6/2/26 Panel

Well, good morning. Welcome to the Roundtable, and our Roundtable panel, a special Fund Drive edition of the program. We'll go for 9 to 10 this morning, and we welcome you. Because you're such a part of all of this. All of this. You are our listeners. You are the people who are taking in the information that we're talking about. We always welcome you to be a part of our program and write to us panel at wamc.org. And during these special days of the fund drive, we also look for you to help us out financially in any way, shape, or form you can muster. WAMC.org, 1-800, 323-9262, 1-800-3-2-2-2-2-WAMC. We are, there was a great challenge going on, and we're going to bring you up to date on that in just a moment as, you know, all the... All the... There we go. Okay. We're good. Yeah. All the returns come in from the outlying counties. And that's what we're waiting on right now. But we welcome you panel at wamc.org. If you have anything to comments you'd like to make about what we're doing. Otherwise, we would love for you to be a part. Help us out in the walkbox. WAMC.org, WAMC.org, WAMC.org, 1-800-3239262. We have a great group before us this morning. Let me introduce them to you, and we would love for you to be... Thank you very much. Do we do what we need to do? Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. I want to tell you that we have a challenge on the table and I'm going to do this before the introductions because we don't have much time. We only have until 10 o'clock. We have a challenge of $8,000. That's a lot of money. $8,000 is a lot of money. Anyway, you look at it, $8,000 is a lot of money. So we have $8,000. We need to get to $592,000. We currently are at $583,149. So. My eye math means that that's about $9,000 away, right? Journalism math. Yeah, journalism math. Exactly. Exactly. So that's what we're looking for. That is thanks to Anonymous. We thank Anonymous and we thank you for helping. We made this yesterday. So don't screw up our record. We have a we're on a good course here. So let's not mess it up.

1-800-3-2-2-9-262-1-800-3-2-2-WAMC. Let me introduce the group to you, and we will get started at post-haste, I promise you. Former mayor of the city of Albany, New York, the city in which we reside currently. Kathy Sheehan, good morning. How are you, mayor? I am good. I'm hoping that we are able to knock it out of the park with getting to this number, though, because this station is critically important to all of us, to freedom of speech, to being able to be an informed electorate. So I hope we're able to get there. Well, I know we, I'll tell you what, thank you for that. I will tell you that our listeners have been with us, and this drive has been going quite beautifully, and we want to continue in that way. So. They always are with us. We just, you know, every once in a while, I just got to nudge them a little bit. That's where we all come in. 1-800-3239262, an $8,000 challenge to get to $592,000. Mike Spain joins us, former Times Union Associate Editor. Good morning, Michael. How are you? I'm well, and I echo what Kathy Sheen just said. This is... So important to come step up and support WAMC at this time. It's needed now more than ever. Well, it certainly seems, you know, for no other reason, just because I can't keep track of anything that's going on in the world. And I think it's a nice way to just check in and say, well, what's happening? So here we go. We are also joined by our good friend, Jay Joknowitz, editor at large, at the Times Union, columnist, editorial writer. Good morning. Good morning. Mike 5 for Mr. Jockenowitz, please. There you go. You're on now. All right. I'll have to repeat all that all over again. Good morning. Good morning. It's good to see you. And I will echo what Mayor Sheehan and my former colleague, Mike Spain, who I don't get to be on with often enough. Yeah, this is cool. It's wonderful. Just imagine there was a water cooler right in between the two of you and you could go back at it again. I am forever amazed when I'm just out in public and in random moments people mentioning the show.

and saying, are you on that? Yeah, it's kind of cool. I glow. We should have membership cards so you can prove. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, good. Good idea. Also with us joining us via the telephone, former New York 19th Congressman and New York Assemblyman John Faso is here. Good morning, sir. How are you? Good morning very well, Joe. I'm doing well, and I hope all of you are as well. Well, we're, we seem to be, we're standing. Standing, taking nourishment? Isn't that the line? Yeah, yeah. It's all so far so good. Things are going along just fine. Let's get to the subjects of the day, and we will start out as we do this little dance of making money and also talking about the issues and trying to keep some semblance of a roundtable. on the air here. Let me go to what is happening. I, for some reason, can't find the stories that I wrote. Oh, there they are. I got them. Okay. See, what happens is that if anyone updates the stories like when somebody says, oh, I'm out in the lobby, then they move on my computer and I apologize. So let's talk about the backlash over the payout fund. President Trump seems to be backing off a plan for the 1776. fund that drew political backlash almost $1.8 billion. The fund has drawn backlash from critics who said it was a scheme to reward. President Trump's political allies with public benefits. President Trump is backing off this plan to compensate people who claim they were victims of unfair prosecution. The people who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the president's thinking said he had been leaning for days towards scrapping the fund, which critics have characterized as a scheme. And... Ultimately, the administration signaled a retreat on Monday when the Justice Department said in a statement that it would abide by a federal judge's temporary order not to proceed with any steps to activate the fund until at least June 12th when a hearing on the fund is scheduled. The department said the administration disagreed with the decision but did not make clear whether it intended to fight the issue further in court. So there we are for that at the moment.

