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The Morning Meeting
Tim Walz Steps Ends Reelection Bid Amid Minnesota Somali Fraud Scandal; Will Trump "Run" Venezuela?
01:03:15
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- [00:01]
A
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.
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B
Yay.
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A
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.
- [01:02]
B
Good morning everybody. Happy New Year. Welcome back to the two way experience. This is the morning meeting. Yemeni Larry and I are here to walk you through the day as always to take your questions. Lots of new people I can see already. So just a reminder, this program is based on the Network News Division's morning meeting. This is not a cable TV show where people come on to fight. We're here to help educate, learn. Take your comments and questions at the end of the program. So if you're here on the platform and want to be on the conversation, please raise your hand before then. Eli Lake will be here with us. We're going to spend a lot of time talking about Venezuela, of course, eager to figure out where everything stands and as always, will be very forward looking. This is meant to run through the day, so I'll do the daybook in a moment. Then we'll talk a little bit and then again before too long, get to your questions and comments. If you're on the platform and and if you're watching on x or on YouTube, please follow along. We're currently in on your prayer book on page 17. Please turn to page 17. All rise. Now follow along and don't put smack in the chat. Even though it's a new year old rules pertain. We just don't believe in that. So no smack in the chat. Just everybody have a conversation again. Eli in a moment and then our conversation. And then for those of you here on the platform, please raise your hands. Happy as always to have the folks sponsoring this program like our good friends at Fairway and Green who provided this outfit that I'm currently wearing.
- [02:23]
A
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.
- [02:47]
B
Yay.
- [02:48]
A
BJ Novak.
- [02:49]
B
Yay.
- [02:50]
A
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.
- [03:20]
B
And we'll have lots of announcements for you. Lots of questions came to me over my holiday. I appreciate when you're not busy producing the show for me, you're helping me plan the future of two Way. So grateful to all for all that input. We'll have plenty of announcements about this program, about all sorts of other programming during 2026. And again we look forward to continue to build the community with you. So thank you for being a part of it. All right, here we go. Daybook. The President has one event on his schedule today. It's a little bit odd. This is 3:30 closed. President, President participates in a policy meeting. I don't know what that's about. Either of you know what that's about? Policy meeting. We don't. I don't know if it's Venezuela or not. So in theory we're not going to see the President today. He talked up a blue streak on Air Force One last night. We'll show you some of that in a minute. Don't know what the Vice President's doing today. We do know that at 5:30 tonight some prominent members of the administration. Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Bondi, CIA Director Radcliffe and the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the man the President likes to call Raisin Cain as if it's his actual name. But his name is Dan Kane. General Kane will brief lawmakers big so called gang of eight. The top intelligent leadership intelligence officials then a few applicable committee chairs and ranking members. The first time some Democrats will have been briefed. We'll talk a little bit about what to expect out of that. Marjorie Taylor Greene's last day is today. We'll be lighting candles later. Hakeem Jeffries press conference at 10am and there's some other action on the Hill don't care much about noon eastern time today. The Secretary, the Governor of Minnesota is having a press conference. And it has been reported in some quarters he plans to announce he's not seeking his third term, a mistake to begin with. But now in the wake of the scandal over funding for nonprofits, we'll talk about that and whether Amy Klobuchar might jump in to run for governor. Tony decouple takes over CBS EVENING News tonight. Maduro in court at noon today here in New York City along with his wife for their appearance to president tomorrow Monday. We always do a little bit of a week ahead at the Kennedy Center. Pardon me, at the Trump Kennedy center for a rally with House Republicans at their annual retreat. Jamie Raskin has some report on the fifth anniversary of January 6th. And let's see, there's a bunch of other hearings. John Thune's taking some senators to the border on Friday. Jimmy Kimmel's guests include Rachel Maddow. Jimmy Fallon's guests include Chelsea Handler. And Stephen Colbert's guests include Chris Hayes. All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome in top lines from our two co hosts today then. Eli will be here in a moment. Yemassi, what's your sort of main thought about not not the snatching of Maduro, but about what happens on the ground? What's like your big thought about what happens going forward on in Venezuela?
- [06:20]
C
Well, just complete economic change. The country becomes a utopia. That's, that's you're predicting utopia.
- [06:30]
B
All right. Larry, are you predicting utopia?
- [06:34]
D
I don't think I'll go so far as to make that prediction, but I listen, I think that there is a lot of upside there for the people of Venezuela. And I think that the people who are in the president's cabinet and his advisors know full well the all the wrong lessons that were learned over the last couple of decades. And he knows that his base is very reluctant to have any sort of nation building, although I will say this isn't nation building. Unlike Iraq and Afghanistan, there's literally a nation there. There is a parliamentary system there. The structure is there. And there is a history of the Venezuelan people to understand how to actually function within an organized democracy. Unless they elect a Marxist, then everything goes to hell. So it's going to be less of a lift than people are thinking when they compare this to Iraq.
- [07:20]
B
Totally agree. And let's bring in Eli. Eli Lake, thank you. And again, thanks to Larry and the embassy for being here. And thanks to Eli for being here. Eli, happy New Year. Welcome in. Let's start with the question Larry just raised, which is and if you haven't read Eli's Piece from the weekend on Free Press about the invasion. Please do. Maduro, much less popular with the Iraqi people than Saddam, with the Venezuelan people, than Saddam Hussein was not dissembling, not getting rid of the military and a military which seems to be willing to work with the United States. The president's never going to put ground troops in there. And there's a, there's a stability to the society now working with the existing government. So do you agree or disagree with the premise that people who are hair on fire about nation building shouldn't, should be calmed by those differences?
- [08:08]
E
Well, I would quibble with one thing. I don't think that Saddam Hussein was popular in 2003 with the Iraqi people. What became incredibly unpopular was kind of shambolic reconstruction of Iraq with a Coalition Provisional Authority and unclear lines of authority and unclear policies on de baathification and a whole kind of things. But we don't have to litigate Iraq. I mean, for the, the most part people hated Saddam and his sons. And you know, even though this has been mocked initially, coalition forces and particularly the US were treated as liberators. I do think it's absolutely fair to worry about what comes next. And even though I would have liked to have seen Trump endorse Maria Machado's party and the election that the latest election that Maduro had stolen and I've seen that criticism and I kind of agree with it on principle, I understand why they're not taking that approach precisely because they don't want to hollow out this wicked regime and then have chaos. So I think that the idea is there will be a transition. I think that transition will hopefully lead to elections. I think that the anti Maduro democratic forces would win that election. But we'll see. And there's a lot of questions how long a transition, what is the role. But someone like Delsey Rodriguez, who is the vice president right now, has a lot of blood on her own hands. She is incredibly corrupt. And those kinds of figures at some point will have to face some sort of justice of some kind. Maybe not the way that Maduro is, but, but there will be, I think a sort of lustration process, to use a word from the post Soviet dominated Eastern Europe or a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is the kind of approach that was tried by South Africa. Something like that is coming. There can be deals that are cut so that you avoid bloodshed. So it's not to say that, but those are ultimately should be the decisions of, of the Venezuelan party that wins hopefully an election very soon.
