Unprecedented: Ukraine's devastating drone attack in Russia

This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. Between two-factor authentication, strong passwords, and a VPN, you try to be in control of how your info is protected. but many other places also have it, and they might not be as careful. That's why LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back.

Save up to 40% your first year. Visitlifelock.com slash podcast for 40% off. Terms apply. From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian.

In Kill Mead. Hi, everyone.

So glad you're there. Thanks so much for listening. Hope you had a fantastic weekend. We're back in action now. At the bottom of the hour, Jason Riley, Wall Street Journal columnist, Manhattan Institute senior fellow will be joining us.

And we'll be talking about everything that's going on with the, you know, look, the Wall Street Journal is separated from the president when it comes to tariffs. Even made up a disparaging nickname. But other stuff, they're on the same page exactly.

So we'll discuss some of that. And then today, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy will hold a press conference. Good news. Newark Airport. They're going to say 13 days early, they've reopened the other runway.

Hopefully, things will go back to semi-normal while they modernize.

So let's get to the big three. Number three. Russia's calling it a terrorist attack inside Moscow. On the morning news in Moscow, there was very little reporting, if none, of this, because the Russians will be licking their wounds. And they should be humiliated.

Game changer, Ukraine pulls off a brilliant covert attack on Russia, wiping out billions in aircraft, collapsing at least two bridges, and substantially damaging the Russian Air Force as direct talks. are now going to be going underway, I assume. Number two. Remember, in this big beautiful bill, the reason we call it that is because there's benefits for everybody. It's geared for hardworking Americans, lower and middle-income Americans.

There's so many benefits and features in this bill, and it's going to allow everybody to do better. And we should pay attention to it. Mike Johnson, Speaker Johnson, thousand-page bill. Nobody's made an effort to define it until this weekend, and hopefully this week, Big Beautiful Bill week as the Senate gets to work. And finally, Republicans are fanning out to explain what's in and what is not in the bill.

Number one. Witnesses are reporting that the subject used a makeshift flamethrower. and through an incendiary device into the crowd. The suspect was heard to yell Free Palestine during the attack. You believe this?

Well, you should. 1:40 in the afternoon, another horrific anti-Semitic attack, this time in Colorado. Yes, an illegal immigrant, and gets the same mantra heard on college campuses: Free Palestine, right? Is it time that we crack down and understand there's a direct link between Hamas, Gaza, and what's happening in our country, in our campuses, and that same mindset?

Some end up being killers, some end up being activists, some end up being used, but that's where it comes from.

So, this Egyptian who's here illegally, was told to get out, didn't, makes up some phony claims of asylum back in 2022 and had a work visa. For some reason, the Biden administration granted it to him, but still, he's supposed to be gone. Instead, he takes his shirt off, goes on a beautiful afternoon day with marchers in the street to remember the hostages kept against their will for 600 plus days. They end up four people, eight overall, but four people in critical condition, lit on fire by this. Whack job who goes right down and goes, It's me, no problem.

I'll lay on the ground, lock him up. Here is a The FBI Denver Special Agent in charge, Mark Michalik, cut one. Witnesses are reporting that the subject used a makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary device into the crowd. The suspect was heard to yell Free Palestine during the attack. Sound familiar?

Yeah, don't worry about the college campuses. Kids will be kids. It's the same thing. What have they done?

Now, it'd be different if you're trying to sell south of France. It's beautiful, there's freedom, and people have a great time. I want that. But you're selling the Palestinian Islamic extremist cause, which hates women, hates gays, intolerant of anything, free market. Really communist fascists.

Who just want to kill people and live for another life? And that's what we've allowed to infiltrate into our country? Alex Osante witnessed it all, cut three. The sentiment was was chaos. It was chaos and ruckus.

People were yelling and screaming. They were trying to get from one place to the next, but they were tripping over stuff. They were tripping on each other, stumbling around, at the same time yelling and screaming. Try to Um make Make a sense of all the chaos that was that was happening. I saw one attacker One attacker who was very aggressive and vicious.

with his Uh, Molokov cocktail weapons, um, but it seemed like a couple others were kind of on his side, like arguing for him, which didn't make sense. Wow, I gotta find out about that, and hopefully, there's some follow-up because the FBI is there.

So, there were four men, four women, all victims, 52 to 88. One was in the Holocaust, do you believe this? And then marching for the hostages and then gets lit on fire. Uh, let's just take a look at what's happened over the last couple of months. If you have.

An arson attack on the Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's residence. It's devastated. Why? Because he's Jewish. may twenty first, two Israeli embassy staff members eleven days ago murdered in cold blood.

Why? Because they're pro Israel, one's a Christian, one's Jewish, and they were trying to figure out different ways to get aid into Gaza, and they get executed. And the guy says, Free Palestine, you can arrest me. Proud of it. From Chicago.

June 1st, yesterday, eight injured during the attack. Jared Polis says, as the Jewish community reels from a recent anti-Semitic attack, of course, this is murders in Washington, D.C. It's unfathomable that the community is facing another anti-Semitic attack here in Boulder. On the eve of a holiday of Shabbat, several individuals were brutally attacked while peacefully drawing attention to the plight of hostages being held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Think about that: 604 days.

So, if you think it's ending, if you think it's just Jews, you're crazy. This is against the West. And if you look at London, they're basically an Islamic Republic now in that city run by an Islamic mayor, a Muslim mayor. All right. You look at France, they've lost wide swaths of their cities because of the Muslim communities moved in, has no interest in assimilating.

