Trump Says Bodycams Will Be Good for ICE, Border Patrol Officers, Revealing Protesters' Tactics

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Morning Meeting

Host: Mark Halperin
Co-hosts: Eric Erickson, Kevin Walling
Date: February 3, 2026
Episode Title: Trump Says Bodycams Will Be Good for ICE, Border Patrol Officers, Revealing Protesters' Tactics

---

Episode Overview

This episode of The Morning Meeting dives deep into the day's political headlines and debates, offering real-time analysis on the evolving legislative standoff over ICE and bodycam funding, U.S.-Colombia relations, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, political maneuvering about the Clintons’ congressional testimony, intraparty tensions over key Republican voter issues, upcoming election dynamics, the fate of iconic institutions like the Kennedy Center, concerns over urban governance in places like New York, and listener-driven Q&A on immigration and more. The hosts stress their trademark “all voices under one roof” approach, welcoming perspectives across the political spectrum.

The episode’s hot topics include:

• Stalemate in Congress over immigration enforcement and ICE bodycams
• Russia-Ukraine war updates and NATO’s stance
• The Clintons facing a challenging moment about testifying before Congress
• Strains in Republican base over abortion and gun rights messaging
• Reactions to Trump’s provocative comments about taking over elections
• Urban governance woes in the wake of recent storms
• Listener questions on immigration reform

---

Key Discussion Points

Daybook Rundown: What’s Ahead in Politics

[02:00–06:21]

• Mark summarizes White House, Capitol Hill, and international events:
  • President’s meeting with Colombia’s president (11am) expected to be tense.
  • House votes on appropriations and security funding looming; negotiations on ICE bodycams at an impasse.
  • Senate testimonies, high-stakes legal cases, and the global diplomatic endeavors of Steve Witkoff.

Congressional Stalemate: ICE, Bodycams, and the Funding Showdown

[06:21–08:33]

• Eric Erickson: Predicts Democrats will use the threat of a government shutdown to gain leverage but will not be able to “unmask” ICE agents or end deportations.
  “I think the Democrats want to shut it down again as a play to voters... They're not going to get ICE agents unmasked so they will get body cameras, but they're not going to stop deportations...” [06:21]
• Consensus: Both sides dug in over warrants, roving operations, and administrative procedures—no simple solution in sight.
• Kevin Walling: Pushes back on Democratic strategies, noting ICE funding is already robust and legislative leverage is limited.

Russia-Ukraine: The Media and Political Class “Letting This Happen”

[10:39–18:30]

• Mark voices anger at the media downplaying the Russia-Ukraine war, deems recent Russian drone/missile attacks “horrible,” laments prospect of making deals with Putin.
• NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte’s speech in Kyiv is highlighted—“NATO stands with Ukraine... Ukraine is strong and our support is unwavering.” [12:43]
• Eric Erickson: Urges the President to stop regarding Putin as any sort of honest broker and recommends creative arms support for Ukraine via NATO partners and loan programs.
  “The first thing he’s got to do is stop pretending that Vladimir Putin is some sort of honest broker. He’s not.” [17:25]
• Panel criticizes global leaders for lack of seriousness in confronting Russia.

The Clintons & Congress: Will They Testify?

[18:30–21:53]

• Mark and Eric doubt the competence of House Republicans (specifically Chairman Comer) to conduct effective public hearings.
• Consensus: If the Clintons testify, they will likely outperform Republican questioners—a “dog catches car” moment for the GOP.
• Discussion of past Democratic stars at hearings (Dingell, Waxman) and AOC’s strong performance on similar occasions.

DOJ Power Struggles: The Rise and Reassignment of Ed Martin

[21:53–24:28]

• DOJ insider shake-ups over handling high-profile cases and failed attempts to pursue political opponents are dissected; Todd Blanche praised as emergent power player.

Republican Coalition Fractures: Guns, Abortion, and the “Wrongheaded” Midterm Strategy

[24:28–28:57]

• Mark and Eric analyze how Trump’s administration risks depressing its base of pro-life and pro-Second Amendment voters with mixed messages and policy missteps, particularly in response to recent headlines and infighting.
• Eric: “I’m flabbergasted by the gut reaction... to attack Second Amendment advocates.”
• Pro-life leaders and activists reportedly demoralized and alienated over perceived abandonment by the White House.

Trump’s Federal Takeover Comments & Georgia Fallout

[28:57–33:49]

• Mark urges media to ignore Trump’s outlandish statements on taking over state elections, but recognizes their power to rile anti-Trump turnout, especially in Georgia.
• Eric Erickson: Details on-the-ground confusion and fear among Georgia GOP as the FBI investigates, noting disregard for issues that truly matter to voters.
• Kevin Walling: Sees Democratic fundraising and messaging opportunities in the President’s rhetoric.

Kennedy Center Controversy: Renovation or Political Distraction?

[34:14–36:30]

• Mark, Kevin, and Eric downplay the drama of the Kennedy Center’s upcoming closure and renovations, framing it as a necessary infrastructure fix stoked up for partisan point-scoring.
• Eric Erickson: “If Democrats could just set aside the rush to be angry about everything, they'd see it actually needs it.” [35:40]

Urban Competence: New York’s “Squeegee Men” Return?

[36:30–39:31]

• Mark lambasts the city for post-snowstorm garbage and snow pile-up, suggesting a crisis of basic governance reminiscent of New York in the 1970s.
• Eric Erickson: Links failures in city services across the country to a brewing internal crisis within the Democratic Party.

---

Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• NATO's Mark Rutte in Kyiv: “NATO stands with Ukraine... Ukraine is strong and our support is unwavering.” [12:43]
• Mark Halperin on congressional negotiations: “He [Schumer] can't back down on warrants, masks, or roving operations—he'll be killed if he backs down on any of them.” [07:35]
• Eric Erickson on Republicans risking their base: “On guns…this is not smart politics for the White House to alienate these two groups of voters.” [26:03]
• Listener Nadine (Carlsbad, NM) on immigration amnesty: “Amnesty has a real cost. Those who, like us, who actually were following the law and doing it the right way—it set my parents back 10 years financially.” [42:30]
• Eric Erickson on Iran: “Honestly, at this point, just start throwing missiles at them. They need to be destroyed... You can't negotiate with them anymore.” [57:21]
• Mark Halperin on local government: “This is not about ideology... Mandami's fall, if he does fail, is going to be about competence.” [37:29]
• On Disney’s new CEO: “Normally, if you have that job, you've done time playing characters in the costumes.” [61:31]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Congressional Daybook and ICE Debate: [02:00–08:33]
• Russia-Ukraine & NATO Response: [10:39–18:30]
• Clinton Hearings Discussion: [18:30–21:53]
• DOJ Internal Politics: [21:53–24:28]
• Guns/Abortion and GOP Base: [24:28–28:57]
• Trump’s Comments on Elections & Georgia Fallout: [28:57–33:49]
• Kennedy Center Renovation: [34:14–36:30]
• Urban Governance in NYC: [36:30–39:31]
• Listener Nadine on Immigration: [42:07–48:26]
• Listener Carlton on Gavin Newsom’s Appeal: [48:56–54:35]
• NYC Sanitation Complaints with Haley: [55:16–56:26]
• Listener Haley on Iran: [55:55–58:21]
• Disney CEO Conversation: [60:36–63:05]

---

Audience Participation Highlights

• Nadine from NM shares her family’s legal immigration struggle, spotlighting the unintended consequences of amnesty policies and pleading for a system that treats rule-followers fairly. [42:07–48:26]
• Carlton from FL asks about the allure of Gavin Newsom, given California’s track record. Co-hosts debate Democratic contingency candidates for 2028. [48:56–54:35]
• Haley from NYC voices concern and frustration on the administration negotiating with Iran, seeking hosts’ takes on the risks. [55:55–58:21]

---

Tone and Style

• The conversation is fast-paced, candid, and sometimes sharply critical, marked by Mark Halperin’s wry, slightly sardonic delivery and deep insider knowledge.
• Both co-hosts bring seasoned, if ideologically opposed, analyses with a focus on both the substantive and tactical dimensions of politics.
• Frequent wit and banter break up heavy topics, with recurring calls for all viewpoints and genuine debate.

