Are we back to all-out war?

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So against a former governor, you're running against someone who's been able to hand out a lot of pork over the course of however many years he was governor, who's well known he's run statewide. Is he understood to be the liberal that he is? Because if he joins up with Chuck Schumer, he's joining up with Graham Platner, Abdul El-Sayed from Michigan, Peggy Flanagan from Minnesota. There are no reasonable Democrats left. He would be a hard left Democrat. Do people get that? Yeah, Roy Cooper is a card-carrying member of the woke mob, and he's made it very clear over his tenure as governor that he's going to fight for criminals. He's going to fight for illegal aliens. He's going to fight for men who want to play in girl sports and go in women's locker rooms more than he is the families and communities across North Carolina. And is there a debate ahead? Do you get a chance to sit down with him and call him an account on this? Because the national image is, oh, he's Jimmy Carter 2.0. And I know he's not, but that's the national image. Well, we certainly hope that we're going to have a debate. I think that that's a conversation we would welcome anywhere, anytime. But I don't necessarily know that he's going to want to have that conversation with us. Look, I think it's going to be absolutely incumbent on us. as a campaign to go out there and have a conversation because the issues that North Carolina really truly cares about, issues like the economy, issues like community safety, issues like our national security, Roy Cooper is wrong on every single one of those issues. There's only one candidate in this race. who is going to be an ally for President Trump, who's going to fight for North Carolina. Roy Cooper's going to fight for California, Illinois. He's going to fight for California in New York. He's not going to fight for the people of North Carolina. He's going to be a card-carrying member of the woke mob. Now, Michael Whatley, sometimes a natural event occurs, as did Katrina in Louisiana, that changes the state's political makeup completely because of the incredible ineffectiveness of their Democrat governor and their Democrat mayor back when Katrina. They tried to blame George W. Bush. It wasn't his fault. People finally figured that out. And the state is now a deep red state. Is there something along that line happening in Western North Carolina where... Biden fumbled the ball so badly in the hurricane? Absolutely. You think about Hurricane Helene and you think about, you know, the devastation that that storm brought to our state. Roy Cooper was not even in North Carolina when the storm hit. He was at a climate change gala up in New York. It took him several days after the storm landed to even make an appearance up in western North Carolina. And what we saw when President Trump was sworn in in January is that all of September and October, November, and December was that Roy Cooper and Joe Biden were failures in terms of responding to that storm. Since President Trump got sworn in and he asked me to help, we've brought over $9 billion.

worth of relief to western North Carolina. Roads have been rebuilt. Bridges have been rebuilt. Waste water systems, drinking water systems have been rebuilt. The Blue Ridge Parkway has been reopened. Chimney Rock and Lake Lure have been reopened. You know, we're not ready to hang out a mission accomplished sign yet, but it's very important to note that the state is definitely moving forward. These are resilient. strong communities, resilient, strong families. But Roy Cooper and Joe Biden were abject failures in terms of responding to that storm. Now, going back to another thing, Roy Cooper was against, as is Governor Stein, who replaced him. They didn't want school choice. The Republicans in the legislature jammed it down. Is school choice a winner for you, Michael Whatley? It is absolutely. You know, what every family wants is for their kids to get an education. It's part of the American dream. And we need to make sure that the families of North Carolina have the opportunity to put their kids in school. You know, I went to public schools here in North Carolina. My kids went to public schools here in North Carolina, but I support the right for every child to go forward and get the education that they need. You know, Roy Cooper, you know, he had his kids in private schools, but he doesn't want every other kid. to have that opportunity. The fact that he vetoed every single opportunity scholarship conversation in Bill that came to him, as did Josh Stein. Thankfully, the legislature in North Carolina has overridden that veto and we'll be able to move forward. All right. Now, I always like to talk to you about crime in Charlotte because whenever I see Charlotte in the headlines, it's either because of the bobcats, the Panthers, or someone's been murdered on the Charlotte transit system. Has it gotten better or worse in the last two years? Well, look, I think the fact is that Roy Cooper letting over 4,000 hardened criminals out of North Carolina prisons because he didn't want them to get COVID has definitely put the state backwards when it comes to safety. Over 2,200 of those criminals have gone on to commit crimes after they were released by Roy Cooper. Hundreds of them committing assault, assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault, sexual assaults, even rapes. You know, we've seen an analysis recently that said, in addition to DeCarlos Brown Jr., who went on to murder Arenas Zorozka in cold blood on the Charlotte Light Rail car, there are 25 others who have gone on to commit murder since Roy Cooper let him out of prisons. This is completely unacceptable. We need to make sure that criminals are behind bars where they belong, that we back the blue, and we're going to fight every day. I'm going to fight every day to keep our kids and communities safe. All right, nuts and bolts, Michael Whatley. North Carolina closes its polls pretty early. So come November, if you've won, the Republicans will have held the Senate. And we're going to know about your race before we know about any other race because you close the earliest. So people, if you want to invest in a race that can decide the entire night, that's Michael Whatley's campaign. How much do you have to raise? How is the fundraising going? The fundraising is going extremely well. We know we've got to raise a lot of money to be able to get our message out there. You know, we're hearing reports that there's going to be upwards of $600 million that will be spent on this race in North Carolina. We know that Chuck Schumer and the National Democrats are going to put hundreds of millions of dollars onto the ground here in North Carolina.

And we're going to obviously have to go out and raise the money to be able to respond. But we're also visiting every single community. We're visiting every single town, every single county to go out there and have conversations with the voters. And, you know, I firmly believe Republicans win in North Carolina when they listen to the voters. They understand the issues the voters care about and put solutions on the table. That's what we're doing every single day. So small donors matter to, I assume, a $25 of $50 donation matters to at Michaelwatley.com. Could not agree more. That really is going to be the backbone of what we're trying to accomplish with the support that we're getting in. We're happy because we've got donations that have come in from all 100 North Carolina counties. We've got donations are coming in across the country, frankly, because people understand how important this race is. We've got 53 Republican senators today. We need to make sure that we're going to have a majority in the Senate coming out of this election cycle. There's only one candidate in this race. who is going to be a conservative champion for North Carolina, who's going to fight for the America First agenda, who's going to fight for common sense. Roy Cooper is a card-carrying member of the woke mob, and he's going to vote with Roy, you know, he's going to vote with Chuck Schumer. He's going to vote with Bernie Sanders. He's going to vote with the woke mob every single time. That's not what North Carolina needs. Always good to talk to your chairman, Michael Whatley. Keep coming back. We'll keep spreading the message, and we love having you on early in the program so we can put it up there on YouTube as well. Have a great afternoon. Get to those last three counties. I don't know where they are. Who knows? North Carolina, you've got 100 counties. Who knows? But thank you for joining me, Mr. Chairman. Don't go anywhere, America. Coming up, I've got Jonathan Williams, President Alec, and their chief economist coming up next. As we look at the state of the states, stay tuned. A lot of head, including updates from the... on the U-Huitt Show. Welcome back, America. I'm Hughitt on this Wednesday. Pleased to have Jonathan Williams. He is president, chief economist of the American Legislative Exchange Council. And Jonathan, I want to start with the job numbers because you're an economist. And the number came down 172,000 in May. I think that was higher than I expected. Was it higher than you expected? I think it's great news, right? I mean, this is something clearly that surprised many of the prognosticators out there, those of us that follow it closely. It's a very robust number. It's due to several things, but, I mean, you look at corporate profits right now. They're investing back in those businesses by hiring more individuals. And, you know, I think it's some great signs. I mean, a lot of people want to take doom and gloom away from different numbers if they want to, you know, throw shade at the president or whatever else. But these are really healthy. numbers from a job creation perspective, Hugh. And we know it's not being driven by government-created jobs like we saw so much during the Biden years as well. That's an important point to remember.

