Latest / The Hugh Hewitt Show: Highly Concentrated / USS Theodore Roosevelt leaves San Diego for Middle East

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USS Theodore Roosevelt leaves San Diego for Middle East · The Hugh Hewitt Show: Highly Concentrated

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to today's podcast, sponsored by Hillsdale College. All things
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Hillsdale at hillsdale.edu. I encourage you to take advantage of
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the many free online courses there. And of course, to
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  Speaker 1: listen to the Hillsdale Dialogues, all of them at hueforhillsdale.com
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  Speaker 1: or just Google Apple, iTunes, and Hillsdale. Morning, glory, and
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  Speaker 1: be great to America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Thank you for
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  Speaker 1: watching the program today. We are, of course, on Fast TV, Roku,
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  Speaker 1: Pluto TV, Samsung, Amazon. If you want to watch us
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  Speaker 1: from three until six, or you can listen on the
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  Speaker 1: Salem Radio Network or any of our wonderful affiliates. Welcome
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  Speaker 1: to the program. Biggest news of the day, released by
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  Speaker 1: the Wall Street Journal, the USS Theodore Roosevelt departed from
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  Speaker 1: San Diego Port on Sunday. It's going to the Middle East.
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  Speaker 1: That will make three of our 11 carriers on deployment,
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  Speaker 1: off or within striking distance of Iran. Even as Secretary
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  Speaker 1: Hegseth extends the 82nd Airborne's deployment to the region... it's
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  Speaker 1: a message to Iran, go quietly into the night, because
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  Speaker 1: we're not going to lift the blockade, we're not going
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  Speaker 1: to do a deal with you, and if you shoot
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  Speaker 1: at us, it's all, it's Katie bar the door. They
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  Speaker 1: already knew that about Israel, which is why they have
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  Speaker 1: not shot at Israel. Meanwhile, however, concerns grow that Iran
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  Speaker 1: is just pulling out every stop it can to try
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  Speaker 1: and get some attention paid to it, including the attack
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  Speaker 1: in Great Britain, which they were behind. The government of
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  Speaker 1: Iran was behind that. It was foiled. And now comes
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  Speaker 1: word from both Abu Dhabi and President Trump that the
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  Speaker 1: attempt to crash the Israeli-bound air flight yesterday was part
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  Speaker 1: of Iran's war on the West and Israel. The president
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  Speaker 1: spoke on the White House lawn earlier today, cut number four.
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  Speaker 2: Has anybody briefed you about whether or not the guy,
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  Speaker 2: the pilot of the fly-by plane is linked to Iran?
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  Speaker 3: We're working on it right now. They're being very open
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  Speaker 3: with us. I would say the answer, based on what
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  Speaker 3: I'm hearing, is yes. But we're working on it right now.
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  Speaker 2: So this guy might have been either put in there
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  Speaker 2: by the IRDC or.
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  Speaker 1: Ratified some other way, and then he tried to take
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  Speaker 1: down the plane.
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  Speaker 3: Could have been, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Could have been. In the Times of Israel, it's reported
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  Speaker 1: that he was, and on wire services, UAE is leading
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  Speaker 1: that direction as well. Again, it appears to me between
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  Speaker 1: the aborted attack in Great Britain, the almost murder of
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  Speaker 1: 174 passengers yesterday, Iran is pulling out all the stops
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  Speaker 1: it can in its global terror network. Then the president
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  Speaker 1: was asked on the White House lawn about the attack
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  Speaker 1: in Great Britain, cut number five.
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  Speaker 4: Do you know why the U.K.
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  Speaker 5: Prisoners were released?
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  Speaker 3: Have you talked to the prime minister? No, I was
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  Speaker 3: surprised that we are going to speak. They were released
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  Speaker 3: on bail. I have a lot of respect, however, for
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  Speaker 3: Scotland Yard. I think they know what they're doing, but
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  Speaker 3: I was a little bit surprised.
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  Speaker 1: I was a little bit surprised, too. I don't know
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  Speaker 1: about you, I was. The president was then asked about
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  Speaker 1: our allies and will he stick with them, cut number six.
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  Speaker 1: The U.S. special envoy to Iraq said.
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  Speaker 6: Leaving Iraq does not mean abandoning their allies.
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  Speaker 3: Do you think and say they.
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  Speaker 1: Will be successful?
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  Speaker 3: I will never abandon our allies.
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  Speaker 1: All right, I love hearing that. I will never abandon
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  Speaker 1: our allies. Take that to the bank. Also reiterated what
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  Speaker 1: he has been saying since January, cut number eight.
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  Speaker 3: They cannot have nuclear weapons, and they won't have, and
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  Speaker 3: they're agreeing not to have.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, no nuclear weapons. We've heard that, but he likes
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  Speaker 1: to say it every day. Finally, the president on the
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  Speaker 1: White House lawn on whether or not he'll endorse in
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  Speaker 1: the 2028 race to succeed him. Cut number seven.
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  Speaker 2: Are you going to endorse someone in 2029?
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  Speaker 3: We have a great bench of people. We have tremendous people.
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  Speaker 3: The Democrats don't have a bench at all. We have
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  Speaker 3: a great bench.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, I opened the morning on Stuart Varney's program right
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  Speaker 1: after Stuart did a fine monologue on Trump. remarkable heroics
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  Speaker 1: on the Fly Abu Dhabi flight yesterday where the wounded
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  Speaker 1: captain managed to get the door open. Then a passenger,
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  Speaker 1: the plumber, runs in, grabs the hijacker by the neck,
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  Speaker 1: drags him out. His friends help subdue the killer or
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  Speaker 1: would-be killer. And then the backup pilots from Fly Abu
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  Speaker 1: Dhabi get into the cockpit and fly the plane. So
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  Speaker 1: a miracle, but based on courage. Cut number 14. This
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  Speaker 1: is me with Stuart Varney this morning.
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  Speaker 7: Hugh Hewitt joins us now. The Republicans must be very
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  Speaker 7: worried if the president is campaigning like this in red states.
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  Speaker 7: He's worried, isn't he?
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  Speaker 1: Well, good morning, Stuart. It's good that the president and
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  Speaker 1: the vice president are out there. I hope they're out
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  Speaker 1: there all 31 days in October and the first three
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  Speaker 1: days in November. Can I just pause? I love your
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  Speaker 1: opening take. It's always so inspiring to see courage, and
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  Speaker 1: I love that it's put up on top. because it's
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  Speaker 1: rare to see that kind of courage on display, and
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  Speaker 1: we know it's the first virtue upon which all other
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  Speaker 1: virtues depend. That's from Aristotle through Churchill. And, boy, it's
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  Speaker 1: great to start the morning with that story. The president
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  Speaker 1: began the morning when he was going to Texas because
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  Speaker 1: he's got to give Ken Paxton a boost. Tallarico is
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  Speaker 1: a pretty awful candidate, but nevertheless, he's got lots of money,
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  Speaker 1: and that's pouring in. And I want the vice president
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  Speaker 1: everywhere because we've got a good story to tell. If
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  Speaker 1: you're a Republican, the GDP revisions yesterday, last quarter up
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  Speaker 1: to 2.2 percent from 1.5 percent, the first quarter up
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  Speaker 1: to 2.5 percent. inflation down to 3.4 percent, and we
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  Speaker 1: are beating Iran and beating them like a rug. I
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  Speaker 1: think that will begin to show up in the markets
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  Speaker 1: and at the pump very, very soon.
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  Speaker 7: The message that is going out there is very positive
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  Speaker 7: about America. I just think, though, that maybe $ 4 gas
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  Speaker 7: and $ 6 diesel overpowers that positive message.
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  Speaker 8: We shall see.
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  Speaker 1: Now, I do know that we would like the price
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  Speaker 1: of gas to go down. Gas oils up a little
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  Speaker 1: bit today on the news of a suspected Iranian connection
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  Speaker 1: to both the terror incident on the airplane and the
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  Speaker 1: attack on the RAF base or the aborted attack on
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  Speaker 1: the RAF base. But the market is the market. If
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  Speaker 1: the product is there, the price will reflect the amount
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  Speaker 1: of product, and the product is getting out. Something we
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  Speaker 1: did not have a chance to do with you yesterday,
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  Speaker 1: for our friends in Alaska, Dan Sullivan is running for
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  Speaker 1: re-election up there. had an Oval Office presser with President
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  Speaker 1: Trump on the largest liquid natural gas facility anywhere in
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  Speaker 1: the United States that will be open in Alaska with
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  Speaker 1: the permits provided by the administration through the constant advocacy
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  Speaker 1: of Senator Dan Sullivan. Cut number 15.
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  Speaker 9: This is the project that is going to keep our
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  Speaker 9: kids and grandkids in Alaska with a great bright future.
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  Speaker 9: This is the project that our state has been working
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  Speaker 9: on to try to get done for almost a half century.
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  Speaker 9: And the reason is it's going to deliver low-cost energy
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  Speaker 9: to Alaskans, to our churches, to our schools, our hospitals,
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  Speaker 9: our businesses.
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  Speaker 5: And we need low-cost energy.
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  Speaker 9: This will deliver low-cost energy to Alaskans for 50 to
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  Speaker 9: 100 years, not to mention our military, which we're all
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  Speaker 9: working together to grow our military, a huge military buildup.
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  Speaker 5: They need the energy, as you said, Mr.
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  Speaker 9: President, 12,000 jobs just to build this project. And this
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  Speaker 9: could unleash all kinds of other opportunities in Alaska.
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  Speaker 1: It's a great win for Alaska. It's a great win
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  Speaker 1: for Dan Sullivan and for the administration. Now I want
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  Speaker 1: to turn to a speech that was given by Secretary
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  Speaker 1: of War Pete Hegseth yesterday. It was not to the
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  Speaker 1: general officers. He did that last year. There's a mixture
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  Speaker 1: of high-low from NCOs up to general officers. First of all,
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  Speaker 1: he repeated a line he used last year, cut number nine.
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  Speaker 10: But it's worth saying again so that the fake news
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  Speaker 10: understands it. We are no longer the woke department or
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  Speaker 10: the weak department. Simple translation of that. No fatties, no trannies,
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  Speaker 10: no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals.
