Latest / The Hugh Hewitt Show: Highly Concentrated / The Rogers vs El-Sayed Debate and the Arrest of VA State Sen. Louise Lucas

Transcript

The Rogers vs El-Sayed Debate and the Arrest of VA State Sen. Louise Lucas · The Hugh Hewitt Show: Highly Concentrated

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to today's podcast sponsored by Hillsdale College. All things
0:03
Speaker 1: Hillsdale at hillsdale.edu. I encourage you to take advantage of
0:06
Speaker 1: the many free online courses there. And of course, a
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, Laurie. Good
0:20
Speaker 1: Wednesday to you. Good Thursday to you. My goodness, where's
0:23
Speaker 1: the week gone? I watched Mike Rogers debate Abdul El-Sayed
0:27
Speaker 1: last night so that you wouldn't have to. It was
0:31
Speaker 1: a decisive win by Mike Rogers on points, on style.
0:36
Speaker 1: Abdul El-Sayed is simply not trustworthy. His ideas are ridiculous.
0:40
Speaker 1: Medicare for all will destroy health care in America. He
0:43
Speaker 1: is DSA adjacent. He's just DSA stamped. He cannot separate
0:47
Speaker 1: from the Muslim Brotherhood because he signed the letter on
0:49
Speaker 1: behalf of Egyptian president and Muslim Brotherhood advocate Morsi, Mohammed Morsi,
0:56
Speaker 1: when he became, for a brief time, in Egypt, dictator
0:59
Speaker 1: of Egypt. In fact, Abdul El-Sayed urged Morsi in an
1:04
Speaker 1: open letter that he signed with a dozen other radicals
1:08
Speaker 1: to purge the press and the police. That's what the
1:11
Speaker 1: Brotherhood believes in, Sharia law. And it is simply very
1:15
Speaker 1: disturbing that he won't answer, won't be responsive, gets angry,
1:20
Speaker 1: just very, very defensive about it, Wouldn't answer the questions
1:24
Speaker 1: of the New York Times. In fact, this is where
1:26
Speaker 1: he got a little bit temperamental last night. Cut 24
1:29
Speaker 1: when the subject came up last night.
1:32
Speaker 2: I've never been a part of because my mom was
1:36
Speaker 2: a nurse in Missouri. It doesn't make any sense. And
1:39
Speaker 2: it's actually really quite beneath you, Mike. It's really quite
1:41
Speaker 2: beneath you. It's not to call into question my loyalty
1:44
Speaker 2: to the Constitution.
1:44
Speaker 3: I'm talking.
1:45
Speaker 1: I'm talking. I'm talking. Well, I'm up to it.
1:48
Speaker 4: Excuse me.
1:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, go ahead.
1:50
Speaker 2: Can I have a few more seconds?
1:51
Speaker 4: Yes, go ahead.
1:52
Speaker 1: Thank you.
1:53
Speaker 2: To bring in a question, my commitment to the Constitution
1:56
Speaker 2: is really beneath you.
1:58
Speaker 1: That is not beneath him. It is a question of
2:01
Speaker 1: what you've said on the record before, Mr. El-Sayed, that
2:04
Speaker 1: you are a proponent of Sharia law and you believe
2:08
Speaker 1: in it. You want to be judged by it by
2:09
Speaker 1: your creator when you come before him at the time
2:11
Speaker 1: of your judgment. And I would like to know why
2:14
Speaker 1: you signed that letter to Morsi. It's not about what
2:17
Speaker 1: your mom did or didn't, though you lied about that
2:19
Speaker 1: to Kristen Welker. Your family's got lots of ties to
2:21
Speaker 1: the Muslim Brotherhood, and you said no, so that was
2:23
Speaker 1: a lie. So you're very defensive and very angry about it.
2:26
Speaker 1: And the debate format last night, you know, I've done
2:30
Speaker 1: enough debates, done five presidential debates, that I know you
2:34
Speaker 1: can't run a minute response. You have to run 90-second
2:38
Speaker 1: responses and allow for one-minute rebuttals, and you don't ask
2:42
Speaker 1: the same question of both candidates. And you don't have
2:45
Speaker 1: too many moderators. They had three moderators last night with
2:49
Speaker 1: one-minute times, and they kept interrupting. There was no bell.
2:53
Speaker 1: It was local TV. And God love them. They did
2:55
Speaker 1: the best they could, but they wanted to cover way
2:58
Speaker 1: too much. They spent way too much preparing, not enough
3:01
Speaker 1: time allowing them to engage when, in fact, the biggest
3:03
Speaker 1: issues are Medicare for All, which will destroy everyone's health care.
3:06
Speaker 1: And can you trust Abdul El-Sayed to always think like
3:10
Speaker 1: patriots think? And I don't know that you can't. I'm
3:13
Speaker 1: not calling him I'm not calling him a member of
3:17
Speaker 1: the Muslim Brotherhood. I'm calling him radical and a break
3:22
Speaker 1: with everything we've seen. He's the most radical major party
3:25
Speaker 1: candidate of my lifetime for the United States Senate. But
3:27
Speaker 1: let's walk through it, shall we? Let's start with Mike
3:29
Speaker 1: Rogers arguing what will happen if Abdul El-Sayed gets his way.
3:34
Speaker 1: Cut number 10.
3:36
Speaker 5: So think of all of the three things he just
3:38
Speaker 5: talked about. Putting money in your pockets. It's a great slogan.
3:41
Speaker 5: There's nothing behind it. Matter of fact, when his new
3:44
Speaker 5: Democrat-Socialist-aligned policies are engaged, money in your pocket, you'll be
3:48
Speaker 5: lucky to have a damn pair of pants when you're done.
3:51
Speaker 6: Medicare for all.
3:53
Speaker 5: He doesn't tell you how much taxes you have to
3:55
Speaker 5: get charged and you lose your private health insurance.
3:59
Speaker 1: These aren't real solutions.
4:00
Speaker 5: These are solutions that are going to make your life
4:03
Speaker 5: more miserable and it's going to take away your choices.
4:06
Speaker 1: In health care. That time thing instead of a bell.
4:09
Speaker 1: They can't afford a bell in Detroit? I'm on in
4:12
Speaker 1: Detroit right now, really. I've done enough debates. I did
4:14
Speaker 1: the recall debate in California. I've done debates for senators before.
4:18
Speaker 1: You need a bell, just a little ding, and not
4:20
Speaker 1: 60 seconds is a bad idea. I don't know who
4:22
Speaker 1: put that together. Anyway, Mike Rogers came back to Medicare
4:25
Speaker 1: for All as he ought to have done. Cut number 17.
4:30
Speaker 6: This is, again, this pattern of deception.
4:33
Speaker 5: That this candidate has done for the last 18 months.
4:36
Speaker 5: So he was for all, Medicare for all, and by
4:40
Speaker 5: the way, which takes away your private health insurance. Five
4:45
Speaker 5: million Michiganders will lose their health care, and it will
4:49
Speaker 5: destroy Medicare for seniors. That's what he's talking about. And
4:53
Speaker 5: that's why UAW for Rogers are here. That's why they're
4:56
Speaker 5: coming to our campaign. People understand just how ridiculous this is.
5:00
Speaker 6: There are other Democrats that.
5:02
Speaker 5: Will not support this plan because it's outrageously expensive. It
5:06
Speaker 5: would be about $ 7 trillion a year in new expenses,
5:10
Speaker 5: about $ 20, 000 per family in new taxes.
5:15
Speaker 1: By the way, in the Vic Mensa podcast, this came
5:18
Speaker 1: to light today as well, Abdul El-Sayed was very candid
5:21
Speaker 1: about what Medicare for all. Let's go out of the
5:23
Speaker 1: debate for a moment. This is not the debate. This
5:25
Speaker 1: is the Vic Mensa podcast with Abdul El-Sayed, cut 25.
5:30
Speaker 2: You guarantee government health care for everyone.
5:33
Speaker 5: Why?
5:34
Speaker 2: Number one, it means you're going to have health care.
5:36
Speaker 2: Number two, government's big enough to be like, you're not
5:38
Speaker 2: going to raise the rates anymore because we're the only
5:40
Speaker 2: one paying. You know what a monopoly is, right? A
5:42
Speaker 2: monopoly is when there's one seller of a good. The
5:44
Speaker 2: one seller gets to be like, here's what I'm selling for.
5:46
Speaker 1: So you got to buy.
5:48
Speaker 2: There's this other thing we don't talk about called a monopsony,
5:50
Speaker 2: which is the one buyer of a good. If the
5:53
Speaker 2: government is everybody's insurer, it's basically buying for everybody.
5:57
Speaker 3: So you remove the insurance companies and the government is
5:59
Speaker 3: now the insurer.
6:00
Speaker 2: Government becomes the insurer. Insurance companies can do what they want.
6:02
Speaker 2: They want to offer a luxury.
6:03
Speaker 1: Product for a couple of folks. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
6:05
Speaker 2: But you don't rely on the insurance system.
6:09
Speaker 1: It will destroy Medicare for seniors. It will lessen the
6:12
Speaker 1: quality of care for everyone. It will be ration care.
6:15
Speaker 1: It will be Canada without the advantages of having a
6:18
Speaker 1: much smaller population. It will not work. It is a
6:21
Speaker 1: radical plan. Let's go back to the debate. Here's another
6:24
Speaker 1: radical moment from Abdul El-Sayed from last night, cut number 12.
6:29
Speaker 1: If elected, you may be asked to vote on legislation
6:32
Speaker 1: requiring voter identification and other key changes to federal election laws.
6:38
Speaker 1: Would you support or oppose this?
6:40
Speaker 4: That legislation and why, Dr.
6:42
Speaker 6: El-Sayed, we begin with you.
6:44
Speaker 2: Let's be clear, this is about voter suppression. You know,
6:46
Speaker 2: the SAVE Act would require women who change their names
6:50
Speaker 2: to go back and find their birth certificates just to
6:52
Speaker 2: be able to vote in our election. I mean, I
6:54
Speaker 2: think that's pretty crazy.
6:56
Speaker 1: So he's against voter ID. All sorts of voter ID.
7:00
Speaker 1: Here's Mike Rogers responding, cut number 11.
