The Hugh Hewitt Show I June 5th, 2026

Added: 2026-06-07

[00:00:00]the red line.

[00:00:02]>> Morning glory and evening grace America Ro Connor friend of the program been here a lot. A very progressive California congressman probably running for president has declared his red line his domestic abuse rape or sex with underage girls. I don't know what that means but Fox has been polling and John Ellis of news items is here. News items is what I begin my uh day with every single day. If you follow my ex account, you'll see I'll usually post one or two of the 15 to 25 items that John Ellis collects overnight so that they're 6 a.m. in my box. John, there's a Fox poll. Let's talk about what it tells us about Maine and then about Ohio. That's bad news for Democrats and bad news Ohio, respectively. What's Fox News tell us about Maine?

[00:00:48]>> I I don't know that Fox has done anything in Maine. They've taken a poll in Ohio that shows Sherid Brown leading by eight points with the Republican uh nominee at 45. So that's a bad number.

[00:01:01]That's bad news for the RS. I mean >> the Flatner story is now, you know, gone ballistic, gone viral, gone nuclear. And the question is, will he get out of the race? The answer is probably no. So, the Democrats are going into the game with a candidate that's deeply flawed, running against an incumbent who in 2020 won the state by 10 points. At the same time that Trump was losing the state by 10 points, they were a prudent vote getter.

[00:01:32]And since Democratic hopes for recapturing the Senate almost entirely depend or at least 90% depend on picking up that main seat. Uh, Mr. Clinton's role is all very good news indeed for the Republicans.

[00:01:50]>> Uh John, I went to um I spent a week in Maine, then I went to California a week, now I'm back in Maine for a week. The big difference when I went away for a week and came back is that platiner signs have been disappearing. Now, I don't know Maine voters well enough. I I don't vote in Maine. I just come up here for a couple of months in the summer and live off my brother-in-law. But my question to you is, uh, would anyone beat Susan Collins anyway, even if they weren't badly banged up? She she got a accolade last night from Chuck Schumer for casting her 10,000th consecutive vote, something that no one has ever done in the Senate before.

[00:02:26]>> Yeah, I think she's I think she could be beaten. I mean, Trump's uh approval rating is way down in Maine. Um, and she's old. She's been in the Senate for a long time. If you ran it >> up, you're you faded out on us there, John. Something's wrong with your audio.

[00:02:47]Uh you you came and you went. Um I'll try one more try here. The California governor and LA mayor races. They're not decided yet. Have you got an opinion on whether or not they are going to stand if it's going to end up being Hilton and Pratt in the runoffs against uh Javier Bisera and Karen Bass?

[00:03:11]I don't think either Republican has any chance of winning. In uh in last year, Republicans got very excited about Gas and Nome putting the redistricting Proposition 50 on the ballot and they said this would become a referendum when Gavly Republicans were trying it, you know, not to win in California. Prop 50 passed uh by nearly two to one margin.

[00:03:38]Uh and what the Democrats will do in both races in the way race is say look this is a referendum on Trump both of these Republicans are endorsed by Trump.

[00:03:48]If you know somebody endorsed by Trump vote for them. If you don't vote for the Democrat and that's a 604 at least.

[00:03:57]>> I I don't disagree with that. I think it's very hard for either of them to win. Does it hurt the Democrats because they have to spend California Teachers Association money and other money in the state just to make sure otherwise you don't have to. If it's two Democrats or running for both the mayor of Karen Bass gotten over 50% she'd be mayor already there press resources are finite right >> well it is except in the in the prop 50 uh race the Democrats ran a wave of advertising for about two weeks and then they pulled it because they won right I think that's probably what's going to happen in August and maybe there was a fender they'll do a wave of advertising if they see that it works if they see it's going to comfortable and not devote the resources to the state.

[00:04:47]>> All right, story number three, data center opposition. We talked about this before. You continue to predict it's going to be a huge issue in 2028. How did it grow this week? I think it's the leading edge of the AI issue which is you know the the terrifying prospect of AI taking jobs and making people's lives uh you know purposeless so to speak. Um but there's a there's a second piece of it which is really beginning to emerge which is the water tables that water is used obviously to cool the data centers to keep them cool. They have to be kept cool 24/7.

[00:05:25]uh and the water tables are going down uh in these communities. And so it's not just now data centers being put up in these communities and you know making noise all night long and so on and so forth. It's become a water issue. Uh and so that's I think children are charged a little bit for this cycle. I think by the time we get to 2028 AI will be the central issue.

[00:05:52]Now, um, on AI, uh, one of the bigs came out this week and called for self-p policing, which I laughed at because self-p policing has never ever worked, has it? Do you expect it to work in AI?

[00:06:06]>> I do not.

[00:06:07]>> Um, I I think that there, you know, a nonprololiferation agreement would be uh is devoutly to be wished. Um, but I don't think it's going to happen. Uh, and you know, they're all all of these groups, Chinese, American, French, uh, but particularly the Americans and the Chinese are sort of almost there to the summit of Mount Everest. They're not going to turn around. They're going to keep going until they get to the summit. And, uh, you know, that's that's holds enormous promise. I've said this before, it holds enormous promise and and [music] enormous peril. And >> the peril comes on the defense side. It comes on war days, right?

[00:06:50]>> It comes on all sorts of different kinds of I mean cyber war obviously, but the design of biological agents that could, you know, kill hundreds of thousands of people.

[00:07:05]>> Let's close with um SpaceX. SpaceX amended its public offering to state that water conditions could be an impact, a material impact. By water conditions, are they talking about what you just referenced, the AI water? Is that the problem?

[00:07:22]>> Yeah, it is a water issue uh because of the you know data that's needed to power the enterprise. Um and you know it is this water thing is really a big deal and you know you can see it you can look at the Hoover Dam for instance uh the table is way way down it's but it's a global issue and uh it's something that your listeners are going to be hearing a lot more about in 2027 and a whole lot about >> I was with Realm Emanuel on Monday tonight. And one of the things he held out as evidence that Republican and Democrat can work together is the Great Wake Great Lakes Water Pack, which he worked with George W. Bush to get passed in 2006. The states that got the water are the Great Lake states. Are they going to win everything in the next 10 years? Cuz they've got they've got 80% of the surface water in the United States are in the states abudding the Great Lakes. Do they win as a result?

[00:08:28]>> I they certainly won't. I mean, they're certainly helped by the fact by that fact. Um, but a friend of mine is a rancher in Minnesota near the North Dakota border and they're having to go deeper for water. You know, it used to be x, you know, $8 or whatever for whatever it was. And now they're having to go deeper money to get more water.

[00:08:54]It's, you know, the water issue is all over the place.

[00:08:59]Except in Ohio, people should move to the Midwest. John Ellis, follow him on X at Ellis items. Subscribe to uh news items by going over to Substack and just Google news items John Ellis and then you'll get it every morning in your box at 6:00 a.m. Thank you, John. Good weekend to you. I am in the Relief Factor studio. Here's my relief factor.

[00:09:19]Got my 10K in this morning, so I might as well do it right now and and tell you um got a lot. It's fetching Mrs. It's birthday on uh on Monday. So, we're going away for the weekend and I've got to go hiking. That's what she likes to do the most. I love going up and down. I love going long flat distances, but she likes to go up and down Hill and Dale.

[00:09:37]So, I got my Iicarian curcumin veratron Omega right here. And if you're watching on the Salem News channel, I just took it. I just want to tell you it does work. I take it every day. It'll be 14 years on my birthday.

[00:09:52]uh or actually the birthday of the show, the anniversary of my marriage. And I will tell you, Relief Factor is fabulous. The only product I've taken in more than 20 years. I'm not a big supplement person, but I believe in Relief Factor. 1995 for the starter pack. All you have to do is go and visit it at relieffactor.com.

[00:10:12]Relief.com or call 1800 the number four on the word relief 1995 for 3 weeks.

