← The Josh Hammer Show
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Josh Hammer
The Iranian regime punts for time yet again. Will Donald Trump fall for another Taqiyah trap by the Islamists in Tehran? I'm Josh Hammer and this is Josh Hamer Show. Here we are. It has been almost two months since the ceasefire went to place in early April on Operation Epic Fury. And for almost two months now we have been in this totally bizarre back and forth where on the one hand we are not in a state of war, definitely don't call it war. On the other hand, we're not in a ceasefire, definitely don't call it a ceasefire either. Actually, just over the past 48 hours, give or take, five Iranian drones were shot down yet again. Iran was targeting military infrastructure in Kuwait, a key American ally, and the US Was firing on Iranian facilities installations. Yet again. All this is happening during the course of these negotiations. But what are these negotiations, negotiations? Who actually is negotiating when it comes to Iran at this point? Frankly, to this day, we actually have no idea. There are all sorts of rumors flying around that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is the most radical element of the Iranian regime, that perhaps, perhaps, perhaps they might be on board with the contours of the currently proposed Memorandum of understanding, AKA the current proposed Iran deal. On the other hand, there were releases just on Thursday from Iran International, which is an international news agency, that Mujab Al Khamenei himself, who is the son of the late Ayatollah, he has been the so called supreme leader ever since his father was assassinated in the opening salvo of the war on February 28th. There were rumors just yesterday from Iranian dissident media that Mushaba Khamenei is not on board with the current deal. On the other hand, we haven't even seen Mushaba Khamenei literally since the opening salvo took out his father. Why? Because apparently he's been in a coma ever since then. Or maybe he's not. The whole thing I'm trying to get across to you folks, the whole situation right now when it comes to Iran continues to be something of A mess. So let's actually get into the current deal insofar as we can understand it. So finally, finally, finally, after the failed negotiations in Pakistan the first time, J.D. vance led a whole American delegation there. They negotiated for over 20 hours with the Iranians. No deal was coming from that. Then, if you recall, there was a second time where Vance was going to leave from D.C. to go halfway around the world to Islamabad to sit down again with the world's number one state sponsor, jihad. And at the time, it was so unclear whether Iran was serious. Hint, hint, wink, wink, they're not serious. And it was so unclear who even purports to represent the other side. Is it the political functionaries? People like the Foreign minister? Is it the IRGC itself? Is it Khamenei, this dude who's been lacerated and maybe kind of sort of in a coma and has not literally been seen in months? Who is it? So Vance then stayed back. Then. So finally, finally, finally, now we think, we think we have the proposal of an mou, of a Memorandum of Understanding, and now the ball, we believe, is in the court of the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, to decide what to do about it. Let's talk a little bit about this current mou. So the current Memorandum of Understanding, which has been agreed to apparently by the United States negotiating team, which I personally interpret to mean Steve Wykoff and Jared Kushner, they are the two lead negotiators and have been for some time. When it comes to Iran, they were the folks alongside J.D. vance and Islamabad. They've been on this portfolio ever since day one. By the way, just as an aside, I find it a little odd that Jared Kushner does not even have a formal government title. It's just a little odd, isn't it? Steve Wyckoff at least is given some ceremonial title of Middle East Special Envoy or Special Envoy for negotiations there. Kushner is doing all these international diplomatic negotiations without even the imprimatur of legitimacy of having any kind of government tight line. I find that personally a little weird. Regardless, Wyckoff and Kushner have given to us the following mou, and they have thumbs upped it. And again, we believe the Iranians are on board with this, except for maybe Mushaba Khamenei himself, the guy who's been in the coma on and off for months now. So the MOU is this. It would be a 60 day continuation of the ceasefire that could be extended by mutual consent during the 60 day period. The Strait of Hormuz the crucial 21 mile wide waterway through which roughly one fifth of the world's oil exports flow. The Strait of Hormuz would be open with no tolls and Iran would agree to clear the mines that it deployed in the strait to let ships pass freely. In exchange, the US Would lift the naval blockade on Iranian ports and issue some sanctions waivers to allow Iran to sell oil freely. The US Official who spoke this is all coming from Barack Ravid at Axios. Not my favorite journalist, but a guy who has a lot of sources, gets a lot of scoops. I have thoughts on who those scoopies or scoopers are, but that's for another day. So the US official who spoke to Barack Rabid acknowledged that this would be a boon to Iran's economy, but that would also give significant relief to the global oil market. So that's essentially the deal. The other part of this is that there's no discussion whatsoever of the nuclear issue. So as part of this mou, the nuclear issue is essentially just tabled. It's essentially a 60 degree, let's continue the dialogue agreement. And it's an agreement to have more negotiations. It's an agreement to mutually lay down your arms, allegedly open the straits, allegedly end the blockade. The blockade has been a tremendously, tremendously beneficial choke point when it comes to the Iran economy. There they literally are running out of storage facilities when it comes to what to do with their oil. When it comes to their petroleum more generally, they're having to shutter wells because they simply do not have facilities to export them. It's been a tremendous, tremendous, tremendous use of American foreign policy leverage this US Naval block blockade of the Iranian ports. We would be giving it up in exchange for opening the strait, trying to get lower oil prices and gas prices in the short term, in exchange for essentially just kicking the nuclear table down the table. Now Iran is apparently telling