Vice President Vance returns to The Hugh Hewitt Show

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 ringed 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. Welcome to today's podcast, sponsored by Hillsdale College, all things Hillsdale at Hillsdale.edu. I encourage you to take advantage of the many free online courses there. And, of course, I'll listen to the Hillsdale Dialogues, all of them at Hugh for Hillsdale.com, or just Google, Apple, iTunes, and Hillsdale. Morning, glory, evening, Grace, America, special program today. I'm pleased to welcome back, Vice President, JD Vance, to the program to talk about his brand new book, Communion. Mr. Vice President, welcome back, and congratulations on your book. Your memoir about Crossing the Tiber. I found it very winsome, very revealing. I found it very frustrating that on your book tour, no one talked to you about it. Were you surprised by that? They talked about everything but communion. Yeah, it's amazing anybody bought the book, Hugh, because I was talking about, of course, the Iran situation. I was talking about economic issues. I think it kind of comes with the territory, though, Hugh, when you're the vice president, you're out there talking about a book. People are going to ask you about the news the day and whatever else is going on. So I appreciate it. It certainly was, you know, for me, what I wanted to do was just write a book about, obviously, my own faith journey. But try to write something that was not kind of a traditional political book, right? It's not here are 10 problems in America and here are 30 policy proposals for how to fix it. It's very honest. I think in some ways it's very self-critical. But I think any honest account of how a person finds their way to Christ is going to be exactly that. And hopefully some people pick it up and find some meaning in it. I want to make sure that at least the Catholics who are listening today are those who are Catholic adjacent, get out there and read it, or they can get the audio book. I got both. You did a very fine job reading it. I want to start, though, with Father Harry Stephen, Stephen. How do you pronounce his name? Henry Stephan. All right. Father Stephen is exactly the sort of priest. Every Catholic curious person would be blessed to run into. Please tell the audience about him. Yeah, so I'll tell you a story about Henry Stephan, Father Henry, as I call him. So very early in my own faith journey, he's the priest who baptized me, but I don't believe I had been baptized at this point. I met him at a Cincinnati Waffle restaurant, and he walks in. It is October the 31st, and he's a Dominican friar, so he always wears this sort of gigantic white frock. And I say gigantic, because Father Henry's probably 6'5. 250. He's just a, he's a very big dude. And he walks in the entire restaurant, stops and stares at him. And Father Henry, without skipping a beat, says, don't worry everybody. It's not a Halloween costume. I actually do believe in Jesus. And everybody laughs and he sits down. He's just this amazingly gregarious.

funny, but just a good human being, a good priest. He cares a lot about the faith, but he's also very thoughtful. He's a brilliant guy who went to Princeton who just, he feels it, but he also thinks about it. And I think he was the exact kind of person that I needed to be connected to in order to find my own way back to Christ because, you know, I had a lot of questions. I had a lot of, you know, I was very interested in the intellectual tradition of the Catholic faith, but. I also needed somebody who could steer me in my own practice of it, and Father Henry did all of those things. He's a great, great guy. I'm going to come back to him in a second, but I want to lay the groundwork. You're a Young Life kid, which is a reveal to me. I'm a big fan of Young Life for high school kids. It's better than having out drinking beer and chasing the other sex. But did you go to Young Life Camp? Do you remember the name of your area directors, anything like that? No, I never went to the camp, but I always went to the high school meetings. Look, it was very, very good for me. To your point, it kept me out of some other trouble that I'm sure I would have gotten involved in as a teenager. And, you know, it's one of these ways in which I did have a foundation and faith that eventually came back to me in a big way. As I talk about in the book, I kind of fell away from it, right? I called myself an atheist for a time. But when I look back at my own journey coming back to the faith, I don't think that I would have had quite the same trajectory if it hadn't been for that original foundation. So even though it didn't take, you know, sometimes these seeds get planted and they lay dormant for a while. But for those of you who don't know about Young Life, I mean, you know, you show up, you read the Bible, you do some singing, and it's just a really good way for high schoolers to engage with their faith at their level because I think as everybody knows. You know, the way of 65-year-old engages with the Christian faith is going to be different from the way of 45-year-old and certainly different from the way of 15-year-old engages with the faith. And it's a great entry level, and it does lay seeds so good on Young Life. I want to go back to Father Stephan now because if anyone picks up the book in the bookstore, go to page 163. It's a very concise statement of how one comes to religious belief. Quote, you don't feel God's presence and then change in an instance the Father told you. There's a roadmap to God, and you've got to travel because for most of us, grace is not something that happens in a moment. I thought that is exact. By the way, Billy Graham wasn't an aha moment, lightning striking either. Father Stephan seemed to lay out the gradual path, the path upward. Yeah, that's exactly right, Hugh. And that gradual path really spoke to me because, you know, you're exactly right. I think some people probably misrepresent Billy Graham as kind of an aha moment and all of a sudden everything is better. I think that's unfair to Billy Graham. But certainly in my own faith, I kind of had this idea that, you know, you prayed, you accepted Jesus in your heart and then everything was supposed to be better in your life and everything was supposed to be easy.

And I found that unsatisfying in my youth. And that's one of the reasons why I fell away from that faith. And Father Henry explained grace as sort of a process, as sort of this process of perfection. And I don't say self-perfection because the idea is that you need God's help along the way, and he's constantly working in these subtle ways. But you also, you have to work at it. And there's a way in which the practice of the faith forms you in the right way. There's a way in which... you know, participating in the sacraments and praying and actually going to confession and doing all these things, they slowly have this miraculous effect on a person. But for me, you know, when I was 19 years old to you, I would think of a miracle of sort of, you know, God waves the magic wand and everything's different. In some ways, I think what Father Henry was able to show to me is that, you know, true miracles sometimes are no less amazing and no less. physics-defying, but sometimes they take a little bit of time. And that way in which grace works patiently was a very important insight for me because it fit how the world actually worked. It spoke to me in a way that the aha moment idea of theology never did. Now, I want the audience to know, in the course of reading communion, you'll run into St. Augustine, Chesterton, of course, C.S. Lewis, Renee Gerard, Pope Leo, the 13th. You'll rost out that and Rod Dreher are in there. But I got to tell you, I went out and got the symposium on theology and falsification that you referenced by Anthony Flew, Hare, and Basil Mitchell. That's not for me, Mr. Vice President. That's way above my pay grade. Did you actually get through that? I did, though the part that I talk about in the book is very short. So I think it's a relatively short series of essays and back and force that was very important to me. But, you know, what I write about in the book is I encountered these essays as a, you know, college, you know, philosophy kid. And there was this sort of debate. And I kind of, at the time... thought the atheist had won the debate, but there was a response from Basil Mitchell that I actually thought was very, very compelling, and I kept on returning to it. And the basic idea, Hugh, I'm not going to do it justice, so I hope you and your listeners will forgive me, but is this idea that when you see something that doesn't comport with what you think God... should be doing or you see something you see something that makes you think well maybe god doesn't actually care about me there the debate is really does that mean that god is real or does that mean that god is false and what what basil mitchell says is no no you guys are kind of missing the point absolutely when you see something happen that goes against divine providence or when you see bad things to happen to good people, that absolutely does count against the idea that God loves human beings, but it doesn't count definitively. In other words, it is something that should cause some skepticism. It is something that should cause some humility, but it's not something that should lead you to disregard your faith because the ultimate...

