The Big Weekend Pod

Summary

The Hugh Hewitt Show: Highly Concentrated

Episode: The Big Weekend Pod

Date: January 17, 2026
Host: Hugh Hewitt
Guests: Matt Continetti, Ben Domenech, John Ellis, Doug Lesmerises, Eli Lake, Tarzana Joe

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Overview of the Episode

This special “Big Weekend Pod” episode brings together the week’s best conversations from The Hugh Hewitt Show, focusing on three main threads:

1. Geopolitical tremors and U.S. foreign policy with an emphasis on Iran.
2. Domestic law enforcement and political unrest in Minnesota.
3. Big-picture analyses—U.S. Arctic strategy, AI, and shifting political landscapes.
   Additionally, the episode features segments on the college football championship and ends with the show’s traditional poetic salute.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Iran: Protest, Regime Stability, and U.S. Policy

Participants: Hugh Hewitt, Matt Continetti, Ben Domenech, Eli Lake
Timestamps:

• [00:30]–[08:15], [20:33]–[31:37], [55:53]–[63:36]

Highlights:

• Regime Weakness and Protest:
  • Matt Continetti: “The Iranian regime is severely weakened… The Iranian people no longer fear the regime. As the Stanford scholar Abbas Milani pointed out, repressive regimes need fear. Once the people lose fear, the regime is in severe trouble.” ([04:16])
  • Despite this, the regime’s security apparatus—the IRGC, Basij, imported militias—makes protest perilous and regime collapse uncertain.
• Trump Administration Approach:
  • Discussion of military posturing (“Operation Midnight Hammer”) and shifting signals from President Trump regarding strikes or action against Iran.
  • Continetti: “Trump is not in the regime change business. He’s in the regime coercion business… He wants to shape what these governments do.” ([06:26])
• Risks and Dilemmas:
  • Hewitt and Continetti weigh the risks of drawing a “red line” and not enforcing it.
  • Eli Lake draws historical parallels to the fall of the Shah and warns against short-term thinking:
    • “We’re in the beginning of the end… but I would not think about this in terms of the next few days. We have a sort of geopolitical attention deficit disorder.” ([56:27])
• Calls for Action & Uncertainty:
  • Ben Domenech and Hewitt debate whether decisive action (strikes, releasing footage of repression) could hasten regime downfall but worry about repercussions for Israel and global stability.
  • Domenech: “This is not American regime change, this is coming from inside… supporting it from the outside is in America's interest.” ([28:09])

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2. Domestic Unrest: Minnesota, ICE, Law Enforcement, and the Political Impact

Participants: Hugh Hewitt, Matt Continetti, Ben Domenech, John Ellis
Timestamps:

• [09:00]–[12:23], [37:08]–[44:39], [52:49]–[55:05]

Highlights:

• Escalating Tensions:
  • Hewitt highlights Minnesota as a powder keg ("Minnesota is awash in privately held handguns... it's already one dead and I think it's going to be justified force. How dangerous a moment is this...?" [09:00])
  • Continetti blames state/local (Democratic) leaders for non-cooperation with ICE, fostering chaos: “I believe it’s the elected officials at the local and state level who have turned... Minnesota at large into a sanctuary for illegal migration.” ([09:45])
• Political Fallout:
  • Both Hewitt and Continetti predict the unrest will become a flashpoint in upcoming elections.
  • Ben Domenech thinks retreat would be a mistake: “I don’t think you can afford to retreat... it’s incumbent upon you, in fact, as law enforcement... even in the face of people who are absolutely nuts.” ([40:47])
  • John Ellis considers the fallout for both parties: “This ICE action in Minneapolis has been, I think, detrimental to the Republican cause.” ([54:39])
  • Hewitt, referencing the Rodney King era: “If we don’t enforce the law, they’re just gonna... every lunatic in the country going to the Twin Cities.” ([42:24])
• Law Enforcement Messaging:
  • Concerns about DHS communication needing more support and coherence are raised.
    • “I think there needs to be some support mechanisms because a lot... she's out there on an island.” (Ben Domenech, [44:29])

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3. U.S. Arctic Strategy: Greenland

Participants: Hugh Hewitt, Matt Continetti, Ben Domenech
Timestamps:

• [12:23]–[15:56], [31:37]–[35:43]

Highlights:

• Strategic Urgency:
  • Arguments for the strategic and economic value of Greenland—rare earths, fisheries, Arctic military positioning.
  • Continetti notes the parallels with Trump’s prior NATO tactics:
    • “A parallel between Donald Trump’s approach to Greenland in the second term and his approach to NATO in the first term... At the end of Donald Trump’s second term, NATO is committed to Greenland's defense.” ([14:02])
  • Ben Domenech laments mainstream dismissal of the issue:
    • “The depiction of Trumpian ideas as being highfalutin and out of the realm of possibility is absolutely in the American security interest to have Greenland protected.” ([32:34])

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4. AI, China, and the U.S. Technology Race

Participants: Hugh Hewitt, John Ellis
Timestamps: [45:42]–[52:20]

Highlights:

• China's Model:
  • John Ellis draws a sharp parallel between China’s “steel dumping” of the past and potential “AI dumping,” warning U.S. AI companies could be undercut and lose dominance rapidly.
  • "The concern is that they were going to do the same thing with AI...all sorts of companies will use them because they'll be cheaper." ([48:07])
• High Stakes:
  • AI "barons" are aware, but the threat's magnitude is significant, impacting global GDP projections and tech investments.

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5. Political Shifts: Identity & Independents

Participants: Hugh Hewitt, John Ellis
Timestamps: [52:20]–[54:39]

Highlights:

• Changing Party Allegiance:
  • Record numbers of U.S. adults registering as independent—Ellis credits Democratic “identitarian” strategies as a key driver.
  • Notable quote referencing a Trump campaign ad:
    • “Kamala Harris, she’s for they/them, Donald Trump, he’s for you. That sort of perfectly captured all of the problems that the Democrats have.” ([52:49])
• Independents' Concerns:
  • Split priorities: open border worries + concern about law enforcement overreach (ICE in Minneapolis).

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6. Communications and Cabinet

Participants: Hugh Hewitt, Matt Continetti
Timestamps: [15:56]–[19:17]

Highlights:

• Standout Communicators:
  • Praise for Press Secretary Caroline Levitt and Secretaries Duffy, Hegseth, and Kennedy.
  • Cabinet “witness protection program” discussed—Tulsi Gabbard, DNI: “I heard the joke in Washington that DNI now stands for Do Not Invite.” ([17:44])
• Advice to Trump:
  • Focus should be “the economy and smash up Iran,” ignoring manufactured controversies and distractions.

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7. College Football: Indiana vs Miami & NFL Draft

Participants: Hugh Hewitt, Doug Lesmerises
Timestamps: [64:27]–[71:20]

Highlights:

• Championship Preview:
  • Indiana favored against Miami; coaching matchups spotlighted (Signetti vs. Cristobal/Heatherman).
  • Doug Lesmerises: “I really think Indiana is going to finish this thing off... they’re a more complete team.” ([64:27])
• NFL Draft Prospects:
  • Arvell Reese discussed as a likely early pick, compared to Micah Parsons in his hybrid role.

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8. Show Poetry Tradition

Participants: Tarzana Joe
Timestamps: [72:58]–[75:37]

Highlights:

• A heartfelt, custom-composed love poem is read for Tarzana Johanna’s birthday.
• Amusing banter about the show’s “I want a poem” feature being revived, and married men envying Joe’s poetic prowess.

