 29:19
  Speaker 7: an accurate picture of what's going on in Michigan. But
• 29:21
  Speaker 7: what really is just surprising to me is that, Hugh,
• 29:24
  Speaker 7: like a year ago, did you think we would be
• 29:26
  Speaker 7: talking about Michigan as a pickup opportunity for Republicans in
• 29:29
  Speaker 7: a year that is not really shaping up to be
• 29:32
  Speaker 7: tilted in their favor. I mean, Michigan was a safe
• 29:35
  Speaker 7: Democratic seat for many years for the incumbent Democratic senator.
• 29:39
  Speaker 7: And now the primary electorate has chosen someone who is
• 29:42
  Speaker 7: potentially so off-putting to the swing voters of Michigan, who
• 29:46
  Speaker 7: just a couple of years ago elected Trump, that that
• 29:48
  Speaker 7: could be a real pickup opportunity for Republicans that I
• 29:51
  Speaker 7: just don't think anybody had on their bingo card a
• 29:54
  Speaker 7: couple of years ago.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: And I don't think Susan Collins is vulnerable. And I
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: think New Hampshire is in play. And I think Peggy
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: Flanagan in Minnesota is vulnerable. And I don't think a
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: lot of people disagree with me about this. I don't
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: think James Tallarico is viable. I just you cannot persuade me.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: I know about Ken Paxton getting impeached. I was for
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: John Cornyn. I'd vote for Ken Paxton a thousand times
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: before I vote for this Tallarico character. Do you think
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: he's viable in Texas? They have to repeal the brand
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: of Texas.
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: If he wins.
• 30:25
  Speaker 7: I think there's enough there that he's said enough weird
• 30:28
  Speaker 7: progressive things in the past that he just seems like
• 30:32
  Speaker 7: he comes from a woke era that's out of favor,
• 30:35
  Speaker 7: even with Democrats, but especially with Democrats in a red state.
• 30:39
  Speaker 13: And we hear every few years, like for the past.
• 30:42
  Speaker 7: Decade plus, that Democrats finally have found the guy that's.
• 30:46
  Speaker 13: Going to flip a Senate seat in Texas. And that
• 30:49
  Speaker 13: just never seems to happen.
• 30:50
  Speaker 7: And I think the one pickup opportunity is, For Republicans,
• 30:54
  Speaker 7: that seems to be slipping away from them is in Georgia.
• 30:57
  Speaker 7: There was maybe some optimism that John Ossoff could be
• 31:01
  Speaker 7: vulnerable heading into this year's midterms, but it doesn't seem
• 31:05
  Speaker 7: to be that way. He seems to be strong and
• 31:07
  Speaker 7: even potentially a 2028 contender. So that seems to be
• 31:10
  Speaker 7: one race that maybe Republicans didn't play as well as
• 31:14
  Speaker 7: they could have or just has moved away from them.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm not ready to write it off yet because
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: I think Ossoff is actually a pretty terrible candidate. But
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: the polls don't show that. I just think they're broken.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Last play for you. Cut number 16, Tallarico from 2020.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: My favorite.
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: We all know that Texas has been a leader in
• 31:31
  Speaker 4: oil and gas.
• 31:32
  Speaker 17: But in many ways, that's like being the leader in
• 31:34
  Speaker 17: cassette tapes in the 1980s.
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: That industry is not going to last.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: And if we'd want to– What do you think about that?
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: The industry, the oil and gas industry is not going
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: to last Texas. How's that going to play in Texas?
• 31:48
  Speaker 13: Oh, my gosh.
• 31:48
  Speaker 7: Paxton must have been salivating the first time that he
• 31:52
  Speaker 7: heard that clip. But you can you think of a
• 31:54
  Speaker 7: worse thing that Tallarico could have said for the Texas electorate?
• 31:59
  Speaker 7: Really a gift to Republicans there and and sort of
• 32:02
  Speaker 7: just shows the ways that he he isn't this like
• 32:05
  Speaker 7: perfect fit for Texas that he was sort of made
• 32:07
  Speaker 7: out to be when he was running against Jasmine Crockett,
• 32:10
  Speaker 7: like he was the Texas everyman. He does come from
• 32:13
  Speaker 7: a really progressive wing of the party. And saying stuff
• 32:16
  Speaker 7: like that on energy as recently as 2020 is obviously
• 32:20
  Speaker 7: going to make this a real uphill battle for him.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: That fella is from the far side of the moon.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: And he is not going to represent Texas in the
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: United States Senate. Ken Paxton is. And I just think
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: that's inevitable. Sarah Bedford, follower on exit Sarah C. Bedford,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: reader in the Washington Examiner. Stay with me. I'm Hugh Hewitt.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: I'll be right back. Morning glory and evening grace, America.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: I'm Hugh Hewitt. Welcome to Hour 2 of today's program.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Leading off with our guest, John Podhorst, editor-in-chief of Commentary Magazine.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: It is the best podcast, period. You should like and
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: subscribe to it. If you listened to it today, you'd
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: learn something about Law & Order that I did not
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: know that it's been on for 30 years. But J-Pod,
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: as he is known fondly among the commentariat. John, I'm
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: going to make you do something for my benefit today.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: I'm going to play you a two-minute clip of Abdul
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: El-Sayed from The Breakfast Club. And then you've got eight
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: minutes of runway to explain to me what he is saying.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: Cut number 14.
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: As a Muslim man, you know what it feels like
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: to have an entire community judging you through the actions
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: of a few extremists, right?
• 33:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: Do you have a special responsibility to recognize when Jewish
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: Americans feel that same collective judgment happening to them?
• 33:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 33:34
  Speaker 5: I mean, this is the thing is, Judaism and the
• 33:37
  Speaker 5: Jewish people are not the same as Israel and AIPAC.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: They're not the same. I wish more people would say that. Yeah.
• 33:43
  Speaker 5: And I think it needs to be said. And, you know,
• 33:46
  Speaker 5: I always use the example of Egypt. My family immigrated
• 33:48
  Speaker 5: from Egypt. When I'm elected, I'm probably going to be
• 33:52
  Speaker 5: the loudest critic of the Egyptian government in the whole U.S.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: Senate.
