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- [00:01]
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- [00:30]
Josh Hammer
Democrats melting down on Capitol Hill as Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general, Todd Blanche had his confirmation hearing earlier today. What happens? We've got details. This is the Josh Hammer Show. Attorney General of the United States is the single most important cabinet position of them all. If you go back to the American founding, there were only a handful of of federal cabinets in the first and second administrations of George Washington going into the earlier decades of the Republic. More generally, you had the Attorney General of the United States, you had the Secretary of Treasury, you had the Secretary of State and the Secretary of War. Those are really the big ones that go back to the time of the American founding. I have long been of the opinion that of those four treasury states, war and Attorney General, Attorney General is the single most important of them all. Why? Because to go back to the found generation, to speak of John Adams, one of the greatest of the founders, we are a nation of laws, not a nation of men, but a nation of laws. A nation that is built upon the rule of law is necessarily dependent on the faithful interpretation and execution of those laws, the securing of the liberty and justice that those laws entail for all American citizens. Especially in today's day and age, we see that the attorney general has enormous responsibility. Donald Trump is an interesting president from this perspective. He has been burned time and time again from his own Department of Justice. I typically speak about the first Trump administration going back to Russiagate and all the various problems that plagued his doj, the deep state insurrections and collusions that happened back then. William Barr changed some of that in the final year, year and a half of the first Trump term. But the first Trump term was bespeckled. It was marked by deep insubordination and deep disloyalty within the ranks of the Department of Justice. That's why Donald Trump picked Pambani to lead the DOJ in his second term. And with the Epstein files a little bit to the side, although the Epstein files a total sideshow, as we have said here on the show many times, an absolute sideshow, a non issue. I'm not saying it's not a non issue. There were horrific crimes committed. It's a legal non issue because most of these horrific crimes have an outdated statute of limitations because these actions happened decades ago. But there were some missteps made by Pam Bondi on the Epstein files and that is why Democrats have decided to pounce, among other reasons, on Todd Blanche. So Todd Blanche has been the acting Attorney General now for a few months ever since Pam Bondi resigned from her position back in March. Even under Attorney General Pam Bondi, Todd Blanche was the deputy Attorney general. So he was the guy running this department on a day to day basis. Prior to that, Tom Blanche was a Prosecutor in the U.S. attorney's office in New York State. And he also, perhaps most crucially from our perspective here on the show, was a criminal defense attorney. Criminal in scare quotes, I should probably say a criminal defense attorney for, you guessed it, for Donald J. Trump himself. At the height of the Biden era legal persecution of the Joe Biden, Merrick Garland, Jack Smith lawfare industrial Complex against, against Donald Trump. Very, very few attorneys on the right tried to get involved to defend then former and future President Donald Trump. Todd Blanche was one of them. He got very, very involved. He was probably the single most public facing of all of Trump's criminal men's attorneys. That shows integrity, that shows moral courage. In fact, to go back to John Adams, let's not forget how John Adams defended the British soldiers accused of the Boston Massacre in 1770. Why? Because he believed in due process and the rule of law. I'm not comparing the Boston Massacre, God forbid, to President Trump's actions that were ludicrously prosecuted by Fani Willis and Jack Smith and Alvin Bragg. But I'm saying that if you believe in due process, if you believe in the rule of law, then everyone deserves defense. And Todd Blanche sword to defend Donald Trump during that time. Here actually was Jonathan Turley. Jonathan Turley, who is really more of a classical liberal, not necessarily a magafied Republican, let's say the law professor and popular television commentary, Jonathan Shirley was on Fox this morning saying that Todd Blanche is actually one of the most qualified nominees for Attorney General in the entire history of the Department of Justice. Here was John the Chile this morning on Fox News.
- [05:05]
John Turley
Well, the votes do appear to be there, but we'll have to wait to see. You know, Tom lynch is actually the most complete package of a nominee that I've since Bill Barr. I mean, the fact is that he is an accomplished lawyer with both civil and criminal Cases on his resume that are quite remarkable. He worked at the most prestigious U.S. attorney's office. Everyone agrees he's an extremely talented lawyer. He doesn't have that flashy aspect that you see with some nominees. He's a very serious and competent guy. And so the expectations is that he will be confirmed. Now, the Senate does have a role here and there. Legitimate questions they have a right to ask is he prepared to confront the President if he feels the President is going too far? They're a right to look at his record. But his resume is very impressive and I would say is one of the strongest in the history of that department.