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Notable Quotes (with Timestamps and Speaker Attribution)

• On the Iranian Regime:

  • “Once the people lose fear, the regime is in severe trouble.” — Matt Continetti [04:16]
  • “Trump is not in the regime change business. He’s in the regime coercion business.” — Matt Continetti [06:26]
  • “We’re in the beginning of the end… we have a sort of geopolitical attention deficit disorder.” — Eli Lake [56:27]

• On Minnesota Unrest:

  • “I believe it’s the elected officials at the local and state level who have turned… Minnesota at large into a sanctuary for illegal migration.” — Matt Continetti [09:45]
  • “I don’t think you can afford to retreat… even in the face of people who are absolutely nuts.” — Ben Domenech [40:47]

• On Arctic/Greenland Strategy:

  • “At the end of Donald Trump’s second term, NATO is committed to Greenland's defense.” — Matt Continetti [14:02]
  • “It’s deeply serious. I think it’s as important as, ‘Does Hawaii matter to the United States?’” — Ben Domenech [32:34]

• On Technology Competition:

  • “The concern is that they were going to do the same thing with AI that they did with steel… by undercutting [U.S. companies] on price, they will make all of this investment… stranded.” — John Ellis [48:07]

• On Identity and Independents:

  • “Kamala Harris, she’s for they/them, Donald Trump, he’s for you. That perfectly captured all of the problems the Democrats have.” — John Ellis [52:49]

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Memorable Moments

• Poetic Closer: A touching love poem from Tarzana Joe as a birthday gift—and a light-hearted warning to the married men in the audience. [72:58]
• Football Analysis: Doug Lesmerises’ detailed breakdown of Indiana-Miami matchups and implications for the NFL draft. [64:27]
• Humor and Banter: Light touches throughout, from “don’t drop the baby” jokes with Ben Domenech to self-deprecating humor about “boomer ideology.” [20:33], [42:24]

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Useful Timestamps by Topic

| Topic | Timestamp (Start–End) | | ------------------------------------ | --------------------- | | Iran / Foreign Policy | 00:30 – 08:15 | | Minnesota Unrest / ICE | 09:00 – 12:23, 37:08 – 44:39, 52:49 – 55:05 | | Greenland / Arctic | 12:23 – 15:56, 31:37 – 35:43 | | Cabinet & Communications | 15:56 – 19:17 | | Technology – AI & China | 45:42 – 52:20 | | Political Landscape / Independents | 52:20 – 54:39 | | College Football & NFL Draft | 64:27 – 71:20 | | Closing Poetry Segment | 72:58 – 75:37 |

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Tone and Language

The discussion alternates between brisk, policy-focused exchanges, lively analysis, and the show’s characteristic dry wit. The camaraderie between Hugh and his guests is evident, with hazing, humor, and affectionate jabs, while the serious segments retain a respectful urgency befitting the topics.

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Summary Takeaways

• The U.S. faces a critical, uncertain moment with Iran: regime destabilization, Trump’s unpredictable responses, and the high risks for global security.
• Domestic disorder—especially involving federal law enforcement in blue states—may reshape political narratives ahead of elections.
• Arctic strategy (Greenland) and tech rivalry with China are emerging frontiers for U.S. national security.
• Political polarization and the identity question have driven record numbers of voters to register “independent,” shifting the American landscape.
• Even amidst crisis and controversy, sports and poetry keep things human and grounded on The Hugh Hewitt Show.

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A comprehensive, engaging survey of the week’s breaking news, policy debates, and cultural touchstones for listeners who want to stay sharp without sitting through every hour of live radio.

Transcript

[Denise Lee or Shelley (Point of Grace Podcast Hosts)]

For over 30 years, point of Grace has shared music, faith and friendship with listeners across the country. Now Denise Lee and Shelley are inviting you into their circle. Welcome to Circle of Friends. The podcast is Point of Grace. Each week they're talking real life, current events, stories of true friendship, wisdom from God's word, and all their favorite things. If you're looking for a little company, a few laughs, and a lot of Jesus to hold it together, Circle of Friends, the podcast is waiting for you. Subscribe now wherever you listen or watch podcasts and circle up with Point of Grace.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Welcome to today's podcast, sponsored by Hillsdale College, all things hillsdale@ hillsdale.edu. i encourage you to take advantage of the many free online courses there. And of course, a listen to the Hillsdale dialogues, all of [e-mail] or just Google, Apple, itunes and Hillsdale Morning Glory and Evening Grace America. Welcome to the big weekend pod. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Thank you for listening. The weekend is going to be full of speculation about what President Trump did and what he didn't do, why he did what he did and didn't do, what he didn't do. And the fact of the matter is it's all premature, all of it, because we're at the end of the beginning of the showdown with the mullahs. And I'm not a big believer that their regime is going to collapse anytime soon. But I believe it can be cabined, it can be trained, and not to kill thousands of people, not to threaten Israel, not to threaten the president of the United States, not to engage in the export of terrorism. And the way you train it is the same way you train a vicious dog. And you hit them really, really hard and put down some of them when they've bitten too often. And we know the names and the addresses of most of the people at the top of the regime. It's a vast structure, though, a vast structure of terrorism, a vast structure of repression. If you haven't listened to Haviv Radegur, ask Aviv anything. His most recent edition is on the sober reality of the depth, the defense in depth around the Ayatollah Khamenei, provided by the irgc, the Basij, the police in the street, the ordinary cops. And then they imported Taliban, they imported Iraqi militias, people who spoke Arabic, not Farsi, to just mow down people. So you can't underestimate what it is that the demonstrators are up against. But the civilized world ought to deliver a message that we will not accept and we will hit you every time you do something like this, even if it doesn't result in regime collapse. But I am not one of those who thinks that the president promised to act Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, whenever it is. Don't put me in the category of there's a time limit on this because there's no telling with Donald Trump, which is one of the great beauties of Donald Trump. That having been said, other people have different points of view on it. So we turn to the big Weekend pod with our regulars Matt Continetti and Ben Domenech and Eli Lake. And of course, just a little aperitif. Actually, not an aperitif. What do we call it? Dessert. Douglas Marie's little warm up on Indiana's likely crushing defeat in Miami on Monday night. All that and more coming up on this, the big Weekend pod. Thank you for tuning in. Welcome back, America. No weekend review show would be complete without Matt Continetti. You can follow him on Exit Continenti. You can read him at the Wall Street Journal. He is the senior scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Domestic Policy Studies. And I do three segments a week with Matt. And if I were a Jeopardy game, this would be the segment called Iran. The segment off air today will be called Minnesota. And then category three is potpourri in the third segment. Let's start with Iran. Matt, I just talked with Eli Lake. Nobody knows nothing. But what's your assessment of where we are at the at the end of a week of incred, incredible brutality, such a blood soaked, evil regime?

[Matt Continetti]

Well, I think where we are is the Iranian regime is severely weakened, Hugh. It's lost the legitimacy whatever it had left among the Iranian people. The Iranian people no longer fear the regime. And as the Stanford scholar Abbas Malani pointed out in the New York Times this morning in a very perceptive piece, repressive regimes need fear. Once the people lose fear, the regime is in severe trouble. And so what we're at right now is President Trump has said that he's not going to attack because of what he's heard from other of our allies and also because of actions that the Iranian government has taken in delaying or not engaging in public execution, in slightly pulling back on some of the most violent repression, it seems. But that doesn't mean that the Iranian regime is out of the woods, far from it. In fact, I think one reason Trump has delayed any action is we don't have all the assets in place necessary for a strike that would truly help the protesters, truly punish the Iranian government in such a way that it would both lack the capacity to suppress its own people and to retaliate against the United States and our allies. But those assets are moving. We have an aircraft carrier group moving to the region now. We are getting other armaments and platforms in place. So I think we're at the one stage of the crisis, but that Iran will continue to dominate American foreign policy in the months ahead.

[Hugh Hewitt]

I keep saying, Matt Carnegie, that this is the end of the beginning of the Trump policy towards Iran. The beginning was Operation Midnight Hammer. Then he's had eight days of ramped up threats beginning on this program eight days ago. And then he kept it up through Sean Hannity through the weekend. Then he began to dial it back. I have no idea what he's going to do. Nothing will surprise me. But is he open to criticism if, say, 60 days from now nothing has happened and the thousands who were jailed, in addition to the thousands who were killed, are still jailed, that he baited and switched the Iranian public into demonstrating.

[Matt Continetti]

You never want to draw a red line and then back down from it because that erodes American deterrence. And Donald Trump has built up American deterrence over the course of his two presidencies, and most spectacularly with Operation Midnight Hammer against the Iranian nuclear program, and then just two weeks ago with Operation Absolute Resolve, extracting and arresting Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela, he's built up our deterrence. So if ultimately that red line is not enforced, that would erode American deterrence and our enemies throughout the globe would notice it and be prepared to act and exploit it. But I don't think we're there yet. I think what Trump has said is he's laid kind of the predicate that, okay, he's changed some of the regime's behavior. He has coerced the regime into delaying these executions, into backing off some of the worst, most egregious killing, and therefore, he doesn't need to enforce the red line. But I think he's going to face another crisis down the road where he'll be tasked again, are you going to enforce the red line? The question here is, what does Donald Trump want out of Iran? Donald Trump doesn't. He's not in the regime change business. He's in the regime coercion business. He, he wants to shape what these governments do. And in this case, what he wanted them to do was stop killing the protesters. And in larger Iranian policy, he wants a complete and verified denuclearization and massive restrictions on their missile program. If he doesn't get it through diplomacy, he's going to act militarily. We've seen that before.

