← The Morning Meeting
The Morning Meeting
Does Kamala Harris' Early Strength Mean Democrats Have Already Lost the 2028 Presidential Election?
01:05:39
Loading summary
Transcript271 lines
- [00:01]
A
This is it. The world as you know it is over. Completely done. It's not about to be over. It's over.
- [00:09]
B
Some of the scientists who helped build AI are now sounding the alarm. I was selling AI as a great thing for decades and I was wrong. I was wrong.
- [00:22]
C
There's a longer term existential threat that will arise when we create digital beings.
- [00:27]
B
That that are more intelligent than ourselves.
- [00:30]
C
We have no idea whether we can stay in control.
- [00:33]
B
While others say that AI will usher in unfathomable abundance, I've always believed that it's going to be the most important invention that humanity will ever make.
- [00:41]
A
This really will be a world of abundance.
- [00:44]
B
And among these fears and these fantasies, we seek the story of our future. Listen to the last invention on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [00:58]
C
Foreign.
- [01:03]
B
Everybody, welcome to the morning meeting. This program for those of you new here. It's based on the Network News division's morning meetings where a bunch of folks sit around a conference room, gather folks from around the world and their bureaus and talk about what's going to happen going forward. We're always forward looking here. We're not talking about things in the past, we're talking about the future. And that's what we'll do today with our guests, co host Kevin Walling, Larry o'. Connor. Gentlemen, thank you for being here.
- [01:30]
A
Yeah, I mean, I don't know about Kevin.
- [01:32]
B
Yeah. Anyway, after we do the daybook and we run through the day's headlines, we'd love your participation. If you've never raised your hand, you know, today is the day to screw up your courage and raise it and ask a question and we'll get to that.
- [01:46]
D
We've had some new folks recently that have been great.
- [01:48]
B
We have had some great new folks and last night on two way tonight we had a new person as well. So please be part of the community in an active way. If you're watching on YouTube, don't put smack in the chat and in fact go to my Twitter feed, learn how to come right here on the two way platform and participate directly. And then again, remember 10:00 Eastern Time, the party continues. The morning meeting on Sirius XM Megyn Kelly, channel 111 join me there. Opportunity to ask questions there as well. And then at 11 o' clock a reminder, my my Joe DiMaggio streak ends appearing with Michael Smerconish. Pretty much every Wednesday at 10:00am Eastern time switches to 11 Eastern time. So be like my mom, spend the next three hours with me or at least two and a half hours here on two way, then on SiriusXM back to back. Thank you for your attention. To that matter, let's, let's get a quick sponsor in here and then right to the daybook. Sorry, I'm pressing a lot of different buttons here. If you don't have life insurance, you should get it and you should get it from Ethos, an online platform that makes getting life insurance easy. Easy. You just go on and answer a few questions, a few health questions. No medical exam required. And before too long, in as little as 10 minutes, you will have life insurance. You owe it to your family. If you don't have life insurance, you owe it to them. Stop what you're doing right now. Don't turn the program off. You obviously have another screen nearby. Type in ethos.commark and you'll get a free quote on life insurance up to $3 million to protect your family in the event something happens to you. They're going to still need to pay the bills, folks. You don't want their lifestyle to have to change dramatically. They'll be sad as it is. Imagine giving up their home, giving up your ability to send your kids to school. Go to Ethos. Yeah, go ahead, Larry. Were you jumping in there?
- [03:32]
A
I wasn't. I didn't see it.
- [03:34]
B
I'm mirroring things. All right.
- [03:35]
A
In your ear.
- [03:36]
B
Yeah, I don't know who that was. It's a Larry impersonator. Anyway, go to ethos.com/mark and sign up. Not a complicated process. And use Ethos to get life insurance. Thank you for your attention that matter.
- [03:49]
A
Fox News is now streaming live on Fox 1. When news breaks, we don't just report it. We go beyond the headlines to get the full story. Get live coverage in depth, analysis and perspectives from the voices you trust all in one place, whether you're at home or on the go. Stay connected to the stories shaping our world. Stream Fox News on Fox 1 download today.
- [04:18]
B
Okay. In the day book today, Caroline Levitt's having a briefing at 1 o'. Clock. Today, 1 o'.
- [04:25]
D
Clock.
- [04:25]
B
Caroline Levitt and we'll talk in a moment about what might come up there. The President himself has a Black History Month reception that's open press and not pool or anybody pre credentialed media. So it'll be interesting to see if there's questions taken. And of course the President and race is a rich topic going back to the Central Park Five and even further back. Yesterday the president warmly embraced Reverend Jackson on social media. We'll see what he does at this reception what kind of questions he get and of course can't ignore the fact that on Dr. King's birthday the President was relatively quiet until late in the day. And he recently posted a somewhat controversial image of the Obamas signing time. Closed press at 4:00 policy meeting 4:30. So we'll be looking on two way tonight at that. We'll treat the Caroline Levitt briefing like it's a pruder. Film the Vice President off of his wide ranging interview with Fox yesterday currently has no public events to our knowledge. House and Senate remain out and the White House and the Democratics in the Senate remain at loggerheads over solving the partial government shutdown. Bradley Bernie Sanders is using the holiday the congressional recess not to spend time with people in Montpelier or Burlington, but 3,000 or so miles away. He's in the City of Angels tonight at the Wiltern Theater in Koreatown, part of his multi day tour through California to rally support for the ballot measure that would levy a levy, levy a levy on billionaires in California. Hakeem Jeffries is in Annapolis today meeting with Governor Moore to talk about the efforts to try to get the Democratic Senate president to redistrict the state to take away the one seat that Republicans have in the U. S House. Lex Les Wexner, longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein who has said very little about his relationship with the dead Epstein allegedly is. Well, yeah, allegedly reported behind closed doors today is giving a deposition to the Congressional House Oversight. The Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. The Republicans really not there for this. I keep reading that's the Democrats only haven't had time to look into that. Governor Shapiro unveils a major economic development initiative to expand Pennsylvania's life sciences sector at 10 o', clock, 1 o' clock Eastern. J.B. pritzker, State of a State address and State of a State and budget address. No, let's make sure we have ample highlights of that please. For two way tonight, Governors Cox of Utah, Stitt of Oklahoma and the aforementioned Wes Moore are sitting down with the host of npr, Steve Inskeep to discuss the state of American democracy and the importance of civil discourse. And Pete Buttigieg who's about to go to New Hampshire for three days. Yes, you heard me. New Hampshire for three days is doing a grassroots supporter call this evening. All right, two gentlemen. Yeah.
- [07:19]
A
Should I crash the Hakeem Jeffries Westmore meeting? It's like three miles from where I'm sitting right now, natch. Okay. Secondly, do you know why they call it The Wiltern Theater there in Koreatown.
- [07:30]
B
That's Korean for a good time.
- [07:32]
A
No, the Wiltern Theater is on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue. Wilton.
- [07:38]
B
What's the capacity?
- [07:39]
D
We love.
- [07:40]
B
Thank you for that, Larry. What's the capacity of that theater?
- [07:42]
D
Anybody?
- [07:43]
A
I want to say the Wilter Wiltern can seat about 2300. It has a third balcony, actually.
- [07:47]
B
Is it possible I went. It's not. I went to a wedding near there, but it couldn't have been there. No one had.
- [07:51]
A
No, you probably went to a wedding near the Wilshire Theater, which is right next to. Right down the street from the. The Pretty Woman Hotel. The Wilshire. Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
- [07:59]
B
Ladies. Ladies and gentlemen, if you need a good weather.
- [08:01]
D
Looking like a true Hollywood liberal.
