The Rod and Greg Show: Could Republican Voters Decide a Democratic Primary in Utah?

Happy birthday, America! It's time to celebrate and play your favorite Las Vegas casino games by American-owned SpinQuest.com. What's better than fireworks than American Pie? Hitting a blackjack in the palm of your hand, and you won't lose your fingers. Over a thousand games, including slots and live dealers, and $30 point packs are on sale for 10. SpinQuest.com, buy American players for American players. SpendQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoidware prohibited. Visit SpenQuest.com for more details. It's a bit intimidating, but I was not going to miss the show, and so I'm out here. I found a way to get on, and I'm here. So are you learning to ranch? Is that what you're doing at this event? Oh, it's a big fundraising event tonight is what you're doing. It is. Yeah. I'm at Speaker Schultz's Ranch. But I'll tell you this, I'm just going to watch. I'm not getting on any animal. I'm not, you know, I'm just an admirer from afar. You know, there's no, you know, there's no structured parking out here. There's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's nothing the soft people like out here. Yeah. It's just all, you know. dirt roads hills animals i don't know i and i and i my guess would be you're going to get a lot of meat tonight yes this is not this would not be a vegan event i'm going to tell you i don't think vegans are going to be very happy at this event uh this is a this is a ranching crowd ranchers and uh yeah it's people that love america It'll be a lot of fun today. That's for sure. All right, we've got a lot to get to since you weren't here yesterday. By the way, congratulations on your, what is it, the 32nd wedding anniversary yesterday. Yeah, 32 years. Congratulations to you. Yeah, Stockholm Syndrome are the two words that you might want to think of when you think of Queen Bee. Stockholm syndrome. But yeah, 32 years. That's a record. Well, we didn't get to talk about the deal with Iran yesterday. Of course, you weren't here. So we'll talk about that. We're going to talk about, you know, all these foreigners. Greg, who are coming to this country and absolutely are falling in love with it. Well, we're going to talk with someone who came to the country, I think about 13 years ago and never went home. He loved it that much. He said, I'm staying. And boy, we are what, five days away from the primary on Tuesday, right? Real interesting races going on out there. We've got the first district and the battle that's taking place between Blake Moore and Carrie Ann Lizenby. You've got stories about what's going on in the newly created Democratic district here in the state. So there's a lot to talk about, Greg. It's going to be an interesting vote on Tuesday. It is. I mean, conventional wisdom says incumbents are going to do well. I think Ben McAdams is going to take the less insane block in that newly drawn Judge Dury-Diana district that she drew for all the Democrats in Utah. I think he's less insane than the rest, and you've got a few insane candidates there. They'll probably split each other's vote. But I will say this, in a June primary.

uh, anything can happen. And, uh, there's, there's some surging going on. There's not, there's a lot of activity happening. You get to that Blake Moore, Carrie Ann Elizabeth race. That's a, people that can, the smart money saying that Blake Moore holds onto that seat, but there's a, there is a strong campaign behind, uh, former state representative Carrie Ann Lisenby. And she's seeing traction. So. That could be a surprise. That could be a big race. And you have Phil Lyman going against Celeste Maloy. That's drawing a lot of attention as well. So that race to be close. I wouldn't count my chickens before they're hatched if I were a candidate in this 2026 June primary season. I think the natives are restless. Yeah, I think they are, and there are a lot of legislative races. We'll take a look at that. A little bit later on, our good friend, Steve Moore, all lined up. He'll join us a little bit later on in the show, and we'll talk about the Declaration of Independence. It is coming up on our celebration of July 4th and the 250th anniversary of this great country of ours. We'll dig into that and what Jefferson had to say when he started writing the Declaration of Independence. So we've got a lot to get to. Great to be with you today. part of the program 8885708010 on your cell phone dial pound 250 or you can leave us a message on our talkback line by downloading the iHeart radio app all right greg i want to talk about the uh the deal with iran a lot of people are weighing in a lot of skepticism out there about what's going on Americans wanted something done. Would you agree with me on that? But they didn't. They wanted something done short of troops on the ground. And I think that basically is what they're getting with this agreement. Yeah, and I think if we go back, when did this conflict start in March? Yeah, February, I believe. If you go back, we weren't asking for any of it, actually. We thought that the previous strike in the summer would probably did the job in terms of taking away Iran's nuclear capabilities. It turned out that it didn't. I think we need to give President Trump the right when presented with new information. concerning information about their ability with uranium enriched in uranium and what to do about it you saw the president act um we've been through 20 years of a war in the middle east you have a you have a beleaguered nation in terms of boots on the ground that is not a i don't think that's a mood out of fear or being soft i think this country's paid its due when it comes to these overseas conflicts overseas conflicts in the middle east so what are you going to do i think if the goal was to end the nuclear uh capabilities of iran if it's to stop world terrorism and it's stopped and it's to stop their long range uh missiles from being uh built and being able to be fired i think he's hitting on all three of those at least in the memorandum of understanding and if that those understanding or those agreements are not fulfilled i don't think they're shy i don't think vice president vans has been shy about it i certainly president trump hasn't that if they mess around they're going to find out it'll just get worse for them so

I don't know. You got, what, 50 Iran leaders that were taken out from March until now? They don't have the same leadership team. A trillion dollars worth of infrastructure damage, military equipment out of Iran. They don't have a Navy. There's a lot that... that you can show by way of measurables. The people that wanted a regime change and they wanted more than what they're getting, you and I, we subscribe to the ashtray doctrine. We'd like to have seen an ashtray there. You know, we didn't get that. But if you wanted that, you better be ready for boots on the ground. You better be ready for a prolonged battle. And we have an economic consequence to that. So. I think I trust this president and I think that the memorandum of understanding is solid. And if it's, if it's violated by Iran, they're not going to get very far. Well, I mean, let's be clear. Okay. If you look at it, Greg, if the president, the deal that we have now with Iran with a signature leads to a non-nuclear Iran. And I think that's what the president is counting on. Okay. A freer flow of oil. to the global economy. Not so much of the U.S. economy, but the global economy. And maybe, just maybe, Greg, a more stable Middle East. Isn't that a gain for everybody? Now, there's no guarantee. This is really a pay for performance. agreement and as you pointed out if they don't perform properly the president has said i'll drop more bombs on your heads all right so but i think if it lays this out we're none of us are really satisfied i my sense is gregg the american people are hoping for regime change there in iran and maybe the president was too in a roundabout way But that's not going to happen. I mean, they are so entrenched. I'm not sure if we'll ever get a regime change in Iran. We would like to have seen it happen. But I think the American people, once things calm down, we analyze this, see where this all goes. I think the American people will say, well, he did what most presidents didn't want to do. He took on Iran. He knocked them down. Now we can monitor and see what's going on. I don't know what else to say on it. Forget whatever plans you have this weekend because you're staying at home and playing on SpinQuest. And there's never been a better time to sign up than right now. New users get $30 coin packs for just $10. All the table games you love with hundreds of slot games and real cash prizes. That's at SpinQuest.com. SpinQuest.com. SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. You know, and let's talk about regime change for a second. We would hope and we would like for the Iranian people after being terrorized by this current regime to rise up and be able to take over and form a new government. What I would argue you don't want is American nation building. Yeah. I think we tried this. We aren't good at it. I think that we've done Iraq. We've done Afghanistan. I think it has worked awfully. I think these where the United States has tried to create regime change, you know, by either.

clandestine methods or very public, none of it seems to have gone well for me. I'm not interested in any of that. So regime changed by our hand and by the United States hand, if you really got drilled it down, drilled down to the people, I don't think the people want that. American people, what they would like to have seen is this murderous regime that's killed hundreds of tens of thousands, if not 100,000 of their own people. You'd love to see them boot it out, but we're not going to do it. It's not up to the United States to go nation build around this planet. So, I think absent us getting more involved to a degree that I don't think there's an appetite for in this country, nor do I think we should. I think we're getting a very good way forward. And when Iran... doesn't obey or they try to get around the agreement, they'll get caught, and if they do, there'll be consequences. I'm convinced to that. Well, it's not a perfect deal. I think we all kind of accept that. It's not perfect. But if it does some of the objectives, like I said, about making sure Iran does not have nuclear capability, the straight is open, and there's some... Some semblance of peace, maybe in the Middle East, Craig. I think the first step has been taken. I think that's what's most important. All right, when we come back, why people come to American decide to stay here? We'll talk about that on the Rod and Greg show with you on this Thursday afternoon right here on Utah's Talk Radio 105-9, K&RS. Greg, it's been a lot of fun. I mean, I've become a soccer fan, and I enjoy watching World Cup. I know you aren't a big soccer fan. But it's fun to watch people. You are not. But it's fun to watch people who come to this country from foreign lands to see, you know, see the World Cup, and they get a chance to taste and feel and see America. And let me tell you what, Greg, they are blown away. I love it. Well, I will tell you, it has impacted me personally and that the observations they are making about everyday life in America are things that I have myself taken for granted. I did not realize I lived in a high trust society that you have fountain sodas drinks that you can fill up on your own with as much ice as you want. I've traveled abroad. I realize they give you two cubes, two ice cubes, if you're lucky, if you ask. you forget those things. And so I just think I do. I have loved, love, love the various videos that we've seen from those fans coming from Europe or all over the world. attending these games, and then commenting on what they see in the United States, it's helped me appreciate our quality of life even more. Yeah, it really has. Well, our next guest came to America. He said, I think it was about 13 years ago, and he decided to stay, which I love. I love this story. Joining us on our ending hour newsmaker line is our good friend, Ian Haworth. He is a political commentator. Ian, how are you? Welcome to The Rod and Greg Show. Thanks so much for joining us.

