Is Trump's Iran Deal A "Lifeline For Terrorists"?

Summary

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Brian Kilmeade Show

Episode: Is Trump's Iran Deal A "Lifeline For Terrorists"?

Date: June 15, 2026
Host: Brian Kilmeade (FOX News)
Guests: Mark Thiessen, Kevin Roberts, Dr. Rainer Zitelman, Mike Vacaro

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Main Theme / Purpose

This episode takes a deep dive into the recently announced U.S.-Iran deal under President Trump, examining its implications for nuclear nonproliferation, regional security, and U.S. domestic and international politics. Alongside this, the show touches on major American sports milestones, the rise of "new space capitalism," political trends like the growth of socialism, and features a celebration of the New York Knicks' historic NBA championship.

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Key Segments and Insights

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1. The U.S.-Iran Deal: Is it a "Lifeline for Terrorists"?

(Main discussion, analysis, and reactions)

Deal Overview & Immediate Impact

• [03:19] Mark Thiessen: Announces the immediate opening of the Straits of Hormuz and a lifting of the U.S. naval blockade on Iran as central steps in the deal.

• [03:35] Brian Kilmeade: Summarizes: For 60 days, fighting pauses, blockades are lifted, and the strait reopens to commercial shipping. Talks on unfreezing Iranian funds and easing sanctions would only begin after that window.

  "My feeling is the unfreezing of the sanctions really has to be down the line and also the unfreezing of the funds has to be really far down the line." – Brian Kilmeade [04:00]

• Motivations: Kilmeade notes Trump's desire to bring down oil and gas prices ahead of the midterms.

Skepticism & Critique

• [05:36] Mark Thiessen/ Kevin Roberts: Express skepticism, comparing the deal to the Obama-era JCPOA, with concern some provisions might be weaker.

  "It's a long way to go for what appears to be very little in terms of locked-in promises from Iran." – Mark Thiessen [05:36] "Some of the provisions may even be somewhat weaker." – Mark Thiessen [05:46]

• Main achievement cited so far: only reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

  "The main achievement... opening the Strait of Hormuz, but otherwise not a lot there yet." – Kevin Roberts [06:41]

Nuclear Issues & Enforcement

• Questions about Iran’s underground nuclear facility ("Pickaxe"), dismantlement, and inspections are raised.
• Kilmeade stresses U.S. military action was necessary to bring Iran to the negotiating table and claims Obama’s efforts at diplomacy achieved little.

Obama Responds

• Quote:

  “Taking the time to explore diplomacy and exhaust the possibilities of coming up with deals that don't solve 100% of the problem, but solve 80, 90% of the problem while avoiding the necessity of going to war, you'd think we would have learned that lesson by now, but it seems like every so often we have to relearn that lesson again.”
  – Barack Obama [09:04]

• Kilmeade Rebuts: Argues diplomacy alone stalled, inspections were meaningless, and the JCPOA would have eventually paved Iran’s way to a bomb.

Military vs. Diplomatic Leverage

• [09:42] Michael Waltz:

  “This president has always put diplomacy first, but unlike his predecessors, it has to be backed with credible military force. That is what we've seen over the years. The only thing that regimes like Iran will ultimately respect." [10:38]

• [57:52] Mark Thiessen: Points to the U.S. military strikes that decimated Iran’s conventional capability, making this a fundamentally different context from the JCPOA.

Critical Deal Points Outstanding

• Unclear if the U.S. has agreed to allow any uranium enrichment, which would, according to the hosts and guests, cross a red line for Trump.

• Serious concern about releasing $24-300 billion in Iranian assets and whether funds could flow to terrorism or regime preservation.

  “Even a great deal is problematic. Right. But there's a lot here that doesn't sound like it's a great deal.” – Mark Thiessen [60:14]

• Verification Worries:

  “All I know is what is being reported from the Iranian side, but it's not being contradicted... Why haven't we put out the points yet?” – Mark Thiessen [68:47]

Israel and Regional Security

• Parallel drawn: Israel's defense from Hezbollah likened to U.S. defending Texas from hypothetical cross-border attacks.
• Consensus: Israel will defend itself regardless of U.S. pressure, as Iran’s influence over proxies remains a threat.

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2. Political Reactions & Larger Implications

• Democratic Socialism’s Rise:
  Noted surge in Democratic Socialist candidates, particularly in the northeast, with concern about the direction of the Democratic party and attacks on the rich (see [46:31] for specific commentary).

• Bill Maher Segment:
  Debate over voting for controversial candidates for party advantage, even those with problematic pasts, as Maher urges voters to accept realistic, if imperfect, representation (see [45:53], [52:05–56:30]).

• Approval Ratings, Election Analysis:
  Discusses polling, polarization, gerrymandering, generic ballots, and potential consequences for future races, especially given the international and economic context intertwined with the Iran deal.

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3. New Space Capitalism

(Interview with Dr. Rainer Zitelman on commercial space)

SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Private Industry

• [21:17] – [35:57]
  Dr. Rainer Zitelman outlines the rapid shift from government-run to private-capital driven space operations:

  • SpaceX as the dominant launch provider globally: 165 of 324 launches last year, far surpassing China and all of Europe combined.

  • Starlink’s role in global internet coverage, including aiding Ukraine against Russia.

    "Space capitalism is reality today... We have the first trillionaire in the world, Elon Musk, and the biggest IPO in history." – Dr. Rainer Zitelman [22:00]

• Reusable Rockets:
  Musk dramatically reduced launch costs by 95% with rocket reusability.
  Blue Origin, despite setbacks, is cited as key competition to SpaceX, while Rocket Lab and others enter the market.

• Vision for Mars & Beyond:
  Musk’s ambition—transporting a billion people to Mars over time.

  “He want to send 1000 starships every year to Mars. This sounds like science fiction...” – Dr. Zitelman [33:09]

• Commercial Space Tourism:
  Initially for the rich, but like cars and planes, expected to become more accessible.

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4. Celebration of Sports Milestones

(NBA & Soccer as Unifying National Stories)

Knicks Win NBA Championship After 53 Years

• [02:22] Mike Vacaro / [72:30] onward
  Historic, team-oriented win lauded by Kilmeade and sportswriter Mike Vacaro.

  "Your long, long wait has ended. Go ahead and cry. After 53 years, the Knicks are finally NBA champions once again." – Mike Vacaro [72:45]

• Narrative: Team over superstar, with Jalen Brunson being dismissed at first as not an elite star, his perseverance is highlighted.

  “All I can think about is all the hours in the summer for every summer I had since I ever could remember... making this a reality.” – Jalen Brunson [17:35] “There’s no first team All-Star… So collectively, they're better than individually—back to when we used to play sports the best team, not the best player.” – Brian Kilmeade [98:54]

• Coach Mike Brown’s humility and focus on family after the win also spotlighted.

U.S. World Cup Soccer Run

• [02:24], [36:21], [75:56] onward
  Praised as a unifying moment for American fans, with a record 4-1 victory sparking new optimism in the team.

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5. Patriotism, European Alliances, and U.S. History

• Reflections on revitalized patriotism amid the U.S.'s 250th birthday, and hopes that increased interest in history will counteract ‘woke’ overreactions at historic sites ([77:10]).

• European alliances: Discussion of Trump and Vance's approach to NATO, the shift from “old” to “new” Europe, and the need for Europe to take more responsibility for its own defense ([79:40]).

• Latin America: Cautious optimism about positive political changes and waning authoritarianism in the region ([84:07]).

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Notable Quotes (with timestamps & attribution)

• "I think we have the framework of a deal now. What is this deal? Essentially for 60 days, no fighting and the strait opens, the blockade lifts by Friday... At that time they're going to negotiate unfreezing of funds and easing of sanctions."
  – Brian Kilmeade [03:35]

• "It's a long way to go for what appears to be very little in terms of locked in promises from Iran."
  – Mark Thiessen [05:36]

• "It does look very similar to the JCPOA, which Trump scrapped. Some of the provisions may even be somewhat weaker."
  – Kevin Roberts / Mark Thiessen [05:38, 05:46]

• "If the Iranians are really prepared to make those changes, that would be a significant move into the future. But right now... it's pretty thin."
  – Mark Thiessen [06:34, 06:37]

• "The only thing regimes like Iran will ultimately respect... is credible military force."
  – Michael Waltz [09:42]

• "Taking the time to explore diplomacy and exhaust the possibilities... that don't solve 100% of the problem, but solve 80, 90% of the problem while avoiding the necessity of going to war, you'd think we would have learned that lesson by now."
  – Barack Obama [09:04, 85:57]

• "Even if the deal was good, you're giving a lifeline to the Iranian regime no matter what... just knocking someone out in a fight and then helping him up before the bell."
  – Mark Thiessen [60:14]

• "I feel like Donald Trump created the greatest opportunity in my lifetime to fundamentally transform the Middle East... if we had not done this ceasefire... we would have eliminated their entire defense industrial base."
  – Mark Thiessen [66:34]

• "For me, [Elon Musk is] a genius... Almost 30 years ago, he said... my task is to make mankind multiplanetary civilization and settle Mars."
  – Dr. Rainer Zitelman [23:47]

• "75% from all billionaires in the United States are self made... The American dream is alive."
  – Dr. Rainer Zitelman [26:00]

• "Your long wait has ended. After 53 years, the Knicks are finally NBA champions once again."
  – Mike Vacaro [72:45]

• "If the Knicks paid that money for [Jalen Brunson], they wasted their money. He's not a, he's not a number one guy."
  – Montage quoted by Brian Kilmeade [16:07]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:15 | Show intro, sports headlines, initial mention of Iran deal | | 03:19–07:53| Breakdown of Iran deal, skepticism, strategic goals | | 09:04 | Barack Obama’s defense of diplomacy/JPCOA | | 09:42 | Critique of Obama, Waltz on military-backed diplomacy | | 21:17–35:57| Dr. Rainer Zitelman: "New Space Capitalism" interview | | 36:21 | World Cup Soccer: U.S. victory and national pride | | 41:07–45:53| More on Iran, Obama, JCPOA & international reaction | | 46:31 | Rise of socialism, Bill Maher comments, Democratic infighting | | 52:05 | Bill Maher on Platner, balance of power, lowering standards | | 57:52–70:39| Mark Thiessen on the Iran deal’s military, diplomatic differences | | 72:30–102:49| Knicks celebration, Jalen Brunson story, sports philosophy shift | | 77:10 | Patriotism, history, American culture and its global appeal | | 85:00 | Latin America’s political shift | | 85:53 | Obama's critique of Trump's approach (again, recurring theme) | | 88:33 | J.D. Vance, deal makers’ priorities, “red lines” for a good deal |

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Memorable Moments & Tone

• Energetic, combative tone: Kilmeade argues passionately; guests bring both skepticism and detailed policy analysis.
• Cultural pride: Frequent references to national history, teamwork in sports, capitalism as the American dream.
• Sharp skepticism: Reserves particular scorn for the Obama administration’s foreign policy and the revival of "bad ideas" in the Democratic party.

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Summary Table: Iran Deal Discussion

| Point of Contention | Trump’s Deal | Obama’s JCPOA | Hosts’ View | |--------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|---------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------| | Lifting of Sanctions | Deferred, maybe staged | Immediate | Should be much delayed, funds frozen until real compliance | | Inspections/Enrichment | Unclear; worry about loopholes| Loopholes, 24-days notice| Critics worry about “civilian” enrichment and inadequate access | | Ballistic Missile Program | Not fully addressed | Not addressed | Needs to be included now; a major flaw in prior deals | | Military Leverage | Used to bring Iran to table | Not credibly used | Support military threats as real negotiation leverage | | Benefits to Iran | Possibly too generous | Unlocked $/economy | Afraid deal gives regime new life, funds for terrorists |

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Conclusion

If you missed this episode, you missed a lively, detailed dissection of:

• The Trump administration’s controversial new Iran agreement compared sharply to the JCPOA
• Ongoing strategic, technical, and political concerns with implementation and verification
• Celebrations of teamwork and underdog triumphs, both in sports and in space industry
• Deep skepticism toward both adversaries abroad and self-sabotage at home—especially the risk of ideological extremism overriding common sense in U.S. politics

The episode ends with a clear call for vigilance, transparency in negotiations, and a reaffirmation of American values—whether in sports, history, capitalism, or foreign affairs.

