RPT: Platner Could End Campaign Today

Summary

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The Five Podcast – "RPT: Platner Could End Campaign Today"

Date: July 8, 2026
Hosts: Dana Perino, Emily Campagno, Harold Ford Jr., Paul Morrow, Greg Gutfeld

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Five dives into the political crisis surrounding Graham Platner, the embattled Democratic Senate candidate in Maine, whose campaign teeters on collapse amid scandal and party turmoil. The panel also explores U.S. military strikes in Iran, internal battles over socialism in the Democratic Party, culture war flare-ups around the upcoming “Odyssey” film, and lighter fare on vacation rental etiquette. The show is marked by sharp critique, sarcasm, and candor, with each host bringing pointed analysis and memorable quips.

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Main Segment 1: Graham Platner’s Imminent Exit and Democratic Crisis

(00:33–14:26)

Platner’s Potential Withdrawal

• Opening Context:

  • Dana Perino sets the stage: Platner may end his campaign “as early as today,” with a crucial 5pm deadline looming for the party to replace him (00:33).
  • Platner is holding out, demanding say in his replacement, but the state Democrats rebuff him (00:33–01:39).

• Party Struggles and Platner’s Legacy:

  • Discussion about Platner wanting control: "They have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the US Senate" (Emily Campagno, 01:35).
  • Media is now recognizing their earlier focus on defeating Trump over vetting Platner (Dana Perino & Greg Gutfeld, 01:39–01:54).

• Crisis-of-Conscience for Democrats:

  • Michelle Goldberg’s column referenced, admitting to overlooking Platner’s issues: “If anything, he seems to be significantly worse” (Dana Perino, 02:18).
  • Harold Ford Jr.: “Are Democrats damned if they do and damned if they don’t? Because he did win the primary…” (02:37).

Panel Insights & Quotes

• Who Owns the Race?

  • Greg Gutfeld criticizes the “my seat, my race” mentality:

    “Individuals who are running for these offices don't own these offices…this is not about you politics.” (Greg Gutfeld, 03:02–04:59)

• Vetting Failures and Scandal

  • Discussion of failed vetting, including overlooked tattoo and controversial Reddit posts (05:12–05:47).
  • Harold jokes, “That looks like a Saturday Night Live skit to me... They created Wolkenstein and now Wolkenstein has been buttressed...” (Harold Ford Jr., 05:51).

• Legal and Media Accountability

  • Harold asks, “Where's the case? Where is the criminal case?” about the credible assault allegations against Platner, contrasting the media response with how Trump would be treated (07:41).
  • Paul Morrow lashes the media for burying allegations:

    “The mainstream media who coddles the left ends up causing the left a bigger problem… They did the catch and kill thing…compliant in all of this.” (Dana Perino, 08:27–08:38)
    “They love a cover-up until the cover-up falls apart… The information on this accuser isn't new. It was in the New York Times, but it was buried. And it was buried for a reason.” (Paul Morrow, 08:38–10:41)

• Feminism & Party Hypocrisy

  • Morrow argues prevailing Democratic women in power have “sold rape victims down the river” to protect party interests (10:42–11:46).
  • Emily compares Platner to “Clifford the big red dog,” a scandal that became “too big for [the party] to control” (12:12–14:16).
  • Harold: “He’s political Covid. He got out of the lab and now they can't figure out how to get it back.” (14:16)

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Main Segment 2: U.S.-Iran Confrontation Under Trump

(14:26–25:15)

Escalating Military Conflict

• Trump’s Hardline Rhetoric and Actions

  • U.S. military steps up strikes after Trump ends ceasefire, labeling Iran a “scum” regime:

    “Scum. And so we don't like them. I don't like them and they're evil people to me... They're sick people. They're cuckoo. I think they're a little loco.” (Greg Gutfeld quoting Trump, 15:27–15:39)

• Panel Discussion:

  • The situation is likened to an "on-again, off-again" romantic comedy, with Dana predicting, “It ends with Iran being put away. And then Trump and NATO make up” (16:18–16:29).
  • Emily highlights the “hierarchical escalation tree” policy, aiming to distinguish this action from past open-ended wars (17:46).
  • Ford emphasizes the stakes: Trump’s fluctuating rhetoric erodes leverage; the core issue remains enriched uranium and the control of the Strait of Hormuz (19:19–21:56).

Strategic Dilemmas and Policy Critique

• Endgame and American Interests
  • Harold Ford Jr.: “Bombing doesn’t affect them… I liken it to a battered spouse syndrome sort of situation. The people of Iran are the battered spouse, and the IRGC is willing to kill them” (22:36).
  • Ford promotes decoupling from Middle Eastern oil:

    “We should be the energy powerhouse. They should be kissing our behinds. We don’t need the Middle East anymore.” (Harold Ford Jr., 24:14)

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Main Segment 3: Democratic Socialists, Reparations, and Party Identity Crisis

(25:39–33:36)

Socialism Surge and Party Tensions

• Socialist Candidates and Radical Proposals

  • Highlighting Colorado’s Mila Quiros on reparations: “We were never really going to be able to tackle white supremacy…without reparations” (25:59–26:11).
  • In Michigan, Abdul El Sayed’s call to “abolish ICE” without offering alternatives is criticized (26:44–27:01).

• Demographics and DSA Influence

  • Dana notes the disconnect between DSA rhetoric and the actual voting base: “When we just had the primary, the black and brown neighborhoods did not vote for the DSA candidate. It was the white neighborhoods that did.” (27:03)

• Party's Moment of Decision

  • Paul Morrow urges the party to “regain trust from Democrats” by repudiating left-wing excess:

    “You need the old Democrat mentality, a replay of Clinton 92, to rise to define what the party is and what the party isn’t… If you don’t repudiate this socialism now, Republicans are going to love doing it in 2028” (29:00–30:32).