Wyckoff and Kushner that they will be good boys and that they will operate in good faith there and that they will not continue to enrich their uranium there. That is basically, basically the contours of the deal. We have no idea at this time what exactly that would mean when it comes to the related regional conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which is a key Iranian proxy. For what it's worth, Marco Rubio earlier this week reiterating yet again in his capacity as Secretary of State, that Israel has the right to defend itself against all such terrorist organizations, as does any first world country in the world there. So a lot of questions remain. I've got lots of Thoughts on this deal as you can expect. But for now folks, just a quick word for our first sponsor for today's show, which is the new film release Pressure. So from Focus Features and the producers of Darkest Hour comes the new movie, the Untold True Story of D day. In the 72 hours leading up to the largest seaborne invasion in history, General Dwight D. Eisenhower faced an impossible decision that would determine the fate of the war. As Allied forces prepare to land, two massive storms converge over Normandy. Behind closed doors, with the clock ticking, General Eisenhower must decide send 300,000 men into nature's unforgiving fury or delight and risk losing the war itself. There is no safe option, only consequences. One decision would change the world forever. Folks, I have seen this film. I saw an advanced release there. I'm a history buff and I learned a lot from watching this film. I had no idea, frankly no idea that weather, meteorology had played such an indispensable role in the timing of D Day. Think about what would have happened if Eisenhower had not had that level of meteorological forecasts in there. It would have been doomed from the get go and God forbid Europe would have stayed Nazi controlled. So again, the film folks, which is out today, May 29, is pressure, the Untold True Story of D day. It's rated PG 13. Special engagement in Dolby Sima. Go ahead and check out the new film Pressure, the Untold True Story of D Day. They are one sponsor for today's show. So in short, this deal is flaming garbage. And it's flaming garbage because it throws away all the leverage that the United States currently has on a regime that has been calling for a death of 47 years, which is Iran. Our leverage first and foremost right now is the naval blockade. We are throwing that out essentially in exchange for Iran's alleged commitment to open the strait and to act like good boys when it comes to the enriched uranium program there. But there was no reason whatsoever to go down this path in the first place. There, frankly, there was no reason to call a premature ceasefire in the first place back in early April, around April 8th or so. Why? There was no reason. We had Iran on the ropes. The United States absolutely had Iran on the ropes. As Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and the Chairman of Joint Chiefs Dan Raisin Cain said in those much watched television morning Pentagon press conferences in the early days of Operation Epic Fury, the Iranian Navy and Air Force were taken out essentially within days, within a couple weeks at maximum of the operation starting. We absolutely had Iran on the ropes. And to be clear, in fairness, in fairness, we definitely still have Iran on the ropes in certain respects as well. So Secretary of the Treasury Scott Besant just yesterday, actually, Scott Besant took his turn at the White House lectern filling in for Caroline Levitt, who's on the attorney lead, possibly a little bit more on that later on in today's show. So Scott Besant just yesterday was talking about how the maximum pressure financial campaign is continuing against Iran. The US treasury and the US State Department are doing a lot of work to target Iran's shadow oil economy there. So the pressure's continuing in many other ways, in fairness. But when it comes to the deal itself, this is quite bad. And this is quite bad because it commits one of the foundational fallacies that we pointed out time and time again on the show, which is this conflation, this confusion between means and ends when it comes to deals. A deal is not an end. A deal is a means to an end. When you are engaged in war, when you are engaged in diplomacy, when you are engaged in statecraft, when you are engaged, frankly, in any kind of public or civic affair, you have to have a goal in mind. What are you ultimately attempting to do here? Only then can you then work backwards and try to discern and to develop the relevant means that can help you achieve that goal. Well, as we've also said on the show for months now, the goals of this operation are fairly straightforward, at least to us. The first goal of that operation is indeed a free and open shoe of Hormuz. In fairness, that is a goal that will be achieved, allegedly by this MoU. But the other goals are a little less certain. Goal number two of this operation was and still should be the cessation, the end of all Iranian regime funding to their terrorist proxy networks all throughout the region, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and on and on and on. Goal number three must be the the end of the Iranian ballistic missile program and drone program threat. Easier said than done. Unfortunately. Last I checked, roughly 70% of Iran's ballistic missiles were not fully depleted. Many of them were just buried underground. Fourth, and this is the most important part, most important part, the enriched uranium has to go. The enriched uranium has to go. Now, in fairness, again, Donald Trump understands this. Donald Trump understands this. He really, really does. So I continue to believe that there is just no chance, no chance that we're going to get a truly, truly, truly bad deal. I just don't buy it. I don't buy it. So that raised the question as to why is this happening right now. I don't know the answer honestly. At one point I thought I had this figured out. I'll be very candid with you. It's very hard to read the situation as a highly, highly fluid influx situation there. But I don't think that Donald Trump will sign up for a fundamentally bad deal, even if it is one that Steve Wykoff and Jared Kushner are currently posing as. It seems that they are. Right now, the ball is in Trump's court. Do not let us down, Mr. President. But he has such a great tracker on this. I'm pretty sure he will not do that. Folks, we're going to go do a quick break. We'll be right back with much more.