- [10:22]
D
Right.
- [10:22]
B
All right. I don't want to, I don't want to litigate, obviously, Iraq, Iraq in general, or even Iraq versus Venezuela. All I'm saying is Saddam Hussein had some support. He was widely hated by a lot of society, but he had some support. He, he had support throughout the society.
- [10:36]
E
I think the Sunni minority in Iraq, yeah. Saw him as their defender much the way that the Shia and Alawite minority in Syria liked Assad.
- [10:47]
B
But, yes, but, but, but say, but he, at least he had that. What I'm saying is there's no indication that Maduro had any popular support from any, from any faction. And so, and so sometimes when, when, when an imperial power there, I'll say it removes the leader. There are some unhappy people in the country. There doesn't seem to be almost anybody. Even, even the vice president in her statement last night was like, yeah, let's all work with the United States. So even she seems to not be too particularly unhappy anymore. Anyway, there's that I want to show one thing and then that speaks to, speaks to what you said, which is the president's failure to support Machada and, or, and, or the Gonzalez who won the election.
- [11:27]
E
Right.
- [11:28]
B
Two years ago. Here is the CNN Morning show typically does not book any guests worth listening to. There, I say it. But this morning they had the former CIA bureau chief, station chief, rather, from Caracas on, and he was fascinating on the question of why the president is at least not now supporting the two opposition leaders, both of whom are currently in Europe. Here he is. This is from CNN. This is, where is this? This is number 108. His name is Rick de la Torre. And again, you don't often see a former CIA official with such expertise speaking so publicly. Here's that.
- [12:09]
E
Well, I don't think the power just turns on from one moment to the next. Right. You know, there has to be a period of time where we get to assess what's happening on the ground and those that obviously have some choices to make. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a number of generals within the Venezuelan military that are plotting their way to get to either Moscow or Havana and abandon their post because they realize that their time is rather limited to the extent that you were to bring her in. It would just create more chaos at this moment. At this moment. Right. So I think over the short term, we have to pinch our noses and we're going to have to deal with Delsey Rodriguez. Sadly, until the situation improves in such a way that we can afford to bring back Maria Carina Machado and others Back in.
- [13:02]
B
So, Eli, again, I'm not trying to cheerlead this. And I. And of course, we should all be on guard for things to go terribly wrong. There's lots that good. But it seems like they've got a plan here which is to deal with the current government, to say to them, play ball by our rules, start reforming, start thinking someday about an election, let our oil companies come in. And that's fine because. Because that's stability.
- [13:25]
E
Yeah, I think that's right. And insofar. And if that's what happens, that's good. The problem is there's a lot of ifs. And if Trump loses and they figure out ways to delay and delay and delay, you might just have a continuation of the regime, much like you saw with the death of Fidel and Raul Castro. It's still a communist dictatorship, except the Castro is not in charge. So we have to make sure that, you know, we stick to that. But right now, I mean, the broader implications that I find. I think there's one thing to point out here, which is if you look at the long scope and you're great at this Mark, when Trump comes in in his first term, he alienates the CIA. If you remember, this is the beginning of what I think sowing the seeds of distrust that we're seeing throughout MAGA of the. What they call the deep state. He gives that really fiery speech. He blames the CIA for trying to set him up. And to a certain extent he had some. There was a merit to that case to then Turner to see. Now we're talking nine years later, Trump praising to the heavens the skills of the CIA and the national security state for pulling off this incredible operation is really telling. And I think it shows that Trump is much more in command of the government in his second term than he was in his first term. Yep. And I really wonder if there is going to be, politically speaking, how is a lot of maga, the, the Tucker audience, the people who have given in to Candace Owens and a lot of these conspiracies, what do they say when the leader of their movement is saying the CIA performed brilliantly.
- [15:16]
B
Yeah.
- [15:16]
E
And it was my policy now that right there is, I think, an extraordinary part of the story. And then the other thing is, you know, I mean, they're calling it the Don Row doctrine. He is bringing back this idea of great power, competition and spheres of influence that might be, in my view, have negative consequences when it comes to Ukraine, because that's the argument that Moscow makes about Ukraine. But it's very powerful I think in terms of Venezuela and what he was saying last night on the plane is extraordinary. Saying, I don't know how long we're going to see the, you know, the regime in Cuba last, now that they've lost their main source of their economic lifeline and all that's true. And that, I think, will be going down as yet another enormous accomplishment. You know, on top of Trump pretty much taking out the Iranian nuclear program, brokering the return of the hostages and the cease fire in Gaza. From a foreign policy perspective, we are looking at one of the most successful and probably the most successful president in my, in my lifetime at this point.
- [16:21]
B
Mark that down. Yemeni.
- [16:23]
C
Yeah, I want to talk about Machado and her relationship to members of Congress because I know there's the Cuban American delegation in Florida. Maybe I'm thinking about this because I'm in Florida right now. But Trump doesn't believe that she is wildly, wildly popular. Does this now put them in a position? And I'm talking about that viral moment of the member of Congress put pushing back at the reporter saying, I'm still in her corner and still in her corner. Does this create dividing lines within the congressional delegation that has always supported her?
- [16:51]
E
Well, I, I think you maybe give Trump a little bit of leeway sometimes. Trump will express things in such a way. I mean, I think, I think he's wrong. I think she does have a lot of support. But as we were just talking about, he's looking at this and saying, okay, I don't want to send in a huge American presence that will keep the peace and potentially risk elements of the, of, of what's left of the Maduro regime basically turning into an insurgency like we saw in Iraq. So he's trying to avoid that mistake. And so he says something that I don't think was true, but I would imagine that, listen, getting rid of Maduro, the potential for, for Cuba libre, that is such a huge thing that you have to sort of credit Trump with that. I can't see the kind of the delegation in South Florida turning on Trump or in any way dividing over that. I think they're sort of going to trust the process, to borrow a phrase from my beloved 76ers.
