The Big Weekend Pod

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out of a million five cast. So you figure that out. Haley Stevens is right to be angry about that. He's got a couple of endorsements already. Pete Buttigieg, run down to throw his arms around El Sayed. We've got Kamala Harris, who should know better, but she wants to be president again. She knows that she needs the whack job portion of the party. Andy Beshear, no. Kentucky governor is going to Michigan. But he's not going to appear with Abdul El-Sayed. What's Barack Obama going to do? What's Hillary Clinton going to do? I don't know. Gavin Newsom is reportedly heading to Michigan this weekend to throw his arms around Abdul El-Sayed. I don't think they'll ever get the stink off. I really don't. The guy is a hater. He's just an absolute hater. And Mike Rogers, thank goodness, the Republicans nominated a normie. Mike Rogers, lieutenant in the United States Army. Mike Rogers, seven-turned congressman, 14 years in the United States House of Representatives. He stepped down, I think probably to go into the private sector for a while and make a little bit of money. But he was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, meaning that's a select committee. You don't get on it by... accident. You end up there because you're very well thought of, you're very highly esteemed. Mike Rogers, a very fine candidate, barely lost to Elissa Slotkin in the 2024 election. So he just dusted himself off and said, we'll do it again. And this time he's drawn the best opponent, a radical, a nut. He's an absolute nut. And you look at Francesca Hong, I was on with John Roberts on America's newsroom, excuse me, America reports on Friday and they began by talking about Hong and I said, John, Hong's a joke. She's not going to win in Wisconsin. She hates Thanksgiving. She's cooked up in some academic lab. Just a very weird person. I don't know how she got the nomination. I guess there are enough weird people in Wisconsin. But she'll get blown out by Tom Tiffany. And so Democrats are going to try and talk about that race instead of focusing in on El Cyan and how dangerous he is, how radical he is. Everybody listening, you ought to head over to Rogers for Michigan.com. Rogers for Michigan.com. Give him a campaign contribution no matter where you are. And by the way, you're an American Jew. This guy hates you. He hates you. You should contribute to Mike Rogers' campaign. We ought not to allow burial anti-Semites in the United States Senate. He can win. I mean, he got the nomination, put one over on the people of Michigan. It doesn't mean you have to sit there and take it. You can fight back. You don't have to go along with this crazy lurch left of the Democratic Party. The DSA was the incubator for a lot of the crazy left-wing Democrats out there. Keros in Denver, Chevalier, Valdez, Brad Lander, in New York.

Halmanway in New Jersey, Rob in Philadelphia. They're all anti-Semitic nuts, but they're deep blue congressional districts, and they'll give fits to Hakeem Jeffries or whoever they make the leader of the Democratic Party, but they really don't threaten people. I doubt this guy will return a blue slip for a Jew. I think he will bring the poison of anti-Semitism in the United States Senate. So get out your checkbook. Go to Rogers from Michigan.com. Contribute and volunteer. If you're up there listening to me on Detroit or anywhere in Michigan, Grand Rapids up in the UP, don't lay down for this guy. He's bad news. You know it. I know it. Mike Rogers is good news. Get involved and now enjoy. the rest of today's big weekend pod. Morning glory and evening grades. Welcome to your weekend America. I'm Hugh Hewitt, and I begin it as I usually do with John Ellis. John is the founder and editor-in-chief of news items. Each week, John sends me a bunch of stories that may not have caught many people's attention, but caught his. Before I go to them, John, I want to throw you a bit of a curveball just to set the stage for my future guests. The Abdul El-Sayed Hasan Piker ticket, and that's what I'm calling it. I'm calling it the most radical major party nomination in America since the Civil War. Do you agree with me on that? I'm not sure I agree with you on that. I think it's certainly to the left of what Michigan Democrats are used to. I think he's a surprisingly strong candidate because he's very, very much on message. You know, Medicare for All, keep big money out of politics. you know, throw the bums out. He's very effective repeating that message over and over again. But I think at the end of the day, his real beliefs and his friendship with Mr. Hasan Piker in particular will lead to his defeat. Hasan Piker, a Democratic congressman from New York named Ritchie Torres wrote a letter. a press release about Mr. Hasan Piker, which if people haven't had a chance to read, is a thoroughgoing indictment of Mr. Hasan Piker's beliefs. Well, you've been doing this a long time. So if over the course of the next week, you come up with another major party nominee.

To the left of El Sayyad and his sidekick Hasan Piker, let me know next week. Let's go to your first story. Well, I think, I mean, yeah, I mean, the big story this week was a sort of great leap forward by China in the race for AI supremacy, if you will. And... There's a man named Alan Thompson who was sort of the godfather of measuring AI capability. Everybody, you know, agrees that he's the guy. He puts out a monthly memo, a monthly newsletter called the memo, and he measures all of the capabilities of the various AI models, both Chinese and American. And I had a chance to... podcast with him. I interviewed him for my podcast and I said, where are we? And he said, China's tied and they might even be a little bit ahead. And so I think that is an enormous change from where we were a year ago. The big advantage China has, aside from the ability to develop the models that they're developing, is that they have this huge infrastructure advantage. They have enough power to power all these data centers. That's a real problem here in the U.S. And Elon Musk, among others, has said that China will win the AI race. precisely for that reason, that it has the juice to power the data centers and that our capacity to do that is diminished by, you know, essentially neglect of our grid over decades. So that's a big one. I'm not an expert on this, but if you lose for a while, can you regain the lead in AI? Yeah, I mean, I think that the technology is advancing. It's compounding in this way. It's running so much faster than people realized. There was a famous memo that was put out called AI 2027, and it described how fast AI was developing, and everybody thought, well, that's hysterical. And actually, it turns out that it's developing faster than even they. than they predicted. So, you know, we're going to get to a point where I think it doesn't really matter if so and so is, you know, if China's ahead on this and the U.S. is ahead on that, we will have reached what's known as the singularity. Elon Musk said earlier this year that we'd already reached the singularity. Sam Altman a couple of weeks ago said that we were now living in the singularity. And the singularity for those of your listeners who don't know the expression. essentially is that point when artificial intelligence surpasses all of human intelligence. So two of the leading figures in artificial intelligence, Mr. Elon Musk and Mr. Sam Altman say that we're already there.