Thanks having me. Let me ask you, you wrote this article. What did you, why did you stay, I guess, is the question I have, Ian, after you came here. I mean, like you said, you arrived in San Francisco, which San Francisco Airport is not one of the best in the world, but you decided to stay. Why? despite the Sanpians Square Airport, I think I would say. I mean, I think you speak to a lot of people who move here, and they have the same kind of story of you have a lot of reasons for coming to a country, but I think you can only truly appreciate the core reasons of why the United States is the greatest country in the world by living here. And I think a lot of the people who are visiting, you know, during the World Cup, they're going on about how great the country is. There are so many wonderful things about the country, but the things they're saying aren't what actually make America great, right? It's like bonus things. Like, yeah, ice is amazing in your drinks. I love it. Air conditioning is incredible. But they're not talking about, for example, quality of living, quality of health care, the space we have here, the fundamental freedoms of speech, the vast majority of people coming to the World Cup. really, unless you live in the United States, you do not have free speech where you're coming from. And so this is kind of what I was talking about in the article of when I came to America, I was attracted by the kind of things a lot of people are attracted by, like job opportunities, career prospects, the amount of money you can earn compared to other places in the world. But once you come here and you start to truly understand the foundation of America, the foundation of the First Amendment, the foundation of the Second Amendment, that's what I truly fell in love with. And so I think that's kind of what makes me laugh when you see this World Cup stuff, because I wish people stuck around long enough to actually learn the real stuff that makes America great, because then they might not want to go back either.

So my question is this. I actually felt like when I was watching this, I actually thought about you. I thought you were the World Cup guy before the World Cup fans even arrived because I think that you do speak passionately about this country and it's our freedom of self-determination. I actually have seen some videos, a gentleman from South Africa that's in a park and he's marveling that women during the day can walk safely in a park without fear of being accosted or harmed. and park benches that weren't destroyed or graffitied over or even squirrels that can run around in a park without being, you know, being hunted. And this is a tourist. This is someone that can afford to be here. That's more than just a free ice for me. That's talking about basic public safety, which what it told me was maybe that's eroding more around the world than I was appreciating. What do you think about that? I mean, what is it? What is the state of play in the UK right now? What is public safety like in some of these areas compared to here? Do you think it's, do you think the contrast is as wide as we're hearing from these tourists?

South Africa makes Baghdad look safe. You know, like, South Africa is pretty terrible right now. Yeah. I have a lot of friends who go on rugby tours, and you have to have full-on armed security wherever you go there. Don't leave the hotel. Like, you're going to get robbed. You're going to get carjack. That's just the galaxy of South Africa. So compared to South Africa, America is like Disney World all over. But certainly compared to the UK, too, the crime was seeing there is obviously different because you don't have the same kind of problems. Like, you don't have the... same problems with gangs, for example, that you do in a lot of American cities. You don't have as much gun crime because people don't have guns. But there's plenty of other violent crime. There's plenty of kind of what they deem is low-level crime. You know, you might not be being killed, but there's a ton of violence going on. There's a ton of stabbing. You're seeing the big story of the last couple of months was the uncovering of a story where a young man was stabbed, and the police arrested the guy who was stabbed, who bled to death in front of them. Because the person who stabbed him claimed he was being racist. That's the kind of priority going on in the UK right now. So when people do come to America and they see that it is, obviously, depending on where you go. Like, I wouldn't recommend going around like downtown Memphis at 2 in the morning and claim that's going to be as safe as, say, New York in the middle of the day during a soccer game. But generally, so much of America is safe, but it's not just because it's safe. by accident, safe by design, because people also take the responsibility of their own safety, and that's where the Second Amendment comes in. And that's where I think a lot of these people, if you actually push them, would get uncomfortable. If you ask them about the importance of gun safety and gun use and the Second Amendment, they won't quite get it. I think that takes a little bit more time. But maybe give them enough time, they might come around. But I think a lot of people kind of likes America for what it is on the surface. But quite often they're not willing to kind of get to the core of why America is as it is. And the First Amendment and the Second Amendment are the foundation of that. In the values that this country was built upon, and they were considered at that time revolutionary, you've been in this country long enough now. Do those values still exist, do you think? Oh, yeah. I mean, it certainly eroded in parts of the country. Like, I moved to Tennessee from California in 2021. And one of the reasons was that I think those values were eroding in the coastal areas of California that I was living in. But I think you travel through the vast majority of the United States. I'm very lucky enough to do it as my job speaking on college campuses. I get to travel all over the country. Those values are just as important, if not more important than I think they were recently. I think the problem I'm seeing is a huge divergence between the kind of people who still respect those values and still love America for what it is and the people who are desperate to change it. You see a lot of the stuff going on in New York City right now with... people who care more about Gaza than they do New York or America and things like that. That's, I think, where the concern is, because unless you push back against that on a daily basis, you're going to see places change and cities change. And when cities change, states tend to follow them a little bit. We've seen it happen, for example, in the UK, and numerous cities have become like third world countries.

America is special, but I don't think it is so special that that won't happen unless we really fight to protect it. Yeah, great warning. I appreciate that. Ian, as always, great chatting with you. Enjoy the weekend. Thanks for joining us. Thanks having me. Enjoy the soccer. All right. You're welcome. Ian Haworth with a political commentator makes them very interesting. That was a shot of me. I wanted to ask him, is he going for the UK or the U.S.? Because they may play on July 4th, believe it or not. They may play. I just want to say, ladies and gentlemen, if America loses to Great Britain on the 4th of July, can we all just forget soccer forever? That would be the greatest indignation ever. I mean, that should just finally make my case. I hope America wins on the 4th of July. But if we don't, then it wasn't meant to be. We could just give up this entire sport. We don't need it. if we lose on the 4th of July to the Brits. Could be. It's a bad omen. More coming up, the Roder and Greg show with you on this Thursday on Utah's Talk Radio 1059, KNRS. Hey everybody, Lady Luck here, and we're celebrating America's 250th birthday. Now, all summer long, I'm going to be celebrating by playing on SpinQuest.com, which is an American-owned social casino. It obviously features over a thousand slot games and live blackjack, live craps, live bubble craps. Head on over to SpinQuest.com. Get yourself a $30 coin pack for just 10 bucks. SpenQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit SpenQuest.com for more details. I tell you what, Greg, I think the primary election on Tuesday, there are some really interesting races out there. It's going to be interesting to see how this unfolds on Tuesday. Well, typically, in a June primary, you kind of get the normal narratives that are flowing out there. But we have a reporter in the Deseret News, Brigham Tomko, that I think has done an incredible job, ladies and gentlemen, and really digging into some of the different, you know, the drama of campaigns, all the ebbs and flows. And I think there's been a great job maybe giving us a little bit more, you know, a picture behind the curtain. Joining us on the program is at Brigham Tomko. Brigham, welcome to the Rod and Greg Show. Hey, thank you both so much for having me on. Okay, so we have a couple articles we want to talk to you about, one about the first district, and if the Republicans might be helping decide the outcome in that Judge John district. But before we go there, you did a piece earlier this week about the, maybe the drama about the Congressman Blake Moore, his reelection race against former state representative Carrie Ann Lisenby. Both sides accusing others of different faults or maybe going after each other's records in different ways. But also there's this argument, especially from the Blakemore camp of defamation and negative campaigning. You dove into that a little bit. Maybe share with our listeners. Is there any merit to any foul play in the election in that congressional race? Or is this just really going after people's records? What is it that you uncovered in your reporting on that specific race?