- [17:50]
B
Yeah, Larry, before you jump in, I'll just say one of the undercovered stories is the military to military contact. You know, there's sort of a code of honor amongst military officials. Even now, you know, U.S. and Chinese military officials, U.S. and Russian. There's always conversations. And part of what's going on right now is The US Military is comfortable with the Venezuelan military. They're comfortable with the current team in place and give them a chance to keep stability in order. A lot of fringe benefits to that order in the country. But also means American troops don't have to go in, American forces don't have to go in on the ground. So as long as you see the signaling not just between the vice president, but between military officials privately to the American military officials, I don't I think it's a much different scenario than we saw. Again, Iraq's the big comparison where they got rid of the entire military and that and that sent those folks scrambling off the military. People do have blood on their hands. A lot of them. They don't want to be they don't want to be arrested and brought to the United States sustained trial. They want to play ball with the United States. Larry?
- [18:52]
D
Yeah, in fact, I want to follow up on that thought because the US Military presence there will be contingent on how effective the Venezuelan military is. Eli what does it tell you that Maduro was being protected by Cuban military, not his own military? It tells me that he already that the military wasn't on his side. Basically, he couldn't trust his own military. And secondarily, can you give us some insight into Iran's presence in Venezuela, what they were doing there and how this affects the Persian Street? Because that's the next big, big story that we were watching this weekend.
- [19:22]
E
Well, okay, so the Iranian presence, as I what I've heard and I have not confirmed this, but I think we're going to probably see a lot of things coming well see a lot of shoes dropping is that there was a fairly substantial almost Hezbollah base on a kind of island in the Caribbean right near that belongs to Venezuela, and that there were, I guess there were, there were short range and medium range missiles that may have been able to attack Panama. There has been just the ability to give potential terrorists new passports. The kind of cooperation between Venezuela, by the way, this is an old story in some ways. I remember writing about this in the late 2000s. That's a major thing. But then the big picture here is, you know, China had lured, you know, the Chavez and then the majority regimes into a kind of debt trap where they had owned, they were kind of effectively kind of owned a lot of the Venezuelan oil infrastructure. Russia did it on a smaller scale because they don't have as much money. So in some ways, when I hear people under the banner of anti imperialism decry this, I sort of think were you aware of how Much this so called anti imperialist, you know, dictator in Maduro had sold off so much of his country's wealth to these other great powers that were hostile to America. So in that respect, I think we're going to see a lot of things there. Now there is another thing. There's going to be to be some diplomacy with the Chinese. They're not going to get a return on their investment. But you know, they're hundred tens of billions, maybe hundreds of billions of dollars that the Venezuelans owe China. And how is that going to be structured? Are they just going to be out of, you know, pocket? So there you go.
- [21:18]
D
Yeah.
- [21:19]
B
Eli. Eli, very grateful to you for joining.
- [21:21]
E
Thank you.
- [21:22]
B
You're super busy, so thank you for making time. We appreciate. We'll see you again soon. All right, Tim, Tim Waltz just made it official he's not running for reelection. So let's just talk about that right away. Obviously derivative of, of this, the, the scandal and controversy. And people are already talking about the fact that he went from being, you know, potential vice president not that long ago to now dropping his bid for reelection. And he's going to have a press conference later and explain it. Yemen thoughts on this and whether Amy Klobuchar will in fact now run for governor?
- [21:55]
C
Well, as somebody who used to work for Amy Klobuchar, I think she would make a fantastic governor. She's well liked in the state and she has me tell you for the most part stayed clear of this entire fraud story. It's a state issue and she has let the state deal with it. Not her problem over there in Washington. But look, Tim Walsh let a story and a narrative get out way, way, way in front of him. And instead of just coming out and saying fraud is fraud and moving forward with that, taking responsibility, I know that this was a situation that happened years ago. I know that it had been investigated previously. I gotta be honest with you. The Nick Shirley video is, and we can all have our discrepancies with things he's done in the past and even some parts of the video, I mean, when it came out and just lit on fire. I don't think that from a messaging standpoint, he and his office took it seriously. How much the nation would latch onto this story and really engage. And it's just not surprising. On a personal note, I know that there has been a lot of harassment to his son, to his family. I just think you look at the cards in front of you and you think about is it worth it and is this a waste of my Political capital to have kind of a brutal reelection campaign.
- [23:04]
B
Yeah. Larry, if Klobuchar runs, she. I assume she clears the field and she wins easily, right?
- [23:09]
D
I assume so. But let's see who the Republican candidate is, because there's the suggestion now that in Minnesota that this is not just about Keith Ellison and Tim Walsh, but it's about the party and it's about the deep intrinsic rot that's there right now and corruption that. Who do you trust to flesh that out and fix the problem? Maybe another leader from the Democrat Party in Minnesota is not the way to go if you get a good Republican. We've seen Republicans win in Minnesota before in our lifetime. Couple of them. Right. With Tim Pawlente and. Well, I guess Jesse Ventura wasn't really a Republican, but. Yeah, but let's see what happens.
- [23:40]
B
And of course, if she does run, we'll have to see who gets her Senate seat. All right. Maybe if we have time, we'll come back. We'll come back to that as we get more information about it.
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D
Mark, is it possible that Tim Walls is really just readying his presidential campaign in 28 and he wants to be able to.
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B
Possible, but not likely.
- [23:56]
D
He's going to Iowa.
- [23:57]
B
All right, we're gonna. Let's run through some stuff related to Venezuela as quick as we can here. And, and again, we'll get to your questions before too long. If you want in the conversation and you're here on the platform, raise your hand. The briefing on the Hill tonight, Larry, typically when we've had national security briefings from this administration, the Democrats have come out angrily saying we weren't told anything. Do you expect that this will happen with this one?
- [24:20]
D
Yes, I think we already saw hints of that over the weekend with Democrat leaders coming out and saying that. And it's because all they know how to do, as we've said often, is oppose Trump. Even when they're on the record supporting this kind of action because Trump's doing it, they oppose it.
- [24:35]
B
But you think the Yemen, see, will this be more about, about what happened over the weekend or will be more about future, the future operation, do you think?
