Latest / 3 Martini Lunch – Political Humor & Commentary / Trump Launches 'Economic D-Day' on Iran

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Trump Launches 'Economic D-Day' on Iran · 3 Martini Lunch – Political Humor & Commentary

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Three Martini Lunch.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Grab a stool next to Greg Karambas of Radio America
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: and Jim Garrity of National Review. Three Martini's coming up.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: So glad you're with us for the Tuesday edition of
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: the Three Martini Lunch. A whole lot to get to today.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: And as I was saying to Jim before we started,
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: today is proof you just never know what you're going
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: to end up talking about on the next Three Martini Lunch.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: But we'll really get to that in the second martini.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: But a lot to get to in the first martini
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: as well. Jim, yesterday officially started what the Trump administration
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: is calling Economic D-Day, pinching Iran by pinching anyone who
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: helps or cooperates or does business with Iran, going the
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: economic route as opposed to the diplomatic or military route
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: on this one. Here's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessett in a
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: couple of different clips explaining what's going on here.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: Treasury has begun Operation Economic Outcast, an unprecedented campaign against
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: the Islamic Republic of Iran and its enablers. In the
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: Second World War, D-Day marked the historic beginning of a
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: campaign with our allies to target and drive the enemy
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: from its positions, including those in third countries. Today, in
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: that same spirit, we are launching an economic onslaught against
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: Iran's financial connections around the globe.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: And he talked about the areas where they're most focused on.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Any entity that facilitates money laundering on behalf of Iran
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: will be removed from the U.S.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Dollar system.
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: The clock just started ticking. The new sectoral sanctions determinations
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: issued today target five of Iran's most vital lifelines that
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: it exploits in other countries. Digital assets, technology, gold... aviation,
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: and shipping. These measures broaden secondary sanctions risk for anyone
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: foolish enough to continue conducting business with this regime.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: But as you have flagged today, Jim, that means that
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: the U.S. will have to target everyone who does business
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: with Iran. And that could mean one of their most
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: significant partners, namely China. The Wall Street Journal is saying
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: that China was never mentioned in the speech. But it
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: also points out Iran relies on China for a lot
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: of things, including oil. And Beijing has in turn, quote,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: established an elaborate system to move the sale proceeds around
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: the world without triggering U.S. sanctions. But Washington so far
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: has proven reluctant to seriously confront Beijing over its support
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: for the U.S. enemy. So, Jim, I hope this is
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: more consistent, more intense than the on-again, off-again military slash
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: diplomatic effort here, because we know that sanctions do work,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: especially if they're really, really intense. The question is whether
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: we've got the stomach to stick with it, or if
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: we buckle a little bit when Iran says, okay, we're
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: ready to talk now. Yeah.
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: When I first heard the term economic D-Day, I thought, okay,
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: this is another overhyped branding exercise. Yesterday, I taped that
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: other podcast I do called The Editors for National Review,
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: and my colleague Noah Rothman was very optimistic about this.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: He really thought this could be A big deal.
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: A real, you know, something that would really put the
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: squeeze on the Iranian regime even more than it's already
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: been squeezed. Put me in the, you know, Fox Mulder's
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: poster on the side of his office in the X-Files.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: I want to believe because, yes, this this, you know,
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: if you are cutting off all of the remaining avenues
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: in which the Iranian regime can get outside currency. then yes,
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: you can squeeze the currency and really cause a problem there.
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: And yes, there are other countries that are involved in this.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: Turkey and the UAE are probably the two biggest beyond China.
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: But if you're not willing to play hardball with China,
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: this is going to be not nearly as effective as
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: we'd like it to be. It's too early to say
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: this is taco, Trump always chickens out or something like that.
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: But if you say we're targeting your sources of foreign revenue,
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: But we're not going to hit the biggest one. Well,
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: then you're going to have a much less of an
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: effect that you're hoping to have there. The Trump administration
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: talks very tough on Iran, as they should be. And
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: Iran is absolutely the world's foremost state sponsor of terror.