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  Speaker 5: Just warriors.
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  Speaker 1: Just warriors. It's a good, good message. Just warriors. Let's
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  Speaker 1: get one more clip in from yesterday. He announces Project Meridian,
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  Speaker 1: cut number 10.
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  Speaker 10: And that's why today, at my direction, I'm announcing Project Meridian,
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  Speaker 10: an effort led by America's best minds to.
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  Speaker 5: Study the future of warfare.
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  Speaker 10: Under the leadership of the department's chief technology officer, Emil Michael,
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  Speaker 10: Project Meridian will be co-led by three of our nation's
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  Speaker 10: best minds. Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey, and Newt Gingrich, all
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  Speaker 10: of whom are up in the audience with us today.
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  Speaker 10: Please stand if you would.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, they got Palmer out of his Hawaii shirt.
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  Speaker 1: Palmer Luckey's from Orange County. And on the rare occasions
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  Speaker 1: where I've spotted him, Palmer's always wearing a Hawaiian shirt.
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  Speaker 1: And He put on a jacket today, I guess, because
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  Speaker 1: among all those general officers. Those three guys are visionary.
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  Speaker 1: They take it all in. Newt's older, but nothing gets
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  Speaker 1: past Newt. Elon's been thinking about this forever. Palmer Luckey's
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  Speaker 1: making it out of the Anduril factory in Columbus, Ohio,
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  Speaker 1: and across the United States. So I think Project Meridian
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  Speaker 1: is an absolutely fabulous thing to have. It's sort of
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  Speaker 1: like when we had Andy Marshall. in the basement of
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  Speaker 1: the Pentagon thinking big thoughts about the future of warfare.
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  Speaker 1: I'll take that trio. I hope they get to work
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  Speaker 1: real soon. I hope they think hard and fast about
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  Speaker 1: how war is going to look in 15, 20, 25 years.
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  Speaker 1: Their recommendations will no doubt shake up a lot of
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  Speaker 1: the brass. Doesn't mean they will be accepted. It does
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  Speaker 1: mean it's useful to have them. We come back. Secretary
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  Speaker 1: Ed South had more to say at Quantico in his
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  Speaker 1: address to the assembled brass and officers from NCOs to
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  Speaker 1: the top. Don't go anywhere. I've got lots more cuts
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  Speaker 1: of that. I've got Hassan Piker. I've got Prime Minister
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  Speaker 1: Netanyahu from tomorrow. We've got Senator Cotton coming up. Stay
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  Speaker 1: tuned to The Hugh Hewitt Show.
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  Speaker 2: Has anybody briefed you about whether or not that the guy,
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  Speaker 2: the pilot of the fly-by plane is linked to Iran?
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  Speaker 3: We're working on it right now. They're being very open
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  Speaker 3: with us. I would say the answer, based on what
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: I'm hearing, is yes. But we're working on it right now.
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  Speaker 2: So this guy might have been either put in there
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  Speaker 2: by the IRDC or ratified some.
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  Speaker 3: Other way, and then you guys just made that point.
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  Speaker 5: It could have been, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Could have been. Eliana Johnson joins The Hugh Gillis Show now.
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  Speaker 1: She's editor in chief of The Free Beacon. She is,
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  Speaker 1: of course, a regular on the commentary podcast. Must listen
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  Speaker 1: to like and subscribe. Eliana, are you surprised by the
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  Speaker 1: president's statement on the White House lawn today?
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  Speaker 11: I'm not surprised by a statement at all. I suspect
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  Speaker 11: this is the case. particularly coming just about a week
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  Speaker 11: after five, quote unquote, you know, British nationals were arrested
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  Speaker 11: for plotting a terror attack on British soil.
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  Speaker 8: I suspect that.
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  Speaker 11: Iran now understanding that the Strait of Hormuz is essentially
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  Speaker 11: open has resorted to asymmetric attacks like this to terrorism,
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  Speaker 11: which is, as we both know, Hugh, it's bread and butter.
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  Speaker 8: This is what Iran has been doing for decades.
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  Speaker 1: Do you have an idea, though, what thought they might
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  Speaker 1: possibly they're not rational, but they are fanatics. So even
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  Speaker 1: in their fever dreams, how do they think that terrorism
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  Speaker 1: is going to help them right now? Eliana.
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  Speaker 11: Oh, I think their view is that they're lashing out
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  Speaker 11: against the Israelis and hoping that Trump would make an
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  Speaker 11: effort to constrain the Israelis.
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  Speaker 8: And the goal of this is fear. to instill fear.
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  Speaker 11: There were 174 civilians aboard this aircraft, and this would
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  Speaker 11: have caused absolute terror, and people would have said, this
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  Speaker 11: is a result of the Iran war.
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  Speaker 8: This is what you get when you mess with the Iranians.
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  Speaker 3: Don't do it.
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  Speaker 1: Do you agree with me that the back is broken
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  Speaker 1: of Iran, and it's a mop-up operation at this point,
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  Speaker 1: and that regime is due to collapse?
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  Speaker 8: I certainly hope that's true, Hugh.
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  Speaker 11: I mean, what we can say with certainty is that
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  Speaker 11: the strait is essentially open. Oil is transiting through that
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  Speaker 11: strait again. And we even see mainstream media, which has
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  Speaker 11: been the biggest skeptic of this war from the outset,
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  Speaker 11: writing articles acknowledging this to be the case. And I'm
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  Speaker 11: convinced that that is why we see Iran resorting to
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  Speaker 11: terrorism again. We know essentially for sure that that's what
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  Speaker 11: happened in Great Britain. And we have a strong suspicion
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  Speaker 11: that that's what happened here over the skies in the
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  Speaker 11: Middle East.
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  Speaker 1: Now, if I were a reporter anywhere near Abdul El-Sayed,
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  Speaker 1: I would be asking him point blank, do you want
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  Speaker 1: the IRGC regime to fall? Do you think he would
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  Speaker 1: answer the questions?
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  Speaker 11: I think we know the answer to that, Hugh. We
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  Speaker 11: saw a University of Michigan Persian student ask him to
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  Speaker 11: say whether he was happy, whether he could cheer the
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  Speaker 11: demise of the Ayatollah, and he wouldn't answer that question.
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  Speaker 11: So does he want the regime to fall? I think
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  Speaker 11: we know the answer to that question. He was pretty
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  Speaker 11: clear in simply avoiding the question because I think he
• 14:02
  Speaker 11: understands that the radical Islamists in Dearborn and across Michigan
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  Speaker 11: are an important part of his constituency. And I think
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  Speaker 11: we know what he actually believes in his heart.
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  Speaker 1: I agree with you, Eliana. I don't think he's going
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  Speaker 1: to win because I do think we know. But let
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  Speaker 1: me ask you about the piece at the top of
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  Speaker 1: the Free Beacon today. His first ad says he erased
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: $ 700 million in medical debt while Wayne County Health Commissioner.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, it's $ 47 million. How did you get on
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  Speaker 1: to this story? Is it getting picked up?
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  Speaker 11: I think we're going to need to wait a little
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  Speaker 11: bit to see. I don't think it's getting the pickup
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  Speaker 11: it deserves, I have to be honest. And health insurance,
• 14:45
  Speaker 11: health costs are playing an enormous role, both in this
• 14:48
  Speaker 11: Michigan race. He's campaigning on Medicare for all. He's campaigning
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  Speaker 11: on his record of supposedly having wiped out hundreds of
• 14:55
  Speaker 11: millions of dollars in medical debt.
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  Speaker 8: And those claims just aren't true.
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  Speaker 11: I would point out to readers and to listeners, Hugh,
• 15:02
  Speaker 11: that when we went to his campaign spokeswoman and asked
• 15:06
  Speaker 11: about the discrepancy in the numbers, which came through FOIA requests,
• 15:09
  Speaker 11: this is a document-based story. The numbers are the numbers.
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  Speaker 11: She said she did not dispute those numbers. The claim
• 15:17
  Speaker 11: is essentially, well, his aspiration was to wipe out hundreds
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  Speaker 11: of millions of dollars. But that is not what it
• 15:22
  Speaker 11: says in his ad, which is entirely misleading.
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  Speaker 1: Well, there's a big difference between I got rid of
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: $ 700 million of medical debt and 47. It's not even 110.
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  Speaker 11: Yeah, there's a lot of things I'd like to do, too,
• 15:36
  Speaker 11: that I wouldn't put in my campaign ads stating that
• 15:39
  Speaker 11: I'd achieved the feat.
• 15:41
  Speaker 8: You know, I'd like to be an Olympic athlete.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we don't know. There's a couple. You could get
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: the skates out and start going. Okay, Eliana, you're a
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: Minnesota girl, so I have to ask you. I hate
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: to even bring up in jinx Michelle Tafoya. That race
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: looks like a dead heat, but Minnesota is what Pennsylvania
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: used to be, the football that we always think we're
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: going to kick, and we haven't kicked in 20 years.
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  Speaker 1: What do you think?
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  Speaker 11: I'm a huge fan of Michelle Tafoya, Hugh. I think
• 16:08
  Speaker 11: she's running a fantastic race against a radical left-wing opponent.
• 16:12
  Speaker 8: But I have to say.
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  Speaker 11: Even in good Republican years, Minnesota has been the lone
• 16:17
  Speaker 11: Democratic holdout. It is surrounded by states that have gone
• 16:21
  Speaker 11: from purple to red, including Iowa, including Ohio, including North
• 16:25
  Speaker 11: and South Dakota. So it is an island of blue
• 16:29
  Speaker 11: in a sea of red. And it is very hard
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  Speaker 11: for me to see that seat going red in a
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  Speaker 11: year that is tough for Republicans.
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  Speaker 1: Now, in some races, there's an overarching story that doesn't
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  Speaker 1: make it through to the national headlines. In Minnesota, it's
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  Speaker 1: the Fraud Consortium, the sort of Fraud R Us, Fraud Inc.,
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  Speaker 1: that became the Twin Cities. Does that not matter anymore?
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Because Peggy Flanagan was right in the middle of it.