You know, like all things toward the end of an election, it depends on who you ask. But if you ask the Carrie Ann Lismby camp, what they'll say is that Blake Moore is representative of some of the problems that conservative Republicans have with Congress as an institution, that you have these establishment elected officials who may appear like they're profiting from the system. And they point back to some stock trades that Congressman Blake Moore made during his first... couple months in office back in 2021 when he traded some defense contractor stocks when he was sitting on the u.s armed uh services committee and the The flashpoint for this debate happened last week when Carrie and Liz and be posted on social media an ad where she said that Blake Moore has made millions insider trading. And so this is where you hear the more campaign coming out and saying that this is defamatory and that insider trading is a felony and that she should retract her statement. And the post was later taken down. And so the back and forth right now is over the legal details of, you know, what is insider trading? But I think that the point the Liz and Bee campaign was making is that as a representative of Congress, she would actually support banning stock trading altogether by members of the House. Brigham, you've covered campaign for quite a long time. I mean, this is typical of what you see in the final few days before the actual vote where they really do get a little negative? They try and just plant an idea in voters' minds to see if it could have an impact. This isn't unusual, is it, for races like this leading up to the vote just a couple of days away? No, not at all. And you're even seeing some of the governor's top allies who have supported his disagree better message by the name of Owen Fuller and his pack running ads against Carrie and Lizzie doing what they can to tie her to the Box Elder County Data Center saying that she supported MITA, the government entity that led to that process being approved. And this vote took place seven years ago. But at the end of the campaign, you kind of. Reach out for anything you can that has a negative association to try and paint your opponent in a bad light. Well, that's a spent fuel rod, that old box cellar data center. So, yeah, you try to throw anything at somebody for that. Anyway, but let's go to this next article that you just put out about the first district. I describe it this way, Brigham. I say that the least crazy candidate would be Ben McAdams. He's been a member of Congress before. He used to run as a more eccentric, but now he's in this liberal district. So he really hates Trump now, more so than he's ever expressed before. He's really going after some maybe left of center issues. But then you have people that are further to his left that might be, I think, crazier than Ben McAdams. But they're trying to really secure maybe a hard, hard.

left base uh you found out that there might be some republicans that might be getting involved might want to throw an opinion around in that race uh maybe share with our listeners what what's going on and on that part of the race are republicans getting involved in this democrat primary just know, one of the perennial stories in Utah politics is Republican primary voters, alleging Democrats of kind of infiltrating the process and trying to sway elections by registering as Republicans. But what we've seen now that we have a Democrat leaning congressional seat is Republicans are asking themselves, wait a second, unlike our party, Democrats have an open primary process, which means any voter, regardless of party affiliation, can request a ballot and get involved. And so what we've seen this year is that a 415% surge in non-democrats requesting Democrat primary ballots to vote in this congressional race. And so we're seeing nearly 7,000 of these Republican or unaffiliated voters requesting a ballot for this Democratic primary in the first congressional district. And I don't know if that will be enough to influence the margins of this race, but it's certainly interesting going forward whether Democrats will want to keep their primaries open. Yeah, Brigham, any idea what these Republicans are up to? I mean, that's an amazing number, 7,000. Any idea what they may be up to or what they're thinking? Well, I was able to talk to two of them in the first district. One of them, Kathleen Anderson, will actually be on the general election ballot in November as a Republican for the Salt Lake County Council. And so she is a Republican who plans to vote for the Republican nominee for the first district in November. But in June... She says, I don't have a primary election because I'm uncontested. Why don't I participate in this Democratic primary to make my voice heard? And so she and other Republicans are making this calculation about whether they want maybe the more moderate Democrat to move on to that general election, or maybe they want to get behind one of these more progressive candidates and that could increase the chance of Riley Owen, who is the GOP nominee for the first congressional district. So I, you know, it's good for the goose is good for the gander. I like this because I think some empathy in the campaign election cycles, the Democrats seeing Republicans coming into their races. We've certainly been enduring that over the number of election cycles as Republicans. And they've, and I think the Democrats have been very open about it saying, you know, that is the race. So let's all change party affiliation. Let's go do it. To your point, have you interviewed any of the Democrats who are seeing that kind of influx? not liking it, maybe expressing their concern about that because I think that that might be a good thing, that they don't like it just like I don't like it. Are you hearing any of that from those Democrat ranks? Well, the first thing I've heard, it was actually a confirmation from the Ben McAdams campaign that they are reaching out to non-Democrats intentionally with mailers and digital ads saying, hey, you can request a Democratic ballot. So they are taking advantage of this open primary system, as well as some other consultants with state legislative races. They're trying to get Republicans to sway the Democratic primary this year. And interestingly enough, the voice.

that or the perspective I got in my story yesterday that was calling on Democrats to close their primary was from Wobacks and Utah GOP chair who made the argument that he believes that politics are healthier, that they're more productive and more constructive. If people have buy-in and that the only people that participate in the parties are the ones that are registered as party members and fill that kind of investment in the institution. But I'm sure that we'll be hearing lots of these more progressive candidates, whether it's a Nate Blune or Liban Mohammed, criticizing Ben McAdams for appealing to voters outside of that party base. It'll be interesting Tuesday night. Brigham, great job in covering this so far. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you very much. All right, joining us on our newsmaker. Thanks, get up to good work. Yeah, on our newsmaker line. Bring him talking about. Tomko, that is such an interesting point, Greg, about Republicans voting in that first district. I just find it fascinating, wondering what they're. Good for the goose, good for the gander, I say. You got it. Welcome to our world. All right, before the break, let's give away a brand new flag from colonial flag. The winner will receive a flag from colonial flag. It's a great way. You know, you may have had a flag that's become a little tattered, maybe a little faded over the years. Why not get a brand new flag just in time for the big July 4 celebrations? We will take caller number 15 right now. Caller 15 888-570801010. If you're caller number 15, you've got yourself a brand new flag from our good friends, Paul Swenson, at Colonial Flag. All right, more coming up on the Rod and Greg show. I've gotten wonderful messages today from a lot of great friends and people who know me, people who like the show, and they're just wishing me a happy birthday today. And it's great. Paul McCartney called, as a matter of fact. He says he's celebrating his birthday today as well. Well, you know, I guess he's also ran. No, he's an also ran. Yeah, I mean, it's his birthday, too. You kind of mentioned that in passing. Yeah, yeah. I'm just glad that, you know, I got married the day before your birthday. I didn't want to overshadow. I don't want my birthday overshadowed, or my anniversary overshadowed by your great. You did, you did. All right, more coming up. Hour number two of the Rod and Greg show. Stay with us.

This MOU with Iran, there's some people that are really unhappy out there. However, I'm hearing a lot of good things about that MOU. Now, it doesn't mean that Iran's trustworthy or anything. They may not keep a word of it. And if they don't, there's consequences. But I don't know about you, but I'm curious where our listeners are. Where are they falling on this? I mean, do they think that there should have been more accomplished? Do they think it's been a waste up till now? Or do they think we've made some progress? I'm just... I like it. I like what it is. Is it ideal? No. I would have liked an unconditional surrender. I would like an ashtray there instead of a country. That's me personally. But I don't know that we were ever going to get that without more pain, more economic hardship, boots on the ground. So I don't know. What's the collective opinion of our listeners? Well, you know what, Greg, a point I make. I don't. I don't know if at this point right now, and like you said, we have wiped out a lot of the leadership there in Iran, right? But there are some who are still there. 50 members. I didn't know it was that high. 50 Iranian leaders have been taken out. But many of the leaders are still there. And, you know, we could continue bombing, try and get them. But where do you go from here? I mean, like you said, nation building is not what this country should be doing. And, you know, and I think, my guess is the Donald Trump looked at this. He said, I'm going to get the best deal I can right now. It's kind of a pay for performance plan. You know, Iran's got to hold up its end of the bargain. Or, as Trump says, he'll go back in and drop some bombs in their head. So I'm not sure what, the one thing I know the American people did not want, boots on the ground. Okay? That's right. And this agreement, there are no boots on the ground, at least at this point, depending on what happens if Iran doesn't do what is supposed to do. So the American people didn't want boots on the ground. And the Democrats are going to say, well, the straight is back open. The straight of her moves is open. Well, it was open before the war started. Okay. Iran is going to get some money, not from us, but they are going to get some money. So there are people out there who are saying, well, what did we achieve here? Did we achieve success in preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power? You know what? It sucks to be bored. But when I get on my phone and play real casino games on SpinQuest.com, the time flies by. That two-hour wait at the DMV seems like 10 minutes. Play your favorite slots. Live blackjack, live craps with a live dealer. New players, $30 coin packs are on sale for $10.00. Play SpinQuest.com and you'll never be bored again. SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit spendquest.com for more details. That's what Donald Trump went into it for. He wanted to stop this. Presidents have talked about it. They've warned the Iranians before. Don't do this. But they didn't try and do anything about it. So Donald Trump said, I'll take that mantle on and we'll go get these guys. And that's what he tried to do.