- [08:05]
B
If you need a good. If you need a good weather read or read out on the City of Angels, look no further than our own Larry O'. Connor. Okay, theaters. Yes, the Caroline briefing at 1:00 o'. Clock. I'm curious. Usually I have a pretty good sense of what my colleagues will ask. I think. I assume there'll be some Iran questions and some Russia questions. But Kevin, what do you think will be on the mind of the Fourth Estate at this brief?
- [08:26]
D
Epstein, certainly Iran, certainly Russia. Obviously some Epstein with, you know, the, the deposition going on today, previewing, maybe the Clintons next week, probably a lot of questions about the President's trip to Georgia tomorrow. And I know we're going to talk about, you know, kind of Susie Wiles convening last night with key cabinet members, but questions on affordability, probably questions on immigration too, reaching new lows for the President in terms of the polling. So probably a whole range of them.
- [08:55]
B
Larry, you think they're done asking about Witkoff and about Tom Barrack, the ambassador to Turkey. You think that topic has been exhausted, or do you think Caroline will get questions about that?
- [09:06]
A
Maybe from the sides, but I think from the front row. I think you're going to hear about Lutnick again and Epstein, and I think you'll have questions about ICE and ICE tactics because those are more gotcha questions that are on our heels.
- [09:19]
B
Yeah, Kevin mentioned my reporting on the meeting last night. The President and. I'm sorry, what? Chief of staff Susie Wiles, the President's pollster, Tony Fabrizio, and James Blair, the deputy Chief of staff for. For politics and a bunch of other stuff. They briefed the Cabinet and the senior advisors to Cabinet members on Capitol Hill. You can read the full details, uh, on, uh, on including what was served, including steak and chicken. Steak and chicken. Yeah, I, I always ask my sources what was served. Politico broke the story last night of the meeting and, and I got a source who was there to, to read out the full thing out for me. It was a Capitol Hill club and Tony Fabrizio said gave them a laundry list of issues that they think are effective. You can read the full details of my reporting on my substack or on my, on my ex account. But one of the people there was Bobby Kennedy. And one of the issues, two of the issues that the pollster Tony Fabrizio said really a breakthrough for voters are price cost of prescription drugs and transparency for health insurance companies. How much, how much they actually pay off claims. You know, all these things that people don't know about. How much do things cost? And I said Bobby Kennedy was one of the cabinet members there. A lot of talk in the last few days about Bobby Kennedy being, and Maha being a huge electoral plus in the midterms. Okay, that's, that's out there and talk that Bobby's going to be active. Interesting then that the Democrats are now in five House races where there's, where there's. Republican incumbents are running an ad making a vice for the Republicans a virtue for the Democrats out of Bobby Kennedy. Here is this ad, cookie cutter versions running in five different races. We're told. This is number 110. Please. He promised to make America healthier. Instead, RFK Jr gutted the FDA, undermining food and medicine safety. And outbreaks of measles and whooping cough are on the rise. I don't think people should be taking.
- [11:27]
A
Advice, medical advice from me.
- [11:29]
B
No kidding. RFK Jr. S conspiracy theories endanger us all. And while he makes us sicker, Congressman Ryan MacKenzie has stood silent. Tell Congressman Mackenzie, do your job and stand up for us. So according to my, my source in the room, Tony Fabrizio identified the following voter groups as the keys to the election. The persuadable voters, besides turning at the base men, moderates, true independents and Hispanic voters. Larry, will Bobby Kennedy and the Trump health agenda via net positive for Republicans or a net negative as Democrats seem to think in the midterms?
- [12:07]
A
I think it's a net positive. I think that the story behind that ad is they're trying to do a preemptive strike and try to tarnish him before he gets out there. And, and there's sort of a psychological aspect of trying to shame all of the people who are on board with the Maha movement to sort of defend themselves. Right. And put them on their heels and put them on the defensive to say, you know, how can you support this if they're doing all of X, Y and Z? So my hunch is that they're trying to sort of throw mud and try to tarnish him and sort of drag him down before he can actually be effective when he gets out on the campaign trail. It might work. I don't think so.
- [12:41]
B
Interesting. Kevin. Net plus or net minus for the Republicans, Bobby and Maha?
- [12:46]
D
I think it's too early to tell. I mean, that is a key group that rallied behind the president. I'm gonna try and take over the show right now. Paul, can we play the video of Kid Rock and Bobby Kennedy working out shirtless together? Maybe that's, maybe that's something to play for later.
- [13:00]
B
But we played, we played it last night on two Way tonight. It's compelling.
- [13:03]
D
It was a wild video.
- [13:06]
B
It's wild.
- [13:07]
D
One of the other interesting things that you reported, though, Mark, too, is the fact that border security is just not a motivating factor anymore. It's kind of a, you know, the, the dog that caught the car, they solved the issue. And it was such a critical issue just a year and a half ago in this election. The fact that it's already gone by the wayside is interesting in terms of Tony's presentation. We'll see.
- [13:25]
A
I mean, it'll take. If I can push back a little. Kevin, I think that it, the message needs to go out there that number one, all of these people who are running for Congress now and the party that's supporting them claim that there wasn't a border crisis in the first place or tried to pretend like there wasn't a problem. And if you put them back into power, it's going to make it that much harder for Trump to continue to keep that border secure. So I still think that plays in, I think maybe a victim of their own system.
- [13:51]
D
I think, I think they solved the issue. Yeah. And people generally moved on and people set short memories. I mean, that's why, that's why in Rasmussen, Biden's polling, 8 points better than the incumbent president right now, you're counting on short memories.
- [14:04]
B
My, my regular reminder that all elections are about both persuasion and turnout. This false thing that some of my colleagues say, oh, this is just about turnout, or this is just about persuasion. Every election is both. There's no doubt that Maha inspires not just the Republican base, but appeals to a lot of independents. And the part of Bobby Kennedy, it's like that. But Bobby Kennedy, it contains multitudes and his positions on some of the issues highlighted in that Democratic ad I don't think are popular. I don't think they do test well. Things like vaccines and some of the stuff featured there. So it's interesting. Kennedy I think will inspire both bases to turn out. And then I think the question is on the persuadables is, you know, anti processed food, etc. Is that more powerful as a persuasion tool than some of the stuff you see in that ad? We shall see.
- [14:54]
D
Iran.
- [14:56]
B
This is a strange thing, you know, as John McLaughlin would say, item talks end in Geneva with optimistic words from both sides were about a two week break to continue to work things out. Here's the New York Times. The New York Times has exclusive reporting on this buried in their story. I read 100 stories about the talks. I looked at all the public readouts and here's what the New York Times reports under the headline US and Iran made quote good progress in Geneva talks. Foreign Minister says Witkoff said it too on social media, as did the Vice President. Three Iranian officials familiar with the talks said that Iran had indicated a willingness to suspend nuclear enrichment for three to five years which would cover the duration of Mr. Trump's presidency and then join a regional consortium for civilian grade enrichment. Iran would also dilute its stockpile of uranium on its own soil and in the presence of international inspectors. In exchange, Iran has demanded the United States lift financial and banking sanctions and the embargo on its oil sales. The officials who asked not to be identified, blah blah blah, said Iran was also dangling financial incentives and opportunities for investment in trade with the United States, including in Iran's oil and energy sectors. Very similar with what the President's team is talking to Russia about, which is to 180 degrees from embargoing these countries to being in business with them to enrich the United States and to bring them back in the community of nations. So that's happening. A two week break ostensibly. In the meantime, the military buildup continues. And Axios today is reporting what some people reported two days ago that don't look at this as a pinprick strike to degrade the nuclear capability. There's a lot of assets there and some people are saying this could be a massive week long or longer enterprise. U.S. military, U.S. israel, joint action that is multifaceted, not just military but cyber and maybe assassinations and all the things that Israel and the United States could do. And, and I believe what's happening, gentlemen, I'll say finally before I yield the floor, the President is hiding behind the nuclear thing, make it all about nuclear. Because then if you bomb them and there's no regime change, if you bomb them and, and, and they retaliate, you can say to the American people, I'm trying to protect you from the mushroom cloud, that that's safe ground if no Americans die. If you say, I'm going in there to do regime change and then there's no regime change, or the Iranians start slaughtering Iranians, then, then you've got trouble because then you can't back down. So, Larry, where are we on Iran right now?