7:02
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it's very reasonable and rational to ask
7:07
Speaker 5: for a voter ID.
7:08
Speaker 6: So my opponent, again.
7:10
Speaker 5: calls for open borders, wants to give illegals driver's license,
7:14
Speaker 5: and then avail them to all of the services of
7:17
Speaker 5: the United States of America. And by the way, it's
7:20
Speaker 5: easy to work your way into a system. Show an
7:22
Speaker 5: ID to vote, I think, is absolutely imperative. It won't
7:27
Speaker 5: do anything, and it builds confidence in our elections.
7:30
Speaker 3: This is what you want.
7:32
Speaker 1: It won't disenfranchise anyone. Everyone carries an ID who's an adult,
7:36
Speaker 1: and you can get one if you haven't got one already,
7:38
Speaker 1: but that's The whole made up thing about voter suppression,
7:41
Speaker 1: it is to stop fraud in certain highly localized precincts
7:45
Speaker 1: of the country where it occurs. Mike Rogers got in
7:48
Speaker 1: some very good hits last night. Cut number 19 about
7:51
Speaker 1: criminals and Abdul El-Sayed.
7:54
Speaker 5: What has happened in the last two years is amazing.
7:58
Speaker 5: We've had a 20 percent drop nationally in murders. The enforcement,
8:05
Speaker 5: ICE enforcement, has gone after rapists and murderers and gangbangers
8:10
Speaker 5: and drug dealers and human traffickers, and it has had
8:13
Speaker 5: a tremendous impact on crime. My argument, we should continue
8:17
Speaker 5: to do that. Find those folks who are committing crimes
8:20
Speaker 5: and get them the heck out of the country, but
8:22
Speaker 5: you also have to maintain that border. My opponent is,
8:27
Speaker 5: on record, in his own words, talking about open borders.
8:31
Speaker 5: Matter of fact, he wants to give them driver's license,
8:34
Speaker 5: and he also wants to give them Medicare when they
8:36
Speaker 5: get here. I mean, you want to talk about two
8:39
Speaker 5: stark differences. This may be that issue. Well, there's a
8:41
Speaker 5: whole bunch, but this is a big one because we
8:44
Speaker 5: have got to continue to secure the border, get illegal
8:47
Speaker 5: criminals who are committing crimes out of the country to
8:50
Speaker 5: keep communities safe.
8:52
Speaker 1: Cut number 14 from Mike Rogers.
8:56
Speaker 5: He did call for defunding the police. And how we
9:00
Speaker 5: found it is he deleted all of this material.
9:03
Speaker 6: Why would you do that?
9:04
Speaker 5: Why would you go through and take all of that
9:06
Speaker 5: time to delete all of the material, X, videos, comments, podcasts?
9:11
Speaker 1: Why?
9:12
Speaker 5: Because he was passionate about defunding the police.
9:16
Speaker 1: One more cut before the break. Cut number 18 from
9:18
Speaker 1: last night, Mike Rogers.
9:21
Speaker 2: I believe that we don't need ICE. In fact, we
9:23
Speaker 2: can go back to INS, back when we were a
9:25
Speaker 2: lot more safe and secure.
9:26
Speaker 1: When it came to immigration.
9:27
Speaker 2: And then we need to make sure we have a
9:29
Speaker 2: clear pathway to citizenship so that people can come here
9:31
Speaker 2: and take opportunities that are legal for them.
9:34
Speaker 1: That's obviously Abdul El-Sayed. I got that one wrong. I
9:37
Speaker 1: meant cut 20.
9:39
Speaker 5: So being bought off by the Muslim Brotherhood, having donors
9:43
Speaker 5: to his campaign from Hamas that support Hezbollah is not
9:47
Speaker 5: a problem? If you are going to go to the
9:50
Speaker 5: United States Senate, we need to know, are you for
9:53
Speaker 5: America or are you for these terrorist groups overseas? You
9:57
Speaker 5: can grin and you can smile and you can talk.
9:59
Speaker 6: Real pretty, but I'm.
10:00
Speaker 5: Going to tell you what, that is a risk to
10:03
Speaker 5: our national security.
10:04
Speaker 1: You know, also the risk is what I just played
10:07
Speaker 1: for you. This is Abdul El-Sayed on abolishing ICE, cut
10:10
Speaker 1: number 18. I believe that we don't need ICE.
10:13
Speaker 2: In fact, we can go back to INS, back when
10:15
Speaker 2: we were a lot more safe and secure. when it
10:17
Speaker 2: came to immigration.
10:18
Speaker 1: And then we need to.
10:19
Speaker 2: Make sure we have a clear pathway to citizenship so
10:21
Speaker 2: that people can come here and take opportunities that are
10:23
Speaker 2: legal for them.
10:25
Speaker 1: You know, that open border pathway to citizenship, he should
10:28
Speaker 1: lose the election on that. I'll say it as a
10:30
Speaker 1: radical's radical. And he's from the far left You can't
10:34
Speaker 1: trust him on the security issues. You just can't trust him.
10:37
Speaker 1: I'll be right back, America. Stay tuned to The Hugh
10:39
Speaker 1: Hewitt Show. Joined by John Ellis now. He is editor-in-chief,
10:42
Speaker 1: founder of News Items. And John sent me some of
10:44
Speaker 1: the most interesting election stuff that I want to pass
10:47
Speaker 1: along to you. John, you say rural vote is going
10:50
Speaker 1: to decide whether this is a blue tidal wave, a
10:53
Speaker 1: blue big undertow, or a blue drizzle, right? Tell us
10:58
Speaker 1: about the rural vote. Well, in, you know, the.
11:04
Speaker 7: In 2024, President Trump took 70%, roughly speaking, of the
11:09
Speaker 7: rural vote. And the polling right now shows Republicans in
11:15
Speaker 7: the so-called generic vote getting about 52% or 54% of
11:21
Speaker 7: the rural vote. If that persists, then it's going to
11:25
Speaker 7: be a very long night for the Republicans because the
11:27
Speaker 7: key race is are in states which have large rural populations, Texas, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, etc.
11:37
Speaker 7: So if the Republicans are able to fire up the
11:41
Speaker 7: rural base and get those people to vote, then they
11:45
Speaker 7: will hold the Senate. If those people do not vote,
11:50
Speaker 7: then they're going to have a very hard time holding
11:53
Speaker 7: the Senate. And the interesting thing about it is, The
11:58
Speaker 7: rural vote hasn't been talked about at all, but in
12:01
Speaker 7: these five or six races, it will be, you know, decisive.
12:06
Speaker 7: So for me, it's the thing that on election night
12:09
Speaker 7: people should focus on.
12:10
Speaker 1: You know, John, I did a column for Fox News
12:13
Speaker 1: today encouraging the president to do like Joe Biden did
12:16
Speaker 1: in 2022 and make a national address next week and
12:19
Speaker 1: make his case directly to the American people, 15 minutes
12:22
Speaker 1: to 30 minutes. Press conference did not work for George W.
12:25
Speaker 1: Bush in 2006. The Republicans got pumped to borrow from W.
12:29
Speaker 1: But they did kind of work for Joe Biden in 2022.
12:32
Speaker 1: What was supposed to be a red tsunami turned into,
12:34
Speaker 1: I call it, a series of red thunderstorms in Florida
12:37
Speaker 1: and other places. But it wasn't a red wave. What
12:39
Speaker 1: do you think about the direct appeal to the rural
12:42
Speaker 1: vote via the president, whether from the Oval or somewhere?
12:45
Speaker 1: Not a rally, a direct ask. I'm not sure.
12:50
Speaker 7: I mean, I think that the best argument that the
12:53
Speaker 7: Senate candidates have now is to say, look, it's probably
12:57
Speaker 7: the case that the Democrats are going to take the House.
13:00
Speaker 7: If you give them both the House and the Senate,
13:03
Speaker 7: that's inviting trouble. We're sort of the safety net, if
13:10
Speaker 7: you will, from Democrats having both houses of Congress. I'm
13:16
Speaker 7: not sure President Trump helps that message. I think the
13:18
Speaker 7: Republicans have to go, A, to fire up the rural base,
13:22
Speaker 7: and B, make a more tactical appeal, which is, do
13:25
Speaker 7: you really want the Democrats to hold both houses of Congress?
13:29
Speaker 1: Okay, not on your list, but a quick assessment from
13:31
Speaker 1: John Ellis, because you know this stuff cold. I think
13:34
Speaker 1: Susan Collins is going to stay the senator from Maine.
13:37
Speaker 1: I think Michigan is a toss-up. I think Minnesota... probably
13:41
Speaker 1: 60-40 for Flanagan, but Tafoya's in the race, and I
13:44
Speaker 1: think Texas is going to stay red and vote for
13:47
Speaker 1: Ken Paxton. On those four races, what's your gut telling you?
13:53
Speaker 7: I don't know about Collins because the tide is so
13:57
Speaker 7: strong against anti-Trump, but I suspect she'll pull it out.
14:02
Speaker 7: She always has in the past. I think Michigan Rodgers
14:06
Speaker 7: will win. I think Paxton has so much baggage that
14:11
Speaker 7: obviously it's going to be very close, but I'm not
14:13
Speaker 7: sure he gets across the finish line. And what was
14:17
Speaker 7: the fourth one?
14:17
Speaker 1: Minnesota, where Michelle Tafoya is Rookie of the Year, but
14:20
Speaker 1: it is Minnesota. It's Minnesota.
14:23
Speaker 7: I think that race is going to be very close,
14:26
Speaker 7: but there's a former congressman named Vin Weber who said
14:29
Speaker 7: the one thing you have to take into account is
14:33
Speaker 7: is that the DFL, the Democratic Farm Labor Party, is very,
14:39
Speaker 7: very well organized, and the Republican Party there is very unimpressive,
14:44
Speaker 7: let's use that word. So it is very, very close,
14:49
Speaker 7: and the DFL strength organizationally may tip it.
14:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was once, Minnesota was the land of giants.
14:56
Speaker 1: Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, they've had Tina Smith and Al Franken.
15:01
Speaker 1: Michelle Tafoya would be pretty much a big person. Does
15:04
Speaker 1: that play any appeal at all, that you have a
15:06
Speaker 1: senator who actually makes the news, not is subject to it?