• 33:57
  Speaker 5: And I would hate if somebody were to say, well,
• 34:00
  Speaker 5: you're now accountable for what the government of Egypt did
• 34:05
  Speaker 5: because you happen to share the same ethnicity of the
• 34:08
  Speaker 5: people who live there. And so I think we have
• 34:11
  Speaker 5: to take great care not to allow what are righteous
• 34:15
  Speaker 5: criticisms of the Israeli government to then cast upon Judaism
• 34:27
  Speaker 5: or the Jewish people anywhere. And holding that line is
• 34:30
  Speaker 5: really critical. And you asked me earlier about Hassan. That's
• 34:35
  Speaker 5: the point at which, when you look at the clip
• 34:38
  Speaker 5: that was circulated, that's the point at which you're like, hey,
• 34:43
  Speaker 5: you have the right to your advocacy, even if it's
• 34:45
  Speaker 5: something I disagree with. And nobody should ever feel justified
• 34:48
  Speaker 5: to do harm to you. And whether it was intended
• 34:51
  Speaker 5: to be said, or that's how it came out, is
• 34:54
  Speaker 5: really important for us, whatever platform we have, that we're
• 34:58
  Speaker 5: constantly operating in that like first do no harm principle
• 35:01
  Speaker 5: that I You know, I learned in med school, which
• 35:03
  Speaker 5: is you cannot put communities in harm's way as they
• 35:08
  Speaker 5: advocate or you advocate. You just advocate for the thing
• 35:10
  Speaker 5: that you believe in and why and make the argument
• 35:13
  Speaker 5: with the passion to make it. But recognize that because
• 35:16
  Speaker 5: you disagree in an argument does not ever justify anybody
• 35:18
  Speaker 5: doing physical harm to the folks with whom you disagree.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: All right, John, what's he trying to say or do there?
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: I have no idea.
• 35:28
  Speaker 16: I mean, I think he's got two months to go.
• 35:33
  Speaker 16: He's got this record of saying despicable things about Israel
• 35:40
  Speaker 16: and Jews and America and his connection to Hassan Piker,
• 35:46
  Speaker 16: who really has said even more despicable things. And he's
• 35:50
  Speaker 16: got to get from here until Election Day in November,
• 35:53
  Speaker 16: and he's never going to not He's hoping, I think,
• 35:58
  Speaker 16: at some point that these questions will subside. And so basically,
• 36:06
  Speaker 16: if you were to take his side here, it's like
• 36:08
  Speaker 16: he's saying, don't worry, I don't support violence against Jews.
• 36:16
  Speaker 16: So I don't like Israel and AIPAC, but I don't
• 36:20
  Speaker 16: support violence against Jews.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: That's it.
• 36:26
  Speaker 16: I mean, we don't support violence against anybody in this country.
• 36:30
  Speaker 16: Violence against another person, unless it's in self-defense, is criminal.
• 36:35
  Speaker 16: So you don't get any points on the board for
• 36:40
  Speaker 16: saying you don't think that Jews should be physically attacked
• 36:45
  Speaker 16: because they're Jews. Jews shouldn't be physically attacked because they're
• 36:50
  Speaker 16: human beings in America. Nobody is supposed to be physically
• 36:53
  Speaker 16: attacking Jews Another person, is this the standard? I mean,
• 36:58
  Speaker 16: he is setting himself a bar so low that, I mean,
• 37:04
  Speaker 16: I hope, you know, even he can clear it, maybe, conceivably.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: Do you think he's very bright?
• 37:13
  Speaker 16: I think he's slick. He is a word salad tosser.
• 37:21
  Speaker 16: And there are different kinds. Obviously, Kamala Harris was famously
• 37:25
  Speaker 16: like a word salad tosser. I think he's better than
• 37:29
  Speaker 16: she is because he sounds thoughtful. He sounds like he's
• 37:35
  Speaker 16: trying to say something sophisticated and complicated and make a
• 37:41
  Speaker 16: sophisticated and complicated point. When you boil it down to
• 37:45
  Speaker 16: the point that he's trying to make, what he's saying is,
• 37:49
  Speaker 16: Jews are buying the American government and I'm going to
• 37:53
  Speaker 16: fight them with everything they have. But don't attack them,
• 37:59
  Speaker 16: at least not until I get elected. Don't physically attack them.
• 38:03
  Speaker 16: Even though I was unable in the wake of an
• 38:09
  Speaker 16: attack on children in a synagogue in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, I,
• 38:15
  Speaker 16: Abdul El-Sayed, was unable to say that something despicable and
• 38:21
  Speaker 16: monstrous had happened, I said, hurt people hurt people. So
• 38:27
  Speaker 16: now he's at least progressed to the, you shouldn't drive
• 38:32
  Speaker 16: a truck into a synagogue with explosives and guns and knives,
• 38:37
  Speaker 16: because that's violence and that's bad.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: Okay, here's Abdul El-Sayed for $ 100. Double Jeopardy, cut number 22.
• 38:47
  Speaker 13: We noticed that there were.
• 38:48
  Speaker 8: Some resurfaced posts on 9-11, and I was wondering if
• 38:53
  Speaker 8: it's making it challenging to reach more Republican or more
• 38:56
  Speaker 8: moderate voters in this race.
• 38:58
  Speaker 5: Well, I mean, I think all of us look back
• 39:00
  Speaker 5: and say 9-11 was an awful thing that happened in
• 39:02
  Speaker 5: this country. And I think all of us also look
• 39:04
  Speaker 5: back and say, think about all the wars that were fought,
• 39:07
  Speaker 5: and how much safer do we feel like they made us?
• 39:10
  Speaker 5: How many lives did they ruin? And my point is
• 39:13
  Speaker 5: just to say that What happened on 9-11 is a disaster.
• 39:17
  Speaker 5: It was a terrible attack on our country. And our
• 39:21
  Speaker 5: responsibility is also to think about how do we build.
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: An America where we are.
• 39:26
  Speaker 5: Protecting our servicemen and women. from being asked to fight
• 39:31
  Speaker 5: in wars we have no business fighting that ultimately end
• 39:34
  Speaker 5: up doing.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: Harm to people. And we're seeing that right now. John Podhoretz,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: I don't believe the polls. I think he's double digits behind.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: The polls had him 18 points up in the primary.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: The biggest swing and miss was Emerson. The smallest swing
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: and miss was seven points up. He won by one.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: I think he's way upside down. And I think that
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: kind of a comment. What do you make of that
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: as we approach the 25th anniversary of 9-11?
• 40:00
  Speaker 16: I make of it that he's a repellent.
• 40:06
  Speaker 4: Whatabouter.
