The Big Weekend Pod

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 and glory, and evening, Grace America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Welcome to the Big Week. The big news of the week. Well, it comes in two categories. They're related. Category number one is that... Anti-Semitism is now the calling card of the New Democratic Party. The three congressional candidates who won in New York with Zohran Mamdani's backing, they talk a lot about a lot of different things, but mostly they talk about hating Israel, and it's a short step to hating Jews, period, and they don't even bother trying. We've got Mr. Hawami in New Jersey, who is the Blind Shakespeare's character reference. We've got Graham Platner, a communist in Maine, self-described. We've got Mr. El-Sayed, who is running in Michigan, and we've got other wackos around the country, and the Democrats are going to end up with if they win the majority. And they might not now. The party is becoming so radical. They may not win the majority. come the midterms, which should be expected. There should be a blue wave. It's the six year of a presidency, and therefore the American political title charts are always the same. They always wipe out the party of the president who's been in power for six years. Maybe not this time. It didn't happen to George W. Bush in 2000. And two, it did happen to him in 2006. So it's the third-year, third off-year election that just kills you. But what we want you to understand, what we want you to really understand is it doesn't much matter if the Republican Party doesn't hold up its end of the bargain, which means staying close with Israel, providing support for Israel. And there's no sign that that's not going to be the case. Thomas Massie was anti-Israel, and he's out, he's gone. The knucklehead caucus has been broken up. There isn't a single Republican senator who is systematically anti-Israel. Rand Paul is the most isolationist of the senators, but he's not anti-Israel per se. And I just think we have to keep a good eye on that and make sure, as we discuss with today, that... Republicans and conservatives when they talk about the Middle East are very careful to be the party that believes the alliance with Israel is our most important strategic alliance. Because it is. It's just the truth. It's what we have to worry about. It's what we have to work with. So that's what I'm talking about primarily today with our wonderful guest, Eli Lake.

Jim Garrity, Ben Dominic is along today, of course, as is most Friday. And Senator Jim Talent in for a rare Friday appearance. We've got a lot ahead. Don't go anywhere. Sit back and enjoy the big weekend pot. It's already here, but we don't go to it before we review what happened on Friday. Let's start with President Trump at the Faith and Freedom Rally. Cut number nine. Communism is very easy to sell. It destroys everything, but it's very easy. I'd be, I'll be honest, I think I'd be the greatest communist in history. I'd give free rent. Ladies and gentlemen, from now on, you don't have to pay any rent. From now on, anybody wants a house. Don't worry about it. Just pick the house you want. Everybody gets free food. Everything is free from this point forward. Everyone's going to vote for me. The problem is, after two or three years, the country is... a disaster area. The country fails. They always do. It always does. So easy to sell. That first year, boy, you're the most popular. It's happening right now in New York and California. But you'll start living in squalor. You'll live in squalor. There will be no food. There will be no housing. There will be no military. There will be no law and order. There will be no nothing. There will be no nothing. You'll be a third world. inhabitant in every way, and everyone will suffer or die. You'll suffer or die. That's what happens. For thousands of years, it's been happening by different names. Prefer or die, not a pleasing prospect. Let's go to cut number two of the president today, talking about the communist, cut number 10. In many cases, they're not smart, but in some cases, they are. It's easy for them to get followers because they make promises that they know they can't keep. And the Democrats aren't fighting back. That's why they're dumb. They're not fighting back. They're afraid. I watch Chuck Schumer. He's afraid to fight. I watch guys that are pretty normal. And guys that we oppose, they're afraid to fight. The Democrats have taken a tremendous turn left. And many of these people, I looked at some of the people that got elected the other night in New York. These are... In many ways, stupid people, in some ways, intellectually, probably pretty smart. But they're people that want to destroy our country. They hate our country. Right. They are absolutely. And they're anti-Semites. Let's be clear. They're anti-West, anti-American, anti-Israel anti-Semite. Cut number 11 from the president. And I'll tell you what my analysis is. These are not social Democrats. These are hardcore, godless communists. They're godless communists. All communists are godless. They don't believe in God. This is the most serious threat to our country since its existence, in my opinion, 250 years ago. This is a major threat to our country. It isn't something that's easily solved, but with a little love and help, some hard work. Because it's ironic, we're celebrating a very important birthday. Our most important birthday so far, 250 years. And instead of speaking about Christ, and instead of speaking about freedom and victories of all different kinds, we're speaking about yet another threat to the foundations of America. These ruthless communists will attack all religions, but in particular, Christianity, they always do thereafter.

Christianity more than any other religion. It seems to be more. President is absolutely right. Communism is, in fact, by definition, atheists, by definition opposed to religious belief. Now, they do have an alliance with the radical Islam elements within the Democratic Party, and they are not atheists, but they're radical Islamists. I was on Fox News Friday with Sandra Smith talking about this on America reports. Cut number one. Let's bring in Hugh Hewitt now. He's a Fox News contributor and host of the Hugh Hewitt show. Hugh, welcome to you. For Chad, it's always about the math. Maybe not so for Hakeem Jeffries. The leader suggested this earlier on CNN. Listen. What happens in a handful of primaries in one of the bluest cities in the country is not in any way indicative of what needs to happen in November. Yet in your Fox News.com piece, you write Democrats cliff dive over the far left edge of American politics saying voting for any Democrat, for any office in any state in November is a vote for the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Zohran Mamdani Democrats. That is the reality. And Republicans will be pounding on that point from now until November. Elaborate, Hugh. All right. Good afternoon, Sandra. It is, in fact, Hakeem Jeffries is saying, pay no attention to the raging inferno on the left side of my party. And it's a question about math. Chad is right. It's a question about the new horses that are coming in. John is right. There are right now 18 progressives in the House. Some of them are radical like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib and Pramila Jayapal. Some of them are kind of not radical and not anti-Semitic. Well, Adam Hamawai in... New Jersey and the three that were elected to the Democratic nominations on Tuesday night, they're radical hard left anti-Israel anti-Semites. So all of a sudden you've got eight radicals in the House. If the House flips, the Republicans had this problem four years ago when we had a fringe of knuckleheads on the far right, and they weren't really ideological. They were just kind of disparate, weird people, and they're almost all gone from the Congress now, but they destroyed Kevin McCarthy's speakership. Well, Hakeem Jeffries is doing the math. If he gets eight hard, hard left, anti-Israel, anti-Semites in his Congress, in his conference, it's going to be very hard for him to win the speakership if he, in fact, flips the House. As for Senator Elissa Slotkin, she's looking ahead at the national brand. They have a short-term problem with what happens in the House next fall. But their longer-term problem is if their party becomes anti-West, anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-Semitic. That's the death knell of the Democratic Party. You can't win nationally with a radical platform like that. Well, from President Trump's view, and again, we'll hear from him in just a moment when he begins speaking. He sees this. Communists are finally making their moves, says President Trump. I've been waiting and preparing for this for a long time. It's easy to be a communist. All you have to say is, I'll give you everything. But that means you're taking it away from others that have earned it over thousands of years. That ideology has not worked once. The game is on and enjoy watching. So.

