Red Menace: It’s Not Just New York

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It is Friday. Happy Friday. It's June the 26th, 2026. Glad you're all with us here on Guy Benson. We are together for three hours as this program unfolds and we're so happy that you're here with us as we are every weekday between 3 and 6 p.m. Eastern. And then if you miss any of the show, we'd like to remind you that we've got a podcast that is... Totally free of charge and on demand when the show's over, plus bonus Guy Benson on the weekends, Guy Benson.com, Fox Newspodcast.com, or wherever you get your podcasts, you can reach out to us, GBS at fox.com. You can also follow us on social media at Guy Benson or me personally at Guy Benson. I'm a political analyst at Fox News, a senior columnist at the Washington Examiner. And on the program today, Joe Concha joins us this hour. Paul Morrow in the next hour. Victor Davis Hansen, VDH, then Mary Catherine Hamm, MKH to follow. A great lineup on this Friday. And as I said, we are thrilled to have you along as we are broadcasting live from the state of Massachusetts all week long. But I actually want to turn our attention from the northeast to another part of the country. Because so much of our discourse and our political analysis this week has focused specifically on New York City because of those primaries that we've been talking about in the Democratic Party for Congress and for other elected seats as well, other positions. And I think absolutely those conversations were merited. I think it gives us a sense of the direction of that party, certainly of its base and its activists, the growing influence and muscle of the hardcore radicals of the Democratic Socialists of America, and the Zohran Mamdani strain of politics. They are on the march. One of the things that we've heard, And we will continue to have these conversations. You know, Paul Morrow's in New Yorker will, I'm sure, talk to him about that coming up at the next hour. But one of the excuses that we've heard downplaying this from Hakeem Jeffries, they're chanting, you're next at him at these rallies. But Hakeem Jeffries just saying, oh, you know, don't worry about it. It's just a few seats in a very blue city. Well. It's not just a few seats. It's not just this blue city. It was also a black eye to him and his endorsements with the party faithful just running rough shot over the establishment, of which he is now very much apart.

Right. He is very far left by any historical American standard, but it's nowhere good enough for the new radicals who chant your necks, and he's, I just think, sort of out of loss about what to do about it. The people who are even one step toward the center away from communism, I think are kind of terrified right now. They're not sure how to handle these people and this sentiment. Our friend Jessica Tarloff, who, of course, leans very left, I saw her on the Five also saying, oh, this is contained to certain places. Is it? I want you to meet someone named Melat Kiroz. She is a Democratic candidate for Congress in Colorado, in the Denver area. And she is challenging an incumbent. a very liberal, reliable, progressive vote in Congress, who, I think the big problem is for the base, is not fanatically opposed to the Jewish state of Israel. And therefore, not good enough to put it mildly, and they're trying to replace her with this Melat Kiro's character that I had not really heard very much about at all. But this would fall under the umbrella of the... momdanism or pikerism that is taking over large segments of the leftist tribe in this country and therefore the Democratic Party itself this woman who and I've heard from some people in Colorado Now, this is mounting a very serious challenge to this incumbent. And again, like some of the criticisms of these incumbents that they're unseating, they're going after people who hold these seats, who vote at least theoretically with the party and the way they would want them to nearly 100% of the time. But that's not good enough because you also have to want all these left-wing. goals in addition and say them out loud, right? You can't just talk about reforming or abolishing ice. You need to go further. You can't just talk about Benjamin Netanyahu. You have to denounce the state of Israel and join the boycott and divestment movement. They have these new litmus tests that they're erecting and they're starting to pick off these incumbents. with people like Melot Kiros, and we'll see how her campaign goes. But she sat down for a lengthy interview just a few days ago, and someone sent this to me with one of the local reporters out there in Denver, Kyle Clark, and he asked her a bunch of questions. And I want you to listen to her answers, and I think it's important for you to understand this is not New York City. This is not the backyard of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who, according to some of these people, is now far too established. She's gone native. She's thrown in her lot with the establishment. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez we're talking about. And I think some of that she's cultivating, actually, because she's very seriously thinking about running for president. That's my theory. But in any case, this is Colorado now that we're talking about. And...

The journalist was asking this woman, and she's sitting there and she is young and she's, I think, fairly attractive, and she's very calm and very soft-spoken. Just like Zohran Mamdani's always smiling, I think there are ways to try through signaling to diffuse a situation or distract people from the really destructive things that you believe if you don't read angry or wild-eyed. I think that's the playbook that Zohran Mamdani has delivered. He can be talking about an incredibly harmful, disastrous policy or propping up some unrepentant bigot, and he's doing so with a giant grin on his face that if someone is watching the screen with the sound off, it's like, oh, that seems like a pleasant young man. In this case, it's the calm, soft-spokenness of this woman. As she answers the way that she does, I think this is probably how they've been coached. And it's probably, I think, electorally smart, but it does not take away from what the belief system is. So there was a question about affordability. This is what the Democrats are going to all chant about. Affordability, even though they cause all the affordability problems or at least exacerbated many of them when they had total control not long ago. And she launches into, you know, this whole laundry list of left-wing projects. Cut 32. What is within the power of Congress to do to make life more affordable in Colorado? We could pass universal health care. We could pass universal child care. We could pass Housing First measures that would deliver the federal funds necessary to create affordable housing. We could get the federal funds necessary to build out free public transit and high-speed rail across the country. It's not a question of what can we do. It's a question of what will we do. Every single answer was government spending. Every single example she just gave was an enormous new spending project. Several of them unto themselves would cost trillions of dollars. Like universal health care, and I'll come back to that in just a second. Notice that she throws in high-speed rail with a totally straight face. Having seen California, having seen... what a deep blue state has and really has not accomplished for a huge amount of money on that exact front. But that is an affordability answer. How does your life become more affordable? What can Congress do to make Coloradoans life more affordable? Part of her answer was high-speed rail. Either ignorant of or not caring about the absolute money-suck boondoggle of high-speed rail. Further west. The follow-up question was, well, what is the most within reach, the most attainable from that list? Her answer was Medicare for all, single-payer health care, quote without question. Now, let me just note. To impose government-run single-payer health care would cost trillions and trillions of dollars.

On top of the trillions that we already spend every single year in perpetuity, it would explode. I mean, we're deep in the red already. This would explode our health care costs. Even a little deep blue, fairly homogenous. State like Vermont wanted to adopt it ran the numbers and realized, oh my gosh, we cannot afford this. Same out in California. They talked to talk. They tried to walk the walk. They can't make it work. We really cannot make it work on a national basis. And we shouldn't want to either. We see countries that have that system and the rationing and the wait times for care and the lack of innovation. And in Canada, for example, The may we offer you suicide instead of health care increasing phenomenon up there? No, thank you. And by the way, single-payer government-run health care would also entail the abolition of private health insurance. If you like your plan and your doctor, too bad, they're canceled. Your plan's illegal. It would rip away plans that hundreds of millions of Americans have and like. She says that is the most detainable if she were in Congress that she'd be pushing for. By the way, in 2016, a decade ago, single-payer health care, Medicare for All was on the ballot. It was a referendum in Colorado, in her state. People of Colorado heard the arguments. And on the same day that Donald Trump lost the state, carrying 43% of the vote, Trump, that same election, 79% of Coloradans rejected single-payer health care. This woman thinks it's the most attainable, quote, affordability achievement that she can think of. Then she goes on in this interview to celebrate the departure of a company that she doesn't like and all the jobs that went with it, cut 34. The technology and surveillance company Palantir suddenly left Colorado earlier this year. Some people cheered their exit. Some people were upset about it. How did you feel about it? I was excited to see them leave. Palantir is a company that's made it abundantly clear that they have every interest in embedding itself within the United States government, taking as much of our data as possible and using it for their own benefit. I believe our privacy is paramount, and Palantir is a company that stands in the face of that. wrapping this answer in the cloak of privacy, but imagine having this huge job-creating, cutting-edge technology company and being a public official in that state and saying, I'm so glad they're gone. These communists and socialists hate success. And if there's a type of success that they don't approve of, they're like, get out. We're seeing how that's working in a lot of other places. They want to tax these corporations and these rich people, but they also hate them and say leave. That's the mentality. And then she wasn't done there is actually some other companies that she would love to see leave her state as well. Cut 35.

Are there any other companies with a significant presence in the Denver metro area that you would similarly like to see go? There's certainly other, there are defense contractors and so forth. Lockheed Suncor, multiple. Lockheed Martin's a significant employer in the Denver metro area. I think almost 15,000 people you'd like to see them go. I sincerely believe that companies that profit off of war. are not companies that we should seek to promote and grow, right? I want to see a world where war doesn't exist anymore. Lockhe's employment in Colorado, their employees, I no doubt would say that they profit or their business is protecting Americans and their interests. But you don't believe that that's the case. I don't believe that's the case, no. He's like, oh, yeah, Palantir, don't let the door hit you on the way out. And actually, here's some other words, including Lockheed Martin. She's like, well, 15,000 people in Colorado work there. Don't care. They profit off a war. We need a world where there's no war, where war doesn't exist. Meanwhile, look at what the CCP is up to and enemies around the world. I mean, it is at best so stunningly naive, but to actually say out loud, start listing off additional companies and employers that you no longer want to exist in your state, get rid of those operations, get rid of those funds, right, that revenue, get rid of those jobs and those taxpayers. Economic illiteracy, and she proudly believes that. She was asked about October 7th and said it was inevitable because of Israel's actions. She didn't quite say they had it coming, but we have to understand what happened and why Hamas and why. Just these justifications that terrorists often use. to vindicate or to excuse their atrocities and their barbarity. And she applied the same standard when pressed on 9-11, actually. Hasan Piker came up. She's, of course, a fan of his. She campaigned with him. And she was like, well, you know, I'm fine with that. She was asked if she would stop selling defensive weapons, selling defensive weapons to Israel, to protect innocent people from rockets and missiles. Yes, she would because Israel does a genocide, which is a lie, but that's her excuse. Israelis should not have these defensive technologies, and we shouldn't sell it to them because genocide. Last but not least, she was asked about the firebombing attack. The firebombing of Jews in Boulder, Colorado, was it last year by a jihadist who screamed Alahu Akbar, killed a Holocaust survivor targeting those Jews. He asked them, is that an example of an anti-Semitic attack? A jihadist targeting and murdering peaceful Jews at a protest, and she said she just couldn't say. She doesn't know what's in his heart. Quote, I don't know what his intentions were. Well, she might be the only one.