[Hugh Hewitt]

So 30 seconds till we go to break, Matt, and turn to Minnesota. What do you think Prime Minister Netanyahu asked of him or didn't ask of him?

[Matt Continetti]

It's hard to say. But every time you draw a red line, you have to be prepared for all the secondary consequences. And a strike on Iran by the United States would mean that the Iranians would retaliate and that retaliation would be most likely directed to the little Satan, what the Iranians call Israel, the Jewish state. And I think we're at a place after the 12 Day War, after Operation Midnight Hammer, where we need to replenish our munitions, in particular our air defenses, not just Israel, but also American forces in the region and our offensive munitions. Right. The actual bombs that we would drop in any campaign. So it's a moment of preparation. The action may come later.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Stay tuned, America. I'm going to talk with Matt off there. Put it on the podcast and he'll be back on the other side of the break. Follow him on xontinenti. Stay tuned. I'm back with Matt Continenti. Matt, I'm on Special REPORT tonight and if Minnesot I'm going to make the obvious point, which I don't know if many people know, Minnesota is awash in privately held handguns. It's an open carry state. It's a concealed carry state. The permits are shall issue permits. The ICE agents have every right to be there. The state and the local government are not cooperating. But boy, oh boy, it's already one dead and I think it's going to be justified force. But how dangerous a moment is this for the people in the Twin Cities and for Donald Trump?

[Matt Continetti]

Well, it's an incredibly dangerous moment for the people in the Twin Cities and for America's federal law enforcement agency, ice, which is there to enforce the law, to enforce the law against illegal immigration and in particular against illegal immigrants who have committed violent crimes. You know, amidst all this debate, Hugh, you have to step back and ask who is responsible for this combustible situation. And I have to say I don't believe it's either the government, the elected government of Donald Trump or the agents who are trying to enforce policy and the law who are responsible for this mess we have in Minnesota. I believe it's the elected officials at the local and state level who have turned both Minneapolis and Minnesota at large into a sanctuary for illegal migration and who are not providing any assistance to the federal law enforcements who are there by an elected government to actually make sure that illegal, violent criminals are taken off the streets. And yet all of the discourse I see is placing blame on the ICE agents. I think that's a complete misallocation of responsibility. And unfortunately, no one at the state level is trying to quiet the situation.

[Hugh Hewitt]

I think it'll be an issue in their governor's race this year. But I have heard that Florida has had 40,000 apprehensions by ICE without an incident. And that is because Florida assists ICE in doing their job. And I just wish that point were made more often. I do think it's a political net, net negative for Donald Trump. Do you agree with me, Matt?

[Matt Continetti]

I think that you've definitely seen an uptick in people who are leery of some of ICE tactics. And you see people who are like, what's going on? They don't like the chaos. They get into the kind of that cocoon, that crouch, that defensive crouch. Make it stop.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Right? Yep.

[Matt Continetti]

But look Q Think of 2020. In the summer of 2020, amidst all the rioting, people thought, oh, Trump might be hurt by all this chaos. What happened in the 2020 election? Republicans overperformed. Why? Because at the end of the day, voters want law and order. They don't want anarchy and violence. And with the anarchy and violence that we're seeing in Minnesota right now, yeah, it might hurt Donald Trump in some of these polls we're looking at. But in the long term, if the Democrats are on the side of abolish ICE and contest and open borders and allow illegal, violent criminals to remain in place, the Democrats are going to suffer.

[Hugh Hewitt]

From your word, from your lips to the ears of every voter. Stay tuned. I'll be right back with Matt Cottanet. Well, we're going to see NATO has been dealing with us on Greenland. We need Greenland for national security very badly. If we don't have it, we have a big hole in national security, especially when it comes to what we're doing in terms of the golden dome and all of the other things. We have a lot of investments in military. We have got the strongest military in the world that is only getting stronger. And you saw that with Venezuela. You saw that with the attack on Iran with knocking out their nuclear, nuclear capability potentially. So, yeah, we're going to. We're talking to NATO. Welcome back, America. President Trump on the White House lawn today. Matt Continent, he is still with me from AEI and the Wall Street Journal. Matt Greenland, I made a big case for taking Greenland on america's NEWSROOM with Dana Brino and Bill Hemmer. Yesterday Golden Dome aside, and that's a big deal on Golden Dome because hypersonics can come over the poll and regular ICBMs come over the poll, but because there's a 230 mile exclusive economic zone around every one of the 27,000 miles of shoreline that Greenland has. And that's fishing and that's oil, but fishing primarily. And then today the Select Committee on China did me a solid by putting out the report on Chinese overfishing that they are predators, they destroy environments. Do you think the message is getting past the late night comics that this is a serious issue?

[Matt Continetti]

Hard to say. You know, it's hard to go out there and see who is in favor of Donald Trump's policy toward Greenland other than President Trump. And I mean, I would like Greenland as well. I think it's extremely important geopolitically, economically, as you say, in terms of the resources where we think about building up our stockpile of rare earth minerals, they are plentiful in Greenland. It's important. But the type of approach Trump is taking of Greenland I not don't see much public support for in the polls or in Congress even. What I do see is this, a parallel between Donald Trump's approach to Greenland in the second term and his approach to NATO in the first term. Remember, Hugh, when Donald Trump started telling NATO that they needed to ante up, they need to begin contributing to the burden of defense in the European continent and in the alliance at large, the Europeans screamed, they protested and we were treated to endless news cycles about is Donald Trump going to destroy NATO, Donald Trump against our allies? Well, what was the net result? They're paying, they're paying the 5%. And it was a, you know, it was a difficult process, it was a contested process. But at the end of the day, Naito was stronger for the Donald Trump's intervention than it was before. I wouldn't be surprised that at the end of Donald Trump's second term, NATO is committed to Greenland's defense. There's a much larger American presence here. America has a greater role in Greenland's economy and has a secure foothold in it geopolitically. And that will be the result despite all of the battling and negotiations and crying, just like we saw in the first term over defense spending overall.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Now, by the time we talk again, Matt Cuttiney, we'll be past the one year anniversary of Donald Trump's second term. So he's got first year done. Next Tuesday, who's the best communicator after the President and the Vice President and Secretary Rubio. They're 1, 2 and 3, in whatever order you want to go. Who communicates well on behalf of this administration?

[Matt Continetti]

Well, I think Press Secretary Caroline Levitt is a fantastic press secretary and an excellent communicator. I think if you're looking at other Cabinet members, Hugh, I think Secretary Duffy at Transportation has been very good, very effective. And Secretary Hegseth has definitely achieved the goal that Donald Trump gave him at the outset of his second term, which is reinvigorate America's military. And so we see that because of Hegseth's personality and his dynamism, among other factors, recruitment has shot back up and the services are fulfilling their goals. And there's a real emphasis on war making rather than identity politics and environmentalism at the Pentagon, like you've seen in Democratic administrations. So I think there's a wealth of talent in this Cabinet. And let's not forget that Secretary Kennedy has an entire constituency all of his own. And the way in which they've introduced some of these dietary reforms I think has been well received in all quarters. So there's definitely a lot of communicators in this administration, but some of them.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Have been sent to the Witness Protection Program. Peter Navarro comes to mind. Yes, he's been disappeared and he puts out a column every now and then. And I've known Peter for 40 years, so I can see him. I'm aware of him. Are there others who ought to go into the Witness Protection Program who don't do help, don't do good by the.

[Matt Continetti]

Administration'S messaging on the cabinet side? I mean, in addition to the individual you mentioned, of course, the dni, Tulsi Gabbard seems to have been absent from many crucial decisions. And I heard the joke in Washington that DNI now stands for Do Not Invite. So that might reflect the president's view of that of that personality within the Cabinet. Look, I think the biggest challenge facing the administration as it goes into its second term is focus. Donald Trump called himself the upgrader in his interview with the New York Times. And I think it's a great way to think about what he's trying to do in his second term. He's trying to upgrade America, and that is not going to be easy. But when you ask American voters what they're most concerned about, it's the economy. And they really need to get to the point where their wages are not only outpacing inflation, which they've been doing under Trump this past year, those wage gains need to make up for all the Ground we lost during Biden and we're not there yet.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Some controversies are self selected with that. One of those is Senator Kelly and Secretary Hagseth. If I have, I know I had 20 minutes with the President. He didn't ask for my advice, but if he ever did ask for my advice, I'd say take everything off the table except the economy and you smash somebody up like Iran. Don't talk about Senator Kelly, don't talk about Democrats and get the job done with ICE. Without talking about it, what would your advice be?

