← The Josh Hammer Show
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aura.com safe the James Bond villain himself, Anthony Fauci, testifying today at the US Congress. He pled the fifth. Wasn't necessarily on my bingo card. Probably wasn't on yours either. What does it mean? And even more to the point, are we ready to react differently to the next COVID 19 if God forbid it happens. I'm Josh Hammer and this is the Josh Hammer Show. So Anthony Fauci, who looks and sounds and acts very much like a villain from the James Bond 007 series, testified in a highly anticipated hearing on Capitol Hill earlier today. Rand Paul had divulged, as we discussed on yesterday's show, he had divulged parts of Anthony Fauci's diary earlier this week and he subpoenaed him. This is the first time Fauci was appearing since President Trump was reelected as president in January 2025. One of the more anticipated hearings in recent memory. And it got off to something of an unexpected start where Anthony Fauci, upon the advice of his lawyers, decided to plead the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. Here was Anthony Fauci this morning, although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for the legislative branch of government and my decades long record of cooperating with Congress, under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions.
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C
Thank you.
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So all sorts of questions raised as a result of this. First of all, no one denies his ability to invoke the Fifth Amendment. The Fifth Amendment is available to anyone as one of the core constitutional rights you are allowed on the Fifth Amendment to not have to testify against yourself. There's something that a number of people have taken over the years. I think a lot of people probably think of La Cosa Nostra mob bosses and various other sordid actors as pleading the Fifth. You know, the Fauci, for what it's worth, I think fits quite nicely into that Mafia boss esque paradigm. But the big question here is Joe Biden issued this dude a massive pardon, a massive sweeping pardon. On his way out the door. On his way out the door. And the pardon which was issued like literally 10 minutes, 10, 15 minutes before President Trump was sworn in on January 2025. In the final minutes, Biden's sweeping pardon was the only sweeping pardon granted by the President Joe Biden to anyone not named Biden. It covered all prospective crimes, all actions from 2014 until the day it was signed. So as Rand Paul and others who were on the Senate dice today, as they accurately noted, Anthony Fauci could have openly admitted to committing God knows how many crimes during that time period. He could have said, I shredded documents, I perjured myself, I did this. I compromised national security, I violate all the protocols when it comes to skiffs and various other class of diamonds. I did a million things wrong. You can't touch me. And you know, he probably would be okay in that case. The Biden auto patent, some low life Biden White House staffer would have covered Anthony Fauci for that conduct. Rather, the reason he vote the 5th today was because he was worried about perjuring himself today. That is the reason. But it still had this aura. It was one of my first thoughts when I first saw him plead the fifth. One of my first thoughts was I saw others on X know this as well, that it's almost as if he's pleading the fifth to avoid speaking because he knows that the Biden auto pen pardon is legally dubious. Again, it's slightly different. It was conduct from 2014 until 2024 or 2025, I guess January 2020, 25. And then now it's perjury now. But it kind of gave off this aura of Anthony Fauci not being sure as to the legality or legitimacy of, of the Biden pardon. I just couldn't help but think about that. Now an interesting thing is raised as well on the possibility of did he actually exhibit contempt for Congress? Contempt for Congress, lest you forget, is what sent Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro to jail. They went to jail over contempt for Congress. Contempt for Congress is where you don't show up to a subpoena. So technically speaking, being subpoenaed in pleading the Fifth is indeed different than just not showing up. But it was very fascinating. Before the hearing was adjourned, you had Rand Paul, Ron Johnson, Bernie Moreno, various other public senators openly chattering about how they might actually file for contempt of Congress. Now because again, he has immunity, sweeping immunity. So this is not a normal fifth Amendment invocation. It's a nuanced legal point, but it's an important point. He's voting the fifth on behalf of conduct for which he's already been fully even immunized from prosecution. Is that tantamount to contempt of Congress? Listen, it's a very interesting legal question. I think it's a unique legal question. It's frankly one that the courts probably have never addressed, so perhaps we'll have an opportunity to do so. I think that there's very little downside, frankly, for Republican senators voting to hold Fauci in contempt for this. And let's see ultimately where the chips fall. It's very, very close to black letter contempt if it is not that. Exactly. We'll see ultimately where the courts come down on this question. Now, when it comes to Fauci's lawyers, humorously, this happened actually very early on in the proceeding. One of Fauci's lawyers was just straight up booted. He was just straight up booted by Rand Paul for. Well, for speaking out of turn. It was all part of a show. It was part of the Anthony Fauci show. Don't you see? Let's go ahead and play this clip as well.
