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The Big Weekend Pod · The Hugh Hewitt Show: Highly Concentrated

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to today's podcast sponsored by Hillsdale College.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: All things Hillsdale at hillsdale.edu.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: I encourage you to take advantage of the many free
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: online courses there. And of course, a listen to the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hillsdale Dialogues, all of them at hueforhillsdale.com or just Google Apple, iTunes,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: and Hillsdale. Morning, Gloria, evening, Grace, America. Welcome to Big
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Weekend Pod. Kurt Schlichter was in for me for most
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: of the week. I greatly appreciate that, but I'm back
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: to wrap up the week live with you. And I
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  Speaker 1: want to do it by focusing first on Thursday night's
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  Speaker 1: interview between Brett Baer and the, quote, president of Iran,
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  Speaker 1: Massoud Bezeshkin, because that, quote, president really isn't presiding over anything.
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  Speaker 1: He's not in the IRGC. He's not calling the shots.
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  Speaker 1: But in the beginning of the interview, he started to
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  Speaker 1: bring up, he went sort of roundabout and brought up
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  Speaker 1: the massacre in January. I think it was programmed to
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  Speaker 1: to talk about that. We know at least 40,000 people
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  Speaker 1: were murdered, and the number President Trump has used is
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: up to 70,000. But here he is, first cut, number nine.
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  Speaker 3: Then you apologized personally to Iran's neighbors for those attacks.
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  Speaker 3: Then back in July, commanders attacked ships without your knowledge.
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  Speaker 4: So, Mr.
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  Speaker 3: President, there's three times that you gave a specific order
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  Speaker 3: and someone overrode you. So who is in control of Iran?
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  Speaker 4: You see, that which occurred in Iran and.
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  Speaker 5: Your president announces that 70,000 people have been killed. We
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  Speaker 5: made public the national identification numbers and the birth certificates
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  Speaker 5: of 3,015 people.
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  Speaker 4: If there is any additional information, such as 40,000 individuals, 70,000,
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  Speaker 4: someone should furnish proof. So it's not true.
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  Speaker 5: Of these 3,000-some-odd people who lost their precious lives, about
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  Speaker 5: 500 of them consisted of the security and police forces.
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  Speaker 4: Your own president announced.
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  Speaker 5: That they armed and equipped instigators. And this was supposed
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  Speaker 5: to lead to a coup, not in support of street protests,
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  Speaker 5: of peaceful protests.
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  Speaker 4: And those in.
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  Speaker 5: The armed forces and security forces who lost their lives
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  Speaker 5: is unprecedented.
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  Speaker 1: Why?
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  Speaker 5: Because the firepower from the rioters was the new element
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  Speaker 5: introduced in this 3,000 plus people, regular citizens and individuals
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  Speaker 5: who lost their lives. It has been proven, shown in
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  Speaker 5: photos and clips, and it was quite unfortunate. And that's
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  Speaker 5: why we apologize.
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  Speaker 4: Due to the.
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  Speaker 5: Lackluster management of the events. It should have been managed better.
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  Speaker 5: To allow someone to weaponize a demonstration in the streets,
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  Speaker 5: that's unacceptable.
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  Speaker 1: Let's keep going then. Cut number 10. Brett follows up.
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  Speaker 3: You're talking about the January attacks, and you said your
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  Speaker 3: people were ashamed before the people was the quote. You
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  Speaker 3: did publish the 3,000 number. A human rights group said
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  Speaker 3: it was 6,221, with 17,000 more deaths under review. Time
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  Speaker 3: magazine had a report that a hospital list of 30,000
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  Speaker 3: deaths January 8th and 9th alone, but more than 41,000
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  Speaker 3: were arrested, and now the numbers are well more than that.
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  Speaker 3: on reported, understanding what you reported publicly.
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  Speaker 6: Mr.
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  Speaker 3: President, that's the January incident. You're a heart surgeon. How
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  Speaker 3: many Iranians did Iran security forces kill?
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  Speaker 4: You see, it's not very difficult.
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  Speaker 5: You can send people there.
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  Speaker 4: In order to ascertain the truth.
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  Speaker 5: What such and such journal reports outside.
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  Speaker 4: Of the country is contrary to.
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  Speaker 5: The accurate recollection of events. When they say 10,000, 17,000,
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  Speaker 5: why don't they furnish at least two national identification numbers?
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  Speaker 1: That's such a dumb answer.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, really?
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  Speaker 1: Because, you know, they'd shoot you if we came over
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  Speaker 1: to look. But once again, Brett comes back to the
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  Speaker 1: slaughter in the streets and whether it'll happen again. Cut
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  Speaker 1: number 13.
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  Speaker 3: Will you rule out executing protesters if they take to
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  Speaker 3: the streets?
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  Speaker 5: Whomever wishes to protest is fully entitled to do so.
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  Speaker 5: We sat and had a dialogue with many of these
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  Speaker 5: protesters now. Weaponizing protests, that's a whole different affair. Illegal everywhere.
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  Speaker 5: A lot of people have issues. They want to challenge
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  Speaker 5: policies or implementations of policies. We sit and discuss and
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  Speaker 5: reach a mutually agreeable conclusion.
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  Speaker 4: We answer to the people, but not with a weapon.
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  Speaker 1: All right, so he's not ruling it out. So, again,
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  Speaker 1: the people of Iran know that if they take to
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  Speaker 1: the streets, the IRGC and the besieged thugs who are
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  Speaker 1: armed will come out to kill them. That's in the
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  Speaker 1: back of their mind. That's when people in the West say,
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  Speaker 1: rise up, seize your freedom. They have to be so
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  Speaker 1: aware that they're taking their lives in their hands and
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  Speaker 1: the lives of their loved ones in their hands when
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  Speaker 1: they act. I'll be talking about that with Matt Continetti,
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  Speaker 1: with Eli Lake. I'm going to begin, though, the Big
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Weekend Pod with John Ellis to review kind of the
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: doomsday polling. I'm not that worried as a GOP-er because
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  Speaker 1: I don't trust any of the polls. I think they're
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  Speaker 1: completely all broken, so I'm just not worried about them.
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  Speaker 1: But I'm going to begin with John Ellis, who is
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  Speaker 1: the editor-in-chief of News Items, which I read first thing
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  Speaker 1: every day, Monday through Sunday. And then I'll talk with
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  Speaker 1: Eli and Matt. about Iran, about the visit of Xi
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  Speaker 1: Jinping to the country. It's been a very newsy week.
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  Speaker 1: And so stay tuned. There's a lot to review on
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  Speaker 1: this week's Big Weekend Pod.
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  Speaker 7: And it never gets old, does it?
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  Speaker 8: Cleveland, you will have another October to remember.
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  Speaker 1: Morning, glory and even grace, America. That was Tom Hamilton
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  Speaker 1: with a call last night as the Guardians beat the
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  Speaker 1: Red Sox to go to the Wild Card Series or
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  Speaker 1: the ALC Championship Series, depending on who gets the bye.