15:13
Speaker 1: I mean, it could.
15:16
Speaker 7: You know, the tide is tough. That's the problem that
15:21
Speaker 7: all of these Republican Senate candidates have. I mean, if
15:24
Speaker 7: Mississippi is on the radar and President Trump has to
15:27
Speaker 7: campaign there, then obviously there's a tide going. The question
15:31
Speaker 7: is whether the tide and then recedes, or whether it
15:36
Speaker 7: comes crashing down on election night.
15:38
Speaker 1: We won't know, obviously.
15:39
Speaker 7: But I put out my sort of 10 days out forecast,
15:44
Speaker 7: and I think it's Republicans 51, Democrats 49 in the Senate.
15:49
Speaker 7: I don't think the House is much in question. I
15:52
Speaker 7: think the Democrats will pick it up. But I don't,
15:55
Speaker 7: I mean, the path to Democrats recapturing the Senate is
16:00
Speaker 7: very steep. And, you know, the rule about Democratic candidates
16:05
Speaker 7: in tough states is they can get to 47 or
16:09
Speaker 7: 48 without, you know, without too much difficulty. But it's
16:13
Speaker 7: the last two or three percent that's really, really hard.
16:17
Speaker 1: Let's go to the second issue. And if you can,
16:19
Speaker 1: I'd love you to stick around for an extra segment.
16:21
Speaker 1: We haven't planned on that, but you got a lot
16:23
Speaker 1: of good stuff today I'd love to cover. Private equity
16:26
Speaker 1: is becoming a political issue. For the Steelers fans, explain
16:28
Speaker 1: what private equity is and then explain why it's the
16:31
Speaker 1: the jaws underneath the water for politics?
16:36
Speaker 7: Well, private equity is pooled funds. They go out and
16:40
Speaker 7: raise a bunch of money from pension funds and wealthy
16:43
Speaker 7: individuals and so on and so forth. And they target
16:46
Speaker 7: individual companies that they see as underperforming. And they buy
16:51
Speaker 7: that company. They load it up with a little bit
16:54
Speaker 7: of debt or a lot of debt sometimes. And they
16:57
Speaker 7: try to turn that company around and then bring it
17:00
Speaker 7: to market, bring it to an IPO. And then everybody's
17:04
Speaker 7: happy because investors in the private equity fund make money
17:09
Speaker 7: and the private equity managers themselves make money. And presumably
17:13
Speaker 7: the company is fixed and all is well. The problem
17:18
Speaker 7: is that private equity has been going on for a long,
17:21
Speaker 7: long time. And it really got a boost when interest
17:25
Speaker 7: rates were zero, essentially. So they could borrow vast amounts
17:29
Speaker 7: of money and invest as they chose. But interest rates
17:33
Speaker 7: have gone up dramatically. And that has made it much
17:41
Speaker 7: more difficult to find good companies to buy. And the
17:44
Speaker 7: only way to get things done is to radically downsize
17:48
Speaker 7: those companies. So that's becoming an issue now. private equity
17:52
Speaker 7: owning local companies. We've seen that in New York.
17:55
Speaker 1: I may be back with John Ellis of news items.
17:58
Speaker 1: I hope we can. He's got a couple of more
17:59
Speaker 1: interesting news items right here, but stay tuned to The
18:02
Speaker 1: Hugh Hewitt Show.
18:02
Speaker 8: Welcome back, America.
18:03
Speaker 1: I'm Hugh Hewitt, joined by Victorino Mattis. He is the
18:06
Speaker 1: art and culture editor, weekend editor at the Washington Free Beacon,
18:09
Speaker 1: more importantly, co-host of the Getting Hammered podcast, a regular
18:12
Speaker 1: listen for me. Vic, welcome. I've got to talk about
18:16
Speaker 1: Ilhan Omar. I've got to talk about Virginia, but I
18:18
Speaker 1: want to start with I've already talked to Mary Catherine
18:20
Speaker 1: today about what is going to happen. I listened to you.
18:24
Speaker 1: I should say I listened to you and Mary Catherine today.
18:25
Speaker 1: I'll talk to her a little bit later in the
18:27
Speaker 1: program about what's going on in France. But I want
18:29
Speaker 1: to ask you about the headline at the Free Beacon
18:31
Speaker 1: right now. El-Sayed's fellow Muslim Brotherhood supporters who signed letter
18:36
Speaker 1: with him urging Brotherhood to purge the media and police
18:39
Speaker 1: have poured thousands into his campaign. This is a big story.
18:43
Speaker 1: You guys are killing this story. Tell people about it.
18:47
Speaker 4: We have a lot of great reporting coming out of Michigan.
18:50
Speaker 4: As you mentioned, Hugh, thanks a lot for giving that
18:53
Speaker 4: a shout out. And that was Chuck Ross, our reporter,
18:55
Speaker 4: and we have other people on that team as well.
18:58
Speaker 4: Just day after day, we're coming up with new stories
19:02
Speaker 4: and finding new things that the Syed campaign had previously
19:06
Speaker 4: tried to bury or that El Syed himself has tried
19:10
Speaker 4: to erase from our social media memories. But you're able
19:13
Speaker 4: to find that because it's on the internet and everything
19:15
Speaker 4: is still a.
19:16
Speaker 1: Findable, if you will.
19:18
Speaker 4: In this latest story, this has to do with the
19:21
Speaker 4: donors to Al-Sayed's campaign, who are strong backers of the
19:25
Speaker 4: Muslim Brotherhood, and in particular, strong backers of the previous
19:29
Speaker 4: Muslim Brotherhood president of Egypt, Morsi, who you just mentioned.
19:34
Speaker 4: And when he was in power, there was a lot
19:37
Speaker 4: of excitement by the Muslim Brotherhood supporters, including Al-Sayed, and
19:42
Speaker 4: they signed this letter in Arabic, in Egypt, encouraging him
19:48
Speaker 4: to make sure you go after members of the media
19:52
Speaker 4: or the government and just purge them of elements of
19:54
Speaker 4: the previous government. And what they wanted to do is
19:58
Speaker 4: purge the press of anybody who was sympathetic of the
20:00
Speaker 4: previous regime. And yes, you can be critical of that
20:03
Speaker 4: previous regime. There's no question about that. Egypt is not
20:06
Speaker 4: a But at the same time, the Muslim Brotherhood was
20:10
Speaker 4: eventually designated, as you know, as backers of terrorism and
20:16
Speaker 4: is actually a banned party in many countries in the
20:19
Speaker 4: Middle East. El-Sayed has a problem in that he just
20:23
Speaker 4: can't flat out say, I condemn them or I disavow them.
20:27
Speaker 4: He has to be very sort of mealy-mouthed and vague.
20:31
Speaker 4: And the best he can say is, it's terrible, I
20:35
Speaker 4: condemn violence, but He can't just flat out say it
20:37
Speaker 4: because at this point it's undeniable that his family has
20:41
Speaker 4: connections to the Muslim Brotherhood.
20:44
Speaker 1: Rick, hats off to Chuck Ross. I've just posted on
20:46
Speaker 1: my ex-account a link to the Free Beacon story that
20:49
Speaker 1: posted earlier today about the donors to Abdul El-Sayed and
20:53
Speaker 1: the letter which came up last night in the debate.
20:56
Speaker 1: Have you had a chance to watch it? I watched
20:58
Speaker 1: it so my listeners and my viewers wouldn't have to.
21:00
Speaker 1: Have you watched it yet?
21:01
Speaker 4: No, I'm glad that you did. I have my reporters
21:05
Speaker 4: and editors who also watch it, so I don't have to.
21:08
Speaker 4: I saw several of the clips. It's rather painful at times,
21:12
Speaker 4: I think.
21:13
Speaker 1: Al-Sayed is obviously.
21:15
Speaker 4: Very defensive when it comes to questions about the Muslim
21:18
Speaker 4: Brotherhood or any of his connections to unsavory radical Islamic elements.
21:24
Speaker 4: As you know, he talks about his mother You know,
21:26
Speaker 4: why are you picking on her? And why is, you know, Mike,
21:29
Speaker 4: it's a low blow. It's going low for even for Mike,
21:32
Speaker 4: as he refers to Mike Rogers, wanting to make references
21:36
Speaker 4: to his mother, who he calls, you know, a nurse
21:38
Speaker 4: in Missouri.
21:39
Speaker 1: Really, that's it. She didn't do anything else.
21:41
Speaker 4: And of course, she was working for an organization that
21:43
Speaker 4: was connected to helping and funneling funds to Al-Qaeda.
21:46
Speaker 1: And that was investigated by the federal government.
21:50
Speaker 4: So and then, of course, he talks about his half sister,
21:53
Speaker 4: saying that he doesn't really know her and he doesn't
21:55
Speaker 4: really keep in touch with her. But, of course, she
21:57
Speaker 4: said there's no question that their whole family was very
22:00
Speaker 4: well connected to the Muslim Brotherhood. So, yeah, when it
22:04
Speaker 4: comes to certain positions such as Medicare for All, Al-Sayed
22:08
Speaker 4: certainly knows his talking points. He's very slick about it.
22:12
Speaker 4: When it comes to other things such as connections to
22:15
Speaker 4: Islamic radicals, he's very uncomfortable. And also when he talks
22:19
Speaker 4: about things like law enforcement, he doesn't seem like he's
22:22
Speaker 4: on comfortable ground there, too, and actually all that convincing
22:26
Speaker 4: that he is excited to work alongside law enforcement in
22:30
Speaker 4: the state of Michigan.
22:31
Speaker 1: All right, let me play cut 20 from the debate
22:33
Speaker 1: last night, get you to comment on it. This is
22:35
Speaker 1: from Mike Rogers, Abdul Al-Sayed, last night, cut number 20.
22:38
Speaker 5: So being bought off by the Muslim Brotherhood, having donors
22:42
Speaker 5: to his campaign from Hamas that support Hezbollah is not
22:46
Speaker 5: a problem?
22:48
Speaker 6: If you are going.
22:49
Speaker 5: To go to the United States Senate, we need to know,
22:51
Speaker 5: are you for America or are you for these terrorist
22:54
Speaker 5: groups overseas?
