INSANE Spanish Border Invasion Is What Dems Want for America.

Summary

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The Josh Hammer Show

Episode: INSANE Spanish Border Invasion Is What Dems Want for America

Date: July 31, 2026
Host: Josh Hammer

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Episode Overview

This highly charged episode of The Josh Hammer Show delves into a range of topics at the crossroads of politics, culture, and law. The centerpiece is the dramatic migrant surge at the Spanish-African exclave of Ceuta, which Hammer frames as a warning for America's own border debates. Along the way, Hammer welcomes economist E.J. Antoni for deep analysis of the current U.S. economy and inflation, and Frank Gaffney for a blunt conversation on U.S. strategy in the Iran war. Throughout, Hammer offers unfiltered commentary on European politics, U.S. legislative drama, and the evolving Republican foreign policy divide.

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Key Segments & Insights

1. The Ceuta "Invasion": What Happened and Why It Matters (00:29–12:33)

• Event Recap: On July 30, 2026, dramatic scenes unfolded as approximately 60,000 young (mostly male) Moroccan Arab Muslims entered Ceuta, Spain’s small African exclave, in a mass border breach.
• Spanish Political Context:
  • Spain’s government under Pedro Sánchez, described here as “essentially a communist,” had recently promised amnesty to millions of undocumented migrants.
  • Hammer argues that this amnesty announcement directly incentivized the border rush:

    "It's almost like people respond to incentives... You're going to generate a massive border rush." (04:46)

• European Fallout:
  • Italian leader Giorgia Meloni (right-wing compared to Sánchez) threatens to restrict visa-free travel for Spaniards, igniting Schengen Area tensions (06:43–06:58).
  • Hammer lambasts what he calls “the inconsistencies, the fallacies, and frankly the stupidities of transnational globalist governance” (08:48).
• Historical & Demographic Framing:
  • Draws parallels to previous migration waves, like the 2015 Syrian crisis, and European “decolonization.”
  • Repeated stress on the migrants' demographic: "All fit the precise same demographic. Pretty much all 18 to 35, maybe 18 to 45 men. Very, very few women..." (02:51)
• American Parallel:
  • Hammer insists the border crisis in Ceuta is a harbinger for the U.S.:

    "Ceuta, Spain, is what the United States southern border will look like in 2028 if a Democrat is elected president. I am not exaggerating." (10:10)

• Notable Clip: Pete Hegseth’s D-Day speech presciently referencing Spanish/European border security (07:59).
• Memorable Quote:

  "Transnational, globalist, open borders, anarchy or the inherent ordered liberty of the nation state. Those are the stakes, folks." (12:02)

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2. The State of the U.S. Economy – Interview with E.J. Antoni (13:42–24:26)

• GDP Growth & Tariff Effects:
  • Recent GDP numbers may seem negative but are partly due to one-time events (15:32); Antoni highlights the effects of “front running of tariffs” and government drawdowns of reserves.
• Inflation & Federal Reserve Policy:
  • Debate over new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s steady rates despite market speculation of increases, navigating President Trump’s preference for low rates versus inflationary pressures (16:08–16:39).
  • Key tension: "The problem today is that government is borrowing so much money that it is crowding out a lot of private investment..." (17:39, Antoni)
  • Clear Econ 101 breakdown of how government borrowing crowds out private borrowing, using mortgage rates as example (18:21–19:42).
• Tariffs, Iran, and Inflation:
  • Antoni minimizes U.S. tariffs’ inflationary effect, emphasizing the far greater inflationary impact from geopolitical disruptions—specifically the Iran war and blockages in global supply chains (20:28–22:48):

    "When we look at what the data are telling us today, it really just seems to be almost entirely an Iran story." (20:28)

• AI's Economic Impact:
  • Antoni sees AI as a significant productivity boon but warns the stock market is highly leveraged and “dangerously” inflated by speculation (23:17–24:12).

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3. Attorney General Confirmation Drama & GOP Intrigue (25:34–31:48)

• Cornyn & Tillis Holdouts:
  • Discussion of GOP Senators John Cornyn (TX) and Thom Tillis (NC) blocking Trump’s AG nominee, Todd Blanche, over DOJ settlement issues regarding Trump’s IRS case and the “anti-weaponization” fund.
  • Hammer criticizes their obstruction as “preposterous,” calling on listeners to pressure their offices (30:07–30:16).
  • Notable quote:

    "Frankly Cornyn and Tillis need to hear it from you. So if you are as riled up about this as I am...hit up the phones.” (29:54)

• Left Media Critique:
  • Hammer plays a clip of Norm Eisen (left-leaning legal commentator) railing against Blanche, noting “the best endorsement that Todd Blanche could ever get.” (31:35)

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4. The Republican Foreign Policy Divide – Megyn Kelly Soundbite Debunked (32:00–35:26)

• Megan Kelly’s Framing:
  • Hammer critiques Megan Kelly’s reduction of GOP foreign policy to isolationists vs. neocons, mocking her as “Grandma Groiper.”
  • Quote from Kim Kelly:

    "All the young Republicans are in the isolationist wing...If you want to bet on the future of the Republican Party...side with the isolationists, because there's not a person under the age of 40 who's a voting Republican who's in favor of this." (32:23–33:26)

• Hammer’s Rebuttal:
  • Argues most Americans and Republicans occupy a “nuanced” middle ground, neither isolationist nor neocon, and frames Donald Trump’s “nationalist realism” as the true path forward (34:16–35:23):