Hopefully, people understand what Trump is doing. He's not pro-white, he's pro-American, and he's trying to seal our borders and get the illegals out. If this Egyptian was not allowed in by Biden, if it was harder to do that for Biden and extend your work visa under Biden, we wouldn't have had a murder. Lake and Riley would still be alive. There's always going to be illegals in our country.

It's too big to totally seal it off. But man, we've made tremendous progress, and now we know they lied to us with a tongue in their cheek. They knew they were lying. Mayorgus and company, when they opened up the borders and let 8 million in. And now these judges are trying to make it very hard to get them out.

Hopefully the prison will not stop.

So, this is going to be the week that the Senate has a look at this spending bill.

Now, we know Ron Johnson's way in, not happy with it. We know that Senator Hawley comes in and says, You better not touch Medicaid. I don't think I like what I see here. And then, you know, Rand Paul, I don't want to vote for anything.

So, that Susan Collins, you know, I'm a moderate. I'm trying to win in Maine. You can't make this too extreme. You can't have too many cuts. What I think is so important is to know what's in the bill.

And number one, it's a thousand pages.

So you can't know everything that's in the bill. There's no doubt about it. But when you talk about what is in the bill, they have Medicaid. They're not cutting Medicaid. What they're doing is getting rid of fraud and abuse.

That means people trying to get it, ineligible, trying to get in two separate states, not allowed. Number two is making sure people, if you're able-bodied and getting Medicaid, it's not intended for you, but you have to work, have a work requirement with it. Why is that a bad deal? Please explain that to me. That is not a bad deal to me.

Here's Speaker Johnson beginning to explain it. Cut six. There's no government on planet Earth that's ever saved over $1.6 trillion in a piece of legislation. This one does. And so when you reduce government spending, And you allow people to keep more of their hard-earned money, the economy grows.

And that's exactly what's going to happen. He went on to talk about Medicaid.

So it's important you guys get this down, because you're going to hear this over and over again. Cut seven. No, and you can underscore what I'm about to tell you. There are no Medicaid cuts in the Big Beautiful bill. We're not cutting Medicaid.

What we're doing is strengthening the program. We're reducing fraud, waste, and abuse that is rampant in Medicaid to ensure that that program is essential for so many people, ensure that it's available for the most vulnerable.

So, among the people that are critical of it, I mean, you have Elon Musk. He came out and said there's too much spending in the bill.

Now, to Speaker Johnson's credit, he picked up the phone and they had about an hour conversation. I don't know if it changed Elon's mind, but he just has to understand one thing, and he's a genius, but he does not understand politics and the nuances of it and what you need to do to get things passed. When Donald Trump came out and said, we're not touching Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. You basically took with the most worth spending more than anything else on the budget on those entitlements. And if you don't touch it, it leaves a third of the budget to negotiate.

And that piece of the pie gets smaller and smaller, especially when you do what Barack Obama did, take Medicaid, it's supposed to be a state program, made it federal mandated and made it so big it is now an albatross for the big, big budget. Russell Vogt said, I know about Elon Musk, and this is what I did.

Well, who's Russell Vogt? Maybe one of the most important people in Washington. He's OMB director. Cut 10. I love Elon.

This bill doesn't increase the deficit or hurt the debt. In fact, it lowers it by $1.4 trillion. And so when you assume the extension of the President's tax relief in 2017, this budget or this bill, and it is really a reconciliation bill, it's not really a budget bill. It is using a budget process. This is a $1.4 trillion over 10 years deficit reduction.

It is $1.6 trillion in mandatory savings. Obviously, we have a little bit of spending in there as well for border and defense. But that is the biggest mandatory savings package that we have seen since the 97. It is very historic.

So there you go. I think it's important. To go in there and understand what you might be mad at and what you are mad at. You talk to the Freedom Caucus. How dare you leave any of these green jobs in place?

What they're trying to say is some of this. Uh, zero carbon footprint.

Some of the stuff in the New Green Deal is very popular within Republicans, within blue states where there are Republicans, like Mike Lawler. And if you get rid of it, they might have to pay a price for that.

So that's what you got to balance. Senator Ron Johnson. Always makes it clear, I want President Trump to be successful, but I'm also here for a reason, Cut 11. I think what has disappointed me about the debate that went through the House, if you even call it that, we weren't looking at the facts and figures. The only figure we ever heard about was $1.5 trillion.

Sounds like a lot, but when you put it in context of the $89 trillion we're going to spend over the next 20 years, the $22 trillion in additional deficit we're going to incur, that's $2.2 trillion. per year deficit. It's completely unsustainable. I agree with Jamie Diamond here.

So what they say is It's not going to add to the deficit if you factor in growth. When you look at the CBO, which is a left-leaning budget, they say nonpartisan group. But if you look at the people, most of them are Democrats. But having said that, they forecast growth at 1.8%. We've never had 10 years of 1.8 percent growth.

They believe, with all this incentive, the tax cuts permanent, the predictability that comes with that, they believe the growth is going to be between two and three. Right there would mess with the math that says they're going to grow the deficit.

So, I'll talk to Jason Riley about that. But what is also going on in college campuses leads also with a major story. And one of those stories is Harvard, Harvard doubling and tripling down. We know the commencement address, they got a big round of applause when they talked about taking on President Trump. But I just think that Harvard's going to be an overall loser on all this, and Harvard's going to lose by just exposure.

And I think that people see what's going on there, they see the price and the international students. They say to themselves, why is it 30% or 27% of the student body happens to be foreign? Why do they need all this money for studies? What are the release of what are the results of all that money and our investment on campus? And I thought Bill Maher nailed it.

