
We're covering the breaking news out of the Persian Gulf, as the United Arab Emirates is accused of directly striking Iran's capital Tehran in the midst of a battle between Iranian port Bandar Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz and U.S. Navy vessels. The ceasefire doesn't appear to be holding.
Loading summary
A
Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money. Because behind every headline is a bottom line, whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion dollar swings. There's a money side to every story. And when you see the money side, you understand what others miss. Get the money side of the story. Subscribe now@Bloomberg.com Tony Kennett, Tony Kennett. Tony Kennett. Tony Kennett.
B
Tony Kennett.
A
Tony Kennett. Tony Kenn, host of the Tony Kennett cast. Let's have a show. You're listening to the Tony Kennett cast on 93 WIBC, on CYTV, here on the Daily Signal. Good evening and welcome to the Tony Kennett cast here on the Daily Signal, nationally syndicated, first on 93 WIBC. Plenty to talk about. Let's get right into it. There have been a series of strikes and explosions reported along the Strait of Hormuz, a couple of port cities as well as in Tehran. So what do these explosions look like? There's limited footage because it's night over in Tehran just now rounding through, but a series of anti air measures being carried out not just over Tehran proper, but a series of these particular strikes in both Tehran city proper, north of tehran for about 40 to 50 miles, and then west of Tehran as well. So what in the world is going on? Also reports of US Naval strikes. The President has now issued a statement regarding the U.S. navy in the Strait of Hormuz. After all, he had just paused this Project Freedom in which the United States Navy was going to escort several craft through the Strait of Hormuz to kind of release some of the international trading tensions here. So what's going on? From what we understand, this all began with the Iranians firing a series of missiles and drones at both a Chinese owned ship which given that China is the primary supplier of funds and munitions to Iran, a rather bizarre move. Now you know, the Chinese tanker, I mean it's not like a pagoda on, on stilts, right? All right. I mean it's not like a, a paddle boat, you know, from the South China Sea. It looks like any other tanker. They don't have a big huge Chinese red flag on the side of it. And the Iranians deciding or at least faction faction groups inside the irgc, not just near the port of kind of the core Strait of Ormuz port, but also along several cities, not just in Bandar Abbas but also in Sirik, which is about 50 to 60 miles away from Bandar Abbas. They hit a Chinese tanker and that really did not make President Xi of China super duper happy. And then as the United States was moving and finishing up an interdiction operation with an Iranian craft that was trying to go through the blockade, the Iranians again with a series of missiles and drones, attempted to strike three US Naval craft. So first of all, the initial report From CBS citing U.S. officials, quote, American destroyers moving through the Strait of Hormuz tonight came under attack from swarms of Iranian fast boats. By this they mean pontoons with attitude. That's really all that's left of the Iranian navy. They have the occasional tugboat from a 1930s Disney cartoon. You know, the kind that says toot toot and has comically large eyes and smokestack. And then, you know, other than the riverboat casino they're passing off as a carrier. And they have a couple of bass boats now, not the good ones from like Mercury that you'd put on Dale Hollow in Tennessee. No, we're talking about a couple of small long boats that the US Navy love sinking from the Caribbean to the Gulf of America. So according to the CBS report citing unnamed U.S. officials, quote, the warships responded using 5 inch deck guns. Now I want to make this explicitly clear for all of you kids out there at home, nothing is better than giving our boys target practice in any body of water ever. Guys manning the five inch deck guns. That is something that has been a US Tradition since before the Second World War. And I all I will say regarding that is a quote from Admiral Dewey right after World War I. Quote, the best diplomacy is delivered by a ship's cannons, not a country's courier. Beautiful stuff. Now that brings us to what naval craft were targeted. They were three Navy guided missile destroyers. The USS Truxton, the USS Rafael Peralta and the USS Mason. Now, according to centcom, the American forces neutralized the incoming missiles and the drones. This is something that I asked former Secretary of the Navy Phelan about a couple of months ago about the anti drone countermeasures that were being put it onto, or excuse me, that were being put not just onto US Aircraft carriers like the George Bush for example, but also what anti drone measures were being put on guided missile destroyers. That is a very, very important facet of 21st century warfare. And he said that there were not just a series of retrofit drone countermeasures that were being put on some of our building program dry dock ships currently, but also the craft that are moving from the Roanoke out to the Central, excuse me, Norfolk, out to the core strike groups in the Middle east had already been retrofit. With several anti drone countermeasures. And it appears that they've worked. The actual statement from U.S. central Command in the Middle east says, and I quote, US forces intercepted unprovoked Iranian attacks and responded with self defense strikes. As US Navy guided missile destroyers transited the Strait of Hormuz to the Gulf of Oman On May 7, U.S. central Command eliminated inbound threats and then targeted Iranian military facilities responsible for attacking US forces, including missile and drone launch sites, command and control locations, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance nodes. CENTCOM does not seek escalation, but remains positioned and ready to protect American forces. So how did the Navy respond? This is the question that in prior administrations might have been answered by a couple of days of deliberation and sending out the State Department and couriers to ask questions and talk to the UN and maybe go on the View and ask Whoopi Goldberg how she feels about it. The US Navy, before the American media knew what was happening in full, started retaliating by hitting Iranian targets. And here we see when I, when I've been reporting to you the details about the growing concerns of the stability of the Iranian regime, the news agencies from Iran that started delivering statements immediately began issuing contradictory statements. So first and foremost, after an initial report had come out that the strikes were happening in Tehran as well as several of the port cities along the Strait of Hormuz, uh, two reports from Iranian sources suggested from IRIB News, that's an Iranian state media outlet and mer, that's me, hr, that the United Arab Emirates, the uae, had attacked Iran. And a rather interesting allegation as it was because the, the initial fire at the Chinese tanker, the Chinese trade ship came from the United Arab Emirates controlled coastline. So very confusing right off of the bat. This was then, you know, echoed by a lot of different accounts. You had, you know, a couple of online kind of AI and fear mongering accounts coming out and saying that the United Arab Emirates had begun a series of strikes against Tehran and Iran in general. Now, members of the United Arab Emirates, media class and political class, have already been out in the last hour saying that all reports claiming that there are explosions in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or anywhere in the United Emirates. It's fake news pushed by the Islamic regime in Iran propaganda machine. And the best argument for this so far, there's no footage whatsoever of it. The UAE is an incredibly lit up country. And I don't mean drunk, I mean like there are lights all over that entire stinking country. If there was footage of any kind of a strike so far, a retaliatory measure by the Iranians against the uae, which had just been accused of its own retaliatory measures against just retaliations ad nauseam. We would already be hearing about it in details now. Ambassador Mike Waltz, former national Security advisor Now the guy that goes and flips off the United nations did confirm that a Chinese media outlet report that quote, a Chinese large refined products tanker was struck by an Iranian projectile off the United Arab Emirates Al Jir port earlier this week. Reuters is confirming and then Ambassador Mike Waltz reporting on top of that, that even the Chinese are getting hit by disparate IRGC missile and drone groups that are not even in communication with each other. There's internal panic right now with the Iranian parliament. The heads of Iranian parliament that you may have come to know and smell like Galiba, for example. He hasn't been anywhere near any kind of a camera or official series of statements yet. Different parliament members have been brought forward to issue early statements. That's very weird, guys. That's strange. They have been going through foreign ministers, Foreign Minister Arachi nowhere to be found. Totally different foreign ministers have been pushed out onto the stage and told to play townsperson number three. Very strange. A totally unknown to this point, Iran army spokesman, so not a member of the irgc, but a member of the official Iranian state army said quote, the aggressive terrorist and pirate US Military ARR violated the ceasefire by targeting an Iranian oil tanker traveling from Iran's coastal waters near Josiah toward the Strait of Hormuz as well as another vessel entering the Strait of Hormuz near the Emirati. That's the UAE port of Fujairah. You know, the same one that the Iranians struck just a couple of days ago said at the same time, with the cooperation of some regional countries, they carried out air attacks on civilian areas along the coasts of Bandar, Khmer, Syriac and Qeshm Island. And then a little the United Armed Super Duper Republic Forces of Iran immediately responded by attacking and doing significant super duper damage. Radio crew, we're going to send you off to the commercial break. Consider while we're gone the super duper damage that definitely totally occurred. While we're gone, we're going to continue on the live stream unabated. It's the Tony Knitcast here on the Daily Signal. Now the radio crew's gone. Let's continue. What does this mean? What I've read to you so far are just a couple of the statements from Iranian media and spokesman totally different, disparate with each other. The Iranian