• 40:07
  Speaker 16: And he and Zoran Mamdani, by the way, who said
• 40:13
  Speaker 16: extraordinarily similar, used extraordinarily similar language, talking about 9-11, They
• 40:18
  Speaker 16: want to call it a disaster, a thing that happened
• 40:21
  Speaker 16: in this country that is really terrible, though he did
• 40:25
  Speaker 16: say it was an attack. But mostly it was a
• 40:28
  Speaker 16: terrible thing that happened in our country. And then we
• 40:31
  Speaker 16: went off and did even worse things in response.
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: So 9-11.
• 40:40
  Speaker 16: Was a declaration of war by radical Islam on the
• 40:43
  Speaker 16: United States. The United States went to war against radical Islam.
• 40:48
  Speaker 16: He is a radical Islamist. His father-in-law worked for CARE,
• 40:53
  Speaker 16: who's his largest donor, was involved with CARE, the Council
• 40:57
  Speaker 16: on American Islamic Relations, which is an unindicted co-conspirator in
• 41:02
  Speaker 16: several terrorism cases inside the United States, including largely its
• 41:08
  Speaker 16: relationship to the Holy Land Foundation in Richardson, Texas, which
• 41:11
  Speaker 16: was shut down by the federal government for providing material
• 41:14
  Speaker 16: support to terrorist groups. That is his father-in-law. So I
• 41:20
  Speaker 16: think that the idea, why can't a person like him
• 41:25
  Speaker 16: just say, 9-11 was a despicable act of warfare against
• 41:29
  Speaker 16: the United States, and we need to take steps to
• 41:32
  Speaker 16: make sure that something like that never happens again. That's like,
• 41:37
  Speaker 16: that's pablum. Doesn't put him on the record, doesn't put
• 41:40
  Speaker 16: him on the hook for saying anything. He wants to
• 41:43
  Speaker 16: leverage 9-11 and into an attack on the United States,
• 41:47
  Speaker 16: his attack on the United States for having had the
• 41:51
  Speaker 16: moral courage to go to war against radical Islam, which
• 41:54
  Speaker 16: he does not like because he actually is a radical Islamist.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: I believe he's a menace.
• 42:00
  Speaker 16: And by the way, in the earlier tape, in the
• 42:02
  Speaker 16: earlier thing you showed me, he said, I'm going to
• 42:04
  Speaker 16: be one of the biggest critics of the Egyptian government. Well,
• 42:07
  Speaker 16: of course he is. The Egyptian government that now exists
• 42:10
  Speaker 16: came into being in a coup because it replaced the
• 42:13
  Speaker 16: Muslim Brotherhood the leading group of radical Islamic terrorism. So
• 42:18
  Speaker 16: he doesn't like the Egyptian government because it exists and
• 42:24
  Speaker 16: stands to prevent a radical Islamic regime from taking hold
• 42:28
  Speaker 16: in the largest Arab country in the world with 90
• 42:31
  Speaker 16: million people in it.
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: John, you are exactly right. He is a menace, and
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: I hope everyone watches and sends this clip around. I repeat,
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: If you're not listening to Commentary Podcast, go and find it.
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: Like and subscribe. Leave a favorable review. I have a prediction.
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: Someday Jeopardy is going to have a podcast edition. It's
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: going to be the Commentary Podcast versus the Podbros versus
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: the editors. And because of John, Commentary is going to
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: win every round. Podbros are going to be negative, but
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: the editors will give you a round. But John will
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: win every round. Thank you, John Podhortz. Follow him on XHJPodhortz.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: Welcome back, America. Mary Catherine Hamm is the host of
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: the Getting Hammered podcast. She is also a Fox News contributor,
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: and she's very funny. We had an off-air little moment
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: there where Dwayne asked her if she could stay for
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: two segments, and it was very funny. She got the
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: chicken in the air fryer or whatever's going on. Mary Catherine,
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: I wanted to know that I listened to Getting Hammered
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: this morning, and you and Vic made a point so
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: extremely interesting to me. I went and researched it. with ChatGTP,
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: and I turned into a Fox column for tomorrow, and
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: it is this. Enrollment is falling. You keyed off of
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: the Wall Street Journal story on Syracuse, and you made
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: the statement that you expect enrollment to fall faster at
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: those colleges that are cold and in which the employment
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: prospects in the area or state are bleakest. And so
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: I actually went and looked, and you know what ChatGPT
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: told me? You are right. It is substantially falling between
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: the year 2017 and 2022, the most recent statistic. So
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: expand on your thesis, which I have now proven to
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: my satisfaction, that blue states have got an enrollment problem
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: coming at them big time.
• 44:18
  Speaker 11: Yeah, well, the Wall Street Journal reporting makes this clear
• 44:20
  Speaker 11: at Syracuse, which is a very well-known, prestigious, selective college
• 44:24
  Speaker 11: that's a brand name, and yet keeps Poll students, right?
• 44:28
  Speaker 11: It costs a lot of money. It's very cold there.
• 44:31
  Speaker 11: You got blue state economics on top of it. So
• 44:34
  Speaker 11: if you graduate and wanted to stick around, you're in
• 44:36
  Speaker 11: a tough place. Whereas like, say, the University of Georgia
• 44:39
  Speaker 11: or Alabama, you have much lower tax thresholds to deal
• 44:42
  Speaker 11: with once you get out. I think that there's also
• 44:46
  Speaker 11: an underrated story that a lot of people don't talk
• 44:48
  Speaker 11: about where there was a market shift after COVID. When
• 44:52
  Speaker 11: people saw colleges in the South treat students like human
• 44:56
  Speaker 11: beings and they thought, I don't know, I feel like
• 44:59
  Speaker 11: I'm not maybe getting my values worth at Syracuse, where,
• 45:02
  Speaker 11: by the way, during 2020 and 2021 and even later
• 45:05
  Speaker 11: with the mask mandate, they were surveilling your wastewater.
• 45:09
  Speaker 6: They could quarantine you based on your dorms reading.
• 45:12
  Speaker 11: They were mandating two shots plus a booster for every
• 45:16
  Speaker 11: single young person that came.
• 45:18
  Speaker 6: You had no room to object.
• 45:20
  Speaker 11: And, you know, at the University of Georgia, they were like,
• 45:22
  Speaker 11: I don't know, I think we'll make football work and
• 45:25
  Speaker 11: also classes.
• 45:26
  Speaker 6: That's what we're going to do.