- [06:04]
Josh Hammer
So that's really, really strong praise again from John the Turley, who is a very astute commentator, but you might call him a classical liberal. He's not exactly an ultra maga legal commentator. Let's say Todd Blanche is going to be confirmed. The question is, what will he do when he comes into office? My own prognostication, my own instincts, indeed, my own hopes and wishes for soon to be Attorney General in permanent capacity, Todd Blanche are as follows. Todd Blanche was a criminal defense attorney, as I just said, for President Trump at the height of the Biden era. Scandalous lawfare. One of the most outrageous acts in the history of the constitutional Republican. He had firsthand witness, firsthand evidence, observations of the depravities of the Democrat lawfare complex. We're actually now just getting some information as to just how depraved some of these actors were. So for instance, literally just yesterday, newly declassified records showed that Jack Smith, the alleged special counsel, not actually constitutionally properly appointed, but the alleged special counsel, Jack Smith, his team unlawfully, unlawfully accessed text messages to and from 44 different Republican House and Senate members. In fact, Josh Hawley in Missouri, who is on this list, he's won the 44. He was playing a clip on social media showing how Jack Smith actually testified under oath that he didn't do exactly what we now know that he did. That looks like perjury. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who is the chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee, he was one presiding over today's confirmation hearing. Chuck Grassley just last week revealed that his team found that some folks on Jack Smith's team actually ironically mishandled classified documents. It's ironic because they were prosecuting Donald Trump in Florida for doing exactly that. That was the Mar a Lago case. So there's so many questions when it comes to the Biden era law fair. I think a lot of folks want to know, will there be answers and ultimately will there be justice? And that, I think is the number one thing that many of us are hoping for when it comes to Todd Blanche. But the reason one of I support Todd Blanche so much as I do is because I think that he is uniquely qualified to get us exactly that. We're going to bring on, I guess, Eric Wesson a little bit later in today's show who will give us his take on that question and more. But for now, though, I want to tell you just a quick word about our sponsor of today's show, which is Angel Studios. We talk a lot on this show about what's gone wrong in modern culture and modern media and frankly, the way American history is often distorted. And that's why I'm so excited about this new film that's out in theaters near you, Young Washington. I saw this film before it came out theaters. I saw it a couple months ago. It is absolutely a plus. Fantastic. Look, I'm an American history buff. I know a thing or two about American history. At least I think I do. I learned a lot from this film. It's about a young George Washington before he became president, before he became the indispensable man at the country's revolution, at the country's founding. It's before victory, a young man shaped by hardship, failure and the unmistakable hand of providence guiding his path. Let's be honest, Hollywood almost never tells stories like this anymore. That's why your voice matters. So it is the Big Pain patriotic summer Blockbuster It's America 250 special. Go ahead and join the Angel Guild, folks. For $15 a month, you'll get two free tickets to see Young Washington. You can go to angel.com/ make sure to check out Young Washington and join the Angel Guild. You can do so@angel.com Hammer AngelStudios is our sponsor for today's show. So it's not just the confirmation hearing of Top Lance. There's plenty of other things in the news as well. The big thing on the international front is the continued escalation of the conflict with Iran. We're going to bring on Lee Smith of Taliban magazine a little bit later on show to get into some of some of those details as well. Donald Trump went on FOX News talking about this continued escalation with with Iran. Here was Donald Trump indeed on FOX News talking about the continued escalation between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
- [10:00]
Lee Smith
You anticipate that the strikes were seen this week against Iran will expand. Are you considering hitting energy targets or other locations inside of Iran.
- [10:10]
Donald Trump
I'll save the energy targets for last. But ultimately we'll hit energy targets. Yeah, but we're going to hit them very hard tonight. We're going to hit them very hard tomorrow night. We're going to hit him very hard the night after. And then next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants, next week comes the bridges. We're going to knock out all their power plants, we're going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.
- [10:39]
Josh Hammer
And here was more from President Trump sitting down with Trey Yanks. Here's more from the same interview.
- [10:43]
Lee Smith
Was there a specific piece of intelligence that made you decide to launch this operation?
- [10:49]
Donald Trump
Well, specific in the sense that it just never stops. And they're going to go forward and they wanted a nuclear weapon. We knew they wanted a nuclear weapon. If they have a nuclear weapon, Israel wouldn't be here.
- [11:00]
Josh Hammer
Look, they said they didn't want a nuclear weapon.
- [11:03]
Donald Trump
They say that everything they say is a lie. They lie. I've never seen anything like it. They also come out and they'll tell you we never discussed nuclear. And we're in a room for five hours, that's all we discussed. And they'll walk out and say nuclear was not discussed. Everything was discussed ad nauseam. They were going to have a nuclear weapon within two weeks. Had we not done the B2 bombers, had we not bombed their nuclear sites, their three nuclear sites, and there's another one we're looking at right now, as you know.
