Trump reshapes America's Middle East relations

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Sign up for your $1 per month trial at shopify.com slash special offer. From high atop Fox News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kilmead. Wow, we have so much going on. The president oversees a lot of action here at home, and I'm glad you're there today.

And by the way, welcome to the show. A lot going on in Capitol Hill. Got good news about an hour ago. It looks like after 17 hours of markups, which Democrats for the most part put their hand up, just like Republicans do when they're in the minority, they voted on pure party lines to move the Big Beautiful bill out of ways and means. Getting closer and closer to getting this thing done by Memorial Day.

Big question when it comes to writing off state and local taxes. The no-tax states like Texas say no way. The blue states where we have Republicans there say if we don't get this, don't expect to hold my seat.

So, they're going to have to work this thing out. We're also going to hear from Ryan Ruth today. He is one of the would-be assassins of President Trump. He is going to have attempted, he's accused of trying to kill him. He'll be in court today.

I'd love to find out more details about where that guy is from.

So, let's get to the big three. Number three. I think Trump understands how to deal with China. Trump was the first president. He did this in the first term.

To ever stand up to China and say, stop the stealing. And now he's doubled down and it's working. It's got to be part of the ultimate agreement, 90 days to work out the details. And believe me, China really needs a way out here. The economy is rolling in a way.

The market's soaring. Trade deals await Trump when he comes back. China talks back on track and the big, beautiful bill trudges forward. We'll keep you up to date. Number two.

There's no chance that the Iranians are going to do a full, fully verifiable denuclearization with inspections and no enrichment. The Israelis and the United States should go do everything at this moment we can to ensure that they never get a nuclear weapon. There you go. Mike Pompeo talking as former Secretary of State, former CIA Director. Iran, you've been warned.

No nukes, one way or another. The Gulf states agree, while Israel wonders why they've been left out of the dialogue. Also, the Hail Mary move Iran is trying. I'll explain. Number Wong.

After discussing the situation in Syria with the Crown Prince, your Crown Prince, I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness. Second leg of Trump's tour, three-nation tour.

Well, we're in it now. Deals are cut, relationships fortified, and Syria gets their sanction relief. Trump is remaking the Middle East in real terms, I think, for the better, and the world is taking notice. I saw with David Ignatius, hopefully, we'll get him back this week. He wrote, you know, the president does the weave, famous for the weave.

And everyone thought, well, that's because he likes to change topics in the middle. He calls it the weave. But if is this, this is the quote. He said, I do the president said, I do the weave, you know, where I weave this and I weave that. I'll talk about nine different things all at once.

And then Dave Ignatius writes, that sounded like utter nonsense at the time. I wouldn't bet the ranch or Israeli security on the outcome, but American foreign policy has been stuck within a set of fixed parameters for several decades, and it's worth giving this a fresh look. Hours ago, the president met with the new leader of, and the temporary leader, they say, of Syria. Who is he? He's one of the founders of al-Nusra.

What are they? A form of al-Qaeda Muslim Brotherhood. What was he doing killing people? Has he changed? Our next guest says yes, Muaz Mustafa.

We'll talk to him.

So I'll lay off the Syria details. I'll get into that with him. Bottom of the hour, Rich Larry will be with us and talk about the politics of it all and try to make sense of it. As far as the trip goes, even Maggie Haberman. Had trouble not seeing how happy President Trump has been, cut three.

There is no real foreign policy agenda or aim that has been laid out for this trip that I'm aware of.

Now, yes, the president announced that he is going to halt these sanctions on Syria, and that is significant if that moves ahead. That is a big deal for the region. But in terms of what he is hoping to accomplish with this mission, in terms of the U.S. and its relationships with the region, they haven't really articulated a longer arc. Since she doesn't understand it, I will explain it.

He wants to fortify relations with the Gulf neighbors, and he wants to get investment in our country and partnerships. And to do that, you got to go meet with them. And what he's done, and I'm sure, I don't know if she's pretending not to understand this, but when you have Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk and the CEO of Google and the CEO of Citibank, I mean, literally everybody is with them. You have the most powerful American business people in the world, and they're having investment meetings and conferences in real time. She could go to any of these events.

This is about more than business. Business, ceremony and business and transactions, and mutual signs of agreement and understanding. And what's interesting is, and I never thought I had to really reflect on this before the show started on Fox and Friends today. It's the first time we're ever talking about the Arab states and not talking about oil flows and barrels and how much it costs and the drilling and Really? We're not talking about OPEC at all.

And then to see Brett Baer do his interview last night with the economics minister and saying over fifty percent of his economy has nothing to do with oil and gas. They're trying to transition. That's what this is about. It's as much about tech center and business as relations. And with the Syria situation, it was something that happens face to face.

The Crown Prince and the President of Turkey. Looked at him and said, Would you do me a favor? Would you relieve some of the sanctions? And in turn, they will protect the Christians. They will also.

Not attack Israel. Make sure Iran doesn't get access. And China is kept out. I would love to see Russia kept out too. Cut four.

Trump looks about as happy as you can imagine. You know, he is being treated like a king. And we have seen many instances where he has wanted to be treated sort of commensurate with leaders in foreign countries, in autocratic countries, or with autocratic leadership. And he looks as if he is, you know, he is ruling over everything right now. Bothers her, doesn't it?

So Go ahead. Uh Go out of your way to be negative. That's fine. Focus on the $400 million plane that we're going to get or not going to get. You could do that.

But. I would just appreciate if you have enough, you have 92% of all your coverage is going to be negative. But when you go overseas And I watched CNN International actually, and I watched the BBC, I watched Al Jazeera, and you could catch this stuff online, by the way. And I watched Israeli television. It's positive reviews.

In terms of the relationship, and what is the takeaway from all this? The Minister of Economy and Planning at Saudi Arabia sat down with Brett yesterday. And he talked about what this all means, Kare. Today we saw from both speeches from His Royal Highness Grand Prince Mehmed Salman and from President Donald Trump that there's a lot of common values or a lot of common approaches to addressing global challenges. We heard both leaders talk about peace and prosperity, we both heard both leaders talk about dialogue, and we've seen what dialogue has led to in terms of the US and UK deal, US and China deal, and what the Saudi has led also through dialogue in the region to bring more stability.

So, we'll talk about that. Before we go, just a quick thing on the economy. Yesterday's number showed the slowest growth of inflation in a few years, and it was below anyone projected.

So, the economy loved that. And then you factor in last week's job numbers, which were better than anyone thought by a lot. And the economy loved that, and the markets loved that. And then you had the deal, the framework, to work out a deal with China, and the markets soared and they exceeded Liberation Day. Charles Gasparino has been covering it all.

And I'll talk about China in detail, how it relates to you. But he said this about Liberation Day and what's happened since CUT 30. I'll tell you, that day after Liberation Day, I was at a restaurant. Sitting there with a drink in my hand, and I'm looking at my phone, and every major bond investor was telling me this is insane. Yields were starting to spike through the roof.

The 10-year yield, remember, that's the most important one. What Besson talks about all the time. The reason why every consumer rate is pegged off that. If that starts gapping out to 4.5, we're at 4.4 now. You've got to check the chart.

But to 5, where it was heading that night, we're in deep trouble. But since then, it's come all the way back and it got people to reevaluate their trade relationships. Indications yesterday from Kevin Hassett that when the President comes back, there's going to be some deals to sign. A lot going on.

So glad you're here. I wanted you to weigh in. I see you already lining up. 1-866-408-766.

Now do a whole block just send your emails. But coming up next, a special treat, Moaz Mustafa, who's been in Syria during the middle of the worst times of the civil unrest, the barrel bombing, the Assad trying to hold on to power, the influx of Iran in Russia, and now says that Donald Trump has done more for Middle East peace than anybody in his lifetime. He texted me this last night. He's going to be joining us, I think, from Syria. He's the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, then Rich Lowry, on the politics of it all.

You listen to the Brian Kill Me Cho. Politics, current events, and news that affects you. Brian's got a lot more to say. Stay with Brian Kilmead. It is time to take the quiz.

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Thank you for taking the quiz. If you're interested in it, Brian's talking about it. You're with Brian Kilmead. The sanctions were brutal and crippling and served as an important Really, an important function, nevertheless, at the time, but now it's their time to shine. It's their time to shine.

We're taking them all off and Are they gonna have uh I think they're going to have based on the people and the spirit and everything else that I'm hearing about.

So, the president decided to take the sanctions off Syria and leave his and ask Marco Rubio to meet with the foreign minister or the temporary foreign minister of this new country, Syria, with some people with dicey backgrounds. I get it. I'm not saying that these are Hall of Fame human beings, but Turkey and the government of Saudi Arabia asked the president to do this, and he did. Moaz Mustafa is fully in support of this. He would know.

He's been in the ground almost since the Civil War started there and saw all the ugliness what the Russians and Iranians, al-Qaeda, ISIS, the Kurds have been fighting about, up close and personal. He's the executive director for the Syrian Emergency Task Force after he met with the new leader of Syria for three hours. Moaz, thanks for joining us on television. And now please give us your perspective on the president's announcement and what it means.

Well First of all, thank you for having me. And I am just So proud and so grateful to President Trump. I mean, I do think there's a lot of misinformation out there. I do think that a lot of people don't really understand the implications of what the president's decision means and also the way that he did it. I mean, the fact that he made this meeting with the new Syrian leader in Saudi Arabia, balancing off other countries with leverage in Syria, like Turkey and Qatar, and empowering the crown prince, who's been a really good partner for peace with President Trump.

Number two, making sure that he's lifting all of the sanctions.

Now, that's important because that prevents Syria, which was weeks away from becoming a failed state, from becoming a failed state, which means perpetual war, which means the Iranians back in, ISIS back on the rise, etc. And also, by lifting sanctions and bringing Syria towards democracies and becoming a potentially important and influential ally of the United States, he closed the door on China.

So, instead of Huawei right now in Syria rebuilding the telecommunication system, which is bad news for everyone, having China do this, ATT could be one of these companies in doing this. And in terms of gas and oil as well, instead of Russia and China and Iran being the ones that take the oil, develop it in their corrupt systems, and steal it from the Syrian people, now you have American companies that can bid on this with the best technologies in the world, the most efficient way to exploit natural resources to help the Syrian people. And so, you know, it was really a master chess move, the lifting of sanctions and normalization. This is what people are saying. Even last week, there was a surge in violence against the Syrian Druze religious community.

Over 100 people were killed since the start of May. What about the looking, making sure the Christians have a place and the Druze have a place? Even the Shia, you know, Assad was Shia, right? He was a Shia sect.

So even if they have a place. That's right. That's right. Well, look, I think this is a really important point that you raised. And here, I think what's important is I was in Syria during that violence that happened, where there was violence against the Druze community from some armed groups, and that's true, but it was the Syrian government that actually lost lives stopping that violence.

