SCOTUS Allows MS Mail-In Ballot Law To Stand

Your education is more than a path to a degree. At Regent University, it's an important step in God's plan for your career. It's where you'll be equipped to lead and serve with purpose. It's where 40,000 graduates have prepared to fulfill their callings, and so can you. Choose a top-ranked program from over 150 areas of study on campus or online and watch what God will do. Learn more at regent.edu. That's regent.edu. News, politics, entertainment. This is O'Connor and Company. And a very good morning to you on O'Connor and Company. I'm Larry O'Connor. And, of course, we're always firmly ensconced behind the microphone of our flagship station, WMAL, in Washington, D.C. But today, we're in Gotham, New York City. City so nice, I'm told they've named it twice. I can quite figure that out, though, because the city is New York and the state is New York. So they didn't name the city twice. You see what I'm getting at. It's a confusing place. But we like it. Why not? It's our country's biggest city. And it's going to be very exciting this week because of the Fourth of July celebrations. In fact, we've got one of our own correspondents, Town Hall, Salem, Washington correspondent Willie Nelson, who we've spoken to several times on the program. He is currently on a helicopter on his way to the USS Arlington. And then he'll be steaming into New York Harbor with the United States Navy as part of the Armada. joining the New York Harbor here and all the celebrations for July 4th. It's pretty remarkable, if you think about it, 2050 years ago. It was the British Navy that was steaming. Well, they weren't steaming. They had sails and wind. But you get the point. They were plowing into New York Harbor to try to get those colonists in line. And here we are 250 years later, and there's our own Willie Nelson out there, boarding a helicopter and heading out to the USS Arlington so the U.S. Navy can do a bit of a victory lap. We're going to check in with Willie later in the program, courtesy of the United States Navy, and we thank all of our friends there for making that happen. Can't wait. Also, later in the program, in this hour, Tom Newmark, he's an expert on parents' rights and the wokeification of our schools, Department of Education. with a new Title IX complaints, not just on Northern Virginia in the Washington area, but now on multiple jurisdictions in Maryland. Apparently, these counties surrounding Washington, D.C., really want to test Title IX, test the Department of Education. And, well, the Department of Education has said game on. So we'll give you the details about that. All has to do with gender policies. Also, Ken Kuchinelli is going to join us. He's, of course, the chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative, formerly Attorney General of Virginia, talk about yesterday. Today, Supreme Court rulings. We're also going to check in with Dr. Kevin Roberts of Heritage Foundation. It's a loaded program. But I want to start with this decision yesterday from the Supreme Court. There were quite a few of them, and a lot of them were good. A lot of decisions yesterday upheld the executive branches right to hire and fire people. That's important. It reverses a Woodrow Wilson initiative that you can't fire a civil serving. You can't fire an employee of the federal government. Of course you can.

underneath the surface. But here's the president responding to questions. In fact, Town Hall Media's own Cameron Arkin was part of the White House pool yesterday. He asked a couple of these questions too. Let's go straight to the Oval Office so you can see what the president had to say. Because of the mail-in ballot ruling, which was a little bit surprising, gives people more time to vote illegally, let's say. But the SAVE Act is even more important, and that's the right. Do you have to be a citizen of our country? Okay, you have to show you're a citizen of our country called citizenship, voter ID by photo, photo voter ID, and no mail-in ballots. Unless you're in the military disabled, you're ill or you're away or even on a vacation. We're being very open about it. It's pretty easy. And we'll have honest elections. But the ruling, which a lot of people were waiting for, that was a ruling that was, I think it was very detrimental to honest elections. But it is what it is. Basically, they're keeping it a little bit the way it is now. They may have a little bit of a restriction on based on the word. And then you have the very important one, the slaughter case, which we'll talk about if you ask that question. But the... Parliamentarian? What were you asking about? Yeah, have you talked with John Thune about... I have. No, I can't imagine why you keep a woman that was put there by Harry Reid and Barack and Obama. I cannot understand it. The leader has the right to fire the person at will and put somebody else there. That could be, because we get so many negative rulings from her to parliamentarian. She's been there for years, and she was put there by Harry Reid in Barack Hussein Obama. Harry Reid was a bad guy, and he was the leader, and he put her. And the speaker has the right to immediately fire her and put somebody else there. And it's not even believable that she's still there. She's obviously a good politician or something. All right. Let's pick up right from there, and then we'll go back to something. By the way, do you notice that there's just sort of a calm resolve to the president of this? He wasn't screaming, he wasn't shouting, didn't even raise his voice. Just, yeah, this is surprising. Shouldn't happen. Another reason why we need the Save America Act, why we need to reinforce through legislation, election integrity. And then we was asked about the parliamentarian, because one of the ways that they can get the Save America Act through is that they can attach it to the reconciliation packages that they just need a bare majority for. And there can be. be an argument made that this does, in fact, fall under the confines of reconciliation because you can tie funding to it and attach it to the budget and states don't get money to run their elections unless they adhere to these provisions and that sort of thing. But the parliamentarian says, no, you can't do it. Where is John Foon on this?

Why can't he step forward? You know, there's another gentleman who used to be the majority leader for the Republicans in the United States Senate. And his name was Robert Dole, World War II hero. I voted for him for president. You probably did too. A great man. He was a majority leader, and the parliamentarian came up, I can't remember what the details of the decision, but the parliamentarian came up with an opinion that was contrary to the Republicans' agenda, was contrary to the voters who made the Republicans the majority in the Senate. The parliamentarian came up, said, no, you can't do that. Bob Dole said, hold on, I'm the majority leader of the Senate. I represent the voters of America who made me the Republican leader. through their votes for a majority of Republicans in this Senate. This is what the voters want. And I assure you, whatever that issue was, it wasn't something like making sure that only U.S. citizens can register to vote. It wasn't something that 80% of all Americans agreed on. But nevertheless, when the parliamentarian came back to Senator Bob Dole, leader Bob Dole, same title as you, Mr. John Thune, leader. Parliamentarian came back and said, sorry you can't do that. Do you know what Bob Dole did? Bob Dole said, thank you for your opinion. Clean out your desk. You're fired. And then he hired a new parliamentarian. And then he got it done. What am I missing? What am I missing? And by the way, if John Thune can't do that, if he won't do that, If he refuses to do that, don't you deserve an explanation? Don't you deserve more than just responding to a reporter's question? Don't you think that John Thune should make a public statement to the 80% of Americans who want this to happen? And more importantly, to all of the Republicans who every two years donate money, knock on doors. hand out mailers, volunteer, activate, advocate, organize, and get Republicans voted into the Senate so they can have a majority. Don't you deserve an explanation as to why he's not doing the basic of the Save Act? More from the president's reaction yesterday on this decision where he named names every senator who's standing in the way next. For nearly 3,000 years, Homer's The Odyssey has shaped Western imagination. It tells the story of Odysseus as he faces monsters, shipwrecks, false comforts, and impossible choices on his long journey home. As one of the foundational works of Western literature, Homer's epic is more than mythology. It explores permanent questions about courage, duty, loyalty, family, leadership, temptation, and the search for home. In one of the epics defining moments, Odysseus rejects the offer of immortality from the goddess Calypso, choosing instead the long and difficult journey home. His decision reveals one of the central themes of the Odyssey that a life of duty, family, and home, is greater than a life devoted to comfort or glory. Achilles chose glory. Odysseus chose home. That's why Hillsdale College has released its newest free online course, the Odyssey. Taught by Professor Benedict Wayland, the course reveals why Homer's masterpiece remains one of the greatest works of Western

literature. Find this free course at Hillsdale.edu forward slash start now. The Odyssey from Hillsdale College, go to hillsdale.edu forward slash start now. Senator Eric Schmidt of Missouri, he's one of the good guys, former Attorney General of Missouri as well. He understands the law. He understands the Constitution. He understands how it applies to our lives. And he understands the basic understanding of meaning of English words. When a statute says Election Day, it means the day of the election. It's funny. A lot of people are like, oh, Election Day, that means you can't have early voting. No, the fundamental sort of pivot point here, because listen, I'd love to get rid of early voting as well. But the argument here is you've got to count the ballots that come in by Election Day, period. If they come in after Election Day, then that's after the election. Why is this hard? And just so you know, Amy Coney Barrett's logic here is that there's leeway in the statute so that states can determine it on their own. And if Congress wants to make up for that, they can just clean up the language and pass a new law. They can't even pass a law guaranteeing that only citizens are voting. And anybody who thinks that this original statute didn't mean that election day was election day the day of the election. I'm sorry. This is Alice through the looking glass stuff. Eric Schmidt of Missouri, who's a really good guy, and he, by the way, endorsed my friend Chris DeGall, who's running for Congress in Missouri. That's Stigall for Congress.com. Stigal for Congress.com. Throw 20 bucks his way. He took to social media, and he quoted part of Samuel Alito's dissent, said, bottom line, today's decision leaves open opportunities for voter fraud that may further undermine Americans' faith in the integrity of this country's election, period. That's the problem here. win or lose, Republican, Democrat, MAGA, or socialist, we need to have confidence in our elections. Here's President Trump, finally doing what John Thune refuses to do, naming names. John Thune gets in front of a microphone and says, oh, I don't know, we don't have the votes. Republicans don't support it either. We don't have the votes. I support it. I support it, but I don't have the votes for it. Name names. Tell me who's against it. And by the way, what are you doing to punish those senators? You're the leader. That's what leaders do. When Nancy Pelosi had small, slim majorities, if Democrats didn't fall in line, if they didn't do what she said, you think that she just went, well, what are you going to do? No. She spanked them. She took them to the woodshed. She drew blood. They knew not to cross her. Here's President Trump yesterday, naming those names that John Thune refuses to name. Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. You were posting about how important it is to get the Save America Act passed. Who do you see as the biggest hurdle to getting this across the finish line? Well, it's held up in the Senate. And frankly, if you terminated the filibuster, you just need 50 votes, and we have 53, and then you have JD. So...