It's not just New York. It's not just these deep blue coastal cities. This is a movement that is coming to a state or a city near you, ladies and gentlemen. And here's another example. The calm, quiet, reserved young woman saying these things. They think they're the future. Are they right? More of the Guy Benson's show. As we just get started on this Friday, don't go anywhere. Miss a minute. Miss a lot. Guy Benson. Cheers to America's 250th birthday. Get 20% off your first purchase at Fox Newswineshop.com with code FNRadio 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. I'm Guy Benson. Welcome back. There was some sort of Graham Platner event up in Maine, a Nazi tattoo, self-described communist guy. And his supporters had a little warm-up act for him. I don't necessarily know if they spend much time in church singing hymns, but maybe this is their version of that. Cut 52. We will not, we will not, we will not be controlled. I am sorry.

We will not, we will not be controlled. I am sovereign in my body. I am sovereign in my soul. We will not. That's enough. That's enough. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for that. Were there a woodblock there at the end? It's weird. It's an element of our culture. I don't get it. It's weird. We will not be controlled. We're sovereign in our bodies and so. Like, do they know they're running against Susan Collins? This is so bizarre. Okay. I apologize. I apologize for subjecting you to that. Joe Concha up next. It'll be better. I promise. Keep it here. talking about the issues you care about. Guy Benson. Back here on Guy Benson, thanks for being with us. I'm going to bring you a Fox News alerts and breaking news earlier. President Trump says the Iranian regime has violated the ceasefire agreement by launching four attack drones at ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, this via our colleague Trey Yingsd. One of those drones hit a cargo ship. The others were shot down, according to the president. So the regime doing what it does, pathologically incapable of keeping its word. The word of these people is useless. Only their actions matter, and they will probe and see what they can get away with over and over again. So a very salient and timely reminder of that fact as the president and his team go through this negotiation in the coming weeks. And I hope they are seeing things with clear eyes, a point that I've made a number of times. And here's an example, not courtesy of the past, but courtesy of the present and the regime, doing what they do. And I'm glad to see that Trump didn't try to spin it away. He called it what it is a violation of the ceasefire. With that, let's turn to Joe Concha, Fox News contributor, author of the greatest comeback ever. Joe, it's good to have you here. Guy, good to talk to you on this anniversary of mine. 16 years. I've been married to Gene who you've met. So I said, you know what? I'm taking the day off. But when Guy Benson contacts me, I say, you know what? I will make an exception before we go to our lovely dinner here in New Jersey. So thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Well, first of all, congratulations on 16 years. That's fantastic. And second of all, I know that it's not about me. I know it's about your terror about upsetting Christine, which I think is completely, completely justified and reasonable as a calculation. She's very, yeah, she's very persistent. That's true. She really, she is. persistent that is a word i mean that in the most complimentary way yes thank you i don't but but i appreciate it and in fact we're going to do a little performance review for christine later in the show so that that's a good tee up for that later on we'll keep it relatively brief with you today joe because i want you to be able to spend the day with your bride and celebrate that anniversary and i also want to

commend your writing and your columns. We are colleagues not just here at Fox, but also at the Washington Examiner. So if you can't get enough Joe Concha on the air, you can read his stuff at the Washington Examiner along with mine. So let's talk about Caitlin Clark and the WNBA. Caitlin Clark left off of snubbed from this 30-year anniversary poster for the league, put on a bunch of faces that most sports fans have never... seen or recognized, including some current players, but they deliberately left their biggest superstar off on purpose. Then she got what, like, punched in the neck while down on the floor, the recent game, and at the time nothing was called. They are brutalizing her on a regular basis, treating her, singling her out terribly. Her coach, the Indiana fever coach at postgame press conference, absolutely sick of seeing it. Here's what she said in Cut 54. The landing spot, when you went to review it, I mean, the fist in the throat is crazy. It's crazy. It's dangerous. The landing spot, when you went to review it and she still comes down on top of another foot, like, I don't know. Because to me, that's like a do-over on a test. How do you screw it up again? You're coming in here aware of what happened two nights ago, and that still happens, absolutely unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable. And the reckless closeout that they actually reviewed. And the foot still comes down on top of the defender's foot that wasn't upgraded? Absolutely disrespectful. We have a generational talent and a WNBA superstar who had two cheap shots right there that weren't called. And I just say, again, absolutely unacceptable. Meanwhile, the head coach, that was Stephanie White of the Indiana fever. The head coach of the other team, I think was Phoenix, put out a statement because eventually the league was shamed into a one-game suspension for the throat puncher. And that coach, like, posted in solidarity with her player and quoted Michelle Obama. That team's social media put out a post mocking. Kaitlan Collins, like writhing on the floor and eventually deleted it. Joe, I genuinely on one hand... Do not understand why the WNBA would be so self-destructive like this while trying to hound the biggest gift they've ever gotten out of the league and a bunch of fans with her. But if you think about the sort of the grievance culture that drives that league, it's not necessarily surprising. It's like they would rather be. Less successful or unsuccessful than be very successful with Caitlin Clark as the face of the success.

And we talk about the numbers here, Guy, for a moment, because we say, well, Kate and Clark is so popular. All right, let's put some numbers under that as far as the foundation of this argument. Before Caitlin Clark came to the WMBA, ABC, ESPN, CBS, ESPN 2, and WMV games in general, they averaged 500,000 viewers per telecast. After Clark... They average, in some cases, more than 2 million. She has quadrupled their ratings. She has made the WMBA profitable and relevant. And you're going to hurt. You're going to try to take out this person. If you watch this clip, I mean, everybody that's listening right now to this broadcast across the country, go Google, during commercial, of course. What happened to Caitlin Clark during this game? Literally, her throat was stepped on. They could have crushed. I showed it to my wife. She's like, that could have killed her what they did. And it doesn't matter because, again, I guess because she is white and she's good. Therefore, it's not good for the league. It's just a whole bull of wrong guy. And again, you. kill Caitlin Clark in any way, shape, or form, let's say you injure her to the point where she can't play anymore, then these ratings go back to where they were, and this league doesn't make money, and no one's talking about it anymore, and no one in this league outside of her coach seems to understand this. They'll go back to whining about how it's unfair in the pay gap. It's like, well, here is someone who is helping close the gap and, you know, lift all boats, and because, and I do believe, and I hate to say it, but I do believe a lot of it is because she is, heterosexual and white. I think that's part of it. And a lot of sports commentators are making that point. I saw Jamel Hill, who's one of these grievance mongers, formerly of ESPN, very obsessed with race, was responding to one of those commentaries saying, oh, so she should get special treatment because she's straight and white? No, she should get equal treatment and should not be treated worse than everyone else. especially concerning the fact that she's such a superstar and has such a fan base. And yet, this counterproductive nonsense, I mean, you could hear it in the coach's voice there, fed up with it, but it just seems like there's a lot of people who, again, would rather fail than succeed because of her or with her. Yeah, and Jamil Hill, who you just brought up. She was an anchor on ESPN Sports Center. I mean, let's honestly talk about this person for a second and then said that while ESPN, and they still do, had rights to the NFL, said the NFL is racist, it is sexist, therefore you should boycott this league. She literally said this while employed by ESPN, which pays... more than $1 billion in TV rights to broadcast NFL games. So, yeah, this is somebody who obviously is looking through things solely through a racial prism. And the fact that she is now questioning Caitlin Clark's, what, heterosexuality? Because that's what this is all about? I don't even know what to say at this point. But again, Caitlin Clark is the most transformational figure.

guy i think you'll agree with me since michael Jim Jordan as far as a player that joins a league and takes the league from where it was to where it could be and now they're trashing this very player as you said uh not even putting them on katelyn clark on the poster uh for the league where she should be the only photo only person on that photo but here we are at this point really at least could be like one of the couple dozen that they put on there but no and at the very least you should keep her physically safe which it seems like they're having trouble doing uh turning to politics here joe james carville sort of the cranky old Clinton-night Democratic strategist, who's getting increasingly radical, actually, in his older age and embracing a bunch of crazy stuff, actually, in terms of policy. Even he cannot take what's happening to his party with some of these people trying to take over the Democratic Party, and he's not liking what he's seeing. Cut six? All of these people hate Democrats. Why do you want to run as a Democrat? Start your own movement. If it's such a powerful sweeping movement that's got momentum everywhere, then go ahead of it. Don't use the Democratic Party to advance it. That's exactly what they're doing. It's a hostile takeover of the Democratic Party, and Carmel is alarmed by it. And some of these people who are starting to win primaries, he wants no part of it cut seven. It's time for Democrats to talk the S word, schism. I really do. Everybody's always said, no, no, we're a coalition, we're a big tent. And there's just some that I can't be in the same tent with. I don't want to be in a political party that denies the right of the state of Israel to exist. That's just not, I just can't do that. I'm sorry. It's just not doable. I mean, good for him. I think he should look inward on some of the other stuff he's embracing, but I'm glad he's saying that. But are there other Democrats with him, Joe? We have about a minute. Okay. So John Fetterman is, which is not surprising. But otherwise, Guy, I mean, we're not really seeing too many Democrats speak out about the Democrat Socialists of America, which is the ultimate oxymoron, by the way, Democratic and Socialist in the same title. But the point is that... I think Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, all these people that are considered the E-word establishment. They are petrified to criticize these people because they have the momentum, they have the energy, and they have the money guy. Because Democratic National Committee is currently in debt. And meanwhile, we have the DSA raising tons of money, getting tons of airtime. They are the new Democratic Party. And all that youthful energy. And I think you're exactly right. I bet you a lot of those figures you mentioned. Totally agree with what Carville said, but they are terrified to say it for various reasons. It's a big story we're following. On Guy Benson, Joe Concha, happy anniversary. We'll be right back. You're listening to a new generation of talk, Guy Benson.