- [24:43]
C
I think they'll look forward to the future. I, I did talk to some folks I used to work for, Senator Mark Warner, who of course sits on Intel. And what I appreciate is that Schumer and Jeffries focused a lot on. They didn't follow the process and follow the process. I, I appreciate that a majority of congressional Democrats have moved past the process. Right. Because we now understand that the president is not one that follows process. He doesn't care about congressional authority. So hopefully everybody will look at the tea leaves and say, okay, how can we maximize the conversation here and focus on what it looks like moving forward? But I mean, I have to agree with some of the criticisms from people like Senator Mark Warner, who again was vice chair to Senator Rubio on intel. Rubio knows how this goes. Rubio knows how it is when the, when the Senate is actually informed. So it is a little disappointing that, you know, Secretary of State Rubio and.
- [25:42]
D
I appreciate you saying that because isn't this, I mean, this is objectively good for the people of Venezuela. It's objectively good for America. It's something that the Biden administration had this policy that he had to go and it got done. Is this an opportunity for Democrats finally to find some path where they can say, okay, this was good, so that they're just not anti Trump. That's all the only thing that they bring to the table.
- [26:03]
C
I think people on the far left are going to take down the Palestinian flag and start waving the Venezuelan one.
- [26:08]
D
To be, oh, boy.
- [26:09]
C
I'm not surprised by the Rashida Tlaibs that have come out all of a sudden kind of repainting. By the way, calling him President Maduro is something else. I will say the delineation for me here is, okay, great, you got the dictator out. I don't think I signed up for our president to run another country. And so I think that'll be where, where we get.
- [26:28]
B
So, yeah, okay, so, so you've got, you've got Fetterman on Fox and Friends this morning being supportive. You, you've got lots of Democrats kind of in their normal thing like, yeah, it's great that the border was closed rather than great that the border was closed. It's kind of like a throat clear. Schumer clearly wants to focus on affordability. We'll play that in just a second. He said the same thing on Morning Joe that he said yesterday on a Sunday show. But you've got three parts, right? You've got, you've got some people like Ro Khanna objecting to the, the, the, the taking of Maduro. Then you've got people saying, you know, the, the, the operation is, is illegal and, and, and they're against nation building all of a sudden, even though the Democratic Party used to kind of before nation building. And then you've got this, this other just complaint that, that it's not about affordability, right? So you're going to have some members of the Democratic Party talking about all three, still backward looking on the, on the taking. Maduro concerned about nation building even though there is no nation building yet. There's just the conversation about possible nation building. Here's Schumer from Morning Joe this morning, trying to get his party on this argument, which is the Rahm Emanuel argument, which is if you're, if you're focused on Venezuela, you're not focused on Virginia.
- [27:44]
F
Happen. And I believe the American people will demand that it happens. This is first, it is reckless, it is dangerous. Whenever our country has gotten involved in this kind of regime change and nation building, American families pay the price in blood and treasure. That's what happened in Iraq. That's what happened in Libya. It's happened over and over again. So it's reckless. And then last night, Trump doubles down and says, well, maybe we'll do this in Colombia, maybe we'll do it in Cuba, but even Greenland. And the American people are scratching their heads and saying, this is not what Trump said he would do. This is not what we bargained for. This is not America. First, everyone's saying what the hell is going on in the White House? And Trump seems to just do this on an ad hoc basis, contradicted by his own people. It is reckless and dangerous. And we have the War Powers act, which you mentioned. Right. I have the right to put that on the floor. Tim Kaine is the sponsor, along with myself and Rand Paul. So it's bipartisan to a degree. And the Republicans must, if there was ever a time they must step up to the plate, this is the time. And they're going to, if they don't, they're going to feel the heat from their constituents.
- [28:59]
B
All right, so this is what I get Schumer, clearly, he showed this yesterday. He wants to be on affordability. If he's doing this because he thinks it's the right thing for the world in America, great. But if, just from the pure politics of it, it just seems insane to me. Even Schumer can't stand message. He's talking about the War Powers Act. The country doesn't care about the War Powers Act. It's not going to pass over Trump's veto. They're not going to check Trump on what happened over the weekend. They're not going to check Trump on putting military assets in the region. They're not even going to check Trump if he decides to put some military on the ground. So Yemen. Why is Schumer talking about the outrage the American people feel over the process and not just about Affordability, what am I missing?
- [29:39]
C
I mean, part of him as the leader has to talk to, even if it's a small amount of people that have outrage about the process. Part of him, he's just such a traditionalist, he has to kind of make it seem that Congress and unfortunately in this administration, Congress doesn't matter. I wish it did. I love my sweet baby Senate, but she just doesn't matter. And he tries to stay relevant as much as possible. But again, agree with him on the affordability piece. I mean, my frustrations with this administration, especially somebody whose family comes from Nigeria, I just feel like we're picking up all these odds and ends. I know Venezuela matters a lot more, but it's the same when there was a regional conflict in Nigeria and America was over there. And I wondered, okay, well, if we're going to interfere in religious and land disagreements in on the continent of Africa, boy, I've got a boat called Congo and South Sudan to sell you as well. I just wonder about the stopping point here. Okay, now it's Venezuela, that's Cuba, that's Colombia. I mean, he could run on this. We've got midterms coming up. And foreign policy doesn't get people elected. What you care about domestically does, Larry?
- [30:44]
D
Yeah, it just sounds stiff and wooden and typical talking points fed to him by his comps people because Zoram Hamdani made affordability sexy. And so I just hammer that. Hammer that. It's not in the right context with this conversation. But listen, they're the opposition and all they know to do is oppose. If you look at Mamdani's statement that he gave in 30 seconds, he used oppose and opposition and oppose three times in 30 seconds. That's what it's all about. But I disagree with him saying that. I understand we have a bad track record when it comes to Iraq and Afghanistan, but I think this is more like Marcos in the Philippines and more like Panama with Noriega. Yes, we helped get rid of the regime that was in charge there. And then we had a peaceful transfer of power and things went rather swimmingly. I'm frankly more concerned about regime change in Minnesota right now than I am Venezuela.
- [31:38]
B
You know, the Maduro court appearance with a court appointed attorney is at noon Eastern. Same with the waltz. So we'll have a mini split screen moment coming up at noon Eastern. All right, let's talk about other stories. First of all, do you guys think this will be the only story people are talking about by Wednesday or will we onto other stories by Wednesday, Larry?
- [32:00]
D
I think this will be. Still be the dominant story. I do.