[John Ellis]

I think that's right.

[Matt Continetti]

I think that the government can really only accomplish one thing at a time. But Donald Trump's personality is everywhere all the time. He doesn't stop. I mean, he's renovating the east, rebuilding the East Wing. He's thinking of renovating the West Wing. He's repainted the, the Trump Kennedy Center. He's renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War. He closed the southern border. He's ended the Iranian nuclear program, which the Iranian foreign minister admitted to our friend Bret Barry this week. I'm sure you noticed that as well. He is the very embodiment of an activist president, just like Teddy Roosevelt. They need to focus on the economy, but that's just not in Donald Trump's DNA.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Yeah, if we can just get everyone else to focus on the economy and let the president set his own agenda, that would be helpful for Republicans, I think. Matt, thank you. Stay tuned, America and evening grace America, the big weekend pod and the weekend show underway. Ben Dominich joining us as we do on most Fridays when he's awake, he's got a newborn, so it's always a question of whether or not he's awake. However, with a newborn, you get to catch up on the late night.

[Ben Domenech]

Deeply unfair, Hugh. I am, I'm typically awake 19 to 20 hours out of the day.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Don't drop the baby. Don't drop the baby. That's all I gotta say, Ben, that means you're up in the middle of the night. So you're caught up on everything that happened with Iran this week. I'm starting there and we might, we might end there as well in a half an hour. What do you think?

[Ben Domenech]

Well, personally, I think that the President, you know, was trying to send the signal and he did. I don't know that it's going to result in the effectuation of what he'd like to achieve. But look, I think that we're dealing right now with a situation that is basically unprecedented, certainly in my lifetime. And is closer to the kind of upheaval that could lead to a regime change there that we. Then we have seen in the past and certainly under Obama, where we saw the green revolution and everything that led to. We have seen so much in terms of the bad decisions of past presidencies as it relates to Iran. And so we have a glimpse of possibility here. But we're also operating, I think, Hugh, in really a dearth of internal knowledge to a greater degree than we've had with a lot of other conflicts, a lot of other protests. And I think that that hampers our ability to analyze the situation just given the fact that there are so many moving parts, there are so many people involved, and we don't really have a clear indication of what is going to come next. Now, we have seen a number of different, you know, other parties weigh in. We've seen the, you know, the simple fact that I think, you know, the, the presence, the continued presence of the ability of the Iranians to access outside Internet, you know, capabilities which, you know, the regime has obviously attempted to crack down on and has had hit or miss success with is. Is really, you know, a major factor here because the more that the world can see what's going on inside Iran, the more that you can see reactions from the various parties involved. And I think a big open question about all of this is what the Chinese think, whether they think this is a possibility of a situation where in a transactional relationship they need to make a determination that, you know, this is not something where we need to get heavily involved or whether it's one where they want to lean in on, on this relationship, believe in this regime, believe that it's going to maintain its previous power. And that's something that I think is still an open question.

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[Hugh Hewitt]

Ben Domenech, I didn't begin the segment as I should by saying you host the Big Ben pod every week and I've saved it. I haven't listened to it this week yet because I've saved it for a long trundle tomorrow morning. And I don't know if you've talked about it yet. So if you did, pardon me, President Trump, we could go on this program. On Sean Hannity's program and a Polo side with Tony Decopol online gave the appearance of an imminent strike to the extent that we already see online Taco and President Trump chicken. I think that's deeply unfair because I think we're at the end of the beginning of the first year of Donald Trump in Iran and Operation Midnight Hammer buys you a lot of credibility. And I think you might get a window of two months before you can say even begin to argue he led people into the streets where they got killed on the false premise that he was going to act. Did you cover that? What do you think of that charge that is online already about the president?

[Ben Domenech]

I covered that extensively and had an interview with Ben and Ben Teleblue, who.

[Hugh Hewitt]

You may have heard, oh yes, very good.

[Ben Domenech]

FTD on this same topic at length. And one of the things that I think is clear is that, you know, the president has used in the past his unpredictability to great effect. Whether that's going to turn out the same in this situation I think is a riskier prospect. The other thing to keep in mind is that, you know, the president has, you know, run up toward something, some things like this in the past and then pulled back. He also, you know, has had the potential of pulling back and then pulled the trigger. I mean, you know, you know, how quickly we forget the idea that, oh, I'm going to think about it for the next two weeks as it relates to the Iranian nuclear program, you know, and that's the kind of attitude that the president has. And I'm not entirely sure that we can say as you know, analysts looking at this situation and relying as we do on sources who are both within and around the administration, that this was a situation where that was as imminent as he seemed to indicate. You know, it could be posturing, it could be posturing to effect. But look, this is a scenario where I think a lot of people are very much bullish on the idea that this is a broad based revolt against the regime. It's not just something that is confined to one sector or to one aggrieved party. The inflation concerns, the middle class concerns, or I should say perhaps the merchant class concerns regarding everything that's going on in the economy, in addition to the opposition generally to the regime's posture toward the west and the willingness of this next generation of Iranians to be more open to the west is something that is very real, and we shouldn't pretend like it isn't. But that doesn't mean that this is going to be a situation where you see, you know, potentially, you know, people who are going to willingly go into exile or leave the kind of leadership behind. It's also a situation where I think we have to pay a lot of attention to what the IRGC is doing and whether they are going to be, you know, effectuating the kind of killings that we've seen them do just ad nauseam without any kind of prevention, without any kind of pushback from protesters who are unarmed and who are incapable of defending themselves and unable at this point to get their message out.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Now, we haven't not seen anything like this, Ben, and I use my term not seen anything since Tiananmen Square, which we did not see. Right. We know what happened, but we did not see it. And we know what happened here, but we did not see it. I'm not sure America ever responded appropriately to Tiananmen or reacted appropriately to the Chinese Communist Party thereafter. Do you think that we ought to release whatever video comes out as soon as the Internet opens up? Because it will be, as Yasser Ali said. Yasser Ali said, there's going to be an avalanche of these videos once they're reconnected. I want them everywhere.

[Ben Domenech]

I completely agree with that. And I think that it's something that is in the American interest to do so, but also in the interest of the world. One thing that we should understand is how much this is a. This is a. A destabilizing element, you know, not just in terms of American interests in the Middle east or the interests of Israel or in the interests of our allies is something that I think really reshapes the globe. You have so many connections that Iran has had, and you have this unique moment where it has lost its. Its proxy in Venezuela. It has lost so much support that it could depend upon in the past. It has had its nuclear program set back in an embarrassing way. It has had its military proxies across the Middle east set back. And this is truly, I think, a unique moment where something like this might actually work. And you know, look, we're not talking about American regime change. That is not what we are embarked upon. We are not attempting to remake Iran in any. In any way. This is something that is coming from inside and supporting it from the outside is something that is in America's interest. And it is in the interest, by the way, of a lot of decrepit European powers, whether they want to acknowledge that or not. And that's something that I think has to result in a change in behavior on the part of leadership. And so much of what the President has done in this second term is about breaking open the assumptions on the part of foreign policy bigwigs and experts that have, you know, dated back decades about what was possible. And he's done this in so many different regards. And this could be another example of that. It could also be a situation where unfortunately, once again, the brutality of a horrible regime that has subjugated its people and is willing to kill them in the tens of thousands in order to maintain their control just reasserts itself in a very bloody way.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Now, I'm going to talk about decrepit European regimes during the break when Denmark and Greenland come up with Ben. But before we go there, we got two minutes. Ben, what about simply saying it's not the opportunity, not an excuse, but simply saying there are standards which, if you're not a superpower, will evoke a response from the West. And here's the response. Blow up Carg Island. Blow up IRGC headquarters. If you do this, this will follow a way of training the regime. Matt Continent called it regime coercion, not regime change. Regime coercion. I think that would be good hygiene for the world.

[Ben Domenech]

I think it would be good hygiene, but I'm not sure the President is willing to roll the dice on that. He likes so much these targeted things where there is a very clear goal point, a very clear progression. And I'm not sure that he's willing to go down this road of picking targets and going after them in such a way. Perhaps he is. That, to me, would represent a bit of a break with his personality as it relates to these things where he just likes binaries. He likes. Does the Iranian nuclear program exist or not? Is Maduro in charge of Venezuela or not? And in the sense of the irgc, you could. You can bomb a lot of things.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Certainly that's why Carg island comes to mind. Is Carg island sending any oil to the world or not?

[Ben Domenech]

I mean, that's.

