Latest / The Hugh Hewitt Show: Highly Concentrated / Rating President Trump's speech and assessing the departure of AG Bondi

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Rating President Trump's speech and assessing the departure of AG Bondi · The Hugh Hewitt Show: Highly Concentrated

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to today's podcast sponsored by Hillsdale College, All Things
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Speaker 1: Hillsdale at Hillsdale dot ed or I encourage you to
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Speaker 1: take advantage of the many free online courses there and
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Speaker 1: of course a listener to the Hillsdale Dialogues, all of
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Speaker 1: them at Hugh for Hillsdale dot com or just Google, Apple,
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Speaker 1: iTunes and Hillsdale Welcome back and manaka, I'm Dhu and
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Speaker 1: I guse they have no one better to do an extended.
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Speaker 2: Review of the president's speech than Eli Lake.
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Speaker 1: Eli is a correspondent for the Free Press, a columnist
0:30
Speaker 1: for the Free Press. He's got a great new Free
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Speaker 1: Press column out, No Taco from Trump this Time about
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Speaker 1: last night's speech. He's also the host of the wonderful
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Speaker 1: podcast Breaking History.
0:40
Speaker 2: Eli. Welcome.
0:41
Speaker 1: Let's start with your overview on the president's speech last night.
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Speaker 3: Well, I think it was a in some ways you
0:50
Speaker 3: could argue we should have given it at the beginning
0:52
Speaker 3: of the war, but it was an explanation for how
0:54
Speaker 3: we got here. He laid out the history of his
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Speaker 3: own policies and the history of N's threats. He explained,
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Speaker 3: I think a very important concept which has not been
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Speaker 3: as prominent in the media as I think it should be,
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Speaker 3: which is that regardless of the progress that was set
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Speaker 3: back in Operation Midnight Hammer, what Iran was doing was
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Speaker 3: essentially building a kind of conventional weapons force field so
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Speaker 3: that they would have so many missiles and would be
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Speaker 3: able to threaten so much of the Middle East, and
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Speaker 3: even further we now know because of their ability to
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Speaker 3: hit Diego Garcia, that it would be that much harder
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Speaker 3: to take out the nuclear program than they were just
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Speaker 3: dead set on continuing even after Midnight Hammer.
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Speaker 4: There was an important line in which.
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Speaker 3: Trump says that he wanted to negotiate after the Twelve
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Speaker 3: Day War, but then they started moving things to another
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Speaker 3: site and they were just dead set on acquiring a
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Speaker 3: nuclear weapon. So in that respect, I think it was
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Speaker 3: very important for everybody to get that overview. He made
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Speaker 3: it clear that he was going to finish the job.
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Speaker 3: He used that phrase a few times, and I think
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Speaker 3: the most emotionally resonant part of the speech we got
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Speaker 3: from Trump the you know, his description of what it
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Speaker 3: was like when he went to Dover Air Base twice
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Speaker 3: to meet with the families of the fallen and they
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Speaker 3: told him to finish the job, that the sacrifice would
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Speaker 3: not be in vain.
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Speaker 4: So I think those were all very good.
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Speaker 3: And you know, he also made it clear that he's
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Speaker 3: open to negotiations, but if the Iranians don't negotiate, well
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Speaker 3: then there we are.
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Speaker 2: You know, Yeah, we'll come back to that in the moment.
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Speaker 1: Eli, yesterday I was on deadline. You're on deadline today.
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Speaker 1: Yesterday I's one deadline for Fox and I had to
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Speaker 1: write a column about his speech that hadn't been given.
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Speaker 1: But I said, thirty forty percent will love it, thirty
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Speaker 1: percent of forty percent will hate it, and the other
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Speaker 1: people won't watch it or won't know what the thing
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Speaker 1: because that's America in twenty twenty six, and loll and
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Speaker 1: bold that's what happened. The reaction from the left were predictable,
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Speaker 1: I thought, rather benignly dismissive of the president's arguments. But
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Speaker 1: I also don't think.
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Speaker 2: It matters much. What did you make of the reactions
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Speaker 2: to the speech?
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Speaker 3: Well, I mean, considering that you had a flurry of
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Speaker 3: rumor and reporting before the speech that he was going
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Speaker 3: to announce with drawal date maybe and declare victory and
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Speaker 3: leave the fact that we didn't get that, I think
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Speaker 3: is an occasion for some humility from some of the
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Speaker 3: journalists to acknowledge that, you know, maybe no, maybe their
3:37
Speaker 3: sources didn't have the inside track, but you know, the
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Speaker 3: response I think is we all need a bit of humility,
3:46
Speaker 3: those of us who think the war is going well
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Speaker 3: and support the war, and those of us who are
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Speaker 3: against it. We just don't know what the dynamics are
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Speaker 3: inside the remnants of the Iranian regime at this point.
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Speaker 4: We don't know what's going.
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Speaker 3: On over those dinner tables with senior IRGC commanders that
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Speaker 3: are still alive. My sense, from being somebody who has
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Speaker 3: reported on and studied the Iranian issue for now a
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Speaker 3: quarter of a century, is that I would imagine there's
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Speaker 3: enormous kind of pressures that are coming to bear, and
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Speaker 3: economic pressures, military, the leadership underground, and I think that
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Speaker 3: will have it, that that will take its toll and
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Speaker 3: hopefully cause fracturing and then collapse of the regime. But
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Speaker 3: I don't know that that's necessarily the case, and so
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Speaker 3: I just think that there is a sort of the
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Speaker 3: people who dismiss it, as you know, the mad.
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Speaker 4: King is delusional. I don't think they really.
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Speaker 3: Understand that so much is writing on this and there's
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Speaker 3: a lot we just don't know.
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Speaker 1: You know, there's a lot of people Eli and correct
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Speaker 1: me if I'm wrong. A lot of people were badly
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Speaker 1: miss informed by President Obama and the Echo chamber. They
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Speaker 1: really came to conclude that Iran was a normal regime,
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Speaker 1: or at least a normal power in the normal enemy
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Speaker 1: category like China or Russia, not theological fanatics, not lunatics,
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Speaker 1: as Secretary Rubio called them. Right, And so the damage
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Speaker 1: wasn't just the one point seven billion in pin cash
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Speaker 1: on pallets. The damage wasn't the billions more in sanctions. Really,
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Speaker 1: the damage was in normalizing Iran. It's not a normal place.
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Speaker 1: It's not run by normal people. Do you think that
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Speaker 1: Americans get that?
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Speaker 3: I think that there. I think a lot of Americans do.
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Speaker 3: Our first encounter with this regime is the hostage crisis.
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Speaker 4: So I was, you know, a kid.
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Speaker 3: I think the generation X and up, you know, the
5:37
Speaker 3: boomers certainly understand it. But it's not like the Iranians
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Speaker 3: had moderated their behavior. So I think what Obama was
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Speaker 3: doing was he was reflecting a new elite kind of consensus,
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Speaker 3: and it was something that the Iranians were very good
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Speaker 3: There they're former foreign minister. Javadza. Reef played our elites
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Speaker 3: like a fiddle, and he would.
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Speaker 4: Present himself as very reasonable.
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Speaker 3: One of the things they would always talk about is
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Speaker 3: how so many of the top Iranian officials had degrees
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Speaker 3: from Western universities. Zarif was a fluent English speaker, and
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Speaker 3: he would couch arguments in terms of international law. I
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Speaker 3: always found him something to be a maddening figure because
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Speaker 3: he was this sort of reasonable sounding at least speaker
6:27
Speaker 3: or figurehead for a regime that existed in as a
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Speaker 3: rogue state outside of international law, that didn't recognize international
6:36
Speaker 3: law and was violating it all the time. But he
6:39
Speaker 3: was able to command this kind of respect, not just
6:41
Speaker 3: in terms of getting constantly interviewed by journalists or abs
6:46
Speaker 3: the networks, but he would pretty regularly deliver, you know,
6:50
Speaker 3: talks at the Council on Foreign Relations, and it was
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Speaker 3: a charm offensive for our foreign policy elites, and it
6:56
Speaker 3: largely worked the American people. However, mean I think the
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Speaker 3: American people, you know, I don't know, but I would
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Speaker 3: imagine that most of the American people understood there was
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Speaker 3: something deeply wrong with it with a regime you know
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Speaker 3: that hung you know citizens and the inspected were gay
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Speaker 3: from cranes.