Transcript

[Brian Kilmeade]

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[Brian Kilmeade]

See full [e-mail]

[Mark Thiessen]

from the Fox News Radio Studios in midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmeade

[Brian Kilmeade]

hi everyone. So glad to be back from Los Angeles. Thanks everyone who made the show possible on Friday. Three camera shoot on a beautiful TV set for a radio show is fantastic. We're going to be joined by Rainer Zitelman today, the world renowned economic economist and historian, best selling author, latest book the New Space Capitalism. Just amazing how much money is going to be made in space. It's almost like you found the Internet or you found AI when it comes to space mean when people want to get blasted into space and just experience it like we saw with Blue Origin and then Space X who basically were told by NASA go ahead, we'll pay you to come up with a landing vision and also with a Mars rocket and then you see SpaceX go public. So it's going to be a very timely interview there. And and of course gotta remind you to always go to the YouTube channel, YouTube.com hebronkilmeacho so let's get to the big three. Number three. Wemby tries a three, puts it up off the mark. Anunoby to rebound. It's over. Big fans, this is not a dream. Your long long wait has ended. Go ahead and cry. After 53 years, the Knicks are finally

[Mike Vacaro]

NBA champions once again.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yup, it's all true. What a weekend for American sports. Because I do think that even though it's a New York team America girly could appreciate the Knicks and the US records their most impressive win in World cup history. Remember the final score was 4:1 against the team that beat Argentina and tied Brazil. Next up, the very beatable Australia in the World cup as the Knicks captured the attention the entire sports world with their incredible unthinkable run. Doing the impossible without a rent a star situation is back to team matters. Number two, this is the kind of thing war does to people. That's who we created. Our society is not healthy. We create broken people. So don't expect politicians to suddenly become Lincoln esque again. Come on Democrat socialists experiencing a rapid rise in the left as four have won their primaries and three more about to find out. As platinum problems emerge, even more emerge in Maine.

[Mark Thiessen]

Number one, this is the immediate opening of the Straits of Hormuz and of course the lifting of the naval blockade that we've had on Iran along with it. Iran will never have a nuclear weapon and not just pursue a nuclear weapon, but procure or try to buy a nuclear weapon as well.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Deal all but done to open up the strait and end the kinetic battle with Iran. Many Questions remain in 60 days to solve them. You just asked for Israel to look the other way when Hezbollah attacks and I don't see that happening. I just don't. If Hezbollah is going to rocket them, that means that they would go greenlighted by Iran. So if it's green lighted by Iran, it's not up to the US to control Hezbollah, it's up to Israel to control its backyard. I'll give an example. If TDA was a military paramilitary organization and they were in Mexico, would we just allow them to rocket into Texas and clear southern Texas and southern Arizona?

[Mike Vacaro]

No.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And if Israel told us don't hit back, you'd go, of course we're going to hit back. We're America. We have our own security to worry about. So I don't know what they're talking about. I don't know why the President is getting mad at Israel. But I think we have the framework of a deal now. What is this deal essentially for 60 days, no fighting and the strait opens, the blockade lifts by Friday. Our blockade lists by Friday, so does theirs. Then the straits, you go back to having 100 plus ships coming through on a regular basis. And at that time they're going to negotiate unfreezing of funds and an easing of the sanctions. But not until then. My feeling is the unfreezing of the sanctions really has to be down the line and also the unfreezing of the funds has to be really far down the line. I think one of the big asks would be like open up the straight and you know, not going to charge tolls. So we'll see what happens. I think the problem with Iran, and there's many problems with Iran, not only they're not trustworthy, they're speaking out of both sides of their mouth. The new head of the irgc, this guy Fahiti, is a radical, more radical for Iran. They're all radical. And the, and the Supreme Leader is a little angry because we wiped out his family. So here's the difference. There's we're a little bit far off from saying this is a done deal, but the president wants to get oil and gas prices down for the midterms. Cut 13 as Dav Ignatius he is with the Washington Post. Cut 13 it is a long way

[Mark Thiessen]

to go for what appears to be

[Kevin Roberts]

very little in terms of locked in promises from Iran. It does look very similar to the jcpoa, which Trump scrapped.

[Mark Thiessen]

Some of the provisions may even be somewhat weaker.

[Kevin Roberts]

It's hard to tell because we're just going to begin those negotiations this week

[Mark Thiessen]

and over the next 60 days.

[Brian Kilmeade]

But I think in some ways the

[Kevin Roberts]

thing that's most important but seems most unrealistic in this deal is this idea

[Mark Thiessen]

of a broad change in the Middle

[Kevin Roberts]

east process where the US over time, if Iran responds positively, begins to pump development money, not just reconstruction, but to build Iranian businesses and has a vision for Iran becoming over time a country more like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

[Mark Thiessen]

Unlike the very closed and really impoverished

[Kevin Roberts]

country, it's been if they can do

[Mark Thiessen]

that, if the Iranians are really prepared

[Kevin Roberts]

to make those changes, that would be

[Mark Thiessen]

a significant move into the future.

[Brian Kilmeade]

But right now, in terms of what's

[Mark Thiessen]

actually agreed, actually on paper, it's pretty thin.

[Kevin Roberts]

The main achievement is one that I don't want to discount, opening the Strait of Hormuz, but otherwise not a lot there yet.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Well, he was really the only thing I heard about is trying to expand the Abraham Accords. I didn't know about revamping Iranian society. I don't even think that's on the table unless there's an overthrow of what's left of the regime. So J.D. vance is doing the tour. You know, everybody knows that he was not for this military action but to his credit, he marched on and just kept a lower profile until recently. However, I think his staff leaks out that he was against it. How else do I does everyone get to know about it? So he talked about something happening as early as Friday cut three, I think

[Mark Thiessen]

we're still figuring out the logistics on who's going to attend that signing ceremony. I certainly plan to be there, but it's possible the president himself could be there. We'll figure it out, Trey. But what we know is that we've got a lot of work to do, but a very big win for the American people tonight. We're just going to keep on working at it, keep on driving energy prices down, keep on ensuring that that region of the world is less of a basket case, and finally, and most importantly, celebrate the fact that I think we can say with confidence Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. We got a lot of work to do, but a big win tonight.

[Brian Kilmeade]

But what about Pickaxe, which is inside of a mountain that was unpenetrable by our explosives and by our bunker busters couldn't reach it. Are they going to dismantle that and with the weapons inspector? So I'm not being skeptical. I just don't have any answers to any of that. But does anybody? Is that going to be work out in the next 60 days? The other thing is Witkoff and Jared Kushner can't do this. This is a technical conversation. They should be focusing on Ukraine and Russia or Gaza. You can't do all three. So immediately, President Obama, who's trying to get publicity for his library. Library just now. I mean, this guy's been out of office since 2014 and his library is done now. Pathetic. That's just because he has no sense of a deadline. And by the way, it didn't. Didn't really invigorate anything in the region. I heard it's hated. It looks like a monstrosity. And I heard it's really disliked by the people in Chicago. It didn't really help the neighborhood at all. But having said that, he wants to talk about his eight years in office, and that's what is going to be reflected in his library. But of course, the JCPOA came up and he thought he'd be a little bit condescending, which he does best. Cut nine.

[Barack Obama]

In retrospect, it's a reminder that on a lot of difficult foreign policy problems, the notion that we can just bully our way or bomb our way to solutions may sometimes seem appealing. But the fact of the matter is, is that taking the time to explore diplomacy and exhaust the possibilities of coming up with deals that don't solve 100% of the problem, but solve 80, 90% of the problem while avoiding the necessity of going to war, you'd Think we would have learned that lesson by now, but it seems like every so often we have to relearn that lesson again.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Okay, first off, I think he's got to be. Can be somewhat accurate. Can he be. Can someone have a follow up question so about diplomacy. It was nonstop conversation that was going absolutely nowhere, which they did with you guys forever. And were berating John Kerry on a regular basis. We kept reports coming out he being screamed at by the Iranians and they had secret meetings with Hillary Clinton and Oman and it resulted in the JCPOA which expired by now it would be done evaporated. And there was, there was weapons inspection cadence. It was impossible to understand they were complying or not. Remember 24 days notice before you can go and see anything unnoticed. They would put up cameras, but sometimes those cameras were obscured and they would have enrichment of 3.5% and they were still having ballistic missiles able to rocket throughout the area and continue. And by the way, they had enough missiles to attack during the Biden years. So the JCPOA was a non aggressive, non military agreement with Iran. President looked at it and said I don't like it. You know what, who else didn't like it? Ben Cardin, Chuck Schumer. They couldn't get 50 votes in the Senate because it was looked at. And by the way, Benjamin Netanyahu hated it. Every, everybody in the Israeli government hated it because it was a pathway to a nuclear weapon. Just had to wait 10 years, let alone if they cheated. So for him to say, you can't bully away. There were talks going on. There were ongoing talks going on. There were talks going on before the 2015, 2025 attack with Operation Midnight Hammer, but they just were not going anywhere. So we took him out and buried him. Then they started excavating, then they took action again. So Michael Waltz took on this question. Is this the same as the JCPOA cut 11 respectfully to President Obama, no one here is bombing their way to a deal. I was personally with the President last year when he sent a letter suggesting to the Iranians we enter into negotiations. That was over a year ago. And before Midnight Hammer we tried again through multiple around this year. This president has always put diplomacy first, but unlike his predecessors, it has to be backed with credible military force. That is what we've seen over the years. The only thing that regimes like Iran will ultimately respect. You tell me whose foreign policy you like better. You tell me, you tell me. Libya. How'd that go? So Gaddafi was about to blow up everyone, Benghazi and they took action. And then when they took action, they kept going until, by the way, without getting a statement of war or a war putting up for a vote in the House and Senate. But when Benghazi was able to be saved and they moved on Gaddafi and he gets killed, there was absolutely no plan. So it's been chaos in Libya ever since. What about Venezuela? Did any action happen there? Or did you continue to deal with Chavez and then Maduro? Yeah. Cuba, you said, hey, guys, be communist, I don't care, let's play baseball together. I'll visit you. We're going to get rid of the blockade and we're going to recognize you and start tourism again. Do you think that was a good move? Maybe you do. I don't. Fortifying communism in the area, allowing Cuba to get a foothold in Brazil, provide doctors there in exchange for aid, and they would get free oil from Maduro. And China would have a presence, a listening post 90 miles off our coast. That's what Barack Obama's foreign policy was. Yeah. They got along better with NATO. Was anybody spending 2%? Just about no one except Poland when Barack Obama was there. Whose foreign policy do you like better? You know, you make the call on that. And by the time he was done and he landed in China, he had such little respect from the Chinese government. They would not bring up mobile stairs to his Air Force One. They had to go out the belly of the. They had to go out the belly of the plane because they could not get big stairs to come to the door. And then they put the press into a file. I mean, that's really what went on. And then under his watch, Crimea was taken and the Donbas was invaded. So you tell me what foreign policy you like better. I don't know what four of that ridiculous looking. At least the exterior looking library. It's going to be on. But your foreign policy, as bad as it can imagine, and don't forget it was his idea after the surge worked in Iraq and everyone told him he wouldn't and it worked anyway. And Bush left a calm Iraq, he pulled out all the troops and in comes isis. And we had to combine with Iran to push ISIS out. And then Iran gets a foothold in Syria and then he created the red line in Syria, remember that? And didn't fortify it. Next thing you know, the Russians and Iranians were dropping barrel bombs on innocent people in Syria and ISIS got a foothold there. And then we had to put troops in there. That was followed up with Trump. So that. That's his foreign policy. You want more of that? I don't know. I don't know what floor that's going to be on, but I can't wait to visit the foreign policy floor of Barack Obama and see how Ben Ro spins it because to me, it was an epic fail. And for him to lecture Trump is nuts. 1 866-40-87669 we come back. I want to talk about politics. President's approval rating according to NBC is at 42%. I don't think that's terrible in this environment. I think the best Trump could ever do is 48 or 49% or a Democrat could do. I think that's all they'll ever do, end this polarized environment. So having said all that, making all the consequential decisions he's making, I don't think that's bad. And on the, on the generic ballot, the NBC poll is a 5% advantage for Democrats. I don't think that's insurmountable if you're a Republican, especially with the gerrymandering this taking place. You're listening to a Monday edition of the Brian Kilmeade Show. Don't move.

[Mark Thiessen]

Diving deep into today's top story, it's Brian Kilmeade.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Cheers to America's 250th birthday.

[Kevin Roberts]

Get 20% off your first purchase at Fox newswineshop.com with code FNRADIO20 20% discount,

[Brian Kilmeade]

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combined with any other promotion. Expires July 31, 2026. Must be 21 or older to order. Please drink responsibly.

[Mark Thiessen]

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

[Brian Kilmeade]

Hey, we are back. And you know, it's rare when I, you know, I don't want to talk about one city sports, whether it's the Jacksonville Jaguars, we got that great affiliate wkv or something happens in New York, we had the great affiliate wabc. I don't like to focus too much on when one city gets a win or loss, but this I just thought was so much bigger than just a team wins the NBA title, I think. Did you have a situation now where, especially in the NBA where you get these superstars that go to one team and they contend for the title and then you have another team that goes ahead and goes, a bunch of players that fit together perfectly and compete for a title for two years and then win the title in the third year and not one of those players is a first team all star. And the guy that is a superstar is 6 foot 2 and a second round pick of another team who came to the New York Knicks. And we should probably pull this. Pete, you ever see that montage of Stephen A. Smith and all the experts saying when Brunson came to the Knicks how they paid way too much for him? Have you seen it? I love to get that. So all the experts who love Brunson, Jalen Brunson, now all said when the Knicks paid that money for him, they wasted their money. He's not a, he's not a number one guy. So here is Brunson after the game, cut 25. I don't know what I'm feeling. I'm just like, I'm in awe. I don't know. Whenever someone counters out, we find a way to come back and do something about it. My confidence comes to my work ethic

[Kevin Roberts]

every time I got the ball.

