Spencer Pratt Is Ready

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Yeah, all right. So the L.A. Mayor's race, of course, as we knew going in, it's going to take a while for California to count all the votes. It's sort of like a big Cook County. Never quite can get their act together. 69% of the vote reporting. And Karen Bass is in first place. She's about... Four points ahead of Spencer Pratt. But, I mean, it looks like it's tracking to be a Pratt summer. 312-642-5600. AlphaWealthgroup.com answer line and text line gives a caller text there. On the gubernatorial side, Steve Hilton in the poll position right now. Again, on the governor's side. statewide only about 62% of the vote reporting. But he's got a couple, he's up a couple of points on Xavier Becerra with billionaire doofus frauds, Tom Steyer in third place. Rahman is also in third place, the mayor's race. There's some distance, you know, in the case of... the governor's race, Tom Steyer's about six points behind Xavier Becerra, in the case of the mayor's race, Rahman's about eight points behind Pratt. So it seems, excuse me, unlikely that Rahman could make up that vote. But again, it is California, so you take nothing for granted. I saw that Nate Silver, you know, noted election. econometrician, I guess. The fact that California elections often can't be resolved for weeks is kind of insane and not common in other electoral systems around the world. Yes, but a poster on X helped to explain that to Nate Silver. Here's how it works in California. And this will ring very familiar here in Cook County. So. Election Day, everyone votes. Then week one, mail and ballots, absentee ballots, military ballots, overseas ballots, ballots accidentally issued to people's pets, and ballots harvested from Skid Row start trickling in. Then in week two, as the ballots pile up, officials consider appointing a committee to count ballots. In week three, that committee to count balance is appointed. and commences discussion on electing a chairman. Week four is the deadline for ballots from illegal immigrants. Then in week five, the committee decides that chairman is an outdated term and will be replaced by a term decided later once the committee to count ballots. Diversity consultants finish their reports. Then in week six, fraudulent ballots from the Chinese Communist Party arrive. And in week seven, the committee elects a chair zurzon, a non-binary disabled child. to count the ballots. Week 8, it is discovered to chair Zerzan does not actually know how to count. And then in week 9, the ballots are thrown away and the committee announces election results that are entirely made up. So we've got a couple of months yet as the California goes through this rigorous process to count ballots before we get a final tally. But, you know, it is in the offing.

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I need you to pick up. Everything is messed up. Please just pick up. Karen, it's been so long since you called me. It's a time for your term and I fleck I'm on ecstasy. Said with your vision meant to us were one to death of me. They tried to save your legacy, but baby I just ended it. Call me KB. Call me KB. I'm so clean. You got to watch me. KB. Pull up airstream B. Whole city is ready. Go deep. KB. Sweety Street still got some work. KB. Hey, you try to bury your lives. Somebody come dig them up. If I call up your voters right. Top of the morning, Dan Proft here. And yeah, it's a little pouring over the election results from yesterday. Very interesting. Spencer Pratt in second place, as we were talking about, as Mike Scott reported, a few points behind Bass, but well ahead of Nithya Raman. So it looks like those two are going to the runoff about a little bit more than two-thirds of the votes have been counted. according to California election authorities. And Steve Hilton in first place in the governor's race. So. He with about 60, a little bit more than 60% of the votes counted. So it definitely looks like he's going as well. I think he needs to get some help organically the way Spencer Pratt is from some of these artistic types in L.A. Maybe they could do a one-two punch. But Hilton and Pratt is going to make for at least, at least a credible and vastly expanded debate over the next five months about the policy direction of California. and the competing philosophies of governance. So it is sort of exciting to see what's happening in a deep blue state that has failed and has been lost for so long that you can have, you know, a naturalized British citizen and a former reality star mixing things up. uh in uh in california uh now there are some other issues too we're sort of joking not sort of we were joking properly ridiculing california's inability to return election results on the night of um there's also this too i mean just in terms of not taking anything for granted with a third of the vote still out roughly speaking uh fresh lawsuit against california secretary state calling into question whether hundreds of thousands of unqualified voters are still eligible to vote. The Republican candidate for Secretary of State, they actually have one, joining the American Independent Party, suing the incumbent Secretary of State alleging there are 873,000 inactive voter registration still on the rolls. This is working in conjunction with Judicial Watch to... challenge the cleanliness of the voter rolls in California. And by the way, I mean, again, signs of life, actual activity, not just being the opposition party from a contrarian point of view, but from a policy and competence point of view. This is something that could be done in Illinois or any other state that has been listless for.

a long stretch and has not been competitive in elections. I doubt that Secretary of State candidate has much of a chance in a general election, though you never know. But the point is you're putting down markers of the kinds of things that you would do if people reflected on their previous choices and decided to chart a different course. Spencer Pratt's ready. This was his message yesterday. while the votes were still rolling in, but it appeared that he was going to be in the top two slots. I'm ready for whatever God puts in front of me. Obviously, I was going to accept whatever God's plan was tonight. I was going to be happy if I wasn't moving for it because I would have known that God wouldn't want me to be the mayor. And then now I feel very confident that I'm going to continue to work hard, learn everything I need to learn, build my teams, show all the experience I'm going to surround myself with because that's a concern. I'm going to build that experience around. We have five months. best team the city can ever dream of around. A little bit hard to hear over the Bee Gees, but yeah, he's just talking about ready for whatever God puts in front of him and he's going to continue to build the team. I liked a little bit of the humility. I mean, he's a brash guy, but he also expressed some humility there. Look, thinking with an eye towards a general election smart. Look, I know the criticism. One of the criticisms is questioning my experience. So over the next five months, you're going to see the team I put together. Then we're going to be ready to go on day one. I'm going to address those concerns. I get it. And, you know, we're going to continue the momentum. I mean, it's just, it's been really fun to watch in a fascinating campaign. The other thing that's happening, too, these sort of old. Soviet-style candidates and their lethargic, clunky campaigns. Xavier Becerra, you know, running against Hilton, Bass, running against Pratt. I mean, there really is a contrast there, not just on policy and philosophy, but on style. I mean, Bass and Xavier Becerra are so uncool. They're so unhip. They're so dull. They're so entitled. I mean, the Xavier Becerra interview, you know, this guy's former AG, HHS Secretary for the big guy. The Xavier Becerra interview that will haunt him in the general election, particularly if Steve Hilton plays it right, and could make that race a lot more competitive than it otherwise would be based on registrations. is where he sat down with the local yokel network affiliate reporter who was going to ask him, she was going to ask him some, you know, basic question about the campaign. And he had to sort of preordain where she could and couldn't go. Now, this isn't a gotcha interview. This is a, you know, this is a fun interview. This is a nice interview. And she sort of bristled, as she should have, having some, you know.

integrity said look i'm i'm going to ask you some tough questions about your candidacy in the campaign this you how you know how these things work right well i just want to make sure it's not a got you i'm going to ask questions and you can give me whatever answers you want it was really a telling moment just how imperious these you know identitarian neo-marxist pauls from that are sort of one point oh version of it that go back 40 years like these two talking about Xavier Becerra and Bass, really an indication of, you know, their disdain for the populace. And that is coming through. You know, that thing that started with Brexit 10 years ago and Trump in this country 10 years ago, you know, it's still unsettled. And you see it happening, speaking of Brexit, you see it happening across the pond in Steve Hilton's home, you know, a country of origin, I should say. not home countries, home countries here, but it's country of origin, with the protests now that have taken to the streets in Southampton over the Henry Noak murder that we were talking about yesterday. Now that that body cam footage has been released and it's been laid bare for the public to see and the conviction of Henry Novak's murderer and the comments from Henry Nowak's father on the steps of the courthouse after the verdict was rendered. It's powerful stuff. And people see the hypocrisy and the disdain, as I said before, the disdain that their elected representatives, temporary elected representatives have for them. In California, they don't really care if their incompetence leads to your house being burned down. They don't care if their incompetence and difference ideology leads to you or a family member. being violated by somebody that shouldn't even be in your community, in your country. Really interesting times. And meanwhile, what is the other side putting forward in addition to Xavier Becerra and Bass in terms of high-profile races around the country that will have impact on their branding, people's impression of that party? I mean, it just gets better and better. As if there is not enough going on with Graham Platner, and to some extent, James Talarico down in Texas, this candidate we talked about last week is across the finish line. Adam Maman, Hamouye, candidate for Congress in New Jersey 12. And in this district, the primary is the general. So he's going to be a member of Congress. He was a character witness for the blind shake, the World Trade Center bomber. He worked for a al-Qaeda front organization in the Balkans. I mean, this is, you know, taking Rashida Tlaib to leave and exponentially exponentially.

lowering the bar, as it were. It's wild. Glenn and Orlando, you're in Chicago's morning answer. Yeah, good morning, Dan. What I find interesting about the Karen Bass is that she only got about 32% of the vote. So the other voters went for two other candidates, and she's the incumbent. So I think she's got problems. And I hope that they, Spencer Pratt, plays that video of her on the airplane when she's coming back from Ghana while the palisides were burning. And she didn't, she kept quiet. She kept her mouth shut when the reporters were asking her questions. I hope they play that video. Thanks for the call, Glenn. Well, the problem is that Nithya Raman is also a neo-Marxist. That's the problem. So you may, you know, you may have 22%, I think that's where Raman is right now. You know, fifth of that electorate saying, you know, I want a neo-Marxist. I want an apparatchik, but I want like a younger version of Karen Bass, which is what Nithya Raman is, younger. I want to say smarter based on her academic credentials, but not based on what she actually has had to say and how she's performed in the campaign. Not really. So, no, I mean, it's still an uphill race as we talked about. Look, you have the bass vote plus the ramen vote is north of 50%. So. In the general election, Spencer Pratt is going to have some additional conversions to make. But, you know, he hasn't done poorly so far. And, you know, ramen is, well, it'll just be interesting to see. I want to get to Graham Platner, too, quickly. The enthusiasm. for Graham Platner, I think is waning a bit. And the drip, drip, drip of stories about this guy being the Creighton that he has demonstrated he is continued. Polyachi was asked about Graham Platner yesterday. He still stands with him after the latest revelations. I wouldn't call this defense enthusiastic. I met with Graham Plattele today. We're going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate. Are you there? Yes. So you're saying that Janet Mills is your preferred candidate, but there's been rattling that she should get back in. You're standing behind Graham Platner, to be clear here? We're going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate. Yes.

