The Joyce Kaufman Show 3/5/26 - Kristi Noem being ousted, Savannah Guthrie returned to the Today studio set, Gavin Newsom bashes Israel , President Trump and regime changes

This is the Joyce Kaufman podcast, honest, straight, and unapologelic with your host, Joyce Kaufman. Okay, so the big news, of course, is that Kristi Noem is out and Markwayne Mullin is in as the Department of Homeland Security Secretary. And I don't really know how I feel about that. I have conflict going on in my head right now. First and foremost, I could have predicted this almost within six months of the cabinet being formed. Because the one thing about President Trump is he likes when other people applaud you. If you're working for him, he likes when you're getting positive attention, whether it's from elected representatives or it's from the media, whatever, his inner circle. He likes that. But when you try to get attention for yourself, you get under his skin real quickly. And if one of the things that I saw immediately with Kristi Noem... was she was not satisfied with the appointment that she got in spite of the fact that really I think she was qualified to be the head of the Homeland Security in any way shape of form and I said that at the time so I don't have to backtrack but I also know that if you saw her at the congressional hearing yesterday you could have figured that it was probably just a matter of time before Donald Trump would have had enough. And apparently he had already figured this out as he usually does and already had her replacement in mind. And that is a senator, Markwayne Mullin, which is interesting because we have such a tight number in the Senate. And now we're going to have to replace one of the most loyal Republicans in the Senate. Now, I think it's a safe seat. I don't know that much. I'm going to do my homework tonight. I think that there's not any real chance of that seat going to a Democrat. But again, that doesn't mean that they'll end up with a Republican who's MAGA, Markwayne Mullin, is MAGA. You know, I can say that. And that's where we are. She'll be leaving her secretary position at the end of this month.

That's, did she get fired? Yeah. I love the way it'll be framed, though. The president said, I am pleased to announce that the highly respected United States senator from the great state of Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security, effective March 31st, 2026. He put it out there on Truth Social. Now, the Senate would need to confirm him to that post. And I can tell you one thing. The Senate is more than likely... going to confirm a fellow senator, as they did with Marco Rubio. They know these guys and they feel like they have inside lines with them. Even the Democrats feel that way. So I think he'll be confirmed easily. And then we'll see what happens to Christine Ome. But I'm not predicting anything great for her at all. She's supposed to be moving to role as special envoy for the shield of the Americas, which is a new security initiative that the administration has been teasing and saying they're going to unveil. That's like Michael Walsh is about, you know, was the NSA and then before you know it, he's the ambassador to the United Nations. Not comparable positions. The president's decision just a couple of weeks ago to put Tom Homan. who was an internal rival of Kristi Noem in charge of the Minneapolis operation was the first sign you had that Donald Trump wasn't going to be playing with her anymore, that he was looking for a way to move her out of that position, and he was just looking for the person to move into that position. And he apparently found it in Senator Markwayne Mullin. And of course, since Tom Homan went into Minneapolis, ICE has become way more focused on arresting immigrants in the country illegally who have also lengthy criminal records. While the sort of indiscriminate border patrol operations that we had in some of these major U.S. cities led by Gregory Bovino. You don't see them anymore. Therefore, you don't hear about them anymore. Therefore, they're not in operation anymore. And the final straw definitely came during her testimony before the Senate this week, where she was getting hammered, not just from Democrats, but she was getting hammered by Republicans. And I told you, I wasn't happy with the way John Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the senator from Louisiana.