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  Speaker 8: Oh, I mean, it was incredible, Hugh.
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  Speaker 11: There was like a 3,000 or 4,000-word Star Tribune story
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  Speaker 11: all about how the fraud happened on Tim Walz's watch.
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  Speaker 11: He's just too good a delegator, and he was delegating
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  Speaker 11: to people who even they didn't see the fraud.
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  Speaker 8: And here's how it happened.
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  Speaker 11: Well, that piece did not mention Peggy Flanagan, his lieutenant governor.
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  Speaker 8: And I'm sure you can guess why. It's because she's
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  Speaker 8: running for the U.S. Senate.
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  Speaker 11: It also didn't mention attorney general, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison,
• 17:23
  Speaker 11: because he has national aspirations.
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  Speaker 8: So this was a very calculated piece. This is how
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  Speaker 8: local media is covering it. But I would also say.
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  Speaker 11: Amy Klobuchar is at the top of the ticket in
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  Speaker 11: Minnesota running for governor, and I suspect she's going to
• 17:36
  Speaker 11: take quite a hard line against this fraud, which will
• 17:39
  Speaker 11: help Democrats, and she will throw the Walls administration under
• 17:43
  Speaker 11: the bus. And I suspect as well that we will
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  Speaker 11: see a presidential bid from her in 2028, and this
• 17:50
  Speaker 11: will be one of her main lines when she launches
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  Speaker 11: a 2028 bid.
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  Speaker 1: When she throws them under the bus, does Peggy Flanagan
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  Speaker 1: go under the wheels at the same time? 100%. I
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: hope so. Eliana Y. Johnson, follower on X, go read
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: the Washington Free Beacon story about the Abdul El-Sayed big lie,
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: 700 million versus 47 million. I have posted it at
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: my X account. Thank you, Eliana. Grace America, I'm Hugh Hewitt.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: We begin this hour with United States Senator Tom Cotton.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: He is chair of the Republican Conference in the United
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: States Senate. He's also the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: He's up for reelection right now, running hard down in Arkansas.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: He's a little down in the dumps because when he
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: went to Harvard and Harvard lost, he became a Red
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Sox fan, invasion of the body snatcher stuff. And they
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: got run out of town last night, Senator. What can
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: I say?
• 18:41
  Speaker 12: It was not a great series for the... Boston Red Sox, Hugh,
• 18:47
  Speaker 12: but congratulations to the New York Yankees, and good luck
• 18:50
  Speaker 12: to the Cleveland Guardians. Once again, pulled off a great
• 18:54
  Speaker 12: comeback at the end of the season, and we'll be
• 18:55
  Speaker 12: hosting a team that's made an even greater comeback, the
• 18:58
  Speaker 12: Chicago White Sox, who might be going to that series
• 19:00
  Speaker 12: with the blessings of the Pope.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: Parker Messick is going to start for the Guardians on Saturday,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: the lefty who should be Rookie of the Year. We
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: will see. I want to begin, Senator Cotton, because your
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: name came up across Hasan Piker's lips yesterday. Let me
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: play this for the audience. Cut number one.
• 19:17
  Speaker 13: I am once again reaffirming my commitment to re-education camps.
• 19:23
  Speaker 13: Re-education camp for this man. This man needs to be
• 19:27
  Speaker 13: saved because obviously he is a deep moral rot.
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: Okay?
• 19:35
  Speaker 13: Salvation can happen for Tom Cotton only with state-sponsored re-education camps.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: What do you object to the most, being judged by
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: a communist radical or that the communist radical is so stupid?
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: as to not know what a re-education camp really means?
• 19:54
  Speaker 12: Well, Hugh, I'm not that concerned about what Hassan Piker
• 19:58
  Speaker 12: believes or says about me. I am concerned, though, that
• 20:02
  Speaker 12: someone who's so prominent in the Democratic Party is appealing
• 20:06
  Speaker 12: to one of the most horrific parts of the legacy
• 20:11
  Speaker 12: of Russian communism and Chinese communism, re-education camps. involve rounding
• 20:19
  Speaker 12: up opponents of the regime and the party, shipping them off,
• 20:24
  Speaker 12: starving them, torturing them, indoctrinating them. That's what Hassan Piker
• 20:30
  Speaker 12: says he wants to do to me and apparently plenty.
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: Of other people.
• 20:33
  Speaker 12: But he only does that, says that about us because
• 20:36
  Speaker 12: we represent the voters in places like Arkansas. That's who
• 20:39
  Speaker 12: he really wants to do it to is conservatives and
• 20:42
  Speaker 12: Republicans all across this country. And the fact that Abdul
• 20:46
  Speaker 12: El-Sayed in Michigan campaign openly and happily with Hassan Piker
• 20:51
  Speaker 12: tells you just how radical not only El-Sayed is, but
• 20:55
  Speaker 12: how radical the Democratic Party has become. When we talk
• 20:58
  Speaker 12: about the Democratic Socialists of America, it's not soft, cuddly,
• 21:02
  Speaker 12: like Denmark-type social democracy. It is this kind of communism, Hugh.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: Now, do you think he actually has any idea what
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: he's talking about? Because Re-education camps are also a feature,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: not a bug, of Vietnamese communism. Tens of thousands of
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: people go. Half don't come back. China's got the biggest
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: gulag that way. I don't think Stalin bothered with dressing
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: them up with any name other than prison camp and gulag.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: But do you think he actually knows what he's– I
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: think he's stupid myself, but what do you think?
• 21:35
  Speaker 12: No, most of these radical Democrats are pretty well steeped
• 21:40
  Speaker 12: in the history and the practices and the doctrine of communism.
• 21:44
  Speaker 12: And they know exactly what they're talking about. And again,
• 21:47
  Speaker 12: it's not so much me that he wants to send
• 21:49
  Speaker 12: to the re-education camps or you or other prominent Republicans
• 21:53
  Speaker 12: or conservative voices. It's the people that we represent. And that's, again,
• 21:57
  Speaker 12: the history of re-education camps and all of those communist
• 22:01
  Speaker 12: nations you just listed. It's not just a handful of
• 22:04
  Speaker 12: political leaders or media commentators. It's the people at large.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: So, Senator, I've got you. We are a month and
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: two days away from the election, so I want to
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: run down. You're the chair of the conference. I think
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: you probably have as good a hand on the data
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: as anyone, the races that matter. Susan Collins in Maine,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: I believe she's taken a statistically significant lead. And Troy Jackson,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: is just the most sad sack of a candidate you
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: can ever imagine. Are you feeling pretty good about Susan Collins?
• 22:38
  Speaker 12: Hugh, I always feel good about Susan Collins' elections. She
• 22:41
  Speaker 12: has been delivering for the Pine Tree State for 30
• 22:44
  Speaker 12: years now. Just look at her record of success and
• 22:48
  Speaker 12: how she's a champion and voice for all Mainers in
• 22:51
  Speaker 12: the United States Senate. Contrast that with the Maine Democrats.
• 22:54
  Speaker 12: They somehow managed to nominate not one, but two radicals, Hugh.
• 22:58
  Speaker 12: The first one, they had to drop because he had
• 23:00
  Speaker 12: a Nazi tattoo and abused women. Troy Jackson may not
• 23:03
  Speaker 12: have a Nazi tattoo, but he's just as radical as
• 23:06
  Speaker 12: the first one was. He wants to take away your
• 23:08
  Speaker 12: insurance on the job. He wants to defund police. He
• 23:11
  Speaker 12: wants to open up our prisons. Maine cannot afford Troy
• 23:15
  Speaker 12: Jackson in the United States Senate.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: He's also not the sharpest tool in the toolbox. He
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: has really, yesterday he was asked about the definition of genocide,
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: and he completely botched that. So I just don't think
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: he's the threat that we thought he might be or
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: that a Democrat might be. How about a little bit
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: further south in New Hampshire? I don't know if you've
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: visited the Granite State yet, but John Sununu's got the
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: best name in New Hampshire. He's won statewide before. His
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: brother's won. His father's won. What do you think?
• 23:46
  Speaker 12: Yeah, Hugh, I think New Hampshire is going to be
• 23:49
  Speaker 12: a very strong state for us. John Sununu, like you said,
• 23:52
  Speaker 12: like his brother and his father, was an outstanding public
• 23:56
  Speaker 12: servant for the state of New Hampshire. I'm glad that
• 23:58
  Speaker 12: he's coming back. They also have one of the best
• 24:01
  Speaker 12: tickets in the country. Kelly Ayotte, one of the most
• 24:02
  Speaker 12: popular governors in America, is going to win that race
• 24:05
  Speaker 12: by double digits. So I feel very strong that John
• 24:09
  Speaker 12: Sununu is going to be a true champion and true
• 24:11
  Speaker 12: advocate for the Granite State and the U.S.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Senate. All right. Now, switching over to Michigan, I spent
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: all of Tuesday, Abdul El-Sayed Day. I had 79 cuts
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: of Abdul El-Sayed. They're all worse than the one before that.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: I don't know how anyone gets elected with what he said,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: following him around like Jacob Marley in a Christmas carol
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: being followed around by his treasure chest that he stored
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: up in his greedy day. Are you worried about that,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: that the polls show it dead even in the margin
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: of error race?
• 24:43
  Speaker 12: Michigan is a very closely contested state. It has been
• 24:46
  Speaker 12: in most elections, so I expect it will be closely
• 24:48
  Speaker 12: contested until the end, Hugh. But look, Mike Rogers is
• 24:52
  Speaker 12: going to be a great advocate for Michigan in the U.S.
• 24:55
  Speaker 14: Senate.
• 24:56
  Speaker 12: He's going to be fighting for working families, for jobs.
• 24:59
  Speaker 12: a stronger economy for a stronger military. Abdul El-Sayed is
• 25:04
  Speaker 12: a true radical. He's out there campaigning with this Hassan
• 25:07
  Speaker 12: Piker character. He's a sympathizer with Islamic radicalism. I am
• 25:12
  Speaker 12: confident that in the end, the people of Michigan do
• 25:15
  Speaker 12: not want Abdul El-Sayed as their United States senator.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: You work closely on armed services with Dan Sullivan. He
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: had a big win in the Oval yesterday on the
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: LNG export facility in Alaska. president is going to visit Alaska,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: which is a red state. How do you feel about it,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: even with decoy Dan Sullivan, the dirty trick Dan Sullivan
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: on the ballot, and even with their wacky rank choice voting?
