"I Didn't Even Finish Reading It": Trump Rejects Iran's "Garbage" Proposal, Truce on Life Support

Summary

The Morning Meeting – May 12, 2026

Episode Title: "I Didn't Even Finish Reading It": Trump Rejects Iran's "Garbage" Proposal, Truce on Life Support
Host: Mark Halperin
Co-hosts: Larry, Kevin
Theme: Real-time executive news meeting, focusing on breaking developments in U.S. foreign policy (Iran, China), domestic politics, economics, and media coverage.

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Episode Overview

Today’s episode dives deep into the fast-shifting landscape of U.S. foreign and domestic policy, centering on President Trump’s rejection of Iran’s latest ceasefire proposal—deemed “garbage”—and the faltering truce prospects. The conversation connects real-time updates from the White House, Congress, and global hotspots, exploring their downstream impact on politics, economics, and the upcoming midterm elections, with the roundtable’s characteristic mix of newsroom banter and sharp political insight.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. President Trump’s Moves on Iran ([13:52], [14:59], [17:21])

• Truce on the Brink: Trump outright rejects Iran’s proposal, calling it a “piece of garbage,” and says the ceasefire is “on life support.”
• Imminent Action: Panel speculates whether Trump will order new military action, possibly during his trip to China, echoing his past show-of-force stunts during high-profile summits.
• Signals and Military Posture:
  • Larry notes Trump’s pattern: “He has a history of sending a missile attack against a Taliban terrorist in his first administration while meeting at Mar-a-Lago with Xi Jinping.” ([15:50])
  • Kevin: "I don't think that there's any issue with the President traveling overseas and carrying this [military action] out." ([16:28])
  • Pentagon hesitance to resume ship escorts signals internal risk assessments—"the Pentagon decided this was riskier and harder than they had originally thought" ([17:38])
• Escalation Options: Discussion on the prospect of renewed bombing campaigns versus ship escorts as effective deterrents. Kevin advocates targeting Revolutionary Guard leadership: "Target these guys, start taking more of those folks off the map." ([18:12])

2. High-Stakes Diplomacy: Trump Heads to China ([02:56], [18:27]-[29:47])

• Summit in Beijing: President leaves for a high-profile summit with Xi Jinping, amid uncertainty whether any Iran decisions will wait until after.
• China’s Leverage:
  • Kevin (optimistic): "This is a dream for Xi ... if he can be [seen as] bringing about the end of this conflict ... He absolutely will [try]." ([18:45])
  • Larry stresses the possible oil-for-trade deal as a motivator for Xi, but Mark disagrees: "He will do nothing." ([19:25])
• Human Rights, Taiwan, and Trade:
  • Unlikelihood of human rights or Taiwan breakthroughs, with all sides predicting the summit will yield economic and AI-related deals only ([27:00]-[29:51]).
  • Ongoing U.S. efforts to secure the release of dissident Jimmy Lai seen as symbolic, with little expectation of progress ([25:04]-[28:03]).

3. Domestic Politics: Gas Prices, Legislation, and the Midterms

• Inflation & Gas Prices:
  • Inflation hits 3.9% year-over-year; energy spikes as the key driver (Larry: "Energy up year to year about 18%.” [08:20])
  • Debate over gas tax holiday—Larry predicts passage, Kevin deems it unlikely and "craven politics." Mark: "If this happens, Larry, I will eat a kung pao chicken container right on the air." ([22:29])
  • Listeners weigh in: Michael and Gary raise practical/fiscal concerns about a gas tax holiday and its implications for state bonding. Kevin and Larry dissect the proposal’s short-term vs. structural effects ([43:02]-[53:16]).
• Congressional Maneuvering:
  • House and Senate struggle to reconcile competing housing affordability bills—panel predicts House will likely be forced to accept Senate’s bipartisan version ([35:01]-[36:22]).
  • Redistricting battles put Republican House control in play, though all agree: “no blue wave, no red wave … narrow majority, probably five seats at best.” ([32:51]-[33:44])

4. Media & Messaging: The Politics of Presidential Napping ([08:44]-[11:25], [20:04]-[21:24])

• Footage of President Trump dozing off becomes partisan media fodder:
  • Mark on standards: "If you like the president and he falls asleep in public on camera, you should feel the same way about it as if you don’t like the President." ([10:21])
  • Larry: "It's not 100% accurate to say the President fell asleep. You could say it appeared as though the President fell asleep." ([09:51])
  • Mark insists: "No, I'm confident—as someone who falls asleep sometimes—while hosting this show, I know the President was asleep, Larry." ([10:00])
  • Extended humor and lighthearted ribbing as they watch and debate a video of Trump allegedly asleep, “This is real time ... this is me, and I’m not quite as old.” ([20:43]-[21:24])

5. Listener Q&A: War Aims, Fiscal Tradeoffs, and Disillusionment ([43:02]-[59:30])

• Michael (Denver): Asks what % of the U.S. budget hosts would spend for “victory” in Iran. Larry dodges; Kevin suggests “half a percentage point, which is a massive sum.” Michael argues the real political barrier is high gas prices, proposing a radical federal rebate.
• Gary: Points out practical complexities—state gas tax funds are leveraged for bonds, making cuts tricky ([51:26]-[53:16]).
• Blake (Illinois, 27): Speaks for antiwar Republicans disappointed in Trump’s policy swing—"it's such a slap in the face … Trump kind of brought back the antiwar Republican, at least publicly … and this has been such a slap in the face." ([53:21]-[54:00])
  • Larry counters: “Republicans … have always maintained … it is an ideal … value to utilize our military for America's interests abroad.”
  • Blake responds generationally, seeing Trump as pivoting the party to being pro-military, anti-war; concerned about “mission creep,” parallels to Iraq and Afghanistan ([54:07]-[59:11])

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Trump & Iran:

  • Mark: “What’s the president doing next?... Is he going to bomb? Are we just waiting until the weekend to see what he does next?” ([14:33])
  • Larry: "The President said that the offer from Iran was a piece of garbage. And he said ... the cease fire was on life support." ([14:59])
  • Kevin: "And the fact that, you know, three of our destroyers were targeted just a few days ago and that we didn't blow them out of the water is ... problematic." ([16:28])

• On Coverage of the President Napping:

  • Mark: "If you like the president and he falls asleep in public on camera, you should feel the same way about it as if you don’t like the President." ([10:21])
  • Larry: "It's not 100% accurate to say the President fell asleep. You could say it appeared as though the President fell asleep." ([09:51])
  • Mark: "No, I'm confident—as someone who falls asleep sometimes—while hosting this show, I know the President was asleep, Larry." ([10:00])

• On a Gas Tax Holiday:

  • Mark: "If this happens, Larry, I will eat a kung pao chicken container right on the air." ([22:29])
  • Larry: "This is a lot saner and more rational than what Biden did, which was unilaterally deplete our petroleum reserves." ([24:06])
  • Gary (Caller): "A lot of those funds from the federal gas tax … are leveraged into bond indentures … that money is actually locked up already." ([51:26])

• On Vance-Rubio 2028 Ticket Speculation:

  • Trump (via clip): "Sounds like a good ticket. J.D. it's a perfect. That was a perfect ticket ... But you know, it's a perfect. It was a big. And then a very nice. I think it sounds like presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate." ([37:35]-[38:13])
  • Mark: "It seems to me that he's doing, he's saying … it's going to be advanced Rubio ticket. It's going to raise $2 billion in 2027 and that's that." ([38:58])

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Iran/Trump “Garbage” Offer & Next Moves: 13:52 – 19:56
• China Summit, Xi Jinping, Jimmy Lai & Trade: 18:27 – 29:51
• Economic Update, CPI, Gas Price Spin: 08:14 – 08:36
• Gas Tax Holiday Debate: 22:26 – 24:50; Listener Q&A 43:02 – 53:16
• Redistricting, Polls, House Control: 29:54 – 35:37
• Vance/Rubio 2028 Speculation: 37:35 – 41:09
• Antiwar MAGA Perspective (Blake): 53:21 – 59:11

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Final Takeaways

• Foreign Policy: Trump’s Iran stance is hardening—potentially signaling military action even during his China trip, with the truce nearly dead.
• Domestic Policy: Economic headwinds—especially on the inflation and gas price fronts—loom over the midterms, feeding both political maneuvering (calls for a gas tax holiday) and public discontent.
• Congress: House Dems may be forced to swallow Senate legislative victories to get anything passed before the midterms.
• Voter Sentiment: Frustration is rising among younger, antiwar Republicans as Trump's Iran approach departs from his "no new wars" mantra.
• Media Reflection: The panel pokes fun at the partisan spin around presidential gaffes but returns to the serious business of the news cycle—hustling through topics, challenging each other's assumptions, and inviting sharp listener engagement.
• Quote of the Day:
  • Mark: "If you like the president and he falls asleep in public on camera, you should feel the same way about it as if you don’t like the President." ([10:21])

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(Ad sections skipped. Non-content banter and promotions omitted. For clarity, only substantive Q&A retained.)