    “The future of the Republican Party’s foreign policy, I think, is going to look a lot closer to President Trump’s conservative nationalist realism...” (35:23)

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5. U.S. Strategy in the Iran War – Interview with Frank Gaffney (36:11–46:01)

• Current Iran Dilemma:
  • Gaffney asserts that only regime change in Iran — “the liberation of the people of Iran”— will bring real security (37:03–40:30).
  • Hammer floats the idea of “hard strikes on a few strategic sites” (41:11), but Gaffney pushes back, preferring precise means that empower the Iranian people and don’t devastate civilian infrastructure (41:53–43:51).
• Chinese Factor & Blockade Strategy:
  • Discussion of strategically blockading Iran’s oil (particularly to China) as more effective than outright destruction (43:51–44:02).
• Will Trump Deliver?
  • Gaffney sees regime change as essential, warning compromise would be “disastrous for...the people of Iran...our friends and interests...but for us as well" (44:14–45:33).
• Memorable Quote:

  “There is no substitute for victory.” (40:30, Gaffney quoting MacArthur, referenced by Hammer)

• Final Note:
  • Both agree that the Iranian regime’s fundamental irrationality means standard deterrence will never work, reinforcing the need for bold action (45:33–45:42).

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Ceuta & American Parallels

  "Ceuta, Spain, is what the United States southern border will look like in 2028 if a Democrat is elected president. I am not exaggerating." (10:10, Josh Hammer)

• On European Geopolitics

  “In many ways, this is the leftist European Union that is reaping what it has sowed.” (06:59, Josh Hammer)

• On U.S. Spending & Interest Rates

  "The problem today is that government is borrowing so much money that it is crowding out a lot of private investment, private borrowing." (17:39, E.J. Antoni)

• On AI & Market Speculation

  "Investors have largely been buying a bag of hope when it comes to some of these AI companies at their current price levels." (23:59, E.J. Antoni)

• On Leftist Critique of Trump’s DOJ

  “Norm Eisen going off like that is frankly just the absolute best endorsement that Todd Blanche could ever get.” (31:35, Josh Hammer)

• On Iran

  "There is no substitute for victory. The only way you will get victory is to be clear. It has to result in the liberation of the people of Iran." (40:30, Frank Gaffney)

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Important Timestamps

• Opening / Ceuta Coverage Begins: 00:29
• Ceuta’s Political Context and European Fallout: 03:40–06:58
• Pete Hegseth D-Day Clip: 07:56–08:24
• Hammer’s U.S. Border Comparison: 10:10–11:45
• E.J. Antoni Interview Starts: 13:42
• Discussion of Tariffs and Inflation: 20:10–22:48
• AI Discussion: 22:58–24:12
• AG Confirmation Drama: 25:34
• Norm Eisen Clip / Leftist Critique: 31:39–31:56
• Megyn Kelly / Foreign Policy Segment: 32:00–35:27
• Frank Gaffney Interview Begins: 36:11
• Primary Iran Policy Debate: 37:03–43:51

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Summary Table of Guests

| Guest | Role/Title | Segment Start | Key Themes Discussed | |-----------------|-------------------------------------------------------|--------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | E.J. Antoni | Chief Economist, Heritage Foundation, Thomas A. Roe Institute | 13:42 | GDP, inflation, tariffs, Iran war's inflation effect, AI and economy, investment crowd-out | | Frank Gaffney | President of Center for Security Policy; Host, Securing America | 36:11 | Iran war, U.S. strategy, the "no substitute for victory" doctrine |

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Tone & Style

• Hammer’s tone is acerbic, direct, and unapologetically partisan; he frequently veers into biting asides and rhetorical flourishes.
• “I am not exaggerating...these are the stakes, folks,” (10:10–12:03) typifies his urgent, polemical approach.

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For First-Time Listeners

This episode offers a raw look at the New Right’s worldview, presenting sharp warnings about border security, suspicion of transnational institutions, skepticism about European leftism, and calls for more assertive American leadership abroad. Hammer’s guests provide technocratic expertise and policy analysis, grounding the rhetoric in economic and strategic realities.

Note: The coverage skips over ads and show promotions to focus purely on discussion content, per instructions.

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

8th well, don't look now, but the Muslims are invading Spain again. No, the year is not 1500.

[C]

The year is 2026.

[B]

And this time they're not conquering, they're being let right in the front door. What are the stakes for Europe and for the United States? I'm Josh Hammer and this is the Josh Hammer Show. Well, it's an action packed show for you today, folks.

[C]

We have EJ Antoni joining us later

[B]

for an update on all things economy. And also Frank Gaffney for interesting discussion,

[C]

I hope, about the Iran war and regional fallout in the Middle east and beyond.

[B]

But for now, just astonishing images, utterly astonishing images and videos coming to all

[C]

of our televisions, our computers, our social media feeds.

[B]

Happening on on Thursday, July 30. So there is a town called Ceuta, which is an exclave. So an exclave is a town that is entirely surrounded on all sides by a different country and, or a body of water. You have to understand the history in

[C]

order to understand the geography.

[B]

So the history of this part of the world is essentially as follows. For hundreds of years, really, especially in the 19th century, in the 1800s, Europe essentially colonized pretty much the entirety of the African continent. And then in the 20th century, the late 19th century, really especially into the 20th century, it was essentially all decolonized. There are some, some tiny morsels that remain of, of European colonialism, European hegemony, African continents. And primarily that takes the form of two Spanish cities, two cities that are part of the country of Spain and are therefore part of the European Union

[C]

because Spain is part of the eu.

