Another Trump Assassination Plot Revealed

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From the heart of our nation's capital, Washington, D.C., backed by the trusted voices of Team Fox, a clear, fresh voice, cutting through the noise to tell the truth. It's Guy Benson with Guy Benson. It is Friday, July the 10th, 2026. Welcome one and all to Guy Benson. I'm your host, Guy Benson, political analyst at Fox News and senior columnist at the Washington Examiner. And we are here together for the next three hours. Happy Friday, everyone, 3 to 6 p.m. Eastern every weekday, although I'm on Pacific Time today. We're broadcasting live from Southern California. And we have a lot in store for you over these next three hours. I'll remind you that our website is Guy Benson.com, that the podcast is available every day for free on demand when we're done, including bonus Guy Benson on the weekends, either at Guy Benson.com or at Fox Newspodcast.com or wherever you get your favorite podcast. I'll also remind you. that you can please follow us on social media at Guy Benson's show i'm at Guy Benson on my personal accounts and you can email us always gbs at fox dot com we've got a really good lineup for you today starting with our first guest in just a moment later on we have a paul morrow here this hour we have a kimberley strassel here next hour we have mary katherine ham joining the program in our final hour will also bring you A policy warning from here in California. There are many. There might be a brand new one soon. Hopefully not. We'll explain that. It's all coming up over the course of the show. We're going to cover a lot of ground, but I want to begin overseas with our first guest. Our colleague, Lucas Tomlinson, correspondent for Fox News Channel, based in D.C., but he is currently in Tel Aviv, Israel. Lucas, great to have you here. Guy, thanks for having me on. Letcher let me lead off. You bet. Well, there's a lot of news coming out of the NATO summit and everything going on with Iran, some of the concessions that President Trump was hoping to extract from our allies at NATO, this potential assassination plot that was warned about by the Israelis against President Trump. Let's walk through this. Let's start with NATO. What went down in Turkey in your mind that... could be significant. What are the newsworthy takeaways from that confab? Yeah, I attended the two-day NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Turkey's cap. With headwins, you know, over the last year since the last name has summoned, hey, President Trump and really putting his foot up the ass of NATO telling countries, you've got to spend more on your defense. There are issues all over the world, not just Iran, China, all over the world, Maduro.

Europeans need to step up and take care of more of their own defense. And the United States cannot just provide a blanket of security for all of Europe to allow countries to spend money in other areas, social programs, education, health care, etc. And so when President Trump came in, he was pleased to hear that the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte called it the Trump Trillion. He called it that over the past year. Since President Trump had called for increased defense spending that NATO allies, all 32 of them, including the United States, had spent over a trillion dollars more in their country's defense. So it's very significant. Now, with the summit in Turkey, one of the big questions coming in was, would President Trump move forward with selling F-35 stealth fighter jets? These are very advanced fifth-generation aircraft to Turkey. This was something that we had heard right here in Israel from the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he didn't want their sanctions in Congress not allowing this. President Trump said he would consider it. However, at the end of the conference, despite some leaks, apparently to the press, he said he would consider it. The big issue overall, of course, that dominated the summit, though, was Iran. During the summit, Iranian forces attacked. three commercial ships translating the Strait of Hormuz. That prompted President Trump to declare the ceasefire, the memorandum of understanding with Iran over. He launched counter strikes against Iran over two consecutive nights on Tuesday and Wednesday. It's my understanding that more strikes were planned last night. Those did not happen. It appears the Trump administration now is waiting for Iran to make the next move to see what they do next. We've heard that the Qatari mediators have gone into Iran today to continue discussions. We've heard from the Pakistanis. But Iran certainly dominated the summit at Ankara from a U.S. perspective because of these attacks. It's very clear that President Trump felt slighted. He felt angry that Iran appeared was trying to disrupt some of these talks with these attacks. Because before then, the talks had seemed to be bearing some fruit, despite objections from many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle that Iran was getting a lot of concessions up front. He was fed up in the comments that we played on this show where he said, look, they're evil. He had all these, I think, accurate words to say about the nature of the regime. And a reporter asked him, well, you know, just not long ago you said that they were, you know, smart and reasonable and, you know, what change? He said, well, I got to know them. So, and you could see Marco Rubio sort of chuckle behind him. It very much seems as though, and I saw one of the. post that was put out today by president trump was that the iranians are once again you know burning up the phone lines saying we really want to make a deal we really want to talk you know please let's keep talking and he's like yep you know fine we'll keep talking but the

The ceasefire, the memorandum of understanding, whatever that brief status quo was that was violated repeatedly by the Iranians, that's done. That's over. So it kind of, it seems like we're at another juncture here where he's still open to. having a conversation, having mediators hammer something out. But he's also saying, I'm not sure if there's a real point to that because these people aren't serious, right? I mean, it does seem like there's been a major shift or recalibration in the president's thinking. There's no question. It all had to do with those attacks in the Strait of Hormuz when you have a Qatari ship, LNG tanker loaded with liquefied natural gas coming from the largest natural gas field in the world in the Persian Gulf getting hit, a Saudi tanker got hit, another ship, a third ship got hit. This was all during the NATO summit. It was all very insulting for President Trump, and he was angry, and that's why he launched. air strikes over two consecutive nights, including some of the strikes went all the way into northeastern Iran and Mashad, which took out a railway junction, which Iran was using to trade goods and services with Iran, excuse me, with China and Russia. And also, of course, let's also talk about the backdrop of these events. It was during the six-day state funeral for the late Ayatollah. And of course, he was just buried. him a shot and that's where that railway junction were so it appears some people weren't able to attend that and that really irked the iranians but it was president trump that felt that uh he wants the straight-of-form moves open yes some ships are getting through but far they agreed to like it can it can irk the iranians but They fired on these ships once again, at least partially reneging on one of the only commitments that they've made. So, like, once again, if they're going to provoke and violate, there has to be a serious response. I just have to jump in and add that. And Lucas, I know you're very well sourced. We've had various guests on this show. I've talked to different people. I just wonder. If, let's say, at this fork in the road, Trump really does decide, forget it. These people are not serious. They are evil and fanatical. Let's quote unquote finish the job. He used that term. What does that mean exactly? I mean, could this be a... big military ramp up and reimposition of the blockade and, you know, potentially taking Carg Island and, you know, hundreds of more bombing sorties? Or, you know, what's in the realm of possibility here, do you think, realistically? It could. Well, President Trump was very clear in that press, that final press conference, Ankara, he did not want to see a return to the war.

There were other actions taken during the summit. We heard from Treasury. They are revoking Iran's license to sell oil. You mentioned the blockade guide. That was actually the question I was going to ask President Trump. If you were revoking Iran's license to sell oil, how do you enforce that without a blockade? Now, we've seen on commercial satellite imagery, both the aircraft carrier strike groups, Abraham Lincoln, George H.W. Bush have moved back into the Gulf of Vermont. They're in striking position. That means the got a missile destroyers in the strike group have... easier access to targets because they're closer to land for the Tomahawks. This is all in the realm of possibility. But President Trump says he doesn't want to return to war. And of course, we also saw him take his old, the backup Air Force One out of. Ankara at the end of the two-day summit because of threats to his life. We've seen the posters, the, you know, millions of Iranians mourning the late Autola now was saying they want to kill President Trump. It looks like there are some very real threats. Let's not forget that Turkey shares a 332-mile border with Iran. It certainly played into the president taking the backup Air Force One to Milton Hall, Royal Air Force Base in the UK, and then boarding. the new Air Force one, the gift from the Kataria Royal Family, the red, white, and blue plan. Okay, so on that point, right, they were chanting, as always, death to America. This is what the regime is all about. It's their animating kind of, you know, lifeblood, is hating us and wanting to destroy us. And then also the Israelis and any other allies that we have, they say it. They were holding up giant signs and placards that said, you know, death to President Trump, kill President Trump, Trump must die, that sort of thing. By the way, they were joined by a handful of... Americans who went over there to mourn the Ayatollah and to call for the death of America. So I feel like maybe we shouldn't let those people back in if they want to come back in, just spitballing there. But I digress on the Air Force One question. And on the apparent very real intelligence, hard intelligence about a plot to assassinate President Trump, what do we know? It seems like there were different strands that were being pulled on from our side, from the Israeli side, deemed serious enough to actually alter the president's plans, right? Tell us those details. Well, the new Air Force one that President took to Turkey did not have to refuel. It was President Trump's first overseas trip in the new plane gifted from the Katari Roller family. We saw him fly out west to North Dakota and to South Dakota for the Teddy Roosevelt Library and Mount Rushmore celebrations, all part of the ramp up to 250. It was very notable when he did not board that same aircraft to fly home.

