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E.J. Antoni On Tariffs, Trade Wars, and the Economy | Ep. 09 - 03/27/25 - The Dan Bongino Show | Wave AI Podcast Notes

E.J. Antoni On Tariffs, Trade Wars, and the Economy | Ep. 09 - 03/27/25

Thu Mar 27 2025

E.J. Antoni, famed economist for the Heritage Foundation and others, joins Vince to discuss the economic movement happening in America right now as well as the wave of tariffs President Trump has rolled out and promised. Also in this episode: an update on the tesla investigation and the situation in the Middle East.

Summary

VINCE Podcast Episode Summary

Episode: E.J. Antoni On Tariffs, Trade Wars, and the Economy | Ep. 09
Release Date: March 27, 2025
Host: VINCE (Cumulus Podcast Network)

Introduction

In this episode of VINCE, host Vince Coglianese delves into a range of pressing political and economic issues, featuring a special guest appearance by economist E.J. Antoni. The discussion centers around President Trump's recent tariffs on auto imports, the complexities of trade wars, and their broader impact on the American economy. Additionally, Vince provides insights into recent congressional hearings and highlights key special elections across the United States.

Exclusive Interview with the President

Vince begins by reflecting on his recent interview with the President of the United States, detailing the behind-the-scenes efforts to secure this high-profile guest.

Logistics of the Interview:
- Vince explains the rigorous process involved in connecting with the President, emphasizing the role of the communications team and the coordination between studios in Washington, DC, and Florida.
- Vince shares a behind-the-scenes moment:
  
  “[02:30] Vince: 'We were just waiting for a phone call to come in... Phone call rings, and I can hear the whole exchange feeding to me in this earpiece...'”
President’s Health and Performance:
- Addressing concerns about the President sounding under the weather, Vince reassures listeners:
  
  “[09:05] Vince: 'By the afternoon, he did sound like he got some more energy in him. That's normal if you're feeling sick...'”
Content of the Interview:
- The discussion touched on various topics, including the controversial Atlantic Signal story and critical views on Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. Vince highlights the President's strong stance:
  
  “[09:15] E.J. Antoni: 'She can't speak.'”
  “[09:17] Vince: 'No, she can't speak. She can't get the words out of her mouth...'”

Congressional Hearing on NPR and PBS

Vince shifts focus to a recent congressional hearing targeting NPR and PBS, criticizing them for perceived wasteful spending and biased reporting.

Highlights of the Hearing:
- Vince critiques NPR CEO Kathryn Maher, recounting Congressman Brandon Gill’s aggressive questioning:
  
  “[24:09] Kathryn Maher: 'Do you believe that America is addicted to white supremacy?'”
  “[24:13] Brandon Gill: 'I believe that I tweeted that...'”
- Vince condemns the defense put forth by Maher, showcasing the tension between conservative lawmakers and public broadcasters:
  
  “[26:09] Vince: 'It's a relatively small think of your taxes...'”
Introduction of Jasmine Crockett:
- Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett attempts to defend NPR's stance, which Vince criticizes for overstepping constitutional boundaries:
  
  “[28:10] Jasmine Crockett: 'They don't care about public safety...'”
  “[28:56] Vince: 'She's reading the Constitution. The gentlewoman's time has expired...'”

"Dumbest Member of Congress" Contest

Vince introduces a lighthearted yet pointed segment comparing members of Congress, focusing on AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) and Jasmine Crockett.

Current Standings:
- Jasmine Crockett leads with 82.6% of the vote, challenging AOC’s longstanding dominance:
  
  “[29:09] E.J. Antoni: 'That.'”
  “[37:28] Jasmine Crockett: 'They don’t care about public safety...'”
Vince’s Commentary:
- He critiques AOC's effectiveness and praises Crockett's strategic timing:
  
  “[37:55] E.J. Antoni: 'That was a comedy sequence...'”
  “[38:17] E.J. Antoni: 'Most respect.'”

Economic Analysis with E.J. Antoni

The heart of the episode features an in-depth conversation with economist E.J. Antoni about President Trump's recent implementation of a 25% tariff on imported cars and car parts.

Impact of Tariffs:
- Vince addresses the media's oversimplification of tariffs:
  
  “[38:02] E.J. Antoni: 'It's not simply a tax...'”
  “[39:45] E.J. Antoni: 'It's something like about half, I think, of the cars bought here are made here...'”
- E.J. Antoni explains the complexities behind tariff implementation and its effects on both consumers and manufacturers:
  
  “[36:02] E.J. Antoni: 'Part of the reason why so much ire has been directed at Canada lately...'”
  “[39:24] E.J. Antoni: 'A car does not have to be made overseas...'”
Goals Behind the Tariffs:
- Addressing supply chain vulnerabilities exposed by COVID-19, E.J. outlines the administration's objectives:
  
  “[41:55] E.J. Antoni: 'Another aspect is the fact that he's trying to get reciprocity...'”
  “[43:11] E.J. Antoni: 'Exactly, exactly... That's why they're putting a lot of stuff here...'”
Economic Growth and Investment:
- E.J. Antoni emphasizes the importance of investment over consumption for long-term growth:
  
  “[45:54] E.J. Antoni: 'How does that affect economic growth?... and this was one of the things that was so detrimental during the Biden years...'”
Private vs. Government Workers:
- A discussion on the ratio of private sector workers to government employees highlights fiscal policies:
  
  “[47:04] E.J. Antoni: '...the reason why we're at 80 to 1 is...'”
  “[47:44] E.J. Antoni: 'So there again, there's a lot of different moving components here...'”

