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The 3rd Anniversary of the October 7th attacks · The Hugh Hewitt Show: Highly Concentrated

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  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. Morning glory and
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: evening grace, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Welcome to the Wednesday
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  Speaker 1: edition of the program. I'm leading off with United States
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  Speaker 1: Senator Tom Tillis, longtime friend of the program, author of
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  Speaker 1: this brand new book, How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents.
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  Speaker 1: How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents is out there everywhere. Senator,
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  Speaker 1: welcome back. I got a lot of questions for you.
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  Speaker 1: But first, I think you must have written this after
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  Speaker 1: you decided not to run again. Am I right about that? Actually,
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  Speaker 1: it's not true.
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  Speaker 2: The reason why we were able to write it in
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  Speaker 2: a couple of months, I mean, from the beginning to
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  Speaker 2: the end, it was less than 90 days, is because
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  Speaker 2: I had so much material that I've just written down
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  Speaker 2: for myself after actions for some of the things I
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  Speaker 2: thought we could do a better job on. So I
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  Speaker 2: did write it. It all culminated after I announced my retirement.
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  Speaker 2: But it's work that I started writing on even before
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  Speaker 2: the president was sworn in.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it was a pretty funny exchange of texts that
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  Speaker 1: you had with the president when you told him you
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  Speaker 1: weren't running again because he was. It's obviously you two
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  Speaker 1: are not going to be going out for drinks anytime soon.
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  Speaker 1: Is that right?
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  Speaker 2: No, that's that is that is the fallacy of everybody
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  Speaker 2: thinks I've burned my relationship down. The president and I
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  Speaker 2: have communicated even after the text that are on the
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  Speaker 2: back flap of the book. We've still communicated. We've still
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  Speaker 2: found ways to work together. But look, I, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I'll let other people set the tone of my relationship,
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  Speaker 2: but I've reserved the right to match their behavior when
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  Speaker 2: their behavior is what it is.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I don't think it's on the back flap. I
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  Speaker 1: think it's where you text something. I'm not going to
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  Speaker 1: run again. I imagine you're already looking for someone to
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  Speaker 1: replace me. He said, I've been working on it already.
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  Speaker 1: I just thought it was very Trumpian.
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  Speaker 3: No, see, even that's wrong, Hugh.
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  Speaker 1: Even that's wrong, buddy. Here's what happened.
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  Speaker 2: On the night that I voted against the motion to
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  Speaker 2: proceed on the big, beautiful bill, the president called me
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  Speaker 2: at my condo.
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  Speaker 1: I said, Mr.
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  Speaker 2: President, we've got health care policy in this bill that's
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  Speaker 2: an overreach.
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  Speaker 1: Not the House part.
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  Speaker 2: But what your people in CMS or in the White
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  Speaker 2: House told the Senate to add, I said, I'll work
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  Speaker 2: quietly to try and fix it in the House. But
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  Speaker 2: we've got a problem and it will be a problem
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  Speaker 2: next year. And you're on the brink of having the
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  Speaker 2: two of the most miserable years of your life beginning
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  Speaker 2: in January 27 if we don't get it right. Shortly
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  Speaker 2: after that, he posted a text saying Tillis is grandstanding
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  Speaker 2: because I voted against the motion to proceed. I texted
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  Speaker 2: him back, said acknowledge. Now start looking for my replacement.
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  Speaker 2: And then about 30 minutes later, he said he was
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  Speaker 2: seeking people to replace me. That's after I told him
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  Speaker 2: I had no intention of running. I'm not going to
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  Speaker 2: play that sort of game with anybody, including the president
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  Speaker 2: of the United States.
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  Speaker 1: But I found the exchange very interesting. I thought the
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  Speaker 1: exchange was very illuminating because you guys are very candid
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  Speaker 1: with each other. And I assume you still are. I
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  Speaker 1: assume he still calls you because he needs your vote
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  Speaker 1: on some things. And after you're out of the Senate,
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  Speaker 1: do you expect to still be chatting with him?
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  Speaker 2: Probably, because I tell you, in the second and the
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  Speaker 2: final two years of his administration, we need to navigate
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  Speaker 2: this closely. And it's not about President Trump at that point.
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  Speaker 2: It's about the future of the Republican Party. So, of course,
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  Speaker 2: I want to help. I want every Republican on the
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  Speaker 2: ballot to win this cycle. But we also have to
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  Speaker 2: recognize we have problems.
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  Speaker 1: We have headwinds.
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  Speaker 2: My goodness, when you're spending money in South Carolina and
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  Speaker 2: exiting North Carolina, everybody should be able to understand we
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  Speaker 2: have a problem. You don't pretend that it doesn't exist.
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  Speaker 2: You address it.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I hope we are going to address it right now.
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  Speaker 1: But I do want people to know that if they
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  Speaker 1: get themselves a copy of Senator Tillis' new book, How
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  Speaker 1: to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents, they're going to finally
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  Speaker 1: know what the bolo tie is all about. And I
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  Speaker 1: got to admit, Senator Tillis, I've known you a while.
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  Speaker 1: After you started wearing that bolo tie, I'm not from
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  Speaker 1: North Carolina. I did not get it. Now I get it.
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  Speaker 1: You want to explain to people what it's all about?
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  Speaker 1: I'm kind of disappointed you don't have it on today.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know, I I'm a fairly conservative dresser.
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  Speaker 2: And when that bolo tie was given to me by
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  Speaker 2: the Lumbee, when I told them that this was going
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  Speaker 2: to be the Congress, I was going to go to
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  Speaker 2: the mat. This is before I decided that I was
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  Speaker 2: going to follow through and not run for reelection. I said,
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to I'm going to leave everything on the
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  Speaker 2: table or I'm going to take everything, leave it on
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  Speaker 2: the field.
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  Speaker 1: And I had a meeting.
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  Speaker 2: They apparently they went down to the gift shop. They
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  Speaker 2: got a couple of these Senate lapel pins and they
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  Speaker 2: built a bolo around it. And then I put it
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  Speaker 2: in the closet. I didn't think I was going to
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  Speaker 2: wear it. Never worn one before in my life until
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  Speaker 2: last year. But I was invited by the president and
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  Speaker 2: some Congress members, other Congress members to go on Air
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  Speaker 2: Force One. down to Fayetteville. And I decided to use
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  Speaker 2: that as an opportunity to stimulate a discussion with one
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  Speaker 2: congressman who I knew was working against me, but was
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  Speaker 2: not admitting it, so that I could stimulate discussions about
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  Speaker 2: Lumbee for the whole of the trip, up to and
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  Speaker 2: including the president recognizing it. So from that day forward,
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  Speaker 2: it's kind of become a mood ring for me, Hugh.
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  Speaker 2: When you see me wearing that bolo, it's probably because
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  Speaker 2: I'm not real happy.
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  Speaker 1: Well, tell people about the Lumbee, because I think we
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  Speaker 1: ought to take this moment to tell them that. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Look, the Lumbee, the story of the Lumbee is just
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  Speaker 2: a tragic story of racism. starting back when they first
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  Speaker 2: tried to get recognized about 138 years ago. And then
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  Speaker 2: in the Jim Crow era, some of the folks in
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  Speaker 2: the Senate and Congress at once recognized them and unrecognized them,
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  Speaker 2: made it impossible for them to get done through administrative action.
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  Speaker 2: And this is a tribe that really, there were Eastern
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  Speaker 2: tribes that when the settlers came in, they had to
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  Speaker 2: go somewhere.
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  Speaker 1: And where would they go?
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  Speaker 2: Marginalized land, the swamps of North and South Carolina. Then
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  Speaker 2: you fast forward about a century and escaped slaves.
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  Speaker 1: They get away from a.
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  Speaker 2: Plantation where you think they're going to go to the
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  Speaker 2: same property.
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  Speaker 1: So over time, over generations.
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  Speaker 2: You have an Indian tribe and escaped slaves and other
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  Speaker 2: tribes that that the racist of the Jim Crow era
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  Speaker 2: said weren't legitimate Indians. And we want to recognize them
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  Speaker 2: and unrecognize them. Every Senate member since Elizabeth Dole has
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  Speaker 2: tried to get them recognized and right the wrong. And
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  Speaker 2: we finally used every lever I could think of to
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  Speaker 2: get it done. And now the Lummi Indians are the
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  Speaker 2: largest recognized tribe east of the Mississippi River. And I've
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  Speaker 2: told them the only thing I want them to do
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  Speaker 2: is make me proud, not make the mistake of these
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  Speaker 2: casino cartels that tried to prevent them from being recognized,
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  Speaker 2: treat their people well, treat their community well, and treat
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  Speaker 2: other Indian tribes that want to get recognized with respect
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  Speaker 2: and help them.
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  Speaker 1: I said with malice.
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  Speaker 2: Towards none, and they're living up to my expectations so far.
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  Speaker 1: It's a big expectation, Matt, and I think I want
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  Speaker 1: to salute you for that because it's easy to forget
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  Speaker 1: a tribe. You can Talk a good game and then
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  Speaker 1: not wear the bolo tie or wear the bolo tie
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  Speaker 1: and not ask the president on Air Force One. But
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  Speaker 1: you did it all and you got it done. So
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  Speaker 1: my hat's off to you. Now, Senator, I'll give people
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  Speaker 1: the cliff notes. If you don't like Bobby Kennedy, Pete Hegseth,
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  Speaker 1: Steve Miller or Kristi Noem, if you can remember Kristi Noem,
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  Speaker 1: this is the book for you. But it's not just that.
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  Speaker 1: Senator Tillis has got some areas of agreement with President Trump.
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  Speaker 1: And I want to talk about that for eight years.
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  Speaker 1: You have been the Republican leader of the Senate NATO
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  Speaker 1: Observer Group, about which I had never heard until I
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  Speaker 1: read this book. Snog. As a member of Snog, has
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  Speaker 1: Donald Trump been good for NATO or bad for NATO?
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  Speaker 4: Yes.
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  Speaker 2: He's been good because he's been good. Because he finally
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  Speaker 2: put them on notice and made them pay their fair
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  Speaker 2: share after their combined shortfall was nearly a $ 2 trillion
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  Speaker 2: shortfall in this century. They made NATO less safe. They
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  Speaker 2: made Europe less safe. He's bad. It's not good for
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  Speaker 2: NATO when he looks past us and tries to pretend
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  Speaker 2: that there's any scenario where Vladimir Putin wants to live
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  Speaker 2: peacefully in Europe. And so I think he needs to
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  Speaker 2: strike a balance. He needs to stay after NATO and
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  Speaker 2: make sure they pay their fair share, make sure that
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  Speaker 2: they don't look down our nose while we do what
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  Speaker 2: we have to to pay for our national defense. And
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  Speaker 2: then Europeans are talking about our social programs, our health programs.
