Latest / The Hugh Hewitt Show: Highly Concentrated / The RNC Convention, Remembering Charlie Kirk, and the latest in Iran

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The RNC Convention, Remembering Charlie Kirk, and the latest in Iran · The Hugh Hewitt Show: Highly Concentrated

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to today's podcast sponsored by Hillsdale College. All things
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Hillsdale at hillsdale.edu. I encourage you to take advantage of
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the many free online courses there and of course to
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: listen to the Hillsdale Dialogues. All of them at Q
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: for hillsdale.com or just google Apple, iTunes and Hillsdale. I'm
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  Speaker 1: Q Hewitt from the west coast. A good Thursday to you.
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  Speaker 1: It's a pretty dark Thursday a year ago today. My
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  Speaker 1: colleague Charlie Kirk was assassinated 25 years ago tomorrow. America
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  Speaker 1: was attacked. In between, there have been terrible things, including
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  Speaker 1: the Great Recession, 10-7, the invasion of Ukraine. Through all
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  Speaker 1: of that, I've had one radio friend who's become a
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  Speaker 1: real friend, John Andrzejczyk, who is back in New York
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  Speaker 1: for the Concert of New York 25 years ago. He's
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  Speaker 1: back in New York again. John joins us from New York.
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  Speaker 1: Where are you, John? Good to see you, my friend.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Hugh, greetings from the 9-11 Memorial and Museum. I
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  Speaker 2: am at the museum right now. Tomorrow night we'll be
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  Speaker 2: performing between the two lights to the skies to recognize
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  Speaker 2: our heroes of 9-11. As you can imagine, it's been
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  Speaker 2: a very heavy week.
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  Speaker 1: Would you remind people about the concert for New York
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  Speaker 1: and your Superman? Just give them the facts of how
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  Speaker 1: you intersect with that awful day in the immediate aftermath.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was in London on 9-11 promoting my song
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  Speaker 2: Superman that was kind of taking off. And like everybody else,
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  Speaker 2: I was in shock and horrified when those planes hit
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  Speaker 2: the towers. And it took me 10 days to get
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  Speaker 2: back to the States. People forget that airlines were shut down.
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  Speaker 2: And when I did, I realized that many news organizations
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  Speaker 2: were using my song Superman to recognize the heroes of 9-11.
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  Speaker 2: And Paul McCartney, all credit to him, had a great
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  Speaker 2: idea of doing a concert for New York and America.
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  Speaker 2: He put that together. I got the call. Couldn't believe
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  Speaker 2: they wanted this young dude that nobody knew to sing
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  Speaker 2: a song, and I was honored to, 25 years ago,
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  Speaker 2: sing that song at the concert for New York. And, frankly, Hugh,
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  Speaker 2: yesterday we did the New York Firefighters Memorial 25 years later.
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  Speaker 2: There were people there that were on that stage with
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  Speaker 2: me 25 years ago, and it brought all those memories back.
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  Speaker 1: Now, in between, and the reason I'm so glad to
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  Speaker 1: talk to you today, and not just to upset people up,
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  Speaker 1: But it's the anniversary of Charlie's murder. And people in
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  Speaker 1: trauma or who have terrible things happen to them can
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  Speaker 1: choose one of two things. They can go forward and
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  Speaker 1: build and rebuild and serve others. Or they can spiral down.
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  Speaker 1: And it happens to both. It's not fair how it
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  Speaker 1: shakes out. You chose to serve other people. And you've
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  Speaker 1: done it in Ukraine. You've done it in Israel. You've
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  Speaker 1: done it for the firefighters. You've done it for wounded
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  Speaker 1: veterans with Gary Sinise.
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  Speaker 3: All over the world.
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  Speaker 1: Why did you make that choice? Because you didn't have to.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, we talk about never forget, right? It's
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  Speaker 2: more than a slogan. It's an obligation. It's an obligation
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  Speaker 2: to teach our kids about the evil, the Islamic radicals
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  Speaker 2: that flew those planes into these buildings. But it's also
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  Speaker 2: obligation to tell the stories of of those firefighters who
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  Speaker 2: ran into those burning buildings, ran up those stairs when
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  Speaker 2: everybody was running out. You know, yesterday, Hugh, at the memorial,
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  Speaker 2: I met many 25, 30-year-old young Americans who are, you know, five,
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  Speaker 2: six years old, whose father was killed in 9-11. Many
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  Speaker 2: of them have joined the fire department. They've joined the
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  Speaker 2: New York Police Department. And so, You meet people like
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  Speaker 2: that and you see the best of America. And I'm
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  Speaker 2: around people that inspire me every day. So I'm honored
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  Speaker 2: to sing a song to shine the spotlight where it belongs.
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  Speaker 2: And certainly this week it belongs in our heroes of
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  Speaker 2: 9-11 and their families. And frankly, the 600 firefighters who
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  Speaker 2: have died since 9-11 due to illnesses related to 9-11.
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  Speaker 1: So, John, what were the specifics of the event yesterday?
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  Speaker 1: How did they choose to memorialize the firefighters? And who
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  Speaker 1: was there and who stayed away that were glad they
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  Speaker 1: stayed away?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it was at Staten Island Baseball Stadium. It was
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  Speaker 2: beautifully decorated with American flags. They walked out with 343
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  Speaker 2: flags to recognize every fallen firefighter on that day. surrounded
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  Speaker 2: by dignitaries. The mayor was there, Hugh. He was sitting
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  Speaker 2: right in front of me when I spoke from the stage,
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  Speaker 2: and I talked about the evil that attacked us that day.
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  Speaker 2: To his credit, he made the decision not to speak.
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  Speaker 2: I think that was appropriate. But it really wasn't about him.
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  Speaker 2: It was about the Gold Star families sitting in front
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  Speaker 2: of me that I hugged and sang Superman and cried with.
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  Speaker 2: It was about those young, new firefighters carrying on the
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  Speaker 2: legacy of their families, and they read Not only the
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  Speaker 2: 343 names, they read the over 600 names of the
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  Speaker 2: firefighters who lost their lives since then. Frankly, there was
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  Speaker 2: a funeral just last week. So I think that's something
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  Speaker 2: we really don't talk about is that cost. But, you know,
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  Speaker 2: it was certainly very heavy, sad, but it was also inspirational.
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  Speaker 2: And talking to the families and seeing how they've come through,
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  Speaker 2: you know, most of them, you know, found a way
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  Speaker 2: to make it through. And so it was really more
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  Speaker 2: of a celebration than a funeral.
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  Speaker 1: I do want to make very clear to my audience,
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  Speaker 1: I don't think Mary Mondami ought to be at the
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  Speaker 1: memorial tomorrow, not because he's Muslim. I'm quite certain that
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  Speaker 1: there were Muslim firefighters and policemen who died that day
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  Speaker 1: and victims of 9-11 and victims of Islamist terror all
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  Speaker 1: over the world. But because he has spoken in a
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  Speaker 1: morally relativistic way that does not distinguish between Islamist terror
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  Speaker 1: and terrorism, the victims of Islamist terror. That's why I
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  Speaker 1: think he ought to be absent from these things, but
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  Speaker 1: enough about him. John, how long does a memorial take
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  Speaker 1: that is recognizing 900 plus victims?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it was about two and a half hours, and
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  Speaker 2: it was about an hour reading the names. And, you know,
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  Speaker 2: you kept seeing those flags kind of file into the
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  Speaker 2: baseball stadium, and you're like, that's got to be it.
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  Speaker 2: That's got to be it. And no, here comes more
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  Speaker 2: and more. And And it really signifies the cost. You know,
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  Speaker 2: here at the museum where I'm speaking, there's a beautiful
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  Speaker 2: wall with a piece of paper with the color blue,
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  Speaker 2: all different shades of blue that reflect the sky on
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  Speaker 2: that day. It was a beautiful day that Tuesday. And
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  Speaker 2: of the almost 3,000 victims of 9-11. So, you know,
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  Speaker 2: you see the scale. But then you see the beauty
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  Speaker 2: of the pools and You know, this place is packed today, Hugh.
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  Speaker 2: People care. But I do think it's an obligation. Never forget,
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  Speaker 2: it's more than a slogan. It's an obligation to teach
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  Speaker 2: our kids. And frankly, we've been fed a lot of
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  Speaker 2: disinformation about what happened that day. And right here is
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  Speaker 2: kind of ground zero for that at the Memorial and Museum,
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  Speaker 2: who do a great job. And frankly, they're the ones
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  Speaker 2: who are putting on this event tomorrow night, kind of
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  Speaker 2: between the two lights with Cyndi Lauper, Rainey Wilson and
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  Speaker 2: others participating. really paying tribute to those families and the
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  Speaker 2: spirit of the country. And I'm looking forward to singing
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  Speaker 2: Superman at that.
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  Speaker 1: It's going to be a fabulous program. I want to
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  Speaker 1: finish by telling you about the young men and women
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  Speaker 1: you met who are children of the deceased firefighters. What
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  Speaker 1: do they remember? Do they talk to you about your song?
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  Speaker 1: Do they remember the concert for New York or just
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  Speaker 1: the terrible ordeal of that day?
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  Speaker 2: Well, there were some kind of eight or nine at
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  Speaker 2: the time, and they came up and said, oh, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: that was me and my dad's song. And, of course,
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  Speaker 2: the younger ones, they don't remember it. They've heard of
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  Speaker 2: the Concert for New York, but certainly those of my generation,
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  Speaker 2: many of the firefighters there and the captains and some
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  Speaker 2: of the kind of executive staff were at the Concert
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  Speaker 2: for New York. And I hadn't realized how much it
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  Speaker 2: meant to them then. And yesterday, I have to say,
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  Speaker 2: there was quite a lot of tears. And for some reason,
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  Speaker 2: the song still seems to be relevant and provide some solace.
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  Speaker 2: And as a songwriter, it's incredibly humbling.
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  Speaker 1: Well, that too. I don't know if you played. Did
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  Speaker 1: you play Tuesday morning? I don't know that you can
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  Speaker 1: without orchestral backup.
