Just The News No Noise with John Solomon and Amanda Head

Summary

Podcast Summary: Just The News No Noise with John Solomon and Amanda Head

Podcast: Real America’s Voice (iHeartPodcasts)
Episode Date: January 7, 2026

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Overview

In this hard-hitting episode, John Solomon and Amanda Head deliver in-depth analysis of the latest headlines through the lens of conservative American values. The main themes revolve around the fallout from former President Trump’s dramatic arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, a major new fraud investigation targeting California, the push for election integrity, and controversies surrounding New York City’s new mayor Zoran Mamdani. The episode features interviews with prominent guests, including Congressman Jeff Craig (CO), North Carolina Senate candidate Michael Whatley, national security expert Brent Sadler, and Rabbi Yaakov Menken.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Arrest of Nicolás Maduro and International Fallout

• Maduro’s Arrest (00:25 – 03:53, 10:12 – 12:44):
  • Trump’s administration captured Venezuelan dictator Maduro, stirring global reactions.
  • Chinese propaganda outlets amplify American protests against the arrest—these protests are organized in the U.S. by groups with links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
  • Marxist and socialist U.S. groups—People’s Forum, Code Pink, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, Party for Socialism and Liberation—are key organizers of the protests.
  • The U.S. government (IRS, FBI, Homeland Security) investigates the funding and actions of these groups.
  • TSA flagged $700M in cash trafficking from Minneapolis to Somalia—indicative of potential systemic fraud.
  • Congressman Jeff Craig supports more stringent controls:

    “We better have better control over that money and I think it's the tip of the iceberg. This is going to be an unfolding scandal...” (09:04)

2. Investigating Domestic Fraud and Government Waste

• California & Minnesota Fraud (03:53 – 07:54):
  • Trump launches a new war on fraud, focusing on California following massive student aid and Medicaid scams.
  • Past Just the News reporting uncovered similar large-scale fraud in Minnesota’s Somali expatriate community.
  • Discussion highlights ongoing issues with welfare fraud, illegal use of Medicaid, and food stamps.

3. Radical Turn in Urban Policy and Housing in New York City

• Mayor Zoran Mamdani and Sia Weaver (03:53 – 07:39, 36:55 – 47:09):
  • Sia Weaver, “tenant advocate,” appointed by Mamdani as director of the new Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, is accused of pushing a “communist takeover” by undermining landlord rights (04:42).
  • Audio reveals Weaver linking homeownership with racism and classism (06:07).
  • Amanda Head quips:

    “Isn’t it ironic? You can’t control your own property because that is racist, of course, but when communists have control... it’s for your own good.” (06:40)

  • John Solomon observes the Left’s “upside down world”—where defending property rights is bad, and chaos is celebrated (07:12).

4. Health Care Reform and the 2026 Election Cycle

• Trump’s GOP Address and Health Care (12:44 – 14:30):
  • Trump urges the GOP to seize a “once in a generation” chance to reform health care—advocating to remove insurers from the equation and empower patients through a free market.
  • Rep. Jeff Craig:

    “These are subsidies going... to these big insurance companies. Just like higher ed. When you subsidize higher ed, what do you get? Rising costs.” (13:15)

5. Election Integrity Push

• The SAVE Act and Voter ID (14:30 – 15:44):
  • Trump is pushing hard for the passage of voter ID laws in Congress.
  • Craig argues voter ID is "common sense" and essential for clean elections:

    “There’s one thing that cures it, and that’s voter ID... it is the number one thing.” (14:47)

6. Interview: Michael Whatley (NC Senate Candidate, ex-RNC Chair)

• NC’s Political Shift and the 2026 Midterms (17:46 – 27:50):
  • NC has swung from a Democratic to a GOP registration lead for the first time, attributed to the rejection of Democratic “open borders, inflationary spending, a weak and woke America” (19:43).
  • Whatley’s opponent, Gov. Roy Cooper, criticized as a woke “card carrying member” and out of touch:

    “He’s on the 20% side [of every issue], along with Zoran Mamdani and Jasmine Crockett and the rest of the Democrat crazies.” (21:19)

  • Whatley emphasizes the importance of public safety, border security, and combatting policies undermining law enforcement.
  • On affordability: Trump’s policies have helped create jobs and raise wages, but more work is needed (26:01).
  • Election integrity is essential:

    “Get out the vote and protect the ballot... election integrity is always going to be a key part of any organizational structure here in North Carolina.” (27:02)

7. International Security: Venezuela’s Role as a Criminal Nexus

• Insight from Brent Sadler, Heritage Foundation (28:28 – 36:28):
  • Venezuela under Maduro served as a base for drug and criminal networks supporting Iran, Russia, China, Cuba, and cartels.
  • Drug networks use Venezuela as a hub for American fentanyl/precursor trafficking, impacting U.S. communities.
  • Arresting Maduro disrupts these networks—Sadler stresses the scale of China’s and Iran’s involvement.
  • China’s operations are described as "opportunistic and risk-averse," abandoning Venezuela but waging diplomatic war (33:42).
  • Sadler warns of organized, CCP-funded U.S. protests, calling for them to be regulated under laws like FARA:

    “The loophole... is the paid protesters. Of course, the Chinese have a lot of money... and have paid protesters to show up to make it seem like that's an organic or an American voice...” (34:47)

8. Anti-Semitism Concerns in NYC Governance

• Interview with Rabbi Yaakov Menken (36:55 – 44:06):
  • Mayor Mamdani allegedly removed New York’s recognition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, citing “good governance” but believed motivated by anti-Jewish sentiment (37:37).
  • Deleted tweets from Mamdani’s past echo these concerns; Rabbi Menken calls it a blatant act:

    “If you can't figure out what that means. You're an idiot. Come on.” (39:47)

  • Jewish community feels less safe and expects economic and population flight from NYC due to these policies.
  • Menken advocates publicly calling out antisemitism, not “playing nice”:

    “The man is an anti Semitic barbarian. Let's make that clear.” (42:27)

  • Economic backlash—wealthy residents may leave, hurting NYC’s tax base.