Internal Democratic Debate

• Harold Ford Jr.:

  • Takes a centrist, anti-socialist stance:

    “I'm against these socialist ideas in my party... Socialism has no place in my party.” (31:22–32:37)

  • Challenges the GOP on consistency, calling for both parties to repudiate coddling autocrats like Xi and Putin (31:22–32:37).

• Panel Arguments Escalate

  • Spirited back-and-forth about whether Trump coddles Putin and Xi, with Paul Morrow quipping, “Those photos you have of Putin in your wallet are not doing… Those were in the past.” (33:09–33:31)

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Main Segment 4: Culture Wars – “Odyssey” Film “Goes Woke”

(33:36–38:46)

Criticizing “Woke” Critiques of Homer

• Lupita Nyong’o’s Critique

  • Nyong’o calls Homer’s Odyssey sexist, sparking backlash (34:27).
  • Paul Morrow: “She’s applying Teen Vogue thinking to a 3,000 year old text because to her it doesn’t matter, and it’s easier. The reason why you hear this a lot is that they’re using a frame…that is easy for them to apply to anything. It’s incredibly lazy.” (35:25–36:36)
  • Dana Perino: “They learn all of these lines… and they can't just learn to say shut up when they are asked a question.” (37:18)

• Broader Culture Critique

  • Emily draws analogies to authenticity debates in Hollywood casting and summarizes criticisms of the new Odyssey adaptation (38:24–38:37).

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Main Segment 5: Vacation Rental Etiquette (Light Segment)

(39:00–40:03)

• How To Split the Vacation Bill
  • Emily: “You just need an organized banker to do it all. And then everyone just gives the money.” (39:13)
  • Paul: “It was here because we shared the same room and bed. Look, it’s funny when the media tries to solve a problem because you know, it's one they recently experienced.” (39:48)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Platner’s Candidacy:

  • “This is not about you politics.” (Greg Gutfeld, 03:02)
  • “He’s political Covid. He got out of the lab and now they can't figure out how to get it back.” (Harold Ford Jr., 14:16)

• On the Left’s handling of allegations:

  • “They love a cover-up until the cover-up falls apart…” (Paul Morrow, 08:38)
  • “They abandon, obviously, like I said, female athletes, and now they abandoned rape victims.” (Paul Morrow, 11:46)

• On Party Identity:

  • “This is a big opportunity for the Democrat Party to reinvent itself by finding its old self, by distancing itself from the DSA.” (Paul Morrow, 28:53)
  • “Socialism has no place in my party.” (Harold Ford Jr., 31:22)

• On the Odyssey Debate:

  • “She’s applying Teen Vogue thinking to a 3,000 year old text… It’s incredibly lazy.” (Paul Morrow, 36:36)

• Sarcastic and Humorous Exchanges:

  • “He’s political Covid.” – On Platner (Harold Ford Jr., 14:16)
  • “Be a shame if some of this stuff ended up on social media.” – On vacation photos as leverage for bill-splitting (Harold Ford Jr., 39:19)

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Key Timestamps

• 00:33 Platner campaign turmoil & party maneuvering
• 02:18 Media critiques its own treatment of Platner
• 03:02 Panel tackles "ownership" of political offices
• 05:13 Vetting failures, tattoo/reddit scandals
• 07:41 Demands for legal scrutiny into Platner allegations
• 08:38 Morrow on media “cover-ups”
• 12:12 Emily’s “Clifford the big red dog” analogy
• 14:26 Switch to Iran military segment
• 15:27 Trump’s “scum” soundbite on Iran
• 22:36 Ford on U.S.-Iran strategy and energy independence
• 25:39 Socialist wins and party identity crisis
• 31:22 Ford denounces socialism in the party
• 33:36 Odyssey film “wokeness” debate
• 39:00 Light segment: splitting vacation bills

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Conclusion

This episode encapsulates The Five’s signature blend of sharp-tongued debate, biting humor, and deep skepticism toward both political parties and media narratives. The Platner scandal drives the bulk of the conversation, underpinning panelist anxieties about populist candidates, media complicity, party values, and the implications of “big tent” politics. The episode veers into global affairs, identity politics, and even pop culture, offering listeners a raucous but insightful tour through today’s hot-button controversies.

Transcript

[Greg Gutfeld]

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[Emily Campagno]

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[Dana Perino]

Hello everyone. I'm dana perino along with emily campagno, harold ford jr, paul morrow and greg gutfeld. It's five o' clock in new york city and this is the five. And it could be the oyster farmers last harvest in Maine. According to reports, Graham Platner has been holding crisis meetings with senior advisors at his home and his campaign could end as early as today. Keep in mind There's a critical 5pm Monday deadline, the last real off ramp before the party is stuck with him on the ballot. But Platner isn't ready to walk away quietly. Reports say he's demanding to have a say in who would replace him if he exits the race. But Maine's Democratic Party is not having any of that.

[Paul Morrow]

Unfortunately. Graham Platner's team has repeatedly reached out

[Dana Perino]

to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like.

[Emily Campagno]

We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Platner's

[Dana Perino]

team that they have no role in

[Greg Gutfeld]

determining our next Democratic nominee for the

[Emily Campagno]

US Senate, nor in determining what this process looks like.

[Dana Perino]

And some in the liberal media who gave Platner a pass up until this week, they are now admitting that all they really cared about was beating Trump.

[Greg Gutfeld]

If I lived in Maine, I would have, you know, plugged my nose and

[Emily Campagno]

I would have voted for him anyway. I think that we are in a

[Harold Ford Jr.]

time of existential crisis in this country.

[Paul Morrow]

I think he should step down at this point.

[Emily Campagno]

I think there's question about that.