22:56
Speaker 1: In light of that, in light of your story at
22:58
Speaker 1: the Free Beacon today, Vic, is that a fair shot? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
23:03
Speaker 4: I mean, again, we've done a lot of solid reporting
23:05
Speaker 4: on this. I mean, this isn't mere speculation. I mean,
23:08
Speaker 4: we've laid out the paper trail that connects various members
23:12
Speaker 4: of al-Sayed and his family and his supporters, certainly his supporters,
23:17
Speaker 4: you know, to the Muslim Brotherhood and to other unsavory,
23:20
Speaker 4: as I mentioned, Islamic radical elements to this. So it's
23:23
Speaker 4: totally fair game because, again, it would be easy just
23:27
Speaker 4: to say, yes, I agree.
23:30
Speaker 1: What they're doing is terrible.
23:31
Speaker 4: This is a radical organization.
23:32
Speaker 1: I disavow them.
23:34
Speaker 4: He can't get himself to say that. And that's the
23:37
Speaker 4: worrisome part. It should be worrisome to Michigan voters.
23:40
Speaker 8: All right.
23:40
Speaker 1: Now let me play for you Ilhan Omar last night
23:43
Speaker 1: with Chris Hayes, cut number 28.
23:45
Speaker 9: And every time he talks about you, he will casually
23:48
Speaker 9: say something wild about you. Like, he will tweet, Bill
23:53
Speaker 9: and Omar, she married her brother, blah, blah, blah. You
23:55
Speaker 9: see that, you think to yourself, boy, that sounds odd.
23:58
Speaker 9: It seems unlikely that she married her brother. There are
24:00
Speaker 9: right-wing people who believe that this man was your brother.
24:05
Speaker 9: You have called it a disgusting lie.
24:07
Speaker 10: Who was this man that was your husband?
24:10
Speaker 9: When did they start saying that he was your brother?
24:12
Speaker 5: Why? Why?
24:14
Speaker 8: It started with the Somali blog that I don't know
24:19
Speaker 8: if it still exists, but somebody put in there that,
24:22
Speaker 8: you know, that he had to have been my brother
24:24
Speaker 8: or something to that effect. And right-wing conspiracy theorists in
24:31
Speaker 8: Minneapolis got a hold of it, and they just kind
24:33
Speaker 8: of went and, like, found random people who were like,
24:36
Speaker 8: she introduced us. You know, she introduced him to us
24:40
Speaker 8: and said he was her brother, which is... You know,
24:44
Speaker 8: it's insane. I mean, I don't know those people that
24:47
Speaker 8: they talk about.
24:49
Speaker 4: You were not related to him at all.
24:52
Speaker 9: Not to my knowledge.
24:57
Speaker 1: Vic Mattis, I want you to stay an extra segment, Vic,
24:59
Speaker 1: but not to my knowledge. What's that tell you?
25:03
Speaker 4: Well, you know, one time I was asked that when
25:05
Speaker 4: I attended the Texas State Fair, did I actually eat
25:08
Speaker 4: 10 different fried things and then go to a steak
25:10
Speaker 4: dinner at Del Frisco?
25:11
Speaker 1: And have several martinis. And I have to say, not
25:13
Speaker 1: to my knowledge. It's unclear. Don't really remember.
25:18
Speaker 4: Look, you can make the argument that she was being
25:22
Speaker 4: jokey about it.
25:23
Speaker 1: But this is a very serious situation. It's a very
25:25
Speaker 1: serious charge.
25:27
Speaker 4: And there's a lot of evidence laid out against that
25:30
Speaker 4: and for it, I should say. Read the work of
25:32
Speaker 4: Scott Johnson, obviously, from Powerline. And he's written for it
25:35
Speaker 4: for the Free Beacon. She could have just said no.
25:39
Speaker 4: That would have been the easy thing to do. I mean,
25:41
Speaker 4: this is what happens when certain people who are being
25:45
Speaker 4: interviewed are being evasive and they don't want to actually
25:48
Speaker 4: be caught in a lie. They'll say something as vague
25:51
Speaker 4: as not to my knowledge. So I don't think that
25:54
Speaker 4: helps her. And obviously, look, we're talking about it now.
25:57
Speaker 4: If she had flat out said no, OK, well, then
26:00
Speaker 4: we'll have to lay out those facts.
26:02
Speaker 1: But here we are. Here we are. And here where
26:05
Speaker 1: I am, I'm hoping that you will stay with me
26:07
Speaker 1: another segment. Because we got quite a story in Virginia,
26:10
Speaker 1: and it's a story about one of the most powerful
26:14
Speaker 1: state officials, Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas, and what happened
26:19
Speaker 1: to her today. And I hope Vic Mattis is on
26:22
Speaker 1: the other side of the break, because I got Attorney
26:24
Speaker 1: General Blanche from this afternoon talking about this. It's wild.
26:29
Speaker 1: She's 82 years old. She's been arrested. She's in FBI custody,
26:33
Speaker 1: and I'll talk about it with Vic if he can
26:34
Speaker 1: stay right after this. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt.
26:47
Speaker 1: Victorino Mattis of the Getting Hammered podcast is still with me. He,
26:51
Speaker 1: like me, is a Virginian, so I asked him to
26:53
Speaker 1: stick around for a second segment today because this afternoon,
26:56
Speaker 1: DOJ Attorney General Todd Blanche gave some details on the
27:02
Speaker 1: arrest of Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas, who's a very
27:06
Speaker 1: important figure in Virginia. Here's what he had to say,
27:09
Speaker 1: then I'll get Vic's reaction. Cut number one.
27:12
Speaker 10: This morning, seven individuals were arrested, or surrendered for allegedly
27:17
Speaker 10: participating in a large-scale RICO drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracy.
27:23
Speaker 10: One of those individuals is the president pro tempore of
27:26
Speaker 10: the Virginia State Senate, Lily Louise Lucas of Portsmouth, Virginia.
27:34
Speaker 10: A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia
27:37
Speaker 10: returned an indictment against all seven individuals on October 14th
27:41
Speaker 10: of this year. The defendants are currently in federal custody,
27:45
Speaker 10: and my understanding is there's an initial appearance later this
27:48
Speaker 10: afternoon in federal court. The remaining six defendants listed in
27:53
Speaker 10: the indictment include.
27:56
Speaker 1: Vic, she is the person who single-handedly killed Glenn Youngkin's
28:00
Speaker 1: effort to bring the commanders to Virginia and the Wizards,
28:04
Speaker 1: and she is the one who tried to push through
28:06
Speaker 1: the redistricting map that was struck down as unconstitutional, and
28:09
Speaker 1: she wants to raise taxes.
28:11
Speaker 2: Are you?
28:11
Speaker 1: I'm still shocked, even though she's a left wing nutter.
28:14
Speaker 1: I'm still she's 82. What's your reaction?
28:19
Speaker 4: I think there was a lot of talk behind the
28:21
Speaker 4: scenes that, you know, a lot of politicians in the
28:23
Speaker 4: state of Virginia already knew that she was in bad
28:26
Speaker 4: odor and that something was going to happen. You don't
28:29
Speaker 4: exactly see a lot of other fellow Democrats rushing to
28:32
Speaker 4: her aid right now.
28:33
Speaker 1: Hugh, if you remember.
28:35
Speaker 4: Louise Lucas was very critical and was always dogging Abigail Spanberger,
28:41
Speaker 4: the governor, about not doing her job or not doing
28:44
Speaker 4: a good enough job as a fellow Democrat and needing
28:48
Speaker 4: to move the ball or needing to do more. And so,
28:51
Speaker 4: you know, there's no love lost there. So now that
28:54
Speaker 4: she finds herself in this massive major federal investigation and indictment,
29:00
Speaker 4: You could imagine that over in the governor's mansion in
29:03
Speaker 4: Richmond that Spanberger is probably, you know, popping open the champagne.
29:09
Speaker 4: Not really a surprise. I mean, you mentioned those things,
29:11
Speaker 4: of course, the redistricting, which was one of the most
29:13
Speaker 4: shameless things we've ever seen, certainly in the state of Virginia,
29:16
Speaker 4: tried to push through. And of course, let's not also
29:19
Speaker 4: forget that she wanted to remove and succeed in removing
29:23
Speaker 4: merit as a factor temporarily, at least at Thomas Jefferson
29:27
Speaker 4: High School. in order to make things more equitable, if
29:30
Speaker 4: you will, and then the rankings for Thomas Jefferson plummeted.
29:33
Speaker 4: You can follow Azra Nomani on this. Everybody remembers all
29:38
Speaker 4: the various ways that Louise Lucas had done them wrong,
29:42
Speaker 4: and now is the payback time. So, I mean, it's
29:45
Speaker 4: a great moment of vindication, but it's also very sad.
29:47
Speaker 4: Not only her, I think, members of her family being indicted.
29:51
Speaker 4: I mean, so again, and there's a wiretap, and that
29:55
Speaker 4: has been released. The transcripts of it have been released,
29:58
Speaker 4: and it's utterly devastating.
30:00
Speaker 1: So, Vic, here's my big question. We've got Ilhan Omar.
30:03
Speaker 1: We've got Luis Lucas. We've got massive $ 9 billion of
30:07
Speaker 1: fraud in Minnesota. We have Gavin. There's a big story
30:10
Speaker 1: in the Journal about the $ 160 billion that have been
30:13
Speaker 1: wasted on the California train. Do you think, even though
30:16
Speaker 1: there's an alleged blue tide rolling... Do the voters note
30:20
Speaker 1: that these are all Democrats that are stealing the money
30:23
Speaker 1: and getting indicted or getting investigated? Do you think that
30:26
Speaker 1: factors in? We got a minute.
30:28
Speaker 4: At this point, yeah, at this point, Hugh, I'm not
30:30
Speaker 4: sure if they're taking the more macro view, but certainly
30:32
Speaker 4: at a state level where it really matters, you know,
30:35
Speaker 4: as they say, all politics is local.
30:37
Speaker 1: And for example, if you.
30:38
Speaker 4: Look at the neck and neck race with Michelle Tafoya
30:40
Speaker 4: and Peggy Flanagan right now in the Senate, that could
30:43
Speaker 4: be a pickup for Republicans.
30:44
Speaker 1: And they're thinking very much of that Medicare fraud.