• 45:28
  Speaker 11: And I think that proved to people, in this area
• 45:30
  Speaker 11: in particular, you hear all the time about the kind
• 45:34
  Speaker 11: of students who would have gone to a selective private
• 45:37
  Speaker 11: school like Syracuse going to the SEC.
• 45:40
  Speaker 6: You hear it all the time.
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: And I want to elaborate on what my stats showed me.
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: Of the six states that have positive enrollment increases for
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: that period of time, 2017 to 2022. And we don't have,
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: Department of Ed hasn't published anything against the government since then.
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: The six states are all red except New Hampshire, which
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: is the reddest blue state ever. And they classify red-blue
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: based upon who they voted for for president. And it's
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: Georgia and it's Kentucky and it's Arizona. And it just
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: makes sense to me, after you articulated it, if a
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: student's got their noggin on, to use an old phrase,
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: They're going to look beyond graduation and ask, where am
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: I going to live? I'm probably going to want to
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: live near college. And if I do, what's the job
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: market look like? You don't want to go to a
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: blue state.
• 46:31
  Speaker 11: Yeah, they've dug themselves into this hole where not only
• 46:34
  Speaker 11: are the colleges in those places giving a really questionable
• 46:39
  Speaker 11: product for a lot of money. They're doing it in
• 46:42
  Speaker 11: a climate, both economic and literal, that is unpleasant to
• 46:46
  Speaker 11: be in sometimes, right? So you've got to offer a
• 46:50
  Speaker 11: really good product if that's what you're selling and And
• 46:53
  Speaker 11: they are not doing that. And it's not clear to
• 46:55
  Speaker 11: me at all that academia sees its problem clearly because
• 46:59
  Speaker 11: not only will this continue to happen because people are
• 47:01
  Speaker 11: filtering to other colleges, it will happen in other colleges
• 47:05
  Speaker 11: as we move forward.
• 47:05
  Speaker 6: Because the baby bust is happening.
• 47:09
  Speaker 11: I may have saved too much money for college at
• 47:11
  Speaker 11: this point if the demand goes down as much as
• 47:13
  Speaker 11: it might by the time my kids get to school.
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: Well, let's pause on that for a moment as well.
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: If you're the president of a university right now and
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: They asked Mary Catherine Hamm spitball for me because you're
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: pretty smart and you're an influencer. What should I be
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: doing at my college? I have answers, but I'm 70
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: and you are actually going to have to help kids
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: make this decision and I'm not. So what would you
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: spitball as a prospective potential influencer of applicants, particularly for
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: in that live in your house?
• 47:46
  Speaker 11: Well, you know, obviously I'm going to have to start
• 47:48
  Speaker 11: where there's a University of Georgia football, former.
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: University of Georgia Bulldog head football coach.
• 47:55
  Speaker 6: So you've got to highlight that. Like, there's hope for
• 47:57
  Speaker 6: you yet, Syracuse.
• 47:59
  Speaker 11: No, I think what I would do is the thing
• 48:02
  Speaker 11: they're not able to do, which is show parents who
• 48:05
  Speaker 11: are paying for this and students that they're going to
• 48:08
  Speaker 11: get a solid education from in real things that will
• 48:13
  Speaker 11: pay in an economy of the future. Now, a lot
• 48:15
  Speaker 11: of that is uncertain because of AI, but if you
• 48:18
  Speaker 11: are showing people that, for instance, I don't know, you've
• 48:21
  Speaker 11: got a hiring spree going on in the busybody functions
• 48:25
  Speaker 11: versus the actual functionality of your institution, people are going
• 48:29
  Speaker 11: to be turned off by that, right? If you have
• 48:32
  Speaker 11: 17 administrators to one professor or whatever, it's insane numbers
• 48:36
  Speaker 11: at these ratios at some places. You need to put
• 48:39
  Speaker 11: the emphasis on the basics. I mean, that's what we
• 48:41
  Speaker 11: see in education everywhere in Mississippi, where they implemented old
• 48:45
  Speaker 11: school phonics and accountability. And it turned out that those
• 48:48
  Speaker 11: things worked and they created a product that people wanted
• 48:51
  Speaker 11: and they created students who can go to higher levels.
• 48:54
  Speaker 6: So I think, you know, quitting.
• 48:55
  Speaker 11: With the great inflation and attempting to give people something
• 48:58
  Speaker 11: that is a solid product that.
• 49:00
  Speaker 13: Actually prepares them is, I know, it sounds like eating
• 49:03
  Speaker 13: your vegetables, so.
• 49:04
  Speaker 11: Maybe it's not the greatest marketing pitch, but it is
• 49:07
  Speaker 11: what people need, and they're not paying for your current product.
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: Well, I think the actual answer is, it's hard here,
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: but it's fun here. And fun can be defined a bunch,
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: you know, Larry Arnn, Dr. Arnn, Hillsdale College, that's what
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: he always, said. This is the hardest place you're ever
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: going to go to college. And we want it that way.
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: And if you come here, you're going to work, work, work, work, work.
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: But we're going to have some fun, fun, fun, fun, fun. Georgia,
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: you're going to work, work, work, work. Ohio State, you're
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: going to work, work, work. But you're going to have fun.
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: That is to me, you just got to prove value
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: by letting people know it's not easy to learn the things.
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: that you need to know to get a job and
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: actually build a life. Do you think that? Well, and
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: all of it.
• 49:44
  Speaker 11: So I think, I think you're, you're touching on what
• 49:47
  Speaker 11: I said about the COVID betrayal, which was a jettisoning
• 49:52
  Speaker 11: of all fun. It was surveillance over fun. It was
• 49:55
  Speaker 11: a theism over fun. And so crawling out of that
• 49:58
  Speaker 11: hole is going to have to be an explicit move
• 50:02
  Speaker 11: because you lost your reputation for being fun during those years.
• 50:05
  Speaker 6: If you were indulging in that with your student body.
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: You also mentioned on the podcast today that the administration
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: ratio has gone crazy at these universities. Do any of
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: them have the ability to skinny down and just lop
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: off the HR department and what used to be the
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: DEI department but has been relabeled because of Trump? Do
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: they have the ability to do that?
• 50:29
  Speaker 11: I'm not sure they do because they're so ideologically committed
• 50:32
  Speaker 11: to the idea that they must have, like the people
• 50:34
  Speaker 11: they would get rid of would be the quote unquote
• 50:37
  Speaker 11: most vulnerable and intersectional of the people that they have.