I wanted to ask that specific question. Of the 172,000 jobs, do we know how many are on the government dole, which really isn't a job? Yeah, you get a paycheck, but it's a net negative on the economy. A private sector job, you're putting money into the economy. So of that 172,000, how many are we talking about in the private versus the public sector? Well, it's overwhelmingly private sector. And if you look at this trajectory since the Trump administration took office, Trump 2.0 here, you've seen a reduction in overall federal government workforce as you've seen massive improvements when it comes to the private sector. So once again, the numbers are not going to be skewed like we saw during the Biden years when both the GDP numbers, a lot of that is driven by government spending as well as the jobs numbers were driven by some of that public sector growth. You're seeing exactly the right kind of. of job growth right now. And, you know, that is, of course, driven by that evil P word, right, that the liberal left loves to hate, the profit word, right? They think that is an evil word. You know, what is it that drives job creation? It's profitability. And we see strong business profits still coming out right now. And, of course, then you have to ask yourself the question of why is that the case? I think there's a great case to be made because of the certainty in the tax code and the reduction in business tax rates because of the one big, beautiful bill. You see businesses being... the immediately expense, many of those research and development pieces and other things that are key. In addition, then, Hugh, especially for small businesses, we have seen now the first permanent tax code in more than two decades. Instead of relying on these very strange phase-out rules, that one big, beautiful bill, is so key and it doesn't get nearly enough attention, but adding certainty, which, of course, businesses need to make those very job hires that we've been talking about. Now, what does get attention is the size of people's tax returns. The average tax return went up to $3,804 per taxpayer this year. That's up 10%. Now, if that stays that way for 10 years, John, I expect a booming economy. Do you? Absolutely. I mean, we've got a great permanent tax code with lower rates. There's obviously more that we can do to reduce spending and continue to reduce rates. But I think we've got a really pro-growth tax code. We've got the business taxes back to where people are not leaving the United States strictly for tax reasons, and they're bringing jobs and more capital back. We saw that with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. We've seen it with the Trump tax cuts 2.0. And so many of the fundamentals are great. Another thing that doesn't get nearly enough attention is the deregulatory agenda that, you know, Trump won. It was 10 to 1. Every 10 new regulations repealed for every new regulation. The latest I'm hearing from the White House and from OMB, they're at something like 120 rules and regulations repealed for every new rule that they put into effect. That has a massive improvement effect on the economy and, of course, certainty for job creation and business competitiveness. You know, I'm going to have Administrator or Lee Zeldin on tomorrow from the EPA. I'll talk to them about that. Now, let's talk about one of the components of rich states, poor states. That is the signature publication of the American Legislative Exchange Council, rich states, poor states.com. If you go there, they'll send you one for free. People love, I swear this is like a magnet.

the way that moth go to light. Visitors go to rich states, poor states, they go to their state, and they look it up. We were talking about jobs. Turns out not all states are created equal when it comes to attracting new jobs. I note Exxon has moved from New Jersey to Texas. SpaceX has moved to Texas. Others like Tesla have moved to Texas. Hewlett Packard moved to Texas. Chevron moved to Texas. Why are they all going to Texas, John? Well, guess what, Hugh, freedom works. In states like Texas value freedom when they value lower taxes, limited government, better regulatory policies, and they roll up to welcome that for businesses. They actually want profitability and businesses to come and invest in their state. You contrast that with New Jersey, California, some of the states where you mentioned the businesses they're leaving. You see a radically different... philosophy from those states that are tax regulation. And it seems like they just don't want job creators anymore in places like New Jersey. And that's really a sad state of affairs. But that ExxonMobil move, and that was a move by the shareholders themselves to change in corporation states from New Jersey to Texas. And that was even after some of these shareholder proxy advisory services recommended the other decision on that, they could see through that and say Texas offers so much of a better return on investment for our shareholder value, and I think they made the wise decision. And at the end of the day, here they're voting for freedom and opportunity and business policies that work. Yesterday I had Christian Bros. on the program, Jonathan, and he is the president and chief strategy officer of Anderrol. They just built a quarter million square foot factory in Ohio, and he went through all the different... segments that go into the decision making and the state has to work to get you in, but the tax rate has to be welcoming as well. I wonder, do you think the blue states will ever figure this out? Well, you know, whether they like it or not, they're going to figure it out when they lose the jobs, right? And they can't build a wall to keep employees in the state and they can't keep a wall to keep employers in the state. And with Ohio's moves that we've talked about, with the flat tax for small businesses, just the central location of the state, if they could get right to work with, let's say, Governor Vivek Ramaswamy and Lieutenant Governor McCauley and some of the other things that will really make that state stand out more, I mean, I think, you know, as you know, Hugh, I'm a huge. fan of what Ohio can do in the years going forward after they got it right on the flat tax. All right, so let's finish with the state that's doomed. California is doomed. And they've just been embarrassed again by their election law. Spencer Pratt did not get to the finals. I'm not surprised by that, by the way. The rule of thumb is if you're not more than 10% ahead on election night, the Democrats are going to find the votes. And it's not illegal. They've set it up that way. Does that... ruin the way a state exists? Do you think that actually is a deficit for the state in attracting jobs and people to it? I mean, I think, you know, my take on it, Hugh, is, you know, whether something nefarious was going on or not, it raises the question in people's minds, right, to say, hey, if you've got another big state like Florida that several hours after the polls closed, they can be 99% counted on total ballots.