Is that the message from the Republican Party? And will they get that messaging right come November? It should be the message. They should not parse words. They should not soften the blow. Graham Platner, who is running for senators, the Democrat in Maine, is a self-professed communist. We had Chevalier. She's the most radical of the bunch. I also think she may be the least actually eloquent in expressing her views. Nominee Valdez wants to nationalize the airlines. There's so much weird stuff. Honolai, Halami, was the Blind Shakespeare's character witness. They're a group of hard-left people. And Mr. South Sayad in Michigan, he's a hard-left Hamas apologist as well. So the Democratic Party is really teetering. Actually, they've gone over the edge. They went Thelma and Louise. They drove right over the cliff on Tuesday night. And Senator Elissa Slotkin is looking at that and said, I don't want to be a minority senator for my entire career in the Senate. And right now, they could well end up doing that. As there are 31 red states and 19 blue states that should mean like 62 Republican senators, especially. if the Democrats go left and then further left and then all the way off the map. All right. Well, from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's view, she sees what's going on in some of these races. She was asked if she's more inclined to possibly run for the Senate after seeing these races in New York. She said this to Fox Digital. I'm definitely inspired and encouraged by all the new faces that we're going to be sending to the State Assembly and to Congress. She's encouraged. So as someone is largely seen as the one of, at least, the leaders in her party, what does that say about her future and the party's future? It tells me, and I talked about this on air recently with President Trump. She's got the sparkle. She has the charisma. I think she could be their 2028 presidential nominee if she wants that. She almost certainly could be the Senate nominee. But if she quest for the presidency, that leaves. Zohran Mamdani, an open shot at Chuck Schumer. And the person who is most afraid after the landslide for the left on Tuesday night is Chuck Schumer. He's lost control of his party. He's lost control of his caucus. It's not the Democrats for whom he was proudly the protector of Israel, no more. Hugh, always appreciate when you can join us. Thank you very much. I love being on and being able to spell it out for people on Fox. I love being able to spell it out for you on the Salem News Channel, the Salem Radio Network, all of our great radio affiliates. That's the way it is. That's just the way it is. Coming up, Eli Lake and I talk about those elections, as does, Jim Garrity coming up this hour, Ben Dominish next hour. John Androsick coming along, Jim Town coming along, a lot coming along. Come right back to the Hugh Hewitt Show.

Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt, joined now by Eli Lake of the free press, host of the Breaking History podcast, frequent contributor on the commentary podcast, including this Wednesday. Welcome, Eli. I want to go right to the heart of what you talked about on Wednesday. You said it is a catastrophic moral moment in New York. Your colleagues on the podcast were very funny, calling it... The Bums won sackcloth Wednesday. May you find comfort among the mourners of New York and Jerusalem. Look, it's three congressmen. They're all communist. They're all radical, but I mean, it's still just three Democrats. Or is it, in fact, add in Hamawi, add in Milo Keros in Denver, add in Graham Platner and Abdul El-Sayed, and maybe it's actually sinister. What's your take? We were reacting in the moment. And I mean, I think it is important to say, yes, this is a deep blue New York city. They call it Kami Carter for a reason. All of that said, Hugh, this is the result of the Democrats just. deciding that the Democratic Socialists of America, which I believe should be called the National Socialists of America because of their utter antipathy and enmity towards the Jewish state and for that much Jews in general. But the issue is that the DSA is trying what is known as an entreatist strategy to take over the Democratic Party and the smiling Zohran Mamdani. The mayor of New York, chose to elevate these people, chose to elevate someone who will not apologize for attending a rally that celebrated the mass murder and rape of October 7th, literally the day after. He chose those people to endorse. He chose to elevate those people. They would not have won without his endorsement. That's who he is. So as he continues, you know, when he tries to charm us, we should just remember this is what his real agenda is. And so in my view that it is. I want my audience to know that if they're listening and not watching, you have a whale behind you. So this is a whale of a big story. I had to say that. You just mentioned. The Columbia, you know, you have enough suggestions for the Breaking History podcast. I would love, however, if someone would explain to me, when did the Middle Eastern Studies Department in Columbia go off the rails, and how did it end up here over the course of 30 years? I did it two years ago. It was in the archives. I did it for honestly, and I'll send it to you. But I did an episode all about Edward Said and Edward Said's takeover of the Middle East Studies Department and how that represented a kind of hinge moment. But now we're seeing, I mean, ideas have consequences. That's why we're doing this, Hugh. Ideas matter. And this is the triumph of anti-colonialism. It's the triumph of Franz Fanon and Edward Said and Michel Foucault. And these people.

dominated a generation, maybe two generations ago. They ran the table when it came to the elite universities. And now we're seeing the children of those universities making a bid for political power. And the Democratic Party is totally... not ready for it. And that's the part of it, which is a, I think that there was a sense that the Democrats were thinking to themselves. Even with the rise of Zohran Mamdani in New York, well, you know, this is a big tent and we can work with the DSA. They seem to have a lot of momentum and they can be part of, they can be folded into the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party, I think, is in the process of losing its soul. It's losing its identity. And unless it makes it very clear that it is copyright infringement, If these communists decide to run as Democrats, then they will become the DSA. And that is a enormous problem. I hope it doesn't happen. But it's very similar to when Jeremy Corbyn took over the Labor Party in the UK. And I think we might be seeing it now. And this midterm, I think that's the story of this midterm. And the challenge for the Republicans is to nationalize the race. Because what will happen when Ken McCarthy was Speaker, they had five to ten knuckleheads who were disparate. And they were all under the Freedom Caucus umbrella, but they really didn't believe in a lot of coherent stuff. And some of them were just addicted to attention. Most of them are gone now. The Democrat leftists, the DSA, they have an ideology. And if they hold eight seats, and they've got four already in Talib, Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Pramila Jayapal, if they get four more, they've got eight. Hold on. Hold on. Eight. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seems to be tiptoeing and tap dancing away from some of this. Notice she didn't endorse any of these people, and she didn't, and she didn't endorse Graham Platner. And so, and I'm not, I'm not kind of, I'm just saying, I think that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recognizes she's got larger political ambitions, but she's been playing it, she's been keeping her cards pretty close to the vest. I'm not, I don't want to spread it too much. Let's say seven hardcore leftists. That makes Hakeem Jeffries skate on very thin ice, doesn't it? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, especially if it's going to be a similar kind of, it's going to be like a 50-50, you know, unless they get a really big win, if he's got, he can account for that. But yeah, it's seven wild cards. And then also, I mean, listen, I think it's not going to happen this cycle. But this should be a wake-up call. I mean, this is not the New York that I know, and I would hope to New York.