---

Takeaways for Listeners

• Major U.S. immigration and border debates remain gridlocked—bodycam funding is easy, reform is hard.
• Global crises (Russia/Ukraine, Iran) are overshadowed in U.S. discourse despite their world-altering implications.
• Intraparty fractures (both Democratic and Republican) could shape voter enthusiasm and midterm outcomes.
• City-level competence, not ideology, is an undercurrent in urban dissatisfaction.
• Listener questions reveal nuanced public opinion and long-standing frustration with party default positions.

---

This detailed episode summary equips listeners with a thorough understanding of the conversations, arguments, and evolving narratives presented in the Feb 3, 2026 episode of The Morning Meeting.

Transcript

[Nadine]

This is it.

[Mark Halpert]

The world as you know it is over. Completely done. It's not about to be over.

[Head of NATO (Mark Rutte)]

It's over.

[Mark Halpert]

Some of the scientists who helped build AI are now sounding the alarm. I was selling AI as a great thing for decades and I was wrong. I was wrong.

[Carlton]

There's a longer term existential threat that will arise when we create digital beings that that are more intelligent than ourselves. We have no idea whether we can stay in control.

[Eric Erickson]

While others say that AI will usher.

[Mark Halpert]

In unfathomable abundance, I've always believed that it's going to be the most important invention that humanity will ever make. This really will be a world of abundance. And among these fears and these fantasies.

[Eric Erickson]

We seek the story of our future.

[Mark Halpert]

Listen to the last invention on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[James Patterson]

I'm James Patterson. I write way too many books. Welcome to Hungry Dogs. The title comes from my maternal grandmother, Isabel Zelvis Morris. Nan used to always say, hungry dogs run faster, James. And I've been running fast ever since. Here's what will be coming your way soon, and this is a really terrific list. I think you'll hear from some incredible people like Stacey Abrams.

[Mark Halpert]

Yay.

[James Patterson]

BJ Novak.

[Mark Halpert]

Yay.

[James Patterson]

Kathy Bates, Dolly Parton, Josh Gad. And Pope Leo. Okay, maybe not Pope Leo, but who knows? Maybe he'll show up. Hungry dogs run faster. Thank you, Grandma, for turning me into a hopeless, obsessive compulsive. Listen to Hungry Dogs with James Patterson. That'd be me on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Mark Halpert]

Hey, everybody. Welcome to the morning meeting. I'm Mark Halpert and I'm so glad to have you here with us for our live program. My phone is beeping and ringing and turn that off. Eric Erickson, as you can see, is here with us. Eric, thank you for coming back. Same with Kevin Walling. Delighted to have them both here. We'll do what we always do. We'll run through the daybook, we'll talk about stuff in the news. And then not only will we accept your questions and comments, we'll welcome them in the unique two way format that has come to be beloved by children of all ages around the world and across the fruited plate. What I don't want you to do is on x or on YouTube, put smack in the chat. Think about peace, love and understanding on this day. Think about extending the presumption of grace to all. We have conversations like no other here, and that's defined in all sorts of ways, but probably maybe most defined by all voices under one roof. So if you're here on the platform and you've never raised your hand and you think MAGA is the devil, raise your hand and share your point of view. Maybe not with those exact words, but. And if you're here and you love the President and you want to share the gospel of Trump, again, raise your hand. All voices under one roof. This is not a platform only for centrists, moderates and independents, although we welcome them, too. All voices means everybody. And if you hear something you don't like, be glad you got to hear what tens of millions of your fellow countrymen and women are thinking. Thank you for attention to all those matters. Here we go. I'm going to run through the daybook because there's some interesting stuff today. The president has no public events at this time, but that's not worth much because they can always open stuff up. At 11 o', clock, the President is participating in a meeting with the President of the Republic of Colombia. Many chatterers in the chattering class are predicting or quasi predicting that this meeting is going to explode in conflict, even though the communication between the two men of late has been filled with amity and comity. But we'll see what happens, whether they open that up and what comes out of that. And then the president has one of those signing time things at 2 o' clock that sometimes get opens up. Otherwise we don't plan to see the President. Don't know what the vice president's doing. Lots going on on Capitol Hill today as the speaker continues his magic of winning every vote. I don't know what Paul Ryan and John Boehner and Kevin McCarthy are now thinking about why they couldn't do this, but somehow he gets it done. And at some point today, they'll almost certainly vote and pass the appropriations and open up the government and then a continuing resolution for homeland Security and then the real conflict begins that has no solution at this time. You could talk to, we could have Donald Trump, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries and the speaker all as guests on this program together, and they still couldn't tell you how this negotiation is going to end up. Figure out what to do about a piece of legislation that changes the way ICE operates. We'll have House Republican leader press conference at 10, Democratic leaders at 10:45. The rule, the vote on the spending package rule supposed to happen at 11:15. Congresswoman Paulina, who's obsessed with the SAVE act, is holding a press conference about that at noon weekly lunches for the senators have the have the Navy bean soup. Some say their separate lunches are today and afterwards they usually come out and talk. The head of Netflix or one of the heads, Ted Saran Sarandes, is testifying at 2:30 in front of the Senate. And the family of Renee Good is speaking with Senator Blumenthal and Representative Garcia on Capitol Hill at 3. Steve Witkoff has an incredible week today. He's in Israel meeting with Netanyahu on one piece thing, phase two of Gaza. Then he's supposed to go negotiate with the Russians and the Ukrainians and then he's supposed to negotiate with the Iranians. All this week, one guy who none of you had heard of a few months ago and now he's ambassador to the world. It's quite a story. And as I wrote in my newsletter this morning, I hope that guy's keeping notes. It's quite something. Two legal cases today move along. The Charlie Kirk's alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson has a court appearance today addressing whether the prosecutor has conflict of interest and the man who allegedly assaulted Representative Omar is speaking or, sorry, is in court today at a pretrial hearing. All right, let's just do one thing real quick. I said nobody knows how this thing's going to be resolved. Eric, what's your best guess on the ICE thing? Are we going to have a negotiated deal of some sort or is it going to keep extending into forever?

[Eric Erickson]

I think the Democrats want to shut it down again as a play to voters. They look at what happened in Texas. They think that immigration is a winning issue for them suddenly. I think they're going to overplay their hand on this one. They're not going to get ICE agents unmasked so they will get body cameras, but they're not going to stop deportations or have to go through judicial warrant to evict people from the country.

[Mark Halpert]

Kevin, I'll just say I agree with everything Eric just said. I think Democrats are willing to shut it down over this and the gap between what Democrats are demanding and what Republicans are refusing to do and what they will demand in return, it just seems unbridgeable to me.

[Kevin Walling]

Yeah, Mark, I agree with Eric, too. I think, you know, the easy stuff is done right? We got more money for body cams and stuff like that. But there's such entrenched interest, especially to Eric's point on the on the warrant front, judicial versus administrative, that there isn't a lot of leeway there. And February 13th is closing in. It's not that far away. So I could see, see the most likely thing is going to happen is another CR on that front. I can't imagine they would target that because again, you know, ICE got about $75 billion already. So that talking point doesn't hold water for a lot of folks because it's already fully funded and Democrats don't have that much leverage.

[Mark Halpert]

Well, they think they do, though. They think they have a lot of leverage. It seems to me that the only way to even have a chance to do this is once again for Schumer and the president to negotiate it and then try to jam the House. But the stuff Schumer cannot back down off of warrants, roving operations. And what's the other thing he can't back down on? Warrants, masks. He can't back down on any of those things. He'll be killed if he backs down on any of them. And those things can't pass the House.

[Kevin Walling]

I agree completely. But I think too, barring another tragedy on the streets of Minneapolis, we have such a short attention span as Americans, I think a lot of folks have sadly already moved on from what's happening. Especially if Minneapolis stays quiet. I don't think that leverage is there the same way it was, you know, just a week ago when this was being discussed.

[Eric Erickson]

You've also got the issue of if there is a shutdown, it's going to be the tsa, not ICE and Border Patrol that are shut down and American.

[Kevin Walling]

And Coast Guard and all that.

[Mark Halpert]

Fema.