[Brian Kilmeade]

All I can think about is all the hours in the summer for every summer I had since I ever could remember putting. Making this a reality. I never had the ball. I'm just thinking about just me alone in the gym. And what happened is there's, you know, his dad was a, was a good player in the NBA, but not a great player. And he used to work with Jalen nonstop. And they caught it on video. So I guess they knew how talented he was. But he went to Villanova, they won a national championship, but they never thought he was the main guy. Keep in mind Bridges was the guy drafted, I think third overall by the Nets. And, and so I also think that the other, you know, you have Josh Hart and others were thought to be better players in Brunson on his own team. But what I thought too was just to see a player that was counted out to do so well collectively I think is a great story. And then you have a guy, 7 foot 5, Victor Wembanyama. And he came out and he plays cocky with the swagger and he can be dominant and he's so. They call him an alien in a good way because he's so athletic and so lanky. But here he is after the game. I think he, he doesn't understand the script. Cut 29. One of many things I learned is

[Barack Obama]

the margin of error is very, very thin.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Our domination stints are absolute.

[Barack Obama]

We absolutely dominated for most of the series.

[Dr. Rainer Zitelman]

But our errors, our mistakes are punished

[Barack Obama]

so hard that we can't have ups and downs like this. So so much, you know, the ups are okay. The downs is the Reason we lost.

[Brian Kilmeade]

First off, I give him credit for answering the questions and not being generic, but his answer is not good. We absolutely dominate him for five games. I mean, yeah, in one half, in portions of a game. You did dominate, but you didn't dominate them because you lost four of those five games. You can't have it both ways. You know it. 4 of sometimes they can happen in soccer, not in basketball. You don't score by mistake.

[Mark Thiessen]

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

[Brian Kilmeade]

Hey, welcome back everyone again. Hope you had a fantastic weekend. We're back in action on this Monday and I'll tell you one of the most intriguing things during the Trump team. He's into space and you wouldn't think so because you know he's a 70 something year old guy now he's 80. You would think that he's looking, he's worried about dollars and cents. You'd think, well, you know, I, I need this for the military or I need this for different programs. But he is really into space. In fact, he formed Space Force, said President Trump and has got a lot of momentum for it. And because of him, I think it's really reinvigorated the program. And what we saw at Artemis 2 and that crew, not only did they have fantastic personalities, but people love the fact that they were going further around the moon than any time in history. And percolating behind the scenes for years has been this guy named Elon Musk and he's had this passion for going to Mars and featured on 60 Minutes starting his own space program. The NASA guys kind of laughing at him in the beginning and then realizing that entrepreneurial spirit that was involved with the space program can literally propel it into the future. Nothing against NASA, but you need capitalists involved with a sense of deadline purchase and letting the budget be their budget, not the government's budget. It never works. So bringing joining the show right now is Dr. Rainer Zitelman. He is the new space. He's the author of a brand new book, his latest book, New Space Capitalism the Entrepreneurial Path to the Stars. Doctor, welcome.

[Dr. Rainer Zitelman]

Thank you for inviting me.

[Brian Kilmeade]

No problem. I mean, I'm fascinated by this. And first off, I was fascinated to see that Artemis 2 does this mission goes around the moon. The average American just loves this story. Even though we have a war going on at the same time. It's just an incredible break and we like hearing about it again and people getting excited about it again. But then I hear the next Phase, it's up to Blue Origin or Space X to come up with a launcher, a landing, a landing vehicle in order to hook up with the rocket and go on to the moon. Is that in the example of the future of space capitalism? Get the private sector literally linking up with the public, with the, with the government?

[Dr. Rainer Zitelman]

Absolutely. You know, today the space industry is private. This is a difference to the 70s and the 60s when there was the first moon landing. I give you only one number. Last year we had, in the total, all over the world, 324 rocket launchers, and 165 out of them were by Space X. So it means if Space X were a country, it would be number one, far ahead of China, that had only 88 or another number. We have now today, 15,000 active satellites in space, but 10,000 out of them are Starlink satellites. So space capitalism is reality. And, you know, Friday we had this IPO from SpaceX, the biggest IPO in history. And I felt confirmed because when I started writing about new space capitalism a few years ago, people laughed at me. What's that? Space capitalism. It sounds like science fiction or it's a niche topic. Now. We have the first trillionaire in the world, Elon Musk. We had the biggest IPO in history. So space capitalism is reality. Today

[Brian Kilmeade]

it is. And you just think about Starlink. You know, he was sending. What are the rockets doing? Well, they're sending satellites into the sky. A lot of them are his. Now, Starlink is universal anywhere you go in the world. Starlink. Do you have a Starlink? I went on United Airlines. There's a Starlink app. So what's he doing with his rockets? Well, he's putting in his satellites to help his Starlink communications devices that are revolutionizing the world and even the battlefield. When he denied Russia's Starlink, Ukraine actually started winning that war. So how much credit belongs to Elon Musk?

[Dr. Rainer Zitelman]

Absolutely. For me, he's. He's a genius. You can compare him only with Henry Ford or Thomas Edison. He's a real genius, and I have it in my book, the whole story. Think about this. Almost 30 years ago, he sat there at a swimming pool with his friends after selling his first company, PayPal. And one asked him, what do you think? What's next, what you're doing? And he said, next thing, I think my task is to make mankind multiplanetary civilization and settle Mars. And his friend said, here, you're crazy. And people laughed at him. And then he went to Russia and wanted to buy rockets because he didn't have any rockets. And compared to now, I repeat this one exciting number, 165 rocket launches with 99% success rate. I compared with Europe, where I live, we had in whole Europe from our government led space organization, eight launches last year. So 5% from this single company in the United States. That's the difference.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah, it really is. And he had this vision and I remember NASA kind of was not welcoming to the private sector, were they?

[Dr. Rainer Zitelman]

No, absolutely you're correct. They thought it's crazy. And I have the story in my book, you know, in 2011, after when they ended the space shuttle program, they were not able to bring American astronauts from American soil with American rockets to the International Space Station. They relied on Russians on the old fashioned Russian soldiers rockets because they were not able to bring them. And only nine years later, Musk with his Falcon 9 rockets in 2020 was able. But in the meantime they called it our Hail Mary move. This was the Hail Mary move, you know, like in football, but in football usually this Hail Mary move doesn't work. But at this time it worked. And there was one employee from NASA, she believed in him, but she reported every week someone was in my room and said, oh, I'm so sorry for you that you have to work with this crazy idiot from SpaceX. I'm so sorry for you. I don't want to be in your shoes. This was the beginning because they thought it should only be about the government. And now we see two things. First, what made America great in the first place? I think these are two things. Capitalism, entrepreneurship, competition and people who set themselves really big goals. And you see, the American dream is alive for me. Elon Musk came from South Africa as a migrant. He came there first to Canada, then the United States. He founded his companies, he became millionaire, he became billionaire. And now he became the first trillionaire the history of man. And he's not the only one. Sergey Prin, for example, the Google founder, he came from the Soviet Union. Media founder, he came from Taiwan. So I think the American dream is alive. And when some people tell me today all these rich people, it's only inherited, it's no longer possible to be self made billionaire. This is nonsense. According to The Forbes statistic, 75% from all billionaires in the United States are self made. And 30 years ago it was only 50%. So the American dream is life?

[Brian Kilmeade]

Absolutely. Even if it comes from they come to our shores like Einstein did and help save the world. Meanwhile, by making sure the Germans didn't get an Atomic bomb. I want you to hear Jason, Jared Isaac, man, who I think is the perfect pick and was Elon Musk's pick to run NASA. It was rejected by a member of the White House. And that's part of the reason why Elon Musk blew up and then blew up Trump and then they since have made amends. Listen to what he talk about, his image and what Artemis 2 paved the way for. Cut to. I mean, it began with a single person in a Mercury spacecraft, and we

[Mark Thiessen]

progressed to two spacecrafts at one time.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I mean, now we've got an, you

[Mark Thiessen]

know, an international space station while spacecraft

[Brian Kilmeade]

is coming back from the moon.

[Mark Thiessen]

This is progress.

[Brian Kilmeade]

We talk a lot about, you know, what is an interesting, interesting KPI, the number of people living and working in space. We want to see that number grow.

[Mark Thiessen]

So hopefully, in the not too distant

[Brian Kilmeade]

future, we've got communication going on between our moon base, you know, their colleagues that are orbiting above them in a,

[Mark Thiessen]

in a lander, relaying back maybe to

[Brian Kilmeade]

other colleagues on an international or future commercial space station. This is, these are all steps in

[Mark Thiessen]

the right direction for the exciting future that many of us were probably imagined

[Brian Kilmeade]

as children and we're trying to bring into reality. Yeah, I mean, what were your thoughts as somebody who does this for a living and wrote a book? Dr. Rainer Zitelman, the New Space Capitalism, the Entrepreneurial Path to the Stars. What do you think of Artemis to.

[Dr. Rainer Zitelman]

On the one hand, yes, I think, of course I was excited because it was the first time 50, 54 years ago, after the last man left the moon. But on the other hand, it doesn't mean real progress. You know, we landed on the moon in 1969, and then 55 years later, we passed by the moon. This is, you know, with the government, we had stagnation. And there's this rocket from the NASA rocket. It was a rocket that you can use only one time. And El Master rockets are reusable rockets. You can use them many times. One, one rocket, Falcon 9 rocket, he used now the same rocket 34 times. And of course, it makes a difference in pricing. Elon Musk reduced the launch costs. It means the cost to bring one kilo to space by 95%. And of course, one reason is because he was the first one to make real reusable rockets. Imagine, you know, I will come next, next month to the United States. Imagine I could use the app plane only one time, and then they throw it away. Yeah, I think I have to pay $800,000 for a ticket or something like this.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So let me ask you, where's Blue Origin? We saw that about that big explosion on the launcher, I think two weeks ago. And Blue Origin essentially takes a huge step back as they race to make the launch. The, the unit that's going to the landing unit that's going to land on the moon.

[Dr. Rainer Zitelman]

Of course this was a terrible accident, but fortunately first no one was killed. In 1960, we had a similar accident in the Soviet Union and 70 people were killed. 70 people and no one was killed. First thing, next thing is things like this happened. It was also in the early days of aviation, we had a lot of accidents and even people were killed. To be honest, it's a part of the game. Elon Musk, before he was successful with his start launch number four, he had three, three launches that, that failed. Don't forget this. But if, if I compare Blue Origin from Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk's Space X, of course Musk is far ahead. He was 10 years ago able to build the first reusable rocket 10 years ago. Jeff Bezos did it six months ago. So it's 10 years difference there. But of course competition is good and I think they will learn their lesson. And it's good to have competition because today Space X has a kind of monopoly. They, they brought 80% of the payload in the last years in space worldwide. 80%. So this is a kind of monopoly. And so I think competition is a good thing. And there are other companies I want to mention, Rocket Lab, for example, this is a company founded by New Zealander Peter Beck. And now they are also in the United states. They had 21 rocket launches last year. Of course, not so many as Space X, but three times more than Europe. Also a private company, also an example for new space capitalism.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah, I mean that certainly will help. So now I know in the moon, just to finish off that mission, they're going to start sending things that will make life sustainable up there. So when they land. So, and the goal was for, for Elon Musk is always been to get to Mars. What is the spacecraft he's going to use to get to Mars?

[Dr. Rainer Zitelman]

Yes, it will be the Starship. I will guess the Starship is the biggest rocket, not only rockets, the biggest vehicle or kind way to move we ever had in the history of mankind. You can't compare it with anything else. Starship. And I, I would bet that within the next 10 years they will go to Mars. Within the next 10 years, I'm absolutely, of course it changed a little.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yes, sorry, that's a, that's a. That's a huge thing. 10 years. And that takes what, nine months?

[Dr. Rainer Zitelman]

Yes, it's about nine months. And you can do it only all 26 months. There's a window of opportunity to go there. And you know, the goal of Musk is not only to go there one time, as they did on the moon in 1969, planned a flag and then, you remember, the wind was out of sail snow. He wanted to settle Mars. His goal is to bring 1 billion people to Mars. This is 1 billion people. Think about it. He want to send. He want to send 1000 starships every year to Mars. This sounds like science fiction, but if you think that it's the same guy who sat beside his swimming pool with his friends from PayPal and he spoke about settling Mars and he had nothing. And now he's a trillionaire with the most successful rocket company in the history of mankind. I think there's something on it.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Dr. Zadoman is with us. And Dr. Rainer Zadoman, who wrote the book New Space Capitalism, the Entrepreneurial Path to the Stars. What about what we saw for a while is where they took the launch Blue Origin. And I think it was Space X2. It just sends celebrities up into space. There's really no skill in it. You just go up there, experience it and come down. Remember William Shatner went up there and others. Is that part of the entrepreneurism? Does that help raise money when rich people looking to, looking to enter, entertain themselves, hop on board like that?