- [32:03]
B
Okay. Yeah. Missy still the Dom. Okay. So there's Epstein, there's health care. A lot of split views about whether there could be a bipartisan agreement to extend the subsidies. Some people are saying definitely likely. Some people are saying definitely no. There's Iran, a massive story where the president over the weekend told the Iranians publicly, if you continue to kill, people will come in. And there's. There's Russia, Ukraine, and I'm missing at least one other. What's. What's popping up first? Yemeni. What. What story will be. Come, uh, challenging, uh, Venezuela for coverage first of those or something else.
- [32:42]
C
I mean, inside the beltway, bleeding outside, it's gotta be aca because Congress is back. That's not one of the top things on the docket. And now we're looking down that January 30th deadline.
- [32:53]
B
So. So, yeah, Larry.
- [32:55]
C
To care about it because it's coming.
- [32:57]
D
Yeah, yeah. No, I agree. I agree with Yemassi on that aspect of it. But in terms of. But I also do think that Iran is going to be the one next dominant story that's going to push it out. That's what's dominating right now is these foreign policy. These are issues that are sort of. That transcend the legislative conversation going on in D.C. sadly.
- [33:20]
B
All right, let's talk about Iran just for a second. So the Iranian government is being pinched on two different sides. One is a lot of unhappiness on the economy. And once the people are out in the streets, they seem more concerned, based on reporting I've seen, than they usually are about public opinion. And they're trying to figure out how to squelch the protests without just killing people. And then, of course, the US And Israel have talked about striking them again. So we've been waiting for. This is like the third round of protests in the last few years. Does this one feel differently to you, too? Do you think that's possible, that this. This could provide organic regime change in Iran or. Or they'll just squelch? Yes.
- [34:01]
D
I mean, I could. I could cynically say that that's because we don't have Barack Obama in the White House to shore up the regime in Tehran. But I think that there's part of that is true. I think that the fact of the matter is the president and his administration has been very clear in the fact that they made their military strike against the nuclear facilities. It was sent a signal that this regime is vulnerable, that the people have a window here, a Window of opportunity and Iran has no friends left. Who's gonna come to their rescue at this point? Russia? I don't think so. They don't want anything to do with this. So they are more isolated than they've ever been. And I truly think that this is an amazing moment in history where after 50 years, we're gonna see this regime topple and it'll be because of the people.
- [34:43]
C
Yeah, it's been great to see the human rights protests all across the country. And I, I'm actually surprised it's entering the ninth day, surprised it hasn't been squashed yet. And I think that proves to the point of the people are getting stronger.
- [34:59]
B
Okay, anything else to say about, about the Democrats and, and the 28 people? Ro Khanna called out other Democrats who didn't respond quickly and denounced, denounced the taking of, of Machado and, and now they're all, they've all. Most of them have put out statements. A lot of them focused on being against nation building as opposed to the other lines of criticism.
- [35:30]
D
Larry Rose was very interesting and I'd love Emerson if you, if you saw what Ro Khanna said. He was specifically using language that the Tucker Carlson quasi neo isolationist crowd within the MAGA base would love to hear. He was using Bannon language. I almost feel like he thinks he can do some sort of triangulation and draw people from Trump's base or JD Vance's future base with that kind of language. Is that what he's trying to do here and split those uprights?
- [36:01]
C
Let me tell you, Roe speaks directly to that kind of crowd. But I also think he speaks to a lot of millennial Democrats, folks like me that came up under the umbrella of Iraq war, who at the same time are looking for that America first messaging in the Democratic Party without being overtly. Maga. And I find that he's palatable to a lot, to a much younger base that crosses party lines.
- [36:28]
D
Interesting.
- [36:29]
B
So the New York Times and others are trying to say MAG is going to freak out over what happened over the weekend and freak out over the prospect of nation building. And Bannon's been kind of split again. MAGA likes when Donald Trump acts tough. MAGA likes fighting against drug lords. MAGA likes the president thumbing his nose at, at foreigners. MAGA likes anything that suggests we're going to control immigration. So I think that as long as there aren't, you know, more than 100 special operators and intelligence people on the ground in Venezuela, maga's not going to freak out. In fact, Mag is going to be excited by this. Larry, Larry, am I right or wrong?
- [37:10]
D
Well, as speaking in my own way from MAGA world, you're right. You're absolutely right. First of all, one clear indication as Ben Dominant said, well, while his wife was delivering a baby over the weekend and congratulations to Megan and Ben, Ben took to Twitter and said, well, it's clear the president doesn't listen to podcasters. Right. And so clearly he Trump always gets to define what America first is. That's his right, considering he's won election at least two times on an America first agenda. So I agree with you on that. And one thing that we're not talking about here is the oil. He was unabashed in saying, you're damn right we did this for oil. It's our oil. Our companies paid for all those oil drills and all the infrastructure to draw the oil. And that's going to make things. You want to talk affordability? Just wait till the world market gets this influx of supply from Venezuela, oil without all of the dirty strings attached. And MAGA likes that big time.
- [38:08]
B
I think they're going to step up there just as Democrats are going to try to connect this to affordability. I used to Rubio do a little bit of this yesterday, but I think they're going to step it up and say we're going to have more energy, we're going to have more, more more minerals, we're going to have more sphere of influence, we're going to have more supply chain safety in the hemisphere. Yemeni.
- [38:25]
C
Well, I'm going to be watching Tucker to see what he said.
- [38:28]
B
Yeah, but, but, but what can he say if there aren't Americans on the ground? What can he say? Just waive the specter of the prospect of the possibility. Larry mentioned Megan and her baby. Do we have that pictures? I think we do. Megan had her son over the weekend, so her show's a little bit on hiatus. But here's a picture of the family Ransom. Ransom is the name of the new little baby, Ransom McCain. Dominick, you see there Ben.
- [38:56]
D
And they're named after two of Ben's favorite figures, literary figures, himself and who? No, no, Ransom. Ransom is a character in one of C.S. lewis's space trilogies, if I remember right. And the other Ransom that it refers to? Oh, I can't remember, but it's another literary figure.
- [39:16]
B
All right.
- [39:16]
D
Well, by the way, all three of the McCain of the Dominance children have the middle name McCain.
- [39:22]
B
Yes. So congratulations to the two girls and to the parents for the new baby. And we look forward to meeting him soon. And he's awfully cute. Put up the single shot of the baby again.
- [39:31]
D
It's a very cute baby.
- [39:32]
B
Super cute. Look at that. Look at that beautiful boy.
- [39:35]
D
Well swaddled.
