← The Morning Meeting
The Morning Meeting
European Leaders Fret About Greenland as Trump Makes Red Carpet Arrival at Elite Davos Conference
01:02:51
Loading summary
Transcript178 lines
- [00:01]
Donald Trump
This is it. The world as you know it is over.
- [00:04]
Simon Kennedy
Completely done.
- [00:06]
Donald Trump
It's not about to be over. It's over.
- [00:09]
Mark Thiessen
Some of the scientists who helped build AI are now sounding the alarm.
- [00:14]
Hogan Gidley
I was selling AI as a great.
- [00:18]
Mark Thiessen
Thing for decades and I was wrong. I was wrong.
- [00:22]
Donald Trump
There's a longer term existential threat that will arise when we create digital beings that that are more intelligent than ourselves. We have no idea whether we can stay in control.
- [00:33]
Mark Thiessen
While others say that AI will usher in unfathomable abundance, I've always believed that.
- [00:38]
Hogan Gidley
It'S going to be the most important invention that humanity will ever make.
- [00:41]
Mark Thiessen
This really will be a world of abundance. 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.
- [01:00]
James Patterson
I'm James Patterson. I write way too many books. Welcome to Hungry Dogs. The title comes from my maternal grandmother, Isabel Zelvis Morris. Nan used to always say, hungry dogs run faster, James. And I've been running fast ever since. Here's what will be coming your way soon, and this is a really terrific list. I think you'll hear from some incredible people like Stacey Abrams. Yay. BJ Novak.
- [01:26]
Hogan Gidley
Yay.
- [01:27]
James Patterson
Kathy Bates, Dolly Parton, Josh Gad. And Pope Leo. Okay, maybe not Pope Leo, but who knows? Maybe he'll show up. Hungry dogs run faster. Thank you, Grandma, for turning me into a hopeless, obsessive compulsive. Listen to Hungry Dogs with James Patterson. That'd be me on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
- [01:51]
Donald Trump
Foreign.
- [02:01]
Mark Thiessen
Let's listen to the President. He's talking about Greenland right now, 20 minutes into his address.
- [02:08]
Donald Trump
And the fact is, no nation or group of nations is in any position to be able to secure Greenland other than the United States. We're a great power, much greater than people even understand. I think they found that out two weeks ago in Venezuela. We saw this in World War II when Denmark fell to Germany after just six hours of fighting and was totally unable to defend either itself or Greenland. So the United States was then compelled. We did it. We felt an obligation to do it, to send our own forces to hold the Greenland territory. And hold it we did, at great cost and expense. They didn't have a chance of getting on it, and they tried. Denmark knows that. We literally set up bases on Greenland for Denmark. We fought for Denmark. We weren't fighting for anyone else. We were fighting to save it for Denmark. Big, beautiful piece of ice. It's hard to Call it land, it's a big piece of ice. But we saved Greenland and successfully prevented our enemies from gaining a foothold in our hemisphere. So we did it for ourselves also. And then after the war, which we won, we won it big. Without us right now you'd all be speaking German and little Japanese. Perhaps after the war we gave Greenland back to Denmark. How stupid were we to do that? But we did it. But we gave it back. But how ungrateful are they now? So now our country and the world face much greater risks than it did ever before. Because of missiles, because of nuclear, because of weapons of warfare that I can't even talk about. Two weeks ago they saw weapons that nobody ever heard of. They weren't able to fire one shot at us. They said, what happened? Everything was discombobulated. They said, we've got them in our sights. Press the trigger. And nothing happened. No anti aircraft missiles went up. There was one that went up about 30ft and crashed down right next to the people that sent it. They said, what the hell is going on? Those, those defensive systems were made by Russia and by China. So they're going to go back to the drawing boards, I guess. Greenland is a vast, almost entirely uninhabited and undeveloped territory sitting un defended in a key strategic location between the United States, Russia and China. That's exactly where it is, right smack in the middle. Wasn't important nearly when we gave it back. You know, when we gave it back it wasn't the same as it is now. It's not important for any other reason. You know, everyone talks about the minerals. There's so many places there's no rare earth, no such thing as rare earth. There's rare processing, but there's so much rare earth than this. To get to this rare earth you got to go through hundreds of feet of ice. That's not the reason we need it. We need it for strategic national security and international security. This enormous unsecured island is actually part of North America on the northern frontier of the western hemisphere. That's our territory. It is therefore a core national security interest of the United States of America. And in fact, it's been our policy for hundreds of years to prevent outside threats from entering our hemisphere. And we've done it very successfully. We've never been stronger than we are now. That's why American presidents have sought to purchase Greenland for nearly two centuries. You know, for two centuries they've been trying to do it. They should have kept it after World War II, but they had a different president. That's all Right. People think differently. Much more necessary now than it was at that time. However, in 2019, Denmark said that they would spend over $200 million to strengthen Greenland's defenses. But as you know, they spent less than 1% of that amount. 1% is no sign of Denmark there. And I say that with great respect for Denmark, whose people I love, whose leaders are very good. It's the United States alone that can protect this giant mass of land, this giant piece of ice, develop it and improve it, and make it so that it's good for Europe and safe for Europe and good for us. And that's the reason I'm seeking immediate negotiations to once again discuss the acquisition of Greenland by the United States. Just as we have acquired many other territories throughout our history, as many of the European nations have, They've acquired. There's nothing wrong with it. Many of them, some went in reverse, actually, if you look, some had great, vast wealth, great, vast lands all over the world, they went in reverse. They stuck back where they started. That happens, too, but some grow. But this would not be a threat to NATO. This would greatly enhance the security of the entire alliance, the NATO alliance. The United States is treated very unfairly by NATO, I want to tell you that. And when you think about it, nobody can dispute it. We give so much and we get so little in return. And I've been a critic of NATO for many years, and yet I've done more to help NATO than any other president by far, than any other person. You wouldn't have NATO if I didn't get involved in my first term. The war with Ukraine is an example. We are thousands of miles away, separated by a giant ocean. It's a war that should have never started, and it wouldn't have started if the 2020 US presidential election weren't rigged. It was a rigged election. Everybody now knows that. They found out.
- [08:32]
Mark Thiessen
Let me take his audio down a little bit.
- [08:33]
Donald Trump
We're going to keep watching.
- [08:34]
Mark Thiessen
Let me just set the stage for everybody. For today, an unusual episode. The president arrived in Davos late because of a problem with Air Force One. But he started nearly on time, was scheduled to start at 8:30 Eastern, started about 8:40. He's been going nearly half an hour now. And by coincidence, right at the top of our program, he turned to Greenland and you heard, I think, the most focused and sort of substantive case that he has made for why the United States wants to do this and. And was relatively conciliatory at times. Jaime Moore is here. Ogan Gidley is here. The only thing happening in the world today on our radar that's significant is the Supreme Court. Besides this, the Supreme Court is hearing a Cook case today on whether the president can fire fed governors for what he views as cause. So what we're going to do is we're going to watch the speech together, what we call mystery science, mystery political science theater, and we'll be respectful to the president, but we'll toggle up and down here and listen to him at times and let Hogan and Jaime comment. And so while we listen to the president, because much of the speech now is going to be on other matters, but he might double back to Greenland. We want to also hear him on some other topics. But let's start. And again, good morning, gentlemen. Thank you both for being here. Raise your hand if you want in on the conversation. Let's basically restrict our conversation at least at the beginning here to Greenland, and we'll get to you all before too long, although the president may take the full hour. We'll see. Jaime, thoughts on how the president framed what he wants to do with Greenland?