Republican Party can revive itself, reinvent itself, and say that to save the greatest city in the world from the scourge of socialism, that would be, and I would love to see something happen in New York where that Republican Party can get back to the glory days of Giuliani and Bloomberg and so forth when they could actually compete for power. But, you know, the capital of capitalism is going to give that baton to Miami, if they haven't already, because the bankers are not going to say. I think so. Good point. And there are a million, as of this morning, there are a million landlords of apartment owners who are now under rent control immediacy, right? That they were rent stabilized, but the board that was taken over my Zohran Mamdani is now going to, Zohran Mamdani is now going to. Freeze their rents. That destroys housing stock. I don't know how many times we have to learn the same lesson, Eli. How often do we have to learn the price controls ruin housing? Oh, yeah. No, no. It's across the board. I mean, I'm worried about, you know, what's going to happen to the curriculum of New York public schools. I mean, this is been a... major project for the left for a long time. What's, what's going to happen in terms of, you know, policing? I mean, there's all kinds of things that are going to have these downsets. We're not going to really see the effects of Zohran Mamdani's policies maybe for a couple years, but this is a huge, but I just want to point something out because I've seen this discourse on X. What's happening in the Democratic Party right now cannot really be compared to the Tea Party movement of the early 20 teams. And the big distinction is that the Tea Party movement, you're right, the Tea Party movement was an insurgency against the Republican establishment. But the people who are in the Tea Party, when they would get together, they would read the Declaration of Independence. They loved America. They loved our republic. They revered our founding charter and our ideals. The people who are trying to take over the Democratic Party, hate America. They hate Western civilization. They hate all of the things that make our country great. And I just think it's important to have that because even though I disagree with many Democrats, and I know you disagree with them in their own way, patriotic. And for the party to be taken over really by an organization that despises our country and despises our values. is a tragedy, and I hope it doesn't happen. I think you're right. And to become an anti-Western party when you were the party of Jack Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and more recently, Sam Nunn, that's really astonishing. Eli Lake, follow him on exit, Eli Lake. Listen to Breaking History, the podcast, read them at the free press. Thank you, Eli. Be right back with Jim Garrity. Stay tuned. Uptown got his hustlers. The Bowery got his bones. Welcome back, America. A rare weekend appearance by Jim Garrity, the indispensable Washington Post columnist, senior writer at National Review, host of the Three Martini podcast, frequent contributor to the editors, though he wasn't on this week. I think he's often some robotic symposium trying to defend himself against his kids into the future. Garrity, let me start with our friends in the Democratic Party on Tuesday night. And you talked.

today on three martini lunch about how the World Cup was supposed to be a disaster for Republicans and the Democrats were hoping for that. Well, it's become a great thing for the country. Meanwhile, the disaster happened in New York to the Democrats. How do you assess that fiasco? So today's morning jolt is about the angry whiner. I have no hope. There are no opportunities in society mentality you find on kind of the Groyper right. And then there's also this very weird mirror image on the hard, you know, socialist, and let's face it, really often increasingly openly communist left. that basically they both have this mutual attitude of everything in society is so unfair. Everything is deck stacked against us. It doesn't shock me that the centerpiece or the epicenter of this movement is New York City. And it's not because of the Jets. It's not because of anything like that. It's that New York City has always been one of the most expensive places to live in the entire country. And it's known as a very hard place to make it. As the song goes, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. But, like, inherent in that is that it's hard to make it in New York City. It is hard to find a job that's going to cover all the expenses you have. It is hard to find a job that's going to rise. It is the most intense competition you're going to find in any place in the country. So lots of people want to make it in New York City. Sometimes they've got a, you know, college education that really didn't prepare them that well for the job market. Sometimes they really just underestimated the level of competition. Sometimes they walk around with an excessive sense of how good they really are. And the other detail, Hugh, that I think is kind of interesting, and I'm trying to, you mentioned my kids, I'm trying to instill this in them. They live, you know, between National Review, Washington Post, and all the other different places that I work, we make a good living. We make a good living at this stage in my life. When I was starting out, I was eating ramen noodles just like everybody else in that same sense of that. And we expect when you get out of college at age 21, 22, 23, you know, oh, my life is going to be like it was when I'm growing up. No, no, everybody struggles when they're starting out. Even if you went to a good college, even if you think you studied something really good, finding a job in your field, very rarely are they just handing them out when you get your diploma? These are all kind of like hard facts of life. And I see an angry response to these basic facts of life from the left. I see it sometimes a bit on the right. But it doesn't surprise me that New York is the most fertile territory for this message of everything stinks. Life is so unfair. Capitalism has failed you, young person. And the only answer is socialism. Yeah, Jim.

That makes me think of the interview that the Axios reporter did with one of the Silicon Valley AI guys. I can't remember his name right now. But the Axos guy asked the Abbey's question, what do I tell my kids to go into? What kind of job should they have if AI is going to destroy? Now, your kids make robots, so they'll be fully employed. But if you're not an engineer of robots, not only is it tough to make it in New York, it's tough to see where you're going to go other than wait the next table. Yeah, and so here's the thing. You know, the Internet came along and changed a lot, right? And if you actually have copies of print newspapers, print newspapers are not what they used to be. And I'm a little saddened by that. I'm saddened on a bunch of people. Craig's List took away the classifieds, right? You just don't see print advertising the way you used to. The comic strip in the newspaper is not the big deal in our society that it used to be back in the days of... Calvin and Hobbs and... Peanuts. The Far Side and Bloom County and all these things that I grew up with, you know. But inevitably, is journalism better? Well, the Internet has empowered so many people to join the ranks of journalists and make a living. And there's a part of me, like, as much as I may not like everything coming from AI. I also kind of realize complaining about it, it's kind of like complaining about the rain. There is no way to put the toothpaste back in the tube. You can't put the genie back into the bottle. You just have to look at an AI economy and say, what are they still going to need? Now, you mentioned robotics is something that is not going to go away in the next 10, 20, 30 years. And so I, you know, thank God my kids have picked to something that they're likely to, you know, find some form of employment in the future. They can take care of you in your dotage. Don't go anywhere, America. I'm coming right back with Jim Garrity, very far away from dotage at this point. During the break, which we'll put on the big weekend pod, I'm going to talk to him about the opening of the Great American State Fair and the reflecting pool, but then when we come back, we're going to grapple with Iran and the fact that they shot. at a Singapore flagged and hit the bridge freighter yesterday. What do we do? What do we do? Stay tuned. I'm back with Gary the Indispensable Jim. A big opening of the Great American State Fair on the mall this week. We had flyovers of the F-35s. We had the President of the United States. We had the Marine Band singing the Village People, YMCA, which is the first for me to see. And then we've got the reflecting pool, which is up in pieces and has been vandalized. But we do have the World Cup. which is really the best thing to happen to our 250th birthday yet because we're seeing America through the eyes of foreigners. What's the best thing to happen to us thus far in the semi-sus quintennial? Oh, look, I mean, is there anybody who isn't loving Freddie, the German soccer tourist? Absolutely. The fact that he's been everywhere, and we still don't know his, you know, his last name or what he goes? What does he do for a living? How is he affording all of this? He hasn't been to work at a month, you know. We might find out that Freddie is some baron or something like that. But either way, he's America through fresh eyes, right? Yeah, Freddie by and all these things strike us. Yeah, you know, and like, you know, fine. Either way, he is going and finding Buckees.