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  Speaker 2: All the while, they were letting us cover their freedom
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  Speaker 2: while they were coming up short on our mutual agreement
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  Speaker 2: to our mutual defense. So he's been both good and bad.
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  Speaker 2: But going forward, look, we've got to recognize Russia is
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  Speaker 2: the aggressor. There's no scenario where there can be a
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  Speaker 2: win-win in Ukraine. You have evil and you have good.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm on the side of good with Ukraine and
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  Speaker 2: the Western world, Western democracies.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, last question, Senator. Again, the book is How to
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  Speaker 1: Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents. You will not be able
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  Speaker 1: to miss it in Airport, Amazon, or everyone else by
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  Speaker 1: Tom Tillis. Are we better off today than we were
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  Speaker 1: two years ago, Senator?
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  Speaker 2: I think we're always better off when Republicans are controlling Washington,
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  Speaker 2: but you can't look at the numbers and see that
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: we've got work to do with the economy. We've got
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: to have a reasonable set of expectations and goals in Iran.
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  Speaker 2: But like I said, we're always– this book is not
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  Speaker 2: about tearing down Republicans. I'm not an Adam Kinzinger or
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  Speaker 2: Liz Cheney or these other folks.
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  Speaker 1: You're right. I'm trying to let people know.
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  Speaker 2: I'm trying to let people know I support this president,
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  Speaker 2: but I don't blindly follow anybody. That is antithetical to
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  Speaker 2: the Democratic, the American experience. I'm here to represent the
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  Speaker 2: interests of North Carolina and what I believe is the
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  Speaker 2: best interest of the American people. And when I disagree
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: with the president or I disagree with some of these
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  Speaker 2: people giving them bad advice, it's incumbent on me to
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  Speaker 2: be honest and speak truth to power.
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  Speaker 1: And that is what he did in How to Lose
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  Speaker 1: Friends and Antagonize President. Senator Tillis, don't be a stranger.
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  Speaker 1: Good to see you again. Stay tuned, America. I'll be
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  Speaker 1: right back on The Hugh Hewitt Show. Welcome back. I'm
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  Speaker 1: Hugh Hewitt, joined by Noah C. Rothman, Noah's senior writer
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: at National Review, also star of stage and screen most
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  Speaker 1: nights on CNN now. I'm wondering, Noah, how many nights
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  Speaker 1: a week do you give them?
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  Speaker 5: Oh, as many as they'll... ask me for, which is
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  Speaker 5: typically two. Most of the time I have an obligation
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: because this is ball. It's sports hell. But they want
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  Speaker 5: me for two nights a week usually and I can
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  Speaker 5: do one, sometimes two.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. And what kind of a drive is that for you?
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: You got to go in the city, don't you?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm local. I'm in Western New Jersey. About an
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  Speaker 5: hour outside the city and that's pretty much my home base.
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  Speaker 1: All right. Good for you. I have two questions for you.
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  Speaker 1: The first, I have not been paying attention much to
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  Speaker 1: what's been going on in France because I did last
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  Speaker 1: week when the Pope was there and every Catholic not
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  Speaker 1: nailed to the floor showed up to greet him, I
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  Speaker 1: felt good about France. And then this week, it's on fire.
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  Speaker 1: You wrote the book Blood in Progress. What is going
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  Speaker 1: on in France?
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  Speaker 5: Well, if you ask a French official, it's a universe
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  Speaker 5: of things that have culminated in the unrest that we're
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  Speaker 5: seeing in the streets. The students are objecting to the
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  Speaker 5: dilapidated state of their schooling, and they have some legitimate
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: objections there. The schools are falling apart, the funding for them,
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  Speaker 5: though robust, doesn't go where it belongs. Teachers are fired
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  Speaker 5: and subsequently not replaced. They have some grievances. But that
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  Speaker 5: has absolutely nothing to do with the violence that we're
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  Speaker 5: seeing on the streets. Likewise, I saw today that the
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  Speaker 5: elimination of phones, iPhones, and, you know, mobile devices from
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  Speaker 5: school has made the children restless and impossible to control.
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  Speaker 5: You know, in the United States, we have school bans
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  Speaker 5: in over half of the union now during the day.
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  Speaker 5: And we don't see a whole lot of riots from
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  Speaker 5: these students as a result of their failure to have
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: access to their mobile devices. So there might be something
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  Speaker 5: else going on here. And if you look at the videos,
• 12:31
  Speaker 5: you see exactly what's going on here. The Unicast. The Omnicast, absolutely.
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  Speaker 5: Everything bleeds into everything else. You can't be pro-Palestinian if
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: you're not for universal health care, if you're not for
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: the socialist revolution broadly. Every cause bleeds into everything else.
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  Speaker 5: And so when you see these videos– of balaclava-clad, black
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  Speaker 5: bloc-style tactics being used by hooligans shouting Islamist slogans as
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  Speaker 5: they take the torch to the symbols of French government
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  Speaker 5: and the symbols of Western cultural heritage, you get some
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  Speaker 5: sense that these students are not nearly as parochial as
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  Speaker 5: they're being accused of, that they're not just about, you know,
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  Speaker 5: I want what's mine and I want the state to
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  Speaker 5: pay for it.
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  Speaker 1: No, no, no.
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  Speaker 5: They have much bigger ambitions, and they have a lot
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  Speaker 5: to do with, it seems to me, tearing down the
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  Speaker 5: fabric of Western civilization.
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  Speaker 1: We are used to Canastacard party dressed up as no
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: king's rally in the United States. They don't get very sparky.
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  Speaker 1: Is what we're seeing in France the future of the
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  Speaker 1: United States?
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  Speaker 5: Oh, God, I hope not. To the extent that we
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: have declined to inculcate in the next generation some appreciation
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: for the miracles into which they were merely born, the
• 13:48
  Speaker 5: state of the American social contract, the prosperity and safety
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  Speaker 5: that we all enjoy, or the culmination of generations of labor.
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  Speaker 5: They didn't have to sacrifice at all to enjoy the
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  Speaker 5: fruits of.
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  Speaker 1: All of that.
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  Speaker 5: But we don't instill in them any sort of gratitude
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  Speaker 5: for the conditions that they were just fortunate enough to
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  Speaker 5: be accidentally born into. But we're much better at it
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  Speaker 5: than France. We're much better at it than Britain, than
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  Speaker 5: generally old Europe.
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  Speaker 1: Then I'm going to produce for you a bit of
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: countervailing evidence that alarms me. For the first time in
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: my lifetime. I mean, I don't like Democrats generally. Old,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: old Sherrod Brown is infirm. He should not win. John
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Ossoff should not win because he's a zero. Roy Cooper
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: is a failed governor. But they're normal Democrats from the left.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: They're just wrong. Now we're looking at El-Said in Michigan,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Tallarico in Texas, Flanagan in Minnesota, Troy Jackson in Maine.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: This is basically the cast of The Office without Jim.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: It's just a group of weirdos. What? What is wrong
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: with it? And Chris Pappas, who's adjacent to Jackson up
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: in New Hampshire, he's not very far from DSA land either.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: What happened to the party?
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  Speaker 5: Well, it's voters happened to the party. The voters get
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: the kind of politics they want. And the progressive left
• 15:04
  Speaker 5: has loomed large over the Democratic Party's nominating process this year.
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: And they have gotten the kind of politicians that they seek,
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  Speaker 5: many of whom are very favorable to the progressive agenda,
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  Speaker 5: to the DSA agenda, as you say. But, you know,
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: it's October 7th, the third year anniversary of the October
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: 7th massacre. And I can't help but see in the
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  Speaker 5: choices that Democrats have made this year, the sort of
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  Speaker 5: hostility to the American project, to the Western project that
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: we see on fire in the streets of Paris. There's
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  Speaker 5: an element of restive hostility to, you know, again, the
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: miracles into which they were born in that and sort
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: of ingratitude for everything they've received. And the story of
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: Israel over the last three years should be the story
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  Speaker 5: of the United States. We still have the kind of
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: civilizational self-preservation instinct that Europe is slowly sacrificing. And what
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: has Israel done over the last three years? It has
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  Speaker 5: destroyed the seven armies that it was arrayed against. The
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  Speaker 5: Assad regime is gone. Iran is in tatters. It is
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  Speaker 5: facing an existential crisis at home, and its nuclear program
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: is no longer much of a threat. To say nothing
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  Speaker 5: of the fact that Israeli society is as socially cohesive
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  Speaker 5: as it's ever been Foreign direct investment is pouring in.
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  Speaker 5: Its military could not be stronger. These are the sort
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  Speaker 5: of things that a confident civilization does for itself, and
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: the benefits of them are manifest.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: This is the story that Republicans should be telling. Go
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: wide on your camera lens, Noah, because I asked this
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: question in the first line of my Washington Examiner column today.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Is the world better off today than it was three
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: years ago? Yes, in just about every conceivable way.
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: Because we are safer as a result of the diminution,
• 16:45
  Speaker 5: not elimination, but diminution of the Iranian terrorist threat. And
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: we just tend to underrate the terrorist threat because we've
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: gotten very good at interdicting Iranian plots. But they are
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: behind so much of the unrest, not just in their
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: part of the world, but in Europe, in North America,
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: in Southern Asia. Iran has had its fingers in some
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: of them, just about every destabilizing act, with the exception
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: of Russia and sometimes China. It is the locus of
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: evil in the modern world. And the reduction of that
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: threat and the eventual elimination of that threat, which you
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: can see looming on the horizon brighter and brighter every day,
• 17:21
  Speaker 5: will bring us into a world in which we can
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: finally execute that pivot to Asia, in which we have
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: a Middle East that is no longer beholden to the
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: kind of terroristic violence that has consumed that part of
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: the world for 70 years and really limited its capacity
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: for growth and innovation. Everything on the other side of
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: this conflict looks a lot better than it did on
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: October 6, 2023. I agree with that, but I want
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: to add one more.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Clarity. I think, and I'll begin with your book, Blood
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: and Progress. You have got great clarity about what we're
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: fighting here. Chris Ruffo's book, America's Cultural Revolution, many other books,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: and I think events from 10-7. The mask is off everyone.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: We knew who Putin was, but he showed us four
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: or five more times. We know Xi Jinping is killing
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: Jimmy Lai slowly. We know what Iran is, Hamas is.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: I think clarity has brought a lot of strength to
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: the West in the last three years. Last minute to you, Noah.
• 18:17
  Speaker 5: And the mask is off their supporters, many of whom
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: are eagerly exposing themselves today as they say, well, you know,
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: this is one day to mourn, but we can't ignore
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: the many Israeli crimes and the ongoing genocide in a
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: war that.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Ended a year ago.