You know, one of the ultimate truths of the Christian faith is that God knows best. Now, it requires, again, some humility to believe in that. It requires some patience to accept it. But I just this idea that you could see something that really did make you question your faith, but didn't make you discard it. The idea that it was okay to question and have doubts and even be angry at God, that was a very powerful thing for me. Well, it is powerful. I left the Roman Catholic Church for a dozen years. I got brought back in by Archbishop Charles Chippew, who listened to my radio show and thought, no, you got this all wrong. Because the bishops went nuts in the 80s, Vice President JD Vance. They would send the Reagan White House letters on nuclear weapons and poverty. They were just nuts. They went over the left cliff. And I just couldn't take it anymore. And the Archbishop explained, and therefore I was armored up against the priest scandal, which, by the way, you deal with the priest scandal, the abuse scandal. And in a very forthright way, a lot of Catholics dodge that. And I'm very glad that you didn't. The book would lack authenticity if you had. Do people still question you about that? Do they still have? Because it still lingers in the culture. Well, yeah, I think it's one of those things that's always going to linger over Catholic culture because it was such a wounding thing for so many Catholics that hurt so many people so deeply. And even those, of course, Hugh, who weren't caught up in it directly, they were still offended by it. They were still asking questions, how could the church let this happen? And for me, Hugh, I write about this in the book, that one of the things that happened is there was a big Pennsylvania Catholic abuse. sort of report that had come out right at the point where I was talking with Father Henry about becoming baptized and becoming received into the Catholic Church. And my wife, Usha, who is, as you know, Hugh, is this brilliant lawyer, there was a point where we're sitting at home late one night. And she just absolutely interrogates Father Henry about this. Because she's like, if JD does this, then he's going to want to raise the kids in the church. And we had, you know, at the time... two little boys and obviously loved them very much and didn't want anything like this to happen to them and father henry later would describe it as the most difficult set of questions he's ever faced his entire life but his again his point was If you read the Bible, like if you read the foundational text of the Christian faith, it tells you that God works through humans who are deeply imperfect, who are murderers and liars and all manner of bad things. And it's kind of one of these very unique, but also, you know, requires some humility to believe in that God works through imperfect people. And so the argument is not that the church is perfect. The argument is not that the church always succeeds in its effort to help people and to serve people. The argument, though, is that this institution, in its very imperfect way, does reveal something about Jesus Christ and his love for people. And you have to be able to accept the good and the bad. And the same way that you have to be able to read the Bible and say, well, King David was this terrible guy. And yet he was the chosen person to kind of implement God's kingdom at that time in history.

And that is an interesting claim, Hugh. I've always been fascinated by this, by just the philosophy of it, that God doesn't sort of say, oh, I'm going to come in and make everybody perfect, and everybody who serves me is going to be perfect. He makes a much different claim about human beings, that he is the one true God, that his grace can transform people, but that he's going to work through these incredibly imperfect people who constantly fail to follow him. I think for a lot of people, they say that's absurd. But for me, I say that actually fits with the human nature as I've encountered it. No, if it's persuasive if you adopt an intellectual approach to Catholicism or to Christianity in the beginning and work through the various writers that you do, you'll get there. Before I go back to that, I want to ask you about your level of practice. I know you've been baptized. You've had your first communion. You've had your first confession. Did you get confirmed, Mr. Vice President? Well, it's a good question, Hugh. I mean, I believe that that happened as part of getting baptized because I had never been baptized before. And so I actually didn't do a first confession because, as you know, when you do the baptism, if you've never been baptized before, that kind of washes away all those sins. And so the first confession I did was probably over, you know, four or five, six weeks after that. So. You know, I basically just followed Father Henry's lead and did the things that he said that I needed to do. And, you know, what we do is we go to church every week, sometimes travel or the duties of vice president make that harder, but we still try to make it work. And, you know, I try to go to confession every four weeks, every six weeks. And I try to just follow the sacramental life as much as I can. And I found that it has become easier over time. It's actually one of these things where you get better at it, the more you practice at it. Oh, the most winsome part of the book is getting your three, now, four babies ready to go to church or smalls because they wriggle, they yell, they pinch, they punch. I was one of those families, and my mom somehow managed to get through it. My dad's a Presbyterian who didn't often go to church with us. He was at his own church. But I thought that was the, every Catholic family is going to recognize that story. So well done. I was wondering, though, If you had a confirmation name, and you obviously don't recall it or you would know you were confirmed. Well, yeah, so my confirmation name is Augustine. So I guess I was confirmed, but it's funny, that exact word just never came up in the process where Father Henry said, all right, we're going to choose a confirmation name. He just, you know, we chose the name Augustine for my baptism, and that's what we did. Good choice. I mean, that's reaching. That puts a lot on your shoulders, but that's reaching. That's Christianity for you, Hugh. It demands a lot of you, high expectations. You've got to read confessions at least once a year. Do you observe, for example, All Saints Day and the Week of the Octave of All Souls where you can, for the benefit of the non-Cathic audience, Catholics believe in the Church Militon on Earth, the Church suffering in Perch? purgatory and the church triumphant in heaven, and the church militant can help out the church suffering during the week of all saints and the octave of all saints in November. Do you do that for, say, Mama, or any of your family, or do you do any of that work? Is that something that's come across your radar yet? Yeah, I mean, I'd go to church during the required days during all saints, during all saints' day, and obviously I do the prayers for the dead, and that includes the prayers for a lot of the people.

that I know and love, but also just general prayers for the dead. I try to, you know, what Father Henry has told me, Hugh, is that you try to treat the church as a witness and you try to follow as much as possible. And I don't want to say that I'm perfect about it because I've found, for example, you know, there are certain days of obligation, Hugh, where I will find out afterwards that it was a day of obligation. I didn't even know. I didn't even try to. Doesn't count as a sin that you didn't know. Yeah, it doesn't count. Well, that's good. That's good to know. But I still try to go to confession and try to be responsive to it. And, you know, I just, my attitude towards it, Hugh, is you try to follow the lead of the faith as much as possible, recognizing you're going to be imperfect about it. There are a lot of things, I will say, Hugh, as a sort of evangelical convert to Catholicism. There are certain things about it that I find, you know, culturally distinct. I mean, even confession, right? The idea that you're going to go in and talk to a stranger about every bad thing that you've done over the last four or six weeks, I find that a little unusual, but I just try to follow the rules. And I find that the more that I follow the rules, the better I get at following those rules, and the more I start to realize that there's a real purpose to it. Now, you are now, used to be President Biden, and before that, Nancy Pelosi, you're now the highest-ranking secular Catholic in America. And with that comes a certain obligation to conduct yourself, as every Catholic would wish you would conduct yourself. Have you felt that pressure yet? All the time, all the time. And I fail all the time, you know, you have debates with people and you try to be charitable. I certainly fail to be charitable. And you try to make the best version of an argument as possible. And, you know, you try to conduct yourself in public life with maximal patience and humility. I think you try to do the best you can and you recognize that you fail from time to time. And when you try to fail, you try to do better. And I write about this in the book. There was the famous cat lady comment that, you know, I got the campaign. I got myself in trouble during the 2024 campaign. And I sort of realized that there were two problems there. Number one, I just pissed a lot of people off. So they weren't sort of really able to hear the message that I was trying to make. And that to me was maybe the most important thing is I was trying to make an argument that was very real, which is that America, I think, in the last 20, 30 years has become more hostile. And our leadership has become more blind to the plight of young families. I think that's why the COVID thing was such a disaster is you had a lot of people in positions of leadership who, they weren't asking themselves questions, like what happens when we mask three-year-olds indefinitely? What effect does this have on young families when we try to force kids to sit at a computer screen instead of go to the classroom? I just, I felt there was an important point to make. And part of the error that I made is that I didn't make it in the right way. I turned people off instead of actually leading to some insight and some wisdom.