Transcript

[Michael]

Foreign

[Mark Halperin]

topic we're going to lead with today is who means more to you? Ellery Queen, the Hardy Boys, or Sherlock Holmes? Please vote in the chat right now. Again, our choices, or Nancy Drew.

[Kevin]

You gotta add a Nancy Drew for the ladies.

[Mark Halperin]

All right, A, Nancy, if you're gonna have the Hardy Boys, B, Sherlock Holmes, C, Ellery Queen or D, the Hardy Boys. Let's see what we got.

[Larry]

What about Colombo? What about Encyclopedia Hardy Boys?

[Mark Halperin]

We could have the Hardy Boys if

[Kevin]

you scoot in here right after your show. You can't start adding Larry.

[Mark Halperin]

Larry, we' been on here for 20 minutes working this out. Anyway, welcome, everybody. This is the morning meeting. Larry, Kevin and I have developed a lot of games for you. It's the first two way Pin the Tail on the Donkey. I know what you're thinking. Maybe that's not going to work virtually. Trust me. Ladies and gentlemen, you've never seen. This is a Pin the Tail on the Donkey like no other. We'll have that for you in just a moment. You see Professor Kenny's background. The New York Knickerbockers, ladies and gentlemen, Team of destiny. But if you're thinking they're going to win the title, don't, don't watch an Oklahoma City game because that team's playing at a different level. So we'll see. But Professor, I'm with you for the Knicks. Anyway, we'll do our daybook, we'll do our, our chat a thon, and then we'll go to your questions, comments, suggestions, Nancy Drew reminiscence, whatever you'd like. Please raise your hand if you're on the platform. Would like to be involved in that. Yes, I took some speed this morning, so I'm just. Fast, fast, fast.

[Kevin]

He's raring to go, ladies and gentlemen.

[Larry]

He did, he did national radio about.

[Mark Halperin]

I did do national radio this morning. It was an incredibly exhilarating experience. It's got me jacked and pumped and psyched.

[Kevin]

If you're listening to this on, on the podcast version, listen at a 0.5.

[Mark Halperin]

So you slowly slow me way down.

[Kevin]

Sometimes you pass it up, but.

[Mark Halperin]

And then, and then don't know, smack in the chat. I don't know how many times I have to tell you. It's incredible. Sometimes people come to the platform and they'll, they'll be on the YouTube watching and they'll see the smack in the chat and they'll send me an email. It just, it's like getting an email from Bambi. The level of naivete, it's like Mark, I hear you say no smack in the chat. Maybe I don't know what smack is. There's so much smack in the chat. Please, ladies and gentlemen, busy as I am, I don't have time to explain to these people that you all are psychopaths and you come on this platform and you put smack in the chat. There's so many places to put smack. Why on our chat? Don't know. Don't do it. Thank you for your attention to that matter. Here we go.

[Kevin]

What Mark meant to say on behalf of Larry and I is we are grateful for every comment. Let's just keep it positive.

[Larry]

Exactly. The last thing. It's another way to exercise or lecture.

[Mark Halperin]

It's another way to say listeners. You know, the other day when I. I decried the use of Android phones, the show was almost canceled. So I like to live. I like to live on the edge. Like to live on the edge.

[Kevin]

We almost got sponsored by Huawei, you know.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah, exactly. All right, here we go in 3, 2, 1. The daybook brought to you by the morning meeting. Here we go. The President leaves for Peking today for his summit with his friend the. The. The head of the ChiComs. Eight o', clock, executive time. Print interview at 11. Anybody want to guess who that's. It's probably not Nick Kristoff would be my guess.

[Kevin]

Probably not the New York Times.

[Mark Halperin]

Anyway, it's got some sort of print interview. I hope it's not embargoed. And then at some point this afternoon, I'm guessing around 2ish. The Big Bird, aka Air Force One, wheels up for Beijing. And the President will be there until basically Friday, Saturday with the time difference, I think he'll be back Friday. I don't know, around Friday or Saturday. And amid speculation that any change in the war posture will wait until he returns with we shall see. That'd be an incredible bluff to. And McGuffin, whatever you call it. To launch the war. From the Ambassador's residence in Beijing. Don't know what the Vice President's doing. Scott Bessance remains in Asia ahead of the President doing a bunch of pre meetings with the Japanese and others. Pete Hegseth testified this morning with Dan Kane. House Appropriations started at 8 to talk about the 2027 budget. They still haven't sent up their defense supplemental request.

[Kevin]

Then he's got a full day. He's got a full day on the Hill too.

[Mark Halperin]

Then how do you think. How do you think he'll get from the House side to the Senate side? Will he take the subways what will he do? Because the same pair head over to senator probes for 10:30 hearing. Cash Patel, 2:00 clock hearing along with Terrence Cole. You guys know who Terrence Cole is? Anybody now head of the comptroller of head of the dea.

[Larry]

Yeah, he's a former sheriff in Florida.

[Mark Halperin]

Yes, indeed. He's.

[Kevin]

Is he Senate confirmed? We haven't had a Senate confirmed.

[Mark Halperin]

I don't think he might be, he might be acting. Anyway they're also testifying on the 2027 budget request. Also on the Hill today, Democrats 10:00am Hold a shadow hearing with alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein in Palm Beach. Kevin Warsh gets a confirmation initial vote at 11:30 to be confirmed with final passage expected tomorrow. Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal, 1145 a bipartisan event to push kids online safety legislation. The head of the Secret Service, Sean Kern amidst still lingering questions. It's a good journalism phrase. Lingering question about the shooting at the Washington Hilton. Sean Curran speaking in a closed door lunch with Senate Republicans also amidst controversy over whether a billion of my tax dollars should go to pay for the security around the presidency.

[Kevin]

And to quote the president, Shankarn is right out of the, right out of central casting. He, he looks exactly like, you know.

[Mark Halperin]

Did you watch, did you watch the Indiana football event yesterday with the president?

[Kevin]

I saw clips of it.

[Mark Halperin]

What's the name, what's the name of the coach?

[Kevin]

I watched the whole lane. Lane, isn't it? No.

[Mark Halperin]

Whatever. Anyway, the Indiana coach, the president, somebody will put it in the chat. I'm certain Kurt is his name. Kurt.

[Kevin]

Kurt Signetti.

[Mark Halperin]

Kirk Signetti. The president turned the mic over to him and he said like how are you guys going to do this season? And the coach turned to his team and it was like Newt Rock, he's like if we believe in ourselves, if we're not afraid to win, if we're not afraid to lose. He just went on like this spontaneous speech. And the president looked at him, Kevin, and what did he say? Is this guy from central casting or what? That's what he said.

[Kevin]

Well that's, that's why Larry was so hot on Reagan's acting career. Talking about the GIF right there.

[Mark Halperin]

Something out of, you know, not as good as Obama. There's a bunch of other budget hearings on the Hill. The Navy hud, Senate rules is meeting at Ford, blah blah blah. House and Senate Republican and Democratic House leaders are holding private meetings before evening votes. Their primaries today in Virginia and Nebraska. If you're the kind of person who thinks David Wasserman is God. David Wasserman is bigger than Jesus. You could talk about the Nebraska, the, the various permutations in the Democratic Senate

[Kevin]

primary and David Wasserman being the redistricting king in terms of predictions and stuff like that. I'm just giving viewers.

[Mark Halperin]

This is not CNN dude. You don't need to give any background. Everybody here knows who David Wasserman is by definition.

[Larry]

If it were CNN we'd be talking over each other a lot more. Wait, did you say Nebraska and Virginia? I don't think no.

[Mark Halperin]

West Virginia.

[Kevin]

West West Virginia today.

[Mark Halperin]

Anyway, the point is if you care a lot about the district in Nebraska, if you care a lot about the state legislature, you could talk for an hour about what's going on in this Nebraska primaries today. You know it's all, it's all meaningless. Trust me. The south redistricting, Alabama is now going to be able to redistrict in South Carolina Kevin's adopted home state are two Republican bills are being considered to fast track and Mr. Clyburn may, may become host of the morning meeting because he may be out of a job. We shall see. Okay. EU defense ministers meet in Brussels today to discuss Ukraine and the Middle east. And the consumer price index came out at 8:30. And Johnny, tell them what they won. Not great. Ladies and gentlemen, if you want inflation, if you want Donald Trump to bring you inflation here it is. Here are the numbers. Consumer prices rose 3.9 annually in April the highest since way back in May of 2023. Meanwhile the highest inflation May of 2023. Stock futures are pointing lower. S P is coming and NASDAQ coming off massive highs. Oil prices. Gas prices are also. Sorry, oil prices are up. Gas prices are fallen slightly.

[Kevin]

So it's all.

[Mark Halperin]

It continues to be a confusing mlage of economic data but the, but the

[Larry]

key factor was energy. Energy up year to year about 18. Yes, expected and by the way suffering from their success of bringing gas prices down last year so quickly from the Biden administration. But yes, that's not a good number.