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  Speaker 1: But it's the third year in a row for October
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  Speaker 1: baseball in Cleveland. Eight out of the last 11 seasons
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  Speaker 1: they've played in October season. And I'm pretty happy. I
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  Speaker 1: do not know if John Ellis, editor-in-chief, founder of News Items,
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  Speaker 1: is a baseball man. News Items covers health, technology, politics,
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  Speaker 1: everything else. You don't do sports over there, John. Is
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: that because you just swear it off or you get
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  Speaker 1: people angry by what you cover?
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  Speaker 9: There's so much good sports coverage that News Items focuses
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  Speaker 9: on other news, basically.
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  Speaker 6: We're not a good source for sports.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Just focus in on Cleveland and you'll satisfy this customer.
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  Speaker 6: I'm a Red Sox fan.
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  Speaker 1: Let's begin with politics, because you used to run decision
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  Speaker 1: desks or be a part of them. Would you explain
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  Speaker 1: what that is to people who are new to the
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  Speaker 1: business of calling elections on election night?
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  Speaker 9: Yeah, all the networks have what they call decision desks,
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  Speaker 9: which is made up of people who run the decision desk,
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  Speaker 9: which I did when I was at Fox News. And
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  Speaker 9: statisticians and political scientists who look at all the data
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  Speaker 9: that comes in. And then basically what you're trying to
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  Speaker 9: decide is who can't win. It's not who can win
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  Speaker 9: so much as who is in a position where they
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  Speaker 9: can't possibly get to victory. And if that's the case,
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  Speaker 9: then you make the call for the winner.
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  Speaker 6: But really, it's about calling the losers.
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  Speaker 1: You are working with real data as opposed to polls, though.
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  Speaker 1: You're dealing with numbers of votes cast in different precincts
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  Speaker 1: and you are measurables against them. When you go in
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  Speaker 1: on decision desk night, have you made yourself acquainted with
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  Speaker 1: the polls or are you trying to keep that stuff
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  Speaker 1: out of your head?
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  Speaker 9: Well, we used to set up what we called an
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  Speaker 9: R value, which was the expected Republican percentage. So in
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  Speaker 9: a closely fought race, the R value would be 50.
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  Speaker 9: And then as the data came in, it would correct
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  Speaker 9: the R value, you know, if it went up or down.
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  Speaker 9: But we would start with, you know, and the R
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  Speaker 9: value was based basically on polling data.
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  Speaker 6: There was so much information that came in.
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  Speaker 9: I mean, these samples that they do on Election Day,
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  Speaker 9: Fox and the AP, I think, interview 125,000 people, including
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  Speaker 9: 25,000 people who don't vote. I think the other networks
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  Speaker 9: last time interviewed 25,000 or 30,000. So there's a huge
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  Speaker 9: amount of data that comes in in waves. The first
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  Speaker 9: wave is usually in by like four o'clock in the afternoon.
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  Speaker 9: Then the second wave comes in around seven. And then
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  Speaker 9: for the later states, you get more stuff around 10
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  Speaker 9: or 11. So, you know, there's a massive amount of data. And,
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  Speaker 9: you know, three-quarters of the races are done, right? I mean,
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  Speaker 9: you know that Elizabeth Warren is going to win in Massachusetts.
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  Speaker 9: You know that Tom Cotton is going to win in Arkansas.
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  Speaker 9: So you can get rid of those things pretty quickly.
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  Speaker 9: And you end up focusing on, you know, 10, 15,
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  Speaker 9: 20 races that are– You know, within, say, eight points.
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  Speaker 1: So let's focus on that. And again, I go to
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  Speaker 1: news items every day because there are so many polls.
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  Speaker 1: Some of them are nonsense. Some are very good. John
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  Speaker 1: sent me notes to focus in on the New York
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  Speaker 1: Times Santa poll from earlier this week, particularly in Maine.
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  Speaker 1: Susan Collins is up by three in that. poll. In
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  Speaker 1: New Hampshire, Chris Pappas was ahead of John Sununu by five.
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  Speaker 1: And this one, which I find my eyebrows going up,
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  Speaker 1: El Saeed ahead of Mike Rogers in Michigan by five points.
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  Speaker 1: You pointed out to me, though, the margin of error
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  Speaker 1: makes these pretty much toss-up races.
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  Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, to generally speak, the Times-Siena poll is
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  Speaker 9: a high-quality poll. Pew Research, high-quality poll. Hart Research on
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  Speaker 9: the Democratic side, high-quality poll. So you can trust that
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  Speaker 9: they executed the polls properly within the normal procedures. And
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  Speaker 9: still with that, they have an error margin of plus
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  Speaker 9: or minus three or plus or minus four. It's incredibly
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  Speaker 9: hard to poll now because everybody has a mobile phone.
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  Speaker 9: And when somebody is calling you to get your opinion
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  Speaker 9: on something, it comes up as spam on your mobile phone.
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  Speaker 9: So it's much, much more difficult to get a poll done.
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  Speaker 9: And I think that moves the error margin as high
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  Speaker 9: as five points, right? So if you take, for instance, Mr. El-Sayed,
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  Speaker 9: is that how you pronounce his name?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 9: Up by five in Michigan, you say, wow, he's up
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  Speaker 9: by five in Michigan. you know, 50-45 or whatever it is,
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  Speaker 9: but that could be 45-50 the other way. That's within
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  Speaker 9: the margin of error. And the biggest problem people have,
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  Speaker 9: I think, with polling is the press, the political press,
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  Speaker 9: regardless of how close it is, continues to, in the
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  Speaker 9: first two paragraphs, says that El-Sayed is ahead by five points.
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  Speaker 6: He's not ahead by five points. Numerically, he is.
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  Speaker 9: But statistically, he is not. It's a dead heat. And
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  Speaker 9: so Susan Collins is up by three in Maine. Yes,
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  Speaker 9: numerically she is. Statistically, she's not.
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  Speaker 10: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: With that all in mind, what do you say to
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  Speaker 1: the GOP? We have AI doomers that we talk about mostly.
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  Speaker 1: But what do you say to the GOP doomers who
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  Speaker 1: already feel like they're drowning in a blue wave? I've
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  Speaker 1: got my own reasons not to believe it. But what
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  Speaker 1: do you say to them? It looks bad. But Karl
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  Speaker 1: Rove noted today in the Wall Street Journal, Might be bad.
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  Speaker 1: It might not be that bad. What's John Ellis thing?
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  Speaker 9: Uh, I, I think, you know, I think of what's
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  Speaker 9: happening now is very similar to what happened in 2022.
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  Speaker 9: There was a huge red wave building, uh, and you
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  Speaker 9: could see it, you could see it in the polling. Uh,
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  Speaker 9: you know, you were saying, wow, this is going to
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  Speaker 9: be a wipeout for the Biden administration. And the wave
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  Speaker 9: crested with about 10 days out and two, you know, uh, A,
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  Speaker 9: MAGA voters didn't vote.
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  Speaker 6: That was a big part of the defeat.
