Erick Erickson HR 1 6/2/26

Ehrigson here across the United States. The phone number 8779773-745. Should you wish to be on the program? One quick programming note, the bottom of the hour today. The former Vice President Mike Pence is going to join me. He had that great line on Sunday to meet the press, I believe it was, that the Republican Party may have lost its way, but the Democrats have lost their minds. I'll be talking to him about that in his book that's coming out. But first, we have got to get into the news about Bill Pulte, who is one of the president's dumbest members of his team, a bully Nepo baby without a large... skill set, who he has now placed in charge as Director of National Intelligence. Now, I want to be real clear here with you. The Director of National Intelligence turns out to be a worthless position, and a lot of people who don't know better assume that it's a very important position. The director of national intelligence was created after 9-11, and essentially the DNI position is to coordinate the various intelligence agencies, intelligence gathering. So they coordinate with the National Security Advisor and the National Security Council and the defense intelligence agency and the CIA and the FBI and all these other groups, and they bring together all the intelligence. to present to the president because what we found in 9-11 is that the individual departments were collecting intelligence and were not communicating effectively with each other. And because they weren't communicating effectively with each other, they missed information. and the missing information caused an intelligence breakdown that led to 9-11. So Congress, when it passed the Homeland Security Act, created the Director of National Intelligence as a standalone entity with an office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Office of National Intelligence, and the whole job is to coordinate, very much like the National Security Advisor does. But there's a fatal flaw in how the office works, and that is... You have the standalone agencies and the Director of National Intelligence is not really their boss because these people are politically appointed. So you have to have someone in the job who can coordinate with these others. Now let's take Tulsi Gabbard. God bless her. And by the way, keep her and her husband in your prayers today. Her husband is going in for his surgery for cancer today. I believe he's actually in the operating room right now based on a tweet I saw a little while ago. So keep them in your prayers. I'm not a big fan of Tulsi Gabbard. She's a very nice person, but not a big fan of her. Don't see eye to eye on her in policy. And the president and his team.

essentially marginalized Tulsi Gabbard. There was no reason to have her in the time. John Ratcliffe is the CIA director, and you will note John Ratcliffe had been DNI and did not want the position. He wanted CIA. John Ratcliffe did not want DNI because he understands it's an impotent position. You really have no power. Your job is to build consensus and get people to the table. The president, over time, began to marginalize Tulsi Gabbard. Now, they will not publicly say this, and you need to understand, be smart here, be smart. There are things people say, and there are things people do. And the president's team said Tulsi Gabbard had not been marginalized, and some of you got mad at me when I told you she had been marginalized because the president's team said, no, she had not. And yet, she was not a participant in the meetings on Venezuela. She has not been a participant on the meetings on what to do with Syria. She has not been a participant in the meetings on what to do with Cuba. She was not a participant in the meetings on what to do with Iran. And she was told several months ago she needed to find an exit strategy before the midterm elections. The president had had enough of her. In fact, there are those around the president who believe that she was undermining the president's foreign policy and national security positions. And so they shut her out of conversations. They blamed her for leaking and they blamed her for Joe Kent. And they thought that she protected Joe Kent when she was told to fire him. And again, this is one of those things were publicly they denied it and privately everyone acknowledged it was true. They told her to push him out. as the head of counterterrorism, and she refused and protected him and went to the vice president, and he was, and Joe Kent was ultimately shown the door, and Tulsi Gabbard got the blame for a lot of that. That's just the truth. Don't shoot me for telling you the truth. And remember, sometimes people tell you things publicly in politics that privately they know isn't true. And many of you fell for the public statements when actually the private statements and the actual deeds were different. They marginalized Tulsi Gabbard. And the reason that they could marginalize Tulsi Gabbard is because she was put into this position, which is a figurehead position, but it is a position that is believed to be able to get people at the table. Now, fortunately for the president's team, the president has this man you might have heard of named Marco Rubio. Marco Rubio is the Secretary of State, the archivist of the United States, I believe at one point the librarian of Congress, and also the National Security Advisor, the head of the baseball little league team for the White House, the head of janitorial services for the Secret Service, the librarian of the San Francisco outlet of the U.S. Congress, I mean, Marco Rubio was in charge of everything, basically. Highly competent. Now, Marco Rubio is the national security advisor. The president has now moved Mike Needham, full disclosure, a very good friend of mine. The president has moved Mike Needham into the White House as another national security advisor. Needham and Marco Rubio are competent and trusted. And you don't actually need the director of national intelligence to coordinate between the CIA and the FBI and the NSA and the DNI because everybody loves Marco Rubio and Mike Need them. And everybody highly respected.