- [17:21]
A
I think you just gave us a pretty good assessment on it. I just, I'm still reluctant to believe that President Trump would in some way normalize relations with this regime and in some way walk away looking like Barack Obama and John Kerry did after the Iran nuclear deal there, especially after all the criticism. I understand they could sort of, you know, say, no, no, we did it better and we did it right, but there is no negotiating with terrorists. So I just, I don't see this ending in any way where there is a peace deal.
- [17:51]
B
And that's, and that's, and that's what the Wall Street Journal editorial board said very strongly today. There's no good deal to be made with them.
- [17:57]
A
And by the way, I know that because that's what Donald Trump said. Yeah, he's been saying it as a candidate and as a president.
- [18:03]
B
Kevin, do you take the two weeks seriously? Are we now in a pause on even with the military buildup apparently almost complete in the region? Is this a two week window during which there won't be a strike? Or the president could be using this as a facade and a feint and the strike could come even in the two week window.
- [18:20]
D
I think it's the latter. And we talked about it yesterday. Obviously the Ford's now in position or close in position. 50 new aircraft moved there. You know, we've been sharing those screenshots of just the aircraft movements in the region. I think these negotiations have been covered. And to Larry's point, not just, you know, what he says, but look at what he does. Right. As a result of this. You saw the taunting from the ayatollah and that access reporting Mark that you just mentioned, we got very, very close in January to a strike based on what the President saw with the slaughter of innocent Iranians in the streets. I think that has stayed with him. And now it's just hedging more time to move more resources in there. Obviously close coordination with Israelis. They're preparing on the Ground because they will likely, you know, receive a lot of the incoming if this goes forward. So I think we're, we're on war footing here in the next two weeks. Yeah.
- [19:14]
B
All right. The Iran talks are, at least in theory, on hold for a couple of weeks. The Ukraine, The Ukraine. Russia talks in Geneva are already underway for a second day with Jared and the envoy Witkoff leading the way. Here's a tweet from President Zelensky about the talks. 104, please. As it continues in public statements, the administration continues to seem to be pressuring only the Ukrainians on the terms of a deal. Here's Zelensky again pushing back the way he has for several days now. We are working together with the team to bring a real peace closer. The priority is security guarantees for Ukraine. Ukrainian representatives have clear directives on every aspect of the negotiations. I expect a detailed report following all the meetings. That's a pretty standard type of Zelensky statement. Less standard, and I'm crushed. For those of you listening to the podcast, all you're going to hear is some Ukrainian techno pop. The Ukrainians put out this video on X of it's President Zelensky doing like zooms with his negotiating team. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you something I don't really get. Number 105, please. Zelensky sitting, looking at the screen, gesturing. Zelensky talking close up of his hand, nice tight shots of some of his. People love their clothes. And that's it.
- [20:35]
D
So we need the soundtrack from the House of Commons during practice questions to play during that.
- [20:41]
B
Exactly. I just, I just read a thing that's a great analysis that said, you know, there's two big issues, right? There's what are the security guarantees and what are the, the land concessions. And what this analysis said is the key thing is which, which can you, does one have to be solved first? Because if you solve the security guarantees first, that advantages the Ukrainians. If you solve the territory first, advantage the Russians. Kevin, again, just perennial question after today's yesterday's negotiations, do you feel like this is on track?
- [21:10]
D
No, not on track. 400 more drones, 29 missile attacks targeting, you know, the energy sectors. You know, the Russians are not serious about this and we talked about that. Just the, the, the people that they're sending to Geneva are not the serious people that would actually deliver a deal for Putin at this. So again, more of the same and no forward momentum there.
- [21:32]
A
So I, I picked up something different here. I thought that tweet from Zelensky, don't forget like the day before, he was tweeting, you can't make a deal with Russia. You can't make a deal with Putin. There's no talking to these people. The next day, he says, I'm engaged and I'm talking. And take a look at this video of me. Look how engaged I am. We're working on the piece. This is what we're working on. To me, that sends me a signal that maybe we are closer here. And Zelinsky is trying to get on the political upside of it, because he does, he's going to have to face the voters pretty soon. And I think he wants to be able to say, yeah, I did it. Mission accomplished. I brought you peace. I think he's trying to be on the right side of where this is headed. I could be wrong, Larry.
- [22:09]
D
How much of that.
- [22:10]
B
How much of a.
- [22:11]
A
As a PR plan, how much of.
- [22:13]
D
That is a reaction to Trump, too, right now, kind of putting the pressure back on Zelensky, calling him out by name, that he's the one that's entrenched on this stuff?
- [22:21]
A
I mean, that reinforces my belief that he's actually starting to move in a direction here.
- [22:26]
B
There's one more element to this, which is US Intelligence now and financial folks in the government and the private sector are saying, and this is not a new thing, that the Russian economy is actually in big trouble. Yeah, that, that, that part of why the US Is dangling as they are, apparently with the Iranians.
- [22:43]
D
Ditto Iran.
- [22:44]
A
Yes.
- [22:45]
B
A, a, a financial incentive is the, the carrot to end this, to get the Iranians to give up their nuclear program into and to move towards regime change. Maybe to get Putin to agree to actually make a deal is they have to, because not only will bring the sanctions off, but allow them to be trading with the Great Satan. And I'm still skeptical of the whole thing, but I'm more bearish. Bullish on both because. Because of the talk of that. Because that's what Jared and Witkoff do. They do money deals.
- [23:13]
D
And you're both Russia and both Russia and Iran.
- [23:17]
B
I mean, I'm not, I'm not.
- [23:18]
A
You're bullish on a deal with Iran?
- [23:19]
B
No, no, no. I'm, I'm, I'm more, I'm more bullish than I was yesterday. I still, I still am skeptical of them both. I don't want to overstate. I'm just saying there, There, there's a plausible thing here in both cases, because of this financial stuff, which the world. The Europeans will hate. One, the Israelis will hate the Other a lot of Americans, a lot of maga, people will hate them both, but Paul Gigot will be outraged. But the president wants to get these things settled and that's the way to do it. And it's going to be fascinating if either one happens.
- [23:45]
A
I'm more with Russia than I was today.
- [23:49]
B
All right, but we're going to bullish.
- [23:50]
A
On a peace deal. I'm Polish on a resolution with Iran.
- [23:52]
B
All right, we're going to speed through. That's okay. We're going to speed through the next two. Here we go. Of all the Epstein plots, we got the Clintons coming up. We've got Wexner today. We've got a bunch of stories, the New York Times today about different things, including a piece about sort of how could this have happened? How could people have overlooked Epstein's obvious behavior? Yes. I am snapping it as a homage to west side Story. Thank you for noticing. I never read the chat, but I do glance at Kevin. Which whips Epstein? Which Epstein subplot?
- [24:19]
D
Were you a shark or a jet? Would you have been a shark or jet?
- [24:22]
B
When you're a jet. When you're a jet, you're a jet.
- [24:24]
D
You're a jet all the way.
- [24:25]
B
Are you? Are you. Which Epstein subplot are you most interested in currently? Just as a someone curious about the world? Kevin?