[Mark Halperin]

Not a good number Larry.

[Kevin]

That's an excellent spin though.

[Mark Halperin]

It's an excellent spin Larry. It's not a good number. Ladies and gentlemen, quick word from a

[Kevin]

sponsor for our viewers at home. He managed to get Joe Biden in in one one time.

[Mark Halperin]

In that response there was an incredible debate, incredible debate on Morning Joe. The president fell asleep at an event at the White House yesterday and my friends at Morning Joe found a sound bite from Donald Trump talking about how outrageous it was that Joe Biden would fall asleep in Public. And then he said, he literally said I would never fall asleep on camera. And the White House claimed he was blinking now he was sound asleep. And then again, I say, with love and respect, my friends at Morning Joe, they're right to say that Republicans are hypocrites for now, not caring when the President, United States falls asleep. Absolutely right. But I would say what I'd say to Joe if I were on the set, then I'd say, well, did you all criticize when Joe Biden fell asleep? You know what I mean? Like, if you don't think the President's allowed to fall asleep in public, it should be true regardless of party. Gentlemen, can I, can I get an amen?

[Kevin]

And let's, and let's play the Joe clip of, of him in spring right before the election saying, this is the best Joe Biden we've ever seen.

[Larry]

That's right. This is the best Joe Biden win.

[Mark Halperin]

Well, there's some complexity there. Do you guys agree with me? Do you guys agree with me? If the President's not supposed to fall asleep, it doesn't matter what party they're in? Go ahead, Larry.

[Kevin]

I think it depends on the event.

[Larry]

I think that that's only.

[Kevin]

I think it depends on the event.

[Larry]

I will say, however, that it's not 100% accurate to say the President fell asleep. You could say it appeared as though the President fell asleep.

[Mark Halperin]

No, I'm confident as someone who falls asleep sometimes, why mosting this show, I know the President was asleep, Larry. Sorry.

[Larry]

But the point is, I've been resting my eyes, Larry.

[Mark Halperin]

Let me rest my eyes while I ask you this. Whatever ambiguity there is about whether Donald Trump was asleep in the Oval Office yesterday on camera applies equally to Joe Biden.

[Larry]

And as we agree on this.

[Mark Halperin]

Okay, so again, I just think I'm asked all the time about how do we, how do we get rid of the partisanship, how do we lower the temperature, blah, blah, blah. Again, simple rule. If you like the president and he falls asleep in public on camera, you should feel the same way about it is if you don't like the President, he falls asleep in public. It's as simple as that.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[Mark Halperin]

And now everyone, and I think we're

[Kevin]

in agreement that we, we probably shouldn't elect another, you know, late 70s, early 80s person.

[Mark Halperin]

Don't tell that to my candidate, Bernie Sanders.

[Larry]

Dude, first of all, you don't have

[Kevin]

to be ready and rested Bernie Sanders.

[Larry]

You don't, you don't have to be. One more context I'd like to put in Joe Biden's schedule didn't even come close to looking like Donald Trump's schedule there.

[Mark Halperin]

He's the man. Get the man a Diet Coke, Larry. He's using the schedule. Larry. I'm not saying, I'm not going to

[Larry]

say because this him resting his eyes.

[Mark Halperin]

I'm not going. He's not resting as he's sound asleep.

[Larry]

Sound asleep now. It's not just asleep. He was sound asleep. Rem fact. Is that what we're doing? He was like in the middle of a deep, deep dream. He was unconscious.

[Mark Halperin]

What's the name of the senator from Alabama? What's her name? The former chief of staff?

[Kevin]

Katie Britt.

[Mark Halperin]

Katie Britt. Katie Britt could not have woken that man up if she, if she, if she threw a bubble cuddle blanket at his head. He was sound asleep. Speaking of bubble cuddle blankets, cozy earth. 20% off everything on the site including the bubble cuddle blanket. Right now we recommend you consider two items, both of which I own and both of which are fantastic and highly representative of the quality of stuff produced at Cozy Earth. It's all just super comfortable, super nice looking and affordable. 20% off with our promo code. Morning. The jogger set made viscous from bamboo. Lightweight, breathable, unbelievably soft. Wear it around the house, wear it outside. Same with the clogs. You'll air up, you'll end up wearing them all over the house. But also when you go outside, they're extremely comfortable. What stands out about all this stuff? Again, it's the attention to detail. Everything Cozy Earth is well made and stuff you'll be wearing and reaching for again and again. And if you want to buy the sleepwear, the bedding or anything else for sleep 100 night sleep trial, they're so confident, you love it. You can keep it for 100 nights and then return it if you don't like it. Risk free and it comes with a 10 year warranty. That is how confident they are about the quality. Again, go to cozy earth.com use my promo code. Morning. 20% off. If you see the post purchase survey, tell them Kevin sent you. Comfort lives here. Cozy Earth. Try it today.

[Matt Ebert]

I started with one shop. No college degree, no big investors. It was just a willingness to work. Over time that one shop turned into a multi billion dollar business called Crash Champions. All the lessons I learned along the way came from the grind and that's what my show Pod Crash is all about. We have real conversations with people who've built things the hard way. We talk to founders Athletes and blue collar leaders who kept going when things got tough. You'll hear stories of grit, leadership and growth, plus real world lessons you can take back to your team and your life tomorrow.

[Gary]

When you get momentum, you step on the gas. That's how you get separation from everybody else.

[Kevin]

I was at Harvard Law School. I was. Blah, blah, blah.

[Mark Halperin]

I looked up something to tell you something. There's kids in my neighborhood putting in

[Kevin]

Sheetrock that are smarter than you.

[Gary]

AI is gonna disrupt a lot of stuff.

[Mark Halperin]

It is never gonna disrupt physical blue collar trade skill.

[Michael]

And the guy just looked at me

[Kevin]

and he said, it's bloody impossible.

[Mark Halperin]

So I asked him this question.

[Michael]

I said, it's impossible.

[Matt Ebert]

Unless that's Podcrash with me, Matt Ebert. Watch on YouTube and listen wherever you get your podcast.

[Mark Halperin]

All right, Gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen. The President is headed out. While the war continues to confuse what's going to happen next with Iran. No one I know knows. I'll tell you that. The President balls in his court. What's he going to do? The Wall Street Journal editorial page says 106, very important that the President make it clear to Iran that he ain't bluffing. That when he says he might use force, and he says the ceasefires 99% kaput. By clinging through the ceasefire, through it all, Mr. Trump sent the wrong signal. Iran's regime clearly thinks he can outlast a president who no longer wants the fight. Guys. Larry.

[Larry]

Yes?

[Mark Halperin]

What's the President doing next? Is he doing nothing different until trying to blockade back on or the. Not the blockade, but the escorts back on? Is he going to bomb? Are we just waiting now until the weekend to see what he does next?

[Larry]

His remarks yesterday from the Oval Office, when he was awake the entire time, said that the Iran.

[Mark Halperin]

I'm sorry, pardon me. Pull the video. The president sleeping. And when it's ready, let me know. Go ahead. I'm serious. Go ahead, Larry.

[Larry]

The. The President said that the, the offer from Iran was a piece of garbage. And he said, he also said that the cease fire was on life support. And then this afternoon he heads to Beijing. So I think at this point, either this is him, obviously, vociferously and loudly and unambiguously saying that Iran needs to do better, come back to the table with something better, or he's setting everyone up for the next military strike. And if that's the case, it's a question of whether it's. He's audacious enough to have it happen while he's in the middle of a summit with Xi Jinping or he waits until he comes back. Let's not forget though, he.

[Mark Halperin]

I'm sorry, don't lay out the options. Which is he going to do? Are you, Are you basically saying we should stand down until he returns?

[Larry]

No, I'm not saying. I think he should do the thing that is most effective militarily for us, for our military and for our allies.

[Mark Halperin]

Forget. Should be clear.

[Gary]

Yeah.

[Larry]

He. He has a history of sending a missile attack against a Taliban terrorist in his first administration while meeting at Mar A Lago with Xi Jinping.

[Mark Halperin]

Yes. You remember. I remember that he likes to show off for Xi. Larry, I understand what you're saying you would like him to do. What I'm asking you is, should the two way community stand down, leave their phones uncharged, go to the beach, luxuriate under their bubble.

[Larry]

I would not be on guard. I would not be surprised if military engagement initiated while the President was in China.

[Mark Halperin]

That was the answer I was looking for. Kevin, do you agree with Larry that he may do this from China?

[Kevin]

Yeah, I don't think that's a constraint. Interestingly enough, we usually get some semblance of tweets about plane movements, refuelers being moved in the area, things to indicate something is happening, something indications that we saw before the first strike on Tehran that took out the Ayatollah. The fact that we haven't, you know, Jennifer Griffin hasn't been tweeting about this. Other folks that watch what DoD is doing in terms of positioning is. Is interesting in terms of not predicting what's going to happen. But I don't think that there's any issue with the President traveling overseas and carrying this out. And I think the escorting of ships should resume, the maximum pressure campaign should resume. And the fact that, you know, three of our destroyers were targeted just a few days ago and that we didn't blow them out of the water is, I think, problematic in terms of the President being out there saying an end to civilization three weeks ago and nothing happening.