[B]

But they are actually geographically located on the African continent. The most well known of these is this city that is in question is the, is the city of Ceuta, population roughly between 80 and 90,000 people. It is the tippity, tippity tip of the, at the absolute northwestern most part of the entire African continent. So it's surrounded by the Mediterranean and Morocco and it's right across the Strait of Gibraltar from mainland Spain. So I'm not sure exactly why they decided that Thursday, July 30th was the day to do this. But 60,000 Arab Moroccan Muslims swimming across the border. And these so many videos show the immigration authorities literally just opening the door and you see these young men, and yes, they're pretty much all young men. They all fit the precise same demographic. They're pretty much all 18 to 35, maybe 18 to 45 men. Very, very few of any women you see here, which has been a long standing part of these Muslim migration and

[C]

invasion waves going back all the way

[B]

to Angela Merkel and the Syrian quote,

[C]

unquote refugee crisis and onwards.

[B]

It's the same thing all over again. Now, the geopolitics of this are, are fascinating. Spain is currently the most left wing country in the entire European Union. That's not exaggeration. They actually do fit that bill, which is one of the many reasons that it was such a tragedy that they

[C]

just won the World cup on American soil.

[B]

But I digress. Their current, their current president, Pedro Sanchez, is a socialist, essentially a communist. He was the only member of NATO, the only head of state of NATO, who explicitly told Donald Trump during Operation Epic Fury that you can't actually use our airspace. You can't do it. All the other countries complied, even Emmanuel Macron in France, so forth. But no. Pedro Sanchez said no. Is a man who has openly mused about acquiring a nuclear weapon for purposes of deploying it against Israel. I mean, let's.

[C]

You want to talk about the history

[B]

of anti Semitism in Spain. It's not exactly a glorious past. Jews literally expelled From Spain in 1492 during the Inquisition and now here we are and this leftist is, is as far left as they come. So that is a context for the migrants rushing in. Now Spain has also previously announced that they were planning on passing a massive amnesty.

[D]

Aha.

[C]

You see where I'm going here?

[B]

Spain, under Pedro Sanchez, the leftist leader, had already announced that they were going to grant amnesty for millions upon millions of illegal aliens currently within Spain's borders. Oh, it's almost like people respond to incentives. It's almost like when you say we're going to legalize you, we're going to give you a path to citizenship, we're going to give you amnesty. It's almost like you're going to generate a massive border rush. So again, why they actually chose Thursday to do this border rush, I don't know. But why they chose, broadly speaking, this rough two, three month stretch. That's why. That's the reason that the Sanchez government promised amnesty for millions of illegal Aliens within Spain's borders. That is the unambiguous reason. Now Pedro Sanchez is freaking out. He is sending troops to, to Ceuta and there's already been fallout. So George Meloni, who is the head of Italy, she's right of center, but honestly not as hard right as many of us hoped that she would be. I, frankly, I've been disappointed by her in many ways. I think a lot of conservatives have been. But she's still considerably to the rights of the leftist lunatic Pedro Sanchez. Giorgio Maloney is actually threatening to withdraw, withdraw the reciprocity between Italy and Spain when it comes to the Schengen area. So there's a lot of European nomenclature. So the EU in its modern form emerges out of the Maastricht Treaty in the early 1990s. And part of the European Union has something called the Schengen Zone or the Schengen area, which is a fancy way of saying that you don't need a passport to travel within EU countries. This is part of the idea is that it's more open, it's more free. But one of the downsides, and who could have seen this one coming, is that when you have a certain country that just decides to legalize a lot of migrants or to just let in a lot of people, they can then just hop on a plane, rent a car or hop on a train.

[C]

And a lot of Europe, you can

[B]

train pretty easily and get from one country to the other. So Meloni is threatening to shut down the visa free travel from Spain to Italy. Whether she even has that authority under existing European Union law, I don't pretend to know.

[C]

To be honest, I'm not a barred

[B]

attorney in the European Union. But these are the tensions that are already being caused by, in real time. Because again, this is basically all happening in real time. In many ways, this is the leftist European Union that is reaping what it has sowed. You've had leaders on the European continent who have called, who have clamored for all sorts of migrants from the third World for years and years and years. I mentioned Angela Merkel and Syria. That was one of the more infamous examples from a few decades ago. You know, our Secretary of War, Pete

[C]

Hegseth, actually when he was over there,

[B]

he was over in Normandy, France on D Day.

[C]

It was the 82nd anniversary of D

[B]

Day just almost two months ago at

[C]

this point on, on June 6, 2026.

[B]

And in his, in his remarks that Pete Hegseth gave at the, at the Normandy American cemetery on D Day, he actually made a, made A reference that tragically actually was, if anything really prescient given what we're now seeing in Ceuta and Spain.

[C]

Let's go ahead and play this clip

[B]

from Pete Hexat speaking almost two months ago in Normandy, France.

[E]

Sadly, today different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies. Which is in Spain, in Italy, in Greece and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late?

[B]

So he mentioned Spain. He actually mentioned Spain quite preciously. Pedro Sanchez was already in power when

[C]

he gave these remarks.

[B]

Maybe that was part of the pointed jab. This is one of the many things underscores not just the insanity of leftist governance, because again, it was the direct amnesty proposal from Sanchez and the Spanish

[C]

government that resulted in this invasion.