[Eric Erickson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mark Halpert]

All right. And the reason ICE isn't going to shut down is because they were. They've got funding already in the bank. All right, a quick word from sponsor or two and then to your questions or not to your questions to our topics right now. If you want to lose weight this year, there's a good way to do it. And it doesn't involve cabbage soup or fad diets or those injectables that many of you hector me about and say, oh, they're so great. No, I really don't think they are. That's my point of view. You don't want to weight cycle, lose weight, gain weight, 10 pounds up and down. That's not healthy. What you want to do is get help losing weight and you want to try non prescription lean invented by doctors. It's an oral supplement, not an injection. And it helps you do the things you need to do, maintain healthy blood sugar, control appetite and cravings, and burn fat by converting it to energy. All available to you now at an extraordinary 20% discount. Go read about it and if it's right for you, give it a try. Go to takelean.com use the promo code 2WMM for 20% off your entire purchase. Again, 2wmntakelean.com 2w.mm takelean.com, try it today if you're looking to lose weight this year a healthy way. Again, it's an oral supplement, not an injectable. Think about it.

[James Patterson]

I'm James Patterson. I write way too many books. Welcome to Hungry Dogs. The title comes from my maternal grandmother, Isabel Zelvis Morris. Nan used to always say, hungry dogs run faster, James. And I've been running fast ever since. Here's what will be coming your way soon. And this is a really terrific list. I think you'll hear from some incredible people like Stacey Abrams.

[Mark Halpert]

Yay.

[James Patterson]

BJ Novak.

[Kevin Walling]

Yay.

[James Patterson]

Kathy Bates, Dolly Parton, Josh Gad. And Pope Leo. Okay, maybe not Pope Leo, but who knows, maybe he'll show up. Hungry dogs run faster. Thank you, grandma, for turning me into a hopeless, obsessive compulsive. Listen to Hungry Dogs with James Patterson. That'd be me on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Eric Erickson]

Foreign.

[Mark Halpert]

Let's talk about Russia, Ukraine. I've, I talked about this a little bit in the pre show. I'm just so outraged at the world for two things related to Russia, Ukraine. First of all, the media and, and politicians not talking about it enough. This is a big deal for the world. What kind of world are we going to have if Vladimir Putin can do this and then if he gets a deal, be welcomed back in the community of nations. This is the center of Europe. This is the United States ally. United States allies and NATO care about it. And the second thing I'm mad about is they're letting this happen. This is, there's something wrong with the planet that this is happening. So let me show you a few things that have happened today and then we're going to talk about it. First of all, the head of NATO. I've become a fan of Mr. Mark Root. Is that how you pronounce his name?

[Eric Erickson]

Root?

[Mark Halpert]

Right. I've become a fan of his. He's in Kiev today. He tweeted about it 106. And he's there on a day after Putin having promised the president, at least the president said he did not to bomb during this cold snap. Or as David Letterman would say, is it a cold snap or a cold spell? Whatever it is, it's cold. He's there and here he is walking with Zelensky at a memorial service. 103 please. Here's the AP headline 102 about the attack. This is another horrible attack on energy facilities. 450 drones, 70 missiles the day before the peace talks are supposed to start. This is not the first time Putin has done this immediately before. Now we're going to play for you a long sound bite from the head of NATO speaking to the Ukrainian parliament. In a moment, both the head of NATO, Mr. Root, and Mr. Zelensky, President Zelensky, both denounced the attack and said it shows once again that Putin is not serious about peace. Listen to these stirring remarks. This should be the lead everywhere. Not Donald Trump fantasizing about taking over elections. Not, not the body cams. These are important things. But this, this sound bite should have been lead on every morning show. Please play.

[Head of NATO (Mark Rutte)]

Head of NATO, with the deepest respect that I stand before you today to affirm once again that NATO stands with Ukraine. This was true before Russia's full scale invasion. This was true on 24th February, 2022. That has been true every single day since. Putin has long thought he could wait us out, that Ukraine was weak, that your supporters would grow weary, that our will would falter. He was gravely mistaken. Ukraine is strong and our support is unwavering. I do recognize that a focus on other global events might have caused concern, concern that our attention might be divided at the moment, that you needed our support more acutely than ever as the temperatures plummeted, attacks on your energy infrastructure intensified and the talks to, to bring this terrible war to a lasting end continued. But I want to assure you that our attention has not been diverted. Ukraine is and will remain essential to our security.

[Mark Halpert]

Okay, Putin's bombing them after he said he wouldn't. Putin and his spokespeople are continuing to say, oh, there can be no security guarantees of any legitimacy of any meaning for the Ukrainians from, from NATO. Putin and his allies continue to spokesman, continue to say they want more land. I now am not consumed with the question of whether there's going to be deal. I'm consumed with why would anyone make a deal with Putin? Why would anyone make a deal with Putin? He's not going to adhere to it and lake a deal. He's going to insist on being back in the community of nations. This whole thing has been handled poorly. But I just don't see how there can be a deal now or there should be a deal. Kevin, thoughts?

[Kevin Walling]

Yeah, Mark, you're absolutely right. And again, every play that Putin has made has to buy more time, right, to refuel and re energize his conscripted troops. The point you made, too, about Putin wanting more land, land that he hasn't even taken as part of this offensive from Russia into Ukraine. I think Mark Rut, the NATO general secretary, is doing the yeoman's work and is perfectly positioned. You saw him in Davos playing that really well with President Trump. And I think Mark Rudd is the one to actually deliver, to bring, you know, more to bear from President Trump. They've got a soft spot for one another and he's been able to, as the best NATO general secretary that we've seen. Andrews Ross was the previous one during the first Trump administration. Mark Rutt has been the best one to navigate this situation with Trump and get more pressure from Washington. You also have that sanctions bill that I hope everyone will continue not to forget. And maybe once we reopen that government, that's that effort from Lindsey Graham and others that will also come into play and President Trump will put his full force behind that effort. Because you're absolutely right, Mark, in terms of what's happening. And you know, I've got the forescreen on nothing about this, not any of the networks that we've seen. And again, those peace talks kick off again in Abu Dhabi this week. Nothing about that, nothing about Wyckoff. You know, everything else is about other, other coverage. And this should be in the forefront.

[Mark Halpert]

Eric, the Wall Street Journal editorial page would like the president to spend billions more on trying to prop up Ukraine. And it's not going to happen. And the American people don't want that. What should the president's policy be, Eric, now?

[Eric Erickson]

Well, you know, to his credit, with the India deal, they're going to cut off their oil with Russia. The president's kept oil very low intentionally to hurt the Russians. But there is more the president can do, and this is part of his legacy. He wants to best Joe Biden. Joe Biden couldn't get peace for Ukraine. The presidents internally, I think they're really divided between the Van Swing and the Rubio wing as to how to proceed. You've got a lot of the Vance wings, very prominent in the Defense Department that wants to kind of wash their hands of Europe and do this tripartite world between China, Russia and the United States. If the US Is going to lead the free world, it's time for the president to lead here. He can structure this very well so that we're not out of pocket, do what he's already doing, sell weapons to the NATO partners, let them send it to Ukraine, use a loan program that the Biden administration had started and then stopped so that we're going to be reimbursed for the weapons, allow the Ukrainians to engage more. There are plenty of things the president do, but the first thing he's got to do is stop pretending that Vladimir Putin is some sort of honest broker. He's not.

[Mark Halpert]

Did I, did every president, did I miss on your list the sanctions bill? Are you for that?

[Eric Erickson]

You know, the sanctions bill is something else that. Yeah. Lindsey Graham and them, they want to push it, get it done.

[Mark Halpert]

Yeah.

[Kevin Walling]

Well, again, Mark, Mark, we talked about this, too. Nothing pisses off this president more then when he sees these drone attacks, especially if they're hitting, you know, hospitals and power centers and he's seeing, you know, innocent human life taken on the streets of Kyiv and other places.

[Mark Halpert]

I have been at the back of the line in saying there's something nefarious about the president's connection to Putin. I just. I just don't see proof of it. But there's something weird about it.

[Eric Erickson]

Yeah.

[Mark Halpert]

Because. Because the sanctions bill should have passed two months ago. All right, we'll talk more about this all week. I'm just. I'm just so horrified at the world's inability to deal with this. The Clintons, in the face of what was going to be a pretty overwhelming vote against them and a contempt citation, told Chairman Comer, oh, no, we'll testify. And if you read the press reports today, it seems like, okay, well, now we're going to schedule the Clintons to testify. That's not what Chairman Comer says. In a confusing and blistering and lengthy letter back, Chairman Comer told the Clinton's lawyers, we need to know more about what the Clintons are actually offering. Here's the headline from Access. Clinton's Agree to Republican Demands a Testifying to Congress. That headline, again, representative of how this is being covered is not reflective of the fact that Chairman Comer is saying, we're going to continue along the path of finding them in contempt until this is scheduled. It has to do with where they speak, what questions are allowed, who's present, Is it recorded? Is there a time limit? Are there topics off limit? Eric, are the Clintons going to testify?