- [11:34]
Josh Hammer
So it's been four or five days in a row now of heavy American bombing of Iran's missile facilities, of their drone facilities, of their anti aircraft munitions capacities, of their surveillance facilities, of all things related to their defense and their industrial base. And what's more, the blockade is now back on. This was a crucial tool when it came to gumming up the works of the Iranian petroleum industry and all those petrodollars that were flowing to the coffers of the mullahs in Tehran. But the million dollar question remains. Is the administration actually serious this time? Will this be the time where the MOU and all that is over and we actually finish the job for real? That remains an open question. And we're going to get into it a little bit later on in the show with Lee Smith of TAO magazine who has a thought or two on that. But for now, folks, we're going to go to a quick commercial break on the other side. We'll be joined by Eric Wesson the young solicitor general of the great state of Iowa to drill down a little deeper on the case for Attorney General Todd Blanc. I think he's a great nominee and why I think Eric Wesson thinks he's nominee as well. Folks, we can go to a quick break on the other side. Stay with us. For Eric Wesson.
- [12:42]
Hillsdale College Narrator
For nearly 3,000 years, Homer's the Odyssey has shaped Western imagination. It tells the story of Odysseus as he faces monsters, shipwrecks, false comforts and impossible choices on his long journey home. As one of the foundational works of Western literature, Homer's epic is more than mythology. It explores permanent questions about courage, duty, loyalty, family, leadership, temptation, and the search for home. In one of the epic's defining moments, Odysseus rejects the offer of immortality from the goddess Calypso, choosing instead the long and difficult journey home. His decision reveals one of the central themes of the Odyssey, that a life of duty, family and home is greater than a life devoted to comfort or glory. Achilles chose glory. Odysseus chose home. That's why Hillsdale College has released its newest free online course, the Odyssey, taught by Professor Benedict Whelan. The course reveals why Homer's masterpiece remains one of the greatest works of Western literature. Find this free course at Hillsdale edustartnow the Odyssey from Hillsdale College. Go to hillsdale. Edu Start now.
- [13:45]
Josh Hammer
Welcome back. So it's an action packed show. Lots going on. We want to drill in a little bit deeper on the Todd Blanche confirmation hearing going on in Washington today. And we want to bring on today's guest or the first of two guests for today. And that is an old friend of mine, that is Eric Wesson. Eric Wesson is the solicitor General for the great state of Iowa where he works, one of the great attorney generals in the country, Brennan Byrd. And Eric joins us now. So, Eric, welcome to the Josh Hammer Show. We really do appreciate it. You've been very outspoken. Well, about a lot of things. You have a very active social media. If you can go ahead and follow Eric on X West 92. But you've been very outspoken as well, Eric, on why Todd Blanche is going to be an excellent Attorney General of the United States. Explain to us the basic argument as to why you feel that way and why you think he will be great for President Trump and also just for the whole country at large.
- [14:33]
Eric Wesson
Absolutely. And first off, thank you for having me. Longtime listener, first time caller. But what it boils down to with Acting Attorney General Blanche is he has the resume for the job I was actually had the hearing on, on the background before we decided to pop over here. And Senator Kennedy had a great exchange going through his resume, going through his background working in doj, working in private practice. But I think one aspect of these jobs and similar for judges that's really important is courage. And at the time, Blanche was a partner at a successful practice in big law in New York City. And he was told by his law firm that defending the former president from the first ever political prosecution by a sitting president of his opponent, that's when Biden was going after President Trump. He would have to pick his job or he'd have to pick sticking to his principles, sticking to his client and defending at the time the highly risky proposition of not yet President Trump again. And what he chose to do was to put his career on the line, to put his life on the line and was to defend President Trump. That took moral courage. And that plus his background, plus all of the good that he's done as first Deputy Attorney General, which is an important job in its own right, but also all of the work he's done. We have the lowest murder rate in the country standing up for the first time an independent fraud division within doj. I could go on and on. He has been doing fantastic work and he's going to be a great Attorney General.
- [16:07]
Josh Hammer
Eric Wesson is the Solicitor General of Iowa. You can follow him on his very lively x feed at E West 92. Eric, I totally agree with you on basically everything that you just said. It's not just his moral courage that he demonstrated when he defended President Trump, which is a huge, huge feather in his cap. He also was a prosecutor at SE himself in New York State and he was Pam Bondi's deputy. So he's already run this whole department essentially on a day to day basis. Nonetheless, Eric, as you've been been pointing out, there are at least some parts of the broader right, albeit a little bit more at the level of punditry than more at the elected official level. Although I guess we'll see how the vote actually shakes out. But there have been some parts of the movement who are not on board with Todd Blanche. These are especially the, shall we say, pre2016, pre Trump status quo, anti Republican establishment types. Tell us more about what you're seeing in that neck of the woods, some of the pushback and why you think that pushback is ultimately misguided.