to be the most amazing thing he's ever seen. And restaurant, you know, like there was a different guy, but he said that he had this amazing steak, and he's talking about it. It's the best steak he ever had. He's the name of the restaurant. Oh, Longhorn Steakhouse. Now, Longhorn Steakhouse, there's nothing wrong with it. It's a perfectly fine chain of steak restaurants. But I think we kind of, like, you know, this isn't Ruth's Chris, right? This is not a, we would consider, you know, some of us are really fine. Yeah. He's on a budget. Yeah. Yeah, you know, it's, oh, it's partly fine. But it's kind of fascinating to see Europeans. And let's face it, if you're a European tourist and you're over here to watch the World Cup games, I don't care how you describe yourself. You're wealthy, right? Airfare to the United States, staying in a hotel. A lot of these guys are renting cars. Meals, paraphernalia, you know, God knows how much they're charging for beers at the stadium and all that stuff. We're talking about people who are wealthy, and they're coming here to the United States and saying, oh, my God, I can't believe how wealthy this country is. Look at the size of the houses. Look at the size of the cars. Look at, you know, it's been fascinating. And let me also kind of observe. Hugh, I am sorry that no one got to experience Cleveland. Oh, no. But I was going to fast. Freddie came close. Freddie was in Ohio. Yeah. Yeah, he was in Northeast. They went and said, first of all, they said MetLife Stadium was the most beautiful thing that ever seen. Poor people. I like MetLife Stadium, but I'm not going to fool you. I've never thought that that was the most beautiful stadium. They, oh, my God, energy stadium in Houston is huge. And it is big, but I'll give credit to Ohio State and all the college football fans out there. Or the big house. That's not even like one of the bigger stadiums in the country. Never mind, you know, the several college stadiums that can fit 100,000 people. So it's kind of interesting when they're like, wow, you guys have amazing stadiums that were like, that's not even the big one. Hey, are any of the Garrity boys going to go to the team up north to Michigan so that they can go to the big house? I'm just kidding. They got a great robotics program. I hate to say it, but they do. Wouldn't have minded it was not on my older ones list. It's a possibility for my younger one. Yeah. You know. All right back with Garrity and we're getting serious and talking Iran. Don't go anywhere, America. Freddie, L.A. 7 can't help us with this.

Welcome back to America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Jim Gertie with me, host of the Three Martini Lunch. You can read him in the Washington Post. You can read them every day in the morning jolt for National Review. Hear him on the editors podcast frequently as well. Jim, the... Big development this week with the Iran War is that Iran fired at and hit Singapore freighter in the bridge. And we don't know what President Trump is going to do. And the second big development is an alleged split between Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. I think that's like the split between the wide receiver on the right side and the wide receiver on the left side. The quarterback of Donald Trump, he called the play. They're going to run the routes that they are designated to do. But what do you think everyone's going to agree to do or what is the president going to decide to do about shooting at the freighter? Because, you know, everything else up into this point, you could argue, oh, the MOU covers everything because it's so vague. But it definitely was not supposed to include shooting at the freighters. Yeah. Hugh, it's a big development. I don't think it's necessarily a surprising development. I think that, you know, the idea that the Iranians would break their word on something was probably the, I don't know if Vegas was taking bets on it or polymarket or Kalshi or any of them, but if you could put money down on the Iranians, we're going to break their word at some point. I'd feel pretty good about those odds. You know, when this conflict began. I was, to a certain extent, enthusiastic, but like, look, from 1979, the Iranian regime has been in a de facto state of war against the United States of America and the American people. Sometimes it's very intense. Sometimes it quiets down, but there's really not, never been a point where their intent has been straightforward in their chant, death to America. It is not mild inconvenience to America. It is not stubbed toe to America, right? oppose us in every possible way. The idea that diplomacy was ever going to work with this regime was always extremely unlikely. And one of the ways you know that is because it's not like we could meet in our embassy in Tehran, right? So the idea, it's like when Trump began this war, I think a whole bunch of people on the right were like, finally. Finally, someone, there's an American president who recognizes that there is no negotiating with these folks. There is no way of getting these folks to see reason. The only real, the problem with the Iranian regime is the Iranian regime. And the only way you can really fix that is by driving them from power. You hit their military hard enough. Maybe the next time the people rise up, they have a chance of actually deposing them. Well, not only with a memorandum of understanding, do we act like regime change is no longer one of our interests or one of our priorities. You see the president, in my mind, going way off message and saying it's important for Iran to have ballistic missiles to defend itself.

