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- [00:00]
A
Good evening everybody and welcome to Wired In. I'm Cabot Phillips coming to you from Daily Wire hq. If you missed our episode on Thursday, you missed out because we had a great time. We were at the Reagan Ranch out in beautiful Santa Barbara, California and I got to give a shout out to our team. Colton, our producer who was there on site, and Taylor who's helping as well. We did not have our studio set up there ready until literally 10 seconds before the show started. We were freaking out, scrambling. But we made it work and I'm glad we did. Cause it was a great episode. Go watch that episode if you have not already. But I hope all of you had a wonderful Father's Day. I for one, spent a few hours fishing before and after church. That was my gift. So shout out to my wife for holding down the fort so I could stand on a muddy riverbank swatting mosquitoes, getting sunburned and catching zero fish. So to lift my spirits, I went on Apple and Spotify. Read through all of the wonderful reviews you guys have been leaving on the show. Thank you. Thank you so much to everyone who has tuned in. I am just deeply grateful for all the support. And just a reminder, if you have not already, please go follow Wired in on Apple and Spotify. Leave us a five star review. That's the number one way to help our show grow. And then go send an episode or two to your friends. I don't always trust advertisements for shows, but if a friend endorses one and tells me to go listen, I will give it a shot. So please go help us out and spread the word. All right, now that the shameless self promotion is out of the way, there's a little bit of shame there. Kind of shameless. Let's get to the show. We got a big one. Vice President Vance is now on his way back from Switzerland after leading negotiations with Iran. We'll get you up to date on what each side is saying. We'll also tell you about two brewing scandals hitting Democratic senators. We'll chat with our British friends about the resignation of their prime minister, Keir Starmer. We'll hear about how the New York Times celebrated Father's Day. It involves transgender dads. And we'll tell you about the hot new trend this summer. Nixon maxing, as in Richard Nixon. And our very own Mary Margaret Olihan is in the Oval Office right this very moment. We're going to talk to her in just a few minutes once that event is complete. And as always, stick around until the very end for our Live listener Q and A. If you're a Daily Wire member, drop your questions in the chat. I'll get to as many as possible. If you're tuned in on Spotify or Apple. I love you, but you got to be a Daily Wire member to join. So go to sign up@dailywire.com subscribe. All right, let's start the week right. You know what time it is. Roll that graphic. And just one more reminder for you lovely folks at home. Wired In Live is now streaming live at 4pm Eastern Monday through Thursday on the Daily Wire app. Get daily coverage of the news happening right now, insight into why it matters. Here's hear from experts who are actually in the story, not just sitting around talking about it. Become a member and join the live chat@dailywire.com subscribe. All right, we have to start things off with the latest from Iran. After a marathon sit down between U.S. and Iranian delegations in Switzerland, Vice President J.D. vance says he's optimistic that a lasting peace deal is looming and that progress is being made. But big questions remain about whether both sides will agree to their red lines and what this means for the U.S. and the region more broadly. Here with more is Robbie Suave, senior editor at Reason and host of Rising on Hill tv, and Cassie Akiva, Daily Wire foreign affairs reporter. Guys, great to have you both. Cassie, I wanna start with you. You've been covering this a ton on Daily Wire. So for our audience who has not tuned into these talks over the weekend, just to start, give us a quick recap of what went down over the last few days.
- [03:38]
B
Sure. So Vice President J.D. vance went to Switzerland, where he met with the Iranian delegation as well as the Qataris, the Pakistan, the Swiss were there and they sat down for quite literally a marathon of negotiations going really late into the night. There was a little blip at the beginning where the Iranian delegation had walked out after Trump posted quite a threatening tweet, threatening to bomb Iran. They did not open the Strait of Hormuz. There's been some contentious issues over the weekend that they negotiated. That includes Iran threatening to close the strait because Israel was still attacking Hezbollah after Hezbollah killed Israeli soldiers. So there is a lot of back and forth. But what came out of the talks so far, that is that first there was a sanction relief on Iran. So now Iran can sell oil to the United States, which has not happened for a very long time. They can also sell their oil in US Dollars, which is something that also has not happened for a very long time. And then there is other general relief on different dark fleet vessels and that sort of thing to allow them to start moving oil out of their country. President Vance also, or Vice President Vance also said that they might allow Iran to use their frozen funds to buy US Goods. He said that this would benefit American farmers. And there are other things that came out of these negotiations that they're still working on. They still have many red lines that they're not in line with, but they say that this is a good starting place.
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A
Yeah. And Vice President Vance also saying that the Iranians had appeared to agree to allowing intermediaries and, you know, UN Officials to come in and inspect their nuclear program. We'll follow up on that front. Robbie, we've had you on repeatedly since this conflict started. You've been skeptical that it would ultimately benefit the US So as things currently stand, I know it's a lot of moving parts, but as things currently stand, how are you feeling?
- [05:29]
C
I feel like, why did we do this again? We are obviously still working out the details of the deal, but the memorandum of understanding and then what we're hearing from Vance's negotiations seems to me like very much a total reversion to the Obama era agreement we had in place. Except we're going to do even more sanctions relief, give them even more money. And look, the economic things that you just heard, I agree with Vice President Vance that it actually could benefit the United States to have increased market trade, access to their oil. They have access to our goods. That could be a mutual beneficial thing that should have been used, however, to secure more favorable concessions for us. So doing that, plus stronger things that we want, like us controlling the Strait of Hormuz or more ironclad guarantees on the nuclear program. Look, they said all along they weren't developing nuclear weapons. You can believe that if you want. Now they're still saying they're not gonna develop nuclear weapons. I guess we're gonna get some independent checking of that. I don't know. It seems to me like we've not advanced the ball down the field very much at all, given what we did over the last several months.
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A
Cassie, that is one of the criticisms that we've heard from a lot of folks, centrist libertarians on the left, folks on the right saying this appears to be very similar to the Obama era Iran deal. Do you think that's an accurate criticism?
- [07:00]
B
Right. So we actually have a piece in the Daily Wire right now that I wrote last week where I listed out every single criticism that President Trump had of the jcpoa and in almost every single Criticism he had he allowed to happen in this deal. So definitely check that out. I quote, the man himself in the win today that they were talking about are the UN Inspectors, right? So President or Vice President Ban said that they're going to allow UN Inspectors. And then the Iranians said they didn't agree to any concession such as that. And then President Trump posted a tweet saying, well, of course they're going to have to agree to it. So it's still unclear. Vice President Vance also made it very clear that the Iranians are hard to negotiate with. They say one thing, they do another thing. So it's very hard to go through the rhetoric, rhetoric of what is going on with them. So you need to remember that other things that were in the JCPOA that President Trump did not push for in the steel, different things he had concerns with would be the missile program. Missile program is not touched in the MoU at all. In fact, they haven't even discussed if they're going to push on it because President Trump said, well, if Saudi Arabia has missiles and why can't Iran? So there are many examples of things like that. Definitely check out our article. I think everyone needs a refresher of what the JCPO is and why President Trump made that one of his top foreign policy issues when he came down the escalator.
