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The Election 2026 Post-Mortem · 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, a
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: listen to the Hillsdale Dialogues, all of them at Hugh
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: for hillsdale.com or just Google Apple, iTunes and Hillsdale. Good morning,
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  Speaker 1: glory and evening grace America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. We got
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  Speaker 1: a lot to talk about today as the postmortems keep
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  Speaker 1: coming in. I'll be joined by former Secretary of State
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  Speaker 1: Mike Pompeo, former CIA director in hour three today. But
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  Speaker 1: I'm leading off with Noah Rothman of National Review. He
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  Speaker 1: is also a willing combatant on CNN, also willing to
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  Speaker 1: go into Fox. He's willing to go anywhere, including my program. Noah,
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  Speaker 1: good to talk to you. Wipeout. Now, I am old
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  Speaker 1: enough that I've been wiped out many times. My first
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  Speaker 1: campaign was 1974. This is nothing compared to 1974. So
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  Speaker 1: I remember 2008 and 2006. I mean, we've been hammered before.
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  Speaker 1: that we're not down to, I don't remember 1964, but
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  Speaker 1: the Republicans got to 32 Senate seats. 1980, they went
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  Speaker 1: to 41. We're at 44, and we might get to
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  Speaker 1: 45 in Alaska, maybe 46 in Mississippi. How many years
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  Speaker 1: does it take to build back a Senate majority? Houses
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  Speaker 1: can swing pretty quickly, but how about the Senate?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it can take a while. That's why I've
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  Speaker 2: been using the word generational wipeout, and I don't mean
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  Speaker 2: that as a metaphor. A lot of careers were cut
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  Speaker 2: short last night, some of them pretty valuable, and they
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  Speaker 2: will be missed. But likewise, waves like this, they do
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  Speaker 2: turn in what are often called accidental lawmakers who end
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  Speaker 2: up being extremely unimpressive and end up not representing the
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  Speaker 2: districts and states that they were elected to. The anecdote
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  Speaker 2: that I use– And the moment that I knew this
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  Speaker 2: was going to be an absolute debacle was when returns
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  Speaker 2: started coming in from Florida. David Jolly was doing much
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  Speaker 2: better than expected. And that wasn't surprising. Former Republican, conservative guy,
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  Speaker 2: crossover appeal. But Angie Nixon was also overperforming, doing better
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  Speaker 2: than David Jolly in the early returns. And she's a
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  Speaker 2: democratic socialist with a conspicuous affinity for Cuban narratives in
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  Speaker 2: a state that should be allergic to both. And just
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  Speaker 2: voters were not evaluating these candidates on their merits or
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  Speaker 2: their policy preferences.
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  Speaker 3: They were a D.
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  Speaker 2: And they wanted to send a message to Donald Trump's Washington.
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  Speaker 2: So it didn't matter who they were. It was all
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  Speaker 2: just about Donald Trump, in my view. And that's a
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  Speaker 2: negative verdict. That's not an affirmative verdict. Democrats are going
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  Speaker 2: to have to prove that they belong there over the
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  Speaker 2: next two years, four years. That's going to be a struggle.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, let me, you're the first that I'm trying this
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  Speaker 1: theory out on. If you laugh ridiculously, then I won't
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  Speaker 1: try it out on anyone else. If we ran the
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  Speaker 1: election again tomorrow with people knowing what had happened, it
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  Speaker 1: would be different Because people, for example, you've used the
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  Speaker 1: perfect example. Angie Nixon's nuts. Floridians know she's nuts. Not
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  Speaker 1: a few people voted for her knowing she would lose.
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  Speaker 1: How big is that phenomenon?
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  Speaker 2: Well, that's a good question, isn't it? I was listening
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  Speaker 2: to Ronald Reagan.
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  Speaker 1: Thank goodness.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't laugh. No, it's a serious question. Because I
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  Speaker 2: don't know what the composition of the electorate is yet.
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  Speaker 2: I understand that was a D plus 13 electorate, roughly.
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  Speaker 2: We're not going to know for a while exactly what
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  Speaker 2: the popular vote composition was. But when we do, I
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  Speaker 2: suspect we'll find that a lot of Republican voters and
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  Speaker 2: not just the working class voters who only and only
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  Speaker 2: ever turn out for Donald Trump, but also the backbone
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  Speaker 2: of the Republican Party. I think there were evangelicals turned
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  Speaker 2: out in in decent numbers. But I bet you conservatives,
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  Speaker 2: generally conservative voters, didn't. And the Republican Party has shed college-educated, affluent,
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  Speaker 2: suburbanite voters over the course of the Trump years. That
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  Speaker 2: was the backbone of the party. And they're long gone.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, do partisan Republicans turn out knowing how bad
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  Speaker 2: it went? You know, some of them probably do. But
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  Speaker 2: back to that 1974 Ronald Reagan address, where in 74,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of voters didn't turn out. So the problem
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  Speaker 2: that he was addressing was we just didn't give them
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  Speaker 2: enough to come home to, bold colors, not pale pastels.
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  Speaker 2: That was that speech. But what I'm hearing from Ron DeSantis,
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  Speaker 2: for example, in the last 24 hours, 48 hours, has
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  Speaker 2: been very Reagan-esque in that sense. And it's a role
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  Speaker 2: that needs to be filled, and the president isn't filling it,
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  Speaker 2: and J.D. Vance isn't filling it. It is just giving
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  Speaker 2: Republicans something to vote for, an affirmative, ideological, and moral
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  Speaker 2: set of commitments that do not change with the weather,
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  Speaker 2: And that's valuable because in the Trump years, ideology in
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  Speaker 2: this party has been tough to hang your hat on.
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  Speaker 2: It changes with the president's mood. And that's not something
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  Speaker 2: that I think this party can afford going forward. It
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  Speaker 2: needs a set of core convictions that do not alter,
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  Speaker 2: that are immovable and impermanent. And that's the sort of
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  Speaker 2: thing that Republicans need to start telling their voters again,
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  Speaker 2: that this is what we believe, because it's what you believe.
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to talk with Mike Pompeo about that. By
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  Speaker 1: the way, Ron DeSantis has been out and about I
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  Speaker 1: expect that one result is that the doors were blown
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  Speaker 1: open on the 2028 primary. I mean, wide open. And
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  Speaker 1: I went from thinking we'd have Ted Cruz and J.D.
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  Speaker 1: Vance and maybe Glenn Youngkin. I think we're going to
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  Speaker 1: have a dozen people on that stage when the debates begin.
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  Speaker 1: What does Noah Rothman think?
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  Speaker 4: Maybe.
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  Speaker 2: It depends what the political environment is. Some Republicans may
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  Speaker 2: think that there's just no winning in 2028. And that
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  Speaker 2: depends on what happens in 2027. But we were talking
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  Speaker 2: a lot about Republicans. We haven't talked at all about Democrats.
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  Speaker 5: And yeah, you're right.
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  Speaker 2: The doors are blown open for us. They're way open
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  Speaker 2: for the Democratic Party. Hugh, I was listening to an
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  Speaker 2: interview with the incoming speaker of the Texas House majority,
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  Speaker 2: Democratic speaker of the Texas House majority, because the Democratic
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  Speaker 2: Party now controls the state of Texas. And he was
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  Speaker 2: given this little you know, talk about how all minorities
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  Speaker 2: in Texas should form this united intersectional block because all
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  Speaker 2: of their oppressors, his word, are the same, quote unquote.
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  Speaker 2: And that their oppression comes from one place, quote unquote.
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  Speaker 2: This is in Texas, you. This is not going to
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  Speaker 2: play in the Lone Star State. Intersectionality, wokeness is out there,
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  Speaker 2: lying in wait. And Democrats, in their bubbles, are going
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  Speaker 2: to convince themselves that their cultural ascendancy is back. And
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  Speaker 2: they can just steamroll and get everything they want. And
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  Speaker 2: that's where they're going to overreach. And that's where the
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  Speaker 2: opportunity is going to be for Republicans to come back
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  Speaker 2: in 28 and 30.
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  Speaker 1: I think AOC is going to definitely be in the hunt. Now,
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  Speaker 1: this is the hardest one. CNN has a great, great, great.
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  Speaker 1: I'll say this very often. I got a lot of
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  Speaker 1: friends over there, but they don't do stuff that I
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  Speaker 1: find great, great, great. Four square box. House vote margin
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  Speaker 1: among those voters and issue data is on the left thing.
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  Speaker 1: The number one killer of Republicans among government corruption, cost
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  Speaker 1: of living, Iran war, AI, and data centers, by a lot,
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  Speaker 1: is government corruption. I thought that was working for Republicans
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  Speaker 1: in Minnesota and New York. Obviously, it wasn't. What's it mean, Noah?
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  Speaker 1: What does government corruption mean to Democrats?
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  Speaker 2: So I just said this on the editors, and I
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  Speaker 2: think it's more than Democrats, honestly. I think I would
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  Speaker 2: apply a much more expansive definition of of what constitutes corruption.