media is literally changing Their statements as we are here on the air, Al Jazeera, which is an Islamic network, is also flipping and reporting totally different stuff regarding what the United States or the UAE or maybe even the Saudis are or aren't doing at the moment. Reuters is suggesting at this moment that the US has targeted Iraqi oil official and militias with a series of sanctions while fighter jets are reported over eastern Iraq. So quite a lot of things going on. What has the President of the United States reported? Uh, so he released a large statement a couple of minutes ago in, in which he says, I want to make sure I actually get this statement pulled up here. Before he made this statement, he told Rachel Scott of ABC says President Trump tells me in a phone call that the retaliatory attacks against Iran are just a, quote, love tap. When I asked if it means the ceasefire is over, he said no, no, the ceasefire is still going and it is in effect. A couple of minutes later then the President of the United States responded with this and it is a hulk of a paragraph. Three world class American destroyers just transited very successfully out of the Strait of Hormuz under fire. There was no damage done to the three destroyers, but great damage done to the Iranian attackers. They were completely destroyed along with numerous small boats which are being used to take the place of their fully decapitated navy. These boats went to the bottom of the sea with Sebastian, quote, quickly and efficiently. Missiles were shot at our destroyers and were easily knocked down. Likewise, drones came and were incinerated while in the air. I do appreciate how he describes this. It sounds like first they hit us with planes and then they hit us with trains and then automobiles. Something, something about that, that, that is funny. He says they dropped ever so beautifully down to the ocean, very much like a butterfly dropping to its grave. The poetry of the President of the United States, ladies and gentlemen. Quote, they are led by lunatics in all caps and if they had the chance to use a nuclear weapon, they would do it without question. But they'll never have the opportunity to. And just like we knocked them out again today, we will knock them down a lot harder and more violently in the future if they don't get their little deal signed fast. And then he called the naval blockade a wall of steel. So what's going on right now? Those were the statements that was the lead up. Where are we at presently? Well, I love citing this statistic according to a lot of the kind of AI and tech tools that are watching. Pizza restaurants near the Pentagon. Citing Pentagon Pizza Watch. We the pizza a mile from the Pentagon is experiencing a 206% spike in activity. Papa John's Pizza, better ingredients, better missiles. Papa John's. The Pentagon, 2.3 miles away, reports a spike at 149%. Essentially, there are a series of trackers that keep an eye on pizza restaurants near the Pentagon. And when they start spiking in activity, it means it's going to be a long night. This is, there's a lot of prior stuff with that. Hegseth has mentioned that he has occasionally ordered bulk pizza orders to throw people off. I think there is probably a lot of activity in the Pentagon right now because Egypt has just deployed a number of fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates to strengthen the country's defenses. As a reminder, in the last couple of days, the secretary of war, Pete Hegseth has announced a red, white and blue dome. No longer relying on Israeli kind of Iron Dome technology in the region. Now the United States is using the UAE as its own, much closer to Iran, Israel to station defense. And right around that time, the UAE also left opec. So what does all of this mean? It means China's in trouble. Yes, I said China, not Iran. We've got to bring the radio crew back from commercial. We're going to dive in. It's the Tony Kinnit cast here on the Daily Signal. This is the Tony Kennett cast on 93 WYBC. All right, so if Iran is currently experiencing a love tap from United States strikes from some of the U.S. air Force and of course the excellent pilots in the US Navy, as well as the 5 inch guns reminding coastlines that Navy guys really like seeing things blow up. What's going on with the United Arab emirates in the U.S. so if they've, if the UAE has left OPEC, that's going to bring oil prices remarkably down. If the UAE becomes the United States outpost to maintain control over the Strait of Hormuz, not only does this essentially starve out the Iranian regime, who some estimates came out earlier today saying, oh, the Iranian regime can totally, can totally last four to five days if they just light one candle on the menorah. The oil is just going to last forever. No, no, no, no, no. Immediately from several economic and analysis firms around the globe, not just in the United States, but in Europe, in South Africa, all the way over to South Korea. Real more realistic estimates suggest that the Iranian regime, even if it huddled together and did no in person meetings and relied on halal Microsoft Teams, they're probably not going to last more than about two months. If they really stuck to their guns and there were no riots, protests, anything, the Kurds sat there and, you know, chewed on a little bit of hummus and called it a day. Probably very unlikely that we see the regime last at this point. Much further, the UAE being the United Arab Emirates, allowing the US to form some type of outpost in a long term fashion is going to reshape the entire Middle East. And additionally, if the uae, Israel, the Saudis, the Kuwaitis, the Bahrainis, the Jordanians and the Lebanese government, that being not the members of the Lebanese parliament that are part of Hezbollah, but the actual Lebanese government, if they are in concert and working together, and then an independent Kurdistan rises and comes to power, even though, of course, that will upset Turkey very greatly, that is going to be an entirely different trade and national security apparatus that is functioning the Middle East. And that doesn't just terrify Iran, that terrifies China. This all comes down to China. And that brings us over to the President of the United States. Entertaining of all people, Lula da Silva, the socialist leader of Brazil at the Oval Office today, as well as a rather not covered post by the President of the United States and a call that he had with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von Delane. So I'll talk about the call with the European Commission. We'll get to Lula da Silva and then we'll cover what this means with China because it's really obviously all directed at the communist regime in Beijing. So president said, quote, I had a great call with the president of European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. We discussed many topics, including that we are completely united, that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. We agreed that a regime that kills its own people cannot control a bomb that can kill millions. I've been waiting patiently for the EU to fulfill their side of the historic trade deal that we agreed in Turnberry, Scotland, the largest trade deal ever. A promise was made the EU would deliver their side of the deal and as per agreement, cut their tariffs to zero percent. I agreed to give her until our country's 250th birthday, or unfortunately, their tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels. Thank you for your attention to this matter. President Donald Trump. So that's the President of the United States talking about China, or, excuse me, about the European Commission. That brings us to Lula da Silva of Brazil. So the President of the United States for the first time had Lula de Silva over to the White House. Lula da Silva, according to several media outlets, from the Associated Press, over to Politico begged the President of the United States, oh, please, oh, please, with Carnival on top, do not allow the media and the press to come in and ask lots of questions because, you know, socialist country kind of stuff, that would be what Lula wanted, and the President accepted it. Why do this? Why, you know, toss a little bit of a bone to the guy who was prosecuted, Bolsonaro in Brazil, unjustly. Why do this? It is all about boxing out China. If the United States is able to control the trade from the places that it has in the United Arab Emirates in exchange for defensive operations through the red, White and blue Dome, if the United States, which it already has through Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is able to keep the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative out of Panama, if the United States is able to keep the Chinese boxed out of the South American soybean market in Argentina, and if the United States is last but not least, able to keep the Chinese government out of the more BRICS alliance friendly environment in South America for international trade, the Chinese hegemony, pseudo hegemony that has been hoped for and prayed for by the far left and on the international stage by Cuba and Venezuela and Iran and Russia and China doesn't come to pass. And it sets them back at a time when there was already significant economic and civil unrest in the western provinces of China. Russia's not doing anything exciting at the moment. Again, the Iranian Ministry went up to Moscow and said, please, oh, please, help us out just pretty. Will you ship us some supplies? Will you sail the great Russian fleet through the Strait of Hormuz and beat the US Blockade? And Putin had a kind of flashback from when he was just a wee lad and remembering the tales told to him about the Cuban Missile Crisis and John F. Kennedy saying those famous words, the Russian Navy can go screw itself, that kind of a thing. Um, yeah, they didn't send anyone. Instead, Putin said, we wish you best of luck and nice finest vodka and caviar, and sent the Foreign Ministry back to Tehran. So Russia's not doing anything. If China's boxed out of the entire global economy, they can't block off the Strait of Malacca, they can't block off the Strait of Hormuz through Iran. They're also getting ready to lose Cuba. They are getting ready to lose Cuba. Secretary Marco Rubio announced today a new series of sanctions. These sanctions, he said, demonstrate that the Trump administration will not stand by while Cuba's communist regime threatens our national security in our hemisphere. And we will continue to take action until the regime takes all necessary political and economic reforms. This comes in the middle of two things. Thing number one is that the Trump administration is reportedly already beginning investigations into Representative Pramila Jayapal for statements