Instead, he boarded the backup plane, went to the UK. The story put out from the administration was they wanted to show off the new plane to the troops in Britain. But it's very clear there was some kind of threat that made it necessary for the Secret Service and the U.S. military to tell the President of the United States, you're not going to board your new aircraft. There's a lot of talk, a lot of speculation, and some pretty good sourcing that says it was because the new plane has not been outfitted with all the defensive capabilities that the old plane had. And that sounds very reasonable because why else would the president disrupt his schedule and fly the old plane out? Because being on the ground, when the new Air Force one arrived, it arrived to big fanfare. There was President Reggie Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the ramp to greet it. You had an American flag popped up through the hatch. It's a different color scheme on the new plane, the red, white, and blue, but a lot of officials are saying it did not have all the necessary. defensive capabilities that the old plane had, and that is why the president boarded the old plane. Okay, and I know there was some speculation. We don't have the exact intelligence, but I've seen at least conjecture that there was a worry that perhaps there's going to be some surface-to-air rocket or missile fired at Air Force One. That was maybe what the Iranians were going to try to do as the president departed from Turkey. And if it's true that the new... plane with the new livery, and it's the gift from this Qatari government that I don't like anything about that situation. I know it's very luxurious and beautiful. I'm sure Trump loves it. I'm sure he insisted that we're going to fly this plane now. But to me, I'm not sure if it's wise to accept that gift from that government at all. But setting that to the side, Lucas, to me it would be almost... shocking and really irresponsible to be flying the president of the United States around on an airplane, an Air Force One that was somehow less protected than the previous versions of Air Force One. I mean, I understand that you want a newer, nicer plane, but if there are, you know, countermeasures, missile or whatever countermeasures designed to protect the president, and now he's... kind of let the world know potentially that the new plane doesn't have them yet. That seems like a very good argument among many others either don't take the plane or don't use it until it is fully... capable. I mean, I don't think that's a crazy point to make. That sounds very reasonable. It sounds very reasonable. And let's not forget why the threat was there. Where was President Trump going? He wasn't going to Paris. He wasn't going to London. He was going to Ankara, Turkey. Turkey shares a border with Iran, an over 300-mile border. And it's certainly, while Turkey has been a great ally of the United States, many say it's very unfortunate.

What President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said about the Israeli Prime Minister and about Israel in general. There's a reason I couldn't fly direct here from Turkey to Israel. I had to fly a way back from Germany. We have two laborers to get here today. But certainly, while Turkey's been a good ally, it is positioned in a very tough place sharing that big border with Iran. And there's no question. That's what all went into the intelligence warnings, including some intelligence warnings from right here in Israel. So much happening, and we wanted to open the show with all of that with Lucas Tomlinson, Fox News Channel correspondent. He is live from Tel Aviv, Israel, in that theater, in that region. Lucas, we appreciate it very much. Guy, thanks for having me. We are just getting started. It is Friday on Guy Benson. We're glad you're here with us. Stay tuned. New Talk for a New Generation, Guy Benson. Adobe Firefly is the all-in-one creative studio with AI-powered image and video editing for today's creative process. Built for creators of every kind, Firefly helps you generate, edit, and experiment fast because the asks aren't getting smaller, the budgets aren't getting bigger, and the timelines, oh yeah, still tight. With all the best creative AI models in one place, Firefly brings your ideas to life. Unlock a better way to make with Adobe Firefly. I'm Guy Benson. Some easy, breezy music for this segment on the live broadcast, but not an easy, breezy topic. A really repulsive attack, political attack, one Democrat against another. Usually I'm like, yeah, you know, whatever. But Haley Stevens is one of the Democrats running for U.S. Senate in Michigan. She is the non-total socialist Islamist candidate, sort of the establishment candidate, if you will, still quite left. I would not support her. I don't think she's a good candidate or politician. Disagree with her on most things. But she's getting attacked by Abdul El-Sayed's campaign. Why? Because after Charlie Kirk was assassinated in cold blood in public, Haley Stevens is a member of the House, voted yes in favor of a resolution to honor Kirk's life and legacy and to condemn political violence. And the Abdul El-Sayed campaign is using that to attack her. The official campaign tweeted out not Haley Stevens carrying the flame, and then a unflattering photo of her, Haley Stevens, voted to praise and honor the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk. That's an attack that they're launching in their primary. Because she was just decent and human in voting for that resolution after that atrocity. Bad, says the L. Syed campaign. Ben Shapiro notes that Abdul El-Sayed's campaign condemning Haley Stevens for paying tribute to Charlie Kirk, this would be the same Abdul El-Sayed, who engaged in sympathy with, in sympathy with, constituents over the death of Ayatollah Hamini, and who really thought it was quite complex to condemn a terrorist attack, jihadist attack against a synagogue in his state.

Man, some of this stuff is really depraved. He's got a good chance of winning in Michigan. We'll see. And we'll be right back. Need a laptop that's built or perform and designed to last all day? Select Windows 11 PCs starting at 49999 are now at Best Buy. Learn more at Best Buy.com. Best Buy. Imagine that. Talking about the issues you care about. Guy Benson. We are back here on Guy Benson. Guy Benson.com. Podcast always free. Bonus Guy Benson on the weekends. With us now is our friend, our colleague Paul Mora, Fox News contributor, attorney, and retired NYPD inspector. Paul, great to have you. Happy Friday. Happy Friday, Guy. Glad to be here. Well, I'm here in California. We're broadcasting live from the Golden State. And I want to start here in California because, what was it, a week or two ago, Governor Gavin Newsom came out and preemptively said, The Justice Department, you know, Trump's stormtroopers are out here trying to create some investigation around me, and it's all politically motivated. This was, you know, obviously him getting out in front of something. I didn't know how legitimate it would be or not. We've seen mixed results on that front in the last couple of years, but he was at least, you know, raising awareness that something was happening behind the scenes. I reported it, moved on, didn't put too much stock in it, kind of wait and see. Then there was some sort of revelation that someone close to Gavin Newsom had apparently been wearing a wire as part of whatever this probe is. I know that raised your antenna, given your background. What do you see here? Very clearly. For them to go to the point that they would put a body wire in place, potentially reaching all the way into the office of the governor of California, there is something there. Now, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to go all the way to Gavin Newsom. But if you think that as they went into their superiors to get the search marks, you need legal process. to start building this case that could lead all the way into the governor's office. If you don't think that they were thinking, wow, we may snare Gavin Newsom in this, then you don't know how this stuff works. But in short order, just to explain how it went, somebody must have tipped them. Because $250,000 in the scheme of the NGOs and the machinations of California politics is not really a lot. Somebody, I think, tipped them off that this guy, McCluskey, who was the chief of staff, or Xavier Becerra, who was now running for governor, that he got a $250,000 payoff in order to stay in his position with Xavier Becerra and Xavier Becerra went to Washington as the head of Health and Human Services.

And that person, whoever that was, I guess at some kind of a motive, you can speculate. And when they started following the money, ultimately it turns out that political operatives in Sacramento, some of whom are close to Gavin Newsom and close to Xavier Becerra, seemed to have done exactly that. Transferred money from an old account of Xavier Becerra's campaign and got it to McCluskey, who then gave his wife a no-show job and paid her to 250. Okay. So, again, a lot to unpack, a lot that we don't know, but, you know, someone wearing a wire, and this is sort of in high-level democratic politics in California, just something to keep an eye on. Paul. Shifting now, and this is kind of putting on two of your hats, your law enforcement hat and your legal hat, as you see what's been going down in Utah at this trial, or at least the pretrial preliminary hearings, we've had several guests on and analyses and reports from those proceedings in Utah this week. What is your read on what has been discovered and where this thing is headed? The case is really, really strong. You rarely see a case that is so strong. I don't see any way that he could beat this at trial unless you get a real rogue juror. You've got a very strong narrative now. You've got video and you have the linchpin is the roommate, Lance Twigs. Twigs? I was told when I was out there, we quote unquote have him where we want them. And that didn't mean just physically because I was inquiring where is he. But also they have him in terms of evidence where they want him. And he's giving them exactly what they want. He's telling them that he had conversations with Tyler Robinson, wherein Robinson told him I'm engraving bullets. That happened before the shooting. And then you find the rifle that has the engraved bullets still in the rifle, along with a spent shell. That is the bullet that killed Charlie Kirk. And then you have an admission, not only in the text messages, but then Lance Twiggs telling the attorneys here that... He, in fact, admitted it. Robinson admitted it to him and was actually expressing remorse, wished he hadn't done it. But, of course, he was saying he wished he hadn't done it after he realized that he couldn't get the gun back and law enforcement had the gun with the towel, all kinds of DNA, et cetera. And so at that point, reality was starting to bite. So I don't see how he gets around that. My gripe, of course, is that this went on for a week and that judge has been so deliberative, way over the top. And it's cruel, frankly, from where I sit to the Charlie Kirk family. I know they want transparency, but that should happen to trial, not during a probable cause hearing. This thing should have been a day and done. This judge is dragging it out. He was only appointed and took that seat about a month before the whole case landed in his lap.