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A
Now, guys, for this deal to hold, the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah also needs to hold. Ravi, do we expect that to happen?
- [08:24]
C
I think that is a very tenuous proposition. Israel's government, excuse me, is very unhappy with the terms of the deal. As far as we can tell. You have elements of the Israeli government, you know, further to the right or further in a hawkish direction toward Iran than even Benjamin Netanyahu, who have declared that their war against Hezbollah will continue. You know, if that's going to be the case, we might need to rethink. You know, certainly we want to remain friendly and strong allies with Israel, but it can't be the case that we're not on the same page, that they're doing their own thing while we're trying to make this agreement right. We have to all be on the same page. And again, I go back to the fact that we had something very similar already in place. Look, if we'd had no agreement with Iran in the first place, and this was a first effort to come to some kind of peace, because I do think peace is favorable and beneficial and a good thing worth pursuing, I might say this is a fine first attempt at that. Donald Trump has the Right instincts about no new wars, peace, et cetera. But when you start a military conflict, kill their long serving head of state, bomb their military capacities, I expect to improve the situation substantially. Or else I worry the international community looks at America and says, look, they're walking away with an L. We should never, ever walk away with an L because we have overwhelming military superiority with respect to this adversary. We can't take an L on this. If we were not committed to going harder and getting a more favorable outcome, then we should not have started it. And that remains the position I was in the beginning.
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A
Cassie, I want to get your take on some of the tensions between the US And Israeli government. Throughout the last week, we've seen the Trump administration publicly calling out the Israeli government, including Netanyahu himself. Trump called Netanyahu, quote, crazy, said, quote, we have to keep him a little bit sane. And then here's a clip that went viral of J.D. vance criticizing the Israelis for, in his view, threatening the ceasefire. Let's play that the Israelis, just like everybody else, have to respect this peace process that is fundamentally good for them and good for the entire region. What the President has grown frustrated sometimes is that we seem to be right on the cusp of a major breakthrough in the agreement. And then all of a sudden, there's
- [10:44]
D
a major explosion that goes off in a civilian population center in Beirut and a lot of people who have nothing
- [10:49]
A
to do with Hezbollah lose their lives. That's not acceptable. That's the sort of thing that we've asked for, closer coordination so that we ensure it doesn't happen. Cassie, it's been years since we've seen an administration offer this sort of public criticism of the Israeli government. Has that surprised you?
- [11:08]
B
Not quite. I think that the Israelis have been quite clear on their position. They're not going to allow terrorists on their borders. They're going to continue pushing. And they've said that the MOU doesn't apply to them. And in fact, the President himself said that the MOU does not apply to Israel in this case. So Israel has made it clear they're going to stay in southern Lebanon. And they have agreed to various ceasefires over the last few days. And, you know, during the last one, Hezbollah responded by killing multiple soldiers. And this might surprise Americans, but Netanyahu is getting a lot of criticism from his own base, from the right wing in Israel, for sort of keeping soldiers in Lebanon as sitting ducks by not letting them fight against Hezbollah. So there's a lot of internal politics going on right now in Israel. They have Elections coming soon in the fall. So it's not surprising me, and it's not surprising that so many Israeli, you know, people who are part of the government and other talking heads are criticizing the Trump administration. We're friends. Friends don't need to get along all the time. They need to have general shared interests. But obviously they're going to disagree on this. Hezbollah has been a huge threat to Israel for 20, 30 years. And so it wouldn't make sense to expect the Israelis to agree to something they had no part to and to just stop fighting this enemy that keeps firing at them. I mean, there were drones still going into Israel as of last week.
- [12:23]
A
Robbie, what do you think?
- [12:26]
C
I mean, I think it's a little more complicated than that. We, the American people, were told the reason for the Iran intervention, it was the most direct reason, was a threat, an imminent threat. And we understood that threat to be to Israel, not actually to the shores of the United States. The Iranians don't have the capability to do that. So this was about protecting Israel, which. Fine, good. They are an important and strong ally, and that should remain the case. But if we're coming to your supporting them significantly in the way that we do, I think then there is some onus on them to accept what we say is in the best interest of all. And that's true of them. That's true of our friends, our partners in Europe, our NATO leaders, that Trump is so frustrated with various European governments that in our hour of need, they didn't help at all. And then conservatives say, well, then why are we funding and supporting them? We should just go our separate ways. And I think that argument resonates with a lot of conservatives, but it unfortunately could be applied to this exact same scenario. So either all of these countries are allies who we want to remain on. We want a solid bloc of pro freedom, pro Western, pro American countries and governments, but the US has to be the leader of that. It contributes the most money to that defense. And so the other countries, whether it's the uk, Italy, Israel, should show more deference to what the US Wants, or we're gonna do it a different way. I think that's how a lot of conservatives, frankly, in America feel about it.
- [13:55]
A
And that's absolutely something we heard from Vice President Vance as well, who was saying to Israel publicly, which is not something we'd seen before, him saying, hey, we're basically the last big power that is still standing by you guys. You need to help us out here. Cassie, I see you shaking your head there. What's your take?
- [14:11]
B
No, I think it's even more complicated than that. When Admiral Brad Cooper testified before Congress, he said specifically that Iran and its proxies and its diplomats have attacked U.S. assets and U.S. troops 350 times in the 30 months before Operation Epic Fury. So it's not just Israel that was being protected or assets in the region were often being attacked, especially by Hezbollah and Iraq and other groups funded and sponsored by Iran. So I think it's more complic than that. I think that each time the Israelis and Americans make any comments that are slightly critical of each other in the public scene, people blow it up and think the relationship fell apart. We do know that Netanyahu and Trump still defront a very functional relationship. They still talk. They're talking nearly every day. So you can say something in public criticizing one of your allies, but I really don't think the relationship is falling apart. And I don't think the war was mainly just to defend Israel.
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A
Robbie, we'll give you the final word. We got about 60 seconds.
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C
Look, I would just say again that every nation on earth that's friendly to the United States wants a lot of money and a lot of military support from us and they want it to come with no strings attached. And that just can't be the case. That hasn't been the case historically with Israel. I think in more recent administrations, Joe Biden, and unfortunately this second Trump term has been more willing to or has gotten hoodwinked into letting the Israeli government have whatever they want and not push back enough. And that that is causing a historic decline in support and trust toward the state of Israel and a sort of a noxious strain of anti Semitism that is rising. I think those are very, very bad phenomenons. I don't want us to come to some parting of the ways. I think that would be bad. But it is incumbent on Israel to be more cognizant of that reality. The sentiment of American people, not just for this issue, this country, but so many other countries feeling taken advantage of, feeling like all of their hard earned taxpayer dollars are being shipped overseas for a variety of reasons. And what again to get a deal is basically where we started with. We need more from our allies. And if we're going to support them, we need them to listen. When President Trump and Vice President Vance say now's the time to do what we think is in America's best interest and ultimately yours as well.