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- [13:03]
Josh Hammer
Welcome back. So many folks have very little faith when it comes to President Trump. I am someone who, at least on this issue, but frankly on most issues I have a little bit more faith when it comes to, when it comes to 45 and 47 for that matter as well. President Donald J. Trump, his track record thus far when it comes to Iran has generally been impeccable. It is something of a, of a difficult task to try to balance that on the one hand with what admittedly, admittedly has been a somewhat helter skelter handling and waging of this current war against Iran. As I said before the break, there was no reason to call for this ceasefire back on April 8th. There was no reason to call for months and months of on and off again BOS negotiations through the Pakistani intermediators. The entire fact that those talks were held in Pakistan was actually a total power play, a coup of sorts from the Chinese Communist Party. Given the fact that Pakistan is just an Iranian state tribute, frankly, in many ways part of China's Belt and Road initiative. And currently right now, I do not know, I genuinely do not know what Witkoff and Kushner and whoever else is calling the shots when it comes to this current proposed deal. I have no idea, frankly, what they are trying to achieve there. But I continue to think, I continue to think fundamentally that this is not something that Donald Trump will ultimately agree to unless, unless the nuclear issue above all is fully taken care of. Well, there are some folks on the right who have given up faith when it comes to President Trump and his waging of the war against Iran. But folks on the left are just loving it. They are loving all of the intra Republican Party, all the intra concern movement infighting when it comes to Iran there. Chris Van Hollen, one of the most loathsome of the absolute loathsome out there when it comes to the Senate Democratic caucus there. Well, he was on Ms. Now giving his own fairly putrid 2 cents on the current issue. Let's go ahead and play this clip on msnow.
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Chris Van Hollen
Look, Lindsey Graham, Mike Pompeo and all of these folks have a different objective than, I believe, the president, although we also don't know the president's objective. But they, like Prime Minister Netanyahu, want to see total chaos in Iran. I mean, their objective from the beginning has been regime change. And we know of all the, you know, possible ideas that they had in terms of enlisting the Kurds to go into Iran. And of course that's not happened. We have an even more militarized, I mean, more militant, more radical regime right now. And so I think what Lindsey Graham and Prime Minister Netanyahu are doing are just trying to screw up any kind of agreement, even if it's a face saving, especially if it's a face saving agreement to just get out of there, which we should have done a long time ago.