There are, you know, a number of concerns about that, obviously. But three that really stick out for me are, one, there's an existential risk that the machines will run amok, essentially, that they'll go rogue. And we've read a lot of stories about that in the last month or so. Second, I just had a... an x-ray. I have a pinch nerve in my neck, and I had an x-ray, and I got the technical report on the x-ray. I put it into Claude, and it came out with a perfect description of the results of the x-ray. That's just one small example of how this technology is going to transform work. And it's going to be disruptive getting from the model that we now have to the model that we're going to need for life with AI and everything. So, John, are you looking forward with this or is it a source of apprehension for you? It's obviously existential risk is a source of apprehension. I think it's going to be very disruptive in the next three, four years. I think it will be the major issue of the 2008 presidential campaign. But I'm very optimistic that if we get through that disruptive period, that AI will be just an enormous benefit to. us, all people. I mean, it'll be a game changer in human history. So I think, you know, let's just get through the transition period. If we do without existential risk rearing its ugly head, then I think we're looking at a very bright future indeed. Will AI help us close the American munitions gap? Because that was one of the stories you sent me. I've read about it. I wasn't sure if I believe the leaks. But your Reuters reporting is that the U.S. Army has used up most of its stockpile of highly accurate long-range missiles, the attackums, and the precision strike missiles. But it did not tell me how long it takes to replace those. It takes a long time. One of the problems with our defense department is that we are, we develop perfect weapons, right? So they're 100% good. And in this case, perfect is the enemy of the good. We need, you know, if we had 80% Thads or if we had 80% Patriots, we would have a lot more of them and we would be less stressed in terms of munitions. There's no question. CSIS, which is, you know.

very well-respected think tank in Washington that does a lot of military analysis. They put together a comprehensive report on the munitions shortfall, and it's entirely persuasive. All right, now let's turn to the blue wave. I do think there's a blue wave in the offing, but I also think the nomination of the DSA congressional candidates, particularly Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, may in fact energize Republicans in a way that they ordinarily wouldn't be in a midterm. Have you calculated that into your assessment of the blue wave? Well, right now, if you believe the data, and I do, Democratic voters are more motivated to vote in this midterm election than Republican voters are. And if that sticks, then the Democrats will do well. If the Republicans are able to make the DSA essentially a major issue, And then I think that can motivate the Republican base, particularly the MAGA base, to get out and vote. And if they get out and vote, then the Democratic gains in the House are probably enough to get, you know, to give them, you know, recapture control of the House, but not by anything like a normal 26-seat swing. And I think it makes it if the MAGA... based votes, then I think the Senate will stay in Republican hands for sure. Now, John Ellis, for the benefit of our audience that may be new, we pick up station every month. You've been doing political analysis for 40 years, and you've seen a lot of races. Do you think, intuitively, Mike Rogers, who's a center-right, normal Republican... Army Lieutenant, FBI Special Agent, 14 years in the House, chair of the Senate of the House Intel Committee. Is he going to beat Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, in your opinion? I would think so. I mean, if you think of the rough math of this is 45% are going to vote blue, you know, regardless. 45% are going to vote red regardless, as this is true in Michigan. The 10%, you know, what are they going to do? Right now, they're financially stressed. That's number one. Number two, they think the system is corrupt. And number three, they want to send a message about how dissatisfied they are with the way things are working. That is El Cid's message. That's his hope for victory. I'm not sure that's going to get him across the line. So if I were betting, I'm going to be Rogers. I am betting Rogers as well. John Ellis, always a pleasure. Subscribe to news items. Be smart. Thank you, America. Thank you, John.

Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt with Eli Lake. He's with the free press. He's the host of the Breaking History podcast. He was on the commentary podcast today. Eli, I just got done talking about what I think now is the most important race in the United States political cycle this fall, which is Mike Rogers, Republican FBI agent, lieutenant in the Army, chairman of the House Intel Committee, against Abdul Amun Abdul El-Sayed and his running mate, Hasan Piker. And I'm very serious about that. I think they're stapled together. I think they are a dangerous pairing. I think it injects deep hatred of Israel and Jews into our American political stream. And I think everyone who cares about the country should contribute to Mike Rogers. What say you? I generally agree, but I also think we've crossed a ribicon already because Saeed won a squeaker. And not only did the leadership of the Democratic Party and pretty much everywhere with the exception of this very brave Republican, Democratic Congresswoman from Michigan, say they are going to endorse him. But they didn't extract anything out of Saeed for the endorsement. They didn't get, he has not given that speech that Obama had to give about Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who I would say that Said and Wright are part of a tradition of the anti-American left. And so if Saeed wants to pivot to the middle and maybe reintroduce himself to the voters of Michigan, they're not asking him to. distance or renounce himself from Hasan Piker. And that, to me, it's a very ominous sign that one of the two major American parties is kind of now at the most charitable thing you can say is that part of their coalition is the anti-American left, and that's very bad. Well, let's talk about Hasan Piker for a second. Abdul El-Sayed put him on like a body suit, like a Spider-Man suit on Peter Parker. I don't think he can take him off. And in fact, I've been seeing on my online today a dozen different... Hasan Piker clips where he just is vulgar, obscene, anti-Semitic, anti-black. Now I'm beginning to see El Ceyed clips where he does things like denounce Mackinac Island, which is like an Ohioan denouncing the horseshoe in Columbus. Obviously, there's a lot to dig up here that Haley Stevens didn't. Well, did Haley Stevens got all this money from people who didn't want Said to win the nomination?