[00:10:18]Supply less than a dollar a day. Eli Lake joins me. Eli is with the Free Press. He's also the host of Breaking History. He's back after one week being away. Eli, I heard you on commentary earlier this week. A lot of people in America are confused about what exactly is America's position visav Iran and Lebanon right now. Why don't you lay out the facts the way I had ready Gore earlier this week lay out the facts about the three Lebanon wars. Why don't you just tell us what you assess us to be the situation right now?

[00:10:51]Well, it's strange because on the one hand some I mean there have been statements from Donald from President Trump where he says that I don't care at this point about the negotiations which by the way is probably the right move as somebody who understands negotiations probably better than almost anybody. Um at this point we want it too bad. He's making the same mistake as Obama. But leaving that aside, the position I think is that Israel should stay out of Lebanon and specifically that neighborhood in Lebanon and Dakia where the remaining Hezbollah leaders usually are residing and limit the uh war fighting to this area south of Latani River, which is I think part of the strategic goal for Israel at this point is to create a buffer zone of sorts so that they at least will be safe from the shorter range uh missiles rockets that Hezbollah fires into northern Israel.

[00:11:44]Um, and that really the problem I think from the Israeli perspective and frankly from my perspective as well and a lot of Americans is that it looks like Trump has a seeded to a linkage between Hezbollah the Hezbollah Israel war which Hezbollah joined and started kind of on their own. They didn't have to fire anything into Israel once the Iran war started. and then whatever is going to be happening with the straight of hormuz and everything else. So it's that linkage which is that when Iran says we want ceasefire that means Israel has to cease stop the firing and so far the Hezbollah has shown no interest in that.

[00:12:26]So I think you know he's gotten in this respect kind of you know he's it's a little bit of a trap and what he needs to do is he needs to understand that Israel degrading Hezbollah and taking out Hezbollah gives him more leverage with Iran and that these two things are linked and link it a different way. Does that make sense? It does make sense to me, but I also think the reality is this. Uh they're never leaving Lebanon, the southern Lebanon, south of Lutani, because if I understand it from what Aviv told me and what I've read, they have tried to occupy Lebanon, and it didn't work. It was expensive, but it it did work in terms of keeping the north occupied and populated. They withdrew and that allowed Hezbollah to advance to the border and threatened what might have been another 107 from the north as opposed to from Hamas and Gaza in the south. Now they've reoccupied. I don't think they're ever going to leave from the castle back to the south. Nor do I think they ought to leave until there's actually a government in Lebanon that's not a Hezbollah shadow government. You agree with my assessment?

[00:13:33]>> Yeah. I would one thing I would just point out is that at least the the rhetoric coming from Lebanese leaders has been better than I've heard in 20 years.

[00:13:41]>> I'm not saying that they're backing it up. What I'm saying is that you're getting >> statements saying that Hezbollah needs to disarm. You're I mean they still have to get rid of the the chief of staff of the Lebanese army. Uh I don't like the role that uh our envoy uh Tom Barack is playing in all of this. I think he is far too credulous when it comes to the Islamist government in Turkey with Erdogan as well as uh the intentions of Hezbollah and so forth. But that said, you do have at least Lebanese political leaders at this point who've had enough and they understand that Hezbollah started the war and that the reason the Israelis are there is because of Hezbollah and Iran. Now, uh, Benjamin Netanyahu is approaching elections, and I don't expect him to care how angry Donald Trump is if he thinks he has to do A, B, and C in order to retain his government in power, or at least get to a hung parliament so he gets to be the acting prime minister. Do you think he'll be restrained by anything that America wants him to do if he thinks it's in Israel's national security interest and thus his political interest to strike southern Beirut, which is where uh whatever is left of Hezbollah congregates.

[00:14:55]Uh I in a rare moment I I do think he has to take into consideration I mean we are living our political reality right now is that Donald Trump is like a bullwark in many ways for Israel in terms of US foreign policy. you know, Israel still is relying on the United States for a lot of its military supply chain and um that gives the United States a lot of leverage and given where the Democratic party is, given where an element at least of the Republican party, not all of it, uh and I'm not I want to make it very clear, Israel has very strong friends in Congress, people like Senator Cotton, Senator Cruz, and and there are many more, but Donald Trump is this is extremely dangerous.

[00:15:39]This is Ben Benjamin Netanyahu is in a lot of political jeopardy right now. And I have to say that this factors into it because if if President Trump feels that Israel is being ungrateful or defiant, there are a lot of things the United States can do uh and there are people in his administration who could give him lots of ideas that would be very damaging to Israel. And I'm sure that this is an excruciating decision for Netanyahu.

[00:16:07]Do you think that Trump wants to deal with Naftali Bennett as opposed to Netanyahu? I don't. I think he likes dealing with people that he know his age who get along with him that he's known for a long time.

[00:16:19]>> And so they had an angry phone call. Uh that's kind of part for the course for the president, isn't it?

[00:16:25]>> Yeah. I think it's recoverable. And I also think that the long-term interests of Israel, United States, and Netanyahu and Trump are the same. Trump wants to win the war in Iran. He doesn't want to have come out of this looking like a loser. And Israel has to win the war with Iran. It cannot have a wounded Iran uh you know in that's that's a that's a a terrible scenario. So both of them have an interest in finishing the job. I just am worried that like well okay what's the plan at this point? Now the Mossad did have a plan and I think the CIA probably had a plan and whatever that was let's get back to it. I'm sure it involved elements of of Iranian Kurds and Beluch and other minorities, but the the the the goal here has to be regime change, even though um that word has, as you know, taken on, you know, all kinds of of baggage since um the u operation Iraqi freedom. But that's what we're talking about. The what what I've learned, what I think we've all learned, there's no deal to be had at this point.

[00:17:31]And the deal is on the nuclear side is not as important because so much of their nuclear infrastructure has been destroyed because of Donald Trump's American military and the Israeli military which is a good thing. And reopening the straight of hormuz I don't think is going to come from the negotiating table either. It's going to come from military action and the end of the day the biggest threat is this regime. And once you get rid of the regime then you're not going to see this fence sitting from a lot of the Arab America's Arab Gulf allies. and a lot of that that creates space for a lot of really good things to happen like finally ending Hezbollah and ending Hamas and the other tentacles. But you got to get back to this. We can't live with this regime. Now, I will say this, Trump should I mean, I think to Trump's credit, we've gotten this far and there is no risk of American ground forces in Iran in a kind of Iraq style quagmire. I count that as uh a win for America and a win politically for Trump. That's a good thing. But we have to think creatively that regime change has to be the end goal at this point. This regime, as is the nature of every uh tyranny, will not hesitate to take every dime and dollar real and shekele whatever they have in Iran. They'll they'll strip their population bare and they'll let their population starve. You really can't bankrupt a regime like this, which is a quarter million people on top of 92 million people, can you?

[00:19:04]>> No. But it it it's it's a series of strategies. Ultimately, what you want to do is you want to the most important thing is you want to give the Iranian people the ability to communicate and access the internet without going through the ISPs that are controlled by the Iranian regime. That's extremely important. So, you want to restore the ability of the Iranian people to organize themselves. Number two, what you want to do is you want to build on this idea that in order for any state to do anything, there has to be complicity from several people down the chain of command. And you want to begin to deprive that. This is the theory of Martin Luther King and Gandhi and Jean Sharp. This is an this this this has worked in the past. It worked against Slobodon Mallich. And the argument against it usually is that well these this regime is so violent this regime is so brutal. I got to tell you something. Uh, Slobanalovich was pretty brutal. And more importantly, they still the theory still works in the sense that someone still needs to fire on the crowd. And so you are in some ways as I we've talked about this before the real story is taking a place across the dinner table. If the Iranian people and if various elements of the battered admittedly battered in opposition at this point feel that they have been abandoned by the world and specifically the leader of the free world which is Donald Trump in the United States of America then that then you know it'll become a self-fulfilling prophecy. But if this becomes not and I'm not just talking about rhetoric I'm talking about things like providing for strike funds.

[00:20:38]There are things that intelligence services and particularly the Mossad can re can start doing and to sort of you know whatever. Get getting that network up and going. Um, the ability to fly armed drones inside the country that take out Bijie commanders at checkpoints, that's very impressive. The Israelis demonstrated that in the early phases of the war. That needs to be phase two and we need to start getting back to that. And you could say, well, what are the chances? It might take a long time. Sure, there's no other option at this point, though. There we're always with this regime.