ex-John Ratcliffe. So it's more of a symbolic do-nothing position at this point. And if you're going to do nothing, I guess putting Bill Pulte there is one thing to do it. This man is a nepo baby idiot bully. Friends, I will put this very bluntly to you. Some of you will be offended by this. A five-year-old with mental disabilities would be a more competent director of national intelligence than Bill. Bill Pulte is an idiot, Nepo Baby, who is spectacularly unaccomplished except for the things his family has allowed him to do. He is a bully who has come up with some of the worst ideas in this administration. Bill Pulte is the man who decided to start prosecuting Democrats for mortgage fraud who filled out information on their forms that wasn't right. And then it turned out that he himself on his own mortgage application had essentially filled it out the same way as the woman at the Federal Reserve, Lisa Cook, who they were trying to oust. That's the genius now in charge of the Office of National Intelligence. Bill Pulte is also the genius who came up with the 50-year mortgage that was laughed at and soundly wisely rejected by everyone except for morons because it's a terrible idea to have a 50-year mortgage. You would overwhelmingly wind up paying more interest than you would the cost of the house. It's a terrible idea that could only be loved by those who are in the development and lending business. like Bill Pulte. He also has overseen the privatization of various things that probably shouldn't be private and the public control of various things that shouldn't be put in public control. He's not a smart guy. He's a bully and a moron. And the president has now put this person in charge of the director of national intelligence. And before you at me that he was the CEO of his daddy's company, yes. Daddy's company, Nepo baby, not very accomplished in his own right. And yet because he's in the Trump administration, because he went to some Kay Ivey League school, people are like, oh, he must be a genius because he's on our team. Stop being so tribal. You can't separate the idiots from the competent people. He's not a competent person. And the fact that he's been put in charge of the Director of National Intelligence is actually one where one place you can put a guy like that who's a tribal loyalties, who's a bully without much smart. because there's not a lot of damage he can do there because the office is largely impotent. So you put the idiot bully in an impotent position that is no longer occupied by Dulcy Tulsi Gabbard, but you've still left him in charge of the federal housing authority. Obviously, there's not much work for the Director of National Intelligence at a time of global war with a chief terror state if you can leave him in charge of the Federal Housing Authority and also put him in charge of the Director of National Intelligence. In other words, Marco Rubio and John Ratcliffe are so competent that you can leave this position in the hands of fools and everything's going to be okay. But if something bad happens... Him being there is going to, he's one, going to be a fall guy, and two, it's going to be something the Democrats attack the president for, for putting an idiot in charge.

