Brian from Washington DC: Why world is falling in love with America

Summary

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Detailed Summary: Brian Kilmeade Show

Episode: Brian from Washington DC: Why World is Falling in Love with America
Airdate: June 29, 2026
Location: Live from Washington D.C., America 250 State Fair

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Overview

In this special America 250 edition, Brian Kilmeade broadcasts live from the bustling State Fair on the National Mall, marking the 250th birthday of the United States. Kilmeade is joined by an array of FOX personalities, political figures, and subject-matter experts to discuss three intertwined themes:

1. The global and national embrace of America amid the World Cup
2. The political tensions rising within the Democratic Party—especially the surge of socialist politics
3. High-stakes foreign policy challenges around Iran and the broader international order

Balancing optimism about American culture with concerns about domestic and foreign politics, Kilmeade’s show is celebratory, argumentative, and punctuated by both heartfelt anecdotes and sharp policy debates.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. America's 250th Birthday: Celebration & State Fair

(01:13–02:19, 17:03–18:18, 104:15–105:16)

• Scene Setting: Broadcasted from the America 250 State Fair with most states represented, celebrating the nation’s founding.

• Backdrop: Aims to showcase American unity, diversity, and resilience, despite some states (notably blue or swing states) opting out due to perceived partisanship.

• Monica Crowley (Former Chief of Protocol) explains the vision behind the celebration:

  “President Trump wanted to create this great American state fair...where all 50 states are represented. You’ve got a Ferris wheel, rodeos, blue ribbon competitions...And then, let’s do a massive blowout on July 4th with the biggest fireworks display in the history of the world.” (17:37–18:18)

• D.C. Transformation: Doug Burgum and Monica Crowley highlight the city's renaissance—clean, safe, with restored monuments and fountains, reflecting pride in the capital’s role.

  “It’s so much safer, more secure, and more beautiful. President Trump always believed that a capital city should be a gem.” (20:29–21:14, 105:54–106:48)

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2. Why the World (Re)Discovers Its Love for America

(02:30–04:10, 12:40–13:59, 75:13–86:48)

• World Cup Effect:

  • Bill Maher (quoted with approval by Kilmeade) observes foreigners "reminding us…that actually this place is kind of awesome," as the World Cup brings a global influx of visitors.

    “All these people are doing Americans the service of reminding us…that actually this place is kind of awesome.” (38:26, 75:13, 83:47)

  • Soccer, long considered exotic in the U.S., becomes a unifying and pride-inducing force. Fans’ reactions—from awe at Walmart and Bass Pro to delight in American barbecue—go viral.

• Real America through Foreign Eyes:

  • Stories of international fans traveling across the US, falling in love with American quirks and freedoms (like Costco and air conditioning), are celebrated.
  • Bill Maher notes:

    “British people are walking through Costco like they’re touring the Vatican on mushrooms...They can’t believe you can watch [soccer] while having a beer…Europeans reacting to air conditioning like it’s some exotic experimental technology.” (84:49–85:39)

• Pride & Advice:

  • Ainsley Earhardt laments low national pride among Democrats, suggesting, “If you’re not proud to be an American, go to another country.” (14:56)
  • John Roberts, a Canadian-American, reflects on his lifelong love for the U.S. and why it remains special.

    “I've loved America my entire life. It's great to be an American citizen...” (110:22–110:39)

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3. Political Fractures: Socialists vs. Moderates in the Democratic Party

(04:10–11:43, 39:00–47:07, 88:09–92:49)

• Socialist Surge:

  • Zoran Mamdani and allied progressives capture key Democratic primaries, sparking fears about extreme policies (abolishing prisons/ICE, open borders, anti-Israel stances) rising to mainstream visibility.
  • Ainsley Earhardt worries:

    “Can you imagine a country that doesn't have prisons, that doesn't have any police?...That's anarchy. It would be complete chaos.” (05:37)

  • Brian Kilmeade and guests suggest mainstream Democrats have failed to push back on these fringes, and now risk losing purple districts.

• Party Crisis & Identity:

  • Kilmeade: “Do we need three parties? We need Socialists of America.” (07:52)
  • Roger Zakheim critiques Dems for letting Bernie Sanders run as a Democrat, “now the children of Bernie Sanders are taking over the party.” (102:31–103:30)

• Key Exchange Highlight – Mamdani Interview Recap

  Jonathan Karl: “Are those positions [abolishing prisons, open borders] that the Democratic Party could win on nationally?”
  Mamdani: “What the Democratic Party can win on nationally is a focus on working people.” (88:39–89:55)
  Mamdani avoids directly addressing the extreme policies.

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4. Middle East Tensions: Iran, Israel, and U.S. Strategy

(03:29–11:43, 39:24–54:01, 93:49–100:45)

• Escalation with Iran

  • Ambassador Mike Waltz:

    “If the Iranian regime thinks for a second that President Trump is going to sit…while Iran continues to attack international shipping…they’re sadly mistaken…143 nations have agreed with us that this is in violation of international law.” (29:25–30:12, 76:12)

  • U.S. strikes back following Iranian attacks; MOU negotiations with Iran are fraught, with Iran demanding nuclear status, control over Strait of Hormuz, and Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
  • Miyad Maliki (Iran expert) warns Iran is dragging out talks, extracting too much with upfront sanctions relief, and leveraging Gulf state divisions.

    “Iran is really leveraging it. They want to drag their feet...The sanctions relief upfront has been given to them.” (40:08–41:54)

  • Both Kilmeade and Maliki agree there are no “moderates” in the Iranian regime, dismissing the good cop/bad cop rhetorical playbook.

• International Implications and U.S. Leverage

  • U.S. aims to keep oil prices stable ahead of midterms, balancing firmness with electoral risks.
  • Gulf allies apply pressure for ceasefires; some states in region “just want to buy time.”
  • Waltz: “Even the Chinese government has said you cannot be taking tolls or fees...Iran is completely isolated here.” (53:21–54:01)
  • Roger Zakheim (Reagan Institute) highlights the enduring U.S. public support for a tough Iran policy:

    “Eight out of ten continue to view Iran as an enemy, an adversary. So they understand who the President is fighting against…” (94:13–95:01)

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5. Supreme Court & Domestic Law

(56:16–67:51)

• Executive Authority Cases

  • Supreme Court limits presidential power to remove some independent agency members but upholds power in other cases; markets react positively to some limits.
  • Jim Trustee:

    “The conservative wing splits on the issue of executive authority…They’re harder to predict than the three liberal justices who are almost automatically in the camp against Trump…” (59:50)

• Voting/Election Integrity

  • Court allows late-arriving mail-in ballots in Mississippi, fueling further election integrity debate.
  • Kilmeade: “It’s maddening…We have an election day for a reason.” (60:48–61:41)
  • Discussion on the Save America Act and the tension between state control v. federal oversight in elections.

• Birthright Citizenship

  • Awaited Supreme Court case could undo automatic birthright citizenship, motivated by concerns of foreign (esp. Chinese) “birth tourism.”

    “There’s language in the amendment…‘subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.’ And if that phrase means anything, it means that birthright citizenship has to be redefined…” – Jim Trustee (69:36–71:45)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Bill Maher on America’s Rediscovery:

  “Social media flooded with videos of slack-jawed soccer tourists…reminding us what America looks like from the outside…Just regular people looking around and saying, wow, these people live like rock stars.” (83:47)

• Ainsley Earhardt’s Advice:

  “If you’re not proud to be an American, go to another country.” (14:56)

• John Roberts’ Love Letter to America:

  “I've loved America my entire life. It’s great to be an American citizen...the occasion of America's 250.” (110:22–110:39)

• Monica Crowley on D.C.’s Revival:

  “This city is so much safer, so much more secure and so much more beautiful. President Trump always believed that a capital city should be a gem…” (20:29)

• Brian Kilmeade on the Socialist Faction:

  “They want to abolish ice, that has open borders. That's anarchy...We would lose our country. But some of these are winning. They're winning in Seattle. They're winning in D.C. they're winning Philadelphia, New Jersey…” (05:37–06:04)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Opening Celebration & World Cup Pride: 00:02–01:29, 02:30–04:10
• Socialist Trends in Democratic Party: 04:10–11:43, 39:00–47:07, 88:09–92:49
• Middle East & Iran Policy: 03:29–11:43, 29:25–54:01, 93:49–100:45
• America through Foreign Eyes: 12:40–14:46, 75:13–86:48, 83:47–85:39
• Supreme Court Decisions: 56:16–67:51
• John Roberts on American Identity: 104:15–110:39
• Mamdani/Progressive Primary Interviews: 88:09–90:33

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Tone and Atmosphere

• Celebratory and Patriotic: The fairgrounds, fireworks, and stories from Americans and visitors alike set an optimistic tone.
• Deeply Concerned and Combative: Discussions around the Democratic Party, Iran, and Supreme Court cases are urgent and frequently partisan.
• Conversational and Engaged: Frequent banter among colleagues, seamless transitions between serious debate and lighter moments (like the joy at America being rediscovered by foreign fans).

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

This episode’s big themes intertwine the celebratory spirit of America’s birthday with real anxieties about the country’s direction—both at home and abroad. The show illustrates the unique character of America through the eyes of both its proud citizens and enchanted foreign visitors, even as it worries about ideological extremism, foreign threats, and institutional drift. Guests and callers bring expertise and passion, making this a lively, substantive, and quintessentially “America in 2026” episode of Brian Kilmeade’s show.

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For further content, visit YouTube.com/@TheBrianKilmeadeShow or listen back on FoxNewsPodcasts.com.

Transcript

[Brian Kilmeade]

From the Fox News radio studios in midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show, Brian Kilmeade.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

This one better.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Hi, everyone, I'm Brian Kilmeade. Welcome to the latest moments of the Brian Kilmeade Show. So glad you're here. We're from Washington D.C. at our state fair. You want us to. Well, we are live on camera now. We're getting great direction. This is a real live scene. Great direction here in the radio show has started. It's a little bit different than tv, although we look just as sexy. Of course. Ainsley Earhart is here.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

Over here, they need you.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And a little bit closer.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

They want you in the middle.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Keith, why don't you just stay out of this, all right? I don't know why I let Keith stick around telling me that.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

Can you believe this? All of the people behind the camera, they came down here two weeks ago to build the set for us.

[Keith]

I know.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

Keith, how long are you here? That's Dan. Dan, how long are you there?

[Monica Crowley]

Since Saturday.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

Since Saturday. Keith, how long have you been here? Since the 19th.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Since the 19th.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

Wow.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I don't think they want to be home. I think they'd rather be here anyway. It's a young city, it's a thriving city and it's a safe city.

[John Roberts]

Now.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

I said that about you, too, because

[Brian Kilmeade]

you work so much, but at least everybody knows where I am. So Ainsley's here. Ainsley. We're pretty excited to be at the state fair with the 250th theme. And that is the backdrop here. People are going to start flooding here shortly this hour. I'm going to be joined by Ambassador Monica Crowley, who helped put this all together.

[Jonathan Karl]

Together.

[Brian Kilmeade]

30 of the 50 states are. 40 of the 50 states are represented. 10 thought it was too political, really to celebrate 250 years of the country. Just to roll out of 10. One of the biggest surprises is North Carolina.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

Can you believe that? I mean, Southern State was one of the ones that decided not to participate. This is the 4th of July. Some of the other ones, Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, Illinois, Connecticut, and then PA almost didn't participate because Governor Shapiro didn't want to do that.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Right.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

Because he said could be political. Also, they'd have to find a sponsor. They didn't think they could find a sponsor. Someone, one company in PA would have loved to have sponsored their test. Right. But they decided not to participate. But then John Fetterman and Dave McCormick, the two senators, Democrat and Republican, decided to team up and make sure Pennsylvania was represented.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So Ainsley, I'm going to have three top stories, and you as my premier guest who has elected to stay from Fox and Friends. You pick the story you want. Ready? Let's get to the big three.

[Bill Hemmer]

Great.

[Monica Crowley]

Number three.

[Bill Maher]

I am loving that the World cup has brought to our shores all these people who are doing Americans the service of reminding us, just when we needed it on our big 250 birthday, that actually this place is kind of awesome.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yes, Bill Maher, you are 100% white. World cup mania catching fire. The group play is done, and the drama of the knockout stage is upon us. We look at the results from day one and look at the US Matchup with Bosnia and Herzegovina and the love affair the world is having with America.

[Jonathan Karl]

Number two, I think we are seeing a hunger that is not just felt by New Yorkers, but frankly, by Americans from coast to coast for a new kind of politics.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yes, that is Mayor Mamdani. He's the jewel and gem that we have in New York City. Socialists take over the Democratic Party. It solidifies the. As the GOP looks to capitalize, we got the latest.

[Miyad Maliki]

Number one.

[Mike Waltz]

That's not just the United States. That's the entire international community. A UN record 143 nations have agreed with us that this is in violation of international law.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yup.