[00:21:11]>> You mentioned Gandhi. I've just been rereading Freedom at Midnight, which is the story of the partition of India into India and Pakistan. Gandhi took 25 years and uh went to jail repeatedly and he was up against a civilized country. I don't really see civil disobedience working in Iran. They got to have guns.

[00:21:30]We have one minute, Eli, till we go back. Don't they have to have guns?

[00:21:33]>> Well, I I I think some elements might have to have guns, and it might be a mix of both. But I would tell you that when you mentioned 25 years, the real opposition begins in 1999. That's more than 25 years in this case. The Iranian opposition has been letting us know where they are coming from now for 27 years. It starts at Tyrron University in 1999 and every few years they have come back onto the streets. So I I would say yes, you're right. I certainly hope there isn't more bloodshed, but it's the only way out is through at this point.

[00:22:06]And um you know we and and I think with the assist of the Mossad it could happen.

[00:22:11]>> Eli on Wednesday I was on Fox. I woke up to the news that in New Jerseyy's 12th congressional district Democrats had nominated 13 candidates. The fellow who got 28% named Dr. Hwami. Dr. Hwami was an associate of the blind shake. He went to Bosnia for an al-Qaeda front group.

[00:22:28]He went to Gaza in the middle of the current war. Dr. Hwami seems to me almost certainly to be an anti-semite.

[00:22:35]And I just said to Bill Hemmer, the Democratic Party is infected with anti-semitism and it's spreading at the speed of light. It's in Michigan with Elsa and and Rasheed. It's in Minnesota with Omar. It is up in Michigan in Maine with Graham Platner. Now it's in New Jersey. It's in some of the California congressional districts. It was in some of the Texas races. I think it could become a sepsis for the Democratic party. What do you think?

[00:23:02]I saw um your um your comments on that and I think you wrote something too which was really great. I agree. Um this is a we're at a critical moment right now and I'm still gobsmacked. Um, it's one thing to, um, if he had, you know, been a a surgeon who went to Gaza and it was under humanitarian, maybe he didn't know, but he he he testified in the defense of the blind shake in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing trial. Um, so how do you explain that? And, uh, I don't care that he, you know, served in the US military. lots of, you know, Lee Harvey Oswald also serves in the US military. So, I it's a big institution.

[00:23:45]Um, >> so did Major Hassan who went on a rampage in >> jihadist. Yeah, exactly. And I am very, what I worry about is because we're both were around for 9/11. We both have read The Looming Tower. I think that there are a lot of younger Democratic activists in this country and Democrats in this country and voters in this country who have no idea that Iwan, the Muslim Brotherhood, jihadism are ideologies. They are not the same as the religion of Islam. And they hate America. They want they're one of their goals is to destroy America and reinstate the ancient Islamic caliphate.

[00:24:30]We have uh an enduring interest to make sure that this kind of politics is quarantined and marginalized in our country at the very least. And we have to understand this as a hostile ideology. It's bad enough that the leadership of Turkey is Muslim Brotherhood which is a NATO ally. The idea that it's now going to be acceptable to be be adherence to this ideology if you are running in a Democratic primary. Uh it nauseiates me.

[00:25:01]It's unbelievable that this is happening.

[00:25:02]>> It's unbel Does anyone make the effort to explain that the Muslim Brotherhood is not the Rotary Club. The Muslim Brotherhood is not a fraternal association like the Knights of Columbus. It's an ideology. And if you're hanging around with the blind shake, you're anti-Semitic and you're anti-American. I I just think it follows like night follows day. And I I don't know if you think it's that that solid, but I do. I've read Andy McCarthy's books. Andy's got a brand new podcast out of the McCarthy report, which explains the whole trial of the blind shake and this guy's role in it. It's astounding to me that he's the nominee of the Democratic party and that there are not more Democratic leaders who are calling this out. There are a few um I saw a statement um I'm going to I I don't exactly remember, but it was a statement from I think one Democrat or two Democrats who said if this guy wins the election, he should not be allowed on certain committees for national security reasons. Okay, that's a start. But where's Chuck Schumer?

[00:26:03]Where's Hakeem Jeff? Where's the leadership of this political party that says this is not who we are and we're going to draw a line at this? And to me, that's that's like a no-brainer. I mean, I and we're so we sort of it's almost like a slow motion car wreck. You kind of saw it coming with mom Donnie and his associations with the Democratic Socialists of America, and this is where it leads. So, we got to >> Does at least it lead to a realignment?

[00:26:29]I'm not Jewish. I don't know about why Jews vote for Democrats, but they do.

[00:26:34]Does this lead to a Jewish realignment of the Jewish vote in America? A significant one, not a two or three point, but a large I am Jewish and I am I cannot see how you can support the part. I mean, I could see how you could support John Federman or Richie Torres or uh Josh Godheimer. I can see there are certain individual Democrats, but if the party is going to stand by this and then add to that Graham Platner, who I think there's now overwhelming evidence that he knew exactly what that tattoo was. It wasn't like he was ignorant of it.

[00:27:05]>> And you know, how could you possibly get in line behind this party? Um, you know, I so I don't understand it. I understand why somebody who's ethnically Jewish but is cares more about, I don't know, socialism. Sure, I get that. But if you if you go to synagogue, if you if if you observe the Sabbath, if you if you care about your Jewish identity and you don't see it, by the way, I never saw my Jewish identity in conflict with my American identity, uh then you have to be very concerned about this.

[00:27:34]Eli Lake, always good to talk with you.

[00:27:37]A new >> to breaking history podcast on the Who Owns the Declaration is up, by the way.

[00:27:44]You can read Eli in the free press. I hope he writes this weekend. before uh we get too [music] further into this anti-semitism story about Hawwami. Thank you, Eli. Follow him on X at Eli Lake.

[00:27:55]Special treat on a Friday. One of our very favorite guests is Jonathan Williams, who is president of the American Legislative Exchange Council.

[00:28:05]You can also read him on um X at tax economist. Jonathan, welcome. I want to begin by asking you about Wallet Hub. I don't know much about Wallet Hub. tell us about their rankings and how they got the the ranking of West Virginia completely wrong.

[00:28:22]>> Well, hey Hugh, it's a it's a great example, unfortunately, of a fake news headline in that uh WLET Hub did rank West Virginia 51st. Uh you know, maybe they were going for something like Barack Obama's 57 states. I'm not exactly sure, but you know, the devil's in the details often when it comes to these rankings. And you know, as we know with rich states, poor states, we pay a lot of attention to getting it right when it comes to measuring states. And you know, the the big uh difference between why Hub gets it wrong about West Virginia and how rich states, poor states measures West Virginia much differently with an economic outlook at 17th best in the country is what we're looking at measuring, right? I mean, that's the devil in the details. And Wallet Hub is looking backwards in rich states, poor states is looking forwards when it comes to the rankings. There's no doubt West Virginia's been a state that's been, you know, hurting for decades. The key uh difference though is when you look at what policy makers are actually control of the tax policy, the regulatory climate, education policy, West Virginia is moving in the right direction. And I think rich states, poor states certainly captures that momentum.

[00:29:28]You know, don't just take our word for it. I mean, people are voting with their feet and moving to West Virginia on net from the other 49 states. So they're taking note of the great work that Governor Patrick Morsy, one of my favorite governors in America, and the legislators are doing on education freedom and tax cuts and making West Virginia more competitive. And so uh you know that you always have to look below the surface when you look at any of these ranking systems. So don't buy at the news that West Virginia is dead last in America. West Virginia is moving in the right direction. Hugh, >> I'm not going I'm not going to buy it.

[00:30:02]I'm going to trust my rich states, poor states. And I remind everyone, you can get that for free. Leave it in your guest room. Leave it around your house.

[00:30:09]People always go to it and look up their state. And it's absolutely free. It's a wonderful book. Rich States poor states.com.