30:47
Speaker 4: I do want to point out as well, Hugh, In
30:49
Speaker 4: the Free Beacon, another story we did, hundreds of millions
30:52
Speaker 4: of dollars that Tim Walls and Peggy Flanagan helped send
30:56
Speaker 4: to some of these drug facilities that were enabling drug
31:00
Speaker 4: use in.
31:00
Speaker 1: The worst possible ways.
31:02
Speaker 4: I will spare your listeners the details, but they should
31:04
Speaker 4: check it out at freebeacon.com.
31:06
Speaker 1: So let's hope. Vic Mattis, always good to see you.
31:10
Speaker 1: Follow Vic on X at Victorino Mattis. And, of course,
31:13
Speaker 1: go listen to Getting Hammered for the happier side of Vic. That,
31:17
Speaker 1: you know, going out to Las Vegas, the stuff he
31:20
Speaker 1: forgets about and which he can either confirm or deny.
31:22
Speaker 1: I'll be right back on the Hugh Hewitt Show. Hi,
31:24
Speaker 1: it's Hugh Hewitt for Consumer Cellular. If you've listened to
31:27
Speaker 1: this podcast for any length of time, you know I
31:28
Speaker 1: appreciate companies that deliver real value without unnecessary gimmicks. That's
31:32
Speaker 1: why I recommend Consumer Cellular. They offer reliable nationwide coverage,
31:36
Speaker 1: outstanding customer service, plans that make sense. Right now, there's
31:40
Speaker 1: an offer that will get your attention. Get $ 100 off
31:42
Speaker 1: your bill with any unlimited plan. Go to consumercellular.com slash
31:47
Speaker 1: hue and use promo code hue100. If you're 50 or over,
31:51
Speaker 1: you can get a single line of unlimited talk, text,
31:53
Speaker 1: and data for just $ 35 a month, plus that $ 100
31:56
Speaker 1: of saving. Need a new phone? Consumer Cellular makes that simple, too.
32:01
Speaker 1: Choose what you want to spend each month. They'll show
32:03
Speaker 1: you a 5G phone that fits your budget. With easy
32:06
Speaker 1: pay financing, once you've completed your payments, you own that phone.
32:09
Speaker 1: The $ 100 offer ends on November 1st, so don't wait.
32:13
Speaker 1: Visit ConsumerCellular.com slash Hugh. Use the promo code Hugh100. Hi,
32:18
Speaker 1: it's Hugh Hewitt. Thanks for listening to the podcast. If
32:21
Speaker 1: you buy your own health insurance, November 1st is an
32:24
Speaker 1: important date. But before you simply renew the plan you've
32:26
Speaker 1: got or click through to another online enrollment system, do
32:29
Speaker 1: something different this year. Get a second opinion. John Ruhlman
32:33
Speaker 1: and his team at U.S. Medical Plan help individuals and
32:36
Speaker 1: families understand all their health insurance options, also small businesses.
32:40
Speaker 1: because the marketplace isn't necessarily the only conversation you should
32:43
Speaker 1: be having. Your income, your health, your doctors, your prescriptions,
32:46
Speaker 1: your budget, that can all change what makes sense for you.
32:50
Speaker 1: And remember, the cheapest premium doesn't always mean the lowest
32:53
Speaker 1: health care cost. A plan that looks good online can
32:55
Speaker 1: look very different when you actually need to use it.
32:58
Speaker 1: That's why you shouldn't wait until open enrollment is already here.
33:01
Speaker 1: Call now and get on the schedule. Waiting until the
33:04
Speaker 1: last minute can mean rushed decisions, missed opportunities, and potentially
33:07
Speaker 1: paying more than you needed to. John's team can review
33:10
Speaker 1: your situation now, explain your options, have you prepared when
33:13
Speaker 1: it's time to make a decision. Don't wait until November
33:16
Speaker 1: to start making a November decision. Call U.S. Medical Plan
33:19
Speaker 1: today at 877-410-4321. That's 877-410-4321.
33:20
Speaker 5: 877-410-4321.
33:20
Speaker 1: Or visit usmedicalplan.com. Welcome back. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Mary Catherine
33:39
Speaker 1: Hamm joins me, the host of the Getting Hammered podcast,
33:42
Speaker 1: a Fox News contributor, and a great and welcome feature
33:45
Speaker 1: here on the Hugh Hewitt Show. Mary Catherine, I heard
33:48
Speaker 1: on Getting Hammered this week, you are redecorating your kitchen.
33:51
Speaker 1: You are going into the twilight zone of domestic life.
33:55
Speaker 1: Do you have any idea? I've done this twice. Do
33:58
Speaker 1: you have any idea how many years it puts on
33:59
Speaker 1: you to do this?
34:02
Speaker 11: I have heard.
34:04
Speaker 12: The thing is, my husband is like one of the
34:07
Speaker 12: most competent people on the planet. And he's sort of
34:09
Speaker 12: overseeing everyone who's doing this, which means a lot of
34:12
Speaker 12: it is just off my plate. I can deal with
34:16
Speaker 12: the kids being shoved into a special other place because
34:19
Speaker 12: they can't play in the kitchen anymore and deal with
34:21
Speaker 12: some food prep.
34:22
Speaker 11: And then he does all of that. So that's one
34:24
Speaker 11: of the beauties of being married to him.
34:26
Speaker 1: Well, that is a beautiful thing. And the fetching Mrs. Hewitt.
34:29
Speaker 1: handled remodeling on the two occasions we've done it in
34:32
Speaker 1: the house in california we've owned since 1993 but my
34:36
Speaker 1: my question is my contractor was bud he's dead now
34:39
Speaker 1: he died this uh last year and bud said there
34:42
Speaker 1: are three things in every job price timeliness and quality
34:46
Speaker 1: pick two which two of you picked right.
34:50
Speaker 12: Um we have picked timeliness and quality and with an
34:57
Speaker 12: attempt to sort of uh uh cobble together some good
35:01
Speaker 12: deals as we go.
35:02
Speaker 13: You only get two, Mary Kay. I just want to keep,
35:05
Speaker 13: this is going to be a running theme, by the way.
35:07
Speaker 13: This is week one. When does it start?
35:10
Speaker 11: Oh, it's already started. There's no kitchen right now.
35:12
Speaker 5: Oh, okay.
35:13
Speaker 13: So it looks like Paris already. So that's my transition
35:16
Speaker 13: to topic number two. You and Vic were talking about France.
35:22
Speaker 13: Do you think we're headed there? Because it's an entitlement
35:25
Speaker 13: meets an immigrant problem, right? There's not enough money and
35:28
Speaker 13: there are a lot of people who don't assimilate. Do
35:30
Speaker 13: you think we're headed there?
35:32
Speaker 11: I think we wrestle with some of the same problems.
35:35
Speaker 12: The fact that there is a large population that is
35:38
Speaker 12: aging that has been promised a lot of things. There
35:40
Speaker 12: is a smaller population of young people working to provide
35:44
Speaker 12: those things. And a lot of them, because Democrats have
35:47
Speaker 12: wanted to get as many of them on public assistance
35:49
Speaker 12: as possible, and the COVID era and all of the
35:52
Speaker 12: ridiculous programs sort of exacerbated that, a lot of them
35:55
Speaker 12: are on public assistance and Or various forms of help
35:59
Speaker 12: and maybe aren't incentivized to create as much wealth as
36:02
Speaker 12: they might otherwise have done.
36:04
Speaker 11: So you have this gap. Now, we're not in as
36:06
Speaker 11: bad a place as Europe is.
36:08
Speaker 12: I think our immigration issue and the assimilation issue is
36:12
Speaker 12: less bad here. although the left would be happy for
36:15
Speaker 12: it to be as bad as France, which is one
36:17
Speaker 12: of the things I don't like about their policies. But
36:20
Speaker 12: I think we're better at assimilating people and we have
36:23
Speaker 12: fewer of these issues. But we also have like plenty
36:26
Speaker 12: of anti-Western civilization activists in this.
36:29
Speaker 11: Country, as we saw in 2020.
36:30
Speaker 12: I mean, it's not like we haven't seen.
36:33
Speaker 11: Our cities burnt down. That happened. And I think, frankly,
36:37
Speaker 11: people weren't punished hard enough for it most of the time.
36:40
Speaker 1: All right. I'm hopeful that we can avoid this by
36:43
Speaker 1: some serious policymaking in the out years on Social Security
36:47
Speaker 1: and Medicare. But, boy, we're going to the same. We
36:50
Speaker 1: need to do that. Now, Mary Catherine, I just want
36:53
Speaker 1: to take your temperature. Garrity's coming up in a couple
36:56
Speaker 1: of segments. I'm going to talk to him about Maine, Michigan, Minnesota,
37:00
Speaker 1: maybe Texas if we have time. I want to take
37:02
Speaker 1: your pulse on those four races, and we'll get to
37:05
Speaker 1: other ones if we have a chance. First, Maine. What
37:07
Speaker 1: do you think? Susan Collins staying in the Senate?
37:11
Speaker 12: I think Collins stays in the Senate. She has an
37:13
Speaker 12: independent brand separate from the president. She polls even with
37:17
Speaker 12: people who disapprove of the president better than any other
37:21
Speaker 12: Republican does.
37:23
Speaker 11: It's a quirky political state.
37:25
Speaker 12: And Troy Jackson is unimpressive, to say the least.
37:29
Speaker 1: Oh, that's a compliment. That's unimpressive as a compliment.
37:33
Speaker 4: All right.
37:34
Speaker 1: Let's go to Michigan. What do you think? Mike Rogers
37:37
Speaker 1: trounced him again last night in a debate. What do
37:40
Speaker 1: you think of that race?
37:42
Speaker 12: I think I would have said a week and a
37:44
Speaker 12: half ago that I thought El-Sayed was probably going to
37:47
Speaker 12: win just because it's such a blue year. Even though
37:49
Speaker 12: he's behind other Democrats, it's a blue state. But Rogers
37:55
Speaker 12: has been doing the work, and this debate was a
37:57
Speaker 12: better performance from him than the last one. The last
38:00
Speaker 12: one made the Muslim Brotherhood discussion stick, and he's been
38:04
Speaker 12: trying to— evade that question ever since, which is a
38:07
Speaker 12: fair question.