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A
Cassie, I have good news. They're telling me in my ear that Tim Rice, who's Next is still getting set up. So that means we're not in time. Actually, we have time for one more answer. Go ahead. I see you there. You're ready to jump in? I'll let you jump in.
- [16:43]
B
That's hilarious. Well, I think my response to that would be that the Israelis have given more help in this military operation than any ally has ever done in the past 20, 30 years. I mean, they're literally our Air force base in the Middle East. In fact, I've been trying to go to Israel to go to my nephew's wedding. And plane tickets are so expensive because there are so many American airplanes taking over Ben Gurion Airport that they don't. Can't land as many planes as there's a demand. So Israel has been very helpful. In fact, Netanyahu has been making the push to cut U.S. funding to Israel. He actually endorsed a piece of legislation or a resolution going before Congress calling for no longer taking US Military aid. And by the way, he was the one who pushed ending economic aid, you know, 20, 20 years ago. So he's calling for an end to that because he thinks it's better to have mutual partnerships. And a lot of Israelis make the case that the American money is actually detrimental to their own domestic policy and their own way of fighting. Especially, you know, President Biden wouldn't give them the bombs they needed and threaten them. If you go into Rafah, we're going to do this to them. So they want to have their own munitions industry really grow, and that's why they'll be investing billions of dollars in the next 10 years. So I think it's very. It's more complicated than that. But I do think if we look to all of our allies, who we give aid to, I think Israel is the one that definitely puts up and really shows up and helps out.
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A
Complicated is the right word. And we could. We could have another hour on this. But I'm not going to leave Tim Rice waiting any longer because he is ready to go. Robby, Cassie, thank you guys so much as always, for coming on. Really appreciate it.
- [18:18]
C
My pleasure.
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B
Thank you.
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A
All right, let's get over to D.C. where two Democratic senators are in hot water. Daily wire. D.C. bureau Chief Tim Rice loves to spill the beans. That's why we call this segment Rice and Beans, Tim. It's got a nice ring to it. We need to get a graphic with some rice and some beans and then see your face shoved in the middle. Tim Rice, great to see you.
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E
Good to see you, Cabot. How are we doing?
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A
I'M doing great. It was very nice having you on set at the Reagan Ranch on Thursday. That was very fun. But let's get back to D.C. back to the real world. We'll start with Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego. Newly uncovered records show that he used campaign funds for a number of luxury outings. Give us the scoop. What exactly was he buying?
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E
What wasn't he buying is frankly, way to say it. So this is. Yeah, he's using campaign funds specifically from one of his leadership pac, which, you know, for all intents and purposes, it's his campaign funds. Right. Technically, he can give money through this PAC to other candidates, but he's not, he's, in fact, not even using it to pay for his own campaign. He's using it to pay for trips to Chicago, trips to New York, Miami, the Super bowl. Not just for him, but for his kids, his wife, their au pair. He's using it to pay for childcare, which, as he was quick to point out in the only statement that he released, it's no secret that I do this. And it's perfectly legal. The FEC says that candidates can use money to pay for childcare. And given the unaffordable cost of childcare and Donald Trump's America, you know, most people are traveling with their family. This is not uncommon, which, all of which is technically correct. But then you really drill down into it and it's like $18,000 on childcare, which, including a $400 payment to his mother in law, which, you know, Cabot, you and I both have kids. If, if, if our moms and mothers in law ever start asking for, you know, an hourly retainer to babysit the kids or we're screwed, you know, because we don't have a pact to dip into. It's also worth noting that Sidney Gallego, Ruben Gallego's wife, is an incredibly successful, powerful, rich Democratic lobbyist. So it's not like the Gallego family is hurting for money. So this is really just. There's no two ways to slice this. No matter how much the Gallego campaign tries to make it seem kosher, it's really anything but.
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A
I would like to criticize him, but I'm going to be honest. If I was a lawmaker and I could have my constituents pay for super bowl tickets, I don't know if I'd be able to resist dipping into the cookie jar and pay for that. No, it's ridiculous. And that's worth pointing out that that super bowl trip, I believe he actually was partnered up with Eric Swalwell on that one. I need to look more into the details in that regard. But for folks at home who don't know the name Ruben Gallego, again, kind of growing in popularity on the left senator from Arizona. You're probably going to be hearing his name quite a bit more in the near future because it looks like he's going to run for president. He just hired President Biden's former deputy press secretary. He's been traveling to early primary states. He was just in South Carolina for a Juneteenth event. Tim, does this guy have any shot at running in 2028?
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E
Does he have a shot at running? Absolutely. I should say, yeah. Winning, maybe. I mean, look, it's very early to tell, but two things to point out about Ruben Gallego that I think can cut both ways. Although we can sort of get a sense of the way that they have been cutting because again, you know, to your point, Cabot, this, this guy, you know, he's not necessarily a household name, but he was in Congress before he was in the Senate. He was clearly tapped by the DNC and the Democratic establishment as a potential future, you know, senator and then presidential nominee, that one of the next golden boys. He clearly has these ambitions himself. So two things to know about Ruben Gallego is he's incredibly far left, as you said. You know, he's made some pretty pick an issue from Black Lives Matter to transgender surgeries for kids to the open border. I mean, right, he's an open border Arizona lawmaker. It doesn't get much crazier than that. That hasn't stopped him from winning. And the other thing is that this isn't the first Ruben Gallego scandal. He very infamously served his first wife with divorce papers days before she gave birth to their second child. He then sued the outlet that tried to get those records released to try to keep them together. He's had other, him and his wife have had other financial sort of, you know, it's not technically illegal, but it sure is sketchy scandals in the past. The big one being that they rented out their Phoenix home for $20,000 on Airbnb while living in a taxpayer funded million dollar Capitol Hill townhouse here in Washington. So again, these are two things. I lay them out. I'm not rendering a judgment yet because these are the sort of things that you would think, right, extreme views and a history of corruption that's not going to get you very far in a presidential primary. But it sure didn't keep him from getting two terms in the House. It didn't keep him from getting to the Senate. It didn't keep the Democratic Party from saying, yeah, here, take Andrew Bates and mount up for a presidential campaign. So we'll have to see, you know, what more comes out and how voters react. But I think we absolutely need to take Ruben Gallego seriously as a presidential contender.
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A
Whenever someone says, I'm not rendering judgment yet, usually it means they rendered a little bit of judgment. There's some rendering going on there.
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E
Well, it's like, yeah, I think it should be disqualifying, but that doesn't, I don't really. Democrat voters are, every day they're okay with more and more things that I never thought voters would be okay with.