So you and I, when you lived in Virginia, belonged to the same parish. And I always went to the 7 a.m. Mass. I think he rolled in at 9.30 or 11. I never crossed paths with you there, but I knew it was your church. We tried to do the 830. Okay. I was at 7. No music. Bad Catholic music drives me crazy, so it's a silent mass. But in that church is Mark Tieson. Yesterday you took a punch at Mark online from the burrito thing. So I'm curious, do you ever regret that night that you took a punch at a fellow Catholic in your parish? You know, it was a joke, Hugh. I think there are ways in which you're allowed to punch back and you're allowed to be a little bit humorous. I'm sure it was not as charitable as I should have been. But you know what one thing. is, look, I'm sure that he's a good Catholic. I certainly wish him the best. I think he's been a little bit unfair to me over the last couple of weeks, and so I decided to hit back with a little bit of spice. I will say that if you read the gospel... You know, Jesus has remarkable humility. He also has a remarkable way with words. And so I'm always going to fall short of that example, but I don't think that there's anything wrong with being a little spicy from time to time. And, you know, maybe in two years, you'll all look back and say, I wish I hadn't said that. But right now I feel pretty good about that. Okay. Okay. That's not going to be in that confession. I want to cover two big things. One of the best lines in the book. One of the jobs of the Christian statesmen, you're right, is to preserve the social cohesion that makes charity and generosity possible. That is an ideal. That's pretty hard to reach. Charity and generosity is something that should be expected of each person. How do you try and do that? Well, I think one of the things, Hugh, is you have to have an immigration policy that promotes social cohesion. You know, when you send your kid to school, you want them to share the same language with the people that are in that classroom. You want them to have something in common with the people that are in that classroom. And I do think that's possible with the tradition of immigration like the United States of America has. But one of the criticisms I've had of some of the church leadership that's attacked our immigration policies, and again, I'm not saying that we're always perfect, but the simple reality is that when you have... too many immigrants who come in too quickly with no proper procedure and no proper vetting, it actually does erode social trust. It erodes the very foundation of cohesion that allows us to be generous to the poor and to ensure that, you know, poor kids in America don't go hungry and don't lack, you know, medical treatment. Those are important and good things, but those things exist on the foundation of social trust. that sky-high immigration actually erodes. And so I've actually made this point in some of my conversations with the Catholic leadership who've criticized their immigration policies. I said, guys, look, you know, I'm all for being charitable, and I'm all for, you know, you guys have a moral witness, and I'm not going to tell you you shouldn't exercise that moral witness, but you've got to recognize that our immigration policy is geared not just towards law and order.

but towards ensuring that America has a functioning social fabric, you can't do that with too much and too rapid demographic change. I thought it was well argued in the book, and I encourage people to read that. Here's the most delicate, and I want to make sure I put this the right way. Ariel Whitman will be on later today. He's an Israeli blogger and a podcaster that I've been on his program. I have a lot of Israelis on the show, Haviv Reddy Gour and meets Segal, Nadaville, because I want to figure out what they think. There is a recurring thing. They are afraid that you, you, JD Vance, are anti-Israel or anti-Semitic. And I tell them, no, no, no. No, I've talked to the vice president since he ran for the Senate. You are getting that wrong. Part of that is the Catholic Church's tradition. John Paul in 2000 went to Jerusalem to make atonement. Benedict wrote a book in 2011 saying, we are sorry because we caused the pogroms. We've got a special obligation to the Jews. But I tell them that's not the vice president. Are you frustrated by that? Have you heard that suspicion that you're anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, anti-Semitic? And what do you do about it? Yeah, I've certainly heard that criticism, Hugh. I mean, I obviously think that it's unfair. Do I – am I frustrated by it? I mean, no, I think people are entitled to their opinion, and I just have to do as good of a job as I can, recognizing my imperfections. I have to do as good of a job as I can at actually articulating what I think and what I believe. And, you know, my argument, Hugh, on Israel is – One, it's a great country. I love the country. I love a lot of the people in it. Some very, very dear friends who are there. I also recognize that there are times when a given Israeli government is going to have interests that are different from the United States of America. And I think that Hugh, a lot of young people in particular, young Republicans, but young people everywhere are looking at the U.S. Israel relationship. And it's really, as you know, Hugh, built on a foundation of 70, 80 years of common values and common interests. But I also think that sometimes when people defend the United States-Israel relationship, it's very easy to get trapped in slogans. And you're the same phrases, and those phrases lose their meaning. And so what I've tried to do is say, when we have shared interests with the Israelis, They're a great partner and we're going to work together. And when we don't have shared interests with the Israelis, we're going to pursue our interests distinctly with no animosity, of course, and the same way that we would do with, you know, the French or the British, two other allies where we have a great historical tradition of shared interests and shared values. So I really think that it's important for us to articulate why we work with the country, why we don't work with a country. And I think that there are some Israelis who are just so used, at least some people in Israeli media, who are so used to politicians just taking as a given that America and Israel always have shared interests, when I think the reality is that we often have shared interests, but we don't always. And I don't think that makes me anti-Semitic, and I don't think it makes me anti-Israel. I just think it makes me honest. It doesn't. And by the way, that is exactly the answer you gave to me when you were running for Senate.

