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

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Speaker 1: Welcome to today's podcast sponsored by Hillsdale College, All Things
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Speaker 1: Hillsdale Hillsdale dot ed or I encourage you to take
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Speaker 1: advantage of the many free online courses there, and of
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Speaker 1: course I'll listen to the Hillsdale dialogues, all of them
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Speaker 1: at hugh for Hillsdale dot com or just Google, Apple,
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Speaker 1: iTunes and Hillsdale Morning Gloridian in Grace, America, Welcome to
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Speaker 1: Big Weekend Pod. Interesting show this week, a little short
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Speaker 1: on our guests, but we begin with Eli Legg talking
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Speaker 1: about what's going on in the Middle East. Jonathan Williams,
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Speaker 1: president of the American Legislative Exchange Council, comes along to
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Speaker 1: warn you about wallet hubs rankings as opposed to rich state,
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Speaker 1: Poor State, so do not miss that. Then I'll be
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Speaker 1: joined by Ben dominic Shei of The Big Ben's Show podcast,
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Speaker 1: the Daily Wire Opinion page editor, and then a closing
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Speaker 1: monologue from me on Graham, Platner and Maine. So don't
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Speaker 1: miss any of today's Big weekend pod Back America. Eli
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Speaker 1: Lake joins me. Eli is with the Free Press. He's
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Speaker 1: also the host of Breaking History. He's back for a
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Speaker 1: one week being away. Eli. I heard young commentary earlier
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Speaker 1: this week. A lot of people in America are confused
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Speaker 1: about what exactly is America's position vis a vis Iran
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Speaker 1: in Lebanon right now? Why don't you lay out the
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Speaker 1: facts the way I had? Have you ready gore earlier
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Speaker 1: this week lay out the facts about the three Lebanon Wars.
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Speaker 1: Why don't you just tell us what you assess us
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Speaker 1: to be the situation right now?
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Speaker 2: Well, it's strange because on the one hand, some I mean,
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Speaker 2: there have been statements from Donald from President Trump where
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Speaker 2: he says that I don't care at this point about
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Speaker 2: the negotiations, which, by the way, is probably the right move,
1:36
Speaker 2: as somebody who understands negotiations probably better than almost anybody
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Speaker 2: at this point, we want it too bad, he's making
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Speaker 2: the same mistake as Obama. But leaving that aside, the
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Speaker 2: position I think is that Israel should stand a Lebanon
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Speaker 2: and specifically that neighborhood in Lebanon and Datia where the
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Speaker 2: remaining has a lot of leaders usually are residing and
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Speaker 2: the war fighting to this area south of the Tani River,
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Speaker 2: which is I think part of the strategic goal for
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Speaker 2: Israel at this point is to create a buffer zone
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Speaker 2: of sorts so that they at least will be saved
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Speaker 2: from the shorter range missiles and rockets that has below
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Speaker 2: fires into northern Israel. And that really the problem, I
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Speaker 2: think from the Israeli perspective and frankly from my perspective
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Speaker 2: as well and a lot of Americans, is that it
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Speaker 2: looks like Trump has.
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Speaker 3: Acceded to a linkage between.
2:34
Speaker 2: Hesblah, the hes Blah Israel war, which has Belah joined
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Speaker 2: and started kind of on their own. They didn't have
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Speaker 2: to fire anything into Israel once the Iran war started,
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Speaker 2: and then whatever is going to be happening with the
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Speaker 2: Straight of Hormuz and everything else. So it's that linkage,
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Speaker 2: which is that when Iran says we want ceasefire, that
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Speaker 2: means Israel has to stop the firing, and so far
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Speaker 2: the Hesbela has shown no interest in that. So I think,
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Speaker 2: you know, he's gotten in this respect kind of you know,
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Speaker 2: it's a little bit of a trap. And what he
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Speaker 2: needs to do is he needs to understand that Israel
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Speaker 2: degrading Hesbelah and taking out Hesbela gives him more leverage
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Speaker 2: with Iran, and that these two things are linked and
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Speaker 2: linked it a different way.
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Speaker 3: Does that make sense.
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Speaker 1: It does make sense to me, but I also think
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Speaker 1: the reality is this, they're never leaving Lebanon, the southern Lebanon,
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Speaker 1: south of Latani, because, if I understand it from what
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Speaker 1: Aviv told me and what I've read, they have tried
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Speaker 1: to occupy Lebanon and it didn't work. It was expensive,
3:38
Speaker 1: but it did work in terms of keeping the north
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Speaker 1: occupied and populated. They withdrew and that allowed Hesbelah to
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Speaker 1: advance to the border and threaten what might have been
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Speaker 1: another ten to seven from the north as opposed to
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Speaker 1: from Hamas and gods in the south. Now they've reoccupied,
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Speaker 1: I don't think they're ever going to leave from the
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Speaker 1: castle back to the south, and nor do I think
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Speaker 1: they until there's actually a government in Lebanon that's not
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Speaker 1: has a be law of shadow government.
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Speaker 2: You agree with my assessment, Yeah, One thing I would
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Speaker 2: just point out is that at least the rhetoric coming
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Speaker 2: from Lebanese leaders has been better than I've heard in
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Speaker 2: twenty years. I'm not saying that they're backing it up.
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Speaker 2: What I'm saying is that you're getting statements saying that
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Speaker 2: Hesbla needs to disarm. You're I mean, they still have
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Speaker 2: to get rid of the chief of staff for the
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Speaker 2: Lebanese Army. I don't like the role that are envoid
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Speaker 2: Tom Barrock is playing in all of this. I think
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Speaker 2: he is far too credulous when it comes to the
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Speaker 2: Islamist government in Turkey with Erduwan, as well as the
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Speaker 2: intentions of Hesbalan so forth. But that said, you do
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Speaker 2: have at least Lebanese political leaders at this point who've
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Speaker 2: had enough and they understand that has Bela started the
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Speaker 2: war and that the reason the Israelis are there is
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Speaker 2: because of hesb An.
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Speaker 1: Iran now Benjamin Nie who's approaching elections, And I don't
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Speaker 1: expect Tim to care how angry Donald Trump is if
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Speaker 1: he thinks he has to do a B and C
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Speaker 1: in order to retain his government in power or at
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Speaker 1: least get to a hung parliament so he gets to
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Speaker 1: be the acting prime minister. Do you think he'll be
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Speaker 1: restrained by anything that America wants him to do if
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Speaker 1: he thinks it's an Israel's national security interest and that's
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Speaker 1: his political interest to strike southern Beirut, which is where
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Speaker 1: whatever's left of zbi La congregates.
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Speaker 2: In a rare moment, I do think he has to
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Speaker 2: take into consideration. I mean, we are living our political
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Speaker 2: reality right now. Is that Donald Trump is like a
5:40
Speaker 2: bulwark in many ways for Israel in terms of US
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Speaker 2: foreign policy. You know, Israel still is reliant on the
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Speaker 2: United States for a lot of its military supply chain,
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Speaker 2: and that gives the United States a lot of leverage.
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Speaker 2: And given where the Democratic Party is given, we're an
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Speaker 2: element at least of the Republican Party, not all of it.
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Speaker 3: And I'm not I want to make it very clear.
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Speaker 2: Israel has very strong friends in Congress, people like Senator Cotton,
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Speaker 2: Senator Cruz, and there are many more. But Donald Trump
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Speaker 2: is this is extremely dangerous. This is Benjamin n Yah
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Speaker 2: who is in a lot of political jeopardy right now.
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Speaker 2: And I have to say that this factors into it
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Speaker 2: because if if President Trump feels that Israel is being
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Speaker 2: ungrateful or defiant, there are a lot of things the
6:29
Speaker 2: United States can do, and there are people in his
6:32
Speaker 2: administration who could give him lots of ideas that would
6:36
Speaker 2: be very damaging to Israel. And I'm sure that this
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Speaker 2: is an excruciating decision for Nannyaho.
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Speaker 1: Do you think that Trump wants to deal with not
6:44
Speaker 1: tally Bennett as opposed to Nah, I don't. I think
6:47
Speaker 1: he likes dealing with people that he know his age,
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Speaker 1: who get along with Limb, that he's known for a
6:52
Speaker 1: long time, and so they had an angry phone call.
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Speaker 1: That's kind of part for the course for the president,
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Speaker 1: isn't it.
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Speaker 3: Yeah. I think it's recoverable.
