China blinks, Houthis back down

From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Killmead. Hi, everyone. Welcome to the latest moments of the show. I really appreciate everybody being here.

Brett Bear is standing by and Rich Lowry at the bottom of the hour from National Review. A lot going on today, including we could, I guess, begin voting on a Pope, which is kind of good. I'm not going to be asked to vote, neither are you, but we do want to see the result. And we got a new name for the Persian Gulf. Why not name everything?

I think it's the Arabian Sea. Oh, it's going to go the Arabian Gulf now. The president made that announcement. And the vice president attends the Munich Leaders Meeting in Washington, D.C., where I'm sure he'll try to talk about how Europe should really start spending more money on their defense. And now Germany's got a new leader who wants to be nice to us, evidently.

So let's get to the big three. Number three. We had some very good news last night. The Houthis have announced that they are not or they've announced to us at least that they don't want to fight anymore. We will honor that.

And we will stop. The bombings. I think that's pretty significant, don't you think? The Houthis halt attacks. 800 American-targeted strikes seem to have changed their mind about attacking us.

Hopefully, the international waterways are now open. What does it mean for our talks with Iran? And what's this mysterious announcement the president's going to make at some point? Number two. I didn't see him again until.

Uh, White House correspondent center weekend 2024. And he was. Bad. He was quite bad in it. And he told the same story twice.

And he just seemed mostly. Old. Yeah, no kidding. But just the perfect age to be president. That is Dan Feight for a former Obama staffer, the Democratic disaster.

Their moderate candidate senator is attacked. Their former president is disgraced and now giving out interviews. And their hot shot rookie Loudmouth got exposed at the airport. Dems are indeed imploding before our eyes. Number What we're going to do in Switzerland is we've agreed to talk.

This will be about de-escalation, not about the big trade deal. But we've got to de-escalate before we can move forward. Great sign, and the markets love it. They are up early over 100 points. China blinks as cracks in their economy and their population begin to show.

In the tariff war, one-on-one meetings begin in days. We're going to look at their high-stakes economic warfare. I didn't think it was going to happen so soon. You know, I'm not saying they're going to get resolved, but the fact that they're going to meet. Once you beat, you can work things out.

I mean, they need us to buy their stuff. And if we could coordinate with the European Union to order not to let them be a dumping ground for cheap items that we don't want to buy, we would really put the screws to them. This story came out last night, and I saw it in multiple different locations. Radio Free Asia reports claims that protests are spreading across China. It states that hundreds of employees have taken to the streets to demand back pay, challenged layoffs following the abrupt shutdown of some Chinese factories.

Workers from one electronic factory reportedly contend that the company has not paid their wages since the beginning of 2025 and that they have not received Social Security benefits since 2023. Those previously employed at the other Chinese factories have reported similar issues regarding abrupt layoffs. I'm not saying they're looking a cave and they're falling apart. I know there's p there's sectors that are behind it along, including an AI. But when you don't pay these people, evidently they have terrible medical coverage.

Evidently, they don't pay. Retirees more than $160 a month.

So, if that is the case, and it has to be, that's why consumers aren't spending. They want to be consumers of their own products, but they're not spending because they don't have any money. They're not working. And then they got this thing: Chinese have, the youth. Are just dropping out.

They're calling it laying flat, dropping out of school. No job. No education, just dropping out, laying out flat. Fascinating. Here's more from the Treasury Secretary.

Cut two. I think a lot of American businesses have prepositioned a lot of inventory. The trade deficit actually jumped because so many people bought in advance. And joining us now to expand on this is Chief Political Anchor for Fox for a special report, Brett Baer. Brett, Pretty big news.

You had it last night, right? Yeah, yeah, we had it in. Jackie reported it from the North Lawn that just come out actually during her piece. And it is big news. I mean, I agree with you.

Once they start talking, it's usually they get to something. But as he said, it's going to be deescalation first and Remember, I mean, we've been on the back end of a bad situation with China trade-wise for a long time. That's the whole goal of this paradigm shifts, rebalancing. The question is whether how fast it can happen and will there be toys in time for Christmas? You know, we hear all these things about China, their Belt and Road program, all the money and aid they're giving Russia.

And we see how fast, and you had that up last night, how fast they're building ships and building up their military. But underneath the facade, there's huge problems with their military. President Xi has fired a series of high-ranking officers there. We're not quite sure why. They also understand their real estate is a disaster.

Values are plummeting. And I mentioned about pensions already and health care, low birth rates, growing unrest among the youth.

So they have some fundamental problems. The last thing they needed is 145% tariffs. Yeah, I agree with you. I think it's they're hurting, and there's more and more evidence of that every day. You know, it is like a facade, that giant Chinese engine of an economy.

It reminds me of when I went to Iraq and Saddam Hussein's palace was all marble and, you know, beautiful, but It's only paper-thin marble, and you could punch your fist through the wall. It all looks good from the outside, but you dig just a little deeper and there's a lot of problems. Right.

So President Biden is out speaking again and trying to defend his decision to stay in so long. Listen to what he said to the BBC, CUT 15. Should you have withdrawn earlier, given someone else a bigger chance? I don't think it would have. Mattered.

We left at a time when We were we had a good candidate. She is fully funded. Um And what happened was I had become what we had set out to do. No one thought we could do. And become so successful on our agenda, it was hard to say.

Now I'm going to stop now. I meant what I said when I started. that I think it's I I I'm prepared to hand this to the next generation. It's a transition government. But it things move so quickly.

that it made it difficult to walk away. Wow, he's all over the place. Your take first. That's tough to listen to, you know? It's um and and you think there are probably Democrats out there saying whatever you do.

Stop doing speeches. Do not do any interviews. Because the more he tries to explain it, the worse it gets. you know, transition to the next generation, then why get in? to the second race.

And, um You know, I think there's a lot of Democrats upset. That it got to that point, including Kamala Harris. Right.

And the thing is, if they're trying to find an identity, obviously he's not going to be the leader at 111 years old and even old for his age. Kamala Harris, if she could have had forever, the thing is, if he got out earlier, it wouldn't have been Kamala Harris. It would have been a primary system. I mean, you would have had governors jumping in. She would have had to go earn it.

George H.W. Bush had to go earn it. You know, Reagan didn't say make him the nominee.

So there's no way just because she was vice president, she was going to be the candidate. Not many Democrats think that she would have emerged out of a primary. And after what you saw, Brett, you can evaluate candidates. You even interviewed her. Was she the best the Democrats had, you think, or have?

Well at the time, I think there were a lot of people, including Barack Obama, who wanted to have a mini primary. And in part, because they felt like she lacked You know, some of the juice to get across the finish line. Obviously, she was well funded, and obviously. You know, bouncing out of the convention, she had a little wind at her back, but it didn't hold. Uh how it all transpired really was to the detriment of Democrats.

I I think they're still searching for a leader. And you listen to all of these folks out on the stump and Governor Pritzker from Illinois, Corey Booker with that speech on the Senate floor. Tonight I have uh Bernie Sanders on Special Report live on set, and um you know, he's getting a lot of attention again, as is AOC.

So I I think the the Democratic Party is in search of. Absolutely.

So let's talk about the Middle East. President shocked everybody when he said this. Or me, anyway, cut 24. We had some very good news last night. The Houthis have announced that they are not, or they've announced to us at least, that they don't want to fight anymore.

They just don't want to fight. And we will honor that. And we will uh We will stop. The bombings. And uh they have Capitulated, but more importantly, we will take their word.

They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore. And that's what the purpose of what we were doing.

So that's just news. We just found out about that.

So the the Houthi rebels, after receiving absorbing 800 strikes from Pete Hagsted's Pentagon, have decided not to fight anymore and maybe open up the waterways? I guess Steve Witkoff was negotiating over the weekend? That's a big deal. And if it holds, it's a really big deal. Um, you know, this was It's just looking like Vietnam, nobody was paying attention to it, but we were bombing for 52 days straight, and still they were popping up, and missile and drone attacks.

And it was Causing major problems. If this holds, it's a big deal.

Now, they did fire on Israel yesterday, and Israel then. proceeded to obliterate their airport. Um and so I don't think the threat's gone, but um it's significant if if the President is right.

So here's his big announcement. You have unbelievable sources in Washington. It's a problem that's been around for decades. President doesn't usually say things that don't pay off. What do you think it is?

Well, I know that the Saudis are in the final stages of negotiation at the White House, at Commerce.

So I think there's going to be a big trade deal, maybe a defense cooperation agreement, maybe weapons purchase. And maybe the start of a sovereign wealth fund for the U.S. Um I don't think it's normalization. There's just no chance at this point. But it'll be a big change in the Middle East trade-wise, I think.

I think that's what it is. I know you're really good at maps and names and continents. But are we gonna have a new name? I just have used the Gulf of America.

Now I gotta use the Gulf of Arabia? Arabian Gulf. Oh, Arabian Gulf. Are we just going to accept that? Is it it sounds good to me?

I mean, it sounds fine, but I'm sure Iran's not pleased. The Persian Gulf kind of had their. Uh in impromotor on it, but um yeah, I I don't know. I I I hope we're not changing every other week 'cause, you know, maps have got to be redone. we got to make sure we are talking about the same place.

Brent, I understand I share a birthday with somebody that you know well. Is your birthday today? My birthday is today. Is that true? Happy birthday.

Yes, Amy. My wife, Amy, is. Birthday is today.

So we had uh are you celebrating? birthday breakfast before I hop on a plane. Oh, that's right. You got to come back to Washington and do your interviews. I will tell Amy I said happy birthday.

You too. All right, I will. All right, Brett, great job. A lot of exciting things going on. Look forward to your interview tonight with Senator Bernie Sanders, who thinks the billionaires should pay their fair share.

I think we'll probably get that in the interview story. And I'm going to have it, every time he says oligarch, I'm going to have a shot of whiskey. Go get him. Why not make it to dinner? I know.

1-866-408-7669. That was great, Brett Baer. Tonight at 6. Don't move. It's Brian Killmead.

It's the Will Kane Show. Watch it live at noon Eastern, Monday through Thursday on FoxNews.com or on the Fox News YouTube channel. And don't miss a show. Get the podcast five days a week at FoxNewsPodcasts.com or wherever you download your favorite podcasts. Yeah.

A radio show like no other. It's Brian Killmead. I still believe that, but you know, it takes two to tango, right? But no, I do. I mean, I believe it would be a massive tax cut for the Canadian citizens.

Uh you get free military, you get Tremendous medical cares and other things. There would be a lot of advantages, if I may. As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale. But never say never. Never say never.

So there was a little sparring went back and forth. I like what Josh Holmes said last night. President Trump has made these head-to-head leaders, these leader-tleader boring, normally very boring, very exciting. He don't want to miss a minute. He didn't want to have like a Zielinski moment where he says, no, don't ever bring that up again.

Plus, he ran on being tough with Trump.

So he has to be tough with Trump, but he's got to be amiable because he has to create relationships with Trump. And I think on some level, these guys don't mind toughness. They always kid each other nonstop. Plus, this guy's in business. He used to run a bank.