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Speaker 1: Well also, so I am a boomer again, I thought,
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Speaker 1: I not only remember the four hundred and forty four days,
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Speaker 1: I remember the Marine Corps barrack in nineteen eighty three.
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Speaker 2: Okay, I don't know.
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Speaker 4: If that sounds me, then that's better.
7:28
Speaker 1: I'm back the boomers like me. Not only do you
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Speaker 1: remember for forty four days of humiliation, but they blew
7:35
Speaker 1: up the Marine Corps bearracks in nineteen eighty three. I
7:37
Speaker 1: married into a Marine Corps family. That was traumatic. Then
7:40
Speaker 1: they went around the world assassinating people. Then they blew
7:43
Speaker 1: up the Argentinian Jewish Center. Then they did this, then
7:46
Speaker 1: they did that. Then Solomoni started blowing up Americans in Iraq.
7:50
Speaker 1: We've been doing Temper five fun shows for twenty years
7:52
Speaker 1: here to help the wounded who basically Iran wounded them
7:56
Speaker 1: and gave them everything. They are an evil regime. President
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Speaker 1: used that word last night. That's the only thing I
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Speaker 1: wish he would have said. They were evil.
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Speaker 2: Do you think the Americans understand their evil? Evil?
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Speaker 5: Evil?
8:09
Speaker 4: I do. And by the way, he did use I
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Speaker 4: think man.
8:12
Speaker 3: He didn't use evil, but he called he when he
8:14
Speaker 3: talked about cost some Solomon. He said he was a
8:15
Speaker 3: horrible person, who says a brilliant guy and a horrible person.
8:19
Speaker 3: And he talked about the roadside bombs that was part
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Speaker 3: of Sulimani's strategy. I think the American people who would
8:28
Speaker 3: have tuned in would understand that this was a regime
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Speaker 3: that could never get their hands, should never be able
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Speaker 3: to get at their weapon, and that this is that.
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Speaker 3: And he kept coming back to this reframe, which I
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Speaker 3: think was right. I'm dealing with the problem that my
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Speaker 3: predecessor should have dealt with a long time ago, and.
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Speaker 1: Instead of giving them all that money and all that runway.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to talk with Eli during the break. He's
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Speaker 1: going to come back after the break so that we
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Speaker 1: have an extensive rundown available over my YouTube channel on
8:53
Speaker 1: the podcast, but stay tuned to the Channel News channel.
8:55
Speaker 2: He'll be right back. I'm back with Eli Lake Eli.
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Speaker 1: The most difficult question on the table is whether or
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Speaker 1: not the President orders, as he threatened to do last night,
9:03
Speaker 1: the destruction of their electricity grid, because that means incubators
9:07
Speaker 1: and hospitals don't work. They might have backup generators, but
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Speaker 1: we don't know it. Means that people who're on are
9:13
Speaker 1: hurt badly, but it also crushes the regime's ability to
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Speaker 1: mount any kind of coherent defense against the people rising up.
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Speaker 2: What do you.
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Speaker 3: Think, absolutely, do not hit the energy infrastructure. I think
9:29
Speaker 3: that we still have to hold out the prospect of
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Speaker 3: a color revolution. I don't want to punish the Iranian people.
9:37
Speaker 3: I think it's very important that we don't. And by
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Speaker 3: the way, I would just say, there is a huge
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Speaker 3: difference morally from a moral perspective. Hitting i RGC headquarters,
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Speaker 3: I would say, is a morally good thing to do.
9:52
Speaker 3: Hitting the infrastructure like that, I don't think you're really
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Speaker 3: even punishing the regime, especially if they if they subscribe
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Speaker 3: to the fanatic cause of martyrdom. I think it will
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Speaker 3: be a huge pr boon for the regime. I think
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Speaker 3: it will, you know, potentially turn what I think is
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Speaker 3: our greatest ally, which would be the Iranian people for
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Speaker 3: the most part, into potentially another foe. I just think
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Speaker 3: it would be a disastrous idea.
10:19
Speaker 4: I understand that you.
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Speaker 3: Want to deprive the IRGC, in particular of revenue that
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Speaker 3: they need to continue to make war against US and
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Speaker 3: the Iranian people. I get that, but hitting the power
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Speaker 3: plants is not a piece of leverage, and I would
10:38
Speaker 3: try to talk the president out of that.
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Speaker 2: I know Eli.
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Speaker 1: Nineteen years ago President Bush had a half dozen talk
10:45
Speaker 1: show hosts san to talk about the war. It was
10:47
Speaker 1: during the start two thousand and seven, Bill Bennett and
10:49
Speaker 1: I and Mark Lemann Moore among them. And one of
10:51
Speaker 1: the questions was why are we letting the Iranians get
10:54
Speaker 1: away with this? And he said, we're not lett him
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Speaker 1: get it. We can do a lot of things. We
10:57
Speaker 1: can disintermediate their money. Pretty big word for a president
11:01
Speaker 1: in a dis intermedia.
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Speaker 2: Have we ever done that? It looks to me like
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Speaker 2: we don't do that.
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Speaker 4: Well.
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Speaker 3: The sanctions against Iran, especially, I mean to give Obama
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Speaker 3: credit in his first term. At the end of it,
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Speaker 3: he did eventually decide to do the big one, which
11:20
Speaker 3: was he sanctioned Iran's central Bank. Now that was the
11:23
Speaker 3: leverage that, you know, the Obama people will say, created
11:27
Speaker 3: the opportunity to start the negotiations that led to that,
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Speaker 3: in my view, absolutely terrible deal known as the JCPOA.
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Speaker 3: But there was a kind of financial warfare on Iran.
11:39
Speaker 3: There were efforts to go after their ability to evade
11:42
Speaker 3: the sanctions. There were efforts to go after their kind
11:44
Speaker 3: of like front operations that the Treasury Department has devoted
11:47
Speaker 3: significant resources to it. What was never really seriously considered
11:53
Speaker 3: is what Trump did, which is that you know, starting
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Speaker 3: at the in twenty twenty, he took out awesome Soulamani.
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Speaker 3: What he made it clear was we have military options too,
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Speaker 3: and this is not just a matter of symbolic strikes
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Speaker 3: on Irani and affiliated militias in Iraq, which is the
12:12
Speaker 3: kind of thing that used to be in the nineties
12:14
Speaker 3: called cruise missile diplomacy.
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Speaker 4: No, we could really take out your leaders.
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Speaker 3: And that's why I'm very hesitant to sort of declare that,
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Speaker 3: oh my god, the war is lost and so forth,
12:25
Speaker 3: that hopefully we won't have to get to the point
12:27
Speaker 3: where we're bombing electrical grids. And the reason I say
12:31
Speaker 3: that is because we've.
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Speaker 2: Never anything on a second.
12:34
Speaker 1: I got to come back on the network and then
12:36
Speaker 1: we'll continue to say Welcome back America. Eli Lake is
12:43
Speaker 1: shown with me Hugh Hewan on the Salem News Channel
12:46
Speaker 1: and the Salem Radio Network, all of.
12:47
Speaker 2: Our great radio affiliates.
12:48
Speaker 1: Eli is with the Free Press also those to breaking history,
12:52
Speaker 1: great conversation there between he and Avive Breddy Gore about
12:55
Speaker 1: the nature of the Iranian regime and why it's so
12:58
Speaker 1: tough to predict with any certainty it will collapse. But Eli,
13:01
Speaker 1: you were saying, as we came out of the break,
13:03
Speaker 1: you don't want to hit the electrical grid, because we
13:06
Speaker 1: can still go about picking off the IRGC leadership and
13:11
Speaker 1: rank and file as well as the besiege. Is that
13:13
Speaker 1: what you were saying.
13:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say there's a couple of things. One
13:17
Speaker 3: is you could still hit the leadership. But we'd never
13:20
Speaker 3: have seen any kind of war in which you know,
13:25
Speaker 3: the leadership has been wiped out the way it has
13:29
Speaker 3: in the case of the Iranians. So I don't know
13:32
Speaker 3: how they're adjusting. I mean, all of them. If you're
13:35
Speaker 3: a senior leader right now, you got to be underground.