- [10:00]
Jaime Moore
I think that's been probably the best part of the speech so far. I think everyone was looking and waiting to hear what he would say. It seems like he has finally put together some sort of coherent package as to why it makes sense. And so I think that was refreshing to hear. I still don't fully agree with him, but I think this was the most salient message he's had in the last three weeks.
- [10:21]
Mark Thiessen
Hogan, you know the president well. Why would he come in conciliatory? What's the logic of that?
- [10:26]
Hogan Gidley
Well, he's also on a global stage where he's going to try and partner with these countries. And this is one of the things you just point out. Jaime, I think it's so astute, which is he talked about this in terms, yes, he mentioned rare earth and he mentioned the minerals and financials of it, but he also talked about the national security interest of it. And when he came into that room, too, into that subject, he started talking about we want to move to immediate negotiations on the matter with other countries. Again, not saying anything about war, not saying anything about invasion. But let's have conversations, negotiations, if you will, with European nations that also have a vested interest in this. But also I think this point should be made. Oftentimes we view this as politics just started or stopped with Donald Trump. Like he's not the murderer of politics here, he's the coroner. He came in and said the entire thing's dead, the whole system's dead. We're going to try to find a new way to do things. And so he used that, that kind of method to point out other countries have done this, too. American presidents have talked about this too. This isn't out of left field. This is kind of part and parcel of the national security ideology of this administration and this president. And lastly, I'll say what strikes me about this consistently is he's talked about the national security aspect of, aspect of it with Russia and China. That tells me, and I have no indication of this. Please don't say I know something about the inside of this. I don't. What it does tell me though, is that I think he has some intel that shows Russia and China are angling for this strategic landmass. That's interesting to me.
- [11:53]
Jaime Moore
Yes, good point.
- [11:55]
Mark Thiessen
Really interesting from both of you. So let's listen to some more of the president. Again, Scott Bessant said that the Danes were irrelevant at Davos in the last day. And today the president praised the Danes and again talked about negotiation and said this was in the interest of NATO. And as the leader of NATO, the president's making sharing his judgment. Judgment on prompter for that part. And that was obviously written in a very careful way. Let's listen to the president, bring the audio back up and we'll come in and out and Heima and Hogan will comment as they never asked for anything.
- [12:29]
Donald Trump
And we never got anything. We probably won't get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force where we would be frankly unstoppable. But I won't do that. Okay, now everyone's saying, oh, good. That's probably the biggest statement I made because people thought I would use force. I don't have to use force. I don't want to use force. I won't use force. All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland where we already had it as a trustee, but respectfully returned it back to Denmark. Not long ago, after we defeated the Germans, the Japanese, the Italians and others In World War II, we gave it back to them. We were a powerful force then, but we are a much more powerful force now. After I rebuilt the military in my first term and continue to do so today, we have a budget of $1.5 trillion. We're bringing back battleships. The battleship is 100 times more powerful than the great battleships you saw in World War II. Those great big gorges ships, the Missouri, the Iowa, the Alabama, because I thought maybe we could take them out of North.
- [13:48]
Mark Thiessen
Did he say he would not Use force.
- [13:52]
Jaime Moore
You say he doesn't need to.
- [13:53]
Mark Thiessen
Use force, but he can.
- [13:55]
Jaime Moore
Because we're. Because we have a lot. We have more force.
- [14:00]
Donald Trump
That you saw so many times ago that you still see on television. You say, wow, What a force. 100 times each ship. 100 times Davos with the President. The big battle.
- [14:11]
Hogan Gidley
One trip I did not make. I'm so anti globalist, I just said no to it.
- [14:16]
Mark Thiessen
Yeah, I'm just. I know. I'm just wondering how he stayed on on schedule, even though he arrived three hours late. Is that a surprise?
- [14:24]
Donald Trump
Except to protect Europe from the service.
- [14:26]
Hogan Gidley
Oh. I mean, they could have made it. They always make up air. Air time if they need to. Planes do that all the time. And.
- [14:31]
Jaime Moore
And.
- [14:32]
Mark Thiessen
But they didn't.
- [14:33]
Donald Trump
He hit the ground three hours until I came along.
- [14:36]
Hogan Gidley
Well, but what was he going to hit the ground behind? I don't know. They may have had a whole bunch of programming or things for him before when he got there. Some rest, relaxation, some preparation. They maybe said, just go with it.
- [14:46]
Donald Trump
Greenland.
- [14:47]
Hogan Gidley
He does that, too.
- [14:49]
Mark Thiessen
No fondue break. All right, back to Greenland. Defend it, audio.
- [14:52]
Donald Trump
You can't defend it on a lease. Number one. Legally, it's not defensible that way. Totally.
- [14:59]
Mark Thiessen
Mark Thiessen had raised the notion of.
- [15:02]
Donald Trump
It being a lease as opposed to a sale license agreement.
- [15:06]
Mark Thiessen
He doesn't want to do a license. He's a buying.
- [15:08]
Donald Trump
Which is a large piece of ice in the middle of the earth where if there is a war, much of the action will take place on that piece of ice. Think of it. Those missiles would be flying right over the center of that piece of ice. All we want from Denmark, for national and international security and to keep our very energetic and dangerous potential enemies at bay, is this land on which we're going to build the greatest golden dome ever built. We're building a golden dome that's going to, just by its very nature, going to be defending Canada. Canada gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way. They should be grateful also. But they're not. I watched your Prime Minister yesterday. He wasn't so grateful. But they should be grateful to us. Canada. Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements. What we did for Israel was amazing. But that's nothing compared to what we have planned for the United States, Canada and the rest of the world. We are going to build a dome like no other. We did it. We did it for Israel. And by the way, I told Bibi, Bibi, stop taking credit for the dome. That's our technology. That's our stuff. But they had a lot of courage and they were good fighters and they did a good job and we wiped out.
- [16:33]
Mark Thiessen
So Twitter is saying that he ruled out using force, but of course, nobody's.
- [16:37]
Donald Trump
Ever seen anything like it.
- [16:38]
Mark Thiessen
So tomorrow we're going to use force. Why? People are making this global moment, but.
- [16:44]
Donald Trump
They are on Twitter wiping out Al Baghdad.
- [16:46]
Jaime Moore
It seemed pretty pronounced from our listening, but he did double back in the very next sentence and say that we have. We can use wars if we need to.