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  Speaker 2: No, we didn't play Tuesday, the song that I wrote
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  Speaker 2: about the lessons of 9-11. But tomorrow on Fox News,
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  Speaker 2: I have an op-ed entitled Tuesday that will share my
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  Speaker 2: thoughts of Did We Forget the Lessons of 9-11, which
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  Speaker 2: is the nature of that song, and I think we
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  Speaker 2: both know the answer to that. So that will be
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  Speaker 2: coming out tomorrow morning on Fox News, and I'll be
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  Speaker 2: speaking more about that throughout the day.
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  Speaker 1: I will look for that in the morning and talk
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  Speaker 1: about it on tomorrow's program. John Andrzejczyk, thank you for
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  Speaker 1: honoring the families of the fallen, the fallen themselves, and
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  Speaker 1: being back in New York 25 years later to sing Superman.
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  Speaker 1: John once told me, you sing the songs people want
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  Speaker 1: to hear as well as your new stuff, and that's
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  Speaker 1: the one people want to hear right now. John Andrzejczyk
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  Speaker 1: can be followed on X at John Andrzejczyk. Five for
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  Speaker 1: Fighting is out and touring it everywhere, and boy, it's
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  Speaker 1: a great show. Whenever you have a chance, go listen
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  Speaker 1: to John. And in the meantime, coming up, I've got Dr.
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  Speaker 1: Michael Oren from Israel, Senator Tom Cotton, Jim Garrity, Vic Mattis,
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  Speaker 1: Josh Kroschauer. I've got so many people coming at me today,
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  Speaker 1: Bethany Mandel coming along, that you don't want to go
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  Speaker 1: anywhere else. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt, joined by Dr.
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  Speaker 1: Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the United States, founder
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  Speaker 1: of the Israel Advocacy Group. Dr. Oren, welcome back. Two
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  Speaker 1: headlines in the Wall Street Journal. Iran is back producing
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  Speaker 1: ballistic missiles underground. And number two. Iran is trying to
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  Speaker 1: hit American Navy ships. To it, I add a third fact.
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  Speaker 1: Iran dares to shoot at our ships and hit our bases.
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  Speaker 1: They don't dare shoot at Israel.
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  Speaker 4: Why?
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  Speaker 5: Because I think they have the measure of the manner
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  Speaker 5: of the country.
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  Speaker 4: They knew if they shoot at us... We're going to respond.
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  Speaker 4: We're going to respond in a way that we haven't
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  Speaker 4: responded previously. During the last war, we were kept on
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  Speaker 4: a relatively short leash, Hugh, and that is that we
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  Speaker 4: were able to carry out many, many sorties every day,
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  Speaker 4: but the targets we chose had to be closely coordinated
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  Speaker 4: with the United States, and they couldn't include energy targets.
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  Speaker 5: This time, there'll be no limit, no leash, and.
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  Speaker 4: Everything will be within the sights of the IAF, the
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  Speaker 4: Israel Air Force, including Karg Island.
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  Speaker 5: They can strike at an American basis.
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  Speaker 4: And they know that the president, very much aware, and
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  Speaker 4: I think smartly, is not going to respond in a
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  Speaker 4: massive way. He's going to respond in a very calculated way,
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  Speaker 4: in a limited way, until after November 4th, until after
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  Speaker 4: the midterm elections.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Mr. Ambassador, that will be, quote, smart, unless
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  Speaker 1: and until they hit the USS Blank and kill a
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  Speaker 1: bunch of sailors, or they land one on top of
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  Speaker 1: a hardened bunker at our base, or as was released,
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  Speaker 1: they pretty much destroyed our installation at Bahrain. That was
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  Speaker 1: leaked today. Ought we to up our deterrence game?
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  Speaker 4: Do you remember we had this conversation about, was it
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  Speaker 4: back in February, March?
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  Speaker 5: What would happen if a missile hit a U.S. aircraft carrier?
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  Speaker 1: I don't.
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  Speaker 5: You don't remember that?
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  Speaker 1: I don't remember your answer. I remember asking you. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know what your answer was.
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  Speaker 5: No, we talked about the Sheffield.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, that's right.
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  Speaker 6: Yep.
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  Speaker 4: Right, right.
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  Speaker 5: You remember that.
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  Speaker 4: The Sheffield Factor, going back to the Falklands War of 1982,
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  Speaker 4: when a French-made rocket was fired by the Argentinians. An
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  Speaker 4: Exocet rocket was fired at the Sheffield, hit the Sheffield.
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  Speaker 5: Killed a number of British seamen.
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  Speaker 4: It was the first time since really World War II
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  Speaker 4: when British warships have been struck, and it really impacted
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  Speaker 4: the course of the war.
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  Speaker 5: All you need is one missile that's hit.
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  Speaker 4: And we had this discussion, and you assured me that
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  Speaker 4: the defenses around these American warships are very, very, very.
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  Speaker 5: Very dense, very, very secure. But still, you're up against
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  Speaker 5: the law of averages.
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  Speaker 4: If you're going to fire 100 rockets at any system,
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  Speaker 4: we know this in Israel, you fire 100 rockets at
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  Speaker 4: Iron Dome. Iron Dome has a 92% effectiveness rate.
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  Speaker 5: Eight of those rockets are liable to get through and
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  Speaker 5: are liable to hit something.
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  Speaker 4: So we are at a very, very delicate juncture now
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  Speaker 4: in this war. And another headline we didn't mention was
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  Speaker 4: the The Wall Street Journal headline that said that both
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: Rubio and J.D. Vance had told the president that this
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  Speaker 4: war could go on beyond, you know, continue beyond his
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  Speaker 4: term in office.
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  Speaker 5: We don't doubt that, but.
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  Speaker 4: That's assuming that everything stays exactly the same, that there's
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  Speaker 4: no sort of wild cards. And a wild card could be,
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  Speaker 4: quite tragically, if one of these rockets gets through and
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  Speaker 4: hits not just an American warship or an American base,
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  Speaker 4: an American serviceman are injured or worse. And then the
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  Speaker 4: United States is going to have to respond, I think,
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  Speaker 4: in a more less than calibrated much in a more restricted,
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  Speaker 4: restrained way. And that's going to put us on course
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  Speaker 4: to a different outcome of the war. Ultimately, I think
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  Speaker 4: whether it's before November 4th or after November 4th, I
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  Speaker 4: think the president is going to act in a very
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  Speaker 4: robust manner.
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  Speaker 1: So Ambassador Oren, if we want to establish the deterrence
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  Speaker 1: for the United States targets that Israel has established for
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  Speaker 1: its entire country, What would you advise President Trump to
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  Speaker 1: do right now rather than after they get lucky?
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  Speaker 4: Again, I think you've got to stay at the table
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  Speaker 4: and you've got to be very cool.
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  Speaker 5: Cool, you know, keep your cards to yourself and don't
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  Speaker 5: show your hand.
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  Speaker 4: And what I mean by this, they're going to try,
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  Speaker 4: the Iranians are going to try to provoke the United
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  Speaker 4: States into a renewed large-scale military action.
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  Speaker 5: In order to get oil prices to get up to maybe.
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: $ 120 a barrel, to get further or certainly further erode
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  Speaker 4: the support for the president's policies within the United States
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  Speaker 4: and further impair the chances of the Republicans retaining both
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: the House and the Senate in the midterm elections. That's
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  Speaker 4: what they're going for. They're playing an American political game,
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  Speaker 4: not just a Middle Eastern and at least military game.
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  Speaker 4: And the military front is also getting much more complex
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: because as the hootie rebels, and I don't know why
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: they're called rebels, they're terrorists, are approaching the seacoast near
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: the Bab al-Madab waterway. They can close off that waterway,
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  Speaker 4: and from there they can also strike at the entrance
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  Speaker 4: of the Suez Canal. So you have a situation where
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: Iran and its proxies can control all the waterways in
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: and out of the Middle East. That's actually an intolerable situation.
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  Speaker 4: It is a highly fluid, very, very flammable situation. The
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: president's going to have to play it cool and try
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: to do his best not to get dragged into this
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: open warfare that the Iranian regime so much wants in
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: order to impact the outcome of the November elections.
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  Speaker 1: Is there, in your mind, a discrete target list that
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: would send the message that Israel has sent and received
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: by the IRGC junta, which is, don't hit our ship,
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  Speaker 1: don't hit Israel, or everything in this category will go away?
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  Speaker 5: I don't... I don't think they need that message. I
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  Speaker 5: think the Iranians understand that.
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  Speaker 4: I think they understand that the people of Israel, not
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: just the government of Israel, is willing to go back
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: into this world. And we spoke on this computer... during
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: the war, and I was running back and forth to
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: our bomb shelter.
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  Speaker 5: We're willing to put up with that. We're willing to
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: put up with that.
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  Speaker 4: Because we understand that Iran poses an existential threat, and
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: maybe there's just one existential threat, but several existential threats,
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  Speaker 4: a nuclear threat, a ballistic missile threat, a terror threat
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  Speaker 4: to this country, and that is intolerable. And we are
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: willing to pay that price. But next time we go
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: to war, we're going to go all out, and no
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: more leash, and no more limited list of targets.
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  Speaker 5: We're going to go all out.
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  Speaker 4: The Israeli Air Force, hundreds of war planes can incinerate
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  Speaker 4: Carg Island in a matter of hours?
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  Speaker 1: Well, I go back to my question. So can American
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  Speaker 1: flights from the George Washington and from air bases and
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  Speaker 1: F-22s and B-2s. I'm not saying take out cars. Aren't
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  Speaker 1: they not to take out something that looks a lot
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  Speaker 1: like cars, but maybe is 10% of cars?
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  Speaker 4: Oh, the United States can afford to, you know, ratchet up,
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  Speaker 4: you know, and Israel doesn't have to play that game. Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 4: we don't have, you know, it's not going to affect
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  Speaker 4: our elections the way it's going to affect the midterm elections.
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  Speaker 4: Support for war in this country is very, very high
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  Speaker 4: in contrast to what's going on in the United States.
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  Speaker 4: And actually, by going to war, it's just the opposite
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: situation of what you have in the United States. By
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: going to war, President Trump risks losing support in his
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: electoral season. In our electoral season, Netanyahu would like nothing
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  Speaker 4: better to go to war now because he feels that
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: that would greatly enhance his chances of getting reelected in October.
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  Speaker 2: Dr.
