What excuse do Democrats have for keeping DHS closed during wartime?

Hugh, it's an important agency, a little known agency, but they do very critical work. And that's, again, another example of just how radical and ideological Democrats have become. We're fighting against an enemy that has a well-known cyber capabilities that has used them against U.S. interests in the past, and they would rather keep the cyber security agency inside of DHS unfunded. rather than allow the men and women of ICE and Border Patrol to do their jobs to protect our nation from dangerous illegal aliens. Now, I was on Fox earlier today, and Bernie Sanders Smith asked me to make sense of this, and I really can't. 45 days ago, we weren't in a battle. And so maybe there was a political argument. But if anything happens now, and these lines at airports are the softest target in the world. But anything happens anywhere by a Hezbollah or an Iranian proxy. That's on the Democrats. Don't they realize that? And you just, again, to stress again, Republicans in the Senate anticipated that the Democrats might pull a stunt like this. That's why last summer we pre-funded ICE and Border Patrol for several years. So the Democrats are getting nothing out of this. Not only are ICE and Border Patrol working because they're essential government employees, they are also being paid. But the Democrats are willing to inflict long lines in the flying public or withholding paychecks and TSA agents or Coast Guard officers or people who are working at the Cyber Security Agency or at the Secret Service or at FEMA because their radical left hates our immigration police and wants to defund them, even though it has no immediate effect on them. So, Senator, how long will this – this is actually a vulnerability. Iran is down to two things. The straight and whatever they can do via terrorists, I guess three things, and the Internet – cyber attacks. That's all they've got less. How long are the Democrats going to leave us naked on this? I think they're willing to do it indefinitely. That's why we've said that we're done with Chuck Schumer continuing to move the goalposts. We're going to move out on a Republican budget reconciliation process that will allow us to fund these critical agencies and give the Democrats holding the bag with nothing in return. All right. Now, the last time we talked about reconciliation, the Pentagon hadn't sent over an official request. Have they done that yet for supplemental? I don't think so yet, Hugh. It takes some time to make sure all the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed, not just at the Pentagon, but also with the budget reconciliation process, so we still have some time. I would remind all your listeners to you that we still have two more.

two more shots at the reconciliation process as well. So we don't have to include all the needed funds to protect this nation and one single bill. We might try to move out and do that. It's to be determined on whether or not the Pentagon will be in a position yet to provide us those numbers. But there is the possibility that we could pass two more bills, one for Homeland Security and one for our military. All right. Now I want to switch to the actual battle, Senator. You're a soldier, you're a vet. You know the cost that's already been born by 13 families and 30 additional seriously wounded people and hundreds of people with injuries. And that's just the American side. How much can the United States put up with in terms of months of this kind of conflict, do you think? Well, I said from the beginning that I expected this campaign with last weeks, not months, here four weeks into it. I'll stick to that for now because whenever I get updates, and I get updates, whether it's in briefings or hearings or phone calls or meetings with administration officials almost every day, I hear the same consistent message. We are on time or head of schedule on every single line of effort. They're missiles, their missile launchers, their drones, their Navy. Their manufacturing sites, their commanding control facilities, the military campaign is going exceptionally well. I agree best to all our Kansans for those soldiers who we lost and for their families and for the injuries, the losses of equipment and hardware. We may have more losses ahead. But in the long run, it is to our great national security advantage that we finally defying and neuter this terrorist revolutionary regime that has been... spreading chaos and violence against the United States and the civilized world for 47 years. So we'll ask question, Senator. It's crept into some of the discussion from analysts, and none of us know anything, because we're not, we don't have clearances, that we don't, we can't dislodge, we can't defeat the IRGC. They're veterans of the 80-38 long war with Iran and Iraq, and that they will never, ever surrender. Do you believe that?

They may not ever surrender to you, but we're defeating a lot of them every single day as we continue to target and kill their leaders. And remember, the Revolutionary Guard Corps is very different today than it was 47 years ago or even 37 years ago against the Iran-Iraq War after Iran is still in the flush of revolutionary fervor. It is now well documented. In fact, I think the Wall Street Journal has a story about it today that much of what holds the Revolutionary Guard Corps together is not... ideology, but corruption and kickbacks and payoffs and bribes. And that's something that once the regime is defamed militarily, once the security services have their wings clipped that the Iranian people, I would imagine, are not going to put up with. Senator Tom Cotton, happy Easter to you and your family. Thank you for joining me. And I hope you can get the Democrats to wake up to the fact that we are playing politics at our peril. I appreciate your joining me. Take care. Welcome back, America, Hugh Hewitt, inside the Beltway, joined from Israel by Dr. Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the United States. Dr. Oren, I had a four-hour drive this morning, so I listened to every... podcast that matter. Dan Cynor talking with Fred Elena Kagan and Adab to commentary to Jonathan Shanzer. And the one thing that stuck out, well, a lot stuck out, but Fred Elena Kagan said, the Iranians have no idea how badly they've been hurt. You know, I got to thinking about that. They don't, do they? Nobody's talking to each other in Iran. Well, it's possible. They're going to wake up in the morning after, if there's a morning after, and find out that they don't have very much. Again, they have a different concept of victory than we have in the West. You know, we count boat sunk and factories destroyed. Unfortunately, it reminds me a lot of the body counts of the Vietnam War. They have a different definition of victories that they just want to survive. They're like Hamas and Gaza. And they don't think in terms of, you know, days and weeks and months. They think in terms of years and decades. Oh, we'll be rebuilt, especially if we can get sanctions relief. Then we'll rebuild. We have to fight two wars that seeks victory by our terms, but also victory by their terms. So in terms of whether or not a regime is left in place that we can do a deal with. Are you optimistic about that at all? In other words, here's our enriched uranium. Send your inspectors anywhere they want and we'll blow up the missiles that you don't want, but we want to stay in power. Is that possible? Yeah, it's possible. If you look at how the Iraq-Iran war ended, when the leaders of the Iran regime said, you know, we have to drink from the poison chalice kind of the thing. You don't have a poison chalice moment, but you're still going to have to verify that poison chalice very, very closely. But it's unlikely. It's unlikely. It's all I can say. And there may be very well a tipping point, a breaking point.