The Democrats are going to terminate the filibuster. But if you did reconciliation, you could do it with 50 votes. I mean, the best would be to terminate the filibuster, but for some reason, but you have the same basic people. But even Rand Paul is in favor of the Save America Act, if you can believe it. But think of it. Rand Paul is strongly in favor. He's fighting for it. So that's good news. But you would have Lisa McCasky, always against things like this. Nobody knows why. I think I know why. But you have Lisa McCasky, you have Susan Collins. You have Thom Tillis is against, and he's not in office because of me, so he holds me, you know, because I wouldn't endorse him. I think you have Bill Cassidy against it, too. I think he supports it this time. And I think you have Mitch McConnell against it, too. Mitch McConnell, who's very disloyal to John Thune. You know, John Thune was a very good person for him. I mean, he was a very loyal person, and Mitch McConnell's against him almost all the time because he's... angry, I guess, probably at me. Mr. President? What about Democrats, Mr. President? You think you could change their minds. The Democrat should do it too. I mean, you'll probably get one Democrat who's a common sense Democrat, you know, who that is. And everybody should vote for this. This is. The Save America Act. Voter ID, with photo, ideally, but voter ID, proof of citizenship, and no bail in ballots, which is, to my way, I think it may be the most important of all because it's so corrupt. But you have exceptions if you're away, exceptions for the military, they're deployed, exception, illness, disability. You have exceptions, strong exceptions. Ken Cuccinelli of the Election Transparency Initiative is going to be joining us in the 7 o'clock hour talk through these details. Also, there is a light at the end of the tunnel theoretically. Speaker Mike Johnson says that he's going to attach the Save America Act to the next defense supplemental bill that needs to get passed. We'll see if that passes muster. We'll see. It's frustrating, but we live to fight another day. Your education is more than a path to a degree. At Regent University, it's an important step in God's plan for your career. It's where you'll be equipped to lead and serve with purpose. It's where 40,000 graduates have prepared to fulfill their callings, and so can you. Choose a top-ranked program from over 150 areas of study on campus or online and watch what God will do. Learn more at regent.edu. That's regent.edu. We're in the Relief Factor Studios this morning on O'Connor and Company. This time those studios are in New York City. Great to be here in Gotham. We'll be here for a couple of days before we return back to the nation's capital for the Big Fourth of July celebrations. Listeners of this program, viewers of this program on Salem News Channel, where we stream live every day for three hours, six tonight. You're familiar with the ongoing conversations over the war between the five major North Virginia school districts.

and counties and the federal government over their gender policies. They've defied Title IX. They defied the Trump administration. They defied logic and biology by ensuring that there are no gender norms within those major school districts, Loudoun, Prince William, Fairfax, etc., that boys, young men in their teens, post-pubescent men. fully intact adult males can share facilities with young girls, locker rooms, bathrooms, sports, what have you, in direct defiance of the Title IX dictates of the federal government that, no, you can't do that, not if you're going to get federal funding. And you know that there's been ongoing discussions over investigations by the federal government and the Department of Education. That's all been focused in northern Virginia. Well, now Maryland has stepped up and said, whoa, hang on, you're not going to get ahead of us. We can be woker than you, and it appears the Department of Education is responding in kind. Tom Newmark now joins us, and we raise this now within our greater Washington area on our flagship station, WMA, with the full recognition that wherever you're living in this country right now, whatever major metropolitan city you're near, that school district wants to do the exact same thing if they aren't already doing it. Tom Newmark is the president of better at Maryland schools. And he is a activist in Frederick County, Maryland. Frederick County, for those of you who don't know, always was sort of, Tom, a sort of rural and suburban oasis from the insanity of the D.C. Bethesda, Prince George's County area. Not so much anymore. And this insanity has now made its way into the Frederick County schools, and it's gotten on the radar of the federal government. What's going on? You're exactly right. That's an excellent description. Yes. So for years we had not joined the insanity, but now we have, and we are allowing boys into girls' locker rooms, sports teams, and, you know, girls don't like it. They're signing petitions against it. Parents are coming and speaking out. But we have become woker than thou, as you said so well. So we have joined the craziness, unfortunately. Can I ask you, Tom, were the people of Frederick clamoring for this? Like, when the last election happened and this new school board was constituted to engage all of these new policies, were all of the people going to the polls, the mailers, the speeches, the debates, was it all centered around? If you vote for me, I'll make sure that biological boys who identify as girls will be able to go into the locker room. Absolutely not. There were very few parents that were asking for this. It was an activist group. It was a group here called the Frederick Center and P-Flagg. They really joined forces to push this through along with the Board of Education member who really wanted that. Parents were not asking for this. This is something that's pushed on us from external forces mostly.

Well, and now there's another external force that's coming to the rescue, and that's the Department of Education, who, of course, for over a year now, has defined sex discrimination and sex specifically as it is cited in Title IX and other education codes as meaning biological male, biological female. It's sex, not gender, sex. So what happened yesterday with the Department of Ed? Yeah, so they're going to investigate Frederick County and several other counties for violations of Title IX. You know, they have common sense. Frederick doesn't. They know what a woman is. It's not that complicated. And we think we're going to actually, they're going to resist this in Frederick County. So I think we're going to end up losing funding. So I'm curious to see what happens in response to that. If Maryland decides they're just going to make up for the funds or Frederick County is just going to lose their funds, I don't know. When also fighting this requires lawyers, that means they're going to divert money from the budget that would go to education and pay for lawyers. Most of those lawyers, of course, well-placed and highly political law firms connected to Washington, D.C. connected to elected officials, connected to the Democratic Party. And so all of that money is going to funnel to lawyers instead of funneling to the school supplies. And so they're going to come back to the Frederick County Board of, excuse me, Frederick County Council and ask for more money from property taxes. Oh, you're absolutely right. They absolutely will use this to raise our taxes. And they don't care. I mean, they are committed to doing this. In fact, in the current Port of Education election here, we have the Apple Ballot candidates, which are the union candidates, and every one of them has run on this platform of ensuring unfair sports for girls, lack of privacy for boys and girls in bathrooms. That's their actual position. They are fighting parental rights. That's part of their platform. They oppose school choice. So, yeah, this has become a huge issue here in this election. And sadly, these folks are winning at the ballot box because they have an organized political machine. And everyday parents who don't want this don't have such a thing. Tom Newmark, President of Better Maryland Schools, which, by the way, maybe that's the organizational body that can fight back against this. You're not the teachers' union, certainly, but if we can build up Better Maryland Schools and actually get some activism going there, that might be able to be a critical force in trying to push back on this. How do people find out more about your organization and maybe donate or join or volunteer? Yeah, that's exactly what we're trying to do. And they can go to better Maryland schools.org and sign up for our newsletter and, you know, help we get involved. You know, come out to the polls, donate a little bit of money and help us compete with this huge machine that we're competing against. The union last time spent $55,000 in Frederick County just trying to defeat parents that wanted, you know, support for girls' rights.

For everyone listening on our network or watching on our streaming cable news show and Salem News Channel, you might be... shocked that we have a deep dive discussion into a school board election in the Washington. But that's very much the ethos of this program. Everywhere else, you can go up and down the dial. You're going to find shows they're going to talk about the midterms. And Lord knows we talk about the midterms plenty. You can find a show that will spend half their time talking about who the nominees are going to be two years from now for the presidential election. But if you don't focus on what's going on in your school board elections coming up just this November, your children's lives will be upended. We saw that during the pandemic. And Tom, do you think that there's a shift here? Do you think that voters are starting to wake up even more than they did during the pandemic and recognize how critically important these school board elections are? Because I think most parents just sort of want to put life on autopilot when it comes to things like that. They shouldn't have to worry about the minutia of how their kids are being taught and what kind of indoctrination they're getting. They take for granted that everyone's going to be reasonable in them. school they dropped their kid off at you're exactly right we're seeing all around the country that parents are starting to wake up and they are starting to donate to come out to the polls to do things we still need a lot more of it the union is you know quite powerful but yes there's a big wake-up call that's happening across the country as these investigations are starting to bring attention to what's really going on And I welcome that. We really need more parents to stand up because so many are in that silent majority that are scared to say something. So that's why organizations like Better Maryland Schools and other organizations across the country exist is to empower these parents to fight against this. Tom, now what's interesting about this investigation from the Department of Education, and I salute Secretary Linda McMahon for giving the green light on this, it's your county, Frederick County, and then Montgomery County and Prince George's County, those are the two surrounding counties around Washington, D.C., very liberal, very woke, completely dominated by Democrats. But they also named the Maryland State Department of Education. Now, that's interesting, because for quite some time, I know when... Larry Hogan, Republican governor, was the governor of Maryland. His Department of Education took kind of a hands-off approach when it came to certain counties and allowed counties and their school districts to have their own individual policies within certain boundaries. Has the State Department of Education changed under Governor Wes Moore with regard to these issues?

