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Erin Malan
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Feel like yourself again? Visit musely.com podcast and use code podcast25 for 25% off your first order. Muesli look good live better Foreign. I'm Josh Hammer and this is Josh Hammer show well, I am off to CPAC today. Just another reminder that if you're going to be at CPAC in the Dallas Fort Worth area tomorrow, make sure to come find me at the Gaylord Texan. I'll be giving a speech in the afternoon and I am looking forward to suffice it to say it's going to be a spicy one. I'm hoping and expecting that it will make some waves. Two great guests for you on today's show. We have Jason Greenblatt, the former White House envoy for Middle east affairs. Jason was heavily involved in the Abraham Accords peace process back during the Trump 45 administration. Also joining us later in the show will be Erin Malan, our colleague at Salem Media, my colleague on the Salem Podcast Network and Salem News Channel, who Erin joins us from from Sydney, Australia. And she is an incisive commentator on all things related not just to her own country, but also to our politics here in the United States. Looking forward very much to those two conversations. But for now I want to begin this so the shutdown continues. Unfortunately, Democrats continue to play politics with your airport security, with your airport convenience, really, with all things travel related. Not a particularly good time to be playing politics with all things air travel and airport related, not just because there was this horrific tragedy at LaGuardia Airport a few nights ago. This Air Canada regional jet, apparently due to the error of the air traffic control tower just ramming into the fire truck, two pilots tragically lost their lives. But these stories of standing in line for hours and hours at TSA security, not a good time, guys, last I checked, is actually a very, very bad time of the year. In fact, outside of Christmas and New Year's, I'm not entirely sure there's a worse time of the year, frankly, to be playing politics than now when it comes to Easter Sunday, when it comes to the extended spring break season in general, lots of families trying to go on vacation. You have Easter coming up. You have Passover coming up for my Jewish co religionist is a very, very, very bad time to be playing politics there. Marquay Mullen is now in as the Secretary of Homeland Security. All sorts of rumors swirling as to what kind of deal Donald Trump and this White House might offer. There's all sorts of rumors as to whether or not Trump is willing to concede on some sort of funding removal for ice. I've heard rumors of $5 billion. They'll take it out of ice prospectively, not retrospectively, obviously, or not at the current funding levels, because the current funding is largely traced back to the one big beautiful bill we're talking here. All about future additions and removals from the relative baseline there. I don't really see, frankly, a need to play that sort of game with Democrats. This is the Democrat Shutdown. This is 1,000% the Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffrey shutdown. And those ads really ought to reflect that. When it comes to those i85 corridor ads going into Hartsfield Jackson Airport, you're trying to catch a Delta flight out of Atlanta, Georgia, you better see some ad. You really better see some ad. I'm speaking here directly to the rnc, nric, nrcc, all those guys. You better see some ads saying, this is John Offseff's shutdown. Really. John Fetterman, most recently, the most recent votes this past weekend that the Senate was working the whole weekend to try to vote on the Safe America act and various amendments and bills there. Fetterman, out of Pennsylvania, was the only Senate Democrat, literally the only one to vote to fully fund ICE and DHS in its entirety there. So if you are a Senate Democrat and your name is not John Fetterman, you, you better be freaking blasted. Blasted from the hilltops when it comes to your despicable votes to try to dramatically inconvenience and dare I say, to potentially even make less safe, to make less safe your fellow American travelers at a time where they will be traveling a lot. And by the way, Donald Trump, Tom Homan, and now Mark McMullen deploying some ICE agents to airports, select airports across the country, some major airports, Chicago, Phoenix, Philadelphia, New York City, etcetera, Trying to improve security of the airports there are. And then when they do that, the Democrats then have the temerity, the chutzpah to say, oh, my God, Donald Trump's jackboots is fascist. Or not. Just knocking on your doors now. Now they're coming to the airport as well. So it's really just, just horrific stuff. But before we get to our guests, Today, later in the show, Jason Greenblatt and Erin Milan. I want to spend the remaining of our opening monologue today exploring what is a crucial question that I think will be something of a leitmotif of my conversation with both Jason Aaron, which is this, what exactly is an ally? And we are asking this question in the overarching context of the war in Iran, of this US Israel joint by national operation that has been going on now for almost a month. So in just three days, it will be one month since Ali Khamenei himself was actually killed. And it's really never been more relevant to try to think a little bit more deeper, a little bit more clearly as to what exactly is an ally, because it is a question that a lot of people seem to just dramatically flunk. So I want to explore that. But before we do so, just a quick word from our sponsor for today's show, which is Balance of Nature. You know, I think nutrition has gotten way too complicated. Every week there is a new powder, a new lab created formula, some new breakthrough. But here's the truth we've been told since we were kids to eat our fruits and vegetables. Nobody really explained why when you eat whole foods, you're eating phytonutrients, those natural compounds your body uses to adjust, repair and respond every single day. That's not hype. That's how we were designed. That's why I take Balance of Nature. They use a tailored vacuum cold process that stabilizes the phytonutrition in fruits and veggies. So you're getting real whole food nutrition, not synthetic substitutes. Their whole health system includes fruits and veggies plus fiber and spice, 47 ingredients in one simple routine. I take it myself. If you want to fight the good fight, go to balanceofnature.com to subscribe and save today. Join hundreds of thousands of customers in one simple routine that's changing the world. Again, folks, that's balanceofnature.com you can go ahead and