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: And they're a major problem, not just for us, not
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: just for our allies, but really for the rest of
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: the world for a very long time. But one of
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: the countries that is just fine with the way the
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: Iranian regime runs things is China. And, you know, there
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: are days this administration could be tougher with China. And
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: there are days this administration could be very conciliatory with China.
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: And President Trump likes to talk about what a great
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: relationship he has with Xi Jinping. So put me in
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: the to be seen category. I hope they mean what
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: they're saying. I hope they mean that we're going after
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: all of Iran's partners. They include China. And I think
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: if they don't, this is going to have much less
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: of an effect than they're talking about it.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: So let's.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Great words. Let's see some actions.
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: Let's make sure we don't leave anybody out because we
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: want them to buy our soybeans or something like that.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: And so what's the end here? We talk about this
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: all the time. What do we need Iran to do
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: as a result of these sanctions and other economic penalties?
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: Is it free passage to the Straits of Hormuz? Is
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: it that plus some guarantees, which they probably wouldn't follow anyway,
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: on the nuclear program? what has to be agreed to
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: before we ease up here.
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: I saw someone reacting just earlier this week about how
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: the Iranian rial has reached an all-time low. And on
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: the one hand, you're like, oh, that's good news. On
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: the other hand, it's hit an all-time low pretty much
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: every day since the war started. It just keeps finding
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: new ways to be worth even less. So at the
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: beginning of the war, I pointed out that Iran, which
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: is already having a struggling economy, our listeners probably remember
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: the tens of thousands of people who were coming out
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: in the streets and protesting. Iran's economy was always going
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: to be in trouble. The question is, can you put
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: so much squeeze on it that basically the government cannot
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: function anymore and the people rise up and overthrow it?
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: That's what we'd love to see here. As I think
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: we've seen over the last six months, controlling what's happening
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: inside Iran is tougher than it looks. The regime has
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: already killed tens of thousands of people who are probably
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: the people who are most likely to want to lead
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: a revolution against it. So I'm hoping this ends with
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: the regime's collapse. Short of that, then getting our, you know,
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: being able to get oil tankers and liquid natural gas
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: carriers destroyed. through the Strait of Hormuz unmolested would be
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: the next most important thing. The good news is the
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: regime will come out of this conflict weakened. The bad
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: news is if they end up having this de facto
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: toll system in place, they'll be able to find ways
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: to make money pretty darn fast.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Well, the sanctions might not be good for businesses doing
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: a lot of business with Iran, but that's their own problem.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: And it's probably not good for Iran. That's the goal.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: But your business can thrive. Your business probably won't be
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: affected by sanctions against Iran. And your main issue is
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: keeping the clients you've got, keeping them happy and getting
• 6:41
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• 6:43
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• 6:47
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• 6:52
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• 6:55
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• 6:59
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• 7:29
  Speaker 2: missed customers. Jim, we spend a lot of time with
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: There's lots of issues we get to. There's reaction or
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: lack of a serious reaction to the attempted terrorist attack
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: at that Jewish school in Bloomfield Hills last year. But
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: he was on with Jesse Waters of Fox News last night.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: So in some ways, I guess, molecule of credit, as
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: you would say, for going into a place where he
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: knows he's probably going to have some pretty hostile questions. But,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: you know, you don't expect certain things to come up
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: in a political interview, but sometimes they do anyway. So
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Jesse Waters asked Abdul El-Sayed his position on trans surgeries
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: for kids. And let's just say it took a turn
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: that most people probably didn't expect. Sex changes for minors.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: Do you support that?
• 8:26
  Speaker 5: Look, you know, I remember a having great conversations with
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: my conservative friends about right to try legislation. The idea
• 8:33
  Speaker 5: that the government shouldn't tell you what kind of health
• 8:34
  Speaker 5: care you should have. I just think the government shouldn't
• 8:37
  Speaker 5: tell you what kind of health care you should have.
