Primary Day in 6 States

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. Or just Google, Apple, iTunes, and Hillsdale. Morning, Gloria, and even Grace, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt on this August 11, 2026. I understand down the line in Dallas, we may have some problems, technical problems with our radio broadcast, but welcome to the Salem News Channel, which I hope you turn to every day anyway, and to all of our affiliates across the United States. I especially want to say hello to our listeners in O'Clair, Wisconsin, on WOGO, 680, I believe that is, and to our, they've got a repeater on 103.1 as well, FM. Get out and vote. We cover a lot of Wisconsin out of Chicago, W-I-N-D-560 and W-I-N-D-560, and we pick up Western Wisconsin from A-M-Tolv8 to the Patriot. So get out there and vote. It's an open primary. Republicans can vote in the Democratic primary if they want. It's a carnival of craziness over there. So I want to start with Francesca Hong, who is the state senator, allegedly leading by double digits, but that's what they said about El Cyan in Michigan. The polls were all broken there. So I'm not, you know, if you are. in favor of Mr. Barnes, get out there and vote for Mr. Barnes. If you're in favor of Mr. Crowley, get out there and vote for Mr. Crowley, it's not over until it's over. Francesca Hong, though, is doing the best that she can to put a bullet in her own campaign. Cut number eight, Francesca Hong earlier today. I learned then you have some hot takes, sometimes bad takes on Twitter, and I let my feelings out into the world. And right now, as governor, what I'm most serious about are the issues that voters are telling me they want solutions for, for permanent affordability, to tax the ultra-rich, to make sure we're getting corruption like he is out of politics, to make sure that we're fully funding public schools and that we're fighting for universal child care and raising wages. Anybody want to guess how many billionaires we have in the United States? I actually went to chat GPT to look up these numbers. Okay, ultra-rich. That means billionaires, right? And so how many of them have we got? We have a grand total of 989 billionaires.

They're worth $8 trillion. I don't think a lot of them live in Wisconsin. Some of them do, but you're not going to raise a lot of money taxing billionaires. And we have about 10,000 centipillionaires. People are worth $100 million or more. And we've got about 12,000 Americans with $10 million or more in their retirement accounts. Plus, we've got lots of Americans who are multimillionaires because they own a house in the right part of the country, and they've owned the house for 30 years. So when you hear Democrats about talking about taxing the rich, it's either not going to be efficacious. It's not going to work, right? It won't raise the revenue that they think it's going to raise. Moreover, they're really talking about you if you own a house. That's what they're talking. They're talking about you, if you own a house. She also went on to elaborate on her philosophy today. Cut number nine, Francesca Hong, again, outside a polling place. Feeling strong. I'm feeling good. Election day is always an exciting day. Have you spoken to Evers? I've not spoken to the governor yet. It's quite early. I want to let him have his coffee first. Are you concerned, though? It's been a tough primary. Do you need a united party in November? Can you get everybody back on the same team? We need a united party. We are ready to unite not just the party, but working class people all across the state to defeat Tom Tiffany in November. Do you feel like your policies are the future of the Democratic Party? I think our policies are ones that are the solutions to deliver for working class people, permanent affordability, so we don't come back to moments like these. I think the Democratic Party, we are a big tent party. There's always room for better policies and always room for more people. Do you think you were prepared for this intense pushback that you've received, especially from Republicans framing you as far too extreme for Wisconsin? What's extreme is Congressman Tiffany? A longtime D.C. congressman has voted against the interests of Wisconsinites over and over again. What's extreme is that he's an election deny. What's extreme is he continues to protect Epstein and pedophiles. What's extreme is that he has voted to help raise gas prices and make life harder for Wisconsinites. I think what people of our state are ready for, the good people of Wisconsin, are ready for a government that actually puts them first, not Trump. Do you really think the people of Wisconsin are turned on by the Epstein talking point? It's just kind of a giveaway that you've got nothing to say if you're talking about Epstein. Meanwhile, Tony Evers, who's the incumbent Democratic governor of Wisconsin, is begging Democrats not to vote for her because she's a nut. And he was out at a polling place himself, cut number 10. He has spent with her entire campaign dealing with, not with the issues, but what's on the Twitter. And I just find that that's not a good way to beat Tom Tiffany. A good way to win anything is to be online too much, and that's what Francesca Hong is, but it's not over.