And what makes it significant is. Is, you know, a lot of this two-thirds of his show was pretty much anti-Trump, but this wasn't Cut 34. Trump has declared full-scale war on Harvard and like so many things he does, there's a colonel of a good idea there. I mean, I've been on Harvard long before he was. It's because Harvard is a is a factory in a lot of ways that produces smirking faces.

Okay. They were a blank hole. Probably you overbeeped it, but a blank hole factory. People come out arrogant, self-important, expect and expectant. I'm not saying everybody, but if you look to other people that have graduated from that area, From that country, from Cambridge, they have an aggra arrogance about them.

And now that you find out. They're too arrogant to understand that anti-Semitism is a problem. Look at Dr. Oza graduates, that they lost their way. And some Democrats have come out.

I mean, how do you support anti-Semitism on campus? Don't tell me it's tolerance. All right, fascinating time. The trans issue is coming back. to haunt Democrats unless they get off of it.

And now I think this Harvard thing, you go ahead and go to bat for Harvard, then you go into bat for anti Semitism. It's at the root of all this. And the fact that they're fighting back, that's why Trump is going for all these other things. But everything he's going for is not retribution. It is bringing a spotlight and having people revisit it.

And taking some money and going to the industrial trade schools is a great idea. And cracking down and limiting international students is even a better idea, especially the Chinese students. I don't care how much money they're spending.

Some of them are directly related to kids of the Communist Party serving right now. including President Xi, by the way. When we come back, I'll take some of your calls: 1-8-6-6-408-7669. A lot more to talk about, including this unbelievable attack that Ukraine pulled off for $70,000 that blew up Russian equipment worth at least $7 billion. We'll discuss it all on the Brian Kilmead show.

Diving deep into today's top stories. It's Brian Kilmead. It is time to take the quiz. It's five questions in less than five minutes. We ask people on the streets of New York City to play along.

Let's see how you do. Take the quiz every day at thequiz.box. Then come back here to see how you did. Thank you for taking the quiz. The more you listen, the more you'll know.

It's Brian Kilmeade. This is a truly extraordinary operation, demonstrating, one, how vulnerable Russia is to measures against Russian aggression in Russia itself, and how adept the Ukrainians are at understanding and exploiting those vulnerabilities. This operation is on par for, you might say, brilliance with the Israeli operation against Hezbollah last year. Truly extraordinary.

So he's going to be our guest a little bit later at a different hour, a U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, former now embedded in the area, just trying to help out. He's talking about an operation that you might have missed with all the breaking news over the weekend or whatever you might have been involved with, and it's totally understandable. But it's called Operation Spiderweb. Operation Spiderweb coordinated drone strikes penetrating deep into Russia, believed to have taken out dozens of Russians' most powerful jets and surveillance planes.

You're talking about over 40.

So get this. Ukraine used FPV drones hidden inside wooden cabins mounted on trucks. When the trucks reached their target, the roofs opened up by remote control and the drones launched. Videos on social media show the drones lifting off from the park trucks and striking large aircraft on the runways.

So, this is activated solely by Ukraine. This was in over a year planning. It looks like we were not briefed on it. They said the mission took one year and six months, nine days from the very start of the planning. He added that our people involved in preparing for the operation were withdrawn from Russian territory in time and thanked everyone for getting out.

Zelensky said some details could not be disclosed. There are Ukrainian actions that will undoubtedly be in history books. This is just awesome. It cost, they say, $70,000. It did over $7 billion worth of damage.

It was 117 drones. That was flat out amazing.

So, this is leading to talks about to begin in hours in Turkey. I hope Vladimir Putin understands that if we just let him know that we're not stopping giving weapons, and neither is Europe. Especially with the new Chancellor of Germany saying, I'm dug in for Ukraine, let him know. And everybody's spending now more on defense than ever before, along with two new NATO nations. Vladimir Putin.

You are good that you have a chance to get an off-ramp. And President Trump has been more than patient with you. This is your last chance. I never thought, I knew he was evil. I didn't think he was crazy.

If he does not take this off-ramp, Knowing That Ukraine has already done these things. You know, you took it a hundred square miles You know, you took 3% of the country since your invasion. three years ago. Overall twenty percent of the country does not belong to you. You just took it.

And you've lost. Hundreds of thousands of men. They say casualties might be near a million. You want to continue doing this? Just tell me how this makes sense.

Listen to the Brain Kill Me Chow. Jason Riley's next to the Wall Street Journal. We'll talk about this, Harvard, and so much more. Don't move. If you're interested in it, Brian's talking about it.

You're with Brian Kilmead. As a result of these preliminary facts, it is clear that this is a targeted act of violence and the FBI is investigating this as an act of terrorism. Sadly, attacks like this are becoming too common across the country. This is an example of how perpetrators of violence continue to threaten communities across our nation. And that announcement was to confirm for the investigators about what happened at 1:40 in the afternoon in Boulder, Colorado.

And that is the torching of eight people, four men, four women, between 55 and 80, who were just marching to remember that there's hostages being held for over 600 days. Just a flat-out assassination from a guy with a makeshift flamethrower from Egypt here illegally. Jason Riley, so much to digest here, but a very similar pattern. Targeted because you're Jewish. You're a Wall Street Journal columnist, Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow, and an author of your new book, The Affirmative Action Myth, Why Blacks Don't Need Racial Preferences to Succeed.

Jason, your thoughts about what we all watched yesterday afternoon?

Well, it's awful, Brian. And it's something that unfortunately we're not that shocked at anymore because it's become so commonplace today. And particularly the rhetoric that these people and we don't know What is driving What drove this individual at least, we don't know yet. It's too early to tell. But we do know that the rhetoric out there has been for a long time, but particularly since October 7th, has been just awful.