She didn't really go hard after him. I mean, I think only to the very end, the last few days that she mentioned Hasan Piker as a problem and saying that Jews were uncomfortable, we have Dana Nessel is the Attorney General for the state of Michigan. She won't go to the party's convention this year because she doesn't feel safe. I mean, listen, that's terrible. And it's because, and it's not like, this is Dana Nessel, by the way, is not, you know, a center-right Democrat or somebody. She is on board. She herself was a lesbian. She ended up dropping the charges against the University of Michigan, people that were then charged by the Justice Department. But it's, you know, there is something going on there. And this is a very ominous sign in that respect. So the idea that you're going to see. Everybody, I mean, we talked about it on commentary, but I don't understand. What does Chuck Schumer have to lose? I don't think he's going to win majority leader or minority leader, you know, after the midterms. Why not go out and say, you know, I believed in, you know, the U.S. is a relationship for my entire political career, and I cannot get behind this guy, and, you know, I hear my problems with him. I think that would have been a better move. That's a sad ending to a long and colorful career for Chuck Schumer. Yep. Disicated, supporter of Israel. He won't be welcome in the Jewish state by many people, if any. But I was interested in your conversation with John. I take your side on this, and I'd tell John if he was here. If you're going to attack, and I'm going to attack Abdul El-Sayed for saying, hurt people, hurt people, I am going to preface it by saying he condemned the attack by an Islamist on a Jewish synagogue and... school, and Abdul El-Sayed condemned the attack, but he said, hurt people, hurt people. In other words, he attempted to deflect from the attack, but I think it's important to put the first part in, or you'll open yourself up to being discredited on the second part. So I took your position on that, but if I were APEC, I would get a lot harsher right away. The guy is an anti-Semite Islamist adjacent nut. And I do not believe we should let Hasan Piker leave stage left now. I think I'd keep them on the stage. What do you think? Well. First of all, do we even know that Hasan Piker, I mean, his job is to be shocking. He is the modern, he's the 21st century equivalent of a shock jock like a Howard Stern. Correct. That's what his job is. So his job is to get attention. So he's not going to stop talking and being controversial. And unless Said says something makes a kind of Reverend Jeremiahite speech that Obama had to do in 2008, he's going to be wrapped around his neck either way. So.

Saeed is either going to have to, I mean, he can keep saying what he's saying, which is Hasan Piker's an influencer, I'm out trying to earn votes. Maybe that'll work. I don't, but I don't think it does, it gets us anywhere. You know, do you believe, as Hasan Piker has said, that Mao Ceyer is one of the great leaders of the 20th century? That's a terrible thing to say, if you know anything about history. You know anything about who Maltzai Tong is. And what one senator can do in the United States Senate to wreck it, to put holds on nominations, to be on hearing, they can't really contain Abdul El-Sayed if he gets into the Senate. I think Michiganders, I was just in Michigan, as in Detroit this weekend. I make fun of them during Ohio State Michigan Week, but they're normies. They're not really right. It's not New York City. It's not California. Well, yes, except here's what I worry about. And I trust John Ellis. I was watching the end of that, and he thinks that Rogers is going to win. It'll be close. Here's what I worry about. Trump's approval ratings are not in a good place right now. And if they keep sinking and the price of gasoline keeps going up, I think it's going to be very difficult because I think that that... Said will run and saying, hey, you know, Mike Rogers is Trump's guy. And if Trump is not popular in Michigan, and that's going to be a tough sell, especially since one of the things that he's doing off the bat right now, Hugh, is he's making a plea to Democrats in his state saying, come with me if Said does not represent your values. So I just think it's going to be hard. And I worry about it. I'm not making predictions, but I'm just thinking it's going to be a very, very close race. It shouldn't be, but it is. Last question. Trump has got two years left. This is a six-year Senate seat. I think that's a very compelling argument to people. You might hate Trump. You might be mad about the Iran war, although he could turn that around. But it is a six-year Senate seat. He's there for a long time if you elect this radical. What do you think? Yeah. And also, well, yes, and also you're teaching the radicals inside the party that are trying to take it over from the Democratic Socialists of America that this kind of politics, which I think nearly half of the Democrats in this, you know, voted against in the primary, is. you can win with in Michigan. That itself is a really bad thing, is that we have to teach the party a lesson that this is too far. But I think you're right. The six years is another very good argument there. I'll be talking with Charles C.W. Cook about Buckley driving out the cooks in the 50s. I think Democrats. Although Kamala Harris endorsed him today. I'm waiting to see what Rahm Emanuel says about Abdul El-Sayed. We've got 20 seconds. Do you think he'll endorse him, Eli? I hope not. I was shocked to see how many Democrats just lined up this week after he wins a very narrow election. You know, I think that that was a huge error on their part because, you know, it's like you feed the crocodile in the hopes of that you'll eat you last. Well, you're on the bank. He's hungry. He's very hungry. Eli Lake, thank you. Follow him on, exit Eli Lake. Read him at the free press.