From talks to kinetic warfare, the tenuous MOU almost blew up over the weekend as Iran continues to push us over the edge, declaring, get this, they need nuclear weapons, Israel has to leave Lebanon, and that they own the strait. Besides that, I think we're getting along great. One of these things can't stand. I have the latest there now. Ainsley, I presented three top stories in America right now. You, as my premier guests, get to choose the one you want to focus on.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

Well, I'm very excited to hear that so many people are coming to enjoy the World cup and they love America. But that kind of rolls into the second story that I think is very important as we roll into America to 50. And that's Zoran Mamdani saying that socialism could win all throughout the country. He really believes that. And it worries me as we approach the next 250 years where our children and our grandchildren, our great grandchildren, will hopefully live in a. In a free republic like we do. But Zoran Mamdani, what is he. So the Democratic Party, you have all of these moderates, and then you have Carville, James Carville is finally brave enough to say, get out of our party, socialists. You're not a part of us. But where do the Democrats, the Modern Democrats go, if the socialists are the ones that are really winning these elections.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Well, who did you talk to Friday? Congressman Tom Suozzi, one of 17.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

Yes.

[Brian Kilmeade]

They stood up and go, hey, we're capitalists and we don't hate Israel.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

And I love America.

[Mike Waltz]

Yeah.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And they might have a problem. Everybody has a problem with who's running. Germany, France, England. It happens. You got an ally in France you may not like Bibi Netanyahu. He's a polarizing figure. I love the guy. He's doing a fantastic job and very tough circumstances, but that's okay. But to say that Israel doesn't have right to exist and they win an election, to say that America should abolish prisons and you win an election, said America should buy us ice, and you win an election, are you kidding? How do you win like this? And Mondombi won't answer the question. Do you agree with this?

[Ainsley Earhardt]

I know it is anarchy. Can you imagine a country that doesn't have prisons, that doesn't have any police? They want to abolish ice, that has open borders. That's anarchy. It would be complete chaos. We would lose our country. But some of these are winning. They're winning in Seattle. They're winning in D.C. they're winning in Dearborn, Michigan. They're winning Philadelphia, New Jersey. In Philadelphia. Up in Maine. Yeah.

[Brian Kilmeade]

They might be winning in Colorado.

[Monica Crowley]

Correct, Correct.

[Roger Zakheim]

Right.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

Boulder. Right. So, yes. So this, this lady in Colorado, she called October 7th inevitable, refused to call the deadly Boulder firebombing targeting Jewish people an act of anti Semitism. Do you remember that in Boulder? It was in 2025, in the summer, in June, where they were out there protesting or really rallying around the prisoners, The Israeli prisoners.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Hostages.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

Hostages kept in Gaza. Exactly. And they were out there peacefully protesting and a guy starts firing off fire and sets a lady on fire. She died. She was an 82 year old grandmother and 14 were injured. And this lady is not. Is refusing to call it an act of anti Semitism.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah, it's amazing. So when you figure that, and we told you about the socialists, you have a bunch of capitalists who are panicking and here's why they cannot win in purple battleground districts with the socialist principle. Now Lawler's fighting somebody who is somewhat

[Karl Rove]

middle of the road.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Tom Suozzi is looking as a Democrat trying to hold in a seat that maybe leans Republican. So I'm asking you, do you feel it's sincere? Do you think the 17 are sincere or, or they just looking to win? Do you worry about that I think

[Ainsley Earhardt]

that they're finally realizing we have to step up, we have to talk about this. Nancy Pelosi didn't. Chuck Schumer did it. They just kind of pulled the squad along, even though I know behind closed doors they didn't get along. And she didn't think that that was the right for the party, but she was too afraid to stand up against the squad. But now you have these Democrats that are moderates that are signing this promise to America as we approach our birthday as a country, saying, this is too much. We do believe in capitalism. And, and then you have some saying, get out of our party. There needs to be what happens? Do we need three parties? We need socialists of America.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And guess what? It will disappear. The DSA, with 100,000 members, will disappear unless they can be, unless they can suck themselves onto a, onto this party and kind of suck the life of the Democratic Party, use the apparatus to be successful. So this guy, Ramash Panoro Pineuro on ABC this Week with George Stephanopoulos, who has Jonathan Karl, this is what he said is the reason why the socialists have taken over the Democratic Party. Tell me what you think of this. Ainsley cut 12.

[Roger Zakheim]

I don't think that most voters in the United States are actually as obsessed about foreign policy and Israel policy in particular, as the political conversation often is. What struck me particularly about the Goldman Lander race, where you had Israel as, as at the forefront of that race, is part of what's going on here is Democratic voters are frustrated at the failure of the party to effectively fight Trump. And Goldman, of course, helped lead impeachment against Trump. But I think a lot of Democratic voters look at all of those efforts and say, yeah, but Trump survived. Impeachment didn't work.

[Monica Crowley]

It didn't work.

[Roger Zakheim]

Trump's back, got back in power, has been able to achieve a lot of things that we don't like. And there's this degree of frustration that I think was part of the explanation for what happened in those primaries.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Do you think that this could be a backlash of not stopping Donald Trump?

[Ainsley Earhardt]

I think that I think this all started because, well, a lot of what's happening is because they hate Donald Trump so much. That's a real thing, Trump derangement syndrome. But I think the socialists are taking advantage of this opportunity to say they're anti Trump, but then they're pushing through their policies and it's, it sounds good. Zoran Mondami, as much as we don't agree with him, he's a good politician and he says it with a smile. And he walks into poor communities and he says, you all work so hard. Don't you want a little bit more? Let's take it from the rich. And they say, sure, tax the rich, we don't care. Wealth tax, yeah, that's more for us. That's more for us. I'm working three jobs and I can barely put food on the table or I can't. We want free college.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Right.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

I don't want to have to work and pay for my kids college. But then what happens is so many people work really hard and it's grit and it's hard work and it's a positive attitude to get to the top. They form these large companies, they hire so many different people and then they have to leave because they're being pushed out because the taxes are too high. Then what's left? People who. It's going to be just for communities.

[Brian Kilmeade]

The cities will take what dollars they have and start buying buildings and owning businesses and taking grocery stores and the competition will leave and wither. We'll see. But you know in one way that it's like Trump. This is when people say Trump and Bernie Sanders were like, Trump was looking to give people power that didn't have a voice, but he was looking to do that by cutting red tape and bringing opportunity and jobs back and cutting down, cutting down on illegal immigrants who were driving down the wages. So he says, I'm going to enforce the border, I'm going to cut red tape. I'm going to give you more opportunity. I'm going to make these colleges be more accountable and I'm going to make, make you maybe focus on wages and jobs and maybe trade schools. They're going to go result in a better career. He's not looking to change your outcome. He's looking to give you more opportunity. This guy saying, I'm going to level out all opportunity and I'm going to change your outcome and make it better at the expense of people who, whose lives have been better and took tremendous risk in doing so. The people like Ken Griffin of Citadel.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

Right. Move down to Palm Beach. Yeah, yeah. Is building this massive mansion down there in Palm Beach. Took Citadel and moved it to Miami, which is close to, not too far away from Palm beach. And then is also creating all these charter schools, schools making communities wonderful and safe. And all the schools really like best schools in the country are trying to so that all of his employees will take their families down there and have great schools for their kids.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Right. He gives us own Kettering a Ton of money.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And then you have the Murdoch Children's Hospital. We know that's been great. How much money the successful people give to charities. And I'll give you another example. Not a charity, but U.S. soccer was struggling to get a top name coach. They only had $1.5 million to attract a coach. In today's sporting world, you can't compete. Ken Griffin turns around along with Arthur Blank, who was founded. Co founded Home Depot and wrote a huge check to get this great coach here. I don't know. It's not a charity, but I'm pretty sure we're watching this team enjoy a remarkable run because they have a coach that was able to shape a roster that maybe gave them more talent and ability than ever before. And I'll challenge you. I bet you it's helping the economy. Think about everybody going to these sports bars and buying paraphernalia and jersey.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

Remember we did a story on how much Miami stands to make those games. It was more than $1 billion. Estimating.

[John Roberts]

Right.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And they're not wrecking things. They're marching down with bagpipes.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

You're so proud of them.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Oh, yeah, yeah. I tell you, for the first time in a long time, soccer had this reputation of being a foreign sport. And I never felt that way. But most, but I'm a minority, I think people are feeling good about soccer now because it's brought back. These soccer fans seem to be saying good things about America.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

I know, I love that. And I watched Bill Maher over the weekend too, and I loved that he highlighted that. So you're getting it on both sides, but you have all of these people coming from other countries coming to watch a game. Several stories come to mind. There was one guy who said he loved the Bass Pro shop. He loves how all the stores here are larger, like Walmart. They loved Walmart. There was the guy who just came for one. He got a ticket, came for one game. And then President Trump heard about his story because he started documenting how great the game was and how great America was. And then he started a GoFundMe page and it allowed him to stay in America longer. So he was traveling all over America and documenting his whole trip. Donald Trump heard about it. And then when they did the kickoff ceremony here with Donald Trump was, you know, dancing to ymca. They invited him to sit on the front row. And he's a really cute guy, so they invite him to sit on the front row while Donald Trump is speaking. He invited his team, went and grabbed the guy, put him up on stage and. Or put him behind stage and took him to the White House and they had a great conversation. And then he was on Fox and Friends on Sunday.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And real quick, I want you to hear cut 23. Listen. We are currently at the museum Costco. How can they even run out of stock?

[Jim Trustee]

There's just too much.

[Brian Kilmeade]

There's too much.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

Howdy, sweet peach. I'm from Dallas, Texas.

[Monica Crowley]

Yeehaw.

[Brian Kilmeade]

As an English lad and we just

[Flo Baligan]

found a bloody yellow bus.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Look at that. Tell me that's not from the movies. That's your first ever bite of Texas barbecue.

[Jonathan Karl]

What do you think?

[Brian Kilmeade]

I don't know if they ever got to West Virginia, but they did sing the song and that's what they sang. 70,000 people in Seattle. Was it Seattle or was it so far I forgot saying take me home.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

That's great.

[Brian Kilmeade]

To the team after they won.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

Well, we. Last week. What was the statistic? It was 27% of all Democrats are proud to be Americans. Almost only a fourth.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Right.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

You know, that's ridiculous. So this is my advice. If you're not proud to be an American, go to another country. Allow all of these people that are on the list that want to be citizens. Allow them to take the test and become citizens because they are happy and celebrate on those days.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Uzbekistan is looking for people. I think Russia is always looking for people. And you'll probably have to serve in the military. France really hasn't had an influx lately. You know, they don't even have air conditioning. So it's another reason to stay here. Stay here for the air conditioning. Ainsley, guess what? You're free to leave now.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

I am?

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah.

[John Roberts]

You're free.

[Brian Kilmeade]

By the power best in me. Yes. So what are you doing later?

[Ainsley Earhardt]

So later I'm going to do a. I'm going to go do a story with the GSA and forth. Who runs the gsa? And you just recently you told me about a story that I need to ask him about that you read in the New York Times, I think.

[Roger Zakheim]

Yeah.

[Brian Kilmeade]

It turns out a lot of our federal buildings are collapsing, rat infested, need updating, AC and all these things. And it turns out the GSA wants to get the funding, but it's caught up in red tape.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

Yes.

[Brian Kilmeade]

You're going to solve that problem?

[Ainsley Earhardt]

Yes. The maintenance backlogs worth $50 billion. There's an IRS facility in Atlanta where the workers had to stand on their desks or sit on their desk because of the rat.

[John Roberts]

It's incredible.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

The rats that were on the floor.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And she's going to make it a positive story.

[Ainsley Earhardt]

I'm going to make it a positive. I'm going to tell you what your tax dollars are, how that agency is helping America.

[Brian Kilmeade]

All right, guys, thanks so much. Don't move. We are live in Washington, D.C. at the state fair celebrating America's 250th birthday. I'm Brian Kilmeade. So glad you listened to the show.

Thank big guests, bold opinions, better information. This, this is the Brian Kilmeade show.

[Bill Hemmer]

Cheers to America's 250th birthday. Get 20% off your first purchase at foxnewswineshop.com with code FNRADIO 2020% discount excludes wine club offers and cannot be combined with any other promotion. Expires July 31, 2026. Must be 21 or older to order. Please drink responsibly.

[Brian Kilmeade]

The more you list more you'll know. It's Brian Kilmeade.

Well, I know you recognize her, Ambassador Monica Crowley here. Her title is lengthy and important. US Chief of protocol for the Trump administration. And she's also doing everything to do with Freedom250 and also trying to run the World cup, which, by the way, is going unbelievably well as it's celebrating America's 250. It's the slow build for it. And you see here at the state fair right behind me, if you're smart enough to be getting the stream on the YouTube channel as well as the stream on on FOX Nation. Monica, great to see it.

[Monica Crowley]

Great to see you, too.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So what is what was your approach to tackling to 50 and how are you building up to July 4th?

[Monica Crowley]

Yeah, well, when President Trump came into office last January, he said, look, we want to put on the greatest, most momentous celebration in American history for our 250th. So we signed an executive order. And he had a certain vision in mind. He wanted to create this great American state fair. This is basically America's front yard. He said let's bring everybody together in a classic world fair kind of situation where all 50 states are represented. You've got a Ferris wheel, rodeos, blue ribbon competitions, all the typical fair stuff. And then let's do a massive blowout on July 4th with the biggest fireworks display in the history of the world. So thanks to his leadership and vision, we're getting it done.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And FOX Nation's got the best see does. And we'll be here on July 4th for more with Monica Crowley in just a moment. Listen to the Brian Kilme show this is a thing called the World Cup. Huge screens here if you want to watch the knockout round, which I know you do, especially Wednesday night at 8:00 Eastern Time for the US place.