And I've been in touch regularly since December 8th, the fall of Assad Iran and Russia and Syria, with the Bishop of Syria, the highest-ranking Catholic representative there, with the Eastern Orthodox churches, with the evangelical churches, and with people in the Kurdish community, Alawite community. What they all see is that the new Syrian leadership is one that is trying to stave off revenge killings, to stave off any civil war in Syria. And so that's important to highlight. And look, a country like Syria, which has been 14 years of war, a million people dead, 14 million dead. Displaced.

You know, it's a country that's trying to come together after Iran and ISIS and Assad divided these people against each other. And today they have hope. They have hope in their new leadership. Moaz, are you Syrian? Yes, sir.

I was born in Damascus, but I moved to the United States to Arkansas when I was about nine years old.

So I grew up in the U.S., proud to be an American, but really happy to see the United States help Syria potentially become probably the first democracy in the Arab world. But you met with this former head of al-Nusra for three hours. You met him before. I mean, why you can understand the American people look at these extremists and wonder, we hear they never can turn the page. Why don't we believe that he turned the page?

That's a great question. And again, I think actions speak louder than words. I can very proudly tell you that my organization, the Syrian Emergency Task Force, has helped facilitate direct contact between the US military and the new Syrian government. And today, this new Syrian leader, who yes, absolutely has a checkered past, absolutely has evolved in different times in his life, joined terrible groups, but he is a changed man. The fact is, people change.

And today, this new leader works directly with the US military, both Operation Inherent Resolve, Lieutenant General Leahy, our special forces led by Lieutenant General Brooks, on fighting ISIS, on securing ISIS prisoners, on making deals that bring together the SDF Kurdish forces and the Syria Free Army American partner forces under a new Ministry of Defense.

So this guy is actually right now ISIS's worst nightmare. He fights them. And if ISIS was to come across them, They kill him. These are facts. Yet, unfortunately, because of his checkered past, people assume that he is somehow an ISIS person.

He's not. He's actually ISIS's worst enemy in Syria and vice versa. Moaz is Mustafa joining us now, Executive Director for the Syrian Emergency Task Force. Moaz, now we want to see a couple of things. We'd like to see the Russian presence gone.

They are lobbying hard to keep their port and to keep their base. Why are they even considering it considering how many Syrians the Russians have indiscriminately killed over the last five years?

Well, you know, for the last three months or so, since December eighth, when the Assad regime fell, the new Syrian government and the new Syrian leader have been holding out against deals with Russia or China, etc., until President Trump was able to have the time to look at Syria and address it and make a decision, which has now happened. And effectively, what President Trump has done is allowed the Syrians not to have no choice but to work with Russia and China, because Syria can't develop its oil and gas alone, Syria can't print its own currency alone, Syria doesn't have electricity and so on. And the Russians were saying, look, we'll do this. We'll lift sanctions. Just keep our bases.

Today, the Syrians now have so much leverage to tell the Russians, which have killed. Countless innocent civilians in Syria to get their bases and go packing. What President Trump has done is closed the door on Russia and allowed the Syrian government not to be forced to deal with the people that killed them in the first place. Because it was either that or a financial collapse. I understand.

Hopefully, this is options, Moaz. My hope is that the President brought that up: protect all these religious sects and also kick out the Russians. Moaz Mustafa, you do great work, great communicator, too. Hopefully, the administration keeps reaching back to you. Thanks so much for joining us.

All right, Rich Lowry joins us next. He's going to bring up the politics of it all, the chances of the big, beautiful bill. Don't miss a minute. Ryan Killmecho. Coming right back.

Radio that makes you think. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. And I'm pleased to report that the United States Congress is on the verge of passing the largest tax cut and regulation cut. In American history, we think we're in good shape to get that. And if we get that, that will be like a rocket ship for our country.

And it passed the Ways and Means Committee. It keeps on trudging forward. I know there's things to be worked out. Medicaid reform needs to be done. It's going to take some courage.

It's got to be done right. It's got to be communicated effectively. But you don't just say, We're cutting out money for poor people.

Okay. But it has to be reformed. It's been totally bastardized. It's been Frankenstein, those just in my opinion. It's not what it intended to be.

And now the price is out of control. But they're doing that. They're talking about salt. And they're talking about and they're also talking about some type of Some type of additional tax cut when it comes to no taxes on tips, no taxes on Social Security, although I think they've gotten around Social Security. Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, joins us now.

Rich, the big, beautiful bill on track. Are you worried about it still? Do you think they have a lot of big hurdles to clear? Mm-hmm. They do.

Brian, I've always thought it's one thing I haven't been on pins and needles all through the process. A little composetic about it because I know inevitably what's going to happen, it's going to be on the House floor, not knowing whether to have the votes at 2 in the morning, and Trump's going to be calling people, and it'll inevitably pass. That's my view. But it's going to be ugly getting there. It's not a big, beautiful bill anymore.

It's a big, ungainly. Bill, there's good stuff in it. Passing it obviously much better than the alternative. But this thing just inevitably with a three vote margin wasn't going to be ideal. You know, getting twenty votes and it would be ideal.

But there's some good growth stuff in there. And then there's there are downsides to it too.

Well, I mean, in terms of Medicaid, is there a way to reform Medicaid without looking like Paul Ryan throwing a woman in a wheelchair off a mountain?

Well, you got to just be willing to take the political hit. There's going to be a political hit no matter how good the policy is. And again, I think with the twenty vote House margin, they take that hit and take which is a what is a maybe a generational opportunity here to rein it in and reform it, but it's only going to happen on the margins now.

So we understand it too. The biggest story now, they wanted to give people who make under $400,000 be able to write off as much as $10,000 of their local taxes in high-tax states.

So people in red states go, who cares about them?

Well, you need the red seat, or you don't have the house.

So what Lawler is saying is: if I don't deliver for my district. And I will lose.

So, and then you're going to be stuck. You don't have much, and that's what you meant by the 20-seat margin. If some people lost, they lost. Yeah, but also I think with Lawler and those types, look, I mean they're representing their constituents, right, and their interests. That's what they're there to do.

But they also have a lot of skin in this game because if the bill goes down, those are the first members who are going to lose as well.

So I think there's maybe more room to push back against moderates. Ben Johnson has taken advantage of, but he's in the chair and I'm not. A couple of things. They saw yesterday, they looked at the makeup of people on the CBO, Crescential Budget Office. They always say nonpartisan.

It's two-thirds Democrats.

So, I mean We should also define that. If we're going to look at the CBO as a true report card on what this bill is going to do and not do, we should make sure people don't have skin in the game, don't you think? Absolutely. Yeah, and it's always bizarre. You know, the line share of the bill is just keeping taxes the same.

So it's bizarre that that's it. scored as an enormous cost. It was just the status quo, but that's what technically happens.

So Medicaid, as it's currently structured, creates an incentive for states, a bad incentive for states To prioritize able-bodied working-age people over children of the disabled. And here's why. Blame Obamacare. States receive federal reimbursement of 90% for people covered under the Affordable Care Act, which means you just don't have enough money, but you get state aid. Expansion of the program, so most doctors are going to go, Yeah, give me the Obamacare guy, as opposed to 50% between, but only 50% of the 77%, depending on the state's per capita income for traditional Medicare receipts, in the 40 states, those to expand Medicaid.

So you're only going to get paid back 50% for people who are just poor, as opposed to people who are covered under Medicaid under Obamacare.

So there's incentives for able-bodied people to get better care than people who need Medicaid because they're in distress at something in their life, a death in the family, an illness, or indentured poverty. Yeah, I mean, for most people, I think if they could consider this rationally and knew the truth of what's going on, which is just very hard for Republicans, because they just don't have credibility, Brian, on issues on Medicaid, the way Democrats don't have credibility. Credibility on immigration.

So you got to kind of, you're starting a couple feet underwater from the beginning. But they knew that it favored the able-bodied, right? Everyone thinks of Medicaid, okay, it's regestally poor. People, but we have more people on Medicaid than we have poor people in the United States. It makes zero sense.

So at least we're going to have they're advocating for work requirements that hopefully will be in there in the final bill. But this is a policy that makes no sense, never should have been implemented, should be rolled back. But again, We got a three-vote majority. Right. Tax breaks telling about $5 trillion, they say.

It's going to be extension of the tax cuts. They got to be permanent. I don't know why they're not permanent. They got to get to a certain level to make them permanent. No tax on tips or overtime, no tax on car loan interest.

increases the child tax credit.

So they say it's going to add to the deficit. But I don't know how they add to the deficit when they don't forecast growth.

So that will be the key.

So the biggest story was last weekend coming to a deal where we're going to reduce tariffs for 90 days as we work out a new trade relationship. Here's President Trump, Cut 26. And you know, one of the things that, as you know, it's sort of a 90-day deal as we negotiate other aspects, but one of the things I think that could be most exciting for us and also for China is that we're trying to open up China because as you know, many years ago we opened up the USA, now it's time for China to open up, and that's part of our deal. And we're going to open up China. To me, that's the most exciting part.

To me, you've got to crack down on the theft of IP, number one. Number two is China, as has been explained to me, is in such distress, they have no social programs. Therefore, if they make $5, let's just put it in our terms, they keep two. They are not a consumer nation.

So, even if we would have put our great products into China, they're not buying them. They have no money. Yeah, I mean, what we're talking about is totally changing the basis. Of the Chinese economic system as it's existed now for a couple of decades. And it's just not going to happen.

We'll get them to agree to buy more stuff. And then they probably, at the end of the day, won't buy it. It's kind of the way it happened the first time around.

So I think this deal is good in that, you know, it's better than an instant embargo that was going to hurt us, as well as really hurt. China. It's a little bit like Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton there at Weehawken with their pistols raised. If they put the pistols down, that's good, right?

So there's not like a positive upside to it.

So, you know, Besson's been saying all along, it's unsustainable. It was unsustainable.

So it hasn't been sustained. And I'm much more hopeful about deals with our allies than anything that's going to happen with China. But what I think is also important is we're getting a wake-up call, and the president's got to be clear on this. Magnets and metals can no longer be purchased from China. I mean, almost or make a really small amount because they held them back.

And I think they're back in play now. The rare earth that we need for our military, for our manufacturing, we need those magnets. And they said, well, we're cutting you off. And we control 90% of the world's rare earth.

So that's got to stop. And that's got to be our focus now, whether it's Ukraine, whether it's Saudi Arabia has got rare metals, we're hearing some of the Middle East that for national security, that's what we have to learn from this. We should have learned already. Yeah, something I didn't realize until this cutoff or slowdown happened is rare earths aren't that really rare. It's kind of a misnomer, but you just need to be able to mine them, you know, which you can.

It's not like technologically impossible. It's just kind of dirty.

So we haven't wanted to do it in the United States or our allies haven't wanted to do it. And China has, right? Because they have a different sort of system where no one, even if anyone cares about that, the sludge being near them, no one's going to listen to them.

So we just need to make that stuff ourselves. And this is, Brian, another point I'd make is the critical supplies are really important. We need to have them on our own. We can't rely on Chinese parts to make our missiles in a war with China, obviously.