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Josh Hammer
A face saving agreement. Well, look, that actually is a fairly accurate description of what the current proposed deal is. So on that very, very small kernel of truth, Chris Van Hollen is correct. And that is why I say today that no deal, that no deal is better than a bad deal because again, a deal is not an end unto itself, it is a means to an end. So in that tiny, tiny, tiny kernel, Chris Van Hollen is actually correct. But on the broader notion, of course, that the Trump administration or some of their allies are just trying to foment chaos or secrec regime change for the sake of fomenting chaos or seeking regime change, that is just a load of bullcrap. Not once on this show have we called in our own capacity for outright regime change. You heard my four goals for the conflict. Again, just to very briefly reiterate, an open struggle for Moose, an end of Irani of Iranian terrorist financing to all the proxies throughout the region. Three, the end of the Bliss missile and drone program. Four, an end of the nuclear program, the end of the regime would be a nice cherry on top. But it is not a sine qua non. It is not an absolutely, absolutely necess indispensable condition without which the goals of its operation cannot be achieved. So Chris Van Hollen continues to just be utterly full of crap. But you probably knew that already just based on the fact that he is Chris Van Hollen. So there's lots else happening in the world, especially when it comes to geopolitics and frankly, our own western hemisphere. Actually, the Trump administration doing yeoman's work to reassert the Monroe Doctrine here in Latin America, south of the board. But before we get to that, just a quick word from another one of our sponsors for today's show, which is Angel Studios. You know, if you are like me, you probably still have a lot of questions when it comes to COVID 19. This was the pandemic, the scamdemic that really changed the world and for which we really will not know the consequences for many, many years, dare I say even decades to come. Well, thanks to Angel Studios. Thank you, Dr. Fauci is a new documentary that is digging to all of these questions. For instance, was there a massive government cover up? Well, there actually was a CIA whistleblower testifying recently in the Senate to that exact effect. Thank you, Dr. Fauci is not a partisan attack piece. It involves whistleblower interviews, intelligence experts, thousands of pages of documents. And the film challenges viewers to think quite a bit deeper about all of the narratives and dare I say, even the lies that we were told from Dr. Fauci and the biomedical security establishment. And what makes this even more interesting is that Angel Studios was the only streaming platform willing to distribute. That's because Angel Guild members, and hopefully you will become one, decide what stories get seen. So if you care about truth, transparency and asking hard questions, make sure to Stream. Thank you, Dr. Fauci. Today on Angel Studios. Join the conversation. You can become an Angel Guild member today@angel.com hammer. Angel Studios is a sponsor for today's show. So as I mentioned, there is a lot happening in Latin America as well. It is not just the Middle east where there's a lot happening in the world. So the first thing to note, and there is actually a lot going on here, is that the Trump administration is really turning the screws on Cuba. They are really, really, really turning the screws on Cuba. Apparently there are reports circulating that the Trump administration is prepared for a scenario whereby the communist regime in Cuba could actually fall by this summer. And given that Memorial Day Already happened. It's kind of unofficially summer already. So, I mean, I don't know if it's going to be a white boy summer, but it definitely might be a Cuban boy summer. You'll have to pardon that bad joke. So apparently the Trump administration is planning for the full on collapse of the Castro regime in Havana. I'm not entirely sure if that's going to happen. They've been around for a very long time, frankly at this point for, oh gosh, I mean, it's been roughly seven years for this horrific regime just 90 miles off the coast of Florida. The Trump administration right now is bracing for the possibility and in the meantime, they are continuing to twist the screws when it comes to all sorts of sanctions. Recently, I'm not sure that we covered it on the show at the time there, the acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was in Miami to announce that Raul Castro actually had been indicted. He is the brother of Fidel Castro. For many years he has been either the official or the de facto unofficial leader of the Cuban Communist Party. Raul Castro has been indicted for orchestrating the murder multiple American citizens of Cuban expats back in the mid-1990s there. So the administration is really turning attention to Cuba in earnest. Simultaneously, on the other hand, there's a new report out of the New York Times which I find fascinating, that the US Is now agreeing to joint strikes against drug cartels with Guatemala. Guatemala, a country there in Central America, not typically thought of frankly as a core American ally in the region. But Guatemala is indeed emerging as exactly that as a core American ally in the region there. So the US Is going to be tag teaming with the Guatemalan government when it comes to strikes against the drug cartels. This deal is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to press Latin American countries to engage in joint operations inside the borders. Meanwhile, don't look now, but last we checked, Donald Trump was getting into a massive war of words with the socialist drug kingpin president of Colombia, a man who is about as far left as they come. Colombia historically has been an anchor of American, South American policy. At least it's been that way for the past three and a half, four decades or so. So it looked like relations between the US and Colombia were going really, really, really far south. But, but it looks like potentially as soon as these next few days, we might get a new leader in Colombia. Actually there is a new pro Trump right wing president leading in the polls. So Colombia could reassert itself. Meanwhile, same thing happening in Chile. Chile is experiencing a change of leadership from socialism over to free market economics and pro Trump national conservatism as well. And also don't forget about Javier Milei happening in Argentina. So the big Argentina story is that the New York Times was able to scoop that Peter Thiel actually one of the hundred wealthiest men in the world, Peter Thiel has bought a mansion in one of the wealthiest communities in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. Most recently, he was was seen apparently down there organizing a private dinner with some free market economists, probably people very close to Javier Milei, the very Trump friendly president of Argentina, if I had to guess there. So Peter Thiel apparently is placing a wager on Argentina and historically speaking, you probably don't want to wager against Peter Thiel. He's made a good investment or two in his life there. So he is wagering big time on Argentina simultaneously, by the way, wagering against California. Peter Thiel is essentially fleeing California. He is fleeing Gavin Newsman, all the oppressive taxation there. So what is the upshot of this? The upshot when it comes to turn the screws on Cuba, the upshot when it comes to the joint cartel, anti cartel operations in Guatemala, when it comes to the change of leadership in Colombia and Chile and the continued resurgence and emergence of Javier Milane, Argentina well, the combined effect is this continued push to reassert the Monroe Doctrine. America must have a massive say in what happens in our own backyard. This has been American policy literally since the guy himself, since the eponymous James Monroe devised the Monroe Doctrine. The Trump administration, as part of their national security strategy that came out last December, is trying to make the Monroe Doctrine great again. It's called the Donro Doctrine. And whenever you think about the Iran situation, the Donroe Doctrine I happen to think is really, really good. Folks, a quick commercial break. We'll be right back with more on the other side.