Yeah, and here's the wrinkle that I think is it's not actually even about Iran that leaves me wondering how this will proceed. President Trump said on true social today that, quote, we expect a complete ceasefire on all fronts including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel. You have today also the New York Post reporting that Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to pull troops out of Lebanon, despite Iran peace deal. Will Lebanon will Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu? comply with with the ceasefire. So is Israel on the same page as the president and which and vice president JD Vance on this memorandum of understanding he's saying that he is, but then you get these reports that he doesn't want to pull troops out of Lebanon. I don't know that Israel and the United States have the same end goal. And that's that to me is probably the, the more concerning part about this and even the part with Iran. Iran's on a short leash. If they mess up, they're going to find out. But what do you do with Israel if they don't want to play ball? Well, you make a very good point because, you know, hopefully, hopefully Iran can control Hezbollah and tell Hezbollah to quit lobbying missiles into northern Israel, all right? Yeah. But Israel, like I said a couple of weeks ago, there are three players in all of this. There's the United States. There's Iran and there's Israel. Iran and Israel, I don't think, want a peace agreement. But they've got. a memorandum of understanding right now, which may slow things down. So Donald Trump, I think he wants peace. He wants prosperity in that part of the world. And he's hoping that down the road, this may give Iran the prosperity they're looking for without the threat of a nuclear weapon in their back pocket. That's what I think he's hoping for. Hey, I'm not sure if he's going to get there or not. I'm not sure where this agreement is going to go. Well, here's a little palace intrigue, and maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I see this Ted Cruz just saying it's a disaster, it's wrong, it's a capitulation, it's a terrible agreement. Is that Ted Cruz really believing that this is a bad agreement, or is that Ted Cruz who wants to run for president in 28 and doesn't want JD Vance to be the author of a peace agreement between the United States, Israel, and Iran, and a peaceful and prosperous Middle East. I'm starting to wonder if the 28 race and some of the Republicans that would like to run, if you see that JD Vance is at the heart of the negotiations here. Do you hear some commentary about this agreement that have ulterior motives to them? Like trying to dim J.D. Vice President JD Vance's light and trying to make him look like he was weak in his negotiations. for an election, not because on its merit, it's been a bad deal. I'm wondering, I just, I say that out loud. I'm thinking out loud. I don't know. Well, that's a lot. All right. Like you said, we want to hear from our, our great listeners. We know we have a lot of Trump supporters out there as well. Are you happy, sad? Do you think he should have gotten a better deal, played hardball even harder than he already did? 888-5708010. Let's go to the phones, Greg, and let's talk with Kyle in Orem tonight here on the Rodin' Greg Show. Kyle, how are you? Thanks so much for joining us. Your thoughts on this. Yes, I'm 100% supporter of Trump. Either people don't have understanding about Trump or the...

Oh, I'm not very eloquent, and I apologize. No, go ahead. Go ahead. Collect your thoughts. You're fine. Well, I'm still not very eloquent. But anyway, yes, people who don't support Trump, I don't have deep, they have way too much TV. Yes. And I take back with them. I really do. Yeah. All right. All right, Kyle. We appreciate you calling in. You know, there are people out there. My sense is, Greg, the American people are here. And you may agree or disagree with me on this. Like we said, there have been past presidents who have threatened to take Iran on because of its, you know, warning them about nuclear development. No one was willing to step in because of the support that a large number of Americans have for Donald Trump. knowing that he can negotiate a deal and he's a tough negotiator, I think they were behind this effort to try and get Iran and get Iran out of the nuclear game. All right? He tried to do that. And they were willing to accept some of the economic uncomfortableness that came along with it, meaning higher gas prices and higher food prices, knowing in the end they will come back down and we may get an Iran that is, you know, maybe trying to work. with the mid-east instead of against it and against the American people. And I think the American people are willing to say, okay, we understand what you had to do here. Now let's see where we go from here. And that's where I think they're saying, let's see how this agreement plays out. Well, you know, look, when President Obama was in office, he said in Syria, Bashar al-Assad, here is my bright line. If I find out that you used chemical weapons against your own people, we are coming in there and we're going to take you out. That is my bright line. He was so articulate about it. He was so clear about it. Well, guess what? They found out he had used nuclear, I'm sorry, chemical weapons against his own people, and it was silence. It was crickets from the Obama White House. He never had the courage to actually do it. what he threatened to do. This president does, and I find it to be unbelievably ironic that the Senate of all bodies, of all groups of people in America, would have the guts to criticize Trump for doing anything when he's doing something. Show me what the Senate's doing right now, other than yelling at Mike Lee because he can't, because they have to, he's making it awkward that they don't want to pass the Save America Act. They're not working. They have no room to talk or critique this president when they themselves are not fighting and working for the American people. Let's go back to the phones. We go to Ogden and hear what Jared has to say tonight here on the Rod and Greg show. Jared, how are you? Thanks so much for joining us. Yeah, hey guys. So a little background here. I was in Iraq when we did the surge. I was in Afghanistan when we did the surge. And the big difference between the two is that one, we elected George Bush a second time that sent a clear message to everyone that, hey, you know, we're committed to this. The American people are committed to this. So I look at what Trump got as a deal. It's what we the American people allowed him to get. So when he went to war with Iran, which we all know, if he had a brain in the last 30 years, you know this, they're a threat. But once again, for some reason, all the talk show hosts, the right wingers, they turned against them, the media turned against them, public opinion turned against them. So he got what he had to hurrying it.

just to put this, you know, to rest. I mean, imagine if this is the kind of support that, you know, that our, you know, we were getting in World War II. Yeah. I mean, you know, but like I said, I see the difference there. All right, all right. And thank you for your service on, Jared. We appreciate that. Whoops. Yes. Had to cut them off. But, you know, the American people, I think, Jared pointed this out, understood what Donald Trump had to do. And my sense is they feel he did it. Yeah, what an astute observation, and from someone that was actually in the search who saw combat, he's right. The American people, 20 years of ongoing war is a beleaguered country. There's a lot of variables. Jared mentioned some of them. I think this president reads the people that elected him well. He is able, I think the measurables have been. Great. I think we're far better off today than we were before that started back in March. And I do think that there's a lot that still has to be done, but there are measurables and there are consequences if Iran doesn't come through. I'm good. I do. I don't think it's a perfect deal, but I don't think a perfect deal was ever really in the cards for us. We were going to get the best we could. And I think that Jared said it best, that Trump. delivered what the American people wanted. And that's, that's, I think that's, that's what we have. More coming up, more your calls and comments here on this Thursday afternoon. It is the Rod and Greg show on Talk Radio, 1059, KNRS. Hanging out at the pool is great. Relaxing and playing Vegas-style games on my phone at the same time. Drink in one hand and a blackjack in the other. It's all at SpinQuest. Over a thousand games including your favorite slots and table games. Be cool with this summer special. New players get $30 coin packs for 10 at SpinQuest.com. SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. Folks, we've been talking about this deal with President Trump and Vice President JD Vance has negotiated. It's a memorandum of understanding. A lot of those points are being discussed. Some people are very critical. I, for one, I know Rod DeGrees. We think it's the right path. We think it's the right way to go. But we want to know what you, our good listeners, think. So let's go to the phones right now. Let's go to Doug from the fine city of Draper. Doug, thank you for holding. And welcome to the Rod and Greg show. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. I was just wanted to say that Trump has got this all figured out from the first minute to the last minute. As soon as he gets everything he wants, he's just going to arm the people of Iran and let them settle the score with the Muellers. I love that. I love that. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, Doug, thank you for the observation. And that is the thing. I mean, we found out they were moving tankers in the middle of the night that we didn't know about until after the Iranians found out. And then he told everybody that they've been doing that for some time. I think there are. I do think Doug brings up a good point. What we know doesn't mean that's all that's out there. I think that the president has a great plan.

And you could easily, I would hope that the people, not us, not nation building from the United States, but hopefully you see the people of Iran tired of the tyranny, ready to stand up. And I think if he could empower that, they absolutely will. Yeah. Do you think the American people were hoping for a total surrender from Iran? You know, if you think back to March and April, we were all, I was saying, I don't know that we're all, I thought that's all we were doing was negotiating the terms of surrender. Was it, was it, would it be the hard way? Would it be colored up and would they try to save face, but they had lost? I, I didn't think it would last into, into June back in, you know, when you look back to March and April. So I think that Iran with their drones and some mines in the Strait of Hormuz were able to hang on longer than I thought they'd be able to do, certainly with some of the news that came out right away. But, yeah, I do think that there was a stronger surrender that I thought was in the cards that didn't come. But I don't know that the Iran situation is very good right now. I mean, the sanctions are still in place. They don't get a dime right now. There's a lot they have to do to even begin to get back their assets. And by the way, when we talk about the dollar amounts, it's not taxpayer dollars. It's just unfreezing potentially what it is that they have that they're holding. Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you, Greg. I mean, of course, the Democrats are going to take issue with this. And even some Republicans, what's interesting is here's Lindsey Graham, okay. Senator Graham, who's the hawk of all hawks to many people, he came out and said he supports the deal. He think it's a deal that America can live with. So, I mean, it's just this nitpicking that is taking place. We now have details of it. But in many cases, people are saying it's a little vague here. What is Iran? Are they going to be allowed to do this? Are they going to do this? You know, and I really think it's going to require a lot of oversight on the part of the U.S. government as to what Iran can and cannot do. And I think they need to be ready for that. And I might be too cynical, but I think that when I see Ted Cruz say that this deal is an embarrassment, I think he's posturing for a 28 run for president. I do. I think he knows JD Vance will be probably the nominee. I've heard that Marco Rubio wouldn't run if JD Vance does. I think they're very good friends. They work very well together. I think you could see them as a potential ticket with Marco Rubio as vice president. But. I do think someone like Ted Cruz has aspirations to run for president again like he did in 16. And I just think the Senate's doing nothing on their own in terms of work, measurables. And then they're going to go and criticize this president. And when I see that from Ted Cruz, I think he's running for president in 28. That's what I think. Well, the thing that Donald Trump has done, Greg, and the American people, you just pointed this out. The American people are sick and tired of electing people who'd get nothing done. And we could point to both the House and Senate.