• 25:38
  Speaker 12: Well, Dan is going to win that race, Hugh, but
• 25:41
  Speaker 12: it goes to show just how bad the Democratic Party
• 25:44
  Speaker 12: reputation is in states like Alaska. They didn't just have
• 25:47
  Speaker 12: this rank choice voting system, which is specifically designed to
• 25:50
  Speaker 12: try to divide the vote between three Republicans versus one Democrat.
• 25:55
  Speaker 12: Recruit a literal imposter, someone else whose name is Dan Sullivan,
• 25:59
  Speaker 12: who was a Democrat until just two minutes ago, got
• 26:01
  Speaker 12: in the race because they're trying to confuse the voters
• 26:04
  Speaker 12: of Alaska.
• 26:05
  Speaker 5: But here's what the.
• 26:06
  Speaker 12: Alaskan people will not be confused about. Mary Paltola is
• 26:10
  Speaker 12: a liberal. She will be a vote for Chuck Schumer.
• 26:13
  Speaker 12: Dan Sullivan is an independent, strong voice for the high
• 26:17
  Speaker 12: north in the U.S. Senate.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: All right. Ohio and Iowa. I am personally not worried
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: about these two states. Because they are ruby red and
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: they're common sense driven and gas is high, but everything
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: else is falling. The economy is cooking. What do you
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: think about the Midwestern Ohio and Iowa races?
• 26:34
  Speaker 12: We're going to win those races, Hugh. John Husted is
• 26:36
  Speaker 12: off to a great start in the United States Senate.
• 26:38
  Speaker 12: We just voted on his important bill, the Ratepayer Protection Act,
• 26:41
  Speaker 12: which protects normal households from facing increased electricity rates from
• 26:47
  Speaker 12: data centers. Of course, the Democrats blocked it. And Ashley
• 26:50
  Speaker 12: Hinson has been a great representative for Iowa. I've worked
• 26:53
  Speaker 12: with her on many issues, whether it's serving our farmers
• 26:56
  Speaker 12: or protecting our nation. And I think she's a great
• 26:59
  Speaker 12: candidate as well. She's going to be a great senator,
• 27:01
  Speaker 12: just like she was a great representative for the people
• 27:03
  Speaker 12: of Iowa.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: So last question is a double. The Texas race and
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: the fact that Teddy Roosevelt left San Diego today to
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: be the third carrier off the coast of Iran. Your
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: comments on both those. We have a minute and a half.
• 27:17
  Speaker 12: We're going to win the Texas race. Democrats have... been
• 27:20
  Speaker 12: thinking they can win Texas for years. We always end
• 27:22
  Speaker 12: up pulling it out in the end. The people of
• 27:24
  Speaker 12: Texas are not going to let James Palarico, who thinks
• 27:28
  Speaker 12: God is non-binary and there are six genders and you
• 27:31
  Speaker 12: need to apologize for eating meat. And as the Teddy
• 27:34
  Speaker 12: Roosevelt goes, it's always good for the campaign chief to
• 27:37
  Speaker 12: have options when he's facing terrorist fanatics in Iran.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Senator. I appreciate your calling in from the
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: campaign trail. Thank you so much for joining me. Stay tuned.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Welcome back, America. I am Hugh Hewitt. I'm joined by
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: Vic Mattis. Vic is the Weekend Culture and Arts Editor
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: at the Washington Free Beacon. He's the co-host of the
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Getting Hammered podcast. Normally I just talk to him about
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Getting Hammered, but I want to start actually with a
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: book review that you edited by the one and only
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: Raul Marc Gurek. Now, Vic, I've never met Raul Marc Gurek.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: He's kind of a mythical figure to me. I don't
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: really know that he exists. Have you ever actually seen
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: him in a room? Oh yeah.
• 28:19
  Speaker 15: Not only that, uh, Hugh, uh, I once had drinks
• 28:21
  Speaker 15: with him in a bar in Prague. Now, how much
• 28:24
  Speaker 15: more espionage can you level? Can you get than that?
• 28:27
  Speaker 15: I mean, it was a, it was, it was a
• 28:28
  Speaker 15: fun time.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: Uh, he is a very interesting guy.
• 28:31
  Speaker 15: He used to write for the weekly standard magazine under
• 28:34
  Speaker 15: a pseudonym, Edward Shirley.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: Uh, and then once the coast was.
• 28:37
  Speaker 15: Clear, he was able to reveal that he was in
• 28:39
  Speaker 15: fact cruel, correct, which is an even more mysterious name.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: He's a tall fella.
• 28:43
  Speaker 15: So it always baffled me how he was able to
• 28:45
  Speaker 15: be undercover for all those many decades.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Uh, but he certainly got the job done.
• 28:49
  Speaker 15: He has amazing stories, and he's got a lot of
• 28:51
  Speaker 15: experience in central intelligence. And yes, as you mentioned, he
• 28:55
  Speaker 15: did the feature review on a book called Stolen Revolution
• 28:58
  Speaker 15: about sort of the plight of the Iranians after so
• 29:01
  Speaker 15: many decades. And really, a lot of it, you know,
• 29:04
  Speaker 15: the fate is in their hands.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: I am tempted to listen to it. It's from 2022
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: to 2025. It ends after the 12-day war, but before
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: the battles of 2026. It's by Yagana Torbati and Bozga
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: Moore Shara feed in and my apologies for butchering their names.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: All they have to do is go to the free
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: beacon and look down. Uh, when you assign a book
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: like that to correct their role, Mark, correct. Do you
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: call him Mark? Correct. Correct. What do you call him
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: before he shoots you?
• 29:34
  Speaker 15: He, he, yeah, no, he's Ruel.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: He is Ruel. That is his name.
• 29:38
  Speaker 15: Uh, and, and, and just a wonderful, pleasant guy and
• 29:42
  Speaker 15: very funny.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: All right. I've got to meet him sometime. Put that
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: on our list. All right. Now to the getting hammered podcast.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: First of all, knock me over. You play civilization. Yes,
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: I do.
• 29:55
  Speaker 15: And I even wrote about it in a cover story
• 29:57
  Speaker 15: for the weekly standard many, many years ago, And I
• 30:00
  Speaker 15: met the creator of Civilization.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: His name is Sid Meier.
• 30:05
  Speaker 15: And he lives up in Hunt Valley in Maryland.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: A fascinating fellow.
• 30:10
  Speaker 5: He's a Lutheran.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: He goes to church. And he's a serious guy. And
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: he's a genius. Look, you're a millennial. I'm a boomer.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: So maybe that's where game playing gets started. But what
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: is Civilization about? I did not have you fixed as
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: a gamer.
• 30:28
  Speaker 12: Oh, yes.
• 30:29
  Speaker 15: I was really hoping you were going to admit you
• 30:31
  Speaker 15: were playing the same game that I was, but sadly, no.
• 30:34
  Speaker 15: You know, civilization is where you compete against other, you know,
• 30:38
  Speaker 15: rising nations.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: And you can be the Romans or you can be
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: the Babylonians. You could be the Japanese, the Koreans.
• 30:44
  Speaker 15: And then, you know, you're competing around the globe on
• 30:47
  Speaker 15: different continents. You could be the French and you have,
• 30:50
  Speaker 15: you know, different specialty units.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: For example, the.
• 30:53
  Speaker 15: Americans have the Minutemen and they have the B-17s. You know,
• 30:56
  Speaker 15: the Japanese have the samurai. I mean, it's great stuff.
• 30:59
  Speaker 15: And a lot of politics are involved in the takeaway. Well,
• 31:03
  Speaker 15: it's a very geopolitical game is don't trust anyone in
• 31:07
  Speaker 15: all of these nation states.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: I learned that in risk. I learned that in diplomacy.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Every good game is going to teach you they'll screw you, molotov,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: ribbon drop. But let me ask you about, did you
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: play diplomacy in risk first? No, I didn't play diplomacy.
• 31:24
  Speaker 15: I had gone straight to, I played Risk and I
• 31:27
  Speaker 15: played another game called Axis and Allies. And again, you know,
• 31:33
  Speaker 15: these other nations promised to be your friends for what
• 31:35
  Speaker 15: seems like it's going to be forever.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: And of course it's not. And one day they're going
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: to turn on you. And I remember when I.
• 31:41
  Speaker 15: Interviewed Sid Meier about civilization, you know, he said, it's
• 31:45
  Speaker 15: always good to be prepared because you might not be
• 31:47
  Speaker 15: looking for war, but war is going to be looking
• 31:49
  Speaker 15: for you.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: At some point in time.
• 31:52
  Speaker 15: And, you know, so you really have to keep the,
• 31:55
  Speaker 15: you know, the interest of your own nation first and foremost.
• 31:58
  Speaker 15: I mean, that's just a general lesson.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you've commissioned a review of Simon
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: Montefiore's book, The Cauldron. Have you done that yet? I do.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: I have it. It's outstanding.
• 32:10
  Speaker 15: So it's a couple more weeks, Hugh, but it's going
• 32:12
  Speaker 15: to be a review by the great Eugene Kantorovich, the
• 32:16
  Speaker 15: lawyer and professor at George Mason.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: I don't, nvm is tasked it's got drinking from a
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: firehouse i'm listening to it and it's about the ottoman
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: empire and what happens after it crumbles and you made
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: me think of it because of civilization is there an
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: ottoman empire to play because they they had a pretty
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: good run.