was questioning her about her decision to spend, what was it, like $200 million on an ad campaign about illegal immigration? How do you square that concern for waste that you always said you had with the fact that you've spent $220 million is the number running television advertisements that feature you? And they sure do. There she is riding a horse. And he pointed out that she had hired people who had formerly done political work for her back in South Dakota. And that's not, you know, that's not a good idea. It puts the president in a terribly awkward spot. And Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said, it's hard for me to believe, knowing Donald Trump, as I do, that you said, Mr. President, here are some ads I cut, and I'm going to spend $220 million running them, and that he would have agreed to that. And, you know, she claims that they went through the legal process, they did it correctly, and that the president did approve that. The ad campaign has also come under a lot of scrutiny over how the contract was actually awarded to a Colorado Democrat, Joe Negusi, who was being questioned, I think it was the day before during a hearing, or it might have been the same day that Kristi Noem was up there. And the media company. is affiliated with a former political director of the National Republican Congressional Committee. It's registered to a political operative in Virginia, and it was incorporated eight days, one week before the contract went out. So it gave a good shot for Ruben Gallego of Arizona in November. He wanted an investigation into the contract, saying that a large part of the contract, a big part of it, had been awarded to Safe America Media, which secretly funneled a significant portion of its award to something called the Strategy Group, which is a company with very close ties to Secretary Kristi Noem and to other of the officials in the Department of Homeland Security. The CEO of the company, is married to Tricia McLaughlin, the former DHS spokesperson. Well, they're falling at DHS. That's all I can say. Noam had testified that she and the president had a conversation about running the advertisements, even before she was sworn in and have talked about it since then. But Senator Robert F. Kennedy Jr.... told c v s news that the president called him after the hearing and said of mr trump and Kristi Noem that his recollection and her recollection are different and then Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he was pissed he called me the night of the hearing about nine-thirty and he was not a happy cowboy that's what senator Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said

But our greatest gift was years away, grandchildren. Today we have six and counting. It's the greatest joy that we have ever experienced. I think about them all day long. Our family promises to protect your family should you need us. Call us. It's easy. Visit for the people.com and make sure you hug your grandchildren. God's final gift to us. Morgan and Morgan for the people. Injured, dial pound law or visit for the people.com for an office near you. When it comes to mortgages in South Florida, Michael Codsey of Choice Mortgages, someone I personally trust. For more than 30 years, he's helped homeowners, buyers, and investors navigate every kind of mortgage scenario, earning hundreds of five-star Google reviews along the way. Michael, people come to you because they know you're going to get things done. We work with multiple banks and private lenders, which gives our clients better options and strong competitive interest rates. And you handle so much more than just traditional loans. We sure do. We help people refinance high interest rate credit card debt, paste loans, wide green loans, assessments, judgments, and much, much more. And for homeowners who are 62 and over? If you're 62 and over with equity, we can help with reverse mortgage options that allow you to stay in your home and reduce financial stress. And if selling your home is part of the solution... Well, your team can list the home as well. Absolutely. Choice Mortgage and Michael Codsey, 561-4-4-4. Rates in terms subject to change daily without notice, equal housing lender, NMLS number 16654. Investors trying to make sense of the markets. Looking to diversify out of this craziness? Listen to The Gold Show with Kenny Michaels right here on WFTL this Sunday at 10 a.m. Tune in for Kenny's Insights and The Gold Show this Sunday at 10 a.m.

Ah, so many, so many different things that I wanted to talk about today. Apparently, Savannah Guthrie has returned to the Today's studio. First and foremost, she was there to thank her colleagues for all their support, still have no idea where her mother is. A today's spokesperson shared that Guthrie, who has been off the air at that NBC morning show for more than a month while the search for her missing mother goes on, She didn't appear on the air. She just went to the studio. But they did confirm that she intends to return to the show. They just didn't say when that would happen. She was just stopping by to thank her colleagues. And she's focused still, as she should be, on supporting her family and working to help to bring Nancy home, whatever that looks like. Jenna Bush got all kinds of emotional as she talked about it on the air this morning, saying that Guthrie talked to all of us and hugged every single person in this room. She said that she has the intention to return to the show, even though it feels like the hardest thing to do. It's also her home and where she feels so loved and she is beyond loved here. And so we're happy that she's home and I don't know when she's actually returning to the show. But she was here, and that felt so good to hug her. Yeah, George Bush's daughter is the co-host there on that show, which, to be honest, I didn't even know that until Savannah Guthrie's mother went missing. I thought she was like a guest once in a while or something, but this is apparently her career path. And I don't know if she's any good at it, but she certainly got the bloodline. Anybody who tells you that the children of former presidents don't have a leg up when it comes to their next career choices? is delusional, unless you happen to be Chelsea Clinton. And then the reason you probably don't have a leg up is because even the people in your own party don't particularly like your parents. Just saying, you know, that's the reality. Gavin Newsom, I'm really tired of him. You got to be tired of him too. He is such a shallow piece of garbage. And he thinks he's going to be the Democratic nominee, and really, they don't have much to work with. But if you want to be the Democratic nominee for the presidency, apparently you've got to bash Israel. That's like a prerequisite, according to my friends. Gavin Newsom likened Israel today. No, it was actually...