• 8:39
  Speaker 5: And if you're a minor, it's between you, your doctor,
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: and your parents.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: You want to try on kids?
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: Now, if you disagree with that, if you disagree with that,
• 8:45
  Speaker 5: if you disagree that health care decisions need to be
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: made by a doctor and their parents and a patient,
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: then I just think we agree to disagree. But, you know,
• 8:53
  Speaker 5: you want to put government inside.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: A clinic or a hospital selectively. So, Abdul, you're a doctor, right?
• 8:57
  Speaker 6: I am. So you think it's okay for a parent
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  Speaker 6: to slash his kid's thing off?
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: You think that's okay?
• 9:03
  Speaker 5: I mean, do you really want to have this conversation?
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: Are you circumcised?
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah. But I mean, that's a personal question.
• 9:12
  Speaker 5: OK, doctor, you probably should want to move on.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: I probably should want to move on.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: Circumcision is different than castration. I think it's a problem.
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: It's a problem that you think that you get to
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: decide what happens between a parent, a doctor and a patient.
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: And I'm just saying that, yes, circumcision is surgery on
• 9:29
  Speaker 5: a kid's ding-a-ling. So if you really want to bring
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: that up.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: You can.
• 9:32
  Speaker 5: I just think you guys are really selective about how
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: you want to talk about these things.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: Abdul, Michigan's not going for that.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: That is sick stuff.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: I love how the guy who wants government-run health care
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: is saying he doesn't want government involved in your health care.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: But this is completely different from that. Oh, it's just
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: about the parents and the patient. And so, of course,
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: the thing everybody's taken away from this, Jim, is that
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: he's trying to compare circumcision with actual gender reassignment surgery
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: or whatever term you want to use for it. This
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: guy's not serious.
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: Listeners, viewers, I know it's going to shock you when
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: I declare that I am not the target audience for
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: Jesse Waters' program. But when you can make Jesse Waters
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: look like the reasonable, sensible, and tasteful one in the conversation...
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: You have really outdone yourself, and it's a remarkable achievement.
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: So well done, Abdullah Sayyed.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Well done. Also, I point out, yes, he is a doctor.
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: He's never practiced, or at least his only practicing he
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: did was back in medical school. He's been doing health
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: policy since he got out of med school. But, you know,
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: he's a doctor. I was not familiar with the term
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: ding-a-ling as a medical terminology, and I kind of am
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: left wondering, like, you know, we're going to elevate our discourse,
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: and we're going to use terms like that. Looking back
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: to the primary, which he very narrowly won when the
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: polls were having him up by double digits and things
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: like that, one of the assessments of Abdul Al-Sayed was
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: that he was remarkably confident, and some people said cocky,
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: that he walks around with this supreme self-confidence that not
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: only is he going to have the right answer for
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: every situation, that people are going to find him remarkably
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: persuasive in these circumstances. And of course, he didn't nearly lose,
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: but he won by about 1% when everybody was expecting
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: this blowout, the willingness to stick by Hasan Piker, when
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: I think almost every other candidate would say, you know,
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: my friend Hasan has said some very controversial things that
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: I wish he would take back, blah, blah, blah. This repositioning,
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: the fact that he's still, as far as I know,
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: he's still going to speak at this National Islamic Society
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: of North America conference in Detroit over Labor Day weekend
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: that has a whole bunch of very shady characters addressing
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: the crowd on some topics that are deeply controversial, right?
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: you know, again, your name is Abdullah Sayyed. You're going
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: to do just fine amongst Muslim voters in the state.
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: You know, you're going to be the first Muslim senator
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: if elected. Insert Barack Obama jokes here. Like, this is all, like,
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: you don't need this demographic anymore. Why are you doing it?