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D
Not recognized by the committee or the chair. If he speaks again, he will be removed from the room. This testimony is from Anthony Fauci. This is not a game with his lawyers. He can advise. His lawyers can give him advice. He's got a half dozen here. They are all allowed to talk to him.
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Yes. All right.
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But the attorneys are not recognized. In fact, the attorney was told not to sit at the table, and he's not obeying that recommendation. There's a row behind you, sir. That's where you were told to sit, and you're not. And now you're disrupting the proceedings. And so, look, this is the way Anthony Fauci wants to be remembered. For a lawyer not listening to the rules, that's the way you want to be remembered, and that's what you're going to do. You are not recognized, sir. Security, please remove him from the room.
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And again, we'll have to see whether or not contempt of Congress is filed. We will have to see how this plays out more generally speaking. And above all, what about our lessons? Have we actually learned lessons from this dark, dark chapter in American history? All the horrific things that happened to the American people during the botched response to Covid? Well, I want to talk about that in just a minute. But for now, folks, I do want to tell you about our sponsor for today's show. Our sponsor is Angel Studios. You know, we're living in A moment when conviction is too often treated as a liability and silence is rewarded over speaking the truth. That's one reason Charlie American Martyr is such an important documentary. At its core, this isn't a political story. It's a story of a man whose faith shaped his public life, whose courage came from his convictions, and whose legacy challenges all of us to think more deeply about what it means to live faithfully. Charlie believed that our faith shouldn't be confined to Sunday mornings, but should inform how we engage the culture around us with conviction, humility, and purpose. Our faith is not something that should be private. Rather, it is publicly imbued in all that we do. So Charlie Kirk's life raised a question that every believer should wrestle with. When our values are tested, will we stand firm? If you believe stories like this matter, go to angel.com/join the Angel Guild and you can watch today Charlie American Martyr, and you can help bring more stories of faith, courage and conviction to audiences all around the world. Again, folks, angel.com/join the angel Guild Check out Charlie Kirk, American Martyr, the film about my late friend Charlie Kirk. Angel Studios is a sponsor for today's show. So all this has to therefore raise some big questions. Have we actually learned any of the lessons from COVID 19? America's response to COVID 19 was absolutely horrific. It was absolutely horrific. And I'm not saying them necessarily did worse than the rest of the world because most of the rest of the world botched it too. With very, very few exceptions. There was a lot of praise for some from the Nordic countries who are doing things a little differently. But overall, most countries botched it. America definitely botched it. So is America actually ready for the next pandemic? Well, that depends on the following question. Have we moved beyond this notion of simply trusting capital T, trusting the capital S science, or have we not moved on? That is the foundational question. I said this over and over again. I literally remember tweeting about this in March 2020, like a week into the lockdowns. Here's the issue. The issue and one of the reasons why Anthony Fauci is this Bond villain like character. Even holding aside the gain of function research, holding aside the Wuhan Institute for Virology, the fact that America had a hand in manufacturing this virus that shut down the world and cost children their livelihoods count, costless business cost, active duty military members their service, were not getting the jab. Holding all of that aside, and that's a lot to hold aside, one of my personal biggest issues with Fauci since day one is his astounding hu. This is astounding hubris and his epistemological conflation of the truth with the science. That's not how it works. Science is based on empiricism. You have hypotheses, you test them and they can change. Theories change. Okay. I would argue even scientific laws are only laws as long as the evidence holds. They are different in that respect from laws delivered from, let's call it Mount Sinai and elsewhere. The fundamental task of politicians is to pursue the common good of the people. As the prevale the constitution states, we the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure the best of tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain, establish this constitution for the United States of America. Those are the goals of government, the common good. Science is one of the many, many things that statesmen ought to take into consideration. But we don't act because the science says so. We don't act because the economists say so. Oh, free trade's good for economics and it usually is, but what does it mean by supply chains? What does it mean by national security? You get it? There's trade offs everywhere. We saw that big time, up front and close, close and personal during COVID So that is the mentality, folks, the next time that we get a virus and it's gonna happen, maybe in our lifetime, maybe after that, these things do happen. This is just human nature. Will we respond differently? It all hinges on our answer to that question. You know, Bernie Moreno, this morning the senator from Ohio was asking how James Madison would feel about Fauci invoking his amendment. Well, the founders would have been a guest. And how America responded to Covid More generally, this prioritization of these mass lockdowns over any semblance of individual liberty and moral worth and dignity. Will we handle it differently next time? I don't know. In part, I think in small part, perhaps that depends on getting justice and accountability. That means pursuing Anthony Fauci. I say pursue contempt of Congress based on what happened today. Folks, we're going to go to a quick break. On the other side, Seth Barron joins us to discuss Mamdani third worldism and elsewhere. We'll be right back with Seth Barron.