So that has to be the focus. But, you know, if t-shirts be made in China, those jobs aren't coming back to the United States ever, right? Maybe they'll go to Vietnam or whatever, but that stuff doesn't really matter.

So I think the approach here has been too sweeping and not focused and strategic enough. All right, lastly, when it comes to Iran, it looks like they're Scrambling to come up with some type of scenario where they get to keep their nukes. And they have very few friends in the area, less by the day. They're vulnerable. We know that.

Israel's on it, really itching to finish the job. Are you worried that we're going to cut to a quick deal with Iran instead of going for the knockout? Yeah, it's a downside risk.

So things that Witcroft has said kind of have made you nervous. He's clawed some of the back. But Trump himself has said, dismantle. And if you can get a verifiable dismantling, that's a historic achievement. I think it's unlikely.

I think there's some chance of it. But anything short of that, or to have any chance of that, Iran needs to really think: if it doesn't do that, the raid is coming at some point.

So, I tend to think it's going to be the latter. That there's not going to be a meaningful deal. Israel will hit them with our help at some point along the line, but we'll see. You know, it's not crazy at all for Trump to try to cut a deal before a highly risky military operation happens. Rich, I just believe that the only way to do is to take him out.

We've seen this drill since 1979, and I just am shocked the divide in the Republican Party. You have guys like Tucker Carlson, I think J.D. Vance personally, maybe Don Jr. You have other people with their podcast who just say, you know, Iran's not the problem. You know, almost as if say we're the problem, or Israel's the problem.

And now you can't point out the squad and the far left without saying, I wouldn't even say far right, I won't diminish them, without noticing the fracture on the right. Yeah, no doubt.

So look, it's the worst of the alternatives. You'd rather have a deal, but Iran has destabilized the entire Middle East and is almost behind every terror movement that wants to destroy our allies and or us and kill Americans.

So it's not clear. It's not a hard call for me, who's the bad guys here and who we should be worried about. But look, you don't want to rush into a war. We did the experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan. We're not happy ones.

The folks on the other side of the debate, they're right about that. And we need to be aware that any military operation has huge risks.

Sometimes not not taking something out has huge risks too. I hear you. Rich Larry, lastly, you think Charlie, you say you wrote about Pete Rose getting into the Hall of Fame.

Now he's going to be eligible to get into the Hall of Fame? Keep it. Are you kidding? Yeah. I have turned around on Pete Rose.

I used to say he should should be banned, that gambling against baseball is a fundamental offense of the game. But I think given what other people have done that really changed the records and changed their performance, Barry Bonds and others, Pete Rose didn't do any of that. He was legitimately a great player and I think deserves to be In the hall. Right when he was alive. I mean, what they did, and he forecasted in his last interview, there's going to wait for me to die and they're going to put me in.

What's the point? You know, what's the point? If he's good enough to get in now, they said now he can't hurt the game anymore. Yeah. Pete Rose is going to have gotten destroyed baseball if you let him in the Hall of Fame.

Yeah. Although I will say he just should just frankly admitted it, right? And just begged for forgiveness. We're forgiving people, right? And then I think he probably would have gotten in before he passed away.

Absolutely. At least it'll be a recognition of his achievement posthumously.

So why Shoeless Joe Jackson? He died 100 years ago.

Now all of a sudden you realize he could go into the Hall of Fame? Come on. Pete was explaining this to me that he didn't Pete doesn't think he could have done Rose without doing Shulish Joe. And and he's he's a shooter partisan Pete there. You mean because his right?

You mean RP?

Well, seriously, VP, not Pete Rose, R.P. Beat Katerina. The producer. Sheila Skill had a pretty good record in that World Series.

So he didn't commit any deliberate errors. And his numbers are pretty good. The movie was significant. He didn't understand what he was signing up for because he was illiterate. Yeah, he was illiterate.

He signed his name as the next. But if you watch Nine Men Out, You'll get what I think is a pretty accurate story. It's a pretty good movie. Although I had Poison Ivy during it, so I couldn't really focus. More on that later.

Rich Lowry, thanks so much. Awesome. Thanks, Brian. 1-866-408-7669. Getting your emails in.

And we haven't even talked about immigration yet and what's going on at Newark. Don't move. Brian, Kill Michael. Increasing your intelligence quotients. What the hell did you just say?

It's Brian Kilmead. Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kill Me Show. Sponsored by Previgen. Previgen, made for your brain.

I've come to a conclusion. I hope I'm wrong. that I'll make the Hall of Fame after I die, which I totally disagree with because the Hall of Fame is for two reasons. Your fans In your family. It's for your family if you're here.

It's for your fans if you're here.

Now if you're ten feet under. What's the point? Because they'll make money over it? The Hall famous for what you did on the field. Not what you did off the field.

So that is Pete Rose. Various fights along the way. They had the hit king get into the Hall of Fame. He got even more famous because of the fight that took place, the books that were written, the denials that turned into an admission that he bid bet on baseball. But he's been on here before.

He did a great interview here. And then he got sick and he died last year. And sure enough, he's going to people say he's going to be eligible in 2027 to go into the Hall of Fame. And I agree with Pete. He's on, who cares?

I mean, you already you had a twenty five year decision. How long has it been since he played the sport?

Well, then he was player manager, then just manager of the Reds. You had twenty five, thirty years to work this up. You don't tell me you had a revelation. And when Rob Manford comes out, commissioner of baseball, and says, well, now that he's dead, he can't hurt the game, so we can vote him in. Do you really think that Pete Rose is gonna hurt the game?

He was going to hurt. What was he going to do? Come out against baseball? He was the most pro-baseball guy around. That's the reason why he played, annoyed all his opponents.

So I am not for this. He's 100% right. It's for your fans and your family. As a player, you know what you did. You don't need somebody to put a plaque to know that you had more hits than anybody else on more teams and more championships.

No way. Same thing with Shulas Joe Jackson. Either you did or didn't think he bet on baseball. The rules there or not. If you look at Nine Men Out, the movie, if you hear the stories, if Joe Jackson took money, he had a funny way of showing that he was bribed because he hit, I think, over 400, right, Pete?

Yeah, it was either high 300 or over 400. And I don't believe he committed an error either.

So, okay. All this stuff that could be debated is fun, right? Fun, especially for sports shows. It's fun debate. But the thing that should be a non-starter is waiting for them to die and then putting them in.

I mean, it's unbelievable. It's so gutless by the league, by the sport. I mean, you have somebody. Who had the most hits in baseball, not in the Hall of Fame, and then you have somebody with the most home runs in baseball, not in the Hall of Fame, and your way of dealing with it is not dealing with it. Just I'm not gonna I'm not gonna look at it.

We're gonna let the voters vote. Everybody knows Barry Bonds was the best player in baseball probably while he was playing. The question is, make a decision on the steroid era and just say he got more home runs, but he was using performance enhancing drugs, and here's his explanation underneath it. But don't wait for Barry Bonds to die. Who knows when that's going to be in 20, 30 years?

And they say now we're going to put him in. It's the dumbest. Compromise. Ever And we've had dumb compromises before. I think.

By the way, if you're looking at uh basketball You gotta watch the Knicks tonight beat the Celtics. I think they're gonna beat him three games in Boston. You think about how hard that's going to be for Dave Portnoy to deal with that, especially after the last time the Boston won, just saying it's over, Knicks aren't going to win another game.

Well, they won again. Uh game six is uh Friday night, if necessary. Thanks, thanks for listening. Keep it here. From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest-growing radio talk show.

Brian In Kill Mead. All right, thanks so much for listening to the show, everybody. It's going to be a big hour. We come to you from Midtown Manhattan. A lot of the focus is on Qatar right now, where the President of the United States is making remarks for the first time.

He's the first president ever to visit the country of Qatar since its existence in 1971. And they did announce the biggest purchase of planes from Boeing by any country ever.

So, those are two. I can't verify that. I'm just telling you what these two just exchanged words with, and we'll bring you the latest from there.

Now, the president lands in Qatar after a 90-minute ride from Saudi Arabia, where he made a lot of news. also with other how it relates to other nations in the region. This hour, we're going to be joined by Peter Schweitzer and Ellie Conahem. She served as U. S.

Deputy Special Envoy to combat antisemitism for the State Department. We'll play a role again, I think, shortly.

So we'll keep you up to date on that. Before we get to Peter Schweitzer, president of Government Accountability Institute, New York Times best-selling author, let's get to the big three. Number three. I think Trump understands how to deal with China. Trump was the first president.

He did this in the first term. To ever stand up to China and say, stop the stealing. And now he's doubled down and it's working. Hope so. Economy rolling.

Markets are going up again. Trade deals await when Trump gets back from his overseas trip.

Meanwhile, China and President China walk back on their tariff, as do we, and the market seems to love that too. The Big Beautiful Bill trudges forward. It got through ways and means about an hour ago. Number two. A fully verifiable denuclearization with inspections and no enrichment.

The Israelis and the United States should go do everything at this moment we can to ensure that they never get a nuclear weapon. I agree with you, Mr. Secretary. Iran, you have been warned. No nukes one way or another.

The Gulf states agree. We'll talk about it. Number After discussing the situation in Syria with the Crown Prince, your Crown Prince, I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness. And the crowd roared. There was a request from Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

It's a risk, but one the president wants to do. The second leg of Trump's three-nation tour is on display. Deals are cut, relationships fortified, and Syria has their sanctions relieved and possibly recognition as their foreign minister meets with Marco Rubio tomorrow in Turkey. Peter Schweitzer, so much going on. This has been an extraordinary trip, don't you think?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there are vectors moving in all sorts of directions that implicate a lot of things. And I think it indicates that, you know, Trump is a guy who is transactional. He's a businessman, which I think is very, very good. But we also have to be cautious when you're dealing with foreign actors like China.

Their interest is not always in just securing a deal that's good for both sides. Also, you know, people look at what's happening in Syria, and this guy was former Al-Nusra, former al-Qaeda, run Syria. Yeah. This presented to him that it would be in our interest to make sure Iran stays out and that Russia gets out and that China doesn't get in because China does not care who you are if they can do business with you.

So this was a tactical move. Yeah, no, exactly right. And look, I think the role here of the Saudis is crucially important. We know that Donald Trump has a good working relationship with the Saudis. This is a Saudi government that really, under MBS's leadership, has moved more to the pro-Western orbit, certainly less hostile to Israel.

And so I think if they are whispering in Trump's ear, look, we have relationships with the Syrian leadership. We think that we can get them to move in a less anti-Western posture. Let's try to work that.

So I think Trump is really leaning on the Saudis here, and we'll have to see if their assessment is accurate. But I think every once in a while in these kinds of situations, especially when a new actor emerges, you have to give them an opportunity. The Iranians are different, Brian. As you and I know, that same regime has been in power since 1979, same kind of leadership. In the case of Syria, it's a new opportunity.

