← The Morning Meeting
The Morning Meeting
Democrat Gavin Newsom Denounced for Calling Israel an "Apartheid State" as Iran War Spreads Further
01:06:10
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Morning, everybody. It's the morning meeting. This program based on the Network News division's morning meetings. We're going to go through the daybook, everything that's going on today. We'll chat about it and then we'd love your participation. If you're here on the platform. Never raised your hand before or have Today's a good day to be part of the conversation about the war and everything else that's going on. The mystery of what's happening with the Texas Senate race, something we'll discuss a whole bunch of developments overnight. Late last night, we're also going to talk about whether Rahm Emanuel could possibly be the Democratic nominee for president, which is like a philosophical existential question that consumes many rich people in the Democratic Party. Joining today, our guest co host, Larry o'. Connor. Larry, what'd you have for breakfast?
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C
I have not had breakfast.
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B
I'm trying to humanize you.
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C
Just coffee. I need all the help I can get. I usually eat a little later in the day and I skip breakfast. I know it's the most important meal of the day, but I just go with coffee, straight coffee.
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B
Kevin Walling's here. Kevin, dog person, cat person, dog person all the way. Dog all the way. Interesting. I'll give this little tease, and you don't like to tease stuff in the media, what we used to call television if you can't deliver. But we may have a great dog cameo later in the program. Larry and Kevin don't know about it, but we may have a great dog cameo. So stay tuned for, stay tuned for that. Fingers crossed.
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Hopefully in a bubble cuddle blanket, a boy can dream.
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A boy can dream, as they say in Hamilton. Just you wait. Just you wait. In a moment I'll run through the daybook and then we'll get right to our conversation again. Please raise your hand. Oh, by the way, if you're watching on X or YouTube, no smack in the chat, please. Just peace, love and understanding, extension of the presumption of grace to all. If you're ardently against the war and people come on and talk about why they think it's a good idea, like Kevin or Condoleezza Rice, don't, don't smack them in the chat. Just say, oh, that's interesting. Isn't that interesting? That People in America think differently than me on something of national importance. All right, quick word from a sponsor. Ladies and gentlemen. If you don't have health insurance, life insurance, and you are the primary breadwinner in your household, or what a mistake you're making, what a risk you're taking for your loved ones who will be upset if you pass away unexpectedly, but doubly upset if all of a sudden they can't pay the bills. There's a solution for that. It's an online platform that makes getting life insurance easy. It's called Ethos. And right now you can get a free quote from the folks at Ethos if you go to ethos.com mark. Ethos.com, get a free quote. This can get you up to $3 million in life insurance. Even if you live in Larry's expensive neighborhood. $3 million would tide people over for more than a bit. And it takes. It could take less about 10 minutes to fill out the forms. It's all online. There's no health medical exam. You just answer a few health questions and other questions and you can get up to $3 million in life insurance. Do this today for your family and your own peace of mind. Go to ethos.com/ethos.com? it's tax season and at LifeLock, we know you're tired of numbers, but here's
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Visit lifelock.com podcast for the threats you can't control. Terms apply. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your attention to this matter. We go to the daybook and the President's schedule.
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Let's put up the pool.
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Who's covering the President today? I hear you ask. Always an interesting topic. Here's the President's the Pool for today. This is 101. Please. CNN. Possibly another opportunity for the President to interact with Kaitlan Collins. Always a fun time. Print, Hearst, Newspapers, Politico, and then anybody know what media said is the new media pool? Anybody know what that is? Somebody Google that.
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C
I'm at a loss.
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The President's going to the White House correspondence dinner. And traditionally the President's. There's no comedian. There's that mentalist. Larry, will you be going to the dinner?
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C
No, sir. I will include me out as Samuel Goldman.
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B
Kevin, you going?
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I will be there probably for the sixth or seventh year in a row.
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B
Really? Whose guest are you? Are you there with Walling Media?
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A
I think we might be planning to do another Fox live from the red carpet so move over. We're gonna be covering arrivals like we did two years ago.
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B
As you know the one time I did the red carpet live show is with Walt Frazier and I'm afraid to ever do it again after that. Anyway, here's the presidents because can we
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find clips of that somewhere? We gotta find clips of that.
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B
Yeah, on Bloomberg. It's very good. Here's the President schedule intelligence brief at 11. His only open event to the media is event with the Major League Soccer champion Inter Miami. Does that mean Messi's going to be there? Yeah. Will Messi be at the White House today? I don't know, it's not till 4 o' clock so right before two way tonight we'll see if the President says anything messy White House says anything about about Iran and then he's got a policy meeting at 5:30. Many Many people would be back in the residence by 5:30. But this hard working President, wartime president's got a policy meeting then
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in.
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In other news don't know what the Vice President's doing. Lots going on on Capitol Hill Eldridge Colby, the undersecretary of defense for policies testifying on the national defense strategy with armed services at 10 there's a couple health committee hearings. The Republican conference chair Lisa McClain is holding a press conference on DHS funding. Don't forget part of the government is still shut down. The Senate votes on advancing the DH funding bill at 145. It's not expected to pass. Democrats still opposed and the House votes both on the DHS funding bill and Iran war powers resolution and for that resolution is expected to fail. It'll be interesting to see though how many Democrats vote for it. House Democrats are whipping hard saying any. There's some, there's some groups saying if any big Democrat votes for it they will be primaried either this year or next time around. Jobless claims US productivity stats out earlier today and for those numbers that came out hot off the presses about half an hour ago here's our economics correspondent. 127 please.
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C
CME in Chicago the numbers please.
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Yes, these are initial jobless claims for
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the week ending February 28th expecting 215,000 15 comes in at 213,000 213,000 follows 212,000 at least at this point still unrevised. And once again, these numbers are very, very well behaved on the continuing claims front. What we see here is continuing claims, 1,868,000.
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That is a bit hotter than we were expecting.
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We're expecting a number closer to 1,845,000. And that does see a lower revision last month, 1,822,000. Maybe the most important numbers of the day, though, are going to be productivity and unit labor costs. On the productivity side, we see a nice gift gain, 2.8%. We're expecting a number slightly below 2%.
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Now, these are fourth quarter preliminaries, Andrew
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and Joe and Becky.
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So these, of course, are going to
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change in a couple of future adjustments. But two point.
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B
So I have three role models in broadcasting that guy, Peter Jennings and Bert Convey, just so you know, if you want to see them. That explains everything, right? Exactly.
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C
Let's start on the tattletales of exactly news show.
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B
Let's start on the economy. You know, oils, gas is up and oil's up, but not crazy up. The Dow and the Nasdaq were actually positive territory yesterday. We just heard some positive economic stats there. There's clearly going to be worry in the Republican Party. And Politico has a big story that says Suzy Wallace is freaking out about gas prices, but we still have and don't know when the war is going to end. But Kevin, I always go back to the John McCain question. Based on the latest data, are the fundamentals of the economy strong, the war notwithstanding, or not?
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They are.