13:38
Speaker 3: The Israelis have shown they have the ability with armed
13:41
Speaker 3: drones to take out local besieging commanders at checkpoints in
13:47
Speaker 3: at least Tehran. I'm sure they could do it in
13:48
Speaker 3: other cities as well. What I would say is a
13:51
Speaker 3: strategic move that you don't even I wouldn't talk about
13:54
Speaker 3: it. I would just do is that when the time comes
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Speaker 3: and you think you've battered the regime security forces and
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Speaker 3: no figure out how to turn on the people's internet
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Speaker 3: and turn off the regime's internet. I believe that technology exists.
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Speaker 3: I believe that the Israelis probably have that, and I
14:12
Speaker 3: would say that that right there, if you can give
14:14
Speaker 3: the Iranian people the ability to communicate, and you can
14:18
Speaker 3: fluster or block or make more difficult the ability of
14:23
Speaker 3: what's left of the regime to communicate, that's an enormous
14:26
Speaker 3: advantage in terms of what I'm looking for, which is
14:29
Speaker 3: again a color revolution, and you might need to see
14:32
Speaker 3: You might see that three months after hostilities end. I mean,
14:36
Speaker 3: I don't know what the timeline is, but I would
14:39
Speaker 3: keep my eye on that, and I would be satisfied
14:42
Speaker 3: that you've defanged the regime enough that they will have,
14:46
Speaker 3: you know, an enormous mountain to climb, if they want
14:49
Speaker 3: to try to build back a military that's been taken
14:52
Speaker 3: away from them.
14:53
Speaker 1: I'm keeping my eye on the second A ten squadron
14:57
Speaker 1: that went over there, the ward Dog. Those are for
14:59
Speaker 1: grounds of your those are for clearing the one hundred
15:01
Speaker 1: miles of straight And I'm keeping my eye on the
15:03
Speaker 1: Marines in the eighty second airborne in the Islands and
15:06
Speaker 1: thinking President didn't say he wasn't going to do anything.
15:10
Speaker 1: Got a question for you from a listener, Yeah, what
15:13
Speaker 1: is Jerry Carey thinking?
15:14
Speaker 2: John? What is John Kerry thinking right now?
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Speaker 3: Well, I hope he's embarrassed, and I hope he has
15:21
Speaker 3: a moment of self reflection. I mean, I think John
15:23
Speaker 3: Kerry every assumption, who, by the way, is extremely close
15:27
Speaker 3: with Javad's a reefw we were discussing before.
15:29
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Michelley talked with him illegally during the time
15:33
Speaker 1: he wasn't in an office.
15:34
Speaker 3: He negotiated with him, right, I mean, what's John item?
15:39
Speaker 3: Not in John Carey's head? But I went out to
15:41
Speaker 3: the entire Obama team have to be looking at this
15:44
Speaker 3: and they have to be saying to themselves, if America
15:48
Speaker 3: wins this war, it discredits everything we were saying.
15:51
Speaker 4: About Iran that they could be.
15:55
Speaker 3: One of the things they would say is that there's
15:56
Speaker 3: no military solution because you can't bomb the idea and
16:00
Speaker 3: the knowledge out of the Iranian people. Well, I would
16:03
Speaker 3: argue that there is a military solution. You can take
16:06
Speaker 3: out an industrial sized nuclear program, as the Israelis have done.
16:09
Speaker 3: You can take out the top scientists. You can make
16:12
Speaker 3: it make other nuclear scientists who are Iranian who might
16:15
Speaker 3: be recruited for that program afraid to join it because
16:18
Speaker 3: they might be on a hit list. There's all kinds
16:20
Speaker 3: of other solutions than taking the word of a revolutionary
16:25
Speaker 3: terrorist regime that has no compunction about lying to US.
16:31
Speaker 2: So, okay, so that's quick questions for you. Cuba next, Cuba?
16:38
Speaker 3: I believe it's in the process. Let's fingers crossed, I do.
16:42
Speaker 3: I think Cuba is probably next, And I would like
16:45
Speaker 3: to also just stress I want to eventually see elections
16:47
Speaker 3: in Venezuela. But I think you know we're moving in
16:50
Speaker 3: the right direction.
16:52
Speaker 1: And a very final question NATO, which I think is
16:55
Speaker 1: very badly damaged.
16:57
Speaker 2: I don't know if it is beyond repair. What do
16:58
Speaker 2: you think.
17:01
Speaker 3: I think you can repair NATO. I think there has
17:03
Speaker 3: to be a come to reality moment for our NATO allies,
17:07
Speaker 3: which is that they have allowed enough crypt and it's
17:11
Speaker 3: deeper than defense spending.
17:13
Speaker 6: They need to.
17:14
Speaker 3: Become more serious as a country and prove And I
17:18
Speaker 3: would say look to Israel as a model. Ally, is
17:20
Speaker 3: there any NATO country that can do what Israel is
17:23
Speaker 3: currently doing flying as a peer ally in a war
17:28
Speaker 3: over Iran to end a threat not just to the
17:32
Speaker 3: Middle East, but I would say to the West and
17:35
Speaker 3: instead of tisking, learn from Israel and how you can
17:40
Speaker 3: be that valuable to an American military operation.
17:44
Speaker 1: Well said Eli, and I appreciate the extra time today.
17:47
Speaker 1: A happy passover to you. I know you're in the
17:49
Speaker 1: middle of it. Thank you so much for having you.
17:52
Speaker 1: Thank you very much.
17:53
Speaker 2: Eli.
17:53
Speaker 1: We'll talk again next week if we're lucky. Thank you,
17:56
Speaker 1: my friend. Don't go anywhere America. If you're listening on
17:59
Speaker 1: one of our great ways the affiliates across this USA,
18:01
Speaker 1: I'll be right back. That was staying on the Salem
18:04
Speaker 1: Radio Network.
18:04
Speaker 2: Thank you.
18:05
Speaker 1: If you're watching on the Salem News Channel, don't change
18:07
Speaker 1: that channel. I'll be right back on the US show.
18:10
Speaker 1: Eric vic madd has joins me. Vic is the arcs
18:13
Speaker 1: and culture editor at The Free Beacon. He is also
18:17
Speaker 1: the coast of Getting Hammered, your morning podcast for any
18:20
Speaker 1: time of the day where they're over cafinat and underprepared.
18:23
Speaker 1: I think I've got that down, Vic. I greatly enjoyed
18:26
Speaker 1: the big arch to Polyamory episode.
18:30
Speaker 2: In fact, I don't know that.
18:31
Speaker 1: I've ever quite heard an arc of stories that go
18:34
Speaker 1: from the Big Arch Challenge to Polyamory before. So now
18:39
Speaker 1: that I've put the hook in, we'll leave pauly Amory
18:41
Speaker 1: for the end. I'm a boomer, so I don't know
18:43
Speaker 1: anything about the Big Arch Challenge. When did that and
18:46
Speaker 1: where did it get started? Is it Instagram?
18:49
Speaker 2: Yeah?
18:50
Speaker 7: Well, I mean it started online with the CEO of McDonald's.
18:53
Speaker 7: His name is Chris Kempcinsky, otherwise known as Chris K.
18:57
Speaker 7: And he was rolling out this new sandwich known as
18:59
Speaker 7: the Big Arch. And Chris K is a rather formal guy.
19:04
Speaker 7: He's not a big fella, and you know, the kind
19:07
Speaker 7: of guy who always has his shirt tucked in. And
19:09
Speaker 7: he does this little video where he's testing out the
19:12
Speaker 7: new Big Arch and it just had the sense, you
19:15
Speaker 7: just had the sense that he'd never had it before
19:17
Speaker 7: or seen it before and let alone taste it.
19:20
Speaker 2: And I'm sure he had.
19:21
Speaker 7: But he delicately handles this monstrosity of a burger that
19:26
Speaker 7: is about one thy and twenty calories. He doesn't mention
19:28
Speaker 7: that part and takes a little bite and we're supposed
19:33
Speaker 7: to believe that then he finishes the whole meal.