9. Critique of Progressive Hypocrisy

• Sia Weaver’s Family Wealth (44:08 – 45:37):
  • Sia Weaver’s mother owns a $1.6 million home, fueling accusations of "rules for thee, not for me."
  • John Solomon:

    “We preach collectivism, but we live off that. And it’s a very wealthy and good lifestyle for us.” (44:55)

10. America’s 250th Anniversary and National Pride

• 2026 as a Reboot for Patriotism (47:09 – 50:01):
  • Reflection on fireworks and historical displays for the U.S. 250th commemoration.
  • Solomon and Head call for renewed civic education and patriotism.
  • Citing the U.S. as an “extraordinary country… a revolutionary reset,” and urging parents to teach children to be proud of America.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• John Solomon (on CCP-funded domestic protests):

  “Socialists and communists on our own ground organizing protests that are then amplified by the Chinese government.” (00:25)

• Amanda Head (on NYC’s housing direction):

  “Some Democrats want to create a pseudo utopia where they strip away the rights of Americans in the name of equal quality.” (05:15)

• Rep. Jeff Craig (on government waste):

  “Any company would have [financial controls]… I don’t know why in the world we wouldn’t have those kinds of controls.” (09:04)

• Brent Sadler (national security):

  “Maduro was providing a protection racket for a lot of bad actors and he basically made Venezuela the Nexus of a whole host of illicit and very dangerous activities.” (29:25)

• Rabbi Menken (on anti-Semitism):

  “He did that because you don't like the Jews and you want bigotry against the Jews to have a free pass in your administration.” (38:27)

• Amanda Head (on patriotism):

  “2026 can be a revolutionary reset when it comes to patriotism…”

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Important Timestamps

• 00:25 – Trump administration’s arrest of Maduro and CCP/leftist-organized U.S. protests.
• 03:53 – NY mayor’s housing agenda, interview with Sia Weaver.
• 07:54 – Congressman Jeff Craig discusses TSA’s cash seizure, government controls.
• 10:12 – Venezuela’s arrest fallout; Left and Right political responses.
• 12:44 – Trump’s GOP healthcare reform push.
• 14:47 – The SAVE Act and the push for voter ID laws.
• 17:46 – Michael Whatley on North Carolina’s political shift, wokeness, and issues for 2026.
• 28:28 – Brent Sadler on Venezuela, China, cartels, and U.S. threats.
• 36:55 – Rabbi Menken on anti-Semitism in NYC under Mamdani.
• 44:08 – Discussion of Sia Weaver’s family wealth and leftist hypocrisy.
• 47:09 – Reflections on America’s 250th, national pride, and renewing patriotism.

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Tone and Style

The episode maintains a direct, urgent, and sometimes sardonic tone with a strong emphasis on conservative, pro-Trump perspectives. The hosts often employ pointed humor and sharp criticism, particularly of left-wing and progressive figures, while also expressing optimism about America’s future and the opportunity for a patriotic renewal in 2026.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode of “Just The News No Noise” weaves together major stories of political upheaval, culture wars, and policy debates—from authoritarian arrests abroad to controversies at home over housing, social justice, and anti-Semitism. The show’s guests and analysis reinforce an “America First” perspective, highlighting perceived threats from both foreign adversaries and domestic progressive movements, while closing with a call for civic pride heading into the country’s 250th anniversary.

Transcript

[A]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

[B]

Good evening America. Happy Tuesday and welcome to the latest edition of Just the News. No noise. I'm your host John Solomon reporting to you as always from the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. the swamp. It's been three days since the Trump administration's arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and we're already seeing signs of how America's adversaries are dealing with the news. For example, our very own Jerry Dunleavy over just the news.com reports that Chinese state run propaganda outlets are promoting US protests against the Trump administration's Maduro arrest. And those protests are being organized by Chinese Communist Party linked financial networks right here in the United States. That's right. Socialists and communists on our own ground organizing protests that are then amplified by the Chinese government. After the operation to capture Maduro. Three protests opposing the arrest were quickly organized in places like New York City elsewhere by the Marxist revolutionary group known as the People's Forum, the far left anti war group. You know them, Code Pink, remember them? And the Leftists act now to Stop War and End Racism. And, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation is four groups that we're all been tracking here at Just the News over the last several years are radical activist groups and now they seem to be more aligned with socialist dictators than the American people. So we'll keep you up to date on that. Remember, one of the Marxist businessmen, Neville Roy Singham is one of the funders of some of those groups and he of course has connections to the CCP. You can read more about that at just the news.com and we'll keep you up to date. We're going to be tracking that. We now know the IRS and the FBI have a task force looking at some of the funding of these groups that have been creating anarchy and chaos across America. Now President Trump also announced a new major front on his administration's war on fraud. One that's going to be very familiar to our viewers here at Just the News and Real America's Voice Wide. We started with Minnesota 18 months ago, but recently we began investigating California. And today the President wrote on his True Social Platform that a fraud investigation into California has begun. He didn't provide much more details, but as you know, we chronicled over the last several weeks how fake student registrations were filed at many California colleges so that people could defraud student aid programs. There's Medicaid fraud, large amounts of Medicaid fraud, Medicaid being improperly used for illegal aliens. And of course the Other welfare forms, frauds that we've been talking about, things like food stamps. That all comes in the wake of revelations of the mass fraud that we uncovered in Minnesota more than a year ago with the Somali expatriate community there. And speaking of that, we're going to give you a quick teaser for tomorrow. Yep, tomorrow when you wake up, you can go to justinews.com and get the details on this. The Transportation Security Administration tracked more than nearly $700 million in cash in suitcases. I'm not making this up. This is cash that was in luggage and it was going through the Minneapolis airport, headed overseas. Most of the people moving the cash were Somali cash couriers. TSA said they didn't have any power to stop it because the people properly declared all this cash in their suitcases shows a gap in our current legal system for tracking money that's being exported out of the country. But now that money, those couriers, that entire system being investigated by the Homeland Security Investigations Unit. We'll have all the details for you tomorrow morning atjust the news.com and with that, I'm going to turn to my mighty and amazing co host, Amanda Head. Amanda, what headlines are you checking out today?