[00:30:17]Jonathan, while I've got you, we were talking before the program about the fact you've been married for a long time. I've been married for a longer period of time. So, I need your you're you're a expert. You're an economist, right? And you know marriage. So, I'm coming up on my wife's birthday on Monday and I have two presidents for her. I can either give her this 250th anniversary of our country seabag. It's a beautiful seabag. Costs a couple hundred bucks. Or I can give her this seabag, which is the Cleveland Brown sea bag. So, I'm asking you, Jonathan Williams, as a longtime married man, would you go with the 250th anniversary seabag or the Cleveland Brown Seabag?

[00:30:55]>> Hey, I think you know the answer to that. American 250 all the way, my friend. But hey, I was I was thinking you may give her a copy of Rich States, Poor States for the anniversary. I don't know. Does she have one?

[00:31:04]>> Oh, we've already got that.

[00:31:06]>> We've already got that. We We actually leave that in our guest room because people do love that. All right, let's move to North Carolina. You know, we're looking for a place to run away to live in if uh Virginia goes as crazy as I think it could go because I'm not going to live in Virginia if they raise the taxes to I left California because of that. And I'm thinking maybe North Carolina. That's pretty close to the grandkids. What has North Carolina done this week that makes it more attractive for people?

[00:31:33]>> Well, what North Carolina is continuing to move in the right direction. This week was a big week there in Raleigh where you had the conservative majorities of the legislature uh as well as getting a couple of votes from independent members who are not members of the Republican party vote to override Governor Stein on his veto of uh their acceptance of the Trump Education Freedom Tax Credit. As you know, it's an optin to that program to give $1,700 tax credit per year to scholarship granting organizations in that state. We've seen about 30 states already opt in and North Carolina was a hold out because of Governor Stein's veto. Thankfully, cooler heads did prevail and you had the legislature override that veto which now opens up that amazing opportunity for taxpayers in the state. Moreover, the scholarship granting organizations, those private uh institutions in the state that will now be able to take those dollars and use that on the ground in North Carolina in the future. So, that was a huge win. The other thing that they did was they had a resolution which is an ALEC model resolution encouraging the Trump effort and Linda McMahon's effort to get rid of the bureaucracy of the federal department of education and move those functions to other areas uh within the federal apparatus but more importantly return education back to the states into parental control ultimately. And so that's also moving in Raleigh this week.

[00:33:00]So it was a banner week this week there in North Carolina especially as it relates to education freedom. One of our best and favorite topics here at ALEC.

[00:33:09]>> Well, Jonathan, does the state lose anything when they opt in? The $1,700 tax credit goes to the family of that is paying the taxes. It doesn't take any money away from the state, does it? Why wouldn't any state opt into it?

[00:33:24]>> You know, this is the the the great question, Hugh. This is a no-brainer of an issue. And even recently, we've seen Kathy Hokll, the governor of New York of all places, say that she's looking at opting into this. So, I mean, if you have people like liberal Democrats like Kathy Hokll in a state that has been run by teachers unions think that this may be a good idea, this is absolutely a good idea. And it doesn't cost the state a dime. What it does do is allow those education entities within the state lines to take advantage of these dollars. parents can use those dollars elsewhere, but that money would go out of state if you don't opt into the programs. It's a great great idea to do that across the country. Okay, last story. My friends in Colorado have for as long as I've been on the air 25 years been very very proud of their TABOR, which a taxpayer of some sort of protection of taxpayers that prevents it. And now the Dems in Colorado are trying to get rid of Tabore again. They try this like every five years, don't they?

[00:34:22]Well, there they go again, as President Reagan would say, right? And every two years, they look to get rid of the nation's gold standard in the state constitution, the taxpayer bill of rights. Uh really the gold standard protection against overt taxing and overspending. It just says if you want to spend more, then the economy is growing essentially. You just need to go and ask for taxpayers approval. Uh the progressives who run the legislature in Colorado right now don't like that. They don't want to go and get people's approval to raise more taxes and and raise more spending. And so every two years they go through this exercise, get all the big spenders and the special interest to try to take this out of the constitution. Thankfully, so far, Hugh, Alec and our friends and allies have been able to preserve that. And uh let's hope this fall once again that Colorado doesn't lose that inherent advantage that they've had for more than 30 years.

[00:35:13]It's the one thing from keeping Colorado from becoming California East.

[00:35:17]We have to make that a centerpiece of our broadcast from the ALEC annual meeting which will be in Orlando on July 22nd and 23rd. John will spend a lot of time on the air with me down there and if he made the wrong choice on the seabags [music] I'll let him know then. Jonathan Williams from the American Legislative Exchange Council. [music] Remember richstatesportstates.com alec.org.

[00:35:41]Senator Susan Collins of Maine made her first comments on the travailes and troubles of her likely but not certain opponent Graham Platner today. Let's play what Senator Cohen had to say.

[00:35:53]>> Your presumptive challenger in November's election. Graham Platner, another scandal, I guess you would say, coming out in the New York Times yesterday. What's your reaction to it?

[00:36:01]Have you had a chance to read the story?

[00:36:03]And what's the takeaway from you?

[00:36:06]The allegations in the latest story are troubling and I believe that Graham Platner has a lot of questions to answer.

[00:36:17]>> Do you think it will cost him votes and should it cost him votes this November?

[00:36:21]>> Well, that's really up to the people of Maine. That's really up to the people of Maine. Um, so we'll see what what happens. One of the women that the Times spoke to, uh, Lindseay Fefield, uh, he called her a GOP operative. I believe she worked for, uh, Nikki Haley's campaign at one point. She even joked in some messages with friends about, you know, going to campaign for you, um, but said she had no connection to you. And the Times couldn't couldn't find anything there either. Just on the record, is there any connection to this Lindsay Feel from your side of things?

[00:36:55]>> There isn't. I've never met her and I'd never even heard her [clears throat] name before I read the New York Times story.

[00:37:04]>> So, that is as definitive as can be. Um, Graham Platner is a troubled person. I was on Fox with John Roberts earlier today. I'll play that for you next hour.

[00:37:14]He simply is not fit to be in office.

[00:37:17]There's more coming. And his appearance with Chris Hayes last night was painful to watch. I watched all that. The New York Times story is damning. And there's really no way for him to be rehabilitated. But Maine Democrats can still vote for Governor Mills. So they have a real choice. It's not like they have to vote for Graham Platner. They can vote for Governor Mills. She's still on the ballot. And I don't know how they actually vote for Graham Platner. That's a very dark past. Lots of people have dark past. You don't elect them in the place of Susan Collins. Let me remind everyone about something happier about the very last day I'm going to talk to you about Angel Tree. But I really do want you to consider making it possible for one more camper to go. Give a listen to one Angel Tree camper Cassidy.

[00:38:04]>> My dad was never in my life. It was kind of hard him not being there cuz it was just me and my mom. If you're thinking about donating to Angel Tree, it's a really good thing to do to contribute to us kids because it'll make us feel special and make us feel like we're important in life and it'll make us feel loved, you know, and everyone wants to feel loved. Thank you, Angel Tree.

[00:38:25]>> Thank you, Angel Tree. Thank you, whoever is thinking about making a donation. A buddy of mine, Robert, said last night the link wasn't working. I checked it out. Sometimes you might have to clear your cash on your computer, but it's definitely there at the very top of huh.com.

[00:38:40]Or you can call882062764.82062764.LE82062764.

[00:38:51][music] Thank you, Jan, for the $1,000 and the five scholarships that that allows. Five more kids going to camp this summer. And boy, do they love you. and it will not be forgotten. What you do for the least of these, you do for me. Well, Angel Tree does it for them. The weekend is upon us and I'm so happy to welcome back Ben Dominic. Ben, of course, is the host of the Big Ben Pod, which is really, really excellent this week. And we'll talk about Graham Platner fairly quickly and about the Democratic Party. Uh, but Ben, I want to begin. I also want to let people know you're the opinion editor of the Daily Signal. How's the new gig working out? Do you like doing that?

[00:39:28]>> The Daily Wire. Got it. Got it.

[00:39:29]>> Daily Wire. Daily Wire >> Ben Shapiro will shoot me.