So I get it. He's new. I'm sympathetic. But he's got to move this thing forward. And as of now, he won't even make a determination relative to probable cause until sometime in September. Paul, closer to home for you, a bit of a controversy stirring in New York City, where Mayor Zohran Mamdani, his administration, rolled out this map of immigrant neighborhoods and enclaves in New York City, and they include dozens of these communities, including what they're calling Little Palestine, of course, Little Bangladesh and others. And immediately critics were like, wow, there are several big ones missing here, the Italians, the Irish, Jewish immigrant communities. Those apparently didn't make the cut, but a ton of other ones did. You know, it's just some graphic that they've put out there. I think some people might be overblowing it a little bit, but I think it's also a window. into the type of politics that this guy wants to practice and some of the divisive stuff that he, that he uses to his advantage, or thinks at least, can be used to his advantage. Is this, is this a news story? Is this like some passing fascination? I think it is. I think it is a news story. You know, and I often don't go the other way on these kinds of things where I say, like, oh, come on, we got bigger fish to fry, let's move on. But I think you're right. It's an x-ray into the soul of the Zohran Mamdani administration and the people that he has surrounded himself with. One is more radical than the next. And the idea that Little Italy is, you know, there's a little bit of an urban myth that the Little Italy in New York has disappeared. It actually, over the last couple of years, has grown a little bit. It's not the old Little Italy of people who are necessarily immigrants, but the streets that have Italian restaurants and stuff down there are actually holding fairly strong and a few are new. So that's a canard. Many of them are nowhere near. The ones that he used on that map are nowhere near as sort of potent and consolidated as the little Italy is. And so he's really, really reaching. And, you know, he just wants to erase the European identity of New York's past. That doesn't mean that you can't have these other places. Of course, we get it. But to characterize, let's say, Bay Ridge. as whatever you put, a little Palestine or something, when the old school Irish still outnumber every other group out there just shows them they're making, shows us rather, they're making conscious decisions.

to erase the people that built this city. And I actually think from what I'm seeing online, we're probably going to get some kind of a rally down in Little Italy, and it's not just going to be the Italians. It's going to be a lot of people who feel like Zohran Mamdani, who I think is truly a bigot, wants to erase the European, Jewish, and other older New York groups. away from the omissions the omissions say a lot and people are joking oh it's colonizing is ethnic cleansing well gets a look paul morrow appreciate your time we'll talk soon thank you guys and we'll be right back you're listening to a new generation of talk guy Back here on Guy Benson, glad that you're listening. Thank you for that. So this guy has Hasan Piker, and you might be thinking, that guy talks about him a lot. Yeah, because he has enormous influence now in democratic politics. A lot of these DSA left-wingers are scrambling for his support, and he bestows that support onto a lot of them. And it's like the worst possible candidates generally... From an ideological and I would say ethical and moral perspective, they get his seal of approval and they want it. And his large following, they pay attention, his fans. And when you talk about influencers, it's almost like some kind of, you know, spiritual guru for the dirtbag left. He is near the very top of the list right now. He is a campaign surrogate, not just an endorser. He's a surrogate for a lot of these people. He'll show up. He'll campaign with them. So some of the worst examples that we will bring to your attention around the country, odds are if they're terrible, they have the Hasan Piker blessing in their race. And for younger left-wing voters, he's sort of one of these people who's helping drive not just the conversation but actual electoral outcomes as well in these primaries. And he is an absolute radical extremist who hates America and is a terrorism apologist at best, straight up. As we have pointed out many times, he said, unequivocally, angrily, passionately that the United States of America deserved 9-11. That's what he said. He's made every excuse in the world for Hamas. He loves Hezbollah, which is a terrorist organization with tons of American blood on its hands. I think he probably views that as a feature, not a bug. He went to China and talked about, you know, how great the CCP is and how terrible America is and how he has no patriotism for this country that's made him fabulously wealthy. He was part of that dirtbag crew that went down to Cuba and used up all the electricity on the island to have their little concert for propaganda purposes. That's who this person is. And there are so many terrible things that he says all the time. It's like a full-time job to keep tabs on it.

And you would say it's just like this kind of fringe character, what's the point, except for all the reasons that I just mentioned, that he has a real sway on the left, seemingly growing sway on the left. So just this week, of course, he was a big Graham Platner guy until he wasn't, right? He said ultimately that the Nazi tattoo was a red flag for him, which just doesn't make any sense to me for various reasons. But Hasan Piker was very angry about everything that went down with Graham Platner, and he decided that he was going to say some things on his stream, including this and cut 20. Fox News is Rape TV, okay? It's the pro-rape network. One of their rapist hosts is now the fucking Secretary of War. Pete Hegseth also has a Nazi tattoo on his motherfuckin' chest. He was such a prolific rapist that his own mother sent him an email begging him to stop raping. Okay. Fox News is rape TV, the pro-rape network. I mean, these are vile slanders, not terribly surprising coming from this person who himself is vile. I'm not a legal expert, but there is a line that can be crossed. When it comes to things that are said or written about someone, where it's either slander or libel that is actionable, defamation. And to call the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, I do enjoy that he has now adopted Secretary of War. Many on the left refuse to do that. It's Secretary of Defense. But he did embrace Secretary of War, but he called him one of our at this network, former, quote, rapist hosts, who he claimed had a Nazi tattoo on his chest. No, not a Nazi tattoo. Crazy thing to say. You can Google that whole situation. That is nuts. As opposed to the Graham Platner Nazi tattoo, which is an actual Nazi tattoo, this is a totally false equivalence. And I guess for his low info followers, and now he's leading them to believe that Pete Hegseth had something like that. False, wrong. But he called him a prolific rapist. A rapist host, a prolific rapist where his mother begged him to stop raping. No. That is... defamatory. I think clearly defamatory in my mind. I'm not a lawyer. I'm not, you know, advising Pete on anything, but there is a line that I think was clearly crossed there, and it is a sick, sick thing coming from this person. The reason I raise it is not to necessarily amplify this nutty claim, and it's a broader smear, by the way, of all of us who work here. pro-rape network. That is a terrible, revolting, repugnant thing to say and false and defamatory. But it is also quite interesting and rich coming from Hasan Piker, who is apparently a big anti-rape crusader in his own mind.

so much so that he's going to sort of make up these claims about other people that he wants to slime and smear. But here is the very same person back in May of last year dismissing and shrugging off certain rapes, verifiable rapes that we know actually happened. Why? Well, because of who committed them and who the victims were. Take it away, Hassan, cut 21. It doesn't matter if rapes happen on October 7. Like, that doesn't change the dynamic for me even this much. So that's the other part of this problem that many people that can't contend with. Like, it doesn't matter if bleeping rapes happened on October 7th. It doesn't change the dynamic for me even this much. So basically, the documented fact that Hamas terrorists used rape and sexual violence as one of their many weapons during their slaughter of nearly 1,200 people, he didn't care at all. He says it doesn't matter if the bleeping rapes happened. It doesn't change his opinion of October 7th at all in his calculus, where, of course, he takes a pro-Hamas. terrorism apologetic, rape apologetic standpoint and stance. He said it himself. So he's willing to invent claims against other people that he views as ideological enemies, including like broadly at this network where he's very anti-rape and accusing us wrongly, disgustingly of being pro-rape. And then you just roll the tape back from not long ago, and he is just giving the back of the hand to actual rapes because it was Hamas doing them and Jewish women being victimized. Those don't really count. That doesn't really matter. He truly does not care. So he is a rape opponent asterisk. Exceptions apply. This is one of the most important influential voices. in left-wing politics today, ladies and gentlemen. And to me, the way you discredit him is simply playing audio of the things that he says. Because he says terrible, stomach-churning, nausea-inducing things on a regular basis. It's actually kind of his whole thing. That's kind of his brand. And I want to bring this one to you as well. You might call it a heuristic or a shorthand, I do in my mind. If there's a candidate who has the blessing and the stamp of Hasan Piker on them, that's a pretty easy way to say this person should never hold elective office. And here he is making the case against himself, yet again. A new hour of Guy Benson coming up next. Kim Strassel joins us straight ahead.

This is summer at its peak. Whole Foods Market's summer fruit fest is your invitation to eat the season. Fresh, organic, and bursting with flavor. Start your day with peaches and organic blueberries and yogurt. Build a grazing board with fresh fruit, prosciutto, and artisanal cheese. Then fire up the grill with no antibiotics ever proteins and fresh produce. Savor the season. Shop summer fruit fest at Whole Foods Market. A new generation of conservative talk. Right here, right now. Fair, fun, and backed by the trusted voices and reporting resources of Fox News. Fox News. You're listening to Guy Benson. And now, here's your host, Guy Benson. Hey, it's a brand new hour here on Guy Benson from Southern California on this Friday. Glad you're with us. Thank you. Guy Benson.com is our online home. Our podcast is free on demand every single day. The entire show start to finish. Plus, bonus Guy Benson on the weekends, Guy Benson.com, Fox Newspodcast.com, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us at Guy Benson on social. You can follow me at Guy Benson. You can send us an email if you'd like, GBS at Fox.com. But with us now is Kim Strassel, Fox News contributor, Wall Street Journal columnist, the Potomac-Watch columnist, also a member of their editorial board, best-selling author, all sorts of accolades. Kim, always good to have you here. Hi, Guy, great to be here. So I want to start with something as a point of personal privilege, as I've been doing a little bit this week, and I'll talk more about this at the end of today's show. But I want to ask you if it's okay, a slightly personal question, which pertains to the reality, God willing, that we're about to become parents for a second time, hopefully within the next week or two. We have a boy. We're expecting a girl. I know that you're a parent. I met your kids, actually, and they were amazing. I'm just wondering if you have any advice or thoughts on going from one to two and the difference in your experience, I know all kids are different, but your experience between boys and girls and how that whole dynamic looks. By the way, congratulations. I had no idea, and I'm just actually so thrilled that I'm like finding out about this and live as well. So I'm so thrilled for you. I'm so thrilled for both of you. So obviously the biggest thing is just you're now going to go for man to man, literally, meaning in like in terms of strategy, like now there's not. two of you to look after one, but you know, you're going to have to sort of divide and conquer because they will suck up all of your time and in a good way, in a wonderful way, but going from one to two does make an enormous difference in the work and the time. But boys and girls.

