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Brian Kilmeade Show
Fetterman Blasts "Trash Bag" Graham Platner – Dems Sent Scrambling
02:02:47
The Brian Kilmeade Show 07-09-2026
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- [00:03]
Brian Kilmeade
From the Fox News radio studios in midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmeade, everyone.
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So glad you're there. It's the Brian Kilmeade show. It's been a real big week, right? There's a lot going on at 250. We started the week celebrating 250 years of America. It's really not going to stop just because the July 4th birthday is done. If you think about it, things got really tough after the declaration and we'll discuss that. In fact, they'll do that Saturday night in Pensacola, Florida. History, liberty, laughs, patriotic, motivational, inspirational night. Howie Kurtz is going to be with us. Break down the media coverage of this platinum situation. Remember the New York Times soft pedal, all his background, nobody really background checked him. All the people that endorsed him and now he's imploded. Dennis Ross is going to be here in a matter of moments breaking down what's happening in the Middle east as it looks like we're back to war. So let's get to the big three.
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Bill
Number three, it was important to be there and to see the actual facts laid out. Bill. Because there was so much stuff that, you know, amidst the noise and the Internet chatter that was laid out that I had never heard and makes this case very cut and dry to me.
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Brian Kilmeade
Charlie Kirk's murder hearing, counting hearings, counting. Anyone with a half a brain that will see all the conspiracy theories that don't lead to Tyler Robinson are a waste of time. Tyler Robinson did it. His parents know it, his lover turned him in and is a state's witness. But yet people are making money off conspiracy theories that are baseless. It is sickening.
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John Fetterman
Number two, the trash took itself out. Tonight people in Maine have a chance to really vote on someone that's not a total a piece of trash. Adios, trash bag.
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Brian Kilmeade
Yup.
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Senator Fetterman, fellow Democrat, talking about Graham Platner. We wish you we never knew you. The most problematic nominee in modern history reluctantly bows out in Maine. What it means for the Dems desperate hopes to flip that seat and take the Senate. Number one, the basic deal that we cut was we'll lift our blockade if
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Energy Expert
you stop shooting at ships. But if you shoot at ships, we're
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Brian Kilmeade
going to knock the hell out of them. And it's that simple. The Vice President, United States. Here we go again. US hits 150 sites in 48 hours as the MOU is history and never worth the two pages it was printed on in my view. Meanwhile, Iran still won't give up the straight why an escalation is in the cards and affect oil prices in the short term, but in my view, worth it. Ambassador Dennis Ross, you were equally chagrined when the MoU was put out there. It was a way to get to the table, perhaps in the best scenario. But now it seems to be gone, right?
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Dennis Ross
It seems to be gone. I mean, look, it's, it's always a challenge, I'm saying that deliberately to negotiate with the Iranians because the Iranians have a certain DNA when it comes to negotiations, which is buy time, stretch it, always focus on their needs, never on supposedly what they're prepared to agree to in terms of giving things up. And the mou, I'll just say from a negotiator's perspective, I never quite said it this way to you. You said my chagrin was right. When I read it, I knew it was an Iranian paper, it would never have been drafted with every single point had within it a hook to what the Iranians wanted. And the sequence was the truth is we couldn't get anything on the nuclear issue until after they had commitments on the extent of sanctions relief that had to be worked out in advance before they did anything on the nuclear issue. So the whole thing was structured to serve their interests. The great irony, and you've heard me say it before, one thing about the Iranians, they never know when to say when they had a, they had a document that basically served their interest. But the one thing we got from it was the straits were supposed to be open. The vice President, you know, I think wasn't giving you the full picture in the, in the sound bite you just had. It wasn't just if it was just a trade for we lift a blockade, they let things go through in the strait, that would have been fine. But we lift the blockade. We lift, we provide waivers for their sale of oil. We allow them to not only sell their oil but to get dollars for it to repatriate. Repatriate the dollars within their banking system. These were huge gives to them. And the one thing we were supposed to get was the opening of the straits and in the end they didn't provide it. So that, that explains why we are where we are.
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Howie Kurtz
So they had a great deal.
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Brian Kilmeade
They didn't even, they weren't smart enough to realize it because they desperately want the strait as much as they want nuclear. But the other thing is, I think, Ambassador, is that we should just give up on talking to the foreign Minister and speaker. The guy making the decisions is the IRGC Commander Ahmed Fahiti. So why we even talking to anybody else? I know he's a terrible person, but if he's going to upend every decision that maybe the speaker and the foreign minister recognize, would you recognize which is the best deal you could possibly have gotten? They got at least for 60 days. Why are we even dealing with them to begin with?
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Dennis Ross
Well, because A, that's who they presented, B, the Revolutionary Guard leader probably didn't want to be seen as negotiating. The irony is when you negotiate in the end even the Iranians have to make some concessions.
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President Donald Trump
Yeah.
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Dennis Ross
And he doesn't want to be the target of those who attack those who make concessions. It is interesting. You know, they have a hard line faction led by Jalili, a former negotiator that were attacking in the procession, the funeral procession, attacking possession, the president in some cases throwing things at him. And they were criticized. But it shows you there's a hard line faction and in a sense this,
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Brian Kilmeade
I'm sorry, you said they were hold. They were throwing things at the president.
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Dennis Ross
Yeah. At the funeral, yelling at him. Yeah, yeah. So the whole think about, you had six days which built up a kind of momentum of its own and reinforced the real principalists. So the real hardliners who believe that, you know, with ideology just hang tough and eventually things will go your way and it doesn't matter what the consequences are for the Iranian public. Bezoskian is one of those who realizes, look, if you have a total collapse of the Iranian economy, the Islamic Republic may not survive. So he wanted these things we work out. Golly bop. The speaker of the, of the parliament, he seemed to understand that as well. But in the end your point is right. Who are the decision makers? And Galiboff and Iraqi were not the decision makers.
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Brian Kilmeade
Here's what the president said. He said a lot cut for oil
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President Donald Trump
is going to be very free, very easy and it's going to happen very fast. We have the harmonious strait, the boats have pulled out. I mean there's a, it is a gusher of oil right now. We have a lot of oil and no, anything just happens is going to happen very fast. We're not, we're not looking, we're not
- [07:17]
Brian Kilmeade
looking for long term but they are looking for a multi day event. They've already hit 150 sites in two days. They've blown up 21 of these ships, one of 21 of these, of these smaller vessels. They're targeting their air defense systems and culture and coastal infrastructure, well as missile, missile sites and drone sites in the Area. The one thing I would love to do militarily is take over the strait and run it and allow people to get there, you know, get the oil and get those tankers through there. But right now there's still. We could blockade the blockade, but right now we're letting them, letting them threaten all these vessels.
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Dennis Ross
Yeah, look, Brian, everything we're hitting is fine except all those areas that we're hitting, we hit before. And they had been able to begin to reconstitute their ability to operate from there and to fire on the ship. So it shows you you can. It reminds me in a lot of ways too often I was thinking, well, we hit 13,000 targets. That's like body counts. The question is not the numbers you're hitting. The question is what is it that you're hitting that changes the character of their ability to threaten if you can do that. And to be honest, I'm just not sure what it would take at this point. I do think if we could open up the straits, it takes away completely their leverage. And at that point the President could legitimately then declare victory. Now, the problem, and you and I had this discussion early on and you actually, if you recall, you said, look, it's not so easy to do. They got lots of drones, they got lots of cruise missiles. You almost have to, you have to guarantee this almost 100%. Maybe you can guarantee it 90, 95%. But if you're a view on $100 million ship and you're going to have to pay, you know, millions of dollars just for insurance, how willing are you to risk it if you don't have a really high degree of confidence? So it's a. It is the one thing we could do that would completely take away their leverage. And more than that, it would demonstrate they haven't g. Now can we do that when the President says it's going to happen fast? The problem with opening up the straits the way we, you and I are discussing, it won't happen fast. So there's a, there's a tension here, I think in objectives.
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Brian Kilmeade
So the ISW Institute for Study War says Iran is undeterred by the U.S. campaign Military campaign that they run down. Over the past two days, the US has launched a new round. They are determined to keep the strait open. They're attempting to pressure neighboring Gulf states into helping it secure control of the strait and failing to achieve this objective through diplomacy. So they want, they tell them, we're going to bomb you if you don't back us up in letting us manage the straight Oman loves to play both sides. Maybe they don't have a choice because they don't have a military, but they're being pressured to join Iran's partnership. And we're telling them, you better not. But that's an example. Same thing with the Saudis and with the Qataris. They also seem to not want any part of this fight.
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Dennis Ross
Now I think the problem is it's a little bit like the equivalent of the ship owners. So you're the Saudis, you're the Emiratis, even though the Emiratis actually did do a lot of offensive strikes. But you're the Saudis, the Emiratis, the Qataris, Kuwait and so forth. And we can basically intercept 90% of what the Iranians will send, but they can get 10% through. So let's say they get 10% through and they hit certain energy facilities that have highly specialized equipment that if you hit it, you could, you could basically put it out of commission for up to a year. So they, they look at it from that standpoint. We, we're not able to create a kind of hermetic seal that guarantees the complete defense of this. And they, they run that risk. Now I'll tell you, having spoken to a number of them, I mean, even this week, none of them want sanctions to be lifted on the Iranians.
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Doug Schoen
Wow.
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Dennis Ross
Really interesting to me. None of them. And that tells you if we could get the straits open and then the President declares success. The interesting thing about that is then you don't have to give the Iranians a thing. And then the inner contradictions, this collapsed economy, then the inner contradictions come back into play. And yes, this is a regime that will kill as many as it has to kill. We've seen that. But if they have all these inner contradictions and even some of those about the regime or those in the besieged, and they're not getting water, they're not getting electricity, or their money is valueless, at a certain point they begin to defect. So the best outcome is an outcome where we give them nothing economically and you let the inner contradictions plan themselves. We can't, we can't by military force in this regime. We've seen that. But we can, we have a strategy and we're not giving them an economic lifeline. The chances of it coming down over time, maybe in a year or two, that goes up dramatically in my estimation.
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Brian Kilmeade
The other thing is the, the amount of leaders are dead, between 20 and 50 have been killed. The Ayatollah being the highest profile name. If that starts happening again to the ones that are survived, maybe they'll say to themselves, I have to do a deal or else my days are done.
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Dennis Ross
That could be. And by the way, if they lost their car, if they lost the lever of the Straits, which they're determined. When you quoted from the isw. Yeah. What you quoted from them is right. They are determined. I mean, think about it. The MoU basically was telling them, you're going to get to manage this. And it wasn't good enough. It wasn't good enough. They wanted to say, no, we have control right now and we're proving to everybody we have control. And so they brought this on themselves. But you're right, if you can take away the lever and they know, they can see what I was describing about how bad the economic situation is, then you increase the chance that you actually would get a deal. I would say one other thing, Brian, when it comes to the nuclear issue, if you can't get a deal, we should have a position that if we see them beginning to extract anything and any of the sites, there's more than one site where we think the highly enriched uranium is, we, they need to know we'll hit that site. We will bomb as soon as we see any indication that they're doing anything.
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Vice President
Right.
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Brian Kilmeade
And that's what's so different about any other administration. We would send inspectors in, we'd give more sanctions. But this, this administration says, no, no, we will hit it. Because nobody else has ever hit Iran.
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Dennis Ross
That's right. No, we took away, actually started with the Israelis taking away their sense of impunity. One thing that would make it more credible is if we could get Democrats to say, look, the last thing we want to see is Iran with nuclear weapons. It'll be great if we see them extracting, we're prepared to bomb, too. It would be nice. You know, I would like to see Secretary Rubio deal with some of his former colleagues and sort of work out quietly. You don't have to broadcast it, but work it out quietly. You know, they can still say, we think there should be war powers. Yeah, they can still say, we have questions about this. We didn't think the end game was right. We didn't see the strategy. But we agree Iran shouldn't have. This regime should not have nuclear weapons.