that she made in which she indicated she had been in conversations with the ambassador of Estados Unidos de Mexico as well as several other countries to circumvent the US Blockade, the embargo on the Cuban island, and as Pramila Jayapal put it, who despises oil in the United States but wants oil to flow to the Cuban communist regime again to the benefit of China via the harassment of the United States operations in the Western Hemisphere. If Trump gets the Don Row doctrine moving, if China is boxed out, then Japan and South Korea are way more likely to develop economically on the international stage. So is Taiwan. We're able to facilitate manufacturing dominance here at home. It makes the Chinese AI race much more difficult for the communists to realize. And most importantly, it allows conservative movements around the world that are based on the natural rights of man to flourish. That allows the toppling of communist regimes. And the legacy of up against the wall comrade comes to a close. And not soon enough. So that brings us over to a. Since we've started the show, redacted list of new rules from Iran regarding. It's essentially a cheap Microsoft Excel document, a little spreadsheet that says from now on, if you're going to pass the Strait of Hormuz paying in crypto, it's over, it's done. No more paying in goat coin or whatever. Now you have to fill out the PGSA applicant form. Now, I don't have this loaded into the B roll, but I mean look at this thing. This thing's hideous. I've seen post it notes from my toddler that are far more impressive on a diplomatic stage. So you have to announce your request date, the name of your vessel, any previous names, super duper special numbers, the weight of your captain. When was the last time that you ate before returning to the pool? Destination country, Registered owner, technical operator. I mean if you're doing any three hour tours, if you're going to the PGA next year, best of luck to them. I don't know how you're supp. Do. Do trade ships come with fax machines these days? Is AOL giving 30 free hours along with every form given to. It's. It's not. It's not going well. Like I said, this has already been taken down. Radio Cooper gonna send you over to the commercial. Before you're back, I need you to fax me over where you're listening from as well as the last time that you urinated to the West. It's the Tony Knitcast here on the Daily Signal. Now this brings us over to the president's finality, kind of on the Lula da Silva meeting this post. And then we're going to move on to some of the other big news in the country. So the president says, quote, concluding my meeting with Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, beautiful, the very dynamic president of Brazil. We discussed many topics, including trade and specifically tariffs. The meeting went very well. Our representatives, that would probably be Ambassador Greer, are scheduled to get together to discuss certain key elements. Additional meetings will be scheduled over the coming months as necessary. Again, China's not exactly having a good day watching all of its former allies that were supposed to cut the US off from everything that's not happening. So on the home front here, how is the Trump administration doing? Because we're heading for a major low propensity election. And this is really where we get down to some of the most bizarre midterm news events that I've seen in a very long time. So one of the front runners for the Democratic Party, Ms. Super Dirt. Super duper. Super duper. Five term, ultimate undefeated. She's gonna be around forever. Charlotte, North Carolina, Mayor Vi Lyles, Democrat, up and comer in the party. She was amazing. She had a 51% approval rating in 2019. Wow. I mean, she's gonna be around forever. Well, it just so happens, no, not the case at all. You recall that on the Charlotte Light rail, that arena Zarutska was murdered by a disgusting criminal who had been released from prison multiple times. Kyle, how many times had that guy been released from prison? Over a dozen. I mean, disgusting stuff. And then Vi Lyles took to the stage and said that, well, I mean, you know, sure, we really don't like murder, but what was I supposed to do? Ma', am, you're in charge of the police department for bleeping Charlotte. And after that event, and justifiably so, her approval rating went from 51% down to 21% and then from 21% to her office refusing to accept any or providing any information on internal polling from that point forward. Again, this was the lady who was going to run four, five, six times forever, possibly even a future contender for the governor of North Carolina or maybe a possible Senate candidate. We all know the Senate is just one hop, skip and a jump away from running for the White House. She has now announced her resignation. So according to the Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles sent shockwaves through the city Thursday as she announced plans to resign from office next month. The five term Democrat said that she'll leave office on June 30, less than halfway through her latest term, and added she's not running for mayor in 27 now after getting through the serving as Charlotte's mayor has been the honor of my life. She talks about investing and strengthening and navigating, you know, like basic corporate garbage, words that are usually out of really embarrassing book clubs. She essentially says she's leaving to spend time with her grandchildren. And as in all things in politics, I'm sure there will be speculation as to why I'm making this decision. Now. Simply put, I'm gonna spend time with my grandchildren. I've missed some moments with them and I intend not to miss anymore. Oh no, no. Uh huh. This is a growing trend over on the Democratic Party side because while you're seeing Republicans not do so well in a lot of midterm election stuff so far, you should be seeing major double digit leads on congressional and local races. Yeah, not so much. We're going to talk about that. And that all comes down, believe it or not, to Tennessee. Don't go anywhere, Tony. Kenneth Cast Here on the Daily Signal. Is the Tony Kennett cast on 93 WIBC. Welcome back to the Tony Kennett cast. Let's dive into some of this bizarre chaos that is unfolding in the Democrat side of the aisle. And again, the reason I am calling it chaos, there is not a single unified line for any proposal whatsoever. Republicans, it's very easy. You got two proposals. One half of the Republican Party right now is talking about economic policy. The other side of the party is yelling at the Senate. Why? Because again, there are four senators standing in the way from the Save America act being passed and the filibuster being overturned and a number of things that Americans are looking forward to. So Republicans are actually pushing some things forward here. The other side of the party, you have several factions. All of them are beclowning themselves. One of the factions is kind of the moderate I can totally govern super well party. All of them are resigning or in major scandals. So the I can totally govern everything's fine party started to collapse when Governor Tim Walz, amid major fraud allegations and scandals in Minneapolis, he announced he was going to no longer be seeking reelection. Things haven't gotten any better there. The, the, the new gubernatorial elections currently underway, those aren't really going very well either. You have Peggy Flanagan, the lieutenant governor who actually got up in front of people and said my Ojibwe name, like my Native American Dances With Wolves name is Talks too much, which. Oh, dear goodness. And then throughout the rest of the country, scandal after scandal has unfolded of individuals in Democrat official positions that are either being investigated or arrested or raided by the FBI for participating in just really gross stuff. So of course there was the state senator, a, a benchmark and foundation of the community, who was Abigail Spannberger's redistricting buddy, who's been raided by the FBI. We covered this yesterday for her illicit cannabis dispensary. That was like giving out either fake cannabis stuff and not going through the regulatory process. You know, in the era of fentanyl laced and other kinds of laced stuff in a lot of cannabis dispensaries around the country and those scandals. And then of course, you have the horrible, horrible record on crime that Democrats cannot leave alone. So Mayor Vi Lyles, of course, announcing her resignation. We had the situation regarding Irene in the rest of the country. Whether you're looking at Zoran Mamdani in New York City and the people he's appointing, or Brandon Johnson's Chicago, the horrible, horrible application of law enforcement regarding immigration. Democrats claimed an early victory thinking, oh, we've made ICE look terrible, now we're totally fine. Nope, polling is sliding right back against the Democrats as fast as things can roll. Some of the reasons is that some of the victims families of violent crimes from caused by, committed by illegal immigrants. The families of the victims are taking to national media to call out these policies directly. Sheridan Gorman's parents, of course, Sheridan Gorman, the young Loyola student in Chicago who was simply standing with some of her friends and looking out at the scenery one beautiful Midwestern evening, and then was then attacked and killed by an illegal immigrant for no reason whatsoever. Just, again, another case of violent illegal immigrant crime. Here is how Sheridan Gorman's parents took to media to kind of describe who they blame for these particular incidents. I mean, my child should have been safe in any city in this country and she wasn't. I blame Chicago. I do. This was not a Loyola problem. This was a Chicago problem. And she would be here. This was preventable if they had. They had several opportunities to cooperate with ICE and they didn't. They didn't. Again, correct, True, Absolutely accurate. You need to get people out to the polls to vote. And right now, if there's nothing to encourage your side of the aisle to get out and actually move things forward, you leave Republicans with an opportunity to just make a couple of things move in the right direction and then the propensity is there. And again, I mentioned not only Brandon Johnson's administration in Chicago, but also over in New York. Mamdani has been appointing the most insanely radical people that he can find, including Lorena Lucero. She's the Deputy commissioner in the New York City Mayor's Office of Immigrant affairs. Saying again, things that I would highly recommend in any situation you not go out and say openly, like if I had a magic wand, I would make everyone legal automatically, just presto, super, super, super legal.