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Speaker 2: And I also think that the long term interests of Israel,
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Speaker 2: United States, and Netnyahu and Trump are the same. Trump
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Speaker 2: wants to win the war in Iran. He doesn't want
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Speaker 2: to have come out of this looking like a loser.
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Speaker 2: And Israel has to win the war with Iran. It
7:16
Speaker 2: cannot have a wounded Iran. You know, that's a that's
7:23
Speaker 2: a terrible scenario. So both of them have an interest
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Speaker 2: in finishing the job. I just am worried that, like, well, okay,
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Speaker 2: what's the plan at this point? Now, the Mossad did
7:31
Speaker 2: have a plan, and I think the CIA probably had
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Speaker 2: a plan, and whatever that was, let's get back to it.
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Speaker 2: I'm sure it involved elements of Iranian Kurds and Baluts
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Speaker 2: and other minorities.
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Speaker 3: But the goal here has to be regime changed. Even though.
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Speaker 2: That word has as you know, taken on you know,
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Speaker 2: all kinds of baggage since their Operation Iraqi Freedom.
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Speaker 3: But that's what are talking about. What I've learned, what
8:02
Speaker 3: I think we've all learned.
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Speaker 2: There's no deal to be had at this point, and
8:05
Speaker 2: the deal is on the nuclear side is not as
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Speaker 2: important because so much of their nuclear infrastructure has been
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Speaker 2: destroyed because of Donald Trump's American military and the Israeli military,
8:15
Speaker 2: which is a good thing, and reopening the straight up
8:18
Speaker 2: forour moves. I don't think it's going to come from
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Speaker 2: the negotiating table either. It's going to come from military action.
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Speaker 2: And the end of the day, the biggest threat is
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Speaker 2: this regime. And once you get rid of the regime,
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Speaker 2: then you're not going to see this fence sitting from
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Speaker 2: a lot of the Arab America's Arab Gulf allies and
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Speaker 2: a lot of that creates space for a lot of
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Speaker 2: really good things to happen, like finally ending Hesbalah and
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Speaker 2: ending Hamas and the other tentacles. But you've got to
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Speaker 2: get back to this. We can't live with this regime now.
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Speaker 2: I will say this Trump should. I mean, I think
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Speaker 2: to Trump's credit, we've gotten this far and there is
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Speaker 2: no risk of American ground forces an I ran in
9:00
Speaker 2: a kind of Iraq style Quaquemire. I count that as
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Speaker 2: a win for America and a win politically for Trump.
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Speaker 3: That's a good thing.
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Speaker 2: But we have to think creatively that regime change has
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Speaker 2: to be the end goal at this point.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to come back and talk with Elile. During
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Speaker 1: the break, he'll be back on the other side. We're
9:19
Speaker 1: going to talk about mister Hawami. On the other sides.
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Speaker 1: It don't go anywhere, but in between I want to
9:24
Speaker 1: talk to him about the fact I think Iran's regime
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Speaker 1: is going to be very hard to collapse because I
9:28
Speaker 1: think they will loot the country before they give up.
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Speaker 1: Stay tuned, America. I'm Hugh Hewett. I'm back with Eli
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Speaker 1: Lake Eli. This regime, as is the nature of every tyranny,
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Speaker 1: will not hesitate to take every diamond, dollar, real and
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Speaker 1: shekel whatever they have in Iran. They'll strip their population
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Speaker 1: bear and they'll let their population starve. You really can't
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Speaker 1: bankrupt a regime like this, which is a quarter million
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Speaker 1: people on top of ninety two million people, can you No?
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Speaker 3: But it's it's a series of strategies.
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Speaker 2: Ultimately, what you want to do is you want to
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Speaker 2: the most important thing is you want to give the
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Speaker 2: Iranian people the ability to communicate and access the Internet
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Speaker 2: without going through the ISPs that are controlled by the
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Speaker 2: Iranian regime. That's extremely important. So you want to restore
10:17
Speaker 2: the ability of the Iranian people to organize themselves. Number two,
10:22
Speaker 2: what you want to do is you want to build
10:24
Speaker 2: on this idea that in order for any state to
10:29
Speaker 2: do anything, there has to be complicity from several people
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Speaker 2: down the chain of command, and you want to begin
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Speaker 2: to deprive that.
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Speaker 3: This is the.
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Speaker 2: Theory of Martin Luther King and Gandhi and Gene Sharp
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Speaker 2: This This has worked in the past. It worked against
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Speaker 2: Slobodon Melosovich, and the argument against it usually is that, well,
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Speaker 2: this regime is so violent, this regime is so brutal.
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Speaker 3: I got to tell you.
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Speaker 2: Something, Slobadan Molosvitch was pretty brutal. And more importantly, they
10:57
Speaker 2: still the theory still works in the sense that someone
11:01
Speaker 2: still needs to fire on the crowd. And so you
11:04
Speaker 2: are in some ways, as we've talked about this before,
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Speaker 2: the real story is taking place across the dinner table.
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Speaker 2: If the Iranian people and if various elements of the
11:15
Speaker 2: battered admittedly battered in opposition at this point feel that
11:18
Speaker 2: they have been abandoned by the world and specifically the
11:21
Speaker 2: leader of the free world, which is Donald Trump in
11:23
Speaker 2: the United States of America. Then that then, you know,
11:26
Speaker 2: it'll become a self fulfilling prophecy. But if this becomes
11:29
Speaker 2: not and I'm not just talking about rhetoric, I'm talking
11:31
Speaker 2: about things like providing for strike funds, there are things
11:34
Speaker 2: that intelligence services and particularly the MASAD can re can
11:38
Speaker 2: start doing into sort of you know whatever, get getting
11:41
Speaker 2: that network up and going the ability to fly armed
11:45
Speaker 2: drones inside the country that take out the CG commanders
11:49
Speaker 2: at checkpoints. That's very impressive. The Israelis demonstrated that in
11:52
Speaker 2: the early phases of the war. That needs to be
11:55
Speaker 2: phase two, and we need to start getting back to that.
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Speaker 2: And you could say, well, one of the chances that
12:00
Speaker 2: might take a long time. Sure, there's no other option
12:03
Speaker 2: at this point though there we're mentioned going to be
12:05
Speaker 2: at war with this regime.
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Speaker 1: You mentioned Gandhi. I've just been rereading Freedom at Midnight,
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Speaker 1: which is the story of the partition of India and
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Speaker 1: the Indian Pakistan. Gandhi took twenty five years and went
12:17
Speaker 1: to jail repeatedly, and he was up against a civilized country.
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Speaker 1: I don't really see civil disobedience working in Iran. They
12:25
Speaker 1: gotta have guns. We have one nitylight till we go back.
12:27
Speaker 1: Don't they have to have guns?
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Speaker 2: Okay, well, I think some elements might have to have guns,
12:32
Speaker 2: and it might be a mix of both. But I
12:34
Speaker 2: would tell you that when you mentioned twenty five years,
12:37
Speaker 2: the real opposition begins in nineteen ninety nine, and that's
12:40
Speaker 2: more than twenty five years. In this case, the Iranian
12:43
Speaker 2: opposition has been letting us know where they are coming
12:46
Speaker 2: from now for twenty seven years. It starts at Tehran
12:49
Speaker 2: University in nineteen ninety nine, and every few years they
12:52
Speaker 2: have come back onto the streets.
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Speaker 3: So I would say, yes, you're right.
12:56
Speaker 2: I certainly hope there isn't more bloodshed, but it's the
13:00
Speaker 2: only way out is through at this point. And you know,
13:04
Speaker 2: we and I agree with that the assist of the
13:06
Speaker 2: Masadic could happen.
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Speaker 1: All right, Stemba coming right back with Eli Lake. Welcome back, America.
13:13
Speaker 1: I'm here here with Eli Lake of The Free Press,
13:16
Speaker 1: the host of the Breaking History podcast Eli on Wednesdays
13:20
Speaker 1: on Fox. I woke up to the news that in
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Speaker 1: New Jersey's twelfth congressional district. Democrats had nominated thirteen candidates.
13:27
Speaker 1: The fellow who got twenty eight percent named doctor Hawami.
13:31
Speaker 1: Doctor Hawami was an associate of a blind Shake. He
13:34
Speaker 1: went to Bosnia for an al Qaeda front group. He
13:36
Speaker 1: went to Gaza in the middle of the current war.