She's a joke, and she's a diversion. Hong is going to lose. She's going to win the nomination, and she's going to lose badly in November to Congressman Tiffany. And I think most Democrats realize that, so she's the expendable extra on the Star Trek episode, who never makes it back to the show. She's out. They're focusing on Abdul El-Sayed, and I think this is really far more important than Hong. The Abdul El-Sayed rate, he's running basically on a ticket with Hasan Piker. Abdul El-Sayed is the most radical major party nominee for the United States Senate since the Civil War. He is so out there, anti-Semitic, anti-Black, anti-free enterprise, anti-everything. He has been incubated by Hasan Piker. He's actually the child candidate of Hasan Piker. And what Democrats are doing, I'm surprised Kamala Harris endorsed him. Because if you watch all day long on the posts on X, all of a sudden the floodgates are open on El Sayed. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt at Charles C.W. Cook is the senior writer at National Review. Charles, that was me earlier today. I'm with John Roberts. Dismissing Hong is a joke and lasering in on Abdul El-Sayed, who's anything but a joke to me. A, your assessment of my assessment, and B, your assessment of Abdul El-Sayed. Well, I hope you're right about Hong. I have a bunch of friends in Wisconsin. In fact, Wisconsin is and always has been quite overrepresented relative to its size at National Review. So I've for a long time had friends from Wisconsin who share your view that she will lose. I hope that's the case. He I worry more about purely because of the national environment. I think he's running. against a difficult candidate to run against in this circumstance. Mike Rogers, who is a generic Republican in many ways, who came very close to winning in 2024, as incidentally did, is it John James in 2020? So Michigan has been close recently, but if the national environment is bad and Republican enthusiasm is down, then who knows? Your friend in mind, Matt Cottenetti, wrote a piece for National Review in January of 2025, honoring the late William F. Buckley, who, when asked upon his retirement in 1990 by the Washington Post, what his greatest accomplishment was, it was, he said, quote, the absolute exclusion of anything anti-Semitic or cookie from the conservative movement. I see the Democrats now facing the same challenge. Will anyone rise to me in it the way Buckley did on the right? Well, we're not seeing them do it, are we? I don't want to be facetious or partisan, and I hope that the answer is yes, but I don't see any tendency in that direction. And I think especially at the moment, they're so angry. with Trump and with their loss in 2024. And they're aware those who might be inclined to do something about it that if they make a move, they will be removed from the party. And that's another reason, Hugh, why, I think Eli Lake said this earlier, why it's so important that Abdul El-Sayed loses.

Because although I would like to see Republicans do well, if Republicans, for example, lost Senate seats in North Carolina and Alaska, the takeaway would be that moderate candidates do better, and that DSA types and anti-Semites ought to be shunned. But if Abdul El-Sayed wins, and if, goodness me, if Francesca Hong wins as well, then I think you're going to see a terrible combination of energy that is built up in the party in opposition to Trump. and the conviction that the way that you win, even in a more moderate swingish state such as Michigan, is to nominate these people. And then the likelihood of there being an attempt to stage a party-wide sister-soldier moment is going to be even more remote. Okay, so when we come back from break, I'm going to talk to you about the Iran impact on this election. But running up to that, Do you think that perhaps the red way that didn't materialize in 2022 is the same sort of non-event that will occur in 2026? In other words, all politics is national and the tribes are set. Not a lot of people migrating between tribes. Yeah, I mean, the one thing about 2022 that I found the most interesting and the most frustrating was that if you looked at the polling, In almost all of the states in which there was a competitive Senate race, voters said that they wanted a Republican senator. They just didn't want the one that Republicans offered them. And sometimes the gap was five or six points. You had 55% or so saying, yeah, I wanted to vote for a Republican. But then the election turned out 5149. That was because Republicans chose bad candidates. So the Democrats might shoot themselves in the foot this time. But yeah, it could be. It could be. I'll be right back with Charles C.W. Cook to talk about Iran after the break. Don't go anywhere, America, because I don't know what's going on there. And I hope Charles does. Stay tuned.

Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt with Senior Writer of National Review. Charles C.W. Cook. Charles, I was during the break going over to the Wall Street Journal, and I scrolled down from top to bottom on their landing page. There are 22 headlines of stories or editorials. Not one has the word Iran in it. To what do you attribute that or what conclusions do you draw from that? Well, I draw a couple. The first one is that no one, and I would include the president in this, seems to know what's going on. It's not as if every day the... President or the Defense Secretary or the Secretary of State comes out to the podium and delivers a masterclass that keeps us all apprised of the situation. That's in keeping with the opacity of this from the start. The second thing is that although there have been consequences of this war, it's not something that outside of gas prices and maybe at the margins a little more inflation, most people are feeling. every day. This is in no way to underplay the deaths of those servicemen who have given their lives in the conflict, but we're not, as we were in Iraq or on a much greater scale with Vietnam or the Second World War, waking up every day to newspaper reports of tens or hundreds of people. being killed. And the stock market is up, the sun's out, and I think the combination of a lack of communication from the White House and a confusion as to what's going on, and a general feeling that things are normal is probably kept it off the newspapers. Do you think it is a false seduction to the White House and the President to believe that no news is good news? Because I think if they want to rally, the country to their standard in November, they have to win this in a way that makes not necessarily capitulation, but is obvious to us that we've won it. Well, I agree with that, but as you know, I think that we're in a stalemate. And I think that the stalemate is the product of America having overwhelming strength but being unwilling to use it because of the costs that that would involve. And the president being torn on what to do. He can't get out. He can't just leave with his tail between his legs. but equally a push, which we could do, we have the strength and the talent, is going to be politically unpopular. And I'm alarmed by this because I think we're stuck right in the middle.