[Dr. Rainer Zitelman]

Yes, of course, I know some people criticize it, but it was only in the beginning everything was only for rich people. Cars, before Henry Ford came were only for very rich people to fly. Aviation was only for very rich people. Even a toilet with, you know, as we have it today, water toilet was for the richest people. So in the beginning it's always only for rich people who can finance it. And later on it becomes for the masses. And you have, of course, today you have these two versions, the cheap one that costs even $300,000 to be with like three or four minutes in orbit with Bezos, or the expensive one, like with Elon Musk, to be a couple of days in the International Space Station. What is about. I think last time it was 40 million. So to afford this, you have to be a billionaire. And I mentioned one billionaire who was a space tourist is Jared Isaac man. He was a space tourist. And do you know what he's now he's a friend of Elon Musk and now he's NASA CEO and he was a space tourist. Yep.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Well, pick up his book, New Space Capitalism. The Entrepreneurial Path to the Stars is pure. It's really an American story. Dr. Rainer Zitelman, thanks so much.

[Dr. Rainer Zitelman]

Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you.

[Mark Thiessen]

All right.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah. Back in a moment. You listen to the Brian Kilmeade Show.

[Mark Thiessen]

Learning something new every day on the Brian Kilmeade Show. The more you listen, the more you'll know it's Brian Kilmeade. Yeah.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Let me just tell you, I mean, fascinating on the space economy, but this weekend for me, as much as I enjoy doing the One Nation out in Los Angeles, it was kind of cool to have those L. A guests and be in the bureau. I just can't get over everyone. Anyone who follows sports or follow soccer knows when the US national team plays, even when they're at home, it's 50, 50. Usually people are passionate about it, but there's always Mexican fans, overwhelming no matter who they're playing. German fans, overwhelming. Belgium fan. I've never seen 70,000 people chanting USA spontaneously. I have never felt that type of support. And, and that was before the game. And then when they go out and win 41 against a team that beat Argentina and tied Brazil. So they were terrible. Paraguay was terrible. But it's not that they weren't talented. I think had a lot to do with the way us is playing. I think it's really encouraging because now everybody's talking about it. I mean the world is talking about. I was just reading international newspapers over in Germany and other things translated obviously to English and they are, they are so impressed with the US team. It's not so much the that they won 4:1, it's how they won the build up on their goals. Do you know, I think the last goal with no time left. So it was an injury time. They had 22 straight passes and with Gio Reyna, who was supposed to be a superstar, never quite emerged that way yet with the outside of his foot able to bend it right into the corner, it really saves statement. Now it's going to be about Australia. A game they absolutely should win. They actually have a lot more talent. And then the last game against Turkey A. So we'll keep you up to date on what's happening the World Cup. Hope you're getting into it because over the weekend there was some fantastic games. Netherlands and Japan 2 2. Awesome.

[Mark Thiessen]

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

[Brian Kilmeade]

I'm so glad you're there. It's the Brian Kilmeade show coming your way. We have a lot to discuss today from 48 to 6 in Midtown Manhattan where the celebration was wild and deserved for Nick fans. I saw so many great things happening and I know we're a national show, international. We get calls from everywhere and I feel that way. I'm always cognizant of, you know, I know people listening from other states. I don't want to be too New York centric, but not only do we have a great affiliate in WABC in New York, which is extremely important, but I also think that the Knicks have become a global story. Basketball is a global game. I mean, nowhere bigger outside the US than China, believe it or not. So when you have a team, do what the Knicks did and be a team, I mean there's not one player on the Knicks that would be, I don't think is a first team all star player. So collectively they're better than individually. We don't see that anymore in sports, especially in the NBA where five guys can change, can change the direction of a franchise. You don't see that much usually, okay, go get a superstar and then build some guys around him and then try to work it out. You have a guy that was coming off the bench in Dallas that they said we're going to build a franchise around. Everybody laughed. Jalen Brunson. And then when he finally cashed in and proved he's MVP caliber player, he left $100 million on the table in order to use that hundreds of millions in order to get other players to surround him. I mean that's the type of unselfish things you didn't think was going to be in sports anymore. But so the Knicks have become a global sensation and New York, which is so fractured and, and with this socialist mayor and so unbelievably, how many people are leaving and disenchanted or feel that can't afford it. Everyone came together from all walks of life, all religions, all races, just to be, to be a part of it. Yeah, there's some knuckleheads, 63 arrested, but that's. It was really more about celebration. But the other big story that happened over the weekend was and of course the World cup game, which I was lucky enough to go to and cover and we're able to see 70,000 people chanting USA. And to see the US respond like that, I hope got those people that thought, I don't care about the World Cup, Karen. And for those people who back soccer now, you have A reason to hope for the US not just other teams. And then for those people who are on the fence, hopefully you're off the fence. So the other big story was Iran. Now we got 60 days to do a deal. The deal has started with opening up the strait, which will be as early as Friday. We release our blockade, they release their blockade. There are no fees. What I worry about is releasing the frozen funds because they use that fund to bulk up and maintain their government, their evil government. And I think they're going to fund the proxies and continue to build up their ballistic missile program. But I also think the President's got to get our economy on track to have a shot at the midterms. And November 5th, all bets are off. JD Vance doing a lot of the negotiating, which is interesting because we know that he was not for this conflict somehow. We get that report all the time. But now he's there to help land the plane.

[Mark Thiessen]

Cut one, number one, this is the immediate opening of the Straits of Hormuz and of course, the lifting of the naval blockade that we've had on Iran along with it. The number two thing that it means is that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. And not just pursue a nuclear weapon, but procure or try to buy a nuclear weapon as well.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah, well, we all know what they were up against. We know that they're going to look to enrich uranium. We got to get the uranium out. Yet to be negotiated. We probably can do it. We had a plan to get it out. We were all ready to do it. They rehearsed it, but they thought there was too great a chance of casualties. So the President at the very last minute called it off. And what the Iranians have done is booby trapped the tunnels around where the uranium is, which makes me think they could get through the uranium, which is about £1,000. The other thing is got to be zero enrichment, and it's got to be taken out. And then they got to make sure that get inside pickaxe. Pickaxe is this granite mountain that we were unable to penetrate with our best bombs. So what are you doing in the mountain? Making a weapon. Of course you're making a weapon. So we'll have to see. But I think is we got over 10,000 hits on various elements of their military. We took out two generations of their leaders. We're up to the third tier. So when people come out and say the JCPOA would have been fine. Hey, the JCPOA, negotiated by Barack Obama could not get 50 votes in the Senate with Barack Obama as president, number one. Number two is it would have expired by now and they were able to enrich the 3.2%. Barack Obama though thinks that this is a deal that is this not even whatever that comes out. He doesn't even know the details of the deal, but he has an opinion on the deal cut it.

[Barack Obama]

It is doubtful that any agreement that arises is going to be significantly different or a significant improvement from the deal that we had in the first place and had worked for a long stretch of time before we the United States pulled out of it. So I'm hopeful that bombing stops and ordinary people are no longer suffering as a consequence of the war.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Okay, so you really think the JCPOA had the region in the same place as it is right now and that this deal in 60 days to negotiate it, you don't think there's any difference? Well, no more. You got to bring in a technical team. No one, it can't be just Jared and Witkoff. You have a technical team that's got to go in there. Number two, you got to get the enrichment ranium out and then they got to make sure there's on site inspections to make sure that these sites are not weaponized. Again, you don't need nuclear. Don't tell me you need nuclear power. Don't tell me because all that stuff UAE evidently has nuclear power and they take the uranium. It's web. It's enriched outside the country and comes in. The ballistic missile program never was addressed. The ballistic missile program was the one lighting up the skies in 2025 whereas they decide to attack Iran. Excuse me, Israel. And now those are the ballistic missiles that ended up in Lebanon run by Hezbollah. Rocketing. Drumroll please. Israel. Same thing with Hamas. They didn't have the sophisticated miss But Barack Obama who I guess did not seeking the cameras. He's trying to get some publicity for his for his library. Michael Walsh heard this and the Ambassador to the UN said this cut 11 respectfully to President Obama. No one here is bombing their way to a deal. I was personally with the President last year when he sent a letter suggesting to the Iranians we enter into negotiations. That was over a year ago and before midnight Hammer we tried again through multiple around this year. This president has always put diplomacy first but unlike his predecessors, it has to be backed with credible military force. That is what we've seen over the years. The only thing that regimes like Iran will ultimately respect. Yes, but you wouldn't use force. This president bombs out their nuclear program, buries it, when they start unearthing it, that's when he took action again. So these guys were never going to come clean. In fact, it was the MEK and outlaw group that was against this, against the Iranian regime of Ayatollah Khomeini. He, they, they were the ones who told him about the, the Firto plant. They didn't even know about it. The world didn't know about it. The irgc, the IAEA did not even know about it. But Barack Obama's got a way in and he says that this about bullying their way towards an agreement. Cut nine.

[Barack Obama]

In retrospect, it's a reminder that on a lot of difficult foreign policy problems, the notion that we can just bully our way or bomb our way to solutions may sometimes seem appealing. But the fact of the matter is, is that taking the time to explore diplomacy and exhaust the possibilities of coming up with deals that don't solve 100% of the problem, but solve 80, 90% of the problem while avoiding the necessity of going to war, you'd think we would have learned that lesson by now. But it seems like every so often we have to relearn that lesson again.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Right, so he was trying to say that his foreign policy is better. He's the one who got us ISIS when he pulled all our troops out of Iraq. He's the one who got us Libya. Chaos when he decides to kill Gaddafi and not have any idea what to do next. He didn't have a failed plan of what to do next. He had no idea what to do next. And now it's basically a terror haven where Russia has more influence than we do in the area. It just, he's been a disaster. We watch in Venezuela, we watched the transition from Chavez to Maduro. He's done did absolutely nothing. He tried to reapproach and invigorate the communist government over in Cuba. That's what Barack Obama's foreign policy is. How dare he go ahead and judge Trump when Trump has dramatically changed Central and South America in our time and is about to take over Cuba and has taken direct action against a renegade nuclear program and basically under Bush and who I'm a fan of, always will be and Obama. That's when North Korea got a nuclear weapon and both presidents says they will never have a nuclear weapon. They got it now it's accepted. So I want to bring up another point. Stop targeting. And this goes to the president too. Israel is not aggressing, being aggressive, trying to blow up a deal. I'm sure they don't like this deal. However, the only reason they're bombing in Lebanon is because they're getting rocketed from Hezbollah from Lebanon. That is why they're in Lebanon. They don't want the territory, but they want the northern part of their country back. They owe it to their citizens to it's only the size of New Jersey. You can't give up northern New Jersey because Hezbollah run by Iran is financed by Iran. After all, Israel killed four IRGC leaders. That's the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. What were they doing in Lebanon? Not why are they dead? What were they doing there? So lastly, I'm really concerned about something else and that is the rise of socialism on the left. Look in the general it gives Republicans a better chance. But I do worry that people started getting used to these socialist principles and blaming people who are rich for the fact that you're not that to me the tax billionaire thing has got to stop. And the person who is hot now in terms of anointing would be candidates and been more selective is AOC now notice it. Notice that he she has not gone for platinum. She says oh, I'm confused. I'm not really following Maine, but the other ones El said over in Michigan, Rab a socialist over in Philadelphia. Other candidates here in New York City, like Mom, dummy. She's all in support of the socialist wing of the Democratic Party and she feels like she's ascended. Remember the humiliation she felt when she went to the G20 and couldn't even answer a question about what our policy is on Taiwan fell flat on her face so she wanted to change the subject. So it's up to Democrats to decide what's going to make up their party. I was shocked to see that Bill Maher came out who usually is the voice of reason. You know this Graham Platner. I don't need to go through the Nazi tattoo and all those other things. Here's the latest. Evidently there's a video online of a girl trying to kill herself and she tried to commit suicide. And friends come out and rally around and they save her. And you know what his response is on Reddit? She should try harder. Yeah, rooting for the suicide the same way he was rooting for the Taliban to kill a Purple Heart recipient because he didn't like the way a soldier acted under fire in Afghanistan. This guy is despicable. But listen to Bill Maher on HBO cut 16. Then there's the sexting while married. Scary behavior. So say some of his exes old posts about how he's a communist and all Cops are bastards and black people don't tip. And then of course, there's the Nazi tattoo on his chest. I mean, seriously, this guy's whole life is the movie the Hangover. And yet I would still urge the folks in Maine to vote for him for two reasons. One, we need to restore balance in our government. And a Democratic Senate would help a lot with that. And two, get used to it. America is a country filled with a lot of broken, horribly educated, phone addicted, sort of nutty people. And as long as we live in a representative democracy, we are always electing our reflection in the mirror. Okay, a couple of things. That's the worst part. So, because as long as there's gang members, you might as well elect a gang member. As long as they are Nazis, you might as well white supremacists or, or, or radical racist. Might as well elect one. It's crazy. I mean, it's like he's usually a very logical guy. You know, he starts a conversation going, I'm always going to vote for a Democrat, but he's a logical guy. This is where he let me down. That's why I played it. I mean, just because you feel as though there's our Americans that are phone addicted, living in a social media world, that means you should elect one. Are you kidding me? You're more worthy of it. We need balance of power. So flip the Senate with a, with a, with a socialist, by the way, I didn't think he was socialist. A socialist who calls himself a communist, who wants to pack the court, really get rid of those institutions, add two more states. This is, this is what Platner does, along with the fact that he has zero character pluses. Zero. Tiffrey joined the military. I appreciate it, but it seems like he got all the wrong messages from it. All right, we come back, we got more special guests. Going to be a really big hour. Not just the World cup, not just the NBA, but what's going on with the Iranian dealers of President jets. Over to the G7. You'll listen to Brian Kilmeade show on a wonderful Monday.