You can vote till 8 o'clock in Wisconsin. Let's go check in on Peggy Flanagan, who is running for Senate in Minnesota. She was on that reliable place for left-wing lunatics. MS now with Ali Belchie, cut number 13. In a July 27th debate, she said Republicans are going to have a field day with this with you, and it's my responsibility to warn Democratic primary voters that Republicans are dying to run against you because they believe you have a unique vulnerability on fraud. Your response. I mean, my response to that is that Republicans are running against every Democrat in this race, you know, on that issue. Not much of a response, but quite a look. If you're not watching on Salem News Channel, she got the big, big, big, big, big black glasses now. I've got nothing against black glasses. I've won them my whole life. I started wearing them when my late father-in-law, Wilbur Helmer, said that's what the Marine Corps issued to him when he joined the Marine Corps in 1939 or 1940, and he'd have worn him ever since. And I thought, you know what? If you stick with black glasses the same size, it's kind of easy to go into the optometrist in order. I don't know if that's a fashion statement or not. Can we roll that again in case? I just want to try and get a measurement on it. Let's play cut number 13. In a July 27th debate, she said Republicans are going to have a field day with this with you, and it's my responsibility to warn Democratic primary voters that Republicans are dying to run against you because they believe you have a unique vulnerability on fraud. Your response? I mean, by response to that is that... Well, we lost it. Were they too big to fit in the frame? Oh, well, they were big. They were big. Let's go down now, since we're playing, it's the greatest hits of weird Democrats opening. James Talarico, they think he's going to win in Texas. Cut number 11 from his stump speech. It is time. It is time to repeal the big, ugly bills tax cuts for the wealthy and give that $1,000 to the middle class. Okay, that would mean a tax hike on every Texan because the one big, beautiful bill, took away not only taxes on Social Security, taxes on tax, taxes on overtime. It kept in place the Trump tax cuts from 2017, which cut taxes for every American in every bracket. So what Mr. James Talarico wants to do is raise taxes on every American. Way to go for Texas. He continued. Cut number 12. Trickle-down economics is not a theory. It is theft. They have been stealing from all of us who have been doing the actual work in this economy. And for five decades, Republicans and too many Democrats have sold the false gospel of trickle-down economics. The idea that the best way to grow the economy is to let the rich get richer and forget about the rest of us. That would be a lie. And by the way, trickle-down economics is not gospel. It's the talking point adjective given to supply-side economics, which boomed the country during the Reagan years and boom the country in Trump one and beginning to boom the country again in Trump, too, because it works when you let people keep their own hard-earned money and spend it in the way that they want. Welcome back, America, and Hugh, it's been too long since I've talked with Ben and Ben Talibu. He is the senior research fellow.

at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and the Director of their Iran program. Benham, welcome back. It's been too long. I want to give you the floor for your assessment of where we stand in the battle with Iran as of today, August 11th. Great to be with you, Hugh. It's always a pleasure. Listen, I'll keep it short. The president is picking up on a strategy that was actually successful in term one, but he's adding to it something, and that's the blockade. So it seems like what is being popularly reported. that after the 13 days of strikes, that after the attempt to open up the Strait of Hormuz, the president is going to be relying on two pillars, particularly before the midterms. The first is maximum pressure sanctions to put the economic squeeze on the Islamic Republic and to keep it there and escalate it over time and to make sure that the regime doesn't have the cash on hand to, for lack of a better world, build back better. And on the second, it's the blockade. It's to find a way to kind of physically constrain the regime to make sure that they can't export their most important source of revenue, which is energy from the Persian Gulf. And to be able together, on the finance side and the commodity sky, to squeeze in this regime, to make them have more of a budgetary crisis and to force them into a position of either surrender, submission, or making mistakes. The only challenge here is that Trump administration should not prepare for failure. they should prepare for success. Because this will squeeze the regime, the regime is likely going to respond. Unless we forget, despite the capability and capacity, the Trump administration has taken away in the multiple cycles of violence against the regime this year, this regime feels more confident because it survived. So even though they have less... to actually punch back with, they are more eager to punch back in earlier in the conflict. So as they feel the squeeze, you know, Washington better have a strategy for a way to deal with that squeeze, even though it is popular being called the low-key way to deal with this regime before the midterms. So, Ben, I'm a lot of questions follow from that. The first one is during Blockade, part one, that ended with the MOU that then failed. During that, we heard a lot about the storage capacity of the Iranian regime. I've heard nothing about that in Blockade 2. Do they have the same infrastructure problem, the same problem with shutting down wells and not being able to restart them that we heard about during Blockade 1? In my view, yes, but in Blockade 1, something that is technically true or physically true may not be politically true for this regime, which is, yes, you can have a storage crisis. Yes, you can have an energy crisis. And yes, you can even have a budgetary crisis from the infrastructural crisis that follows. But because this is an Islamist, hominist, authoritarian regime that is playing to the edge that believes the stakes are borderline, if not directly existential, the things that might normally constrain.

and restrain the foreign policy behavior of a normal state are not yet at all in play here. I mean, this regime understands that so long as President Trump is in office, any kind of real, you know, meeting the administration more than halfway could come with a political cost and a security cost. And that's why they're inclined to double down and triple down. in the short term, you know, trying to see where the infrastructure will force the regime to surrender is a necessary but not sufficient way to understand what the metrics are that will compel the regime to be boxed in. So I'm glad folks are not over-focusing. on the shortcomings and the challenges in Iranian infrastructure, and instead what they need to focus on is the big picture, the macroeconomics, the fact that the regime is going to be bleeding and bleeding and bleeding, and how the regime tries to triage the bleeding there, that's when the opportunities arise for Uncle Sam. It's not just going to be based, in my view, on the infrastructure alone. Now, Benham, it's my belief that a regime like this will loot its own people, provided that they can feed the quarter million IRGC and however many people are in the besiege, that they don't really care about the suffering of their own people. So the inflation can be 88% overall, 120% over a year, over a year in food, and they won't blink. Is that true that they'll basically go to the mattresses and loot their own people's wealth just to stay in power? Well, unfortunately, it's been true for the past four decades, depending on particularly in what time you're looking at it. It's precisely why, you know, the protesters really since 2009 have targeted the regime's foreign insecurity policy because the things the regime prioritizes are the antithesis of the things the nation. the street, the people prioritize. It's why there is such a sharp chasm between a state and society in that country. It's perhaps one of the greatest chasms that we see in the Middle East, which is not demographic, it's ideological, is that you have an Islamist, anti-American, anti-Israeli governments and a nationalist, secular, pro-American, pro-Israeli society. And these two things are like oil and water. So the regime is only too happy to try to find a way to transfer the cost. But it's kind of already been doing that already. So the challenge for the regime in the short to medium term is how does it manage the budgetary crisis? How does it manage, for example, the subsidy crisis? And how does it not actually lead to a situation where it finds itself under foreign pressure and domestic pressure at the exact same time? And if you pay attention closely, it's why there was musical chairs just a few days ago in Tehran. They're putting in a new leadership for the besiege. They're trying to show strength militarily. They're trying to have a greater, you can even imagine it, ideological. to the world and to the Iranian people to say, basically, we're not going to cave and that we can afford to be in the red. That's precisely the message that the new men at the helm are designed to send.