- [39:36]
B
Yeah, well swaddled, because I warned Ben. Gotta know how to swaddle a boy. Totally different. Totally different. All right, let's see if we covered everything. I think we did. Oh, State of the Union. All right, so here we are, January 5th. Sometimes in the olden days, State of the Union was in January. Lately, it's been later for a variety of reasons. Yemen. See a creature of the hill. When will we, when will we hear of State of the Union? And who's your early prediction for a Democratic responder? Oh.
- [40:08]
C
State of the Union. Maybe March, maybe April. I don't know, time.
- [40:12]
B
March.
- [40:13]
D
March.
- [40:13]
B
Okay. Who's, who's your early tout for responder?
- [40:19]
C
I mean, they might do somebody who's, who's running and needs it like a Haley Stevens.
- [40:24]
B
Okay, Larry, when will it be and who will the Democratic Responder be?
- [40:28]
D
Tuesday, February 17, the day after President's Day. It'll be early because they want to get in front of it. And the Democrat responder, you don't know, you know George Clooney.
- [40:38]
B
Okay. I think also it'll be pretty early in February or mid February. And I'm not really predicting this, but I'm just throwing it out there. Nancy Pelosi as the Democratic responder.
- [40:50]
D
Oh, don't threaten me with a good time.
- [40:53]
B
Exactly. The White House would love it. All right, quick message from a sponsor and then to your questions again. If you're here on the platform and you want to get in on the conversation, please raise your hand. Happy to.
- [41:03]
D
Tim Waltz could. Tim Waltz.
- [41:05]
B
Tim Waltz could do. Maybe Pelosi and Mark. That could be. Maybe Pelosi and Waltz together. So the White House could just be super happy. All right. Happy to say that our friends@lean.com are back. As a sponsor of the program, lean.com will give you right now an opportunity to get 20% off the entire site. Go to takelean.com use the promo code 2WMM for 20% off the entire site. Don't go with fad diets, juice cleanses and cabbage soup. Raw foods that will cause you to weight cycle, gain and lose weight. Half of Americans do this. They gain a lot, lose a lot, gain a lot, lose a lot. £10 or more. It's an unhealthy thing to do. Bottom line, people need help losing weight, and you don't want to use those injectables. Some of you tell me you love them, but they don't work for everybody. How about that? Lean was created by doctors and it's an oral supplement, not an injection. The science behind it allows you to maintain healthy blood sugar, control appetites and cravings, and burn fat by converting it to energy. 20% off the whole site. Now go to takelean.com, use the promo code 2WMM for 20% off the whole site. Take lean.com again, promo code 2WMM. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Good luck with the weight loss this year. Everyone like me, who needs it? All right, here we go. Wouldn't be 20, 26 and a new year and an opportunity for the community to be part of the program without starting with Professor Kennedy. Professor, welcome in. Thank you as always for your leadership here. Welcome. Happy New Year. What's on your mind for Yemeni and for Larry.
- [42:35]
G
Happy New Year, everyone. Happy New Year to the two way community. And don't forget about joining the Post show. Yemassi, I'm so happy to see you. My question is this. Of course, affordability. Affordability, yeah.
- [42:51]
D
I am worse than shop liver. It happens every time. They're also happy to see Yemen. See.
- [42:57]
G
Larry, you know, you're my guy. Yeah, Missy. So the Democrats, you know, of course they have to, they have to go to an issue which is affordability. Affordability, Affordability. We get it. The GDP was up 4.3% in the third quarter. Gas prices are down. I travel up and down the East coast to 95 Carter, so I can confirm that about the gas prices. My question for you, Yemassi, is what is the Democrats answer to affordability? Because all I hear is affordability, but I never hear a policy that says this is how we're going to make things more affordable. Vote for us instead of Trump.
- [43:45]
D
Good point.
- [43:46]
C
Yeah, well, affordability was created under Zoron and there wasn't much policy and foundation stand on there. So some could say that we've never had real policy jut out from it. But I mean, I think the biggest thing that Dems are talking about right now in DC is utilities and AI and data centers is going to be the next big hill that Dems try to climb. I mean, Sanders, he mentions AI in just about every speech he does now. But increasing, increasing wages, finding out a way for a younger generation to become employed, and finding out a way for these data centers to not affect communities. Governor Westmore, who's incredibly popular, one of his most unpopular points is how lax he is on AI data centers. Now, I believe AI is here and there's nothing you can do to stop it. But that's the one big thing, the one big push Dems are going to make with affordability is let's look at AI, the companies benefiting from AI and the data centers that are pushing up their utilities. I don't buy into the AI scare. I say it's coming, let it come.
- [44:55]
B
Yeah. And we're going to be talking a ton about that this year.
- [44:59]
G
I'll finish off real quick. I aside from being a college professor, I'm a film professor, but I'm also an IT analyst and I'm going to be 62 in March. And to this point, I'm still, I am diving into AI and learning all of that stuff, just in case, you know, because I'm going to have the way the economy's going, I'm going to have to work till I'm 75. So.
- [45:24]
D
Larry? Well, yeah, I listen, I Yemenzi is right in that that's kind of the best thing that they've got going for them in terms of government policy, how it affects electric or energy costs. The problem is, I don't think that's what most voters think when they think and they hear the affordability message. I think they think of their groceries, they think about their rent, they think about their mortgage, they think about all the other aspects of the economy that if the government does get involved, ends up making everything more expensive. And, oh, by the way, being able to explore clean, beautiful coal as the Trump administration is doing, and being able to open up research into nuclear power that the Democrats have blocked since the Jane Fonda movie in the late 70s. And also getting a free flow of oil globally that'll affect energy prices better than anything some politician in D.C. is ever going to do.
- [46:11]
B
Professor Kenney, thank you again. Great to see you. Haley's here. And it reminds me the other story that I was slipping my mind about, what's not getting attention that I think would be, if not for Venezuela, is is all the stuff that Mayor Mandami has done, including on Israel, that has caused huge controversy in New York. I speculated that even without Venezuela, that he wouldn't necessarily stay as big a national story as some thought he would. Even if he did controversial things. He's done a bunch of controversial things already. And yet it's not getting coverage in Venezuela certainly isn't helping. Haley, welcome in. Happy New Year. What's on your mind? For Larry and for yeah, hi Guys.