• 32:34
  Speaker 15: They do you can play as the ottomans uh and
• 32:37
  Speaker 15: and you know they have their uh supply special units
• 32:40
  Speaker 15: of course and you play as suleiman uh and it's
• 32:43
  Speaker 15: uh yeah you you play you play as the ottomans
• 32:46
  Speaker 15: and you compete and you have your Every civilization has
• 32:50
  Speaker 15: their strengths and weaknesses. And the other interesting thing, which
• 32:53
  Speaker 15: is a reflection of reality, is they all peak at
• 32:56
  Speaker 15: different times. So, I mean, you can choose a civilization,
• 32:59
  Speaker 15: such as the Greeks, and your advantages are very early on,
• 33:03
  Speaker 15: or you can choose the Americans and have to be
• 33:05
  Speaker 15: extremely patient, but the payoff is pretty good.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you have to be very patient. All right, let
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: me turn to the other part of getting hammered this
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: week that stunned me. Kate is reading to your daughter,
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: And she's reading The Scarlet Letter. Yes, she is. I imagine,
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: immediately I thought, what would be worse? And I came
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: up with Silas Marner. That might be a worse book
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: to have to read to someone. But how bad is
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: it to read The Scarlet Letter to someone?
• 33:34
  Speaker 15: Well, according to Kate, the hardest part was getting through
• 33:38
  Speaker 15: Nathaniel Hawthorne's introductions.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: It's very wordy.
• 33:43
  Speaker 15: There's a lot of references to Brooks Farms and all
• 33:45
  Speaker 15: the various people that he knew at the time and
• 33:47
  Speaker 15: sort of the genesis of the book. And that's rather turgid.
• 33:50
  Speaker 15: But once they're in it right now, she and my daughter, apparently,
• 33:55
  Speaker 15: I can hear them from the other room, find it
• 33:58
  Speaker 15: very intriguing what's going on.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: The various hypocrisies.
• 34:01
  Speaker 15: Of course, Hester Prynne, Reverend Dimmesdale, and what's about to
• 34:06
  Speaker 15: happen next. And so it's not as bad as you
• 34:09
  Speaker 15: would think. It's certainly not my cup of tea. But,
• 34:12
  Speaker 15: you know, it helps when somebody is into the book.
• 34:16
  Speaker 15: And my wife apparently really loves it reading it the
• 34:18
  Speaker 15: second time.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: Well, I recommend to everyone who does not know the
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: joys of reading A Lounge of Your Children to listen
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: to The Getting Hammered. I talked about it with Mary
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: Catherine yesterday. I did every book in The Little House
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: on the Prairie with my daughter. And then Boys Are Spottier.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: Boys Are Spottier about reading. Now, let me ask you
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: about your mood, because I'm feeling better and better about
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: the election, but I'm always an optimist. Just seems to
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: me that the Democrats peak too early and the news
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: is good and keeps getting better. What do you think,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: Vic Madison?
• 34:49
  Speaker 15: I'm traditionally a pessimist, and so I hope that I
• 34:52
  Speaker 15: am wrong with my fears about losing the House and
• 34:54
  Speaker 15: the Senate, especially the Senate.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: I cannot imagine.
• 34:58
  Speaker 15: I mean, again, there's about four seats that are in
• 35:00
  Speaker 15: play that they have to win. And any of those possibilities,
• 35:04
  Speaker 15: whether it be a Tallarico or in Maine or in
• 35:07
  Speaker 15: El Said, I think would be disastrous, not just for
• 35:10
  Speaker 15: the Senate, but for the country. So I hope I'm wrong. I'm, again,
• 35:14
  Speaker 15: generally a pessimist about these things. And maybe you're right
• 35:17
  Speaker 15: that they did peak a little bit too early.
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: There is good news out there.
• 35:21
  Speaker 15: There's feel-good news out there, including the averting of this
• 35:25
  Speaker 15: Israeli jet attempted hijacking. And the economic constriction against Iran
• 35:32
  Speaker 15: continues to get tougher and tougher by the day. Trump
• 35:36
  Speaker 15: has to just hold on and not fold or be
• 35:39
  Speaker 15: eager to get back to the negotiating table.
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: Do you think that regime is going to collapse? Because
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: I do. I don't know if it's this month or
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: next month, but they can't hold on much longer. That's right.
• 35:50
  Speaker 15: You know, I mean, for every country, when it comes
• 35:52
  Speaker 15: to their people, there is a threshold and some are
• 35:54
  Speaker 15: higher than others. And again, if you look at Ruel
• 35:56
  Speaker 15: Garak's review of Stolen Revolution, You know, there have been
• 35:59
  Speaker 15: so many attempts at a counterrevolution since 1979, and they
• 36:05
  Speaker 15: failed in tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands
• 36:07
  Speaker 15: of people have died. But at some point, enough is
• 36:10
  Speaker 15: going to be enough when gasoline lines are, you know,
• 36:14
  Speaker 15: as far as the eye can see and trade is
• 36:15
  Speaker 15: down 35 percent, the real is plunged and they have
• 36:19
  Speaker 15: no more fuel for the rockets.
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: Something's going to give. I agree.
• 36:23
  Speaker 11: Great.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: Vic Mattis, follow him on X at Victorino Mattis. Listen
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: to Getting Hammered, read The Free Beacon, especially Raul Marcorex's
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: review of Stolen Revolution, and stay tuned to The Hugh
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: Hewitt Show. Thank you, Vic. Hi, Hugh Hewitt for Carbon Zero.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: Every day there's another headline about artificial intelligence, and it's
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: advancing faster than most of us could ever have imagined.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: Raises an important question, where is all of this headed?
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: One reason why I think you'll find Carbon Zero so interesting,
• 36:49
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• 37:15
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• 37:21
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• 37:25
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• 37:29
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• 37:33
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• 37:37
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• 40:06
  Speaker 1: Good morning, glory, and even grace, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: Coming up, Charles C.W. Cook is going to go down
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: in the Senate races with me. But first, we have
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: to put Jim Garrity on trial for apostasy. He is
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: himself thrown in with the people who framed Richard Nixon.
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: He's part of the ongoing cover-up trying to shut down
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: Philip Wegman's valiant effort to get to the bottom of it,
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: as published in the Wall Street Journal today. Jim, why
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: are you against uncovering the truth?
• 40:38
  Speaker 5: So you used to work at the Nixon Center, didn't you, Hugh?
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: Twice, and I worked for RN from 78 to 80,
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: so I may not be unbiased.
• 40:46
  Speaker 5: Okay, so how many crimes did you commit?
• 40:48
  Speaker 4: I'm just going on the assumption that you must have
• 40:52
  Speaker 4: done something in that.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: I got there after the... He was already out of
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: power when I joined up.
• 40:58
  Speaker 5: That doesn't mean you didn't commit any crimes, Hugh.
• 41:02
  Speaker 4: No, specifically what I just wrote in the corner post
• 41:03
  Speaker 4: was I don't want a single taxpayer dime to be
• 41:07
  Speaker 4: spent reviewing Watergate, which was resolved in 1974... Before I
• 41:12
  Speaker 4: was born, Hugh, I know I got a lot of
• 41:15
  Speaker 4: white hair. I know that you and I have been
• 41:16
  Speaker 4: doing this for a long time. There's absolutely no value
• 41:20
  Speaker 4: for the U.S. Department of Justice spending one minute of
• 41:24
  Speaker 4: one government employee's time going over this.
• 41:27
  Speaker 5: This is for the historians to debate. This is for
• 41:29
  Speaker 5: you to debate, Hugh. This is not a valuable use.
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: So let me make an argument to you that begins
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: with a question. Have you ever met Jeff spelled G-E-O-F-F, Shepard.
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: Have you ever met him?
• 41:44
  Speaker 5: I've never met that individual, Hugh.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: All right. Jeff is a walking, talking encyclopedia of Watergate.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: He was in the White House from day one of
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: the Nixon administration through its end. He has long blamed
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: himself for not stopping Gordon Liddy from being added to
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: Nick Rui's staff, Gordon Liddy being, of course, the guy
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: who caused this all. But he has spent the better
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: part of his life proving to my satisfaction prosecutorial misconduct
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: in the trial of Mitchell, Halderman and others. Does that
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: not matter to you that Sirica and the special prosecutor
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: and the House Judiciary Committee were up to no good
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: and breaking all the rules?
• 42:28
  Speaker 5: So first of all, Hugh, we're talking about celebrated Miami
• 42:31
  Speaker 5: Vice star G. Gordon Liddy, right?
• 42:32
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 42:34
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: He's not defending G.
• 42:37
  Speaker 5: Gordon Liddy. To the 1980s, at least, you know.
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: So G.
• 42:42
  Speaker 4: Gordon Liddy passed away several years ago, right?
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: Yep. Yep.
• 42:47
  Speaker 5: Hugh, how many of the people involved in this story
• 42:49
  Speaker 5: are still alive?
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: If I told you that I could prove to you
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: that Sacco and Vanzetti were actually Irishmen in town for
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: a beer and they were framed, would you be interested?
• 42:58
  Speaker 12: Marginally?
• 43:00
  Speaker 5: Marginally.
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: If I could tell you that Anastasia was alive and
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: was living in Queens.
• 43:06
  Speaker 4: If someone wants to write a book saying, here is
• 43:10
  Speaker 4: something that completely re-evaluates our understanding of history, fine, go
• 43:15
  Speaker 4: right ahead. There's actually over on my bookshelf a fascinating
• 43:18
  Speaker 4: book looking at the Oklahoma City bombing that makes the argument,
• 43:21
  Speaker 4: not that Timothy McVeigh didn't do it, McVeigh did it,
• 43:23
  Speaker 4: but that there were basically unindicted co-conspirators who are walking
• 43:26
  Speaker 4: the streets, presumably to this day.
• 43:28
  Speaker 5: People who should have.
• 43:29
  Speaker 4: Been prosecuted, who had a hand in it, but who
• 43:32
  Speaker 4: The government wanted a clean, simple narrative.
• 43:34
  Speaker 5: We had just been through the O.J. Simpson trial.
• 43:36
  Speaker 4: They did not want the prosecution to get botched. It's
• 43:40
  Speaker 4: a fascinating article. It completely changes the way you look
• 43:42
  Speaker 4: at these things. If you want to do that, that's fine.
• 43:45
  Speaker 4: But this is the realm for the historians. This is
• 43:48
  Speaker 4: not the job of the U.S. government anymore. This is
• 43:51
  Speaker 4: a long time ago. Hear me out.