[Mark Halperin]

Right. So they did, for 12 hours or whatever it was, they did the thing where they said, we're going to help ships get through. And then they stopped at the President said, in deference to the talks. Well, the talks were. Are 99% over. So is there is. Can either of you think.

[Kevin]

And it took him 10 days to respond to our proposal.

[Mark Halperin]

Can anybody think of any reason why he's just not announcing before he goes that we're going to start escorting ships through? I'll tell you one reason. I was told that the Pentagon decided this was riskier and harder than they had originally thought and told the President. So that'd be one reason not to restart it. You guys, you guys think that's going to restart?

[Larry]

I, I think it could re. Only if it's effective. I think that actually a bombing campaign is more effective in getting what you want. Ultimately getting what you want is for Iran to knuckle.

[Kevin]

But what are we bombing, Larry?

[Larry]

You know, oh, well, we might have to start going after infrastructure, which is something the President has been very reluctant to do.

[Kevin]

I think the one thing that, you know, so much of the reporting in terms of the statements being released is coming from the heads of the Revolutionary Guard in the control seat right now, seemingly target these guys, start taking more of those folks off the map. That would be an X factor to change the dynamic.

[Mark Halperin]

Yes. Is she, by the end of the summit, will, will she either known or privately, will she have helped the United States on Iran, yes or no, Kevin, by the end of the summit, will she have done things or promised to do things that will strengthen the United States position vis a vis Iran? Yes or no?

[Kevin]

Absolutely. Because this is, this is a dream for. Yeah, this is a dream for Xi for him. He wants to be a world player, obviously, and if he can be, bring about the end of this conflict and claim credit for it, taking our role as, you know that the, the superpower, the lone superpower, he absolutely will.

[Larry]

Yeah, Kevin is right. And also, by the way, the one thing he can do, whenever Trump goes into a negotiation, he likes to frame things as a win, win, do this. It helps you and it helps us. The one thing that she can do is to make an agreement with the US for oil. We've got the oil he needs. He doesn't want to get it from Iran.

[Mark Halperin]

Mark this down, ladies and gentlemen. This is episode five. Since you guys were named the co hosts of this show. I've never.

[Kevin]

Disagree seven.

[Mark Halperin]

I've never exactly. I've never disagreed with you more.

[Kevin]

Well, listen to.

[Mark Halperin]

He will do nothing.

[Kevin]

Well here, but here's the thing too. And this, this got a very little play, but the Trump. The president made some comment about interdicting ships from China carrying something, likely weapons. Right. He, he was very vague. You know, special gifts from Beijing or something like that. I don't remember the exact language, but there is some element of the Chinese propping up this regime and the US Obviously engaging that and realizing that, yep,

[Mark Halperin]

we got a million topics to get to. And I don't read the chat, but I glance at it. I Saw somebody say, larry must be back on the lithium. I really. That angers me. Larry never went off the lithium.

[Larry]

That's right. How dare.

[Mark Halperin]

Exactly. Okay, we got it. We got to do a. We got to do a detour. Larry, I want you to put aside your red MAGA mindset. I just want you to watch this video. Yeah. And I want you to say, is this man awake, Ladies and gentlemen, Kevin will narrate for those listening to the podcast version. What are we seeing here, Kevin? What, what, what is this? Don't to say who it is. Just, we see an older man. What's he doing there, Kevin? What's his older man?

[Kevin]

Those eyes. Those eyes are getting heavy. And that. I like that purple tie of his that he's wearing.

[Mark Halperin]

Kevin, don't look at the tie. What's he doing? What's that older man doing, Kevin?

[Kevin]

He is closing those eyes.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah.

[Kevin]

Oh, and now he's, he's struggling. He's struggling. The eyes are back open. He blinked, and now they're closed again.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah. And this is not slowed down, ladies and gentlemen. This is real time. And I will say, as someone who fell asleep watching Wolf Detectives sitting next to my son the other day, I can fall asleep anywhere. I, I, this is me. This is me, and I'm not quite as old.

[Kevin]

And now he's. He's walking the beach. He's walking the beach with our beautiful first lady.

[Mark Halperin]

Exactly.

[Kevin]

In the Maldives, he just shot Larry.

[Larry]

62 putting shell formation that says 86. 44.

[Mark Halperin]

There he is. He's sound asleep, Larry.

[Larry]

No, he's not. That's not asleep. You don't move your head like that and raise your eyebrows. You don't lift your eyes like that. In fact, that is so inconclusive, I don't even know that his eyes are closed. He could be reading the document on the desk in front of him. As the event goes on, for weeks,

[Mark Halperin]

I asked the White house to be

[Larry]

MAGA to think an objective journalist. Mr.

[Mark Halperin]

Conclusion. No further questions, your honor. For weeks, I asked the White House officials, treasury officials, commerce officials, interior officials, any chance you'd do the stupid thing and have a tax gas tax holiday. And they all said no, Mark. That would solve nothing. It's so stupid. Well, now the president thinks it's a good idea, and many democrats think it's a good idea. James Talarico, all for it. A bunch of democrats in congress. Here's someone I would say in South Dakota, we'd call this lukewarm. 110, please. John. Th does not seem ready to jump on board with the president's float of a gas tax holiday. Here's what he said, luke warm, when asked for his take, per Politico, quote, I've not in the past obviously been a fan of that idea, but, you know, I've got some colleagues out there who think it's a good idea, and so we'll hear them out. LARRY All I need is a simple yes or no. Will Congress pass a gas gas tax holiday in response to the President's request?

[Larry]

Yes.

[Mark Halperin]

Yes. Whoa.

[Kevin]

KEVIN no.

[Mark Halperin]

Thank you, KEVIN LARRY the answer is yes. When monkeys fly out of my butt.

[Larry]

MARK when was the when was the federal gas tax implemented? Nixon 1956 under Dwight Eisenhower. It was meant to pay for the interstate highways. Paid for the interstate highways, Paid for some of it.

[Mark Halperin]

LARRY we put down a healthy down payment.

[Larry]

I interviewed two senators this morning, and both of them said, yeah, this has got to go. Let's go at the very least for the tax holiday. And it will be the first time that John Thune has not properly reflected what the President and his own majority wants done.

[Mark Halperin]

Do you know do you know what members of Congress are most opposed to it? The leadership and the committee, the committees of the chairs of jurisdiction. If this happens, Larry, I will eat a kung pao chicken container right on the air.

[Larry]

Mark Halperin, you know what they fear the most? Losing this November. Yeah, this is a great thing.

[Mark Halperin]

I'll be curious to see. KEVIN why do you think, why do you think? No.

[Kevin]

KEVIN Because I think it won't have the necessary effect in terms of actually bringing down prices immediately. I think hopefully we'll have some solution here and that Congress doesn't move quickly on anything, especially in emergency capacity. And I think, you know, it's a craven kind of political position. You have Democrats that are running for office saying we'd support it. I don't think you've seen a lot of Democrats in office because it gives an excuse the Republicans to continue on in Iran. This is the main pressure point.

[Mark Halperin]

There are some Democratic senators who think it's a good idea. I don't know why.

[Kevin]

Are they up for reelection, number one, maybe.

[Mark Halperin]

Good question.

[Larry]

If the federal government wants to give relief on gas prices temporarily and this would be temporary, this is a lot saner and more rational than what Biden did, which was unilaterally deplete our petroleum reserves to artificially increase supply, and then

[Kevin]

we made money on them. When we refilled them at a lower

[Larry]

price, LARRY we didn't refill them. Could we dip into We Trump refilled them.

[Mark Halperin]

Can we dip into Fox News? Bill Hammer. My friend Bill Hammer is interviewing Ambassador Purdue. Just curious.

[Kevin]

The great. The great Bill Hammer.

[Mark Halperin]

The great Bill Hammer. He sent me a nice message this morning. Ambassador from Beijing forgot to remind him they don't serve rice with the meal. Do we have that or. No, maybe we don't. Maybe we don't have access to it now. Anyway, we'll monitor that. Is Bill.

[Kevin]

Is Bill in Beijing?

[Mark Halperin]

Bill is in Beijing.

[Larry]

Yeah, he's.

[Mark Halperin]

Yes, he is. He's in Beijing.

[Kevin]

I know. Brett was going over. Well, that's great.

[Mark Halperin]

Sitting. Sitting on the set with David Perdue. All right, put up the Jimmy Lai headline. You guys know who Jimmy Lai is?

[Larry]

Yeah, of course. He's a Christian dissident who has been persecuted by the Chinese government. By the way, has a great book out about China's war on faith. That's the name of the book. It comes out today. Really good read.