whether it's internal or external people in the street. As a breaking point, the major issue here is whether the United States and Israel can continue to stand strong, stand together, and see this through to the end, because there is an end. There is an end. Of that, I'm certain. And, you know, we've just had two missiles fired at us in the last hour, Hugh. We've got, my daughter was under constant fire from Hezbollah in the north and the Galilee today. We're tough people. We're resilient. We're willing to see this through the end. And, you know, we're asking the United States. We understand the American people are paying more at their gas pumps. They're, you know, that the prices are going up in many fields that are related to petroleum. We understand that. But we ought to make the case that this is essential for the peace of the United States, the peace of the world. And to the president, if he sees this through, he will not go down as one of the great presidents. So go down on one of the great leaders in history. Now, Dr. Warren, there are at least 13 American families who will not have someone coming home from this war, at least 20 in Israel. Our Gulf allies have 25 plus. The cost in human loss is extraordinary. That said, how much more can the two countries take in terms of casualties before one of the other blinks? You mean Israel and the United States or the two of us and Iran? No, the two of Israel and the United States. Forget about Iran. They'll kill their people all day. I can't speak for the United States. I can speak for the United States. I can speak for the United States. We know we have no choice. We know if we don't prevail against Hezbollah and Lebanon. And basically, Hezbollah is just a branch of Iran, right? Then we lose the galley, lose part of the country. And this country's tiny. So it's an existential issue for us. We understand that. The Israeli military has called up 400,000 reservists. That's proportionally significantly more Americans than fought in all of World War II. And people are leaving their homes, leaving their families, their jobs to go out and fight, pick up a gun and go out and fight because they know they have no choice. We all do. And believe me, it's unpleasant to run to this bomb shelter several times a night. But we know. We know that at the end of the day... This is our lives. These are our families. This is our country. And I don't want to belabor the point, but it literally is no choice. Now, Dr. Rod, you know everyone in the government and outside of the government. To what extent is Hezbollah hanging by a threat? Or are they as resilient as Hamas in the tunnels? Do they have that kind of network to retreat into and hide? They actually have a deeper network because Lebanon is significantly bigger than Gaza, but not just that. They can hide in the cities. They can hide in villages. They can use the entire population of Lebanon as human shields. The major thing with Hezbollah is, can we cut them off from their oxygen? And their oxygen is Iran. Now, the Syrians have closed off their border. I don't know how porous that border is, even when it's closed. But if we can defeat Iran, we will defeat Hezbollah. That is what we call here cutting off the head of the snake or the head of the octopus, whatever, you know, reptilian or marine metaphor you want to use. And so these fights are all interrelated. And again, we're going to have to keep fighting Hezbollah. We've made a new defense line along the Littani River. It's about 10 miles from our border, about 10 miles north of our border. But the fighting there is very intense. It is very intense. And his ball is far from defeated.

Right now, earlier today, maybe in the last hour, the IDF said they've completed another wave of attacks in Tehran and that they finished their primary target list and they're moving on to economic targets, meaning the industrial base of Iran. Is that consistent with what you've seen on the air? Yes, definitely. And it's decision not taking lightly because the last thing we want to do is to hurt the people of Iran. And you heard Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that these are our peace-loving people for the most part. We want peace with them. We had peace with them before 1979. We want to go back to there. And it is with great regret that we would cause them any discomfort or worse. But we may have no choice. And again, if Iran keeps on pounding energy sources in the Middle East, and today they shot at both at the Haifa refinery, set one of them ablaze. And, you know, we could be sitting in the darky also. So we may have no choice. All right. So, closing argument here, when the American people look up and it's been gone in them for 30 days, I think it's going to go to June to tell you. That's Hugh U.S. opinion based on not knowing anything except talking to smart people. And I'm an American, so I'm not paying anything other than a dollar a gallon of gas. Can Israel last until June under these circumstances? Of course. Of course we can. Listen, we've been in this war for three years with very little let up, by the way. And there have been times in this war where it's actually been much more difficult than it is now. Iran during the 12-day battle last summer was hitting us more intensely with more missiles every day. During the opening months of the Gaza War and with Hezbollah in the North, October, November, December, 2023, and then 2024, far more intense barrages from both the South and the North. We are a very resilient people. We'll be celebrating Passover this week. We got through slavery in Egypt. We got through 40 years of wandering in the desert. We're going to get through this, too. Well, if you can get through a commercial break, I have one political question for you, but if you can't, don't worry about it. I know you're in great demand, and I appreciate the time. Dr. Michael, Lauren, former Israeli ambassador in the United States. He may or may not be back after the break for politics. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Welcome. I am joined by John Podhor. It's editor of Commentary Magazine magazine. He is also the host Monday through Friday, most Mondays through Fridays of the Commentary Magazine podcast. John, I listened to you today. I listened to Haviv Redigur talk about Passover with a rabbi. I listened to Dan Cienor and talk with Fred Elena Kagan and with Nadavill. I listened to Jonathan Sander to the FD. So I had a four and a half hour drive this morning. So I might be a little bit mixed up on where I heard what. So give me a little grace here. I want to start with the most important question. Have you seen Operation Mincemeat on Broadway?