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: These people are exposing themselves to anybody who is willing
• 18:34
  Speaker 5: to see what's right in front of their face.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: Noah C. Rothman, always good to talk to you. Go
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: and read his book, Blood and Progress. It's the perfect,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: like the volleyball setup for this spike that we see
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: now unfolding in France. And I suspect, I hate to
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: say this, I don't think it's going to stay in France.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: It's certainly going to go to the United Kingdom and
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: it may cross, hopefully before the plague does. Noah, good
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: to talk to you. I'll be right back, America. Follow
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: Noah on Exit, Noah C. Rothman. Listen to him on
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: the Editor's Podcast from National Review and see him on CNN.com.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: at night with Abby. Stay tuned. Welcome back. I'm Hugh Hewitt, America.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: In November, we will be celebrating the 15th anniversary of
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Act 10, Wisconsin's great leap into, well, all sorts of things.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Here to talk to me about that, Jonathan Williams, President
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: of the American Legislative Exchange Council, great sponsor of the program, alec.org.au. Jonathan,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: you can follow Jonathan, by the way, on X at
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Tax Economist. What did Scott Walker do 10 years or
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: 15 years ago with Act 10?
• 19:41
  Speaker 6: Well, I'll tell you what, those of us that were
• 19:45
  Speaker 6: following state policy at the time, remember those just horrific
• 19:48
  Speaker 6: scenes of the angry mob. of progressive leftist protesters out
• 19:53
  Speaker 6: there in Madison, Wisconsin, breaking into the state capitol building,
• 19:56
  Speaker 6: trying to stop the people's business. And of course, what
• 19:58
  Speaker 6: was the people's business that day? It was Governor Scott
• 20:01
  Speaker 6: Walker's huge reforms to protect taxpayers and get Wisconsin back
• 20:06
  Speaker 6: on a solid footing. Act 10 was a major package
• 20:09
  Speaker 6: of reforms on labor policy, on fiscal issues. Wisconsin at
• 20:14
  Speaker 6: that point in time, Hugh, had over a $ 3 billion
• 20:17
  Speaker 6: budget shortfall. And Governor Walker came in with a great
• 20:20
  Speaker 6: group of state legislators, men and women who were ALEC
• 20:23
  Speaker 6: members and said, we got to do something differently as
• 20:25
  Speaker 6: a state. And here we are now, 15 years later,
• 20:29
  Speaker 6: after these massive reforms that gave local control back to
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: school districts to make decisions about the benefits that they
• 20:36
  Speaker 6: were giving to teachers and other public employees, made changes
• 20:40
  Speaker 6: to the budget to make the budget sustainable. But at
• 20:43
  Speaker 6: the end of the day, it also prioritized hiring quality
• 20:46
  Speaker 6: teachers instead of just the old seniority system. There was
• 20:49
  Speaker 6: an example I remember clearly of it was a Wisconsin
• 20:53
  Speaker 6: Teacher of the Year that was able to keep her
• 20:56
  Speaker 6: job because of the tenure reforms that were part of
• 20:59
  Speaker 6: Act 10. And so it was a wide-ranging piece, and
• 21:02
  Speaker 6: it really put Scott Walker on the map. Hard-fought victory.
• 21:06
  Speaker 6: And oftentimes with these victories, Hugh, we talk about the victory,
• 21:09
  Speaker 6: and here we are a decade and a half later.
• 21:11
  Speaker 6: And so now we have the luxury of going back
• 21:13
  Speaker 6: full circle to see the amazing results that that has
• 21:16
  Speaker 6: provided for the great people of Wisconsin. And when you
• 21:19
  Speaker 6: add up the savings now over 15 years, the people
• 21:22
  Speaker 6: of Wisconsin, Hugh, have saved over $ 35 billion, with a B,
• 21:27
  Speaker 6: because of these common sense reforms that Scott Walker and
• 21:30
  Speaker 6: great legislators spearheaded there 15 years ago.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: Now, Jonathan, Wisconsin's the burnt over district. It's been blue, red, blue, red, blue, red.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: It's so often it's permanently purple. Does the success of
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: Act 10 tell you that that could happen in other
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: purple states? Has anyone tried to do what they did there?
• 21:50
  Speaker 6: Well, you know, we've seen some great other labor reforms,
• 21:52
  Speaker 6: as we've outlined in our States at Work publication that
• 21:55
  Speaker 6: we document every year at ALEC I mean, Arizona has
• 21:58
  Speaker 6: done some phenomenal things. Tennessee, the Carolinas, Utah has worked
• 22:02
  Speaker 6: on some big reforms. But Scott Walker's was really a
• 22:05
  Speaker 6: game changer that put Wisconsin back on solid footing and
• 22:09
  Speaker 6: really did enable a lot of other states to tackle
• 22:11
  Speaker 6: these issues that went after Wisconsin did that successfully. Now
• 22:16
  Speaker 6: that we have this track record, the progressive left was
• 22:19
  Speaker 6: howling to say the sky was going to fall and
• 22:21
  Speaker 6: this would be the end of Wisconsin as they knew it.
• 22:24
  Speaker 6: It was a chicken little scenario.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: The sky didn't fall.
• 22:27
  Speaker 6: And it turns out Wisconsin taxpayers are the better for it.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: And Governor Walker doing great things now as chairman of
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: the YAF, Young Americans for Freedom. Let me talk to
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: you about your recent travel in, John. I think you
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: must have more frequent flyer miles than anyone. Utah and
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: New England. Now, Utah is number one in the rich states,
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: poor states dot com for like permanent for dictator for
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: life status. And then you went up to New England
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: where there aren't any serious people. So you have one
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: minute to tell me about those two trips.
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: Well, Utah, hey, we're going to be their annual meeting
• 23:00
  Speaker 6: next year. So they're really hoping they make 20 years
• 23:03
  Speaker 6: in a row at number one in rich states, poor states.
• 23:05
  Speaker 6: So mark your dates for July 21st to 23rd. Salt
• 23:08
  Speaker 6: Lake City is going to be an amazing annual meeting.
• 23:11
  Speaker 6: But I'll say, you know, their leadership on education freedom
• 23:14
  Speaker 6: is why we were there. They're in the top 10
• 23:16
  Speaker 6: of the education freedom report at ALEC as well. So
• 23:19
  Speaker 6: many great people continuing to try to move the ball forward.
• 23:22
  Speaker 6: Utah is such a success story in so many different
• 23:24
  Speaker 6: areas of policy. And you juxtapose that versus New England.
• 23:28
  Speaker 6: where you have, I guess you have New Hampshire as
• 23:30
  Speaker 6: the light in the sea of darkness of New England.
• 23:33
  Speaker 6: But you've got a great group of ALEC legislators fighting
• 23:37
  Speaker 6: the fight in difficult scenarios there. And I think it
• 23:39
  Speaker 6: just proves that ALEC is not giving up on any
• 23:41
  Speaker 6: state or any region. We're a 50-state organization. In fact,
• 23:44
  Speaker 6: we don't care if people are Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, Vegetarian,
• 23:49
  Speaker 6: or whatever their political preference may be. We want to
• 23:52
  Speaker 6: be there to be a help for them on good policy.
• 23:54
  Speaker 6: And by the way, you may have seen the release
• 23:56
  Speaker 6: of We have a brand new ALEC board member, independent
• 23:59
  Speaker 6: member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, the great
• 24:02
  Speaker 6: John Brien, that we are so excited to welcome on
• 24:04
  Speaker 6: the ALEC board from New England. And so we are
• 24:07
  Speaker 6: not giving up on any place of America that wants
• 24:09
  Speaker 6: to pursue better policy.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: John was on the show from Orlando, a very colorful character,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: as one would expect from a Rhode Island politician. But
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: proving nonpartisanship is indeed the ALEC calling card. Remember, go
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: to richstatespoorstates.com to get your free copy of John's annual
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: study of the 50 states and how they stack up
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: for the future. Or join Alec, A-L-E-C dot org slash you.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: If you're a state legislator or a staffer adjacent to
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: any of those sorts of things, doing business in the state,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: Alec is for you. A-L-E-C dot org slash you. Thank you, Jonathan.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: I'll be right back. America, follow him at Tax Economist.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt, joined by Sarah C. Bedford.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Sarah is the investigations editor at the Washington Examiner. Sarah,
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: I want to read you a story and then ask
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: you how you would investigate it or how you would
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: assign reporters to this. Eighteen-year-old Minnesota man arrested in Mall
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: of America attack plot. This came out about a half
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: hour ago. Sheikh Dunabduli Mumnad, born in 2008, that makes
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: him 18 years old, faces federal charges after allegedly plotting
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: a mass casualty ISIS-inspired attack on Hamang art celebration at
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: the Mall of America on October 24th. Court documents detail
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: his messages, pledging allegiance to ISIS, targeting non-Muslims, aiming to
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: kill 30 to 60 people after failing to travel abroad.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: On October 6th, he paid $ 600 for an inoperable AK-47-style
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: rifle and ammunition. From an undercover agent in a Richfield
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: parking lot leading to his immediate arrest, last line, U.S.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: Attorney Daniel Rosen emphasized that ISIS support threats persist amid
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: recent Somali gang violence in the Twin Cities. Okay, what
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: do you tell your reporters to go find out?
• 26:08
  Speaker 7: Gosh, I mean, if I'm the investigative editor on this story,
• 26:10
  Speaker 7: we would probably start by looking into this person's online history.
• 26:14
  Speaker 7: A lot of the ISIS-inspired would-be attackers that we're seeing
• 26:18
  Speaker 7: in the U.S.
• 26:19
  Speaker 8: Are being radicalized online.
• 26:22
  Speaker 7: And also we would look into what associations or affiliations
• 26:26
  Speaker 7: this person had within the Somali community. But this is
• 26:29
  Speaker 7: a pretty wild plot that the FBI uncovered today and
• 26:33
  Speaker 7: shows that the terrorist threat is not something that is
• 26:37
  Speaker 7: in America's past, that it's something resurging now, today.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the last line is what really got my attention. U.S.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: Attorney Daniel Rosen emphasized that ISIS support threats persist amid
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: recent Somali gang violence in the Twin Cities. That's pretty
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: pregnant with ominous music, isn't it?
• 27:00
  Speaker 8: It is.
• 27:01
  Speaker 7: And we've actually covered this. One of my reporters, Mia Kethel,
• 27:04
  Speaker 7: has covered this pretty extensively. There is a big gang
• 27:07
  Speaker 7: violence problem among the Somali community in Minnesota. And Some
• 27:11
  Speaker 7: Democrats in the state have suggested that even talking about
• 27:14
  Speaker 7: the gang violence problem is itself racist, but it's a
• 27:18
  Speaker 7: real issue. And it's obvious that there are things about
• 27:21
  Speaker 7: the Somali diaspora in Minnesota that state officials have failed
• 27:26
  Speaker 7: to grapple with, to put it charitably.