C
If I had a magic wand to be able to provide legal status to everybody, you better believe that I would waive it and ensure that that happened. Unfortunately, that is not the case. So what we have done and do is that we've been providing people with a review of some pending applications, providing them with the most up to date information that they can have. And we've also been supporting and doing direct outreach in the community in Little Haiti. We've also, I know council member Rita Joseph tends to come to the immigration here hearings. We have partnered with her in the past to provide again, information and direct legal services to individuals in her district. So that's part of what we try to do. We have been monitoring TPS loss not just for Haitians, but other countries as,
A
as well, all of the focus right now. And again, there are significant financial difficulties that Americans are facing. Absolutely, absolutely. And the opposition party, here's, here's the real, here's the real rough rub. Republicans greatest sin right now is moving legislation through Congress. That really, that is the greatest sin right now. Americans do not believe that Congress is doing their job. Republicans are considered kind of lazy in some aspects. They're not getting things done. But Democrats, you're the opposition party. Guys. It's so easy to be the opposition party. You simply say the person in power is dumb, stupid, corrupt, evil, awful and bad, which they're doing. And then you're saying, this is what I would do to make it better. Presto. And by the way, the beauty of being in opposition, it doesn't matter if your solution is going to fix things or not. You're the opposition, people will believe it. So where are the Democrats proposing? Here's what I would do for American families. They're nothing. They're nowhere to be found. All of the focus is on defending cases of they say, give us more money and we'll give you free health care. We'll give you free health care. And then after the free health care, we will give you free education. And then we'll give you free housing because that is the plan for everyone. That's their argument. But then what do you see? Scandal after scandal after scandal after scandal of all of this state and federal funding and local funding, in New York City's case, going to illegal immigrants, going to those who are committing fraud in the system, whether they're foreign trucking, commercial driver's license companies that are in the same buildings as the home care organizations that obviously Luke Rosiek's been talking about, our own Mahat Cook at the Daily Signal was talking about earlier in January. This kind of stuff is truly, truly disgusting. And then the Democrats come out and they just say, oh, yeah, we're focused on this. Oh, yeah, this. We like this. It's good. In fact, if you ask them openly, should illegal immigrants be allowed to vote? Debate from the Los Angeles mayoral race, ladies and gentlemen. Oh, that's never happened before. Let me try that one more time. Amazing. The ghost clip. Several of the Democratic candidates, as well as the lone independent that is currently running to fight in the Los Angeles mayoral race, got into a debate and were asked, should illegal immigrants be allowed to vote in local elections? Pratt said, no, he's the independent running. Bass said, it depends. Base said it depends. And then Raman said, it depends. So not even a straight answer right down. You know, write down the barrel. Super easy. Hey, here you go. Answer quick policy, quick answers, that kind of a thing. Instead we got really goofy garbage. It depends that voters don't want it. They're not looking for it. Even in the big cities, Democrat voters are not looking for everyone but them to be given that kind of treatment. They're just not. They're not looking for it. And actually, we do have that clip ready to roll here. Here you go. This is a yes or no question, an answer. So there's an LA council member. He wants voters to decide. He is saying that noncitizens, should they
B
be allowed to vote in local elections?
A
Is this a yes or no, Mr. Pratt?
B
No, Mayor Bass.
C
It depends. It's not a yes or no.
A
Depends on what?
C
Well, first of all, when you say non citizens, it doesn't mean they're here illegal. It doesn't mean they're undocumented. They could have green cards. They could be here, perfectly legal. And there's a lot of states and cities that do that on very, very local elections.
A
But again, that's wild because they are a citizen of what is, Steve, another country. This ain't, this ain't, this ain't going to fly. Radio crew will catch you guys on the other side of the commercial break, it's the Tony Kinnit cast.
C
We have to see what the councilman is proposing.
A
Council member, Bremen council member.
D
Yeah, I would say again it does depend in other places, school boards have non citizens.
A
Non citizens. Mr. Fred, I have a question for you. You told us so. Check this out. Really, really cool thing here. Just kind of a neat tip here. Serving in the government is a privilege because you are to serve the citizens of the United States. You take an oath of office no matter where you are, no matter what office it is, whether it's dog catcher or president of these United States. And when you take that office, that oath, you are to defend the Constitution written to govern American citize citizens. The U.S. constitution does not govern the affairs and the taxations and the levies of service of foreign immigrants who are not yet citizens of the United States, nor migrants, nor tourists. Guys, this matter, this is very basic educational function here because as a citizen, not only do you have a list of privileges that you enjoy, but also a list of responsibilities, things that you have to pony up for if things get rough, things that give you a leg up from the rest of the world on. But as we have talked about before and have talked about for several times, the side of the aisle that instead of again arguing in favor of their constituents, instead of serving them, what we're seeing instead is one core argument. So whether it's Andre Carson or Alexandria Ocasio Cortez or it's Oran Mamdani or Ilhan Omar or Rashida Tlaib or Pramila Jayapal, there is one argument instead that is made that America, that here in this country, American citizens, they cannot do anything on their own. They don't have the ability, they don't have the skills. They can't build a great country. They can't actually go out and do great things on the world stage. They can't cure diseases, they can't push things forward technologically. They can't provide for their families and communities. And there's no way they could ever earn a billion dollars. That's not even feasible. That's not possible. That's the argument that Alexandria Ocasio Cortez again trying to reclaim her spotlight in this young progressive movement. Here's what she's trying to make the case that, well, you could never, you could never do that. American citizens, they could. They can't do anything.
D
There's a certain level of wealth and accumulation that is unearned, right? You can't earn Sorry, I'm going to
A
make fun of this. Thank you very much for the 1990s video game sound effect there, chuckles.
D
Anyway, a billion dollars.
C
That's right.