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A
So yeah, Tim, let's get up to New York where we have an inspiring American dream story of hard work and determination. A 22 year old just raised $30 million with a hedge fund to launch a hot new startup for crypto traders that's already valued at $300 million. Now, minor detail, that 22 year old just happens to be the son of Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who happens to be one of the biggest proponents in Congress for crypto and literally helps write the bills regulating the industry. But again, minor details. Tim, what do we think of this story? Does it smell a little bit funky?
- [24:21]
E
Cabot? I am frankly disappointed that you would insinuate that Theodore Gillibrand, a 22 year old Stanford graduate whose only professional experience has been internships at Andreessen, Horowitz and Anthropic. Two internships that you could definitely get without powerful parents. Okay, I am insulted and frankly embarrassed for you that you would suggest there was anything untoward here. No, I mean, of course this is the swampiest thing that's ever happened in a place that is known for, you know, that is literally called the swamp. It's absurd. This company, which by the way, the very top level explanation is that it allows you to trade something called perpetual futures. They're also known as perps. This is the hot new thing on cryptocurrency. Basically it's like allows you to trade futures without actually owning the things that you're trading on. So it's basically just like I'm going to bet functionally $50 on the price of oil going up, but you don't actually have to buy oil, right? So it's sort of like it's just the next level of remove from actual market trading. So this is a hot new thing. As you said, the company is already valued at $300 million. He just raised $30 million with a venture capital fund. So, you know, he is clearly well on his way to, I don't know, I don't know what you do with them making money trading futures. I truly have no idea. This is like, again, this is so far removed from anything that resembles like a real job or even like actual stock trading. But the one thing that I will note is that in order to get this company off the ground, he is going to need to get a license from the Commodities Futures trading commission, the CFTC. It's the SEC's lesser known little cousin here in Washington. That is a very cool, it's a very interesting niche agency. We've done some pretty great reporting on them. Our colleague Brecka Stahl has had some interviews over there and things like that. But that is the head of the CFTC is appointed by President Trump. There's a political team there that gets to make the decision. So I would not be surprised if Theodore Gillibrand has to answer some tough questions about his company before he gets this license.
- [26:26]
A
Well, the good news is now if you are an influential businessman looking to get into the crypto space and looking to get some, some favorable regulation from the Senate, maybe if you have a few million dollars to park somewhere, you just give it to the senator's son who's trying to get his door, his foot in the door in the industry and maybe that builds some goodwill. So there's opportunities abounding in D.C. right now. Tim, before we go, you've got a new piece on Daily Wire titled How the Kids Learned to Love Richard Nixon. You've long been a fan of old Tricky Dick and Nixon maxing. Is it taking over what's going on?
- [27:01]
E
It is. So I encourage everyone to go read the piece dailywire.com I can't do it justice here, but I probably could. But I won't. Look, if you're a political dork, right, if you're on that side of Twitter, you've probably seen these very. The only way to describe them is Gen Z memes and video edits of Nixon, kind of these black and white chopped up things with TikTok wraps. And people are Democrats are starting to freak out about this. Vanity Fair had this whole piece where it said this is part of some vast conspiracy to make Donald Trump's lies and crimes seem palatable. But it turns out it's just that the Nixon foundation hired a bunch of young people who are really good at social media and really care about their job. So the piece began by me trying to Reach out to them and get that story. But the more I dug into it, the more I learned about Richard Nixon, who, again, as you said, I've long been a fan of. I even I was shocked at just how dirty they did our boy back during the Watergate crisis and beyond. So I think that kids are realizing now, with sort of more access to information, that it's more than the simple narrative you learned in A.P. u.S. History of Watergate. I'm not a crook. Any open china, which is the only nice thing you're allowed to say about Nixon. And, yeah, I think he's an interesting president for our time. He's an interesting figure to reflect on again, as we live through another political moment defined by a sort of renegade Republican president battling every day with a deep state and a media apparatus united in their goal to make him fail. So Nixon's back. It's hot. Nixon summer. We're Nixon maxing. Everyone. Go read the piece and find out why.
- [28:38]
A
I noticed that you didn't say Watergate scandal. You said Watergate crisis. I'm onto you. That was some sneaky language there. You didn't want to concede that it was a scandal because that's negative. It was a crisis. The Watergate crisis. We're rewriting it. I love it, Tim. All right, Tim, thank you as always, for coming on. Everyone go pick up a good Nixon biography in honor of Tim Rice. We will have you back on very shortly, my friend.
- [29:03]
E
Thanks, Kevin. See you soon.
- [29:04]
A
All right, let's get to the economy, which remains the top issue for voters heading into midterms. Inflation is still at a three year high and Americans are pessimistic about the state of the economy. But the White House says that things will turn around quickly once this peace deal with Iran is hopefully finalized. Here with more is EJ Antoni, chief economist at the Heritage foundation. Ej, great to have you back, man.
- [29:26]
F
Great to be back, let me just say. Not a crook.
- [29:28]
A
Okay, there it is. I wish Tim was still on for that. Yeah, you guys could bond. So, ej, it looks like we're making real progress towards an end to the war in Iran. Just from an economic standpoint. What should President Trump be focusing on to improve things as quickly as possible coming out of this war if it is indeed over?
- [29:48]
F
Well, honestly, I think a lot of the what you could point to as emergency measures or temporary things that we've done to try to alleviate the pain from the Iran war. These are all things that, frankly, Cabot, we should have been doing a long, long time ago. Things like suspending the Jones act, for example. The Jones act has never accomplished what it was supposed to. All it has done is drive up transportation costs and drive up count the price of countless products, especially in places like Hawaii, like Alaska, like Puerto Rico, but even in the mainland United States, because we're essentially forced to ship things like oil out of Texas to another country overseas before it can go to places in the Northeast to be refined or if it has already been refined, then to be distributed, et cetera. So things like that should, again, we need to just, I think, double down on the d wrap regulatory agenda of this administration that has already been so successful. Just really go all out that now.
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A
E.J. since we last spoke, the latest labor report came in showing a 4.2% inflation rate last month. That's the highest in three years. Do you expect that number to be even higher this coming month?
- [31:03]
F
You know, probably not. And part of the reason for that has to do with, with the, the reduction in gasoline prices that we've seen in the month of June. And it's unlikely, I think, that we're going to get enough of a spike that's going to cause that's going to essentially reverse that progress on gasoline prices coming down a bit. Now, don't get me wrong, gasoline prices are still far higher than they were a year ago. But really where that higher headline annual inflation print is coming from is the rapid rise month over month in gasoline prices. But now that has largely gone away and we are seeing, however, some of the spillover effects. In other words, those higher transportation costs are causing a lot of other prices just throughout the economy to go up. That's happening actually pretty quickly, historically speaking. But again, it's unlikely that you're going to see another big jump in terms of that annual inflation number. In other words, the annual inflation number will likely just stay elevated as opposed to another acceleration in that print.