So let's see if they're willing to become more pro-Western in their orientation. You must be driving you crazy as people come up with revelations about the Bidens are not the great American family we thought. You wrote the book, Blood Money, you talked about how corrupt they were. And now we're focusing on a fourth book now that talks about their incompetence while in office. And one was written unbelievably by Jake Tapper, who fought against people that brought up the fact that he wasn't making sense, can't walk, can't talk, and is virtually invisible in the office.

What are your thoughts right now as now all of a sudden people are being honest about what kind of president he was? Yeah, no, I think it's particularly outrageous when you have people like Jake Tapper doing this, because you're right. I mean, there's this thing, Jake, called the internet, where we can actually go and look at previous interviews you did on this topic. And in the spring of 2024, he was pushing back on arguments that Joe Biden was not mentally there. I would also say, though, the other part of the story that they're neglecting is there were a lot of reports in early 2024 that one of the reasons Joe Biden was running for reelection was nobody in the White House had confidence in Kamala Harris.

And that's proven to be true as well.

So the revisionism is astanding as it relates to Joe Biden. But let's also remember why the Biden team felt the need to run for re-election in 2024. And that's because they had no confidence whatsoever in Kamala Harris. And that proved to be pretty accurate as well. But you know what?

The thing is The whole Russia investigation, the years that they were convinced, they were trying to convince America that Donald Trump got elected because Russia put him there and he was a Russian stooge. Total fallacy, waste of multi-million dollars, and his own sons were being scrutinized. His business was destroyed. His son-in-law was almost put in jail for actually doing nothing wrong. His national security advisor was fired for something in retrospect.

He did nothing wrong.

So having said all that, the president's making sure that doesn't happen to him this time. But one person behind it was Joe Biden. You know, he was there every step of the way about this corruption that even put him back into office. And when he gets back into office, he spends a lot of his time, subtly, I think it's going to be revealed, making sure that Donald Trump has a lot of legal problems. When you look at the Joe Biden that described today behind the scenes, they have 200 sources.

You know what that's like, all unnamed, that talks about various times in which Joe Biden has failed to recognize his own staff. Yeah, no, I mean, it's astounding, but honestly, it's not that astounding, Brian. I mean, you've done a lot of reporting on this. Other people observed the same thing in the spring where he sort of wandered around endlessly.

So, I mean, this sort of shocking revelation is really not that shocking unless you're in the bubble that is in the D.C. media. And I think that this administration, the Biden administration, is really going to become kind of a test case for a lot of things. You mentioned one of them, which was the lawfare, this aggressive desire to go after your political opponents, especially a guy, Donald Trump, who was presumably going to be running against you again in 2024. Let's remember, even the New York Times reported in early 2021 that Joe Biden was frustrated with his own Attorney General that he was not aggressively enough pursuing legal action against Donald Trump.

That is really, as far as I'm concerned, unprecedented. In American history.

So you have that layer of it. Then you have the layer of it where, you know, Joe Biden's not there, that really it's his staff running things. Certainly haven't had that since Woodrow Wilson had a stroke in office and his wife, Edith, was really running the affairs of the country.

So this was a train wreck of his administration, not just in terms of policy, but in terms of actual conduct towards his political rivals and to lying to the American people.

So it needs to be scrutinized. And the Democrats need to do a lot of soul searching, Brian. You and I have seen a lot of so-called Trump derangement syndrome, people kind of hysterically doing things on the street. This is Trump derangement syndrome on both of those areas in the halls of the Oval Office itself. And I think Democrats need to do a serious reevaluation of the calculus that they're even making.

His best security was Kamo Harris because he was so incompetent. Remember, about six months before. Joe Biden's debate against Trump and where you all fell apart. You know, they were asking people like Jamie Raskin, do you think that Kamala Harris should be on the ticket? I don't know.

It's not my choice. Asking Nancy Pelosi, well, it's up to Joe. Really? Do you really think that people, a Republican, would have trouble saying J.D. Vance should run with Trump or Al Gore should run with Bill Clinton?

They were telling you, get her off the ticket so we could have a future. But what about this? Mark, I thought about you last week because Mark Halperin came out and did some reporting. And he said, part of the reason why Joe Biden's coming back to do the view, the BBC, and get a memoir going, because the money has dried up. Biden Inc.

has no more ink. And he has nothing to do. And he can't earn money. Nobody wants his speeches. Nobody wants his appearances.

Nobody wants him on the campaign trail. And there's a lot of grandchildren and children who are on the Joe Biden dole. How true do you think that is? No, I think it's dead on. I mean, look, Joe Biden has been selling access to Joe Biden pretty much his entire electoral career.

Let's remember, before he was vice president to Barack Obama, Hunter Biden was what? He was a lobbyist for people in Delaware. People in Delaware were hiring Hunter Biden. It's a very small state. They were hiring Hunter Biden so they could actually access his dad, who happened to be the senator for their state.

So this has been the mode of operation even before the Ukraine and the China deals. I think one of the areas we should be watching, Brian, is that I still do believe that during that period, after that disastrous debate in 2024, when Joe Biden, people calling for him to get out, and there was about a four to six week period before he actually dropped out, where Hunter Biden moved into the White House, lived with Joe. I am absolutely confirmedly convinced that they negotiated deals with Democrat donors to get him to leave. In other words, he said, I'm going to leave only if you take care of my family.

So I think they certainly have more financial needs, but I do believe that there will probably deals struck with Democrat donors. They're not going to have to disclose those. They're not going to have to be made public. And then, of course, the latest issue out there is there are supposedly negotiations going on with Jill Biden's memoir. And Jill Biden, of course, wants to write a kind of fluffy memoir that nobody's going to buy.

Publishers want her to publish parts of her diary, particularly those areas that talk about the decline of her husband. And the question is going to become whether that money is so attractive that she's essentially going to throw her husband under the bus to get the big payday from publishers. I mean, look at, she kept throwing him out there. He couldn't walk. He couldn't talk.

He couldn't enter a stage. What family member would Would ever do that. They cared about their spouse or their kid or their uncle or their in-law. Nobody would do that unless you were so consumed by power. That you couldn't help yourself, which seems to be the case.

Well, you just don't care about that person in particular, and you love being first lady while you make all the calls almost as if you're president. I want some of these cabinet members to stand up and talk about how Joe Biden did nothing at his eight cabinet meetings over four years and how many times they took calls from Joe Biden. I'm sure that'll happen. But I got to ask you: do you know that he confused Becera and Majorkis? Do you know that he couldn't recognize Jake Sullivan?

Do you know that at George Clooney's fundraiser that he threw for him, he didn't recognize the most recognizable actor in America when introduced to him? I mean, this is unbelievable. What are other countries thinking about us that they were able to pull this off?

Well, and let's remember, you're right, Brian, during the same time he couldn't recognize George Clooney or he couldn't recognize his longtime aide, Jake Sullivan, he was on the phone talking to foreign leaders. I mean, he was talking to Putin, he was talking to Xi, he was talking to Zelensky. And God forbid, if the transcripts of those are released, you know, what did he say or what didn't he say? I think there certainly was a lot of confusion by this administration on policy towards China, towards Russia and Ukraine. Part of that was probably the traditional factions you have in any administration.

But I would not be surprised if it was muddled and it was confused because Joe Biden was on the phone saying things to these leaders or saying things to diplomats visiting him in the White House that made no sense or were completely inconsistent with what stated policy was. You just wonder when people are going to be honest with you if you catch them lying and they don't admit it.

So Chuck Schumer was confronted on CNN, Cut 36. You were in there, you saw him up close and personal. Did you really not have any idea that he was not fit to serve a second term? Casey, we're looking forward. We have the largest Medicaid cut in front of us.

We have the whole federal government. You're facing all of this because you lost a presidential election. And is that not Joe Biden's responsibility for deciding to run again? We're looking forward. That's it?

That's it. It's not okay. You and they evidently in the book they say Chuck Schumer had a plan B. That means you lied to the American people. You were willing to lie again.

If he was leading in the polls, he would have stayed there as a zombie, and he would have been perfectly happy to do it.

So now you want us to believe you that Medicaid's being cut, big lies, that Donald Trump is a brutal dictator or a Nazi.

Now you're going to say all those things and you expect to have any credibility at all? Yeah, I mean, this is the problem that the Democrats face, which is a credibility issue. And we know in general, politicians in Washington, D.C. are not that popular in the country. Just look at the polls.

I think the congressional approval rating is like 18%. But the Democrats have made it worse because not only do you have the people in the middle and certainly the people that are part of the Trump coalition not trusting them, even now their own base. I mean, part of the reason you're seeing, frankly, this cannibalism of AOC and Bernie Sanders, you know, attacking the oligarchy, but also attacking other Democrats. The same reason you see David Hogg, this sort of young kid who became vice chairman of the Democratic Party, saying, I'm going to primary other Democrats. Why do you see that cannibalism?

Because a lot of the base of the Democratic Party does not trust this leadership. And part of this, let's remember, is generational, Brian. I mean, yes, Joe Biden, you know, 80 years old, but guys, you know, In the Senate and the House, that are the leadership, they're not far behind him. And a lot of these young bucks in the Democratic Party don't like them, not just because of their age and because of their policies, but also because they don't trust them because they've been lied to too many times. And you know, Peter, they should just have normal primaries and let the best person win.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton was an honest election. The other person shocked Hillary Clinton. But since that time, they made sure Hillary Clinton won. They made sure Joe Biden won. They made sure nobody ran against Joe Biden.

Just let the votes happen. David Hogg wins a vote, and they're saying he's too white. He's not DEI enough, so they're going to toss him out again. It's crazy. Peter, thanks so much.

I can't wait for your next book. Great to see you. Thanks, Brian. All right, listen, I went a little long. I have so much to say.

You're next. And then we're going to talk we're going to bring you up to date on what just happened overseas as the President just wrapped up a big meeting in Qatar. Don't move. It's Brian Killmead. The fastest three hours in radio.

You're with Brian Kilmead. What happens if they were to go and arrest these members or if they would try to sanction them here in the House for? What would you do though? I mean, what recourse? I mean, doesn't that broach a...

Go find out. Doesn't that go across? It's a red line. What's the red line, though? I mean, I know we have the speech and debate line.

It's very clear. First of all. I think that so-called Homeland Security spokesperson is a joke. It's a joke. Why is it a joke?

Because they speak for the Homeland Security and spoke out and said that your Newark lawmakers that tried to block the entrance of a ICE facility shouldn't be and then tried to bull their way through the exits. And we got it on video. They should not be arrested, detained. We'll see. Right now, there's a movement now in In Congress to kick these two lawmakers, three lawmakers, including Rob Menendez Jr., what a year for the Menendez family, or two years, kick them off their committees.

I mean, what are you doing? Plus, are you trying to free Martin Luther King Jr., or are you trying to get a child rapist from Guatemala a chance at another life? I mean, these are the people you're going to bat for. What's the matter? Kilmar protests were filled up out of Oakdag.

You couldn't get a flight over to El Salvador to see how Kilmar's doing in his plaid shirt and his tattoos. Ellie Conan's next served as U.S. Special Envoy to Monarch Combat and Anti-Semitism, really knows the Middle East. She's going to bring us up to date on the president's trip. Then we'll take your phone calls.