- [16:54]
Donald Trump
Everyone was perfectly executed.
- [16:56]
Mark Thiessen
But also you could say that tomorrow.
- [16:58]
Donald Trump
Sir, everything you've done has been perfectly executed. I said, I know. So other presidents have spent.
- [17:06]
Mark Thiessen
What percentage of the stories where the president said someone called him sir, where he recreates the dialogue?
- [17:11]
Donald Trump
Actually nothing in return. We've never asked for anything.
- [17:14]
Hogan Gidley
Most of the ones I know about he uses publicly. Someone said it to him.
- [17:19]
Mark Thiessen
Really?
- [17:20]
Hogan Gidley
And they may not have said sir, whatever, but they call him sir. Yeah.
- [17:26]
Mark Thiessen
Correct answer is 40%.
- [17:29]
Donald Trump
31,000 soldiers died. 31,000.
- [17:33]
Hogan Gidley
I was. I gave him advice one time on Air Force One and he put it in his speech when he landed. Steven Miller had to put in. Stephen Miller looked at me like, I'm going to stab you in the neck for adding something on. On landing.
- [17:45]
Donald Trump
But.
- [17:46]
Hogan Gidley
And he used it. A young aide came to me. So I'm saying That was true 100%.
- [17:50]
Donald Trump
That was 25,000. It's a bloodbath.
- [17:55]
Hogan Gidley
Bright young aid.
- [17:56]
Donald Trump
And that's.
- [17:58]
Jaime Moore
I love it.
- [17:58]
Donald Trump
It doesn't help the United States, but these are souls. These are young. Young people. Look like you. Look like some of you right in the front row. They go to war. Their parents are so proud. Oh, there he goes. Come back.
- [18:14]
Mark Thiessen
Axios alert.
- [18:15]
Donald Trump
They get a call.
- [18:16]
Mark Thiessen
Trump rules out using military force to take Greenland.
- [18:18]
Donald Trump
I want to stop it. It's a horrible war. So worse since World War II. Keep going.
- [18:25]
Mark Thiessen
Take this down a little bit. So, Hogan, if the goal was to get Europe to negotiate, the headline is he said he wouldn't use force and he praised the Danes. Does this now mean that he gets the folks in a room in Davos with Rubio and Besant and others and tries to strike the deal now. And do you think the Europeans are open, would be open to it? Because. Because he may have played them into resetting expectations, saying, oh, well, you're not going to invade. So let's. Let's talk about a sale.
- [18:55]
Hogan Gidley
It seems to be this is tracking with what he's trying to accomplish and this is kind of part and parcel with who he actually is and what he wants to do. I will say, though, as my previous point stands, I think he has intel showing Russia and China trying to make moves on that landmass. I would imagine European nations have that same intel, or at least partial pieces of it. They may get them in a room and explain to them, here's what we're seeing, their movements in the seas around Greenland. Here's what we're trying to prevent. The question becomes, does Europe believe that Russia and China are actually aggressing or are they just kind of like, no, no, no, let's just keep things the way they are type mentality? And can Trump sway them in that? If that's the case, I imagine you're going to see some of these European nations go, wait a minute. If we're getting more protection and our interests are getting more protection, as Trump just said, it's not just national, it's international security. If we're getting benefits from this, maybe we should have that conversation. Now that we're past all of the we're going to blow things up and we're going to take it over and they, you know, they're going to be our 51st state or 53rd if we take Venezuela and Canada first, whatever. I think having this sober, serious conversation behind closed doors with, with Besant, with Rubio, may be a really good play by the President.
- [20:07]
Mark Thiessen
Yeah, and it's a great point because. Because this conversation hasn't been on the substance of, of the President's claim that this is in the West's interest to do and that it can't be done any other way. Jaime, the Europeans in the last 72 hours and the Canadians have been more openly critical of the President, more open to the notion of exploding the alliance than they've ever been. The history of the alliance, I would say. And the President's people have not cared at all. Besant's kind of been in Davos laughing at the Europeans being upset. Tom Friedman's upset. The White House doesn't care. George Will's upset. The White House doesn't care. They might even welcome it, even. They don't even care about Chris Coons, if you can believe it. Does the President's framing today make it hard, impossible, difficult for the Europeans to talk about rupture, or does this bring them to the table because the way he's framed it, do you think?
- [20:58]
Jaime Moore
We must not forget that Chris Coons still has a dream of being Secretary of State. So not surprised he's doing this. Well, look, I think Hogan made a read a really good point earlier, and that's one that I've been sort of wrestling with. I think if he can make, continue to make behind closed doors this alien message that China and Russia are on the move, this may be the great unifying factor of all of this. And it goes back to Hogan's point. Donald Trump is not the first person to invent politics, but this is one of the things that in his first term, he was pretty prescriptive in talking about. In the last year, he hasn't been as direct. But China and Russia are a threat. And if that's the biggest threat, the biggest selling point for getting Europe on board, I think it'll help. Now, here's the issue. Europeans, and we all know this, they hate being insult. No one likes to be insulted. But the Europeans in particular hate their way of life to be insulted. They hate their politics, are insulted. And Donald Trump has done a great job of insulting them. And so today he came to this speech with a different tactic. And you know, if you like Donald Trump or if you hate Donald Trump, you have to admit that he is pretty good at negotiating and he's pretty good at realigning the message of the day, and that's what he's been able to do. Thirdly, and I don't know if this is sort of politics, but it seems like the message of this speech is going to be Donald Trump is willing to work with the Europeans. Are they willing to work with him?
- [22:21]
Mark Thiessen
Yep. And that puts the Europeans in a much different place than they were yesterday.
- [22:26]
Jaime Moore
Correct.
- [22:28]
Hogan Gidley
And I think real quick, I think what you saw with the European nations coming out kind of full furthly, you know, trying to go after Donald Trump publicly now, they kind of look a little foolish because they kind of portrayed this guy as some burning to the ground. He's going to come and rip us all apart, which by the way, he has done previously. So I get it. But now he comes in with this tone, with this conciliatory message with the let me line this, this mission out using I think a message that sounds reasonable and rational to so many. They look a little goofy now, too. I think they're going to go, okay, maybe we need to reset all of a sudden and have these meetings. Maybe that forces them to the table. That's a, yeah, I would argue a brilliant strategic move on his part.
- [23:13]
Jaime Moore
And I don't think, Mark, I don't think he gives them very much time. I think to your point, he's trying to close this deal before he leaves Davos. And if they're not, if they're not on board by the end of the week, he's going to, he's going to have very different messaging when he comes back to the, to the camera.
- [23:27]
Mark Thiessen
All right, let's listen in a bit more President, please.
- [23:30]
Donald Trump
Or ever. It's terrible. Costing the typical family $33,000. What they did to this country should never, ever be forgotten. It's early, but he has to be rated as the worst president we've ever had by far. The auto pen did many of the much of the damage.