I'll have to be honest. I'm really excited. You're getting a little girl. Little boys are wonderful. All boys are wonderful. But what I love about him is they're kind of like what you see is what you get. Kind of like a puppy dog, right? Like they come in and they're like, I had a great day. Or they come in and they say. It was a terrible day, Mom. And you know what you're dealing with. Girls are a mystery. And I think everyone should need to learn to deal with girls. Okay. When they say up, it's down. When they say down, it's up. And you're going to spend the next however many decades just guessing what it all means. Trying to unravel the mystery. You're scaring me, Kim, a little bit. Just a little bit. That's good. But you know what? Twice as many is twice as much joy, too, because kids are just a joy. Well, I appreciate that. Thank you for those kind words and the advice. And there will be pictures. Don't worry. And God willing, it's all coming soon. Okay. So, Kim, I do want to turn to politics and a few different topics to get to here. Let's start with one of the big political stories now for weeks on end, but especially this week, sort of coming to ahead, the giant mess for the Democrats in the state of Maine in a Senate race that they themselves have flagged as essential to their path to victory in the U.S. Senate, and they've now forced out of the race. Much to his own chagrin, it would seem, their nominee, they've discarded yet another election that they don't like. And this is, you know, a Senate nomination election with hundreds of thousands of votes gone in the dumpster, and now they're going to have apparently some, you know, insider convention with several hundred people to decide who the new person is. I just wonder what you think of the demise of Graham Platner. I saw the New York Times had a story about some of the sort of hangers on and the troop. believers in Graham Platner, including women, given everything that's happened and come out about him and has been alleged, saying that they're very disillusioned and angry that he's been forced out of the race. Let's start with him before we get to what could come next. What's your read on all of this? By the way, this is in no way is an endorsement, obviously, of anything about Graham Platner's life. He obviously has many, many issues, many problems. He's a very troubled individual who probably needs some help.

But I do have this sympathy for him in this regard. He was plucked out of obscurity by shiny Democratic consultants who saw him as a tool to achieve something. And then they continued to nurture him through all of these scandals instead of having him get out at an earlier time. They kept telling him it was all fine. And so in that regard to now have the National Party. over the will of the voters. By the way, I would just note that the vast majority of Mainers knew about most of these scandals when they went and voted him overwhelmingly to be their nominee in June. the National Party comes in and says, hey, actually, we're erasing that whole vote that you made. We have decided that this guy that we stood up is now not the guy we really like anymore, and he's too big of a problem, and he risks our Senate ambitions, so he's out. And I do find that notable for the, quote, Party of Democracy. Uh-huh. Yeah, especially after what they did with their presidential nominee in 2024, where there were millions of votes, tens of millions of votes, I believe, cast. And they're like, yeah, just kidding. Never mind. He's out. Someone else is in. Because the giant lie that we told about him and all the warnings, we said it wasn't true, but oops, it is true. And now we want to win. So by my election. I mean, it does. And I liken this to use a sports analogy. It's as if they believe elections are just sort of exhibition games for fun. And when they want them to stick, fine. But when they don't want them to stick, it's kind of this inconvenience they can just sort of, it's nettles them and just wipe it away. And I do find that very, very strange from a party that claims to champion democracy. It's not so strange if you're thinking about a party that ruthlessly pursuits power at all costs, which is what this actually is, right? Well, right. You just took the words out of my mouth. If this is your only goal is power, your only goal is to be in control, then none of the rules matter, right? I mean, how many times have we heard from the left that they care about, that they're the party of free speech and free elections? But they'll rig an election if they need to. They'll use intimidation to shut down free speech if it serves their purpose. They don't believe in... tradition. I mean, they only believe in standards and, you know, the longstanding way of doing things if it serves them at the moment. But when they get in power next, yes, they'll get rid of all of that if it means that it can increase their domination over everything. And this is what happens when you have a party that's no longer running on ideas that are saleable to the American public. Instead, You have to make it all about criticism of the other side and then maneuver to get into positions of power. Yeah, and I would just say, I can imagine some of our left-leaning audience right now kind of screaming at the radio or their device saying, well, what about Trump and the Republicans? And don't they do? And it's like, look, I don't think that either party.

has some sort of vice grip on credibility at this point or moral high ground. I think the difference is the Democrats present themselves as these high-minded, holier than now, protectors of democracy, and they label everything they dislike as a threat to democracy and now routinely just nullify elections that they don't like. So, I mean... I'm willing to concede some points about the GOP, but I just don't want to hear from these people about democracy. They don't actually seem to believe in it, you know, when it comes down to brass tax. Well, it's that old line. If Democrats didn't have double standards, they'd have no standards at all. And, you know, Graham Platner is the perfect example of this. I can't even begin to think of the number of double standards that were put into play to justify his candidacy. You know, we're going to look past allegations of sexual misconduct because it came from a Republican or conservative woman. We now have a veteran that we like. By the way, I'm trying to think of how they treated Tim Sheehe in Montana when he was running for his Senate seat. They tried to smear his record. They tried to destroy his companies. But, you know, now we have a veteran in Maine, and we're not allowed to look at his military record or question anything about what he did in that time or the years after because of his service. You know, it's just a remarkable, like, whatever they say yesterday doesn't count today anyway. Yeah, and I mean, you had Graham Platner out there posting about how he enjoys watching a video of an American service member getting shot by the Taliban and saying he didn't deserve to survive. Meanwhile, yeah, the Democrats were vicious with Tim Jeanne Shaheen in Montana, and a bunch of Sheehe's brothers in arms came to his defense. And as several people have noted in this case, not so much the case really at all that I'm aware of for Graham Platner, which I think speaks volumes. But now he's gone. So he's yesterday's news. for now because i think he is saying that he's technically not going to file the paperwork to drop out until next week at the very very end of the deadline process so that could get interesting again that being said the democrats are now tripping over each other to get into the race and signal that they're wanting to be the nominee. And there were some people, I think, almost embarrassing themselves, claiming that Graham Platner was going to endorse them. And then that was swatted down. And people who eagerly endorsed Graham Platner, even after all the stuff came out, including the allegations from women against him. And now they're saying, oh, I'm actually, never mind, horrified, don't want his endorsement anymore. But please, vote for me. I want to be the senator. You have written a column about how Maine Democrats could be at risk of getting themselves another platinum on the ballot to replace the other platinum. What do you mean by this?

who is the ranking member on the Appropriations Committee in the Senate, who brings home Maine pork, who has been working there, working for the state of Maine for decades now, never missed a vote in the Senate. And then some person I've never heard of in my whole life whose entire claim to fame is that he wants work for a congressperson, I'm not sure that's a tough choice for me. Yeah, but maybe you just want to yell and scream about a conflict thousands of miles away in the Jewish state and genocide or whatever, and that's, you know, they'll fall right back in love with the next person. I guess we'll see. Kim Strassel, I do want to turn to foreign policy and the Iranian conflict in just a moment. Let's take a quick break. Return with that subject right after this. A fresh perspective on the topics of the day. It's Guy Benson. Hi, Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. Are you looking for a beach read this summer? May I suggest your big wireless bill? It's got suspense, mystery, a slightly flat, emotional arc, and a shocking twist where you realize you've been overpaying the entire time. Fortunately, though, Mint's story is better. Every plan, $15 dollars a month a month. Every plan, even unlimited. That's it. Happy ending, zero tears. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Up front payment of $45 for three months, $90 for $1.90 for $1.20 per month. Taxes and fees extra. Initial term only greater than 50 gigabytes. See terms.

We are back here on Guy Benson. The Wall Street Journal's Kimberly Strassel is still with us. Kim, I want to ask you about Iran. And the big changes there, President Trump declaring that the ceasefire is over in his mind. I think just practically speaking, that's obviously the case and has been for a while. It seems like that memo of understanding has been ripped up. A lot of us were critical of it at the time. He gave peace a chance, as they say, and the Iranians, as usual, didn't want to take it. What's your analysis of where we go from here? Well, look, I want to give the president credit. There were a lot of people who really believed, I know we've talked about this, to believe that memo of understanding was a kind of cave to politics, right? We need to put this whole issue on ice, get gas prices down, and just not think about this until after the election again. So I give him credit. It wasn't working. And even though there is some real political risk to this, gas prices could go back up. You know, there's going to be ongoing kind of havoc. It sucks up a lot of airspace when Republicans would much rather be talking about domestic achievements and priorities. He decided that he was not going to let them get away with it. And I bet that that was an enormous surprise to Iran. I think the question going forward is does he doubled down on this? And is there a plan as part of this? Right now we seem to be doing bombing. I'm sure that there is thought behind the sites that are being hit. But is there a bigger plan, a bigger strategy tactically for using this in a way that does take away Iran's ability to hold the straight of hormones hostage? That was always the issue from the beginning. And then how does this work out in terms of our ambitions in making sure they never get a nuclear weapon? Yeah, and I think that we kind of have a hint here of how the Iranians will behave because it's how the regime always behaves. And now they've made it, I think, crystal clear that they're not interested whatsoever in making peace or making meaningful concessions. And now the United States and the Trump administration and the American public needs to decide, okay, how serious are we willing to get if there are sacrifices to be made? What do those look like? It seems like there's... pretty low pain threshold among the American people for these things. You know, whatever you think of that, it's just a political reality. I think that the Iranian regime understands that, which is why they're doing what they're doing. And the next steps ahead here are going to be very, very important. Kim Strassel is a Fox News contributor, a member of the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal where you can read her Potomac Watch political column. all the time. It's excellent. You can follow her on social media at Kim Strassel, read her bestselling books. Kim always appreciate it. We'll talk soon, I hope. Guy, I'm still just so thrilled by your news. Congratulations. Oh, thank you very much. Thank you, Kim. And with that, we will step aside and be right back. It is Guy Benson.