That is as of 915 on this Tuesday morning. Mayor Sheehan. Well, you know, we've talked about this story quite a bit. And it seems as though even on the right, there is no appetite for this fund and for what Trump is trying to do with it. seems as though there are Republicans who are willing to stand up and say it's a bridge too far. But I also think it's a commentary on just how far apart we are in this country when we can look at the same thing, the video and all of the footage of what happened on January 6th. And... Still have people come to the conclusion that those who were prosecuted for the violent acts that occurred, for storming the Capitol, for trying to stop official proceedings of the Congress, for assaulting police officers, for damaging and causing all kinds of destruction in the Capitol, can look at that and say that those who engaged in that activity were persecuted. by being held accountable for their actions. And that's a broader conversation that I think it's a reckoning that we need to have in order to find some common ground. Because if that's malicious prosecution, if that in the eyes of people who think that they're entitled to be compensated for being prosecuted for those actions, then I'm not sure what justice looks like in this country anymore and what accountability looks like in this country anymore. And I would love for us to be able to find a space where we can have that rational conversation because... I think until we're able to push through this, the Trump constant mantra of you're being screwed, you're being prosecuted, the left is persecuting you, that that is so damaging to the fabric of our democracy. Michael. I think you summed it up quite well, Mayor Sheehan. But also it was becoming a very big political liability for the Republicans as we enter into the final months before the midterm elections. And I think... Sadly, that may have been the bigger motivation. It wasn't a conscious kind of, you know, I'm, you know, we must stand up now for justice and truth and reconciliation. It wasn't that kind of a recognition. It was a recognition that this fund, the creation of it, the payouts to people like the proud boys, would would just really make it difficult for the Republicans to keep control of both houses of Congress.

Sadly, that might be the biggest reason why Republicans finally decided to show a little backbone in the Senate and send the message out that this is just the wrong thing at the wrong time. But regardless, it's good if it is abandoned by the president. He hasn't said anything about it. He's talked all, he's been on social media all weekend talking about. the war in Iran. He's been talking about, you know, the 250 celebration, et cetera. But he has not talked about this. So I don't know what he's going to do. But we're all kind of saying it's remarkable. The White House says it will adhere to a judge's order for now. And that shouldn't be a surprise. John Faso. Well, I think that this entire episode was a colossal, political, and legal mistake on the part of the administration to suggest this. And I think that it raises a larger point as well. I mean, this thing is dead because Congress is surely going to, on a bipartisan basis, kill it in the appropriations process that is upcoming. So I don't think there's much room for debate as to what's going to happen. This thing is going to get killed either by the administration willingly say they're abandoning it or. I would still expect Congress that there'll be riders on appropriation bills for the Justice Department that will prevent it from going forward. But it does raise a larger question about the practice of sue and settle. that we've seen, particularly by state attorneys general, this was something that you saw Elliot Spitzer doing, you saw Andrew Cuomo doing it, you see AGs around the country, both parties engaging in sue and settle. Namely, you have a friendly plaintiff bringing a suit against the government for something, and then the powers that be in that government decide that they will settle the case. on terms that are largely favorable to the plaintiff that brought the case. And you saw this in the Obama administration, the famous matter of African American and Native American farmers bringing a case of racial discrimination against the Justice Department that was settled by Attorney General Eric Holder for over $800 million. And as it turned out, about 300 plus million of that. settlement went to farmers who were plaintiffs in the matter and hundreds of millions more as well went to various organizations left of center nonprofit organizations that were then receiving funds to pursue their agendas so i think that a fair examination of this process would indicate that both sides have been doing this through the years