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And I think it speaks to and there's a lot of reporting about just the resilience of the economy. You know, Trump has kind of thrown everything at it from, you know, from tariffs, from interrupting supply chains. And you still see some really strong indicators. And again, I think the White House is also hopeful now that we're in tax season that folks will start to see some of the benefits of their tax package as well. But again, it's and we talk about this all the time, the disconnect between the fundamentals of the economy and what people are feeling. And again, I think Susie Wiles is smart to really hammer in on the gasoline issue. It's up nearly 30, 30 cents so far since, you know, the war started six, six days ago or so. But again, I think, you know, focusing on those fundamentals is going to be critically important for the White House.
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B
Larry, Politico is no cheerleader of Donald Trump. And yet here's their headline today on a kind of a thumb Sucker piece on the economy 114 putting things in kind of a positive light in looking at the data and the headline, Trump keeps gambling with the economy and getting away with it. So my question, my question is, well, because, because his poll numbers aren't great in the economy, as Kevin suggested. But, but even, even the war, the market seemed to kind of price this in. So where do the. Larry, if you were thinking about this from the White House's point of view, Republicans in the midterms, where are the dangers on the economy? Is it gas prices alone or are there other dangers?
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Well, gas prices are huge because that's part of what the president led with and was able to affect faster than anything.
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It's his most frequent brag on the economy, really?
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Exactly. The reason I scoff at the headline is, you know, Trump's gambling with the economy but keeps getting away with it. Well, maybe the premise is wrong. Maybe he's not gambling. Maybe in fact, he kind of, he and Scott Besant and the other people know what they're doing because if you look at the track record of the first term, there's a consistent pattern of behavior there that, yes, he does things a little unorthodox and Paul Krugman might not approve, but his track record and the scoreboard is pretty solid. So what are the dangers? The dangers are gas prices and the dangers are inflation. I think if inflation stays relatively stable as it is right now, we're not going to see deflation, nor do we want to see deflation. And I think it's incumbent on the presidents and Republicans to explain the difference between increased inflation versus deflation. But if inflation stays relatively stable, as it has the last couple of go arounds, I think they're going to be okay. If it starts to creep up again, then we have some issues around election time.
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All right, lots of.
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Larry, do you think health, Larry, do you think health care is a factor at all to the fact that we didn't extend those subsidies? I mean, that conversation about that's kind of fallen by the wayside.
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C
It has because they kicked the can on the subsidies. Right. But I think health care is a conversation I think Republicans will be smart to engage in because ultimately the mud is on Democrats face because the inflationary cost of health care right now, you can point right back to the Unaffordable Care Act. So I think it would be, we
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would respectfully disagree on that.
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I'm sure it was, it was a little undercovered. I thought that the State of the Union. He didn't talk Very much about health care. You know, I thought people would pay more attention to that. Okay, the war. A lot of confusion. What's going on with the Kurds? Are they marching on the march or not? Statement from Kurdish spokespeople say, no, they're not, though they need a lot more before they can go. They're not equipped to do it. Lots of confusion about the posture of the Iranian leadership, who's actually in charge. They put out on state TV an old video of the Ayatollah exhorting the Iranians to strike. There have been some defiant statements from the Iranians saying, we're never going to give up, we're going to win this war. At the same time, there's reports that some people in the Iranian government want to negotiate. And then what's going on with the air wars? It does seem to be the case today, as it was yesterday, based on all the reports I've seen. But we're reliant on the government for the most part. There are more American and Israeli attacks on Iranian assets than there were yesterday. And there are fewer Iranian firebacks on missiles and drones than there were yesterday. So the trend lines seem pretty clear. At the same time, they do seem to be intimidating oil from moving through the strait. The Chinese are concerned about that. The Chinese are now getting involved in conversations about how to end the war. And Europe continues to be mixed. The Gulf states seem pretty on board at this point, but Europe is mixed. You've got the head of NATO did an interview with the BBC, very positive about the US effort, but saying NATO is not involved, but very positive. Some other European leaders, including the UK pm, a pretty negative. So, Larry, I don't know that we need to talk much about the war today because I don't think there's much moving around. But what are your big thoughts about what happens next, what you're looking for next on the war?
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C
What? There's two things that I'm looking for right now. There are reports that basically the Central Command of what's left of the IRGC is basically removed. You basically have little pockets of IRGC who cannot communicate with each other. And they've been told the last thing they heard was fire at will. You're on your own. Autopilot is one of the translations of the Farsi that I saw that's of concern. Or it could be the recipe for a quick end to this because if they don't have any leadership, it might just fall away. The other thing, and the part that hasn't actually been solved is the concern about the Strait of Hormuz. Even though our navy has dominated with regard to navy vessels, the smaller boats that can wreak havoc on tankers going through the Strait of Hormuz, even though most of the narrowest part is in Omani waters, it is making oil tankers and the companies that are responsible for bringing that oil across the straits very reluctant to do so, even though they've been assured by the US Navy that they'd be protected. As soon as the Straits of Hormuz is solved, I think that will have a ripple effect not only on the war, but also on the oil prices. How's that?
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It's excellent. I'm just looking at Starmer speaking live right now. That live. Let's see what he's saying. Don't.
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He is live in London.
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How can you tell if he's live or not? Boy, has he not been just embarrassing.
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Embarrassing. He's like, he's like, he's like Max Headroom. He's like AI. But you guys, if Starmer's saying something interesting, pop him up. If he's not, don't. All right, maybe he's saying something interesting.
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That's a low bar.
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Is he saying something? Let's listen.
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First, Cyprus and Qatar, and that was fighter jets, air defense missiles, advanced radar and anti drone systems. Now we did that during the course of eight or so weeks.
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All right, I'm bored. Take it down. Kevin, what are you looking for in the war today? Where's your curiosity about what's moving around?
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Yeah, interestingly enough, I'm with Larry on those two fronts, Command and control. Right. The fact that all these kind of forward operating defense or offensive operations from Iran are operating now independently seemingly is going to be interesting in terms of the effect that it has specifically on Iran's targeting of the energy infrastructure in the Middle East. To your point, Mark, I think that's the one choke point that Iran has with us is the energy front. They've. There's reporting that they were targeting elements in Qatar in terms of their energy infrastructure with that. So I think that is, you know, the one element that Iran can still exert some level of control over and again bring us to our knees to some degree in terms of the costs of this war.
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B
Yeah. All right, well, welcome your questions. When we get to questions. If you want to ask questions about the war, please do. I want to talk about one more thing about the war and that's the politics within the Democratic Party, first of all. And we could talk about this for an hour. But we won't. John Fetterman, when John Fetterman ran for Senate, he was the left wing candidate. He was running against Conor Lamb and it was like, left wing. Now he is like, he's a Bernie guy now. He's like Joe Lieberman. He's consistently going on the media, including conservative media, and just trashing Democrats as being out of touch and just, he's every Republican's favorite Democrat. Briefly, Kevin, what happened? Like, why did he become that person? I'm not being critic, I'm not being critical of it. I've just never seen an explanation for it.
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I think the hostage situation in Israel and Gaza really affected him. Again, he had, you know, pictures of the hostages all over his office to the degree that no Republican really did. And I think he, he feels really comfortable in this lane and is almost on an island on his own in terms of, of, you know, speaking out on Fox News. He was at Brett Baer's Christmas party, right, with his wife Giselle, who I really adore, you know, and I think he's carved out this lane where he feels really comfortable, you know, calling out the party in certain scenarios, especially on support for Israel.