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  Speaker 1: Oren, always good to talk to you. I'm just going
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: to close by saying I think maybe the Iranians have
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: to understand President Trump is more like Netanyahu than they
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: think he is. It would be useful for them to
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: learn that. Michael Oren can be followed on X at Dr.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Michael Oren and find and support the Israel Advocacy Group.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: I'll be right back, America. Stay tuned. Good morning, Grace America.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: I'm Hugh Hewitt. Welcome to the program. I'm joined on
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: the phone by Senator Tom Cotton from the great state
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: of Arkansas. Senator, welcome back. I want to get to headlines,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: but first I want to ask you to remind people
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: where you were on 9-11 and how it impacted your life.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: I know the story pretty well, but tell the audience.
• 17:39
  Speaker 6: Hugh, I was in my last year in law school.
• 17:43
  Speaker 6: I'm planning, obviously, to go out and be a lawyer.
• 17:46
  Speaker 6: But I walked out of my class that morning and
• 17:49
  Speaker 6: the day before smartphones and Wi-Fi and learned that this
• 17:53
  Speaker 6: terrible attack happened. And that really changed my direction in life.
• 17:57
  Speaker 6: I wanted to rush out right away and join the Army,
• 17:59
  Speaker 6: but cooler heads prevailed. Some of my friends were in
• 18:02
  Speaker 6: the Army at the time, so I finished school and
• 18:04
  Speaker 6: worked for a couple of years to pay off my loans.
• 18:06
  Speaker 6: But once I did that and got all my affairs
• 18:09
  Speaker 6: in order, I joined the Army and became an infantry
• 18:10
  Speaker 6: officer and served in Iraq and Afghanistan and Arlington National
• 18:14
  Speaker 6: Cemetery in between those two overseas tours. So you can
• 18:19
  Speaker 6: say it had a profound effect on my life as
• 18:21
  Speaker 6: it did on so many Americans.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: I just want, I am spending the day talking to
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: people yesterday, today, tomorrow, and this week talking to people
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: about the impact, but I knew it sent you into
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: the military where otherwise you would have probably been at Gibson, Dunning, Crutcher,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: buttoned down in a partner. I don't know, which office
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: were you going to join, Senator?
• 18:41
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I might have ended up in terms of public
• 18:44
  Speaker 6: life working as a prosecutor here in Arkansas or maybe
• 18:47
  Speaker 6: as a judge. That kind of work always appealed to
• 18:51
  Speaker 6: me as a younger man before the 9-11 attacks. But
• 18:55
  Speaker 6: as I said, I kind of lost my motivation to
• 18:57
  Speaker 6: be in a courtroom. after the 9-11 attacks and wanted
• 19:01
  Speaker 6: to be on the battlefield defending our nation.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Well, I appreciate that. I do not believe you were alone,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: but to everyone who was that way impacted, we salute
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: and thank you. Let me turn now. You are the
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: chair of the Senate Intel Committee. You are also on
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: the Senate Armed Services Committee. Two headlines in the Wall
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: Street Journal at this hour. Iran is producing ballistic missiles again,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: and with close calls on U.S. warship, Iran shows new
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: appetite for escalation. I just asked Ambassador Michael Lawrence, Iran's
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: rump regime, the IRGC, will not dare shoot at Israel,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: but they're shooting cruise missiles at our ships. What's the
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: difference in your mind between what Israel has done and
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: what we haven't done yet to Iran?
• 19:44
  Speaker 6: Well, Hugh, I'm not going to comment on supposed intelligence
• 19:49
  Speaker 6: that's been leaked to newspapers. I will say that we
• 19:53
  Speaker 6: should assume that Iran is up to no good. They've
• 19:56
  Speaker 6: been up to no good for 47 years. That's one
• 19:58
  Speaker 6: of the reasons why We decided to strike their nuclear
• 20:02
  Speaker 6: facility in the story of last year and why we
• 20:05
  Speaker 6: delivered such a severe blow to their missile and their
• 20:08
  Speaker 6: drone program earlier this year. It is correct that since
• 20:12
  Speaker 6: the end of the major series of strikes in early
• 20:15
  Speaker 6: April that Iran has not targeted Israel again, unlike not
• 20:21
  Speaker 6: just some of our bases, but a lot of our
• 20:23
  Speaker 6: Arab friends and nation. And that's because I think that
• 20:25
  Speaker 6: Iran is deathly afraid of Israel, and after the punching
• 20:29
  Speaker 6: blows Israel has delivered to it in recent years. And
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: they know that Israel will hit back much, much harder
• 20:35
  Speaker 6: than Iran hits Israel. And I think that's an important lesson.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Do you think the United States has delivered that lesson yet?
• 20:45
  Speaker 6: We have a few, but obviously, you know, they call
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: us the great Satan. Israel is only the little Satan.
• 20:50
  Speaker 6: So if they have a choice, they're going to try
• 20:52
  Speaker 6: to take on the great Satan first. And that's what
• 20:55
  Speaker 6: they've been doing now, not just for the last six months,
• 20:58
  Speaker 6: but the last 47 years. But I think the combination
• 21:02
  Speaker 6: of the retaliatory strikes in recent weeks, along with the very,
• 21:06
  Speaker 6: very tight and tightening economic vice that we have on
• 21:10
  Speaker 6: Iran's leaders right now is putting very difficult choices to them.
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: I know.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: Can I switch to politics for a moment, Senator? Last night,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: President Trump made a big speech. He'll make another one tonight.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: He introduced the concept of the Trump dividend. The MSNOW
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: people lost their minds. I point out, I'm not a
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: fan of that program, but even if it went through,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: he'd be spending less money than Joe Biden spent with
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: the Build Back Better bonanza for his friends. But I'd
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: want to pay for it and all that kind of stuff.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: Putting that aside, do you think the convention is doing
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: what it's intended to do, which is alert America to
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: how crazy the Democrats are this cycle?
• 21:49
  Speaker 6: Well, here I am. I saw on your social media
• 21:52
  Speaker 6: post the idea of calling it rather than Trump dividend,
• 21:54
  Speaker 6: a Biden inflation reparation, which I thought was amusing. And
• 21:59
  Speaker 6: I think the president's general point is 100 percent correct
• 22:03
  Speaker 6: that if Republicans win this election, Americans will be more
• 22:07
  Speaker 6: prosperous and safer than they will if Democrats are in charge. Now,
• 22:11
  Speaker 6: how we help working families around the the state of
• 22:15
  Speaker 6: Arkansas and around the country, that's open for debate. You know,
• 22:17
  Speaker 6: as you pointed out, Hugh, giving that kind of money
• 22:20
  Speaker 6: to every adult citizen would give money to a lot
• 22:23
  Speaker 6: of wealthy folks. I've already heard some very blessed Arkansans,
• 22:27
  Speaker 6: even higher than Hugh Hewitt's tax bracket. They say that
• 22:31
  Speaker 6: while they love the president, they don't think they need
• 22:34
  Speaker 6: $ 5, 000 checks as opposed to the waitress down the street
• 22:38
  Speaker 6: in their hometown restaurant. There's other ideas floating out there,
• 22:41
  Speaker 6: like you had a good one about allowing people to
• 22:44
  Speaker 6: convert their 401ks or their IRAs into Roths at a
• 22:47
  Speaker 6: simple flat rate. A lot of ways that we can
• 22:51
  Speaker 6: share greater prosperity with the American people that won't be
• 22:57
  Speaker 6: around Yes, Democrats are in charge again because all they're
• 23:01
  Speaker 6: going to do is hike taxes and spend it on
• 23:03
  Speaker 6: their wild-eyed programs.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: Well, there is a huge gap eaten out of working
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: people's lives by the inflation that Joe Biden set off.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: And if we want to make reparations for that, that's fine.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: I just don't think we ought to give it to
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: people in any bracket above the minimum bracket. I'll put
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: it that way. Let me ask you, though, about the
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: general point. I was in the Reagan administration. They got
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: hammered in 1982. He won 49 states in 84 because
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: the Reagan policies took two and a half years to
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: kick in. I think the Trump policies have already kicked in,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: judging by the jobs report. But the Iran tax, and
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: there are two of them, the immediate one that we're
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: paying because of this battle and the one we've been
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: paying for 47 years that's priced into the world petroleum
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: market and the world risk insurance premiums because it's a
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: crazy regime. I think the world would experience tremendous growth
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: if that regime collapsed. Do you agree with me, Senator?
• 23:56
  Speaker 6: And Hugh, you're right about the experience under Reagan. When
• 24:00
  Speaker 6: Democratic presidents like Jimmy Carter and Joe Biden unleash inflation
• 24:04
  Speaker 6: into our economy, it's very hard to tame it in
• 24:06
  Speaker 6: a short time window. It was 9% under Joe Biden.
• 24:09
  Speaker 6: We've got it down to nearly 3%. That's not good enough.
• 24:12
  Speaker 6: We need to do more. But one way to do
• 24:14
  Speaker 6: more is to increase the flow of oil and global economy.
• 24:18
  Speaker 6: And fortunately, one of the best countries to do that
• 24:20
  Speaker 6: is here in America. And we can pump more oil
• 24:24
  Speaker 6: and gas here in America. That will help bring down
• 24:26
  Speaker 6: the price of gas and diesel. And we can also
• 24:29
  Speaker 6: make sure that our Arab friends in the Middle East
• 24:31
  Speaker 6: are able to produce their oil and get it through
• 24:32
  Speaker 6: the strait. And ultimately, in the medium term, is render
• 24:37
  Speaker 6: the Strait of Hormuz irrelevant by building greater pipeline capacity
• 24:41
  Speaker 6: to avoid it. And as you say, maybe the ultimate
• 24:44
  Speaker 6: way to reduce that risk premium in the Middle East
• 24:47
  Speaker 6: is for Iran to be governed by a normal government
• 24:50
  Speaker 6: as opposed to terrorist fanatics.
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: Amen.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Last question, Senator. I know you're running for reelection. You're
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: busy meeting Arkansans where they are and talking to them.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: But I hope you can get a trip out to
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: help Paxton in Texas and Mike Rogers in Michigan and
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Susan Collins in Maine and maybe even Michelle Toffoli in Minnesota,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: because they're all running against DSA weirdos, crazies, radicals and
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: people off the map of American politics. Are you finding
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: a day here and there to help out?