Update on Special Elections

Vince provides an urgent update on several crucial special elections that could significantly influence the political landscape.

Pennsylvania State Senate:
- Democrats narrowly won a seat by 500 votes, highlighting the importance of mail-in ballots:
  
  “[50:10] Vince: 'Conservatives, you just have to make it a habit...'”
  “[51:00] Vince: '...the Democrats just had the mail-in ballot advantage...'”
Wisconsin Supreme Court Election:
- A pivotal race that could alter the judicial balance, potentially affecting future election laws:
  
  “[54:30] Vince: 'Scott Pressler says, if Wisconsin doesn't elect conservative Brad Schimmel...'”
  “[55:00] Vince: 'It's a huge case in Wisconsin. President Trump won Wisconsin narrowly...'”
Florida Special Elections:
- Matt Gaetz's Replacement:
  - Jimmy Petronas, endorsed by President Trump, is the favored Republican candidate:
    
    “[56:52] Vince: 'Own seat... need to support Jimmy Petronas to replace Matt Gaetz...'”
- Michael Waltz's Replacement:
  - A competitive race between Randy Fine (R) and Josh Wheel (D), with significant financial disparities:
    
    “[56:54] E.J. Antoni: '1 million.'”
    “[57:00] Vince: 'The money difference here is huge. $10 million raised by Josh Wheel vs. $1 million by Randy Fine...'”

Conclusion

Vince wraps up the episode by reiterating the critical nature of upcoming elections and the necessity for conservative engagement to maintain political power. He emphasizes the strategic importance of economic policies like tariffs in restoring American manufacturing and securing the nation's economic future.

Notable Quotes

Vince on Tariffs:

“[38:45] Vince: 'But the media talk about this is so low iq, I barely want to reference it...'”
E.J. Antoni on Investment:

“[45:23] E.J. Antoni: 'It looks like over $3 trillion. I mean, it's really incredible...'”
Brandon Gill on Kathryn Maher:

“[25:03] Brandon Gill: 'I don't believe that anybody feels that way, sir...'”
Jasmine Crockett on Free Speech:

“[28:28] Jasmine Crockett: 'And to be clear, free speech is not about whatever it is that y'all want somebody to say...'”

Final Thoughts

This episode of VINCE effectively blends political commentary with economic analysis, providing listeners with a comprehensive overview of current events and their implications. The inclusion of expert insights from E.J. Antoni adds depth to the discussion on tariffs and trade policies, while Vince's dynamic hosting style engages the audience in critical issues facing the nation.

Disclaimer: This summary is based on the provided transcript and is intended to capture the essence of the podcast episode for informational purposes.

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Transcript

Vince (0:00)

Hey, good morning to you. How you doing? Nice to see you again. It's the Vince. Well, is it the Vince. It's the Vince podcast. That's what it's called. It's Vince. Welcome back. Great to have you with us. Had a huge interview with the president of the United States yesterday. We'll talk about some of the reaction to the president's remarks here on the program today. Also, I want to get into a crazy hearing, an absolutely crazy hearing, as NPR and PBS put up the worst possible case for why you should keep having your money stolen from your paycheck and given to them. And a look at some of the big. That's right. Elections happening all across the country right now, for real. And why you should care about each and every one of them. We'll talk about that. And we're going to bring in the great economist E.J. antoni. He's going to stop by and tell us all about President Trump's latest tariff gambit. He's putting, putting tariffs on all of those auto imports. That's ahead on Vince. But first we got to thank one of our great sponsors who makes all of this possible. Did you know that Fast Growing Trees is the biggest online nursery in the United States with thousands of different plants and over 2 million happy customers? Of course they're happy. They have fast growing plants. They have all the plants that your yard needs, like fruit trees, privacy trees, flowering trees, shrubs, and so much more. Whatever plants you're interested in, Fast Growing Trees has you covered. Order online and get your plants delivered directly to your door in just a few days. Their alive and thrive guarantee ensures that your plants arrive happy and healthy. Plus, get support from trained plant experts on call to help you plan your landscape. In fact, they're helping me with a brand new Yoshino cherry blossom that I can't wait to get in the yard. I'm actually very excited for it. They're starting to blossom now, so I'll get the full effect next year after this Fast Growing Tree takes hold. This spring. They have the best deals for your yard, up to half off on select plants and other deals. And listeners to this show get 15% off their first purchase when they use the code Vince at checkout. Use the code Vince. That's an additional 15% off@fast growingtrees.com using the code Vince at checkout. Now's the perfect time to plant. Offer is valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions may apply. Go to fast growing trees.com for details. Yeah, what did you think of the Interview with the President of the United States yesterday. I'm interested in your feedback today because we really, we really had a, we had a great time having the President on. So just to give you some behind the scenes of how this all works with the President. For weeks now, I've been trying, trying to get the President on the show because obviously this is the guest everybody wants to talk to. He's very, very coveted guest. So my game was, let's reach out to him. Let's try, let's try. And so we did over and over and over again. You know, you just keep working on it until you finally land something. And then a couple days ago, we had a, we started to get an indication that this was going to happen and they began sending the basic questions of does it have to be live? Can we do it by phone? Can we do it a little bit before the show? Would you be able to pre record? Is that possible? And the answer to those questions when it comes to the President of the United States is yes, yes, whatever you need. Let's just make this happen. I just wanted to make it as comfortable as possible. I mean, in fairness, my first offer was, hey, can we do this at the White House? I want to do this with the President, sit down, get the camera crew in there. You know, just set everything up, make it super easy for him, have him come in, sit down, and we chat and. But, no, but that's okay. I'll take what I can get. We got a phone interview yesterday and just before. So the interview itself happened at 9:00am Eastern, so that everybody knows specifically it was 9:00am eastern, so it was just an hour before we were able to actually launch at 10 o'clock. And you got to see it in all of its glory yesterday. And when we have the President on the way, it works when you connect to the President of the United States is you don't just call him. It's not a direct phone line to the President. There's a series of people who you have to speak to in the communications job. So we get the phone call. We. The way that we handled the phone call yesterday. Do you guys want to hear this? Do you want to hear the logistics of how the phone call gets connected ultimately to us? Let me see. I'll check the chat. I'll shorten out the details if you want, or I'll just keep going. Let's see. Lisa Bisa wants to know who the hell is this Vince and why is he suddenly showing up? Help Lisa out, would you? Okay, yeah. People want to hear the details. All right, I'll tell you. So the way things are happening right now is I'm in Washington, dc. As you can see, I'm at the Rumble studio. Can we take the wide shot for a moment? I'm in the full. This is the Rumble studio, obviously. This is beautiful. Look at that. That beautiful Rumble logo up there. We're going to feature that more when EJ gets here. You're going to see more of that. We're in Washington, dc, and the other side of this is we've got Silverlock Studios in Florida, where the team is down there right now producing all of this for me, making this happen, making sure it gets to you. And then in order to take a phone call in all of this, we rely on the guy who's an expert at arranging phone interviews. That's Jim Verdi. Jim is the radio producer for the Vince Show. He's sitting in Dallas, waiting by the phone, just hovering over the phone, waiting for the White House to call at 9:00 in the morning yesterday. So all of us are. I'm here, earpiece in, microphone ready to go. Everything's recording. We're literally just waiting for a phone call to come in. Because as the President of the United States, you know, everyone's ready. I'm in my suit and tie. I'm all ready to go. This is not a Zelensky moment. We're. We're gonna do this right. This is the President of the United States. Phone call rings, and I can hear the whole exchange feeding to me in this earpiece here from Dallas. Jim answers the phone. He's a professional, total professional. Jim has amazing phone etiquette, answers it, and he says, this is Jim for Vince. Actually, you know, it's funny, he told me yesterday he's so used to saying that you're calling for Dan Bongino that he started saying that. He started Dan, but he paused himself and he goes for Vince, he says, and then the White House on the other end is a White House communications person, one of the President's top comms people, who said, okay, stand by. We're gonna start adding other people. And so the way it works with the President is they add every communications person you could possibly imagine over the course of the next two minutes. It's like, well, stand by. Caroline Levitt's being connected, standby. Steven Chung's being connected, standby. And there's one after the other. Each person is added to the line. And the way this. The reason this happens, of course, is because all of Them need to monitor what the President of the United States is actually saying on the show. That way, when they're asked about it later, hey, what is the President's opinion on this? They were all listening to it. They all heard him say this. They're all ready to answer questions on this subject. So each of them, one by one by one. And finally, the guy whose job it is to connect you to the President of the United States says, make sure. Is everybody here? Yep, everybody's here. Okay, stand by. We'll connect you to the President's hard line. And then before you know it. Hello. Hello, Mr. President. Great to talk to you again. Just hold on for a moment. I'm gonna introduce you and we'll kick things off. Okay, Vince. And boom, we were off. And you got to hear the rest of it yesterday. So in case you're wondering, there's a lot going on behind the scenes to just get the President on the phone. Did anybody notice yesterday, though, that he. He didn't. He sounded a little under the weather during that call? He sounded. He sounded just a touch under the weather or something. Um, by the afternoon, yeah, people did notice. I'm looking here. People notice by the afternoon, he did sound like he got some more energy in him. That's normal if you're feeling sick. You know how it is in the morning, you wake up and you're like trying to hack out whatever you've got in your lungs. By the afternoon, he was doing press conferences and he sounded a lot better. He. Whatever, whatever. However many Diet Cokes it took to. Took him to get into peak performance, he was back in action. But yesterday he did sound a little bit under the weather. And I got a lot of messages from you guys saying that you were concerned about his well being. People lifting up prayers for him. That's always good. You got to pray for our President. And yeah, so something was going on with him. But I will say, just in terms of the coverage of yesterday's interview, we had a lot of incoming. A lot of people wanted to talk about what he said related to the Atlantic Signal story, which is at this point is so worn out and stupid. And it really is just a left wing attempt to try and unseat the Trump presidency. It's like, oh, we smell blood in the water. Let's see if we can use this to take him down. But some of my favorite moments with the President yesterday included when he was talking about Jasmine Crockett. Did you hear him going off on Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett yesterday? I Don't know what it is. The magic words to all of this are just Jasmine Crockett. You say that or you just say Democrat leadership. And President Trump went off in like a million miles per hour yesterday talking about Jasmine Crockett. Take a look at cut three. Here he is talking Jasmine Crockett yesterday on this program. Well, nobody knows. You know, they don't have a leader. They have a girl named Crockett who. Is something wrong with her?

Vince (9:17)

No, she can't speak. She can't get the words out of her mouth. She's a. I can't see her going very far in politics. Yeah, you can't see her going very well in politics. Yeah, she is ghetto says beauty on duty. River One says Jasmine Crock of crap. FJP 13 says, no way Dan Bongino show will be the same without Dan and crew. Perhaps he should have retired it entirely. Like get rid of this stream entirely. I have no motivation to watch as I did with Dan. FJP needs. You need some field of greens. Fjp. Vince is smart. Thank you for that. But does not parallel Dan's charisma. You know, I'm going to do what I can. I'm going to give you some energy here. I'm going to give you some energy here. What is the thing that everyone wants me to. Everyone keeps asking me to do karate. Am I. I got to do Dan's karate moves to get everybody fired up. Thank you for that. I thank you for the constructive criticism. I appreciate it. All right. So anyway, the President did great. We had a lot of great coverage of it yesterday. I love that. And in fact, on this issue of. How sick was he? Well, let me dip into something he did later in the day. He did the. He announced a tariff, 25% tariff on all the imported cars and car parts coming into the United States. And the New York Times was very upset about this. And they're very upset because foreigners are very upset about this. Take a look. Here's President Trump announcing 25% tariffs on all of these imported cars. And what we're going to be doing is a 25% tariff on all cars that are not made in the United States. If they're made in the United States, there's absolutely no tariff. We start off with a 2 1/2% base, which is what we were at. And we go to 25%. Yeah, 25%. And that's just. That's not just on imported cars. That's imported car parts as well. A Disruptive to the auto industry, to be sure. But left out of so much of the media coverage is the fact that President Trump has been making the case for the American auto industry. Why is it that places like Japan and South Korea and Germany and all of these other auto manufacturing countries, they do everything they can to make sure their cars get into the United States, but then simultaneously, they do everything that they can to prevent American cars from getting into their countries? That's the arrangement. And President Trump hates this arrangement because he says, we're getting a raw deal. It's not working out for us here. And what I want to do is I want to restore American manufacturing, American economy, the American greatness. And so we have a president who's thinking principally about that and also, by the way, using the threat and the existence of these tariffs to compel further behaviors on the part of some of these countries that we need help with. So, for instance, Mexico and Canada, do you realize how big the auto industry is there? The American consuming auto industry in Mexico and Canada, they have assembly plants there, they have car parts being built in those countries. They're one of the biggest industries in both Mexico and Canada. And so, in other words, Americans are bankrolling their entire economy in a huge part on these car parts. And we're going to talk coming up with E. G. Antoni, our economist, America's greatest economist. He'll be joining us coming up shortly. This arrangement means that they're very dependent on us. And so are there things we need from Mexico and Canada? Do we need them to do anything for us? Well, yeah. How about, especially in Mexico's case, stop the flow of fentanyl? Canada is another place where that's a big consideration, too. Stop the flow of fentanyl. You killing over 100,000Americans a year through this system? No, thanks. But President Trump is using tariffs as both a leverage economically and to stop the flow of all this deadly poison into the United States of America, which is a huge deal. Which is a huge deal. And so we'll talk in more detail about this coming up with E.J. you know, like anything, the media turns this all into controversy. Oh, my God, what is he doing? 25% tariffs? Well, Japan has been sucking up to US commitments to spend money here. South Korea to Germany too. And. And look, President Trump saying it's not enough. It's not enough. You got to do more. You got to do more. We got to write this ship and we got to do it aggressively. And we are. As of Yesterday, we were 65 days in to the Trump presidency. Today is day 66, and he wants to knock all of this out now. And in case you're the kind of person who's wondering about the political implications of this, and obviously you should think about the politics of this. So if you're gonna do something that has some disruptive effects on the American economy, but it's for the long term benefit of the economy, when do you do it? How do you time it out? Do you do it closer to the midterms, when everybody's going to the ballot box or mailing in their ballots, filling them out? Or do you do it right now, when you have the most possible political capital, the most public support for your agenda, the clearest memory of the election that just passed and why we elected this guy in the first place? Knock it out now. Yeah, that's right. Triple X, FT Smurf. I hope that. I hope that's a PG. Triple X, FT SmurF says immediately. Immediately. Ella301 saying, no, do it now. Do it now. Yeah, do it now. He's totally right. And fixing the American economy is also not a short term project. It's going to take a while. When we had J.D. vance on this show last week, remember what I asked Vice President Vance? He kind of dodged the big question, which is, is he going to run for President? But I asked him, I thought I was being clever. He skipped right past it. He's a smart dude. I said, okay, this plan to restore the American economy the President's talking about, he keeps saying, you know, we've got to do these big things. Four years doesn't seem like that long of a time to fix up the American economy. So, Mr. Vice President, are you ready to go back to the White House for another eight years to see this thing through, to see this big course correction through? And it was great. J.D. vance said. J.D. vance, he just basically gave me a very diplomatic answer. He was like. He's like, this is very important. We're going to get as much done as we can now. And yes, in the long term, we're going to have to keep tackling this because we have to write the ship for America. Of course, he didn't indicate that he's running for president just yet. That would be the exclusive, don't you think? Can anyone in the chat know JD Vance? Can you tell him that he needs to make the announcement on this program? You see him with the Marines in Quantico yesterday? Fellas, can you look for one of those for me? I know we didn't pull a clip of it, but you guys can find it. J.D. vance is a United States Marine, and he went to visit the Marines at the Quantico Marine Corps Base, which is just south of Washington, D.C. i say just south, but if you're ever in traffic, it feels like it's very far south of Washington dc. It's not that far. But he goes to the Marine Corps base there. He visits with the Marines, and they were amped up out of their minds. That United States Marine Vice President Kennedy gets up on stage with them and addressed them yesterday. And he went out. He was shooting. He was shooting fully automatic machine guns on the range yesterday. It was such a great contrast. I was just thinking about Tim Walls, which I hate doing, but just thinking about his inability to load a shotgun. Remember that video where he's like, he's fumbling with it, he's getting his finger caught. Unreal. The fact that that guy. I can't even believe we were in a position where that guy was running for Vice President of the United States. What toll. And JD Vance is shooting a machine gun yesterday at Quantico. It was great. It was totally awesome. So I'm proud of our Vice President. I thought that was good. It reminds me of Don Junior last week telling us on the program that he's like that Tim Walsh. He has no idea what he's doing with a gun. Don Jr. Said you could hand him any shotgun blindfolded and he would have it loaded in just seconds, which I believe. Don Junior's a big hunter. Really funny. So anyway, so there we go. There we go. See? Look at that. Look at that boy on the. On. That's a United States Marine shooting a machine gun. The White House tweeted that yesterday and said that he was putting freedom seeds downrange. Freedom Seeds. That's really good. That's really good. That's funny. Years ago, I got to go out on one of these ranges. Here's a detail. I don't know if everybody knows this, so I'll share this with you. So my dad is a Marine Corps general, retired Marine Corps general. And years ago, he was running the Marine Corps base, Camp Pendleton on the west coast in California. Pendleton's is a huge, beautiful stretch of land down in Southern California, just. Just north of San Diego. And I went and visited him, and I brought Tucker Carlson with me because Tucker and I were. I worked for Tucker at the Daily Caller. And so a group of us, including Tucker, we went to visit Camp Pendleton. And while we were at the base, we took A tour of the base and we got to see everything, and we were able to get out on the range and fire sniper rifles together. And it was awesome. And the Marines had set up these sniper rifles for us. They did all the hard work of setting up the guns and, and laying them down, getting the bipods on them and getting little sandbags that you put underneath to kind of adjust the gun to get it in the right position and then lie down prone the way you saw Vice President Vance there. And downraged, they had those metal targets that you could shoot at some great distance. And so you're staring through this scope and looking at these metal targets, and any of you who have ever done long range shooting and you fire at metal targets? No. It's the single most satisfying sound you could possibly hear back if you hit your target. Because those steel targets, they, they just. It's just pure metal coming back to you from whatever great distance was awesome. It was totally awesome. And by the way, Tucker's a phenomenal shot, not just on the sniper rifles. That guy's a really good shot. So just a reminder to Antifa if you're thinking about going after him. There you go. Yeah, there's the White House statement. Just the Vice President of the United States sending some freedom seeds downrange. Doesn't get more American than that. You know, I've been around the American military for, like, a lot of my life. You know, given that I grew up in a Marine Corps family, I had never heard the phrase freedom seeds, but it is, it is absolutely going into the rotation now. I love that. And thank you for all the people who are thanking my dad for his service. That's cool. He's a. He's a great American, great dad and had a hell of a career. 36 years in the Marine Corps, tons of combat tours, Afghanistan, Iraq, over and over and over again. Amazing. Just amazing. Yeah. And then there's Tim Walls. Look at that. So forget freedom seeds. There's just Elmer Fudd right there. Not able to load a shotgun. I believe on that trip, which was supposed to be what was a pheasant hunt he was doing, they. I don't think he fired at all all day long. And that may have been by design. I think he, they, they intentionally said, hey, don't shoot a bird because our base won't like it. So he just had to pretend to hunt. He just walked around in the tall grass, wearing an orange vest, wearing it, wearing a reflective, wearing a safety vest that was purchased earlier that morning. You can see the Creases on it. I'm a big hunter. Tim Walls. Really, really amazing. Love that. Let me see here. Yeah, Elmer Fudd. That guy is. That guy is ridiculous. All right, so again, coming up, I've had eg Antonio. We're going to talk the economy with him. But first I want to get into what's going on here. Do I need to? Gentlemen, should I thank one of our sponsors? Is this now is appropriate time or I can wait for that? You tell me. Anybody give me the signal. Thank you. Thanks, fellows. All right, Good. All right, well, let me thank one of our sponsors right now who keep all this programming free and deliver all this great news to the American people, including the Freedom Seeds. You've seen it before. When disaster strikes, grocery store shelves can go empty overnight. The worst time to prepare is during the aftermath. By then it might already be too late. Smart Americans trust my Patriot Supply to help them prepare before crisis comes. And right now, they're making it easier than ever. Order their four week emergency food supply today and get four 72 hour food kits completely free. That's almost two weeks of bonus meals at no cost. Each of these my Patriot supply Kits offers over 2000 calories per day of delicious, easy to prepare meals that last up to 25 years. That's real peace of mind. No last minute panic, no empty shelves. Just knowing you're covered. Stock up today before this deal disappears. Because when an emergency hits, food could be the first thing to go. Go to prepare to claim your kit. Plus get an extra 12 days of food for free. Almost two weeks of bonus meals at no cost. Once again, that's preparewithvince.com claim your kit, get an extra 12 days of food for free. Preparewith vince.com okay, so here we go. NPR, PBS. On the hot seat yesterday in the United States Congress, they went and sat in front of the Doge Committee, which is a committee that's designed to get rid of wasteful spending. And right there at the top of the list in terms of visibility. Wasteful spending. How about pbr? Pbr, I keep doing that. Pabst Blue Ribbon, PBS and npr. How about those guys? You can spend money on pbr. Forget the rest of it though. PBS and npr. So yesterday I would say the video of the entire committee hearing was when Congressman Brandon Gill came out of Texas and absolutely destroyed the NPR CEO Kathryn Marr. Take a look. I just want you to see some of this beat down. It is so good. The nprc. Here he is, cut five. The NPR CEO Catherine Maher getting dunked into the earth over and over and over again by her own tweets.

Vince (29:09)

As you can tell, that was the first time that she ever attempted to read the United States Constitution, which is why she fumbled it as she was giving us the explanation. Of course, as you know, it's the left's impulse to censor, to cut you off, to stop you from being able to communicate. It's not the right's impulse. The rights for free and open debate, because when we have them, we win. That's usually how that works. But amazing. Jasmine Crockett thought she was helping. She was not helping. She said when you tweeted this, when you tweeted this, you weren't even that CEO of npr. Right, Right. Like, what kind of defense is that? So you stop being an insane person the second you're hired by npr. I don't think so. Oh, yeah. Yeah, she is. Justin, can people hear you say that or were you just telling it to me? Okay, Justin was telling me that. Right now, I just want to remind everybody that the annual cutesy time is over. Dumbest Member of Congress tournament is in the finals right now. And if you go to x, go to J.J. verdi. That's the great Jim Verde. Go to his account on X. And he's got the poll open as we speak. It's going to close, I think, within the next 24 hours. So if you're listening to the podcast or if you're watching here on Rumble, just pull up another tab. Yeah. And go check out what. What's on screen right now on Rumble. You can see it. You can vote in this competition. Who is the dumbest member of Congress. We do have two number one seeds up against each other. This is kind of a clash of the titans. Yeah, these. These are the finals. And AOC and Jasmine Crockett are squaring off. But here's the problem for aoc. She's losing badly. She's losing very, very badly. She's. She's. She's doing about as well with this as she does with garbage disposals. It's not going well for her. Jasmine Crockett is dominating at the moment, 82.6% of the vote. And this would be. I checked with Jim yesterday. Jim is. Is the official record keeper on the subject. He told me that AOC has never lost this title since it began. And so this so aoc, technically it's the second, so that makes sense. Last year, AOC won, but this is a dynasty that's about to be unseated if Jasmine Crockett wins this. And the reason for that is because Crockett has put up a lot of late game successes here in the quest to be known as the dumbest member of Congress. She's putting a lot of points on the board and she saved her peak performance for the postseason. You know, she timed it out, you know, whatever the diet regimen, the exercise regimen involved the sort of. However often you have to hit your head against a wall in order to get to peak performance. Jasmine Crockett has absolutely delivered at the pivotal time. And AOC honestly kind of asleep at the switch, not performing right now. She's probably trying to figure out what to do with that Tesla she owns because, because we hate Tesla now. Her, her programming has changed, so she's got to figure out how to get rid of it. And she's, she's never sold a car before, so it's really challenging for her. So there you go. That's an update right there. And let me, let me tell you about some of our great sponsors. And then we're going to get to Our great guest, E.J. antoni, standing by our economist. You guys know that I'm not going to just slap my name on anything. I only back up what I truly believe in. And this is why I'm very pumped to have blackout coffee as a sponsor. I actually met the owner, John, and let me tell you, this guy is the real deal. Love John. He built blackout coffee from the ground up, refusing to compromise on quality or values. This is America first coffee. Roasted fresh, right here in the usa. No woke nonsense. Just bold, strong coffee for people who actually get stuff done. And as you know, blackout coffee has been the official coffee of everybody here at Silverlock. So you already know this is a brand that stands for the right values. And I have to tell you, the first thing I check with coffee is what does it taste like? Blackout coffee is phenomenal. I take my coffee black so I can tell what it actually tastes like. I'm not masking it at all. Love blackout coffee. Here's the deal. John has hooked you up. Head over to blackout coffee.com Vince. Use the code Vince. That's V I N C E for 20% off your first order. Whether you like whole bean, ground or even instant coffee that doesn't suck, Blackout coffee has you covered. Support the company that actually shares your values. Blackoutcoffee.com Vince use the code Vince for 20% off your first order. And while we may have won this election, the fight to restore our great nation, it's only just beginning. Now is the time to take a stand. Take a stand. And Patriot Mobile is helping to lead the charge as America's only Christian conservative wireless provider. How often do you hear that phrase? Patriot Mobile offers a way to vote with your wallet without compromising on quality or convenience. Patriot Mobile isn't just about providing exceptional cell phone service. It's a call to action to defend our rights and our freedoms. With Patriot Mobile, you will get outstanding nationwide coverage because they operate on all three major networks. If you have cell phone service today, you can get cell phone service with Patriot Mobile with a coverage guarantee. But here's the big difference. Every dollar you spend actually supports a company that believes in the first and the Second amendments, the sanctity of life and our veterans and first responders. Switching Very easy. Very easy. Keep your number, keep your phone or even upgrade. Their 100% US based customer support team will help you find the perfect plan. Right now. Go to patriotmobile.com vince or call 972-patriot and get a free month of service with promo code. Vince, Switch to Patriot Mobile today and defend freedom with every call and text you make. Visit patriotmobile.com vince or call 972-patriot 972 Patriot. That's the way to handle it. Awesome. Okay, the economy, everybody wants to know what's going to happen next, Certainly for your portfolio, but probably also for the well being of your country, its health, what's going to happen? Well, whenever I have that question, I turn to my economist and here's the, here's the trick to this. Not only is he my economist, he's also Dan Bongino's economist and he's also an economist at the Heritage foundation. And he's also sitting literally right next to me right now. He snuck into the room. E.J. antoni, great to see you, bud.

Vince (48:29)

Thank you for dressing up for it. This guy usually dresses like a bum. He doesn't. This is. Where'd you get this costume at? Thank you very much, man. Thank you. Thank you. All right, so that's EJ and Tony. That's the in house economist here for this program. Not every podcast has an in house economist. This podcast, this one does. Thank you. And the chat, Loving it. Not bored says Chrono Flux, which is high praise. Not bored. That's fantastic. And lots of, lots of, lots of Praise for, for Dr. E.J. and Tony. Thank you for that. Hey, I'm gonna, I wanna dive in here. Look at the chat. The chat's going wild. I'm gonna dive in here a little bit with you. And forgive me for putting my laptop here on my lap, but I don't have a table in front of me, so I'm gonna do that. I've got to tell you that there are a number of really important races going on across the country right now that you have to be aware of. And let. I'll just take you back to this past Tuesday, just a couple days ago now in Pennsylvania, Democrats are crowing right now that they just picked up a state senate seat in Pennsylvania. There was a special election this week for the Pennsylvania State Senate. The Democrat won there and only won by about 500 votes. It was very, very close there. And this is one of those races that drives Scott Pressler crazy because he's been working really hard on it. There's a lot of really good conservatives in Pennsylvania, by the way, who've been working very hard on trying to whip up the vote. And one of the things that just happened there was the Democrats just, they had the mail in ballot advantage. They dominated in mail in ballots in this awful unsecure system that we have going on in voting. And so mail in ballots is the, are the, is the way of things right now. Now, granted, Republicans actually did a very good job showing up with mail in ballots last year in 2024. But look, conservatives, you just have to make it a habit. So long as you're going to have a system that relies on mail in ballots, we've got to beat these Democrats at their own game. And in Pennsylvania, a loss there, that was a district that Trump won by 15 points and the Democrat taking the seat by just 500 votes, tons of mail in ballots there. And there were, you know, we got to do better than that. And one of the reasons this is happening is because Democrats right now, because they're out of power, all of their rich people are exerting all of their economic forces on these little races, these special election races going on around the country. And so that race in particular that had a massive, the biggest contribution in the whole race came from a left wing political action committee in Chicago that sent in $100,000 in a race that only raised about 151,000 bucks. So two thirds of the contributions came from an out of state left wing PAC that was trying to buy and did successfully buy the election. So you've got to be on guard for this. Each of these little elections that are going on, they matter. And Democrats are trying to pick them off with their outside money operations. Now that is just, that's kind of the starting point for me in terms of what's coming next. Next week, Tuesday, we have two really consequential special elections going on in the country. One is Wisconsin. That's the Wisconsin Supreme Court this election, although the positions are nonpartisan. If you're in Wisconsin right now and you're listening to me, you have to hustle and get every single person you can to vote in this election, get them out, because it will decide the balance of power for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Massive, massive thing. And before that court are a number of cases, including cases that determine the way they conduct elections in Wisconsin. It's as big as it can get in that state. So Wisconsin has to happen. You see on screen here Scott Pressler saying, let me be perfectly clear, if Wisconsin doesn't elect conservative Brad Schimmel on April 1, that's next week, Tuesday, the liberal court will redraw congressional maps. Republicans will lose at least two House seats going into 2026. It's a massive case in Wisconsin. Remember, the left, they're using out of state money here. Republicans, conservatives, you can do it, too. It's perfectly legal. And you can help out people like Brad Schimmel in Wisconsin as they run for this. It's all about establishing the balance of power, establishing who controls ultimately the Supreme Court in the state of Wisconsin. This is a big one right now. It's controlled by the left. To be clear, it's not controlled by Republicans. This is an opportunity for the left to pick this up in Wisconsin. Look at what happened in Pennsylvania just a couple days ago. A loss there by 500 votes. These races can be very close in Wisconsin. Could be a big deal. President Trump won Wisconsin, albeit narrowly. So this is going to be a tight race. If conservatives actually show up, if they support, if they give money, if they vote in Wisconsin, they can take over the Supreme Court. And boy, that's going to be a big deal for Republicans. And then finally, I want to take you to the state of Florida. Yeah, you see, Elon Musk said it's a super big deal what's going on in Wisconsin. I want to take you to Florida next week. Tuesday, we have special elections in Florida to replace two people who left their seats. One of them was Matt Gaetz, who decided not to take his seat at the beginning of this Congress. That special election is ongoing in Florida right now. That's not the one to worry about right now. Unless there is a complete shock in that race. The man who's running to replace Matt Gaetz, the Republican there is relatively safe. It's the replace, it's the, it's the race to replace Congressman Michael Waltz that is going on right now. And by the way, I'm sorry, don't, don't take my, I don't. I maybe even should not have said that about, about Matt Gaetz's race not being a big deal. If you're involved in any of this, vote, go vote, get every friend, go vote, get them out there to support Jimmy Petronas to replace Matt Gaetz in that net seat. He's the Republican there. You can see there on screen. President Trump endorsed him. Don't take my, some, my, some of my degree of confidence that he's going to win this thing as an indication to rest on your laurels at all, please. And then the big race is to replace Michael Waltz going on in Florida right now. And this one is apparently neck and neck. There's a 4.1%, 4.1% difference. The Republican has the lead in that race by just 4.1%. His name is Randy Fine. And that's not enough in a district that Trump won by 30. He's up by 4 in a district that Trump won by 30. This district is in the Daytona beach area. Republicans, they say at this moment are getting a little bit nervous about the situation. Help settle their nerves. There is a crap ton of left wing money going into this race. And remember how close the House is right now. The United States House of representatives is at 2:18 to 2:13. And the only reason it's at 218 to 213 right now is because two Democrats died this month. Two Democrat members of Congress died. It would be 218 to 215 right now. Already very close. There are four vacancies, in other words, in the United States Congress. Gates Waltz, both left, and Congressman's Turner and Grijalva just passed away. The Democrats. That's why there's four vacancies. This race going on in the Daytona beach area. Very tight right now. Randy Fine is the candidate. He's the Republican nominee there. He's the guy. He's the guy who has to win. And so I'm seeing everybody coming after Randy Fine right now posting his election information so that people can make contributions. But the left is dumping unbelievable amounts of money in right now. The Democratic candidate, a guy by name, Josh Wheel, raised more than $10 million for this race. $10 million for this race. By contrast, Randy Fine has raised 1 million.

Vince (56:54)

The money difference here is huge. Huge. And I'm seeing some people ask in the chat about Elise Stefanik. She's not out of her seat yet. When she is, there will be a follow on election going on in New York. So that's the update on that. But just remember, we've got two massive, massive special elections going on. Two states where massive special elections are going on next week, on Tuesday. One of them is Wisconsin. That's for the control of the state Supreme Court. The other is in Florida. And that's where you're seeing the replacements for both Michael Waltz and Matt Gaetz being considered by voters right now. And Democrats are spending like crazy in those races. And as they do remember, not only are they looking for political victories here, they're looking for messaging victories. Because if they can use an ungodly amount of money to buy congressional seats, what they'll do is they'll come out after that and they'll start using all of their media organs to try and convince you that this is, this is energy against Trump. The world is turning against Trump. Look at this. These early tests are all bellwethers. Trump is going down. The American people don't like him. That's what's happening here. And so I'm seeing the chat, the chat saying all the right things here. Get out and vote. Get 10 people, take them with you. Get, just get a million people out to vote in each of these races and help set the course of this country. Well, help, help keep the course of this country on the right track because you did so much good in November. Now's another opportunity. You're in April. April, another of these special elections. I have to. I just want to offer a note of thanks to Rumble here in Washington, DC. It's just been wonderful to be able to broadcast from here. It's just so nice. The reason we're doing that from Rumble here is because I do have a studio, Silverlock Productions, the great Silverlock is building out a brand new studio for me at my radio headquarters in Washington, D.C. as soon as it's ready, I'll get there. We can all judge it together. It's going to be wonderful. But my thanks to Rumble, Rumble's doing great things. Rumble's got a full day of programming for you. You want to lock in on smart conversations. You can do it all day long, starting with Evita. She starts at 9:00 Eastern. Then you come to me, Steven Crowder coming up next. We've got a lot going on on a fantastic platform. There's nothing else like it. And unlike some of the other big streamers, they actually care about this country, too, which is a really nice thing to have. So once again, thank you to Rumble. Thank you to you. Great to talk to you. I'll do it again tomorrow right here on Vince. Stay tuned for Crowder.