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B
Gavin News. Good, good.
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C
How, how serious will the primary challenge to John Fetterman be and will it be successful? They're going to primary him.
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He's not, he's not running.
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Yeah, I don't think actually Fetterman runs again. Honestly, he's not raising that much money. I think he feels part of this is he also feels emboldened to speak out so much, I think, because the calculus is that he might not run for reelection. He doesn't have a lot of support. Obviously, there's a, there's a frosty relationship between him and Josh Shapiro. And you already have folks chomping at the bit like Conor Lambton for a rematch, Brandon Boyle, others that might run for that seat.
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I'm sorry to interrupt your question, Larry, but I'm virtually certain he's not going to run.
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Yeah.
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Okay. So Gavin Newsom said this thing two nights ago, I think it was third Tuesday night, part of his book tour, suggested Israel, compared Israel to an apartheid state. And even the New York Times noticed this and said Newsom's typically been very supportive of Israel. And is this, they speculated, is this just an attempt to curry favor with the left? John Fetterman did not like it at all and called it out. Here's John Fetterman criticizing Gavin Newsom on News Nation 110, please.
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And that's another truth here about the Democratic Party, we're coming more and more anti Israel. You know, Governor Newsom announced now he just described Israel as an, an apartheid state. I mean, that's a, That's a talking point of the fringe of my party. And that's, that's profoundly disappointing. I mean, I was shocked. I mean, overall, I mean, he might
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be more liberal, but I never thought. He says it's from the fringe, but I would argue that that's something said by lots of Democrats, including the kind of thing that's said by one of the Democratic Party's leading thinkers on national security issues. 1:30, please.
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Well, listen, I think we're seeing this pattern, right? Trump has impulsively. He impulsively went in on Venezuela. He impulsively went in on Iran. There was no exit and no endgame for either of these situations. It led to increased global instability everywhere he goes. And every time he's done that, it has been consistent with a spike or a revelation in what is happening with the Epstein files. I don't think that that coincidence is
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D
something to dismiss off the cuff.
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I think that he feels existentially tied to it. And I actually think that it is one reason that he must be removed from office. Because if this has, that if the Epstein files has such a hold on President Trump and this administration that they are willing to plunge us and risk world war in order to save themselves politically, that is a person, the definition of someone that cannot make objective decisions
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for the American people. Larry, I think in the end, Democratic criticism of the war and of the president and of Republicans will not be. Epstein will not be Israel. It will be. He's focused on a foreign war that's costing us a lot of money when. And raising our gas prices. When he said he'd focus on affordability. What do you think of these various Democratic. That would be the smart approach, for sure.
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C
Yeah. But what stuck out to me, other than the impeccable pronunciation of Venezuela, was saying that, too, was the fact that she says this is why he needs to be removed from office. I mean, listen, one of the most effective arguments for the Republicans in the midterms is that if you give them the gavel, it will be nothing but impeachment, impeachment for two years if you really want Congress to do something. And so. And she's not hiding it. That is the fact of the matter. You don't remove a president because you disagree with his foreign policy or national security. How it factors in, in terms of, of the. Whether it is fringe or not to, To Outwardly and align yourself with people who are at the most generous way, anti Israel and frankly, in my opinion, for the most part, anti Semitic. We shall see. Gavin Newsom is actually doing a podcast in New Hampshire this week with a guy who has been. There's no other way to describe it but anti Semitic. And will this be a sister soldier moment, or is this where the mainstream of the party is? Now? I know that MAGA has their own, you know, concerns here and soft spots, and people will point to Tucker Carlson, they will point to other podcasters. They're not the governor of California and they're not the leading candidates for the. For the nomination for president. We are not the same on this.
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B
Yeah. No one can tell how the midterms are going to be affected by the war. Nobody. If you. On the current trajectory, it could go either way. It could be a huge victory that people rally around Republican support for the war and punish Democrats for opposing it, or it could raise gas prices and lead to, you know, a quagmire. Nobody knows. What we do know, ladies and gentlemen, as a snapshot of where we are right now in the polling, Republicans will lose a lot of seats in the House and. And today, I think would lose the Senate, not Texas, but they'd lose Iowa and Ohio. They would. Today. They would. Today, based on the polling that I've seen, they would. Now, there's plenty of time. Things could change, but right now it would be. It would be a wipeout, based on what I read. Okay. And the Texas results, people are focusing on the high turnout on the Democratic side, which is not nothing, although it's not just positive. Kevin, the bigger thing that people are talking to me about, it's the Hispanic vote, that the Hispanic vote is overwhelmingly back with the Democrats. And of course, Texas is a big Hispanic state. But ladies and gentlemen, just as every state is an ag state and every state is a big marijuana state, every state's a big Hispanic vote state now. Every state. And so, Kevin, are you hearing what I'm hearing? Are you seeing what I'm seeing? That right now? Right now is a snapshot. Republicans are in a lot of trouble for the midterms.
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A
They are. And you look at the numbers. I mean, the Hispanic vote turnout has more than nearly doubled since four years ago in the last primary that we had. And it's notable that you didn't have a leading Hispanic on the ballot for this primary. It was between a black woman and a white man. So to see that level of engagement, I think, is giving Democrats a lot of hope, obviously, too, giving us a lot of hope down the ballot in those congressional districts that were drawn on the strong numbers that the president posted with Hispanics for 2024. And the fact that so many of those lines were drawn around those population centers based on their turnout for the president, I think is also giving Democrats some hope that of those five seats that the president demanded, they're going to be competitive for Democrats if we field the right candidates.
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B
Larry, are you worried about the midterms for the Republicans?
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C
I'm worried about the House. I've said, I mean, listen, historically, if the Republicans don't lose the majority in the House, that would be historically an aberration.
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A
Of course, it would be huge if they don't. It would be huge.
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B
But again, we're going, we're, we're going from plus seven now to plus three, 30 potentially.
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C
I don't see that. Again, I want to see what the final map looks like, but I don't see that Virginia is still a question as to whether that redistricting is going
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B
to end the voting and the Voting Rights act and the Voting Rights.
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A
And the Voting Rights Act.
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C
I push back more on the notion of the Senate. Kevin? Ken, can do you see the Democrats winning the majority in the Senate without winning Texas, Iowa and Ohio?
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D
No.
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B
Well, they mathematically, they can't. They got to win two of those. But I think they'll win two of yes today.
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C
I don't, I don't, I don't think
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B
they'd win two of those today. They would today.
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A
And news out of, news out of Montana, too. I mean, we've got a strong independent candidate that announced.
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B
Let's talk about, let's talk about Montana. We should have showed it yesterday, but we just didn't have time. There's this independent candidate, as Kevin said in Montana, incredible resume. Seems like a very skilled guy. And now the Republicans have done this, this insider switcheroo. The in the incumbent, Mr. Danes announced at the very last second before the filing closed that he wasn't running. And they, and they put in a candidate who magically got the endorsement of Trump and Danes right away. But it opens the door to the messaging for the independent. Democrats have to decide whether to run their own candidate or to support the independent. But it opens the door to the independent's message being the insiders are trying to steal the seat. Right. So I wouldn't go into great detail. Here's the headline for Politico. Danes announces he will not seek reelection Again. It was an inside job. He basically Said within hours I'm going to pick my successor by not letting anybody else know they need to file. There's some other Republicans on the ballot, but the handpicked guy is going to be the nominee. Quickly, what is the if we'll do it. McLaughlin. 0 meaning no chance and 10 meaning ontological certitude. What is the chance that Republicans hold this seat? Larry o'. Connor,
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C
Seven.