• 50:41
  Speaker 6: So that would be really tricky.
• 50:43
  Speaker 11: But the problem is, again, with these falling enrollments and
• 50:45
  Speaker 11: the baby bust coming, you're going to end up with
• 50:48
  Speaker 11: a situation where every major educational institution is a like
• 50:52
  Speaker 11: especially these major ones is like a billion dollar endowment
• 50:55
  Speaker 11: that's serving 1200, uh, HR people with three degrees who
• 51:01
  Speaker 11: just HR each other all day.
• 51:03
  Speaker 6: Like what product are you creating? What is the point
• 51:06
  Speaker 6: of this endeavor?
• 51:08
  Speaker 11: And the point of this endeavor has become to employ
• 51:10
  Speaker 11: those types of people in a sort of factory for them.
• 51:15
  Speaker 11: Same with a K through 12 public schools in major areas.
• 51:18
  Speaker 11: You see that with this fight that they're having right now.
• 51:21
  Speaker 6: Um, Bad news.
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, blue blight is what I call it in the
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: column tomorrow. And blue blight has already hit public schools
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: and it's now hitting higher ed and it's hitting manufacturing areas.
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: And we'll talk more about that. But on the other side,
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: I got to talk Iran with Mary Catherine Hamm, which
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: is why I'm keeping her from feeding her children. And
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: I feel bad about that, but not that bad.
• 51:40
  Speaker 17: I will tell you, that one of the best allies
• 51:53
  Speaker 17: that the Iranians have on this is the media, because
• 51:56
  Speaker 17: the media immediately publishes all the lies, all the lies
• 52:01
  Speaker 17: that they say.
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: There are no mines in the street.
• 52:06
  Speaker 17: Two ships did not hit mines. This is Iranian agiprop,
• 52:10
  Speaker 17: and everyone in this audience and every news outlet should
• 52:15
  Speaker 17: be ashamed for publishing that, taking a lying regime.
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. That is our quickly
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: emerging as the funniest and possible best dark horse candidate
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: for president in 2028, Treasury Secretary Scott Besson. Mary Catherine
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: Hamm of Getting Hammered fame is still with me. Follow
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: her on X at MKHammer. Like and subscribe to Getting Hammered.
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: Mary Catherine, the American media is not eager to ever
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: award Donald Trump points, but I think he's beaten Iran,
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: and now he's beating them into the ground. And I
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: think the American people will know that by Election Day.
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: What think you?
• 52:58
  Speaker 6: I hope that you are correct.
• 52:59
  Speaker 11: I love to hear Secretary of the Treasury Scott Besson
• 53:03
  Speaker 11: speak on anything. Even when I disagree with him, he
• 53:07
  Speaker 11: raises this, what he's doing is raised.
• 53:09
  Speaker 6: To an art form. I just enjoy it so much.
• 53:12
  Speaker 11: And on this front, yeah, I do have issues with
• 53:15
  Speaker 11: the fact that whether it's Hamas in Gaza or Iran,
• 53:21
  Speaker 11: the media is quick to take these guys at their
• 53:24
  Speaker 11: word and not interrogate the notion that Iran had the
• 53:28
  Speaker 11: ability to mine this straight in the way that they
• 53:31
  Speaker 11: had suggested. I'm glad to hear from Admiral Cooper of
• 53:33
  Speaker 11: CENTCOM that it seems like the U.S. Navy has done
• 53:36
  Speaker 11: an amazing job getting rid of some of that and
• 53:38
  Speaker 11: that the traffic is back up because the world, not
• 53:41
  Speaker 11: just the U.S. or Trump, needs them to not have
• 53:44
  Speaker 11: that leverage. And it is our job to police that
• 53:48
  Speaker 11: and to make sure that it is not used against
• 53:50
  Speaker 11: the rest of the world. So I think there are
• 53:52
  Speaker 11: signs that that things have not been going the way
• 53:55
  Speaker 11: that the media has suggested, and that.
• 53:56
  Speaker 6: There are sort of rays of hope here.
• 53:59
  Speaker 11: I still think that Trump could be more clear about
• 54:02
  Speaker 11: exactly what we're doing, that that would help people have
• 54:04
  Speaker 11: more confidence in it, and that he could use his
• 54:07
  Speaker 11: bully pulpit in the way that Besant does often to
• 54:10
  Speaker 11: clarify these things. But I think there's some decent signs
• 54:14
  Speaker 11: coming out. And this has always been, I think, the
• 54:16
  Speaker 11: theory of the case was that this is an endurance thing,
• 54:18
  Speaker 11: which maybe doesn't help him in the midterms, But Iran
• 54:21
  Speaker 11: eventually is going to feel the economic squeeze of this conflict.
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: So going to the midterms, I had John Podhoretz on
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: to start the hour before you, and I played from
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: Abdul El-Sayed a number of cuts. I don't have time
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: to do it with you right now. He's gone from
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: being a problem to a pickup opportunity to being a
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: menace in my mind. I really cannot imagine the United
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: States Senate with this fellow in it. Can you?
• 54:49
  Speaker 11: Yeah, I don't like to be histrionic about things and
• 54:51
  Speaker 11: I try to be measured, but I find him extremely
• 54:55
  Speaker 11: untrustworthy and quite extreme. And I think Van Jones was
• 54:58
  Speaker 11: helpful in pointing that out. Because sometimes it'll get lost
• 55:01
  Speaker 11: in the whole thing of his 2020 to 2023 insane
• 55:06
  Speaker 11: woke one beliefs. But he also believes we should not
• 55:09
  Speaker 11: sell defensive arms to our ally Israel. If they want
• 55:14
  Speaker 11: to buy them, not give them, not fund them, but
• 55:16
  Speaker 11: sell them. And as Van says correctly, that's an insane position.
• 55:21
  Speaker 11: And I don't trust him to be telling the truth
• 55:24
  Speaker 11: about what he believes. And I think it's fairly clear
• 55:27
  Speaker 11: from many of his statements that he's pretty radical.
• 55:29
  Speaker 6: And I have no interest in him being in the Senate.
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: All right, last bit of Abdul El-Sayed at a C-SPAN
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: gaggle yesterday. This is only a 12-second clip, but I
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: want you to translate it for me. Cut 24.
• 55:39
  Speaker 5: I don't know if folks hear me advocate all the
• 55:42
  Speaker 5: time about international issues.