When did I read the article? I read it yesterday, so it was probably Tuesday or Wednesday, to an apartheid state and said that its leadership has left the United States no choice but to reconsider military support for Israel. He criticized the strikes in Iran. all the time while promoting his memoir. And he was asked by the John Favreau, who's the hosts of Pod Save America. He said, do you think looking down the road that the United States should consider maybe, you know, rethinking our military support for Israel? Gavin Newsom replied, it breaks my heart because the current leadership in Israel is walking us down that path where I don't think you have a choice about that consideration. This is, you know, this is the anti-BB anti-Trump crowd at its worst. You know, this is a man who traveled to Israel right after Hamas' October 7th attacks on the country. So he's trying to, you know, walk a very fine line between support and turning his back on our closest ally in the Middle East. During the 2024 presidential election, It was Gavin Newsom who said that he did not receive any campaign donations from APAC, which it wasn't surprising because APAC doesn't really put money into statewide races, particularly in blue states. But then he highlighted the deep connections between my home state and Israel. I don't know what he even meant by that. And he has always questioned Benjamin Netanyahu's administration. He's always questioned the relationship between Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And here's a guy who's got his own domestic issues when you come right down to it, right? He is like the pot calling the kettle black. You know, Gavin Newsom's state is in complete disrepair. And he's pointing fingers at Benjamin Netanyahu. He said he's potentially on the ropes that he won't win his next election. You know how many times I've heard Democrat politicians say that about Beebe? But the people in Israel don't say that. Unless they're the leftists, then they do. He went on to indict Israel's military operations in Iran, which, by the way, included assassinating the supreme leader, this monster Ayatollah. We're talking about regime change for two years. They haven't even been able to solve the Hamas question in Israel. That takes steel eggs. I'm trying to think of how I'm allowed to say this and not get thrown off the air. Unbelievable.

But that's what you get from the Gavin Newsom's of the world. You get these unbelievable simplistic statements that don't make any sense whatsoever. Leadership matters, you know, because our adversaries are watching us all over the world. They study everything we do, every time we withdraw, or every time we vacillate or we waver. They're paying close attention to Kristi Noem's firing, even though they're not calling it that. And they study us. And for too long, the Middle East... has been looking at the United States and saying, well, they don't really follow through. They're hesitant, and they're a superpower, but they don't like to wield superpower power. And that perception invites escalation. And reversing it takes more than just fancy speeches and strongly worded messages. It requires pressure, sustained pressure. It requires strategic clarity. You have to know what you're doing. And the willingness to follow through, including making really tough decisions like the president just made. Security is not free. Deterrence is not automatic. Freedom is never preserved by wishful thinking. America, you know, faced a stark choice. And it went way past party lines and personalities and TDS and all the rest of that nonsense. It meant that you cannot surrender to the endless cycle of giving in concessions, appeasement, and escalating crises. You have to be strong. You have to tap into the American spirit. And if you can't do that, then you are not a leader. President Trump has made his decision clear. He is a leader. What a difference, as I said in my thought of the day, what a difference a new administration has made. You know, for decades. For decades, this regime kept pushing and poking America in the chest. And looking for our weaknesses and calculating the risks at pushing harder and advancing anytime they saw that we were weak, we're not willing to follow through. Oh, you know, you got a red line, but when it's crossed, you don't do anything. The results of those tests have shaped the security line. You've got a red line, but when it's crossed, you don't do anything.