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: The other thing I thought was interesting about this, Greg,
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: he's on Fox News, and he's on Fox News with
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: Jesse Waters, who is, let's face it, not Brett Baer,
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: not Brett Hume. So I almost wonder if he went
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: into this hoping for some sort of confrontation, for some
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: sort of clip that would go viral about him, you know,
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: really giving it to Jesse Waters. When it comes to
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: this topic, Greg, I'm going to give Abdul Al-Sayed a tip.
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: Cut it out.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: This is not the cool talking point that you think
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: it is.
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: You look at this and you're like, wow, Mike Rogers,
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: you have hit the jackpot in terms of beatable candidates.
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: In your lovely home state of Michigan, which has not
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: been traditionally friendly to Republican Senate candidates. Gubernatorial races, they've
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: done okay every now and then. But this is the
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: guy you want. So don't fumble the ball, Mike Rogers. Remember,
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: your opponent hates football. He hates football. He probably thinks
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: Barry Sanders is overrated. And he probably drives a Japanese car.
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: That's the kind of guy you're up against in the
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: state of Michigan.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: No excuses here, Mike Rogers.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he hates Thanksgiving. He also had a statement supposedly
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: distancing himself from Piker yesterday without actually mentioning Hassan Piker.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: I see this as stage one of the Obama-Reverend-Right role here.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: He'll have one that actually mentions him, then eventually he'll
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: have to do an on-camera statement, and it probably still
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: won't do much good.
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: Greg, besides me, do you have any friends who you
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: would laughably say, oh, yeah, that guy's crazy?
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Probably.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: Right. We are capable of, you know, yes, this is
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: my friend. And for some reason, he thinks the moon
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: is made of green cheese. And I've argued about this
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: with him a million times.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: He is intractable.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: I'm never going to change his mind. So I love
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: the guy, but I don't stand by his statements on
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: the moon. Like that's traditionally how a candidate like we
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: all have friends who we like or we have family
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: members or we have folks like that.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: We're like, yes.
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: And this person has views that I do not hold
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: and that I, you know, we do not agree on
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: that issue. And for some reason, Abdullah al-Sayed doesn't want
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: to do that. Or he, you know, he very or
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: he does very gingerly, very precise, you know, like, how
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: hard is it to say, no, America did not deserve 9-11.
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: And my friend Hassan is a moron for saying that.
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: He can't do it because he can't be that critical
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: of Hasan Piker.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And if you had a crazy friend, you probably
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: wouldn't bring your crazy friend out as publicly as possible
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: to campaign for you in a primary, even if you
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: thought it would help you because it would hurt you
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: in the general election. So a long way to go
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: in this race. In no way is it over, but
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Mike Rogers is definitely getting some benefits here. You can
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: tell it went better for Rogers than Syed because on
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: El Syed's page, there's one clip from that interview where
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: And on the Republican Party side, there's like half a
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: dozen or more showing him to be crazy.
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: It's going to show up in ads. You know that's
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: going to show up in commercials between now and November.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: Definitely. Yeah, he was also asked about the Second Amendment
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: because apparently he wants to repeal it. And his answer was,
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: I think people care more about getting health care than
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: getting a gun. That's not answering the question. I'm pretty
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: sure you can get both. So anyway, he's got a
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: lot of radical positions he's going to try to shift
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: his way out of. And that's the other thing with him.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: I think he thinks he's so clever and smart that
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: he can kind of shimmy his way out of any
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: situation and make the other guy look bad. But when
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: you're defending positions that crazy, I don't think it's going
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: as well as you think it's going.
• 15:10
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: Again, like, you know, you kind of start, did he,
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: was he so, he did a pool party with Piker
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: and other influencers the day before the election.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: And people were like, do you like, shouldn't you be
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: out campaigning someplace? And He's got it.
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: And of course, he won the primary by about 1%.
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: So yeah, yeah. Strange confidence. His ability to measure confidence
• 15:33
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• 15:35
  Speaker 5: True.