No, it's not. We're saying that, you know, we're okay for them to have nuclear power for civilian purposes, but not for, but we trust them not to weaponize. What? These guys have, you know, they have broken every treaty they've ever signed, and they have bragged in 2009, I want to say, 2012, 2016, 2017 about how easy it is to fool international inspectors. It was one of the reasons by Monday I was not impressed when JD Vance is like, oh, they agreed to inspectors. This is terrific. That only sounds good if you know nothing about the Iranian regime and the entire history of how they have fooled and, you know, messed around and denied access to important sites and stuff like that. Counterargument, Chair. The two philosophies. Counterargument, which is that we're in the phony war equivalent. That's the war that wasn't fighting between November of 1939 and May of 1940. Poland had been overrun. The Germans were reorganizing. The French and the British Expeditionary Force were getting into place. And nothing happened. I think we're in the phony war until after the election. The oil is closed below $70 a barrel today. And Mark Teeson, my former, your current colleague at the Washington Post, writes today, a top nuclear expert on what the war accomplished with Iran. David Albright says the claim that Iran emerged stronger from the war is delusional. And he goes on to detail just how devastated Iran is. So they may be the weaker they are, the tougher they talk. And what we say is just to jolly them along until the election is over. Your turn. Golly. One, like, if they get the $300 billion, billion with a B that they're supposed to get under the memorandum of understanding, well, then they're going to be done a whole lot better, right? That is like 13 times the size of the current Iranian defense budget. And money is fungible. Money that they're getting from whichever donors are organizing this that ends up going to there is money that they, you know, that gives them money that they don't have to, that they can then, you know. free up other cash to build on drones, ballistic missiles. They want to rebuild the traditional military. They can do that. But I think, by the way, if you're Iran, do you even need a traditional military anymore? You manage to shut down shipping in the Persian Gulf and cut off the Strait of Hormuz through drones. which one study says like a lot of people think it costs it uranium to make a Shahid drone, eh, 35,000 to like 70,000 per drone. There's one study that says, no, no, no, once you put in all the economies of scale, it's costing the Iranians just $7,000 per drone. And that's really what shut down, it made the oil tankers afraid to go through the Persian Gulf. Like, that's a considerable amount of leverage that they have gotten out of this. So that's why I think, oh, no, this is not a slam dunk. We can say we've won and go home sort of thing. All right, Jim, we've got two minutes. You were a debater in high school, right? You debated. No. No, this is not. I'm a rank answer. I want to hear your state the contrary argument, even if you're not trained. What's the contrary argument to what you just said? Oh, like, why is this a good deal? Or why is this?

Oh, like you get oil flowing. As you mentioned, oil tanks are down. But when you made the World War II comparison, Hugh, all of that happened after the American president had signed a peace deal in Versailles, France. So we know once there's a deal, a treaty in Versailles, everything works out fine, right? It was 20 years after Versailles, Jim. The phony war was 20 years after Versailles. I'm just saying if I'm signing a peace deal, I pick a different city. I just go down the road, do it in Paris, something like that. It's not a peace deal. It's an M.O. I'm just saying, is there not a little space reserved in your head that it all could work out? Because there's a large space in my head that it could all work out. Okay. Do you want to know the upside, Hugh, is that we know the Iranians are going to break their word. So at some point, Trump's going to get frustrated and say, this is not worth it. He'll go back to bombing. We could actually talk to this time. Yes. Yes. That's the silver lining. Okay. All right. That's my, that's my base case is that eventually this president is going to get mass. This is the, you're saying. This is the, you know. You know, this is the end of the Marvel movie. The credits have rolled. There's a close credit scene. And the U.S. military will return in Dooms Day for the Mullins. It's Deadpool arising from just his head. If people know what the Marvelverse is like. It's a Deadpool trailer. Garrity, the indispensable. Follow him on exit Jim Garrity. Read him in the Washington Post. Read him in the National News. Subscribe to the Morning Jolt. You'll laugh every morning. You'll enjoy it. And listen to the 3 Martin Lunch and The Editor's Podcast. Thank you, Jim. Go make a robot, or at least go watch. So you won't be dumbfounded by whatever your kids come up with. Tell them to be program-friendly to Q. I'll be right back, America. Stay tuned. On Iran, Mr. President, you said that Iran violated the ceasefire. Will they face any consequences? You'll find out. Do you consider the ceasefire to still be in place? I don't like the fact that they took a shot yesterday. Actually, four. We knocked down three at a ship. Not an allied ship, but a ship, a very expensive ship. And it was fine, but it took a little beating. They shouldn't be doing that. So you'll find out. Will the U.S. respond? What is your message to Iran? When you're going to find out? You're going to find out, America. So am I. And so will Ben Domit, my guest. Editor of the opinion pages at the Daily Wire, Fox News contributor, host of the Big Ben podcast. Ben, before I get to your very provocative monologue on the Big Ben podcast this weekend, how do you respond to the president in the Oval on Friday afternoon? Well, I think that what we've seen from the president has been very consistent, which is that he's been a lot less of a cheerleader for this deal than someone who was...

I would say skeptical based on prior Iranian behavior about their ability to live up to it. And I think, you know, from almost the moment this was announced, you know, he had been saying, you know, if they violate this deal, then we'll just go back to bombing them. And that's been somewhat inconsistent, quite frankly, with other cheerleaders of this deal. And I think that it's an indication that he always has been. keeping that in his back pocket ready to do more. And I think that the Iranians doing something... This rapidly, especially after the attempts by, you know, both the vice president and then, of course, Marco Rubio and his own negotiations to smooth things over and try to put things on a better glide path. I think the president's just fed up with them. I think he's tired of dealing with people who can't be relied on to stop from shooting even for... You know, a brief period of time. And that's something that I think is going to result, obviously, in the president making decisions militarily that are likely to lead us right back to where we were. Unfortunately, for the markets. And I think that the president, you know, as I've said before, does not want to accept a bad deal that can't be kept faith with by the Iranians that he does not believe will ensure a non-nuclear Iran for the foreseeable future. And that is, unfortunately, I think, where we find ourselves today. All right, Ben, Dominic. The markets close down a tiny bit, like 0.09% on the Dow on Friday. But oil was below 70 on Friday after the attack by Iran on Thursday. So I want to go to your very provocative, very interesting, a must listen for the audience monologue on the Big Ben podcast in which you were talking about whether or not the JD Vance approach. is being set up as an oppositional approach to the Marco Rubio approach. Now, I don't view it that way. I am rather sanguine about this situation, I think. Vice President JD Vance has split wide right, and Marco Rubio has split wide left, and the quarterback remains Donald Trump, and he's called to play, and they're both running their routes, and they're all on the same team, and they talk all the time, and I think they're just having, they're running different routes to the same end of scoring and winning. to beat my analogy into the ground. You, however, seem to, well, you don't seem. You said the vice president's trying to shut down, or actually those in his orbit, are trying to shut down criticism of the MOU. If they are, they're not very good at it because there's a lot of it. But what about my theory, the sanguine theory, that we're in the phony war after the election, we'll pound the living daylights out of them if they haven't succumbed yet? Well, I think that both aspects of that could be true to a certain extent, because I think that what the vice president could be arguing, even if it is, you know, the right flanker versus the left flanker, however you want to say it, the point is that I think that he could be arguing this from the perspective of we just need to get through November and then we'll have this argument again.