- [32:07]
A
I know global energy markets are incredibly complicated, so it's tough to pinpoint one specific reason. But what is behind the dip that we've seen in gasoline prices? We're about $3.85 a gallon right now nationally. Is it just optimism over the deal? Is it the straight of Hormuz slowly starting to open up? What's causing that?
- [32:25]
F
You know, a little bit of everything. Some of it's also just seasonality. Some of it is the fact that we have some refineries in this country running at over 100% of capacity. We have other refineries that are delaying normal seasonal maintenance right now. Now that is going to come back and bite us later in the year because you'll have an abnormally high number of refineries then that have to be down for maintenance. And so production will be down, but for the time being at least, it does mean increased production and therefore lower prices. On top of that, you've also seen incredibly large drawdowns in terms of both gasoline and diesel and jet fuel stockpiles. You've also seen a bit of a shift where refineries have moved from certain less profitable, I guess you could say, sections of oil, and they are now converting more of a barrel of oil to the most profitable distillates through cracking and other chemistry. So again, all of that has resulted in an increase in gasoline supply, even though it might mean a lower supply in other diesel derivatives or, excuse me, other crude derivatives.
- [33:35]
A
Now, I've asked you this before when you've been on in the past, but given all the developments we've seen, I have to ask again, if the Strait of Hormuz remains opened and a permanent deal with Iran is reached in the next 60 days, do you think inflation will cool noticeably by midterms in November, or are we looking at a longer off ramp?
- [33:53]
F
Well, there's actually a very good chance, if that scenario holds, that that you might see your month over month inflation prints turn negative. In other words, consumer prices actually go down from one month to the next. Now, that's not to say the annual inflation print, which you mentioned, is right now over 4%. It's not to say that the annual print is going to go negative. But again, there's a very good chance that when you get a month or two of fast decreases in fuel prices that that month over month number that also turns negative.
- [34:26]
A
Yeah, that would be some very welcome relief for not just consumers, but also for the White House. From a PR perspective, it'd be very good to be able to tout that as a benefit of the deal with Iran. Now, E.J. president Trump moving to the Fed. We know he clashed with former Fed chair Jerome Powell over his refusal to cut interest rates. He called him famously too slow. Jerome, new chair Kevin Warsh is viewed as more of a fiscal hawk, but we're starting to see signs that he might not be cutting rates anytime soon. And to that point, prediction markets are actually starting to lean towards a rate hike this year. What do you see happening with the Fed?
- [35:03]
F
I think the most likely course of interest rates this year is actually that the Fed's just going to stand pat that they're not going to go up or down with them. Some of that has to do with it's going to take time really for Kevin Morsh to, I think, get the rest of the Fed board on board with his agenda. It's gonna take some time. Look for him to put together these different task force, for the task forces to actually come up with recommendations and then for those things to finally be implemented, all of that is going to take time. It's not gonna get done at the drop of a hat. So you're looking at weeks and months for each of those steps to take place. And what I'm getting at here is that I think when we get towards the end of the year, that's when you're gonna start hearing about the Fed beginning to do things like shrink, shrink its balance sheet, trim down the amount of assets that it holds, and the result of that is ultimately going to be putting downward pressure on inflation. And then that in turn gives the Fed room to cut interest rates. But I think first and foremost on Warsh's mind is gonna be, as he called it, regime change. Look, there's a lot of reform that is needed at the Fed because the Fed has engaged in so much mission creep over the years. Why on earth was the Fed using as part of its stress test calculation for banks, how much they're lending to fossil fuel companies versus these so called green energy companies? I mean, it's absolute nonsense. But that's the kind of nonsense that the Fed has been engaged in for so long to try to force financial markets, to force the broader economy to do what these left wing ideologues wanted instead of keeping its eye on the prize, which is ultimately, as Warsh has pointed out, price stability. And you know, I think that was really evident, Cabot, in the statement that the Fed released. It was really trimmed down from previous statements. A lot of that forward guidance was gone. A lot of the kind of nonsensical nitpicking of the current state of the economy, which never really made any sense anyway, that's all gone. But what did it end with? It ended on a very strong note of this committee will deliver price stability, not we aim for price stability, we hope for price stability. We have a goal of price stability. No, we will achieve it.
- [37:21]
A
EJ One last thing before we go on the topic of the Fed today, we learned that Alan Greenspan, the longtime chair, passed away this morning at the age of 100. Obviously hugely influential man for decades shaping economic policy. In your view, what is his legacy?
- [37:38]
F
Well, it's very appropriate, Greenspan died at par, I have to say. But look, I think Greenspan's legacy in a lot of ways mirrors the situation that Warsh is actually left with today. And in fact, Warsh started his career at the fed back in 2006, literally right after Greenspan had resigned as chairman. So what I think Greenspan's legacy is ultimately going to be, yes, it's a bit of a mixed bag, but I think it's going to be overall positive in that he was able to. To look past a lot of the temporary disruptions that we had in the 1990s. He Really, I think, largely stayed focused on that goal of price stability. He resisted that clarion call that later Fed chairs were not able to resist of zero interest rates. Yes, he might have had them too low for too long, but again, he did not go so far as later Fed chairs did. He did not make as many mistakes as they did. And part of the reason why I see so many parallels to him and Warsh is the fact that Greenspan had to preside over tremendous changes in the economy with the Internet in the 1990s and the productivity boom that was unleashed. And so he was able to, again, look past a lot of the temporary data disruptions and see it for what it was, a huge increase in the supply side of the economy. And again, I think that's really what we're looking at today. And Warsh is going to, you know, this is part of Warsh's task force going back to what we talked about earlier. He wants to find new ways of looking at how do we measure the economy, not just manufacturing versus the service sector, but all kinds of economic activity that we don't really account for properly today. He wants to reevaluate how we're measuring inflation, because things like just headline and core numbers don't do it justice. Truflation. He has mentioned them by name. They're a price aggregator that looks at literally millions of prices a day, not just a few thousand prices three times a month, the way the government does. So, again, I think Warshis tenure is going to, in many ways, hopefully parallel what we saw with Greenspan, where he's going to take the Fed into a kind of new age, or at least bring the Fed up to speed to a new age that's already here.
- [39:51]
A
Yeah. Well, it's going to be fascinating to watch. Ej, a pleasure as always to have you on. Thank you so much for being here.
- [39:59]
F
Pleasure's all mine. Thank you for having me.