[B]

But part of the broader situation here,

[C]

and this gets us back to Meloni

[B]

in Italy, is it exposes just the inconsistencies, the fallacies and frankly the stupidities of transnational globalist governance and infrastructure as opposed to the nation state. The European Union is a product of the liberal era of good feelings, is a product of the post Berlin Wall, post communism era, the end of the Warsaw Pact and so forth. The idea was, ah, everything is open now. Free trade, free movement, free people, free this, free that. If only someone could have seen coming that there are real costs to outsourcing your sovereignty to transnational institutions. That comes to borders, that comes to monetary policy. By the way, the European Central bank, which is based in Germany, has responsibility for setting interest rates and therefore monetary policy. When it comes to the entire Schengen

[C]

area, all the countries in the EU

[B]

that are, that are on the euro, which is nuts. I've never understood this for a second. How you could possibly expect first world economies, places like Germany and Italy to be on the exact same interest rate as some of the lesser developed, not third world, but May second world economies

[C]

of southeastern Europe and so forth.

[B]

That makes no sense at all. So if anything, maybe to get back to Pete Hegseth, maybe this actually is a wake up call. These images are absolutely astonishing. Crazy stuff. And here's the key part folks, here's the key thing. I think a lot of folks probably listening watching this are saying, ah, I don't care Europeans, whatever. No, here's why you should care. Ceuta, Spain is what the United States southern border will look like in 2028 if a Democrat is elected president. I am not exaggerating. We all saw what happened during the Biden Harris regime. Eagles Pass, Texas. Large swaths of the Rio Grande Valley. In Texas, all the way up through the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, all the way to San Diego, Tijuana. The border was inundated. Millions upon millions of completely unvetted illegal aliens flooding into the interior of the country, no questions asked. At this point, you see people that are openly calling to abolish ice, the dsa, which is the beating heart and soul of the Democratic Party. In the year 2026, the DSA is now saying, abolish ICE, abolish borders. They actually believe and take seriously John Lennon's imagination. No borders, no war. They actually believe this. They want to implement it. So go back again and look at those videos of those Spanish immigration authorities literally holding the door open as 60,000 Muslim Moroccan Arabs just invade Ceuta, therefore

[C]

doubling its population in essentially a matter of hours.

[B]

And look at that. Mull it over and don't be deluded into thinking that is only a Spanish problem or that's only a European problem. That will be an American problem if Democrats take power, if they take back control of the White House, both houses of Congress, that's what our border is going to look like. Is that a world that we want to live in? The answer, surely is no. So, yes, this hopefully should be a wake up call for the European Union and for Brussels and the Euro elites, but it really should be a wake up call as well for all of us here in the United States. These are the stakes. Transnational, globalist, open borders, anarchy or the inherent ordered liberty of the nation state. Those are the stakes. Folks. Folks, we go to a quick commercial break on the other side. We'll be joined by E.J.

[C]

antony of the Heritage Foundation. Stay with us. We'll be right back with E.J.

[B]

antony.

[F]

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[B]

Welcome back. So it's always fun to talk about

[C]

immigration and it's always fun to talk about all sorts of issues. But as James Carville, not someone that we quote often on the show, as

[B]

he said back in the 1990s, it

[C]

is always the economy, stupid. And sure enough, it is. And to talk about the economy and more, we are delighted to bring on today E.J. antoni. E.J. antoni is the chief economist for the Thomas A. Rowe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at the Heritage foundation. Among other hats that he wears. E.J. welcome back to the Josh Hammer Show. We really appreciate it. A few things that I want to touch on. E.J. let's begin with this new growth number that came out earlier this week. It looked like Q2 GDP slowed to 1.5% growth.

[B]

The top headlines were making this very negative and pessimistic.

[C]

I presume there's a little more here than meets the eye. Tell us about this new growth number and how the overall macro economy is doing right now.

[G]

Well, Josh, regarding that GDP number, I think we saw a lot of one time events in that Q2 number that are probably going to reverse in Q3. And that's similar to what we saw actually in 2025. You had some front running of tariffs, very likely. So people were trying to get product into the country during that gap between when the IEPA tariffs were rul unconstitutional and then when new tariffs would take effect. Because in many instances these things are announced, but then there's a 30 day window or more before they can actually be implemented because of the way these different tariff authorities actually work, the way the power's delegated to the president. So all that to say there was probably some front running of tariffs. That surge in imports comes out as a subtraction from gdp. Likewise, all of the sales that the government did out of the spr, that works the same way as a rundown in business inventory. In other words, the rundown in business inventories from Q2 that reduced the investment number, you had the drawdown in the SPR that also reduced the government spending component. The overall the consumer spending number was not terrible. It was good to see that the investment number once you remove inventories was also decent. So yes, it's a slowdown, but I don't think it's quite as bad as the overall headline makes it appear.

[C]

We're chatting with E.J. antony. You can follow him on X ealejantony.

[B]

E.J.

[C]

i also want your feel for inflation. So all eyes currently are on the Fed on the new chair, Kevin Warsh, and this week he decided to keep rates steady.

[B]

There's a lot of chatter that rates

[C]

might actually go up this fall.

[B]

What is your read as to the dissonance, if there is any dissonance between

[C]

the new chair, Kevin Warsh, and President Trump? President Trump is famously a low interest

[B]

rate kind of guy. But Kevin Warsh some ways made his

[C]

bones as a monetary hawk, someone who was more willing to raise rates to fight inflation.

[B]

Is there any kind of tension there

[C]

between Warsh and the President of the United States?

[B]

And will that tension come to something

[C]

of a head if war does raise

[B]

rates later this year?