The results of those tests have shaped the security landscape that we're now in. You know, starting in 2015 with that stupid JCPOA deal that President Obama thought was going to end Iran's march towards a bomb. That didn't happen, did it? The regime never moderated. In the final days of the Obama administration, think about this, after he capitulated completely in that deal, he sent $1.7 billion in cash to Iran to settle a decades-old dispute. We're talking pallets of dollars. That critic said, this projects weakness of the worst kind at the worst possible moment. The regime didn't moderate. It maneuvered. And under President Biden, come on. He just wanted to revive that. Just what a difference an administration can make. And if you are one of these Democrats left who think that somehow your party hasn't become totally irrelevant in geopolitics, Good luck. Keep doing what you're doing. Because all this worry about the midterm elections, I can see all the ads now that are going to be taking place. As Democrats, don't want to fund the Department of Homeland Security when we're in the middle of a military action, don't want to give the military, the members of the military, the financial support that they need. I dare them. I dare them to withhold funding because they have to know if they do that, they won't win a single seat and they'll lose some seats, which is fine with me. You know, I told you all, stop worrying about the midterm elections. A lot can happen and a lot did happen, didn't it? Yeah, I'm not a profit. But every now and again, when I'm right like this, I think you should be reminded. And so you'll take my prophetic claims a little more seriously. All right. Let me take a quick time out here, a quick break. You stay right where you are. And the resignations and retirements just keep coming. On both sides of the aisle, Steve Danes just announced a retirement. He is the senator from Montana. And it was just a few minutes before the filing deadline. He said he will not run for a third term. He had served one term in the House. Then he was elected to the Senate in 2014. And he announced on Wednesday that he will retire in January, giving another Republican a chance to vie for his Senate seat. He's already made an endorsement of Kurt Almaty, a U.S. attorney for Montana, who did just file. And I think has already received an endorsement from Donald Trump if what I'm reading is correct.

It says, Kurt Almie is an exceptional person and will do a fantastic job as you're next United States Senator from the great state of Montana. He will not let you down. That's what Donald Trump said in a post on truth social. Listen, I'm here to tell you that the whole system is being shaken like a snow globe. And I don't know. I'd be real nervous if I was in leadership in the Democrat Party right now because they have made this decision almost with unanimity to just go anti-Trump. That's their whole. That's their platform. They don't really, you know, affordability, come on, that's not their platform. Getting rid of Donald Trump or embarrassing Donald Trump, that's their platform. And, you know, Donald Trump just keeps doing things that make it real hard for him to be hated, even though the media spends hours, hours every day trying to make the public dislike him intensely. Now, I think a lot of this is going to backfire, and that's fine with me. I'll enjoy the coverage for sure. But I remember just a couple of weeks ago, people telling me they were terrified, the midterm elections were going to be a disaster, and it's all Donald Trump's fault. And I can tell you, if the midterm elections are not a disaster, but in fact are good, for the party in power, that will be all Donald Trump's fault, or I guess you wouldn't call it a fault. That will be because of Donald Trump, because of the things that he does, and because of the fact that he does not make decisions based on what the pollsters are saying. One of the few politicians who will stand on the principle of any given manner. and not cave to the prevailing, you know, rhetoric coming out of the media, coming out of the party leaderships, no, you know, and he's been very fortunate. You know, this Speaker of the House has shown up time and time again, had his back. I think John Thune was a good choice. I wasn't excited about him at first, but he has at least stayed still and quiet when he had nothing nice to say. Very important. And we'll see. I'm in the camp right now that this is not going to be like a standard midterm election. First and foremost, we may have just finished annihilating yet another evil regime. We got rid of Maduro. We've been able to... It's looking like Cuba's definitely now eager to align itself with democratic principles. How's that? It was the nicest way I could think to say it. But that's all based on what they saw happened in Venezuela. So you have South America responding to Donald Trump in a very favorable manner.