The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmead. There's no chance that the Iranians are going to do. A fully verifiable denuclearization with inspections and no enrichment, and destroying their missiles and missile program, and then stopping terror. I mean, the probability of them agreeing to that, Brian, you know this, it's zero.

I think the time is on us. They're frankly at amongst their weakest points in an awfully long time, in spite of the Biden administration, not because of it. The Israelis and the United States should go do everything at this moment we can to ensure that they never get a nuclear weapon, and I'm confident we have the tools and skills and capabilities to pull that off. And that is Mike Pompeo, and I 100% agree. He's now talking freely, does not have to be a diplomat as Secretary of State.

With us right now is Ellie Konanim, who served as U.S. Deputy Special Envoy to combat anti-terrorism, anti-Semitism in the State Department, visiting fellow at the Independent Women's Forum. Ellie, I agree with the Secretary of State. You're not going to be able to trust Iran to get rid of their own nuclear program, although they've never been as vulnerable in my lifetime as they are right now. Brian, first of all, it's great to be back with you.

Secretary Pompeo, as you know, was incredibly strong on the issue of Iran. And I don't think that President Trump in his second term has any love lost for the Iranian regime. I don't think that he knows very well the nature of the regime, that this is a radical Islamist regime that grabbed power in 1979, took 52 American embassy staff as hostages. I call that the original sin of the regime.

However, the President does seem to want to genuinely give them, the Iranian regime, an opportunity to save themselves, right? To agree to a negotiated dismantling of their nuclear program.

So therefore, they don't have to face the what in the world.

So he's given them a chance. Give him an ounce. A real chance.

So Saturday, he went and visited the foreign minister, Iranian foreign minister, went and visited Saudis, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, and said, had a proposal. They said, because UAE has a nuclear program since 2016 and they enrich outside their country, you want a nuclear program and you want to enrich outside your country because you need special permission to enrich. I imagine Germany is seeking that now, reportedly.

So he said, why don't we just get to a consortium together and enrich together? Would you agree to that? Evidently, the Saudis are hedging. I don't know idea about UAE if they could be intimidated. Do you think that's something we'd ever accept?

Well, I don't see the Saudis and the Emiratis accepting getting into a consortium with Iran.

So I just don't see that idea moving forward. That's how desperate they are, don't you think? Yeah, and Brian, you know, I don't trust them with any of their suggestions.

So I would wonder if this is some other way to try to, I don't know, maybe putting it in the game. Delay the game, stretch out negotiations, try to bring our trusted partners into their circle. But, you know, again, what Secretary Rubio has said on this topic is if Iran truly wants a civil nuclear program, then they can import like every other country that has a civilian program. We're never going to allow them to enrich inside the country. Do you really think Iran's worried about oil and gas?

Do they worry about the environment? We want to burn clean energy. They don't want any civilian nuclear program. Nobody thinks they do.

So having said that, they have an S-300 defense system that Israel blew up. They have leaders that they know. Have targets on their backs. Mysterious explosions are happening in Iran. Last week, they usually link back to Israel.

They'll never admit it. But in Israel, I get the feeling that they feel like they've been left out of this trip. This is a Gulf State visit. The President doesn't bring up Israel much, doesn't bring up the Palestinians much. What is it like, according to your sources, in Israel right now?

Well, Brian, here's the thing. On the flip side of that, Prime Minister Netanyahu is the only foreign leader who was invited by President Trump to the White House two times in the first 100 days. And his senior adviser, Ron Dermer, was just in the White House last week. And so I do know that there's a lot of close coordination between our two countries. I don't think there is any daylight.

I think that President Trump is the strongest ally Israel has ever had in the White House and will continue to have in the White House. Here's what I think the headline news of this entire trip so far has been. President Trump looking directly across at Crown Prince MBS and saying, it is my dream that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia will join the Abraham Accords. I mean, you know, literally everyone should have stopped at that moment and said, wow, the president of the United States just said it's my dream. And he said, and if you do that, you will be honoring me.

So Israel did not need to be mentioned outright, but that was the headline of that speech: Israel was front and center, right? What are the Abraham Accords recognizing Israel? Recognize Israel.

So Syria, there was a meeting with the interim president of Syria, who was a terrorist, now running the country, trying to get a hold of his country. And on the urging of Turkey and Saudi Arabia, we have decided to, I guess, pull sanctions back on them and maybe in a pathway towards recognition. But we have some demands. And do you want to run through some of those demands? Yeah, yeah, Brian.

So I. You and I were just looking at this list of demands that I've seen, I believe, sourced to the White House. Join the Abraham Accords and normalize ties with Israel. You know, here we go again: Israel front and center. Expel all foreign terror groups from Syrian territory.

Remove Palestinian terrorists. Assist the U.S. in blocking any ISIS resurgence. Take control of ISIS detention centers. This is really major because we obviously don't want those detention centers to be overrun or for those terrorists to get released.

I would like to say remove Russian bases. Yes. I would love to. I know you don't have to tell them to get rid of Iran because they're in a death match with Iran. Exactly.

And the bitterness from the barrel bombing and everything else exists. But why the Russians still have a base there? My hope is, speaking to one of our Syrian sources, is that they had no choice. They needed some money. But now that they might have another option, they could tell the Russians, we know the role that you've played in killing millions of people along with Assad, correct?

Yeah, absolutely. And propping up that horrible regime. Yes. Which has killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians. And I'll say this: it does seem also that Putin right now is so caught up in the quagmire of his war with Ukraine that also perhaps it didn't seem like the Russian base was the most urgent item to list on this priority list of immediate demand.

My problem is the way they bring the weapons into the region, they go to the Houthis and using that open that Middle East port, they came back in the region through Syria. And because we totally dropped the ball after the surge, and next thing you know, Iran is fighting ISIS in Iraq. How the hell that happened during the Obama years cannot be forgotten. Here is what the Minister of Economy and Planning of Saudi Arabia said to Brett last night about this trip, cut eight. Today we saw from both speeches from His Royal Highness Grand Prince Mahmoud Salman and from President Donald Trump that there's a lot of common values or a lot of common approaches to addressing global challenges.

We heard both leaders talk about peace and prosperity. We heard both leaders talk about dialogue. And we've seen what dialogue has led to in terms of the US and UK deal, US and China deal, and what the Saudi has led also through dialogue in the region to bring more stability. It's clear relationships matter. It's very interesting what's happening because the relationship with the previous administration, they say Saudi Arabia was the pariah nation and the Houthi rebels should be taken off the terror watch list.

How disconcerting. In retrospect, is that two of the stupidest moves ever? Yeah, I mean the list of stupid moves from the Biden administration so long. But Brian, you're so right. The contrast between the President's reception, President Trump's reception right now, the purple carpet, the The horses with his car.

Today was camels. Yeah, today was camels. But really and truly, a royal and regal reception of the president. And you know Trump loves that stuff.

Well, but he deserves it. And, you know, so to the plane, return to the plane. Obviously, the warmth between him and the Crown Prince MBS, I think the praise was really in both directions. And so these two men, President Trump and Crown Prince MBS, I think have the potential with Netanyahu to reshape this region for the next 100 years. And here, just because, and you're a student of the air, you live it.

But every time we start getting on track, there's some type of devastating terror attack or assassination that takes place that gets everyone off track. And the best example of that is 9-11. The second best example is October 7th.

So, that whole region goes into flames. Saddam Hussein's aggression needs to be addressed. The whole area goes into flames. We have a situation now where, if we can resolve the Iranian problem, it's isolated. It's no longer Iranian in Syria, Iran in Syria, or Iran in Iraq, or whatever.

Now, you have a situation where if you could settle Iran, That's a way to settle Iraq because Iran is creating havoc in Iraq. Yes. They're now out of Syria. Hamasid's flat on its back. They just lost their latest leader, Mohamed Sinwar.

I hope. My fingers are crossed. Me too. And then Hezbollah, flat on its back. Close.

If they could finish the job.

So, this might be a chance just to see nations have rivalries instead of wars. Yeah, and look, President Trump said in his speech that he kind of gave them the Iranians another ultimatum. He gave them, he told them, you know, the time is running out. They don't have forever. They need to make a decision.

And the decision before them is what we were talking about earlier, Brian. Is a regime going to dismantle and save yourselves? Because if you don't dismantle, Then I do think, look, the president has put the military option on the table. The Israelis certainly have put the military option on the table. No one knows what happens next.

So the regime should really be taking a cold, hard look in the mirror and saying, yeah, we are radical revolutionaries. We hate America. We hate the Jews. But this is our last chance to essentially save our grip on power. And so you've got the supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei.

He's 85 years old. It's hard to tell if he gets the significance of the moment that he's in. And Iraq, I think that Israel, with their intelligence, they know exactly where he is 24 hours a day. It's just whether it's going to be counterproductive to take him out. Yes, him and then, you know, the IRGC.

So So, I'm with you, Brian, though. We are in a very interesting moment in history where I think things can really turn right now, depending on decisions made. Ellie, thanks so much. Appreciate it. It's an exciting time.

When we come back, we will continue to keep you up to date on the President's overseas trip and the other breaking news happening in and around with Capitol Hill. There's a lot of testimony, including Sean Duffy on Capitol Hill, trying to get some money so we could fly safely. Can you imagine that? Don't move. Coming to you on a need-to-know basis because Mandy, you need to know.

It's Brian Kilmead. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin. It's Brian Killmead. Sherrod, welcome back. Thank you to my world.

I love you. I missed you. I miss you too. He dates back to Red Eye. I watched him at three in the morning.

Nobody cares about you, Brian. I can't pay. Stop stealing time from Sherrod. You got rid of Deucey.

Now you want to get rid of Sherrod. Are you saying this is a black-white thing? Yeah. What the hell are you bringing race into it? Gerard Smalls was black.

So this last night, that was some of the entertainment on Gutfeld last night. It was fun. It was one of those shows, Gutfeld shows. They've counted. I've done 37.

What so I've done thirty-seven gutfeld shows, and I thought that last night was the most interactive.

Sometimes you and it's fine, it it works. He's getting a three-five. Think about this. Kimmel's getting a 1-8. or a one five.

Stephen Colbert doesn't get a two. Those are network television shows. In this universe, people are cutting the cord left and right. If you cut the cord, you get network television. And his numbers are going up.

I mean, he beats his lead in. Greg Gutfeld.

So there was more interaction with the panel, and there was the great Emily Campano as well as Tyrus.

So it was fun last night. A couple other things are happening. I don't know if you were noticing. But there's um There's a new trial now. It looks like the Menendez kids are going to have a shot at getting out.

They're supposed to now have 50 years of life instead of life without parole.

Now they could get out right away. That's according to a judge. I guess good behavior, just killing your parents in 30 years. If you don't cause any prison riots, you can get out. Here's Mark Gargos, cut 38.