Why does it take California weeks and weeks and weeks? And it just raises the question of what might be going on. And, you know, it's not generally conservatives that are running election administration in California these days. I think it's safe to say that, Hugh. And so when conservatives say, you know, Pratt didn't get across the finish line, Hilton kept losing votes on the gubernatorial, it does just raise people's. specter that, hey, something amiss might be out there, whether it's happening or not. And I think California's got to get it together. This is kind of banana republic stuff, Hughes. Several weeks after the election, hundreds of thousands of votes not even tallied in some cases in the past. And the American Legislative Exchange Council has a model statute, does it not? We do. We have a whole new task force on election integrity and process and procedures. They encourage people to check it out. Head over to alec.org, al-a-c.org. And don't forget, get your free copy of rich states, poor states, by visiting rich states, poor states.com. Jonathan Williams, President, Chief Economist at Alec. Good to see you as always. Stay tuned to America. I'll be right back to America. I'm Hugh. It's Sarah Bedford. It's with the Washington Examiner, which you can find at D.C. Examiner.com. Sarah, I have two things to cover with you. First of all, I'm not sure if we've got planes over Iran right now or not. There are lots of mixed reports. What is your understanding? You know, Donald Trump is still, as always, playing things close to the vests. Last week, he was joking about that a ceasefire looks like both sides only more moderately shooting at each other. And then, obviously, actions over the past few days have really tested that idea of what moderate shooting at each other really looks like. But it's clear that Donald Trump... has to do something at some point to break the logjam the talks, even though it seems like once a week, he says we're so close, they're going very well. They really don't seem to be making that much progress. And at some point, the U.S. government is going to have to double down on the use of force to break through that stalemate. Well, I keep monitoring everything I can, and there are lots of maps with lots of pictures of B-52s going this way and that way, and a few reports of explosions in Iran, but nothing that I can, you know, sink my teeth into. If you see anything, send me a note. Second subject. They got everyone from Congress into the Oval today because they signed this big second reconciliation, which again, Speaker Johnson pulls a rabbit out of the house. How surprised were you that he pulled it off? You know, it was going to happen eventually. The Democrats had exhausted all their options for blocking it. But it's actually surprised me that it took this long. For every Republican, this should have been an easy yes vote from the beginning. It's not a controversial thing even for moderates to fund immigration enforcement.

It kind of shows that Donald Trump has spent a lot of his political capital on other things like the war in Iran, and he doesn't have as much leverage with that thin majority in Congress. So looking ahead to the third reconciliation vehicle that really needs to get done at some point because it will include defense funding for the Iran war, that's a difficult road because... Trump has spent all that capital and look how hard a time the White House had getting done, what should have been a layup in immigration enforcement funding. I want to, though, celebrate one thing. I think this guarantees that the wall will be finished. Does it not that they can, they have two and a half years now to finish the entirety of the wall if it's not already done? What's your understanding about that? I think it means enough money will be there to finally seal the southern border with a physical barrier. Yes, and it's not just this bill that provided funding for that sort of thing. You had some in the one big beautiful bill. The Trump administration has been putting money away for that since they got back into office, and they had already made pretty substantial progress during the first Trump administration, and that wasn't something that the Biden administration could reverse, like it could just choosing not to enforce policies at the border. At least that's one fulfilled campaign promise that looks likely to get done by the end of Trump's term. Well, you know, it's an amazing promise. I have been, since before you got into the business, I've been begging. for a wall with a road or a double-sided fence along the border because a physical manifestation of an inward conviction is what you need to deter immigration. They've had almost zero people across the border compared to 20, 25 million people under Joe Biden. Do you think that issue carries over into 2028, Sarah Bedford? Well, absolutely, because Democrats haven't really confronted the question of what they believe immigration enforcement should look like. For years under Joe Biden, their policy was that everyone who wanted to come to the United States should be able to do so, regardless of their background, regardless of whether they fit into any of the existing legal categories, qualifying for asylum, for example. It was unfettered. immigration into the United States. That's what Democrats stood for for years. And that turned out to be massively unpopular with the American people. It costs Democrats the presidency likely. It's one of the huge reasons why everyone was so dissatisfied with the Biden administration and couldn't get on board with Kamala Harris. Democrats right now, all they're talking about is their opposition to the way Trump has carried out immigration enforcement, but they still don't have their own consensus on what it should look like. And everything that came before now, the unfettered immigration piece of it, that's not something that Democrats can get behind again if they want to regain power in Washington. Yeah, I want to remind people, the great migration that began in 1880 and went for about 40 years was a total of 20 million people. Joe Biden's.

Well, right now our website's having trouble dealing with the deluge of acceptances of our special deal, which you can get at Commentary.org slash offer in 1995 for first-time subscribers for a year, an offer we have never made before. But thank you for asking you. Well, I think it is actually a remarkable deal, and there's one, maybe two or three magazines left in America worth reading on a monthly basis. Commentary is one of them. John, I listened to today. I listened to yesterday back to back because I'd missed yesterday. And you had Jonathan Shanzar on today and the regular gang on today. And then the president has this presser in the Oval where he says, let me read you the quotes because the quotes are pretty amazing. He says, we're going to be attacking them, attacking them very hard. We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along. They keep playing us for suckers. Iran is all talking no action. They've taken too long to negotiate a deal. That would have been great for them. Now they will have to pay the price. How do you read that? How do you hear that? I hear it great. I hope he means it. I don't trust that he does necessarily. He's been very bipolar about this for the last month. I mean, I think somebody tallied up 37 times in which he has said that we won the war already. But it is very interesting that he used the language that they're playing us for suckers because they're not playing us for suckers. They're playing him. for a sucker. Maybe they're playing Jared and Steve Witkoff for suckers. But it's not like America is the sucker here. It was the decision to go with the ceasefire and to string. along the idea that we should not be engaged in kinetic action against Iran that has allowed them to reconstitute some part of their missile program, it would appear, since they are firing missiles with relative impunity, though, you know, at least toward Israel, the 10 that were fired toward Israel were intercepted. So... We have basically sat there while they are digging stuff out and getting ready to make trouble for us. And I just don't see how the president doesn't respond. He seems so eager to get himself out of this mess that he's gotten himself into that he's been forbearing. And if he now understands that he's being played for a sucker, what else can he do but crush them under his heel until they stay uncle? That's what I think. And I think when you come to the conclusion, the giveaway phrase to me is we're being tap, tap, tapped along. He has used that phrase before whenever he is getting frustrated with a negotiating partner. It's a land of real estate.

phrase where people change a little term over here and a little term over there because they don't have the money to close the deal or they don't have the second payment to make the payment or they just want to walk on the deal and they're dealing on the side so they tap you along like a blind man with a cane tap tap tap tap when he uses that language i think he's serious now how serious admiral mark montgomery where admiral montgomery's retired was on fox this morning jack keen and he are the two guys i listened to and montgomery said we can go to 400 missions a day in a moment's notice. That's what I would like to see. Is that what you'd like to see? I'd like to see an effective effort to bring the Iranians to heal. So I don't know what the numbers are. I don't know what our capabilities are. I don't know how much of our defensive weaponry, for example, we have depleted. That's the talk of the world, is that we went a whole bore and we haven't really been. keeping up with how much defensive weaponry we need to reconstitute as, you know, over the last five to ten years. So we've used it and we need to have more of it and make sure that we're defended against other possible attacks. All that being said, we decided unilaterally to end our offensive military operations, called it a ceasefire. said the ceasefire terms were the opening of the strait. Iranians didn't open the strait, and we continue to use the language of ceasefire while they fired at Kuwait, while they fired at Saudi Arabia, and now this week when they fired at Israel. And clearly somebody in the Iranian high leadership is negotiating. Apparently, it's Abbas Araghchi, the head of the parliament or the prime minister. I can't remember what his title is. But he's not in charge there. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is in charge there. And he may be negotiating until the cows come home and they're not listening to him. And who knows whether he's doing this in order to tap, tap, tap us along or whether he actually genuinely won some kind of a deal to. get to escape, to let Iran escape from the noose that we are tightening around Iran's neck with our blockade against Hormuz, which is having significant economic impact on them. Someone on commentary today or yesterday said that we have allowed them to dig their missiles out and present them as targets again so that the delay may not have been that bad if they reopen the caverns of missiles and drones and brought them to the surface, now they're in a position. And it sounded, I think you're the one who said, Israel just kicked the crap out of them in one night's strike. They hit everything that meant anything to them.