D
You just can't earn that.
C
That's exactly correct.
D
You can, you guys.
A
You can earn a billion dollars. You can. There are people who have done so. I don't know how to tell you this, but those who were the wealthiest of the wealthy in like the late 1800s, early 1900s, all of their descendants currently are not super duper alley ooper wealthy and everyone else is poor. The majority of large wealth holders in this country are in either the first or second generation of said ownership. In the billionaire class, it is in either the first or second generation ownership. I mean it's, it's just the objective data and saying no one could earn that. No one could earn that. Again, this, this idea that individualism is bad, it again, it's just not, it's not going to fly. We got to bring the Raider crew back from commercial. Don't go anywhere. It's the Tony Kinnit cast here on the Daily Signal. This is the Tony Kenneth cast on 93 WIBC. So look, American citizens again, all through the country Democrats say you can't go out and earn anything on your own. You can, you can't build anything on your own. The mayor of Seattle says bye bye to millionaires, billionaires or a hundred thousand heirs leaving Washington state. You've got Zoran Mamdani, you know, saying, well we'll just tax everybody to Helen gone and who cares if we're out of money. Every two months you have mayors and governors that are resigning because they're doing such a terrible job of governing over on the left. So what's going to be the driving motivation here? It's the second half of the argument. The second half of the argument is American citizens can do nothing. So what we need is collectivism from the, the, the Somalis and the, the Muslim communities from around the world and the immigration station to come in and fix the country through the warmth of collectivism. That is the argument that is being made. And again, please do not take my word for it. Here is Alexandria Ocasio Cortez saying exactly that.
D
There are, there are very few like real archetypes of, in my opinion, truly what America is all about. I think about the civil rights and voting rights movement and how black Americans really created democracy in this country.
C
That's exactly right.
A
How black Americans created democracy in this country. Okay, this is again, the idea is that Americans never did Anything. It was only those who were brought here, dragged here. Again, if you are an American who is white, then you've never done anything ever. In fact, you're the worst part of the entire country. I will remind you that it is the Union. The Union army, which was not just the cast members of the movie Glory. No, it was a lot of white northerners that went and fought the Civil War, that it was the abolition movement that included, by the way, a lot of evangelicals throughout the entire country that did absolutely everything to ensure and defend civil rights in this country. And yet never a slight moment or not. It is all white people bad. And you need to be saved by collectivism and just unfettered mass migration.
D
They literally made something from nothing. It is just beyond me. I think about.
A
We know it's beyond you, sweetheart.
D
We get that Native people have survived and preserved and, and treasured their culture.
A
Okay, I'm sorry. That's enough of that. As someone who is a registered member of the Cherokee tribe, not like Elizabeth Warren, a substantial actual amount of real, the, the real kind of Cherokee blood. Not powwow chow, not white girl on Instagram, like the real kind. I would like to say two things. First of all, the idea that, like, Native American culture is some magical, special thing. It's not. It's not. Sorry. A lot of Native American culture was raping and pillaging other tribes, just like every cultural group on this planet has done since the beginning. You hear this around, like, the Mount Rushmore thing. That's actually the, the, the Black Hills tribe. They are owners of that land. No. What? 380 years. I have the history books on the shelf behind me regarding this. The Blackfoot tribe, Black Hills, before they owned that land, 380 years prior, they raped and pillaged and killed and stole that land from a different tribe and from a different tribe and from a different tribe. Also the idea that American culture that has been created, again, from a primarily Anglo, a primarily Grecian, mixed with a, a, a, A Mediterranean culture that has been brought over and cultivated in the United States and by the way, primarily through a Protestant work ethic that has governed this country, that is, in fact, a very great and fantastic culture. Other cultures are not special because you're in a culture where the majority is the culture you see around you. No. So I'm just, Just to make that very, very clear right up front. Sorry. As someone who actually gets to pull that card, I would like to say that you don't get to speak for me. And the idea that, like, we need to start doing this little culture stacking garbage. Absolutely not. That's the argument. That's what the entire thing is about. And because there are all of these disparate little magical color groups in the United States, this means they all need their own special super duper voting district. Unless you're white. In that case, then screw you. Or if you're Jewish, screw you. Or if you're Asian, screw you. Sorry. We need a lot of majority Hispanic districts and majority black voting districts, because after all, black and brown people, whatever that means, they all think the same. That brings us over to the latest redistricting stuff, including the setting on fire flags, tug of war. I mean, no, really. People playing tug of war, climbing up on desks and acting. I mean, just a little loopy. In the Tennessee State House, we're going to talk about that beautiful, beautiful behavior on display in the state of Tennessee. So again, after the Supreme Court of the United States ruled, hey, you can't racially segregate voting districts anymore. And then people like AOC went outside of a parking lot, got on their knees and cried big, huge crocodile tears, which is impressive because you and I both know that AOC is not literate enough to read the entire Supreme Court opinion. Anyhow, the Supreme Court ruling you can't racially segregate means a lot of states are now saying, gee whiz, we have all of these essentially redlined districts where people were said, oh, they're black, they'll vote all the same. And then we're allowed to draw racial voting districts in the state instead of based on cultural lines or based on economic lines or based on regional lines. So a lot of states are currently going through that rectification process. This brings us over to Tennessee. As you might recall, Tennessee, as of yesterday had all but one of its districts red, the blue district that you see if you're on the live stream. Sorry. For those on the radio, this is a great time to hop over to YouTube.com daily signal and catch the show live with us. The little over there, the Memphis pocket, that being the blue. Well, Governor Bill Lee, friend of the show, signed into office today. The bill passed by the House and the Senate. And now Tennessee is going to be redistricted into an all red map that you see on the bottom. And this made a lot of those on the left very, very, very, very upset. So first and foremost, one Democrat, a state Senate, decided now is the time to climb up on. To climb up on the desk and start yelling and shouting and car, Nice little Bit of yelling, acting like fools, being crazy, being stupid, you know, just, just, just normal state level Democrat things. Exciting. So a little tug of war as well. Then we get over to Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson, who decided, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna get out there and threaten some Tennessee State police even though I'm violating the law. Now, as a reminder, if a black man calls a white man boy, it is fine. If a white man calls a black man boy, the SPLC will either fund the rally for your defense or send the cops to your house. Radio crew will catch you guys. On the flip side, it's the Tony Kenneth cast. We're going to continue on the live stream. You guys take care. So again, we have totally rational and normal behavior is wrong with you. Excellent. Normal, normal behavior. Exciting, exciting stuff. We had the usual rally style nonsense, screaming no means no. Which I mean, good to see him getting out there and protesting. Representative Eric sw. Excuse me, former Representative Eric Swalwell. Ah, normal rational people acting like normal rational individuals. Amazing. And by the way, in the meantime of all of this, Barack Obama was going on a big interview, talking about how we need to return to calm, rational nonsense, as though he didn't gaslight an encourage every single little bit of this. But that's not all. Then you had State Representative Justin Jones, he got out and just set fire to a paper printer. Paper, Confederate flag. Like the Confederate battle flag or something. Just performative nonsense to the max. Here you go. Stunning, brave. And of course you have a bunch of fat middle aged white women. Oh, I'm sorry, was that uncouth? You have a bunch of fat middle aged white women on the left that are cheering them on. Yes, he's brave. My family won't talk to me like that kind of crap. Yeah. So as as many have pointed