- [24:32]
D
I think the Clintons next week, right. Because that'll be there'll be much more attention on that. The Wexner stuff is going to be enough. And Berger, I bet he, you know, pleads the fifth. He's 88 years old. James Comer isn't even going to be there for the.
- [24:47]
B
Kevin. So Kevin says Clinton's Larry, which subplot you most interested in?
- [24:50]
A
Other than this incredible 60 minutes I get to spend with you all, I spend most of my time in the right of center media sphere. And the Bannon subplot is still a major one within our conversation.
- [25:01]
D
Is that percolating? Is that like, is that getting a lot of attention on the right.
- [25:05]
A
Yes, it is. What the fallout is is still yet to be seen.
- [25:10]
B
It's mag on mag action this week. I'm interested in Bannon. I'm splitting the difference. Next week, the Clintons. But the Bannon thing is, is this.
- [25:16]
D
Is why this show's so important because. Yes, because Democrats like me have no idea that that's really.
- [25:21]
B
Oh, it's crazy. And, and just the Roger Stone attempt to destroy Bannon is quite something. It's quite okay. Yes. If you haven't looked at that, take A look, it's quite something. Raise your hand if you want to get in on the conversation, please. All right. As we mentioned, Bernie Sanders is out in LA and California is in the midst of a governor's race. That is quite something. Also, latest poll from Emerson shows that, ladies and gentlemen, there is no front runner in the case in this race, unless there happens to be a candidate named Joe Undecided. Because Joe undecided, it's got 21 of the vote. Here you can see if you're watching on YouTube or here on the two way platform, the latest poll compared to their December poll. The dark lines are the current numbers. 21% undecided. The front runner remains Steve Hilton, the regular on two way and a great commentator. 17%. 14% for Swalwell, then Sheriff Bianco, 14. So two Republicans have 31% of the vote between them. Katie Porter, 10%. There's still a scenario here where two Republicans are the only two go into the general election. Remember, the way California does this, everybody runs on one ballot regardless of party. And you could easily imagine a scenario. This poll only reinforces it that Hilton and Bianco are the only ones. Now, if one of them, if they're the two in the finals even before the general election, they'll begin the recall campaign because. Because they're not going to let a Republican be governor for more than a couple months. So as you look at this again, we'll talk about this race more later, gentlemen, not today, but other days. Who right now, Larry, who would you say is going to make the runoff?
- [26:56]
A
Hilton for sure. He's. He stayed much stronger than I expected to him at this point and he did very well at the debate.
- [27:02]
B
Yeah.
- [27:03]
A
And I just can't believe Swalwell will do it. Honestly, I'm still holding out hope as a Republican, formerly of California, that it's beyond that. It's two Republicans. That would be amazing. Democrats are going to have someone.
- [27:16]
B
Larry, I need. And you know who's not on here is the mayor of San Jose.
- [27:20]
D
I was going to say that.
- [27:21]
B
I don't know if they included him and he didn't break 3% or they didn't include him. But Larry, I'm just looking for two names. Who's going to make the runoff?
- [27:29]
A
Hilton, Swalwell.
- [27:31]
B
Okay.
- [27:31]
D
Kevin, I think Steyer, just because of his money and his willingness to play with that money, it's in a very expensive state. Yeah, I would not count him out.
- [27:43]
A
Do you think Newsom endorses someone? And if so, who?
- [27:45]
D
Oh, 100%. And I don't, I don't know. It's certainly not going to be the San Jose mayor because they butt heads all the time, right? I am. But there's a lot of hope behind that guy.
- [27:54]
B
I'm still predicting it's the two Republicans, Hilton and Bianca, I think.
- [27:58]
D
Wouldn't that be wild?
- [27:59]
B
You're going to split the vote. Okay, we'll see. We'll see. All right. My 8 for 28 is out. My new rankings, the Democrats most likely to be the nominee for president. 28. We'll look that in a second. Matthew Continetti. Put that down. Bring up Matthew Continent. Matthew Carnegie now writes to the Wall Street Journal. Just really one of the smartest political analysts in America. And he says in this column today, Democrats who may have already lost the 2028 election, how can Kamala Harris be the front runner? Consider the alternatives. Newsom, Buttigieg, AOC Shapiro. He's, he's only, he's only writing about the general. I talk about the nomination fight, but he basically says these people are still all far too far left to win a general election. He doesn't talk about whether the Trump economy is any good or who the Republican nominee is going to be. He just says the Democratic brand is horrible. And these candidates are all. Here's my 8 for 28, most likely Democrats. I still believe Newsom and Shapiro are head and shoulders above the rest of the field. And my next six could be in any order. I tried to take AOC off the list, but all my sources said no after, Even after what she did in Munich. Each of you, again, we're going to move through a bunch of topics here. Just. Kevin, what's one change you would make? Either who, who would you move up or down or who would you take off and replace them with? Just one, one suggestion.
- [29:09]
D
I would add Jon Ossoff. And we've talked about him before.
- [29:12]
B
Who would you take off? Who would you take off, dad Ossoff.
- [29:15]
D
I would take off AOC Okay.
- [29:17]
B
Wow. Okay. You're the only one who says that my. All my sources. And not the only one. Most of my sources.
- [29:22]
D
Maybe, maybe that's just me being hopeful that, yeah, I won't win the general election.
- [29:25]
B
Larry, who would you, what would you change on this?
- [29:28]
A
I would move Kamala Harris up to number one. I don't quite understand why she's not the front runner. If she wants to be in. She gets it. Yeah.
- [29:35]
B
So it's getting, I'm assuming.
- [29:36]
A
Are you assuming all eight of these are running?
- [29:38]
B
Because no I factor that in. I factor in chances that they're, that's why I don't have Michelle Obama on here, because she's not going to run again. Number one, Newsom. 2 Shapiro 3, Pritzker. 4, Harris, 5, AOC. 6, Buttigieg, 7, Rahm Emanuel, 8, Mark Kelly, Kamala Harris.
- [29:54]
D
And this is again, who's going to win? Who's most likely to win the most likely?
- [29:57]
B
Not the general election.
- [29:58]
D
Yeah.
- [29:58]
B
One of the things I picked up in my reporting is there's a big sensibility in the Democratic Party. Do not nominate a woman, a woman of color or gay man. They just, they just say it's, we can't risk it. We've, we've experimented. We can't risk it. And, and that's why part of why I don't have Kamala Harris higher than 4, because there's just people who say she had her chance. We lost to Donald Trump twice, dominating a woman and a woman of color. And the people in the party I talked who feel most strongly about this are women and women of color. They just don't want to risk it.
- [30:29]
A
Again, unlike 2024, it's not going to be a small group of people deciding if Kamala Harris gets in. The voters get to decide. And that's going to correct. Absolute mess.
- [30:39]
B
Correct for them.
- [30:40]
D
All I know is I saw, I saw, I saw photos of Joe Biden last night with his library board and he's looking pretty, pretty fit. So, yeah, one, if we need a straight, if we need a straight white man, you know, so here's one straight.
- [30:53]
B
Who'S not on my list. Even though many of my sources urge me to include him, I'm still a Bashir skeptic. Well, let's see if this makes you all more or less skeptical of Governor Bashir. Washington Post reports this morning he's got a book coming out in the fall. Here's the headline. Bashir's latest 2028 contender to write a book focused on faith. There's an anti Trump statement from the publisher, Larry. For those who wonder whether the mainstream publishers are objective, very anti Trump. Yeah, we don't wonder that. Here's the COVID of the book. Kevin is not a big fan of the COVID For those of you watch listening on the podcast version, the book is called Go and Do likewise, How We Heal a Broken Country. Governor Bashir, who is, as Kevin points out, has a lovely family, chooses instead to pose with his pooch for the.