- [23:53]
Mark Thiessen
The president has toggled back and forth. The president has toggled back and forth through conciliatory tone and less so he said you can say yes different kind of the week. You can say yes on Greenland and we will be very appreciative. The president said about Europe or you can say no. And we will remember just to set the stage a little bit, although we have focused and Davos and the world are focused on this question of Greenland and the frack between the United States, Europe and Canada. Other things at play in Davos for the president, topics that he is expected to address both in this speech, but also more broadly in private meetings and in meetings with business leaders. Ukraine Zelensky was planning to go. Last I heard he was not going to go in part because the conversation has shifted away from Ukraine, Russia, the so called Board of Peace. A massive conversation and another point of tension between the president and world leaders. Some world leaders, an attempt, some believe, to create an alternate United nations with the president at the head of it housing policy. For reasons I've still not quite got my arms around. This speech was supposed to be a lot about unveiling the president's housing policy. And of course, as I said before, people focused on the Fed. So let's do this. Let's listen in a little bit more and then if you'd like to ask a question or make a comment about Greenland and NATO and the president's relationship. The AP also joining in with the headline President says he will not use force to acquire Greenland, please raise your hand. We'll get to your questions as we continue to listen together and see where the president heads. So hands up if you want to talk about Greenland, NATO and the president and let's listen to Donald Trump.
- [25:35]
Donald Trump
I watched him sort of be tough, but he was at $10 for a pill and I said Emmanuel and I have the all the big pharmaceutical companies are in total agreement. It wasn't easy, by the way. They're tough, smart. They've been getting away with this scam for a long time, but they, they gave it up. But they said, you'll never get the countries to approve it. I said, why is that? Because they won't. They always said, we're not paying any more. Get the rest for the United States. So over the years, they stayed the same. We just went up, up, up. And I mean, we would pay 13, 14, 15 times more than some certain countries would. So I said, no, they'll approve it 100%, sir. You'll never get them to approve it. I said, I guarantee you. But I actually started with Emmanuel.
- [26:20]
Mark Thiessen
It's another sir story.
- [26:21]
Donald Trump
We'll turn it down.
- [26:21]
Mark Thiessen
We'll keep listening.
- [26:22]
Donald Trump
I like them.
- [26:22]
Mark Thiessen
Professor Kennedy, welcome in. Thoughts on Greenland and NATO?
- [26:26]
Simon Kennedy
Yeah, I mean, I was talking to our community about this and I was just like, you know, Trump's rhetoric, everybody gets all, it's amazing how he just loves to play with the left with his rhetoric and he gets them all twisted of. And then he comes in with a speech like this, which is more measured and it's, and it goes back to his, his gut, which is about making a deal. Right? He's all about making deals, this guy. So, you know, people that, that suffer through Trump, you know, the people that don't like Trump still have a problem swimming through his, his rhetoric and, and getting to the core of what he, you know, what he's about in terms of getting something done. So we'll see, we'll see if he's able to walk away from this with a deal. And Heim is a million percent right. If he walks away without a deal, the rhetoric is going to change back to that aggressive, bloviating, we're going to invade and all of this stuff and it's just going to, you know, that's the way Trump rolls. And I just find it funny that people still can't adjust to that after, you know, the guy was president for four years and then now he's in another year. We should know Trump by now. You know, that's, that's really my comment about that.
- [27:45]
Mark Thiessen
Thank you.
- [27:45]
Jaime Moore
Hi, man.
- [27:46]
Mark Thiessen
Then, Hogan.
- [27:47]
Jaime Moore
Look, Professor Kenny, good to see you. And I completely agree with you. Anytime I go on, on tv, media, and I've been on with Hogan a lot, I always say this. Donald Trump has told us exactly who he is and we've got to start believing him at some point. And I think to your point, everything he says is not hyper specific and it should Be. Shouldn't be taken hyper specifically, but he does give you his themes. He does. He's pretty honest in the way he wants to portray himself and his leadership, particularly on the international stage. So I think you're right. I personally don't agree with that style of leadership. I just don't enjoy that. That's just my personal opinion because I'm a pretty straightforward guy who's pretty much a political nerd and just want to talk about the facts and not sort of be all over the board with, with this sort of harsh language. But I think you're right. We know who he is and we should. And I think Democrats and liberals in particular have got to stop taking the bait and have got to just give it a beat and let it play out for a day or two before they start, before they respond to something Donald Trump says. I think that's very astute.
- [28:51]
Donald Trump
Yep.
- [28:52]
Simon Kennedy
Thanks, Simon. That's great.
- [28:56]
Hogan Gidley
Okay, Professor, I think you're, you're correct here in the ebbs and flows of this. I still can't wrap my head around it, but I do often laugh at how everyone falls all over themselves when Donald Trump speaks. And Haim is right. Listen to politicians, when they tell you who they are, you lose the electorate. You lose elections when you shock the public. Okay. And I'll just run through. Everyone knows who Donald Trump is, okay? So it's not surprising when he does this type of stuff. It shouldn't be. Everyone knew Clinton was a dirtbag. So when things come out, they're like, oh, it's fine. The economy's good. Bill Clinton, Zoram Van Damme, he's telling you what he's going to do, socialism wise and whatever in New York. So when he does it, you should not be surprised, pay attention to what these politicians say. But that also kind of goes back to the overreaction, for whatever reason, with someone like Donald Trump's rhetoric, as opposed to politicians of the past, which have had horrible things to say about each other and their opponents and all these types of crazy things over, over the years, it's not really anything new per se. They just try to pretend as though this is the first time we've ever heard these horrible things. But as typical with, with the right, I would say the infighting on the right and the left is always kind of epic and one of some of the most fun rhetorical flourishes and battles happen. I do think there's kind of a pattern here where George W. Bush was Hitler. George W. Bush is the worst president ever. He's a fascist. And then it was kind of like, wait a minute, I'll tell you who's worse than that. It's Romney. Romney's the really, the really bad guy. Trump gets elected, he's the worst guy. Romney's the good Republican. And then all of a sudden, you hear them Even talking about J.D. vance is the real threat. That's the real guy, because he's smart and has this affable nature. These types of things are just what politicians do. They find ways to communicate. And if you can win the messaging war, a lot of times you win elections. And so I don't want to get too high here. I'm trying to focus on what we're talking about here. But understand just the fact that people freak out every time this guy opens his mouth. I mean, it gets a little boring, quite frankly, and tiresome.
- [31:06]
Jaime Moore
Professor, I will say that I have been a little disappointed in this particular speech. I mean, he's mentioned former President Biden, like, four times. He's mentioned the 2020 election. I mean, that was two elections ago. Like, let's just get over 2020. I'm over it. I don't want to go back to it. Nobody does. Let's stop talking about it. But the fact that he's doing this on an international stage, it does show that he, he does have some internal competing priorities. And grievances is one of them.