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• 16:44
  Speaker 2: All right, Jim, on to our crazy martini now. And yes,
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: we're still in midterm campaign season. We're not even done
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: with the primaries yet, as we'll talk about in our chaser.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: But people are already looking ahead to 2028. And since
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: Trump can't run again, there'll probably be a number of
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: candidates on both sides. But the Democratic field, I think,
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: will be especially packed. Maybe not as bad as 2020,
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: but there's going to be plenty. And there's lots of
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: people who want attention, even though they know they have
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: no chance, no chance of being the Democratic presidential nominee.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: Enter Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen. He was on
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: Meet the Press over the weekend, and he has made
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: it known that he's interested. Kristen Welker is trying to
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: nail him down here that he is considering a presidential run.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: I think he's making it pretty obvious, but he won't
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: actually say it, so that part's awkward. Expect Chris Van
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: Hollen to get into this race. Here's what he said.
• 17:34
  Speaker 6: I've been kicking the tires as I look at 2028
• 17:38
  Speaker 6: because I don't think the Democratic Party has answered the
• 17:40
  Speaker 6: call about how we're going to make sure we have
• 17:43
  Speaker 6: an economy that really does work for everybody, especially working people.
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: You've been kicking the tires on 2028, meaning you're thinking
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: about running for president in 2028?
• 17:52
  Speaker 6: I'm kicking the tires, meaning I've been to New Hampshire.
• 17:55
  Speaker 6: I was invited to go there. I was invited to
• 17:57
  Speaker 6: go out to Iowa last summer. I think there's a
• 18:00
  Speaker 6: great deal of churning within the Democratic Party, and I
• 18:03
  Speaker 6: support that. As I said, I think we need this
• 18:05
  Speaker 6: healthy debate because I don't think Democrats have put forward
• 18:09
  Speaker 6: a clear alternative to the Trump administration.
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: So bottom line, you're mulling a potential run in 2028.
• 18:17
  Speaker 6: Bottom line, I think Democrats need to be very clear,
• 18:22
  Speaker 6: not just what we're against, but what we're for. And
• 18:25
  Speaker 6: I'm very much want to be part of that debate.
• 18:27
  Speaker 6: And I am kicking the tires, testing the waters.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: So you're going to run. Oh, I'm testing the waters.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: I'm kicking the tires. So you're going to run. Ah, well,
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: just want to be part of the conversation. Jim, this
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: smacks of, you know, some of the also rants in
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: 2020 who lost to the margin of error in the polling.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: I think that's exactly where Chris Van Hollen will probably
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: end up.
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: So, Greg, I'm not running. I'm using the metaphors. I'm
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: dipping my toe into the tire. I'm kicking the water.
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: I'm doing all kinds of things that are metaphors. Yes,
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: I'm running for president, right?
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: That's it.
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: So first of all, outside of blood relatives, can someone
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: please find me someone who's like, I really want Chris
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: Holland to run for president. You know, non-staffers, right? Can't
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: be his neighbors. Can't be his best friends or something
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: like that.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: But show me. But he also said he went out
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: to Iowa. Am I correct, Greg?
• 19:18
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: All right. Iowa's not one of the first six states anymore.
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: I know.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure he knows that, though.
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: I had a lovely time when I went out to
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: Des Moines and they had the worst snowstorm in like
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: 40 years. But nonetheless, I don't understand why, like, okay,
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: time well spent. If you enjoy being out in Iowa, great.
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: It's a field of dreams, they say. By the way,
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: Chris Van Hollen has been in government since 1995. You
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: and I were both in college or were you in
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: high school then?
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: No, I was in college, yeah.
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: Okay, so like, you know, count the gray hairs on
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: my head, right? This has been a long time. We
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: have kids. I have a kid in college, right? Chris
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: Van Hollen has been in government for a long time. Now,
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: sometimes experience can be good, but you just kind of
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: look at it like he's been in government for 30-some years,
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: and I suspect that, I don't know, I'd love to
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: see what his name idea is. I can't imagine it's
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: that high, even when he's doing Meet the Press, right?