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B
Seven seems low.
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Kevin, you took my two points on Iran and now you're taking. I was going to say seven, too. That the GOP holds a secret. The guy that they're running. The U.S. attorney has never run for anything before.
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B
The correct answer is nine.
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C
Wow.
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B
Nine. He's never run, but doesn't matter. It's Montana.
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C
If, if this independent candidate, if he had known what was going we're going to happen, would he have won? Run as a Republican? Is he that kind of independent or is he an independent who's actually a Democrat?
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B
He's kind of a. He's kind of a blank slate.
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A
Yeah, blank slate. He was teasing this run two months ago. I think as well that he wanted to do this as an independent. His own guy, Green.
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C
Beren, let me ask you another way.
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President of the University.
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C
If he wins, who will he caucus with?
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B
The Democrats, I think. And I think. And I think the Democrats are going to support him. All right. Texas Senate. We could talk about this one for an hour. The president yesterday on Truth Social said he was going to endorse in the race and the other person should get out. One of the candidates says he ain't getting out even if he doesn't win the president's endorsement. That would be Mr. Paxson. 119, please
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C
send to the Republican base state. President Trump said he's going to make an endorsement. Whoever he does endorse should drop out. I have a funny feeling you don't drop out under any circumstance.
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A
No, I understand this race. I owe it to the people of Texas. I've spent a year of my life campaigning against John Cornyn because John has not represented the people of Texas well. He sided with Joe Biden on Second Amendment restrictions, sided with Joe Biden on bringing Afghan refugees to settle here with without vetting them. But he's been against Trump in both of his elections, said he shouldn't run last time that his day had passed. And of course, he fought him on the border wall. He's been an amnesty guy. Everything that Trump stood for, John Cornyn's fought. But he was a big help to Joe Biden. The People of Texas, at least the Republicans would like something different.
- [28:25]
B
All right, pop up Fox right now because Karl Rove, the primary architect of Republicans 40 year dominance of statewide races in Texas is on live. Let's see, talking about this. Let's see what Carl says.
- [28:40]
C
Does he have his whiteboard,
- [28:44]
B
his cowboy hat?
- [28:45]
A
Yeah.
- [28:45]
C
No cowboy hat in Collin County.
- [28:49]
A
Presidential election results in Texas from last time around, Trump was up 13.7%. So I've always said that
- [28:58]
D
Texas is
- [28:59]
B
fool's gold for Democrats.
- [29:00]
A
But do you think it could be different if because Tall Rico won on the Democratic side, does it matter this year? Do the Democrats actually have a chance?
- [29:11]
B
I know they're going to say that
- [29:12]
A
they do, but just from a raw numbers standpoint, do you see that possibility?
- [29:16]
C
Well, if Cornyn is the nominee, no.
- [29:19]
A
But if it's Paxton with all the
- [29:21]
C
baggage that he's got, the Democrats look,
- [29:22]
A
George Soros is spending millions of dollars
- [29:25]
B
a year and building the. That's Carl's position. And that Carl's position is the establishment position. Close ranks around Cornyn. He'll be the nominee and Republicans won't have to spend a lot of money to hold the seat. So first question, will Trump endorse Cornyn? Larry?
- [29:45]
C
Only if he gets the Save act through the Senate as a barter. Honestly, I just, I just don't.
- [29:52]
B
Do you think he'll endorse Paxton or you think even though he put on Truth Social, he was going to endorse? He won't endorse. The backlash online has been tremendous. Maga. Maga. And I've heard, and I've heard from a ton of grassroots Texans who say Trump better not do this. But if Trump endorses him, Larry, he's going to be the nominee. MAGA can eat it.
- [30:10]
C
Maybe, maybe not.
- [30:12]
B
Probably.
- [30:12]
C
I'll tell you this, I had not heard that sound bite of Ken Paxton. I've interviewed the Attorney General multiple times. Usually it's radio, so I can only hear him. There was something in his voice there that sounded pretty, pretty dispirited. More disputed than I expected to hear, actually.
- [30:27]
B
Yes. Team Paxton thinks they're going to endorse Trump. So you're not sure Trump's going to endorse Kevin?
- [30:33]
C
I'm, I'm not.
- [30:34]
B
Kevin, do you think Trump's going to endorse Cornyn?
- [30:37]
A
I do think he does. He hasn't been, he hasn't been that vocal on a lot of other races and I think he needs to be.
- [30:45]
B
If Trump endorses Cornyn, will Paxton get out? Kevin no.
- [30:50]
A
And again, let's not forget that the runoff electorate is smaller and much more conservative, too, which plays it to Pax and Base.
- [30:57]
B
But he can't. He can't. He can't win if Trump endorses Pax and the run.
- [31:00]
C
Well, let's see, there's intangibles. The runoff, by the way, happens the day after Memorial Day, which is, I think, throws a wrinkle in there. I don't know who that favors in terms of organization and get out the vote. But I gotta tell you, when you get Karl Rove up there telling you who can win and who can't, it becomes so exhausting to so many of us when. And with all due respect to Mr. Rove, I understand he's a magician, but these are all the same people who told me that Donald Trump could Never win in 2016 with all of his baggage.
- [31:25]
B
And that's got to be.
- [31:27]
C
That's got to be something. Ken Paxton is going to hang on
- [31:29]
B
the establishment and Chris La Civita want Trump to endorse Cornyn. The logic of the polling says Trump should endorse Cornyn. I believe Trump will endorse Cornyn and Paxton will get out.
- [31:40]
A
And, Mark, you made the point to Cornyn's electoral performance in the first primary, too.
- [31:45]
B
Yeah, yeah.
- [31:46]
A
Is a boon to that. Make that argument to that you didn't get wiped out by four or five points.
- [31:50]
C
Compelling argument. The only compelling argument is if they continue, they keep boosting James Talarico, saying he's so dangerous. I don't see the. There, there.
- [31:59]
B
Yeah.
- [31:59]
C
I think whoever gets the nomination, whether it's Paxton or Cornyn, wins this thing.
- [32:03]
B
I do. I do, too. But they'd have to spend tens of millions if it's Paxton, if it's Cornyn, they won't.
- [32:08]
D
No.
- [32:09]
C
Corn is going to have to spend tens of millions to beat Paxton.
- [32:12]
B
Right.
- [32:13]
D
Yeah.
- [32:13]
B
Right. I think he's going to get it all right. Secretary Noem had two rough days on Capitol Hill, not just with Democrats, but with a few Republicans, including Senator Kennedy, who's not Senator Tillis. And Punchbowl this morning is reporting this, that Donald Trump is calling a Hill and asking around what he should do about it. Here's what they write. News. President Trump has been surveying Hill Republicans on whether he should fire Kristi Noem, according to multiple Republicans who have spoken with the president. Now, Trump has done this before about other cabinet members, including Kristi Noemi. Not fired anybody. And I don't get any indication that she wants to go. Larry, will this time be different.