• 55:44
  Speaker 4: It is not, you know, as I told.
• 55:48
  Speaker 5: My brothers from the kosher community yesterday, is not just
• 55:51
  Speaker 5: about the West Bank.
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: All right, Mary Catherine, you've been a public persona for
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: a couple of decades. Have you ever referred to your
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: brothers or sisters in the kosher community before that way?
• 56:00
  Speaker 6: I have not. That is interesting.
• 56:03
  Speaker 11: Has someone told him not to say Jewish? What's happening there?
• 56:07
  Speaker 11: Because there's no one says kosher community.
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: Nobody, right? It's not me. I'm old. I thought maybe
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: the Youngs had picked it up and they called Jews
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: the kosher community. But that would be wrong.
• 56:19
  Speaker 6: Not to my knowledge.
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: Okay. So are you worried? Do you believe the polls
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: would show that race tied? I do not. I don't
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: think people are telling the truth and I don't think
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: they know who to ask. I think.
• 56:33
  Speaker 11: My gut says that it's close but not tied and
• 56:36
  Speaker 11: that Rodgers would edge him out a bit. Look, there's
• 56:38
  Speaker 11: still work to be done and every Republican running should
• 56:41
  Speaker 11: run like they're behind in these races because I do
• 56:44
  Speaker 11: fear that in a bad year for Republicans, if it
• 56:47
  Speaker 11: ends up being one, as it often is for the
• 56:49
  Speaker 11: party in power in an off year. that these kind
• 56:51
  Speaker 11: of candidates can slip through. So I have been gratified
• 56:54
  Speaker 11: to see Mike Rogers on the ground doing the work,
• 56:57
  Speaker 11: gathering Democratic voters who would otherwise not vote for him,
• 57:01
  Speaker 11: who say they will because of El-Sayed, and doing that
• 57:05
  Speaker 11: work on the ground every day and showing that permission
• 57:07
  Speaker 11: structure is how you get over the line.
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: Mary Catherine Hamm, always fun. Go feed your children. Tell
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: them I'm sorry if they're hungry. I appreciate it. Go
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: listen to Getting Hammered as well. Like and subscribe. Follow
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: MKHammer on X. And stay with me. I'm Hugh Hugh.
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: Welcome back, America. Jim Talent, former senator from Missouri, senior
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: fellow with the Reagan Institute for Peace Through Strength, joins me. Senator,
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: I want to give you a couple of numbers from
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: the Harvard-Harris poll published today. Among likely voters, the generic
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: congressional ballot for this fall, Republicans are at 51%, Democrats
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: are at 49%. Among registered voters, Democrats are at 51%,
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: Republicans are at 49%. I find this surprising.
• 57:56
  Speaker 4: Do you? Yeah, a little bit, Hugh.
• 58:02
  Speaker 18: I'd want to look at the crosstabs of that poll
• 58:04
  Speaker 18: if I really cared about it, if I was running myself.
• 58:09
  Speaker 4: Now, things have changed since I ran you.
• 58:11
  Speaker 18: I mean, when I ran, if we were within three
• 58:14
  Speaker 18: or four points of the Democrats on the generics, that
• 58:18
  Speaker 18: wasn't too bad. Now I think it's quite possible that
• 58:22
  Speaker 18: we are ahead, because I think the coalition that supports
• 58:26
  Speaker 18: the Republican Party, although it's bigger and it's harder to
• 58:31
  Speaker 18: hold together, is actually bigger than the coalition that supports
• 58:34
  Speaker 18: the Democratic Party.
• 58:34
  Speaker 4: So I'm not shocked at that. I'm a little bit surprised.
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: Do you think that El-Sayed, as well as the other
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: out-there candidate, Tallarico's got his own weird problems in Texas,
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: Peggy Flanagan is off the chart, even Chris Pappas in
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: New Hampshire is far to the left. Do you think
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: they have pulled the brand of the Democrats so far
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: to the left that a lot of people are rethinking
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: giving them the Congress?
• 59:02
  Speaker 18: Yeah, I think El-Sayed in particular, but also Tallarico, is
• 59:08
  Speaker 18: off-putting the more informed centrist voters.
• 59:11
  Speaker 4: I mean, the people who follow things. And this is
• 59:14
  Speaker 4: the kind of election, Yu.
• 59:15
  Speaker 18: That often comes down to, okay, I'm not satisfied with
• 59:20
  Speaker 18: what's happening right now, but are the Democrats going to make.
• 59:24
  Speaker 4: It even worse?
• 59:25
  Speaker 18: Which is one of the reasons I'd like to see us,
• 59:27
  Speaker 18: I'd like to see more of the messaging to the
• 59:30
  Speaker 18: effect that, look, if you don't like prices, just remember
• 59:35
  Speaker 18: who caused the inflation. I mean, I don't want to
• 59:38
  Speaker 18: hijack the interview, but, I mean, if I was running,
• 59:41
  Speaker 18: that would be a big part of my stump speech,
• 59:43
  Speaker 18: everything that they did reminding people of when we got
• 59:47
  Speaker 18: this inflation in the first place and what caused it.
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: Does the immigration issue, do you think that works still
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: to remind people? Of the 10 to 15 million people
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: who walked into the country under Joe Biden's tenure, does
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: that help?
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 18: It's another good one. And Tom Holman has done such
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 18: a great job of carrying out the policies without so
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 18: much of the confrontations and the issues that was making
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 18: that issue more difficult. But it's interesting, Hugh, if you
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 18: look over the years, concern about immigrations, has been a
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 18: majority view of the American people. And it's one of
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 18: the most consistent findings that you can see in polls
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 18: year after year after year. It's just not a winning
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 18: issue for the Democrats. Now, it's not as big an
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 18: issue for us now as it was a few years ago,
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 18: because the president's a victim of his own success in
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 18: a way. He's done such a good job of stopping
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 18: illegal immigration at the border that it's not so much
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 18: on people's minds.
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 4: But yeah, that's another good issue.
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: Okay, now I want to flip to messenger. President Trump
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: is always going to be number one messenger for the
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: Trump administration. But if you recall, after 9-11, Don Rumsfeld
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: held almost daily pressers. We never see Pete Hegseth. If
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: you remember past administrations, we saw the Secretary of State
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: a lot. Marco Rubio comes and goes, but he's not
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: there a lot. We see the President a lot, and
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: we see Scott Besson. I never recall a Secretary of
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: the Treasury president. And I mean, we've had some good ones.