He understands finance. He understands what trade imbalances are. He can talk in detail about what he could do and what he can't do as a Canadian leader. And it's very important that they know each other. And I'd love to be.

Carney, because you're replacing Trudeau, who is always so dismissive of Trump, he's never going to forget it. Remember the mocking of Trump with. Boris Johnson and Macrone, And I think there was another leader there, and they were just saying how Trump was at a press conference in overseas, and he took questions for like 15 minutes. And they were just, and the other leader, I think it was Boris Johnson, was stuck there, and they were just mocking Trump. And, you know, Trump, and they had the audio up, someone was booming it.

And it got out and it became a major story. I don't think Trump will ever forget that. You know, in the back of the mind, he's only going to trust Macron so much. The new guy is starts yesterday in Germany. And then Trudeau is now gone.

And now you have Starmer is now in for Boris Johnson.

So it's a fresh start. But Trump is going to go in with his with you know, with a chip on his shoulder a little bit. But I think this will be fine. And look, now Corney's got a fresh start, he's got the job. His party has a slim, slim majority, so it can't be too crazy, too out there.

And he wants to make sure to reconfigure this relationship that's going to work for Canada, too.

So I think he's in a pretty good spot. Maggie Gaberman of the New York Times, who always tends to be negative and gets access, not like she used to. This is her analysis of what could have happened in the Oval Office Cut 11. And so Carney, who has been pretty tough and who was elected in part as backlash to Donald Trump in Canada, had a choice to make on how he was going to handle it. He came in clearly with a prepared line, which was Canada's not for sale.

But then he had to sort of navigate not having a Zelensky-type moment with Trump where they're in a standoff. He clearly had practiced saying something that would both disarm Trump and also make his point. And he did that. Trump did respond. He laughed, but then he went right back to his point.

Right.

And he did. See, look, we protect him. We'll always protect him. But I'd like to get rid of that artificial line. And he wants a bigger country.

But, Mr. President, you don't want Canada, they're mostly liberal. And there's just going to be another blue state that's going to be voting against most of your policies. And they've got a huge Quebec problem. Quebec doesn't want to be a part of Canada.

They all speak French. They want nothing to do with it.

So, when we come back, I'm going to talk to Rich Lowry about the direction of the Democratic Party because it's fascinating. Joe Biden's back. He'll be on the view today. He talked to the BBC yesterday, and it's not as if he's, you know, Al Gore trying to talk about what happened against George W. Bush.

The guy can't talk. The guy can't think on his feet.

Some of the letting in of illegal immigrants, the collapse of the border, his handling of Afghanistan, what he left behind in terms of Ukraine. Do you want to say that you had it right? Slow-walking weapons, an endless war that even our allies say had to come to an end quickly, that it was working more towards Russia. I think that It's really going to be hard for Democrats to get out from underneath the Joe Biden comeback. Come back just to rehab because no one's gonna buy it.

They're gonna get talking about it. Two more books are out that he wasn't really in charge. Hopefully, he's gonna get some real questions. Real questions. The more you listen, the more you'll know it's Brian Kilmead.

Do you think he's behaving more like a monarch than a president? Oh, I'd rather not come. I'm not sure how he's being. He's not behaving like a. a Republican president.

Joe Biden yesterday just slurring his way through a one-on-one with the BBC, and he doesn't even have a book out. I don't know why he's coming back. I really don't. He has nothing to say, and his record and his party would benefit from him not being back, I think. Just like they would have benefited had he dropped out earlier after he bailed them out.

But the worst thing to happen in the Democratic Party was for them to do well at the midterms because it kept Joe Biden in the race, made it impossible to get him out, and then he just petered out. Rich Lowry joins us now, editor of National Review. Rich, do you think that they're cringing now, Democrats, that Joe Biden's back, at least for a week? Yeah, I they they want the whole episode to be forgotten. They want him to be forgotten, his presidency to be forgotten, and their complicity in the hideous lie that he was.

Fit to be president again, to be forgotten.

So they, yeah, they prefer him to just be. Sunning on a beach in Rehoba fore forevermore. But uh You know, that's not exactly bringing the hammer down on President Trump, that mumbly statement from President Biden that he doesn't know how he's behaving, but he's not behaving like a Republican president.

So it's not exactly exacting a price on the GOP. No, I know. And then you have a situation where John Fetterman, who's been the voice of reason, went to Mar-a-Lago, is for Israel, says they have to finish off Hamas, saying some things that a lot of Republicans say, not on everything. And now he's being viciously attacked. New York magazine basically says he refuses to take his drugs.

He's out of his mind, walks alone, doesn't listen to his staff. Um Now, Fetterman finds himself having to defend himself.

Now, this is a year and a half after his stroke.

Now, all of a sudden, Democrats have a problem with his behavior. Cut 18. That's incredibly invasive. And why are people talking about anyone's personal medical thing? I've been very front and center about my with depression.

Absolutely.

None of these other things. And it's like someone that was trying to accumulate my medical records and leak those things. That's part of this weird grudge. Me, what's going on with this? Yes.

So I mean, the poor guy has a terrible stroke, can barely speak and the media and Democrats say he's fine. The poor guy has a serious bout of depression, hospitalized at Walter Reed, Democrats in the media say he's fine. Then he walks around, gives interviews, seems very coherent, but says things the left doesn't like, and all of a sudden he's out of his mind. It's just so it's so transparent. I don't know what the truth is.

He very well may continue to have struggles, but you know, he's he's uh that clip there, he's defending himself coherently. It doesn't seem like he's out of his mind to me.

So it's just a classic. Going back to Barry Goldwater in the 60s, the trope from the left was always that conservatives had mental health issues. And I think they're turning that play on Fetterman just because he says things they don't like on a few key things. They better watch because Pennsylvania is getting harder and harder for Democrats to win in. And if you push Fetterman out, he can either switch parties or drop out.

And that's going to be a grind for whoever, whatever Democrat or Republican wants to win there. Do you really want to risk losing a guy that's popular with his constituents? Yeah, and this is also another reason you think he's not out of his mind. What he's doing is a highly rational political strategy because it's totally repositioned him on the spectrum.

Well, he hasn't given up any of his core progressive convictions on domestic policy, you know, Medicare for all and all that sort of thing. But because he's been so outspoken in favor of Israel, because he's theatrically dismissed and clapped back at the looney left-wing protesters, he now feels like he's a moderate. And if you want to be a Democratic senator in Pennsylvania going forward, that's exactly where you want to be.

So I want to pet I want to get to you two columns, one of which of course is about trade and your thoughts about the fact that they're going to have a de-escalatory meeting in Switzerland with the Secretary of Treasury's counterpart of China in Switzerland. I think that's pretty significant, don't you? Yeah, I think they they gotta Go down. This is a quasi-embargo. Besson has told people privately it's unsustainable.

Trump, basically, in his meet the press interviews, like, yeah, they're going to come down because if they don't, we'll have absolutely nothing to no dealings with them whatsoever.

So I think it's inevitable that we're coming down from 145. We just can't stick there. The question is: when it happens and how much disruption is there before we get to that point. Right.

And then the disruption that's happening in China, which is leaking out now, the layoffs, people aren't getting paid. Youth refusing to work, a housing market that's Perpetually depressed, wages that are frozen.

So things aren't going too well in the superpower. No, I mean, look, we're a huge market for them, and we basically shut off the spigot, you know, like with a day's notice or something over the course of two or three days.

So, of course, it's going to hurt them. The thing is, we're so intertwined, it's also going to hurt us. And, you know, how much of that pain do we want to sustain?

So, the rational place to get here, in my view, is where we're less dependent on China for various things, critical supply chains, but we still have some trading relationship with them, but it's not what it was over the last three decades. And we're no longer beholden to the illusion that trading with China is going to make them more like us. That just hasn't happened. And you just write a column. You said we need cheap stuff and lots of it.

You were critical of the President's statement that we'll have less pencils and toys this Christmas. Yeah, you know, and pencils and toys just aren't the problem. If we get cheap pencils from choice from China, who cares? It's fine. They're cheap pencils and toys.

There's an advantage to having cheap pencils. keep goods, especially for people who have to pitch. every pony and watch their pocketbooks. Key stuff is the high end things. Can we manufacture our missiles without relying on China for components?

That's the key question.

So for me, one hundred forty five is too high and it's it's too sweeping. You want to be a little more strategic about it. Absolutely.

The other thing you talk about is going through your media training. And what Donald Trump does. And your title is Why No One Can Win an Argument About Doubt with Donald Trump. And you talk about how he takes things into the debate where even if his facts are wrong, he has a way of changing the argument. Want to expand on that?

Yeah, I mean, this this is just key. I mean, you you know a little about T V. Just not seeming fidgety, just seeming extremely confident is hugely important on T V. It's sensitive to these Little verbal cues if you blink too much, you know, or you say an um that that goes very poorly. And Trump is just a master at not doing that.

So he can just sit down with anyone, and even if he doesn't have the better of the argument, you know, a lot of times he does, sometimes he doesn't, he's just immovable. You just, you can't, you can't make him blink, you can't make him seem uncertain. And that's just that's just hugely important. You know, like the Cherry Moran exchange, I think Trump was wrong about the alphanumeric symbol, you know, a phrase, as I say, MS-13, actually being on the guy, Garcia's knuckles. But he seems so certain about it, most people watching, like, okay, he must be right.

So this has been a huge advantage for him since he came down the escalator in 2015. All right. As we look ahead, how much pressure now is on Steve Woodcoff to come up with some type of deal with Iran? Because you could immediately change the dialogue and have war with Iran because everyone agrees they got to go to zero enrichment. President made it clear.

Witkoff is now on the same page. We know Netanyahu feels the same way. The President said it on Sunday. We got going back to talks. Is that the next hotspot?

Yeah, well, he's got a couple going, but there's going to be a lot of focus on that. And the key word the President now has used himself is dismantling.

So if you can get him to dismantle their program, that would be an enormous Victory. And I think that's the only that's the standard for something that's verifiable and is really going to make a difference. Because what Iran wants to do is another version of the JCPOA, where they maintain all the infrastructure and the capacity to enrich and probably have secret programs, but they say they're not going nuclear. But the window for them to go nuclear or the time it would take them from go nuclear continues to reduce.

So that just the deal doesn't really mean anything.

So that's what we want to avoid. But getting them to dismantle will be very hard. But I do think the threat of military force is very, very serious, and that should concentrate Iranian minds. And by the way, it seems like we have a huge victory against the Houthis there, which Biden let go on and on. It was a major national embarrassment and disruption to world commerce.

And it looks like Trump's brought it to an end. That's what he said yesterday, very definitively. He says they don't want to fight anymore, but they're still rocketing Israel. They don't want to fight us anymore, is what it seems like after. Pete Hegset's Pentagon hit him with 800 targets.

Yeah, and it wasn't just, you know, everyone focused on that one strike because it was part of the SignalGate controversy. It's been a continuous, unspooling effort, and hopefully it's had a real effect here.