- [32:55]
C
I think I predicted a couple of weeks ago that she'd be gone by June and it would be handled. It would look like it was her idea. And maybe we're seeing the new Secretary of Homeland Security, Ken Paxton, being brought in. I don't know. Let's.
- [33:07]
B
Kevin, is she gone?
- [33:09]
A
No, I don't think so. He, again, we talked about this before. He. The big lesson he learned from Trump round one is don't respond to outside pressure, keep his cabinet in place. And it's not an easy up. It'll be an uphill battle to replace her, too, in the Senate. And it's the whole focus on ice and protocols and all that during the hearing for whoever's next. I don't think he actually does it.
- [33:31]
C
I think you're making the argument why it's going to happen by June or a little earlier because you cannot risk it being too close to the midterm elections because after the midterms, it gets even that much harder.
- [33:41]
B
Yeah, I think, I wonder if he's got a candidate in mind or, or
- [33:44]
A
in the lame duck, you know, after the, you know.
- [33:46]
B
Yeah, after the election. Just, just quickly show this. We don't need to talk about it. One more topic to talk about and then, and then to your question. So please raise your hand if you want in. New Emerson poll out of Georgia 128. They pulled the governor's race and that businessman candidate is now tied for first place in the Republican governor's race. Interesting. But here's the Ossoff numbers against all three potential Republicans. And he's close to 50. And, and, but this is closer than I thought it would be. All three of them are. Well, Dooley is down eight, but the other two are within the margin of error. Guys, did these numbers surprise you? Do you think Ossoff would be doing better? It's Georgia, So this is actually about as good as he could be doing at this point.
- [34:30]
C
Yeah. No, it doesn't surprise me. I think all of the hysteria and excitement about Ossoff is a Manhattan, D.C. phenomenon in Georgia. He's, he's still a Democrat.
- [34:39]
B
Yeah, Kevin.
- [34:40]
A
And he's, and to Larry's point, he's taking some hard votes, too, just right now in the war powers vote. He's not really, he has been consistent in his beliefs and not taken what would be the easy route for the general election on some of these issues. Interestingly enough, too, this is another race that the president has not engaged on. He was just in Georgia not too long ago and was asked about weighing in on on this race and for whatever reason has decided not to. And I think the election's in two months or so. I think it's in May with 40% of that electorate. When you go farther down in that poll being undecided on the Republican side, the president could really weigh in and shift this narrative completely. Taking the fight to Ossoff early on and rallying behind one particular candidate. I'm surprised that he hasn't.
- [35:25]
B
Yeah. The Wall Street Journal. One more matter. The 2028 Rahm Emanuel. The Wall Street Journal lets Rahm write op ed pieces for them, even though he also writes for the Washington Post. The the editorial page has done like a profile of them. There's been at least one previous news section profile today, yet another favorable profile of Rahm in The Wall Street Journal 126 covering John McCormick, very good reporter. I worked with him at Bloomberg, went to Michigan with Rahm. Look at that picture. Right.
- [35:52]
C
For the I want that photographer.
- [35:54]
B
For those of you for those of you listening on Sirius XM Radio or on the podcast version, it's Rahm is Greek God. I mean, there's just, I don't know
- [36:02]
A
if that's already rested. Look at that.
- [36:04]
B
Look at that tan. He's got ties a little ties a little long for my taste. That's like longer than Trump's, but it looks good. Here's the headline. Rahm Emanuel floods Democrats with Criticism and Ideas. Will his party listen? I mean, it was not paid for by the Emanuel campaign, but it might as well have been. Is very favorable coverage and he gets lots of sound positive everywhere I go, rich Democrats who want a nominee who's electable. I still think he'll have trouble getting the nomination. Kevin, where are you on Rom 28 at this point? Is he a legitimate candidate who will get in the debates and wow everybody, or is this all just a establishment mirage?
- [36:40]
A
No, I think, I think the previous I think he is a legitimate candidate. He's, he's the only one out there being totally transparent that he wants to run and is out there in these different communities. The piece says he's got little, a little advanced team before him at these events. He's talking about Votech. He's talking about social media and kids and can be the kind of the intellectual person on some of these issues. And again, he's got nothing to lose and he's out there three years in advance. You know, the Jimmy Carter of not comparing policy positions, but the Jimmy Carter of this where he's actually building some momentum.
- [37:19]
B
Larry, you take Rom 28 seriously.
- [37:22]
C
First of all, I want everyone who's just listening to know that we just saw a very vigorous shake of a protein drink from Mark Halpern there.
- [37:29]
B
Non dairy, almond milk, vanilla almond milk, dates vanilla, sea salt.
- [37:32]
C
That was aggressive, that shake.
- [37:33]
B
Gotta mix it up, dude. Gotta mix it up.
- [37:36]
C
I think on paper and on policy and on temperament, Rahm Emanuel is the most dangerous candidate Democrats could face or excuse me, Republicans could face in a general in 2028. But I, I'm constantly telling my audience, if you want to know who the nominee is, look at who the DNC chooses as the states at the priority for the early states in the primaries. And my question to Kevin is, of all the states that are in contention right now for the early primary voting for the Democrats, which of those states could Rahm Emanuel win?
- [38:05]
A
South Carolina again? Chief of staff, the first black president. You know, I think he, I think he plays pretty well there.
- [38:13]
B
We can't rule out that Obama and or Clinton endorse him. We can't rule it out. I don't think it'll happen, but we can't rule it out. And I think to Kevin's point, that would make a big deal in South Carolina. And if Harris, if Harris doesn't run, there's no, there's nobody who's got a hold on the black vote of all these candidates. Not one person. So. All right, quick word from sponsor and then to your questions, please raise your hand. I don't read the chat, but I glance at it. If you think drinking almond milk is too much sugar, you should be glad I'm not having Goo Goo Clusters for breakfast. I mean, yeah, there's some sugar in there, but it's natural sugar. Folks. I'm not going to eliminate natural sugar from my diet.
- [38:47]
C
They worry.
- [38:48]
B
They're just, I'm not going to eliminate natural sugar. Just I got to do it. All right. Speaking of eating healthy, here's an opportunity for you to subscribe to this get the subscription service that delivers fresh, fully cooked dietitian designed meals that are ready to eat and eat in minutes, eliminating grocery shopping and cooking. This is from our friends at Factor meals. Go to FactorMeals.com two way 50 off, 50% off your first Factor box, plus free breakfast for a year. And again, just to give you an idea how this works, you subscribe, shows up at your house, you put them in the fridge, unpack them, put them in the fridge. They're very carefully labeled healthy. There's real vegetables. They are in Fact. No refined sugars, no artificial sweeteners, no seed oils. Then when you're hungry for dinner or breakfast, whatever meal you buy, take them out, unpack them. Follow the simple directions, microwave or oven, two or three minutes. Take off the the top layer of whatever it is, eat them and then throw the stuff away. No shopping, no cleaning, no balancing whether you're eating healthy enough or not. No reading other labels. It's all healthy. Go to factor meals.com right now. Factor meals.com two way 50 off for 50% off your first pack factor box plus free breakfast for a year. I recommend you try it. You may not like it, but you might. And I'd give it a try.