- [31:32]
Mark Thiessen
All right, three quick things. We're going to give you a little news, then listen to the president for just a bit. I see what he's saying. And then Dean from Ohio is here. Hogan, did you want to say.
- [31:40]
Hogan Gidley
Just real quick, Jaime, you're right. Grievance is one of them. But understand, a lot of the American people have grievances, too, so they resonate with that part of it.
- [31:49]
Jaime Moore
Okay. You know, I'm a big fan of yours, and I wore my nice blazers today for you. But look, I don't think the American people have the same grievances that he has. I think the grievances don't disagree are costs, the border and safety. They don't. They don't care about Jerome Powell going to being indicted. They don't care about Lisa Cook. They don't care about, you know, the attorney General of New York. They really care about is a housing policy that will allow people to own homes earlier, allow people to stay their homes later, and allow for people to take care of their families. Like, that's the most important grievance I think American people have.
- [32:26]
Hogan Gidley
Sure.
- [32:27]
Mark Thiessen
Hogan, do you want to answer the question of whether the 2020 election was stolen. Do you want to answer that today?
- [32:32]
Hogan Gidley
I think we have a lot of information coming out that will be quite concerning to people. I've seen the Georgia admitting they certified 300,000 votes. They should have certified. I mean, all this kind of stuff is crazy, but people on the right and the left have been complaining about elections and their integrity for decades. So to try to put it all on him, kind of silly.
- [32:50]
Mark Thiessen
He's the one who just raised it. The Russian special envoy to the peace talks, the interlocutor for Mr. Witkoff has just announced that Witkoff and Jared Kushner are going to Moscow tomorrow for another round of peace conversations. Bob Dean rather stand by. Let's listen to the President, see where he is currently in his weeds.
- [33:10]
Donald Trump
So I'm honored to have done it. Finally, I have instructed government backed institutions to purchase up to $200 billion in mortgage bonds to bring down interest rates. And I'll be announcing a new Fed chairman in the not too distant future. I think he'll do a very good job. See, I gave away some of it. He did give that away. So we have something, get something. But somebody that's very respected. They're all respected. They're all great. Everyone that I interviewed is great. Everyone could do, I think a fantastic job. Problem is they change once they get the job. They do, you know, they're saying everything I want to hear and then they get the job. They're locked in for six years. They get the job. And although he said let's raise rates a little bit, I call absurd. We'd rather not talk about this. It's amazing how people change once they have the job. But it's too bad. Sort of disloyalty. But they got to do what they think is right. We have a terrible chairman right now. Jerome. Too late. Powell, he's always too late and he's very late with interest rates. Except before the election he was just fine for the other side. So we're going to have somebody that's great and we hope he does the right job. Last week, the average 30 year mortgage rate dropped below 6% for the first time in many years. Another major factor in driving up housing costs was the mass invasion of our borders. And I have to say one thing about housing because nobody ever says this. I am very protective of people that already own a house of which we have millions and millions and millions. And because we have had a such a good run, the house values have gone up tremendously. And these people have Become wealthy. They weren't wealthy. They become wealthy because of their house. And every time you make it more and more and more affordable for somebody to buy a house cheaply, you're actually hurting the value of those houses, obviously, because the one thing works in time.
- [35:18]
Mark Thiessen
What are the markets doing now?
- [35:20]
Donald Trump
And I don't want to do anything that's going to hurt the value of people that own a house who for the first time in their lives are walking around the streets.
- [35:28]
Mark Thiessen
It appears the markets, whatever city.
- [35:32]
Donald Trump
That their house is worth 500, 600, $700,000. Now, if I want to really crush the housing market, I could do that so fast and people could buy houses. But you would destroy a lot of people that already have houses. In some cases, they've mortgaged their house and the mortgage would be very low. And all of a sudden the mortgage, without any changes, becomes very high and they end up losing the house. I'm not going to hurt. And I speak with Scott, who's doing a fantastic job, and Howard, who's doing a fantastic job, and all of my people and I always say, look, you know, I can crush the hell out of the market. We can drop interest rates to a level and that's one thing we do want to do. That's natural, that's good for everybody. You know, the dropping of the interest rates. We should be paying a much lower interest rate than we are. We should. We should be paying the lowest interest rate of any country in the world. Because without the United States, you don't have a country. I mean, I had a case with Switzerland. We happened to be in Switzerland. Maybe I'll give you a quick story. But they were paying nothing. They make beautiful watches, great watches. Rolex.
- [36:39]
Mark Thiessen
Okay, we'll skip the Swiss story. Welcome in. What's on your mind?
- [36:42]
Donald Trump
They sent their.
- [36:43]
Mark Thiessen
Whoa, whoa.
- [36:44]
Hogan Gidley
He was getting into watches. I was letting to hear this, that's all.
- [36:46]
Mark Thiessen
You'll listen to it later. Dean, what's on your mind? For Hogan.
- [36:49]
Dean from Ohio
No, you've got Dean from Ohio. That's better than. That's better than Swiss watches. Good morning, Mark. Hogan. Ha. I. I'm interested in knowing why is Greenland being prioritized now.
- [37:01]
Donald Trump
Really?
- [37:02]
Dean from Ohio
Two questions. Why is it prioritized now? Hogan, if you could add a little bit more meat on the bones to what. What you said makes sense. I just haven't seen any reporting on it. And what is the expiration date on any deal? Does it have to get done in the next 18 months, 24 months, politically or otherwise, in order to it for it to be viable or does it just fade away?
- [37:26]
Hogan Gidley
Thanks for the question. I would say any deal that happens before the midterms would be good politically for Republicans. Say, see, we're protecting our own interests or protecting the world. It's a political tool. Of course, they all kind of boil down to that. Does it really help the American people or doesn't help the American or doesn't it? And I think that's going to be one of the main things as it relates to Greenland. I would tell you he's talking about the national security interests. And as I mentioned, this isn't a surprise. There have been some reporting, I've seen John Solomon and others at Just the News talk about the concern about Russia and China from Greenland officials over a year ago, they were concerned about the maneuvers they were doing off the coastline there. So this isn't necessarily something that is mainstream, but it's not undiscussed and unreported. It's just something that a lot of people don't want to talk about. Greenland's far off. Russia and China really not really focused on something like that. They're worried about Russia and China in other ways. Trump's taking a look at the whole playing board here, which I think is strategic and smart. I will make one point about housing. The affordability of housing is a very key component of this upcoming election, which is good. My concern, though, is that there are millions of people in this country illegally. Millions of people will again apply for loans they don't have the ability to pay off. And if you have substandard methods by which you check credit, then there could be another housing bubble that emerges where people who should not, should not buy homes are getting loans for homes, getting mortgages. And that's going to be a big problem for this country down the road as well.
- [39:07]
Mark Thiessen
Just as an aside, Jaime, before you weigh in, some news. Susie Wiles on the trip with the president, as most of the senior officials in the government seem to be in Davos, told the press pool moments ago that the president's going to go to Iowa on Tuesday for a speech on the economy and energy and says the president plans to make weekly trips in domestic trips ahead of the midterm elections and that cabinet travel will also increase. That's a power of incumbency, assuming you're sending out people with a message that actually help your candidates.
