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All right, team, I've got a special treat for you today. Scott Jennings, the one and only is here with me to decipher the biggest news stories of the week. We're covering the peace deal in the Middle East. We're talking about antifa being labeled as terror organizations and CNN's town hall from hell with Bernie and AOC. Here we go. Keeping it real with Jillian Michaels. Hey, how are you?
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I'm great. Give me. I'm gonna. I'm gonna check something here. One second.
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Absolutely. You take your time. You look great.
B
I feel like. What am I doing here? Let me see. I'm doing this in my radio. Oh, I see. Hold on.
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Okay.
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Ah, there it is. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. Terrific. All right. Hello, Jillian.
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Hello, Scott. How are you?
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I'm terrific. Literally just got off the air of my radio show. Struggled through it, struggled through it. Losing my voice. I've gone hoarse in my defense of Western civilization. I like it.
A
It's sexy, though. It brings Some real gravitas to the message, I think.
B
I hope you say that on the air. That would be great.
A
I'm gonna air this whole thing and we're trying something new. I'm trying it on you. You're my guinea pig. We're gonna try this concept where every week we look back at some of the key events in the news and an expert like yourself is going to explain this to normies like myself. So I'm going to read you a few key stories and then you're going to tell us what to make of this. So I was thinking we're going to cover the no Kings protests again. Antifa gets a terror label. Latest on peace in the Middle East. Bernie and AOC's town hall at what I am now calling the People's Republic of cnn. Okay, so let's start from the top here. In the first of its kind case, the Justice Department charged two self identified Antifa members, Cameron Arnold and Zachary Evitz, with terrorism, attempted murder of federal officers and firearms violations tied to a July 4, 2025ambush at the Prairieland ICE detention center in Alvarado, Texas. Now, prosecutors say that 11 masked assailants are armed with rifles, fireworks and body armor attacked the facility, injuring a local police officer. So the indictment follows President Trump's executive order earlier this year designating Antifa as a domestic terrorism group. And apparently this is the first time terror charges have been brought against individuals that he's linking that to. And FBI Director Cash Patel confirmed that more arrests are expected with over 20 suspects already detained nationwide. And I'm trying to understand, these guys are bad guys, but previously they would have only been charged with assault or arson or rioting or weapons charges. Terrorism is totally new. What does this, what does it mean when you give someone a terror label? Was it open up? Why is this controversial?
B
Well, I think it opens them up to much greater punishments. Number one, I think to zoom out on this story, though, Democrats and the left have denied the existence of this Antifa organization for years. But if you turn on your television and you look at what's happening in Portland or you look what's happening in Chicago, really around the country, when you see some of these protests turning violent, you're seeing people there who are obviously well organized, they're well financed, they have equipment, they're showing up with a plan. This is the Antifa terror organization. These are not random citizens who just hopped off their porch and decided to show up for a protest. These people are organized terrorists. And in many cases they are putting federal Facilities and federal agents in danger. And so President Trump has labeled Antifa a terrorist organization and now he's empowered his prosecutors to go after them as such. But it is obvious they're all over the country and they've been in Portland for years up there. But you see it in the video, Gillian.
A
Yes.
B
You know, they're shooting fireworks at the federal officials and federal law enforcement. They're armed, you know, they, they, they have an upgraded set of capabilities beyond what some random, you know, protester would have.
A
Here's where this gets confusing and I admit to it being confusing because there's no like card carry as a member. It's not like KKK where I imagine you get a hood when you sign up. So if it's this amorphous ideology, how do you label somebody with it? I, I can see the, I can see the concern, but at the same time, like, I don't care they're a criminal. Attacking federal law enforcement, Throw the book at them. But, but what, what would designate somebody getting that label, do you think?
B
Well, I think it probably has to do with when they capture them, questioning them. Who is engaged in the financing of your outfit? Who are you organizing with? Are you part of a larger group? What evidence can you gather from those people after they've been arrested? I think honestly it probably becomes pretty obvious who they are once they have them under arrest. And so when you see these protests that grow violent on your television, you know, they're out there arresting these people and I, my anticipation is, or my imagination is, is that it's relatively obvious who is part of some larger, more well financed, well organized group and who is, you know, just some random person. I mean, you see these folks, I mean they're showing up, they have masks. Yep. You know, they've got, they've got, I mean this stuff isn't, I've got a.
A
Video of it actually. Guys, can you toss up one of the, the protest clips from Los Angeles? The cars are on fire.
B
Yeah.
A
You've seen, we've all seen the footage, you're right, of people throwing cinder blocks on cop cars, lighting waymos. Listen to this.
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Completely hit by graffiti. A lot of paint, a lot of words and statements being placed on these waymos. And this is quite an interesting scene.
A
Quite an interesting scene though is how the left leaning media label is quite an interesting scene. You've got violent mobs, cars on fire, they're tagging things all over the neighborhood. It's the, in the same protest or throwing cinder blocks onto police cars off of A bridge over a highway. And yet when you look at no Kings, which is raging across the country, again, the movement behind the protests. I had to look this up. Indivisible 5501 movement. And they emphasize that their rallies are intended to be peaceful and nonviolent and that they're broadly organized by progressive labor and civil rights organizations. So their argument is, no, no, no, we're intending to be peaceful and, and we just don't want fascist Nazis running the country. And yet when it turns out like this, it's, it's interesting. Where is the disconnect? Why does the left refuse to call out this madness?
B
Well, because most Democratic politicians don't want to run afoul of their base. I mean, look what's happening in the state of Virginia. There are elections in November. The candidate for attorney general has texted out to people that he would like to put two bullets in the head of a political opponent and see that man's children die in the arms of their mother. And Democrats in Virginia cannot find the wherewithal to throw him off the ballot. Now we're living through a period where we're all debating and grappling with political violence, but they won't get rid of this guy over there because they are afraid that their political base will revolt against them. You've seen poll after poll after pollution. Large numbers of self identified liberals, especially liberal young people, say that, yes, sometimes political violence and even assassination is justified if you don't get what you want out of an election. So I think most of these Democratic politicians, Jillian, frankly, just live in fear of this radical base that is embracing more violent activity. You see it all over the country. They're attacking ICE facilities. They're writing messages on the bullets when they shot Charlie. They wrote messages on the bullets when they shot up the ICE facility in Texas. They wrote messages on the bullets when Luigi Mangione killed the health care CEO in New York. He wrote messages on the bullets. You know, these are not people who are anxious for more speech and debate. They've long passed that up. These are people who are, who want more violence and they're all emanating from the left.
A
But Scott, where are the adults in the room? On the left. So again, correct me if I'm wrong, but I've seen polls coming out of CNN that say Democrats are more unpopular than ever. Am I wrong in.
B
You're not wrong.
A
Okay.
B
You're not wrong. Where are the adults? Well, who would the adults be? Chuck Schumer. He's the senator from New York Democrat Senate leader. He is living in fear that Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is going to run against him in a primary in 2028. That's where the adults are. They are afraid of AOC and people from her wing of the party. So the adults have long decided to cower in fear. That's why the government is shut down. They have no good reason to have the government shut down. Except that Chuck Schumer is trying to show this radicalized base that, hey, I'm a fighter. I'm a fighter. AOC wants the government shut down. So that's what Chuck Schumer is doing to try to stave off a primary from her. It's obvious what's happening. They've got no good reason to close the doors of the government except Chuck Schumer's own cowering in fear of aoc, period.