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Welcome back. So, in addition to Anthony Fauci, there's so much more happening in the world today. We've been talking a lot on the show recently about Third Worldism. We've talked a lot about Zoram Hamdani, who is kind of the singular encapsulation of this horrific phenomenon. We want to bring on a first time guest who has some insights into both this and much more. And that esteemed guest is none other than Seth Barron. So Seth Barron is an editorial board member at the New York Post, America's newspaper, if he will. He also has a new book, the Left's Capture and Destruction of America's Sacred Institutions. So, Seth, welcome to the show. We're really pleased to have you. So you get into this topic of Third Worldism in your book. Weaponized is kind of a buzzword of the day. I've attempted to define it on the show insofar as I see it. I do think that it is one of the best descriptors of what we are currently seeing on the far left of the American political and social and cultural spectrum. What is Third Worldism from your perspective? And how did this concept get laundered into the broader American and social discourse?
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Well, thanks for having me on, Josh. I'm really happy to be here. And yeah, it's a fascinating question. And I started writing this book well before Mamdani even announced his candidacy. So I was pleased and surprised to see the whole question really emerge into the public space. I mean, Third Worldism is basically this, this conception of society and the world. As you know, it's the Marxist vision of class warfare, but taken to the level of nations versus one another. And the idea being that the colonial project created a slave class of nations. Basically what we now call the Third world and their liberation and they're casting off the shackles of colonialism, is the model for revolution for people everywhere. So that's basically, you know, in a, in a thumbnail sketch how what Third Worldism today is. So you see people like Zoran Mandani or Darielisa Chevalier, this recently nominated Congress, you know, took congresswoman to be in Manhattan talking all the time about, you know, this, this idea that, well, as Mamdani said, when the, remember when the NYPD has its boot on your neck? The IDF laced the boot. So combining domestic political issues and putting in this internationalist construct, that's basically the Third worldist view as it pertains today.
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You can follow Seth Baron on Xethbaron NYC again folks. His book, available everywhere books are sold, is Weaponize the Left's Capture and Destruction of America's Sacred Institutions. Seth, there's a whole debate as to what to call exactly this, this, this phenomenon that we're now seeing on the activist left. In fact, I think it was Barry Weiss's Free Press that just had a whole symposium of contributors trying to answer this question as to what exactly we call this. Is it, is it socialism? Is it communism? Is it Third Worldism, Wokeism or just some combination there thereof? What, what, what is the best description for, for what, what we're seeing? You mentioned, you mentioned Darlisa, Chevalier, Zorma Doni. These folks embody something. Is it Third Worldism? Is it actually just, just old school Marxism? Is this some horrific Frankenstein like monster amalgamation thereof? How, how do you see it?