I don't know how many years ago. So you haven't changed tonight. That's what I explained to my Israeli friends. I want to close with a suggestion, Mr. Vice President, A, the end of your book about my former colleague, Charlie Kirk. I was not close to him the way you are, but I'm the next generation older than you. You could be my kids, so I'm not surprised, but it's a very generous thing that you wrote about Charlie and what he was talking to you about, so I would encourage people to read that. But there are a lot of young Catholic writers out there. And you mentioned Roth Authet and Rod Dreher, who's not Catholic but Orthodox. But you got Ryan Anderson, and you got people a little bit older like Arthur Brooks and Fran Péter Magyar and Charles Shepieu. Would you ever convene the younger ones and sort of get them talking about the church? Because you've got this great convening authority as the vice president. Nobody turns down an invitation to come chat with the vice president about the church. Is that part of the job, do you think? Absolutely. Let's do it, Hugh. And I will talk to you offline. We'll get a good group together. I'd love to get everybody together and chat about things. I'll start with Ryan Anderson and everyone out there listening. Start with Communion. It's a fabulous book and it's very well read, Mr. Vice President. Thanks for the extra time today. I appreciate it. Have a good week. Absolutely, Hugh. Good to talk with you. Thank you. My conversation now with Michelle Tofoya, candidate for United States Senate in Minnesota. Michelle, good to see you again. It's been a so cold day on the Hugh Hewitt show. I'm talking with you with Lisa Demuth with Tom Weiler. But I'm starting with you because voting starts today. How do you feel about your race? I feel good. I feel very good. But I'm not one to count my chickens before they hatch you. The primary is Tuesday, and we've been doing everything we can to finish strong through the tape. And that's what we're going to keep doing. But at this point, polling looks good. But, you know, sometimes polling can fool you. Okay. Let's look ahead for a moment. If you are the nominee, how are you going to beat Peggy Flanagan? Because she's as radical as El Cyan, but people don't know that. We've got to point that out to everybody. And actually, some people do know it. Look, she's the sitting lieutenant governor. She's been at the right hand of Tim Walz for these last eight years. And she's proven to be maybe even more radical than he is, but at least so, at least as much. So it's going to be our job to really point out what that would mean for this state if she were to represent us in the Senate. So that's our job. I've already talked to Democrats who are willing to come over if she is the nominee. So I think we. have a really good message and a great contrast to sell. How does it work with the fraud investigation? Do Minnesotans like to talk about that, or are they embarrassed by the fact that their state was hoodwinked out of billions of dollars? It depends what's out of the aisle they're on. You know, you've got Keith Ellison and Tim Walz refusing to talk about it at all. Even these two Democrat candidates for U.S. Senate don't talk about the fraud. They don't acknowledge it. They don't address it. They don't ask for corrections or repercussions or accountability. So that is a shame. I'm willing to talk about it all day long because it really propelled me to want to run for this office. So, look, it is bad.

Most Minnesotans are terribly embarrassed by it. They're embarrassed by Walls. They're embarrassed by Keith Ellison and the way he's handled this. And it's amazing to me, Hugh, that I talk to people who are, you know, it's summertime. They're traveling. No matter where they go, if it's out of state or out of the country. They are embarrassed to say they are from Minnesota because we've had years and years of this now. We've been at the epicenter of a lot of tumult. But this was an unforced error, a self-inflicted wound, this fraud, and people are angry. And they want to see accountability, not just for the criminals who stole the money, but for the people who enabled it. And we hope that's coming. Talk to me about the Somali community, Somali Americans in recent arrivals from Somalia. Are they active in politics? Are they embarrassed by the scandal, which has been predominantly within their community? Some are. Some are ashamed of that. You know, they've come here as honest brokers. They want to help build the community. They want to live here. But there is a lot of not talking about it. Again, when you talk to Ilhan Omar, who is a very strong representative of that community. She doesn't want to talk about it. She'd rather focus on other things. So it's difficult. You know, I don't want to paint the whole community with a broad brush stroke. But it is in the paperwork that the vast majority, especially feeding our future, but even some of these Medicaid fraud items were committed by this community and money being shipped back to Somalia. That's in the paperwork. That's not an opinion. So Michelle, I've been on the air. I've been broadcasting from AM-12-8 of the Patriot for 27 years. I'm on in Duluth all over the state. There are a lot of great conservatives there, like Hinder Rocker and Scott Johnson, the people of Powerline. But there's also the strip, and it's just the left-wingest left-wing newspaper in the world. Are they trying to kill you? What are they doing to you? They haven't tried to kill me yet, but you approach them with a level of mistrust because they don't represent things. Well, a perfect example when you talk about this fraud. Last year at the end of the year, you know, all the papers and TV shows do their end of the year's story. What were the biggest stories of 2025? They did not mention fraud in the Star Tribune. Wow. That's just almost laughable. Actually, it is laughable. It's not almost laughable. Everyone looked at that and said, well, how could that not be one of the biggest stories of 2025? So, you know, we are careful. And there are a lot of conservatives who are very, very reluctant to talk to a lot of the media outlets here. But look, I want to get my message out. You're looking at Nick Shirley, who did a lot of the work for them. And if not for that 24-year-old, I think he is now, you've got to wonder. You talked about John Hinderocker, the, you know, CEO of the...

Center for the American Experiment, and his group has done a ton of research on this fraud, and they're doing a fraud tour this summer where you get to connect the dots. But until Nick Shirley made it really simple and showed everyone with his phone camera. The quality leering center, that is the sort of breaking point. The Learing Center, yep. Well, Michelle, I want to close with it. What's your website? If people want to get involved in help you, either up in Minnesota or across the United States, what's the website? It's Michelle Tofoya.com. It's really simple. Michelle with 1L, T-A-F-O-Y-A. I imagine if people put it in their search engine, they'll be directed to it. But we would love to help. We want to, this is a great state. Hugh, you know that. You've been here. There's so much to love about Minnesota. We want to get it back on track. And we can do this. We can be the first campaign in 20 years. Norm Coleman was the last Republican senator for the state of Minnesota. We're going to break that streak. We're going to do it. Well, if you're close, I'll come to the fair again. I haven't broadcast from the fair in probably five years, but I'm sure you'll be living there at the end of the month. Michelle Tofoya, good to see you again, Michelle Tofoya.com.

in their governor and senator races. I'm pleased to welcome the Speaker of the Minnesota House, Lisa Demuth, who's running for governor. Welcome, Madam Speaker. How goes the campaign up north? Well, great to have a conversation with you, Hugh, and things are going very well in our race for governor. This is my opportunity as I run for governor, win the primary on Tuesday, but to really give Minnesota a comeback that is so desperately needed here in our state, given all of the fraud and all of the failures that we have had under Democrat control here in the state for too long. Your press office put out your statement today on illegal immigration. Why is that important to be putting out a week before the vote? You know, when I look at the issues of illegal immigration here, especially in the state of Minnesota, I have fought in my time in the legislature, specifically during my time as Speaker of the House, to end some of the policies that Democrats have put in place that has made Minnesota become a magnet for illegal immigration and fraud. I was able to end the taxpayer funding of illegal immigrant health care. It was four times what had been projected under Democrat control. And so making sure that we are following federal immigration laws is a priority for me and for the state of Minnesota. to make sure that our taxpayer dollars are safe, that we're providing Minnesota benefits for Minnesotans. And yes, Hugh, I do believe that we need to look at some changes with our federal immigration laws, but offering amnesty, such as Mike Lindell, one of the other Republicans actually running for governor, an amnesty plan that he's put into place. That is not the answer for Minnesota. Okay, now tell me about how you would tackle the fraud dirigible that is hovering over the state of Minnesota if you're the governor. You know, fraud in Minnesota has exploded. And I would say that there has been incompetence after 16 years of Democrat control here in the state of Minnesota, but especially under the failed Walls administration over the last eight years. It is a complete failure and waste of our tax dollars. For much too long, the Minnesota media and Democrats in Minnesota would not take fraud seriously.