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Brian Kilmeade
I want to get you to Rahm Emanuel is so disappointing because the people say, oh, he's a moderate, he's going to run, see if he has a lane. He thought it was necessary to essentially say, if I'm elected, Israel you're not going to get weapons from us. You'll buy it like everybody else. We'll have a 23 state solution that not an Israeli solution. The special relationship is over.
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Rahm Emanuel
Cut 14 the Prime Minister and his government have led Israel into a dead end. For too long, American policy towards Israel operated under the assumption that the best thing Washington to do for Jerusalem is to blindly to silently stand behind your government without conditions, without demands, without consequences. Even when we disagreed. Israel will be alone if its leaders choose to attempt to annex the West Bank. America cannot and it will not be complicit or complacent in that endeavor.
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Brian Kilmeade
And the other stuff, I could give you the whole speech, but what are your thoughts about this? How does that resonate in Israel?
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Dennis Ross
I think the environment in Israel and having just come back from a month there, the environment in Israel is highly polarized between support for the prime Minister and opposition to the prime Minister. Close to 60% of the Israeli public do not want him to run for reelection. So in many ways, what Rahm Emanuel was saying was absolutely striking a chord with many Israelis and with those who support Prime Minister Netanyahu. Obviously, it was not one thing. I'll just note about the speech that was interesting that didn't get attention that it should have. You know, he took account of all the Israeli fears and the justification, the doubts they have given the past. But he also, for the first time, he put the onus on the Arabs and the Palestinians too. Yes, he was putting the onus on the Israelis. One of the things that has bedeviled this process and one of the reasons we didn't succeed is because nothing was ever required of the Palestinians and the Arabs. He was doing that. That I would like to see much more of that done in this country.
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Brian Kilmeade
Yeah, the anti Israel feeling is just really disturbing though. Dennis Ross, you're all over at William Davidson Distinguished Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Thanks so much, Dennis. I'll talk to you soon.
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Dennis Ross
All right, thank you.
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Brian Kilmeade
Back in a moment.
- [17:03]
It's Brian Kilmeade, Warren Che.
- [17:08]
Josh Holmes
Ever heard of Warren qi?
- [17:10]
Energy Expert
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- [17:14]
Brian Kilmeade
It's the feeling of protected appliances and
- [17:16]
Energy Expert
home systems covered repairs or replacements, H Vacs, ovens, fridges.
- [17:22]
Doug Schoen
Wow.
- [17:23]
Brian Kilmeade
My warrant sheet is incredible. American Home Shield.
- [17:26]
General Jack Keane
Don't worry.
- [17:26]
Brian Kilmeade
Be warranty for 20% off our plans. Visit ahs.com listen see ahs.com contracts for coverage details including limit amounts, fees, limitations and exclusions.
- [17:35]
Doug Schoen
Foreign.
- [17:43]
Brian Kilmeade
The more you'll know it's Brian Kilmeade.
- [17:48]
Yeah. So I would just, at the end of that interview, I wanted to give Dennis Ross more time, but Rahm Emanuel went over to Israel and just basically ripped the country, not even acknowledging October 7th and the reaction, pointing out that civilians have died, but it's never been the target. I thought a Jewish guy on the left might be pushing back against the anti Semitism and the anti Israel attitude on the left. Instead, he goes to Israel and says, I'm out, I'm out. You know, if he wanted to say, I don't like Netanyahu, but, man, you give me a government that is X, Y and Z annexing the West Bank, I don't think, you know, there might be some talk about extreme conservatives annexing the west bank, but I don't think Trump's for that either. I don't think Reagan was for that either. Bush was for annexing the West Bank. But what's going on in Gaza, that could have been your focus, could have been the fact that Hamas has not lived up to its, its, its word. Maybe you could have brought that up a little bit. But instead, all I hear is anti Israel stuff. And if Rahm Emanuel is anti Israel, there won't be one Democrat pro Israel. Cheers to America's 250th birthday.
- [18:57]
Howie Kurtz
Get 20% off your first purchase at
- [18:59]
Brian Kilmeade
foxnewswineshop.com with code FNRADIO 2020. Discount excludes wine club offers and cannot be combined with any other promotion. Expires July 31, 2026.
- [19:07]
John Fetterman
Must be 21.
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Mike Rogers
Order to order.
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Brian Kilmeade
Please drink responsibly.
- [19:15]
If you're interested in it. Brian's talking about it. You're with Brian Kilmeade.
- [19:21]
John Fetterman
He'll be remembered. A guy that spent 10 years in kick the platform. That's the predator's paradise. He defiled his marriage and sent sexual messages to women as a newlywed, you know, and all the things he said, you know, he, he, he gets to go away. He can go back online. He can go around doing all the kinds of things. But yeah, the, the trash took itself out tonight. And now finally people in Maine have a chance to really vote on someone that's not a total, a piece of trash. And now, adios, trash bag.
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Brian Kilmeade
Senator John Fetterman last night doing instant analysis on the 8 o' clock show after finding out that Graham Platner took 12 minutes to say, I didn't do anything wrong, but I'm not going to run anymore because everyone took their funding away in support. Howie Kurtz joins us now. Fox News political analyst and host and he also has his own podcast, Media Buzz Meter Podcast. Howard, welcome back. I think John Fetterman's right on the money and he's about the only Democrat to say it that bluntly.
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Howie Kurtz
Oh, the Democrats are furious with Graham Platner. But Brian, I largely blame the left leaning mainstream media for creating the myth of Graham Platner. You know, he is the salt of the earth oyster man. Well, that was bs. He only sells oysters to his mother. Yes, he was a combat veteran. He came back, he drinks too much, he has ptsd. But you could see, and I said
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Brian Kilmeade
this, and I wasn't alone from the
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Howie Kurtz
beginning, that this guy had a boatload of baggage and more stuff was going to come out. And the people who should be most embarrassed are at the New York Times, which when one of his ex girlfriends came out and talked about how he pulled her out of a car and twisted her arm and locked her in a room, they kind of raised questions about her credibility. Lindsey Fifield, because she was a Republican. So the whole believe all women thing, apparently it doesn't matter if you're a
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Brian Kilmeade
Republican, which is crazy. You know, Michelle Goldberg, I don't know if you know her, but she came out in the New York Times as a columnist. She says she did a mea culpa. She said she fell. She, she goes, I have to blame myself. I can't leave myself out of the blame. She said she had the. She had been impressed by Platner's political charisma and prelice portrayed him as misunderstood. She acknowledged that she wrote Platner was nothing like the the edge Lord Edgelord character I encountered online. She now says the assessment was wrong. If anything, he seems to be significantly worse than she thought. So she did a mea culpa, but admitted in the New York Times in a column, she was very kind to him. She fell under his spell.
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Howie Kurtz
It's magic. Brian. Well, good for Michelle Goldberg for doing the mea culpa. I think a lot of people need to do that, including the dummies in the Democratic Party who thought this guy would be an ideal candidate. You know, the thinking was, well, he's a fighter and we need a fighter. And he defied his aides advice. Okay, if you're gonna bow out, he finally bows out last night, then you should. You know, for one thing, he never said he took any responsibility for having made a single mistake. I regret the things that you say when you're under fire. And secondly, he just seemed Angry. And the fact that only when Politico talked to the latest accuser, Jenny Rascoe, daughter of a former Maine governor who's a Democrat and who agrees with Platner on policy stuff, only then did the story explode. And even then, he took his time getting out of the race.
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Brian Kilmeade
So I want you to hear. So the question everyone asks is, did anyone do a back background check of this guy? Did anyone do an opposite opposition research on this guy who got maybe 72% of the vote? Still with all this stuff, except for the latest revelation, people remain didn't care. They still wanted him. So listen to the give and take about the two people responsible for the background check who called him the hero of the moment. Cut 32. Did the vetting process turn up the
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Rahm Emanuel
tattoo that became so controversial?
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Howie Kurtz
No, the Reddit posts did that turn
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Tom Carrick
up in the vetting process.
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Brian Kilmeade
The firm sent us a thing and
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Howie Kurtz
it had some of the posts, but
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Mike Rogers
it didn't have all of them.
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Brian Kilmeade
And he just giggled through it.
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Howie Kurtz
They promised to go through liberals, Brian. Yeah, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, who looked the other way. I mean, the, the Nazi tattoo. One of the ex girlfriends said. Yeah, we discussed it and he knew what it was. That was a giant neon red light about this guy's candidacy was gonna be in trouble. And of course, the reason we're spending so much time talking about it is if the Democrats don't remain, and I think Susan Collins's chances of getting reelected again are improved by this whole fiasco, then they can't. There's no way they can take control of the Senate. But yeah, a lot of people fell for the act. And I don't think he showed even a modicum of grace in pulling out of the race.
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Brian Kilmeade
Yeah, I mean, if you want to hear some of that, we did. We took the whole thing. I don't even think CNN took the whole thing. Here's why he said. So all this stuff comes out and we don't even. Evidently there's another woman that's coming forward. I'm not sure if she's still going to do it. And then, of course, you have the revelations on the teen site that he only got off of a few weeks ago. Here's what he said, though, that he's getting out. Cut 31.
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Graham Platner
Much like October when the first attack started, much like the news that was created the week before the primary. There is a reason that this is happening now. I only have until July 13th until I am officially the nominee. This was the last week to try to get me off of the ballot. And that's why this is occurring. It's not the false allegations though, that have brought us to where we are. It's the fact that they are being used by the political establishment to put structural power pressure on us. We live in a political system that is not built for normal people. It is a system that is built structurally to make sure that movements like ours cannot flourish. That if they begin to succeed, they can be crushed.
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Brian Kilmeade
You think he even believes this? Do you think he believes this now?
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Howie Kurtz
Boo hoo. You know, look, I guess he's trying to go out with a blast at everybody else. It's the Democratic Party establishment. The Democrats were behind this guy until supporting him became untenable. And then Elizabeth Warren and the others say, oh yeah, you know, we gotta run the other way. He continues to deny this book. No, now that we have. These are people who are ex girlfriends of his. There are texts, there are photos. The idea that he would say that none of this happened absolutely doesn't pass the smell test.
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Brian Kilmeade
So when you have another problematic candidate, in my view, and that's Abdul Syed, I mean, he called himself a doctor. He's not even a doctor. People say, well, what's the big deal? And then we have his radical views. Basically, we deserve 9 11. You know, he said he's not a socialist, but almost everything he stands for is socialist. He also trumpets the positiveness about Sharia law. So I mean, just take a listen to some of what he said. When pressed. Are you even. And by the way, this is the leading Democratic contender to be the Democratic nominee to go against Mike Rogers and try to keep that seat for Democrats. So it's an extremely impactful seat. Cut 30. Cut 39.
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Mike Rogers
You got attacked by your rivals for calling yourself a physician, not just a doctor, even though you don't have a valid state medical license in New York or Michigan, which apparently is what you need legally to call yourself a physician. Do you wish you just stuck to calling yourself a doctor, which you are, to avoid all of this controversy and attacks on your physician status?
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Abdul El Said
You know, at the end of the day, it's not about whether or not I'm a physician or a doctor. The question is, can you see a doctor? It's not about my education. It's about whether or not your kid
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Brian Kilmeade
gets good at education.
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Abdul El Said
So I'm just not studying.
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Mike Rogers
That's a good line. But people would say it's also about. Did you tell the truth?
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Abdul El Said
Well, I would say that I was the health director for the city of Detroit and I've done more to provide more people health care or eliminate their medical debt than most doctors have done in their practice career.
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Brian Kilmeade
Is that an answer, fake doctor?
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Howie Kurtz
I don't care what the hell he calls himself. What troubles me with these socialists who have won in places like New York with the help of Zohar Mamdani and even in Colorado is, I mean, they're kind of a fringe element, but they've said some really ugly things, including saying that Israel doesn't have a right to exist, saying defund the police, defund the prisons. You know, they try to dance around it now and so they getting so much publicity. As I understand, it's not the whole Democratic Party, but it's certainly ruining the image of the Democratic Party pushing the party to the left, especially the anti Israel stuff. And you know, in a low turnout primary they're able to get more voters out. But you know, it's also true, I think that the Democrats, sadly, from my point of view, are becoming an anti Israel party. This become kind of a litmus test. And you know, Israel has its faults. And you were talking earlier about, you know, you can criticize the Netanyahu government, but it's our ally against horrible terror states like Iran.