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  Speaker 9: And B, the candidates that the Republicans had weren't as
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  Speaker 9: high quality as they might have been. The Republicans did
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  Speaker 9: capture control of the House, but they did not recapture
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  Speaker 9: control of the Senate. And to me, you know, all
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  Speaker 9: this talk about a blue wave, yes, you know, the
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  Speaker 9: war is unpopular, yes, inflation, yes, gas prices, etc., But
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  Speaker 9: it looks a lot to me like 2022. And given
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  Speaker 9: all of the excitement, I guess you would say, on
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  Speaker 9: the Democratic side and in the left-leaning press, this is
• 13:20
  Speaker 9: going to be a blue wave, this is going to
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  Speaker 9: be a blue wave. It just seems eerily similar to
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  Speaker 9: a wave that's going to crest before the election. And the,
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  Speaker 9: I don't know what you call them, the Bush Republicans
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  Speaker 9: or the Haley Republicans are going to say, you know what?
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  Speaker 9: we're uncomfortable with Trump, but we don't want the Democrats
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  Speaker 9: to have control of the Senate. And so the Republicans,
• 13:43
  Speaker 9: I think it's certain we'll lose the House, but I'm
• 13:45
  Speaker 9: not at all certain I'll lose the Senate.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Karl Rove today in the Journal said the generic
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  Speaker 1: ballot is 50.4 to 41.8 in the real clear poll average.
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  Speaker 1: But he went on to say September 17th, Cook Political
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  Speaker 1: Report says it's only two points in the seven swing
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  Speaker 1: states of 2024. Therefore, When we're talking about the big states,
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  Speaker 1: what matters is they remain– I just got back from Pennsylvania.
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  Speaker 1: It's very competitive. And therefore, I think it's cresting for
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  Speaker 1: the Democrats right now. That's my feel. I'm kind of
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: glad to see them being euphoric right now because five
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: weeks is a long time, John Ellis.
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, a very long time.
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  Speaker 9: And, you know, when you look back to 2022, I
• 14:28
  Speaker 9: wrote a piece in 2022 that said there's a– with
• 14:30
  Speaker 9: 10 days out, I wrote a piece that said there's
• 14:32
  Speaker 9: a huge red wave coming. And I had to write
• 14:35
  Speaker 9: a note of apology the day after the election. You know,
• 14:39
  Speaker 9: waves can crest, and this one looks like it might.
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  Speaker 1: Let's talk about cresting drone swarms, because you closed my
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: briefing today with a very alarming worry about drones en
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: masse at en masse events.
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  Speaker 2: How real is the worry?
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  Speaker 6: It's real.
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  Speaker 9: One of the sources we go to is called the
• 15:02
  Speaker 9: Police Executive Research Council, which is sort of an overview
• 15:07
  Speaker 9: of what's going on in the world of policing in
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  Speaker 9: the United States. And they issued a report recently about drones.
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  Speaker 9: And there were many, many disturbing parts of the report.
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  Speaker 9: But the most disturbing part was, and this is just
• 15:23
  Speaker 9: in New York City alone, there were 23,000 illegal drone
• 15:29
  Speaker 9: flights in and around New York City.
• 15:32
  Speaker 6: That's wild.
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  Speaker 9: So if you think about, you know, one of those,
• 15:37
  Speaker 9: two of those, eight of those drones having C4s, dropping
• 15:41
  Speaker 9: them into, let's say, Giants Stadium during a New York
• 15:44
  Speaker 9: Giants football game, the possibility of a mass casualty event
• 15:49
  Speaker 9: is very, very high.
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  Speaker 6: And there's literally no regulation, none.
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  Speaker 9: So you have 23,000 illegal drone flights, not in a year,
• 15:59
  Speaker 9: but in a month. So doing the math, that's over 300,
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  Speaker 9: just about 300,000 illegal drone flights in just a year.
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  Speaker 1: Did they put the burden on the Federal Aviation Administration?
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: Who's got the burden to regulate?
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  Speaker 9: Like, help us, right? FAA and the Defense Department, anybody
• 16:23
  Speaker 9: who's like, help.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Maybe we'll put out some rules on the UHR. Maybe
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: news items will put out some reports. John Ellis, follow
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: him on, exit Ellis Items. You can subscribe to News Items,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: first thing I read every morning. You can do it
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: at Substack, News Items, Google Ellison News Items. You'll get
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: there and stay tuned to The Hugh Hewitt Show. Thank you, John.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: Welcome back, America.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: I'm Hugh Hewitt. Eli Lake is with the Free Press.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: He's the host of the Breaking History podcast. I'm going
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: to be asking about Bibi Netanyahu, about Iran, Pozeshkin's visit
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: to the United States. But first, Eli, good to have you.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: I'm going to subject you to a cultural pop quiz
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: to find out exactly how wired in you are. Because
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: the New York Times just published the list of the
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: top 100 television shows of the 21st century. Are you
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: acquainted with the list yet?
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: Yes, I am.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: All right, so I'm going to ask you on a
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: scale of 1 to 10, 1 being I didn't watch
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: a minute, to 10, I saw every minute of it.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Just give me a number. Number 1, Breaking Bad.
• 17:34
  Speaker 8: Every minute. 2, The Wire. Every minute, 10. 3, Mad Men.
• 17:44
  Speaker 8: Every minute, 10. 4, Succession.
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  Speaker 11: Maybe a 2, I watched a couple episodes.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, five, Fleabag.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: None, zero. Okay, you were with me on that.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Six, Game of Thrones.
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  Speaker 11: Yeah, I watched it until the last season, so an eight.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: An eight. Seven, Veep.
• 18:09
  Speaker 11: Yeah, I think over time I watched it, so I'd
• 18:11
  Speaker 11: probably say a nine or a ten.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: Eight, 30 Rock.
• 18:17
  Speaker 11: Most of them probably an eight or a nine.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: Nine, Curb Your Enthusiasm.
• 18:23
  Speaker 11: Most of them, maybe a little less, seven or eight.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: And ten, Atlanta.
• 18:32
  Speaker 11: I mean, that's more like a two. I think I've
• 18:33
  Speaker 11: seen like one or two episodes.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: You and I are remarkably similar. I do want to
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: test you on number 52, though. Downton Abbey.
• 18:43
  Speaker 11: I like Downton Abbey. I still have to finish watching
• 18:45
  Speaker 11: the series, but I remember liking it.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: I'm a 10 on Downton Abbey.
• 18:49
  Speaker 11: I just didn't get time to finish.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: All right, now to the serious stuff.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: That's a good one. Let's start with Bebe.
• 18:54
  Speaker 11: On that list, if I may, just really quickly, they
• 18:58
  Speaker 11: put Key and Peele ahead of the Chappelle show, and
• 19:01
  Speaker 11: that is, as I tweeted, ranking the Monkees ahead of
• 19:05
  Speaker 11: the Beatles.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: Key and Peele got their stick from Dave Chappelle. The
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: Monkees aren't better than the Beatles?
• 19:11
  Speaker 6: Come on.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: I love that show. The Beatles didn't have a weekly show.
• 19:15
  Speaker 11: Eli, you're the wrong age.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: All right, let's go to Bibi's speech. What did you
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: make of it? Because while the room left, the world watched.
• 19:24
  Speaker 11: I thought it was a great speech. It was defiant.