- [17:02]
Eric Wesson
Absolutely. First, I think it's important to highlight the broad support that Blanche has across the conservative spectrum. The largest and most Groups of law enforcement officers across the country, 23 Republicans, attorney general, led by the Republican Attorney General, Chairman Austin Knudsen in Montana, and of course, Attorney General Byrd. But we are looking down the line at a cross section of lawyers, non lawyers, people whose lives are touched by the rule of law and justice that have been coming out all over for Blanche. And that's why it was disappointing and I would actually say a little shocking to see that the National Review publication, of which I'm a subscriber, published an editorial taking an editorial position against Todd Blanche. And what it boils down to is, in this agency that employs tens of thousands of people taking hundreds or thousands of actions every day, facing the largest onslaught against any presidential administration in history, they cherry picked three or four things they didn't like and used that as justification to oppose his entire candidacy for Attorney General. Look, there is no one in government that I could say I agree with 100% of the time, Todd Blanche included. And I'm sure if I were to look, I could find 3 or 4 or 10 or maybe even 100 things I disagree with. But when we're talking about the sheer scale of the department and what he's doing and the structural reforms that he's putting in place, making sure that for the first time in a long time, the Department of Justice is committed to rule of law, is committed to prosecuting criminals, is committed to deporting illegals. These are all vital roles that he's doing. And these structural reforms far outweigh a case here or a case there. And it was very disappointing to see that National Review, among others, take that institutional position.
- [18:53]
Josh Hammer
You know, Eric, it's funny. I think a lot of folks have a misconception as to what the Attorney General of the United States is, who he is and what he actually does, a lot of folks complain, they cavil that the Attorney General acts as the President's henchmen. They talk about this notion of a, quote, unquote, independent Attorney general. And of course, as you and I know, there's no such thing. It is constitutionally illiterate to suggest as much. In fact, as a court just ruled in the Slaughter case, there is indeed one executive branch, there is one man who wields executive power, and it's the President of the United States. I actually wrote an op ed back in 2020 for the Los Angeles Times defending then Attorney General Bill Barr on these exact grounds. You had a lot of leftists back then say, oh, he's just acting as President Trump's personal henchman. And I object to that phrase, that nomenclature of henchmen. But the essential description of the role is more or less correct. The attorney general, the lawyer, works for the president and certainly not the other way around. Eric, on this show we've been big supporters of this doj. In fact, a lot of my colleagues are very critical of Pam Bondi over the Epstein files and all that. I typically have defended Pam Bondi. I think that she actually did a typically wonderful job. And Sergeant John, you alluded to the fact that we have the lowest homicide rate in this country going back since the William McKinley administration. Goodness sake, and in 1900. There's too many other examples, frankly, to count the National Guard getting crime down in Memphis, Washington, D.C. i could go on and on. You are the solicitor General of a state that has become a very prominent red state, working for a major attorney general there in Brennan. Bird, how is your view more generally of this DOJ in this second Trump term? And what would you like to see from Attorney General Todd Blanche once he gets confirmed?
- [20:29]
Eric Wesson
Yeah, I think that's a great question. A lot of the defenses I've seen of Blanche come from people in and around D.C. which makes sense. That's where a lot of the government lawyers are. We have a little bit of a different view out here in the middle of the country. And what I can say is we have seen unprecedented cooperation working together. There are federal priorities, there are state priorities, and DOJ has been responsive. They listen. When we have problems, we can pick up the phone and they will answer. And that is so important and is such a sea change from under President Biden when, for example, we were trying to find we had actual knowledge that we had noncitizen voters on our voter rolls. They confirmed that that was right and then they wouldn't tell us who they were. And to go from that to now having active cooperation to making sure that if we have criminality going on here in Iowa, that we can get support and additional resources is huge. And it really there, as you said, the attorney general has an important role. The executive power, which is what that Slaughter case said is held in the president, is the power to execute the law. And oftentimes the folks executing that law are the people in doj. So giving the attorney general the authority by confirming him to do his job is just extremely important. And I also want to note, you use the henchman accusation, which I've heard a couple times. Well, Eric Holder said that he was President Obama's wingman.
- [22:03]
Josh Hammer
That's right.
- [22:04]
Eric Wesson
Robert F. Kennedy Sr. Was John F. Kennedy, the president's brother. And I believe there was also a former attorney general that was a law partner of the president before the president was elected. It is not unusual to have the president pick a lawyer that he knows and trusts to be attorney general and to try to make that into something nefarious. It just shows that there's really no arrows left in the quiver. They're raising things that don't even make sense anymore.
- [22:30]
Josh Hammer
Yeah. And to reiterate a point that we said here in today's opening monologue, President Trump deserves a loyalist in the position of attorney general maybe more than any position in the country. He has been burned time and time again from his dojs. I'm not accusing Pam Bonnie of that, but really I'm talking mostly about his first term, all the depravity of the deep state, the Russia collusion and all that. So he really deserves someone who is not just studious and not just dedicated and diligent, someone who actually really is personally loyal. And I think Todd Blanch fits that in spade. So, Eric, unfortunately, we are just about out of time for a conversation. We'd love to have you back soon. So again, you can follow Eric Wesson on X West 92. He is a prolific tweeter on all things legal. Related. One of our go to sources of information here on the Josh Hammer show when it comes to all the cases, controversies throughout America. Go ahead and give him a follow. Eric, you're doing great work out there on the Hawkeye State. Send our best to the attorney general, Brennan Byrd as well, if you will.