[Dana Perino]

There is such profound desperation to have

[Emily Campagno]

some check on Trump's worst impulses and

[Dana Perino]

there is such hunger for Democrats to control the Senate that it feels like

[Emily Campagno]

people were willing to abide a form of dangerous masculinity that in a pre

[Dana Perino]

Trump era would have been totally disqualifying. New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg also admitting to falling under Platner spell. She had a big column about this a few Months ago. And she said, while I'm assigning blame, I shouldn't leave out myself. Impressed by Platner's political charisma, I wrote that he was nothing like the edgelord caricature I encountered online. If anything, he seems to be significantly worse. Harold, are Democrats? Damned if they do and damned if they don't. Because he did win the primary. And if they kick him off, then there's going to be a significant number of his voters that will be mad. But if they don't, all Democrats are going to have to be saddled with him from here on out.

[Greg Gutfeld]

First, it's good to be with you. I think these races, we have to remember individuals who are running for these offices don't own these offices. We've gotten to a language in American politics where people think, it's my race, my seat, my this, my that. This race for the United States Senate in Maine, the Democratic Party offered opportunities for people to run. This young man chose to run. I would not have voted for him. He ended up winning the primary. And because he has found himself with actions and behavior that many seem to think is disqualifying the Democratic Party in Maine, much like the Republican Party in Maine and for that matter, parties across the statecountry, excuse me, have the right, if he declines to run, to pick somebody forward. Now, it seems like he's trying his hardest to. I will remind him and everybody, this is not about you politics. If Mr. Plattner believes so firmly in all the things that he campaigned on, I actually think he does believe in the affordability things and the things he wants to make right from the economic anxiety standpoint there in Maine, if that is the case, there has to be a realization that you can't win. And politics is still a business where you have to win races in order to affect the kind of change you want. So there's a selfishness here that is unfortunate. Not only is it there in Maine where you may not be abledemocrats, may not be able to defeat Susan Collins if he's the nominee, but you're threatening and undermining campaigns all across the country. So this is a rule that Democrats have had, not only. And it's a rule Republicans have. It just so happens in the last presidential race, Democrats, obviously, Joe Biden, stepped down, so it's fresher on our minds. But I would remind Mr. Platner, he ran to become the nominee of a party. If he wants to run as an independent, he can step down from being a Democrat and run as an independent. But that's not his seat. That's not his. That's not his. And I think so many in politics today are misled or led to believe that it's them, their person, as opposed to the body politic.

[Dana Perino]

Let's look at this clip of these two characters that helped get him on the ballot. And Paul, I think you love these two. Sean, hit it.

[Greg Gutfeld]

How did you go about vetting him?

[Paul Morrow]

Why did you.

[Dana Perino]

We paid.

[Greg Gutfeld]

Yeah, we paid a. We paid a nice firm a whole chunk of money and got some stuff back. Some of what you've seen on the news, we got back. Other stuff we didn't. Did the vetting process turn up the tattoo that became so controversial?

[Dana Perino]

No.

[Greg Gutfeld]

The Reddit posts, did that turn up in the vetting process? The firm sent us a thing and it had some of the posts, but it didn't have all of them. I said none of this will or should stop him from becoming a U.S. senator.

[Dana Perino]

I can't with him, but I'm going to give you a chance to tell.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

I could watch it all day. I have to tell you, first of all, that looks like a Saturday Night Live skit to me. And that's who was betting there. Let's understand what happened here. They were so desperate for some version of a blue collar, authentic male that they argued themselves into this and created Wolkenstein. And now Wolkenstein has been buttressed by the stuff that they've been, the electricity that they've been pumping into him, and now he won't leave. They created this thing. It's a perfect metaphor for what's going on relative to the DSA in the Democrats writ large, coast to coast. They've argued themselves into the idea that this is the way forward. Let's marry ourselves to the most radical among us and say we have a big tent as our excuse. And now they're in that cul de sac and they can't get out. And part of what they've done as well is that they inculcated in him defiance. Now, the idea was you can defy the right, you can defy Donald Trump. He's an evil guy, Republicans are all awful, etc. And he comes out with all of these platitudes, but now he's using it against them. Can you imagine what the conversation was like between Bernie and this guy? Because Bernie called him to tell them drop out. And he clearly told Bernie, go pound sand. I pay money to hear Bernie saying, you really need to leave. And he's saying, I took the elate old man Click. And that's probably how it went. So I can't believe right now that he actually thinks he has a way forward. But apparently, if nothing else, he thinks that he can hold their feet to the fire and get who he wants. But let me close with one last point here that I think is really salient. Where's the case? Where is the criminal case? Now, the woman who has alleged credibly. Right. She says she's a liberal. She says she has receipts, says she had to seek therapy if Donald Trump.

[Dana Perino]

And he broke into her house.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

He broke into her house. There's gonna be things that you can go do interviews on. You can pull records, you can put them at the scene, et cetera, et cetera. If this had been Trump anywhere in Maine who was accused of this exact crime, there wouldn't be a reporter left to cover anything else on earth. They'd all be in Maine. The New York Times would be publishing from Bangor. Where is the case? Has anybody gone to the AG in Maine and said, hello, is anybody investigating this? Have you pulled any files? Have you done the interviews? I've heard nothing about that. And actually, just to be fair, you know, if there is nothing there, you know, well, then what do you do? Because you have a he said, she said. But very clearly there's a lot of smoke there. And normally there'd be all kinds of chief of police interviews, et cetera, et cetera. We've gotten none of that. I think we all know what.

[Dana Perino]

And once again, the mainstream media who coddles the left ends up causing the left a bigger problem because they didn't want. They did the catch and kill thing and they were basically compliant in all of this.