I have not, but my wife went to see it last week or the week before, so I consider that I've seen it. Okay. So the premise of it is the allies spend a lot of time cooking up elaborate ruses to fool the enemy. Why should we believe anyone saying anything? No, that's very, very important. And it is very important to note that what in the tactics of the Trump administration is to throw a lot of lines in the water. We're going to take cargo. We're not going to take card. There's going to be negotiations in Pakistan. We are not doing regime change because we've already done regime change. Maybe we should go get the... The nuclear materials out of, out of Ipsahan, maybe we should not do anything. Maybe we are done. Maybe we're going to land ground troops. So it's not that you shouldn't believe anything. It's that everything is on the table. And therefore, you should view this as the United States having achieved military supremacy in this war is using its military supremacy in the war to continue to signal to the Iranians that they kind of have one last chance to give up. And giving up would mean a lot of things, including telling us where the nuclear materials are and allowing us to go get them, among other things. And aside from that, there's nothing to believe or not believe. Nothing is being said to terminatively. That is, by the way, exactly nodding through the commentary podcast, which is fabulous today. By the way, I'm watching, I sent my wife a text about Kevin Klein and Laura Linney, which are two of her favorite people and said she's on the West Coast. Watch this immediately. John doesn't get excited about much television. So watch it immediately. We'll come back. That is true. That's a show called American Classic that you were talking about. MGM Plus, you have to subscribe through Amazon. Kevin Klein, Laura Linney, best of common seen in years. Okay, let's go. Back to the serious stuff. Is the U.S., the United States as a whole, better off today than we were 31 days ago? Yeah, I mean, I don't think we were at any particular immediate risk 31 days ago from Iran. And we're better off because now if we had been and we didn't know about it, Iran is obviously in no position to inflict any harm or damage on us. I do think we need to finish the job and that what we've done is prepare the way for a huge.

geopolitical historical triumph if we can just put our noses to the grindstone and Trump can silence the voices in his ear that are telling him that maybe there's a better off ramp and end this thing with an unambiguous American victory that will reshape the geopolitics of the 21st century. I think that could be where we're headed. I'm glad to hear that you're at least in the realm of possibility with me there. Is Israel, our ally, better off today than it was 31 days ago? I mean, unambiguously, although you have to say the last story when it has been tough in the sense that, you know, for Israeli, normal Israeli life in this period has been canceled. You know, people, kids aren't going to school. People, it's very hard for people to go to work. People are going in and out of shelter six or seven times a day. There has been. relatively minor damage inside Israel and relatively few deaths related to a gigantic number of barrage of ballistic missiles being fired at it. So life is harder immediately. The Israelis themselves seem to believe that what is going on is not only righteous but necessary support for the mission against Iran runs at around 90 percent. Israel is also trying to clean up. Hezbollah on its north, get rid of Hezbollah in its north so that it's no longer threatened there. And so they think that they're better off. John, I'm always an optimist. So I think we're going to win this decisively. We are winning decisively, but we have not yet won decisively. I think if we win this decisively, will it be possible to say that 107, as awful as it was, was Israel in the West Pearl Harbor 2.0? I think that's, I think the analogy is exact. I mean, as to say, a surprise, sneak attack that shocked the conscience, alarmed the, made it clear just how dangerous and threatening the world was to the United States and that this iridentist actor was intending on. throwing Israel under the bus or, you know, in the case of Pearl Harbor of removing us as a player in the Pacific while the Japanese took over, you know, the entirety of the Pacific and even the South Pacific. 10-7 awakened Israel to the fact that its strategy over the previous 10 years had been an ad had been. naive in that it did not understand the misdirection that Hamas was up to in planning the war that it eventually launched and the tunnel system that it built in order to fight that war. And just similarly, 107 then said to Israel, well, and to Trump, I think, well,