The problem is that I think that internally, you know, there is a definite split in terms of the way that different people on different sides of this issue talk to me about what's being said and about essentially the way that... And Marco Rubio, as you have heard him, you know, is very realistic about this, the way that these different people are talking. And I said this on special report the other day. I hear different things from this administration about this deal. And I think that on Capitol Hill, they're very aware of that. And one of the reasons they're very aware of that is because it's not just the people, and this is something that I think has become very clear in the days since. It is not just people who... are opposed to the president who are opposed to this deal, meaning, you know, the cadre of kind of loose Republicans, you know, however you want to describe it, Thom Tillis and Bill Cassidy and people like that. It is not just the people who are hawkish, like Tom Cotton, who are opposed to this. It is also people who view themselves as very closely tied to the president's administration and to his agenda. And I would include... Rick Scott in that number. You know, I would include the fact that Josh Hawley came out, you know, the day after this deal went through in terms of the announcement of what was within it and said, I don't think we should be sending a dollar to Iran. You know, the same thing that Ted Cruz said. And they can obviously navigate their way to saying, well, you know, we're not technically sending, you know, American money, but you're freeing up money that the regime is going to use to rebuild after you have... bombed the crap out of them. And I think that that's something that, you know, is really ever present within this, this, you know, Republican cohort. And those are questions that I think need to be taken seriously. And I don't believe that everyone in this administration is really open to that idea. They want to turn this into something that is once again like a... I mean, fealty is too strong of a word. They just want people to get in line with an idea that the president has backed, does clearly want to work, but also, from my perspective, has a much more realistic understanding of how risky this is and how much the Iranians have done in the past to just lie and lie and lie again. So do you think it's possible that the president has had? the vice president and Marco Rubio in front of him along with Susie Wiles on the on the right and he says to the vice president Go sell this deal hard. And he says to the vice president, go knock this deal without knocking the deal as you can. Because the vice president was at the Nixon library on Thursday sounding very Nixonian, citing the Vietnam peace process, pieces at hand in the Christmas bombing. And then you had Marco Rubio in the Middle Eastern Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, saying, well, they're religious theocrats and lunatics, and that hasn't chained. So I just...

I just think it's orchestrated, Ben. I think it's all orchestrated. I'm not sure. Hugh, I would just suggest I don't think he has to sit them down. I think that that's their natural posture and role. That's fair. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but I think that that, look. There are certain factions of the Republican coalition that would very much, including most, I would say, of the Republicans in the House, who would very much like to kick the can on this until after November. They would like to just have something that's temporary, and then let's deal with it. After whatever shakes out, shakes out, we want to hold the House. The only way we can do that is with low gas prices, and that's just them looking at their own job security. Fine. Okay, that's their priority. I think that there are others who are basically saying, long term, is this even going to last? Should we even be making the case for it? And, you know, you see that in the polling data. You see that in the tepid response from Republicans that we've seen in the early polls from CBS and others that have looked at this and basically said, we don't feel like this is a victory. We don't feel like this is a win. And for the Trump voters who are kind of my, you know, assessment of people who, you know, regularly talk to me, who have been diehard from the beginning, you know, they don't feel like this is a win. They feel like this is, wait a minute, you know, why are we doing something like the JCPOA? I push back against that because it isn't that. And Iran is in a very, very different position than it was. at the point of the JCPLA. But they have a basic knee-jerk reaction to the idea that Iran is going to come out at the end of this with billions more to do what they want with. And that's something that I understand. Mark T.son in his Washington Post column today quotes David Albright, who I think most people agree is a fair observer. And Albright says Iran smashed up. I mean, they're very smashed up. They can't enrich. Their centrifuges are gone. Their missile factories are blown up. I've been reading Churchill's World War II memoir. He was most concerned about the aircraft factories getting smashed up, not fire, not Spitfire shot down, but the factories that could produce more Spitfire. Haven't we done that? We have done that, though I do think that we have discovered through the process of this that our level of intelligence about how much material that they had, and you can actually read. Senator Tim Sheehe sat down with me this week, and he is the Saturday interview at the Daily Wire, which will be up tomorrow. And one of the points that he makes is that there was way more stuff that they had than we knew about. And that that's troubling to him because he doesn't know what the binary is there in terms of how much have we actually destroyed. We think we've destroyed X amount, X percentage.

of what they had, but how confident can we be in that given that they had a lot more of stuff than we thought that they did in terms of he specifically cites a couple of things about ballistic missile levels that are interesting. And so from my perspective, when I listen to a guy like him, That is very much, I think, in the mainstream of the Republican coalition. That is not a neocon perspective. That is not a hawk perspective. It's not an isolation perspective. It's saying we need to get this right and we need to be confident in it. All right. Stand by. I'm going to talk with Ben during the break about the NBA draft and the World Cup. And then we'll come back on the other side and talk about the nightmare in New York that people need to escape from New York from. Don't go anywhere. I'm Hugh Hewitt. That's Ben Dominic. Stay with it. Welcome back, America. Hugh Hewitt with Ben Dominic. Ben, the Cavaliers picked up Malik Thomas from Arkansas with the 34th pick. Yes. And that's okay. He's 19 years old from Arkansas, and he's going to go to the G League. What did you make of your Wizards? Well, I think A.J. was the right pick here, only because I think you want to go with someone who seems like they are both ready, but also more reliable in terms of being... NBA ready in terms of your player. You know, you don't want somebody, I think, who is a project and has a lot of, you know, problems with their game that need to be fixed when you have the number one pick. I think that, you know, obviously there was some question about this, but it seems that the leadership made their decisions a long time ago in terms of the actual reporting around it. One thing that I think was interesting, though, is, I mean, the... The draft really had some interesting sort of – this was a loaded draft, I think. And I think that it will be remembered as one that was loaded. And people could have gone in a lot of different directions. And there's a very strong possibility that we could look back at this draft and say, how did you pass on that guy? Because there certainly were people who got passed on. A-Cuff, I think, could have gone higher. And I think that there's also some questions about, you know, the way that the NBA – you know, is currently operating. I think that they understand that they want to have stars in some of these markets that haven't gotten it before. They're riding the high of what happened in New York with the Knicks. They want to see more things like that that restore sort of... basketball within cities. And look, you know, the shadow sort of cast over all of this is the Yannis trade and everything else that's going on with that. I hope that you're happy with where your calves are. Oh, we're fine. Janice is old. The heat can't bring him back. And you're too young. We're still in our zone for three more years with Donovan and Hardin. Let me ask you, though, in terms of the World Cup, who is your favorite European who's running around the country? commenting on the world because it's really been great fun. It's been the best thing to happen in the semi-susquintennial period. So I think that, well, my favorite aspect of this has actually been the confluence of two different things happening at once. And I hope you notice the Politico item today on this front.