The judge commented today, this is one of the most remarkable, and he used that term, remarkable. Transformations. And he said. While the crime was truly horrific and remarkable, the 35 years since, what they have accomplished is remarkable with no hope. And we've said that since day one.

And so, with no hope, This encourages people who are incarcerated to make the right decisions. Hmm, that's a reach. Remarkable murder of their parents, and then lived like kings until they were caught. Nathan Hochman, who is the LA County DA, not woke, got the job because the other DA was an embarrassment to the country, was against this. CUP 39.

The judge ultimately ruled in a way we differ with, but the judge had a full hearing. He heard all the facts and made that ruling. Shooting your parents to stage it like a mafia hit, you know, through the back of the head to the dad at point-blank range to the mom and through the kneecaps after they're dead, methodically pick up all the evidence and dispose of it right after the killings, and then go ahead and lie about it and say that you have no idea who killed your parents, probably was a mafia hit. I think that's wrong in 1990, 1989, the mid-90s when they were tried, and it happens to also be wrong in 2025. I like that guy.

He's really good. Uh, I like him a lot. But out in Los Angeles, and I'm going to focus on One Nation this week. We have the editor and owner of the LA Times on. And I'm going to talk about what's happening in California.

Because this governor is unbelievable, the audacity. First, he says, you know, I think I want to meet some Republicans. I think I just want to learn the conservative thought, even though his parents are Republican. Mill, he's running the state into the ground. Tax the rich, tax Hollywood right out of California.

They now have moved across the country and around the world, too expensive, and all the irregulation. With his zero, his net zero, he has caused and all the penalties with buying oil and gas. It's caused gas to be like $7 a gallon, so people don't want to live there and drive there. And then he wants again down to net zero, so he's stopping oil companies from staying there. And then he is going after the utility companies when they're rolling blackouts.

Now he says, Homeless is a big problem. I am going to call on all mayors to get rid of the homeless encampments. You idiot. You basically have welcomed the homeless into your state. You've used state money to allow to give them the accommodations that they need.

Now you're charging the mayors and blaming the mayors for the homelessness in your state. You have grown it as lieutenant governor, as mayor of San Francisco, and now you're blaming other people. What you're trying to do is posture yourself as a moderate. At the same time, you have a chance to do what Rudy Giuliani did with his political fortunes briefly. He was underwater at 30% approval rating, 9-11 hits.

He acted like such a great leader during that time. He's known as America's mayor, became a best-selling author. Things have gotten off the rails in the last five years, but besides that, he revamped his entire career as posture and perception. He had a chance after the devastating Los Angeles fires to change the way he was perceived and be someone that gets things done, cut red's tape, go work with people to rebuild their homes, work with insurance companies to expedite the approval process. Instead, you have a city still flat on its back who want to.

recall their inept mayor. Present gave him an opening, said I get you some money and some help. He's done nothing but sued back the administration because of tariffs and other ridiculous things. And it's up to the federal government to make a move on tariffs in order to try to get the movie industry back in America, let alone back in Los Angeles. And that's what I'm going to ask the LA Times owner and editor about.

When he buys the paper, he says, No one's buying my paper because it's all one point of view. We have a Republican president, Republican House and Senate. I want a more well-rounded point of view. And then columnists and reporters began to quit. They, I guess, don't think that should be the case.

Well, what's going on now? Are they reporting fair in a fair and balanced way? I'm going to talk to him about that and what could be changed in Los Angeles. There could be a titanic change in this country, not towards conservatives, towards common sense leadership. The guy that Governor Newsom's pretending to be would be interesting, but the guy he is, isn't.

From Hayaton Fox News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Killmead. Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Brain Kill Me Show.

So glad you're there. Martha McCallum coming in in 20 minutes. Carl Robe standing by now. We're covering the president's three-leg trip. It's over the course of four days.

Really impactful so far. Saudi Arabia deal was great to be seen. The relationship, I'd never really seeing two leaders talk so openly. About how well they get along, especially in the Middle East. We're not talking about oil and we're not talking about war.

It's kind of unique, don't you think? We're not talking about extremism. The president did mention it, but more five years ago when he was there, and less now that he's there.

Now he's going to Qatar. He's there. They had some formalities, signed some defense pact agreements. I believe one of the things they signed was. Purchase of Boeing jets, fighter jets, more than ever has been done before.

I haven't fact-checked that, but just know it's a lot. And the next step is going to be fascinating. It's going to be UAE, but in between, Marco Rubio will split off and he will go to a meeting in Turkey, we hope, between Vladimir Putin and President Zelensky. Vladimir Putin called the meeting and might not be showing up to the meeting. President Trump hasn't thoroughly ruled out showing up himself.

So we're covering that. We're seeing the trade deals, the big, beautiful bill working its way through Congress. This morning, we woke up on a party line vote after 17 hours of a markup. They passed through ways and means their version of a House bill. They want to get it to through the House by Memorial Day and on the President's desk before the 4th of July.

With me right now is Carl Rove. He knows what it's like to pass major pieces of legislation, also knows about navigating the Middle East. This is a less fraught time than the one you walked into, Carl Rove, but welcome back. Thanks, I'm glad to be here.

So, what do you think? Yeah, so far, the President's decision to. Put out a criteria necessary to remove sanctions on Syria, and meet with the interim president. Your thoughts?

Well, an extraordinary gesture. This guy, after all, was originally associated with Al-Qaeda. The new regime in Syria, a lot of people have hopes and expectations that it will become a more reasonable alternative to the Bashir regime. uh the Assad regime. And uh I think it was a bold move on the President's part.

Let's see how it all plays out. You passed over two things, though, that are, I think, really, really important. For us to remember, and that is. There is the Middle East Countries like UAE and Qatar and Saudi Arabia need a strong America as their friend and ally. And they're they're concerned about Tehran, about the Ayatollahs in Tehran.

And as a result, They signed a big deal to buy lots of military equipment from the U. S. And to be trained and equipped by the U. S. And in the quick question in the case of cutter in the UAE, not only does it Is there purchases of American equipment?

But in the case of Qatar, we have a major military installation there, an air base. absolutely vital for the protection of the region.

So you're right. We're not talking about we may be talking about Gaza a little bit, but don't think that the whole issue of war and peace is behind us. These countries are concerned about An aggressive Iran and particularly might what might happen if they get a nuclear weapon or if there is a transition inside the country that results in whenever there's a transition Iran, it seems that the Ayatollahs and the Mulas want to have an enemy to consolidate their support at home, so they pick a fight in the region. Here's what we're hearing. There was a proposal out there.

And it shows how desperate Iran is. They lost Syria as an ally. Saudi Arabia is as a rival. We know that. And obviously, they have very few outlets.

When it comes to Hamas and Hezbollah, they've never been weaker. Their missile defense said the S-300s. The missile defense we hear is virtually destroyed.

So they have very few friends in the area. Evidently, they came up with an offer, and they said because the UAE is able to have nuclear power, but they enrich outside their country, they offered Saudi Arabia a chance, along with the UAE, to enrich together and form a consortium outside their countries. Would you consider that if you're Trump?

Well, the devil is in the details. They've got to give up. The Iranians have got to give up enriching. Uranium because as long as they have that ability, they're literally weeks away from a weapon. And we cannot allow the Iranians to have a weapon.

It will not only be the region that will be at risk, but the world that will be at risk. They have a apocalyptic view of their role in the world.

So I don't know the details, and in fact, I suspect nobody really knows the details. But if they were to say we want to have peaceful uses of nuclear in power. And we will buy our in essence our power slugs. From outside the country and give up enrichment is something that we ought to consider. But they would have to have an ironclad agreement to give up enrichment and to surrender the supplies that they have, which have been enriched far beyond what is necessary to power a nuclear power plant, but which are very close to the levels of enrichment that you need to produce a weapon.

Also, they can't have ballistic missiles and they can't continue to supply the Houthi rebels, Hamas and Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, to create havoc in and around Israel. I just don't see a way, Carl. And I know the last thing people want is Middle East war, but to dismantle the Iranian nuclear program through a military attack, I think it's going to be the only alternative. Listen to Mike Pompeo, Cut 23. There's no chance that the Iranians are going to do a full, fully verifiable denuclearization with inspections and no enrichment and destroying their missiles and missile program and then stopping terror.

I mean, the probability of them agreeing to that, Brian, you know this. It's a zero. I think the time is on us. They're frankly at amongst their weakest points in an awfully long time, in spite of the Biden administration, not because of it. The Israelis and the United States should go do everything at this moment we can to ensure that they never get a nuclear weapon, and I'm confident we have the tools and skills and capabilities to pull that off.

And the Israelis are rich and they do it, and they feel somewhat isolated and ignored right now, although Trump said something on the plane right now that says we're not. We're just focusing on the Gulf states. I agree with Mike Pompeo. Do you? Yeah, I do.

And not only that, but we already have evidence of what happens. We did not need a war in the first Trump administration with the principle of maximum pressure that caused the to in essence Bankrupt and nearly collapse the Iranian regime, it worked. And the Israelis, you know, the if the Israelis responded to the missile attacks from Iran, we would have whole scale war in the Middle East, everybody said.

Well, we saw what happened there. You're right. We took out the most modern Soviet or Russian air defenses that they're willing to supply other countries, and the Israelis overwhelmed them. in a matter of minutes.

So yes, I think Secretary Pompeo is absolutely right. And the President has already demonstrated the ability of maximum pressure to, in essence, force the Mulas up against the wall and bring about some of what we wanted to see brought about in restraining their nuclear ambitions. How close are you following the big, beautiful bill in the process? A lot.

So when we find out it passed the ways and means, how close are we to a finish line for the House?

Well, uh This is a process. Interestingly, about 10 days ago, we had a conference here in Texas. To reward the volunteers and donors in a big voter registration project, Republican voter registration project. And we had, interestingly enough, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Jason Smith, interviewed by a Texas Congressman, Nathaniel Moran, who's On the committee. And we then had Mike Crapo, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, interviewed by another Texas representative, Senator John Cornyn, who's on the Senate Finance Committee.

And what was interesting was that they actually came into town on Friday night. The conference was Saturday. Jason Smith was hosted by some people, by some our local supporters. And at the last minute, we had a dinner party for Mike Crapo. And it was interesting, at dinner, Crapo said, I have two people that I need to make certain are happy with what we're doing in the Senate.

Donald Trump and Jason Smith. And the next day, Jason Smith is interviewed in the morning, and with Mike Crapo sitting about twenty feet away from him, he says there are two people that I need to stay close to in this process. President Trump and Mike Crapo. And so I thought that was a very interesting mindset. Both of these leaders and different bodies with different pressures and different members are sitting there saying, We got to work together in order to pull this off.

This is not an easy thing to do to write a tax bill, particularly when you're not simply renewing the tax bill as it was passed in 2017. I would remind you that that was the first year of Donald Trump's presidency, and he finally signed the tax bill on December 22nd of that year.