- [40:05]
A
This is it.
- [40:06]
C
The world as you know it is over. Completely done. It's not about to be over. It's over.
- [40:13]
B
Some of the scientists who helped build AI are now sounding the alarm.
- [40:18]
A
I was selling AI as a great
- [40:21]
C
thing for decades and I was wrong. I was wrong. There is a longer term existential threat
- [40:28]
A
that will arise when we create digital
- [40:30]
B
beings that are more intelligent than ourselves.
- [40:34]
C
We have no idea whether we can stay in control. While others say that AI will usher
- [40:38]
B
in unfathomable abundance, I've always believed that
- [40:41]
A
it's going to be the most important invention that humanity will ever make.
- [40:45]
C
This really will be a world of abundance.
- [40:48]
B
And among these fears and these fantasies,
- [40:51]
C
we seek the story of our future.
- [40:53]
B
Listen to the last invention on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. And what you should also give a try, ladies and gentlemen, is Cozyearth. Cozyearth.com will give members of our community 20% off. 20% off with the promo code morning to buy some stuff for yourself or your family. Whether it's the pants, the bubble cuddle blanket, the sheets, the towels, it's all great. It's all 20% off. And it's all worth a try. If you're looking to refresh stuff in your life, looking for a gift for somebody. Or of course, if your pets need a bubble cuddle blanket, which they do. If you haven't bought one yet, there's some possibility. I need to warn you that the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will come to your home if you don't have a bubble cuddle blanket there. I can't rule it out. So I'm just urging you now. Go to code0.com, use the promo code two way. Sorry. Morning. Promo code morning. 20% off everything on the site. I am wearing my cozy earth pants today. I wore them on the subway to get here to the studio. I can't say that's why I was being stared at on the subway. It could be because I was drinking an almond milk, but it could also been because the pants. Don't take the risk passing up the opportunity. Go to cozy earth.com promo code morning. 20% off in the post purchase survey. Say my dog told me I needed to come to the website. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
- [42:12]
C
There it is, Kevin. Kevin wins the pool. It's Cozy Earth pants from the waist down for Mark today.
- [42:17]
B
Yeah. Hi, I'm Jim. I'm not an actor, just a guy
- [42:21]
A
living with prostate cancer.
- [42:22]
B
My wife and I face each day head on. We asked my doctor about xtandi. Enzalutamide.
- [42:29]
C
Xtandi, 40 milligram tablets, treats men with prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of the body and responds to a medical or surgical treatment to lower testosterone. Xtandi may cause serious side seizure, a brain condition called press allergic reactions, heart disease that can lead to death, falls and bone fractures, swallowing problems or choking that can lead to death. Stop Xtandi and get medical help at once. If your face, tongue, lip or throat start swelling, tell your doctor at once. If you faint, have a seizure, quickly worsening headache, decreased alertness, confusion, vision problems, chest pain or discomfort or shortness of breath, Xtandi can cause harm to an unborn baby or miscarriage. Use birth control during and three months after Xtandi. Common side effects include muscle and joint pain, feeling unusually tired, hot flashes, constipation, less appetite, diarrhea, high blood pressure, bleeding, falls, fractures and headache.
- [43:15]
B
Visit xtandi.com to watch my story. Ladies and gentlemen, how about it?
- [43:20]
A
Still a family show. We got to keep the cameras up here.
- [43:22]
B
Ladies and gentlemen, time for your participation. I bring you in, you unmute, you tell us where you are, you ask your question, and then you revel in the satisfaction of having the thrill of a lifetime. To speak to Larry and Kevin. And we start with Mindy. Mindy. Mindy. Mindy. Welcome in.
- [43:37]
A
Hi, Good morning. I'm in Jackson, New Jersey.
- [43:41]
C
So my question is about the war.
- [43:43]
A
New Jersey. Yeah. My question is about the war.
- [43:46]
C
So I was a baby by 9, 11.
- [43:49]
A
I don't have any memories of Afghanistan, Iraq. And I've been hearing a lot of
- [43:52]
C
comparisons in both directions.
- [43:54]
A
You hear the administration pushing back and saying, this is not Iraq.
- [43:57]
C
We're not going to be there for a long time. And then you hear people in the commentary saying, this is exactly what they said at the beginning of Iraq.
- [44:04]
A
They said it wasn't going to take
- [44:05]
B
a long time and now it is.
- [44:06]
C
So my question is, what comparisons or
- [44:09]
A
similarities do you see between now and the start of the Iraq war? And what differences do you see or can you predict the way that this will play out?
- [44:19]
B
Mindy, that's brilliant. And you speak for tens of millions wondering about that exact thing, including, as you point out, younger people who don't have the real time fingertip feel for how it went. So thank you for that. Larry, please go into your PhD mode and explain to Mindy similarities and differences
- [44:34]
C
a couple of different and I am old enough and I have children your age, Mindy, so thank you for giving me the opportunity. A couple of huge differences. First of all, the engagement with Iraq involved, I believe, 200,000 ground troops that were employed there because the intent was not just to depose the leadership there, but then to be the stabilizing force for the transition to a new leadership. That doesn't seem to be the case here. We certainly don't have that amount of ground troops poised on the border of Iran. There may be a few thousand ground troops on those ships waiting to hit the shores if they need to for very specific targeted missions. Number one, that's a big part of it. Number two, you're wrong when people say that they told us Iraq wouldn't take long, but then it did. It depends on what the it is. If the it is neutralizing the threat to America and her allies and getting rid of the leadership, that didn't take long in Iraq. What took long was then the decision to be a permanent security force in that space. That took a long time. And I don't think there's any indication from the Trump administration that that's part of this plan. And number three, and I think most importantly, what really ended up being the bloodiest part of the Iraq engagement that really hurt us over the years and decades was the fact that Iran and the terrorist regime in Iran started creating IEDs, roadside bombs and sending their forces and supplying the terrorists in Iraq. One great thing about the effort in Iran is going to be that we won't have Iran on the other side of the border meddling in the process. That's, that's a big part of it. The coalition of Arab nations here is much stronger, and Iran is going to be neutralized. And Iran has been the problem in the region. So that's, that will be the argument that the Trump administration will make.
- [46:25]
B
Larry, that was brilliant. Mindy, I want to give you a chance to follow up with Larry And I wanted to let Kevin weigh in, but I want to sample Secretary of War Hegseth is speaking in Florida. This trip was not announced. At least I didn't know about it. Let's see what he's saying in Doral
- [46:40]
C
abandoned the simple wisdom of the Monroe Doctrine.
- [46:45]
A
They were consumed with the United States only going abroad. They ignored the warnings of President John Quincy Adams, who said that if our nation went overseas only in search of
- [46:55]
C
monsters to destroy, that we would cease
- [46:58]
A
to be the ruler of our own
- [46:59]
C
spirit and our own backyard.
- [47:03]
B
Under previous leaders, we grew obsessed with
- [47:05]
C
every other theater and every other border in the world except our own. These elites reduced our power and presence in this hemisphere, opting for a benign neglect that we.
