Trump to address the nation as Maduro remains defiant

Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan. It's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmeade. I want so glad you're there. Brian Kilmeade, getting closer and closer to the new year, and we have so much going on. This hour I'll be joined by Brett Bear with standing by. Rich Lowry from the National Review at the bottom of the hour, looks into Australia and so much more and what's going on. Tonight we know, I just quick note to everybody out there. It's deadline day to get out the gifts and get it there by Christmas. Today is the last day to send via UPS ground service or first class mail. Just a point of reference. So before we get to Brett and all the news, let's get to the big three. Number three. Every part of you wants to be there for your child. You don't want to send them out to be homeless on the street. You don't want that. Who would? But sometimes you have no choice. Part of the problem is that we have pathologized addiction to the point where the addict is treated like a victim on the level of a cancer patient. That is true. That is Matt Walsh. The Reiner murders. It may have involved the rich and famous, but addiction attacks and family turmoil is relatable around the nation and around the globe. We'll discuss. Number two. And the idea that your faith, that it somehow allows people to subject you to the most horrific. slaughter and violence is inexcusable in any democracy anywhere in this world. That's the head of the ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt, talking about anti-Semitism, raging around the world. It's time to stand up and be counted and find out what it takes to stand up for Israel. Why is that hard? And the Jewish community, why is that hard? Also, keep in mind, they're coming for you in the West, and they're coming to you for Christianity. You're next. Number one. If he's still standing when this is over, this is a fatal major mistake to our standing in the world. If after all this, Maduro is still in power, that's the worst possible signal you could send to Russia, China, Iran. And that is so true, Lindsey Graham, who will be with us at a different hour, going for the takedown. President Trump to address the nation. front and center, he'll be talking about Maduro, Venezuela, and how he plans on just boxing in all their tankers, what he's doing. And of course, there's a risk of not succeeding. He's also going to talk about the economy and some new programs that are going to be coming in the new year. I think it's smart. I also wonder how many will be taking it. Because when it becomes clear, it's like another speech or just a reference or a look back. A lot of other networks don't want to give Trump that time. Brett Bear will be, chief political anchor, Fox News, anchor, and for a special report. His book is a great Christmas gift. It's called to rescue the American spirit, Teddy Roosevelt, and the birth of a superpower. Brett, welcome back. Hey, Brian. Brett, do you think that everybody's going to take the president's speech tonight? Where do you think to start with?

Yeah, I think they will. I know. I mean, we'll have it. Fox broadcast will have it. I bet CBS has it. And I assume the others will. I mean, this is sort of an end of the year speech. What's being portrayed is kind of, you know, what's happened so far. But with the Venezuela news, I think there may be some interest, obviously, to see what's next with Venezuela and the blockade of tankers. And I assume he's going to get into some of that tonight. Yeah, I mean, that's pretty big news. Yesterday we know about the briefings and if Democrats came out, I'm not satisfied. Republicans say I'm thoroughly satisfied. And then, of course, the big push to get the double tap and video out there. I'm not sure what that's about. But I think when the president came out and said last night, there's going to be a complete blockade of all oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela. He goes on to say the illegal aliens and criminals that the Maduro regime has sent into the United States during the weekend. Biden administration are being returned to Venezuela at a rapid pace. America will not allow criminals, terrorists, and other countries to rob, threaten, and harm our nation. We will not allow hostile regimes to take our oil land or any other assets. So let me see. The last tanker they took cost Venezuela $80 million. Brett, 85% of their entire economy is fueled on oil. So this is, we're ramping it up big time. Something's got to give. No, it's got to give. And listen, you look into all the sentences in the Susie Wiles Vanity Fairpiece, which, by the way, she is very safe in the eyes of the president. And it seems like everybody else is rallying around her. But one of the sentences that called my eye was that he's going to keep on blowing up these boats. until Maduro cries uncle and continue to up the pressure. And that is different than, you know, what it was publicly portrayed about the effort. But I think it was always underlying that this was designed, all of this military buildup, to pressure Maduro to leave. And so far he's not. But, you know, push comes to shove pretty soon. I mean, I just don't know how he lasts much longer. You don't see China, Russia there to prop him up. Hezbole evidently has a presence. We know Iran has a presence. So let's jog over to Vanity Fair. Susie Wiles, one of the most low-profile chief of staffs and effective chiefs of staff in my lifetime, sat down 11 separate times with Chris Whipple, who wrote a book about Chief of Staff over the course of months. talked about some of the revelations that Pam Bondi whiffed when it came to the Epstein files, that Elon Musk is on ketamine, that the blowup of USAID was a mistake, that they looked at Marco Rubio as someone to land that plane and reassured George W. Bush says his Petfar humanitarian program would not be destroyed. They talked about the tariffs, the way they rolled out. And Susie Wiles said the tariffs were more painful than expected. And the president was cautioned to do it slower, and he ended up just doing it the way he wanted to do it. So I found it interesting for someone, you and I who do this every single day. It was insightful. I didn't think anything was, you know, that crazy. But you just wonder why one of the lowest profile people would give battery fare this type of time. What do you think?

Well, I think that's the biggest question out of the whole thing. I know there'll be a lot of focus on, you know, calling JD Vance a conspiracy theorist and saying the president has an alcoholic personality. And you saw his response that he's said that publicly, et cetera, et cetera. Listen, she is the most effective White House chief of staff we've seen in a long, long time, considering, you know, who the president is. Also, you know, like she has to make the trains run on time and make everything work in Trump world. That's a different world than the usual Republican president. And anyway, I think you're right. There are some things that were intriguing, maybe said with candor that we basically knew, but to see them in print. Now, the Vanity Fair Choice, 11 interviews. I just, you know, I don't know. Has there ever been a Republican that has been given a really fair shake and vanity fair? I'm not sure. Right. So I want you to hear what Chris Whipple said last night. I know he was on CNN. I guess he was on MS now. We have a soundbite on why Susie Wiles would do this. Give the interview, cut 25. I've been reading all of the speculation about why did she do it. Why would she talk to this guy? My theory of the case is that with this White House and with Susie Wiles, it's never four-dimensional chess. It might not even be chess. I mean, they just do what they want to do. And Susie was remarkably candid. I think, look, I wrote a book about White House chiefs of staff that was pretty fair and nonpartisan. And she worked in the Reagan White House under Jim Baker, one of the major characters in my book. I think, look, my own theory, I can only tell you what she said, which is that she felt that Trump in his first term was vilified by the press, never got a fair shake. And I think she thought I would give her a fair hearing. And I guess if you read some of the quotes, she feels like they took a lot of these quotes out of context. I don't know. Did you have a chance to read it? First of all, I read the whole thing. First of all, I think more power to him. The fact that he got this, these series of interviews, the fact that she trusted him. Sure. You know, she, I mean, that's a reporter that's digging it out. I had more power to him. I think. How it's characterized and, you know, she says it was taken out of context. He has, apparently, the quotes and the tapes, you know, I think that that's a dangerous road to go down. If you, if you, it's just like the Bob Woodward 12 interviews with President Trump, you know, if you do it, there's a chance that it's going to be characterized differently than you thought it was going to be. That said, I get the premise. You know, they feel like they're on the right side of history as far as what they're doing policy-wise. And she wants to at least try to reach out and say the president got a bad deal on the first term press-wise and maybe, you know, change the dynamic. I'm not sure this did that.

But it's not a big deal for her because she is the apple of the president's eye. So she writes this on X. The article published earlier this morning is disingenuously framed hit piece on me. And the finest president, White House staff in cabinet history, significant context was disregarded. And much of what I and others said about the team and the president was left out, I assume, after reading it that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic negative narrative about the president and our team. The truth is the Trump administration. has already accomplished more than 11 months than any other president has accomplished in eight years, and that is due to the unmatched leadership and vision of the president for whom I have been honored to work for the better part of a decade. None of this will stop our relentless pursuit of making America great. I agree. Nothing's going to stop. Evidently, Pam Bondi, she just came out. One of the things that stand out, they completely whiffed on the Epstein files. They under, she said, we underestimated the potency of the Epstein scandal. And one thing that maybe I've discussed with you, I think I have, you know, this whole emerging, you know, the podcast section of the Trump supporters. who seem to have a problem with a lot of what he does, that he's focused on overseas. They didn't like the bombing in Iran. They don't like what's happening in Venezuela. They don't like the lack of candor. They're thinking on the Epstein files. They don't trust the Charlie Kirk investigation or any investigation. They don't trust this FBI. She says that makes up only 5% of the Trump sphere. And they're relatively new to the Trump world. Do you agree with that? Just, I mean, just from what you know about everything in Washington. Yeah, listen, I think that it may only make 5% of the numbers, but it does have influence. It does get eyeballs. And, you know, it's one of the reasons he went on Joe Rogan before the election is because they knew how powerful that was. So I think you have to take it with a grain of salt when it goes one way and you're deciding how to, you know, make decisions on policy. There are people that are upset about things. There are other people who are upset about the Rob Reiner, you know, comments and the post and the comment. And there are people out there saying, hey, listen, put Venezuela and Reiner together and say, this was a horrible thing. You know, I didn't like him as a person, but it shouldn't have happened. And stopping drugs from coming into our country could stop families from having these horrible things happen. You know, like, there's a lot of angst out there about different things that the president says or does. But in the big sphere, they're going to do whatever they want to do. I hear you. And the other thing would be after the horrible off-year elections for the Republicans, she said, I think we've got to get back to kitchen table issues in less Saudi Arabia. But that's interesting. You know, for you and I, we love that stuff to find out what's happening behind the scenes about their game plan. And maybe it wasn't communicated enough that almost all the overseas trips are related to us here, the money he brings back in the manufacturing. He wants to return. So, and you know, what.