[Hugh Hewitt]

That's.

[Ben Domenech]

Perhaps if he could be convinced that that's A binary that would result in a change. Then I think perhaps that argument from Matt and that it could work.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Don't go anywhere, America. I'm going to talk with Ben during the break about Greenland and Denmark, decrepit European regime column. And then we're coming back and talk about ice and the brave men and women there. Oh, and the crazy lunatics are flooding into the Twin Cities no matter how cold it gets. Ben Domenech I like Denmark. I like the Little Mermaid statue. I think it's quaint. They were alongside of us in Afghanistan for a long time. 18,000 deployed there. They have 20 ships. Greenland has got 27,000 miles of coastline and out from those 27,000 miles of coastline extends an exclusive economic zone of 230 miles that they can't protect from even Chinese predatory fishing practices, which are legend. Do you think people are taking this seriously enough because it's beyond hypersonics and Golden Dome? There's a lot of reason to put Greenland under our umbrella.

[Ben Domenech]

Well, I think that people don't really understand this and this is a defect of both American education and the way that people commit absolute crimes. When it comes to the depiction of Trumpian ideas as being highfalutin and out of the realm of possibility is absolutely in the American security interest to have Greenland protected and to have it under our security umbrella. There's no question about it. And I think in anticipation of the kind of conflicts that we could potentially see in the future, it is perhaps essential to that type of protection to have some type of security agreement with the Danes and with and with Greenland would be, from my perspective, the ideal. I don't necessarily, I don't think that an annexation or anything along those lines is necessary, but I do think that we need to have them, you know, essentially under our overarching umbrella in order to protect them and protect our own security. Understanding that. But you know, look, the climate and what is going to happen in the Arctic Circle in the future is going to be one where this becomes all the more important. And the discussion about this has turned into this kind of fanciful late night talk show. They're making fun of everything, you know, associated with it. I think it's deeply serious. I think it's incredibly important. It's as important, I would say, as saying, does Hawaii matter to the United States? Of course Hawaii matters to the United States. You know, the idea that we're not going to have, you know, a projection.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Of the, of the Guam or Diego Garcia.

[Ben Domenech]

Exactly. I mean, this is just like it's madness to pretend like this doesn't matter. It obviously does. And to intend and turn around and turn this into some kind of fanciful discussion is. Is absurd and unserious. But then, I mean, we're used to that by now.

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[Hugh Hewitt]

Transom or the Spectator, have you written at length about Because I don't know that anyone really has written at length about Greenland from a serious standpoint.

[Ben Domenech]

You know, I've dodged off various things, but you're right, I probably should do something longer. And perhaps I can use that as an excuse for a vacation after the baby is fixed.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Oh, don't take the baby to Greenland. Don't take your wife to Greenland.

[Ben Domenech]

This would be an entirely cold escapism on my part.

[Hugh Hewitt]

No, I spent a year in Iceland one weekend. No, don't do that. I'll be right back with Ben dominates. Stay tuned, Minneapolis. Our own Greenland is next. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt, joined by Ben Dominance, host of the Big Ben podcast, which you ought to listen to. I'll be listening to it on my long trundle this weekend. It's at Fox Podcast. It's also wherever podcasts are available. Read Ben at the Spectator, where he's an editor at large. Read him at the Transom on Substack. Ben Most people listening to the show know that I came to the show 25 years ago after a decade of being one of the co hosts of the nightly news and public affairs show for the PBS affiliate in LA and kcet. And almost weekly and sometimes almost nightly, we were talking about whether or not the use of force by the police of LA or the sheriff's department in the county of Los Angeles was appropriate. It was Rodney King's decade. And so that was every night. We went through like police chief after police chief after police chief Gates and Bernie and Willie, they just, they kept coming because no one could get it right.

[Ben Domenech]

Now is hw, correct me if I'm wrong, is he the last president who did the Insurrection Act?

[Hugh Hewitt]

I don't know. He did do the Insurrection act for the riots. That was my first second month in tv. Yes.

[Ben Domenech]

Yeah, yeah, I think he did. I believe he's the last one to do it. All right, so forgive me for interrupting.

[Hugh Hewitt]

No, well, we take that experience and now I'm up north where I know Minnesota through the state fair and radio bits with my AM 1280, the patriot friends and Minnesota Nice is real. It's real. It's a different place up there. And now it's got this. It just doesn't add up that the LA storylines are now suddenly in the Twin Cities. And I put it down to over indexing for buffoonery in leadership. What do you put it down to?

[Ben Domenech]

Well, I think that that is part of it, but I also think, and my friend Ryan Grudesky has pointed out that if you add up, if you tabulate the, the arrests and deportations from Minnesota over, over the course of the past year, meaning the second Trump term, it amounts to approximately, according to estimates, around 2% of the population of illegal immigrants in the state. That may sound small to people. That's actually a huge amount. And I think that what that has done, given that that is an outsized number of people who are participants in the Democratic side of the politics of the state, is that it has exacerbated the more extreme elements of the Democratic Party there in ways that are some that have been somewhat unpredictable but now seem to be consistent with a very violent and I would say more akin to what we are used to seeing in, in Portland and Seattle. In Seattle, you know, in the kind of behavior of these upper Northwest progressive echelons, that's something that we're now seeing in Minnesota to a greater degree. And it doesn't. I don't think it's going to stop. I only think it's going to escalate.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Well, I agree, but here's the, here's the question. The little bit of Rodney King tape that we had 30 years ago, 35 years ago, the little bit it was bad, it was black and white, it was dark at night, and the beating, it was. Compare that with 30 years later. We have every five different angles on.

[Ben Domenech]

Everything that happened everybody's different iPhone angle to analyze at links on cn, et cetera. And that's going to lead inevitably to people having different opinions and different perspectives on things. But one thing that I do think, you know, look, I said that this was a tragedy in part because, you know, and I don't, I don't say that blaming, you know, the ICE officer involved, but just because I think that this is something that is inevitably going to happen more frequently and that leftist people have been infected with this mind virus that says that they need to be, you know, reactionary opponents of law enforcement in the public square. And I follow enough leftists to see this thing playing out on a daily basis.

[Hugh Hewitt]

That's the question. Should ICE retreat? Because what has happened is Minneapolis is now marked as a place for the lunatics to assemble and try a Seattle, Portland in a new place. And because local government won't help you, you should retreat for a while because it's. It could escalate. It could become L. A again.

[Ben Domenech]

I don't think you can afford to retreat. I think this is too significant of an issue. And I think that it's incumbent upon you, in fact, as law enforcement, as enforcers of our nation's immigration laws, to continue to do so even in the face of people who are absolutely nuts. And will that lead to pain and to potential more tragedy in the future? It will, but only if these reactionaries continue to make the choices that they are making. But you can't let, you cannot allow this to be determined by the people who are willing to run over ICE agents in order to prevent them from doing their jobs.

[Hugh Hewitt]

I'm glad to hear you saying this, but there is a heckler's veto that doesn't exist. But this is an open carry state. It's a concealed carry state. The ICE agents are in real danger from the lunatics and what the lunatics want is to face them.

[Ben Domenech]

But I just think, I think, Hugh, that you can't avoid this. This has been a question that has been time and again. The reason that the left has won on questions like this is because they are willing to be more extreme and to do more violence to people who are just wearing the badge with a flag on their shoulder, just trying to do their jobs. And we can't afford to have that as a nation anymore. And I as a generation refuse to accept this type of boomer methodology that says that, oh, everything is Kent State all over again. This is ridiculous. I mean, we deserve to have a community where laws are enforced. And that is true. Across the United States of America. And I do not think we should be ashamed to argue for that.

[Hugh Hewitt]

I've been hit. I've been hit by the boomer ideology thing. I think, God, I'm down.

[Ben Domenech]

No, they just want to turn everything.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Into the talk show host. Down, Boomer, down. No, it's true. Gosh, you got me. You winged me with the boomer stuff. It is true that we are all captives of the experience that we grow up with and we memorize. I memorized Rodney King in the decade thereafter. But if we don't enforce the law, they're just gonna. It's like when there was a revival at the Christian College in Kentucky. Every revival attracted person across the country, went there, so they had to shut it down, which was okay and easy to do because they were evangelical Christians. Here you've got every lunatic in the country going to the Twin Cities.