• 27:28
  Speaker 8: Fraud is a big part of that.
• 27:30
  Speaker 7: And you do have this big problem with gang violence
• 27:33
  Speaker 7: and potentially with Islamic radicalization that the state needs to
• 27:37
  Speaker 7: get a handle on.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Now, on Friday night, There was a shooting at the
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Eden Prairie High School game. I am assured by Josh
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Holmes of Ruthless that that is the least likely place
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: in Minnesota to have a gunfight breakout among Somali gangs.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: But it happened. Does that rise? Does it begin to
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: bump into the Flanagan far left lurch for the Senate
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: against Michelle Tafoya?
• 28:03
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I think there's a lot of reasons that you're
• 28:05
  Speaker 7: seeing Peggy Flanagan struggle a little too much for comfort
• 28:08
  Speaker 7: for Democrats.
• 28:09
  Speaker 8: That's one of them.
• 28:10
  Speaker 7: The record of failure of the Walls administration in Minnesota
• 28:13
  Speaker 7: is another one. She's increasingly being tied to fraud, and
• 28:17
  Speaker 7: that's being highlighted in ads that her opponent is running,
• 28:21
  Speaker 7: because a lot of the fraud that we're talking about
• 28:24
  Speaker 7: in the Somali community and elsewhere happened on her watch
• 28:26
  Speaker 7: when she was lieutenant governor. So it's not just the
• 28:29
  Speaker 7: fact that she's not the most charismatic candidate and doesn't necessarily...
• 28:34
  Speaker 7: translate well in this sort of retail politic arena, but
• 28:38
  Speaker 7: it is also that she is tied to this enormous
• 28:41
  Speaker 7: dysfunction in the state of Minnesota that is a direct
• 28:43
  Speaker 7: result of progressive policies.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: So, Sarah, did you happen to catch any of Susan Collins'
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: filleting of Troy Jackson last night at their first debate?
• 28:55
  Speaker 8: I got some clips. It wasn't the best night for
• 28:57
  Speaker 8: Troy Jackson.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: No, it was like a Jinsu knife commercial, and there
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: were little strips of him like a Looney Tunes thing
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: When Sylvester the Cat would fall into eight different pieces.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: What happened to the Democrats? El-Sayed in Michigan, Troy Jackson
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: in Maine, Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota, Tallarico in Alabama. What
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: happened to them?
• 29:20
  Speaker 7: Republicans got lucky, I guess. We're blessed with some poor
• 29:23
  Speaker 7: candidate recruitment in some of these states that Democrats absolutely
• 29:27
  Speaker 7: needed to hold on to or flip if they were
• 29:29
  Speaker 7: going to have a hope of of taking control of
• 29:32
  Speaker 7: the Senate. And look, the polls are not good for Republicans.
• 29:34
  Speaker 7: I mean, the best thing that they can hope for
• 29:36
  Speaker 7: right now is that a massive polling error is taking
• 29:40
  Speaker 7: place because otherwise they're set up to suffer some profound losses.
• 29:44
  Speaker 7: And we're talking all the way down to the state
• 29:46
  Speaker 7: legislature level where the control of some states, a lot
• 29:49
  Speaker 7: of states, is poised to change hands. But when it
• 29:52
  Speaker 7: comes to the Senate outlook, Republicans, I think, still have
• 29:56
  Speaker 7: a pretty good chance of holding on to the Senate
• 29:58
  Speaker 7: because you do have those polarizing controversial candidates in key states.
• 30:03
  Speaker 7: And Democrats aren't really looking in strong positions to make
• 30:06
  Speaker 7: that many flips with the exception of North Carolina that
• 30:09
  Speaker 7: Republicans seem to be abandoning. They got lucky there with
• 30:12
  Speaker 7: Roy Cooper. But other than that, I mean, Graham Plattner
• 30:16
  Speaker 7: was a disaster. The Democrats have had some real disasters
• 30:20
  Speaker 7: when it comes to the results of their primaries.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: So you mentioned the big if, if the polls are broken.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: And look, I don't know if they're broken. I'm not
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: a pollster. All I know is they've been broken for
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: four cycles. Do you think they're broken?
• 30:35
  Speaker 7: I think it's very likely that they are. The Democrats
• 30:39
  Speaker 7: are a little bit overperforming in the polls right now.
• 30:41
  Speaker 7: But when Republicans are when their best hope for the
• 30:45
  Speaker 7: midterms is that there's some sort of polling error, then
• 30:47
  Speaker 7: they're not in a good position.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 30:49
  Speaker 8: But in Michigan, for example, in twenty twenty four.
• 30:51
  Speaker 7: Alyssa Slotkin underperformed her real clear politics average by a
• 30:56
  Speaker 7: few points. And in Texas and Ohio, I was looking
• 30:59
  Speaker 7: at this before we started talking, both the Republicans outperformed
• 31:03
  Speaker 7: their real clear politics averages in 2024 and 2020. So
• 31:06
  Speaker 7: we've seen this persistent undercounting of Republican support in Senate
• 31:11
  Speaker 7: polls over the past few cycles. That doesn't necessarily mean
• 31:13
  Speaker 7: that every Republican in every race that is trailing right
• 31:16
  Speaker 7: now is going to outperform what the polls say. But
• 31:19
  Speaker 7: when there are polling errors, they tend to shake out
• 31:22
  Speaker 7: in favor of Republicans in the end.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: But, boy, you know, if they swing and miss big
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: again this year, people are going to have to start
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: questioning whether or not they're worth anything at all. I
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: know it makes for easy copy to write, and it's
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: racehorse stuff. But if they've missed again, and I have
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: that feeling that they're going to at least in some
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: of these races, then maybe people ought to seek a
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: new line of work. Sarah C. Bedford can be followed
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: on X over on X at Sarah C. Bedford, reader
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: in the DC Examiner. That's where I have my column
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: today on are we better off as a world than
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: we were three years ago? My answer is absolutely yes.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: We have clarity, and clarity is always important before you
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: can agree on what the problem is, getting the facts
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: very clear in our mind about where evil resides in
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: the world. That's been a very good thing from a
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: very dark day three years ago. Stay tuned. Good morning, glory,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: and evening, grace, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. On this, the
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: third anniversary of the 10-7 invasion of Israel by Hamas,
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: the massacre of 1,200 that followed, the wounding of 5,000,
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: the kidnapping of 250, and the start of a war
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: that is now in its third year. To talk about
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: that anniversary, I'm joined by John Podhortz. John is the
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: editor-in-chief of Commentary Magazine. John, I just have three questions
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: for you. The first is, is the world as a
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: whole better off today than it was three years ago?
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: And if so, why? And if not, why not?
• 32:49
  Speaker 9: Unambiguously better. Think about the record of Israel's performance and
• 32:55
  Speaker 9: Donald Trump's performance since October 7th, 2023. Here's what's happened.
• 33:00
  Speaker 9: Iran's nuclear program is shattered in tatters, probably buried forever.
• 33:07
  Speaker 9: It's government decapitated. It's on the economic ropes. I think
• 33:11
  Speaker 9: we are months away from a potential collapse of the government.
• 33:14
  Speaker 9: That's the biggest picture. Hamas has been neutered to nearly destroyed.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: It is headless.
• 33:21
  Speaker 9: Israel has suffered not a single rocket fired at it
• 33:26
  Speaker 9: in 375 days after thousands upon thousands of rockets in
• 33:31
  Speaker 9: the two years prior. The government in Syria, gone. Hezbollah
• 33:37
  Speaker 9: blown up with beepers and other attacks.
• 33:40
  Speaker 4: It's had.
• 33:43
  Speaker 9: Ismail Haneik assassinated, Nasrallah assassinated. Israel is militarily the strongest
• 33:51
  Speaker 9: power and strategically the strongest power in the Middle East.
• 33:56
  Speaker 9: It is a Western ally. It is a friend to
• 33:58
  Speaker 9: the United States and a supporter of democratic institutions in
• 34:03
  Speaker 9: the world. And none of that would have taken place
• 34:06
  Speaker 9: had Yahya Sinwar held his fire on October 7th, and
• 34:12
  Speaker 9: launched what was the action that led to his own death,
• 34:19
  Speaker 9: the doom of his organization, and the restructuring of the
• 34:22
  Speaker 9: Middle East. So this was a monstrous thing, should never
• 34:25
  Speaker 9: have happened, the tragedy Israel will live with and Jewish
• 34:28
  Speaker 9: people will live with forever. But Sinwar, he didn't awaken
• 34:35
  Speaker 9: a sleeping beast, but he ensured that there was going
• 34:40
  Speaker 9: to be a revolution in the Middle East, exactly the
• 34:43
  Speaker 9: opposite of the revolution that he intended.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: I agree with all that. Now to the second question,
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: Israel domestically, are they better off than they were three
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: years ago? Three years ago, we had the new Bibi government.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: We had massive demonstrations over the judicial reform package, a
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: part of which is packed. And we had sort of
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: a coherent left and right. Now it's just a mess
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: to people like me who just follow it from English language,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: Israeli media. Do you think the country is stronger internally
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: than it was three years ago?
• 35:18
  Speaker 9: I think Israel's sense of its own resilience and agency
• 35:24
  Speaker 9: has given it a strength that it falsely believed that
• 35:30
  Speaker 9: it possessed before October 7th and now does in fact
• 35:34
  Speaker 9: possess that does not mean that its politics are not
• 35:38
  Speaker 9: disastrous which they are but of course politics in almost
• 35:44
  Speaker 9: every western country are disastrous look at France look at
• 35:48
  Speaker 9: Britain look at Canada look at us look at what's
• 35:50
  Speaker 9: going on here look at the inability of Congress to
• 35:53
  Speaker 9: get anything passed Look at the crisis in the streets
• 35:58
  Speaker 9: of Paris and London, the wild anti-Semitism being expressed in
• 36:04
  Speaker 9: the streets of Montreal and Toronto. So we are in
• 36:08
  Speaker 9: a world in the West in which our politics is
• 36:11
  Speaker 9: getting worse and worse. That is true of Israel, which
• 36:14
  Speaker 9: also has to face a sort of reckoning with what
• 36:18
  Speaker 9: went wrong, what it did wrong, how its governments failed it.
• 36:22
  Speaker 9: to lead to October 7th. That hasn't quite happened yet.
• 36:25
  Speaker 9: But I don't think that Israel is any worse politically
• 36:29
  Speaker 9: than other Western countries in that sense.
• 36:32
  Speaker 5: And domestically, it's a mess.