- [46:48]
H
You'Re my two favorites, always. I actually did want to comment a little bit on Venezuela. It's not really a question, more of like an observation that I've had with Trump in the last, I guess, forever. I am an independent. I didn't vote either party, and I probably won't for the foreseeable future until somebody really inspires me to vote. However, I. I have something like there's something that really bothers me about Trump, and it kind of is the reason that really just kind of stops me from ever voting for him, besides the obvious reasons that everybody has a problem with. But I think he's amazing instincts, like, Mark, I think you've mentioned this before. I think he identifies problems like no other person in politics has. I think he has the pulse on the nation and the world, basically. Like what we need to be tackling, what we need to be doing. So the what and the why, when it comes to Trump, I think he has a very good pulse on the thing that bothers me, and I'm going to generalize and probably say a lot of independents like me is the how is how he implements all of his policies, how he implements what, his changes. You know, I can go down the list. I can go immigration, I can go to the economy, I can go to cultural issues. And in Venezuela, this is another problem that I think really bothered me is not so much again, because Maduro is a bad, evil man, and I am not somebody who's going to defend him and anything that he's done. I think, however, that there are questions that aren't being answered. And I've seen the media take, and I've seen the reactions. If you are asking these questions, you are pro Maduro, and if you are not asking these questions, you are a neocon who loves war. So I just feel like, can we get to a middle ground here where someone like me, who is definitely not a pro Maduro or pro war, needs some kind of questions answered. And I just think, like, I'm speaking for people who aren't being heard really right now, like, yes, Maduro was bad. And like, I'm happy he's no longer the leader of Venezuela, don't get me wrong. But at the same time, are we, as the American military, going to go into a country and, quote, unquote, kidnap somebody from their bed? So, like, it's. I'm very. I'm very conflicted with how to feel on this, if that makes sense.
- [49:22]
B
Well said. And you speak for tens of millions, Larry.
- [49:25]
D
Yeah, I understand that, Haley you're right. And I think part of the problem here is when you say, can we get to a point where we can, you know, raise an objection without being, you know, screamed at and called names? I hope so. But, you know, I'm old enough to remember that if you oppose the Affordable Care act and the takeover of the health insurance industry, then you're allowing children and old people to be murdered and thrown off the cliff. Right. So this is nothing new. Sadly, that's how American politics and the conversation has gone. That said, you know, President Trump made no secret of the fact that he hated the drug cartels. He said the drug cartels were poisoning our children, that they were rogue narco terrorists, and that if he were elected, that you said this on the campaign trail, he was going to do something about it, and he did something about it. This is what that looks like. This is also a message to countries like Mexico and other countries that are bringing poison into our country. It's going to make a difference, I think, in terms of the how, you know, when you say, okay, fine, we're on board, but how are we going to do that? That's what happens with leadership, with a constitutional republic where we elect representatives for us. We trust the people that are put in charge to be able to carry out those policies. And if we don't like the way they did it, then we vote them out. But we certainly don't want to open up every detail and every plan for how he's going to execute what he promised in the campaign trail to a national referendum every day. I think that's sort of what we as Americans have to do, is sit back and say, okay, we elected this guy. This is what he said he was going to do. Let's see how he does it.
- [50:54]
B
Yeah. Missy, before you jump in, do you guys know about this story about a potential break in at J.D. vance's house? Did I miss that?
- [51:00]
D
Or broken windows? Well, we don't know if it was an attempt to break in, but there were broken windows. A one man is in custody when Jamie Dance was there over New Year's, but he wasn't there when this happened.
- [51:10]
B
When did that break? Did that break? This morning?
- [51:11]
D
It broke this morning.
- [51:12]
B
Yeah. All right, so here's.
- [51:14]
C
Or in Ohio.
- [51:15]
B
In Ohio. In Ohio.
- [51:16]
D
In Cincinnati.
- [51:16]
B
Here's the state. Here's the statement from the vice president on Twitter. I appreciate everyone's well wishes about the attack at our home. As far as I can tell, a crazy person tried to break in by hammering the windows. I'm grateful to the Secret Service and the Cincinnati police for responding quickly. We weren't even home, as we had returned already to DC One request to the media we try to protect our kids as much as possible from the realities of this life of public service. In that light, I'm skeptical of the news value of plastering images of our home with holes in the windows. All right, we'll have more on that on two way tonight. Yemisi thoughts on Haley's I see eye.
- [51:53]
C
To eye with you so much, Haley, in that I believe Maduro is a dictator and a bad guy. I can recognize that the population of Venezuela, I've yet to see a Venezuelan who is in opposition to this, in opposition to Maduro itself. It almost seems like there are some members of Congress who are more supportive of Maduro than actual Venezuelans, and that is concerning. I, however, have just always, time and time again, been what is the point of looking outwards at our foreign policy, at being the protectors of the world, when I feel like there is like a generation of people growing up in this country that just don't have access to the American dream and promise and hope? And so for me, if I'm going to find the benefits in the Trump administration, if I'm going to look for it, I'm not going to have tds, I'm going to look for it. That to me is he's focused here on what's happening domestically. I am just not as concerned with what's happening with foreign policy. When the president decided to disband USAID at the top of the year, I was incredibly upset and mad. I felt I had an emotional response to watching that agency shut down. Then I thought, okay, well, if we are going to stop being the blank checks to the world and the arbiters of peace across the nation, that's fine. Then I want to make sure my neighbor, that their life and the quality of their life improves. Right. That's, that's the tradeoff here. And for me, I haven't seen it. So I think it's, I think that's going to be really tough.
- [53:19]
D
Haley Can I ask you, though, objectively speaking, are we and our allies in the Western Hemisphere better today because Nicolas Maduro has been removed from power?
- [53:29]
H
Yes, of course. And I'm not somebody who, I'm pretty lenient when it comes to foreign policy intervention. I'm not somebody who's like, you know, completely America first. I mean, I'm Israeli, so that's where that comes from. But so, but at the same time, like Even for someone who is who, you know, thinks America should be the number one player on the world stage, still kind of makes me worry. Like, as Yemassi said, like, I don't think Trump is focusing on the right things. And I think it's. I think he's going to pay for it in 2026. And I just think that if he wants, if this is his legacy, I am totally for it.
- [54:09]
C
I just.
- [54:09]
H
I just. I'm confused. I'm just very confused.