[Kevin]

Beijing is 12 hours ahead.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah. Jimmy Lai is also a. He's a. He's a. He's a newspaper publisher. Right. Or journalist of some sort of. In addition. Anyway, Bill McGurn of the Wall Street Journal editorial page says, can the president persuade Xi to free Jimmy Lai from a Chinese prison? How long has he been in prison, Larry, Any idea?

[Larry]

Oh, gosh, I want to say maybe four years now. Three years.

[Mark Halperin]

So. So there's this issue. There's Taiwan, and all the talk that she wants Trump to say, not that he has nuance change on Taiwan. There's other human rights issues. There's the semi issues. Kevin, by the end of the summit, leaving Iran aside, here's Purdue. Can we listen to that for just like a second?

[Kevin]

And we've got to correct that.

[Mark Halperin]

Just about 30 minutes ago, I mentioned the last time I was in China, it was 30 years ago. The changes are remarkable, really, to see what this country is doing. Bill Hammer hasn't been to China in 30 years, and he hosts the show

[Michael]

just in 12 months.

[Kevin]

Well, more is what I've noticed over the last few years. 40 years. You know, the US allowed China into the WTO. We've opened up our markets. We basically invested a lot of capital. Foreign direct investment, however, right now is down 45% in the last three years.

[Mark Halperin]

All right, My main takeaway is Bill Himmer looks fantastic.

[Kevin]

Worked hard to clean the air.

[Mark Halperin]

Look how good he looks in Beijing. Kevin, what will give that man an

[Kevin]

evening show instead of a morning show? That's part of it.

[Mark Halperin]

Look at that. Kevin, leave aside. Leave aside the trade deals because they'll probably be some trade stuff on these human rights issues on Taiwan, on these other issues, what do you think? Will there be like a big trade? Like will they release Jimmy Lai and buy soybeans in exchange for, for the president saying something nice and nice about Taiwan, like what's, what's going to, what's the bargain going to be in this summit separate from.

[Kevin]

Yeah, I think it's going to, I think it's going to be all economic. I don't think there's going to be anything on the human rights front, whether it be or on Taiwan or on Taiwan. I hope not on Taiwan, certainly in terms of the ambiguity that's in place right now. If he provides any kind of context, that would be problematic beyond what's been our policy since 1978, I guess, which was the Taiwan act, following the recognition of one China. I think it's going to be all, like I said, economical. I think he's obviously bringing a number of CEOs, whether it be Tim Apple, whether it be BlackRock, whether it be Elon Musk, and I think it's going to be all that kind of, you know, catered to that. And you saw also to attempts by the administration to already play down expectations going into this. There is not going to be one grand thing that's agreed to.

[Mark Halperin]

I doubt Larry, do you, as I do. You probably never get tired of having Kevin say Tim Apple. I laugh every time. Larry, Will there be anything either on Jimmy Lai or Taiwan out of this summit?

[Larry]

I don't think so. I think that the most significant thing regarding Taiwan is if there is a resumption of military action against Iran. I think that'll speak volumes with regard to what we can do if China does something stupid about Taiwan. But otherwise, I, I, it would be great to see something for Jimmy Lai,

[Kevin]

but I doubt the one interesting factor too is that in all of these previews, they talk about Taiwan tariffs AI but no mention of North Korea really. And again, that's, you know, that's a huge issue in terms of the nuclear material and missile technology they developed already and the fact that they're going to have 80 missiles or something by 2030. The fact that that hasn't been previewed. I wonder if it's just, you know, an idea that nothing can be done really. But that was always China in terms of its ability to rein in Kim Jong.

[Larry]

I do think there's appetite, though, for, for something big to happen economically. China wants the tariffs gone. There are people within the administration who are open to the idea of lifting tariffs or at least relieving tariffs. The fact that Boeing is going, Boeing's been trying to make a deal for airliners with China for a while. There's, there's a deal that could potentially be made there with Boeing.

[Mark Halperin]

Oh, they're doing the Boeing deal that's happening.

[Larry]

So, so I mean, and then I think that there are possible deals that can be made. The fact that Apple is going or Tim Apple is coming as well, I think they are trying to sort of come back with there's still an attempt to come back with something major, relieve the tariffs, if not completely reduce them considerably in exchange for, you know, potentially an oil deal with China as well.

[Mark Halperin]

But again, I think we, I think we all agree that the deals that are separate from what happens on Iran, the deals that will be done in Beijing will be economic and AI related.

[Larry]

Correct.

[Mark Halperin]

They'll, they'll not, they'll not be a Taiwan deal. They're not be a Jimmy Lai.

[Kevin]

Will not be nothing. Human rights. Yeah, exactly. To say nothing of the Uyghurs, you know.

[Mark Halperin]

All right. On so to talk real quick on this next one, midterms and redistricting, three developments. U.S. supreme Court's hearing, the Virginia case. But all legal experts say no, they're not going to rule. And so Democrats will not get their seats from Virginia. This is from Alabama. 114Supreme Court. Alabama had tried to change the map to get rid of two majority black districts held by Democrats and the Supreme Court said no, you can go back to use that map. So Democrats will lose almost certainly two seats in Alabama. And as I said earlier, they're trying to get rid of Jim Clyburn's seat in South Carolina. So right now compared to two weeks ago, Republicans are in better shape with the James Blair plan to to pick away at the number of seats Democrats can pick up. Larry, very bullish yesterday on Democrats Republican chances to hold the House. Here's a new CNN poll that Larry, might make you less bullish. Number 112, please. These are these, these poll numbers of a piece with what you see in public and private polling everywhere. Generally speaking, do you think each of the following have had a positive effect, a negative effect or not much effect on your financial situation? War with Iran, negative effects 75% higher tariffs 65% negative effect. Then here's another set of questions. Who do you trust more to handle these issues, Democrats or Republicans? Health care costs Democrats 4324 helping the middle class. Democrats 4027 income inequality, Democrats 3922 cost of living Democrats 3728. The economy tied 3533. Inflation pretty close 3328. Taxes favors Republicans, the stock market favors Republicans. So, Kevin, again put it all in the blender. Where are we on control of the House after this latest set of data points?

[Kevin]

Well, the interesting thing in that polling too is for the longest time, for the last number of cycles, Republicans have always had the advantage on the economy. We've always had the advantage on health care. And to see those numbers go in our favor, I think speaks volumes. Listen, I think what is it with these six potential seats from the South? You know, Democrats need to clear like now 4% nationwide in terms of the structural advantage with the vote as opposed to three and a half percent. I think one of the problems for Republicans is a lot of these lines, and we've seen this in Texas, we're going to see it likely in Florida are drawn at the high watermark for Republicans where the President won the popular vote, made massive inroads with young voters, with blacks, with Hispanics. And that's going to be a problem based on where all those groups of people are in these polls in these new districts going forward for November.

[Mark Halperin]

Brilliant, Larry.

[Larry]

I think it's like I said yesterday, I think it's a toss up right now, which is actually an advantage for Republicans. If we had a national election where everyone just showed up and voted, who do you want to control the House, Republicans or Democrats? Then that poll would be damaging because nationally right now, Democrats seem to do well with those issues. But that's not what we're having. We're having 435 separate elections because candidates matter. Candidates matter. Yeah. When you go to the polling place, you may, you may be unhappy with Republicans, you may have more faith in Democrats, but when that Democrat is a carbon copy of AOC or Zora Momdani and you're in a district currently represented by Republicans, I don't think you're going to switch that drastically. So let's see what the primaries tell us. But right now I, it feels if it's either way, there is no blue wave, there is no red wave. Whoever emerges in November with the majority in the House, it is going to be a very narrow majority, probably five seats at best.

[Mark Halperin]

Okay. Raise your hand if you'd like to.

[Kevin]

I'd say five to ten seats for Democrats.

[Mark Halperin]

I'm still more bullish on the D's than you guys are. Raise your hand if you'd like to get in the conversation. If you've never raised your hand before, please feel free to. Here's a headline from Politico. Remember, both the House and the Senate passed with bipartisan support, overwhelmingly bipartisan, and support separate, very good substantive housing bills. All policy experts say these are good bills for the most part, but they're not the same bill. So something has to give. I continue to be skeptical that Democrats are going to vote on final passage to give the President this victory. But the first problem the president has to have is how to get Republicans on the same page. And according to this Politico headline, the president now, after staying out of the cross chamber dispute over the various separate housing affordability bills, Trump now is calling on the House to pass the Senate's version of the bill. Kevin I am, I am offended and appalled when the House of Lords tries to jam the people's House, but they do all the time and usually pretty successfully. It's the only way to get this done at this point, in the view of a lot of people in the administration and on the Hill, the House just has to suck it up and pass the House bill. There's no conference committees. I've tried to explain that to you a thousand times. They don't have conference committees. And there's just no way to figure out how to adjudicate the difference. So will the House suck it up and pass the Senate version, yes or no?

