Even CNN Leftist Van Jones Admits It: DSA Commies Are ‘Nutty’

Summary

The Josh Hammer Show
Episode: Even CNN Leftist Van Jones Admits It: DSA Commies Are ‘Nutty’
Date: July 23, 2026

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Episode Overview

Josh Hammer, Senior Editor-at-Large of Newsweek and voice for the New Right, tackles the current state of the American Left and how even prominent progressives like CNN’s Van Jones are voicing concerns over the extreme direction of leftist politics. The episode also explores developments in U.S.-Iran policy amid mounting conflict, and discusses the health and future of both American conservatism and the legal profession. Special guest Matthew Continetti joins to analyze Middle East tensions and the coherence of the conservative movement, while noteworthy moments from Capitol Hill—such as Congressman Brandon Gill’s grilling of the American Bar Association—are highlighted.

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Main Themes & Key Discussion Points

1. Even the Left Admits: "DSA Commies Are Nutty" (00:30–06:48)

• Distinction Within the Left:
  Hammer begins by noting that criticism of far-left extremism now comes not just from conservatives, but from established progressives like Van Jones, who aired concerns on CNN (02:30).
• Van Jones' CNN Rant:
  Van Jones expresses alarm over how progressive movements have been “hijacked” by fringe elements with “nutty” policy demands (02:30).
  • He clarifies his support for progressive reforms but draws a line at calls to abolish police, prisons, and deportations for violent criminals.
• Hammer’s Respect for Principled Liberals:
  While rarely agreeing with Van Jones, Hammer says, “I have developed a certain level of respect for principled liberals, liberals who actually believe in something that is not full-on, subversive, totalitarian back crap crazy,” (03:40).

Notable Quote

"This stuff is going too far... Nutty ideas saying we don't need cops in prison, we can't deport anybody, even if they rape somebody. Who said this? Chevalier."
— Van Jones (02:30)

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2. The Democratic Party’s Leftward Drift & Political Fallout (06:48–08:08)

• Polling & Rising Leftist Sentiment:
  Hammer cites polling data showing socialism is now more popular than capitalism within the Democratic base, arguing the party has lost its centrist moorings.
• Ted Cruz's Prediction:
  Senator Ted Cruz, on Fox News, claims, “Chuck Schumer... will not even run for reelection... I think Mondami is the single most powerful Democrat in the country,” (06:48–07:35).
• AOC and Party Control:
  Hammer echoes Cruz in suggesting figures like AOC and Mamdani are now kingmakers, pulling the Democrats further left.

Notable Quote

"This is where they're headed. It's nowhere good."
— Josh Hammer (07:35)

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3. U.S.-Iran Tensions, Trump’s Shift, and Saudi Nuclear Deal (08:08–13:49)

• Trump’s New Iran Strategy:
  Reports by Axios’ Barak Ravid claim Trump is contemplating a “massive attack” on Iran, possibly larger than prior strikes (08:08–09:24).
• Policy Critique:
  Hammer urges clear goals for U.S. policy: "We came out of the locker room with a four touchdown lead and then came begging on our knees for a tie game. Not how you achieve victory..." (09:24).
• Saudi Arabia and Nuclear Power:
  Debate arises over rumors of U.S. approval for a Saudi civil nuclear program, which Trump ties to Saudi participation in the Abraham Accords.

Notable Moment

"America has leverage over these countries. If only we would use that leverage..."
— Josh Hammer (11:35)

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4. Interview: Matthew Continetti on Iran and Conservatism (13:50–23:49)

A. Assessing the Iran Conflict (13:50–20:23)

• No Change in Iranian Behavior:
  Continetti argues Iran’s regime has not moderated and advocates escalation over “tit-for-tat” policies (14:53).
• Defining American Goals:
  Trump began with clear aims: stop the Iranian nuclear program and its missile capabilities, and deny Iran the ability to export terror. Over time, objectives shifted, making policy less coherent (17:51).
• The Need for Stronger Action:
  Both Continetti and Hammer stress weakening the regime as the prerequisite for regional stability.

Notable Quote

"He needs to reject the idea of proportionality... and resume major combat operations in Iran... focus on the leadership, focus on the propaganda networks..."
— Matthew Continetti (14:53)

B. The State & Future of the American Conservative Movement (20:23–23:49)

• Biggest Threats:
  Continetti warns against antisemitism and conspiracy theories within the right, stating, "Antisemitism destroys every society that it corrupts and it destroys every institution it corrupts" (21:06).
• Conservatism’s Core:
  He advocates educating the next generation about tradition, patriotism, religious liberty, and the Constitution.

Notable Quote

"Our mission is to educate the rising generation in conservatism, in a belief in tradition, the importance of religion, a belief in nationalism, patriotic sentiment..."
— Matthew Continetti (21:06)

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5. Hammer’s Reflections: American Legal Profession & ABA (24:28–34:35)

• Congressman Brandon Gill vs. American Bar Association:
  Gill aggressively questions the ABA president about implicit bias statements (28:31–29:31).
• Hammer Critiques ABA's Ideological Bias:
  The ABA is accused of ideological exclusion, especially against constitutionalist and conservative lawyers.
• Historical Context:
  Hammer digresses on the philosophical foundations of American equality and contrasts it with leftist postmodern approaches.