• 36:34
  Speaker 9: It's also, you know, the richest, you know, once upon
• 36:37
  Speaker 9: a time, 30, 40 years ago, it was the, one
• 36:40
  Speaker 9: of the poor nations on earth, and it's now one
• 36:43
  Speaker 9: of the richest nations on earth. So I don't think
• 36:46
  Speaker 9: that you can say that it's better because of course
• 36:50
  Speaker 9: it's suffered gravely and Many hundreds of thousands of people
• 36:54
  Speaker 9: had to sacrifice a year or two of their lives
• 36:56
  Speaker 9: in very terrible conditions that they are going to have
• 37:01
  Speaker 9: to cope with psychologically and spiritually for the rest of
• 37:04
  Speaker 9: their lives. No country that goes through war is improved
• 37:08
  Speaker 9: by war in that sense because of the terrible costs.
• 37:13
  Speaker 9: But I think all in all, Israel has strengthened its
• 37:19
  Speaker 9: geopolitical position and it has... found a new sense of
• 37:25
  Speaker 9: its own agency.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: Okay, my third question, I'll preface it by telling you,
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: I think the Democratic Party is cleaved in two. Some
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: people try and talk around it, like Rahm Emanuel and others,
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: but when you nominate Al Sayed and Tallarico and Peggy
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: Flanagan and Troy Jackson, you've really given your party over
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: to far left anti-Semitic extremists. Is the Democratic Party better
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: off for getting their tent broader, or have they swallowed poison?
• 38:04
  Speaker 9: I hope they've swallowed poison, by which I mean I
• 38:08
  Speaker 9: hope that the American people will reject this move and
• 38:12
  Speaker 9: will restore the country's sense of its own what we
• 38:19
  Speaker 9: would call its own sort of historically unprecedented philo-Semitism, which
• 38:23
  Speaker 9: I think has been not only a wonderful thing for
• 38:26
  Speaker 9: my people, but a wonderful thing for America in general.
• 38:30
  Speaker 9: It is a terrible thing that one of the two
• 38:32
  Speaker 9: political parties has found itself in the embracing forces that
• 38:39
  Speaker 9: support the notion that it is okay to take up
• 38:43
  Speaker 9: terrorist arms and to destroy people whole communities, whole kibbutzim,
• 38:48
  Speaker 9: whole families, and launch unprecedented wars in this fashion, and
• 38:54
  Speaker 9: that the cowardice of the mainstream Democratic politicians and kowtowing
• 38:59
  Speaker 9: to these revolutionary forces, I hope it's an anomaly, and
• 39:04
  Speaker 9: that we will see that it is an anomaly, and
• 39:07
  Speaker 9: I think historically it will be, but we may be
• 39:10
  Speaker 9: a decade into the Democratic Party being Craven, irresponsible, foolish,
• 39:17
  Speaker 9: and frankly, villainous, if it continues down the path it
• 39:23
  Speaker 9: seems to be on.
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: And the final question, I listened to you and Dan
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: and Abe and Seth today. I listened to Dan talking.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: to two rabbis as well on Call Me Back. Are
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: American Jews better off today than they were three years ago,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: or are they emotionally adrift from everything they knew and
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: sort of relied upon, which was the Democratic Party? We
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: are way worse. Go ahead. We are way worse.
• 39:46
  Speaker 9: We are in way worse shape. We are facing a
• 39:49
  Speaker 9: new kind of hostility that we have not really felt before. Historically,
• 39:55
  Speaker 9: Jews have felt it. We American Jews, I'm 65 years old. Certainly,
• 40:01
  Speaker 9: there was a little bit of it when I was
• 40:02
  Speaker 9: a kid. Very not much of it. And there has
• 40:05
  Speaker 9: been anti-Semitism. There's always anti-Semitism. Something new happened in the
• 40:10
  Speaker 9: wake of October 7th. You know, a demon was unleashed.
• 40:14
  Speaker 9: A genie was let out of the bottle. Pandora's box
• 40:17
  Speaker 9: was opened. We are afraid.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: We are worried.
• 40:21
  Speaker 4: We are adrift.
• 40:23
  Speaker 9: We are blaming. Many of us are blaming ourselves. We're
• 40:26
  Speaker 9: blaming Israel. Others are depressed and trying to find the
• 40:33
  Speaker 9: same kind of purpose that Israel has found. We are
• 40:36
  Speaker 9: not in good shape. We shouldn't be. We should be
• 40:40
  Speaker 9: like strengthening our spines and getting ready to do whatever
• 40:44
  Speaker 9: kind of battle it is we have to do against
• 40:46
  Speaker 9: these forces. the community is not yet ready quite yet
• 40:49
  Speaker 9: to do that, which will continue to harm it. Um,
• 40:54
  Speaker 9: none of this has come as a surprise to me
• 40:57
  Speaker 9: except the intensity of it and the horror of seeing
• 41:00
  Speaker 9: people openly, nakedly embracing stereotypes and ideas that, uh, were
• 41:06
  Speaker 9: once hidden or buried or at least buried socially, if
• 41:11
  Speaker 9: very close to the surface. And, um, what we need
• 41:16
  Speaker 9: is a little Israel in our spines.
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: So, John, last question. One minute. Who is the leader
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: of American Jewry? Like, if you had to name the
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: top five people, where are they?
• 41:30
  Speaker 9: Well, there is none. Judaism doesn't have leaders. The Jewish community,
• 41:35
  Speaker 9: Judaism is a decentralized, radically decentralized religion. It was once
• 41:39
  Speaker 9: a completely centralized religion with a You know, high priest
• 41:43
  Speaker 9: and a king and.
• 41:45
  Speaker 5: All of that.
• 41:46
  Speaker 9: And the expulsion from Rome and the creation of the
• 41:49
  Speaker 9: diaspora meant that Judaism has no center. It has no,
• 41:55
  Speaker 9: I mean, it has no, there is no leader. There
• 41:57
  Speaker 9: is no, and that is one of the things that
• 41:59
  Speaker 9: has made it possible for us to survive is that
• 42:02
  Speaker 9: we didn't need to look to one person, one force,
• 42:06
  Speaker 9: one name, one idea. There were thousands of communities all
• 42:10
  Speaker 9: over every town, every shtetl, every neighborhood. And so fortunately,
• 42:17
  Speaker 9: that means that when the people who are not our
• 42:21
  Speaker 9: nominal leaders fail us, they don't really affect what we
• 42:27
  Speaker 9: do on a daily and weekly basis. It's how you
• 42:31
  Speaker 9: perform your Judaism and are part of the Jewish community
• 42:34
  Speaker 9: that make you whole as a Jew.
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: Well, I certainly hope at least a few more people
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: step forward with the kind of message I hear every
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: day on the Commentary Podcast and call me back. Great
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: podcast today, John. Good call on the opening as well.
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: Follow John on X at JPodHorts. Listen to the Commentary
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: Podcast as I do every single day and come right back.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: I'm Hugh Hewitt. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt, joined
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: by former United States Senator Jim Tallent. Jim, it is
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: the third anniversary of the invasion of Israel by Hamas,
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: the massacre of 1,200, the wounding of 5,000, the kidnapping
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: of 250, and the start of a three-year war, which
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: is ongoing. I think it's all one more. Is the
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: world better off today than it was on 10-6-2023? Well,
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: beyond question, Hugh, I mean, there's simply no doubt. I mean,
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: at the time that war started, the Middle East was
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: in the grip of a deadly threat, a powerful nation
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: state that wanted to dominate its neighbors and had considerable success,
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: controlled Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, large parts of Yemen, frightened everybody else,
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: had a huge arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles, and
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: was within months of getting a nuclear weapon if they
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: wanted to get it. And now their strategy has been shattered.
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: Their power has been eviscerated. The proxies are being destroyed.
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: The nuclear program is gone.
• 44:00
  Speaker 10: So basically, we've gone from a situation where there was
• 44:04
  Speaker 10: a deadly threat to the United States and the Middle East,
• 44:07
  Speaker 10: and it's becoming a region with problems we can manage
• 44:11
  Speaker 10: using diplomatic and economic tools.
• 44:13
  Speaker 4: So it's the best thing.
• 44:16
  Speaker 10: It may be the best thing to happen to the
• 44:18
  Speaker 10: world since the fall of the Soviet Union.
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: In the course of those three years, though, we've also
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: seen Vladimir Putin double, triple, quadruple down in Ukraine, and
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: Xi Jinping make a decision to allow Jimmy Lai to
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: die alone in a prison cell because he just wants
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: to show off his brute strength, and he's a pure Leninist.
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: So we have clarity about those two nations, too. Yeah,
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: we do.
• 44:45
  Speaker 10: I mean, there's pretty clearly.
• 44:49
  Speaker 10: An alliance. It's an alliance of convenience rather than real friendship.
• 44:54
  Speaker 10: But there's an alliance among the aggressor nations that hate
• 44:59
  Speaker 10: liberal democracy and therefore want to subvert or weaken the
• 45:04
  Speaker 10: United States. And of course, China and Russia are two
• 45:06
  Speaker 10: of those. But those are threats we're moving to meet
• 45:09
  Speaker 10: as well. I mean, building up the armed forces, building
• 45:13
  Speaker 10: up the Navy, The Europeans are spending more money on defense,
• 45:17
  Speaker 10: largely as a result of our diplomacy. The Ukrainians are blazing,
• 45:23
  Speaker 10: and the Israelis, they're blazing the trail in terms of
• 45:26
  Speaker 10: using technology to refine, for example, air defenses, anti-missile systems. So,
• 45:33
  Speaker 10: I mean, even in that area, we're mobilizing. And so, yes,
• 45:38
  Speaker 10: we're better off. Now, I heard John Podort say that
• 45:40
  Speaker 10: the Jews in the diaspora are worse off, and I
• 45:43
  Speaker 10: think that's true. That's another threat now that we have
• 45:46
  Speaker 10: to meet. But in terms of national security, the world's
• 45:49
  Speaker 10: much better off.
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: What do you make about the Democratic Party? They've got
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: some normal left-wingers running like old Sherrod Brown. I think
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: you serve with Sherrod Brown. You're not infirm. He is.
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: John Ossoff is a zero who doesn't look like a
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: zero because he's running in a field full of zeros.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: But El Sayed in Michigan, Tallarico in Texas, Flanagan in Minnesota,
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: Troy Jackson in Maine. Even Chris Pappas in New Hampshire.
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: These are not, you know, your and my Democratic friends,
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: Jim Talent.
• 46:22
  Speaker 10: Yeah, they're very far to the left in traditional terms.
• 46:27
  Speaker 10: I mean, they are socialists, but there's also this alliance
• 46:31
  Speaker 10: with radical Islam and there's this anti-Semitic tone to it.
• 46:35
  Speaker 10: And the Democrats are not doing a good job of
• 46:38
  Speaker 10: fighting it off. I mean, there are some who are
• 46:40
  Speaker 10: speaking up. Rahm Emanuel is one of them. But by
• 46:43
  Speaker 10: and large, no, they're giving into it. Some of these
• 46:47
  Speaker 10: folks I look at that I served with are almost unrecognizable.