So, Benham, I did note the musical chairs, and Vahidi gets a new job, and XYZ gets another job. They didn't mention anything about the Arteche. You're the senior director. Is there a possible division between the Artech and the RGTC, the Artech being the regular military? Is that something we might see and be exploitable in the near term? You know, it's something that should be cultivated, particularly because the Arteche is a force that has been really squandered, given the inheritance of the Islamic Republic from the pro-American Reza Pahlavi dynasty prior to 1979. But institutionally, the Arteche has been weakened and then co-opted, such that the Arteche was even launching some drone attacks on neighboring Kuwait. during the early period of the fighting after the 40-day war and after the MOU collapse, for example. So we shouldn't put all our eggs in the Artej basket. But something America, and in particular the intelligence community, really needs to unleash here, is the capability to get creative against the Islamic Republic to play to the selfishness and the opportunism and the desire for self-preservation that exists across armed forces across many different authoritarian regimes. And to be able to turn on or ignite a different front based on real sentiment. to real shortcomings, like the fact that the Artish had been so squandered and deprioritized compared to the revolutionary successor organization, the IRGC. Is there, and we got a minute to the break, any indication coming out through opposition media of cracks in the regime, Benham? You know, this is actually where I disagree with the conventional wisdom. Just because there is a loud debate in Iran does not necessarily mean that that is the signal. In fact, in my view, that is the noise. My fear is, in the short to medium term, what we see from regime elites is actually more cohesion than fracture. It's literally just like something that is calcifying. This system does not bend. It will break, though. And we are watching the calcification of a generation of hardline national security elites that aren't from one faction or another faction, but are all from within one larger hardline factions. So the intra-factional disputes, the intra-IRGC disputes, the intra-IRAQ disputes, the intra-Iran-Iraq War veterans, debates among friends and like-minded people are much more important than the debates among the other factions. I will be right back with Ben and Ben Taliblu from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. We'll talk about Pickax Mountain next. Stay tuned, America.

Welcome back, America. Ben and Ben Talibu is the senior director, senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy. He's also runs the Iran program there. Benham, a month ago, I talked to President Trump on this program about Pickax Mountain, said it was time to put a missile in the front door that didn't happen. How much are you worried about that? Because the president didn't seem to be overly concerned. The president is right to have a measure of confidence, given the fact that the fissile material, meaning the uranium that has to be further enriched, to actually get a bomb, is believed to be under Esfahan and under Natanz. I know this is a regime that is still in power. It's not a race to a bomb. It's a slow, steady quest for a bomb. And pickax mountain is worrisome for me and a lot of other Iran washers and a lot of other arms controllers and a lot of other nonproliferation experts because it could be a future enrichment site. And the regime has already said that this could, this is going to be at the very least a centrifuge manufacturing site. And given A, that we lost continuity of knowledge. and the additional protocol of the IAEA during the Biden administration as early as February 2021. And B, in terms of in declared enrichment uranium sites that the president has struck, since the 12-day war, we haven't had the IEA go into those sites. Pickax Mountain, which is at least two to three times deeper than Fordo and was not struck by the U.S. or Israelis in either of the two military operations, the fact that that could be used to squirrel away uranium or the fact that that could be used as part of some larger breakout effort. is very worrisome. And particularly if you zoom out and you look at the trend line of how America and the West's adversaries have been increasingly using subterranean facilities and tunneling to preserve some of their core capabilities, this regime, nuclear and missile, Hamas, certainly its arsenal, the cartels on the southern border, their weapons and also their drugs, and certainly the North Koreans, their military industrial complex, we're going to have to find a way to either build a bigger bomb or neutralize this facility. Okay, last question. Magazine depth is talked about as a constraint on the America warfighting ability because we lack interceptors. You did the original research paper on magazine depth for the Iranian missile program. How do you assess the Iranian missile magazine depth now after six months of on and off war? Well, we have to be incredibly humble when it comes to whatever the base number or the baseline is from which we draw assessments about magazine depth. But what we saw during the 12-day war, what we saw during the 40-day war, what we saw with the intermittent skirmishes against the Arab world and critical infrastructure and U.S. bases following that and following the MOU.