It's been just awful. We're hearing it, particularly on our college campuses. People are being riled up. It's being indulged by a lot of people, particularly on the left. And there are consequences to these things, and we're seeing that play out, and it's just very sad.

But I mean, you could draw a direct line between what's happening in the college campuses, especially the elite campuses, and what they're saying. I mean, the the crazy anti-Semite that blew up Governor Shapiro's house. Put it on fire. And then you have the proud Chicago resident with extremist ties who shows up and kills two pro-Israeli diplomats. 11 days ago, and then this.

What do they scream? Free Palestine. River to the sea. Same stuff you're hearing on campuses. Oh, kids just want to be kids.

Oh, they're misguided. No, I think that there's a lot of people pulling strings from Hamas and affiliates, and they have their tentacles into this country. I think it's got to be examined. It does need to be examined. And unfortunately, on the left, they seem to think that the only thing worth examining is right-wing extremism, Brian.

And they want to give this sort of stuff a pass. And that's, you know, there's a double standard there, but it's extremist rhetoric. It's leading to people acting out what is being said, not just using words to express how they feel about things. And so we need to take it seriously. We do need to take it seriously, and it needs to be condemned on all sides by all people.

And unfortunately, that's not happening to the extent that it should be. Let me get your take on the big beautiful bill. What kind of tie? I mean, we know at least three senators are weighed in. Don't seem happy with it.

Uh Johnson, Senator Ram Paul. We also have Senator Tillis doesn't seem to have happy elements. Senator Josh Hawley has weighed in. Susan Collins has expressed concerns, all for different reasons. What are your thoughts?

Well, I think the senators are expressing some constructive criticism here, Brian. I think that the President of the White House should take it seriously, and so should Republicans in the House. Because I do think this bill could be better than it is. There is some good stuff in there. It makes some of the tax cuts permanent.

It does extend them so that we don't have a huge tax hike coming. But there's a lot of stuff in there, Brian, I think that could be improved on. I'm not a big fan of the salt deduction. I think state and local tax deduction in there is not an improvement on what we had before, and that you're allowing these big states, these big blue states, to spend a lot of money and have it subsidized by the rest of the country. And I don't think that's right.

I think the Medicaid reform could be a lot better. And I think that's a big, big deal because that's an entitlement. And we need entitlement reform in this country because it's what's really driving the spending, the deficits, and so forth. What Elon Musk and Doge was doing, but they didn't touch the entitlements, and that's where the money is.

So, to the extent that those things can be improved on in the Senate version of the bill, I think that these senators are expressing some healthy skepticism. Couple of things.

So what do you do when Mike Lawler and two or three other, maybe Elise Stefanic, although she hasn't been voc as vociferous, come out and say New Jersey? I'm going to lose my seat unless I get the salt deduction. Flat out. And I'm not going to vote for it unless I get it. And then you have people on the other side when it comes to Medicaid.

Josh Hawley says: if you cut Medicaid, I'm out. And then you have the Freedom Caucus said, if you don't cut Medicaid, wear out.

So Knowing that, it doesn't even matter who's right. What's possible?

Well, Brian, I do think it matters who's right. I mean, I think the Republican Party and this bill is going to tell the American public what they stand for. What do they stand for? What is driving, you know, what are they going to do with their majority? Are they just going to keep the status quo in place?

Or are they going to push issues that the party is supposed to care about, the conservatives are supposed to care about? They have a majority. They have no excuses. And they need to do something with that majority. And I think that these politicians can go back to their districts and explain that.

And I think that's possible. That's doable. I don't think they want to do it. It's tough. But I think it's what they should do on principle.

So here's what Reince Privus said: because right now it's being weaponized. We're cutting Medicaid. Poor people are going to lose their Medicaid.

Now, we also know Medicaid is supposed to be a state program, Medi-Cal, and it's now financed thanks to Barack Obama predominantly by the federal government.

So the federal government is financing a state program. People are used to getting it. And the state, because I don't care. I'm not paying it anyway.

So there's no responsibility that they have there for their own fiscal health. In fact, we don't even know for sure that all that money is being spent in the right place the federal government is giving them. By going out there and saying we want to have a work requirement, and twice a year they're going to check to make sure that the right people are getting it. There's a pushback saying you're cutting Medicaid. Here's what Reince Priebus said: cut 14.

But you cannot sit here and tell me that 30 more million people on Medicaid and us and the Republicans saying we want able-bodied people who are mostly in the expanded pool of Medicaid recipients to check in with the federal government twice a year is going to cause people to die? We're not talking about elderly. No, you are wrong. We are not talking about elderly people. We are not talking about people that have kids under seven years old.

We are talking about people who should probably start looking for a job. You like that tone, and that's basically the minimum you could do on Medicaid, right? You're absolutely right, and he's right. And that's exactly what these Republicans in these blue states should be out there saying. Obviously, the left is going to demonize them.

They're going to overstate what is going on. That's politics. But these Republican politicians are used to that rhetoric, and they need to push back with the facts, just like Priebus did. We're talking about millions of able-bodied working-age adults receiving this entitlement, Brian. There is no excuse for it.

And again, it is driving our deficits. It is driving spending by the federal government. And Republicans, if they were elected to do anything, it was to put brakes on something like that. And that's what they should be using their majority to do. Senator Ryan Johnson says, you realize if we just kept to the pre-pandemic spending, with the amount of revenue we're bringing in, we could actually have close to a balanced budget.

We wouldn't have any deficit with just modest growth. And he's right. And he's a business guy.

So let's see. If he can get in there, I like, he says, I want him to be successful. I think we could do this better. I like that as opposed to Rand Paul and Tom Massey, who just go, it's not good. I'm out.