So getting this done by July 4th is going to be high, you know, really tough. I'm not certain it can be done, but the mindset of these two members that we're going to work together, recognizing we come from different bodies with different pressures, is really important to ultimately getting a bill done.

So, the thing that's now in the proposed bill increases the child tax credit to $2,500. No tax on car loan interest, no tax on tips or overtime, extend tax cuts enacted during Trump's first term. But I think the key is, and you know this because you lived it, you got to make it permanent. But there's a matrix that's necessary to make it permanent. Can you tell us in layman's terms what that is?

Well, in order to make it permanent, you basically have to be offset it with spending cuts. And the pro and if you can't offset it with spending cuts, then what do you do is you make parts of the tax bill not permanent. You make them not even over the full ten year window. And this is where it really gets difficult because there's a constant tension between the spending cuts and the tax cuts. For example, we have a work requirement for that's going to be that both the Senate and the House agree to.

But in the House bill, the work requirement, that is to say, if you're able bodied and you want Medicaid, then you've got to be working or looking for work. Which is common sense. This was a program meant for the most vulnerable among us. And we p we actually pay 90% of the cost. of Medicaid is paid for by It was supposed to be state programming.

For able-bodied adults, for able-bodied adults, but we only pay 70% of the costs. For a woman who's pregnant, or a child who's vulnerable, or a poor, indigent, disabled person. I mean, it's just nutty. The fact is, is that it you know, by delaying it two years, It means that we're not able to make permanent or have some of these tax cuts for the full. You know, 10-year window of the reconciliation bill.

So there's this constant tension between how are you doing on getting the spending cuts and balancing the tax cuts? And look, I got to say this. The tax bill that was passed, the tax cuts in 2017. kicked off an economic boom because they were focused on growing the economy, on what are the things that are necessary to encourage businesses to be more competitive and to make people interested in achieving more prosperity in their life and therefore paying higher taxes. This bill has some things that don't add to economic growth.

You know, for example, they're stepping back on the no-tax on Social Security. Look, with all due respect, if your principal or sole source of income is Social Security, in all likelihood, you pay no tax. Or if you pay taxes measured in a few dollars, not $100, but a few dollars. Because those people are people who are among the 50%. the bottom fifty percent of taxpayers who pay four percent of the tax burden.

Not taxing Social Security is going to benefit people like Warren Buffett. And frankly, I'm not worried that Warren Buffett's going to be eating beans out of a can if they continue to tax his Social Security check. He's going to be okay. But by doing that, It takes a tax off of wealthier Americans and speeds up the bankruptcy of Social Security by two years.

So as we go through this process, and we need to be cognizant of the fact our goal ought to be to encourage economic growth, not merely to reward, you know, quote seniors, because look, I'm a senior, but it doesn't, you know, I would rather pay a tax on my Social Security check than have Social Security go broke for two years earlier for those who actually depend upon it for their sole or principal livelihood.

So there's this tension here, and House has wisely dealt with this by, in essence, ratcheting up The tax protection for those low-income seniors who depend on Social Security for their sole or principal income. What that means is the tax system has become even more progressive.

So the bottom 50% of taxpayers are going to pay a smaller percentage of the tax burden in the years ahead, and more of the burden is going to be shifted on the people at the top, which, you know, at some point, you know, when you got like the top 1% paying, you know, 20 or 30 percent of the tax burden, that becomes very problematic if, for example, we get into a recession or a depression.

So, yeah, just on the Medicaid in particular, Obamacare really, really did a job on Medicaid. And now the federal government's got to pay for it if they got free money under Obama and Oblig Biden. Only 20 states did not take that free money. And then when you give people Medicaid, one in five use it, states like Missouri a lot, even more. And now they're used to it.

Now, if you take that away, you're going to look like the bad guy. But the intent of the program was for the program was for the poor and disabled. And now it's one of the biggest financial burdens in our economy. And if you take it away, it's being sold as if you don't like poor people.

Well, and look, it's even worse than you just said. It's not twenty states didn't expand. Only 10 states did not take the base and expand Medicaid. One of them is Texas. And if you take a look at what would happen and the pressure is going to be, well, why are you, Texas and nine other states?

Wisconsin's another one. Why haven't you expanded Medicaid? Why haven't you providing health care to poor people?

Well, the cost of expanding to the federal taxpayer, if those 10 states say we're now going to enter Medicaid, it is going to cost the federal government $670 billion over the next 10 years, which again, going back to the issue of the tension between spending and taxes, that's going to wipe out a lot of the savings and require, again, the tax bill to be made less permanent or for provisions to be dropped. A lot of stuff going on, Carl, but I hope they get hope they get this done by the fourth and just to give the economy a chance to grow. And so far, the numbers have not been bad. Inflation grew at a slower rate than anyone thought, and jobs numbers were better than anyone expected. Carl Rove, thanks so much for doing the hard work.

Thank you, sir. You got it. Back in a moment. Brian Kilmicho. You're with Brian Kilmeade Information you want, truth you demand.

This is the Brian Kill Me Show. Hey, welcome back, everybody. We got a couple of minutes here. We just got two minutes. Martha McCallum, I went along with Carl Rove on the big, beautiful bill, which that's another major story that is probably third on your hit list, right?

Exactly. Exactly. Past ways and means to me. Yes, we're watching that to see what kind of negotiations are going on. I feel like we're a long way from actually seeing what ends up in this bill because you've got so many different entities that want a piece of the action here.

And I think they're withholding certain elements of it for the later part of this negotiation.

So we'll watch all that really closely. Obviously, we're watching the developments in the Middle East, which are extraordinary. We're going to talk to General Jack King, get his thoughts on this huge development in Syria and the reorganization of some of these global relationships, which is just. Really an astonishing moment. It is.

And the huge order of Boeing jets. The Saudis are going to be ordering their military equipment from six different companies in order to get it. Unlike Taiwan, we have trouble delivering it. And I think that if they can defend themselves, we get the maintenance contracts, we get the sale. They're paying for it.

Fascinating was happening tomorrow. Yeah. I I mean, just just on the planes, I think there's such a great irony in the fact that they're buying one hundred and sixty Boeing planes, but Boeing hasn't been able to finish Air Force One, so Trump is buying a plane from them. Crazy. It is crazy.

Listen, we're going to come back and talk more about this. I also want to get your take on: do you think that Vladimir Putin's actually going to show up tomorrow? And if he does show up, will Trump. Crazy stuff. We know Rubio is going to show up.

We also know that he's going to meet with the foreign minister of Syria, too. Crazy trip. Full portfolio. Don't move. From his mouth to your ears, it's Brian Killmead.

The sanctions were brutal and crippling and served as. And important Really, an important function, nevertheless, at the time, but now it's their time to shine. It's their time to shine. We're taking them all off, and they're going to have. I think they're going to have based on the people and the spirit and everything else that I'm hearing about.

Well, we'll see. There's a lot of sex. 100 people were killed last week in Syria. It is a brutal place. But the government that has emerged is anti-Russian, anti-Iran, and wants to have relations with us.

And we have not had a face-to-face meeting with a Syrian leader in 25 years. Martha McCallum's in the studio, if you're smart enough to watch the stream she's on. Martha, your reaction to that announcement, that was not on the schedule. No, it wasn't. It probably came at some of the influence in the discussions with the Saudis.

I think there had to be a choice made about this new leader in Syria. I mean, just keep in mind that this is a guy who in December, if you had information on his whereabouts, you could have made $10 million from the U.S. government. Wow, he would do that. $10 million on his head in December, and now we're in May.

But you have to make decisions in these moments, right? And you see the influence of Russia and China, particularly Russia, but also China and Iran in the region. And what I see at work here is that President Trump is empowering some of these other players who he believes that he can deal with. Help to become more prosperous, and doing in many ways exactly what China has done in regions around the world, where you build economic prosperity, you invest in the country in order to make them somewhat beholden to you. And so, you see the minimization on this map of Russia, of Iran, and of China.

And I think if you're Bashar Assad and you're sitting in your exile home in Russia right now, and you're Putin looking at this meeting tomorrow, you're feeling a little unsettled by what you're watching unfold over the last few days. And the level, the profile of it with President Trump in the region has to be unsettling to Putin, I think, and probably to Xi as well. And there's no, that is completely intentional. I would imagine on the White House part. The way this in this era of MBS, and I know about Khashoggi, I haven't forgotten that, and the 9-11 families feel as though the Saudis were never transparent about their role of maybe some of the royal families' role in 9-11.

And I understand that too. No one ever put MBS in that category, but Khashoggi, you know, you could say that he could have signed off on that, or who knows? But that's five, six years ago. Do you call them a pariah nation like Joe Biden? How'd that work out?

You take the Houthis off the terror watch list. How did that work out? But you see the way the president was treated and understand this is not about Trump. It's about our country. Our country is being treated that way.

He represents the United States. And then we come in with the most important American businessmen and they're doing deals in conferences right after. And then you say, okay, we're not telling you how to run your country. We know that female rights are more 1910 than 2025. I understand, but they are making gains.

I tell you what, we're not really judging you right now. We're judging about where you're moving economically, how we could work together fiscally, and then we could also deepen that relationship for influence with policies. And one of the things is: hey. It really bothers me when you signed off on that China deal with you and Iran, signed off on this mutual non-aggression pact, or whatever you sign. Where did that come from?

Well, you don't even have to bring it up. The next stop is Qatar. It's a complicated country. I got it. But now we're in there.

They're buying Boeing planes. We got that beautiful military site there. And then we're going to the UAE, at which time there is going to be an opportunity for half the delegation to go to Turkey to meet with Vladimir Putin and President Zelensky. This is pretty intense. It's an absolutely unbelievable week.

And you look at the energy in this executive, it is truly extraordinary. I mean, if you compare it to the same period, you know, a year ago with President Biden, who had almost nothing on his schedule and didn't engage, it's an engagement question as a president. Biden's policy was to not engage. With any of these players. I mean, he called, um, he called a MBS, a pariah, and then he went and they had that awkward fist bump.

But you could tell this wasn't going anywhere. This wasn't building any relationship.

So, Trump, and it is a policy of complete engagement, even with people whose actions you may disapprove of. And clearly, these people are on that list in many cases. When you look at Qatar, when you look at some of what you talked about with Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia, but you have to ask yourself, how are the American people better off? Are they better off if we engage? And engagement, that's what we're trying to see here tomorrow.

You know, he's encouraging them.

So Lensky and Putin sit down and talk to each other. Think of that face-to-face meeting at the Vatican, and that was after a really rough Oval Office moment between those two people. But he doesn't say, like, I hate that guy, cross him off my list. He goes, Nope, we're going back in. We're going to talk at the Vatican.

And then I want him to sit down with Putin face-to-face. We'll see how it goes. But I mean, it's a clear. It's a clear Policy, a clear mentality and approach. You know what's interesting is um With Zelensky, it's emblematic of the way Trump works.