[C]

Well, John, first of all, we went from pallets of cash with Barack Obama to now suitcases of cash with Tim Walls. It's such a great update. Yeah. All right, so I want to start with a question. What on earth is happening in America's big cities? Whatever it is, I can assure you it is not good. So let me explain. As part of New York City Mayor Zo run Mamdani's housing agenda, Mayor Mamdani appointed Sia Weaver. She is a tenant advocate and she is now the director of the newly revitalized mayor's office to protect tenants. At least that's what it's called. That's what we have been led to believe is the purpose. However, the reality appears to be much more troubling. Mamdani's housing agenda seems to resemble a communist take takeover, intending to strip away landlords rights to their property in some circumstances.

[D]

Take a look a couple days ago, one of the most notorious landlords in the city, his name is Oak Shalom. He was arrested because he is treating his tenants so badly. Hundreds of thousands of open code violations. In cases like that where the city is actively pursuing already sort of litigation and enforcement mechanisms against the landlord, the SHDA is an option. We can say, hey, you know, you are not maintaining this building. And we are the city of New York. We have an Interest in making sure that housing is well maintained. And we're going to take this building away from you.

[C]

Oh, seizing property. Okay, so that seems a little less like trying to create affordable housing and more like looking for ways to acquire properties through some pretty savvy legal loopholes. That's the difference between Democrats like Mom Donnie and Weaver and President Trump. Some Democrats want to create a pseudo utopia where they strip away the rights of Americans in the name of equal quality. President Trump wants to create affordable housing by growing the housing sector and building new homes. And unfortunately, there's more. Here we have Sia Weaver again discussing home ownership. Now, you would think that she would talk about how much easier it would be for New Yorkers to pursue the dream of home ownership thanks to Mom Donnie's housing agenda. Oh, no. Instead, she somehow twists the narrative of home ownership into a discussion that. About what? Oh, yeah, Racism and classism.

[D]

Democratically controlled public housing is really important. And that's why when Raquel is talking about the communities that she's describing, that, you know, that's a created community where the people who are living there are, like, setting the agenda. And so, you know, people like home ownership because they like control. And that's been perverted by, like, deep racism and deep classism in our society. So, like, we have to not have a racist in class of society. And so that's, like, something we need to think about, like, deeply. But, you know.

[C]

So according to Ms. Weaver, the only way to eliminate racism and classism in society is to strip landlords of their rights. But she argues that that is why rent control is so important as it shifts the power dynamics between renters and property owners. But isn't that ironic? You can't control your own property because that is racist, of course, but when communists have control, it is. It's for your own good. Guys, we know better. We're your betters. You guys, just a bunch of plebes. You just sit there and let us take your property. John, my goodness, what has New York City done?

[B]

The whole left has turned the world upside down. We now think going after dictators is bad and blowing up drug runners is bad or good or no bad, but bad. They think it's a bad thing and home ownership is bad. But open borders and chaos and tyranny seems to be good.

[C]

So it's anti American because on top of taxation, without representation, another huge reason that our founders fought and divorced the crown was for homeownership and land ownership.

[B]

It's good. It is absolutely insane. Well, a guy who's pretty good at turning that upside down world. Right side back up represents the great state of Colorado is joining us at the top of the show. He is Congressman Jeff Craig. Congressman, great to have you on the show today.

[E]

Welcome, John and Amanda, it's great to be with you. That lady from New York, she's a peach, isn't she?

[B]

Yeah, she's got to probably be the best ad that the Republican Party's ever had. We'll wait and see how that turns out. What a great honor to have.

[E]

I was just thinking, listening to her, I can't imagine like working with her, but could you imagine, like being married to that lady? That would be terrible.

[B]

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, it's a head scratcher. How about that? All right. I want to turn to something we just mentioned at the top of the show. We are confirming and we'll be able to report this in a little bit that the Transportation Security Administration flagged more than $700 million in cash that was in luggage moving out of Minneapolis headed for Somalia and other foreign destinations only from the Minneapolis airport in the last two years. But their hands were tied. Basically. The law doesn't allow them to do anything if someone declares it. I just want to ask, I know there's a lot of concern about the exodus of cash by illegal immigrants and legal immigrants out of the taking money out of the United States. Is Congress beginning to look at maybe reining that in or putting some new regulations into place or should they?

[E]

Yeah, of course we should. We have to do it. It's embarrassing that Congress hasn't done this before. These are financial controls that any company would, would have on corporate money. Any good company would have it. The board of directors would fire them if they didn't. I don't know why in the world we wouldn't have those kinds of controls. But you know, that's the problem with big government. When you're spending other people's money, you know, it becomes easy, I guess, to just think it's okay to, to do that. And we've got folks right now saying, well, we don't want to share our books. We don't want to open our books and show you what, show the federal government what's being done with some of these fraud cases and things. Baloney. This is the federal government. These are taxpayer dollars. You know, we're, we're asking people in my home state of Colorado to send in their hard earned money and fund something in Minnesota or some other state. We better have better control over that money and I think it's the tip of the iceberg. This is going to be an unfolding scandal, not just in, in Minnesota, but I think we're going to see. Fraud has been rampant in the system for many years.

[C]

I think you're right, Congressman. I want to shift to the news of the day. Venezuela. There are of course, plenty of Democrats out there criticizing President Trump for something that a year ago, if done under Joe Biden, they would have praised it. But also Republicans who claim that this is not America first. But something that I am sensing from President Trump and this administration is that unlike those who criticize our involvement in foreign wars, obviously in OIF and oef decades long conflicts, President Trump gets in and out. It is precision, accuracy and striking. And just like with Iran, Venezuela, we didn't even know what was happening hardly before it was over. Does that seem like the most effective plan going forward that he's shown so far thus in his administration for handling any other conflicts that come about?