- [23:23]
Eric Wesson
Thank you for having me.
- [23:25]
Josh Hammer
You bet. Of course. Folks, are going to go to a quick commercial break on the OTHER side. Lee Smith will join us to talk about our other big topic today, which is the escalation yet again with Iran. We're going to a quick break. Lee Smith joins on the OTHER side.
- [23:37]
Hillsdale College Narrator
For nearly 3,000 years, Homer's the Odyssey has shaped Western imagination. It tells the story of Odysseus as he faces monsters, shipwrecks, false comforts and impossible choices on his long journey home. As one of the foundational works of Western literature, Homer's epic is more than mythology. It explores permanent questions about courage, duty, loyalty, family, leadership, temptation and the search for home. In one of the epic's defining moments, Odysseus rejects the offer of immortality from the goddess Calypso, choosing instead the long and difficult journey home. His decision reveals one of the central themes of the Odyssey, that a life of duty, family and home is greater than a life devoted to comfort or glory. Achilles chose glory. Odysseus chose home. That's why Hillsdale College has released its newest free online course, the Odyssey, taught by Professor Benedict Whelan. The course reveals why Homer's masterpiece remains one of the greatest works of Western literature. Find this free course at Hillsdale edustartnow. The Odyssey from Hillsdale College. Go to Hillsdale edustartnow.
- [24:41]
Josh Hammer
Welcome back. So there's plenty happening in the world. It's not just the top blanche confirmation hearing today. And the war with Iran is escalating yet again, as we already noted. And we want to bring back on Lee Smith to join us to talk about it. Lee Smith, you probably know him by now. He is a bestselling author, tablet magazine columnist, prolific thinker, a man who is very rarely, if ever, wrong. And that's why he joined us today to give us his pearls of wisdom. So, Lee, we always welcome your presence here on the Josh Hammer Show. I want to drill down on the topic of Iran. It's been a little schizophrenically, and we've used that word among some other colorful words. It's been a little hard to figure out exactly what this administration is doing at times when it comes to Iran. The April 8th ceasefire was highly premature in my judgment. There was this back and forth shell diplomacy with JD Vance going to Pakistan and then this MoU in Switzerland that frankly was, well, it was pretty awful. It looked a lot like the JCPOA back during Barack Obama. Now we're at full scale war, it seems. Again. So before we get into specifics, what's your general lay of the land as to this schizophrenic bit of whiplash when it comes to Iran policy?
- [25:48]
Lee Smith
Well, you're right, it looks haphazard and chaotic. And the reason for that is because the president has not made the decision to win the and the only way forward is to take the Strait of Hormuz by force. That's where we are right now. And that's why Vance was given the job of going off and trying to make a deal with the Iranians, which never was going to happen. And so it's just what they've done instead. What the administration has done instead is they've lashed out at allies, domestic allies like Ted Cruz, like Mark Levin. They've lashed out at wartime ally Israel. And it just looks and they go back and forth. The president says, oh, we're going to charge 20% toll on cargo to offset the cost to American taxpayers. Well, I mean, look, that has Been the arrangement for 80 years. The United States ensures the free flow of oil through the Gulf in exchange for tribute. And not just from the Gulf states. But this is one of the reasons why the United States is the global superpower, because we protect global shipping lanes, including quite crucially, the Strait of Hormu. So that's why it looks haphazard, because they're trying everything else before realizing that the only answer is to take the straight up Hormuz by force.
- [27:10]
Josh Hammer
So it's interesting, Lee, that you focus on horror Moose. And again, folks, you can follow Lee Smith on X at LeesmithDC, Tablet magazine columnist, best selling author, among other hats that he wears. So is Hormuz really the be all, end all here, Lee? Because the way that it's been framed by the administration, and admittedly I've been very candid on the show, I don't think the administration has done a great job of actually articulating and framing what our exact goals are in this operation. But you hear the President talk a lot about the nuclear issue. So the nuclear issue is always hovering there in the background. But does this thing really boil down to Hormuz? In other words, if Hormuz is actually genuinely open, if it's actually free flowing, all the ships can flow through, Is that a sustainable, viable off ramp to actually conclude that this operation is successful? Or do we need to see more than that when it comes to the nuclear issue, the ballistic missile issue and so forth?