They've done nothing. Yep. Okay. I mean, I saw a headline. Do I have this in front of me real fast? Only 70 of the president's 266 executive orders, Greg, have been codified into law. What on earth have they been doing in Congress? So you see a man like Donald Trump, who I think is, pardon the expression, a man of action. He wants things done. Yes. And I don't think we should find fault with him if, in fact, he's trying to do something. And that's very, very important. All right. We've got some talkback comments coming up and more of the Rod and Greg show right here on Utah's Talk Radio 105-9, KNRS. It's a memorandum of understanding, whatever that means, Greg. Apparently they have 60 days to come up with a firmer deal, even though the president apparently said during his news conference yesterday that that 60 day is not a hard, a hard deadline. There may be some flexibility there. Yeah, I think, well, I think what he means by that is that if there's if there's a level of effort being exerted, if they think that they're making progress, they're not going to have, they're just not going to pick a number of days and everything will, you know, the sun will set or rise on that date. But I will tell you, I do not think President Trump will be trifled with. I don't think they're going to get to string him along. They're not going to be able to, I think he'll be pretty strict about what he wants to see by way of progress. So I think he's trying to put out good vibes right now. But I do think he has a high standard. And if they mess around, I think they'll find out. that he's serious. Yeah, we'll see. All right, let's go to our fact. Our lines are open if you'd like to join us on this. 888-5708010, triple-8-5701-0. On your cell phone, of course, you can leave a message, dial pound 250 and say, hey, Rod, or leave a message on our talkback line by downloading the iHeart radio app. Greg, let's go to one of our talkback lines. Here's what one of our listener has to say. Hey, you guys, I just love your show. It's a great thing to listen to, but I just wonder, had those cheap cowards that call themselves our allies over there had helped us all the way along, we probably would have gotten regime change, do you think? Interesting. As you heard, Greg, this caller's saying, you know, if our allies would have helped us. Could we have gotten a regime change in Iran? I don't know. But our allies should be embarrassed by the role that they didn't play in this. It's an interesting observation because I had a clip that I was preparing for the show, but we're not going to play it. Pete, Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, outside Air Force One this morning, or it was reported this morning, he said that this is not a one-way street. There will be cooperation with our allied nations or there will not be a NATO. It's not going to work like it's worked in the past. This will be...

mutually beneficial for all involved. And he says, this isn't a secret. This is what we've been saying and how we're going to move forward. I liked how he said it today because I think it was what you just said and what the talk back live comment was is, yeah, you were nowhere to be found so-called allies, but we're not going to play that way anymore. We're going to ally with people that want to ally with us. And if you don't, then, you know, good luck to you. And I think that's the right call. I mean, NATO, you can argue, is an outdated and equated system because clearly it's not two-way, a two-way street. And the Cold War is over a long time ago. So I think it's time to revisit all of that. Does need to change. All right, let's go back to our phones. Let's go to Mark in West Point, who wants to share a thought on this tonight. Mark, how are you? Welcome to the Rod and Greg show. Yeah, I agree with Greg. I just wonder, I do want to say that. I really wanted more of them to say, uncle. But in answer to the question, when you said an MOU versus an M.O.A, a memorandum of understanding set the foundation for the relationship expressing a shared desire to work together. And forcibility is non-binding. That's half of it. MOA is detailed the specific responsibility, financial terms, and exact roles of each party. So I've left a lot out. But there's a reason that an MOU was used versus an MOUA. That's a really good point. The basis of what I might call. One is mutual understanding of the way forward. The other is an agreement that is concrete in terms of its finite detail. And I think you're right. I think that... They are on that path. They know the goals. They know what they're to achieve. They know the path they're going or at least they've agreed on that path on paper. Let's see if that does culminate and do an agreement. Let's see if they carried out. All right. We go back to the phones. Dave is in Layton tonight here on the routing Greg show. Dave, how are you? Thanks so much for joining us. Your thoughts on this. Well, this brand of Islam is these 12ers. don't believe that they have to make any binding agreements with anyone they consider an infidel. So they will say whatever they want to make a deal now to push the ball down the road and later on they will break it without a second thought. And so the only thing they understand is force. That's what this is going to come down to. That's why this has been dragged out. That is the reality of their religious beliefs. This particular, not all Muslims, but this brand of Islamists. This is what they believe. And these people, Dave, are in charge of Iran. Are they not, Dave, as far as I understand? That's the Iranian Republican Guard. Yeah. This is what they believe. They literally believe they have to bathe the world and blood to bring about the hidden imam.

I mean, they'll say whatever they want if their doctrine of Tequia. They can say what they want to an impedele. It doesn't matter. Wow. Well, Dave, thanks for that insight. And he's spot on. I mean, how can we trust the Iranians? The president thinks we can if we hold a bomb over their head. We'll see what happens, Greg. It's going to be interesting. And I don't disagree with that. I just think so it's June, July, August. So I think in August, if you're not seeing any of that, any of those benchmarks or any of that understanding starting to come together, you're going to see what. The only thing that the Iranians understand, I think it's a high, I think that the idea that we're going to bomb into Iran again, I'm with the with the caller. I think it's probably going to happen. They can slow bake as much as they want. But I will tell you, I've got to believe that this president and his cabinet and his secretary of war, they are going to plan that if there is a consequence to be felt. it will be akin to a final blow. It will not be to drag this into the fall. This will be it. If they can't get this right in the next 60 days, I don't think you're going to see. There won't be much left to talk about. And who can blame Trump at that point for whatever carnage is delivered for how much he has tried to get this right? I mean, I think he has signaled this to the country that he has tried. He is trying as hard as he humanly can. But to the caller's point, I think come August, we probably will have a different consequence because I think that I don't trust Iran. But again, I like the deal. We got crude oil, the commodities down to almost $3. It's almost down to what it was. before the conflict began. And we're in summer when usually that price goes up naturally this time of year anyway. So I think we're seeing the markets move. I think we need to, the people need a breather in terms of economic impact. So let's see what happens. All right. More coming up. More your comments on our talkback line and more your phone calls. On the Thursday afternoon edition of the Rod and Greg Show and Talk Radio 105.9 can't arrest the memorandum of understanding now between the U.S. and Iran as far as nuclear. capabilities on Iran, the straight, all kinds of issues brought up in that deal. And we're getting your reaction to it. Let's go back to the phones. We talk with Richard in Salt Lake City. Richard, how are you? Thanks so much for joining us. I'm good. Thanks. I just want to say I think this is a horrible deal. I wish I could say the other, the opposite. I mean, this has nothing, says nothing about their ballistic missile stuff instead of us controlling the dust, the nuclear dust. I mean, who knows what that is? Everything's up for negotiation for months. And then we just drag everything closer and closer to the midterm elections. And I feel like this is what?

stealing defeat out of the jaws of victory. I think that the preposition that Greg says, who I normally agree with, uh, about Cruz, Ted Cruz. doing this for a presidential run. I just totally disagree with that. I think this is a terrible deal, and I just think that we're just going to kick the can kind of down the road, and really no benefits are going to come over that. Money is fungible, so whether the $300 billion is their money that we've been holding on to, or whether we were just paying them money. that came from out our pockets in our country, it really doesn't matter. They can use that money to just rebuild everything, so it's that much harder to destroy again. I feel like we had a golden opportunity where we had our foot on their throat. And we weren't really in serious harm's way. We were cutting off their oil revenue. And we could just devastate them financially. And we just let off. We just let them up and give them like a victory. I hate it. Well, Richard, let me ask you this. Do you think the American people would have tolerated another two to three, maybe even as long as six months? of the war that we unleashed in them just to try and take out that machine that currently runs Iran. Would the American people have supported that effort more so than maybe this deal they have now? Well, I would say that the Trump administration hasn't even tried to sell it. The sales of this has been so poor. Who I normally, I'm so grateful for what they've done overall. They're a million times better than what we would have got with the Kamala Harris. But their marketing of the whole thing has been horrible. So maybe not. And I will say shame on a lot of the Republicans because I feel like they've put tons of pressure on him. to get out and stop when i feel like i mean you can't ask for when can you have a war where you're not really taking millions of hits all the time and you're just draining them big time and one answer to what you said that might make americans more willing to support it would be is if we stop exporting our oil uh products to other countries, and we just kept it in-house. Sorry, cut you off there, Richard. I understand where you're going with this. We've got to get to a break, Greg. But your thoughts on what Richard said.