Right. So if that's true, if they are pulling things out, we can see it from the sky. Like we have obviously, we are watching everything that they do everywhere and we can see it and we can move on it. And we have so far decided not to do that in order not to interfere with this deal that Trump thinks that he can get. But if he's. If he holds to the things that he said today, we're going back to war. But Hugh, you know as well as I do that he's been very inconstant these last four or five weeks. And is calling something a ceasefire that's not a ceasefire and privileging the idea of a deal over the need to win this war. And so I, you know, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating in the next 24 to 48 hours, whether we actually do. My view, John, is he suffers politically a great deal at the polls in November if he is in constant between now and November. That his base will show up and support Republicans if he's fighting to win. but they will not turn out to show up. Because it's still the Reagan Hawks. They're still out there. There's still 90% of the party. He did add to the party substantially. I don't think the restrains make up a significant portion of the party at all. I think that's overstated. But there are a whole bunch of people my age and your age and younger who just don't want the United States to quiver. We don't like inconstancy. You agree with that assessment? I mean, I hope you're right, but I don't really understand the makeup of the electorate in the way that I think I once did. It's very hard to read the American electorate these days in a lot of ways. But I do think that we know when a job is finished and when a job goes unfinished. We are in the middle of an unfinished job, and that can't help anybody. That cannot help him. Okay. I want one last question, John, which is Graham Platner. I think anti-Semitism has infected the entire Democratic Party. I think it's getting to lethal dosages. I think it will impact every Democrat running in every race. Do you agree with that assessment? Because this guy got a Nazi tattoo and he talks like a Nazi. The thing that's horrifying to me is that the anti-Semitism that Graham Platner and some others have displayed has become, for in their fundraising and in their organization inside the Democratic Party, a feature and not a bug. It is something that is.

that is drawing people's attention and drawing their support of not repelling them. And it will be up to the American people as an aggregate, meaning when in November the entire electorate has to make these decisions in places like Maine and elsewhere in some congressional races and in New Jersey and elsewhere, it will be up to them to make it clear whether or not this country is taken a step. backward into, you know, infamous Jew hatred. And I do not believe that that is the nature of this country. I am with you in thinking that this is a disease that the Democratic Party has caught that will make it sicker and sicker and will harm it and not help it. But we are going to have to see how this plays out, unfortunately, because they are one of the two. major parties in the country and they will need a reckoning, but the American people are going to have to give them the reckoning in the firm of how they vote. Remember. Graham Platner in Maine, Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, Flanagan and Minnesota, Hawami and New Jersey. There are a half dozen races, but every Democrats got to understand their party is being poisoned, and they've got to act to save it. We don't want a one-party system. We want two parties. John Podhorst, always good to talk to. You follow him on Exit J. Podhorst. Remember. Commentary, first-time subscribers only, 1995 for a year. That is the best magazine offer in America. It's one of the handful of magazines left in America that's worth the price of the subscription. Commentary.org, 1995 for a year of subscription. First-time subscribers only. Stay tuned. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt, Noah C. Rothman, Senior Writer for National Review, author of the brand new bestseller, Blood and Progress, which if you're watching on the Salem News Channel, is beautifully positioned over Noah's right shoulder and on his left arm. So we get both on both sides. There they are. Blood and progress. Blood and progress, blood and progress. Always be closing. Always be closing, always be selling. Let's talk about Graham Platner since he is blood in progress. We'll come back to Iran at the end. Graham Platner won last night, but the only one was 72% against the non-campaigning 79-year-old governor who had suspended her campaign. If you can only get 70% of the Democratic hardcore turnout, I think he is a fatally flawed candidate. What do you think, Noah? Well, I think he's a fatally flawed candidate, too, but I'm not sure that those results reinforce that impression for me. 72%. He was pulling it around 76% before the latest allegations, the alleged physical abuse allegations hit the wire. And if that costs you all of 4% in a Democratic primary, I'm not impressed by the sudden moral recalculation that has been imposed on the Democratic voting base in Maine.

Have you listened to his incoherent statements about the economy? We've been spending so much time on Graham Platner's many imperfections, his many violent tendencies, his many outbursts, his abuse of women, his mocking of veterans, et cetera, that we have overlooked the fact he's incoherent. He's really a dummy. I would love to hear it. I have not heard his economic pronouncements. I've heard his policy platforms, which are very progressive populist, Bernie Sanders style, nationalize American industry so that we can spread the wealth around that sort of economic literacy. But I wouldn't be surprised if there's more to come. Well, he's got to sit down for a real interview. All right, Donald Trump this morning tells the Wall Street Journal, we're going to be attacking Iran very hard, attacking them very hard. We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along. They keep playing us for suckers. Iran is all talk and no action. They've taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them. Now they will have to pay the price. The president also announced that over the last many weeks, at night, we have shipped. Hundreds of millions of barrels of oil out of the Strait of Hormuz under the nose of the alleged Iranian sentinels. What do you make of all that? Noah Rothman. Well, the transit of the ships through the Persian Gulf, introducing more oil into the markets, that's very good. And it demonstrates that the regime, or the administration rather did not abandon Operation Liberty, the escort mission had begun during this Operation Freedom. Thank you. During the ceasefire period, even though it looked like those had slowed, it turns out they were going on covertly, which is very good news. Likewise, the strikes that we saw last night. were probably the biggest of this very hot ceasefire. They struck about 20 targets, all of the military in nature, also very valuable. And how Iran responded, I thought, was actually very intriguing to me, because previously during the ceasefire, they had done what had produced maximum effect for them, which were strikes on civilian infrastructure, civilian targets around the Gulf region. Last night, they, as far as I know, struck at or launched missiles at U.S. military installations in and around the region and Jim Jordan and Bahrain and elsewhere. Perhaps attempting to communicate to the U.S. and the Israelis that their posture is not escalatory. It's actually a little bit more de-escalatory. What really freaked out the White House in my view. Was the threat posed by Iranian ballistic missiles to civilian infrastructure in the region combined with the crunch that we're experiencing with our inventory of exquisite interceptor munitions? That seems to me like the most rational explanation for the president's reluctance to go back to high-tempo combat operations. I thought we've had to go back to high-tempo combat operations since mid-April at the very latest. But it's been a prolonged period here. And the Iranians have dug out.