A
Don't jump to that, because that's our third story. And I have many, many questions. I want to circle back to that. Hold on to that. I would simply wonder when you've got a candidate like Mamdani who won't condemn Hamas in New York City, which, outside of I would imagine Tel Aviv probably has more Jewish residents than any other city in the world, and you're like me, you know, he won't condemn Hamas, and they're all getting behind that gravy train of socialism and radicalism. I just think, why do you think the polls are down? Why do you think people are jumping ship? Why do you think the purple people voted red in the past election? None of that registers. It's simply because the Chuck Schumers are thinking like, well, I want to keep my job, and this is how I keep it. Even though I actually think the Democrats are going to lose the midterms. Do you think I'm wrong?
B
Well, I think you're exactly right about the Democrat Party image problems. I mean, you look at poll after poll, cnn, Quinnipiac, others, you know, all these national polls showing the Democrat image at the lowest point in the history of modern polling. So the image of the party nationally is really in the toilet. And it's because I think they have embraced what you just said is correct radicalism. They have embraced a bunch of the wrong side of a bunch of 80, 20 issues or 90, 10 issues, or 95, 5 issues. And it all goes back to this issue of living in fear of a radicalized progressive socialist base. Now, they may get Mamdani elected in New York City. It's not going to work nationally. But I think If Mamdani wins, it's probably going to teach them all the wrong lessons. They're going to assume, well, he's a socialist and he comes out for all this crazy stuff and now he's mayor of New York City. Maybe we should do more of that. I just don't personally believe the American people want that. And the polls are screaming at us. The Democrat image is so low. I mean, 20% in some polls. That's not a political party. That's barely a group chat. I mean, they are suffering so mightily. They just lost the presidency to Donald Trump. They lost the Congress to the Republicans. The image is in the tank. They really don't stand for anything other than reflexive opposition to Trump. And for a bunch, a hodgepodge of a bunch of radical, you know, far left wing ideas that just aren't gonna fly in most places.
A
You say that right? And we look at no kings. Here we go. We're gonna see tens of thousands of people across the country again, probably getting aggressive, probably getting violent, probably looting, probably damaging stuff. I hope not. I hope that's not case. With that said though, there is definitely some good journalism that points to the fact that these, many of these people, as you mentioned, are being hired, it's organized. And I want to show you this clip actually. So this clip is from a group that is informing President Trump. They're called the Government Accountability Institute and they're briefing President Trump on where they think the money is coming from behind these protests. Take a look at this, Scott.
C
I think we know that this is not just a story about violence and chaos as you alluded to, Mr. President. This is a money story. And at the Government Accountability Institute, my colleague and I, Peter Schweitzer and I and our team, we followed the money and we followed it to the top of what we call the protest Industrial Complex Riot Inc. And we found a network of NGOs. It's not just the Soros network, the Open Society Network, it's other funding networks, The Arabella funding network, the Tides funding network, Neville Roy Singham and his network, Foreign cash. And it's also big left wing funders. Some of them are not citizens of this country. Mr. Hans Jorg Wies of Switzerland, they're pouring money into this entire ecosystem.
A
This is, this is terrifying and it's crazy. And I, I would understand if it was like, well, American, big left wing donors are funding these protests because, you know, we must resist. And we think Orange man bad and we have Trump derangement syndrome. And there's A moral inversion where you think you're saving the world because you haven't taken the time to do anything, any homework whatsoever on Trump and what he's done. But, but, but forget that. You know that a large part of this money is coming from the ccp. I mean, I, I, I've seen this with the LA riots like Cher Law and who's actually funding Cher Law and what's going on there. There's no alarm about that from. The Democrats are not stopping to say, okay, hold on. Clearly there is a plan here from nefarious actors, probably China, probably Russia, so on and so forth, that are seeking to divide the country. Because as Tulsi Gabbard once told me, divided we fall. That's very real. She's like, jill, this is real. This is not just, you know, something on a quarter or wherever the hell we have that. It, it's, it's going to happen if we continue to allow it to happen. No concern about that part from them?
B
Well, no, I mean, even if they have concern, they're sort of powerless to do anything about it because again, they live in fear of this radicalized base that's just interested in constant protests, constant fighting that you see in city after city, these no Kings rallies. I'm not certain what they're really rallying against other than they just fundamentally hate Donald Trump. I mean, it's their own party that's got the government shut down. So it's not really a rally against, you know, a government shutdown. I'm, I'm not entirely sure what they're mad about other than that. Just, they're just mad. And when you look at these rallies, when you go back to last fall, last year, when you saw the protest encampments on college campuses, did you ever stop and ask yourself, like, where did all these tents come from? Where did all this stuff come from? Did these college students all just magically run off to Target and grab? Of course not. Somebody pays for this stuff, all of the supplies. When you look in la, I remember there was a video in the LA riot, you know, there's a truck pulls up and in the back there's boxes they're unboxing. It's just boxes of gas masks. Did somebody go to Costco and get. No, of course not. This is all funded, it's all paid for, the supplies for this kind of protest environment. Somebody is funding this. And I think what the President had done there was gather up some journalists, independent journalists, who've been looking into this and the amount of protesting that's turned violent across the country. They're trying to get to the bottom of it. I mean, look, it doesn't cost anything to protest. You can go out at your house right now and go down to the town square and make your voice heard. You don't need a gas mask for that. You don't need a tent for that. You don't need riot gear for that. You know, you don't need supplies to go do that. Why do these people show up with all these supplies? Who's paying for it? It's a legitimate question. I think the government is asking. And this, if it's coming from foreign sources, I mean, that would be extremely troubling. People meddling in our politics.
A
It's that time. It's skims time. If, like me, you have had the hardest time with underwear that creeps up the center of your rear end so uncomfortable, or the panty lines that you see through clothes, or those inserts that come in certain bras that when you wash them, they roll up like little hot dogs. It's just, I'm sorry, but I, I know you know what I'm talking about. Bras that give you the little armpit balls right here, but don't give you the boost where you need it. I could essentially go on and on. I love Skims. The Fits Everybody T shirt bra. The Fits Everybody boy short are my go to. I live in them. Literally. And you can shop my favorite bras and my favorite underwear@skims.com after you place your order. Do me a favor and please be sure to let them know that I sent you. Just select podcast in the survey and be sure to select my show in the drop down menu that follows. And just remember, Fits Everybody T shirt bra fits everybody boy shorts. You're gonna love it. @skims.com select podcast in the survey and be sure to select my show in the drop down menu that follows. That's what's like, it's right there in front of your face. I'm thinking, what are you not seeing? And I, I, I can tell you what they think. The legitimate people who are protesting, what they think they're protesting against, they truly believe that ICE is scooping up innocent people of color and disappearing them. Thanks to Gavin Newsom quite literally saying it. And nobody would imagine that a guy who runs the fourth largest economy in the world would tell such a bold faced lie despite the fact that he is. Or when you watch the Daily show and they say that ICE is putting kids in zip ties, this is now the third time in a row I've, I've said that there's no such image on the Internet. Good luck finding it. I like. But people, they believe it, Scott. So they're like, oh, this Gestapo. And as Newsom says, this private army of the president, despite the fact that they've sworn an oath to the Constitution and have been around through numerous administrations, that they think, they truly believe it. They think that that is what they are protesting. And I don't know what it takes to get that message through to them. Which is why you are doing God's work on cnn. I don't know how. I don't know how clearly I have made it five seconds without, like, how are you navigating that environment? Especially when you're set up to fail, when you have five seconds to talk and when the minute you make a point, conversation's over. Okay, we gotta move on. How do you handle that? That isn't such an incredible skill that I wish so desperately that I could perfect. I mean, you are the master at it. It's so important.