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: I have a two-part request that you would have a
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: meal with Jeff Shepard because he is just this fascinating
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: compendium of history, and that, number two, here is his argument,
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: that lawfare began with Watergate, and it has metastatized since
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: in the Office of Public Responsibility, in various ruins within DOJ,
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: and that the incentives that were created by Watergate remain
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: in place to torture Democrats and Republicans alike through lawfare.
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: And you end up with embarrassments like Senator Schmidt trying
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: to trap Jack Smith who is engaged in lawfare, it
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: should just end. So Jeff's crusade is to restore prosecutorial dignity.
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: Doesn't that interest you?
• 44:40
  Speaker 4: I'm all for that, but that's forward-looking, Hugh. That's not backward-looking.
• 44:46
  Speaker 4: You know how you stop lawfare, Hugh? You stop doing it.
• 44:50
  Speaker 4: You don't go back and say, well, actually, 50 years ago,
• 44:53
  Speaker 4: we could point the finger at this guy instead of
• 44:54
  Speaker 4: that guy.
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: No, no, what you do, the key guy here is Sirica.
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: The bad guy in Jeff's book is Judge Sirica. And
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: what this, to the extent it gets publicity, if every
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: federal judge out there gets a dose of humility because
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: of this, it would be good for the rule of
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: law in the United States. So that's my pitch to you.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: I've just known Jeff working at this for 15 or
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: 20 years. He's the guy to talk to. Let me
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: talk to you about the Blair Witch Project. It's actually
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: the Blair Switch Project. James Blair is the political director
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: of of campaign 2026. Karl Rove writes about him in
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: the journal today. And James Blair has wanted to get
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: people to switch from a referendum on President Trump to
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: a choice between the crazy Hassan Piker, Abdul El-Sayed Democrats,
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: and whichever Republican is running against him. Is it working?
• 45:50
  Speaker 4: Talk to me in a few weeks. There's more time
• 45:53
  Speaker 4: to do this. A lot of people have said this
• 45:55
  Speaker 4: feels like a 2006 type year. What a lot of
• 45:58
  Speaker 4: people forget, and you and I have talked about my
• 46:00
  Speaker 4: mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi back then.
• 46:02
  Speaker 5: I now say it was Tony Dole, former Reagan speechwriter.
• 46:04
  Speaker 4: 2006, things were looking bad for Republicans for a long stretch.
• 46:09
  Speaker 4: For listeners, it was totally different then because we were
• 46:11
  Speaker 4: in an unpopular war in the Middle East. There were
• 46:14
  Speaker 4: Republicans involved in sex scandals, and people were frustrated with
• 46:17
  Speaker 4: the economy, and gas was really expensive. It was a
• 46:19
  Speaker 4: totally different set of circumstances than now. But so the
• 46:22
  Speaker 4: thing is, is that in the last couple weeks, like
• 46:24
  Speaker 4: three weeks or so, The Republican base, which had been
• 46:27
  Speaker 4: very frustrated with George W.
• 46:29
  Speaker 5: Bush, very frustrated with the war, Hurricane Katrina, all this
• 46:31
  Speaker 5: other stuff. They came home. They said, all right, fine,
• 46:35
  Speaker 5: we will hold our nose and vote for Republicans.
• 46:37
  Speaker 4: And there were people who were projecting at one point
• 46:39
  Speaker 4: Democrats were going to pick up like 50 seats in
• 46:42
  Speaker 4: the House. They ended up winning 31. That's still a
• 46:44
  Speaker 4: really good year. but 19 of those seats were within
• 46:48
  Speaker 4: five percentage points or less. And my argument would be
• 46:51
  Speaker 4: that in those final weeks, you did see enough frustrated
• 46:53
  Speaker 4: Republicans say, all right, I can't let the Democrats win.
• 46:57
  Speaker 4: I'm going to go vote for the Republicans. It wouldn't
• 46:59
  Speaker 4: shock me if you saw something like that this year.
• 47:01
  Speaker 4: And today's morning, Joel, I've been pretty pessimistic about Republican
• 47:04
  Speaker 4: chances this year, but I'm not buying this spin that
• 47:08
  Speaker 4: David Jolly is going to win in Florida or that Moody's.
• 47:11
  Speaker 5: In trouble, Nebraska, South Dakota. South Carolina.
• 47:17
  Speaker 4: I'm very skeptical of the, like, we hear, oh, this
• 47:19
  Speaker 4: Democrat's going to win this red state pretty much every
• 47:22
  Speaker 4: two years, every cycle.
• 47:24
  Speaker 5: And very, very rarely does it pan out.
• 47:27
  Speaker 4: If it's going to, you need a Roy Moore type,
• 47:29
  Speaker 4: some sort of really abominable candidate for a Democrat to
• 47:32
  Speaker 4: win in a deep red state like that.
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: So let me ask you, do you remember Mary Poppins,
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: the change in the wind?
• 47:42
  Speaker 5: Wrong Disney references.
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: Well, there's a change in the wind before Mary Poppins
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: descends in her umbrella. The change in the wind came
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: this week on late Sunday night, early Monday morning, when
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: a Swiss energy analyst published the fact that the Strait
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: of Hormuz, huh, I'm studying the numbers. The oil's getting out. Now,
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: oil has dropped about 10% from the high over the weekend.
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: It's gone up a dollar today because of probably the
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: the fly Dubai attempt and the terror attack in London.
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: But if it goes the right way in the next
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: four weeks, if the Iran thing, what do you think?
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: If gas drops a little bit more, the upward revisions
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: of the GDP, the full employment economy, I mean, there's
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: a lot of good news. It's not like 206 that way.
• 48:33
  Speaker 4: The downside of a 450 national average for unleaded and
• 48:39
  Speaker 4: a 650 national average for diesel, is that when it
• 48:42
  Speaker 4: goes past it, people are like, wow, gas is really expensive.
• 48:45
  Speaker 4: I'm really mad at my incumbent. But then it goes
• 48:48
  Speaker 4: under that. Oh, it's not above 450. Oh, it's not
• 48:51
  Speaker 4: above 650 for diesel. Then you do get a little
• 48:54
  Speaker 4: bit of relief.
• 48:55
  Speaker 5: I'd like to think the psychological barrier works in both ways. Look,
• 48:59
  Speaker 5: it's going to be.
• 49:02
  Speaker 4: It's still going to be a rough environment for Republicans.
• 49:04
  Speaker 4: Nothing has changed my perspective on that. But I also
• 49:07
  Speaker 4: feel like we are at the apex of, oh, my God,
• 49:11
  Speaker 4: this Democrat who you've never heard of has a good
• 49:13
  Speaker 4: chance of knocking off this two-term Republican who nobody was
• 49:16
  Speaker 4: worried about. You just look at the voter registration margins.
• 49:20
  Speaker 4: in states like Florida, states like Kansas. You kind of
• 49:23
  Speaker 4: would need– Democrats would need to win independence by something
• 49:26
  Speaker 4: like a– I did this back-of-the-envelope math. I can still–
• 49:30
  Speaker 4: let's see. I have my sheets here. I actually do math, people.
• 49:33
  Speaker 4: I actually calculate out, okay, assuming 90% of Republicans vote
• 49:37
  Speaker 4: for Republicans– 90% of Democrats vote for Democrats.
• 49:42
  Speaker 5: Turnout's about the same amongst all three. What does the
• 49:45
  Speaker 5: split have to be?
• 49:46
  Speaker 4: And you're looking at Democrats needing to win independence by
• 49:50
  Speaker 4: like a three to one margin.
• 49:52
  Speaker 5: That's a tall order, right? Like, you know, like 60, 40,
• 49:56
  Speaker 5: maybe 55, 45. Okay, yeah, I could definitely see that.
• 50:00
  Speaker 4: Three to one, 75 to 25, that's a tough split.
• 50:04
  Speaker 4: So I look at this and I kind of feel like,
• 50:07
  Speaker 4: But we're going to look back and say, oh, man,
• 50:08
  Speaker 4: remember at the end of September, beginning of October, they
• 50:10
  Speaker 4: thought Democrats were going to win.
• 50:12
  Speaker 5: Insert red state here. I think that's we'll begin to
• 50:16
  Speaker 5: look at some of the heights.
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: I wanted to say this to you. So you're telling
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: me we've got a chance.
• 50:23
  Speaker 5: Absolutely, Jim Carrey.
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: Thank you, my friend. Jim Garrity. Follow him on. Exit
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: Jim Garrity. Read him in The Washington Post where he's
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: a columnist at National Review. Subscribe to The Morning Jolt.
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: Listen to his podcast, Three Martini Lunch. and the editors,
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: and stay tuned. I'm coming right back with Charles C.W. Cook,
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: Josh Kroshauer ahead as well, here on the Hugh Hewitt Show.
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt, 21 minutes after the hour.
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: Joined now by National Review's Charles C.W. Cook from Florida.
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: I've been unwilling to talk to him since the first
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: week of the NFL season when his Jaguars mercilessly beat
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: my Browns around the ears. Charlie, I hope your club
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: isn't that good. Are they that good? I hope they're
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: not that good.
• 51:13
  Speaker 6: They seem to be quite good, and especially given that
• 51:18
  Speaker 6: the Browns have now won their next two games, right?
• 51:21
  Speaker 6: So at the beginning, the argument was... They did. The
• 51:25
  Speaker 6: argument was, oh, well, it's only the Browns. But then
• 51:27
  Speaker 6: the Browns went on and won the next two games.
• 51:28
  Speaker 6: So I feel even better about that win now.
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: Sorry. I'm worried about a reversion of the norm for
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: the Browns, which I'm afraid was the first week of
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: the NFL season. How bad– just a digression since I
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: know you're a Jaguars fan. How bad did the Browns
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: strike you when they played?
• 51:47
  Speaker 6: Well, I don't think Deshaun Watson looked good. But then
• 51:52
  Speaker 6: he looked okay– in week three. So I don't know.
• 51:57
  Speaker 6: I don't think you looked awful. I think it was
• 51:59
  Speaker 6: more that the Jags looked really good offensively. I mean,
• 52:01
  Speaker 6: they've been unbeatable at home for the last 10 home games.