• 19:30
  Speaker 11: I think he is well within his rights. Listen, if
• 19:33
  Speaker 11: Zoran Mamdani wants to rile up his base by picking
• 19:38
  Speaker 11: on Israel and picking on the Israeli prime minister, the
• 19:40
  Speaker 11: elected Israeli prime minister, and he's going to attend the
• 19:43
  Speaker 11: Pakistan Day Parade but not attend the Israel Day Parade,
• 19:47
  Speaker 11: then I think Bibi is well within his rights as
• 19:50
  Speaker 11: he's running for re-election to make Zoran an issue in Israel, which,
• 19:53
  Speaker 11: by the way, I think that probably helped him a
• 19:55
  Speaker 11: great deal. I mean, most American Jews are kind of
• 19:59
  Speaker 11: horrified by Zoran Mamdani with a very loud and, I think,
• 20:04
  Speaker 11: minority exception of being what I would call the AZA
• 20:07
  Speaker 11: Jews who you know, dislike and hate Israel. But, you know,
• 20:12
  Speaker 11: so that part was very good. And I think his message,
• 20:17
  Speaker 11: I love that line. He said, we didn't commit a genocide.
• 20:19
  Speaker 11: We prevented a genocide. That's absolutely right. The Hamas is
• 20:23
  Speaker 11: a genocidal organization. That day of October 7th, they intended,
• 20:28
  Speaker 11: you know, they could try to kill or take hostage
• 20:31
  Speaker 11: as many Jews as they could. Israel has been making
• 20:34
  Speaker 11: sure that that never happens again. They started the war.
• 20:38
  Speaker 11: Israel has finished the war. And it's amazing to me that,
• 20:44
  Speaker 11: you know, I was really surprised to see the Arab
• 20:46
  Speaker 11: delegations walking out, especially in a moment now when Saudi
• 20:49
  Speaker 11: Arabia is so vulnerable and needs Israel's intelligence and security
• 20:54
  Speaker 11: assistance to deal with its new war with the Houthis again.
• 20:59
  Speaker 11: You know, so that was surprising to me. Of course,
• 21:03
  Speaker 11: I'm not surprised to see some of the other usual suspects.
• 21:06
  Speaker 11: And Shame on Macron and the other European leaders who
• 21:10
  Speaker 11: are just giving in to their kind of rabble in
• 21:12
  Speaker 11: their own country.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Macron is a joke, and the poor man's a failure,
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: and he'll say anything to be invited to the right places.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: And I'm glad the Pope refused to sit down with him,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: recalling the number of priests executed by the revolution and
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: just saying, no, I don't need to see you. So
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: let's go over now to Pozeskian, who's on a PR blitz.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: He's sitting down with Margaret Brennan last night. It did
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: not go well for him with Brett Baer last night.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Brett held his feet to the fire over the massacre.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: I think the reason he's here and talking to the
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: American press is he's desperate for a deal, Eli. That's
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: my reading of this. He knows his economy is about
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: to collapse. What's your reading of it?
• 21:52
  Speaker 11: I think that's been the case, by the way, since
• 21:54
  Speaker 11: the spring. I think when, you know, if you're trying
• 21:56
  Speaker 11: to go back and try to understand, like, who are these,
• 21:59
  Speaker 11: you know, it was a little joke, but who are
• 22:00
  Speaker 11: these imaginary moderates that Trump kept talking about that were
• 22:04
  Speaker 11: so close to making a deal with Pozeshkin. It was
• 22:06
  Speaker 11: the foreign minister, it was the people who actually had
• 22:08
  Speaker 11: to deal with the actual Iranian economy, not the true
• 22:12
  Speaker 11: believer fanatics. They're all fanatics, but not the people in
• 22:16
  Speaker 11: the IRGC who are perfectly happy to, you know, basically
• 22:19
  Speaker 11: run the country from a bunker and let everybody suffer.
• 22:22
  Speaker 11: So in that respect, yes, but that is nothing new, Hugh.
• 22:27
  Speaker 11: Pozeshkin's wanted a deal for six months now.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: And you know what?
• 22:32
  Speaker 11: He's not going to get it because he doesn't run
• 22:33
  Speaker 11: the country.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: He doesn't matter. That's right.
• 22:35
  Speaker 11: Because he's largely kind of powerless.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: So I wrote 2,000 words for the Washington Examiner this week, Eli,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: coming down to strike Iran before they strike us. They're
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: going to hit us in October before the Israeli elections
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: and before our elections in the hope of impacting them
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: because they don't understand our elections. And to the extent
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: I understand the Israeli elections, they don't understand that either.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: If I'm right about that, and our intel shows that,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: ought we to strike first, 1967 style?
• 23:05
  Speaker 11: I am for whatever it takes to topple the regime
• 23:08
  Speaker 11: at this point. I think we've been clear about that
• 23:11
  Speaker 11: on the show. I think that that is correct. My
• 23:16
  Speaker 11: only concern is that I just want to make sure
• 23:19
  Speaker 11: that we have the interceptors in place to make sure
• 23:22
  Speaker 11: that we can mitigate any of the damage that would
• 23:23
  Speaker 11: be done. But I agree with you, their economy is...
• 23:27
  Speaker 11: cratering at this point, and my hope is that the
• 23:30
  Speaker 11: CIA and the Mossad are figuring out creative ways to strengthen,
• 23:37
  Speaker 11: you know, representatives of the Iranian people so there can
• 23:39
  Speaker 11: be finally a democratic revolution.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Now, I'm taking you into a lane you don't normally
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: talk about politics, but a lot of the political advisors,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: senior in the Republican ranks, say a renewal of combat
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: would hurt President Trump. I don't believe that. I don't
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: think it ought to impact his decision-making anyway. But would
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: a renewal of full-fledged combat hurt the president at the
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: polls or be a non-factor?
• 24:05
  Speaker 11: I mean, can it get much worse for the president
• 24:08
  Speaker 11: right now? If the president can make a credible case
• 24:12
  Speaker 11: that he has finally dealt with the Iran file after
• 24:17
  Speaker 11: what the former six presidents before him failed to deal
• 24:22
  Speaker 11: with this problem... then I think that that is a
• 24:25
  Speaker 11: winning political issue, but I also think that the country
• 24:28
  Speaker 11: is in no mood right now, and they're just kind of,
• 24:32
  Speaker 11: I think that the electorate at this point is sort
• 24:34
  Speaker 11: of like, basically thinks, I think they hate the Republicans
• 24:37
  Speaker 11: and the party of Trump more than they hate the Democrats.
• 24:40
  Speaker 11: That's my read on what the polling looks like at
• 24:42
  Speaker 11: this point. And I think that they're responding to more
• 24:46
  Speaker 11: like the kind of pocketbook issues that usually drive elections.