- [27:59]
Lee Smith
Well, that's the most important thing to get done immediately because remember, the reason that preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapons program has always been, not always, but for decades now, has been a vital American interest is not to protect Israel, but to protect those shipping lanes. Right? Because the idea of the Iranians having a bomb and then using it or threatening to use it to close the Strait of Hormuz would destabilize global energy markets. And that is a real threat to our peace and prosperity. So first the strait must be taken and then, right, we still have to deal with. And you see this, the President says, oh, well, you know, we're going to get the nuclear dust. The HEU is really important. And then the vice president, well, yeah, sure, it's really important, but we can just bomb stuff and make sure that the Iranians never have access to it. So again, this is more of like leaving Americans with their heads spinning. What are they going to do? What is the plan here? And again, it has to start. The most crucial thing is, and naturally the Pentagon went into the war knowing, because The Pentagon has been gaming this out for many decades. Right. What happens if the Iranians close the Strait of Hormuz? Right. We know for certain that the Pentagon went into war with that understanding. Did the President, did the people who were responsible for making foreign policy, did they anticipate that as well? What were the plans? Did they brush off those warnings? So there's a lot of very serious questions that remain to be asked to understand exactly the decision making and the strategy that went into the making of this war. But right now, again, the key fact is taking the Strait of Hormuz by force. If not, there's two other choices. You can continue to exchange tit for tat fire with the Iranians forever, and that wind, and that turns into what Trump calls a forever war. And that's what the Middle east wars were. Right? It wasn't about building democracy in the Middle east or other stupid things like that. Those were all effects, effects of American policymakers not deciding to win. That's what happens. You get into tit for tat fire. It never ends. There's no conclusion. There's no determination to win. So that's one choice. The other choice is the president could go down in history as the commander in chief who collapsed a key American security pillar, and that is losing control of the Strait of Hormuz. Or he has to decide to when?
- [30:34]
Josh Hammer
Now, I find it very hard to believe, essentially impossible to believe, Lee, that this was not anticipated. Essentially, every war game that's been conducted between the United States and Iran for the past 47 years begins with Iran closing the Strait. That that is essentially their first move in every war game that I am familiar with. So I'm sure they saw this coming. Which I guess raises the obvious question as to why, if we saw this coming, why has it been such a struggle? And I guess the corollary to that is, is now the time. Do you believe where the administration is going to be truly, truly serious about getting to that result and actually having an open strait? And then I guess on top of that, is there a timeline, you think that is realistic for that to actually happen?
- [31:14]
Lee Smith
I mean, there's no evidence right now that they've gotten serious about it. Again, we keep seeing the President saying, well, we could do this, we could take Argyll and we could do this, we could do that. But I'd rather do that. Or maybe we really have to bomb them really hard to convince them to negotiate seriously. I mean, this is just absurdity heard, right? This is the convention of escalate to de escalate we heard this during the Obama years and during the Joe Biden years, but it obviously doesn't work. The Iranians have absorbed very serious blows, and they are as determined as ever. What they've proven since June 25th is that they can absorb a lot of punishment, and they will absorb a lot of punishment, believe me. I think it's important to keep killing as many IRGC officials as possible. That's a very good thing. But look, the center of gravity is and has been for decades, the Strait of Hormuz. That's Iran's center of gravity. And insofar as the United States refuses to take action to attack them in the center of gravity, we're going to see the same thing, and it'll be people spinning out of control again. One part of the administration saying one thing, another part saying another thing, and none of it making sense. And look, the president had a lot of support for this war from his supporters going in. Trump voters supported his war against Iran overwhelmingly. What's gonna happen now as it looks like the President is not taking decisive steps to win? I mean, you know, will Americans just. Will Trump voters just go, yeah, well, whatever, as long as he's bombing Iran, I don't care. Or are they just gonna get sick and tired of it and say, what is going on at the White House? I suspect it's gonna be more like the latter. People are gonna start asking, what is going on? What's the decision making? To what end?
- [32:57]
Josh Hammer
I think a follow up to that, Lee, and one that we've teased a little bit here on the show. I'd love your thoughts as well. Just about a minute left before we have to conclude our conversation, but we talked a little bit on the domestic implications of this botched MOU diplomacy as well. And I think the most obvious question is, what does it mean for Vice President J.D. vance? He was the face of this. He was the entire face of this. Rubio, Hegseth, they were nowhere to be seen. Vance owned this, and it seemingly has blown up in the administration's face pretty quickly. What do you think this means for his potential 20, 28 run? Does it matter? Maybe it doesn't matter. What do you think?
- [33:27]
Lee Smith
Yeah, no, it's okay to lose, but it depends if you're a good winner or if you're a sore loser. And frankly, the idea. This comms apparatus was screaming at people like Ted Cruz, Mark Levin, and every Trump voter who showed up on social media. And there were these goons, you know, the White House's external communications apparatus just attacking people left and right. I mean, no, that's vicious and that's gonna cause problem for them. And of course we see right now that Vance's camp is messaging. Oh, well, you know, J.D. never really took the MOU that seriously. He thought he might not be able to get it. So what was the purpose then? He just went around stomping on people's feet and hands as a performative act to show that he was gonna be the guy who really opposed the neocons war for Israel. No, I mean, you don't have to take, you don't have to take a loss if you fail at negotiations. But if you go around and spitting at everyone in the face, yeah, you're gonna take a loss and you're gonna make a mess.