subscribe today. So what is an ally? It is a question that a lot of folks just don't seem to have a particularly compelling answer to. So I've said this in the show before, but I was in D.C. to speak at the National Conservatism Conference this past September. And while I was there, I had a U.S. senate office reach out to me and a certain senator who I will not name because it was a private conversation and it was all private, off record, et cetera. A certain senator had read my book that came out last year and liked the book and want to discuss the specific country of Israel and the broader question of how the right is grappling with US's relations. All this was happening before, by the way, the end of the war, the kind of sort of end of the war in Gaza, which happened two years effectively to the day on October 7, 2025, as well as the commencement of the new war in Iran. So this conversation took place before all that. But what I said to the sender was taking it out of the specific context of US Israel issue, talking more just about global affairs, geopolitics, thinking just about how countries interact with one another more generally. What I said to the senator was this is that, Senator, I will propose to you a very, very simple test. You might call this actually a heuristic. Here is a very simple heuristic for how you go about assessing whether a foreign country is an ally or is not. And I said, Senator, an ally is a country that when that country acts in its own national interest, as any country should, by the way, every single country, the whole reason you are a nation is because you want to elect leaders, statesmen, politicians, et cetera, who will actually act in their own parochial national interest. That is one of the fundamental purposes of a nation state, why we have a nation state system, why we are still living in this Treaty of Westphalia world in this post 1648 milieu. So I said, okay, think about this. If a country acts in its own national interest, as any country worth the name ought to do, then that country is an ally, that country is an ally. If when they act in their own national interest, that it redounds, it redounds to the American national interest as a secondary or tertiary effect. In other words, if any other country, let's say it's Britain, France, Germany, Israel, the uae, Japan, South Korea, India, whatever, if they act in a way, and that country when they take their action in an action that is Britain first, France first, Israel first, India first, Japan first, whatever, and then that has the effect of emboldening and increasing America's geopolitical posture, increasing our security and better securing the American way of life in this 21st century, that's an ally. That is a quick and dirty heuristic, a very quick thumbs up, thumbs down way to try to assess and analyze whether that country is an ally. And what I would submit to you is that over the past month of this war, over the past month of this war, based on that metric, Israel has established itself as a pretty clear ally. We hear that from President Trump, we Hear that from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who, standing alongside the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Raisin Cain has now said countless times since this war commenced that Israel has been a force multiplier. He's referred to the Israeli Air Force as the second most powerful air force in the world after the United States Air Force. Maybe that's true, maybe it's not. But it's what the Secretary of War says. They approve themselves to be an ally on this metric, which to me is the most straightforward way of assessing whether a country is an ally. I say all that as something of a heuristic to file in the back of your mind, because what I'm really focused on right now is the battle for the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz is this crucial 21 mile choke point through which one fifth of the world's oil flows has been on the epicenter of Donald Trump's interest for the past week or so. As the US Military started to clear out some of these mine laying ships from the Iranian navy, most of which is sunk, the navy is typically just at the bottom of the ocean at this point. The Iran Navy was born in the 1990s and it has largely died in 2026. But to the extent it still exists, they've been laying some mines. The US has been largely trying to get rid of some of those, some of those mines. There's now a new report out of the Times, which is a British newspaper based in London, that the British Navy will lead. This is all based on this British newspaper reporting. Well, now lead was referred to as a Hormuz coalition, a Hormuz coalition to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. According to the Times of London, the British Navy will lead this coalition and will deploy mine clearing capabilities through their navy alongside both the United States and France. Now, on last Friday's show, we went really hard after NATO and we explains how, according to its current mission statement, and I don't really even know what the current mission is actually for NATO, which is a problem in and of itself, they don't really seem to be living up to the task because these European countries, UK, France, Germany, Italy, etc. There, here is the big daddy, here is the United States literally at war and at war against a country, Iran, that just showed this past weekend that they can hit every single European continental capital, probably every single one really. They just show that with these failed missile strikes at Diego Garcia, this US UK joint military base in the middle of the Indian Ocean, there they failed, thank God, to actually hit the base that's two and a half thousand miles away. The so called experts didn't think Iran could actually send missiles that far. Guess what? They can. Which means that Berlin is at risk. Vienna, Prague, Rome, all these cities are at risk. Paris, Brussels, you name it. London's probably at risk too. So are the Europeans finally going to join us in this endeavor? For that matter, are the Arab countries? Apparently Mohammed bin Salman is telling Dontran behind the scenes to keep on pounding Iran. Is he going to go ahead and actually publicly commit Saudi assets to the joint American Israeli campaign? What a statement. That would be the Emirati. Same question there. So just a lot of moving parts here. But for now, folks, as we head into our conversations, I want you to bear that in mind. An ally is a country that when they act in their country's interest, the American national interest is improved and emboldened as a result of that. I think it's a very simple and a very effective heuristic to discern whether or not a country is an ally.