tells me one big, bright thing that the Islamic Republic is just as concerned, if not more concerned, with magazine depth than the U.S. is with T-Lams and interceptors and everything else. And the reason is Iran's defense industrial base and ballistic missile production infrastructure is largely above ground. And the U.S. largely did real and meaningful damage, setting back that production capability. several years. Now, that doesn't mean they won't be able to regroup and rebuild, particularly if we have sanctions and the blockade and are willing to do interdictions and interceptions, particularly if it comes from states like Russia, China, and North Korea, for example, but ultimately. Iran knows that as much as of its arsenal it's been able to excavate and dig out from bases that were struck, the ability to backfill, that which it fires or that which it uses to threaten, is significantly limited. And that's why during both wars, you saw the regime engage in large attacks early on and then have that volume essentially trickle down telling you that they're worried about magazine depth. And the way they've made up for it is to go get better intelligence, particularly we believe from the Russians. the Chinese potentially get some better tech, making these systems more precise, and fire them at more concentrated areas rather than diffuse wider population centers. And this has made their less in terms of quantity systems still more qualitatively lethal and dangerous, as we saw with the strikes against Moffax-Saltek Air Base in Jim Jordan. And thank you for your time, Benham. Last question. We've got about a minute to go. I have a column in the examiner tomorrow proposing that a October surprise by President Trump, meaning return to full-scale combat, might actually do a lot of damage to Iran and a lot of political good to the Republican Party. What do you think the impact of an October surprise major return to combat would be in October? I certainly think, well, I look forward to reading the article, but I got to tell you, I certainly think it can have a positive impact if it leads to something. You know, it's clear the president is willing to do anything and try anything so long as he can get a real success, real victory here. So if the president wants that, and indeed he's looking to kind of architect an October surprise, the planning needs to begin now about how do you unite all the different tactics that the president has had. and make them part of a larger strategy. We have to know what that is. Is that a deal? Is that regime collapse? Is that containment 2.0? What is that ultimate thing, that big picture thing that the president wants? And then it's about aligning the ways means it ends from now until October to put us in the winning position in the Islamic Republic at every juncture in the losing position. Always good to talk to you, Benham. Thank you so much. Again, follow a foundation for defense of democracies at FDD. Follow Benham at Ben Taliblu on X and follow everything he says and writes wherever it appears. Thank you, Benham. I'll be right back, America. Stay tuned to the Hugh Hewitt show. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Pleased to welcome back, Matt Contenetti. Matt is Director of Domestic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, as you can see from his background. Still not lit up yet.

I want that diner look, Matt. He's also the Wall Street Journal, Free Expressions Columnist. He's also the author of the book, The Right, and I'm going to start with that book, because it was the 100-year history of the American conservative movement. And, Matt, I haven't mean to ask you about this for a lot of time, but we always get sucked into headlines, and I will in a moment. But where is that battle for the right today? Do you have to write an appendice to that book and re-publish it as a paperback? Well, I'm pleased to say, Hugh, that the book is out in paperback and it's still in print, so our audience can check it out there. The book goes through in its paperback edition, the 2022 election. So there's a lot has happened since. And I do need to update it to account for everything up to 2026, including Trump's miraculous comeback politically. in the 2024 election. Where does the battle stand now? You know, I think it's along the lines that it's been waged for many, many years. There's a group on the right that stands for a fusion of traditional values and... free economic competition, free markets. And then there's another group that says, you know, free enterprise, free markets, those are less important. What really matters are social cohesion, traditional values, sense that America needs to stand apart from the world. And those two camps have been going at it for some time. What's interesting about Donald Trump is that he, in fact, in a way, merges the two camps. And he, because he's common sense, not conservative, as he often puts it, he can go back and forth, toggle between them. And so that's kept this war basically kind of in a ceasefire on the right throughout the Trump era. But the Trump era is entering its final years. So I expect the war to resume shortly. Let me get your take on Burrito Gate. That was a weird little battle between traditional conservatives and nat cons. Vice President JD Vance was my guest last week. I asked him from his position of being the most prominent Catholic in the United States, whether it's appropriate to take shots at Mark Tiesin over burrito consumption. And he laughed it off saying, you know, he's taking shots at me. Where's the vice president in this spectrum? Because I really don't think I have him pegged anywhere yet. Well, you know, Vice President JD Vance has been at several points on the spectrum over the course of his career. First, as a businessman and public intellectual, he was very critical of Donald Trump and the populism that Donald Trump represents, MAGA populism. But then as he... moved closer to running for elected office in kind of the Biden years. JD Vance really adopted this more populist, more traditionalist, less interested in American engagement in the world, the use of American military power in the world, that side of the right. You could call it Nat Khan if you want. You could call it a traditional conservative perspective.