[Ben Domenech]

It is a flare up in the air for everybody to come. And from my perspective, it's like you can't run away from that, that you can't dodge that, because then the lesson that they take is every time we throw up a flare, we can turn this thing around. We can scare the people who are trying to enforce the law. We can scare the politicians involved. And look, we have a president who's in his second term. He's not running again. He is as invested in this as he is in any other area of domestic policy. And I think this is the moment to lean in and say the wall actually matters. It really does. And maybe that's inconvenient for your mindset.

[Hugh Hewitt]

And we don't care if Woodstock on Ice is here. We're going to break it up.

[Ben Domenech]

Look, I really, I really do think. I really do think that this is a situation where, you know, as much as we can harden the target when it comes to ice, we should be doing so. And that's something that, you know, I hope that this administration is doing because they should understand that this is, this is the beginning of this, not the end, and it's not going to go away in the next couple of years.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Is DHS communicating? Well? We have 40 seconds.

[Ben Domenech]

You know what? Here's a. Here's a good answer to that question. I'm efforting Trisha McLaughlin to come back on the next Big Ben show. We can talk about whether they're, whether they are delivering that message effectively.

[Hugh Hewitt]

She's everywhere. I don't know that the point she is making are tight enough.

[Ben Domenech]

I think there needs to be some support, some support mechanisms because a lot.

[Hugh Hewitt]

A lot of this.

[Ben Domenech]

She's out there on an island.

[Hugh Hewitt]

That's it. Well, she is. She is out alone. Survivor. Yeah, but that means you have to do every show every day and it wears on you. Ben. Dominic, thank you. Follow me. Exit V Dominich and go get the Big Ben podcast. Come right back to the you do it show. Morning Glory and Evening Grace. America. What a week of news and what a great place to have John Ellis, founder and editor in chief of news items to be at the top of the week in review because John covers everything that I haven't paid attention to. I've been focused on Iran with like a squirrel over there of Minnesota and a squirrel over there of Greenland and back to Iran. John, when I got your show notes for today from news items, I felt like I had to read the opening one in my NFL feature films from the 60s. Voice on a blustery November day, a Cessna turboprop flew over Pennsylvania at 5,000 meters in crosswinds of up to 70 knots. It was wonderfully written. Tell people about this, the little Cessna and could and why it was doing what it did.

[John Ellis]

There's a company called Overview Energy and their mission is to beam electricity from moving aircraft down to receivers on the earth. And there's an engineering journal that pub published this story that you just read the lead of that said that told the tale of basically the Orville Wright flight of Overview Energy. It was flying over Pennsylvania. It successfully beamed electricity down to receivers from the ground from a moving aircraft. And while other companies and you know, major companies are doing this, this is sort of a little engine that could kind of story. And it is the beginning of what I think will be an enormous industry which is satellites, drones, moving aircraft of all kinds beaming electricity down from space onto into receivers on earth with obviously limitless solar power driving the whole thing.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Well, that wasn't obvious to me until I read the story, but now that it's explained to me, if you can get a collector up above the clouds and just take the solar energy direct and beam it down to Earth. Earth, that is limitless energy.

[John Ellis]

Correct. And you know, my guess would be that Elon Musk would be the leader in this because he already has however many tens of thousands of satellites and in the orbit and he keeps sending up tens of thousands more. So Musk is probably the leader, but I'm sure there are other companies, Google and others that are that are looking at this and obviously with data centers eating up so much power, it's really important that we find new sources of Elect electricity and beaming sun power, solar power, essentially up from space down to earth would take an enormous pressure off prices of electricity for all of us. It's something to watch.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Yeah. Overview energy. My hat is off to you and I'll keep my eyes on the sky for Cessnas so I don't get sunburned. Let's go to the second one, which I understood pretty easily because I know about steel dumping from Reagan era days, what the Chinese did. But why don't you explain? Because I hadn't made the parallel comparison to AI, which of course makes sense to me again.

[John Ellis]

Well, the steel thing, as you know, China generated massive overcapacity and steel output and then they dumped it onto the market. And the point of that was to put American steel industry and other steel industries out of business, essentially make it prohibitive for them for U.S. steel and others to be successful. And of course, and that there followed steel, steel plant after steel plant folding in the U.S. the concern is that they were going to do the same thing with AI, that they have AI platforms that aren't quite as sophisticated as the ones that the US has developed, but they're close enough for government work, if you will. And all sorts of companies will use them because they'll be cheaper and China will price them much, much cheaper than what the US companies will charge. And so by undercutting them on price, they will make all of this investment that the US tech companies have made into server farms and data servers. They will cut. They will cut their knees off, essentially.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Well, yeah, I live this, John. I grew up in Warren, Ohio, in the heart of the Steel Valley. And first United Steel went down and then Republic and then Copper Weld and they kept going until it was a steel desert. They were all closed. All the sites are still there, a couple specialty steels are back. But when it hits, it hits you very, very quickly. And all of a sudden an industry that was driving the whole economy and part of the state and Pennsylvania as well, is gone. So do the AI barons realize that there's a wolf at the door? I think you froze, John, as the wolf was at the door. It's sort. I can go back and do my NFL voice again while we wait for John to come back because that really did read like an NFL. You got to remember 40 for 60 with Joe, Minnesota Vikings. What was Joe's last name? Minnesota Vikings quarterback. When he comes back on, we're going to talk about this because I'm going to read it to you, what he had to say. Chinese AI startup Deep Sea is expected to launch its next generation AI model that features two strong that features strong coding capabilities in coming weeks, according to two people with direct knowledge of the plan. The new model, the V4, is a successor to the V3 model DeepSeek, released in December 2024. Initial tests done by Deep Seq employees based on the company's internal benchmarks show that it outperformed existing models such as anthropics, Claude and OpenAI's GPT series encoding. Two people said so if they do to AI what China if China does to AI what China did to steal the AI barons. Oh, you're back, John. So do the AI barons know the Chinese wolf is at the door?

[John Ellis]

Oh yeah, no.

Microsoft, you know, made a big announcement about it this past week and you know, the fight, the competition, the space race, if you will, between Chinese and US tech companies to, you know, develop the best AI makes everyone enormously nervous because so much money is being expended and if that investment is stranded, the disaster follows.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Well, you know, and you sent me later in the day, one of the famed forecasters put out a pretty good forecast based on AI investment. But that's counterintuitive given what you just told me. And the AI bubble is, is of concern. And do you think the economist Roubini factored this into his forecast of 4% plus GDP growth even with the drags of tariffs and everything else?

[John Ellis]

I think, I think he's, he's assuming that it will work out. So if you do assume that it will work out and that the US Tech companies are clever and adaptive and you know, can figure out a way to, to avoid the full impression.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Did it again.

[John Ellis]

Then the, then the process is, you know, positive, let's put it that way.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Let's merge the last two together because I think they explain a lot. One is all time record high of US adults register at independent 45% and the NEA has come out with a crazy identitarian driven grammar book. And I think that's one of the reasons the Democrats can't grow is that they've gone over the left edge. Not sure about the Republicans. What do you think about those two together? John Ellis.

[John Ellis]

Well, my podcast, my occasional podcast partner Joe Klein wrote a great column this week which he talked about the identity politics of the Democrats and how it will always prevent them from, from being successful. And it goes back to what I think is the most important advertisement of the 2024 campaign, which is the Trump campaign ad that said Kamala Harris, she's for they them, Donald Trump, he's for you. That sort of perfectly captured all of the problems that the Democrats have. And it's one reason why the party ID among, you know, the electorate for Democrats has declined so dramatically.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Did you and Joe get to how the Minnesota story is going to impact, if at all? Because I have concerns it's hurting Republicans. Those concerns were in the Wall Street Journal today. On the other hand, a lot of MAGA Republicans say no, that's actually Minnesota buffoonery over indexing for blue cities and blue states. And it's going to help us. What do you think?

[Matt Continetti]

Think?

[John Ellis]

I think it hurts the Trump, you know, Trump White House. I think that the video is, you know, for a lot of people is really, really troubling. And it's particularly troubling, I think, amongst independent voters. And in order to be successful in the midterm elections, Republicans are going to have to do very, very well among independent voters. So I think net net it's a negative for Team GOP.

[Hugh Hewitt]

So the Independent 45, is it fair to say they were very concerned about an open border and they're also very concerned about overzealous ICE agents? Is that a fair summary?

[John Ellis]

Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think that the concern about the border was not universal, but large majorities were concerned about the Biden administration's essentially open border policy. And part of that was that the fentanyl crisis had done so much damage. But this, this ICE action in Minneapolis has been, I think, detrimental to the Republican cause.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Always good to talk with John Ellis. News Items is the only newsletter you need. Every morning, Monday through Friday, and once on the weekends, look up news items. John Ellis, it's on substack. Thank you, John. I'll be right back. America with Eli late on the show.