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: You know, And he's like, do you recognize the name
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: Chris Van Hollen? Can you name anything he's done? And
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: my suspicion is that that number is even smaller than that.
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: So like, I am, my first thought was like, oh,
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: he's from Maryland. In my head, for some reason, I
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: was thinking he was from Connecticut. And I'm reminded of
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: Chris Dodd running for president in 2008, another guy who'd
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: been in Congress for a long time and just.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: Like, well.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: It's my turn.
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: And there was just no– like, again, there was nobody
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: in the country who was saying we really need Chris
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: Dodd to be president.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: And so he ran. And I think– I believe also
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: he moved to Iowa.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: He did?
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: Like, it's one of those things where you want to
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: talk about courting the voter. Like, I will move here.
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: I am buying real estate. This is– please vote for me.
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: And I was like 1%, 2% in the Iowa caucuses
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: or something like that. So I– There's a part of me,
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: maybe we reach out to him and make him guest
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: number nine on it.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: But just kind of like, why? What makes you think there.
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: Are people who really want to see you to be
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: the president of the United States, Mr.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: Van Hollen? And my guess is that he just like,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: there has to be.
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: There just has to be somebody out there who wants
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: him to be.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Like, you will lose to the guy with the boot
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: on his head up in New Hampshire, right? You were going.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: Vermin supreme.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: No, it just- I think he thinks he had a
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: moment and it's going to work about as well as
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: Janet Mills having her moment with Donald Trump and her
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Senate campaign went nowhere. But, you know, he had the drink.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: I don't know if it really was a margarita with
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: Kilmar Abrego Garcia down there in Latin America. And I
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: think he's going to see that as I took the
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: lead in fighting against Trump and his, you know, ICE
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: policies and so forth. And so I have heard more realistically,
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: some people say that if the Democratic caucus in the
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: Senate is fed up with Chuck Schumer, regardless of whether
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: they're in the majority or not next year, that Chris
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: Van Hollen might be a leading candidate for majority leader
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: or minority leader. See, that is easier.
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: Because at least that you have a much more limited
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: pool of rivals, right? I mean, you know, we've talked
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: about this before. Newsom's running. Harris seems to be running again. AOC,
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: I strongly suspect, is going to inherit the Bernie Sanders mantle.
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: So if you're, you know, if you're just, you know,
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: what's the term in baseball above replacement level, you know,
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: like replacement levels, you know, Democratic senator, but from a
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: deep blue state, right? If Van Hollen was from Arizona
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: or Georgia or something like that, well, then maybe it'd be,
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: you know, but even in that case, you've got Ruben Gallego, who, you.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Know, Eric Swalwell's favorite senator.
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: You know, he's got his own problems, but at least
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: he could say, oh, I'm a young Latino veteran veteran.
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: from a really important state. And like, you know, there's
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: the argument for him to be the nominee. John Ossoff,
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: he's probably gonna win reelection this year, but he'll say, look,
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: I am a young white male candidate from a really
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: important state who's won several times in Georgia. These guys
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: all bring something to the table. Chris Van Hollen, with
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: what you say, what did you bring to the table?
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: It's a margarita with a guy who can't even vote
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: in the Democratic primary.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: No, that's not going to get you very far.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: But he stuck up for that Maryland man, as the
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: media kept calling him. But anyway, yeah, Chris Van Hollen,
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: I think, will be an afterthought at best. I don't
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: know if they'll have enough candidates.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Aspiring asterisk, not even an asterisk.
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: I'm sorry.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: I don't know if I have enough candidates to get
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: to a kids' table debate, but if they do, he'll
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: definitely be there.
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: The biggest victory of the Chris Van Hollen presidential campaign
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: will be getting media companies to list him as a candidate.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: Otherwise, it'll just be Other.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: Change your name to Other, and you'll actually always have
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: a decent finish in every poll. My name is Other
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: Don't Know, and I am your candidate for that.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: Somebody should change their name to that. That would be fun.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Dan Sullivan should change his name too.
