TRUMP SHUTS IT DOWN: "They’re Scum!" MOU Over as US Strikes Iran

Summary

Brian Kilmeade Show – July 8, 2026

Episode: "TRUMP SHUTS IT DOWN: 'They’re Scum!' MOU Over as US Strikes Iran"

Main Theme and Purpose

In this high-energy episode, Brian Kilmeade and guests respond in real time to the breaking dissolution of the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) after a heavy overnight US bombing campaign against Iran. The show dives into the strategic, political, and diplomatic fallout from President Trump’s decision, the strained dynamics within NATO, the repercussions for global energy security and markets, and provides spirited debate on domestic US political turmoil, especially surrounding the embattled Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner. Additional segments touch on advances in Ukraine’s defense, the shifting role of China, data center policy, and even a dramatic World Cup recap.

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Episode Breakdown

1. Iran Crisis: MOU Over, Bombing Escalates

Key Segment: [00:03]–[25:33], [76:37]–[81:04], [64:53]–[71:52]

• Death of the US-Iran MOU:
  • President Trump terminates the agreement, calling Iranian leaders “scum” ([02:24], [19:23], [64:53]).
  • Overnight, US strikes hit Iran 80 times, targeting communication and radar systems.
    • Eric (on air): “I don’t want to deal with them anymore. They’re scum. … If they had a nuclear weapon, they’d use it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.” ([19:23], [64:53])
  • Iranian retaliation strikes bases in Bahrain and Kuwait, reportedly with minimal success.
  • Markets react: DJIA drops 500–800 points as news unfolds ([13:02], [101:14]).
• Strait of Hormuz at Stake:
  • Iran’s efforts to control the strait raised oil prices. US planning military escort/insurance for merchant ships ([07:25], [21:21]).
  • Captain Brett Sadler recommends considering strikes/occupation at Bandar Abbas ([23:49]).
  • Gulf States attempted rapprochement with Iran backfires as their merchant ships are also targeted ([25:55]).
• Historical Parallels:
  • Panelists compare end-game options for Iran to lessons from World Wars I & II ([17:04]–[18:20]).
  • Michael Rubin: “The only way you really have closure in warfare is you utterly and totally defeat your enemy.” ([17:13])

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2. NATO and Europe: Divisions and Realignments

Key Segment: [00:03]–[10:02], [29:23]–[32:38], [77:02]–[80:54]

• Trump at NATO Summit (Turkey):
  • Early anger at “MIA” NATO allies, especially Spain for base denial and low defense spending.
  • Mood shifts post-summit: Trump reports “a lot of love in the room” as more members increase defense budgets ([00:03], [13:02], [96:35], [97:01]).
  • Karl Rove counsels: “He should be applauding the ones who are starting to muscle up … rather than castigating them all for the failures of two nations.” ([77:02])
• Strategic Imperatives:
  • NATO’s need to secure the Strait of Hormuz.
  • Calls for allied naval support—minesweepers, escorts are critical, Japanese and European navies not yet forthcoming ([30:46]), but pressure may shift this.
• US-Europe Trade and Deterrence:
  • Trump mocks Spain’s trade value & products ([07:25]); threatens economic disengagement and tariffs.

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3. Ukraine and Missile Tech Transfer

Key Segment: [00:03], [08:48]–[10:02], [36:36]–[38:49], [81:22]–[84:46], [93:04]–[94:46]

• Major Development:
  • US to grant Ukraine license to manufacture Patriot missile systems, accelerating its air defense ([08:48], [41:25], [81:22]).
  • Trump: “This way, you can’t complain that we’re not giving them enough. I say make them yourself.” ([08:48], [41:25], [81:22])
  • Panel: hails Ukrainian innovation in drones/rockets; mass production could even help US/NATO stockpiles.
  • Karl Rove: “This is a great move… They are now the world’s leader in drone warfare. We’re learning from them.” ([82:44])
• Strategic Effect:
  • Ukraine’s shift from defensive to innovative offensive posture lauded by Volker, Kilmeade ([93:04], [94:11]).
  • Russia’s economic and industrial woes cited as signs Putin may soon need a ceasefire ([85:21], [94:55]).

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4. China Maneuvers and Global Security

Key Segment: [27:24]–[29:23]

• China’s Submarine Missile Test:
  • Timed with NATO summit, possibly message to Australia and Pacific island nations ([28:10]).
  • Captain Sadler: “It certainly helps our unity amongst our allies against China.” ([28:10])
  • Chinese economic/military activity in Greenland/Arctic region, concern about rare earths and mining ([32:38])

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5. Domestic Politics and Scandal: Maine Senate Race & Democrats

Key Segment: [02:01], [43:23]–[45:47], [46:06]–[49:05], [85:59]–[90:25], [106:05]–[108:27]

• Graham Platner Implodes:
  • Multiple women accuse him of rape, abusive behavior, Nazi tattoo; Democrat primary in crisis ([46:06], [86:24], [106:05]).
  • Dem base and prominent figures hesitant to drop support—criticized as prioritizing power ([47:18], [89:33]).
  • Byron Donalds: “The Democrats will tolerate an accused rapist in the Senate because they want power… That’s all they want. That’s all they care about.” ([47:18])
  • Kilmeade: Highlights NYT reluctance to report accusations, as well as Democratic calculation based on polls ([106:27]).
• Party Dynamics:
  • Growth of socialism in the Democratic party; backlash from Republicans ([43:30]–[45:47]).
  • Discussion of upcoming races, effects on Senate majority control ([108:12]).

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6. Data Centers, AI, and China’s Influence

Key Segment: [49:11]–[53:50]

• Florida Legislation:
  • Byron Donalds on protecting ratepayers, water, and environment while fostering AI/data center infrastructure ([50:33]–[51:31]).
  • Warns: “If we don’t build out the capacity, you actually raise the costs, especially on individuals and small businesses.” ([51:31])
• Chinese Social Media Influence:
  • Donalds and Kilmeade allege China foments anti-data center activism to slow US AI industry ([53:50]–[54:49]).

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7. Middle East & Turkey: F-35s and Regional Security

Key Segment: [56:26]–[99:54]

• F-35 Sale to Turkey:
  • Netanhayu, Michael Rubin, Ambassador Volker, and Kilmeade debate the risks—espionage, Russian ties, and transfer to Iran ([56:55], [57:54], [97:40]).
  • Volker: “Assuming we can manage the [tech transfer] issue, I would do that… Turkey has been a strong ally.” ([97:43])

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8. World Cup: Drama and Recap

Key Segment: [34:45]–[36:54], [91:07]–[92:56]

• Argentina’s Comeback Over Egypt:
  • Live sports commentary gives the episode a burst of energy between heavy news ([34:45], [91:14]).
  • Zlatan Ibrahimovic: “He became an animal and nobody could catch him … He still wants it. And that’s impressive.” ([36:15])

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9. Cultural and Social Notes

Key Segment: [72:26]–[73:34]

• Women’s sports, WNBA, and representation (Sophie Cunningham on Kaitlan Clark) ([72:26]).

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• Trump on Iran:
  “I don’t want to deal with them anymore. They’re scum. You know what scum is? … If they had a nuclear weapon, they’d use it.” — Eric/Trump ([19:23], [64:53], [76:26])

• Brian Kilmeade on US response:
  “I liked that they said this was not proportionate, it was disproportionate. We hit them harder than they hit us.” ([25:33])

• Byron Donalds on Democratic Party:
  “The Democrats will tolerate, frankly, an accused rapist in the United States Senate because they want power… That’s all they care about.” ([47:18])

• Karl Rove on NATO:
  “You get more with honey than vinegar. And the president ought to put, he’s really good at honey when he wants to.” ([80:54])

• Michael Rubin on Endgame with Iran:
  “The only way you really have closure in warfare is you utterly and totally defeat your enemy.” ([17:13])

• Captain Brent Sadler on US options:
  “The option of going in and marching into Tehran, dictating terms, is not an option… but we do have the military forces for several other options. It may become time to start to think about [a] limited occupation.” ([21:53])

• Amb. Kurt Volker on Ukraine:
  “Ukraine now has an advantage… Drone attacks, counter-drone, electronic warfare, long-range strikes, logistics… Their weak point is air defense, where Russians have missiles that can get through. And that’s where President Trump’s decision to license the Patriot technology… that’s a huge step.” ([94:11])

• On the Maine Dems Scandal:
  “I think all the allegations are true. He’s a liar, a racist and anti-Semite, homophobe. … I would vote for Platner. I think he should step down at this point.” — Recap of panel [106:05]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:03] — Breaking news: Trump ends MOU with Iran, US strikes
• [07:25] — Iran controls Strait of Hormuz; oil price implications
• [13:02] — Market reaction to Iran news, NATO mood shift
• [21:53] — Captain Sadler on military options vs. Iran
• [25:55] — Audio threat from Iranian Navy to merchant ship
• [28:10] — China’s submarine missile test, implications
• [41:25] — Trump on licensing Patriots to Ukraine
• [47:18] — Donalds on Dems power priorities, Platner scandal
• [64:53] — Trump: Ceasefire/MOU is “over”; negotiating stance
• [77:02] — Karl Rove on NATO’s mood, American leadership
• [85:59] — Karl Rove & Kilmeade on Platner scandal, Dem repercussions
• [94:11] — Volker on Ukraine’s strategic position, Patriot missiles
• [101:14] — Markets, Iran, oil sanctions repercussions

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Tone and Style

• Energetic, fast-paced, and combative: Consistent with Kilmeade Show’s populist, solutions-driven brand.
• Candid and sometimes biting: Particularly in descriptions of adversaries, discussion of partisan divides, and critique of media or political figures.
• Occasional levity: World Cup, WNBA, and light banter break up the tension.

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Summary Takeaways

• The US–Iranian relationship has definitively ruptured; military escalation is underway, with no clear diplomatic off-ramps.
• President Trump leverages an unprecedented NATO summit for both public rebuke and private alliance-building—and pushes transformative tech transfer to Ukraine.
• The Democratic Party faces internal crisis as a scandal-tarred candidate clings to nomination, with panelists accusing Dems of valuing power above principle.
• China and Russia loom as major disruptive actors, but US confidence in “finishing the job” is high, buoyed by allies’ increased defense efforts and Ukraine’s battlefield innovation.
• At home, tough debates over technology infrastructure and global supply chains echo the urgency of energy and AI arms races.
• Despite the high stakes, the show maintains its “solutions, not division” brand with lively, sometimes irreverent discussion.

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For listeners who missed it: This episode is a must-hear for real-time analysis of a reeling international order, shifting alliances, and the domestic political reverberations set off by major global events.

Transcript

[Brian Kilmeade]

From high atop Fox News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sewing division, it's Brian Kilmeade. Just let me get the sound down. There's so much breaking news going on right now. Listening up to the last second now because prime time is morning show time. And with time shifting for the NATO summit over in Turkey. President, United States, when you get up at 4 in the morning, I walk into work and he's having his biolapse bilateral. He's having this bilateral meeting, and it's with Ruta of NATO. And he's basically saying, I'm disappointed with everyone in NATO. Disappointed with everybody. They've totally let us down in Iran. Okay? And the MOU is over with Iran. And we bombed him 80 times last night. That's pretty big news. He just came out of a NATO meeting and said a lot of love in the room, gave me full credit for bringing back everyone's spending when it comes to defense. And he's sitting now with the Ukrainian President Zelensky, where he has just said, I'm giving them the license to make their own patriots. And this is an ingenious group that can do it.

[Byron Donalds]

Wow.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Big three, number three. So can we put the unhinged conspiracies to rest? Charlie Kirk alleged assassin hearing continues as he judges hearing the evidence, and it's overwhelming, as Tyler Robinson has seen on video multiple times at the scene of the crime. DNA on the site, on the towel on the gun. The towel also has the DNA of the boyfriend, who along with the parents, has said that Tyler Robinson is guilty and confessed. But yet the conspiracy theories want to still exist. It is sickening. Number two, given that you have a sort of ascendant role in the Democratic Party, could you talk about the main Senate race? Do you think that Graham Plattner should drop out of the race?

[Michael Rubin]

I believe that it's time for him to drop out of the race.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Right. The mayor of New York City. So some reason he is the standard bearer for the Democratic Party now. Dems in dire straits in Maine as the despicable Graham Platner refuses to leave without demand, without his demands being met. Yet the rapist has demands.

[Karl Rove]

Number one. Is the ceasefire done?

[Brian Kilmeade]

Is the MoU dead?