[Jim Trustee]

Don't move.

[Bill Hemmer]

History isn't just in textbooks. It's the story of us, the United States. 2026 marks 250 years of America. And throughout the year, Bill Hemmer takes listeners on a journey through the 250, 50 most impactful moments in American history. From the spark of revolution to the battles for freedom, the ideas, inventions and decisions that change the world. The 250 most impactful moments in American history Podcast, listen and follow [e-mail].

[Brian Kilmeade]

If you're interested in it. Brian's talking about it. You're with Brian Kilmeade.

[Doug Burgum]

He's also done more for this city than almost any elected mayor of any major blue metro in the country. And I was with him earlier today. You know, he's out, you know, in the rain inspecting and looking at the fact that we got, you know, 73 monuments and statues that have been restored, regilding things that were, that were given to our country and haven't been touched for 70 years. I mean, bringing things back to life. We've eliminated, eliminated 152 homeless encampments, eliminated a thousand or more graffiti sites, got 22 fountains back, some that hadn't worked for decades. All of this is possible for any blue major metro. We do not have to accept decline as inevitability.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So that is, Doug Burgum is doing a fantastic job, Secretary of the Interior. He also has an energy in his portfolio. But they just, they repaired so much and fixed up so much. Monica Crowley is our guest now. Monica, how important was it, the president, for the president to get D.C. ready for 250?

[Monica Crowley]

Well, and it was, it was absolutely not. And remember, I served in the first Trump administration, so I remember Washington, D.C. then. I've been coming to Washington D.C. my entire professional life. It has never looked this good. This city is so much safer for, it's so much more secure and it's so much more beautiful. President Trump always believed that a capital city should be a gem. It should be like the gem in the crown of the country. And he looked around during this term and he said, everything's falling apart. You've got crime that is sky high. You've got dirty streets, you've got graffiti, you've got a homeless encampments. We're going to get rid of all of this. Not only are we Going to remove all of this negative stuff that is really tarnishing our capital, but we're also going to beautify it, on the other hand. So all of these fountains that have been cleaned and restored and you actually have water flowing, none of us can remember the last time we actually saw water flowing in these fountains. But he really says, listen, if you don't have a capital city that shines like this, how can you have pride in the rest of your nation? And when you go abroad, Brian, I know you've been above abroad. I'm traveling with the President on all of his international trips. In my position, every capital city, whether it's Paris or Berlin or London, really shines. And he says, it's about time we do it here.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So tell me if I don't want to get you over your skis, but you have enough to do. But I hear that today the President is going to sign the housing bill. That's what the speaker indicated over the weekend. Is that true?

[Monica Crowley]

That could very well happen. Not confirm.

[Brian Kilmeade]

You cannot.

[Monica Crowley]

I cannot confirm.

[Brian Kilmeade]

She might be able to thoroughly respect that. The next trip to Naito with Turkey. Are you going?

[Monica Crowley]

Yes.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So that's interesting. It says the President says out of respect for Erdogan and the relationship that they have, he's going, yes, but this is going to be. You have always keep a smile and keep everything flowing and you make sure everyone's happy. But there's going to be some real conversations in Turkey, isn't there?

[Monica Crowley]

Yes. And President Trump hosted the NATO Secretary General, Margaret. Last week in the Oval Office.

[Roger Zakheim]

Guy.

[Monica Crowley]

Part of that as well, and you know what he's made very clear to the Secretary General and to all the rest of the NAITO members is that he is extremely disappointed that when push came to shove with this Iran operation and Straits of Hormuz, he simply asked for a couple of things. He said, look, we'll take the lead on this mission because it's our decision, but we would really like help from our NATO partners and allies with maybe a few minesweepers from the uk, maybe a few planes from France, you know, just a little bit of a contribution here to this effort. So it's important all of these NATO countries get far more energy from that region than we do. They said, look, I'm going to do the region, NATO and the world a favor by intervening, stopping Iran from having a nuclear weapon, taking care of the Strait of Hormuz so it's no longer. Longer extortionary, with all of these tolls being charged for all of these ships. I'm going to take care of it for everybody, but I would like some help. And nobody stepped up. Not the Japanese, not the British, not the French. Nobody in Naito really stepped up. There were a few here and there, little pockets of support.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Use our bases. That would be it.

[Monica Crowley]

Yeah. Italy, for example, like, refused to have. There were some sorties, sorties being flown out of some of these NATO bases. Crisis, but not to the extent that the President expected and wanted. So he's expressed that profound disappointment. He let the Secretary General know that he understands that as well. He was not going to go to Naito. He has said that publicly is like, why? Why am I going all the way to Turkey to waste my time? But he said out of respect for President Erdogan, who is hosting, and also for respect for Margaret, the Secretary General with whom he gets along extremely well, he said, okay, I'll go and I'll make the trip.

[Miyad Maliki]

Right.

[Monica Crowley]

But it has to be a productive one for him. Otherwise, you know, he may not stay for the entire summit, he may leave. But he does want to go and make it very clear to all of our allies that this is not acceptable.

[Brian Kilmeade]

We did sign the EU trade deal and they did sign.

[Miyad Maliki]

Right.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So that just show progress. Because most of those nations are, yes, similar nations. But, man, I know you know everything, everything. But I know you also know you want to stay in your lane. But I do want to bring you to another area which I think you are an expert, and that's Richard Nixon. The Vice President went over there and gave a speech and said, hey, you know, Watergate would have been a 24 hour story in this election cycle. You got to know the former President in his, in his later years. What do you think?

[Monica Crowley]

You know, I worked with President Nixon during the last four years of his life. I was new college graduate. I'd written him a letter. He wrote back, it's such a Cinderella story. And I was so blessed to be able to work with him. He was a great intellect and he was a very good man. And what we have now learned 40 years after Watergate forced his resignation, Brian, is that it looks like it was a deep state frame up of President Nixon and that the same forces that daily attack President Donald Trump from the deep state, both here at home and internationally, went off the after President Nixon. The more you learn about the Watergate break in that of the four Watergate burglars, two were linked to the CIA and two were linked to the FBI. It becomes ever more clear. And there are documents and Evidence coming out every single day. Jeff Shepard has written a series of books about this kind of silent coup and the removal of Richard Nixon and

[Brian Kilmeade]

the set of some of the most recent closest aids.

[Monica Crowley]

Yeah, exactly.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Alderman Haldeman.

[Monica Crowley]

Haldeman Ehrlichman, John Dean is a great villain in the Watergate story. What it becomes clear is that President Nixon was actually making decisions with regard to Watergate based on really bad information that was coming to him from players around him that did not have his best interests at heart and who were trying to remove him from office.

[Brian Kilmeade]

The only thing I looked at, you know, because I was so young back then, not diving into it, you wait for the 6 o' clock news to get the latest as opposed to six minutes every six minutes, is that why would he be worried about George McGovern? He won 40. How many states did he win over George McGovern? Over 40. Lastly, there's Nixon maxing coming out.

[Monica Crowley]

So.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So the exact does a great job.

[Monica Crowley]

Yes. And the Nixon foundation to their Twitter accounts are phenomenal. They put out bangers every day defending Nixon. Nixon did not know about the Watergate break in. He did not order it. He had no idea what was going on. When he told the American people. He learned about the break in the next day on the front page of the Washington Post. He was telling the American people the truth. And then of course, the cascade of what they call a cover up because he was being fat, fed bad information. So you get bad input, you've got bad output, right? But the whole series of events and then you learn that the main judge here in Washington, Judge Sir Rica, probably remember that name, he was overseeing all of it. And he was colluding with the Democrats on Capitol Hill. They were all feeding to the press. Bob Woodward, the star cub reporter at the Washington Post was a naval intelligence officer five minutes before briefing the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the White House. Then all of a sudden he goes to the Washington Post and he's a cub Rep. Porter. And the biggest story in the history of the universe to that point lands in his lap. None of this is coincidence. The American people are starting to see the truth. More and more of the facts are coming out and the Nixon maxing I came out of the womb. Nixon, Nixon maxing. Brian is not new for me, but it's so great to see the younger generation say, hey, Richard Nixon was brilliant. He was a visionary. He was really trying to move this country toward an America first posture before America first was a thing. And they took him out. They destroyed him, just like they were trying to do to Donald Trump.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Nixon see greatness in Trump.

[Monica Crowley]

He did. And in fact, in 1988, Donald Trump went on the Phil Donahue show and Mrs. Nixon saw him and told President Nixon, this guy not only is hugely successful businessman, but he is a great political talent. President Nixon wrote of that note and you can still see it today, 1988. And he said, you know, Donald, if you decide to ever seek political office, you will win.

[Roger Zakheim]

Wow.

[Monica Crowley]

That was Richard Nixon.

[Brian Kilmeade]

He saw the talent Soothsayer.

[Flo Baligan]

Yes.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Monica, thanks so much for coming. You did tv, you had to do. You went back to your White House and then you came in back again. Thanks so much for coming, my friend. Same couch.

[Monica Crowley]

Yeah, exactly.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Brian Kilmer, Joe on the road in Washington, D.C. back in a moment. Don't move.

Keeping you informed, engaged and always a step ahead. It's the Brian Kilmeade show. Radio that makes you think. This is the Brian Kilmeade Show.

[Mike Waltz]

If the Iranian regime thinks for a second that President Trump is going to sit, sit by standby while Iran continues to attack international shipping without a response or bases without a response, they're sadly mistaken. And they saw that loud and clear over the last few nights. Where we'll continue to militarily, if needed, take down their infrastructure that they're trying to use to illegally control an international waterway. And Shannon, just one more point on that. That's not just the United States, that's the entire international community. A UN record, 143 nations have agreed with us that this is in violation of international law.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So that is Ambassador Mike Waltz, a huge asset for this administration. There's just no question about it. But just breaking down what the world thinks because he's in contact with every ambassador on a regular basis. Not only that, he's got his knowledge and he's got his contacts. But what happened over the weekend is Iran attacked a civilian vessel. It was Panama, Panamanian flag. And of course, we answered back by blowing up some of their surveillance and radar and some of their missile sites. They responded back by hitting Kuwait and Bahrain, did some cursory damage. And then we responded back again. And they both decided, both the US And Iran. Oh, we'll still talk and continue. But here's the problem, and I'm being, I mean, this is, this is a huge problem. The MoU is so vague, it allows Iran to say these three things which are all nonstarters. They say they have to be a nuclear nation because of the dangers in the world. Number two, they say they will control this trade of Hormuz and already is already under their management. And and number three they say that they will continue, they will continue to fund the proxies and Israel will pull out of Lebanon. None of those things are going to happen. None of those things can possibly happen. None of those things would be acceptable. They're all non starters. So it makes me think what are you actually talking about Now I know there's things for the public and this thing for the press and I understand that their leaders are too afraid to throw their to poke their heads out and they have a team of social media experts taunting the White House and taunting the country. They're not the people. The supreme leader is afraid to come out and show his face and we have the President United States using his true social post to tell you exactly how he feels. So the question is within a With a war unpopular and affordability being the thing that's going to drive the midterms, what are the president's options? Karl Rove weighed in. He said don't worry about the polls if this happens, cut six.

[Karl Rove]

What do they say is a success? The Reagan Institute is going to issue a poll this coming Monday. And in that poll they ask the the respondents what do you want out of all of this? And they offered them several three options. The first was a negotiation. Iran government remains but in exchange for limits on their nuclear and missile programs. And then two other change oriented options. Regime change replaced by a regime that's far more favorable towards the United States or keep a weakened regime or let the current people stay in power but diminished them militarily and economically. Democrats favored negotiation 52 over regime change of various sorts to 39. But Republicans only 25% wanted a negotiation 69 wanted change

[Brian Kilmeade]

25%. Are you kidding me? Of course it's everybody I talk to knows the negotiations are a waste of time but they understand why the president's doing it. Because unless there's a plan in place to open the strait the price of oil is going to go up. If that means the price of gas goes up now be detrimental to all those 18 seats thought to be in jeopardy thought to be in jeopardy in the midterm elections. And the reason why you care about elections is not only for your party but also for the power you're going to have over the next two years. Especially if you lose the Senate, you're not going to get anybody concerned confirmed in the Senate. That means if people want to move on which they might want to move if the president feels as though they should move on, which very well could happen. That means the president's not going to be able to get anybody done. If a Supreme Court justice should decide maybe like Thomas, that, hey, I'm in my. I'm coming up on my 80s. I might as well do with the Republican president in place or get replaced by a conservative, they're not going to do it, and that's going to be a really tough thing. But in terms of what they plan on doing in the midterms, they want to get affordability down the best they can. That's why James Blair, the assistant chief of staff, has split off to focus purely on holding the Senate and the House. I was with, he was with me on, on, on One Nation on Sunday night, and I asked him flat out, what are the chances of holding on to the House and the Senate at the same time? What does it mean, the fact the socialists are on the rise in taking over the Democratic Party, how do you message that? Cut 15.