[00:39:33]>> We actually we have uh we have a we've had some great pieces this week uh from uh Senator Josh Holly familiar to your readers. We have a great interview tomorrow that'll come out um on the on the threat that AI poses from uh Nate Sars who is one of the uh heads of sort of the Silicon Valley AI skeptic groups.

[00:39:53]Uh and then uh next week we have an interview with uh Ted Cruz about his plans for college sports uh with so I hope that people uh uh will come to the Daily Wire and and read uh you know some smart opinions from all our folks including uh including those people.

[00:40:09]>> I want to read the Josh Holly piece.

[00:40:11]Mike Pence was my guest yesterday for his new book uh what do conservatives believe? It's a good book by the way.

[00:40:16]It's a fine book. Uh Mike Pence is my age. So we are regonauts and we are older than the younger rising generation which hang out over at the Daily Wire etc. But Mike Pence says Josh Pauly is a populist conservative not a regonaut.

[00:40:30]What do you make of that?

[00:40:33]>> You know here's the thing. I I and and I actually Let me ask you this as a Regonaut. Uh and and with all due respect, isn't Reagan an incredible populist? If you look at especially the formation of his political beliefs, Reagan in his own hand, which is a book that I recommend to virtually everybody that I speak in front of, especially college kids, is kind of a way to see his own process. It's, you know, it's these radio scripts that he made as he was traveling around America. And you can see the edits uh that he made in different pieces, the way he would pull stories uh from local experience, and he would apply it uh in ways that spoke to great principles. Look, you know, obviously Josh Holly did his thesis and and has written extensively about Teddy Roosevelt. He has a lot of, you know, affinity for things that I think are a little bit more pro-govern in terms of the use of governmental power. Um, but I also think that, you know, when it comes right down to it, the principles, what he's trying to achieve is an America that is strong, uh, that is good, that it that secures our liberties, uh, that, uh, has an actual, uh, impact on the world, that is not just looking inside its borders. And to me, kind of the the end state of populism is when they basically say, "We need to turn into an island and cut ourselves off from the rest of the world, which is just a backwards and ridiculous statement at this point in history."

[00:41:55]>> Well, you know, it's a it's a almost a distinction without a difference to me.

[00:41:59]Uh because David Trulio introduced me to uh Josh Holly. David Trullio until recently, the president of the Reagan Foundation out in California and a member led a young group of young conservatives in DC. And and Josh Holly wasn't anybody then. He just written this book on TR, but he was a John Roberts clerk, as was his wife. And I've known the Chief Justice since we worked together in the White House 40 years ago. And I thought, well, you can clerk for John Roberts. I'm going to, you're a smart guy. So I've always thought when he speaks, he speaks about the family, about faith, about masculinity. I don't think that's intention with Reaganism.

[00:42:36]Reaganism is really about individual liberty and a strong defense and being an anti-communist. That's it. I mean, that's it.

[00:42:42]>> I'm ins here's here's the thing. There's this whole there was a meme that kind of came around in the, you know, about 10 years ago, people who were criticizing zombie Reaganism and and I think the idea there was uh people who were critical of Trump because of the defections that he had from conservative orthodoxy. But I think there's two ways to view that. One is to say, you know, what what did Reagan believe it needs to be in Amber? and we always need to sort of uh you know adopt policy approaches that are exactly the same as that we would in 1984. There's another approach that says what would Ronald Reagan think about the situation today? And I think that's the healthy response. It's the same way that we look at the founders, which is to say, you know, I you know, I I'm really curious what would what would Thomas Jefferson and John Adams argue about when they were talking about AI?

[00:43:31]That's like that's the kind of thing that like I'm interested in and and I just think that we should think about these you know people as not just stuck in the time that they are in when in the case of Reagan look I I was alive during Reagan so from my perspective he's the greatest president of my lifetime he won the cold war he battled the bear there is no one better in my opinion and so you know I am not going to reject him at the same time we have different problems today than we had then immigration situation that we have now compared to where we were when he was trying to figure out an immigration deal. It's a completely different situation. So why would you just say oh well he would favor some I mean this is the kind of game the left plays where they say you know well Reagan was in favor of this this and that. Why aren't you in favor of it today? Well I don't think Reagan applying his principles would be in favor of what you're advocating for today.

[00:44:22]>> Yeah. And in fact going way back to 76 my first presidential campaign. I was with Ford. Mark Levin was with Reagan.

[00:44:29]So Mark always chides me as being a rhino because I was a Ford man in 76 and I ran youth for Ford in Massachusetts and I was >> forgiven for that.

[00:44:39]>> Well well doesn't Mark and I get along just fine but Mark always gigs me on that because I was with Ford. You know what the big difference between them was a Panama Canal in 78 and Buck >> one [laughter] of the greatest debates that has ever happened. And I was I was happy to see when I uh I was once uh in in uh in George Will's office, he showed me the pictures that he had from the debate that played out that William F.

[00:45:02]Buckley arranged, which is one of the most iconic moments in in conservative history. And obviously, you know, not to get into the back rooms of this and gosh, we're going on a tangent, but the but the fact is William F. Buckley, you know, in my opinion, set that up entirely to, you know, to create a basis for Reagan as a serious thinker about foreign policy. And again, that's a populist position. You know, you know, we we we built it, we paid for it, it's ours, and we're going to keep it.

[00:45:30]>> That's a very populist position. So, I I just you the vice president Pence is a friend of mine. I think what he's really getting at really really Ronald Reagan was a gentleman's gentleman. Gerald Ford was a gentleman's gentleman. Mike Pence is a gentleman's gentleman and the new generation of conservatives are much more combative and N. Gingrich changed it. It goes back to N. Gingrich in the debate when he went after John Oh, come on. Help me. John King.

[00:45:57]>> Well, may maybe I can I can show by cards here and say that I'm I am more of a new generation person. Yes. You know, I I I believe that, you know, we we we had to discard a lot of these kind of uh these these past definitions of civility and confront the left for what they had done, which is taken over the institutions of American life and call them out for it and confront them in in ways that challenged them that were far more aggressive than perhaps sat well with, you know, a class of of Republicanism uh that, you know, really is more respectable of authority. you know, when it when it comes to things, you know, and and I do not, hey, I don't dismiss that. I how can I? I grew up going to an Episcopal church, but at the same time, you know, it's one of these things where that is actually a healthy development, I believe, because it recognizes reality. And I mean, we're we're about to talk about Graham Platner.

[00:46:52]>> Yep. that recognizes the reality of what the New York Times does now versus what the New York Times may have done in the past or the respect that we have ma may have shown to institutions like 60 Minutes in the past that we should no longer you know view as being sacrosanked as being protected from the reality of what they are today >> and and it's converging and we're going to take three segments on this so let me set it up this way uh Graham Platner's on the table uh so the New York Times so is 60 Minutes The backdrop of this is Anita Hill where Anita Hill made up stuff and tried to gig Justice Thomas.

[00:47:28]Uh Christine Ford Blazy made up stuff, tried to gig Brett Kavanagh. I do not believe >> you you do not know this, but I watched the Clarence Thomas hearings as a as a kid when they broadcast it on PBS.

[00:47:41]That's the degree to which my my uh uh parents uh were were interested in us learning about politics as it happened.

[00:47:49]Uh and uh and it is still a a formative moment for me in terms of how old were you the way because I mean they're talking about pubic hair on Coke cans. I mean I know I was I was I was I guess I was eight years old.

[00:48:03]>> Oh my gosh.

[00:48:04]>> But so it was it was a little Yeah. But hey, I also lived through the uh you know I I remember downloading the Star Report from AOL.com.

[00:48:13]>> Oh well that's even worse. All right.

[00:48:15][laughter] So then we've got then we've got all these standards and the New York Times and the and the 60 Minutes people are on high horses and the Me Too movement comes along. Now comes Graham Platner and every totem, every chivallet that we were told by all of the left and all the legacy media has been put aside for Graham Platner who is a deeply troubled man. I'm not going to characterize how he's troubled, but is that not a fair statement? He's just troubled.