Yeah, they have. So under the more administration, we have seen this get pushed through a comprehensive health framework and policy guidance that most local districts are taking as law. Some are not, a few are fighting it, but most are taking as though they have no choice. And they really do have a choice, but I understand now that unfortunately the law has changed in Maryland. where if the state superintendent thinks that you're violating what she wants for their curriculum, and literally one person, they can come and take your funding. So there's a lot more pressure on districts to do what the state of Maryland wants them to do. The absolute diabolical bastardization of our language. I just want to make sure nobody missed that. It's the state. health policy. This is for comprehensive health education. Correct. We blur the lines between boy and girl, and we suggest that a girl can be somebody that has obvious male genitalia. That's the health policy at the state of marriage. Yep. Denying basic biology is part of our health curriculum. Yep. It's absolutely outrageous. What's the end game here? Because I know that there's an investigation going on with Northern Virginia, too, and it seems like it's been going on for months. What ultimately can the federal government do here and what will this fight look like? Yeah, they're going to take away Frederick County's policy and funding and Montgomery County is through this. So there'll be reduction in funds if we don't comply if all these districts don't comply. And I imagine they will appeal it all the way up to the Supreme Court and continue to make it a legal battle. All right. Tom Newmark, once again, let everyone know about your website and how they can perhaps join this fight and create some level of coalition on social media and through public action. Yeah, thank you so much. So better Maryland schools.org is the website. We'd love to have folks join. We'll be having some meetings here in Frederick for people who live in Frederick and even folks that are just interested in issue. We have a lot of information on that website they can use in their own communities to help them fight it. All right. Thank you for that. Appreciate it. Tom Newmark, Better Maryland Schools. This also brings to mind that we are awaiting one more Supreme Court decision. We should get it at 10 a.m. Eastern today. The final flurry. Yes, the big nugget that everyone's waiting for is the birthright citizenship ruling, although most people think that birthright citizenship will remain the policy until Congress actually changes the law or writes it into law. That said, there is a decision coming down today having to do with a parent's challenge to a law regarding notification of gender transitions. This is a parent that argued that they have a right to direct the upbringing of their child.

And if a school is able to allow a child to transition, change their name, change their pronouns, change their clothes when they get to school because the school has provided clothes for them to change into and keep the parents in the dark that radically upends. every understanding that Western civilization has had about parents' rights and the parents' ability to raise their children the way they think is best. This is the state stepping in and saying, no, you don't know best. In fact, we know better. These are our kids. We'll direct their future on something as sensitive and private as their sexual identity. and who they have sex with for that matter. This is a huge Supreme Court decision. It's tied right to this issue that we've just discussed how school boards are usurping your judgment and usurping the law. So we'll look for that decision. Lord knows we'll talk about it tomorrow. This is O'Connor & Company. Your education is more than a path to a degree. At Regent University, it's an important step in God's plan for your career. It's where you'll be equipped to lead and serve with purpose. It's where 40,000 graduates have prepared to fulfill their callings, and so can you. Choose a top-ranked program from over 150 areas of study on campus or online and watch what God will do. Learn more at regent.edu. That's regent.edu. We've got to talk about these Marxists, these communists. I know they want to call themselves socialists. It's funny, for decades now, myself, people on the right, conservatives, just normative republicans, people with high-profile media presence that are conservative, going all the way back to Rush Limbaugh and beyond. They've said that Democrats wanting to socialize our medical system, want to expand our public school systems to make it illegal for you to be able to homeschool your kids and grow the power of those school systems. And on and on and on, privatized corporations, break up Microsoft, break up this big company, break up that big company. We've often said, well, look at that these are socialists. These aren't liberals. They're socialists and all the pushback that you got. from Democrats for decades. How dare you call me a socialist? I'm just a liberal. I love America. In fact, they equated being socialist with hating America. They rightly equated socialism with communism. You remember that. You're old enough. If you're generation X or older, you remember that that anytime a Republican dared to accuse their liberal Democrat of being a socialist, how dare you question my patriotism? How dare you? I am not a socialist.

These are just good, fundamental, liberal, positive. Look how far we've come now. Where the socialists are loud and proud, baby. They are embracing it. And, in fact, now when you point out that these socialists are, in fact, Marxists, which is kind of a synonym. Some of them might push back. No, no, no, no, I'm a Democratic socialist. Oh, oh, I see. You're a Democratic socialist. Excuse me. What's the difference between a Democrat socialist and a socialist? And I've been struggling with this. And now I figured it out. The difference between a socialist, Marxist, communist, and a Democrat socialist is very simple. If you're a Democratic socialist, you're open to having elections and the democratic process to choose your leaders. Here's the rub. It's not like an entire society can bounce back and forth like some ping pong ball between socialism and free market capitalism. You can't just say, oh, we're not going to be socialists anymore because two years later you had a new election and there's new leaders in there who aren't socialist. And then you completely upend everything. You see, once the socialists take over and they mandate free buses and... free health care and free child care and free this and free that. And they completely upend your economic system to be able to accommodate those pipe dreams that always end up in poverty and misery. It's not like two years later the electorate can say, oh, what a mistake that was. Oh, that Zohran Mamdani guy, he seemed pretty nice and smiley and happy and he made great TikTok videos. But now our life is a living hell. So we're going to go back to the old way. No, that's not how it works. So democratic socialism sounds nice because, oh, yeah, we're still having elections. You can still choose your leaders. But the choice is which socialist to pick from, you see. Oh, sure, sure. We'll have a free election. Democracy is absolutely in play. You can pick socialist A, socialist B, and maybe we'll even let you choose socialist C. But that's as far as it goes, guys. So this is where the line is drawn and this is where the fight is. And make no mistake, the Democratic Party, the JFK Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Democratic Party, the Bill Clinton Democratic Party. They're waving the white flag and they've surrendered. Here's Raphael Warnock from Georgia. Georgia, a pretty conservative state elected this guy as a senator. And Raphael Warnock has said, yeah, sure, we welcome our socialist overlords with open arms as long as we get a seat at the table. Here he is. Zohran Mamdani said those victories prove that the DSA has a durable movement. Among the positions that these candidates have advocated for are ending all support for Israel, ending prisons, ending police, no borders. Now, you've worked hard to be a progressive who can represent all of Georgia, all of a purple state. Are you worried at all about the impact that these positions of some DSA members could have on the Democratic Party's ability to win a majority in November?

Jake, I have to tell you that if I were a Republican this morning, I would be deeply worried because they are having an argument about who is the most loyal to Donald Trump. We are a big tent party focused on the ordinary concerns of everyday Americans. Of course, that's just a lie. They are not a big tent party. And they're not focused on the everyday concerns of the average American because the average American didn't vote for these Marxists. The 7% of New York City voted for them. A ton of them weren't even born here. But big tent, Raphael Warnock? Really? I'd like to now present to you the Christian pro-life conservative Democrat who has a seat at the table with that party. Oh, sorry, tent's not that big. How about the Democrat who wants to protect our borders and deport illegal immigrants? Can we hear from him from your big tent? That's not that big a tent, is it? Okay, okay. John Fetterman, he's the guy, right? Yeah, they want to drum him out of the party because he thinks Hamas is the bad guy over in the Middle East. Democrats have surrendered completely to it. And the only way that we can fight back is, first of all, by the way, welcome them in. They're going to have to change their ways a bit. They're going to have to change their minds about certain things, but it shouldn't be too hard because it's the Marxist communists who agree with open borders, no deportation, killing babies in the womb. Listen, Democrats. We know you're not that crazy. Come on over. We'll build a big coalition. You just need to acquiesce on a couple of things. Better to acquiesce to conservative patriotic American ideas than with the communists. This is O'Connor & Company. We are blasting out on our flagship station, WMAL, the mighty voice of reason in the nation's capital, Washington, the District of Columbia. It's all scrubbed up and ready to go for the Independent State celebrations this week. But currently we're actually in New York City in the Relief Factory Studios. I'm Larry O'Connor in Gotham. and we're happy to be here. Thanks for joining us on O'Connor and Company. Coming up in 30 minutes, we'll talk to Dr. Kevin Roberts of the Heritage Foundation. In the next hour, really special moment, two historians who are at the National Archives, talk about what the archives have in store for this 250th celebration. And then we're going to check in with our buddy Willie Nelson. He's a contributor for Town Hall in Salem. He's a special correspondent, and he's on a special detail today at O... 500. He boarded a helicopter for the U.S. Navy, and he is en route to the USS Arlington. He must have landed on the deck by now, I hope. Can't be that far out.

He is aboard the USS Arlington, and he is going to be steaming under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and into New York Harbor with the rest of the Navy Armada for the celebration of America's 250 this week. And our own Willie Nelson, there he is with Sean Spicer, who's also, that's Captain Sean Spicer, by the way, of the U.S. Navy Reserves. Willie Nelson TV is the social media account, and Willie is aboard the comter and landing at the Arlington, and he'll be joining us later in the program. Can't wait to touch pace with him. What a fun week this is with all the stuff going on. with America 250. So keep it here all morning long. Joining us right now is Ken Kucinelli. He, of course, the former Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Virginia, now the National Chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative. And there's a lot more that you've done, Ken, that we might be drawing on your expertise for it. But I had to tell you, some days I wake up thinking that our country is on the right track, everything's great, and then I get news that makes me feel like the end of the republic is nigh. Maybe you have these days, too. What do you make of this ruling yesterday and the logic behind Election Day meaning, you know, well, listen, let the states decide what Election Day means? Well, I read Amy Coney Barrett's opinion, and obviously it was a close call as 5-4. There's a solid statutory interpretation basis for what she did, and it's only the second time that the Supreme Court has addressed. an election day standard like this. And what they said was that It's about the votes. The votes are due to be done by Election Day, which if you recall some of the interviews with Steve Hilton out in California after the primary out there, I mean, heck, that's a progress in some of our states to make sure that they can't keep having votes taken after the polls closed. Receiving them. Right. Right. And that's why I have to jump in because I'm confused by this. Yeah. Because how do you prove a mail and ballot came in on, or excuse me, not came in on election day, but was sent by election day? Right. Well, the postmark has been the way we've done it, of course, in Virginia and in most states. But, but. news in the last two years is that the post office doesn't postmark everything. Right. And frankly, their job is to deliver mail not to run elections. They're not very good at that. Did the Supreme Court address that yesterday in their decision? No, they didn't. And unfortunately, I think part of what's going to happen here is that because the states do run the elections and they have the authority to