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You know, it's kind of like, like the, the Red Green Alliance, I think the Islamist Communist alliance. I, I guess you could call it Third Worldism or communism. I'm not so worried about exactly what you call it. What's funny though is how sensitive the socialists are to how it's called. For instance, they, they get very exercised if you call them communists and they, they grin and smirk about it as though you're calling them, you know, Odinists or blasphemers, like some, some decrepit old term. They like to say, no, no, we're socialists. So they're very precise about how they call themselves. Of course they'll call anyone they don't like a fascist. They don't worry whether you're in the fascist party or not. And then at the same time they'll downplay what socialism is. They'll say socialism, that's just sidewalks. Don't you like sidewalks? Don't you like libraries? So they play this Mott and Bailey game all the time of defining and redefining things. So I'm not so worried about it. I just call them communists, basically.
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Yeah, and we use the terms socialists a lot on this show because they sound a lot like socialism. Donnie is quoting the Communist Manifesto. After all, there are literally city owned grocery stores up in your neck of the woods these days. I mean, that is socialism, certainly. If nothing else, it really reeks of Soviet era central planning. So I think that communism, frankly, is a perfectly suitable description as well. I want to drill down a little bit on Zora Mamzani. So it's fascinating, Seth, because on the one hand he was born in Uganda, which makes him automatically ineligible to be President of the United States. So thank God we can now say definitively that he's actually not going to be president, which is a good thing. On the other hand, he's a really powerful figure at a shockingly young age. I personally see him at this point as the kingmaker on the left. Maybe, maybe, maybe for a little while. That was Bernie Sanders. And Bernie Sanders really just took one on the chin very hard. With Graham Platinum in Maine, Mamdani did not get nearly as involved in that race as Bernie did. And Mamdani is not picking candidates. You mentioned Chevalier. So I see him really as a very powerful force. What is it about Mamdani that seems to attract so many people on the left to him and how do you assess the scale of his threat, not just to New York City, but really to the broader national population?
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Well, in my book I say Mamdani. I'm sorry, not in my book. In a recent article I said Mamdani. If the KGB had run him up in a lab, they couldn't have come up with a better candidate to infiltrate America. He's perfect. He has this globalist background that appeals to people. He's racially and religiously of these esteemed minorities that give him a lot of points in those categories. But he's extremely sophisticated. He's been western educated, but grounded in this third world as Marxist vision of his father, who's a very prominent post colonial theorist. The guy's perfect. He's like something out of the Manchurian Candidate. Look, he's very charismatic. He has this kind of cute demeanor. But deep down he is not. Even deep down he is extremely radical. And especially on the question of Israel, Palestine, he's clearly a fanatic. He's a fascinating character. But you know Right after his election, I was saying, look, he's now the leader of the Democratic Party. I mean, who else? He has all the energy. He has all the energy and all of the charisma, basically. So, yeah, it's a fascinating story. And, yeah, he does seem like a kingmaker. I mean, at the same time, we have to step back and realize that all of these DSA victories so far have just been in Democrat primaries. You know, Democrats winning Democrat primaries doesn't necessarily, you know, bespeak revolution. So we'll have to wait and see if they have what kind of success they have. You know, when they win a Republican district or even a purple district, then it'll be like, you know, significant.
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And what are his next steps, do you think? There's a lot of chatter about Alexandro Kaiser Cortez challenging Chuck Schumer in 2028. I kind of assume that's going to happen. What exactly is Mamdani's next move? To be clear, it's a little premature. He was just elected New York City mayor. He's got a lot of damage still to do, unfortunately, it seems in the Big Apple. But where do you see his political career going from here? Because he does seem to have an AOC problem, at least when it comes to New York State Democratic politics.
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I mean, I think AOC is probably going to try for the presidency. I think she's going to skip the Senate. I've heard that maybe he'll run for Senate. But there is an old problem that mayors of New York City have, which is that the job doesn't lead anywhere. We've seen this over and over again. New York City mayors rarely go anywhere afterward. I mean, look at Bloomberg wanted to become President. De Blasio wanted to become President. Giuliani de Blasio wanted to be Congressman Giuliani, everybody. So it's not clear that Mamdani will have a path, but he certainly could be mayor for eight years and do all kinds of damage here. And, you know, the guy seems like he liked to be head of the UN or who knows, you know, and once the socialists take over, well, perhaps he can rule the country. I don't know.