Hey everybody, Lady Luck here, and we're celebrating America's 250th birthday. Now, all summer long, I'm going to be celebrating by playing on SpinQuest.com, which is an American-owned social casino. It obviously features over a thousand slot games and live blackjack, live craps, live bubble craps. Head on over to SpinQuest.com. Get yourself a $30 coin pack for just $10.00. SpenQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Voidware prohibited. Visit SpenQuest.com for more details. He makes a lot of sense. And he, you know what, look, and when I'm cynical about Ted Cruz, there is plenty of space for people to disagree with me there. I'll grant you that. The only thing I would say, and I think he did answer it, I would say, well, then what? And I think that what Richard was saying was that the administration would need to sell. better or have a more compelling argument for why we do have our boot on their neck and we need to end this in a more decisive way. I just think personally, I think that there will be consequences in August that we will be realized by Iran that we still have time to get this better than it is today before we get to the fall and then to the midterms. All right, more coming up. Hour number three. Steve Moore weighs in. He takes an economics look at this deal. That's coming up next on the Rod and Greg show in hour number three. Joining us on our any hour newsmaker line right now to talk more about that is our good friend Steve Moore, top economist, helped the president in his first administration, designed the tax cut that the president imposed or was able to sign into law. Steve is joining us on our newsmaker line right now. Steve, thanks for joining us tonight. Give us your take on this deal between the U.S. and Iran. Well, I'm not a foreign policy expert, so I don't know all the elements of the deal. What I do like is the fact that the oil prices is down to about $75 a barrel. Remember, it went up to as high as $100 a barrel a month or two ago. So that's very good news for the U.S. economy. I know my conservative friends are not happy with the deal. I really can't comment on that, but I will say that. If we see the oil price continue to follow like this, it won't be long before we'll be paying about $3 a gallon at the gas pump. And I think people are really looking forward to that. But the way, in Utah, you'll probably be paying a lot less than that. So that's good news. Now, I was on CNN of all stations last night, and we were talking about this. And they were, oh, you know, Trump didn't get anything. And he surrendered to the Iranian government. And so I said, well, wait a minute. interventionist anyway, but I said, look, you know, if what Trump has gotten out of this was, is the denuclearization of Iran, that's a big, big deal that will have benefits for generations. And so, and I find it ironic that all these people who spent their whole career, no nooks, nooks, nooks now here Trump is doing that and they're, they're opposed to it. So, so Steve, it seems like the markets, when you look at crude oil and, you know,

They look bipolar to me. I mean, they don't even have a five-day window of time mark. It's like whatever the news is, the last 15 minutes, you see the markets move. So right now, maybe it's the same, but if we're at $75 a barrel for crude, we're only a couple dollars off of the price that it was right before the Iran situation emerged. Do you expect that to stay, or is this just such a temperamental market that if... If it doesn't go famously or were they going to raise it just to be cynical? I mean, what happens when you see these prices? They just, they move so drastically, one up or down. You talk about the oil price? Yes, the oil price. The commodity price just seems so unstable. Right. Yeah. So you're right. I mean, and by the way, if I knew what the price was going to happen with the price of oil, and I knew more than the market did, I could make a lot of money. So I don't know where it's headed, but the market is saying it's probably going to head down. You know, again, a lot of this depends on whether this deal goes through and when the Iranians stick to it. And Lord knows if that's going to happen. But, you know, I have to say that I was on Larry Cudlow show the other night, and we were talking about this. He's a pretty smart economist himself. And we were both agreeing that, you know, if we see... you know, a continued reduction in the oil price, which is certainly possible. And then if we see on top of that, they continued productivity improvements that are happening from AI, which are very real, by the way. I mean, I've been talking to a lot of CEOs of middle-sized manufacturing companies, and they're saying that what AI is doing for their businesses is just incredible. So that means that we could see, you know, believe it or not, we could see the inflation rate to follow the... you know, between 0 and 1%. You know, we had the, right, the last week was 4.2%. So I think we may be headed to a period where we're seeing inflation in a very stable. you know, very little inflation, which I think people would love to see. So that is, that's good news to the economy. Yeah. Steve, let's talk about Kevin Warsh. He held his first Fed meeting yesterday. Didn't say a whole lot, Steve. What's your take on what he said? And the challenge of that he faces right now, what's his biggest challenge? Well, what I liked about it was that he didn't say a lot. You know, I don't think we need the Fed to be talking about, oh, what's going on the count. I mean, what he said was very important. I said two things. First of all, he said, we are going to get price stability. We are going to get price stability. That means getting the inflation rate down below the 2% target. And he is committed to that, and that's fantastic news. Because the reason you have a currency is so that it retains its value.

And the second thing he said is stop paying so much attention to what the Fed Sherman are saying and pay attention to what the economy is doing. You know, don't take our word for it. Look at the same economic statistics we're looking at. So I thought that was a marvelous thing to say. I think that I think he's going to be a superstar. I think we are going to see. And by the way, when that when he said that, that he was going to, you know, try to. you know, keep in place a stable dollar. The market fell by 400 points because they wanted a rate cut, but you can't have a rate cut when you got inflation at 4%. Steve, what is the role of Jerome Powell on that board now? You have a former Fed chair remaining on the board. Are you hearing anything that is he, is he an obstructionist? Is he making it harder for the new Fed chair? What is, do you know what the atmosphere is like with the new Fed chair Kevin Warsh having to deal with Jerome Powell on that board? Jerome who? Okay, that's what I wanted to know. That's all I need to know. Yeah, look, he's irrelevant. You know, he is, he is just sticking on, and I sort of feel sorry for him, but no, nobody cares what he says or does anymore. He was an arrogant fool. He was a bad fed chairman, and now we have somebody who is going to be, you know, quite. quite efficient. And, you know, by the way, he's a good man. You know, I know him very well personally. And, you know, he just said to these guys, you know, and there's a whole industry that's revolved about guessing what the Fed is going to do when they hang on a... Remember Alan Greenspan? We'd have to get out. Oh, yeah. Language is he speaking in? We don't even know what he says, you know? And he speaks very plainly. He didn't speak for a long time. He just said, we're going to keep that dollar stable. We're not cutting interest rates and we're not raising them. And that was about... It's not it. Steve Moore joining us on our Any Hour Newsmaker line. I'm trying to figure this one out, Greg. In one hand, Steve describes Jerome Powell as a good man. Then a second later, he calls him an arrogant fool. I just love it. I'd go for arrogant fool for a hundred, Rod. It's just, it's pretty amazing. The interesting thing today, Greg, we didn't bring this up earlier. You may have was that, you know, with what is going on in the straight... apparently open or working to get it open, gasoline prices are starting to drop around the country. We're seeing prices under $4 a gallon. Yeah, AAA, which is probably the best report for all 50 states' averages of gasoline per gallon, shows that the prices are finally dropping. and are under $4 a gallon as a national average. And, you know, our audience, you know folks how much I hate this. We are on a lag on that. So we're certainly not under a $4 a gallon in Utah. But it looks like that's where things are headed already. Yeah. Yeah. And that would be good news for the economy. We'll see how long it takes. And let's be honest, Greg, people do vote with their pocketbooks. And if they see gas prices coming down, the economy continuing to get a little bit better, inflation slowing down.