[Eric]

It's a very interesting question to me. I think it's over. I don't want to deal with them anymore. They're scum. You know what scum is? This scum? They're sick people.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yes, I know what scum is. President Trump speaks at NATO as he rips our allies for being MIA on Iran, he takes aim at Spain and the cease fire is essentially done as we pound Iran and they strike back. They hit Bahrain in Kuwait where our bases are there, I don't think without any success. But they've exposed their launchers. But the launchers, now that they've dug them out, okay, congratulations, they're dug out. They're also targets. You buried them to keep them, but now that you're using them, they're going to be taken out. So the President's hitting mostly communication systems and radar and he's hit him multiple times. Could Iran be this stupid and self destructive? So they're shooting at merchant ships of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, both of which stopped allowing us to use their bases and want a reimproement with Iran. So they shoot both those guys and they condemn them. So it just goes to show you in that neighborhood that trying to make friends with your enemy never works. We're your ally. You got to realize that they're trying to play both ends of the fence. So the President is still meeting right now. We'll see what emerges as, you know, as I just got on, he's making a lot of news. Because right now, if you give, if you give the license to make patriots to the Ukrainians, not only can they do it quickly, I understand they could actually give the excess back to us, back to us. So we can give it to our neighbors in the Middle east, our Gulf states. So it's pretty strong. Now in terms of Spain, I know it's not that consequential, but you have an ally that spends only 36 billion on the defense and will not let us use our own bases, which we fully finance while mocking America at a regular basis. They're done. So I looked up what kind of trade we have with Spain and, and the President looked at Scott Bessen during the press conference. We're never going to have this again, keep in mind. Well, normally this stuff comes out weeks later in closed door meetings. According to an unnamed source. We get in in real time. If you look at what we trade with Spain and essentially it is not a lot. We, they buy from us crude oil, natural gas, aircraft, weapons, medical supply, pharmaceutical technology, agricultural products. They buy that from us. We import from them. Automobiles. What kind of car do they have? What kind of Spanish. Does anyone have it? Do you know what kind of, does Spain even make a car? I don't even. Do you know anyone who drives a Spanish car? I mean, okay, automobiles, wine, olive oil. We can go to Italy for that wine. I'm pretty sure Trump, Trump makes his own win. We don't need that anymore. Steel and metal products. I'm pretty sure the president's tariffing them back to America in renewable energy. So good luck, Spain. Continue to use your socialist economy and talk tough to try to raise your personal approval ratings. But in the end, are you helping your country? The answer is no. So in the other big story is what's happening with Iran because they're in full motion right now in terms of trying to enforce their control of the strait. Now, one of the reasons they think they're in control of the strait is because it says it in the MoU, a terrible document that I guess we're supposed to look at as just a way to get negotiations. But if you look at this, 14 points, this is what the Iranians are going by. And they're despicable. And I agree with everything the president said. But in the MOU that JD Vance put together says the Islamic Republic of Iran and Oman will conduct dialogue and define future administration and maritime services on the Strait of Hormuz in discussion with other Persian Gulf allies and states in line with the applicable international law and the sovereign rights of coastal states on the Strait of Hormuz. They think they're going to control it after 60 days because it says it there to a degree easily to be interpreted that way. So the question is the price of oil is now up to $76. We got it down to $68. If the prices go up on the average American, they're most like less likely to vote for the president, president's party in the midterm elections. Josh Holmes cut eight. I think what Iran has systematically done over the last couple of months is eliminate every other option other than a finish the job type operation. Of course, President Trump and the administration didn't want that to be the case. But Iran is an untrustworthy negotiating partner. And we continue to see the violence in the strait, the disruption of commerce in the strait that they're trying to use as leverage for this larger conversation at the same time just being an absolute menace across the region and the globe. And so I think President Trump is right here to escalate, and I don't think he has any other choice. So the one thing that could the president could do if he wants to go back to Connecticut operations, but while keep the price of oil down, this is what can happen. You talk to our NATO allies right now, say, look, I'm going to need escorts through that strait. I'm going to need insurance. We'll provide the insurance for the merchant ships through this strait. And here is our military operation to take back the strait. The way to keep oil down while keeping Iran down and out is to take back the strait. I think that I've been told by military experts we got multiple plans to take back the strait and be in thorough control of it right now. And it's not just the blockade. That's one way to do it. So before we take a time out and recalibrate right now Zelensky is speaking and everything he says of substance when these guys meet, this is of substance. This is what the president said earlier, which General Keene had brought up and I believe the first, along with Mark Thiessen about, hey, Ukraine has innovated their own drone defense. They innovated their own long range rockets. Can you give them permission to make the Patriots?

[Eric]

Listen, one of the things I think we're going to be talking about today, just a little birdie told me this about the fact that we'll give them the right to make Patriots. We'll show them how to do it. It's very complex actually, but it's, you'll figure out the complexity quickly. And we're talking about that. And we'll the company that makes them, which is building now four plants, you know, all of our companies, we'll be able to do this in two to three months. If you order a picture now, you have to wait a long time for them. Same thing with Tom Hawks. We have a lot of certain equipment but with they call it the elite equipment. And you don't need elite equipment necessarily for war. But so one of the things we're going to be talking about is you'll we're going to give a license to you to make Patriots. That's pretty cool. Right this way you can't complain that we're not giving them enough. I'd say make them yourself. We haven't informed the company of that yet, but that'll work out all right. Sure, they'll be thrilled, but you know, they'll be able to do it. You'll be able to figure that out. Most countries couldn't do that. If I said that to most countries, they wouldn't know what I'm talking about. But this is a very ingenious group. And what I like about that, it's a defensive. It's a defensive situation as opposed to an offensive. But I think one of the things you might want to be talking about is that

[Brian Kilmeade]

the way these two are getting along is fantastic. And it Reminds me, and I keep saying this over and over again, we're never going to have this again. So what happened in the Oval Office a year ago really was, I think, started by J.D. vance, and then the President followed up, took it over and said, that's basically changed your tone and kicked him out. And they never had lunch. And we all know about that. But what happens is, if you have a real relationship sometimes with even your best friends and your closest family members, you have arguments, because you can't, if you have a real relationship, feel comfortable enough, you got to tell them how you really think. If you're in this former relationship and you're worried about it, you talk about it when they leave, not President Trump's, like, no, talk about while you're here. And then the next thing you know, they're meeting with the naming of the new Pope, I think, in the Vatican. And they have that meeting with a famous shot of those two just sitting in chairs. And Macron was going to stay, and he told Macron to leave, and those two had it out. So they continue to talk on a regular basis, and they get frustrated with each other, and I get it, but I think that they really like each other. And then before you heard Donald Trump say, when I was just walking up to do the radio show, he said, we actually have a very good relationship now. And Zelensky chimed in, he goes, and it's not gonna end. So that was pretty cool, I think, because it shows a real. If you're gonna be honest with us when you're fighting, I think you're being honest with us when you're not. We're gonna take a short time out, talk about those events and also talk about the Charlie Kirk hearings, which turned out to be a mini trial with legal experts tell me almost never happens. But this is why I think it's necessary, because these conspiracy theorists that said Israel behind Charlie Kirk's death, or that Erica is behind Charlie Kirk's death, or other people are behind his death, when you have this guy, Tyler Robinson caught dead to rights as the assassin. But people needed to see it because we were not hearing the evidence. We're finally hearing the evidence from the prosecution. And. And all those people made so much money on clicks and theories should really be debunked and you should really think twice before you subscribe to their podcast or listen to them at all. Don't move where big stories need bigger conversations.

[Karl Rove]

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[Byron Donalds]

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[Brian Kilmeade]

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[Eric]

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[Brian Kilmeade]

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[Byron Donalds]

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[Michael Rubin]

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[Ambassador Kurt Volker]

Foreign.

[Karl Rove]

Real this is the Brian Kilmeade show.

[Eric]

I think that now initiative moved to our hands.

[Karl Rove]

Not totally, but moved.

[Brian Kilmeade]

We are trying to move this world

[Karl Rove]

to the sky from the battlefield.

[Brian Kilmeade]

That's why we now began to control the battlefield. This is very important.

[Eric]

It's difficult when you have less people

[Brian Kilmeade]

to move them back. But we found another way how to

[Eric]

do it to cut their logistic for their army.

[Brian Kilmeade]

It's about weapon, petrol, diesel without massive human losses.

[Karl Rove]

That is the difference between us, by the way.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So that is President Zelensky and this is an ongoing press conference. He seems to have gotten permission. Can we look up Alison? Who makes the Patriots? I think Raytheon. Do you think Raytheon, Eric? So whoever makes them, the President's given permission for Zelensky to make them. And a precedent would be is not a precedent that we need, but just a precedent that I note that Iran makes shahed drones and they were giving them to Russia, literally save Russia when they were getting their tanks blown up. Lockheed Martin, okay, Lockheed Martin is the one and Raytheon make the Patriot missiles. So basically Iran said, this is how you make them. You make them. And they paid Iran some money and now Russia makes their own shahed drones. So with the Martiessen, I think Jack Keane along with the President said, why don't we just let Ukraine make them temporarily give them the license to do it. And if they get really good at and do it, we're having problems making mass production now with all the back orders that we have. So maybe we'll give them 20%, give us 20% of these back for having them. The wherewithal for us to give you and trust you to make them. And I thoroughly trust Ukraine. Now the President says, I trust that we could do a deal with Russia and we don't have to worry about security guarantees, unlike Iran. But I disagree with the President on that. Vladimir Putin has not held to any agreement. Remember, he just took the Donbas, he took Crimea. He doesn't hold to any agreement and he has now breached the borders of almost every Eastern European nation that used to be in his hemisphere, used to be in his sphere of influence. So this is what's going on. I mean, I'm just. We're bouncing for bouncing back and forth between conflicts, because it's happening right now. Now, the markets already responded to the president's remark that said the MoU we consider is really done and the market's down 500 points. It's still at 52,000, but it's down 500 points. Now, if the president comes out or Iran comes out and says, we will not shoot at any more ships, and we say we're not going to bomb tonight, the president's already said, we're going to bomb again tonight, the market will respond like a rubber band and bounce right back. So this is. There's something else that happened. This story has not emerged, and I'm surprised more questions haven't come out about this. The president said after meeting in NATO, there was a lot of love in the room and respect given. That's a lot different from before that meeting started where he said, I'm very disappointed. The only reason I'm here is out of respect for President Erdogan of Turkey, because he has done everything I have asked as an ally and was a friend of his when he was just. When the president was just a businessman looking to build hotels in Turkey. One thing about it, Secretary Ruta said all the right things and believes President Trump and he are friends and he can talk to him, and he's basically doing that. So we'll see how this goes back to Iran for a second about what the next steps will be. Here's Steve Yates on Fox News at night talking about the ongoing bombing. Cut nine. Now, with these options or these operations,

[Karl Rove]

if the Iranians do try to do

[Brian Kilmeade]

anything big in response to this, then

[Karl Rove]

I think we're back into the mode

[Brian Kilmeade]

of we need to degrade the IRGC further. That is the long tent in the poll. That's what's standing in the way. Yeah. Harry Lippman from the U.S. council on Foreign Relations. Cut 11.

[Karl Rove]

As President Trump said, they never lost a negotiation, so they are trying to win in the negotiating table what they

[Brian Kilmeade]

lost on the military battlefield.

[Eric]

And at the end of the day,

[Karl Rove]

the only way you really have closure in warfare is you utterly and totally defeat your enemy. This is what happened in World War I. World War I. Germany lost, but they didn't feel defeated. And they came back 20 years later, and then they were crushed. And now we have peace with Germany. That's what needs to be done with Iran.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And the one thing that we learned from World War I and World War II is that you don't humiliate your opponent. So In World War I, we left Germany in tatters. They were. They had a worthless currency. They were left in poverty. It allowed somebody like Hitler to emerge and say, we have a better hope. The world's against us. Let's rally together, militarize the Rhine and. And then do this blitzkrieg and try to take over Europe. And we learned in World War II that's not how you treat your enemy. You rebuilt it once you defeat them. And we did that in Japan, they're our staunchest ally. We did that with Germany. And now Germany, after breaking them in half and then not allowing them to be together, and the Russians, the Soviets not releasing East Germany, then we finally let them together and says, let's limit their military capacity because of what they've done in the last two world wars. Now we're saying, do what you want.

[Ambassador Kurt Volker]

And.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And now they are spending the second most on defense in all of Naito now at 98 billion. We're at 970 billion, looking to get to 1.5 trillion. All right, you listen to the Brian Kilmeade Show. This is a very fluid situation. We're still seeing it. Ongoing, very impactful bilateral with President Zelensky. A lot of news breaking almost with every sentence the President's giving. Don't move. Brian Kilmetra, so glad you're here.

[Byron Donalds]

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[Captain Brett Sadler]

Order to order.

[Byron Donalds]

Please drink responsibly.

[Karl Rove]

A radio show like no other.