19:35
Speaker 2: I have my doubts about that. Nevertheless, he calls it
19:39
Speaker 2: a product.
19:40
Speaker 7: People made fun of it and went viral, and then
19:43
Speaker 7: other CEOs of fast food chains got in on the action,
19:46
Speaker 7: looking much more comfortable with it. And then it finally
19:49
Speaker 7: reached full circle Hue, where Chris k was back totally
19:52
Speaker 7: owning the way he handled that big arch and continued
19:55
Speaker 7: to call it a product, and I think he kind
19:57
Speaker 7: of won out in the end. It was quite amusing.
20:00
Speaker 7: Had to find out what the fuss was.
20:01
Speaker 1: All about before we go to the taste test, which
20:04
Speaker 1: is itself very amusing. I'm amazed that I'm wholly unaware
20:09
Speaker 1: of something that involves the CEO of Whopper of Wendy's
20:15
Speaker 1: and anw Rooteer, which is one of my favorite places.
20:19
Speaker 2: I didn't even know there was anw Ripeer's left, did you. No,
20:23
Speaker 2: I've never been to one.
20:24
Speaker 7: I enjoyed the root beer, but I've never been to
20:26
Speaker 7: one of their restaurants, and so that was quite amusing
20:29
Speaker 7: to see that that he was trying the burger didn't
20:32
Speaker 7: look great, actually, but you know, fine, getting on the action,
20:35
Speaker 7: take advantage of it while you can. It must be
20:38
Speaker 7: a Midwestern thing. Hugh because I don't see too many
20:40
Speaker 7: around here.
20:41
Speaker 1: Anw ripeer in warn Ohio was a drive in and
20:45
Speaker 1: an absolute must go after basketball games. It was right
20:48
Speaker 1: out of American Graffiti, even though it was ten years
20:51
Speaker 1: after American Graffiti.
20:52
Speaker 2: So, Vic, you and Mary Catherine did you have those?
20:56
Speaker 2: Did you guys go and record them at mcmickey Dee's.
20:58
Speaker 2: Where did you do that show?
21:01
Speaker 1: No?
21:01
Speaker 7: So we recorded it separately, split screen. She was at
21:04
Speaker 7: her house and I was at the office. We just
21:06
Speaker 7: had the time it very carefully because as you know,
21:08
Speaker 7: there's about a thirty minute shelf life even under the
21:11
Speaker 7: heat lamps hue. So what I did is I brought
21:13
Speaker 7: one of these little vacuum seal packages that keeps the
21:16
Speaker 7: heat in if you have, you know, certain food products
21:19
Speaker 7: for a trip. I brought it to the McDonald's, ordered it,
21:22
Speaker 7: put the bag immediately in this sort of foil line container,
21:26
Speaker 7: and then left it in my office until we were
21:28
Speaker 7: go time for the show.
21:30
Speaker 1: Okay, Now, I gotta say, I don't believe MK ate
21:34
Speaker 1: the pound burger, the full pound burger on her lot. Look,
21:38
Speaker 1: I didn't know she played lacrosse to this episode. So
21:40
Speaker 1: I've got to talk to her about that next week.
21:42
Speaker 1: But I don't believe she had it. I don't believe
21:44
Speaker 1: you two ate was it two quarter pounders and all
21:47
Speaker 1: that other stuff?
21:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is, it is, it is.
21:51
Speaker 7: It is two quarter pound patties. So that is a
21:54
Speaker 7: that is a half pound of beef with lettuce and
21:57
Speaker 7: crisped onions and cheese and a special sauce.
22:01
Speaker 2: It was.
22:01
Speaker 7: It was massive. I didn't have breakfast, so that was
22:05
Speaker 7: quite the lunch. And I'm still I'm paying it's really
22:09
Speaker 7: I'm paying a penitence for it, fitting Lee Hugh for heaving.
22:12
Speaker 2: You know, I would just imagine that would stay with
22:14
Speaker 2: you for a couple of days. That's a lot of it.
22:17
Speaker 7: Don no it wait, wait, it weighs on you. You
22:21
Speaker 7: can feel it. But you know, there's a guy who
22:23
Speaker 7: famously has been eating a big mac every day all
22:26
Speaker 7: his life and he's not fat at all. It's a
22:27
Speaker 7: true story, so it's possible.
22:29
Speaker 2: All right. Now let's move to polyamory.
22:32
Speaker 1: This is, by the way, if you're an adult with
22:34
Speaker 1: children in the back, you may want to turn this
22:37
Speaker 1: part off.
22:38
Speaker 2: Vic. What book again, I don't know the book that
22:40
Speaker 2: you received.
22:41
Speaker 1: As the art and culture editor, I get books all
22:43
Speaker 1: the time, I have not received any on polyamory. So
22:46
Speaker 1: I guess the Washington Free Beacon is walking on the
22:48
Speaker 1: wild side.
22:50
Speaker 7: We get all sorts of interesting books, Hugh, and I'm
22:53
Speaker 7: you know, I'm an open minded kind of a guy.
22:55
Speaker 2: I'll take a look.
22:55
Speaker 7: And you know, actually the book I got was was
22:58
Speaker 7: not necessary. Well again, it was kind of polyamorous, but
23:02
Speaker 7: it really was about a both a Sapphag multiverse novel,
23:06
Speaker 7: so it combined some elements of like what you're seeing
23:09
Speaker 7: in the Marvel cinematic universe, and a romance between two women.
23:13
Speaker 7: What Mary Catherine was relating was a true story involving
23:17
Speaker 7: a supposedly open marriage, but of course it never is,
23:20
Speaker 7: and somebody is more open than the other, let's put
23:23
Speaker 7: it that way.
23:24
Speaker 1: You know, I thought you guys made a reference to
23:26
Speaker 1: the seventies, and I lived the seventies.
23:30
Speaker 2: It really didn't happen. There wasn't any of that going.
23:33
Speaker 1: I mean, people had affairs and divorces, but that was
23:36
Speaker 1: always talked about, but not really happening, the whole open
23:39
Speaker 1: marriage thing outside of perhaps Manhattan. Now, Vick, I want
23:43
Speaker 1: to know what you thought about the President's speech last night.
23:47
Speaker 7: I thought it was very solid. I mean, you know,
23:49
Speaker 7: he didn't veer off on some strange tangents. I mean,
23:52
Speaker 7: he obviously was reading from the teleprompter. He looked a
23:55
Speaker 7: little bit tired. He's you know, I mean, he manages
23:57
Speaker 7: on what four hours of sleep a night, and there
23:59
Speaker 7: was a lot going on right now with the partial
24:01
Speaker 7: government shutdown, and then the price of oil, and of
24:04
Speaker 7: course what's happening and I ran and everything else.
24:07
Speaker 2: But he laid out a pretty good case.
24:09
Speaker 7: I wish he had done this earlier when the war
24:11
Speaker 7: first happened, but I'll still say better late than never.
24:15
Speaker 7: I thought it was reassuring that he says, you know,
24:18
Speaker 7: we're making great progress, which we are. You could see
24:21
Speaker 7: this in all the video demonstrations, you know, the kind
24:23
Speaker 7: of things that we first discovered in the first Gulf War,
24:26
Speaker 7: where you can see the results of what's happening overseas,
24:28
Speaker 7: and you're seeing it now that Iran is no longer
24:32
Speaker 7: the bully of the Middle East.
24:33
Speaker 2: Is the way he put it, and that is correct.
24:36
Speaker 7: And no matter how many people feel about this and
24:38
Speaker 7: how angry a lot of people are about the war
24:41
Speaker 7: and Iran, everybody long term, when they look back on
24:44
Speaker 7: this moment in Trump's second term is going to thank
24:47
Speaker 7: him because he did something that no other president wanted
24:50
Speaker 7: to do. They all wish they can do it, and
24:52
Speaker 7: they kicked the can down the road. But he's the
24:54
Speaker 7: only guy. And he always likes to say decimated. But
24:57
Speaker 7: I'm a stickler to what that means. Way tenth thank you.
25:01
Speaker 2: Yeah.
25:02
Speaker 1: Decimated is a Roman legion term mark hooks crosses ordered
25:06
Speaker 1: is legion decimated and every tenth man was beaten to
25:09
Speaker 1: death by his nine colleagues.