if you'd like. But that's kind of where he's situated himself. However, since becoming the vice president, of course, since joining the ticket with President Trump in 2024, he is the president's man. He is, he is joined at the hip to Donald Trump and Donald Trump's policies and legacies. And so. He has basically been, I think, a good soldier for President Trump through the first 18 or so months of this second term, while also I think sometimes signaling that he still does have his own views on foreign policy questions, maybe even on some economic questions that are less mainstream conservative, we might say. Is he, in your opinion, too online, not enough online, or just the right amount? Well, he's a little bit of both. I think that he's be the first to tell you that he scaled back his online. presence beginning sometime, I think, earlier this year. He's kind of reemerged. He throws sharp elbows when he's online. That was definitely something that he began doing in that evolution toward adopting Maga populism and then adopting also this more national conservative perspective. I think it helps him when he's less online. I think it helps everyone. when we're less online. Because I think the social media presents what my friend and colleague John Podhoritz calls the Plato's Cave illusion, that you begin to take social media for reality when it is anything but reality. And I think the best measure of reality is not social media, but it's what the elected Republicans in Congress are doing and saying. They, of course, have to answer to the people, the House every two years, the Senate every six years. So they're probably the sure sign of what actual Republican voters want their representatives to say and do. So we're 84 days away from the midterms. Whatever their result, the presidential campaign in 28 begins the week thereafter. That's when Donald Trump announced his campaign in 2022. I expect Vice President JD Vance to run, though that's not a given. He's got four small kids. I don't know if anyone wants to do that with four small kids. Who else do you think is more likely than not to join in that race? Sure. Well, I do expect Vice President JD Vance to run, though, as you say, there's always a caveat with his family. I do expect Senator Ted Cruz of Texas to run.

I wouldn't be surprised if Florida Governor Ron DeSantis runs. And I wouldn't be surprised if Missouri Senator Josh Hawley runs. I think there would be some others in the mix, of course. But those would be the three players that I pay most attention to right now in addition to who I consider the frontrunner, and that is Vice President JD Vance. So you didn't mention as we speak, they're voting in Wisconsin. Open primary. I'm on in Wisconsin. If you're a Republican, you want to go make mischief, go vote for Francesca Hong. But in Wisconsin yesterday, Glenn Youngkin was campaigning a side of Tom Tiffany. That's not usually something former governor does unless they still have a hand in the game. What do you think about Governor Glenn Youngkin? I hadn't seen that, Hugh. I thank you for illuminating me as you do every week. I think that's a very revealing. stop by former governor Glenn Youngkin. I think that that is a sign that maybe he is contemplating a race. Now, he said that he wouldn't go into the race if JD Vance is running. Maybe that will change. Of course, this is the period when a lot of candidates change their minds about whether they're going to run for president or not. I think Glenn Youngkin would have an interesting part to play in any debate because he does. He represents a swing state conservatism. He won in a blue state, Virginia. He did it by championing parents. He governed Virginia very well. Popular governor in a Republican governor in a blue state. But I think that he would emphasize that more traditional American conservatism, a fusion of social conservatism and economic freedom that we've come to understand in alignment with the Republican Party. So all of these different candidates would come at the race and the job in a different way. Ted Cruz, of course, is being very articulate about how what the dangers he sees to the country in conservatism, really focusing on anti-Semitism, talking, of course, about the tariffs being critical of the Trump tariffs. Ron DeSantis can say that he's the most successful governor in the country by far. And you can look at how Florida... You know, it seems immune to kind of the blue tide in the country right now. And Holly, of course, is a dynamic speaker and someone who's also aligned with the NACCONs. It should be a good race. I'll be right back with MacConnet. I've got another question on politics before we turn to policy. Don't go anywhere, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt.

Welcome back. Matt Contenetti is still with me from the Wall Street Journal. Follow him on Exot Continenti, American Enterprise Institute as well. Matt, the Axelrod theory after a two-term president is that you look for the different personality, not policy so much. It's give me a different personality so that George W. Bush, Texan, was succeeded by Barack Obama, quote, cerebral, unquote, followed by Donald Trump, New York developer, followed by... Joe Biden, completely opposite of really no personality. Trump is back. On the Republican side, whose personality is in greatest distinct contract to Donald Trump's, of the people you mentioned? Yeah, of the candidates we've been talking about, Hugh, I'd say probably Glenn Youngkin has the personality that is less like President Trump's. You know, it's interesting. The Axelrod theory applies to both parties. It's about, you know, who the country selects as their next president. In primaries, it may break down a little bit. I think Republican voters... Like Donald Trump's personality, one thing you always hear is that he's a fighter. We've been hearing that for 10 years. He doesn't let any slight go unanswered. Sometimes that can distract from his overall message, but it's the quality that I think Republicans have appreciated about him. I also think Republicans have always appreciated Donald Trump's sense of humor. It's a sarcastic sense of humor at times. Sometimes it even goes into kind of dark humor, black humor, you know. But people... like the fact that he can make them laugh. And then the other thing about Donald Trump, which is really kind of unreplicable, if you will, He is a billionaire who has his most devoted support among working class people, people who go put on a uniform. They work on their feet all day. They don't use a laptop at work very often. And they love Donald Trump. And so those are the three aspects of his personality that I actually think a successful candidate would want to replicate, even though Axelrod's ideas that America tends to go for people who are the... opposite of the incumbent in a general one name you didn't mention and i'll bring it up since it's a short segment i would bet mike pompeil runs again the former secretary of state former cia director former kansas congressman if there's a field of at least two i think there's going to be three and mike pompeil will get in how do you think he fares because he is the traditional reagan strength uh peace through strength conservative Yeah, Pompeo is a very interesting candidate. A lot of people wanted him to run in 24, and he did not.