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Grainger Commercial Voice (Female)
This is the story of the 1. As a procurement manager for a hospital system, she keeps every facility in her network stocked and ready. That's why she counts on Grainger to be her single source for thousands of products, from disinfectants to lighting, air filters and more. And with fast, dependable delivery, Grainger helps her keep every facility stocked, safe and running smoothly. Call 1-800-GRAINGER click range granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.
- [23:27]
Josh Hammer
Welcome back. So we actually have not talked on the show this week about the Texas Senate primary runoff that happened just a few nights ago. Ken Paxton, the controversial attorney general of Texas, walloped, absolutely walloped. John Cornyn John Cornyn has been a fixture, a fixture of Texas politics forever for quite literally my lifetime, actually, because prior to being a US Senator, and he has served four terms as senator, prior to that, John Cornyn was a justice on the Texas Supreme Court. He's been involved in public service, if not mistaken, quite literally longer than I have been alive. So he is just this barnacle, this barnacle of the old Texas Republican establishment. And let's step back a little bit here. Texas, like many states in the broader south, the states that were once part of the old Confederacy, like many of those states, Texas was a Democratic bastion for far, far longer than a lot of people remember. Texas did not start voting Republican at a national level consistently until at least the 1980s into the 1990s. It was folks like the Bush family, folks like Karl Rove, folks like them who were instrumental in making Texas, which today is the largest red state in America. My state of Florida would be second. But they were. They were instrumental in making Texas the iconic red state. I say all that because John Cornyn, to his great credit, was one of the ones who was very active in those fairly early days at taking Texas away from the old Democratic Party and convincing this fundamentally conservative state that the Republican Party was a better partisan fit, a better partisan proclivity for this particular state's voter base and for their demographics there. Having said that, it was obvious to me for a very, very long time, and it should have been obvious to you too, that Texas could do a heck of a lot better than John Cornyn. And finally, finally, finally, we have seen that in the somewhat unlikely hero in this case of Ken Paxton. Ken Paxton, as we discussed previously on the show, is a man who has enough skeletons in his closet to construct an entire graveyard. These are private ethical scandals when they come to being an adulterer. When it comes to his very public and extremely messy divorce with the state senator, Angela Paxton, ethical scandals, including folks in his own office who once upon a time tried to turn him over to be indicted for allegedly committing fraud. He has had any number of scandals over the course of his career. On the other hand, he is an absolute warrior when it comes to advancing right wing political causes. He works really, really, really hard, and he is, many ways the tip of the spear, or at least his AG office has been the tip of the spear of the conservative backlash against leftist big governments coming out of the nation's capital, the federal leviathan from Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and so forth. So Paxton has been a core Trump ally. And above all, the story Of Paxton finally toppling John Cornyn when so many challenges cannot is fundamentally a story about the power of the Trump endorsement. Prior to that, Trump had already gone 37,0 in primaries in this cycle. Prior to that, his biggest cap, the featherin's cap, was Thomas Massie losing to Ed gowline in Kentucky's 4th congressional district. Arguably, arguably, Ken Paxton is an even bigger feather in Donald Trump's cap. One is a much, much bigger, quite literally election. The entire state of Texas, the nation's second largest state, versus Kentucky's fourth congressional district. 