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Brian Kilmeade
So yeah, I want you to hear what he said about Israel. Do they have a right to exist? Cut 42.
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Abdul El Said
The question about a right to exist. It's interesting because nobody's ever asked me whether or not I believe Palestine has
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Brian Kilmeade
a right to exist.
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Abdul El Said
Every single president who served has said that they believe in a two state solution. Israel exists. The question is whether or not we want a politics where our money is sent over to Israel to do genocide and apartheid instead of investing in our own kids.
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Doug Schoen
You say it exists, but does it
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Victoria Coats
have a right to?
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Abdul El Said
I didn't say that. I just said the question of Israel's existence is not a question. I'm not, I'm not gonna play this gotcha game about whether or not it has a right to exist.
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Brian Kilmeade
It's a really simple answer.
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Howie Kurtz
There's yes and there's no. It's not a gotcha game. And you know, a lot of them use this phrase, from the river to the sea, which means we have a map in which the Israelis have a right to exist. Now I think the Palestinians need a territory too, and Bibi hasn't been very hot on that. But boy, you know when somebody's trying to dance around a question and the question gets asked three times and you don't get a straight answer, I think a little light bulb should Go off.
- [29:43]
Brian Kilmeade
Howie's also the extreme right. There's an extreme right in the. In the Republican Party that doesn't seem pro Israel, very anti Israel. What's going on here?
- [29:53]
Howie Kurtz
That's troubling to me, that it's not only limited to the Democratic Party, but, you know, the idea that there are some on the extreme right who also look the other way. For example, all of the scandalous allegations against Ken Paxton, who was impeached by his own party in Texas but acquitted, had settled federal charges. You know, if you flip the party id, Brian, if Ken Paxton was a Democrat, the Republicans would be all over him. And if Graham Platner had been a Republican, the Democrats would have been all over him. So this is no shortage of hypocrisy in politics. But I think the ones with the real trouble now, since the GOP controls everything, including the White House, is these upcoming midterms, and they look like they were sort of on a glide path, and now I think they're in real trouble, in part because of exactly what we're talking about.
- [30:49]
Brian Kilmeade
And just for the record, I think John Koon is one of the classiest guys in Washington. You know, he's a very good guy. Former judge, just wants to get things done. I think it really, really hurt the Republican. They thought he was a friend. I think it really was a gut punch to the Republican Party when president went for Paxson over him, and Paxton ends up getting it. But then people have told me in Texas he was gonna get it anyway.
- [31:17]
Howie Kurtz
Well, everybody hates incumbents now. There are a lot of frustrated voters, particularly on the Democratic side, who feel like all they get from Washington is hot air and promises that are never kept. So fairly or unfairly, some very good members are going down or have gone down, because no matter how good a record they might have, depending on your political point of view, they. They seem like they're part of the establishment.
- [31:44]
Brian Kilmeade
Howie, do you. Do you think that'll ever. From your experience in Washington, do you think that it would ever be a plus for someone to start cutting deals, let's say, on immigration, on. On missile defense, the golden dome, for example? Do you ever see a time when we're kind of, what, during the Clinton era? Maybe it was out of necessity. Both sides are kind of working together. It was in vogue. Do you see a time in which that comes back?
- [32:12]
Howie Kurtz
I wish I could say yes, but everything is so polarized right now, Brian. I mean, there was a bipartisan bill that easily passed from both parties to help people with housing and then Donald Trump is going to sign it. And he says, no, I'm not going to sign this until you give me this other bill, the Save America bill. So I think the American people, the bulk of them, people who are not sort of hard core partisans of either the right or the left, would love to see some cooperation and get things done. I mean, the Republicans have the concern of saying, what are they gonna run on for the last year and a half, how many bills have they delivered other than the Epstein files and all the things that have been talked about, all those controversies? So I think there'll come a time, but it's not gonna be for the next couple years. Everything is, it's all about demonizing the other side. And a lot of this takes place online. Average voters on X or Instagram or Snapchat all the time. But I'm not optimistic. It just seems like a swamp, as the president once called it.
- [33:10]
Brian Kilmeade
His podcast, the Media Buzz Meter. Howie Kurtz, always great to have you on. Appreciate it.
- [33:15]
Howie Kurtz
Thank you, Brian.
- [33:16]
Brian Kilmeade
You got it. Listen, we'll take a short time out and take some calls. 1-866-408-7669. You listen to the Brian Kilmeade Show. Don't move.
- [33:23]
Where big stories meet bigger conversations. Stay informed and energized with the Brian Kilmeade show. Radio. That makes you think this is the Brian Kilmeade Show.
- [33:48]
Rahm Emanuel
I have been urging the Trump administration and Pentagon to invest more in our partnership so that our military can learn the lessons of, of this war in Ukraine and so that our country can benefit from their technologies to defend everything from civilian infrastructure like football stadiums and water systems to our military bases and embassies in the Middle east and in our home country. I'm hopeful that they'll make progress on that this year. It has strong bipartisan support.
- [34:16]
Brian Kilmeade
And by the way, he's talking about Ukraine, Senator Chris Coons. And they have done that. And no offense, Senator, that was a positive statement, but they are doing that already without your help. And it was, along with our intelligence apparatus has helped coach and execute Ukraine's push to blow up the refineries inside Russia and has flat out been a game changer with the amount of drones and defensive drones and attack drones that they've been able to put together. Along with blowing up the Navy, which they blew up two other they blew up another two ships yesterday. They have been hitting drone strikes. They took out, they've been hitting drone strikes regularly, blew up a bunch of vessels over the last three days. They also thanks to Zelensky had a great line. He was asked about having talks with Putin in Moscow. He says, I won't go to Moscow. It's too dangerous with all the Ukrainian drones flying around. It's true. They're actually blowing up things in the nation's capital. Why? Cuz they want to make them uncomfortable in places that want to ignore the fact that they're at war. And the Russians wanted the normal people to not think they're at war. But their economy is so anemic. Instead of growing at 1.4%, which is terrible, it is now growing at 0.4%. 91 million. 91 million. Business. Excuse me, 91,000 businesses have gone bankrupt. Can't make their payments to banks now. Think about this. You got banks lending to businesses. If the businesses can't pay the banks back, then the banks can take their assets. But it never adds up. So that's going to compound itself and maybe put them into crisis. Yesterday, it became clear the president spoke to Vladimir Putin on Saturday because he likes speaking before the. He likes speaking to the president before the president speaks with Zelensky. And this time it didn't work. They spoke for 45 minutes. The Russian president didn't get off the phone. Happy. And when President Trump had a chance to see the Ukrainian president up close and personal, he was extremely nice. Cut 24.
- [36:17]
S
Will you allow Europe to make Patriot interceptors in Europe?
- [36:21]
Brian Kilmeade
Are you comfortable with licensing that technology?
- [36:24]
S
Patriot interceptors to be made in Europe.
- [36:27]
President Donald Trump
And you're talking with respect to Ukraine? Well, we're going to talk about that. Look, it's a defensive weapon, which I like better than an offensive weapon. It's the best. So what are the things that. Things we're going to be talking about is you'll. We're going to give a license to you to make Patriots. That's pretty cool. Right this way. You can't complain that we're not giving them enough. I'd say make them yourself. We haven't informed the company of that yet, but that'll. That'll work out all right. You know, they'll be thrilled, but, you know, they'll be able to do it. You'll be able to figure that out.
- [37:02]
Brian Kilmeade
He said. Went on to say Zelensky's done an amazing job and he's extremely effective leader. So they're going to give license to make the Patriots. The way I understand it, it'll still take about a year to get it going. So in the short term, they need some batteries now. It'll work. Because everything else, they are moving on all cylinders. They are really punishing our enemy and that is Russia. Listen to Brian Kilman show. Can't wait to see you in person Saturday night in Pensacola streamed on FOX Nation. Go to Brian kilmeade.com and order tickets. Pensacola, Florida,
- [37:35]
from high atop FOX News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kilmeade, everyone.
- [37:48]
Welcome to 48th and 6th in Midtown Manhattan where I'm in a structurally sound building, thankfully. This is the Brian Kilmeade Show. We got a big hour coming your way. Jason Chaffetz is in studio. He's getting set to go. We also have this hour Tom Carrick. He's director of missile Defense Project and senior fellow with the Defense and Security Department and Center for Strategic International Studies. And keep in mind one of the hottest things right now is can the Ukrainians build the Patriot missile with the licenses quickly and get them into theater. Word is it will take about a year. We'll see what Tom has to say about that. But first let's get to the big three.
- [38:23]
Bill
Number three, it was important to be there and to see the actual facts laid out. Bill, because there was so much stuff that, you know, amidst the noise and the Internet chatter that was laid out that, you know, I had never heard and makes this case very cut and dry.
- [38:38]
Brian Kilmeade
I wouldn't need to see this, but now we can all see it. Charlie Kirk murder hearings are continuing. Anyone with a half a brain will see that all the conspiracy theories that don't lead, that don't lead to Tyler Robinson acting alone or flat out foolish, just delusional and damaging to him and his family. We're going to bring you the latest.
- [38:58]
John Fetterman
Number two, the trash took itself out. Tonight. People in Maine have a chance to really vote on someone that's not a total a piece of trash. Adios, trash bag.
- [39:12]
Brian Kilmeade
Senator John Fetterman weighing in on Graham Platner. He is gone. What are they going to do to replace him? Another anti Democratic move. We'll discuss it. After all, he got 72% of the vote in Maine despite all his problems and his tattoos. Number one, the basic deal that we cut was we'll lift our blockade if
- [39:31]
Energy Expert
you stop shooting at ships. But if you shoot at ships, we're
- [39:34]
Brian Kilmeade
going to knock the hell out of them. And it's that simple. It's not that simple. And the thing that the MOU is terrible and set us up for this collapse. Here we go again. US hits 150 sites in Iran in 48 hours as the MOU is history and never worth the two pages it was printed on. Meanwhile, Iran still won't give up the straight why an escalation is in the cards and its effect on prices that you pay in the short term. Keep in mind, too, you could always get this on the YouTube channel, YouTube.com@thebrian kilmeichow. So, Congressman, are you surprised that we're back at it again in Iran? 48, 90 sites last night?
- [40:11]
Energy Expert
No. Look, I think overwhelming force is the only language that they speak. I think you need to keep beating the living daylights out of them until the firing stops. And I think President Trump, I think we're going to find out long term that his mission, his time in Turkey is well spent, because my guess is there was a lot of conversation about, hey, Europe, you got to step up and do this. It shouldn't all be the United States.
- [40:37]
Vice President
Right?
- [40:37]
Brian Kilmeade
I haven't done nothing. When the President emerged, he said, I felt a lot of love in that room. Before he went in, he said, the only reason I'm here is at a friendship to Erdogan. So I didn't see what bridge the gap. But he said he also even had a good conversation with the President of France. Excuse me, not France, Spain, who he was saying we should cut off all trade with.
- [40:56]
Energy Expert
Yeah. No, I think the message to Spain was important. The meeting with Zelensky about, hey, Ukraine, Ukraine's hitting Russia like they've never hit him before. I love it. I think it's absolutely great. It's a necessity. And don't think that Greenland is off the table, because I know that the president is keen on having some sort of working better relationship with Greenland because it's such a strategic imperative for the United States.
- [41:27]
Brian Kilmeade
So talking about Ukraine, Trump spoke to both Putin and Zelensky by phone on Saturday. And the fact is, you know, Putin likes to talk to the president right before he talks about Ukraine or talks to Zelensky. So to get him all incensed and let him think that Zelensky is the criminal and that they're losing, well, the thing is, it's he that is losing. They have lost a kilometer in the battlefield and they've lost an average of 32,000amonth. And this is, they say for every six dead Russians is one dead Ukrainian. And they're aiming for civilians, not even aiming for soldiers. So the President came out and said he's been extremely effective as a leader, done an amazing job. Here's Victoria Coats cut 28.