Listen, it's a little bit of playbook stuff. You know, it's a little bit of behind the scenes. It's a little bit of the blueprint. And, yeah, we'd love that stuff. But in the big picture, we assume that that's the case anyway. I bet this speech tonight is going to be a lot about affordability and the economy and what they have planned for Q1, Q2, you know. So I think it'll follow that blueprint. So Brett, have you named your panel yet or do you don't want to blow it? Do you want people to be surprised when they get the call? I mean, are you available? No, you can't afford me. You keep on coming back with you, but the money just isn't right. Yeah, that's true. When you come to New York, I will be there for you. All right, all right. I'll be there soon. All right. So, Brett, watch six o'clock tonight. Special report. Do what I do. DVR it. I watch it the same day, so you get full ratings credit for it. Brett, thanks so much. And one more thing. Yeah. Hold on eight weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Wow, congratulations. The book is doing really well. And you know what's hardening, and you know this too, is that there are a lot of history fans out there, history buffs. And there's people that just are hungry for readable history like yours. And I'm telling you, I think it's really hardening to hear and see people getting into reading about Teddy Roosevelt. Yeah, it's called to Rescue the American Spirit, Teddy Roosevelt and the birth of a superpower. Let's keep it on the list through the holidays, ladies and gentlemen. Brett, congratulations. Thanks. You got it. All right. So Brett Baer joins us. We come back. Your turn. 1-8-6-6-6-9. Do you think the Vanity Fair thing's a big deal? Number one. Number two, what do you want to see happening in Venezuela? Do you agree with Lindsey Graham that if he stays in power, they win? That's a problem. Back in a moment. Diving deep into today's top stories. It's Brian Kilmeade. Cheers to America's 250th birthday. Get 20% off your first purchase at Fox Newswineshop.com with code FM Radio 20. 20% discount excludes wine club offers and cannot be combined with any other promotion. Expires July 31st, 2026. Must be 21 order to order. Please drink responsibly. If you're interested in it, Brian's talking about it. You're with Brian Kilmeade. Yes, he has a defense because he has significant mental problems in the past, disorders that have been treated. I think he has been in dual diagnosis program somewhere close to a dozen times, and that's alcohol and drugs and some sort of a psychological diagnosed issue. So these are all things that we can consider to be bad or things that can predict criminality. But when you're talking about death penalty, these are things that you look at and say, hey, you know what? This is actually good for the defendant. an explanation as to what may have happened other than just mischievous, depraved heart murder. And if they know what's going on, they're going to say, hey, DA, let's have a sit down. Don't make this mandatory death penalty. So a couple of things. Nick Reiner's been charged. He has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder for stabbing deaths of his parents, Robin Michelle.

I have convicted he could face the debt penalty. And that was just a speculation from a litigator of Vic Bage, who was on last night on Fox News at night with Trace Gallagher. So it's just an ugly scene all around, 32-year-old son who's been star-crossed. This kid is literally his entire life at 14 years old. He takes $200, steals $200 from his parents, goes on Craigslist and hires a hooker. I mean, a little bit later, he does a movie with his dad called Dopey, just about, it's really about him and his father's relationship, and they put it together. I assume it's a documentary. And at which time, he does such a good job in 2018, one of the producers says, look, if you can get yourself clean, I'll hire you. There's stuff for you to do here. And they say, he says, I'm not doing any drugs. He goes, we know you're doing drugs. And you're also on Adderall. And I'm thinking to myself, too, how much the prescription drugs by people in schools who, you know, psychologists, who people have means, who've been bringing to psychologists, he's acting up, let's give him some type of. Some type of mood-altering drug like Adderall helps you concentrate. Oh, he's got ADD or she's got ADD. Let's give him Adderall. I wonder how much that plays into the longtime psychotic behavior. But evidently the night. that he killed his parents. He walks into a Conan O'Brien's party and was just a problem to everybody. Asking people, why are you famous? How are you famous? Number one. Number two, he was also walked up to Bill Hader, a S&L, very talented guy, and he was just sitting there. And Bill Hader's like, I'm having a private conversation. And he just stared at him and just stormed away. Hours later, he'd kill his parents. Those shots of Bill Hader walking around on the sidewalk looking clearly distressed. I mean, you can't ever blame Bill Hater for this. I mean, it was this guy's behavior. You also see video of him dressed in blue jeans, long-sleeved shirt, baseball cap, carrying a backpack, strolling by a gas station just before midnight on Saturday. His parents would die a few hours later because allegedly from his hands. People, you can't relate to this, the celebrity and the fame and the money, maybe. But the addiction, the extreme behavior, the torturing of families. I think too many can relate to that. And then how you handle it is so different. You try to be understanding, but is that the worst? Oh, then you do tough love? Well, is that the worst? Rich Lowry coming up next. We'll discuss everything.

makes you think. This is the Brian Kilmeade. The very nature of our gun laws means that they are only as strong as the weakest link, which is why we want to make sure that they followed Premier Minza's lead in committing to strengthening the strengthening the gun laws that were of course created in the wake of the Port Arthur tragedy some 30 years ago. So that is a little bit of the aftermath, the analysis that are going on after the horrific shooting over in Australia and Sydney that left way too many dead. Two few cops, only four in the area. And it turns out citizens were doing the most damage. A couple stormed the younger gunmen, the son. He's a father's son, evil duo. And they were able to knock one gun out of his hand. But sadly, he had another gun and shot him dead. We know about the Syrian who immigrated to. Over to Sydney, Australia, loved being in Australia, very grateful, obviously. When the gunman was right in front of him and started shooting, Muslim descent, he tackled him. And he took five bullets, but now thankfully that father is dead. and he was shot dead at that scene. And this guy saved countless lives as he tries to get better in a hospital. And then we see that. We see what happened over in Brown. We see the assassination of our guys over in Syria. We see the horrible Rob Reiner situation with his son killing him. And there is a lot of huge news, very disturbing news, as we get closer and closer to the holidays, let alone that Terrapot that was thwarted. Five guys have been arrested already. There was supposed to happen on New Year's Eve. People pro-Palestinian, anti-capitalist, pro-socialist hate America. They were caught in the Mojave Desert. They were practicing making and exploding their IEDs. Crazy stuff. Rich Lowry, editor of Nash Review, joins us now. Rich, welcome back. Let's start North Australia where the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu within hours of this attack said, we told you. What would it take for you to now pay attention to the anti-Semitism that's raging in your country? Yeah, and it really kicked off with October 7th. It wasn't a reaction to anything Israel did in response to October 7th, which just shows how perversely that pogrom and massacre in Israel is like a bad signal around the world. The people come out in favor of Hamas, just totally bizarre. But this was predicted. It's a disgrace that there wasn't more a police presence there, and there wasn't a quicker response.

And that couple, wow, what an act of incredible bravery and sacrifice, just unbelievable. But there's a problem with Muslim immigration. We need to have more around the West, more strict ideological test to make sure these people aren't going to be hostile to our society to the extent we can. And then just have fewer. If you have fewer, then there's less of a chance of bad apples. I think Australia in 1981 had 41,000. Muslims, now it has more than 800,000. Doesn't mean they're all bad people, obviously, but there is an element that is not going to assimilate to your society and is going to hate your society. Don't you think we woke up, Rich? We're waking up in the West, too. There's nothing wrong with being proud of your country and wanting the culture to stay the same. Yeah, that never should have gone away, but absolutely. And here in the United States, we can afford, in Australia, too, to be very choosy. Like, there's so many people who want to come here. We can choose the people we think are best suited to assimilate and to thrive immediately and embrace America. And we can have some fewer numbers as well. But just that kind of thought has been considered retrograde or hateful or racist for decades, and I hope that's changing. So they think it's the gun laws in Australia. And they say the law, I look at the lawns on guns there, within the limits set down by the national agreement. The agreement banned automatic and semi-automatic firearms and ruled that applicants for gun licenses need a genuine reason to use a firearm other than personal protection. It could be legal firearms storage licensing requirements that goes into it if you do get permission. One of the reasons, recreational shooting and hunting. For farmers and other occupations, which are firearm is required in for license collectors and possessants of heirlooms. Meanwhile, there are some exceptions to the semi-automatic firearm. The country has also had a permanent firearms amnesty in place since 2021, so have you had a gun. Somehow, this guy, even though the father was being investigated for terrorism as late as 2019, so got permission to have all six guns. Do you believe that? Unbelievable. So obviously another thing that happens is it needs to happen. You need to tighten up what's the standard by which you decided this guy wasn't a threat, right? Obviously, whatever that standard was was wrong. And, you know, even if they had looser gun laws, it doesn't mean that anyone would have been armed there at the Hanukkah celebration and able to shoot back more quickly. But it's something I know a lot of Jewish people here in the United States really appreciate. I have a friend to move from this. New York was really hard to get a gun, New York City, down to Florida. And the first thing that his rabbi told him is, can you please get a license in a gun? Because we want as many able young men armed in the synagogue for services as possible in case something horrible happens. And if that had been true in Australia, maybe the best toll would have been less. He was Jonathan Greenblatt on with us yesterday. He's president of the anti-defamationally cut 14. And I think we are all devastated in mourning the 15 people who were gunned down in cold blood in the largest massacre that's ever taking place in Australia. It's certainly of Jewish people. Dozens more were injured. And this didn't happen in a vacuum. This didn't happen by chance. This attack was planned in cold blood by ISIS-inspired extremists.

They gunned down an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor. Grandparents. They gun down a rabbi, a father of five with a three-month-old baby. They gun down a 10-year-old girl. The only, the only crime these people committed was wanting to celebrate Hanukkah. Yeah, I mean, they're just incredible. And that's what you have all over. And then I watched last night, they just reported in the New York Post that these six Jewish kids, young men get on a subway. And two other New Yorkers just start screaming horrible anti-Semitic phrases at him. So this is, that used to be a rare situation. Now it's a daily situation. Yeah, no, it's been unleashed, and it is from the Bill Gates of hell. It's, and it's horrible. So I want to pivot if I can. By the way, if you don't think it's coming for Christians and the West, you're not paying attention. This is just phase one. So let's move over to Venezuela. The president's changed tactics. Now he's going to embargo and stop all tankers from coming or going into Venezuela. That's a serious escalation in this conflict. And I think it's, I think there's no doubt about it. It's international interest, but it's not without controversy or risk. Here's what Lindsey Graham said, cut 10. Maduro is not a legitimate president. He's actually head of one of these terrorist organizations. And I am glad that we're taking him on. But here's my concern. We got, yeah, 15% of the Navy pointed to this guy. If he's still standing when this is over, this is a fatal major mistake to our standing in the world. If after all this, Maduro is still in power, that's the worst possible signal you could send to Russia, China, Iran. And of course, the Democrats leading into this election on a Western note, Rich, your thoughts. He's right, isn't he? Well, it's an act of war on a blockade like this. I really think he should have gone to Congress and made the case and got an authorization, but there's plenty of precedent for presidents not doing that. So he's not going to do it. And I'm with Lindsay in that, well, this may be implied by his remarks, I'm not sure how blockade makes him go. I mean, it's going to exact an enormous economic price on Venezuela, but the country has already been. wrecked. And I'm not sure how much it changes Maduro's incentives because he clearly doesn't want to go because he doesn't want to live in Russia the rest of the life or doesn't want to be jailed or killed. So I think he's going to stay. And I think this makes it likely that Trump is going to have to resort to direct military means to try to oust them. In a way, but the thing is, if you want to dislodge the military who are now going to be starved of everything, maybe even their families, maybe they'll realize, man, Trump's not kidding. Maybe we should make the move now. Because the only thing Maduro has is his private protection, mostly Cubans, and the military. People hate him.