[Brian Kilmeade]

It's Brian Kill Mead. Is the ceasefire Johnny the MOU dead?

[Eric]

It's a very interesting question to me. I think it's over. I don't want to deal with them anymore. They're scum. You know what scum is? They're scum. They're sick people. They're led by sick people. And they're vicious, violent people. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it. As far as I'm concerned, it's over. I'll speak to our negotiators.

[Brian Kilmeade]

You know, not only would I say it's over, I love what the President said. He said, I'm speak to my negotiators. He's hedged a little bit because he knows if he says over going to full scale war price of oil on projection is going to go up, the market will go down. People don't want to be caught. And of course you worry about 425, 445, 450 with gas going up and of course the traveling season which with vacations coming here. I want to bring in Brent Sadler. Now there's a very fluid situation. We got two act the two problems we've had Iran and Ukraine at the same time with the President with a bilateral right now with President Zelensky. Captain Brent Sadler joins us now. First off Brett, what were you thinking when you watched or you heard that the president said the MoU is done and last night we hit him 80 times.

[Captain Brett Sadler]

So thanks for having me back on your show Brian. And not surprised by any of this. And again the things that are going in the world in Iran and Ukraine, they're all connected and I think I throw in China into this mix here. So the bigger picture does matter. But the thing that's probably going to have to happen and the president kind of teased it out that those attacks on Iran are going to have to continue because clearly that's the only language that the Mullahs and the IRGC and Tehran understand and that's the diplomacy of the 500 pound bombs that Secretary wars talked about. And we're not there yet with them clearly. So taking out any leverage they have by completely degrading their threats to us and their shipping in the Straits of Hormuz and along the Persian Gulf is necessary.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So Captain, how many people have the experience you have and especially our audience passionate but maybe don't have the military experience as you are. Naval warfare, advanced technology is there. If I think about a way to keep the price of oil down while going full bore after Iran, it is take control of the strait. Tell the world you can move through the strait, we whale handle land. If we wanted to take back the strait, what type of military commitment would we make? And could we do it in a way that allow merchant ships to travel through and still carry insurance?

[Captain Brett Sadler]

Yeah, I'll try and break the that's a big question. So I'll try and break it down. First the political side, which is the fixation on the price of gas at the pump important? Yes. But seasonally the prices go up in the summer. Seasonally they go down right about the time you'd have elections and people act on trends. So I think that and the fact that OPEC's restraint on production, which is starting to fray. You had the UAE leave it. It's not a question of not having enough energy on the market. It's allowing it to get to market. And I think the pressures are going to move to be able to get more of that energy on there, and the prices will start to drop. The spike right now, I think, will pass even if the conflict continues and heats up in the next few weeks. And I think the political question is we need to stay the course and things will be all right. The price in gas is only one of the factors that'll probably weigh on Americans minds, and I think it'll be in the right direction on the military front. The option of going in and marching into Tehran, in dictating terms, is not an option the President clearly has been looking for. I don't think politically it would be one that would be, you know, digestible here in the United States as a forever war. It's also not necessary. We don't have the forces in the theater for that option, but we do have the military forces for several other options. And it may become time to start to think about it. There's been a lot of discussion about Carg Island. 90% of Iran's energy exports go through that. But the real threat, and I guess really the cap on the bottle there, the Persian Gulf, is Bandar Abbas. That's where the Iranians are naval forces operate out of. It's where they've been coordinating their attacks into and against shipping at the Strait of Hormuz. It's also, historically, it's been occupied in the past. It may be time to consider some kind of limited occupation of the country, and that would be the place, I think, that should be considered. Like Carg Island.

[Eric]

What is it?

[Brian Kilmeade]

Is it an island?

[Captain Brett Sadler]

Well, there's Kesham island, there's Hormuz Island. But the cities on Iran proper, but there's very significant mountain ranges to the north, cities of population about 600,000 people. But it's also a hotbed of dissent against the regime. So if there's been some preparation of the ground. Those are questions I don't have the insight onto. But again, if we're going to try to open the bottle of a turn and change the regime in Iran and allowing the people there to take it back themselves, this might be what's necessary, a foothold and some confidence and some protection that can go on. I'm not saying it has to be done, but I think we need to start seriously considering it if we're going to get to the end here.

[Brian Kilmeade]

But I thought they've been hitting the merchant ships with drones, mostly drones, cruise

[Captain Brett Sadler]

missiles it sounds like suspiciously, perhaps even a ballistic missile or something more substantial because there was some reporting of substantially high speed missile hits to I guess the second ship that was hit yesterday. So they do have forces, they do have to be along the coastline. They do have these small boats which we, they're no real threat. But the final thing on the military is that we've kind of taken a reactive posture. The Iranians attack, we then respond. They say, uncle, let's go back to negotiations and then the cycle repeats. I think rather you can do both. You can negotiate while you are also engaged in hostilities. In this case, the option is don't do episodic attacks. Treat any Iranian military presence or maritime threat along the coastline of Iran as hostile and attack it on site.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Here's what I liked about this Captain. I liked that they said this was not proportionate, it was disproportionate. We hit them harder then they hit. We, we went out of our way last time, say, hey, we're just hitting you because you hit us. It's over. This time we said, no, it's not over. I want you to hear what it's like if you're a captain on a merchant ship. This is what the audio From Iran cut 1.

[Michael Rubin]

This is the last morning.

[Eric]

This is last warning. This is last warning. You are running danger.

[Byron Donalds]

Don't put your life in danger.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And then they hit him right after. Yeah, I guess he's figured English. But get this, they're hitting Qatar and Saudi Arabian ships. Two of the three or now they're up to five. But Qatar and Saudi Arabia are the ones trying to re approach Iran in some type of detente move. Remember, Saudi Arabia didn't show up and didn't respond to their G7 invitation from Marco Rubio. So nice try. Are they the Gulf states learning anything that this is, that re approaching with Iran will not get you on their good side?

[Captain Brett Sadler]

Well, I think the Gulf states are pretty much behind us in a more forceful approach to Iran since very early in this conflict.

[Brian Kilmeade]

But not the Saudis. The Saudis have changed their tone.

[Captain Brett Sadler]

I'm not so sure quietly what's going on behind the scenes. I mean, they've also been attacked and they're no friend of the Iranians either. But again, also in their mind, these Gulf countries is they're wondering if the United States is going to have the stamina to finish the job. And if there's questions there, then cutting a deal with the Iranians becomes more palpable. We may have turned the corner on that now given the Iranians continued belligerency, but that recording that you played, similar language the Chinese use in the south and the East China Sea. So if we don't do this right, we may have problems multiplying in other places. And so we have to be very strong about this freedom of navigation and not tolerating this type of behavior.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So I'm sure you notice that China is up to something. In yesterday we saw that they were trying to show their, I guess their military muscle with nuclear capable missile test. I don't know what they were trying to do, but they launched a nuclear capable ballistic missile with a simulated warhead from a submarine into the Pacific Ocean. The neighbors, Australia, they said that this is disturbing. They say Beijing's rapid and opaque nuclear weapons buildup is of great concern to the region. Why do you think they're choosing now to do something like this? I usually, I'm used to North Korea doing things like this when they're not getting attention. I don't think China necessarily needs attention. What are they doing? It's a couple of things.

[Captain Brett Sadler]

When I was a strategic weapons officer on an SSBN and have shot those type of missiles myself, it takes weeks and months of preparation. So the setup for this was something the Chinese thought about for a long time. The actual day and the hour. Of course, maybe they did that for political purposes. Two things come to mind. You mentioned the NATO summit that very clearly and I think that's not going to be very helpful for the Chinese strategically. But I think that was one of their calculation. The other is the Australians had just signed a security agreement with Fiji and if you look at the flight path, it's kind of pointing an arrow right to Fiji. So it could also be a message to the Pacific islanders. Knock it off and don't sign any more of these deals. China did get a secret pact, security pact with the Solomon Islands and it's actually agitated the region to start to view China more in a hostile light, I think. Likewise the timing with the NATO summit. I think it's a reminder to our European allies that China is also a common enemy that's in league with Russia as well as in league with Iran. It's not helpful for the Chinese strategic purposes, but it certainly helps our unity amongst our allies against China.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Captain Brett Sadler, our guest, but we're streaming now. If you have the Fox News app or on Fox Nation. When I was about to start this meeting, I saw at four in the morning Eastern time, they, the president was angry. You know, he was angry at Iran. He says, I'm not really happy with NATO. We wanted him to be there for us. It was kind of a test and they failed that test. Didn't want to even let us use our bases. Mark Ruder tried to talk him down and he just said, no, Spain's the worst. England initially denied us and he went through the whole thing. Germany, France, they said, before I even asked, they said, we're not getting involved. But when he came out 20 minutes ago, as I walked to do the show, he said there was a lot of love in that room, there was a lot of respect giving to us. And people cited America and Trump specifically as the reason why we're all spending more on defense. We always were spending it, but everybody else is. Eastern European nations were always great the Western war, but they're picking up the pace outside Spain. But I'm wondering if something wasn't said about Iran and I'm wondering if the about cooperation with Iran. So, Brent, you know their capabilities and what they're not capable of. I understand if we were to try to get help from our allies, it would be on escorts and de mining. Do you. If I was to try to show America that I proportionally have your back, what would I say? What would you say to Trump?

[Captain Brett Sadler]

Well, one, access to the bases is key, and Trump is very right to be really pissed off about that. The allies need to do better, so that's one thing, and provide more support like fuel and perhaps even munitions out of their army. With regards to naval presence, I mean, it's been highly disappointing because the French as well as several other European nations had naval forces in the area. But they rather than show up even on the fringes and providing some rear areas, support or security or even guarding against the Houthis, they stay too far away. Right now you've got several countries that have minesweepers that are standing by nearby to go into the Straits or Moose. They need to go in and they need to kind of clear that any mines there as we continue to suppress the threat from Iran. And that's one that includes the Japanese, by the way, who in the past have a history of delivering minesweepers a little too late. Gulf War number one comes to mind in this. And this is not the same Japan at that time. And so they've been also a little tardy to this, this endeavor. And I think all of them just need to basically, at this stage, realize the threat and realize that we're at a culminating point where we could end this very favorably with a little bit more help, a little bit more pressure and unity amongst our allies, or we'll be muddling through this with economic cost for foreseeable future. It's really up to our allies to help us end this quicker rather than trying to string this along. And a word on Denmark and Greenland, that's about China and the Danes not taking the threat from China seriously and the constant. And the expanding Chinese presence in Greenland and also their inadequate defense spending. But in the last year or so, it seems, under President Trump's pressure, and it's going to have to stay on them, they're getting to a better place. We're not there yet, but the issue is China and the threat to our national security in Greenland.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So, you know, what's so interesting is because when Greenland was white hot six months ago, they were saying that China hasn't done much, their activity was higher in the Arctic. But you're saying it is now. Their presence is growing there, around the shores, not on land.

[Eric]

Right.

[Captain Brett Sadler]

So it's an economic one, which is really a cover for a lot of other nefarious espionage, as well as potentially security concerns for the United States. Mining was really what the Chinese were investing in heavily. And while they paused those investments and they paused those activities several years ago under American pressure, they never left. They're still there. At the same time, the Danes never really put any money or military presence to police that presence, as well as to build up defenses in Greenland. And then the final thing for the green lenders who have, you know, they kind of. They have a special relationship with Denmark. They haven't gotten much economic investment from Denmark for decades. And so no surprise that the Chinese show up on the door with bales of cash and willing to kind of develop the economy there. The green lenders will take it, so they need to be given a better offer. And that's what President Trump, one of the things he was trying to provide them.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I'll tell you what, if the President says, listen, the Chinese just showed up with a bag of cash and the Denmark step up, where we're stepping in, that would actually win over public sentiment. So, and obviously they're into cooperation. They also have rare earth, and we need that rare earth, and they have no capability of mining it. And this, I understand, according to the experts, is the season to mine it. So let's get in there. Captain Brett Sadler, Great time. I mean, it's very fluid situation. All the hotspots are being examined right now. Couldn't have a better person on with us. Thanks so much, captain. Thank you.

[Captain Brett Sadler]

Thank you very much.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Brian, back in a moment. Coming to you on a need to know basis because man, do you need

[Karl Rove]

to know it's Brian Kilmeade.

[Brian Kilmeade]

The more you listen, the more you'll know it's Brian Kilmeade.

[Eric]

It does come in this time.

[Brian Kilmeade]

What a start made by Egypt. A goal from Yasser Ibrahim, the central defender. Argentina wounded. Argentina can't mess around with Salah in the vicinity. Hassan ball play this time. Zico. Egypt are jumping for joy.

[Eric]

Alvarez Jing it off.