as he stands up for this hemisphere. And with the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who not only seems to have clear picture of how this should work, how the Western Hemisphere should operate, and how the United States has to lead, and he speaks Spanish to boot, sort of. You know, this is, this is. not going to fall into the typical category of midterm elections stink for the party in power. They stink for the party in power when things are not going well. And that doesn't mean that Donald Trump and his administration are going to be able to solve the affordability crisis before November. Now, first and foremost, it's not a crisis. It's a never-ending battle. When you have a consumer-driven society like America, affordability is an interesting subject. Are you talking about affordability to exist or affordability to have multiple cars and multiple houses and, you know, ski trips to Montana? Because that's not affordability. That's prosperity. And I think that for the... For a large part of the population, affordability is not an issue. They're living their best lives. And that means that you can throw out all the handbook stuff that we get every time a midterm election is about to take place. And should this mission, Epic Fury, turn out the way it's looking? Donald Trump will be a hero in the eyes of many, many people, not just in this country and not just in this hemisphere, but all around the world. I mean, the Middle East has been a brushfire almost since 1947. And somehow, we're finally on the precipice, along with Israel. of not only putting out the fire, but bringing in allies from these Gulf nations. Iran, it was not predicted that Iran would be launching attacks that would fall on Dubai and Bahrain and on all of these Gulf states. That does not bode well. for the Democrats who now want to position themselves as the anti-taking-out-the-regime party. Really? And then there are a lot of people in America today who remember the Iran that existed before the fall of the Shah. There are a lot of people who understand that they were an advanced Western culture in the Middle East. until the Ayatollahs came in. And those people are grateful to Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu today. Because they understood this may have been the last chance to bring back a modern Iran. And I can't even begin to imagine what that will mean in terms of the Middle East.

Because it's something that sells itself. When you have women assuming positions of power and back in colleges and educating themselves and when you have commerce that's... filters down to the people and doesn't stay in the hands of a regime that uses all of the country's money for a nuclear weapons program with the aim of destroying Israel and destroying America and Western civilization. That's a huge message to send to the world. And that looks like a distinct possibility right now. I don't have a problem. saying that in fact there's a very good chance that we are going to see peace in the Middle East, like a real piece, like the kind of piece we never thought we would have a chance to see. And I, for one, think it's long overdue, and I for one will be grateful. And I want to see how the Democrats tap dance their way around that. Good luck. I'd like to get the contract for putting together the ads for candidates who are going to run as Republicans against Democrats, who voted against the president and the military in the middle of a military action. Oh, please, I can see the ads now. These will be the easiest ads to put together ever. You know, the last time I saw an opportunity this great was almost 15 years ago when a candidate thought it would be a good idea to send out a political flyer where he had his opponents. Social Security number and his opponent's wife's Social Security number on the flyer in the era of identity theft in South Florida. As soon as that happened, the ads just began in my mind and didn't need many of them. And then the underdog in that race actually won. And a Republican from West Palm went to Washington. Unfortunately, lost his way. But I know how to craft the ads, and boy, is this going to be fun. If anybody's got any connections, I know my friend Peter, anybody got any connections to put these ads in place. I got some great ideas. Anyway, don't forget coming up after me is the one and only Guy Benson and then Will Kane, Joe Pags, Lars Larson. Then the overnight guys come along tomorrow morning. Jennifer Ross and Stephen Deener will wind us out of this week.