Yeah, so that's the optimal scenario. And that would be great. I just worry that even if that would happen, you know, it's not going to happen in weeks. I wouldn't think it might take years, you know, which we're not going to do this for years. So that's why I think we're kind of down the path. And if it doesn't work fairly soon, then we're on to the next step of the escalation, is my guess. You think it's worth it? I would like to see the case made to the public in a way it hasn't, and would like to seem to go to Congress. I'd like to see Maduro go, though. I'm not sure exactly what will come after him. I think there's some chance there could be something good after him because there is an opposition there that is cohered and made his case under hideous threat from the regime that could, in theory, just slide into Caracas. I like to see him go, but I would have liked to see a more formal case made by President Trump about how and why we're doing this. So let's, if we can, go to the Vanity Fair interview that Susie Wiles did. Do you have a chance to read it? It's two big parts. So don't blame yourself if you didn't, but I'm sure you've seen some excerpts and quotes. I read the coverage of it. And I think there is, as far as I can tell, not having read the actual pieces. You know, some of the most explosive quotes, they are caveated or there's context to them, and they're not quite as bad as they sound. But still, I hate to say it. I mean, she's done a great job. Fantastic job in the campaign. The White House has been better run than last time around. But holy cow, this is just a major lapse in judgment. There's no reason to be sitting chief of staff doing these kind of interviews. It's just not your role. You know, wait until you're gone. You know, maybe then do it. But then you shouldn't even do it. I don't know what she was thinking. Obviously, they're rallying around her. It's not going to, you know, blow her out of the White House, but this was bad. I hear you. Well, in a way, but I'm looking at the actual substance of it. You know, Marco Rubio had to go talk to George W. Bush about we're not getting rid of Petfar that Elon Musk going in and just blowing up USAID. was not a really good move that he's on ketamine. Kind of interesting, but they said he was a one-man show. He's a genius, but he doesn't really communicate what he's doing, that Volodymyr Zelensky would have been better off. The argument was going to happen. As soon as he blew up Scott Bessent refused to meet with him when he went all the way to Ukraine, there was tension. He says, if I could do it again, I wouldn't have cameras in the room, but the blow up was going to happen. He'd want to expose Vladimir Putin, you know, the author. Chris Whipple said that why is he so close with Vladimir Putin? You know, these conversations. He goes, I've seen him have conversations with Vladimir Putin. Some go well and some go very bad. So that's a reality check, kind of interesting behind the closed doors. He actually says the tariff rollout was really broad, and it was really, it was more painful than they thought coming in. So, I mean, this is insight that kind of enjoyed getting it. I mean, probably would have been better if she was leaving, but I don't think it really does damage that Pam Bondi whiffed on releasing the Epstein files. Didn't we all kind of know that? We knew that, right, yeah, yeah. So I look at that as just say why, but.

But I don't think it hurts anybody, really. I agree with that in the sense. It's interesting. It's all interesting. It's certainly journalistically interesting. And it seems to me that, at least from where I said, I would prefer that Susie Wiles win all these internal battles because I think what she says makes a lot of sense. Again, I just wouldn't have done these interviews with Vanity Fair as the sitting chief of staff in the Trump administration. So, I mean, that's what you hear. Here's Chris Whipple on another network talking about the interviews. So there was 11. Cut 24. Here's a rule of thumb for young journalists. When your subject starts talking about context and being disingenuous and framing, you know you've done something right. The reason they're not talking about the substance of the piece or any of the quotations in the piece is because they know full well that every word is on tape. I spoke to Susie Wiles 11 times, 11 in-depth interviews over nearly a year. And what was remarkable about it, She deserves tremendous credit for it. She was freewheeling. She was unguarded. She was unlike any other senior White House official I've ever encountered. She was on the record almost all the time. Do you agree with that first statement? I don't. Here's a rule of thumb for young journalists when they say that framing you at something out of context. Oh. No, sometimes you take it out of, yeah, you're taking out of context. Yes. But journalism is at a certain level, involves an act of betrayal in that you get the person to trust you, the source to trust you. And then once they have and you got it and you got something good, you're going to use it in the way that source might have never intended or might really hate. I mean, that's kind of inherent to the... the crafts. I take that point that's implied in there. But very often, you know, if you say it was 60 minutes deceptively edited something, it doesn't mean the 60 minutes did something right. It won't mean it deceptively edited something. Yeah. I actually don't think they don't have any fallout. I just find it interesting. And the fact is, that's the way Trump handles things. You know, you study presidents. You've no conservative thought. They invite you to these think tank rich. They don't really invite me. They don't have my email. But like you know that. That the president is more transparent. He talks about whatever is on his mind, even if it comes back to haunt him sometimes, not as much this time. And it only makes sense that people that work for him would be the same way, right?

Yeah, I would make a distinction, though. He's the president. So however he wants to do it, he can do it. You're the chief of staff. You make the trains run on time. It's not your job to be the story. So I imagine she regrets this, wishes she had done it in a retrospect. But they're all backing her. There's not a good alternative as chief of staff. She's done a fantastic job, as far as I can tell. outside of this lapse, so she's not going anywhere in time. 17 months is the record for the Trump record for Chiefs of Staff. Let's see if he gets past 17. I think she, my prediction, lasts all four. Last all four years. All right. All right. And we're going to keep this tape, Rich Lauer. As you know, just like Chris Whipple, we tape everything. Rich Lauer, thanks so much. Go and order your your subscription. Get it as a gift to National Review. Thanks, Rich. Awesome. Back in a moment. Where big stories meet bigger conversations. Stay informed and energized with the Brian Kilmeade.

Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kilmeade. His morning show makes you wish you died in your sleep. Most of One Nation and Fox and Friends, Brian Kilmeade. Brian, always a pleasure of having you on this show. And I mean that sincerely, I know that I might come off harsh to you, but it's only out of love because I feel bad for the way you were brought up. Brian Kilmeade, who really is going to want to donate to this? I mean, you might as well just donate to a Brian Kilmeade Library. Which there's a lot of donations pouring in. Yes. I mean, right now, there's a lot. There's a big movement for it. Even when they compare the things that they're attacking Trump getting older for, it's like, oh. He took a nap during a meeting. Yeah. I closed my eyes for a couple of seconds when Brian Kilmeade was answering his last question. Is that necessary? It's just. So that was Jamie Lissau turning on me, one of the nicest guys around. So that just shows you how low that things have gotten on Gutfeld. Last night, very funny show. And Jamie Lissau says he wrote for six hours all day, nervous about the show, even though he's been on 161 times. I'm being serious. But it was just a great show. I was on with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as well. And it was a lot of fun. So hopefully people watched. But everyone's watching that show. Meanwhile, we're not quite done yet. We have a few more days. I'm going to work right through Thanksgiving, excuse me, Christmas Eve, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve with new shows. And then we've got a lot of best of special shows that are going to be, we're going to be rolling out in between Christmas and New Year's so you don't want to miss a minute. Keep in mind, One Nation's got to be big this weekend amongst our guests. Got Frank Luntz to break down the poll numbers and we'll review the president's speech tonight. It's Wednesday. So by Sunday, get a real perspective on what the president needs to do in the midterms. Remember, Susie Wiles, did predict they're going to have success in the midterms in Buck tradition in history. How does Frank Lunds feel about that? We'll also have Senator John Cornyn. He'll be on with us, too, as well as Mr. Wonderful, Kevin O'Leary, those amongst our great roster of guests. Meanwhile, keep it here in the Brian Kilmeade.

Maya Tom, Fox News headquarters in New York City. Always seeking solutions, never so in division. It's Brian Kilmeade. All right, from 40th and 6th in Midtown, Manhattan, heard around the country, around the world. This is the Brian Kilmeade. We have a lot going on today. First off, just a quick note, a consumer-friendly note, and that is if you're going to send things out for Christmas and want it there by Christmas today, today is the last day to send via UPS, ground service or first-class mail Christmas Eve a week away. That's what they're guaranteeing. For the most part, some things may vary. So that is my consumer awareness note. Tonight, the president will be speaking, giving an address to the nation, focusing predominantly on the economy and the shrinking trade deficit as well. What's at stake with the Supreme Court tariffs decision and the drug war in Venezuela, how we've amped it up by stopping the tankers. Jason Riley joins us now, Wall Street Journal columnist, Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow, Fox News contributor and bestselling author. He has a column out today quite intriguing. Donald Trump's affordability failures will cost him, pun intended. The economy has gone from one of the president's best issues with American voters to one of the worst. Jason, welcome back. Good morning, Brian. How much is he responsible for and taking politics away? If you just look at from numbers and policy, how much of his 34% approval rating should he be responsible for legitimately? Well, at this point in his presidency, Brian, I think he needs to own the economy, and that's certainly what voters are telling pollsters. That Fox News poll in November was quite devastating in showing that voters think that President Trump is responsible for what's happening right now, regardless of what he inherited back in January. So I think, you know, regardless of... how much he thinks he should accept responsibility for this. The American people are looking at his policies and how those policies are contributing to what they see and what they don't see is what he promised on the campaign trail, which is lower. prices. Their prices have gone up for food, for energy, for housing, and so forth. They continue to go up in many cases, and they seem to be blaming this administration for that situation. Well, not all food, and gas has never been lower, right? I mean, it's been about four and a half years low, and it's going even lower. I think it's now down to $55 a barrel in terms of oil, and I think that it could probably drop closer to two, so that'll help. You saw what he did, adjusting tariffs. and you saw that there's certain products that have come down, and the rate of growth increased prices is 2% as opposed to what he inherited. Does any of that matter? It matters to some extent, but the big picture is that it doesn't seem to be mattering enough in terms of helping him with his job approval. Remember, the economy was one of his strong suits in terms of how voters viewed his capabilities.