The Iranians have regrouped, reinforced their positions. They're prepared to fire a lot of these missiles that they were firing before. So if we go back to high-tempo operations, we probably will have to have a posture that is prolonged and sustained longer than maybe the administration wants. Barack Ravid has a report out today that. indicates U.S. officials are saying it's going to be, if it comes, it's going to be short. It's going to be significant and heavy, but it's going to be short. And I don't know if it can be short anymore. First, we have to disable all across the board, Iran's offensive capabilities, which means first we have to disable their defensive capabilities. And a lot of ways we're going back to the conditions that prevailed in early March. And that means that there's going to be a couple of weeks of fighting ahead. And I hope the president is prepared for it. The president also mentioned bridges and power plants. I hope he follows through on that. I understand it's got to be dual used to be a legitimate target in war, but there are a lot of power plants powering a lot of a siege and IRGC facilities. There are a lot of bridges that allow them to move. But I also heard on commentary, either today or yesterday, I think it was Jonathan Chanzer said. In the two-month ceasefire, Iran has dug out a lot of their missiles and drones that were in the deep caverns, and they brought them above ground. And it was John's argument, I think it was John, saying, those are just our new target list. And, you know, that's kind of crafty if we did that. Yeah, and one of the, my response to a lot of the reports that we've been getting over the last two months, which have been, you know, heavy with somber assessments of the degree to which we have left so much of the Iranian offensive capability intact, you know, they're like, oh, we have 70% of the, they still have 70% of their missile stocks. Well, they had 100% of their missile stocks at the outset of the war. And those. the firing of those missiles slowed to a trickle, not because their inventories were depleted, but because we were interdicting it. We were disabling their launch vehicles. We were shooting at whatever targets we could find, intercepting the missiles that we could, hitting those that launched, closing off the caverns where they are with missile strikes. So we could do that again. I wouldn't be surprised if we did. I think we have to. However, I do want to know what these strikes are designed to achieve strategically. I know what they're designed to achieve tactically to grade Iran's position even further and force them to the negotiating table. But the strategic goal is to force them into an agreed upon settlement. And does that happen with strikes on infrastructure? Does that happen with strikes on offensive capabilities? Is that the sort of thing you have to engineer by disabling and dismantling and neutralizing the Iranian leadership cast in so far as you can? It seems to me like the target list has to be pretty big because I think all of those would.

contribute to the diminution of Iran's resolve to resist the American and Israeli onslaught, which means there's going to be a very big target list, and it means it's going to be a long operation. I hope this administration knows what it's getting into, because it does need a resolution to this war. The status quo that has prevailed over the last two months has been pretty intolerable politically. if not economically and militarily. Let's talk about politics, Noah. I think you're going to have to go after the IRGC leadership in order to get to find the guy down the ladder who's willing to talk to you in good faith. And there might be a lot of strikes before we get to that guy. Okay, we got a minute left. I believe that if the president prosecutes the war to the fullest, and it takes two months, even three months, even four months, but it's showing real results, and they're crippling the Iranian regime, and he reports back. that his base will support him. I do not believe there's any political downside in that. I believe there's enormous political downside in not finishing the job last minute to you. Yeah, I agree with that. The worst case scenario for this president would be a stalemated conflict that persists in the status quo that prevails today indefinitely, where it's just kind of a simmering conflict, sometimes hot, sometimes not, but generally a drag on the economy. And an embarrassment for the president, frankly, his pronouncements, table-pounding pronouncements about how a reign of destruction is imminent on Iran and that never materializes has sapped him of political credibility and capital. You've got to get it back. He can get it back in 48 hours. And maybe those 48 hours had begun, we don't know. Noah C. Rothman, author of Blood in Progress, Blood and Progress. Go out to Amazon.com right now and get it or at Barnes & Noble. Any bookstore near you will have Blood and Progress. Read up on it. You'll know everything about Graham Platner, El Cyan, Plannigan, Payama, all of them. Stay tuned, America. I'm huge. Bethany Mandel. She's here now. Bethany joins us from a remote location with 14 children. Hello, Bethany. Are you alive? Somehow, yes. All right. I want people to know the background here. You're on a mom's gathering, a vacation with moms, and you took all 14 children with the moms. That isn't a mom vacation. That's a gift to the husbands. Can we put that out there? Do they know they owe you a gift card and like a staycation somewhere? One day, we have, there's a lot of little kids here, and so they're still pretty attached to moms. So if we want to get together, we have to bring along the kids. And it's been really fun. So, no complaint. How do you feed? What do you feed 14 children? I've had, I have seven grandchildren soon to be eight. When they all come, we can kind of, because the oldest is in seventh grade and the youngest is one, we can kind of figure out a menu. 14's got to be an age range.

Yes. So the oldest is almost 13 and the youngest is, I think, two. So they're eating in shifts, eating off of paper plates, and it's just a giant buffet. And, you know, some people are just eating noodles. Some people are eating the whole, you know, whole thing. And we're just doing it. How many pizzas thus far? No pizzas. We have like a gourmet chef here doing, not really, but she's been producing incredible stuff. We had pulled tacos yesterday with fresh made guacamole and tomato salad. It's been, I feel like I'm on vacation with practically a home chef. Well, you know, if I had 14 children to take care of, they would eat pizza and nothing but pizza and they would like it. And they would like it, by the way. All right, let's turn to Graham Platner. You have been quoted as a corroborating person for the victim, Leslie Fefield. Am I saying her name correctly? Lindsay. Lindsay, Fifeield. Lindsay, yeah. Okay. I believe her, I believe her for reasons. They have nothing to do with you corroborating her, but because of the fact, I covered domestic abuse for 10 years in L.A. on the nightly news, and we know the signs of domestic abuse, including repeat offenses, false imprisonment, unlawful imprisonment, harassment, all that. How is she doing in the aftermath of being courageous enough to put her name on the story? She's good. I mean, I think that this was a really stressful thing. This was her worst relationship by far, and so this is dredging a lot up. There was a free press story that came out yesterday that I think was well done and gave her a fair voice. But one thing that I want to note is that she didn't want to come forward. The New York Times chased her and then did her dirty. So I think it was a catch and kill. I think that that was their intention. Graham Platner campaign is, is doing, you know, is spreading Apo about her, and they're calling it partisan. But the reality is, like, the stuff that he's lied about is really wild. He has lied that they never dated when she has so much corroborating evidence. I remember him, her talking about him for years. And the other claim is that he didn't know what his tattoo was. How did I know what his tattoo was in August if he claims that he didn't know? He's just brazenly pathologically lying. He's a bad guy. And I hope he doesn't make it to the Senate because this should be a bridge too far. I think he's a sociopath.