If I have strongly held opinions, it's because I do on this. He doesn't have any reason to be in government other than he was a Trump donor and loyalists who whisper sweet things in the president's ear. And those sweet things are things that the president has done that has caused the president in all sorts of misery, like, for example, trying to fire a Federal Reserve board member over a mortgage application when Bill Pulte himself made the same mistakes on his mortgage application. The guy is more trouble than he's worth. At least the one saving grace. I will hear Erickson say something nice about the guy. I'll say something nice about this guy. He's such a moron. He might be able to convince the president to go blow up Iran. The president listens to this guy. And maybe this guy, given he's such a bully, will convince the president. It's time to go drop bombs on Iran again because the president. Seems to be trying to find every clever excuse not to go blow up Iran at a time. We probably do need to go blow up Iran. Why? Because Iran needs to be blown up. And they're not going to reopen the Strait of War moves. We're not having negotiations with them anymore. So there's that. Now, I will tell you this. There was a report overnight that the president cussed out Benjamin Netanyahu on the phone over Benjamin Netanyahu continuing war in Lebanon. It's actually kind of disappointing that the president thought that he could trust Hezbollah and tried to get Benjamin Netanyahu to stop bombing them. I will say this, though. I don't believe the report. Benjamin Netanyahu, the people around Benjamin Netanyahu, the president and his team have all come out and denied the report. And it sounds very much like liberal wishcasting about the president. I don't believe that he and Benjamin Netanyahu had this massive knockdown, dragout, cussing fight on the phone last night. Remember back when President Trump first became president, liberals started circulating this. rumor that they had put a TV channel in the White House that was just guerrillas. And the president would watch the guerrillas and the president was mesmerized by the guerrillas. And it was like a closed circuit feed of gorillas in the Washington Zoo or some such. And the president thought it was captivating TV. It was a lie. It was nonsense. And it exposed a bunch of progressives to believe the worst things about the administration when they didn't have to believe the worst things about the administration. But they couldn't possibly believe that anybody in the administration could be competent or the president. might not fall for something like that. They had to believe the worst things, and they were exposed as fools for believing the Gorilla Channel. I kind of think the rumor about Benjamin Netanyahu is the exact same thing, that it is a bunch of people on the left who concocted a rumor based on what we know was a heated phone call last night between Benjamin Netanyahu and the president. They made it into something else. Not only has everybody denied it on the record, everyone's denied it on background as well, and yet the left that hates Benjamin Netanyahu and hates the president wants to believe the worst about that situation. The reality is the president does want Israel to stop bombing Hezbollah because Iran says we can't have peace in the Middle East if that happens. But that puts Iran in the negotiating captain's chair here and is dictating terms to the president of the United States on reopening the Strait of Hormuz. And if that is the case, it shows how weak the president's position is. And the fact that the president did reach out to Israel and to Hezbollah to try to get them to have a ceasefire so we can get the street.

Strait of Hormuz opens does kind of confirm the part where Iran is really leading this situation and in charge of the situation where if we have to get Hezbollah and Israel to stop fighting in Lebanon to get the Strait of Hormuz open, that means that Iran's in the dominant position. And that's bad for us to be in. And that gets back to Bill Pulte, the Director of National Intelligence. who is not a competent person to be able to negotiate and navigate the situation to try to figure out a way to get Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz without selling us out to Iran's friends, Hezbollah, who is a terrorist group. I hope the president rethinks this, and I can tell you right now, because I'm getting text messages as this happens, and I'm speaking, that there are senators who have already reached out to the White House. This morning, since the news is broken, who have told the president this is a terrible idea. And the president's team is responding that this is only a temporary situation and they will find someone else. So hopefully, Bill Pulte won't be there that long, that even the president's team is willing to tell members of the Senate, don't worry, it's only temporary as a sign they too know the guy is in over his head. Have something to say? Hello. Hello. Call the. 1-877-9-7-airing. That's 1-877-97-9-3-7-425. Well, we have another Graham Platner scandal for today. We'll spend more time with all of this stuff and why all the kids these days are commies at the top of the next hour. But here's what you should know. According to Graham Platner in old statements, he was a Cokehead while in the military. He would go to Europe and buy cocaine while he was in the military and talked about his drug habits. So it's only a matter of time before we find out, in addition to being into hard drugs. Was he into recreational violence? Are these stories going to drop as well? I mean, if a guy, he talked about his love of killing people. He talked about his love of hookers in Thailand. he's talked about his love of cocaine. At what point are we going to find out he committed war crimes or something like that? I mean, the guy is clearly a psychopath that the Democrats have decided to hitch their wagon to in Maine. And Democrats on Capitol Hill are actually really upset about this, but they realize he's probably not going to drop out of the race, and so they're willing to hitch their wagon to him because they want control of the Senate. So the Democrats, in other words, after years of attacking Republicans, for sacrificing their morals and character for a guy like Trump, and by the way, the Democrats started it with Bill Clinton. Well, the Democrats are going to go back to their Bill Clinton ways and say character doesn't matter. Morality doesn't matter. All that matters is power, which is kind of where they've been for a while. But they've said otherwise, and now this kind of exposes it, that they're willing to hitch their wagons to a psychopath who was a co-keged prostitute user who loved to kill people, join Blackwater as a specialist. It has been sexting women after getting married.