• 25:19
  Speaker 6: Well, I'm going to try to, Hugh. Obviously, running my
• 25:21
  Speaker 6: own race in Arkansas, I'm busy in the state, and
• 25:23
  Speaker 6: we'll be back in Washington in session in the Senate
• 25:25
  Speaker 6: for the rest of this month, starting on Monday. You
• 25:29
  Speaker 6: mentioned a lot of great candidates. Another one we just
• 25:30
  Speaker 6: got this week, Johnson in New Hampshire.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
• 25:33
  Speaker 6: Great shot to win. We've got, obviously, strong incumbents as well,
• 25:37
  Speaker 6: like Susan Collins in Maine or Houston in Ohio. We've
• 25:42
  Speaker 6: got folks coming in from the House, like Ashley Henson
• 25:45
  Speaker 6: in Iowa. These are all very critical races. And I
• 25:48
  Speaker 6: would encourage all your listeners to maybe send a few
• 25:50
  Speaker 6: bucks their way, and especially if they live in those states,
• 25:53
  Speaker 6: to make sure they're registered to vote, to get out
• 25:55
  Speaker 6: to vote, and tell their friends and their family and
• 25:57
  Speaker 6: their neighbors as well how important these races are to
• 25:59
  Speaker 6: the future of our nation.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Well, thank you for joining me, Senator. I hope you're
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: back in time to vote for the AM Radio and
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: Every Car Act when it comes to the floor. Steve
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: Scalise told me they're going to vote it out of
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: the House and send it over. So whenever they bring
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: that to the floor, I hope you get back in
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: time to vote for that. I appreciate your taking time
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: with me today. Safe travels, Senator Cotton. I appreciate it
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: very much. Senator Tom Cotton, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: Welcome back, America.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: I'm Hugh Hewitt, joined by Vic Mattis, co-host of the
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: Getting Hammered podcast, which entertained me greatly as I flew
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: coast to coast yesterday, Vic. I was surprised when the
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: discussion of commenting on spousal haircuts came up. I have
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: a rule, Vic, which is The Fetching Mrs. Hewitt has
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: never had a bad haircut. It's remarkable. A hundred percent
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: of the time for 44 years, she's gotten a great haircut.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Didn't you know that?
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: Well, I believe that about the Fetching Mrs.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: Hewitt.
• 26:58
  Speaker 7: I mean, sometimes, you know, lightning strikes that way. You know,
• 27:01
  Speaker 7: I mean, it's lightning strikes twice or whatever the phrase is.
• 27:03
  Speaker 7: It's the same thing with my wife. She's never had
• 27:05
  Speaker 7: a bad haircut. And I, again, as I said, if
• 27:07
  Speaker 7: she decided to have a very short one, I mean,
• 27:09
  Speaker 7: you know, The face speaks, you know, it speaks for
• 27:12
  Speaker 7: itself so that she could wear any sort of have
• 27:14
  Speaker 7: any sort of hair and she'd be looking wonderful.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: Me, on the other hand, if I have slightly one
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: hair off, it's a disaster.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Well, you're kind of like Dwayne. Dwayne gets his hair
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: cut in the back of a pickup with a new
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: driver and a new barber. So that's that's what Dwayne does.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you, though, about when your wife asks
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: how it looks on you, because I think two occasions
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: I've said that looks perfectly awful. And it's because it
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: was not her color scheme. And she's accepted that twice
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: in 44 years. Do you dare go there?
• 27:46
  Speaker 7: No, I don't think I've ever said anything like that.
• 27:48
  Speaker 7: And I've now been married for 22 years. She once
• 27:52
  Speaker 7: went for a haircut that was very much of the
• 27:55
  Speaker 7: Jennifer Aniston style.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: I'm all for that, Hugh. I think it's great.
• 27:59
  Speaker 7: I think I said on Mary Catherine's show, I might
• 28:02
  Speaker 7: draw the line if she ever decided to get a
• 28:03
  Speaker 7: sort of retro perm haircut.
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: But thank goodness she hasn't gone there.
• 28:08
  Speaker 8: All right.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: So I'm just telling people Vic's never done that. That
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: looks perfectly awful in 22 years. I've done it twice
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: in 44. So I think the rule might be after
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: 30 years and you get a second after 40 years.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: That might be the rule. Otherwise, you look fabulous, dear. OK,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: let me talk to you about something I did not know.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Jimmy Curry. What did you talk about? Jimmy Curry cooking.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: I don't know. You wanted to be a cook or
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: you think you're a cook that. That's hard work, Vic.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: We're writers.
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: It is hard work. We're talkers.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: Why would you want to be working that hard?
• 28:42
  Speaker 7: Well, you know, I love food so much I ended
• 28:43
  Speaker 7: up writing about food, and then I started getting involved
• 28:45
  Speaker 7: in wanting to cook everything. And, you know, years ago
• 28:48
  Speaker 7: I did a story on Cooks Illustrated, which was this
• 28:52
  Speaker 7: miraculous magazine based out of Boston, which has no advertising
• 28:57
  Speaker 7: and has, you know, tens.
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: Of thousands or hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and it
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: makes money.
• 29:03
  Speaker 7: So I wanted to go there and figure out what
• 29:05
  Speaker 7: the secret of their success was. And ever since then,
• 29:08
  Speaker 7: and including where Christopher Kimball has since gone on to
• 29:11
  Speaker 7: Milk Street, they send me these cookbooks all the time.
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: I don't ask for them, but I get them.
• 29:16
  Speaker 7: And I try to make it at least an effort
• 29:18
  Speaker 7: to make something ambitious on weekends and then.
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: Something that's serviceable during the week.
• 29:23
  Speaker 7: I like to cook. Kate likes to clean, so it's perfect.
• 29:26
  Speaker 7: But again– After a while, I do get tired standing
• 29:31
  Speaker 7: on my feet and having to chop so many things.
• 29:33
  Speaker 7: But that's where I really take a lot of pleasure.
• 29:35
  Speaker 7: It's sort of a zen feeling for me and it
• 29:38
  Speaker 7: sort of operates a different part of your brain.
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: After editing all day.
• 29:42
  Speaker 7: But again, as I mentioned, if that became a full-time job,
• 29:44
  Speaker 7: I might be yearning to write again.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: You know, Vic, I lack this gene. And so I
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: have no, I don't, I can boil water and in
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: a pinch, I can make a sandwich, but I just
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: don't get it. But more power to you. I am
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: spending some time today and tomorrow asking everyone their 9-11 story.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: You're in D.C., I think, at the Weekly Standard, the
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: late great Weekly Standard. Tell us about it.
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: That's right. I woke up in the morning.
• 30:14
  Speaker 7: You know, one of the benefits of being an editor
• 30:16
  Speaker 7: at a weekly– This was a Tuesday, as you know.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: You roll in a little bit later. And so I did.
• 30:23
  Speaker 7: I had gone to work out downstairs, come upstairs, thought
• 30:26
  Speaker 7: I would watch some Regis on ABC.
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: Instead, it was Peter Jennings.
• 30:30
  Speaker 7: And by then, I think the towers had been hit
• 30:32
  Speaker 7: and I was very confused. And then I called one
• 30:34
  Speaker 7: of my fellow editors and said, what is going on
• 30:37
  Speaker 7: and what's the situation downtown? And he said, traffic is
• 30:41
  Speaker 7: a mess because everybody was leaving the city. So the
• 30:44
  Speaker 7: traffic pattern was all out of sorts.
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: So I said, okay. I'll walk down to work.
• 30:48
  Speaker 7: I walked down Connecticut Avenue and it was bumper to
• 30:51
  Speaker 7: bumper heading north. And I ran into my colleague, Christopher Caldwell.
• 30:56
  Speaker 7: And so he got out of his car because nothing
• 30:58
  Speaker 7: was moving. He said, who do you think it was?
• 31:00
  Speaker 7: And I said, I think it's Osama bin Laden, not
• 31:02
  Speaker 7: because I'm a foreign policy genius, but because the Weekly
• 31:04
  Speaker 7: Stated had covered this thoroughly.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: One of the go-to guys of that era and still
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: a go-to guy, former agency man, if I recall.
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: That is correct.
• 31:15
  Speaker 7: He was a targets officer for Iran, and he is
• 31:19
  Speaker 7: now at FDD. And he's written about it and about
• 31:23
  Speaker 7: what Osama bin Laden had been planning to do to Americans,
• 31:26
  Speaker 7: especially after the USS Cole. So that's the first thing
• 31:29
  Speaker 7: that came to my mind. I walked further down towards
• 31:32
  Speaker 7: DuPont Circle, and I saw something that you would see
• 31:35
  Speaker 7: out of a movie, which was people gathered around, and I.
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: Thought, what happened? Did somebody collapse? And in fact, people were.
• 31:42
  Speaker 7: Gathered around– watching a TV behind glass at some appliance store,
• 31:47
  Speaker 7: a television store. And they were watching it happen live
• 31:52
  Speaker 7: and talking about, oh, what is the status? I think
• 31:54
  Speaker 7: one of the towers is already falling. I think I
• 31:56
  Speaker 7: told a woman that and people were in shock. And
• 31:58
  Speaker 7: then I continued onward to 1150 17th Street where the
• 32:01
  Speaker 7: weekly standard was.
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: As you remember back in those days. And our office
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: was actually bustling.
• 32:08
  Speaker 7: Because White House speechwriters were forced out like everybody else
• 32:11
  Speaker 7: was from the White House. They didn't know where to go,
• 32:14
  Speaker 7: but they knew they had the important job of helping
• 32:16
  Speaker 7: craft President Bush's message. And so the speechwriters knew that
• 32:21
  Speaker 7: they were always welcome at the weekly standard.
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: And so when I was there, they were all there.
• 32:27
  Speaker 7: Mike Gerson, John McConnell, Matt Scully, David Gerson, as I mentioned,
• 32:32
  Speaker 7: David Frum. And that is what I remember of that day.
• 32:36
  Speaker 7: And then I remember being told on the phone that
• 32:39
  Speaker 7: Barbara Olson was on the plane that went into the Pentagon,
• 32:43
  Speaker 7: and I informed.
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: Our bosses of that as well. It was definitely a
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: surreal time.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: So, Vic, the question I sometimes ask people, bin Laden
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: and his terrorist gang achieved strategic surprise, and while they
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: inflicted grievous wounds on America, their targeting plot was terrible.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: If they had... a successful targeting of the Congress and
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: the White House. And they had planned for days when
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: the president and the Congress were in session and maybe
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: hit the court. What would have happened in your mind?