Well, if he were to announce, there are three ways to go, major combat operations, withdrawal, and then we have a blockade and we are not going to lift it until an inspection regime is allowed into wherever they had nukes and to pickax mountain, and that blockade will kill you dead over three months. And you're not going to shoot anyone or we're going to hammer you. That would be an articulation of a position that I think. could garner significant support. But there's been no articulation of any position, Charles. No, and this has been my critique from the start. I'm not on... The paper opposed to our doing something about Iran. There's been a thorn in our side for years, and it's putting it mildly. But it's been a strange moment, Hugh, because at one level, they started off saying everything. There were five reasons we were going in. And now they don't seem to have articulated a rationale for our being there at all. And if newspaper reports are to be believed, which they're not always, the president has started asking people if they have any ideas, which isn't a problem in general if you know what your strategy is. If you understand what you're trying to achieve, there's nothing wrong with asking people how best to achieve it. But I think Trump seems to be asking what to do. So if he can't work that out, he's certainly not going to try and win over the public. Well, what I think he wants to do is to make sure that they can never have a nuclear weapon. And that entails... I think he's done 90% of that, and he might be right about Pickax Mountain. I don't know. I just read what the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy says, and they're worried about it. But I do think it would be useful to come up to the edge again and say, either you let us inspect or we pound the IRGC facilities. We don't want to hurt civilians to the extent possible, and we keep that blockade. People forget the blockade. The blockade is going to kill him, Charles. Do you believe that the way I believe it? They need money. Yeah, although, you know, there's an irony here, isn't there, in that one of the biggest obstacles that President Trump faces, and this is incidentally why it's so silly to describe him as a dictator as some on the left do, is that public opinion... is not sold on this war and is angry with its consequences. Trump knows that, and that's one of the reasons that I think he's been a little bit reluctant to go all the way. The Iranians don't have that problem. Now, you can't push a people indefinitely, or they will eventually stage a revolution, and it will eventually work. But the Iranians are not under the same pressure as President Trump is because they don't live in a democracy and a republic. So, yeah.

But I think that the timescales here probably aren't in the president's favor. I do think the Iranians could hold out for quite a while, even if things became dire internally as a result of a blockade. If he hammers them, and I mean the B-52s, the B-2s, the B-1s, the B-1s. whatever attack comes we have left, and we allow our allies to absorb the damage. Do you think public opinion rallies to him if he hammers them? Because the one thing Americans hate, it's stalemate. I actually don't. I'm not saying he shouldn't do it, but I don't. I think that the way public opinion turns around on this is that there is some sort of victory that doesn't look like a... withdrawal that then allows gas prices to go down and a plausible case that the action was worth it combined with an improvement in the economy. I think if you can get all of those things, then it looks like a success. I'm not sure people would respond purely to another salvo on the grounds that it was the success. No. Charles C.W. Cook, always good to check in with you. Listen to him on the editors, the podcast from National View. Read his work in National Review. Come right back to the UDU.S. Show. I don't think there is, Stuart. This is the key. Ron Johnson is correct to be alarmed. It's a five-alarm fire. But I think most people go through this summer. They don't pay attention to deep blue congressional districts that, you know, let a crazy in here and there. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, not very smart, sort of ignorant on major issues. She showed that when she went to the Munich conference. But now they've let a half dozen in it once. And it's really Michigan that is the flare in the sky. Abdul El-Sayed is a radical. I can't emphasize this enough. I think there are Democrats going to Rogers from Michigan to his website and donating because they realize their party cannot be held captive to Saeed and Hasan Piker. So that's the real five alarm. Socialism will not work. Americans are free market people. We want to start businesses. We want to succeed. Ron Johnson's a very successful businessman. People watching your show believe in free markets and in entrepreneurship and capitalism. But the Democrats have the problem. They've got the malignancy. They've got to cut it out. So Ron John is actually worried about what I'm worried about. We need a functioning Democratic Party. We've got to have two major parties that are center left for the Democrat, center right for the Republican, and let them argue about marginal tax rates, but not about the fundamental values of America and the West. That shouldn't be up for grabs, but it is in Michigan. Welcome back, America, morning, glory, and evening, Grace. I was with Stu Barney this morning. The day before Ben Dominic was on with Stu Barney. I think Stu likes to get a little politics mixed in with the markets. Ben Dominic joins me now, opinion editor for the Daily Wire. Fox News contributor, host of the Big Ben podcast. Ben, how important is the Michigan Senate race where Abdul El-Sayed is running with his ticket mate, Hasan Piker, whether it's official or not?

I think it's enormously important, Hugh, and I think that I heard your hit, but you rocked at that. So I apologize if you hear a little bit of disturbance in the background because we're headed to vacation, and that means that my six-month-old is waking up. The situation that I see in Michigan is... One that really is a test for the Democratic Party. Are they going to accept this? Is this going to be the kind of thing that they just sort of say, we're going to listen to the youngs despite all the different things that they are saying that are at odds with not just, you know, the historic American experience, but frankly the historic democratic experience. I mean, you know, within our lifetimes, we have had Democrats who were profound defenders of free markets. and free trade and of, you know, an anti-communist approach to the world, is that just all gone now? Is that just something that we're going to forget? Because it sure seems like all of this is something that's in the past. Well, the Hasan Piker angle interests me, Ben. He put him on like a spidey suit for the primary. Abdul El-Sayed did. Can he take him off now and do enough Americans know who he is? Because for whatever it is, Twitch does not really cross the radar of people who are over 40. Does it matter that Hasan Piker is a bigot, a racist, and anti-Semite, and a radical? I'm not sure that it does. Unfortunately, I think that we're going to have to deal with a situation where the vast majority of Americans do not know who this person is or why they should be opposed to what he believes. And unfortunately, that means that you're talking or explaining and you're educating, and that means that you're losing. From my perspective, the problem with the Republicans face right now is that they do not understand. how extreme these people truly are. They have, you know, used all of these different radical elected candidates as, you know, a joke, as something that's sort of a side, a sideline, something that we can, you know, talk about as being, you know, a court gesture or something like that, as opposed to what they really are, which is a threat to our existence and our way of life. And that's something that I think is unfortunately going to be something that Republican candidates across the country are going to have to find a way to deal with. And I don't know that they have the language for it. You, I really don't. I think that they have unfortunately. They have undervalued the degree to which the left has completely absorbed and accepted these arguments from the young people in America in a way that is perverting them toward an anti-capitalist, anti-American perspective. And I don't think that we have necessarily the vocabulary to battle it.