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You know, I'm not sure if there's a more quintessentially Third World, this institution in the world, for that matter, than the United nations, which is, you know, is right there, right down the highway, frankly, from Gracie Mansion on the east side of Manhattan. So it's not. It's not particularly far dry from him. So, frankly, if he wants to replace the, the current income poops who are the, the head of that wretched hive of scum and villainy there on the east side of Manhattan. I think he would be, unfortunately, a pretty formidable candidate for such a great. He'd be great. He'd be an absolutely perfect fit. Well, Seth Barron, you've been a perfect fit for our conversation. We're very grateful for that. You can follow Seth Barron on X, folks, at Seth Baron nyc. He's an editorial board member for America's paper, the New York Post. His new book, the Left's Capture and Destruction of America's Sacred Institutions, available everywhere books are sold. Seth, you are a gentleman and scholar. We appreciate it, sir. Take care and chat soon.
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C
Thank you, Josh.
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Folks, we'll be right back after a short break with much more. Stay with us.
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Welcome back. So the situation in the Middle east, we might have thought it was starting to go away. And just like Michael Corleone and The Godfather Part 3, every time we think we're out, they just pull us back in. In this case, that would be the fanatical apocalyptic Islamist who run the country known as the Islamic Republic of Iran. Because over the past 24 to 36 hours, the following events have taken place. Iran struck at American military bases in Jordan and the United States, thank God, was able to intercept all those missiles. We did not get additional casualties. On behalf of the recent casualties, the first thing to note here is that these people are freaking crazy. Guys, take the win. Trump literally telegraphed to the world that we're not going to engage in heavy bombing. Rather, this campaign is winding down. He telegraphed that after the meeting that happened at the Oval Office last Friday with all the relevant stakeholders, including Brad Cooper, the head of centcom, it looked like this thing was done. And they just can't help themselves, as we've seen countless times since this war started back in February 28th. Why can't they help themselves? Because they are irrational actors. They do not respond to incentives, to carrots and sticks the same way that you or I do. They're crazy people. They're freaking lunatics. All words that Trump and Rubio and others have used describe these people. So in response to this, the United States tag team this fascinating. The United States teamed up with the Saudis to strike back at Iran backed Shiite terrorist militias in eastern Iraq, Iraq, which in you know, many ways to this day is essentially an Iranian province, or at least a adjacent Iranian province. So we struck out not inside mainland Iran, but at Iran backed proxies inside Iraq, where we think those missiles emanated from. All of this taking place amidst the backdrop. Well, actually, before I get that, it's probably worth noting what President Trump allegedly, allegedly said actually to FOX News this morning in response to those strikes. So Trey Inkst of Fox News, who is based in Tel Aviv actually, and is one of Trump's favorite reporters
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on
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this issue, it seems to us reporting that President Trump told Fox News after this attack, we're going to beat the effing crap. Except these are worse for the crowd. We're going to beat the effing. You know what out of them will be hitting them hard is what Donald Trump apparently told Trey Angst of Fox News this morning. Listen, as we said here on the show many times, you gotta do it or not. You do not want to be seen as the boy who cried wolf. But they're gonna keep on doing this. How much clearer could it possibly be by now that the only way to stamp out evil is, is to defeat evil? Not every foreign policy issue in the world is starkly black or white. There are indeed moral shades of gray. I've referred to this for years as The World War II ization, the World War II theory of history, whereby you take the stark moral dichotomy of World War II and then you take and apply it to every geopolitical hotspot around the globe. It's not that simple. That's a little facile. It's a little too simple. But there's a major asterisk. It's a major caveat. And that caveat is, as some Conflicts actually really meet that the United States versus Iran is one such conflict. These people are evil. These people are absolutely crazy. By the way, very encouraging that the Saudis would get involved in tag team with the United States to push back. The Arab Gulf states have been famously talking out of both sides of the mouth for years, frankly, for decades. But even over the course of this war, a lot of them were skittish about the war starting. And then once it started, they wanted the United States to really take out Iran