• 24:49
  Speaker 11: The price of gasoline, the price of groceries, And I
• 24:53
  Speaker 11: don't know that there's anything he can do one way
• 24:55
  Speaker 11: or the other that's going to necessarily fix that. So
• 24:57
  Speaker 11: he might as well make the case that, hey, I
• 25:00
  Speaker 11: won a really important war. We're not going to be
• 25:02
  Speaker 11: threatened by these maniacs anymore. And I do think at
• 25:05
  Speaker 11: some point he's going to get credit, but he's probably
• 25:07
  Speaker 11: not going to get credit in the midterms. I just
• 25:10
  Speaker 11: feel like that's kind of done and dusted at this point, sadly,
• 25:12
  Speaker 11: for the Republican Party.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: I am much more of an optimist than you are, Eli,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: but I'm always glad to have your opinion and Your
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: viewing habits are consistent with mine, so I approve of them.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: Thank you for joining me. Eli Lake can be read
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: at EliLakeOnX at the Free Press, and don't miss an
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: episode of Breaking History Podcast. Stay tuned, America. Welcome back, America.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: I'm Hugh Hewitt back in. Thanks to Kurt Schlichter for
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: sitting in for me from Monday through Thursday. Matt Continetti
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: of the Wall Street Journal and the American Enterprise Institute
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: is here. Matt, superb column in the journal today about
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Xi Jinping, and I quote, he's a Marxist-Leninist Mao division.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: I'm glad you reminded people of that. Do you think
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: a lot of Americans have forgotten what that means?
• 26:07
  Speaker 7: Probably, Hugh. Thanks for having me. You know, Xi Jinping...
• 26:12
  Speaker 7: is a.
• 26:12
  Speaker 12: Child of communist revolution, the cultural revolution where Mao Zedong,
• 26:18
  Speaker 12: the totalitarian founder of the People's Republic of China, sent
• 26:22
  Speaker 12: all the party elites into the rural hinterlands so that
• 26:26
  Speaker 12: they could become more authentic and complete devastation for China's
• 26:31
  Speaker 12: society and culture. And that was the context of Xi Jinping,
• 26:35
  Speaker 12: whose father was a a communist official caught up in
• 26:39
  Speaker 12: the Cultural Revolution. And you would think that that might
• 26:41
  Speaker 12: have turned Xi against the system. But in fact, it
• 26:45
  Speaker 12: made him more of an admirer of Chairman Mao, whose
• 26:49
  Speaker 12: style of purges, if not kind of his psychotic back
• 26:54
  Speaker 12: and forth that you associate with Mao, but the style
• 26:56
  Speaker 12: of purges and the totalitarian rule, that's exactly what Xi
• 26:59
  Speaker 12: has brought back to the People's Republic.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: He also, Mao also, was responsible for sending hundreds of
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: thousands of soldiers into direct combat with the United States
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: and was indifferent to the casualties on his side.
• 27:12
  Speaker 7: Which were enormous.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: What do you think Xi was thinking about in the
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: East Room last night, surrounded by tech billionaires and the
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: glitz of the White House? It's not the Great Palace, right?
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: It's not the Palace of the People or whatever they
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: call that. It's not the Great Wall. It's a modest
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: little building, but it does have its charms. Any idea
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: what he might have been thinking about sitting there?
• 27:34
  Speaker 12: Well, I think like most authoritarian leaders and a committed communist,
• 27:39
  Speaker 12: Xi Jinping was probably saying that he was surrounded by
• 27:42
  Speaker 12: capitalist decadent pigs and that America is a declining power,
• 27:47
  Speaker 12: which is essentially how he greeted Trump when Trump visited
• 27:51
  Speaker 12: China earlier this year. Xi Jinping mentioned the Thucydides trap
• 27:55
  Speaker 12: where a declining power confronts a rising power. And in
• 27:58
  Speaker 12: his mind, it's China that's the rising power. Now, I
• 28:01
  Speaker 12: happen to think his analysis is completely backwards. But for
• 28:05
  Speaker 12: Xi Jinping, who doesn't have a lot of independent sources
• 28:08
  Speaker 12: of information and whose entire kind of identity is based
• 28:13
  Speaker 12: on keeping control of China and keeping the party in power, yeah,
• 28:18
  Speaker 12: I'd say he kind of soldiered on through that dinner thinking,
• 28:22
  Speaker 12: you know, these guys, I'm going to beat them in
• 28:24
  Speaker 12: the end.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: So, Matt Continetti, I don't know if you listen to
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: Aaron McClain's School of War podcast. Is that on your
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: list of podcasts? Sure. Okay, Aaron had on today, Alex
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: Wong of Hanwha Shipbuilding. My son works for Hanwha, so
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: I should disclose that, but I had nothing to do
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: with the podcast. Alex told Aaron that in the world
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: of shipbuilding, both commercial and military vessels around the world,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: China makes six out of ten ships that are built
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: every year, every month right now. The United States makes 0.1%
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: of ships. What's that tell you about our relative strength?
• 29:08
  Speaker 12: Well, it tells you that the United States outsourced our
• 29:11
  Speaker 12: industrial capacity in the last decade of the 20th century
• 29:15
  Speaker 12: and the first decade of the 21st century to East Asia,
• 29:19
  Speaker 12: but more specifically to China. And China has become the
• 29:23
  Speaker 12: manufacturer for the world and an industrial powerhouse. And so
• 29:28
  Speaker 12: it means that we need to claw back some of
• 29:30
  Speaker 12: that industrial capacity, especially when it comes to our defense
• 29:34
  Speaker 12: industrial base and all of the industries that feed into
• 29:37
  Speaker 12: our capabilities. and capacity to defend ourselves and to deter
• 29:43
  Speaker 12: our enemies. So yeah, that's a frightening statistic from Alex,
• 29:47
  Speaker 12: who's a very bright guy. And it's clear that with
• 29:50
  Speaker 12: the Chinese naval buildup that they have the advantage there.
• 29:54
  Speaker 12: I would just add there are places where we have
• 29:57
  Speaker 12: the advantage. One of them is artificial intelligence. And it's
• 30:01
  Speaker 12: an advantage that I think China is trying to suppress
• 30:05
  Speaker 12: by fomenting fear of AI and panic in the public
• 30:09
  Speaker 12: over AI development and data center construction.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: We also have an advantage in the underwater domain, and
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: we may have an advantage in asymmetric weapon systems, about
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: which very few people know much. But the good news, Matt,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: is that they make 60%, we make 0.1%. 30% made
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: by South Korea and Japan. So it sounds a lot
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: worse than it is if our allies work with us
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: and we're on double time. Do you think that Congress
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: after the elections will come back and pass a very
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: robust defense bill as was requested by the president, trillion
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: and a half?
• 30:44
  Speaker 7: Oh, they have to, Hugh.
• 30:46
  Speaker 12: I mean, if the Democrats have a good election and
• 30:48
  Speaker 12: then go into the lame duck and say we're not
• 30:50
  Speaker 12: going to pass any defense because we just want to
• 30:53
  Speaker 12: wait until we're in charge, what an utter travesty. You know,
• 30:57
  Speaker 12: I think when we look back, the failure of the
• 30:59
  Speaker 12: Republicans to pass another reconciliation bill and to fully fund
• 31:03
  Speaker 12: defense may have been one of the turning points in
• 31:06
  Speaker 12: this campaign.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: They can do that in the lame duck. I'll be
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: right back with Matt Connetti. I'm going to talk television
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: shows with him during the break, but you'll have to
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: get that on the Big Weekend Pod. Stay tuned.