Today, it's one of his weakest points with voters. Some are around more than 70% of the country, I believe, right now or close to 70% thinks that things are going in the wrong direction. And you're right, he has, you know, some of these food prices are coming down because he's reversed himself on the border taxes, you know, reversed himself on bananas, reversed himself on coffee, which to me is an indication that he knows that these have been hurting in some sectors. And also remember, Brian, We were told that these tariffs were supposed to lead to more manufacturing jobs in this country. That also has not happened. There's been a net loss of manufacturing jobs over the past year. And particularly if you look at manufacturing in those areas that use some of the items that have been heavily tariffed like steel and aluminum, so auto parts. manufacturing and car manufacturing and so forth. So again, these policies don't seem to be working on his terms. And I think what he doesn't want to do is do what Biden did, which is go and tell people, no, no, no, you don't understand. Things are really, really going well. You just don't realize it. Or it's all my predecessor's fault. I don't think that worked out very well for Joe Biden. And I hope that's not what the president does tonight in his address. I think he should say, listen, I understand what you're saying. going to work to change things and implement policies that are going to have better outcomes than what we see today. But I don't think he wants to tell people that they're delusional about what they see right in front of them. But you can point out things to the nature where the previous administration spends $6 trillion. Rocket inflation up to 9%. What he has done is cut the deficit by $600 billion and the trade deficit as well. So we are getting on a fiscal path. And what he can honestly say is, in terms of tax returns, you're soon going to be able to write off your car purchase, your interest rates. When the tax is on tips and Social Security, there'll be a tax break in there. Child tax credit is going to be coming your way and more tax returns coming up in March and April. If you talk to Scott Bessent, he says, you're going to feel it. in first and second quarter, your thoughts? Well, we'll see. I mean, I don't have a crystal ball, neither does Scott Bessent, but I don't know. But he does have policies. He does have policies. I'm just saying that the public does not seem to be buying this. Voters do not seem to be buying this wait and see approach. They want to see more results now. And the president is right now telling people, you know, in the Christmas season, your kids should get by on fewer toys, fewer dolls and so forth. And we just need to muddle through here. And I don't think that's what the public wants to hear. And that's not what they were promised back when he was running for president for reelection. So Black Friday was relatively strong. I guess people say they might be putting stuff on their credit cards. But how much is depending on the Fed and interest rates? Well, the...

Because people just say, oh, the border's closed. I guess it's fine. You know, we told Bill Melusian out of the border. We put him in Washington because there's nothing going on. The president should go where the border wall is being built and just talk some border patrol people. See, let the press see this, observe it. Because, you know, it wasn't too long ago when we had thousands of thousands of people, including Chinese and roller bags, just crossing the border. Oh, right. I mean, he's delivered. I mean, he's, I think he's even getting reluctantly, he's getting credit from the press for what he's done on the border. They think he's going. overboard now with some of the ice rates and so forth. But I think in terms of reducing illegal crossings, the data is the data. I think even the mainstream media has been forced to acknowledge that this has been a success story for President Trump. So his actions speak for themselves in that sense. Brian, if he wanted to go down there for a photo op, I don't think I'd have a problem with that. But whether it's necessary, he's gotten it done. That's one thing he's delivered on. Right. Jason Riley, check out his column in the Wall Street Journal. Donald Trump's affordability failures will cost him. He'll talk about that tonight and talk about the optimism he has for first and second quarter. Jason, we'll see how it goes. Thanks so much. Thank you, Brian. And the good news, when it comes to the economy, you can keep score. 1-866408-7669. Have you been hearing about this scandal in Minneapolis is at least a billion dollars scammed out of our social safety system? And what they did during the pandemic through the mostly all Somali community there is just sickening. And you know what? It's been covered up for way too long. We're going to expose it with the majority whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota. Don't move. From breaking news to big name guests, Brian brings you insight you won't hear anywhere else. You're listening to The Brian Kilmeade.

The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmeade. Waltz is a grossly incompetent man. There's something wrong with him. Somalians ripped off that state for billions of dollars. They contribute nothing. I don't want them in our country, I'll be honest. We're going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country. Donald Trump brought this to the attention like this is something brand new. This is not brand new and it's been being worked on, but he made it white hot and very dangerous. That is Governor Walsh. He has overseeing a huge scandal that's been around for years. They covered it over. Nobody really reported it. There's been rumors of it. But it's so much worse than people could have imagined. The one person probably not surprised by it, but Glad is finally coming out. His majority whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the 6th District. Congressman, welcome back. You know, we discussed this when you were in studio last time. But this is at least a billion dollars. And it's 95% from the Somali community. How did they pull this off? How did we just now become aware of this? Well, great to be with you again, Brian. And I just have to open by saying thank you to you and all of your colleagues at Fox News for talking about this issue. It's amazing. As I told you when we last met, we've been trying to sound the alarm on this fraud for three years. It goes way beyond the largest pandemic fraud case in the country called The Feeding Our Future Scandal, which was $250 million. And like you point out, the numbers of billion dollars, and they're continuing to count. You've got Medicaid housing fraud. You've got daycare fraud. You've got fraud everywhere. And by the way, you don't, you may not know this. But Tim Walz, who's been our governor in Minnesota for seven years. On Friday, last Friday, Brian, he decided to create a new government position for someone to deal with the fraud. Seven years too late. Wow. And by the way, the coverage that we're talking about are worthless newspaper in Minnesota. The leading headline was Walls trying to get ahead of the fraud. What a joke. It totally is. They're still trying to cover for them. And how much is this matter? Not to you. But.

If you go ahead and say, hey, what's going on with the Feeding the Future Program? What's going on with the Autistic Children's Program? What's going on with the millions of dollars going into this community and they're leaving this country? What's happening here? They say, well, are you picking on me because I'm racist? Is it because I'm black? Is that why you're coming after me? And it just freezes people in their boots. And they go, okay, you know, maybe I don't need to be called a racist. So they just let it go or they pay off that person to not bring it up again. Yeah, Brian, you remember in our history. We've referred to the Italian mob. We've referred to the Irish mob. I mean, this just happens to be, as you point out, over 90% of the people being charged with these crimes with the fraud in Minnesota happened to come from the Somali community. Calling out a criminal is not racist. And that's where Tim Walz and Ilhan Omar get off. Tim's trying to say, these are our neighbors. Well, I got news for you. If you're my neighbor and you're breaking the law, I want you held accountable. And I will call you out for what you are, which is a criminal. And look, you asked me earlier, how does this happen? It happens. I would go back to 2017-2018. We had a Democrat in the Attorney General's office named Lori Swanson. She was investigating and prosecuting Somali daycare fraud. Brian, she ran for the Democrat nomination to run for governor against Tim Walz. When Tim Walz won, he and Keith Ellison, who gave us Ilhan Omar, Keith became our new Attorney General. The first action Keith took as Attorney General was there will be no more investigations without my express approval. Look, our U.S. It's very important because here's the other piece. These guys need that community, especially the criminal element, to vote for them. Otherwise, they don't get elected. There's about 80,000 Somalis in Minnesota. You've got Tim Walz and Keith Ellison cannot get votes from greater Minnesota. In fact, Tim Walz only won 13 of 87 counties. They put them in office. Yeah, Keith Ellison got one by less than a point. So these are the votes that get them over the top. And if you're purposely looking the other way, you're complicit. Our U.S. attorney has said that the fraud goes all the way to the highest level of government. So Brian, you can figure out who that is. Right now, we need to find out. who was complicit and they need to be held accountable. And I tell you what, if our governor, if what the whistleblowers, first, if the whistleblowers coming forward are real, and I think they are, and if they can document what they're claiming, which is that they not only told Tim Walz about the fraud, but he ignored them and then retaliated against him. If that can be documented, Brian, he should be prosecuted. So a quick thing, this just happened. Frustrated GOP moderates.

uh, joint Democrats to force an Obamacare extension vote. And you're talking about Rob Bresnahan. You talk about, uh, Mike Lawler, uh, Brian Fitzpatrick and others. What's going on there? Are you against extending? Because I know Mike Johnson is against extending those Obamacare subsidies. Well, where I come from, and we, we should have been talking about this a lot more. I, this isn't about the subsidies. This is about the unaffordable care act. People got to be reminded. And I wouldn't put the former president's name on it at all. They called it the Affordable Care Act. They enacted it 14 years ago. When they did, they told us three things. One, you're going to get to keep your doctor. Two, you're going to have more choices. And three, it's going to lower your premiums. Brian, they're old for three. They broke the health care market. So what's next? Well, I hear you, but what's next? This is what we're working on. The Republicans want to lower costs, give patients a choice, and get to the root causes of the health care crisis. That's why this week we're voting on the lower health care premiums for All Act, which the bill would increase PBM transparency. Okay. It would appropriate cost-sharing reduction payments to lower premiums and provide certainly the individual market. By the way, Brian, that was in the big, beautiful bill. All right. Majority with Tom Amher, quite busy, a lot to discuss.