Well, it would be interesting to see that be able to have uninhibited waterways because we know China and Russia and Iran were helping with intelligence to help them spot merchant ships to make things impassable. Thanks so much. Appreciate it, Rich Lowry. Pick up the National Review. All right.

We come back your turn, or you want to write me, BrianKillme.com, 1-866-408-7669. We're talking about, number one, what do you think the President's big announcement is? It says something we've been looking at for decades. What do you think it is?

And not necessarily the Middle East. And it says it's not necessarily trade. Hmm. This is a brain kill me, Cho. Politics, current events, and news that affects you.

Brian's got a lot more to say. Stay with Brian Kilmead. Starting a business can seem like a daunting task, unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need.

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Uh 674, we've uh radar contact locked, we lost our radar. Do I have Bravo clearance? No, you do not have a Bravo clearance. We we lost our radar and it's not working correctly. Radar service terminates, park via car, screen stained approved.

If you want a bravo clearance, you can just call the towers when you get closer. We don't have a radar, so I don't know where you are. Pretty unbelievable, right? That was the exchange in Newark airport last week. Having all types of problems, one runway shut down, air traffic controllers missing, radar breaking down.

Now we have Sean Duffy, who's not running from anyone. He's not saying no big deal. Who cares? He's saying this whole thing needs to be redone. This is archaic using floppy disks and copper wire.

And we spend 92% of our budget trying to sustain a. Technology that peaked in the 1970s. He wants a total revamp, but it's going to take, he thinks, four to five years. What's that going to do to Newark, New Jersey?

Now, I know if you're listening around the country, you think it's just one airport, but it's a major airport. Newark is extremely busy. JFK International, by the way, JFK and Wardy are probably the busiest in the country and the world.

So to have it shut down, and if it was just one airport, I don't think it would be that big of a deal. But the question is, when it comes to transportation, how many airports? The answer is we're thousands of air traffic controllers down. It is true they left, they laid off some FAA people who took an opportunity to retire early.

Okay, I understand that. But I don't think this not one air traffic controller was let go. But who was let go was some for 45 days, some air traffic controllers in Newark said, well, after that tense exchange, when radar went down and they went blind, it was traumatic, obviously.

So they get 45 days off after a traumatic incident like that. 45 days. You imagine if a cop got 45 days off every time they saw a dramatic car accident or a shooting? You're Sean Duffy, CUD38. Everyone's shocked that the system is so old and antiquated, but it wasn't shocking to Joe Biden and it wasn't shocking to Pete Buttigrudge.

They knew we had an old system. They saw the GAO report saying it was about to fail. And so the largest infrastructure package, Martha, ever known to man in the history of the world, the infrastructure bill under Joe Biden, $1.2 trillion. They sent only $5 billion to fix air traffic control. And of the $5 billion, Pete Buttigrudge spent less than $1 billion to fix this problem.

Instead, he was focused on racist roads and changing the name of cockpit to flight deck or airman to aeronaut. Stupid stuff. Right.

Here's Pete Buddha judge when he heard that, Cut 39. It's just politics. Look, I hated the technology that we inherited because it did need to be upgraded. From the last administration and prior to the... Yeah, I mean, look, these problems have built up over a long time.

I didn't sit around saying who can we blame for this. We launched a contract to modernize the infrastructure, take what's basically a copper wire system and transform it for the internet era, get fiber going there.

Now, that's not something that could be done overnight. One of the things that's hardest to do when you leave an office like that is you hand over the keys and it's up to the new guy to take it to the next level. But that's very much something that we had underway. Underway. I can't wait.

I'm going to play that for Sean Duffy. We're supposed to get him in the next couple of weeks. I want to do a walk through New York. But that's where they see an opportunity to beat up on Sean Duffy. He's had the job for a hundred days less than a hundred days.

Here's Chuck Schumer, who is every day gets up. He's got to show how tough he is to keep his job, cut forty. Newark Airport's a mess. And that means other airports throughout the country are also in trouble. Newark has had huge delays and problems over the last several weeks.

It's outrageous. And it's because of Trump and Doge. FAA has been cut. Employees have been caught. Top people have left in exasperation.

at what Trump is trying to do. If there's any place where Trump chaos, which is so typical of this administration, can really cause loss of life. It's at the FAA.

So, when the Wall Street Journal saw that report, they put this in their editorial. They said this: Mr. Schumer notably opposed the FAA administration's plan to move controllers from Long Island to Philadelphia to oversee new work. The move was intended to, in part, bring more experienced controllers to Philadelphia to train more recruits. Though the FAA first proposed this realignment in 2017, it wasn't executed until late last summer.

Had it been done earlier, There might be more controllers to manage fighter traffic at Newark instead of flying late onto the scene of a government-made crisis. Maybe Schumer. one of these days could work to prevent one. I hear you. Work to prevent one.

And when you have an infrastructure bill, you're not rebuilding airports, but you are probably with DEI. The same thing with the Chips Act. People want to give them credit for the Chips Act to bring chip manufacturing out of Taiwan and get some stuff here. But in order to get the contracts, you got to be this DEI compliant. And then you got to provide daycare for everybody, and you have all these prerequisites.

And a lot of these companies just said, I'm not going to do that. I was just, I was looking to help you out. I was looking to build chips in America. I can't comply with all this stuff.

So That's the problem. I wouldn't be surprised. If most of the money was wasted on DEI programs to help out racist America, that's really what's going on. As we come to the 100 plus days. But what did I tell you last week?

There's nothing about the Trump administration that's built to be judged in one hundred days. Last week, two weeks after the big Liberation Day, the markets were still royal, going up and down. It didn't look like deals were very close.

Now we understand deals are close. China and U.S. will be meeting. The Houthi rebels have stopped bombing.

So now if I took a survey, If the Houthi rebels do, in fact, stop bombing. If I took a survey now, he's up on five points on almost everything. 'Cause the market will be up 211 points. Probably more today than imagine if he has a press conference and says, before I leave for the Middle East. Um quick announcement.

Made a deal with South Korea, made a deal with India, made a deal with Japan. Here then here are the parameters. Laid the foundation with the UK, almost done with Canada. Then you're just going to watch it go way past 41,000 up, and then you go and tell people what do you think of the economy. They'll feel better, but it was not built to be judged.

In a hundred days. I don't think. Anyway, that's pretty uh certain with me.

So I think Scott Bessant did a great job out west with all the CEOs at the Milken think tank. And I think that he's going to do a great job over the weekend because he knows exactly how things got to be reconfigured. Because it's pretty apparent now, if you listen to a lot of the public radio, China is hurting. They do not have much wiggle room. They need to get people working again.

They need to get those factories working again. They're not going to look to slow down the supply chain because that's got to throw through, they've got to flow through their ports as well.

So here is Stephen Borrelli, Cuts 7, CEO of Cuts Clothing. Since the 1980s, at least in the textile industry, a lot of the manufacturing went over to China and Asia, and the current infrastructure is really outdated, so the quality is just not where it used to be. And that's the big misconception. The Asian manufacturers are very, very high-tech and produce very high quality. Came back to the U.S.

Some of these business people, everyone's concerned about their own business. I get it. They have to feel better today. From high atop Fox News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kilmead.

Hi everyone, so glad you're there. Glad I'm here. Brian Killmead, 48th and 6th in Midtown Manhattan, heard around the country and the world. And being that all of a sudden, the rest of the world is not loving America. I might be able to walk the streets without tourists bustling through.

I feel bad for the merchants, but I don't think we're getting as much from Canada. They had their prime minister here yesterday. It was actually kind of exciting. I can't believe I'm even saying that, but it was to see those two go at it in a fun, playful way. I actually think they improved their relationship.

The vice president today is attending the Munich Leaders Meeting over in Washington. That should be fun. Last time he addressed European leaders, he kind of blew them up. The House Finance Committee is going at it today. The annual testimony of the Secretary of Treasury.

That's going to be big, along with an update on the IMF. But before we get to Jason Chaffetz, and at the bottom, there are Ken Rogoff, professor of economics of international economics at Harvard, and New York Times best-selling author. Let's get to the big three. Number three. We had some very good news last night.

The Houthis have announced that they are not Well they've announced to us at least that they don't want to fight anymore. We will honor that. and we will stop the bombings. Really? Houthis halt attacks.

800 targeted strikes from Americans probably changed their mind for now. All right, who wants to get on the first merchant ship unarmed and just sail right through the Gulf? We'll see how that goes. Number two. I didn't see him again until White House Correspondent Center Weekend 2024.

And he was. Bad. He was quite bad in it. And he told the same story twice. And he just seemed mostly.

old. Right.

Same story twice. That is beyond bad. Democratic disaster. Their moderates attacked, are attacked. Their former president disgraced, doesn't realize it.

And their loudmouth, high-profile rookie exposed at the airport. Acting in title, Democrats are indeed imploding before our eyes. Number one. What we're going to do in Switzerland is we've agreed to talk. This will be about de-escalation, not about the big trade deal.

Right.

But we've got to de-escalate before we can move forward. Well, that's fine. You could actually lower the tariffs on both sides. That would help. Number two is: what about fentanyl?

That would be a good way to de-escalate. China blinks as cracks in their economy show and their populations begin to lose tolerance for their government. A one-on-one meeting this weekend gives a lot of people hope, including the market, which is up pretty significantly right now, 230 points. Jason Chaffis joins us now. Did China blink?

I think this is good for both sides. I don't know that they necessarily blinked, but they said, no, they weren't going to do the talks.

Now they're going to do the talks.

So, yeah, I think Donald Trump won the first round, if you will. How bad are things in China do you think? When you have people, look, it's a communist government, and so when you have people actually taken to the streets. Knowing that the the Chinese government knows exactly what they're doing and how they it's that bad. Right.

China it looks like according to experts who will looking on, including Radio Free Asia. The tariffs are taking a toll, and they took to the streets in China where they give you patriotic scores to decide if you're allowed to travel or raise your family. The company has not paid their wages, according to some factory workers, since 2023, and they have not received Social Security benefits since June of 2023. Those previously employed at other Chinese factories have reported similar issues and the abrupt layoffs. You get a lot of unemployed people who are unhappy.

This is only going to make it worse. Oh, it is because there was a surge in spending pre-tariff.

Now that spending is just halting. And the whole industry, look, China needs the United States. The United States doesn't need China. We'd like to have a good world. We need rare earths.

We need magnets. Yeah, we need those things. But I got to tell you, they have a lot more to lose than the United States has to lose. And they just want more even playing field. The Chinese have been stealing our intellectual property.

They've been doing so much of the spying on the United States of America. They have not been. A responsible world citizen on the stage. And I'm glad Donald Trump's finally calling him to the carpet on it.

Well, it's going to be interesting. The Chinese, for example, they're having problems with their higher ups, their military officials. The number two in command was fired two weeks ago. He's having trouble getting the military to listen to him.