You know, he's someone who does draw from, has a social conservative or religious conservative background. He, of course, national security talks who are an important part of this party. I think we see that playing out in debates today. They would support him for sure. And again, on the economic policy questions, I don't think he'd be very far from Donald Trump's synthesis of the more economic freedom conservatives along with the more kind of industrial policy tariff conservatives in MAGA. So I think with... Pompeo, my only concern is, Hugh, is I'm wondering where his base of support would be because it's been a while since he's been an elected office. And he's not gone back to Kansas for any other offices there. But I would definitely watch him closely. So, Matt, I've been in the debate business for two cycles. I don't expect to be in the debate business this cycle. I expect you to be in the debate business this cycle. And so my question, do you think they'll start early and be often, or do you think they will be few and far between, if any, at all? Well, I can tell you on the Democratic side, I bet you they're going to start very early, and there will be a lot of them. On the Republican side, I can't give you an answer because the most important person in the 28 election is Donald Trump. And on the Republican primary, everything will depend on what President Trump wants. He said just the other week, you recall that it's too early to talk about 2028. And the question is going to be when will President Trump say it's time to talk about 2028? And so I actually think that the debates may start a little bit later than we're accustomed to on the Republican side this cycle, simply because Donald Trump is right where he wants to be and that's center stage. And he's not going to leave stage. easily. So, Matt, I put the idea in front of him about moderating the debates. And he immediately went to the general election, and that's not going to happen, the Democrat. But he could, if he wanted to put on a show that would get 25 million people to watch it, his moderating the debate. We had a minute. What do you think of that? Donald Trump moderated debates. Oh, it's an excellent idea. I think the Republican candidates would like it. I think he would enjoy it for sure. And that's a way to get him involved in this process of choosing his successor. So I'm all for it when you told him about it. I thought it was a fantastic idea, Hugh. Though, of course, he wants the biggest ratings possible, and that's why he immediately said, oh, sure, I'll do it for the general election, you know, even though even President Trump admitted that the Democrats probably wouldn't say yes to it. No, but I think he, you know, we did 22, $24 million in 2016 cycle. If President Trump was the moderator, they'd blow that. They wouldn't get the Super Bowl numbers, but they'd be close. Now we're going to get serious. We're going to talk about the war right after the break with Matt Continent. You don't go anywhere in America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Watch the Hugh. Hugh here, back with Matt Contonetti from the American Enterprise Institute, the Wall Street Journal, Vertical. He'll be in the paper again on Friday. And, of course, he is the author of The Right, and you can follow him on Exotcontinent.

Matt, I've got a piece in the examiner tomorrow. There are three kinds of wars that Americans have fought since World War II. Those that were stalemates or losses, and that includes Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Gulf II. Those that were wins, Granada, Panama, Gulf One, and Venezuela, and those like Libya and the Balkans, about which we were not really focused, and I'm not sure if you call them a winner or a loss. Where does Iran fit in this category? Well, Hugh, I think it's too early to say, mainly because the war has settled into this kind of pattern of, you know, ongoing negotiations until we don't have negotiations, no kinetic action until the Iranians begin firing randomly and we respond. But also with the resumption of maximum economic pressure against the Iranian regime and the blockade of Iranian ports. by the U.S. Navy. I think at the end of the day, it's those two factors that will be most important here. And it's a matter of time before the economic pain imposed on Iran creates conflicts and distortions within the Iranian regime that could ultimately provide. resolution to this conflict. So I guess I hate to disappoint, but I would say right now the Iran war is just the jury is still out. Would you expect an October surprise from President Trump, meaning maximum combat in the weeks leading up to the vote? I would not. I think everything that President Trump is saying right now is that he wants to go back to his, you know, his cruising speed, which is economic pressure. You know, Trump, in terms of Connecticut action, has always preferred the dramatic raid, the dramatic punitive strike, midnight hammer, absolute resolve, the strike on Qasem Soleimani back in the first term. An ongoing campaign, I think, has always made him uncomfortable. And that is basically what Iran has forced us into. And also Trump has decided he wants to have this kind of ongoing low-intensity conflict in preference to a larger campaign. If anything, I would worry about the Iranians. having an October surprise for President Trump, resuming violence, resuming strikes on our bases in the Middle East or on our Gulf allies in order to prod Trump into a major escalation before the election. It's the Iranians who are, I think, feeling that they're in the driver's seat because right now they don't care about their people. All they care is about is power. and we still haven't reached the point in the blockade as successful as it's been to where the regime itself is feeling internal tension, internal conflict, beginning to actually dissolve. That will come, I think, but it's just going to take time. All they need to do is pay themselves and the besiege and they'll be fine. I want to close with Hasan Piker, because you're a Hasan Piker expert, obviously. I think El-Saiyad put.