Now, Ben, you've picked up the utility of interviewing people at length. Do you think Hasan Piker could survive an interview? I mean, a serious interview. Have you asked him to come on your show? No, I've got an FCC to worry about. I mean, really, I can't have him on the radio. But no, no, of course I don't. I mean, I think that it's very clear that he wouldn't. And I think that, you know, whenever he goes on these rants that he does, you know, on Twitch streams and like, it shows that he has just not prepared for that kind of conversation. But at the same time. you know what can you do you can spout all these different bullet points that speak to the priorities of young americans in ways that, you know, make it seem like he is offering them an answer. That answer is not real. It's a lie. It's, you know, divorced from the actual way that American politics and that markets work. But he is able to sell it to them, and he's going to continue to sell it to them until we have someone who is willing to stand up and actually take him on at his face. And, you know, I don't know that that's the kind of thing that's going to happen. I think that what we're going to live with here for the next couple of months going into this midterm election is a bunch of people who have lied to these youngsters about this is why the economy is not working for you. This is why, you know, you can blame the capitalists, the billionaires, the Jews, you know, have your pick. That's the thing that I think they're going to continue to do. Okay, you've got 10 minutes to advise Mike Rogers on how to run his campaign. What's your advice? Look, I think that he can absolutely win this race, but I don't think that it's actually as close as people seem to think. I think that he needs to make the case to all of these people. And I've heard him make the case on housing, for instance. I asked him about this on Fox when I had the opportunity to interview him. He needs to make the case that he is going to be a better representative for people who actually have serious concerns about affordability and the like. And he needs to do it right away. This cannot be an election that's about foreign policy. That's the election that's about affordability, about inflation, and about the kitchen table issues that matter the most to the people of Michigan. Does he talk about what Abdul El-Sayed represents in terms of Israel, in terms of rejecting the Jewish Americans who have actually made up a large part of the Michigan electorate for a long time? So have Arab Americans, but I don't think Arab Americans want to be painted as radical either.

No, I don't think they do, and I think that he does need to talk about that, but I just think that the priority for him has to be rebutting El-Fad on the basic things that he's bringing in front of people, which is to say, this is a radical who's trying to sell you on a bill of goods, and the way to battle against him is to be, is to rebut him on the points that he's trying to sell to the American middle class. That's going to be, I think, the real test going forward. for a lot of these different DSA candidates across the country. So Mike Rogers obviously had an APO firm that was better than Haley Stevens because they docked a little bit of tape today on Abdul El-Sayed arriving at Mackinac Island for their annual summer policy fest, cut number nine. Please watch your stuff. So much. It's funny because, like, if we win, this is going to be the, like, summer home. I just feel like every time I've ever come here, I've hated it. Why am I here? I hate this so much. I feel like if I have to come here every summer, I'll hate it. What do you think, Ben? Well, I've been there, and I think it's wonderful. Yeah. I don't know what he's talking about. I mean, it's just such a random thing to eight. Exactly. But it is, I think, a testament to how much he's at odds with the experience of, you know, a traditional voter within Michigan. And that's something that I think needs to be played up. Look, you know how dangerous it is. If you have an actual senator who is able to have the access that the senator has to do the things that the senator can do, who has the kind of warped anti-American beliefs that Abdul El-Sayed represents, it's going to be a problem. In fact, during the break, I'm talking with Ben about what one senator can do because one senator can gum up the Senate badly. And so don't go anywhere. When he comes back, Ben's weekly music test is also in front of him. And I know he's in fear of it because last week he swung and missed. He did the old. Oh, I know that. I know that. I know that. And he shuffled, but he wasn't right. But we'll try when we come back to see if Ben can get one for two going into week three. Don't go anywhere, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. It's the Hugh Hewitt Show. Stay tuned. So I'm back with Ben Dobinich. Ben, let's talk about what one senator can do. They can put a hold on every nominee. I doubt he would put a hold on every Jew who is nominated for something. But I wouldn't be surprised if he put a hold on a lot of them. Yeah, I think, I mean, that's obviously the kind of thing that he could do. But I also think that, you know, one of the things that we have to understand about this is he is in a position right now that is a real test case for the future of the Democratic Party. If they want to have a party that is going to be, you know, completely beholden to these young socialist...

anti-Israel figures, then they will accept it. And here's the thing. I think it's very sad, but the truth is that they are going to accept it. You know, you already see the endorsements rolling in, not just from Haley Stevens, of course, but from Mark Kelly. I think you're going to see the kind of so-called moderates within the Democratic Party completely, you know, come up without any kind of of courage when it comes to his participation in their coalition and they're going to completely accept it as being something that is just this is the future we have to go along with it unfortunately you know that's something that i think is an admission on the part of democrats of their unwillingness to battle against any of this kind of anti-semitism within their coalition but it's also an admission that this really is something that is truly representative of their young people. Will Rahm Emanuel endorse him? Probably. I mean, isn't that kind of the, I mean, you know, I assume you've seen the footage from that Twitch influencer. pool party that he had right before the end of his campaign where he was just talking about the fact that like he's the future and that uh and that you know james carville and other people like that just go ahead and leave you know and i think that's true i think this the democratic party is not willing to deal with the actual animosity and evil within their midst and that includes by the way David Axelrod, you know, someone who I, you know, I have, in the past, you know, I've gone, I've been part of his Chicago, you know, experience, everything like that. You know, I can't believe that this is something that he wants within his party, but apparently he does. And it takes people like Van Jay Jones to call him out, you know, in a way that I think is confrontational, but needs to be done to say, no, we are not going to allow this kind of evil. Can you imagine making Hasan Piker? a kingmaker in your party? That's insane. Hugh, I mean, it's absolutely insane. It's utter, I mean, the absolute horrible nature of it is something that I think people don't fully understand because they maybe haven't paid attention to him as much as you and I have because we're a little too online. But the truth is that he is. He's absolutely abhorrent, and the idea that you would allow someone like that to have any kind of dictate over the direction of your party is absolutely evil. And he will have it. We're coming right back with Ben's music test. Don't go anywhere, America.