- [54:14]
B
Let me tell you two things about Trump. This applies to domestic policy, too, but in this term, it's more about foreign policy leverage, which the word Rubio, Secretary Rubio, used continuously yesterday on the Sunday shows. He's for leverage, and he's for shaking up the board and then seeing what happens, but not without thinking it through. This is where Trump and his team are underestimated, including Trump, which is you shake up the board like you do the Middle east peace deal. You shake up the board, you take out Maduro, and then you say, well, okay, Cuba's been dependent on Venezuelan patronage for survival, so now they don't have that anymore. Maybe I'm the guy who liberates Cuba without firing a shot. You say, maybe I'm not going to send American forces into Greenland to take Greenland, but maybe now this shakes things up because I want the whole hemisphere to not be. To be in service of the United States interests, not in service of Iran or China or Russia. You know, they can have their own sphere of influences, maybe some other places, like in Asia, maybe parts of Eastern Europe, but this hemisphere is for the United States. And when people say, how's Trump going to. How's Rubio going to. And Miller going to run Venezuela from their iPhones? All they're going to do is say to Pete Hegseth, just keep those troops. Just keep those ships off the shore. Keep. Keep the ships from oil from going in or out. And that's leverage, and that's the way Trump operates. When he has leverage, he use it. He leaves leverage over Harvard. He used leverage over those law firms. He used leverage over abc. And. And then he waits to see what happens. And I'm not. I'm not endorsing his actions. I'm just giving you an analysis and reporting on how Trump does these things. And it may end up. The how is revealed over time, not necessarily revealed in the first instance, I think.
- [55:57]
D
Good observation, Haley.
- [55:58]
B
Happy New Year. Thank you for being here. Grateful to you. All right, let's sneak in Michael Graham, because, again, it wouldn't Be a new year without the celebratory smile of the Granite States. Mr. Graham, welcome in, sir. Happy New Year to you. What's on your mind?
- [56:12]
I
Well, New Hampshire Journal just released a new poll today, and the number for Trump was shockingly awful, even in New England, 32% approval. And so I'm trying to figure out what to do with that. But at the same time, Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte is still above water by six or seven points, and Johnny Sununu is still within six points of Chris Papas. And so I start with two premises. Do we agree that if Trump is in the low 30s in swing states around the country in November, it's going to be awful? And number two, if he's at 32% and you still can't, you get, you know, I'm saying can't beat the crap out of the Republicans. Doesn't that show the Democratic brand is really hurting? That's what I'm trying to figure out what to do with these crazy numbers. I also want to throw in one other thing. We tried something experimental because you can't get a real figure for how do people feel about things? You know, you ask, right track, wrong track. If you know it's all partisan now that's gone. So we asked, I had the pollster ask a weird question. We pulled right after Christmas the 26th, 27, 28. How was your Christmas? 70% said it was great or good. Only like 8% said it was crappy. And then we asked, what do you think about next year? What's going to be? Same numbers. We think it's going to be good or great again next year. So I think the American people are in a better mood in their real life. It's just their politics has got them cheesed off.
- [57:29]
D
Interesting.
- [57:30]
B
Thank you for that. Just before the two folks comment. More news breaking now. Secretary of Defense has just tweeted that he's followed through on his threat to downgrade Mark Kelly's retirement grade determination and also to censure him because he is in the Reserve. So Captain Navy retired Navy captain is still receiving his military pension. He's still accountable, quote, to military justice. So this is all over the video that was made that the Pentagon claims was had seditious statements in it. So we can expect more on this today because Kelly will respond pretty aggressively. Yemen, see thoughts on on any aspects of Michael's poll.
- [58:19]
C
Well, I like your point about politics in real life with people. I oftentimes feel that with Democrats, we have such a purity contest and we want everybody to be perfect. But then we have polling numbers like Chuck Schumer is the lowest polled politician right now in history. So we try so hard to create this perfect idea of what makes a Democrat and then it doesn't even get us over any finish lines. And I just think you try so hard with politics to create what you believe is the archetype of the perfect person. And for Democrats, then you're not even in power. So what's the point? I really hope we get back to just nuance. I have a lot of, I am a Democrat with a lot of opinions that people often go, well, that's conservative. And I go, well, no, that's a Democrat that was raised in Georgia. It's just a different kind of Democrat. So hoping we get back to that. I do not see any kind of approval ratings for Dems at the top of this year getting above anything. And they just got to sit with that.
- [59:24]
B
Yep. Larry?
- [59:25]
D
Yeah. Quickly. I, I think Democrats for the most part are just going to be voting anybody but Trump, basically. So, so that's, that's baked in the cake. But I'm not going to make any predictions on how 26 midterms are going to go until we know what the districting situation is. There's way too many open variables. I don't know where this war is going to be fought yet and what the battlefield looks like. Yeah.
- [59:46]
B
Michael, thank you. All right, Some stuff to tell you about. Megan is off, as I told you, three, two ways though. Two, two ways left today. First of all, two way tonight, 6:00 Eastern Time. I will see you there. We'll have lots of news to cover, not just the latest on Venezuela, of course, but the Mark Kelly stuff and the Maduro arraignment and of course, what I just told you also about Tim Walt. We told you about Tim Waltz. And then right after two way tonight, Ethan Supley's back live with a new episode of Lifelong. Please join Ethan at 7 o' clock Eastern Time for the latest. If you're trying to be part of a community that is concerned about real health, real community and no bs, Ethan's your man. Join him. If you haven't sampled that show, please do tonight at 7 tomorrow. Thanks to Larry and the embassy for being here today. We'll see them again, don't worry. But tomorrow, our two guest co hosts will be Democrat Kevin Walling and Eric Erickson. Erik Erickson, a great talker. Speaking of Georgia, Eric Erickson will join us as a first appearance here on the morning meeting. We'll be excited to see Kevin again and Eric tomorrow, 9:00am Eastern time. And as always, we're grateful to you for being part of the community. Larry?
- [60:59]
D
Yes.
- [61:01]
B
Tim Waltz. What would you like him to say at noon?
- [61:05]
D
I can't wait. I'll be live on my channel on the streaming platform. We'll be going live at noon. We're going to be following Marco's moment. He had a huge weekend. We're going to show you all the highlights and we'll probably dip in live to Tim Walls and I can't wait to hear.
- [61:18]
B
Yeah.
- [61:18]
C
Yemen, end of an era. Let's all move on.
- [61:22]
B
Yeah.
- [61:22]
D
Will he be delivering any remarks in Somali?
- [61:25]
B
His, his, his statement does say that of course, had he continued to seek reelection, he would have won because all retirement statements need to contain that possibility. Grateful to you both for being here. Happy New Year to everyone. I will see you at six o' clock Eastern time tonight. And then again, we'll be back tomorrow 9aM Eastern Time for this program. Thank you for being part of the two way community. Have a great day.