[Paul Morrow]

Yeah, it's kind of a trend. They love a cover up until the COVID up falls apart. Just you can name four of them off the bat. The Biden cover up, it wasn't a problem until it was too late. And then they admitted he was a wreck after the election. Then you have the laptop, which they said was Russian disinfo, but they also went after people they tried to censor people who disagreed. They did censor people. Then you have the lab leak, which was. That was considered racist if you believed it came from the lab somehow. It wasn't racist if it came from a wet market. Made no sense. Those are three add, catch and kill of a rape accusation by the New York Times in which they enlisted their MeToo royalty to play it down. Then the Democrats replayed the Biden Harris fiasco. They pretended that Platner wasn't a liability. The same way they pretended Biden was a. Wasn't a liability. They waited too long. It was too. We all knew that Biden was a liability. We talked about it, but they said, no, no, no, no, no. He's fine. Sharp as attack. No, Platner's great. He's changed. He has demons. It's the same playbook. Which is why you don't want to give them any credit now for coming clean. Because they aren't coming clean. It's just like the Biden cover up. They're not coming clean if they don't say they were complicit. The information on this accuser isn't new. It was in the New York Times, but it was buried. And it was buried for a reason. Because she was a progressive, someone on their team. They went forward with the Republican because the Republican could be dismissed as a partizan treachery. So they buried this case. Everybody followed suit. And to me, that is a scandal. Then you got Sonny hosted, right? Claims she prosecuted sex crimes. Right? That's what she said the other day. Now we know why she left. Because she sucks. She doesn't see rape as somehow worse than maybe having a Republican senator in Maine. Like, you know, the most middle of the road liberal senator ever.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

You should be asking what I'm saying.

[Paul Morrow]

Yeah, exactly. She's a prosecutor, you know. Now you know what she's doing. She's telling the party to lie down and enjoy it, right? What's another rape? And it really. It's like she makes cousin Vinnie look like Clarence Darrow. That's why she's on the View. Then you got Michelle Goldberg, right? Dude, she's trying to mitigate the blame by spreading it around. It's not on us or we. She's getting the pronouns wrong. It's on you. Specifically the women who sold rape victims down the river the way they sell all women down. I mean, think about the awfuls. The affluent, white, liberal females. They drove out all the good men from the Democrat Party. They chose men in dresses over female athletes and female students. They defended mutilation of children under the guise of trans rights. They abandoned, obviously, like I said, female athletes, and now they abandoned rape victims. So this is like they accuse conservatives of being misogynist. Man, they invented the term.

[Dana Perino]

Well, and also Racico, who came out and told more to Politico. It's kind of interesting, Emily, because she believed that with Lindsey going forward and being on the record and telling her full story, that that would get Graham Platner out of the race. And when the Democrats all circled around him and protected him and trashed her, then she felt maybe guilty and that's why she wanted to come back out.

[Emily Campagno]

I think similarly experienced all of those women who brought out their concerns and allegations of sexual assault and rape about Eric Swalwell and were told to sit down and shut up. And essentially now we learn it was just not the right timing yet for the Democrat establishment to accept their credible allegations. This entire situation to me is like Clifford the big red dog, right? The same, same fur color, except Clifford's more cute. But the Democrat party saw this little red dog and they brought him on and essentially he grew too big for his britches. But they should have known what was coming. Everything about this was foreseeable. This was not a shocking scandal. This vetting process, or lack thereof, reminds me of that one in Iowa. The superintendent who we learned had falsified all of his degrees, falsified his immigration status, his felonies, his weapons charges, all the things. Oh, but the school district paid a vetting program to do it, and now he's teaching kids for decades. It was right in front of their noses. And even if it wasn't, what about his campaign director who resigned and called him unelectable? And the establishment still looked the other way because it was always fine because blue gets blue. All we need is that seat. But I think that the DNC has a big problem on their hands because these, these anti establishment candidates are rising up through the ranks and they're becoming the big red dog. They are becoming way bigger than these guys can control. Right? The big blue dog that these guys can control. And they're having massive online fall and they're bucking the system, but all of a sudden something comes out. They are wild cards. So the party needs to find guys that I guess would sort of harness that populist feeling right now, but without the, oh, by the way, he's a Nazi rapist. I mean, maybe you could check out those couple things. And the concept that if this was pre Trump, this would have been disqualifying. It better be to that own party. Because the question is not why are you, why are you now calling him out from this last sexual assault rape allegation? It's why didn't you call him out from the get? And with this, I'm talking to the dnc.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

They created this and it got away that it's political Covid. This guy is political Covid. He got out of the lab and now they can't figure out how to

[Greg Gutfeld]

get it back there.

[Dana Perino]

All right, coming up next, U.S. military forces are striking in Iran again. And this is after President Trump called the terror regime a new word. It's scum is the word.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

You're the kind of woman makes a

[Paul Morrow]

married face on things. Kind of makes a made up mindset.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

Stop questioning everything.

[Greg Gutfeld]

Cheers to America's 250th birthday. Get 20% off your first purchase at

[Harold Ford Jr.]

Fox News wineshop.com with code FNRADIO 2020.

[Greg Gutfeld]

Discount excludes wine club offers and cannot be combined with any other promotion. Expires July 31, 2026. Must be 21 or older to order. Please drink responsibly.

[Paul Morrow]

Happening right now. U.S. forces are dropping more payloads on the Iranian terror regime after President Trump flat out declared the ceasefire was over and peppered the mullahs all day with some of the most savage 80s real estate trash talk you've ever heard.

[Greg Gutfeld]

Scum. And so we don't like them. I don't like them and they're evil people to me. I think it's over. I don't want to deal with them anymore.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

They're scum.

[Greg Gutfeld]

You know what scum is? They're scum. They're sick people. They're cuckoo. I think they're a little loco. I'm not sure I want to make a deal with them. We have cameras that's called Space Force there in space, but we have cameras that can read the badge of the person going over to a site. Mohammed something.

[Paul Morrow]

It seems that the war with Iran may start again. What do you expect from your European allies?

[Greg Gutfeld]

No, I don't think it's going to start again. I think it's going to go very quickly.