married for three years and already sleeping around behind his wife's back and sending inappropriate pictures. And we still haven't even gotten to why he was forced out of his elite private school that cost $75,000 a year to go to. They're working on getting the women to come forward on that one and that one should be fatal to him. But we'll watch the Democrats continue to circle the wagons around him. Now, Let me talk about Old Glory Bank, my bank. They could be your bank, too. In fact, I had need of using Old Glory Bank last night. I actually got on their website. Their bill pay options have continued to get better, and they sure do make it easy to be able to deposit cash with a QR code at 88,000 retail locations around the country. They have found ways to get around not having a local bank branch because they're an online bank, and you wouldn't know it by hands-on they are, particularly if you're a business. Their business lending, their business checking, fantastic. If you're a veteran... active duty military first responder. They waive some fees for you. They take care of you. And you know what? If you're conservative and you're tired of banking with woke banks, they are decidedly not woke. They were started by conservatives for conservatives. You go to old glory bank.com slash Eric to find out more today. I've got a no fee checking account and a no fee savings account. You can get a premium account. If you're active duty military first responder, they'll waive some fees for you on those. And if you do direct deposit, they've got an old glory protect line of duty death benefit. of $100,000 you can qualify for. Go to old glorybank.com slash Eric today. Sign up with a bank committed to your banking freedom. They do CDs. They do mortgages, full service bank. Old glorybank.com slash Eric. Old glory bank.com slash ERICK. Member FDIC, Equal housing lender, terms and conditions apply.

He's got the courage to tell you the truth, even when it isn't popular. You're listening to The Eric Erickson Show. Welcome back. It is Eric Eurtson here, the phone number 8779773-745. Should you wish to be on the program, I would be very happy to have you. I actually, however, am not taking your phone call right now because I got a special guest with me and due to all of the, so I'm in a hotel room. and being in a hotel room, I am going to have, if any, I'm going to have to have you fire up the phone call with my next guest, the former vice president of the United States. Mike Pence, how are you? I'm just great, Eric. Thanks for having me back on the Eric Erickson show, and congratulations on your growing audience all across the country. Thank you very much. So believe it or not, I'm like five blocks from your office in D.C. up here for the day. So I appreciate you coming by. Now, I want to talk about your book, what conservatives believe, rediscovering the conservative conscience. But first, I got to tell you, I appreciated your line on Sunday on TV that Republicans may have lost their way, but Democrats have lost their mind because I'm just gobsmacked after years of Democrats lecturing you, how dare you run for office with a guy like, Donald Trump, the character and blah, blah, blah, suddenly they're willing to do anything possible to regain power in Washington, regardless of the candidate they line up behind. Well, nobody takes that issue on better than you, and I commend you for it. Look, it's... Look, we've got to have a conversation in the Republican Party about what conservatives believe. That's why I wrote my book. But the truth is, and it's evidence in the strength of President Donald Trump's endorsements that I expect will show up again in primaries around the country today that Republicans appreciate the fact that he's been fighting against the radical left and a Democratic Party that has literally been. been overrun by by progressives and socialists and and people who uh... literally walk away from the the traditional principles and values that uh... the overwhelming majority of the american people have always respected so yeah with it said it to me there's there's uh... literally no choice uh... today uh... between left and right we've got to fight fight hard to hold these majorities in the house and in the senate But after that, I think it's important that we engage in a conversation you never hesitate to engage in, and that is to really focus on a new threat within the conservative movement that's coming from what I call the populist right that would advance big government, walk away from the right to life, question America's support for Israel and other allies around the world. And that's why I wrote the book.