Welcome back, Ben. Do you know who this is, Ben Dominic? Oh, man, this is Leanne Rhymes adjacent. I don't know what this is. Ah, it's something called. I had to correct you, though, because I got it right the other day. The country singer that you had the other day I had. Oh, I guess you did. So now you're, now you're one. It's a Tedeschi trucker. I'm one in one. And I told, I told Dwayne it wasn't fair because it was one of Dwayne fetish bands. And I don't think it's really legit and mainstream. He went to Red Rock to hear them, and he compared him to the immortal Bonnie Rae. Oh, this is completely unfair. That's fair. Yeah. I'm sorry. Next week we'll give you the Beatles or something. All right, two more subject. No, no, I just want to say I'm incredibly jealous of Dwayne. He had a phenomenal experience. Uh, you know, and by the way, you know, I, I, anyway, Red Rocks is a, is a destination for me. I've never been there. I would love to go there and, uh, and goodos to him for. He's been bragging about it all week. Now, have you been following burrito gate? Not only have I been following it, I have published an article by Chef Andrew Gruhl at the Daily Wire about why you should make your burritos at home. I am totally engaged with it. In fact, I even, I don't normally order burritos, but I ordered a burrito this week from one of my favorite restaurants. It was $16, by the way. Okay. I bring it up because yesterday I had the vice president on. And at the end, I pointed out he's now the number one elected Catholic in America. And I thought he hit below the burrito belt with Mark Tyson. What'd you think? I was on with Mark that evening on Larry Cudlow, and I said that I thought it was very restrained from him to not make a burrito reference. I think that I think that was below the belt, but I also think that's an indictment of the vice president. I think the vice president needs to be less online than he is. And that is something that I think has been a repeated problem for him in this vice presidency. As much as I respect the fact that he's an extremely intelligent and accomplished individual, like, why are you doing something like that? Try to win over the people who disagree with you. Don't just, like, say, oh, you're fat. Well, his response was that Mark had been harsh on him, and I thought, well, so's Ben Dominic. So's a bunch of people been harsh on you. I'm trying to protect him from the Tucker Carlson smear that he's Tucker Carlson because he had... a couple of drinks with him once. But it's a, I just wish you was on. No, no, no. You bring up a very valid point, which is to say, are you going to be one of these podcast pros, or are you going to be, you know, the next potential president of the United States? These are the two paths for you, dude. And I think that that's something that is significant. And, you know, I hope you listen to you.

All right, now I want to finish with Iran. I just went over the Wall Street Journal landing page, 22 stories that are either news stories or essay headlines. Not once does the word Iran appear. I find that troubling. In fact, I find it amazing. How do you react to that? I think that's a real problem. I mean, I think that we need to be talking about this more directly because I actually think it's the most important and significant political story of this cycle. Of course it is. We talked about before, you know, this is the test by which Republicans will be judged in November. And I think that it's, you know, heinous that we have had a conversation that has shifted, unfortunately, away from determining what we ought to be doing there. You know, look. whatever you think about the situation whatever you think about the decision the president made uh... there needs to be a resolution here and that resolution needs to be victory So I think there are three paths. One, hit them hard and ongoing until they capitulate. Two, make a public announcement that we're not going to bomb, but we are going to blockade until they capitulate. Or three, declare victory and go home. Which do you think he should do? Which do you think he will do? We're not doing any of them right now. I think that one should be what he ought to do. I think two is going to likely be what he does do. I don't think that he's not due free. That would be just. so uncharacteristic um but it's possible i mean there are people who are lobbying for that within his coalition within uh the white house i think uh and that's a real problem and look you know the The truth is once you go in for something like this, you have to meet the determination that the outcome and what you understand as being the goal needs to be reached no matter what. Like if you don't reach that goal, then you have failed. And that's something that I think the president, unfortunately, you know, maybe he was given bad advice. Maybe there were people around him who said it would be easier. You know, we can, you know, do the diagnosis on that. you know, potentially after all of this. But it is not a situation that I think he anticipated. I thought that he, I think that he thought it would be easier than it has turned out to be. But what Admiral Montgomery has told me is whatever is our deficiency in defensive munitions, we got more than enough J-Dams, and we can. The best defense is a good offense. We can be flying 500 missions a night with the Israelis and our Gulf allies, hitting everything that moves with a J-DAM precision munition and make them – I really believe we can do that if we're willing to do it. Do you? I think so, but I think that willingness is really the question here. You know, there has been so much uncertainty about the way that this administration has approached this whole process.