B
Well, you're very kind to. Compliments. I've been doing it a number of years. I've come to expect certain kinds of arguments from the left, but I've also come to expect what I need to do, and that is cut to the core of the point immediately in these debates. I have to get right to the point now on this immigration debate you just raised. And yes, they are telling a lot of lies about what ICE is doing. What is the core issue? The core issue is that the President of the United States, who has sworn to uphold the laws and the Constitution of the United States, has decided to tell federal law enforcement to simply this enforce federal law, not new federal laws. We haven't passed any new laws since Trump became president. He is simply enforcing federal laws that are and have been on the books right now. I interviewed Todd Lyons, who's the head of ice, the acting director, the other day, and he's been with the agency for over 20 years. He told me during the Biden administration, they were instructed not to enforce certain federal laws. And so if you look at the protesters, at their core, what they are mad about is that the president, who has sworn to uphold the laws, has told law enforcement to enforce the laws.
A
Right.
B
That's what they, what they're asking for is for the federal government to stop enforcing federal law, because that's how they had it during Biden, and that's what they want now. They lost the election over it, among other issues. But that's effectively what they're asking for.
A
And nobody gives the President credit. Listen, I have been critical of him where I feel that he diverges from principles that I personally uphold. I also feel like in my own life, I can call balls and strikes.
B
Sure.
A
What he's doing. And here's my segue, what he's doing in the Middle east seems to be close to a miracle if this works out. And yet they've given him zero credited like. Well, we'll see about that. Oh, yeah, it's too soon to tell. So I. I want to show. Here we go on to segment two. I want to show some footage that. I wonder if we could give the President some credit for this. Guys, can we see the footage of the Israeli hostages coming home? Just a clip of. I think we get it. I want to see the. The clip of the Palestinian man who returns home after two years. We have that one. Okay, and last one. Can I see the little boy? This makes me like, I've been crying all week watching these. Can I see the little boy and his cats? Hello, my friends. This is the first time I filmed this. Finally, after two years, the war is over. You know what? I still can't believe it. Can't believe it's really over. No bombs, no drones, no fear. We're going back home to laugh and play again, me and my friend Simba. Okay, I love it. How about that? Can we. Like I. Scott, nothing. Just. Just those moments, just the met. Just the people in Palestine being able to go home, the hostages coming home. I mean, I. I appreciate that this is fragile, and I want to talk to you all about that, but can we take a moment to just weep over that?
B
I've been watching the Israeli hostage videos all week because I just can't stop smiling at these people who have come out of captivity. There were 20 living hostages, and I met some of the families when I was in Israel this summer. And, you know, at that time, they didn't really know. I mean, they'd been waiting almost two years at that point. They didn't know when it was going to come to an end. And now, thanks to the President of the United States, Regardless of your politics, doesn't it make you feel good as an American? Our president. Our president is the one who steps foot into the most complicated situation and somehow pulls a miracle for 20 hostages and gives them the chance to begin an era where peace and prosperity have a chance. I mean, there's been fighting in the Middle east for a very long time. Yeah, but they're on the brink of a chance to maybe have peace and therefore prosperity. And everybody involved has said the same thing. If not, but for Trump, this doesn't happen. And so I think some Democrats have said, you know, President Trump deserves credit. Others have put out statements leaving him out. But one criticism I have of the American left right now is they have a hard time rooting for America because they don't want to root for Donald Trump. They have a hard time rooting for our country because they don't want to accidentally give Trump any credit for anything good that happens. I think this is holding them back. Most Americans, I would think, are pride, have pride in their hearts. We're the ones who did this. Over in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, when the deal was announced, you see people waving American flags, they're chanting Trump's name. There's just a massive amount of appreciation for the United States of America. That is the power of. We're the most unique and powerful country in the world. When we get involved in things, we can make change. And that our president did that, in this case, I don't know, it makes me feel great as an American. My heart is full. It's been full all week. Because if we don't exist, those hostages don't come out. If Trump doesn't engage, they don't come out. And there is no peace, there is no ceasefire. So I've just felt great about my country all week because of what we accomplished over there.
A
I have, too. And can you give a little background on the Abraham Accords for anybody who's unfamiliar with what was accomplished in Trump's first term? And I believe Jared Kushner was intimately involved then. Now I believe he's still involved. Steve Witkoff is involved. Just the broader hope for peace. What does this look like, expanding the Abraham Accords? And then, of course, I want to talk about some areas that are a little bit tricky at the moment, but start with that. Can you explain that?
B
Yes. So going back to the end of President Trump's first term, it was In September of 2020, they had a big summit at the White House, and the initial Abraham Accords were signed by Israel, the uae, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Then Morocco signed on, and then Sudan signed on. And so this was the first time, I think, since 1994, that an Arab state had formally recognized Israel. This was a huge deal in Arab, Israeli relations in the region. So then President Trump leaves office. Now he's back in office, and he wants to expand the Abraham Accords. He made some Comments on this just today in the White House, he has an expectation that Saudi Arabia is going to join, and if they join lots of other countries. There's been reports that Indonesia wants to join. So we may be on the cusp of a number of other Arab Muslim countries signing onto this, recognizing Israel and deepening the relationship between Israel and countries that you wouldn't think they would be friendly with. And so not only is he solving this hostage situation and trying to get a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza, he's trying to strengthen the relationship between the Arab countries and Israel. Of course, this strengthens Israel's security if they have these agreements and these accords with other Arab nations. And so, you know, and I think in Trump's mind, the more people he can get in this, the more countries he can get into this, the better chance they all have to do better. You know, we're not worried about fighting each other. We're worried about making money together, worried about doing business together, worried about helping each other in the region instead of fighting each other. That's his ultimate goal. I think he should have won the Nobel Prize for the Abraham Accords to begin with, but now that they're expanding, he definitely deserves it.
A
Scott, you've also listed so many different conflicts that he's resolved. So I. Okay, India and Pakistan. Okay. Rwanda and Congo.
B
Yep, that's correct.
A
Okay. Azerbaijan and Armenia.
B
Yes, correct.
A
Okay. I'm missing the other, like, four that you rattle off.
B
Okay, so the. So you mentioned, well, Israel and Iran. I mean, the 12 day war from earlier this summer.
A
Okay.
B
Settled that. And we got involved militarily to help settle it when we destroyed Iran's nuclear capabilities. You mentioned Pakistan and India, Rwanda and Congo. Thailand and Cambodia. Didn't mention Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt and Ethiopia. They had been at it.
A
Got it.
B
And also Serbia and Kosovo. So there are quite a few areas where he has gotten himself involved and, you know, it's worked out. And in some of these cases, these people have been fighting for years and years and years. And I also should say it's not just President Trump. I think it's also the skill of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is, you know, you always see him at the table on these things. I mean, he's probably. I think Trump said the other day, this is the best Secretary of State we've ever had in the history of our country. And I think he's right.