Notable Moment

"All of this... is directly contrary to the ethos, to the tenor of the American regime. There are two mutually irreconcilable propositions. One is that all men are created equal..."
— Josh Hammer (29:31)

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6. Jim Jordan's Criminal Referral Against Jack Smith & Lawfare (35:08–42:00)

• Jack Smith Accused of Perjury:
  Jordan refers special counsel Jack Smith to DOJ for allegedly lying to Congress about accessing lawmakers’ communications.
• Charges Proposed:
  Hammer explains how 18 U.S.C. § 241, “conspiracy to deprive constitutional rights,” could potentially apply to the actions of Smith and other major liberal prosecutors.
• Broader Theme:
  The conversation frames these prosecutions as ideologically driven and coordinated at the highest levels, with the hope for “real justice” coming from new DOJ leadership.

Notable Quote

"All these hooligans, all these hoodlums should be indicted. They should be prosecuted. There is ample grounds to do so."
— Josh Hammer (38:38)

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7. Jewish Calendar, Tisha B’Av, and Reflection (42:00–45:19)

• Significance of Tisha B’Av:
  Hammer shares personal and historical perspectives on the Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of both Temples and other calamities.
• Resilience & Optimism:
  Despite the day’s sorrow, Hammer explains, “our tradition teaches that the Messiah will be born on Tisha B’Av,” representing hope emerging from tragedy (44:15).

Notable Quote

"What looks like an absolute terrible thing, a tragedy, might be a tragedy, but it might be more than that. There might just be the seeds for a rebirth..."
— Josh Hammer (44:40)

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Timestamps of Key Segments

• Van Jones' CNN Remarks and Hammer’s Reaction: 00:30–06:48
• Ted Cruz on the Democratic Party: 06:48–07:35
• Iran, Trump, and the Middle East Policy: 08:08–13:49
• Matthew Continetti Interview (Iran Scenario): 13:50–20:23
• Matthew Continetti Interview (State of the Right): 20:23–23:49
• Brandon Gill vs. ABA President: 28:31–29:31
• Hammer on ABA and U.S. Ideals: 29:31–34:35
• Jim Jordan Refers Jack Smith: 35:08–42:00
• Reflection on Tisha B'Av: 42:00–45:19

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• Van Jones calling out the far left: “You want to talk about prison reform, I’ve done it... I never said have no prisons. Where are you going to put the Klan?” (02:30)
• Hammer’s praise for Van Jones: “I have some respect, even though I don’t agree with him, with Van Jones for saying what he just said, he is saying that the DSA are nutty, nutty.” (03:40)
• Continetti on conservatism’s challenges: "The biggest threat to the right is forgetting what conservatism in the United States stands for..." (21:06)
• Hammer on hope through despair: “Our tradition teaches that the Messiah will be born... on Tish B'Av. So imagine that for a second. It’s the saddest day... And yet this is the day where the Messiah will be born.” (44:15)

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Summary

This episode of The Josh Hammer Show underscores the unraveling of the left as even internal figures like Van Jones call out “nutty” extremes, questions whether moderates have any hope of reclaiming the Democratic Party, and explores the consequences for American politics. An in-depth segment on U.S.-Iran tensions highlights the strategic ambiguity plaguing current policy, which guest analyst Matthew Continetti argues must end with decisive goals and action. Hammer and Continetti also discuss the vulnerability of conservatism to conspiracy and animus, while a segment spotlighting Congressman Brandon Gill’s pointed ABA questioning highlights ideological bias in American legal institutions. The episode closes with Hammer’s reflections on legal reforms, lawfare battles, and a personal meditation on finding hope and rebirth in the darkest of circumstances—a theme inspired by the Jewish day of Tisha B’Av.

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For listeners seeking a succinct but comprehensive understanding, this episode captures the current fractures and crises of both major American political movements—while offering moments of pointed commentary, historical reflection, and a call for both principled opposition and renewal from within.

Transcript

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[Josh Hammer]

Well, it's not just coming from the mouths of conservatives like us. It's not coming from the horse's mouth themselves. The far left, they're not merely not sane, they're bat crap crazy. In the words of Van Jones. In fact, they're nutty. Meanwhile, dont Tom planning potentially a new massive attack on Iran. What will happen there? Well, I'm Josh Hammer and this is the Josh Hammer Show. We'll get to the Iran conversation a little bit later in the show. Matt Continenti is also going to join us to unpack what is happening and perhaps more importantly, what ought to happen when it comes to the conflict between the United States and Iran. But for now, I want to begin by talking about Van Jones. Van Jones is a man who is of the left. He has been around the political scene for a very long time. He has been a CNN on air regular for, well, essentially my entire lifetime of following politics. I have never met Van Jones. I have been told by people who have met Van Jones, even people who are right of center in their politics, that he is an unusually n a lot of people who are on television who do the whole talking and speaking thing for a living. Your mileage may vary as whether or not they are actually true salt of the earth people. They some definitely are. I can start naming names if we want to do that, but not everyone is. I will just leave it at that for now. Van Jones apparently is one of them, but he is definitely a man of the left. He is someone who was a vocal critic for a very, very long time of the Democratic Party establishment trying to push it in a more populist, progressive, just generally leftist direction. And I say all that because it is just utterly remarkable that Van Jones of all people went on a pretty epic rant, I would call it the other day on his own network on CNN saying that, guys, this is my life project, turn the country left, make you more progressive. This, that, immigration, criminal justice. But you people are freaking nuts. And this is not what I signed up for. And you're gonna ruin the whole darn thing. So don't take it from me, Take it from Van Jones here. He was on cnn.