13:38
Speaker 1: Doctor Hawami seems to me, almost certainly to be an
13:41
Speaker 1: anti Semite. And I just said to Bill Hemmer, the
13:45
Speaker 1: Democratic Party is infected with anti Semitism, and it's spreading
13:49
Speaker 1: at the speed of light. It's in Michigan with Lsayad
13:52
Speaker 1: and Rashid, It's in Minnesota with Omar, it is up
13:56
Speaker 1: in Michigan, in Maine with Graham Platner. Now it's in
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Speaker 1: New Jersey, It's in some of the California congressional districtive,
14:03
Speaker 1: in some of the Texas races. I think it could
14:06
Speaker 1: become a sceptius for the Democratic Party. What do you think?
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Speaker 2: I saw your your comments on that, and I think
14:14
Speaker 2: you wrote something too, which was really great.
14:16
Speaker 3: I agree.
14:17
Speaker 2: This is a career at a critical moment right now,
14:19
Speaker 2: and I'm still gobsmat It's one thing to if he had,
14:27
Speaker 2: you know, been a surgeon who went to Gaza and
14:31
Speaker 2: it was under humanitarian Maybe he didn't know, but he
14:34
Speaker 2: testified in the defense of the Blind Shake in the
14:37
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety three World Trade Center bombing trial. So how
14:43
Speaker 2: do you explain that? And I don't care that he,
14:46
Speaker 2: you know, served in the US military. Lots of you know,
14:49
Speaker 2: Lee Harvey Oswald also served in the US military. So
14:51
Speaker 2: I mean it's a big institution.
14:53
Speaker 1: So did Major Hassan who went on a rampage and
14:56
Speaker 1: in Fort Hood.
14:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, And.
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Speaker 2: I am very What I worry about is because we're
15:03
Speaker 2: both we're around for nine to eleven, we both have
15:06
Speaker 2: read The Looming Tower. I think that there are a
15:10
Speaker 2: lot of younger democratic activists in this country and democrats
15:13
Speaker 2: in this country and voters in this country who have
15:16
Speaker 2: no idea that Ikwan, the Muslim Brotherhood, Jihadism are ideologies.
15:25
Speaker 2: They are not the same as the religion of Islam.
15:28
Speaker 2: And they hate America. They want one of their goals
15:32
Speaker 2: is to destroy America. And we in state the ancient
15:36
Speaker 2: Islamic Caliphate, we have an enduring interest to make sure
15:42
Speaker 2: that this kind of politics is quarantined and marginalized in
15:46
Speaker 2: our country at the very least, and we have to
15:48
Speaker 2: understand this as a hostile ideology. It's bad enough that
15:52
Speaker 2: the leadership of Turkey is Muslim Brotherhood, which is a
15:56
Speaker 2: NATO ally the idea that it's now going to be
15:59
Speaker 2: accept to be adherence to this ideology if you are
16:05
Speaker 2: running in a Democratic primary.
16:07
Speaker 3: It nauseates me. It's unbelievable.
16:10
Speaker 1: Does anyone make the effort to explain that the Muslim
16:14
Speaker 1: Brotherhood is not the Rotary Club. The Muslim Brotherhood is
16:18
Speaker 1: not a fraternal association like the Knights of Columbus. It's
16:22
Speaker 1: an ideology. And if you're hanging around with the Blind Shake,
16:26
Speaker 1: you're anti Semitic and you're anti American. I just think
16:29
Speaker 1: it follows like night follows day. And I don't know
16:33
Speaker 1: if you think it's that solid, but I do. I've
16:35
Speaker 1: read Andy McCarthy's books, and he's got a brand new
16:39
Speaker 1: podcast out of the McCarthy Report, which explains the whole
16:42
Speaker 1: trial of the Blind Shake, and this guy's rolling it.
16:45
Speaker 1: It's astounding to me that he's the nominee of the
16:48
Speaker 1: Democratic Party.
16:51
Speaker 2: And that there are not more Democratic leaders who are
16:53
Speaker 2: calling this out.
16:54
Speaker 3: There are a few.
16:56
Speaker 2: I saw a statement I'm gonna I don't exactly. Remember,
16:59
Speaker 2: but it was a statement for I think a one
17:01
Speaker 2: Democrat or two Democrats who said, if this guy wins
17:04
Speaker 2: the election, he should not be allowed on certain committees
17:06
Speaker 2: for national security reasons. Okay, that's a start, But where's
17:09
Speaker 2: Chuck Schumer, Where's Hakeem Jeffries, where's the leadership of this
17:15
Speaker 2: political party that says this is not who we are
17:18
Speaker 2: and we're going to draw a line at this. And
17:20
Speaker 2: to me, that's that's that's like a no brainer. I
17:22
Speaker 2: mean I and we're we sort of it's almost like
17:25
Speaker 2: a slow motion car, right. You kind of saw it
17:26
Speaker 2: coming with Mam Donnie and his associations with the Democratic
17:30
Speaker 2: Socialist of America, and.
17:32
Speaker 3: This is where it leads. So we does lead.
17:35
Speaker 1: To a realignment. I'm not Jewish. I don't know about
17:39
Speaker 1: why Jews vote for Democrats, but they do. Does this
17:42
Speaker 1: lead to a Jewish realignment of the Jewish vote in America?
17:46
Speaker 1: A significant one? Not a tata?
17:48
Speaker 2: I mean you I got into I am Jewish and
17:51
Speaker 2: I am I cannot see how you can support the
17:54
Speaker 2: part I mean I could see how you could support
17:56
Speaker 2: John Fetterman or Richie Torres or Josh Gottheimer. I could say,
18:01
Speaker 2: there are certain individual Democrats, but if the party is
18:03
Speaker 2: going to stand by this, and then add to that
18:06
Speaker 2: Grand Platner, who I think there's now overwhelming evidence that
18:09
Speaker 2: he knew exactly what.
18:10
Speaker 3: That tattoo was. It wasn't like he was ignorant of it.
18:13
Speaker 2: And you know, how could you possibly get in line
18:18
Speaker 2: behind this party?
18:20
Speaker 3: You know? So, I don't understand it.
18:22
Speaker 2: I understand why somebody who's ethnically Jewish but cares more
18:25
Speaker 2: about I don't know socialism. Sure, I get that, But
18:28
Speaker 2: if you if you go to synagogue, if you if
18:31
Speaker 2: you observe the Sabbath, if you care about your Jewish
18:33
Speaker 2: identity and you don't see it, by the way, I
18:35
Speaker 2: never saw my Jewish identity in conflict with my American identity,
18:40
Speaker 2: then you have to be very concerned about this.
18:42
Speaker 1: And I like always good to talk with you.
18:44
Speaker 3: A new.
18:47
Speaker 1: Breaking history podcast on who owns the Declaration is? By
18:51
Speaker 1: the way, you can read Eli in the Free Press.
18:53
Speaker 1: I hope he writes this weekend before we get too
18:57
Speaker 1: further into the Fani Semetism story about a thank you, Eli,
19:03
Speaker 1: welcome back to America. I'm you you a special treat
19:06
Speaker 1: on a Friday one of our very favorite guests is
19:10
Speaker 1: Jonathan Williams, who is President of the American Legislative Exchange Council.
19:15
Speaker 1: You can also read him on x at Tax Economist.
19:19
Speaker 1: Jonathan Welcome. I want to begin by asking you about
19:23
Speaker 1: wallet hub. I don't know much about wallet hub. Tell
19:26
Speaker 1: us about their rankings and how they got the ranking
19:29
Speaker 1: of West Virginia completely wrong.
19:33
Speaker 4: Well, hey, Hue, it's a great example, unfortunately, of a
19:36
Speaker 4: big news headline in that wallet hubb did rank West
19:40
Speaker 4: Virginia fifty first. You know, maybe they were going for
19:44
Speaker 4: something like Barack Obama's fifty seven states. I'm not exactly sure,
19:48
Speaker 4: but you know, the devil's in the details often when
19:50
Speaker 4: it comes to these rankings. And you know, as we
19:52
Speaker 4: know with Bridge States Poor States, we pay a lot
19:54
Speaker 4: of attention to getting it right when it comes to
19:57
Speaker 4: measuring states. And you know, the big different between why
20:01
Speaker 4: lad hub gets it wrong about West Virginia and how
20:04
Speaker 4: Rich States Poor States measures West Virginia much differently with
20:07
Speaker 4: an economic outlook at seventeenth best in the country is
20:11
Speaker 4: what we're looking at measuring right. I mean, that's the
20:13
Speaker 4: devil in the details, and while at hub is looking
20:15
Speaker 4: backwards and Rich States Poor States is looking forwards when
20:19
Speaker 4: it comes to the rankings. There's no doubt West Virginia
20:21
Speaker 4: has been a state that's been hurting for decades. The
20:24
Speaker 4: key difference, though, is when you look at what policy
20:27
Speaker 4: makers are actually control of the tax policy, the regulatory, climate,
20:32
Speaker 4: education policy, West Virginia is moving in the right direction,
20:35
Speaker 4: and I think rich state's Poor States certainly captures that momentum.