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: So speaking of Connecticut, Chris Murphy's kicking around this idea too,
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: and he'll have the exact same fate. So they probably
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: want us to be scared of them running.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: We're laughing.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: We're laughing a lot about that possibility. So in any event,
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: big Senate race in South Carolina today. We'll talk about
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: that next.
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: Thank you.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: All right, Jim, in our chaser today is the runoff
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: in South Carolina. It was just two weeks ago that
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: the race was narrowed to Darlene Graham and Ralph Norman.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Last Tuesday was the debate, and we talked about Darlene
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: Graham's moment of national security not being her thing. There
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: has not been hardly any national firms releasing any polls.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: There's been rumors about internals, but last night Trafalgar finally
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: released theirs, and Jim... To say it's close according to
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: their numbers would be an understatement. They've got Darlene Graham
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: up on Ralph Norman by 0.1, 47.9 to 47.8 with 4.4 undecided.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: If that's not a motivation to turn out your voters,
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure what is.
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: I was going to say, you know, go out and vote,
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: South Carolina Republicans, including you, mom and dad, because, you know,
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: you could be that 0.1 percent or you and your
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: friends together could end up doing that. Now, I'm So
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: the two interesting things I've heard about this are there
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: are a lot of times where Trump, first of all,
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: Trump usually endorses the incumbent. The incumbent wins by a
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: wide margin. And so that's what Trump says. Oh, I've got,
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: you know, 90 some percent of the people I endorsed
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: won one reelection. This was a little higher profile because
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: the passing of Lindsey Graham. And I think there were
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: a couple of Republicans who were a little surprised to
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: see Trump jump on the Darlene Graham bandwagon so quickly.
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: I'm sure they met in person. I'm sure, you know,
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: he was charmed by her. She was charmed by him.
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: But look, the debate performance was not great. It's Trump
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: went down and did a rally for her. I've heard
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: like people kind of asking the question, if you're if
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: you were Darlene Graham, would you have liked that that
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: rally as like right after the first round of the primary?
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: Do you want to have that Trump endorsement front and
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: center so that they've already kind of banked this this
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: momentum before having a not great debate night? Look, I
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: kind of I don't think a darling Graham loss is
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: out of the question. And it's not a huge reflection
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: on the president. But I look, you know, you're you're
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: you're getting deep into year six. And, you know, as
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: presidents become lame ducks, their political capital starts to dwindle.
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: Their influence over the rest of the party usually goes
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: down a bit. So that's kind of the drama in
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: tonight's results. We'll see what happens. And again, it's either way,
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: the Republican is extremely likely to win.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: November. But I do think this is kind of interesting.
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: If she loses, people might say, why did the president
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: go all in on someone who was such a blank
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: slate and unknown to so many South Carolina Republican voters?
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: I think that's right. And Trump, of course, endorsed Pamela Yvette,
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: the lieutenant governor in the governor's primary earlier this year.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: She won the plurality in the primary, but got crushed
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: in the runoff. So just being the top vote getter
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: in the first round doesn't guarantee anything. But based on
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: these numbers, if they're anywhere close. Could be a late night,
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: or we could see something that we don't expect. Cal,
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: she still has Darlene Graham expected to win in their
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: prediction market quite comfortably. There's a lot of intensity on
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: South Carolina Twitter for Ralph.
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: Norman, though.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: So we will see what that actually amounts to. Anyway,
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: hopefully we get answers early in the night.
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: Greg, you know Cal, she's just used for insider trading.
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: That's the only value of.
• 27:23
  Speaker 6: Exactly.
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: Well, we'll find out. Hopefully tomorrow. I'm sure we'll talk
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: about it. Jim, see you then.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: See you tomorrow, Greg.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: Jim Garrity, National Review. I'm Greg Karumbas of Radio America.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for being with us today. Please be
• 27:33
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• 27:35
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• 27:38
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• 27:40
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