A
That's interesting. You know, it's funny. I completely left him off. Shame on me. Okay, now I want to take a little turn Here. So at first, now, correct me if I'm wrong, I was trying to follow this. Hamas marched some people into the street that they said cooperated with Israel and executed them. Israel then was going to withhold aid, something, and then the bodies weren't being returned, but now they have been returned. So Israel let all the aid go in. Okay, but here's what I'm seeing now, that's legitimate concern. Okay? So terror factions are rising up in Gaza. So as Hamas struggles to reassert control under the ceasefire, rival clans and armed groups are rising. The Abu Shabaab clan in Rafah, accused by Hamas of collaborating with Israel, hence the executions, has built its own force of about 400 men in Gaza City. The. I'm sure I'm not pronouncing this correctly, so forgive me. The Dogmash clan, once allied with Hamas, they're rising up down in Khan Younis. The Al Majahid, again, Al Majaddah clan is in an open dispute with Hamas. After deadly raids and arrests, though, its leadership is calling for order. Long story short, there's like insane lunatics killing each other in Gaza. I thought, I thought they were supposed to disarm and that a neutral group was supposed to take over. What the f. Is going on here?
B
Okay, At a broad level, high level, phase two of the peace plan is currently being negotiated. Israel and Hamas are meeting, okay, to try to implement the President's ideas. They have not come up with a final agreement on that because they're having a dispute over Hamas having not yet returned 19 of the dead hostages.
A
Okay?
B
Hamas says they're committed to it, but they haven't done it yet. They were supposed to have already done it. And Hamas at one point returned a dead body to Israel that wasn't a hostage.
A
Okay?
B
And so there has been some tension over this because Israel wants their people back, including the dead hostages. So that's, that's issue number one.
A
Okay?
B
Issue number two, inside of Gaza, there is a lot of discontent with Hamas. Now, Hamas has been in charge of Gaza since 2006. I guess, you know, when they. Israel left that area, they had an election. Hamas won the election. There's never been another election. Hamas has been in charge this entire time. And so not only are they armed terrorists, but they're also a political organization, right? So now the war is over, or at least there's a ceasefire. And there are other groups inside of Gaza who are upset with Hamas because they don't like what's happened in Gaza. And there's fighting, internal fighting, and What Hamas is doing, and there's lots of video on this, on the Internet. They're dragging people into the street and torturing them. I've seen people, you know, broken their legs, they're shooting them, they're, they're assassinating them. So at the same time, Hamas is negotiating with Israel, they're having to stave off challenges to their authority inside Gaza from these rival factions. So it's a little bit of a mess right now. But broadly, there's just people inside of Gaza that are mad at Hamas. They're being challenged essentially for, you know, authority. There's. And their reaction to that is to murder people. That's who we're dealing with.
A
You know, it's interesting because I'm all these people that, you know, I understand people are critical of the government of Israel. If they don't like Netanyahu, if they don't like the Likud Party, that's one thing. It's obviously become all the Jews and in my opinion, led to a huge amount of anti Semitism across the globe. But, but with that said, these same individuals that are critical of Netanyahu seem to have given a pass to Hamas, you know, as we just mentioned, won't call him a terrorist party. Now you're seeing. How does this look to you? How's this looking, guys? Does this look like a.
B
All the people who were happy to go to a protest for the last two years claiming there was genocide going on in Gaza, now we have all this video of Hamas executing Palestinians in Gaza. Where are you?
A
Yep.
B
Where are you anti genocide people? Yes, because right now the people killing Palestinians in Gaza is Hamas. I don't see them out my window here. I don't see them marching in the streets demanding the genocide in Gaza to stop. Why? It's almost like maybe there was something else in their hearts all the, all along, Gillian. But right now, the only people killing Palestinians is Hamas. Right. And you can see it on your computer and on your television every single day. And it's awful and it's terrible, but that, that's who we're dealing with. But it goes to show you that a lot of the protests that were going on around this, it was only about the Jews. I mean, let's be honest, it was about hatred for Israel and hatred for the Jews. I interviewed a lady who lives in New York, she's from Israel, she was in Hostage Square when the exchanges were going on. And she said, you know, in America, we have Trump derangement syndrome. Here we have Netanyahu Derangement syndrome. It's a very similar thing. You know, you have just people who have lost their minds about Netanyahu, and it affects their entire, you know, the way they approach politics entirely. And, and I think that's also clouding some of the reaction you're seeing to this around the world.
A
But, Scott, I could be critical of Netanyahu. I, I, I've even had conversations with Barry Weiss and said, you know, like, there's a video of him saying he's going to kind of fudge these borders. He's, oh, the, you know, they're not letting journalists in that are independent and not with the idf. Like, I, I could see children are dying. It's disturbing. It's awful. It's been, listen, I get it. I think war is hideous, but I'm not unilaterally going, ugh, this country of the 14 million people that's the size of New Jersey is the root of all evil throughout the globe. And these angels, Hamas, these defenders of freedom that just want to end the evil, apartheid and occupation, I, they're, they're animals. Hamas, also evil. How? It just, I cannot.
B
When you look at what they, look what they do to their own people.
A
Right?
B
I mean, look what they're doing right now. I'll tell you something else about Israel, and, and just as a matter of how we should view U. S. Foreign policy, there are a lot of people, especially on the left, some on the right, but a lot on the left who think that the United States should dictate to Israel what it does regarding war operations, national security, and internal politics. My view on that is, and it's because they hate Netanyahu. They hate him. My view on that is, you know, you can be critical of Netanyahu, you can love Netanyahu, you could fall somewhere in the middle. They are a democratic ally of the United States. We are allied with Israel for good reason. And they have elections. They elect their own government. Netanyahu is the prime minister of Israel because they had an election, and that's how it turned out. They will have another election, I think, in 2026. It's not for us to dictate, I think, to democratic allies, their internal politics. And it's certainly not for us to dictate their internal national security. And so whether you love him or hate him, the people of Israel vote. And this is the government they've chosen. And they may soon choose a different one, or they may keep this one, but it's their choice. They are a democratically elected country, and that's one of the reasons we're allied with them, because we, you know this, the American people, the people of Israel, we all believe in democracy, we believe in self determination and self governance. We ought to trust the people of Israel to do what's best for Israel. And I think this whole idea that we should be dictating to them, their internal politics is very wrong headed.
A
Here's what they're going to say because I already know the answer to this. I just don't want them doing it with our tax dollars. And somehow Israel has forced us into all these forever wars. Not our politicians relationship to the military industrial complex, none of that stuff. It's all been Israel in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Gaza. It's all been them manipulating our leaders, this tiny, tiny little country and they're taking our tax dollars to commit genocide and forever worse. That is their argument. I don't like. We have no accountability in that. It's Israel making us do this stuff.
B
Yeah, well first of all, regarding tax dollars we spend, you know, as a matter of our overall federal budget and as a matter of our national security budget, a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny sliver on Israel. I tell you this though. I was there this summer when the war with Iran broke out and I was looking up in the sky one night watching all the missile defense system happen right over my head. I was watching the missiles streak in and I was watching the intercepts go up.
A
That's scary.
B
And I thought to myself, I'm pretty darn glad we've invested in missile defense over here for Israel. Remember, there's a lot of Americans over there and are dual citizens and whatnot. But without our help and without our investing in that technology, without that collaboration between Israel and the United States, there would be no end to the missiles hitting Israel on a daily basis. They have the Houthis shooting rockets into Israel. They had Hezbollah for years shooting rockets into Israel. Iran is raining missiles in during that war. And so there are ally. I tend to think when you have an ally that's under siege, surrounded by its enemies, helping them is a good idea. And what did we help them with? Mostly missile defense. And it works, by the way. It works great. It's not foolproof, but it's pretty darn close.
A
That's what we help them with mostly. Most of the money was missile defense.