So is some of that belligerent behavior we see against the Philippines, is that the military just buzzing around wreaking havoc or harassing Japanese ships when they needed Japan to be a trade partner? They predicted steady growth, but now since the tariffs, they're not confident of that. They will not raise the rates for pensions. Or payouts, it's $160 a month. They underinvest in everybody's medical care, they're tired of it.

The education and basic social welfare, they're not for. They got low birth rates, growing unrest around young people who are doing this thing called laying flat. Youth who have decided no job, no school. Can you believe that? In China.

Yeah, and they have a population problem in that they have, they count it by the millions. All men. All men without. People to date, marry, have a family, that one child policy is not really paying off for them now. But when you have tens of millions of people, That don't have anybody to go out and socialize with, that creates a lot of unrest.

Right.

So we'll see if they do get some leverage there. And of course, the president of the United States would do very well if he started moving forward. At least the markets would respond to that positively. And people just want certainty. Then, if you pull in a Canada deal, a UK deal, an India deal, a South Korea deal, people start looking more positively on the economy.

I always said, Jason. This president's not one to be judged on 100 days. He's playing long ball. He wants to make some fundamental structural changes that will help us in our trajectory far beyond when he's in office. And that and hats off to him.

Rather than reacting to the daily gyrations of a market up and down, he's playing longball.

So here's Joe Biden. He's speaking again and trying to show, trying to rewrite his legacy. This is not helping, in my view, cut a 15. Should you have withdrawn earlier, given someone else a bigger chance? I don't think it would have.

Mattered. We left at a time when We were we had a good candidate. She is fully funded. Um And what happened was I had become what we had set out to do. No one thought we could do.

And become so successful on our agenda, it was hard to say.

None will stop now. I meant what I said when I started. that I think is I I I'm preparing to hand this to the next generation. It's a transition government. But It things move so quickly.

that it made it difficult to walk away. Wow. We he said five different things. What's your takeaway? Moving quickly was never an allegation of the Biden administration.

It was a move to the radical left. He could have taken the last year of his presidency, passed the baton, and not done that debate and taken a victory lap for, you know, whatever you think that is. Yeah, but it was no, it was one of the worst presidencies in the history of the United States of America. It put us into this spiral of inflation. And he picked the worst running mate, and she was a terrible candidate.

I don't think anybody would have beaten Donald Trump in this last election, but still, come on. He's trying to rewrite history here. He's saying that Kamala Harris was his only option. It was not his only option. I mean, if he's gonna let it be an open process.

Yeah, just let it go. I mean. Vice presidents don't automatically get the nomination. And so they'll have to fight for it. She wouldn't have been able to stand against Britzker and Gavin Newsome, who were legit if they were legitimately fighting Corey Booker, now Westmore, Whitmore.

Whitmer. She would have been buried.

So, you know, it's she ran before. Why is he doing this? Like, what do you think he's doing? Does he think he's in town? I think he's bored.

I don't know who's letting him out to go talk to the media. I think they want to cash in. I think they need the money. And, you know, they're paying him, you know, $200,000, $300,000 a pop. He's probably got to do a few of those things to just look at.

I don't think the BBC actually pays for an interview, do you? No, but he did these other events. And the way they cover up for these things, they'll do a public event, but then they'll do a private event. And that's where they get paid for either a speech or people come in, get their picture, take in, that sort of thing.

So John Fetterman's health has come into the news. Why? Because I think because he's pro-Israel, against the encampment on those buildings, said nice things at those colleges, said nice things about President Trump.

Now they write a killer report that he doesn't take his medication, wanders around aimlessly, impossible to talk to, can't retain any workers. Listen to John. Listen to Senator John Fetterman about what's going on now. CUD19. Hey, it was a hit.

Piece, a one-source hit piece, some anonymous sources.

So there's nothing new. But what would you say, Senator, to people that are concerned about you and conservative? No, they're not. They're actually not concerned. It's a hit piece.

Why do you think it was a piece? There's no news, so please, I think we can all agree.

So one of his ex-staffers wrote it. But it was his chief of staff. And I can tell you, as a member of Congress, your chief of staff is as close to you as anybody.

So, everything from the crazy, erratic driving to not taking the medication to contacting the doctor, I think it is very newsworthy. It may have a political bent because he has been more centrist. He's the one guy who shows up and actually supports Donald Trump from time to time, actually signs on to some of these bills. But the chief of staff? He picked the chief of staff.

He's the one that hired the guy.

So, for him to come out now and say he's got deep concerns, I think that's a legitimate story. All right, with more over Jason Chapins, Justin Moore, you want to outnumber today? No. You yesterday? Were you not outnumbered yesterday?

No. Who was I thinking of? No, I was preparing for your birthday. That's what I was kidding. How do you do that?

Do you dress for me? Yeah. This green tie is all about, yeah. Yes, 'cause I'm half Irish. All right, more over Jason Chaffetz.

When we come back, we talked a lot about the Democrats, but what do Republicans need to do right now when it comes to the big, beautiful bill? This is the Brian Killme Show.

So glad you're here. Illuminating, intriguing, inculcating. I know some of these words. It's Brian Kilmead. Radio that makes you think.

This is the Brian Kill Me Show. Why do I care what their status was when they committed the crime? If you can prove they committed a crime, I say in the book, if I get shot, If I get murdered by an undocumented immigrant, please tell my children I did not care that they were undocumented.

Okay, that is great to know. That is A commentator on MSNBC saying there's too much emphasis on illegal immigration. Who cares if they're the ones who kill you? You get killed, you killed. That is exactly Jason Chavis's philosophy.

Says it all the time. Jason, you want to expand on why you see Idaho? Because maybe they shouldn't have been in the country the first place. You know, maybe I wouldn't have been shot if they weren't in the country. My last words would be: it doesn't matter if they were here legally.

That would not be my last words. Yes.

Are you an illegal alien? Please tell me. Right.

Point well taken, but They shouldn't have been here. What about Lady Gaga? We send a guy out of our country here illegally. He decides his name is Louis Da Silva. He's going to go to Lady Gaga's concert where they have hundreds of thousands of people there, 2.5 million, excuse me.

And he's going to shoot everybody. He's going to look for young people, blow them up, and then shoot everybody, and then shoot himself.

So. That was a guy living in our country. We sent him out to Brazil, and he threatens to kill Lady Gaga there. That ain't good. No, I mean, look, there are some people that just need to be incarcerated, then they need to go back to their country of origin.

And I'm I'm convinced that some of these countries are releasing some of their worst of their worst into our country because it's just a way to get rid of them.

So, what do you think about the report that came out of intelligence? It says when it comes to alien enemies action, you have to show a coordination between the Venezuelan government and TDA. And he goes, well, we don't have anything. Of course, to me, logic tells you TDA is allowed to leave the country for one reason, create havoc in America. They say, well, we have nothing on that.

Is that a little like the intelligence state rising up? Because it doesn't sound like Tulsi. No, it does not. It does not. I can't believe Tulsi Gabber would ever.

No, look. Because she's DNI. Look. There's a lot of intelligence that goes into our understanding here. And what we have to understand is when they get designated as a terrorist organization, that's what they are.

That's how we do these things. And so when you're designated as a terrorist organization, You get to treat them a little bit different and going after them and making those changes.

Now, what you see in this video, that's about a minute, and you see as young as a 12-year-old, a 12-year-old just. Beating up on two cops jumping on his back. Young kids, you think, what's going on?

Well, they are used by TDA because they know we can't incarcerate any minors. Under these new rules.

So they know they're going to get out.

So that's why they keep using these guys over and over again. And they were throwing skateboards at the cops, jumping on their back. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. No, you saw that down at the border. I heard a lot of border patrol agents.

I've been to the border multiple times. They always talked about, hey, we get underage miners coming across, they jack them up on speed and whatnot, and they'll give them weapons, they'll move drugs, they'll do these types of things because they know if they get caught, the Americans are just going to release them. There's no consequence. It's sad. It's really sad.

But it is how they operate. It's how these people think. They're ruthless. I know you're not a lawyer, but the Aliens Enemies Act got turned down by a second judge. What is that?

That says we're at war. These Germans, for example, come into Long Island. We capture them, put them in jail, in military jail. I think we eventually killed them. They had a submarine on board.

Obviously, we're at a war with them. It's no problem. Are we at war with TDA? Are we at war with Venezuela? No.

But are we at war with these terror organizations? Two judges have said no. Why is that important? Because we need to ship these people out. And we got it.

We cannot don't have the time to give them a hearing, due process. Expedited removal. Clinton did it. Obama did it. What's stopping Trump from doing it?

Because you have these activist judges and you have this so-called resistance movement who just wants to do these things that the Democrats want to do. But I think the president gets to designate this, and it is a national emergency. We've had tens of millions of people come here illegally, and we want to treat them humanely, but sending it back to their country of origin is pretty humane. Listen to this, how it's being covered elsewhere. Why?

Because Donald Trump gets high marks on border security, 55%. But he's at roughly break-even when it comes to immigration, illegal immigration, because people go, well, I see a family of four that here illegally. Who are they hurting? Listen to this sympathetic push from other channels. Come 43.

There were stories about how all of this fruit was dying on the vine. And the reason it was dying was because the farm workers who were picking them were afraid to come out of the shadows. Today is May 5th, and that means Cinco de Mayo. But some communities have canceled or scaled back cultural events because of President Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. and the fear among many Latinos that they could be arrested.

Well, if they're here illegally, there probably should be a fear of being arrested. But just 'cause it's Cinco de Mayo, we're gonna have some cocktails and guacamole. It's a trap. It's a trap. It's not really Cinco de Mayo.

We just went you out of the woodwork. What cave did you come out of? Don't tell me it's so racist to be able to say, well, the fruit is just rotting on the vines. What? You're telling me that they're all illegal immigrants?

If you're here legally, you have nothing to worry about. But if you're here illegally, yeah, you probably do have something. Do you shock Michael Wiltshire's let go? Um Kind of. Kind of.

I really like Mike. He and I serve together. I'm friends with him. I have the greatest respect for him. But he's going to be in a great spot.

Look, I don't know why, whether it was the president didn't like the advice he was getting or there just wasn't a compatibility. But, you know, four months into it, President making a change. I mean, the president makes frequent changes, but that's a really important post. And I thought he was perfect for it. I didn't mind.

I don't think it's an integrity issue or anything else. He's going to be UN ambassador. Yeah, I mean, I think obviously the president and the president's team really like the guy. It's just maybe a different role for where they want to see him.

So, Jason, when do we see you again? Probably tomorrow. Where? I don't know. I'll have to follow you up.

Bottom line? A bottom line hosting the bottom line. What time is that? 6 p.m. Eastern.

6 p.m. Check out FBN, everybody. Don't move. Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kill Me Joe.

What we're going to do in Switzerland is we've agreed to talk. Then on Saturday and Sunday, we will agree what we're going to talk about. My sense is that this will be about de-escalation, not about the big trade deal. But we've got to de-escalate before we can move forward. So that is the Secretary of Treasury with a really welcoming announcement in my view.