The status quo can no longer exist. We need to rewrite the rules for us to be safe for the next 100 years. We're going to do that in Gaza. We're going to try to do it against Iran, which is the head of the beast. And then when Trump won, Trump came in as not only a full partner, but a senior partner in that effort, I think understanding particularly this year, It's an interesting case about the opportunistic nature of what has gone on this year, which is that it was this war that started on February 28th, started on February 20th because something started in Iran. On December 28th, which is that the people of Iran rose up and revolted because the Rial had gone to have no value and they were broke and they had no money and they had nothing. And then the regime responded badly and then they rose even further and then the regime started chewing them in the streets. And the idea that the country itself was falling to pieces as a civil society, if it could ever be called that. and that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. With them weekend, with them having no air defenses, and with the populace, restive and uncomfortable and clearly wanting something new. And Israel developing the intelligence that said, if we go on this date certain, we can decapitate the leadership. All of those things coming into play, Trump said, It's a gift on a silver Graham Platner. Like history doesn't provide these very often. It's not like he came into office saying, let's develop the way in which we can take Iran out. Taking Iran out became something that developed over time in 2025 and early 26 and was a response to real world dynamic changes that we are taking advantage of. Now, I've already written the column, so it's already into Fox. It'll appear tomorrow. That begins, if President Trump succeeds in overseeing the toppling of the Iranian regime, it will rank with the greatest achievements of president since World War II. If it happens, do you agree with me on that? Oh, yeah. I mean, I can't, in fact, oddly enough, it's hard to think of another, aside from winning the Cold War that will be as geopolitically significant. as this victory over Iran would be. No, it's 1989. That's what I keep telling people. Now, I am also on the record with at least Guy Benson saying, this is going to take at least until June, unless the conditions of regime collapse. We just can't see because the Internet is down. Does the American public have the patience for... A low casualty, though not no casualty. There are 13 grieving families this Easter Passover who have lost it all, and there are others who are wounded. But do we have the capacity to go to June if it remains a low casualty situation?

I think absolutely, because the sad part is I don't think the American people care very much. They're very uninvested in this, unless gas prices go to $250 a barrel and suddenly it costs $9 a gallon at the pump. What cost is being inflicted on any individual American by this conflict? There is no cost. There is no cost. No one in this country. One out of every 330 people has a relative in the military, if that, and the military is volunteer. And from what we now, the military and people in the military are overwhelmingly in support of the mission. So they're not opposed to it. Who's opposed to it are Democrats, people who think that war doesn't work and we've had a terrible time over the last 25 years and haven't won anything. But so I don't think Trump is going to get a lot of credit for what's going on. Clearly, he isn't. But that doesn't mean that there is going to be overwhelming pressure. We come back from break. The hardest hit, I've been doing this show for 25 and a half year. The hardest hit are USS Liberty Conspiracy Terrorists. But we'll be back with John Pod Awards. Don't go anywhere, America. I'm Hugh Lewis.

Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt, John Podhorrence, the editor-in-chief of Commentary Magazine, the host of the Daily Commentary Podcast. I really recommend today Monday, March 30th, because I had a fascinating conversation. I listened to all of it today, driving back from Southern Virginia, about... American public opinion and what works and what doesn't work. By the way, I think Abe and Eliana are just wise, wise, wise when they judge American public opinion. And I thought you and Christine had a very interesting exchange about what would he say? What would he do? Because in fact, about Trump, there are very few people whose minds are going to change. Isn't that a fact, John? He can win. I mean, we could have a patent movie made about it. It won't matter. And he might lose terribly, and his supporters won't care. It's frozen. Look, we're playing, he's playing for history here. This is not about the next six months. It's not even about the rest of his term. What happens here is a world historical moment if he wins. And what happens is the failure of this presidency if he appears to end this on an inconclusive result, which is why he should go for all the marbles and not worry about what the immediate politics say. Even if we need Republicans in the Senate or the House start complaining and saying things are terrible, it doesn't make sense for him not to complete what he started because this is too big. to if you're going to take the risk and reap the reward, you are going to have to play the risk out. So my final point on that podcast, and I'll say today is we're seeing the poll numbers looking really bad, right? But this is a very complicated thing. First of all, people say yes or no about things that they don't really care that much about and aren't of that much importance to them. And if they don't like Trump, they don't like the war, and that's it. That's fine. It's over with. Among people who support Trump and who are Republicans, support for this war has been rising, not falling. And support for the war is at 80 to 95 percent, depending on how you calculate it. And that should matter less because you say, oh, we only as Republicans supporting him, so what? Republican and Democratic parties are at parity. They're both at around 42 percent, of course, with leaners. If you look at the Gallup, the Gallup calculations of support for each party made this year. So 42, 43, 44%. So that's a lot of people. And if 40, 90% of 44% of the public supports you, the bottom isn't going to fall out for Trump. And the people who aren't in that 40 in that number don't like him anyway and hate him and think he's awful. And everything he does is monstrous. So he's got no play with them. There's nothing that he can do with them. As he once joked, you know, if he brought them the risen Christ, they would reject it. So I think under those circumstances, he just should hold firm because practically speaking, he's got all the backing that he'll ever.