My time in the legislature, I have pushed and I was able to get through an office of inspector general. I was able to put more whistleblower protections in, but that was only after an independent YouTuber, Nick Shirley, came at the end of last year and exploded what was known or what we as Republicans that expected or thought was actually going on in our state. He exploded that. Democrats no longer could hide from it. I put together a fraud prevention and agency oversight committee when I became speaker a year ago. And again, Democrats can't hide from the fraud that they have allowed to go on under their watch. All right, last question, Lisa DeMute. You and Mike Lindell are running for the nomination to go against Amy Klobuchar. Why are you the better candidate to beat her? She's going to be formidable in the general election just because she's been there forever. I mean, she's been on Minnesotan's ballot forever in Hennepin County and then in the Senate. Why are you better than Lindell to beat her? I have the best chance of beating Amy Klobuchar. And Hugh, when I got into this race, I never thought it was going to be easy. But I'm also the one that led the Republican caucus in the House to ending the Democrat control in the state in 2024. The reason that I am better for Minnesota is I have proven leadership. I've gone up against Democrats already and won with becoming Speaker. helping to end fraud or at least expose it, and there is more that needs to be done. I have the ability to work across the aisle because we've been in a tie in the House of Representatives, and I'm the best one to gain, yes, the Republican votes, but those independent votes or those Democrats that are tired of what has happened with their party here in Minnesota and what has been. been allowed to go on. So I am ready to win this primary on Tuesday night and then go on and give Amy Klobuchar, Senator Amy Klobuchar, the biggest fight for Minnesota that she has ever seen. And Lisa, what is your website, your campaign website, if people want to help you or sign up to get out the vote next week? Great. It's www4M-N.com. That's L-I-S-A-F-O-R. mn.com. Please check it out and be involved in the process. Lisa for MN.com. Nice to meet you, Lisa Demuth, and good luck next week. Don't go anywhere America. I've got more coming up. Tom Weiler's going to be here at the bottom of the arm. I'm covering Minnesota extensively today if you haven't figured that out yet because they've begun voting. But I do want to tell you about a few of our sponsors. Well, I have a moment here. Took a lot of time with the vice president in the first hour. I'm going to replay that in hour number three. First, let me tell you about Andrew and Todd.com. AAA, AAA, 1172.

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Signed the replica. It was a great freedom walk. There were the descendants of the original signers. Everybody in Ohio knows about the Declaration of Independence, but I want to talk to you about a 250 toolkit.com slash you. That's run by our friends and Americans for Prosperity. They're running the Declaration Project, consistent with what I was doing this weekend. The Declaration Project asks you, each and every one of you, to get involved in making sure but people understand what the Declaration is about. The Declaration Project is all featured over at a 250 Toolkit.com. It's the foundation of American Liberty. It's the first document to ever invoke natural lights and the creator that is the source of our rights, not a government. not mankind, not the generation that went before us, but God. And the Declaration of Independence is the focus of the Declaration Project run by our friends at Americans for Prosperity. You can get involved. You can take the pledge to read and remember and talk about with your family and friends what the declaration stands for, but the first step is to go to the website A250 Toolkit.com slash hue. Okay, the letter A. Toolkit, two words, 250 and number, a 250 toolkit.com slash you. Sign up for the Declaration Project. Join the effort. You'll be glad you did. Celebrate our 250th in the right way. And come right back to the UUHO because I've got to talk to another fabulous candidate. Lori Buckhow. Want to be congresswoman from North Carolina first. Stay with it.

Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Lisa Demuth is going to be our next congresswoman from North Carolina's first congressional district. I'll call her Colonel, because that's what she was when she retired from the Army. And Colonel Lisa Demuth, welcome to the program. Last time I talked to, I think you were the acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for cybersecurity. Who recruited you to run for this thing? Hey, so I ran last time, who recruited me? A bunch of local folks here in North Carolina were looking at me. as somebody who is a strong conservative, has a good background of national security economics. I ran my own small business. So I got recruited last time, lost by a point in a half, and we got redistricted to a slightly more Republican district. I'm not a quitter. Couldn't walk away from this race and just fired up to go. So kind of got recruited by the local folks who wanted to see a strong Republican run, who understood the economy and was close to President Trump. Now, Colonel, I believe the first district is the northern border of North Carolina. How did they tweak your boundaries? They added a few more southern counties, so it goes all along the beach, and it added five counties, took away a couple more that were central in the state, and added some very conservative counties further down south. Oh, very good. We like redistricting. So tell us about your opponent. We do. Tell us what the race is turning on. I think this race is going to turn on the fact that this district is a very poor district and it's been that way for decades. It's been Democrat for a very long time for decades and it's been at the bottom of the poverty level, not just statewide but nationally for literally decades. My opponent is Don Davis. We call him Do Nothing, Don. He hasn't moved the needle at all on prosperity, on business, on jobs, on anything in the district. He's done just. literally nothing. We call them Do Nothing, Don. And I think people are ready for a change. The folks that are new in the district in those Republican counties are definitely not going to put up with him. And I think folks throughout the district have realized nothing will get better as long as you've got a Democrat like Don Davis in charge. Colonel, let's remember. What is your website so that people can help you out with a contribution or volunteer time? How do they find the Lisa Demuth campaign? It's actually the buckout campaign. What am I saying? Sorry, Lori. That's okay. That's okay. Hey, she's great too, by the way. But it's Lori Buckout, L-A-U-R-I-E, B-U-C-H-O-U-T for Congress.com. Easy to find.

Yeah, I just had on Lisa from Minnesota right before you. That's why I was looking at my sheet, and I forgot. It is candidate, so let's focus on Lori Buckout, Colonel Buckout. Colonel, you've been watching the current battle with Iran. You know what is involved with this, especially on the cyber side. They're taking down some of our water quality programs. Do you think we're punching back in the cyber arena? We just don't know about it? That's exactly the case. You know, these programs are highly classified. You've got to have a need to know. And, you know, frankly, the enemy doesn't need to know everything that we're doing. They don't need to have our TTPs. They don't need to know every time that something happens that it's even necessarily us and that it could be attributed to us. So I know we're punching back. I know we're taking care of business. And frankly, the less a lot of folks know about that, the better. I'll leave it at that then. But Colonel Bucket, talk to us about the district and if you've got a military presence. I'm kind of amazed there's any Democrat from North Carolina, given the number of retirees you have from the military, they're an act of duty. Yeah, absolutely. So for starters, there's over 80,000 veterans in my district. And we have not been taking care of veterans very well in the district. President Trump has made a big difference, but we can definitely do better. In my district alone, I've got the... I've got the Coast Guard base in Elizabeth City, and I've got Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station. Oh. So those are the two big ones that I have. Camp Lejeune is just right out of my district, and Seymour Air Force Base is just right out of my district. So we draw in retirees from both of those areas. There's a lot of work to be done in supporting both of those installations and making sure that we're bringing jobs there, we're bringing more programs there, especially in Marine Corps. Air Station Cherry Point is a fantastic launching point for Atlantic operations and a fantastic East Coast launching point for operations. So we want to bring more capabilities down there to show this is a great place for the military to do business. Where did you spend most of your career colonel? Was it in North Carolina or all over the world? No, pretty much all over the world. So I was an army brat. I grew up all over the place to include in Europe. was actually born in Virginia when my dad was at the Pentagon. He was World War II, Korea, Vietnam. My mother was a World War II flight nurse. She was pretty badass, too. So dad retired when I was a little girl in the Shenandoah Valley. And then I went to school on an ROTC scholarship, got sent all over, spent time in the Middle East, tours in Iraq, a lot of time in Europe, and a little time in D.C. when I retired out of the Pentagon. So does do nothing Don debate you? I doubt he really would want to do that, Colonel Buck out.