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Had they achieved the same level of strategic surprise, but
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: had better targeting decisions?
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you know, it would have been shocking.
• 33:26
  Speaker 7: It's something straight out of, as you know, a Tom
• 33:27
  Speaker 7: Clancy novel where this happens. And, of course, there is
• 33:31
  Speaker 7: a television series about that starring Kiefer Sutherland. And so
• 33:35
  Speaker 7: there's always a cabinet member, as you know, who's not
• 33:38
  Speaker 7: going to be present there when this happens. It would
• 33:41
  Speaker 7: be so shocking for the nation. There are emergency measures that,
• 33:46
  Speaker 7: as you know, the government takes. I mean, there are
• 33:49
  Speaker 7: hideaways and places such as at the rebar.
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: Do you have any doubt that we would have stood
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: up the same government? Do you have any doubt in
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: your mind we would have somehow stood up the same government?
• 34:00
  Speaker 7: No, I think that we would have managed to survive this.
• 34:05
  Speaker 7: And we would have taken very extreme measures. I mean,
• 34:08
  Speaker 7: we talk about, you know, the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
• 34:13
  Speaker 7: I really think the American people at that point would
• 34:15
  Speaker 7: have been like, OK, let us do whatever it takes
• 34:18
  Speaker 7: to make sure this.
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: Never, ever happens again. And again, we're very fortunate.
• 34:23
  Speaker 7: And I want to remind readers that this coming up Sunday,
• 34:27
  Speaker 7: The Weekend Beacon is featuring Andrew McCarthy. on a book
• 34:30
  Speaker 7: called The Second Wave, and Jonathan Shanzer on a book
• 34:33
  Speaker 7: called All the President's Wars, and it's 9-11 related. And
• 34:36
  Speaker 7: it's very important to remember, there's been a lot of
• 34:39
  Speaker 7: problems and challenges prosecuting terrorists and going about it the
• 34:42
  Speaker 7: wrong way, but they did a lot of good things,
• 34:45
  Speaker 7: and America's been safe since.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: The Weekend Beacon can be accessed at freebeacon.com. Vic and
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: Mary Catherine at the Getting Hammered podcast. Like and subscribe.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: to getting hammered, read The Free Beacon. Thank you, Vic Mattis.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: Follow him at VictorinoMattis on X. I'll be right back.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: If you've listened to this program for any length of time,
• 35:03
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• 35:06
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• 36:01
  Speaker 1: another headline about artificial intelligence. It's moving faster than most
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: of us imagine. Raising an important question. Where is all
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: of this headed? That's why I think you'll find Carbon
• 36:12
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• 36:16
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• 36:21
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• 36:24
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• 36:27
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• 36:30
  Speaker 1: of events that no one saw coming. It's a fast-paced thriller,
• 36:34
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• 36:38
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• 36:42
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• 36:57
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• 37:01
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• 37:37
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• 37:44
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• 38:00
  Speaker 1: On this terrible anniversary, the murder of Charlie Kirk on
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: the eve of another terrible anniversary, 25th anniversary of 9-11,
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: I'm pleased to welcome Jim Garrity, National Review senior writer,
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: Washington Post columnist, host of the Three Martini Lunch, contributor
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: to the editors, So Jim Garrity, right before we came on,
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: I was asking Dwayne if he could grab– I was
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: on the air 25 years ago from 9 to noon
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: and then from, I think, 3 to 7 Pacific, which
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: would be like 6 to 11 o'clock. I don't know
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: what I– we were on for six or seven hours
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: on 9-11 Live, Dwayne and Adam and I. I wanted
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: him to get it all together and put it over
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: at HughHewitt.com, and he said he'd do that. I listened
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: to you yesterday on the editor's talk about your day.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: I didn't know you worked for the state news service.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: I didn't know you were at the press club. But
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: you know what I remember? I remember, A, I thought
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: 50,000 people were dead, and I'm live on tape saying
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: that all day long. and B, it looked like Washington
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: was getting bombed left, right, and center because, as you
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: pointed out, there's a fire on the Mall. Well, I
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: thought the State Department got blown up. 93 went missing.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: Nobody quite remembers who wasn't there in our business. You're
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: doing the same thing I'm doing, but I was on
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: the air getting it wrong, and you're out there trying
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: to get your arms around the elephant like a blind man.
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: I still don't know if we know what happened to America.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: I think it's going to be decades before we figure
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: out what happened to America. What do you think?
• 39:25
  Speaker 9: Oh, careful how you phrased that, Hugh.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: I phrased it purposely.
• 39:27
  Speaker 9: Because somebody's going to.
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: Say, aha, Houston.
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: A truther.
• 39:33
  Speaker 9: It's been interesting this week. I'm surprised how much it's
• 39:35
  Speaker 9: hitting me.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: Let me stop. Let me stop. I'm not a truther.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: I think Jim has a big perspective on what has
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: happened to the country's psyche. Go back. It is hitting
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: me emotionally, too.
• 39:46
  Speaker 9: Yeah, and you and I have talked about how long
• 39:48
  Speaker 9: we've been doing this, the fact that I now have
• 39:50
  Speaker 9: two little people in my lives, two young adults who really,
• 39:55
  Speaker 9: in my head, it feels like they've been in my
• 39:57
  Speaker 9: life the whole time. And then I think back to 9-11.
• 39:59
  Speaker 9: And so what I wrote today at National Review called
• 40:02
  Speaker 9: The Season of Terror, and I asked everybody who was
• 40:05
  Speaker 9: around then, and a couple of our contributors, we have
• 40:07
  Speaker 9: like five contributors who were not born on that day, Hugh.
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 40:11
  Speaker 9: Which I find.
• 40:13
  Speaker 9: I work with fetuses. That's why we're pro-life. They're just
• 40:16
  Speaker 9: unbelievably young. And so I was just thinking about what...
• 40:21
  Speaker 9: My kids are wonderful and bright, but I try to
• 40:24
  Speaker 9: think about how, to them, this is just something in
• 40:27
  Speaker 9: the history book. And for you and I, and I
• 40:29
  Speaker 9: suspect for a great majority of your listeners, we lived it.
• 40:33
  Speaker 9: And the documentaries really can't capture that feeling, that tightness
• 40:39
  Speaker 9: in your chest, your gut, your heart, Um, and one
• 40:43
  Speaker 9: of the things I went through today was, as I mentioned,
• 40:45
  Speaker 9: that report of, you know, a CNN saying that there's
• 40:47
  Speaker 9: a fire on the mall. What it was, was people
• 40:49
  Speaker 9: seeing the smoke from the Pentagon and not being able
• 40:51
  Speaker 9: to tell where the smoke was coming from. Uh, there
• 40:54
  Speaker 9: was a report that had been a car bomb at
• 40:55
  Speaker 9: the state department, a bomb at Capitol Hill. I started
• 41:00
  Speaker 9: looking around through the archives for that. And there were
• 41:02
  Speaker 9: just like, I mean, you named the Washington landmark. There
• 41:05
  Speaker 9: was a rumor that it had been hit and, uh,
• 41:08
  Speaker 9: Walking through that day, as I said, State's News Service
• 41:10
  Speaker 9: was this tiny wire service that operated as a Washington
• 41:14
  Speaker 9: bureau for papers that were too small to have a
• 41:16
  Speaker 9: Washington bureau. One of my colleagues and I, we see
• 41:19
  Speaker 9: this report on CNN. We're like, well, we're a block
• 41:21
  Speaker 9: from the mall. We'll be able to figure out if
• 41:23
  Speaker 9: the mall was on fire or what's going on. And
• 41:27
  Speaker 9: I misremembered it when I wrote about this a few years.
• 41:29
  Speaker 9: It was Craig Linder, who's now over at Associated Press.
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
• 41:32
  Speaker 9: And we walk out and we, it is, you know,
• 41:37
  Speaker 9: the Pentagon has just been hit. But, you know, we're
• 41:39
  Speaker 9: talking like minutes, right? And there's still tourists walking around.
• 41:43
  Speaker 9: There's tour buses going by. And we're walking around and
• 41:46
  Speaker 9: realizing these people have no idea that something has just happened.
• 41:50
  Speaker 9: And for everybody, these were like the last moments of
• 41:54
  Speaker 9: normalcy before everything changed forever, right? I try to go
• 41:58
  Speaker 9: walk down towards the mall. I got all the way
• 42:01
  Speaker 9: down to the tidal basin, and I could see the
• 42:03
  Speaker 9: smoke coming from the Pentagon. Somebody else had mentioned, I remembered,
• 42:09
  Speaker 9: what turned out, I'm pretty sure, were sonic booms from
• 42:11
  Speaker 9: the fighter jets that were scrambling, because you heard these
• 42:14
  Speaker 9: big booms, and then tried to get back to my office. Well,
• 42:18
  Speaker 9: at this point, they've decided to evacuate all the federal
• 42:21
  Speaker 9: workers in every federal building. And as I went back
• 42:24
  Speaker 9: and checked, at that time, there were roughly 280,000 federal
• 42:26
  Speaker 9: workers evacuated. all trying to leave at the same time,
• 42:30
  Speaker 9: all trying to get into their cars. Metro was shut down.
• 42:34
  Speaker 9: They've never tried to evacuate Washington, D.C., and I think
• 42:37
  Speaker 9: it's because they learned, like, it would not work. You
• 42:40
  Speaker 9: just can't get that many people out of the city
• 42:42
  Speaker 9: at the same time. It was an absolute mess. And,
• 42:44
  Speaker 9: of course, at that point, you know, I tried to
• 42:46
  Speaker 9: go into the building, the National Press building. They say
• 42:49
  Speaker 9: that the, you know, the building's been evacuated. You can't
• 42:51
  Speaker 9: go in. And in the lobby, like, so I'm walking around,
• 42:54
  Speaker 9: and the police keep closing off streets, so I actually
• 42:57
  Speaker 9: kind of walk close to the White House building, And
• 42:59
  Speaker 9: I'm trying to meander, trying to get back to there.
• 43:01
  Speaker 9: I go into the lobby, and they had six TV
• 43:03
  Speaker 9: monitors that were always set on the various news channels.
• 43:08
  Speaker 9: And on there it says, the cryon says, both World
• 43:12
  Speaker 9: Trade Center towers have collapsed. And I remember the voice
• 43:15
  Speaker 9: of Brit Hume saying something like, this is a country
• 43:18
  Speaker 9: that could really stand to hear from its president right now.