be able to get. And the only thing that could go wrong, John, is an HMS-Sheffield incident where Iran gets off a lucky ballistic and they hit the Lincoln or the fort. That would change American, a mass casualty disaster, even though in the run-up to Normandy, not on Normandy, the run-up to Normandy, more than 5,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marine locked their lives practicing for Normandy. We don't have that capacity anymore. You raised something at the very end. Two things, actually. One was Ukraine has really stepped up. And I hope American's opinion is changing of Volodymyr Zelensky and certainly a changing in the Gulf. And then second, the reality of the Strait of Hormuz is now in front of us. Do you think it's possible that China takes a look at that and thinks, hmm, we really don't want the Mullahs in charge of the Strait of Hormuz. Maybe we don't want them to win. I don't know if they want them to win or not. I think that this is their alliance, and it's an anti-American or, you know, counter-American alliance. It may not be much of an alliance, but it's their alliance. And they don't shift very quickly, the Chinese. So I wouldn't count on the Chinese coming in with us or something like that. But the point about Hormu is that is really important is this. If you hate this war, fine. And if you're now using... the fact that the Strait of Hormuz is being threatened by Iran, fine. But now that the threat has been raised and you're trying to use the threat to Hormuz as an example of why Trump screwed up by starting the war, also fine. It doesn't mean that you then get to say, I'm out of this. Because if the Strait of Ramos is threatened and the Islamic Republic of Iran remains in power, the Strait of Hormuz will never not be threatened again until they're gone. They've opened the Pandora's box. It's there. It's threatened. They can threaten it at a moment's notice. And as could the people on the other side of the street who certainly don't want to threaten it. But, you know, who's on the other side? Dubai. Like, they could threaten it also. They could set a drone to hit a ship of a straightforward movie. Yeah, they got a 35. They don't want to. Right. But we know Iran has opened this. up as a possibility as their attempt to blackmail the world once they've decided to try to blackmail the world this way they got to go what are you going to do if we don't take them out you're going to what are you going to do how do that how do you not have them on August 15th, just fire a volley and blow up a tanker somewhere, just to make a point. You are a seasoned, you're a seasoned Trump watcher and you're a former White House speechwriter. Is there, because Christine was talking about making a speech to assure Americans to get the constancy. I don't think it's possible anymore in this media, but if you were going to write him a speech. To do that, what would it say? Would it say, do you know how bad the Iranians are? Let me tell you. He's not really that kind of a rhetoritian.

It would probably be in three parts. Okay, the first part would be since 1979, so many of you were not born. So you don't understand what happened in 1979. In 1979, this regime came in. America weirdly abetted its creation. And then nine months, ten months later, they took 52 Americans hostage and held them for 44 days until... A president came into power who frightened them so much that they relented and let the hostages go. And since then, for 46 years, they have been the world's leading sponsor of terrorism. They have, they have fomented three major terrorist actors in the world, Hezbollah Hamas and the Houthis. They have, they started a war where two million people were killed from 1981 to 1989. and they are developing nuclear weapons, which every president has had to deal with. They're bad and they shouldn't exist anymore, but their country's not bad. Their country is 2,500 years old. It's a great old civilization. This was a construct place there 47 years ago. If it goes, we're not taking out the country. We are taking out a regime that is a modern jury-rigged, corrupt, radical anti-American force. And it's only to the good that they're gone and will only be to the good for those people and for the world. And we are showing the world what we are made of, what we can do, and what they should not think they can threaten us with after this is over. And for all those three reasons, we're going in and we're taking them out. I hope he does that now. That's what I would say. I don't think he's, yeah. He doesn't have that game, but maybe he could get it. 30 seconds on a scale of 1 to 10, with one being, I don't know, Smoot-Josh Hawley, and 10 being Reagan walking out of Rikovic. What's the JCPOA? Well, nothing's bad as bad as Smoot-Josh Hawley, right? So the JCPO is... Well, the winner, JCPO is three, but if the JCPOA actually can be viewed as the start of the reconstruction of the Middle East, as it awakened people to the fact that unless Iran was stopped after this agreement... everything was going to go to hell. Then the JCPOA will have been inadvertently like 10-7, a world-changing moment, although the person who was responsible for it thought it would change the world in an entirely different way. Best case scenario for President Obama right there. John Pod Horitz, always good to talk to you. Follow him on X at J. Pod Horitz. Stay tuned to America.

Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Amit Segal has been my guest before. He is the lead analyst on Channel 12 in Israel, the author of a fine, splendid book, The Call at 4 a.m. that will, if it's possible, explain Israeli politics to you. It's not really possible because it doesn't make a lot of sense to Americans. Amit, welcome back. My first question I just asked John Podhorst, I want to ask you. Is Israel better off today than it was 31 days ago? Absolutely, no doubt. You know, there is, you know, this term Sisyphian ritual, something that you do all over again and again in vain. Now, because we are in the news industry, we have the feeling that this is an ongoing futile effort. However, every night... The Israeli Air Force and the US Air Force shave another layer of this monstrous fundamentalist machine that had been built by Iranians for the last 47 years. Even if the war ends today, which I hope it won't. But even if it ends today, Iran... We'll have to buy 100 new ships, a brand new Air Force, a brand new ballistic missile industry, a brand new steel industry, and of course the diamond, the nuclear project, which means that their ability. to threaten the world, and especially Israel and the United States, has decreased dramatically. Now, while I think it's not enough, I'm still grateful enough for President Trump and for the Israeli army for doing the dirty walk. All right. Second question, which is much harder. I want to remind people as well, Amit is an almost daily correspondent now for the free press because they take his, it's noon in Israel. email, which I get every morning because it's free to meet sagal.net. It shows up at the free press, which I subscribe to, so I get it twice. Amit, this is much tougher. Is Israel better off today than it was on 10-623, even though the horror of that day was ahead of it? I think it's way better. And, you know, it's very hard to say this because it came at a monstrous cost, at a monstrous cost, 1,200 casualties. But it actually, Iches Inouye on October 7th, actually revealed the plan, the Iranian plan to choke Israel from seven different fronts, all funded and trained by Iran, without Iranian, have to spill their blood fighting Israel. And now it's exactly the other way around. We have a border with Iran and they don't have a border with us. I just want to give you what we call proportions. Prior to rising line operation in June 2025, the scenario was that 800 to 4,000 Israelis are to be killed during the war. It ended with 30 casualties.