- [42:08]
Victoria Coats
No, this is critical. And this is 18 months of President Trump's approach to Ukraine, which is the mirror opposite of what Biden was doing. And bear in mind, President Zelensky was asking President Biden for these, this license for the PAC3, the Patriot Interceptors, to be able to manufacture those in Ukraine. Now, I understand there are some sensitivities around this very elevated technology. We want to make sure this is an export. Okay, if you will, version of this that they can do. But this is the sort of thing, as you said, it allows Ukraine to defend itself rather than the American taxpayer being on the hook for as much as it takes, as long as it takes. President Trump is bold enough to take this step, and I think this could be decisive for Ukraine. And the other important point here is we get a cut of this 20 or 25% of their production. We get. They replenish our stocks rather than we dilute our suppliers.
- [43:03]
Brian Kilmeade
So if Raytheon gives them the patent, they'll. Which I think they will. They'll be able to sell them the parts and they'll put them together.
- [43:09]
Energy Expert
Yeah, no, it's critical. I've seen these things. I've taken a tour. It's pretty. Pretty amazing technology. We have other technologies as well, but this is important for the defense. But what I'm really excited about, which is hard to see because we don't always get video of it, is the offense that, that, that the fight that Ukraine is taking to Russia because they're hitting him well inside Russia. They're hitting to the point where Russia's having to cut off the idea that they can even export oil at this point.
- [43:41]
General Jack Keane
Right.
- [43:42]
Brian Kilmeade
Blowing up the refineries. I'm pretty sure that was U.S. intelligence that told them they aim for that. Don't even blame for the tankers, aim for the refineries. And now they have. They have a shortage inside their country, and they can't even draft people.
- [43:52]
Energy Expert
That's the only way they make money in Russia.
- [43:54]
Brian Kilmeade
Right.
- [43:54]
Energy Expert
So they're hitting them where it hurts. And I don't know at what point Putin looks at that and says, all right, this is just too much. But, you know, he's ruthless.
- [44:04]
Brian Kilmeade
He is. And he's never really been lived up to his word or backed out of a conflict.
- [44:09]
Rahm Emanuel
Yeah.
- [44:10]
Brian Kilmeade
You know, he left Syria because he wanted to focus on Ukraine. Then Assad collapses, and that allowed Syria to have a leader that doesn't hate Israel, and we have just removed him from the terror watch list. Even though the leader, El Shara, was Al Qaeda.
- [44:26]
Energy Expert
Yeah, that is A very interesting move. They have a great opportunity in Syria. I'm, I'm, I hope that there's some serious news coverage about all the. I went up into Jordan and looked at the, I went to one camp where there were 90,000 Syrian refugees. I wonder what's happened to that camp at this point. And the other thing we need to look at in terms of what's going on in that world is how many opportunities are there for the President to reconfigure the entire Middle east, because he's doing that. But Ukraine's playing offense and that drone technology is real.
- [45:05]
Brian Kilmeade
That is real. Now let's talk about opening up the strait and how you go about doing it. Yesterday he hit 90 separate sites. The president basically says, we're done with the mou.
- [45:15]
Doug Schoen
Cut to why are you apparently unable to end the Iran war?
- [45:22]
President Donald Trump
So I think we're doing just the opposite. The Iran war has been a tremendous military success. And, you know, I can only answer the question by saying they're not going to have a nuclear weapon. We denuclearize Iran and that's happened. They will never have a nuclear weapon.
- [45:39]
Brian Kilmeade
But they do have pickaxe. It hasn't been touched. And there, there is buried uranium and they do not want to release the strait. ISW says today Iran is trying to coerce their Arab neighbors, Gulf State neighbors into backing up their push to control the strait.
- [45:55]
Energy Expert
Yeah, I don't think that's going to be successful. I think President Trump is accomplishing mission A, which was to make sure they do not a nuclear weapon, nor can they develop one. This is a long term project. This is not. Hey, we're done. Wipe our hands. Okay? We get to move away. I like the fact that we're not putting boots on the ground. I understand that. I think that's an imperative. But I think our presence there, even more limited perhaps in the future, has got to be constant. But again, I hope the message to our NATO partners is step up, do what you're supposed to be doing, because they have been problematic to say the least. And that's a negotiation that the President, I'm sure is, is ongoing. He's talking about it nicely because there was a lot of love in that room as he mentioned. But there is a lot more that needs to be done to get our NATO partners to step up.
- [46:45]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah, so they blew up 21 vessels yesterday. They blew up missile and defense systems. They blew up the coastal. Everything they could find in the coastal, coastal of the coast of the Hormuz Strait of Hormuz and they blew up an air defense system. So they're hitting a bunch of sites. They know where they're going. I would like to see them start targeting some of the leadership and maybe they'll realize I'm next. Maybe I should deal with come to the table. As Ambassador Dennis Ross brought up, he said this is the deal that MOU to me is so terrible but it's the best deal Iran could ever have hoped for. They're being so stupid even for them by breaching it cuz they were able to bring in oil at full price, they were able to get there on track to unfreeze funds. How could that not be in their interest? Are they that stupid?
- [47:32]
Energy Expert
I think they are that stupid. They are so solely focused. But I think this is largely a political document to try to get the world to understand why the United States is having to do what it is doing.
- [47:44]
Brian Kilmeade
Are you talking about the mou?
- [47:45]
Energy Expert
Yeah, because the MOU just shows that hey look, we're trying, we're trying to come up with it but every time they breach it, the United States looks like they're being the reasonable one at the table. Which is true. And I think that's important to the Europeans and others. I know most Americans say I don't give a crap, but you have, if you want to turn over a lot of the responsibility the Europeans, you've got to win the argument. It's what Margaret Thatcher said, first you win the argument, then you go out and get the votes. It's exactly that strategy.
- [48:15]
Brian Kilmeade
Do you think the President should have done that? Made the argument stronger?
- [48:18]
Energy Expert
No, I think he's been making the argument. I don't think it's one thing you do in one hour and then the next hour it's done. The President has shown restraint, but he's also showing a willingness to try to work with them and try to bring the. And that it's not about the Iran, Iranian people, it's about their leadership and the mullet, you know and you know it's hard to tell who the leaders are because we decimated the first. I don't know hundred of them. So who are these people? But yeah, you have to try to come up with a political document as well.
- [48:50]
Brian Kilmeade
Are you worried about our relationship with Saudi Arabia? They didn't show up at the G7. They evidently are trying to do a reconciliation overture over to Iran. I mean I know they're not exactly Great Britain or Israel, but I was expecting a little bit more stay with it than they. As soon as their Guys got hit. He wanted to call it quits.
- [49:11]
Energy Expert
Here's where I have great confidence. President Trump is very hands on. He takes these relationships very personally. And these are personal discussions that he has with the leaders of each of these countries. I've had the unique and honorable opportunity to be in the Oval Office a few times where a world leader will call and he'll answer the phone and talk to him right there in real time and then get back to the conversation. He'll just have a four or five minute conversation. He's always accessible. My guess is he is talking to the senior leadership in Saudi Arabia. That is a personal relationship that has been built over years and it is something that Donald Trump does better than any president we've probably ever had.
- [49:49]
Brian Kilmeade
So is it time to put Marco Rubio in charge of these negotiations if there are even more talks over J.D. vance?
- [49:58]
Energy Expert
I. I don't know how to answer that because I'm a huge Marco Rubio fan. I would have him lead out on all of this. It's not to disparage the Vice President or anything else, but I think Marco Rubio doing what he's doing is just pitch perfect.
- [50:12]
Brian Kilmeade
But it's Cuba.
- [50:13]
Energy Expert
There's Cuba, there's Cuba, there's Venezuela.
- [50:16]
Doug Schoen
Right.
- [50:17]
Brian Kilmeade
But I mean, he does not have, there's Asia. He does not have the Middle east and he does not have, he does not have Ukraine. I would be much more comfortable if he was the coach and maybe put different teams in there. Don't you think? He's got to be more than just two guys handling Ukraine, Gaza and this.
- [50:34]
Energy Expert
The President has to make that decision. I hope someday we're able to call Marco Rubio the President of the United States. Did you always think that I was on Team Rubio? A long time ago I was traveling with Marco. I went with him to Nevada, South Carolina, New Hampshire. I mean, I was running. Oh yeah, I traveled with him a lot. I was the warm up act and you know, it didn't go well.
- [50:58]
Brian Kilmeade
He's even better now. Oh, he's always good on his feet.
- [51:01]
Energy Expert
He's always good. Look, I've known him since he was in the Senate. I've had countless number of dinners with him. He's just the real deal. It's funny, but he's competent. He knows. And he's just a proud American and he knows his stuff and he's able to articulate it. I hope someday he is a President of the United States.
- [51:20]
Brian Kilmeade
Maybe sooner than you think.
- [51:22]
Victoria Coats
Yeah.
- [51:22]
Brian Kilmeade
Jason Tape. It's here for a few More minutes. Jason, what are you doing? TV today.
- [51:27]
Energy Expert
So I'm on the big money show and then. Yeah, I just. It was on.
- [51:31]
Brian Kilmeade
You have time?
- [51:31]
Energy Expert
Oh, yes.
- [51:32]
Brian Kilmeade
All right, back in a moment.
- [51:34]
Big guests, bold opinions, better information. This is the Brian Kilmeade Show. Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kilmeat Show.
- [51:58]
Hey, we are back. Just a few more minutes with Jason Chavis. Jason Graham platner implodes now. 600 people gonna get together. Maynard's gonna get together and pick somebody else. So why are they doing this? Is it because he's trailing Susan Collins already?
- [52:13]
Howie Kurtz
Yeah.
- [52:13]
Energy Expert
Yes. These are supposedly the best stewards of democracy, that Donald Trump's the threat to democracy. Look how they picked their presidential candidate. This guy goes al Platin gets 72% of the vote. And now all of a sudden, even after the tattoos, other accusations of some really nefarious stuff. All of a sudden, days before the deadline, they decide to make a change that doesn't smell right. I think they're gonna handpick this person and they don't wanna have a vote from the people. It's just unbelie. But I do think since Susan Collins is gonna prevail, she looks like the steady hand.
- [52:50]
Brian Kilmeade
But don't you think that it's gonna be harder now because he was such a flawed candidate? Can they really pick someone more flawed than this guy?
- [52:57]
Energy Expert
Well, there's very little time to actually do some due diligence cuz those, those ballots are gonna go out before we know it, you know, in September or October, like Democrats, they have to answer to the voters there in Maine. But I think Susan Collins, who's not a Trump person, is going to ultimately prevail. There's a reason why we call her Madam Chair and she has won so many elections.
- [53:18]
Brian Kilmeade
But here's the thing about what's happening with the Democrats now. Win or lose, this guy says, well, I wasn't a. He said he wasn't a DSA guy, but everything about him was a DSA guy. Plus Bernie Sanders had him. Congressman Debbie Dingell brought this up yesterday before the implosion of Platner. But even though he should have left, he had waited to the end of the night. Cut 36.
- [53:40]
S
I don't think that the DSA is painting us into corners. I think everybody in this country, Republican and Democrats, think that Social Security is very critical for many people. Sure. My father in law was one of the authors of Social Security and was called a communist. Now I don't agree with some of the Things I've heard the candidates say in New York. I don't agree with everything either Haley or Abdul have said. They're both colleagues, they're both friends. And I'm neutral in this race. But we do have a big tent and people. Now, I want to talk about Maine and Graham Plantner and I would not endorse them in May because I'm someone who has spent my life fighting for domestic violence and sexual violence and got a lot of grief from Democrats.
- [54:27]
Brian Kilmeade
So she says DSA is not a problem. She's talking herself in circles.
- [54:30]
Energy Expert
But hey, in 60 seconds, she talked about everything in the world for. And somehow Social Security made it in there. And then we were talking about Maine, they were talking about the Michigan race. Come on, Congresswoman, that is just jibber jabbing because you don't have a straight answer. This is the problem that all the Democrats are having from coast to coast. Oh, I'm going to be neutral in this race. Really? You're neutral? Michigan Senate race. You know that the selection there is going to swing things in one direction or another. I think the Democrats don't know what to do with the. Bernie. When I first in Congress, Bernie Sanders was a joke. I mean, he was just like literally laughable. And now he's leading the Democratic Party. Chuck Schumer is like a political dead man walking.