20:39
Speaker 5: You know, don't just take our word for it.
20:40
Speaker 4: I mean, people are voting with their feet and moving
20:43
Speaker 4: to West Virginia on net from the other forty United States.
20:46
Speaker 4: So they're taking note of the great work that Governor
20:49
Speaker 4: Patrick Morrissey, one of my favorite governors in America, and
20:52
Speaker 4: the legislators are doing on education, freedom and tax cuts
20:55
Speaker 4: and making West Virginia more competitive.
20:58
Speaker 5: And so, you know, you always have.
21:00
Speaker 4: To look below the surface when you look at any
21:02
Speaker 4: of these ranking systems. So don't buy the news that
21:05
Speaker 4: West Virginia is dead last in America.
21:07
Speaker 5: West Virginia is moving in the right direction.
21:09
Speaker 1: Hugh, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna buy it. I'm
21:12
Speaker 1: gonna trust my rich states poor states, And I remind
21:15
Speaker 1: everyone you can get that for free. Leave it in
21:17
Speaker 1: your guest room, leave it around your house. People always
21:20
Speaker 1: go to it and look up their state, and it's
21:22
Speaker 1: absolutely free. It's a wonderful book. Rich Statespoorstates dot com. Jonathan, Well,
21:27
Speaker 1: I've got you, and we were talking before the program
21:30
Speaker 1: about the fact you've been married for a long time.
21:32
Speaker 1: I've been married for a longer period of time, so
21:33
Speaker 1: I need you're you're an expert. You're an economist, right,
21:36
Speaker 1: and you know marriage. So I'm coming up on my
21:38
Speaker 1: wife's birthday on Monday, and I have two presidents for her.
21:41
Speaker 1: I can either give her this one hundred and fiftieth
21:45
Speaker 1: Anniversary of our country sea bag. It's a beautiful sea bag,
21:48
Speaker 1: costs a couple hundred bucks.
21:50
Speaker 3: Or I can give her this.
21:52
Speaker 1: Sea bag, which is the Cleveland Browns Sea Bag. So
21:55
Speaker 1: I'm asking you, Jonathan Williams, as a long time married man,
21:59
Speaker 1: would you go with its under and fifty of the
22:00
Speaker 1: Anniversary seabag or the Cleveland Browns seabag.
22:05
Speaker 5: Hey, I think you know the answer to that.
22:07
Speaker 4: American two fifty all the way, my friend. But hey,
22:10
Speaker 4: I I was thinking you may give her a copy
22:12
Speaker 4: of Riche States, Poor States for the anniversary.
22:14
Speaker 5: I don't know, we've.
22:14
Speaker 1: Already got that. We've already got that. We actually leave
22:18
Speaker 1: that in our guest room because people do love that.
22:21
Speaker 1: All right, let's move to North Carolina. You know, we're
22:23
Speaker 1: looking for a place to run away to live in
22:25
Speaker 1: if Virginia goes as crazy as I think it could go,
22:29
Speaker 1: because I'm not going to live in Virginia if they
22:31
Speaker 1: raised the Texas I left California because of that, and
22:34
Speaker 1: I'm thinking maybe North Carolina. That's pretty close to the grandkids.
22:38
Speaker 1: What has North Carolina done this week that makes it
22:41
Speaker 1: more attractive for people?
22:44
Speaker 4: Well, North Carolina is continuing to move in the right direction.
22:48
Speaker 4: This week was a big week there in Raleigh, where
22:51
Speaker 4: you had the conservative majorities of the legislature as well
22:56
Speaker 4: as getting a couple of votes from independent members who
22:59
Speaker 4: are not members the Republican Party vote to override Governor
23:03
Speaker 4: Stein on his veto of their acceptance of the Trump
23:08
Speaker 4: Education Freedom Tax Credit.
23:10
Speaker 5: As you know, it's an opt in.
23:11
Speaker 4: To that program to give seventeen hundred dollars tax credit
23:15
Speaker 4: per year to scholarship granting organizations in that state. We've
23:19
Speaker 4: seen about thirty states already opt in, and North Carolina
23:23
Speaker 4: was a holdout.
23:24
Speaker 5: Because of Governor Stein's veto.
23:25
Speaker 4: Thankfully, cooler heads did prevail and you had the legislature
23:29
Speaker 4: override that veto, which now opens up that amazing opportunity
23:32
Speaker 4: for taxpayers in the state. But moreover, the scholarship granting organizations,
23:37
Speaker 4: those private institutions in the state that will now be
23:40
Speaker 4: able to take those dollars and use that on the
23:43
Speaker 4: ground in North Carolina in the future.
23:45
Speaker 5: So that was a huge win.
23:47
Speaker 4: The other thing that they did was they had a
23:49
Speaker 4: resolution which is an ALEC model resolution encouraging the Trump
23:53
Speaker 4: effort and Linda McMahon's effort to get rid of the
23:56
Speaker 4: bureaucracy of the federal Department of Education and move those
23:59
Speaker 4: functions to other areas within the federal apparatus, but more
24:03
Speaker 4: importantly return education back to the states into parental control ultimately.
24:09
Speaker 4: And so that's also moving in Raleigh this week. So
24:11
Speaker 4: it was a banner week this week there in North Carolina,
24:14
Speaker 4: especially as it relates to education freedom, one of our
24:16
Speaker 4: best and favorite topics here at ALEC.
24:19
Speaker 1: Well, Jonathan, does the state lose anything when they opt
24:22
Speaker 1: in the seventeen hundred dollars tax credit goes to the
24:26
Speaker 1: family of that is paying the taxes. It doesn't take
24:29
Speaker 1: any money away from the state, does it. Why wouldn't
24:32
Speaker 1: any state opt into it?
24:35
Speaker 5: You know, this is the great question, Hugh. This is
24:37
Speaker 5: a no brainer of an issue.
24:39
Speaker 4: And even recently we've seen Kathy Hokel, the governor of
24:42
Speaker 4: New York of all places, say that she's looking at
24:45
Speaker 4: opting into this. So, I mean, if you have people
24:47
Speaker 4: like liberal Democrats like Kathy Hokeel in a state that
24:50
Speaker 4: has been won by teachers unions, think that this may
24:53
Speaker 4: be a good idea, This is absolutely a good idea and.
24:55
Speaker 5: It doesn't cost a state a dime.
24:58
Speaker 4: What it does do is allow those education entities within
25:01
Speaker 4: the state lines to take advantage of these dollars. Parents
25:05
Speaker 4: can use those dollars elsewhere, but that money would go
25:08
Speaker 4: out of state if you don't opt into the programs.
25:10
Speaker 4: It's a great, great idea to do that across the country.
25:13
Speaker 1: Okay, last story. My friends in Colorado have four as
25:16
Speaker 1: long as I've been on the air twenty five years,
25:18
Speaker 1: been very, very proud of their tabor. What's the taxpayer
25:22
Speaker 1: of some sort of protection of taxpayers that prevents it.
25:25
Speaker 1: And now the Dems in Colorado are trying to get
25:27
Speaker 1: rid of tabor again. They try this like every five years,
25:31
Speaker 1: don't they.
25:33
Speaker 4: Well, there they go again, as President Reagan would say, right,
25:36
Speaker 4: and every two years they look to get rid of
25:39
Speaker 4: the nation's gold standard in the state constitution, the taxpayer
25:43
Speaker 4: Bill of Rights really the gold standard protection against over
25:46
Speaker 4: taxing and overspending. It just says, if you want to
25:49
Speaker 4: spend more than the economy is growing, essentially, you just
25:52
Speaker 4: need to go and ask for taxpayer's approval. The progressives
25:56
Speaker 4: who run the legislature in Colorado right now don't like that,
26:00
Speaker 4: don't want to go and get people's approval to raise
26:02
Speaker 4: more taxes and raise more spending. And so every two
26:05
Speaker 4: years they go through this exercise, get all the big
26:07
Speaker 4: spenders in the special interest.