• 46:51
  Speaker 10: And I think what it's going to take is a
• 46:54
  Speaker 10: series of electoral defeats where the American people make clear
• 46:58
  Speaker 10: that unless they moderate, they're going to be cut off
• 47:00
  Speaker 10: from power. And then they will moderate. That will empower
• 47:04
  Speaker 10: the moderates in the party. And we'll get back to
• 47:07
  Speaker 10: a sound leftist center party. But yeah, it's a real
• 47:11
  Speaker 10: challenge for them.
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: But, you know, we're in the sixth year of a
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: Trump presidency. Sixth year elections are always bad. W in 2006,
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: Obama in 2014. If the Republicans get hammered as the
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: tides of political fortunes would dictate, isn't that going to
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: send a false positive to the Democrats about who to nominate?
• 47:33
  Speaker 9: Right.
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: It will.
• 47:34
  Speaker 10: And I say to my independent friends, and I try
• 47:38
  Speaker 10: and put myself in their position, I understand, uh, that
• 47:42
  Speaker 10: they don't like Donald Trump or most of them don't
• 47:45
  Speaker 10: like Donald Trump. But other than talking about the good
• 47:48
  Speaker 10: things that the Republicans are doing, I mean, one point
• 47:50
  Speaker 10: I make to them is that if they'll make clear
• 47:53
  Speaker 10: to the Democrats that unless they moderate, they're not going
• 47:56
  Speaker 10: to get back into power, then they're going to get
• 47:58
  Speaker 10: the kind of alternatives that they want. And so I
• 48:02
  Speaker 10: think some of them realize that, and I think that's
• 48:04
  Speaker 10: going to grow. Now, look, I don't think this is,
• 48:07
  Speaker 10: I've never believed that this election cycle is going to
• 48:09
  Speaker 10: be that bad for the party. I think we are
• 48:12
  Speaker 10: going to hold the Senate. But we've got some close
• 48:15
  Speaker 10: elections coming up. Coming up and what we do in
• 48:17
  Speaker 10: the next 30 days is going to make a big difference.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: Last question. You're close to Kansas. What is it about Kansas?
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: It's a red state. Why do they always make it
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: interesting on the Senate races?
• 48:31
  Speaker 10: Well, it's a red state, but it's a red state
• 48:35
  Speaker 10: with substantial pockets.
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: And the Democrats.
• 48:38
  Speaker 10: Sometimes we're on good candidates. I mean, they know how
• 48:41
  Speaker 10: to deal with Kansas politics, and sometimes we don't. I
• 48:44
  Speaker 10: don't think that's the case here. I think we're going
• 48:46
  Speaker 10: to do fine. But yeah, it's a state that we
• 48:49
  Speaker 10: have to watch. I mean, I'm not as worried about that, though,
• 48:54
  Speaker 10: as I am, for example, about Texas. I think Paxton's
• 48:56
  Speaker 10: going to pull it out, but I think it's going
• 48:58
  Speaker 10: to be close. I've been talking to some friends of mine,
• 49:00
  Speaker 10: and they're cautiously optimistic.
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: Is there any significance of the fact that Tallarico's gone dark?
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's been off the trail for four days.
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: That could just be a cold, but there's speculation.
• 49:17
  Speaker 10: Yeah, I think there's significance.
• 49:19
  Speaker 4: But I don't know what it is.
• 49:21
  Speaker 10: I mean, this is not the time to go dark
• 49:23
  Speaker 10: if you're trying to get elected. I mean, you have
• 49:25
  Speaker 10: to be out there. You have to be campaigning.
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: But I don't know.
• 49:29
  Speaker 10: I mean, I've heard the same rumors you have, but
• 49:31
  Speaker 10: I mean, I don't know that I credit any of them.
• 49:33
  Speaker 10: So that's something I'm watching.
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's when Oppo begins to drop that it's the beginning,
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: it's never the end, right? It's never the end when
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: it drops in October 5th and 6th and 7th.
• 49:50
  Speaker 10: And you have to be in the middle of one
• 49:51
  Speaker 10: of these races, you, to understand the pressure and the tension.
• 49:54
  Speaker 10: And it's not like Tallarico is used to high-stakes politics.
• 49:58
  Speaker 10: I mean, it's just unbelievable. I've run in good cycles
• 50:01
  Speaker 10: and bad cycles. I had four close elections. I was
• 50:05
  Speaker 10: two and two with them. And you have to be
• 50:07
  Speaker 10: a pretty solid, emotionally strong, fully formed individual to handle
• 50:12
  Speaker 10: that kind of tension, and I'm not so sure he is.
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: And I don't think Abdul El-Sayed either. That's why he's
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: so angry all the time. Jim Talent, thank you. Follow
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: Jim on X at Jim Talent. Follow me in the
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: next segment right here, America, on the Hugh Hewitt Show. Hi,
• 50:29
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• 52:55
  Speaker 1: Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. As promised, Mary Catherine
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: Hamm joins me now. She's the host of the Getting
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: Hammered podcast with her co-host Vic Mattis. You can also
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: read her at MKHammer on X, Fox News contributor extraordinaire.
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: Mary Catherine, I want to cover a lot with you,
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: but first it is the third anniversary of 10-7. I
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: talked about it in the first couple of hours. I've
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: put the same question that I put in the Washington
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: Examiner today. Is the world safer today than it was
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: three years ago? What do you think?
• 53:23
  Speaker 12: I think it is, actually.
• 53:26
  Speaker 3: I was sort of taking stock of how far we've come.
• 53:30
  Speaker 12: As a Western civilization, mostly the U.S.
• 53:33
  Speaker 3: And Israel, joined to defend against terroristic tactics and the
• 53:38
  Speaker 3: whole network of Iranian terrorists.
• 53:40
  Speaker 12: Proxies that were surrounding Israel.
• 53:43
  Speaker 3: The idea three years ago, if you had told me
• 53:46
  Speaker 3: that Hezbollah's ballistic or Hezbollah's missile sites and capabilities in
• 53:51
  Speaker 3: Southern Lebanon would have been degraded to this degree and
• 53:56
  Speaker 3: that the Lebanese government would have been empowered to have
• 53:59
  Speaker 3: an agreement of some sort with the U.S.
• 54:01
  Speaker 12: And Israel to.
• 54:03
  Speaker 3: Rid themselves of this horrible thing that's been existing in
• 54:07
  Speaker 3: the south of their country.
• 54:08
  Speaker 12: For all these years, I would not have believed you.
• 54:11
  Speaker 3: And then you pile on top of that Hamas being contained,
• 54:16
  Speaker 3: the Houthis being crippled, and the Iranian nuclear sites and
• 54:19
  Speaker 3: other military capabilities having been degraded in this manner.
• 54:23
  Speaker 12: That's quite a list, even if the job is not done.
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: And I mentioned as well, in the past three years,
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: we've grown very, very, very clear about who Vladimir Putin is.
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: He's just a butcher. And we've gotten a very good read,
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: if people didn't already know it, that Xi Jinping, who
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: is slowly murdering Jimmy Lai, that he's a ruthless Leninist.
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: I mean, as our friend Dennis Prager likes to say,
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: clarity before agreement. The last three years have brought a
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: lot of clarity to the world. Do you agree with that?
• 54:55
  Speaker 3: Yes, although I think even though tactically we win so
• 54:58
  Speaker 3: many of these battles, there are PR wars won on
• 55:02
  Speaker 3: the home front for people.
• 55:04
  Speaker 12: Honestly, the terrorist groups a lot of times.
• 55:06
  Speaker 3: If you look at the gatherings of people in the
• 55:09
  Speaker 3: streets of America, fellow citizens of mine who are flying
• 55:14
  Speaker 3: Hezbollah and Hamas flags and think the West is to
• 55:16
  Speaker 3: blame for everything, I do think that there are tactical
• 55:19
  Speaker 3: wins and then there are PR losses on the other end. However,
• 55:22
  Speaker 3: I will say I love Marco Rubio, Secretary of State,
• 55:26
  Speaker 3: standing in front of the Acropolis at magic hour to
• 55:29
  Speaker 3: make an argument for Western civilization on this day because
• 55:32
  Speaker 3: I think That is what is at stake, and it's
• 55:35
  Speaker 3: something that many young people in this country have totally
• 55:38
  Speaker 3: lost sight of.
• 55:39
  Speaker 12: By the way, on purpose, that was imposed upon us by.
• 55:41
  Speaker 3: The education system in this country and academia, and it's
• 55:45
  Speaker 3: a real danger.
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: I have been talking about that and playing the clips
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: throughout because it was grand. Now I want to go
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: to something that was prompted by the new Getting Hammered podcast.
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: Excellent edition, by the way. Excellent edition today. Thank you.
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: But you got into the fact that there was a
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: school shooting– In Minnetonka and Edina and the suburbs of Minnesota,
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: which do you think that will actually get through to people?
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: By the way, I think that the fellows over at
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: Ruthless may have a copyrighted case against you because you
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: were playing. You didn't play journo Democrat operative. You played
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: IRGC Democrat operative, which is a derivative game, isn't it?
• 56:28
  Speaker 3: It is a little bit, but I thought it was
• 56:30
  Speaker 3: worth doing to illustrate how similar the IRGC sounds to.
• 56:36
  Speaker 12: Our Democratic friends.
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: They're a forgiving group. Okay, here's my big question. Democrats
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: have often nominated people that I don't like, and there
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: are some that I don't like in this race right now.
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: I don't like Roy Cooper in your home state of
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: North Carolina. I really don't like John Ossoff. I've known
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: Sherrod Brown for the 50-plus years he's been in office,
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: and he's a lout, and he's now infirm. But they're
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: kind of regular left-wing lunatic Democrats. They have nominated El
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: Sayed in Michigan, Tallarico in Texas, Flanagan in Minnesota, and
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: Troy Jackson in Maine. That's like nominating the cast of
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: The Office minus Jim. What's wrong with them?
• 57:18
  Speaker 3: I don't... I think the weirdness is so baked into
• 57:22
  Speaker 3: the coalition that a Peggy Flanagan... Like, nobody flagged that
• 57:25
  Speaker 3: giant Paula Poundstone.
• 57:27
  Speaker 12: Blazer she wore.
• 57:29
  Speaker 3: In that ad, she looks like my kids went to
• 57:32
  Speaker 3: a Goodwill aisle and dressed themselves.
• 57:34
  Speaker 12: And I know I'm a woman. I'm not supposed to
• 57:36
  Speaker 12: pick on women for what they wear.
• 57:36
  Speaker 3: But I've never seen something more distracting in an ad
• 57:40
  Speaker 3: before from the message she's trying to give. And I
• 57:42
  Speaker 3: think it's a symbol of how they can't just be normal.