So in the book, by the way, folks, if you want to text the word show to 33777, I'll send you back a link to what conservatives believe rediscovering the conservative conscience. The new book out today from the former vice president, Mike Pence, I get this issue a lot from people I've considered friends for a long time, many of whom you know. The frustration they claim to feel, particularly when it comes to the free market that we outsource so much, we made ourselves dependent on China. free market tiering ahead of local communities. And I just, I would love to get your take on that first because I actually disagree with their criticism and think that, yeah, there are certainly things we've done bad, but a, the alternative of a government-controlled industrial. policy would actually be far more harmful to these communities than relying on the free market. And also, we haven't really relied on the free market. There's a lot of corporatism and favoritism that they send to turn a blind eye to. But I would love your take on it instead of just giving you my take. Well, it's, I don't know. It's better than your take, eric, candidly. But I would say, you know, look, I was governor of Indiana, grew up in a state where we make things, we grow things, and we sell them to the world. And I grew up knowing what conservatives have long believed is that trade means jobs and that Americans ought to have the freedom to be able to, you know, sell what they grow and they make around the world. The one exception to that, of course, is China. I mean, when you look at communist China with his trade abuses, intellectual property theft, our administration, I'm pleased the current Trump administration has stayed tough on China. We should continue to. But when you see jobs leaving our shores, you know, I think it's important also that we look in the mirror. When we renegotiated NAFTA and came up with the USMCA, what we did was eliminate a number of the, you know, perverse incentives that gave businesses a reason to build factories south of the border. And it was the largest trade deal in American history, the USMCA. We got it done. But also, when you start to look at policies that the populace are advancing, and frankly, the Trump administration has embraced in this second term, things like price controls on credit cards and medicines. When you look at the nationalization of American businesses, and then you throw on top of that the broad-based tariffs. on friend and foe alike. Those are exactly the policies that would drive investment and drive business out of the country. And so we know that economic freedom creates growth. I write about that in the book and pushing back on the populist rights effort to essentially look at the challenges in our economy and use it as a reason to grow government and raise taxes. It's one of the main arguments that I try to make. So the book is what conservatives believe, text the word show to 33777, get a copy of it. I'm going to ask you the question. I won't answer this one myself. I want to get your take. What has conservatism conserved?

Well, I think, you know, I came to the Republican Party because of my belief as a son of a combat veteran in a strong national defense in American leadership in the world. But my belief in less taxes, less government, free market economics. and my belief in the right to life uh... and traditional values and and it's been it's it's been the republican party since the days of ronald reagan that is championed that cause and and it's been a winning agenda for the republican party but more importantly eric it's a winning agenda for america these are the very ideals and principles and values upon which are families and our nation have depended, I would argue, since our very founding. It's freedom, limited government, traditional values. And so that's what we have conserved. And as we battle back against the increasingly radical, progressive left in this country, I think it's also important that our party and our movement recognize the challenge from a populist right that that would really question America's role as leader of the free world, grow government, and most concerning to me is the marginalizing of the right to life. I mean, our administration was the most pro-life administration in American history. I'll always be proud to have played some small role in advising the president as he appointed three justices that sent Roversus Wade to the ash heap of history where it belongs. But in this new administration, with the populist right in the saddle, we've seen a presidency that relegates the issue of abortion to the states, a president that appointed a pro-abortion secretary of HHS, who's continued to ignore the scourge of the abortion pill and mail order abortion across the country. So getting back to values, getting back to principles. getting back to a strong America at home and abroad. That's what my book is all about. And, you know, let the debate begin. You know, our friend Grover Norquist says he wants a government small enough to drown in the bathtub. And I say that because I'm a Christian, I know we're all sinners and I want as few in charge of me as possible. So I want a limited government. And I really am concerned that the Republicans generally in Washington have decided now that they have power, they're going to use it to advance their agenda as opposed to get rid of the power. So inevitably, when Democrats get back in charge, there's no power for them to use against us. Well, Republicans believe in the Republic. The Republic...