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  Speaker 2: It's not just self-dealing, although we have seen a lot
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  Speaker 2: of that in this administration, Hugh. We can't ignore it
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  Speaker 2: because the voters are not ignoring it. I think it's
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  Speaker 2: shady moneyed associations like Don Jr. 's, like Steve Witkoff's.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's the weaponization of the Justice Department to
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  Speaker 2: go after Trump enemies as the prosecutors who resigned over
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  Speaker 2: those initiatives attest. I think it's cutting off inspectors general.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's going over the head of the legislature, which,
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  Speaker 2: by the way, the Congress is lethargic consent and complicity.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's the executive branch attempting to short circuit
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  Speaker 2: conduct in the states, how states conduct elections.
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  Speaker 1: For example.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's the mid-decade redistricting push, which a lot
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  Speaker 2: of voters interpreted as changing the rules in the middle
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  Speaker 2: of the game, and they resented it. I think it's
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  Speaker 2: the conduct of this administration with just kind of contempt
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  Speaker 2: for the appearance of civic propriety. That's what I mean
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  Speaker 2: by corruption.
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  Speaker 1: If you're a Republican in the Senate or the House,
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  Speaker 1: you're in the minority, and we're having a government corruption
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  Speaker 1: hearing on anything from crypto to the ballroom. I don't
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  Speaker 1: care what it is. How should your attitude be in
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  Speaker 1: those hearings? Defensive like Dick Cheney and Ron Contra or
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  Speaker 1: aggressively on the side of being anti-corruption?
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  Speaker 2: Well, honestly, it depends, because if you're talking about a
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  Speaker 2: Scooter Libby situation, I would have my hackles up over
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  Speaker 2: that because it's unjust. And the Democrats will overreach. They
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  Speaker 2: will do things that are unjust and persecutorial. I fully
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  Speaker 2: expect that. But I would not come in here with
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  Speaker 2: a big defensive prickly approach. I would come in hat
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  Speaker 2: in hand and some humility. This electorate tried to impose
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  Speaker 2: humility on this administration, and it better put up a
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  Speaker 2: good show of being chastened. Because I think that's what
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  Speaker 2: voters want to see. They want to see a course
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  Speaker 2: correction from this administration. And that's the first and easiest
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  Speaker 2: way to do it is just in your appearance, your comportment,
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  Speaker 2: your mood to acknowledge the verdict that voters rendered on Tuesday. So, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I wouldn't come in there guns blazing with a very
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  Speaker 2: Trumpian affect and insist that we've done nothing wrong and
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  Speaker 2: and make a big showy display, you know, Pam Bondi style.
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  Speaker 2: of having abject contempt for the people who voters just
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  Speaker 2: overwhelmingly provided with immense constitutional power. That would be contemptuous
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  Speaker 2: of voters, not just Democrats.
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  Speaker 1: Let me give you, we've got a minute left. Donald
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  Speaker 1: Trump is never better than when he's been shot in
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  Speaker 1: the head or indicted or knocked down. He really is
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  Speaker 1: never better than that. What's the best thing he can
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  Speaker 1: do right now? I think it's finish the war.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I just don't know how you finish the war
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  Speaker 2: in a satisfactory way. I'm not sure. I wrote this
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  Speaker 2: the other day. I think the blockade is working. I'm
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: not sure what a new short, intense, in the words
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: of the Wall Street Journal, campaign would be designed to achieve. Honestly,
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  Speaker 2: I don't know what the strategic or tactical objective is.
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  Speaker 2: Is it to collapse the regime? Is it to hasten
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  Speaker 2: dissent within the regime? Is it to strip them of
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: their capacity to project power in the street? I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: No one is saying. So I'm just– I'm a little
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: confused as to what they want to achieve there. But
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: finish the war in a satisfactory way is– yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: You use the MOBs on Pickaxe Mountain until it's smoldering,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: and you hit whatever of the 1,400. They've got about
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: 1,400 ballistic missiles left, and as many of their drones stockpile,
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: you destroy their ability to project force. You can't topple
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: a regime with an air campaign, but you can sure
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  Speaker 1: beat up their munition supply, and Pickaxe Mountain got a
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: big target on it. Think on that, Noah C. Rothman,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: because you're always thinking all the time. Follow my next
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: and Noah C. Rothman. Listen to him on The Editor.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: See him on CNN and Fox. Thank you, Noah. I'll
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: be right back, America. Stay tuned. Welcome back, America. I'm
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Hugh Hewitt, joined by Philip Balboni, founder, editor-in-chief of The
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Global Post, which focuses on the world every morning. We'll
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: talk about how to get it a little bit. It's
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: free for kids and students and teachers. Philip, Global data
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  Speaker 1: centers is an issue in today's edition. You know, it
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  Speaker 1: was the fourth most important issue, according to exit polls
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  Speaker 1: in America on Tuesday, overwhelmingly people who cared about it
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  Speaker 1: voted for the Democrat. They shouldn't, those voters should not
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  Speaker 1: go to inner Mongolia. Should they?
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  Speaker 4: No, they should not. First of all, Hugh, I'm glad
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: to see you survive the midterm elections. It's great to
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: see you. Um, Yeah, so I think we have a
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  Speaker 4: very interesting story for your listeners and viewers today. So
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  Speaker 4: Inner Mongolia, the exotic, very remote place, that's now become, ironically,
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  Speaker 4: one of China's leading industrial areas, a key area for
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: the development of AI technology and data centers. And it
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  Speaker 4: really does teach us some interesting truths about the U.S.-China competition,
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  Speaker 4: and you put your finger right on the most important one,
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  Speaker 4: nobody in Inner Mongolia is complaining about these data centers.
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  Speaker 4: And I want to come back to what's happening in
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  Speaker 4: the U.S. in a minute, but as you can see
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  Speaker 4: from this map, Inner Mongolia stretches almost 1,500 miles across
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  Speaker 4: the northern border.
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  Speaker 6: Of China with the independent country of Mongolia, and then
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  Speaker 6: also a little bit of Russia as well. This area,
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  Speaker 6: believe it or not, remained almost undeveloped until the early 2000s.
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  Speaker 6: And when huge mineral deposits of coal, iron ore, rare
• 12:46
  Speaker 6: earth minerals, oil and gas were discovered, and this is
• 12:52
  Speaker 6: an interesting fact I learned, Inner Mongolia has two-thirds of
• 12:57
  Speaker 6: the world's known reserves for rare earths. And we know
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  Speaker 6: that's been a big issue with China and the U.S.
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  Speaker 6: and the EU and other places. So our story kind
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  Speaker 6: of spells out where Inner Mongolia is now building.
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  Speaker 4: Hundreds of data centers, taking advantage of the cheap electrical
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  Speaker 4: power that's powered by all that coal and also wind
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  Speaker 4: power in which Inner Mongolia is a leader, an abundant
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  Speaker 4: cheap land. But As you wisely pointed out, there's no
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  Speaker 4: local resistance to all this growth and construction, unlike here
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  Speaker 4: in the U.S., of course, where the building of data
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  Speaker 4: centers has become a huge issue. You said number four.
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  Speaker 1: You pointed out in this wonderful, I mean, it's really
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  Speaker 1: a comprehensive report, 100 data centers in two years. This
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  Speaker 1: is a region that includes 37 percent, more than half, actually,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: of China's wind energy resources. They've got the coal... but
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  Speaker 1: they don't have much water. Are they in conflict yet
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  Speaker 1: with the agricultural industry in Inner Mongolia?
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  Speaker 3: They are.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, if you call up some photographs of Inner Mongolia,
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: you'll see these vast grasslands filled with sheep and goats.
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: And so water is scarce there. It's very arid. And
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: so water is a key issue. Now, of course, this
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: is China. So they're going to do what they want.
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  Speaker 4: And so far, there's not been any large resistance from
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  Speaker 4: the people. But, I mean, I looked up this information, Hugh.
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: It may be a surprise to you or maybe not,
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: but there are 400 to 500 data centers that are
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: under construction in the U.S. right now. key states like Texas, Virginia, Ohio,
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: and Georgia, obviously where governorships changed hands in three of
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: those key states on Tuesday. There's another 1,200 to 2,600
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  Speaker 4: data centers that are in planning, permitting, or land banking
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: right now. I don't know if you checked your stock
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: portfolio today, but you won't like what you see because
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: the NASDAQ, is down more than 5%. And this is
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: a big, big reaction to the concern among stock investors
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: that these AI and technology firms are not going to
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: be able to build these data centers, and that's going
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: to create a big, big problem for them.
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  Speaker 1: So in America, it's a political problem. In China, it's
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: a chip problem. You want to expand on why their
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: limit to growth of data centers is not political, it's technological.
• 15:51
  Speaker 7: Yes.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, the Chinese are doing exceptionally well in AI technology,
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: but we're still leading in chips. Maybe one reason why
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: they would like to have Taiwan, which is the largest
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: producer of semiconductor chips of any nation in the world,
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: just a vast percentage. But we put export controls on
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: a lot of these chips, making it difficult for China
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: to keep up the pace of of development and construction
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: of these data centers that they would like, whereas we're
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: not facing similar constraints, you know, here in the U.S.
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: But these political issues and market issues are going to be,
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: as we see today, a major, major factor.
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  Speaker 1: Now, if we put the map back up for a second,
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  Speaker 1: and for our audio-only listeners who are in the car
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: listening on the radio stations across the country, China's immense,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Inner Mongolia is very immense, and it's cold. And, Phil,
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: I want to close on that before I give the
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: pitch for Global Post. If we're looking for a similar region,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: a lot of land, cold, maybe some water, where are
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: we looking on the North American continent? Is that Canada?