[00:48:43]Here's what I think about Graham Platner, and I don't this is probably going to break with the the the general conservative mantra about things. I recognize Graham Platner. Graham Platner is kind of the the the the he is the dark side of the coin for people like JD Vance and Pete Hexess.

[00:49:04]He's someone who came out of his experience militarily with a lot of darkness with it. I know guys who are like Graham Platner. They're intelligent people actually. They're they're students of history. They they you know clearly you know in in you know one of the funniest things about Platiners is that he pretends to be this kind of populist rising up guy. You know he went to Hoskus uh at least for a year I guess.

[00:49:28]>> Hold it right there. He went to Hodgekus which is a $70,000 a year high school.

[00:49:32]So he's not really a workingclass kid.

[00:49:35]Stay tuned. Ben will talk to me.

[00:49:37]>> No farmer either. No, he's not. Unless you count one restaurant owned by his mom and I want you to pick up where you left off. You know, you know, Graham Platner or people like that.

[00:49:46]>> I know I know guys like I mean I don't I don't think I know anybody who's had a toteen cough on his chest. But the point is I know a lot of guys who came out of that experience and they were troubled and they had a lot of you know quite frankly they had marriages that broke up and they had lives that fell apart and they had you know health problems and psychological problems and most of them became addicts and it's you know and it's a sad situation and it's an indictment quite frankly of our VA which I still think is kind of the under reportported story of the last decade and a half of how poorly we have served the people who came back from serving our country and serving it you know willingly.

[00:50:22]By the way, the idea that Susan Collins sent him to war is just, you know, BS.

[00:50:26]Look, here's the thing about Pratt Platner, and it's it's what Democrats are dealing with right now. They believe that they can survive this situation if there is nothing else that comes out about him. I do not believe there will be nothing else that comes out about him, nor does anyone who is intelligent on Democratic staff. That's why you had the questions asked by Elizabeth Warren.

[00:50:53]That's why you've had the statements from John Federman, from uh Maggie Hassan, from a number of other people.

[00:50:58]And I will tell you this, Hugh, and but what you know, Hugh, you know Maine more than I do. I I will say that you you spend more time there than I do. When when it comes to Maine, there is an aspect of this that I think people do not appreciate, which is that Angus King's son is running for governor. Uh he is going to lose. Um, when that happens, I think it's very possible that Angus Kaine crosses over, breaks with his party. I know he's an independent, but he caucuses with the Democrats and actually endorses Susan Collins. I think that that could play politically in a very damaging way. I don't know what you think about this. I'm curious as to your thoughts, but I do think that it matters on the certain I >> I I think last night when Chuck Schumer, and it happened last night, took time to salute Susan Collins for making 10,000 consecutive votes. I've never heard a senator. I've talked to many of them.

[00:51:49]>> It is a tell. It's it's an indication of, >> yeah, we really wish we hadn't let this happen. And I think that a lot of it was asurances that they had and also fear of their far-left populist base, which represents, as I've said before on this program, about a third of their party.

[00:52:08]They are scared of those people because they are younger, they are loud, they are active online and they do move numbers in terms of donor dollars and the like. From my perspective, Platner is a troubled individual. I don't know how much of all of this is true. I don't know how much of the rumors are true. I do think that he's someone who should not be anywhere close to the US Senate.

[00:52:30]So Janet Mills might beat him, but if um Jared Golden gets swapped out in a Torricelli move, could he beat S? I don't think he can beat Susan Collins either, but do you think so? We got 30 seconds to come back.

[00:52:42]>> I I do not think so. Susan Collins, gosh, she's been there for 30 years.

[00:52:46]She's such a survivor. She beat the odds last time around. I would not bet against her. I I'm I mean, Cali, do what you want. I would not take the other side of that.

[00:52:57]>> Yeah, I agree. When we come back, America, we're going to talk more Calshi because Ben is a big Spurs fan. He's always been telling me the Spurs were going to sweep and now we've got the [laughter] mix. Stay tuned. I'll be right back with Ben Davich.

[00:53:11]>> Ben, how long have you been married?

[00:53:12]Have you been married 10 years yet?

[00:53:15]>> I've been with my wife for 10 years uh as a as a girlfriend and then spouse, but I've I have not been married 10 years, but effectively I have. Yeah.

[00:53:23]>> All right. So, I've been giving uh birthday presents for almost 50 years, and I got to give one on Monday to my my wonderful wife, the fashion M. I And you can't see this, Ben, but I've got a sea bag here that the people on the Salem news channel can see. It's a beautiful red, white, and blue 250 seabag. It's a gorgeous thing. I bought that. Can I >> You tweet this. It looks gorgeous. Can I get one of those?

[00:53:44]>> Yes, you go to sea bags. But here's the Cleveland Brown SEAB bags. Now, I can give her this one, too. Now, you've been married 10 years. Which one should I give her? the Browns seabag or the American 250?

[00:53:56]>> No, the American 250.

[00:53:58]>> All right, I'll go now. About the Spurs.

[00:54:00]Uh, I'm rooting for the Knicks because if the Knicks win, that means the Cavs lost to the best team in the NBA. Are you rooting for the Knicks?

[00:54:08]>> I'm rooting for the Knicks, but it's for entirely financial reasons. I have a future on the Knicks that was placed before this playoffs began because I thought they were the best team.

[00:54:18]>> Oh, you did?

[00:54:19]>> Yes. And uh and so I am I'm to be quite honest. Look, I love WBY. I I think WBY is going to be a great I I I hope that W >> He's an alien.

[00:54:31]>> He's an alien.

[00:54:33]>> He is a creature from a different universe. [laughter] I mean, it's just like watching this guy is insane. I was trying to explain to my daughter literally uh she was watching me watch highlights from the game. She was like, "That man is very tall."

[00:54:49]Yes, he's very tall. He would >> very good. [laughter] >> So, but but it's it's the look, it's I I I love that, but I think it's a little too early for him. And I think Jaylen Brunson, I mean, the the way what he what he did in the fourth quarter there.

[00:55:04]They I know they started slow. I know they had problems. Uh they didn't play a great game, but they won anyway. And I I look, my colleague and uh technically I guess boss Ben Shapiro uh is is emphatically opposed to the Knicks, but I actually think that it's kind of good in in a certain way to have, you know, a fan base that has been so longsuffering.

[00:55:25]>> Yeah. Oh, that's exactly it.

[00:55:27]>> That's exactly.

[00:55:28]>> The other thing is I I mean I thought you were going to go in a different direction here. What do you think about that trade? I mean >> Oh, I I love the trade. It's good for everyone.

[00:55:36]>> You love the trade.

[00:55:37]>> I do love the trade. I love Jason Verse.

[00:55:40]I love the draft capital. We'll get a QB if Shador can't do it and Miles deserves a Super Bowl run. And so, everybody wins.

[00:55:47]>> I completely agree. I think it's a win-win all around. And I and I think that you guys just sort of set yourself up. I mean, the the the tr the the truth is the fan base there is so dedicated.

[00:55:57]And I was watching an interview with uh Terry McLaren was on with Rich Eisen this week and he was talking about it and he said, you know, this is what this is one of the most dedicated hardcore fan bases in the entirety of football.

[00:56:08]They deserve to have a team that, you know, lives up to their expectations and I think that you could actually build that with the I mean this draft capital is insane. So I you know it's it's all about the people who make the decisions now. So >> you need a QB. Now I question for you though. I've been a season ticket holder for 27 years since they built the new stadium. I had to buy seat licenses when we b went in there in 1999. Do you think I should have to buy seat licenses for the new stadium when it gets built again?

[00:56:34]>> No, of course not. You've been suffering enough.

[00:56:37]>> I know. But they're going to say, "Oh, hi there, you. Time for you to pony."

[00:56:40]And I'm not going to >> believe, by the way, can you believe this deal with the Bears? By the way, they're going to they're going to move to a dome in India.

[00:56:47]>> I did not know that. I did not. Well, the Browns are moving to a dome and and the Cleveland people kind of like it, but uh they're moving off the lake. I don't >> say I will say the the Browns are built more for a dome perhaps than other teams, but but I will say the the Bears moving to Indiana and moving to a dome.