[Eric Erickson]

They don't really have a choice. We've got Democrats and Republicans in the Congress that want to do it. You hand this over to Pam Bondi, you know what's going to happen. They will be indicted on this for their refusal to testify. It's kind of cut and dry. But man, the Republicans are going to be the dog that caught the car if they make this a public testimony situation.

[Mark Halpert]

Well, and if they perform the way and I don't have anything personally against Sherman Comer, but he and his staff have been abjectly incompetent in all these investigations. They've just screwed them up. As Bill Clinton himself would say. Chairman Comer could not organize a, a two car parade. And so, and so the Republicans are all salivating. Oh, the Democrats, you divided. Nancy Pelosi is defending the Clintons. The younger Democrats have never heard of the Clintons. They're fine having them come in. But if Comer and his team don't actually know how to go up against Bill Clinton, he may have lost a step, but Bill Clinton with a lost step is 100 yards ahead of Chairman Comer. So Kevin, do you think there's a chance that Chairman Comer prepares and actually does a deposition of Bill Clinton that's sensible not just for the politics but for the substance?

[Kevin Walling]

Yeah, I doubt it. Again, this is to your point. Comer always over promises and under delivers and you know, we talk about the efficacy of Bill Clinton and the charm of Bill Clinton, but also too let's also forget Secretary Clinton during the Benghazi hearings that ran circles around Republicans on over oversight and they had a lot of mud on their face and it was one of the things that took down Speaker McCarthy when he talked about that first time. Remember, we're only bringing her because we want to hurt her in the lead up to the election. So again, over promise under deliver James.

[Mark Halpert]

Comer, the gold standard of how to run a congressional investigative hearing that's public where you score political points. John Dingell and Henry Waxman, they knew how to do it. And since they left the stage and even before, there's never been a Republican who was good at hearings. It's weird. It's, it's not that hard. But they've never had anyone any good.

[Kevin Walling]

There haven't been that many good Democratic haven't been.

[Mark Halpert]

That's why I say the Democrats have never replaced Waxman. Wax, you're too young. But Waxman and Dingell, man, they were incredible Republican friends.

[Eric Erickson]

Don't shoot me on this, but one of the best questioners on there is aoc. She comes in better prepared than most of the Republicans and it is wild. And by the way, Comer risks scuttling his nascent gubernatorial campaign.

[Mark Halpert]

He does indeed. He does indeed. And I'll say like, like Grassley is given Credit for being like a great investigator. He's. His hearings are horrible. They send good subpoenas, he writes good letters, but it's just crazy. The Republican Party has not figured out how to run a show hearing. It's weird. Anyway, Ed Martin. Ed Martin, I think he's been on two way. Nice man. He had a big job at the Justice Department. He had two big jobs. He was in charge of the pardons and he was in charge of fighting, finding trumped up charges to persecute and prosecute the President's enemies. That's a summary. Not everybody would necessarily agree with that. And now he's been shunted aside. He's got his pardon job. Talk that he may go to the White House. Either of you, is this a story anybody should care about, or is this about Ed Martin and the Deputy Attorney general whose power is awe inspiring? Either of you have anything to say about Ed Martin?

[Eric Erickson]

Yeah, I just gotta say that I think Todd Blanche has shown himself in his interviews because highly competent and Ed's a great guy, but I think he got out over skis on a lot of what he was doing.

[Mark Halpert]

But. But the wash. The New York Times account suggests, Kevin, that the reason they're demoting him is because he wasn't doing good. He was. He was not executing well on these prosecutions of, like, Adam Schiff. Like, he was doing stuff that was embarrassing and wrongheaded. But also, like Adam Schiff hasn't been indicted yet.

[Kevin Walling]

Well, you've also seen that similar dynamic play out with my old friend Judge Jeanine, where she kind of flies a little too close to the sun. I think the same situation here. And Eric makes a really good point. I think Todd Blanche has been the really strong player in all of this. And we think that the College of Cardinals is super political. The Cabinet is super political. The dynamics at the heads of the DOJ and the different. The DAG and the other Assistant Attorney Generals. There are more politics and maneuvering going on at doj, to say nothing of Cash Patel and Dan Bongino, who just left than any other place that we've seen in government recently.

[Mark Halpert]

Given how powerful Blanche is, what do we know about the relationship between Blanche and the Attorney General, the DAG and the ag, do they get along? Because, I mean, he's. I think he's the most powerful deputy Attorney General in modern history. But does she mind that? Eric, do you know.

[Eric Erickson]

You know, I. I've got no idea. And I keep waiting for her to go. I mean, if there's a. A Cabinet. Cabinet Secretary who probably needs to leave. It's probably her before Nome.

[Mark Halpert]

If she goes, I assume Blanche becomes attorney general, right?

[Eric Erickson]

I would assume so. I mean, yeah, it would make a lot of sense. He kind of is right now. And he's actually really good at the job.

[Mark Halpert]

Yeah.

[Kevin Walling]

Good old Bill bar for third time's the charm.

[Mark Halpert]

Yeah.

[Eric Erickson]

Yeah.

[Mark Halpert]

You know, not. Not going to happen. All right, quick public service announcement. If you do not subscribe to Eric's substack. I've mentioned it to before, all before. You should. We'll put the URL in the chat. It's in my substack as well, I believe. Maybe it wasn't. It'll be in the next one. Eric's substack is incredible. And Eric, I'm just so impressed with the original nature of your thinking, the discipline, the principles. And Eric, one reason we love having you on here is you're willing to call folks out, even in your own tribe. And what Eric writes about today is what we're going to talk about now, which is the president was pro choice and anti gun for most of his life as an adult. And when he decided he wanted to be the Republican nominee for president, he transformed himself into what I would argue is the most Pro LifePro Second Amendment President in American history. Quite a transformation. And yet as the midterms approach and as Eric points out, it's necessary for the Republicans to turn out single issue voters on those two issues which benefit Republican. Single issue voters on guns and abortion tend to turn out for Republicans for some reason. There have been a series of policy decisions and public pronouncements that risk depressing those two groups. So Eric, I know you think it's wrongheaded. What's possible, Is it carelessness? Do they have some secret plan to appeal to pro choice voters and Gabby Giffords votes? Like why are they making these mistakes that are really depressing their connection to both the pro life community and the pro second amendment community.

[Eric Erickson]

Yeah. And you know, just some background here. I was a lawyer, an elections lawyer for a number of years in Georgia and then also ran campaigns and I mean again, pro life voters, gun voters, they'll turn out for Republicans in midterms. You want them. I have been told pretty reliably from higher ups that they did not at the time want to try to drive up a pro abortion vote in the midterm. So they didn't want to do anything with mefopress don't the abortion pill. They didn't want to really fire people up. I think they overshot on that. And I was told, I mean, name checking. Susie Wiles and Stephen Miller were the two names that kept coming up in conversations. They were worried about the politics of it. James Blair, who's the legislative guy for the White House, actually thought they should do something. I think he was right on guns. I'm, honestly, I'm flabbergasted by the gut reaction from people in the Trump administration to have this message attacking Second Amendment advocates, whether it was the Alex Preddy situation or now Judge Jeanine saying, if you come in, Greg Stube, member of Congress, is on Twitter this morning saying, I come in with my gun all the time. If you try to stop me, there'll be a fight. Come and take it. Judge Jeanine, this is not smart politics for the White House to alienate these two groups of voters.

[Mark Halpert]

But why is James Blair letting this happen?

[Eric Erickson]

I don't think it's James Blair. Based on what I've heard from multiple people, he actually is where I am.

[Mark Halpert]

Yeah, but he should be. He should be throwing his body in front of him. Maybe he is internally. Kevin. Judge Shanine, you two ever go to a shooting range together? She seems, she seems to not be that pro gun right now.

[Kevin Walling]

We've not. And I want to ask Eric, too, because you know these dynamics better than I do. You know, the fact that we saw the march on life, the, you know, march for life a few weeks ago, and the point person was J.D. vance, not the president. I mean, the president should still be taking a victory lap with the end of Roe. And the fact that he set his deputy to give that speech was also kind of surprising to me.