set these rules is that they can set Lucy Goosey California style rules. And, you know, the president responded by saying, look, this is one more reason we need the SAVE Act. And I agree with him. You know, I was on a different show last night. And I said, well, this would have anything to do with the SAVAC wouldn't change anything in this decision. That's true. But what would change is that you'd know everyone voting was a U.S. citizen. And the ID requirement. is a massive security feature for states, again, we'll just use California because they're a banana republic, that just mail out ballots all over the place, then at least there is some security requirements. Right. And, you know, so it would make it, it would make a big difference. The president is right. Would it have been, would it have been good to have everything in by election? Oh, it would absolutely be a huge boon to election security. And I'd love to see that become the law. You know, one thing at a time. And it was a incrementalism, as the kids like to say. And the fact is we got some great other decisions yesterday, like the death of Humphrey's executive long overdue, things that are going to change governmental power in America for the better. But this was not a favorable. outcome and we need to save act to help clean this up. I have a couple more questions about election integrity. I would love to draw on your expertise on some of these other decisions as well, Ken. But as the chairman of the election transparency initiative, I'd love for your opinion on how robust federal law should be with regard to how states run these elections. I'm starting to reach my wits end on this. I try to defer to the likes of Hans von Spikovsky and Jay Christian Adams, people who worked in the Justice Department specifically in the election law division. And they said the last thing you want is Congress to keep making all of these laws to dictate how the states run their elections because then when the left gets in there, they'll write laws that completely upend how good states like Florida and Texas are doing their elections right now. But I tell you, as long as California continue to do what California does, we're lost. They control way too much in the electoral college and in the House of Representatives. So where do you stand on the federal government's role here in dictating these state-run elections? Yeah, I think it should be minimal. But something like citizenship confirmation, there's some things that only Washington can do.

So Washington messed up citizenship with earlier federal laws and federal court decisions. No state can fix that. That is unfixable at the state level. It has to be fixed at the federal level. So that is a bare minimum type of federal item that I think ought to be cleaned up. And there is, believe it or not, a cheesy, useless ID requirement in federal law, but it's cheesy and useless. Thus, the voter ID requirement in the SAVE Act is really not a new ID requirement at the federal level. It is a cleanup of, like I said, of a former federal law. And that's, you know, when you've already got federal law in the books, that doesn't work right. I do agree that it ought to be improved, fixed, et cetera. But I sure is heck. I mean, I still remember HR1 in 2021. Right. And you were Joe Manchin and Kristen Cinema away from a complete Washington left-wing takeover of elections everywhere. And yet, California, I mean, they're Columbia. The Banana Republic of Columbia held a presidential election and counted by hand their votes. I want to say it was June 21st. over 99% of them within three hours of the polls closing, while California was still counting votes. And look, they're an embarrassment. I don't think it changes anything in the electoral college because California's a basket case they're always going to vote so far left. It's crazy. Where it does matter, to your point, Larry, is in the House of Representatives. And I remember, I think it was 2024. You know, it took weeks to even knew who controlled the House of Representatives because of how long it took to count votes out there. And they let them keep coming in for weeks and weeks. I mean, the Mississippi case yesterday was a five-day window, which to me is too long. I agree with you. I think it should all be in and over by Election Day. And by the way, we're voting so early now, what the hell is the problem? I mean, it's not like that's the one-day election. Exactly. Choose a lane, guys. You either want to vote six weeks before election day or you want to keep collecting ballot six weeks after election day. But you can't have both for crying. I don't think you should have either.

Ken Kuchnelli is our guest. While I've got you, you mentioned this decision that basically allows the executive branch to dismiss members of the civil service and replace them, the executive powers. What does that mean, though? Is that far reaching to everybody who works from the federal government? You know there's a lot of people in the Washington area who are good patriots. They've got jobs. Should they be afraid that when President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez comes in, they're all going to lose their job just because of their politics or what have you? So the power is in the president. What the court decided is that he is the chief executive. The entire Article 2 executive branch is the president of the United States. Everyone who works in the executive branch is simply to implement his constitutional authority. And the Supreme Court yesterday said that officers, and officers are people like... FTC, Federal Trade Commission members, not employees of the Federal Trade Commission. So it's not the third cubicle on the left at the EPA or at the IRS or anything like that. All right, great. No. Although I will say, you remember Lois Lerner years back, I urged House members to impeach her. because there's no limits on that. You can impeach whoever you want, and then they get rid of her retirement, and she could never work in the federal government again. We're up against it. Cancuchinelli, we're on the time. Thanks for joining us, though. Great stuff, and I agree with you. With you, Larry. Thanks. Yeah, sometimes you wake up and you think, yeah, the Republic is going to crumble any moment now. I'm trying to keep a smile on my face, but we can't agree on certain fundamentals like Election Day being Election Day. And when you've got the rise of Marxists on the left, and that's what they are. They are Marxists. And this is a slow, maybe not so slow, March. toward upending everything that America has stood for. That's who they are. I'm sorry, I keep dwelling on this, but this is an existential election now. If you allow Democrats to gain power, I don't care who the Democrat is in your district, okay? I'm sorry, unless they speak out and say, no, I want to expel these people, unless the Democrat in your district endorses the Republican running against these socialists. then that Democrat in your district is part of the problem. If they're an incumbent Democrat, you've got to get them out of office. If they're a Democrat running against a Republican incumbent that you're not happy with because of X, Y, or Z, I don't care. You need to support that Republican and you need to keep Democrats from gaining power. We need to look at this election like European parliamentary elections. You're voting for the person who is wearing the right jersey. All right, because if the Democrat jerseys win, if they get the majority, the socialists have won, and they have taken power. And you cannot let that happen. The president yesterday was unequivocal about this. And by the way, he is the right man in the right place to lead this fight. Here was the president calling these socialists exactly what they are.

Well, I think it's a big threat to our nation, actually. Because it's not socialism, it's really communism. They use the word social democrat because it sounds so nice, but it's really communism you're talking about. I think it's the biggest threat to our nation. There is, maybe since our founding. That includes World War I, World War I, September 11th. It includes the Pearl Harbor attack. I think this is the biggest threat. to our nation. People will smile when I say that, but the smart people are going to say, you know, he's probably right. It's basically introducing communism into the United States of America. There's never been anything so dangerous. Of course he's right. And you don't have to be smart. Donald Trump, in this case, is not an oracle, okay? I'm not, I'm not praising Trump here and worshipping at the MAGA idol. All he's doing is paying attention. It doesn't take a superpower, guys. Just listen to them. Here's David Jenkins. He's one of the leaders of DSA, Democrat Socialists of America. Here, just listen to David Jenkins. I mean, our goal is liberation. Our goal is communism. What more do you want? He's a leader of DSA. He says our goal is communism. Trump says it's not really socialism, it's communism. The threat is communism. And Jake Tapper will clutch his pearls. Caitlin Susan Collins on CNN's, like, you know, socialism isn't really communism. Caitlin, what's the difference? Literally. I'm not saying that rhetorically, I would like you to explain the difference. And there's one candidate in New York City, Chevalier. Yeah, Chevalier has said, and I quote now, actually, you know what, better than quote her, it has been revealed that she had a Twitter account. On that Twitter account, she praised Stalin, Castro, Marx, Lenin, Ho Chi Min. Kim Il-sung. Ed Morrissey at Hotair wrote, the DSA and its candidates aspire to remake America into the societies created by Stalin, Fidel Che, and Kim's. Not the Norwegian and Swedish flirtations with socialism. This is not Norway, guys. Norway is not a socialist state. Look it up. Capitalism thrives. Corporations thrive outside of the confines of the government control. These guys celebrate Castro. And this congresswoman Chevalier is running for Congress in the 13th District. These tweets that she put out celebrating Mao, celebrating Lenin, a mass murderer, both of them mass murderers. These were from 2022. This is not Graham Platner saying, oh, well, that was in my past. I was a different man than I have PTSD. No, this woman was tweeting this when Biden was president. And then she deleted the account, thinking it would go away. Ed Morrissey continues. This vision offered by Chevalier and the DSA, which increasingly controls the Democrat Party, not of beneficent communal policies, but flat-out communist totalitarianism. Ed Morrissey, my colleague at Town Hall Media, wrote at Hot Air yesterday, and he's 100% right. And we are paying attention. You need to pay attention.

Kevin Roberts Heritage Foundation is going to join us next. We'll talk about this. But more importantly, on the upside, we'll talk about American greatness and how we keep it. Kevin Roberts is the star of the Kevin Roberts show. That's a podcast that you can get on all platforms, including the Salem podcast. Network. New announcement there that the Kevin Robert Show is available on the Vast Town Hall Salem Podcast Network. I happen to be his podcast buddy. I'm his co-host on that Kevin Roberts show, and we travel the world doing great podcast conversations. And here he is, Dr. Kevin. Oh, by the way, he's also the president of the Heritage Foundation. I wish to forget that part of your resume, Kevin. Thanks for joining us this morning. Larry O'Connor, it's great to be with you. Congratulations on the new show. Thanks for coming to London recently with me. I really appreciated your colleagues dressing you up in a nice George Washington uniform for the occasion. You saw that. Yes, that was the radio production team who made it look like I was there to finish the job. But we're here to celebrate American greatness. Actually, you know, the news cycle right now, when you see the rise of socialism welcomed. by one of the historic political parties in this nation created by, I think that Thomas Jefferson and James Madison founded the Democratic Party, and now they are welcoming Marxists into the tent, under the guys of Big Ten. It's easy to lose hope. But this week, of all weeks, celebrating 250 years of American greatness, help me out here, Kevin Roberts Heritage Foundation. Is there still hope here? Does America still survive? Oh my gosh, I think we're not only going to survive. I really believe it when I say it. All of us at Heritage believe this, that our best days potentially are ahead, which is really saying something. You think about the longest running republic in the history of the world, 250 years. And you might say, well, maybe, you know, historically, Kevin, we're beginning the steady decline. But in fact, I think especially because of the revitalization of common sense policy in Washington, but also very importantly, couple dozen states because of the legislative success that they've had that the American people are seeing a restoration and the balance of power. You know, to put that in a little less fancy think tank language and the common sense language, they're seeing Washington becoming less important in their lives. And I think that's really important for us to celebrate the blessings of liberty as our founders would want us to do, especially this week. You know, at Heritage Foundation, you guys have a ton of resources right now and all year long, not just this week, so people can sort of reignite their love for this country and their passion for our founding principles. Can you give us kind of an overview of something? He said, my understanding is you can go to heritage.org slash America 250 and actually physically sign the declaration ourselves. We're all part of this declaration. Yeah, we should. You should go to that website. You should sign the declaration. I would encourage you anyone listening or watching this this week on July 2nd or July 4th or whenever you can in the month of July to reread the Declaration of Independence. And if you want, you know, open up a soft drink or some other beverage and do it with a group of friends. I think it's important. But the second thing I would highlight Larry from Heritage, something I'm really proud of, our colleagues led by Brenda Heffera, over the last two and a half years,