out, I certainly won't be the first. Either he brought and printed out, like he printed out a picture of the Confederate battle flag to come burn. Or someone brought him and was like, excuse me, sir, I know how you feel about this. Would you like this? We were printing them off at Kinko's this morning. We were like, what flag would he like to set fire to? And then he grabbed the local crackhead from Speedway's Bic lighter and then Presco, he set fire to. Oh, he's so brave and stunning. And the argument that they're making is that Republicans are being racist by removing racially segregated voting districts. So you might be thinking, wow, this Memphis voting district, that they're all so, you know, Worked up about. I bet there's, like, a really great civil rights hero black guy or gal who's currently the representative of that district. Nah, it's this white dude. Representative Cohen. Th. Th. This greasy old white dude is. You see a munching on some KFC there? That. That's who's being replaced, by the way. Who is he up against? A black woman running as a Republican. Oh. It's not actually about representation by color. Oh, oh, oh. It's just rigging things along racial lines. Oh, got it. That. Thank you very much, Dems, for making that explicitly clear. Now, the next pinpoint here. The next pressure point is going to be South Carolina. Oh, wait, I'm sorry. I'm. I'm hearing from a very, very real. In my ear right now, individual of my team. I forgot to show you that one Tennessee representative got barked at like a dog by another Tennessee representative. I think it might have been Justin Jones or Pearson or the third out of the three. There's like a weird, really gay trio among them. He was really, really mad. That one Tennessee state rep, I suppose, wore a Trump flag like a cape. Political theater is all sides. You guys know that. I hate it. But. But you have to laugh at it or you'll cry. Here you go. So you have the. You have Captain. Captain dreads here. He. He's got his blue blazer on, and I. I can't help but notice that the man should probably be wearing a 44 or 46, and the lady at the counter gave him a 38. He's wearing pee Wee Herman's blazer. The thing is buttoned up tighter than a. Than a bouncer at the Night at the Roxbury. Anyway, the last time I saw a blazer that small, it was on Will Ferrell, and he was bobbing his head to the left while they sang what is Love? Okay, I'm racist. And of course they're all chanting racist. How dare you give the black woman a better chance of winning the election than the greasy old white dude munching kfc. How dare you. Just screaming and angry. Just. Oh, the left wing. Karen's the. That kind of a thing. Now, again, the next pressure point is going to be South Carolina. There are some Republican state senators who are moving a little bit faster now that they saw what the Turning Point USA Coalition did in Indiana, which, again, as a reminder by percentage, was the most incumbents removed in a primary in over 50 years. So South Carolina, there are currently six Republican districts, one Democrat district. The. The Republican Democrat district for Jim Clyburn is really racially gerrymandered. I mean, yee haw. Redlining, Batman. Oh boy. That is likely also to be scooted out so Republicans gain a full district there. I don't want to get too speculative there because there are some very old obstinate Republicans. I know you're. What a surprise. I too am quite shocked by such things. Other state level stuff that again, not really doing a whole lot. Minnesota Democrats voted unanimously to block a requirement to remove dead people from the voter rolls. That's it. That's the whole story. Holy crap. So exciting things over there. Now that brings us over to the national level stuff, because before we get over to actually what Republicans can do kind of in the flip here, because they do need a little bit of juice, they need a little caffeine, put a little Cafe Bustello in their coffee mug. Or if they'd like to sponsor me. Celsius. Celsius. Come on. Sponsor your boy now. Anyway, if Republicans are just kind of waiting to decide they want to get out and win an election, then what do we have in the meantime? Well, we have Kamala Harris, who was hitting Nevada. Yeah, that's right. Break out the Tinder app. Ladies and gentlemen, Kamala Harris is getting into Nevada. Yippee. The joy cometh in the morning. So when Kamala Harris wasn't getting drunk at the casino, she was trying to float a new idea. Because Kamala Harris does not believe that she lost the 2024 presidential election because she was awful, by the way, her expected chances of winning. Now, kind of some of the mediocre polls, BNC rated polls, just to be transparent with you, we're putting her at between 8 and 10% in the primary right now. It's a very crowded primary of losers. Um, anyway, Kamala Harris is now demanding that the DNC, the Democratic National Committee, release their autopsy of the 2024 election because she doesn't believe. This autopsy says that she lost because she was awful. She believes the autopsy says that what the. Kamala was too black and womanly. That that seems to be the argument that that is being made by Kamala, according to NBC News. So what is the head of the dnc? What does Ken Martin say about releasing the autopsy they did internally of the election in 2024? Now, Adam Ren over at Politico has reported on this previously, because there was a group of more moderate Democrats in Virginia that tried to meet right after the 2024 election and say, hey, maybe we should, like, not be slamming God and guns and pro lifers like all the time. And the DNC disavowed them according to that Politico report. Well, Ken Martin was asked by the Obama Bros. About why he hasn't released the autopsy. This was right at the end of April last week. Here was Ken Martin's response to that. And I think the question included, I want to start with the 2024 autopsy, which you call an after action review. When you won the chairmanship In February of 25, you criticized the DNC's refusal to release their 2016 autopsy is exactly what not to do. You said, quote, was there any utility in doing that? And then promised your 2024 autopsy would be different. Your exact quote was, of course it will be released. Why did you change your mind on that?
B
Well, look, I mean what I said all along, even when I ran for this position, is that we were going to focus on the things that will help us win the upcoming election. Right? Making sure that we learn the right lessons that could help inform our victories. And that's what we've done.
A
No, no, I'm sorry. Survey says not. No, I'm afraid not. Nope. And here's why. You actually haven't produced something that's like forward looking and forward focused. There has been a remarkably small amount of guidance from the DNC in many elections so far. Even in some of the special elections, it has been local guidance that has proposed things for candidates, including all the way over to the Democratic candidate for Maine, Graham Platner. So they haven't provided anything. Well, Kamala wants them to drop it now. He says, well, we're actually being really forward focused, so we're not going to release it. Okay, bold move. That brings us to some of the active candidates because the DNC is not telling them what to do. There's really not a lot of PR crisis, PR specifically for when candidates are being faced with a lot of bad press. So Katie Porter, she's running for governor of California. She's doing a bad job of it. Things aren't going well because she's getting dragged through broken glass. And a couple of those reasons are because she is very abusive to her staff and has been seen like screaming and yelling at them and treating them very horribly when they're just trying to keep her from making a national embarrassment of herself. And then she released a campaign ad that tried to make a joke about being abusive, which not, not, not good, Bob. Well, the defense is coming in not from the DNC, but from the same middle aged leftist women who are trying to keep a coalition together. And that means Whoopi Goldberg. I like the fact that she said, wait a minute, me. Let's talk about y'. All. Because it was like 45 of y' all and one of me. So Katie Porter came out and said, well, yeah, you guys are calling me abusive. Have you guys looked at everyone else around who's probably abusive? Well, honey, sweetie, baby, Frodo Baggins of the Shire, as Katie Porter currently looks like. Um, I regret to inform you that when you're on camera doing really gross stuff, it's kind of hard to run from those accusations. See, Eric Swalwell could say that the.
B
The.
A
The Bill Cosby and of the. The way he's around him, he could say it was fake until the video came out of him grabbing the breast of the young lady on the bed next to him and then pulling her down. Then all of the sudden, yeah, you're not running from that. You can say, oh, I'm not abusive. That's just overblown. And then when you're on camera screaming your lungs off at a young lady for just saying, hey, you said the wrong thing about the electric vehicle thing, and Republicans are going to roast you like a hog fire in Hawaii. It ain't going to be pretty. You can't run from that. And maybe she. Maybe, you know, maybe she does yell at people. I yell at people. You yell at people. You yell at people. And sometimes I only yell at my husband.
C
That's right.