[Eric Erickson]

Well, and, you know, I can tell you behind the scenes, there was a movement. It died at the end. But I was consulted and my advice was sought on a public letter suggesting they uninvite JD Vance over the abortion pill. Wound up not going anywhere. But there's a lot of antagonism within the pro life community. They feel like they kept their mouth shut on RFK despite the reservations, and now it's just gone off the rails for them. And there are a lot of them realizing we've, we've lost the room within the White House. They're not happy and mean. Good luck getting these people to really turn out for you in the midterms.

[Kevin Walling]

Do you think that's partly because the Roe fight is over, Eric? To some degree. You know, they've declared victory and now where do they go as a movement?

[Eric Erickson]

Yeah, a lot of thinking in the White House. And again, I think it comes from the van between the party, like on the Ukraine situation is let this be a state issue now. It's no longer a federal issue. Yes, to a degree I agree. But there are some issues that are national, like regulation of the abortion bill and they're just stepping all over rakes on this issue right now.

[Mark Halpert]

Yeah, it's just incredible. There is a link. There is a link in my substack to Eric's substack and you can just Google and you'll find it, but you all should subscribe to it. Okay. The president will do stuff all the time. He's done it for 10 years. That for some reason Democrats and liberals in the media still don't get lookie over there, looky over there. Now people say, well, the president should only be talking about the economy. Well, my sense is he wants to talk about the economy in a couple of months if Scott Besant delivers the buffet that he has long promised. But until the economy is good, until the president can talk about it, he just wants to distract and discombobulate. So two things the president's done in the last 24 hours. He went on Bongino's debut, return debut and he talked about how 15 states, the federal government should take over the elections. All right. My reaction to that is the president will say stuff like that all the time until he actually tries to do it, I would just ignore him. Here's someone not following my advice. Jonathan Lemire on Morning Joe went straight to 11 with the Hitler metaphor. 114 please. Right. This is the big lie. This is what fueled the January six insurrection. The president states tried to overturn the.

[Eric Erickson]

Results of a free and fair election in 2020. He still will not acknowledge publicly that he lost.

[Mark Halpert]

And there sure seems to be sense.

[Eric Erickson]

That he's laying the groundwork to interfere.

[Mark Halpert]

With 2026 and 2028. We just heard him in that interview. Okay, this goes on for this goes on forever on an Ms. Now loop. Now what's going on in Georgia where Eric lives is confusing. Why? Why is Tulsi Gabbard involved? What's going on with this investigation? Here's what Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Here's what he tweeted 115 Talking about the lack of understanding of what exactly is going on with this investigation. And it relates up to that the president said yesterday about potentially taking over state led state elections. Here's Bluestein's tweet. An unmistakable paw hangs over the Georgia's capitol with leaders earnestly asking one another whether the FBI's raid was a prelude to election officials being frog marched out in handcuffs. Democrats were in no mood to tiptoe around the moment. Not really sure what that last sentence means. Eric, home court for you. What is going on with the President and 2020, 2026, what is going on?

[Eric Erickson]

This is a lot of distraction. It's also Tulsi Gabbard got Gabbard by the White House, set aside and ignored on every national security issue. So here she comes to Georgia to make herself relevant again. I will tell you, I've got five text messages now unanswered, so far from Republican members of the state legislature who want to know, does the White House understand, given the dynamics in Georgia, that this does nothing but inspire anti Trump voters to turn out in the midterms when they just lost a very safe Republican seat in a special election? There's another one coming up in two weeks. The Republicans in Georgia horrified by the politics of it. But at the same time, to your point, the Democrats can't help themselves. The president never delivers. He never takes over the election. They focus on all of these issues and they ignore the stuff that actually matters right now, by the way, big Wall Street Journal story on potential corruption in the Trump family and the sheikh from Abu Dhabi. And the Democrats are talking about this stuff instead.

[Mark Halpert]

Right. Although some are talking about that story and some people are saying that'll be the first article of impeachment if they take back control of the House. Kevin, if you were, if you were Chuck Schumer's comms director, would you say the party should be talking about the president blabbing on Dan Bongino's show about, about taking over the elections or ignore it?

[Kevin Walling]

Absolutely. Especially in the fundraising capacity. Right. To Eric's point.

[Mark Halpert]

Well, sure. They're all. They're all.

[Kevin Walling]

Jon Ossoff just announced $8 million, seven times more than any of the Republicans running in that race. All the prognosticators keep moving his race closer and closer to the Democratic side because of all this sideshow. Eric, I'm wondering, will we hear from Governor Kemp at some point on all this? He's been noticeably quiet.

[Mark Halpert]

Good question.

[Kevin Walling]

And again, he's wrapping up his term, so he's got nothing to lose, really. It's been interesting that he's been somewhat quiet on this so far.

[Eric Erickson]

His strategy has always been largely ignore the president, something a lot of other people could learn. He's probably not gonna say much unless arrests happen. And honestly, most of the Republicans don't actually think arrests will happen. You know, I pointed out a number of months ago they spent way more energy going after James Comey and Letitia James than they did trying to solve the stolen election. Only now they're getting to it. I don't know that they will do anything. And so I don't think you'll hear Kemp say anything.

[Mark Halpert]

A couple more topics then to your questions. So please raise your hand if you want to be in the conversation and if you've never raised your hand, today is a great day to try participating. The president yesterday comments on the Kennedy center, or as I call it, the center formerly known as Kennedy, because I don't want to be caught up in the whole Associated Press Gulf of Mexico thing, although I noticed most news organizations are still calling it the Kennedy center and the president hasn't threatened to sue them yet.

[Kevin Walling]

Even the reporter that asked him in.

[Mark Halpert]

The Oval Office at the Kennedy Center. Yeah, I noticed that too.

[Eric Erickson]

I still say Sec. Def. Too.

[Mark Halpert]

Yeah, there you go.

[Kevin Walling]

Same.

[Mark Halpert]

And the president yesterday was asked is he going to tear the whole thing down like a whole East Wing redux? And he said, well, we'll keep the steel and some of the marble, but if you're just keeping the steel and some of the marble, sounds like it's going to look like a construction site rather than just a rehab. Gentlemen, will the Kennedy two part question violating my rule against two part questions. Will the Kennedy center close for an extended period in July as currently planned? And will it be will it be fixed up in a manner that will make it look like a construction site? In other words, will they bulldoze a lot of it down? Kevin, Two part question. I think that I just need two words. I just need a yes and a no or some combination of yes.

[Kevin Walling]

No, we won't see the extent of it because the shell is going to be the same mark. So they're going to do it's not.

[Mark Halpert]

Going to, it's not going to be not going to be a tear down.

[Kevin Walling]

On the exterior so we won't have the images of the East.

[Mark Halpert]

Okay, understood. Okay. Like and will it and will it shut down for an extended period in July?

[Kevin Walling]

Yes.

[Mark Halpert]

So you're yes, no.

[Eric Erickson]

Eric, I'm yes, no as well. By the way, it actually does need rehabilitation.

[Mark Halpert]

It does. I'm Yet I'm I'm yes. Yes. Because I think when they start to rehab it, they're going to see it needs to be torn down.

[Kevin Walling]

I mean it's piecemeal since it was open, you know, in terms of fixing up this one.

[Eric Erickson]

Yeah, this is an aside on this to see so many people say, oh, he can't do this. What? It actually needs it. And if Democrats could just set aside the rush to be angry about everything. He does. It really.

[Mark Halpert]

It does. It does. And the other thing is, it's just another distraction, like he's just doing some construction. Folks, this is not some moral thing. It's not a disrespect to the Kennedys. I understand people are upset that he's taking it over and whatever, but, I mean, he won the election. And all these artists are saying, we won't. We won't be at the Kennedy center because it was renamed. I just. I find it a little. I find a little confusing. I do.

[Kevin Walling]

All right, but. But, Mark, this is an easy story for the media to. To drum up. Right. When they don't want to talk about Ukraine.

[Mark Halpert]

Yes. Yeah. This is a bigger. Literally, this is a bigger story.

[Kevin Walling]

The rage stories.