26:09
Speaker 5: To try to take this out of the constitution.
26:11
Speaker 4: Thankfully, so far you ALEC and our friends and allies
26:15
Speaker 4: have been able to preserve that. And let's hope this
26:18
Speaker 4: fall once again that Colorado doesn't lose that inherent advantage
26:22
Speaker 4: that they've had for more than thirty years. It's the
26:23
Speaker 4: one thing from keeping Colorado for becoming California East.
26:27
Speaker 1: We have to make that a centerpiece of our broadcast
26:30
Speaker 1: from the ALEC Annual meeting, which will be in Orlando
26:34
Speaker 1: on July twenty second and twenty third. John, I'll spent
26:37
Speaker 1: a lot of time on the air with me down there,
26:39
Speaker 1: and if he made the wrong choice on the sea bags,
26:42
Speaker 1: I'll let him know then. Jarvin Williams from the American
26:45
Speaker 1: Legislative Exchange Council. Remember rich datespoorts dates dot com, Alick
26:49
Speaker 1: dot org, and stay tuned. I'll be right back in America
26:52
Speaker 1: on the Cute you Its show. Now. I want to
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Speaker 1: take a moment to tell you about our great sponsor,
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Speaker 1: one forty four fifty four one eight hundred four one
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Speaker 1: one forty four fifty four acording Lore and even Grace America.
28:26
Speaker 1: I'm Hugh Hewittt. The weekend is upon us, and I'm
28:28
Speaker 1: so happy to welcome back Ben Dominicch Ben of course
28:31
Speaker 1: as the host of the Big Ben Pod, which is
28:33
Speaker 1: really really excellent. This week and we'll talk about Graham
28:37
Speaker 1: Plattner fairly quickly and about the Democratic Party. But Ben,
28:41
Speaker 1: I want to begin. I also want to let people
28:43
Speaker 1: know you're the opinion editor of the Daily Signal. How's
28:45
Speaker 1: the new gig working out? Do you like doing that?
28:48
Speaker 6: The Daily Wire? Got It?
28:49
Speaker 1: Got It, Daily Wire, Daily Wire. Ben Shapiro will shoot me.
28:53
Speaker 6: We actually we have a we have a We've had
28:56
Speaker 6: some great pieces this week from Sarch Holly, familiar to
29:01
Speaker 6: your readers. We have a great interview tomorrow that'll come
29:03
Speaker 6: out on the on the threat that AI poses from Nisarus,
29:08
Speaker 6: who is one of the heads of sort of the
29:10
Speaker 6: Silicon Valley AI skeptic groups. And then next week we
29:14
Speaker 6: have an interview with Ted Cruz about his plans for
29:18
Speaker 6: college sports with so I hope that people will come
29:22
Speaker 6: to the Other Wire and read, you know, some smart
29:25
Speaker 6: opinions from all our folks, including those.
29:28
Speaker 1: People I want to read the Josh Holly piece. Mike
29:31
Speaker 1: Pence was my guest yesterday for his new book, What
29:34
Speaker 1: do Conservatives Believe?
29:35
Speaker 3: It's a good book.
29:36
Speaker 1: By the way, it's fine button. Mike Pence is my age.
29:38
Speaker 1: So we are Reagan Notts, and we are older than
29:41
Speaker 1: the younger rising generation which hang out over at the
29:43
Speaker 1: Daily Wire, et cetera. But Mike Pence, Josh Polly is
29:47
Speaker 1: a populous conservative, not a Reaganaut. What do you make
29:51
Speaker 1: of that?
29:53
Speaker 6: You know, here's the thing, and I actually let me
29:57
Speaker 6: ask you this as a Reaganaut, and with all due respect,
30:01
Speaker 6: isn't Reagan an incredible populous if you look at this,
30:05
Speaker 6: especially the formation of his political beliefs. Reagan in his
30:09
Speaker 6: Own Hand, which is a book that I recommend virtually
30:12
Speaker 6: everybody that I speak in front of, especially college kids,
30:15
Speaker 6: is kind of a way to see his own process. It's,
30:18
Speaker 6: you know, it's these radio scripts that he made as
30:20
Speaker 6: he was traveling around America, and you can see the
30:23
Speaker 6: edits that he made in different pieces, the way he
30:26
Speaker 6: would pull stories from local experience and he would apply
30:29
Speaker 6: it in ways that he spoke to great principles. Look,
30:33
Speaker 6: you know, obviously Josh Holly did his thesis and has
30:36
Speaker 6: written extensively about Teddy Roosevelt. He has a lot of,
30:39
Speaker 6: you know, affinity for things that I think are a
30:41
Speaker 6: little bit more pro government in terms of the use
30:44
Speaker 6: of governmental power. But I also think that you know,
30:47
Speaker 6: when it comes right down to it, the principles. What
30:50
Speaker 6: he's trying to achieve is in America that is strong,
30:54
Speaker 6: that is good, that it secures our liberties, that has
30:59
Speaker 6: an actual impact on the world, that is not just
31:02
Speaker 6: looking inside its borders. And to me, kind of the
31:05
Speaker 6: end state of populism is when they basically say we
31:08
Speaker 6: need to turn into an island and cut ourselves off
31:11
Speaker 6: from the rest of the world, which is just a
31:13
Speaker 6: backwards and ridiculous statement. At this point.
31:15
Speaker 1: Well, you know, it's almost a distinction without a difference
31:18
Speaker 1: to me because David Trilio introduced me to Josh Holly.
31:23
Speaker 1: David Trillio, until recently the president of the Reagan Foundation
31:27
Speaker 1: out in California and a member led a young group
31:30
Speaker 1: of young Conservats in DC. And Josh Holly wasn't anybody then.
31:34
Speaker 1: He'd just written this book on tr but he was
31:36
Speaker 1: a John Roberts clerk, as was his wife. And I've
31:40
Speaker 1: known the Chief Justine since we worked together in the
31:42
Speaker 1: White House forty years ago, and I thought, well, you
31:45
Speaker 1: can clerk for John Roberts. I'm you're a smart guy.
31:48
Speaker 1: So I've always thought when he speaks, he speaks about
31:51
Speaker 1: the family, about faith, about masculinity. I don't think that's
31:55
Speaker 1: intention with Reaganism. Reaganism is really about individual liberty and
31:59
Speaker 1: a strong defense being an anti communist.
32:01
Speaker 3: That's it.
32:01
Speaker 1: I mean, that's it.
32:02
Speaker 6: I'm in Here's here's the thing. There's this whole There
32:05
Speaker 6: was a meme that kind of came around in the
32:07
Speaker 6: you know, about ten years ago, people who were criticizing
32:10
Speaker 6: zombie Reaganism, and I think the idea there was people
32:15
Speaker 6: who were critical of Trump because of the diffections that
32:17
Speaker 6: he had from conservative orthodoxy. But I think there's two
32:21
Speaker 6: ways to view that. One is to say, you know what,
32:24
Speaker 6: what did Reagan believe? It needs to be an amber
32:26
Speaker 6: and we always need to sort of, you know, adopt
32:29
Speaker 6: policy approaches that are exactly the same as that we
32:32
Speaker 6: would in nineteen eighty four. There's another approach that says,
32:36
Speaker 6: what would Ronald Reagan think about the situation today? And
32:39
Speaker 6: I think that's the healthy response. It's the same way
32:42
Speaker 6: that we looked at the founders, which is to say,
32:44
Speaker 6: you know, you know, I'm really curious what would do
32:47
Speaker 6: What would Thomas Jefferson and John Adams argue about when
32:50
Speaker 6: they were talking about AI. That's like that's the kind
32:53
Speaker 6: of thing that like I'm interested in and I just
32:55
Speaker 6: think that we should think about these, you know, people
32:58
Speaker 6: as not just stuck in the time that they are
33:00
Speaker 6: in when in the case of Reagan, look, I was
33:04
Speaker 6: alive during Reagan. So from my perspective, he's the greatest
33:07
Speaker 6: president of my lifetime. He won the Cold War, he
33:10
Speaker 6: battled the Bear. There is no one better in my opinion,
33:13
Speaker 6: and so you know, I am not going to reject him.