We're going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate. Any other subject you got? Any other subjects? Yes, yes, you're right there. We're going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate. Last one. You have not said if you're still endorsing Graham Platner. Are you still supporting Graham Platner? As I said, I endorsed Graham Platner. We're going to take back. We're going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate. What are you trying to say? I endorsed Graham Platner, past tense, and we're going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate. Right. Not exactly a full-throated defense or a fetting of Graham Platner from the Senate Minority Leader there. Hmm. Yes. George in Naperville. Oh, Dan? Yes, Dan, I think our political betters need to get better at showing human traits. Well, some are more human than others. But, I mean, Rahman, again, this is the, this is the sort of predicate for the Spencer Pratt revolt. We spent so much time on bass and being gone and the Palisades fire and all of her other. offerings and and you know one of the classics too is you know i can't undo 30 years worth of problems in one term i need a second term to finish the job right 30 years a problem under a problems created under whose leadership your parties The disassociation from everything that came before them that they were a part of. These are all your fellow travelers. These are people you endorse. These are policies you supported. And you're continuing. And so the slide continues. But ramen, I mean, this is classic, just, you know, for me, but not for thee. You see it all the time. But it gets more poignant. when it's at your front door, as Nithya Raman found out. When it comes to the homeless problem that Spencer Pratt has talked so much about, it's not a problem to have homeless encampments, like, say, near a school. You know, drug addicts, the mentally ill, the violence. In a couple of different categories, not a problem. I mean, it's like, I don't think a kid's going to be safer because a tent is 500 feet away from a school. You know, it's like whatever. I think somebody disagreed. But if the homeless encampment is near her home.

So I woke up this morning to a sound of commotion outside of my window and I looked out the window and I realized that there were people setting up like a homeless encampment outside of my house, multiple people outside of my house. This is somebody who wants encampments on our streets that she lets encampments be there. I have little kids. I mean, it's like, I don't think a kid's going to be safer because a tent is 500 feet away from a school. Yeah, right. It's very different tune when it's her kids that she's concerned about, not your kids. Sonny Hosten. She, you know, she's one of those manhating shrews on the view on Graham Platner. I mean, this is just great. I love this. She said, so he's a liar or racist and anti-Semit. He's a homophote. So he has all the things and character does matter. But does it really? But we have someone that homas has almost unbridled power in the White House at this point. And I do think that one of the only ways is to win, you know, to check that unbridled power. One of the only ways to win. is one of the only other ways to check that umbrella power is to win that seat in Maine. He's a liar, racist, anti-Semit and a homophobe, but he's our liar and racist and anti-Semit and homophobe. Oh, of course. The ends justify the Nazi. I get it. Okay. It's news, opinion, insight. This is Chicago's morning answer. An AM 560. The answer. Hey, business owners, is your business and money in good hands? Does your bank invest in your success? Hi, Mike Gallagher here, letting you know that when you need a relationship bank, signature bank makes commercial banking personal. I love these guys. Not only do they have expansive industry experience, a strong financial track record, but they're also highly capitalized for strategic growth. That's so important. That's why signature bank is my bank. They know what it means to grow a business by designing solutions that are right for you and only. you. These are real people. They're ready to help. So reach out to my friends at Signature Bank. Make the call today. 773-467-5630. Or visit them online at SignatureBank.Bank. Bank. That's SignatureBank. Bank. Your business could be Signature Bank's next success story. Go online. SignatureBank. Bank. Equal Housing Lender, Signature Bank. This is Chicago's morning answer with Dan Profft on AM 560. The answer. Top of the morning, Dan Profft here. So Jill Biden has been making the rounds, as you've no doubt taken notice of. Hawking a new book. Speaking of the branding problems, the neo-Marxist party has, talking about some of the candidates that are high profile, wearing their label around the country, including, but not limited to California, Maine, Texas, that New Jersey congressman who's expanding the al-Qaeda caucus within their ranks.

Jill Biden running around talking about the 2024 election and the deception emanating from the Biden White House. I don't think that's helpful either. And you hear, you don't really need to think, you hear grumbling from backbenchers about Jill Biden's profile and some of the recasting of what happened that she's trying to do. She was on the view. Friendly audience, of course. Fellow man-hating shrews. Fellow cookie tray, depth intellects. Shocked. Shocked by that debate performance. And my phone rings, like five, six in the morning. Did you see? Did you see the results? Shocked by the results. But she was shocked by the debate performance. Stunned. The doctors told her. And he'd given so much of himself and to see you even saying, like, I thought he was having a medical episode. I was concerned. Was there any part of you that went into protection mode of like, Joe, you can't keep doing this? Like, this is, they're taking so much from you. But the doctors told me he was fine. I'm not a doctor. I mean, I am a doctor. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I have a useless PhD in education. So call me doctor. I'll pass. And this is what she's been saying for the last week in these interviews trying to sell books. Ever see signs that he was falling into cognitive decline? No. No. No. Truly. No. I mean, people were saying he wasn't the same Joe Biden. Well. I don't think that's true. He was the same, the essence of the same Joe Biden. But yeah, he was slowing down. He was getting older. I mean, we all observe that. You know, it's a very intense job. I think it ages you quickly. The, with the COVID, excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with, look. if we finally beat Medicare. Thank you, President Biden. Before or since? Never. Or since? Yes. You've never seen them like that? Never. No. What happened? I don't know what happened. I mean, as I watched it, I thought, oh, my God, he's having a stroke. And it scared me to death. Scared her to death, right? The answer from the debate that was indicative of his performance on that. night and then now her recasting it saying she was scared to death she thought he was having a stroke never saw signs of cognitive decline very much like the full compliment of his fellow party member said including all the Illinois types like J.B and B.J but especially J.B. Never saw it. But this was Jill post debate. Oh, my God, I thought he was having a stroke. This was Jill Biden that night, post-debate. Joe, you did such a great job. You answered every question. You knew all the facts. And let me ask the crowd, what did Trump do?

Adam Smith is a good example of one of those backbenchers I'm talking about. He's a neo-Marxist from Washington State. I mean, just think of the two sentences. She said, I saw him on the debate stage. I thought he was having a stroke. And then in the next breath, she says, no, I didn't see any evidence of cognitive decline. Come on. I mean, and this is something that was a huge problem for my party. I mean, it was very clear, you know, probably a couple years out, the Joe Biden was not going to be a credible candidate for president because of his age and declining health. That, to my mind, that's not even debatable. And yet, Jill and the family and a whole lot of his advisors around him, for whatever reason, dug in and said, we're going to jam him forward. And we've paid a terrible, terrible price for that. And the final point on this is every one of us Democrats out there who saw that Biden was going to run. And there was no stopping him. We had to try and defend it, which undermined our credibility as individuals and our credibility as a party. So it really weakened us in 2024. They should have seen it. They just should have seen it. And the only thing I want to hear from Jill Biden is, I'm sorry. We should have said something, sir. Yeah. We had to go out and try and defend him. Did you? We couldn't tell the truth. He couldn't offer our opinion. A couple years out, it was clear to most of us that he was not going to be a credible candidate re-election. He was barely a credible candidate for election in the first place. I love that. You know, we knew the truth, but we just, you know, we couldn't tell you. We couldn't say what we thought to be true because that wouldn't be being a proper teammate. Wouldn't be politically expedient? Well, how did your political expediency pay off? There's a lesson there, isn't there? For both sides. Let's do the thing that's politically expedient. That's easy. We have to defer. We have to defer. We have to defer. We have to defer. Okay. Well, now you regret your expediency. We paid a terrible price. Adam Smith saying, yeah. You couldn't have seen that coming? You thought we're going to get away with it. And if they had gotten away with it, they'd still be doing the same thing today. So Adam Smith, like Jake Tapper, is not a hero in this story. He's just trying to recast himself, save himself. And this is as close as you'll get to a Mia Culp. But it's not a true apology because he's not sorry that he participated in it. He's sorry that they got caught and they paid a price for it. And so is Jill Biden. And she has to, you know. be in this phony sort of state of introspection as I reflect back and in order to sell books, in order to refurbish her own reputation, which is what this book tour is about, too, the book and the book tour. As I look back, would I want to put Joe through the hurt and the pain we felt during that time? Never, never. I mean, it was so hurtful. She was just trying to be a good wife.

Right. Same thing. If they had gotten away with it, they would still be doing it today. That's the point. And I mean, just to give you another example of how dishonest, prudder naturally dishonest these people are, and I'm starting with Jill, who's out there flacking for this. invented story about what went down in 2024 and in the years leading up. This was talking about the 2024 election, you know, with the gals on the view, girl talk. And she was almost as shocked by the results in 2024 as she was by the big guys debate performance. Because, I mean, she was on the trail. You know, their gal pals, her and Kamala Harris. And she saw the crowds and the enthusiasm. Who could have seen this coming? And my phone rings, like five, six in the morning. Did you see, did you see the results? And just at that moment, I knew. And I ran into the bedroom and I woke Joe up and I'm like, Joe, Joe, why didn't you tell me this? Why didn't you wake me up? And he said, yes, you know, she lost. And I was shocked. I saw the enthusiasm. I was out on the road for her. The excitement. We all saw the big crowds. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. No, sure. The big crowds. Mike De La Rosa, excuse me, Mike La Rosa is a former Jill Biden spokeshuman. And he likes, he still likes them. He says so. He says he has affinity for the family.

You know, he's a spinmeister. So maybe he's doing a little of damage control himself and reputation management himself. So take that all into account. But it doesn't mean that his observations are incorrect. That's why it's so hard. Who would want to be my position? I love and care about Dr. Biden still. But they've done themselves no favors. And they continue to damage her credibility by changing their tune like this. And here's the thing, well. They are immune. The Bidens and the people around them were immune to authenticity or anything that resembles honesty. It was a betrayal to suggest having a human response. Had she had a human response that night, like a concerned wife would. They may have received some benefit of the doubt, maybe even could have pulled off it was a once-and-done thing. But instead, they put her out to be a political operative. and to spin, not even very believable spin at that. And those were the first pictures and images and reactions that the country got after that debate. It was her spinning. And that's where they aired. Joe, you did such a great job. You answered every question. You knew all the people. Yeah. Oh, look the big crowd. Did Trump do? Right. He lied. Right, Jill. La Rosa pointing out this is sort of a recurring approach taken by that hillbilly crime family from Wilmington. Too cute by half. You see it all the time in politics. One thing I noticed is that... There was, yes, there's this aversion to humanness and transparency, but they always wanted to have things both ways. And there was always an effort to be too cute by half. So what they're trying to do now, the people around Dr. Biden with this book, they're trying to say, he was fine before and after and since, but my reaction, her reaction was just like yours. It was just as concerning as everyone else at home. It was just like you. I'm just like you. Except, again, they put her out to be a political operative and go spin right after that. Right. Come on, man. And he's still a tiger in the sack. I understand. Right. That's that he was great before and after and since. It was just that one night. You know, something in his pudding. Mike at Deerfield, you're on Chicago's morning answer. Wait, hold on. Technical difficulty. Now you are, Mike. Go ahead. Sorry. Okay, sorry. Former congressman from Minnesota. Dean Phillips was the only public Democrat that came out and called Biden on his cognitive decline. And he was basically excommunicated from the Democratic Party by Nancy Pelosi. Yeah. So step out a line, call out the cognitive decline, and you got sidelined yourself. It was really pathetic. Yeah. No, that's right. Good recall on Dean Phillips. That's right. But, I mean, this is where...