When you go after Marcus Lestrell and Chris Kyle and Tommy, I think Fields is the third veteran, he's attacked three American heroes. There's a bit of envy at work there. There's a bit of psychiatry that he needs to be done. So I think he's a psychopath. But I want to turn back to what the New York Times did. You used the term catch and kill. That's what David Pecker would do at the National Enquirer, pay off, someone sign an NDA. What the New York Times did was trap and tame. They sanitized it. They trapped Lindsay into talking to them, led her to believe that they would be publishing other names, and then they tamed the story by the use of their adjectives. Does anyone not see that that it was trapping and taming a story? I don't know. I mean, they spent 11 paragraphs talking about his, her background. No one has spent that amount of time looking into his background and actually getting to the answers. And then they downplayed everything that they said and they said, you know, that she couldn't corroborate this. And the important thing about the free press piece was that she provided corroborating witnesses. And that was they, the New York Times did not call those people to corroborate. And so they said she couldn't corroborate, but they didn't try to corroborate. And so that was an important thing that the free press accomplice was actual journalism. And so I think that she got her story across, and I think it's an important one. It's a very important one, and I want main voters especially, but across the United States, we've got Syed in Michigan, Flanagan, and Minnesota, Hawami, and New Jersey. We have a bunch of anti-Semitic nuts running in the Democratic Party, and anti-Semitism is deep, and violence is deep. And I just think a general derangement has overcome Democrats. Have you followed this pattern? It's just derangement. Yeah. Yeah, and it's not just anti-Semitism. It's pure anti-Western values. They're anti-American. It's all the same ecosystem of hate. And they want to destroy this country. And they're not hiding that fact. They are members of the DSA and they want to deconstruct what our country is and reconstruct it in the image of socialism. And that's why these candidates... have all been recruited because they would play to those impulses. And it's really scary. And they're raising money from Act Blue, the lead of which testified in Congress and invoked the Fifth Amendment repeatedly today because Act Blue is simply a funnel for foreign money into left-wing Democrats who hate America. Bethany Mandel, enjoy feeding 14 in the hour ahead. I'm glad it's not me, and that it's you, but say hello to all the kids for us from the Hugh Hewitt show. Stay tuned to America. I'll be right back. Follow Bethany on next at Bethany, Sean Dark. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Pleased to welcome back for the first time since he's become a father comfortably smug. Smug, congratulations. Your dad. How's it going?

Thank you so much. Honestly, it's the best thing that's ever happened to me. Every single day with my baby boy is the best day in my life. Well, I can't tell because you're wearing your shades. Are you getting any sleep? Are your eyes bloodshot and are bags underneath there? My wife and I are working valiantly to get as many hours a night as possible. It's a struggle, but it's worth it. Okay. I just congratulations from everyone. They were very nice to you when you were gone, by the way. I thought they were too nice to you. You were taken what appeared to be like federal employee leave from Ruthless. You were gone for like months at a time, so I'm glad you're back. Smog, I got to start. I'm talking to you from Maine. I'm up in Maine to watch what's going on. This, Graham Platner, I've seen a lot of bad candidates in my life. I mean, a lot of bad candidates. He is Christine O'Donnell. He is there. I'm not a witch. Do you think he has any chance at all, given how crazy the Democrats are? So that's the thing is I think you're right. And on the show, Holmes made the statement, and I agree with it, that Graham Platner is likely the worst Senate candidate we've ever had, we've ever seen. And I believe that diagnosis 100%. And the problem here, though, is institutionally, the Democrat Party is so rotten to the core, where they have no uniting... beliefs anymore. They are not about any sort of policies. It's how you end up with things like, you know, gays for Gaza, where it's seemingly disparate groups united under one banner. And the only cause they believe in is power. So if you have an individual who has a swastika tattooed on them. whose documented history is of heinous thing after heinous thing, who's lied about his entire personality. He's not an oyster farmer when your only client is your mother's restaurant. You're not an oyster farmer. You're just a baby living on parents' welfare. His entire persona is fake. Everything about him is a lie. But at the end of the day, if that's how Chuck Schumer can try to get a majority, that's how Chuck Schumer is going to try to get a majority. Well, they will throw in, and they'll raise a ton of money from Act Blue. But don't you feel dirty if you contribute money to this guy? The Lindsay Lify, I hope I'm saying her name correctly, his old girlfriend who said, yeah, that's a Nazi tattoo. And we've got the text. We've got him slandering Marcus Lutrell, Chris Pyle. We've got him slandering the American vet who was shot because he took fire away from his platoon. We've got the Reddit comments. We don't know what's on kick yet. Don't you feel kind of like that's not where you want to send your act blue money?

That's the thing is so, you know, there's these reports which came out and it's been confirmed that he was on an app, which has been, you know, called like an app for super predators to prey upon children. He had an active profile on there. This just really shows there is no line left that the Democrats are unwilling to cross for their quest for power. They do not believe anymore in any of of. the lines that they fundraised off of, the believe all women, everything that they tried to use to bork our Supreme Court justices, they don't believe in any of that. What they believe in is power, and Graham Platner just exposes that in technicolor. All right, now that that's exposed, he only got 72% of the vote last night in Maine. And so he is not, he can't even appeal to the Democratic base. Does Susan Collins have to worry about him? She is a phenomenal servant of Maine. She's been there for 30 years. She's made 10,000 consecutive votes. I don't think I've done 10,000 anything in my life except radio broadcast. What do you, is she beatable or does she just ignore him at this point? I think the thing is that Every single election, I don't care what any polling shows, you have to run as hard as possible. You know, history is littered with candidates who took it for granted and end up getting surprised. And the last thing she would want to happen is get surprised. She should take him completely serious. I know her campaign is. And I know Republicans are taking Graham Platner very seriously as they should. The entire mainstream media has essentially been doing what they can to try to cover for Graham Platner. Even this latest New York Times article. exposing all of his misdeeds. As that individual, you mentioned, Lindsay Fifield was, she came out and said that the New York Times basically ran cover for Graham Platner. They let her out to dry saying that this is an individual who's worked for conservative organizations to try to give the suggestion that, oh, you know, this is probably a biased account. They didn't give. the names or the stories behind the other women who were willing to come forward like they had promised Lindsay that they would. So the mainstream media is going to do everything they can to try to deliver a Senate majority to the Democrats. We can't take this race for granted, and I don't think Susan Collins is. It used to be that the National Enquirer would run the catch-and-kill story. They would get an NDA and they would kill the story. This was a trap and tame story. So they put it out in a sanitized version trying not to hurt him, but I think the weight is too heavy. Second political race, your own home state of North Carolina. Most people consider that to be the most vulnerable. I had on Chairman Michael Whatley earlier today. What's your feel on the ground? And can we register young smug to vote?