I don't think so. You know, I mean, I'm pretty on to go after anything there. I feel very comfortable with the issues, of course, national security, global issues, but very comfortable with issues in the district and pointing out the facts that this district needs help, it needs a lot of work, and needs somebody who's got some energy, some understanding of economics, and is ready to bring businesses down here and bring jobs. I also assume you know how to work with Congress if you were acting assistant secretary at DOD. You know how that works so you could be on the other side and just on the first day know what you wanted to do. Right. And no, absolutely. I mean, I was privileged to work as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber, working on getting some major budgets passed for cyber, for cybersecurity, for offensive cyber, for the military and other organizations. So I know how to do that. I feel comfortable doing that. That's something I want to lean into is that experience that I had to help this district. And so last question about affordability, which is the million-dollar word in this campaign cycle. Are they feeling it in North Carolina won, or is that somehow escape the angel of high prices swooping over it? You know, I think everybody's feeling it to a degree, but you look at what President Trump has done. The economy is actually doing better than I think the naysayers want to have it do. Gas prices are going down. Of course, they're fluctuating based on Iran. Nobody talks about egg prices anymore because they've gotten so much lower. So, yeah, I think affordability continues to be an issue. As a national security person, I have to lean into the fact that... war with Iran or this ongoing tussle with Iran, whatever we want to call it, is definitely worth it for keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of people who are just so unstable. So I think we're doing our right, Dan Air. We can do better. All right. The last question, website. Let's make sure people know where to go to contribute and to help you out if they can volunteer. Absolutely. Thank you so much. And it's Lori L-A-U-R-I-E, last name Buckout, B-U-C-K-H-O-U-T for Congress.com. And is the four, the number four, or is it F-O-R? F-O-R, thank you. Lori buckout, F-O-R-Congress.com. Lori buckout, F-O-R-Congress.com. Thank you, Colonel. I look forward to talking to you again before the general election in November. We want to remind everyone, this is one of the getable flips for the Republicans. The NRC told me so, and I believe them. They know their own numbers. Colonel, thank you so much. I'll be right back, America. Stay tuned to the Hugh Lewis Show.

Welcome back, America. I'm here. Tom Weiler joins me now. He is also a candidate for the United States Senate in Minnesota. Hello, Tom, when's the vote, and how do you feel about it? Hello, Hugh. Vote is actually today, any day up until next Tuesday, the 11th of August. And I'm feeling good. We run sort of a submarine style campaign. We've been stealthy early, and we're getting our name out right now. We're having a big search here at the end, everywhere from yard signs, all the way to talking with you, Hugh. So I'm feeling pretty good. I think we're going to shock a lot of folks here in Minnesota and get a big win in the primary and move on to November 3rd. Now, I expect the Democrats of Minnesota to nominate Peggy Flanagan, who's a radical. Why are you the best candidate to take her on? It just comes down to experience, understanding, tested leadership throughout my military and national security career, and fundamentally a problem solving an acumen that I can uniquely bring to this job to attack the many, many problems that face the United States Senate, develop solutions, get... teams in Congress and the Senate to support those solutions to actually get the ball across the goal line that will fundamentally improve Minnesota's lives. And that's why I'm running. Salt problems in D.C. and help solve problems in St. Paul to improve Minnesota's lives back here in the great state of Minnesota. Do you think most Minnesota voters understand what it took to become a commander in the submarine fleet as you were? You know, that's not exactly, but I think there are a lot of them are understanding. When we meet people, have the chance to interact with people, like today I'm out at Farm Fest, you know, we just get a really good reception. And it seems like almost everyone we talked to walks away saying, I'm going to vote for you. I'm going to talk to my friends and family. So the word of mouth is really what's going to get us across the finish line, I think. And, you know. politicians, especially for a submarine, is something you need to jump into, talking about yourself so much. But I have developed just a simple matrix that I've sent out on all my social media and I've bought some ads in the newspapers, actually. And all it is simply is the 16 committees in the United States Senate. And it compares my experience, professional experience, with the other candidates in the race. And I got a lot of greens on my side, and the other candidates have a lot of reds. So green demonstrates experience. And with that, I think Minnesota is understanding I will be the most effective senator because I know enough to be dangerous in the United States Senate. There have been a lot of debates between Republicans and Democrat. What do the Republicans in Minnesota disagree about? Well, you bring up debates. Unfortunately, just yesterday I was shunned out of another debate here in Minnesota. And Michelle Tofoy is running. I'm running against her in the Republican primary. And she has basically run the Biden basement campaign, unfortunately.

I've never had the chance to debate her. But she doesn't really have any in-depth solutions to the problems of Minnesota's face. She just sort of sticks with the talking points. I've developed just a simple table with the nine most common problems that I've heard Minnesota discuss with my nine solutions. And I do deviate from the standard Republican on a lot of those issues. I address immigration. I address American divisiveness. And right at the top, of course, it's Minnesota fraud and the Minnesota struggling economy. And I have ideas, specific solutions to help, one, in fraud, that's just straight accountability and holding people responsible. And secondly, to start propelling the Minnesota economy forward, we've been stagnant up here for a number of years under Governor Walls and 20 years of Democratic control. So it's time to chart a new course from Minnesota, and we're getting a lot of folks excited. And I think we're going to do quite well in Tuesday's primary. What do you say about the fraud, Tom Weiler? I just, one, it's unacceptable. And two, it's the accountability on the people on top. When you're a submariner? I was honored to be the XO of the USS Michigan. When you're the XO, number two in command, everything that occurs on that ship and with the crew of that ship is your responsibility. I'm running against Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, the number two in the state, and she has yet to admit any of the $9 to $20 billion of fraud money stolen from Minnesota taxpayers. She's yet to admit she has any responsibility to that. So the biggest thing is just holding people accountable all the way up to... the leading folks in government, all the way down to every Minnesota parent who received a kickback on a monthly basis because they got their kid of fake autism diagnosis. And that number's in the thousands, unfortunately, up here in Minnesota. And right now, we've held a couple people accountable by the numbers of like 150, 200 people. I mean, there's thousands here, and it needs to be a proactive, hold people accountable, and the punishment has to have a deterrent effect. Those are two ways we need to stop fraud here in Minnesota. And Tom White, I'll ask question. What's your website for people who are listening? Tom Wilder, 2026.com. For all Minnesota's out there, get out and vote. And like I tell everyone, vote early and often. Legally, of course, you vote for me today or any time before next Tuesday, August 11th. And then hopefully you can vote for me again on November 3rd. Tom Weiler, good to see you again. Old friend from D.C. Day, it's good to see you, Commander. Don't give up the ship, as we say, at the Battle of Lake Erie, if you're around that at any time. Tom Weiler, thank you so much. I'll be right back, America. Stay tuned. My friends, you've probably seen the headlines are worse. Your latest bill. Big wireless is raising rates again. That means you could be paying more for the same service. Or getting pushed into a price share plan you simply do not need. That's not right. You can switch to consumer cellular right now and save an additional $50 when you go to consumer cellular.com slash hue and use the promo code Hugh 50. And if you happen to be over the age of 50, listen to this. You can get a single line with unlimited talk, text, and data for just $355. Remember, their numbers, $800411, 414454, 800411 44, 800411 44.