really hard. And then when the war paused, they were unhappy. I actually did a very interesting panel this week on Saudi television, Al Arabiya. They're on their English station. I was on a fascinating panel in it was me, this woman who spent the time between Doha, Qatar and Washington D.C. she's involved with Georgetown in D.C. georgetown has a lot of Qatari ties. She spoke on behalf of the Gulf International Forum, kind of the voice of the gcc, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Qatari Lee, Bahrain. And this one was actually very moderate. Then the third guy was an absolute nutter, this pro Iran Pakistani businessman who zoomed in from Pakistan who among other colorful things said that the United States actually created isis. To which I responded. I didn't know that Candace Owens was on the panel was my response. But anyway, I say all that because the other woman, this GCC Gulf woman, was actually very, very reasonable. I thought she was very, very anti Iran. And it's interesting now to see Saudi Arabia, which is the king of the gcc, the Gulf Arab countries fascinated to see them a little late to the game, admittedly get in on the action, so to speak. All this happening in the broader context of a White House sit down on Tuesday, day of the Lindsey Graham funeral. We'll get to that a little bit later on the show. But on Tuesday, Donald Trump meeting with Bibi Netanyahu in the White House for the eighth time. That is more than he's met with any other foreign leader in just this first year and a half of his four year second term. The readout from the meeting, most of the talks were held in private. I'm reading very positive things. It seems that it was a very positive meeting. Netanyahu just describing it as one of our best conversations ever. The White House report describing it as productive and positive talks. Mike Huck's Worth, the US Ambassador to Israel, has referred to the rumors of stress or rift between these two figures Trump Netanyahu. He says that it is basically not true that they are very much still on the same page. And certainly that was my impression as to what happened on Tuesday. So the rumors of this demise, of this personal friendship between Trump and Netanyahu, I think are, are greatly exaggerated for whatever it is worth. On the other hand, I'm not entirely sure that this meeting is necessarily going to have a whole lot to do when it comes to what the United States chooses to do moving forward. As far as what we should do moving forward, we need to find a targeted, tangible way to accomplish some goals quickly and then get the heck out. Pickaxe Mountain is the final remaining nuclear enrichment facility. We should, we should hit it. We should probably take out Kharg island and South Pars as well. That is where Iran refines all of their petroleum. That would severely, severely cripple Iran when it comes to their value to their allies in the world stage, Russia and above all the Chinese. So it will sideline Iran from the axis of no good countries, if you will define some goals, then get out and then encourage our allies, Israel and apparently now the Saudis are getting involved too. The Emiratis, et cetera, encourage them to patrol the straits and patrol the region. You don't need to go for the jugular. You don't need to take out the regime. We've never called for that once here on the show. Define a tangible goal, achieve it. Get the heck out. Pass the baton to our allies. That's the path forward, folks. It's pretty straightforward. I think for me we will see the administration responds, Trump again telling Trey Yanks that we're going to beat the effing crap out of them. I say it's time not for talk at this point, but it is time at this point for action. Well, speaking of Netanyahu, we mentioned Mamdani earlier in our conversation with Seth Barron. Mamdani and Netanyahu, as you probably noticed, are very much getting into it. And Netanyahu was actually asked, he was asked by Sean Hannity, an interview with Sean Hannity. He was asked whether or not he will be going to New York for the UN General assembly because Madani was threatening and maybe still is threatening to arrest Netanyahu because of the ICC and all this other stuff. So Bibi had a pretty defiant response to that. Let's go ahead and play that clip. When it comes to Sean Hannity interviewing Bibi Netanyahu, first of all, I'm going to New York.
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E
Yeah, I'd love to see you there when I go to the UN In September. You know, I moved to Florida. I'll come up. Yes, you've come to Washington So you can go there, but. But I'm definitely going there. I'm going to speak the truth in front of this. You know, there's just hate spewing. Elected official who's pitting one group of New Yorkers against the others. He's turning them against New York Jews. I mean, what are we in the 1930s? What is this, you know, so much hate, so many lies. And you know, the big lie is about the icc, the international criminal so called. That's a corrupt evil organization. It had a prosecutor who issued arrest warrants against me and our former defense minister as war criminals, supposedly for starvation, starving the people of Gaza. We gave a million tons of food for them.