in Israel in 12 days. Now we are involved in a three front war with Iran, Hezbollah and the Houthis. And yet after a month, there are only 20 casualties. Now, while this is tragic and we mourn every victim of the conflict, it's something like less than 2% of the early expectations, which signals you how... damage was caused by Israel and the U.S. to the Iranian war machine. Now, in America, I remind people, there are 13 families who at this Passover Easter will not have someone at their table or know even that they're coming back because they're dead and they've been killed by the Iranians and or accidents related to the war with Iran. So it's never not extraordinarily costly. But knowing what you know now, Are we glad that Sinmore actually jumped the gun because if it had been coordinated, I don't know if Israel could have stood up to that, do you? It would be way, way harder. I think lead is not the term because every Israeli no in person, some of the victims or the former hostages from October 7th. However, having said that, absolutely. The entire existence of Israel was hanging by a thread for years or had been hanging by a thread for years. And we didn't know it. Now, while it was a dramatic strategic failure, it gave Israel the opportunity to take its enemies one enemy at a time, one tentacle at a time, and then the head of the octopus. And this is what we see today. This was the big plan to actually eliminate Israel by the year 2030. And Israel was saved from it. Thanks for this. Someone defined it in Israel a terrible miracle. I think it's right to the point. That is a very apt description. I'll be right back with Amit Segal. Don't go anywhere in America. Except over to his website during the break. Amitsegall.net. Sign up for his daily newsletter. Subscribe to the free press. He's on it. TV every night. I think the Israelis' appetite for news is even more satiable than mine. And so he's working around the clock. Don't go anywhere. I'll be right back with him.

Welcome back, America, Hugh Hewitt, with Amit Segal of Channel 12 and of the free press. Amit, we are one missile away from a mass casualty event to an American ship or a base or a dreaded mass casualty event in Israel. Could that change everything, one missile getting through? In Israel, no, because the assumption is that Israel would be hit so hard that it would have to stop either by the pressure of the public opinion or by a decision made by taken by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I think neither option is feasible. The vast majority of the Israeli public is fully aware of the danger from Iran. the threat posed by this fundamentalist regime, and there is a widespread rare consensus support, consensus around the idea that Iran must be eliminated as a military threat. At the very same time, I have to say that as time passes, Israelis find it harder to actually function under this annoying... sound of sirens going off and around the country. I'll explain, okay? There was a fascinating statistics in our poll last week. Those with safe room in their apartment, you know, you don't have to show your pyjama to the neighbors. They support the war 77% to 22. Those who have public shelters, you know, they have to, you know, climb the stairs at 3 a.m. they supported 60 to 40. Those without shelters, 57% to 22% against the war, which means that people are exhausted. But the vast majority of Israelis is still, you know, as Brits call it, stiff upper lip. All right, now, I mean, this is a difficult thing in the middle of a war that could still have terrible events happen in it, and no doubt will have other loss of life. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, I can't imagine anyone other than him leading Israel through this, but I'm not in Israeli, and I don't know that much. Could anyone else have done this in your view? I mean, you're much younger than he is, but you know all of everyone in Israel. Could anyone else have done this this way? I think the, you know, the most important piece in this panel is... talking President Trump into attacking Iran. This is Benjamin Netanyahu's main advantage over his rivals. This is his raison d'etre. Even his most bitter enemies or rivals admit that this is his main achievement and main advantage. When it comes to attack Iran, I think you, I could think about a few prime minister who would have done it. Ben Gurion, maybe Ariel Sharon.

perhaps even Eudolmert. But yes, I mean, this is Benjamin Netanyahu's main achievement in his entire career. And it has been a very long career, as you know. Now, the budget in Israel passed, and for the benefit of the American audience, that means... The government can go on at least until October if it wants to. It's got to hold an election in October by law. But it can be pulled forward. The Brits in 1900, the Tory party, had just thought they'd won the Second Boer War, so they held the khaki election, and they won overwhelmingly, so they pulled it forward. Do you think that the Lekud Coalition might pull the election forward if this war ends soon and well? I'm not sure. You know, the main difference between the Tories in 45 and Likud in 2026 is that the war here goes nowhere. It's still, you know, a very complicated security situation. It's not Europe post-World War II. However, this is a dramatic achievement for Benjamin Netanyahu because it is going to be the first government to serve a full term. Since 1969, 57 years has passed since the last government served a full term. Now, while it shows strength, it shows weakness as well because the reason... Coalition usually fall apart is because some parties believe that they can gain ground in the election. Here, the coalition parties are relatively weak following October 7th, so they have had no incentive calling up an early election. Having all that said, I think Benjamin Netanyahu is more than 50% chance of getting re-elected. All right. Last question to meet. In times of crisis, Americans turn on the television, they turn on radio shows like this and television shows like this. But then their attention dissipates quickly. Can the Israelis possibly watch more news than they have watched consistently for the last 10 years? Are ratings up when I'm asking? Oh, yes. I'll give you an example. The most popular news, the most popular TV show in Israel on a daily basis since the 60s is the 8 p.m. news broadcast. Usually it gets on Channel 12 where I broadcast something like 14%. 14%. 14% 14 points. Nowadays... Sometimes it, yes. But this is in ordinary days. Today, nowadays, it's 19%, 20%. My meet the press show on Saturday night reached 16.6%. Shit. It's, it's, it's, yeah. When I was on LA television, when we got a share, at one point, we were popping yourself. We were happy as it can be. So a 19 share is remarkable.