Cheers to America's 250th birthday. Get 20% off your first purchase at Fox Newswineshop.com with code FN Radio 20. 20% discount excludes wine club offers and cannot be combined with any other promotion. Expires July 31st, 2026. Must be 21 order to order. Please drink responsibly. Guy Benson, sponsored by Previgin. Previgin, made for your brain. We are halfway through Guy Benson on this Friday. Happy Friday. Thanks for listening. Guy Benson.com podcast free every day on demand. Bonus Guy Benson on the weekends as well. Well, we are broadcasting from the Golden State of California, and as I look around it is a beautiful place with great weather, with lots of mismanagement. in terms of the policies and politics out here. And things could get worse. That's the chipper news of the day. And it looks like some people, leftists in California, are actively trying to undermine the state in the name of, of course, good governance and fairness and all of that. And they have put on the ballot for this November something that Californians will be voting on. Now, there's another referendum on voter ID, which I think is a very important thing for Californians to get out and support. But this wealth tax that will also be on the ballot for billionaires, it might sound good and scratch some itches for people, but this is a movie that has been seen before, and it ends in failure inexorably. And joining us now to discuss it is Benjamin Netanyahu Jaros, who is an economic and research fellow at the Hoover Institution, our great friends there at Stanford. He specializes in public finance and financial economics and economic history. He's got to focus on federal, state, and local taxation, which, of course, is right here central to the debate in California and this policy that has been introduced for this public referendum in November. Benjamin Netanyahu, good to have you here. Welcome. Thank you, Guy. Great to be on. So if you can just explain for us, what is this question that will be put to voters? What is the policy that they're asking voters here to approve? And then we'll get to the potential consequences if it succeeds. But let's just start with what are they proposing first? Okay. So the proponents are proposing a quote, unquote, one time wealth tax. on individuals in the state who were residents of the state of California on January 1st, 26, so this past January. And it is a one-time 5% tax on those individuals' net assets. So not their income. This is like their, what, entire net worth? They'll go in and estimate that and grab 5% of it? Yeah, so it is their entire net worth less residential. property, and it is up to the taxpayer to submit documentation that their assets are a fair market value, but then California's franchise tax board will and potentially can audit, potentially will audit all those valuations. Okay. So we have seen people in that bracket getting out of here already, right? Once this became a possibility.

They're like, all right, well, it's California. So if it's bad, it very well might happen. So we might love it here, but we can't stay here anymore because they're hostile to success and wealth and they want to come. And so it's only one time, 5%. I mean, that's an enormous amount of money. And I think a lot of people say, yeah, I don't want any part of this. And I don't believe that it's going to be one time only and all of that. What have we seen in terms of, you know, voting with their feet type activity? even before this thing gets voted on. Of course. So from when it was filed in the fall to the snapshot cutoff date of December 31st, really functional January 1st this past year, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Peter Thiel, and four other billionaires change their residents. or at least actively bought a residence outside of California and New York Times and other sources have documented that they are moving. And those individuals, the pre-snapshot, accounts for about 28% of what they estimate would be the revenue. when they profiled it. So right before the snapshot date, individuals said, okay, exactly like your pointed guy, we're getting out of here, we're going to move to Texas, we're going to move to Florida, Coral Gables, real estate market, probably pleased with the billionaire tax act. Now, there's probably a lot of people around the country, including here in California and elsewhere saying, oh, these poor billionaires, you know, crocodile tears, the heart bleeds. These people have so much money. You know, if it's just 5%, and it's only one time, isn't that fair? Think about what they can pay for with all of this. I think a lot of that is just sort of like politics of envy, class warfare, you know, kind of classic politics where they can sell things a certain way and it might poll relatively well. But ultimately, I think policies have to be judged on outcomes and what actually flows from a policy that's implemented, not because of the motivation behind it, not because of the intentions, but because of the actual results. We have seen wealth taxes. imposed and attempted around the world many times. And I've noted in the past that, for example, in Europe, where this kind of thing was very popular in all the rage and they put it into effect, many, many, many of the places where it was implemented, it has now been rescinded because it was so counterproductive and disastrous. Tell us about the outcomes here.

Exactly. So what you're talking about is, in 1990, there were 12 OECD countries, largely in Europe, that had a well tax. And nowadays, there's only, now, today, there's only four. And I'll talk to about three of them just quickly, and they repeal, why did they repeal it? First, you know, Sweden repealed it, one of our favorite Nordic countries pointed to. by proponents of more public sector spending, and they repealed it giving the reason that it caused decades of capital and investment flight. France, which is where some of the proponents are from, when they repealed it, they estimated that 10,000 millionaires left over the previous 15 years. And then Finland, another Nordic country, and they repealed it. cited the reason that negatively impacted new business formation, which makes a lot of sense, especially in a place like California, that reason should resonate in that, you know, we're talking about the co-founders of Google, Barry Page and Sergey Brin. You want to start a business in California today when you have this potential cost. Or if you're sitting in the upper hundreds of millions right now, are you going to move your company tomorrow? And then what happens? Are you going to hire in California tomorrow or are you going to hire in new locations where you've relocated? So exactly to your point. They gave the same things that these countries repealed their taxes for we should be concerned about as members of the state of California. Yeah, because it didn't work. Right. And by the way, the reason this is a national story and not just a California story is because a lot of bad ideas start on the West Coast and then Democrats nationally embrace those terrible ideas, even if they're proven to be terrible. So it doesn't just stay in California. So it's sort of this red flag warning here, but it can be defeated in California. at the ballot box in November, and they'll say it's just one time, it's just for the billionaires, this is good for you. And as we've seen time and again, when they try these things, they make the same arguments, and it doesn't work. And it ends up driving away business and success because you're punishing it, and you can dress it up however you want, but the results speak for themselves. I do want to ask you, what about this notion? Or they insist, oh, no, one time only, never going to do it again. Oh, and it's only for people who are billionaires, so no one else has to worry about that. You know, I'm not so sure. Yeah, and you shouldn't be so sure. If you read the ballot initiative, it's now called Prop 40, that's the name of it. If you go... Towards the end of the act, it's Billioner Tax Act, page 25, 26, somewhere in there. They have a legislature amendment clause so that if the legislature with two-thirds majority, which is the state of California, that is potentially plausible to amend this tax, can amend any section of the billionaire tax act. That includes the threshold, that includes the rate, and that also includes one time.

You're amending the state constitution with the vote, but then you're also enabling the legislature to change in the future. Right. Currently, there is a cap from, I want to say, 70s, 60s, potentially even earlier, a cap on intangible assets that limits statewide, and so it is repealing that cap. And it also is enabling the legislature to amend it in the future. So, you know, whether they can commit to one time or not, well, I mean, do you trust the California legislature with that language? No, you do not. You should not. So Californians vote no on 40 this coming fall. And for the rest of America. Beware because this is what they're trying here and it might be coming to a state near you if people are unwise and often people are unwise. Benjamin Netanyahu Giroz is an economist and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution doing work on this very issue. Benjamin Netanyahu, thanks so much for your time. Guy, thank you for having me. Have a great day. We'll be right back after this short break. In the swamp, not of the swamp. Guy Benson.

Back here on Guy Benson, I want to play you some audio of the Secretary of State using his authority, intervening in a case that has gotten some attention. And I think Marco Rubio has done exactly the right thing. I can't imagine who would disagree, except maybe I can't. Who would disagree would be, it seems, the governor of Minnesota. Jazz Hands. Tim Walz. and his various left-wing cronies in that state. Right now, this is really, I think, a very instructive juxtaposition about the two political parties and the two political coalitions in this country and how they view immigration policy and how they view public safety. There is now a race to the bottom on the left when it comes to being pro-illegal immigration and pro-illegal immigrant. including criminal illegal immigrants. And we've seen this on display in places like Minnesota in the not too distant past, as you all recall, where it's not just democratic officials objecting to otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants or DACA recipients or anything like that being deported. It's really effectively... An opposition, a fanatical opposition, which is what their base is demanding, to any and all enforcement on immigration whatsoever, which is why all the Democrats voted repeatedly to shut down the government and DHS for this reason, to defund and not give an additional dollar to ICE or, I'll remind you, border patrol, either of them. So in case you needed... a more fragrant example, a more recent example, this is very recent, of how the two political parties view these issues. I direct you to this story out of Minnesota, where Tim Walz, the governor there, at least for now, he saw fit to pardon, and I know this came on the advice of some counsel, and this is what they decided in that state, that blue state run by one party. They were going to pardon an illegal immigrant. who was slated for deportation, and some of the critics were saying, because of this pardon, perhaps the whole purpose of the pardon, was to try to make this man ineligible for deportation. It seems as though some on the left have turned this man into a cause-seleb, and they really know how to pick him, whether it's Kilmar Abrago Garcia or Mahmoud Khalil, Or now this guy, who again was pardoned by Walls and that team in Minnesota, and now Marco Rubio has come in and said, up, nope, sorry, I don't think so. I'll let Marco Rubio describe this for you, and then you can decide who you think is in the right and who is acting in the interests of the American people, the sovereignty of our laws, and the safety of the public. Here is Marco Rubio with his announcement, cut 18. Just weeks ago, a convicted sex offender and a foreign national was shielded from deportation by the governor of Minnesota. Loeatian National, Tu Li Vang, was convicted of repeatedly sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl in the state of Minnesota. He even tried to pay his victim for her silence, and he called his heinous crimes a minor thing. Just days before this foreign sex offender was scheduled to be deported, Tim Walz, the governor, issued him a pardon.