you would, if the parties were better, you would have people making the point that I just made. You know, using Adam Smith as a good example. The unfortunately named Adam Smith, a leftist sort of polluting the great name of Adam Smith. But you do things out of political expediency because you're afraid to be honest internally. You don't want to police your own people. Well, you're going to pay trouble the price politically and in every other way if you do it that way. There's a takeaway there. And we're continuing to see it. And by the way, they're still paying the price. They can't get out from underneath it because now five months from a midterm, Jill Biden is on a media tour selling a book and. You know, rehashing all this stuff that they want to put in everybody's rearview mirror, which is why it's incumbent upon Republicans, just from a political competency point of view, to keep this going. I'm doing my little part here. Absolutely. Remind people. Thank you for reminding us, Jill, of everything that was done. And... Let's continue to distill everything she has to say as she sort of invents this stylized version of events. And put this to your neighbors too. You're that party. You're with these people. Not just the people currently, not just the louts like Graham Platner, but this White House, this conspiracy of fools. Jerry, Milwaukee. Yeah, morning, Dan. Two points. First of all, when Joe Biden says, hey, he was successful. He answered every question. So that's the bar Democrats. You just have to answer every question whether it makes sense or not. And number two is, she said he had a stroke. She thinks he had a stroke. In the next breath, she says, well, we've got two more campaign stops the next day. And wouldn't any self-respecting spouse say if he had his stroke, well, we better get him into a hospital or see a doctor. She's talking about two more campaign stops the next day. Thanks for the call, Jerry. Yeah. It was just that one moment on the debate stage. Fine before, fine after, fine sense, robust, exacting, rigorous. Mike, Northwest Indiana. Good morning. I got a quick response to Jerry's situation. The current process for stroke treatment is taking the Waffle House. Let's up. Let's conduct a little Einstein good Dunkin experiment. Suppose despite all this mess, Biden would have won the election. Then some other episode occurs. The Democrats would be salivating, would have been salivating to get Kamala Harris in his place, throwing him out under the bus in a heartbeat. No, no question. I mean, that's what I'm saying. Thanks for the comment. There's no lesson learned. The only thing that, which is, again, this is not novel, but it, it, it.

It's necessary to apply the label to this whole episode, this Confederacy of Dunces. The only thing they're upset about is getting caught. That's it. The stories you need to know to start your day. This is Chicago's morning answer on AM 560 The Answer. The Common Sense Counter Revolution. Pride celebrations across the country continue to lose out on large sponsorships as corporations shrink their affiliation with diversity causes and LGBTQIA2S plus plus plus plus plus plus plus plus plus plus plus plus plus plus events. Yeah. A majority of the celebrations in big cities are down, but not Boston. Thanks to Barrington High School's very own, Michelle Wu. And I'm not over at Sesame Street, too. I saw Sesame Street posted something on X about their LGBTQIA2S plus plus plus plus plus plus plus plus plus plus support. Yeah, sure. You still got to work on grooming the kids. But yeah, a lot of other corporations that were full on have pulled back. It's interesting. Interesting. But as I said, not in Boston. Not only they have Michelle Wu and not only they do trans, wait, trans menstrual equity seminars. Yeah. What do we want? Menstrual equity. When do we want it once a month? Yeah. They also have a LGBTQIA2S plus plus Pride Month choir.

No, very pitchy. Not good. What? I'll tell you. When the musical accompaniment of pride events is this suspect boy, it really means that the pageantry is on the wane, it would seem. Don't take that act to America's Got Talent. I'll tell you that much. Hear about the big stories of the day. Then talk about them right here on Chicago's morning answer. On AM 560, The Answer. Only the biggest stories. Only the biggest guests. And only the biggest opinions. This is AM 560, The Answer. Top of the morning, Dan Proff here. So Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin for the Senate Homeland Security Committee yesterday. And right out of the gate, before he could even get to his prepared statement, he had to address, who else? New Jersey Senator Chris Murphy and his characteristic hyperventilation in the direction of ice. with particular emphasis on Delaney Hall, the ICE detention facility in Newark, given the unrest generated by professional agitators leading to the need for local police to intervene, arrestment being made, Nick Sorter, and other independent journalists up there. doing a nice job documenting just how well-financed that operation was, even participating in some of the so-called training sessions, you know, incognito, to give you a sense of how well-resourced these professional agitators are from, well, we don't know necessarily specifically to this event or the last several days of unrest surrounding that facility. But we know generally who some of the bigger. NGOs are and who funds them, people like Nivelle Singman, people like George Soros. Anyway, Mullen got right after Chris Murphy from the jump. You know, I do have an opening statement here, but wow, Senator Murphy, the outlandish claims you made there is just flat wrong. You start saying we're breaking the law and you really start looking at it and we're enforcing the laws that Congress did pass. That's reckless. When you start saying it's unconstitutional, what's unconstitutional that we're doing? We swore to uphold the Constitution, just like you swore to uphold the Constitution, for you to throw my 275,000 employees underneath DHS and with a broad stroke like that is reckless and irresponsible on your part. We're doing the job that Congress gave us the authority to do. And our men and women out there every single day is enforcing the laws. If you don't like the laws, you can change them. We're not picking and choosing which laws we enforce. We're simply enforcing the law. Period. Full stop. When you throw out reckless terms and you start referring to...

Our agents is being dangerous, unconstitutional, and lawless. That's why our agents, death threats, are up by 8,000 percent. I know that's not what you want. But your political theater, that's what it causes. When you start looking at assaults on our officers, they're up by 1,300 percent. Senator Murphy, is that what you want? I don't think it is. I really don't. But I understand the political theater. I understand wanting to get sound bites. And that was obvious because the whole time he was giving your testimony. He wasn't looking at me. He's looking at a camera. I get that. I get it. If you have bigger political ambitions, fine. Just say it. But don't do it at the expense of my officers. We want to really talk about funding. You haven't funded my officers. CBP and ICE has been willing to do the job for free. Why? Because of a reckless administration. Prior to President Trump coming in and saving America, you had a reckless administration that was destroying America by letting millions of the illegals into our country. We're a nation of laws, and we're going to enforce those laws. What separate us from other countries is because people respect the rule of law. And following that, John Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Senator from Louisiana, of course, wanted Mullen to address the... professional agitation, the violence in and around Delaney Hall. I mean, you'm sure have seen the images of these professional agitators playing tug of war with fencing, with officers, the specific threats, the arrest made for specific threats on one officer's life and the life of his family. In addition to the violence, you see these people taking essentially makeshift shields and attacking police officers on horse, attacking the horses. It was some wild scenes up there before it got tightened up. What happened did Delaney Hall? Well, a lot of claims were made. And they just absolutely weren't true. The first one came out and said it was overcrowded. We have today, I believe, under 700 detainees there. It's licensed for just over 1,000 beds. We have twice a square footage at Delaney Hall than the state penitentiary does in New Jersey. They said that the medical condition was horrible. We had twice as much medical staff per person than the state penitentiary does in New Jersey. What happened with the protesters? Well, the protesters is interesting. The governor and the state officials were going out and saying that they were peaceful protesters and ICE was agitated them. That all changed when the governor finally allowed the state police to do their job. And by the way, they're professionals. And the locals there were absolutely professionals. When they came in, they quickly realized these aren't peaceful protesters. These are rioters. Mostly peaceful. You know how it goes. 312 642, 5600. AlphaWealthgroup.com calling text line. Mostly peaceful. And yeah, the efforts, despite Mikie Sherrill allowing for state police and local police to intercede on behalf of peace.

The accusations, I'm glad that Mullen describes some of them, that the Delaney Hall, the ICE detention facility is uninhabitable. There's a hunger strike going on because the food is so bad. The condition is so deplorable. Overcrowding. Well, 700 people in custody there. They got a thousand beds. Uh-huh. Rez Baraka, who is the mayor of Newark, he was arrested the last go-round along with McIver, that Congresswoman, for trying to interrupt federal law enforcement operations. Not their first rodeo. No, he's fouled another suit trying to get the detention facility shut down. making these claims. Right now we have a letter from detainees that speak specifically and outlines some of the conditions there. So we actually have plaintiffs. We have, you know, the health department from the state and our health department demanded access and was denied access to these facilities. So we're expanding it down on health and human conditions that are in there. And we believe that it should be shut down because we have actual... irrefutable evidence now that the place is uninhabitable. Uninhabitable, irrefutable evidence. Tom Homan went to that detention facility over the weekend to gather his own evidence. Like I said, we addressed that in New Jersey, and we got local law enforcement and state law enforcement to finally do their public safety job. But we've got to remember what started all this. You got Democratic lawmakers on Memorial Day making false allegations about the facility, about the food, the medical care, hunger strikes. I went into that facility. I went through the medical. I went through outdoor recreation, indoor recreation. I even made a surprise visit this weekend and walked into the cafeteria and ate the same meal that the detainees around me were eating. And I made sure my tray equal dirt tray. I had spaghetti and meat sauce. I had beans. I had green beans. I had bread and rolls. I had drinks. I had dessert. The food was good. It's all a false premise. There was never a hunger strike. The congressman said, oh, people aren't hungry strikes. No, they weren't. They may not be eaten in the cafeteria, but what I found out, they're ordering food from the commissary eating in their cells. So there wasn't any abuse. It's not inhumane conditions. I went to the entire facility. I ate the same meal they ate. That facility is well-running, and the governor keeps saying, she's going to keep raising out if that facility shuts down. Well, I got news for the governor. That facility isn't going anywhere. We're going to enforce the law. We're going to detain people and we're remove people. Matter of fact, a lot of the people in that facility, we couldn't release because they're mandatorily detained by federal statute. So we couldn't release them if we even wanted to. But we're not going to release any of them. Everybody in that facility I have ascertained is legally being detained. Yeah, but I heard the meat sauce was out of a can. I mean, come on. How about something homemade? It's like ketchup and noodles, Mr. Holman.

Have you no decency? Hmm. So all the hyperventilating and the histrionics in committee hearings and on the streets, and then you get the straight dope of what these facilities actually are, both in terms of capacity as well as conditions. Uh-huh. You know, it's, it's, and in terms of the ICE officers doing their job. both at facilities and in the community, and particularly in communities that are sanctuary communities because they're compelled to be in the community since they can't get cooperation. This report from a decade ago has been recirculating. Sort of remarkable. CNN's Pamela Brown did a ride along with ICE officers in Chicago. 2016. CNN ride along ICE officers in Chicago doing enforcement and recovery operations. So, you know, enforcing the law. May of 2016. So pre-Donald Trump. Pre-Donald Trump. The same ICE officers that became Nazis nine months later. We're just police officers doing their job, and CNN wanted to get perspective on how they do their job and the difficulties and challenges and so forth. It's sort of incredible to listen to this because how fast that switch was flipped when Trump was elected. And we got serious about enforcing federal immigration law, isn't it? Their first stop? Cicero. And they made a mistake, as you'll hear. And yet the reporting on this is even-handed, room temperature, as it should be. What would it be today?