I'm really concerned going forward about what it's going to lead to in terms of the next couple of years of this administration. I mean, this has been a phenomenal administration when it comes to foreign policy from my perspective. But, you know, is this going to be something that makes him temper things off? Maybe not, you know, have the kind of foreign policy going forward that we would like to see in terms of, you know, not just, you know, the Middle East, but, of course, you know, our own home and the Western Hemisphere. Ben Dominich, always good to talk to you. Follow him on exit, Be Dominic, listen to Big Ben Pod, read the Daily Wire, and have a great vacation, Ben, especially since you got a baby that sometimes is not really possible, but do your best. Thank you, Ben. Thank you. Come right back, America. Mike Collins at Georgia, our next senator from Georgia is next on the Hugh Hewitt Show. 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 your 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 you 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 $35 a month. Remember, their numbers, 800411-44, 800-411-44-8-4-1-44. Consumer cellular ranks number one for network coverage and for customer satisfaction according to ACSI. And when you switch, you'll talk to an actual human being based right here in the United States. No long-term contracts, no hidden fees. You can keep your phone or choose a new one. Get an additional $50 off when you switch today using promo code Hugh 50. And do not forget, if you are over 50, you get a single line, unlimited, talk, text, and data for $35 a month. Visit consumercellular.com slash hue and use promo code Hugh 50. Or call 1-800-41144 and use promo code Hugh 50. Half a century later, Watergate still shapes how Americans view power, scandal, and trust. This weekend, the America 250 film series presents Watergate's secrets and betrayals. Revisit the investigation through archival footage, interviews, and new arguments about what happened. Watch Saturday and Sunday at 7 p.m. Eastern on Salem News Channel.

Welcome back, America, as promised, the first appearance of Georgia Congressman Mike Collins, who will be the next senator from the state of Georgia. Congressman, welcome. We've got six minutes, so I want to jam a lot of information in this. You've got a big uphill race against Jon Ossoff, a lefties, lefty. What's your website? Where can people go or listening in Atlanta or making to help you out? No, and I appreciate that because I'm going to tell you some. This thing is turning into be such a much bigger and important race the minute and minute this thing goes on. But you can find us at Mike CollinsGA.com. Please go there, help us out. Make sure that we can get rid of this DSA guy that we've got in the U.S. Senate right now. Mike Collins, GA.com. Now, Congressman, tell people a little bit about yourself, your businessman. I think you've started and sold three businesses. You've been in Congress for a long time. You're mainstream. You're the perfect guy to take on the radical Jon Ossoff. How's it going? Yeah, you know, as a matter of fact, I've only been in Congress for one full term. So this is my second term that I will complete in the House before moving over in the Senate. Y'all, I've been in the trucking business all my life. 30 plus years, my wife and I started with one truck and built it up and now the next generation is running that thing. And honestly, it's that just being in that tough business environment that's allowed me to be so successful in just the short time I've been in Congress. But having said that. This race right here, number one race in the country to flip, Jon Ossoff is beatable. We have been right on his hills in the polling since we've been in this thing. But I'll tell you, as of Tuesday night, when he got behind that Abdul El-Sayed, the DSA candidate out of Michigan that won the Democrat primary out there, I think that tells all of America exactly where Jon Ossoff stands. Not only have they been saying they're grooming him to be the next president, to run for president. Jon Ossoff is the same guy, y'all, that voted 92% of the time with Bernie Sanders. He is the poster child for this Democrat Socialist of America movement, and you don't have to take my word for it. All you've got to do is go and look at his voting record. And in this race, you won't. Sir. I just am amazed he endorsed. Hasan Piker look alike, El-Sayed. Those two guys are the most radical guy. I thought Asaf might want to give him a little bit of distance, but he put his arm around them because that really is off the American political chart. Well, it is, and you think Hasan Piker is friends with Jon Ossoff. Jon Ossoff wouldn't have pulled his support for Graham Platner if Graham Platner up there in Maine wasn't losing and was going to lose, and he saw that. So John Isop has been right there in the thick of this the whole time. The thing is, he's like a Trojan horse. He has gone around Georgia talking about how moderate he is, but nobody's put a glove on him. Nobody has said, hey.

Don't just take his word for who he is, and don't take my word for who he is. Go look at his voting record. His voting record should speak volumes as to how this guy does not represent Georgia, does not represent the people or our values. Anybody in this state will tell you they don't want men in girls' sports. Jon Ossoff not only voted once for it, he voted three times for it. And that's just one out of a multitude of different votes this guy has taken because he is so far over there on that left wing. And one of the main reasons is that's who's funding his race. I mean, when you're talking about Jon Ossoff, he only gets 18% of his money from the state of Georgia and from people in this state, the rest of us coming from all these other states, like California and New York. Mike Collins, he is an invisible senator until now. He's the accidental senator because of the circumstances of six years ago. He's an invisible senator since then. He's a leftist. Your mainstream is your money coming in to take him on because he is going to raise a bundle. And that is a great question. Yes, sir. Our money is coming in. We're seeing good fundraising dollars. Had a great fundraising event just a week ago today, as a matter of fact, here in Atlanta. National money is coming in. It is already here. We're also got a $60 million that will be coming in in September to support this campaign and to continue to make sure that we get that message out. We've still got to raise hard dollars up. I mean, that's just as important as anything. And so it's important for people. People go look at our website. Check me out at Mike CollinsGA.com. You can learn exactly who I am. You can look at my voting record. You can see that I have pushed just good. solid legislation, two pieces of legislation being signed in law in just two years by two different presidents. And, you know, oh, by the way, Hugh, they, they, they were bipartisan pieces of legislation. Lake and Riley Act. Lake and Riley Act is a matter. So, again, it's got over 20,000 illegal criminals off our streets in just one year. So it's a very successful. It's a great campaign. Get yourself a cut. Prepare to move in here. We'll get you on once a week between now and November. Mike Collins, Georgia, Mike Collins, GA.com, Mike Collins, GA.com. Get involved. It's a winnable race. We can toss Assoff out. He put his arms around Abdul El-Sayed. That tells you all you need to know. He and Hasan Piker and Jon Ossoff. All birds of a feather. And, boy, they need to leave those feathers out of the Senate. Mike, good to meet you online. I'll talk to you soon. Mike Collins, GA.com. Stay tuned to America.

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