Democrats complaining about the fact that the World Cup is going well. And they were all hoping, apparently, for it to be a massive disaster. And the fact that it's gone well is something they view as a problem, which I think is just the most hilarious thing in the world. And, of course, at the same time, we have this massive heat wave happening in Europe. And so everybody's arguing about air conditioning online, including these Europeans who are here, who are benefiting from it and enjoying it and wondering why they can't. have it back at home. And that's to me something that is just, you know, talk about an ultimate, you know, shame the old world kind of approach to this. No, actually, America can pull off an amazing World Cup and the fact that these Democrats were apparently all hoping that this would just be, you know, a crappy experience for the Europeans and that they could use that as something to hold over Donald Trump in the same way they hold over bits of algae in the reflecting pool. It's just amazing to me that they would actually admit it. And they do. And they do admit it, and it doesn't matter. We're having a great old time. Stand by. We're coming back with Ben Dominic on the network.

Appalachian Raged is from Cigarettes at Sunset, and the band and the song written about by Selena Zito yesterday. It's getting thousands and tens of thousands of views. It's called Possum Rock. I think Ben Dominic picks at the fiddle a little bit in his spare time. Ben, I want to talk to you about politics for a moment and the two sides of it. Up in New York, they've got to meltdown. The Democrats are going communist. They're going anti-Semitic and not just New York, but in New Jersey and Michigan. Graham Platner is a self-proclaimed communist in Maine. This should be setting the Republicans up for a big win because they're so crazy. On the other hand, and I like Mike Lee. Mike Lee is a friend of mine. God love Mike Lee. The Save Act. has got no chance of passing. He's selling voodoo. It's not going to work. Why can't the Republicans just focus their fire on the left and just, you know, get the Gatlin gun out of rhetoric and hit him again and again and again with what Chevalier or Valdez or any of these crazy people say? Well, I think in a certain respect, Hugh, they're making a mistake that I believe they've been making for a while, which is that they're taking these developments unsuriously. Republicans have pointed and laughed, I think, for far too long at the fact that the Democratic Party has accepted and promoted these DSA candidates. And the truth is that what they actually do represent is something very dangerous. And the reason that they represent that is because They are not just influencers. They are not just people trying to get clicks. They are people who are steeped in this, and they are going to come into the Congress, and they are going to try to use every lever of power that they have to... take over the Democratic establishment to become party chairman to make the Democratic Party into the DSA itself. And the thing is, I think the Democratic Party is weak enough that that could actually happen and that the energy behind this DSA movement is strong enough and young enough that it could have kind of its own Obama-esque moment of basically toppling the leadership of a party. and replacing it with the person that they wanted. Now, we've seen that before. It takes a lot of effort, and then there was a lot of effort put into putting these candidates forward. It wasn't people act as if there was just some kind of magic wand that happened. Zohran Mamdani went from having, you know, 800 followers to suddenly being this instant internet phenomenon. No, there is work put into it. There was a whole superstructure of DFA organizations that came out of the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez campaign. and that came out of that, you know, primary win that fueled Zohran Mamdani's rise and has fueled the rise of these other politicians who swept Hakeem Jeffries preferred candidates in such a definitive way to see him try to laugh it off and see other, you know, Democrats, you know, senators saying, oh, well, you know, politics is local and...

These are just local elections in New York. No, that's not what's happening. The DSA is taking over major cities. It's taking over the Democratic Party. It has the energy. It has the support of all these people. And they are legitimately crazy, anti-Semitic, and believe in something fundamentally different that would be unrecognizable to a Democrat from 20 years ago. I'm going to play for you, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, from Monday night before the election in just a second here. But I like to say, The DSA candidates are anti-West, anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, in fact. And here's what the mayor had to say. Listen carefully to the rhetoric, America. He believes this from Monday night. The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born. Now is the time of monsters. These monsters take many forms today. In those who fund television ads that blanket the airways with misleading in bad faith attacks about Claire, Brad, and Dari, those who would rather spend far more on political contributions than they would ever be made to pay in taxes. In APEC, the old world is done. The APEC line. Now, Ben, the new world is struggling to be born. That's so, it just makes me ill because it's such bad rhetoric. And there are monsters and he named Jews. This is really over-the-top nuttery. You know, the thing is, this is like the onion become real life. There's an old onion piece. I don't know if you ever saw the onion TV piece where it's like you need to, you know, give your, give your, you know, your different emotions a symbol. For instance, this one of greed. And they throw up completely anti-Semitic, you know, like that. Or, you know, in this case, you know, it is. I mean, I... It's the bore out agenda. Throw the chew down the well so the people can be free. The poor attitude. Well, they believe it, though. This is the problem. They do believe it. Yeah. And so we can't, we can't. I don't want to be mucking around with any of these other questions until we confront this stuff and confront it consistently. And I think, unfortunately, too many Republicans are still operating under the assumption that, hey, this is actually politically beneficial for us because they're saying crazy stuff. The same kind of reaction, quite frankly, that we saw here in Virginia when Jay Jones' text came out about him fantasizing about killing Republicans. Guess what? He won by eight points. And so this is the thing. that I think is going, that needs to change in the Republican rhetoric. They need to understand that these people are serious. They need to take them seriously. And they have to deal with them as a serious problem, not as a sideshow, not as a joke. And they need to understand the Democratic establishment that was for so many years so strong that, you know, did whatever Nancy wanted them to do. And, you know, she kept to these people kind of locked in their own box and gave them little, you know, projects to focus on. That.