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: That would be Canada, yes. That would be where we
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: would be looking, exactly. And Canada is blessed with a
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: lot of water.
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  Speaker 1: So we got to work out a deal with our
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Canadian friends that some of the data centers for North
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: America go up there. Phil, we got new audiences everywhere. 106.7.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: The right talk for Las Vegas comes to mind FM
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: on this trip. Tell them about the global post and
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: who can get it for free and how they get it.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 17:36
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  Speaker 4: than 14,000 students and teachers, not only in the United States, Hugh,
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: but in 114 other countries.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: It is one of the great things about the web.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: As foreign bureaus have closed across the United States because
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: of the economies do not support bureaus abroad, Phil and
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: his gang of merry warriors have put out a daily
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: product that is simply beautifully illustrated, wonderfully written, deeply researched.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: You can rely on it. Globalpost.com. forward slash Hugh H.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: if you want 50% off. They are not a sponsor
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: of the show. I just put Phil on because I
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: want people to be smart about the world. And if
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: you're a student or a teacher, and especially homeschoolers, go
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: over to GlobalPost.com and find Global Post in the classroom.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Sign up, get it for free every single day in
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: your email inbox. P. Balboni on X if you want
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: to follow Phil on X and Global Post on X
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: as well. Thank you, Philip Balboni. I'll be right back, America.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Stay tuned. Welcome back, America. Hugh Hewitt here. Vic Mattis,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Victorino Mattis to you on X, is the art and
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: culture editor, weekend editor at thefreebeacon.com. He's also the co-host
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: of the Getting Hammered podcast, which I was listening to
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: this morning in the rain. Vic, before I go to
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: the breaking news about Marco Rubio, which may or may
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: not be true about him leaving, the State Department, I
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: want to ask you about a line today on the
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: Getting Hammered podcast where you said, it's like buying a
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: fast sports car when you're young, no money down. Did
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: you do that, Vic?
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: No, I didn't do that, Hugh.
• 20:07
  Speaker 7: I was thinking about actually I'm a, I'm a lease
• 20:10
  Speaker 7: person and it's been on my mind. And it's the
• 20:12
  Speaker 7: first thing that came to my mind is the, you know,
• 20:14
  Speaker 7: they always tell you sign and drive, you know, don't
• 20:16
  Speaker 7: put any money down. Cause once you put that money down,
• 20:18
  Speaker 7: you take it out of the lot, you get in
• 20:20
  Speaker 7: an accident, then you got to pay for that. And
• 20:21
  Speaker 7: they can't, you know, you can't recoup any of those costs.
• 20:24
  Speaker 7: And so I was just thinking that, you know, the bill.
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: Has come due.
• 20:28
  Speaker 7: You know, we, we went with Trump in 2016 and
• 20:30
  Speaker 7: then again in 2024 certainly better than the alternatives. When
• 20:34
  Speaker 7: you think about Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris and, But
• 20:37
  Speaker 7: there were always downsides to this.
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: We knew it.
• 20:38
  Speaker 7: Maybe we kidded ourselves. But this is part of, you know,
• 20:42
  Speaker 7: it's part of the deal. And here we are in 2026.
• 20:44
  Speaker 7: And I think a lot of Republicans are ready to
• 20:46
  Speaker 7: move on and looking forward to 2028, actually.
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: But no, I did not. I did not get a
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: fancy sports car. I had a Mitsubishi.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Now, Vic, I want to ask you next. I heard
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: you talking about buyer's remorse. Yuval Levin has a piece
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: up that Rod Dreher likes. confirmation bias is as thick
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: as the Sherwood Forest, right? Everyone has got a particular issue.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Mine is we didn't finish the war with Iran. We
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: should have. But, you know, everyone is laying on to
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: a wipeout what they want to lay onto it. You've
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: all laid out 18 different things, and they said in
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: the end it's Donald Trump. You know, I don't think
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: we can do that. Data centers was 25% of the
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: electorate major issue. That's got nothing to do with Donald Trump,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: does it?
• 21:34
  Speaker 7: No, I mean that's a complicated one, especially for a
• 21:37
  Speaker 7: lot of politicians who are frankly on the older side
• 21:40
  Speaker 7: having to deal with the issue of artificial intelligence and
• 21:44
  Speaker 7: data centers and what side you take on it because,
• 21:46
  Speaker 7: I mean, again, this is something.
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: That we're all trying to figure out right now. If
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: you want to talk about strictly.
• 21:51
  Speaker 7: Data centers at the moment, Hugh, part of us is like, yes,
• 21:55
  Speaker 7: we need them because this is a race against China.
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: If we don't, they do.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: They win.
• 22:00
  Speaker 5: On the other hand, nobody wants to live next to
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: a data center.
• 22:02
  Speaker 7: We're talking about moving out to, you know, whether it
• 22:05
  Speaker 7: be Fauquier County or wherever else. And, you know, you
• 22:08
  Speaker 7: never know, you're living in a nice area in a
• 22:10
  Speaker 7: valley and suddenly there it is. And so people feel
• 22:13
  Speaker 7: very strongly about those data centers. No, it's more than
• 22:17
  Speaker 7: Donald Trump. I mean, there were a lot of issues
• 22:18
  Speaker 7: that needed to be addressed. And again, I mean, part
• 22:22
  Speaker 7: of it is candidate quality. Part of it is You know,
• 22:25
  Speaker 7: I mean, each state and each district has their own concerns.
• 22:29
  Speaker 5: So that's something to be mindful of.
• 22:31
  Speaker 7: But at the end of the day, it did have
• 22:34
  Speaker 7: to do, I think, with the issue of affordability.
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: There's no denying that. It had to do with tariffs.
• 22:39
  Speaker 7: It had to do with Iran to a certain extent,
• 22:41
  Speaker 7: just in terms of getting the job done or our
• 22:45
  Speaker 7: expectations of when this would be over. I think it
• 22:47
  Speaker 7: would have helped had the president laid out a stronger
• 22:51
  Speaker 7: case before epic fury.
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: And people are also speculating.
• 22:56
  Speaker 7: What if we just stopped at Midnight Hammer? We can't
• 22:59
  Speaker 7: go back to that point. But here we are now.
• 23:01
  Speaker 7: And I'm with you, Hugh. He needs to finish the
• 23:04
  Speaker 7: job now. His life is going to get a lot
• 23:07
  Speaker 7: more difficult come January when you're going to have 55,
• 23:10
  Speaker 7: 56 Democratic senators, let alone a lot of new Democratic
• 23:16
  Speaker 7: members in the House itching for a fight.
• 23:19
  Speaker 5: This is the time to do it.
• 23:20
  Speaker 7: I mean, he's got to think he's here for two
• 23:22
  Speaker 7: more years, this is going to have a lasting impact
• 23:27
  Speaker 7: on the rest of this country and the world, for
• 23:29
  Speaker 7: that matter.
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: So, yeah, get the job done.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: All right. Now, let me ask you about the afternoon
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: story of the day. And I recommend everyone getting hammered.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Mary Catherine and Vic did their postmortem on getting hammered.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: I won't try and compress a good long podcast into
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: five minutes. But today, Bloomberg reports that Secretary of State
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: Marco Rubio, also the National Security Adviser, is thinking about
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: stepping out of the administration. Pretty well-reported story, but anonymous sources.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: What do you think that telegraphs? Do you think he'll
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: do it?
• 24:02
  Speaker 7: Well, I mean, it's interesting here because, as you know,
• 24:06
  Speaker 7: it's not always members of a cabinet stick for two
• 24:09
  Speaker 7: whole terms, right? I mean, I think Obama's attorney general
• 24:13
  Speaker 7: lasted for a long time, if I'm not mistaken.
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: For a full eight.
• 24:18
  Speaker 7: Generally, they're in for two, three, four years. The Trump
• 24:22
  Speaker 7: administration is unusual in that if you stay for more
• 24:25
  Speaker 7: than a couple of years, that's a long time. So
• 24:28
  Speaker 7: I wouldn't necessarily be surprised if, in fact, Mark Rubio
• 24:31
  Speaker 7: is saying he's done. There are other possibilities of who
• 24:34
  Speaker 7: can fill his shoes. And he has time to assess
• 24:41
  Speaker 7: both his legacy and within the second Trump administration and
• 24:45
  Speaker 7: what he wants to do next. I really think it's
• 24:48
  Speaker 7: going to be a very complicated issue for a lot
• 24:51
  Speaker 7: of the current members of the administration because of the
• 24:54
  Speaker 7: shellacking that they took in 2026 going into 2028.
• 24:59
  Speaker 5: I do think that it's a very.
• 25:01
  Speaker 7: Exciting opportunities for other Republicans, namely Ron DeSantis and Glenn Youngkin.
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: So who knows? I mean, I'm always looking for a
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: silver lining there.