B
Missile defense, the Iron Dome, the, they have a few different systems, but it's remarkable what they're able to do to shoot down these missiles. And you got to understand, Israel is surrounded by people who want to shoot missiles at them on a regular basis. So without this missile defense, life in Israel wouldn't be livable. It would be miserable. You'd be under constant rocket fire all the time. And, you know, this missile defense systems that we've been able to invest in and help with, I think they're miraculous. I mean, the idea that you can have this technology to protect an entire popula, I mean, think about. You said it, the size of New Jersey. Yeah. You're protecting this geography from constant rocket fire and allowing millions of people to go about and live their lives on a daily basis without that much fear that a missile is going to land on their head. That's a. You know, that's a pretty strong projection of American power and use of that power for good. I mean, it's a defensive system. You know, we're not shooting rockets at somebody. We're defending against incoming rocket fire. It's a. That's a. That's a pretty good thing.
A
Got it. Okay, now this worries me. What do you think about this? So we just saw, what is this guy, the president of Syria, now the interim leader of Syria, this guy Ahmed Al Sharah, who was a top militant jihadist leader connected to Al Qaeda networks. Meet with Putin. Uh, guys, can we toss this up in the B roll? And he's saying, we need you guys back over here in Syria to defend against Israel. I don't. I don't know, but this is concerning. What is this? What is. What is this? So if. If Russia gets involved again, are they gonna start emboldening Iran, or are we going to see, like, a new little access of axis of evil with Syria, Iran, and Russia? Or is this.
B
Yeah, what is this posturing? So Syria had a change of regime, the Assad regime fell, and this guy wound up as the new leader of Syria. Right. And he did. And so when Assad was in charge of Syria, they had a close relationship with Putin.
A
That guy's over in Russia right now. That's another thing.
B
I'm like, so he has gone over to Russia. My understanding is to redefine the country's relationship with Russia to honor whatever deals they have with Russia. I guess Russia has some military bases in Syria, and they were going to make some agreements about making sure those were safe. And so I think there's some redefining of the relationship between Syria and Russia because there is a new regime in charge. The Assad regime was in charge for a long time.
A
Right. Okay.
B
These are new people. And so I think they're trying to Figure out how to act vis a vis Russia. But Russia's been involved with Syria for a very long time.
A
So it's not like the kind of thing that they're trying to take advantage of the moment and fill a power void sort of a situation.
B
And on top of that, I should say, I believe the Assad family went to Russia after the Assad regime. They basically fled to Russia. So the connections between Syria and Russia are longstanding.
A
Okay, so this is not new news. Last but not least, on this subject, before we move on the Trump tweet. And he basically said, if Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them. Thank you for attention to this matter. Does this happen? And if so, like, what's he doing? He's putting Marines on the ground. Like, what? How do you do that?
B
So the president then later clarified that he did not mean we as in American troops. Got it. We as a, as a coalition of people who I guess had signed into this agreement. But obviously he's upset with Hamas because, you know, he thinks we've got an agreement to stop the killing. That's his goal. And then we have to watch videos of them killing people in the streets. And so his view is we should honor this ceasefire. Ceasefire means ceasefire. Let's not have a bunch of killing which will continue to destabilize Gaza. When you have that kind of chaos in the streets, what can you not do? It's hard to distribute aid. It's hard to think about rebuilding, it's hard to think about debris removal and what you would have to do to get the situation livable again. What's hard to do that when you've got Hamas running around torturing and executing people in the streets?
A
Got it. Okay, that's good to know. All right, now then, government shutdown. The CNN town hall with Sanders and AOC titled Shut Down America. I'm sorry. It ran 90 minutes on CNN, moderated by Kaitlan Collins. And of course, the, you know, the whole conversation was the shutdown that started October 1st. Audience members were able to ask questions. Now then, can you help me understand, first of all, what the hell is a clean cr? It's a clean continuing resolution. It's a short term funding patch. But AOC says she won't accept an IOU or a pinky promise. So does this mean that they're basically holding the government hostage and they won't negotiate until they get their way, which means they won't negotiate at all?
B
Yes, so effectively, at the end of September, the government ran out of money. And a continuing resolution, which happens all the time, is an agreement to continue funding government operations at the previously agreed upon levels. In this case, the previously agreed upon levels are the same levels that were in place when Joe Biden was the president. So 13 times when Joe Biden was the president, Democrats voted for continuing resolutions to continue to fund the government at previously agreed upon levels. This time, the clean cr Clean just simply means there's no additions, there's no subtractions. We're not attaching some random policy idea to it. It's just literally continuing the same funding levels.
A
Got it.
B
Nothing else for the next seven weeks while we negotiate. Now the Democrats are against it. They voted for it 13 times, now they're against it. So when they voted against it, they passed it out of the House, the Republicans did. But in the Senate, you need 60 votes, not enough Democrats. There's 53 Republicans. So you would need seven Democrats. Not enough Democrats have joined the Republicans. I think three Democrats have. So they're at an impasse. Democrats say they want about a trillion and a half dollars in additional spending to reopen the government. So a trillion and a half beyond what we're already spending to go towards health care. Well, to go towards a lot of things. They want to reverse some of the cuts to some of the foreign aid programs that you heard about this year. They want to put money back into parts of Medicaid that would in fact provide health care to illegal aliens.
A
I want to talk about that. Keep going.
B
And they want to. And then the other big issue are these Obamacare plan subsidies. So if you buy Obamacare health plans on the open market, which a lot of people do, there's a prediction that the premiums are going to go up at the end of the year because the subsidy program that started during COVID is expiring. So let's go back to Covid. Government shuts the country down. Democrats at that time, as part of COVID relief, offered subsidies to people buying health insurance to either make it much, much cheaper or to really make it no cost at all.
A
Right.
B
When they passed this, they put a sunset in the bill. They said this program will expire at the end of 2025. So we're talking about Obamacare. A Democrat passed health care plan. We're talking about Obamacare subsidies. A Democrat passed health care patch that came during COVID And now, which they put a sunset on. And now they're saying, oh, Republicans are trying to raise your health care Premiums. That's not at all what is happening. They want to continue spending money from the COVID era on these health insurance subsidies. And that's effectively what they want the fight to be about. So Republicans are saying, well, we don't want to negotiate under duress. You've taken the government hostage. We will negotiate with you, but we should reopen the government first. Democrats have said, no, we will keep the government shut down until you agree to our demands. A trillion and a half in new spending on crazy things and a continuation of these Obamacare subsidies. Right now, I think both sides think they're winning, really, which means the shutdown is unlikely to end anytime soon.
A
What do you think? I don't think either side is winning.
B
Well, I think when these things happen, most Americans tend to look at it and say, oh, Democrats and Republicans not getting along again in Washington, you know, a pox on both their houses. I do think, yeah, in this case, I think Democrat hypocrisy is pretty astounding. You can go on the Internet and watch several minutes worth of footage of Chuck Schumer, Bernie Sanders, aoc, Hakeem Jeffries, Nancy Pelosi, you name it, saying we can never shut down the government. When you shut down the government, real people get hurt and this and that and this. Now they're saying, well, no, no, we're going to shut down the government. And make no mistake, it's the Republicans who are voting to open the government. All the Republicans in the House, virtually all of them in the Senate. It is the Democrats in the Senate that will not open this government. John Thune, the Republican leader in the Senate, said today he's more than happy to have conversations, but he's just not going to do it under duress like this with the government closed. And so I don't know. I mean, it's crazy to me that the Democrats, after years of decrying the idea of the government shutdown, are now the party of the government shutdown.
A
Okay, so few quick things. Congressman Donalds told me yesterday that that sunset you mentioned was put in there at this exact time by them. I'm not sure if this is conjecture on purpose right before the midterms to create kind of chaos. Think maybe now not so much a little bit conspiracy.