33:16
Speaker 6: At the same time, we have different problems today than
33:19
Speaker 6: we had that it's a gration situation that we have
33:22
Speaker 6: now compared to where we were when he was trying
33:24
Speaker 6: to figure out an immigration deal, It's a completely different situation.
33:27
Speaker 6: So why would you just say, oh, well, automatically he
33:30
Speaker 6: would favor some I mean, this is the kind of
33:31
Speaker 6: game the left plays where they say, you know, well,
33:34
Speaker 6: Reagan was in favor of this, this, and that, why
33:36
Speaker 6: aren't you in favor of it today? Well, I don't
33:38
Speaker 6: think Reagan applying his principles would be in favor of
33:41
Speaker 6: what you're advocating for today.
33:43
Speaker 1: And in fact, going way back to seventy six, my
33:46
Speaker 1: first presidential campaign, I was with Ford, Mark Levin was
33:49
Speaker 1: with Reagan. So Mark always chides me as being a
33:51
Speaker 1: rhino because I was a ford Man in seventy six
33:54
Speaker 1: and I ran youth for Ford in Massachusetts. And you
33:57
Speaker 1: can be given to sadn doesn't. Mark and I get
34:01
Speaker 1: along just fine. But Mark always gigs me on that
34:03
Speaker 1: because I was with Ford. You know what the big
34:05
Speaker 1: difference between them was a Panama Canal and seventy eight.
34:08
Speaker 6: Yeah, what is having the greatest debate that has ever happened.
34:12
Speaker 6: And I was I was happy to see when I
34:14
Speaker 6: was once in in in George Will's office, he showed
34:18
Speaker 6: me the pictures that he had from the debate that
34:20
Speaker 6: played out that William F. Buckley arranged, which is one
34:23
Speaker 6: of the iconic moments in conservative history. And obviously, you know,
34:28
Speaker 6: not to get into the back rooms of this, and gosh,
34:30
Speaker 6: we're going on a changent. But the the fact is
34:33
Speaker 6: William Buckley, you know, in my opinion, set that up
34:36
Speaker 6: entirely to you know, to create a basis for Reagan
34:40
Speaker 6: as a serious thinker about foreign policy. And yes, again
34:44
Speaker 6: that's a populous position. You know, you know, we we
34:47
Speaker 6: built it, we paid for it, it's ours and we're
34:49
Speaker 6: going to get you.
34:50
Speaker 1: That's a very popularist position. So I just you know,
34:53
Speaker 1: the Vice President pens is a friend of mine. I
34:56
Speaker 1: think what he's really getting at really really Roll Reagan
34:59
Speaker 1: would a gentleman and gentleman, Joe Ford was a gentleman's gentleman.
35:03
Speaker 1: Mike Pence is a gentleman's gentleman. And the new generation
35:06
Speaker 1: of conservatives are much more combative, and Newt Gingrich changed it.
35:11
Speaker 1: It goes back to Newt Gingrich in the debate when
35:13
Speaker 1: he went after John, come on, how be John King?
35:16
Speaker 6: Well, Well, maybe I can I can show buy cards
35:19
Speaker 6: here and say that I'm I am more of a
35:21
Speaker 6: new generation person. Yes, you know, I I believe that,
35:26
Speaker 6: you know, we we we've had to discard a lot
35:29
Speaker 6: of these kind of these these past definitions of civility
35:33
Speaker 6: and confront the left for what they had done, which
35:35
Speaker 6: is taken over the institutions of American life, and call
35:39
Speaker 6: them out for it, and confront them in ways that
35:42
Speaker 6: challenged them that were far more aggressive than perhaps sat
35:46
Speaker 6: well with. You know, a class of republicanism that you know,
35:50
Speaker 6: really is more respectable of authority, you know when it
35:53
Speaker 6: when it comes to things you know, and then and
35:55
Speaker 6: I do not, Hey, I don't dismiss that, how can.
35:58
Speaker 6: I I grew up going to an Piscoal church. But
36:02
Speaker 6: you know, it's one of these things where that is
36:04
Speaker 6: actually a healthy development, I believe, because it recognizes reality.
36:09
Speaker 6: And I mean, we're about to talk about Grand Platner, yep.
36:13
Speaker 6: That recognizes the reality of what the New York Times
36:16
Speaker 6: does now versus what the New York Times may have
36:19
Speaker 6: done in the past, or the respect that we have
36:21
Speaker 6: may have shown to institutions like sixty Minutes in the
36:25
Speaker 6: past that we should no longer view as being sacrosanct,
36:29
Speaker 6: as being protected from the reality of what they are today.
36:33
Speaker 1: And it's converging. And we're going to take three segments
36:35
Speaker 1: on this. So let me set it up this way.
36:38
Speaker 1: Grand Platner is on the table, so in the New
36:40
Speaker 1: York Time, so is sixty Minutes. The backdrop of this
36:43
Speaker 1: is a need a hill where a need ale made
36:45
Speaker 1: up stuff and tried to gig Justice Thomas. Christine Ford
36:49
Speaker 1: Blasi made up stuff, tried to gig Brett Kavanaugh.
36:52
Speaker 6: I do not believe you do not know this, but
36:55
Speaker 6: I've watched the Clarence Thomas hearings as a kid when
36:59
Speaker 6: that's broadcast on PBS. That's already yeah, agree to which
37:03
Speaker 6: my my parents were were interested in us learning about
37:07
Speaker 6: politics as it happened, and and it is still a
37:12
Speaker 6: formative moment for me in terms of the.
37:15
Speaker 1: Way because I mean, they're talking about pubic hair on
37:17
Speaker 1: coke cans.
37:18
Speaker 6: I mean, I know, I know, I was, I was,
37:21
Speaker 6: I was. I guess I was eight years old. Oh
37:23
Speaker 6: my gosh, it was so it was. It was a
37:26
Speaker 6: little yeah, but hey, I also lived through the you know,
37:30
Speaker 6: I remember downloading the Star Report from aol dot com.
37:33
Speaker 1: Oh well, that's even worse. All right, So then we've
37:36
Speaker 1: got then we've got all these standards and the New
37:38
Speaker 1: York Times and the sixty Minutes. People are on high horses,
37:42
Speaker 1: and the me too movement comes along. Now comes Graham Platner,
37:46
Speaker 1: and every totem, every shibblet that we were told by
37:50
Speaker 1: all of the left and all the legacy media has
37:53
Speaker 1: been put aside for Graham Platner, who is a deeply
37:56
Speaker 1: troubled man. I'm not going to characterize how he's trouble,
38:00
Speaker 1: but is that not a fair statement.
38:01
Speaker 3: He's just troubled.
38:04
Speaker 6: Here's what I think about Grand Platner, and I don't
38:06
Speaker 6: This is probably going to break with the general conservative
38:10
Speaker 6: mantra about things I recognize Grand Platner. Grand Platner is
38:14
Speaker 6: kind of the the He is the dark side of
38:19
Speaker 6: the coin for people like Jadie Vance and Pete Hess.
38:24
Speaker 6: He's someone who came out of his experience militarily with
38:28
Speaker 6: a lot of darkness with it. I know guys who
38:32
Speaker 6: are like grand Platner. They're intelligent people. Actually, they're they're
38:36
Speaker 6: students of history. They you know clearly, you know. You know.
38:40
Speaker 6: One of the funniest thing about Platners that he pretends
38:42
Speaker 6: to be this kind of populous, rising up guy. You know,
38:45
Speaker 6: he went to Hoskins at least for a year. I
38:47
Speaker 6: guess I'll hold it right there.
38:49
Speaker 1: But he went to Hodge Gifts, which is a seventy
38:51
Speaker 1: thousand dollars a year high school. So he's not really
38:54
Speaker 1: a working class kids Bell.
38:56
Speaker 6: Talk about farmer either.
38:58
Speaker 1: No, he's not unless you can out one restaurant owned
39:01
Speaker 1: by his mom, say in America. That'll be back on
39:04
Speaker 1: the other side of the break. We're not going anywhere,
39:06
Speaker 1: so I'm back with Ben Dominic and Ben I want
39:08
Speaker 1: you to pick up where you left it, you know.
39:10
Speaker 1: But you know, Graham platter are people I.