- [31:39]
A
COVID It's a great dog.
- [31:40]
B
Yeah, it is a incredible dog.
- [31:41]
D
The dog's name. I just looked up. His dog's name is Winnie.
- [31:45]
B
What breed is Winnie?
- [31:48]
D
She is a doodle. She's a doodle. On the first dog of Kentucky.
- [31:52]
B
Straight first dog, Kentucky. All right, we got a couple more topics. We'll skip Zuckerberg. We'll skip Warren Buffett. We'll do one quick and then one longer. Springsteen announced a big tour, Bruce Springsteen, this spring in the US it starts in Minneapolis, although I don't see that. Is this, is this, is this an order?
- [32:11]
D
It's at the top. Oh, it's in the top.
- [32:12]
B
Thank you very much. Minneapolis gets in the. On the promotion gets its own big, big slot. March 31 in the Target Center. We should go. Should do the show from there. Springsteen and East Street Land of Hope and Dreams America tour, kings or no Kings. So they're branding the tour no Kings. And as you can see, it largely goes through red places, ladies and gentlemen, starts in Minneapolis and amongst the places it goes are Portland, two nights in Inglewood, San Francisco, Phoenix, nor. Where is Sunrise, Florida? I should know, but I don't.
- [32:42]
D
Where is that?
- [32:43]
B
Is that, is that in the central?
- [32:45]
A
It looks pretty blue to me, other than Florida.
- [32:47]
B
But. Anybody, Anybody know where Sunrise, Florida is? I don't even know. Anyway, it ends in Washington, D.C. when is, when is the, when is that one? That's Park.
- [32:56]
A
So it's probably over.
- [32:58]
B
Is that in April? I don't know. Anyway, maybe July 4th. I remember, I remember Bruce Springsteen after doing a big rally for John Kerry in 2004, then singing the Kerry inauguration. Oh, no, wait, there was no car inauguration. My point being, Springsteen does not have an unblemished record of supporting the winner or being on the right side of a political argument. Just I, I think these concerts, though, are going to get massive coverage, and I'm a huge Springsteen fan, as are many Republicans. Kevin, we, we. Will you go to any of these shows?
- [33:29]
D
Yeah, I mean, we, Alex and I went to his last show at Nats Park. It was great. And we were in a room with a bunch of Republican members of Congress. Larry said there are, you know, there is a bipartisan appeal to him, even if he's out there on no Kings.
- [33:42]
B
Larry, are you a Bruce head?
- [33:44]
A
Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm part of the no Boss movement. No, I, even before his politics, I wasn't a Springsteen fan. He really, he doesn't sing. I'm not a fan of that.
- [33:52]
B
Larry, he's so good. To each, to each his own.
- [33:56]
A
He's all constipated.
- [33:58]
B
To each his own. All right, ladies and gentlemen, in just a moment, you will have an opportunity to speak with Kevin and Larry and with me, But I'm just here to read the ads. If you want to be in on the conversation, please raise your hand. If you've never raised your hand before, imagine the opportunity of a lifetime today to speak to Kevin and Larry, please raise your hand. We'll get to you in just a moment. But first, a word from our sponsor. Our friends at Factor, a subscription service delivering fresh, fully cooked meals. Want to help you eat healthier. Save money, save cleanup time, save shopping time. It's win, win, win, win, win. Healthy meals delivered right to your door. They're fresh, they're delicious. The portion size is perfect. Keep you from overeating. Unless you do what I sometimes do and have two. Don't tell them I do that. That's if I'm super hungry there. Otherwise, it's just. It's just a perfect deal. 50% off your first factor box, plus free breakfast for a year. Go to factor meals.com 2way50off FactorMeals.com 2way50off Again, some of these things will match your life. You're too busy to shop. You're too busy to cook. You're too busy to clean up. You want healthy meals rather than making junk for yourself. Making a nacho queso in the microwave and then opening a bag of chips. That's not a healthy meal. What a healthy meal. You got protein. You can also specify what kind of meal you want. Keto. High protein. Calories.
- [35:20]
D
Smart.
- [35:21]
B
Go right now factormeals.com two way 50 off free breakfast for a year and 50% off your first box. It's tax season, and at LifeLock, we know you're tired of numbers, but here's a big one you need to hear.
- [35:34]
A
Billions.
- [35:35]
B
That's the amount of money and refunds the IRS has flagged for possible identity fraud. Now here's another big number. 100 million. That's how many data points LifeLock monitors every second. If your identity is stolen, stolen will fix it, guaranteed. One last big number. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com podcast for the threats you can't control. Terms apply. Lastly, after you've eaten, you need to go to sleep. And if you want to go to sleep in comfort, I recommend Cozy Earth. The towels, the sheets, the bubble cuddle blanket, all available to you now. 20% off. New promo code. Easy for you to remember and easy for me to say. Morning. 20% off everything on cozyearth.com with the promo code morning. Buy yourself some stuff. Buy gifts. It's all beautiful. The bubble cuddle blanket. It weighs a ton. It's the only problem with the bubble cuddle blanket. You probably have to hire a personal valet to move it around the house for you. Or you can just leave it in one place where pets and babies and other members of your household can enjoy the combination of comfort and style that it brings. And also the pants. I've got a meeting today with somebody who I think is a billionaire. Not sure, but a very wealthy guy. What pants will I be wearing? Of course I'll be wearing my cozy earth pants with a blazer. And then afterwards, I'm going to play miniature golf. Same pants, Cozy Earth does.
- [36:50]
D
Very versatile.
- [36:51]
B
Very versatile. Those pants. You can wear them anywhere and they're comfortable anywhere. They feel they, they look like tuxedo pants. They feel like sweatpants. Go to cozearth.com use the promo code morning for your discount. All right, here we go, ladies and gentlemen.
- [37:05]
D
I gotta say, the chat is very much with Larry on the Bruce Springsteen front. Correct. Mostly Larry camp.
- [37:10]
A
Correct.
- [37:10]
B
We got a bunch of, a bunch.
- [37:11]
A
Of grouches here to be a tattletale. But Mark, when you do an endorsement and you're brilliant at it, Kevin takes that opportunity to throw smack in the chat. I don't know if you. Have you been monitoring this?
- [37:20]
B
You know, I don't think it's really Kevin. I think it's a guy using Kevin's handle because Kevin would never. That's right.
- [37:25]
D
Yeah.
- [37:25]
B
Smack.
- [37:25]
D
I would never put smack in the chat.
- [37:27]
B
All right, ladies and gentlemen, here we. Here we go. We got some people I'm eager to hear from. John, Unmute, tell folks who don't know where you are what's on your mind for Kevin and for Larry, after you tell everybody where you are. You've unmuted.
- [37:41]
A
You're good.
- [37:42]
B
Thanks, Mark.
- [37:42]
E
Good morning, everybody.
- [37:45]
B
Where are you, John?
- [37:46]
C
I'm in.
- [37:47]
E
I'm in Naperville, Illinois, outside of Chicago. And thanks for the opportunity. I'm a first timer here today, but I've been with you guys since before the election.
- [37:55]
B
And John, before, before you jump in and thank you for being a longtime part of Two Way. First of all, what caused you to raise your hand today?
- [38:03]
E
I just had a chance. My schedule changed this morning. It was on live for the first time.
- [38:07]
B
Okay, fabulous. And second, just tell us what you like about Two Way that you've been with us for so long.
- [38:13]
E
I like the back and forth between People like Larry and like Kevin. It's just great to hear this and have it kind of unfiltered because everything else I'm looking at on TV is filtered so badly.