To me, you gotta roll up your sleeves and get busy. Tell me your point of view, whatever it is, whether you're Lawler, Holly, or Ron Johnson. I want to talk about Harvard real quick. Where did you go to undergrad? I went to the State University of New York at Buffalo.

I was never in any danger of getting into Harvard, Brian. All right, good. Either was I. Not close. I didn't like the campus anyway.

So, Harvard. Is under scrutiny, and they're celebrating their court wins. With international students. And with maybe holding back some aid, I'm not sure, but they're losing by this while fighting. If you ask me, because the exposure Has been detrimental to any reputation Harvard had.

The anti-Semitism is beyond reproach. The amount of money is indisputable. The amount of international students taking slots, you can't argue it. Everyone agrees with it. With those facts, You lose the sentiment of most of the American public.

Do you agree, Jason?

Well, I don't know if Harvard ever had the sentiment of most of the American public. This is a school that means a lot to a lot of elites in the country. I don't think most people are paying attention to the internal workings of Harvard University. They have other things to do with their lives. But you're right.

Harvard is taking a hit here reputationally. And that could hurt their bottom line at the end of the day. We used to talk about how immune these big universities were to criticism. Oh, they got these huge billion-dollar endowments. You can't touch them.

They can do whatever they want. And then we found out you can. You can lean on them. The federal government has levers they can pull. Strings are attached to the federal dollars that they receive.

The donors do care about how that endowment money is being spent and whether they're going to continue giving to that endowment.

So we found out through this, in recent years, that these schools are vulnerable in a way that we never thought they were before. And Harvard looks like it's Exhibit A in that. Yeah, I want to talk about your book. And your book is now out: The Affirmative Action Myth: Why Blacks Don't Need Racial Preferences to Succeed. You're, and people don't know if you're not watching us on Zoom, but by the way, we're televising this, you could see us on video.

You're black. When did you realize that you didn't need affirmative action?

Well, I realized it when I looked at the track record of black progress in this country, and I saw a lot of it happening before affirmative action policies were put in place, particularly in the 1970s.

So, for example, between 1940 and 1960, you had the black poverty rate in this country falling from 87% to 47% by 1960. That's well before affirmative action policies were put in place. That's before the Civil Rights Act of 64, the Voting Rights Act of 65. It's not only before we had a black president, it's before black people had any kind of real political clout in this country in terms of running large cities with large black populations. All of that would come much later.

And I'm disturbed that affirmative action is credited with creating the black middle class, when in fact there was already a middle class, a black middle class in this country prior to affirmative action. And it was growing at a much faster rate than it would grow during the era of affirmative action.

So that's one of the points. I wanted to make in this book. These people saying, oh, without affirmative action, there won't be a black middle class. Blacks can't get ahead. They can't achieve.

I go, wait a minute, that is not what history shows. There was a tremendous amount of black advancement, not just in reduction in poverty rates that I mentioned, but black incomes were growing, black college completion, blacks entering skilled professions, and on and on and on.

So a lot of progress was taking place. More progress was taking place prior to racial preferences in this country.

Well, what about in the South, where you just had, and I wasn't growing up in the 50s and 60s and 40s. I was born in 64 when people just said, you know, if you're a white guy, I'm not hiring black guys. You know, I'm not hiring black women. You know, I'm not doing this. You go to the back of the bus.

Do you think that there needs to be some affirmative action with the segregation and the Jim Crow stuff?

Well, Brian, what's interesting is that most of the black population in this country has always lived in the South.

So this progress we're talking about. Was happening in the South as well. It was slower progress in the South relative to progress in the North, but it was progress nonetheless.

So, even during Jim Crow, you saw tremendous advancement in terms of incomes, educational and payment, poverty reduction, on down the line. This was happening, you're right, during peak Jim Crow, when you could put a sign in your window that said, We don't hire black people. You didn't have to hide it, you could be out front about it.

So, if anything, this was during a time when there was affirmative action for white people, particularly in the South during Jim Crow. And this just goes to tell you that that is not something that is traditionally held. Blacks back from advancing in this country. They were able to do it during periods of tremendous racism in this country.

So when people look at racial gaps today and say, oh, they exist because of discrimination, I go, wait a minute, how were those blacks back in the first half of the 20th century able to make all this progress despite all the racism back then? You can't tell me there's more racism today than there was back then.

So obviously, today's gaps have to do with something other. Than racism in our society, because there's much less of it today. How do you feel colleges have reacted since the two years since the Supreme Court said affirmative action should not play into admissions to colleges?

Well, it's been a mixed reaction. I think some of them are ducking it. They're hiding the fact that they're still using proxies for race to get around admitting the race of the number of people, certain races, that they want to. But we've also seen them pulling back on some of their DEI programs. I think what no one really anticipated was the extent to which the Trump administration was going to enforce that ruling, Brian.

And it really helps when you have federal officials looking over the shoulder of these schools to make sure they're adhering by this decision.

Now, obviously, the Trump administration won't be there forever, so we don't know if schools were going to go back to their old ways when Trump's out of office. But right now, they feel like they are being watched. And I think that's being reflected in what we're seeing on these college campuses.

Well, Jason Riley, thanks so much. Go pick up his book, The Affirmative Action Myth, Why Blacks Don't Need Racial Preferences to Succeed and get His Perspective Always in the Wall Street Journal. Thanks, Jason. Thank you, Brian. You got it.

Listen, when we come back, I'll squeeze in some calls: 1-866-408-7669. Also, don't forget an announcement about this month. We're going back on stage. More on that in a moment. It's Brian Killmead.