It may have an impact on the midterm elections. It'll be interesting to see what happens. Yeah, I do. I think, look, I'm going to be bullish. I know that I can hear the caller that expressed his disappointment in the deal. I hear every word of it. And I really can't argue the premise that was laid out there. But I just say, then what? I don't think that another caller said, what would the American people allow? What's the space? What could we do? I think we've got a pathway. If we get to August and we're seeing more of the same games playing, I think there's a consequence coming. But I like the direction things are going. I like that oil's getting through the straight as the commodity price drops and gasoline will be affordable. And we're coming into the holiday weekends, 4th of July and everything else. So I don't know. I think things are going the right way. I think the Fed's finally under some real leadership. That's a good thing as well. Yeah. Well, wait and see. A lot to come on. All right. When we come back, the media, the legacy media, falling all over themselves today about the dedication of the new Barack Obama. Presidential Library. We'll come get into that coming up next right here on the Rod and Greg show in Utah's talk radio 1059 KNRS. I mean, did I hear Lindsay say or Chase say on the weather forecast 98 tomorrow? Yeah. You know, I spend most of my day in an air condition building. I go from office to car, car to station, station to home. I don't even feel it outside. Yeah, that's the way I am. That's the way I am. George, you're up in the mountains right now. It's probably nice and cool up there. And it seems nice. I'm just a little, you know, I get a little antsy when I'm in the middle of absolute nowhere. I just don't like, I like civilization. I love asphalt. I love pavement. I love a lot of creature comforts and there is none out here. I mean, well, I take that back. There are a lot of comfort creatures out there. Yeah. The home you're in. But this home. This home needs to be lifted up and taken to a place with civilization is what this home needs. It is just out here by itself. I don't know. But, yeah, it's, I'm on a ranch. But it's beautiful. I mean, it is. I mean, but you know what? Get a postcard. I've seen this in postcards. I really don't need to live it. You know, I, if I need a Red Bull, heaven help me. If I didn't have, you'd be driving forever. It'd just to get a Red Bull. You'd be a 45-minute round trip. It'd take a little ride. You'd be fine. It would. You'd be fine. All right. Well, speaking of nights places, guess who had a big grand opening today? Oh, Barack Obama and the ugly-looking presidential library. And man, did the stars turn out? That thing is so, it's like, it's like Emperor Palpatine, the evil Empire Emperor, Emperor Palpatine came and just landed some ship into Chicago, some ugly, black, you know, ship. It's just, it is as draconian and scary as a cartoon could make something like that. And yet.

No one's going to tell this emperor that he has no clothes. They're going to tell them it's the most beautiful, architecturally significant presidential library and the history of presidential libraries. Well, normal people are going to look at that and think, I've seen scary movies. I've seen science fiction movies with structures like this in the movies. And it wasn't the good guys living in there. It was the bad guys. Something's wrong with Hillary. Now, you didn't see the video today, Greg, but it's a warm day in Chicago, right? Everyone's wearing light clothing. Hillary shows up with a hat and a big, heavy coat on. Hmm. Yeah. What's going on with old Hillary? Well, joining us on our newsmaker lines. She's a vampire. Talk about this is Jeff Dickens. He is a director of media analysis at Media Research Center. Should we be surprised at all, Jeff, that the legacy media is fawning all over Barack Obama and his new library today. Happy birthday, America. It's time to celebrate and play your favorite Las Vegas casino games by American-owned SpinQuest.com. What's better than fireworks than American Pie? Hitting a black check in the palm of your hand, and you won't lose your fingers. Over a thousand games, including slots and live dealers. And $30 point packs are on sale for 10. SpinQuest.com. Buy American players for American players. SpenQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Boydware prohibited. Visit SpenQuest.com for more details. You're probably not prepared for it. Because here at 10 NewsBushes, we actually did a compilation of some of the most over-the-top finding in Barack Obama, not just as two terms, but even going back to 2006. Oh, when you had ABC's Terry Moran saying this is when he went to Obama was in Iowa, even before he started to run, officially, and he talks about you can see it in the Iowa crowd, the thrill, the hope, how they surge toward him. Is he the one? And baby, the darling baby is that from? So it started early, and it went through the entire administration, and you're going to see it today and tomorrow. You know, I'm looking at some of these comments. He's Obi-Wan Kenobi. Calm. He's Mr. Fixit, going to Washington. A lot of the hype, did he ever live up to any of it? I know that the media might not have cared, yes or no, but did he ever live up to anything that was said about him in his run-up for president in 2008 or in his early months as president? Well, you know, one of the things I would say no. One of the things we documented here at newsbrushes is how the media, not only did they cheer him on and celebrate them and gave these ridiculous bouquets, I think I have one article here. The print article was an Esquire where they compared them to a Vermeer, to Peyton Manning's passing, to, I mean, it was just... It was over the top. But the other thing is it covered up for a lot of scandals. You know, they would often say, well, he had the cleanest administration ever. The only scandal was he wore a tan suit one day. And it's like he completely overlooked how he sent, he sent the IRS after Tea Party organizations. Forget about the Benghazi.

uh disaster but about how he went said all the his gun running scandal uh is down at the border uh and and all these other went how the russia hoax got started under him and his administration uh that's that's been coming out lately so uh uh yeah it's it's just Yeah, he managed to win back-to-back terms, but not exactly the most prestigious administration really good accomplishment. Jeff, have you heard or seen anything from the legacy media or the Obama media, we could call them right now, who daresay, by the way, Barack, we understand that a presidential library opening is a pretty cool deal. We get that. I think most of us would agree to that. And by the way, the building you built is downright ugly. I mean, has anyone dared say anything about that, Jeff? No, and, you know, not only is it the design, I mean, I guess you can say beauty is in the eye of the bowholder. Yeah, I know it's ugly. It sort of reminds me of that brutalism architecture of, you know, old East Germany and Soviet Union, which kind of fits, given he's more of the left politically. But the other thing is that there was a lot of controversy in Chicago about, like, a lot of the neighborhoods that got sort of like... you know, moved around and shoved away to make way for this monstrosity, in my humble opinion. So, no, but you don't see much coverage of that at all. You know, here's the interesting part. I think that some of the seediness or the exploiting of the federal government or an administration that President Obama was engaged in, we really didn't learn about until after he was out of office. So those meetings with Susan Rice and how they wanted the intelligence report to... to suggest that Trump had colluded with Vladimir Putin, and that was an after-the-fact kind of order to Brennan to do that. We didn't really know about that while he was president. Then he goes in campaigns for Kamala Harris in the last election and chastises black voters in Pittsburgh for even considering voting for Trump. Has the bloom come off the rows, certainly not with the media, but for the general public, are they seeing a different president today than maybe they saw during his time in office? Interesting question. You might be on something there. But I was going to say, you also sort of reminded me some more scandals in the cover. I mean, and remember, this is really bad because these journalists out here, they're saying they're like that Donald Trump is attacking and the media attacking journalists. Well, during the Obama administration, you had Cheryl Atkinson and Catherine Harris saying their laptops were bugged.

And so wait a minute. Who exactly is the authoritarian administration, you know, served as a threat to the First Amendment? And they don't talk about that, but they should. These are their peers. And these are, and they were looking at, you know, CBS News. They were right there in the same newsroom in some cases. Jeff, final question for you. Do you want to place a bet on the fact that my guess is, and I would imagine Greg may agree with me on this, that the media will not fawn all over the opening of Donald Trump's presidential library. You want to make a bet on that one, do you, Jeff? I'm not taking that bet. You gave me like 101 odds. I don't think I'd be taking that bet either, would you, Greg? I wouldn't take that bet. What's up, everybody? It's Bretzky, and America is turning 250. And I can't think of a better way to celebrate that than playing on an American-owned social casino, SpinQuest.com. With all of your favorite games, live craps, bubble craps, live blackjack, there's no better place to play for free and win real cash prizes. SpinQuest.com. SpenQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Boydware prohibited, visit SpenQuest.com for more to tells. No, no, no, not at all. All right, Morgan. Go ahead, go ahead. You had a thought. I'm just going to say that I think that I think everyday people are going to watch the media fawn over Obama. I think the bloom is off the rows with him with a lot of Americans now. And so I do. I think I think that he is in a bubble of celebrity and everything else. And I don't think he's the same guy people thought he was back when he was present. Well, just ask yourself, what did he do? Gave us Obamacare, which we all know is a disaster. What else does he do for the American people? Absolutely nothing. No. No. And I even heard Harry Reid say that he does more executive orders and doesn't work with Congress than they. And Harry Reid was the, I think he was the president of the Senate when he complained about that in a meeting I was at. So yeah. All right. More coming up on the Rod and Greg show in Utah's talk radio, 1059 can arrest. July 4th coming up, Greg, a couple of weeks away. It's not that far away, believe it or not. I still don't get the sense of excitement. Now, you said you did last weekend. And you're wearing your half of America shirt today, your red, white, and blue shirt. But I don't know. I'm still missing the sense of excitement about 250. Do you know what's so sad about that? No, no, I'm going to talk to our audience for a second because it's very sad that you say that. For Rod Arquette's birthday today, of which he's, you know, I don't know, 85, you don't look 85. I'm amazed that you are very young 85. I bought you a gift that is all about the spirit of.