[00:57:06]I just think that's an insult. I think that I mean I know Roger Goodell is like an evil creature and that kind of thing, but like please stop this. You know, >> it's just about the money in the NFL.

[00:57:17]It's just about it's like the California elections. Where does the money come from and who does it?

[00:57:22]>> Hired the money. That's that's all that matters.

[00:57:25]>> Hired the money. All right. Let me let me ask you about Hwami because this I want to go back to Syria. Hami is adjacent to the blind shake. He is a anti-semite. He is an Islamist. He is a radical. And yes, he's also a medical missionary. You can be both of those things. He didn't go to Gaza to shoot Israelis. He went to Gaza to fix people.

[00:57:46]but he's a jihadist. He's hanging out with the blind shake. What's wrong with the Democrats?

[00:57:51]>> You said the you said the exact right thing the other day, uh, which is that this is a poison that has absolutely infected the Democratic party and they seem to have no interest in finding the cure for it, >> which disturbs me. It's more like, you get what I'm saying? Like, like, it's one thing if you got the poison and you're trying to find the cure. The other one is if you got the poison and you're like, "No, actually, this feels okay for me.

[00:58:14]>> Let it run. I'm addicted.

[00:58:16]>> Yeah, >> exactly. And and that I think is extremely disturbing. Uh, not as disturbing, by the way, as uh, well, I I personally am more disturbed by the fact that people like Chuck Schumer who have for so long stood on these pedestals and said, you know, various things about how they represented the defense of democracy, you know, Sheldon White House defending the republic, you know, that kind of thing with their with their pompous and sanctimonious attitude, you know, are basically willing to sort of go out there and and sacrifice everything that they've ever said in order to back someone who had a literal Nazi tattoo on him. Uh, you know, I have to admit to you, uh, Hugh, I don't think I would ever date someone with a Nazi tattoo.

[00:59:02]>> Nope.

[00:59:02]>> And [laughter] like with especially without telling them that's a Nazi tattoo and I'm uncomfortable with that.

[00:59:08]So, look, you know, the the situation that they're in right now, they are embracing the furthest left people. They are embracing actual anti-semmites. They are act actual terrorist supporters in the case of Hanoi. And and it's one of these things that I mean I don't know Hugh I want a healthy Democratic party.

[00:59:29]I want the Democratic party of Bill Clinton back. I want a Democratic party that's arguing with us about how protectionist should we be? What should our attitude be towards China? What should our attitude be toward, you know, uh the way that we uh do welfare and the way that we do Medicare? We don't have that argument anymore. that doesn't exist.

[00:59:48]>> You know, I did an event on Monday night, Ben, with uh >> Leon Panetta, Rahm Emanuel, Tim Ryan, Carl Ro, and me. And Rahm Emanuel is formidable because he's an old Democrat.

[01:00:00]Uh I mean, he's a he's a feisty, and I will I will st I will stake my claim on this. Rahm Emanuel would have made the second term of Barack Obama a success instead of a failure. He is he absolutely intimidating as a foe. Oh, he's also a vicious and fun debater. I mean, he got he got me a couple of times. I was banged up, but it wasn't bad because he got ro I got the architect and the ambassador on either side. Tim Ryan and I, a couple of guys from Warren, Ohio, and we're wondering what are we doing here? And Rahm Emanuel said, we were wondering the same thing.

[01:00:30]So, he's that kind of quick. Do you think he has a prayer?

[01:00:37]I think that the problem with Rahm is that he's too honest about everything that's going on in the Democratic coalition and they don't want honesty right now. They want either I they want either illusion which is offered to them by kind of a fake neoliberal like Gavin Newsome or they want passion which is offered to them by a youngster you know Tik Tok uh you know social media uh person like AOC. I think they want one of those two things.

[01:01:06]>> I hope you get Rahm for an interview for the Daily Wire. I would I would I'd pay money to watch that interview.

[01:01:12]>> I would love to do that. I would absolutely love to sit down with Rahm because to be honest, I think we would agree a lot about the history of of politics and disagree of course about aims and and things like that and of course ideologies, but he is formidable.

[01:01:26]So, >> all right. Uh Ben Dominic, follow him at B Dominish. Listen to the Big Ben podcast. Just read him over at the Daily Wire where he's the opinion editor. Let me save you some [music] money right now. Consumer Cellular is our sponsor.

[01:01:38]We love Consumer Cellular. You will too.

[01:01:42]800411-4454.

[01:01:45]Save money today. 800411-4454.

[01:01:50]800411-4454.

[01:01:53]You can also go to consumercellular.com/hue.

[01:01:57]What do I mean? Save money right now. It takes 20 minutes to switch. same service as Big Cell. Doesn't matter what your phone company is, get the same great service. And number one, when you use my code, Hugh 200, Hugh 200, you'll get $200 off your bill. So that's 200 bucks you're going to save and you're going to save money on a monthly basis because they've got the best rates and the best service in America, the best customer service in America. It's all US-based.

[01:02:23]And here's a special deal. Keep that Q200 in mind. That goes to anyone who makes the switch. 200 bucks off. But if you're over 50 years of age, not only do you get that $200 off your bill, when you switch to two unlimited lines of text, TAC, and data, you get it for $60 a month, plus the $200 off. So hurry, that extra $200 off your bill won't last long. $60 a month for the two lines is out there if you're 50 years and older.

[01:02:54]The offer ends June 14th, so visit consumercellular.com/hugh.

[01:03:00]Use my promo code hugh 2000 or call 1 800411-4454.

[01:03:06]I am in the relief factor studio. I got to get my relief factor bag. There it is. I took it in hour number one. I remind you in hour number two. I take it every day, especially on the weekend.

[01:03:17]Car trip this weekend. Um, never been to Vermont. I'm going to Vermont for the first time. Why? Because the fetching Mrs. Seit said she'd like that for her birthday. Her birthday is on Monday.

[01:03:29]We'll play her birthday song on Monday.

[01:03:31]But uh I just I'll do whatever she wants. But that means I hope Vermont's flat and I don't think it's flat. She likes to hike. So I got to go hiking.

[01:03:40]It's her birthday, right? I'm a good husband. I do what she wants to do.

[01:03:44]Going to go to Vermont, but I got my relief factor. I already took it. No matter if I go uphill and Dale might be hard on the hammies. I did my 10k this morning, but that's flat and it's sort of like the implacable hill, but it's going to be greener and probably wetter.

[01:03:57]I kind of hope it rains like cats and dogs. She doesn't like to walk in the rain, so I got that going for me if it rains. But relief factor, call 1800 the number four and the word relief. You're watching on the Salem News Channel.

[01:04:09]Looks like this. This is a three-week starter pack. You take three packets a day for the first week, two packets a day for the second week, and then you're on the one packet a day for as long as I've been. It'll be 14 years in July.

[01:04:23]And I love Relief Factor. I have taken no other supplement. So for more than 20 years other than Relief Factor, I turned down every offer. Get started with that starter pack at 1995 by calling 1800 the number four in the word relief. 1 8004 relief or go to relieffactor.com relief.com.

[01:04:44]Now I'm making my penultimate appeal to you on behalf of the children who want to go to camp this summer. They they're waiting for the phone call that you got in cuz uh Prison Fellowship Angel Tree Ministry can only send as many kids as they have money to do that. Cost $200 a kid. My friend Jan Janera sent us a,000 bucks to send five kids to camp this week. Thank you, Jan. Anyone else out there? Anyone else? Or maybe $20 and I can find 10 of you. All you have to do is call Prison Fellowship 8206-2764.8206-2764.

[01:05:22]Give a listen to Cassidy, a camper at Angel Treat.

[01:05:25]>> My dad was never in my life. It was kind of hard him not being there cuz it was just me and my mom. If you're thinking about donating to Angel Tree, it's a really good thing to do to contribute to us kids because it'll make us feel special and make us feel like we're important in life and it'll make us feel loved, you know, and everyone wants to feel loved. Thank you, Angel Tie.