Radio that makes you think. This is the Brian Kill Mead Show. For 88% of American kids, their parents have said no to the COVID shot last season.

So, America, the vast majority of Americans are saying no. Maybe they want to see some clinical data as well. Maybe they have concerns about that. I don't want to crowdsource my health guidance. I want a clear thing, right?

We don't go with popularity. We're going to be able to, as you're saying, data. And when we're talking about the power of the data.

Okay, so the CDC data said 41% of children aged six months to 17 years hospitalized with COVID between 2022 and 2024 did not have a known underlying condition. In other words, they looked healthy. And COVID was serious for them.

So, first of all, we know the CDC data is contaminated with a lot of false positives from incidental positive COVID tests with routine testing of every kid that walks in the hospital. When I go to the ICU, when I walk to the P, we know that data historically under the Biden administration did not distinguish. Being sick from COVID or an incidental positive COVID test. When you go to an ICU in America and you ask how many people are in the ICU that are healthy that are sick with COVID, the answer I get again and again is we haven't seen that in a year or years. And so the worst thing you can do in public health is to put out an absolute universal recommendation in young, healthy kids.

And the vast majority of Americans are saying, no, we want to see some data. And you say, forget about the data, just get it anyway. It was so unbelievably insulting and demeaning, and McCarry just destroyed Margaret Brandon. That's an example. Great edit, guys.

That's a perfect example of what goes on. I have data. Go get the shot. Pregnant women go get a shot and kids get a shot. Are you crazy?

Well, get a COVID-19 shot at this point. Are you nuts? Dr. McCarry says: look, if your doctor wants to give it to you and you're okay with that, do it. We're not recommending it.

And the data that you're coming up from England, they don't like it because, just as you said, you walk in there, you got an ankle sprain, they give you a COVID test. Oh, you're positive for COVID. Jot that down. Are you an urgent center? Yes.

Well, that's considered an emergency room. Go ahead. Jot that down. Nobody was dying from COVID who were healthy. There might be a few aberrations, and nobody, pregnant women did not need a COVID shot.

She still wants you to get one. That's where these people are at. Do you know 88% of parents? don't want to give the, are not giving their kids a shot, and pregnant women aren't getting it. And Margaret Brand's answer is so what?

Make them.

So what? I don't want to crowdsource my COVID protocols. We're not crowdsourcing. We are all using logic because the medical profession has all let us all down profoundly. We do not trust you.

And now a guy's in charge saying the data shouldn't be trusted. From high atop Fox News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kilmead. Hi everyone, welcome to the latest moments of the Brian Kill Me Joe. Coming to you from 48th and 6th in Midtown Manhattan, heard around the country, around the world.

It's been a great weekend and not great what's happening in Boulder, Colorado, of course, but there's other things going on that really show that this could be a big week for a lot of things. For the president getting some trade deals. I look for that to happen. There is legitimately one-on-one meetings with Russia and Ukraine. I look for that to happen.

Germany's coming to town with a new chancellor with a new tone that I'm encouraged by. I look for that to happen. And there's other things going on, including Sean Duffy, again, exceeding expectations by opening up that new work. Runway that was supposed to be shut down for another. 13 days, he got it up early, so maybe things could get somewhat back to normal.

In the New York metropolitan area, which affects the entire country. Michael Goodwin standing by. John Herbst is in Ukraine. Stunning revelations about an attack that took place yesterday in Russia. We'll get details on that from somebody who ran to a bomb shelter.

Back in a moment. Let's go to the big three. Number three. Russia's calling it a terrorist attack inside Moscow. On the morning news in Moscow, there was very little reporting, if none, of this because the Russians will be licking their wounds.

Licking their wounds big time, and they're angry. Ukraine pulls up a brilliant covert attack on Russia, wiping out billions of aircraft, collapsing bridges, blowing up trains, two bridges at least, substantially damaging the Russian Air Force. And now we start talking peace? Hmm. Number two.

Remember, in this big, beautiful bill, the reason we call it that, is because there's benefits for everybody. It's geared for hardworking Americans, lower and middle-income Americans. There's so many benefits and features in this bill, and it's going to allow everybody to do better. That is the Speaker of the House doing something they should have been doing a long time ago, explaining what's in the thousand-page bill as the Senate gets to work. Republicans are fanning out to explain it and have to deal with each other to pass it.

Number. Witnesses are reporting that the subject used a makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary device into the crowd. The suspect was heard to yell free Palestine during the attack. Unbelievable. That is the investigator behind the horrific anti-Semitic attack in Colorado.

And yes, an illegal immigrant from Egypt yelling out free Palestine took his shirt off, got his flamethrower, and lit eight people on fire. Four men, four women. 11 days prior an execution in Washington, D.C. of two months ago Blowing up of a Jewish governor in Pennsylvania's house. Could have been his family.

Michael Goodwin joins us now. We'll talk about that as well as the denial. Still, denial of Joe Biden's mental capacity, even in light of Jay Tapper's book. Michael, welcome back. Thank you, Brian.

So Michael, you think you're doing one show, and then you hear 1:40 in the afternoon, Boulder, Colorado. A guy makes a flamethrower and just tries to light as many Jewish people on fire as possible during a rally for hostages taken by Hamas. I mean, when are we going to wise up?

Well it's a It's a good question. I think I think that There are elements, of course, in our country who have Figured this out. That I mean, one of the ironies here is this guy is from, he's an Egyptian, illegal, of course. Um why doesn't Egypt just take in the Palestinians? I mean, that would solve the problem.