And it's something I think Congress needs to get a closer hold of. But it also happens here in New York State, and it happens in other states. This process of suing and settling is one that has becoming increasingly frequent. And perhaps the discussion and debate around this ill-fated administration proposal. will shed a great old light and more public knowledge about this increasing practice of Sue and Settle. We are going to go to Jay Jockdoin. It's in just a second and get his thoughts on this. We welcome yours panel at wamc.org. We have a $10,000, excuse me, an $8,000 challenge on the table and asking us to make $10,000 to get to the $592,000 point in the fund drive as we continue in the special edition. We're now in the $7,000, $7,911. So we're making some progress. We need to continue. Do whatever you can, $1,800. 323-9262 or WAMC.org. Go online, wamc.org or call one of the volunteers who is patiently waiting right now between... Bites of muffin, they can take your calls. 1-800-3-2-3-2-9-262, 1-800-3-2-2-WAMC. This is an $8,000 challenge. We can't let this go by. This will bring us perilously close to $600,000 if we make it by 10 o'clock this morning. So everybody in 1-800-3-2-9-262. Jay Jockdoitz, your call. There, you know, this is so, there's so much to weave into this, and I'm not going to try to squeeze it all in, but, you know, it shouldn't be lost that this, you know, with all respect to. John's sense that this has been going on around the country and in states and multiple attorneys, generals, and so forth, this was a really extraordinary thing. This was a president of the United States trying to squeeze the government for $10 billion. And when he couldn't personally benefit from it, even his own lawyer, his own former lawyer, who's acting very much like, is still like his own attorney. Even the attorneys in the Justice Department said, you know, this is untenable. We can't hand you this kind of money, and we can't hand you any kind of money, really. So they, so it became, well, let's give it to my friends then. And thought he could, you know.

between policy decisions that we may not have agreed with of prior administrations, but that followed a set of rules, settlements that were approved by judges and had to be signed off on by judges, and what this administration has done. Because this administration, and there is now reporting on this, and I encourage people to read it about judges starting to hold DOJ. prosecutors accountable for lying in court. This is a president that has lied over and over and over again. It's demonstrable. And so to make these comparisons where we might not have agreed with the policy outcomes or... the motivation behind some of the actions, whether it's the Obama administration or the Biden administration, that this administration is acting in a way that from what I see is one that does not hold courts in any esteem, that does not think that the rules apply to them, and that will get away with whatever they can think they can get away with until someone tries to stop them. And it's not equivalent. It's just not in my eye compared to how other administrations have behaved. We welcome you panel at wamc.org if you'd like to get in and share your comments on this. Also, we have a challenge on the table for the money we're trying to make by 10 a.m. this morning. We're trying to get to the $592,000 point in this fund drive. We currently are at $584,539. You do a little math? $7,461 left to make this challenge to get $8,000 put on the table by Anonymous. We want to make that money. We know we can. We did yesterday. We'd like to do it again today. 1-800-3-2-3-9-6-2-1-800-3-2-2-WAMC. If you enjoy these conversations and the panel and our panelists, and they rev you up. and get you going in the morning as we talk about what's happening in the world. This is the kind of programming that we do on WAMC, but obviously it costs money. And we need you and we need your support. Please notice. Please note. panelists are not paid. Good point. Yeah, I knew you were all thinking it. I just wanted to get it out in the opening. 1-800-3-2-3-9-262, 1-800-3-2-2-2-WAMC. Please do what you can in our moments. We will take a quick break. We will be back and continue this conversation and have a few others along the way as well. 1-800-3-2-9-62.

Good morning. Welcome back to this special roundtable. panel, which is right in the middle of a fund drive. And we want to bring you the fun drive. There were times where we didn't use to do this. We would just fundraise the entire time. But we want you to have this programming. We want you to have a little dip in the water as to what's going on in the world. And we know that's important to you. It's important to us. And just to make it all work, we got to have to make the money in the process. And we have an $8,000. $7,000 challenge on the table, and we are looking to get to the $592,000 point. And we currently need $7,191. So we're making progress, but we need you. 1,800, 323, 9262, 1,800 323 WAMC. Everybody in, let's do it. We have $8,000 from Anonymous that we can make if we... Just all come together by 10 o'clock this morning. 1-800, 3239262. John Faso, anything you want to add to the previous conversation we were having pre-break? We may have just lost John on the telephone. Anybody else want to say something about what we were talking about just before break? Jay? Just that it'll be, you know, it'll be interesting to see how far this. objections spreads if it does. I mean, you know, there may be people in Congress kind of breathing a sigh of relief right now that they don't have to be apologists for the president and they can move on to, you know, some other, some other travesty or some other issue going on in the government. But it, but. It'll be interesting whether it extends beyond people who are safely headed to retirement or, safely, you know, voluntarily or otherwise, or are in a leadership, strong enough leadership position that they can say, you know, what John Thune said that, you know, he didn't think this was a good idea and so on and so forth. So, you know, will this... For example, will it bleed over into the house in any significant way? It'll certainly be interesting to see. 1-800-323-9262, 1-800-3-2-W-A-M-C, $8,000 that we want to make, and we currently need just over $7,000 to make our goal. We welcome you. 1-800-3-2-9262. All right, let's go on and talk about other items making news. I'll come back to this and we can get John back on the phone, but we'll wait on that. I lost his connection at some point, so we'll figure that one out. What else did I want to talk about? Journalism? Broadcast journalism, perhaps.