• 43:21
  Speaker 9: We are really shaken, or something like that. And I
• 43:24
  Speaker 9: just remember, like, I felt like a bowling ball had
• 43:27
  Speaker 9: landed on my chest. It was just that sense of
• 43:30
  Speaker 9: trying to gasp air because you've just seen something that
• 43:34
  Speaker 9: seems like something out of a, you know, dystopian sci-fi
• 43:39
  Speaker 9: movie or something like that. And at that point, I
• 43:42
  Speaker 9: figured I can't get back into my building. This is
• 43:44
  Speaker 9: pre-laptop days. This is when we all worked on desktops.
• 43:47
  Speaker 9: And I was like, well, I guess I got to
• 43:49
  Speaker 9: walk home because there's no metro and no cabs and stuff.
• 43:53
  Speaker 9: And there was a pretty decent National Geographic special of
• 43:55
  Speaker 9: this called DC 9-11, which had a lot of footage
• 43:58
  Speaker 9: of just people reacting in Washington, D.C. on that day.
• 44:03
  Speaker 9: And just the sheer shock and everybody, the one moment
• 44:06
  Speaker 9: where every single person you saw was feeling the same thing.
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: You know, Jim, the people whose stories I mind are
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: people who are either in D.C. or Manhattan or surrounding
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: New York. People like me, 25 years ago, I'm in
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: the same building as I'm talking to you from now,
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: and on my right was Dwayne and on my left
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: was Adam, so in 25 years. However, I've never listened
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: to those six, seven, or eight hours of radio because
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: I just don't want to live it again, but I
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: like hearing. In fact, I got an email yesterday from
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: a friend of the show. I'll just call him Joe.
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: That's his name, whose office is at 16 and H,
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: and he happened to be in a conference room overlooking
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: Lafayette Square with Alexander Haig when Haig stood up, annoyed
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: everyone in the room, and said, were under attack. It's
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: just like W, right? They all knew immediately if you're
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: in the business, we're under attack. And they then watched
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: when everyone ran out of the White House. And if
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: you see everybody running out of the White House, that's
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: not good, right? So do you remember that? Okay, God
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: bless our American Congressman David Dreyer and his Democratic friends
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: stood on the steps of the Capitol with a target
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: on them that they didn't know Flight 93 was headed
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: for them. singing God Bless America. Washington, D.C. and New York,
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: those are the stories that, in California, it hurts and
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: it traumatizes, but you don't live it, you watch it.
• 45:26
  Speaker 9: Well, I was going to say, everybody in each subsequent
• 45:28
  Speaker 9: time zone was wondering, are we next? Is there something
• 45:31
  Speaker 9: else in the works here? And so, it would be
• 45:35
  Speaker 9: quite some time before we knew that actually, no, there
• 45:37
  Speaker 9: were just four planes that were hijacked. One of the
• 45:39
  Speaker 9: things I wrote about today was really the first anthrax
• 45:41
  Speaker 9: letter came about a week afterwards, September 18th, right? So,
• 45:45
  Speaker 9: Right after we get out of this Tom Clancy novel crisis,
• 45:48
  Speaker 9: we're in a Robin Cook one, where opening your mail
• 45:52
  Speaker 9: could have this deadly bacteria. We also, it was, I
• 45:57
  Speaker 9: have to know this because I was on my honeymoon.
• 45:59
  Speaker 9: Lovely Mrs. Garrity is off elsewhere in the house. We're
• 46:02
  Speaker 9: on our honeymoon, and that was when the plane crashed
• 46:04
  Speaker 9: in New York City, coming out of, I.
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: Believe, Oh, yeah, and we all thought it's happening again.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: I'd forgotten.
• 46:09
  Speaker 8: Absolutely, yeah.
• 46:10
  Speaker 9: It was like almost two months to the day. And,
• 46:12
  Speaker 9: you know, just a really terrible coincidence. But again, you
• 46:17
  Speaker 9: see the news coverage. We're over in, I believe, Scotland
• 46:19
  Speaker 9: at that point. And we just had this sense of like,
• 46:22
  Speaker 9: oh my God, they got us again. All these preparations,
• 46:25
  Speaker 9: all these things. Was it a bomb? Was it a missile?
• 46:29
  Speaker 9: You know, just this sense. And so just kind of like,
• 46:33
  Speaker 9: it was an entire season of terror.
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: And the whole time- Can I remind you of one thing, Jim?
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: A lighter note. Sure. Tom Ridge, God love him. Great American. Red, blue, green, yellow.
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: What day is it? Tic-tac. for two years. Remember that?
• 46:47
  Speaker 9: We have moved from ochre to burnt sienna. So get
• 46:51
  Speaker 9: out your Crayolas and get out the paint swatches and figure.
• 46:55
  Speaker 10: Out what shit. Yeah.
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: You know, like.
• 47:00
  Speaker 9: I won't use the bad language, but I think Tina
• 47:02
  Speaker 9: face is something like, man, I can't get any more
• 47:04
  Speaker 9: alert than I am.
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 47:06
  Speaker 9: I'm already at top alert. And of course that was,
• 47:07
  Speaker 9: you know, NBC was one of the places they were
• 47:10
  Speaker 9: getting the anthrax letter.
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: So here's the good news. I look like, I want
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: your comment on this one. No matter how bad it is,
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: it gets better. And we've been through Charlie Cook's murder
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: a year ago. We went through the Great Recession. We've
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: been through 10-7. We're at war with Iran, who, by
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: the way, I share Charlie Cook's anger about this day
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: and I trace it back to Iran. But you get
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: the last minute. We get through everything. Human beings are amazing.
• 47:35
  Speaker 9: So I was thinking about, you know, how do I
• 47:37
  Speaker 9: tell this to my kids? How do I share, you know,
• 47:39
  Speaker 9: memories and the emotions of that day? Hugh, my kids
• 47:42
  Speaker 9: have lived through COVID. They were around for the very
• 47:45
  Speaker 9: start of the Great Recession, you know, all kinds of
• 47:48
  Speaker 9: terrible school shootings. And you mentioned tense, you know, they've seen,
• 47:52
  Speaker 9: you know, every life has some tragedies. This has become
• 47:54
  Speaker 9: our moment. A generation earlier, it was, where were you
• 47:58
  Speaker 9: when JFK was assassinated? The generation before that, it was
• 48:00
  Speaker 9: where were you during Pearl Harbor? Each one of those
• 48:03
  Speaker 9: has that sense of this. Now, when people are talking
• 48:07
  Speaker 9: about the AI apocalypse and how this is going to
• 48:10
  Speaker 9: destroy us, I feel like the James Franco meme in
• 48:13
  Speaker 9: the Hangman's Noose and saying, ah, first time. We've been
• 48:16
  Speaker 9: through like 10 apocalypses.
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: Dustin Hoffman, Wag the Dog.
• 48:19
  Speaker 3: It happens every couple of years.
• 48:20
  Speaker 10: This is nothing.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: This is nothing. Stanley, whatever.
• 48:24
  Speaker 10: We call this Tuesday, right?
• 48:25
  Speaker 9: This is, yeah.
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: Jim Garrity from National News, The Washington Post, The Three
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: Martini Lunch. The editors, follow them on X at Jim Garrity.
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: Follow me, this is Salina Zito. Our live is next
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: on the New York Show. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt,
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: columnist of the world. Selina Zito, President Trump's favorite columnist,
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: joins us now from Pittsburgh. And Selina, I got a
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: lot to talk to you about. I'm going to start, though,
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: with last night seeing John Fetterman say, here's my buddy
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: Dave McCormick and the Democrats losing their mind on blue sky.
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: That's like the least important thing. But I kind of
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: if he wasn't a Steelers fan, I might like John Fetterman.
• 49:07
  Speaker 11: You know, John, I mean, I don't know.
• 49:09
  Speaker 10: I'm old.
• 49:11
  Speaker 11: But I had a flashback to Zell Miller at George W.
• 49:14
  Speaker 11: Bush's convention speech in 2004.
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 49:20
  Speaker 12: People are part of a party and they've identified with
• 49:24
  Speaker 12: the party and they've worked with the party and they've
• 49:26
  Speaker 12: built things from a point of view that they believe
• 49:30
  Speaker 12: where their party stood, when they find a place in
• 49:35
  Speaker 12: another party and they think that it's worked... And that's
• 49:38
  Speaker 12: in particular manufacturing and the U.S.
• 49:42
  Speaker 11: Steel deal. Good for Fetterman for doing that.
• 49:46
  Speaker 12: That was a game changer in our state.
• 49:50
  Speaker 11: And it was it saved a historic company that has
• 49:55
  Speaker 11: been there for 150 years.
• 49:58
  Speaker 12: And but, you know, I don't think Fetterman minds trolling everyone.
• 50:03
  Speaker 12: because he has zero reasons to care what anybody in
• 50:07
  Speaker 12: his party thinks, because he believes that his party has
• 50:10
  Speaker 12: gone the wrong direction.
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: But you know what was interesting? He went to great
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: lengths to tell, I guess, the MS Now talent show,
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: because it's always who's got no talent over at MS Now.
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: And I think they were losing their minds. So he
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: went out and said, look, I'm still a Democrat. I'll
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: vote to organize the Senate. I'll be the 51st vote
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: if we somehow win. get to the majority, just to
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: tell them all, forget it. The good news is they
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: got to get to 52 to break the filibuster and
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: try and wreck the Supreme Court. I don't think they're
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: going to, but good on him. Now let's talk a
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: little bit about 25 years ago. Garrity and I were
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: just on reminiscing because he was a journalist then. I
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: was a journalist then. You were a journalist then. Tell
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: me about your 9-11. I assume you were in Pittsburgh.
• 50:55
  Speaker 11: Actually, I wasn't a journalist then. And this is going
• 50:58
  Speaker 11: to blow your mind. I was working for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: And I was, I need to cut this off. No,
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: I'm joking. Go ahead. I had no idea.
• 51:10
  Speaker 11: I was with the late Dan Rooney.
• 51:14
  Speaker 12: My job at that time was to fix their season
• 51:17
  Speaker 12: ticket problem. They had gone from Three River Stadium, which
• 51:21
  Speaker 12: had 58,000 people. They were going to another stadium with
• 51:24
  Speaker 12: an additional 15,000 people.