25:11
Speaker 2: That's decimation. Yeah, this is abliteration.
25:17
Speaker 7: Yeah, air Force, the Navy, those submarines, the other facilities.
25:22
Speaker 7: The big question is whether or not he's going to
25:24
Speaker 7: go forward and start destroying the generators. That would be
25:27
Speaker 7: a very big deal. I think we could probably have
25:30
Speaker 7: to have some troops on the ground, maybe secure carg Island,
25:33
Speaker 7: but still buy and large everything is going in the direction. Again,
25:37
Speaker 7: this is a massive operation that a lot of people
25:39
Speaker 7: said could not be possible and that I RAN's militaries
25:43
Speaker 7: to be feared. The number of missile launches from I
25:46
Speaker 7: Ran right now are at an all time low, so
25:49
Speaker 7: I mean clearly.
25:50
Speaker 2: Progress is being made. So it was a good speech.
25:53
Speaker 1: I think it was too and Vic, I do not
25:56
Speaker 1: believe it'll be over in three weeks. I've said it often.
25:59
Speaker 1: I think it'll be going on till June, and that's
26:02
Speaker 1: simply because they got to keep killing the IRGC leadership
26:06
Speaker 1: as long as the ERGC won't lay down its weapons.
26:08
Speaker 1: So maybe it won't be as intense. But I really
26:11
Speaker 1: don't think it's going to be over in two to
26:13
Speaker 1: three weeks. Last question, when do you think it's going
26:15
Speaker 1: to be over?
26:17
Speaker 8: Uh?
26:17
Speaker 7: Yeah, I'm going to say somewhere between the three weeks
26:19
Speaker 7: that Trump predicted and you were June. I think Dennis
26:22
Speaker 7: Ross had said somewhere else. He thinks even if we
26:25
Speaker 7: stop now, the leadership will collapse in ten months. That
26:28
Speaker 7: means that if we keep on going, maybe it will
26:30
Speaker 7: be less than ten months and they'll find actual leadership
26:33
Speaker 7: that once reformed.
26:34
Speaker 2: Excellent. I hope he's right.
26:36
Speaker 1: Vick madis co host of Getting Hammered and the arts
26:39
Speaker 1: and culture editor who reads very weird books. Thank you, Vic.
26:43
Speaker 1: Follow him on exit victory. No mattis follow me in
26:45
Speaker 1: the next segment. Twent eight hundred and five two oh
26:47
Speaker 1: one two three four weigh in on the President's speech
26:50
Speaker 1: one eight hundred and five to two oh one two
26:52
Speaker 1: three four, Welcome back to America.
26:55
Speaker 2: I'm hewt.
26:56
Speaker 1: I spent most of the day telling him at the
26:58
Speaker 1: President's speech, and I'll do more with Mat Continetti after
27:00
Speaker 1: the break, But right now, David Drucker, senior political correspondent
27:04
Speaker 1: for The Dispatch, joins us not for reaction to the speech,
27:08
Speaker 1: but for actually what is going on at the Department
27:10
Speaker 1: of Justice.
27:11
Speaker 2: Why did Pam Bondi get tossed?
27:13
Speaker 8: David Drucker, Yeah, really good question, and it's unclear. I mean,
27:17
Speaker 8: she obviously, well I don't want to say obviously, but
27:20
Speaker 8: it appears from those of us who've been monitoring the
27:23
Speaker 8: administration over the past year, that she did everything that
27:26
Speaker 8: the president asked, or at least everything she thought he
27:29
Speaker 8: wanted her to do.
27:31
Speaker 5: And so I don't know that it's totally.
27:33
Speaker 8: Clear yet why he decided to fire her, which is
27:37
Speaker 8: essentially what he did. And Todd Blanche is now the
27:39
Speaker 8: acting Attorney General, and I think there's just more for
27:44
Speaker 8: us to find out on that front.
27:46
Speaker 1: Do you think this is the result of President Trump
27:49
Speaker 1: realizing he got less than three years, he has an agenda,
27:53
Speaker 1: he wants to get it done. And Christinoum wasn't getting
27:56
Speaker 1: it done. She's now no longer dhech Secretary ag Bonnie
28:01
Speaker 1: wasn't getting it done whenever it is, she's no longer
28:04
Speaker 1: the ag.
28:05
Speaker 2: Do you expect more?
28:08
Speaker 8: Well with the president, you're never quite sure, right, nobody's
28:11
Speaker 8: ever quite safe.
28:12
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, for a story.
28:14
Speaker 8: I published this week at the Dispatch about Mark or Rubio,
28:17
Speaker 8: I went back and looked at some of the televised
28:21
Speaker 8: cabinet meetings where the President goes around the table asking
28:24
Speaker 8: for progress reports, and it was really striking to me,
28:27
Speaker 8: in light of the Bondie firing, how often everybody was
28:32
Speaker 8: praising the president's selection of the cabinet, how it was
28:35
Speaker 8: the greatest cabinet they'd ever seen, or such a talented team,
28:39
Speaker 8: and everybody sort of agreed with that, and the President
28:41
Speaker 8: certainly didn't argue with it. And obviously in the past
28:44
Speaker 8: few weeks it's clear that he's not in agreement.
28:48
Speaker 5: That the cabinet is as good as it could.
28:50
Speaker 8: Be, and so, you know, I imagine he was looking
28:53
Speaker 8: for more effectiveness. I think in the case of Christy Nomes,
28:57
Speaker 8: she was more of a scapegoat because I think she
28:58
Speaker 8: was carrying out the policy as it was given to her,
29:02
Speaker 8: and it was easier to get rid of her than
29:04
Speaker 8: get rid of.
29:05
Speaker 5: The broader policy.
29:08
Speaker 8: In the case of Pam BONDI I wonder if it
29:11
Speaker 8: was just simply a lack of finesse, the ability to
29:14
Speaker 8: do some of the things the president wanted with a
29:16
Speaker 8: little bit more skill.
29:18
Speaker 1: Well, there is one big failure. He tried a couple
29:21
Speaker 1: of times to indict a couple of people and it
29:23
Speaker 1: didn't work, and that's Judge Jane Pirou in d C
29:28
Speaker 1: and other US attorneys. And I think there are significant
29:32
Speaker 1: obstacles to indicting someone. We've always made the joke about
29:35
Speaker 1: Ham Samwich. It's really not that easy. You have to
29:37
Speaker 1: have at least a patina of a crime, the elements
29:42
Speaker 1: of a crime laid out, to get a grand jury
29:44
Speaker 1: to indict.
29:45
Speaker 2: Do you think that's it.
29:48
Speaker 8: Well, it's possible that again, she could be scapegoaded for this.
29:51
Speaker 8: You know, you make a really good point view, and
29:52
Speaker 8: obviously you've got first hand expertise in this. If we're
29:56
Speaker 8: talking about some random county and some random state, the
29:59
Speaker 8: Ham Sandwich analogy applies. But when you're talking to federal courts,
30:03
Speaker 8: it absolutely does not apply.
30:05
Speaker 5: And I think the you'll forgive me, I'm in an airport.
30:09
Speaker 8: I think I think the Justice Department has been given
30:12
Speaker 8: marching orders by the President that are simply often too
30:15
Speaker 8: high a bar to accomplish. But maybe the President wants
30:17
Speaker 8: to see what can happen with some different leadership.
30:20
Speaker 1: Well, Todd Blanche is a very serious man, a very
30:23
Speaker 1: accomplished a prosecutor. I don't doubt that he has the
30:27
Speaker 1: managerial ability. He's been doing the deputy job, which is
30:30
Speaker 1: the manager job at DJ. Now you have to find
30:33
Speaker 1: his own replacement. What do you think of that choice?
30:36
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's going to be really interesting.
30:38
Speaker 8: I mean, the initial reporting is that the President is
30:40
Speaker 8: considering moving Lee Zelden over from EPA, where his EPA
30:43
Speaker 8: administer a strict administrator. Excuse me of making him the
30:47
Speaker 8: new attorney general.
30:50
Speaker 5: Look, I think there are a lot of competent choices.
30:52
Speaker 8: I mean, the President in his first term had a
30:54
Speaker 8: lot of a couple of very competent, very accomplished attorney's general.