[Mark Halpert]

Right. Themselves. Yes, you are correct. I don't know. Why is Mark Caputo sending me these tweets? Mark Caputo, if you're watching, I need you to explain why you're sending me these tweets. I don't get them. All right, lastly, I was in a cab yesterday. It was technically an Uber. I was going from my home on the west side to LaGuardia, and I went through the east side. I hadn't been on the east side since the snow because I've basically been staying home. And it looks like the 1970s in New York. It's not just Manhattan, I'm told reliably the outer boroughs look like this too. Take a look at this image. And if you were in New York in the 1970s, you'll notice dirty snow, piles of dirty snow. And these are low piles. There are seven. They're 12 foot piles of snow. And there's garbage bags. So they're not clearing the snow, and they're not. And they're not collecting the garbage. And what I tweeted in response to that tweet, you see here on there, it says, coming this summer, the squeegee men are coming back.

[Eric Erickson]

This is.

[Mark Halpert]

This is. I warned about this. This is not about ideology. Michael Dukakis said it. Said it right. Mandami's fall, if he does fail, is going to be about competence. I mean, you know, somebody sent me an email saying, you're being too hard on Mondami. DC couldn't clear the snow either. Yeah, because DC government's incompetent, too. Eric, is Mandami going to. Is Mondami been already. He couldn't deal with a snowstorm. He's already proven that he's not up to the job.

[Eric Erickson]

I honestly think. Yeah, it's the competency issue. These things matter. And I gotta tell you, I started my show with this yesterday that in Nashville. Now they're two weeks without power in Nashville, where they cut the tree trimming budget the power company by $7 million and then spent it on DEI training in 2025. True story. The basic competence of local government matters. You're not going to suddenly have a Republican wave in New York, but you may have a swing back towards the center. Although he's got four years to get it right.

[Mark Halpert]

Interesting.

[Kevin Walling]

Reminds me of the days I got Jerry Ford right here behind me when he told New York City to drop dead in the 70s. The optics of that. And to Eric's point, it's all about competence. It's one of the reasons why, you know, I think Muriel Bowser is a little out to lunch here in Washington, D.C. she's announced she's not running for reelection. So, you know, she doesn't care about, about, about that as well. But it's also, as we know, in Chicago, other places, if you don't get this right, it, you know, people have a long memory, certainly with things like this.

[Mark Halpert]

Yeah, I certainly do. I remember the squeegee man. If I'm driving my car this summer and somebody comes to squeegee the windshield, I'm going to. I can't be held accountable for my side here.

[Eric Erickson]

There. There really is a rightness within the Democratic Party for what the Republicans have felt. When you go to Los Angeles, they can't rebuild houses. New York, they can't clean the trash. In Nashville, they can't get the power lines up or the roads cleared. In Baltimore, they can't send kids back to school. You're not going to see Republicans. But wow, there's a way for the Democrats to have a real internal fight right now.

[Mark Halpert]

We call that the abundance agenda, right?

[Eric Erickson]

Yes, Abundance.

[Mark Halpert]

The abundance. All right, quick word from sponsor and then to your questions, please raise your hand if you want to get in on the conversation. Here's something you want. You want two pairs of the cozy earth bamboo pajama set. Two pairs for the price of one. Viewers of this program right now, go to cozyearth.com use the promo code 2WMM BOGO. 2WMM BOGO. Get two pairs of the hard to get classic cozy earth favorite sleepwear upgrade in your life and for the life of someone Else, keep them both for yourself if you want. Lightweight yet cozy. They were sold out over the holidays, but they're back now. Go to cozyeart.com use the promo code 2 WMM. BOGO. Buy other stuff while you're there. Buy some pants for yourself. Maybe buy the bubble cuddle blanket for your pet or your kid. My kid loves the bubble cuddle blanket. I'm trying to make. Get him to make a video about how much he loves it. If you go under the bubble cuddle blanket, I'll tell you right now, you can't see a damn thing. Put your hand right in front of your face. So I don't know. That's another dual use for the bubble cuddle blanket. Anyway, right now go to cozyearth.com buy yourself two pairs of pajamas for the price of one. Use the promo code 2WMMOGO. This offer ends February 8th. That's five more days, folks. If you haven't bought the pajamas, do it now. All right, let's get one more word in from another sponsor. I just told you how to spend a little money to get two pairs of pajamas. Now I'm going to tell you how to get money for free. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am the wizard of Oz. I am. Who. Who's. Who's from fiction. Who gives people free money? Maybe I'm Wonka. I don't know. Go to your phone right now. Pick it up, download the upside app. Download the app and you get free money by buying stuff. Just buy stuff. Pay the way you normally pay restaurants, supermarkets, and gas stations, and you get free money. I don't know exactly how it works, but they've given away over a million dollars cash back every week. There's no gimmicks. There's no. It's not about getting points. It's not. There's no penalties. It doesn't cost you anything. Just go right now and download the app and you can join in. They've given over a billion dollars back to their users. Find out how much you can earn. Go download the free upside app. Use the promo code mark, and on your first tank, gas tank, fill up. You'll get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on that first tank. Use the promo code mark. On the upside app right now, it's free money. If you don't want it, you don't have to take it, but it's available to you. All right, here we go, ladies and gentlemen, time for your participation in the program. As always, raise your hands high. Come on in. After you Unmute. Nadine, tell folks where you are and what's on your mind. For Eric and for Kevin, thank you for being part two way.

[Nadine]

Hi, I'm living in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and I'm originally Canadian, so. And excuse me, I'm absolutely terrified of public speaking.

[Mark Halpert]

Oh, no, this isn't. This isn't public speaking. It's just. It's just manifesting your participation in the two way community. Take a deep breath. You're doing great. And we just welcome your participation. So you're all good.

[Nadine]

Thank you. I wanted to give a bit of a perspective on the immigration. I immigrated here in the 80s and we came with L visas. My dad was allowed to work for that company, no other company, and none of us could work. We got caught up with Reagan's amnesty because of Reagan's amnesty, a process that should have taken less than a year. It took us over eight years before we got our green cards. During that time, I barely saw my dad. He was working in Mexico. My sister aged out. We had INS show up at our door to deport my sister. I spent my senior year of high school being very careful because my status was iffy. We'll just say I hear all of this about the poor immigrants who came here and they're just trying to get by and we should just leave them alone or give them amnesty. But amnesty has a real cost. Those who like us, who actually were following the law and doing it the right way, it set my parents back 10 years financially. It was very hard on our family. And no one seems to think about what happens when people don't follow the law, don't follow the rules. So my question for those who are advocating for amnesty is what is their proposal? To make sure that those like my family aren't hurt and to make sure that this doesn't just happen again in another 30, 40 years.

[Mark Halpert]

Yeah, Nadine, thank you for that. What is your status now?

[Nadine]

I got my US citizenship in 2008. We actually, during that time, had to move back to Canada. And when we came, finally were successful. We came across with green cards, not with that whole experience. The indentured servitude, basically where you have to tow the line for that company or be stranded thousands of miles from home. It's challenging.

[Mark Halpert]

Yeah. It's the ultimate job block. Thank you for sharing all that, Kevin. Comment or question or question for Nadine, please.

[Kevin Walling]

Yeah, Nadine, thank you for sharing that. I think you raised a lot of good points. You know, and we talked about this briefly yesterday, about the fact that we're seeing the worst population growth here in the United States in a generation. Folks aren't having kids and immigration is down. So I think obviously it's a balancing act. I want to see it easier to your point, for legal immigration to occur, especially in job sectors that we absolutely know we need as a country so that we can out compete the world continually. And immigration is a key part of that. We've got 11 million or so folks here without documentation. That's a problem for just broad amnesty because again, it's a question of fairness. And people that have gone through the process fairly that wait in line, they go back to their original countries to try and come back as you did as a family. That should not be a black mark against you. But we've got to certainly figure this out. The incentive structure really isn't there to actually do it. And certainly Congress doesn't have much to stand on when it comes to actual immigration reform. So we've been governed mostly in that area by executive orders that change from administration to administration when it comes to actual immigration and naturalization.

[Mark Halpert]

Eric?

[Eric Erickson]

No, there's a listener to my radio show, lives about 45 minutes north of me, owns a business that generates tens of millions of dollars, employs over 100 Georgians. He's a British citizen trying to become an American citizen and has for the most part had to leave the country and work remotely from Britain because of the immigration system. It's a broken system. And honestly, I think at some point Congress needs to try some incremental fixes instead of these comprehensive omnibus bills to fix everything, because they're never gonna get it done. But there are a lot of people in this country who want to be Americans who did it the right way, who are struggling to get through the process and it could be made more efficient for the people who aren't lawbreakers. And neither side seems to want to actually focus on the legal immigrant side. They want to focus on the illegal immigrant side.