Uh have you you ever seen the pictures of the wall that Egypt built to keep the Palestinians in Gaza? This idea that Israel is to blame for everything that's wrong in the Middle East is just insane. I mean, it's just hatred. It's not rational. It's not factual.

It's hatred. I mean, what the Arab countries surrounding Gaza and the West Bank do not want the Palestinians because they have a history of gangsterism, of terrorism, and of revolt. I mean, they were kicked out of Jordan by the late king. They ended up in a civil war in Jordan because of Yasser Arafat, whom they kicked out.

So the history of this is a long one, and it does not favor a Palestinian state anywhere because there's no leadership That can be trusted to live peacefully with its neighbors. Yes, of course, Israel would be the prime target, but they would revolt against the Arabs, too. That's why nobody, not Saudi, not the UAE, not Qatar, nobody wants to sort of get involved. They want to force them to do it. I know I hear it.

They don't want to do it themselves. But let's talk about here. I think that there's a nexus between the George Floyd riots, the extremist behavior when we saw the member they used to be rioting for the climate change, and now they're going to riot for against the Israelis. And this guy, Mohammed Sabri Farag Solomon, first flew into the U.S. in 2022 at LAX.

He got a B1, B2 non-immigrant visa, authorized to stay through the 23, but never left. Then in 922, he filed some sort of claim with the USICS claiming for asylum. And then the Biden administration says, oh, you got to go in March.

So he stays. Any kills. I just think that there's a link between what's going on there, these Marxist fascists that are causing such uproar in these cities. And I would not be surprised if Hamas directly financing a lot of this lunacy because these things, these people have something in common. They want to be caught.

They throw up their hands and say, I did what I'm supposed to do, free Palestine. And then they're under arrest.

So they spend the rest of their lives in prison. They accomplish their goal. How much longer are we going to until we unwind where this financing is coming from? Yeah. That's another good point, Brian.

I mean, and we know Qatar is a major contributor to this. I mean, this goes all the way back to 9-11, right? And even before, I mean, the first attack on the World Trade Tower Towers. But but but I but I think the larger point here is that America has opened its door to to everybody who wants to come here for too long. And Donald Trump is has touched I think a popular and populist vein when he says America first.

that we've got to govern America for Americans. I mean the Wall Street Journal had a fascinating piece over the weekend about the number of Chinese students who have come through Harvard, in particular some of the graduate schools, where Harvard basically teaches them how to run a government. I mean that's very nice. It'd be nice if we could run our own government first. But it's an example of how this globalist view of America.

as not just Strong, but as wealthy and as generous, and we will open our doors to all comers.

So, many of those people that Harvard supposedly trained are now leading a government that represses its own people, the Uyghurs, et cetera, locks people up, social, you know, the social contract and the following you wherever you go and threatening your family if you don't behave. I mean, those are the people who have come through, in many cases, American schools.

So, really, what are we getting out of all of this? I think, look. immigration is important. Immigration is good for the country, but it's got to be controlled and it's got to have the goal of making America better, not just being an open wallet for the whole world.

So you wrote about Jay Tapper's book and the revelations about Joe Biden even worse than everybody thought. I was surprised by, I said, okay, how are Sunday schools going to handle this? Listen to Bill Clinton, cut 40. I had never seen him. and walked away thinking he can't do this anymore.

He was always on top of his briefs. You never saw any cognitive decline.

So I didn't know anything about any of this. I saw President Biden not very long ago, and I thought he was in good shape. But the book didn't register with me 'cause I never saw him that way. Is he lying? I mean, I think you'd have to know how many times did you see him, what were the circumstances?

Did you ever have a long conversation with him? I mean, look, I'm sure there were moments where Biden was. clear Clear thinking and coherent, but there were many moments, obviously, when he wasn't. Look, I believe that this is a scandal, that that this is the real thing. This guy should not have been President.

He should have he should have had the grace to step down and to recognize it. I mean, did did he ever watch himself You know, uh afterwards when he's shaking hands with invisible people and doesn't know where to go and can't finish his sentence, did he think that was okay? Nobody, no, nobody in the public thought that was okay. And that happened every time we saw him. If we saw him more, we would have had a much better understanding.

Michael, how many times did you read the Wall Street Washington Post or the New York Times and have editorials about Joe Biden's failings? Zero. Zero until after he dropped out. You're writing it all the time. We were talking about it all the time.

But now, all of a sudden, they're all cashing in on it.

Well, and look, it goes, Brian, to both of these things we're talking about, the illegal immigration when he opened the border, and then his general fitness.

So just taking the border. Did he make that decision? Is he okay with ten or twelve or fifteen million people coming into this country? There's nothing in his background that would suggest that was his policy. Does he even understand what my orcas and others did?

Couple of things.

I want you to hear Chairman Comer, who's going to do an investigation on this. And before we find out what the objective should be, I just want you to hear who's going to target CUT 42. We've identified the four staffers that we believe were the ones who actually took the documents and placed them in the auto pen, pressed power, and had Joe Biden's signature magically appear on these. We want to know who gave them the authority to do that, and we want them to walk us through the exact process of how major items of huge legal consequences like pardons and executive orders ended up being placed in the auto pen and having Joe Biden's signature forged on there. Jim Jordan told me today it's a process.

You got to get him behind closed doors. Then you got to go there. Then you got to set up a day to bring him in front of people. I go, why don't you just subpoena him right away and bring him front and center? It's like, I got to go through this three-step process.

You think this is going to be a tortured process? Do you think it'll yield anything?

Well You know, Brian, it it's sort of like the uh the House investigation of uh the Biden family corruption. Uh it it yielded some things but not enough to overcome the media resistance. To anything that was critical of Joe Biden. I mean, that was another example where the media just smothered. Any idea that didn't look good for the Democrats.