- [38:28]
B
Beautiful, John, thank you. Much appreciated. Floor is yours. Whatever's on your mind. Thank you for that.
- [38:33]
E
Okay, one quick thing. My wife still can't believe that after listening to you before the election, I said, three days before, Mark Kaplan says Donald Trump's going to win this thing and no one would believe me. And today she's still amazed. So, Mark, thank you for raising my standing in the family.
- [38:49]
B
Tell your wife I said hi.
- [38:51]
E
I will do that. She's asleep right now, but I'll do it anyway. My question is for all three of you. I've noticed that the Nancy Guthrie story is starting to move back and back and back in the priority list for the various news agencies. I'd like to ask each of you to comment. What about this investigation has surprised you or caught your attention? What? One thing. Go ahead.
- [39:12]
B
Great question, John.
- [39:13]
D
Kevin, great question. That the FBI wasn't the lead from the get go, that they allowed the Pima county sheriff, who's getting a lot of grief, to take kind of center stage, which sacrificed a lot of crucial time to actually solve this crisis. Yeah.
- [39:30]
A
Larry, I'm surprised at the lack of evidence, the lack of, the lack of, you know, DNA or other types of evidence. Usually there's some traces of something that people can find. It seems like these, you know, whoever the perpetrators were, were in hazmat suits or something. That's. Yeah. To me.
- [39:46]
B
Yeah. So mine's, Mine's along the same lines, but a little bit more specific. We all looked at the video of the guy at the door and said, these are the Keystone Cops. There's a bunch of amateurs, maybe some neighbors who just said, hey, Savannah's mom lives next door.
- [39:57]
A
Next door.
- [39:58]
B
Let's go, kidnapper. There's no video of the getaway vehicle. It just doesn't make any sense. If these guys were such clowns, and I say guys because I'm assuming guys, if they were such clowns, how could there be not a single video of a car driving away? It just doesn't make any sense. So the mystery of that, and as Larry said, the fact that they don't have more evidence, the fact that now they may have stuff they're not talking about, but there's just. They just. It's just strange. It's. It's not the most densely populated area, but there are plenty of cameras in that neighborhood. And the Fact that they don't have any video that they've shown us of the car is just kind of striking. John, great question and grateful to you for being part of Two Way. Thanks, Mark.
- [40:37]
D
The pride of Naperville right there. John. Thank you.
- [40:40]
B
You guys know the most famous political thing that ever happened in Naperville, I.
- [40:44]
A
Say, is that when Bush said big time, a hole about the report, the.
- [40:49]
B
New York Times, Cheney, Cheney, Cheney said, Cheney said about, about Adam Clymer of the New York Times, Major league. And I was, I was, I was there that day. I've been able to observe a lot of history, but nothing tops that. All right, John is here. John is, I don't know if John's been on with YouTube. John is a, a doctor in Nashville, Tennessee, Scrubs. So he's amazed. He's amazing. He's here and, and behind his back, I call him Dr. McDreamy for reasons I can't explain. John, welcome. Thank you for coming back. I hope you have comment on whether RFK is going to be a net plus or minus because, you know, Maha.
- [41:28]
C
Like nobody else, I, I do have lots of thoughts about that. That's not what I was going to ask.
- [41:33]
B
All right, but before you ask, before you ask what you want to ask, I'd love to know what you think. Do you think Bobby Kennedy's performance and, and, and ideology, whatever you want to call it, you think that's a net plus for the Republicans or net minus?
- [41:47]
C
I think the embrace of what he, what he ran on is absolutely a plus. Whether they actually do it or not will determine whether it ends up being one for the midterms. Because there's, it's mixed right now. I mean, there's a lot of good he's doing around food, around rethinking how we manage addiction. But there's a lot of stuff that's going on at the epa, a lot of stuff around food policy that, that's outside of hhs, that isn't great. He's, I mean, the administration overall still seems fairly beholden to lobbyist interests, you know, doing the Trump Rx, but then going after compounding pharmacies. You know, it's mixed. And so we'll see. I think it will be more split than it was last time when the, it was sort of, the choice was clear. And I don't, I think it'll depend what the other, what the other side does to know whether it's going to be net plus or minus.
- [42:35]
B
Both very accurate and very good point, John. Kevin says good point. I say, good point, John.
- [42:41]
C
Thanks, Kevin.
- [42:42]
B
Thank you for answering. What's on, what's on your mind, Doc? Or as, as Bugs would say, you.
- [42:48]
C
Know, I've been, it's been a little while since I've, I've been on, you know, we dealt with the Nashville ice storm and we've got another baby on the way. And so maybe, maybe I'm just thinking more philosophically.
- [42:58]
B
Congratulations. Is that your favorite?
- [42:59]
C
Thanks. Number three.
- [43:00]
B
Number three. Congratulations.
- [43:03]
C
But it's a, at its core it's a, it's a philosophy question. I know we talk about this a lot and we used to talk about this a lot with Sean, but the question is, do the ends justify the means? And I'm thinking specifically about Cuba right now. You know, the, the oil and fuel blockade that we have is causing a pretty clear humanitarian crisis. Right? I mean, the hospitals are closed, there's garbage piling up, the civilian population is hurting. I don't think anyone could dispute that.
- [43:29]
B
No question.
- [43:31]
C
Our decades long policy towards Cuba and communism is that we will use our moral authority to say that a regime willing to hurt its own people cannot stand and we will take every effort, including force, to free those people. That's sort of the core, at least illusions level myth making base of the case. And so now as we are hurting the civilian population to achieve our political ends, what does that mean in a broader sense? And I wrote this down so I don't ramble, but what are the second order effects of a nation that's built on ideals like ours giving up this myth making illusion of moral authority for this sort of real politic of might makes. Right now we're seeing it in Cuba, but we're seeing it all over the world. Like what does that mean for the country?
- [44:20]
B
John? It's a fantastic question, truly. And there's so many things going on now on the international stage that are not being discussed and that's one of them right in our own backyard. But the prospects of the president striking Iran, what happened in Venezuela, these are massive constitutional and as you suggest, a kind of soul of the nation questions. And here we are engaged in an action that's hurting kids in Cuba. There's just, as you said, there's no doubt about it and yet it's not being discussed. So Larry, thoughts on the current Cuba policy? The President said the other night, Secretary Rubio is negotiating with Cuba. I'm actually optimistic that there could be a happy ending here. But in the short term, this is a, this is a pretty horrible thing that's going on it is.
- [44:59]
A
But John, I guess I'm confused because your question could be asked at any time over the course of the last several decades where we have engaged in either economic or other types of embargoes or for that matter, military strikes against nations. You know, when, when we certainly harmed the German people when we were engaged in bombing them at the final years of the, of World War II. So when you ask, do the ends justify the means? Well, you know, sometimes yes. The answer is yes. So I guess what I'm confused is where we are right now versus economic embargoes that have, you could argue, hurt the Cuban people up until this moment.
- [45:37]
C
Yeah, and absolutely. I'm, I'm personally, my mom's from Guatemala. I am fascinated with the history of Cuba. I did like a whole thing about the history of Che Guevara. Like I understand the history. I understand also that the difference in the last few weeks, about a month ago, the ratcheted way up. Right. A complete fuel embargo is different from economic sanctions and trying to influence government policy. Hospitals are closing, diseases rampant. We are actively harming the civilian population. And I think it's more the question is, I get that this has been US policy around the world. We did it in Guatemala in the 50s, we did it all over the world. But in Venezuela, we went out and we took out the dictator. It was a decapitation strike to influence the government of Venezuela to do what we want. This is different. We're starting, this is from the bottom up. Like we, yes, they're, Yes, I see the chat. The government is harming them. But our entire base of the case, we won't allow their government to harm their people to achieve political ends, but we will harm their people to achieve.