I don't know who wouldn't welcome it. They're going to have, doesn't sound like anyone blinked. Moore looks like China, but the fact is, we're going to meet in Switzerland. We're going to talk about de-escalating before we even talk about specifics. What could that mean?

How about a decrease in the tariff rate of 145%? Easy to imagine that going down on both sides. Ken Rogoff is with us now, Professor of Economics. At the Mortis Bose Chairman of International Economics at Harvard, New York Times best-selling author. His latest book is now out.

It's called Our Dollar: Your Problem: An Insider's View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance and the Road Ahead. Ken, welcome. Did you like hearing Scott Besson's voice telling you what's happening this weekend for the economy? I did. I mean, I like whenever Scott Besson's being pushed out front.

He's. sensible, calm. I think he's been doing a great job. What's your sense? I mean, the market's up today, two hundred and fifteen points, probably on basically that statement.

At about two thirty today, the Fed's going to speak. Do you expect the Fed to move? No, the Fed's not going to move. I mean, they might I mean, they're going to move probably at some point later this year, but the job numbers were too good, the inflation's too high. It's just not screaming out to be done yet.

I don't think they will. But the market certainly is reacting to China. I don't know where things are going, to be honest. I'm very confused by everything, but there's it's not just what he says, but that he's being pushed out to say it, that he's being a voice of the administration. And I think a lot of the market views him as good and reasonable, so they're happy seeing a lot of Scott Besson.

How happy would the market be, do you think, if we start hearing about trade deals done? India, South Korea It'd be great. No, it'd be a tremendous triumph. It depends on the details and everything. But of course, it would make people very happy.

There's no question. They're looking for an exit. I think a lot of the market believes That in a year This will be settled one way or the other. We'll have Probably 10% tariffs, China, we don't know. And the dealmaking will be done.

They believe that. But we have to get there. What do you think? I'm more nervous about it. I mean, it's felt very chaotic to me.

I know it's art of the deal, and I have many, many conservative friends. I regard myself as centrist. Many conservative friends who just say, you know, just don't pay attention to the exact details, it doesn't matter. But on the other hand, You know, it's one thing if you're doing it over real estate and you got a hundred deals and you make five of them, you're a rich man. But of course, we have to have deals with all the countries, so we have to rope them all in.

Which is interesting. Uh but As people have described to me, in fact, Kevin O'Leary. He said: if you get Japan, you get India, and you get the EU, that's 70% of what you need. And he goes, Can you bring in those three big deals? He goes, Wall Street will love it.

That'll be a welcome addition to our economy. They will. There's no doubt about that. That would be very encouraging. We'll see it take shape.

They have their own domestic audiences they have to satisfy. And so they can't appear to be losing face. I mean, look at Mark Kearney in Canada, who's sort of I don't know where that's going, but he's pushed back and he won an election.

So I think Trump likes him. That kind of helps. They have some kind of personal relationship, and that's great. Although, you know, it was a little frosty on their meeting the other day. What can you do?

But I don't know. I'm a little less certain than the market seems to be that this will all stabilize.

So, does this remind you? You look back at seven decades in finance. Does this remind you of any other period? It a hundred percent reminds me of Nixon. Nixon, like Trump, was a tough person.

Person, we hear him. Like he didn't have Twitter or, you know, his social media, but You hear them in the Watergate tapes. Like, people complain about Trump. Criticizing Powell. It's nothing compared to the way Nixon dressed down Burns.

And he got Burns, he didn't just get Burns to do something, he got Burns to punch. Pump primed the economy. It actually was a mistake. It created a huge inflation. But, you know, also Nixon would Say these, you know, is a sort of tough SOB at times.

You see it. He will curse his allies, he'll say this. But he was a thinker and he went to China, for example, at the end. That was a huge triumph. Watergate tapes, not so much, but Well, what could he do?

You realize if Watergate happened to Trump, he would have pounded right through it. No, I mean he would have just said, I mean Trump is mindset he would Brian, I got to tell you this story. Forgive me, I'd been a professional chess player before I went, became an economist. I was playing in 1974 in Poland. And going with a really top tournament with a bunch of Russian grandmasters.

We're taking a nice walk, and I'm telling them about Watergate. And that and And said the president lost his job. They said, What? And I said, Yeah, he made tapes at the White House tapes. And they're going.

You idiot. Of course, he's making tapes. You know, that's what the trembling does. And then I said, but he was forced to give them over to the Senate. And they go, and you believe that?

You think that's what really happened? Because in their world, that's just unimaginable. But yeah, that was, you know, clearly this era, that was a big shock to the system and the global financial economy. We went off gold. And that was Nixon's decision after that.

Did you like that decision? Did you like it then? Do you like it now? I liked it.

Well, to be honest, then I was playing chess and barely noticed it. And even as an economist, I didn't think about it that much. But I think it's taken me a long time to appreciate how epic it was.

So the title of my book, Our Dollar Your Problem, comes from when Nixon sent John Connolly over to Europe in 1971. He just went off the gold standard. And They were, what are we going to do? The dollar was as good as gold. We didn't mind holding.

Tons of dollars, kind of like the Asian central banks do, because we could get gold. We were fine.

Now you're telling us it's not good as gold. We're worried you're going to inflate and Connolly said well. Our dollar, your problem. But of course, when we went off the gold standard, we hadn't figured out what to do yet to anchor inflation. And it was our problem that the seventies was a tough period.

What and what did we do? We eventually We had a lot of inflation. And I was actually working at the Federal Reserve at the very tail end of that. There was someone named G. William Miller that came.

Nobody even remembers him, but I worked for him for a short period when he was there. And he had no idea what was going on. And then Carter brought in Volcker. He was the first one to try to rein it in. But he had to raise interest rates to 18, 19 percent.

And it didn't even work the first time. He had to do it twice. And needless to say, it caused a recession. I'm a big fan of Ronald Reagan's. I don't think Jimmy Carter was a great president, but I'm not sure Ronald Reagan would have become president if Folker hadn't got appointed.

So it was an epic moment and sort of set the standard that you let the Fed do what it needs to do to control inflation in normal times. I want to emphasize in normal times, because when there's a pandemic, when there's a financial crisis, war. The Fed's independence has to go by the wayside, and you have to do what you need to do. I was speaking to Ken Rogoff. His book is now out, Our Dollar, Your Problem.

So, Ken. The thing that factors in every day with me, and I know deep thinkers like you, is our debt.

So, no matter what we're spending now, we got to find a way to pay off that debt. And then when interest rates go up, the debt, the interest on the debt goes up.

So it's the number one expenditure.

Now we're sitting there dancing on the edges and talking about tax cuts, but What has to happen to get the debt going in the right direction? Can we do it through growth?

Well, the best way to do it's through growth. That's what everyone says. But right now, even the interest rates are high enough and everybody was saying they would never go up again. I felt like a lone voice arguing. You said they would.

I said they would, yeah. Certainly on your colleague Maria Bartaromo show many, many times for years saying this is going to end and go on forever.

So it's more difficult. I mean, right now, you know, the interest rates are a little bit above growth, and so you could sort of sit there. But the trouble is, we're going to have another pandemic. We're going to have, like you say, a war, maybe a cyber war. We're going to need something.

So, yeah. Maybe something unexpected. Yeah, something unexpected. And then they want it to go up another 30%. And with interest rates, what they are, and us maybe the dollar not being quite as special as it was, that was happening before Trump.

That is not a Trump phenomenon. It's going to be tough.

So near term, you know, we at least like to have to appear that we're trying to take this into account. And we haven't. Until now.

So, the way I understand it, in ballpark figures, before the pandemic, we were spending $4.5 trillion.

Well, we made. We brought in $4.5 trillion spending. And now it's over $6 trillion. The pandemic's over. We're still spending in that level.

Senator Ron Johnson has come out and just said, can we just get down to 4.5 trillion? If you look at the revenue we're bringing in, we'd be pretty okay by now. Why is it so difficult to get it down? Is it because of Medicaid and Medicare and those expenditures keep rising?

Well, two things. A wonky point was you've had a lot of inflation under Biden.

So $4.5 trillion ain't what it used to be.

So as a share of the economy, you'd have to go up, I guess, 20% from the Biden years, which takes you up a ways. But yeah, I mean, if you compare us to other countries. We do much less besides the military and social, you know, Social Security and Medicare. And so it's harder. It's harder for us to adjust.

Only Japan's kind of similar to us.

So I won't say I have an easy answer to this. Of which way you want to go on this: of spend less, tax more. I I I don't wanna I don't wanna But yes, there's a problem. When you look at the big beautiful bill as Trump labeled it. We're looking to renew the tax cuts from 2017.

I understand it, keep that levels, make them permanent. I understand it. We're also looking to expand defense up to over a trillion dollars. And Senator Roger Wicker came out and said, that's not enough. I agree with I agree with that.

Yeah. I think you have to adjust for inflation and the fact that there's Iran, there's what's going on in Ukraine, what's going on in China. And this is one thing Trump clearly had right. back in his first term and its second term. The Europeans have to pull their weight.

It'd probably be good for them, by the way. I think the Euro would be, that's their currency, would be more used if people felt they were a geopolitical power. But even so, we do need to spend more on military. We live in that world. Don't we need to find a way to get a smart guy like you in there, Ken, to find out what we're spending it on?

Because when we can't pass an audit, which means people aren't recording things. It's impossible. We don't have the records in order to find out what waste is.

So. And so people go, are we really going to give a trillion before we fix what we're spending it on? It is a fair point.

So people certainly say look at Nassau. And look at the fact that Elon Musk seems to be able to send payload up there for a fifteenth the price that NASA does. Why isn't there stuff in the military we have this Uh You know, I don't know what trillion-dollar plane coming online. There are some questions, but it's not easy. To cut fat there.

I mean, one of the things people don't understand is what seems like waste in the military.

Sometimes you need some excess someplace. You don't know where the enemy is going to strike. It's a competitive game. We cannot afford to lose.

So I'm not sure. I think we can just slash things. But yes, getting smart people, I don't know about like me, but like tech people looking at things. Of course, it's good. Right.

We're going to come back and talk a little bit more about the economy. Ken Rogoff is with us now, Harvard professor, also his best-selling author. His latest book, Our Dollar, Your Problem, An Insider's View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance and the Road Ahead. Don't move. Coming to you on a need-to-know basis, because Mandy, you need to know.

It's Brian Kilmead. The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmead. Since the 1980s, at least in the textile industry, a lot of the manufacturing went over to China and Asia, and the current infrastructure is really outdated, so the quality is just not where it used to be. And that's the big misconception.

The Asian manufacturers are very, very high-tech and produce very high quality. So if it came back to the U.S., it would take a lot of infrastructure and grants like China does to American companies to bring it back into the U.S. And for the record, I'm a huge fan of that. I would love to support Trump's vision in that, but it's going to take time.

So that is Steve Borrelli. He is CEO of Cuts Clothing in Southern California. I also know another clothing manufacturer, Ken Rogoff, with us here. His book is Our Dower Your Problem, who said, I'm really nervous. My whole business is Vietnam.