- [12:28]
Commercial Announcer
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- [13:30]
Josh Hammer
so to continue our conversation on how all things are happening in the Middle East, Operation Epic Fury and Beyond is a man who knows a thing or two about that, and that is Jason Greenblatt. Jason Greenblatt worked in the Trump 45 White House. He was a Middle east envoy man who was very involved in the Abraham Accords during the first Trump term and has has known Donald Trump as well in a personal capacity for a very long time. So Jason Greenblatt Known you for many years now. Great to reconnect here. We really appreciate you joining the Josh Hammer Show. I want to start on the issue of Iran, Jason. Then we'll talk a little bit about the Gulf, which is very much an area of expertise for you. More generally, a lot of folks have looked at the prosecution of this war, which is going on almost a month now between the United States and Israel against the Iranian regime. And you have some folks who are saying, oh, Donald Trump is selling out, or he gave in to the establishment, to D.C. the beltway, to this, the, that he campaigned on. No forever wars. Now he's starting a new forever war. But what I've been arguing on the show for a month now is that Donald Trump has a very consistent track record for a very long time when it comes to the issue of Iran. You've actually known him for a very, very long time there. I was hoping you could just speak on that when it comes to President Trump and Iran.
- [14:43]
Jason Greenblatt
Sure. Great to be on your show. Great to see you. So, look, it's no secret Trump has been against the Iranian regime and their desire to have a nuclear weapon and the jcpoa, the terrible JCPOA for so long now. I find it comical that people are trying to talk against him. And it comes from different camps. Right. There's the people who hate Trump, so anything he does, no matter how good it is, they're never going to acknowledge it. There are people that are accusing him of us getting into a forever war through President Trump, which is ridiculous because they were saying it on the very first day of the war. You can't talk about a forever war when it's the first day of the war. So you can understand where they're coming from. There are people who thought that they had control of maga, which they don't. There are people who just don't understand the issue. They put their heads in the sand and they pretend that the Iranian regime, forget that it's a huge threat to Israel and forget that it's a huge threat to our Gulf Arab allies. It's a big threat to the United States of America, and it's certainly a threat to Europe, as Europe is finding out now.
- [15:33]
Josh Hammer
Yeah. And the Europeans are finding out the hard way. Very much real time as this attempted shelling of Diego Garcia, this military base 2 1/2 thousand miles from Tehran. I think the Europeans are figuring out in very real time just what a threat Iran is to the European continent. Whether or not the Europeans act on, of course, I think is a Suddenly more complicated question, Jason, Why don't you just assess for us not just how the war has gone thus far, but at the time that you and I are speaking, President Trump has announced that there's going to be a pause when it comes to certain strikes on Iranian energy facilities. This looks to me substantially less than a ceasefire. It's not a ceasefire or anything there, but there are a lot of rumblings. Is this the beginning of trying to close up this operation there? Can you assess the state of the operation in terms of whether the objectives have been achieved thus far, and if not, what more has to happen?
- [16:26]
Jason Greenblatt
So many of the objectives have been achieved. Air superiority is there. We don't have the nuclear material that's still left there. But they've taken out so many of the layers of leaders, which eventually, in theory, could collapse the regime. There's a lot of work that has to be done if indeed regime change is a goal. Nobody kind of is exactly saying that. Not the Israelis and not President Trump, but they've come a long way. The connection and the cooperation between Israel and the United States has been absolutely remarkable. But there is a lot of work to do. I think President Trump always prefers diplomacy, if that's possible. I know people criticized him for trying to have diplomacy beforehand, but that was his job. Let me see if I could get a deal before I attack. He couldn't get a deal. He saw through them and did what he had to do. And now he's saying, and I don't know who it is that he's talking to. I have no inside story here, but if there's a real person with real power who's really talking and finally thinking, wow, this was a big mistake. We underestimated Trump and Israel. We better start talking, that's terrific. I think we'll have to wait a couple of days before we see what really happened. I have confidence in President Trump that if this isn't real, meaning if whoever it is that's talking isn't really going to deliver the goods that he needs, the real deal, a smart deal, deal we could rely on, and one that Israel and the Arab allies can rely on, he's going to continue. That's my opinion.
- [17:38]
Josh Hammer
You can follow Jason Greenblatt on X@GreenBlattJD. Jason is the former White House Middle east envoy. He has written on this topic, spoken this topic, knows a lot about the region more generally. Jason, I want your thoughts on one question that we've been very publicly debating here on the show, which is the ever thorny Topic of quote unquote regime change. So what I've been saying since day one is that it is theoretically possible for America to achieve its objectives, namely the neutralization of the Iranian threat without wholesale regime change. And in theory, what that would mean is a Venezuela like solution where you have someone who is of this certain regime stripe. So in Venezuela it's a Marxist Leninist of the Chavez Maduro mole, that's Delsey Rodriguez, who essentially does the United States bidding. So to use kind of a crass analogy, what I said in Iran is that this might have the look and feel of not RINOs, not Republicans name only, but Minos Mullahs name only. Now that sounds very cute and it probably is too cute by half because this is a fanatical Islamist regime we're talking about here. So I guess the question is, is something closely resembling full scale regime change actually necessary for the mid to long term security of the United States or is something significant, slightly less than that, potentially palatable?