[E]

Yeah, I think it's surprising sometimes to people on the left that Donald Trump seems to not want to use force, even though he has. Obviously in Iran we saw him do what was the right thing there. And I think he's done the right thing in Venezuela as well. But I think his natural reaction is to not get us involved in, in these kinds of wars. And, you know, he's kind of stuck no matter what he does. Right. If he would have done nothing, they would say, well, he's not done anything. Of course, if he would have done what Obama and others have done and just go in and kill Maduro, then they would be upset with that. They'd all be threatening to, you know, impeach him again. But what did he do? He did this as a legal issue. Right. And went in and affected an arrest warrant. Right. That was out there for Maduro and his wife. I mean, I think the president on this one is on very, very solid legal ground, legal grounds in what he did. And look, if I'm a Democrat, do I, do you ever, do you think they ever stop and think, gosh, maybe, let's see, I'm on the same side as the Russians, I'm on the same side as the Chinese. I'm on the same side these kooky socialists that run around protesting in America, maybe I'm on the wrong side of the issue. They don't seem to ever think that. But the people that are on the right side of this issue, most Republicans seem to be on the right side of the issue. But the people of Venezuela who are on the right side of the issue. They wanted Maduro gone. The people who are here in America from Venezuela who had to get here because they were fleeing socialism, they're on the right side of this issue. I'm telling you, the left is, is, is lunatic on, on where they ended up on this issue.

[B]

Yeah, they're so disconnected from public sentiment. It's really remarkable. I want to ask quickly about the President's speech to the House GOP caucus today. One of the things that he mentioned, it's something that we've all talked about on the show a lot. An opportunity, a once in a generation opportunity to reform health care to fix the failures of Obamacare, the Unaffordable Care Act. And he talked about getting the insurers out of the way and taking the money away from insurers, giving to the people. How was that received? And how big an opportunity is there for Republicans to own this issue ahead of the 2026 election?

[E]

That's a great question, John. You know, that's something that I think Republicans have in the past not stepped up to because we felt like we didn't have the answer. You know what the answer is? Less government. The answer is less government involvement in the decisions of doctors. The answer is not subsidizing big insurance companies. And the president's exactly right. When Obamacare was written, it was written by the insurance companies really, frankly, to screw the American people. Let's just be honest. These are subsidies going to two to these big insurance companies. Just like higher ed. When you subsidize higher ed, what do you get? Rising costs. The same thing is happening in health care. We should grab this moment and empower the American people just like we've done started to do in education with school choice and other things. We should empower the American people in health care to do that same thing, to be able to make the decisions for themselves in a more capitalist, free market healthcare system so that they can make those decisions, drive down costs, increase transparency, and help get America healthy again by fixing this broken system that is Obamacare.

[C]

Sir, before we let you go, I love having this conversation about health care, but frankly, none of it matters if elections are not clean and pure and lawful. And I know President Trump spoke about that today with respect to the SAVE Act. He is really, really pushing House Republicans to make sure that gets through. What's the timeline you're seeing?

[E]

Yeah, well, we passed that. We've passed a voter ID law in the House. We need to get it over to the Senate. The Senate needs to act. I mean, this is such a bas basic thing. I get asked all the time about elections. There's one thing that cures it, and that's voter id. You know, whether people say, I don't like mail in ballots, I don't like this or that, honestly, I don't care what you do, as long as someone has to show an ID before they hand in a ballot, we should know what that is. You have to know who's getting on an airplane. You have to show an id. You know, if you, if you go, you know, to the bank to deposit a check, they'll ask you for an id. This is crazy that we don't do it in elections. It is the number one thing. And I think the American people, to them, it's just common sense. The president talked about that a little bit today. Most of these issues that we're talking about that the president's been talking about are common sense issues that the American people are demanding.

[B]

Yeah, no doubt about it. Common sense. That's what the American people want. Congressman, great honor to have you on the show today. Thank you for joining us, John and Amanda, thanks.

[E]

It's always great being with you.

[B]

Yeah, we love having you on. Thanks so much. All right, folks, a little breaking news. Just a few minutes ago, the Reagan foundation announced that the eldest son of Ronald Reagan, Michael Reagan, has died at the age of 80. He had a chance to interview Michael Reagan several times, had a popular show for a period of time. But a sad day in the Reagan world. We'll have more on that over at JustTheDews.com, go check it out. All right. Back after the commercial break. We'll be talking about another major story as we enter the new year, the midterms and how they impact the Trump administration's agenda with U.S. senate candidate and former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley right after these messages. Hey, America. The FBI has been warning about a type of real estate fraud on the rise called home title theft. And your equity is the target. Here's how it works. Criminals, for your signature on a single document, use a fake notary stamp and file it with the county. And just like that, boom. They're on record as owning your home, using your ownership. They then take out loans against your record or even sell your property. And you're not going to know about it until you get a foreclosure or collection notice in the mail. And that's not going to be a good moment. That's why I partnered with Home Title Lock. So you can protect your equity. And find out today if you're already a victim. Use my promo code [e-mail] you'll get a free title history report and a free child. Their million dollar triple lock protection. That's a great deal. A million bucks to protect your home. That's 24,7 monitoring of your title records, urgent alerts to any changes and if fraud occurs, their US based restoration team will spend up to a million bucks to fix it. Find out why I trust home title lock. Protect yourself like I did. Don't be a victim. Protect your equity today. Go to hometitleock.com and use that promo code jtn. That's homethetalock.com promo code jtn.

[C]

Welcome back everybody, to just the news. We are fully into 2026 officially and the midterms are going to be an enormous deciding factor in goals for President Trump's administration and if they can get accomplished because as everyone already knows, that the Democrats take back the House or the Senate, they are going to do everything they can to block anything that the Trump administration is trying to do. So joining us now is someone who knows the stakes. He was an instrumental part of getting President Trump reelected and he's running for Senate in North Carolina as well. Michael Whatley. Michael, great to have you back with us.

[F]

It is great to be on with you guys. Happy New Year.

[C]

Happy New Year to you. A not so happy day, unfortunately, in the Reagan family. A lot of folks grieving in central California right now, Michael Reagan passing away at the age of 80. But you know what? Ronald Reagan, and including his son, Michael Reagan, it is still such an incredible legacy on this country.

[F]

Yeah, I think you said it right. Legacy is absolutely the word when you think about the way that Ronald Reagan really kind of transformed America's path. We were going down a path with the world that we didn't need to be going down at all. Where America was shrinking, America was pulling back and the world was a very dangerous place. What President Reagan was able to do and turn that around and make America great again, you know, he was kind of the first president who really took on that mantle, you know, and it's obviously very sad to kind of see Michael passing on, you know, and the rest of that family, all the sacrifices that they made, you know, through President Reagan's term, you know, that that family really meant everything to the president.