setting him free to once again endanger the children of America. Well, this week, I revoked his legal status in the United States, and as a result, federal agents took him into custody, and as of today, he has been removed from the United States. Marco Rubio continued cut 19. Because of our action, this foreign criminal will never pose a threat to any American. Ever again, Americans must never be forced by their elected leaders to live alongside foreign sex criminals who have no right to begin with to reside in our country. This administration will always stand with the American people and defend them from violent criminals. So, on one hand, you have Tim Walz and company. pardoning this guy right before he was going to get deported. It's like, oh, well, now he's pardoned non-criminal, apparently, so you can't deport him. But thankfully, we have adults in charge. Marco Rubio saying, yeah, that's not going to fly. I have this power. Goodbye. And again, I ask, who would object to this? And I guess the answer is a lot of people, at least in elective office. the activists and donor class of the Democrat Party who apparently have not found a single in some cases, illegal immigrant that they think, should not be able to stay here. But I think of Ms. Chevalier, who's likely to become a congresswoman from New York City, asked repeatedly, is there anyone you would deport? And she said, nope, all deportations are wrong. What about a convicted rapist or a, nope, all deportations are wrong? Well, I mean, that's one view. The other view is what you heard there from Marco Rubio, this guy who was in our country illegally. He was here from Laos. He entered the country unlawfully. He had no right to be here. Twenty years ago, he was convicted, not accused, convicted of first-degree sexual criminal conduct, having repeatedly assaulted a girl at the age of 10. He tried to pay her cash to keep quiet about it. When interviewed by police, according to DHS, he justified his actions as, quote, a cultural thing. Well, I don't think that's true, but if that's his view of it, I don't want him with that view of his culture in this country. He's here illegally or was here illegally. He violated the innocence of a young child. He was convicted of it. He was given a final order of removal all the way back in October of 2006 in the Bush administration. And yet this person has somehow managed to stay here for all these years. And I guess people on the left flow, he's been here for so long. Have compassion. No, how about the compassion for the 10-year-old girl? And Tim Walz decided to do everything in his power, evidently, to keep this person in our country. Marco Rubio said, nope, if you come here and say it's a minor thing to sexually assault a girl, that's the wrong sort of minor, by the way, sir, and call it a cultural thing, this administration, the Republican Party, conservatives, are not going to stand for that, and you can go. And now he has.

And as you heard there from Marco Rubio, you'll be, I think, most of us pleased to know, that individual is no longer within the borders of the United States of America. Much to the chagrin of, and despite it would seem, the best efforts of, the Democratic administration in the state of Minnesota. So I ask you, America, not just Minnesota, I ask you generally America, as you look at these issues, Which one of these positions is closer to yours? That the convicted child sex offender, illegal immigrant gets pardoned and allowed to stay? Or he gets deported. To me, it's not a close call. Final hour of Guy Benson coming up next. Mary Catherine Hamm, best friend of the program, is here much to discuss with her coming up. Raise your glass to Guy Benson Happy Hour. Brought to you by the Finnish Long Drink. Finland's most popular alcoholic beverage is taking America by storm. Visit thelongdrink.com. And now, here's Guy Benson.

Happy hour time on Guy Benson on this Friday. Hope you're having a great one weekend approaching. Guy Benson.com, the website here, podcast always free, always on demand. Bonus Guy Benson on the weekends, of course, as well if you're interested. This radio hour brought you by our great friends at the finish long drink. It is a very good beverage. I strongly recommend it if you are 21 years of age or older. And if you are willing to, please drink responsibly, of course. The Longdrink.com for more information there, including where it's sold near you. With us now, Mary Catherine Hamm, best friend of the program, Fox News contributor, co-author with me of End of Discussion, the book that came out, my goodness, 11 years ago. Mary Catherine, happy Friday. Welcome back. Hello. So before we get to politics and I badgered very politely, I think, Kim Strassel about this earlier and she was very kind to oblige and I'll talk more about this later this hour as a matter of fact. But as a mother of four, I do want to just publicly solicit, if you don't mind, a little bit of advice because as you know, we are expecting a daughter any day, hopefully God willing, next week or so. And... I'm a little anxious about going from one to two. I know you went from one to two under extraordinarily difficult circumstances, so that's a whole other story, but just the jump of multiple kids. And then also the difference between a boy that we have and a girl that we're expecting. You have three girls and one boy. Any thoughts are welcome and appreciated? say a lot of the parenting game is not psyching yourself out. Like people get so in their heads. You're going to go from one to two and you can think about that as, oh, we're doubling it. Sure, I doubled it after two. We're at four now. But there's a marginal difference between the number of children. Like you'll be fine. In the day to day, you'll be fine. And there will be hard times that there always are when you're transitioning and you've got a new baby who doesn't sleep. very much at night or in long stretches, right? You have to adjust to that. But trusting yourself and your ability as a smart person to handle this situation is so much of parenting because I really think that modern parents tend to overthink things quite a bit and put a lot of pressure on themselves. That actually makes parenting much less fun. I would also say... You know, I grew up with two brothers. So I think that, you know, when I had three girls before I had a boy, I was like, okay, I'm just destined to be a girl mom. But I do love the dynamic of a brother and a sister. It's so fun to see because they are different and they do interact in different ways. And I would say my third daughter who hangs with her brother all the time, she's perhaps a little more tomboy because she's hanging out with him all the time. And I really enjoy seeing it. Now, I will teach you to French Bray. If necessary. Yes, I will need help. I can get on that. But in the meantime, you know, there's bows everywhere if you want to go that direction. They're available for you anywhere. I used to have a house just flooded with bows. We don't do it as much anymore because they've moved on. But we had a bow collection to rival them all. Well, and who's to say that our daughter will have anywhere near the hair?

that your girls have. I mean, it's just like unbelievable hair in your household. So that's another question. We've got a few years, I think, until French braid comes into play. But I will definitely be calling and knocking regularly on stuff like that. Okay, Mary Catherine, from the pleasantness of families and kids and all of that, let's turn to the unpleasantness of American politics. I want to talk. As we have several times today and all week long about Maine and ground platinum, I think we've kind of said all the things that there are to say, except... You know Lindsay Feifield very well. She's one of your friends. She is one of the accusers of Graham Platner. She dated him for a period of time and things did not go well as she explained to the New York Times and sort of got screwed over by the New York Times. And now I think is quite rightly feeling vindicated given what's happened this week. I just have to ask you about sort of the standard here where... She was drawn in by the New York Times to tell her story. And then they told it kind of, and they withheld some key things and didn't follow certain leads that they could or should have, and they minimized other things, and they kind of turned much of that story into a question about her politics and her potential motivations. And then all these people who either were extremely rude about her and questioning her motives and calling her all sorts of names now that they're worried. that Graham Platner couldn't win a race and they've thrown him overboard. They're like, oh, well, you know, they're not really talking about the five field allegation. It's all about this leftist woman who then came forward and said, actually, he did this to me as well. I mean, it seems like some of them aren't even trying to hide the notion or the reality that they believe all women. only when the woman is sort of ideologically aligned or helpful. And it's like some of them aren't even really trying to hide it very much. No, they're not. Unless they're standard if they want to put it this way is that intimate partner violence that's not sexual is okay. That's like not aligned for them because that was what Lindsay alleged with, you know, actual corroborating evidence. I think the most damning thing about the New York Times. experience that both women had because Jenny Rathcote also spoke to the New York Times and didn't go on the record about her allegations that were very serious about Graham Platner is that

They both gave corroborating witnesses. They gave ways that you could get this information. And the New York Times chose to pass on a bunch of them. And then when she goes to Politico and then CNN does follow-up reporting, suddenly they can call all these people that they hadn't called the first time around. And I know from watching this story be shaped behind the scenes that the New York Times was telling Lindsay to reassure her that she would not be the centerpiece of this story. Right? Because she was cognizant that being a right-leaning woman that was going to put her out for a lot of abuse. And she was like, well, but if everyone else is coming forward and, you know, it's important that we corroborate them with this pattern of behavior. I'm willing to do that. And then she really got hung out to dry with 11 paragraphs about her professional background instead of the allegations. So I also really appreciate the rest coat got ticked off enough by the treatment of Lindsay that that is why she went to Politico. So they sort of. Streisand affected the whole thing by picking off Ginny, who then told her story much more explicitly and pretty gruesome detail, that terrible interaction she says that they had. And then... Just to wrap up this portion of the discussion, because I've sort of said my piece on it. We talked to Kim about it last hour as well, Kim Strassel, but this whole parade of leftists now congratulating themselves on the moral high ground that they occupy because they've thrown him out of the race. Just in terms of personal ethics and morals and all of that, I think it is ludicrous and insulting that they're... pretending like this is somehow evidence that they are better people. And then also just the little minor detail that here we have the self-appointed party of democracy nullifying another election that they don't like. Yeah, there was a little bit of hypocrisy on both. I would say I came of age during the Bill Clinton John Edwards years in politics. So I just, I've always known they were full of it on this stuff, on the treatment of women, and that they were willing to go to the mass as long as it was for a person who was politically advantageous for them. Graham Platner, by the way, became politically dis-ended, and he just slightly before this most serious allegation, which is why they were kind of turning away from him already. It was very politically expedient to do so. I do think that they should try to have some sort of process that honors voters in Maine. Like this thing where they just get in a back room again are like, oh, that didn't work out because of our bad decisions. But our voters voted for it very overwhelmingly. What shall we do now? Let's just pick someone. As you said, it's sort of like an exhibition game. Like this is not a we just hope everyone has fun out there situation. They chose somebody. And the way that they put someone on the ballot. matters, as we saw with Kamala Harris, who's Brat Summer notwithstanding, did not, you know, pan out the way that they had hoped. But it's just, it's part of the course, man, right? It's always, it's always you guys are white supremacist, but our guy has a Nazi tattoo, and that's okay. You guys mistreat women, but our guy has a rape allegation, that's okay. Like, it just, or a domestic violence allegation was okay with them. And now you guys are undermining democracy, but we're actually just going to nullify yet another election.

Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Amazing how that works. Mary Catherine Hamm are guest here on Guy Benson. It's the happy hour. Let's shift gears with a new topic. A tough one after this. Miss a minute. Miss a lot. Guy Benson. It's Guy Benson. Thanks for being with us. We have M.K.H. here. Mary Catherine, I want to talk about the Charlie Kirk assassination and the trial in Utah. We've been covering it throughout the week. And I actually addressed this earlier in the week with Riley Games. Our friend Dave Rubin, he's made the decision that he's not going to cover the trial at all on his show because he doesn't want to feel like he's exploiting for attention or clicks the trial about the murder of his friend. And I get that. I think from a journalistic perspective, it is newsworthy, A, and B, important to get the evidence and the facts out there, given a certain cottage industry of really... evil, I think, almost demonic people who have made it their mission seemingly now for months on end to smear his memory, smear his legacy, smear his surviving, grieving wife with all sorts of conspiracy theories that seem to be being knocked down thoroughly, every single one of them, like dominoes, by the actual evidence that's coming into play. in these preliminary hearings this week with a trial still off in the future. And I know it's sort of a very unpleasant thing to talk about. I've never seen anything like it, right? This large internet pile on the grieving widow. But it's been, I think, quite lucrative for some people. I think it's become this very deranged obsession as well. for some of these people, and I'll mention one of them who's probably one of the big ringleaders in Candace Owens. I don't like breathing oxygen into her nonsense at all, but there are many people out there who have just sort of listened to her, and some of them seem almost brainwashed by it. Then there's just like the deep evil of doing to a widow what they're doing, you yourself having been widowed about 10, 11 years ago. I wonder how you're feeling this week, given what we now know. A lot of the evidence was already known, but like the specific nature of the evidence and how a lot of the people like Candace making these wild claims that have now been thoroughly debunked, and it's either like, oh, well, that's fake or the Zionist did it, or never mind that, onto this new thing over here. Maybe it's like crazy person whack a mole. It's not worth commenting on, but...

So long as millions of people are ingesting this stuff, and it's sort of in the bloodstream online, you know, I struggle with it, but I think it kind of has to be dealt with to some extent. No, so many people are consuming this at such large quantities, right? And I do think... Her theories have met up with the facts this week in a, in a, you know, sane and measured court proceeding, which I know that we all get frustrated that things move slowly sometimes in our justice system, but the measured weighing of this evidence has been important, I think, for maybe getting some of the people on the margins out of the Candace Owens's conspiracy theory whirlpool. But there's going to be people who are always devoted because she can leave a story. I love this sort of true crime soap opera thing going on. They make no allowances for the fact that these are real people's lives. And the great thing about like fed conspiracy slash Jews is that you can just say it about anything. When this ends up hopefully convicting this guy who seems like he has very solid evidence against him, they'll just say the same thing again. And some people will be fooled by that. But I think you can. pull out some people from the margins who had turned off their brains, who had decided that Erika Kirk was somehow bad or weird, and they didn't like her. Or complicit. Right. People say to me sometimes, and I've, like, mostly online, but occasionally in real life, and people that I don't think are crazy, like, Erika Kirk is, like, off or weird. And I say, that's interesting. Did you first encounter Erika Kirk when her husband had been... cold bloodedly murdered on camera because it could be that what you're reading is a person who is not knowing how to cope with this tremendous tragedy in her life and the anger that that brings. And I think she reads as an intense person. And I think a murder of a loved one could take a person with a purpose and a fierce faith and intensity and turn her more intense. And lastly, it doesn't matter what you think of her personality. Which to me seems strong and lovely and forgiving, by the way. It doesn't matter. Literally. It doesn't matter in the balance of whether this woman is worthy of your sympathy. And people have turned this into a situation where they can just like run roughshod over a widow with two children because they've decided that it's open season for them. And I find it so disgusting. I couldn't have even imagined this type of treatment. I've seen widows be treated badly because I know a lot of widows. This is beyond what I imagined possible. Yeah, I think that's right. I think that's well said. Kind of a hard pivot here at the end. This is something that I know you've been calling attention to now for quite some time and lamenting and raising concerns, and I'm right there with you, the literacy crisis in this country that you talk about all the time and the importance of reading. And it's not like we have necessarily an illiterate. generation that's rising, but we have seemingly younger generations and not just limited to younger generations, Americans who can literally read.

But do not read very much and cannot bring themselves to read at length at all. There's like college professors who are at least reportedly discouraged from or banned from assigning long reading assignments. Even at places like Harvard I saw, students were treating like reading assignments as gatekeeping and it's very unfair to expect them to read like many pages of something. There was some study about how many Americans like simply cannot comprehend. After a very short period of time what they've read and then recapitulate it or summarize it, they can't do it anymore, which is like maybe a form of variant. of illiteracy. This is something that I think we're not grappling with as a society. And I think a lot of what we're doing in the media is kind of catering to it because it's like, well, here's the new audience. So this is how you have to go. But man, I think there are some very, very bad downstream effects of this phenomenon. Yeah, let me add one more bad stat, which is that the old version of reading comprehension passages on the SAT was 500 to 750 words. It is down to 25 to 150 for the SAT. So even though we're attempting to measure is so much easier than it used to be. Okay. But now some good news. You can battle this in your own home. I have done it. I have raised readers. They are better readers than I am because I am unfortunately in a way professionally required to be distracted by screens in a way that they're not, right? So we limit screens quite a bit. And it turns out the kids will read when you do that. I also read. to them, which is really, really powerful. And this is something that parents have to understand. And I know you've heard it all before. It's the reason Dolly Parton's imagination library exists, that having books in the home is really important. But you reading to your children is a magical experience. It turns out that they can understand things from you reading to them at levels way higher than they could if they were just trying to read. So you're getting them two or three levels ahead by reading to them. You also can entertain yourself by reading tougher stuff. I read Pride and Prejudice to a 10 and 12 year old. And yeah, they had some trouble with some of it, but they play up. They learn things. They learn syntax. They learn new vocabulary. So you can fight it in your home. And it's really a joyous experience. And then lastly, the other good news is that some states are actually solving this problem. So you've heard about the Mississippi miracle and the southern strategy, this southern surge, where in Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Mississippi. They basically put accountability and phonics back into public schools. Yeah, imagine that. And it's working, right? So that's how you combat it at a policy level. Then you do it in your own family, your own home, the way that Mary Catherine just described. Very good advice. Mary Catherine, Ham, Fox News contributor, best friend of the program. Mary Catherine, have a great weekend. All right. Have a good one. And we'll be right back after this.

Talking about the issues you care about. Guy Benson. Earlier in today's program in the first hour, Paul Morrow joined us. Of course, our Fox News colleague, longtime NYPD inspector, attorney. We had a lot to discuss with him. If you miss the conversation, here's part of it. I want to start here in California because, what was it, a week or two ago, Governor Gavin Newsom came out and preemptively said... The Justice Department, you know, Trump's stormtroopers are out here trying to create some investigation around me and it's all politically motivated. This was, you know, obviously him getting out in front of something. I didn't know how legitimate it would be or not. We've seen mixed results on that front in the last couple of years, but he was at least, you know, raising awareness that something was happening behind the scenes. I reported it, moved on, didn't put too much stock in it, kind of wait and see. Then there was some sort of revelation that someone close to Gavin Newsom had apparently been wearing a wire as part of whatever this probe is. I know that raised your antenna, given your background. What do you see here? Very clearly. For them to go to the point that they would put a body wire in place, potentially reaching all the way into the office of the governor of California, there is something there. Now, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to go all the way to Gavin Newsom. But if you think that as they went into their superiors to get the search marks, you need legal process. to start building this case that could lead all the way into the governor's office. If you don't think that they were thinking, wow, we may snare Gavin Newsom in this, then you don't know how this stuff works. But in short order, just to explain how it went, somebody must have tipped them. Because $250,000 in the scheme of the NGOs and the machinations of California politics is not really a lot. Somebody, I think, tipped them off that this guy, McCluskey, who was the chief of staff for Xavier Becerra, who was now running for governor, that he got a $250,000 payoff in order to stay in his position with Xavier Becerra and Xavier Becerra went to Washington as the head of Health and Human Services. And that person, whoever that was, I guess at some kind of a motive, you can speculate. And when they started following the money, ultimately it turns out that political operatives in Sacramento, some of whom are close to Gavin Newsom and close to Xavier Becerra, seemed to have done exactly that. Transferred money from an old account of Xavier Becerra's campaign and got it to McCluskey, who then gave his wife a no-show job and paid her to 250. Okay. So, again, a lot to unpack, a lot that we don't know, but, you know, someone wearing a wire and this is sort of in high-level democratic politics in California, just something to keep an eye on. Paul.