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B
So of course he will go to New York City. That is the correct statement, of course, to make. And for what's worth, I'm sure that he actually will get a very positive reception for a lot of folks there in New York City because Mamdani, as far as I can tell, his approval ratings have generally been going downhill. But more to the point, more to the point, New York City remains, despite its mayor, a city that despite all the folks who voted for Mandani, in many ways remains the epicenter of Western civilization. I don't particularly like New York City. I wish that it wasn't that way. But there's still something visceral, something inherent in New York City. I think that the people who are living there recognize their role in the broader telling of this tale. And they recognize that by turning on the world's only Jewish state and its leader, they will be undermining their own claim to be a key peg in that broader tale. But for now, good for BB for telling, essentially telling Mamdani to go ahead and stick it where the sun don't shine. Folks, we're going to go to a quick break. We'll be right back with more after this.
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A
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Welcome back. So in other domestic news, Todd Blanch is going to be the next Attorney General of the United States. It's only a question as to when that formality is given. There was going to be a committee vote tomorrow. And in theory there actually still could be a committee vote tomorrow if Chuck Grassley decides to hold this hearing. The problem currently for Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee is John Cornyn. So John Cornyn, lest you have forgotten, was defeated by Ken Paxton in the primary in Texas earlier this year after Donald Trump put his on the scale and got involved and he endorsed Ken Paxton. So John Cornyn is now a lame duck and he will be out come January 2027. John Cornyn, not a particularly conservative man representing an iconic conservative state. I say good riddance. So one of his final acts of defiance to the will of the conservative voter is he is delaying this Todd Blanche vote because John Cornyn has a massive problem with something that is no longer even viable. You recall that there was this thing being floated as the so called anti weaponization fund and a lot of Republican senators, including John Thune and John Cornyn had a big problem with it. But the details are not worth getting into because it's not happening. Todd Blintz and DOJ have literally said we're not doing this. So Cornyn just this morning said that. He said that he's still pushing for, quote, ironclad modifications to the IRS settlement that created this fund and he was still hoping for additional concessions from Todd Blanche. So Laura Weiss, a reporter for Punchbowl, reported earlier this morning that Cornyn says his meeting with Todd Blanche was called off because Cornyn says DOJ knows what they need to do, but they simply refuse it. I'll be honest with you, I have no idea what that means. What have they not done? Literally? What has DOJ not done? They've told you, John, that this fund is not happening. I don't understand what exactly it is you're looking for here. Apparently he's looking for a tweak to the terms of the underlying IRS settlement between the Biden era IRS and Donald Trump which resulted in this fund. Why do you have the ability to dictate the settlement of a lawsuit to which you are not a party? You don't. It actually makes no sense whatsoever. So it's frankly just quite ridiculous. So we will see whether or not the vote actually happens tomorrow. But it seems like it is going to happen sooner rather than later. And Top lynch is going to be confirmed again. This is going to happen within the first week or two of August, maybe within the second week of August at this point, but it's only a question of when, not a question of BF John Corn just being a stubborn, stubborn person. On his way out the door, trying to anger a lot of Trump backers, as is his want and as he has done for many years now. Well, Speaking of the U.S. senate, I want to talk a little bit about this Democratic primary for the US Senate seat happening in Michigan. Michigan, which was just moved up on the Democratic primary presidential nominee calendar, is now the fourth or fifth state that votes after South Carolina and a couple of the other early states like Nevada. They are going to go very quickly. Why? It's a total sop. It's a total giveaway to Muslims, to the Arab community here in the United States, which has a mass population in the state of Michigan. And that takes us to the Senate primary. So it's currently a runoff between Haley Stevens, who is a congresswoman, who is running now for the Senate seat. She is the relative, relative moderate in this race. There was a third candidate in this race as well. She was running in this weird middle ground that was not sustainable, and that's why she dropped out. But the lunatic, the far left candidate is a man by the name of Abdul El Sayed, a man who says that he is a doctor, but doesn't really seem like he's necessarily a doctor. A man who has repeatedly refused to recognize the rights of Israel to exist. A man who has shockingly and far too closer comfort ties to a lot of Hezbollah backers in the Dearborn community. Not great. Not great. Most recently here was the scandal involving Abdul Assayed. It was in a leaked