• 51:26
  Speaker 10: And people were really.
• 51:27
  Speaker 12: Struggling, not where the new seats were, but not by
• 51:30
  Speaker 12: being with the people that they sat with for 30 years.
• 51:34
  Speaker 12: And my idea was is let's just get people as
• 51:37
  Speaker 12: close to possible with the people that they sat with forever.
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: Of course.
• 51:41
  Speaker 12: And so I was showing Mr. Rooney sort of how
• 51:45
  Speaker 12: I had done it. And we were standing on the
• 51:48
  Speaker 12: 50-yard line. And if anybody knows anything about Dan Rooney
• 51:51
  Speaker 12: or about the late Mr.
• 51:52
  Speaker 11: Rooney, he was a pilot pilot.
• 51:56
  Speaker 12: And he made this offhand remark that I really didn't
• 51:59
  Speaker 12: think much of. And a plane went over us, which,
• 52:03
  Speaker 12: by the way, it was not unusual that a plane
• 52:05
  Speaker 12: went over it because there was a direct flight.
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: Pattern.
• 52:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 52:11
  Speaker 11: And he said, too low, wrong flight pattern.
• 52:15
  Speaker 10: That's all he said.
• 52:16
  Speaker 11: That's all he said.
• 52:19
  Speaker 7: Wow.
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: I've never heard you tell me that story before. Have
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: you written that story?
• 52:23
  Speaker 5: I haven't.
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: No, I haven't.
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: What's wrong with you?
• 52:30
  Speaker 11: Well, where do you want to start? Alphabetically? Numerically?
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: No, I mean, as a journalist, you've got to write
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: that story.
• 52:37
  Speaker 8: I don't know.
• 52:38
  Speaker 11: I really struggle writing about myself.
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: Just make it Dan Rooney. Too low, wrong course. That's
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: Flight 93. Yeah.
• 52:47
  Speaker 11: We imagined that it was. We only talked about it once.
• 52:54
  Speaker 12: And that was years later when he was the ambassador
• 52:58
  Speaker 12: to Ireland under the Obama administration.
• 53:00
  Speaker 11: And I interviewed him. And after the interview, we were
• 53:05
  Speaker 11: just talking. I knew Mr. Rooney all my life. We
• 53:09
  Speaker 11: belong to the same parish on the north.
• 53:10
  Speaker 10: Side of Pittsburgh.
• 53:12
  Speaker 12: And he said, do you remember that 9-11? I said, yes,
• 53:14
  Speaker 12: I do, sir. He said, do you think that was
• 53:16
  Speaker 12: that flight that we saw? And I said, yes, I do, sir.
• 53:21
  Speaker 11: We never mentioned it again.
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: Too low, wrong court. What did you do the rest
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: of the day?
• 53:28
  Speaker 12: Well, I was working for the Steelers. I got, they
• 53:33
  Speaker 12: sent us all home. They actually had the whole city
• 53:36
  Speaker 12: of Pittsburgh, you know, sort of everybody quietly evacuate because
• 53:42
  Speaker 12: at that point, those city leaders knew that one of
• 53:44
  Speaker 12: the flights went over Pittsburgh and nobody knew what was coming.
• 53:48
  Speaker 10: So I went home.
• 53:50
  Speaker 12: And and I my two kids were both in high
• 53:53
  Speaker 12: school and my house was always a house where other
• 53:58
  Speaker 12: kids showed up. And my house was flooded with teenagers
• 54:03
  Speaker 12: just sitting there, just.
• 54:04
  Speaker 11: Crying and scared.
• 54:07
  Speaker 12: And we watched we were all glued to the television
• 54:10
  Speaker 12: and I made a.
• 54:11
  Speaker 11: Big pot of spaghetti for the kids. And that's that's
• 54:16
  Speaker 11: how I know.
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: OK, I've got an image in my mind. I have
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: one of these teenagers, like the Fonz, saying, hey, Mrs. Z,
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: what's going on? Did that happen?
• 54:26
  Speaker 11: Yeah, there was a lot of that. Kids came just
• 54:28
  Speaker 11: rushing in the house.
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: Were you Mrs. Z?
• 54:33
  Speaker 11: I was Mrs. Z.
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, of course you were. Mrs. Z, what's going on?
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: What did you tell them?
• 54:38
  Speaker 11: Yeah, well, I mean, I just tried to keep them calm, right?
• 54:45
  Speaker 11: You don't want to lie to them. It's obvious what happened.
• 54:49
  Speaker 12: But I just said that there's some really bad people
• 54:52
  Speaker 12: out there and they really wanted to hurt us in
• 54:56
  Speaker 12: the places that symbolize our great strength, which was the
• 55:00
  Speaker 12: World Trade Center's right, capitalism and power of the Pentagon.
• 55:06
  Speaker 12: And obviously it appears that Flight 93.
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: I got to lighten this up a little bit. Do
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: you like Shane Gillis? You like Shane Gillis?
• 55:15
  Speaker 13: Yeah.
• 55:15
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: You ever seen his bit on Fox News dads and
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: Fox News moms?
• 55:21
  Speaker 11: No, I haven't.
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: Oh, well, look it up. You want a Fox News dad,
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: but you don't want a Fox News mom. You're not
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: a Fox News mom. You might have had Fox News friends,
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: but the way late night, it's just very funny, Shane Gillis.
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: I love Fox. I work for Fox, but it's a
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: very funny bit. You're the reassuring Catholic mom. Don't run
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: into the woods and put a helmet on your head.
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: Don't go get a gun. It'll be fine. You'll be at,
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: you know, Sister Mary Magnificent's tomorrow office and all will
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: be well. And that's, in fact, what happened. I'm not
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: surprised by American resilience. A year ago, Charlie Kirk was murdered.
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: 2007 and 8, we have the Great Recession. I was
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: talking about this with Garrity. 10-7 happens. I think the
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: bottom line is America is resilient. Bottom line, what do
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: you think?
• 56:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 56:11
  Speaker 12: I mean, if you remember in my book, Butler, When
• 56:15
  Speaker 12: I asked the president, why did you say fight, fight, fight?
• 56:19
  Speaker 11: He said, that's easy. It was, I wasn't me in
• 56:22
  Speaker 11: that moment.
• 56:23
  Speaker 12: I was representing all the presidency and I was representing
• 56:27
  Speaker 12: the United States. And we have to show that we
• 56:30
  Speaker 12: endure and that we were strong. And I think that
• 56:35
  Speaker 12: moment happened in my house with 30 kids eating spaghetti, right?
• 56:41
  Speaker 12: You showed that we come together. We want to be
• 56:45
  Speaker 12: part of something bigger than self.
• 56:46
  Speaker 11: Although, we also went to Mass, too.
• 56:49
  Speaker 12: I took all the kids to Mass, and I'm pretty
• 56:52
  Speaker 12: sure they were not all Catholic.
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: Some First Communions that day. Who knows? I think you
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: ought to have a reunion of the Mrs. Z Club
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: from 9-11 and see how those kids all describe the
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: impact of that event on their life, because that's the
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: generation with the greatest impact. Selena Zito. Follow her at Zito,
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: Selena on X, and read everything she writes at selenazito.com.
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: Coming back with Bethany Mandel.
• 57:17
  Speaker 6: Don't go anywhere, man.
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Bethany Mandel is the
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: co-founder of themomwars.substack.com, author, commentator, sits in with Larry O'Connor occasionally,
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: so I really don't know about that and her reputation anymore.
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: But she's a good egg. Bethany, it's been 25 years
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: since 9-11. It's been a year since the murder of
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: Charlie Kirk. Coming up after the break, I'm going to
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: talk with a fellow who navigated through the financial crisis.
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: So it's been 25 years of crises, basically. Are you
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: an optimist about the future?
• 57:58
  Speaker 8: I am because, I mean, if you think back, and
• 58:01
  Speaker 8: I was young when 9-11 happened. I was 16 years old.
• 58:04
  Speaker 8: And I think back at the first... couple months, it
• 58:08
  Speaker 8: felt like the world was ending. And yes, there's been,
• 58:11
  Speaker 8: you know, crises and tragedies like Charlie's murder, but life
• 58:16
  Speaker 8: is pretty good.
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: So there's also been 10-7. We're in the middle of
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: a war with Iran that they want to escalate. The
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: economy is actually pretty good, though fuel costs is high.
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: Do people believe you when you say life is pretty good?
• 58:34
  Speaker 8: I mean, I think that you have to have some
• 58:35
  Speaker 8: perspective into human history and recognize that this is the
• 58:40
  Speaker 8: best time there has ever been to be alive and
• 58:43
  Speaker 8: to be, especially, you know, in this country, it's the
• 58:45
  Speaker 8: best place to be alive. Yes, things could be better. Yes,
• 58:50
  Speaker 8: there have been horrible things that have happened. But on
• 58:53
  Speaker 8: the whole, I think we have to recognize that, you know,
• 58:56
  Speaker 8: we have penicillin. I think that's pretty great.
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: Okay. On a scale of one to ten. Last night's
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: opening night at the Republican convention, Donald Trump promises $ 5, 000,
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: which by the way, I think he should. have called
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: the Biden inflation reparations and pointed out that it would
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: be cheaper than the build back better $ 2. 2 trillion expenditure
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: at the beginning of the Biden extravaganza, but he didn't.
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: At the end of the night, are you thinking the
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: Republicans are better positioned than they were when it started?
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: Or do you still think it's going to be a
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: brutal fall?
• 59:32
  Speaker 8: I think that it didn't help or hurt. Personally, when
• 59:35
  Speaker 8: I saw that $ 5, 000 bribe from the president, I was
• 59:39
  Speaker 8: deeply disturbed. I've seen sort of all the chatter that's
• 59:43
  Speaker 8: happened online about the basically paying stay-at-home moms to be
• 59:47
  Speaker 8: stay-at-home moms, a proposal that was put forth by Vice
• 59:50
  Speaker 8: President Vance. And I've not been keen on it, and
• 59:54
  Speaker 8: it felt like bad economics and just outright bribe. And
• 59:59
  Speaker 8: then when President Trump came forward with his actual bribe
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 8: last night, I thought, okay, this is not the same
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 8: brand of conservatism that I am an adherent of, and
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 8: I was uncomfortable.