[Paul Morrow]

You know, Dana, this is starting to feel like a romantic comedy. On again, off again, on it. Can't these two just like put a ring on it?

[Dana Perino]

You know how it ends.

[Paul Morrow]

Yeah. You know how it ends. Yeah.

[Dana Perino]

It ends with Iran being put away.

[Paul Morrow]

Yeah.

[Dana Perino]

Yeah. And then, then, and then Trump and NATO make up. That's how it is. I could write that tomorrow.

[Paul Morrow]

Who would play Iran? Penelope Cruz.

[Dana Perino]

Go back and see. Well, we have a block like that coming up pretty soon where we talk about woksters. President Trump gave peace a chance and he said something today in one of the press conferences early or when he was with Zelensky and he was talking about assassination attempts on his life and that he is a big target of Iran. And I went back and I read the sentence a couple of times and I don't know for sure, but it seems to me he must have additional information that they want to continue to try to kill him. And then it's like, enough, enough with you. And also he can see and they're watching. And during this funeral where he gave them a free pass, you can move about the country, you can have your funeral. And they were doing funny business. And he's like, no more. So he started to go after the small boats that were doing the mines. And then what does Iran do? They track the neighbors. So I think that he is done with the back and forth. He doesn't want to keep dating this and he can trust in the United States military to do what it needs to do so that he can move on from this.

[Paul Morrow]

Speaking of the military, Emily, do you think that we're inching closer to going in there? I'm sure the young men and women and the forces are kind of at these bases wondering what's going on.

[Emily Campagno]

Yeah. And I think that is a question that a lot of American people have. But the President keeps insisting, essentially simultaneously announcing renewed military escalation while insisting that he does not view this escalation as a return to an open ended war. And it seems to me that what they're doing is sort of presenting a hierarchical escalation tree and saying there's many steps in between 0 and 60. This will never be the open ended war that we have been mired in for decades past and that this administration won't. And I think, you know, JD Vance also earlier said it when he said, if you attack one of our ships, we're going to knock the hell out of you. Right. So they're just simply saying, you tap us, we will roundhouse you back. We still have economic options, we still have a ton of military options. To all of those varying degrees, I think that the immediate issue for the American people is exhaustion, obviously safety of our troops. But it's not the Iran's nuclear program. I think it's the Strait of Hormuz. It is the security and freedom of navigation in that strait. So now it seems to me we have more NATO allies on board. Obviously not Spain after today, but that will join us in really red rovering linked arms and ensuring that the Strait of Hormuz stays open. Because the piracy factor is something that everyone can feel. I think the fact that Iran will fight to the death and has no interest in self preservation other than a latent spark that can then erupt later to bomb us all, that's their issue. Our issue is Strait of hormones.

[Paul Morrow]

Harold, should we bomb Spain

[Greg Gutfeld]

I'm not for bombing Spain, but let me build on the points that Emily was making. I think that the President, unfortunately, has lost a lot of leverage over the last few weeks. In June, late June, President Trump said that this regime was a different regime, that he looked at a group of people that he could do business with that he thought would usher Iran into a new era of prosperity. Less than four weeks later, he's calling them scum, cuckoo, loco. I think what the President is learning, and this is where I differ with you, Emily. I think that the issue here is the enriched uranium. And as we sit here today, remember before we started this military effort, President Trump and Secretary Hegseth came before the country and said that the Iranians were days away from obtaining a nuclear weapon. And that was one of the reasons that justified us moving like we moved, which I supported. Now, I don't know what has changed in the last 60 days. I know we have. We launched an incredible military attack, but they still seem to have some military capabilities. And two to your point, Emily, where you're right, the Strait of Hormuz, we need not kid ourselves. The Strait of Hormuz is controlled by the Iranians. If it were not, then gas prices would not have been as high as they were during the time of the war, and they certainly would not be rising. As we sit here today, I think the President's faced with something you were talking about earlier, Greg. He's faced with the proposition of, do you send military troops or do you enlarge our military? Much like General Keane has repeatedly said in our network, whenever you're trying to negotiate with the Iranians, they're different than the Abraham Accord negotiations. These are the worst negotiators, the most vicious, pernicious. Not the people, but the regime. And I think the President. I've said it many times before, stop talking so much. There's no need to tell people at a NATO conference in the morning that you're going to attack them this evening, then come back and kind of back off of it in the afternoon. If you're the Iranians, and I'm not, if you're advising the Iranians, nor would I, you would have to think that they'd be saying, you know, we kind of have him where we want him. He wants this war over because he knows it's hurting him politically. We have an opportunity to prolong this. We can continue to be agitators in the Strait of Hormuz, and he will have to respond our leverage and our strategic security. I'm not Convinced, and maybe someone around the table can convince me that we have advanced that more than we did after Operation Midnight Hammer. I was on the President's side. I still am on his side. I think we need to actually engage in more military action there because it is clear that is the only thing these people understand if we're going to get an end that ends the uranium enrichment as well as keeps the Strait of Hormuz open for world commerce.

[Paul Morrow]

You know, I think, Paul, like, when you see that shift in rhetoric with Trump, it all comes down to reciprocity. He'll say good stuff about you until he doesn't see something in return, and then you're scum. Yeah, but Harold said a lot of good stuff there.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

Yeah, I think Harold's take is quite reasonable. And let me say also that, Dana, I think that you are right over the target. Sorry for that metaphor, but he refused, that is, Donald Trump refused to take his famous Air Force One Qatari gift plane home from Turkey. All right, why is he. Does he fear there's a transponder in there or something that he feels was secreted by the Qataris that the Iranians could launch a missile at? I don't know. But he's got this big, beautiful plane. We've heard a lot.