Just before the sun rises in the windy city, immigration and customs enforcement agents fan out across Chicago to arrest criminals in the U.S. illegally. Criminals, how dare you? CNN was granted exclusive access to witness some of those raids. We got three targets this morning. You know, some of the neighborhoods are little sketchy, so we got to make sure it's not just the target we're looking after but other people around us. They want to come out extra early like right now because they want to catch these people before they go to work. That's why it starts so early in the morning. All right, let's roll, guys. A lot of things go through your head. Your adrenaline, blood pressure, of course, goes up when you're getting ready to do something like this. All right, that vehicle behind us is off limits. How many people are involved with this operation particularly right now? I have a five-man arrest team here situated in this neighborhood here on the street. You see the stoop going up. I have a couple guys sitting right inside that stoop. This is part of what we do. Keep eyes on somebody and try to be as covert as we can. There we go. Is that him in white? This may look organized, but in this moment, confusion. There's always challenges we face when it's dark. Somebody looks very similar to an individual. Ice agents mistakenly arrest the target's brother. In the process of talking to him in the vehicle, he then said, oh, no, I'm actually so-and-so. Who you're looking for is over here, this other address. He led us to that address, and we were able to actually arrest the individual we were looking for. Oh, my gosh. They accidentally arrested the wrong individual, and then they got the right one. Half of the city council would be organizing street protests if that happened today. 312-642-4-2-5600. Applewealthgroup.com call and text line. I mean, today, just to my point, you know, this is what we have in political leadership in the city. the likes of Alder Human Rosano Rodriguez, who's on Ice Patrol. Good morning, community. I am currently patrolling the area of Ketsi and Grace. We had reports of ice in the community. They took a neighbor from Ketsi and Lawrence. Patrolers are out right now. We're trying to keep an eye on everything that's happening. We have a few graduations today, some field days. Please be careful. Please make sure that you take care of yourself if you're vulnerable. You mean if you're an illegal alien criminal? Yeah, that's what makes you vulnerable. Illegal alien criminals, now there are neighbors. Second stop. Back to CNN. Second. I mean, just remarkable how pedestrian the reporting is.

Where's the street theater that you get from the politicians? Or you get an Senate committee hearing? Second stop, Irwin. Next, start. Somebody that did excessive 10 years for narcotics trafficking. He's also been arrested from DUI. We also may be attempting to criminally prosecute this individual because he was previously removed from the country, which is a federal felony. You have evidence, right, that he's using a fake identity? That is correct. We believe he's been using a U.S. citizen's identity to live and work. It has an Illinois driver's license. Immigration and Customs Enforcement just arrested its second target. It has had surveillance on this person for a while now. This individual was incarcerated at Cook County Jail at one point. He was released without notification to ICE. Previously, if we had been in the jail like we were prior to the 2011 ordinance, we probably couldn't arrest the individual at Cook County Jail much more safe and secure location. He's going to be processed or going to fingerprint him, ask him questions, and there's a whole process that goes into place before anyone is deported back, including seeing a judge. Yeah, well, you can't do that reporting today because that would present the facts in such a way as to... cut against the hysteria that the left tries to induce. I mean, that's not sensationalized. So who's going to get all worked up about that? Those guys don't seem like Nazis, do they? If you can't hype your position to generate, you know, ignorance-based... mania, then it's not worth doing. But I just, that, that report eight, you know, nine months before Trump took office and what we've been treated to for the subsequent decade on this topic. Could the, could the distinction be more stark? The more you listen, the more you'll know. This is Chicago's morning answer. Morning answer. At AM 560, the answer. This is Chicago's Morning Answer with Dan Proft on AM 560. The answer.

Top of the morning, Dan Proft here. So double-barreled action on the Hill yesterday when Markwayne Mullin, Homeland Security Secretary, was testifying before Senate Homeland Security Committee. Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, NSA, et cetera, et cetera, was before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee having to match wits. with Spartacus there, Senator Cory Booker, on the state of play with Iran bristling at the characterization that Cory Booker offered as to where things stand. Here we have a worse situation where our adversary and our enemy who's causing havoc in the region, who is funding proxies and terrorists. has discovered, thanks to you all, the power of shutting down the strait of her moves. They didn't disrupt. They knew that a long time ago, and they've done it before. Clearly, we all knew that a long time ago. That's why this ill-conceived war should have never happened. You have made our adversary in a stronger negotiating position. We are the strongest nation on the planet Earth, and we're in a stalemate with Iran. And now we're begging to get back into a deal that you all trashed in the first place. There's no one begging. I don't know. Clearly this is a shame. Senator Cory Booker, your time's up. I do want to address them these points because they go to the heart of the matter. No one's begging for anything here. The Iranians might be begging because their economies losing hundreds and millions of dollars a day. that they are losing. Understand Iran had street protests going on before all of this started. All of those factors, economic factors in Iran, are far worse today than they were six months ago when those protests were happening. They have hyperinflation, their currencies completely devalued, they're struggling to make payroll for their government workers. Iran is in a very serious situation. And if it was up to the political class there, and I understand everybody there is sort of radical in some way, but if it was up to the people that actually go to elections and wear the suits and you see on TV, they'd probably make a deal tomorrow. The issue they're facing is that the Supreme Leader in the IRGC Corps are a little bit more immune from those pressures until they can be convinced otherwise. And I think that's the direction that they're moving in because the reality of Iran, I don't know where you're getting this perception that Iran is stronger. Iran has no Navy left. They have lost a substantial percentage of their defense industrial base, that Iran has lost a substantial percentage of their missile launchers, and their economy is far worse today, and I mean far worse today than it was six to nine months ago. And they are looking at hundreds of billions. of dollars of reconstruction costs just to get to where they were six months. Mr. Rua, you keep telling us how we're winning this war. The president keeps saying completely annihilated. The war is not over. And yet the American people see how we're losing at the pump and with their costs. And yet this thing still hasn't been resolved. Every day he tweets out, oh, we've obliterated them. We've annihilated them. They're going to surrender. but yet we still find ourselves spending billions of dollars a week. Yeah, Senator Cory Booker, you've gone way over. Yeah, I mean, I'm with Marco Rubio until he said the war is over. I mean, I know what he's referencing the hostilities, the military, actually, kinetic action is over. But it may not be over. And that's not me saying it. That was the President of the United States intimating it in the cabinet meeting last week.

on true social and he sit down he did with his daughter-in-law over the weekend right if we can't get a deal that i want then we'll have to reopen the straight obtain the enriched uranium another way well what would the other way be but force so um i know There's a lot of fanboyism with respect to Marco Rubio in Mago world, but the war is over to me as a problematic statement that he made. For more on this topic and others, please be joined by James Fitzpatrick, attorney, Army veteran, director of the center to advance security in America. James says Patrick, thanks for joining us. Appreciate it. Hey, thanks, Dan. Great to be here with you. Good to have you. Is the war over? No, I... I understand what the secretary meant by that. You know, I think you summarized it well. I think he means that, you know, the hostilities, the hot fighting is behind us for the moment. For the moment. I don't, yeah, I don't think they're necessarily contradicting each other, the president and the secretary there. I just think that, yes, fighting is now over and we're in negotiating phase. If the meeting doesn't go well, of course you can go back to fighting. But as of right now, I think his statement is accurate. Yeah, but I mean, it's a little bit of, we were just talking about how Jill Biden is being too cute by half on her book tour. It feels a little too cute by half to me. First of all, even the hostilities aren't over because you have Iran firing on a quady air base and us responding as recently as. 48 hours ago. So, I mean, yeah, and that's fine. You can have hostilities and you can have concurrent with negotiations. Sure, you need to make sure that people understand your position. And sometimes that takes action to bring home the point. That doesn't bother me. It just bothered this like sort of characterization of how things are that is different than how things are. Yeah, understood. I mean, I think what bothered me on the clip that you played is the Senator Cory Booker really just – Well, of course. He's sort of the – he's the mouthpiece for the sort of Washington political class. I mean, just taking any sort of opportunity to hit the administration when I don't know how any sane person could argue that Iran is somehow stronger now. I mean, that's an idiotic, absolute, assonine statement, right? Yeah. Yeah. In that clip, it was just madness, right? I mean, yeah, they're losing hundreds of millions of dollars a day. Their government leadership is decimated. Their military and their Navy is decimated. They have no ability to produce, you know, missiles anymore. So, I mean, I think, you know, we are in a in a very strong position. And that's why they're negotiating with us. No, I get it. And I, but I mean, I, you know, my, my resting. expectation is that Cory Booker, when he talks, is going to say something asinine. So that's not a surprise. So, I mean, do you have any particular perspective? We've obviously been talking to a lot of people that have background similar to yours and expertise, veterans and so forth, Intel people. And, you know, there's sort of a recurring theme. And I guess it's just a wait and see, which is.

that the straight of Hormuz is only going to be open by the Americans, and only by force unless you get people you describe as lunatics, and Marco Rubio is sort of going down that road when he was talking about the IRGC and the people that are actually in charge here, you get them to do something that you know you can't trust and specifically perform on some. short-term timeline to consummate a deal. I mean, it just seems like that is highly unlikely and they have to be put on a clock. Yeah, understood. I think, look, I think the Marco Rubio said yesterday or maybe the day before about some of the guardrails we have with these negotiations. And I think there's a couple things. I think you may have mentioned them in the lead-up. But, you know, they have to commit to some specifics on exactly how they're going to dispose the highly-merced uranium that's still buried somewhere in their mountains, right? They need to commit to getting rid of it. How they do that, I think, is when... where we negotiate, like that's sort of the space of how we move forward. But they need to commit to getting rid of it. And then I think second is they need to negotiate, this is what this is Secretary of Marco Rubio said, they have to agree on either long-term limitations or just a total cancellation of their enrichment activity in order to move forward with the negotiations. It sounds like those are the two items that they need to get some sort of commitment from. the IRGC on until these can really get into the, you know, move forward and actually coming towards a productive deal. I want to get your view on a couple of other topics, including the anti-weppization fund that has now been sidelined, not necessarily permanently. That would take, that would take congressional action, I suppose. But acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, as essentially said, it's a. It's not going to move forward. This after some Senate Republicans balked at it under pressure from the Wall Street Journal's editorial board, basically. And your reaction to it, because I mean, I get the arguments that some. conservative legal thinkers like Andy McCarthy are making. But I just come down differently when you apply this in the context of real world events over the last decade and the realpolitik of where we stand today. But I wanted your view on whether or not you thought this was a judicious play by, attempted play by Trump. Yes. I'm a Trump 2020 alumni, but I know this very well. Many of my friends experience this, this absolute weaponization lawfare from Jack Smith, from Merrick Garland, from Joe Biden. They really, they tried to ruin people's lives with process, you know, with the FBI coming to people's houses, you know, sometimes at all hours of the night.