[Karl Rove]

Messi was in position a three header.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And that is exactly what Argentina needed. Lionel Messi deflection there on the way through. And can they line something up here? Argentina?

[Ambassador Kurt Volker]

Oh, it's gone in.

[Brian Kilmeade]

It's two, two. And who else? Lionel Messi, the savior for Argentina. The reigning kings of world football will not relinquish the throne. There you go. They rallied back from two nothing. Deficit did Argentina with three goals and they beat Egypt. Just goes to show you, they almost lost to Palo Verde, which is a country of 550,000. They almost lost. They came back to do it. They almost had to go on penalty kicks. Messi did miss a penalty kick during the game. You can imagine his relief if his missed penalty kick cost Argentina a chance to repeat his world champions afterwards. Superstar. And now commentator Zlatan Ibrahimovic commented on what he saw from the 38 year old Lionel Messi cut 41.

[Karl Rove]

He became an animal and nobody could catch him. He just went on, went on. And this is the one I saw. We used to see and we're still seeing. So you can see also how emotional he is, how much it means for him. Remember, he already won this World Cup. He already won a lot of trophies, a lot of Ballon d', Or, FIFA player of the everything. I can sit here and just give his CV and it looks perfect. But he still wants it. He still wants it. And that's impressive.

[Eric]

It is.

[Brian Kilmeade]

It's scaring the hell out of the Argentinian fans. But they're still alive and it's pretty impressive too. When you look at the matchups that are left, the one I'm looking forward to more than anything else. And I want both teams to win. Norway against England, I think it's. They're pretty amazing, the matchups that are left. In the quarterfinals. It's going to be France against Morocco. Morocco looks great. France is the number One team in the world. I think they're better than Argentina, Spain, Belgium. I can, I hope Spain beats him 100 to nothing. And then Argentina plays Switzerland who won in penalty kick. So it's going to be a great final eight. You know how many people watch the American team lose? 42 million. From the Fox News radio studios in midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmeade, crazy day already. The President United states up early 4am Talking about with our situation, Iran, the MOU basically done and we hit him 80 times last night. And then he also made it clear he's going to see about giving licenses to allow, I guess Raytheon and Lockheed Martin make the Patriot and he's going to see about getting licenses to Ukraine to make their own. So you get their licenses. Kind of like the shahed drone is made by Russia now that Iran gave him permission. In their own evil world, I think that they're gonna do that. That's what Ukraine is looking to do. You saw what they were able to engineer with their own long range rockets. You see what they're able to do with their anti drone technology. You see that they're on the offensive now. Would that be the right move? And the President is in real good spirits. Something happened in that meeting when he came out of the NATO meeting as opposed to when he went in. He said there was a lot of love in the room and respect given to the United States. Byron Donalds knows him well. The congressman from Florida who wants to be the next governor. We're lucky enough to have him in studio. Congressman, great to see you.

[Byron Donalds]

Hey man, how you doing?

[Brian Kilmeade]

I don't blame you. If you weren't up at 4.

[Karl Rove]

I am.

[Brian Kilmeade]

But you get catching up to a little bit of the news that's broke and you kind of heard what I just had to say.

[Byron Donalds]

Yeah, I'm catching up on it right now. I mean, look, the first thing is with the NATO countries specific to. Let's talk about all of it, but start with the strait. The NATO countries, in my opinion they should have been helping keep the Strait of Hormuz open this entire time because what the Iranians have always wanted was to put economic pressure on the west so that they can chase their nuclear ambitions. We'll see what happens coming out of these NATO meetings with the strikes in response to what happened with commercial vessels. I think that if anything is going to help the European countries and the NATO countries understand that they have to take some responsibility in keeping the Strait of Horror moves open. And moving then I think it gives the United States much more leverage in whatever negotiations go forward next.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And there's something about seeing someone face to face.

[Byron Donalds]

Yeah, of course.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So you have them all in the meeting today.

[Byron Donalds]

Yeah.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And they're seeing what happened last night. We hit them 80 times, and they came back and rocketed. Kuwait and Bahrain, two of the ships, one was Qatar, one was Saudi Arabia. Of the five that they hit.

[Byron Donalds]

Yeah.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So you sit there and some about looking across and say, what are you guys going to do? And what are they capable of doing? Do you know what's possible? I know they have minesweepers.

[Byron Donalds]

I think. Look, I think the Europeans are capable of doing a lot of things if they actually decide to get off their butt and get involved in terms of making sure that the strait is navigable by commercial ships. The European nations can easily do that. There's no reason that they don't have the capability not to do that. Except that, as is typical, they typically like to wait and see, or they like to sue for peace. And unfortunately, that is the history in Europe. They like to sue for peace until it's too late. And I think the reality is, if you look at even the beginnings of our Navy, the beginning of many navies around the world, in part it was to keep open commercial shipping lines. That's why a lot of navies were created from a historical context. So if you take that historical context today and you say, listen, Iran, if you want to have a negotiation with the United States, have your negotiation with the United States. But what you're not going to do is you're not going to use the Straight or Hormuz as a leverage point, because that leverage point impacts our people in Europe, impacts oil prices around the globe, impacts fertilizer prices around the globe, and you're not going to use that as a weapon against us.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So if we could hear. Eric, this was a sound a short time ago. When it comes to giving licenses to build Patriots with those two companies, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. Let's listen.

[Eric]

One of the things I think we're gonna be talking about today, just a little birdie told me this about the fact that we'll give them the right to make patriots. We'll show them how to do it. It's very complex, actually, but it's. You'll figure out the complexity quickly. And we're talking about that. And we'll. The company that makes them, which is building now four plants, you know, all of our color companies will be able to do this in two to three months. If you order a picture now, you have to wait a long time for them. Same thing with Tom Hawks. We have a lot of certain equipment but with they call it the elite equipment. And you don't need elite equipment necessarily for war. But so one of the things we're going to be talking about is you'll we're going to give a license to you to make Patriots. That's pretty cool. Right this way you can't complain that we're not giving them enough. I said make it yourself. We haven't informed the company of that yet, but that'll work out. All right.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Congressman BYRON DONALDSON STUDIO so your thoughts about this is General Keane brought this up. Mark Thiessen brought it up. It's been brought in other circles. If they can do it, can they do it? Is there a hurdle that needs to be cleared? If Raytheon and Lockheed want to do it, do they have to sign off on it?

[Byron Donalds]

I would assume that, you know, obviously the United States government would have to sign off on allowing that. I think, you know, the President obviously is always looking for new angles for leverage and all these.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Don't you think they would be for that? Especially how the Democrats are pro Ukraine.

[Byron Donalds]

It's funny on Capitol Hill you would say well if they built the weapon systems themselves, that's common sense. But then you'd probably have 10 Democrats who would show up in an hour and say we can't allow for that because or they would make up some excuse just to oppose President Trump. And that's really how sick Washington D.C. has become. If Donald Trump says it, the Democrats now are just against it because that's the only way they have any political argument in the United States cuz they don't have a policy political argument. So I think when it comes to the Ukrainians building patriot systems for themselves, look, that remains to be seen. We'll see what the details shake out on this one.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Let's talk domestic politics if we can because you're running for governor in Florida, you're replacing a very successful governor and Rick Scott was successful before that.

[Byron Donalds]

Yes.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And single handedly because of that, I think because of the performance is become a red state.

[Byron Donalds]

Yes.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Along with a lot of people who lean right leaving the north east and coming back down. Pandemic expedited everything. The other thing is you're finding that your opponents and your party that you're going against has gone socialist. This is a trend that's growing I think in a disturbing way for the country. And you know, Jamaal Bowman was one person who leaned that way. AOC has leaned that way. Most of the squad is like that way. But then you see Christopher Raab over in Pennsylvania and you see three socialists win here in New York City. How does that change how you deal with Democrats?

[Byron Donalds]

It really hasn't changed. We've been talking about how the Democrats have supported socialism as a party, really, for 15 years. Even if you go back to Obamacare, 15 years ago, Obamacare was a socialist takeover of healthcare. It was the first step. And look what's happened in our healthcare system now.

[Eric]

They want health now.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Medicare for all.

[Byron Donalds]

Yeah, they want Medicare for all. Even the people who were writing the bill, their entire purpose was Medicare for all, Medicaid for all, whatever they want to call it. Obamacare was the first step. Look at what they did. Premiums are up massively, deductibles up massively. People, the quality of care people are receiving, depending on your economic, Depending where you are economically is not as good as others. That's because the Democrat policy runs healthcare in this country. That's a fact. So they've been going down this road for a while now. So I think as a Republican, it doesn't really change. Because if you want school choice, vote Republican. If you want free markets, you vote Republican. If you want cheap and affordable energy prices, you vote Republican. If you want stabilized prices, you vote Republican. If you want government control of systems, you want more bureaucratic steps around energy, which raises prices. If you want more regulatory systems around building housing, which raises prices, that's what the Democrat Party has always stood for. If you want more government and health care, guess what? The cost is going to rise. That's what the Democrats want. So whether it's the three Democrat socialists who were elected in New York or they just elected another Democrat socialist in Colorado, getting rid of a longtime progressive, Diana DeGette, out in Colorado, Dan Goldman here in New York, he was no moderate Democrat.

[Brian Kilmeade]

He's an impeachment lawyer.

[Byron Donalds]

He was an impeachment lawyer. He was a progressive. But for the Democrat socialists, he wasn't socialist enough.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And he's anti. If he's pro Israel, even though he doesn't like that's a problem too.

[Michael Rubin]

Yeah.

[Byron Donalds]

So, I mean, look, the Democrats, they've been going down this road for a long time. I think our view of their party is not going to change. It's just that now they're coming out of the closet.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Graham Platner, he lost me at Nazi tattoo. Now we find out about he's been accused of rape by an ex girlfriend. The other one came out, Lindsey Fifield was marginalized because she's a Republican. I guess that's a hard thing, as people just ought not to believe her. She came out again last night and said, how could you not be publishing? The other accuser's story was corroborated five times. Cut 19. He was known for being very rough with people. I mean, like, he apologized sober the next day on many of these occasions. So with me. And so when he, like, yes, I know there were times when he was blackout drunk that he would say, oh,

[Byron Donalds]

I don't remember that.

[Brian Kilmeade]

But then days later, he would come back and details would slip out and he'd say, well, that was before or something. And I. I'd catch him in a lie and it would be like, wait, so you do remember you weren't blackout drunk. But on rare occasions when he'd be, you know, the next day, very apologetic, very contrite, not, oh, I don't remember doing that, but I'm sorry if I did. This could go on, I mean, this for a half hour. Each one of these accusers at the same time, he says he denies it, but everybody, even Bernie Sanders, everyone said Chris Murphy and a handful have called for him to sign. He's not going anywhere. The Democrats, socialist and a despicable human being.

[Byron Donalds]

The Democrats do not care about any of these things. They only care about power. And I think it's important that the American people understand this. The Democrats will tolerate, frankly, an accused rapist in the United States Senate because they want power in the United States Senate. This is not about cultural norms. This is not about just even common sense policy. It is about political power to wield a political agenda, quite frankly, to quote former President Obama, to fundamentally change the United States of America. That's what this is about. And the Democrats have not changed. Why do you think they were so upset when the Supreme Court said that you can't do racial gerrymandering in the United States of America anymore? They don't care about black political power. They care about Democrat political power.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Because when the assumption was, if you're black, you're voting Democrat. So let's go.

[Byron Donalds]

That's the assumption. Look, right now there are four black members of Congress who are Republican. Myself, Wesley Hunt, John James Burgess, Owen. Wesley decided to run for the Senate in Texas. John's running for governor in Michigan. I'm running for governor in Florida. Burgess Owens was gonna stay a member of Congress. The Democrats sued in Utah to redo those maps to make a Democrat Map. You had a black man serving in Congress in the state of Utah. He just happened to be a Republican. If he was a Democrat, the Democrats wouldn't have sued in Utah. The people of our country need to understand the Democrats are wielding whatever they can for political power, first, second and third. So when you see the Graham Plantner story and you see all the women that have come out in detail about these stories, the reason why they're all quiet or they're saying, oh, no, but we still support them is because they want power. That's all they want. That's all they care about.

[Brian Kilmeade]

When we come back, I'm going to talk about AI. You also have this financial background and this big push to stop data centers.

[Byron Donalds]

Yeah.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And it seems to be somewhat bipartisan. Can't have AI without data centers, utility rates. Do you want it in your backyard? What is the situation there? There's we know that Kevin o' Leary came out and said I have a build building a data center now. He thinks the Chinese are working to make sure they don't get built using their social media apparatus. We'll talk to Congressman Byron Donalds about that. You'll listen to Brian Kilmeade show diving deep into today's top stories. It's Brian Kilmeade. If you're interested in it.