Unfortunately, he can't vote yet, but I'm going to be voting in that. And I want all North Carolinians to get out there and vote for Walt Lee for Senate. This is the thing is right now you have a North Carolina which has given up back-to-back statewide wins to Democrats who ran the Abigail Spanberger playbook of. Right. Run like you're a moderate, but when you get into office, you know, go as far left as you possibly can. Thank God that we have on a state level a Republican supermajority that. Michael Whatley helped engineer when he was running the North Carolina GOP, did an outstanding job holding the line against these insane left-wing policies, which is why North Carolina is a wonderful state to live in. Unfortunately, now you have one of these former governors who has a statewide name recognition running for that Senate seat now that's being vacated by Thom Tillis. We need to make sure Michael Whatley wins because what you're seeing happening across this country, what you see just up north in Virginia with Abigail Spanberger, can happen in North Carolina. All right. Last question, Smug, as we speak, it appears as though the B-52s are on their way to, if not already, over Iran. I'll quote President Trump to you, we're going to be attacking them, attacking them very hard. We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along. They keep playing us for suckers. Iran is all talking, no action. They've taken too long negotiated deal that would have been great for them. Now they have to pay the price. What do you want to see done here, Smug? I want to see whatever is necessary to reopen the Strait of Ormuz and remove Iran as a threat. If they have not been negotiating in good faith, President Trump has given them more than enough opportunities to come to the table and get a reasonable deal done, and he is completely right. If they're going to be foolish, if they're going to shoot at an American aircraft, they're going to pay the price, and they're going to have to learn the hard way. Now, we have always, when the first president set out, we're going to hit their bridges and power plants. We heard the left go, you can't hit bridges and power plants. Those are civilian things. In fact, we had every bridge and power plant we could in Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Should we hit power plants and bridges if they have any use to the regime? I think so. At this point, that regime is essentially just a terrorist regime that uses illegal oil sale money to maintain control across that country in a patronage system. That's why, unfortunately, it's been so difficult to displace. President Trump needs to do whatever it takes to get them out of power, reopen the street.

Always good to talk to Smug. Comfortably Smug on X. Listen to the fellows on The Routless Podcast. On Monday, Thursday, Friday, or Tuesday, Thursday, Thursday, Friday. Come right back to the Hugh Hewitt Show. Congressman Baumgartner is next. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt as promised. A new guest on the Hugh Hewitt show, Congressman Michael Baumgartner. He represents Washington State in its fifth district. That's out in the eastern part of the state. Congressman is also on the Foreign Affairs Committee as well as a couple other committees, but I heard him on School of War a couple weeks back with Aaron McLean. I said, I want to talk to him. So, Congressman, thank you for joining me. I appreciate you're making time. Before we get to the Singapore conference, what you were talking to Aaron about. Your comments on President Trump's remarks today, that we were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along. They keep playing us for suckers. We're going to be hitting them, attacking them very hard, and Iran is all talking no action. They've taken too long to negotiate a deal. It would have been great for them. Now they will have to pay the price. What do you think? Well, first, let me say, Hugh, thank you so much for the invitation to be on your show. I've been a longtime big Hugh Hewitt fan, so this is a real honor, and I'm delighted that you want to talk about. Ronnie and terrorist regime is the IRCG. And, you know, like they've been at war with America for nearly 50 years, have killed scores of Americans and others across the Middle East. And them having a nuclear weapon would be like Adolf Hitler having a nuclear weapon or Osama Bin Laden have a nuclear weapon. And we can't allow that to happen. But these guys are dug in and they're tough. But the good thing is we have a lot of options. And in my view, we control the timetable that we have leverage over them that they don't have over us. So I think it's a for President Trump to take action right now. But I also know that we have the timetable and the leverage and so that he can be strategic in what comes next. So Congressman Baumgartner, it appears as though we are striking now. We don't know yet because I don't have clearances. You might have clearances. If we do begin not reprisal strikes, such as followed the downing of the appellate. I was up here just for a little. But if we go after them hard, do you want them to finish the job or do you want them back off and give them another lane for negotiation? Well, our first interest is making sure they don't have a nuclear weapon. And, you know, it's good that their nuclear material is now under a mound of dirt, but it's still there. So our first interest is getting that material. And the second interest would be taking away their motivation to build that material, but that then gets into regime change. And I think, you know, we need to see eventually, ideally, we'd see some sort of Anwar Sadat. type character come to the four in Iran. Of course, you know, that was the Egyptian leader who was a radical for a long time and then decided after the 1973 war to start to make peace, at least an accommodation between Egypt and Israel. So that person is not present there, but...

as long as there's that willingness from that radical IRCG that's command. So obviously, regime change is a longer process in Iran. Ideally, and I think the vast majority of the Iranian and the Persian people are compatible with the West and modernity. Certainly their diaspora and their immigrant community here in the U.S. have been very good Americans, and there's a real potential there. But we do have this, you know, between 10 to 20 percent rump of very hardline Shia messianic. jihadists. Of course, not all Shias are like that, but the ones that are running Iran. So, you know, we have to see what the options are there. We had hoped after the significant protests when there were up to 20 to 40,000 Iranians that were willing to fight and be killed by the Iranian regime in the name of protest. We had hoped that that regime was closer to toppling over than it appears to have been now. But I think, you know, a regime change is going to be more of a long-term goal there. All right. Now, Mark Tuvitz and his friends over at the Center for the Defense of Democracy, I'm going to guess you listen to them or read them when you can. Yeah. They're worried about Pickax Mountain. Have you had any briefing on whether or not we've done anything to Pickack Mountain, which is deeper than Fodor, which President Trump did obliterate. But Pickax Mountain, as far as I can tell, we haven't hit it yet. Well, I think we have a lot of confidence what the Iranians have and what the Iranians talk about. Remember, this is the ability of Israel to understand and know the locations, the whereabouts of that regime. You know, it's perhaps the most compromised regime in the country. So I think we have a lot of confidence. by a lot of the discussion about the negotiations. And, you know, I always have a lot of, you know, my provision is before the negotiations begin. So, you know, I won't get in any specifics on Pickax Mountain. I would just say that I think we have confidence that we have a pretty good sense. We know what the Iranians think and know. All right, don't go anywhere, America. I'm coming right back with Congressman Michael Baumgartner, right after these messages. Stay tuned. We're going to talk about FISA, and we're going to talk about the Singapore Defense Conference with the congressman from Western Washington, Eastern Washington. We return to Hugh Hewitt. Now, I want to take a moment to tell you about our great sponsor, Consumer Cellular. They have a brand new offer, so I want you to listen carefully to this. You've probably seen the headlines are worth your latest sell bill. Big wireless is raising rates again. Well, you can switch to consumer cellular right now and get $200 off your bill by going to consumercellular.com slash hue and use a promo code, Hugh 200. That's right, Hugh Hewitt-UGH 200. And when you switch, you'll get the same coverage as big wireless carriers, just not the coverage that's anything other than high quality. Are you tired of your wireless company telling you have to talk to an AI chat box or even pay 10 bucks to talk to someone when paying your bill? That's happening now, really. With consumer cellular, you'll talk to an actual human being based right here in the United States who will help you every step of the way when you switch.