[Greg Gutfeld]

He flew it over there.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

He flew it over there. And then once he was there, he must have got a briefing, like you're saying. And they said, Mr. President, we picked up this stream of reporting in XYZ. You can use your imagination. All right, look, I just, you know, in the time we have, I just want to advance this story to the extent that it's possible. We're in a very Hobson's Choice situation. They are not going anywhere. The IRGC is not leaving. This is their bailiwick. They have nothing to go back to if we take them out. So they're going to go all the way. So what does that mean? Well, very clearly, bombing doesn't affect them. I liken it to a battered spouse syndrome sort of situation. The people of Iran are the battered spouse, and the IRGC is willing to kill them. And we're the police out the door saying, come on, come on, let's talk. It's a hostage negotiation. Let's talk a little bit. And they're not that interested because they have a good amount of leverage. So what are you left with is coercion. From where I sit, nothing we've done so far seems to be shaking them. And so the red line seems to be approaching, which is what the One thing nobody wants is boots on the ground. But I don't see how you get the Straits open rid of the IRGC and the nuclear material secreted in a way that we can definitely say it's all out of there without putting eyes on. I just don't see it. And many of us said before we launched, reasonable minds can disagree about whether we should do this or not. But if we do it, it's got to be all the way, and it's got to be a clear, empirically defined success. And I don't know that we're there without doing what I just described. And I'm not advocating for that. I want to be clear. But we're in a spot now where very clearly we don't have all the leverage, as Harold says. And so what do we do? My last point as we go out the door here is this. What I'd like to see is a decoupling. What do we need there? Oil. We don't. Every time somebody, you know, stubs their toe in the Straits of Hormuz, our prices go up at the. We've all heard that it's not our oil that comes from the Straits of Hormuz. We don't need it. We have our own. Right now, you've got new fields opening up. Guyana, Suriname, Argentina, obviously, Venezuela. We should be the energy powerhouse. They should be kissing our behinds. We don't need the Middle east anymore. We got allies, the Gulf states, obviously, Israel, obviously. But in terms of fuel, which is all the leverage here, we should be looking at our own hemisphere. And that's the Don Roh Doctrine. If you haven't heard about that, look that up, because that is something Donald Trump is serious about. And we're seeing the Latin American nations shift to the right, coming around to capitalism, coming into the American sphere of influence. That, from where I sit, is the future. So the next time somebody in Hormuz says, we don't want this tanker going through, we say, what's got to do with us? Go ahead. Talk to you later.

[Paul Morrow]

All right, coming up next is socialist whack job who wants reparations.

[Emily Campagno]

It's been a hot socialist summer for Democrats, and common sense is taking a vacation. Let's start with the socialist upset in Colorado. There's a resurfaced clip going around of congressional candidate Mila Quiros demanding reparations. One of the things that brought me into starting my PhD program was finally

[Dana Perino]

coming to the realization that we were never really going to be able to

[Emily Campagno]

tackle white supremacy in the way that we need to. Without reparations. There's anti blackness within the black community as well. And, you know, being able to understand

[Dana Perino]

all of these things I think is

[Emily Campagno]

going to be the first step that's necessary before we're able to actually meaningfully fight for reparations. But I do not think we can get any kind of meaningful change without reparations. And over in Michigan, far left phony physician Abdul El Sayed and moderate congresswoman Haley Stevens duked it out in a debate last night where Sayed had a lot to say about abolishing ice, but no alternative solutions to offer.

[Greg Gutfeld]

If not ice, how would we. How should we. How could we deal with the estimated

[Paul Morrow]

millions of people in this country that

[Greg Gutfeld]

didn't come through the proper channels? ICE is not about immigration. ICE is not about the southern border. ICE is about normalizing paramilitary force on our streets. I've been clear that you can't reform ice, you can't retrain ice. You have to abolish ice.

[Emily Campagno]

Sorry, Dana. You feel strongly.

[Dana Perino]

Well, there was this one thing where Kiro says the reason I started my PhD program is because she cares about. No, she got fired from a New York law firm because of a whole, like, anti Israel thing. And so what do you do when you get fired? You have a couple of options. You could try to find another job, or you could go to school. And so many of these DSA candidates have this in common. Okay. And then you have all these Democrat socialists talking about white supremacy. And then the camera pans to the audience and it's all older white ladies. If you look at the statistics in this city in particular, when we just had the primary, the black and brown neighborhoods did not vote for the DSA candidate. It was the white neighborhoods that did. And so the whole idea that it's white supremacy and that's what, like, forget it. Also, Haley Stevens in Michigan is being called a moderate. You know, it sort of just depends on your definition. So she has a 94% progressive record. What is the difference maker between her and Syed? For that is the real difference maker that matters to Democrats that are voting in this primary. It's Israel and aipac. That is the only thing. And that goes back to, again, the narrowing of the tent. It's. I'm sure that they would agree on everything else. The only thing they disagree on is

[Paul Morrow]

that Greg, I just like the guy that was in the middle of that interview, the white beta male nod. Yeah.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

Oh, God.

[Paul Morrow]

Yeah, I agree. Yes. Yes.

[Dana Perino]

Look at his hands.

[Paul Morrow]

Sometimes people think, I'm Seth Rogen and I tell them that in order to get laid and it doesn't work, but they're like, oh, my God, look.

[Dana Perino]

Oh, yeah, you're so right.

[Paul Morrow]

Oh, my God. This is so amazing. You're so wonderful. You guys are so smart. Okay, I gotta go. I gotta feed my cat.

[Dana Perino]

All right.