- [47:18]
B
Okay, we'll keep moderating. Seems like kind of a step back speech about American policy. We'll learn more about it. Full coverage on two way tonight. Mindy, anything you want to follow up with Larry on, on his answer to your question?
- [47:30]
A
Yeah, just as far as the goals of the administration here as it compares to Iraq, would you say that regime
- [47:36]
C
change is probably not on the list
- [47:39]
A
of let's say there are four goals, which is like no nukes, no missiles,
- [47:42]
C
no navy, and more about neutralizing the threat and less about regime change in
- [47:47]
A
this, in this situation as opposed to Iraq.
- [47:50]
C
Yeah. So again, there's the party line answer to your question and I think the reality answer. I'll give you the reality answer. Even if it wasn't a specific goal of this military strike to have regime change, our military will not disengage and we won't be satisfied until there is a regime change. Whether we're instituting that or whether and controlling it or not, I think is the secondary question. But I don't see our the Trump administration disengaging from this if we're just going to have a new round of mullahs choosing a supreme leader who will then institute a terrorist state. Once again, that by definition means there needs to be regime change. So I know it's sort of a political nuanced answer, but that's the they're going to say, no, our goal wasn't regime change, but they're not going to be satisfied unless there is regime change.
- [48:44]
B
Thank you, Larry. Kevin, anything you want to add?
- [48:46]
A
Yeah, Mindy, it's a great question. I think, you know, the size and scale of this is is different too. And we've got to remember this is a country that's massively massive compared to Iraq. Right. 93 million Iranians, a geographic area twice the Size of Texas. And I think in the coming days, to Larry's point, you know, one of the comparisons to Iraq was we obviously went in there, took out Saddam, took some time to find him, but then also took out his entire government. Right, so. And fired the entire military. Right. So that was, I think, a big mistake on our part because Iraqis had relied on this government similar to what we see in Venezuela. We just took out one individual and left the government in place. The question in the coming weeks will be what, where is the pain point for this administration? What do they agree to? Okay, we've stopped the nuclear thing, we've stopped the missile thing, we've taken out the Navy. Are they willing to then deal with some of the moderate elements, if you can even call them that, within the current government, again, a government ruling over 93 million people? Or do we attempt to take out the entire regime from the Ayatollah on down and then what does that look like? Does that look like another Iraq situation where you have a lot of civil servants that have been fired and let go and the infrastructure collapses under it, giving rise to ISIS and other elements within society? So again, I think the shock in all element is similar. No troops on the ground right now as compared to Iraq. But again, where do we come, where do we go from here in terms of the actual running of the government in the weeks and months to come?
- [50:18]
C
If I say Kevin makes a great, a great point here because one of the big strategic errors for the Bush administration at the time was that anyone connected to the Ba'ath Party in Iraq was ineligible to be a part of the new government going forward. And it was a one party state. So that means anybody who had any institutional knowledge, the people running the local
- [50:36]
A
water system were out. You know, any, any. The local utilities were gone. You know, any element of that.
- [50:42]
B
Mindy, you said you're in New Jersey, right?
- [50:44]
C
Yeah.
- [50:45]
B
Michael Granoff, a member of our community. Michael used to live in New Jersey, didn't you?
- [50:49]
D
I grew up in Saddle River, New Jersey and spent 10 years in antenna Fly.
- [50:52]
B
Yeah, but you're not there now. Michael. Tell everybody who don't know where you are, who's there with you.
- [50:57]
C
He's in Stephen Sondheim. Heaven is where he is. Look at those show posters behind him.
- [51:02]
D
Every one of them signed Larry.
- [51:05]
C
I'm jealous.
- [51:05]
B
Yeah. Michael no longer lives in New Jersey. Michael and his family live in Israel, in Tel Aviv area. And Michael spent most much of the last five days in the family bunker. But now right over my shoulder there. Yeah. But Michael's come back up. Michael, just share with us what's going on. How much time in the bunker in the last 24 hours? What? How much daily life is going on in Tel Aviv these days?
- [51:28]
D
Yeah, sure. So in the last 24 hours, we had two sirens in the middle of the night last night coming pretty close together, pretty annoying. And then we've had two so far today, including one that just. Just wrapped up a minute before I signed on here. So that's fewer than we had in the first day, for sure. But, you know, as far as I've been, you know, conducting my business as normal from here, everybody, I think, is trying to make life as normal as they can. Kids are in school on Zoom for the most part, as I understand it. My kids are all alarming age. But every time we put on the local news, as we do usually when we go into the shelter, they have a shot that comes from one of the underground garages in Tel Aviv that serve as shelters. And the mood is actually very upbeat when I talk to people, people having a good time. There was a wedding the other night in one of them. So people are coping fine with it. We all would like to see it end soon, obviously, but we all understand that this was a threat that was hanging over us for so long and was becoming intolerable to continue to live with. So I think, you know, we're going on with life as normally as we can under the circumstances.
- [52:53]
B
Two more quick questions for me. Then Kevin, Larry and Mindy will all have an opportunity to ask you questions. Are restaurants and stores open?
- [53:01]
D
You know, it's a good question. As of yesterday, definitely not. They just today reduced the restrictions a bit, and I don't know if that means that they're open now, but, for example, I think gatherings as of yesterday were limited to about 15, and now it's up to 50. So I think probably more. More things are opening up. And I did. I have pretty much been home since Friday, but one of my sons who's involved in the war effort got a few hours to come home and take a nap yesterday, and I drove him back to his base. And streets are pretty empty, pretty empty in this country.
- [53:41]
B
There's critics of the president who say he's not communicated enough. How much are you seeing Netanyahu day to day, speaking about the goals of the war, the status of the operation, when it might end?
- [53:53]
D
Very little. It's said that Netanyahu speaks more to the Western media than he does to the local media.
- [53:59]
B
And.
- [53:59]
D
And I think it's actually true. And really that's been for many things that I can credit him with over the last few years. Communicating to the Australian public is not one of those things. He really has not spoken to local media that much, and he gave one sort of with the equivalent of the Oval Office address as the war began. But I don't think he has done so since.
- [54:26]
B
Kevin.
- [54:27]
A
Michael, stay safe. Continue to stay safe. And we're thinking about your son, too, in harm's way. Question, and you brought this up at the outset. Does it appear to you in Tel Aviv specifically that the missile attacks have lessened over the last couple of since the war started six days ago, that those alerts are down? We talked about this at the beginning of the show. Has that effort from Iran to respond lessened?
- [54:53]
D
So I definitely as lessened the first day. It was fairly constant that we were in there. But I think even more significantly, if you go back to the June war in the last few days, they had some hits that were clearly very specifically targeted. One that, you know, that the at the Weissman Institute of Science, where, you know, they took out a lab there and one in a hospital in the south, and there were a couple others as well. And it seems to me that we've had a couple of tragedies where people have died, but those have been fairly random, unlucky direct hits on shelters. And it doesn't seem as if they have been successful in targeting anything in particular, which is different than at least the last few days of that June war.
- [55:50]
C
Larry Michael, I'd love to talk to you about musical theater someday, but this is more important.
- [55:55]
B
You would? As a matter of fact, I'm sure I would.