[Mark Thiessen]

Politics, current events, and news that affects you. Brian's got a lot more to say. Stay with Brian Kilmeade. Radio. That makes you think this is the Brian Kilmeade Show. Does Graham Platner have the character to

[Dr. Rainer Zitelman]

be a U.S. senator?

[Mark Thiessen]

Leader Jeffries, first of all, I thought you were going to say the big

[Brian Kilmeade]

news of the week is the Knicks winning the NBA championship. We're going to get to that too. For the first time.

[Mark Thiessen]

In 53 years.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I appreciate that.

[Mark Thiessen]

In terms of the Maine Senate race,

[Brian Kilmeade]

listen, the voters of Maine are ultimately

[Mark Thiessen]

going to be the ones to decide what's in the best interests of the people of Maine.

[Brian Kilmeade]

At this period of time. I'm just focused on making sure we

[Kevin Roberts]

take back control of the House of Representatives.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Well, I mean, to his credit, he does have to control the different chamber. But they all say that Adam Schiff was who was condemning him now says, you know, it's up to people of Maine. Everybody is up to the, the people of Maine. It's up to the people of Maine. It's getting worse. And the latest one about from P. Hustle, which is his Reddit name, was resurfaced a series of controversies involving his past online activities, including a story that said there's a story of a girl that tried to commit suicide and she was saved by her friends. It was a feel good story. He chimed in and says, she's got to do a better job. Essentially it's going to do a better job so she's able to pull up for suicide more effectively. Same with their person that has a sentiment of one of one of our soldiers being shot up by the Taliban. He said he should be dead and the Taliban has terrible aim. I just don't know how many more examples of what a terrible person, let alone the terrible things that he believes. Bill Maher weighed in and I was shocked to hear Bill Maher weigh in like this. Cut, cut the 18. Then there's the sexting while married. Scary behavior. So say some of his exes old posts about how he's a communist and all cops are bastards and black people don't tip. And then of course there's the Nazi tattoo on his chest. I mean, seriously, this guy's whole life is the movie the Hangover. And yes, I would still urge the folks in Maine to vote for him for two reasons. One, we need to restore balance in our government and a Democratic Senate would help a lot with that. And two, get used to it. America is a country filled with a lot of broken, horribly educated, phone addicted, sort of nutty people. And as long as we live in a representative democracy, we are always electing our reflection in the mirror. Yeah, and then he goes on to say vote for Platner because somebody's got to flip the power in the Senate, which is like everything that Bill Maher has not been doing. Now, I'm not saying he's a moralist, but there is, it's not so much I cheated on my wife, it's I'm an unbelievable businessman. I've made personal decisions that are not the best for my marriage and my family. But there's no upside to this guy. What's his upside? That he speaks bluntly and that he joined the military and he said he gave him ptsd. What is the upside? Now the flip side is, look what they did in Texas. In Texas, they put Ken Paxton up instead of John Cornyn. Ken Paxton, yeah. He's, he's attorney general. Does it. Does a good job there. And he is somebody that was strong in the border and very loyal to Trump. But Senator John Cornyn, I think, voted with Trump 96% of the time. Senator Cornyn signed on the gun legislation. One of the things it did is after the horrible shooting from that veteran in a, in a church when he walked in and shot everyone dead from behind, that turns out this guy had mental problems. And he says, maybe you should have a background check before you leave the military and get to keep your gun. That was abhorrent, that people never forgot. But in the general, he would have waltzed. Instead, you got to spend $50 million. And then Ken Paxton's personal decisions try to neutralize, although they don't get close to it, what Platner does. But at least this guy's got a experience Paxton's performed. What has Platner done?

[Mark Thiessen]

Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kilmeade Show.

[Barack Obama]

It is doubtful that any agreement that arises is going to be significantly different or the significant equipment from the deal that we had in the first place and had worked for for a long stretch of time before we, the United States, pulled out of it. So I'm hopeful that bombing stops and ordinary people are no longer suffering as a consequence of the war.

[Brian Kilmeade]

That is Barack Obama, in his highfalutin, condescending way, say that the JCPOA essentially was everything that Trump got, only he didn't have to kill people to do it. He said, you don't want to. You can't bully your way through a foreign policy. Marc Thiessen joins us now. You know, former speechwriter for Bush, Fox News contributors. You know, Washington Post columnist and AEI fellow Mark. Right away, the president, I know he's got to sell his library and get and talk about it only took what, eight years to build where President Trump is going to like build his in nine weeks. So he says this is the same thing as the jcpoa. I don't even know how he can make comparison to something that's not done yet. But your reaction?

[Mark Thiessen]

Well, first of all, it's not like the JCPOA in one particular sense. 13,500 missile strikes that took out, that buried the Iranian nuclear program in dust so thick that they would, they can't get to it without our help. They decimated their ballistic missile program, destroyed 84% of their of their defence industrial base, sank their entire navy, grounded their entire air force and has left them with what Admiral Brad Cooper called a nuisance capability to, but no power, no capability to project force into the Middle East. So that's where they are right now. So they were down, but they're not out. And so it's certainly better than the JCPOA because Iran, it didn't take away anything from them. There was no, their nuclear program was intact. It was just frozen. So it's a whole different bowl of wax. Now. That said, that doesn't mean it's a good deal and we haven't seen it yet. You know, we're seeing the reports from the Iranian side of what the deal contains and we're not seeing the reports on the US side. Which makes me wonder why. Because if the Iranian side is wrong, I'd like to know. Because what the Iranians are putting out is pretty bad.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I mean what they're putting out is

[Kevin Roberts]

there's still a toll.

[Brian Kilmeade]

There's still a toll with the strait, right?

[Mark Thiessen]

Well, there's still a toll. There's again, this is just the Iranian says that we don't know that this is true. There's $24 billion in frozen assets. They get front according to that. There's a three and another half after, after the nuclear deal is negotiated. There's a, there was a report of a $300 billion fund to, to rebuild the reconstruction of Iran. There's lots of things on the, that the Iranians are claiming as victories that the US hasn't said is not true, but hasn't put out there Their, their version of it. I guess we're going to see it on Thursday because they're going to sign it. So we have to see what they're signing. But if that stuff is in there, it's pretty bad. I mean, think about this. You know, we, it would be like if we $300 billion fund to rebuild Iran that's like the Marshall Plan while the Nazis were still in power.

[Brian Kilmeade]

How about the fact that, sorry, Scott Besson said that they are going to pay from their frozen money for all the Arabs for the Gulf state damage. So that's that. There's no way Trump would sign off on that.

[Mark Thiessen]

Yeah. And then the other thing that you quoted me that I. You showed me on Fox and Friends this morning, or actually Lawrence did, because I got, I got the good host, but Lawrence showed a quote saying something about the delivery. They're going to have some civilian enrichment. I hope that's not true, because that was a red line for Trump. He was saying even before the Operation Epic Fury started, he was like, when he was negotiating, said, no civilian enrichment. If we were letting them have civilian enrichment, that's really bad. So there's a lot of bad stuff. I mean, look, even if it's a perfect deal, there's a problem, which is that they expected money in return. And so what you're doing is you're giving a lifeline to the Iranian regime no matter what. Even if the deal was good. Right. You're letting them, you knock them down. And Trump just had a UFC fight. Imagine if you knocked somebody out and then helped him up before the bell rang so that you just continue fighting. It's like that's what giving them any money is doing. So even a great deal is problematic. Right. But there's a lot here that doesn't sound like it's a great deal. So I want to know the facts because I'm really worried.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I wonder if the President knows the facts.

[Mark Thiessen]

We've stolen defeat from the jaws of victory.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I wonder if he knows the facts. I mean, is Witkoff and Kushner, are they being honest with him?

[Mark Thiessen]

I would hope so. There's Witkoff's best friend, so I would hope that he's being honest with his best friend. I've never, you know, I don't think that there. I have no reason to indicate that Wyckoff is being dishonest in any way. I just think that, look, I mean, the Iranians have leverage. They knew that he didn't want to restart combat operations in a major way before the midterms, and they knew that he was concerned about gas prices going into the midterms. And so they used their leverage. You know, we'll see. You know, this is not the final act. There's a 60 day negotiation over the nuclear, the nuclear side of it. And they could balk during those negotiations that the whole thing could go away. So, you know, we'll see, we'll see, but it's not. This is. This doesn't seem to be the great victory that is being portrayed as.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Here is J.D. vance cut for.

[Mark Thiessen]

After the Israelis struck Beirut, we were very worried and we saw a lot of Evidence that the Iranians were going to launch a large number of missiles at the Israelis. With our communication with them over the course of getting to this. To this signed peace deal, they assured us that they were not going to respond to the Israelis and they were going to sign this agreement and get to peace. Now, of course, you always have to verify these things, Trey. And we know that there are a lot of people in the Middle east who do. Who do not want to make this deal happen.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Okay, a couple of things. That was Trey. That was Trey Yanks, not Trey Gowdy he was talking to. But when he says, I wanted to go this line. There's a lot of people in the Middle east who don't want to make this deal happen. There's nobody in the Middle east outside Israel. Right.

[Mark Thiessen]

Who.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Right. Israel doesn't want to see this happen. Israel went to see a real peace deal. But how. He knows they can't trust these guys, so he's taking a shot at Israel.

[Mark Thiessen]

Yeah, you know, it's. And on top of that, also, you know, the idea that Israel was doing something wrong, it's like they were getting fired on by Hezbollah and they were retaliating. I mean, can you imagine if like, the Mexican cartels were firing over the border at Texas and people were telling Trump, like, no, don't retaliate, because we got a deal we got to make with Mexico. He wouldn't put up with that crap. He would do the same thing as Netanyahu was doing. So this is an existential threat to Israel. I just. I'm very worried. Look, I think that the decision to launch Operation Epic Fury, and I've said this to you on your air, is one of the most courageous decisions any president has made in my lifetime. It has set back the Iranian military and the Iranian regime dramatically. But, you know, we have. You know, the question for it is, are the. You know, I listed some of the military gains that, when we just started talking. Are those reversible or are they. Are they temporary or are they permanent? And this deal gives Iran the money to rebuild all that stuff. And as far as I can tell, also, you know, we're negotiating the nuclear deal. I haven't seen anything about any limits on their support for terrorism. I haven't seen their proxies. I haven't seen any limits on their ballistic missile program. You know, that's already not nearly as good as the nuclear deal that the Bush administration negotiated with Libya, because they let us come in and destroy all their ballistic missiles and take all their nuclear Fissile material away to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. So, you know, if ballistic missiles are already not off the table and support for terrorism is not an issue, and we're just negotiating for the nuclear program, then it's problematic.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah, there's no question. There's no question about it. If it is 30 days open up the strait, 30 days to cut the deal on how you get the uranium out, on what ballistic missiles are necessary. One thing the President said to me, as I said, you know, the ballistic missile program was the problem. Those are the ones they shoot at the neighbors. Those are the ones they shoot at Israel. He said, but, Brian, they're going to. They tell me they're in a dangerous neighborhood. They have to have some way to defend themselves. Like, okay, that's fine, but there's got to be limits.

[Mark Thiessen]

We're in a dangerous neighborhood because of them.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah, well, let's say they want some type of defense, whatever it is, you know, So, I mean, that's different. That's different than mass producing ballistic missiles and then exporting to Hezbollah, to Mosquito.

[Dr. Rainer Zitelman]

Yeah.

[Mark Thiessen]

I mean, the idea that they're in a dangerous neighborhood and so they need ballistic missiles, they are the danger in the neighborhood. That's like Trindar Agro saying, well, we need to have some guns, Mr. President, because we're living in a dangerous neighborhood. You know, they are the danger. They're under no threat from Israel if they don't attack Israel. So this whole. I'm just. I feel like Donald Trump created the greatest opportunity in my lifetime to fundamentally transform the Middle east and that we should. We could have, if we had not done this ceasefire, you know, what week are we in now? 10 weeks ago. And all we needed to do was 10 to 14 more days of strikes. We would have eliminated their entire defense industrial base. We would have eliminated most of their ballistic missiles. We would have left them with irreparable damage and then just said, we've done. We're done. We accomplish our mission. We're keeping the blockade in place. We're opening the Strait of Hormuz, which we've been, by the way, quietly doing for weeks. And, you know, and so we can do it by force and arming the Iranian people and let them go. And this is the other thing, Brian, he said to the Iranian people, rise up and take back your institution. Help is on the way. Where's the help? I mean, we're now helping provide cash to the. To the oppressors. If that's true, people went out into the street and 40,000 of them died, and we're now giving money to the people who shot them.

[Mike Vacaro]

I know.

[Brian Kilmeade]

If that's true, and if it's true. If it is true, Wykoff and Kushner have to be taken off all negotiations. They're an absolute hazard.