Well, that's where they make all my clothing. And if you have 45% or tariffs across the board of 45% at one point, I'm out of business.

So how nervous are small business people that you talk to about the uncertainty right now?

Well, the small businesses are really uncertain. I have a friend who imports wine, really small business, but it takes a couple of months for the ships to arrive. She doesn't have the capital to pay for it and then charge people. She needs to charge them in advance. She doesn't know what to charge them because she doesn't know what the tariff's going to be.

So I think that's affecting the whole economy. And do you think that You know, the whole pause until July, and if it stays 10% tariffs across the board, is that is the certainty livable? Absolutely.

So it's sort of a dirty little secret among economists, because we all like globalization and free trade, that ten percent tariffs wouldn't have massive effects. For one thing, we're a really big country. We import a lot, but compared to what we make, it's not really that much. And 10 percent is not such a big amount. Wouldn't bring things on.

It's the uncertainty that's what's really crippling the economy. What do you look at to see if the economy is serving, is doing what it's supposed to be doing? For example, outside inflation, there were really positive numbers for Biden, but most people were not satisfied with the amount of regulation, the amount of green programs and the DEI that they were forced to abide by. But a lot of the numbers look strong in terms of growth. What do you look for, Ken, to see if an economy is strong?

Well, I think it was a lot of other things. I mean, the open borders policy was just incomprehensible. I could not get his attention on it. I couldn't get his attention on it. And it was popular in some circles in my neighborhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Well, I don't want to say it went to Harvard. But I had neighbors who were very smart who just somehow thought if somebody got to our border, we should just let them in.

So that was the DEI had clearly gone too far. I mean, I think it's a lot of fun. You see it on campus, though. I see it everywhere. I mean, so I don't want to comment on Harvard specifically, but you know, you want to work there still.

Because I still work there. You've been there 20 plus years. I've been there 25 years. No, Harvard's an amazing place. I think there's a lot of good cause there, but it went too far.

And speaking of the infrastructure, you spent a lot of it on infrastructure, but what did they build? I mean, so I think there was a rural internet. Project which was to bring internet to rural America. Great idea, $42 billion. They spent it.

I don't built anything. What about the electric cars? 69 charging stations built. The chips factories. Great idea.

That's a really good idea. Trump wanted that, bringing CHIPS here. But then they put all these bells and whistles on, like one was that if you take money from the CHIPS Act to build a factory, you have to have high-quality on-site daycare for the construction workers. I mean, so it's like this, you know, they're really looking to get something done. And I think Americans knew that.

They could see it. Ken, so glad you came in. Hopefully it's not the last time. Hopefully you'll come in again. Pick up his book, Our Dollar, Your Problem.

Thank you. From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest-growing radio talk show. Brian. In Kill Mead. Wow.

Hi, everyone. Brian Kilmeader here. Thanks so much for being there. We have a lot going on today in this hour. Eli Lake is joining us to the bottom of the hour.

Kalmas for the free press. He goes inside the Mike Waltz dismissal. And we got to get this laid. What do you think it is that the president teased out yesterday? Big announcement regarding an issue that we've had to deal with for decades.

And it would know it can't be the Gulf of Arabia. Or the Arabian Gulf, because that's already been done. It used to be the Persian Gulf, now it's changed. Used to be Gulf of Mexico, now it's Gulf of America. Will they rename?

Will they rename other bodies of water?

Well, Antarctica. I think they could use a refresh. Joining us now is Kennedy. Looks like Brian, so much more. Um, were you surprised about Gulf of Arabia or Arabia Gulf?

I have a lot of friends who are Persian, so I got to take a poll and see how they feel about it. Probably upset. Yeah, because Persian Gulf is like, you know, th If you were born in Iran and you fled after the revolution, you'd call yourself Persian. And they're, you know, I have a lot of Persian friends, especially growing up in LA, because a lot of families relocated in Los Angeles. And I gotta take their temperature, Brian.

All right, fine. The Houthi rebels, you basically grew up with them. That's pretty much a good idea. I did. I spent a lot of time in Yemen.

A lot of people don't I don't put that on Wikipedia because I don't need to be the hero here. Right.

And usually you don't put things on Wikipedia. They Wikipedia just knows. They know. Yeah. And by the way, do the Houthi rebels call themselves rebels?

Like oh they just call themselves Houthi. No, they they call themselves amazing. Like they're not as humble as they should be. That's true. I mean, they are now out of the I'm going to shoot America business after 800 targeted strikes.

They seem to have not wanted to fight. President Trump made that announcement yesterday. I did not know they were talking to Steve Witkoff, but it looks like he's got, I guess, one victory. How do you feel about it? That's a busy guy.

That's a busy guy with a lot on his plate because he is all over the map trying to secure peace. And that's what our country should be doing. Like, we should be aiming for peace and encouraging peace, prosperity, capitalism, free trade, wherever we go, because that's what lifts people out of poverty and makes life better. But free trade, that's not a buzz term that Trump uses a lot. He doesn't use that term, but I think that's what he's going for.

He wants. Reciprocal free trade. You go to zero. But let's listen to 24. We had some very good news last night.

The Houthis have announced that they are not, or they've announced to us at least, that they don't want to fight anymore. They just don't want to fight. And we will honor that. But the one thing I would say is we do want to fight because they're still rocketing Israel.

So we can't, they just don't want to fight us, it seems. But who wants to be, if you do have a merchant barge? Yes.

If you could send that through the Gulf of Hormuz. Yes.

Could you do that and see if anyone chooses you? It's actually going to be renamed the Gulf of Macy's. Right? Because they paid the money. That's right.

They paid the money.

So they have to. Title sponsor. Here is right. And by the way, that just shows you'll sell anything. Oh yeah.

I mean it it we were going to do the golf of crypto.com. Right.

But we're just we're worried that you know, we want them to have another decade to make sure they have staying power. No, one thing I there's nothing more embarrassing than like having to change the name of a ballpark or a massive body of water. Right.

Same thing. Um, when they introduce you on Outnumbered, sometimes I see different sponsors. Like, uh, here is uh Nike's own Kennedy. Yeah, that's right. And then I wear different patches depending on the topic.

Yeah, I know. It's like, yeah, I've got McDonald's, I've got Nabisco, Penzoil.

So you make a lot of money if every appearance. You don't even need your salary.

Well, I don't. Right.

I take it because I believe in capitalism and I know my worth. I settle for more, Brian. You settle for more? Everywhere I go. Who said that?

Mm. The CEO, who was it? Megan Kelly. Yeah, Megan Kelly set up a board. Thank you very much.

Here's Donald Trump promising something. Cut twenty-five.

Well we're going to as you know the Middle East uh Saudi Arabia, we're going to uh UAE and Qatar. And that'll be I guess Monday night, some of you are coming with us. I think before then we're going to have a very, very big announcement to make. Like as big as it gets. What could that be?

Did he pigeonhole himself? No. Just big announcement. Big announcement. Big as it gets.

Big as it gets. So My one piece of advice for the president: maybe stop overselling things. Right.

Because. If The Reality doesn't match the potential. then, you know, the the press gives you a hard time. But if you kind of understand, it's like this is going to be pretty big. And then if it's huge, people are like, oh my God, we didn't think this would happen in our lifetime.

Here's uh Jessica Millen Patterson. on Fox News at night. Your favorite show? But even though you do like to go to better order. Trace Gallagher.

Oh, he's wonderful. Right.

Yeah. Yeah, by the way, good athlete. He was a competitive water skier. That's right. Right.

When everyone else was taking the car or taking a boat, he was skiing. He was skiing behind the boat. Right.

A lot of people can't get a hold of him. Where is he? He's skiing. Yeah. I wish Tracy's a story, yeah.

Yeah. There's a I'm sure he can do one ski. Yeah. If he's that good as he as I say, you don't say y competitive water skiing doesn't take place on two skis. Right.

It just doesn't. You're right. You know what it did? Happy days, Fonzie, when he had to jump. Jump the shark.

Yeah. He two skis.

Well, it's 'cause he did his own stunts. That's true. He's always done it. Like that was him walking around. He was our Jackie Chan.

Right.

Yeah, that's it. He slowly walked around. No, he didn't really ever even fight anybody. He just threw it. Right.

Does he embrace that label? Uh our generation's Jackie Jan? He knows it. Right.

He's kind of proud of it. But again, so humble. He w he would never introduce himself. I actually know Henry Winkler pretty well. Really?

Because he was the executive producer of a game show that I guest hosted on Game Show Network, and he was the executive producer of Hollywood Squares. And I was a square for several years there during my time as a game show host. And he was the most generous. Kindest loving person I think I've ever met. Right.

And everyone, he treated everyone on that set the same, and he treated them all like family. It was such an incredible lesson.

Now, I've experienced him a couple of times. And that is what I think, but I'm almost disappointed.

Well, he said you were the one person he met that he didn't like. And I thought that was well and did you stand up for me?

Well, here's the thing. I wanted him to have a little bit of an edge. I wanted him to be a little like the character. Yeah. No?

I mean, try to hit him. He's got cat-like reflexes. He does. Because I saw him in Waterboy. He was brilliant as a coach there.

That team had no talent. And then they just have this one player came all the way back. Jessica Millen-Patterson from Fox News at Night with Trace Gallagher, who water skis. She was she speculated, cut 26.

Well, we know that the president is headed to the Middle East. We also heard him talk today about the Houthis coming to the table and saying, we want to ceasefire. They have been brought to their knees. 800 precision attacks and zero apologies from this president. He does not have any interest in endless wars.

He wants to be completely strategic and have maximum impact with the results that he gets from using this show of force.

So I think that we're going to see an expansion of the Abraham Accords. He's going to the Middle East. This is something that he was very, very proud of in his first term. And I think you're going to see even more people coming to the table. And he is really trying to bring lasting peace to the Middle East.

So it's got to be Saudi Arabia and Israel. But Saudi Arabia has been clear until you said, oh, what's going on in Gaza? I'm not signing anything. But maybe they feel it's feta complete. I don't know.

Gaza is very much in turmoil still. Yes.

But, you know, perhaps they're like, well, maybe this will be the impetus for peace. Because if you have a player as big as Saudi Arabia who wants and and that's That's what I thought automatically when we were listening to that in real time on the outnumbered couch because, you know, that announcement came during his bilateral press conference with uh Prime Minister Kearney from The state of Canada. And that's the first thing I thought. I was like, this has to be an expansion of the Abraham Accords.

So we had two big things today. Oh, by the way, who thinks tired of fighting? Big surprise. Got to go. Park Carney's like, yeah, keep talking.

I do not want to talk myself out of a deal.

Well, what about Scott Bessett? Then he ends the day by going, Yeah, I'm going to scale, I'm going to have a de-escalation meeting in Switzerland. And with China. With China. I mean, that's a pretty big dick.

I think Besant is like um the man. I think he's like the silent ninja. Right.

I really do. Like, I think that he he is so well comported. I think he's incredibly smart. I think that he has, you know, a a very even temperament. And those are all good qualities for someone who is going to be Diplomatic.