that is ordained and established in the Constitution of the United States. And one of the great lines that Barry Goldwater articulated in a book decades ago that inspired my book, is that the Constitution of the United States is different from other constitutions because our Constitution tells government what it cannot do. And what we see on the radical left is, in fact, the headlines yesterday were you've got Democrats in Congress that want to. They want to pack the Supreme Court and go to 13 justices on the Supreme Court because it seems to be the one branch of government that they haven't from time to time been able to dominate in recent years. And I will tell you that Republicans are the last line of defense for limited government, which is the ultimate preservation of freedom in this country. And so they must always be, to me, preserving those. God-given liberties and trying to the Constitution, the ideals of the Declaration in this 250th year, it falls to us to defend and conserve those principles. And I look forward to being a part of that debate in the days ahead. Now, before you get off here, I do want to get your take on Iran. There seems to be no resolution. We go back and forth. It seems like the president doesn't want to engage militarily again, but there's no opening to the Strait of Hormuz. How do you see this playing out? And if you had the president's ear, what might you advise him on it? Well, I would give the president first all the credit in the world for being the first president in 50 years. willing to take the fight directly to the Mullahs in Tehran. I mean, last year and this year. And our military forces have responded absolutely brilliantly taking down some 13,000 military sites. And I will tell you, I'm pleased that the rumors of a deal short of everything that we need. uh... were not true not correct the president's made it clear he's going to stand firm on that blockade uh... and continue to put pressure and isolate around but but look we we know we need to have happened here that iran has got a forfeit all of its nuclear materials dismantle its program dismantle its ballistic missiles uh... end of the day of supporting terrorist proxies across the region it's got open the straight And I think at the end of the day, we've got to insist that either we achieve that by agreement or we allow the armed forces of the United States of America to achieve it on our terms. But that's what real victory will look like. That's what will secure the interests of the United States, our cherished ally, Israel, other allies across the region for generations. And I'm hoping and praying that... The president will continue to stand firm to see this through because at the end of the day, this matters to our security. I know it's creating great angst among many Americans, the price of the pump, folks listening to the sound of my voice today. But I will tell you that whether these Iranians come to the table soon or we unleash...

our military uh... the best way forward for america security and our prosperity is to finish this once and for all Amen. Vice President Mike Pence, the book is what conservatives believe, rediscovering the conservative conscience out today. If people want a copy of it, they can text the word show to 33777. I'll send them a link. And I, you know, I really appreciate you and your team reaching out to me to do this interview on launch day. You know, you gave me the advanced copy of the book, and it also kind of made me breathe a sigh of relief that, gosh, I'm glad somebody wrote this book because I don't have to try. Well, thank you, Eric. I'm very humbled by that. There's no place we'd rather start on the Airwaves of America on the day we released this book than on the Eric Erickson show. Well, thank you very much. And my best to your wife, by the way. And to yours, my friend. Take care. Vice President Mike Pence, again, the book, What Conservatives Believe, it is timely, I got an advanced copy of it and read it. And several friends of mine and say, you know, you need to write some sort of book on what works. We know what works. The free market works. Limited government works, all these sorts of things. And I'm like, ha ha. Mike Pence has that book covered. What Conservatives Believe Rediscovering the Conservative Conscience. It actually came out today. It is now available, no longer pre-order. It is out today. Text the word show. S-H-O-W to 33777. I'll send you a link to what conservatives believe rediscovering the conservative conscience by my good friend Mike Pence. Honest. Putting your trust in me to tell you what's going on. Transparent. I need you to know this from the bottom of my heart. Giving you the information without the noise. My job isn't to tell you what you want to hear. It's the Eric Erickson Show.