38:08
Speaker 11: You don't even have to go to his relatives. Just
38:09
Speaker 11: look at the letter that he signed to Morsi in
38:12
Speaker 11: his own hand.
38:14
Speaker 12: Those are real questions and they're sticking and the press
38:17
Speaker 12: is having to ask him about them. And I think
38:19
Speaker 12: it's very interesting that when asked by the New York Times,
38:21
Speaker 12: he wouldn't even engage on his own letter that he
38:24
Speaker 12: had signed.
38:25
Speaker 1: Now, Mary Catherine, that's shorthand. You and I know what
38:27
Speaker 1: that letter is. But do you think Michigan voters know
38:30
Speaker 1: that in 2012, he signed a letter on behalf of
38:33
Speaker 1: the Muslim Brotherhood guy, Morsi, who had just been elected
38:36
Speaker 1: in sort of a way in Egypt and was becoming
38:39
Speaker 1: very quickly a dictator? Do you think the average Michigander
38:41
Speaker 1: knows that he signed that letter?
38:43
Speaker 12: I think that the idea that he has these connections
38:48
Speaker 12: is sticking.
38:49
Speaker 11: Now, the specifics of the letter, maybe not.
38:52
Speaker 12: But the idea that he has connections to a political
38:55
Speaker 12: form of Islamism is And that letter being, to me,
39:00
Speaker 12: the most obvious expression that he supports that political form
39:03
Speaker 12: of Islamism. I think that is part of the discussion.
39:07
Speaker 12: It plays into their concerns about him that they have
39:09
Speaker 12: already had.
39:10
Speaker 1: All right. Up to Minnesota. Michelle Tafoya was on yesterday.
39:13
Speaker 1: I'll have her back. She's the rookie of the year
39:16
Speaker 1: in politics. She's a terrific candidate. Peggy Flanagan is just
39:20
Speaker 1: plain weird and $ 9 billion. Sell it to somebody else, Peggy,
39:24
Speaker 1: is the best line of the year. Sell it to
39:25
Speaker 1: someone else.
39:26
Speaker 7: Yes.
39:26
Speaker 1: What do you think?
39:29
Speaker 11: I think Tafoya has... been running an incredible race.
39:31
Speaker 12: And it's one of those races that had to come
39:34
Speaker 12: from inside her.
39:35
Speaker 11: It had to come from a love of Minnesota.
39:37
Speaker 12: It had to come from a frustration that they can't
39:40
Speaker 12: get better than Walsh and Peggy Flanagan. And she put
39:43
Speaker 12: herself out there in what is a very hard year.
39:45
Speaker 12: And she's running really close. The only race that has
39:47
Speaker 12: been moved by Cook Political Report to the right in months.
39:51
Speaker 11: A really improbable thing.
39:52
Speaker 12: But there is an anti-incumbent sentiment that's.
39:55
Speaker 11: Not just for Trump. It's not only reserved for Trump.
39:57
Speaker 12: It can be used on Democratic incumbents who've been running
40:01
Speaker 12: a place for many decades and doing a terrible job
40:04
Speaker 12: in stealing your money. And she's making that very clear
40:07
Speaker 12: and asking for them to be held accountable.
40:08
Speaker 11: And I think it's working.
40:10
Speaker 1: So it's a maybe. What about Texas? We got a
40:12
Speaker 1: minute and a half.
40:14
Speaker 11: Um, Texas worried me more until about a week ago.
40:17
Speaker 12: I think it's likely that Republicans, uh, just prevail there
40:21
Speaker 12: because it's Texas, but the work has to be done.
40:24
Speaker 12: I understand a path where suburban voters look at Tallarico
40:28
Speaker 12: and go, I don't know. He has weird things to say,
40:30
Speaker 12: but he seems basically harmless. And he like Republicans have
40:33
Speaker 12: done the job of educating them that like, this is
40:35
Speaker 12: the bully from 2020. I know he looks like Namby
40:38
Speaker 12: Pamby or whatever, but he will bring all of this
40:40
Speaker 12: with the force of the state down upon you and
40:42
Speaker 12: They've made that argument. I think I feel better that
40:45
Speaker 12: it is safe for Republicans than I, not safe, but
40:48
Speaker 12: that it will go to Republicans.
40:49
Speaker 1: So he's woke squared. So I'm at, yeah, I don't
40:52
Speaker 1: think we can hold the House. It might be a
40:54
Speaker 1: minor miracle if we do, but I think we should
40:56
Speaker 1: hold the Senate. Dan Sullivan should win in Alaska. I
40:58
Speaker 1: just don't think Alaskans are dumb. They're not going to
41:01
Speaker 1: throw away a senator like Dan Sullivan and get tricked
41:03
Speaker 1: by decoy Dan. Do you agree with my general assessment?
41:06
Speaker 1: Probably lose the House, probably keep the Senate.
41:09
Speaker 12: That that is my thought that the House might be
41:12
Speaker 12: like a medium bad night for Republicans that we hold
41:15
Speaker 12: the Senate. And then my hope would be that you
41:16
Speaker 12: get one one cool surprise like Minnesota or Oregon Governor
41:21
Speaker 12: Christine Drazen. I've also been watching the Georgia governor race.
41:25
Speaker 12: Rick Jackson has been running a great race down there.
41:27
Speaker 12: It'd be lovely to watch him win, which is a
41:29
Speaker 12: better shot.
41:30
Speaker 1: Yeah. And North Carolina is not coming home to the Republican,
41:33
Speaker 1: is it?
41:35
Speaker 11: I don't think so. North Carolina is tricky. And I
41:37
Speaker 11: don't know why North Carolina likes Roy Cooper.
41:39
Speaker 12: He just abandoned the western part of the state after
41:42
Speaker 12: six press conferences after Hurricane Helene, and people should be
41:45
Speaker 12: very angry with him. But the press didn't really bring
41:47
Speaker 12: that message home, and Republicans needed to, and it didn't land.
41:51
Speaker 1: Mary Catherine Hamm, thank you. Follow her on X at MKHammer.
41:56
Speaker 1: Follow me while you're over there at QQIt. And make
41:59
Speaker 1: sure you like and subscribe to the Getting Hammered podcast
42:01
Speaker 1: with Mary Catherine and Victorino Mattis. because it's one of
42:05
Speaker 1: the best podcasts out there in the land. You don't
42:07
Speaker 1: want to miss even one episode of it, especially as
42:10
Speaker 1: we get close to Election Day. When we come back,
42:13
Speaker 1: I'll update you on breaking news as it occurs right
42:15
Speaker 1: here on The Hugh Hewitt Show.
42:17
Speaker 6: In one way, they love it because I'm doing what
42:19
Speaker 6: should have been done by other presidents. In another way,
42:22
Speaker 6: maybe they don't. There's a price to pay, which I
42:25
Speaker 6: knew immediately when I did it. But we can't let
42:28
Speaker 6: Iran have a nuclear weapon.
42:30
Speaker 4: I mean, in one way, people probably don't love it.
42:33
Speaker 6: But many people, many great patriots really love it.
42:36
Speaker 4: This should have been done a long time ago by
42:38
Speaker 4: other presidents, the Iran war.
42:40
Speaker 11: And we've knocked the hell out of them.
42:42
Speaker 1: And we may do it a little bit further.
42:44
Speaker 6: Thank you.
42:46
Speaker 1: Welcome back, America. That was President Trump about an hour ago.
42:48
Speaker 1: I'm joined by Josh Kroschauer, editor-in-chief of Jewish Insider. Josh,
42:52
Speaker 1: presidents say maybe we'll do it again. 38 minutes ago,
42:55
Speaker 1: Times of Israel reported that the Houthis sent a ballistic
42:58
Speaker 1: missile at Saudi Arabia. It was intercepted. How much provocation
43:02
Speaker 1: do you think Donald Trump needs to go back to
43:05
Speaker 1: kinetic warfare with the Houthis and Iranians? It's huge.
43:10
Speaker 3: There have been a lot of signals to anyone paying
43:12
Speaker 3: attention to both the administration and what's going on in
43:15
Speaker 3: the region that it would not be surprising at all,
43:18
Speaker 3: I would say, after the midterm elections in the United States,
43:21
Speaker 3: that there could be some kind of serious sustained.
43:26
Speaker 1: Proxy.
43:29
Speaker 3: A couple of data point out to our listeners. Paxeth
43:33
Speaker 3: made a trip to Israel where he met with his minister,
43:38
Speaker 3: Benjamin Netanyahu. And I don't think this was just a pleasant,
43:43
Speaker 3: they weren't just exchanging pleasantries. I'm sure there was some
43:45
Speaker 3: degree of military planning conversations taking place as part of
43:49
Speaker 3: that visit. And there was a story in the Wall
43:51
Speaker 3: Street Journal also, I believe yesterday, suggesting that there's been
43:56
Speaker 3: active conversations in the Trump administration about the possibility of
44:00
Speaker 3: renewed military activity against Iran. And when you look at
44:03
Speaker 3: the time or the timetable just generally and how it
44:06
Speaker 3: meshes with the um, the elections and the incoming Congress, uh, if, if,
44:11
Speaker 3: you know, the lame duck period, um, if Democrats do
44:14
Speaker 3: take control of the house, perhaps, uh, we'll see what
44:17
Speaker 3: happens with the Senate, but this would be the opportunity
44:19
Speaker 3: where I think Trump has more freedom of action. Um,
44:22
Speaker 3: and there's a window and then, and not to forget
44:24
Speaker 3: the Israeli elections, which are taking place next week. And
44:27
Speaker 3: there may be, um, a lot of, um, you know,
44:29
Speaker 3: there could be change in the Israeli government as well.
44:31
Speaker 3: So this, this would be a window that would make sense, um, uh,
44:35
Speaker 3: for both sides, if that's what the Trump administration.
44:38
Speaker 1: Is interested in. If they hit something, if the Houthis
44:41
Speaker 1: hit something, or they kill an American, they killed one
44:44
Speaker 1: American 10 days ago, so, you know, 5.30 at night
44:47
Speaker 1: on a Thursday night, long weekend coming up, the president
44:50
Speaker 1: could unload on them and markets would settle down by Monday,
44:53
Speaker 1: wouldn't they?