B
It's possible. I mean, look back in, during COVID you know, we spent a lot of money on a lot of things and you know, having something sunset at the end of 2025, I mean, it was a probably a reasonable assumption that Covid would be over it is over, by the way. It's over right now. And so, yeah, you know, broadly, by the way, we spend 54% more money in the federal budget today than we did in 2019. So you think about how many trillions of dollars that is. So we spent all this extra money during COVID We're still spending it. So we never reduced federal spending to pre Covid levels. We spent all this money during COVID to provide relief and to try to help people make it through a tough time, but we're still spending it. And so I often bring this up in my talks and I say, do you feel like your government is performing 54% better than it did in 2019? Of course you don't, but you're spending that much more money. This is part of that. These subsidies are part of that.
A
Okay, next question. Last time, Chuck Schumer didn't vote to shut down the government. They crucified this guy. And I heard him say, if we shut down the government, they win because they can do whatever they want. Now I'm a little confused. What did he. Is that. What did he mean by they can do this and they can do that? Or he said something like if we shut down the government wasn't just innocent people get hurt, it was they get more power.
B
Well, I think what he was alluding to at the time was that if we shut down the government, we give the executive branch.
A
Yeah, that. So why is that not happening right now? Or is.
B
Is. I mean, right now, why do the Democrats want that? Right. Well, it's a great question. Right now, the White House and the head of omb, Russ Vaught, are implementing reduction in force. Rif. You might have heard that term. Yeah, RIF plan. So they're eliminating government positions. Just today, really? Right before we started this conversation, I will look it up for you. Russ Vaught announced that he was suspending a bunch of. I'll read it to you. The Democrat shutdown has drained the Army Corps of Engineers ability to manage billions of dollars in projects. The Corps will be immediately pausing over $11 billion in lower priority projects and considering them for cancellation, including projects in New York, San Francisco, Boston and Baltimore. So basically, the government is shut down, the money is not flowing, and the executive branch is now having to make decisions about how to operate a government that doesn't have authorized funding coming into it that is resulting in cuts to personnel and cuts to programs. And a lot of them, frankly, are coming in blue areas.
A
Oh, frigging Pacific Coast Highway.
B
Yeah.
A
Is being cleaned up by the Army Corps of Engineers. Cuz the state can't figure it out. Nothing's gonna get rebuilt. Nothing's been. But they're still cleaning up burned cars off the side of the road in debris because the fire was so vast. And it doesn't get bluer than California. Pacific Palisades. Okay, last question on this topic.
B
It's a legit question for a Democrat. You've empowered Trump to basically cut dramatically the size and scope of government during this shutdown. That's what. So by virtue of Chuck Schumer and the Democrats shutting down the government, you have effectively empowered Trump even more than he already was. He's already pretty powerful, but this is, I think made him even more powerful. When you consider what he's able to do in reducing headcount and programmatic areas of the federal government.
A
That's the, that's just so disappointing is Chuck Schumer already said, hey, this hurts us more. And yet because he's so worried about his own rear end, he just caves like, okay, I don't want any trouble. I'm gonna cave. Just like Gavin Newsom. I think I need to bridge ideologies with conservatives. Wait, nevermind. I, that didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. I'm gonna become as radical as possible. I'm gonna be the face of the opposition. It's just, I, oh, John Federman is actually not with us. Let's primary that guy. Gotta get him out of there. It. I just, it's so freaking disappointment.
B
Betterment is a fascinating situation. He's a Democrat. Yeah, he votes with the Democrats 96% of the time. He's a loyal Democrat. His sins this year have been supporting Israel and voting to reopen the government. He's one of the three Democrats voting to reopen the government. They're so mad at him for voting to open the government that now Democrats in Washington are talking about finding a primary for him when he comes up for reelection. So this is the Democratic Party. It's extremely authoritarian. If you get out of line on one thing, yep, Israel, open the government. We're going to find a primary for you. It's ridiculous.
A
It is ridiculous. And I remember watching Bill Maher several months ago say, like, if only there was a Democrat that had common sense, like a person of the people. And he mentioned Fetterman, and at the time I was like, fetterman, the guy that shows up in shorts. And I, I thought, oh God, Bill, you're like, you've lost your mind. Now I see why he said, that.
B
During that election, I was probably more critical of Fetterman than any political commentator in the country. I mean, I couldn't believe. Remember, he had health issues.
A
Yeah. Stroke.
B
I thought the Democrats were covering it up and lying about the extent of it. And I just. I was sort of outraged by all of that. This guy has turned out to have more backbone than basically and common sense than a lot of other people combined. And for that. For that, he is being punished and yelled at by his own party. It's crazy. And what has he done? Hey, I think we should stand with our ally Israel. Hey, maybe we shouldn't close the government. These are the sins you've committed to get the ire of the Democratic Party. It's pretty bad. So I have occasionally referred to myself as a Fetterman Republican. I admire.
A
Can I steal that? I'll credit you. A Fetterman Republican. I love it.
B
I just. Look, he and I will disagree on most issues, I'm sure.
A
Right.
B
I admire the backbone. And he does not cave in the face of these outrage mobs that form on the left when you get out of line. He will not cave. And I just. I admire it.
A
I know. Me, too. I really hope he's rewarded for that behavior because we need to see a heck of a lot more of it.
B
Interestingly, in Pennsylvania, he has pretty good approval ratings. Independents love him, and Republicans love him. They admire him, too. And so you've got Democrats mad at one of their own, but I think he's actually getting broader political support in Pennsylvania because of it. His problem will be in a primary.
A
Yeah. Okay.
B
Try to find somebody to run against him on the grounds that he didn't fight hard enough against Donald Trump. I mean, that's how they'll run it, but we'll see what happens. And you'd always be welcome in the Republican Party. Yeah, put it out in the world. You're welcome in the Republican Party. John Betterman, we'll take you.
A
Okay, last question. Explain to me now. No, Congressman Donald's explained it, but just in case anybody missed that and you touched on it, I want to explain it because AOC just said in this town hall, when they tried to corner her about healthcare for people who are here illegally, she said she dodged the question and simply said, hang on. Where is it? I've got the frigging aoc. AOC was asked whether she might challenge Schumer. She, you know, pushed that off, blah, blah, blah. She said, okay. On undocumented immigrants, AOC was asked whether taxpayers should pay for their Health care. She did not give a definitive yes or no shocker referencing that current federal law does not allow undocumented immigrants to get coverage under programs like aca, Medicaid or Medicare. So just in case anybody missed this, this answer from, from Congressman Donalds. Could you explain the little, the loophole of, of how that works since federal money doesn't go to it, but state money does?
B
Couple things. Yeah. Number one. Okay, it's true that federal law prohibits this. Let me ask you a question. Does federal law prohibit illegal immigrants from coming into the country? It does, yeah. It prohibits them. Do they still come in? Yeah, they did. They don't anymore, but they did. Let me ask you another question. Do you think that Democrats allowed 20 million illegal immigrants into the country with no thought whatsoever about where they would go to the doctor. They go to the emergency room. Medicaid emergency room payments are made. Money does go into that. A B. Several blue states have at the in their state Medicaid programs, CA IS1 have opened the doors to illegal aliens signing up for Medicaid. Now the rebuttal of that is oh, but that's different money. It's not federal money comes in. You have state money. I mean, it's effectively money laundering. Believe me, your tax dollars in many, many blue states go to Medicaid insurance plans for illegal aliens. By the way, this is not a secret. This is not a surprise. It is the stated position of the Democratic Party. Every candidate for President in 2020 raised their hand when asked at a debate.