[C]

Absolutely. I want to ask you about something. You know, we talk about a time for sowing and a time for reaping. It's quite frankly, biblical. You spent five years in North Carolina as GOP chair sowing, and now you are reaping. For the first time ever, North Carolina has more registered Republicans than Democrats. A huge accomplishment. Kudos to you. Tell us about that dynamic shift and what you see for the next election.

[F]

We're very excited about it. You know, when I took over the state party chair in 2019, that Delta was 450,000 more Democrats than there were Republicans. So today, 2077, more Republicans and Democrats. It's a huge shift over the course of the last five, six years. And it really comes down to two things. One, President Trump, he put in a common sense agenda, an America first agenda. And North Carolina voters, that's what they want to see. They want to see President Trump rebuild the economy, restore our borders and make sure that America is respected again around the world. They also see what the Democrats have been running on. The fact that the Democrats are all about open borders, inflationary spending, a week in woke America, that's not where they want to be. So we have seen a huge shift in Pennsylvania. We've seen a huge shift in Florida, Ohio and other states. And now finally in North Carolina. Very, very excited that we actually have more independents and more Republicans than Democrats here because that's where the Democratic Party and their insane agenda has left them.

[B]

Really remarkable. I want to ask a little bit about the man you're running against, Roy Cooper, former governor. He's fond of calling himself a moderate, but his rhetoric and his record suggests he's a lot more to the left. In fact, he couldn't embrace the arrest of Maduro over the weekend. He's been a big fan of Tim Waltz, saying fine, nice things about Tim Waltz. It's going to be a chance for both North Carolina and America to see that. The guy who says he's a moderate might be quite more liberal. What do you plan to do to make that case?

[F]

Well, Roy Cooper is a card carrying member of the WOKE mob and he supported every single one of Joe Biden's priorities. In fact, when Joe Biden fell off the debate stage against President Trump the very next morning, he was in Raleigh, North Carolina with Roy Cooper who was saying this is the guy who's going to be president for the next four years. Of course, he signed on immediately with Kamala Harris when Biden got off the ticket. You know, he has been absolutely supportive of that agenda, that weak agenda, that open borders agenda, that Woke America agenda all the way through. This is a guy who has vetoed legislation to Keep woke out of schools, men out of women's locker rooms and boys out of girls sports. He's vetoed bills to make sure that sheriffs are going to honor ICE detainers and get violent criminal illegal aliens out of North Carolina. He signed an executive order to reimagine law enforcement, created pretrial release and cashless bail, and a revolving door that put criminals on the streets again and again and again. On every single 8020 issue, he's on the 20% side, along with Zoran Mamdani and Jasmine Crockett and the rest of the Democrat crazies. It is remarkable to me that President Trump goes in and uses a Force Delta Force out of North Carolina to go in and take out Maduro, one of the most violent, dangerous criminals in the Western hemisphere. And the first thing that Roy Cooper does is criticize that and criticize our troops. It's absolutely stunning that he's found another 8020 issue where he's going to camp on the 20% side.

[C]

And we're seeing that so much with Democrats being on the 20 side of an 8020 issue. I know that you have thoughts on this Hilton situation. A property in Minnesota that refused to to accept DHS applications. Folks who are coming there on the ground to investigate, they deserve to have somewhere to stay. Hilton apparently has cut ties with this property, so that's good. But what does this tell you about the mind virus of wokeness that apparently still exists even though the Trump administration is trying to get it rooted out, at least on paper?

[F]

Well, it's absolutely appalling and it's completely unacceptable. The fact is that we have men and women all across this country who are fighting every day to keep our kids and our communities safe. We need to back the blue. We need to support them. We need to support the men and women of the armed forces who are protecting our interests and our allies all around the world. And it is stunning to me that the Democrats are applauding Hilton for refusing those people. They're fighting against President Trump for taking out Maduro. They're fighting against President Trump for securing the border. Trump and preventing migrant crime and fentanyl from coming into the United States. Absolutely. The highest priority for any government is keeping our kids and our communities safe. And the Democrats absolutely are working harder right now, including Roy Cooper, to defend the criminals, than they are their own citizens.

[B]

Really remarkable. I know North Carolina may not be, on the face of it, a border state is away from the border, but it's suffered many of the scourges. They came across with the open border of Joe Biden, drugs and sex trafficking and human trafficking. It seems as though North Carolinas must see a different experience now. They saw the president react to what went on in Charlotte. Do North Carolinas, are they starting to feel the downstream effect of having that border closed and all of these illegal aliens being rounded up and sent out of the country?

[F]

They really are, you know, and we had a recent, you know, attack where an illegal alien stabbed a man on the light rail car in Charlotte. You know, we need to go ahead and make sure that we get them out there. The sheriff of Mecklenburg county and other major sheriffs are doing everything they can to fight ice. They are not honoring those ICE detainers. And Roy Cooper, my opponent, actually vetoed legislation that would force those sheriffs to have to honor the ICE detainers. You know, we did see some good news recently that fentanyl deaths are down dramatically since President Trump shut down that border and shut down the flow of fentanyl and migrant crime into the United States. President Trump has made it very clear he is not going to allow international drug dealers to put our communities at risk. And he's going to work every single day to keep America safe.

[C]

So important, Michael, we hear time and time again that these midterms, this is going to be about affordability. The American people are not yet feeling a lot of the policies that President Trump instituted last year, but I imagine that's going to be turning pretty soon. But are you hearing from your constituents, from. From your potential constituents, that that's something that's on the forefront of their minds?

[F]

It is number one issue. It's the number one issue that we ran on in 2024 under President Biden. Gasoline prices, grocery prices, housing prices, and inflation all went through the roof, and he left this country in a ditch. You know, since President Trump has taken over, we've seen 700,000 plus jobs created in the private sector. Real wages are up 4.5% year over year. But we still have a lot of work to do to get ourselves out of this ditch that Joe Biden left us in. You know, I'm going to fight with President Trump every single day to create jobs, to get bigger, bigger paychecks and to make sure that we're lowering costs.