you know, serving subpoena after subpoena on people, forcing them to hire lawyers and deal with this absolute garbage of a legal theory that they had. So I do think that the victims of that weaponization deserve to be compensated and may whole in some way. Look, I trust the administration will do that in some way. Maybe they're not able to move forward with this particular fund. But I think the president, who was obviously the one they were coming after the hardest, understands that. And, you know, he has resources, whereas many of these folks do not. And I think it was a gracious move by him in the settlement of his lawsuit to create this fund. But look, if it's not going to move forward, I understand, I get it. But it's unfortunate there are some on our side that don't see the value in it because there's people's lives are really... at least attempted to be ruined by this. Yeah, I think it's really sort of a... a haughty position that the Wall Street Journal took in its editorial. He, this is what they write in part. Trump could have considered his 24 election victory as just compensation, or he could have followed the example of Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, who also sued over the leak of his tax details. Griffin settled for a public apology plus assurances that the IRS has made substantial investments in data security to strengthen its safeguarding of taxpayer information. No money changed hands. Instead, Trump wanted to parlay the Irish's failure into $1.8 billion fund to pay off MAGA friends. people who have no legal claim against a tax agency. You know, first of all, Griffin is in a completely different position than Trump. Secondly, this isn't about Trump getting money. Obviously, this is a fund for other people. And third, it's consistent with, just making my sort of view on it, it's consistent with what Trump has said, which turned out to be true, which is they're not coming after me. They're coming after you and I'm standing in their way. And there are, and the other part, I would say, is that there are real world problems with accountability, not just in the federal government, the executive and the legislative branches, but also in the judicial branch. And we talked to a guy earlier in this, earlier this week that had nothing to do with J6 and but got. mistreated according to the Supreme Court of the United States by the Federal Trade Commission in his private business life, and then is now being mistreated by the Department of Justice, which started under Biden and persists under...

under Trump. And he's got an Obama appointed federal judge that is, frankly, making all kinds of very questionable rulings in a criminal matter. And so at some point, you have to say, if we can't remove politicians in robes and we can't hold anybody with sort of executive authority and these administrative agencies accountable, then it's going to fall to something like this. Or. The consequence is you're going to have a lot of people completely lose faith in the justice system. And that's much more damaging to the Republic than the characterization by the Wall Street Journal editorial board and some congressional Democrats as this being a slush fund. No, I agree with everything you said. That's spot on, you know, there's a lot. Look, I think, you know, it's clear, I didn't read that Wall Street Journal piece, but from the part that you pointed out, it's clear that her has never anyone that's experienced that's been victimized by the Biden, Jack Smith, Merrick Garland Lawfare. You know, I'm sure the author didn't have the FBI come to their door and serve subpoenas. and, you know, force them to, you know, provide all sorts of testimony and hire lawyers and spend thousands and thousands of dollars, right? So, you know, unless you've experienced that personally or no close friends that have, you have no right to comment on it as they are, which, you know, that's, it's just, but it's just typical sort of elitist commentary. I think the, go ahead, sorry. No, go ahead. Finish. Yeah, so, but the second part of what you had mentioned with the judicial warfare, look, I think, you know, my organization, Senator of Advanced Security in America has done various judicial complaints against some of these rogue judges like Judge Bozberg, you know, but the process needs to be changed because you file a judicial complaint and the people who review the judicial complaints are the fellow judges, and it's difficult for them to. punish their fellow judges, right? So there needs to be some sort of reform for that process because some of these judges, I mean, look, Bozberg signed off on Arctic Frost monitoring of United States, you know, senators and congressmen of their phone records simply because they're conservatives and they support the president. I mean, this is absolutely outrageous conduct that this judge engaged. And in fact, there was documents that were released where he may have been meeting, you know, behind closed doors. with members of the government planning their prosecution strategy on the president. I mean, this stuff is really outrageous with some of these judges do, and they need to be held accountable. Before we let you go, I also want to get your take on this interim appointment. It just seems like... Well, it just seems like an interesting choice. Of course, Tulsi Gabbard stepped down as NASA secured as a DNI, Director of National Intelligence because her husband is battling a serious, rare form of cancer, understandable. And Trump yesterday announced the appointment of Bill Pulte to be the interim DNI, Bill Pulte, whose, you know, background is in housing.

What's your take on that appointment? Look, I don't think I'm going to get into all the different decisions that the president makes. There's clearly a reason for it. He must be a very capable guy. I'm not super familiar with all his... his background. But, you know, I understand Tulsi Gabbard had to leave for personal reasons. I think she did a great job in position. But, you know, I trust the president's judgment and he must have appointed him for, you know, I think the right reasons. Do you have any, I mean, federal, he was the federal housing finance authority. And I've met him before. He seems like, I mean, you know, capable guy. And he comes from a family that's been very successful. But it just seems like a. An interesting choice. One thing that he has done is he's made criminal referrals as FHFA director on Letitia James and Adam Schiff for mortgage fraud. One wonders if that factors in to the choice here, and if that did factor in, is that good factoring?

It may have, like I said, I think that the president has all sorts of reasons for making these decisions. He clearly puts people who know what they're doing in these positions, as we've seen from the results he's gotten in both administrations. So, you know, I don't know what the reason is, but I do trust his reason for it. James says Patrick, he's an attorney, Army veteran, director of the center to advance security in America. James, Fitzpatrick, thanks for joining us. Appreciate it. Hey, appreciate it. Thanks for having me. And he joined us in the alphawealth group.com, answerline. It's like a hot steaming cup of information. To start your day, it's Chicago's morning answer on AM 560, the answer. At the top of the morning, Dan Proff here. I love the attention being devoted to Scott Pelly being Ashcan from 60 minutes. Why do I care? Oh my gosh, did you hear Scott Pelly got fired by six feet? Yeah, so? And 10 minutes from now, nobody's going to remember or a care. Seminole figure? Come on. This was Scott Pelley. This is like, this is, I just. decided rather than obsessing about the fight between him and Bari Weiss and the new producer and the letter that was, all this like palace intrigue over at CBS News. Who cares? Scott Pet, what is Scott Pelly irreplaceable or something? Are you serious? I don't care about this guy. Here is his commencement address. I mean, of course, this is like that we put, we place such importance on people who are only self-important, not actually important. The difference? Scott Pelley was invited to give the commencement address at Wake Forest University last year. This is just last year. Wake Forest, make better choices. But in this moment, this moment, this morning. Our sacred rule of law is under attack. Journalism is under attack. Universities are under attack. Freedom of speech is under attack. And insidious fear is reaching through our schools, our businesses, our homes. and into our private thoughts. The fear to speak. In America. America. Breathlessly. Power can rewrite history with grotesque, false narratives. That's what you do. They can make criminals, heroes, and heroes, criminals. Power can change the definition. of the words we use to describe reality. Diversity is now described as illegal. Equity is to be shunned. Inclusion is a dirty word. This is an old playbook, my friends. My friends. There's nothing new in this. And seen.

Wonderful. Wonderful. Let's take it from the top one more time, Scott. Wonderful. Love what you're doing there. Please. Oh, words can be changed to distort reality. Uh-huh. You mean like when we call women our neighbors with a uterus buddy? You and your DEI friends? Give me a break. Bye, Scott Pelly. We won't miss you. The stories you need to know to start your day. This is Chicago's morning answer. On AM 560, The Answer. Only the biggest stories. Only the biggest guests. And only the biggest opinions. This is AM 560, The Answer. Top of the morning, Dan Proff here. This is a special for our next guest, Stephen Moore, because I know in what high regard he holds Paul Krugman. Nobel laureate in economics, Paul Krugman. Steve Moore can't say that. I mean, he could say he's a Nobel laureate, but that would be untrue. I could always say it. Graham Platner says all things that are untrue, all kinds of things that are untrue, so why not? Paul Krugman calling for... demogification of America. We need to, obviously, we need to defang Trump as much as possible and make sure that neither he nor anybody who. follows in his footsteps, has power after the next two elections. But beyond that, we really need to do a thorough purging of the United States. We need a demogification, and that is, you know, I'm not going over the top by using a word as very similar to the denatification that we pursued successfully after World War II in Germany. He's very comfortable comparing demogification to denatification. He's very comfortable with that. Okay. Stephen Moore, you better be nicer to Paul Krugman. Otherwise, you're going to make the list, buddy. Yeah, that's for sure. I'm going to be purged, right? And by the way, this is just a week of good news because now, you know, Bernie Sanders is going to take over 50% of the technology industry. And that'll make it a real home run for investors. Can you imagine? investing in a company run by Bernie Sanders. He wants the government to take a 50% stake in all AI companies. Yeah, which means that he wants to have the government that basically own the company. Incidentally. Just in time for that anthropic IPO, too. Good timing on his part. Yeah, exactly. And that also, you know, SpaceX. SpaceX and so on. So here's the thing. If you want the government to own 50% of American corporations, guess what folks? They almost already do. So we already have a, you know, counting state and local, we have close to a 30% corporate tax. That means the government gets 30% of the shares, right? Because they get 30% of the profits. And then you have on top of that a dividend tax, a capital gains tax, income tax.

And they add up all these. And we almost, in America, do have 50% ownership of American companies. So now we're going to have like 75, 80% of the ownership being run by the government. It's obviously a dim-witted idea, but this is the kind of deep thinking we're getting out of the Paul Krugman's of the world. Incidentally, it's an interesting time for Paul Krugman to be really attacking. Trump's policies because in just the last month, the economy's really picked up in a big way. I mean, we're seeing obviously all-time highs in the NASDAQ, the S&P 500, and the Dow. We're seeing huge amounts of, record amounts of investment by American businesses. The labor market is picking up. Jobs availability is increasing. And inflation is. going to start to come down. Look, I know people are still angry about what it costs to buy a steak or a hamburger these days or fill up a tank, but we're starting to see even improvement on the inflation numbers. So I'm feeling pretty good about the economy right now. If only Paul Krugman was limiting his criticism to Trump's policies, that would be one thing talking about demogification and directly comparing it to denotification. Boy, that's... That's real, I mean, he's not the first one to do it. But, but I mean, for somebody. Yeah, you don't understand the plan here. Yeah. They're going to put people like me and you in reeducation camps. Yes, yes. Yeah. No, I, yeah. I mean. By the way, Dan, you're going to be at the very top of that list. That's not, it's not as funny as you're making it out to be, though. That's my only concern. That's not going to be the good time you might think it is. Yeah, so, I mean, with respect to the economy, other than particularly gas prices, in the context of the affordability, but gas prices right now because it implicates the war in the Middle East, what are there, you're talking about sort of all the good news. Is there anything, is there any gathering storm that you see? Is there anything that you're particularly concerned about in the short term? Yeah, sure. I mean, first of all, I'm concerned about the big revolt against the technology industry and AI and data centers. It's happening all over the country. Even a lot of my friends on the right are, oh, no, we can't have data centers. We can't electric power plants. In other words, this could really put a big dent into the American leadership in the next. generation of technology, which, by the way, is going to be completely awesome. I mean, literally, I just spent the day yesterday with some of these health professionals who are doing AI. I mean, what they're doing with medical services and AI is incredible. I mean, they can now detect cancer cells much, much sooner. So that means, you know, instead of having stage four cancer, you know, we'll be able to detect cancer when it's stage one. And that means we'll be able to save millions and millions of lives. Literally, they're finding ways to bring sight to the blind. People can realize out of the wheelchairs. I mean, that's just one example of the amazing things that are coming with respect to AI. So I'm concerned about that. I'm concerned about the, how long is this going to take to get the Iran situation settled? You know, I mean, this is, it seems like this is never ending right now because the Iranians, one day they say they're going to do one thing and the next they'd say another.