reviewed hundreds of historic sites that are focused on the revolution in early American history. And what we did was crowdsourced the reviews of these historic sites so that we could get experts from different fields to assess, for example, the Civil War Museum in Richmond, which I did with my daughter, also did the, reviewed the John Brown site at Harper's Ferry. There are a couple hundred of these sites that are reviewed so that people who are looking at them can gauge how historically accurate they are, but also conversely, the handful of sites, which we highlight, that in fact have gone the way of DEI and wokeness. And so I think it's a really good resource for Americans who've been inspired in this year of America 250 to travel locally or even nationally to see some of these sites. You can see that at theheritage.org website, our guide to historic sites. It's actually something we're going to continue to do well beyond this year because there's been such a fantastic response. Mount Vernon is the place. Meredith and I think it's the crown jewel of all of these historic sites. We love it. We go back all the time. They've always got new exhibits, and they just do everything right. I got to tell you, Dr. John Roberts, I was shocked when I went to the beloved home of Thomas Jefferson. Monticello and did that tour because half of it was about Sally Hemings. You would think that it was Hallie Hemings tour. And we were there to learn more about Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman who, depending on what you want to believe, Thomas Jefferson may or may not have had some sexual relationship with. But why has that happened in some of these historic places? Why has the woke mind virus taken over? Well, because that's where a lot of the money has been. And so particularly if places, historic sites receive public money, as you've seen in the Obama and Biden administrations, they've had to play the game of DEI and wholeness, and it's changed the interpretation. The problem that Monticello is even longer running because of the issue with Sally Hemings. But let's just say, and this is coming from an early American historian, let's just say that you believe that. Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson had this relationship. It doesn't mean that half the tour at Monticello should be about Sally Hemings, nor that you should not even mention the Declaration of Independence, of which, as you know well, Jefferson was the principal author. In fact, two tours ago, I try to go to Monticello every year, mainly to see if there's any hope for revitalizing the tour there, two tours ago, so this was about three years ago, the deprivation wasn't even mentioned. Thankfully, because of some... friendly pressure from the outside, including us at Heritage. I think it's begun to improve. But I want to say, in addition to that constructive criticism of this really important historic site, Monticello, how accurate you are about Mount Vernon. How appropriate that the crown jewel historic site of all the historic sites for the revolutionary era is our first president's home, it really is interpreted that well, very balanced, non-political. Mount Vernon has been run by a private association for the last hundred years, and it's one of the reasons that it's inoculated from this DEI nonsense. Yeah. And by the way, the obvious story and relevance of the enslaved who were part of the Mount Vernon story and part of the Washington story, it is told, it is told respectfully. They've uncovered recently a cemetery of the enslaved who were there and it is hallowed ground. It's not glossed over. It's not whitewashed. It's just not the entirety of George Washington's existence, but not by a long shot.

No, that's exactly right. You know, it seems like a generation ago I was practicing scholarly academic historian, and my specialty was not just slavery writ large, but slaves themselves, trying to pour through the records of social history to bring, to sort of put a human face on slaves. And sometimes it surprises people that the conservative CEO, the conservative Heritage Foundation would have that academic interest, which I still have. But they go hand in hand because what we want to celebrate as conservative. as Americans is the fact that while we have Kevin Warsh in our history, the mechanisms for creating emancipation, the mechanism for ending slavery and bringing freedom to anyone in this country were put in the 1770s and 1780s. And you can see that on full display at Mount Vernon. That's right. Oh, the rationale behind the abolition movement. When Abraham Lincoln was fighting literally and leading the nation into war, responding to the war of the southern states there, he was citing the Declaration of Independence as the rationale and the logic behind it. That's what makes these founding documents so powerful, right? Dr. John Roberts, I've heard you talk about this before, that these principles and these ideas transcend what's going on in today's news cycle. Oh, it does. And look, I mean, consider me a nerd. I guess I am. It gives me chills as you talk about it. You are. You're very much a nerd, Dr. John Roberts. Fair enough. Each generation of American political leaders have seen the Declaration and the Constitution as touchstones. And then fast forward to 1963, to what I think is the greatest speech, get delivered by an American, Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. On what did he base that speech? the Declaration of Independence. And he said that in 1776, with that phrase, all men were created equal, that Americans, that generation of Americans delivered or issued a promissory note, which still needed to be paid. He didn't say we need to have a violent rebellion, just like the American Revolution itself, which was conservative, and that it wanted to actually restore the proper balance between order and liberty. King was pointing to the declaration saying, let us be sure that we live out its promise. This is precisely what George Washington said. Washington would say. It's precisely what Andrew Jackson would say. It's precisely what Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt and every president since has said, this is the week of all weeks and our lifetimes to celebrate that beautiful inheritance from the Declaration. And yet, Kevin Roberts, Kevin Roberts, Heritage Foundation. And yet what's happening right now today, this week, last week, we are seeing elections in New York, in Colorado, in other parts of this country, deep blue parts. where we're seeing socialists being embraced. These are Marxists. These aren't just, you know, oh, we want Norway to have a nice health care system. And they're taking that line. All men are created equal to mean, yeah, that's why we need socialism. Can you please sort of... sort this out for us from the foundational American conservative perspective as to how there is no place in our country and our Constitution does not harmonize with what these Marxists are bringing to the table. Well, let me write you a headline first of all.

analysis that the phrase all men are created equal should lead us to implement socialist policies in 2026 would get an f minus in fact that would be tempted in the classroom to rip that test in half and give it back to the student and start over in other words there's no room for that interpretation whatsoever it's a historical anomaly but it shows you that these explain why though i need you to explain why because they'll say oh no no equal equity we need everyone to be treated it the same everyone needs to be have the same outcome that That's what equal means. Well, first of all, sorry to be pedantic, but, you know, I'm a historian, so a sequence and chronology are very important to me. The concepts of economic socialism, economic leveling, as you and I and modern Americans know them, weren't around in the 1770. So it was literally impossible for the founders mentally intellectually to conceive of something like that. But the second thing is, let's say that these folks are Zohran Mamdani, et cetera, say, well, the declaration, the Constitution, or living documents, we can apply these principles. principle that you're going to use government from the declaration that you're going to use government as a tool to quote unquote economically level the playing field which is to say nothing of the much bigger issue which we happen to know from examples of history that that we're living through right now look for example at cuba at north korea where socialism has been tried It has failed 100% of the time. And so it leads me to this concluding point about these commentaries from these political leaders, Larry, and it's this. You can't love what you don't know. And so while we can, and we ought to rail against the nonsense that's being espoused by these leaders, we also have to take a step back and say, this is precisely why it's so important that we get education policy right in this country. It's precisely why that in this new dawn of universal school choice in the majority of our states, the first federal school choice program, that we understand that that public policy tool, which sounds a little boring, is life changing. And what it's going to. to do is reintroduce into American curricula a knowledge of early American history, which because of that story can do nothing but help you love your country. So while it's very frustrating in 2026 to hear these knuckleheads who've been elected to some of these important positions, I'm optimistic about the next few and several years that we're going to turn the corner. All right. Kevin Roberts Heritage Foundation, stay with us. I want to challenge you on one very specific argument that I'm hearing these days from these socialists. Like, listen, we already have socialism.

We have public roads. We have fire departments. We have school systems. There you have socialism, no different than the government taking over our hospitals and our doctors. Kevin Roberts will reply to that coming up in a moment. And then we'll talk a little bit more about England, about London, about our relationship with the motherland and how it still resonates today this week of our independence. Keep it here. It's O'Connor and Company. Thank you. We continue with Kevin Roberts. He, of course, the President of the Heritage Foundation and the star of the Kevin Roberts Show, podcast, seen and heard worldwide on whatever your favorite podcast podcast platform is. I'm the co-host of that podcast, and I speak for a living, Kevin. Don't judge me. I haven't had enough coffee this morning. Oh, I'm empathizing, brother. Trust me. I'm not making fun of you. So what are the arguments from these socialists that you hear? And of course, they say it on MS now or they say it on CNN, so they don't get any pushback because the teleprompter reader is not educated enough to respond. But they say, what's everyone complaining about with socialism? We've got public roads, don't we? We have a fire department. We have a public school system. There's really no difference. We just want the government to be able to solve these other problems in our lives, just like supplying roads. All right, Dr. John Roberts, what's your problem with socialism? Good and this gracious. Another, another F-minus. It's very simple. It's the difference between public goods, which those of us who are conservatives and heritage not only believe in but advocate for the national defense, public roads, fire department, even public schools, and private property, which is the basis of Western civilization. Actually, I would argue that it's one of the bases of being free, of putting order and liberty in concert. And so it really is. whether intentionally or unintentionally because of ignorance, just not only an abusive way of thinking about public goods, but it is 100% flat wrong. Well, and ironically, the things that are articulated in our Constitution and that beautiful preamble, like provide for a common defense, which also means securing our borders, those are the things they don't want the government to do. They want to implode the Pentagon or turn it into a monument to Carl Barks, and they don't want to secure the border. But there is that other line, which is provide for the general welfare. What was the basis? What were Hamilton and Madison thinking when they created those words? Because that's been used. as a huge, giant, you know, thoroughfare for a ton of government programs, provide for the, or promote the general welfare. The most important thing that they were trying to convey there is something that was not material, something that we couldn't touch, but that the government would be, the officials of the government and Congress, the executive branch, judges would be so virtuous, they would be so discerning, so prudent, that they would create an atmosphere or put even more accurately sustained an atmosphere created by individuals in which freedom and order could flourish, which would lead individuals to have...