[Van Jones]

Well, listen, I cannot tell you this phone has been blowing up all day. Governors from both parties, senators from both parties, Democrats in the House calling, thanking me for saying what everybody's been saying behind the scenes, which is that this stuff is going too far. I am a progressive Democrat. You want to talk about prison reform, I've done it as well as anybody. Republican Democrats in the south with Trump. I've done prison reform. I never said have no prisons. Where are you going to put the Klan? I've done police reform. I never said no police. Where are you going to put the pedophiles who are going to grab the pedophiles? This stuff is going too far. And part of the thing that has to happen is we saw what happened in the Republican Party when things started going in a nutty direction and nobody stood up. I am happy that the young people are fighting for affordability, Medicare for all, all the good things. I've been waiting my whole life to see a youth movement do what it's doing, but it's being hijacked by people who are putting in nutty ideas supporting terrorists. Nutty ideas saying we don't need cops in prison, we can't deport anybody, even if they rape somebody. Who said this? Chevalier.

[Josh Hammer]

Okay, so before we give Van Jones too much credit, I just want to clarify and really should know this if you are a loyal listener of the show. But to clarify, I don't agree with Van Jones on basically anything, but I have developed a certain level of respect for principled liberals, liberals who actually believe in something that is not full on, subversive, totalitarian back crap. Crazy. In other words, liberals will hold their own side to account. Certainly here on this show we try to hold our own side, the American right, to account when we feel that certain actors and voices on the right stray from the principles, stray from purpose, stray from worthy goals and so forth. So when I see someone who does the same thing on the left, I immediately have some respect. That's why we had Joel Rubin on the show earlier this week. If you didn't watch that, go ahead and check out that conversation we had with Joel Rubin, who was Bernie Sanders campaign liaison to the Jewish community back when he ran for President in 2020 and now is accusing his boss of fanning the flames of the world's most ancient big well, similarly, I have to say I have some Respect. Even though I don't agree with him, with Van Jones for saying what he just said, he is saying that the DSA are nutty, nutty. This is not just the Democrat establishment. This is Van Jones, the guy who was all in on Obama ism, all in on transforming the Democratic Party, all in for that matter, on transforming the United States of America. That, after all, was the sine qua non of The Barack Obama 2008 Hope and Change campaign, wasn't it? To fundamentally transform these United States. And they're now saying that's going too far when it comes to prisons, when it comes to immigration, when it comes to all sorts of issues. The dsa, in their new policy manifesto, which they just released about a week or so ago, hard to call it a policy manifesto. It's not exactly an in the weeds, nitty gritty policy blueprint, but it vaguely espouses some leftist nostrums. Things like Medicare for All, things like open borders, things like, you know, free unicorn farts and all the various things that leftists dream of. But they don't want prisons, they don't want borders, they don't want these things. And here is Van Jones saying that, no, that's actually not going to be the case. The question for the Democratic Party is is this a foregone conclusion? Is this ship totally sailed? Is it done so? Or do the few remaining relatively sane voices have a fighting chance? My own opinion, as I've expressed to you, is that I don't think the same people have a chance. Why? Well, the polling is not on their side and the young people are not on their side either. Socialism has a higher approval rating within card carrying members of the Democratic Party these days than capitalism. That is a fact. It is a verifiable fact that we can just look up on the PEW polling, the Gallup polling and so forth. There's really no way to deny it. So are Democrats consigned to electoral irrelevance as a result of this? Well, Ted Cruz is a man who thinks that the answer is yes. Here was Senator Ted Cruz, Texas, on Fox News saying that Chuck Schumer and Democrats are indeed done so as a political movement because socialism has taken over and will only take over further from here. Here was Ted Cruz.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Chuck Schumer, I believe, can never again win a Democrat primary in New York. I think he will not even run for reelection. I've joked that Schumer will be the inaugural member of the AOC for President campaign because he's terrified. AOC will probably, I don't think it's a joke now. I don't think. No, it's not a poll out today

[Josh Hammer]

that has

[Senator Ted Cruz]

in New Hampshire. She's the number one Democrat candidate in the country in New Hampshire. That's today's poll. I think she'll run for president. I don't think she will run for Senate. But I'm going to make a prediction for you, Sean. My prediction is Comrade Mondami will be the next Democrat senator from New York that Mondami will replace Schumer. I think Mondami is the single most powerful Democrat in the country and he

[Josh Hammer]