[Dr. Rainer Zitelman]

Whether.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I love what they did with Gaza, they were on the right path, but they have no idea how to handle Lebanon. They're blaming. They're blaming Bibi for what's going on in Lebanon, which is nuts. And they have no idea how to handle the Iranians. They've had countless talks with them. They never go anywhere. And he has yet to visit Ukraine yet. They're supposed to be the broker of peace, and they keep taking Russia's side. So. Enough.

[Mark Thiessen]

Yeah, I'm just deeply worried about what's in this deal. I want to know. I just, you know, I'm. You know, all I know is what is being reported from the Iranian side, but it's not being contradicted. You know, we haven't. Why haven't we put out the points yet? If the Iranians have put out what they say are the points in the plan, and we haven't put them out? So at some point, you got to think, well, maybe that's because what the Iranians are saying are right. I hope it's not. I hope this deal is a lot tougher than it's being reported. But right now, it looks like a pretty bad deal. And even a good deal is problematic for all the reason. I mean, just lifting the blockade right now, if that's part of the deal, is giving billions of dollars to the regime and lifting the oil sanctions. They haven't done anything yet. I mean, literally, they haven't. You know, they haven't agreed to give up their nuclear. They've given in word. But. So they did that in the jcpoa, too. What the difference is, is it's being backed by military force and a threat. You know, where's the. Where's the. They haven't delivered a thing yet, as far as I'm concerned. So it's, you know, it's both one of the greatest things that President Trump has ever done and one of the most tragic because it's. He had. He created such an opportunity to trend now, now, look, things could go wrong. Things could change still. Right. You got 60 days where the Iranians could just balk and not give him what he needs on the nuclear program. And Trump is assuming that what they say, when they say we're not gonna have a nuclear weapon is they mean It. And so he's gonna, they're gonna give him all the dust and everything else like that. Let's see what they give. But they could, they could not do that. And we could be back to war after the midterms. I mean, it all depends. So we'll, I don't know, we'll see.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Well, I'll tell you what, this is a scenario that I see absolutely happening is that Hezbollah is going to continue to rocket and they, you know, Hezbollah doesn't do anything without Iran's with permission. And Israel is not going to not respond. It's just impossible for them not to respond. Especially if they're using those drones that are fiber optics that they can't even detect. Really. They're going to just sit there and say, well, we got to take it. So not so I don't blow a deal that looks terrible. So they're going to respond and that. And they're going to say, if you don't control Israel, this deal is off. And it's going to become obvious that this deal is off and because this IRGC chair, that guy Validi Fahiti is the one who rocketed Israel two weeks ago. And he was, but basically he said everybody else wanted to just move on and he didn't. So he won that. And if he's really in control of that government, there's nothing that's going to satisfy that guy. So we're going to have to go back to action because the Iranians are going to make us.

[Mark Thiessen]

Yeah, I think, I think that's a questioned analysis. But why do we have to go through this? Why don't we just finish them?

[Brian Kilmeade]

I hear you.

[Mark Thiessen]

Why do we have to go through that process? It's like, you know, for 14 days, 14 days of bombing, literally all we need to do, it's, it's just, it's mind boggling to me. Well, I would, I would find also a lost opportunity. But may you write may not be lost yet.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Go get it. Mark Thiessen, thanks so much. Back in a moment.

[Mark Thiessen]

Keeping you informed, engaged, and always a step ahead. It's the Brian Kilmeade show, The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmeade.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Wemby tries a three, puts it up off the Mark Anunoby the rebound. It's over.

[Mark Thiessen]

It's over.

[Brian Kilmeade]

McFans, this is not a dream. Your long, long wait has ended. Go ahead and cry. After 53 years, the Knicks are finally

[Mike Vacaro]

NBA champions once again.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah, I mean, you're talking about 1973 last time in the final, 1999. And then they went and come back five times. Four of the five games they came back in the fourth in game three two and four of the five games came down from devil deficits, double digit deficits, and had had one and had two straight sweeps. So it was just unbelievable what happened. I know some people aren't the biggest basketball fans. Some people don't know about the Knicks, but if you saw the celebrations in the streets. Did you see some of those Instagram post, you're talking about tens of thousands of people in the street singing New York, New York. And then the version they got, the Frank Sinatra version and the Jay Z version, it was pretty amazing. And Mike Brown is another guy. Like Joe Tory had not won anywhere, but people always liked him. Great person, assistant coach, head coach, fired multiple times. Then the, the, the Knicks get to the semifinals last year, the conference finals, and then fire their coach when they don't win it and they hire a guy that's done a lot of losing. And Mike Brown gets his first title cut 26.

[Barack Obama]

I couldn't believe it.

[Brian Kilmeade]

That's the first thing.

[Dr. Rainer Zitelman]

It was surreal.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I couldn't believe that it was happening. I am so tired. I mean, I'm gassed. And this stuff is harder than what you think. You know, you have to have great assistants, you have to have great players. But I was gassed. It was surreal.

[Barack Obama]

I was tired.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And then I want to find my family.

[Barack Obama]

I want to find Ro, my grandson,

[Brian Kilmeade]

my son Elijah, my step kids, my mom, my sisters.

[Kevin Roberts]

I want to find my family and

[Barack Obama]

enjoy it with them.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah, he went through enough. And by the way, he's known as one of the nicest guys too.

[Mark Thiessen]

All right.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And there'll be a huge parade here on Thursday. I'm sure you'll see some of the coverage regardless of where you are around the country and around the world, especially here with WABC listeners. Brian, Kill me. Joe, so glad you're there.

[Mark Thiessen]

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

[Brian Kilmeade]

So glad you're there. There, it's the Brian Kilmeicho from 40th and 6th in Midtown Manhattan, what's left of it. And I shouldn't say that the Knicks have left a lot of stuff standing. Only 60 arrested for the most part. It was a celebration. And there'll be a big one on Thursday and that'll be great. We'll talk to Mike Vacaro about that. Sports columnist, the New York Post author of the bosses of the Bronx. And we compare it to when the, when the, when the Yankees won for the first time, I think was 96. It was back in the 80s, 83. They had won. And then they went dry for a long time until 1996. There was a huge, there was huge celebration. But the thing is with these cities you have two teams. It's only tempered because the Met fans are so upset, the Yankee fans are happy and vice versa. But there really no big net fans. Good thing in studio is Kevin Roberts. Kevin is the Heritage foundation president. And Kevin, first off, a lot going on in the world of sports. We usually only talk about politics. First off, the World cup here. Have you caught any of it?

[Kevin Roberts]

Only, only from afar. In fact, I spent the weekend in California on some family business. And there in Los Angeles, obviously the United States had a great resounding victory against Paraguay. So even though we weren't there in person, it was great to see some other fans there. What a great, obviously a great event. You and I are both huge sports fans. You a soccer guy in particular. And even though soccer isn't at the top of my list, typical American, I really appreciate not just the sport itself, which is fantastic, but as we're seeing on social media, all these European travelers traveling the country and falling in love with the United States that in our, our America 250 year ought to give us a spring in our step.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I know, yeah, it's caught a spice of price because we kind of take it for granted. And they just talk about the diversity. One of those guys is Sammy Bell. He was on with Peter Ducey over the weekend. Cut 38.

[Mark Thiessen]

What has surprised you about America?

[Brian Kilmeade]

Just how friendly everyone is, how welcoming

[Mark Thiessen]

everyone is for the World Cup.

[Brian Kilmeade]

We arrived last week for two games in Florida in Tampa and Orlando, and everyone's just been so nice. And you know, you have all these people traveling around, can't believe that we kind of take for granted Louisiana is dramatically different from South Carolina. Okay, so is New York different from Florida? All right. I guess they're not used to that. I mean, people don't used to your country's one way.

[Kevin Roberts]

Yeah, it's so true. And obviously Europeans have this advantage and they go from one country to the next in a matter of hours. But the upside of the United States and it's just sheer size, is you have all these different cultures, almost as different as individual European countries. And we all not only get along, even though we might behave differently politically in this year. What I see, Brian, I'm So excited about is this revitalization of American patriotism. Exactly when it needs to be happening.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah. I mean, where was I the other day? Boston. And we were doing a feature on the oldest bars, first bars. And that's the place to go, as you know. And I was also doing a feature. We did Shays Rebellion, part of my new book, Shays Rebellion. And we went over to John Quincy Adams House. It was pretty amazing. And I asked everybody, first thing, what's been the pace, like, in terms of business through the roof? Everybody is going and getting really into our history. It's become cool again. And I know that there's a certain wokeness to a little. To Ken Burns stuff, but it's unbelievably, unbelievably well researched. And they get people's voices, not just the founding fathers, the voices of the soldier and the voices of the shopkeeper. That I thought was important.

[Kevin Roberts]

No, it's vital. I think about this project that we started several months ago, you're very well aware of at Heritage I, which is a guide to historic sites. And over the next few years, we're going to review several hundred historic sites. This year, we focused obviously on those that are important to the founding of the revolution. And we went in to your point about the Ken Burns stuff, Brian. We went in with the mindset, oh, so many of these are going to be awful. And you know what? Most of them actually are fine. A handful are really awesome. Yeah. There are a few where the woke mind virus has taken over. But the point of doing this, the point of you mentioning this, the point of revitalizing patriotism in this year, is to make sure that we appreciate our history. And that woke stuff will sort of be taken care of because the rest of us come to know our history better. To know it is to love it. And I think that's the ultimate solution to that.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Right? So I think, yeah, I think we're gonna have that celebration coming up, Pinnacle on July 4, but it should go out through the entire year. And I'm very curious to see. You know, it's the president's birthday, he's at the G7, and people are gonna want him to stay the whole time because he keeps leaving early. So they want to have something at the end. But I wonder if people are gonna go out of their way, if they're not gonna visit because of whatever problem they have with Trump or we have a problem with them. Hopefully they go out of their way to understand. I mean, Britain played a big role as our enemy. And later our ally. And then France, our first ally, you know.

[Kevin Roberts]

Yeah, look, the most common thing that we hear at Heritage when we're visiting with European ambassadors, heads of state, is the question, does America under the Trump Vance administration still appreciate its European alliances? And of course, the answer to that is a resounding yes. The credit that the president, vice president, secretary of state are owed is resetting the relationship so that the Europeans understand they can't get a free ride. I think they're coming to grips with that. I was there in Spain and Italy a few weeks ago, and leaders there are saying that I think this is the week. Brian, to your point about the importance of the week, hopefully the president can stay there even though he's a busy guy in landing that plane and convincing them. Yes, we always want to be your allies. Culturally, we sort of have to be. But you need to pull your own weight as it relates, relates to the growth of your welfare state, that you need to pull your own weight as it relates to defense. And when you do that, the United States is going to be your best friend in the world.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And Germany says they want to be the one, they want to be the back. A little scary. They tried that twice. They get a little carried away. So they said that they're looking to build up their base. And I remember a year ago I watched 60 Minutes to a feature and talk about the amount of people signing up, the amount of money they're putting in, and they've already, like, tripled the size, even though it was so small, but triple the size of their army. So if they want to do it, they should do it. I mean, this is helpful, but this is what people have told me in the past. We have used that to our advantage for trade and other things. Hey, we're your defense. You have to come to us. We kind of like that. And then the president says, well, it's getting a little carried away, but do you think we'll miss that when it's gone? If they are able to function, defend themselves on its own. On their own.

[Kevin Roberts]

If that were to happen, there's no doubt we would miss it. We just happen to think at Heritage that that isn't going to happen. I think what's going to happen is as these leaders, starting with our own president, continue be in conversation about what this updated relationship, this updated alliance looks like. I think you're going to see countries like Germany expand their military, properly ordered. But the real thing that we see at Heritage, Brian, is the move from old Europe to new Europe. Yes, it's important that the Germans and French and Italians pull their weight. But look at the, look at the polls. I mean, the Polish government, under both left and right governments has sort of set the standard for pulling your own weight. We're very high on the Baltic states. Obviously, we want all of Europe to flourish. If the Spanish prime minister, who is just a socialist, can get with a program or a successor can get with the program, I think what you're going to see is an alliance that's strong both in military, but also an economic alliance. It's very important both for the Europeans and for us as Americans to do so in order to confront China.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And hearing you say that, when you say old Europe, New Europe, and of course, Donald Rumsfeld was the first to say that. But what they reminds me of an immigrant. The first generation comes over here, they know what they left and they know they're happy for every day. And they might have a job that might consider mundane, a tailor or a shoemaker. And they might go, well, that's kind of boring. Not really. If you see where I came from, the fact that I can make my own living and forge my own country, I could put food on the table. That's my goal. The next generation goes, no, no, I want to go to college. I want more of a rewarding career. And then the third generation, fourth generation, get used to it. That's Western Europe. But the Eastern, Eastern side of Europe knows what it's like to be dominated by the Soviets, have no say over their rights, be squatched or be. Or arrested or family tort tortured. If you do speak up so you don't have to tell them what's better, the US Or Russia, you know, does the United States or what's better, the west to the east, they know it isn't. That isn't. Doesn't the analogy work?