- [34:27]
Josh Hammer
Yeah, no, totally. As only Lee Smith can say it, folks. Follow Lee Smith on xmithdc all round. Great commentator. Give us your pearls of wisdom as they come, Lee. We always appreciate it. Have a great day and thanks for joining. As always, my friend.
- [34:38]
Lee Smith
Thanks to you, Josh.
- [34:39]
Josh Hammer
Folks, we go to one final break. We'll be right back with more on the other side.
- [34:42]
Hillsdale College Narrator
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- [35:47]
Josh Hammer
Welcome back. So great stuff from both of our guests today. Eric Wesson, the Solicitor General of Iowa, and Lee Smith, TAB magazine senior columnist and best selling author. I wonder to go back to the Todd Blanche issue just briefly. And then we have some other things including the revival of DEI to get to in today's show as well. A brief note on Todd Blanche if you watched the hearing this morning, you saw some pushback from some senators, Josh Hawley, Missouri chief among them. And I love Josh Hawley, one of my favorite senators. But you see them pushing him on the issue of mifepristone. Mifepristone is an abortion pill. It is horrific. It is absolutely horrific. It is the number one source of death for unborn children in America today, today. And I don't mince words. I mean death, we're not going to use euphemisms here. This is a death pill. What happened is a little complicated. The Biden era fda, the Biden era Food and Drug Administration loosened the regulations on the distribution of mifepristone. This is one of their ways to try to circumvent the Dobbs decision, the one that overturned Roe versus Wade. What the Biden FDA ruled was that you could get mifepristone through the males in telemedicine, as we refer to it, without having to go to an in person provider. What that means is that if you live in a pro life state, a red state, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, et cetera, you could get telemedicine and the abortion will ship to you from a blue state like California or New York or elsewhere. And there's all sorts of reasons why this is actually illegal under a 19th century statute called the Comstock act, which what Justice Clarence Thomas actually wrote about in a recent Supreme Court hearing. But mark the point, it's gravely, gravely immoral. So a lot of strong pro lifers are encouraging the Attorney General to find a way around this. The issue is that for some very in the weeds legal, procedural reasons that I wrote about in a somewhat legally dense, admittedly op ed for Newsweek earlier this week. Go ahead and check it out. It's very difficult for the attorney General to actually do this. His hands, in other words, are tied by a dubious precedent in the U.S. court Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the court that presides over Louisiana, which is the litigating state. The better course of action, the more prudent course of action is to allow the Trump fda, which has already commenced a review of the Biden era FDA rule. The better course of action is to let the Trump FDA try to just undo the Biden FDA rule the old fashioned way, the way that administrative rules dictate these sorts of things should be undone. It's a little legally complicated in the weeds stuff. My deep, deep sympathies are with Senator Hawley, are with some of the major pro life organizations. Those who are calling on Attorney General Todd Blanche to settle this question quickly. My contention, putting on my legal cap, is that it's actually procedurally a little bit more complicated than that. The good news is that the Trump fda, from what I can tell, is already doing the right thing. They've already commenced a safety review. They've commenced the formal review process to try to overturn the Biden FDA rule on mifepristone, God willing, for the sake of unborn children everywhere, God will that proceeds post haste. And the Biden rule ultimately meets the issue of history where it very, very much belongs. Meanwhile, though the the issue of dei, its death might have been exaggerated, many of us, myself included, were championing the the death or seeming death of dei. Donald Trump had this amazing and yes, it was absolutely amazing executive order that he signed the very first day in office, January 20, 2025, probably the most consequential of all of his executive order orders. It was the executive order that in many ways seemed to win the culture war by essentially abolishing DEI not just in public America, but also in private America by ruling that discrimination on basis of race under DEI is illegal, which it is under the Civil Rights act of 1964 and also illegal under the Supreme Court's affirmative action decision, Harvard versus Students Affair admission in 2023. But there was a hearing on Capitol Hill just yesterday, yesterday that seemed to indicate that maybe, just maybe, to paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumors of the death of Di have been exaggerated, unfortunately, perhaps even by yours truly on today's show. So let's begin with this. One of our favorite congressmen here on the show, Brandon Gill. Well, he was front and center at this hearing. He was, Brandon Gill, talking to Inez Felcher Steadman, longtime friend, former colleague of mine, actually, about the way that DEI discriminates against certain people when it comes to university missions. Here was Congressman Brendan Gill. Under DEI regimes, what races do colleges
- [40:26]
Eric Wesson
and universities typically least prefer in their admissions processes?