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: So- You're saying it didn't move the needle. I think
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: it moved the needle because I do believe when people
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: start to think about, you know, I'd like a $ 5, 000 check.
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: Inflation has been bad for six years. I would like
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: to get my gas money back. It would cost a
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: trillion and a half dollars, I think. And we haven't
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: got a trillion and a half dollars. I know how
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: to pay for it, by the way, which is a
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: flat tax on 401k IRA conversion to Roth of 15%.
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: But I'm looking just at the politics. I think if
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump versus Abdul El-Sayed Hassan Piker and the DSA commies.
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: That's the framing. Is it better to frame it any
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: other way?
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 8: It is not better. I think that you're right. But
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 8: this feels like socialism. What President Trump is proposing is socialism.
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 8: It's a redistribution of wealth. And I think that we
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 8: lose our moral footing when we say, don't vote for
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 8: them because they're socialists. Vote for us because you'll like
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 8: our brand of socialism a little bit better.
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: Okay, I can frame that better. I really can't. I
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: think I can say vote for us because we will
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: let you keep more of your money via a $ 5, 000 rebate. No,
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: I don't like it, by the way. I wouldn't do it.
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: But if he did it and he paid for it
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: the way I would suggest, it would be a net
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: wash-wash on the deficit. I do think we're more energized,
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: we being people on the center-right, Republican and Independent, than
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: we were the night before, primarily because they got the
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: lens back on Piker, Abdul El-Sayed, Tallarico– Troy Jackson, Peggy Flanagan,
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: you name it. They're nuts, Bethany. They're just crazy.
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 10: Yeah.
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 8: They are people who marry their cousin's brand of crazy.
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: Or not, and just have children with them, Troy Jackson.
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 8: It's definitely been a gift for Republicans that Democrats are
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 8: just so bad at judging character. But I still, I mean,
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 8: I think it's the economy stupid at the end of it. Like,
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 8: We have to see where gas prices are at and
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 8: what the economy is doing, and I think that's going
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 8: to sway the wind one way or the other.
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: We've got a minute. I think it's the Iran war, stupid,
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: because there's an Iran tax on the world and it's
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: been there for 47 years. If that regime crumples in
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: the next 60 days, does that matter, do you think?
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 8: I think it does if we can take the victory lap.
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 8: If there are some really dramatic footage of defeating Iran,
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 8: defeating Iran and taking down their banners, like if that happens,
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 8: I think that that is a huge victory left that
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 8: President Trump would be entitled to make.
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: You and I agree on one thing today, and it's
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: the important thing. Keep the eye on the ball. Win
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: the war. Worry about everything else later. Bethany Mandel, follower
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: on X at Bethany Shondart. Listen to The Mom Wars.
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: Go to themomwars.substack.com. Stay tuned. I'm coming back with a
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: man who wrote a Bible after the financial crisis. Not
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: a bro. Translated. Arranged. The Business Bible. Businessbible.com. Welcome back, America.
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: I'm Hugh Hewitt. Pretty traumatic couple of days. The anniversary
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: of Charlie's murder. 25th anniversary of 9-11 coming up tomorrow.
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: And so I thought I would find a time for
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: a new sponsor of our program, the Businessman's Bible, to
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: come on in these two days. And Nicholas Leon joins
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: me because I just thought I would remind people that
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: no matter how dark the day, there is scripture. Nicholas, welcome.
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: Congratulations on the Businessman's Bible. It's beautiful. Put the picture up.
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: I have my own. I've got it with me back
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: on the East Coast, not here on the West Coast.
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: It's just a gorgeous picture. production. It's beautifully edited. I
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: went and checked out my own life verse, which I'm
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: not going to tell anyone it is. They have to
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: go find it themselves if they want to find out
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: what's in the pictures. It's in Hebrews 12, 15, but
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: they can read it for themselves. So your translation is good.
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: The Bible is beautiful. And then I learned your backstory.
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: Tell people, I just mentioned two traumas, murder of Charlie
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: a year ago and 9-11 25 years ago. Tomorrow, In between,
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: we had a financial crisis. You're a VC guy, a
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: financial guy, an investor guy. What were you doing during
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: the financial crisis?
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 10: Yeah, that's right, Hugh.
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 13: We are in the middle of a crisis today. It's
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 13: a somber anniversary, right? And we're facing another crisis. I
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 13: was there on Wall Street. I was a young rookie
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 13: managing money, running a hedge fund on Wall Street. And
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 13: that's not too different than today. Today, we're facing a
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 13: work crisis. People are unsatisfied with their work. There are
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 13: geopolitical issues, the war, the economy, right, the midterm elections.
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 13: And people are unsatisfied with their work and they're questioning
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 13: the system. And that's exactly what happened on Wall Street.
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 13: I had been on Wall Street. I'd managed money. And
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 13: we questioned whether the system was going to fail. I'd
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 13: been through a number of crises, Hugh, in my career
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 13: on Wall Street. In fact, no less than five. And
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 13: when we say crisis, we mean markets down 50 to 90%.
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 13: Of course, we were in the Y2K crisis, right? We
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 13: thought the system was going to end at midnight, Y2K.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 13: I was in the dot-com crisis where markets expanded 500%
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 13: over five years and then declined 75%, right? But the
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 13: global financial crisis was different. And what we face today
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 13: is different. And thus, we seek guidance and wisdom from
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 13: a worthy source.
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: So I want to tell people, if you are impressed
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: by Nicholas or this conversation, go to thebusinessbible.com, thebusinessbible.com. Pretty
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: easy to remember, thebusinessbible.com. Nicholas, why in the world would
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: a money guy decide to go to Scripture after the
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: Great Recession slash Depression, collapse on Wall Street, the trauma?
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: After trauma, before trauma, there's always going to be trauma.
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: Why did you do this? Because it's a very elegant
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: and beautiful... edition of the scriptures.
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 13: Right.
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 10: So there I am on Wall Street managing money.
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 8: Right.
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 13: And having a great career and markets collapse. People are
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 13: losing their jobs. The investment banking firms are going bankrupt.
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 13: People are losing homes in their life savings. And I
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 13: was ill-equipped like a lot of other people. My business training,
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 13: my seminary training had ill-equipped me. And despite years of
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 13: experience managing money on Wall Street, I was ill-equipped for
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 13: the crisis. And so I started asking questions to you.
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 13: I sought the best minds on Wall Street, read all
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 13: the research, read the government reports.
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 13: And Wall Street really wasn't providing any clear guidance on
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 13: the crisis. And interestingly, the church was silent on the subject.
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 13: The greatest financial crisis in 100 years. And the church
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 13: was silent. So I returned to do what I love
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 13: more than anything is read the Bible and find principles
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 13: in there that help me navigate my life and work.
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 13: And what I discovered changed my life and career forever.
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 13: I discovered the Bible is about business from beginning to end.
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 10: And the economy reflects design.
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 13: And if you follow these principles, we can navigate through
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 13: these crisis and not just survive, but prosper.
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: Now, let me emphasize one thing. Businessbible.com. Businessbible.com. Because someone's
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: listening to this right now. They're driving home from work
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: on the East Coast or they're coming back from a
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: long lunch on the West Coast. And they hear me say,
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: Business Bible wasn't Charlie murdered a year ago. Isn't tomorrow
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: the 25th anniversary? My answer is yes, but there is
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: actually practical wisdom, very practical wisdom in Scripture, and you
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: make an effort in businessbible.com to make sure you can't
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: miss that. It's not a two-by-four, but it's pretty close.
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 10: That's right. So the first thing we have to do
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 10: is look for it, right?
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 13: So we have a 90% biblical literacy in the country
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 13: and in the church, and so what the Business Bible
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 13: does is help people discover what the Bible says about business,
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 13: about our work week six days a week. You know,
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 13: the church does a very good job at talking about
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 13: what the church is designed to talk about, but we
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 13: spend most of.
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 10: Our lives at work five, six days a week.
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 13: And so discovering what the Bible says about work is
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 13: the first step.
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 10: Finding your calling.
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 13: Work is designed to use our abilities to fulfill a
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 13: higher purpose and help create human flourishing, help us navigate
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 13: through crisis. There's numerous stories and characters in the Bible
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 13: that that faced crisis, navigated crisis successfully. And Hugh, those
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 13: aren't just Bible stories. Those are business case studies. So
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 13: I know your background in law. And just like we
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 13: often say, the Western legal system is built on principles
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 13: in the Bible that are timeless.
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 10: It's the same thing for business, right?
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 13: There are these practical principles that people will recognize as
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 13: best practice today that'll help them Monday morning. There's this
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 13: gap Sunday to Monday with people's faith and Monday morning
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 13: comes and there's a great gap between what we believe.
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 10: And what we do.
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 13: And so the business Bible is designed to fill that gap,
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 13: give people meaning and purpose Monday through Friday and and
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 13: not just navigate crisis, but help us to live fulfilling
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 13: lives at work, um, and provide for our families and
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 13: build a more flourishing society.
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: So we have one minute left, Nicholas, uh, businessbible.com. What
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: is it practical? I mean, to someone who uses business,
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: the business Bible, businessbible.com, do they get a practical guide
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: to life?
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 10: Yes, they do.
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 13: So it's all about principles that we can follow and
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 13: practical advice. Um, I'm still a learner, right? I'm the
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 13: author of the business Bible. I have decades on Wall
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 13: Street and I learn every week and every day how
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 13: to apply these principles differently.
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 10: I'll give you an example.
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 13: So my son is in a financial class and he
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 13: came home and said, dad, what's the number one principle,
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 13: the most powerful principle you've learned this year about finance?
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 13: And what I discovered this year, and I've been to
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 13: B school and seminary and I've never learned this in church,
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 13: is that the word save in the Bible means one-fifth,
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 13: just like the word tithe means one-tenth. And so crisis
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 13: happens all the time, but the way we enter crisis is.
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 10: Usually the way we exit crisis.
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 13: So saving is the key principle in the story of Joseph,
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 13: navigating economic expansion and decline, and saving one-fifth. Imagine if
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 13: we all saved one-fifth, how much that would change our
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 13: life as we face this next crisis.
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: Nicholas Leon, businessbible.com. Good man to talk to on this
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: day and for tomorrow. Thank you, Nicholas. businessbible.com, America. Trust it.
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 11: All right.