[Doug Les Marie]

Well, President Trump has been clear he will not, nor should the international community tolerate innocents being slaughtered in the streets. Since 1979, for decades, the regime has posed a threat to peace and security. In the name of a religious ideology. The regime calls for death to America and the annihilation of welcome back, America.

[Hugh Hewitt]

That was Ambassador Michael Waltz, the ambassador of the United States, the United Nations. I am joined now by Eli Lake. Eli is the host of the Breaking History podcast. He is a contributor to the Free Press. This week he was on a commentary podcast that was very informative and he is one of a handful of people that I actually call expert on the Islamic Republic of Iran. So I'm not even going to ask you a question, Eli. I'm going to give you the floor to tell the audience as the weekend, a watchful weekend begins, what ought they to be looking for and thinking about?

[John Ellis]

Well, I keep wanting to come back to something which is that, first of all, I don't know that the regime has days left or that there will be a dramatic moment over the weekend or next week, but I do think that we're in the beginning of the end. It's not entirely applicable as an analogy, but it's important to remember the Islamic revolution that resulted in the current Islamic Republic of Iran really begins on January 2, 1978, and it is a full year until the Shah leaves and then Khomeini comes and returns to Iran, sadly. So. So I would not think about this in terms of the next few days. And in our incredibly short attention span right now, we have a sort of geopolitical attention deficit disorder. I think that there's no coming back from it.

[Hugh Hewitt]

You're right. You're right.

[John Ellis]

Right. And I just don't think, and I would say that of all the things that came out in the last week and there's so much news, it's worth looking at, it's in Farsi, but there are translations. It's making the rounds. You can see it everywhere. But it's. A woman calls into an overseas kind of chat show that is run by members of the Iranian diaspora. She, I think, credibly claims that she is the daughter of a senior Revolutionary Guard Corps commander. You can tell that she is on the brink. She's asking for information to get to the Hague or to have somebody arrest or kill her father. That is how serious it is. And then she goes on to describe what they are doing to people who have been caught protesting. She describes what was done to her and her friends when they protested the last big time. You saw these national uprising with the Women Life Freedom movement. And it's really disturbing because this is obviously a family.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Now, Eli, I gotta ask you about that.

[John Ellis]

But I think you have to remember that in every one of.

[Hugh Hewitt]

I did see that. I did listen to it. The entire subtext, it was in Farsi and I had to read the subtitle, but I did not repost it because with AI and with expatriate diaspora polemics, I didn't know if I could trust it because it's so disturbing. If it's true, it's the daughter of a IRGC commander who had her beaten and had to watch people get shot. If it's true, it's horrific. How did you judge it credible?

[John Ellis]

I judged it Credible, because I've heard similar kinds of things, really, for the last 20 years, which is that these internal families divides that oftentimes the children of particularly elites in the irgc, the Revolutionary Guard Corps, have been caught up. And you've seen versions of this. I mean, former president's daughters were protesting in 2009. And so it rang true to me in that respect. I felt like you could. Even though I don't speak fluent, I don't speak Farsi. But. But her emotional trauma sounded real. It sounded like somebody who had. Was, you know, kind of experiencing a kind of break and her conscience could no longer allow her, really. I mean, it's. Again, it's tragic. You're right to not trust things.

[Hugh Hewitt]

It's riveting.

[John Ellis]

It's riveting. I bring it up not because. Right. You're right. That it's impossible to verify these things. I bring it up, though, because I think that's a real dynamic that's going on. So when we're trying to understand how long the regime will last, you have to remember every single one of these thugs that sit atop this kind of hierarchy of oppression has a family and they have neighbors and they have friends who themselves are probably. They know, they hate them. So I just. I just bring that up because I think it's something that's a very real dynamic.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Well, it rings a bell for me that during the Iraq and the Afghanistan wars, whenever we would kill someone, the left would say, if you kill someone, you create four or five new insurgents. And I always thought, not if it was a bad guy. I do believe if you execute a civilian marching in the streets with a machine gun or a gun, I do believe that their family is forever anti regime, and that is a cumulative trauma on Iran. Now, I've been calling this week the end of the beginning, which I thought started in June with Operation Midnight Hammer. Whatever Trump does now will be the exclamation point point. And I give him weeks, if not two months to actually follow through on the threat. Because those tens of thousands of people who are arrested, they're still in urban prison and everywhere else in Tehran that they imprison dissidents.

[Matt Continetti]

Yep.

[Hugh Hewitt]

So are you ruling out Trump doing anything this weekend or next weekend or next month?

[John Ellis]

Well, I mean, if you're going to read the tea leaves that he posted a couple hours ago that he thanked the regime for canceling. What do you say something A very high number of 800 executions. I have. I don't know if that number is correct. It's certainly True that they postponed some executions at the same time, I would like to see some non kinetic options deployed. We know that the regime is sending their mouthpieces on international media. Let's take down their Internet net. Let's make sure that we flood Iran with the Starlink base stations. Let's start publicizing the accounts of regime elites and then freezing those accounts.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Well, what about medium? They murdered 6,000 people. If I use the mean right. 6,000 people, right. Are we not to say every time you do this, we're going to do at least this and yes, the cyber, yes, the nonconnected and that and blow up Kharg island or take out some missile. I know that there's a second order consequence to Israel which does give me pause. But ought they not to receive some kind of a message from the world that they can't act like savages?

[John Ellis]

Every province has an IRG and Basiji headquarters building. Top of the list. We could wipe them out in a couple hours.

[Hugh Hewitt]

What do you think that that would send a huge message every time, time they do something that we see. What do you do think Israel is at risk if we do that?

[John Ellis]

I think that Israel has, I think there's a potential again we could see barrages of ballistic missiles and Israel doesn't have the air defense to take care of that. And that yes, there could be some risk there. My sense is that the Israelis would take the uncertainty and the damage of a kind of last flail of the Iranian regime if it, if it helped hasten its collapse. Then I hope, I hope we're seeing that and I do think that we're, I think it's a good way to put it at the beginning of the end.

[Hugh Hewitt]

I hope that you will continue to show up on commentary and write for the Free Press, Eli, and maybe do a new breaking history on regime collapse. There's regime change, there's regime evolution which is Venezuela and then there's regime collapse which is what we want to see in Iran. Eli Lake can be followed on X at Eli Lake and at the Breaking History podcast and at the Free Press. Stay tuned. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. It is the end of the college football season. On Monday night. Doug Les Marie's is here for the Friday football forecast. Most Fridays during the college football season, Doug, who is the co host of the Bill and Doug Show. Bill and Doug OSU substack.com joins me. And Doug, I have got my Indiana University tie here which I'll be wearing on Special Report tonight because I got to root for the Big Ten team. What do you think? What's going to be Monday night?

[Doug Les Marie]

So. So Bill and I did our picks today, and we are divergent here. I really think Indiana is going to finish this thing off. You. I really think that Indiana is a more complete team, and the idea of three straight Big Ten champs, Michigan, Ohio State, Indiana. It's a new era in college football. Indiana is favored by 8 1/2 in this game against Miami. Right. Miami's kind of new, too. They haven't won a national title since 2001, and we all remember the U. Once upon a time, they were a dominant force in college football. It's great to have them back. But Indiana's never been in a spot like this, and I like the Hoosiers chances Monday night.

[Hugh Hewitt]

I read a long take from ESPN that they're the older of the two clubs and that Kurt Signetti has certain metrics that he looks for, like the guardrails the Browns use, which haven't really worked. Where's the coaching edge in this matchup? Douglas Maurice.

[Doug Les Marie]

Yeah, Kurt Signetti is a coaching monster. I don't know that we've seen. You just look for comparisons on this, what he's done. I think you have to give him the edge. But one of the interesting things here is Corey Heatherman, who's the defensive coordinator at Miami, and certainly Mario Cristobal is the head coach of Miami, like a loyal hurricane. To bring them back after two decades is a great job by Mario Cristobal. But Corey Heatherman, the defensive coordinator for Miami, they hired him from Minnesota, but he once upon a time was the defensive coordinator for Kurt Signetti at James Madison. Oh, so this is what it's like. It's like a spy novel. Hugh, if you were trying to take down Kurt Signetti, what would you do? You'd want somebody who'd been on the inside and Miami's defensive coordinator worked for two years for Kurt Signetti, so he knows what Kurt Signetti likes to do. He and the Indiana defensive coordinator right now, Brian Haynes, are very good friends. They're both up for the award for the best assistant coach in college football. So Corey Heatherman from Miami has an idea of how these Signetti, Indiana guys think. And it's like, could.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Could.