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: Welcome back.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: I'm with Matt Continetti. The New York Times has published
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: a list of the 100 best television shows of the
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: first 25 years of this century, Matt. And I want
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: to test your cultural nimbleness. On a scale of zero,
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: meaning you haven't watched a minute of it, to 10,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: meaning you watched every episode to the end and are
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: waiting for next season. Number one, Breaking Bad. One to 10.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Where are you?
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: One.
• 31:41
  Speaker 7: I've never watched Breaking Bad.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: That's unbelievable.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: Number two, The Wire.
• 31:47
  Speaker 7: One, I've never watched The Wire.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh. Mad Men, three.
• 31:52
  Speaker 7: Two, I think I've watched one episode of Mad Men.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: Number four, Succession.
• 31:58
  Speaker 7: One, I've never watched any episode of Succession.
• 32:01
  Speaker 9: Golly.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: Five, Fleabag.
• 32:05
  Speaker 7: I don't even know where to find it.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Neither do I. That we agree on. Game of Thrones
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: is six.
• 32:13
  Speaker 7: Ten, I've watched all of Game of Thrones.
• 32:15
  Speaker 9: All right.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: Seven is Veep.
• 32:16
  Speaker 10: 10.
• 32:19
  Speaker 7: I've watched all of V. Love it. 8.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: 30 Rock.
• 32:22
  Speaker 5: 10.
• 32:24
  Speaker 7: I've watched all of 30 Rock. Brilliant. 9.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: Curb Your Enthusiasm.
• 32:28
  Speaker 5: 11.
• 32:30
  Speaker 7: I'm Larry David Diehard.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: Okay. Number.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: That was 9. 10 is Atlanta.
• 32:40
  Speaker 7: Got me there. 1. Don't know where.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: To find it. I have no idea what it is. 11.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: The Office.
• 32:47
  Speaker 6: 10.
• 32:47
  Speaker 7: I've watched all of The Office.
• 32:49
  Speaker 12: Tried it out with my youngest the other night.
• 32:52
  Speaker 7: She liked it.
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 32:54
  Speaker 8: How old?
• 32:56
  Speaker 7: Ten.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, she's around ten and she gets it?
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. Okay.
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: I had no idea because I've got a 12-year-old grandchild.
• 33:03
  Speaker 12: She didn't like it as much as Seinfeld. She loves Seinfeld.
• 33:06
  Speaker 12: But like I say, we're a Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld house.
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: Yes, you are.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: Number 12, Arrested Development.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: One.
• 33:15
  Speaker 7: I've never actually watched.
• 33:17
  Speaker 12: Arrested Development, though I've seen a lot of the clips online,
• 33:20
  Speaker 12: and they always do make me laugh.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: Okay, now I'm going to bounce around. Number 19 is Chernobyl,
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: on which I get a zero.
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: How about you?
• 33:29
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I also didn't watch Chernobyl, though I heard it
• 33:32
  Speaker 7: was excellent.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: That's on my to-do list. Number 20, The Crown, on
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: which I'm a 10.
• 33:38
  Speaker 7: I'm like a 5.
• 33:40
  Speaker 12: I think I watched half the seasons and enjoyed them all.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: All right, 36 is The Pit.
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: I'm a zero.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: My wife is a 10.
• 33:50
  Speaker 12: I'm a zero on The Pit, but I'm a 10
• 33:52
  Speaker 12: on Widow's Bay, which is really good.
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: I have no idea what that is.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: Peaky Blinders is 43.
• 34:00
  Speaker 7: Zero. I haven't watched it. Oh, Matt. Aren't you going
• 34:02
  Speaker 7: to ask me what my favorite shows of the 20th
• 34:05
  Speaker 7: century are?
• 34:05
  Speaker 4: No, I'm just using the list.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: I'm a data-driven host.
• 34:07
  Speaker 7: Yeah, but that's from that rag paper. I can't believe
• 34:10
  Speaker 7: you're even reading it.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: I got one more to ask you.
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: Two more.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: House of Cards, number 48.
• 34:17
  Speaker 7: House of Cards, I think I watched the first two
• 34:19
  Speaker 7: seasons of.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm about a 5-2. And then finally, Downton Abbey, 52.
• 34:25
  Speaker 7: That's a big zero there.
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: Oh, my God.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: Okay, so you're culturally illiterate. You're very odd.
• 34:33
  Speaker 7: I never watched it.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: What do you want to ask about?
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: Which one would you have on?
• 34:37
  Speaker 7: Where is Deadwood? Where is Deadwood on the list?
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: Deadwood's on there.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: Deadwood is number 24, and I'm a 10 on Deadwood.
• 34:45
  Speaker 7: Deadwood would be my number one, and the Shield, is
• 34:48
  Speaker 7: the Shield on the list?
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: I do not see the Shield anywhere. Oh, there the
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: Shield is, number 70.
• 34:55
  Speaker 7: The Shield would be number two.
• 34:56
  Speaker 12: And then I heard that The Sopranos is not even
• 34:59
  Speaker 12: on the list because it technically began in 1999.
• 35:01
  Speaker 7: Okay, we're coming back on.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: Don't go anywhere, America. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: We have just learned during the break that Matt Continetti
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: is not going to make any culturally inappropriate references in
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: the debates that he moderates in the next cycle among
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: Republican candidates. Because he doesn't watch any TV that everyone
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: else watches. I'm kind of shocked, Matt. Very much shocked.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: But we'll go forward. What did you make of Pozeskian's
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: interview with.
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: Brett last night?
• 35:39
  Speaker 12: First, I thought it was a fantastic interview by Brett.
• 35:42
  Speaker 12: And it was fantastic because it exposed the Iranian president
• 35:46
  Speaker 12: for what he is, a figurehead. He's not in charge
• 35:49
  Speaker 12: at all. He's not in charge at all. And everything
• 35:51
  Speaker 12: he said was a lie, except there was one thing.
• 35:54
  Speaker 12: that may, if it's true, and it could be true,
• 35:58
  Speaker 12: was revealing. And he was saying that they couldn't get
• 36:00
  Speaker 12: any money from China as a result of the blockade.
• 36:04
  Speaker 12: And that, to me, means the blockade is working. We
• 36:08
  Speaker 12: are really putting pressure on the regime. If China's not
• 36:11
  Speaker 12: giving them any money, that means that their main purchaser
• 36:15
  Speaker 12: of oil has basically shut the door. And that can
• 36:18
  Speaker 12: only cause chaos within the regime.
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: So, Matt, I wrote 2,000 words this week for the
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: examiner on urging the president and the people who advised
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: him to go for the kill shot in October, because
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: I think they're going to go for an election-influencing attack
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: in October, and I want to go first. What do
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: you make of my premise that they're going to go
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: for it, and what do you make of my answer
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: we ought to go first?
• 36:44
  Speaker 12: Hugh, I think we should have kept going on April 8th.