• 57:45
  Speaker 3: Somebody wasn't like, hey, here's an autumnal sweater.
• 57:47
  Speaker 6: Just be normal.
• 57:49
  Speaker 12: They can't do that to a great extent.
• 57:51
  Speaker 3: And I do think that Michelle Tafoya is running a
• 57:53
  Speaker 3: good campaign against a kind of weirdo weak campaign who's
• 57:57
  Speaker 3: really connected.
• 57:58
  Speaker 12: To all that fraud in Minnesota. And even in a
• 58:00
  Speaker 12: bad year, it's looking in the margin of victory.
• 58:03
  Speaker 3: And the news cycle is being very friendly to Michelle
• 58:07
  Speaker 3: Tafoya's message because reality is very friendly to Michelle Tafoya's message. However,
• 58:12
  Speaker 3: I think it's a really, really uphill battle to win.
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: All of these are. I'm going to talk about all
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: uphill battles. El Sayed in Michigan, even though we're beginning
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: to get the drip, drip, drip of oppo, including his
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: DSA tweets that dropped today and the fellows we're talking about,
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: I imagine we'll have oppo from now until November 3rd.
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: It's still a big lift in Michigan, unless people just
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: conclude he's not really pro-America. Do you think they're going
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: to conclude that?
• 58:42
  Speaker 3: I think there are people who already think that, and
• 58:44
  Speaker 3: I think there are parts of the coalition that would
• 58:47
  Speaker 3: be with another regular Democrat but aren't with El-Sayed, and
• 58:51
  Speaker 3: they're suspicious of him. I think the dual citizenship story,
• 58:55
  Speaker 3: if it lands with people, at this point, obviously people
• 58:58
  Speaker 3: have started.
• 58:58
  Speaker 12: Voting all over the U.S.
• 59:00
  Speaker 3: If it lands with people, adds to this concern that, like,
• 59:03
  Speaker 3: wait a second, were you lying? You were telling people
• 59:07
  Speaker 3: you were a dual citizen, and now you're telling us
• 59:09
  Speaker 3: you're not. But it's very confusing, and you're being dishonest
• 59:12
  Speaker 3: about it one of these times. And frankly, you're yelling
• 59:15
  Speaker 3: at the rest of us about having too much loyalty
• 59:17
  Speaker 3: to foreign powers in Israel. And here you are with
• 59:21
  Speaker 3: an actual dual citizenship or lying about it.
• 59:23
  Speaker 12: We don't know. I think these things pile up.
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: And I think begin to weigh upon normal Michiganders. And
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: I was up there for three years. I make fun
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: of their football team. They're hardworking, normal people. I just
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: think this guy's a radical. Third one, James Tallarico. Now,
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: I think they got to close the Alamo if he wins.
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: You've heard about turning in your man card. You have
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: to turn in your Texan card if he wins. Ken
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: Paxton is nobody's. I'm a John Cornyn guy. So I'm
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: sorry that Ken Paxton is the nominee and not John Cornyn.
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: But can you imagine Texas voting for Tallarico? I mean,
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: it's just as a matter of imagination. My imagination fails me.
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 12: It seems highly unlikely.
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 3: I don't think any Democratic campaign, even if pulling ahead,
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 3: should assume they have it in the bag in Texas.
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 3: I saw something today that reported that Tallarico has been
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 3: gone from the trail for a while.
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I saw that, too.
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 12: That's like malpractice.
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 3: Even if you're sick, you've got to play your Jordan
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 3: flu game. Like you've got to get out there and
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 3: do the thing, at least, you know, be on a
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 3: stage far away, not shaking hands or whatever. But so
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 3: I don't know if they think they have it in
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 3: the bag and they're hiding him from people Biden style
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 3: so that he doesn't say anything crazy.
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 12: But I think that's a mistake.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: No, I think it's OK. Hughes, I guess there's a
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: bad oppo drum coming. And they've got to hide him
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: and sequester him around so that he's not on the
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: trail somewhere with a microphone when it comes. That's just
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: my view. Race number four. Susan Collins absolutely owned Troy
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: Jackson last night. Cut him up in the little ribbons.
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: It was like watching spaghetti getting made. So should she
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: do three more debates with this guy?
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think she's just very good. This is
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 3: the thing about Susan Collins. I was in Maine this
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 3: past weekend.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: I heard that. I'm a little bit hurt you didn't call,
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: but that's okay.
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 3: The sense about her on the ground is basically like,
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 3: this woman has fought this fight many times before.
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 12: And Troy Jackson is unimpressive.
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 3: She has a very solid brand in Maine that even
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 3: in a solid Democratic year could be the thing that
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 3: keeps her above water in a way that other people
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 3: with less established brands cannot be.
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: But man.
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 12: She landed some punches last night.
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: Now, I got a question about Troy Jackson. He does
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: a lot of his events at work since we brought
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: up Peggy Flanagan's clothing. I want to bring up Troy Jackson.
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: He does have a lot of events in shorts, black
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: socks and hard shoes. Is that now cool? Because when
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: I was a kid, that was not. Is that something
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: one does now?
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 3: I don't think that's cool, but you're right to be
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 3: equal opportunity, and let's do both genders with the clothing.
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 3: I also would make fun of Graham Platner before he
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 3: got out of the race for wearing shorts all the time,
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 3: and it just was not a good look.
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 12: Put on some pants.
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, put on some pants and black socks, not with shorts.
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: Last question. Those are the four wackiest ones, El Saeed, Tallarico, Flanagan,
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: and Jackson. Just a little bit south is Chris Pappas. Now,
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: he's not as crazy as they are, but he's not
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: as normie as John Ossoff and Roy Cooper. Do you
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: think John Sununu can bring him down? We've got a minute.
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 3: I mean, this is another place where you have a Collins-like,
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 3: extremely well-established brand of the Sununus in New Hampshire that
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 3: could end up on top at the end of the
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 3: day if all things fell in the right direction. Look,
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 3: I think it's an uphill battle, and we've seen that
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 3: in the more recent polling, but the fact that it's
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 3: close has been surprising to me throughout, and I think
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 3: it surprised Democrats a little bit that it got this close.
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: Will you be surprised if polling is off by five-plus
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: points in at least a half-dozen races?
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 12: I don't think I would be surprised by that. After
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 12: seeing the El-Sayed primary stuff, yeah, I'd.
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's why I'm not paying so much attention to
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: the polls, because I don't think they know what they're doing.
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: Mary Catherine Hamm, go listen to Getting Hammered today. It's hilarious. Also,
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: follow her on at MKHammer. She's got a sub stack
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: at What's your subject, my Catherine? Oh, I can't hear her.
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: Too bad. I'll find out next week. Don't go anywhere, America.
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: I'm due to.
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 4: It.
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 13: Today, we're officially launching the construction of the largest new
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 13: shipyard in the United States. This is since World War II.
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 13: There's been nothing like what we're doing today. The workers
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 13: of Baltimore and the shipyard here at Sparrows Point, have
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 13: been a vital part of the American industrial strength for
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 13: literally over 100 years. Then along these very shores, American
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 13: tradesmen built one of the first frigates in the U.S.
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 10: Navy.
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 13: They forged the steel that built the Empire State Building
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 13: and the Golden Gate Bridge. And this is where the
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 13: patriots of Baltimore built the first ever Liberty ship.
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: In the Second World War, there's a tremendous... And now
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: it's going to be where the Golden Fleet is produced.
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt, joined by Ambassador Robert C. O'Brien,
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: formerly President Trump's National Security Advisor in his first term,
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: as well as his Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: But before Robert was anything in the Trump administration, he
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: was an advocate for a strong, robust Navy, writing about
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: while America slept. Robert, what do you think when you
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: see a shipyard being open for business, one that hasn't
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: been open for business in decades?
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 4: Well, Hugh, it's.
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 14: Great because, as you well know, and you've been a
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 14: navalist as well, we've lost the industrial base, the defense
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 14: industrial base, the naval industrial base.
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 4: To build ships.
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 14: And if we're ever going to have a 350-ship Navy again,
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 14: which we need, we really need a 500-ship Navy, but
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 14: to get to even 350, we have to have shipyards.
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 4: And the president has opened– I think this is.
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 14: The third major shipyard that's been opened in Trump 2.0.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 14: We tried when I was here in Trump 1.0 to
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 14: get more shipyards.
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 4: We're doing it now.
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 14: And the ships that will be built by Andrew in
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 14: Baltimore are Virginia-class submarines and components for the submarines. And
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 14: those are just critical– Are you surprised that it's Maryland,
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 14: which is a blue state?
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 4: I think there's probably some wisdom.
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 14: To having blue state senators invested in the industrial.
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: Base, but are you surprised that it's Maryland?
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 14: I'm not surprised because one thing, the partisan political legacy press,
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 14: you know, makes a bigger deal about this red state,
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 14: blue state thing.
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 4: Than President Trump does.
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 14: President Trump wants workers throughout America to have good jobs.
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 4: He wants the country to have a strong navy.
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 14: And look, the blue.
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 4: States, you know, except for Texas.
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 14: And Florida, are predominantly on the coasts. That's where our
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 14: shipyards are.
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 4: They're in California. They're in Washington.
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 14: They're in Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, in Maryland, New Hampshire.
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 4: And Maine.
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 14: So swing states, blue states, that's where our great workers are.
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 14: Those workers are Trump supporters. They're very happy to have
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 14: the jobs, the welders, the HVAC guys, the plumbers. This
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 14: is terrific work for those men and women.
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 4: And President Trump doesn't.
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 14: Care if they're red states or blue states.
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 4: If it's good for America, it's good for America.
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: All right, let's switch now to the anniversary, the dark
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: anniversary we're talking about today. We don't celebrate this anniversary.
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: Third year since Hamas invaded Israel, slaughtered 1,200 people, wounded 5,000,
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: carried away 250 to captivity, and began the war, which
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: is in its third year now. Is the world safer
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: today than it was on 10-6, Robert O'Brien?
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 14: The world is safer today, Hugh, but 10-6, 10-7 were
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 14: just awful days. I went to Israel shortly after the
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 14: events of that horrible day.
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 4: We haven't seen anything like what happened on October 7th
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 4: since World War II.
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 14: Hamas basically modeled their plans for that tragic day on
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 14: the Aysengruben, the Nazi forces that went in behind the Wehrmacht.
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 14: And when the Wehrmacht conquered the city, the Aysengruben would
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 14: go in and kill the Jews and round up the
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 14: Jews and subject them to extermination.
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 4: The Hamas actually based their plans on that horrible Nazi history.
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 4: And what happened on October 7th with the Kibbutzes.