[01:05:46]>> Thank you, Angel. Everyone wants to go to camp. Everyone wants mosquito bites and sunburns. Everyone wants to ride horses and go rafting. Everybody loves jumping on the blob. If you're watching on Salem News Channel, we got tape of that. So, please go over to hughwitt.com. There's a banner at the top. You can't miss it. And thank you in advance for doing that. Let me go now to the president who was giving uh chatter earlier today in the Oval gaggle talking about Lebanon cut number three.

[01:06:16]>> Reject me. They didn't reject that.

[01:06:18]They're looking I think I will tell you they called us and they said, "How about stopping?" And I think you're going to see things happen over there that that's been like um a little bit of a different world, but it's interconnected with Iran. And it would be really nice if Lebanon could have some peace. Lebanon's been under attack for so many years and always like an underdog. And it would be really nice if it could end. And I spoke to BB Netanyahu about that and I spoke to them about it. And I actually spoke to Hezbollah about it. And I think progress is made. That's been going on for a long time. You know, when you look at that for years and years, 48 years, I say, "Well, let's get >> more from the president in the oval when we come back." President Trump said a very important thing in the oval today, which I want you to hear. Cut number two >> if they killed >> US troops.

[01:07:11]>> What does that mean?

[01:07:12]>> That you would restart the war with Iran if they killed US troops.

[01:07:16]>> Well, it would be a good reason. I'll be honest with you. Have they killed US troops? I think I would do that very quickly. Yeah, that's a very interesting question.

[01:07:26]>> All right, red line. Do not kill any American troops, Iran or Hezbollah, or you're in a world of hurt again. Uh, so now back to Graham Platner. I was on Fox News with John Roberts a couple hours ago. This was the subject of the day, cut number one.

[01:07:42]>> Let's bring in Hugh Huitt, Fox News contributor and host of the Hugh Hewitt Show. Hugh, good to see you this Friday afternoon. And so the New York Times talked to I think six or a few more women than that. Uh three of them said that they had a pretty normal relationship. But listen to what the New York Times here says. Three other women who had been romantically involved with with Mr. Platner offered a far more complicated assessment describing volatile and toxic relationships that were unsettling and at times emotionally wrenching. Mr. Platner could be charming and charismatic, they recalled in interviews, but also demeaning to women and in at least one case even physically threatening. He drank heavily and was regularly unfaithful. What are you thinking about all this?

[01:08:22]>> I'm thinking number one, the New York Times did the New York Times equivalent of catch and kill. They did trap and tame. They got the story. They trapped it in their hands. They misled at least one of those women, Lindsay Field, I believe is how you say her name. And they misled her about what the story would be about. It's domestic abuse.

[01:08:40]It's detailed. It's been corroborated.

[01:08:43]that comes on top of the toteen cop that comes on top of the kick. That comes on top of the Reddit uh sub threads that are both homophobic and sexist. It comes on top of a lot of baggage that Graham Platner has to deal with. However, Mayers get to vote. I'm not a main voter. I go back and forth quite a lot.

[01:09:02]I'm not a main voter. They do have Janet Mills on the ballot. She is a wellrespected governor on the Democratic side. Chuck Schumer recruited her in.

[01:09:10]So, I do not know why Democrats feel obliged to stick with a deeply troubled and flawed individual who's going to have to go up against, you know, he says his excuse is that was when I was in my dark period. That's years ago. Well, years ago, Susan Collins was in the Senate. Years ago, Susan Collins began voting. And last night, Chuck Schumer stood up and saluted Susan Collins for making 10,000 consecutive votes without missing one. So, you've got this moderate main legend, Susan Collins, with absolutely no imperfection. and she's chair of the appropriations committee against this deeply flawed and who knows what else is going to come out in the next 3 to 5 days because there are rumblings of more and we've got the kick app. We got to find out if you watch Chris Hayes last night and I did that Chris Hayes thing was not persuasive to me. I don't know if it was persuasive to you, John, but I I think that the Democrats would be much better off if they vote for Janet Mills on Tuesday, but the left is the left. Who knows?

[01:10:09]>> Who knows? Um, in terms of what you were talking about catch and kill, this is what Lindseay Field said uh after she read the article in the in the Times.

[01:10:16]She suggests that the Times played down her allegations by saying, quote, "It dawned on me that this really was a setup all along. The journalist I trusted, who convinced me to share a story I never wanted to tell, methodically delayed and twisted this into a gift to the Platner campaign, violating the trust of his victims, shattering the trust I placed in them with the most vulnerable story of my life."

[01:10:38]uh she suggested there was a lot more to her story that they did not publish.

[01:10:44]>> Uh she did suggest that and she has a very long post on X which I would recommend to everyone. I find it very persuasive. I also know people who know her who told me this story was coming because she was talking to the New York Times. But she abided by her agreement with the Times and so it wasn't catch and kill. It was sanitized. It was, as I say, trap it and tame it. Now, we'll see if the other two victims come forward.

[01:11:10]But what Miss Fifield demonstrates is domestic abuse. What she detailed was domestic abuse. So, for everyone who said, uh, believe all women, they have a great double standard hanging here because they're not believing her. And the New York Times seems to be an accomplice in discrediting her very powerful story.

[01:11:29]>> Yeah. She she recounts one argument where he twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom, and held the door closed from the other side so she couldn't get out, telling her to remain there until she was calm. I mean, that's a scene right out of the house made.

[01:11:45]>> No, I I had a daughter. She's married now, happily married. I used to tell her, "If anyone ever is violent in any way with you, any kind of use of force, that's it. That's done." In that story, by the way, John, he has also got an AR-15 lying around the house in DC, which is a weapons violation. a felony.

[01:12:00]So, they let that one slip through. This is a very troubled man and I hope he gets better. But, do Maine Democrats want to put their chips on him? Up to them. It's not up to the Republicans, not up to us. But boy, what a troubling past.

[01:12:16]>> Well, there certainly are a lot of Democrats who are putting their chips on him. Ruben Ggo, Martin Heinrich, Chuck Schumer, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Ro Connor, who is going to be campaigning with him tonight. And remember, if we get into the wayback machine here to September 28th, 2018, Ro Connor tweeted this about Brett Kavanaaugh. I believe Dr. Christine Blloy Ford. I believe Deborah Ramirez. I believe Anita Hill. Brett Kavanaaugh should not be on the Supreme Court.

[01:12:42]Whatever happened to the Democrat mantra of believe all women is running for president. He's been a a guest on my show a number of times to get along with him very well. He's very smart guy. He knows better than this.

[01:12:55]But he's trapped by the fact that the base has rallied to Graham Platner because he is kind of crazy and they like crazy in the DSA, the left wing of the Democratic party is holding the rest of the party hostage. Ro is running for president. He cannot abandon Graham Platner until he's officially been abandoned by the party. So he's going to go down swinging and forget what he said about um Brett Kavanaaugh's accuser, Christine Boisey Ford. I didn't believe her, by the way. You can you can believe one woman and not believe another one.

[01:13:24]It depends on all the evidence. I just don't believe um Ford, but I do believe Lindseay Field.

[01:13:31]>> All right. Well, that primary coming up next Tuesday the 9th. We'll see if Platinum makes it that far and if he does, what potentially happens after that. Hugh, great to catch up with you as always. Thanks.

[01:13:40]>> And then Chris Coons, another Democrat who's been on this program before, senator from Delaware. Good guy, wrong, but good guy. Cut number 12.

[01:13:48]>> And you know, frankly, Mr. Platner is a four-term, excuse me, four tour combat veteran uh and someone whose conduct as he came home from war uh many have questioned. I don't know him and don't know him at all well. Uh but I'm going to give him a measure of grace uh and wait until I get a chance uh to hear more about the details of all these different allegations. Um in my view, the folks who uh we have here in the Senate and who we might have here in the Senate, we should hold a high standards.

[01:14:20]That is not the kind of thing you say for someone you want to be your nominee, your party's nominee. Janet Mills on the ballot. Mayor Janet Mills is on the ballot. You can vote for Janet Mills.

[01:14:31]You don't have to be represented by this fellow.