• 36:48
  Speaker 12: I think historians might look at April 8th and President
• 36:52
  Speaker 12: Trump's decision to halt the major combat operations against Iran
• 36:56
  Speaker 12: as a hinge moment in 2026, because it essentially put
• 37:02
  Speaker 12: us into this low-grade asymmetric warfare, kind of a frozen
• 37:08
  Speaker 12: conflict in the Strait of Hormuz. Finally, we've settled on
• 37:12
  Speaker 12: the correct policy of maximum economic pressure through the blockade
• 37:17
  Speaker 12: and through a the various efforts of the Treasury Department
• 37:20
  Speaker 12: to separate the Iranians from the global financial system. But
• 37:24
  Speaker 12: as long as that regime remains in place, they are
• 37:27
  Speaker 12: going to continue to harass naval traffic through the Strait
• 37:31
  Speaker 12: of Hormuz, use the Houthis to go after the Saudis
• 37:34
  Speaker 12: in the Red Sea, and generally spread chaos and havoc
• 37:39
  Speaker 12: throughout the.
• 37:39
  Speaker 7: Region and the world.
• 37:41
  Speaker 12: And so I believe we need to get serious about
• 37:44
  Speaker 12: creating a plan for supporting the people of Iran and
• 37:47
  Speaker 12: overthrow the Iranian regime?
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: So I believe some of the polls, those that say
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: that the Iranian conflict is not popular because it's not
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: popular with people who didn't want to start it, and
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: it's not popular with people like you and me who
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: want to end it decisively, but that if he moves
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: to end it decisively, I think it will become far
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: less unpopular and therefore help politically. I don't think he
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: will act on the basis of politics, but do you
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: agree with my assessment of what would follow politically if
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: he did?
• 38:16
  Speaker 12: The collapse of the regime, would, I think, relieve a
• 38:20
  Speaker 12: lot of the political pressure on President Trump because it
• 38:23
  Speaker 12: means that the Strait of Hormuz would be open again,
• 38:26
  Speaker 12: which means global oil prices would fall, which means eventually
• 38:30
  Speaker 12: they'll fall at the pump as well.
• 38:32
  Speaker 7: And Trump could.
• 38:33
  Speaker 12: Say that unlike all of his predecessors since 1979, he
• 38:39
  Speaker 12: took the fight to the Islamic Republic of Iran and
• 38:43
  Speaker 12: set the conditions for its demise there. while destroying their
• 38:47
  Speaker 12: nuclear program. That's a tremendous achievement, and I think the
• 38:50
  Speaker 12: public would react favorably to it. So anything he can
• 38:53
  Speaker 12: do to approach that outcome, to get closer to that collapse,
• 39:00
  Speaker 12: it would help him politically, but more importantly, it would
• 39:03
  Speaker 12: help the security of the United States.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: Now, the program began today, Matt Continetti, with John Ellis,
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: the founder and editor-in-chief of News Item, saying, Waves crest,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: and sometimes they crest way too early, and that happened
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: in 2022. I think if there is a blue wave,
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: it's cresting right now, and that Republican doomerism is well overplayed. Now,
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: I'm often wrong, as every political pundit is, but what's
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: your sense of it?
• 39:31
  Speaker 12: Oh, I have strong parallels between this election and the
• 39:36
  Speaker 12: 2022 election. You know, that election also had affordability, even
• 39:42
  Speaker 12: though we didn't call it that at the time, was
• 39:45
  Speaker 12: a major issue. We had had a troublesome foreign policy event.
• 39:50
  Speaker 12: The war in Iran is nowhere as catastrophic as the
• 39:54
  Speaker 12: retreat from Afghanistan, but it still hovers in the background
• 39:57
  Speaker 12: of this election. And we still had, we had a
• 40:01
  Speaker 12: sense among the Beltway press and among the national media of.
• 40:06
  Speaker 7: The opposition was going to run away with things.
• 40:09
  Speaker 12: And so the same people who are now saying that
• 40:11
  Speaker 12: the bottom has fallen out from under the Republicans.
• 40:15
  Speaker 7: I'm, I can name names. I'm not going to on
• 40:17
  Speaker 7: this program.
• 40:18
  Speaker 12: They were saying that the bottom bottom had fallen out
• 40:20
  Speaker 12: from under Democrats in twenty twenty two. And what happened
• 40:25
  Speaker 12: that the results were not quite what everyone was expecting. Now,
• 40:29
  Speaker 12: Republicans still took the House in twenty twenty two. And
• 40:32
  Speaker 12: if you ask me today, I think it's probably likely
• 40:35
  Speaker 12: the Democrats are going to take the House in twenty
• 40:36
  Speaker 12: twenty six. But the Democrats actually gained a seat in
• 40:41
  Speaker 12: the Senate in twenty twenty two. And so when you
• 40:44
  Speaker 12: look at the Senate, which now the media and the
• 40:46
  Speaker 12: conventional wisdom has the Democrats running away with, I think
• 40:50
  Speaker 12: it's very much still a toss-up and one that Republicans
• 40:54
  Speaker 12: could emerge pretty much where they are.
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: I agree, and I want to focus in on Michigan
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: for a moment. Al Saeed is supposedly ahead in the
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: New York Times-Santa poll, but as I look at the
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: internals as they are available, Kamala Harris won 87 percent
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: of the black vote in Michigan. in the August Washington
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: Post poll, Fox poll, El-Sayed had 75% of the black
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: vote in the September poll by, I believe it's Washington Post.
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: He had 67%.
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: So he's going the wrong way with the black community. A,
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: why is that? And B, doesn't that make it impossible
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: for him to win if he's only got three quarters
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: or two thirds of the black vote?
• 41:38
  Speaker 7: I don't think black voters like socialism.
• 41:41
  Speaker 5: And.
• 41:42
  Speaker 12: El-Sayed can say he's a capitalist all he wants, but
• 41:45
  Speaker 12: all of his positions line up very nicely with the
• 41:48
  Speaker 12: Democratic Socialists of America. And I also think a lot
• 41:52
  Speaker 12: of black voters say, why do you spend all your
• 41:54
  Speaker 12: time talking about AIPAC and talking about Israel when we
• 41:59
  Speaker 12: want to know what you're going to do about our communities,
• 42:03
  Speaker 12: our public safety, our economic fortunes? And so this is
• 42:07
  Speaker 12: a problem that faces all of the socialist candidates. is
• 42:11
  Speaker 12: that they are based on a coalition of the pathetic,
• 42:15
  Speaker 12: is what I called them in the Wall Street Journal,
• 42:17
  Speaker 12: which are downwardly mobile white college graduates.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: Well, there's a Larry, Curly, and Moe aspect of Tallarico, El-Said,
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: and Troy Jackson. Which one is the worst of those
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: three when it comes to being a candidate, Matt Continetti?
• 42:33
  Speaker 7: El-Said by far.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: I agree. He's just maybe the most off-putting candidate and
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: certainly the most radical candidate. Matt Continetti of the Wall
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: Street Journal. Follow him on X at Continetti. See him
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: on Special Report. Read him in the Wall Street Journal
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: and stay tuned to the Hugh Hewitt Show. Hi, it's
• 42:48
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• 43:42
  Speaker 1: it's Hugh Hewitt. When it came time to make decisions
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• 44:07
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• 44:18
  Speaker 1: They're not just there when you enroll. They're there afterward
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  Speaker 1: when you actually need them. That's the difference. Call John
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: and his team at U.S. Medical Plan at 877-410-4321. That's 877-410-4321.