- [40:01]
A
All right, that was E.J. antony, chief economist at the Heritage foundation, we're all trying to feel healthy, right? Drinking more water, getting our steps in taking our vitamins. Most people spend a lot of time thinking about their heart, their weight, or if you're me, thinking about your muscles. But almost nobody thinks about their liver. Liver health affects literally everything. Your energy, your digestion, how your skin looks, even your metabolism. It's time we show our liver some love. And that is where Dose comes in. Dose is a clinically backed liver health supplement. And unlike most supplements, you don't have to take a giant pill or dissolve that nasty gritty powder like other places. It comes in a delicious two ounce shot. I've taken morning supplements in powder form in the past. I literally would have to hold my nose and try not to gag while I forced it down because they all tasted so terrible and I never even really felt a difference. But Dose tastes fantastic, has me feeling awesome throughout the day, which is especially important for me right now as I try to stay sane on five hours of sleep a night with my toddler and four month old. I come in every morning after my garage gym workout. I pour myself a shot of Dose and down it goes. That's it. It's so easy. I've told you guys before, my wife is super health conscious. Some would even say crunchy. And she is always reading every ingredient before we bring new food into our house. Well, when I got my package from Dose, she read everything that goes into it. She was examining each label and every ingredient. And I'm happy to say it got her stamp of approval. So you know, it's good stuff. So if you're wanting to get healthier and feel better, but you don't know where to start, dose is the move. If you're ready to give your liver the support it deserves, head to DueDaily, Co Cabot or enter Cabot to get 35% off your first subscription. Your body does so much for you. Let's do something for it. That's D O S E D A I l y co cabot. C a b o t for 35% off your first month subscription. Well, guys, the New York Times joined in the Father's Day celebration this weekend with a new piece called what I Learned about Parenting as a Trans Dad. Joining us with more is host of we the People podcast, Gates. Garcia. Gates. Great to have you back, man.
- [42:18]
D
Cabot, a pleasure to be here. Congrats on your show, your new show, every show you're on, you're just crushing it, man.
- [42:23]
A
Thank you, man. I appreciate that. I Just trimmed up my beard this morning, and I shouldn't have, because now I'm seeing you with this magnificent mane, and I'm a little jealous. But, Gates, let's start with this crazy piece. What was your reaction when you see the New York Times celebrating Father's Day with insights from a woman?
- [42:42]
D
I mean, in a time and place, when the left continues to criticize what's going on at CBS and how we're trying to bring truth to journalism, they take the most masculine holiday of all time and celebrate it in a manner that, quite frankly, didn't celebrate it at all. I mean, we should be celebrating true manhood, true masculinity. They come out with a celebration of trans fatherhood, which is the antithesis of all of that. I also saw, I believe it was the New York Times. There was a total of four Father's Day pieces, and I think all four, or at least none of them, were written by a man. It's a disgrace. And that's why places like Daily Wire are thriving.
- [43:22]
A
Well, to the New York Times credit, they probably don't really have any straight men with children to write pieces about Father's Day, so they kind of had to go with whoever they could get. Now, for everyone at home who doesn't want to read an essay about fatherhood that was written by a woman, you can go check out Gates latest piece up on the Daily Wire. It's titled the Surprising Gift Strong Fathers Give Their Kids. Tell us what you mean here.
- [43:48]
D
Yeah, look, I mean, I open with a joke and say, if your dad can't bench press 225, he's probably your mom. And all kidding aside, my sons do care what I can bench press, but most kids don't. But a father's strength is really the first form of security that a kid's experience. They want to be carried to bed. They want to be carried out of the car seat. They want to be taken care of. They want to be thrown on your shoulders. They want to be tossed in the pool. Kids don't really notice how strong you are physically, but they want to know that you can do things. And we always hear, you know, I get in shape as a dad because I want to be around for a long time. Cabot. I don't want to just be around for a long time. For the time I am around. I want to be the best version of myself for my kids. And physical strength is a part of that. And the last thing I'll say on it is more caught than taught when it comes to Fatherhood. My kids see me exercise. You're setting an example for them. Your body is in some ways your business card. It doesn't necessarily reflect all of your principles or your character, but it reflects something about you. When others see you, kids can actually see you work out. And when my kids see me doing physical things, they're more motivated to do them themselves.
- [44:57]
A
If your dad can't bend 225, he might be your mom. Thankfully, I can retain the title of father in this case then, so I'm very happy. Barely, barely at this point had some shoulder injuries. So we're barely clinging onto the title of fatherhood. But Gates, you know that the reaction to this piece, I'm sure you've seen it. There have been people saying, well, this is ableist, and people saying, oh, physical strength has nothing to do with being a good dad. What do you say to those?
- [45:26]
D
So look, there are certainly people with disabilities, there's certainly people with life circumstances where they can't acquire the same physical strength of others. When you write a piece, it's obviously gonna be a little tongue in cheek. We have a lot of fun on the upstream channel, on Daily Wire's editorial page. Look, what it's about is there are things in our lives that we have control over. Our health is a big part of that. For some of us it is brute strength, but for others, it's our mental health and other things like that. When these things are in our control. As fathers, we have a responsibility to carry that burden and do our best to be the best versions of ourselves. So obviously, if you cannot, if you're never going to be able to bench press 225, get out there and walk around the neighborhood, do something else where your kids can actually see you, say, hey, I'm trying to become the best version of myself. One, so I can be around for you, as I stated earlier, but two, so you can have an example of how you can take care of yourselves as well. These things are in our control. God gave us a body. He gave certain capabilities. With each one of our bodies, we have the burden of responsibility to do our best with that.
- [46:26]
A
I love that you talk about how a lot of things with parenting, they're caught, not taught. I had the coolest thing happen this week where we have a four month old and a two and a half year old and the two and a half year old, my wife had left her yoga mat sitting in our living room and he got down on it and had started doing some of my wife's poses and he was saying, exercise, exercise. We didn't even really notice that he was paying attention to what mom was doing, and he just started doing it on his own. And I think you bring up such a good point about, you know, your kids are watching and it's important for them to see that. And one of the things I loved in the piece that you talked about was the rise of the dad bod and how it's almost been glorified. And I totally understand not saying, hey, like every dad, you gotta have washboard abs or you're like, you're not a good father. I think that's silly. But to the point where almost being out of shape is being celebrated, what does that say about our culture more broadly?
- [47:19]
D
Yeah, I mean, we live in a comfort crisis, right. Every generation has been more comfortable than the generation that came before it. And we've seen our health sort of catch up to that. And so, yeah, the dad bod thing was funny. And by the way, Cabot, I mentioned this a little bit in the piece. I went on a 50 pound weight loss journey. I was fat and out of shape from years playing college football. I didn't have the sort of strength coach looking over my shoulder, making sure I was in the gym every day. So I've been through this transformation. I didn't have a dad bod. I was well beyond that. I was far gone. So everyone can sort of make their own transformation. But when we start celebrating complacency and fatherhood, because dad bod has the word dad in front of it, if you want to be fat and out of shape, that's your thing. But when you actually carry a family every day through life and you're the example that your home needs, you have a responsibility, like I said, to get in shape. And we gotta stop celebrating complacency. It's not just health in our country, it's in so many other ways. And I'm tired of it.
- [48:14]
A
We got one more minute, Gates. Inevitably there will be people who lump in your advice with what we hear from the so called manosphere, the Andrew Tates of the world. So what makes your message different from theirs?