[B]

So important.

[C]

Yeah. Michael, before we let you go, I have to ask you, because you were the mastermind at, in last year at the rnc. You talked about the election integrity issues that get out the vote effort. That was absolutely explosive. It was too big to rig for these midterms Are you confident that that's going to be happening across the country so that Republicans can keep control of the House?

[F]

Yeah. I got to tell you, I'm very excited about Drau Gruders and the work that he's doing at the RNC here in North Carolina. Jason Simmons and the NCGOP are doing a great job, but the formula remains the same. Get out the vote and protect the ballot. We are going to have to have, you know, a great turnout of patriots all across North Carolina. Fortunately, good policy is good politics. And when we're fighting every single day to make sure that we're creating jobs, that we're going to raise wages and we're going to lower costs, that is what the North Carolina voters want to see. They want to see somebody who's going to fight to keep their kids and their communities safe. Good policy is going to be good politics. We're going to have to get out that vote. And of course, election integrity is always going to be a key part of any organizational structure here in North Carolina.

[C]

You created an incredible prototype. Where can everybody find your website for.

[F]

Senate michael watley.com and they can follow me on x atley nc perfect.

[C]

All right, everybody, Michael Whatley, U.S. senate candidate in North Carolina. Thanks so much for being here tonight. And coming up next, is China promoting far left protests against Maduro's arrest? It certainly seems like the CCP is not too happy with President Trump's operation against Maduro. But why? More on that next.

[B]

Welcome back, America. I think Americans are beginning to understand how much we knew about Maduro's extraordinary evil empire right in our hemisphere, facilitating the work of Russia and Iran, China, Cuba and the drug cartels. Joining us now to bring us up to all the speed, he's a senior research fellow for naval warfare and advanced technology at the Allison center for National Security at the Heritage Foundation. He's really one of the nation's true security experts, Brent Sadler. Brent, great to have you back on the show.

[A]

Thanks. And thanks for that very kind introduction as well.

[B]

We love the work you do. If anyone who's concerned about China, they need to read what you do every day. You're doing some of the best and most illuminative work there. I want to start with why China, why Russia, why Iran, why Cuba and why the drug cartels are so up in arms After Maduro was arrested, he was their fusion center right here in the Western Hemisphere.

[A]

Well, Maduro was providing a protection racket for a lot of bad actors and he basically made Venezuela the Nexus of a whole host of illicit and very dangerous activities. And it wasn't just words or the potential Venezuelan drug gangs have been operating in the United States, killing, intimidating, harassing American law enforcement and citizens right here in our in hometown usa. So it's not an over there threat and it's not a threat just to the 100,000 plus Americans that were dying from the drug cart drug trades that he was making possible. And in working in league with people and organizations like Hezbollah, the Iranian irgc, the Russians, the Chinese and the Chinese triads as well.

[C]

When you think about that supply chain, Brent, you know, obviously you've got these drugs coming over fentanyl predominantly on these drug boats coming here. The precursors for those. We've been talking a lot recently about how those come from China. How big of a dent does that make in China's supply end of things that Venezuela is not able to sherpa them into the United States?

[A]

Yeah, well, a few things just to kind of, I mean it is a pretty complex and very intricate web of these illicit networks have built over decades. And the cartels, so the cartels exist to make money through the sale of various drugs. Fentanyl is one of them. They get the precursors about eight or so of these scheduled chemicals that are largely coming from, you know, chemical producers in China. The President and Xi Jinping made a deal that the Chinese would finally start to tamp down on this. It's just going to be a shell game. It'll be another source making these chemicals. India has become highly questionable sources of as a fallback for these cartels to include Chinese criminal entities, the triads. But the cartels are moving this and they're mixing it and say in Mexico or they're shipping it into the United States. And then their gangs that are here are then fabricating the final parts of fentanyl. Same network, same criminal enterprise, cocaine. That's a 680, $690 billion trade. The last time that the UN annual report actually let it out back in 2019. So that's one element that's just the cocaine comes out of, out of Colombia. We also know that one of the ports that were attacked was an eln, a narco cartel, communist guerrilla group that had safe haven in Venezuela that was attacked I guess just a few weeks ago. So they all kind of swim in the same waters and they benefit. Though the product might be different, the result is still the same. Dead Americans, lots of many billions of dollars made in profit on the back of that to continue further their Protection racket across Latin America into the United States of course also into Europe increasingly as well.

[B]

Yeah, the scourge of addiction, one of the great weapons of our enemy Venezuela was playing footsie with Iran when it came to those long range drones. We saw the Treasury Department, Department ofac sanction Venezuela and its military base called El Libertador in Venezuela. And then we struck it on January 3rd when we arrested Maduro. The idea that long range drones, the same ones that Iran was selling to Russia to attack the Ukrainians, were in our hemisphere able to strike us. Pretty alarming security situation for us, right?

[A]

Absolutely. There's a lot more than the drones going on there. But certainly this right here highlights the degree and the extent at which the Iranians have been present and actually facilitating this regime's military capabilities and a direct threat against the United States and Americans not just in the neighboring countries and near abroad, but clearly all the way as far as into Florida.

[C]

Brent, I want to ask you about an interesting dynamic, the arrival and very swift departure of China as all of this was happening in Venezuela. It's like they said, yeah, we're not going to be in on this. It kind of showed that they are chickens. I know that the CCP is quite nefarious and underhanded and they were, they are always trying to make moves with that respect but they also seem somewhat non confrontational. Does that make sense?

[A]

I would probably go about a little differently. They are highly opportunistic and risk adverse and I think they made a very quick calculation. The juice wasn't worth the squeeze and in Venezuela, but they certainly have gone on like an initiative or a blitzkrieg of words in the diplomatic sphere. So that should be expected. But clearly the promises of support, military or anything meaningful were pretty shallow and a lot of other countries around the world have known that. And I think this is just another example that you can make a quick buck with the Chinese but don't rely on them when the weather changes and the cards are starting to be dealt against China, you Maduro's in a jail right now in New York. You know, realizing that, yeah, fair weather friends for sure.