60 minutes, maybe? Scott Pelly, I want a poster of Scott Pelley in my bedroom. I want a Scott Pelly poster in my bedroom. Scott Pelly, a longtime former anchor of the CBS Evening News, was at a meeting yesterday. in which it was to discuss the future of 60 Minutes. And there's a new guy on board. And this is also after not one, but two, two correspondence were... Let go. Sharon O'Fonzie being the one who really had a run-in with Bari Weiss and the management over a story that she did in December of 2025. So yesterday, the new guy in charge comes in to meet the troops. Boy, Scott Pelly just let loose. And the new guy says, I very much care about W, about 60 minutes. And I believe Scott Pelley said, yeah, right. And then went down, just went into a full on rant in saying that Bari Weiss was looking to murder the program, that he said that she certainly wasn't qualified for the job. He was barely qualified for his job. And so there you go. Look, this is a program that has a storied history in American journalism. It is a story that is just amazing in the sense that is, that we have seen this institution change. And... And how it will turn out, I don't know. I can't see things like vastly improving or for 60 minutes to be granted some sort of overall. independence. But Mike Spey. Yeah. Do you really think after all this change, Bari Weiss coming in and this new fellow, Nick Bilton, to replace the fired producers and kind of taken over as number two there, is going to do anything to restore the damaged image that 60 minutes has sustained already? It's really sad. As you say, it's a storied institution. Don Ewitt, the founder must be rolling over in his grave.

And it's sad to see such an important institution in American television and American journalism, broadcast journalism in general, be pretty much dismantled, slimmed down and cut up into pieces. CBS, you know, you think back to the days of Walter Cronkite and where his voice was, you know, had meaning to it and people trusted it. And now. It seems like it's just, and I think that's what Scott Paley, when he was dressing down his new quote-unquote boss at 60 minutes in front of his staff, bringing them to cheers, according to the tapes that NBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Axiose of Wallhead. Whoever taped it got it out to everybody, and the descriptions of people. from the meeting that went on yesterday, it was really awkward and embarrassing. And I don't know how Scott Paley is going to survive. Maybe CBS will step up and fire him and make him another martyr. It doesn't sound like he cares. Yeah, it really doesn't. I mean, he's ready. I think he's already ready for whatever. Yeah. I mean, I think he made his stand. And during the, at the time of the original, quote-unquote, deal, which even... Stephen Colbert characterized as a bribe, which then got him fired, there was Scott Pelley spoke out on the program at that time. This is FCC approval of the merger. That's right. Skydance and Paramount. Bringing in the new sheriff's in town. John Faso, are you with us? I am. I'm sorry about that. No worries. I just made an online donation, and for some reason I then disconnected my call. Oh, that's not. That's a good reason. It's a good excuse. That's what they do. They get you on the roundtable. They get you to make a donation, and then they cut you loose. Yeah. We got what we needed from you. I actually cut myself loose by mistake. But, you know, the 60-minute thing, I mean, I think it's, you know, I'm reminded of the old expression, he who pays the... Piper calls the tune. And there's a new Piper in Georgia CBS, and a lot of the entrenched folks don't like it. I mean, I look at the change in media. I mean, we have some folks like Mike and Jay on the call who know about changes in media, perhaps better than anyone else. And this is inevitably what's happening. I mean, you have the difference that we all grew up with. Walter Cronkite and Huntley and Brinkley on NBC and Smith on ABC. I mean, it's a much different media landscape in news and media that we have today. And I think change is inevitable. I mean, the only constant is change. And some institutions, and I've enjoyed 60 minutes through the years. I do find from my own vantage point that the programming inevitably tilts left. I think that's something that I have seen and noticed through the years. But as a practical matter, I've enjoyed the program, but I think that this is a lot of insider media stuff to do and not much else. And the fact that...