- [39:37]
Jaime Moore
Well, Iowa is, is back. That's, that's, that's, that's the moral of the story. Look, I Dean, good to see you and good to hear from you. I, you know, I agree with Hogan on a lot of things that he said. I think the president's trying to wrap a lot of this up before the midterm. But a couple thoughts on that. One, what we learned, you know, as much as Joe Biden took blame for the Democrats, you know, success, quote, unquote, in the last midterm, a lot of that was because we have some really good candidates who were very sane and very salient and getting their messages out directly in their district. And so I think for Republicans, as much as Donald Trump is going to try to be the one leading the national message, you know, if you're running, you know, for Congress or first Senate, it's going to be you on that ballot, it's going to be you in that district, it's going to be you having to go and sell what you need to sell to your people. And so as much as he's going to try to do this, I don't think it's going to be extremely helpful. And one thing I am happy to see and Mark, if you remember, a couple of months ago, I sent you a note and said, I think Donald Trump's spending way too much time abroad. He hasn't been around the country in a while. And so I welcome him going around the country and having this conversation. Sometimes when you're in your second term, you can, you can, you can lose touch with why you ran in the first place. And I think Donald Trump is losing touch in some ways. And so it's going to be good to have him in Iowa and all across the country and how the cabinet members in particular, they haven't done a good job. The only cabinet members we've really seen out there is Secretary Noem and Secretary and Scott Bessant. And so it'll be good to see some of these other secretaries out there talking about domestic policy. And then lastly, on the housing front, look, Hogan, I think, well, we, the housing policy, the reason why it's going to be so important to discuss during the midterms in this year, it's not just about owning houses and getting people who are renters into ownership. It's about making sure that everyone across the spectrum, renters, owners, first time home buyers, elderly, people who want to downsize or who want to stay in their homes, making sure that they have the resources they need to do that. And so it's not just about subprime mortgages. It's about and if we have too many people who have, who have bad credit or who have bad issues and are not able to do that right now. What are we going to do to bring them back into the fold? How do we really make this country great again? And that's going into these states, into these cities and investing in ways to educate people on financial literacy, on home ownership, you know, and things like that. And so it's not just, you know, throwing these people to the side and saying you don't have good credit and you can't own homes. One, and then secondly, look, Donald Trump has said that he's, he's now expelled, what, millions of people who are, who are illegal immigrants. And that was going to immediately shake loose the housing, the housing market. It's already been a year. Has not shaken loose the housing market. That has not been the issue. The issue has not been illegal immigrants. The issue has been we do not have enough housing for Americans. And the costs in the market have driven costs way too, way too high. And that's just the reality.
- [42:41]
Hogan Gidley
Well, I know, I think, I think Ham is hitting on something interesting here, which is. Right, a lot of this has to do with there aren't a lot of homes on the, on the, on the market. They're not building new homes. There's a supply and demand issue here is part of it. But there are a lot of factors. Some of these states have regulations out the wazoo. So you can't even put a, a piece of, you know, plywood on a piece of land without, you know, going through all types of years worth of regulatory nonsense to make it happen. That's part of it. Yeah. But, yeah, I do think subprime mortgages, giving them to illegal aliens that don't have credit is the credit to have these homes is a big problem. Or any American, or any American citizen for that matter. Of course. But in addition to that, I do think by taking people out, things of the market that have largely been subsidized by the American taxpayer that are here from other countries, I think that will have a massive effect on housing prices, but it will take some time. That's not just going to happen overnight. But I do think that does matter to the future longevity of the housing market. But as core, you need to build more homes. That's really the problem.
- [43:51]
Jaime Moore
I agree with you on that. It's like you're advertising the abundance agenda. But, you know, as a local government guy, I think we need to bring the regulation down. I think you're absolutely right about that, Dean.
- [44:00]
Mark Thiessen
Thank you. Let's listen to the president for just a moment.
- [44:03]
Donald Trump
Super modern plan but it's happening at levels that nobody's ever seen. In 2024, the U.S. built less than 2 million new homes. But Biden admitted more than 8 million new migrants. And those days are over. In 2025, for the first time in 50 years, the United States had reverse migration. Boy, that was nice. And these were criminals that were being taken out of our country because they allowed people to come into our country from jails, from gangs, drug dealers, murderers. 11,888 murderers. We've gotten most of them out. And then ice gets beat up by stupid people from leadership in Minnesota. We actually are helping Minnesota so much, but they don't appreciate it. Most places do you know, Washington, D.C. is the safest place now in the United States. It was a very dangerous place to walk. Trying to balance your kids.
- [45:04]
Mark Thiessen
Right to the monitor the President and listen, let's bring in Alan. Alan, what's on your mind for Hogan and for Hyman.
- [45:10]
Donald Trump
Hello.
- [45:11]
H
Good morning, everyone. Well, I had two thoughts. First one, just to kind of reinforce what Jaime was saying about the housing prices. I can remember when we bought our house for under $200,000 for the really low interest rate of 6.9%. And that was a great deal. And so I think interest rates are kind of relative compared to the price of housing. And nowadays, like in our neighborhood, houses are going for 7, $800,000. So 4%, 5% interest rate might look great, but at 7, $800,000, that's a very different payment compared to under 200,000. And so I would love to see the price of housing become more affordable versus interest rates. And I know that's a piece of it, but, you know, that was just a sidebar. The other thing, Mark, I wanted to say, last week, you talked about. You said something very smart. You were talking about your Spidey sense. And that one, you were having a conversation with Larry about Iran and whatever your Spidey sense was. And he asked you, like, implying that maybe you knew more information, and you said, no, I'm just observing people's behavior and their actions and maybe things that they're saying. And so I was wondering, are we seeing any behavior or action in Greenland from people within that community that would imply that a deal is in the works?
- [46:55]
Mark Thiessen
You mean between the United States and the Danish?
- [46:57]
H
Yes.
- [46:58]
Mark Thiessen
Yeah. Well, I mean, there was the meeting at the White House between the president, between the vice president and the Secretary of State and the foreign ministers.
- [47:05]
H
Oh, that's really.
- [47:06]
Mark Thiessen
I don't believe the conversations have ever ended. The last maybe the last 48 hours, they haven't been intense, but I think it's. They made pretty clear in that, meaning what, what the United States is looking for. And Senator Secretary Rubio said to the Congress, what they're looking for is, is a deal that doesn't involve force and that involves some sort of purchase. And that's pretty much what the President said today. So I think, I think it's pretty clear what's happening now, obviously, beneath that framework is all the questions of what is the deal? You know, is it, is it, is it, is it cash? How do you get the, how do you get the people of Greenland to be for it? Because based on all the reporting that's been done out of Greenland and what limited public polling data there is, I don't think the people of Greenland would accept the United States. Even if the Danes somehow made a deal without their agreement, I don't think they would accept it. I think it would be a horrendous situation. Now, the White House has thought for a while that you buy that, you've solved that with a checkbook. You solve that with some sort of initial payments. And then. And then, like in Alaska, some sort of annual payment. Hogan thought.