[Keith]

I think you have to get past the label of socialism and talk about the positions that these people are actually espousing as their goals in Congress. They include things like completely getting rid of immigration enforcement. Abolishing borders is literally one of their platform positions. They don't think we should deport anybody from this country, not even criminals. And where does Hakeem Jeffries stand on this? I mean, I think for a guy who ostensibly wants to win the House and becomes the speaker, is he courting their votes for speakers? Is he going to seat them in the caucus? Is he going to allow these positions that are anti American, anti patriotic to proliferate? I mean, one of these women ran an organization who has an explicit goal of bringing violence to America. They said they want to translate the Palestinian resistance movement into violence and social unrest in America. This is who the Democrat Party is caucusing with to try to gain power. And where is their leadership on that? I think they have to answer that question.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yesterday. I understand Hakeem Jeffries got booed when his name was brought up at some of the rallies and some of the, the victory parties.

[Bill Maher]

Why?

[Brian Kilmeade]

Because I don't know. He's extremely liberal, extremely anti Trump, pro impeachment, as far as I could tell, thought he thought to be the next leader of the House anointed by Speaker Pelosi. But in this party right now, he's not popular. So if he even does, if the House does flip and he does get the job, you think that Kevin McCarthy had a hard time holding together his coalition, which is going to be narrow by all stretch. Almost every expert agrees, whether it goes back to Republicans and Johnson or it goes to Jefferies and Democrats, it's going to be five or six votes. And I'm just naming four or five people that just won over the week, over last week and the ones that are queued up to win over in Colorado. That worry won in, in, in Pennsylvania. And he's going to have an extreme hard time not only getting the votes to be speaker, but getting the votes to do anything that isn't extreme. And I think they're all going to be forced to disavow Israel because I believe that being anti Israel is incumbent on every Democrat that wants to be successful in their own party, hopefully not in this country. What people should understand, what James Carville said over the weekend to Kayleigh McEnany is that flat out you could be against with some of the things that Netanyahu is doing or the government's doing. But to say that Israel has no right to exist, are you crazy? No right to exist. So that is a bridge too far with extremists. Now. What are they doing in the Democratic Party? The biggest mistake they made, and I said at the top of the hour, in retrospect, the biggest take they made is allowing Bernie Sanders to run as a Democrat because he constantly says, I'm not a Democrat, I'm an independent caucusing with the Democratic Party. They want that Senate seat, I get it. But when he runs for president with ideals that don't line up with theirs, what they do is they put their hand on the scale and make sure people like Joe Biden win and they make people like Hillary Clinton win. Which is it which screws up the whole process. The last time they had a real competition was Barack Obama against Hillary Clinton. They dominated the election cycle and Barack Obama ended up winning overall and Hillary Clinton became secretary of state. That's what we paid Republicans do and Democrats used to do this. To the Brian Tillmeade show from the America 250 State Fair. Don't move in Washington, D.C.

from high atop Fox News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kilmeade.

As you hear. Yep, we're in the nation's capital. It's going to be fun building up to July, but 4th. And I'll be back here July 4th, night at 7 o' clock having the great coverage of the fireworks. Supposed to be the biggest ever in American history and maybe the world for the United States might even come by we'll have to check that out. There is so much going on in Washington, too. I don't know if you see they have a big FIFA screen where people gather around just to watch the World Cup. We're in the knockout stage this hour. We're going to be joined by Miyad Maliki. Maliki, he is right to my immediate right, a senior fellow at the foundation for Defense and Democracy. And we'll be taking your calls at 1-866-408-7669. So before we get to Miyad, let's get to the big three.

[Bill Maher]

Number three, I am loving that the World cup has brought to our shores all these people who are doing Americans the service of reminding us just when we needed it on our big 250 birthday, that actually this place is kind of awesome.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yep. And that is Bill Maher, World cup mania catching fire. The group play is done and the drama of the knockout stage is upon us. We look at the results from day one. Canada had a big win. And we look at the US Match up with Bosnia Herzegovina and the love affair the world's having with our country.

[Jonathan Karl]

Number two, I think we are seeing a hunger that is not just felt by New Yorkers, but frankly by Americans from coast to coast for a new kind of politics.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Maybe not. That is the mayor of New York City, Mom Domini. Socialist takeover with the Democratic Party. It solidifies the GOP's game plan to take to hold on to the House and Senate. Will they be able to capitalize? We have the latest.

[Miyad Maliki]

Number one.

[Mike Waltz]

That's not just the United States. That's the entire international community. A UN record. 143 nations have agreed with us that this is in violation of international law.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Ambassador Mike Waltz from talks to kinetic warfare. The tenuous MOU almost blew up over the weekend as Iran continues to push, push us declaring that they need nuclear weapons, Israel has to leave Lebanon and they own the strait. All three of those things are no go zones. And we had Maliki. You are somebody who believes that, who grew up in Iran.

[Miyad Maliki]

Right, Right.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So why are they saying this? And they say the MOU outlines this. When you look at the mou, there's a lot of gray area there.

[Miyad Maliki]

There are a lot of gray areas. And the reason that, you know, here we'll, we're, we're here the reports about, you know, another round of negotiations probably in the next couple of days, maybe tomorrow. President Trump posted on social media that there will be more talks tomorrow. Here's the thing. We're still Talking about the text of the MoU with Iranians, the text was drafted in a way that it's, there's a lot of gray area. Iran is really leveraging it. They want to drag their feet, you know, on the straight of foremost the created this kind of situation that things are not really clear, but it's open or it's not open because all they need right now is to buy time. I mean the sanctions relief upfront has been given to them. There are oil sanctions waivers that are so getting money. And I mean, yeah, that's, that's exactly what it is. Right.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And also they're getting more than oil. Right. There are other derivatives of oil that they're able to use to expand on that.

[Miyad Maliki]

Right. What's very unique about this one, historically this kind of authorization or waiver has been given to Russia. For example, in March, President Trump gave an authorization on Iran oil that was very narrowed just to get more oil in the market. Now what's very different here, two things. One, petrochemicals are included. Now what's very different between petrochemicals and petroleum is petrochemical transactions are small. They're easier for Iran to get those revenue out of banks and back to Iran and also in US dollars. So what's very important here is paying attention to today, bottom of the waiver, the authorization that allows Iran to get paid in US dollars. That hasn't been the case since 2012 when Iranian government was put under complete bloc by President Obama actually, and President Trump is now lifting that.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So that's a terrible giveaway to start a negotiation I thought absolutely was unnecessary. I mean, no, I mean sanctions relief I thought was a pipe dream even though it's temporary Earth.

[Miyad Maliki]

Right.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And why I also heard that they'll be happy with the one, the Chinese currency. What do you hear? But you say we want the dollar.

[Miyad Maliki]

Well, here's the thing. They have a lot of funds sitting in China right now because they've been exporting to China thanks to years of sanctions on financial.

[Brian Kilmeade]

China is just ignoring it.

[Miyad Maliki]

The Chinese are just holding onto the money. They're afraid to get. That funds go back to Iran. Some of those funds are being used by the Iranians to import stuff. So to have a lot of yuan sitting in China now giving them Iranians authorization to get paid in dollars gives a lot of comfort to the banks in China to release that yuan to the Iranian regime to import whatever they want. I mean, with a China, there is no restrictions on what they're buying. They can be buying chemicals for Missiles they can buy parts for, drones, they can buy parts for their petroleum, petrochemical and other capabilities.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So they are along with Oman trying to set up a tolling system. And yet Oman's got to make a choice. Oman is, can't pretend to be our ally while meeting with Iran. So we have to put the screws to them. I heard three days ago from somebody intimately involved in negotiation that Oman's going to put out a letter that they have no interest in managing the strait. Where's that letter?

[Miyad Maliki]

I think I've seen the same reports and here's the thing about Omani. So money's been, you know, I've, I've interacted with them. I've watch the negotiations involve Oman. I think they're really good at doing the same that Iran does because dragging their feet, not coming to a decision. And at the end of the day that gives Iran leverage because Iran needs time. It's good. That was a situation. It is right now for Iran because Iranian tankers are getting out, getting in. But non sanctioned tankers that are bringing clean oil, non sanctioned oil, they're getting a stock in Persia and Gulf Seal. So Omanis are helping the Iranians by dragging these talks and giving them the leverage that they need right now.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So it's a little disappointing. Here's what Senator John Kennedy said yesterday. Cut for.

[John Kennedy]

I think you have to keep all this in perspective. Number one, I think we're winning. Number two, you have to be mindful of the fact that really crazy in is rare among the political leadership in Iran. It's commonplace. Nonetheless, they don't want to die any more than we do. Point three, Iran right now is like a really old man who can't afford to catch a cold. We have degraded them deeply. That's why we went in. They've got, they've got three wheels down and their axle dragging. So when the press says they're holding all the cards, they're wrong. I think we should continue to do what we've been doing. If Iran wants to hit us, we hit them back twice as hard.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So that is Senator Kennedy always speaks in a call for way. Do you what do you agree with him on with you?

[Miyad Maliki]

Well, what I agree with is the

[Brian Kilmeade]

fact that we did damage.

[Miyad Maliki]

We did, we caused serious damage to the Iranians are the weakest they've been since 1979. So let's give credit to President Trump and our armed forces and the military, U.S. central Command and elsewhere. We have exceeded the expectations of what we wanted to accomplish.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Can I also Say can I also say that no other administration, eight other presidents ever took military action?

[Miyad Maliki]

Absolutely. Every single president had to deal with these threats from Iran. They keep taking the can down the road. President Trump went in and really reestablished deterrence with the Iranian regime. My concern is with this memorandum of understanding we rushed, I think we gave Iranian more than they should have gotten for the opening Israel for mouth. Their economy depends on Israel for most more than any other economist. I don't listen to the rhetoric propaganda comes out of Iran. I look at the numbers and they were desperate to get a straight up for most open for the importance port,

[Brian Kilmeade]

not just export since we blockaded there.

[Miyad Maliki]

Absolutely. Yes, exactly. So we lift the blockade. That would have opened a shred of 4 miles anyways. But we went a step ahead and we gave them the sanctions relief which would have kept until we had some kind of an agreements on nuclear front.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So the foreign minister said this and by the way, we're speaking with Miyad Maliki, he's a senior fellow at the foundation for Defense Democracies who, who knows this well negotiated the last deal and also grew up in Iran. The foreign minister said on Sunday that Iran is assuming sole authority over the strait, quote the management and full restoration of maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz is Iran's responsibility. No other country or entity has any responsibility or authority in this matter. So I mean this is a foreign minister who's doing the negotiation. Yeah, that's unacceptable with that. We never sign off on that.

[Miyad Maliki]

Absolutely.

[Brian Kilmeade]

You agree with.

[Miyad Maliki]

I totally agree. I think what we're hearing from Iran at the end of the day, these are rhetorics. We should not as US government sitting negotiating with them. We should not react to these type of rhetorics. No one is going to pay Iran tolls. No Gulf country is going to agree to this toll system. These are rhetoric. These are the ways that they're going to buy time. They got the sanctions relief unfortunately. So they're going to, they're going to really drag this on.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So I was looking at some of the Middle Eastern channels over the weekend and it looks like Saudi Arabia and Qatar are doing their own thing. We're proposing somewhat of a reconciliation meeting or summit with Iran. While the uae, Kuwait and Bahrain say no we're not, they are, we're still rocketing us. Is that the reason why both those countries have not been hit in the, in the retaliation?

[Miyad Maliki]

Could be the case. I mean Iranians being very careful who they're hitting, who they're not hitting, but they were hitting everybody at some point, right. Turkey, which was a huge mistake that they made. I mean there have been their lifeline, economic lifeline goes through these countries, through uae, through Oman, through Qatar and they've targeted these countries. It's going to take him years to reestablish those relationships.

[Brian Kilmeade]

It looks like they're already getting back together with these two countries. How could that be?

[Miyad Maliki]

I think some of these Gulf countries, they just want to buy some time. They just want to calm things down. Their economy has been targeted during a bad shape right now. I think they're buying time but I think Iranian regime is not going to back to where it was before the war. Economically they can rely on these countries. This is strong anti Iranian sentiment in the Gulf right now because of those attacks. That's going to take some time to resolve.

[Brian Kilmeade]

But can we really say it's a bad strategy when it got the Gulf states to pressure us to bring the fighting to a halt?

[Miyad Maliki]

Well, I think the Gulf states again, they think very near term, short term, we have a long term interest here to put an end to this conflict flag. I agree. I think we should have probably not given to that pressure. I think we should have continued with this.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Even if the Saudis say, remember we were going to do the freedom thing and we were going to escort ships through and the Saudis say please don't do that. So we stopped.

[Miyad Maliki]

You know what I heard there, Brian, was that Saudis wanted more coordination and more confliction over that operation. I think we went back to doing it and we were doing it for a while after we started coordinating with the Saudis. I think there was some kind of an absence of good coordination that led to that reaction from the Saudis and it of a day, Brian, these Gulf states that hate the Iranian regime, they're tolerating them because I trust you, you

[Brian Kilmeade]

have that vision and you've been there. I hope you're right and I see no reason to feel any different. But they're worried that we haven't finished them off and they will be left with a belligerent. They'll be left with a belligerent neighbor without our protection.

[Miyad Maliki]

I have the same.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Is that correct?

[Miyad Maliki]

That's the same, yeah.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Has Ukraine giving significant missile defense and anti drone defense or is it just a proposed plan?