[Karl Rove]

Brian's talking about it. You're with Brian Kilmeade.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So Byron Donalds is here. He's running for governor yesterday. You we have so many great affiliates, congressmen in Florida. So I know you're auditioning. You do your national job, your federal job, as well as what you do for the people of Florida.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Where do you stand on data centers, for example? We need it for AI. We definitely need the power built. If the AI companies are going to expand, maybe they should be paying for it. We don't want utility bills to go up. But yet it's become popular now to say I don't want a data center, I don't want you my utility bills up. And, and it's a water issue, too.

[Byron Donalds]

Well, a couple things. One, we're going to protect ratepayers and we're going to protect our water in Florida. Now, you know, running for governor, I'm going to speak specific to Florida. The governor, Governor Desantis just signed into law and it's now law in Florida that your utility bills cannot go up for a Data Center. I 100% agree with that. Your utility bill should not go up for a data center. Number two, they have to get a consumptive use permit from our water management districts in Florida. 100% agree with that. We want to protect Florida's aquifers. Three, we want to require closed loop systems. If a data center is built in Florida, think about how somebody's pool works. You fill it up one time and then you have a filtration system that just keeps the water clean and recycles the water. You might have to add some just because of evaporation, but by and large, you're not refilling your pool every single day. We think that data centers should be able to do the same thing. And the new specs on data centers, not the old ones that are in Northern Virginia, the new ones are far more efficient on water. They actually use less water than a golf course does.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So you wouldn't fight?

[Byron Donalds]

No, I think you mitigate the issues. I guess like anything in life, AI is a tool. It's the new tool in our economy. The same way the personal computer was a tool, the same way the internal combustion engine was a tool. It's a tool that we're now using in the economy. My concern is if you just say no without mitigating the issues, like power, like water, and quite frankly, like proximity. Do I want one next to somebody's house? No, I don't want one next to my house. And so I don't want that for other people. So, yeah, you set them back, you set them away. But as long as you mitigate that, then yes, you go ahead and you build out what you need in order to have the computing power for the future of our economy. My bigger concern, if we start limiting computing power, is that you'll see the cost of computing power rise. Not on Amazon or Meta, but on small businesses who are trying to use AI to be more efficient, on people who are trying to use it for various means, whether it's to make funny little videos or memes, or if you're trying to research information for yourself. Because if you don't have the computing power, then the cost for individuals and the cost for small businesses, those, in my opinion, are gonna go up. I'll give you a quick example. The United States of America under President Trump were finally changing this. But we've not built a new oil refinery in our country in more than 47 years. But if you look around America, the amount of petroleum products, from our computers to our cell phones to our clothes, to hair dye, has increased every single year. So we're wondering why of goods have increased, but everything is petroleum products. But we've not built A new refinery, so we have more demand for the output, but we've not built out the capacity. My concern with the data center argument of people just saying flat no is that if we don't build out the capacity for something that we are using, everybody's using. Even the people who are anti AI data centers are using AI. Let's just be very clear, everybody's using it. If you don't have the capacity, you actually raise the costs, especially on individuals and small businesses, to be able to use that computing power. So I say mitigate the risks, take care of power, take care of water, take care of proximity in Florida. Our law does that. Now, as governor, I will enforce that law to make sure that that happens, to protect Florida while also making sure we have the computing power we need.

[Brian Kilmeade]

You know what I found the first time I became aware of this is 2017, when I realized foreign influences. We're trying to realize, how is America divided? Well, let's put out these messages anti Trump or make them foment race relations in our country or race tensions on our country. My sense is that China is going out of their way through social media causes to make this a cause 100% because we would slow us down from competing and leading in AI.

[Byron Donalds]

The Chinese are behind us in computing power. So if you're the Chinese and you're behind America, and by the way, they're behind America militarily, they're behind America economically, they're behind America in terms of what on the world stage. And they want to pass us. So what do you do? You're not going to fight an economic war with the United States. You're not going to fight a military war. So you actually use our open systems, our social media platforms, and you bring in disinformation to essentially decentralize our political foundation. I 100% believe that's what the Chinese are doing.

[Brian Kilmeade]

You got to find a way to stop it. Lastly, violence. To put one. If you become governor, one issue that you're going to be facing is Cuba. You know, massive power shortages, they're running out of oil and gas. They've lost Venezuela as an ally. How are you gonna handle that? It's 90 miles off your coast.

[Byron Donalds]

It 100% is. First of all, we want the Cuban regime to fall. I want Diaz Canal gone. I want the regime to fall. It's time for a free Cuba again. You have a free Cuba. They will have a friend and a partner in me. And with the people of Florida. You worry about massive refugees, not as much. And the reason why I'm not as concerned about that is because I think, I think talking to Secretary Rubio about this, I think that if the regime fell, we will find some ways to stabilize Cuba and it be actually be a launch point for aid and assets and investment to go into Cuba from Florida.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Best of luck. A lot of people in Florida just heard you and I'll be in Pensacola on Saturday night at 8 o' clock and I'll ask people, what do you think about Congressman Donalds being Governor Donaldson? I'm sure you're going to get a lot of applause, Congressman. Thanks so much, Congressman. You'll see the Brian Kill Me Joe, don't move. Radio that makes you think this is the Brian Kilmeade show for a regime

[Karl Rove]

infected by the Muslim Brotherhood, an extreme movement government that hates America and chants death to America.

[Brian Kilmeade]

From that side of the spectrum, I

[Karl Rove]

don't think they should be given F35s or the engines for their, for their fighter jets because that will upset the

[Brian Kilmeade]

power balance in the Middle east, which

[Karl Rove]

is ultimately guaranteed by Israeli air superiority and also by, I think, by America's posture in the Middle East.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And that is Benjamin Netanyahu with me earlier this week, I think, on Tuesday, where he said do not sell the F35s to Turkey and the president indicating he might. Michael Rubin joins us now, director of policy analysis for the Middle East Forum. Michael, welcome back. You think the president should sell those, those F35s?

[Michael Rubin]

No, Brian, I actually think the president shouldn't. But I'll actually give a different reason than Prime Minister Netanyahu. Iran Turkey has a, a growing defense industry and they haven't been shy about their desire to compete with American arms. When President Obama transferred drones to Turkey, they were reverse engineered. And now Turkey sells tens of billions of dollars worth of drones not only to our allies but also to our adversaries. What I'm afraid, as Turkey talks about its own stealth jet fighter, that it wants to reverse the f reverse engineer the F35 and use everything which the Americans have invested in for their own industries. I don't think that's making America great.

[Brian Kilmeade]

They would give it to Iran, perhaps because they're friends with Iran. Right.

[Michael Rubin]

Well, Trump himself said, Brian, that he talked Erdogan out of joining the war on Iran's side. But if we want to go back, the Turkish Air Force has run war games without forewarning NATO's first with both the People's Republic of China and also with Pakistan. That's not the type of ally that we should Be allowing to have the F35 Joint Strike Fighter.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Do you, have you heard that before that Turkey wanted to join the war with Iran?

[Michael Rubin]

I'm not sure whether I believe it, but President Trump himself had said that in the context of talking about how persuasive President Trump was to talk President Erdogan out of this. This was in the same speech when he talked about bringing a big gift bag to Erdogan when he came and visited him at NATO.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So you have a recommendation of what?

[Eric]

Israel.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Should they look at Iran as an enemy? Should they?

[Michael Rubin]

Well, certainly they already look at Iran, but I think they need to look at Turkey.

[Brian Kilmeade]

No, I mean Turkey, excuse me, on Iran, it's Turkey as an enemy. Should they.

[Michael Rubin]

Let me put. Yes. The short answer is yes. More, more directly, Brian, I think countries are at their strongest when they calibrate their foreign policy towards reality rather than wishful thinking.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And what do you think people just say, remember NATO can't be a problem as opposed to reality how they're acting?

[Michael Rubin]

Well, you know, it's both how they're acting, but it's also the question of listen to other NATO members. Turkey has been harassing Greece, it's been claiming Greek territory. It's been harassing the European Union. It's recently transferred F16s to Northern Cyprus without in violation of the American end use agreements. It increasingly looks that like Turkey is more intent on harassing European states and Greece, a NATO member, than it is in fighting Russia. And remember, Turkey doesn't really sanction Russian oil. It's became come the major money laundering hub for Russia today.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So let's talk about what we learned today. We know the President's now meeting with the Syrian leader. How do you view Syria and this leader? We know about his Al Qaeda background. Unfathomable that he's running the place. But he has been more of a stabilizing force than Assad, I'll tell you that. He's not barrel bombing his people, he's trying to stabilize his country. Where do you rank this leader, ally or enemy?

[Michael Rubin]

I'm still undecided. Look, Brian, you know I went to Syria recently and I'm sitting here talking to you from Benghazi, Libya. The fact of the matter is when I went to Syria, what was very clear is that Ahmed Al Shada only controlled certain neighborhoods of Damascus and then Idlib when he doesn't even have control over his whole true faction, the Hayat Tahir Al Sham. And therefore I just wouldn't want to put all our eggs in one basket. For someone that's afraid to drive across the city of the capital city of the country, he says he runs.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Well, the one thing we like is Iran no longer has a presence there.

[Captain Brett Sadler]

Correct.

[Michael Rubin]

That we do like. The question is whether Turkey is becoming as much of a problem. And, you know, while Iran had long cultivated groups like Hamas, today Hamas's headquarters is in Istanbul, Turkey, just a couple hundred miles from where President Trump is in Ankara, Turkey.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So we believe that they are sustaining Hamas. Correct?

[Michael Rubin]

They absolutely are sustaining Hamas. Not only sustaining Hamas financially, they're allowing Hamas to plan terrorist attacks from on Turkish soil.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Where would you say the Gaza rehab is right now?

[Michael Rubin]

The Gaza rehab is certainly out of limelight. But look, when we're talking about the deal and the peace agreement, the second item that was supposed to be accomplished was disarming Hamas. If Hamas isn't disarmed and if we don't hold their feet to the fire, then ultimately they're going to reconstitute. While I'm a little bit pessimistic about Gaza, this is why I'm a little bit more optimistic that President Trump isn't allowing the Iranians to do the same thing when they're purposely testing the red lines of his memorandum of understanding.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So when we look at Hezbollah's presence, how have they got rearmed since the devastating pager attack and the walkie talkie attack? You going after their missiles killing Nasrallah, how have they been able to sustain themselves? We've been watching money in arms flow through, even though Iran has been under economic distress.

[Michael Rubin]

Let me tell you this, Brian. You know that I go to Lebanon quite often. I went to Lebanon in the wake of the beeper attack, which you said. I went to Dahia, the main Hezbollah neighborhood in southern Beirut, and I was counting people with one eyes and missing fingers from that beeper attack, and there was not Hezbollah flag in sight. That was last November. I went back a week and a half ago. There was Hezbollah banners all over the place. On the airport road, there were big signs, billboards that said thanks to Iran. I saw flags of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and I saw posters of Qasem Soleimani, the late head of the Quds Force that Donald Trump had killed in Baghdad back on January 3, 2020. The point of this is I didn't see a single Lebanese flag. And so from a Lebanese point of view, a Hezbollah point of view, they've been looking at this memorandum of understanding as snatching victory from the jaws, defeat. And that's why perhaps Donald Trump is right. To reconsider. Now, last, last year, I went to Cote d' Ivoire in the west, in Western Africa. And of course, across many of these West African states, the largest business leaders are actually Lebanese diaspora. And what I was looking at was money laundering going into Lebanon, from West Africa, from South America. Here's the point. While Israel had taken out much of Hezbollah's military, they hadn't taken out the economic network, nor had we. I was meeting with a senior Lebanese official a week and a half ago, and he said the biggest problem he has with the United States is that the U.S. treasury Department, because of its own bureaucratic inertia, is so slow at designating Hezbollah money launderers when the Lebanese government provides the Americans with information about it. So I do think we need to be much more serious and holistic if we expect to have a victory over Hezbollah.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So here is President Trump on how he feels about Iran right now after they hit five merchant ships in two days. Cut to, is the ceasefire done? Is the MoU dead?

[Eric]

It's a very interesting question to me. I think it's over. I don't want to deal with them anymore. They're scum. You know what scum is? They're scum. They're sick people. They're led by sick people, and they're vicious, violent people. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it. As far as I'm concerned, it's over. I'll speak to our negotiators.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So. And then he said, you know, negotiators want to talk, they can talk. I look at it as over. The markets don't like that. Down 500 points, the president says I'm going to hit him again tonight. What do you think, Michael Rubin?