The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmeade. Republicans are no longer trying to hide their total lack of the health care plan. and their desire once and for all to kill the ACA tax credits, meaning more than tripling America's health care costs for too many Americans. Today, Speaker Johnson said there'll be no vote in the House to extend the credits. He has said in times in the past he will never be for extending the credits. Because it's a piece of crap program that never worked, and now you have subsidies put in by a president who was discharged from the White House while he was in the White House. And they were supposed to evaporate. So you have Chuck Schumer, who's desperately trying to keep his job, trying to like a tough guy, saying ridiculous things before he recites, talks about a murder, go bills. And now he's using curse words every other line. You have Obamacare that needs to be saved by Democrats. And now you're blaming Republicans who were never on board with this plan. Now, for the 24 million people that are counting on subsidies, be great to see if something's done. I'm not sure if there will be. But there's a reluctance from the speaker who said, you've got to be kidding. Now you want me to save a program. They can't work. Senator Marsha Blackburn joins us now. She's also running for governor of Tennessee. But first things first. Senator, your thoughts about what Chuck Schumer said. Well, Chuck Schumer is so inaccurate in what he says. Here is what we do know. There are as many as 24 million people enrolled in the plan and the Obamacare plan. There are 12 million who are enrolled but have never even used it, which means these big insurance companies that get this money directly from the federal government. enrolled people who don't know they're enrolled in this. So we have to take that into account. The other thing is he acts like all of the Obamacare subsidies go away. That is a lie. That is not accurate because the subsidies are in law. They stay in place. What goes away is the Biden pandemic COVID era. subsidy the plus up that had zero dollar payments as their monthly payment and then also took the income caps off and brian you had people that were making upwards of a half million dollars a year having the u.s taxpayer paying 80 to 90 percent of their premium so when you look at those zero dollar premiums And then the fact that the income caps are gone, that is what the Democrats are wanting to keep. Now, they're the ones that put that in place, and they're the ones that set it to expire. But we know that they have always said, Obamacare was a step on the way to government-run health care. So now they're wanting to keep these plus-up COVID pandemic payments.

and then put more people into Obamacare to push it more to government-run health care. Anything that speeds the path to government-run health care, they are for. And that is what Chuck Schumer is trying to do, but he's not being honest about it. On the other hand, Republicans are saying, let's send the money directly to individuals. Let's put more choice and options in the marketplace and let people buy. something they want at a price that they can afford. And by the way, how about expanding help savings accounts so that people can manage the small things and have a major medical policy if they need it for something that is major. That is what we're talking about doing. It would lower insurance premiums by 11%. We would put in place that, as we did in the big, beautiful bill, that illegal aliens cannot get access to government paid health care. And we would tighten up the rules and regulations to root out the fraud, waste, and abuse in this plus-up Biden-era program. So a place you used to work? as you know, is the House, and they have just, GOPers, joined moderate Democrats to force an Obama extension vote today on the House floor. John Thune said, if we do anything, it's going to be after the new year, there seems to be, I know the House has been a dysfunctional place for the Republicans. What they did, the Kevin McCarthy, I still don't understand, just idiots, self-centered lunatics. And then you get rid of him. So you have Speaker Johnson, and now Speaker Johnson can, there's a lot of moderates who are frustrated when they're not doing anything. Who's right here? I think it's important to realize the Obamacare subsidies, the base subsidies, people that are as much as 400% of poverty, then all of that stays in place. And I think it's also important to note that the provisions Republicans have put on in the. on the table are provisions that would empower consumers and patients. And not insurance companies. The money would go directly to them, and it would not go to the floor, Senator. Who's put that on the floor, John Thune to put that on the floor? Is that somebody who's put that? Senator Crapo and Bill Cassidy. Senator Crapo chairs Finance Committee, and all of this comes through us, and then you've got help committee that Bill Cassidy chairs. So what is your take on Congresswoman Major, the new favorite of the left, Marjorie Taylor Greene, saying the dam's about to break against Donald Trump with Republicans?

In Tennessee, Republicans are as committed or maybe even more committed to President Trump. They so appreciate what he has done to talk about the cost of living to slow this inflation. The Democrats had run it up to 9%. And now you're looking at 3% inflation. You are looking at gas getting down closer to... 225 a gallon. It's at 237 a gallon in Tennessee. I saw that this past weekend, 237, 247. And we appreciate that all of that is coming under control. The thing is the Democrats broke the economy. Donald Trump is going to fix the economy. It is going to take a little while. But all of our working family tax cuts. kick into gear on January 1 as people file their income tax. There will be no tax on tips or overtime. Our seniors are going to realize a bonus deduction of $6,000 per senior, $12,000 for a couple married filing jointly. And you know, Brian, that's going to remove the tax. But how do you feel about the Republicans going at each other? How do you feel about Marjorie Taylor Greene now, the darling of every network, because she's coming out and the lead guest on 60 Minutes? Do you think that the Democrats and the members of the media are trying to break your party, guests separate Donald Trump for the party? The mainstream media has Trump derangement syndrome, and we know that and we expect that. I think it's important to realize that we are a team. He is the captain of this team, and it is important that we stay united and committed. to getting down the cost of living, to getting the cost of gas and groceries under control, to getting the cost of housing under control, healthcare under control, and innovating, bringing choice and options into the decision-making table so that we do reduce those costs. And then putting those policies in place, I would encourage our colleagues in the house. to be in D.C. more next year than they were this year. Let's codify these executive orders that the president has taken. Let's believe in the American people who are working hard and want to see prices come down and wages go up. Let's believe in their and encourage their belief. and their ability to make their dreams come true. So, Senator, you also, I don't know if you saw that a lot would happen yesterday with the same, had a subcommittee meeting on youth sports, and they talked about how much it's costing, how kids aren't playing as much, up from the pandemic, but not to the same levels. They were playing in sports before the pandemic. 70% of all kids quit sports by ninth grade.

And you have a move, you're looking at what's going on in college sports. You see a problem there with guardrails when it comes to the NIL and you want to see some responsibility with this new income with players that normally if you want pro, you got all that. But now kids, for the most part, getting paid if you're playing Division I sports, you have a chance to get some significant money. What are you looking to do? Yes, I have the Hustle Act. It is bipartisan, and it would establish an accounting system and accounts for these athletes so that these NIL earnings could go into an account once they finish their college career, then that money would vest to them. That account has their name on it. But this is a way to protect that money. You know, we've got a lot of agents. that are not registered. They're shysters, some are shysters, and they're taking parts of these earnings. So it would also require an agent registration. So we are pushing this bill forward. We hope to work it into a package early next year so that there are options for our college athletes. You know, a lot of these kids, and Brian, I see this when I'm watching my grandson play sports. These kids have YouTube channels, and they are working to get that college scholarship. 95% of all the kids that play sports in college do not. play pro sports. So this would be a way for them to monetize those YouTube channels, put that money into an account. When they finish college and get ready to start their careers, they have a nest egg that will help them with starting that career. Understood. Senator Marsha Blackburn, good luck in your gubernatorial run, and best of luck finishing out strong this year. You got it. Take care. Bye-bye. Yeah, listen, 1866408-7669. We haven't got over it much yet, but the Vanity Fair story with Susie Wiles will go over with some of the highlights. Would you thought about it? What did you think about it? I don't think it's that big of a deal. Washington does, and I don't think Susie Wiles is too happy about it. I think it's interesting. Also, what do you expect to hear? What do you want to hear from the president tonight? 1866408-7669. Don't move. Keeping you informed, engaged, and always a step ahead. It's the Brian Kilmeade.

He's so busy. He'll make your headspin. It's Brian Kilmeade. I heard the Fox Christmas party went past midnight. Did you hear about what happened after the party? No. What? Oh, do we learn. Oh, I heard. Yeah, yeah. Do not serve Brian Kilmeade, burritos and fireball. We had to completely drain the lobby fountain and fumigate its basin. It was an absolute mess. So I, that's why I believe. in 15-minute holiday parties because nothing good happens after 15 minutes. The fumigation costs more than the party. Oh, my God. They came in hazmat. Brian killed me. That did not happen. Thank you, Harold. So, of course, Greg Uffeld did not go to the party, but it's extremely nice of the Murdox and everybody here to have the Fox News Party. I think it's good for people to get together. And the one thing that's pretty clear. is that Nate is a fantastic dancer. He's six foot seven and singer, by the way. He is six foot seven, and he is a legitimate music, multifaceted five-tool weapon. He can anchor, he can report, he can dance, and he could sing, and I imagine, act. That's one thing that's created. But it wasn't like one of those drunk things. It looked like I was watching a professional singer, which is pretty crazy. Nate Foy, who you see about reporting, we didn't know he had that type of skill set. So we'll see what happens. Right now on Capitol Hill, there's a big debate on health care. Subsidies that were supposed to leave that the Democrats want to run on. And Mike Lawler, last night, said both sides want to run on this. One wants to get rid of political reasons, wants to get rid of Obamacare because it's ineffective. The other one wants to say Republicans have no plan and they're taking away your health care. So they want it for next year. Listen to Chuck Schumer. Cut 31. Republicans are no longer trying to hide their total lack of a health care plan and their desire once and for all to kill the ACA tax credits. Right. And why would they kill the credits? Because when Joe Biden jammed it down our throats on the pandemic, the only way to get it crossed to even get Democratic votes was if they said they were going to dissipate. They were going to evaporate after the pandemic was over. The pandemic's over. Chip-Beroy, who's running for the Attorney General in Texas. He's fed up. Cut 34. And now we're sitting here and we're listening to nonsense about health care or my college the other side of the aisle sit here saying, well, you guys aren't doing anything about the massive expensive cost of health care. Why do you think it's expensive? Because you literally cut a deal with insurance companies to run health care. You think that's going to run wild? Yeah. That's why they have 2,000% profit increases and the American people can't afford to go to the doctor of their choice while we enrich insurance companies.