is an accurate statement from Senator Ted Cruz. Zormi Modani is now the lead kingmaker in the Democratic Party. That's why he's picking congressional candidates in his own city. He will soon be making the national flyover tours the same way that AOC is doing for Abdul Al Saya, the Hezbollah sympathizing candidate in Michigan. The same thing that AOC is doing. Mamdani will now be doing that and more. This is where they're headed. It's nowhere good. Again, that's why we have respect here on the show for principled liberals who are willing to call out their side. I wish these sane voices, for whatever it's worth, all the best in their valiant, albeit inevitably failed, efforts to push back against the tide of insanity. Why is that? Well, as much as in a slightly diabolical sense, I may wish for the Democratic Party's just complete burning to the ground, American politics does function in a more healthy manner. It's a better oiled machine when there are two political parties that are not just pure grievance vehicles, vehicles trying to launder socialism, Third Worldism and various other failed ideologies unto the American people. So I do wish the sane folks the best, but frankly, they're going to need it because I think that they are in a world of hurt. So I want this gear to talk a little bit about the situation in Middle east before we bring on our guest, Matt Continenti, who we're going to unpack this a little bit further with. So the most recent time we checked in on this, Trump had announced that he was going to do a bit of a tit for tat. He announced that. Yesterday Trump came out and said that every time that Iran fires on a ship, a commercial vessel, whatever the ship may be, in the struggle for Moose, he said every time after that, we're going to blow up an Iranian bridge or power plant in this little tit for tat kind of namby pamby, mild pseudo escalation. That was then. This apparently is now. Just this morning in some breaking news, Barack Ravid, the shockingly well connected liberal reporter for Axios, in the exclusive report says that Trump is, quote, close to decision on a, quote, massive attack on Iran. So Barack Rabid saying, reporting President Trump told Axios that he is seriously considering restarting major combat operations, including strikes that would be bigger than the ones carried out during Operation Epic Fury. He said, quote, I am considering a massive attack bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it. We will see if ultimately that happens. It seems to me that if you are actually trying to get a viable off ramp in this conflict, which is what the President clearly wants, that's what Susie Wiles wants. That's what Stephen Miller wants. That's what the whole White House wants. And I get it. I totally get it. You'll only get that by escalating in the short term. The analogy we've been using on the show is that what we did here is we came out of the locker room with a four touchdown lead and then came begging on our knees for a tie game. Not how you achieve victory, especially against a foe that wants to kill you. Like literally in the case of Trump, you go for the jugular, for God's sake. We'll see ultimately if Donald Trump does that. In other related Middle east news, there's a lot of controversy about the Saudi Arabia nuclear issue. So a lot of rumors have been flying for months, arguably years really, about whether or not the United States will give its imprimatur of legitimacy to a Saudi nuclear program. So the rumor earlier this week was that the US had indeed signed off on a Saudi civil nuclear program, not to be used, of course, for enrichment or weaponization purposes. And then you had Marco Rubio in a kind of humorous clip who seemed awkwardly not trying to defend this policy, probably because it wasn't particularly defensible as initially conceived. And that perhaps led to Trump issuing a very interesting course correction. Truth Social post this morning. This morning, Trump posting on Truth Social, the civil nuclear deal being made between the United States and Saudi Arabia, which pertains only to non military use, such as the ones that Iran and the UAE and others already have. It's not quite right. Iran doesn't really have that. But hold it aside, he says this is totally subject, says Donald Trump, to Saudi Arabia, joining the very respected and successful Abraham Guards.

[Van Jones]

Aha.

[Josh Hammer]

Here you have it. The classic quid pro quo. America has leverage over these countries. If only we would use that leverage, whether it's Saudi on the nuclear issue, whether it's Turkey and our massive base there at Al Udeid or at Interliq air base, we have leverage over a lot of these countries that typically and frequently act against American interests. If only America learned how to use its leverage. I'm not particularly huge proponent of this Saudi program. Seems to me to be contrary to America's long standing Middle east policy codified in congressional statute of a qualitative military edge to Israel. That's the United States official formal policy in the Middle East. I'm not sure how this fits into that, but at a bare minimum, Saudi can join the Ibrahim Accords, make peace. That'll be the greatest thing to happen to peace in the region in a century, frankly, or more. Folks, we're going to a quick commercial break. On the other side, Matt Continenti joins us to unpack the situation in Iran and much more. We'll be right back with Matt continenti.

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[Josh Hammer]

Welcome back. So making his long overdue first time appearance day on the Josh Hammer show is our esteemed guest. And esteemed he is. And that is Matthew Continenti. So you can follow Matthew Continenti on X. He isntaneni. He is a longtime Montagnan Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute where he is director of Domestic Policy Studies. He's also a columnist for the Wall Street Journal and author of numerous books including the highly acclaimed the right. So, Matt, continuing, welcome to the Josh Hammer Show. A couple of things, Matt, that tease out with you over the course of our conversation today, but first, we're just talking about the Iran war. Barack Ravid actually just now reporting this morning at Axios that Trump is on the precipice of potentially massively striking Iran. But the rumors that this could make the early days of epic fury look small or petty by comparison. There's all sorts of rumors flying around here. It's very, very difficult, frankly, Matt, to figure out exactly what the president's strategy, or perhaps lack thereof is when it comes to this conflict with Iran. And how do you assess the state of play right now when it comes to the Iran conflict and what should the president do from here?

[Matthew Continetti]

Well, Josh, thanks for having me. It's a pleasure to be on your show. I think the first question we should ask is did the Iranian regime's behavior change during this period of ceasefire and then the shorter period of the memorandum of understanding? And the answer is no. Throughout this period, Iran has been engaged in low intensity warfare in an attempt to control the Strait of Hormuz and to intimidate our Arab allies in the Middle east to essentially force Trump to restrain his behavior and ultimately leave the Middle east and leave the Strait of Hormuz in Iranian hands. And I think what we've seen in the past 10, 11 days is that President Trump has had enough. And so he's slowly climbing the escalatory ladder, expanding the range of targets in Iran, increasing the tempo and intensity of the strikes against Iran. But I think he needs to reject the idea of tit for tat retaliation. He needs to reject the idea of proportionality and tell the Central Command, tell the Pentagon to resume major combat operations in Iran, resume the military's target list that it essentially stopped hitting when the ceasefire was declared in early April, and also expand the list of targets to include assets important to the regime. Focus on the leadership, focus on the propaganda networks, bring the message home to the Iranian regime that this behavior is not intolerable. And if it doesn't quit it, then Trump won't stop until Iran has leaders who will.

[Josh Hammer]

And I view the conflict, Matt Conthethani, quite similarly. And again, folks, you can follow mattconthani on X ontani. I view it very similarly as you do. One thing that I've been preaching on this show, Matt, really since the conflict started was I've essentially been begging the president to define very clearly in easily discernible, digestible, bite sized, fashionable what are America's goals in this conflict? I've surmised them and I present them what my presentation, my own beliefs as to what those goals ought to be. But I. I believe that we are lacking a clear outline as to what the actual goals are to an extent. It seems like for a while, the conversation was really ratcheted down. So it started higher level. We took out Khamenei, for goodness sake, on the very first day of the war. That's a very high level target, to put it mildly. And then during the course of this bizarre kind of schizophrenic back and forth, the ceasefire, the MoU negotiations, it looked like the goal was ratcheted down all the way just to trying to free the Strait of Hormuz again. Now it looks like we're back on the other end of the seesaw. So it's kind of all over the map. What should our goals be in this conflict?