[Miyad Maliki]

It's proposed plan.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Okay, so nothing's even arrived there yet.

[Miyad Maliki]

Right.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So it's up for us to provide that.

[Miyad Maliki]

Absolutely.

[Brian Kilmeade]

All right, so how do you feel in this region about them even bringing up Hezbollah in Lebanon?

[Miyad Maliki]

Well, you know, for years Iranians Were refusing to bring their proxy groups into their negotiations. Say they were always saying, we're not supporting these proxy groups. We're giving them psychological support, we're giving them spiritual support. Now they admitting that these are the proxy forces, they're using Hezbollah. You know, again, there are two perspectives here. I think they're either using Lebanon. They don't really care about Lebanon. I mean, they've been destabilizing Lebanon with

[Brian Kilmeade]

Hezbollah, like the location of Lebanon to stage Hezbollah.

[Miyad Maliki]

Absolutely. Lebanon is a failed state today because of what Iran has done there with Hezbollah. They don't really care about that issue. However, they know that every time they can push Hezbollah to escalate with Israel that they can drive a wedge between Israel and President Trump over this memorandum agreement. They know President Trump wants to put a pause or end to this conflict today. They know Israel is being viewed wrongfully, I would say, as meddling in this situation or fueling a conflict. So they're really exploiting that, that, you know, every time they can push Hezbollah to cause some kind of conflict and Israelis would be viewed as escalating.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And lastly, I was talking to somebody involved in negotiations and they said there are people in the Iranian regime we want to deal with and they're people we don't. And they use the term moderates in proportion. Everybody I talk to from the 80s to the 90s, from when I was in 11th grade, there are no moderate Iranians. They keep telling me, what do you think?

[Miyad Maliki]

You know, I again, I was born and raised in Iran. I've been dealing with these folks from I lived there and then I worked in the US Government on US national security side. I've seen it inside out. And I got to tell you, it is very inaccurate to take that view that there are moderate or they're highliners. It's the authoritarian, Islamic, ideologically driven regime is black and white. Now, you can call some of them reformists. And those reforms has nothing to do with the issue with the US Those are reforms very domestically narrowed issues. More social freedom, less social freedom. Those are very narrow issue. There's no one that you can call it.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Well, let me tell you what they're building off of. When the president came out, the president of Iraq, which is not a strong position, but the president, Iran says we want to do this deal. And the supreme leader said, look, I'm going to let them do the deal, but I'm not supporting it and I'm not confident it's going to work. They say that was proof that there's A divide.

[Miyad Maliki]

Right. That's exactly the playbook of the Iranian regime. His that was most Abba Khamenei, the current supreme leader, his father did the exact same thing with the jcpoa. It's the game they're playing to always supreme leader has radicalized a core of 5 to 10% of the population that Israel is going to be annihilated. US Force is going to be kicked out of President Trump is going to be assassinated. We're going to take the revenge of Soleimanis for Qasem Soleimani assassination. Now, he needs to always stand behind and say these are the moderate, these are folks who want to try the deal. He gets benefit from the sanctions relief, but then he can't be blamed for showing some kind of flexibility that they desperately need.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So you think you're very confident there are no moderates, the good cop, bad cop. We're not the only ones who do that.

[Miyad Maliki]

Oh, absolutely. I think folks who call them moderate, who know Iran, they know that they're, they're making things up.

[Jim Trustee]

Wow.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah, it's a little discouraged about that.

[Bill Maher]

My end.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Maliki, thanks so much. Senior fellow at the Defense of Democracy. A fantastic organization. Always learn something and today, no exception. Thanks so much. Appreciate coming down on a very special America 250.

Don't move where big stories need bigger conversations. Stay informed and energized with the Brian Kilmeade Show. Breaking news, unique opinions, hear it all on the Brian Kilmeade Show.

[Mike Waltz]

Even the Chinese government has said you cannot be taking tolls or fees. Iran was apparently relying on Oman across the waterway to help it set up this new infrastructure. And now Oman just yesterday has rejected the idea of tolls or fees. So they're completely isolated here. President Trump's not going to stand for it. And meanwhile, we continue to move ships out by the dozens every day. And world oil prices are not just stable, they're dropping. So Iran's attempt to hold the world hostage and their economies hostage are completely failing.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Okay, a couple of things that is right, Mr. Ambassador, you're right. And gas, I think oil is in the 70s with low 70s, which is unbelievable considering that oil and gas, the oil and gas executives always tell civilians like me who don't do this for a living, we don't go below 65 because I'm going to stop drilling because I'm not going to be able to make the profit and pay my people. So this is about the number. The president wants everything to drop right away. And I understand his frustration, but I think it is dropping a lot. Now think about this. I'll just pick up this paper. Just think about this. It was at 415. Now it's at 390. Then it went down to 370. I mean, you're getting close to 330 to $2.90. I mean, that's basically if you look at inflation numbers, it's about at the right place. But guess who knows that it's at the right place. And guess who knows how to raise that price. Well, I think if America, if Trump's getting too comfortable, after all, we don't want him in power. We definitely don't want him with the House and Senate. Maybe I'll take another shot at another civilian ships. Only this time I'll disable it would stop all traffic because they won't be able to get insurance. They'll do the things that are politically unacceptable for President Trump and for Republicans, many of which are in battleground states and tough districts in purple areas. They want those affordability things handled. And oil and gas is at the crux of it. It's at the hub of it. So they're going to look to push the Republican Party by finding a way to get those oil prices up and get additional leverage with negotiations. But don't be surprised if the president has something in place to take it back to the straight entirely. Meanwhile, good news. The Brian Kilmeade show is now live in Alaska at KSRM in Sultana, Alaska. Specifically. Coming up next, Jim Trustee on the decisions that could be coming from the Supreme Court at any time today, including birthright citizenship. Don't move. Brian Kilimmeicho in Washington, D.C.

The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmeade.

We are back and I'm at Washington D.C. at America 250, the the state fair. It's, it's been phenomenal. You have every state except for 10 represented here. Some said it was too partisan, that just you just don't like Trump because nothing partisan about this. I did a whole feature on it. It's online, fox and friends.com and I hope you're watching the radio show we're streaming right now on YouTube. You tough.com@the Brian Kilmeade Show. I mean, there's some talk in the background because this is an active festival and today's focus is on the Maha movement. Yesterday was a salute to those men and women in uniform. Right now, let's bring in, let's bring in Jim Trustee who is an esteemed legal mind and we need you now because the Supreme Court is coming out with a few decisions. And now the Supreme Court backs Trump's administration's effort to remove an independent agency commissioner. So that is one thing Trump's got to be happy about. The president, Jim, is justices by a six, three. So it seems to vote it on party lines. The 1935 Humphreys executive decision that limited removal of commissioners from congressional created independent, multi member regulatory agencies, except only for cause. So I guess they think they have cause. Jim, do you want to expand on this?

[Jim Trustee]

Yeah, I mean, look, it's all kind of ground zero. Brian, good to see you. I mean, we're getting flooded with opinions as we speak, but, you know, a lot of them focus on the issue of kind of executive authority. And the Trump administration points to partisan behavior or what they would say is kind of abusive use of positions of influence such as a commission chair. And so they want to fire people. When they want to fire people, what's happened is that that stuff has bubbled up to the Supreme Court and they look at the congressional intent at creating these entities. That's kind of the key thing where you lose. Some of the conservatives, some of the conservatives on the bench are fine with executive authority and want the President to be kind of unshackled to control the executive branch. Others look at it and say, hey, Congress created this position, so we have to understand, understand what they intended. And that's why even today we have a split. We have independent commission heads being fired without cause. And that's being approved because they looked at exactly what Congress is trying to set up. But we also have Lisa Cook from the governor for the Federal Reserve Board winning her case against the administration because they said this is supposed to be a quasi independent entity and the President would have to have for cause. And even though he said he had for cause, or at least the administration said that they didn't see the evidence of it. So we're getting these very nuanced differences based on both what the facts are in terms of any sort of challenge to the person in position, but also what Congress intended when they set it up.

[Brian Kilmeade]

All right, so you're right. The former commissioner Rebecca slaughter challenged her 2025 dismissal. She was first appointed by Trump in 2018, then reappointed seven year term by Biden. But the independent regulatory aid, but Lisa Cook is allowed to stay the court High court refused to allow Trump to fire Lisa Cook and it did allow the President to fire other members. So in one way he's upset. I mean, she Looks slightly qualified, but I guess it doesn't matter. The Supreme Court. And it looks like she's pure partisan. It looks like that this position is. She's not worthy of it, in my opinion, just looking at her resume. But I do think the markets, the financial markets like the fact that the President can't touch this because one of the things about our financial system, they want it free from politics, right?

[Jim Trustee]

Yeah. I mean, that's what it comes down to is. And look, a lot of us could have a lengthy debate about what is the Federal Reserve Board like, why do we have this kind of central bank notion at all. But look, at the end of the day, you know, whether she's qualified or not, whether she was kind of a partisan pick or not, this court looks to congressional intent. And that's, you know, it's an easy message for the liberal wing of the bench. You kind of knew where they were going to be. But the conservative wing splits on the issue of executive authority and they looked at congressional intent and that's where the president kind of fell short with Lisa Cook's case. But again, overall, you know, it's interesting to me that the conservatives are less predictable. And I would say that's because they actually play umpire. They spend time looking at the issues, looking at the congressional intent, trying to figure out the confines of presidential power. And they're harder to predict than the three liberal justices who are almost automatically in the camp against Trump, no matter what the issue is.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So, Jim, I want to bring it to another decision that just came down from the Supreme Court. They're already in overtime and we're still waiting on the birthright citizenship decision. The Supreme Court has permitted Mississippi's rules for late arriving mail in ballot to be enforced. This is high stakes. So essentially, in a 5, 4 majority decision, they rejected a Republican Party challenge in the state allowing mail in voting ballots to be received up to five days after the election. This is maddening. Now you see what's happening in California and Los Angeles. They're still counting ballots. So they say if it's post dated by election Day and it comes in after election Day, they count. The administration wants to say, no, it doesn't, that we have an election day for a reason. The Supreme Court says, no, it's not going to work. We're still going to count them if it comes five days after the election. Your thoughts on this?

[Jim Trustee]

Well, I'm with you in terms of the problems of our elections. I mean, and I suspect you'll hear a lot from the administration. But about Save America as we get through the course of this day because there's a need for reform. It's just, you know, there's just too much abuse, too much shaky stuff happening with homeless people suddenly being the best civic servants that go out and vote religiously, apparently in California. So there's a lot of issues with it. I think again, the problem in some ways is probably Justice Roberts looking at this issue and saying this is traditionally, when you talk about how elections are run, that's traditionally state territory. So you could argue that he's being a federalist here. I think maybe there's some element of that. I also think he's being risk averse. He doesn't want the Supreme Court taking the flat for weighing in on every election issue that pops up. And we've certainly had plenty over the last eight or so years. So he looks at it, basically says, and with I think Coney Barrett agreeing, this is kind of a state institution, the process of deciding how elections are held. But you know, I'm also kind of with Alito, I mean, copping out on this and not stopping the opportunities for fraud is not a great day for the republic either. So we had that split of the liberal justices, I believe, Robertson and Coney Roberts. And then you have, you know, the conservative wing really crying, crying poor about what this is going to do to federal elections.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I mean, and that's why they want, that's what it was Save America Act. They want to stop mail in balloting. I don't know if that's practical in a place like Oregon, Jim. They only have mail in balloting and they've not really had a problem that I understand in Oregon, but in other places it just seems to be parameters. And then you look at a place like Florida, who takes their early voting council before the election day. And this way by the time the new ballots come in on election day, they can give you an answer by 10pm I'm wondering if there could be something streamlined. But in the Constitution, you've always felt people like you always explain to me it's extremely valuable for the states to set up their own system. But where do you draw the line between the sanctity of the election and independence of the state?

[Jim Trustee]

Yeah, I mean, it's a tough line and I'm with you. And by the way, I'm not saying that I trust the states to get it right. There's a lot of mischief by state houses, state governors, even just kind of the lowest level of state political actors that are there for the tabulation of votes. I think those are sometimes the villains in these pieces where you talk about ridiculous bending of rules or the creation of rules that are kind of made to be broken. So I would love to see a lot of the contours of the Save America act in place. I just think the Supreme Court or at least five of them are saying we're not going to be the ones that create these laws. You know, you either bring it on from on high through Congress or through state houses or not, but we're not going to let the judicial branch get tied into it. And again, I think in a lot of ways all of us lose by not having, if not perfection with elections, at least a better feeling of the sanctity of the electoral process, that it's going to be something where we can trust the results. And I think a lot of people in this country do not trust the results with good reason. So. And by the way, one last thing, Brian, on like the mail ins, we would always be willing, I think, to have carve outs for legitimate circumstances. Like you want military members to be able to send in their ballot from wherever they are across the world. So it's never going to be a complete ban on any form of mail in ballot, but it's become kind of a creature of convenience as well as abuse rather than something to accommodate people that have a genuine reason to be away from home.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So when Mitch McConnell says I'm not going to vote for the Save America act, even though I do believe voter ID is necessary because I think it should be, you couldn't, you should not be ordering the federal government should not be ordering states what to do. Do you think he has a solid constitutional argument?