• 52:05
  Speaker 6: They've scored an average of 34 points at home the
• 52:08
  Speaker 6: last 10 games or something crazy like that.
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: So it wasn't, that makes me feel better because I
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: thought it wasn't a professional football team and I thought
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: we're going to be one in seven, 16, but let's
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: go on. Uh, Charles, Winston Churchill is famous for repeatedly saying,
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: trust the people. Whenever he would win and whenever he
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: would lose, he would say, trust the people. Do you
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: trust the people in the United States now that you've
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: been an American for so long?
• 52:35
  Speaker 6: Well, I do in many ways. I mean, I love
• 52:38
  Speaker 6: my fellow citizens. I love the culture here. I don't
• 52:43
  Speaker 6: want to swap the Americans out. I do think it's important.
• 52:46
  Speaker 6: that we have the constitutional protections against majoritarianism that we have,
• 52:51
  Speaker 6: but that's not so much an indictment of the people
• 52:55
  Speaker 6: so much as the need to keep things stable against
• 52:58
  Speaker 6: transient mobs. So, yeah, I do.
• 53:02
  Speaker 17: Why?
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: Because when we look at the races in September polling,
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: and I know September polling is traditionally six points skewed
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: to the Democrats. Nevertheless, it would be irrational to, for
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: the American people to vote for Democrats if they want
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: their economy to be healthy. Do you think in Maine,
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: for example, Susan Collins is the incumbent, she's the chair
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: of the Senate Appropriations Committee, she's a moderate, she's running
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: against Troy Jackson, who's really a zero and doesn't know
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: much and thinks of genocides going on in Gaza. Do
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: you think she's going to win? It's a dead heat
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: right now.
• 53:43
  Speaker 6: I think on balance she's going to win. But of
• 53:46
  Speaker 6: course I'm basing that on the fact that she always wins.
• 53:49
  Speaker 6: And she won in 2020 when it looked pretty dicey.
• 53:53
  Speaker 6: So I'm in 50-50. But yeah, that's one race that
• 53:57
  Speaker 6: I have a little hope about.
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: Okay, drop down just a bit and you go to
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: the land of live free or die. New Hampshire and
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: John Sununu versus Chris Pappas. Pappas is not DSA like
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: Troy Jackson's been endorsed by the DSA, but he's pretty
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: far left and he's young. And if he gets in,
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: he'll certainly be running for president somewhere down the road
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: and he will be unbeatable for 40 years. How do
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: you think against John Sununu, which is the best name
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: in politics? I would argue in any state, actually. What
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: do you think up there?
• 54:31
  Speaker 6: I think the Sununu part helps, but I think that's
• 54:34
  Speaker 6: fool's gold. I think Sununu is going to lose by
• 54:36
  Speaker 6: three or four points.
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: Okay. So that's, uh, We're still even. Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: is the most radical major party nominee for the Senate
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: of my lifetime. Do you think he's going to win?
• 54:52
  Speaker 6: I think it's 50-50. I'm pretty worried about that one.
• 54:56
  Speaker 6: I struggle with this one, Hugh, because it's a failure
• 55:00
  Speaker 6: of imagination on my part. I think I'm relatively good
• 55:03
  Speaker 6: at getting into the minds of people who disagree with me.
• 55:06
  Speaker 6: I know a lot of people who disagree with me.
• 55:08
  Speaker 6: I really can't imagine voting for him. So I'm struggling
• 55:13
  Speaker 6: to imagine it. But strange things happen in wave elections.
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: Well, that's what I bring up. Trust the people. No
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: rational group of voters from a swing state in Michigan
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: is a swing state, though it's been 20 years since
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: they elected a Republican to the Senate. It's still a
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: swing state. It's gone for Trump two out of three times.
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: And Mike Rogers is a moderate, middle-of-the-road guy, FBI, lieutenant
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: in the Army, 14 years in the House, chairman of
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: the House Intel Committee. He's moderate.
• 55:44
  Speaker 6: He's normal.
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: Al-Said is a radical. How do you see Al-Said? I
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: think he is just simply Hamas-adjacent.
• 55:53
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I think he's a radical. I also think his
• 55:57
  Speaker 6: domestic agenda is disastrous, so there's really not much to
• 56:00
  Speaker 6: recommend him. It's true that Michigan has gone twice for
• 56:04
  Speaker 6: Trump in the last three. And in fact, in 2020,
• 56:07
  Speaker 6: when Trump lost, Gary Peters, the Democratic senator there, was
• 56:12
  Speaker 6: nearly unseated. It was about 6,000 votes. But since 2004,
• 56:20
  Speaker 6: Michigan has been a really difficult place for Republicans in
• 56:25
  Speaker 6: Senate races. So that gives me pause. And Trump is
• 56:28
  Speaker 6: sui generis. There's a lot wrong with Trump. So I
• 56:32
  Speaker 6: often chronicle, but he does have appeal in places that
• 56:36
  Speaker 6: other Republicans haven't. So I'm not sure that pointing to
• 56:40
  Speaker 6: Trump's success in Michigan is going to be illustrative enough.
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: All right, then very close to Michigan, we've got Ohio
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: and Iowa with John Husted, incumbent in Ohio, and Ashley Hinson,
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: a very well-known and respected congresswoman running to place Joni Ernst.
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: What do you think about both of those states?
• 57:04
  Speaker 6: I think that this is where I start to get
• 57:06
  Speaker 6: a little bit suspicious of polling, given the polling errors
• 57:10
  Speaker 6: in those states in a good number of our recent elections.
• 57:15
  Speaker 6: It's not impossible. Sherrod Brown has been the senator in
• 57:18
  Speaker 6: Ohio before. He's not an incumbent, but there's a lot
• 57:21
  Speaker 6: of people who trust him. He won long after Ohio
• 57:25
  Speaker 6: trended red. So it could happen, but Those are two
• 57:28
  Speaker 6: states where I'm a little bit suspicious of the polling
• 57:30
  Speaker 6: and wonder if on election night we're going to see
• 57:32
  Speaker 6: the Republicans eke it out.
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: Okay, that would be good. And then the final two
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: before we go to the break are four, actually. Texas
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: and Alaska are both Republican incumbents. Paxton is a very
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: badly dented up candidate. But Tallarico is not radical like
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: El Saeed. He's just weird in a way that very
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: few people are. Do you see? I think they have
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: to close the Alamo and move it if Tallarico wins.
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: What do you think?
• 58:00
  Speaker 6: I'm pretty worried about it here. I'm pretty worried about it.
• 58:04
  Speaker 6: And Pakistan is really disliked. And a lot of people
• 58:08
  Speaker 6: seem to be saying, oh, it's Texas, so it can't
• 58:13
  Speaker 6: possibly go blue. That's been true since, what, 1994? No
• 58:18
  Speaker 6: Democrats won statewide. I'm worried about this one. I could
• 58:23
  Speaker 6: see a perfect storm there.
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: All right, and in Alaska with their funny rank choice
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: and their decoy Dan Sullivan, the fake Dan Sullivan is
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: a dirty trick running against the real Dan Sullivan. What
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: do you think there?
• 58:37
  Speaker 6: No clue, no clue. I mean, I've asked so many
• 58:40
  Speaker 6: people about this who know more than I do about polling,
• 58:42
  Speaker 6: and they have no clue because it's very difficult to
• 58:45
  Speaker 6: poll because of the geography. It's got this bizarre rank
• 58:49
  Speaker 6: choice voting system. There's, as you say, another Dan Sullivan
• 58:52
  Speaker 6: candidate on the ballot, and no one quite knows what
• 58:57
  Speaker 6: they think of Patolta, so I don't know. My reflexive
• 59:02
  Speaker 6: instinct is always that that state's going to trend red,
• 59:06
  Speaker 6: and there's probably enough Republicans to keep it safe, but And.
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: Then assuming North Carolina flips to the Democrats and Georgia
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: State Democrats, that leaves the Senate in Republican hands. I'll
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: be back with Charlie to talk a bigger picture. But
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: I did want his temperature checked. 35 days out or
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: 34 days out. Don't go anywhere, America. Charles C.W. Cook
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: is next. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Seven days ago,
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: my guest, Charles C.W. Cook, senior writer for National Review,
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: penned these words. Britain's inertia is a warning to America.
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: America's position in the world is a product of choices
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: it made. However, America has a constitutional order, and that's good.
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: We've got individual rights. That's good. But if it deconstructs
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: that system, it will collapse into dysfunction, infighting, and mediocrity
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: like Britain. America faces the demographic trend of an aging population,
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: relying on a relatively smaller share of workers for the
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: payment of government benefits. Unlike Britain, it has not yet
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: enshrined the triple-lock guarantee that in electability and increases pension
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: payout and makes other reforms impossible. If it does, it
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: will fatally harm the group that is pulling the wagon. Charlie,
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: at what risk, I would use like a rich Lowry,
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: on a scale of one to ten, where do you
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: rate the worry with ten being we're going Great Britain's
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: way and one being now that's not us? Where do
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: you rate your worry?
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 6: Well, I think that depends on who wins the next
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 6: couple of elections. My great worry is that the democrats
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 6: will do quite well this year and then they'll do
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 6: really well in 2028 and we'll get a sort of
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 6: two-step process as we did in 2006 and 2008 that
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 6: sweeps in a democratic party that this time will not
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 6: be constrained by the filibuster and that is a lot
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 6: more radical i mean i had a I think he
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 6: was pretty.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: Radical, too.
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 6: But the Democratic Party at present is talking about abolishing
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 6: the Supreme Court and getting rid of the filibuster, adding
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 6: states and so forth. And I think they're also very
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 6: aware that the census of 2030, which will have some
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 6: of the census of 2020 that was never processed, built
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 6: into it, is not going to be good for them
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 6: because of migratory patterns. So what worries me is you
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 6: get this short window of a trifecta of the currently
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 6: crazy Democratic Party, and they push through a whole bunch
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 6: of stuff that looks more like Britain than America on
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 6: the false assumption that American prosperity is just in the
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 6: water somewhere. You hear this from someone like Ro Khanna.