He gets really mad at you. You go at it, whether you're a journalist or whether you're a political opponent, but he says, okay, it's not personal. And what it is is. That conversation would have been reported on by an insider who had a friend that was in the room where Zelensky and Trump got at each other, and there would be counter-arguments, nothing happened. But instead, Trump's policy is if I have something to say, I'll say it in front of the cameras, which I think in retrospect we're going to really appreciate, even though it was unpleasant.

But what happens is when you go to war with somebody or go out with somebody, you have a closeness. It's a mutual respect.

Sometimes it ends up being a warmth, but it's a respect.

So after you've been through all that, one of the messages I heard from that meeting was: don't overreact to what I say about Putin. And when you need something, call me directly. I like you. We get along. Call me directly.

Don't let the media tell you what to do. And since that time, Remember, the European leaders said last week, no ceasefire, no we're going to have a ceasefire before we talk about any type of peace agreement.

Well, the next day, Vladimir Putin thought he called out, he was going to call these guys out by saying, let's meet Thursday, one-on-one direct talks. He probably, I actually think he was outmaneuvered. He probably never thought Trump was going to, who called into that meeting on the phone, was never going to say yes without a ceasefire. He goes, Yeah, we'll do it. Do it Thursday.

Called Zelensky or posted it. Do it Thursday. So he's showing up.

So Vladimir Putin goes, Wait, he might not show up for a meeting that he called?

So, this was a great move for Trump. Take every opportunity to get towards your goal. Absolutely. And last time they had a ceasefire, it fell apart instantly. They're still firing at each other.

The Russians still sending missiles into Ukraine and retaliation from Ukraine.

So I think Trump looks at that and goes, okay, well, that didn't work.

So do what you're going to do on both sides, but sit down at the table and let's have a discussion. It's going to be do you think that Putin's going to show up? I think it's 50-50. I've been reading everything possible, but let's say who could he show up that would be worthy of a conversation? Lavrov?

Well, that's not what you said. I want direct talks. You could say it. And then if he if Lavrov shows up, does Zelensky does that make Putin look bad? No?

I don't see how Lavrov can how Zelensky takes a meeting with Lavrov. It it doesn't it it's not an equal footing meeting.

So then you wonder then, you know, Rubio's going to be there and Kellogg's going to be there. And Rubio's got his meeting with the Syrian foreign minister in Ankara too. Crazy. Istanbul, I think it is, I guess.

Well, one of those cities.

So he's going to meet with the Syrian leaders to see about moving things forward. But I don't know how like if Vladimir Putin doesn't show up, he looks terrible because there's nothing that he requested that they're not getting. It's not like they're, well, you infiltrated Moscow with a drone strike. No, there's been nothing going on.

Well, I think that when you look at the question, you see this kind of. different posture. President Trump, every time that Putin did not live up to what he said he was willing to do and kept striking. You saw Trump kind of moving a little bit further and further away from him. And that's when he sat down with Zelensky at the Vatican, opening the door to potentially U.S.

military support. We know the mineral deal is what they see as the national security guarantee. But I think that sit-down made Putin look at it and say, wait, maybe I'm losing. You know, maybe I'm losing Trump here. Absolutely.

And Zelensky had then hope that perhaps he could maintain more support from the United States, even though when I interviewed J.D. Vance last week, he said, No way, there's no way we're going to add any more military support for Ukraine. President Trump seemed to be a little bit open to the possibility if he didn't like the reaction. He kept saying, I'm not happy, not happy with what I'm seeing from Putin.

So tomorrow is obviously very significant. We'll write a check. Number one, they'll write a check. They go, we will buy patriots. Number two is not all the Biden.

Era money has been given out yet.

So that you can honestly say, well, this is stuff that's already been earmarked, and then you don't know what the Europeans are prepared to do and how many F-16s we will decide to release for them. Also, they now have a they have a reason, they have a way to pay for it. You could take it out on the potential worth of the rare earth mining.

So they say you could actually trade on that. The other thing you could do is the interest made on the frozen funds from Moscow. We've been reluctant to do that.

So we got to let them know. The other thing that was mentioned that I heard in crosstalk two weeks ago when I was in the White House is that they're looking at the central bank. And they say that sanctioning the central bank will cause pain. Yeah, I think Trump has always felt that that was what's in his back pocket, cutting off the banking access for Russia and that idea of potentially using the frozen assets in Europe to pay for military help for Ukraine. It's a pretty beautiful concept.

Concept that doesn't cost the American people any money.

Meanwhile, you've got the mineral deal, which is not retroactive. It's, you know, as of as of now, going forward, any money that comes out of that.

So I think that makes Trump feel better about maybe increasing a little bit of support if Putin doesn't come to the table in a meaningful way. But I think Putin looks at it and he's like, you know, he's now seeing a little bit of edge coming back at him from, we'll see where Rubio is on it, but from the president, clearly. But you know what? It also shows all those years of saying Putin's got something on Trump, Putin's got something on Trump. No, he said, I have, I watched the way you guys treat him.

It's gotten you nowhere. I really don't mind him. Kind of like hanging out with him. But I'm not going to, you know, I'm going to sanction Nord Stream 2. I'm going to, you know, I'm going to make sure that you buy our natural gas.

So there were things that he was doing against Vladimir Putin that was temporary. He ended Nord Stream 2. Yeah, but he wouldn't do it with like sent actual weapons to Ukraine. And I mean, we know the playbook. I'm always amazed that people are shocked when they see President Trump sort of, you know, be cordial with someone who is clearly an adversary and open up the conversation.

It's like you're never going to get anywhere with these people if you don't bring them in. And Putin plays this game too. I mean, Putin's played it with every U.S. president.

So they're both very crafty at, you know, making it appear that they can find some common ground, but still keeping their guard up. Yeah, we're going to take a timeout, but here's my last thing about Putin that makes him reluctant. He's tainted his whole economy. They say 45% of his economy is all military spending. All these people are working in military warehouses and factories.

So if all of a sudden this war comes to an end, you don't need weapons at this pace, what are these people doing for a living?

So that's one thing that we could And hundreds of thousands of young people dead. Yeah, and there's a lot of peop evidently there's a big story yet uh I was reading last week about these people are coming back to war d war deranged. You know, you know how the price the war can take on and toll on people.

Well, they're going into a war they don't understand.

Well, they get no medical assistance in the field, they're left to die. They have no sense that you know Mother Russia is sweeping in to save them. No man left behind. Uh-uh. That is not the way angry soldiers walking in the streets.

Absolutely. So if he wants to end the war, he's like, I don't really know how this works for me. Yeah, how are they all going to? Oh, I'm going on. Back in a moment.

Diving deep into today's top stories. It's Brian Kilmead. A talk show that's real. This is the Brian Killmead Show. Kill me, based on your low book sales, you should be homeless.

What do you think of the current state of California homelessness? First, I'd like to address the crowd. You laughed at his monologue and you turned on me before I had a chance to say a word, and I'll never forgive you. Number two, my book sales might be the best in the company, but I know you're so jealous to bring that up. All right.

So that was Greg Guttfeld making every appearance on his show so enjoyable. That was my 30th. They did some math. I did my 37th appearance there. Martha McCallum with me today.

Martha, who's on your show at three?

So we're going to talk to Russ Vogt, the Secretary of the Office of Management and Budget. He's the guy who's basically taking over Doge. And this is really, really important because this work cannot stop. I don't care what party you're in. There is a tremendous amount of waste in the government.

So we're going to talk to him about how he's going to carry on that mantle, whether or not he's going to keep his pedal to the metal, and also this budget deal that they're working on and what he thinks is the actual structure of it. You're going to hear a lot of emotional back and forth on Medicaid and how that should be run and the cuts that might be made to it.

So we're going to dig into that with him. And General Jack Keene is going to weigh in. First time we're hearing from him about what he's watched unfolding in the Middle East.

So we're looking forward to hearing his thoughts on that. Right. Medicaid was supposed to be. To be for the poor, it was supposed to be for the indigent, and now it was supposed to be funded by the states.

Now, one in five Americans have Medicaid. I've understand it. And now, 90% of it in most, all except 10 states are funded by the federal government. It's ballooned to the point where it's almost unaffordable, but you don't want to take it away from people if politically because you don't want to leave people without insurance. Understood.

But Obamacare expanded to the point where it's not sustainable. And if Republicans go into do it, they don't like poor people, right?

Well, y you have to be um deserving of it. And that's a huge question.

So I think that we all want the deserving poor To have the opportunity to have a benefit that gets them through the hard time until they can get back on their feet again. That's what it was completely designed for. And it's not designed to take care of a huge part of the country and be like, in some cases, well, I'm not going to work because when I put all these benefits together, I'm okay. And they just say, for people like Senator Ron Johnson, say, I'm not going to vote for this because it's going to balloon the deficit. Rand Paul is always useless.

And we have Susan Collins worried about a reelection. I'm not saying I don't know what she's going to do, but she's definitely going to dean some work, as is Murkowski. And then on the House side, you have Chip Roy against the SALT caucus, which is the states we're in. Yeah, I think the salt thing is going to become negotiable as this moves forward. It's going to be an area where they know if they offer X, then they can pull it back to Y, they can get away with that.

If they don't do the upper tax bracket Increase, which it sounds like they're not going to do now, they might be able to give up salt in the end.

So we'll see. Yeah, I mean, Mike Lawler and the others in New York and New Jersey are the ones going to bat for that. It allows you to write off your state taxes, which are through the roof. And when you push back and say, why is New York being rewarded for that? Their pushback is we pay more to the federal government in taxes, so therefore we deserve some type of break statewide.

But you have a lot of people at the upper end of the income in those states as well, because That's where a lot of them live.

So, in that case, if you're not getting an increase on the upper end of the income bracket, salt may end up going, or it might be smaller in terms of what you can deduct.

So, Dave Ignatius had something, and I know you can appreciate this. You know, obviously, the Washington Post, very rarely do they say anything positive, but he's a very well-sourced guy, very good writer. And he said something I think you could appreciate. He's watching the president's foreign policy. He says, are you having trouble following the plot?

Recall that Trump's comment in September during his campaign, I do the weave. You know what the weave is? I'll talk about it. Like nine different things, they all come back brilliantly together. That's what Trump said.

He said, that sounded like utter nonsense to me at the time. I wouldn't bet the rancher Israel's security on that outcome. But American foreign policy has been stuck within a set of fixed parameters for several decades. It's worth giving them a fresh look. That's the establishment saying, I'm tired of just being negative.

I mean, don't these people, I'm always amazed. It's like people approach the way that they look at Trump as if they have never followed what he's done before.

So if you're David Agnius, who I agree with you, very smart writer, very well sourced, but did you not notice the Abraham Accords? Did you not see that there, and even back then, all of those people across the board were like, this is incredible. No one thought this could be done. And at that point, we were right on the verge of maybe having Saudi Arabia join in as well. And then October 7th happened.

So you have to have hindsight. Look at the history. Look at how he works. The story, 3 p.m. Fox News Channel.

Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy, host of the Trey Goutdee Podcast. I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side. Listen and follow now at FoxNewsPodcast.com. 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.