Shifting now, and this is kind of putting on two of your hats, your law enforcement hat and your legal hat, as you see what's been going down in Utah at this trial, or at least the pretrial preliminary hearings, we've had several guests on and analyses and reports from those proceedings in Utah this week. What is your read on what has been discovered and where this thing is headed? case is really, really strong. You rarely see a case that is so strong. I don't see any way that he could beat this at trial unless you get a real rogue juror. You've got a very strong narrative now. You've got video and you have the lynch pin is the roommate Lance Twigs. Twigs? I was told when I was out there, we quote unquote have him where we want them. And that didn't mean just physically because I was inquiring where is he. But also they have him in terms of evidence where they want him. And he's giving them exactly what they want. He's telling them that he had conversations with Tyler Robinson, wherein Robinson told him I'm engraving bullets. That happened before the shooting. And then you find the rifle that has the engraved bullets still in the rifle, along with a spent shell, that is the bullet that killed Charlie Kirk. And then you have an admission, not only in the text messages, but then Lance Twiggs telling the attorneys here that... He, in fact, admitted it. Robinson admitted it to him and was actually expressing remorse, wished he hadn't done it. But, of course, he was saying he wished he hadn't done it after he realized that he couldn't get the gun back and law enforcement had the gun with the towel, all kinds of DNA, et cetera. And so at that point, reality was starting to bite. So I don't see how he gets around that. My gripe, of course, is that this went on for a week and that judge has been so deliberative, way over the top. And it's cruel, frankly, from where I sit to the Charlie Kirk family. I know they want transparency, but that should happen at trial, not during a probable cause hearing. This thing should have been a day and done. This judge is dragging it out. He was only appointed and took that seat about a month before the whole case landed in his lap. So I get it. He's new. I'm sympathetic. But he's got to move this thing forward. And as of now, he won't even make a determination relative to probable cause until sometime in September. Paul, closer to home for you, a bit of a controversy stirring in New York City, where Mayor Zohran Mamdani, his administration, rolled out this map of immigrant neighborhoods and enclaves in New York City, and they include dozens of these communities, including what they're calling Little Palestine, of course, Little Bangladesh and others.

And immediately critics were like, wow, there are several big ones missing here, the Italians, the Irish, Jewish immigrant communities. Those apparently didn't make the cut, but a ton of other ones did. You know, it's just some graphic that they put out there. I think some people might be overblowing it a little bit, but I think it's also a window. into the type of politics that this guy wants to practice and some of the divisive stuff that he, that he uses to his advantage, or thinks at least, can be used to his advantage. Oh, is this, is this a news story? Is this like some passing fascination? I think it is. I think it is a news story. You know, and I often don't go the other way on these kinds of things where I say, like, oh, come on, we got bigger fish to fry, let's move on. But I think you're right. It's an x-ray into the soul of the Zohran Mamdani administration and the people that he has surrounded himself with. One is more radical than the next. And the idea that Little Italy is, you know, there's a little bit of an urban myth that the Little Italy in New York has disappeared. It actually, over the last couple of years, has grown a little bit. It's not the old Little Italy of people who are necessarily immigrants, but the streets that have Italian restaurants and stuff down there. That full interview with Paul Morrow and all of today's show, available as our podcast. It's the entire show, start to finish. Absolutely free, plus bonus Guy Benson on the weekends, Guy Benson.com, Fox Newspodcast.com, or wherever you get your podcasts. When we come back, the home stretch, a little teaser on something that I've now been talking about a lot, but we'll discuss it with the team, plus some amazing audio that I did not know existed until yesterday. Oh, you've got to hear it next. America is listening to Guy Benson.

And now it's time for your favorite segment of the day. Home Stretch. It's basically the only segment I'm on. So I've declared it the audience's favorite segment. Guy Benson. Home Stretch, happy Friday. Glad you're with us from the West Coast in Southern California. We're glad to have you along, almost the weekend here together. Guy Benson.com podcast always free. Bonus Guy Benson on the weekends, all that good stuff. So as we've been mentioning. Producer Christine, aka C. Dickey, aka C. Diddy, aka Gaeta, has been in Mexico all week, as is often the case with her. It's her second home, her home away from home. Maybe her real home, and her home away from home is back home, doing work, occasionally. And so she's been having a great time. And we've, of course, been having fun at her expense just a little bit. in her absence, as we often do. And when she's down in Mexico, longtime listeners are very familiar with the drop that we like to play. You know it, but hear it. It's just a reminder. Christina's where? That's right. So I was seeing some of her content, her Mexico content, on her social media, and I was just browsing YouTube, actually. And I was. sort of fed something, served something through the YouTube algorithm based on some songs that I listened to, some of which were inspired by Cookie. And then, of course, the Down in Acapulco song, was that the four seasons, something like that? I forget the four tops, something like that. And we play that clip, the little drop, all the time. Now, something that if you're a big fan of the show and you are a, let's say, a cookie connoisseur. You might know. In fact, I'll just pose the question to the class here. Raise your hand if you know what producer Christine's favorite musical artist of all time is. Who is that? That's right. If you said Phil Susan Collins, you're correct. And apparently somehow YouTube figured out that I might be in the market for Phil Susan Collins singing down in Acapulco. which would simply cause Christine's head to explode if it existed. And I would have never imagined that he would have covered that song. Was I wrong? Sure was. Take it away, Phil. Cut 30.

back to the chorus we go. That's really catchy. I was going to let that play. I mean, it is a good song. And to have Phil putting his own mark on it, he is undeniably, I'll give her this. He is undeniably an amazing talent. That voice, I like it was like slightly upbeat. Good song. That is, ladies and gentlemen, the Phil Susan Collins cover of Cookie's theme song. So. You can only imagine how delighted I was to discover this. And I may have sent it to one or two strategic people who could not believe what they were hearing. And then I waited for the right moment because I got a text from Christine from vacation. And she, I think, had been enjoying herself. It seems like that's kind of a theme here. And she was texting me about something. And I decided to just basically with no context whatsoever, just send her the link. And I do believe, I think she survived clicking the link and hearing what she heard, but just barely. She was gobsmacked. And now she can't be mad. When we play the drop, like when I say, hey, where's Christine and we play this? I mean, the song was good enough for her Phil Susan Collins to cover. So what's the problem, cooks? Oh, oh, the mileage we're going to get out of this. It makes me so happy. We'll have to revisit this with her and get her reaction. I truly think she was at a loss for words. She could not believe this thing existed. I mean, neither could I. I think we have to keep the original, like the OG as the drop. But, again, she can't complain because of Phil. I love it. I love it so much. Now, we might raise this with her next week if she's back, but I say might because there's always the X Factor will cookie extend her, quote, unquote, vacation. Do the cartels have more work for her? I don't know. But if she's back to do some work, I will likely be here at the beginning of next week, I would say, but I might not because we are very much now at the mercy of our daughter who's going to arrive when she decides it's time to arrive. She's due within the next couple of weeks, but for various reasons, we have strong suspicions that it could be, I mean, any minute, right? It's technically we're in a full-term, healthy situation now, thank God. and we have suspicions that it could be next week, and the moment that that phone call comes in, we spring into action, and I will be gone for a period of time because I will be on parental leave. We will have you in very, very good hands here, and I don't want to, like, say all of this. then repeat myself next week, so I don't want to get too much into it, but just want to give you that heads up. Obviously, I've been referring to it over the course of this week as well and talking about the forthcoming baby daughter, and we're very excited and very blessed and all of that, and please pray for good health and all of that. But because, and this is something that I don't always do, because we have this child coming at any moment,

As I still do some traveling, I'm on hair trigger alert to drop everything and then go. And so what I don't often do is keep my phone on full ring at night while I sleep. But now, for obvious reasons, I am. And so I got to California very late last night, probably got to sleep at the equivalent of 3 a.m. Eastern time just because of the time change and all the travel. fell asleep, and then my phone jolted me awake, ringing. This is a phone call, incoming phone call. I glanced at my bedside table at the hotel. There's a clock there. It was after 3 o'clock in the morning Pacific time. So middle of the night here. And I immediately was like, oh, here we go. It's go time. She's on the way. I just got to California, but Sianara, I've got to head out. Then I looked at my phone, and it was indeed not that phone call. It was, bless their hearts, I'm not throwing shade at all. I get it as part of the gig. I'm not complaining. It's just funny. It was our friends at Fox & Friends, who I guess had a last-minute cancellation. They were asking, hey, could I pop on and help? I could not. I'm nowhere near a TV studio. It was like 3.15 in the morning. I couldn't help. But I saw then who was calling like, oh man, my brain instantly clicked into like dad mode. Like got to go, all the things, emotions running high. And then it changed two seconds later when I looked at who was calling. So I sent an email later after I woke up, slept for a few more hours. So that was fun. It's like a jump scare. And then it wasn't what I expected it to be, but this would be and will be, God willing, baby number two for us, something that I've talked about a few times. We have our son who's roughly two and a half and then our daughter and details on all of that to come, knock on wood, prayers up, all of that. But we're excited and I was just... Having lots of feelings this week and sentimental and the room that used to be the studio that I would use for TV and some radio at home. That's now a nursery, and we painted it, and it's so cute and all the decorations. And there's like little, like, giraffe-type things in there and sunshine rays. And that's kind of the theme that we're going for. Very much unlike what it used to look like even weeks ago. That's been relocated within the house. And I just spent some time quietly. sitting in that room myself in the new rocking chair that we have and you just start to feel things and if you're a parent you know what i'm talking about and so yeah uh any any minute any hour any day hopefully not more than a week but i might be here to do an end zone dance with cookie on phil Susan Collins and So that's just the heads up on what may or may not occur here. And so with that, I bid you a very happy and blessed weekend. I hope you stay sane and stay safe. And just keep us in your prayers and your thoughts and all the good vibes. And perhaps I'll see you here on the radio from the Midwest early next week. Maybe not. We'll see if cookie shows up to work. It's always a roll of the dice. I guess we'll find that out together.

Thank you so much for listening. You all mean so very much to me. Have a great evening. Have a great weekend. It's Guy Benson. Christina's Where? Listen to the show ad free on Fox News Podcast Plus on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music with your prime membership, or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.