A
That's right. Okay, boys and girls, a little bit of a PR lesson here, all right? When you are explaining away things that are wrong, all right? Saying, oh, come on, we all do. That's probably not the move. A lot of people try this. The. When there are actions that are up for debate. So what. What are. What are some of the things that. That Donald Trump has. Has said, Kyle? Some of the things he's like, like bloodbath. There have been other things that have been, like dog whistles that Trump has done. There are. People are like, well, I mean, come on, you're reading too much into this. A lot of people do this. Like, for example, like, Trump kissing the forehead of, like, Ivanka at one point. And I was like, do you know, like, a lot of people kiss the foreheads of their daughters, right? That's different. But when someone is like, hey, they're being really abusive. And then Whoopi's like, ah, come on, I'm abusive. I yell at our staff all the time. And, like, the cameraman and the producers on the viewer cowering behind the Camera, please help us. And then Joy Behar is like, I'm only abusive to my husband. And then all of the Sex and the City crowd in the audience is like, okay, that's, that's real special. Best of luck to you. So obviously, none of this, none of this does a, does a tham ding for the Republican side of the aisle. None of it. Because a midterm election is not just about pointing and going, hey, they're kind of awful. That works in presidentials. Doesn't work in the midterm. It doesn't because going to vote sucks. And Americans don't really care about Congress. They don't like it, but they don't really care. So what you got to do is give Americans a little something something. You got to give them something to go vote for. You know, you got to give them the old William Wallace. I need something to fight for. That kind of a thing. That kind of crap. And that's Bruce, not William Walsh. But you know what I'm talking about. That kind of stuff. You need a little bit of oomph. You need Denzel Washington, who I'm not going to imitate giving a little, remember the titan speech of why you're there. Republicans haven't done this. They haven't. What do you have? Mitch McConnell, whose last greatest quote was, all right, what, what Susan Collins going. I don't know what. Lisa Murkowski doing her best impression of a mannequin. That one senator from Utah that nobody likes. Not Mike Lee, the other one. Is that what we're coming out to vote for? So you actually gotta actually get something moving here. So we're gonna cut away to commercial. We're gonna be right back in. And we've got a great conversation with the focal point for Republicans. It is all about Pennsylvania because Republican sentiment there in a battleground state is focused on shocker. The things that voters are looking for. You don't go to a deeply red state like Indiana, no offense to us for voting advice for the midterms. You don't because there's apathy and there's laziness and sadness and shame that oozes out of the non action. What do you do? You go to a battleground state that's doing things to actually get results. That and probably Florida because they're also doing some pretty big stuff. But anyway, we're going to cut away. We're going to come back in and talk about that. Don't go anywhere. Ton of stuff tonight still. It's the Tony Kendcast here On the daily segment Signal. This is the Tony Kennett cast on 93 WIBC. Welcome back to the Tony Kenneth cast. Great to be joined by Matt Briette. A lot of conversation regarding Pennsylvania. A lot of conversation regarding the midterms. I've talked endlessly ad nauseam about the importance of, you know, Senator Dave McCormick and Senator John Fetterman, though on different sides of the aisle agreeing on quite a bit that makes Pennsylvania a very interesting place for the country. We talk about the cultural side of things. We don't often get a chance to dive into the whole economic frame of things. So, Matt, very glad you're able to join us today.
B
Hey, great to be with you, Tony. Thanks for having me on.
A
So I know you've got a new book called you've got to win Pennsylvania. Obviously that's a catch all for me, but it's a call for entrepreneurs to get involved in saving the country. Give us a bit of a detail here.
B
Well, yes, look, Pennsylvania is the fifth largest state, the biggest swing state in the country. It is constantly a battleground state where the control of the country is determined. Look, if the Democrats, their political math requires them to capture Pennsylvania, if they don't get Pennsylvania, they have to capture four to five other battleground states. So the left has been flooding us with money election cycle after election cycle because they know if they capture the state, they can control the country. And you just look at Virginia, what's happened there. Once they got a Democrat trifecta, they redrew their congressional lines from a 6, 5 Democrat majority to what will likely be a 10 to 1. That same thing could play out here in Pennsylvania. And in these midterms coming up, there are four congressional seats, the largest number of the Democrats red to blue campaign. So we're a battleground state in congressional years or off years and in presidential years. And if you want to win the presidency in 2028 and then 2032, you gotta win Pennsylvania. And my call to entrepreneurs is we need to stand up and match what we're seeing from the progressives, the Soros and you know, the billionaires, Michael Bloomberg that are flooding our state in order to capture it and then control the country. So these elections are battles. Every time you mentioned John Fetterman, I mean, he replaced the Pat Toomey. So you can't have, you know, opposites like what we've seen and then even Dave McCormick beating Bob Casey just shows how purple we are and we can go either direction. And it's why we're seeing so many resources flow into Pennsylvania to try to capture it.
A
You don't always have just because Republicans are more pro business and free market and you know, the flourishing of the economy. Normally, you or I shouldn't say normally here. That's the whole point I'm trying to make. It's not as common as it once was in which you would see a lot of the corporations supporting kind of Republican or free market candidates. There's quite a split along some cultural lines. But you also see this on kind of the establishment versus the populist wing over on the right, where there are some places in the country where some of the business entities don't like the Trump administration. They really don't like the populist movement. They're much more close to the more establishment wing of the party. So do you guys see this kind of a split in Pennsylvania? And if so, how do you get some of those on the more establishment side, the fuddy duddies, you know, the moderates of the moderates, to actually play ball here and come out and try to keep the state from turning blue?
B
Sure. So Pennsylvania has, you know, long been what you've just described, Tony. I'm proud to say that we've really moved away from some of those, you know, intra party dissensions that we've experienced for a long time. We used to be the party of Arlen Specter. If you remember Arlen Specter from so long ago, he represented more of the Republican Party party that we've had challenges with. I would argue that today the Republican Party is really more solidified and they are more free enterprise driven. We don't have a lot of those rhinos, if you will, in our state legislature anymore. Pretty solid free market Republicans. But that has also created the challenges because the left of course, has become very energized of late. And it's why we've had some challenges in winning our governor's races and are now pretty much evenly split when it comes to our state House and state Senate. It's also why we are continuing to go back and forth of electing Republican or a Democrat U.S. senator. So we're pretty aligned with the business community. But frankly, Tony, is why my organization started up 10 years ago is that we wanted to fill that gap of true free market candidates for office. And so we're putting in resources to help elect more of those people that are champions on the issues that we care about and not putting in the people that are going to be a bit more meltose like that Arlen Specter type of Republican. So that's really where our battle is at. And which party is going to win is going to be determined here in 2026, and then, of course, moving forward.
A
So this is where I'm going to ask you for, you know, kind of the results. Show me this proof in the pudding. When you're. When we're talking about the work that you've been doing over the last 10 years, if you're investing into the political landscape of Pennsylvania, what have you guys been able to effectuate? What changes have you brought that you can say, hey, at the end of the day, hey, see that right there? That's got Matt Briett all over it.
B
You bet. So I think one of the biggest things that we've seen is a dramatic increase in school choice in Pennsylvania. Despite having Democrat governors for the past really 12 years, we've been expanding our school choice options that are still some of the largest in the state. So we've been able to even get bipartisan support for that. But I would also just point to the leaders we're seeing in Pennsylvania's House and Senate. They are championing things like energy production, which is huge here in Pennsylvania, and education reform, such as school choice. These are top priorities of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania. Things that were not existent, you know, 20 years ago by any stretch. In fact, when I came in 2002 to run Commonwealth Foundation, I wasn't even welcome in Republican leadership offices. We've been able to transform that, and my book covers a lot of that transform seen where Republicans have actually become real Republicans in Pennsylvania, that's also created the challenges for us as well. And why, as a purple state, we're still swinging back and forth. My objective is to make a solid red. Just as, you know, Florida was a swing state 20, you know, six years ago. Now they're solid red. We can do that in Pennsylvania, but it is going to require that we have entrepreneurs not only in Pennsylvania, but across this country, recognizing that you got to win Pennsylvania if you want to have an impact on the country.