[Michael Rubin]

Well, you know, I think the president is right to do this in this case. You know, Brian, that from time to time I talk to the Iranians. And what I've always told the Iranians is that President Trump is different from every other president because he's much more willing to talk to people. But unlike Joe Biden, unlike Barack Obama, he's also much more willing to walk away if he senses insincerity. He walked away from North Korea, he's walked away from others. In this case, the Iranians were testing him, and he's going to teach the Iranians a lesson. That said, I think that President Donald Trump's negotiation with Iran was bound to fail for a simple reason. He was negotiating. I mean, to make a real estate analogy, he was negotiating with the doorman of a Skyscraper rather than the owner of the skyscraper. The fact of the matter is Mohammed Bakar Kaliba, the speaker of the Parliament, doesn't have the power. He's not in charge inside Iran or in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and therefore any promises which he makes were meaningless.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So who do you deal with? Who would be dealing?

[Michael Rubin]

This is what I would deal. The person in charge of Iran is Ahmed Vahidi, who used to be the Minister of defense. But you really have two choices.

[Brian Kilmeade]

He's with the IRGC now. Right.

[Michael Rubin]

All of these guys are somehow affiliated with the irgc. But you're absolutely right. He's with the IRGC. Now. You have two options. One is if you want to deal with Mohamed Bacher Koliboff, you have to understand that the knives are out for him inside Iran and you have to eliminate all of his competitors. So he's the only person in the room. Otherwise, what you need to do is have a list of people ranked by power. You ask Ahmed Vahidi, will he negotiate? He says yes or no. If he says yes, you negotiate. If he says no, you eliminate him and go to the second in the list. I guarantee you by the time you get to point person three, four or five, you're going to have someone who's either who's going to negotiate with you. And if you have someone who's not going to negotiate with you, then ultimately you shouldn't pretend that they don't exist, because as we saw with three ships getting attacked, they do exist. One other thing I would do if I were Donald Trump, Brian, is I would ask, or I would have Steve Witkoff, his chief envoy, ask Mohammed Bakar Koloba, who was the one who gave the order, to hand him over. And either Koloba can or he can't. But if he can't, then that's a sign that Koloba is the wrong person.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So who gave the order to hit the merchant ships?

[Michael Rubin]

Yes,

[Brian Kilmeade]

that's interesting. The only people that are really good at eliminating Iranians are the Israelis. The presidents who are reluctant to maybe get the Israelis back in the fold at this point, even though I think they're going to act on their own behalf at some point when it becomes clear where what we're doing. So what would be your next move?

[Michael Rubin]

Well, I always try to remind people, and I say this as a military analyst, that the Israelis drive more German submarines than the German navy does. So the Israelis are capable and they have the intelligence to do what they're going to do. What I'm told is that during Operation Epic Fury, the Americans and the Israelis work together with such interoperability, it even exceeded the way the United States and the United Kingdom worked together during World War II. We were that close. And if President Trump wants to farm out certain missions to the Israelis in the Venn diagram of national interests, I have no doubt that the Israelis could probably accomplish what's needed.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So, Michael Rubin, in the weeks that they were fighting together, was there something wrong with. And I asked Netanyahu this, the prime minister this on Tuesday was in retrospect, was there something about that battle plan or about the Iranians resistance that surprised you or that fell short?

[Michael Rubin]

Okay, first of all, there was a discrepancy between Trump and Netanyahu on what came next. Netanyahu really liked the former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi. As far as Trump was concerned, that guy failed his audition. Number two, there is genuine surprise that Iranians didn't come out to fight in the street. Number three, however, was strategic patience. The Israelis had it, the Americans didn't. Now, you know, I actually talked to some American targeting officers and war planners about this and they said, no, we disprove this notion that Americans have no strategic patience because for 30 years we had been updating targets and we managed to decapitate the regime in the last weeks. So maybe I'm wrong to talk about strategic patients, but we certainly didn't have the political patience. And look, when you have a hornet's nest, you have two good options. One is to leave it alone. The other one is the other good option is to get rid of it. But you don't want to come down the middle lightly tapping it with a stick and then walk away. And it seems, unfortunately, that's what the United States did in this case, even

[Brian Kilmeade]

when we were fighting, as opposed to when we walked away. While we were fighting, you thought we

[Michael Rubin]

could have hit harder While we were fighting. The problem was political statements that gave the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confidence that they could outlast us. And that impedes any notion of surrender or people defecting.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Interesting. And now that the Internet's back together, if you hit them again, you wonder if the people were able to communicate, if that had something to do with it. Also might go into defense of the Iranian people. They're not armed. And between 20 and 40,000 were just killed in cold blood. So that does tend to dispair the population.

[Michael Rubin]

You're absolutely right. I am reminded of what happened in Serbia when Bill Clinton, however, bombed Serbia back in 1999. When that bombing campaign ended Slobodan Milosevic remained in power, but the next year he was overthrown because Slobodan Milosevic wasn't able to pay his salaries. And many of its constituencies, the top generals, have been killed. I sort of wonder whether something could happen in that case. But my biggest fear is what you just voiced, Brian. We've never seen a regime aside from North Korea with the degree of cruelty that Iran has.

[Brian Kilmeade]

They are the worst. Michael Rubin, thanks so much. Every word you said was valuable. Truly appreciate it.

[Michael Rubin]

Thank you.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Back in a moment where big stories meet bigger conversations.

[Karl Rove]

Stay informed and energized with the Brian Kilmeade Show. Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kilmeade Show. For anyone watching who doesn't know, can you tell us what happened?

[Brian Kilmeade]

Honestly, I just am a little sassy sometimes. And I, I'm good. I am mad mastered at, like, getting in people's heads. Like, I've just mastered. And I think that's game within the game.

[Karl Rove]

We just talked about it and of

[Brian Kilmeade]

course, like, I saw that I already had her.

[Captain Brett Sadler]

And first of all, what actually happened, though?

[Karl Rove]

Someone got called.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Caitlin got called for a technical and both of them should have had a technical.

[Karl Rove]

And so I just went up to

[Brian Kilmeade]

the ref and I was like, I wouldn't say you're her.

[Ambassador Kurt Volker]

Yeah.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I was like, shouldn't she get a technical, too?

[Captain Brett Sadler]

And she's like, well, don't you bleep,

[Brian Kilmeade]

bleep point at me.

[Captain Brett Sadler]

And I was like, oh, shouldn't have said that.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And then that's where you got that.

[Michael Rubin]

That's where the point is.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And that was Sophie Cunningham talking about defending Kaitlan Collins from a, from, from that was Caitlin, I always say Collins, who was an anchor on cnn, Caitlin Clark, who was being stepped on again. And she's pretty much the bodyguard. She is the big blonde woman, girl, very attractive. She also happens to be a martial arts expert. And she was on with James Corden last night just talking about what she's done. She said, this is how dumb it is, how rude they are with Caitlin Clark. She's one of the best players ever to play college basketball. Excuse me, college basketball, of course, but pro basketball. And they're doing an advertisement for 30 years of the WNBA and they don't put her on it. She said, they put me on it. She goes, I am not one of the best players now. I shouldn't be on it now, let alone all time. So they just have a problem with Caitlin Clark in the league. But Sophie Cunningham has emerged as a real outlaw in a fun way. She's the one who was pointing her finger at the opponent that knocked Caitlin Clark down. Listen to Brian Kilman show. Keep in mind countdown to Pensacola Saturday night at 8 o' clock streamed on FOX Nation. History, liberty and laughs. We bring history to life in a fun, entertaining, patriot, patriotic way on year 250 of America. From high atop FOX News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division, it's Brian Kilmeade.

[Byron Donalds]

All right.

[Brian Kilmeade]

From 4826 in Midtown Manhattan. Heard around the country, around the world, Brian, kill Me show coming to you and I appreciate you being there this hour. We got a lot going on. We're still monitoring events over in Turkey where the president has third bilateral in three hours. His last one with the Syrian president and Al Shira. And I'm not too sure that he got too many questions. I was trying to watch while hosting the show. So it's not easy. Not making excuses, just not easy. Ambassador Kurt Volker was watching. He's going to be joining me in 35 minutes. Karl Rove is always watching. He's going to join me in two. So let's get to the big three. Number three, can we put the unhinged conspiracy theories to rest? Charlie Kirk's alleged assassin hearing continues as a judge hears the evidence and it's overwhelming that Tyler Robinson is seen on site multiple times, multiple angles with a gun, a rifle down his leg, DNA on the rooftop, DNA on the towel covering the gun. He's got his parents and his lover admitting that they did it, Tyler Robinson did it. Yet these people are going for clicks and want to say that Israel's involved or Erica Kirk had her husband killed. It is sickening and it's got to stop. Number two, given that you have a sort of ascendant role in the Democratic Party, could you talk about the main Senate race race? Do you think that Graham Platner should drop out of the race?

[Michael Rubin]

I believe that it's time for him

[Brian Kilmeade]

to drop out of the race, yeah. Mayor Mamdani suddenly a power broker in the Democratic Party. Dems in dire straits as in Maine as a despicable Graham Platner refuses to leave without his demands being met. And there are some who believe he's not going to leave at all with only five days left to replace him. Number one, if the ceasefire just is the MoU dead?

[Eric]

It's a very interesting question to me. I think it's over. I don't want to deal with them anymore. They're Scum. You know what scum is this scum? They're sick people, really.

[Brian Kilmeade]

As President Trump speaks at NATO as he rips our allies for being mia and Iran takes aim at Spain and a cease fire is essentially done as he pounds Iran with 80 strikes and promises to hit him again tonight. He's going to have a press conference shortly. To Karl Rove. You know, everybody knows what you do and what you know, your thoughts about this very transparent, impactful NATO summit when it comes to first Iran.

[Karl Rove]

Well, first of all, the president is right to be upset with the Iranians. He should not be upset with our NATO allies. There are two of them he should be upset with. Spain refused and France refused to allow us to use our bases there in support of the operation. But remember, the president's angry with them for not coming along. He didn't tell them what was happening. They knew about it when the rest of the world knew about it. There was no consultation in advance. I'm not suggesting he should have consulted with them in advance. This was a highly confidential mission launched on the basis of intelligence that the Israelis had. And the president made a decision to launch. But he shouldn't be then critical of the Europeans for not jumping on board immediately. He didn't. You know, you need to build this kind of thing if you, if you want him to be there, you need to go to him, as we did before Iraq and Afghanistan, and say we need your help and would you be willing to help and in what ways would you be able to help? The president felt rightly that he couldn't, didn't have the time and worried about the secrecy of the mission thereby. But he shouldn't now be so critical of them. What he ought to be doing is applauding the ones who are starting to muscle up like they should, like the Poles and the Czechs and the Germans and others, and be applauding them and encouraging everybody else to follow their example. Brought about a monumental change in NATO by he and Vladimir Putin on different reasons, but Putin because he was a threat, Trump because he was encouraging. And he ought to be encouraging these new European nations rather than castigating them all for the failures of two nations to be supportive of our efforts in the Middle East.

[Brian Kilmeade]

CO it's interesting at 4 in the morning, I don't expect you to have been up then I have to be in welcome it. The president had a press conference and he was kind of mad at NATO just like you just said. When he came back two hours later and sat with Zelensky, he Said a lot of love in the room, a lot of respect given to the US for upping the amount, amount of money each year spending on the defense. And I'm thinking to myself, something happened and it wasn't just a matter of them complimenting. My hunch is it wasn't just a matter of them complimenting about what you just said. I think they said something because Ruda is pushing for that, that on supporting the operations in Iran. And my sense is something's going to emerge from that. I don't know if your instincts are the same.

[Karl Rove]

Well, look, my suspicion is, is that the Europeans understand how critical an open Strait of Hormuz is to their economies and to their, to them. I mean, 20% of the world's oil flows through that, that narrow strip of water. And if, if it is closed by the Iranians or controlled by the Iranians, everybody in the world is going to suffer, including the Europeans, even if they don't derive oil and gas from the region. But they do. They do get tremendous amounts of natural gas and oil from the region. So it's to their advantage. And they do bring some capabilities, particularly on the marine side, the naval side, to the efforts to keep the strait open and to diminish Iran's ability to threaten.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I was talking to Congressman Byron Donaldson. He said, you realize what it would have meant for us. Everybody bent out of shape that he acted without permission, without warning. And everything you said is correct. And the president always does things a little bit different, the smallest and biggest things always different. No one's going to be like him, for better or for worse. But now, since then, can you imagine if our allies, NATO, lined up to escort merchant ships, commercial vessels, through the strait one after another, what kind of message that would have sent to insurers, to the world markets and let alone the actual results of getting, getting them through cleanly? And that could. I'd love to see that happen still.