- [48:30]
D
Because the manosphere is all about looking in the mirror and doing everything for your brand. Everything I'm saying about this dad bod craze and getting in shape is for my kids. I make it very clear in the article by saying I want to raise my kids on my shoulder. I want to throw them in the pool. I don't just want to dance with my daughter at her wedding. I want to dance with her kids at their wedding rather than being selfish like the manosphere. And I've talked a lot about this. I'm talking from a selfless perspective. A father is supposed to protect, provide and serve. Two of those things. Protect and serve come with physical strength, and that's what I'm talking about.
- [49:07]
A
Yeah. And I couldn't agree more with you. And I think it's important to differentiate there also the motives. The motives is that the manosphere will say, get in shape so you can get as many women as possible and be the alpha male. No, no. Being a true alpha male is getting married, treating your wife well, being a good father, having kids and setting an example for them in a loving, godly way. So, Gates, really appreciate your work. We always love your pieces on the daily wires upstream. Everyone go check those out. Check out the we the People podcast that Gates does as well. Pleasure to have you on, man.
- [49:37]
D
Happy Father's Day, Cabot.
- [49:39]
A
Thank you, Gates. Same to you as well. All right, guys, big news from the UK this morning. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation, paving the way for the nation's seventh prime minister in just 10 years. Here with the details on what led up to this ouster and what comes next is our good friend Bev Turner, host of the Late Show Live on GB News. Bev, great to have you back.
- [50:00]
G
Thanks, Kevin. Great to be here.
- [50:02]
A
So we talked about this when you were on last week. We've heard rumblings for a while now that Starmer was on the hot seat. What ultimately was the final tipping point? What led to his departure?
- [50:12]
G
There was a local election last week in Greater Manchester in the north of the uk. Now, local elections would never normally, a by election like this cause global attention, but this did, because the bloke who stood for labor is called Andy Burnham. And up until today, he was the mayor of Greater Manchester. Now, he'd held that position for nearly 10 years, but he stood in this by election last week because if he could become an mp, then he could become Prime Minister. And that is pretty much what is about to happen. There is a very small possibility that somebody else in the Labour Party might challenge him to that role, but otherwise he will be our Prime Minister. The timing of it is still vague because there are various parliamentary hoops which have to be jumped through. We're very traditional in the UK when it comes to this sort of process. But it looks like he'll be Prime Minister within maybe two to three weeks. If it gets disrupted by anybody challenging him, it Won't be until September. But Keir Starmer, there at the lectern, stood outside of number 10 Downing street and said that everything he'd done was in the interests of the country. But he's listened to his party and it is time for him to go.
- [51:24]
A
So what should folks in the US know about Burnham and the man taking over the helm for this special relationship?
- [51:31]
G
So he's a northerner. He's from Liverpool originally, but he's been the mayor of Manchester. Two very big footballing cities, of course, in the uk. Now, there is a joke about Andy Burnham which says that a Corbynite, a Blairite and a Starmite walk into a bar and the barman says, what would you like, Andy? In other words, nobody is quite sure what he stands for. He ran as a leadership contender against Jeremy Corbyn. He was a very far left candidate and Andy Burnham was beaten in that particular race. Now, we know that in Manchester he's done some really good work on the ground as a regional mayor. He's put in some great transport system. He's very much on board with the green agenda. So when it comes to talking to President Trump in that house around the corner from where I sit now, the two of them may not agree entirely on the Net Zero ambitions. Andy Burnham's wife works for an electric vehicle charging company in their marketing department. They're quite a green household, let's say. So there may be some dispute on that, because, as we know, President Trump has said repeatedly, repeatedly, the reason that Starmer has lost his leadership is because he got his Net Zero policies, he got his energy policies wrong and his migration. We do know a little bit about Andy Burnham in that he believes the states should be more involved in our infrastructure. So we have. Our water industry was privatized several years ago. Everybody has mammoth bills and terrible water provision in the uk. If it doesn't rain for a couple of days, we have a drought. So he is going to come in and will maybe, perhaps take water under national ownership again. He's very keen on the trains and the transport being national ownership. Again, quite different to Starmer, who to some degree, even given his faults, was quite happy to let big business largely take care of themselves without much state intervention. We don't know what Andy Burnham thinks about migration. We know that he is, at heart a pragmatist. He's very northern. As I say, he comes at these things, maybe more with a practical mind. What I am quite encouraged by Cabot, though, is that rather than swanning around in Davos and with the globalists. He's been busy working on a grassroots level with the people of Greater Manchester, so he's not quite on board with the big globalist agenda. A journalist did say to Keir Starmer recently, well, are you happier in Westminster or in Davos? And he said, didn't even miss a beat. He said, davos. I don't think Andy Burnham would say that. I think Andy Burnham would say that he's much happier being amongst his constituents, perhaps working with the British people. But a lot remains to be seen as to where he sits.
- [54:17]
A
What have we heard from him with regard to President Trump? I think that's the question for a lot of Americans, is how will these two get along, especially given a lot of the divide that we've seen lately between the UK and the US on some of these trade deals, disagreements over support for the war in Iran. What has his message been on Trump?
- [54:37]
G
He can barely get on with Trump any worse than Starmer has. Of course, Starmer and Trump were very good at faking the harmony. Trump was very polite about him, said he's a very nice man. But nice isn't really a compliment, is it? When it comes to President Trump, I think it's really hard to say. The only thing that I would perhaps lean towards is that Andy Burnham is a straight talker, as is President Trump. And I don't think he'll be kowtowed by Trump. I think he will probably stick up for himself and hopefully in that regard, I think the President will maybe respect him. Like I say, he doesn't have any experience on the international stage. He hasn't been in Parliament for many years. He hasn't been a sitting MP for nearly 10 years. So his agenda has been very much domestic. But of course he will. He's not going to be a fan of President Trump, let me put it like that, because nobody from the Labor Party is a fan of President Trump. They are a very socialist government, is what we have at the moment. The Conservatives and, of course, Nigel Farage feel quite differently about President Trump and about his agenda for America. And in fact, Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform uk, has been out today, of course, begging for a general election. He's saying, Andy Burnham does not have a mandate from the British people to be leading the country. And of course, that is true. Nobody's voted for him from the country. This will only be his own MPs that will anoint him to be Prime Minister of the uk. Now, if he calls a snap general election, everybody would Be very surprised by that because it's such a risk. They've got a big majority, he's got an ATMP majority. Why would anybody call the general election? If his confidence, maybe some might say arrogance, is such that he thinks he might win it, then maybe he will call a general election, but it's not likely that Labour would win it if he did. So I think he'll get into number 10. He has three teenagers. He has a son actually, in his 20, and he has two teenage daughters and his wife, who is Dutch by birth. They'll be moved into number 10 Downing street massive disruption for them as a family, of course, on a very prosaic level, but a lot of change for that family. And then he will set out his agenda for the country. We just aren't quite sure what that is. I'd like to think a meeting with President Trump will be high on his list of priorities, in my opinion. And I might try and have a word with the president and let him know what he might have in store for him.