Hasan Piker on like a Spider-Man suit for the primary. I don't think he can get them off now, do you? Oh, no. I mean, all the clips of Abdul El-Sayed and Hasan Piker together, all of the Hasan Piker clips talking about El Sayed, much less all the disgusting Hasan Piker clips talking about America, talking about Israel, talking about anybody he doesn't like. All of that is going to be part of Mike Rogers' campaign in the coming months. And I think it's going to be a big problem. for El-Sayed, who is, you could even see prior to the primary, he was trying to run away from the label socialist, even though the socialists support him and he has socialist policies, and now is trying to kind of downplay his relationship with Hasan Piker, who was clearly his most important surrogate during the primary campaign. It's going to be hard for him to run away from Hasan Piker. And you know what? He shouldn't be able to. He shouldn't, and Mike Rogers is not going to let him. If we assume that Hasan Piker costs Abdul El-Sayed the election, and I can't imagine, Michigan's a normal place. I went to law school in Michigan. I hate their football team, but it's a nice normal place. Can you imagine them electing a radical like Abdul El-Sayed backed by an Islamist like Hasan Piker? It just doesn't add up to me. Does it add to you? Well, I can't imagine a lot of things in this world, Hugh, and yet sometimes the world finds a way to surprise me. The issue here is democratic partisanship. And you kind of see it even in James Carville's comments after the primary. But first he was saying there's no way I'd be in the same parties, these guys. Now he's saying, well, I'll take the Democrat over the Republican any day of the week. And so what worries me about this election in general is that Democrats are far more enthused about voting than Republicans are. And if you have a large enough Democratic base that it's going to the polls and Republicans just aren't very excited, then you could see someone like Abdul El-Sayed. actually elected to the United States Senate. However, I do think that this particular candidate, because of his radicalism, because of his associations, does face a lot of headwinds. And I think now it's up to Mike Rogers to really define El-Sayed in the minds of Michiganers so that they know that this is not a man who deserves to be elected to the United States Senate to represent Michigan. You know, one senator can really scrub the Senate. Last question, Matt. He polled, Elsaid did very poorly in black precincts. That's because I think Hasan Piker has said so many racist things, just outwardly racist things. Do you think black voters, even in traditionally democratic black voters, forget that when it comes time to the general?

No, I don't think they forget that. I also think it's something that we've seen in a lot of races, Hugh, which is that socialism does not appeal to black voters. They did not support Bernie Sanders in great numbers. They did not support Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary for the mayor of New York. And here we saw black voters very reluctant to embrace El-Sayed. This is another opportunity for Rogers to expand his coalition. by incorporating independence and disaffected Democrats. And he started doing it last week, and I think that was encouraging. He needs to do more of it. Because the only group that socialism appeals to are highly educated, affluent liberal voters. That's socialism, and that is not what the old Democratic Party wants to see in office. It only appeals to them when they don't have to pay the tab. Matt Contenetti, always good talking to you from the AEI bunker. I do like that flashing light, though, Matt. We're getting the lights, Hugh. The lights will be on Friday. Okay. Thank you, Matt Contonetti. If you listen to this program for any length of time, you know I appreciate companies that deliver real value without unnecessary gimmicks. That's why I'm pleased to recommend consumer cellular. They offer reliable nationwide coverage, outstanding customer service, and plans that simply makes sense. Right now, you get a brand new 5G phone and an unlimited everything rate plan for $59 a month or even less. That's right. Your low monthly price includes your new device and an unlimited talk text and data plan with 36-month easy pay financing. Choose the 5G phone that's right for you. And when those 36 months are up, you own the phone, the company has unknown you. Here's an exclusive bonus for my listeners. For a limited time, use the promo code, Hugh 50, and you'll receive an additional $50 off your service. Visit consumer sailor.com slash hue today to find the right phone. Enjoy affordable wireless with an unlimited plan for $59 a month or less. That's consumer cellular.com slash hue, and remember to use the promo code, Hugh 50, to save an additional $50. Half a century later, Watergate still shapes how Americans view power, scandal, and trust. This weekend, the America 250 film series presents Watergate 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. I'm Hugh Hewitt. That music means Lylix is in the house, as in James Lylix.com, or jameslylilix.substack.com. And it's Election Day in Minnesota. James, I don't see I voted sticker on your white t-shirt. What's up? I never have one of those things. That just seems very proud, prideful, and my Lutheran heritage goes against it. I let it be known that I did what I did. I needn't broadcast it to the world. Also, I haven't voted yet. But, yes, it is indeed election day. And I have no doubt as to how it's going to go. Well, a little bit of doubt, I guess, somehow, somewhat. Amy Klobuchar is going to be the next governor of the state of Minnesota. Well, the next, the next goober. Look, she could spontaneously combust. Many things could happen. She could be carried off by pterodactyls, but I don't think it's going to happen because she's generally liked and she's not seen as being part of the squad woke madness. She's seen as sensible enough for all the sensibilities of the fine Minnesotans. So I think she's going to win and anybody going up against her. Good luck. You've got a very normal couple of candidates on the Republican side running for Senate. Michelle Tofoya, Tom Weiler, there might even be more. No matter who wins that, they're probably going to be running against your wonderful lieutenant governor, Peggy Flanagan, who looks, Francesca Hong in the eye and says, hold my beer. What do you think about that rate? Well, yeah. Now, it's fun because, you know, everyone, the progressives are hammering Angie Craig because she's insufficiently progressive. She's not like Flanagan. Flanagan is just out there. And Andy, but Craig puts out ads at saying she stood up to Trump. I voted to impeach him twice, and that's not enough. The idea that people would hand power back to somebody who was in the office during all of the massive fraud is extraordinary. You ought to be slinking off somewhere to the point of Minnesota where there's hardly any Minnesota left and just be quiet. But no, somebody who was practically the poster gal for the billions of dollars that we shoveled to fraudsters is probably going to win the primary. That says a lot about Minneapolis politics, because Minneapolis politics, as you might well imagine, are. far more progressive than the rest of the state. But yeah, so that's that's going to be a fun one. Every now and then, Minnesota will blurt out a Republican. You know, Rudy Bosch with, they're, they know, Tim Pawlenty, Norm Coleman. No, could that happen this year against Peggy Flanagan? No, I don't believe it will. I don't believe so. I think the metro will carry it and the outstate will just sort of slump to the polls and split it amongst these people and that people, and it's a good, strong consensus candidate won't emerge. This isn't the year for it. You would think that it would. Given the mismanagement of the state that's gone under the Waltz Flanagan administration, you would think that it would be a layup for a Republican, but that's just simply not the case in the state anymore.