• 25:09
  Speaker 7: But with Mark Rubio, He was one of my favorite,
• 25:12
  Speaker 7: if not my favorite, member of the Trump administration's second cabinet,
• 25:16
  Speaker 7: just because he could explain everything in very clear terms
• 25:22
  Speaker 7: with a lot of moral clarity.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: All right, let me give you my list, Vic. People
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: welcome on this program to talk about the future of
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: the GOP, whether or not they're running for president. Vice
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: President Vance, Secretary Rubio, Secretary Besant, Secretary Hegseth, Secretary Burgum,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Secretary Pompeo, who's coming on next hour. Senator Cotton will
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: be back next week. Senator Cruz, Senator Dave McCormick, Senator
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Tim Sheehy, Governor DeSantis, Governor Ducey, Governor Huckabee, Governor Kemp,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Governor Youngkin. That's a lot of choices, Vic Mattis, a
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: lot of choices.
• 25:56
  Speaker 5: It is, and it's a lot of competence, largely, to
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: choose from.
• 26:00
  Speaker 7: You think about that list that you just rattled off, Hugh,
• 26:03
  Speaker 7: and then you think about the list of potential Democrats
• 26:06
  Speaker 7: in 2028.
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: That's a horror show.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: I got that. AOC, Roe, Conner, Rahm Emanuel, Gavin Newsom, J.P. Pritzker.
• 26:16
  Speaker 7: I can tell you it's not going to be Rahm Emanuel,
• 26:20
  Speaker 7: and it's not going to be John Ossoff, or.
• 26:23
  Speaker 5: It's not going to be Governor Josh Shapiro.
• 26:26
  Speaker 7: Of Pennsylvania, because there is a very large anti-Israel element,
• 26:32
  Speaker 7: anti-Jewish element now, let's be honest here, going into this
• 26:37
  Speaker 7: next Congress. It's going to be fairly hostile, certainly in
• 26:41
  Speaker 7: a Democratic primary. We're talking about ending aid to Israel,
• 26:44
  Speaker 7: which is something that has been in the works since
• 26:46
  Speaker 7: obviously the 1990s. And phasing it out is something I
• 26:50
  Speaker 7: think both sides can agree on at this point, $ 3. 8 billion.
• 26:53
  Speaker 7: But they're talking about immediate withdrawal of all aid and
• 26:59
  Speaker 7: military assistance, which Israel needs now in the middle of
• 27:01
  Speaker 7: a war. So on the other side, You are going
• 27:04
  Speaker 7: to have these opportunists. If you look at Ro Khanna,
• 27:07
  Speaker 7: who's been very disappointing lately as he's catering further to
• 27:10
  Speaker 7: the left. And as other people have said, the midterm,
• 27:15
  Speaker 7: which was great for Democrats in general, horrible news for
• 27:18
  Speaker 7: Kamala Harris. It totally eclipses her. People want they want
• 27:22
  Speaker 7: to move on. Bernie Sanders is talking about a mandate
• 27:25
  Speaker 7: and what the message is. And that message could be
• 27:29
  Speaker 7: very different, I think. from a lot of the red
• 27:31
  Speaker 7: state Democrats and the incoming speaker, Hakeem Jeffries.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: I played some Bernie Sanders in the show prep. He's
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: on the deep end, Vic, 30 seconds. Are they going
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: to follow him over the edge?
• 27:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think a good chunk of them are.
• 27:47
  Speaker 7: They owe their successes to AOC and to Bernie Sanders.
• 27:51
  Speaker 7: And if they want to push for whether it be
• 27:53
  Speaker 7: defunding ICE and Medicare for all, that's happening. But don't forget,
• 27:57
  Speaker 7: there's going to be a lot of impeachment talk, indictments,
• 28:00
  Speaker 7: Even the incoming head of the House Oversight says, lawyer up.
• 28:04
  Speaker 5: It's not good for the country.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: I think of my old law partner, Judge Stephen Larson.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: His phone must be ringing. Federal judge, offices in D.C.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: and L.A. Lawyer up. Call up Stephen. Stay tuned, America.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Vic Madden.
• 28:19
  Speaker 5: Welcome back, America.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Hugh Hewitt, joined now by Josh Kroschauer, editor-in-chief of Jewish Insider. Josh,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: after the wipeout, I want to ask you about the
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: Democratic Party. How big is the pro-Israel caucus within the
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Democratic Party? How big is the anti-Israel caucus in the
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: Democratic Party?
• 28:38
  Speaker 8: Well, that's a really important question, and it's one that's
• 28:40
  Speaker 8: a little bit hard to really figure out because you
• 28:44
  Speaker 8: have a lot of these new members in red districts
• 28:48
  Speaker 8: that got swept in with the wave, and we don't
• 28:50
  Speaker 8: know much about them. Like North Carolina, for example, there
• 28:53
  Speaker 8: are going to be, I think, five new members that
• 28:55
  Speaker 8: were not on the list of anyone. on the Cook
• 28:58
  Speaker 8: Political Report or anywhere else.
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: We don't know.
• 29:00
  Speaker 8: They didn't raise much money. They don't have much profiles.
• 29:02
  Speaker 8: They're in conservative districts. So, you know, there's going to
• 29:04
  Speaker 8: be a lot of those types of members that are
• 29:07
  Speaker 8: going to be hard to figure out. Now, I will
• 29:08
  Speaker 8: say that if you look at the overall picture of
• 29:11
  Speaker 8: the folks we do know, I would still say a
• 29:15
  Speaker 8: half or more either are pro-Israel openly or tend to
• 29:19
  Speaker 8: lean in that direction. And you're going to have an
• 29:21
  Speaker 8: increase in the number of DSA and socialist and radical
• 29:26
  Speaker 8: members But it still is maybe a dozen of them.
• 29:29
  Speaker 8: I haven't done the exact math, but probably the squad
• 29:32
  Speaker 8: is going to double. And then you have a lot
• 29:34
  Speaker 8: of people in the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which numbers near
• 29:37
  Speaker 8: you know, like 80 to 100. And they are also
• 29:40
  Speaker 8: becoming very anti-Israel, too. So, you know, it's, you know,
• 29:43
  Speaker 8: I don't have an exact number, but I would still
• 29:46
  Speaker 8: say that in the broadest sense of the word, I'd
• 29:48
  Speaker 8: say at least half or more of the Democratic Caucus
• 29:51
  Speaker 8: wants a healthy U.S.-Israel relationship. But the whole party is
• 29:55
  Speaker 8: growing much more critical of Israel. And it's those folks
• 29:58
  Speaker 8: in the mushy middle. the folks who don't really care
• 30:00
  Speaker 8: that much at all about foreign policy, who are putting
• 30:02
  Speaker 8: their fingers in the wind to see where the winds
• 30:05
  Speaker 8: are blowing. And that's where it's going to be most
• 30:06
  Speaker 8: challenging for pro-Israel supporters.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: I agree that the loudest people in the Democratic Party, Bernie, AOC, El-Said,
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: are anti-Israel. They're just anti-Israel. However, I know Jared Moskowitz,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: I think, won. and he ran as, we are going
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: to support Israel. So there's a split in the party.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: I don't know the party well enough. Who is going
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: to be the leader of the, hey, they're the most
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: important ally we have in the Middle East and maybe
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: the equal of any ally we have in the world,
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: and we're going to stand with the Jewish state. Who's
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: the leader of that group? Because they've got to stand up.
• 30:40
  Speaker 8: I don't know if I'd quite describe them that way,
• 30:43
  Speaker 8: but Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are going to be
• 30:46
  Speaker 8: the leaders of their respective caucuses. and they're going to
• 30:49
  Speaker 8: be holding the mainstream line. I actually thought there was
• 30:53
  Speaker 8: the exit poll, the election exit poll, actually asked, should
• 30:56
  Speaker 8: we be more supportive of Israel? Are you happy with
• 30:58
  Speaker 8: less support, same support as it currently stands? And that
• 31:01
  Speaker 8: was split equal, 50-50. The country as a whole is
• 31:04
  Speaker 8: evenly divided. Now, most Democrats are now calling for less
• 31:08
  Speaker 8: support of Israel. Most Republicans are calling for more support
• 31:11
  Speaker 8: or are satisfied.
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: With the level of support.
• 31:13
  Speaker 8: And independents split pretty evenly. So Think about any issue
• 31:17
  Speaker 8: that's a 50-50 issue. There is quite a bit of
• 31:21
  Speaker 8: support broadly within the public and within the Congress, but
• 31:24
  Speaker 8: among the more progressive members and the further blue and
• 31:27
  Speaker 8: the further left you get, you're going to have hostility
• 31:30
  Speaker 8: to Israel being almost a fait accompli.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: Other breaking news this afternoon from Israel. It appears that
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: Avigdor Lieberman has agreed to work with the Haridem parties.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: That gives Eisenkot and Lieberman A rotation agreement, doesn't it?
• 31:48
  Speaker 8: It puts Eisencutt in the catbird seat to be prime minister,
• 31:52
  Speaker 8: given that ability. He had said he would not work
• 31:56
  Speaker 8: with Haredi, the very orthodox parties. And one of the
• 32:00
  Speaker 8: big issues in the Israeli campaign was the exemption that
• 32:03
  Speaker 8: Haredi individuals have from the draft. And most of them
• 32:08
  Speaker 8: don't serve in the military. that became a huge issue.