[B]

China is. Before we let you go. Speaking of China and the Marxist communist networks, we seem to have a much more organized communist socialist network on our own. So much bigger than maybe years past. How concerning is that from a propaganda and operations standpoint as we head into the 26 election, into the next few years of important history?

[A]

Yeah, I mean, I mean this one, this could be an hours long conversation but the Chinese Communist Party from its very while it was still fighting a civil war, established, you know, a United Front Directorate. Now that United Front Directorate has agents all across the United States and many other countries across the world. That their whole purpose is to sow discord, to push a narrative that is self serving to the Chinese Communist Party and to buy and curry political favor, often through nefarious means. The whole fung controversy with a Congress member in our Congress comes to mind on this, but it's much bigger than that. The loophole right now that's really, I think, drawing a lot of attention, I think rightly, but very tardy in that is and that is the paid protesters. Of course, the Chinese have a lot of money and they have a lot of agents in the United States. They that they can facilitate the transfer of money and have paid protesters to show up to make it seem like that's an organic or an American voice on the street or to actually cause interference in our economic livelihood or even execution of government functions like ICE agents trying to serve warrants for illegal aliens comes to mind. So it's a very real threat. It doesn't represent Americans exercising their First Amendment rights and it needs to be regulated, much like FARA for lobbyists and other folks in the United States acting on behest of a foreign government.

[B]

Yeah, some of our laws are quite behind the actual tactics of our enemies these days. It'll be interesting to see if Congress gets up. Brent, as always, a great honor to have on your show. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and all the great work you do at Heritage. Great to have you on.

[A]

Thank you very much.

[B]

Yeah, appreciate you so much. All right, folks, coming up next, New York City Mayor Zoran Mandami is at the center of another controversy. I know you can find that hard to believe, right? We'll have more on that next with Rabbi Yakov Menken right after these messages.

[C]

Welcome back, everybody, to Just the News. No noise. Zoran Mamdani has been in the news lately for his takes on housing and now Venezuela. But he's also facing allegations of deleting Twitter tweets related to anti Semitism. Why on earth would he do that? Well, joining us to discuss this is Rabbi Yaakov Mencken. Rabbi, thanks so much for being here today. Happy New Year to you.

[G]

Thank you so much. And Happy New Year. Glad to be with you.

[C]

Thank you. You know, we heard a lot of things about Zoran Mamdani, the candidate, and it seems like a lot of those things that we heard are turning out to be true. As Mayor Mamdani. Talk to us about these executive orders that on day one, Mamdani took action. It's quite concerning.

[G]

Yeah, it's definitely concerning, especially when you hear the back end narrative, which apparently, you know, this was not publicized, obviously, but it took a certain period of time. And then it got out there that Mamdani was actually offered three alternatives to get rid of recognition of the. Of the International Holocaust remembrance alliance definition of antisemitism, which is a credible, accurate definition of antisemitism that includes when demonization of Israel crosses over into hatred of Jews. So he got rid of that. And he wanted. The intention was to get rid of it. One option was you cancel those executive orders. Option number two, you cancel every one of Mayor Adams executive orders, period, throughout his entire term. Third option, which is the one they went with, is we're going to cancel all of the executive orders issued after Adams was indicted on bribery charges, which makes it look like good governance. You see, Mamdani wants it looked to the public like he's doing good governance by canceling the executive orders. You can see what a fig leaf that was, because what Adams was indicted for was that Turkish officials had been giving him free flights or paying for flights to get the Turkish embassy open or something like this. Gotta tell you, the Turks were not telling Mayor Adams to be nice to the Jews. That's just not the plot. So the idea that because he was indicted because of what he did together with the Turks, therefore we're going to cancel the definition. Recognition of the definition of antisemitism, that's straight out. Come on, stop pretending, Maudani. You did that because you don't like the Jews and you want bigotry against the Jews to have a free pass in your administration.

[B]

There was also a little bit of cleaning up of social media accounts. Apparently, National Jewish Advocacy Center, a nonprofit that combats anti Semitism, found some posts that apparently were deleted. Tell us a little bit about that.

[G]

Yeah, that's absolutely true. There were some people who had saved those tweets. And one of those tweets was directly related to the municipal report on combating antisemitism within the mayor's office, which Mayor Adams said was a blueprint for 2026. We're going to combat anti Semitism. We're going to take it seriously. Here's our blueprint for 2026. What did Mamdani do? He deleted it. That said, I don't have to make commentary on that. I don't have to tell you what that means. If you can't figure out what that means. You're an idiot. Come on.

[C]

Oh, boy. I mean, and Rabbi, a millennial like Zoran Mamdani should know that the Internet is forever. So shame on him for thinking that he could just dust that under the rug. I want to ask you about what the sentiment is. I know you're in Philadelphia, but I know you have a lot of friends in New York. And for Jewish New Yorkers, does it feel more dangerous now that Zoran Mamdani is in office?

[G]

I would have to say obviously so. I mean, we have watched antisemitism grow, especially as it has been encouraged by public officials. Look at what happened in Australia. They recognized the fictional state of Palestine, the idea that Arabs are the true Palestinians and they need another state, Jordan, which is 77% of the British mandate for Palestine. That's apparently not enough. We have to take more territory away from the Jewish people. And if they're not going to do it, we're going to recognize it. Two months later, we have the Bandai beach attack. 100%. There's a connection there because the government action, everybody from the Israelis to Hamas, recognized this was a reward to Hamas for terrorism in New York City. They have now elected an openly anti Semitic man to be the next mayor, to be the current mayor in the city of New York. That's just obviously disastrous for the community. And you look at these early signals, the man is clearly more interested in demonizing the Jews and Israel than he is in governing the city of New York.

[B]

Before we let you go, Rabbi, what are some of the most opportunistic strategies for countering Mandami in this era of hate and intolerance, anti Semitism that he's. And socialism that he's brought to not only the Big Apple, but he's part of a movement to bring it to all of America. What are some of the bright strategies that you think could combat this quickly?