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: Bill Simon, George Shultz. I don't recall them ever being
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: this out front in a Republican administration.
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 4: Do you?
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 18: I think that's a fair statement, Hugh. I mean, I'd
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 18: have to go back and think about it, I guess. Generally,
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 18: the cabinet officers will show up more often when their portfolio,
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 18: when their department is on the line for executing the
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 18: most visible policy of the administration at that particular time.
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: So.
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 4: You're seeing Besant now. Of course, you're right. We've seen
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 4: him all through this.
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 18: But I think that's because his department is so involved
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 18: in so much of what the administration is doing, you know,
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 18: to include the trade issues and now, of course, Operation
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 18: Economic Outcast, which is striking at the center of gravity
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 18: of the Iranian regime. I mean, this is what I
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 18: think the administration has realized, is that their center of gravity,
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 18: the primary source of their strength to operate really across
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 18: all domains is their ability to sustain their repressive apparatus.
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 4: And we're reaching that now.
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 18: I think that's why you're seeing the president say, you know,
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 18: I'm just going to keep this up because he knows
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 18: he's found a leverage point.
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: Jim, you and I are both of an era when
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: the Soviet Union was there and we didn't ever think
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: it would go away and then it went away. Do
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: you think we might see a second sort of moment?
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: I mean, 89 to 91 was pretty wonderful. Do you
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: think we might see that again in Iran?
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 18: I now think that's very possible. And I haven't been
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 18: saying that all along because I didn't know.
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 4: I knew it was a possibility.
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 18: But we're getting now to a capability that they have
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 18: to have to sustain this regime. They have to be able.
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 18: It's not just a question of paying their people. It's
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 18: a question of the confidence of their people in their
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 18: ability to continue supporting them and giving them what they've
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 18: had to support the regime. I don't think that everybody
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 18: in this repressive apparatus is doing it because they think
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 18: that the 14th imam is really coming. I think they're
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 18: doing it because they've been getting a pretty good deal
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 18: out of it, and they're not anymore. And who are
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 18: these people lining up to get gasoline? Who has the
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 18: cars in Iran? Well, a disproportionate number of them are
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 18: that 10 or 15 percent of the population that supports
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 18: the regime because they get a good deal out of it.
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 18: And they can't afford to lose those people. That's why
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 18: I think I forget who it was on the show
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 18: was saying that maybe it was that he thinks the
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 18: Iranian regime is getting desperate.
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 4: And I agree with it. Well, you.
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine the United States denied all imports. What
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: would happen if we did that with COVID and it
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: was a nightmare, but we were working to fix it
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: every day? They can't fix it.
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 18: Well, COVID is a good example because we saw the
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 18: difficulties here when supply chains were unsettled. Well, the supply
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 18: chains have been severed over there. Now, in the past,
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 18: of course, sanctions, the maximum pressure campaign in the first
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 18: term of the first Trump term was a tremendous success. But,
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 18: of course, it never got to the point where they
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 18: didn't have the revenue to sustain the apparatus that they
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 18: need to stay in power. It's now getting to that point.
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 18: The combination of the blockade and this financial disintermediation is
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 18: getting to the center of gravity of the regime. And
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 18: I think if it continues, I think they're going to
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 18: follow you.
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: I am beginning to allow myself to hope that. And
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: I never hoped it about the Warsaw Pact. I never
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: hoped it about the Islamic Republic, but maybe they will
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: both go the same way. Jim Talent. Follow him on exit,
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: Jim Talent. Thank you, Senator. I'll be right back. America,
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  Speaker 1: Evening grace america i'm hugh hewitt welcome to our three
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  Speaker 1: pat harrigan joins me he is a member of Congress
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  Speaker 1: from North Carolina's 10th Congressional District. He is a Green Beret.
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  Speaker 1: of the wonderfully named FAFO Act, PG, Fool Around and
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  Speaker 1: Find Out Act. Congressman, tell me about the Fool Around
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  Speaker 1: and Find Out Act, the FAFO Act. I don't know
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  Speaker 1: how you pronounce it, but I love the idea behind it.
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: Explain for us.
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 15: Well, look, we want to prevent our foreign adversaries from
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 15: stealing our intellectual property. It's really that simple. I think
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 15: that the FBI, and most people know this, the FBI
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 15: has estimated that China is stealing $ 600 billion a year
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 15: from the United States. And whether that is from corporate
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 15: intellectual property theft or whether that's from our government, our
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 15: military secrets, it is a hemorrhage that we have to stop.
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 15: It doesn't make any sense for us to continue doing
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 15: business the way that we're doing it. And so we
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 15: have done a number of different bills this year to
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 15: combat the foreign influence and the ability of foreign adversaries
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 15: to pirate some of our greatest secrets.
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: We lost your audio there, Congressman. I think your joyous
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: use of your hands, which would make you Irish, may
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: have thrown your audio out there a little bit. Let
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: me ask the second question. This is a well-timed appearance.
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: Two days ago in the Washington Post, a story appeared
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: that named a friend of mine, Kurt Schlichter is a
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: guest host on this program occasionally, Rob Maness and Cynical
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: Publius is his X name, number three, as special government employees.
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: The three allege, and I am persuaded, that they were,
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: the reporters in this case from the Washington Post, were
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: armed with data, by Department of Defense employees that don't
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: like Pete Hegseth. What do you make of that allegation?
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: Have you followed the story? And is our DOD, DOW
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: grown leaky, leaky, leaky beyond belief?
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 15: Well, I've actually not heard of that story, Hugh. I've
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 15: been mostly consumed with what's happened with the Army Secretary
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 15: over the last 24, 48 hours and months coming up
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 15: into this. So I'd have a hard time commenting, but
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 15: I can give you generalities, which is there's no question
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 15: a lot of people don't like Secretary Pete Hegseth. particularly
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 15: those in the Washington swamp. He's come in, he's tried
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 15: to change things. Anytime that you try to change things
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 15: and really take them from where they are over here
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 15: to where they are trying to get to over here,
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 15: that's going to cause a lot of consternation in this place.
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 15: And it's going to put the knives out for you
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 15: and try to put them into your back. And so
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 15: I think it's a totally plausible scenario, but I just
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 15: don't have firsthand knowledge as to the veracity of the
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 15: the event there.
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 1: I just want to give you an outline, get your reaction.