Back on Guy Benson, here's a headline from Politico. Democrats grapple uncomfortably with World Cup's success. A logistically smooth tournament poses a problem for Trump's critics. The triumph of the World Cup's first two weeks, boosting the U.S.'s global reputation with sold-out stadiums and few logistical complications, has forced Democrats who had criticized President Trump's role in preparations to grudgingly. reconsider and they quote a democratic strategist right out of the gate talking about all the left wing wish casting that this would all be some sort of big disaster so they could stick it to trump and this guy admits well it hasn't been a disaster and so these poor democrats pity the poor democrats grappling uncomfortably with america's success in hosting the world cup and in the world cup itself They did lose in the final minute last night in a meaningless game to Turkey, did not like to see that, although it was all these different players and subs who were put into the game for reasons that we discussed yesterday, actually, with Alexi Lalas. And the real tourney, the serious games start next week with the knockout rounds. Bosnia. Can't afford to have a lackluster performance next week or thereafter. But the crowds have been amazing. In fact, I saw that we've already smashed the all-time World Cup attendance record already with lots of games to go. And as we've noted previously, the world is coming to our shores and having the best time and realizing that they, in many cases, have been lied to by the global media and by others about the United States. And the juxtaposition of how these glum Democrats are like, oh, man, it's not a disaster. Look at us grappling uncomfortably at the success that our country is having. What a sad way to live your life. It's like when James Talarico down in Texas says that the American flag is such a complicated symbol for many of us. No, maybe for you. Not for us. And apparently these days not for our foreign visitors who are caught up with a lot more, I think, pride in America than certainly some of the people being nominated, for example, for Congress right now. by the opposition party. As they look at their feet and say, well, golly, maybe this isn't going terribly. What a bummer. If it's any consolation to some of these people, as I mentioned, USA did lose last night. So maybe that's one silver lining to them that the American team lost. Last Friday, I opened the show talking about all the great immaculate vibes coming from these foreigners who are visiting and their social media posts. And there's been a whole backlash from journals, miserable journals, trying to say, well, it's not representative or never mind all that. Not persuasive. The happiness, the joy continues. And I want to keep riding that fun train because it's awesome. So since I played a bunch of the reactions last week, there have been many more. We clipped a few of them just to share it with you guys to keep our good vibes rolling even if the sad sacks don't want to come along. Here is a Brit.

echoing the sentiment that we've heard a lot, cut 42. I have to say this about the World Cup. America has absolutely smashed it. Before this tournament, you had people online saying it's going to be a terrible World Cup. America doesn't like football. Nobody's going to travel. We're not going to feel welcomed, and it's been quite the opposite. We've got fans from all corners of the globes. We've got packed world-class stadiums, by the way. Friendly people. Everybody you meet is just stopping you and talking about football and your experiences. I think we can all agree that America is an absolutely fantastic job of hosting this World Cup so far. I genuinely feel a lot of people's opinions on America will now change after this World Cup. Here's another similar testimony, cut 44. America, you deserve and are owed an apology. And I'm going to say sorry on behalf of all the countries outside America and their media and the narrative they paint about America. Hundreds and thousands of fans for the World Cup are now seeing America through their own eyes, realizing the narrative they've been fed is false. And they're now realizing America is not the place that they thought it was. And I am sorry the media in these countries outside of America. paints you the way they do. How about a German tourist relaying his experience, cut 46? In Europe, we have a lot of rather negative news about the Americans in the last five years, let's say that. And I think we are all enjoying the fact that this country is so great to visit. People are amazing, so welcoming. The culture is amazing. It's like Europeans are getting a new view of America right now, I think, also through our content, and that's cool, I think. Here's another one, cut 47. So many of you reached out after my last video that I had to say this one more time. The media has been lying to you about America and the World Cup just proved it. For years, years European and Canadians have been fed the same narrative. America is dangerous. Americans are ignorant. The culture is shallow. The food will kill you and people believed it. Why? Because they saw it on the news. They rated online. They never actually went. Then the World Cup came and millions of people who had never set foot in the U.S. suddenly showed up. And you know what they found? Friendly people, incredible energy, stadiums that blew their minds, hospitality they didn't even expect. Video after video of Europeans and Canadians saying, I had no idea. I was completely wrong. This is nothing like what I was told. And that's exactly the problem. And I'll give the final word to a French tourist, of all people, in Cut 50. So Americans keep being proud of your country. Don't listen to what people say on social media and stuff like that. And keep this patriotism because it makes the country even more beautiful. Well said. Love to hear it. Glad to have you. Some of our fellow Americans could really learn from these attitudes. Brighten up, guys. Have some fun. It's going well. You can chant USA. You really can.

Another hour of Guy Benson coming up next. Paul Morrow is here, as is Victor Davis Hanson. Don't go anywhere. That's all coming up. new generation of conservative talk right here right now fair fun and backed by the trusted voices and reporting resources of fox news you're listening to Guy Benson and now here's your host Guy Benson It's a brand new hour here on Guy Benson. It's our middle hour on this Friday. Happy Friday, everyone. Happy almost fourth, a week from tomorrow, a big one, of course, coming up. So glad you're listening here today and every day. Guy Benson.com is our website, podcast free, on demand, no charge, including Bonus Guy Benson on the weekends. If you'd like to get in touch or learn more or gather our content through other means, we have options. Guy Benson.com, our website. I mentioned that podcast. You can also follow us on social media at Guy Benson. You can follow me as well, personally, Guy Benson on various platforms. And you can send us an email, GBS at Fox.com. Joining us now is Paul Morrow, Fox News contributor, attorney, and retired NYPD inspector. Paul, great to have you back. Thanks for having me, Guy. All right, Paul. We've talked a lot since Tuesday, even really before it, in anticipation of what might happen. But we've been talking about New York City and these Democratic primaries and the hostile takeover of the Democratic Party by full-blown socialists and communists, some of whom don't even attempt to hide their contempt for the country. And you're a New Yorker. You have seen a lot. And I'm wondering. How you're feeling, set aside the analysis, you can get to that, but how you're feeling watching some of these races in New York and the surrounding area going the way that they're going? It's very hard not to be angry because, you know, the constituency that put these no-nothing candidates over the top. are almost uniformly new arrivals into New York City, who are here less than a couple of years, or the very moneyed elite. that somehow or rather managed to remain low information and are sort of virtue signaling, for lack of a better term, I know it's overused, but are quite comfortable and can insulate themselves from the results that they are going to engender here. So as somebody who's been here, as you say, in various capacities my whole life in and around New York, you feel like people who don't have a real stake in the place are helping to have it slip away.

There is a fixation, an obsession with Israel and Jews and APEC. I saw a DSA leader was interviewed by Jewish insider promoting an insane anti-Semitic conspiracy theory and the reporter was asking questions and this person shot back, go get your rabbi. I mean, we're seeing this true obsession where I feel like if they were given the opportunity, these people, option one. Medicare for all. Option two, the Jewish state is annihilated. I have no doubt which one they would pick. Yep, I can't say I disagree with you. I mean, the rhetoric is that cut. And, you know, again, I go back to low information. Nobody turned out to vote, which is just shameful in a vote that really does matter here because these are the people representing New York, going to Congress. And they're ignorance. These kids who are... Joe fired up that they will charge at ICE agents with bricks screaming free Gaza because they love to conflate all of the various progressive causes. They, as I all concerned here, couldn't find Gaza on a map of Gaza. They have no idea of the history of the place. They have no genuine interest in the history of Israel and the formation of the nation or of the Palestinian people and where the Bedouin tribes originated. None of that stuff. That as a former counterterrorism guy, we embedded ourselves in very, very deeply to understand the vectors blowing through what we needed to do to keep New York safe. It's all performative. But my God, it's a performance that goes to 11. And they are all in. And the results are what you're seeing, somebody like Chevalier, up in Washington Heights, the Dominican area, a stronghold of people of color, working class, Democratic voters. being usurped by a woman who's never accomplished anything in her life, spent her entire adult life so far in college, got herself a Middle East and studies degree because she needed to check another grievance box from where I sit, my opinion, she needed to convert to Islam so that she could not only, she could have the trifecta. I'm a woman, I'm a person of color, and I am also a Muslim, and I say that because these are the things that she leans into in her public discourse. She's not qualified to hold the position that she holds. It's a silly, reflexive response to TDS and what they think socialism is going to deliver, and they're going to be disabused badly. Her organization that she co-founded in writing calls for the total destruction of Western civilization. That's their stated goal. Now she's going to be the Democrats nominee for Congress in New York City, endorsed by Zohran Mamdani, endorsed of course, and this is the umbrella endorsement, by Hasan Piker, who said that America deserved 9-11, and a bunch of these voters in New York said, great, let's vote for these people. There's the state Senate candidate that Zohran Mamdani endorsed, also Hasan Piker. who is Muslim, who said that 9-11 was the inevitable manifestation of America's evils, like racism and Islamophobia and capitalism. That person won her primary. You've got the guy across the river in Jersey who was the confidon and translator for the First World Trade Center bombing mastermind. I mean, having this happen anywhere in the United States, I think would be very disturbing.