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 6: He just seems to believe that America just has rich people,
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 6: that it just is wealthy, that it just is dynamic.
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 6: rather than that it is those things because of choices
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 6: we've made. So I think it completely depends on that. So,
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 6: I mean, maybe I'll say a five, because I think
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 6: that that could happen. So as a proxy, I'll give
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 6: you a five.
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: So the trust the people mantra that I began the
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: two segments with is I trust the people not to
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: be dumb. I don't really, they might not like Trump
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: at all. They might have his popularity ratings may or
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: may be accurately polled, but they don't want their country
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: to become Great Britain. We talked the last time you
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: were on about the medical system in Great Britain. We
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: don't want that. Do you really see us making the
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: choices that would land us in Great Britain land, which
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: is unfortunate, very bad place to be right now?
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 6: Well, I think that you have to ask that slightly
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 6: differently in the sense that do I think that Americans
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 6: would proactively make those choices?
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 4: No.
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 6: Do I think that Americans might vote for a party
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 6: that focused on those things at the expense of whatever
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 6: it was that they'd been elected to do?
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 6: If you look back to the Obama term, the first term,
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 6: he did Obamacare and the public didn't want it. I mean,
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 6: the public didn't want it to the extent that they
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 6: voted in Scott Brown to try and stop it. The
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 6: You know, that's always the risk. And Republicans aren't immune
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 6: from this instinct either. They don't tend to make massive
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 6: sweeping changes, but they do sometimes forget why it was
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 6: that they were voted into power. I think Trump has
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 6: forgotten sometimes why he was voted into power. And that's
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 6: one reason he's unpopular. So, no, I don't think that
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 6: the public is going to say, let's go down that road.
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 6: I do think it's possible that they're going to vote
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 6: for other reasons for people who try to do that.
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: So last question, Charles C.W. Cook, and you should listen
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: to his podcast, follow him on Exit Charles C.W. Cook,
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: read him at National Review. The voters can't be trusted then.
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: They can't be, because it's really not in anyone's self-interest
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: to vote Democrat right now unless they rely on the government.
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: So we really can't trust Churchill's maxim anymore. Last minute
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: to you.
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 6: Well, I just don't quite see it like that. I mean,
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 6: you know, it's the same country that voted for Trump
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 6: in 24, has voted for Biden in 20, has voted
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 6: for Trump in 16, and Obama before that. Americans make
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 6: decisions at any given point based on the information they
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 6: have and what it is that's animating them. And I
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 6: think that over time, we have proven ourselves to be
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 6: a remarkable people. That doesn't mean we don't get a
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 6: few elections here and there wrong.
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: Charles, thank you so much for coming in and talking
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: to me. I appreciate it greatly. Read him again over
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: at National Review. He's keeping a very, very close eye
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: on the elections, as we all are for the next
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: 34 days. Don't go into America on October 1st. I'm
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: Hugh Hewitt. Welcome back to America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Josh
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: Kroschauer joins me. He is editor-in-chief of the Jewish Insider. First, Josh,
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: your reaction to yesterday's story? about the Israeli plumber and
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: his colleagues and heroes on the fly Abu Dhabi plane.
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: It's such an extraordinary story.
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 17: I mean, Hugh, it's a miracle that the plane landed
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 17: safely and no one aside from the pilot who was
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 17: brutally injured by the terrorist co-pilot, everyone escaped and survived.
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 17: And It really shows you that the Israelis are made
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 17: out of sterner stuff.
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, they took action.
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 17: The plumber apparently watched a documentary on how to make
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 17: sure the plane didn't crash and pulled on the steering.
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 17: And then you had, I guess, another backup crew that
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 17: was on the plane and was able to land it
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 17: safely in Saudi Arabia. But it is a sign of
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 17: just the Israeli will for life and their ability to
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 17: just It reminded me of the United Flight 93, quick
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 17: action to prevent that plane from crashing into the Capitol
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 17: on 9-11. The Israelis know security. There are a lot
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 17: of those who are going to get into action right away,
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 17: and they saved a lot of lives.
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: All right. Now I want to switch on you. The
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: United States announced today we are sending a third carrier.
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: to the region. The Theodore Roosevelt left the port of
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: San Diego yesterday en route to the Middle East. And
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: they've got three amphibious ships there as well, carrying the
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. What's that tell you, Josh Groshauer?
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 17: Well, you combine that with President Trump's rhetoric at the
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 17: UN and comments since his speech.
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: Last week.
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 17: And look, he said that there may be a pivot
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 17: point after the midterm elections. So I would not rule
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 17: out the possibility of renewed military action, especially given Iran's intransigence.
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 17: And I worry, Hugh, and we've talked a lot about
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 17: not just the, we'll find out whether the Omani pilot
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 17: on the Dubai flight had any Iranian ties or any
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 17: relationships there. But between the news out of England, where
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 17: Iran apparently now was trying to plot a terrorist attack
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 17: against U.S. forces in England, and you see their pivot
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 17: to terrorism, perhaps, in other arenas. I mean, this is
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 17: a regime that still is not acting like a normal country.
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 17: And I think Trump realizes that. And I think that
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 17: relates to the fact that military options may once again
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 17: be on the table.
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: So the 82nd Airborne has been extended. Secretary Hegseth announced
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: that this morning. 50,000 troops in the area, and we've
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: not had three carriers there since 10-7 three years ago,
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: and the massacre occurred. So this is an unprecedented buildup
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: in the three years since the war actually begins, which
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: it does on 10-7. Do you think Trump would go
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: the next step and actually use troops at Karzai Island
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: and other places that he's been reluctant to do?
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 17: I would have been skeptical a few weeks ago, but
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 17: I think actions speak louder than words, and this is
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 17: a very significant move from the Pentagon. And you match
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 17: what's going on in terms of the movement of military
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 17: assets with Trump's own rhetoric. And I think the odds
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 17: of action are more likely. I also think there's a
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 17: political timetable with Democrats having a very good chance to
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 17: win back the House. And you have now– we've reported
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 17: in Jewish Insider the fact that almost– Every Democratic senator
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 17: wants to, you know, wants to basically tie Trump's hands
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 17: down and not allow any military action in Iran. I
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 17: think Trump sees a window of opportunity after the elections.
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 17: And I think that would be, would make a lot
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 17: of sense to see some kinetic action around that time period.
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 1: Would he do that with an eye on the House,
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: let's assume one or both of the houses are lost
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: and you lose the ability to do a reconciliation, come
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: back and drive through reconciliation for two and a half
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: years of Defense Department appropriations?
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 17: Yeah, I mean, there's going to be some legislative options,
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 17: but I do think that there are some very real,
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 17: you know, restrictions, regulations that the Democrats are trying to
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 17: run against Trump's efforts in Iran. That's a big part
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 17: of their message. The Obviously, after the midterms, the political
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 17: salience may not be quite as significant. But every Democrat
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 17: from the moderates or the more moderate Democrats like a
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 17: Mark Kelly to the more liberal Democrats are all speaking
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 17: out against any kind of military action or any engagement,
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 17: even to do what we're doing, frankly, Hugh, to prevent
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 17: Iran from shipping out oil or other exports and blocking
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 17: the Strait of Hormuz, which has worked out, I think,
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 17: beyond expectations.
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: It's actually worked out quite well.
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 17: But the Democrats have not been acknowledging those successes and
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 17: are trying to pull us out entirely and use whatever
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 17: leverage they can legislatively.
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: And their best lever, so for the benefit of the
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: audience and the Steelers fans, watch the Browns beat the
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: Steelers tonight, by the way, they can attach riders to
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: appropriations saying no money shall be expended for XYZ. That's
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 1: what Democrats did to the war with Nicaragua. We could
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: no longer fund the Contras because of an appropriations rider saying,
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: So if that was the objective and you get the
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: Congress back in fun two and a half years of
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: defense operation, they can't do that then, Josh. That would
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: be the sly move.
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 17: And look, the Senate, the math in the Senate is
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 17: going to be what's key, more so than the House.
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 17: So whether Democrats win back a Senate majority and how
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 17: big that, I mean, you know, I think with Fetterman
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 17: on board, I mean, Fetterman's not going to vote for
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 17: any of that stuff. So I think you have one vote,
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 17: at least on the Democratic side. that would be in
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 17: your corner. But yeah, I mean, it's going to be close.
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 17: And I think that Senate math is going to mean
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 17: a whole lot to what Trump is going to be
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 17: able to do vis-a-vis Iran.
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 1: And last question, the revisions upward of the GDP. So
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: we had 2.2% growth in Q2, and we had 2.5%
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: growth in Q1. Inflation is down to 3.4%. And we
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: have won the battle of Hormuz. Does any of that
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: going to matter come the election, which voting... Real early
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: voting gets started in about two weeks, but absentees are
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: out there now.
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 17: Look, perception gets baked in in the spring of the
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 17: election year. So I don't think it's going to make
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 17: any dramatic difference. So I will say that if you
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 17: look at gas prices and you look at the decline
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 17: in gas prices, it's happening in a lot of those
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 17: Midwestern states where the Republicans were feeling the heat the
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 17: most in states like Iowa, Ohio and other Midwestern battlegrounds.
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 17: So you are seeing a dropage in gas prices and
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 17: diesel prices in those states in September into October. So
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 17: that that will be something to watch. It may take
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 17: the pressure a little bit off off of the Republicans
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 17: in those states.
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 1: Do you think that quick exit, you think President Trump
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: goes to Michigan or does he leave Mike Rogers alone
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: up there?
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 17: I boy, I'm looking at his travel schedule that's been announced.
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 17: It's in some pretty red states, Oklahoma, Alabama. I think
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 17: Trump Vance was in Michigan a couple of weeks ago.
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 17: I think you probably are going to see Trump in
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 17: redder states and Rogers is going to have to fight
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 17: outside on its own.
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: Well, I view the first three stops as just getting
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: into fighting shape. Those are like exhibition games in the NFL.
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: Then you go to the states that matter. Josh Kroschauer,
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: editor-in-chief of Jewish Insider. Follow him on exit Josh Kroschauer.