It makes no sense. I actually don't even know that Democrats want to enrich insurance companies. That's the way it turned out. So he went on, cut 35. And yet Republicans will complain about it, and then they'll offer milk toast garbage like we're offering this week, and then go home at Christmas and say, look at what we're doing. We're campaigning on reducing health care. Well, congratulations. At some point, people will look at this body and say, maybe we should get rid of all 435 members of the House and all 100 members of the Senate and start over because Congress is literally failing the American people. So it is true. But the thing is Republicans never thought they would have to come up with a health care plan. They wanted to do the border. They want to restructure a lot of things. They never thought they were going to do health care because for about 10 years they tried to and it didn't work. So they just, Obamacare got more popular because people got used to it. So they walked away from it. Now they have a shutdown because the economy dearly because they said that these subsidies were not going to be replaced. Of course they weren't going to be replaced. And now they said, okay, let's work on something. And now we're in a situation where the American people are starting to work on something. You know, work on fixing Obamacare, which can't be done. So they just say, well, just throw more money at it. And if you don't throw money at it, you don't like poor people. The other big story is Vanity Fair, comes out with a story, 11 interviews with Susie Wiles. They go inside some of the biggest decisions since they took over. Meanwhile, President Trump defended his chiefest to have Susie Wiles, an exclusive interview with the Post, saying she was right to tell Vanity Fair he is an alcoholic personality. And he has full faith in Susie Wiles to continue in her role. Susie Wiles that pronged out that the tariffs were more painful than she thought. She pointed out that Vladimir Putin. When he calls the White House, half those conversations go good, half go really, really bad. That's interesting. Volodymyr Zelensky ticked off the president when he blew off his Treasury Secretary and that that blow up in the White House was inevitable. He says in retrospect, she just wished he didn't have the cameras there. Elon Musk operated on his own, did some damage with the USAID, haphazard tear down. and said these on ketamine. So these are some of the bigger revelations, said, Pam Bondi, whiffed when it came to the Epstein files, calling up the inflores and said, pick them up when there was really nothing that knew about it. And then she said there was no list. She asked that, she goes, well, that wasn't really good. She also says on immigration, double-checked before you send people to El Salvador. That's not a big deal, but that was the point. Just be a little bit more careful. These are little things around the edges. Inside Trump world, she's trying to fix. And she mentions it to Chris Whipple, who wrote the book on Chief of Staffs, who writes for Vanity Fair. And now she's upset by the way it's being portrayed. I don't know. She's got a lot of tough decisions to make. She's got a very interesting president to work for, very challenging. You know, if you're a press secretary, chief of staff.

But she always says, I'm not there to control him. I'm there to manage the White House. And that's part of the key. When she does want to weigh in and say, don't do this, he usually listens. Also, they have a flat screen where in real time that she can monitor with the president's posting on social media. That is something I'm sure she'd love to see when the president comes up with, let's say, the air quotes, saw more controversial posts. But at least she knows what's going on all the time. News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan. It's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmeade. Hi, one, so glad you're there. Brian Kilmeade. I'm moving through a very exciting week. Places packed in New York City. And I'm just going to remind everybody, if you're going to mail something out and want it there by Christmas Eve, they say, do it today. If you want first class mail through the post office or you want ground transportation on UPS. Transportation is the right word. But whatever you do, don't mail me anything. I got enough. Carl Rope is standing by. He just needs me to buy a little bit of time. He's not quite ready. And Senator Lindsey Graham at the bottom of the hour, man, he made some news yesterday and over the weekend with this trio of terror attacks that took place from Syria to Australia. And then we saw what happened at Brown. So before we get to Carl, let's get to the big three. Number three. Every part of you wants to be there for your child. You don't want to send them out to be homeless on the street. You don't want that. Who would? But sometimes you have no choice. Part of the problem is that we have pathologized addiction to the point where the addict is treated. like a victim on the level of a cancer patient. You know, you're not kidding. I mean, they actually say that as disease. Matt Walsh weighing in last night on the podcast as it relates to the Rob Reiner murders. It may have involved the rich and famous, but addiction and attacks on family and turmoil that results out of it is relatable around the nation. We'll discuss. Number two. And the idea that your faith, that it somehow allows people to subject you to the most horrific... slaughter and violence is inexcusable in any democracy anywhere in this world. That is so true. Jonathan Greenblatt of the ADL, anti-Semitism raging around the world. It's time to stand up and be counted. Don't just say it's not me. It's not my problem. I don't feel that way. You've got to stand behind Israel and the Jewish community. And if nothing else, it's because those attacks are coming after Christianity in the West. They're in the line of fire too. I think you should realize that. Number one. If he's still standing when this is over, this is a fatal major mistake to our standing in the world. If after all this, Maduro is still in power, that's the worst possible signal you could send to Russia, China, Iran. Senator Lindsey Graham, you are right. Going for the takedown, President Trump to address the nation. Front and center will be the ousting of Maduro in Venezuela, as he says, no tankers in, no tankers out. Carl Rove joins us now. Hey, Carl. First, I want to be clear, I was ready. I was not, you know, you didn't have to wait for me. I was eager. I was at the, I was at the tape ready for the gunshot. So I did not have to buy time.

No, no, not at all. I'm not at all. Okay. I'm going to correct the record then in real time. The call was ready. I'm going to go. I don't need a second source. Carl, so what do you think the president should say tonight? He's going to talk economy. And when I saw that he's making this speech, I thought a lot of these other networks are going to choose not to take it. If he wants to make just it on Venezuela, and he says, obviously that would be it. But when he wants to talk about a kind of a year in review, do you think some of these networks are going to bail on it? I think they might. I mean, it depends on how well the case has been made by the White House that this is worth taking their existing program and setting it aside. Look, you know, many is the time when the White House communicators will say, let's do a nationwide, you know, speak to the nation on television. But you've got to be, you've got to sell that case. to people so that every so that the large number of networks put you know, put it on. So if the White House is saying we're going to be talking about the economy, they may say, look, we, you know, we covered the rally last week on last Wednesday when the president was in Mount Pocono. We covered Secretary JD Vance, so Vice President Vanceus on Tuesday when he was in Allentown. You know, you know, we've been covering that. And this is, unless there is something new that the White House can convince this is going to be significantly different. newsworthy that, you know, yeah, some networks are going to say, we've got, you know, fill in the blank, a very popular program on which we've sold advertising. So, you know, he will talk about that. They said he's going to talk about the shrinking trade deficit. He's going to talk about the shrinking deficit overall, down $600 billion from where it was, the economy. But he's going to, most importantly, and I know your ears perked up on this yesterday when he put this out, the blockade on oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. That's significant, isn't it? Yeah, look, the only thing keeping Maduro in power are two things. One is that he is providing the oil for Cuba. And without the discounted Cuban oil, he would not have the Cuban intelligence service surrounding him and would not have Cuban, you know, intelligence agents serving as his personal bodyguards. The economy, to the degree that there is economy left in Venezuela. that's sort of, you know, moving along, it's because of the sale of Venezuelan oil to Cuba at a discounted price and to others wherever he can find, much of it being sent into the legal market around the world.

So now we have a situation where we, I think, blew up three boats, drug boats the other day. You have Republicans and Democrats being briefed and being shown video yesterday. And as usual, cut on party lines about what was going on behind closed doors and about this action. Tell me if you agree with Lindsey Graham on this. Cut, cut nine. There's no doubt in my mind that we have the illegal authority to blow up these boats, interdict these boats. In 1989, President Bush 41 literally invaded Panama, dropping the 82nd Airborne, taking the president of Panama out, putting him in American prison because he was a narco-terrorist drug dealer. There is no difference. In 1994, President Clinton... took down the military takeover the junta, the generals who took over Haiti, and brought back civilian control of Haiti. He was right to do that. Bush 41 was right to clean up Panama. Trump is right to deal with a narco-terrorist state called Venezuela. So if you agree with that and number two, how should the president, knowing that, how should the president address that today if he looks at the others for an example? Well, I totally agree with it. And look, I think the president agrees with that. I think the president understands that Venezuela represents a threat to the United States and our interest in the region, that it is a narco regime, that is illegitimate. He has now stolen how many elections? You know, one of the candidates he defeated, quote, defeated in the last election was given the Nobel Peace Prize because the world community recognizes he is keeping hold of power over this once prosperous country. by means of thuggery. So I think if the president, if the president, if his goal is regime change, the most powerful thing he can say tonight is, my goal is regime change. I think the continent in which we live will be more prosperous and more free and more at peace if Maduro is driven from power, and I intend that the United States will play an intimate role in that along with our allies in the region. I mean, there is a wave. moving through Central and South America, rejecting the old style policies of the left. And Maduro represents the worst of the worst. I mean, he is, you know, after Cuba, he is the most left-wing regime in the entire region. And not only is he a leftist, he's a crook. I mean, so if you take a communist ideology and mix it in with a guy who's a criminal, it's a bad thing for not only his country, but for the entire region. And, Carl, for the longest time, you heard this when you guys were in office. What about to, why are you worried about it? Let's worry about our backyard. Enough for the Middle East. So the president's actually focusing on it. Panama was first. Argentina, helping their economy, helps us. And then you have Bolivia, have an election, put a conservative in there. Chile the other day put a conservative in there. Now you have the Venezuela, which is home to Russia, Iran, Hezbollah, as well as China. If we could, this is a major, smart, big picture push to help the welfare of our nation long term. I couldn't be more impressed with it. Yeah. And look, remember, who has the largest oil reserves in the world? Venezuela.

And interestingly enough, unlocking those reserves will benefit the United States because we have the refining capacity in the Gulf Coast, starting in Corpus Christi, Texas and moving around through Louisiana to take the heavy crude that they have, which is distinctly different than the crude that we have. in the United States and refine it. So they're going to be coming to the U.S. and, you know, the largest Citgo, that's the government-run oil company, is actually in the United States. And so this is going to be a boon for America and the world, let alone Venezuela, which, again, Venezuela was once one of the most prosperous countries in the hemisphere, and today it's one of the poorest. Why? Because communist ideology and corruption, the corruption of a criminal class that runs that country, has destroyed the wealth and prosperity of those people. So I want to talk about the Vanity Fair story. Chris Whipple, who you might be familiar with, Chris Whipple, who wrote the story on the chiefs of staff, it was an excellent book. He sat down with 11 interviews with Susie Wiles, and they are not happy in the... Trump White House. Before I get your take on what you might have read or excerpts that you might have listened to, here's Chris Whipple, cut 25. I've been reading all of the speculation about why did she do it? Why would she talk to this guy? My theory of the case is that with this White House and with Susie Wiles, it's never four-dimensional chess. It might not even be chess. I mean, they just do what they want to do. And Susie was remarkably candid. I think, look, I wrote a book about White House Chiefs of Staff that was pretty fair and nonpartisan. And she worked in the Reagan White House under Jim Baker, one of the... major characters in my book. I think, look, my own theory, I can only tell you what she said, which is that she felt that Trump in his first term was vilified by the press, never got a fair shake. And I think she thought I would give her a fair hearing. So, and you know some of the things that have come out in it, your thoughts about what you've seen so far. Well, it's a look inside. It's candid. I think Susie Wallace is right to say that some of it lacks context. I've read both the Vanity Fair articles online. And also, though it's candid. I don't see anything in there that is essentially hurtful to the administration. There are things that are revealing. I'm sure there are things that people say, I wish she hadn't said that. But at the end of the day, You know, it's what matters is what kind of a relationship does she have with the president? Has this undermined his trust in her? And my sense is no. The answer is no.