2. Look at the difference from the runoff or the initial primary. Excuse me, the initial primary back in March for the Senate between Ken Paxton and John Cornyn. The initial primary was decided by under two points. Then Trump comes in at the last minute with this Hail Mary last week endorsement that apparently threw the entire bedwetting caucus of Senate Republicans, including, we believe John Thune and others. They were. Oh my God. How could Donald Trump endorse against an incumbent? How could he do that? Oh, yeah, because he speaks for the people. That's the entire point o MAGA is to not play by the rules, not play by the same game. That's Trump. Again, we have some criticisms of this current Iran deal as has emerged. We also believe that he will not accept a bad deal. But that is the benefit to Donald Trump is that he is not of buy and for the system. He's someone who is fundamentally outside the system. He just is. And this is one of the biggest reasons that so many people in power on the right in the Republican Party still to this day, over 10 years, over 10 years since he started walloping other people in the 2016 presidential primary, they still cannot accustom themselves to President Trump. And yet he is still there. And yet he endorsed Ken Paxton there. And Ken Paxton then turns this less than 2 point margin in the initial primary back in March to an astonishing 25 to 30 point landslide. A landslide victory over John Cornyn. So we'll see how Senator Ken Paxton is now Tofu Talarico. James Talrico is going to be Ken Patson's opponent. This guy is absolutely, absolutely bonkers. Frankly, the stuff that comes out Talarico's mouth is so utterly unhinged that it makes you wonder as to whether he is actually an AI machine programmed to regurgitate AOC Jasmine Crockett talking points. But to do so in kind of a dorky white guy fashion. I mean, he talks about how God is binary. It's just nuts. There are six genders the stuff he says is just so utterly offensive. And he calls himself a Christian there. I continue to believe that the voters of Texas fundamentally know what James Tall Rico's about. And they're not going to fall for this. They are not going to fall for tofu 6 gender James Talarika. Okay, there are a lot of folks out there that again, the bedwear's on the rise saying, oh, my God, Texas is in play now. No, it's not. No, it is not. I don't buy this for a second. I lived in Texas for some time. I used to study Texas politics very closely. This has been a warning for so many years. They say, ah, they're trying to turn Texas blue. It might go blue. And the closest it came, in fairness, was 2018. I was living in Dallas at the time. And that's when Ted Cruz beat Beto o' Rourke by under three points. Okay, so you might say this might be, this might be that all over again. It's possible, it's possible. But I think you'll have Trump pushing Paxton even more aggressively than he pushed Cruz in 2018. And on the other hand, Beto O', Rourke, who was a total fraud, I mean, he's really not Beto. He's actually Robert Francis o'. Rourke. He's kind of a nice Irish guy who kind of does his whole Hispanic thing. He was a slightly better candidate despite that, than James Tall Rico. So I don't buy this. I don't think Texas is in play there. And I salute Donald Trump on this endorsement of Ken Paxton and frankly ended up going along just fine and we will see how it goes in November. But I am not predicting disaster or anything like that, that is for sure. So speaking of radical left wingers, it's not just Tofu James Tel Rico. It is also Zora Mamdani. Mamdani seemingly is in the news these days basically every day. Every day. Ndny for doing some sort of crazy, utterly inane thing there. And he also surrounds himself with all sorts of terrible people. And among his closest allies are Hasan Piker himself. So Hasan Piker is now out there and he is, he is talking about how Zurmani is one of the best mayors in the history of New York City. Well, okay, let's go ahead and listen to Hasan Piker on the Trevor Noah podcast saying just that these think tanks
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Hasan Piker
are about me and have been written, writing extensively about the dangers that I present for the Democratic Party. Because now I've, I've moved on from just talking about to actually working with other, you know, on the ground groups and organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America and numerous other orgs to actually run candidates that are pro Medicare for all, that are uncompromising on the issue of Israel, where they're like, I'm an anti Zionist. Why are we giving unlimited bombs to this country that's doing war crimes, that's doing a genocide? And that's a very frustrating reality for the Democrats because the more Zoram Mamdanis that they see all around the country pop up and the more grassroots momentum that these people have, the more people are going to look at that and go, wait a minute. You said Zoram was going to be incompetent. You said he was going to be a scary commie.
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Grainger Commercial Voice
Yep. And yet the budget is balanced.
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Hasan Piker
Yeah, the budget's balanced. He's one of the best mayors that New York has had. It's just every time I come here, it feels like I'm entering an alternative universe where, like, things are working somehow. It's ridiculous. Like we're watching from afar. A totally different reality in New York City. Totally different vibes.