No, no, no, no. The share is higher than 19. 19 is out of, yes, the share is something like 37%. Oh, okay? The point when I, yeah, when I talk about points, I talk about, you know, the percentage of a TV is open out of the, out of 100 TV televisions in Israel, how many televisions are open on Channel 12? Okay. So it's 37% share? And 90% of the entire number of television. Can you go in public anywhere or do people yell at you all the time? Okay, so now just imagine how it feels to go at 3 a.m. with your pajamas to a shelter and meet all your neighbors. You need to get a false mustache. I meet Segal. We're out of time. I appreciate the time. Go to a meet Segal. S-E-G-A-M-E-A-M-I-C-Sagal.net, and he works for the free press as well so you can subscribe to the free press and get it there every day as well. Thank you, Amit. Don't go anywhere, America. I'll be right back to wrap up today as Hugh Hewitt Show. As we continue to cover a remarkably fast-moving war, it could change by tomorrow morning. You never... really know when this thing is going to take another dramatic turn. It's watching Karoline Leavitt this afternoon before I got on the show. And she said, based on the latest, we're talking to the real people in Iran. So who knows? By tomorrow, it could all be different. Stay tuned. You've heard me talk a lot about consumer cellular. How you can switch your carrier save money without the sacrifice? That's because consumer cellular uses the same towers as major carriers. Make the switch today and get $25 off at consumercellular.com slash you. If you're over 50, get one line of unlimited talk, text, and data for $35, plus an additional $5 per month off for the first five months when you visit consumercellular.com slash hue. Use the promo code, Hugh 25. Consumer cellular ranks number one for network coverage and consumer satisfaction, according to ACSL. You'll be working with an actual human being when you switch based right here in the U.S. So get one line of unlimited talk, text, and data for only $35 per month. plus an additional $5 off per month for the first five months. Think of all the money you will save. Go to consumercellular.com slash hue, promo, Hugh 25. Or call 1-800-4-1-41-44. Consumercellular.com slash you. Clean water is not complicated, but it is essential. Without it, public health suffer. Education declines. Economic stability. Well, it weakens if it doesn't collapse. Across Latin America and the Caribbean families are facing that reality of unclean water every day. Mothers walk miles for clean water. Children are exposed to preventable diseases because they haven't got it. Communities are held back by the absence of basic clean water access. But strategic compassion changes outcomes. Through food for the poor, your gift provides safe and living water. Improving health, strengthening communities and supporting gospel-centered transformation. through trusted local partnerships. This is a measurable impact with lasting result. Your gift to $50, ensures two people have safe and living water, or for $100, a family of four will be transformed for a year. I hope you'll act. Text Hewitt, H.E.W. I t, that's Hewitt, H.E.W. It to 5-1-555. That's Hewitt to 51-555.

Or visit Hugh Hewitt.com right now and click on the blue Giving Living Water banner at the top to provide living water today. And thank you. For nearly 3,000 years, Homer's The Odyssey has shaped Western imagination. It tells the story of Odysseus as he faces monsters, shipwrecks, false comforts, and impossible choices on his long journey home. As one of the foundational works of Western literature, Homer's epic is more than mythology. It explores permanent questions about courage, duty, loyalty, family, leadership, temptation, and the search for home. In one of the epic's defining moments, Odysseus rejects the offer of immortality from the goddess Calypso, choosing instead the long and difficult journey home. His decision reveals one of the central themes of the Odyssey that a life of duty, family, and home, is greater than a life devoted to comfort or glory. Achilles chose glory. Odysseus chose home. That's why Hillsdale College has released its newest free online course, the Odyssey. Taught by Professor Benedict Wayland, the course reveals why Homer's masterpiece remains one of the greatest works of Western literature. Find this free course at Hillsdale.edu forward slash start now. The Odyssey from Hillsdale College, go to hillsdale.edu forward slash start now. Welcome back, America. Well, Bill wasn't lying. Don Henley. Don Henley. Singing from the 80s about a king talking about Reagan. I'm joined by the originally Inzer, the people's pundit, Selena Zito, from the Washington Post, the Washington Examiner, the New York Post, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, syndicated column, and the U.S. show regular. Selena, happy Eastern advance to you. I hope you have been planning for a big festive meal at your house. Oh, yes. Yes. Yesterday we were making Sicilian donuts, which we always have on Palm Sunday, which have ricotta in them, and you deep fry them, and then you bury them in sugar. Yeah, it's going to be cooking all week. My grandchildren were cooking with me today. Well, I'm sorry I missed the Sicilian donuts. Do you have to be a maid man to get one of those? I can make you some. I can hope you up. Now, I want you to know, you were quoted today on the commentary podcast, your famous line. Trump must be taken seriously, not literally, but people take them literally and not seriously. And right, and someone who said that? And John Potter said, Salina Zito said that. Do you think that's the most famous line you've ever penned? Probably, yeah. But, you know, don't you think, I don't know, maybe it's very obvious to me. because I straddled two different worlds, right? If I go online and look at the political class, it's the latter. If I'm out with, you know, normal humans, which is where I much prefer to be, it is the former. You know, this is, Donald Trump is a guy that's been in the American cultural experience since the early 80s, in the late 70s.