[Kevin]

Kevin WALLING Sometimes that, that hot, steeping hot cup of tea just needs to go along with the saucer. And with the saucer being the Senate, that cools it. And I think the only way, to your point, Mark, they get this done is to pass that Senate bill that passed. And this was my winner from weeks ago because he had something like 80 plus votes in the Senate on it. When's the last time you saw a policy bill with that kind of bipartisan support? And you're not going to see that again? I think now with the midterms hot on. So obviously the president is smart to say the House should just take up the Senate bill and pass it.

[Mark Halperin]

And you think they will?

[Kevin]

I don't think. I don't know if they will. But again, I also don't underestimate the Speaker's ability to corral votes on tough issues. And it might be this hurrah. You know, this is the only thing we can get done seemingly before the midterms with actual tangible things for the American consumer. And they may actually move on that.

[Mark Halperin]

And just to be clear, if they do it that way they don't have to get any more Democratic votes. And they have.

[Kevin]

They can pass a party line.

[Mark Halperin]

They can pass and they might get some Democrats. Larry, will that. Will Speaker Johnson do this?

[Larry]

Yeah, because Speaker Johnson has the skills to get it done, unlike his counterpart in the Senate. And also unlike his counterpart in the Senate, he respects and is loyal to the president's leadership here, and so he will get it done. It would be great to see if Mr. TH could do the same thing on his side of the building.

[Mark Halperin]

Man.

[Kevin]

Boy, you are so.

[Mark Halperin]

You are so does not like Blakey Laconic.

[Larry]

TH I like him personally, but last I checked, he really wanted to be the leader, and it would be great to see him show a little bit more leadership qualities.

[Kevin]

I think. I think Larry's going to vote for Tom Dash right in Tom Dash on the next election.

[Mark Halperin]

Exactly. If we weren't short of time, I wouldn't be dropping topics and I would tell you my favorite Tom Dashiell, SD story, but no time. And I have to drop some topics. I do have to make a correction. I referred to the great new film with Julia Louise Dreyfus and many more as. As a wolf. Detectives. It's sheep Detectives, of course. And I regret the error. It looks very cool. It's good. Okay. We try not to. Every day we wake up, we have our staff meeting at 3am Eastern time. We say, what are we going to talk about today? And every day we say, let's not talk about the Vance Rubio thing. It's just a bunch of hoopla. It's all meaningless. There's. We got to get through the midterms. Not. But every so often, our hand gets forced. And in this news cycle, our hands was forced by one of the top political pundits in America who last night did a. Did a scientific survey. Who do people like Vance or Rubio? Here is this pundit.

[Unknown Guest]

Okay, let's go. You ready? Who likes J.D. vance.

[Mark Halperin]

Smattering.

[Unknown Guest]

Like Marco Rubio.

[Mark Halperin]

Smaller smattering.

[Michael]

All right.

[Unknown Guest]

Sounds like a good ticket. J.D. it's a perfect. That was a perfect ticket, by the way. I do believe that's a dream team. But these are minor details. That does not mean you have my endorsement under any circumstances. But, you know, it's a perfect. It was a big. And then a very nice. I think it sounds like presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate.

[Mark Halperin]

That was President Trump last night at a law enforcement dinner in the Rose Garden. What do they call it? Rose Garden Cafe. What does he call the thing calls it something dinner in Rose Garden.

[Larry]

But he kind of, I've never invited,

[Mark Halperin]

I think it's called the Rose Garden Club, maybe club.

[Kevin]

The club. Yeah.

[Larry]

Anyway, to get invited so I can get the first hand account of that.

[Mark Halperin]

It would be one of, one of my favorite, one of my favorite Trump verbal tics is it's a small detail. I love when he says that. So, Larry, as a student of the president's body language, nuanced tone, it seems to me that he's doing, he's saying, yeah, Halperin's right, it's going to be advanced Rubio ticket. It's going to raise $2 billion in 2027 and that's that. What say you about my interpretation?

[Larry]

I didn't hear the Halperin's right part

[Mark Halperin]

of it, but it's implicit. It's implicit.

[Larry]

I think, I think the president, that was a tell when he said sounds like a great ticket that we discussed this yesterday. I think that both Rubio and Vance are having fun with this. They're enjoying all the speculation and all of the people trying to create a rift that doesn't exist. And I think the president decided he wanted to enjoy it as well. Either way, as I always say, don't make me choose between Vance and Rubio because I love them both and I think they'll both be great candidates. And I much prefer being a Republican looking at 28 right now than Kevin and the Democrats looking at 28.

[Mark Halperin]

Kevin, how'd you read the Trump body language on that thing?

[Kevin]

We're in trouble when he starts bringing back Omarosa, too, in terms of this apprentice type anointing for 2028. But yeah, clearly the president is enjoying it and will continue to fuel this because it also makes him the center of attention for the battle for who's going to run and what his endorsement is going to look like. Because again, he was quick to say, and I'm not endorsing anybody just yet, which again is also somewhat of a slight to his vice president. You know, it's. Yeah, it is.

[Larry]

Oh, please. When did Clinton endorse Gore? When did Reagan endorse H.W. bush? That's very, very

[Mark Halperin]

not to mention Obama and Biden. We've not had, we have not had a president in the modern era. As Larry and I discussed this morning on his program, we've not a president the modern era and enthusiastically endorses vice president. We just haven't had it.

[Kevin]

That's true. It's true.

[Larry]

And I will continue to say maybe

[Mark Halperin]

Joe Biden endorsed Kamala Harris.

[Larry]

Yeah, that's true. Well, Nancy Pelosi, unusual circumstances.

[Kevin]

Yeah, I, we did, we did have, we did have Obama endorsed Hillary Clinton though. Yes. Not as minutes interview. So that maybe there's something to it.

[Larry]

As much as I have great admiration for President George W. Bush, I do think one of the greatest crimes he did to my party was not set us up for a natural successor by continuing to have with Dick Cheney. He was not going to be running for president. And I think it's important for a president to be able to set his party up for another for his successor.

[Mark Halperin]

Larry, when you're president, you'll do that.

[Larry]

Absolutely. That's never going to happen. All right.

[Mark Halperin]

We're thrown over the side. Two topics I was really interested in, in talking about, which is Katie Porter on CNN talking about that's okay.

[Kevin]

We don't, yeah, we can, we can

[Larry]

throw her in California and then the

[Mark Halperin]

new Hunter Biden documentary will maybe we'll talk about that some other day. And Mark Kelly raised questions about the Iran policy this morning on Morning Joe. We're not showing any of that. Quick word from a sponsor then, to your questions, please. If you're here on the platform, raise your hand. There are no, there are some great hands up. I'm eager to call on folks, but there are no new hands up. So I'd like one new person if never some one person on here. Never ask a question, please raise your hand. Our sponsor this morning, true work.com they make great clothes for working outside. Whether you've got a professional job that requires you to work outside or doing stuff around the home. As we come to spring and then into summer, you want clothes that'll be good in the rain, good in the mud, good under any circumstances. That that's what True work makes. It's true work.comt r u E W E R K T R U T R u e w e-r k.com promo code two way gets you 15% off. This is performance workwear. That's durable apparel for all the demanding jobs you do outside. It allows you to stretch, bend, kneel, climb, water resistant to shed the rain. Nine functional pockets. I challenged my son the other day to fill all nine pockets on my pants. And I'll just suffice to say he didn't quite make it. Nine pockets is a lot of pockets. Anyway, it's all available for you right now with the, with the 15 off your first order, go to true work.com t r u e w e r k code two way built like it matters because it does. All right, while I wait for a new hand to come up, let's go to old reliable Michael. Eddie. Michael. Have you raised your hand before? I'm just kidding. Gotta unmute. Michael. Michael.

[Kevin]

Good morning.

[Mark Halperin]

You'll pardon me for not remembering. Have you raised your hand before? Yes, sir.

[Kevin]

Yeah, we can hear you.

[Mark Halperin]

Have you raised your hand?

[Michael]

I've been a follower and watcher since before the election.

[Mark Halperin]

All right, Michael. Well, thank you for raising your hand. I'm glad I. I dragooned you into it. Thank you for being here. Tell folks where you live and what's on your mind. For Larry and for Kevin, and again, thank you for being part of Denver, Colorado. Beautiful place.

[Michael]

So Rockies. And, Kevin, and here's a question for you. What percentage of the US Budget would you give to solve the Iranian war in a positive manner? If you're going to put a percentage and say, you know, it's worth 5% or is it worth 10%? What would you give?

[Mark Halperin]

Solvent, meaning no nuclear program. Straight is open.

[Michael]

We win. We win. However you determine that.

[Mark Halperin]

Can I get a muller's head on a pike?

[Michael]

Sure.

[Mark Halperin]

Okay. Larry, what's that worth to you?

[Michael]

What percentage of the US Budget?

[Mark Halperin]

What percentage?

[Larry]

I think he was asking you to because he knows that I'm on.

[Michael]

Oh, Larry, I can't see your name because you're too low, so I apologize.

[Larry]

Oh, that's all right. That's all right. I think that the federal military budget is a good place where we are right now in terms of what it costs. I think my point to you, Michael, is that this is a worthy endeavor and something that's been delayed by past presidents for far too long. We have the window of opportunity to get the heads up it is worth what we're spending right now.