Someone recorded the meeting and then you have a transcript of what the brave Scott Pelly said to the new bosses leaked to the press. I mean, look, this is all inside media baseball and change is a constant. I mean, I agree that it's inside baseball. I won't take that away from the story. But the fact that this had been the number one watch program on terrestrial television, which I know is not saying as much now as it did then. but is still something that is embraced by the American people. And it is an institution, a journalistic institution, and it is being changed before our eyes. Jay? Yeah, this is not a struggling news program. This is, as you pointed out, the number one news program. And not only number one, it gained viewership last year. And it has been. in its top position as a news program for 52 seasons. So, you know, the idea that, you know, something needed to be fixed here, this really is a case of if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But, you know, it's obvious what's going on. We don't want to believe it necessarily that somebody would deliberately destroy an institution like 60 Minutes or come in and murder it, as Scott Pelly said. You know, any, you know, but. Having, having, you know, watched any number, unfortunately not at my own paper, but... You know, it's like a union buster coming into a newsroom and saying, I fully support unions. They do not support the mission here. And that is obvious. But it is what's troubling and what takes this beyond inside baseball, you know, other than the fact that it is an important news program. And Americans have verified that with their viewership. have affirmed that with their viewership is, you know, it's one element of a sweeping assault on the news media, on... what the right has long viewed as liberal bastions, the bastions of liberal liberalism in America. You know, whether it's Trump attacking universities, whether it's the FCC going after comedians, whether it's wealthy individuals on the right scooping up news organizations or Congress defunding public broadcasting. This is not.

the old days of people feeling like people are talking over them, this is a deliberate attempt to shut down anything that is not conservative thought in the main, in prominent institutions throughout America. And it is, I don't want to use the term vast right-wing conspiracy, but it is an accumulating. barrage and dismantling of these institutions. And I think echoing that, I mean, you know, I'm not a conspiracy theorist either, but, you know, the right has very intentionally worked at the local level to take over state legislatures and therefore control. maps. And we've seen the gerrymandering that that has resulted in. And that was very intentional. And I'm not suggesting that there was anything nefarious about it, but that that's where they focused. And they were successful. And they also have focused on ensuring that conservative judges are appointed when there are Republicans who are in the White House. And they are also, I think, focused on looking at the media and ways that they can. control what they view to be a biased media. Others would say it's a media that provides an important balance. And so... Critical thinking is something that I think is in short supply, unfortunately, and that's a whole other show. But when you watch 60 minutes, you know what you're getting. Just like when you watch Fox News, you know what you're getting. And I would hope that in either of those instances, you don't walk away thinking that somebody has read you the gospel, but that you've been given information and a perspective that then... you can use to inform your decisions and how you're going to respond to that going forward. And so it is an important voice and has been. And I think it's important to say out loud if we're losing it, why we're losing it. We started needing $10,000 at the beginning of this hour. We now need $6,494.94. Whatever you can do in the next 12 minutes, please do it. We have $8,000 that we can make if we make this money. Please stop. And help us in any way that you can. That's either by going to a telephone, 1-800-3239262, or going online, wamc.org, wamc.org. How long does it take for a show like this or for radio stations like ours to fall into a similar pattern?

A similar future? I think it's an erosion. I don't think 60 minutes is going to die overnight. But once the ratings decline, that's the excuse that they'll use. That's right. We're going to take a break. Think about all of that. We need you. We need your support. We need your love. 1-800-323-9262. We'll be right back. 10 minutes to go to the top of the hour. We welcome you, panel at wamc.org, panel at wamc.org. We also have $6,000 to make to make this challenge to get $8,000. So think of that and how important that is to us. We know just, we're going to prove to you just how hard it is to make $6,000 over the next nine minutes. So when they just are going to hand you eight, As a result, we got to take it. 1,800, 323, 9262, 1,800, 323, WAMC, WAMC.org, John Faso, Jay Jocknewitz, Kathy Sheehan, and Mike Spain, all with us on this special roundtable panel edition during the Fun Drive, and we are thrilled you are with us and hope not only involved in the conversation, but... involved in our efforts to make the money that we need to get where, yes, where we need to be. All right. Let's go to, does anybody else want to say, I'm going to go to one more story unless there's any. anything anybody else wants to say on 60 minutes. Okay, the Iran deal remains elusive. Israel says it's holding off on striking Beirut after U.S. request. Iran suspended ceasefire negotiations because of Israel's escalating military attacks in Lebanon and U.S. strikes. An Iranian official told the Washington Post, Escalating violence in the Middle East is threatening to derail stalled peace talks between Iran and the United States as negotiators struggle to extend a shaky ceasefire and end the war. Iran suspended talks with the U.S. on Monday, to which the President of the United States, Donald Trump responded, I don't care. John Faso. Well, I think fundamentally the United States needs to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And I think that we, it seems to me that the ceasefire. And the negotiations with the Iranians have gone on so long as to make clear that the Iranians are not serious about conceding any of this. And I certainly hope that President Trump does not succumb to the political pressure for a bad deal because successive administrations of both parties for 47 years.