[Jim Trustee]

I think he actually has a decent constitutional argument against just principles of federalism. The way we wrote this thing up, this Constitution, it did seem to give state process the lead over federal process, but they're really bending it beyond the recognition that this country would have had a couple of hundred or 250 years ago when it comes to the electoral process. So I would hope at some point enough is too. Enough is too much and it just didn't happen today. We didn't get to the point where Roberts was comfortable wading in on this very hot issue. And so I think again, we kind of all lose.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So it looks like Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Thom Tillis and Mitch McConnell are all against it, even though if you just say should voters have ID, about 80 to 85% of the country say yes. And one thing I would do and this is not really your area. But if I'm Trump, I say, I don't care who wins. I just want the right person to win, even if it costs Republican seats. I don't want to have any doubt in the results of an election, big and small. I think that should be the message.

[Jim Trustee]

Yeah, it's an appropriate bipartisan message. And we all know how President Trump feels about, you know, the 2020 election, for instance. Yes, but we've heard 26. But 2016, you had Hillary Clinton and all these other people screaming to the moon that this was a fixed election, it was rigged. They were saying that. And they were saying that Trump was installed by his master puppeteer, you know, Vladimir Putin. So there's a lot of. Yeah, and that may not have been particularly genuinely felt by the politicians at that time, but there's a lot of reason for kind of the mom and pops of this country, the people in the middle of the Midwest, to say, what's going on with our election process? Do I trust it at all? And the more you dissuade people from believing in its validity, the more they're going to check out and not want to even participate because they're going to feel like their vote doesn't count. So, you know, again, I would. By the way, one other thing, Brian, you know this, too. You know, when you sit there and say it's disenfranchising people, that's such condescending racism, to act like minorities in this country are unable to go get a driver's license or an ID of some sort. I mean, it's so insulted, all based on reality there. Everyone has ID at this point.

[Karl Rove]

Point.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So, Jim, we're waiting on birthright citizenship. And. And the President says, look, I just think that there's birth tourism going on here. And he pointed out in the. In, the Solicitor General came out and said, how many Chinese have come here? They have their kids, they make them American citizens. They go back, and they come back basically as spies. Why should any party before that, why should anybody see that these people from other countries are trying to circumvent our system? And they're not a matter of, you're born here, you get to stay here. That was out. As constitutionalists will tell you, they came out with this amendment because they were. People were not acknowledging, especially in the south, that African Americans taken here as slaves who are not American citizens. After the Civil War, we're past that now. And now we have Chinese and some of our enemies coming here in order to infiltrate our country. And circumvent our immigration system. So having said that, has the argument been strong enough to make you optimistic that birthright citizenship might be reversed today?

[Jim Trustee]

Yeah, I'm really, I'm going to give you a total cop out answer, Brian. I'm really on the fence about whether this one's going to get done. I mean, I will tell you, going into it, I was pretty pessimistic up until oral argument. And the reason why is that there is some case law that had happened 100 or so years ago that kind of tracked the facts on the ground at that point. But I think there's two things that are kind of critical to give me some optimism that this is going to go the right way for the administration. One is exactly what you said. The facts on the, on the ground are just different now. You've literally got an industry bringing in CCP directed people to briefly touch the soil of the United States.

[Bill Maher]

Yes.

[Jim Trustee]

You look at like mom, have a baby and then go back with the full rights of citizenship. They can contribute essentially dirty CCP money to American campaigns. They could run for office as a dual citizen. It becomes kind of insane to think of the ramifications of an industry. And we certainly didn't have that in the 1800s when the last case broke on this issue. So you've got. And I think that some of the conservatives, particularly Alito, are very keen to recognizing the facts have changed dramatically and we have to do something. The other thing is if you rule against it, and I understand that historically it's been a popular notion of inclusion. You know, people that are hard workers, that are here for 20 years, they have a baby, you don't want them to face immigration problems. I get kind of the historical sympathy of it. But there's language in the amendment that says, you know, subject to, to the jurisdiction of the United States. And if that phrase means anything, it means that birthright citizenship has to be redefined, that you have to be able to establish not just a quick touch for the purposes of getting citizenship, but a sustained effort to be part of the American culture and fabric. And so I think it's going to be really interesting again, look, look at Roberts, look at Kavanaugh, look at Coney Barrett, just to see where they come out on this thing. Because, you know, it's probably technically breaking from precedent, but it would be the right ruling, I think because of what's happening.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I don't even know, Jim. There are Western countries, allies of ours, who have stopped it because they saw was being abused. They've Stopped birthright citizenship.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Jim Trustee]

Yeah. I mean, it's. Look, it's an obvious loophole at this point. It probably didn't start off being subject to the abuse because we didn't even have national immigration policies when we had 14th Amendment. When we had case law in the 1800s, it was not an issue. But now when you look at how it's being abused, it kind of drives it home. And I think that some portions of the conservative wing of the bench of the Supreme Court are very much willing to look or to kind of recognize context that we're in a very different context than we've ever been about the misuse of this loophole. And that's why other countries would close it if they had it in the first place.

[Roger Zakheim]

Place.

[Jonathan Karl]

Yeah.

[Brian Kilmeade]

It looks like Ireland ended unrestricted birthright citizenship in 2004. Many other countries no longer allow automatic citizenship, like this country called Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece and Italy. Luxembourg in the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Come on. So we're not asking people to what is that Donald Trump doing? Trying to shut the doors on the American dream. He's trying to say it's being abused. So it makes you wonder, if the courts don't want to make that decision, should it be pushed through legislation? Because I know a lot of Democrats who look at, for example, the Chinese weaponizing this, who are very worried about China's rise and what they're up to that might get behind this. Some type of ban on birthright citizenship, if suspicion.

[Jim Trustee]

Yeah. I mean, you know, more than I do in terms of the politics of the moment, I'm not convinced that a whole lot of people on the other side of the aisle would join President Trump in terms of pushing against it. They're going to be too busy screaming xenophobia to necessarily sign up for this thing. But, you know, one of the concerns I have you mentioned, like, legislation, legislation doesn't necessarily work if it's viewed as a constitutional right. In other words, the legislation can get struck down just as quickly as the notion.

[John Roberts]

Gotcha.

[Jim Trustee]

You know about the else. So you're want the court to weigh in. I think in some ways, that pressure gives us a little better chance of the Supreme Court weighing in the right way.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So, Jim, I'm glad you didn't put me on the clock and charge me by the minute, because I wore you out today on for 1450 minutes would have cost me a fortune in the real world. Thanks so much. We'll look forward to that other decision today from the Supreme Court. Thanks for. For reacting to the first two. Jim. Trustee Back in a moment from you got it. You got to sir. Washington, D.C. back in a moment.

Coming to you on a need to know basis because man, do you need to know. It's Brian Kilmeade.

Hey, welcome back everybody. Brian Kilmicho, Just finishing up this hour. We got another one coming straight ahead. Again, we expect some Supreme Court decisions. We're waiting on a few of them already in overtime. We'll keep you up to date on all that. We cannot wait to see you July 11th at Pensacola, Florida. The History Liberty last brand new show, patriotic, inspirational, motivational is going to be streamed on FOX Nation. Like this is Brian kilmeade.com for tickets so I can meet you in person. Hopefully get the VIP and you'll get the pregame show which is pretty cool.

From the FOX News radio studios in midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio Talk show. Brian Kilmeade,

hi everyone. Not from 48th and 6th in Midtown Manhattan, but I'm coming from Washington the side of the America 250 celebration leading up to July 4th. A big state fair behind me. Here's some PA but it's all part of the festivities where thousands have come here to see each and every state represented. Sadly, 10 states thought it was too political, which is nuts. It's called not wanting Donald Trump to look like he's president of the United States in 2026. I don't remember this thing and of course I was only in fifth grade but when Jimmy Carter was president I didn't think people and he was extremely unpopular by the way. I don't people making that type of stand. But we have a lot to discuss. So let's get to the big three stories.

[Bill Maher]

Number three, I am loving that the World cup has brought to our shores all these people who are doing America the service of reminding us just when we needed it on our big 250 birthday that actually this place is kind of awesome.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yep.

Bill Maher, great monologue last night. World cup media catching fire. The group play is done and the drama of the knockout stage is upon us. We look at the results from day one and look at the US Matchup with Bosnia Herzegovina and the love affair the world's having with our nation.

[Jonathan Karl]

Number two, I think we are seeing a hunger that is not just felt by New Yorkers but frankly by Americans from coast to coast for a new kind of politics.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Oh really? The Mayor Mamdani socialists take over the Democratic Party and is solidifying their stake against the gop. Can they capitalize by running as a free market, pro capitalist party which used to be the foundation of the country.

[Mike Waltz]

We will see number one, that's not just the United States. That's the entire international community. A UN record 143 nations have agreed with us that this is in violation of international law.

[Brian Kilmeade]

That is Ambassador Mike Waltz weighing in. Yep. The from talks to kinetic warfare. The tenuous MOU almost blew up over the weekend as Iran continues to push us, declaring they need nukes, they want Israel out of Lebanon and they want to own the strait. No, no and no. Good luck with the talks. I think it's going to end up defining, but they're going to play us right to the end. You know why? Because they know our election cycle. By the way, bottom of the hour, we're going to be privileged to have with us Washington director, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Institute. Roger Zakheim is going to be right here on the couch where we are on YouTube right now. YouTube.com/@the Brian Kilmeade Show. It's a place to go every single day. And you get the podcast, but keep in mind too, you get the stream right now. It's pretty much the boxing friends set that you're going to be seeing a little bit later with John and and Sandra are going to be here and then America's Newsroom on right now. So we'll discuss that. But I do want to talk a little bit about the World cup yesterday. Counter one dramatically in injury time past the 90th minute. So they advance, beating South Africa. Congratulations to them. That nation celebrates. Meanwhile, the US Plays Bosnia on Wednesday. I think we'll be favored to win that match and then it'll be great again because we'll be in the round of 16. It's expected we play Belgium. The last time they play Belgium, there's a bit of a panic. The US Lost five to two. But in terms of the chances of excelling over the weekend, I had a chance to talk to Taylor Twelman. I hope he made the cut here. Taylor Twelveman about what he expects now. Who's Taylor Twelfman, former MVP of the mls. He also had a chance to start for the national team. His family is rich in a US Soccer tradition and I think he's emerged as one of the finest commentators in the country. Now working for Apple, I asked him what do you think about the game and the matchup on Wednesday in Santa Clara? Cut 22.

[T]

The United States are favored, but Bosnia is a team that is very tactically Smart, pragmatic. They'll be very, very 442-4-5,1. They'll clog up the middle. They'll try to frustrate the United States, but in a different way than Australia. Australia will claw, they'll fight. Bosnia's got a little bit more nuance to them. They've got a little bit more or technical quality to them. Listen, the first 15, 20 minutes, US scores the first goal. It's going to be a long day for Bosnia. If you and I are looking at the game and it's the 60th minute and it's still tied, or Bosnia somehow scores a goal and they're up, that becomes very difficult for the United States because that plays into the hands of the tactics from Bosnia.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Besides that, he couldn't really break it down in detail, man. The guys watch some play and he's got the analysis he pulled over the side of the road in order to zoom with us on Sunday night at 10 o' clock on, on One Nation. So that was pretty cool of him. So Flo Baligan, who has been the star and the scoring star and the offensive force who had a yellow card so sat out the last game, you know, he was not. He was born here and then lived most of his life overseas, but came back and joined Team Team USA as a striker and he's been awesome. Sometimes they'll all by himself up top, but he is lethal in front of the net. He was on with James Cord in that fantastic late night show that Fox Sports hired him. And now he's doing a great job on the network, having some fun while still covering the facts of the tournament. Here's Flo talking about what it means joining this team and scoring early. He's got two goals already, cut 29.

[Flo Baligan]

That was probably the climax of my, you know, American experience. You know, I would say, as I said before, you know, was a surreal moment. Just scoring a front of the home fans and, you know, having them embrace me so much. But yeah, as everyone knows, I was born in New York and grew up in London, you know, hence the British accent. So it's a unique, it's a unique story, a unique journey. But, you know, I'm very proud and, you know, I've embraced it.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah, he has. He went on to talk about how they're preparing for Bosnia. Now, keep in mind, this is why you pay millions of dollars for this coach. I mean, you don't want to go out there and say, guys, go get him. You want to say, this is how we're lining up. This is who we stop. This is how we're defending, this is how we're going on offense. This is what to watch out for. This is why he's got the multimillion dollar contract cut 30.

[Flo Baligan]

We're preparing like we would any other game. You know, I think that's the benefit when you have a top coach, you know, it's not because you're going into a more important game. He's going to change his preparation or you're going to see the nerves on him. So we're preparing as you would any other game. You know, we're not taking them light nightly and we know it's going to be a tough game. We're in the round of 32 knockout football, so it's never going to be easy. But you know, we definitely know we have the quality to win this game.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So this one from the biggest story, no one expected him to win the group. They hope to win the group. They wouldn't be sure. So they win the group. But now the expectations are high again because they come in as favorites in a knockout round of 32. We never had that before because we've Never had a 48 team tournament.

[Roger Zakheim]

Tournament.