Having it happen in New York and the greater New York area, given what happened almost 25 years ago, it is very, very difficult for a lot of us to process. And very, very hard to believe. Now, look, let's be frank here. What you've traded in Congress is died in the wall guaranteed Democrat votes. for Didenwall guaranteed Democrat votes. They're not going to vote any different. Adriano Espaillat wasn't going to vote any different than how Chevalier is going to vote. They're always going to vote left, period in the story. Adriano Espaillat had something like a 2% rating on the conservative scale. These people never break rank. That was the incumbent that she beat. That's right. And, you know, it's, it's, it's, you could argue that in a way for the right, it is at least a short-term gain. Why? Because the squad, which is what they're all going to join here. never promulgates any legislation that matters. They are quarantined by their own party into irrelevancy, named something that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ever pushed through that mattered. It's all performative crap that their own party isolates. And so in that way, you've got a couple of people now, let's say make it three more additions to the squad, you're up to, let's say, seven or eight, that are going to be do nothings and just vote left. In a practical sense, I'm not sure a whole lot changed in terms of votes. The danger is that what's happening is that this stuff is, and I hate to use the term, but it applies normalized. And you're starting to see an acceptance of open. And if you ever wondered. Where, hey, hey, ho, ho, Western Sid has got to go, came from, which was the chant at Columbia University during the campus takedowns that occurred up there when they took over to campus up there. Understand that Chevalier was a student there. Getting her degree. And so these people are normalizing. She was one of them. So she was, you know, helped organize it. She participated in everything else. So they're normalizing this stuff. And there, I think, is a little bit of naivete on the part of the rest of the country who are happy to say, well, it's just the blue cities. It's happening in New York. They're all crazy. Well, you know, Chicago, they're all nuts. You know, that kind of thing. This is the base now on the left, and they're dragging that party into this swamp. Yeah, they're not going to be able to isolate it and quarantine it the way that they've tried to so far because it's growing. And by the way, I can already hear some people saying, well, maybe I don't really care that much about Israel. And I'm against anti-Semitism, but I'm not Jewish, so it's not really my issue. Here's the thing. I don't view it that way at all.

But I would caution people, often anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, quote-and-quote, obsessing over Israel. This is really just a stand-in, a placeholder, for hating Western civilization writ large, especially the United States of America. And I'm not someone who likes to run around accusing other people of hating America because I disagree with them. But Chevalier, for example, and Zohran Mamdani knows all of this and Bear hugged her, I'd say regardless of this, but maybe because of this. She has said openly that she hates the country. She called the United States a bleeping disgrace and bragged that when she got her hands dirty, there wasn't a napkin around, so she wiped them on the American flag. I mean, Paul, they're advertising these things. Oh, yeah. And the problem they have with Israel understand something is that it looks too much like America. It's too successful. And because it looks like a proxy for America, and of course, the color line matters, right? Israelis generally, unless you are of Middle Eastern origin, a Sephardic Jew, generally are perceived as white. And so consequently, you have that aspect of the grievance industry as well. And, you know, unusually, Guy, you can actually trace this trend. Pretty specifically, I think you and I've talked about in the past student newspaper came out in the 60s. that essentially argued, we have to switch our loyalty as it was like the student workers, the newspaper or something that was a lefty thing that came out. It was primarily a sort of new Black Panther kind of organ. And it was a groundbreaking article that said, we have aligned ourselves historically here with the Jewish people because they were the oppressed. Well, you know what? We've gotten it wrong. Our brown brothers in Palestine. are the ones who have been oppressed by the Jewish state. And it was a cognizant switch of the progressive narratives. that changed the alliance of the hyper-left here during the tumultuous 60s from the Israeli state, which at the time was socialistic. You had the Kubut system and all of that. And it was because, again, Israel was surviving and thriving and becoming too successful, and they wanted the oppression narrative to switch over into more of a racialized narrative. And right there it began. And it's only been fomented since. Yep. And it's not just about Israel at all. It's about us. And some of them who are maybe dumb enough or foolish enough or radical enough to say it out loud are doing it. And they're now, in some cases, winning congressional primaries. Paul, about two minutes left, quickly putting on your attorney hat. The accused... assassin of Charlie Kirk is still facing the death penalty, even after the judge in the case had this scathing condemnation of the prosecution for violating a gag order. That's one update in a high-profile case. Also, the accused assassin of the health care CEO, Brian Thompson, his team had talked about using a psychiatric defense and then withdrew that, and now there's...

A possibility of a plea deal conversation. That's being reported. Just want to get quickly your analysis on that in about a minute and a half. Manjean, they apparently are denying that there's any plea discussions. I don't see the government wanting to do it. Remember, there are two different cases going against Manjean, one state, one federal. His side is saying no plea deal. In the state case, they pulled the psychiatric defense here. No clear reason why we can speculate that he didn't want to take the stand and reveal certain things because that opens all kinds of doors. As of now, you're going to see the state case begin in September and the evidence is strong. As far as the Robinson case, the judge has allowed all kinds of delaying tactics there. He really needs to push it forward. I think he's finally getting to that point. He issued this. scathing condemnation of prosecution, but he didn't really do anything substantive. He's doing everything he can to lean into giving the defense, everything that they want, while making sure that the good evidence against Tyler Robinson stays in. That's where it is. The case remains strong, but it's plotting along. Both those cases are very strong, and I'd be very surprised if either one of them ever beats the case. And in the Charlie Kirk assassination case, that offender, if convicted, could face the death penalty. And I think if there's ever a case, there's ever a reason, if there's ever a situation in which to hand down capital punishment, this would be it. That is my view on that subject. And we'll leave it there for now and check back in very soon with our friend and colleague, Paul Morrow, Fox News contributor. Paul, always appreciate your time here. Thank you, guys. Victor Davis Hansen will join us when we come back, a conversation about America at 250 years that you do not want to miss. America is listening to Guy Benson. I'm Guy Benson. We are back in the spirit of America 250, and we are, what, eight days out from the 4th of July. 250 years out from the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, as we talk about the legacy of America, the birth of America, the celebration of the ongoing historic success and miracle that is America, I think a big piece of that is thinking about our country through the lens of history. And who better to help us think that through and talk that through than one of our favorite guests, Victor Davis Hanson. He is the Martin and Ily Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. His focus is the classics and also military history, highly relevant to this conversation, to this celebration, to this taking inventory of our country after a quarter of a millennium so far. Victor Davis-Hanson, Professor, it's always great to have you here. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me, Guy. So you've written a column just a few weeks ago, America at 250 still dominating the world, and here's why the left won't admit it. So let's start with the first piece of that. By the metrics, how and why is America still dominant?

Well, I kind of go by historical metrics, even pre-industrial. Countries that are dominant have a good fertility rate. Ours isn't great, but it's 1.72. Europe's 1.35. Russia's about 1.2. China's 1.0. So we're pretty good there. We're the world's largest producer of food. China now, because of its expanded diet varieties, imports, has to have every day 30% of its food imported. We're the world's largest producer of gas and oil by far, in fact, the greatest in the history of civilization. China, a competitor, has to have every single day 11 million barrels imported. Our military, for all the criticism of it, as we saw in the bombing of Iran and prior, attacks. It easily went through Chinese-supplied air defenses. We see what Russia is doing. We see what Europeans are doing. It's completely outclass as any other military. We're the longest constitutional government, Democratic-Dash, Republican government in existence. We have a unique constitution. We have some crises. One of them is we've had open borders. We have 53 million people. It's a new high who weren't born in the United States, 16% of the population. And we're not acculturating them and assimilating them and integrating the way we should. But all that said, it's always a relative game. And compared to our rivals, neutrals, and allies were... We're in pretty good shape. In higher education, we all are critical of the humanities and the social science, but in the STEM categories of the top 50 universities in a recent study by the Times Educational Supplement from London, we had, I think, 45 of the top 50 universities in the world. California, as bad as it is, it had five universities in the top 25, I think. So in terms of education, food, fuel, military, we're in good shape. We have to address the debt. That is $31 trillion. It's $3 billion a day in interest. And we have to... assimilate this this new population and make sure it's legal, diverse, measured, and it can be assimilated. But compared to what we've been in the past, I think we're in a great shape. On that positive note, Victor Davis-Henson, let's take a break and continue this discussion a lot more to get to. I have more questions. Of course, that's all coming up. When Guy Benson returns after this.