[Paul Morrow]

This is a big opportunity for the Democrat Party to reinvent itself by finding its old self, by distancing itself from the DSA saying, here's what we are and here's what we aren't. They need to regain trust from Democrats. And the Democrats. You just talked about the minorities who are like, what the hell are you doing? We tried to run away from these people and you were embracing them, you crazy white ladies. What's your problem? Here's a list of the leftist stuff that we keep hearing about. Reparations, police defunding, open borders, ending ice trans in bathrooms and sports and prisons, DEI identity politics, anti Israel extremism, anti Semitism. Is this what you want as your Democrat Party? You need the old Democrat mentality, a replay of Clinton 92, to rise to define what the party is and what the party isn't. If you don't repudiate this socialism now, then the Republicans are going to love doing it in 2028, because in a national election, we will crush you. But right now, you guys have a chance to face the left. Do you pander? Do you fold? Do you fight? Harold. Harold, I'm talking to you. That your party back is up against a wall. And they avoided this by burying the postmortem. But now, like a zombie, it's risen up. The post mortem is risen up. It's hungry for br because it doesn't have any. And there's only one person here who can fight it, and his name is Harold Ford. It rhymes with our Lord and he never gets bored. Harold Ford, you're up.

[Greg Gutfeld]

Look, it wouldn't thank you for that. It shouldn't surprise anyone. I don't. This young lady's views are not my views. I think as we think about our country and think about ways to make things more affordable, give people more opportunity, give people chance to enjoy prosperity more. We talked a little bit about it yesterday. I thought the Trump accounts. The best thing the guy's done is the Trump accounts. Democrats, why aren't we outside? The bottom? 50% of earners in this country should pay no federal taxes. They pay 3%. They paid 3% of all of the taxes. We should make it zero. Make it zero for people. Make it zero. And the way we make the money is 3.3%. But, Greg, it is disheartening when you think that half of the workers in this country only pay 3% of the taxes because of the way wealth has been dispersed in our country. We can come back to that. Doge Democrats, we had to be talking about a sensible thing. The president started out talking about it and just abandoned it. No, it's over.

[Emily Campagno]

It had itself. Itself ending.

[Greg Gutfeld]

Remember, he said so it's done nothing. President Trump, just so you understand, President Trump has done more to raise our debt than any president in the history of our country. And we can say there are reasons why. But the reason. The reality is what the reality is, Democrats, this is what should we should all be focused on. Now, I'm against these socialist ideas in my party. I'm against those who are espousing what I think are communist ideas, because you have to. We have to reward work. You have to get the best practices in education and in health care and in crime fighting and figure out ways to spread that across the country. But I would ask everybody around this table, one of the things that Democrats who are going to support some of these candidates say is that, well, you know, things are tough and I'm going to be with some of these Democrats who might be social because I don't like Trump. I'm not that way. I would ask everybody around this table, I hear President Trump, and I said it yesterday and I'll say it again, he eloquently spoke on July 3rd and 4th, saying that socialism and communism will never live in this country. I challenge the president today and even around this table, stop coddling Xi and Putin. I will call out socialism and communism in my party, but you have to coddling them. For those of us who say that Democrats should stop coddling socialism and communism have to say to the president, if you choose not to, that's fine. The least say you're inconsistent. I'm consistent on this. Socialism has no place in my party.

[Paul Morrow]

I don't know who you're talking about. I'm not coddling anybody.

[Greg Gutfeld]

I wish it was the president of the United States coddles Putin and Xi.

[Paul Morrow]

But you asked me around the table. How are we coddling Russia or Putin?

[Greg Gutfeld]

Call the president out on it. That's all I'm saying. If you don't want to do it, that's fine. Be inconsistent. I'm saying.

[Paul Morrow]

What are you talking about yesterday? Accusing me of doing something I don.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

Talking about all those comments you made in the Green Room. Listen, coddling Xi I don't see. Because we're hitting his gas station. I mean, Iran is where China is, Venezuela, Cuba.

[Paul Morrow]

How's that coddling cheese?

[Harold Ford Jr.]

Cuba right now is rising.

[Greg Gutfeld]

All right, he attacked Zelensky and caught up. All I'm saying is this, be consistent. The communism and socialism deserves no place in this country.

[Paul Morrow]

What do we do?

[Harold Ford Jr.]

My parties.

[Paul Morrow]

How can you destroy Venezuela in Cuba? What we're doing there in Iran as inconsistent. That's pretty damn consistent.

[Greg Gutfeld]

He coddles Putin and she.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

Those photos you have of Putin in your wallet are not doing.

[Paul Morrow]

Those were in the past. Right there. Tell me we gotta go.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

Take a while.

[Emily Campagno]

Coming up next, the Odyssey goes woke. One of the stars of the upcoming blockbuster is slamming the 3,000-year-old story as sexist. That was fun.

[Greg Gutfeld]

Your team just added its 67th AI tool. And also your 67th security blind spot. The good news, the Vanta agent works like a GRC engineer in the background, finding every app your team uses, scoring the risk and drafting fixes for you. Vanta is the platform used by over 16,000 fast moving companies like Ramp, Cursor and Harvey, who are shaping the future with AI and staying ahead of AI risk. Get [e-mail].

[Harold Ford Jr.]

Director Christopher Nolan's upcoming film the Odyssey is already facing a major backlash after star Lupita Nyong' O called out ancient Greek poet Homer for sexism.

[Greg Gutfeld]

Imagine really quick that you're sitting in a movie theater and you're sitting next to Homer. I'd be like, so, Homer, how do

[Dana Perino]

you feel about this screen time given to these women, considering how little you spent with them? Remember us.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

All right, Greg, I gotta come to you. We would talk about this in the green room. Is this the kind of thing that the right blunders into in the wrong way?

[Paul Morrow]

Yeah. But you know what? Here's the deal. I don't think any of us have seen the movie, but we've seen that. So all we can comment is on her, which is the first foot of the movie that you're gonna see. So we have to. She didn't read the Odyssey till she went to Yale. I had to read it in high school. It was hard.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

No, she didn't read it at Yale. She'd never heard of it.