• 32:11
  Speaker 8: And it was one that looked like it was going
• 32:13
  Speaker 8: to be a breaking point between, uh, Eisencott and the
• 32:15
  Speaker 8: opposition and any of these, these, uh, ultra religious parties, um,
• 32:20
  Speaker 8: that now looks like it's no longer the case. And Lieberman, uh,
• 32:24
  Speaker 8: said he'd be fine or it's okay for him to
• 32:26
  Speaker 8: serve with, uh, some of these, these ultra religious parties.
• 32:29
  Speaker 8: So that gives the opposition, uh, the edge now and
• 32:32
  Speaker 8: informing the next government. I think it's still a lot
• 32:34
  Speaker 8: of weight, Still things that need to be accomplished and
• 32:36
  Speaker 8: a lot of ways to go, but it is a
• 32:38
  Speaker 8: big development in the Israeli government.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: And what I want to ask you, and I don't
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: know if you know this, it seemed to me that, okay,
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: let's talk, is a long way away from 61 or
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: 63 votes if you add in the ultra-Orthodox and Lieberman ultra-secular.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: They actually got to work out what the draft bill
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: would be, right? At that point, some people can push
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: away from the table.
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 33:02
  Speaker 8: In fact, I was just talking to our Israel... political reporter,
• 33:05
  Speaker 8: Lahav Harkov, and I always ask her for all the
• 33:08
  Speaker 8: specific questions on what's happening minute by minute. But yes,
• 33:12
  Speaker 8: there are a lot. Those are some of the details
• 33:14
  Speaker 8: that still would have to be worked out.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: In terms of between now and then, there's at least
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: three or four weeks, right? So if Donald Trump decides
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: to try and deliver the killer blow, that he's been
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: holding off on against Iran. Does Israel fly tip to
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: tip with us if we ask them to?
• 33:37
  Speaker 8: There's no division, really, within the Israeli opposition and the
• 33:43
  Speaker 8: current government. The view of Iran is very, very similar.
• 33:47
  Speaker 8: So I don't think the changing governments would affect anything
• 33:51
  Speaker 8: in terms of Trump's actions.
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: Um though you.
• 33:54
  Speaker 8: Know i i actually would on the u.s side i
• 33:56
  Speaker 8: would be a little after the elections i would be
• 33:57
  Speaker 8: a little more surprised even in the lame duck period
• 33:59
  Speaker 8: if if trump uh goes with goes ahead with another
• 34:04
  Speaker 8: military intervention but.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: We'll see oh josh i disagree with you only because
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: he's now got an eye on what does history say
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: about him uh he's got this big blue wave that
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: says bad things about his presidency how do you turn
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: that around you win this battle and you hit pickaxe
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: mountain and you hit it again and again and again
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: and you hit you bounce the rubble at Fordow and
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: everywhere else. That's what, okay.
• 34:26
  Speaker 5: I'm Hugh Hewitt. I just, yeah, no, I know.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: I understand.
• 34:32
  Speaker 5: I just don't get the vibe.
• 34:33
  Speaker 8: I mean, with the advances, I mean, that's a huge
• 34:36
  Speaker 8: political development with Vance's statement yesterday, attacking the Iran war
• 34:41
  Speaker 8: and saying that's why Republicans underperformed. And, you know, I just,
• 34:46
  Speaker 8: it just, and then the Hexeth, you know, the fact that,
• 34:49
  Speaker 8: There's some questions about whether he's sticking around with the administration.
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: In the long haul.
• 34:53
  Speaker 8: It just doesn't feel like that's what's imminent. But we'll see.
• 34:56
  Speaker 8: I've been surprised before. Josh Kroschauer, always good to talk
• 35:00
  Speaker 8: to you. Follow him on X at Josh Kroschauer. X
• 35:03
  Speaker 8: at Josh Kroschauer.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: Hi, Hugh Hewitt for Carbon Zero. Every day there's another
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: headline about artificial intelligence, and it's advancing faster than most
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: of us could ever have imagined. Raises an important question.
• 35:15
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• 35:17
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• 35:39
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• 35:46
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• 35:50
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• 36:08
  Speaker 1: Hugh Hewitt here for Carbon Zero. What happens when artificial
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: intelligence follows the instructions given it just a little too well?
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: That's the question at the heart of the novel Carbon Zero,
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: a new techno-thriller from AI pioneer Craig W. Stanfield. Craig
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• 36:35
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• 36:39
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• 36:44
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• 36:50
  Speaker 1: the Hugging Face Incident? Think about that. It's the kind
• 36:53
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• 36:56
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• 37:03
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• 37:08
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• 39:29
  Speaker 1: Good morning, glory, and even grace, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt,
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: as promised, after the tsunami on Tuesday. I went looking
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: for people who actually know, or might guess well, what
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: has happened. Among them, of course, former Secretary of State
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: Mike Pompeo, also former CIA director, also former congressman from Kansas,
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: now head of CNQ Advisors. That's his own shop. West
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: Point graduate, Harvard Law. You remember all that. Mr. Secretary,
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: welcome back. What's the Matter with Kansas was the name
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: of a book in the 90s or the aughts. What's
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: the matter with Kansas? What happened? And not just Kansas,
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: but across the map.
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I remember that book well. He was wrong, too.
• 40:14
  Speaker 9: Thomas Frank wrote the book and said Kansans were stupid.
• 40:18
  Speaker 9: That's also not the case this time. What they are
• 40:20
  Speaker 9: is frustrated and a little bit pissed off. Pissed off
• 40:24
  Speaker 9: that they haven't been told the truth. Pissed off that
• 40:28
  Speaker 9: prices are high, that tariffs impacted our farmers dramatically in Kansas.
• 40:33
  Speaker 9: They could see that their lives had not been made better,
• 40:37
  Speaker 9: and they let everyone know it that night.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: Well, let's walk through it all, but I listened to
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: the Ruthless podcast today. Those fellows are pretty good, and
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: they warned against what's happening online. Everyone's taking their pet issue.
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: You didn't do this. Everyone's taking their pet issue and
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: said it's because of my pet issue. You just listed
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: a bunch of them, and you actually listed the number
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: one that they found in the internal polls across many campaigns,
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: which is corruption. Now, corruption means a lot of different
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: things to a lot of different people. In Minnesota, it
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: means Somali daycare centers in New York City, it means
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: Medicaid fraud. But to others, it means self-dealing. What's it
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: mean to you?
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, I think there is a perception.
• 41:20
  Speaker 9: So I was out, I was in Michigan on Sunday,
• 41:22
  Speaker 9: the day that Stevens made her announcement. I was back
• 41:25
  Speaker 9: in Kansas the week before that. And I heard it
• 41:27
  Speaker 9: every place I went, Hugh. I heard that just like,
• 41:30
  Speaker 9: we're not getting told the straight story. We're hearing about
• 41:32
  Speaker 9: people getting rich who are inside a government We're hearing
• 41:35
  Speaker 9: about those who benefit from federal programs that don't deserve it,
• 41:39
  Speaker 9: student loans that aren't being repaid, right? And people who
• 41:43
  Speaker 9: work in a machine shop like the one that I
• 41:45
  Speaker 9: ran in Kansas saying, I didn't even go to school.
• 41:47
  Speaker 9: Why is my taxpayer money going to repay somebody's student loan?
• 41:51
  Speaker 9: That's the kind of thing when they see government not
• 41:53
  Speaker 9: doing the most basic things that Republicans have stood for
• 41:56
  Speaker 9: for decades, right?
• 41:57
  Speaker 3: Smaller government, more freedom, a little bit of space to
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: move about the cabin.
• 42:02
  Speaker 9: And they see us doing things that drive prices up
• 42:04
  Speaker 9: and not actually doing the things that create markets that
• 42:08
  Speaker 9: really create wealth and jobs, then when they see people
• 42:11
  Speaker 9: inside of government trading stocks and doing all of those things,
• 42:14
  Speaker 9: they think, well, that's indecent, and I'm just going to
• 42:16
  Speaker 9: vote for change, and damn it, I'm done with whoever's
• 42:19
  Speaker 9: in office today.
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: Well, that makes a lot of sense to me. I
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: do want to walk through some of the issues, but
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: I want to go back to when you first ran
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: for Congress. Has the Republican electorate and the independent electorate,
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: the Democrats have gone off the left cliff, but has
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: our electorate changed much, even though we've had a charismatic
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: burst of populism under President Trump? Did the base Republican
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: case change?
• 42:43
  Speaker 3: No, it hasn't changed. Times change. We have to deliver
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: it in a different way. But Hugh, your point's a
• 42:48
  Speaker 3: good one.
• 42:49
  Speaker 9: The last huge wave election I was part of, 2010,
• 42:51
  Speaker 9: the Tea Party class of 2010, I was one of
• 42:52
  Speaker 9: those 70 plus Republicans who was elected that day out
• 42:58
  Speaker 9: of nowhere. I was running a machine shop in Wichita,
• 43:00
  Speaker 9: Kansas before that. No, what they really want is a
• 43:04
  Speaker 9: government that's decent, that's smaller, that doesn't tax them into oblivion.
• 43:08
  Speaker 9: They want to take care of their families. In Kansas,
• 43:11
  Speaker 9: they are deeply, I'll call it a conservative with a
• 43:15
  Speaker 9: small C. They understand family and community in deep and
• 43:19
  Speaker 9: important ways. And when they see the state, they see
• 43:21
  Speaker 9: all these things happening, Hugh, they reject it. And they
• 43:25
  Speaker 9: haven't changed in the sense of times move on. But
• 43:28
  Speaker 9: the central notion of peace through strength, let's not be
• 43:31
  Speaker 9: wimps and appease the bad guys.