[Matthew Continetti]

Sure. Well, I think Operation Epic Fury began with some clearly defined goals. If you look at the president's speech from February 28, his video message to the world, he said, we were going to stop the Iranian nuclear program. We were going to stop Iranian missile and missile production. We were going to deny Iran the ability to spread terror throughout the world through its proxies. And then we were going to give the Iranian people the chance to take their government in their own hands and overthrow the mullahs. As the war developed, Iran played really the only card it had, which was closing the Strait of Hormuz. And then that forced a new objective into America's sights, and that is opening the Strait of Hormuz, ensuring the free flow of commerce through this global choke point. And establishing the free flow of commerce throughout the world has been an American interest since our founding. And so that is an important interest we have in the region, denying Iran the ability to simply cut off global energy flows on a whim. So when I look at the conflict today, I agree, Josh. President Trump, I think, needs to reiterate what is going on here. Now, he is very strong in his message that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. And, of course, most of the Iranian nuclear program is buried under rubble. And though we have some signs that centrifuges have been moved to this location, Pickaxe Mountain, which we have not hit. President Trump says that we will hit it eventually. But we also need to make sure that Iran no longer has the ability to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. And what that means, again, is that we have to undermine the Iranian regime because as long as its leadership now under the command of this IRGC general Vahidi, believes that it can threaten shipping, that it can close the Strait of Hormuz, it will do so because the Iranian regime has not changed its it Stripes. For 47 years, it has been a regime of terrorist fanatics bent on exporting the revolution and building a nuclear weapon. And so Trump needs to take the fight to the regime and get us erode it so that it is no longer a threat and we can leave these major combat operations.

[Josh Hammer]

Matt Continu's most recent book is the Right the Hundred Year War for American Sardisben. Matt, in a final few minutes here, I do want to shift gears and talk about the topic of your book, the Right, because we spend a lot of time on the show talking about the state of the right, which is not necessarily in the healthiest place. There are certainly some elements of it that are in a very healthy place. There are also some elements of it that are in a less healthy, perhaps more conspiratorial place. So what is the single biggest threat right now, Matt, within the broader right of centerfold to the coherence and the ability of conservatism, not just as an ideology but also as a govern practical philosophy? What is the single biggest threat to that over these next hundred years and how do we fight it?

[Matthew Continetti]

Well, Josh, it's a great question. It's a big question. I say right now the biggest threat to the right is forgetting what conservatism in the United States stands for. And so when I look at a lot of the conservatives today, I think by and large conservatism's in a healthy place, even in an invigorated place in the areas where President Trump has had changed kind of the brittle and static thinking of the pre Trump era. But I'm also worried about the growth of conspiracy theories and the ultimate conspiracy theory, antisemitism, in particular. Antisemitism destroys every society that it corrupts and it destroys every institution it corrupts. Look at the United nations, look at America's universities, look at what's happening to the Democratic Party. American conservatives cannot allow that to happen to the American conservative movement and to the Republican Party. And so I think right now our mission is to educate the rising generation in conservatism in a belief in tradition, a belief in the importance of religion, a belief in nationalism, patriotic sentiment, a belief in what makes America great. And what makes America great, of course, is our society that allows for religious freedom, that has a constitution that has the oldest written constitution in operation in the history of the world, 250 years. We celebrate of the Declaration of Independence the ideals it sets forth, but also the particular rights that the colonists were asserting against the king and of course, their pledge of their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor in order to further this cause. That's the sort of thing that American conservatives need to continually remind the American people and their own movement as we approach the threats of the coming decades.

[Josh Hammer]

It's very well said and I'm really happy that you mentioned the famous concluding words of the Declaration of Independence, which in many ways kind of establishes the idea of American Covenant, which actually is the idea of my fourth coin book next year that just started working on Covenant and how the Hebrew Bible made Christian America. Really. These are the ideals that built not just America, Matt, but the modern conservative movement as you know. And we forget those lessons, those inspirations at our grave peril. So folks, unfortunately we are out of time. We are grateful to Matt Continu for joining the program so you can follow him on X on Thinani. Matt, don't be a stranger. We appreciate your time. Have a great day and we'll see you again soon. Hopefully.

[Matthew Continetti]

You too. Thank you, Josh.

[Josh Hammer]

Folks, we'll be right back after a short break. Stay with us.

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[Josh Hammer]