So how long will that last? How long are we going to be facing $80.90 a barrel oil because that's a tax on the American economy? And then I'm also worried about debt, you know, that the consumer debt is rising and credit card debt is rising. So are we going to start to see defaults. And so those are things to be concerned about. I want to get your take on the political goings on a bit because, of course, they implicate economic policy. In California, much-watched races. Steve Hilton in the lead right now, he's going to make the runoff against Xavier Becerra. And obviously Spencer Pratt and Karen Bass are going to go to a runoff too. One of the things that Steve Hilton has been campaigning on a little bit different than, I mean, it's something that Pratt is also campaigning on, but it's not as central. to his campaign as at is at the state level because of all the scrutiny on fraud. Steve Hilton issued this video this week in advance of yesterday's election. I want to show you my first executive order as governor of California. Here it is. This will be enacted on day one when I'm governor. This is establishing a California taxpayer fraud strike force. This will make sure that we investigate and prosecute. the billions and billions and billions of dollars of fraud, theft of taxpayer money that has occurred over the last few years, including... You know, one way to reduce the tax burden on taxpayers is to make sure that so much of their money is it squandered. Well, look, I mean, first of all, here's the problem with this is there's a good reason why there's so much fraud in California. You know what that is? They want the fraud. Well, that is, yes. So if they view it as free money, it's like trying to sign up everybody they power. and food stamps and all of these programs. So there's no incentive to reduce the fraud. Look, I hope Steve Hilton comes in and does that because just according to the government's own estimates, the federal government's own estimates, the fraud is now over a trillion dollars, a trillion. Well, right. This seems to me, I mean, this is something that JD Vance is trying to build a reputation on. You have some governors and gubernatorial candidates doing it. But it seems like this is the opportunity, I keep beating this drum, for the Republican Party not only to champion these task forces, these investigations, the independent journalists that are doing the investigation, but also use this as the leverage to have a larger conversation about. entitlement reform writ large. Steve, do we lose Steve? Yeah, I lost you there for a second. You were just talking about entitlement. Yeah, and I just say to leverage this to talk about, you know, how we have entitlement programs set up and what we should do to radically restructure them. Well, listen.

The whole incentive structure is for states to load up as many people on these programs as possible. Did you see, by the way, in New York, they had a Wells Street Turtle article. I love this. I think it's New York, you can get Medicaid coverage for exorcisms. Yes, yes. Tribal dancers and tribal healing and all these things. I mean, it's gotten to be so ridiculous how much there's. You know, probably we couldn't balance the budget by getting rid of fraud, but we could easily cut the deficit in half by just getting rid of fraudulent and erroneous and, you know, basically stealing. And by the way, this is stealing from the taxpayers. Look, I mean, not everybody can afford to exercise the demons, Steve. Some people need a little bit of help. So. Well, I need a little help. Yeah, right. Before we let you go, I got to have you comment on this is like getting some attention, but nearly the attention it deserves. The initiative that has now passed the legislature in the state of Florida, so it will be a ballot question in November. It will require 60% approval by the voters. Ron DeSantis moving to eliminate. property taxes on homesteaded properties in the state of Florida, starting with the first $250,000, which represents 60% of all household home values. So in other words, the first $250,000 in assessed valuation is going to be exempt from property taxes. That's going to be zero, means zero property taxes for 60% of the Florida population. This is astounding what's going on. Well, by the way, it is. And that's why Rodnasannis is the best governor in America. And can you imagine if you just even have one year of Ronda Bernie Sanders in Illinois, what could happen? But I thought you were going to ask me about something even more astounding, which is that in Illinois, they want to have, what is it they want to do with the Uber drivers? And they, and they, I'm not going to allow driverless Ubers, which is already in place in California and a lot of the Western states. What is it? They want to unionize them? I forget what it was. Yeah. Yeah, well, right. We're a union state, Steve, and we prefer if they just got government jobs, but if they want to say the private sector, they still got to unionize. Oh, my God. You know, the one cool thing about this kind of digital age is that you have, you know, anybody can be an Uber driver. Now you've got to join a union. I mean, it doesn't make any. That's just going to make it more expensive folks to take an Uber or to take a lift.

you know, middle income people and low income people do that. So you're going to raise their prices. That's ingenious. Well, that's all right. We've got a program under in the city of Chicago where you're going to get, you could get up to $70,000 in a down payment grant to buy a home if you make less than. like 190 grand as a household of four or less than 127 grand as an individual. That's part of the, that's part of the $1.25 billion that Brandon Johnson borrowed to do public housing projects and grant programs like this. So we're borrowing money to give it away so people can buy houses or build public housing projects. Yeah. Where's that money going to come from? Well, what do you mean? They'll figure it out. We borrowed it. We're fine. No, we, we, we, it's already, it's, but with bond issued, we've already, we're, we're, we're borrowing against tomorrow to pay for yesterday like we do here. It's going well. So I don't think. Yeah, by the way, how many, what were the bet within about two, three years that the foreclosure rate on those houses is going to be like 90%. Well, you know, we'll jump off that bridge when we come to it, Steve. Stephen Moore economists. Don't call Krugman. You just made my day. I thought Paul Krugman had gone away, but I guess he's still. No, and he's, his, you know, his gray matter may be leaving him, but no, he's still around, Todd's saying wild things for a guy, you know, with his quote, unquote, standing. I mean, that's something that you expect from. Well, when they come for me, Dan, when they come knocking on my door, I always say, you don't want me, you want me. When they come. When they come looking for you and they ask me, I'm going to say, yeah, he's right around here. He's right over the corner. Go, go, go, go. Right there. And I'm running the other way. This is every man for himself. Steve Moore, economist, author of the Trump Academic Miracle. Thanks, Steve. Okay, thanks, Jeff. All right. And Steve joined us on the alphawealthgroup.com answer line. There's only one radio show in Chicago talking about today's biggest stories and telling you what they really mean. That show is this one. Chicago's Morning Answer, an AM 560, The Answer. All right, as Mike Scott's been reporting, a former state representative, Chicago City Clerk, now Comptroller, State Comptroller, Susanna Mendoza, in other words, queer politician, is moving to enter the mayor's race for next year. Here's a launch video. I've been thinking about this for a long time. About how a city this strong should work better for the people who built it.

In neighborhoods across the city, we show up, we work hard, and we look out for each other. That's the Chicago Way. It's what I saw as a kid born in Little Village, raised by parents who came here from Mexico to build a better life. Chicago has always been a city of builders, builders of businesses, of families, of futures. Every neighborhood in this city carries its own story. But no matter where we come from, we all want the same things. We deserve more spaces to enjoy ourselves outside. We need more programs for young adults to go to after school on the weekends, not just my children, but for all teenagers. Here in the city, we have many amenities that we love and resources that we use. And if we don't get our financial house in order, we're not going to be able to have those things for future generations. We need more action than talk so that we can see our community grow. Too many people feel abandoned by City Hall. Families are being squeezed by rising rents, higher fees, and property taxes. Communities don't feel safe. Small businesses are fighting to survive. We're tired of paying for big promises that are never kept. Chicago deserves more than promises. It deserves progress. I've spent my career taking on huge problems and fixing them. As a state legislator, I passed a school breakfast bill. As city clerk, I modernized city sickers getting rid of the hours-long lines at City Hall. And as controller, I eliminated the state's backlog of billions in unpaid bills. Increased transparency and accountability. Come on. This is punishing. Earned credit upgrades for the first time in decades and restored stability without sticking working families with the bill. I believe government should answer to the people it serves, not political insiders or special interests. Okay, I'm tapping out. I can't take anymore. It's so banal. It is so anodyne. It is such the work product for somebody who's been on the inside for 25 years. So she may be. the most sensible candidate when the field is formed. She may be. She says sensible things on law enforcement. She's pro-school choice. She has some attributes, but she's also an insider with that suffers from insider myopia. and she needs to get out and I don't know, read some books or go to a play or something because you're surrounded by people who all say the same anodyne nonsense that talk like refrigerator magnets or novelty t-shirts. Good Lord, is that boring. So if you're looking for her to be some sort of Spencer Pratt, lead the revolt change agent,

That's not, certainly that's not indicated by that offering. Well, the search continues. This is the morning show. More Chicago radio listeners are choosing. This is Chicago's morning answer on AM 560. The answer. This is Chicago's morning answer with Dan Proft on AM 560. The answer. Top of the morning, Dan Proft here. We're going to get into the discussion of where things stand with Iran and what some of the options are. But since there was that contratom between Trump and B.B. over ceasefire. Trump earlier in the week, not none too happy with BB for launching strikes against Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. And as we discussed, the reports of the exchange between the two on the phone indicated that Trump was, you know, quite distressed to the point of using profanity. and, you know, basically saying to Beebe, like, look, you fly in formation, you would be in prison if it wasn't for me, words to that effect, reportedly. And there was compliance, and then when there was compliance, Trump Postentru Social. Hooray, I just talked to Beebe, the ceasefire is back on, blah, blah, blah, and so on and so forth. Of course, it's not back on for Hezbollah, which continues to engage in violence, but. That's the approach that Trump wants to take. But since that difficult call between the two, seen resurgence of the silliness, claims like Tucker Carlson made recently that there's a genocide going on in Gaza. and, you know, sort of cheerleading for there to be a break between Trump and BB between the United States and Israel, many of the usual suspects saying the usual fact-free things. So I just wanted to address that before we got into it. And no better than to cede my time to Florida Federal District Court Judge Roy Sam Altman, who was on with Brian Kilmeade recently on Fox. and address this claim because it has resurfaced that, yes, what happened on October 7th was a horrific terrorist attack, but trying to provide false moral equivalence, those who are, well, ignorant, anti-Semitic, some combination of the two, have made the claim that Israel has committed genocide in... in Gaza, the sorts of reckless statements you would hear from like an Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Rashida Tlaib, but that are being popularized online. A judge Roy Sam Altman.