At 9 o'clock, it'll be Brian Kilmeade. At noon, it's Eric Erickson. And then, of course, I get to come back and literally take you right to the wire of this weekend. And considering what happened last weekend, weekends are very exciting around these parts these days. So let me finish today's program. I'll be right back. Say, first of all, thank you to my listener who said, yes, Joyce, you are prophetic and the Democrats are pathetic. I thought that was a good line, but I do want to make sure that people are very cautious about this sudden excitement about the... The Reza Pahlavi. This is something that you have to do your homework about and not just buy into what you're hearing certain people say. And I do know there are some very pro-Israel voices out there that at times, in my opinion, go a little overboard and... I don't know what the precise aim of this war is. I have a pretty good idea that the president and the Israeli prime minister absolutely want there to be a regime change. But there are a lot of different ways that can happen. And it doesn't necessarily involve a total replacement regime. There's one player in this drama, though, who seems to know exactly what it is that he wants, and that's Reza Pahlavi. This is the 65-year-old crown prince. who spent most of his life in exile here in the United States since the revolution in 1979, which of course was when his father, the Shah of Iran, was deposed. And the crown prince has a huge following inside of Iran. But how popular he is there is very difficult for us to assess right now with all the parts moving as quickly as they're moving. You know, given the choice, according to people who have been watching the situation there for years, not just weeks and months, most Iranians... prefer neither the Islamic Republic nor a return to the failed monarchy. They would rather have a democracy. And there's good evidence that Iranian intelligence has been exploiting the crown prince, who is a political neophyte.

And they surrounded him with people who are under the influence of the political hierarchy in Tehran right now. Dividing the opposition abroad is a standard tactic of any repressive regime. One of the unpleasant scenarios that has to be considered is that if the mullahs feel their regime is in peril, particularly if President Trump unleashes a major war against Tehran, they may offer Reza Pahlavi an olive branch to, you know, kind of make some version of a national unity government. which would just be another deception scheme by the Islamic Republic Guard. And basically they'd just be playing on the prince's vanity, creating the fiction of some sort of a will share power. It would be like Great Britain, while the thuggish IRGC people keep their hands on the real reins of power in Iran. And that possibility is what I'm hearing from the people I know. They're taking that very seriously. The people I know in Western intelligence agencies and in the community that has been looking at this for decades. And as if on script this week, the Crown Prince has moved towards exactly that scenario. Just hours. After the bomb started to fall on Iran, Pavlovy gave an interview to Fox News in which he said that now we have the beginning of the very end of the regime. This is like full decapitation of the regime and ultimately what will expedite its total collapse. The Iranian people have suffered too much to settle for anything less than that. And then he talked about how he's been working with anti-regime elements inside of Iran to facilitate the transition to something new. Tablavi. said the same thing in an interview with CBS the next day. He is clearly positioning himself as the transitional figure who's popular inside the country, even with the country's ethnic minorities. But is any of that true? I know the White House has their doubts, despite the Crown Prince's effort to flatter the President. On Tuesdays, the President said the Prince looks like a very nice person. Some people like him, and we haven't been thinking too much about that. It would seem to me that somebody from within, maybe, would be more appropriate. Just be mindful. All I'm asking,

is that the charms of the crown prince may prove fleeting. After all, Benjamin Netanyahu was able to explain to our president just exactly what the regime's intentions were, which involved the destruction of the great Satan. That's you and me, folks. And perhaps he can persuade the president. that the Crown Prince might offer an easy way out of the war. And since the Pentagon eventually will run out of precision munitions at a troubling rate, the pressure then comes on us. And I think the IRGC thinks along the same lines. So please, don't get all sold out for the Crown Prince. We don't know enough yet. But instead, just be pro. what's going on and that there be victory for the Iranian people. I thank you for your time this time. Until next time, my plan is to be back here tomorrow at 3 o'clock, if it be his will, and he delays his coming. What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are, are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. So wherever you are, just be yourself. Everybody else is taken. And then may God bless you. May God bless Israel. And may God bless the United States military and their efforts. I will see you all tomorrow at three. This has been the Joyce Kaufman podcast, available everywhere you get your podcasts.