Welcome back. So there are other things on the show today that I wanted to get to, but for now just a couple of housekeeping notes. Before we move on to some other topics, I do want to circle back to the Middle east conversation just briefly. Besides the Saudi nuclear issue and Donald Trump's fascinating 180 degree course correction Truth Social post this morning, another post that Trump put on Truth Social, which I thought was notable, was that he said that the Houthi rebels who most recently are trying to blockade the Saudi ports and they actually fired on numerous Saudi oil tankers overnight. Trump is now saying that the next time that the Houthis act up, Iran itself will be the bearer of the United States wrath because the Houthis just won the various terror proxies of Iran So the wheels are turning, as you heard Matt Continay just describe, the wheels are turning when it comes to Donald Trump's thinking when it comes to Iran, he is putting the pieces of the puzzle together and starting, it seems to us here, to recover and remember what made his first term foreign policy so great. The Abraham Accords was a remarkable achievement, but it was done by isolating the Iranian regime and by bringing in Israel and the Arab countries into peace. This second term Trump foreign policy at times has been sidetracked by things like the siren song of all that sweet, sweet, sweet Qatari money, by things like the strongman bravura of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Well, that does not make good American foreign policy. So putting the pieces together here, it seems to me like Donald Trump is starting to recover a stronger sense of what a correct American foreign policy should look like. In this case, we're speaking here about the Middle east, but the same principle applies to the Far East, Indo Pacific and really the rest of the world more generally. So lots of encouraging stuff. On that note, we will see the extent to which the Barack Ravid report this morning in Axios is accurate, the extent to which Donald Trump really is thinking of planning a, quote, unquote, massive new attack on Iran. I will believe that at this point when I see it. There has been a lot of talk, actions kind of all over the map. But the broader trajectory here, not the daily stock market swing, but the broader kind of year two year long through line, if you will, proverbially speaking, is trending in a rational, insane direction. It's trending in a direction that evinces the president who is coming back to terms, back to understanding of a sober and sane view of the region. Now, our friend Brandon Gill was on Capitol Hill earlier this week and he did his thing. Brandon Gill is getting very, very good at this. He's making a lot of headlines, getting a lot of clips go viral, because he has a natural flair, shall you say, for taking a leftist witness in these congressional hearings and really just making them look like, well, just complete nincompoops and utter fools. And I was particularly delighted to see what he did to the president of the aba, the American Bar Association. So on yesterday's show, we had John Eastman on. And John Eastman is being persecuted. Why? Because as a lawyer, he had the temerity, the chutzpah to represent a particularly high profile client, Donald J. Trump, who was in the crosshairs of all the very nice and polite people, the legal profession in other Words is ideologically biased, deeply, irreversibly, perhaps even so, dare I say. Well, the ABA has been a big part of that. The ABA has been involved over the years when it comes to judicial confirmations. They have said that certain conservative nominees are not qualified, even though they are demonstrably, clearly qualified. But they're not qualified because the ABA doesn't like their views on constitutional interpretation or their views on politics or whatever. So the aba, in short, is part of the problem. Unfortunately, the ABA has a cartel when it comes to legal accreditation of the law schools in America. The whole thing is a big problem. But Brandon Gill did his thing and he's quite good at it, as I said, and really took it to the president of the American Bar Association. It was a great clip and I want to play it for you here on the show. So here was Congressman Brandon Gill grilling the president of the American Bar association in Congress earlier this week.

[Congressman Brandon Gill]

According to the ABA's website, quote, all of us have implicit biases. Would you agree with that statement?

[American Bar Association President]

The ABA believes that diversity, equity and inclusion improves.

[Congressman Brandon Gill]

Would you agree with the statement that, quote, all of us have implicit biases? From the ABA's website, the ABA believes

[American Bar Association President]

that diversity in all of us.

[Congressman Brandon Gill]

Is that a yes? Can I take that? It's a yes or no question. Do you believe that all of us have implicit biases, as your website says,

[American Bar Association President]

The ABA looks to remove barriers and we examine.

[Congressman Brandon Gill]

That's not my question, ma'.

[Hillsdale College Narrator]

Am.

[Congressman Brandon Gill]

Do you believe that all of us have implicit biases?

[American Bar Association President]

I've expressed. I've expressed what the ABA is doing.

[Congressman Brandon Gill]

That is, that is the aba's position as expressed by their, Their website. Against which groups do you have implicit biases?

[American Bar Association President]

The ABA believes that it's important to always.

[Congressman Brandon Gill]

Are you going to filibuster because it doesn't make you sound very good? I'm going to ask you again. Which, against which groups do you have implicit biases? You have implicit biases.

[Josh Hammer]

So implicit bias is this notion, this notion that because you are white, therefore you might have a certain attitude, therefore you might be viewed a certain way, and that it is correct to try to correct implicit biases by, by making, for instance, white people feel guilty about the fact that they are white people, or by making black people feel exalted about the fact simply because they are black people. All of this, as we have discussed the entire history of the show, all of this is directly contrary to the ethos, to the tenor of the American regime. There are two mutually irreconcilable propositions One is that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights. Among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. As an aside, by the way, I was reading a fascinating bit of history just this past weekend about why exactly Thomas Jefferson changed the Lockean formulation. John Locke, in his second treatise, writing in late 17th century England, famously writes about the natural rights to life, liberty and property. So the question arises, why would Jefferson tweak that final word, property, to pursuit of happiness? Well, actually, in an earlier draft of the Declaration, Jefferson actually referred to property. It was only in the final draft, after he got edits and feedback from people like John Adams and others, that he changed the final term from property to pursuit of happiness. The question is why? The answer is twofold. One is that at the time, especially going back to the aristocracy in England and all that the monarchy entails, there was a landed gentry. It was very difficult for a lot of people to get land. Therefore, they didn't want to make it sound like only certain people could attain the quintessence of the national rights that the American regime was predicated upon. So that was part of it was the historical notion that America sought to change and did a great job of changing, I might add, that property is just intimately intertwined, inextricably intertwined with being a wealthy person and not being a middle class or a lower class person. The other reason is that he just want to be broader. You want property to be part of the broader pursuit of human happiness, of what Aristotle referred to as Eumonia, of human flourishing in all that entails. Anyway, I digress. That is one vision of the American regime, the actual vision, like literally what we are, what we just celebrated on July 4, life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, truth, justice and the American way. The other vision, the other vision is this postmodern vision that we actually should not be all treated equally. That to take us back to Van Jones's critique of the dsa, that you know what? Maybe some black people shouldn't be incarcerated. Not because they didn't do anything wrong, just because there's too many black people in prison. That doesn't matter whether a certain black person or a certain person of any color committed a murder, a rape, an assault, whatever, it doesn't matter. Rather, say the postmodernists, say the critical theorists, rather what they say is that we should be making decisions on things like immigration, on things like incarceration, Major questions of public policy and how it affects society at large. Major questions not about your individual what you did or who you are, but rather your group, rather what you represent and so forth. So this is the line of thought that Brandon Gill is getting out there in his very sharp line of questioning against the mealy mouthed president of the American Bar Association. Again, I think the ABA is a terrible organization, and I've been saying this since my law school days. I think it's absolutely absurd that they had a monopoly on accreditation of lawyers in this country. It simply should not be the case. Busting the EBA cartel should be a prime public policy goal for all conservatives and frankly, for all who care about the legal profession in general. You know, I have a lot of lawyer friends who are deeply worried that their jobs might go extinct due to AI. This is a real problem, of course, when it comes to a lot of jobs, not just lawyers. I happen just to know a lot of lawyers for lots of reasons, one of which is that I am one. And a lot of lawyers who deal with contracts are fretting that their jobs might eventually be lost. And maybe, maybe not, I don't really know. But what I do know is that regardless of AI, there are certain legal positions that are really, really important. Everyone deserves the right to an attorney. Everyone deserves due process. These are American norms. They are Western norms. They are deeply ingrained in our conscience and our psyche. We need a healthy and flourishing legal profession. That is why John Eastman needs to win his case at the Supreme Court and get his borrower license back in California. And that is why the ABA needs to stop punishing conservatives, stop punishing constitutionalists, stop punishing originalists, stop punishing those of us who stubbornly cling to our bitter, bitter belief that America is good because she is great, that she was not created in eternal sin. Those of us who believe, in other words, in 1776, not in the spirit of 1619. So I say for now, good for Congressman Brandon Gill for his line of questioning against the head of the ABA cartel herself. Folks, we'll go to one final break. We'll be back for final thoughts on the other side. Stay with us.