[Mark Halpert]

Nadine, if the president called you and asked you for advice on how to legislate this or fix this, what would you tell him?

[Nadine]

I would suggest targeting the employers, finding them heavily for every. I would suggest make putting into law that basically every person arrested, their citizenship has to be checked and, you know, anyone who's not a citizen reported not to say that they'll be deported, but just that they would be notified. I would suggest setting immigration limits to a formula based on U.S. population and unemployment numbers so that we're not fiddling with 10 people from this country and 10,000 from other and I'm sorry, we're full. Just whatever can be put into a formula so it's not an issue down the road, I think is a better approach.

[Mark Halpert]

Nadine, thank you. Thank you for being part of two Wayne, for coming on and you did great and hope you'll come back regularly.

[Nadine]

Thank you.

[Kevin Walling]

Thanks, Nadine.

[Mark Halpert]

I don't read the chat, but I do glance at it and somebody just said we need more white collar criminals indicted and convicted and jailed and imprisoned. And I agree. I couldn't feel more strongly about anything that we need more of that, particularly in this area of employers and immigration. That would go such a long way to solve the problem. And every time the president thinks about doing it, they talked about doing it. Early on, the president's friends call him and say, don't send us to prison. And then they back off. Carlton, welcome in. Thank you for being part of Two Way Tell folks where you are and what's on your mind.

[Carlton]

I'm in Boca Raton, Florida, and I'd like to follow up with my question yesterday based on things I read this morning. And this is specifically for Kevin, but Eric, please also join in. I read an article in the Free Press this morning about Rui Toshira, or I'm sorry, written by Rui Toshira about Gavin Newsom. And this has to do with the common sense and practicality approach that I talked about. And what also triggered my question are the photographs that Mark had shown this morning about the streets in New York. For the life of me, by the way, I'm a Dean Phillips, Rahm Emanuel kind of guy. You know, I think they, they have common sense, they have practicality, but they can't pass a litmus test for the, for the left wing Democrat operation. For the life of me, I cannot figure out what the attraction is for Gavin Newsom. If I look at his performance in the state of California, I can't find a positive accomplishment other than the.

[Mark Halpert]

So Carl, is that, is that the question you want to answer? Why would anyone like Gavin Newsom? Is that the question?

[Kevin Walling]

Exactly.

[Eric Erickson]

Exactly.

[Mark Halpert]

Kevin, make the case for Governor Hansom.

[Kevin Walling]

Yeah, I mean, Carlton, we had a great conversation about this yesterday too, you know, and what Eric said earlier in the program with, you know, or Mark about wildfire, you know, rebuilding after those fires in la. You've seen Gavin Newsom kind of have this come to Jesus moment where the pendulum has swung so far left in terms of the regulatory environment in California. And he's been the one that has, in his estimation, Kind of held the breach back against some of those more liberal interests, like paying folks out of the public funds when workers go on strike and things like that. Something that is not really attractive to the vast majority of Americans not living in liberal California. But he's going to have this balancing act, obviously, too, with his podcast, having these conversations with folks on the right to try and moderate his image, because to your point, you know, that's going to be a major issue for him running for the presidency, which he's absolutely going to do. And I don't discredit him. He's leading the polls on my side when it comes to the primary electorate because of his attractiveness, because of his willingness to call out the president, engaging in some of the tactics the president's been doing. And that's, you know, to the Willy Wonka analogy, hard candy to a lot of members of my party. I'm with you on the Rahm Emanuel get shit done kind of camp in terms of our ability to actually deliver for the American people, because I think that actually resonates more than kind of more liberal platitudes.

[Mark Halpert]

Eric. Before Prop 50 passed, and around that period, most conservatives Republicans I talked to said, if the Democrats are dumb enough to nominate Newsom, we'll beat him. And after that, there was a period where Republicans were like, oh, no, he's formidable. He's an aircraft carrier. He knows how to do stuff. Now I'm sensing, I don't know why, that there's now a turn back to Newsom's not that tough. Where are you personally and where do you think your party is on this?

[Eric Erickson]

First of all, I gotta say I've talked to a number of Democratic governors and strategists who also think that Newsom would be a disaster as a general election. The general election. I kind of hope he's the nominee. We're in this wild scenario now, whether you look at Herschel Walker, what Texas Republicans may do with Ken Paxton, where the bases of the parties are picking the worst possible nominees to play in the general election because they scratch an itch in the primary against the people they hate. And so we're electing people, or we're nominating people based on hate, and then the majority of normal Americans want someone to rally around.

[Mark Halpert]

And Eric, besides Governor Shapiro, name three Democrats who might run for president who you think today you could say would be stronger general election candidates than Gavin Newsom.

[Eric Erickson]

Andy Bashir, Rahm Emanuel, Josh Shapiro for sure.

[Mark Halpert]

Give me one more because I said no Shapiro. Thank you, Carl.

[Eric Erickson]

Let Me think, who else would be out there? Gosh, that's the problem for the Democrats.

[Mark Halpert]

I couldn't disagree. Jared Polis, I couldn't disagree with you more about Rahm Emanuel and Andy Beshear. I couldn't disagree with you more. I say with respect. Kevin, do you agree?

[Kevin Walling]

If you, I'm, I'm saying this now. You know, Gretchen Whitmer's kind of taking this back page. I don't, I do not doubt that she's going to look at the field at some point and, you know, it's going to be this cattle call where people are up and people are down and she's got massive favorability in a state like Michigan, I think she takes a re. Look at this.

[Eric Erickson]

By the way, Mark, just to clarify here, I think they would be stronger general election candidates. There's no way they make it through a Democratic.

[Mark Halpert]

No, I understand what you're saying, Kevin. If you could pick right now one horse to win the general, would you pick Bashir or Newsom.

[Kevin Walling]

To win the general? Bashir.

[Mark Halpert]

Oh, my goodness.

[Kevin Walling]

He's got 60%. He's got 60%.

[Mark Halpert]

I could, I, I couldn't disagree with you guys more.

[Kevin Walling]

He would win the general or win the primary?

[Mark Halpert]

No, win the general. That guy's completely untested. He's completely untested.

[Eric Erickson]

Yeah, I, Mark, I disagree with you on this one. I think that there is so much more baggage and a longer history with Newsom to blow him up in a general election.

[Mark Halpert]

Well, of course there, of course there's. But do you know what baggage Governor, Governor Bashir has? You don't. Because he's not been tested.

[Eric Erickson]

That is true.

[Kevin Walling]

But, yeah, but, you know, there's probably.

[Eric Erickson]

Not as much baggage there.

[Kevin Walling]

Yeah, he's the son of a governor. Since his, you know, since his birth, he's known.

[Mark Halpert]

Yeah. George W. Bush. George W. Bush was the son of a president and a week before the election and came out, he had a DWI with his teenage sister in the car. I'm just telling you, if you think Governor Bashir could navigate a general election against, against the Lee Atwater's Republican Party, maybe he could. But compared to a guy who's the governor of the fourth largest economy in the world, warts and all, I just, I respectfully couldn't disagree more. Haley. And, but the good news is, or not the good news, but the news is we'll never know. Haley. Haley, welcome in. Are you in New York? Are you in New York City?

[Kevin Walling]

Favorite?

[Mark Halpert]

Haley Are you, are you in New York City?

[Haley]

I AM in New York City.

[Mark Halpert]

How high is the tallest snow pile in your neighborhood?

[Haley]

Like three feet.

[Kevin Walling]

How brown is it?

[Mark Halpert]

How brown is it?

[Haley]

It's brown and yellow and black colors.

[Mark Halpert]

Haley, go to 3rd Avenue and 87th street and you will see a pile of snow taller than the Matterhorn, I believe. And you will see colors in there you did not know existed in nature.

[Kevin Walling]

With a roller coaster. With a roller coaster going through it.

[Mark Halpert]

And you'll see cars that are just pinned in that I see here. Yeah. Yeah. All right, Hayley, what's on your mind? Besides the snow?

[Haley]

Yeah, snow is a big problem here. So I'm kind of really upset with this Iran business. I wanted to get just. I know we're running up against time. Just quickly, what is the president thinking? Like, I really don't understand. We spent all this time in the last two years trying to weaken Iran, and now all of a sudden, we're gonna go back to the table and give him a regime that killed 25,000 people in Turkey?

[Mark Halpert]

Give him some pallets of money. Eric, is there any argument for negotiating with the Iranians at this point?