- [46:36]
A
Political ends because they're bad and their government is correct.
- [46:40]
C
That's the thought, but we're not doing that. We're harming the people to force the governments hand. And to me that is a difference between, you know, sanctions on a regime and you're targeting, you know, the, the billionaires in Russia and you're putting sanctions on, you know, the swift and economic realities of the elites. It's different than harming the people on the ground to achieve your ends.
- [47:04]
A
I think we're stuck in a semantics argument here because I think the embargo is not on the people. The embargo is on the government. It's, it's on the regime. It's just affecting the people, which all embargoes do. I think ultimately the question that our leaders have to ask themselves is, will the end result of this policy end up being a net benefit for the people of Cuba? And I think that they believe, and I agree with them, I think it will end up, if they can, if they can crush the regime, if it will bring an end finally to that regime or reach some sort of negotiated settlement that will end up with regime change, then yes, ultimately, even though there is discomfort and even pain right now, it will end up being a better, better for them.
- [47:45]
B
Let's let Comrade Walling in. Comrade Walling.
- [47:48]
A
Yeah. Can we talk about the economic and borough we need on Mamdani in New York next?
- [47:53]
D
Hey, this wall is blue behind me, not red. John. Great, great question. I think we're also seeing this play out in real time in Iran, right? Obviously huge economic sanctions weakening their dollar. Scott Bessant spoke to that recently in a congressional hearing which spurred the original protests back on December 26th. Started from the business class. These were the merchants rising up because of those economic sanctions. And we saw the population take to the street. I think it's got to be a one, two punch. I think we've got to figure out a way. And Cuba has been a plaything for the United States for years, going back before Castro, right, with the mob and our interests down there. So it's always been held at arm length, but an interest of us playing politics down there in the country. So it's going to be one, two punch economic sanctions. But how also are we effectively reaching those folks and encouraging those folks? That's why I'm so horrified to see Voice of America and Carrie Lake and these folks and a lot of Republicans are upset about it too, decimating our ability to reach targeted populations facing these autocratic, dictatorial, harmful regimes in order to support the people on the ground. So I think it's a much more complicated situation and it's country by country. I think too, you have a really important understanding of Cuba, if you want to understand Marco Rubio, understand the history of Cuba as well, because I think that's also indicative of Secretary Rubio's worldview, which is now to some degree Trump's worldview, because I think he is the key persuasion leader in this cabinet on the international front. So I think an important point there too, just in terms of understanding Cuba and its relation to this, to the secretary of state, in fact.
- [49:44]
C
And Palantir just moved to Miami yesterday.
- [49:46]
A
So I'd love to tag onto that because I should have mentioned this too. If you talk to first generation or second generation Cubans who either lived under that regime or whose parents lived in Cuba recently, over the course of the last several decades, they support this policy. So they, they and they have a direct connection to the people on the ground in Cuba who are suffering.
- [50:05]
D
And that pain is still real and it's visceral.
- [50:07]
B
Right, hold on one sec, hold on one sec. Just everybody hold. Let's dip into msnbc. Governor Bashir is on. Just let's sample that.
- [50:14]
D
And John, congrats on the baby.
- [50:17]
A
Where's the dog.
- [50:22]
F
Of faith? You don't want to see people chained at the ankles. If you're a person of faith, it is unacceptable to have a body count from ice's actions or to see these people injured or to see ICE agents lying. The aggressive tactics, the way that they are treating people is just not right because again, even if somebody is in this country illegally and thus needs to be deported, they are still a child of God. And how we treat them is incredibly important. We can enforce our laws in a humane way and also one that recognizes and protects the rights of American citizens and everybody else. But yes, you're definitely seeing it. I had two Republican state senators get up on the floor of the Senate at the end of the last week and say that they were uncomfortable with the way the Trump administration is going about immigration. That doesn't happen. So big things are happening out there.
- [51:19]
B
Okay. Governor Bashir Deutsch, congratulations on all your.
- [51:24]
D
Take a lot of lessons from.
- [51:26]
B
Let's get reaction to just style, substance, etc. From all three of you. John, you first thoughts on Bashir Mania?
- [51:34]
C
Yeah, Bashir is interesting. So as a, I'm a New Englander in Tennessee, so I've gotten to know for a decade here, so I've gotten to know the sort of the South a little bit. I don't think personally, I don't think Bashir has the sort of gravitas that is going to be necessary to run through the absolute horror show that we're going to call the 2028 election. It's going to be brutal. It's going to be a blood sport. And I just don't think he has what it. I just don't think he has it.
- [52:05]
B
Larry.
- [52:07]
A
I welcome a handful of Democrats now who are wearing their faith on their sleeve, from Governor Beshear to Congressman Talarico who like to mention the Bible and Christianity and the Lord because, you know, when conservatives do it, we're accused of being theocrats. So great, wonderful. He would really serve himself well if when, when renting his clothing and letting his heart bleed for criminal illegal immigrants who are being legally apprehended and deported at the hands of our federal agents who are charged with that responsibility. If he could just pause a second and show some emotion for the innocent victims, the murder victims, the rape victims, the armed robbery victims, at the hands of the gang members who were let in during the four years of the Biden administration, I think it would go a long way. It would really go a long way to support this Persona he's trying to project that he's just a good old reasonable guy who doesn't look at party one way or the other. Well, then say something about the victims of crime at the hands of illegal immigrants.
- [53:07]
B
Kevin, very frustrating from thoughts.
- [53:10]
D
I'll pick up where Larry left off. I think authenticity is going to be the coin of the realm and it is obvious that's why people love or hate Trump. He's an authentic person. I think, you know, Governor Bashir struggles with that. To your point, John. Right. In terms of how he comes off and to Larry's point, show some real emotion with all this and kind of not. He's a little bit robotic in his delivery. So we'll see if that changes over time and he can kind of cut through that noise a little bit.
- [53:39]
B
John, congratulations again. Welcome back. We look forward to bubble cuddle blankets for your household from the two way community.
- [53:46]
A
Oh yeah, perfect addition to John, by the way.
- [53:51]
B
Yeah, the chat does love John.
- [53:52]
C
As to me, it's Kevin. It's both. It's great to meet both of you. You know, I, I don't think I got to before. So you're both great.
- [54:00]
B
Really grateful to. John's also taking us all to a husk next time we're in Nashville, even though he claims they're better restaurants.
- [54:06]
D
There's a good husk here in Charleston too, if.
- [54:08]
B
If there is the original. If John is a two way legend. I don't know what to say about Clara. Claire, welcome in. Thank you for coming back. I haven't seen you in a while. Grateful as always to have you be part of Two Way. What's on your mind? For Kevin and for Larry.
- [54:20]
C
Thanks so much. I'm from Silver Spring, Maryland. Two really quick ones. Why do you keep putting Buttigieg on the list? Because there's no way get the black vote, so I don't think he can go through any election. And secondly, real quick, why do you think Trump is blaming Wes Moore for the Potomac Spill?