[Kevin Roberts]

Oh, 100%. In fact, we're honored to just added in the last few months to Heritage. As a senior fellow, the former president of Poland, Alexander Duda, Andre Duda, you probably know him well. And he said the same thing. I asked him, I said, Mr. President, why do you want to be involved in American politics? And he said, well, because America understands what it is to help friends fight against aggression, fight against oppression. He didn't have to take three or four steps to reach that conclusion. He and his people know it. And the good news for us is that the rest of New Europe, largely east of the center of Europe, I think is aligned. But increasingly, Brian, what we see, obviously in France, they have an important election next year in Italy and in Spain is the growth of these nationalist, properly ordered nationalist, conservative political parties that are very much in line with the United States. I think by the end of this decade, certainly by 2035 or 2040, we're going to see a Europe that very much reflects new Europe more than it does old Europe.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah. And I think too, I mean, forget about Central and South America. It's been such a dramatic change, but we're just so great at ignoring it. We're great at ignoring when it's bad and when it's good. But Venezuela, look, I want to get elections there soon. We both do. But the fact that the head of the TGA was just wiped out, we just knocked out, just killed. And we took one of the leading financers of that, the Maduro's regime, and we exported him back here, he's gonna face trial. And now they're beginning to and very cooperative to foreign investment. Now, when it comes to oil and gas, you have to note that. And then the fact is, who's out? China, Russia, and who's out now? Brazil is somewhat isolated. Colombia is turning over their leader. We know what happened in El Salvador. That's, you know, listening to listen, what he's done is miraculous. It's not the biggest democracy in the world, but they're clearly an ally. Chile. I mean, there are so many things that are turning our direction, and the big one is Cuba.

[Kevin Roberts]

It is. And if you look at Cuba in that context, which is to say you take a step back and underscore the point you just made, listing country by country, what you realize is the opportunity we have, not just as Americans, but those of us who are inheritors of Western civilization, if you will, which includes all of those countries. And then some, as it relates to Cuba, think they see the leaders there, see between their own economic disaster as well as this domino effect that you outlined so eloquently that it's inevitable that their regime is going to fall, we're very high on that possibility happening organically. And I think when that does, when Donald Trump leaves the stage in January 2029, and I say this, Brian, more as a historian than a conservative policy leader, when he leaves the stage in January 2029, he will have overseen, he will have initiated, he will have led one of the most successful terms as a president in the history of our republic.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Well, guess who disagrees. Barack Obama cut nine.

[Barack Obama]

In retrospect, it's a reminder that on a lot of difficult foreign policy problems, the notion that we can just bully our way or bomb our way to solutions may sometimes seem appealing. But the fact of the matter is, is that taking the time to explore diplomacy and exhaust the possibilities of coming up with deals that don't solve 100% of the problem, but solve 80, 90% of the problem while avoiding the necessity of going to war, you'd think we would have learned that lesson by now. But it seems like every so often we have to relearn that lesson again.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So isn't that interesting? Does he not remember his foreign policy? Do you want to challenge him on that?

[Kevin Roberts]

It's just such a disaster. But it does make me grateful that he's not been president for a decade. But I want to challenge him very specifically on the claim he makes. His jcpoa, his agreement to drop billions of dollars of cash, literally airdrop billions of dollars of cash on Iran in order to buy them off, is exactly why Donald Trump needed to do what he did this year with the conflict there. And in particular, I just want to fast forward to what happened over the last week. The reason that we have the contours of a peace deal, the details of which are still to be determined, is because Donald Trump ramped up the military pressure with two consecutive days of strikes and put his foot on the neck of the ir. That's something that Donald Trump, not Barack Obama, understands. These are hardline theocrats who want to end not only Israel, the United States, but all of the West. The only thing they understand, the only currency they understand, is not pallets of billions of American dollars, but good old fashioned American force. God bless Donald Trump for being willing to use it.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah, Robert, a couple more minutes on the other side of the break because I want to talk about the details as we know them because there are many. But we know for 60 days the details are going to be hammered out. Don't move from breaking news to big name guests.

[Mark Thiessen]

Brian brings you insight you won't hear anywhere else. You're listening to the Brian Kill Meat Show. He's so busy he'll make your head spin. It's Brian. Kill me. I guess my primary message to the American people is thank you. Because of your patience, I think that we solved the problem that has plagued this country again for well before I was even born, which is a terrorist supporting Iran that was pursuing a nuclear weapon. We are now at a place here where we can say with confidence they're not going to get a nuclear weapon.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Well, that is J.D. vance doing a series of interviews. You're going to see a Lot of them because he's got his book out. He's even doing the View tomorrow, which is great. Dr. Kevin Roberts is here, Heritage Foundation President. So Kevin, what is, what do you hope to include in this deal?

[Kevin Roberts]

Well, I hope that what the vice president and president have said the last 24 hours is true. I'm sure that it is. They, they're, they're both honest men. There can't be any nuclear power, nuclear military ability by the Iranians and we have to have access to the strait period and anything absent. That is a deal that is unsatisfactory. Here we are not even 24 hours into the announcement of the deal. I think we need to give this a little bit of time. I think that's why the date for signing this has been set for Friday. And it's really important that when we get those details, we analyze it objectively. You played in the previous segment, Brian, this ridiculous clip by Barack Obama, who was the architect of the deal that got us to where we are. We want to be really sure that it's nothing like that previous deal because that would be continuing where we are. But let me conclude quickly with this point.

[Mark Thiessen]

Point.

[Kevin Roberts]

Let's just say that we signed the deal today. What's the reality on the ground? Iran's nuclear capability, if it exists, has been set back according to our military experts at heritage assessment, by 15 or 20 years. Same thing with their military capability. I think we need to understand that where we are we have significant leverage. Let's be sure that we land the plane.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah, I mean absolutely. But the can have even nobody wants the president of paying tolls on international water. And so the straight you can't have a toll. Do we agree with that? It's gotta be zero.

[Kevin Roberts]

I absolutely agree with that. Right.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So. And the other thing is paying reparations for the bombing that we did. I like Scott Besant, what he said on Friday. He said we're going to hold back any frozen funds and pay it to the Gulf states for the damage you did to them and our basis. That's a big difference from paying reparations for a war that their behavior started.

[Kevin Roberts]

Yeah, we entirely agree and sorry to be pedantic on this. I just think we need to give a few days to get the actual details confirmed by the White House. And as I know you and I agree emphatically about this, they've earned the benefit of the doubt for the next two or three days to show us what those details are.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Do you understand in this a little bit of outfield but here we are in the G7 and all the Arab states are going to be on the outside and they're going to have meetings with the Gulf states who I think were double dealing for self preservation. But do you believe the EU trade deal is close? I mean, we were about done until the court case came in. Do you think that they might be ready to sign that? Have you heard anything?

[Kevin Roberts]

I have heard because from Jameson Greer is with them. I've heard from some European officials in the last few weeks that it is close and that it remains close. And of course, as we've seen with this elusive Iranian deal, deals can be on the five yard line and not get finalized. I think in the case of this European deal, it's. There's so much chatter on that side of the Atlantic in ours that it's imminent.

[Brian Kilmeade]

How does Heritage feel and you, Kevin, feel about USMCA and being updated?

[Kevin Roberts]

Well, we think that it's, it's vital that we take a look at all of these agreements over the years while we've got the trifecta in power. So we're supportive.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So yeah. You like to see it updated.

[Kevin Roberts]

Yeah, definitely.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Because it looks like the President's really thinking about not. He's so angry with Canada and actually very pleased with Mexico.

[Kevin Roberts]

Yeah, I think it's an opportunity while I'm angry or frustrated with the Canadians as well, while the good guys are in power and can affect good policy. And I think Jameson Greer has done a great job to upgrade.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Is it better for the party to have a flat out open primary situation? Whoever wants to get on it. How does Heritage feel? You feel about, you know, J.D. vance will be the front runner in any, in any nominated process. Clearly he looks like he's ready to run. So when he says I'm in, do you think it works for the Republican Party to allow and support anybody else like Ted Cruz who said I'm getting in? Maybe Josh Hawley, maybe Youngkin. What's better in your view, for the Republicans?

[Kevin Roberts]

Two things. I'll answer with my heritage hat on and then answer as a lifelong conservative with myheritage hat on. We're agnostic about that. We want to leave that to the, to the American people, which is to say let democracy do its thing. And if the vice president has the inside track and that's obvious to everyone in polling and funding, then there isn't going to be a big field. Kevin, regular guy, lifelong conservative, populist conservative, loves the conversation and the discourse that comes from a robust field because it lets everyone in the movement believe their voice has been heard and then they can rally around them in the general election.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I like it because it stays in the news. And if you just put. If you anoint the vice president, the Democrats will take all the headlines because it's going to be really interesting to see 10 to 15 people on the stage.

[Barack Obama]

Right.

[Kevin Roberts]

Always.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So I just would. I would like to see somewhat of a battle, and I just don't. Do you agree Rubio doesn't get in if advance is in?

[Kevin Roberts]

He's an honest man. He said he wouldn't.

[Mike Vacaro]

Perfect.

[Mark Thiessen]

Information. You want truth, you demand. This is the Brian Kill Me Show.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Hey, we are back. I don't have to tell you that the New York Knicks in five games were wrapped up, one of those remarkable postseason runs you get in sports. But I also think of the NBA. You factor in the 50 years, 53 years since they last won a championship and the way this team was put together. I think you have a. A fantastic story like line. And I feel great for guys like Mike Vacaro who had to write, not had to. It's a great job. But you have to write about the New York Knicks, who won 25 games, 27 games, 36 games. They didn't want those teams that tanked and tried to get the top spot and get into the lottery. I mean, a few times I thought they could have played some different players, but not like we're seeing today. When teams get close, if they're not, they don't get past, you know, 50 wins, next thing you know, they're just tearing it down. And then to finally see a team get to the final, the conference finals last year and then go all the way. This year, Mike was writing every day with. Writing a different column with the New York Post, author of the Bosses of the Bronx. He's owned New York Sports. Mike, I just think there's very few people I could talk to with more perspective on this victory and why this is such a national story. So the floor is yours.

[Mike Vacaro]

Yeah. Brian, you know, you mentioned the many years when you would have to go through 15 wins, 17 wins, 19 wins, whatever it was. And look, no one's ever going to feel sorry for a sports writer or sportscaster gets paid to watch games for a living. And I don't expect that. But it was really surreal the other night watching them actually scale the mountaintop officially. And of course, the reaction. And it's not just the reaction that night and the night and the day since. It's. It's the whole reaction of the city leading up to it. And it was just such a, you know, at a time when people can't agree about, you know, what col the sky is. Everybody was just uniting behind the colors orange and blue. And it was. It was remarkable to watch, you know, and look, in New York, we have inverted a very different, you know, way of things because there are teams that unite. You know, in Boston, you have the Red Sox, you have the Patriots, you know, in Philadelphia, you have the Phillies and the Eagles. Everybody's on the same page. I mean, here, when the Yankees win a chain, win a championship, half the population is angry, right, because they're Mets fans. Same thing with the jets and the Giants and even hockey. But in basketball, I don't mean the slight Nets fans. It's just more Knicks fans. There's are. There's a lot more Knicks fans. And I'm not just some of the casuals that came out of the woodwork. It's just the way it's been ever since the two teams have been in competition with each other. So. Really, really. You know, when a Knicks team does this, when they've gotten to the break many years ago and now when they've actually gotten there, it's just, you know, you can't walk down the street, anywhere in Gotham or surrounding Gotham and not see people wearing orange and blue. It's, it's. It's unique, it's surreal. And you know what? I think it puts a smile on your face, even if you're pretty cynical, like I usually am.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So I'm not sure where you stood when Jalen Brunson came to the New York Knicks, but they gave him a lot of money and they brought him here. And people should know he's a 33rd pick in the second round. And, you know, I guess he had a few big games when given the opportunity in Dallas, but was not considered a star over there. So I want you to hear. Here's an example. Becky Hammond weighs in. When Brunson comes over, cut 39.

[Mark Thiessen]

At the end of the day, they don't have a dude. You gotta have a dude. You gotta have a 1A dude. And they're missing that. At the end of the day, if we're just getting down to brass taxes.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I'm sorry, I didn't want to disagree with Becky today. But they do have. Have that dude who, Jalen Bronson.

[Mark Thiessen]

Now, he's too small. If your best player is small, you're not winning.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Wow. Kendrick Perkins was right and she was wrong.