[Doug Les Marie]

Could that matter? I don't know if anybody can beat Kurt Signetti, but you want to think like him if you're going to try to beat him.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Now, Doug, I got two questions I got to get in in a short period of time. One, in the off season, I hope The Bill and Doug show is going to continue on as often a basis as it has been because I've become kind of addicted. Is that going to happen?

[Doug Les Marie]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Football.

[Doug Les Marie]

Come on, Hugh Ball is 365. Man. This football never sleeps. We're not going anywhere. We got plenty to talk about.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Well, that's because the game has changed so much. Which brings me to Mr. Mendoza. I also read a profile of him. He's a little bit otherworldly. He's almost too perfect. You want your daughter to marry him kind of perfect. Is. Is. Is he for real?

[Doug Les Marie]

It is. I think he is for real. Sometimes you got to be honest. Sometimes when a guy's so nice, it's like, is. Is that what you want from a football player? Football players should have an edge. Football players got to be a little crazy. But like, Fernando Mendoza is this guy, but he also balls out. And so sometimes those are my favorite guys that you can have a. Like a philosophical conversation off the field. And then when he gets on. Took a hit in the. In the first play of the Big Ten title game against Ohio State. I thought he was out. He was knocked on his face. I thought. I thought they were taking him out on a stretcher, and he got up, missed one play and came back in. So I do think he's for real. He's a different kind of guy, but his teammates rally around him. And Hugh, we've seen different personalities from quarterbacks. If your teammates love you, however you deal with it, if your teammates love you and you put your. Yourself on the line for your team, you're in a pretty good spot as a qb.

[Hugh Hewitt]

All right, now, Doug is picking Indiana for Monday night, and I want to ask you the second question. Dante Moore is going back to the Ducks, and that means the jets are screwed and they get the second pick. And Dane Brugler. Warren, Ohio, born and raised and still working out of Warren, Ohio, has projected Arville Reese, number two to the Jets. What do you think about that? That? Yeah.

[Doug Les Marie]

Yeah. So, I mean, there might be four or four or five Ohio State guys in the top 20 of this draft. You so like Arvell Reese. It's sort of this modern era. He's a Micah Parsons potentially type of player, which we know how impactful he was for Dallas. Got traded to Green Bay this year. You can be a linebacker, but then you can also rush the passer and get up on the edge. This versatility can really matter. It's hard, Hugh, because again, you look at it from a Brown's perspective. Great you have all Myles Garrett. What better player could you have? The Miles Garrett. But you don't have a quarterback, so you're not going to win. So, like, if you don't have a quarterback, you're still not going to get over the top, but you want to build up and fortify your team around it. Arvell Reese, from the same kind of lineage, high school as Troy Smith, the Heisman Trophy winner. Ted Ginn Jr. These great guys who have come through Glenville High School in Cleveland. Tremendous player, great young man, and I'd take him. But just if you're the jets, you still got to find a quarterback, something.

[Hugh Hewitt]

So did Bill Landis pick Miami because of their remarkable defensive line crushing Mr. Mendoza? Is that why he went that way?

[Doug Les Marie]

In part. But also their offensive line and the way that they have a big. They're big and physical on both sides of the line for Miami and the way that Miami ran the ball against Ohio State, 4 yards, 5 yards, 6 yards, like, not necessarily explosive, but reliable. They have really big tackles. All ACC guard, like, they're. They're old and big. And so Indiana's defensive front is really good. They do a lot of their best work, kind of with different looks and like keeping you off balance. I think Bill thinks that maybe Miami can just hold the ball consistently, run it, keep Fernando Mendoza off the field, and that's Miami's prescription for victory. I picked Indiana 5614, so I'm going to be that. I got a blowout.

[John Ellis]

Blowout.

[Hugh Hewitt]

What is the over under on the Las Vegas line? Is it.

[Doug Les Marie]

That's way above, like 45 or something? I will say Indiana has scored exactly 56 four times already this year and they have another one of 55. So, like, we're right in that zone. Eight touchdowns. That doesn't seem so hard, right? Like you.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Is it good or bad that the two finalists are the two teams that beat the Buckeyes? Do we console ourselves? We Buckeye few. We happy few over the winter with that, or is it a point of pain?

[Doug Les Marie]

I. I've been trying. I would. I've tried that with Ohio State fans.

[Matt Continetti]

Like, this is.

[Doug Les Marie]

I think Ohio State probably will finish number three in the final polls even though they lost in the quarterfinals because they were number two and the two teams they lost to are playing for the title. But I think for a lot of Ohio. Ohio State fans, especially because the Indiana and Miami losses were kind of right there for the Buckeyes, knowing that just makes you think, oh, we were right there on the end that did make it happen. So Ohio State fans are not soothed by that view, unfortunately.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Thank you Doug Le Marie, Bill and Doug osu.substack.com we'll check in during the off season. College football is only six months away. Phil and Doug osu.substack.com Stay tuned America. I'm.

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[Hugh Hewitt]

Welcome back America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Go Hoosiers on Monday night. I'll be wearing my IU tie tonight. Joe. Tarzana. Joe, I'm sure is rooting for the Hoosiers on Monday night and for the universityofsewing.com that made that tie possible.

[Tarzana Johanna]

It's lovely, lovely. But we have some housekeeping to do. You, you know the I want a poem button we've been talking about? Well, it was broken for the last two weeks just like the chalice from the palace. The I want a poem button was broken. But my good [e-mail] put it back together for me. So if you sent me an I want a poem in the last two weeks and you haven't heard from me, it's not because I'm on vacation. It's because I didn't get it. So please send it again.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Thank you. Oh goodness, goodness. And you?

[Tarzana Johanna]

I have written a poem called Eric the red meets Donald the orange.

[Matt Continetti]

But.

[Tarzana Johanna]

But you know the story about the shoemaker's wife? She goes barefoot.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Yes.

[Tarzana Johanna]

Well, the poet's wife. The poet's wife doesn't get enough poetry.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Okay.

[Tarzana Johanna]

And it's tantalizing. Tarzana Johanna's birthday. A significant birthday. And so if you will indulge me.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Absolutely.

[Tarzana Johanna]

I've written a love lyric that maybe some you you at listener can Set to music and it goes something, but only something like this. This You've taught me everything I know about the things that make love grow? And every day your words reveal the precious thing that lovers feel? We've had so much time together you would think I'd know the way to tell you what your friendship means to me and to find the words to say? But although I live in language? When you appear my tongue is tied? I need another chance to show you after all the words I've tried? So teach me how to say I love you so you hear it a new way? Teach me how to say I love you Though you hear it every day? Help me understand the feeling? Help me share the feeling to teach me how to say I love you? For without a doubt I do, I do, I do Happy birthday, Tarzana Yohanna from Tarzana Jo.

[Hugh Hewitt]

And Happy birthday, Tarzana Johanna from Hugh and Generalissimo and Dwayne and Harley, because we actually know she makes you possible.

[Doug Les Marie]

That was awful, Joe. How has any guy got to compete with that?

[Hugh Hewitt]

I know. It's really bad of you to do that. Every single married man hates you, right?

[Matt Continetti]

Yes.

[Ben Domenech]

Every married man.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Not at all.

[Tarzana Johanna]

Now, we just now that the I want a poem button is fixed. If you want that, just touch. I want a poem and I will write that for you.

[Hugh Hewitt]

Okay. You know, Joe, if it doesn't work again, people are going to think it's a joke. So I hope it really is. You go to tarzanajoe.com for that beautiful poem that you know you can't write. You might be able to pass it off as your own if your wife wasn't listening. So that's the other. Just absolutely rip it off. Or call Joe if you need a poem for any occasion. Tarzanajoe.com I want a poem button. Thank you. Stay tuned, everybody. Hilltail dialogue coming up. Thank you, Joe.

[Denise Lee or Shelley (Point of Grace Podcast Hosts)]

For over 30 years, point of Grace has shared music, faith, and friendship with listeners across the country. Now Denise Lee and Shelley are inviting you into their circle. Welcome to Circle of Friends. The podcast is Point of Grace. Each week they're talking real life, current events, stories of true friendship, wisdom from God's word, and all their favorite things. If you're looking for a little company, a few laughs, and a lot of Jesus to hold it together, Circle of Friends, the podcast is waiting for you. Subscribe now. Wherever you listen or watch podcasts and circle up with Point of Grace.