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 1: The three men were hired as special government employees. They've
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: got big online following. Schuchter is enormous. He's a great
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: online army colonel, retired. And the other two have got
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: very sizable followings as well. And they were employed to
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: help with the study of our graduate schools for war,
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: like the War College and the Naval War College. And
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: they were part of a team led by a very
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 1: reputable guy, and they made their recommendations. And there's an
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: implication that this is inappropriate. It's not inappropriate. They're colonels.
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: They're retired colonels. Did you get along with your colonels
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: when you were in the Army, Congressman?
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 15: Well, I certainly tried to. Life was a lot better
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 15: if you did. But I certainly didn't get along with
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 15: all of them. Probably more colonels I got along with
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 15: than generals because they were awful political.
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: Back in the day.
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 15: And I think Secretary Hegseth's trying to change that today.
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 15: I mean, look, we've got to depoliticize the military today.
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 15: But there's certainly nothing wrong with retired service members acting
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 15: or coming on board as special government employees, as long
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 15: as they're not on active duty or some sort of
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 15: active reserve status. There's no prohibition against that.
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: Okay, so I hope you look into it, because I
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: think it reflects what's happening in the culture of the
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: Department of Defense, which is if you don't like the
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: sec def, whoever it is, undermine them, as opposed to
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: it used to be salute and do what the elected
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: president and his designated secretary would want. What is your
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: reaction to two developments, Army Secretary Driscoll leaving and acting
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: Navy Secretary Hong Kao being nominated to be the permanent
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: secretary of the Navy?
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 15: Oh, look, Hong Kao is an incredible human being. I've
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 15: known him since we both started our trajectories in politics,
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 15: and he's got an incredible story, an amazing work ethic.
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 15: He certainly has the background and the experience to serve
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 15: in that role. in a productive way for our country.
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 15: So I'm excited for him, and I'm excited for the
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 15: United States Navy. With respect to Dan Driscoll, look, Dan
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 15: Driscoll's a friend of mine. I'm probably the only person
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 15: that has a really great relationship with Secretary Hegseth and
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 15: Secretary Driscoll on the Hill, which is kind of crazy.
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 15: So what I'll tell you is, look, they didn't get along,
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 15: and it's unfortunate because both of them have an unbelievable We.
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: Lost your microphone again. You use your hands. Is Harrigan
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: Irish for a reason? I mean, you use your hands
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: and you move your microphone around. Is that what it is?
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 15: It's a loss for the country when we lose Dan Driscoll.
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 4: It's unfortunate.
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 15: But look, Pete's got a lot to give the country.
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 15: And at the end of the day, Dan did a
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 15: tremendous service for our nation by trying to transform the army,
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 15: getting rid of the equipment that has not helped us
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 15: win the last 30 years of war, isn't relevant to
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 15: deterring or defeating China. Whoever the next army secretary is
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 15: needs to continue.
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: Okay, I did it happening at the next secretary. So
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: I'm going to reset one more time and ask you
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: to Hold your hands down so we don't mess that up.
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: But here's the big question. You just said defeat or
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: deter China. That is the overarching issue of our time.
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: It's the national security challenge of our time. How does
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: the battle with Iran fit into that in Congressman Pat
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: Harrigan's view?
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 15: Well, it's a shaping operation on one hand because Iran
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 15: is effectively an ally of China. And it's also a
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 15: potential distraction. against a war in the Indo-Pacific, should China... Oh,
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 15: I hate this, Congressman.
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 1: You get a half answer, and that time you weren't
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: even moving your hands. You're back.
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 15: From the perspective of we have to always maintain strategic flexibility,
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 15: the longer that we are in a conflict that doesn't
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 15: seem to have a military outcome, the less strategic flexibility
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 15: that we have to deal with other contingencies... that our
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 15: adversaries may choose to put us in those situations. The
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 15: enemy always gets a vote, so we've got to wrap
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 15: one up so that we can focus on the other.
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: Well, let me ask you about the shaping part, because
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: that's how I view this through the lens. I don't
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 1: think China's going to invade Taiwan anytime soon, given what
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: Xi did to his military and given what we've seen
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: in Ukraine, at least I hope not. How does it
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: shape the battlefield to our advantage if the Iranian regime crumbles?
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 15: Well, there's no question that Iran is a good friend
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 15: to China and the less friends that China and the
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 15: less friends that Russia have able to actually influence a
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 15: future or existing battlefield, the better off the United States
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 15: is because the greatest asset that the United States has
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 15: besides our incredible military members and the incredible exquisite technologies
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 15: that we employ is is our 50-nation ally base. Our
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 15: adversaries do not have that. So when we start going
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 15: after one of them, and we've taken out Venezuela already,
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 15: that starts really changing the chessboard for Russia and for China.
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 15: That is absolutely in the strategic interests of the United
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 15: States of America.
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: And the last question, Congressman, I noticed on your X account,
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: there are tens of millions of dollars in the pipeline
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: that's finally getting to North Carolina. Contractors, are you amazed
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: at how long it takes from appropriation to actual allocation
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: and delivery of funds to our defense industrial base? Because
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: I am. Can't hear you. I have to think the
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: Navy did this, Congressman. One of your colleagues from the
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: Navy is coming. Okay, now you're live again. Tell me
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: what you think about getting money out of the Pentagon
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: to the contractors.
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 15: Look, we dealt with this with Hurricane Helene, right? And
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 15: a dollar spent today when we really needed to recover
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 15: from Hurricane Helene is not as good as a dollar
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 15: spent a year and a half from now. And we
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 15: were saying that a year and a half from now.
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 15: And it's the exact same thing in our defense industrial base.
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 15: And so, look, I think we're going to have appropriations problems.
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: We got the last bit in and then you cut
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 1: out again. We are going to check on North Carolina's
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: telecom system the next time Congressman Harrigan comes around. But
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: we hope you will come back soon. Always good to
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: talk to freshmen. and a Green Beret and an Army
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: man who has opinions and shares them with us. Don't
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: go anywhere, America. I got a lot coming up because
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: President Trump was in the Oval, and whenever that happens,
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: we get audio. And Senator Susan Collins sat down with
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 1: Politico's Jonathan Martin's And Jonathan Martin tried to set her up. Look,
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: Politico is just so over. People are so over Politico.
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: But Senator Collins is a good egg. She'll talk to anyone.
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: But I think this is a perfect example of why
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: maybe people don't want to talk to Politico anymore because
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: Jay Mart and his merry band of lefties always try
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: and screw the Republican. Stay tuned.