- [18:50]
Jason Greenblatt
I think it is achievable, but much, much harder. So I agree with you. I think smaller scale regime change, lowercase regime change, things like that could be possible. People who aren't ideological, fanatical, murderous thugs who want to destroy everything around them. I do think that's possible. But right now nobody even knows who to talk to. Exactly. I know there's some conversation apparently going on, but there too I think we need to let it unfold. It would be better for everybody to have a total collapse of the regime, but even a non total collapse of the regime with different aims and goals. Let them practice their religion, but keep it to themselves and not subjugate the Iranian people and certainly not threaten their neighbors or everybody else. That is possible and not something that should be overlooked.
- [19:30]
Josh Hammer
Let's talk a little bit more about the Gulf more generally. So in the opening hours of this war on February 28, the Iranian regime lashed out not just at American military installations, not just at Israel, but very much at Arab countries within hours. I forgot the exact number, but seemingly a dozen countries or more had been struck by Iran within the first 24 to 36 hours of this conflict, including virtually every Arab country in the GCC in the Gulf Cooperation Council. How have the geopolitics of the gcc, these countries like Saudi Arabia, the uae, Bahrain, Qatar, how have the international relations and the bilateral relations, perhaps even between the various countries, maybe even involving the United States trilateral relations, Talk to us about the shift in geopolitics as a result of the Iranian regime emerging as A threat that it is not just to the US And Israel, but very much to the Arab countries as well.
- [20:24]
Jason Greenblatt
Look, deep down they always knew who the bad guy was, right? Nobody ever thought Israel was the bad guy. They always knew what the Iranian regime was capable of, what the Iranian regime was planning. But they were hoping that over time things would soften and they could continue to do their building and the Iranian regime would eventually kind of just stay in its own box. But they knew where the risk was. I mean, think about it. All those people were saying the Iranian regime wasn't a threat to the region. What do you think they were building all those short range missiles for and those drones for? Everybody knew it was going to come eventually under the right circumstances for the Iranian regime. And I think while they might not have, while the Gulf may not have wanted this war to start, I think all of them probably recognize that if President Trump and Israel are successful, this is going to be better for everybody, for the Iranian people, of course, but certainly for every one of those Gulf countries because then they don't have this overhang of the Iranian threat threatening them day in and day out.
- [21:15]
Josh Hammer
You can follow Jason Greenblatt on xreenbladjd. So there was this reporting, Jason, I think it was after the war formally started. There was this reporting that Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, had been privately urging President Trump to do exactly what he did. And this is one of my issues. I suppose a lot of these Arab countries are certainly, are certainly allies of the US for sure. I would never say that they're anywhere close enemies. They're not, they're allied. But one of my long standing criticisms is that they're somewhat duplicitous at times in terms of how they talk privately versus publicly. And one thing that I've been looking very carefully, Jason, is to whether the Saudis, Emiratis, anyone will actually send any of their military assets to assist the US And Israel. And thus far I haven't actually seen any evidence of that. So is that surprising to you or is that kind of just how these countries are hardwired?
- [22:03]
Jason Greenblatt
Yeah, I would look at it a little bit differently. First of all, I don't know if the reporting is true or not, but their job, the leader's job, is to keep their countries safe, their citizens safe and protected. If they don't think that they can really add anything to the equation and they don't want, and they can reduce the risk that they bring onto themselves, that's the way they're going to do it. I don't agree with it. I think at this point they should all roll up their sleeves and actually help Israel and the United States because think of the incredible signal that it sends to the world. There's no ambiguity anymore. They understand the threat. They're going to fight against the threat they've doing. They're doing a fantastic job defending. We don't know really how they're helping. Maybe on intelligence gathering, maybe there's some clandestine things going on. I don't know. I don't want to hazard a guess. But I don't blame them. I think their job is to protect their countries and this is how they're hardwired and you got to respect it. Everybody's hemmed in by their own politics
- [22:54]
Josh Hammer
and if you will, no doubt about that. It's just been one of the things I've been keeping a close eye for, along with possible defections within the Iranian regime and thus far seemingly coming up somewhat short on both hands. But there's always a lot happening behind the scenes, as you correctly allude to. It's one final time, folks. Jason Greenblatt is the former White House Middle east envoy in the Trump 45 administration. Follow him on xreenblattjd. Jason, you are a wellspring of information. We hope you stop by again. Join us very soon, my friend. It's great to see you and great to chat with you.
- [23:20]
Jason Greenblatt
Thanks for having me.