[Karl Rove]

Yeah, well, you get more with honey than vinegar. And the president ought to put, he's really good at honey when he wants to, so he ought to be out there putting out a little bit more honey and less vinegar.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So I want you to hear, I want you to hear what he said. Let's switch to Ukraine. So he's sitting with Zelenskyy. They talked about how their relationship evolved. He says, we get along quite well now. And President Zelensky chimed in and says, and will continue to be. And then they had this to say about patriots, which we are short of. But listen to this.

[Eric]

One of the things I think we're going to be talking about today, just a little birdie told me this about the fact that we'll give them the right to make Patriots. We'll show them how to do it. It's very complex, actually, but it's. You'll figure out the complexity quickly, and we're talking about that. And we'll. Company that makes them, which is building now four plants, you know, all of our companies will be able to do this in two to three months. If you order a picture now, you have to wait a long time for. Same thing with Tom Hawks. We have a lot of certain equipment, but with. They call it the elite equipment. And you don't need elite equipment necessarily for war. But. So one of the things we're going to be talking about is you'll. We're going to give a license to you to make Patriots. That's pretty cool. This way, you can't complain that we're not giving them enough. I'd say make them yourself. We haven't informed the company of that yet, but that'll. That'll work out all right. You know, they'll be thrilled, but, you know, they'll be able to do it. You'll be able to figure that out. Most. Most countries couldn't do that. If I said that to most countries, they wouldn't know what I'm talking about. But this is a very ingenious group. And what I like about that, it's a defensive. It's a defensive situation as opposed to an office offensive. But I think one of the things you might want to be talking about

[Brian Kilmeade]

is that, Carl, that's something General Keen has brought up. Mark Thiessen talked about. Perhaps you did, too. This is a great move. What hurdles remain to get that done? Any.

[Karl Rove]

Well, these things are easily said and difficult to execute. But if there's something that the Ukrainians have shown in the last several years, it's their ability to take. Take these tech issues affecting defense and deal with them. I mean, they are now the nation, the world's leader in drone warfare. We're learning from them. They're supplying drones to us and to our allies. And I think this is a great move. And, you know, congratulations to both presidents for having arrived at this solution. And, yes, this. This is important. We need to recognize that we need to increase our industrial base in order to be safe and to deter. Deter our enemies. But we also need our allies to be similarly positioned. And what better place to do that in a. Than in where a. They're innovative and ingenious and have demonstrated their ability to handle these kinds of missions and, and probably most important of all, demonstrate the need for them. I mean, they, if they, they remember all those days, the early days of this conflict when they were expected to fold. Ukraine was expected to be gone and recovered by Russia and returned to its status of a colony. And instead they have fought. And, and today, I mean, think about it. Just over the weekend, 1500 miles away from the border of Ukraine and Russia, they struck the largest refinery that the Russians have in Siberia. Says something about their ability to. To wage modern war.

[Brian Kilmeade]

But what about Raytheon and Lockheed Martin? Do you think they'll stand in the way because they own the right? I mean, they own the licenses, the patents.

[Eric]

Well, they'll.

[Karl Rove]

Look, they'll make money off of it, and they'll have a new partner. They'll have an additional facility to make things. You know, look, I'm sure there are highly technical issues, and I'm sure there's some proprietary things that they're going to be concerned about, but this is a good business deal for them. They've got a willing partner who's willing to say, yeah, give us a license, and we'll pay you for the ability to make. Make your weapons.

[Brian Kilmeade]

All right, good. That's what I'm hoping for. I was just seeing some stats on Russia. Do you know they would. Their GDP was supposed to grow 1.4. Now it's down to 0.5. Do you know that their businesses, corporate businesses, have $91 billion they can't pay on loans from the Russian government? And do you know that over 500,000 Russians have gone bankrupt over the last year? Something's happening with that 150 million person population country. They can't replenish their troops. They're dragging them out of Africa. So something's going on here, Carl.

[Karl Rove]

Yeah, they're losing. Putin made a bad bet, and he's doubled down and doubled down and doubled down again and again and again. And the Ukrainians are fighting a smart war, hitting them where it hurts the most. Think about it. People in Moscow, the capital of Russia, are standing in line for hours to get a couple of gallons of gas in their tanks. I mean, this is an economy that's hurting. And if he doesn't do something to reduce the threat to his economy, he's in deep trouble. And I don't see what he can do to reduce the threat to his economy short of suspending the war.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I want you to talk politics now. Graham Platner. Is one of the worst human beings, let alone candidates you can imagine. Now comes out with two separate women and a third perhaps coming out accusing him essentially of rape. And saw the New York Times looks as though they were caught soft pedaling the entire thing. But before we talk about Karl Rove's opinion of Platner, this is what Democrats were saying just a week ago. Cut 15.

[Karl Rove]

I haven't followed the minute by minute

[Brian Kilmeade]

of what's happened over the last few

[Byron Donalds]

days, but I do think there's a difference.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I'm going to do everything I can

[Karl Rove]

to make sure that Graham Platner is the next senator from the state of Maine. He did two, three tours of duty in Iraq. He came back with a ptsd. That's not an excuse. But he said that he had a problem with alcohol. He had a ugly period in his life, and he believes that he is transformed. Do you believe the women who have

[Brian Kilmeade]

accused him of sexual misconduct? Look, I don't know what, what you're talking about. What I know. What I know is that Graham Platner

[Karl Rove]

is out talking to the people of Maine.

[Brian Kilmeade]

He's not leaving, Carl. He's got five days to leave and so far he's not leaving. This was a guy that at the very least was caught throwing a woman into the room, bruised her, was extremely rough with her, let alone everything else he's done with Purple Heart recipients. Horrible things he said about women. Horrible things. Calling himself a communist and a socialist with a Nazi tattoo.

[Eric]

How.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Where do you go from here?

[Karl Rove]

Well, I can't see how he can continue, but he may have enough of an ego that he thinks he can. He's got until, I think it's Monday to withdraw and then they've got two weeks to replace him. But it's a mess and they, they deserve every bit of it. I love it. Elizabeth Warren. And he's talking to the people. Yeah, a rapist, probably. Maybe two time rapist, you know, certainly. A thug, certainly. And you know. Oh, yeah, I didn't know it was a Nazi emblem. Yeah. Really? I'm a military historian and I'm an expert in modern warfare, but I, but geez, that's a surprise. You really mean the Totenkopf is really like a German ss, you know, tattoo? I mean, please. The guys. The guys, the guy's a creep. And the Democrats rallied around him because he had new energy and he seemed to have a, you know, a life story that, you know, pst. And a veteran and, you know, but, you know, couldn't work, you know, and then it turns out to be, you know, only has a house because of the VA and it all turns out to be a fraud. He's a rich kid who went to a elite school and gets a loan from his daddy to get to buy his house and, you know, is a, quote, oysterman who doesn't make any money, but his wife gets paid by the oyster company and he sells the oysters to his mommy. I mean, come on, this is just.

[Brian Kilmeade]

But, but here we go. Does this, does this give the Democrats a resuscitation, have a chance to win that seat? Because you got to think that any candidate would be better than Graham Platner against Susan Collins.

[Karl Rove]

Yeah, maybe. But I mean, I think that the Democratic Party in, in the state is damaged goods. And look, think about who they have. They've got, you know, the woman who came in third in the race for governor and the former Senate president who came in fourth. And the, you know, this person and that person, you know, none of them are, you know, maybe they'll, they'll. Lightning will strike and they'll pop onto the stage and everybody will be excited. But I think the Democratic Party in Maine has got a problem with, with having fielded and gotten enthusiastically behind a

[Brian Kilmeade]

creep Abdul El Al Seed is running against, against Haley Stevens for the Democratic nomination. If you want Mike Rogers to win, who do you hope emerges?

[Karl Rove]

Well, I'll say he'd, I mean, he's a, he's a far left winger. He has said incredibly unbelievable things. He's for the, you know, the squad agenda and I. And anti Israel. And I think, I think Mike Rogers would, would. He was a, you know, hail fellow, well met, sort of the kind of guy that you'd be comfortable leaning over the back fence and saying you want to come over for a beer and a bra shot. I mean, I, I think, I think Mike stands a good chance. He came within 2/10 of winning it last time around. And I think particularly against Elsa, he'd have a great shot.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Unbelievably qualified, FBI, military background, Senate Select House select Committee.

[Karl Rove]

So unbelievably qualified and really smart guy and really nice guy too. I mean, that's one of the great things.

[Brian Kilmeade]

That's how I describe Karl Rove. Smart, nice guy.

[Karl Rove]

Yeah, well, he's Michigan nice. I'm sort of Texas Norwegian nice.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So call robe. Thanks so much. We really learned a lot. Always thanks so much, sir.

[Karl Rove]

Thanks, pal. All the best.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Back in a moment. It's Brian Kilmade, The fastest three hours in radio.

[Karl Rove]

You're with Brian Kilmeade.

[Michael Rubin]

There was a real significant chance in that game against Egypt that this Argentina was going out.

[Karl Rove]

But they have arguably the greatest player

[Michael Rubin]

in the world who seemed today. Mossy.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I don't know if you got this

[Michael Rubin]

sense that there was something, there was something more at stake other than, you know, just getting back to the World Cup. And I don't doubt he wants to

[Karl Rove]

get back to the World cup, but

[Michael Rubin]

the way that he played and the emotion that he showed in this comeback was something to behold.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Lexi, allow us. Talking about Argentina being down two nothing to Egypt late, them scoring three goals. And one of the reasons why I believe I can answer Lexi, is he missed a penalty kick. So if they lose by one goal and he's 38, 39 years old, figure he's not coming back again to the World Cup, I wouldn't think. But he's already defied logic. So this is his last World cup game. Knowing that his missed penalty kick would cost his team a chance of repeating his World Champs, that would be enough.

[Ambassador Kurt Volker]

Tough.

[Brian Kilmeade]

But I'll tell you, this is twice. First against Cape Verde, they were down, they came back and then helped came back again. So then they have this against Egypt. We'll see what they're going to do next. And it's going to be interesting to see the matchups here on in. We know that 42 million people. If you take Fox's ratings and you take Telemundo's ratings, 42 million people watch the US team play. And they just were so terrible and they know it and they've said it. France against Morocco is the quarterfinals. Spain against belgium. Spain, please win 100 nothing. Norwegian Norway against England. I want them both to win. Argentina, Switzerland, it's going to be fantastic. What a great World Cup. The talk show that's getting you talking,

[Karl Rove]

you're with Brian Kilmeade.

[Eric]

I think that now initiative moved to our hands.

[Karl Rove]

Not totally, but moved.

[Eric]

We are trying to move this world to the sky from the battlefield.

[Brian Kilmeade]

That's why we now begin to control the battlefield. This is very important.

[Eric]

It's difficult when you have less people

[Brian Kilmeade]

to move them back.

[Karl Rove]

But we found another way how to

[Brian Kilmeade]

do it to cut their logistics. For the army, it's about weapon, petrol, diesel, without massive human losses.

[Karl Rove]

That is the difference between us, by the way.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So that is President Zelensky talking about how he's changed the complexion of the war by bringing it to the air technically without an air force, with a drone force. And then got a few, eventually got a few. F16s when we were able to train pilots on them. But you remember that has been slow walked entirely by Joe Biden to the point first he said no, then eventually said yes and we'll take a few and then we begin to train. We'll wait six months to train him, but President Trump ended up giving to him. Ambassador Kurt Volker joins us now. Ambassador, we've been in this war now for, not we, but the Ukrainians and Russians have been fighting now for five years. Do you think that this is coming to an end?

[Ambassador Kurt Volker]

I think it's changed decisively. Ukraine now has an advantage. Drone attacks, counter drone, electronic warfare, long range strikes, medium range strikes, logistics. Ukraine is doing very, very well. Their weak point is air defense, where Russians have missiles that can get through. And that's where President Trump's decision to license the Patriot technology so they can build their own Patriots, that's a huge step there. But I think it, and eventually Vladimir Putin is going to need a ceasefire.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Does he know it? I mean, has he ever shown any sign of a ceasefire? I mean, in anything he's ever done his entire career?

[Ambassador Kurt Volker]

Right now, he will never show weakness, he'll never admit that he needs anything. He'll always want to put on that bravado. But the reality is coming down on him. Their finances are not going to sustain this war and their, their recruitment is not going to sustain the number of loss they're having on the battlefield. So this is, this is coming down on him and you can see it.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So I'm looking at some of the stats. You know, the Russian economy was supposed, the GDP was supposed to grow at 1.3, which is terrible. Now it's downgraded to point four. Do you know 500,000 Russians have just declared bankruptcy in the last month or so? And do you know also their businesses, corporations owe $91 billion to Russian banks. They're unable to make this stuff. A lot of it is a lot of this stuff. Weapons, weapons, weapons manufacturers. So it does seem like it's collapsing. At the same time, they have enough drones to wreak havoc on Kiev.