Guy Benson, sponsored by Previgin. Previgin, made for your brain. Halfway through Guy Benson on this Friday, Victor Davis Hansen is still with us talking about America 250. And before the break, you just ran through a number of really compelling trenchant points. I'm not sure how to argue against it, but people generally do, even in a broad sense. If they don't want to get into any of the specifics you just mentioned, America's on the... decline, that sort of thing. The second part of your column is why the left won't admit it. Why won't they? I mean, can't you be critical in a constructive way? of your country while still seeing clearly all the great things about it and in fact the dominance of it while also recognizing that quite frankly if you were to have someone else supplant us as the global superpower the options are far worse why can't some americans wrap their head around those truths Because then they lose the argument of systematic, fundamental, radical change, what Barack Obama said, were six days from radically transforming the country. That's what the left always wants to do. It wants to socialize the economy. It wants an equality of result rather than opportunity. It wants sort of an aristocratic, bi-coastal elite in our case to run things. It always has contempt for the working classes, the white working class especially. So without... Saying that if you say things are pretty good and we can improve upon them, then there's no need for all of this new rhetoric about transgenderism, open borders, 12 million illegal aliens coming in under Biden, revolving door, criminality, all the things they brought us. They have an agenda, and it always hinges on we're in dire straits. In World War II, and the right does the same thing. We were saying Charles Lindberg said we couldn't fight the Nazis. They have a paradigm. They got through the Depression much better than we did. We can't fight them. It's a new Mussolini Nazi world. After we destroyed them, then it was Soviets have created a new man. The Cold War, you can't beat them. They've got more nukes. They've got better tanks. It's just, it's not going to happen. Then when they fell, it was Japan Incorporated. They bought Pebble Beach. They bought...

Radio City, they're buying everything. The Japanese have this kind of crony capitalism, government. It's a better paradigm. And then when they went into infertility and deflation, then it was the EU at the millennium. My gosh, the EU was 96 cents to the euro and it got up to $1.65. They've got 450 million people. They don't spend things on defense. This is so smart. And then... look at the EU today. And then, of course, the latest was China. China was going to overtake our GDP. A lot of people said by 2025, they're 10 trillion less than we are. They're about 21 trillion. They have 1.4 billion people. And a crude back-of-the-hand arithmetic takes four Chinese residents to produce 60% of the GDP of one American. So... We're in pretty good shape, and it's the system that's very flexible, self-critical, and adopts. And I was looking the other day at what people were saying about five years ago on AI, robotics, bioengineering, even cryptocurrency, and they said that we were behind in all of these fields. But once you kind of let Elon Musk go and Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos and all these people, Mark Andreessen, And you say, we're not going to do what Europe does. We're not going to do what China. Just go out. You can make all the money you want, but you have to put America first. You have to do things with weaponry, satellites that enhance your country. And they rose to the challenge, and nobody thought that that would be happening. We're on the verge of leading on all of those latest technologies. It's amazing that you just ran through all of the dire predictions of doom and gloom and America losing its place and how each and every one crumbled. And after all of that, you might say our flag was still there, Victor, and here we are, celebrating 250 years. And I know you've had some more reflections on the character and the greatness and the unique nature of our country, Victor. The reason that America exists today is we're a meritocracy. I mean, we all have tribal tendencies, and we all have favoritism and family cronyism. But basically, if you compare us to the alternative, It's very different. I went to Libya once, and when I got off the plane, I was there for two weeks, there were potholes everywhere. And I asked the person driving, why do you have potholes when you're one of the biggest oil producers and asphalt producers in the world? He turned around without even blink and said, we hire our first cousin. It's the first thing you said. Any job we have, we always keep our own. And we don't do that in the United States. And so we're very merocratic. Multiracial democracies in Indonesia, Brazil, India, they have caste systems. They don't work very well. And that's one thing that we're fighting right now, tribalism, but we don't have a tribalist system that we integrate and assimilate people much better than even Europe does. And that's a great...

advantage. Our Constitution, it's not part. Nobody can emulate. Every time we've tried to nation build, people said, don't try to do this. It's too difficult. Use the European parliamentary system, the prime minister, et cetera. But what our system does is it does two things really well. It gives power to localities under federalism, 50 states, so that if you have a problem. And you're vending and people are getting angry. They can vote with their feet, and there's competition between the states to come up with a better paradigm. We're seeing that with red versus blue today. That puts enormous pressure on the blue states to change their bankrupt ways, or they're going to lose their population. And we've seen that in the past. And the second thing is we don't have a multiplicity of these little splinter parties that parliamentary dogmocracy does. We have these... various views that are contained basically within two parties. Every once in a while we have a third party, but it fizzles out. And that gives a sense of stability that it keeps people from being too radical. If you're a radical, even the new socialist, Islamists, or whoever they are in the Democratic Party, they are within the Democratic Party. They may try to take it over, but... All it will take is one big McGovern-like defeat, and we won't hear from him for a while. The same thing with Barry Goldwater. I had a lot of admiration for him, but he was at the fringe of the Republican Party. You know, it doesn't work. These little parties don't work, and we keep them within two parties, and that's a source of stability. And, of course, we have a bill of rights. No other country really does, not Britain, not in any of the European countries. And you can see with social media the difference here between, I think UK is censoring more people than China now a day. So we've got a lot of intrinsic advantages. I don't think we appreciate it enough. And we've got a very good system of the military as well. Civilian control of the military, but we have the best military academies in the world. We have a very... effective way of taking people out of the middle class like a Chester Nimitz or Dwight Eisenhower and turning them into world class leaders after their academy experience and most of the military academies in Europe and in Asia still have aristocratic constraints you have to be part of an aristocratic elite and um America is very different that way. It has a lot more upward mobility and fluidity among classes. We're not a class nation. We don't have titles, Baron, Earl, Sir, Dom, and we don't ask people, you know, how many acres is your parents? Did you have land? What's your dad's...

college background. We just treat people as they are and judge them on what they produce, not who their ancestors were. And every time we try to do that, the mass of Americans make fun of it in caricature. And that's as it should be. Victor Davis Hansen, our guest on Guy Benson. Let's wrap up this discussion, a really important one after the break. Always Fresh, Always Fair. Guy Benson. Back on the Guy Benson's show with the great Victor Davis-Hanson of the Hoover Institution. And Victor, to continue that thought, there's a lot of love for America and surging patriotism around this big July 4th celebration, 250 years after 1776. But it's against a backdrop of... waning, fading patriotism among certain groups of Americans, including very much the young. This is something that we've lamented on this show. I know you have as well in some of your writings. And part of the problem to which you attribute all of this is America's youth not understanding our own history. What lessons of history don't they know and what should they know? The university and the K through 12 were therapeutic now, so it's a sin of commission and omission. They omit things that we all used to grow up with. I'm 72, but when we had a music class, it was a music class in fifth grade and we went through. America the Beautiful, my country tis-a-vis, Star Spangled Banner, God Bless America. Then we went into American Folktale, Stephen Foster. So that gave us, it was music, art, it was a holistic approach, literature that we read about, and biography was very important. We read about, in biographies of Lou Gehrig. We read of George Washington, of course, but the whole... curriculum across the board in multidisciplines was about how unique the United States. And it didn't seem like brainwashing. It was more of a discovery. And we don't do that at all. And we've replaced it with sort of a feel good, you're important, tee ball attitude and DEI and things like that. And the result of it is we don't have any idea who gave us everything we have. So if I have students, even when I talk to them at Stanford, And I say Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Bellowood, Gettysburg, they don't know what I'm talking about. And if you say we're here in California, we had the most sophisticated California water project in the world of water transference, and now we're using it, we're not maintaining it. They don't know what you're talking about. And if you don't know that, then you deprecate the past. You say they were racist, or they were sexes, or they were wanting, or they didn't have our technology, but you don't. You don't have any sense of gratitude that you are walking among ghosts, that all this stuff that we have, this infrastructure from the Hoover Dam to the White House, was built for purpose by better generations in some way, much poorer generations that didn't have our technology and lifestyles, but they bequeathed to us the system.

And their idea was that whatever they got, they were going to pass on something better. And I don't see that very often in our leaders today that talk about that. And one of them, Barack Obama just dedicated his library the other day. And before he could even open his mouth, he was attacking the founders. And he said, well, you know, the declaration promise all men are equal, but, you know, we never fulfilled that privilege for, he may be technically right, but he had no idea that that was a big, big debate when, John Adams delegated five people to write the declaration. And Jefferson wanted that in to abolish slavery, even though he was a slave owner, but that would have torn apart the union. That was the idea. The Southerners said, we're not going to join if you start that in. So they knew that they had to get rid of slavery, and they knew that when they did get rid of slavery, they were going to have a civil war. And they couldn't have a civil war until they had a nation. But for Obama, that's just... There's no acknowledgement of that at all. The other thing very quickly, guys, we never make any comparisons. Ilhan Omar comes over here and she tells us she was surprised what a trashy country is and that dictators are worse here than they were in Somalia. And no one has confidence to defend the country and say to her, well, wait a minute. You came over here. We didn't ask you to come. You came here, and now you're insulting the host that gave you a free education, that you're in the upper, upper middle class. According to your own financial statement, you're worth $30 million? Ms. Omar, do you know that most of the people who came with you to Minnesota from Somalia were connected with the Saeed-Bari Weiss government? The genocidal government, your own father was a colonel in his army. And we don't say to you, you all have blood on your hands. You were participating either actively or latently with killing 200,000 people. And then you came over here as refugees, and you sort of erased that whole past, and then you won't do the same for your host. You start to bring up past about how we're so racist or sexist or we had slaves. And no one counters them. And I think that we need to be much. more aggressive about critics of the United States, compared to what? Tell us what the alternatives are. Tell us about your country that you came. I have a lot of Indian friends from India, and they are coming very frequently. We have a big scandal here about Indian truck drivers, and I was an argument with my friends. And I said, what would happen in India if a bunch of Americans came over there, and they were given licenses, and they started... you know, getting in serious truck accent. He said, you don't want to know, Victor. You do not want to know what would happen. And I said, well, there it is. So I think we have to get a lot more muscular about defending the country, and especially our ancestors. And we're not doing that at all. Yeah, we've got to combat. You mentioned the sins of omission and commission, omitting the great proud, triumphant history. and then commission over-emphasizing the flaws, and then, I think, sliding into negative propaganda that you referenced. Before I let you go, Victor, in the new criterion, you wrote about the military legacy of the Revolutionary War. And having watched the documentary,