For a limited time, if you're over 50 as well, you can get $200 off your bill when you switch two unlimited lines. That's two lines of unlimited talk, texting data for $60 a month, plus $200 off. Hurry, the extra $200 off your bill will not last long. This offer ends June 14th. Visit consumercellular.com slash you. Use the promo code. Hugh, 200, or call 1-800-4-1-41-44, 1-800-4-1-4-4-454, 1-800-4-1-4-4-4-4-54. Welcome back, America. I'm Duke Hewitt. Michael Baumgartner has stayed with me. Congressman, when I was 25 to 30 and you were like 5 to 10, I would run the warrants for the Attorney General to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. I'd review them, give him the AG, sign them, we'd send them over. That's all based on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and it's based on Section 702. We need that. Is the Congress going to reauthorize it? I hope we do. And I think, you know, to my Republican colleagues, we need to remember that some that have a hesitancy that, you know, nobody was under more pressure from the surveillance state than President Trump. But he was elected by the American people to be our commander in chief. And we as Republicans should have confidence in him to use, to understand how to use this tool responsibly. And so, you know, in our toolkit of our national security apparatus, we need to make sure that's an available tool. Obviously, the Democrats are playing politics with the issue at the moment, but there still are a lot of dangerous folks out there. You know, I do also serve on the Judiciary Committee in addition to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. And in fact, I'm having dinner with Jim Jordan tonight. So we talk a lot about this issue. And Chairman Jim Jordan, who has led some real reforms to make sure that FISA is used responsibly. also supports the president's position. So, you know, I think that should give confidence to some of my Republican friends to have a little hesitancy at the moment to remember who our president is in the situation that we face from Islamic terrorists and others. Well, very good. Greet the congressman for me. Remember to say O.H. Underware, Scarlet and Gray, because he is from the great state of Ohio. Now, let's switch over to Singapore conference. I was fascinated by your conversation with Aaron because it made me think, you know, we usually think U.S. versus China one-on-one. But it's really the U.S. plus Japan, plus South Korea, plus Singapore, plus Taiwan, plus the Philippines, and maybe Indonesia and Malaysia. What did you learn there about what China really looks out in seas? Because I don't think they look out and see America. I think they look out and see a bunch of people hostile to their adverse intent. Well, China certainly wants to have bilateral relations with all of those countries outside of the U.S. because then they're the dominant player. But as you point out, if America is active in the region, we are a Pacific power and we need to make it cleared repeatedly to the Chinese and those are other Asian countries that we are Pacific power and we intend to remain a Pacific power because when we deal with them collectively, it's much more challenging for the Chinese to be the hegemon or the bully.

You know, as we talked about on that podcast, you know, Asia, while Europe is a lot of land issues, Asia is primarily sea lane issues. And there are countries like the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and others that have challenges with China in the South China Sea, what land or waterways that the Chinese claim to be their own, which we would like to see to remain open. And, of course, the Chinese would also like to try to push America out of that region and what we call the first island. chain, which would be Japan, Taiwan, down in the Philippines, they would like to push us back to Guam and Hawaii, where they think it should be our sphere of influence. But those countries are looking to see what America's future is and what we are determined to do. They have a lot of questions as we secure the Western Hemisphere. under President Trump's national security strategy, does that mean that we are ceding Asia to China? And so we wanted to make clear that we are not, and it maintains a key area of our interest. But you're right that a multi-country approach gives us more options versus the Chinese. I would say also, you know, those countries really understand that China is really dealing with the Chinese Communist Party, and what really matters to them is control of the system. And they do less, the Chinese Communist Party does less well with ambiguity. any uncertainty, but also honor and face and respect really matter a lot. So everybody should get a chance to go to the Cichanga Dialogues, the Singapore Defense Forum, if they can, but you really can learn a lot in a short order of time. All right, so I want to close by talking to you about Bremerton. You're from Washington State, your district doesn't have Bremerton, but Bremerton is one of the places, one of the very few places that our carriers can put in and out of and can be based out of. The new Navy plan that was released has our carrier force going from 11 to 9. Did that catch you by surprise because that's not how a superpower acts? Well, It does. You know, there are some, you know, we need to make sure that we aren't looking at equipment. We're looking at capabilities. And, of course, what a carrier does allows us to project force around the globe. And we need to continue to project force around the globe to protect sea lanes, protect trade, and make sure that our allies know that we're there. And so, you know, I wouldn't get to the, the first issue is the why behind the aircraft carriers. And then as technology, autonomous systems, other type of. if C-Lanes develop what is the best way to develop those capabilities. So I really first and foremost care about the Y and the capability more than the mechanism. But you're right, Bremerton's an amazing place. Our aircraft carriers have been extremely important for America's national defense since the early 1940s and are continuing going to have a big role because we have to project force. And if we don't, those Asian countries will hedge. And what that also means is very likely they'll get nuclear weapons, which makes a whole other conversation. the world gets a lot more dangerous as well, too. Okay, let's close on politics. Not a lot of Washington state people on this program over its 25 years, soon to be 26. That's because it's a blue state, except for your part of the state, geographically half the state. Any hope on the horizon there that Washington can avoid going the way of California?

Well, we're fighting to make sure, you know, of the eight years, I was in the state Senate. I was actually the majority for six of them. We beat, I beat a Democrat incumbent, and we had a good coalition. We got good members that fit their district, and we didn't do stupid things. We think we can win a great chance of picking up a Republican seat in southwest Washington. And even in my own district, you know, Donald Trump won my district, but he won my district by 8%. I won my district by 21%. And so I say in Washington, state and other states, you've got to play on the other side of the 50s. So you have to, I think, speak like a genuine, authentic conservative to hold the base. But then you have to find some other issues you can campaign on that can attract moderates and even some Democrats. So I was able to do that in my race and we need to find candidates that have that ability in other races because we cannot go the way of California. We can't have the left coast to be the communist coast. It's too important for the entire country. So 32nd, it's not doomed to be forever blue. It can maybe come back. There used to be Slade Gorton. There used to be a lot of great Republicans on the West Coast, but they're all gone. You're like last one from Washington State. It's not doomed. Well, we're going to. We're going to rebuild it. I'm not doing it. Look, I'm a Republican in Washington State, so I'm an optimist by nature. But one of the reasons I got Ronald Reagan on the wall behind me is to remember to always try to speak in an inspiring and thoughtful way and to channel that the best of America's bet to come. I think the best of Washington State is yet to come. We're going to try to make it happen. Congressman Baumgartner, keep coming back. Great to make your acquaintance. Glad to hear you on with Aaron McLean. Find another person who's interested in national security and foreign affairs. Don't be a stranger. Great to speak with you. Here's something most people don't know. When Warren Buffett was just 13 years old, he didn't put his money into a savings account. While other kids were earning next to nothing at local banks, Buffett put $114 into a little-known investment. Today, that $114 would be worth over $15 million. And it wasn't a risky trade, it wasn't even insider knowledge. It was an account that's been around since 1888, and over the last 25 years, it's average 29% a year. That's what happens when your money is allowed to compound. Compare that to today's savings accounts, paying less than half a percent, while inflation quietly eats away at your buying power. Buffett understood early. Banks are great. great businesses, just not for savers. If you'd like to see what some investors call the 29% account, go now to account 29.com. That's account, the numbers 2.9.com. Again, account 29.com.