[Mike Vacaro]

Yeah. And look, I mean, There've been a lot of people who have been immortalized with freezing cold takes the last couple of weeks and. And I get it. And I feel fortunate that actually, look, I mean, I. I didn't think Jalen Brunson was going to be this. But I certainly was, you know, kind of aggressive early on, saying that if this guy became a free agent, he's exactly with the next to target. I knew about all the familiar conn with Leon Rose and so forth, like everybody else did, so it made a lot of sense. But, you know, I was. I was very happy when they signed him. I didn't think they were signing a guy who's going to be the NFL Finals mvp. NBA Finals MVP in four years. And honestly, I don't know that even Leon Rose knew that. I mean, I think he realized maybe more than anybody else the value that Jalen would bring and how good he would be. But to think that he was going to become what he's become. I just don't think it was possible because he was. I think his career average was 1112 points a game when they fired him. And to think you could go from that to being the singular force on a champion, it would have taken a lot of imagination. And you know what? A lot of people who weren't the other way and were really down on the Trader are hearing about that now. But, you know, I. I'm not saying I agree with him at the time, and obviously it's impossible to agree with him now, but I get it, because he wasn't the guy that, you know, when you think about making a huge play, it's like, if the Knicks would have gotten where anybody would get Giannis. Giannis Anticapo now. Right. Because that's the kind of flashy move that makes people go, wow, Braylon Jalen only made you go, wow, if you really appreciated him. And I think if you were to go on over.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So when people talk about those knicks in the 70s, they say that was a perfect team. They didn't have any stars. Right. Even though there was flash. They were a team.

[Mike Vacaro]

Yeah.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And they said that's because they're coach. And it was a different era. But you can't say that anymore because these. Pete, there's no. I'm not sure if there's an officially. Did Brunson make the first team also?

[Mike Vacaro]

No.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Okay, so there's no first team. There's no first team All Star.

[Mike Vacaro]

One guy on the team got an MVP vote, which is unusual.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So how so, Mike? I could say all I want, but you do this every day. Could you put in perspective a few years ago, ten years ago we talked about you can't win without the superstars who bring their friends. And now it's, I have a bunch of no names who mean a lot in the locker room and we'll show you what they can do on the floor. And I think that this is back to when we used to play sports when we were young, younger, you know, the best team, not the best player.

[Mike Vacaro]

Yeah, it's funny, I mean, I guess you could say that Jalen did bring his friends because, you know, obviously Josh Hart and Mikhail Bridges are here, but they're not superstars. It's not.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And he didn't bring them.

[Mike Vacaro]

Kyrie Irving teaming up. But what you got was a guy, a bunch of like minded guys. You have those three Villanova guys, you have Cat selfless player. You have OJ Anunoby who made probably the most iconic play in the history of New York basketball and just, you know, and just refuses to, to relish in it. I mean, he's so modest and so unassum. Those are the kind of players that when you have five guys like that and you add a couple of guys off the bench who are also like that, to me that just explains a lot. And look, one of the reasons why the 70s team, teams resonated so much is because of that unselfishness. The whole credo of hit the open man. And you know what? Brunson was the, was the, was the Delta Force on this team. But a lot of the best memories of this, of this playoffs are every guy getting a touch on offense, every guy contributing on defense. And when you go up and down in the 16 games they won, you can assign a game to Landry Shamut, you can assign a game to deuce McBride and of course you can assign a game to just about all the starters. And that to me is why this team is so appealing and so reminiscent of a lot of ways about 1970s teams.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Right. And by the way, should we bring up the fact that Brunson left about $100 million on the table in order to allow this, let this team to, to continue to sign good players?

[Mike Vacaro]

Yeah, it's funny, Brian, I remember writing, you know, it's like you felt weird in the time because you know, he still was getting a pretty good chunk of change and so you didn't exactly have to hold a telethon for him after he left that money on the table. And you know, I'm sure at some point that's going to come back to him tenfold because now, I mean, he's not going to pay for a stake in New York City the rest of his life. But yeah, I mean, that exemplifies exactly what he's about. Look, you know, when Bridges resigned, he took left. This kind of stuff is contagious. And, you know, it's the same, the same philosophy on the team. I mean, the fact on the floor. I mean, the fact is when you would watch these team, these guys play, they like playing with each other. They enjoyed sharing this mission. I think they like the fact that they're probably all. At some point, at least the prominent ones are all going to go in the rafters at some point in 10, 15, 20 years. And that's a testament to what a team they really are and what they really were. So it was really, it was really enjoyable to watch because of that. Because it really was, as you said, you know, a team. When you were with your buddies in junior high school, that's what this felt like, right?

[Brian Kilmeade]

And for you to write that every day and see so many different teams, I wonder, like, this success leaves clues. Maybe people are going to look more for the intangibles in a person. You know, here's somebody. Here's something about somebody's character and say, you know, he's a little short or he's maybe a step slow, but there's something about him. You know, maybe, maybe we're going to see more of that.

[Mike Vacaro]

And all due respect to Leon Rose, because he identifies, he identified Brunson and then every move he's made subsequently, he's identified a guy who would fit in perfectly alongside Brunson. And I think that's where you are. Where you are. No further credit. You know, in a time when people try and take the easy way out. And tank and tank and tank. Nixon, Tank. You know, this. This team was rebuilt through trades, through free agency, and through smart roster construction. And, you know, it's. It takes some patience and it takes some faith. And look, it wasn't an overnight building process, but here we are. And, you know, I don't think Leon Rose. I don't think you can name another GM or at least another two or three GMs who has ever done the job, at least in New York, in a sport, the way that Leon Rose has done. And now the proof is in the pitting. Putting that banner is going to be forever.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So I got a chance to talk to Randy Levine and he says, we used to have lunches on a regular Basis George Steinbrenner, Randy Levine and Lee Iacocca and Donald Trump.

[Barack Obama]

Trump.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And we would. Time for us to get together. We would just shoot the breeze on a regular basis where we'd help each other out with different ideas. Some. We were sounding boards. When you looked at the George Steinbrenner story, so many people listening to us right now might not know how big a figure he was in sports. That's what you wrote about.

[Mike Vacaro]

Yeah, I mean, look. I mean, he was the boss for a reason. He liked being called the boss. He called himself the boss before the headline writers called him the boss. And look, I think, you know, the fact that he became, you know, this not just script businessman from Cleveland became the biggest name in New York sports, and it really was. It caused people like Donald Trump to take notice of him. I mean, look, you know, when. When you. When you read my book, I mean, I found this when I was writing it. You know, a lot of these quotes from George in the 70s and the 80s, if you close your eyes and you change the voice a little bit, you know, the tone is the same, the words are the same, the cadence is the same as what you hear coming from the president now. It's, you know, that Donald Trump was taking notes when he. He was having those lunches with George when he was in George's box all the time at every important Yankees game, you know, from the 80s on. And, you know, he. He said, so. I mean, look. I mean. And, you know, we saw the letter a couple of months ago that came out George telling. Telling him, I hope you run for president someday. I mean, that wasn't just blowing smoke. I mean, those two guys saw the world in very similar ways. And the words are so similar, and, you know, they don't necessarily sound like each other. I mean, but. But the words and the cadence are almost identical.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And, you know, Mike, it's almost. If he, like Brennan, knew that, a lot of people were turned off by it, but his overall objective was, we have. This is what it takes to win. So. And, you know, obviously, everything was competitive. If the Mets were on the back page, he was irate. You know, if the Yankees lost four exhibition games in a row, he was gonna. He was gonna go in the clubhouse, start yelling at people.

[Mike Vacaro]

Sure did.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Right. And what's the goal? To win.

[Mike Vacaro]

Yeah. I mean, this sounds insane, but this was really what George did back in those days. I mean, you know, the Yankees, the Mets would play in spring training every year. And he really believed in his heart that people tuned into Channel 9 or Channel 11. They had a Yankees hat in one hand and a meds have the other. And whoever won the game that that night, that's who they were going to go see all year. He believed that. Now, of course that's nuts, but that's just what he believed and that's the reason why. I mean, that's what his Credo was for 37 years. It's what his standards were for 47 years. Wasn't always great to work for. It wasn't always successful, but they're successful enough. I mean, you know, those teams won seven championships under his watch and it wasn't an accident.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah, go pick up this book. Mike Vo does it all. He's the author of the Boss, the Bosses of the Bronx and also his Knicks coverage is incomparable. Thanks so much Mike Vacaro.

[Mike Vacaro]

Appreciate it.

[Brian Kilmeade]

The talk show that's getting you talking.

[Mark Thiessen]

You're with Brian Kilmeade. More to know Sponsored by Prevagen. Prevagen made for your brain.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Hey, welcome back. Now I think it's time just to find out more. You know there's so many other stories. I know the president always steals all the headlines and deservingly so. But there's other stories I want to go over. So let's get into it. Let's talk a little bit of entertainment. Remember, Dwight from the Office isn't name is Rayna Wilson. He spoke to Fox News Digital and he argued that Cancel culture has made it more difficult for a comedy like the Office to be produced today. Saying the audience's institutions have become many of the show's most memorable comment. He could tend that many of the show's most memorable most awkward moments or inappropriate things which he believes are funny would not be accepted today. And I never really heard this guy talk before. I know he hasn't done much. So here's a little from what he said and he's doing this from Los Angeles. Cut 36. I do feel like you could make the Office today. I think that would be too hard to be as politically incorrect as the show was. The episode from season one, you know about. About race Diversity day. The whole point of the Office is that Michael Scott is a boob and completely lacks self awareness and is gonna just say whatever comes at the top of his head without thinking about his own station or what anyone else feels.

[Mark Thiessen]

And.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And Dwight is right there with him. We milked that for a lot of great really inappropriate stuff. Even with the fact that painting that character as just an idiot. I don't I don't think he can get away with it today. You know, many people feel the same way. They said their friends wouldn't be good because it's an old white cat asked. Here's more. Cut 37.

[Mark Thiessen]

There have traditionally been a bias in

[Brian Kilmeade]

the, in the media. Yeah, I think there has been a bias in the media towards more what we call liberal policies. But at the same time, there's hypocrisies on both sides. Platner from Maine has a tattoo. They say it's a Nazi tattoo. The political right is all up in arms about it, that, oh, he's a racist.

[Mark Thiessen]

See?

[Brian Kilmeade]

But they won't look at, at their own side when people show racist tendencies or say racist things.

[Mark Thiessen]

And it's the same, it's the same on the left. They're willing to overlook the platinum Nazi

[Brian Kilmeade]

tattoo, but if it was someone from the other side that had a tattoo

[Mark Thiessen]

that was questionable, it would be all over.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Good, good point. But there were comments that people could say, that sounds like a white supremacist or that sounds wrong or bigoted, and there's a tattoo that confirms it. One actually had the buy to prove it, and he left it there for years and then bragged about it to girls who actually told it forward. But he's, he's right. Both sides can be hypocritical, but it's impossible to ignore the left. And it's good for him to speak up. It's not easy. Now, Jamie Kennedy, the comedian was on with me too, and he talked about how he believes that Hollywood is going to come back to Hollywood. Got it. Listen, I call it the great wokeness of 2017. Of course, around 2017, with MeToo happening, which it should have, you know, we gotta get rid of creeps. But with that we had to get rid of. If things started being deemed as hate speech, jokes became.

[Dr. Rainer Zitelman]

What is that?

[Brian Kilmeade]

Is that a joke or hate speech?

[Mark Thiessen]

And everybody.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And then the rise of social media where everybody has an opinion, everybody has a voice, so you could do a joke to and no one would get it before and you wouldn't hear their response, but now, now everyone that could be offended could actually voice their opinion to it. Right? So he came out and he does believe that not only does he believe comedy is coming back because you could do it so cheap. He believes that production is coming back to Hollywood. That's going to be. That's a, That's a hard slog to imagine. Next. I was telling you about Jalen Brunson. Right. And I was telling you Everybody sees the best player in the league and certainly the best player in the got the MVP of the Finals, which is amazing to me because people only remember him now that he's established in the Knicks, have a legitimate star. But that when the Knicks got him, they said, everybody was saying they overpaid for him. Now it's not my memory that says that. I want to go back to 2022. Here's Stephen A. Smith on the New York Knicks paying millions of dollars for a Dallas Mavericks bench player. Cut 40, cut 40 to go all in or clearing cap space in hopes of signing Jalen Brown Brunson. The Knicks are acting like he's kd. I'm gonna repeat Jalen Brunson.

[Mark Thiessen]

And Jalen Brunson isn't the answer.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Jalen Brunson, I hope you're watching this. Is he kd? Is he Kawhi Leed? I mean, right? Does that look really stupid? Now, what about Colin Coward of Fox? Cut 41? Jalen Brunson's very good. He's not great.

[Mark Thiessen]

If you look at the teams in

[Brian Kilmeade]

the playoffs, their best player is Wemby and Yic and Ant right now, LeBron Tatum and Brown. He just doesn't. He doesn't. He's not that guy. He's not that guy. And so I look at the New York Knicks and this is why the Yanis discussion is so relevant, is that Jalen Brunson has to be a number two on a great team of three. But I think New York is convinced, hey, it's one of the best Knicks of all time. You live in the city. Cats had a down year. I, I don't think this team can,

[Mark Thiessen]

can beat Detroit or Boston.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I don't think they, I don't think they match up with either, in my opinion. Well, neither room lasted to the Knicks because they were beaten by the people that the Knicks swept. Colin Coward, very astute guy, very smart guy. Stephen A. Smith, very astute guy, very smart guy. Man, were they wrong about Jalen Brunson. And we kept the tapes. So not only was he drafted, 33 people doubted him at the Mavericks. They didn't start him at the Knicks. They said, he's my superstar. And, and listen, the Knicks have been wrong before, but man, were they right about this six two guy, Brian Kilmer.