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Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Josh Kroshoor joins me, editor-in-chief of Jewish Insider. Josh, welcome back. A couple of things to cover with you. First, next time I'm going to have Ariel Whitman on. He's the op-ed editor at Globes in Israel. He's the host of the Western Spirit podcast. Have you come across Ariel yet? I definitely know who he is, but I have not been a regular reader of his work. A pretty interesting character. I'll recommend him to you. Secondly, I had the vice president on today, and I'm going to replay the interview next hour. I asked him about the belief widespread among Israelis and some American Jews that he's anti-Israel or anti-Semitic, and he rejects it fundamentally and thoroughly. Same answer he gave me like five years ago, no. I'm very pro-Israel. It's just our interest sometimes diverge. Is that enough for him to make the case? Well, look, I think there are two parts to the concern among a lot of Jewish Americans about Vice President JD Vance. Look, I think he's perfectly, he's been more critical of Israel than a lot of other leading figures in the administration. But, you know, certainly compared to where a lot of folks. especially on the left are in politics. I mean, JD Vance, his views are not, not all that, you know, I think it's less about his views on Israel that he, that he's, uh, and his critiques in recent months on podcasts. And I think it's more about his associations and his refusal to denounce folks like Tucker Carlson on the anti-Semitic far right that have raised concerns in the Jewish community. So when you have both. those associations and his unwillingness to condemn the outright anti-Semitism coming from those podcast figures and those associations he has. And then you combine that with, you know, the more vocal critiques he's offered of Israel and skepticism of some of the military engagements internally, at least within the private conversations in the White House. That's what's raising a lot of concerns. I don't think, I think there's plenty of room for him to kind of make nice and, and, and, and, and, you know, regain confidence among a lot of pro-Israel voters. But there are a lot of reasons beyond just his most recent comments about Israel that have raised questions and skepticism. Let's probe that. I have been blasting Abdul El-Sayed. Abdur Rahman, Abdul El-Sayed. I don't want to get mad at me from mispronouncing his name. Abdur Rahman, Abdul El-Sayed, the Senate Democratic radical candidate in Michigan. He is like stapled at the hip to Hasan Piker, who's just an Islamist anti-Semite. And he goes everywhere with him and they stream together. That's an association that he has to answer for. I actually haven't seen him with Tucker Carlson since he became vice president. Have you? I mean, you have to go back, I think, to the Charlie Kirk assassination. I think they both did, I think he filled in on, or there was a show they did together or he filled in. But yeah, I mean, it's been a little bit of time. But the big question, both internally and publicly, is that I think a lot of folks would like to see, you know, someone who has a close relationship with Tucker Carlson to be much more outspoken on the anti-Semitism that's come from his end of the far right.

But it's the assertion of a close relationship that I don't believe is borne out. I mean, I don't see him on his podcast. I don't see him paling around. A close relationship is Hasan Piker and El Sayed. Would you agree with that? That's a close relationship? Oh, of course. I mean, look, El Sayed and Hasan Piker were campaigned in the final day together of the primary. So yes. And then there is a much... bigger difference. But I also, you know, it's pretty well documented that Tucker Carlson was a big champion of Trump picking JD Vance as his running made in the in the 2024 and the run up to the 2024 reelection or election campaign. And, you know, again, there, there's been, it's not just that relationship. There have been moments on college campuses. You've talked about this, Hugh, when JD Vance has spoken at turning point rallies and there's a real vile, noxious anti-Semitism that comes up with some of the speakers. And I think there's been a widespread concern that JD Vance's pushback has not been. as aggressive as it could be from a leader in the country as the vice president of the United States. Okay, the transcript is there. You can go over and read it at Hugh Hewitt.com, see what his answer is. Let's talk about Abdul El-Sayed. I believe you posted that while they're making nice in public in Michigan, Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed, in fact, those wounds are too deep. I can't imagine an American Jew voting for Abdul El-Sayed. Can you? Look, if you look at the precinct by precinct results in Jewish communities across Michigan, I mean, it looks about 75 to 80% of Jewish voters. We'll probably get a more specific number when we can kind of crunch, do a little more number crunching. But it looks like it's about a four to five to one margin in the most Jewish areas in Detroit and the Oakland County for Stevens over El Sayed in the Democratic primary. So, I mean, look, it's good. There's going to be a big swing. Hugh in the general election, we reported a Jewish insider that there are a lot of very prominent Democratic Jewish leaders that are already either coming out for supporting Mike Rogers, a very mainstream Republican, former congressman, or very close to doing that. So you're going to be seen, I think, a lot of notable names in the Democratic community, in the moderate space among Jewish leaders, and beyond. There's a real alarm about the radicalism that Elsaid brings to the table. Now, look, on the other side, you have Stevens and Gretchen Whitmer, the governor, and a lot of the leaders of the party endorsing El Sajad and getting to get playing team ball. Notably, Hillary Sculton, one of the more moderate Democrats in the delegation, has been very outspoken and has not said she would support El Sayed. But a lot of other Democrats have, and it's going to be a partisan mudfight for a Senate election that could very well decide who has the Senate majority. Has Elissa Slotkin, the other Democratic Senator, Gary Peters is retiring. Elissa Slotkin beat Mike Rogers by a very narrow margin in 2024. Has Elissa Slotkin put her arms around Abdul El-Sayed? She's endorsed. I don't know if she's put her arms around him. I'm not sure if she was at you. There was a unity rally for the party. I'm not sure if she was there. But I do know that she quickly endorsed him after he won the nomination. And I think one thing, if you talk to Haley Stevens supporters, that they were very privately, I've talked to a number of them privately, very upset about is that Elissa Slotkin, even with the governor's endorsement.

of Stevens, Elissa Slotkin stayed on the sidelines. She's a national security Democrat who's thinking maybe of running for president as a moderate, as someone who's going to steer the party in a more moderate direction. And she did not have the gumption to endorse the candidate who much more closely imagined. If you can't endorse against someone who's aligned with Hasan Piker and his anti-American... views and you claim to be a national former CIA agent, a national security leader in the party. And it tells you a lot about where the Democratic Party is right now. And Haley Stevens supporters, like if Elissa Slotkin endorsed, given how close that race was, if Elissa Slotkin had the courage to endorse Stevens, she probably would have won the nomination and prevented a rally. I think you're right. Josh Kroshauer will follow that story very, very closely with you throughout the next three months. Follow Josh on X at Josh Croshauer. Read them at the Jewish Insider. You can subscribe for free for two weeks over at Jewishinsider.com. Thank you, Josh. Stay tuned to America. I'll be right.