[Paul Morrow]

Oh, that's right. She didn't read it at Yale. But she calls Homer sexist because, you know, dying in wars is sexist. All the men died in the war. The whole book is about men dying to save Helen of Troy. If I remember that. Yeah, that is racist. It's Racist against men if you ask me. But okay, so she's born in Mexico, but she's. It's really about her Kenyan heritage. That's where she lived and that matters to her. That's a modern nation state. It was what created in the 20th century. We can't go back and criticize the ancient texts of her Kenyan ancestry. But I doubt if you looked at Swahili literature, the 17th or 18th century, it's going to read like Teen Vogue, you know. But she's applying Teen Vogue thinking to a 3,000 year old text because to her it doesn't matter and it's easier. The reason why you hear this a lot is that they're using a frame or a filter that is easy for them to apply to anything. You can apply it to the Simpsons. Where are the women? You can apply this to anything. Firefighters, any kind of industry. You can do this. It's incredibly lazy.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

Harold, My understanding is that Homer did not support a free Gaza. Can we see this?

[Greg Gutfeld]

My daughter's reading it now for summer.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

You did that to her?

[Greg Gutfeld]

Look, I hear these things and I agree with Greg. I would take it even further. They're actors. I don't know if Jason, if Matt Damon knew much about the CIA when he played Jason Bourne. I don't know if Eddie Murphy, my favorite movie Train plays if he knew a lot about commodities trading before he did it. But they acted their tails off and. And these kind of movies, I gotta tell you, I don't like these kind of movies because I like to see funnier things now to have too much seriousness in my life as is. But this is not to meant to slight her or to besmirch anybody in this business. But they're actors. That's what they. That's what we go see.

[Dana Perino]

But I think that is besmirching. No, but I know you don't mean to but to that like here's the

[Paul Morrow]

thing, I'm not sure I spent a

[Dana Perino]

lot of money on them. They make a lot of money. You have a lot. All these budgets and you can't spend an hour doing media training. They learn all of these lines, they memorize all these lines. That's their job. And they can't just learn to say shut up when they are asked a question. Just like I think Homer would love the movie and he would be amazed that we were able to pull it off.

[Paul Morrow]

And he would be upset at the

[Dana Perino]

price of popcorn and gas.

[Paul Morrow]

Yes.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

This is what, this is why Hitchcock called actors talking props because of this kind of stuff. So, I mean, there's no Greeks in this movie. Is that a problem? Worried about that?

[Emily Campagno]

Well, it was a big problem. Remember in the movie Lucy and Desi where the Cuban American was played by someone from Spain? The same people that had such an issue about not being authentic of playing Desi now have no problem with there being no Greeks in this whatsoever. This is. Remember Romeo and Juliet from 1996? Like, this is not that. Which you don't. It was amazing. Leo DiCaprio, whatever. But they actually spoke in the Shakespearean vernacular with American. Like, that was beautiful. Baz Luhrmann's amazing.

[Dana Perino]

This.

[Emily Campagno]

I think from what we understand thus far, there are so many founded criticisms like Roman Armor instead of just it fails top to bottom. But I also will never say anything bad about Robert Pattinson, because I love Esther Edward.

[Greg Gutfeld]

I'm not criticizing actors, though.

[Paul Morrow]

They're still acting.

[Greg Gutfeld]

Plus, she had every right to say what she wanted to say about home.

[Paul Morrow]

There were no Pacific Islanders in Dunkirk.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

All right, we gotta go.

[Greg Gutfeld]

Terrible.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

Coming up next, how to split your vacation rental bill without disowning your family.

[Greg Gutfeld]

My music. Welcome back. How do you split the family vacation rental bill? The Washington Post asked, do you pay per person or per room? Emily, what do you call your friends? Your great friends who, if you consider family. How do you deal with this?

[Emily Campagno]

You just need an organized banker to do it all. And then everyone just gives the money.

[Greg Gutfeld]

Venmo. Or they give a check or how they do it.

[Emily Campagno]

Yeah, Venmo.

[Harold Ford Jr.]

Take a lot of photos. And then when it comes time to pony up, at the end of the trip, you say, you know, guys, I got a lot of photos of all of you. Be a shame if some of this stuff ended up on social media.

[Greg Gutfeld]

You would go right with your detective background work. I love that dp.

[Dana Perino]

I think everyone gets their own house. And therefore on a little cabin situation, then you don't have to share.

[Greg Gutfeld]

So everybody does it on their own with the individual. Greg, when we went away, you made sure that I paid beforehand. Is that the way to do it?

[Paul Morrow]

Yeah. And it was here because we shared the same room and bed. Look, it's funny when the media tries to solve a problem because you know, it's one they recently experienced. An editor gets in a fight over the vacation bill. What's he do? He commissions an article.

[Emily Campagno]

Yep.

[Dana Perino]

Brilliant.

[Greg Gutfeld]

Well, we got that settled. One More Thing is up next.

[Dana Perino]

Time now for One More Thing. I had a great time last night at the Bon Jovi Forever tour, Madison Square Garden. Lauren Fritz took some video. I'M showing it because it was.

[Paul Morrow]

This is cutting.

[Dana Perino]

I know that you want to do Sexy Lemur News and I will turn it over to you. But congratulations to David, Bryan and everybody.

[Paul Morrow]

Boo. Tonight, Tim Pyro Baker. Tyrus. Let's do this. Sexy Lemur News. You gotta roll this tape. Now meet Blood Nuts. Yeah. He loves to engage in stink fights. He settles disputes over territory by loading his tail with with foul smelling secretions. Dana. And then he flips their tails at his rivals to establish dominance. You know that Brett Bear often does this at the golf course and it it has a modest success. He regulates his body temperature by sun basking. Look at that guy. Harold. Don't you wish you were that dude?

[Harold Ford Jr.]

Listen to the 5ad free on Amazon Music with your prime membership or subscribe

[Paul Morrow]

wherever you get your podcasts.