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Josh Hammer
Okay, so Hassan Piker, totally burying the lead there, as expected. Yes, it's technically true that Mamdani kind of sort of balanced the budget, but what they're leaving off is that the single largest line item in his deficit reduction plan is that he actually cut pensions by $2.3 billion over the next two years. How could he do that? Because the stocks were performing so well that he could afford to actually take a hairline back. In other words, it's actually the free market. It's actually the stock market. It's actually equities, especially in some of the tech companies that he hates so much. It is actually the stock market that has that has allowed Mamdani and this kind of backwards calculation to balance the municipal budget of New York City. So it's one of these really weird irons of history. Hasan Piker, who calls for the blood of capitalists in the streets, will not tell you that that is actually the real story here, but that actually is exactly what's going on, folks. One final commercial break after this. We will be right back with some closing thoughts.
- [33:06]
Grainger Commercial Voice (Female)
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Josh Hammer
Welcome back. So there's much more going on but before we get to that, folks, I want to tell you about another sponsor for today's show which is Balance of Nature. You know, I try to eat a, a well rounded meal on a day to day basis. I typically avoid carbs. I typically avoid sugar. I eat lots of fruits, lots of veggies. I try to go high on fiber. I actually take fiber supplements. But, but, but I am very busy. I know that you're probably very busy as well. And that is why I take Balance of Nature supplements. I've been taking these supplements for some months now. They have all sorts of great ingredients. Trust me, they are Maha. Maha approves. My wife is a total RFK Maha mom. And she looked at these ingredients and said, josh, these are fantastic. Super, super A, go ahead and take them. And I have been doing just that. And I have felt a notable improvement in my, in my quality of life. Balance Nature's products are all lab tested. There are no binders, fillers or flow agents. They use a process. It's a tailored vacuum cold process and then is powdered and sugared. The whole health system, a patented system from Balance Nature gives you 47 ingredients of fruits, vegetables, spices and fibers. You can go to balanceofnature.com check out the whole health system, use discount code hammer to get 10% off. Again, that's balancenature.com, discount code Hammer. Balancenature is a sponsor for today's show. So just earlier today I saw also this headline that broke just this morning that a federal judge had temporarily blocked Donald Trump's $1.8 billion fund that the DOJ establishing is part of the aftermath of the settlement of the, of the Donald Trump lawsuit against the irs. They're calling it the, the anti weaponization fund is typically how this is being, how, how this is being framed by the media. Now the judge's reason for, for stopping it is mostly procedural. It's not really worth getting into legal details there. But I do want to talk a little bit just about the fund itself. This is part of a settlement that Donald Trump reached with the irs. Recall that Donald Trump's tax returns were erroneously leaked during his first term. That should not have happened there. So Trump essentially sued the irs and then he's been in this weird situation where he's both the plaintiff and the defendant because he's the president United States. Now and the result of this element was this. And there are a lot of folks crying foul and saying, oh my God, is he going to be paying out the J6ers or the this or the that? And what I say is the following. What I say is that it is a carnal theme of this show, that the only way out is through. And that applies more than anything else. More than anything else. On the issue of lawfare, what Democrats have done to the rule of law in this country, what they have done in distorting it to prosecute folks who never millionaires should be prosecuted. The face act against the pro life grandmothers prosecuting Donald Trump himself, Peter Navarro, for God's sake, going to prison. Nuts. Absolutely nuts. Is a fund, a fund trying to compensate victims who have been the victims of this. Is this really, really, really, really going to destroy the republic? No, I think what's going to destroy the republic, frankly, is if that leftist lawfare keeps up. So look, some folks are complaining about the optics. Is this cronyism? Is this the rewarding of friends in a political election year? Some of these criticisms may have at least a patent on at least a small amount of veracity to it. A lot of the devil will always be in the details of how these things are done there. Perhaps there will be some money going to folks who don't deserve it there. The questions about the process can definitely be legitimate, but fundamentally, the overall structure here, trying to compensate people who've been real victims of government atrocities, frankly, really just atrocious distortions of the rule of law, that's definitely not something at the end of the day to bemoan and to cry about when you go to sleep at night. Fundamentally, though, that is what a lot of folks in the left are doing there and that is why they're in the minority and will be in the minority, I think for a very long time to come. By the way, before I forget, this show airs of course, on the Seal News Channel. We are so pleased here at Newsweek to have Seal Media as our partner when it comes to distribution of this show on Seal News Channel and all across the Salem Podcast Network. And we have some exciting programming to share when it comes to Salem News Channel. So this Sunday at 7pm Eastern Time, Seal News Channel premieres by Dawn's early light. It's a