[Ambassador Kurt Volker]

Yeah, it's the missiles that are really the worst. The drones the Ukrainians have gotten shooting down. The Russians will send 4 to 600 a night. The Ukrainians will shoot down 85, 95% of them. But ballistic missiles or cruise missiles, they get through and they are really wreaking havoc. But you're totally right about the economy and I don't believe those statistics. Even I don't think that they actually have positive economic growth. I Think it's in the red already. They have very high inflation. They are losing their oil export and oil refining capacity. So a country that's supposed to be an energy powerhouse actually have gas lines all over the country now because people can't get enough gasoline.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So the President's over and he's going to have a press conference, I think, shortly. But he's already had three. So he this morning was really upset with our allies, NATO allies, and talked about not letting us use our bases. And I don't blame them. But on the second hand, when he came out, he said there was a lot of love in that room and respect towards the United States. And I was wondering what you heard, Ambassador Volcker, about what might have went on behind closed doors that may have changed the President's perspective.

[Ambassador Kurt Volker]

Yeah, I think there were several countries that spoke up that praised his leadership and gave him credit for the increase in in defense spending that most NATO countries have done. And they came out with statistics about how much more they are spending, what they are spending it on, how this is going to strengthen NATO as a whole. So I think he basically got what he wanted out of all of this. He likes to keep the pressure on. He likes to keep the criticism and the insults and singling out countries or leaders. But he also wants to take credit for having achieved something that really is pretty remarkable.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Would you give the F35 to Turkey?

[Ambassador Kurt Volker]

Well, you have to manage one big issue, which is the S400. If you put an F35 in the same zone as an S400, there is a high risk that our advanced technology will somehow make it into Russia's hands. And so we have to be very careful about that. But assuming we can manage that issue, assuming we can separate the technologies or get the Turks to give the S400 to Ukraine or get them out of Turkey, then yes, I would do that. And I think that Turkey has been a very strong ally, the United States, in many dangerous parts of the world, and it would help cement Turkey's role within NATO. F35 is becoming the NATO standard aircraft now.

[Brian Kilmeade]

But some people worry, including Michael Rubin. He came out and said, I'm a little worried that them reverse engineering it and marketing it to some of our enemies, like who are allies, like Iran is a friend of theirs, Russia is a friend of theirs.

[Ambassador Kurt Volker]

Yeah, I think that reverse engineering an F35 aircraft is not going to be an easy feat. So I would be not so worried about that on some simpler technologies perhaps. And in terms of the use of the F35 by Turkey. I think the way these things work is that we will be deployed with them. We are already in bases in Turkey. We will have a lot of interface between the US And Turkey and in the way these things are developed and used.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So I want you to hear what Olivia Beaver said of the Wall Street Journal about possible tensions within his party on this cut 13. I think this is another step in the direction of Republicans feeling uncomfortable with the president's policies. Whether or not you hear them as loud as vocally, they tend to do things more back channeled. But it comes after the Iran deal that you saw some of these senators being a little bit more bullish in their comments saying, we don't like this deal. We think that there's too many concessions in place and now we're possibly seeing this cease fire starting to fall apart. In terms of the, the negotiations with Turkey, I think that you're going to be seeing a lot of pushback through the back channels because you're essentially putting someone who could tilt the balance of power in the Middle East. Your thoughts?

[Ambassador Kurt Volker]

Yeah, I think that we have a lot of interest with Turkey that overlap. Put yourself on the map where Turkey is and look around. Got Russia, Ukraine, Black Sea in the north, you've got Iran in the east, you've got Iraq, you've got Syria, you've got Lebanon, you've got energy resources in the eastern med. There's a lot where we share interests with Turkey and we should be trying to figure out how to work together with them on that whole range of issues. And I think we can manage the technology issue, which is real, but I think we can manage the technology issue. With the F35. Iran is a different story. And I think the person we just heard from there, she's absolutely right. This memorandum of understanding was pretty clumsy. It was aimed mostly at stopping hostilities and getting oil and gas prices down for a period of time before the midterm elections. But it was not resolving the Strait of Hormuz and it was not resolving the nuclear issue. And sure enough, here we are again. Iran is trying to close the Strait of Hormuz or assert its control over ships that go through there. We don't like that. We push back on that. But I think we're going to see this, this tense dynamic between President Trump and the Iranians for several more months. I don't think we're resolving it, and I don't think that the status quo is something we're going to be happy with.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah, so far the market doesn't like it we're down 800 points and I'll say the president say he's going to hit him again till night. So it's up to see if Iran's going to realize they're no longer allowed to sell oil. And we hit him 80 times. So at one point you wonder they realize they're not achieving any of their objectives. So I want you to hear I just about Greenland before I let you go. The president states went right back into it and said I'm not giving up on Greenland.

[Eric]

Cut for that's what hurt my relationship with Naito because Greenland doesn't help Denmark. Denmark doesn't spend money to really help Greenland, but it's an important part for the United States and it's surrounded by China ships and Russian ships and that's not going to happen. The ships is it's not going to happen. It was Greenland that in my and it continues to be that should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And at the very least do a partnership get some rare earth and start building up our bases which we could start. So your thoughts because you are a diplomat. Ambassador.

[Ambassador Kurt Volker]

Well, look, President Trump didn't go to Ankara to talk about Greenland. A journalist asked him a question and pushed his button on that. So he said what he always says. The reality is somewhat different than what he described though. We have a treaty with Denmark from 1951 that gives us the right to do anything militarily on Greenland that we're going to need to do. And the Danes support that. And they do pay money, unlike what he said. They pay for the social welfare of the Greenlanders who live there, something we would not want to do. And they pay for the host nation support for any bases that are there. The lack of military capacity on Greenland today is a result of decisions of his predecessors, President Trump's predecessors who withdrew forces from Greenland. We used to have 17 bases there. We have I think just one right now so we can fix this. We're in talks with Denmark market at technical military levels. We are coming up with the plans for what to do about this. I think some journalists just pushed his button and got him to talk about Greenland. That's not really what he want there to talk about.

[Brian Kilmeade]

So what I love to do is it looks like Scott Bessant, the Treasury secretary is convinced our Gulf allies to give us access to their bank accounts, Iran's bank accounts that are in their country since they've been rocketed so often and done so much damage. I think that would be great. I Also would like to see. Ambassador, tell me if it's possible, using some of the frozen funds to unfreeze, to pay back, to rebuild our bases, number one, from the damage that they did and rebuild and pay back the Americans whose family, whose loved ones have been lost or been taken hostage.

[Ambassador Kurt Volker]

Yeah, we should be. So there's a difference, as your listeners will know, between frozen assets and seized assets. And a lot of the Iranian assets are frozen in. They still belong to Iran, but they can't access it. We should be taking some steps to seize assets for exactly the kind of things that you're talking about. These are deliberate acts that Iran has done to damage our basis, to damage infrastructure, to kill American servicemen. We should look at that as reparations, which is an established legal principle, and find a way to seize those assets

[Brian Kilmeade]

for those, especially if you're going to go ahead and freeze some of it. But you agree with the Wall Street Journal that we should, now that we stopped letting them sell sanctioned oil, should we keep those sanctions on, take that off the table?

[Ambassador Kurt Volker]

We should never have lifted the sanctions. I hope that we take advantage of the opportunity to put them right back in place again. Because I can understand President Trump making a call that we don't want to be in a major war with Iran. We can kick the nuclear issue down the road for a while. We can try to get this straight open. But unleashing the thing, unleashing the assets, giving them money, helping them sell oil globally, this doesn't make any sense. We should not be doing any of that.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Ambassador, it's a very fluid time and very interesting time. Thanks so much for joining us. Everything's on hyperspeed these days.

[Ambassador Kurt Volker]

It is good to talk with you, Brian.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Same here. Back in a moment. We'll wrap things up. Real talk, real guests, real insight where curiosity meets conversation. It's the Brian Kilmeade Show. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin. It's Brian Kill Mead. Sponsored by Prevagen.

[Karl Rove]

Prevagen made for your brain.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I think all the allegations are true. He's a liar, a racist and anti Semite homophobe. He's a homophobe.

[Captain Brett Sadler]

Yesterday I was sort of on the fence.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I'm like, character matters, morals matter. If I lived in Maine, I would

[Captain Brett Sadler]

hold my nose and I would tip that lever and I would vote for him.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I would vote for Platner.

[Ambassador Kurt Volker]

I would.

[Brian Kilmeade]

I think he should step down at this point. I think there's no question about that. So she's saying this all in June and now we're in July. And now a woman comes out and goes, yeah, I dated him for a while. He raped me.

[Eric]

Me.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And then the other woman just came out. That was in. The New York Times says, yeah, it did the same thing to me. Why you guys and the New York Times didn't write it is unbelievable. And then they every sitting senator, including Bernie Sanders, who propped him up and said he should leave, but he's not leaving. Evidently he wants to pick his replacement. He won the nomination. Now, most of this stuff was, two thirds of the stuff was out already and he ran away with the nomination. The governor kind of dropped out, so he had no competition. But still he became the Democratic nominee to take on Susan Collins. Collins. I'm looking at the Washington Times today and I believe it. They say that, you know, the only reason why Democrats have even turned on him is because he's losing to Susan Collins already. Susan Collins, notoriously in Maine, polls badly and wins. She's already up 4 and it's July. By October, this stuff comes out, it's probably going to only expand the lead. That's why they decide they want to get rid of her, because all these new him now the, all these new revelations come out. Use Larry Sabbath, a political expert, great friend, great guy with the University of Virginia. And they thought, you know, this, they, the Democrats thought that they were going to get this seat cut 24 if the Maine Democrats don't get their act

[Karl Rove]

together quickly and don't manage to pick a respectable substitute nominee and don't manage to pick a process that wasn't as terrible as the one that up picked, picked Vice President Harris in 2024, then they might continue to invest in Maine. But if that doesn't happen, I think they will end up spending the money in these more difficult places like Iowa, like Ohio.

[Brian Kilmeade]

And maybe if they think they can win in Texas, which I think they do, but here's cut 25.

[Karl Rove]

They have to gain at least four seats. You never know what's going to happen with federal betterment. It could always be five. And you look at the map and

[Brian Kilmeade]

they've got a whole two of their

[Karl Rove]

own in Georgia and Michigan. And Michigan's looking very iffy.

[Brian Kilmeade]

Yeah, Michigan is looking like Mike Rogers. But they feel good about North Carolina and they're starting to feel good about not should feel good, but they have a legitimate shot in Ohio and Iowa. That's a bit of a surprise. They think they have a shot in Texas. I don't think they do. It seems like John Thune is now getting behind as much as he hates it. He wanted Cornyn. They're good friends. Cornyn was almost the majority leader himself, but he got primaried out, loses to Ken Paxton when the president endorsed Ken Paxton. So now it looks like they're getting behind him because the ramifications of losing Texas are just too great. It could be the majority. So that is something I think that is probably going to go the Republicans way. They have to hold the Senate. If the president wants to do anything like getting anybody confirmed that might want to retire, step aside like a Supreme Court justice, he's got to hold the House. So it's likely, I think they're going to the Senate. I mean, it's likely they will, though. It was really interesting. So one of the accusers, both the accusers, two of the three that we know of, are former girlfriends. So the one's name is Lindsey Fifield and she came out two weeks ago and the New York Times wrote it and they said, well, it looks like she's a Republican really, but she said she was attacked, was assaulted. And then it turns out this other former girlfriend comes out and says, yeah, he assaulted me. He raped me essentially. And she's a, she's a Republican, she's a Democrat. She says, my politics, I agree with him, but I can't allow this to happen for people to think that he's not a horrible person, got blackout drunk and attacked me. And I really want to get into the details. So Lindsey Fifield put this online last night on Fox. Ex Jenny and I, that's her name, have never met or spoken. Both shared with these reporters terrifying similar details of intimate partner violence, coercive control and cycles of abusive and abusive and love bombing. The third unnamed woman in the story did as well. But tell me again how they cannot corroborate because they told everybody that the woman who came out yesterday and sat down with Politico and with Jake Tapper on seeing cnn, they said the New York Times would write the story because they couldn't corroborate it. They had, they could have went to her, they could have went to another one, they could have went to her therapist. But they decided not to put in the Times because the Times, just like when they said the laptop wasn't real and the Russian hoax was authentic, they want to control your point of view. The Washington Post has gotten better on it. X has gotten straightened out because of it. That's why Elon Musk, one of his great contributions to society, don't forget, see in Pensacola Saturday night on fox Nation and One Nation Sunday at 10 o' clock Eastern Time. You listen to Brian Kilme show. Always keep it here.