On PBS recently about it, I was reminded, I knew some of this in school, but I was reminded how many times we really could have failed. America wasn't necessarily going to exist. If a few little things went differently, history could have turned quite differently, and yet here we are, and we have this history to recount and to celebrate. But there were key moments. In that war, would you like to reflect on that general idea or maybe give an example real quick? We didn't have an army to fight a classical European battle against the British, so at times we used a regular swamp, the swamp fox, the green mountain boys. We were very flexible about the contingents. We field it. We didn't have a Navy comparable to Britain. We needed the French, and yet the French knew that if we were to be successful, we were still what they would call Anglo-Saxons. We had fought them in the French Indian War. So that was very tricky for Jefferson and Adams and Franklin to get the French on our side, even though they felt that this would not last very long. And it didn't. We were already, after the country was fine, fighting the French here and there. So that was very important, that alliance. And then people think we were backward. We had very sophisticated weapons. We had rifled flintlocks that were superior to the British brown best. We even tried to craft a submarine, the world's first submarine, really. They didn't really have military applications at first, but it would very soon after that. And so when you look at this very tiny little country, And 40% of the people were not in favor of it. And then you're going against the greatest Navy and maybe the third or fourth best army in the world. And yet you have to find a strategy that uses your geography, your knowledge of terrain, the home ground, an alliance with the French. Your weaponry is sort of ad hoc. And you have to say to your men, you guys are on the frontier. you're fighting the Native Americans. You're fighting each other. You are the best shots in the world. We have to incorporate those skills. And we can't quite have a European army yet. And maybe even when we do, we'll need you to be irregulars. And so it was a very flexible idea. And Washington was a very, he had a lot of experience. I don't think anybody else would have been able to lead the Continental Army except him. An essential man in our history and our first president responsible for so many. Not just military triumphs and political decisions, but also traditions and precedents that stand to this day, the indispensable American in many ways. Victor Davis Hanson, our friend here on Guy Benson, he's a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, helping us think about our place in history and this glorious celebration of our 250th birthday. Victor, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for having me, Guy. The final hour of Guy Benson with Mary Catherine Hamm is straight ahead.

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. It's the happy hour here on Guy Benson. Happy Friday, everyone. Hope you're having a great one, almost the weekend. One hour left here together. Guy Benson.com, our website, podcast free every day on demand, as always, including bonus Guy Benson on the weekends. This radio hour is sponsored by the Finnish long drink. I did enjoy one at the beach yesterday. In fact, I posted a photo of it on my Instagram story at Guy Benson. If you want to check it out, in fact check me. It's fantastic stuff, but please drink responsibly always. 21 plus only, of course, the longdrink.com. Oh, with us now, Mary Catherine Hamm, best friend of the program, Fox News contributor, outkick columnist and co-author of our book, End of Discussion, at M.K. Hammer on social. Mary Catherine, welcome back. Hello, how you doing? I'm doing well. I want to start with this controversy in Michigan, in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, where the leading candidate is an acolyte of Hassan America-deserved 9-11 Hasan Piker. and he very well could end up being the Democrats nominee for the Senate in that state statewide wants that. Primary occurs later this summer, and there's a controversy here where one of his Democratic opponents is being attacked as a bigot, including amazingly by the bigot himself, Hasan Piker, saying that she's running this Islamophobic smear campaign. Mallory McMorrow is her name, and here's what she said on CNN, tying Mr. L. Syed. the Senate candidate there to Hasan Piker in cut 25. There's a responsibility for whoever we nominate. as our next U.S. Senator to recognize we have to build and expand a big tent. My opponent made a decision to bring in Hassan shortly after there was an attack on a synagogue here in Michigan where a man drove a pickup truck into a synagogue where 140 preschoolers were at school that day. And had it not been for the security measures, the ballards in place, it could have been the largest mass killing of kids.

this country's history and to bring somebody in to represent your campaign in my mind is a very different decision than going on somebody's stream and talking to their audience. So, Mary Catherine, that touched off even more fury and grievance and victimhood from the El-Sayed camp and the Hasan Piker world crew, where they're saying, why on earth is she now tying the Hezbollah-inspired terrorist attack against the synagogue in Michigan to Hasan Piker? That is more evidence of bigotry in Islamophobia. One of these social media posters described that decision as inexplicable. And while I think McMorrow, who's again one of the Democrats running against El-Sayed, didn't necessarily do this in a terribly deft way where she explained the connection, all of their protestations, you think, are a bit much. Why? Yeah, because they're just pretending that Hasan Piker is not a professed open fan of Hezbollah, which is a terrorist organization with which he has said he has no issue. He has, and this is in an argument with one of his fellow streamers who was like, as a terrorist organization, he's like, I got no issue with them. Their resistance tactics have been quite successful against Israel. He says that his favorite flag is the Hezbollah flag. Now, why does this matter? Because the man who attacked. The synagogue, and would have loved to have been a mass murderer, was Hezbollah inspired, had brothers who were Hezbollah brass in Lebanon. And the FBI has released this information. So, yes, several weeks after that, when Abdul El-Sayed has on the campaign trail with him in Michigan, close to the synagogue, a Hezbollah fan, those two things are connected. And you say that you're not connected to that because of your... because of your very obvious rhetoric on your streaming show that we can all hear is gaslighting, which is what they're sort of professional at at this point. Yes, and so a few other points on this. And you're right. People can look up these quotes from Hasan Piker, who marveled at and supports the, quote, successful, quote, resistance of Hezbollah, a U.S. designated terror organization with a ton of American blood on its hands, by the way, an arm of the Iranian regime. He's been a big fan of their work. And he said he, quote, doesn't have an issue. with them and their resistance, i.e. terrorism. And when asked about his favorite flag on earth, it is the banner of Hezbollah. These are things that he proactively offered to the world. We're not attributing these things or, you know, dreaming up smears for Hasan Piker. These are things he has advertised publicly on his show that has made him a millionaire while being a communist in this country. That's point one.

Point two, and there's a third point to this, but we should not just glide past point two. Even though, again, I think it was a bit clumsy the way that McMorrow kind of prosecuted this case, Hasan Piker, who was brought in as a surrogate and a campaign rally featured speaker, right? He is an official spokesperson, basically, for the El-Sayyad campaign. This is someone, and we've said it many times and we will remind people of it. I think... As often as necessary, this is someone who said on his show that America deserved 9-11. He was separately celebrating an attack that badly wounded an American soldier, Dan Crenshaw, who went on to become a member of Congress, and he was applauding, Hasan Piker was, the brave soldier and Mujahideen. who blinded him in one eye and then was making a very graphic reference to what happened to the eye socket and that it was a disgusting comment. by Hasan Piker, and then he went on to say, bleep it, F it, I'm going to say it, America deserved 9-11. This is someone victim blaming, saying that when America lost nearly 3,000 innocent people at the hands of al-Qaeda jihadist terrorists in 2001, we deserved it. We had it coming. We had earned that attack. So he is a pro-terrorism victim blamers saying that victims of that jihadist attack deserved it. When you choose, as a candidate, as El-Sayed did, to have that person on the stump with you as you campaign for political office in America, in the immediate aftermath of another jihadist terror attack targeting Americans. The fact that Hasan Piker blamed America for 9-11, I'm sorry, that is relevant to the decision that El-Sayed made to have Hasan Piker with him on the campaign trail. That is not a cheap shot. That is a fair, clean shot. This identity politics. Islamophobia, they cry. And it's like, no, if you say over and over and over again in public laughing, cheering, that you side with the terrorists against your homeland, America, against civilians, which is what terrorism is, going after civilians and saying that they deserve it, then yes. We're going to think that you side with the terrorists and someone may bring it up. That is not a violation of you and your speech rights or any sort of discrimination. That is just using the information that you are offering to voters and the public.

to illustrate that you brought this person on the trail with you, that has Tonpiker himself is very open about what he believes, and you've done it weeks after an attempted terrorist attack on children in your state. It's like doing a local campaign in New York City without a potato fan three weeks after 9-11. Like, it's crazy town. Yeah, no, they just end up waiting several more years and then nominating people like that for Congress in New Jersey, for example, with Dr. Hamawi. It's another situation that we've talked about here. And I'm sorry, like this stuff is happening. They are doing these things. They are nominating these people, and I'll be damned if we don't notice and bring it up. And it is not bigotry to bring it up. And it's not being anti-Muslim, although if they view this as Islam. then that's their problem, I would say. It is not my problem or yours. Now, one more point on this, the third point. Here is a Punch Bowl News report shortly after that synagogue attack earlier this year in Michigan. Abdul El-Sayed put out a lengthy statement in response to that attack. And here's the headline from Punch Bowl News. Again, this was months back. El-Syad, colon, statement on synagogue attack was a risk. Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed acknowledged on an internal campaign call that his lengthy statement after the Temple Israel attack this month was a risk that really worried his team. One day after this man's thwarted terrorist attack in West Bloomfield, Michigan at a synagogue, March 12th, Abdul El-Sayed released a four-minute video condemning the attack while tying the terrorist actions to Israel's military campaign in Lebanon. Quote, a week earlier, an airstrike killed his niece and nephew. Imagine if that had never happened. Imagine there was no war in Iran. Imagine if there were no airstrikes in Lebanon. Imagine if his family had never died, El-Sayed said. Parenthetically, not noted was the fact that his family was Hezbollah. This was a Hezbollah inspired attack because it's in the family. The people living in Lebanon who were killed by Israel and the airstrikes were Hezbollah terrorists. That was glossed over, ignored completely in this statement, while blaming Israel for some guy in America trying to kill Jewish kids. Again, this is a form of victim blaming and what aboutism and deflection. He couldn't even cleanly condemn. a terrorist attack at a synagogue in his state by a terrorist targeting Jewish children. He could not do that without bringing in Israel. That statement went on. We can and must condemn the attack on temporal Israel, and we can and must condemn the violence 6,000 miles away. Reflecting on the statement on March 18th, Abdul El-Sayed admitted his take was controversial. It was a risk.