Yeah, because look, she has played a vital role in his life for the last, you know, four or five years, increasingly over the last three years. And he trusts her in a way that I don't see that he's trusted any former chief of staff that he's had, whether it was, you know, Wright's Previs or you name it. He has a relationship with her that is powerful, and I think I'm likely to be shaken by that. It's so different. One thing you have to say, Carl, between the two terms. He's like got the people there. He's standing by him. They're not without controversy. They don't do it. There's not days when they have bad days or bad decisions. And he's just the opposite of the first time. Instead of let's get him out of here, it's no, not moving, you know, whether it's Pete Hegseth, whether it's Kristi Noem. And Susie Wiles, there's something about somebody when they're with you through the worst of times, which is after 2020, after she loved, Ron DeSantis isolated her and she thought she was unhirable. And then they're together. They work it out. Would you stick with me? Yes. And then he gets the nomination. You're still there. And then he wins the election. Would you be my chief of staff? It's almost as if you're so comfortable with each other, you could have bad days and good days. And I just think that the best thing to happen to President Trump, if Susie stays for four years. But you must have liked it. You must have. Got an offers like that when you were with George W. Bush. You were with them from day one, right, from his governor days. You're with 41. You know you have that rich history. You must have had opportunities with magazines, People Magazine, Vanity Fair, whatever it was, to do sit downs. Did you do them? Would you be reluctant to do them? Only if the communication shop told me to. And frankly, I had one with a well-known reporter. who came in, and it was a strange interview. First of all, I was like a babe in the wilderness. What I should have had was somebody from the communication shop sitting in my office with my assistant, Susan Ralston and I were the tape recorder while this guy, I mean, he would ask a question. I give him an answer. He would then write down the answer, repeating it, repeating the words as he wrote down what he was writing, and he would not have gotten right what I just said, so I'd have to correct him. And in my opinion, he came up with a totally bizarre quote that he put into a story that I never said. And, you know, I regretted having done it. I mean, you know, I didn't want to do it to begin with. And the White House communication shop said, do it. But I should have thought ahead and said, if you don't trust him, what do you need to do in order to ensure that? that it's completely accurate and fair, and that was have a recording as well. But no, I mean, you know, to the degree that you do those things as a senior White House aid, you should do them only because the press and the communications types tell you this is needful in helping give a... push an issue or give people an understanding of how we operate. 90 seconds left, but George W. Bush did come up in this, and that the USAID was blown up by Elon Musk. They said it was a mistake, and Marco Rubio was there to save it. And he took a call from the 43rd president on pre-far, per-far, right? Pet-Far. Pet-Far, rather. And that is the very effective humanitarian organization or group.

operation that they were going to get rid of. And he wanted to make sure from the Secretary of State that he wasn't going to get rid of it. And he didn't, right? Yeah, well, I'm not going to comment on what the former president may or may not have done. I will say that he feels very strongly about PEPFAR, which is an effort by the U.S. that involves faith-based groups and non-governmental organizations in helping to provide medication and treatment for AIDS and malaria, and primarily in Africa, and it has saved an estimated 25 million lives. And it is one of the most remarkable things because... Here we have, you know, using like the Catholic Church and other religious organizations and private groups, you're in essence creating a health network that reaches into the darkest corners of Africa in order to save lives. I was in a part of Nigeria, and a governor of the Delta region said, do you know what are the most popular names for children? This is about eight or nine years ago. What are the most popular names for children in my part of Nigeria? I said, I have no idea. He said, George and Laura. He said, tell the United States, thank you for saving my people. I mean, he was very emotional about it. And the president, former president, has gone a number of years to help an AIDS facility somewhere in Africa with no fanfare. And yet when he arrives, there'll be crowds lining the roads from the airport into the capital city. because of the thankfulness of the people of Africa for this aid and assistance from the people of the United States. And the program's still there. Carl, have a fantastic Christmas if I don't talk to you next week. You bet, buddy. Merry Christmas to you and yours. Back in a moment. Politics, current events, and news that affects you. Brian's got a lot more to say. Stay with Brian Kilmeade.

Information you want, truth you demand. This is the Brian Kilmeade. Hi, everybody. Just a quick note. I'm going to be, I cannot wait for One Nation on Sunday. I know it's a little bit early. We're going to be tackling this whole sports and kids in sports and how much it's costing. Look, your kid might be a prodigy, might be a good player, boy or your girl, it doesn't matter. You're out there. Your kid is about to get cut from the first team or, you know, kind of in the middle. You want to see if he or she can get better. You live paycheck to paycheck to paycheck. Well, everybody in the block, mom, dad is getting private lessons. Well, I'm going to get your private lessons. Okay. Put it on your credit card. Or then mull it. You can just be on a credit card then. And then, well, we got a tournament in Virginia, got a tournament in Pennsylvania, got a tournament in South Carolina. I got to go to Arizona if I want to keep up. And you want to do it. So with the even ordinated scholarship or not, it becomes so intense, so early and so expensive now, up 40% in the last five years. I'm going to tackle this on Sunday because I really think at Saturday 10 o'clock, I really think so many people relate to it. Now, a lot of people think, well, I'm not going to get caught up in it. My kid doesn't want to go pro or my kid doesn't want to play in college. It doesn't matter. Think about it. If your kids fall behind in school, you'll pay money for a tutor. If your kid doesn't make a team or wants to be on a team, just to be included with the friends on the block. Not if you want him to go pro, you'll do it. Next thing you know, you're paying extra money you don't have. It's got to stop. There's some things that they're doing now. I think you're encouraging. We'll talk about it. Senator Lindsey Graham next.

From his mouth to your ears, it's Brian Kilmeade. We're proud of what we're doing, able to lay it out very directly to these senators and soon to the House, but it's all classified. We can't talk about it now. We're also going to tomorrow allow the Hask and Sask to see the unedited video of the September 2nd, alongside with Admiral Bradley, who has done a fantastic job, has made all the right calls, and we're glad he'll be there to do it. But in keeping with longstanding... Department of War Policy, Department of Defense Policy. Of course, we're not going to release a top secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public. Hask and Saskin, appropriate committees will see it, but not the general. Senator Lindsey Graham weighs in now. That's Pete Hegseth yesterday. Lindsey Graham also talked to the press right after that. He's chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, member of the Appropriation Judiciary Committee and tremendous knowledge. of military. Senator, do you think that Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of War, made the right decision there? I like Pete a lot. I think he's done a really good job. Here's what I would do. I'd release it to every member of Congress. Listen, we got videos all over TV showing us blowing up votes. I am all for blowing these boats up. This is very legal. We invaded Panama in 1989 as a country under Bush 41. We dropped 82nd Airborne in. We took Norago, the president of Panama. out of office and put him in an American jail. So don't tell me that Trump can't do what he's doing. What I would tell Pete and others is share it with everybody in the Senate and the House and let you make your own judgment. I'm okay with what happened. What did you think of the video that you saw yesterday? I'm okay with what happened. Right. So Democrats have a totally different idea. Well, it's fine. They've got a totally different idea about everything. And that's why we have an election, right? Their idea is to withdraw from Afghanistan and obliterate our border and raise your taxes and impose Obamacare on you. If we don't win this election, we've got nobody to blame ourselves. Our ideas are better than theirs. Trump has secured the border in a way that nobody could have believed a year ago, right? Trump is going after ISIS wherever ISIS lives. He destroyed the caliphate in his first term. Biden let it come back by withdrawing from Afghanistan. He started giving money back to Iran and obliterated the border. Listen, we've got a good story to tell. We need to tell it. The economy is getting better, but it's going to take a while because they were just as bad with the economy as they were were national security. And we need to talk about that more. But I've got no problem blowing out the boats. Admiral Bradley is not a war criminal. He's a patriot. I want to take Madura out. I'm tired of playing games here. He's a narco-terrorist, illegitimate leader of Venezuela. He didn't win the election. He stole the election. He's aligned with Hezbollah.

He dumped tens of thousands of people into our country to wreak havoc on us. He needs to go. All right, so I want you to hear Tammy Duckworth, also a veteran. You're in the military, too, cut six. I worry about our uniformed services, men and women in uniform. They deserve to know if they're going to go to war, that it is truly a war, that they have the American people behind them, that Congress has voted on it. He's comparing it to the Obama drone strikes. Do you see that as a fair comparison? I don't see that as a fair comparison because, again, we had an AUMF in Iraq and Afghanistan. These are two completely different situations. And in fact, what I think we need to do again is go back to the beginning of this. What is it that the Trump administration is trying to do here? Is it regime change? If it's regime change and come to us and say, hey, we need regime change in Venezuela. And here's the evidence. Here's what we think. And then Congress will deliberate and then we will vote on it. So she doesn't like, she doesn't like the comparison. But she says if you ask, she'll say okay. Well, no, she won't say, okay, I like her a lot. She's sacrificed for her nation, but she's wrong. For 33 years, I used to be a military lawyer as a judge, defense attorney, and a prosecutor. This is familiar ground for me. In 1989, President Bush 41, without congressional approval, took Norago out as the Panama leader, literally using military force. We lost troops in the endeavor. He went to jail. Norriga did. Clinton changed the regime in Haiti as a military dictatorship. He restored civilian control. Trump went into Grenada to deal with the expansion of Cuban influence in our backyard. They did all this without a declaration of war and without approval by the Congress. I used to do this for a living. We've declared war five times in the history of the nation. Does that mean if Congress doesn't declare war, the commander chief cannot use military force? No, it doesn't. We've had use of military force without a declaration of war as the norm in this country. The exception is declaring war. You cannot have 535 commander-in-cheats. That will lead to chaos. If you don't like the decision of a commander chief as a member of Congress, you can restrict funding for the operation. You can impeach them if you think they're doing something illegal. So, as to Venezuela, President Trump is doing what Bush and Clinton and others did to regulate narco-terrorism in our backyard. He has all the legal authority he needs. I hope Maduro is taken out. We'll be safer if he is. He should have been taken out a long time ago. Then I want to deal with a communist dictatorship in Cuba. While President Trump is in office for the next three years, I hope we will clear out the narco-terror states in our backyard that it will be harder to get drugs into America because those making money off of it and these nations no longer exist.