- [55:16]
Brian Kilmeade
Mark Halpern thinks that Bernie Sanders is the odds on person to be the next nominee for the Democrats. Do you believe that?
- [55:23]
Energy Expert
78 years old, he gets the biggest audiences. He drives so much of the equation. But I'm telling you, the party leaders, look what they do with Platner. I mean, I don't trust him. I don't trust him.
- [55:37]
Brian Kilmeade
All right, I trust you, Jason. Congressman Jason Chaffetz. You'll see him all over the channel. And you'll see him here again, of course. And where do we get your podcast?
- [55:45]
Energy Expert
Jason in the House. Jason in the House.
- [55:47]
Brian Kilmeade
And he was in the House, but soon he's gonna have to leave. Brian Kilmer,
- [56:03]
The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmeade.
- [56:08]
President Donald Trump
We have patriots, but we don't have that many. We need them for ourselves, too, you know, some, yeah. I mean, some. But I think they can produce them pretty quickly. Once we explain PLANET will bring the company here to work with the company. They have a great ability to produce weapons, pretty complex weapons.
- [56:29]
Brian Kilmeade
That is the president saluting Ukraine for their ability to innovate and now giving them licenses to go work with Raytheon in order to build their own Patriot missiles while giving 20% of their stock back to us that they construct. But how long will that actually take? What does that look like? Tom Carricko joins us now. Missile defense from the Missile Defense Project, a senior fellow with the Defense and Security Department at the center for Strategic and International Studies. Tom, how do you feel about this move by the President?
- [56:58]
Tom Carrick
Yeah, hey, Brian, look, it's a good move. It's a good move in particular because I think first of all signals a different posture towards Ukraine, first and foremost, in terms of, at least in principle, helping them out more than we have been. I think that we've, we've seen from the president in a couple different occasions and indication, obviously being impressed with Ukraine's ability to push back and attack the Russians, including, by the way, deep into Russia, which is very effective and important in terms of imposing costs on them. In terms of the very specific question, you'll look, building up Patriot production facilities is probably going to take time. As other folks have pointed out, it will immediately be a target for Russia. So they may have to put it underground or something like that, harden it in some manner. I mean, in normal circumstances, it would probably take a couple years to do that. Ukraine doesn't really have a couple years. It's also unclear. Are these PAC Twos GEMT missiles made by Raytheon? Are these PAC threes made by Lockheed? That's a little unclear, but I think at this point the important thing is that change of posture.
- [58:09]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah, the president said some nice things yesterday. He's done an amazing job. He's extremely effective. He took a call from Vladimir Putin and he didn't budge to the point where evidently Putin was kind of upset. Upset, which is good. Anytime Putin's upset, I'm happy. So what they've done, using drones, blowing up refineries. Tom Kariko, tell me, as a military move, what do you think of it?
- [58:32]
Tom Carrick
Well, it's a good thing. It's imposing costs. It's affecting, frankly, money is a sinuous war. And to be affecting Russia's energy market, their massive source of income for them, that's going to have an effect. Now, having said that, Russia is built to hunker down. Their industry is on a wartime footing. They've been building up all this stuff for the past couple of years like there's no tomorrow. So, you know, it's not a silver bullet. But, you know, Zelensky was sitting with the president and the president asked him, would you go visit Moscow? And Zelensky said, well, no, it's kind of dangerous there's all these Ukrainian drones flying around. That's a good thing. That's also a good thing in terms of imposing costs, keeping the Russians, getting them to keep their head down, things like, so how short are we on
- [59:25]
Brian Kilmeade
the Thaad missile system and the Patriot missiles, the different batteries? How bad is the situation? Why is it taking so long? Is it there one component in particular? Is it a money situation?
- [59:38]
Tom Carrick
It's a couple things. First and foremost, it's because we've shot a bunch of them in Operation Epic Fury. And by a lot, I mean a lot in terms of catching all of the missiles that the Iranians, or at least many of the missiles that the Iranians have been shooting at US Bases at Israel, things like that. It is a very significant fraction of our overall inventory. And historically, these have taken a couple years, frankly, it's always a big chunk of that time is getting them on contract and the customer behavior in that sense. But you are correct, it is also about money. And unfortunately, the Pentagon has laid out this great plan for munitions ramp, kind of announced it in January and February with what missiles they were pursuing, both offensive and defensive as prioritized munitions. But here's the problem, Ryan. Almost none of that is on contract. And the reason is there's not the money from Congress. So the question of a supplemental to pay for the war, but also most importantly, to get all of these munitions that need to be ramped up, that needs to begin, that needs to pass. It needs to pass in this fiscal year 2026. It probably won't at this point based on the tea leaves, but it really needs to happen now. And you know what? When Congress is going to go on recess in August, we're talking about weeks here. We've got a window of this month that they really need to act to, to get all this stuff going.
- [61:07]
Brian Kilmeade
Well, I understand we have $950 billion. We want 1.5 trillion. I get it. But this is not a 2025 or 26 problem. This has been a problem really since 2021 that I've been starting here about missile defense. And we're. And we got all these customers that will want to pay.
- [61:25]
Tom Carrick
You are correct. It has been a problem we've talked about on this show many times over the years. But, you know, you have to. You have to have the contracts, you have to have the money to buy it. There's the line for patriots is out the door and around the block from the 18 different countries in the world that want it. Everybody wants more of it. And right now the priority is going to be as a very practical matter, replenishing U.S. stocks. And yes, the 1.5 trillion. That's a request so far. That's not appropriate. That's fiscal year 27 that's hopefully coming, but it's not appropriate yet. So we can't count those chickens just yet either. But appropriations are for specific things. It's not just a big pot of money. They have to go request permission from Congress if they want to reprogram large sums of funds.
- [62:19]
Brian Kilmeade
Right. So I mean, Democrats, would they be standing in the way on this? They would probably do that because they don't like the Iran war, but they would be. I'm wondering if they're going to say where'd the money go from last year?
- [62:32]
Tom Carrick
Well, it went to good things. The 26 munitions money went to good things. But that's not what we're talking about here. More is needed to do all the replacement that we're talking about. I actually think the sense on Capitol Hill of the munitions problem is, is a bipartisan one. It's kind of hard to deny that the United States of America, Democrat or Republican, for our various deterrence and defense goals. We need this stuff. We need the Tomahawks, we need the long range strike and we need the air and missile defenses. That's, that's not really a polarizing issue. Unfortunately, there is some aspects of it that are polarizing, including for the 2027 funds. It's all in essentially the reconciliation pot. And so something's going to have to give, something's going to have to change. Probably it probably happened in the lame duck for 2027, but in the near term, and this is where it does get a little bit prickly at the moment because of the concern about the war. That's what's holding up, I think the 2026 supplemental. And that's, that's unfortunate.
- [63:42]
Brian Kilmeade
Holding up the 2026.
- [63:43]
General Jack Keane
Wow.
- [63:43]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah. It's a shame because they do have to explain it. They gotta do it. And it's a shame because Democrats and Republicans all realize that Iran's a threat and it always has been a threat. But this is the first administration take them on militarily.
- [63:58]
Tom Carrick
Sure, sure.
- [64:00]
Brian Kilmeade
And so let's talk about, if we can, the drone situation. Where are we at with drone production?
- [64:07]
Tom Carrick
Yeah. So this is interesting. The Pentagon just announced a new kind of czar for drone production. Not unlike there's this one person in charge, direct reporting to the Deputy Secretary of War, Steve Feinberg for Golden Dome, for submarines, things like that that's a very good, I would say, initiative in terms of defense acquisition reform. And so now they've announced one person to be in charge of drones. Not just UAVs, not just aerial drones, but also undersea and surface drones, things like that.
- [64:42]
Dennis Ross
That's a good development.
- [64:43]
Tom Carrick
I'm hopeful that they will have the author be empowered to go out and just build a bunch of stuff. We've seen the importance of masks in all of these conflicts and we've admired the problem for a long time. We have studied the problem. We intellectually understand the need for masks. Now we actually have to go do it.
- [65:01]
Brian Kilmeade
So I want you to hear what Senator Chris Coons said and recommended. Tell me if we're doing this already. Cut 27.
- [65:06]
Rahm Emanuel
I have been urging the Trump administration and Pentagon to invest more in our partnership so that our military can learn the lessons of this war in Ukraine and so that our country can benefit from their technologies to defend everything from civilian infrastructure like football stadiums and water systems to our military bases and embassies in the Middle east and in our home country. I'm hopeful that they'll make progress on that this year. It has strong bipartisan support.
- [65:35]
Brian Kilmeade
So can you tell me about this cooperation?
- [65:38]
Tom Carrick
Yeah, look, I think it's a good thing, I will say. The Pentagon actually released yesterday the joint Task Force 401 is in charge of basically countering drones defending the football stadiums that he referenced there, that kind of stuff. They actually just released a 100 page book, very readable for the, for the layman about, you know, how to think about drone defense and I recommend taking a look at that. So look, I think the sense, the felt sense that we have to look up that the skies, we can't take air superiority for granted. That I think is also a widely and a bipartisan issue. And I'm hopeful that not only in terms of the acquisition moves, putting somebody in charge of building a bunch of drones and counter drones, but also just frankly, this is adjacent, this is an issue directly adjacent to the golden dome for higher end air and missile threats as well.
- [66:35]
Brian Kilmeade
Do you think that we're going to see a cheaper Patriot Thaad missile system system, something that's a little bit more accessible?
- [66:44]
Tom Carrick
Possibly. The, the, the army actually just held an industry day on desire for lower cost interceptors. I think it's, you're not going to get away from the need for exquisite capability. And the reason is some of the threats are exquisite and we can't just sort of wish away the problem of really sophisticated maneuvering, ballistic or hypersonic threats and countering those things are going to, it's going to be challenging. We also want super high reliability and things like that. But no, I think there is, there's a number of lines of effort in the different services to get after the somewhat less, less capable, cheaper solutions. And I think especially for the counter drone threats and for the lower end, let's just say cruise missile threats, you know, that's, those are not as complex, those are not as, you know, eye watering rocket surgery to be able to contend with with. So I think there's, there's a lot of room for the lower end, lower cost interceptors for a lot of the, a lot of the threat spectrum.
- [67:48]
Brian Kilmeade
All right, thanks, Tom. It's going to be an interesting time. Tom Carico, appreciate you joining us.
- [67:53]
Tom Carrick
Always, pleasure.
- [67:54]
Brian Kilmeade
Director, immediate missile defense project us in the Brian Kilmeich show. 1-866-408-7669 I'll talk about a way forward to Maine. Also talk about this Michigan race, Mike Rogers sitting waiting for an opponent. Opponent Abdul Syed might be that opponent. What he said in the past is stunning, staggering, but yet he's winning. Don't move.
- [68:13]
The headlines, the stories behind them and the people who make them only on the Brian Kill Me show, The talk show that's getting you talking, you're with Brian Kilmeade is about normalizing, putting government
- [68:36]
Abdul El Said
thugs on our streets against the Constitution itself.
- [68:42]
Brian Kilmeade
And maybe it's because I ran government
- [68:45]
Abdul El Said
agencies, but I can tell you that once a culture of impunity sets in,
- [68:49]
Brian Kilmeade
there is no reform. What do you tell an agent who
- [68:53]
Josh Holmes
used a child as bait?
- [68:55]
Abdul El Said
I mean, can you imagine the PowerPoints that you'd have to design? No, don't take the kid.
- [69:00]
Brian Kilmeade
You cannot reform this.
- [69:02]
Abdul El Said
You cannot retrain this.