tremendous leeway in making decisions states tremendously way in making decisions so it had absolutely nothing to do not only with socialism but not even really with money per se or even anything material as much as the expectation going back to the ancients of jerusalem and athens and other places that in fact elected officials would have civic virtue and make decisions on behalf of the common good rather than their own individual self-interest You're mentioning some cities there that I know are part of a special series we're doing on the Kevin Roberts podcast, the five cities. This is the basis of how we got to America and our republic and our freedom. The cities are, correct me, Jerusalem, Greece, Rome, London, Philadelphia, right? Those are the five cities. A plus. A plus. Thank you very much. I'm very proud. And that's why we were in London. You just mentioned we were in London. So here we are this week of independence celebrating, breaking away from King George III in Parliament and all those nasty taxes. Why is London still important? Why is our relationship still an important one? And how did the Brits back in the day inform our founders in constructing our independence? Most Americans today know that the alliance between the United States and Great Britain is the strongest in the history of the world between two countries. It's a little afraid right now, but I think it will be revitalized. There's something, there's a history there that goes all the way back to Magna Carta, it's signed in 1215. Basically, if you think about it, the closest that the English people have to a written constitution. This is when a group of middling nobles, aristocrats forced the king to sign a document that looks a lot like our Bill of Rights. And so over the subsequent several centuries, what happened was that by the time you got to Philadelphia in 1776, Our forefathers, the founding fathers of this country, said we want to break from Great Britain officially, but what we don't want to break from is this cultural inheritance of freedom, this cultural inheritance of even when you have an executive, whether it be a monarch or in our case an elected president, that that person actually have limited power. This is something, as you and I talked about in this episode we recorded last week in London, Larry, is almost perfected in London. It's literally perfected in Philadelphia. But in other words, in short, you can't have the Declaration of Independence, ironically, without having that British inheritance going all the way back to 1215. And yet we're playing the World Cup here in America. And we got all these foreigners coming here to do not even play football. They call it football, but it's not football. Where have we gone wrong, John Roberts? Well, our poor German friend Freddie, you know, his German team lost our friends from Paraguay. But, you know, Freddie, I think, should be given some award, some presidential medal because he has almost single-handedly revitalized so many Americans' belief in this country, you know, whether it's someone in the center or the left who might find Trump not to be their guy. I disagree with that, but, you know, it's their right to believe that.

He's helped them, but even some people on the right, then because they're busy, you know, raising their kids, building their businesses, going to work, had forgotten about America at 250. They're following Freddie on social media, and he's reminding them of all of these great places from Texas to Vermont to California that we really ought to have a great pride, and I'm really grateful to it. You know, he should get a presidential medal of freedom. That would be remarkable. Trump may do it. Freddie loves this country, and that's why Freddie is going to go to heritage.org slash America 250 to sign the declaration. He knows English, better than some people in Baltimore. Thanks, Dr. John Roberts. Great talking with you. Happy Independence Day. Thanks. Happy 250. Take care. Our flagship station is the mighty WMAL 105.9 FM in Washington, D.C. And we utilize WMAL as the powerhouse tower to shoot this program across the nation on our network. And so usually we're coming to you live from your nation's capital, the District of Columbia, but not today. We're up in New York City today. New York City. Because the beginnings of the July 4th, independent state celebrations have already begun here in New York Harbor. In fact, to that end, coming up in 30 minutes, our own Willie Nelson with Town Hall Media, Salem. He boarded a helicopter this morning, a Navy helicopter, and flew to the USS Arlington. He's on the deck of the ship as it comes in with several other Navy ships, part of an armada that will be streaming into New York Harbor all week long leading up to the fourth. goes well and we're crossing our fingers. If the communications and internet gods are with us, we'll talk to Willie on board that ship along with some other great patriotic Americans and members of the U.S. Navy along with them. So we'll get to that coming up in 30 minutes. But first, from the Relief Factor Studios, I'm thrilled to talk to two people who I've got to think have kind of the coolest jobs in Washington. Jesse Kratz is a historian for the U.S. National Archives and Records. administration, and Grace McCaffrey is the acting executive of external affairs in communications for the archives. Basically, you guys get to work with all the cool historic stuff and the documents. And honestly, ladies, all your friends are jealous, right? Because you get to work at the archives. For sure. So they always have some natural treasure jokes for us. Exactly. Oh, I've got all my Nicholas Cage things. I mean, really, we know that the documents have all been stolen by now, so I don't even know what you're going for. Talk to me about what's happening at the archives in general, celebrating America's 250. What are you doing special there? Because it's a pretty, it's kind of hallow ground with all the incredible founding documents that you've got there. Sure, I can start with this one. So we have several things going on, especially this week. Oops, I'm sorry, we have a bit of a delay there. Let's start with Jesse on this one. I apologize, Grace. Go ahead, Jessie. Yeah, sure. So we have a lot going on this week. Of course, we have the annual July 4th celebration here on the National Archives Constitution Avenue Steps.

Please join us at 10 o'clock for a dramatic reading of the Declaration. And we also have a special exhibit on the Declaration of Independence called Free and Independent. Who's doing the dramatic reading? That's very exciting. Is somebody going to dress up like Thomas Jefferson? Exactly. We have reenactors dressed up as Jefferson, Adams, and they read it out loud. All grievances. About a half hour in the hot sun. All right. This is too important, so I want to make sure we get good audio on this. So can we please reset our connections, please, with Jesse and Grace. I'm sorry, Jesse. We've got a bit of a distortion. I want to make sure that we get all the information out. And I'm going to do my best to muddle my way through this as well while we reconnect. At the Archives. right now in celebration of America Division. By the way, for those of you who are in the Washington area, you know the archives are right there, right off of the Capitol building, kind of halfway between the Washington Monument and the Capitol, probably closer to the Capitol and closer to Union Station. Gorgeous building. Absolutely incredible. And it's true. It's like you're walking into a cathedral. I'm not trying to mix our secular...

world with our actual faith-based world. I know it's not a cathedral, but it has that feeling to it. You know that you're surrounded. When you see those documents underneath the protective glass, you know that you're seeing something so important and so incredible. And you know that your founders, the people who crafted those documents and signed those documents that put their lives on the line when creating those documents, that they were looking at the same piece of parchment that you're now looking at. There's something so moving about that. And the way the archive is set up, the way the ceiling is and the marbled floors, everything about it. just sort of sweeps you away into that time. And the importance and relevance of our founding really does hit home. And Jesse is back now. Jesse Cratch's historian at the archives. I was just talking for a minute there about the setting itself. It was a very deliberate way the archives was designed, I think, to make it. Oh, no, she can't hear me. So we'll go ahead and reset that connection again. She can't. Oh, okay, go ahead. I was talking about how it feels like almost a cathedral when you go in there and feel it because of the marble floors, because of the paintings. There really is a sense of reverence when you're at the archives. That's exactly what the architect designed. He wanted you to have almost a religious experience when you walked into what he called the shrine for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. It's so moving. I love it so much. All right. So now we talked about the, remind us again, what day is the dramatic reading of the declaration itself? It's on July 4th. It's on the Constitution Avenue steps at the National Archives. It starts at 10 o'clock. Brilliant. You can come here. John Adams complain about how July 2nd is really the holiday. That's fine. See, it sounds like a revival of the musical 1776 is going to break out. Whenever I think about Adams and Jefferson, did they really bicker as much as it seems like they did? I kind of think of them as probably like frenemies. You know, they bicker, but they also really needed each other. Yeah, yeah. So talk to me about the copies of the declaration. When you go to the archives and you see that one version of it under that protective glass, is that the one that was hand-signed? Were all of them hand-signed? How did they make copies back then? Sure. The original declaration that you see when you come to the National Archives in Washington, D.C. was actually signed on August 2nd. It's the only copy.

And then in 1823, an engraver printed 200 additional copies on parchment. We actually believe he took a wet piece of paper, pulled off a layer of ink, and then created an engraving plate in which he printed these 200 copies on parchment. So there are about 50 copies of those 1823 printings left. And then there are subsequent printings from the engraving plate. The last time the engraving plate was used in 1976 for the bicentennial. That's amazing and harrowing. I mean, what kind of courage did it take for him to take a wet piece of paper and make an imprint of that of that sacred document? We're also now rejoined by Grace McCaffrey. She's with external affairs and communications. And Grace, I understand, you know, I'm old enough to remember barely, but I do remember the bicentennial and the freedom train. But this year for 250, there's a freedom plane. Tell me more about that. That's right. So we have been traveling the nation this summer, bringing nine original founding documents, one of which Jesse was just describing around the country and bringing them to local cities because the celebration is not just about D.C., we want this to be about all Americans across the whole country. And some folks, they aren't able to come to National Archives in D.C. and see the original declaration in person. So right now, the Freedom Plain, we've been traveling by plane called the Freedom Plain. We are in Miami. So if you are in the Miami area over July 4th, you can also see some original founding documents to celebrate the 250th birthday. That's so cool. And where can people get information about the itinerary here so they can meet up with the Freedom Plain? Yeah, so go to freedomplane.org, and then after Miami, we are on to our last final stop in Seattle, or excuse me, we are going to Dearborn, Michigan, and then we are going to Seattle, Washington as the last stop. So we have two more left. Now, Jesse Kratz, I got to ask you as the, well, forgive me, document nerd here, you must have been freaking out when somebody came up and said, hey, we've got an idea, let's take some of these documents and stick them on a plane and flying around the country. What had to go into preserving them, protecting them, and making sure that everything was kosher? Well, we wanted to make sure we told a story. So we have, you know, our earliest documents are on display from 1774 up through the creation of the Bill of Rights. And so we wanted to pick our most special documents. So we were able to partner with venues that could able, were able to actually display these safely and securely and also, you know, deal with all the lines. We've had, you know, tens of thousands of people come to these venues and see these founding documents. I was going to ask you, I mean, there's always kind of a considerable line for the most part at the archives from the school groups. I love seeing all the eighth graders and ninth graders who come to Washington all year long. Of course, the archives are part of that stuff. How is it this week and how has it been pretty much this year with regard to the demand and the lines and the weights as a way to reserve ahead of time?