44:56
Speaker 3: Look, I mean, I think part of the challenge is
44:58
Speaker 3: that we're kind of a stalemate in that we have done,
45:02
Speaker 3: I think, and I don't think this gets enough attention,
45:04
Speaker 3: the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz has done a
45:07
Speaker 3: very good, there was a good story in the Wall
45:08
Speaker 3: Street Journal about how Iran is running out of economic options.
45:11
Speaker 3: They're running out of oil tax. I mean, the Trump
45:15
Speaker 3: administration has, by playing the long game, done a real
45:18
Speaker 3: number on the Iranian economy and put pressure on the
45:21
Speaker 3: Iranians writ large. But I do think that there's a
45:26
Speaker 3: recognition that there may need to be some kinetic action
45:29
Speaker 3: to really try to, again, take out some of the
45:34
Speaker 3: missile capabilities they've been rebuilding, hit their nuclear facility. There's
45:38
Speaker 3: one big underground nuclear facility that's been talked about as well.
45:42
Speaker 3: But there's an opportunity to really do some damage to
45:46
Speaker 3: their capabilities. And I think the fact that Iran, with
45:50
Speaker 3: its proxy, the Houthis in Yemen, have been causing so
45:53
Speaker 3: much trouble to Saudi Arabia and so much instability in
45:55
Speaker 3: the region, I think that's another reason to engage.
45:58
Speaker 1: I think that's what the problem is. Let me switch
46:00
Speaker 1: subjects on you to the debate last night between El
46:03
Speaker 1: Sayed and Mike Rogers in the first hour of today's program.
46:05
Speaker 1: I played a whole bunch of that tape. I think
46:08
Speaker 1: Mike Rogers is in a dead heat, and I can't
46:10
Speaker 1: imagine many supporters of Israel, Jewish or not Jewish, voting
46:15
Speaker 1: for Abdel El Sayed. Can you, after these debates, after
46:18
Speaker 1: this campaign, the guy's falling apart. Yeah, he's got him
46:23
Speaker 1: in checkmate.
46:23
Speaker 3: I mean, if you're El Sayed, you need to convince
46:26
Speaker 3: moderate Democrats, Jewish Democrats, and black democrat african-americans in detroit
46:30
Speaker 3: especially that he's not um an out of the mainstream
46:34
Speaker 3: democrat and not of an out of the mainstream candidate
46:37
Speaker 3: and i don't know if he did that last night
46:38
Speaker 3: and mike rogers has been going on the attack and
46:40
Speaker 3: he has the facts at his disposal about the affiliations
46:44
Speaker 3: uh with el sayed's family and the muslim brotherhood and
46:47
Speaker 3: other extremist groups and i don't think el sayed has
46:50
Speaker 3: really done a very nimble i think he did a
46:51
Speaker 3: little better maybe on the second debate but not not
46:53
Speaker 3: very defensive trying to change the subject not addressing the
46:57
Speaker 3: issues that the Rogers is hitting him on. And usually,
47:00
Speaker 3: even if you're a counterpunching, you try to respond to
47:04
Speaker 3: the attacks that are directly being posed in your direction.
47:06
Speaker 3: And because he's looked so evasive throughout this whole process,
47:09
Speaker 3: these attacks have stuck.
47:11
Speaker 1: And I look, I think when a very.
47:12
Speaker 3: Partisan electorate people, you know, people are there's a lot
47:17
Speaker 3: more polarization than there's ever been. But I've talked to folks,
47:21
Speaker 3: both Democrat and Republican tracking this race. It's gotten very
47:24
Speaker 3: tight over the last two weeks. What looked like a
47:26
Speaker 3: very narrow El-Sayed lead is now a statistical dead heat.
47:29
Speaker 3: So this is going to go down to the wire,
47:30
Speaker 3: I should get.
47:31
Speaker 1: And turn out. Josh Kroschauer. Follow him on X at
47:36
Speaker 1: Josh Kroschauer. Thank you, Josh. Stay tuned. Gary to the
47:38
Speaker 1: Indispensables coming up. Also might tune in later tonight. I'll
47:42
Speaker 1: be on the panel. Shannon Bream sitting in for Brett Barron.
47:45
Speaker 1: We'll be talking about this. Go over to townhall.com right now.
47:48
Speaker 1: You'll see a news story on the Virginia arrest and
47:51
Speaker 1: how Abigail Spanberger is trying to blame Donald Trump for them.
47:55
Speaker 1: Stay tuned. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt, joined by
48:09
Speaker 1: Jim Garrity, Washington Post columnist, senior writer for National Review,
48:13
Speaker 1: editor of the Morning Jolt, which you should be getting,
48:16
Speaker 1: and of course, host of the Three Martini podcast, contributor
48:19
Speaker 1: to the Editor's Podcast. Jim, we are less than two
48:23
Speaker 1: weeks out. It's Thursday before the election. We had polls
48:27
Speaker 1: today that show that it's tied in Texas. The poll
48:30
Speaker 1: in Minnesota where the Cook Political Report is moving the
48:33
Speaker 1: race towards Michelle Tafoya in Minnesota. Susan Collins had Joe Manchin.
48:37
Speaker 1: Mike Rogers won last night. Let's talk about the best
48:41
Speaker 1: news that you see for Republicans. Not the bad news.
48:44
Speaker 1: There's a lot of that, but the best news.
48:47
Speaker 6: Well, I want to begin, Hugh, by saying the Browns
48:50
Speaker 6: are 4-2. A very impressive record. You have a lot
48:54
Speaker 6: to look forward to for the rest of the season,
48:56
Speaker 6: and we won't dwell on which team is one of
48:58
Speaker 6: those two defeats. Like, good for Cleveland. After we've beaten them,
49:02
Speaker 6: I want you guys to be great for the rest
49:03
Speaker 6: of the year and for our victory to look better.
49:07
Speaker 1: Well, I'm only concerned that they might resign Deshaun Watson,
49:11
Speaker 1: but I'll put that aside for now.
49:14
Speaker 6: In the back of your mind, you're like, if we
49:15
Speaker 6: could win every game, but Watson plays terribly. Anyway, they
49:18
Speaker 6: don't keep him.
49:19
Speaker 1: Yes, exactly. Exactly.
49:21
Speaker 13: That's the Browns' mindset.
49:26
Speaker 6: Look, first of all, I was speaking about the house
49:28
Speaker 6: by saying everybody kind of thinks that the house is
49:30
Speaker 6: a done deal. It's not guaranteed that they're going to
49:35
Speaker 6: have a particularly big margin. And I kind of wonder
49:38
Speaker 6: if there's a sense that they think they're going to
49:42
Speaker 6: get a comfortable margin, and they find themselves on the
49:46
Speaker 6: reverse side of what Republicans have had for the next
49:48
Speaker 6: two years. Very small minority, Democratic Socialists of America become
49:54
Speaker 6: kind of the equivalent of the Freedom Caucus, constantly creating
49:56
Speaker 6: problems and stuff. And as much as Mike Johnson would
49:59
Speaker 6: love to keep the majority, years back when Republicans lost it,
50:03
Speaker 6: might have been 2006 or so, I remember a Republican
50:06
Speaker 6: House staffer said, well, We would have liked to keep
50:08
Speaker 6: the majority, but now we're throwing the grenades instead of
50:10
Speaker 6: catching them. So, you know, it's not quite, look, you'd
50:13
Speaker 6: always rather have the problems of the majority than the minority.
50:17
Speaker 6: Let's not assume that by winning the House, the Democrats get,
50:19
Speaker 6: you know, they're on easy street and they get to
50:21
Speaker 6: enact much of what they want to do.
50:22
Speaker 1: Well, that's the worst thing about losing the majority is
50:25
Speaker 1: you lose the ability to do reconciliation. That's the worst thing.
50:29
Speaker 6: And you know, control comes to the floor, right? And
50:31
Speaker 6: that's real frustration and all that stuff. However, but I
50:34
Speaker 6: kind of wonder how much, Not just in terms of
50:37
Speaker 6: the president. I kind of like Republicans are used to
50:41
Speaker 6: having somebody else to define as their opponent.
50:45
Speaker 8: Right.
50:45
Speaker 6: The face of liberalism, the face of progressivism. Oh, interesting
50:49
Speaker 6: that they're arguing against. And, you know, it's kind of
50:52
Speaker 6: an interesting with Republican controlled era of government. Mom, Dami,
50:56
Speaker 6: you still see people invoking Pelosi, Newsom, etc., I assume
51:02
Speaker 6: Chuck Schumer– if the Democrats win the Senate, Chuck Schumer
51:04
Speaker 6: is going to lead the Democrats. I assume Hakeem Jeffries
51:08
Speaker 6: is going to lead Democrats in the House. But you
51:11
Speaker 6: don't really see those figures as being particularly beloved amongst Democrats,
51:14
Speaker 6: and I kind of wonder if there's going to be a–
51:19
Speaker 6: Not necessarily an insurrection, but just widespread grumbling and stuff
51:22
Speaker 6: like that. But whether Republicans might actually be galvanized by
51:25
Speaker 6: having a Democratic leader to argue against and say, this
51:29
Speaker 6: is why we don't like big government, this is why
51:31
Speaker 6: these things are wrong, and all that kind of stuff.
51:33
Speaker 1: That's a good point. But if we lose the Senate,
51:35
Speaker 1: it's a disaster. There will not be one judge confirmed.
51:38
Speaker 1: Not one. And so I'm curious what you think about Maine, Michigan, Minnesota,
51:44
Speaker 1: and then we can do Texas. Maine first.
51:46
Speaker 6: Susan Collins, ever since 2020, I have assumed when she
51:50
Speaker 6: had trailed every single poll in the RealClearPolitics average. By
51:53
Speaker 6: the way, our friends at RealClearPolitics, let's observe, they did
51:56
Speaker 6: not get fooled by Wedgeworth polls or whatever it was
52:00
Speaker 6: that was completely made up. A whole bunch of aggregators
52:03
Speaker 6: just threw them in there. RealClearPolitics, you know, smart guys
52:07
Speaker 6: who like, look, you don't have a record. You got
52:09
Speaker 6: to earn your way into our aggregate, not, you know.