• 43:33
  Speaker 3: Kansans can tell evil from good.
• 43:36
  Speaker 9: And when they see us walking away from those central ideas,
• 43:39
  Speaker 9: they get really upset and they take it out on
• 43:41
  Speaker 9: those who.
• 43:41
  Speaker 3: Are in office.
• 43:42
  Speaker 9: There's no doubt about that. I think that's what we
• 43:43
  Speaker 9: saw Tuesday night.
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: I'm going to come back to peace through strength in
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: our second segment, Mr. Secretary. I want to stay with
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: the traditional stuff. You're not anywhere near as old as
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: I am. I'm old enough to have worked in the
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: 1974 congressional campaign of Paul Cronin and gotten blown out.
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: I remember 76. I was around when we got beat
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: over the head in 2006 and 2008. We always get
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: off the ground. Any words of optimism for Republicans, independents
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: who are right-leaning about how long it takes to come
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: back and what you do to get back in the game?
• 44:17
  Speaker 9: Oh, no, we'll come back. We'll come back not because
• 44:20
  Speaker 9: you think so or I think so. We'll come back
• 44:21
  Speaker 9: because people at the end in America understand that the
• 44:25
  Speaker 9: Democrat Party has nothing for them, that the ideas that
• 44:28
  Speaker 9: are being put forward by the senator-elect in Michigan and
• 44:31
  Speaker 9: Bernie Sanders and AOC, these are not things that are
• 44:34
  Speaker 9: good for the people of America. And I think I
• 44:36
  Speaker 9: think centrally, you talk about all these times we've been
• 44:39
  Speaker 9: on the mat before. Know that the party will come
• 44:41
  Speaker 9: back if we'll stick to the core ideas that have
• 44:43
  Speaker 9: delivered such good outcomes, not just for our party, not
• 44:47
  Speaker 9: just electoral wins, but really good outcomes for America that
• 44:50
  Speaker 9: grew our economy and created more space and a lot
• 44:53
  Speaker 9: of wealth for the least amongst us as well.
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: So let me ask you about two races in particular
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: on Tuesday night that upset me the most. Senator Susan
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: Collins in Maine, the conscience in the Senate, Joe Manchin
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: campaigned with her She was the most powerful woman in Washington, D.C.
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: until Tuesday night, chair of the Appropriations Committee. They threw
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: her overboard for a guy I just think is a schlub.
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: And then Michigan. You're in Michigan. I got nothing against
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: Muslims being in office. I got a lot of worries
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: about Abdul El-Sayed. What are your thoughts on both those races,
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: Michigan and Maine?
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's very interesting.
• 45:30
  Speaker 9: In those two races, we had very good candidates, candidates
• 45:33
  Speaker 9: that fit their state.
• 45:34
  Speaker 3: Very nicely, right?
• 45:35
  Speaker 9: Susan Collins was a warrior, a political animal, and a
• 45:38
  Speaker 9: good senator. Not as conservative as I am, but nonetheless,
• 45:42
  Speaker 9: a really good fit for Maine. And she just got
• 45:43
  Speaker 9: blown out in a way that no one could have predicted.
• 45:47
  Speaker 3: Same thing in Michigan, right?
• 45:50
  Speaker 9: Mike Rogers, who was the chairman of the Intelligence Committee
• 45:52
  Speaker 9: when I was in Congress and on the committee, good candidate,
• 45:56
  Speaker 9: center-right conservative, true believer in American exceptionalism. gets beat by
• 46:01
  Speaker 9: a guy who's just dangerous. And your point about people's faith,
• 46:06
  Speaker 9: whatever faith someone's of, that's fine. But this is a
• 46:09
  Speaker 9: guy whose family is deeply connected to the Muslim Brotherhood
• 46:12
  Speaker 9: and who could not tell the difference between good and evil,
• 46:15
  Speaker 9: between Israel and Iran.
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: I'm very surprised the people of Michigan couldn't see through
• 46:20
  Speaker 3: that and elected him.
• 46:21
  Speaker 9: I'm not as surprised that Susan Collins, in a time
• 46:24
  Speaker 9: when the mood is as sour as it was, was
• 46:26
  Speaker 9: unable to use her enormous political skill to still prevail
• 46:29
  Speaker 9: against a really bad candidate.
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: So, Secretary Pompeo, we'll again turn to specifics on the
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: world after this, but you mentioned Reagan peace through strength doctrine.
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: President Trump put his arm around that. Most Republicans didn't
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: run on that, though. The Golden Fleet, a trillion and
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: a half, they didn't get it done. I'm told they
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: can't get it done. How important is it to defense
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: plus up our industrial base and our shipbuilding capacity, etc.
• 46:56
  Speaker 3: etc.
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: etc.
• 46:59
  Speaker 9: You've talked about this for years. We had 300-ship Navy.
• 47:02
  Speaker 9: I don't know what we have today. We have to
• 47:04
  Speaker 9: go rebuild. We saw it in the munitions challenges that
• 47:08
  Speaker 9: we faced.
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: You're right.
• 47:10
  Speaker 9: Very few candidates ran on this. They thought it was
• 47:12
  Speaker 9: somehow unpopular. My sense of this is always the American
• 47:15
  Speaker 9: people get it. If you articulate a vision for American
• 47:17
  Speaker 9: security that'll keep their children and grandchildren safe, they're prepared
• 47:21
  Speaker 9: to give a president a lot of space to do
• 47:22
  Speaker 9: the necessary, whether that's spending money, pushing back against Vladimir Putin,
• 47:27
  Speaker 9: who is terrorizing Europe, or the Ayatollah who continues to
• 47:30
  Speaker 9: terrorize the Gulf and Israel and even the United States.
• 47:33
  Speaker 9: American people do that, but you have to make the case.
• 47:36
  Speaker 9: You have to explain why it matters to the people
• 47:38
  Speaker 9: of Kansas that the Ayatollah is not successful in clothing
• 47:41
  Speaker 9: the Strait of Hormuz. And I know we'll talk about this,
• 47:44
  Speaker 9: but I've heard some in the aftermath of the election say, well, gosh,
• 47:47
  Speaker 9: that was the thing that cost us, and we just
• 47:49
  Speaker 9: need to walk away from this. Trust me, you walk
• 47:51
  Speaker 9: away from this conflict where it sits today, energy prices
• 47:54
  Speaker 9: ain't coming down.
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: OK, we're going to come back to that last question
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: for this segment on Tuesday night. Bill Hammer, your friend
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: and mine, we both are Fox News contributors, kept going
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: back to his map to my hometown, Trumbull County, Warren, Ohio,
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: to Mahoning County, Youngstown, Ohio. And Rob Portman won it.
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: Trump won it. John Houston lost it. How do you
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: lose the counties that had flipped for the first time
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: in my lifetime 10 years ago?
• 48:20
  Speaker 3: You know, I don't know.
• 48:22
  Speaker 9: We lost counties in Kansas. We lost Finney County in Kansas.
• 48:24
  Speaker 9: If you know Finney County at all, that's a serious
• 48:27
  Speaker 9: Republican stronghold. I think we lost Hispanic voters with some
• 48:31
  Speaker 9: of the methods that were used to enforce the immigration rules.
• 48:33
  Speaker 9: People saw these videos and didn't like it. I think, too,
• 48:36
  Speaker 9: that when we could see it was beginning to slip,
• 48:39
  Speaker 9: we were way too late. We began to put effort
• 48:42
  Speaker 9: into these races only after Labor Day when somehow the
• 48:44
  Speaker 9: die was already cast. I saw some candidates like our
• 48:47
  Speaker 9: friend Tom Cotton in Arkansas got the got the joke.
• 48:50
  Speaker 9: and in the summer began to do the hard work
• 48:53
  Speaker 9: of campaigning. So I think we made some tactical on
• 48:55
  Speaker 9: the ground political errors. And then I think we didn't
• 48:57
  Speaker 9: honor the people's wishes, which is to talk about an
• 49:00
  Speaker 9: affordability and explain why the Republican Party is the better
• 49:03
  Speaker 9: party to deliver an affordable, good life for ordinary Americans,
• 49:08
  Speaker 9: not the liberal Democrats.
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: And a last question before break. We got a minute.
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: I'm not a big tariff guy, but I'm not blanket
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: against them, especially when they're used against China. Is that
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: where you are on tariffs?
• 49:22
  Speaker 9: Yeah, I'm not a big tariff guy. And we should
• 49:24
  Speaker 9: be trying to partner with our nations that are allies, right?
• 49:28
  Speaker 9: So think about Canada, right? We hurt people all across
• 49:32
  Speaker 9: the United States by picking a fight with Canada when
• 49:34
  Speaker 9: they provide a lot of energy for us and a
• 49:35
  Speaker 9: lot of things that really benefit us. And I think
• 49:37
  Speaker 9: people could see that. We were picking on our friends
• 49:39
  Speaker 9: in ways that weren't making their lives better. I think
• 49:41
  Speaker 9: that had ramifications, too. And I don't think there's any
• 49:44
  Speaker 9: doubt that over time, tariffs do drive increasing costs. They
• 49:48
  Speaker 9: are a tax and blanket tariffs that aren't aimed at
• 49:50
  Speaker 9: a particular purpose don't benefit ordinary people.