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: Or visit usmedicalplan.com. That's usmedicalplan.com. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt,
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: joined now by our great friend Lisa Nelson. She's the
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: CEO of the American Legislative Exchange Council, alec.org.hu. Lisa, when
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: I saw you in Orlando, you didn't breathe a word
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: about retiring, so I'm a little bit gobsmacked. At the
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: end of the year, you're deciding to hang up. Most
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: people don't quit when they're 45. What's wrong with you?
• 45:08
  Speaker 10: Well, when I saw you in Orlando, I definitely had
• 45:11
  Speaker 10: this in my mind. And we've been talking about it
• 45:14
  Speaker 10: and thinking about it for a long time. But I
• 45:17
  Speaker 10: think that Alec is so well positioned right now for
• 45:22
  Speaker 10: a new leader that And you know him well, and
• 45:24
  Speaker 10: I'm very proud of that fact. So it's time for
• 45:28
  Speaker 10: me to move on. I'm older than 45, but don't
• 45:32
  Speaker 10: tell anyone.
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: I won't. But I want people to understand what you
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: did with ALEC over 12 years. You started in 2014.
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: It had come out of a rough patch.
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: You built it.
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: There were more than 2,000 people in Orlando. I think
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: it's become even more and more bipartisan as people figure
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: out what ALEC does is good policy. When you sat
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: down to do the job a dozen years ago, did
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: you put goals on paper or did you just do
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: it the Newt way? You're a Newt person. And just
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: bring the ideas and you'll figure it out as you
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: go along.
• 46:02
  Speaker 10: A little bit of both, Hugh, and I appreciate you
• 46:05
  Speaker 10: bringing Newt into it. You know, Newt taught me the
• 46:08
  Speaker 10: values of vision, strategy, projects, and tactics. And I deployed
• 46:15
  Speaker 10: that kind of management style there. when I was in
• 46:18
  Speaker 10: the private sector, and then when.
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: I got to ALEC.
• 46:21
  Speaker 10: I had some idea of the trouble that ALEC was
• 46:25
  Speaker 10: in in 2014, because I had seen some of it
• 46:28
  Speaker 10: from the private sector side. But I had no idea
• 46:31
  Speaker 10: I was going to have a countdown to black before
• 46:35
  Speaker 10: the year was over and have to rebuild from scratch.
• 46:39
  Speaker 10: And it's been just such a tremendous honor to work
• 46:42
  Speaker 10: alongside the state legislators from across the country, the staff
• 46:46
  Speaker 10: that was still here in 2014, Jonathan being one of them,
• 46:50
  Speaker 10: Lisa Bowen being another. There's a few others that have
• 46:54
  Speaker 10: been here for the long haul, and I just appreciate
• 46:57
  Speaker 10: so much what they were able to do to work
• 46:59
  Speaker 10: with me to build it back up.
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: All right, this is a hard question on the spot.
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: Of the many accomplishments, and I mean Alec has done many,
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: many things, of what are you most proud?
• 47:12
  Speaker 10: I think, you know, it's a hard question because there's
• 47:15
  Speaker 10: so many things that we are proud of. You know,
• 47:18
  Speaker 10: there's just so many accomplishments and so many things that
• 47:22
  Speaker 10: I look back on. But the one thing that sticks
• 47:26
  Speaker 10: with me, and I talked with the staff about it.
• 47:29
  Speaker 10: We had a staff retreat in Boston this week and
• 47:32
  Speaker 10: all huddled together and planned for the next year. But
• 47:35
  Speaker 10: the one thing I told them was stay strong, stay
• 47:38
  Speaker 10: true to your principles, and Don't back down when people
• 47:41
  Speaker 10: are trying to tell you that what you're fighting for
• 47:44
  Speaker 10: is the wrong direction or the wrong philosophy. You know,
• 47:48
  Speaker 10: if you believe in limited government, if you believe in
• 47:50
  Speaker 10: free markets, and if you believe that states should have
• 47:53
  Speaker 10: the power that they do, then stick to it and
• 47:58
  Speaker 10: don't back down. I use the word don't crouch, but
• 48:01
  Speaker 10: don't back down to that.
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: So, Lisa, I was in Pennsylvania this week at the
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: Jefferson Educational Society, like Alec, a nonpartisan group. And I
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: said the great sort is almost done. States have sorted
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: into blue and red. And I think Alec has driven
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: a lot of the red getting redder and blue maybe
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: becoming light blue with your policy positions. Do you agree
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: with me on that, that maybe you're making headway with
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: people they trust you?
• 48:28
  Speaker 10: We are absolutely working on that. And Hugh, I'm glad
• 48:32
  Speaker 10: that you said nonpartisan. Earlier it was bipartisan. And I
• 48:36
  Speaker 10: think the one thing when I came into the to
• 48:39
  Speaker 10: the job was just to kind of say to everyone,
• 48:41
  Speaker 10: are we going to be bipartisan or are we going
• 48:43
  Speaker 10: to be nonpartisan? And I think there's a big distinction
• 48:47
  Speaker 10: there and we are nonpartisan. So I've been really intentional
• 48:50
  Speaker 10: about using that phrase. I don't think that the, our
• 48:53
  Speaker 10: philosophy is a partisan philosophy. I think it's a nonpartisan
• 48:58
  Speaker 10: ideal that we believe should permeate through the States. And,
• 49:02
  Speaker 10: you know, your question about blues getting bluer and reds
• 49:05
  Speaker 10: getting redder, I, you know, I absolutely, um, And the
• 49:10
  Speaker 10: great sort is a great way of describing that because
• 49:15
  Speaker 10: I do see it deepening. And I see that, when
• 49:19
  Speaker 10: we have an opportunity with a red state, and I'd
• 49:22
  Speaker 10: call them trifectas if they have the House, the Senate,
• 49:25
  Speaker 10: and the governor, you can get a lot done. And
• 49:27
  Speaker 10: you can really work for a true limited government, free
• 49:33
  Speaker 10: market government. And that is You know well about our
• 49:37
  Speaker 10: Rich States, Poor States publication. Jonathan comes on and talks
• 49:40
  Speaker 10: about it. We've been in publication for 19 years, and unbelievably,
• 49:45
  Speaker 10: the state of Utah has been number one for all
• 49:49
  Speaker 10: 19 years. And I had a conversation with Art Laffer
• 49:53
  Speaker 10: this morning about our plans for the 20th year. We're
• 49:56
  Speaker 10: going to have a big shindig and roll out the
• 50:00
  Speaker 10: 20th year. I hope that Utah is still at number one.
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: We'll see. I hope that it is, too, and I
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: hope that there's a big shindig to honor you because
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: very few people have a dozen-year run in D.C. as
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: successful and as accomplished. Not just doing there and getting
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: the praise, but I mean actually changing the way Americans
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: live in all the states. That's what ALEC does, A-L-E-C
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: dot org, ALEC dot org slash U, under the leadership
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: of Lisa Nelson, the CEO. Lisa, thank you. Follow her
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: on exit, Lisa B. Nelson.