A
I've seen that clip, Scott.
B
Yes. Does your health care plan cover illegals?
A
Yes, I've seen it. I gotta insert that here. Raise your hand if your government plan would provide coverage for undocumented immigrants. Okay, let me start with you, Mayor Buttigieg.
B
Why during the big beautiful bill over the summer, Republicans wanted to take make it clear in federal law that no Medicaid dollars could go to illegals. The Democratic rebuttal to that was it's better public policy if we put them on Medicaid than if we leave them off. It's better policy to do that. It has for years been the stated position of the Democratic Party that we'd be better off putting them on Medicaid. That's a legitimate debating point. I don't think most Americans agree with it, but that's their position now. They want to repeal that part of the big beautiful bill so that Medicaid dollars can flow to illegal populations. And the media and the Democrats have had a meltdown about this, saying, oh no, no, no, we would never do that. It's literally been your stated position for years. Why we know it. Go on California's Medicaid website. I think Illinois, I think Massachusetts, these blue states have all opened the doors to illegals to get on Medicaid. So I don't know why they're trying to hide what has been a very upfront position of the Democrats for many, many years, which is that would we be better off putting illegal populations onto Medicaid? It's a losing, I think, political argument, but it is their stated policy, it is what they desire, and now they're trying to run away from it. I guess somebody finally looked at a poll, but they're trying to, they're trying to hide it and run away from it.
A
Now it's, you know, in California, I believe they were giving interest free home loans to people who were undocumented. And you know, I have family members who are exceptionally sympathetic to people who are here, that are here illegally. And my position has always been, I, I'm extremely sympathetic if you're, if you're running from violence or if you're looking for a better life. But you have to do it legally. And when you don't do it legally, the people that are here illegally are more vulnerable. They're getting exploited, they're getting trafficked. It creates shadow economies. It's building resentment from citizens for reasons just like this. And you're the guy that can't get a home loan to my family member. And yet the person that's here that's undocumented, that's getting all of this free health care, you don't have health insurance. It's getting now an interest free home loan. You don't own a home. It's. You got to take care of the people that pay into the system first. I don't understand. It isn't about being a bigot or a racist or not having a heart. Reform the policy. If you don't like the policy, reform the policy. Vote for people that will reform it. But this kind of madness appears to be, as you mentioned, look at a poll, a losing proposition. I think there's a middle ground that makes sense so good people can get in and stimulate the economy. Go fight our army. We could use you. Join the police for us. I heard Chicago's down 2000 cops, but I don't know, Scott, I don't know. It's crazy, but I thank God every day you're out there fighting the good fight and disseminating this for us. Where can everybody Go. Oh, I was gonna let you.
B
I'm just. This whole debate over Medicaid drives me crazy because under Obamacare, we dramatically expanded the size and scope of Medicaid. So a program that was originally designed for a niche group of people gets bigger, and then we make it bigger. And, you know, the ultimate goal of the Democratic Party is for everyone to be on a government healthcare plan. That's what they want. Socialized medicine. And for them to argue now that that's somehow not what they want. Everybody knows. Everybody knows what you want. And I just. The dishonesty in this debate has been breathtaking. There are, I think, 14 states provide health coverage to undocumented migrants. I'll read them to you. California, New York, Illinois, Washington, New Jersey, Oregon, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Rhode Island, Maine, Vermont, also Washington, D.C. most of those states have one thing in common. Blue states. Yeah. Democrat governors, they open the doors to this. The other problem with this is when you provide benefits to illegal aliens of like this, it is an incentive to come here. And during the Biden years, you had blue states expanding Medicaid to illegal immigrants. You had the Biden administration instructing federal law enforcement not to enforce the laws. The gates were thrown open. The message was, get here. You'll get health care, you'll get other government benefits. We're not enforcing the laws. And it'll probably work out for you area. And people did come here by the millions. Now, virtually nobody comes to the border.
A
Right.
B
Because they know the government attitude is different. So policy communicates something. When your policy is you get benefits and you get no law enforcement, well, that communicates an open border. And that to me is one of the differentiators between the parties. The Democratic Party is communicating to the rest of the world, just show up here and flood in. And the Republican Party is saying, well, hold on, we need some law and order here. We need a process by which people could come in orderly. In November, this was put to the test. Republicans won. So I just think the Democratic position here, they have to lie or they have to cover it up. Because it's not a winning political position to say we got almost $40 trillion in debt and we want to throw illegals onto Medicaid. It's not a great political argument. So that's why they're lying about it.
A
Last question. I feel like I could. I could figure this out. I would say I would keep. Remain in Mexico. I'd get more judges to the border to adjudicate cases. I clean up the asylum system anywhere where you see Like a true civil war or genocide. We mark those territory South Sudan. That's pretty easy. We know what's going on over there. The Rohingyas in Southeast Asia, we know what's happening to those guys. Like, you know, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who's a member of Trend, doesn't need asylum. I, like, I. What are you afraid of a rival gang killing you? Like, I'm confused. This seems like you could fix it and you could make the case that, hey, you know, we've got X million jobs open that Americans aren't taking. We can't recruit for the military. We need more people in law enforcement. We could give people a path to citizenship or they could serve in our military. And if they're law abiding and they could have a visa and they could earn their way, why not do that? Why would the Democrats instead say, all right, everybody come in, go ahead, Cartels. You use the border as your own, trafficking for, you know, kids and fentanyl and everybody gets aid. It doesn't, it doesn't stimulate the economy. Like, we could use immigration in such a positive way. Build the military, build our police force, have them help stimulate the economy and pay for the boomers because Gen Z is way too small. What? What, what, what? Why am I wrong? Why would they not do something like that? I don't know.
B
Well, there is a debate. I think there's two issues. One, the, the 20 million that came in, they are here. Yep. Something has to be done about this. They're here. They're here illegally. We don't know who they all are. You know, I'm not arguing they're all bad or all violent, but some are. And, you know, they're dangerous. You mentioned trend. Aragua, Ms. 13. I mean, some very violent people have come here to do bad things. I think there's an expectation by the American people for internal enforcement. All these people came here, we don't know who they are, and it's not good. Yeah, that's one issue. Number two, the closure of the border to stop other people from coming. That was largely taken care of by Trump taking office. Number three, what to do about future immigration. You raise a lot of good issue ideas, like should we take people who've been here for a long time and have been, other than having broken the law to get here, have been law abiding since they got here. Should we carve something out for them? Some people say yes, some people say no. There's actually, I think, a divide in the Republican Party over this Some people want everybody deported. Some people want some deported. But some exceptions, you know, the agriculture industry, they have labor needs. They would like to see some accommodations made. So actually, there's a debate inside the Republicans about how to do what you were just talking about, and it's not totally settled. And it's, it's a little bit complicated. You know, this idea of some of these visa programs. Have they been abused in the past?
A
Right.
B
We make it hard, harder to get a visa.
A
I get it.
B
There's the other issue of student visas. Many people came into this country and now are on college campuses fomenting hatred.
A
For Western civilization and their keffiyeh. Yeah, yeah.
B
And so, you know, there are some complicated issues here. To me, what's not complicated is this. The President is the president. He takes an oath to faithfully uphold and execute the laws, enforce the laws. We have laws. As you said earlier, if Congress wants to change the laws, they could do that.
A
Right.