[Brian Kilmeade]

It's going to actually go up again after this. But they win this down to 16 and then you get to the quarterfinals which is further save gone. And then if they play Belgium, I think they might be looking at Spain or France. And if you just get to the point where they are excelling this much and playing this well, all bets are off because about 11 of these guys have paid at the highest level. So that's the most detailed soccer.

[John Kennedy]

All talk.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Now I'm going to talk about the country. The country is benefiting because we have a lot to offer and we don't realize how great we have it. What I love most about the fans that are coming here, we're not putting on airs, we're not giving them tours, we're not showing them special presentations or fireworks shows. We're saying this is a slice of American life and guys like Oliver Henry have just chronicled it on Instagram and Facebook. And they joined us on the set on Fox and Friends weekend and talked about meeting the President. United States cut 27.

[Oliver Henry]

I've had many dms and comments saying thank you, you're teaching me how to love America again and things to do and that you can just go on these road trips and you're very lucky to be able to go on the road trips, not need a passport or anything and travel because traveling to the different states is just like traveling to a different country. When I was in Dallas, flew to Boston, it was completely different. Then I flew to Washington, it was completely different again. And now I don't think there's anywhere in the world like New York.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Look, I feel the same way, but I never had to be reminded. Maybe a lot of people didn't. Some people are so dug in and then, you know, so Donald Trump or Republicans, President George Bush is president. I'm never going to like this country. I can't deal with them. But most of the people, more and more independents, I really believe that their seat might be saying, well, Louisiana is pretty cool. I don't think I've been there. Texas, I've only seen Dallas, haven't seen Houston. Man, people are really appreciating good. When they went to San Antonio, so. And then on top of that in New York we had one of the most dramatic NBA Finals ever. And then after that, next year we got the Olympics. But Bill Maher of all people weighed in and I didn't know where Bill Maher was going with this when I watched his monologue on Friday night. But it pretty clear that he is somebody who's independent minded enough to know. So it's pretty cool that the fans found out what kind of country we're at and maybe some people on his side of the aisle will understand it. Cut 24.

[Bill Maher]

I am loving that the World cup has brought to our shores all these people who are doing Americans the service of reminding us just when we needed it on our big 250 birthday, that actually this place is kind of awesome. Social media flooded with videos of slack jawed soccer tourists warning, wandering around America, positively gushing about everything we take for granted, reminding us what America looks like from the outside, not through the lens of some influencer explaining why watering your lawn is violence. Just regular people looking around and saying, wow, these people live like rock stars. Look at this Japanese guy trying Texas barbecue.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And by the way, we played the sound bite on television.

[Bill Maher]

Kind of threw me.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And he did the guy, this Japanese family. How about the Japanese people that clean up their section of the game before they left the stadium? Got people for that. Here's more from Bill Maher. Cut 25.

[Bill Maher]

British people are walking through Costco like they're touring the Vatican on mushrooms. One European guy said, this is the biggest tourist attraction I can have as a European. It's like a museum. He was talking about Walmart. But plainly, plainly we have a lot of things here we assumed everyone has and they don't. They came here for soccer and can't believe you can watch it while having a beer. Yeah, they don't have that in Europe. Let that sink in. In the paradise you think the rest of the world is. They can't drink beer in public without beating the sh T out of each other. And have you seen Europe, Europeans reacting to air conditioning like it's some exotic experimental technology?

[Roger Zakheim]

So.

[Mike Waltz]

Yeah.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And by the way, it's over 100 degrees throughout Europe. They can't handle it and they don't have any ac. It's not even a thought where we have it everywhere. In fact, when they went to Cowboys Stadium to play, they couldn't believe the whole stadium was air conditioned, but either could the players. But that's really what you get. So look, we take it for granted we're not perfect, but we're closer to perfect than any other country out there. I think people should start believing it and understanding it. Nothing I could do for you. You know, if you are so blinded by the fact that Donald Trump won two out of three times and the one time he didn't win, he got more votes than any Republican in history, then it's really on you because, Jenny, you had a curse. 77 million people. I don't know if there's enough curses in the world to do that. So when we come back, I'm going to break down the latest with Iran because more than challenging over the weekend, some fundamental problems with the MoU are coming back to haunt us. I understand that. At the bottom of the hour, I'm going to welcome in Roger Zakheim from the Reagan Institute. You'll listen to the Brian Kilmeade show from Washington D.C. as we celebrate America 250 building up to the July 4th

celebration and birthday politics, current events and news that affects you. Brian's got a lot more to say. Stay with Brian Kilmeade, the talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmeade.

Hey, welcome back, everyone. I'm coming to you from America 250 celebration. The Washington D.C. well, it's the state festival and we have a chance to see every state representative here in the nation's capital that's been miraculously cleaned up. Crime is through the, through the floor, thankfully. And they really have a booth for 40 states here. And it's really tremendous. Where you walk in, you get a real sense of the history from the Continental Congress to today. They also have this fantastic trailer literally on wheels. You walk in and you Get a complete look from Thomas Paine's common sense all the way through Washington, his campaigns, all the way up to today. In the fantastic exploration, you find that if you have like an 8, 10 or 12 year old that wants to get a quick look at the history of America, you go there. What bothers me most is what's happening in America right now and that is the rise on the left of the socialist movement. But socialist sounds like an economic philosophy with that seems to be anti Semitism, which is led by anti Israel, anti Bibi Netanyahu. Now the country has no right to exist. You have some candidates who got the primary, will win general election. Who says abolish ICE as usual, then abolish prisons. Really abolish the police. You're not kidding, are you?

[Bill Maher]

Yeah.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And they have no right to exist. These are some of those radical beliefs possible. So when Zora Mamdani, who took those candidates to victory over Hakeem Jeffries in two of the three big wins, seven overall, if you consider the state assembly seats. When asked about that on this Week with George Stephanopoulos with feature Jonathan Karl. Listen to his answer or lack thereof answer. And to Jonathan calls credit. He followed up. It's long, but it is worth it because I know you probably didn't watch it cut 11 now, you know there's

[Jonathan Karl]

been a lot of attention. One of the candidates you supported, who won, who knocked off an incumbent Democrat, is Darlisa Vilachaglier. She said some very controversial things, including calling for the abolition of prisons, couldn't say whether or not somebody who had committed murder should be in prison, called for open borders against all deportations, including those of violent criminals. Are those positions that the Democratic Party could win on nationally?

I think what the Democratic Party can win on nationally is a focus on working people. And I think that what I saw from Dariel Issa when I would walk the streets of her district was a focus on what she describes as the politics of life. She would talk about how we have to invest in babies, not bombs. She's now going to represent what is one of the poorest districts in the United States of America. And what people in that district are exhausted by is a politics that has justified the spending of tens of billions of dollars in killing civilians overseas while working people are struggling just to do the basics.

But how does abolishing prisons or having open borders fit into that? I mean, do you see how that' sthose are ideas that a lot of your Democrats that are warning about what happened here say are toxic Most of America won't go along with it. That are bad ideas, that are dangerous ideas.

I think what the focus of her race was, what the focus of her candidacy was, was about the struggle that working people are facing. And I think that we can have disagreements on policy positions. What we have to agree on is what are we fighting for and who are we fighting for. She showed that in her race. And I think that many people will come to appreciate that in her leadership to come.

So we can disagree on something as basic as whether or not there should be prisons. It's not your position.

There are prisons. And what we're also showing in this city is that safety is not something that's up for debate. It's something that we're actually delivering on. And I'm proud to be the mayor of a city that currently has the lowest recorded number of murders and shootings in recorded history in New York City.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So do you believe that he did not disavow that we need prisons. He says there are prisons.

[Oliver Henry]

There are.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Of course there were prisons. They were there before you got there. We assume afterwards. But like your predecessor, not Eric Adams, the one prior to that, they were trying to depopulate prisons and use Covid to do that. But they weren't closing prisons. They weren't saying there should not be prisons. But instead, she says bombs, not babies or babies, not bombs, really, because, you know, their bombs aren't dropping on our allies, they're dropping on our enemies, many of which want to make sure we don't have any babies. You don't drop out. You don't drop bombs on people that aren't trying to kill you, at least in America, that's a deal. So when we're acting, you need a defense. If anybody who wants to get elected doesn't believe we need a strong Pentagon. I believe the 1.5 trillion look on inflated dollars in the amount of the budget. I think that's what we needed more. I think the golden dome is real. And I think. I believe what the Secretary of Navy asked for, and that's 350 ships in order to. Not to leave things like the Gerald H.R. h. Ford out on, on. On the oceans for an extra 11 months because of the challenges we have from Venezuela over to the Persian Gulf. But how scary is that? So he can't say, look what she said. And this is what I thought she'd say. Well, you know, when she was in her 20s and 30s, she put things on social media that she clearly regrets. Of course you need prisons. Of course Murderers need to go away for the rest of their lives. Of course we don't want to abolish Israel, but we do not agree with X, Y and Z. But instead he just talks about working class people who are exhausted because things are hard. The best thing you could do for working class areas that are economically disadvantaged are bringing the best education possible and bring opportunity possible. You don't go ahead and use state subsidies to put a grocery store to subsidize those things because they come from tax dollars. They're already overextended and you had a state failure out of your city guarantees. When we come back, we talked to Roger Zadkov on what Ronald Reagan would think of American 250. Don't move.

He's so busy he'll make your head spin. It's Brian Kilmeade.

[Mike Waltz]

The President's patience isn't going to last forever. Discussions are ongoing, particularly at a technical level of how to get inspectors in the down blending and the other pieces that are focused on ensuring Iran never has a nuclear weapon happen. But they need to understand their leverage is diminishing by the day. The Gulf Arabs are creating all kinds of alternatives to the Straits of Hormuz. The UAE is moving oil through its pipeline that it's expanding. The Saudi, Saudi Arabia is moving oil through its pipeline that it's expanding. We will create alternatives to our basing posture there. We will harden some, some may go underground, others will move. So this leverage that Iran thinks it has now is diminishing faster and faster literally every week as we speak.

[Brian Kilmeade]

That is Ambassador Mike Waltz is a fantastic spokesman person for the administration, understands foreign policy as well as anyone. Roger Zakhem joins us now watching Director the Ronald Reagan Presidential foundation, great friends of the show. And Roger, you even did a poll on Iran and the popularity because the President did mention to us on the air a couple of weeks ago he said I'm not sure the American people, Roger, have the stomach for this fight with Iran. What did you find?

[Roger Zakheim]

Well, actually, I think the president be pleasantly surprised. I think 8 out of 10 continue to view Iran as an enemy, an adversary. So they understand who the President is fighting against, what our military is striking with epic fury. And then in terms of the outcome, outcome. This is what we ask that we seek in this conflict. We give them three options. Do you want to have regime change? Do you want to see a weakened regime or do you want to see a negotiated outcome, A deal. And overwhelmingly people want either a regime change or a weakened regime. In other words, the minority want to see negotiated settlement and those numbers go up as you look at the views of Republicans and go even higher if you look at MAGA Republicans, to the tune of 7 out of 10.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So I think that we both agree that he's the only president, even the president that the institute that you represent to take military action against Iran, no one did it with Salmani, if we're stunned. And then we had Midnight Hammer and then we had him again for 12 and we hit him again for a few weeks. So I just feel as though he deserves credit for that. The same time, Roger, I feel like we only have one choice to finish the job. And people think that they're going to try to do to Trump what they did to Carter, drag this thing out, make him pay the price on the midterm elections.

[Roger Zakheim]

Well, you've been very clear out about this from the outset, and I agree with your outlook here, starting with the great accomplishment of the president and our military with Midnight Hammer and Epic Fury, you can never get the discussion about comparisons between President Trump and to Jimmy Carter or to Barack Obama because he took on the regime. President Reagan struggled with this regime. We had, we had a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, you recall, in 1983, and that was undermined by Hezbollah. We had that. It was the first time we heard about Hezbollah with the Marine barracks bombing, with attack on our embassy, and we never got after it. And that continued from President Reagan all the way to President Trump, as you note. So regardless what happens with this MoU, I wouldn't say entirely regardless, but. But as we evaluate what's happening with this memorandum of understanding and negotiations, understand we're going to have Secretary Rubio today briefing members of Congress live on the phone on this. We have to recognize we're in an entirely different place because President Trump made the decision to take the attack, take the fight to the regime, which has been successful.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And the one thing he said is, I know my successor, my predecessor didn't. I know my successor, successors won't. So he's looking at what's good for the country long term, not what's good for him politically short term.

[Roger Zakheim]

Listen, Americans love peace. No one wants to go ahead and engage in armed conflict. That's what bold, courageous leadership requires. And what's been interesting from this survey is that we see, even after epic fury, Americans want to see view it as successful. And specifically, they are still deeply concerned about an Iranian nuclear weapons program. So there's a groundswell of support in part because the president has been conditioning the American people for a long time. That this regime is an adversary.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I know. I know, Roger. Sometimes the big institutes, big companies will have an outside polling firm. Yeah, but when you did these polls, did you just poll conservatives?