It's also very interesting because. Besant seems like more of a Secretary of State than Marco Rubio. Yes.

Well, right now we are doing economic diplomacy. Yes.

Cut three. The world has been coming to the U.S. and China has been the missing piece. I was going to be in Switzerland to negotiate with the Swiss. Turns out the Chinese team is traveling through Europe, and they will be in Switzerland also.

So we will meet on Saturday and Sunday. And look, we have shared interest that the This isn't sustainable. As I said before, especially on the Chinese side, and 145%, 125% is the equivalent of an embargo. We don't want to decouple. What we want is fair trade.

So, this is what I say that comes out of this. You ready? 20% down. They're going to say, I think the Chinese are going to come and say, these are the ports where the precursors are coming from. We are going to clamp down on it, maybe even provide some video.

And that would allow Trump to say, I gave you 25% tariffs because you wouldn't clamp down on fentanyl. It seems so long ago, but it wasn't too long ago before the April announcement. And that would be one off-ramp. Hey, we're going to crack down illegal drugs, so we'll take 25% off your tariff, get us in the right direction.

So the whole face-taving and pride thing can get out of the way, and we just grind it out. Yeah. How do you feel about that? Long pauses make me think you're not following, thinking about something else. Don't agree.

I it it's not that I don't agree. I just think uh China has no way to save face right now. This meeting about a meeting that's going to take place in Switzerland is really the only way for them to, in their minds, Get a hold of the narrative once again because they've lost it. Like, if if this team announces a deal with India, South Korea and Japan, that really isolates China. You know, that really and and they don't have the combined GDP of China, but Tr a trade alliance like that.

Is so powerful and humiliating for China.

So I think this meeting is going to be a way to figure out. How to Navigate this so China doesn't look like America's bitch. Evidently, Asia Radio Asia says that there's all types of walkouts and layoffs in Chinese factories. There's anger about paychecks having been around for months, people working for free, and then you have that whole generation who they call it laying out. They're not going to school and they're not going to work.

They're just laying under society. They don't want any part of it. Depressed. Feeling like they're in an oppressive country, they don't have anything to do. That's their way of fighting back.

They got a series of things that it's not niche. They seem to have major problems on housing. If you're not working and you've got an entire generation or half a generation that's not working, imagine what that does to tax revenue. Right.

Absolutely.

And by the way, if you retire, I thought they would get great benefits. That's one of the things communist country. They say $160 a month, and no one's happy about that.

So then they say, you've got to become a consumer country. Stop depending on America. These guys go, really? We got no money. And we do have money, we've got to save it because you're not giving us any money.

They don't really have a free market. Yeah. No, I that's a good point. I forget the whole communist thing is not as great as it sounds. Yes.

No, it's still very much a state-run economy. Right.

Uh but I'm again I'm not I'm anti-communist. Are you? Virulently, yes. Want to make sure, because you're wearing red. I I'm wearing red for women's heart health.

Oh, are you snap down on a Wednesday?

Well, you know, I try and again such a giver. Exactly. In their hearts. Back in a moment. In-depth analysis, insightful commentary, probing questions.

What's a furry again? I'll tell you. Thinks they're an animal? Sure. It's Brian Kilmead.

The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmead. Note to Dawn Kilmead, Brian's wife. Dawn? Dawn?

Dawn? What did Dawn say? I'm going to take Dawn's side. Shout out to Dawn. Dawn feels as though she's got to give me advice on how to drive.

Why are you going so fast? Why are you going so slow? Dawn just wrote me. She says she does have friends. Do you think that Brian is Dawn's emergency?

Not a chance. Even though my son's away at college, I think she would choose him. 100%. But Bennigan's out of business, and I don't wait her anymore.

So you took Dawn on her first date, right? No, I took her to Beefsteak Charlie's because it's all you can eat. I'm at Dawn at this point. How many years have y'all been married? It was just like, okay, this is part of the course.

Your wife does all the shopping for you. We know, because we got a Christmas gift from Dawn. Didn't mention Brian. Thank you, Dawn. Dawn does the cooking in that house.

After she vacuumed, he gave her a vacuum or something one year. Did we find out if Dawn was shoveling yesterday? I got a Fox News alert. Dawn was prepared with the shovel. Dawn is already up shoveling.

Dawn wrote me, and she's been watering the tray. She does everything. Wow. And she's got a beautiful boutique, and she's very pretty as well. And she's a business.

How does Dawn live with you? It's not easy. And that was my birthday montage from Thank you. You're welcome. And Dawn is totally reluctant to be on camera, but she did come on and say hello to me with the dog.

And I love all of her clothes at her boutique. She was so loyal to Wild Willows. Wild Willows. Go there. And the good news is you can order online.

You can order online. You don't have to go. In fact, you order online, but it came in a little smaller or big. Yes.

It was and then she she gave me a complimentary, like Massive tote bag. Like a beautiful black purse. This place is awesome. And their customer service is fantastic. Right.

It's her. Yes.

Wild Willows, right in New York City. NY.

So, Kennedy, what were you saying? Oh, begged your podcast. That's right, Brian. One Ray Success. Unbelievable studio, by the way.

I like the way you look straight ahead and through the microphone. Through the microphone, Brian. You know what I mean?

Well, you're my mentor. You taught me that. No, I kind of do the surveillance thing. I kind of ignore my cameras, right? I'm pretty much security cameras.

They're just making sure I don't touch anything. Skaking around? Yes.

Even Jimmy, you noticed that Jimmy Phala even has more of a podcast studio now. Like, I go back to traditional radio. Sure, Brian. Right? Don't you think that's a good idea?

Yeah, you're a brick and mortar guy. Right.

Doesn't this feel more radio? It certainly does. Because it is radio. I mean, the headphones and the microphone. It gets a giveaway.

The lack of video shows it's radio.

So what do you have to say about your podcast? Like, who's on this week? Who are the last three guests? That's a great question. Jimmy Fela is always on Mondays, and we kind of recap the weekend.

Today I'm doing a podcast with a criminal defense attorney who's going to break down the Diddy trial and what his team has to present in order to get an acquittal for him.

Well, that's very interesting. Number one, number two is: does he have a shot? I mean, there are people who believe that anyone has a shot because all you need is one juror to go, no, I like him, I believe him. You know, and I I think Biggie was Murdered, and therefore Diddy should go free. Right.

And what was, I'm sorry, I forgot the rap wars. Who shot who? Oh, that's the kind of outstanding question. Yes, but Tupac, Big E. We found the guy they shot Tupac.

Who claims to know who found the guy? Who shot Biggie Smalls? Um, God, I don't know who that is. It's it was definitely like maybe someone that Truge Knight paid and Shouldn't have balloons. Also, he's a guy who went into prison, got out, and then went back again.

Yeah. Because he ran somebody over with his car. I mean Why would you go to prison twice? Yeah. No, it seems like one of those things.

Yeah, where you get out and you're like, oh man, I love these comfortable sheets and I can eat anytime I want, anything I want. But wait, he cut me off. I might as well sacrifice everything. Yeah, I'm going to hit him with my car. Right, absolutely.

But Master P is my friend from the rap world. Oh, that's nice. Right, and he went to prison. to talk to Suge Knight? Sug Knight said, I need Snoop Dogg.

Because Snoop Dogg was represented by Sugarnet. Yeah. Worked at a deal, paid him off, and he represents Snoop Dogg, and they're a friendship today. Incredible. And then so.

And now he's best friends with Martha Stewart. Right.

And you would think I like rap by how much I know about rap. You, I mean. Look at you. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin. It's Brian Killmeade.

We had some very good news last night. The Hooties have announced that they are not. where they've announced to us at least that they don't want to fight anymore. They just don't want to fight. And we will honor that.

And we will uh We will stop. The bombings. And uh they have Capitulated, but more importantly, we will take their word. So that was President yesterday. He caught me by surprise.

Did it catch Eli Lake by surprise, columnist for the Free Press, contributor, editor of commentary. And he's got a very successful podcast. His latest article, Why Trump Dismissed Mike Waltz, which we'll get into shortly. But Eli, your thoughts about the Houthi rebels, would you hop on a merchant ship right now? And go right through the right through the the Gulf?

I mean, I don't know what it means that they don't want to fight anymore. Does it mean that they're ending their attacks on commercial shipping? Does it mean that they're going to stop firing missiles at Israel? Does it mean I mean, I it just to me, Um It is surprising if it's true that they're standing down, that's great news. Does that mean that Israel is going to stand down?

I mean, does it do? I mean, there's a lot of details that need to come out, I think. to figure out what's going on there. My view is also that Um A better policy would be, at least for Israel at this point, is that After that extremely close call at Ben-Gurion Airport, the target should have been Iran. And that there should be, like, when your proxies fire the missiles that you give them.

At us, you will pay for it. And I think that that will be much more effective than trying to go after. uh what remains of the uh Yemeni infrastructure under the Houthi regime. Yeah, we did make that clear, and they did get hit 800 times, evidently.

So that does that probably did some damage, don't you think? I would imagine it did, but still they were able to launch a ballistic missile that hit Ben-Gurion Airport. And um I mean, I'm just saying that that doesn't mean that it wasn't effective what the US was doing. What it means is that we kind of allowed this problem to fester for so long. that there's a lot of there's a lot to take care of.

So the President of the United States said this yesterday after the Houthi rebels comment: cut 25.

Well we're going to, as you know, the Middle East, uh Saudi Arabia. We'll go into UAE and Qatar. And that'll be I guess Monday night, some of you are coming with us. I think before then we're gonna have a very, very big announcement to make. Like as big as it gets.

So what do you think it is, Eli?

Well, I mean, have there has been some reporting to suggest that there will be an expansion of The um their expansion of the Abraham Accords, which could be huge if it's Saudi Arabia is announcing that it is going to have formal diplomatic relations with Israel, that's a really big deal. If there are other countries that are going to join, again, that's also a really big deal.

So if that's what it is, then that's huge. That's the really big announcement. Do you think there's a chance there's a Iran deal? Uh you know, I've I've I Maybe, but I uh if he's gonna Let me put it like this. Donald Trump got out of Barack Obama's Iran deal.

Because it basically allowed for Iran to create to have the capability. to enrich the nuclear fuel. that could be capable of Fueling a weapon. but with the promise that it wouldn't go that far.

Okay. If the deal is basically like that, You can make your own nuclear fuel, but you have to promise not to make it suitable for a nuclear weapon. Then he hasn't, then that deal isn't worth anything. Then, you know, I think that. There is a strong argument for those that are less in American politics, at least, that are concerned about Iran going nuclear.

They can just play Trump's, you know Comments from his first term against him in the second term, if that's what the deal is.

So in my view, if they announce a nuclear deal that is like President Obama's JCPOA joke, then that's a negative development. Yeah, lets them use rockets, that they're using ballistic missiles, lets them supply the continue to prop up their proxies and continue to wreak havoc in the Middle East, and evaporates in ten years it expired.

So it was a terrible deal. Right.