- [23:21]
Josh Hammer
You bet. God bless, folks. Stay with us through a quick commercial break. We'll be back with much more on this and other topics on the other side,
- [23:30]
Commercial Announcer
here's something most people don't know. When Warren Buffett was just 13 years old, he didn't put his money into a savings account. While other kids were earning next to nothing at local banks, Buffett put $114 into a little known investment. Today, that $114 would be worth over 15,000 million. And it wasn't a risky trade. It wasn't even insider knowledge. It was an account that's been around since 1888. And over the last 25 years, it's averaged 29% a year. That's what happens when your money is allowed to compound. Compare that to today's savings accounts paying less than half a percent while inflation quietly eats away at your buying power. Buffett understood early banks are great businesses, just not for savers. If you'd like to see what some investors call the 29% account, go now to secretaccount29.com that's secret account. The numbers29.com secretaccount29.com
- [24:33]
Josh Hammer
welcome back. So it's a busy day here on the Josh Hammer Show. We have another wonderful guest for you. And our guest right now is Erin Milan, who I am proud to call a colleague in the Salem Podcast Network and on Salem News Channel. Erin is the host of the Erin Milan Show. You can follow her on xarrinmlan. She joins us from Sydney, Australia. Erin, great to reconnect with you. It's always wonderful to chat with you. I want to dive in here and just ask you a little bit more about yourself. You do wonderful commentary and you talk a lot. Not always, but obviously not always, but a lot about the Middle east and Iran and Israel and anti Semitism. You live in Australia and you are not yourself Jewish. And I kind of want to just open, Aaron by asking why. It's obviously not a bad thing. I'm just curious, why are you as passionate about all these various issues as you are? What is the relevance?
- [25:30]
Erin Malan
Well, thank you so much for having me on, Josh. And I thought initially you were going to say you talk a lot about yourself. And I was going to say, hopefully not to the extent the opposite.
- [25:38]
Josh Hammer
I want, I want you to talk about yourself.
- [25:39]
Erin Malan
Catholics. Yes. Yeah, look, I slide a little bit of myself in every now and then, but, but look, it's, it's unbelievable to me that it should be considered special that someone in my position off the back of October 7th should come out on my show at the time, which was on Sky News Australia, who do incredible work in this space and essentially condemned what had occurred so staunchly stood up for the Israelis and the Jews who were, and the hordes of others who were massacred and taken hostage on that day and condemned absolutely, the terrorists who did it, not for a second thinking that it would be considered controversial. How very wrong I was. I was raised to do what is right, Josh, regardless of, of whether it is difficult, regardless of potential blowback. My dad was a major general in the army, so he ran the war in Iraq for a year for the Americans. He was chief of operations. He was also an elected senator in Australia, the most individually elected politician in Australian history, a conservative senator who was just an incredible human being, who was courageous, who was brave and not just because he told us, you know, the way he thought we should live our lives, but he led by example. And I was blessed to watch someone always do what is right. And for me, it was never a choice of, gee, which side should I pick? You know, this wasn't a Political issue. This wasn't, gosh, I can see both sides. Which way am I going to go? This was pure good versus evil. Despite the blowback and the way that it's changed my life in many ways, zero regrets. It's an honour to stand up and fight for what I believe in and to be on the right side of history.
- [27:16]
Josh Hammer
You can follow Aaron on Xaron Milan. So, Aaron, it's funny, I had on James Lindsay here on the show maybe a month and a half, two months ago or something, so. And I asked him a very similar question and he essentially gave the exact same answer, which is that when he grew up he was taught what is right, that he learned what is right and what is wrong, what is good, what is bad, what is sound was unsound, just unjust, et cetera. And it is basically just that moral compass. And once upon a time, it seems to me that larger swaths, not ubiquitous, but larger swaths of the United States, of Australia, of west first world societies, had that kind of inbuilt, embedded moral compass. The problem, of course, is that that moral compass increasing these days, seemingly is going off the rails. And I guess one question to you would be, especially there in Australia, we had this horrific terrorist attack at the Hanak Manor lighting there in Bondi beach this past December. What, in your estimation are the one, two or more, if you're interested in at least the top one or two reasons as to why, whether it's the uk, the United States, Australia, the society's moral compasses just seem to be totally falling off the rails, don't they?