We do. We have time tickets available for free. And you can also get reservations for $1.5. Visitarchives.gov is the website. But also we're extending hours during this celebratory period. So until July 5th, we're open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. So it alleviates some of that really busyness in the rotunda. But we have several other exhibits to see as well. So come to Washington, come to the National Archives, and look at all of our exhibits. And Grace, we've only got a minute left, but I also saw on the website something about opening the vault. There's now some documents that usually aren't on display that are on display this week. Can you tell us about that? That is correct. So as part of our 250th celebration, we have been wanting to bring out more documents for the American people. So they can see even more. The archives is home to over 13 billion pieces of paper. So we wanted to start displaying some of that. And part of that... We've been bringing some of these records to presidential libraries. So, again, part of bringing the celebration around the country. So, again, go to archives.gov and learn what might be at a presidential library near you, some things that are rarely traveling and are rarely there. Fantastic. Ladies, sorry about the tech problems, so we got it done, and I cannot wait to swing by the archives this year. Happy Independence Day. Thank you. There's more to come. I'm too. Keep it here on O'Connor & Company. Larry O'Connor, and today the Relief Factor Studio is in Gotham, New York, New York, New York City here for the next couple of days, back where we belong on Thursday, back in Washington, D.C. Listen, I know there's a lot of news going on. We've got more news. We're going to talk more about the Supreme Court decisions. We've got Nancy Pelosi's new career decision. She's 86 years old, and she's now announcing what she's going to do after her election. After she resigns, you know. Watch Matlock. That's what you should do. But we'll talk about that coming up. There is a lot of news in the world. I get it. But we're locked in on Freedom 250 this week. We are. I'm sorry. This week happens once in a lifetime, literally, 250 years since the founding of this nation. And we're not going to apologize. Well, I guess I did just say I'm sorry, but I'm not going to apologize anymore for being locked into all of the events and all the excitement and all of the stuff going on because we need to do this as a nation. As a nation of American patriots, we need to recognize, acknowledge, and make it part of our routine ceremonies. to celebrate this nation. Think about it. There's a reason why Christians celebrate Christmas and do the same traditions every year and why your church services have certain things that always happen at Easter or at those times. There's a reason why Jewish people on Passover read the same liturgy, the same words of the Torah to remind themselves so that they never forget. These are the rituals that keep a people united and celebrating our independence. And yes, like how many people now have we had on the program who suggest and strongly recommend that you read the declaration, read it aloud, read it as a family, read it as a community. If you've got people coming over for a barbecue and you're grilling and you're having a great picnic or beach party.

carve 15 minutes out of that party, hand out a copy of it to everybody, and everyone take turns reading a paragraph. It'll be cool. And you'll be part of something, part of a chain linked back 250 years. And while we're at it. I'm so proud and excited to say that I would participate in the creation of a documentary film. It's the first film created by Salem News Channel, which is the video platform we... we broadcast this show on. This radio show is also broadcast as a television show for Salem News Channel. And we've put together a documentary, my colleagues and I, and I'm very excited to see it. I haven't seen the finished product. But take a listen to this trailer here announcing the launch, which will be this weekend Independence Day. The Salem News Channel Original. From a bold declaration of independence in 1776 to a nation stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, America's story is one of resilience, a transformation. Through territorial expansion, conflict, and global influence, the United States evolved from 13 colonies into a diverse and powerful nation. Generations of Americans helped shape a country founded on the enduring ideals of liberty, opportunity. and self-government. Join Larry Elder, Haley Correo, Alex Marlowe, and Larry O'Connor for a special celebration of America 250. A journey through the landmarks, places, and pivotal moments that help define the United States of America. Salem News Channel presents The Shining City.

It looks great. Can't wait. I only know what I did. I only know my part of it. I can't wait to see the finished product. And if you would like to see it as well, I'd love for you to go to your favorite streaming platform. Salem News channel is the app. You can also just browse it on the regular live TV. samplings that you get off the guide there for Roku or for Samsung TV Plus, get the app off Amazon Prime or, again, wherever you're streaming videos these days, we're there at Salem News Channel. And this is important that we do things like this. We're storytellers. And for some reason, we lose sight of telling the story of our nation, of our founding. Because when you tell that story, you recognize these truths that we have held on to over these 250 years, these principles, these values. When we stop telling that story, that's how un-American ideas can then creep in and take hold. That's what happens. I saw my friend David Marcus, who's a columnist of Fox Digital, write about this. He has a 16-year-old son, and his son goes to public school. And so far, he has not learned one thing about the Soviet Union and the Cold War and the fight that we had for all of last century. And when you don't learn about the evils of communism, that's how you're likely to vote for the evils of communism without knowing that it's evil. That's the problem. We need to affirm who we are. This is who we are. Well, it turns out that Navy ships don't have great Wi-Fi. Who'd have thunk? Actually, they probably do have great Wi-Fi, just not for, you know, Cub reporters from Town Hall Salem or any other reporter, for that matter. And I'm fine with that, by the way. Larry O'Connor, here O'Connor and Company, and part of our ongoing acknowledgement and excitement and celebration over Freedom 250 this week, our very own Willie Nelson, one of our several Washington correspondents for Town Hall Media, I had the opportunity this morning at 0500 in New York to board a Navy helicopter and fly out to the USS Arlington. And we were hoping. that he would be close enough to signal where we would be able to connect with him from the deck of the ship at this moment. But it looks like that's not going to happen. But earlier this morning, here was Willie getting ready for his big adventure. Good morning, New York City. I am up before the sun is even shining as I am about to do one of the most exciting and wild things I have ever done before in my life. I will be embarking on a day trip onto a Navy ship, the USS Arlington. I'll start by getting on a helicopter, an ASH 60 chopper, and then we'll land on the Navy ship and get to spend the day with the Navy, seeing what it's like to be on a

Navy ship. So stick around with me for the day. I'll be posting updates and I am seriously so fired up. This is my first time ever in my life going on a helicopter and I have to be honest, I am a little nervous. But if there is ever a time to go on a helicopter, it's today. So come along with me for the day. Should be fun. And he does seem pretty excited. By the way, we got a little bit more footage that he's posting at Willie Nelson TV, and we're going to be posting it all day long on the town hall sites, so stay tuned for that. But here's what's disconcerting. We got that report, and then we got footage of the helicopters arriving on the pad there in the Hudson River. And then we got a photograph of Willie with Sean Spicer. Now, Sean Spicer, friend of the program, everybody knows Sean Spicer, buddy of mine. He's also a captain in the U.S. Navy Reserves. And as goes along with duty for the reserves, he's often called up to be able to handle important duties at various times. And right now, he is in that capacity. He is part because his specialty is dealing with communications and press relations and press liaisons on behalf of the U.S. Navy when he's on duty. And he is currently on duty. So he's the media liaison for the reporters who are able to go over to the Arlington. I think they're also going to be doing this with the Nimitz a little later in the week as well. So we got this photograph of Willie with Spicer on the chopper. the copter, excuse me, heading out to the Arlington, and then it's been radio silence ever since. We've no idea what's happened. For all we know, Willie has been abducted. Willie has now been, you know, they've shaved his beard, they've shaved his head. He's going through boot camp right there on the deck of the Arlington, and he's going to come back as, you know, Chief Petty Officer Willie Nelson or something like that. We shall see. But as soon as we hear more from Willie, stay tuned to all the town hall sites because he's getting very unique, very exclusive, one-of-a-kind content there that he's going to be delivering for us, and it's very good stuff. Love this week, love Independence Day, and love things like that. Because you know the Navy is sailing into the New York Harbor, along with tall ships. We're going to see some of our greatest current warfighting vessels as well as historical ships. going all the way back to our founding, and it's going to be just a one-of-a-kind event. Meanwhile, speaking of one-of-a-kind, Nancy Pelosi, San Fran Nan, Nanny, Granny, Nancy Pelosi. She is at the age of 86 retiring this year, as you know, although I don't think it was her idea. I'll be honest with you. If she could, she'd stay there. But it was time. I believe the – well, I was going to say the elder statesman in the party, but I don't think there are any elder statesmen. I think she's it. But she saw the writing on the wall. She's not Speaker anymore. I guess she didn't like being Speaker Emeritus. She sees how Hakeem Jeffries is flailing about and pathetic. And so she decided this is going to be it. She's done. And these are her last, what, six months now. Today's the end of June.