zoom call with his donors where he said, he said the following, quote, if I win, well, y' all came at me. So I now I get to come at you and Nino Primaring, people like John Fetterman. I have no problem to do that. Ideally, you put one ogre on a pike and then everyone else gets the message and all of a sudden starts to sound a lot different. So he's referring to putting Fetterman, who's a large man who kind of looks like Shrek, you might say. He's saying you put one ogre on a pike. A pike is like a pole. This was a way of killing people and parading the dead person before medieval subjects to terrify them in front of the king. That's the ogre on a pike metaphor that this radical Islamist is talking about when it comes to his potential Senate colleague. What? So he was actually confronted about this on a Monday evening primary debate, Al Said versus Haley Stevens, and he doubled down. So the moderator from Fox to Detroit asked about this comment. What did he say? He just said, I was referring to a guy named John Fetterman. That's it. No apology, no nuance. And you know what the crazy thing is? The absolutely crazy thing is, is that this absolute lunatic is he's actually leading in the polls. He's leading in the polls. According to Real Clear Politics average, he's currently up on Haley Stevens by an average of 8 points. Now, admittedly, there was one recent poll from a Detroit Newsp Paper of Memory Service that had Stevens up. But my God. My God. I mean, what can you say about a party that is electing people like this? They are the party of political violence. Ogre on a pike. All the horrible, horrible things that they have said for God knows how long about Donald Trump and so many of us on the right, they call for violence. After all, as Saul Alinsky said, the ends justify the means. It is horrific stuff. Michigan voters can still do the right thing by electing Haley Stevens over Abdul Al Sayed. We will see ultimately, if they do that. Finally, Tuesday was the funeral for the late Lindsey Graham. It happened at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. it was a very moving ceremony the morning of the Capitol. And then at the cathedral itself, President Trump spoke among other people who spoke at the National Cathedral. Here's what President Trump had to say about his late friend, Lindsey Graham.
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As you remember, Lindsey and I did not exactly get off to the best of starts running against each other. Back in 2016, Lindsey said something rather nasty on his flight to becoming the next President of the United States. So naturally, I did something that I shouldn't have done. I shared his personal cell phone number with the millions of people that happened to be watching that particular day as I made a speech, a very important speech, and I remember the number 202-228-0292, if anybody wants to give it a shot. His phone exploded. He said. I had that number for 20 years. His phone, phone, Totally. I don't know what he did with it, but it exploded. That was the beginning of a friendship in a way. But it was Lindsey who had the last laugh. Because while I blew up his phone, all for one day, we became great friends. And Lindsey did not stop calling me for the next 10 years. It was not easy.
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Now, we've mentioned Lindsey Graham's legacy on the show numerous times. He's known above all for his foreign policy, but he was also a champion for the unborn, for which is a stunt pro lifer. I'm very grateful and I was really pleased to see a beautiful tribute put out to him by SBA Pro Life America, formerly known as Susan B. Anthony List a wonderful organization led by Marjorie Daniel. Sir. They had a great video. Let's go ahead and play that clip for you. I was humbled. You could have picked anybody. You picked me and I'm not going
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to let you down.
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God bless you. And I will fight with my last breath to keep this country from being a nation that would born a baby. Up to the moment of birth. We have one thing in common. We were all zygotes one time. The point is that life is a miracle and if it's nurtured, we will all make it. This is a defining moment in the movement. If you buy the idea that it is a state issue only then it never really was about the church. Here's what I would tell the Republican Party. Be not afraid. Stand up for the baby all over the country. I think America is at her best when she's standing up for the least among us. It's really pointing stuff there. And this was who Lindsey Graham was at his core. Now again, I have my objections. We're not going to get into the nuances of every policy discussion here. There's no points really. And talking about, ah, I disagree with him on this. This which I did, Immigration probably above all. But at its core, Lindsey Graham is a person who had a moral conscience. He understood right from wrong. As Sean Hannity said at this same memorial, at the same funeral, he understood that far too many don't understand that today, left center, and frankly, oftentimes even on the right. And for that above all, more than perhaps anything else, we will miss Lindsey Graham in Washington D.C. may his memory be a blessing and may you enjoy the rest of your evening, folks. Josh Hammer signing off as always. We'll be right back with much more.
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