All of our team was really worried about saying something. But leadership is being willing to say the thing if you believe it to be true that nobody else is going to say. And El-Sayed Aid said the issue is a complicated one in Michigan. Mary Catherine, he's patting himself on the back for the disgusting, equivocal statement that he made. pretending like it was very courageous of him to have made it while his campaigns like, oh yeah, it was very risky. We were very worried. It's very complicated. No, it's not. It is not complicated to put out a one sentence statement, which is... Attacks on innocent people perpetrated for any reason are entirely unacceptable and disgusting. And we condemn it without hesitation or qualification, period. That is actually not complicated or hard. But in his mind, it's very complicated and very hard. And the fact that he figured out any sort of way to condemn the synagogue attack against children was actually quite brave. And he took quite a risk to do it. That's the candidate. who brought in Mr. America deserved 9-11 to campaign with him a few weeks after the Hezbollah attack, Hezbollah inspired against Jewish kids, with Hasan Piker, the surrogate for the campaign, having praised Hezbollah in its resistance and saying he had no problem with it and loves their flag. Once again, on point three, highly relevant actually to this and not bigoted at all. Yeah, no, it's even that tepid non-condemnation, equivocating condemnation is considered like a big step for him. It's so embarrassing. But the thing it is, it is complicated for him because his coalition has feelings. about attacking civilians being okay, because part of his coalition is the Hasan Piker folks who like that kind of thing. And they don't like it when you say that attacking civilians, particularly Jewish ones, is bad. And so he has to equivocate in this way, which again is another round of victim blaming, right? Like Israel's attacked, these children are attacked, and therefore... That's Israel's fault. I mean, this is what they do every time. It is turned around every single time on the people who are actually enduring the violence. And that should be relevant in a campaign to be a senator. And I know that everybody's going to watch his little TikTok videos. And look, I regret to inform everybody that he's quite good on television and a little bit charming and good looking. And that is a shortcut to a lot of people's support. But I would suggest looking a little deeper and finding out about the Abdul El-Sayed who has trouble condemning an attack on Jewish.

school children by a guy in a truck with a bomb. Well, it's risky. It's risky because a lot of his base likes the idea of attacking Jewish kids and condemning it in his mind was risky. And the only way he could stomach it and felt like he could get through it and wriggle past some of those difficulties was to sort of construct this sick moral equivalence that you just described. Mary Catherine. Speaking of something that shouldn't be that complicated, but is made so by political actors, let's tackle a story out of the UK after this short break on Guy Benson. A fresh perspective on the topics of the day. It's Guy Benson. Back on Guy Benson Happy Hour with Mary Catherine Hamm. All right, let's talk about this story. The Brits are having a hell of a time right now. They're having a heat wave, and they are just cooking, like almost literally, sweating up a storm. It's very, very uncomfortable for them. There's not a lot of air conditioning over there by design. It's part of this green craze that is especially deep-rooted in Europe. And they're doing actually a lot of air-conditioning shaming of people. And there's a reason why, by the way, many, many more Europeans die of heatstroke in the summer in Europe than Americans die of gun violence. I know they're obsessed with our gun violence. It's not even close to the death toll they have over there from their ideological choice not to air condition things. But in the middle of this heat wave, they're having debates on television in the UK. where there's like the left-wing communist environmentalist people who apparently haven't got the memo that the only thing they're supposed to care about now is Gaza, but they're at least pretending to still care about the climate, and they're saying it's actually terrible and irresponsible to use air conditioning, and it comes at a cost, and at best we should ration it and only give it to the people who really, really need it, and everyone else should make do. And then the other side of the argument is this sort of apologetic mother who's trying to get her children to sleep, cut 31. Well, I am not ignorant to the fact that it does unfortunately come at a cost. And arguably, us using so much electricity, oil and gas is the reason we're in this position in the first place. However, last summer I was seven months pregnant in the summer. And this summer, I've got an eight-month-old baby and a three-year-old. And my baby monitor last night said that both rooms at 7 o'clock at night, which is their bedtime, was 31 degrees. And, Kate, like I think you said earlier, that the guidance is, if the room is 29 degrees or over, children under 5 should not be in them. Now, what do I do? Where do I put them? They have to go to sleep. So you put the aircon on. So I put the aircon on and it makes it more manageable, but it still wasn't an enjoyable sleep. I struggled to sleep in that and my little baby is so restless. Mary Catherine.

The pro air conditioning argument from this woman, and bless her heart, I'm not blaming her, but I guess this is the way they feel like they have to argue over there. It's like, oh, yes, I know it has these tradeoffs and great costs and it can be very evil and so, so sorry, self-flagellation, gas and all of that, oil, oh dear, but it's unsafe for my children, literally unsafe for my children and very uncomfortable for the rest of us, so we put on the AC. That's the... The sane argument being presented on TV with a lot of insanity out there lecturing people to just deal with the heat and suck it up for the planet. Yeah, I don't understand this. I try to be pretty good about understanding other people's points of view. And the one where you have a technology that will prevent a bunch of people from dying that's fairly easily accessible, or at least in places that don't make rules against it is. And you don't deploy it to help. Old people and children seems silly to me. It is a given in this country that we have air conditioning. The idea that this woman has to couch her argument for not having her kids sleep in a 100-degree room is crazy to me. Well, it's because it is crazy. And I want to let you finish that thought. But first, I'm up on a heartbreak. So let's take that and come back with more with Mary Catherine Hamm after this.

Talking about the issues you care about, Guy Benson. We are back. It is Guy Benson. It's the happy hour in extended conversation with Mary Catherine, and best friend of the program. And Mary Catherine, I want to get to the latest WNBA hullabaloo around Caitlin Clark and that whole mess. But first, to finish what you were just saying on the Britain air conditioning, environmentalism subject, I wanted to give you this opportunity, so go ahead. They've made their national and regional identity partly based in sort of anti-American policy, right? So it's like they do this, therefore we cannot do that because that would be bad. Well, it's not bad. It actually just... like hums right along here, pun intended, with AC everywhere, and we have comfortable indoors during the summer, and we're able to enjoy ourselves in many different climbs as a result. And I can't believe that they just can't go out and buy a window unit and stick it in their house and enjoy. Well, and they also have these policies about, you know, net zero and these insane public policies that they voted for, in fairness, although I think a lot of them do regret that. But, yeah, they have a culture now of embracing painful, needless rationing, self-inflicted rationing, whether it's on health care, whether it's on air conditioning. These are choices that they've made. By the way, we air condition here to the hilt. We air-conditioned the hell out of our country, and I love it. I do not like the heat. I love air conditioning. And guess what? Over the last 20 years, our carbon emissions have plummeted in this country. After President Trump took us out out of the Paris Accords, and everyone freaked out. Overall, the trajectory on emissions is down. It fluctuates occasionally up a little bit last year, down substantially other years. But we're doing the air conditioning. We're doing the gas guzzling, and we're still finding ways to... turn down and pull down that trajectory on emissions. And yet they're doing this thing. I don't understand it except through the prism of politics and control in dominating people's lives, which is what we see often in politics across the ocean. Unfortunately, I want no part of that here. Mary Catherine, finally. This Caitlin Clark situation, I had not been paying much attention recently to the WNBA. I guess she'd been out and injured a number of times, Caitlin Clark, the big superstar. But it's back in the news because I guess they had a 30-year commemorative poster, I want to say. It's like, hey, we're celebrating decades in business with the WNBA. And they had a ton of the players on this poster, including current players, by the way, like Angel Reese. But... excluded from the poster is the biggest star in the game, Caitlin Clark. She got punched in the throat just the other night, and it's a huge controversy, and the opposing team was like celebrating that foul, which then wasn't called, finally resulted in a one-game suspension. And the coach of the offending player is like turning into some sort of, you know.