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: I'll be right back with Secretary Pompeo. We're going to
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: talk about the war and we're going to talk about
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: what to do next in that war, because that's my
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: particular part on the bingo card. If I had one
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: thing to talk about, so I get to talk about
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: it with the former secretary of state and head of
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: the CIA. Stay tuned. Welcome back, America. As promised, Secretary
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: Pompeo has stuck around for a second segment with me today.
• 50:23
  Speaker 5: Mr.
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: Secretary, I know you don't feel obliged to agree with me,
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: and you'll tell me if you think I'm stupid. That's
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: what old friends do. But I am convinced that I
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: hope the B-2s are in the air right now, headed
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: for Pickaxe Mountain, and that the MOU is a bad idea,
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: and we've got to finish the job. What do you think?
• 50:42
  Speaker 9: Hugh, I'm happy to tell you when I think you're stupid.
• 50:44
  Speaker 9: It seldom happens, and it certainly doesn't happen on this file.
• 50:48
  Speaker 9: I hope it's the case, too. There is still more
• 50:50
  Speaker 9: work to be done. The president's decision to deny not
• 50:55
  Speaker 9: only a nuclear weapon.
• 50:56
  Speaker 3: But the conventional systems, Hugh, right?
• 50:58
  Speaker 9: All the systems that would have made truly impenetrable fortress Iran,
• 51:02
  Speaker 9: the president took them out. And we can now fly
• 51:04
  Speaker 9: over this place with impunity, and we should. We should
• 51:07
  Speaker 9: keep the economic blockade in place. We should continue to
• 51:10
  Speaker 9: press every nation to stop providing any resources to Hezbollah,
• 51:14
  Speaker 9: to the Houthis, to the other proxies in Iraq and
• 51:18
  Speaker 9: to the regime itself. If we get that right and
• 51:20
  Speaker 9: then do the necessary, take down more capability, then we
• 51:23
  Speaker 9: can reopen the Strait of Hormuz and then we can
• 51:25
  Speaker 9: rebuild the infrastructure that's been destroyed. And then the American
• 51:28
  Speaker 9: people will get the affordable energy that I know was
• 51:31
  Speaker 9: so much on everyone's mind in the election on Tuesday.
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: And to double down on that, I think our most
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: important or at least the equal of any of our
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: strategic allies is Israel, a nuclear power that can project
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: and has the will to project force. And then the
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: United Arab Emirates, a little Sparta, I think they struck
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: back at the Islamic Guard themselves. I'm not sure if
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia did, but Saudi's got our oil and they're
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: our ally as well. We stand with these people, right?
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: We don't let them just get– if we don't finish
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: off Iran, they'll terrorize our friends forever.
• 52:04
  Speaker 9: No, we need to finish the job for them. Most importantly, though,
• 52:07
  Speaker 9: we need to finish the job for ourselves, for America.
• 52:10
  Speaker 9: President Trump fundamentally grasped this. When I see comments that
• 52:14
  Speaker 9: talk about Israel as being the problem, that's the things
• 52:17
  Speaker 9: that Syed said. That was the commercial he ran. He said,
• 52:19
  Speaker 9: Israel's causing our bananas to be more expensive. And then
• 52:21
  Speaker 9: I've seen Republicans say that one of the things we
• 52:24
  Speaker 9: have to do is fix the relationship in Israel. My gosh, Hugh,
• 52:27
  Speaker 9: I was the CIA director. Our most important security partner,
• 52:30
  Speaker 9: bar none, was Israel. both as an intelligence service and
• 52:34
  Speaker 9: the military. Our Gulf state allies are central to American success.
• 52:39
  Speaker 9: This is in America's interest to deliver, finish the job.
• 52:42
  Speaker 9: And I'm also disheartened when I hear people say, well,
• 52:45
  Speaker 9: we can't do that. We bombed them and it didn't work. No,
• 52:48
  Speaker 9: we bombed them. We were very successful. We simply clutched
• 52:52
  Speaker 9: out and tried to do a stupid deal. We called
• 52:54
  Speaker 9: it an MOU that was never going to work. with
• 52:56
  Speaker 9: a regime that is implacable and isn't going to honor
• 52:59
  Speaker 9: anything they sign.
• 53:00
  Speaker 3: We knew that here with the JCPOA. We need to
• 53:04
  Speaker 3: go back at this.
• 53:05
  Speaker 9: Deal with resolve, make it very clear that there will
• 53:08
  Speaker 9: be no free pass for the Iranian regime and will
• 53:10
  Speaker 9: ultimately prevail for the American people.
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: So, Secretary Pompeo, we've got two other big conflict fronts.
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: We've got the Ukraine-Russia war, where Russia invaded twice under
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: Democratic presidents, and we have helped them. And I hope
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: we continue to. But China remains our biggest menace. China
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: was not discussed. I don't think anyone discussed China in 2026.
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: Did they?
• 53:33
  Speaker 3: Too little.
• 53:34
  Speaker 9: And we've been too willing to placate Xi Jinping under
• 53:37
  Speaker 9: multiple presidents from multiple parties, Hugh. It's the central problem
• 53:41
  Speaker 9: of the next 15, 20 years. They are supporting the
• 53:44
  Speaker 9: Iranian regime against us. They provided components that have killed
• 53:49
  Speaker 9: American kids. They are helping the Russians. The Chinese-Iranian axis
• 53:52
  Speaker 9: is very real.
• 53:53
  Speaker 3: And you're right. It wasn't part of the conversation in
• 53:55
  Speaker 3: any serious way. It needs to be.
• 53:57
  Speaker 9: I hope it will be an important part of the
• 53:59
  Speaker 9: conversation that President Trump will take forward and then an
• 54:01
  Speaker 9: important part of the conversation in the campaign in 2028.
• 54:04
  Speaker 9: I will tell you, there are too many that were
• 54:07
  Speaker 9: elected from the Democrat Party who don't see that, who
• 54:10
  Speaker 9: are prepared to cozy up to the Chinese Communist Party.
• 54:14
  Speaker 9: We know evil and we know the aggressor. We know
• 54:17
  Speaker 9: who it is in the Middle East. We know that
• 54:19
  Speaker 9: it's Vladimir Putin. terrorizing Ukraine. And we know that it's
• 54:22
  Speaker 9: Xi Jinping that is threatening every American as well. We
• 54:25
  Speaker 9: have to be serious about this. We will prevail, just
• 54:28
  Speaker 9: like the Republican Party is going to rise. America will
• 54:31
  Speaker 9: be fine. But we need leaders who are prepared to
• 54:33
  Speaker 9: do the necessary things to provide the security that the
• 54:36
  Speaker 9: American people so richly deserve. And I'm convinced they will
• 54:39
  Speaker 9: demand in 2028.
• 54:40
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: At the risk of putting people to sleep, I'm going
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: to bring up the debt And I'm going to do
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: it in the context of the fact we need a
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: trillion and a half dollar defense budget like President Trump
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: has requested. So on the one hand, I'm saying we
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: got a 40 trillion dollar debt. On the other hand,
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: I'm saying we need to spend another trillion and a half.
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: Can you reconcile those two deeply in, I think, necessary
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: strategic important points?
• 55:07
  Speaker 9: I certainly can. By the way, they're not remotely inconsistent.
• 55:10
  Speaker 9: You spend a trillion and a half trillion dollars on defense,
• 55:13
  Speaker 9: and you will continue to have the United States dollar as.
• 55:16
  Speaker 3: A reserve currency for the world.
• 55:18
  Speaker 9: The single most important thing to grow the American economy
• 55:21
  Speaker 9: is that we protect and secure America, maintain our freedom,
• 55:24
  Speaker 9: property rights, basic human dignity. We can grow the economy.
• 55:28
  Speaker 9: And that, Hugh, that's the only way out of $ 40
• 55:29
  Speaker 9: trillion hole that we're in. GDP growth, not a two
• 55:32
  Speaker 9: and a half or three, but a four or four
• 55:34
  Speaker 9: and a half year on year You can spend the
• 55:36
  Speaker 9: money on security, you can deliver for the American people,
• 55:39
  Speaker 9: and you can dig our way out of this incredible
• 55:41
  Speaker 9: challenge we face with $ 40 trillion in debt today. And
• 55:44
  Speaker 9: by the way, to your point earlier, did anybody campaign
• 55:47
  Speaker 9: on this interview?
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: No, they didn't. And a lot of people tried to
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: have it both ways on data centers. And that's where
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: I interestingly want to finish with you. I read this
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: morning that Outer Mongolia has become data center central for
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: the People's Republic of China. They're just building them everywhere
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: because they know it's the future. Now we've got the
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: left in this country and some populists saying, well, they
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: can't have a data center in my state. What's Mike
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: Pompeo think about that?
• 56:16
  Speaker 9: I think markets should drive the outcome and markets are
• 56:21
  Speaker 9: going to demand enormous amount of compute and the United
• 56:25
  Speaker 9: States needs an enormous amount of compute to keep people
• 56:27
  Speaker 9: safe and to win the technology fight against the Chinese
• 56:30
  Speaker 9: Communist Party. We can build these facilities, right? They're buildings
• 56:34
  Speaker 9: with servers in them. We can build them in a
• 56:36
  Speaker 9: way that is environmentally safe, whatever it is the left wants.