[G]

Well, I think the tension ultimately has to do with government spending, Right? The tension is between the president wanting lower interest rates and the fact that we're just spending too much money. And the reason that's so important is because every dollar spent right now is borrow. All marginal spending is borrowed. So if you're going to reduce spending, that's going to reduce borrowing. If you're going to increase spending, you're borrowing more. Pretty simple. The problem today is that the government is borrowing so much money that it is crowding out a lot of private investment, private borrowing. And on top of that, it is pushing up interest rates. We talk about the loanable funds market, and in the loanable funds market, the price is just the interest rate. So if you increase demand for loanable funds, you are going to increase the price on loanable funds. Again, the interest rate. So rates on, if you look at yields on, it doesn't matter if it's bills or if it's the 2 or 10 year note, if it's the 30 year treasury bond, all of those yields have been steadily marching higher. And the reason for that is the market's looking at how much we're spending, seeing it's not slowing down and realizing yields have to go higher. So even if the Fed doesn't act, which is what happened at the last meeting, yields are relentlessly moving up. And that has to do. Not so much again with the Fed, but just the fact that the President and Congress can't cut the spending, that I think is where the real tension is.

[C]

Can you elaborate on this concept of crowding out private investment? Listen, I majored in economics, so I remember learning about this back when I was in college.

[B]

But I think a lot of folks

[C]

don't understand this concept. When interest rates go up and borrowing costs go up, when the government is just borrowing and borrowing and borrowing, it does have the effect of diminishing private investment. Can you spell out that Econ 101 concept a little bit more?

[G]

Well, certainly. Imagine if you're just trying to buy a home, right? So it doesn't even have to be a business, although that's certainly the case too. But imagine you're just an individual trying to buy a home and you go to a bank and you want a 30 year mortgage. That bank can loan you the money for 30 years or they could loan the treasury the money for 30 years. And the treasury is seen as the closest thing to a risk free rate of return. Right. If the government defaults, we have a lot bigger problems in this country. So the bank is looking at this situation saying, on the one hand, we have a risky borrower. Your degree of risk is going to vary based on the individual. But it's never, nevertheless more risk than just lending to the Treasury. So if I can get over 5% lending to the Treasury, I'm certainly not going to lend to somebody who wants a mortgage for 30 years. For anything less than that, I'm going to demand more because I want to risk premium. And so the bank is going to decide to lend to the treasury instead of you at 5%. So you've been crowded out of the market. The only mechanism, the only resort you have to trying to get that loan from the bank is to offer more than the treasury is willing to offer. That's the real reason why, why mortgage interest rates are as high as they are today. It's because the government is just crowding out so much of that private borrowing. Your, your only tool that you have to compete with the government is to offer a higher interest rate to the bank.

[B]

You know, we just moved into our

[C]

first home actually just a few months ago. And, and trust me, I know all about those, those higher than historically average mortgage costs. So I know all about that up close and personal, I suppose.

[B]

Let's just say, ej, I want to

[C]

ask you about tariffs. So a lot of folks are talking about Trump's tariff program as being one of the big reasons for inflation not being anywhere close to the binary highs, obviously, but still being in that 3% to 4%.

[B]

Some other folks frankly say that it

[C]

has to do with the Iran war and the oil shock and crude going over $100 a barrel for a period of time.

[B]

What is your sifting through of the

[C]

various variables here, when it comes to the tariff program, when it comes to the war with Iran, and when it comes to that inflation, what is actually affecting that inflation number?

[G]

Well, when we look at the numbers, the reason that tariffs don't have as much of an impact here in the United States as they do in other countries is international trade just isn't a very big portion of our economy relative to other countries. Most other countries around the world, significantly more of their economy relies on international trade. That just isn't the case here in the United States. There's a lot of reasons for that, but that's just what the numbers tell us. So when you do have a new tariff regime, no matter what it is, and a portion of that gets passed through to the American consumers, it just doesn't have that big of an impact. It has some impact, absolutely, but just nowhere near what it would in other countries. So again, when we look at what the data are telling us today, it really just seems to be almost entirely in Iran story. And obviously you rightly pointed out that oil's the biggest component of that. But the thing that we're starting to see now is essentially that we've blown a bunch of holes in supply chains because of the Strait of Hormuz being closed. And the result of that is exactly what we saw during COVID where you shut basically the whole economy down, or most of the economy for a very brief period, and then you slowly started opening it up. But you had different supply chain disruptions that lasted over a year thereafter. So you had consumer shortages and therefore spikes in consumer prices that didn't actually happen until sometime in 2021. Even though we can trace their origin all the way back to the spring and early in 2020, that's unfortunately now what we're dealing with. So whether it's things like some that have been talked about in the news a lot, helium, dealing with semiconductors, shortages of petrochemical blend stocks, going to go into all kinds of plastics. But then you also have problems in markets like sulfuric acid that's going to affect copper, which goes into countless things, including electronics at the consumer level. So all these different problems are already present in supply chains, and they're just now starting to be felt in certain consumer markets. But we probably have a long way to go in the coming weeks and months before those are worked out in all kinds of consumer markets. So all that to say I apologize, it's a very long winded way of saying what we've seen the last several months is going to continue to have an impact on consumer prices in the coming months. And that's even if the Strait of Hormuz gets open today and we have a peace deal with Iran, et cetera. Even under a best case scenario, we're still dealing with some inflationary fallout in the future.