There's no doubt that Israel's war in Gaza was not only not genocide. It was the least likely urban conflict in modern history ever to meet the standard legal definition of genocide. And you don't have to take my word for it. The high-level military group, the HLMG, which is a collection of all the high-level officers and generals from almost all the Western democracies in the world, not just the United States. These people aren't Jews. They have no connection with Israel. generals in militaries around the world, they wrote a report and a brief to the International Criminal Court, the ICC, which says that Israel's civilian warning system, which is a warning system where Israel tells the civilian population of Gaza exactly where it will be striking the next day and then provides humanitarian corridors for them to leave those zones. And even in Almawesi in the southwestern part of the strip created an entire new city for them. where it provided food purveyors, medical clinics, polio vaccines for 1.2 million people. The HLMG says not only is that completely incompatible with genocide, not only is it completely incompatible with what any other country has ever been willing to do for the civilian population of the enemy in warfare before, but they say it's also something our own democracies would never be able to do because our civilian population. would never stomach endangering the lives of our own soldiers, our own sons and daughters, by warning the enemy of where those sons and daughters will be. And by the way, it's taken a very heavy toll. Over 800 Israelis have been killed in Gaza precisely because they warned the civilian population to get out of harm's way, and they sent those soldiers into homes home to home that Hamas had had the time to lay an ambush. and to booby trap and fill with and john spencer the president of war college at west point said the same thing he went and visited five times and he said they actually were more humanitarian oriented than even we were at philusia and mosul so um if you want to make the claim of genocide you go ahead and make that claim but do so on the merits respond to what judge Sam Altman said respond to what uh john spencer from west point said and saw and witnessed on the merits See how well you do. And I don't care if you're Tucker Carlson or you're just some crank online. And you want to have an understanding of what Israel is dealing with and what we, by extension, are dealing with when it comes to Islamists. This seems particularly relevant on a day when a good buddy of the World Trade Center bombing 1.0 just made it through the primary to be a member of Congress from New Jersey. And some on the right have their foci a little discombobulated when it comes to threats to the West. You want to understand it? I share this anecdote from Leland Vittert, a friend of the show. He was a host on News Nation. Well, before he was at News Nation, of course, he was a Fox News Foreign Correspondent. And he shared this story in an interview with Bari Weiss. about the experience he had that led him to an understanding of the region.

I said, wait a second, these people treated you in all of your burns. They saved your life, and you'd want to blow them up. And she goes, absolutely. Wafa had been, a woman in Gaza, she had pulled a pot of boiling water over herself when she was like five or six years old. The Israelis treat most of the people out of Gaza who have really catastrophic medical injuries. She goes back to Gaza after being treated for four or five years in Israel. She gets recruited to be a suicide bomber. And she had been given three target options by the Alaska Martyrs Brigade, a bus, a cafe. or the hospital that had treated her and saved her life. She chose the hospital that had treated her and saved her life. She gets to the checkpoint. They discover that she has a bomb. She tries to detonate it. It doesn't go off. She gets thrown in jail. Again, the Israelis treat her. They help her with her burns. They educate her. They give her a college degree. And now in the Galatjali deal, she goes back to Gaza. So I go to Gaza to interview her thinking this is going to be a redemption story. So I get into Gaza and I bring with me an iPad that has the video of her trying to blow herself up. And I show her the video. And I said, what do you think? Watching this. And she goes, oh, oh. Oh, I'm thinking I almost tasted paradise. Okay? Would you do it again? Absolutely in a minute. This is my calling in life. I said, wait a second. These people treated you in all of your burns. They saved your life. You tried to blow them up. They still treated you. They educated you. And now you have a chance at life back here in Gaza. And you'd want to blow them up. And she goes, absolutely. And that's when my mind was made up about the moral clarity of the Israeli-Palestinian debate. For more on this and other matters, Ruthie Bloom joins us. She is former advisor to the office of Benjamin Netanyahu and co-host of Israel Undiplomatic. Ruthie, thanks for joining us again. Appreciate it. Well, thank you for having me. So the disagreement that apparently occurred earlier this week between Trump and Beebe, how much importance should we give to that? How much importance do you give to it? Well, I give more importance to the fact that it was leaked than the actual content of it. And the reason is that we know, listen, throughout history, you could say that Churchill and Roosevelt had disagreements. Of course they have disagreement. But whoever leaked to that conversation had ill will both towards Israel and to the United States. both to BB and to Trump, all right? That's, first of all, and whoever that was should be fired, in my opinion. We shouldn't have to know about the tiff between BB and Trump. We need to know the bigger picture. And up until now, the bigger picture has been an amazing partnership in trying to rid the world of this Islamist threat from Iran that has been a threat for 47 years. Okay? And President Trump is the one who has been saying that all along about reading them of their nuclear capabilities and Benjamin Netanyahu as well for decades has been warning about that. And, of course, their proxies across the region.

And that regime has got to go. Now, it's true that President Trump never said that regime change was one of his goals of war. It's just that with that regime in power, it would be very, I would say impossible to make any kind of deal other than total surrender. But, of course, they won't do that because like the woman just described in Gaza, who wanted to taste paradise. That's who these people are. And therefore, no, you cannot make a deal. The West cannot make a deal with forces like that. Yeah, it's interesting because Marco Rubio essentially said that in a Senate committee hearing yesterday, basically said, look, if it was up to the people, you know, the professional set in Tehran, the people who protested back in January, the people that, you know, wear suits and are westernized Persians, that there would already be a deal made, but that's not who we're dealing with. And it's like, well, right. So that's not who you're dealing with. So then. You know, it strains the bounds of credulity to believe that a deal is in the offing that is enforceable. And so I can understand where disagreements would arise between allies about, you know, strategic approach. Exactly. Now, it's possible. We don't know, but it's very possible, even likely, that the disagreement wasn't about the goal, and it wasn't that they disagreed that the regime, you know, over the, let's say, character of this regime, but rather over the strategy. Now, what we're saying is that President Trump was putting extreme economic pressure and continues to put economic pressure on the regime. Here's the trouble, though. A regime like that doesn't care if it's people starve or are, you know, slaughtered in the millions. As long as it survives, just a remnant survive, and then they consider that a victory. And here is where I'm not sure that President Trump fully grasped that. That perception in the Middle East matters so much, okay? Because he's right that he destroyed their army and the Navy. and killed the leadership, not just he, but together with Israel. He's absolutely right. What he's wrong about is that that in itself means victory with people like that. And the Iranian people are the victims here, and that brings us to Lebanon. The same with the Lebanese people are under the thumb of Shibbalah. Now, Marco Rubio, when he explains that about Hezbollah, he's totally right. And when the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Echia Leiter says something similar, he's also absolutely right. But then I ask you, so why are we negotiating with Lebanon and Washington? You know, why are Israeli representative and Lebanese representatives negotiating in Washington when they're on the same page about Hezbollah?

And yet, the Lebanese government is saying Israel has got to get out of Lebanon rather than saying, thank you so much, Israel, for doing this job, taking care of Chisbalah, when we are too weak and too afraid to do it. So there is where I'm puzzled, and I'm puzzled at the policies of the Trump administration because, yes, they get it. But if they get it, then what is the point of negotiating? And which whom are you negotiating? Yeah, you know, something that... A scholar we had on the other day said I thought was an important distinction in terms of thinking that if you squeeze them long enough, just strictly economically, you know, Operation Economic Fury combined with the blockade and so forth, that you'll, if the conditions worsen, then that will foment this revolt that's bubbling below the surface. And what he said is, is that there's not necessarily. a revolt bubbling below the surface, what Iran has been experiencing as long-term decay. And that decay now is hastening, but that doesn't necessarily mean that a revolt is around the corner. And frankly, and this has been something that nobody seems to be able to put their finger on, at least or can't publicly in the case of people with more knowledge. Who and what would be the... that would provide the foundation for any such revolt and toppling of this regime. That is, seems to be completely unclear. Well, exactly. And especially if you look at Syria and you see that that's fantastic, the Bashar al-Assad regime, that evil regime fell. But now it's in the hands of, you know, ISIS terrorists who. claim to have reformed, but, you know, we'll believe it when we see it, okay, because we see evidence that that's not the case. Now, that's all true what you say. Here's the thing, though, I think about the Iranian people. They did take to the streets in January. Yeah. They were slaughtered en masse, and they were willing. They even said so. They were willing, they're willing to take hardship, economic hardship, all kinds of hardship. And as long as President Trump, who said help is on the way, as long as health came. And in fact, it did on February 28th. Trump and Israel, they launched Epic Fury, and the Iranian people were very encouraged by this, and President Trump said, just hold on a minute before you take to the streets again. It was too dangerous, okay? Really too dangerous, and they weren't armed. And the arms that was supposed to get to them, didn't get to them, et cetera. But they were still encouraged that with more pressure on the regime and more military pressure.

they would then be safe enough because so many of the besieged militias and the revolutionary guardheads were knocked out. The trouble is that suddenly Trump announced a ceasefire. Many weeks ago, more weeks than the war took. And then Iran started also bombing the Gulf states. And they saw that, uh-oh, maybe the United States isn't really the strong force protecting us. And so they began to say, well, maybe you should stop the war. You know, on the one hand, they wanted to defeat Iran. And on the other hand, they were afraid they didn't have a partner anymore. So I think that the Iranian people are just despondent now. and are disappointed in Trump when previously they were cheering him on and they were, you know, they had his, they had posters of Trump and they were celebrating him and BP, by the way. And now they're very, very worried and I think rightly so. They know their regime a lot better than Trump does. And, you know, and I guess my bottom of my question, I mean, does anything substantively happen in the direction of reopening the strait and obtaining the enriched uranium? These are must-haves for the present. I'm just going by what he said are must-haves. Does anything substantive happen in either of those directions without a resumption of the use of force? I don't believe so, okay? And I'm not a military expert. But I don't see any way out because when he says that, okay, look, these are our red lines. This is what you've got to do. And they say, no. We'll find a memorandum of understanding, and then 60 more days of ceasefire, and then we'll discuss uranium, et cetera, et cetera. Okay? And then the memorandum, and then they keep up and they said, okay, we'll stop firing on Kuwait or on Bahrain if it stops being friends with Israel in the Abraham Accords, things like that. They keep adding now. In my book, and throughout history, one thing we know is that it's the loser that should be suing for peace. The victor shouldn't be begging the loser to come to the table, right? And up until now, we all believe that that's what was happening. And Trump was very proud and rightly so proud of the accomplishment and proud of the victories. And then suddenly it all stopped. And he keeps talking about negotiating as though it's a real estate deal. And he is brilliant at that.