- [55:58]
D
Mark will make that happen.
- [55:59]
B
Yeah.
- [56:00]
C
I hear a lot of criticism here in the States, and my guess is very much so in Mindy's sphere of influence right now, that Trump only did this, Rubio only did this, that we're only engaged in this at the behest of Israel, that this is really Israel's war that we got dragged into? How would you respond to that?
- [56:22]
D
Well, when I was 10 years old, I remember when the hostages were taken, the 52 hostages taken in the American Embassy in Tehran. I remember the 444 days. And from that time to the present, Iranians, this regime has targeted Americans, whether it be in Lebanon or in Iraq or in terrorist attacks elsewhere. The thing that is most important to understand, I find that it's hard. And I grew up in a secular American environment, and it took me a long time to understand that These religiously motivated political leaders actually mean what they say. So when they talk, death to America, death to Israel, it's not a slogan, it's a goal. And, you know, it was actually the number one thing that they invested in throughout the entire regime was trying to destroy Israel and the United States, not in their water systems, which are completely in collapse, not in any aspect of their economy. And it's hard for us to get our heads around, but that is the theology. Was. Was the driver in this. In this regime. And, you know, so was there an imminent threat to America? Probably not an imminent threat, but think about this. They have a ballistic missile program that, as I can attest, is fairly robust. And how. How much does it take to go from having a ballistic missile program to having an intercontinental ballistic program? You might say, well, it takes a lot. But in this age of AI where all knowledge will be dispersed and impossible to contain, how long really would it take them? Another two years, five years? Where's the point at which you say, now there's a threat that we can't resist? And we all know what happened in North Korea where people didn't act, and now it's impossible to act, and the poor people of North Korea are starved and impoverished, and we have it hanging over our heads that they. They could act on Seoul or Tokyo or something like that. So I think if we go back in time, action should have been taken there. I think that that regime and the Islamic Republic, the fact that it's lasted for 47 years, is actually a stain on the conscience of humanity. And so I am very gratified that action has been taken. I really hope that the people of Iran are able to come and take their country back over and that we're able to. To create prosperity in the region.
- [59:01]
B
Mindy, quick question for your fellow Garden Stater, if you have one.
- [59:04]
C
Yeah.
- [59:05]
A
What would you say is the general sentiment amongst Israelis and the Israeli media? Are they expressing gratitude that the US Joined in?
- [59:12]
B
Is there a sense like we could
- [59:14]
C
have done this on our own?
- [59:16]
A
How do people support the war? Obviously, here there's a large discussion if it was necessary.
- [59:21]
B
What's the general attitude there?
- [59:24]
D
Everybody supports the war on the political spectrum from left to right, and I haven't met anybody that doesn't support it because we understand what was at stake back in June when we operated alone for 11 days. And I remember I was on with Mark, and I said that there was actually a split into whether people wanted the US to join or not because it's kind of unprecedented. We defend ourselves and we're very proud of that here. You know, in this case it's different because, you know, President Trump saw them slaughter 30, 40,000 young people in the streets over two days, January 8th and 9th. And he said, I think that was just too much for him to take. And he said, help is on the way. And then, you know, I guess it took some time to put the pieces in place but it turned out he meant what he said. And so I, you know, obviously in this, you know, I've, I've talked to a lot of young people over the last months and this is true in general. But you know, more, more so in recent months who are involved in, in, in the army and the cooperation between the US Military and the IDF is just like on another level.
- [60:40]
B
I, I need to jump over to SiriusXM. So I'm going to leave you in the capable hands of Kevin and Larry. Mindy, spectacular job. Loved your questions and loved your interviewing. Please come back and guest host when you're available. Michael, all my best to you and the family. Love, love, value our friendship, but love having you part of the two way community. Thank you for coming in. You guys continue. I gotta go. I'll see you over at Sirius XM and then I'll see at 5 o' clock on two way tonight. Over to you, Larry. Have a great day everybody. See you in a moment.
- [61:06]
C
Thanks, Mark. And yes, thank you, Mindy. Mindy, it's true you can guest host and at the same time stay in your lane. Okay. Watching you.
- [61:15]
A
Thank you.
- [61:16]
C
First time joining but it's good experience. Kevin, it's great to have you. This is a technical media term that I'm going to employ here. We have a buttload to promote here on coming up two way platform. I want to start though with Professor Kenny's after show which will be scheduled for 11 o' clock this morning after the SiriusXM extravaganza. So make sure you follow up with Professor Kenny for everybody in the chat to make sure that you can participate in the post show and then what's after that.
- [61:46]
A
And there is a link in that chat to join Professor Kenny and continue the conversation especially for new folks today who've joined us and implore Mindy and others to join Professor Kenny and the whole community on there. And then of course we have the Sirius XM show starting in one minute. Join on there on channel 111. And then we have a new episode of Nextup which drops today. Well, actually the group chat is live today at 4 with Emma Jo Morris, Nia Turner and Robbie Swabby. They'll be joined by co host Democratic commentator Kenny Burgess. Or Burgos. Burgos. And they'll just. Yeah, Burgess, Yeah, he's a good looking guy like that goatee, that beard. So join them today at 4, live at that. And then of course, Larry, do you Want to preview Two Way tonight?
- [62:36]
C
Sure. Two Way tonight is at 5pm and Mark will be joined by the effervescent and stunning Beverly Hallberg. And other special guests will unpack today's events. And you mentioned the new episode of NextUp that drops today. Mark's going to be joined by Bob Crawford, member of the Avett Brothers and author of America's founding love, the Abbott Brothers.
- [62:55]
A
That's a big get. Hopefully he's performing too, not just speaking.
- [62:59]
C
Plus Dr. Ray Scalatar, health policy expert and former American Medical association board chair. So we got that with NextUp. And then finally the Moynihan Report.
- [63:11]
A
Moynihan live at 8pm of course. And Michael will be hosting again another special episode on Iran. So you want to not miss out on that. And then of course, we're back live tomorrow to round out the week at 9am for the morning meeting.
- [63:25]
C
That's right, with winners and losers of the week. I, I've already picked my winner of the week, Kevin. It's, it's a slam dunk. It's a no brainer. Do you, do you have your winner or loser yet? Is it not you?
- [63:35]
A
Is it me?
- [63:35]
C
Not this time. Not this time.
- [63:36]
A
All right. Story of our friendship, you know, always a bridesmaid. Never, never the, never the pick. But I encourage the community to reach out to both of us too. We, I want to hear from everyone else too, winners and losers. So feel free to get in touch with us on social media or on email because I'd love to hear what the community thinks too.
- [63:56]
C
That's right. We are very interactive. I will give you a hint. My winner is related to the Texas primaries, but it might not be who you think. And then finally, I'm live today at noon on my regularly scheduled noon live stream for town hall media. And tomorrow morning, every morning, 5 to 9am on the mighty WMAL. You can stream my radio show every day on WMAL.com all right.
- [64:16]
A
Live from the new studio with that
- [64:18]
C
great backdrop too, the news in your nation's capital. Thank you. Thanks guys.
- [64:24]
A
Love it. Thanks everybody. Have a great day.
- [64:25]
C
Bye.