Tomorrow we begin the countdown of the last six months of Nancy Pelosi's reign of terror in the House of Representatives. She has been in Congress for 40 years. She first ran for office in 1986, 40 years ago. And she is now hanging it up at 86. She is a mother. She is a grandmother. I believe she is a great-grandmother. She is a wife. She has been in public office in Congress for 40 years. Before that, she was the chair of the California State Democratic Party for another 10 years, I believe, before that. She was born into a political family. Her father, when she was born, was a congressman from Maryland. He then became the mayor of Baltimore. Then she moved to California. Mary Paul Nancy Pelosi became a congresswoman herself. This has been her whole life. And now at the age of 86. In the great tradition of George Washington, resigning his commission with the military and going back home to attend to his family and his farm. In the great tradition of George Washington, then leaving the presidency inexplicably after two terms, when everybody just assumed he'd keep running and running until he died in office. But no, two terms was enough. He sent the signal to everyone who came after him. That there's more to life than public service. There's more to life than clutching on to power with your very talons and the nails that are growing out of your talons. No, relinquish that power and go home. Sit under your fig tree and enjoy the fruits of your labor. In that tradition, what is Nancy Pelosi going to do? Well, she's not going to do any of that. She's not going to relinquish. She's not going to relax. She's not going to retire. She's not going to rest. Here's what Nancy Pelosi is going to do, as reported by Fox News. U.S. U.C. Berkeley says it is partnering with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to form a new nonpartisan academic institute. Examples of research that will be pursued there include how to address climate change and wealth inequality and electoral changes that could reduce voter polarization. The Institute has received more than $35 million in philanthropic commitments. Boy, we might want to look into where that $35 million came from. It didn't come from Paul Nancy Pelosi's stock exchanges. Although, listen, if the Nancy Pelosi Institute at UC Berkeley was basically designed around day trading and how to maximize insider information to grow wealth, you have my attention. I might sign up for a course or two. But as you heard, it's not going to be that. According to the mission and pillars of the Nancy Pelosi incident, before I even get into this, for God's sake, just sit on the sofa and watch Matlock. Or you can stream old episodes of murder she wrote if Andrew Lansbury's more your speed. Even Dynasty. I think you can watch. There's a whole channel devoted to Dallas reruns.

Or if you don't want to watch TV, that's fine. Go for hikes. Just beautiful nature trails in the Bay Area. Get a boat. Take up golf. Unplug. Hey, I got an idea. Spend time with your husband. Spend time with your children and your grandchildren. What is wrong with people? For all of us who were just... constantly looking at the possibilities of our retirement and planning out all of the things that we want to do when we don't. And I love my job. Don't get me wrong. I have no interest in retiring for anytime soon. But I do plan to retire. I do plan to unplug. I do plan to remove myself from all of this and hand it off to somebody else, somebody younger, somebody ready to work at this fevered pace. That's where Nancy Pelosi should be. Frankly, it's where she should have been about 15, maybe 20 years ago. She's 86. And she's starting the Nancy Pelosi Institute at UC Berkeley with $35 million of seed money. But follow that money, guys. We need some intrepid. James O'Keefe needs to do some undercover video work on that $35 million. All right. The missions and pillars of the Nancy Pelosi Institute aims to address challenges like polarization. So Nancy Pelosi is going to mend our polarization. The woman who stood up behind Donald Trump after his State of the Union and dramatically tore the pages. The woman who mockingly applauded Donald Trump with her extended arms to demon. The woman who said that Donald Trump was an illegitimate president and led the impeachment, the fake impeachment over him, led the investigation into Russian collusion, led the January 6th kangaroo court investigation. She's going to study and give advice over polarization. But is she going to be studying how best to polarize us? Is that what it's about? AI's impact on democracy, climate and economic issues. Have you noticed that this new brand of socialists, these radical Marxists who are taking over Nancy Pelosi's party? Have you noticed they don't talk about the climate much anymore? What happened to that? You've noticed that, right? They talk about all the things that are their agenda. It was all about climate. Greta Thumburg doesn't even talk about the climate anymore. That's fascinating and noteworthy. It was the existential threat to our world. We only had eight years left. No, it's six years. No, it's 12 years. Now they don't talk about it much at all. I wonder why. But she's going to. Nancy Pelosi's going to look at climate slash economic issues. I guess it's how to profit.

from climate policies. Human and civil rights and institutional reforms, the woman who rode roughshot over our institutions, now wants to reform them. It's going to support faculty research, host visiting fellows from politics. Oh, I love the fellows. It's going to offer undergraduate courses reaching hundreds of students annually and promote public service. Nancy Pelosi has emphasized equipping the next generation with tools for democratic institutions while bridging academia and real world governance. She's going to co-teach a course, by the way, on Congress, starting in spring of 2027. She's helping to raise funds. No surprise there. Bringing in high-profile speakers from both parties, sure, Liz Cheney will be the Republican. Maybe Adam Kinsinger. In contributing her experience, her network, and an exhibit on her career will open at the Bancroft Library in spring of 27 and later moved to the Institute. They have a $50 million fundraising goal, by the way. They've only got the $35 million right now. I would just like to point out that I believe more money has been raised and more plans and infrastructure have already been created for the Nancy Pelosi Institute than for the Biden Presidential Library. Think about that for a minute. Hello, class. I'm Professor Nancy Pelosi. You can call me Nancy. Sorry, I'm just annoyed by all of it. Hey, we've got a heat wave coming to Washington, D.C., and pretty much the entire eastern seaboard. Why did they say seaboard, by the way? Has anyone ever figured that out? Can we somebody get to the bottom of that? It's not seaborne at seaboard, the eastern seaboard. Is there a western seaboard? Are we the only ones who have a seaboard? Break it down for me. Reach out to social media at Larry O'Connor. Explain it all to me. I appreciate it. We've got a heat wave coming. It's going to be the hottest 4th of July in, well, not in history, because nobody knows that. But since they've been taking down the temperatures, I guess, right? And the heat wave isn't just here. There's a heat wave in Europe right now. I know it. I was there last week. I was melting. I was not expecting. And I had to work. So I had like a jacket and a tie and like doing work things. And I did this. We just had Dr. Kevin Roberts from Heritage Foundation on earlier talking about how we were recording this podcast, a special episode of the Kevin Roberts show that we did. Subscribe and download. Thanks. And we did it on the rooftop. right across the Thames, is that where we're calling it, the Teng, because it's spelled Thames, but whatever. English, right? The English. We're on the rooftop and we're overlooking the big eye, the Ferris wheel, right? I'm doing, I'm making the circle thing with my fingers. The Ferris wheel. We're right across the river from that. We're right down the river from St. Paul's Cathedral. It's beautiful, gorgeous setting.

in the sun. And then I walked, I decided, you know, I'm going to walk back to the hotel. It's just, you know, two miles. I could use the break. I can use the exercise. I'm walking through Hyde Park. 105 degrees. Now, they don't realize it's that hot because they use this centigrade thing. It was like, oh, gosh, it's so hot. It's 30. 30's not hot. So they, like, tricked their brain. It was boiling. It was the surface of the sun, London was. And the heat wave is continued. That was last week. It continues to go on. Here's the thing. Apparently, this European heat wave, so far, it's only been, what, five days. 1,300 people have died. I read a stat somewhere. And, by the way, go ahead and fact check it. I checked it on Grock. Grock said it was true. But, you know, I don't trust all these fact checks. I want to believe this is true. And I believe there have been enough fact checks to validate that it's true. But it also might be, you know, one of those lies, damn lies, and then statistics. But my understanding is more people die on an annual basis in Europe due to heat-related deaths than Americans die with gun-related deaths. They're always lecturing us. about, oh, you're so evil over there with your guns. I'm afraid to walk down the street in an American city because I'm going to get shot in the head. Meanwhile, I'm afraid to walk down a city in France or go into a restaurant or a store in France because you don't believe in air conditioning. I'm going to drop dead because it's so hot. Now, most of those people who die in heat-related deaths, by the way, are the elderly. And I think that Europe could actually do something about it. But as we've learned from our friends up north in Canada, when you have socialized medicine, generally speaking, when you see that a certain thing is killing off the elderly, you sort of like take a hands-off approach. And you say, well, you know, who are we to fix that? Global warming, right? Because the more older people who die, well, that releases. more burden from your national health care system. Look at the numbers. Look at history. Look at what's going on right now in Canada with regard to euthanasia and promoting suicide. Those are the facts. If you've got a nationalized health care system, the fewer older people you have, the healthier that system is going to be. The more money it's going to have. If you have more people growing older and getting services when, you know, they need it, well, then your system's going to go bankrupt. That's the master plan here. Don't kid yourself. That's the reality. It's called demographics. All right. That said, all these people are dying in Europe. 1,300 people have died in France. And they've decided that it's our fault. I kid you not. A politician in Paris blames Americans and air conditioning for the European heat wave. The European mind at work, my friends. And they actually believe that. Meanwhile, all these Europeans are coming here and enjoying air conditioning for the first time in their lives. And they don't want to leave. You know, Trump properly secured the border.

and kept illegal immigrants from coming in and violating our southern border, coming from Guatemala and Mexico and Haiti and God knows, Venezuela, whatever. Here's what the real problem is for the Trump administration. All of these Europeans who have come here for the World Cup, they're staying. This is the new influx of illegal aliens. I don't know what we're going to do with them. Maybe now we know who will bust our tables and pick our crops. It'll be Sven. from Norway, who was here for the soccer and decided not to leave. Amid heat waves, Europe is warming to the use of air conditioning. So says the just the news write-up. Apparently now Europeans are saying, hey, maybe those carbon fluorocarbons aren't that bad. Maybe Willis Carrier, the inventor of air conditioning, actually does deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. We are a much better nation because of air conditioning and Mr. Carrier. It's one of the reasons we dominate. And no, it's not our fault that you have a heat wave in Europe. It's your fault for not doing something about it. We have heat here. We just go inside and turn on the AC. See you tomorrow. In 2025, Americans lost more than $21 billion to fraud and identity theft. That's why so many people are turning to Aura. Aura helps protect your identity with fraud alerts, dark web monitoring, and up to $5 million in identity theft protection. And if you become a victim, Aura's 24-7 U.S.-based support team is there to help. Don't wait until your identity is stolen. Start your free trial today at Aura.com slash safe. That's Aura.com slash safe.