- [48:09]
Donald Trump
Yeah.
- [48:12]
Hogan Gidley
Yeah. But Ellen, just drill down for me. What's your, what's your broad. What's your, I guess your broader point here. You're trying to say what I was.
- [48:21]
H
Just wondering, like, well, what is it that the people that are in Greenland, you know, what are they, what is their behavior, you know, are they looking interested, truly interested in some sort of deal, or is it just sort of a conciliatory. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll work with you. And then hopefully it'll all go away.
- [48:43]
Hogan Gidley
Yeah. Again, I've not seen too much reporting on the ground in Greenland except a few people here and there saying, yeah, we're, we're always interested to have a conversation. I don't know how far that actually goes, and if those people have enough power or are in positions of power to make those decisions. That's just a negotiation, a conversation you'd have to have with the people of Greenland, and I don't know one way or the other where they stand. I would like to show of hands, though, if I could. How many people like those Danish cookies?
- [49:10]
H
I don't even know the Danish cookies exactly.
- [49:14]
Hogan Gidley
See, they're bringing nothing to this.
- [49:16]
Mark Thiessen
Alan, thank you. Grateful to you. All right, a couple things. First of all, the president continues to talk about housing. He's renewed this, this thing that he's put out there. There's a statement yesterday. I don't know if it was an executive order or not, but he's trying to stop places like Blackstone from buying homes. It's not a very big part of the market and it's an interesting proposal and they're asking Congress to help codify this. Now I want to talk about Scott Bessant. Scott Bessant has throughout the last year transformed from a business guy and a finance guy to a sharp elbowed Paul at times. And you've seen that when he's done TV interviews, you've seen that on the Sunday shows. At times. Times. And in Davos, he's taken it to 11, said the Danish were irrelevant, has taken all sorts of shots at people, including this one, which we're going to show you because we take down the President for a moment and show you because besides the fact that it's extremely sharp elbowed, besides the fact that it's aimed at the person who's currently the most prominent leader of the Democratic Party, it also contains pop cultural references that some of you don't realize are in the arsenal of our Treasury Secretary. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you 2028 presidential candidate Scott Bessant.
- [50:38]
Donald Trump
That you know Governor Newsom, who strikes me as Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach.
- [50:43]
Jaime Moore
Ken may be the only Californian who knows less about economics than Kamala Harris. He's here this week with his sugar.
- [50:54]
Mark Thiessen
Which one of you can explain what it means to be and Patrick Bateman place? Sparkle beach can. Which one of you can explain that?
- [51:02]
Jaime Moore
Not I. That didn't land well at all. So I don't, I'm not sure what he's talking about.
- [51:05]
Mark Thiessen
You know what that means? You know what that means? Somebody put it in the chat because I, I honestly don't know what that means. No, no, you don't need.
- [51:13]
Hogan Gidley
I know Jason Bateman.
- [51:15]
Mark Thiessen
Yeah, but what's. Patrick Bateman administration is coming to California.
- [51:19]
Donald Trump
We are going to crack down on.
- [51:20]
Jaime Moore
All right, Alan C. Said he knows. Put it in the chat.
- [51:23]
Mark Thiessen
American Psycho.
- [51:24]
Donald Trump
American.
- [51:24]
Mark Thiessen
American Psycho. American Psycho. American Psycho is the actor in American Psycho. He's the character. And he looks exactly like Sparkle Beach Ken.
- [51:34]
Donald Trump
They look identical.
- [51:35]
Mark Thiessen
So it's a, it's a airhead psychopath. The largest homo airhead psychopath.
- [51:40]
Jaime Moore
All right, that's a, that's a statement.
- [51:41]
Mark Thiessen
All right, but, but so in other words, he's assuming we all know the name of the character is the name of the character in American Psycho, both the book and the movie with the global. Yes, Patrick Bateman, he started.
- [51:51]
Hogan Gidley
I like him more.
- [51:52]
Mark Thiessen
Even so, anyway, all right, take him down. Let's go back to the President and see what he's talking about. Take him down. Take 20, 28. Presidential candidate Scott Benson. Let's listen to the President.
- [52:07]
Donald Trump
Boldness and persistence. Let us lift up our people, grow our economies, defend our shared destiny and build a future for our citizens that is more ambitious, more exciting, more inspiring and greater than the world has ever seen. We're in a position to do things that nobody else has ever even thought of before. And many of the people in this room are the ones that are doing it. And I want to congratulate you and I'm with you all the way. You can do things that nobody else can even think about. So I congratulate you on your tremendous success. And the United States is back, bigger, stronger, better than ever before. And I'll see you around. Thank you all very much. Thank you very much.
- [52:57]
Hogan Gidley
All right.
- [53:02]
Mark Thiessen
I may end all my speeches now with the line I'll see you around. I love that. Guys, you're going to take questions here. If you haven't had enough of the President talking. Apparently now he's going to take questions and then right after this he's doing an interview on cnbc. I think it's live.
- [53:17]
Donald Trump
This was supposed to be a Nice fire chat, Mr. President. Yes, good. You I get set up. I did. Now you made a job for the moderator really easy. Thank you, Mr. President, for your speech. I do have a few follow up questions if it's okay. I don't think I should start with Greenland. Maybe I'll start with the economy, the US economy. Anybody knows who this guy is really, really well. But how to sustain this growth moving forward because there's always a recession looming around the corner. Well, you know, the one thing about economies and recessions is sometimes you get hit unexpectedly and there's nothing you can do about it. All brilliant people, but there's nothing. One example was Covid. We had an economy going at levels like nobody had ever seen. My first two and a half, three years and then I heard the word pandemic, not Covid. They came up with that name over a period of time. We won't get into that, sir.
- [54:19]
Mark Thiessen
We have a pandemic.