- [57:04]
A
Yeah, well, the big question now becomes how long he's able to last, as we mentioned earlier, seventh prime minister in the last 10 years. A lot of turnover. We will keep an eye on how long he holds the spot down. Bev, thank you so much for coming on and helping us sift through all this news. Very fascinating stuff, as always. Thank you so much.
- [57:24]
B
Thank you.
- [57:25]
A
All right, guys, let's get to the White House, where Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olihan was just in the Oval Office with President Trump talking with the leader of the free world. And now she gets to talk with the leader of Wired in slight downgrade. But, Mary Margaret, great to see you. Tell us about your experience just now. What were you doing in the last few minutes?
- [57:50]
C
Hey.
- [57:50]
H
So I'm actually, I'm here at the White House. It is raining, so I'm sitting right under the little umbrella portion of the briefing room as I talk to you guys. But, yeah, I was just in the Oval Office, and obviously everyone was asking all about Iran. We were asking the president about this mou, about the vice president's negotiations, about all these different topics. I specifically asked whether he was happy with how the negotiations went with Vance in Switzerland over the weekend. He also asked about Secretary Rubio heading to the Middle east this week. And Trump had just nothing but glowing things to say about his team. He talked about how great they are. And actually, at one point, he compared Vance to Ocasio Cortez, Alexander Ocasio Cortez. And kind of joked about how Vance was more intelligent than her and talked about Ilhan Omar and joked about how she married a brother and, you know, made some classic Trumpian comments to that effect. So he said he's very pleased with how the negotiations are going. He really hyped up his team and how, you know, this war, he said, is maybe going even better than the Venezuela situation went. He said, we'll wait and see for to decide the exact verdict on that. But then I also asked him about Operation Midnight Hammer because today is actually the one year anniversary, anniversary of Operation Midnight Hammer. And you know, Cabot, we had so much fun putting together some amazing video on Operation Midnight Hammer. I got to go to Whiteman Air Force Base and go in some of these B2 bombers. So I'm gonna ask about that any chance I can get. And the president, he talked about this and he said there isn't anything he would change about that operation, because that's what I asked him.
- [59:27]
A
Yeah.
- [59:28]
H
And he talked about what a huge success it was. He then referred to me to Pete Hegseth and said, pete, you want to say anything? And Pete jumped in and he really had a lot of strong, strong praise for Operation Midnight Hammer as well. And he kind of lectured the liberal media for not acknowledging how successful that mission was. Of course, I'm standing there like, are you talking about me? Because I'm not part of the liberal media. But, you know, that's just kind of the way it goes in the Oval Office and in the briefing room. You get lumped in with the legacy media sometimes.
- [59:57]
A
And I just want to remind our audience the reason Mary Margaret is in the White House is because of our daily White House. So thank you guys so much for supporting this mission and getting some real reporters there at the White House. Mary Margaret, I want to ask you about the White House response to some of the criticism they've gotten from the GOP since the MoU details started to leak last week. And even since these negotiations have started with the Iranians in Switzerland, there have been plenty of folks on the right who have criticized this deal, saying this is The Obama deal 2.0. How have they responded to that criticism? What has their main message been?
- [60:32]
H
Yeah, they responded really strongly to that criticism. I think Vice President Vance has actually taken it head on several times. And what they'll say is, no, this is not the Obama deal. This is a very different situation. They talk about how Iran's navy has been crippled. They say this repeatedly. The Navy has been crippled. You know, Iran has No way to defend itself. They, we've obliterated their nuclear program. And they talk about all the points of this deal that they say make it so strong. Obviously, there's still a lot of people who have questions about the deal. They still have complaints. I think there's still people who are going to compare it to the Obama deal, no matter how hard the White House pushes back against this. And the White House is kind of responding by saying, look, the people who are criticizing us want to be in a war that is ongoing. One response I've started seeing from the White House is the claim that if you're criticizing the war, it's because you're profiting from it. That's one allegation they're pushing right now. And then, you know, a lot of other responses to this, to this, these criticisms. I know Trump supporter Alex Brushowitz, who's someone that we've interviewed in the past. Alex has started really pointing out a lot of influencers online who criticize the Iran deal, criticize the president who, you know, on both sides of the aisle, whether they are anti Israel or pro Israel. He's saying that there's influencers who are being paid to promote division. So he and the White House have really been cracking down on that line of attack as well. So it's definitely contentious, definitely a lot of aggression going on. And I don't know that we'll see the end of it anytime soon, but they're certainly not afraid to talk about it. I will say that there's a lot of, you know, messaging on the part of the White House. And J.D. vance did the whole podcast circuit last week. He. He was supposed to be talking about his book, and he talked about Iran the entire time. So there's no shortage of media clips on that front.
- [62:19]
A
Yeah. We know President Trump enjoys and relishes the chance to get to do a little fighting. Usually it's against the left, but I think he's perked up a bit at the chance to go after some folks on the right throughout this process. Now, Mary Margaret, I don't want to embarrass you, because I know you're surrounded by other important White House journalists such as yourself, but someone in the chat was asking, ask Mary Margaret what it's like in the Oval Office. What surprised her about the Oval Office itself. So give our audience a little insight. What surprised you about the Oval Office?
- [62:48]
H
Yeah, so the Oval Office is really small. It's, you know, in this room behind me, this is the. I believe this was the East Wing geographically challenged sometimes, but this is where the Oval Office is. And when they lead us in there, you got to push it in the right spot, spot right away, or else you're not going to get a question because the President can't see you. Then you're not going to get a question. So today, for example, I pushed right in there. I should have had a great spot, but a couple people pushed past me. So I was sort of behind some of the other reporters. Now, my friend Phil, thankfully, he let me in front of him towards the end, and then I still was able to catch Trump's eye while I was behind people. So he kind of points to me, gets back behind the other reporters to call on me. But then you're so close to everyone. Pete Hagseth was probably two feet away from me, and at one point I looked over and gave him a smile. He smiled back at me because he knows me from the Defense Department. So it's just such close proximity to all these cool people and to history. Honestly, you look at the desk and you see these carvings. Of course, someone like me, I think of National Treasure immediately. But for a historian, you'd think, wow, that is a Resolute desk. That is very cool that that is there. You know, it's very historic and there's so many other beautiful artifacts in the Oval Office. And then, of course, the President of the United States is sitting right there. And whether you like him or not, that's always going to be part of that.
- [64:05]
A
Just minor detail. Oh, yeah. President sitting right there. Mary Margaret, thank you, all of us. We're living vicariously through you. So basically everyone who's watching and listening right now, you guys just got to go into the Oval Office as well with Mary Margaret. So thank you as always, my friend. Great to see you.
- [64:24]
H
Thank you.
- [64:25]
A
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