- [54:52]
B
Great questions. I'll do the first one since it's about my list. Look, I really think it's a very weak field. And if it were up to me, I would I would call it 2 for 28, because at this point, I don't think anybody can be nominated except for except for Shapiro and Newsom. Although I take Larry's point about Kamala Harris. The reason I put him on list is he's run before and run since successfully. There are no perfect candidates and he obviously would have to do better with black voters if he was going to be the nominee. But I think, I don't think that there are very few candidates in this race who who have a long, deep capacity to win black votes. I think he could work to get endorsements from black leading black affairs. What if Jim Clyburn endorsed him, for instance? That would solve it in a day. And I think he'll raise money. I think he's whip smart. I think he's great in media. I think if you just look at the advantages he has for now, he belongs on the list. Is his is does he have weaknesses? His record is a weakness. I think his ability to get black votes, yes, but as Bill Clinton said, they're no perfect candidates. So he's got some big weaknesses, but everybody on the list has big weaknesses. So that's why I keep keeping him on. KEVIN what's the deal with Wes Moore and the president blaming him for this?
- [55:55]
D
Bill well, Ms. Claire, obviously the president loves to have a foil in any kind of issue or policy debate. So obviously he's going to attack someone that he thinks is responsible for this. It only elevates Governor Moore and it's good for Governor Moore because as we know, anytime the president targets a Democrat, you know their stock is on the rise. To your point, too, about Pete Buttigieg, I would only add to we bungled that Iowa primary, but he did win the Iowa primary last cycle. He's only built more of a national network. He's going to New Hampshire, as Mark pointed out earlier in the show, also to Nevada as well. So he is certainly, you know, in the running for this. Obviously, he went down a peg, I think one stop on Mark's 8 for 8 list. But we'll see how his New Hampshire and Nevada swings turn out as well.
- [56:49]
A
LARRY yeah, and Claire, I agree with you on people to judge his weaknesses, and I don't think Clyburn or Obama lecturing black voters that they should accept him is going to go very far. It didn't work with Kamala very much in the last election cycle. I think President Trump has looked at the fact of the matter that the sewage interceptor is on Maryland state territory. It goes through Maryland and spills into the Potomac via Maryland, although it is D.C. government's responsibility for maintaining and fixing it. What happened here though is first of all, of all of the political figures in the mid Atlantic region here, Westmore is the only one who has national ambitions at the moment. At the moment. And he is on people's radars for the national ticket. And on the day that President Trump put out that statement about Wes Moore, Wes Moore was doing a nationally televised Nora o' Donnell town hall where he was, you know, talking about what a great governor he is and where he was getting all these kudos. So I think it was a way to sort of knock him down a bit. And it should be noted, Governor Moore, I live right near you. I'm a Marylander as well. He did not say one thing about this for the last four weeks even though it's been affecting the shoreline of, of Maryland. He didn't say a thing until Trump said something to him. And that's I think a real mistake from the governor.
- [58:06]
C
Yeah.
- [58:06]
B
Claire, thank you for being here. Love having you be part of two way and have a great day.
- [58:10]
D
Thanks, Miss Claire.
- [58:11]
B
Ladies and gentlemen, the pride of Silver Spring.
- [58:13]
D
The pride of Silver Spring. Right there we had Naperville reminder, Jamie Raskin.
- [58:18]
B
Reminder. Yeah, reminder that this party continues the morning meeting on SiriusXM channel 111. I'll be jumping over now to get ready for the that hour. Join me there every day Monday through Friday right after this program, 10 to 11, the morning meeting, playback of parts of today's episode. And then I'm taking your calls, live calls from both the two way and SiriusXM community. So I will see you there. And then don't forget the new episode of NextUp. And I'll see you also at 5 o' clock tonight for two way tonight. And I leave you in the very, very, very capable hands of Kevin and Larry to tell you else what else is coming up, including tomorrow morning here on this program. Gentlemen, thank you. I'll see you. I'll see you in a little bit.
- [59:00]
A
We got no feedback on how we closed out the show yesterday, Mark, did you?
- [59:03]
B
I heard it was very good. I haven't had time to go back.
- [59:05]
A
You didn't go back to watch it?
- [59:06]
B
I will, I will. It's in my inbox. I had people send it to me and do some AI analysis of how you did. I just got, I just had too much to do yesterday. But I'll Be watching. But I heard, I heard good things. And with that I say oh and then I'll see also at 11 on Smerconish, Sayonara.
- [59:23]
D
We'll see you over on Sirius.
- [59:24]
A
Wow, he's turning Japanese.
- [59:26]
D
How about it Larry? Do you want to give the rundown.
- [59:30]
A
For do you have any media appearances that we need to know about in the next 24, 48 hours?
- [59:35]
D
Well, I'll be doing a bunch of coverage on the State of the Union next week for Fox News and Fox broadcast with Shannon Bream that evening. So highlighting that special it me they do And a special thank you because I sent that clip of your shout out to my sister in law Anna yesterday. That was a big crowd pleaser for me and the family so made me look good.
- [59:59]
A
And the morning meeting was highlighted on Fox News's Outnumbered there with Harris Faulkner.
- [60:03]
D
Harris. Harris Faulkner. Yeah, the Faulkner pocus. So getting some national attention.
- [60:08]
A
Always. Very good. All right. Would you like to know what's coming up later today on Citizen Kane? Citizen McCain, excuse me, live at noon. Megan is still taking care of her newborn. Miranda will be filling in welcoming Democratic strategist Yemisi. Oh God, I've never had to say Yemisi.
- [60:28]
D
Egbow Egbowale. A good friend of ours, Yemassi is great.
- [60:33]
A
I always just called her Yemassi and gotten away with it. Egg bowola.
- [60:37]
D
It's safer that way. It's safer that way.
- [60:39]
A
Egba Walle and Reason and another crowd favorite, Billy Binion.
- [60:46]
D
I said another crowd favorite Billy. That'll be a great show at New York.
- [60:49]
A
You know what they say about those reason types, those libertarians. They are they're up for anything those.
- [60:55]
B
Libertarians.
- [60:58]
A
Two way tonight. When I first moved to DC from California almost 15 years ago now, you know the first year you get move here, Kevin, you do the happy hour circuit, right? Because there's great happy hours in D.C. and this was back in you know, 2012, great hat. So I you know, free meals, go to the happy hours, free drinks. The libertarians, Reason magazine and Cato their happy hours. I was like it was like a scene from Eyes Wide Shut. It was unbelievable. Those parties.
- [61:30]
D
A free for all. Good lord.
- [61:32]
A
Anything goes with masks.
- [61:33]
D
And you all were in masks, I assume all of it.
- [61:39]
A
Two way tonight live at 5pm with the Head of the Sentinel Action Fund, Jessica Anderson and co founder of Third Way, Matt Bennett.
- [61:48]
D
Two great favorite people, Jessica and Matt. They're excellent and that'll be a great show.
- [61:54]
A
And what's going on with tomorrow's morning meeting?
- [61:57]
D
I don't know. You tell me.
- [61:58]
A
Oh, all right. I didn't know if you had everything in front of you. Tomorrow, the morning meeting will be back at 9am right where you're watching it right this moment with guest host Melissa derosa and Hogan Gidley. We're done.
- [62:11]
D
We're done for tomorrow, at least.
- [62:13]
A
No Kevin and Larry. Let's see how Hogan and Melissa do.
- [62:18]
D
We shall see. And of course, everyone should head over right now to Megyn Kelly's channel on Sirius 11 1. If you're done with 80s on 8, switch off that our favorite Larry and I and go to 111 on Sirius XM right now.
- [62:34]
A
And then the after show at 11 with Professor Kenny. And then you can watch me live at noon on this. Very well, not two way, but on the streaming platform you're probably watching us on, whether It's Facebook or YouTube. I'm even on Rumble with my show live at noon. And then tomorrow morning, WMAL from 5 to 9 in the morning. What else have we got to plug? That's.
- [62:55]
D
No, I was just going to reinforce Professor Kenny, put that link in the chat for everyone to join at 11. So please do that. All right, team, take care. Have a great week, everybody.
- [63:07]
C
Have a great weekend.