- [69:03]
Brian Kilmeade
The only logical path is to abolish ice. What a clown, right? But not unusual. Everybody on the left says that. El Said, Abdul El Said he's talking about abolishing ice. He's talking about doing a lot of radical things. He also says talking about the positives of Sharia law. Can't believe people want to ban it. I mean, that's who you're electing. Then we turned out he called himself Dr. Ella said because he works for the Health Department. He's not even a doctor, but says don't get gummed up in having that. Listen to some of the other things he said. This is the Michigan guy who's likely to be the Democratic nominee to take on Mike Rogers. Cut 45.
- [69:38]
Abdul El Said
I think he should be impeached because he has done things that are wrong. I just like, I do not think he should be president of the United States. I think he, you know, he's done impeachable things. Obviously, as a form, as future senator, I'm not in a position to impeach. But when they make the case about the impeachable things I have seen with my own eyes, I will vote accordingly.
- [69:54]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah, they go. So that's exactly what I think. Democrats don't want to run on personally because they saw if you get in there, you're going to impeach. If you ever want to raise President Trump's approval rating, go ahead and do that because that's what happened last time. And then things went up. He got on a roll. And then we saw how it ended with the pandemic kind of blurred everything out. But I still remember it. More from Abdul el said. Cut 47 Benjamin Netanyahu has been searching
- [70:19]
Abdul El Said
for 40 years
- [70:22]
Brian Kilmeade
to find a president
- [70:23]
Abdul El Said
double enough to go to war with Iran, and he finally found one in the form of Donald J. Trump.
- [70:28]
Brian Kilmeade
Yep, that is the common wisdom from the left. Here's more. Cut 46 I know what it's like
- [70:34]
Abdul El Said
to be discriminated against because of how I would pray and I know that anti Semitism and Islamophobia tend to go hand in hand. And the real issue when it comes to either of them is the scourge of white supremacy. And I think it's absolutely critical for us to differentiate between love, respect and admiration for Judaism and the Jewish people and a continued policy that has us sending our money to a foreign government. We can walk and chew gum at the same time.
- [71:00]
Brian Kilmeade
Yes, we don't want to do have a foreign policy. Just some people are writing me. Just give me an idea what's going on and what they think. How about this on, on what we could be doing with Iran, they say, number one, about the frozen funds. I would love to get the idea to President Trump that if Iran damages a cargo ship ship in the strait and the repair costs would come directly out of Iran's frozen funds. Maybe you could mention it to him. Well, I don't think that's a bad or far off idea. I'm all for unfreezing the funds as well as paying for our inconvenience and our weapons that we wasted blowing them up. I also think there's a lot of Americans who've been taken hostage in the past and never got paid for inconvenience, especially those loved ones after an Iranian, Iranian government official Kills him in prison, which has happened before. How about I got more. That was from Donna. Steve says this might you suggest to the White House that we inform Iran that from this point forward, every dollar we spend in the conflict in defense of the strait will be deducted from their seized assets. Perhaps the right move, move the needle as well, knowing that we're spending their money. I also like the fact that Scott Besant has moved on freezing bank accounts that they keep in other Gulf nations. I think that is right on the money because they have the money. It's frozen. It can't be helped. It's not earning anything. It is frozen. It might be theirs, but they're costing us. So therefore we should be paying ourselves back. I sense that we're taking some of the oil money from Venezuela and paying us back from that operation 20 times over, I would think. Here's the President, United States, he has had it. And he said he got a call yesterday from the Iranians who got hit 90 times last night. Cut one.
- [72:41]
President Donald Trump
They have very little left. And they want to make a deal so badly. They called a little while ago. They want to make a deal so badly. I just don't know if they're worthy of making it. I don't know that they're going to honor the deal. That's the problem.
- [72:52]
Brian Kilmeade
Of course they're not worthy to do the deal. They got to be at a point where they have no choice but to do the deal. And as Dennis Ross told this, it's just a great point. He's got such perspective. And he spent the last three weeks in Israel. He said Iran's the verbiage in the MOU was basically all Iran's.
- [73:07]
Vice President
Right?
- [73:07]
Brian Kilmeade
Translating through translation. They've gotten everything they wanted. Put it enough nuance in gray area there that they could go to town with it and stay there saying within the spirit of the mou. And they still blew it by going after cargo ships. So it's even in their best interest to allow money to flow for oil for the first time in 20 years to be full freight and people paying and getting used to, well, maybe I can buy oil from Iran and it's not going to be pulled back. But now that is pulled back back, they're no longer allowed to pay. So that means Iran, they can go back, shutting off their transponders and going through the Gulf and hoping not to be detected and giving discount oil to China. You had it for some reason. We agreed to it to let you for 60 days sell your oil and make billions of dollars. And it was more important for you to say, I'm in control of the strait. And it's more important for us to make sure you're never in control of the strait. It's almost equal to not having a nuclear weapon. Listen to the Brian Kilmeade Show. Hope to see you in Pensacola, Florida on FOX Nation. On stage, Brian kilme.com to see you in person Saturday night. History, liberty and laughs. And also we got some great dates in the fall with the brand new Uniting the States tour. Don't move.
- [74:21]
From the FOX News radio studios in midtown Manhattan. It's the fastest, this growing radio talk show. Brian kilmeade,
- [74:34]
Vice President
all right.
- [74:35]
Brian Kilmeade
Hi, this is Brian Kilmeade. Like the guy said, Doug Jones. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, a sensible Democrat who's really concerned about the direction of the party that Graham Platner left behind. Also, we're one of the few sound structural buildings in New York City. One a few blocks away from us is swing and the steel is bent, ending usually not a good sign. I'm not an architect, but I'd rather not be in a building like that. Happy to be in a building like the one here at 48th and 6th. So before we get to Josh Holmes, one of the main cogs of the Ruthless podcast, let's get to the big three.
- [75:07]
Bill
Number three, it was important to be there and to see the actual facts laid out. Bill, because there was so much stuff that, you know, amidst the noise and the Internet chatter that was laid out that I had never heard and makes this case very cut and dry to me.
- [75:23]
Brian Kilmeade
It's just crazy how many conspiracy theories are out there about Charlie Kirk's death and they're so horrific, they are really damaging to the case in the family. But Tyler Robinson, the case against him is so strong, it's hard to imagine one stronger. We'll tell you how the hearings are going and progressing.
- [75:39]
John Fetterman
Number two, the trash took itself out tonight. People in Maine have a chance to really vote on someone that's not a total a piece of trash. Adios, trash bag.
- [75:53]
Brian Kilmeade
Senator John Fetterman on Graham Platner. He is gone. While admitting no guilt from being one of the worst human beings on the planet. What does Maine do from here and what does it mean for Susan Collins chances now all scrutiny should really go to what's happening in Michigan where a radical is queued up to take on Mike Rock Rogers.
- [76:13]
Dennis Ross
Number one.
- [76:14]
Brian Kilmeade
The basic deal that we cut was
- [76:16]
Vice President
we'll lift our blockade if you stop
- [76:18]
Brian Kilmeade
shooting at ships but if you shoot at ships, we're going to knock the
- [76:21]
Vice President
hell out of them.
- [76:22]
Brian Kilmeade
And it's that simple. Here we go again. U S hits 150 sites in Iran in the last 48 hours. The MOU is history and it never really should have been written. Wasn't worth the paper it was written on. We'll talk about the latest from that troubled region and what it means for the President. President's fortunes. J.D. vance came out there and that's the deal he's really being judged on. He's doing a great job on fraud. Didn't do a great job at the mou. Said I guess really deceptive things about it before it came out. Josh Holmes joins us now. Former chief of staff to Mitch McDonald for Mitch McDonald McConnell as well as president and founding partner of Calvary LLC and co host of the Ruthless Place, Ruthless podcast. Josh, like to have.
- [77:05]
Josh Holmes
Hey, thanks bud. It's great to be with you.
- [77:07]
Brian Kilmeade
How's your former boss Mitch McConnell doing?
- [77:10]
Josh Holmes
Well, I don't know a whole lot more than you do, Brian. I know the reports. I actually talked to a staffer of his who was with him yesterday and described him as in good spirits. But he's still hospitalized and he's still trying to work his way back. So, you know, other than that and what has been publicly reported, that's sort of the extent of my understanding.
- [77:30]
Brian Kilmeade
So do you don't know if he had a heart attack or not or do you think he did? They found him on.
- [77:35]
Josh Holmes
I wish I knew. I have absolutely no idea. What I do know is when you're 84 years old, there's an awful lot that can go wrong on a day to day basis. I got parents in that same age demographic and it's, you know, it's tough, it's tough for kids and loved ones and people are close to folks who are getting older in that stage of life. So yeah, I've given them a pretty wide berth. I understand that they'll tell me at some point and when they do, I'll, I'll wish him and pray for the best.
- [78:05]
Brian Kilmeade
Well, we'll find out too. And just from pure political point, less the personal point, the less it doesn't matter as much. But the Republicans can't afford to lose him, especially now. Right. They're trying to get a supplemental in there to try to pay for what we what's left of this war and beyond and get the golden dome going. And they're not going to do it without his vote.
- [78:24]
Josh Holmes
Yeah, no, I mean there's A lot of fall business to go on. I mean, the month of September in particular is going to be really treacherous territory on Capitol Hill. Bunch of funding things that need to get done. The military needs to get funded. Yeah, he's a critical piece to an awful lot of that. So wish him well and hope he gets back soon.
- [78:43]
Brian Kilmeade
So Graham Platner, who knew he was going so smooth, he got for the, he had that primary nomination ready to take on Susan Collins trailing by four. Then another former girlfriend comes out and blows him up, essentially says he raped her. He does not miss guilt, admit guilt. Cut 30.
- [79:01]
Graham Platner
I just want you to think about, like what you would do as a regular person in a position where a much larger world, large forces were working against you personally to accuse you of the worst thing that a person could do. And it was not remotely true. I learned about this through press inquiry, diaries. With no time to truly respond, no time for investigations before a corporate media system and the political establishment got to act as judge, jury and executioner. Accusations are supposed to be the beginning of things, not the end. I think it's really important to understand why this is happening in the timeline, why this is happening right now.
- [79:49]
Brian Kilmeade
Maybe you could help me, Josh. Why is it happening right now?
- [79:52]
Josh Holmes
Well, he's entirely right about that last point, which is, I mean, first of all, a guy walks in with a Nazi tattoo, I think we can all sort of surmise that that's probably not a dude with top notch character who you want representing you in the United States Senate. So that should have been a threshold issue. It wasn't for Democrats, obviously. But why the timing of all of this is coming out and why nobody really talked about all of these allegations that have been going on now for three, four months, right up until now is Democrats had one last play. They made the crucial mistake that they haven't made in years, and that's allowing their voters to choose their nominees. This is a practice that they are totally unaccustomed to doing. You look back at 2016 with Hillary Clinton and superdelegates. You look at 2020 when they consolidated the field behind Joe Biden. You look at 24 when they didn't vote at all and they just appointed Kamala Harris. And they do this in Senate races across the country. And what happened was Democrats voted for Platner and when they did, the establishment Democratic Party done like that. And they want to make sure that they have somebody that they deem more electable. So they're the ones that are pushing all of this out. I mean, the reason that stuff shows up in the New York Times is not because you've got some Internet enterprising reporter who just happened upon information. It's because they're pitched it by the dscc, by the dnc, by Chuck Schumer, by all the establishment Democrats that wanted to make a move here before it was too late.
- [81:16]
Brian Kilmeade
In a way, I think the New York Times gave him a soft landing because the guys had a terrible background. I mean, he's one of the. He's a terrible. He seems to be a terrible person, let alone a candidate. So if I think there wasn't a lot in his background, I think that he would have floated right through and they would have given it a shot. I mean, Chuck Schumer's losing his power, clearly. I mean, Haley Stevens is going to be his next challenge in Michigan against Abdul El Al said alcid. So he's chewing. He's going for a Haley Stevens who's losing. So I'm not sure how much power he has. So Graham Platner's out despite getting 72% of the vote. Now they're going to have a lawyer jirga. They're going to have 500 people coming together and pick the next nominee. So do you think Susan Collins's chances are better or worse? Better fighting Platner or worse with this new person? What do you think?
- [82:08]
Josh Holmes
Well, it's hard to have been better than they were an hour before he dropped out.