39:12
Speaker 6: Know, I know guys like I mean, I don't. I
39:15
Speaker 6: don't think I know anybody who's had a dot and
39:17
Speaker 6: cough on his chest. But the point is, I know
39:19
Speaker 6: a lot of guys who came out of that experience,
39:21
Speaker 6: and they were troubled, and they had a lot of
39:23
Speaker 6: you know, quite frankly, they had marriages that broke up,
39:26
Speaker 6: and they had lives that fell apart, and they had
39:28
Speaker 6: you know, health problems and psychological problems, and most of
39:30
Speaker 6: them became addicts. And it's, you know, and it's a
39:33
Speaker 6: sad situation, and it's an indictment, quite frankly, of our va,
39:37
Speaker 6: which I still think is kind of the underreported story
39:40
Speaker 6: of the last decade and a half of how poorly
39:43
Speaker 6: we have served the people who came back from serving
39:46
Speaker 6: our country and serving it, you know, willingly. By the way,
39:48
Speaker 6: the idea that Susan Collins sent him to war is
39:51
Speaker 6: just you know, bs. Look, here's the thing about Platner,
39:55
Speaker 6: and it's it's what Democrats are dealing with right now.
39:58
Speaker 6: They believe that they can survive this situation if there
40:03
Speaker 6: is nothing else that comes out about him. I do
40:07
Speaker 6: not believe there will be nothing else that comes out
40:10
Speaker 6: about him, Nor does anyone who is intelligent on Democratic staff.
40:15
Speaker 6: That's why you had the questions asked by Elizabeth Warren.
40:19
Speaker 6: That's why you've had the statements from John Fetterman, from
40:22
Speaker 6: Maggie Haffen, from a number of other people. And I
40:25
Speaker 6: will tell you this, Hugh. And but you know, Hugh,
40:27
Speaker 6: you know meane more than I do. I will say
40:29
Speaker 6: that you spend more time there than I do. When
40:32
Speaker 6: it comes to Maine, there is an aspect of this
40:36
Speaker 6: that I think people do not appreciate, which is that
40:38
Speaker 6: Angus King's son is running for governor. He is going
40:42
Speaker 6: to lose when that happens. I think it's very possible
40:46
Speaker 6: that Angus King crosses over breaks with this party. I
40:49
Speaker 6: know he's an independent, but he causes with the Democrats
40:52
Speaker 6: and actually endorses Susan Collins. I think that that could
40:55
Speaker 6: play politically in a very damaging way. I don't know
40:59
Speaker 6: what you think about this. I'm curious as to your thoughts,
41:03
Speaker 6: but I do think that it matters on the certain.
41:05
Speaker 1: I think last night when Chuck Schumer and it happened
41:07
Speaker 1: last night, took time to sit in college for making
41:10
Speaker 1: ten thousand consecutive votes. I have never heard a Senator.
41:13
Speaker 1: I've talked many of them.
41:15
Speaker 6: It is a tell. It's an indication of, yeah, we
41:20
Speaker 6: really wish we hadn't let this happen. And I think
41:23
Speaker 6: that a lot of it was assurances that they had,
41:26
Speaker 6: and also fear of their far left popular space, which represents,
41:31
Speaker 6: as I've said before on this program, about a third
41:34
Speaker 6: of their party. They are scared of those people because
41:36
Speaker 6: they are younger, they are allowed, they are active online,
41:40
Speaker 6: and they do move numbers in terms of donor dollars
41:43
Speaker 6: and the like. From my perspective, Platner is a troubled individual.
41:47
Speaker 6: I don't know how much of all of this is true.
41:49
Speaker 6: I don't know how much of the rumors are true.
41:52
Speaker 6: I do think that he's someone who should not be
41:54
Speaker 6: anywhere close to the US Senate.
41:56
Speaker 1: So Janet Mills might meet him. But if Golden gets
42:00
Speaker 1: swapped out in a Torricelli move, could he beat Susan
42:04
Speaker 1: I don't think he can beat Susan Collins either, But
42:06
Speaker 1: do you think so we got thirty seconds to come back.
42:08
Speaker 6: I do not think so. Susan Collins, Gosh, he's been
42:11
Speaker 6: there for thirty years. She's such a survivor. She beat
42:14
Speaker 6: the odds last time around, I would not bet against her.
42:18
Speaker 6: I'm I mean, cal she do what you want. I
42:21
Speaker 6: would not take the other side of that.
42:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree.
42:24
Speaker 1: When we come back America, we're gonna talk more cal
42:27
Speaker 1: She because Ben is a big Spurs fan. He's always
42:31
Speaker 1: been telling me the Spurs were gonna sweep and now
42:33
Speaker 1: we've got the mid stay too.
42:35
Speaker 5: I'll be right back.
42:36
Speaker 1: With Ben Tubvich. Welcome back in America. I'm ju you
42:43
Speaker 1: a Ben Dominicch is here with me? Ben? How long
42:47
Speaker 1: have you been married? E've been married ten years.
42:50
Speaker 6: I've been with my wife for ten years as as
42:53
Speaker 6: a girlfriend in his spouse. But I have not been
42:56
Speaker 6: married ten years, but effectively I have yet.
42:58
Speaker 1: All right, so I've been giving a birthday since for
43:00
Speaker 1: almost fifty years, and I got to give one on
43:03
Speaker 1: money to my wonderful wife defesim, Missustulett. And you can't
43:06
Speaker 1: see this, Ben, but I've got a sea bag here
43:08
Speaker 1: that the people on the sale news channel can see.
43:10
Speaker 1: It's a beautiful red, white and blue two fifty sea bag.
43:13
Speaker 1: It's a gorgeous thing.
43:14
Speaker 6: I bought that, and I buy you tweet this it
43:17
Speaker 6: looks gorgeous. Can I get that?
43:18
Speaker 3: Those?
43:19
Speaker 1: Yes? You go to Sea Bags. But here's the Cleveland
43:21
Speaker 1: Brown Seabags. Now I can give her this one too.
43:25
Speaker 1: Now you've been very ten years. Which one should I
43:27
Speaker 1: give her? The Brown Sea Bag or the America two fifty?
43:30
Speaker 6: No? All right, how good?
43:33
Speaker 1: Now about the Spurs. I'm rooting for the Knicks because
43:37
Speaker 1: if the Knicks win, that means that Cavs lost to
43:39
Speaker 1: the best team in the NBA. Are you rooting for
43:42
Speaker 1: the Knicks.
43:43
Speaker 6: I'm rooting for the Knicks, but it's for entirely financial reasons.
43:46
Speaker 6: I have a future on the Knicks that was placed
43:49
Speaker 6: before this playoffs began because I thought they were the
43:52
Speaker 6: best team. Oh you did, yes, and so I'm to
43:59
Speaker 6: be quite honest. Look, I love Wenby. I think Wenby
44:02
Speaker 6: is going to be a great I hope that he's
44:05
Speaker 6: an alien.
44:06
Speaker 1: He's an alien.
44:07
Speaker 6: He is a creature from a different universe. I mean,
44:11
Speaker 6: it's just like watching this guy is insane. I was
44:15
Speaker 6: trying to explain to my daughter literally, she was watching
44:19
Speaker 6: me watch highlights from the game. She was like, that
44:22
Speaker 6: man is very tall. Yes, he's very tall, very good.
44:27
Speaker 6: So but it's it's look, it's I love that, but
44:31
Speaker 6: I think it's a little too early for him. And
44:33
Speaker 6: I think Jalen Brunson, I mean, that's the way what
44:36
Speaker 6: he what he did in the fourth quarter there. I
44:39
Speaker 6: know they started slow, I know they had problems. They
44:42
Speaker 6: didn't play a great game, but they won anyway. And
44:45
Speaker 6: I look my colleague, and technically, I guess bought that
44:49
Speaker 6: Ben Shapiro is emphatically opposed to the Knicks. But I
44:54
Speaker 6: actually think that it's kind of good in a certain
44:57
Speaker 6: way to have, you know, a fan base that has
44:59
Speaker 6: been so long suffering and looks exactly the other thing
45:03
Speaker 6: is I mean, I thought you were going to go
45:05
Speaker 6: in a different direction here. What do you think about
45:07
Speaker 6: the trade?
45:08
Speaker 1: I love the trade. It's good for everyone.
45:11
Speaker 6: I love the trade.
45:12
Speaker 1: I love the trade for you. I love Jason Verse,
45:14
Speaker 1: I love the draft capital. We'll get a QB if
45:17
Speaker 1: Shador can't do it in Miles reserves a super Bowl
45:19
Speaker 1: run and so everybody wins.