Welcome back, America. A few weeks ago, I found a new Israeli podcaster. Ariel Whitman, he actually found me. I enjoyed my time on his podcast, The Western Spirit, so I thought we'd have a home and away discussion. Ariel, welcome to the Hugh Hewitt show. Tell people a little bit about yourself and what you do in Israel. So I'm the op-ed editor at Israel's most read financial newspaper. We're sort of like the Wall Street Journal's sister paper. We actually take stuff from them, so we work together. And I have the podcast, which is my own thing, which we did, which was a lot of fun, by the way. It went on much longer than I thought it was so much fun. Well, thank you for having me. How many times a week do the Western Spirit? And let's tell people how to find the Western Spirit so that they subscribe and like the Western Spirit. I thought it was an excellent conversation. So I try to upload about three episodes a week. And the idea came out. I think I told you about it. I, about five, six years ago, lost almost all my eyesight. And my wife was like, you have to do something for yourself. And I was like, what should I do? I said, I like to talk to people. And it was right before October 7th. I started in Hebrew. And then I did an episode in English just because it was interesting. And suddenly tons of people started watching. So it just... you know, ballooned from there. So that's where, that's how everything happened was just by chance. And so would you locate yourself on the Israeli political spectrum for the listeners who are pretty conversing with it? So I used to work in the Likud in about at this point in 2019 before Corona. There was the three elections. You remember there was like one election and no government was foreign. Then two months later, another one. And so during that time, I worked in the Likud and I've always been. Even before I was working and writing in the newspapers here, I was very right-wing and volunteering, and I organized an entire group of people that became Likud members. Our hope was to try to get more free market-oriented members of Knesset into higher places in the Likud list to the Knesset. In the past three, four years, I've been very disillusioned with Benjamin Netanyahu, probably even longer. But... But more from the fact that I don't think he's being right-wing enough, if that makes any sense. So I would say I'm more on the Israeli right. I also think that now the big discussion of this election will be about the ultra-Orthodox issue today. As we're speaking, Gilad Erdan, which used to be a member of the Likud, announced him and Yuli Edelstein, which is also another member of the Likud, are leaving the Likud and forming a new party. And this party explicitly in their press conference was... the reason why is the liquid is too much in the packet of the ultra-Orthodox with both the conscription stuff and the economic issues. So this is going to be a big thing. There's a bunch of parties in the middle of the political spectrum that are trying to get in.

Because I think they see in the polls about 12 seats equivalent of Israelis who say, we don't care, B, B, B, B, B, we just want the ultra-Orthodox to start paying their fair share, quote-unquote, to borrow the leftist American line. And so that's going to be a very big question. Tanya already is trying to distance himself from the Qaridim, the ultra-Orthodox. He said, this week, he said in a closed meeting that somehow someone released that whoever doesn't go to the army needs to go to jail. This is the exact opposite of the law that he tried to pass three weeks ago, which said that ultra-Orthodox who don't go to the army will not go to jail. Supreme Court put a stop to that. I wonder what your opinion on that is, the Supreme Court, because I know you're more of a lawyer than I am, but he basically said, no, no, no, no, that was a little one-time thing, but... Really, in my next government, whoever doesn't go to the army will go to jail. And so he's already trying to distance himself. So this is, I think, unless the Iran war... restarts with the vigor. And I don't know what's happening with that. President Trump is, I don't really understand what's happening. But if that doesn't happen, then the internal Israeli stuff is what's going to decide the election, which is really weird. And I think we spoke about it when you were on my show that you would think three, four years after October 7th, not even three years, the discussion would be security. But it turns out that all Israelis pretty much don't want a two-state solution. All Israelis pretty much are very right wing also on the settlements issue. Even if they're not ideological like the greater Israel, quote unquote, they don't want the Palestinians to have a state because they saw what happened in Gaza. And they think the settlements are a buffer to that. So pretty much there's no, not a lot of disagreements on the fundamentals of the security situation. So Bennett and Eisenkoet. Because this is a broadcast, not a podcast, I have to do an eight-minute segment. So I want to make sure I have you back again to continue, but I want to make sure my listeners understand. When they go to the Western Spirit, will they hear views from across the Israeli spectrum? Will they hear people left, right, center? Yes, I've had a lot of people. I'm going to do it now about two months of... towards the election. We're going to do a bunch of Israeli stuff just to know, you know, who, what, where, when. I think a lot of Americans don't really understand the ins and outs, and they are interested, especially nowadays. Israel is all the time in the news. So, yeah, we're going to do leftists. We had Simcha Rothman from the judicial reform issue. I had BB's brother on this week. So we're going to have a bunch of people. Maybe BB will come on. We'll see. So op-ed editor of the globes, how many people submit for op-ed? Is that a thriving space in the Israel media? I get about, I would say, on average.

2,000 emails a week submitting. Everyone here has an opinion. They're Jews. So you can imagine they like writing. They like fighting with each other. They read something in the paper that gets them angry. They want to write. It's really, I am so not good at saying no to people. And this has become my life because. You know, most of the time, I'm just sending emails. I'm sorry. You know, we can't accept your thing. And it's like, this is one of the difficult things that I've had to deal with in this job. It's like telling people, no, you're good, but no, we don't have room. It's not you. It's me. It's like what girls used to say to me when I was going out before I remember my wife. So that's basically where we are. You'll be back. I want them to remember the Western Spirit. It's available at Apple and iTunes, is it not? On YouTube, go to YouTube. That's where it's been. On YouTube. Just go to YouTube. The Western Spirit. Ariel Whitman. It's a fabulous, like Amit Segal and Nadaviel and Havid Redig Gore, another voice right out of Israel that will take an American deep into Israeli politics and security policy with nuance and with style. Ariel, thank you for the home and away. Come back again. We'll put you on the regular rotation. I appreciate your time. Life can be messy, but you don't have to figure it out alone. Hey, it's the Lusco. Join pastors and best-selling authors Levi and Jenny Lusco on Hey, it's the Lusco's for honest conversations about faith, marriage, family, grief, ministry, and all the unexpected moments in between. You'll laugh, you'll be encouraged, and you'll be reminded that God is faithful through every season. It will always come back to Jesus in the end. That's right. Tune in to Hey, it's the Lusco's with Levi and Jenny Luscoe. Available. now wherever you get your podcasts.