[C]

And that's good to know because being aware of inflationary fallout I think is one of the best ways to guard against the actual effects of inflation. EJ Just about a minute left before I have to let you go, but

[B]

I want to ask you about AI. I am not a daily trader in the stock market.

[C]

I'm more of a long term buy and hold guy. But my impression of the market is that it's really being boosted by the AI industry above all.

[B]

Right now, is AI going to be

[C]

as amazing for the American economy as a lot of its as a lot of its leading boosters seem to indicate that's going to be?

[G]

I think there's no doubt it is going to be amazing for the American economy. We've already seen an increase in productivity numbers that's helping drive wage growth in a lot of instances. So I definitely think AI is going to be a real boon for the economy. But regarding equity prices that you mentioned, look, unfortunately we're in a situation where there's an insane amount of leverage. There's an insane amount of hedge activity where I shouldn't say hedge activity. The real problem is people buying on margin, people borrowing to buy stock and then levering up on top of that. So that is very, very dangerous because as soon as you get any kind of dip in equity prices, you start getting those margin calls and you get into real trouble. That's exactly what's happened in Korea. And so while I have no doubt that AI is going to be good for the economy, I think that investors have largely been buying a bag of hope when it comes to some of these AI companies at their current price levels.

[C]

Fair enough, folks. We're not leaving there, unfortunately. Egantoni is the chief economist at the Thomas A. Rowe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation. Follow him on X. Egantoni Excuse me, eja, wealth of information as always. We appreciate it as always. Have a great day, sir.

[G]

You too.

[B]

Thank you folks.

[C]

We'll be right back after a short break. Stay with us.

[A]

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[B]

Welcome back. So a lot more happening on the

[C]

home front besides all things economy related,

[B]

there is a brewing battle that is happening between Attorney General, acting Attorney General

[C]

right now, soon to be full time

[B]

Attorney General Todd Blanch and a couple of Republican holdouts on the San Judiciary Committee, namely John Cornyn RINO of Texas and Thom Tillis RINO of North Carolina. Notably, neither John Cornyn or Thom Tillis will be members of the US Senate come January 2027. And they are actually reminding we the people in real time why that is the case. They are refusing for now to vote for Tob Blanche unless the settlement that the DOJ had reached between Donald Trump's lawsuit and the irs.

[C]

This has to do with searching for

[B]

Donald Trump's tax returns unless his settlement is somehow reversed. Now all this has to do with the so called anti weaponization fund, a $1.776 billion fund that was created as a result of this DOJ settlement. Here is the key thing that you need to know though. The fund is not going anywhere. It was an idea that was floated. It got a lot of pushback. And like any good administration does, when allies from their own party push back hard, you withdraw the idea. So Cornyn and Tillis are now going further and are still calling for some modification to the settlement between Donald Trump and the irs. It's genuinely not clear to me exactly what these two men want at this point. In fact, John Corn is actually vindicating in real time all those who supported Ken Paxton or who called hold to support Ken Paxton. Now, in response to the obstinacy, Chuck Grassley delayed on the Sanitation Committee. He's a chairman Grassley delayed what was supposed to be a procedural hurdle vote yesterday on Thursday and now is pushed till next week Now, Donald Trump, who threw a little, a little more, shall we say irritation into the mix on Thursday announced that he's not opposed to just delaying this vote until next January when Corn and Till is not around. Technically, that's actually fine. So Tom Blanch is the acting Attorney General of the United States and he actually can stay in that acting role for it's actually not even clear. It's an indeterminate amount of time, at least for another year. He's not actually subject to the restrictions of the Vacancy act, which is the statute that governs these temporary positions. So he actually can stay there for a while.

[A]

While.

[B]

And there's no real, actual legal difference in terms of what he can actually do day to day between acting AG and ag. So in theory that's fine. The problem is that, that as soon as Republicans hold the Senate come January 2027, what if they don't? Now, to be clear, I think Republicans will hold the Senate. But there's a lot of questions, are there not? I mentioned Ken Paxton. Well, I think Paxton's going to win, to be clear. But there is a new Fox News poll showing Tofu Talarico, James Talarico up on Ken Paxton in the Lone Star State, all sorts of other question marks. There's a lot of races that could be close. So it's not a guarantee. You really want that vote. Now the basic message that Donald Trump should convey to Cornyn and Tillis is I know you don't like me, me, but I'm going to get my attorney general one way or the other. You guys will not be here come January. What in the world do you want at this point? The IRS was investigating Donald Trump on ridiculous grounds. That's why Trump sued. That's why they got a settlement. And Trump can say on the terms of the settlement this so called anti weaponization fund. I know you guys don't like it. It that's why we nixed it. It's not happening. So I find this preposterous and frankly corn and tells need to hear it from you. So if you are as riled up about this as as I am, I think that would be a very, very good time to try to hit up the phones of the senatorial offices of Senators Cornyn and Antelis. By the way, one reason, another reason,

[C]

as if I needed one.

[B]

I know that Todd Blanche is on

[C]

the right track is that Ms. Now is melting down over him.

[B]

So Norm, the long standing legal eagles

[C]

on the American left, well, he was

[B]

on Ms. Now saying that Tom Blanche is Prosecuting innocent people.

[C]

Okay, let's go ahead and play this from normizen.