So if they if that's what the deal is, then um I don't see any indication that the Iranians are going to give up their enrichment capabilities.

So If it's an Abraham Accords thing, that's great to the President's credit. Building on the strength from its first term. basically getting back into an Iraq an Obama-style Iran nuclear deal. Uh, there's gonna be a lot of problems, I think. All right, we're talking with Eli Lake.

Eli, you're calm about why you think Michael Waltz lost his job. What do you think? I think it was personal relationships. I think he never was able to kind of like earn the full trust of Susie Wiles as we know she is the most important person besides Trump in that whiteout. That's a big deal.

I think, second of all, there was a kind of maybe a perception of an ideological overlay. I happen to think Mike Waltz was an excellent member of Congress. He's a Green Beret. And I think he's correct in trying to push. I don't even consider it a hard line.

I consider it to be a reality based line on the Iran situation that we were just talking about. No enrichment. This can't just be a deal that promises they won't go for a weapon. Um I don't think I think that Trump has said that many times, so I'm not sure that that's out of sync with Trump. But it's certainly out of sync with an element of The wider, maybe, Trump world or MAGA world.

And what I mean by that is, you listen to people like Tucker Carlson and others. But they will sort of say for them, the whole thing is about we have to avoid another war with Iran. And that's the only metric that they're really paying attention to. And in that world, I think Waltz always had a little bit of a target on his back because of his record as a member of Congress. which, by the way, was in line with the first Trump administration's Iran policy.

So it's difficult in my view to kind of claim that his Positions on Iran were somehow out of sync with where Trump wanted to go, given the fact that it was, you know, a natural, you know, this is, I think, what a lot of people were voting for based on his first time around. And I'll tell you what, I think it's going to come right back to both those things. For example, I'm going to give Iran a tough shot. I'm going to give him a shot to come to the table. When it comes back and Iran acts like Iran, he's going to end up having to back the Israelis to take it out.

That's my bet, and do what we have to do to make sure it's successful. And number two, he's with Vladimir Putin. He's seen Putin's making him look bad. He's taking a lot of political risk in bringing Putin in and saying things like, look, I don't care who wins. I want this thing stopped.

Even though he's for Ukraine, but it does not work to his advantage to go out and say Vladimir Putin is evil because he's trying to say, listen, I'm going to come in out of the bullpen. I'm going to try to just fix this thing. You left the bases loaded. I'm the one who's got to dial this back. Doesn't matter how they got here.

So, when Putin proves to be blowing the one chance he has to maybe rebuild his economy and keep safe face, if he blows it, then I think there's going to be a Plan B that most conservatives are going to be happy with. And they're going to understand that the US is not the problem. Iran and Russia is the problem. Even though you talk to some people on the right, and they seem to have lost their way there. I think that there are a lot of people on the right who've lost their way, and there is an ideology behind it.

It is not, I think it's wrong to say it's isolationism. I think it's I think that there's a sophisticated argument, one that I don't necessarily agree with, but it says that. It's not worth the candle for the United States to be the primary kind of defender of Europe. What we need to do is focus on China. and deterring China from trying to take Taiwan.

And that means that we have to marshal our resources, we're in terrible debt, and that debt is something that we have to pay more attention to. And also, We have to ask ourselves what our relationship with Europe is really getting us. when Europe puts lots of restrictions on some of our most important exports in terms of services and Internet and AI and things like that.

Well, that has the effect of leading a lot of people to say: okay, well, why are we spending billions and billions of dollars to defend Europe? Isn't Ukraine a Europe problem? To me, that's not entirely a crazy point of view. I understand where it's coming from. The people who say it are not ignoramuses.

I do think that there is a strong argument for trying to deter aggression. And there's also a legacy and an inheritance that Trump or any American president would have, which is that for now, We are a global superpower, and as a global superpower, the global system has in many ways benefited us. But again, this comes back to some of like the revolutionary elements of the second election of Donald Trump, which is to say, We just took that for granted as a soci you know, I would say politically, you know, the right and the left really didn't debate that until now. And the debate is really who does it benefit? Does it benefit the people who lost and saw their factory towns devastated by globalization?

Well, no, it doesn't benefit them. But I also think that there's a danger in kind of overcorrecting. because we we purchase cheaper goods. Relatively speaking, a person who is like lower middle class or even would be kind of considered poor has a better quality of life in twenty twenty five than they did in 1975. That said, it's a complicated thing.

So, I kind of understand it. What I didn't understand in the beginning of the Trump term was the way that Zelensky was treated, which I think was like. Of signaling, you have a free shot, and which is what the Russians, of course, did. That, in my view, was a blunder. It was a blunder to.

to kind of it was unintentional I know that for sure They never planned on having it blow up. Yeah, but blunders are unintentional, if you know what I mean. Like, I mean, what I'm getting at here is that there were certain things that Trump said in the first couple of weeks. That made it seem like we were just going to pull the cord. We were just going to pull the plug on Ukraine, and they were going to be left to their own devices.

And this was like a kind of godfather offer. You either accept. the terms that we're going to negotiate with Russia, or we're going to leave you to the wolves. That was dishonorable in my view, and it was the wrong approach. And I don't think that's what the policy is now, especially after this really interesting story.

that apparently Secretary Hegses at the Pentagon unilaterally froze the aid to Ukraine without an order from President Trump himself. And apparently, Trump did not necessarily want to do that.

So that to me is like, you know, it suggests that it's far more nuanced than that actually the Trump position is. Not what it looked like it was in those first few weeks. To me, that's a good thing. But on the other hand, you have to grapple with the fact that there is a huge part of the Trump coalition. that are asking these really basic and fundamental questions.

And that's not just You know, that doesn't just the way to deal with that is not just to say, you guys are wrong. What about all these other great things? You have to kind of deal with it. And what are some of the policies? And Trump's talking about that.

I think he wants major investment, for example. When you're thinking about this Middle East trip, what's the deliverable? I think there's going to be hundreds of billions of dollars that are going to be promised. to invest in terms of American jobs. that's going to be a really good thing in a lot of ways.

And I think that Um You know, that focus on trying to kind of, you know, look out for the forgotten man. Is something that is that's the kind of promise that got him elected, and I think he's focusing on that. And at the same time, I think he's trying to kind of correct Again, what were mistakes in the beginning that made it seem like we just weren't taking our cards and going home? And we're going to try to get to the best deal we can. Ukraine, let's take it or leave it at this point.

So, I will, what do you think about the new strategy in Gaza, where the IDF is going to go in, hold land, call up the reserves and continue to take more land every day that goes by without releasing the hostages? I like that it's out of the box thinking. I like that it's something new. And I think that the idea that you have to hold the territory so that Hamas doesn't come back is. the hard slog that you need to do.

And I don't think Israel could have done it if Trump wasn't elected. But I think Trump gets is is very close to Israel on this stuff. and he's going to give Israel the space to try this out. And because it's a new policy and it's a new approach, Um I think that that's that's much better than what has sort of been tried before. Um in the end though, um you know, we're going to have to deal with it, I think, more regionally.

And I think that that means There has to be real pressure that's applied to cut our And it has to be real pressure applied to Turkey, where you still have the Hamas leadership. basically allowed to stay there without being touched.

So there has to be, like, you know, in my view, I think after October 7th, the sort of sane reality-based approach has to be. Hamas is now ISIS, and what do you do with ISIS? You get rid of them. And that's hopefully, hopefully, so that's so it's got to be it's that what Israel is doing is good. But there has to be more regionally.

And also, you know, if you think about it, this ideology behind Hamas is just as much a threat. To our Gulf allies than it is to Israel. I mean, you know what I'm saying? I think everybody's kind of now on the same page in a way that they weren't after 9-11 with Al-Qaeda.

So that's a good thing. No, I do. I agree. I think it's going to be interesting to see how this trip goes. I think Qatar is a double edge.

I think there's part of them that are pro-the Iranian wing, and I think there's part that really want to be part of the West. And I think there's a lot of truth to the fact that Israel wanted somebody to talk to in Qatar. And they knew it wasn't politically advantageous to make it public, but they wanted to be able to deal with it. And Cutter knows they're in a dangerous neighborhood. They got no army.

If Iran wants to take it tomorrow, they can.

So they can't be they can't make enemies of anyone. I'm somewhat sympathetic to their position. I also divert I d defer to you because of your great knowledge in the Middle East.

Well, here's the problem. They provide There are diplomatic offices, as you said, not just for Israel, for America, too. On the other hand, They also fund these guys. On the other hand, they also are involved in like funding American universities, and they put so much money into the United States. that they're trying to influence our foreign policy to a certain extent.

So, I think you got to cut that stuff out. And as for, yes, they're not defended, that Ron could come in when they wanted, that's true in a sense. But we have a huge military base there, which should give us a lot of leverage. And if there's one guy who can apply that leverage, as we know, It's Donald Trump, you know what I'm saying? And so far, we haven't seen that kind of pressure on the Qataris.

It doesn't mean that it's not coming at some point, or that it's not being delivered in private. Perhaps that's more effective. But what it does mean is that they need to make some choices. You're so smart, and you do all your homework. It's really a great perspective for our audience.

Eli Lake, Free Press, great podcast. Thanks so much. Breaking History is the name of the podcast. Please subscribe and please subscribe to the Free Press. You got it.

Breaking History. Thanks so much. Eli Lake, thanks. Back in a moment. Both sides, all opinions.

It's Brian Kilmead. Information you want. Truth you demand. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. Sponsored by Previgen.

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Got against bore. Will the drinker ride Go Gonna get sparring with shrimp and beef steak joys tonight So that is why would you guys play that? That's where you had your first big date. That's, I think, yeah, that I can remember. Beefsteak Charlie's.

Is that a national chain? Do people know what we're talking about? Apparently, it used to be. It was mostly a New York-based chain. And then they had one, I think, in Miami.

It went away in the late 80s, early 90s, and then it came back for less than a year in the 2000s. Then they opened up one on a mall in Long Island, and it closed right away. But look at these prices. Look at these prices that they have. Boneless sirline, $499.

You're talking about the 80s, right? They didn't give a day, but I'm assuming this would be the 80s. Barbecue chicken, $4.99, cheeseburger. And we still weren't allowed to go out tea.

So I remember I almost never went out to eat at college, no car, no money. I would wait tables and just try to get a ride back to college. And I just thought, what could be better than this? I actually thought it was top of the line. I'm like, why?

I'm going to have a typical meal at Thieves State Charlie's. I mean, it doesn't matter. It's the open, it's the, as all you could drink, and there was a buffet.

So I'm like, you don't have to wait for a waiter? What's better than this? I mean, I literally had no experience. I'm like, I actually did not know you needed to take the shells off the shrimp.

So I ate the shells. Listen to the all-new Brett Baer podcast, featuring common ground, in-depth talks with lawmakers from opposite sides of the aisle, along with all your Brett Baer favorites like his all-star panel and much more. Available now at FoxnewsPodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to the show ad-free on Fox News Podcast Plus, on Apple Podcast, Amazon Music with your Prime membership, or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Hmm.