[Roger Zakheim]

Absolutely not. So it's. We have outside firms who do this, actually, the same people who carry out the Fox News polling and Beacon Research is part of that. Over 1500 surveyed. The margin of error is plus or minus two and a half percent for most of the questions. And so what you can get from that is confidence, the views of the American people. And, Brian, we've been doing this not just today with the release of our new survey. We've been doing this since 2018. So we have the advantage of seeing the views American people kind of from a trend standpoint. And the trend as it relates to the issue with regard to Iran is that Americans know this regime is our enemy.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So I want you to tell you what the foreign minister said.

[Jonathan Karl]

Yeah.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Foreign minister came out and said on Sunday that Iran is assuming sole authority over the strait. Quote, the management and full restoration of maritime traffic in the strait is Iran's responsibility. No other country or entity has any responsibility or authority in this matter. So it's not hearsay.

[John Roberts]

It's not.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Who said that? It's not a source. He's saying directly. That's the guy that's got to sit and meet with JD Vance and Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

[Roger Zakheim]

A lot of bluster from these guys.

[Jim Trustee]

All right.

[Roger Zakheim]

And one of the challenges I think the administration is facing is that post decapitation of this regime, the great accomplishment of epic fury is there are a lot of people vying for control of the Iranian regime. They have different agendas, and you don't really know who they're speaking to. So this minister, you know, he's given this bluster because he's probably addressing some element that's vying for. For leadership within Tehran. That's not to say we should have any hope or expectation that these guys are going to negotiate in good faith. And the vice president spoken about, hey, we'll go ahead. And the terms MoU will go into place once this regime transforms. I haven't seen any evidence of transformation. I think the administration should stand to those words. The vice president, that until we see a transformation regime and that quote reflects that, they're not. We shouldn't be making any concessions.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So would people worry about is the strategic oil reserve has been drained and so is other countries. So he's got to worry. He's got to be taking calls from the Energy guys and his Treasury Department. He's getting calls from people. I'm in a battleground district, man. If the gas prices go up again, I'm going to lose by four or five points. So I get it. The President's weighing a lot. That's why they call it such a lonely position for a guy with so much support.

[Roger Zakheim]

We heard president out loud talk about not wanting to be Hoover, to be at the precipice of some depression that was in some part contributed to him signing on the mou. But let's be clear, the leverage over time resides with us.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Of course.

[Roger Zakheim]

I mean, we have accomplished so much as a country in terms being a net energy producer, the greatest producer of energy in the world, our sector.

[Brian Kilmeade]

That wasn't the case when Reagan was president.

[Roger Zakheim]

It was not and it hasn't been the case at all until this administration. I mean, this is, this is, you know, you have the Energy Dominance Council. People made fun of it, you know, oh, government having this council for Energy Dominance as such bluster come to the Trump administration. No, it's actually reflective of where we are as a country today. All that allowed us to succeed in this environment. Our Secretary of Treasury with Operation Economic Theory has made a huge impact. So I think, you know, things are in place for us to be successful here. Obviously, we can't get to $5 a gallon. We don't want to do that to the American people. That is a kitchen table issue. But I think the President absolutely has put the United States in a better position on the, on the gas issue with the blockade and what's happened afterwards.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So with Roger Zakhem at the Reagan Institute, if you're not watching on YouTube, but I hope you are. So, Roger, if you're in Israel right now, they're planning on life without getting armaments and support from us. They say they want to make their own arm, they're going to have to construct their own arms, sell their own arms, make money, because they see what's happening on the extreme right and they see what's happening with almost everybody not named John Fetterman on the left. And I talked to Joe Manchin over the weekend on One Nation. He would be a strong force for Israel. While he does not happy with Netanyahu, like some aren't, I am very happy with him. I don't vote in that election. But what do you say to people who say give up on Israel should give up on an alliance from America?

[Roger Zakheim]

Well, let's contextualize this for a second, right, because our survey actually gives the views the American people and not those making the most noise on the left. So I'm very concerned of what took place with Mamdani in New York last week. We'll get that in a second. But overall, Americans still view that Israel's security is tied and relevant to US Security to the tune of majority of Americans, Republicans. And then on top of that, Republicans overwhelmingly take that point of view. So what's brought it down over the years when we're talking about 60%, a majority of Americans, MAGA Republicans are approaching nine out of 10. So there's a groundswell of support. The Fettermans of the world need to be fighting against what's happening within their midst because it's a real problem. And like Tucker Carlson, who's patently anti Israel, think what happened to him this past week. He left the Republican Party. So it's quite clear the pros of community resides with the Republican Party. And the Democrats need to do some soul searching here because they are turning their backs on what Pete Hegseth and others call a model ally.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So I've said this before, but I want to get your take. I think the Democrats made their biggest mistake if they were looking long form by letting Bernie Sanders into their party without ever joining the party. They let him run for election and twice they realized their party was being hijacked. So they, so they messed with the election. They put their hand on the scale. So it created bitterness, a groundswell, a sympathy. And he's not even a Democrat. So at least you could say that. If you say the Freedom Caucus or the Tea Party was a hindrance to Republicans. They're, they were conservatives. Right. They would, they had a different philosophy economically, foreign war, whatever. But they wanted to be Republicans. Would you think that's one of those grave mistakes?

[Roger Zakheim]

It's a great point. They allowed Bernie caucus to caucus. Bernie, Bernie Sanders to caucus with Democrats. I mean, that was a huge, huge mistake. And now you and like Matt kind of and others have made clear that the children of Bernie Sanders, he didn't win the nomination, but the children of Bernie Sanders are now taking over the party.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Huge error. Rogers, sticking around a few more minutes. We're going to finish up this hour here in the Brian Kilmeade show. We're here at the America 250 celebration leading up to July 4th. And I'll be here at night July 4th. But start the day on FOX and Friends in Liberty at Liberty park, right in New Jersey, overlooking New York City. Don't move.

Giving you everything you need to know you're with Brian Kilmeade. Information, you want, truth, you demand. This is the Brian Kilmeade show.

Well, in a couple hours, John Roberts gonna get to work. He's had the whole morning off to party, have a good time, but he's

[John Roberts]

trying to get acclimated to the heat.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yes. Well, you're gonna get sweaty. That's how you got to get acclimated. John, great to see. I know you and Sandra gonna look

[John Roberts]

like George W. Bush touring Hurricane Andrew.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Well, what does that. Would that look like again? Yeah, I do remember that was it right before the debate, too, where he was focusing too much on that. Could that be it? Yeah, Yeah, I think so. So, John, in particular, as we look at America to 50, describe the fairgrounds here. People are starting to come out, visit 40 of the 50 states that came.

[Roger Zakheim]

Yeah.

[John Roberts]

And Pennsylvania wasn't going to come, except for Fetterman McCormick put together some private financing, and they got a pavilion up and running, which is.

[Brian Kilmeade]

You believe the governor said I couldn't get sponsorship?

[Jonathan Karl]

I know.

[John Roberts]

I don't believe that. You know, it's the same as Tina Kotak in Oregon. Well, I think that this is going to be too partisan. I mean, look at it. It's America. It's the Mall. This. This is actually my, you know, the reflecting pool aside, this is my favorite part of the Mall because it's ringed by all of the Smithsonian museums.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Right.

[Roger Zakheim]

And they're all free.

[John Roberts]

So if you come down here, if you live in town or if you come in from out of town, this area of the Mall, which is just before you get to the Capitol Building, is spectacular because you've got six or seven, maybe more Smithsonian museums. The National Gallery, you got the original Smithsonian air and space, Native American. You've got the African American Museum. They're all here in this area, this one area. They're all free. And you can just spend the entire day going from museum to museum.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I think a lot of people, I

[John Roberts]

don't know any place in the world that's like that.

[Karl Rove]

I know.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And when you see the Capitol, you live here. You're here every single day. For me, I just noticed for the first time when I got out of Union Station, have to take an Amtrak. I go, wow, it's all cleaned up.

[Roger Zakheim]

Yeah, what a difference.

[Brian Kilmeade]

You're down. So they say all the fountains are flowing. Little things like, have you noticed it?

[John Roberts]

You know what they say about Washington, D.C. now? It's blue.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Fontana di Napoli.

[John Roberts]

There's more fountains here than there is in Naples.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And they're working.

[John Roberts]

They're working.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So what do you think about the reflecting pool? This is what Doug Burgum said that they found out. Cut 33.

[Doug Burgum]

The reflecting pool is part of the Lincoln Memorial. It was designed as part. I mean, defacing the pool is the same as if you walked in and threw a bucket of paint on Lincoln's statue. And it'll be prosecuted in the same way. But we have so much a country of abundance, a country of opportunity. We've got celebrations going on across the country. The great news is the vast majority of Americans are celebrating. They're not vandalizing, but it's a. We've got an incredible week ahead of us with an incredible celebration. The state fair that's going on in

[Brian Kilmeade]

the mall right now.

[Doug Burgum]

The fireworks in the mall.

[Brian Kilmeade]

A 350 foot gash through the lining of this.

[John Roberts]

Yeah. The park service found that somebody had actually taken a sharp object, whether it was a, you know, box cutter or something else, and sliced the foam that was protecting the bottom of the reflecting pool.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So I asked my pool guy, which I think John Roberts can appreciate my journalism. I listen. How do you get algae? Is it just impossible for a shower, a pool without fill, without moving water to that of algae goes, oh, it's absolutely capable of being clean. They say if you put phosphate in that pool in any body of water, it's like putting the algae on steroids.

[John Roberts]

Oh yeah. And there's talk that somebody put some sort of nitrogen based fertilizer or phosphate in there to help the algae grow. Because, because, because it was in the pipes. I guess it was developing in the pipes the time that the, the three weeks or a month that the reflective pool was closed. And I used to have a pool when I lived in Atlanta. And fighting the algae back then wasn't too bad. You know, you get a little bit of, you know, little bit here and there.

[Roger Zakheim]

Yeah.

[John Roberts]

We had a saltwater pool. So, you know, chlorine generator.

[Brian Kilmeade]

They tried to embarrass the president.

[Roger Zakheim]

Yeah, of course.

[John Roberts]

I mean this reflecting pool thing has just completely consumed the left.

[Roger Zakheim]

I know.

[John Roberts]

I mean, they're going nuts.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Algae reporting.

[John Roberts]

It's the reflecting pool. Right. It is a. It is a part of Washington D.C. they were trying to fix it. They're trying to make it look good. And just the BS that's come up around it is just stunning to John.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I want to get. I know who's on your show first off. Do you know yet?

[John Roberts]

Doug Burger, miss.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Okay, good. So great guest.

[John Roberts]

So we'll Be talking to him about all of this, the American 250American State Fair. We'll be talking to him about the reflecting pool, some of the other things. The Theodore Roosevelt Museum is opening on Saturday. So.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So I want to get your take on what happened. The place you used to work, not CNN, but cbs. What is your take on where they're heading and what's there and the 60 Minutes fallout and everything like that. These are. These are the people you used to work with?

[John Roberts]

Yeah. I mean, you know, completely trying to disassociate myself from it. I think that Barry Weiss brings fresh leadership to. To a place that was in need of it. And I think that the new executive producer of 60 Minutes will bring a sort of different approach to producing news pieces that might make that program more interesting than it's been in years.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Are you as thrilled with the response from the world to the world visiting us for the World Cup?

[Jim Trustee]

I love it.

[John Roberts]

I love it.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And it caught me by surprise.

[John Roberts]

And here's the really strange thing about it is you have all these people coming in from all over the world, and I love the Vikings, the Norwegians, when they get on an escalator and they pretend to row up the escalator because the optical illusion is fabulous.

[Brian Kilmeade]

That was that long acre right across from Fox Street.

[John Roberts]

Yeah, that was hilarious when I saw that. But all of these people coming in from around the world singing the praises of America, thinking, saying how great this place is. And then you have all these people on the left who are trying to tear it down. And you look at, you know, how do you. The recent polling, how do you feel about America? Are you proud of America? Like 30% of Democrats said they were you very proud?

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah.

[John Roberts]

Yeah. Whereas 80% of Republicans said they were. I mean, I moved here from Canada in 1989 because I always wanted to live in America. We lived in Toronto, which was 30 miles across Lake Ontario from Buffalo. So three of our six channels that we would watch or three of the five channels we watch were American channels. So I would see all these commercials that were. There were palm trees in the commercials and kids skateboarding in the middle of December. And I thought, that's where I want to live, America. So the first place I moved was Miami. And it was a little bit of a culture shock, but the weather was beautiful.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I loved it.

[John Roberts]

After living in a place where it was nine months of winter and three months of bad skating, it was terrific to come down here. And I've loved America my entire life. It's great to be an American citizen. I became a citizen a week after 911 and I love, love the place so it's great to be here. And the occasion of America's 250.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Right. There's two things that have surprised me Artemis 2 the way it was received. Everyone loved it.

[John Roberts]

And you know the commander of Artemis 2, Rewisman Tado was a good friend of ours.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Oh I did not know that.

[John Roberts]

Yeah, so we were very Canadian.

[Brian Kilmeade]

My wife wrote him a letter of

[John Roberts]

recommendation to get into the astronaut program after she met him on the Abraham Lincoln during the Iraq war.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I'd like to go to the moon. She would write me a letter then we can get you the moon, you give me the moon. Thank you John Roberts. Well watch him today on his show with Sandra Smith at 2 o' clock until 1 to 3, 1 to 3 until whenever he's I'll be there at

[John Roberts]

2 but we started.