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[Josh Hammer]

Welcome back. So in other congressional news, we were just talking about Brandon Gill before the break. So in other congressional news, Congressman Gill's colleague Jim Jordan of Ohio has made an interesting criminal referral to the Justice Department. He is referring Jack Smith himself, so called special counsel Jack Smith. Jim Jordan's referring Jack Smith for criminal prosecution to the doj. Well, why is he doing that? Well, because Jack Smith, among other things, perjured himself. So Chuck Grassley, who is the senator from Iowa, who, God bless him, he is well into his 90s and he is still working hard as he ever has. He had a couple of fascinating recent revelations that he divulged through his perch on the U.S. senate. And the first thing that he unveiled to us was that there were various attorneys working for Jack Smith, who I call so called Special Counsel Jackson because he actually was not duly authorized, not properly authorized as a special counsel. That was the thrust of Clarence Thomas's concurrence in the presidential immunity case, US vs Trump at the Supreme Court in 2024 and also the thrust of the opinion from Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida that same year, the case that tossed the classified documents case Mar a Lago. Jack Smith was a phony, like literally by definition, an actual literal phony, someone who was not actually authorized by Congress, the only body that can actually do such a thing to make him special counsel. Anyway, I digress. When he was wielding the authority of special counsel erroneously, as the case may be, among other things he did was he testified in Congress. Actually this happened, this just happened in December 2025, actually. So actually this happened just less than a year ago after he was special counsel. So Republicans call him and they subpoenaed him. I actually remember watching this, now that I think about him, and they asked him, did you ever review our text messages as a course of your probe, your probe in January 6th? And he said no. So he was asked, quote, did the toll records that you requested from the senators, did they include the content of the phone calls? No. Jack Smith very briefly said, well, what did Chuck Grassley show recently? Well, he showed that Smith had indeed obtained the contents of 44 lawmakers text messages as part of a separate subpoena to the National Archives and Records Administration that sought the communication of various Trump advisers and aides. This looks an awful lot like perjury. Perjury has a five year statute of limitations under US Federal law. He just said this less than a year ago. Let's go like literally, let's go, let's get that indictment filed, whether it is under the for now interim acting age administration of top blanche or the soon to be permanent AG administration top blanche, let's go ahead and get that thing filed. By the way, it's not just perjury. There are any number of other charges that I and others have been pushing for years when it comes to things to go after the leading vectors of the Democrat lawfare complex, including Jack Smith, also including Alvin Bragg, Fani Willis in Georgia and all the various other hooligans, Tish James, the attorney General of New York State, and so forth. Among those statutes that come to mind are 18 U.S. code Section 241, which criminalizes a conspiracy to deprive your fellow Americans of their constitutional rights. So let me break this down. If Joe says to Tom, let's go ahead and deprive Dan of his First Amendment right to free speech, and we're going to do so by XYZ means by suffocating him, if you conspire to deprive someone of their right to free speech, of their right to keep their arms of any of the constitutional rights, that is a violation. It's not just a violation. It's actually, it's criminalized. You can go to jail for this. It's 18 US code section 241. You can go ahead and look it up yourself if you don't believe me. I've been arguing for years and this is a very, very good fit for what it looks like. Jack Smith, Fani Willis, all of them Alvin Bragg did. There are lots and lots and lots of data points pointed to when it comes to making this argument. One that comes to mind, speaking of Fani Willis, is that if you recall the whole Fani Willis prosecution, it was a hilariously inept and corrupt prosecution. Fani Willis was this absolute dimwit prosecutor in Atlanta, Georgia, in Fulton County, Georgia, who was trying ludicrously to prosecute Donald Trump on Georgia's RICO statute. RICO is what Congress pass years ago at a federal level to go after La Cosa Nostra, like the Sicilian Mafia. So she's using the Georgia state equivalent to try to pursue Trump for basically being a mob boss. Why? Because he decided to call Brad Rothenberger on January 3, 2021 and ask for more votes. Was that a great phone call? No. Does it make you a Vito Corleone or John Gambino as mob boss worthy of running conspiracy criminal ring? No, obviously not. So what does Fani Wills do to Try to prosecute Trump on these grounds. Oh, yeah, she brings in her lover with whom she's having an extramarital affair. Nathan Wade. Really? This actually happened. It was like two years ago. Go ahead and look it up. If you don't remember the details. It was shocking, scandalous stuff. Nathan Wade was getting paid hundreds and hundreds of thousand dollars by Georgia state taxpayers to be the lead prosecutor trying to get Trump for rico. Nathan Wade had never tried a RICO case in his life. Fonny literally only brought Wade on because they were having an affair. But here's where it gets even more interesting. The White House visitor locks during the Biden administration showed Jim Jordan himself. I just mentioned Jim Jordan was the one who divulged this. The