- [28:29]
Erin Malan
Absolutely. And it's been appalling to see, and really sad, I think, is the overwhelming emotion that I feel when I look around and I look at people whom I previously respected and genuinely believed had good within do things that I cannot in any way rationally accept as being decent. And that's been a difficult process for me, just personally trying to understand the behaviors of different people, when to me it is so clear. And is it moral compass that we've completely lost or is it just absolute stupidity, naivety? Is it the cleverness of the propaganda and the campaigns? Are people compromised? Do they understand and know that what they're doing is wrong, but the carrot that is being dangled is too great a pull for them? There are so many different possibilities within and Australia specifically, I genuinely still believe that the vast majority of Australians are very decent, good people. I feel like we're lazy in some ways. I mean, we're really hardworking when it comes to work when it comes to, you know, things that. That. Well, that should matter or that matter on a very kind of primitive sense. But when it comes to, like, protesting or things like that, most Australians will stay home. So when you get a group, a core group of, of useful idiots who are in the minority, who will hit the streets and who will chant death to the Jews, gas the Jews, who will gather outside the opera house whilst people are still being killed in Israel and celebrate the massacre, Australians are not going to come out and counter that. That's not really who we are. We're quite laid back. That's probably a better word than lazy before I get destroyed by my fellow Australians. So I think for us that that's a part of it. But the moment has passed where we can be silent and when everyday people can sit back and watch silently. And that moment passed for me long, long, long ago. I'm still waiting for the rest of the country and the rest of the west to join me. I look at the UK on the brink of a civil war. We have Colonel Richard Kemp, who is not an extremist, who does not say things for clicks, saying that he sees that imminently in regards to societies just they're too far apart. And I don't think it's a volume thing. I think it's a tiny extreme who. Who tend to have control. And you look at why politically in the uk, Starmer is controlled essentially by Islamic extremists. It's the same in Australia. The Muslim vote here controls so much of what they do. But guess what, Josh, as we saw at Lakemba Mosque last week with the Australian Prime Minister, it don't matter how much you try to appease certain sections, it's never going to be enough. They will still abuse you, they will still chase you out of their place of prayer and it won't make an iota of difference. And all you will do is look weaker than you did previously, and that's no mean feat.
- [31:11]
Josh Hammer
Now, the Prime Minister that you salute to, Anthony Albanese, definitely got a lot of backlash after the Bandai shooting. Unfortunately, Aaron, I don't need to tell you, a lot of folks in Australia, Jews and Christians alike, saw that. In fact, my wife, one of her very good friends, lives in Melbourne. They're part of the Jewish community there. I heard these stories from years, obviously not these horrific mass shootings, but the stories of discrimination being spat on the streets. Dirty Jew leave. There was a smoke bomb in a synagogue in Melbourne. There was a restaurant that was attacked by potentially even Iranian assets there. So the warning signs were absolutely there. Does the Prime Minister get it at all? Does he care? And if the answer is no, then is he gonna pay any political price for it? Or is he actually just be benefited from the very Muslim constituency they're talking about there? What are the incentives working like there?
- [32:02]
Erin Malan
Look, I mean, for starters, look at what he was doing when he was 19 and that was leading pro Palestinian marches at universities in Australia. So that should answer a lot of your questions.
- [32:12]
Josh Hammer
It does, unfortunately.
- [32:14]
Erin Malan
Unfortunately, it does. What I would say to you is, from, from I think the opera house onwards, people in Australia, particularly in the Jewish community, knew this was coming. Everyone said this was an absolute shock. We don't have mass shootings in this country. This was not a surprise. Everything that had occurred since was leading up to this. And not just what had occurred, because as you know, there are idiots, there are evil in every society. You will never weed them out entirely. What matters is not just the response of your leadership, but the response, response of the everyday person to that incident. Will they tolerate it? Is this something that a society will accept? And Australians off the back of the Opera House. Then the march over the harbor bridge with the Ayatollah being waved up high. A humanitarian march, Josh, where they waved the picture of the Ayatollah's face. Flags of Hezbollah, Hamas marching across, screaming death to the IDF under the banner of a humanitarian march. And. And our leadership. No, that was really lovely. I'm so proud of Australians. What the absolute hell? So when you create an environment like that, when you not only tolerate the demonization of a group of people, you encourage violence against them. So it was no surprise at all, Albanese. I mean, the Argentinian president says it best. You will be disliked when you finish politics regardless of what you do, so you might as well do what is right. He has tried to appease both. Look, he's tried much harder with the Muslim population. He's tried more with the Jewish population since the Bondi massacre, but it has been appalling. Everything he has done has hurt social cohesion in this country, which, to be honest, doesn't particularly exist. You know, it's farcical. After the Lakemba mosque incident where he was chased out by angry men screaming at him, he did a photo saying, diversity is our strength. I mean, you could not make it up.
- [34:01]
Josh Hammer
No, you really can't. And what you said there about, you know, being liked, disliked after you're done in politics reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, which is this line that I heard from someone in D.C. years ago, which is if you want a friend in politics, get a dog. I mean, you're not in this for being liked. You're in this for doing the right freaking thing, which some people like Erin Milan continue to do on a day in day basis. Erin Milan is the host of the Erin Milan show, our colleague here at Salem Media. She joined us after a short commercial break. For much more with Erin Milan, we'll be right back on the side of a of couple. Quick commercial.
- [34:32]
Commercial Announcer
Here's something most people don't know. When Warren Buffett was just 13 years old, he didn't put his money into a savings account. While other kids were earning next to nothing at local banks, Buffett put $114 into a little known investment. Today that $114 would be worth over $15 million. And it wasn't a risky trade. It wasn't even insider knowledge. It was an account that's been around since 1888. And over the last 25 years it's averaged 29% a year. That's what happens when your money is allowed to compound. Compare that to today's savings accounts paying less than half a percent while inflation quietly eats away at your buying power. Buffett understood early banks are great businesses, just not for savers. If you'd like to see what some investors call the 29% account, go now to secret account29.com that's secret account the numbers29.com secretaccount29.com.