[G]

Well, first of all, there is just the fact of calling it out. It is amazing to me to watch when people are calling Israel genocidal as it tries to rescue hostages and apartheid, when of course, all the Arab states expelled and ethnically cleansed out all their Jews. And they keep accusing Israel of all the things that the Arab surrounding Arab states actually did to the Jews. And we all play nice and we talk about it politely. He's making a mistake. This isn't right. No, the man is an anti Semitic barbarian. Let's make that clear. That's number one. But number two is the financial and voting with Your feet damage. You know, people are moving to Florida. I have to correct the record on one thing. I'm in Baltimore rather than Philadelphia. But you have people looking at real estate in Baltimore, in Lakewood, New Jersey, in Florida, especially because they want to get out of New York City. New York City is going to lose more tax revenue in the next four years than I don't know if ever in its history.

[B]

History.

[G]

That's my prediction. Either you are going to watch a decline in tax revenue because wealthy people are going to get out. And that is the clearest rebuke of Mamdani. Besides the fact that Republicans across the country are going to be using Mamdani as their symbol for the Democrats, deservedly so, in the next election cycle.

[C]

Yeah, I think New Yorkers are going to be feeling the pain of this and it's going to happen sooner than they expect. Rabbi Yaakov Menken, always a pleasure to have you here. Thank you, sir, for your perspective.

[G]

Thank you so much for having me again.

[C]

Absolutely. All right, everybody, some final thoughts coming up after the break. Welcome back, everybody. John, we started the show talking about a number of things, but one of the things that I highlighted was Sia Weaver, the woman who is going to be Zoran Mamdani's housing czar. Her comments, a lot of really, really concerning comments. Well, it turns out that her mother owns a home in Tennessee worth $1.6 million. And Tennessee is one of those states that you go to when you want to get more bang for your buck. So a 1.6 million dollar house in Tennessee, that's not a house. That's a mansion.

[B]

It's a big house. Yeah, it's a big house in a lot of places. Yeah. It's amazing. You know, this is what the story of the new Democratic Party is, which is rules for thee and not for me. They live by a different standard. And that is exactly what socialists and communists and leftists have done for decades now, centuries, actually, a couple centuries, which is we preach populism or we preach collectivism, but we live off of that. And it's a very wealthy and good lifestyle for us. So I don't, I don't begrudge your mom for having a good home. Good for her. She should have raised her daughter to appreciate home ownership maybe a little bit better.

[C]

Listen, maybe they're estranged and the daughter's never even seen the house. And that would explain, that would explain.

[B]

The vast gulf in there, the benefit of the doubt.

[C]

Yeah, absolutely. And I also think it's been really interesting to see you talk about collectivism and this has been zo run. Momdani has been the butt of jokes when they talk about things like the warmth of collectivism. And there were a lot of memes out there showing what's happening in Venezuela, describing it as the warmth of collectivism. But I found it so great to see so many Venezuelans, especially in South Florida, where many of them settled out there, you know, speaking out about this and thanking the United States of America for taking decisive action. And I'm sure you've seen these video mashups, these collages of people who are woken up in the middle of the night, told what happened and just the tears of joy. It's amazing to see.

[F]

Yeah.

[B]

And it gives hope to other countries or other immigrants of countries like Cuba and Iran, where as I said, maybe at the beginning of the Trump presidency, I think those are two regimes that could fall on Donald Trump's watch. In addition to Maduro. Maduro's down. Let's see what's next. There's still a lot of work to be done in Maduro. In Maduro's world, his successor is a pretty hardcore socialist making nice soundings with Trump. But you can't be ignorant of her past and her role in it. Want to see if there's a opposition that cannot only win the election, but also govern. And I think that's what President Trump and Marco Rubio are working on. It's really not nation building. It's really just stabilizing and giving the Venezuelan people a chance to have a truly chosen leader as opposed to the imposed leader that Chavez and Maduro were.

[C]

Well, Maria Machado, the leader of the opposition movement, she was not allowed to run in their last election because she was banned from running. But she was the one for our audience. Remind you, she's the one who won the Nobel Peace Prize and then she dedicated it to freedom fighters across the world, including President Trump. So she definitely has the love of the Venezuelan people. And yeah, I think it's incredible to see something else that I wanted to tackle. America's 250th last night was the final night of a, I think a six day run where they displayed imagery from America's 250 years on the Washington Monument. They had a huge fireworks display. It was absolutely incredible. I've seen videos online and actually as I was leaving the city, it was starting to happen. But this kicks off, John, a really fun year.

[B]

It does. I mean, we've got the World cup, we got the preparations for the 2020 Olympics. We got the 2026 Winter Olympics where we've got some really strong contenders. Our sports speed skating team may be the best America's ever fielded. Hockey team is going to be competitive as the four nation contest last year showed a chance for pride and a chance for accomplishment, a chance for economic gain. I think it's going to be a good year for the pocketbook and the water cooler. And I also think. And the thing I'm most excited about is using this year to educate our young people about all that's good about America. Because all they've been told by their teachers and educators and textbooks and social media is that America is a flawed country. And in fact, it is an extraordinary country, as the men and women who carried out that Maduro Ray showed us. We grow amazing people here and they do amazing things and they're selfless and they help others and we've got a few flaws here and there. What family doesn't? But I think 26 is an opportunity to re educate and rebrand America for its true accomplishments, not the fake criticism that it often has imposed upon it.

[C]

Yeah, you read my mind. Because I was thinking about how 2026 can be a revolutionary reset when it comes to patriotism in this country if you are a parent and you have kids. Look, I understand that it's probably going to be very hard to get to Washington D.C. in July for the celebration, but make sure you expose your kids to as much of this as possible there. If you go on america250.org you will find the calendar of events. There is stuff happening every day in every location across the country. Especially John, I notice in states like Virginia and Pennsylvania and New York and places where Revolutionary War took place because, you know, it's like every, every day of the year. You know, one of the founding fathers went to this tavern in this obscure town in Virginia. So show it to your children. Let them see what they can be proud about of this country. I mean, just so much to love about this country. As John said, we've got a few flaws here and there, but every country has it and we, we've prevailed. So here's to another 250. All right, everybody, have a great night. We'll see you tomorrow.

[A]

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