52:12
Speaker 6: But anyway, Susan Collins, I think I will believe you
52:15
Speaker 6: could say she's down by 40 points and I would
52:19
Speaker 6: still think she's got a shot. I think there's a
52:21
Speaker 6: lot of main voters who do not like to answer
52:22
Speaker 6: the phone, do not like to talk to pollsters. It's
52:25
Speaker 6: none of your darn business who I'm voting for. And
52:27
Speaker 6: they're going to show up for Susan Collins. I think ironically,
52:31
Speaker 6: it's like every blue state is looking a little better
52:33
Speaker 6: for Republicans than you'd expect. Again, Michelle Tafoya, about as
52:36
Speaker 6: good a candidate as you're going to find. And it's
52:38
Speaker 6: not just that, you know, Peggy Flanagan has the baggage.
52:42
Speaker 6: of Tim Walls and the fraud scandals and stuff like that.
52:45
Speaker 6: I think she's just not a good candidate. She's a
52:47
Speaker 6: terrible candidate.
52:48
Speaker 1: She also lied about her Pi Beta Kappa.
52:52
Speaker 6: Yeah. And I think if this were not a heavily,
52:55
Speaker 6: you know, usually a heavily Democratic state, Democrats would be
52:58
Speaker 6: in a panic about this. Now, I think, again, it's Minnesota.
53:01
Speaker 6: It's never an easy state for Republicans to win. But
53:03
Speaker 6: I feel like if they win that one, all of
53:05
Speaker 6: a sudden, every calculation of how do you get it
53:07
Speaker 6: to be 50-50, for Democrats. By the way, that assumes
53:11
Speaker 6: John Fetterman stays a Democrat. I think it's safe to
53:15
Speaker 6: say he's always said he doesn't want to switch to
53:19
Speaker 6: the Republican Party. I believe him. He only votes with
53:21
Speaker 6: the Trump administration or the Republican position about a quarter
53:24
Speaker 6: of the time, which is not a lot for parties.
53:27
Speaker 6: This is not Arlen Specter. This is not Charlie Crist,
53:30
Speaker 6: something like that. But with that said- Fetterman, you know,
53:34
Speaker 6: went to Rupert Murdoch's ranch earlier this summer and hung
53:37
Speaker 6: out with Fox News people. You don't do that if
53:39
Speaker 6: you're interested in running for reelection as a Democrat. So
53:43
Speaker 6: I could see him becoming an independent. I could see
53:45
Speaker 6: him caucusing with the Republicans. You know, like you mentioned,
53:49
Speaker 6: I just got to have this feeling Fetterman's, you know,
53:52
Speaker 6: not interested. He doesn't care if Democrats like him and
53:56
Speaker 6: may well, if Republicans will be offering him to rename
54:00
Speaker 6: the state Fettermania, if that's what it takes. All right, chop, chop.
54:06
Speaker 1: We've got to get to Michigan and Texas in two minutes.
54:09
Speaker 6: Sure. Again, you know, Abdul Al-Sayed, you notice he just
54:12
Speaker 6: like gets mad when you ask him a question he
54:15
Speaker 6: doesn't like. Look at me in my black T-shirt. Again,
54:20
Speaker 6: you know, normal year Democrats should be winning this Senate
54:23
Speaker 6: race easily. flawed candidate, good candidate on the Republican side,
54:28
Speaker 6: Jewish Democrats in that state, obviously not interested in voting
54:31
Speaker 6: for a guy who is, you know, de facto supportive
54:37
Speaker 6: of every Muslim extremist group that's out there. You know,
54:42
Speaker 6: if you're a Republican, you like those circumstances. And then
54:45
Speaker 6: the last one, I feel like there's some other blue
54:48
Speaker 6: state I'm forgetting.
54:48
Speaker 5: Texas.
54:49
Speaker 1: I want to talk Texas.
54:51
Speaker 6: All right, sure.
54:52
Speaker 1: Fox News says it's time today.
54:55
Speaker 6: Yeah, which is actually, ironically, the best news for Ken
54:57
Speaker 6: Paxton in a while.
54:59
Speaker 1: Yep.
55:00
Speaker 6: Look, it would not surprise me if Paxton won. It's
55:02
Speaker 6: still a very– and for most of these states where
55:04
Speaker 6: they're like, oh, there's a Republican– I'd really be shocked
55:09
Speaker 6: if Darlene Graham did not win by at least a few.
55:13
Speaker 6: I'd be shocked if Roger– Marshall. Marshall out in Kansas
55:19
Speaker 6: doesn't win– Because these are just states where there's just
55:22
Speaker 6: so many registered Republicans, just so few registered Democrats. You'd
55:26
Speaker 6: have to win the independence by just this wild margin.
55:29
Speaker 6: That's probably never happened before.
55:30
Speaker 1: You know, stick around for the end of the show,
55:32
Speaker 1: would you, Jim? Can I get three more minutes out
55:33
Speaker 1: of you? Because I want to talk best case, worst case.
55:35
Speaker 1: Don't go anywhere, America. Garrity will stick around with me
55:37
Speaker 1: to finish the program. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt.
55:46
Speaker 1: I wanted to get Garrity on the record here. Um,
55:49
Speaker 1: Tony Dolan used to give him tips when the late,
55:51
Speaker 1: great Tony Dolan was his Sherpa.
55:53
Speaker 6: You remember?
55:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, I do. I do. I remember Obi-Wan Kenobi. Once
55:57
Speaker 1: you told me, I won't forget that, because I would
55:59
Speaker 1: see Tony at my church all the time, and we'd
56:02
Speaker 1: talk a little politics. But let's, I think what you're
56:05
Speaker 1: doing the math, Ohio's up for grabs, Sherry Brown's ahead
56:08
Speaker 1: right now, but Ashley Hinson's going to win Iowa. I
56:11
Speaker 1: think the Republicans are going to hold on to the Senate,
56:14
Speaker 1: and I don't think it's even going to be close.
56:16
Speaker 1: What say you?
56:19
Speaker 6: I am not as optimistic as you. You wanted to
56:21
Speaker 6: say the range. A little bit earlier we talked about
56:24
Speaker 6: the best case scenario. The bad case scenario is really
56:29
Speaker 6: bad for Republicans. You and I have been doing this
56:30
Speaker 6: for a while. We remember, actually back when Tony Dolan
56:33
Speaker 6: was talking to me, 2006, 2008, that was a rough
56:37
Speaker 6: back-to-back margin. And when you have a bad blue wave
56:42
Speaker 6: year going against you, you lose seats you never thought
56:45
Speaker 6: you were going to lose. And I remember... Yeah. Yeah,
56:49
Speaker 6: I was going to say, I remember 2006, my friend
56:52
Speaker 6: Cam Edwards, I'm on his program. My other good friend,
56:55
Speaker 6: Marshall Manson, who you think I know this stuff. You
56:57
Speaker 6: do it really well. He had this thick binder of,
57:00
Speaker 6: you know, every competitive race. And when the results are
57:03
Speaker 6: coming in, we're live broadcasting it. He's like, we just
57:06
Speaker 6: lost the 43rd most competitive district on my list. And
57:12
Speaker 6: that just gave you a sense of just how bad
57:14
Speaker 6: that night was going to be.
57:15
Speaker 1: I don't drink, but I'd start drinking if that's the case.
57:18
Speaker 8: Yeah.
57:19
Speaker 6: Yeah. And I, you know, look, there's still like some
57:22
Speaker 6: chunk of the early vote is in. It's October 22nd.
57:25
Speaker 6: There's time for these things to change. But look, you know,
57:29
Speaker 6: it's not been great Republican messaging heading into this. Gas
57:33
Speaker 6: prices are still like the problems. I don't think this
57:35
Speaker 6: has been a particularly this may be a very consequential
57:38
Speaker 6: midterm election. Hugh, I don't think it's a very dramatic one.
57:42
Speaker 6: I think it's very pretty straightforward. The cost of living
57:45
Speaker 6: is still very high. Grocery prices are high. Gas prices
57:48
Speaker 6: are high. Diesel prices are enormous. The country is PO'd
57:52
Speaker 6: about it. And they blame the president. And you can
57:54
Speaker 6: point out how bad Abdul El-Sayed is and James Tallarico
57:58
Speaker 6: and all these guys. But you know what else these
58:00
Speaker 6: guys can say? They haven't been running the country. And
58:04
Speaker 6: you and I could argue that the electorate ought to
58:06
Speaker 6: be thinking more critically. If you vote for Democrats, do
58:09
Speaker 6: you think gas prices go lower?
58:12
Speaker 1: You believe in Medicare for all. You really believe that stuff.
58:16
Speaker 8: Yeah.
58:17
Speaker 6: So, you know, I've gotten used to things going bad.
58:20
Speaker 6: But I do kind of wonder, though, Hugh, is that
58:22
Speaker 6: you and I, again, we've been doing this for a while.
58:25
Speaker 6: If you're MAGA, 2018 wasn't that bad for Republicans. They
58:28
Speaker 6: gained seats in the Senate. 2022 was kind of a
58:31
Speaker 6: disappointment for Republicans, but we still, you know, they still
58:33
Speaker 6: got control of the House. So you haven't, they don't
58:36
Speaker 6: necessarily have memories of 2006, 2008. of what it looks
58:40
Speaker 6: like when the country is really, really PO'd at you
58:44
Speaker 6: and you just start losing races all over the country.
58:48
Speaker 1: But being the optimist could be a pretty good night.
58:52
Speaker 1: I mean, when you set the bar low, Jim, it
58:56
Speaker 1: can turn out pretty well. Follow Garrity in the Washington Post.
58:59
Speaker 1: Follow him on X at Jim Garrity. Follow me on
59:02
Speaker 1: X at Hugh Hewitt. Stay tuned to the Salem News Channel.
59:05
Speaker 1: Larry Elder is coming up on the Salem News Channel
59:08
Speaker 1: and most of the Salem Radio Network. stations and some
59:11
Speaker 1: of our affiliates as well. Thank you, Dwayne. Thank you, Arlie.
59:14
Speaker 1: Thank you, Adam. I will be back tomorrow on the
59:17
Speaker 1: next Hugh Hewitt Show.