And he's always been this way. And people that consumed him on television, on the New York Post, the New York Times, they understood that this is the way he talked. And they didn't take it all that literally. You know, Selena, I got old and dear friends. whom Trump has completely broken. And I have friends who have divorced me as a friend because, you know, he's a president. He's not a preacher or a pastor, and he's doing a very good job of taking down an existential threat to Israel and the world in Iran. And I generally approve 75% of what he does. And so I'm pretty happy with him as a president. I do not approve a lot about Donald Trump, but he doesn't approve a lot about me. We're not buddies. Really? What is wrong with the no kings people? That's just constitutionally illiterate. It's so dumb. I just look at it and think it's so dumb. But here's a point and a really important point that I want to make. As I looked at two events that happened, one in Pittsburgh and one in my, where I used to live in Mount Lebanon. And Connor Lamb, who's making no bones about the fact that he wants to primary John Fetterman, is speaking at the one in Mount Lebanon. And I'm looking, I'm watching it live online. And I'm like, oh, my God. I know almost everyone there. Nothing. These people voted the same. There's no one new in this crowd. They're the same crowd regurgitated every time. Are the crowd sizable? Yes. But they're not new. Why is that important? It's important because when you want to build a coalition, you need to bring new people into your coalition. There's no one new there. These are the same voters they had in 2024, and they lost with these voters. And so I think that aspect really needs to be driven home because you have to build. You have to grow. They're white and my age, right? Yeah. And there's nothing, there's no one new and young there. There's no, there's no diversity, not just racial diversity. There's no cultural diversity. You don't see any working class people there. You see college. Basically old upper middle class to upper class people. Selina, I agree, but I got to go to the more important thing. Because you out yinzer to yinzer this week. You gave me the perfect yinzer story. The Pittsburgh Public School. are closing because of the NFL draft. And I really, I had to look twice. I couldn't believe it. Because these kids, I haven't exactly experienced learning abundance in the last five years, right? Learning loss is a real deal. And they closed for two days because of the draft? Oh, oh, not two days. Four. Four days. You know, it's not worth the draft. It's not worth the draft.

What's wrong with your school district? I attended that school district. I am shocked at this school district, but I've been shocked at it for the past 30 years. I had an excellent education there. David McCullough always said that was a premier education that we received in those schools. There was nothing better. And first of all the... We're leaving football out of this, right? But yes, Pittsburgh had good schools. Yeah, yeah. Are they getting criticized by the parents? Are the parents mad? Oh, the parents are infuriated. And the draft is at night. It doesn't impact the schools. And there's only one school that is anywhere near the proximity of where the draft will be held. And that's not even that close. Has any national network covered this yet? Because this is a national scandal. These kids have had learning loss that's appreciable that everyone is documented. And they're taking four days off. I thought it was two. Four days off for the NFL draft. Has any national network covered it yet? No, not at all. Well, then the Salem News Channel is first. I really, have they responded to the criticism, or they just hunkered down and they're taking their four-day vacation? Oh, yeah, this is my favorite criticism. Hey, we gave the parents a month advance notice. They should be fine with this. That's my favorite line that the public affairs person said. You know, I just spent the weekend with my four grandkids. I just spent the weekend with my four grandkids. My son-in-law is deployed. I cannot believe. There got to be a lot of people in Pittsburgh who are deployed. So they just said to all those single parents, screw you for four days because we want to watch and enjoy the draft. That's really what it is, right? The teachers and the administrative want to go enjoy the draft. I mean, the teachers are mad, too, by the way. It's the union and it's the superintendent. It's not the teachers. I talk to plenty of teachers. They're really upset. Most teachers really care about their students. Of course they do, but then they would quit the union or they would start firing the superintendent. Where's the school board? Has anyone returned your call from the school board? Because this is nuts. No. No. Selena, happy Easter to you and yours. Follow Selena on X at Zito, Selena. In 2025, Americans lost more than $21 billion to fraud and identity theft. That's why so many people are turning to Aura. Aura helps protect your identity with fraud alerts, dark web monitoring, and up to $5 million in identity theft protection. And if you become a victim, Aura's 24-7 U.S.-based support team is there to help. Don't wait until your identity is stolen. Start your free trial today at aura.com slash safe. That's aura.com slash safe.