31:00
Speaker 5: Part of the issue for the president is he's looking for.
31:02
Speaker 8: The DOJ to do things that it normally doesn't do,
31:06
Speaker 8: hasn't done. And then there are these high bars that
31:09
Speaker 8: he sets. You want certain people indicted, and it's simply
31:13
Speaker 8: going to be very difficult to do so. If he
31:15
Speaker 8: wants certain cases handled, it's going to be difficult to
31:17
Speaker 8: do so.
31:18
Speaker 5: So I'm curious if he goes in just a.
31:20
Speaker 8: Different direction here, recognizing the constraints put on him by
31:23
Speaker 8: the federal courts.
31:25
Speaker 1: Do you think there might be any connection between his
31:28
Speaker 1: going to the Supreme Court yesterday and then firing Bondy
31:32
Speaker 1: last night, Because you have to really stretch to believe
31:36
Speaker 1: there's any way the Supreme Court's going to uphold his
31:39
Speaker 1: executive order, and that became, i think obvious in the
31:42
Speaker 1: first hour that he stayed for. You think he just
31:44
Speaker 1: went home and said, Wow, I'm going to lose this.
31:47
Speaker 1: Why didn't anyone tell me I'm not going to win this?
31:51
Speaker 8: Well, I mean, he could have blamed Bondi for that,
31:53
Speaker 8: but in this case, he should blame you know, the
31:54
Speaker 8: White House attorneys because they're the ones that are going
31:59
Speaker 8: to be craft these sorts of executive orders, not the
32:02
Speaker 8: ag and somebody should have certainly told him that this
32:07
Speaker 8: executive order, especially as crafted, we're never going to pass
32:11
Speaker 8: muster with the Cory.
32:12
Speaker 1: So executive order was never going to It is an
32:16
Speaker 1: eighteen thirty three case in which the Chief Justice than
32:19
Speaker 1: John Marshall, said the question presented is of great importance
32:24
Speaker 1: but not much difficulty. I kind of view that as yesterday.
32:27
Speaker 1: I'm glad the President issued the executive order because it's
32:30
Speaker 1: going to put to rest the idea that birthright citizenship
32:34
Speaker 1: has been other than the accepted norm since eighteen sixty eight.
32:38
Speaker 1: And I mean, I think it might have been gotten
32:41
Speaker 1: through Sit for an hour and listen to John Sawer
32:44
Speaker 1: get roasted. Don't you think it might get the idea
32:46
Speaker 1: that boy that was a bad idea?
32:48
Speaker 2: Who gave me that idea?
32:49
Speaker 1: And then I'm not sure the White House counsel takes
32:52
Speaker 1: the fall for that, because the opposite of legal counsel
32:55
Speaker 1: over justice is the one that's supposed to give you
32:57
Speaker 1: an opinion on things like that. But che't around and
33:00
Speaker 1: she's convenient. That's what I'm thinking. I just want to
33:03
Speaker 1: know if it makes sense.
33:04
Speaker 5: To you listen, you know, on this sort of thing, Hugh.
33:07
Speaker 8: You know, I almost defer to you unless I have
33:09
Speaker 8: direct reporting, and I don't yet. You know what I
33:13
Speaker 8: have found in interviewing the president over the years and
33:16
Speaker 8: in covering him is that on the one hand, he
33:19
Speaker 8: solicits a broad range of opinions, more so perhaps than
33:24
Speaker 8: at least his immediate predecessors in the White House.
33:28
Speaker 5: And yet once.
33:29
Speaker 8: He's kind of decided that things should be a certain way,
33:32
Speaker 8: he can be very difficult to move off.
33:35
Speaker 5: At least, you know, where he has strong opinions.
33:38
Speaker 8: I think there are issues where he's a pragmatist or
33:41
Speaker 8: he's transactional, and he'll just land wherever he thinks he
33:44
Speaker 8: needs to land.
33:45
Speaker 5: But this is related to.
33:46
Speaker 8: Immigration and immigration policy, and so I wouldn't be surprised
33:50
Speaker 8: if he's just stubbornly convinced that he's right and that
33:54
Speaker 8: the issue isn't the recommendation, it's the courts, which you
33:56
Speaker 8: know obviously he has no he never has to say
34:00
Speaker 8: to voice's opinion about the courts when he disagrees with them.
34:04
Speaker 2: So let me switch on to his speech, which I
34:06
Speaker 2: described last night.
34:07
Speaker 1: When I was doing I said, well, that was confident
34:09
Speaker 1: and direct. I liked it, but I doubt it changed
34:14
Speaker 1: anyone's mind even a degree, because everyone's opinion on Trump
34:19
Speaker 1: is fixed. I'm just very glad he didn't set an
34:21
Speaker 1: arbitrary deadline. What was your reaction.
34:24
Speaker 8: Yeah, I don't think we disagree too much here. I mean,
34:26
Speaker 8: I think, on the one hand, he finally really laid
34:28
Speaker 8: out in concrete terms his objectives for launching the war. Right,
34:33
Speaker 8: and you and I have talked about this a lot,
34:35
Speaker 8: and he laid out objectives that you know, you can
34:39
Speaker 8: disagree with him, but you can't miss argue that.
34:44
Speaker 5: His objectives are in the right place.
34:46
Speaker 8: Right, we have given nearly fifty diplomacy, nearly fifty years
34:51
Speaker 8: iron is the globe's largest state sponsor of terror. You
34:55
Speaker 8: couldn't allow them to achieve, you know, nuclear weapons capability
34:58
Speaker 8: and so on. And so he laid that out in
35:00
Speaker 8: a way that he hasn't done before. I think this
35:02
Speaker 8: speech would have possibly had more effect had he given
35:06
Speaker 8: it the day we launched the war. Not with Sandy
35:09
Speaker 8: and I agree, opinions on Donald Trump are fixed.
35:11
Speaker 5: I think where he gets.
35:12
Speaker 8: Himself into trouble with these speeches is that he likes
35:15
Speaker 8: to blame a lot of different people and veer off
35:19
Speaker 8: the subject matter, and it helps keep things static because
35:24
Speaker 8: of people's strong opinions of him.
35:27
Speaker 1: Right, I just don't think he can change a single mind.
35:30
Speaker 1: What will change people's mind is when that regime, the
35:33
Speaker 1: mergence crippled, been exposed naked before the world as having
35:37
Speaker 1: been a shambolic terror regime forever.
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37:54
Speaker 1: Matt Cotton any with the Wall Street Journal, where he
37:57
Speaker 1: writes in the Free Expressions Vertical, and he's also the
38:01
Speaker 1: out of Domestic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Matt,
38:05
Speaker 1: what did you make of the President's speech last night?
38:08
Speaker 6: I thought it was a great speech, Hugh.
38:10
Speaker 9: I think President Trump laid out the reasons for Operation
38:13
Speaker 9: Epic Fury. I think he talked about our successes so far.
38:17
Speaker 9: I think he indicated that it's not done yet, that
38:21
Speaker 9: there's a couple more weeks ahead, and that, if anything,
38:25
Speaker 9: we may escalate in those weeks ahead. And he also
38:28
Speaker 9: kept open this option of coercive diplomacy if the Iranians
38:33
Speaker 9: can get their act together and actually agree diplomatically to
38:37
Speaker 9: what we were trying to achieve and are achieving militarily.
38:41
Speaker 9: So I thought it was a good speech. I'm glad
38:43
Speaker 9: he did it, and I hope he does one in
38:45
Speaker 9: the coming weeks when we're closer to completing the mission.
38:49
Speaker 2: Now. I used the terms direct, confident, and determined.
38:55
Speaker 1: He's not giving up on this thing, and he's going
38:58
Speaker 1: to make sure that there's the rubble to bounce perhaps
39:01
Speaker 1: a few times. Do you think that the system will fall?
39:05
Speaker 1: He's right, Leaders set number one, Leader Set number two,
39:09
Speaker 1: they're dead, but we're on leaders set number three, and
39:10
Speaker 1: they probably got you know, the D and the E
39:14
Speaker 1: and the F squad. Do you think you'll keep going
39:16
Speaker 1: until finally the IRGC runs for their Swiss bank accounts.