[D]

Perhaps the most important thing to do is to push back on the illegitimate criminal prosecutions. Todd Blanche and Donald Trump's Department of Justice are prosecuting innocent people. And we have been very active, active as a coalition justice connection, Democracy Defenders that everybody else in our coalition. At Democracy Defenders, we were part of the team that helped get the case against David Huerta. The union leader in California was being wrongly prosecuted. That case went away this week. We've supported those pushing against the Tish James bogus prosecution, Jim Comey bogus prosecution. We've represented Dr. Lisa Cook. There were false charges made. We took that case with our wonderful partners all the way to the Supreme Court and dozens more cases where as a coalition, that is the single worst thing that Todd Blanche has overseen these baseless criminal prosecutions. And the next worst thing is the election intrusion.

[B]

So Norm Eisen going off like that

[C]

is frankly just the absolute best endorsement that Top Blanche could ever get. So again, Todd will be a great

[B]

attorney general, but is up to Corinthillis to Dr. Stupidity. Folks make sure to hit up their congressional offices.

[C]

John Corn and Tom Thillis. This is ludicrous stuff and it frankly has to end. It is harming the movement. It's Harding, President Trump. It's harming the country, frankly, for that matter.

[B]

I want to talk a little bit also about a segment that I caught

[C]

on the podcast of Grandma Draper herself, known as Megyn Kelly.

[B]

She was talking about foreign policy and

[C]

the future of the Republican Party. I believe she was talking with Sagar and Jedi, of whom I am no particularly big fan, to put it mildly.

[B]

And Megan had some interesting words about predicting the future of the Republican Party.

[C]

Here she was on her own show.

[H]

How did this happen? Because truly, we could run the sound bite. We haven't run it, but we have one queued up. It's got about 20 examples of President Trump when running, saying, I don't want war. There won't be a war in the Middle East. If you vote for the other side, you're going to get war in the Middle East. The last thing we want is war with Iran. He's on camera so repeatedly saying it. And there's been a war within the Republican Party, you know, a civil war, rhetorical war about the neocons versus the more isolationist wing. All the young Republicans are in the isolationist wing. I mean, if you want to bet on the future of the Republican Party and keeping people in it, you would side with the isolationists, because there's not a person under the age of 40 who's a voting Republican who's in favor of this. They are the ones in that small minority that they keep showing, showing when they show the people who are in support of this. Coromaga reportedly supports this 90%, but the Republican Party, it's more like 77%, which is not great. That is actually not great for the Republican Party because the entire Democratic Party is against IT and over 72% of independents are against it.

[B]

So here's the problem.

[C]

There are a lot of problems, to be clear with what we just heard there from Grandma Groiper.

[B]

The chief problem is that it is this absolutely stupid, stupid, this low IQ slop, reductionist phrasing of foreign policy into this false dichotomy between isolationism or insert your buzzword of choice, neoconservatism, hawkishness, whatever. I have fought my entire adult lifetime against this ridiculous false dichotomy. Most Americans are not isolationists. Most Americans are not neocons. Most Republicans are not isolationists. Most Republicans are not neocons. Most have somewhat nuanced views, frankly, on a lot of issues, but definitely when

[C]

it comes to areas of foreign policy.

[B]

Perhaps the leading example of someone who has a nuanced view of foreign policy and fits neither into the quote, unquote isolationist nor the quote unquote neo Khan Karl camp is the king of MAGA himself. President Donald Trump. President Donald Trump, as we have spent lots of time on this show explaining, is a nationalist realist in his foreign policy, someone who believes in whacking bad guys, but not in getting involved in endless conflagrations. He believes in alliances, in bilateral alliances, trilateral alliances, and relying on allies to help us out out, but not relying on globalist boondoggles for amorphous aims such as global peace or kumbaya or so forth. So the future of the Republican Party is probably closer to that than to either of the easily caricatured extremes of neoconservatism or isolationism, really. In fact, it is actually neither. The future of the party is probably the future of the Republican Party's foreign policy, I think, is going to look a lot closer to President Trump's conservative nationalist realism, which is very close to

[C]

my own foreign policy as I express it here on the show.

[B]

That'll be the future.

[C]

Neither of these two ridiculous caricatures of extremes, folks.

[B]

We go to one final break. On the other side, Frank Gaffney joins

[C]

to discuss the war in Iran and more. Stay with us. We'll be right back with Frank Gaffney.

[A]

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[B]

Welcome back. And for our second guest for today's

[C]

star studded show is none other than Mr. Frank Gaffney. Frank is our return guest here, the Josh Hammer Show. Frank is president of the Institute for the American. He's also host of Securing America on Real America's Voice. And he joins us now. So, Frank, thank you as always for joining us, my friend.

[B]

I want to talk about Iran. Iran is at this point a perplexing

[C]

and at times frustrating topics to talk

[B]

about because we've been a little bit all over the map.

[C]

It's been at times a bit schizophrenic, I think is a fair way of

[B]

characterizing again, and I'm not entirely sure, Frank, what at this moment we are trying to do. What is your sense as to where things currently stand in this conflict? Is there any end to it in sight and what might that even entail?