The Four Things You Need to Know podcast, giving you the four things to pay attention to after the show, available on YouTube and your favorite podcast app, or by texting Eric to 3377777. This hour of the program brought to you by Van Allen Golf. If you're in the mood for getting your father something awesome for Father's Day or your husband's, your significant other for Father's Day, go to Van Allen Golf.com, get one of their putters. Or just, I mean, reach out to Van Allen Golf. They can get you set up. If you want some customization, you can text the word golf to 33777. I'll send you a link back to Van Allen Golf.com. You can check them out on Instagram as well. And also, if you text golf to 337, I'll send you my referral link to Gopher's Journal, another great Father's Day gift. Now, Marco Rubio has been testifying before the United States Senate on Iran. He provided some new information in his testimony a little while. Let me just lay the predicate here. Iran's desire to build a nuclear weapon was going to be built, was going to be effectuated behind a conventional shield. They were going to build for themselves, so many missiles, so many drones. so many conventional weapons, including a Navy. that at that point there's nothing you could do about it. What they tried to do is they were going to try to build a conventional shield and hide behind that conventional shield and basically say to the world, if you come and do anything about our nuclear program, we will overwhelm you with missiles, we will overwhelm you with drones, and we will overwhelm you with our Navy, and you will not win. You will not be able to do anything about it. They were seeking that point of immunity, which is why the President chose to act, to deny them that point of immunity. Operation Epic Fury, some of you didn't like it, some of you did. was highly successful in achieving its military objectives, which is dramatically reducing the defense industrial base of Iran, the ability to build these missiles and to build these drones, especially the missiles program, substantially degraded. A substantial percentage, and I'll leave the exact numbers to the Department of War, because I'm not a general and I'm not here to speak as a military planner, but a substantial degradation and the number of launchers that they have as well. They still have a lot of drones because these are easy to make. We all know it's not an Iran challenge. This is a global challenge. And it's playing out every single day around the world. I mean, Mexican cartels are using UAVs against each other. And we should imagine at some point may even use it against our own, against our interest. So this is a pervasive problem around the world, the economics of it or something we have to solve for. But nonetheless, even their drone building capability has been eroded. Today, there is no Iranian Navy. There is no such thing. There's a bunch of Boston whalers with machine guns on them, but there is no Navy. There is no Iranian Navy. It lies at the bottom of the ocean, and we'll assume within a number of years be prime fishing spots because they'll turn into reefs. So my whole point is that the Iranian conventional...

shield has been substantially eroded. Now, in the aftermath of that, two things have happened. The first is they entered into a ceasefire. They agreed. We agreed to stop. But part of that agreement is that they would reopen the straits. They did not. At which point the president decided, and I think appropriately, we can't have a world in which Iran, only Iranian ships get through the straits. And so if they're going to shut down the straits for everybody, we're going to shut down the straits for them. And we have done that through a very effective blockade, and by the way, through the seizure of sanction ships in the Indo-Pacific as well. That's Marco Rubio testifying before the United States Senate. We'll get back to that here in a little while. First, I want to get into all the commie rich kids. Before I do that, let me tell you about perfectly snug. And again, I'm in another. Y'all, I've spent a lot of time in hotel rooms. And I wish I could take the perfectly snug mattress hopper with me because it gets, you know, I'm staying into Weston and they have that massive, massive like you're laying underneath a hen bed spread. I don't understand why these duvet covers are so thick in hotel rooms. They get so hot with perfectly snuggest. It's like an air conditioner. for your bed. It cools you up from underneath. Your fitted sheet actually inflates. It can blow so much air. It's wild to see. It's also... Very comforting to lay on top overnight when you get hot. You can set it to adjust automatically overnight. What you do is go to perfectly snug.com slash Eric, perfectly snug.com slash E-R-I-C-K. Save up to $280 on the smastershopper. Now, a question, my sister asked me about it. It has two zones. So you on one side of the bed, your husband or wife on the other side of the bed, one of you can be hot, one of you can be cold. It's got a heating system. It's got the cooling system. And it's firm enough. It's not super soft and squeam. but it's also not like hard as a brink. It's just the perfect, perfect size. Perfectly snug.com slash Eric. Perfectly snug.com slash E-R-C-K. Save up to $280.