Democratic Party is no more. They will not hold back this tidal wave. And last comment for you to respond to, Ben. That's why I think the SAVE Act and Senator Lee should go to the side. That's why I think the normal regular order and appropriations ought to go to the side. The Democrats are going to shut down the government come the fall. They ought to pass a reconciliation for the entire government, but at least the Pentagon for three years because the other party is not serious about the West and about America. To you. They're not and they're not going to be there when it needs to be defended. And I, again, I have, it's kind of a thing that I've been arguing for two years now. There is too much assumption on the American right that the 2024 election was decisive and represented a definitive win that we are not going to have some kind of situation where one of these people ends up. in JD Vance's job in two years, which is very possible. I mean, that's really, you know, like, I don't think they, the DSA may not be able to elect the president yet. Very quickly, Ben, reports are coming in of explosions in Syrac, Iran, near the Strait of Hormuz. You think we did it? Pulled the trigger on pushing them back? I think we did. And that would be a good thing. Well, it would bear out what we were talking about at the beginning of our segment. But certainly, you know, I think, like I said, the president's fed up. He's had enough of this. He doesn't like people who just lie and completely go back on their word, especially in just short order. And I expect him to fire back and to, you know, we may be in a position here where. We're talking next week about them resuming a lot of this and going into targets, quite frankly, that they did not go after before. They hit one bridge on one freighter, and I bet you our three J-Dems or whatever we sent hit exactly what they were intended for. You think so, Ben? Yeah, I mean, I have a lot more confidence in our aim. Yeah, and I hope that report is true. Ben Dominic, thank you. Coming up, America, John Androsic, don't go anywhere. Jim Tallinn ahead as well, right here on The U-Jewitch. 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 here 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 $355. Remember, their numbers, $800411, 414454, 800411 44, 800411 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 hue 50 or call 1-800-41144 and use promo code hue 50. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt, joined now by former United States Senator Jim Talent. He of the Reagan Institute for the Peace Through Strength, a board member there. Jim Talent, welcome back. Yesterday, Iran broke the MLU. They attacked, the IRGC, attacked a freighter, flagged by Singapore. They hit it. They hit it in the bridge. No one was killed, but they damaged the freighter. What ought the president to do in response? Well, I would strike back, probably proportionately. You know, I don't think you can understand anything going on in the straight unless, I don't think we can understand it, unless we keep firmly in our minds that Iran has suffered a strategic defeat in the last year. I mean, before that, they were an aggressive and powerful nation state that controlled Syria, Lebanon, Gaza. much of Yemen. And now their capabilities have been produced, essentially to subnational level. They're like the Houthis. And they want to rebuild. And what have they got? They've got an agreement that lets them move oil through the strait for the next five months. That's not going to do it. So they're trying to use the one piece of leverage they've got, which is their ability to threaten the strait. to get as much money as they can. And yes, I think we should punish them, but the thing we have to avoid doing, and I'm sure we will. is getting them some large lump sum of money that enables them to begin putting together the strategy of the last 25 years, which is now in shambles. You know, Senator Talent, I have been reading Churchill's World War II memoirs with Dr. Larian on the Hillstale Dialogue, which is coming up next hour, and not this week, but in the following week after next. So it's two weeks from today. We will be talking about the finest hour of speech. Right before he gave that speech, he sent a note to the Dominions, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and he said, hey, we're in this to win it. The greatest danger we face is that they bomb our aircraft factories at night. He wasn't worried about the fighters going down, though it was a grievous blow whenever they lost a... RAF pilot, but he needed to keep making the airplanes or they would be overwhelmed by the Germans. They can't make the missiles now. They can't make the drones. That's all gone. Isn't that the thing we're overlooking?

I think a lot of people are overlooking at you because, I mean, look, not all of it is in bad faith. I think there's a lot of people, and you and I agree with them about everything, or almost everything, who were hoping this would result in the collapse of the Iranian regime. I think the collapse is inevitable. I just don't know how imminent it is. But the point is the facts on the ground have changed. The correlation of forces, as the Soviets used to talk about it, has changed. And I think the Iranians are starting to come to terms with that themselves, realizing where they're at and understanding, again, their whole strategy of the last 25 years, all the years I lived with it when I was in the Senate, it's gone now. So there are a problem now that we can manage. And I think what the president's trying to do is stabilize oil prices over the next five or six months. I agree with what you ask or mentioned to Mark Montgomery. I think it was yesterday. It might have been Wednesday. that look, you know, we get through the end of the year and then it's a whole new ballgame. So, but I do think we can't let them just strike at things without imposing costs. So it was Wednesday. I'm back. I did want to bring up to you Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance. I am not of the opinion that they are at odds. I actually think they're working hand in color. They actually share staff. I don't know if people know this. They share staff between the National Security Council and the Vice President's office. They do. I don't think they're in conflict with each other. I think they have different jobs and emphasize different things, but I'd be amazed if they weren't talking every day. What do you think? Oh, I agree with that. And here I will say to you, you that personal friendship and this sort of thing matters. And from everything I can tell and everything I've heard, they are friends and they're both honorable people. I think when Marco Rubio said, look, I'm not going to run for president if you do. I think he meant that. Now, we don't know what is going to happen in the next two years. We don't know what the president's going to say about all that. They don't know that either. I think JD Vance is clearly the frontrunner, and Marco Rubio would clearly be a fallback if JD Vance falters. And I think JD Vance is going to be given the opportunity to show he can do the job, get the nomination, and win. If he's in trouble, I think they'll talk about it and decide what to do. But no, I do not see this as some kind of a Byzantine power struggle at all between the two of them. I think JD Vance has been given a very hard job, and Marco Rubio is trying to help him, or at the very least, not make it more difficult for him. So, Senator, last question is to the politics of this week. The Democratic Party went flying over the left cliff, Thelma and Louise Stile, on Tuesday night. Along with Hama, Hawami in New Jersey, El Cey at Graham Platner, the self-professed communist in Maine, who's a radical anti-Semite.

They just lot. There's another one in Denver running against Diane to get, who you may have served with. My goodness, she's been in Congress for 30 years. All of these people are out there, and I think the Democratic Party is now stapled to Zohran Mamdani and his anti-Israel anti-Semitic stance. How do they possibly govern with that kind of radicalism? It's going to be very, very difficult. As other left of center parties are finding out, you know, in other Western democracies and you, you know, I'm normally, as far as elections are concerned, I'm normally a glasses half empty guy, and I'm not saying this year is going to be good for the Republicans. But I've thought for months and months that people who think it's going to be good for the Democrats have not considered the vast amount of material that they have given. the Republicans to use in the next four or five months. And this is one of them. I mean, this stuff doesn't go away you. I mean, I don't have to tell you that. Well, I want to know if you think, does it matter to a Midwestern congressman or to a congressman out in California who's running in one of the new districts against a Republican? What Democrats in New York and New Jersey and Michigan are saying, does it actually matter? Can you nationalize a house race? Yes, you can. And obviously, a congressman in that position is going to want to try and keep it from mattering, but he's going to be trying to hit his Republican opponent with things that are happening nationally that he thinks the voters don't like. So you see, you immediately come back. I mean, the instant they say something about the president's ballroom or something, which is, I don't have a problem with the president's ball, but something that they think voters won't like about Trump. Then they're going to pull up Zohran Mamdani. They're going to pull up Gavin Newsom and all this fraud. I mean, there's just a lot of material. It's a target-rich environment out there, you. I am not a pessimist either. I'm glad to know that Jim Talent isn't as well about November. It's going to be hard fought. We'll keep you posted every day here. Senator Talent, have a great weekend as we get ready for the semi-susconcential. In a world that screams for your attention, there is a place that invites you to peace. You don't need a building. You don't need a choir. You just need to turn your heart to Air One. Air One. Songs that heal. Lyrics that pray for you when you don't have the words. From Lauren Daigle to elevation worship. And more. This isn't just radio. It's worship for the everyday. Escape the noise and worship now. Download the Air One app. Ask your smart speaker to play Air One or visit Air One.com. Air One. Worship. Now.