- [35:35]
Josh Hammer
Welcome back. And Erin Malen is also back with us. Air Milan is the host of the ER Milan Show. She is our colleague at Salem Media. You can follow her on AT X or on X at Aaron Milan. Aaron, all sorts of other issues happening. I know sometimes it feels like it's just about the Jews. And there are some people, frankly on the American right that really want it to be just about the Jews. People like Tucker Carlson, people like Ken Owens. In fact, if memory serves, I think the first time that you and I really connected in earnest was after the horrific assassination of my friend Charlie Kirk. And we had a long conversation on your show about Candace Owens and about all that. And you have been admirably, admirably outspoken on all these issues. And no one doubted that you would be because as you just indicated, you have a good sense as to what is right and what is wrong. I guess one question for you because a lot of people struggle to figure out what the end game is for this particular cabal. My own two cents, which I've said on the show countless times is that they want nothing less than the burning down of the current iteration of the American right and to build some anti Western civilization, neo pagan, Islamophilic, very bizarre entity in its place. Is that too extreme or is that essentially how you see it as well?
- [36:51]
Erin Malan
I would love to sit here and say you are bat beep crazy, Josh. There is no chance in hell. What are you smoking? But unfortunately, I suspect you're absolutely right. Look at Tucker Carlson with the Chinese Communist Party spokesman person talking about the fact that, yeah, I think America should really embrace the rise of, like, did he listen to Xi Jinping's New Year speech? Does he have any idea what they desire? It's the same as, you know, we. We're so silly with. We are the architects of our own downfall, repeatedly with enemies and those who wish us harm, who tell us what they're going to do, scream it, write it down, publish it over and over again. Yet when it happens, oh, oh, who would have thought the Muslim Brotherhood. And they're patient. That's the other thing. They're patient. So when you've got people on the right who are actually facilitating this, who are helping it, who are promoting it, we're in dangerous times. I just find the whole thing insane. And I use that word over and over and too much. And I need to. I need to search for some alternatives. I look at America and I look at the midterms coming up. I look at what is at stake, and they, again, would rather destroy everything if they are not going to get their way. Specifically, they would rather everything else be completely destroyed, even if that means destroying the future for their children, destroying the country that they're blessed enough to call home and live in. And I'm sorry, but here in Australia, I'm traveling to the US to servo. I come all the time, but Australia is my home. We can't defend ourselves. And that's something that we've created and that's a failing on our part. Absolutely. But we need America to be strong and we need America to not be a chaotic mess. And if they keep going, if they continue along this path, then who the hell knows what will exist? And I hope and I pray and I look at polls sometimes and I think, okay, they're loud. They're trying to do what they're trying to do. But is the everyday American following them? We're watching them. Yes, absolutely. It's like a car crash. I know where they rank on the podcast charts and all that, that kind of thing. But is it Real life. And there's a difference between people being thoroughly, you know, captivated by what you're doing and what you're saying because it is so insane and people actually being influenced by it and it changing how they vote and changing how they live. And I'd like to think it's in the first category rather than in the second category.
- [39:14]
Josh Hammer
You know, I want to follow up with kind of with an Australia specific question here because you are an Australian and you're not the only Australian that I know in this space. I also go on Sky News Australia, Rita Panaki, people like that there. So there's a bunch of you guys that I talk to you and it's really just heavily about American politics. Really not so much. At least when you have me on, it's not so much about Australian politics. I'm sure you have your Aussie friends for that there. I guess my question is how much of an outsized role does the United States have in the politics of a country like Australia, which is about as far geographically from the United States as can possibly get. We're obviously very close. We've, we both speak English, part of the five eyes when it comes to Canada, the uk, Australia, New Zealand, when it comes to intelligence sharing there. But my impression, Aaron, and correct me if I'm wrong, my impression is that Australians have a pretty mixed perception of the United States. I think often about this poll that I saw years ago. It's very funny, Paul. It's like from 10 years ago at the time Americans had a 90 plus percent improvement rating when it comes to Canada. That's changed by the way. By the time it was like 90 plus percent Americans in Canada, Canadians were like 5050 on America again. These days the numbers on both are lower, but I would imagine a similar dynamic for Australia. Right. So how do you see it and elaborate perhaps on your thesis that a strong America is good for Australians? I think a lot of Australians probably don't actually agree with that. Honestly.