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 14: And I was at Kibbutz near Oz, the Kibbutz that
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 14: was horribly attacked, toddlers executed in front of their parents,
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 14: parents executed in front of their toddlers, the sexual assaults,
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 14: the rapes, the violence, old men, old women, young men,
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 14: young women.
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 4: Everyone just slaughtered civilians. It was something remarkable.
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 14: I never thought I'd see my lifetime.
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: Well, it continues to amaze tonight.
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 4: We're safer because Israel responded. They took out Hamas.
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 14: They took out the Hezbollah leadership and President Trump took
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 14: out the Iranian nuclear facilities for the most part, and
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 14: it's put.
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 4: The Iranians in a very difficult situation. So today the
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 4: world's safer, but that was a rough day.
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: Now, tonight I want to remind everyone on the Salem
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: News Channel we are running a special program hosted by
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: Aaron Milan, who went into the tunnels of Gaza. Under Gaza,
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 1: eight months ago, the IDF was continuing to discover brand-new tunnels,
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: and she is one who went into it. It's on
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: demand at the Salem News Channel app. All you have
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: to do is find me, Aaron Milan Show, on the
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: YouTube page as well or at snc.tv. Ambassador O'Brien, I
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: know that you got along well with the French when
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: you were the National Security Advisor and when you were
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. You always got
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: along well with the French. What do you think is
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: going on in France today? What's this represent, if anything?
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 14: Well, look, Victor Davis Hanson wrote a great piece today
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 14: that I urge everyone to read.
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 4: What's happening in France.
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 14: It's not a school protest. Schools are being burned down.
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 14: Teachers are being killed and burned alive. Firemen are being
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 14: set on fire. Palestinian flags and North African flags are
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 14: flying on the streets of Paris.
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 4: These are very violent protests.
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 14: They're led mainly by immigrants from the Middle East.
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 4: These are not French people protesting.
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 14: These are migrants who are the first generation or second
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 14: generation migrants. They're basically, President Trump said, they're invading France.
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 14: And the French are going to have to get a
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 14: handle on them. This is a result of, you know,
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 14: when Mondami and El Sayed, these guys, Here the DSA
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 14: Islamists talk about globalizing the Intifada. This is the Intifada
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 14: being globalized. It's a civil unrest and.
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 4: Terrible riots. They're not protests. And it's anti-Western. It's anti-French.
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 4: It's anti-American. It's anti-Israeli.
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 14: And the French need to stop it, to put it down.
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 14: France has a glorious history and has a glorious history.
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 4: Of defending the West, and the fight for the West
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 4: is on the streets of Paris tonight.
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: We've got one minute left, Ambassador O'Brien, and just very quickly,
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: after the meeting with General Secretary Xi Jinping, are you
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 1: more or less worried about our losing the lead in
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: AI and SI to them?
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 14: We're not going to lose the lead in AI and
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 14: SI to China or anyone else.
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 4: We've got the.
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 14: Greatest entrepreneurs, Elon Musk and Zuckerberg and Allman, Gates, all
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 14: these guys come from the unique sauce of Silicon Valley
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 14: and Austin and Boston. And we've got the greatest entrepreneurs
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 14: and the greatest capital markets in the world.
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 4: As long as we don't overregulate and as long as
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 4: we don't let the Chinese who are funding the anti-data
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 4: center movement.
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 14: Stop us, we're going to win the AR race and
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 14: we're going to win the new Cold War against China.
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: Ambassador Robert C. O'Brien, thank you for joining me today.
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: It's always good to catch up with you. Former National
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: Security Advisor to Donald Trump, still working hard on the
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 1: country's behalf and the national interest. Stay tuned to America.
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: I'll be right back on the Hugh Hewitt.
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 11: Show.
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to America. Dr. Robert Jeffress is familiar to
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 1: many of you who listen to the Salem Radio Network
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: or watch Salem News Channel. Pastor, good to see you
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: again on the Hugh Hewitt Show. Welcome.
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 11: Thanks for having me, Hugh.
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: It is always good to have you, but now I
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: know you're certifiable. And I want to alert people to this.
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: You took over at First Baptist Church of Dallas in 2007,
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: right before the financial crisis had begun. And then you
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: told the congregation that they needed to raise $ 130 million
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: in record time to build a campus. Did any one
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: of your elders or your sessions say, maybe, Pastor, we
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: want to dial that back a little bit?
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 11: Maybe they had that moment of thought for just a moment. But,
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 11: you know, Hugh, what I remember about that time was
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 11: the S & P index went down to 666 during
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 11: the month we were supposed to start off our fundraising campaign. 666.
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 11: And we went ahead. We felt like God was leading
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 11: us to do it. And our congregation gave $ 130 million.
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 11: It was the largest church building program in modern history.
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 11: And it's a testimony to our people's generosity and to
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 11: the greatness of God.
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: It's a fine story. And I'm talking to Pastor Jeffress
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: about his new book, Divine Invasions, Divine Invasions in Bookstores Now.
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: Experience God's miracles in your life today. Now, I am
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: a Christian, but this isn't a Christian radio show. It's
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: a political one. But I still like to ask Christians
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: who are prominent a couple of things. To me, the
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: most interesting miracle follows from your offering. Let's go raise
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: $ 130 million. You have a meeting with the two well-heeled
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: supporters of the church, and they say, we're with you.
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: You should go ahead. But they don't give you a number,
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 1: and they don't give you a ticket, and then he
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: calls you back later. Tell people about that.
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 11: Yeah. You know, I got up that morning and I said, Lord,
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 11: if you really want me to go forward, I need
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 11: a sign from you. And we were scheduled to have
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 11: lunch with this guy and his wife and had a
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 11: nice lunch. And all he said was, he said, you know, Pastor,
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 11: I know it's difficult out there, but I think we
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 11: ought to move ahead. And that wasn't a lot of you,
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 11: but I thought, well, maybe that's enough to say go ahead.
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 11: And I said goodbye to him. I was walking back
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 11: to the church. My cell phone rang and he was
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 11: on the phone saying, And he said, oh, pastor, I
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 11: forgot to tell you, my wife and I would like
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 11: to make a lead gift to this building of, and
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 11: he gave me a number. And Hugh, it was not
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 11: only the largest number that had ever been given to
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 11: our church in 150 years, I'm told it is the
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 11: largest single gift ever given to any church in history.
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 11: And that was the beginning of our campaign. Others heard
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 11: the story they gave. And we were able to enter
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 11: into that new campus that covers six blocks of downtown Dallas.
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 11: We were able to enter into it debt-free. And that's
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 11: the power of God.
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: I'm just predicting. I'm not a prophet nor the son
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: of a prophet. But I think those pages in Divine Intervention,
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: Divine Invasions, the pastor's new book, Divine Invasions, will be
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: copied and spread around at a few session meetings when
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: they're getting ready to do a capital campaign. Let's talk
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: about the most important chapter, Pastor, when your miracles don't come.
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 1: Most of the people in my audience are following Ben
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: Sasse's battle with cancer and his tweets, which are both funny, encouraging,
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: and very filled with his Christian faith. How much more
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 1: often do miracles not come than they do?
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 11: Well, they happen less often than we might want them to.
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 11: And I would just say this to you. Remember, all
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 11: miracles are temporary, at least in this life. Any divine
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 11: healing is only temporary. Eventually, we're going to die one
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 11: day from something. And there's that ultimate healing when we
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 11: are in heaven with Christ. But I talk about what
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 11: to do when your miracle doesn't come. And just a
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 11: couple of things I would say was, first of all,
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 11: remember to be ministry focused. The Bible says God helps
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 11: us in our affliction so that we can comfort others
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 11: who suffer the same affliction. And I think about Johnny
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 11: Erickson Tata, that 17-year-old girl who was in a diving accident.
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 11: She's been a quadriplegic in a wheelchair now for almost
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 11: six decades. And she says it was staying in that
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 11: wheelchair that deepened her relationship with God, gave her the
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 11: ability to empathize and encourage other people who were suffering affliction.
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 11: And she was able to say, honestly, praise God for
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 11: this wheelchair I'm in. And I would just say, just remember,
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 11: if you're going through an adversity right now, God doesn't
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 11: always promise to take you out of the adversity. He
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 11: says in Isaiah 43, I will be with you when
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 11: you go through the fire, when you go through the flood,
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 11: when you go through the deep waters. That's the promise
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 11: that we have, that God will sustain us during those
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 11: difficult times. And that qualifies as a miracle.
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: All right. Let me ask you about miracles in our
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: youngest generation. Generation... Alpha and Generation Beta. They're just growing
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: up on devices right now. Do you think there's going
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: to be a divine invasion among them that might bring
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: back the church in America from where it is? Which is,
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: it's got a pulse, but it hasn't got a lot
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: of pulse.
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 4: Well, you're right.
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 11: And, you know, the killing of Charlie Kirk more than
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 11: a year ago, it was a wake-up call for a
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 11: lot of young adults who tend to think they're invincible.
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 11: And it caused some of them to turn to faith.
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 11: Others of them looked for something that was meaningful in
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 11: their life. But, you know, to be honest, there is
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 11: no great nationwide revival going on. One statistic shows that
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 11: today we have 40 million less Americans attending church than
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 11: 25 years ago. Think of it, 40 million less than
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 11: 25 years ago. That's more people than were saved in
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 11: the First Great Awakening, the Second Great Awakening, and every
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 11: Billy Graham crusade that's ever been conducted. But I just
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 11: remind people the strength of Christianity is not in the
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 11: number of Christians, but in the message of Christians. And
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 11: that's where the power is.
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: So divine invasions, though, is it something that's likely to
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 1: reach a younger demographic if they stop and pause? Read it.
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: Read about the history of miracles. By the way, you're
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: very fair, both the secessionists and those who continue to
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: believe miracles happen all the time. You're very fair in
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: your scholarship. Is it likely to... to resonate with the
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 1: youngest people?
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 11: I think it is because I think everybody who wants
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 11: to know that there is a God who didn't just
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 11: work in biblical times, but is at work in their
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 11: life right now. And this is a book that will
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 11: encourage people of faith or people of little or no
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 11: faith It's for Democrats and Republicans. And I think in
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 11: this time of turmoil in the world, especially you, as
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 11: we think today about that tragedy, that travesty of three
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 11: years ago in Israel, we want to know that God
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 11: is still on his throne and working out his perfect plan.
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: Well said, Pastor Robert Jeffress. Good to see you again.
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: The book is Divine Invasions. It's available in bookstores everywhere.
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 1: Experiences God's miracles in your life today. Not political. I
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 1: just thought we could use a little apolitical segment on
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: the program today. Pastor, good to see you. It was
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: always a pleasure. Someday I'm going to visit that campus, though.
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 1: I haven't been down. Someday I'm going to come see
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: that campus because now I know how it got built.
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: That is miraculous. Stay tuned, America.