turning it into some sort of, you know, hero story. Like she's a martyr for this suspension that she's been given for this punch to the throat of Caitlin Clark. She gets whistled for a bunch of fouls and technicals all the time. It just feels like this is a league that is determined to almost literally kill the golden calf that has brought more popularity and attention to the league than anything ever in its history. And it seems like they're so... So caught up in grievance and bitterness about that, and I think identity absolutely plays a role in that on a number of scores, that they're willing, I guess, to undermine their own success. I've never seen almost anything like it. Have you? No, it's actually quite shocking. I played women's sports, and I'm willing to say, hey, let them play. It gets rough out there sometimes, what have you? Like, women can be tough competitors. I don't know how you watch a compilation of the absolute muggings that have happened to Caitlin Spark on the floor and how they're treated and how they're not called and how they're celebrated by the people who have perpetrated them. And think to yourself like, this seems like a little out of line, guys. It is... so self-destructive to the WNBA, like having been given one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. Who everybody's very interested in and wants to come out to games and wants to buy merch and wants to buy everything. That's going to trickle down to everyone else. And to some extent, had despite their best efforts. But man, they seem really bent on sabotaging this whole thing because they've decided that this nice young Midwestern woman who shoots three's real good is bad. And she has kept... a ridiculously good attitude throughout, I think sometimes too good because I would have reacted more angrily than she has. But it's really disgraceful to watch. I was glad to see her coach speak up for her against the resting on that and against those who came after her in that game pretty forcefully. Sophie Cunningham, another player often seems willing to stick up for her on the court, which I appreciate. But the idea that this woman would not be on the poster for 30 years of women's. basketball when she's brought more prosperity and attention to the league than anyone ever has? Like, why are we mad at that? It seems like ruining an obviously good thing for almost no reason. It's totally irrational. I think it's envy and I think it's identity politics. I think it's those two reasons. They are envious of her success and they are bitter that's sort of on their DEI. grievance totem pole, she is not in a place that ought to be exalted so it's even worse. I think it's very obvious that's what's going on here. And it just feels so, so self-destructive by this league. By the way, the coach of the other team, after the paltry one-game suspension for that punch while she was lying on the ground, treating her player who committed that basketball assault like a martyr, she quoted in her

social media post Michelle Obama saying when they go low, we go high. I'm like high as into the throat. What are you talking about? Now, it's actually, we have a theme here, which is reversing victim and offender. She did, her player did the violent action, but because she's rightly punished for it, she's going to say that she's the martyr, the player who did the flagrant foul. It's just truly ridiculous. And it's this political brain rot that too many people are wrapped up in, especially in that league, it seems. Mary Catherine Hamm, best friend of the program, Fox News contributor, outkick columnist, podcaster, author, social media poster at M.K. Hammer. Mary Catherine, great chatting. As always, have a great weekend. Talk soon. Thanks for having me, guys. When we come back, the Homestretch, Cookie got a performance review today. There were some glaring omissions. We'll get an update in the Homestretch next. In the swamp, not of the swamp. Guy Benson.

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 on this Friday. Happy Friday. Almost the weekend. Almost some time off for yours truly. Been looking forward to that. Building up to the fourth with friends and family. Great guest hosts coming in next week here on the program. But we have one more very important segment here together on today's show. And it is, of course... As I mentioned, the home stretch. I will remind you that you can check out every home stretch from the whole week on Bonus Guy Benson, which is on the free podcast, which is available every day on demand, Guy Benson.com, Fox Newspodcast.com, wherever you get your podcast, et cetera, et cetera. Well, Christine was... out yesterday, unsurprisingly. More surprisingly, she is back today. She's actually here. And Christine, happy almost weekend to you. I know it's been a grueling full day of work in between your most recent time off and the weekend. So you've got to be exhausted. I'm looking forward to the weekend. I'm happy. It's Friday. Yeah. I mean, you've done one consecutive day of work. That's a lot. It is a lot. And you had to come in today, actually, because you had your annual performance review. at work. And you were texting me about it. And let me just say for the record, as I've said before, they never talked to me about this, ever. Like, you are the senior citizen producer of my show, and I've never been asked to give one iota of feedback about your performance. That is, I guess, determined by other people who, I guess, know better than your friendly radio host. How did it go, Christine? It sounds like you have an extra pep in your step. Yeah, I mean, the review is like glowing. I have, in my ratings, I have exceeded expectations in every single category. Would you like to know the categories? Well, first, is the person doing the review and who is handing down this glowing assessment, like, have you ever met them? Guy. Are they new here? She's my boss, yes. I see. When I'm here, I see her. Okay, so what are they basing this on exactly? So I... Vibes? Guy, I've exceeded expectations in job knowledge, in personal growth and development. In quality, consistency, and dependability. Amazing. Dependability. That's got to have a fun definition. Go on. Initiative and creative problem solving. Collaboration and teamwork. Personal. Personal integrity. Oh. Ethical conduct. Right, like putting in all of your vacation time in the system. And workplace respect? Oh, yeah. When I think cookie, I think respect. And effective and professional communication. Wow. Exceeded all expectations. Did you pay them? Like, what happened here?

Well, this is interesting because they didn't ask you. It says Christine has an excellent relationship with her show host. Wow. I mean, is this like some game of telephone? Did they interview someone else? Do they know what you do? Yes, and this is my favorite. You know how they have to say, like, what's your goal for next year, what they want you to work on? I don't know if I'm supposed to be reading this. Probably not. But it says given her willingness to always pitch in, Christine should focus on further mentoring. So see a producer. I'm sorry. They need you to mentor more. I wonder how Dylan feels about that. Dylan's off today because he's been doing so much work in your absence. But did they interview him for this? No, I have to say, I shouldn't be laughing. Like, I'm very proud of myself. You are not just laughing. You are cracking up at your own positive review. I'm not even saying anything, basically. The punchline are the things that you're reading. You can barely get through it, Cookie. Yeah, she says that I'm an excellent representative of Fox News and your show while I'm on the road. Like at the booze events, you only come for booze events. During the last time I woke up from a hotel room with somebody else's shoes? Yes, and you had to Venmo your colleagues to do your job for you because you were too hung over. I'm literally crying right now. An excellent representation of the show while on the road. Oh, my goodness. So did you get a raise? I did. I did. So I don't know who put the good word in about me, but thank you. You did have to do a self-evaluation, and I did write a lot of good things about myself. So I think that helped. Maybe that's what they took. You think? Yeah. I also wonder if maybe it was Brian Kilmeade and Jimmy Fela, who gave all the feedback in order for them to make sure you stay on my show. guy i'm just trying to like spitball here and figure out what no that's not it because i am filling in on jimmy's show in august and i think i believe what i've heard is jimmy is very excited he likes to call me crazy christine on air he doesn't call me cookie crazy christine he could just add cookie cookie cookie Does he not know about Cookie Cookie? I mean, he should definitely get on that. By the way, I do have to tell you, speaking of performance reviews, because I gave you one on the air, was it last year or the year before? Yeah. Or also describing the fact that they never asked me about this stuff. What do I know? So I gave you my own review recently the last couple of years. And I forget what it was, but it was just like factual statements. Yeah, like Christine is a girl. Christine is a female human, an adult female human. She is married to a man named Robert, like these types of things. But this year I have something actually much more interesting than that. Oh. Yes, I reached out to some sources through a conduit, an intermediary. Oh, no. And I'm surprised, actually. I'm surprised that they responded. And it was actually sent through all these, you know, different circuitous means with some subterfuge and some cloak and dagger stuff. But I was able to get my hands on another performance review of you by some of your other colleagues.

Colleagues of yours located. Yes, I was actually able to get a performance review from your cartel. And I'm just going to read it. This is translated. Translated into English mostly. There's a few Spanish words in here. You know, it would be very hard for me to speak with them in any other language because I don't speak Spanish. So they had to learn English to be in my cartel. They did not learn English. They just used AI here for this. But they did call you Galleta, which is the Spanish word for cookie, of course. So I'm just going to quote, this is from them. These are not my words. Gaeta is a tenacious and ruthless member of our organization. She is here so frequently, it's like she lives here. Her punch card at Signor Frogs has saved us so much money for other more pressing matters. She is energetic and always willing to be a team player and often volunteers to, quote, carousel our opponents. This is a reference we do not understand. She is due for a promotion soon, but we told her it needs to be here in the office more often, which she says is no problem. Felicidadess Miha. And that is where the transmission ended. So it sounds like you're really impressing people north and south of the border. Gaeta? Well, the good thing is Gaeta is going to be there in about a week. So bring on the promotion. You actually, no joke, are going to Mexico very soon. It's funny. I put Cancun on the weather app. I added it to my phone. And I was like, why do I even take it off? because I'm there and I have to add it a lot. Do you have any goals for the upcoming year? Was this something that was discussed in your evaluation today? Did you not? Yes. Did you hear the goals? My goal is focusing on mentoring. No, no. That's their goal for you. I'm saying, do you have goals for you. Yes, I do. I think, you know, it's time for me to really lean into the future. You know, like video, social media. Oh, technology? Yeah, I think it's time for me to lean in and just not. You're going to be a tech guru? Yeah, I think that Dylan and I are going to do some crash courses over the summer. And I, yeah, I want to be like a video guru. That is hilarious. Another thing. I would like to be on camera too. So that would be another goal of mine. I'm going to talk to the boss. Are you going to go get hair and makeup every day? Um, you're like, hey, Harris, get out of the chair. Cookie needs or glow up. Yeah, I don't, I don't think that they would let that happen, but it's okay. I can, uh, you know, I can josh myself up when needed. And what about the idea? Because one of our guests today while you were getting them teed up to come on the air asked who was hosting the show. I wasn't sure if it was me. It's a Friday right before, you know, holiday time. And. you said what in response oh i said it was me i'm the one hosting today you were going to be hosting the show yes and then he said congratulations was that a joke or is that one of these goals that you have for the coming year um

I don't know. No, no, no. I don't think cookie hosting would make sense. Do you? I mean, you obviously don't. I don't think I need to ask you that. No, but I think that it's time to put some cameras in these control rooms, don't you think? Well, let's just see. I think that's above my pay grade to make those kinds of decisions. But congratulations, I guess, on this review of your work, quote-unquote. This is your senior producer. Look at it. Glowing. Glowing. It's amazing. It is a near 4th of July miracle on Guy Benson and on that very happy note. We will send you into your weekend. Have a great one, everyone. Back Monday with some fabulous guest hosts on Guy Benson next week. If I don't talk to you before then, happy almost 4th of July. Happy birthday America. We'll talk very soon. You were the last time I woke up from a hotel room with somebody else's shoes. Yes, and you had to Venmo your colleagues to do your job for you because you were too hung over. I'm literally crying right now.

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