- [40:36]
Erin Malan
No, I would agree with you. And they're wrong, by the way. There are moments and there are occasions where I can say we have a difference of opinion and we can and we don't necessarily. We're not necessarily both wrong. We need a strong America. Anyone who thinks otherwise in Australia is naive, stupid or has another motivation there. It's interesting. I feel like Trump derangement syndrome is still has a strong firm hold here, which I'm surprised by because we do like Alaric and people do like a comeback king here generally. But for some reason Trump and look, media doesn't help here. We've got, you know, huge leftist media. Most of the mainstream media, apart from the show that you. You kind of go on and a couple of conservative newspapers, is essentially angled against Trump. Every bit of coverage that I've watched And, you know, October 7th was appalling. But US politics is all skewed in a way that is negative. That doesn't help. And you look at what Australians absorb when it comes to news, and there are two 6pm news programs that compete basically on two major networks each night that gets vast majority of the audience. And anything you will watch will have a negative spin when it comes to Donald Trump and this administration. And an example, not just on that specifically, but October 7th, for example, when it comes to the coverage of what Australians are exposed to. And this will help you understand how they shape their views. There was a story on the hostage prisoner exchange on one of the biggest news programs here. And it essentially started with these emotional shots of this woman crying and these kids crying and this man being reunited. They're like, you know, a mother reunited with their son 10 years in the making, emotions flying, everyone's crying, you're crying, you're like, oh, this is so beautiful, you know, blah, blah. What you don't realize is he blew up a bus that killed, you know, eight kids, and he's just been released. But we were the way it was sold. And then, oh, and some Israeli hostages were sent home as well. Next item. That's the way in which it is framed here in much of the media. So you can understand why there's hostility. I'm probably the worst person to ask because on my show, I don't really touch Australian politics that much, just given most of my audience is now American, so. So I don't cover it that intensely, but I look at a lot of it, obviously, and I follow it very closely myself. And I feel like there's this. This almost this attitude here that, you know, Trump is. Is not a dictator. People are not as silly as the Democrats over there calling him a king, but I don't think they like his kind of his arrogance or his attitude or his mannerisms. What I would say to them is this. I couldn't care less how a political leader spoke or the words that he used or his tone of voice. If he is keeping us safe and doing everything that is possible for us to be rid of terror and things that will hurt us ultimately to keep the Chinese Communist Party in check, whether that's through tariffs or whether that's through other means. I would say, look at Barack Obama. You think he had a lovely turn of phrase. Oh, he was beautiful. What an orator. He would get up there and we go, oh, my gosh, the way he talks about Michelle, he was giving billions to the Islamic regime of Iran. It's the same as, you know, you look at any of them, look at Clinton. Like, I would much rather someone like Donald Trump, even if sometimes he might say, you know, call a reporter a night. And I go, okay, that doesn't sit particularly well. But I'll take that every day of the week because I know in the ways that matter, he's doing what counts. And Australia, we have like less than 20 days fuel. Less than 20 days fuel. If China goes to take Taiwan, we are screwed. And guess what? America's asked us for help a couple of times over the past couple of years and we have said no. So when war breaks out in our region and we're like, hey, Trumpy, it's Albo here. You remember how we didn't send you those ships when you asked? Well, I mean, gosh, what a communication issue that was. We meant to. But anyway, we need some help. I would fully understand if they said sod off.
- [44:20]
Josh Hammer
I hear you loud and clear on that one. Look, to me, it's interesting because sitting here, Aaron, I'm an American. America's the only country I've ever known here. And I'm aware that America is the world's superpower. China, of course, is now that as well. But I have so many friends like you and other countries now. I'm always curious about what is the perception as to the importance of American power because frankly, there's a lot of people here on the home front. You heard this from Tucker. You mentioned him. He, Tucker, had this conversation with this Chinese Communist Party propagandist as to how declining America is good. It's actually better to have a declining America and ascend in Chinese Communist Party. It's all this garbage. Sometimes it's really good to hear from people like you and say, no, the doomers, the doomsdayers here on the home front here in the US Are dead freaking wrong. And Aaron Milan is someone who very sorry.
- [45:08]
Erin Malan
We're going to start. So sorry. I know I'm not, I keep getting told you're not Americans. Sorry. My child's future depends on the strength of your nation.
- [45:16]
Josh Hammer
Well, there you have it, folks. Erin Milan, one of a kind. You can follow her on Xaron Milan, host of the Erin Milan Show. She's our colleague at Salem Media, Erin. God bless you, my friend. We really appreciate it. Hope, hope that you'll stop by again soon.
- [45:27]
Erin Malan
Bless you. I'd love to. Thank you so much for having me on.
- [45:29]
Josh Hammer
You bet. Of course. Folks, have a great rest of your evening. Josh Hammer signing off. We'll be right back.
- [45:33]
Erin Malan
Tomorrow.
- [45:40]
Commercial Announcer
Here's something most people don't know. When Warren Buffett was just 13 years old, he didn't put his money into a savings account. While other kids were earning next to nothing at local banks, Buffett put $114 into a little known investment. Today, that $114 would be worth over $15 million. And it wasn't a risk of risky trade. It wasn't even insider knowledge. It was an account that's been around since 1888. And over the last 25 years, it's averaged 29% a year. That's what happens when your money is allowed to compound. Compare that to today's savings accounts paying less than half a percent while inflation quietly eats away at your buying power. Buffett understood early banks are great businesses, just not for savers. If you'd like to see more what some investors call the 29% account, go now to secretaccount29.com that's secretaccount. The numbers29.com secretaccount29.com.