[Kevin]

I think Michael's asking. What. What. What amount of money would we.

[Larry]

I mean, our national defense is now? What about 13, 14.

[Mark Halperin]

But he's asking of the total federal

[Larry]

budget of our budget.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah, the total budget.

[Kevin]

What would you spend to pay off the regime?

[Larry]

Our national. No, not to pay off the regime. It's. It's victory.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah. Okay, Michael, I get. I get your question. Larry doesn't want to give a number, so we'll kind of mark him down as evasive. Kevin, what. What's your. What's the number?

[Larry]

I. Again, we're. We're spending 13% on national defense right now on our annual budget.

[Mark Halperin]

All right, 13%.

[Larry]

And there's, you know, what, a tenth of that being used in Iran right now.

[Mark Halperin]

Okay, Kevin, for automatic victory, like, write the check and you win, what would you spend?

[Kevin]

Half a half a percentage point, which is a massive sum.

[Michael]

Okay. And what is the one thing that's holding us back from really continuing the war and winning the war? It's gas prices. Right.

[Mark Halperin]

Michael, I feel like you're. I feel like you're Socrates. This is exciting.

[Michael]

I know, I'm, I'm suckering you.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah.

[Michael]

But let me, let me put it that way. It's gas prices, right? That's the one thing that everybody's complaining about.

[Mark Halperin]

Well, yeah, there's some other complaints, but it's a big one.

[Michael]

How many gallons a year, a day, do we. Do we consume?

[Larry]

Sorry, that. I don't know, off the top of my head.

[Michael]

370 million gallons a day.

[Mark Halperin]

Okay.

[Michael]

Or I'm sorry. Yeah. So about a gallon per person.

[Mark Halperin]

Okay.

[Michael]

Right. And what is the federal gas tax, percentage wise, or cents?

[Mark Halperin]

I think it's 16 cents.

[Michael]

18 cents.

[Mark Halperin]

18 cents.

[Michael]

Okay, so let's do what if we gave a dollar to everybody for every gallon that was produced or every gallon that was sold, we reduced it by the federal government, reducing it by a dollar, which would be about $370 million a day, times 365. You end up with roughly $135 billion, which is approximately 0.35% of the federal budget. Okay, so if that's the problem that we have is gas prices, Trump needs to take away from saying, hey, the problem is that we want to continue the war. The only way to do it is to reduce gas prices. So then I can win the midterms. Okay. Or I can do better in the midterms. It's a simple solution. We're all looking at this and going, oh, my God, the gas prices are so much. We spend so much money in this country on other stuff. Why are we not spending 3% on this?

[Mark Halperin]

I saw this morning the average additional cost for an American average is $10 a week. Yeah. Hopefully that matches. Or maybe family, I don't know. Hopefully that matches. It's probably Kevin. Kevin, What? Gas users? Yeah. So I'm pretty sure. Michael, I understand your point, and I think it's interesting and provocative and smart. Kevin, what about his point that if this is the problem, write a check and it's a solution?

[Kevin]

Well, again, then the question then becomes not an economic one, but a tactical one in terms of how we actually win this war. And then does it involve boots on the ground? Does it involve, you know, sending forces to get out the nuclear dust and building Runways so that our planes can land and take them out again. Through the economic lens. Sure. And the number of bombs that we produce and the number of bombs we drop. But then militarily, tactically wise, how do we actually win this war? Yeah. And it's likely involving some semblance of boots on the ground, where if the war right now is at Vietnam eras of problem for this president, imagine if that is the next phase where we actually have to commit young men and women to it.

[Larry]

Yeah, well, it's. It's not going to involve boots on the ground in terms of an occupation or an invasion. There will be potentially some missions that will involve Marines going in, getting something done, and then leaving. But, Michael, to. To the broader point here, I reject the premise that the biggest hold up right now for support of the president in this military endeavor is gas prices, because his political opponents would find anything to oppose this even if they were in favor of it four years ago under a different president. A lot of this has to do with opposition to the president. And one of the most effective way to oppose the president right now and move the needle politically is to complain about gas prices because the American people feel that right now, even though gas prices as high as they are, are still lower than they were under Joe Biden when we weren't engaged in a Middle east conflict. So I get your point and I take your point, but we just need to face reality. There would be vociferous opposition of this military action and the President, regardless of gas prices.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah. Well, so, Michael, Michael, thank you for being here. Tell folks what you like about Two Way, if you don't mind.

[Michael]

You know, honestly, I think it's. I was watching it when the other guys were on too, and I think, you know, I don't want to pat you on the back, Mark, but it's the way you challenge people, whether they be your guests or whether they be your co hosts. You don't let them just say something without challenging what they actually think about it. And a lot of times when you get a groups together, it's like, you know, everybody's. They're agreeing and stuff. And Kevin and Larry agree a lot. And then you go, wait up. Why are you guys agreeing on this? So it's that challenge of it to make sure their ideas have some. Some weight behind them.

[Mark Halperin]

Awesome. Thank you, man. Thank you for being part Two Way. We welcome you back anytime. Great.

[Kevin]

Thank you, Michael.

[Larry]

I'm a little disappointed he didn't mention my ties, but okay.

[Mark Halperin]

Implicit. It's another implicit thing thank you. Guitar Cadillacs HILLBILLY music Gary, welcome back. Thank you for being here.

[Gary]

Hey, how's it going, guys? Hey, Gary.

[Kevin]

Good morning.

[Mark Halperin]

Good.

[Gary]

Love the new lineup. It's great. Last time I. I chimed in here was with. It was. Was with the other two. So I just wanted to sort of, you know, point something out. I mean, a lot of the discussion has been on the gas tax, and sometimes I think, you know, people think bigger picture, but there's a lot of nuance when it comes to that happens to be something that I do professionally. But a lot of those funds that, you know, from, from the federal gas tax gets passed on to the states, and people think that they just use that cash to repair roads and bridges. But the reality is those funds are leveraged into bond indentures, which, you know, a lot of these states have sold bonds, so a lot of that money is actually locked up already. So, you know, something like taking out the gas tax away from, you know, not funding roads and bridges, you know, it's going to be hard to do because, you know, investors own the right to them. So it's, it's, you know, again, I don't know how much is still outstanding, but sometimes they leverage one or up to two authorization periods, so which typically they're shorter debt, so it goes from six to 12 years. But, you know, something taking out those funds from this, from a state level, you'd be, you know, causing rating issues, you know.

[Mark Halperin]

Understood. But if Congress passed a law, presumably they'd have to address that in some way, right?

[Gary]

They would have to, because again, that money's leveraged already. So, you know, you're robbing Peter to pay Paul in some way. So. Just wanted to point that out because

[Kevin]

there's a lot of good points.

[Mark Halperin]

Absolutely. It's one of the many reasons why people in administration told me they would never do this. Larry, thoughts?

[Larry]

He's not wrong. Money is fungible. But it also often happens that to relieve temporarily the American taxpayer, at one time or another, it makes sense to do something like this, and then the money can be shifted around and moved around. We're carrying a lot of debt. Obviously, everybody knows, and it's something that can be done. I still think they're going to do it.

[Mark Halperin]

Gavin, is your money fungible in your household?

[Kevin]

No, it's allocated by Alex. I don't have much of a say in it. But, Gary, you make a lot of good points, and we're seeing it also play out in the California governor's race, too, where you have the two Republicans and Matt Mahan out there saying let's take a pause on the gas tax very high in California for a number of different reasons. And I think that's an easier thing to do necessarily in Sacramento than on the federal level In a lot of these other states.

[Larry]

Do states have to balance their budgets? The federal government.

[Kevin]

Exactly.

[Gary]

Well, states, the states have also leveraged their own gas taxes as well. I've done many deals when it comes to that. So it's again, the investors will get the first dip at it. I mean, if you take a look at a lot of pension restructures that have happened, the investors get the first bid out of it. It's locked in an indenture. So, you know, unless you blow it all up and declare bankruptcy, it's just, it's just not going to happen without causing a major impact in the bond market.

[Mark Halperin]

Yes, sir, Absolutely. Thank you for the expertise. And again, it's just, people think it's just easy to just gas tax holiday, but implications across the board. Blake, welcome in. Tell folks who don't know where you are what's on your mind for Larry and for Kevin.

[Kevin]

Good morning.

[Blake]

Good morning.

[Mark Halperin]

Here you will go.

[Larry]

Blake. Epic beard, my friend.

[Blake]

Thank you.

[Larry]

Thank you.

[Kevin]

Great backdrop too.

[Blake]

I'm from Illinois. I'm 27. I've been as right as right can write. And I can't be more disgusted with this war in Iran. I've always felt that Trump kind of brought back the anti war Republican, at least publicly. And a lot of us, especially younger, rallied behind that. And this has been such a slap in the face. I feel like for us that really rallied in that particular portion of the MAGA movement.