[I]

I actually don't think this is that difficult to make sense of. We have, you know, it reminds me, I guess, of that old line about the United States that Winston Churchill coined, which is we always do the right thing, having done everything else, you know, beforehand. We're at a point now, Josh, where I think it's become manifestly obvious that neither the strategy of pin prick attacks nor even the strategy of massive strikes and certainly not the strategy of negotiating with this regime in Iran. What's left of it is the right thing. The right thing in the sense that it will actually produce the desired results of an end to the threat that emanates from the combination of the ayatollahs and the, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and their besiegin, the, the apparat, only the end of that, that system, that theocracy, that tyranny, has any prospect of changing what is otherwise a formula for their victory, our defeat and disaster. Now, having pointed that out doesn't necessarily make it easy to do, I grant you, but at least if you understand that is the reality that we're working with, you can get on with the business of trying to accomplish it. And I pray that's where we are. I don't know. The President doesn't seem to want to talk about that explicitly, but I have to believe he's a smart guy. I think he's got some people, not a lot, but some people around him also who are smart guys who are surely expressing to him this idea that he will not be able to continue to do what he's doing now, which seems to be unclear. Pursuit of unspecified objectives with more and more violence associated with them, with a diminishing amount of kit armaments especially available for us to do it, and with

[G]

more and more

[I]

resources coming the way of our enemy to enable them to do more and more damage to us in, you know, the Persian Gulf area and some of these countries where we're based. In short, I think, Josh, there is no substitute for victory. The only way you will get victory is to be clear. It has to result in the liberation of the people of Iran. And our military and other capabilities must all be vectored towards that end, it seems to me. And if it is, I think we will actually have an outcome that is supported by the American people and the rest of us.

[C]

You can call Frank Afne on X rankafny. You know, that's one of my favorite quotes from Douglas MacArthur. In fact, Frank, I grew up a big New York Yankees fan in the New York area. And back in the day, George Steinbrenner, when he was the old owner of the Yankees, actually had that exact quote, there is no substitute for victory actually plastered in the clubhouse for the Yankees inside Yankee Stadium. So that quote's been in my, percolating in my worldview really for my entire lifetime, ever since I was a child. And it's a wonderful quote and it gets at a very important point.

[B]

I wonder whether there is anything whatsoever

[C]

less than this Douglas MacArthur esque total

[B]

victory that is potentially palatable or salvageable.

[C]

So let me just float an idea by you. One thing that I've floated here on

[B]

the show is that you can potentially go in really hard on a few strategic sites.

[C]

So give Pickaxe Mountain, the 4Dao, Isfahan

[B]

treatment, blow up Carg Island, South Pars,

[C]

essentially take out their oil refining that,

[B]

that essentially defends Iran.

[C]

Removes them from being as important to China really above all as they currently are when it comes to petroleum exports.

[B]

And then after that you just unleash

[C]

our allies in the region.

[B]

You say to the Israelis, and I

[C]

guess now the Saudis want to play ball. Whoever wants to play ball in the region.

[B]

Go ahead, defend this straits and do

[C]

what you have to do to keep this monster in its place.

[B]

It's. Is that palatable or. Or is that ultimately insufficient?

[I]

Look, if I'm right that there is a outcome that involves the liberation of the people of Iran, I'm not particularly keen on devastating all of their critical infrastructure.

[D]

Fair enough.

[I]

In the hopes that it'll bring that about. About. I think there are much more discreet, discriminant, and effective ways to crush the ability of the regime to keep the people of Iran from liberating themselves. That if they can be used to accomplish that outcome, and then Carg island and, and the desalinization plants and the other energy production and so on is made available to the freed people there, that's a much better outcome than laying waste to the place. And in the process, hopefully getting these folks to the point where, you know, the regime is kaput, because that will take decades, probably, to. To rebuild. And, and unfortunately, it also, I'm fearful, does create conditions under which the, the resulting regime government may be less friendly to us simply because of the privation that the people of the country are going to be subjected to. So I wouldn't do it the way you've just suggested. I, I don't care about Pickup Mountain. I mean, you know, flatten it if you can, but. And I'm talking about what Trump has repeatedly talked about and some extent has done. Blowing up bridges, blowing up power plants, blowing up infrastructure. I think the, the beauty of the blockade is Carg island is neutralized without having to do that.

[C]

Right.

[I]

We definitely don't want the Chinese to continue to get oil from the Iranians. We don't want the Iranians to continue to profit from getting oil out, keep them bottled up with our blockade.

[B]

Fair enough. I guess that raises then, the ultimate

[C]

question here just about a minute and a half left before I have to unfortunately let you go.

[B]

But is this going to happen?

[C]

Is there any chance in the world, do you think, that President Trump actually follows this course of action?

[I]

I don't think there's any reason why it can't, and I think there's plenty of reason why it has to, because he's currently on a glidestorm slope to the point where the American people are not going to stand for more of this. We're not going to be able to sustain it indefinitely, just as a function of armaments, among other things. We can't keep those men and women out there in the region indefinitely. And the pressure to come up with some kind of compromise that allows the regime to survive will, I think, inevitably be the, the default setting here. And that will be disastrous not just for, you know, the people of Iran, most obviously, or our friends and interests and allies in that region, but for us as well, because they are determined, this cohort of Twelvers, as they call themselves, to destroy us, as well as, of course, Israel, as well as other nations to bring about the apocalypse that brings about the return of the Mahdi. That's not something that we can take the chance on. And we have to, I think, put them out of business first.

[B]

They are fundamentally irrational actors.

[C]

They do not respond to incentives, to costs and benefits the way that western calculating, rational actors do.

[B]

That should be abidingly clear by now.

[C]

Frankly, should have been clear decades ago, but I think it is beyond clear now. And Frank, all I can say at this point is from your lips to God's ears, may it come soon and in our time. But unfortunately, Frank, we're gonna have to let you go. We'll pick it up other time, my friend. Folks, follow Frank on on X at Frank Apne. Have a great weekend, my friend. Thanks for joining us as always.

[I]

Thank you, Josh. God bless you folks.

[C]

That's it for today's show. Have a great weekend. We'll be back, as always, on Monday.

[A]

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