But this is not quite the same thing. And on the other hand, in fairness, he did say if they don't step up to the place, we're going to have to bomb them again. Now, obviously, I believe it when I see it. He did say it. He said it many times. The one thing that worried me that he said in the interview with Laura Trump on Fox News on Saturday night, I believe it was, he said. He said, look, we're negotiating. They're tough negotiators. But they at least agreed not to, they agreed to give up their nukes or not to develop nuclear weapons, is what he said. And when I said to them, yeah, but what about purchasing nuclear weapons? And they said, okay, we won't purchase nuclear weapons. The reason that worried me is that for decades, they've said we never wanted nuclear weapons. We're not developing nuclear weapons. So in other words. That statement is not a concession to President Trump. It's maintained that throughout the year. Right. Well, I mean, the other thing, too, is if we agree to not develop nuclear weapons, what about purchasing? Okay, we also agree to that way. So, you know, if you're not, if you don't take that as a holistic statement, well, what about bartering for nuclear weapons? Okay, we agree not to barter. I mean, you're not exactly operating a good faith, clearly. Right. Well, of course, you see, these people do not operate in good faith, and we know that. Yes. That's not their goal. These are not Westerners. And they're not even, and I'll tell you something, they're not even, they're not even Muslims, moderate Muslims of any kind. This regime from the get-go, and by the way, even more, you know how people talk now about how it's confusing who's in charge in Iran. and that you have the hardliners and the pragmatists and all this. But make no mistake. Those are all hardliners. They all have the same goal, which is death to Israel, death to America, and subjugating the West. They all have that goal. The difference is in the, let's say, strategy to get to that goal. And so when we talk about moderates and, you know, it's almost as though when we talk about the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, right, we'll say, you know, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, she's in the radical wing of the Democratic Party. You can't talk about the regime in Iran in those terms. They are all radical. Can't really talk about the Democratic Party in this country and those terms anymore either, but that's a different story. Ruthie Blum, former advisor to the office of B.Benjamin Netanyahu, co-host of Israel undiplomatic. Ruthie, thanks for joining us again. Appreciate it. And thank you for having you down. And she joined us on the alphawealth group.com, insulin. This is the morning show. More Chicago radio listeners are choosing. This is Chicago's morning answer on AM 560. The answer. A governor's a cloud.

Yeah, not exactly the mama and the Chris Pappas, but better. So did California get a step closer to freedom yesterday? It seems like it with Steve Hilton and Spencer Pratt making the runoffs ostensibly. I mean, they're still counting the votes, of course, because it's California. But that's the way it's tracking. For perspective on those results, please be joined by... somebody who's been California dreaming. Susan Crabtree, RealClearPolitics.com's national political correspondent, regular contributor for the California Post, and co-author of the book Fool's Gold, The Radicals, Con Artists, and Traders who killed the California Dream and now threaten us all. Susan, thanks for being with us. My pleasure, Dan. So as you wrote over at Real Clear Politics, GOP change agents rattled Deep Blue California. Was it a rattling last night? It was somewhat anticipated, wasn't it? Someone anticipated, but stronger than I think anticipated. And you've got Steve Hilton out in front. of Xavier Becerra, you know, the Union Golden Child suddenly became the Union Golden Child after Eric Swalwell unceremoniously exited the race. So, yes, of course, that lead is not going to stay in the general election. He's going to have to fight for every vote, but it was a stronger than expected result. down the ticket too for lieutenant governor as well and for attorney general uh you had every republican in major race statewide races doing far better than any republican has done in 20 years interesting yeah no i mean that is encouraging but but i mean it's your sense if you combine hilton's vote total at present with Chad Bianco's the other republican who ran I mean, you know, it puts him at, you know, in the neighborhood of 40%. And, and of course, at the city level in L.A., last cycle or last four years ago when Rick Caruso lost to Karen Bass, he got about 43% of the vote, 44% of the vote. So, I mean, do you see some real potential here for both Pratt and Hilton to be able to blow through that seeming ceiling for Republicans in California? I think the palisades issue is a metaphor for what's going on in California and why these Republicans did better than expected. Now, Spencer Pratt, Rick Rosa did better than Spencer Pratt. Rick Russo is a great candidate. So far, you know, in the results so far, we are going to be counting for, I'm sure, days, if not weeks in California per usual for our terrible mail-in voting system out here. But this is just momentum. When you have the top of the ticket, Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco, leading the race for months and months and months because the Democrats were all splintered and disorganized, and they don't have a good candidate in Xavier Becerra. He is weak, and they have, you know, you even have Democrats in the Biden administration taking pot shots at him at the lead Democratic candidate in the race because he was.

He had such a lackluster run in his career from member of Congress to Attorney General of California to HHS Secretary for Biden, and he's been criticized for losing hundreds of thousands of children, and then having those children get either trafficked or being placed in jobs, the older ones, and then had bad experiences where they were maimed and other things in these jobs mistreated. This is a terrible record for the leading candidate to have and to... And you got Steve Hilton, who just oozes energy and charisma, even though he's a British, former British citizen. It's a bizarre situation. Right. It's so very California in that sense. I mean, it's, it is interesting, though, because the dynamics at local versus state, because at the local level, Spencer Pratt has more of a problem with the government unions than probably Hilton does just because, you know, the state is much bigger than the city. The city is much easier to have a control vote with the government unions. The flip side is Spencer Pratt has that Palisades fire issue that has such a been, been his motivation. And I think it has been something that has brought people over as he's matured as a candidate presented well, presented well in debates and so forth. And, you know, is converting people. And the ads, there's much more sort of. sort of celebrity momentum around Pratt than there is Hilton. So they sort of both have attributes and they both have difficulties in terms of trying to really get above that ceiling I mentioned and actually make a play for victory. That's right. In Los Angeles, you only have 15% registered voters. We're a Republican. and 25% statewide. So he had a huge upward challenge in Los Angeles, and he has been overcoming that. Even as a registered Republican, the same goes for Steve Hilton, who had Trump endorsed, and Trump endorsement, which he insisted helped. push him forward with help voter turnout for Republicans above Chabianco. But it's really, really uncertain how that you already have direct mail flooding in with, you know, the no kings linking him to Trump. So, you know, both these candidates have their work cut out for them in Deep Blue, California. But you know what's great about this is that it's going to be a real debate about Gavin Newsom's record. Yes. It's going to stay in the news because Gavin Newsom thinks he was going to just catapult from Prop 50, the gerrymandering ballot initiative that passed in such high numbers last fall directly into the White House.

And now he's going to have to live with his record. Yeah, no, that's a good point. Yeah, that's a good point. The drag on Gavin Newsom. But also, too, I agree with you about the debate. You have two credible messengers for a completely different approach to governance, one that's maybe a little bit more philosophical with respect to Hilton. And one is just very practical at the quality of life level, at the local level, where Spencer Pratt has done himself well by being. hyper locally focused. And so even if, even if neither one of them can get home, you have sort of established a new foundation level and you're getting people, you're exposing many people to ideas they probably haven't heard ever or in a long time in California. And, you know, it provides something upon which to build, hopefully. That's exactly right. You would have had a Tom Steyer versus the Thera debate. Where it would have been. How much can we tax the billionaires and how much more people can we run out of the state? How many more legal immigrant services, nonprofits, can we fund to the tune of over a billion dollars? It's a completely new debate, even though the result might be the same in the end. This is, I think, waking up some people in California, and, you know, you're going to have better candidates on the Republican side willing to run in the future. So, you know, I'm not saying that they're, you know, that they can't win, that this is impossible. It would take, you know, some really aggressive ad campaign, which we've seen so far, really innovative campaign strategies. at both the Los Angeles level and the statewide level for both of them to pull anything off. But like you said, it changes the nature of the debate in California. And, you know, people are used to, you know, this just constant drag in California, and people are getting sick of it. You can see it in what's going on with just... And what's going on in Los Angeles. You have some where registered Republicans are 15%. You have new registered Republicans last night. I saw reports that there's a surge in GOP registration in Los Angeles. So it's having an impact. Susan Crabtree, Real Clerk Politics.com's national political correspondent, regular contributor to the California Post, co-author of the book Fool's Gold, the Radicals, Con, Artists and Traders Who Killed the California Dream and Now Threaten Us All. Fools, Gold is the book. Susan Crabtree, the author, thanks, as always, Susan. Appreciate it. It's my pleasure. Thanks for having me, Dan. Take care. And Susan, join us on the alpha wealth group.com answer line. This is Chicago's morning answer. Your show keeps me alive during the week. There's nobody I'd rather listen to between 5 and 9 in the morning than you guys. On AM 560, the answer. Hey, signs of intelligent life in Chicago suburbs.

And Palatine opposition to flying the pride flag over City Hall. We're not going to change the ordinance. At least not yet. And in Naperville, unapologetically resisting the approach of dealing with young adults who break the law as just silly kids. WGN reporting, Jason Aries, the police chief in Naperville, commenting. Things went okay last night. I mean, the biggest thing was that the Naperville police were prepared and, I mean, they were heroic last night. Tom Kicker owns standard goods in downtown Naperville on South Washington Street. He was open during Monday night's teen takeover. He says no damage was done to a store. Naperville police say nine people were arrested, including juveniles between the ages of 15 and 17. They were charged with offenses such as battery assault, drug-related violations, and interfering with a peace officer. If I saw an underage drinking ticket being given, I saw the disorderly conduct ticket. And these are tickets I saw myself being given. So they're out there and these kids are getting cited. So, I mean, hopefully, hopefully that kind of stuff helps. The adults charged in the gathering were 23-year-old Amari Bivens of Naperville, who was arrested on four outstanding warrants. 18-year-olds today's Uyakami of Aurora arrested for obstructing identification. 18-year-old Marshawn Smith of Romeoville for attempted aggravated assault on a peace officer. And 18-year-old Tyler Sims of Romeoville, who was arrested for battery and obstructing a peace officer. That community policing mindset of, hey, here's a warning. Please don't do that. We've learned doesn't change behavior. So we've adopted a zero-tolerance approach. So we did have a couple of kids. Yeah, did have a couple of kids. And we're treating them with. Zero tolerance. Good. Something to build on, as we were just saying. This is the morning show. More Chicago radio listeners are choosing. This is Chicago's Morning Answer. An AM-560, The Answer. Thanks for listening to Chicago's Morning Answer podcast sponsored by Signature Bank. Signature Bank takes pride in helping customers grow their business and provide unmatched banking expertise. custom financial solutions, and the industry's best technology. So whether you're a business looking for a deposit relationship or needs a ready source of financing, signature bank is the right bank for you. Call today at 773-467-500 to hear how signature bank can help your business grow and thrive. Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender.