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The Dan Bongino Show
What’s Coming Next? The Answers Aren't Pretty | Episode 70
00:58:29
Iran's nuclear ambitions go down in flames after Trump authorizes historic bombings. In this episode, I break down what may happen next and what it means for all of us.
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- [00:00]
Vince
Hey, good morning. Welcome to Vince. Always so good to have you with us here on a Monday. Anything happening in the world? Any bombing runs I need to know about? Yeah, no, there's definitely something happening. It's Vince. It's brought to you by Blackout Coffee, the official coffee of all of us here at Silverlock. Go to blackout coffee.com. vince. Use the code Vince. That's V, I, N, C, E. And you're gonna get 20% off your first order. That's right. Blackout coffee dot com, Vince. Hey. Coming up on the program today, we're gonna talk about this bombing run on Iran. The targets that the United States hit, the efficiency of our military in doing that, and of course, the big question on everybody's mind, what comes next? What happens after this, that matters a great deal. We'll dive into all of the details here on this program. Also, Steve Helton is gonna join us. We'll get his take on the weekend's events and whether or not he's ready for Kamala Harris to jump into the governor's race in California. She's motivated by the efforts by the president to bring peace to her state. She doesn't like that. She likes chaos, which is tempting her to run for governor, you know, so she can bring more chaos to California as if they need it. That's all I had on this episode. Vince, again, good to have you with us. Best damn audience in media. Our sponsors today include Jacked Up Fitness. More and more Americans are prioritizing their wellness and getting back in shape. Studies prove that strength training does a lot more to help burn fat than just cardio alone. And that's why I'm so pleased to be working with Don and the team at Jacked Up Fitness. Their all in one home gyms are already best in class. And their all new X series elevates that home fitness routine to a whole new level. The Power Rack Pro X functional trainer just lets you do hundreds of exercises, basically everything that you used to do at the gym, all from the comfort of your own spare room or garage. It's cool. Look. This absolutely stunning machine features a completely upgraded cable crossover system with articulating pulley arms. And that gives you unlimited width combinations so you can hit every single muscle group. Now, if you're new to strength training, perfect. They offer a free Get Jacked up program that has full body video workouts. Simply press play and follow along. So no more excuses. You don't have to go anywhere. You can do this right in your own home. I'm getting fit. You should, too. Let's all do this together. Go to getjackedup.com, sign up for their free training program, and when you're ready to purchase your own Power Rack Pro X, use my promo code, Vince, and save 10% at checkout. Here we go. Okay. All right. All right. Yeah. We had a bombing run on Iran this weekend. Remember last week, we were getting all sorts of messages coming out of the White House about what was going to happen, if I remember correctly. Chat. Remind me, I thought the President gave Iran something like a. Within the next two weeks, I'm going to make a decision about whether or not I'm going to attack. And sure enough, it came within, I want to say, 48 hours of him making that pronouncement. In other words, he was engaged in a bit of a psyop against the Iranians, making them think they had more leash, more time. Before that US Strike was coming. And then this weekend, on Saturday, if you're like me, you were paying attention to the news, consuming this and watching as we were getting very public declarations that there were a bunch of B2 stealth bombers taking off from the United States and headed west over the Pacific Ocean towards Guam, looking like they were en route to a possible strike in Iran. Now, as far as I'm concerned, I saw that and I thought, well, this is very public. Why are they being so public about this? This is not. They're called stealth bombers for a reason. It's supposed to be a secret that they're in the air en route to Iran. It turns out that was misdirection, a bit of sleight of hand on the part of the Trump administration, because the real weapons package was actually headed eastbound, headed over the Atlantic Ocean towards Iran. Seven stealth bombers dropping 14 bunker buster bombs. Just think of the weight of these things, how heavy these bad boys are. £30,000 apiece. These bunker buster bombs, that is, what, 15 tons if my math is correct? 15 tons. And each of those planes carries two of them. In other words, 30 tons worth of bomb being carried, what, 7,000 miles onto the other side of the planet, dropping these things from a great height. And then all of that force that's involved, just from the gravity of all of that weight, when that bomb hits the Earth, it goes down some 200, 300ft underground. A lot has been said this weekend about, oh, there's not all this visible damage on the outside. Well, yeah, that's by design. They created a hole right into these nuclear facilities, and all of the explosive action happens underground. In the bunkers that the United States, that the Trump administration was targeting. So let me begin with just the news from the weekend because the President stepped out to a microphone on Saturday at the White House. He was flanked by some of his top officials, the Vice President of the United States, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of State as he made a big announcement about the United States striking these Iranian nuclear facilities. Take a look. Cut one. The President.
- [05:28]
Donald Trump
A short time ago, the US Military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian Russian regime. Fordeau, Natanz and Isfahan. Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise. Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle east, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier. For 40 years, Iran has been saying, death to America, death to Israel. They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs with roadside bombs. That was their specialty. We lost over a thousand people and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle east and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate. In particular, so many were killed by their general, Qassem Soleimani.
- [06:55]
Vince
Yeah, and Trump took him out, too. So there's the President saying, look, we bombed the nuclear facilities. This is the fulfillment of a campaign promise. We have to disable their nuclear capabilities. Now there's some question about whether or not the nuclear material was actually there. If the Iranians in the intervening time have had time to move it out, there are some early indications that we're not seeing basically the kinds of nuclear leaking that you would see as a result of an attack like this. We'll find out more. The United States continues to do assessments, but it is possible things have moved. Also, what we know is that the American intel community has incredible surveillance capabilities. So it's very likely that whatever trucks may have moved in and out of those facilities were also tracked. So we have a generally good idea of where material itself may have been moved. And in fact, maybe that if it was moved, it factored into the decision making process here, that we could disable those facilities without having any sort of impending nuclear disaster as a result of it. So a lot still to learn from all of this. I do want to Reflect on the military component of this. It's not just seven B2 stealth bombers that flew that mission successfully. If you listen to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff this weekend, Raisin Kaine, General Kaine, he was talking about just all of the operators who were involved in this, from the isr, the reconnaissance planes that are flying over the area, the thousands of professionals who are involved in working on the flight crews for all of these various aircraft, the Tomahawk missiles that were being launched from a submarine into Iran during all of this, the latest generation planes that were flying in advance of the Stealth bombers in order to disable anti air sites. Their ability to do all of this without communication, to have very, very little communication as they flew both into Iranian airspace and then subsequently out of Iranian airspace without the Iranians being able to fire a single shot. According to America, according to the Trump administration, they weren't able to fire a single shot at our guys because by the time we hit them, they barely knew what was happening. That is a display of military excellence. And so in that sense, on that front, on that one thing in particular, I am very, very pleased to see that in an era where the Biden administration tried to destroy the lethality and efficiency of the American military, they constantly infused it with woke nonsense that had nothing to do with the mission and making sure that our guys could execute flawlessly. How many times did we see stories of Navy ships crashing during the Biden era, a worrisome trend with the American military under the control of clearly people who hated the American military. That's not the case now. You have an administration that supports the military, is focused on lethality, is focused on professionalism, and that is a feature of the entire symphony of events that took place this weekend. The operational security on this thing was tight. Very limited number of people even knew how this would be carried out. And sure enough, that resulted in safety for all of the, the men and the women who were involved in conducting this attack. So I'm very thankful for that and I thank the good Lord that these guys remain safe. Now, we have a lot of questions about what comes next, including for the 40,000 service members who are in the region. I'm gonna get to that. But let me start with JD Vance, the Vice President, appearing on the Sunday shows this weekend, saying, there's a reason we got here. The Iranians did not negotiate with President Trump in good faith and they didn't think he was serious. Cut to, here's the Vice President of the United States.
- [10:37]
J.D. Vance
Most importantly, we trust what the intelligence was telling us about the Iranians stonewalling the negotiation. I think that is really the hidden story here and something the media has got to report a little bit more here is that the Iranians stopped negotiating in good faith. That was the real catalyst, I think, to what the President ultimately decided to do. If we were having a productive negotiation, I think that this could have gone in a much different pathway. Unfortunately, the Iranians decided to stonewall us and we saw the consequences of that last night.
- [11:08]
Vince
All right, that's J.D. vance doing what you just heard the President do moments ago, basically saying, look, we're serious. You wanna cross our red lines, then you're gonna pay the consequences. But there's a way out for you, Iran. There is a way out. Settle this up. We don't have to hurt you anymore. You can make all of this go away. Get rid of your nuclear program, come to the negotiating table. We don't want to have to hold any more bunker busters to your head to force you to do that, but if necessary, we will. That's the message coming out of both the President and the Vice President. Now, what about boots on the ground? What about in a deployment of American troops? Remember, the President has these two really clear foreign policy goals. One of them stopping the Iranian nuclear program. They can't have nukes, just not possible. The other, don't get us in any more quagmires in the Middle east or anywhere for that matter. It needs to be directly in the American interest. Here's J.D. vance. The vice president cut three. On this issue of boots on the.
- [12:06]
J.D. Vance
Ground, we have no interest in a protracted conflict. We have no interest in boots on the ground. The President has actually been one of the fiercest critics of 25 years of failed foreign policy in the Middle east, which is why he did what he did, a very precise, a very surgical strike tailored to an American national interest. And that national interest is Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. It would be a disaster for us and for our allies in the region. So I don't fear that this is going to become a protracted conflict because I think that we have a President who knows what's in America's interest and.
- [12:38]
Vince
Is, yeah, so this, this is going to go well for us. He hopes, he hopes, he doesn't fear that we're going to be in a situation where we're going to an all out war with Iran that involves the deployment of American troops. That's the Vice President trying to offer some words of reassurance that the President's gonna be able to maintain that campaign promise, which of course we are all praying that he does. Additionally, he says, look, the real outcome we want here, cut four is peace. That is what we want. And Iran, I'm telling you, there's a way for you to survive this and for all of us to walk away stronger.
- [13:13]
J.D. Vance
What we've said to the Iranians is we do not want war with Iran. We actually want peace, but we want peace in the conte of them not having a nuclear weapons program. And that's exactly what the President accomplished last night. I really think there are two big questions for the Iranians here. Are they going to attack American troops or are they going to continue with their nuclear weapons program? And if they leave American troops out of it and they decide to give up their nuclear weapons program once and for all, then I think the President has been very clear. We can have a good relationship with the Iranians, we can have a peaceful situation in that region of the world. And we have to step back a little bit, Christine, and remind ourselves that we negotiated aggressively with the Iranians to try to find a peaceful settlement to this conflict. It was only when the President decided that the Iranians were not negotiating in good faith that he took this action. He didn't take it lightly. But I actually think it provides an opportunity to reset this relationship, reset these negotiations and get us in a place where Iran can decide not to be a threat to its neighbors, not to be a threat to the United States. And if they're willing to do that, the United States is all ears.
- [14:21]
Vince
Okay, so some interesting details in there that we have to dwell upon. And I'm going to get into kind of what comes next here with you because the Iranians, the core question is what are they going to do in response to this? Now clearly they're going to continue to engage in these missile barrages against Israel and Israel itself is responding by attacking all sorts of Iranian targets and that includes today. That is not ending. That continues at this hour as we speak. But what are the threats to Americans? That's the core question for me this morning and I'm sure for you as well. In the region we have 40,000 plus troops and American personnel, all of whom are within range of these Iranian missiles. Now obviously force protection is really important this morning and the United States military, the Pentagon has upped all of their security procedures around the these men and women who are forward deployed with a goal of defending them from any incoming that's headed in their direction. That is of utmost importance. Additionally, Here in the United States, we do have problems on the ground. We have issues and concerns and security threats here in the United States of America in the form of Iranian nationals who have snuck into our country and are here and could be activated as sleeper cells. This is a genuine threat. And the basis for this is, first of all, we've got endless evidence to support it. But let me first go to Tom Holman, the border czar, who this very weekend cut seven. He pointed out that under the Biden administration, well over 1,000 Iranian foreign nationals were simply allowed into the country. And that doesn't include the gotaways. Here's Tom Homan explaining.
- [16:10]
Tom Holman
I said the last four years my biggest concern was this open border was the biggest national security vulnerability this country's ever seen. So I pulled numbers this morning just from a CBP under Joe Biden. There was 1,272 nationals of Iran released in the country between Ofo and the border Patrol released. And you compare that to The Trump administration zero. Right? Zero releases.
- [16:33]
Vince
1,272 just straight up released into the United States of America by the Biden administration. Tom Homan explained. So that's a lot of foreign nationals from Iran, military age males being released into the United States. And again, that doesn't include the godaways people who came in and evaded detection by the Border Patrol. Now, something you should know is that even among the Iranians who did turn themselves in, many of them would lie about what country they were coming from. In fact, during the campaign, Vice President, Now Vice President J.D. vance explained that he spoke to a Border Patrol agent. He found out that what was happening was that some Iranians were coming in and pretending to be Mexican. Take a look. Cut 11. Here's J.D. vance describing the Iranian threat last year.
- [17:26]
Kamala Harris
Given what's going on in the Middle East, I do worry about military age males from Iran coming into this country through the southern border. But I actually asked a Border Patrol agent about this on one of my visits and great guy was actually kind of heartbroken because he signed up to protect his country and he's a relatively recent immigrant. I could tell that by his accent. This guy's very nervous and very heartbroken about the fact that he can't do his job. And he told me this story and I feel like an idiot in hindsight because he's like, we have a guy who came in here. I asked the guy, like, you know, why do you think this guy's Iranian? And he said, well, because he came through. And he said, that he was Mexican. And I was like, well, couldn't he have been Mexican? He said, well, he didn't speak Spanish. Like, oh, that's a tell. You know, Mexico, legal alien doesn't speak Spanish. That's. That's probably a pretty significant tell. But it's, it's happening because this is what Kamala Harris has done. She's created this massive gap in our national security and people are taking advantage of it. Really not that surprising.
- [18:24]
Vince
It's really not that surprising. A massive gap in our security created by the Biden Harris administration. And this is what we end up with. Now, in a moment, I want to go over with you what reports we're hearing. We're getting some media reports on this subject of the risk of sleeper cell attacks here in the United States. We also have an alert from the Department of Homeland Security that's worth examining. And then I wanna take you through the President of the United States. In his remarks this weekend, he had some thoughts about, quote, unquote, regime change in Iran. We will explore all of that ahead of our great guest, Steve Hilton joining us on the program today. A lot to get to. I wanna thank Bone Charge for being a great sponsor of this program. I've been using the Bone Charge infrared sauna blanket. I love that. My wife, Allison, she uses the red light face mask. And we adore both of these products. They've been great for us. You know, that infrared sauna blanket helps me with muscle recovery. Detoxification has been a total game changer. Very easy to use. Can just wrap myself up and let that infrared heat work its magic. I've noticed a huge difference for me. It helps me relax and rejuvenate, and it's awesome. Who can have a sauna in their house? You can. You can have an infrared sauna blanket. It's amazing. And my wife loves the red light face mask. She uses it every single night before bed.
- [19:40]
J.D. Vance
She.
- [19:40]
Vince
And she's seeing all sorts of improvements to her skin's texture. It reduces inflammation. It creates fantastic results. It's like having a mini spa treatment right at home. Now, if you're thinking of trying these out, you're in luck. Head to boncharge.com that's b o n charge.com. use the code Vince at checkout and you'll get 15% off. Both of these products have made such a positive impact on helping my wellness routine. I'm sure you're gonna love them too. Use the code vince@bonecharge.com to save 15%. These statements and products have not been evaluated by the fda. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. All right, baby. Okay, let me. Let me get into what is going on here with the security threats in the United States. So we've already heard from Tom Holman, who said that, yeah, we've got well over 1200 Iranian foreign nationals straight up released into the United States by the scandalous Biden administration President Otto Penn, just letting them in. And then of course, you heard from J.D. vance saying these guys were lying at the border about their country of origin. And that, of course, suggests that they're here to do something nefarious if you're gonna straight up lie about what country you're coming from. Additionally, we have this report from the weekend. Now, I gotta say, as a predicate to this, this comes to us from NBC, which instantly suggests to me that I may not wanna trust it because it's NBC. How can I know? But here's the NBC News report, fellas. I'm putting this up on screen. Iran threatened to unleash attacks by sleeper cells inside of the United States if it was attacked. This is what NBC is claiming this weekend. They just posted this on Sunday. Iran sent a communique to Trump. Iran sent a communique to Trump in the days before Saturday. Strikes on the nuclear facilities threatening to activate sleeper cell terror inside the United States if it were attacked. According to NBC sources, the message got to Trump through an intermediary at the G7 summit in Canada last week. Remember, President Trump left early from the G7 to consider his options amid the conflict between Israel and Iran, according to sources who include two U.S. officials and a person who with knowledge of the threat. Now, let me just point out something here about the sourcing. I just always wanna think about this anytime you should do this, too. When you read sourcing like this one, is this an unauthorized leak or an authorized disclosure of information? We don't know. All we know is that two anonymous U.S. officials, according to NBC, if they even exist, are claiming that sleeper cell threats were conveyed to the President of the United States. And a person with knowledge of the threat is what they claim here, whatever that means. That's like the thinnest possible sourcing imaginable. The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment, and the Iranian Mission of the United nations declined to comment. They said they go on to say that Trump vowed on social media that if Iran retaliates against the United States, they, quote, will be met with force far greater than what was witnessed tonight. But that's the news from the NBC report. They claim that a threat was conveyed to the president. Now I was talking to friends this morning about this and I was thinking, wait a second. If a threat was conveyed to the president while he was at the G7, if the Iranians said, hey, we're going to activate our sleeper cells in the United States, just think this through for a moment. Do you really think that the president wouldn't post about this on Truth Social? I kind of feel like he would have if the Iranians had threatened the United States and Trump learned about it. I do feel like his response would be, let me post this to Truth Social. Baby, I want to tell people. I'm going to tell people that Iran is making these ridiculous threats. They better stop their threats or else they're going to face the consequences. That does seem like the Trumpian route here. But maybe it's entirely possible the report is true that Iran threatened this action. And again, top U.S. officials, to include Tom Holman and J.D. vance, are very on guard for the sleeper cell threat. So again, it's very possible that this is authentic. But just thinking it through for a moment, are those sources legitimate? Was this an authorized disclosure? And what is the likeliness that the president would have kept it quiet? He probably would have said, hey, Iran, knock it off, I've got something to tell you. But that said, let me take you to what the Department of Homeland Security has to say about all this. The Department of Homeland Security has released a statement summarizing the threat to the United States today. It's a national advisory, a bulletin on the subject, and here's what they say. The ongoing Iran conflict is causing a heightened threat environment in the United States, says dhs. Low level cyber attacks they're concerned about against US Networks by pro Iranian hacktivists are very likely after this this weekend. And cyber actors affiliated with the Iranian government may conduct these attacks against US Networks. This matters obviously for a bunch of reasons, but those US Networks could include the infrastructure of the United States, things like power and water, probably worth keeping an eye on. In the midst of all of this, Iran also has a longstanding commitment to target US Government officials that it views as responsible for the death of Qasem Soleimani. The likelihood of violent extremists in the homeland independently mobilizing to violence. This is the key. This is the key what we're about to go through. The likelihood of violent extremists in the homeland independently mobilizing to violence in response to the conflict would likely increase if Iranian leadership issued a religious ruling calling for retaliatory violence against targets in the homeland. So I guess they're kind of waiting right now for whether or not the Ayatollah issues a call of this nature. That's what they're kind of warning against at the moment. Multiple recent homeland terrorist attacks have been motivated by anti Semitic or anti Israel sentiment. We've seen that. A guy gunning down Israeli diplomats in Washington D.C. murdering them in cold blood as a terrorist. And of course, there's the ongoing Israel, Iran conflict, which could contribute to US Based individuals plotting additional attacks. So this morning we have a mountain of evidence about the sleeper cell threat and the degree to which the Trump administration is on guard for that threat right now as we speak. And so as a fundamental question, where do we go from here? Well, it matters whether or not Iran once again takes the President seriously here. And by now they should. Given the destructive nature of the American military and our capabilities and the President's resolve, they should take us seriously. But if they kill American citizens, if they kill American troops in the region, if they kill American citizens here in the United States of America, how quickly do things escalate? And it is not foolish to be on guard for that possibility. It's not foolish to be on guard for that. You harm an American, you deserve retribution. But understand what you're talking about is an escalation ladder. And then we escalate to a full blown war. And here's where we need to. I wanna take a look at something the President said this weekend. You heard from a couple of Trump officials. I already talked about J.D. vance. J.D. vance came out and said, look, we have no interest in boots on the ground. Additionally, Marco Rubio came out this weekend on the Sunday shows. Take a look. Cut five. And he said, this is not about regime change. This is about disabling the Iranian nuclear program. Here's the Secretary of State.
- [27:33]
Marco Rubio
This mission was a very precise mission. It had three objectives, three nuclear sites. It was not attack on Iran. It was not an attack on the Iranian people. This wasn't a regime change move. This was designed to degrade and or destroy three nuclear sites related to their nuclear weaponization ambitions. And that was delivered on yesterday. What happened next will now depend on what Iran chooses to do next. If they choose the path of diplomacy, we're ready. We can do a deal that's good for them, the Iranian people, and good for the world. If they choose another route, then there'll be consequences for that.
- [28:07]
Vince
If they choose another route, then there will be consequences for that. This was not a regime change move. This is not what we're pursuing now. The President added his voice to this conversation in the form of truth Social post that would be Sunday evening, 4:55pm and here's what he said. It's not politically correct to use the term regime change, but if the current Iranian regime is unable to make Iran great again, why wouldn't there be a regime change? Miga make Iran great again is the President's point. Three exclamation points to really emphasize it. Now, on first blush, if you just see the words regime change in a post from the President of the United States, you might reflexively assume that he's looking to effect it himself, meaning using the American military to change the regime in Iran. But in fairness to the President, that's not actually what he said. He didn't say that it's time to use the American military. It's time for us to compel regime change in Iran. And so this is one of those posts where I look at it and I say there's a couple of possible explanations for it. One, Israel has shown no appetite to slow down its attacks on Iran. Clearly they want a regime change. And will they continue to pursue that? Whether or not the United States is involved, it seems kind of likely. What are the second and third order effects of the regime falling there? That matters a lot. So much global energy depends on the Strait of Hormuz. So much regional competition for Iran is in play. China clearly has a desperate interest in the energy coming from Iran. So there could be deep and at this point, in many ways, unknowable impacts from the regime falling in Iran. And it's worth doing the mental exercise to figure out what those could be. The other piece here, here's one way I'm taking this this morning from the President is that this is yet another warning to Iran that it needs to come to the table and give up its nuclear program. The president in a previous truth social post indicated that he knew exactly where the Supreme Leader was hiding. He said, we know where you are. We know exactly where you are. And he even used the word kill. We're not gonna do it yet. He said, we're not gonna do it yet. And so in other words, there's a looming threat hanging over the Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah in Iran. And the President once again this weekend is firing a warning shot by way of truth social saying, hey, maybe regime change should happen. Now. There's also a theory around regime change that includes the Iranian people rising up and basically taking out their own leadership dissatisfied with it. I mean, we'll see. Iran's a complicated country. Iran's a very complicated country with a lot of different ethnicities and sects within it. And whatever happens here, nothing is ever gonna be as clean as anybody in Washington pretends it's gonna be. It'll always be messy, especially with war. War always makes things messy. But I'm reading the President of the United States today. I'm seeing this post about regime change. And I'm telling you what's in it, and I'm telling you what's not in it. And I don't see here that the president is threatening American military action to compel that outcome, which is encouraging to me and I think to the rest of us. So let me just as a. Just as a matter of taking the temperature on the audience here, are you pleased with the President's tact this weekend? Are you pleased that the President struck these Iranian nuclear sites? And are you encouraged by the fact that various Trump officials, to include J.D. vance and Marco Rubio, have already fanned out on the Sunday shows and they said, this is not a regime change operation. This is fulfilling that specific promise that we are going to disable the nuclear program in Iran. We have to stop them. Please. Please. Yes, I see some nos. Who's got a no in here? Sith. 22 says he's a no, but that guy's a Sith. We don't side with the Sith. I'm sorry. Sith. Who else? Yes. So effing. Please says Ron Dacht. Yeah, we've got a lot of people who are pleased. A lot of people saying, trust him. In other words, trust President Trump's ability to navigate all of this. I will remind you, as you watch all of this, I would encourage you to speak up about everything that you're seeing to include whatever concerns you may have. Obviously. Look, like I told you before, the American military has been through this. We've seen these guys deployed. They've gone on. This is now decades that we've seen this. Trapped in these quagmires. So much loss of life, so many people wounded, so much destruction, so many lies told by Washington. And I have one last piece of advice. Again, this is outside advice for the President. And of course, I'm sure by now he's thinking about it. But I'll just say it out like, because it's worth all of us to think about it. That intel community. That intel community, which of course has Great people at the top of it, the Ni Tulsi Gabbard and others. That's important. But never forget the fact that the intel community has lied to the President in the past. Never forget that we have a deep state which is not fully purged. There are gonna be components of it who don't have the America first interest at heart, who don't have making America great again at heart. So as the President navigates all of this, not only does he have to face adversaries abroad like Iran, which desperately wants a nuclear weapon, but he needs to be on guard for people who are trying to mislead him or take advantage of him, who are within the deep state of our own of the United States right now. So this is. Look, this is about the most difficult thing that you could possibly navigate here. And President Trump has been voted for by me and by you over and over and over again because we believe that he has the highest level of competence of any available person to navigate a tricky situation. So that's the. That's the game plan here. And I'm going to keep. I'll keep following it with each passing day. All right, coming up in just a moment, we've got Steve Hilton. We're going to chat with him. We've got. I'm going to get his reaction to the weekend's events and also find out what he thinks about Kamala Harris trying to throw her goofy hat into the ring to be the next governor of California. God willing, that never happens. We'll talk to Steve in just a moment. I want to thank our sponsors of this fine program who make all of this possible, who keep this program going, which is the key. Blackout coffee is wonderful. I start my day every single day with blackout coffee. And blackout coffee really does keep this show going. So thank you to John. He's the owner of Blackout coffee and a great American who built Blackout from the ground up. He doesn't compromise on quality or values. You see, Blackout is America first coffee. Roasted fresh, right here in the United States of America. 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 know, this is a brand that stands for the right values. And look, here's what's really important to me. They make a delicious cup of coffee. Now, if you would like to start your day or perhaps continue your day with a delicious cup of coffee, you can do that. John is hooking you up. All you have to do is head over to blackout coffee.com Vince use the code Vince. That's V I N C E and you'll get 20% off your first order. Whether you like whole bean ground or even instant coffee that does not suck, blackout coffee has you covered. Support a company that actually shares your values. Blackoutcoffee.com Vince use the code Vince for 20% off your first order. Blackout coffee. It is delicious. Thank you, Blackout. And thank you also to Moink. Moink is a great sponsor of this program. You know, four different companies control over 80% of the American meat industry. Four different companies. And guess who controls the largest portion of US Pork? China. China does. How do you like that arrangement? You know, these companies are using tactics to crush American family farms. And with the additives that they put into the food, Americans are pretty stuck with sketchy meat. So what can we do about this? Well, let me tell you about a company that's actually coming up swinging on behalf of American family farms and your family's food security. They're called Moink. Moink's meat comes from animals raised outdoors and they deliver meat straight to your doorstep at prices you can actually afford. Born, raised, harvested, all right here in the United States. Moink sent me some of their great, great, great meat and it was amazing. Ground beef burgers, bacon steaks. They've got great options and it's all delicious. I love how great it tastes. You will love it too. Support American family farms. Join that Moink movement today@moinkbox.com Vince right now and get free wings for life. They're the best wings you'll ever taste for free, but only for a limited time. Spelled M O I n k box.com Vince that's moinkbox.com Vince. Thank you to Moink. Okay, let's dive into his reaction to all of this. This is a guy who loves the country so much he immigrated here, became an American citizen. He's now running for governor in California. Steve Hilton joins us on the program. Steve, good to have you, sir. Nice to talk to you today.
- [37:41]
Steve Hilton
It's fantastic to be with you.
- [37:43]
Vince
Okay, we're coming out of a really big news weekend. Obviously, the president made his decision to send those jets in strike those Iranian nuclear facilities simultaneously. He's holding fast to his commitment not to pull the United States into another long, costly war. I know you're a guy who really cares about a common sense approach for the country. What do you make of all of this?
- [38:07]
Steve Hilton
Well, I think it's just important to remember that these decisions are incredibly difficult and Incredibly lonely ones. And for all the pundits sort of blathering on as they have been for the last few weeks now, you've got to put yourself in the situation of the fact that it's only one person who can make this decision. And President Trump made this decision. And I think it is almost the best example of why President Trump is the president that we all hoped he would be a pragmatic, problem solving leader, not an ideologue, someone who just wants to fix problems. And that is what he saw here, a massive problem in the world, Iran heading towards. And then what do you do about it? Right? Everything else, he tried diplomacy, he tried leverage and pressure in all sorts of ways, economic and so on. And then he came to the conclusion that there's only one way through this, to take this incredibly bold move. And so, to me, there's a seriousness of purpose that this shows about President Trump in the second administration that is so astonishing to watch. I don't think I've ever seen any kind of, you know, widespread application of this seriousness in a leader than what we're seeing now on every single issue, foreign and domestic. It is an absolutely remarkable feat of leadership. And, and I just think that the way he's handled it has been so impressive. And of course, the reaction of some people and the reaction, by the way, of the Democrats and some of these people in the international community and the ridiculous UN Secretary General, I just think they've made such fools of themselves because it's so obvious that President Trump took this in a thoughtful, responsible, reasonable way, doing everything he could to actually avoid taking military action. And then for them to run around saying this is escalation and impeachable and all the rest of it, they are, they are a total joke. And he's just left everyone looking so foolish, I think. And I think above all, we have to say thank you to the President, thank you to our astonishing, the astonishing skill of our military.
- [40:17]
Vince
In the midst of all of this, I should point out, as they claim that Trump did something unconstitutional. They never batted an eye, that Barack Obama relentlessly bombed all sorts of countries all around the planet, killed American citizens without any due process. And that was considered completely okay during the Obama era. Of course, they now reserve all sorts of criticisms for President Trump for doing literally what he campaigned on, which is absurd. One of the features of this this weekend, Steve, is that apparently they didn't tell the Trump administration, that is, didn't tell the Democrats in Congress about this mission until the mission was concluded. What does that Tell you because you can't trust them.
- [40:57]
Steve Hilton
And of course, you didn't tell them. And why on earth would you consult these people who. What have they got to offer on any of this? Where's their contribution to any kind of strategic thinking around this? It's a joke. I find this whole question of consulting Congress ridiculous. It's not in the legislation. Excuse me. The war powers legislation they all talk about is completely unconstitutional anyway. This is the action of a commander in chief. How can you possibly have any of this kind of thing decided by committee? I just think they, again, they just make themselves look like fools. These people sort of these pipsqueaks running around trying to score partisan points. When we've seen this extraordinary act of leadership and strategic skill from the Commander in chief and from our military. It's a joke.
- [41:46]
Vince
Let me. So let me bring us back to issues that are domestic and obviously you're gonna care a great deal about. Los Angeles has been in chaos because the left has imported all sorts of illegal foreign nationals into your state. In particular, the Trump administration has started conducting deportations from there especially. It was a couple weeks ago, they were actually serving criminal warrants on dangerous gangs inside of la. That kind of lit the fuse for the left. And they began protesting, rioting, and attacking ICE agents. President Trump deployed both the California National Guard as well as the United States Marines in order to bring about a peace there. And yet the left is rooting on chaos, everyone from the governor, Gavin Newsom, to the mayor of la, Karen Bass, as well as a prospective presidential candidate. Now, Kamala Harris reportedly seriously considering jumping in the race for governor, presumably against you, Steve Hilton, because she's angry that President Trump used the National Guard to bring peace to your state. Tell me what's happening.
- [42:52]
Steve Hilton
Well, first of all, I just want to bring one immediate domestic point out from the Iran situation, which just shows you how far to the insane left things have gotten in California under the Democrats, which is the conversation around gas prices because of the impact of what's happened on the oil market globally. So I just was interested to see this morning on cnn, I think it was, they were looking at oil prices and noting that actually, surprisingly, there hadn't been much of a reaction, but they were running forward and thinking and discussing the worst case scenarios. Well, the worst case scenario, Iran shuts down the Strait of Hormuz, and here's the quote. And then we could see gas prices shooting as high as even $4 or $4.50. That's low for California. That's low. And the point there is that the Democrats in California are worse for California's incomes and living standards than war in the Middle East. That's how crazy they've got with their climate extremism. As for Kamala Harris, I mean, this person is just completely ridiculous. Ever since she's been floating this idea of running for California governor, it's always been about her and about Trump. It's never been about actually solving the problems that Californians face caused by Democrat policies. So one minute she's saying, oh, I might run for governor, because she doesn't want the last thing she did in her public life to be certifying Trump's election victory when she was vice president. Another time she says, well, she's intrigued by the idea of being the nation's first black female governor. Now it's sort of hitting Trump over something. I mean, this person has nothing to offer in terms of the real challenges facing California. She's a total joke. She's ridiculous. A machine politician who doesn't believe in anything lurches around all over the place, depending on what's politically convenient. And my argument is that, first of all, the candidate that's going to win next year in our elections here in California, when you now have over 60% of Californians saying the state's headed in the wrong direction, and the worst results on every single measure that matters, the highest rate of poverty, highest unemployment taxes, highest cost for housing, gas, electricity, the worst business climate, everything, a total disaster. We need change in California, and the change candidate is going to win. And there's nobody less representative of change than Kamala Harris. So I really, really hope she's not only seriously taking a look at it, but will enter the race because that makes sure that we're going to get the whole country behind me saying, yes, let's beat her again.
- [45:34]
Vince
Yeah, I'd love if you did. You know, the Hill has this report this morning that Harris is giving California governor's race a serious look. And they claim that those close to the former Vice president say she's been appalled by the Trump administration's bold moves like deploying the National Guard. Harris has told confidants she feels the President is governing by loyalty and retribution and that such actions will propel her to reenter public service. Quote, this moment almost requires her to do it. One source close to Kamala said. Which is crazy to me, Steve, because what she's conveying in this decision making process is she doesn't want peace to come to la. She doesn't want order to restore she's the chaos candidate. And she feels like this moment is compelling her to jump in.
- [46:20]
Steve Hilton
Of course. Well, look, she's. She's desperately seeking relevance. She's clutching at anything. So maybe this is the justification for me to continue my political career when. When I've been, you know, comprehensively rejected by the whole country. I just think that you're right. You know, she. She is someone. Remember she was for defunding the police. And her record as district attorney in San Francisco. When San Francisco collapsed into chaos and lawlessness, she took that statewide. When she became Attorney general, she presided over two of the most disastrous moves ever in the history of our country to undermine law and order. Proposition 47, which legalized theft up to $950 a day. Everyone knows about that one. Not everyone knows about the one that came two years later on her watch. Prop 57. When she was attorney general, Proposition 57 downgraded a whole list of specific crimes so they wouldn't attract automatic jail sentence. These were described as nonviolent. Do you know what the crimes included? Domestic violence, sexual assault of minors, trafficking children, all these unbelievable. Rape of an unconscious person, downgraded as an offence by Kamala Harris. Astonishing. So she has the what? She's been in public life, in these political positions not 20 years now without a single positive accomplishment and a list as long as your arm of disasters that she's presided over. So, yes, let's hope she enters the race because that's the best way that we're gonna win the argument for change in California.
- [47:58]
Vince
Yeah. Boy, do you need change at every level. By the way, first of all, I didn't even know you had a senator called Alex Padilla. Apparently, he exists. And he tried to rush a stage that Kristi Noem was speaking at recently, and then he was gently placed in handcuffs. He's tried to turn this into a big sob story that he's like some sort of civil rights hero. Now, as a result of all of this, what do you make of Alex Padilla's publicity stunt?
- [48:24]
Steve Hilton
Well, you're completely right. The key point is that you'd never heard of it, neither had anyone else. And that's why he was stopped, because. So he's sort of pompously running around saying, oh, how outrageous. I'm a U.S. senator. And they, you know, manhandled me out of them. Nobody knew he was a US Senator in that room because he's a complete non. Entity. He's a total. No one that even here has heard of him. And. But the interesting thing about him, he was appointed, remember, by Gavin Newsom. He was appointed by Gavin Newsom to fill the Kamala Harris slot when she was nominated for vice president. And so what you're seeing in California, and this is why we have these terrible problems, is this whole generation of machine politicians like Alex Padilla, like Kamala Harris, like Newsom, like Karen Bass. Their only skill is navigating the political machine. They don't have any beliefs or convictions or political philosophy of their own. They are all about whatever is helpful to them politically in the moment. Padilla is one of the worst. He's from the San Fernando Valley. Political machine, Democrat machine, they're totally corrupt. What has he done of use for anyone in California? All he's done is this political grandstanding and point scoring. But that's what we get in California after 15 years of one party rule. You get these kind of people.
- [49:48]
Vince
But have you seen any evidence that Californians are sick of this crap? Because I wanna, I mean, Gavin Newsom in particular, Gavin Newsom during COVID he locks everybody down and then he infamously goes to the French Laundry to have an experience that nobody else is allowed to have by virtue of government force. And then recently we just get the update. City Journal had a great piece on this. While LA was burning over these last few weeks, at that very same moment, Gavin Newsom was at a wine tasting in the Napa Valley having a grand old time at a winery that he started that he was. So that's. It's a corrupt deal on top of everything. And you would think at some point that voters, regardless of political affiliation, would say, I'm tired of this abuse. Do you get the impression they are?
- [50:29]
Steve Hilton
Yes, I think the tide is turning. I don't want to give everyone the wrong idea that this is going to be an easy victory, but I'm running for governor because I know that I can win. I know that this is our best shot in California for change in at least 20 years. You saw in the November elections last year 10 counties flip from blue to red. You saw the Republican position on a range of issues when on the statewide ballots and reversing one of those pro crime propositions, but also on tax, minimum wage, rent control propositions across the state, Republican, the Republican position one, you saw George Gascon kicked out in Los Angeles and so on. And you see voter registration going up for Republicans, down for Democrats. And in poll after poll, a large majority saying that we're going in the wrong direction. So I think the ingredients are there. Plus you look at the political revolution across the country in the Trump era, working class people moving from Democrat to Republican, Latinos moving from Democrat to Republican in historic numbers. I think putting all that together, that we really seriously have a shot this time. That's why I'm going for it, because it's not going to be easy, but we can do it. California needs change and that's why I'm running, to bring that change.
- [51:48]
Vince
Yeah. And plus, if Trump can deport a bunch of illegals, maybe we can diminish the voter fraud that goes on in that state, too. Steve Hilton, thank you. Good luck in the governor's race as always. We'll have you back soon, sir. Appreciate you today. Great.
- [51:58]
Steve Hilton
Thank you, Vince. Thanks.
- [52:01]
Vince
All right, there he is, Steve Hilton, candidate for governor in California, perhaps against Kamala Harris. We'll see. Speaking of California, I have a fun update for you. JD Vance this past Friday was out there. And while he was there, I think he genuinely didn't know the name of the California senator who is not Adam Schiff. Of course, they've got pencil neck as a senator, but, but they also have this guy, Alex Padilla, who, who JD Vance apparently thought his name was Jose. We're, we're all just learning who this Padilla character is. Here's J.D. vance on the subject. Take a look.
- [52:39]
J.D. Vance
Well, I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question, but unfortunately, I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn't the theater. And that's all it is. You know, I think everybody realizes that's what this is. It's pure political theater.
- [52:53]
Vince
Of course, when the vice president said Jose Padilla raised some questions there, we did just hear from a Vance spokesperson a few moments ago who said, quote, he must have mixed up two people who have broken the law. Oh, that is fantastic. That, well, that we do know of, of some Joses who've broken the law, like, you know, in the past. So, so maybe he just mixed up the two of these guys. That's hilarious. It did sound like you listen to J.D. vance. It does sound like he wasn't telling a joke. He just actually thought his name for a second was Jose Padilla. Isn't that fantastic? It's like unbelievable. I adore that so much. So Jose Padilla goes on TV after that and he starts crying again. We don't know much about this Padilla character. We do know that he pretends to cry a lot. Here's cut nine. Padilla responding to the vice president. I assume that he knows your name is Alex Padilla. Your response to him calling you Jose.
- [53:51]
H
Oh, he knows my name. He knows my name. Look, sadly, it's just an indicator of how petty and unserious this administration is. But he's the Vice President of the United States. Do you think he'd take the situation in Los Angeles more seriously? You know, you think maybe he'd take a moment to talk to some of the families who have been impacted, have been terrorized to feel what's really going on on the ground. And you saw him shaking hands with Marines. But did he listen?
- [54:21]
Vince
His voice is quavering. He's going to cry. You can't understand it. Why did you call me Jose? That's, that's Jose Padilla. There he is on MSNBC with two very partisan hosts sitting with him, asking him these questions. He knows your name, doesn't he? He knows my name, yeah. He knows my name. Yeah. Nobody knows who you are. That's why they arrested you. As you were barnstorming the like charging towards the DHS Secretary Padilla. So hilarious. And there he is crying really, really, really funny. Okay, so that, that story brought me some joy this weekend. Also bringing me joy. Another gunman, another criminal gunman was just stopped by a couple of good guys. This comes to us from. This is the feel good story of the day. This comes to us from a church where basically you had all these parishioners inside who were meeting for a church service. There were a bunch of kids inside. The name of the church is Crosspoint Community Church. And a gunman showed up looking to wreak havoc. And, and when the gunman showed up, it just so happened that one of the deacons was in the parking lot with an F150 and ran the gunman over. And then a security guard pulled his weapon and shot the gunman dead. And the only person who sustained any injuries here was the security guard who got shot in the leg. It sounds like he's going to be able to recover from those injuries. So this is, I think this is the feel good story of the week, actually. Here's video from inside of the church. Take a Look here. Cut 10. Just a little bit of video from Crosspoint Community Church. As these guys hear the gunshots going on outside, they begin clearing the room. They're getting the kids out of there, rightfully so. A good evacuation procedure going on here, but a bit of chaos there. But the chaos was stopped by these good guys with a gun outside. This is in Michigan. And the suspect again killed by the security guard there. Now, here, let me just, let me just Emphasize something here. This is a story that in the future, the only way that you're gonna be able to access the memories of this is you're gonna have to get it from your own mind. You're gonna have to remember that this took place. These types of good guys with a gun stories who stop bad guys with guns and they happen all the time. All the time. Yet the media never tell these stories. The media refused to tell these stories because the last thing they want you to know is that American citizens are capable, when called upon, of protecting themselves. And it just so happens here an American made car, a Ford F150, was driven directly into the shooter, disabling him. And then he was gunned down by the security guard. I call that a good day's work. I call that a very good day's work. So you want. Yeah, that's right. How you doing? As Tom Holman would say, you want to keep that story alive, you're going to have to keep this story alive by telling it over a fire with a bourbon and a cigar. Like the olden days where it's passed down by word of mouth. It'll become the stuff of legend. We'll be able to celebrate it in retrospect by reflecting on the heroism of two men who protected a church by doing the right thing at the moment that they were called upon. And they protected a whole lot of people from being hurt. God bless them. What a great story. That's right. Run over gunmen, shoot them dead and then move on with your lives. We can do it right here in the great United States of America. Always so good to have you with us right here on Vince, the best damn audience in media. We've got a lot coming up throughout the week. This week, a lot of big interviews ahead on the show. Make sure to tune in each and every day. You can get that via podcast or rumble.com vince. You can watch this live if you're listening on the podcast. Additionally, I've got that radio show every single day, 12 to 3 Eastern time. You can find it thevincehow.com. we got your radio listings. Or go to rumble.comvince to watch it. Thanks as always for being with us. I'm back with you tomorrow.