- [54:20]
Donald Trump
I heard the word pandemic and I had a poll come out that was so strong just prior to that. And I was with the two best pollsters, McLaughlin, Fabrizio, and they said, sir, I wonder if you, Washington and Abraham Lincoln, if they came back and ran as president and vice president, they couldn't beat you. And then what happened is the following day I was told to stay tuned because there's something really bad happening in China. There are bodies laying all over Wuhan, right around that certain building that we talk about. I always said it came from Wuhan. It did come from Wuhan. And they were body bags. We saw it by satellite. And they said, there are strange things happening in China. And so it began. And we ended up with the COVID And the whole world suffered. We did a phenomenal job. I don't think we got the credit we deserved. We did something that Operation Warp Speed, which some people say was one of the greatest military feats ever. We did a great job, use our military, used a lot of people. But sometimes you get hit with things. Nothing you can do. You get hit with things like that unexpectedly. And we got through it. And when I left, the stock market was higher than it was previous to the COVID coming up. And that was. I called it a great achievement. But things happen. Bad things happen. The things that we can stop are wars. If we're smart that we can stop. Those are a matter of being intelligent and having intelligent people on the other side. Because wars are the worst of all. Wars are worse than anything. But we can stop wars because that's sort of up to us. But things like this, the former Norwegian, where the COVID comes from, or whatever comes, sometimes you have to be a little bit lucky. But we are poised to have an economy like no other, not only in this country, but anywhere. You know, when you hear the kind of numbers that I can tell you that Scott Besant was with me the other day, and he's looking at numbers. He said, I can't. And that's all he's done his whole life. Pretty much your whole life, Scott, you weren't going to be a football player. I don't think Scott was not that great at football, but he was always good at numbers, right? And he was. He was looking at numbers. He said, I'd never seen anything like this. We're poised to do things that no other country has ever done. And, you know, luck. I hate to say it, but we need a little luck. We don't want to get hit by something that nobody could have thought. Whoever thought we were going to hit by a pandemic. You know, when I heard the word.
- [57:03]
Mark Thiessen
Pandemic, we're not going to be able to see all this way through to the end. And then, of course, there is the Joe Kernan interview. Full coverage of this as well as of course, the Supreme Court arguments, as well as the Joe Capernau interview. All tonight on two way tonight. So, gentlemen, that's the vice chair of, or the CEO rather of the World Economic Forum, the former Norwegian Foreign Minister Borj Brende. I believe that's how you pronounce it. Anyway, quickly, thanks to our sponsors at Cozy Earth and CB Distillery and our partners at polymarket. Won't get to them today, but grateful to them for helping us with the show.
- [57:45]
James Patterson
I'm James Patterson. I write way too many books. Welcome to Hungry Dogs. The title comes from my maternity grandmother, Isabel Zelvis Morris. Nan used to always say, hungry dogs run faster, James. And I've been running fast ever since. Here's what will be coming your way soon. And this is a really terrific list. I think you'll hear from some incredible people like Stacey Abrams. Yay. BJ Novak.
- [58:12]
Hogan Gidley
Yay.
- [58:12]
James Patterson
Kathy Bates, Dolly Parton, Josh Gad and Pope Leo. Okay, maybe not Pope Leo, but who knows, maybe he'll show up. Hungry dogs run faster. Thank you, grandma for turning me in into a hopeless, obsessive, compulsive Listen to Hungry Dogs with James Patterson. That'd be me on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
- [58:44]
Mark Thiessen
Hogan. Overall thoughts on where this leaves us now after the President's conciliatory but, you know, demanding remarks that he wants to see a deal, where does that again?
- [58:55]
Hogan Gidley
I think the mainstream media and the media writ large is kind of concerned about this Greenland situation. They want to cover it. So I think Donald Trump coming in and having a conversation about it kind of started kind of as one of those one off jokes about taking Canada or Venezuela and everyone kind of joked about it. And then Greenland became something bigger than that. And what that tells me is there's intel out there that lets them know that Russia and China are making serious plays for that land mass. And so him coming in there and saying, guys, we need to have a serious and sober minded conversation about it is a very good move whether if something gets done or not, we'll see. But Jaime I think is right. I think he's going to push for a deal sooner rather than later. And if you can come out of here with something, it looks like a massive success for the President at, you know, potentially stopping our partners and allies around the world, but also America from facing almost certain military problems.
- [59:44]
Mark Thiessen
Jaime.
- [59:45]
Jaime Moore
Yeah, no, I fully agree on that point. And I mentioned earlier the one thing that I've been disappointed in and he just spent too much time talking about former President Joe Biden in 2020. And that's just a pet peeve of mine. I'm annoyed by it. I do think, yet again, President Trump has an opportunity to have some success. And if he plays this thing right, this could be very, very, very consequential for the history of the world and particularly our country. And then thirdly, this Golden Dome he started, he hasn't talked about it for a while, but in the last three weeks, that's come back into conversation. So I'm looking forward to seeing more about the Golden Dome, how that, how that conversation starts to play out, who he's bringing to the fold, how those contracts start to be doled out, and when we start to actually start implementing some of these initiatives under the Golden Dome. And then lastly, I think, you know, this, this speech was, was not necessarily for the American audience per se. And so I look forward to seeing what he's going to say in Iowa and what that road trip looks like as he go out and try to set things up for the midterm election. And then I look forward to seeing what those candidates, we're getting into primary season now in a lot of these battleground states. What are those candidates going to say once President Trump leaves their district over the next couple months, and what message will they carry home and what's going to be salient?
- [61:04]
Mark Thiessen
Yeah, all great points. I'll just say again that as important as Greenland is in the debate right now and in Davos, it's easy for reporters to scurry after European leaders in Davos and in European capitals and have them say, oh, the United States or this is a rupture. We need to walk away. We need to be separate. Europe can't stand alone from the United States. They can't just, just on Ukraine. They can't stand alone. They can't stand alone in terms of the nuclear umbrella. They can't stand alone in terms of markets. They can't stand alone in terms of culture, technology. So the European countries can talk a big game, but Donald Trump and J.D. vance and Marco Rubio know that they have the high cards here.
- [61:45]
Jaime Moore
Yeah.
- [61:45]
Mark Thiessen
So there'll be debates. Now, don't lose sight of Ukraine. As I said, negotiations taking place apparently in Moscow tomorrow. Don't lose sight of the Board of Peace that the president's announcing in Davos. That's a massive story about how that's dividing the world as well. The housing policy the president talked about in his speech, he did more of it than I think some expected still don't quite get the location. But in any event, there'll be a robust conversation about that because that is, as everybody knows, one of the main issues for the American people. The Fed argument today, the chair of the Fed is attending the Supreme Court arguments taking place now. Another big story. J.D. vance to Minnesota tomorrow, a big story. And the Clintons fighting with Comer is very active on Twitter right now. Now their spokesman is calling out Chairman Comer for talks. So my point is there's a lot of other big stories in the world, but we'll cover and we'll cover them all and talk about them all. But the Greenland story is going to be front and center as the president again finishes this Q and a fireside Q and A, does his Joe Kernan interview, and then is in Davos through the day for a lot of meetings on all sorts of topics, including Ukraine and including the Board of Peace. Very grateful to Jaime and Hogan. Thank you guys for being here. Weird episode. Did our best to try to give you a conversation like no other. The speech is streaming live on every channel that I see here on my monitor, so it's available to you. But hopefully we added some value to you. Grateful to everybody who raised their hand and to all of those in the Two Way community, again to our sponsors at Cozy Earth and CB Distillery. And I will see you at 6:00 clock tonight for Two Way tonight and then back here tomorrow 9:00am Eastern Time. Thank you everybody for spending the hour with us. Have a great day.
- [63:24]
Donald Trump
Great.
- [63:25]
Jaime Moore
Thanks.