39:22
Speaker 9: I think he's going to go after the missile cities.
39:26
Speaker 9: He's going to go after the drone teams. He's going
39:29
Speaker 9: to go after the economic targets, which we're already seeing today.
39:34
Speaker 9: Apparently we targeted a bridge, a very important bridge Israel
39:37
Speaker 9: and the IDEF. They're going after kind of economically important sites. Remember,
39:42
Speaker 9: the IRGC, which is the militia that effectively runs Iran
39:45
Speaker 9: right now, is more than anything else, kind of a
39:48
Speaker 9: gangster operation, and so if you target these economic nodes,
39:52
Speaker 9: you're denying them the resources that they use to carry
39:55
Speaker 9: out terror and oppress their own people. As that happened,
40:00
Speaker 9: I think there will be more pressure on the regime
40:03
Speaker 9: now you saw. I'm sure this conversation that was reported
40:05
Speaker 9: between Peshkezi and the President and the IRGC commander where
40:10
Speaker 9: the President said, look, I can't two three more weeks
40:13
Speaker 9: of this and the economy will collapse.
40:15
Speaker 6: I won't have anything. Well, isn't it funny?
40:17
Speaker 9: That's exactly kind of the timeline that the President laid
40:20
Speaker 9: out in his.
40:20
Speaker 6: Speech last week.
40:21
Speaker 9: So yes, I think even though the purpose of this mission,
40:25
Speaker 9: as President Trump says, is to deny Iran the ability
40:28
Speaker 9: to harass the and endanger the United States and the
40:31
Speaker 9: region the Greater Middle East, a ancillary benefit of our
40:36
Speaker 9: campaign may may probably and I think likely, to be
40:40
Speaker 9: the end of the Iranian regime.
40:42
Speaker 2: I think so as well.
40:43
Speaker 1: It might take a while, but it cannot survive without cash.
40:47
Speaker 2: Now.
40:47
Speaker 1: I wrote a column for Fox News before the President
40:50
Speaker 1: had to give a speech because that I had to
40:51
Speaker 1: go up this morning, and I said, Hey, no matter
40:54
Speaker 1: what he says, a third's gonna love it, a third's
40:56
Speaker 1: gonna hate it, and the middle part won't know what
40:59
Speaker 1: to make of it. That's exactly what happened. Were you
41:02
Speaker 1: surprised by any reaction? Did anyone go against type matt
41:06
Speaker 1: that you've seen today?
41:08
Speaker 9: It's a testament to your vision and perse capacity, Hugh,
41:12
Speaker 9: that you were able to see the reaction before the
41:15
Speaker 9: speech even occurred. But you're exactly right. No one's opinions
41:20
Speaker 9: were changed. It may be that there are people who
41:23
Speaker 9: within the Republican Party who said, well, you know, maybe
41:28
Speaker 9: we should wrap things up. And I think President Trump
41:31
Speaker 9: explained why we can't do that right now, why we
41:34
Speaker 9: need to finish the job. And for the liberal media, who,
41:37
Speaker 9: of course, they weren't going to like the speech whatever
41:39
Speaker 9: Trump said. Remember going into the speech, they were saying, Oh,
41:43
Speaker 9: Trump's going to announce a ceasefire, or Trump's going to
41:46
Speaker 9: announce for ground troops, or Trump's going to announce we're
41:50
Speaker 9: pulling out of NATO. None of that happened. Once again,
41:52
Speaker 9: they were completely delusional. And the President, as he has been,
41:56
Speaker 9: it's amazing, has he has been for decades, has his
42:00
Speaker 9: sense of mission and purpose. He will deny the Iranian
42:04
Speaker 9: terrorist regime a nuclear weapon, and that's precisely what he's
42:08
Speaker 9: doing right now.
42:09
Speaker 2: You may find it finey.
42:11
Speaker 1: I'm doing a little research on the speech last night
42:14
Speaker 1: compared to Richard Nixon the Great Silent Majority Speech of
42:17
Speaker 1: November third, nineteen sixty nine.
42:19
Speaker 2: More than one hundred million Americans watched that speech.
42:22
Speaker 1: His approval rating went up to seventy seven percent after
42:26
Speaker 1: that speech. The fact of the matter is that kind
42:29
Speaker 1: of speech is that's a dinosaur. It's never going to
42:33
Speaker 1: happen again. The American people don't watch speeches like that.
42:36
Speaker 1: Do you agree with me?
42:38
Speaker 9: Well, it's a fact. I mean, there's just no question.
42:41
Speaker 9: You and I speak all the time about our fractured
42:44
Speaker 9: media landscape, about people losing trust and institutions. The American
42:49
Speaker 9: population is so incredibly diverse in any way you can imagine,
42:54
Speaker 9: including how they get information, how they respond to a president.
42:57
Speaker 9: I think if you just kind of came from Mars
42:59
Speaker 9: and you just asked an American do you support disarming
43:04
Speaker 9: Iran or not? Americans would say a majority would say yes,
43:09
Speaker 9: I support disarming Iran. But once you introduced partisan politics,
43:13
Speaker 9: once you introduce the negativism of the media, it becomes polarized.
43:18
Speaker 9: And so President Trump has to stay the course even
43:20
Speaker 9: if opinion seems to be tilting against him in some ways.
43:24
Speaker 1: And in New York Times story the day after the
43:26
Speaker 1: Nixon speech, Nixon does not reach the greatest television audience ever,
43:31
Speaker 1: which was one hundred and twenty five million for people
43:33
Speaker 1: landing on the moon. Some things don't change. I'll be
43:35
Speaker 1: right back with Matt Continetty's pay to Lorgan'm back in America.
43:42
Speaker 1: I'm Hewitt. Matt Continetti is Joe with me. He of
43:45
Speaker 1: the Wall Street Journal, the AI. Are you still writing
43:48
Speaker 1: for the Free Press, Matt.
43:52
Speaker 9: No, I moved all my writing to the Wall Street
43:54
Speaker 9: Journal and the Free Expression Newsletter, which is so graciously plugged.
43:59
Speaker 6: That's where you can read my writing now.
44:00
Speaker 2: I love reading it there.
44:01
Speaker 1: I love that you're working with Jack Butler as well
44:03
Speaker 1: as an old intern of the UUHL who are very
44:06
Speaker 1: pleased about the new continenty mentorship of young mister Butler.
44:11
Speaker 1: Let me talk about your column from March twenty seven,
44:14
Speaker 1: Finish the job in Iran. I got the sense last
44:17
Speaker 1: night he said, oh, maybe two to three weeks, but
44:20
Speaker 1: it's going to be as long as it takes. I
44:22
Speaker 1: think do you agree with that?
44:24
Speaker 6: There is something to that, Hugh. Of course, you know.
44:27
Speaker 9: I think President Trump's favorite number is two weeks, because
44:30
Speaker 9: no matter the context of the issue, if he wants
44:33
Speaker 9: to give himself time to make a decision, he always
44:36
Speaker 9: says two to three weeks or you know, ten or
44:38
Speaker 9: twelve days, right, And so there was some of that
44:41
Speaker 9: to the speech last night. What he's signaling is that
44:44
Speaker 9: he is going to continue this operation until its military
44:48
Speaker 9: objectives are complete. And once those military objectives are complete,
44:52
Speaker 9: there will be consequences, most certainly consequences within Iran, right.
44:58
Speaker 9: I point out in that column you mentioned, and you know,
45:00
Speaker 9: it's hard to kind of launch a mass mobilization against
45:04
Speaker 9: your government when bombs are falling from the sky. I
45:07
Speaker 9: think most people expect that it won't be until after
45:09
Speaker 9: the bombs stop dropping that the Iranian people come out
45:13
Speaker 9: and force to protest. And when that happens, of course,
45:16
Speaker 9: there will be decisions for this president and for the
45:19
Speaker 9: Israelis as well.
45:20
Speaker 6: President Trump said help is on the way.
45:22
Speaker 9: For the American people, for the Iranian people too, and
45:26
Speaker 9: the powers there. The help is there, and I think
45:29
Speaker 9: he's ready to use it.