I hope that we can deal with Hamas and Hezbollah or President Trump is in office so Iran doesn't have the influence that's had in the past. So, Senator Maduro now, no tankers in, no tankers out. I mean, the clock is ticking. How long can this guy last? And what do you hope? Go ahead. What do you think? They'll leave. I mean, so what should we do when Vladimir Putin says no to the next peace deal, which I think he will? I applaud the administration for trying to get a... a solution to Russia, Ukraine, that Europe can live with. Ukraine can live with and we can live with. Vladimir Putin's not going to quit to somebody makes him back to Venezuela. How do you stay in power if your power is based on illicit oil cells and we've cut that off? So I like the strategy of strangling the economy of the bad guy. I'm not suggesting we invade Venezuela. I don't mind land strikes against Arco-Teros targets, but the seizing of ships and the embargo of illicit oil transfers will be the end of Maduro. When Vladimir Putin says no, and he will. We need to pass my bill in the Senate with 85 co-sponsors that would allow President Trump to impose tariffs, not sanctions, on countries that buy cheap, Russian oil to prop up his war machine. We need to do more to help Ukraine militarily. Now, what I've laid out is a strategy to take down bad guy regime in Venezuela, a strategy to push Vladimir Putin to the table without invading anybody. So a couple of things. It looks like this underwater attack submarine got its first target of a Russian sub in port. It looks like it blew it up. It also looks like Ukraine is making some gains and a counterattack in a town, I think, is called Kupnynsk. And we also see that Petskov weighed in yesterday on what they're working out with Ukraine, which is a 20-point peace plan. He says they reiterated that Russia wants to end the war but seeks to achieve its goals. which according to the Institute of Study War includes decapitating, replacing the Ukrainian government, destroying the Ukrainian military, and undermining Western unity. None of those three are happening, have happened, and will happen. So do you think this is all wasted exercise? Here's what I think. I think Vladimir Putin will come to the peace table when the price gets too great. We know he doesn't mind losing soldiers. That's not a price he really cares about. But when his revenue drops... and he can't prop up his war machine and his way of life and the oligarchs begin to change, he'll come to the table. China is the largest purchaser of cheap Russian oil. China is the largest purchaser of Iranian oil. China is one of the largest purchasers of oil from Venezuela. What does that have in common? China is buying cheap oil from bad guys to benefit their economy, and they need to pay a price.

I'd like to have a good relationship with China, but China needs to be good for that to happen. So I am urging President Trump to go after China and other people, other countries that prop up Vladimir Putin's war machine. What he's doing in Venezuela is the right model. I will be introducing tomorrow some major legislation about the ability to seize ships. What we're doing in Venezuela is seizing ships carrying sanctioned oil illegally. We need to transfer that model to the Russian shuttle fleet. About a thousand, they have about a thousand tankers, the so-called ghost tankers that are out there. Now, a couple of, they've been targeted by Ukraine and they've captured them. Are you saying that we should be doing the same thing? Absolutely. The free world should be seizing these ships that operated legally. We've sanctioned the pipelines coming out of Russia. The ability to distribute oil and gas to pipelines coming from Russia has really been reduced. When President Trump sanctioned the two largest oil companies in Russia, it really mattered. Without the shadow fleet, Russia cannot survive to prosecute this war. Economically, go after the ships. Senator, I don't know, you saw 60 minutes on Sunday. We know what Japan's doing. So Germany is just building up. They're increasing their military by, I think, recruiting is up 70%. And Japan is doing the same thing. And the message throughout Europe is the same thing. Now, people might not like it, but what Trump is saying is NATO, you've got to step up. Not only 5%, you just got to think to yourself, how do I stop the next invasion? And they've gotten the message right now to defend themselves. Russians got to be saying themselves, well, that didn't work out. They added two formidable countries into NATO. Now, Germany is rearming. We know they can fight. Eventually, we hope. We know Poland's building. a wall and they have been they've got the message a long time ago. Finland and Finland and Sweden get it. So now we have France who's getting the message. I'm not sure they're capable of doing anything. And we'll see. So now all of a sudden our allies for years and you were frustrated with John McCain and with George Bush and with others. They get the message now. Do you think the message is going to be sustainable? Oh yeah. Absolutely. I think Vladimir Putin should get the NATO Man of the Year award. Vladimir Putin has done more to wake up Europe than anybody. Trump has kicked them in the ass, and it's worked. So what's happened? We're cheering on Germany and Japan having bigger and stronger militaries. 80 years ago, this year, was the end of World War II. If you had told somebody a soldier in 1945 and 2025, Americans would be cheering on Germany rearming and Japan rearming. They thought you were crazy. It shows you how the world changes. Out of the ashes of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan, over time we created two democracies that have aligned themselves with us.

Now, that can happen over time in Gaza and the West Bank, but you've got to get the Arabs to go in on the ground, stop preaching, killing the Jews, change the school system, on and on and on. So what does Vladimir Putin achieved here? NATO is bigger. NATO is stronger. His economy is sanctioned to the hilt. More is coming. He's lost a million people. This is a big flop unless we give him a victory at the very end. China is watching. If this ends where Ukraine is still around, strong, independent surviving, and Vladimir Putin spent a lot and got very little, it will help China. make a decision about Taiwan. It will deter China from evading Taiwan. If at the end we give Vladimir Putin a big gift, then there goes Taiwan. And where do you think we're at right now? My last question, you see the 2019 to 20 points. I think we're in a good spot. I think we should not overly reward Vladimir Putin. We can't kick all the Russians out of Ukraine, so there's not going to be a military victory by Ukraine, nor is Russia going to Kiev, a diplomatic solution that prevents a third invasion. European troops on the ground. America committed to fighting with them if there's a third invasion would deter a third invasion. Deal with the Don Boss in a way it doesn't entice China to take Taiwan, which would be a great outcome. And President Trump is cleaning up Biden and Obama's mess. And I think he's done a hell of a good job with the economy. It will get better over time. I hear you. Senator Lindsey Graham, always impactful. Every word matters. I really appreciate it. Thanks so much, Senator. Thank you. All right. Senator, making real difference. His foreign policy, I think is fantastic. Back in a moment. The headlines, the stories behind them, and the people who make them. Only on the Brian Kilmeade.

A talk show that's real. This is the Brian Kilmeade. Sponsored by Previgin. Previgin, made for your brain. Isn't that the dog not barking, which is no one defends her and nobody denies us? They just say, oh, it's a ridiculous question. But why isn't any, like if somebody said Brian Kilmeade married his brother, I'm sure people on your staff would deny it. Right. I would assume so had I had a staff, but I know what you're saying. There's a couple of things in researching this, and you only gave me three weeks to get ready for the appearance. But the problem is nobody's speaking to anyone. Obama doesn't speak to Biden. Nancy Pelosi doesn't speak to Biden. Biden doesn't speak to Nancy Pelosi. We're the only people speaking to each other. God, it sounds like Fox and Friends when you and Ducey were there. Oh, that's true. That's true. Starting more controversy, are you? Yes, I have. I love you all. So that is last night on Gutfeld, which aired very successfully, very successful, highly rated show. He, I think his last night is today, I think he's taken two weeks off. And he's going to focus on getting his family visas once and for all. But don't forget on Sunday, you got One Nation starting at 10 o'clock, and they got Fox and Friends in the morning starting here. A couple other things that I think are important before we go. Get this. Another disturbing thing for our future. kids are rarely reading whole books anymore, even in English. In high schools, full novels are disappearing. Classics like Macbeth to Kill a Mockingbird are often reduced, according to the New York Times, to excerpts with many schools assigning only one or two complete books a year. Do you believe this? Why would anyone tell you to read a half a book or an excerpt of a book? I mean, sometimes you want to get the monarch notes of there's got to be a test, but you're supposed to read the book. Public schools say its new curriculum focused on shorter texts to build critical thinking. Experts blame shrinking attention spans and constant screens. This is happening at reading levels hit historic lows. Teens arrive at colleges unprepared and even elite schools are accused of lowering standards. Students are navigating an era of TikTok, of course AI and digital shortcuts. They find that since kids can't read a whole book, why assign it to them? Incredible. I think it's an interesting tact. If you don't succeed, change the rules. I never thought we'd actually do this. Meanwhile, this is really sad news for me because Cardinal Dolan is one of the great guys you'll ever meet. And one of the best things he's ever done, people have done studies on this, is put me on the dais at the Al Smith dinner. Now that's in jeopardy because Pope Leo has accepted Cardinal Dolan's resignation. Because when you get 75 years old, evidently they want you to resign, even though he's in a prime of his life. And they're going to name a bishop to replace him from his city, from his state of Illinois. You know, he's been there since 2009. Great personality. You probably know him. Even if you're not Catholic or in New York, you hear of them. They're going to put another guy in there from Juliet. from Juliet, Mississippi, originally. His name is, it's got to be here. His name is...

Ron Hicks, Bishop Ron Hicks of Juliet, Illinois, right near the Pope's hometown. So he's putting a replacement in there. Bad move. So I found out from a friend of Cardinal Dahl. I said, does he want to retire? I mean, he's 75 years old. Does he want to join himself? No. That's a big mistake. You finally have a personality to sell your cause and religion. And now he's step inside. Kind of sad. Who's in the Brian Kilmeade? Make sure you check me out on all my social media from Rumble to Instagram and locals where I have the Copra Club.