America's 250 year anniversary, and you still don't feel the spirit. That gift was meant to put you in the mood that you are a proud American and you love the 250 year anniversary and you are so callous. You still don't feel it. No, I don't feel it. I'm hoping to, but I'm not catching it yet. I'm trying, folks. I'm trying to get them the spirit of, remember the spirit of 76? The spirit of 26. That'd be nice. I'm trying to instill it upon you. I feel it. I feel it big time. Good. All right. I'm super patriot. I feel like I'm excited. It all started with this document that we call the Declaration of Independence, which was signed on July 4th of 1776. Actually, I'm told it was signed on July 2nd. But they had to wait a couple of days. I don't know why. That's one of the stories I heard. Well, joining us on our newsmaker line to talk about that and the significance of the Declaration of Independence. Brad Berzer, Brad is a history professor at Hillsdale College. Brad, thanks for joining us tonight. You've written a brand new book on this. It's called The Declaration of Independence, a radical experiment in liberty. How radical was this experiment, Brad? Well, when we look at something like that one great sentence within the course of human events, I would argue that that one statement, in addition to various religious things that have gone on in the past, but that one statement politically is the most important statement historically when it comes to dealing with. human dignity, human freedom. And so that radical experiment in liberty, this idea that the founders had, that we would be guided by our free choices, by our free will, not by politics, but by culture, by ideas, by meeting in communities, by families. That was just really, really important to them. And I see the founding as a kind of anti-political political movement rather than a political movement in and of itself. Well, wait a minute. I've been listening to the left and they said that all of what you said was the ruse. This was really just about power. This is about wealth and greed. This was about, you know, people that wanted to make a lot of money and wanted to give people some lofty goals or some ideas to get them to do what they wanted them to do. What do you say to people that are so cynical or would try to suggest that the formation of this country was born from slavery or greed or other financial motives versus the values that you just shared? Yeah, no, thanks for that. That's a great pushback. And there's no doubt that in the history of trying to understand the declaration, there was a huge movement called the progressive movement that really did try and place the declaration in kind of a racist, kind of pro-capitalist kind of understanding. But when we look at the declaration itself, whatever the problems of the founders, you know, when Thomas Jefferson and Congress say,

all men are created equal. There's no backing down from that. They have made an utterly profound statement. And we know that when they said that, they did not mean all white men. They were truly talking about all persons across time and space. It has absolute universal implications. So you get someone like Martin Luther King, very, very profound black leader in the 1950s and 60s. who loved Jefferson and who loved the declaration because he recognized it as a promissory note. You know, not all things were perfect on July 5th of 1776, but they were moving in that direction. And guys, I would go so far, and I know I'm kind of throwing the gauntlet down here, but I would go so far as to say that all of American history has been an attempt to make those words of the declaration real. And have we failed? Of course we have. time and time again. But have we succeeded? Yes, we've done amazing things. Brad, Jefferson along with many of the other founders who had such a role in the creation of this country, were well read. What said in to Jefferson and his ideas as he wrote the Declaration of Independence? Who influenced him? Yes. A lot of people, you know, Jefferson was asked right before he died. Of course, he didn't know he was on the verge of death, but he was asked about a year before he died by Robert Lee's father. What really went into the Declaration of Independence? And Jefferson responded, there's nothing original in it. These were the ideas of the American mind at the time. And I was just trying to give expression to them. So one of the things we often forget, especially in 2026, is how deeply classical the American colonists were. You know, they read Aristotle, they read Plato, they read Cicero, they read Livy and Tacitus. And, you know, if even if you had gone to school for only, say, ages 8 through 10 before you became, say, a farmer, even if you only had two or three years of education, all that education was in Greek and Latin. It's not at all like what we think of with public schools today. And so even, even the most uneducated American had a good grasp of the classical period. So Jefferson, when he says this was the common sense of the subject and this was the American mind, he's really talking about an American people with a very liberal that is having learned Greek and Latin, that kind of education. And so it's not surprising that in the Declaration, We find a lot of the ideas of people like Aristotle and Cicero in particular. They were a huge influence on what was going on. You know, the thing about is we're talking about this. The one part that this just doesn't comport for me in terms of human nature and what I've seen. It seemed like the philosophical types. sat in, sit in Kay Ivey Towers, or they say, you know, they like to share a lot of ideas and lofty goals. And then there's the people that have to go do the work. And then there are the people that have to go, you know, break a pig or have to go to war. And I don't see this founding fathers that had this vision and had this maybe experiment, this new experiment, but they were also getting their hands dirty. They were also.

in the fight themselves there was a lot of sacrifice from people that had money and they had they had estates and they had a lot to lose and yet they were fighting shoulder to shoulder share with us am i right as were they a separate or were they together absolutely what a great question let me give you just two examples here there's george washington one of the wealthiest men in the country who has given up every single thing he has to fight this war And, you know, you can imagine he's on Long Island and the British are advancing towards him. It's a brutal, absolutely brutal moment. And the Americans are about to be totally overwhelmed. George Washington stood as the absolute last man on the island, making sure that he got every other American off. I mean, that's incredible to think about that. But I also will give a second example. One of the only Catholic signers of the Declaration, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, of Maryland, he was extremely wealthy, arguably the wealthiest American, and he lost about a third of his money during the war because he was the one funding the Continental Army. So, and, you know, he put his, he, he is the whole estate. If he had been caught, not only would they have confiscated his estate, but they would have hanged him. And so, yeah, no, these guys, they are not lofty Kay Ivey League thinkers. These are guys down in the trenches doing what they need to do. Brad, thanks so much for joining us for a few minutes today talking about the Declaration of Independence, a radical break. Radical break for liberty. As a matter of fact, he's with Hillsdale College. Interesting, Greg. These founders, I think sometimes we don't realize what they did to get this country going. They were all under threat of being hung. The British were not going to put up with this. Yeah, they just didn't do it. All right, more coming up. Final few minutes with the Rotar Ket Show, along with Greg Hughes here on Utah's Talk Radio, 1059 CanterS. Another team for all of us to admire a minor league baseball team chose to forfeit a game last night rather than require its players to wear Pride Night uniforms. Good for them. You know, the term inclusion should not just mean one narrative, one goal, one cause. It should be inclusive of all thoughts and faiths and everything else. That's not what that word means to the people that are pushing the Pride Month. And trying to force people to wear things and to make statements that they don't themselves believe or would make on their own, if not forced, like in a baseball game. Well, it happened in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. It is the team called the York Revolution. and a scheduled game against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabbs would be forfeited after multiple players, not just one or two, Greg, refused to wear the team's pride night jerseys. The team released a statement yesterday confirming the decision, saying it chose to cancel the game rather than mandate that as players wear uniforms that they disagree with. Thanks a lot of guts to do that nowadays, but more and more people are willing to do it.

Sports is such a unifying element of the United States. And I think it's going to be our athletes that get us back to, you know, what unifies us. And that is competition. It's the things that make them good at their sports. And leave the... Pride months and everything else behind. They're actually standing up. I think athletes in America are standing up more than ever before. Well, apparently the team was very upset. They publicly criticized their own players. That must be a fun clubhouse to be in. Right now stating that their refusal, the player's refusal, was completely inconsistent with their vision of the most welcoming place in York. Hmm, okay. The Revolution and the Blue Crabbs are both members of the Atlantic League and are not affiliated with any MLB franchise. Well, Senator Josh Hawley will be giving them a letter, too. He'll be sent one to them saying, what's your deal? He sent one to Major League Baseball. He's going to go after these guys. One other note, a sad one tonight, Greg. I know you'll feel really bad about this. Ice is emptying out Alligator Alcatraz. No, no, no, no, that's just temporary because of a hurricane. Is that what you hear? Yeah, I was just because of bad weather. It said they're going to take a bag. Please don't tell me it's over. Well, they're saying, they're indicating they're doing what you just said they would do. They're moving them elsewhere because of hurricane season. But the question is going to be, is there, are they going to reopen it someday? I don't know. Oh, if they don't, I'll be devastated. I love alligator alcatraz. It's the greatest facility. and all the land. I want to do a show from there. I tell you what, when we were down there a month or two ago, my wife and I in southwest Florida on vacation, you saw signs all over the place. We ended up about 40 miles away from where it actually is, but you saw signs alligator orchidress this way. I mean, there were signs. It was kind of funny. There were signs all over the place. Hey, by the way, almost forgot to mention this. Happy anniversary yesterday. Happy Father's Day on Sunday. Yeah, Father's Day. Father's Day is a big day. And happy birthday. Thank you. Happy birthday to you, sir. Happy Father's Day as well. All right, that does it for us tonight. Head up, shoulders back. May God bless you and your family and this great country of ours. Thanks for joining us. We'll be back Monday at 4. Jesse Kelly fills in tomorrow. Oh, I've had no luck lately. Wait, lady luck? Brett Ski, I got you. I've had so much luck on SpinQuest.com. They have all of my favorite games, slot games, live blackjack craps, and bubble craps. You can even get a $30 coin pack for just $10 bucks. $10 for 30. I'm headed over to SpinQuest.com right now. SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.