[Mark Halperin]

Are you, are you concerned about the cost of the taxpayers? Are you concerned about the slippery slope? What, what, what, what piece of it bothers you?

[Blake]

It was more about the premise. It was more that there was somebody saying no new wars and we all rallied for that versus how every candidate was essentially for something like this.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah, Kevin.

[Kevin]

No, Blake, you speak to quote Mark Halpern for tens of millions of Americans and I think quite a few of the president's base. And we're seeing that in the numbers directed towards this. The fact that again, we're so siloed in terms of our polling, 50% are on one side, 50% or the other. But the numbers that Marcus showed in terms of the popularity of this war dip into the president's MAGA base because of this particular issue. And I think again, you speak for millions of folks that feel, I think let down by this president when it comes to the notion of what he campaigned on and now what he's obviously doing with Iran and then we'll see potentially with Cuba. I give the administration a lot of credit for what they did in Venezuela in a very targeted fashion, seemingly that we're getting some major concessions there. But this extended campaign that we're seeing without a lot and in sight necessarily, I think speaks volumes to his MAGA base of the supporters. But I'd be interested more to hear what Larry thinks as a spokesman of the maga. Right.

[Larry]

I'm not are all of the spokesman of the maga.

[Mark Halperin]

Right.

[Larry]

But I'm also not a Democrat who worked for Joe Biden. Kevin.

[Kevin]

With all due respect, I was a surrogate for him. Never paid.

[Larry]

If I may, Blake. So I'm confused because I've been a Republican since Ronald Reagan was in the White House. I'm not quite sure what you mean by anti war Republicans because I think Republicans and conservative values have always maintained that it is an ideal and virtuous American principle and value to utilize our military for America's interests abroad. That. Wouldn't you agree that that's something that our party has always stood for?

[Blake]

I don't, I don't disagree with that on premise. I think there's, there's an age difference in, in that viewpoint.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[Blake]

Where we, Donald Trump really brought the idea to the stage that we can be pro military and anti war within our party.

[Larry]

Well, sure. And listen, I don't think the president, or frankly anyone, I'm not pro war. But, but the president, I mean, maybe we looked at a different campaign. He did in fact say no more forever wars. He did want to end the conflicts in Afghanistan, in Iran and excuse me, in Iraq and get us out of there because from his perspective, they were ill advised and they had sort of gone through what many would suggest would be mission creep and they had lost the plot. But when he was running for office, he said no more forever wars. He didn't say he wouldn't use the military. The president actually was on the campaign trail saying, unlike these other guys who complain about Iran and let them get nuclear weapons and send them pallets of cash, I'm going to bomb the hell out of him. That's what Trump said when he was running for office. Blake. So I'm confused by, I think that you're sincere and I understand your position, but I am confused as to where it's coming from because the president is doing, frankly, what he said he was going to do.

[Blake]

Well, I guess to the point that you just made. So as you stated that the Afghanistan and Iraq war were both ill advised. Are you claiming that this war isn't? Not that. Because it seems very ill advised. Because we keep being told that one thing has happened and that we've received victories and now we're not getting those and we have to continue. Well, it seems like the same nonsense that we didn't want from the last two forever wars.

[Larry]

Well, I disagree in many respects. And the most fundamental is there is no occupation, there is no invasion even, and there's no attempt at nation building. That is a fundamental difference between Iraq, Afghanistan and what we're doing right now so far.

[Kevin]

There are so far, to Blake's point.

[Larry]

Absolutely, so far. Thank you.

[Mark Halperin]

But I don't think.

[Larry]

But that's all we've got to work with here, Kevin, is where we are right now and what has happened. Right.

[Blake]

I guess that's where most of our fears stem from, is that it sounds

[Larry]

fine and it's up to us to hold this that we had prior to Blake. I agree with you. And let's not prejudge what's happened and let's not say this is awful because we fear what might occur. Let's instead judge it for what it is, which is a military success and a frustrating diplomatic process that is yet to be resolved and is very nascent, number one. And number two, let's actually focus on what we've got in hand versus what we are afraid the president might do, because the president continues to say that he won't do it and I for one, trust him at his word.

[Blake]

I think it's fair to judge when it comes to our leaders based on previous ones, specifically on this topic, because each one of those, from Syria to Afghanistan to Iraq, not in that particular order, we were told weren't going to be the disasters that they were. So when we're, we're being fed this story now, and it's very easy for most of us to say, hey, we've had this meal before and we didn't like the way it tasted.

[Larry]

Brother, I hear you and I understand you. I do think the difference is we knew going we had 200,000 ground troops going into Iraq. We knew that was happening. We knew that nation building was going on. They told us that was the plan. So this is not. There wasn't any deception. There, I guess, is what I'm like.

[Mark Halperin]

Thank you. You speak, you speak for tens of millions very grateful for coming on and being so principled and articulate and Being a great member of the community. Thank you.

[Kevin]

Thank you.

[Mark Halperin]

Blake. I'm dashing over to second hour of the morning meeting on Sirius xm. I always wonder what Larry and Kevin do with the last few minutes of the show and I'll never know. Guys, thank you.

[Larry]

I look forward to why it's so good, Mark.

[Mark Halperin]

I know. I look forward to seeing you soon. And I'll look, I'll see some of you over at Sirius XM in the 10 o' clock Eastern hour. Have a great day and then I'll see you at 5. But Larry's about to tell you all about that. I am.

[Larry]

We got coming up here. Yeah, Kevin, I do like that he, he's, he's from the MAGA perspective. He's, you know, got challenges to the Iran war, he's got.

[Kevin]

And then Mark says awful challenges too, like yeah, yeah.

[Larry]

And then, but then Mark goes, great points. Kevin, you want to answer that?

[Kevin]

You know. Well, I like to serve you up, you know.

[Larry]

Oh yeah, you served me up all right.

[Kevin]

Yeah, let's go back to those inflation numbers.

[Larry]

Yeah, it's fine. Kevin, do you want to know what's going on on the two way platform later today?

[Kevin]

I do. Tell me, tell me.

[Larry]

Can I begin by telling everyone that at noon actually? Oh, forgive me. Usually I do my show at noon but today because of professional conflicts with some meetings I've got, my noon show will be delayed to about 12:30 or 1:00'.

[Mark Halperin]

Clock.

[Larry]

So everybody, we're streaming the morning meeting now at the Larry channel on YouTube. So everyone in my audience watching us this morning. Good morning.

[Kevin]

Good to see you. That's great.

[Larry]

My show will be a little delayed today, just so you know, but we'll be there. And we've got a great slate ahead of us. And then back to the two way promos. Next up drops today with Mark Halperin. That would be with DH, former DHS spokesperson and great MAGA Republican Trisha McLaughlin and former Modell Sports Goods CEO Mitch Modell. Now there's a combo you don't expect. Kevin.

[Kevin]

That's a great get, the two of them. I always enjoy joining Trisha too for conversations. Very thoughtful.

[Larry]

And speaking of a good get, wow, this should be a very fascinating conversation two way tonight live at 5pm with former New York City mayor and failed presidential candidate Bill de Blasio. And which by the way, we forget,

[Kevin]

we forget he ran for president, but he was on that stage.

[Larry]

This actually answers the burning trivia question, what the hell happened to Bill de Blasio? Well, there you know, you'll go get that.

[Kevin]

Well, and he, he contemplated running for Congress too, in, in a district in New York, too.

[Larry]

I can't get enough Bill de Blasio, that's for sure.

[Kevin]

Yeah. Worth the, you know, it'll be an interesting conversation tonight at 5, certainly. And then of course, the two of us will be back tomorrow morning, same time, same place. We will for the morning meeting. And then obviously too, we've got Professor Kenny and the official after show. The chat is open right now and that starts at 11 o'. Clock. And I'm going to work with Professor Kennedy too to figure out a date hopefully this week to join for the after show too, maybe on Friday if I can swing it and Alex will let me. So that was a blast. A few weeks ago. And have you done the after show yet?

[Larry]

I did it months ago, but I need to do it. I need to fit it in there, get it. I have a very busy morning, Kevin,

[Kevin]

I know it's tough for you in the mornings. I know it's easier at night.

[Larry]

But I will do my best. I could go live for the after show at 11, but then I get a guy got to get out of there around 1120. So we will plan to do that and the late after show as well. We will do that. And, and by the way, to all of our new viewers on the Larry Town Hall Channel where we're streaming live today, if you want to be a part of this conversation, you can turn on your camera, you can turn on your microphone. That's what Two Way is all about. And you can come in and tell Mark and Kevin why they're so wrong. Because I get.

[Kevin]

And you can buy, you can buy two tickets to paradise on LarryCruise.com as well. They know that sale this fall.

[Larry]

So come to Twoway tv. Sign up. You can join with Zoom and you can be a part of the community here on that platform and you can, you can have your moment in the sun. We'd love for you to be able to join that. All right. Anything else? Any other.

[Kevin]

No, that's it. We'll see everyone tomorrow morning.

[Larry]

Bye.

[Kevin]

Thank.