documentary that connects America's fight for freedom during the War of 1812 to today's challenges surrounding constitutional rights and religious liberty. It's a powerful reminder that every generation must defend the freedoms that make America exceptional. So again, folks, go ahead and go. This Sunday at 7pm Eastern Time, tune in to the Seal News Channel for this brand new documentary film, By Dawn's Early Lights. You definitely are not going to to regret that one. There was another update when it came to international news that happened just over the past day or so that really kind of brought a lot to me that I've been kind of mulling over and I was able to kind of crystallize my thoughts here. And let me explain that what happened was that there was a Russian drone, a Russian drone that crashed in Romania. Now the initial headlines that came out on this story, and to be clear, no one was killed, were just two people that were injured. The initial reporting on this story was that there was a total incursion of NATO airspace. And so technically there was. But the suddenly more complicated thing going on here is that this Russian drone was launched against Ukraine. It was launched against Ukraine, actually. And then the drone essentially just crumbled and fell and fell in Romania. This has happened before. This has happened to eastern Poland and other places before. Now the hardcore NATO crowd is saying, oh my God, people have been injured in Romania from Russian offensive capabilities. And they're right. Why is that? Because Russia stinks. Because Russia is a very, very bad actor on the world stage. Because Vladimir Putin is a criminal fuck. And anyone who tells you otherwise is terrible. On the other hand, this is not the same as a direct shot fired at a NATO ally. This does not trigger Article 5 of NATO, which means an attack on one is an attack on all that is not triggered by this. And really, my thoughts that I may crystallize are the following. I've been saying for many, many years that two things can be true at once. I know it's very, very hard for a lot of folks who can be gullible to a lot of glib fast talkers, whether they are in the Russia Dove or the Russia hawk crowd there. I know it's hard to think in nuanced terms there, but two things can be true at once when it comes to the topic of Russia. On the one hand, Russia, as we just said, is a very bad actor and Vladimir Putin is a horrible, horrible, horrible human being. Horrible. Absolutely correct. On the other hand, it was a mistake. It fundamentally was a mistake for the United States to push ever eastward as it did into Eastern Europe. Do countries like Romania or the Baltic states like Latvian Estonia, do they really need to be in NATO? We're kind of just asking for it. We're kind of just asking at some point for war with Russia. And Russia is a hostile power and they're garbage, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. We've been through this already. But like any nation state, no matter how terrible or contrary to American interests they may act, they are entitled to their own legitimate, legitimate borders and to not feel like they are just being completely, completely besieged and oppressed. So I think this is a much more nuanced story, frankly, than the media is giving attention to, but across my feed because I know that a lot of folks will see this and they will say, oh my God, the United States will be committing troops to Romania now. No, no, no, no, no, no. We are still awaiting some sort of off ramp when it comes to the Russia, Ukraine quagmire. And boy, is that a quagmire. What an absolute mess that particular conflict is. But when it comes to Romania, folks, no, there will not be American troops on the ground or anything like that anytime soon. So folks, I do want to tell you I'm going to be offline next week actually. We're going to have a fill in guest here on the Josh Hammer Show. Jeff Vaughn will be filling in for me. I know that Jeff is going to do a fantastic job. I want to just briefly tell you what I will be doing, what I will be doing with my own time. So unless war breaks out here over the next 24 hours, which seems fairly unlikely, but we shall see, I will be flying over to Israel this Saturday night and I will be there for one week and I am going to help co lead a trip to help co lead a trip through a wonderful organization called Passages which essentially operates as a de facto Christian birthright of sorts. A lot of people are familiar with Taglit Birthright, which is a program that brings a lot of American, Canadian, European, Jews for free to Israel. So Passages does the same thing for Christians. It's an absolutely wonderful program. In this particular trip they were working with the College Fix, a conservative college media organization to hand select certain campus conservative, mostly Christian activist journalists to go on these trips. So I've been asked to help co lead this trip. That's what I'll be doing there. I will be on the ground, I will be interviewing people I will be helping to lead and mostly just serving as a conduit for Jewish Christian relations which is such a foundational cornerstone of what we do here on this show on a day to day basis. We are all about building ecumenical bridges between the two biblical religions ultimately engaged in this grand battle to save Western civilization from all the various forces of tyranny and barbarism. Very high on that list is the Iranian regime. So as we head into this weekend, we are wondering and I'm wondering a lot with my flight booked what will happen with Iran. But again I conclude by saying that I really do believe Donald Trump will ultimately do the right thing. Folks, have a great weekend. I will be again off next week. We will see when I get back on the other side. Take care.
- [43:39]
Grainger Commercial Voice
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