A
That's Matt Briett. He's the president and CEO of Commonwealth Partners Chamber of Entrepreneurs. Again, highly recommend you check out. You gotta win Pennsylvania. A call to entrepreneurs to save America. Matt, thanks for giving us a couple minutes of your time.
B
You bet. Thank you, Tony.
A
All right, really quick here. Before we're done, I did want to get a couple of mailtime questions. So as a reminder, in our description, there's a link to the Discord. Discord. And then you can send questions in there's a mail time channel in our discord and that there's so many questions and comments and snarky remarks and you guys fist fighting each other over on the comments section. And that's, that's very enjoyable. And we're hoping to get a popcorn sponsorship just to watch some of the comments. The best way to get our attention is still over on the discord. You don't need to give a super chat. You don't, I promise. We go through the mail time group. You don't have to give us money. We're very grateful to those who do. Specifically this evening, Greg G. Kaplitz, a very kind $10 super chat saying gladly representing what is left of democracy in the People's Republic of Massachusetts. Again, really, really, really kind of you to do that. You don't have to. From X Chris Cross X. I see what you did there. Very, very, very clever. A $2 super chat that says Democrats rely on fifth column arguments a lot. Do I? Do I poke this bear? I do. Okay, so here's the thing. Democrats have most often been the populist party. Populism as a mechanism for affecting change and getting people to care about stuff can be good. But populism as a political philosophy sucks. It's not good. And the reason is it's just mob rule. But packaged differently, populism means belief in what is popular. And when you have a common cultural foundation and the people are all in agreement on good things, it can be really useful. But when it becomes Machiavellian and justifies the mean stuff for the left, that kind of fifth column argument, which is that everything needs to be torn down. And again, interesting you say the term fifth column here. This or the third way forward. It might also be a good way to put it. This would be the argument that's brought up by whether it's Hasan Piker or Bodisanders or aoc and then with a slightly different coat of paint and it's the paint is like a really close even shade. When you have Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib and Pramila Jayapal and then Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson saying the exact same crap and people like Tucker Carlson who are saying that socialism is good and also Islam is far better than Christianity. Yeah, that'd be one large yikes. No. So that kind of fifth column thing, when all you have is just emotion and then you make predictions based on emotion and no data, you don't read a freaking book, any books at all whatsoever. You just get out there and Say Native Americans, like in their magical, like culture that they've preserved to build democracy out of nothing. By the way, you want to say out of nothing a little quicker. Ex Nilo would be the literate term. Term. But again, all of these beautiful books over here on my shelf, I've actually read them. Some of them are great, some of them are top tier garbage. But I have a couple of books on like Native American history in the United States. And so I know what happened with the tribes, where they moved, when, where, why, how, what culture was good, what thankfully was left to the dustbin of history. It's kind of neat. You learn things. It's super duper. But whether you're Candace Owens or whether you're the pod Save America bros. Yeah. If you're not reading and you're just regurgitating the same thing, you get, you get the Kamala Harris thing. Well, I think America is just sexist and racist and then demands to be run again even though it was because she was a big raging moron that she lost the previous time. Or just like the guy that nobody knew in Ohio that ran against Vivek ran that was still in the race after the attorney general, Yosti Toast dropped out back in 2025. That, that one, like weirdo dude that tried to run against the vacant. Lost. Yeah, same. Didn't read any books. Big idiot fish. Backy Fishburne down in Florida. Whatever his stupid whatever is. Same thing. Can't read. Illiterate moron. You get what you get. All right. Tennessee House Democrats ranting and raving and screaming and spitting and setting fire to printer paper today. Oh, stunning and brave. Same thing. Can't read. Illiterate, retarded. You get what you get. And so that's why they're always fifth column. The emptiest semi truck makes the most noise rattling down the highway. As a professor of mine at Maranatha, the great Brian Trainor once said so that said, one, one mail time question before we wrap it up tonight. Mail time. Mail time. Mail time, Mail time on the Tony Kennett cast. All right, ladies and gentlemen, and those awkward kids that claim to be in between, Here we go. One great question this evening from Jay Usk. He says, tony, please help explain to me what we need to worry about regarding our troops in the Suez Canal. Now, this set off a moment where I hiccuped reading this because I wasn't aware that we had any troops in the Suez Canal. That would be the magical point between the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt and the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal we really haven't been extra. Extremely engrossed with since the Eisenhower administration. But again, that's another tale for another time. Are we going to be deploying any. That is a major world trade choke point. Are the Egyptians or the Israelis or the Botswanans going to be cutting that off anytime soon? No. Nope. China doesn't really like the Suez Canal for a number of reasons. There's not much they can really do about it. China's never really made significant inroads on Greece or on. Especially not Italy, on Lebanon, on Turkey even, or on Israel or Egypt. They haven't. They've really done a bad job. The closest that China has gotten to influencing that region was Albania and didn't work out so well. So that's really not where the Belt Road issue focus on. However, the reason I do bring up that question, there is a piece of news I forgot to mention. The Charles de Gaulle, that's right, the great French aircraft carrier, capable of fielding a whole 10 surrendering baguettes and aged fighters, is on its way to the Suez Canal as of five hours ago. So as a reminder, after there were some initial talks between the United States and Iran about a ceasefire, and then Israel and Hezbollah also agreed to kind of some. Some temporary ceasefire stuff, the French and the Germans wanted to come out and say, oh, we, we are a part of this celebration. Huzzah, everybody. Round the world, come on. You know, getting a little French cool in the gang going on there. Almost got Daft Punk back together. It was exciting. Yeah. That became nothing. And they said, we're going to send our naval craft down now that the ceasefire is going on, to do nothing. So the French deployed the Charles de Gaulle, which moves at the speed of a snail with arthritis. So finally it's getting close to the Suez Canal. Finally to do I. I guess to do nothing. I'm. It's. It's embarrassing. It is. There's no way to describe it. Just here come the French. Exciting indeed. So there you go. There's your Suez Canal update. The French have finally arrived and are scheduled to be retreating by about 10:15am Eastern tomorrow morning. I'd say that's enough for tonight. You should come back tomorrow for our end of the week blowout spectacular. Do we have special things prepared? Yeah, we do. We have all kinds of excellent things prepared and, you know, lot in the other side of things as well to talk about. But I'm not going to tease those just now, it's the Tony Kinnid cast here on the Daily Signal. Nationally syndicated first on 93 WIBC. Y' all take care.
Date: May 8, 2026
Host: Tony Kennett (Senior Investigative Columnist, The Daily Signal)
This episode delivers in-depth, real-time analysis of a rapidly evolving crisis in the Middle East, with fresh missile and drone attacks by Iran on U.S. Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz, reports of explosions in Tehran, and confusion around UAE’s alleged involvement. Moving through military, geopolitical, and domestic U.S. political reactions, Tony Kennett dissects the international fallout, competing narratives, and what it means for the global balance of power, including China’s role. He transitions in the latter portion to U.S. electoral politics, party dynamics, and a segment on the importance of Pennsylvania in national elections, featuring guest Matt Briette.
Initial Strikes ([01:00-06:00]):
U.S. Naval Response ([06:00-11:00]):
Iranian Regime Instability
Egyptian & U.S. Military Posture
Implications for China & the World Order
Resignations and Scandals ([47:00-50:00]):
Crime & Immigration Backlash ([52:00-56:00]):
Policy Confusion on Immigrant Voting ([38:54–39:43]):
Left-Radical Commentary ([41:52]):
This episode provides exhaustive, often satirical analysis of a high-stakes international crisis, U.S. military and political response, and the domestic political schisms of 2026. With granular detail and irreverent commentary, Tony Kennett connects breaking news, party infighting, redistricting brawls, and state-focused election tactics, all within his trademark “commonsense, middle-of-the-country perspective.”