Okay, talk to me a little bit about your friends next door in Wisconsin and Francesca Hong, who doesn't like Thanksgiving. What do you think about that? Right. Well, she's exactly what the party is going to be turning up again and again and again. She ticks all of the right boxes. She doesn't like Thanksgiving or Valentine's Day or Halloween or any of these other manifestations of Western cultural superiority. She's bipolar, which gives her an advantage because now if you have some sort of... problem like that you're seen as much more empathetic to people uh out there with their own difficulties she's uh she's the you know ds a ds a adjacent she's going to be what the party gives again and again and again because there's no mood for moderation there's just simply no no spirit for it so the idea that a sensible cheese eating state like wisconsin which does you know have a football team that you know can do okay from time to time uh would elect her is again You wonder what's happening to the sensibilities of the Midwest. And the answer is, is that the old sensibilities have been leached away by inertia, by inattention, by just letting these people take over and gram a strange, crazy, woke agenda. The odd thing of it is, is that people will vote for somebody who's radical, more radical than they are, because it makes them feel good about themselves. Look, I'm out there on the bleeding edge with politics. And then the people who get in by the narrowest of margins will assume that they have a broad mandate now to completely... rewrite everything. Not both sides can be guilty of that, but the DSA in particular is just salivating with the opportunity to finally remake America as Barack Obama once. So my favorite candidate of the week is El Sajet, who won in Michigan. He put on Hasan Piker like a spidey suit. Do you think he can win in Michigan? And what does that mean if he does? Well, he can, absolutely can, if you have enough people who agree with everything you say, and you have enough people who believe that somehow it would be wrong to vote against him because that would empower the people who have the wrong ideas. There are guys who hate him, but for the wrong reasons. It's like, well, is it the anti-Americanism? Is it the being standing next to Hasan Piker, who's a Maoist who wants the streets to run blood with a... blood of landlord is is is that a right reason to oppose it no no the only reason you would oppose him was because of his ethnicity or his religion uh so there'll be a lot of people who do that out of guilt and then you know we'll see elsewhere in the state but again i'm not surprised if every single radical candidate that gets up there uh is is is not swept to power but allowed to saunter and gavotte towards it and that's sort of inability to keep the crazies out is what's uh well Well, let me play for you the craziest 20 seconds of anything else I had has said. It was uncovered yesterday, cut number three. Football is very much associated with a, you know, particularly masculine and oftentimes toxic, toxicly masculine culture. And so much of it was about you wanted to be able to get back up and play for your team. And you really aren't allowed to show pain or vulnerability that's part of the sport. Okay, James. Ohio is not football state number one. Texas is football state number two. Florida is football state number three. And Michigan is football state number four.

It's a religion. Can you win saying it's toxic masculinity? Yes, yes, you can. And when I hear that, I want to channel my inner Tony Soprano and just say, whatever happened to Audie Murphy, the strong silent type. The very things that he's castating there is toxic, are the very things that some people say, yeah, we need a little bit more of that. We need a little bit less starting out every game with land acknowledgments and being very, very sorry that we're having something that requires physicality. It would be ideal, actually, if they were just all out in ballet tutu's quoting Proust to one another. But it's American culture. doing is he's sort of telling you that the fundamental nature of American culture is wrong, which is what they believe. The whole thing shot top to bottom is full of toxic this and toxic that and toxicisms, which must be expurgated by these very smart people. They're not going to be able to do it, but they'll cause them havoc while they're in. So, yeah, that, again, a remarkable thing to say in a football state. It is a football state. Lilics is a place to go for not toxic masculinity, just pure masculinity. Go to james lilacs.substack.com. James lilacs.substack.com. Tune in on Thursday night to Dwayne's after show 7 p.m. in the east, 4 in the West. And go to lilacs.com. Stay tuned to the Hugh Dewitt Show. In 2025, the FBI reported that Americans lost more than $21 billion to fraud and identity theft. Identity thieves can steal your Social Security number, open credit accounts in your name. take over online accounts, and create financial headaches that can take months to fix. Most people don't realize they've been targeted until the damage is already done. That's why more families are turning to Aura. Aura helps protect your identity with fraud alerts, credit monitoring, dark web monitoring, and up to $5 million in identity theft protection. If something does happen, Aura's 24-7 U.S.-based support team can help guide you through the recovery process. You also get a VPN. Antivirus Protection, password manager, and scam protection, all in one app. Don't wait until you're a victim. Protect yourself and your family today. Start your free trial at Aura.com slash safe. That's Aura.com slash safe.