- [40:32]
Grainger Announcer
White men, Asians. Men is not a race, obviously, but there actually might be some, a little bit of reverse discrimination actually going against women now because women so predominate on universities. But yes, whites and Asians primarily.
- [40:44]
Eric Wesson
Why do you think that it's primarily those groups?
- [40:48]
Grainger Announcer
Because they're in a war with the reality of the these disparities. So if you want to have a quota that comes out perfectly racially balanced at the end, the only way that these universities have been able to achieve that is by discriminating on the basis of race and sex in their admissions.
- [41:05]
Josh Hammer
So this ties into another DOJ adjacent or really in this case, DOJ centric policy. Recently the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel under acting Attorney, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch, the OLC division issued a fantastic opinion opinion whereby they rule that so called disparate impact, which is exactly what Inez is talking about there with Congressman Gill. Disparate impact is the notion that you take the percentage of America by, let's call it race, it doesn't matter, let's call it by race, white, black, Hispanic, et cetera. You take that and you say that that should be the outcome when it comes to employment decisions in every company. You try to manufacture an outcome based on, on the percentages of the population at large. And then if you have a company, let's call it Apple or Google for instance, that happens, just happens to try to hire qualified candidates and they get a lower percentage of the black population in the nation at large. They say, oh, it's disparate impact. Oh, that's actually bad. This recent OLC opinion from the Todd Blanch over on doj, an opinion presided over by the head of the olc, my old friend Elliot Geiser. Wonderful opinion. And they said disparate impact actually is, well, illegal. Why? Well, the same reason that di is illegal. It all flouts the race neutral Constitution. It all flouts that, yes, our Constitution is colorblind. The Washington Post, which is continues to be just an utter rag in their new section, their opposite section actually trending in an interesting direction. But they had a fascinating and utterly hilarious headline the other day saying that this notion that the Constitution is colorblind is. It was a once obscure notion is what they said and now it is. It is more pervasive, perhaps even ubiquitous. I agree that it was once obscure that the Constitution was colorblind. You know, we called that, we called that slavery. We call that Jim Crow. Yeah, it actually was once obscure that the Constitution was colorblind. Horrific things happen. Happened. Horrible. We've moved past that at least many of us have. The left. The DEI cartel, everyone from the university bureaucrats up to and including Katanj, Brown, Jackson on the U.S. supreme Court, they have not moved beyond that. And that is to their great legal loss as well as to their grave moral loss. Here's another bit of of yesterday's hearing on dei. So you had Congresswoman Mary Miller actually, who was getting into it as well with Dr. Sam Hoggood, Chancellor of the University of California in San Francisco, who said, says that men can still get pregnant. Here's another clip from yesterday's hearing on Capitol Hill. Dr. Haygood, UC UCSF's classroom guide titled Framework for Gender and Sex Concepts in Teaching advises against using the term pregnant women. Instead, it says to use pregnant people who are pregnant people compared to pregnant women.
- [44:03]
John Turley
Just curious.
- [44:04]
Grainger Announcer
Curious.
- [44:05]
Donald Trump
So that is a part of a curriculum to help our students who are
- [44:09]
John Turley
facing a wide diversity of patients.
- [44:12]
Donald Trump
Of course, the vast majority of pregnancies are in women.
- [44:16]
John Turley
And I have absolutely no problem with using the word pregnant women. I use it myself.
- [44:21]
Josh Hammer
Has a non biological woman ever had a baby?
- [44:25]
Donald Trump
A transgender person can.
- [44:28]
Josh Hammer
That's not a biological woman. Has a non biological biological woman ever had a baby?
- [44:33]
John Turley
I would reiterate, we take care of transgender patients.
- [44:37]
Josh Hammer
Dr. Okay, so this is just a fight with the English language itself. That is, that is all this is. I think back to the short two page concurrence that Clarence Thomas recently wrote in the transgender athletes case. This was a case combined out of Idaho and West Virginia that happens in the final week of the court term just a few weeks ago, ago now. And Clarence Thomas said that this is a lie and that we do the public a disservice when we lie about the English language, when we lie about reality. Interestingly, all nine justices on the US Supreme Court, including Ketanji Brown Jackson, a woman who told Marsha Blackburn at her own confirmation hearing that she couldn't define what a woman is. Interestingly, even Justice Jackson said that the relevant statue title not allows for opposite biological sex athletic competition. We are winning this war. We in the side of civilizational society are winning the war on dei. It just might be taking a little longer than we thought. Hopefully this DOJ moving forward under Todd Blanche and all the other park administration, continue to fight this good fight with the aim of victory in this most important culture wars. Folks, have a great rest of your evening. Josh Hemmer signing off. We'll be right back. As always, tomorrow.
- [45:57]
Grainger Announcer
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