White House visitor log showed that Nathan Wade was visiting the White House around the time that the Mafia was conspiring. Why would Nathan Wade be at the White House? The question answers itself. Because obviously, obviously, obviously, this whole thing was coronated from top down. Merrick Garland, Jack Smith, Fani Wells, Alvin Bragg, all these hooligans, all these hoodlums should be indicted. They should be prosecuted. There is ample grounds to do so. So I was really happy to see that Jim Jordan is making a criminal refer when it comes to Jack Smith to the Tom Blanche doj. Hopefully the DOJ acts on this post taste and ultimately we get real justice. If you recall, our prognostication here on the show is that Todd Blanche is as well positioned as anyone to actually pursue real justice for the lawfare. Why is that? Because he saw it firsthand. He was Donald Trump's criminal defense attorney during it. So he knows where the bodies are buried. I'm not going to guarantee a result that depends on guessing the judges and the grand juries, a lot of elements here. But I think if anyone is going to get us justice for the lawfare, I think Todd Blanche is better positioned than pretty much anyone else to try to do that. Now, I want to conclude just by spending a few minutes here talking about what Stay actually is on the Jewish calendar. So today is actually the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. It is a very, very solemn day. It is Tisha B'Av, which means that is the ninth day of the month of Av on the Hebrew calendar. A lot of people think of Yom Kippur as being the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. Yom Kippur is the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. It is the day of atonement, whereby we atone for all of our various sins before God Interestingly, if you sin to your fellow man, whether it's your wife, your friend, your boss, whoever, you can't atone in synagogue or with anything. You have to actually atone to that person. You have to personally make amends. So the day of atonement is actually not a sad day. It's a very common misconception. It's actually a beautiful day. It's a sa. And insofar as we fast and we afflict ourselves in the words of the Torah of the Bible, but it's a beautiful day insofar as God gives us a chance to atone and to start from scratch each and every year. Tish Bav. Today is a full 25 hour fast. So no water, no food, no nothing. The water part is not for the faint of heart. It is not easy, trust me. But it's actually a genuinely sad day. We actually don't even sit on chairs in synagogue. We sit on the floor and we weep and we sing about all the terrible things that happened on this day. So first and foremost, both of the temples in Jerusalem were destroyed on this very day. The First Temple by the Babylonians, the Second Temple by the Romans. All sorts of other horrific tragedies happened to Jewish people on this day. The Bar Kopa revolting to the Romans ended in defeat on this day in the year 133, the Jews were expelled from England. In the year 1290, on this day, they were banished from Spain. On this day in 1492, there were all sorts of terrible things during the Holocaust on this day. It is the saddest day on the calendar. But here's where it gets interesting and here's where I want to turn the conversation. It's not just sad, there's actually a spark of optimism and hope. So one of the things that we do is during our normal daily prayers is a part that's essentially Jewish confession, where we pound our chest and say we have shamed, we have robbed, we have wronged. It's like a daily confession. We don't say it on joyous days, we don't say it on the Sabbath, on Shabbat or on holidays. We don't say confession on Tisha B'Av. It's not part of the liturgy for this day. And also after the middle of the day. So in the afternoon you are allowed to sit in a regular chair. Again, you can't just, you're not allowed to just be on the floor. Why is that? Because our tradition teaches us that the Jewish Messiah, because Jews famously believe that we are still waiting for the Messiah. Our tradition teaches that the Messiah will be born, hasn't born, or will be born on Tishbah. So imagine that for a second. It's the saddest day, the destruction of the temple, of the dwelling place, of the divine presence, of the Shekhinah in the Hebrew, the destruction. Jerusalem happened on both, on this day, both temples. And yet this is the day where the Messiah will be born. Our tradition says it's an amazing and beautiful paradox. The broader lesson is that what looks like an absolute terrible thing, a tragedy, might be a tragedy, but it might be more than that. There might just be the seeds for a rebirth, for a rejuvenation, for a revitalization. So try to find the ingredients there. When something bad happens, look at what is not just bad. Look at what could be turned good. As it says, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. There's a little bit of that in this day of Tishbav, which otherwise a very, very sad day, but has a kernel of just beautiful divine blessings and magnificence in it as well. So I wanted to share that tidbit with you and hope you have a great rest of your evening. I look forward to drinking water and eating once again. We'll be right back with you again tomorrow.

[Grainger Announcer]

Granger knows when you're a procurement manager for an office park, you're not managing one building, you're managing all of them. And to stay ahead, you need to see through walls and around corners, lights about to fail, filters ready to clog H Vac on its last leg. If you wait until something breaks, you're already behind. Count on Grainger for quality products, easy reordering and 24. 7 support. Call 1-800-GRAINGER click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.