have attempted to deal with Iran and negotiate with them and all have failed. And I am very dubious that anything is going to be productive out of these negotiations. And so I think we need to keep the pressure on on the blockade. And I think we need to, with allies, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and do everything we can to prevail in this contest. I think it's in the national security interest of the United States and the free world and the Gulf and Israel as well, that Iran not be perceived as prevailing in this conflict. Kathy? Well, I mean, I think that this is a playbook that we talked about this when the war started, that, you know, there are. There's a playbook for this. And the closing of the Strait of Hormuz would have been in that playbook. And that's why we're at this stalemate. And I think that, you know, this president, as I say, almost every time that I'm on, has historically and repetitively underestimated the complexity of the challenge that he is facing. In this case, the challenge that he created. And I know we're seeing some reporting that he apparently had a very difficult conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu. I think, again, this isn't just the United States. This is the Arab world and other players who are pressuring and having influence on the decisions that are being made. And those of us here at home who... have to decide between filling our car with gas and paying for that prescription that we need are the ones that are left wondering who's who's speaking to us, right? The president is not reassuring the average American, working class Americans that they're going to be okay. He's not talking about ways of easing other than this cap on the gas tax, which we could go into that policy decision and whether it works or not. But not speaking to the average Americans and how we're going to weather this and get through this. We have about two, three minutes that we have. And I want to get the comments from our remaining panelists. Quickly, we are under $5,000 now that we need. Can we make $5,000 in five minutes? Sure we can. Have we done it before? Yeah. Can we do it again? We'll see. 1-800-323-9262.org.org. $8,000 on the table. We do not get $8,000 if we don't make this. So please help us out as you work out your frustrations by going to the phone. We'd love to have you help us with this. Jay. Like Mayor Xi Jinping and I have said, I'm going to repeat something I've said before, which is that Trump has spent an entire career.

doing things impulsively and then hoping that somebody else will figure out how to make it right for him. And I think that that is what he's doing here. The idea that... any allies are going to come to our rescue on this, I think is naive because we didn't get a coalition together before we started this. And now, you know, other countries are not going to want to spend blood and treasure to help a flailing president, you know, solve a problem that he started in the first place. And I think it was all encapsulated in his comment. to that sit back and relax. It'll all work out in the end. It always does. And I think that is his entire strategy for handling this. He is just hoping and hoping that it is just going to work out somehow magically like COVID was going to magically go away. Mike? Real quick, I'll say that we should look back in history to 1980 and how Iran knew they could manipulate the presidential election and they could hurt Jimmy Carter by dragging on the hostage in Iran situation where they had U.S. hostages being held from the U.S. embassy there during the Islamic takeover of Iran in 79. And they know that they can really hurt. an American politician by just digging in and going slow, and it looks like that's what they're doing now, unfortunately, and they're just going to do everything they can to hurt Trump politically by not engaging. It's driving Trump crazy. What do he say yesterday on CNBC? He said, I don't care if the talks are over. I really don't care. I could care less. I couldn't care less if they're over. And he called it all very boring, which, boy, that's a tough situation when we're engaged in this war and the president's bored with it. We will hold there with this wonderful group, and when we come back, we will have our community partnership on the roundtable, and we will continue our conversation as we move forward. We are about $2,000 away from where we need to be, but there's still time, so keep calling, keep going online. 1-800-3-2-3-3-9-2-6. If you're on the line, if you're doing this, it still works. 1-800, 3239262. So do it you can to get $8,000 from Anonymous. Kathy, John, Mike, Jay. Thank you all very much. Thank you, Joe. We'll be back right after this.