[Eric Erickson]

Yes, unfortunately. And by the way, I wanna blow them up. When I was a kid, they tried to blow up me and my school when I lived overseas. I'm no fan of the Iranian regime, and they need to be destroyed. The problem is we're not talking about chopping off the head of the ayatollah and the whole thing collapses. There are thousands and thousands of people within the regime who prop up the regime. They've got 2 to 3 million diehard supporters within the country. Even though you've got 15 million in the country who are opposed to the regime. It's harder to do this sort of regime change in that country than people realize. So I credit him with being thoughtful. But honestly, at this point, just start throwing missiles at them. They need to be destroyed. And there are 10 to 50 million people. Frankly, two weeks ago, I said, just fly over the country and drop loaded guns and arm the population against the regime.

[Mark Halpert]

That's what I said, too.

[Eric Erickson]

To wipe these people out, they need to be gone. You can't negotiate with them any more.

[Kevin Walling]

Than Kevin Couldn't agree more with Eric and Haley, to your point, you know, I think this president is so focused on getting a Nobel Peace Prize that he's willing to, you know, throw some of those folks under the bus in order to do it. You can't be out there saying, help is on the way, driving folks into the streets only to be slaughtered, only to be kidnapped only to be tortured and not follow up with some kind of military action. I hope this is just a play for time to get more cover, for more resources to get there into the Gulf again. We had the Israelis, the Saudis here to help coordinate hopefully last week and hopefully we will see some kind of military action to take on the regime directly.

[Mark Halpert]

Haley, you know, we say two way conversations like no other about the morning meeting. We say home of the super Hawks. These two guys, these two guys are like to the right of Al Haig on Iran. So congratulations.

[Kevin Walling]

They try to kill me, but I want him. I want them gone just as much as Eric does.

[Mark Halpert]

All right, quick word from one more sponsor, then we'll close up with some breaking news. 50% off right now. Free health, free, not free healthy meals. Plus free breakfast for a year from our friends at Factor Meals. Go to factor meals.com two way 50 off. 50% off your first box. Free breakfast, free year. This is a subscription service that will deliver food directly to your home. Healthy meals. You can specify what category you're looking for, whether you want keto or other things like that. High protein, whatever it is. Here's the list. Keto, high protein, calories, smart. You just go on the app, you choose what you want. They'll give you a menu of options and you can, you can toggle things back and forth. Go on, look at the app and I think you'll see these are healthy meals. Come to your house. You can put them in the microwave or the oven, a couple minutes to prepare. Easy to clean up. A way to start eating healthy this year without all the work you know you will not do. Always fresh, never frozen. No prep, no cleanup, no mental load. Just a chance to get meals delivered directly to your home. Go to factor meals.com 2way50OFF. Use the code 2way50OFF to get 50% off your first box. And free breakfast for a year. Free breakfast for a year alone just sounds like a good thing. All right, here's a picture of the new CEO of the Walt Disney Company, expected to replace Bob Iger, my former boss, one of the great CEOs, I'd say, along with Jamie Dimon, one of the great CEOs in modern American history. And here's the new guy, Josh d'. Amaro. Bob, of course, has threatened to retire. I think this is the fourth time, not exaggerating. And every time they decide it's not going to work out and Bob comes back, always the head of. This guy's the head of the theme parks. The Head of the theme parks is always the person who is talked about most. The runner up appears to be one of Kamala Harris best friends. Dana Walden is going to become the president of the Walt Disney Company and chief creative officer. So she'll still be highly influential. The company that, amongst other things, owns ABC News. Kevin. I thought the job would go to someone named Kevin, since that tends to be what's happening these days. But it's a Josh. What do you think of this Josh tomorrow figure?

[Kevin Walling]

I think Josh is great. I've met him a number of times. You know Disney. Where'd you meet him? He had a dinner not too long ago in Washington, D.C. with a few folks that he brought together because he's interested in how this city operates, especially in the age of Trump.

[Mark Halpert]

Well, tell us more about him. Kevin, I had no idea you met the guy. What's he like?

[Kevin Walling]

He spent 30 years at Disney, so he's a veteran of the Disney. Walt Disney Company. I think this is also the best of both worlds with figuring out a way to have Dana stay on board in this new role as well.

[Mark Halpert]

Because you know her too. You're calling her by her.

[Kevin Walling]

I don't know her.

[Mark Halpert]

I've not met her. Okay.

[Kevin Walling]

But this is the best of both worlds and sets up a lot of success for this company going forward with the two of them at the helm. But Josh is. And again, that's one of the major revenue streams for the company is the theme parks. Even after Covid cruise ships bounce back that park expansions.

[Mark Halpert]

Let me ask you one more question. I want Eric's view on this. This guy. Normally, if you have that job, you've done time playing characters in the costumes. Did he tell you anything about who he's played?

[Kevin Walling]

He. I don't think he started out as a cast member. He's always been in management. But that'd be great.

[Mark Halpert]

Question, everybody.

[Kevin Walling]

Everybody play a character?

[Mark Halpert]

No, I'm sure he has because all the executives do it. All the executives do a turn, at least for a day.

[Kevin Walling]

So they understand behind the scenes.

[Mark Halpert]

Yeah. What it's like.

[Kevin Walling]

That did not come up.

[Mark Halpert]

My friend. My friend who used to be Iger's communications director did it. And suffice to say, it's warm in the costumes. Eric, tell me your great story about the new Disney CEO.

[Eric Erickson]

So, you know, I'll tell you that the tragic story is my family's not a Disney family because my mom or my wife's mother was in cancer remission and they went to Disney World and she was dead several Weeks later she came out of cancer remission rapidly.

[Mark Halpert]

Are you serious?

[Eric Erickson]

Not a happy place on earth.

[Mark Halpert]

Are you serious?

[Kevin Walling]

What? Eric, Eric, we can't end on this.

[Mark Halpert]

You're filled with stories of death and destruction.

[Eric Erickson]

She will not go because.

[Mark Halpert]

Understandable. Understandable.

[Eric Erickson]

Got to take the kids at some point. I need to take my kids to Disney. So I'm.

[Mark Halpert]

I'll take them. I'll take them. How old are your kids?

[Eric Erickson]

Oh, they're now 17 and 20.

[Mark Halpert]

I'll take them. I'll take them.

[Eric Erickson]

I will tell you worst kept secret. The Wall Street Journal has done so many profiles of Josh tomorrow in the last year.

[Mark Halpert]

True.

[Eric Erickson]

There's no way he was.

[Mark Halpert]

Yeah, it's true. Kevin, I didn't think yours, your Disney story about the new CEO could be topped, but I think Eric did. Yeah, quite a story.

[Kevin Walling]

He pulled out all of our emotional heartstrings there.

[Mark Halpert]

He did. Gentlemen.

[Eric Erickson]

So don't you want to take my family to Disney and treat us well?

[Mark Halpert]

Okay, noted. Ladies and gentlemen. Great thanks to Eric and for Kevin for sitting in today. Again, if you haven't subscribed to Eric's substack, please do. Eric, you got anything, Kevin? Rather you got anything you want to sell?

[Kevin Walling]

No, just I'll be back on on Thursday morning, so.

[Mark Halpert]

Thursday. He'll be back Thursday. Tomorrow this program will be guest hosted by the great Larry o' Connor and the great Hyma Moore. So look forward to that tonight two way tonight five eastern time. I'll be in a different city. Watch me, watch me. Catch me if you can. Moynihan report tonight. Jason Zengerly, great writer and author of the new book hated by all the right people. Tucker Carlson and the unraveling of the conservative mind will join Michael live at 7 Eastern. And next up coming later today, my reported monologue is on what's really going on with the midterms. What strategies in both parts parties are saying about the current state of play for the midterms. And my guest is Maureen Callahan, my colleague on the MK Media Network. We spend a fair amount of time talking about award shows and Justin Baldoni. You won't want to miss it. Thank you again to Kevin and to Eric. Thanks to all of you for being part of the two way community. And I will see you tonight at five and on Next Stop and tomorrow morning right here. Have a great day everybody.

[Eric Erickson]

Thanks.

[Kevin Walling]

How many discounts does USAA auto insurance offer? Too many to say here. Multi vehicle discount, Safe driver discount, new vehicle discount, storage discount. How many discounts will you stack up.

[Mark Halpert]

Tap the banner or visit usaa.com autodiscounts restrictions apply.