- [82:13]
Mike Rogers
Right.
- [82:13]
Brian Kilmeade
He was already leaving. Yeah.
- [82:15]
Josh Holmes
You had the entire Democratic Party abandon him midstream. But I will say, look, everyone underestimates Susan Collins. She has driveways paved with the skulls of her political enemies for the last 30 years. This woman is a very good campaigner in large part because she is centristly located on the ideological spectrum that has been a perfect match for the state of Maine for a very long time. And she was works really hard. I don't think that there is anybody that they can put up that doesn't look an awful lot like every other opponent that she has vanquished up to this point. The only different wild card in this race at all was Graham Platner. She never faced somebody like that. And so there was a lot of open questions. And I continue to think she has the upper hand. They're going to throw everything that they've got at her. But they did in 2022 as well. I mean, they changed the whole voting system them to a ranked choice voting system to defeat Susan Collins and they couldn't get it done.
- [83:15]
Brian Kilmeade
So Interesting. I did not know that. Let's switch over to Iran. The President. United States is pretty fed up. Cut one.
- [83:22]
President Donald Trump
They have very little left and they want to make a deal so badly. They called a little while ago. They want to make a deal so badly. I just don't know if they're worthy of making. I don't know that they're going to honor the deal. That's the problem.
- [83:33]
Brian Kilmeade
And the deal they're talking about was really hatched by the vice President and there were so many holes in that deal. I think it was just an awful 14 point plan and yet it was great for Iran and they didn't seem to realize it. Josh, you've seen a lot of conflicts, Middle Eastern conflicts, you know how difficult they can be. Yesterday we hit him 90 times, 150 in the last two days. Where do you think this is going?
- [83:58]
Josh Holmes
Yeah, well, they shouldn't let us up. And look, the vice President is in an unenviable spot of having to negotiate the impossible because there is no negotiation with Iran. One or two things happen. You either have to pay them money not to be terrorists and then they just become terrorists again. You have to pay them more money or you have to negotiate this weird Rubik's Cube of everybody else's defense posture in the region. Remember, the reason why they started firing back on ships ships was because of Lebanon and Israel. What does that have to do with Iran other than the fact that they fund terrorist proxies in Lebanon that attack Israel? It starts to unmask the whole thing. This is not, these are not good faith actors. You're never going to come to a common sense solution. We're going to have to do what it takes to make sure that the strait is open and if that is by 150 different locations every night until that happens, so big it.
- [84:56]
Brian Kilmeade
I agree with you 100%. You cannot just go, okay, I'm going to teach you a lesson, hit you hard and then let you up again. The main thing is the ISW today, they're still going to try to control the strait. That is as important to them, I think, as their nuclear program. And they're trying to convince the neighbors to go along with it. And they're not, thankfully, as of now. But they're concerned that we're not all in to watch their back or are going to leave. So this is, you know, I know when you work for Mitch McConnell, we're in the middle of Iraq and that seemed like it was endless. And yet they turn around and they end up putting together.
- [85:30]
Josh Holmes
But Iran was always a thing too, Brian. I mean, it was always a thing everywhere in the region. Iran has always been the worst actor because of its proxy funding and Hezbollah, Hamas, its intent to do away with the Western civilization, as they say, Death to America, as they say, that has been a consistent thread for over 45 years. There is no state in this world who has killed more Americans than the state of Iran, than the Republic of Iran over the last 45 years. There can be no mistake about that. And so them just coming to their senses and treating their neighbors well and having a diplomatic solution with the United States seems extremely unlikely to me.
- [86:15]
Brian Kilmeade
And now they're making a clear death to America. They have the president's face on it with the target on it and everybody else in or official. And we don't know if that was related to the fact the President did not take the new Air Force One home. He took the old one back. I'm not really sure what went into that. President said the people in England just wanted to see it. So I don't. I don't know.
- [86:34]
Josh Holmes
There are some reports that there are some of the more sophisticated defense and refueling systems that haven't been installed yet in the new plane. I don't know if that's true or not. I'm happy that they're taking every single possible issue into context when they are transporting the President, United States overseas. And that's where I leave it.
- [86:56]
Brian Kilmeade
So when we look at right now at the midterm elections, between the gerrymandering and the rise of the socialism, the Republicans are back in the game. Is that how you view it?
- [87:08]
Josh Holmes
Yeah, I do. I think that they start in a much better place than they did at the beginning of the cycle just because of the redistricting. It's more of like a plus nine, plus ten, which they needed. I think either way, you're gonna have a major in the House of Representatives, that is, is a couple of seats one way or the other. But I do like where Republicans are right now. And I think, look, to the extent the Republicans can focus on what Democrats have handed them, which is the face of communism in every one of these primaries. I mean, literally, you've never met anyone who acts like the candidates they're producing in election after election.
- [87:45]
Brian Kilmeade
This is not.
- [87:46]
Josh Holmes
Not two different parties who have two different ways of getting at the problems. We all acknowledge there is one party here that by and large likes America and another one that really doesn't. And you just have to ask them. That's not A branding exercise. Ask them. They don't like America. They say it. And I think if Republicans can stay on message on that and realize that Democrat candidates are either the Mamdani Bernie Sanders Sanders Graham Platner brand or the Abigail Spamberger brand, which is to lie to you and then do the same thing as the Mamdani Bernie Sanders crowd does when they get into office, you can have a pretty good campaign message going into the fall.
- [88:28]
Brian Kilmeade
So just real quick on Cuba, we took another push to put pressure on them and that is going after their doctors. They go overseas, charge the Cuban government gets the money, they'll go overseas and help out other countries, countries they're very well trained medical physicians. And now we're starting to go after the countries that are using Cuban doctors while stopping all energy from going in and out. There's something's going to break here. I'm wondering, Josh Holmes, when do you think this is going to happen and how do you see we land this plane?
- [89:01]
Josh Holmes
I think it probably already would have happened if Iran would have wrapped up. I mean, look, I don't think I'm breaking any news here. When you say the secretary of state has unique interest, I mean, this is, this is someone who's talked about this. Obviously, his family fled the communist regime. It was part of his reason for getting into office in the first place. And it's also 90 miles off the southern tip of Florida. I mean, this is a place amongst any that you do not want hostile actors. I think we've ignored it for too long. But you also have to make sure that you've taken care of your knitting and all these other places. And there's a lot going on. I mean, you saw the NATO summit. Ukraine is still a big discussion that President Trump is having. If they can come to an accommodation with Putin and Zelensky and that, I mean, there's a lot going on here. And I do think it would behoove the administration to focus at least their external messaging, even if they're walking and chewing gum on the domestic politics here a touch more because it seems like the foreign policy, at least for this summer, has kind of taken over the discussion.
- [90:12]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah, absolutely. They couldn't really get out of their own way in the house, so they couldn't even generate anything there. Are you for signing the housing bill?
- [90:19]
Josh Holmes
Yeah, I think so. Because it was in the president's State of the Union. I don't know how you can go do a State of the Union speech where you lay out an agenda that you want Congress to do. Then they get to work on it. They produce it and then not sign it. I mean, look, I'm not like, in love with a housing bill or think that changes politics or anything else. I mean, it doesn't matter to me one way or another if it signs. But in terms of the relationships that the administration has with its allies in Congress, if you ask somebody to do something and they go through the blood, sweat, and tears to produce it, you kind of have to sign it. Or the next time you go to them, you might not get the answer.
- [90:56]
President Donald Trump
Yes.
- [90:56]
Brian Kilmeade
Co host of the Ruthless podcast, Not afraid to wear a hat on the air. He is Josh Holmes. Appreciate it, Josh. Thank you very much. Back in a moment.
- [91:06]
Real talk, real guests, real insight. Where curiosity meets comedy conversation. It's the Brian Kilmeade Show. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin. It's Brian Kilmeade.
- [91:32]
Hey, we are back. Now we got to make the big decision. The big decision. You know what it is, who we rooting for here in America now that America is out of it. You got Norway, England. You got Morocco, France. What other matchups? We've got Argentina. They're going to have another tough game, too. And of course, we got. England is still in it. England, Norway is going to be the. The game, I think of this quarterfinals bracket, we definitely says, you know, Spain is playing Belgium. We got to hope that Spain wins big. Not that I love Spain, but I just dislike Belgium in the classless way that they beat the US and then did the Trump dance. I do not like dancing. The end zone winning overtime score. Act like you've been there before. So this is going to be a heck of a final eight. Who are you rooting for? To me, I made my decision Norway. I love what they do with their fans do. I love the way their team acts. I love Holland is unbelievable. My second pick would be England just because I think those people need a break. And man, those. They're playing clutch. You go to Mexico City and you win there, that's big. But you know whose prime minister called up in FIFA and said don't move. The start time of the game, Stormer. I thought it was Trump that did that.
- [92:55]
Information, information you want, truth you demand. This is the Brian Kilmeade Show.
- [93:03]
John Fetterman
Bernie Sanders needs to apologize to the voters of Maine and to, you know, everyone that donated to that train wreck of a campaign more than anyone. He pushed p hustle into. Into the election. And now, you know, he keeps pushing these communists and these kind of Awful anti American people. So there's plenty of those people that have to humble themselves, you know, humble yourself and stop and stop pushing. You know, this kinds of people in
- [93:39]
Brian Kilmeade
my party that is a very angry Senator John Fetterman saying that no wonder Graham Platner blew up. He's been calling for him to step aside for months until this last woman came forward. Ex girlfriend said basically he raped her. He was staying and he got 72% of the vote despite almost all of that stuff being out in the public. Doug Schoen joins us now, former Clinton adviser, former adviser to Bloomberg, longtime Democratic strategist. Doug, you glad Graham Platner's gone and do you wonder how he got there to begin with?
- [94:09]
Doug Schoen
I couldn't be more pleased that he's gone, Brian. His candidacy was a fraud from the start. He had no qualifications. He was a manufactured candidate of the Democratic socialist who had so many liabilities that I cannot believe that he was ever taken seriously. I hope my party learns from what Senator Fetterman said and what is obvious we need a mainstream Democrat Democratic candidate in Maine, not replica of Graham Platter.
- [94:52]
Brian Kilmeade
But you know, look, he was, he was winning for a while, trailing by about 4 now and then you have Abdul El Said head to head with Mike Rogers. I know it's early. It's a one or two point race. So. And Mike Rogers going to have a tough time. He had a tough time against Alyssa Slotnick, almost won, but it was still a point or two. Why is it that they're not being trounced across the state if they're, if their philosophy is so radical compared to what Democrats have been?
- [95:21]
Doug Schoen
Well, I think it's two things. First, in primaries the far left tends to predominate. That's number one. Number two, I don't think the electorate fully understands the positions they've taken and the extreme nature of their candidacy. And I believe, as I think you might many do, that Mike Rogers would have a much better chance against Abdul El Said than he would against Haley Stevens. I rank Abdul El Said a narrow favorite to win the primary. But candidly the Republicans are hoping that Abdul El Said wins the primary. He'll be tougher to be.
- [96:12]
Brian Kilmeade
So I want you to hear you you had said about how in Maine they're obsessed with stopping Susan Collins cut 37.
- [96:19]
General Jack Keane
It really doesn't matter. Democrats in Maine have been trying to unseat Susan Collins forever. She's superwoman, the Senate superwoman, 10,000 consecutive roll call votes. Chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, the workers at Bath Ironworks, the workers at the Portsmouth submarine base in New Hampshire that live in man, they all want Susan Collins to remain chair of the Appropriations Committee. So they keep coming up with different kinds of kryptonite. You can't beat Susan Collins Because 10,000 consecutive votes, John, that's a record. And she's a very moderate, very common sense. Senator Mains a common sense place. So he may stay in, he may leave. It really doesn't matter. Collins is going to win.
- [97:00]
Brian Kilmeade
Bodnar did leave an hour later from that interview. But I think that there's a better chance whoever emerges, except this guy, Troy Jackson is another Bernie Sanders disciple.