B
But until that happens, it's up to the President to enforce the laws. I see what he's doing as simple law enforcement. They came into the country illegally. Now we're going to deport them. And, you know, you could have internal policy debates about, you know, keeping certain populations here who should be considered refugees. You know, there's a lot of things to debate. What to me is not under debate is whether the President has an obligation to enforce the law.
A
That's what I totally agree with you, Scott.
B
I think. And the Democrats are so mad about it.
A
Yeah. And they had four years to do this the right way. If you're more sympathetic to this cause, I think there's a lot of people that would agree with that. But if you actually care about these people, I don't understand why the Democrats didn't give them a legal path to citizenship and protect them, the citizens that were here, and prioritize their own constituents. It's something that obviously has backfired on them. And it's. It just. Oh, totally, completely confuses me as to why they went about it the way that they did.
B
A lot of energy, a lot of energy has been expended for non citizens by the Democratic Party. And every voter has seen it. Have you ever seen a Democrat so animated as when they're fighting for an illegal alien like Kilmer, Abrego Garcia, due process. They say. The guy saw 20 judges.
A
Didn'T he?
B
They were like, yes, he's in Ms. 13. He's involved in some kind of human smuggling. He beat his wife. I mean, this is not. I mean, from A lot of angles. This is not somebody that you necessarily would want in the United States.
A
No.
B
Yet. How much energy was expended by the left in the Democratic Party to protect one guy?
A
Yeah, they hung their hat on him.
B
Crazy. And they really did. And they have a, they have a penchant for making heroes out of all the wrong people. And that was the latest one. And I think they're going to regret that. They're going to regret that. And politically I just. When you're expending all your energy and all your public facing energy on illegal populations and not on the needs of American citizens, there's a political price to pay.
A
Scott, thank you for everything. Thank you for your time. Tell everybody where they can get the book. Tell them about the book, tell them about the radio show. And of course they can find you on CNN quite often.
B
Yes, I do have a book coming out. Thank you for bringing it up. It comes out November 18th. It's called a Revolution of Common Sense, How Donald Trump Stormed Washington and Fought for Western Civilization. It covers roughly the period of time, the first few weeks of Trump 2.0, the first hundred, 120 days or so. I spent some time with the president, spent some time with several cabinet members. I went to Michigan with him on his 100th day in office. I interviewed Elon Musk and others and I really picked out a bunch of topics and things that happened in that hundred day period that to me exemplified how Trump was overwhelming his opposition. And I think he has overwhelmed them. He overwhelmed them in the campaign and then he overwhelmed them as a matter of governing. But you can go on Amazon right now, type in A Revolution of Common Sense. Trump's on the COVID My name's on the COVID And if you order it today, you'll have it November 18th. I think if someone is in your life that loves Trump, they'll love it. If someone is in your life that wants to learn more, you'll learn a little bit about his management style and about why he's been so effective and how he's been moving so fast since he was reelected.
A
And the radio show, radio show is.
B
On Salem Radio every day from 2 to 3. It's a live radio show and then it also comes in the form of a podcast. You just type in the Scott Jennings show if you want to get it via podcast on Apple or Spotify. And I've been doing it since the summer. It's pretty fun. We usually have a guest every day. You've been on.
A
I have been on. I've Been had the great pleasure. Thank you.
B
We'll have you back soon. But we do breaking news, live interviews. Usually at that time of the day, something's happening. Today I was starting the show and I was, I had an eye on the TV and Trump had Zelensky in the Oval Office and they were talking to the press. So I'm kind of like one eyeball on the tv, one eyeball on my computer screen. But it's a mixture of interviews and breaking news and it's an hour every day and it's a pretty fun show. That's on Salem radio. I think we're on 200 and something stations around the country. It's a fast growing show. And then, yes, as you mentioned, I'm on CNN most days, different shows. So I'll pop up on CNN if you flip that on. And on the Internet, if you're on the X platform, OttJennings K Y is the best place to find me.
A
Thank you so much, Scott. You're just, you're awesome. I really appreciate you. Thank you for taking the time and thanks for all you do.
B
Jillian, I love you. Thank you for this invitation. You're one of my favorites. I told everybody I was doing this today. You have no idea the squealing that's going on in my life. The excitement around being on the Jillian Michael show, very exciting for people, let me tell you. A lot of squealing in the Jennings.
A
Thank you so much. All right, go kick some ass. I think you have CNN in like a few minutes.
B
Yeah, yeah, I gotta go. I gotta go hop on a train and get to New York and to fight in the night at 10 o'.
A
Clock. All right, I'm gonna, I'll be watching.
B
Million.
A
See you. Thank you, sweetie. Go, go do your thing. Thank you again.
B
Thank you.
A
Thank you so much for watching. If you enjoyed the podcast, please, like comment, subscribe and share. And make sure to let me know what guests you want to see on in the.
Podcast Summary: Keeping It Real: Conversations with Jillian Michaels
Episode Title: SCOTT JENNINGS: HAMAS ERUPTS, ANTIFA SPREADS, AND AOC & BERNIE GO FULL SOCIALIST MADNESS
Date: October 19, 2025
Host: Jillian Michaels
Guest: Scott Jennings (Political Commentator, Radio Host, Author)
This episode features political commentator Scott Jennings in an in-depth analysis of the week's major headlines: the federal government’s first terrorism case against self-identified Antifa members, the left’s struggle with radical protest movements, updates on the fragile Middle East peace process, the controversies around “No Kings” protests, and the political fallout from the CNN town hall with Bernie Sanders and AOC amid the government shutdown. The conversation blends grounded explanations with candid commentary, providing “normies” with digestible context on urgent, complex issues.
On Antifa’s prosecution:
“It opens them up to much greater punishments…these people are organized terrorists. …This is the Antifa terror organization.” (05:03–05:09, Scott Jennings)
On the Democratic Party's internal struggle:
“Where are the adults? ...They are afraid of AOC and people from her wing of the party. So the adults have long decided to cower in fear.” (11:09, Scott Jennings)
"The Democrat image is so low. …20% in some polls. That’s not a political party. That’s barely a group chat." (13:09, Scott Jennings)
On American leadership and Middle East peace:
“Our president is the one who steps foot into the most complicated situation and somehow pulls a miracle for 20 hostages…If not but for Trump, this doesn’t happen.” (29:20, Scott Jennings)
On Hamas violence:
“All the people who were happy to go to a protest…now we have all this video of Hamas executing Palestinians. Where are you anti-genocide people? …The only people killing Palestinians in Gaza is Hamas.” (37:33, Scott Jennings)
On government shutdown hypocrisy:
“It is the Democrats in the Senate that will not open this government. …It’s crazy to me that the Democrats, after years of decrying…the government shutdown, are now the party of the government shutdown.” (54:23, Scott Jennings)
On Fetterman’s integrity within the Democratic Party:
“This guy [Fetterman] has turned out to have more backbone and common sense than a lot of other people combined…and for that, he is being punished and yelled at by his own party.” (61:06, Scott Jennings)
On Democratic support for illegal immigrants:
“Have you ever seen a Democrat so animated as when they're fighting for an illegal alien like Kilmer, Abrego Garcia, due process? …There's a political price to pay.” (75:38–76:53, Scott Jennings)
This wide-ranging episode offers informed, conservative-leaning takes on ongoing U.S. political crises, protest movements, and foreign policy. It denounces what the guests see as radicalization within the Democratic Party and breaks down the ongoing government shutdown standoff as well as the shifting landscape in the Middle East. For listeners outside the news cycle, Scott’s directness and Jillian’s energetic curiosity make for a rich, accessible primer on a fraught political moment.