• 56:39
  Speaker 9: We can do it in a way that doesn't drive
• 56:40
  Speaker 9: utility rates through the roof. We can tax them appropriately.
• 56:44
  Speaker 9: All of those things are reasonable. But if we put
• 56:47
  Speaker 9: a moratorium on it, we ban them, or we say
• 56:49
  Speaker 9: we're just not going to play in that game, the
• 56:51
  Speaker 9: Chinese Communist Party will own compute, they will own AI,
• 56:54
  Speaker 9: and that is not good for your children, my children,
• 56:57
  Speaker 9: and our grandkids, you know.
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: Let me close with this. Almost a decade ago, you
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: were kind enough to invite me out to Langley when
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: you were the director of the CIA. And my last
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: question was to you, are we capable of keeping up
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: with our adversaries in the world of cyber? You said,
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: we've got that, Hugh. Don't worry about that. Do you
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: worry about it now?
• 57:18
  Speaker 9: Yes, it's always something we should have in the front
• 57:20
  Speaker 9: of our minds.
• 57:21
  Speaker 3: I worry about it greatly.
• 57:22
  Speaker 9: We saw the North Koreans take $ 6 billion of tokens, apparently.
• 57:26
  Speaker 9: It's a constant threat. We're in a pretty good position.
• 57:29
  Speaker 9: We have continued. By the way, under Republicans and Democrats alike,
• 57:32
  Speaker 9: we've continued to do hard work, hardening our systems. But
• 57:36
  Speaker 9: on defense, you got to go 100 for 100. On offense,
• 57:40
  Speaker 9: you just have to have one breakthrough. We need to
• 57:42
  Speaker 9: maintain the capacity to defend ourselves from cyber threats. And
• 57:45
  Speaker 9: you see, both in the Middle East and Europe, that
• 57:47
  Speaker 9: becoming an even greater part of kinetic warfare. But it
• 57:51
  Speaker 9: matters to economies as well, Hugh. I'm convinced that our
• 57:53
  Speaker 9: model is the right one. university systems, private sector leadership.
• 57:58
  Speaker 9: Those are the ways you deliver on cyber protection for
• 58:00
  Speaker 9: the United States. I'm convinced the United States will prevail
• 58:03
  Speaker 9: there as well.
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Secretary Pompeo. By the way, is Pipehitter still
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: up and running? I don't know if you've got a
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: political arm anymore.
• 58:13
  Speaker 9: I'm focused on things other than that for the moment,
• 58:15
  Speaker 9: but I still care deeply about America in the same
• 58:17
  Speaker 9: way that you do, Hugh.
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: All right. Well, Mr. Secretary, don't be a stranger. Keep
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: coming back because, boy, the Republicans are going to need
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: a lot of good advice to navigate the This particular
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: channel of politics where we have not been for a long,
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: long time, 2008, we are down to 41 senators. We
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: can rebuild. We need to listen to people like Mike
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: Pompeo in the course of doing that. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: Welcome back, America. I am Hugh Hewitt, joined by Abe Greenwald.
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: Abe is the executive editor of Commentary Magazine, a regular
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: participant in the Commentary Podcast. I, of course, listen to
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: two of those now, Abe, since the wipeout on Thursday
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: on You don't have to change your mood ring. Your
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: mood ring is always grim, and so is mine. It's
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: the opposite way, always optimistic. I'm just saying it's not
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: as bad as 2008. On the other hand, the people
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: who came in from the blue wave, a lot of
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: them are crazy. What's it? for the Democratic Party?
• 59:12
  Speaker 10: Yeah, to me, that's the bigger story is the nature
• 59:17
  Speaker 10: of those who were sort of smuggled in on the wave.
• 59:24
  Speaker 10: I shouldn't even say smuggled in because some of them
• 59:26
  Speaker 10: were really quite overt about their radicalism. Um, so to me,
• 59:31
  Speaker 10: that is what makes it worse than 2008. What's it,
• 59:34
  Speaker 10: what makes it worse than any, uh, any sort of chain,
• 59:38
  Speaker 10: any change in government in the U S that I
• 59:41
  Speaker 10: can remember in my lifetime. It's not, it's less to
• 59:44
  Speaker 10: me about a, um, red blue story. I mean, I
• 59:50
  Speaker 10: know that's a tremendous political story, but, um, What's next,
• 59:55
  Speaker 10: I think, for those Democrats who came into office, certainly
• 59:58
  Speaker 10: the socialists and the terrorist sympathizers among them, is impeachment,
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 10: is going further after Israel. As Dariel Elisa Chevalier has
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 10: already said, stopping U.S. aid to Israel is not enough.
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 10: So they're going to be pushing for a full boycott
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 10: on Israel. And then they're going to be trying to
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 10: impeach Trump.
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: The latter is not news to me. That would happen
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: no matter who got elected. But I think there's a
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: silver lining. I want to run it past you, which
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: is the Democrats won by such a big margin that
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: Speaker Hakeem Jeffries or Speaker expected Hakeem Jeffries does not
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: need the crazies. They can't Freedom Caucus him like the
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: Freedom Caucus caucused Kevin McCarthy. Good news or bad news? Well,
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: that could be.
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 10: I think my fear is that the so-called moderates among
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 10: the Democrats at this point, knowing now that they can
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 10: win after having win with running such radical unprecedented candidates.
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 5: Having already bent.
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 10: Over backwards to please their left flank, I fear that
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 10: these moderates, certainly some of them, will not stop trying
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 10: to appease the radicals.
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: Now, Abe, you know your history. The last time we
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: had radicals in Congress, as far removed from the American
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: mainstream as this, is actually before 1860. There were two
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: Democratic parties. There was the slave-holding Democratic Party of the South,
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: and there was Stephen Douglas Democrats of the North, and
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: they split the party, and Abe Lincoln won. I think
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: there are now two Democratic parties, a radical left-wing, anti-Israel,
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: anti-free markets Democrats, and then the old guard liberals like
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: Chris Coons and Jack Reed and Angus King. I am not,
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: I just don't, I can't imagine we will go for
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: the left wing Or the Democrat. I'm not a Democrat.
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: I've been a Republican my whole life. But I think
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: if I voted for a Democrat twice in closed primaries
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: when there was no Republican running, am I being too rosy?
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 10: I think, unfortunately, you're being slightly too rosy only because,
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 10: while the difference between the two parts of the party
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 10: you described are obvious enough, the moderates did not treat
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 10: the radicals as a different party. They did not say,
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 10: you are not welcome in our tent. The time for
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 10: that has long passed. So it remains to be seen.
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 5: I think the party's up for grabs at this point.
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: Is it going to break out? I fully expect the
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: Democratic Party to stand up a pro-Israel caucus within the
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: Democratic Party, because there are a number of pro-Israel Democrats,
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: they know it's our greatest strategic ally. They know they're
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: the equal of anyone in the ability and will to
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: deliver power side by side with the United States. They're
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: not going to turn. I don't think they're going to
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: turn tail. I don't know about some of their flip-floppier members,
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: but there's a group of people who are serious, like
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: Jack Reed, like Chris Coons. I think they're going to
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: join a pro-Israel caucus. Do you?
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 7: Oh, yeah.
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 10: I mean, I think there will be, you know, some
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 10: some some voices that will will try to stand up
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 10: for what's right, by the way, not not just in
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 10: terms of pro-Israel, but in terms of the combating or
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 10: at least voicing going on the record as opposing the
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 10: anti-Americanism of so many of those who were elected on Tuesday.
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 5: So for sure.
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 10: But I I think overwhelmingly the non-radicals who saw that
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 10: the energy is on the far left are going to
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 10: be quite muted.
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: Okay, we have two minutes, Abe. In the Republican Party,
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: Vice President Vance said, we got whacked because of Israel.
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: I think he's wrong, and the war in Iran. I
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: think he's wrong. We got whacked for a lot of reasons.
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: Why do you think we got whacked?
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 10: Well, I think that's I mean, it's part of it
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 10: to the extent that people associate, and in some cases, rightly,
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 10: the rise in fuel prices with the war. But I
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 10: think we got whacked for all sorts of reasons, including
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 10: the tariffs, inflation generally, people turned against the administration on
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 10: ICE and how he handled, how the president handled deportations.
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 10: And there was a sense... in general, I think, of
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 10: the White House not paying attention to what Americans had
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 10: been saying over and over and over were their core concerns,
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 10: namely inflation and the economy.
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 5: And there was so much drift.
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 10: On Trump's part toward the reflecting pool and the arch
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 10: and the ballroom and things like that.
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 3: Things I don't necessarily oppose.
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 10: But where was the emphasis on the actual problems?
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the major thing always has to be the major thing,
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: and it is the economy, stupid, and it has been
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: for 40 years, and it remains the economy, stupid. Ed Greenwald,
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: follow him on Exit. Ed Greenwald, listen to the commentary
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: podcast every day. I do. It's among the must-listens that
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: you ought to if you want to be smart, informed,
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: and you don't want rose-colored glasses that I sometimes put on.
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: You want reality? You want Abe and John Thank you.