- [97:13]
Doug Schoen
Yeah, Brian, he finished third in the primary. Nurev Shah for governor. Right, for governor. And Nirav Shah finished second in that primary for governor, is a mainstream moderate Democrat who has a record of public health and public service. And I just. I just don't think there's any reason why we Democrats should commit Harry Carey and nominate somebody who isn't a mainstream Democrat, who may not even be a Democrat at all in terms of their ultimate philosophy. Because these Democratic socialists are using the Democratic Party to advance a radical ideology that is antithetical to everything I believe, we believe and the American people believe.
- [98:04]
Brian Kilmeade
So what they're saying, Doug Schoen, is they're going for the workers. They want to. It's time to stop the oligarchs, stop the wealthy and help the workers. So that's, if you look at who is supporting the dsa, at least in New York City, it's mostly rich white people, so. And they're getting single digits when it comes to the workers. Can you talk about the deceptiveness of going to bat for the workers?
- [98:29]
Doug Schoen
Yeah, this is just political rhetoric now. It's good political rhetoric. It appeals more to the wealthy and to young people who may well be frustrated economically that they haven't gotten great jobs out of college. But it's not working class people. And in New York, it is younger people, well educated and recent immigrants, those who've just moved to New York City, who form the core of the base of Zoran Mandami and the Democratic Socialists.
- [99:04]
Brian Kilmeade
So I want to talk about Abdul El Said. He's got some problems. Number one, is he a doctor and is he a working class guy? Is he a rich guy? He doesn't have an answer to any of those questions. Does he miss the ayatollah? He won't answer that question. Cut 40.
- [99:18]
Mike Rogers
Haley Stevens has also attacked you and Mike Rogers for being millionaires, who she says conveniently did not file their 2026 personal financial disclosures. You saw an extension through August 13, I believe, believe, which is after the primary. Was this to avoid transparency with your voters? Why not release them before the election?
- [99:35]
Abdul El Said
No, it's just taxes get complicated. My wife and her family own property abroad and so getting all those tax forms is a thing. And this is by the way, the same extension that she said, you're a
- [99:46]
Mike Rogers
millionaire and you're hiding that.
- [99:47]
Abdul El Said
Well, if you take my assets and her, my wife's assets together, then I guess they add up to something like that. But my career has never been about trying to maximize eyes on money. Otherwise I would have just gone and been a surgeon. But you know, my focus has always been on public service. And it's interesting to try and compare apples to oranges here. If you file on your own, then of course your assets look like one thing, which Congresswoman Stevens does. If you file with a partner, your assets might look like something else.
- [100:12]
Brian Kilmeade
So never answer the question. And he's not a doctor by the way. And he keeps calling himself a doctor.
- [100:18]
Doug Schoen
Yeah, I think he is a synthetic manufactured candidate in the same way that Abdul El Said is. And he how can he accept Brian support from the virulent anti Semite Hassan Piker? I mean he's campaigned with him. I think that's enough to disqualify him in and of itself.
- [100:41]
Brian Kilmeade
And he's the worst. And Hassan Piker really hates America. Call for Rick Scott's death doesn't think Israel should exist. And I was, I was literally shocked by a couple of things. I looked at people that are going to run for president and clearly Rahm Emanuel was one of them. He went out of his way to go to Israel, to basically condemn Israel and say your days of being an ally where you get defense, you get our defense weapons, you're just going to be one of 23 Middle Eastern countries that we have relationships with. So why would you think he's doing that strategically when he was supposed to be in the middle moderate lane and he's a smart savv guy. Why do you think it was necessary for him to go over there to Israel to condemn Israel?
- [101:23]
Doug Schoen
I think he is contemplating actively a race for president. He knows where opinion inside the Democratic Party is, which is regrettably anti Israel. And I think unfortunately and sadly he is playing to that sentiment as a means of trying to inoculate himself from the attack that he's too pro Israel.
- [101:47]
Brian Kilmeade
Do you think that it's possible to get the nomination and say I Support Israel on the Democratic platform. When we watch the candidates line up for a debate in 27, not only are they going to disparage AIPAC, which is a. Which is a lobby group for Israel. Is everyone to have to disavow Israel?
- [102:06]
Doug Schoen
Well, I hope not, but I fear that that will happen. And again, again, my own view is you can take issue with the prime minister of Israel, as many do, but to go to Israel, to denounce him at the same time, when we're fighting a war against terror in the Middle east vis a vis Iran, a war that has begun anew, apparently. I say with a lot of these Democrats who attack Bibi Netanyahu, that therefore regime change in Jerusalem, but not in Tel Aviv. I'm sorry. And not in Tehran. I apologize. How can you be for regime change in a democratic state that is not a country, that we have a say over their democratic system and yet be against it in an autocracy where the supreme Leader and the elite have chanted, death to Israel, death to the United States, death to our president for years? I don't understand that. I couldn't do it.
- [103:15]
Brian Kilmeade
Here's a little of Rahm EMANUEL'S SPEECH. CUT13.
- [103:19]
Rahm Emanuel
Your government has been complicit in the horrors now being inflicted on innocent families in the West Bank. That undermines your international legitimacy as a small nation at a time when you
- [103:32]
Brian Kilmeade
can least afford it. So he's lecturing them on what they're doing. It's at the west bank, but he's also talking about other places. I don't think anyone's for annexing the west bank except for extreme conservatives on the right in Israel. Why are you reaching for that?
- [103:49]
Doug Schoen
You know, I don't know. I mean, again, if he was just talking about Gaza, he would have a, at the very least, a defensible argument that Israel may have overreached. But given what Hamas does and how they hide among civilian populations and hospitals and the unspeakable terror they committed on October 7, I understand why the Israelis have done what they have. But again, how can you say that our longest, most stable democratic ally in the Middle east is Somehow one of 23 countries. I can understand you might want to limit yourself to defensive weapons. Again, I understand that. Not my position, but it's understandable. But to do what some democrats have done vis a vis Israel is very sad to me. It's not my position, and it's not what I think is right.
- [104:50]
Brian Kilmeade
It's upside down.
- [104:50]
Doug Schoen
Israel has a democratic election in October over. Let's Wait and see what happens, because there are candidates who are credible, who offer a different worldview from the Prime Minister. Why intrude now into Israeli politics?
- [105:06]
Brian Kilmeade
And you know, Doug Schoen, that any. Everybody knows who's ever leading Israel. You don't deal with Hezbollah, you can't cut a deal with Hamas, you can't cut a deal with Islamic Jihad, and you can't cut a deal with. With Iran.
- [105:19]
Dennis Ross
Iran.
- [105:19]
Brian Kilmeade
So Syria finally, probably is not an enemy. And the other Arab nations are closer than. Closer than ever to being friends, certainly partners. So they don't attack anybody that doesn't attack them. Simple as that. Lastly, you have great foreign policy knowledge and passion. So you see what's happening with Iran. They've been our enemy for 47 years, and now we basically can rip up the MOU and we have to reopen the Strait. Here's General Jack Keane, cut 19.
- [105:47]
General Jack Keane
They have been in control, somewhat of the straits of a move since March 2, when they shut it down. So four months they have, in their minds, been in control. And they're not going to give this up without a fight, in my view. And it will likely lead to an acceleration of military operations to bend them to our will. I think that is the path we're on.
- [106:12]
Brian Kilmeade
I think that the only thing we have to do now is forget about talking, open up the straight and hold it ourselves. What do you think?
- [106:21]
Doug Schoen
I completely agree with General Keane. I think he's right. I think the only thing the Iranians understand is power. I think President Trump has now understood that. And I say this not as a Democrat, I say this as an American. How can we not support the efforts of the United States? Whether you like the policy, don't like the policy, whatever. How can you not say, thank goodness that we are fighting to eliminate the scourge of terror and nuclear weapons from a state that is committed to our death and destruction?
- [106:57]
Brian Kilmeade
I hear you, Doug Schone. If I was to ask you for the top three candidates that you hope run for the nomination in 28, who would it be?
- [107:07]
Doug Schoen
I hope next time when we do an interview of this type, which I greatly enjoy, that you'll give me a chance to think about it. Because right now, as I sit here, I'd have a tough time giving you names that would fit that list. But I'll tell you this. I do hope Senator Fetterman stays in the Democratic Party, if he can, and stays in the Senate, which is critical for my party.
- [107:34]
Brian Kilmeade
I just hope that you guys don't primary him, and then I hope so too.
- [107:38]
President Donald Trump
Yeah.
- [107:39]
Brian Kilmeade
And I. You know what? And I think Republicans should leave him alone. I wouldn't even run anybody against Hope.
- [107:43]
Doug Schoen
They do.
- [107:43]
Mike Rogers
Yeah.
- [107:44]
Brian Kilmeade
Doug Schon yo is great. Thank you so much. And now you have homework.
- [107:47]
Doug Schoen
Thank you so much.
- [107:48]
Brian Kilmeade
Next time you want you have homework, you have to be able to answer that next.
- [107:51]
Doug Schoen
I know. I got it. I'm gonna do my homework.
- [107:53]
Brian Kilmeade
Go get him. Back in a moment.
- [107:55]
Both sides, all opinions, it's Brian Kilmeade. From his mouth to your ears, it's Brian Kilmeade. Sponsored by Prevagen. Prevagen. Made for your brain.
- [108:20]
Vice President
I've seen something like.
- [108:21]
Abdul El Said
Like this before.
- [108:22]
Vice President
You have to go back 16 years. Remember, it was that Republican Tea party wave of 2010. I would argue the Democratic version of it is a new Tea Party, but it's on steroids. Why do I say that? Well, let's just start off with the fact approve of their own party in Congress. Republicans In July of 2010, it was 52%. A very low percentage, but at least it was north of 50%. Look at where we are now with Democrats in terms of them approving their own members of Congress. It's actually below 50%. Democrats dislike their party more than Republicans did during the Tea party wave of 2010. Just 47% of Democrats now approve of their own party in Congress. As I said, it's a new Tea Party, but it's a Tea Party on steroids.
- [109:02]
Josh Holmes
And we're seeing the impact it's having
- [109:04]
Brian Kilmeade
on some Democratic incumbents.
- [109:05]
Vice President
Absolutely the case.
- [109:07]
Brian Kilmeade
And the incumbents are just running for the hills. Do you know anybody speaking forcefully? Like, I don't know, Harry Reid used to speak out all the time and Nancy Pelosi used to speak out all the time. I don't see Hakeem Jeffries doing anything except going after Trump, not going after the extreme left. Chuck Schumer only stepped forward after all this stuff on Graham Platner came out. He wasn't really campaigning hard, but back the governor of Maine and now he back in Haley Stevens in Michigan. Those are somewhat traditional. But the reason why this guy goes to a parade, Chuck Schumer and gets booed. So I know leadership can be polarizing. I know Mitch McConnell for the longest time, every time he ran for reelection was trailing in Kentucky. It would eventually prevail, I think most likely. When you're in leadership, sometimes when things don't get done, especially with the Republican president, you tend to get the blame, especially one as unorthodox as President Trump. So we'll see what happens. But that's Harry Entin over on CNN looking at some of the poll numbers. And I just think, as Josh Holmes said earlier, it's going to be four or five seats either way, which means it's all winnable, it's all gettable. Which means I think you gotta be really smart on how you're deploying your heavy hitters, senators, your most popular candidates, a lot of your money. The one thing that would be disastrous if the Republicans lose the House, they would say, okay, that's the long term, 250 years political trend. But if they lose the Senate when no one even thought that was possible a few months ago, that means they'd have to lose Ohio, North Carolina as well as not flip Georgia or Michigan.
- [110:35]
Vice President
Wow.
- [110:35]
Brian Kilmeade
Or New Hampshire, where Sununu's name is really strong in New Hampshire and John Sununu is going to run. So that would be something. And it would be so detrimental. President's governing and getting things done because he couldn't get anybody confirmed. Zero confirmed. Let's go to Supreme Court Justice. You know, then Clara Thomas and Justice Alito will probably say, look, I probably should step aside now. But not if they don't have a Republican Senate where Democrats were stupid enough to blow up the filibuster. Now you don't even need 60. So you put up whoever you want, they'll get confirmed.