45:22
Speaker 6: I completely agree. I think it's a win win all around.
45:24
Speaker 6: And I think that you guys just sort of set
45:26
Speaker 6: yourself up. I mean, the truth is the fan base
45:30
Speaker 6: there is so dedicated. And I was watching an interview
45:33
Speaker 6: with Terry McLaurin was on with the Rich Eisend this
45:35
Speaker 6: week and he was talking about it, and he said,
45:37
Speaker 6: you know this is this is one of the most dedicated,
45:40
Speaker 6: hardcore fan bases in the entirety of football. They deserve
45:43
Speaker 6: to have a team that you know, lives up to
45:46
Speaker 6: their expectations. And I think that you could actually build
45:49
Speaker 6: that with it. I mean, this draft capital is insane.
45:52
Speaker 6: So you know, it's it's all about the people who
45:54
Speaker 6: make the decisions down You need a QB.
45:56
Speaker 1: Now, a question for you, though, I've been a season
45:58
Speaker 1: ticket holder for twenty seven years since they built the
46:00
Speaker 1: new stadium. I had to buy seat licenses when we
46:03
Speaker 1: went in there in nineteen ninety nine. Do you think
46:04
Speaker 1: I should have to buy seat licenses for the new
46:06
Speaker 1: stadium when it gets built again.
46:09
Speaker 6: No, of course not. You've been put up free enough,
46:12
Speaker 6: I know.
46:12
Speaker 1: But they're gonna say, oh, hi, there's you time for
46:15
Speaker 1: you a pony, and I'm not gonna live.
46:16
Speaker 6: By the way, can you believe this deal with the Bears?
46:18
Speaker 6: By the way, they're gonna they're gonna move to a
46:21
Speaker 6: dome And.
46:22
Speaker 3: I did not know that.
46:23
Speaker 1: I did not, Well, the Browns are moving to a dome,
46:25
Speaker 1: and the Cleveland people kind of like it, and they're
46:29
Speaker 1: moving off the lake.
46:31
Speaker 6: I will say that the Browns are built more for
46:33
Speaker 6: a dome perhaps than other teams. But but I will
46:37
Speaker 6: say that the Bears moving to Indiana and moving to
46:40
Speaker 6: a dome. I just think that's an insult. I think that.
46:43
Speaker 6: I mean, I know Roger Goodell is like an evil
46:46
Speaker 6: creature and that kind of like, please stop this.
46:49
Speaker 1: It's just about the money and the NFL. It's just
46:52
Speaker 1: about It's like the California elections. Where does the money
46:56
Speaker 1: come from?
46:56
Speaker 6: And who hired the money? That's that's all that matters.
47:00
Speaker 3: Hire the money.
47:00
Speaker 1: All right? Let me, hey, ken me ask you about
47:02
Speaker 1: Howami because this I want to go back to Sirius
47:05
Speaker 1: Hallami is adjacent to the Blind Shake. He is an
47:09
Speaker 1: anti semi. He is an Islamist, he is a radical,
47:13
Speaker 1: and yes he's also a medical missionary. You can be
47:16
Speaker 1: both of those things. He didn't go to gods that
47:18
Speaker 1: to shoot Israeli. He went to godz that to fix people.
47:21
Speaker 1: But he's a gieh hottist. He's hanging out with the
47:23
Speaker 1: blind Shake. What's wrong with the Democrat said?
47:27
Speaker 6: You said the exact right thing the other day, which
47:29
Speaker 6: is that this is a poison that has absolutely infected
47:32
Speaker 6: the Democratic Party, and they seem to have no interest
47:36
Speaker 6: in finding the cure for it, which disturbs me. It's
47:40
Speaker 6: more like, you see what I'm saying, Like, it's one
47:42
Speaker 6: thing if you got the poison and you're trying to
47:44
Speaker 6: find the cure. The other one is if you got
47:46
Speaker 6: the poison and you're like, no, actually this feels okay
47:49
Speaker 6: for me.
47:49
Speaker 1: Let it run. I'm addicted.
47:51
Speaker 6: Yeah, exactly, And that I think is extremely disturbing. Uh,
47:56
Speaker 6: not as disturbing, by the way, as well, I personally
48:01
Speaker 6: am more disturbed by the fact that people like Chuck Schumer,
48:05
Speaker 6: who have for so long stood on these pedestals and said,
48:09
Speaker 6: you know, various things about how they represented the defense
48:12
Speaker 6: of democracy, you know, Sheldon Whitehouse defending the Republic, you
48:16
Speaker 6: know that kind of thing, with their pompous and sanctimonious attitude,
48:21
Speaker 6: you know, are basically willing to sort of go out
48:23
Speaker 6: there and sacrifice everything that they've ever said in order
48:27
Speaker 6: to back someone who had a literal Nazi tattoo on him.
48:31
Speaker 6: You know, I have to admit to you, Hugh, I
48:33
Speaker 6: don't think I would ever date someone with a Nazi
48:36
Speaker 6: tattoo and like especially without telling them that's a Nazi tattoo.
48:41
Speaker 6: And I'm uncomfortable with that. So so look, you know
48:44
Speaker 6: the situation that they're in right now. They are embracing
48:49
Speaker 6: the furthest left people. They are embracing actual anti Semites. There,
48:53
Speaker 6: actual terrorist supporters in the case of Honoy And it's
48:58
Speaker 6: one of these things that I mean, I don't know you.
49:01
Speaker 6: I want a healthy Democratic party. I want the Democratic
49:04
Speaker 6: Party of Bill Clinton back. I want a democratic party
49:07
Speaker 6: that's arguing with us about how protectionist should we be,
49:11
Speaker 6: what should our attitude be towards China, what should our
49:13
Speaker 6: attitude be toward you know, the way that we do
49:17
Speaker 6: welfare and the way that we do medicare. We don't
49:20
Speaker 6: have that argument anymore. That doesn't exist now.
49:23
Speaker 1: I did an event on Monday night then with Leon Panetta,
49:27
Speaker 1: Ron Emmanuel, Tim Ryan, Karl Rove and me and Ram.
49:32
Speaker 1: Emmanuel is formidable because he's an old Democrat. I mean,
49:36
Speaker 1: he's a field belief.
49:38
Speaker 6: I will I will stake, I will stake my claim
49:40
Speaker 6: on this. Rama Manuel would have made the second term
49:43
Speaker 6: of Barack Obama a success instead of a failure. He
49:46
Speaker 6: is absolutely intimidating, as IFO oh, he's.
49:49
Speaker 1: Also a vicious and fun debater. I meant he got
49:53
Speaker 1: me a couple of times. I was banged up, but
49:55
Speaker 1: it wasn't bad because you got Rod. I got the
49:57
Speaker 1: architect in the ed Messa on either side, Tim Ryan,
49:59
Speaker 1: or a couple of guys from Warren, Ohio. And we're
50:02
Speaker 1: wondering what are we doing here? And Rob Emmanuel said
50:04
Speaker 1: we were wondering the same thing. So he's that kind
50:06
Speaker 1: of quick. Do you think he has a prayer?
50:12
Speaker 6: I think that the problem with Rom is that he's
50:14
Speaker 6: too honest about everything that's going on in the Democratic Coalition,
50:17
Speaker 6: and they don't want honesty right now. They want either
50:21
Speaker 6: they want either illusion, which is offered to them by
50:25
Speaker 6: kind of a fake neoliberal like Gavin Newsom, or they
50:29
Speaker 6: want passion, which is offered to them by a youngster,
50:33
Speaker 6: you know, TikTok uh, you know, a social media person
50:38
Speaker 6: like AOC. I think they want want to be two things.
50:41
Speaker 1: I hope you get Rom for an interview for the
50:44
Speaker 1: Daily Wire. I would I would I'd pay money to
50:46
Speaker 1: watch that.
50:47
Speaker 6: I'd love to do that. I would absolutely love to
50:49
Speaker 6: sit down with Rom because, to be honest, I think
50:51
Speaker 6: we would agree a lot about the history of politics
50:54
Speaker 6: and disagree of course about aims and then things like that,
50:58
Speaker 6: and of course ideologies, but he is formidable, so all right.
51:02
Speaker 1: Ben dominic Follow him at Bee Dominish, listen to the
51:05
Speaker 1: Big Ben podcast, read him over at the Daily Wire
51:08
Speaker 1: where he's the opinion editor, and stay right here