45:31
Speaker 1: So about the one question of I'm just divided in
45:35
Speaker 1: mind myself, should we take out their electrical grid at
45:38
Speaker 1: least in Tehran, Kum and a few other major cities,
45:43
Speaker 1: President said he could blinker the lights out.
45:45
Speaker 2: I'm sure we can. Along with the ISRAELI ought we
45:48
Speaker 2: to do that.
45:51
Speaker 4: I think it should be a last resort.
45:53
Speaker 9: You know, it's interesting even when the President in his
45:55
Speaker 9: speech last night mentioned the energy industry, he said that,
45:59
Speaker 9: you know, while we took out the IRGC positions on
46:02
Speaker 9: carg Island, we didn't hit the oil because and he
46:05
Speaker 9: said that would hurt the Iranians in long run. He's
46:08
Speaker 9: still thinking about Iran's recovery under a different government and
46:11
Speaker 9: under a different regime and foreign policy.
46:14
Speaker 6: So knocking out the electricity I.
46:17
Speaker 9: Think would hinder that as well, and so Trump's reluctant
46:21
Speaker 9: to do it. However, again, you do get the impression
46:23
Speaker 9: from the speech that Trump is ready to escalate if
46:26
Speaker 9: the Iranians remain kind of stubbornly dug in hiding in
46:30
Speaker 9: their bunkers concealing the missile launchers, that the electricity in
46:36
Speaker 9: those locations you mentioned could be an eventual target.
46:39
Speaker 1: What do you think about a tip for tat. You
46:41
Speaker 1: strike at a tanker, will blow up a refinery. You
46:45
Speaker 1: hit a second tanker, we'll take out a power station.
46:49
Speaker 1: It seems to me that that's deterrence.
46:50
Speaker 2: What do you think?
46:52
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean we're already seeing a little bit of that,
46:54
Speaker 9: and I think kind of the Iranian threats to.
46:56
Speaker 6: Go after our Gulf allies.
46:58
Speaker 9: Energy infrastructure and desalinization plants have been one reason we
47:03
Speaker 9: haven't gone after kind of the energy and electricity network
47:07
Speaker 9: of the Iranian regime.
47:08
Speaker 6: What I'd like to see, Hugh, is.
47:10
Speaker 9: Us take an approach to the Persian Gulf that we
47:13
Speaker 9: took to the Venezuela coast and say, look, these tankers
47:18
Speaker 9: there ares they're illegally.
47:19
Speaker 6: Shipping this oil. We can take the oil.
47:22
Speaker 9: We can use our naval operations to board those tankers
47:26
Speaker 9: and hold them. That I think would get the attention
47:28
Speaker 9: of the Iranians very quickly.
47:30
Speaker 2: All right, let's talk about our non allies.
47:33
Speaker 1: Kiris Starmer got blasted by former Vice President Mike Pence.
47:37
Speaker 2: Today.
47:38
Speaker 1: Mccrome came out with about the least de gaulle like
47:42
Speaker 1: Center remarks I've ever heard. What do you think happens
47:46
Speaker 1: to the NATO relationships here?
47:50
Speaker 9: Well, the relationships are deteriorating, There's no question about that.
47:54
Speaker 9: It's been going on for a couple months now. I
47:56
Speaker 9: think the whole Greenland episode also contributed to the deterioration
48:00
Speaker 9: of the relationship. I think in some ways the Europeans
48:03
Speaker 9: and kind of a petty fashion are getting back at
48:06
Speaker 9: America now because of Greenland. But this is not in
48:11
Speaker 9: anyone's interest and it's really a bad sign for the
48:15
Speaker 9: future of the Alliance. There has to be reciprocity here
48:18
Speaker 9: and for europe just to expect a free ride in
48:22
Speaker 9: America to do all the work all the time, that's
48:25
Speaker 9: not healthy. It's not healthy for the Europeans who not
48:28
Speaker 9: only face the Russian threat, but as it has been
48:31
Speaker 9: made clear by these Iranian missile launches such as the
48:34
Speaker 9: failed attack on our base at Diego, Garcia, they face.
48:37
Speaker 6: An Iranian threat too.
48:39
Speaker 9: So I think this is really a case of cutting
48:43
Speaker 9: off your nose to spite your face on the part
48:45
Speaker 9: of our NATO allies.
48:47
Speaker 1: I want to switch away from Iran to birthright citizenship.
48:50
Speaker 1: In eighteen thirty three, Chief Justice Marshalls said in a
48:52
Speaker 1: case bearing to Baltimore about whether or not Baltimore owed
48:56
Speaker 1: damages to mister Baron for destroying his wharf before or
49:00
Speaker 1: the Bill of Rights was made applicable to the States.
49:04
Speaker 1: The Chief Justice then said, this is a case of
49:06
Speaker 1: great importance, but not much difficulty. I think that the
49:09
Speaker 1: birthright citizenship case is the same. It's of great importance
49:12
Speaker 1: and not much difficulty. It's not gonna happen. Do you
49:16
Speaker 1: think that the President got sort of figured that out
49:18
Speaker 1: listening yesterday and went home and determined to fire Pam
49:21
Speaker 1: Bondi for not telling him that.
49:25
Speaker 9: I'm not sure that's why he fired Pam Bondy, who
49:28
Speaker 9: I think he may have been frustrated with the direction
49:30
Speaker 9: of many of the questions of the justices. I, for
49:33
Speaker 9: my sins, I listened to all two and a half
49:35
Speaker 9: hours of oral argument, so I kind of, you know,
49:38
Speaker 9: I got the sense actually by the end that the
49:42
Speaker 9: eventual decision maybe closer than some people anticipate. I think
49:45
Speaker 9: right now people are anticipating either you know, eight to
49:48
Speaker 9: one or seven to two against the government's position, that is,
49:51
Speaker 9: upholding birthright citizenship. But especially when the ACLU lawyer kind
49:56
Speaker 9: of gave the plaintiff's argument, I sensed among some of
49:59
Speaker 9: the justices, some of the Republican appointees, kind of an
50:03
Speaker 9: intellectual struggle. You know, what does it mean to be
50:06
Speaker 9: born under the jurisdiction thereof of the United States.
50:11
Speaker 2: So I had great.
50:12
Speaker 1: Schooling I said about substant due process. It's got to
50:15
Speaker 1: be deeply rooted in our history and tradition. Even during
50:18
Speaker 1: the Great Migration eighteen eighty and nineteen twenty, we never
50:22
Speaker 1: ever worried about whether people came to Ellis Islands. Once
50:25
Speaker 1: you were here, Ali, Ali, Infrey, you were born here,
50:28
Speaker 1: you were going to stay here. I just cannot see
50:30
Speaker 1: them not ruling birthright citizenship. And I expect eight one,
50:36
Speaker 1: maybe even nine zero, But there is this statutory off ramp,
50:39
Speaker 1: which I don't want to get in the weeds with you. Instead,
50:41
Speaker 1: I want to ask you about Bondi. If it wasn't
50:44
Speaker 1: the argument, what do you think had Pam Bondi run
50:48
Speaker 1: out of time with Donald Trump?
50:50
Speaker 9: Well, I think it's pretty clear that there was a
50:53
Speaker 9: series of mismanaged decisions from the Justice Department over the
50:57
Speaker 9: past year and primarily surrounding the releases the Epstein files.
51:01
Speaker 9: And this is the way I think for Trump to
51:03
Speaker 9: kind of clear the decks, move on and chart a
51:06
Speaker 9: new course with another Attorney General.
51:08
Speaker 2: So we're out of time, Matt.
51:09
Speaker 1: I just want to know quickly. Are you watching the
51:11
Speaker 1: fiftieth season of The Survivor?
51:15
Speaker 6: No, my family watching American Idol?
51:17
Speaker 2: You okay, I'm.
51:19
Speaker 1: Not watching either. I'm just Ben Dominich is watching it.
51:22
Speaker 1: I'm kind of surprised by that. I'm just checking in
51:24
Speaker 1: with the millennials.
51:25
Speaker 9: I know.
51:26
Speaker 1: I'm Matt Continetti. Thank you for him on Exit continenty.
51:29
Speaker 1: Read him in the Wall Street Journal.
51:30
Speaker 2: Look for his work
51:31
Speaker 1: Coming out of the American Enterprise Institute.