So if it's going to be different this time, Coma's going to have to get the Republicans united. It's going to have to be solid, and it's very difficult in the House. I mean, they they couldn't get a r they couldn't even have an impeachment vote. because too many Republicans defected.

So the Democrats did this very well with the January 6th Commission, and they had a very narrow majority. If the Republicans can't do it well on this issue, Then they're just a hapless bunch of guys and women who are shooting off their mouths. But when push comes to shove, they can't unite to get the big things done. A couple of things. What you're going to need is, you know, with Moskowitz and other people would push back and say this is a dry hole.

Not really. We have all those ghost accounts, all those international accounts. We have Joe Biden showing up at five separate meetings.

So what happens is no conviction comes out of this, but the exposure lets you know this guy's a liar. The whole family's been lying. You know, Devin Archer, oh, yeah, he was there at the meetings. What did they discuss?

So by exposing it, I think they began to like chip away at this good old Joe behavior and that Donald Trump's making stuff up because he's afraid to lose an election, which got him impeached this time.

So I give Coma more credit than most, but I just don't know if you're looking for a conviction, it's not going to happen. But if you want to show the utmost corruption of a Woodrow Wilson-like Corpse in the White House where he had a stroke and couldn't move, and his wife ran the country without telling anybody. But if you ex that the only thing you could do is expose it to the American public and let them know what the Democratic Party is capable of, I don't look for them to convict Donlin or anything, right? No, no. I think a lot of this is going to depend on how the media covers it.

And that's why I wrote the column about Taffer in his book, because he is a a prime example of a good democratic soldier in the media. And here he has broken ranks He has woken up, at least on this issue, about what went on in the White House and what was Joe Biden's condition. But I think for this to move forward in the way that we're talking about, you're going to have to have the media cover these hearings and cover this issue in a way that it hasn't now. And then you know, you and I have talked about this last week. My hope is that Jake Tapper will somehow be a bridge builder in the sense that the other media will now feel it's safe.

To criticize the Democrats. It's safe to say what actually happened in the White House with the Biden disabilities. I don't know if that will be the outcome, of course, but I think there is a glimmer of hope, a reason to hope, that this time will be different because. Congress has to have a solution to these kinds of problems. What happens?

I mean, the whole 25th Amendment is very unwieldy. It doesn't work easily. It's the only way to do it. But it's got some nooks and crannies in it that are not kosher.

So there's going to have to be all hands-on deck attention paid to this. But it begins with the acknowledgement that Joe Biden was not fit to be the commander-in-chief. And you lied about it and had no curiosity about it. And the other thing, Jake Tapper, has lost ratings. While he gets book sales go up, his ratings have dropped.

And you write that in your column, too. Michael Goodwin. Yeah, thanks so much. Appreciate it. A lot to talk about.

Thank you, Brian. You got it. Hey, John Herps, he's going to go over to Ukraine to get the latest for this unbelievably sophisticated attack on Russian forces by the Ukrainians. He's in Ukraine, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine.

But next is your call. Stomov. Giving you everything you need to know. You're with Brian Kilmead. Breaking news, unique opinions.

Hear it all on the Brian Kill Me Show. Hey, welcome back on One Nation last night, your favorite Sunday night show at 10 o'clock. I had a chance to interview Suge Knight from prison. Why? Because he's the arch rival of P.

Diddy on trial in New York City. He's going to be going on for weeks more. He thinks that P. Diddy should take the stand and just tell the truth. And it would be God's will from here.

Here's a little of that interview of Cut 48. I don't think and typing that Yeah. But I think it should be some to everything and fix the problem. I think if he tells truth, You know, other people involved will tell their truth. We can stop the cycle.

Uh this continue to go on. I also asked him how he feels about the revelation that he was going to come assassinate Chuge Knight while he was sitting in a diner, CUD 47. I'll see you. Always it would have been a bad day from hip hop 'cause it wouldn't have ended up well. And I don't think I'd have been the one not ending up well, but at the same time, it's a bad look that if somebody feels they can have, you know, take that approach.

At the same time, he had just killed me, but at the same time, I'm really not surprised because I've been shot Seven times in the club one off before I came here and you connect the dots. I've been tipped on my life last time with a check that they paid him to kill me and they have the proof they had guns, a thousand percent proof they had guns.

Now I've been in prison for ten and a half years.

So it's not always if you write, it's Who you fly with? Yeah. Favors that a lot of these people do. I do none. He doesn't do any sexual favors.

So it was a little bit of a raucous interview, but he doesn't expect. P. Diddy to get off. How about that? But he says, I don't wish him to go to prison, but he's gonna go to prison.

Let's. I believe that. The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmead. Remember, during the Biden administration, there was a lot of pressure put on the Ukrainians to keep the battle within the battlefields of Ukraine.

And now we're talking about airfields deep into Russia, which shows: one, the innovative capacity of the Ukrainians fighting for their lives is practically limitless in terms of what they pulled off, but also, two, that the battlefield is changing. And remember, when President Putin first became president, replacing Boris Yeltsin in 2000, the Chechen War with Russia was going on. And at first, the Chechen War was contained within the borders of Chechnya, Dagestan, and Ingoshetia in the North Caucasus. And then the Chechen Warren. Chechens began to hit inside Russia, including in Moscow, but also in territories well within Russia.

And Putin very quickly changed his tactics to scorch to earth with regard to Chechnya.

So we'll see what happens in terms of the retaliation from the Russian side today.

So that is Mark Brzezinski. whose dad was a former Secretary of State and whose sister is on Scarborough, married to him, I believe. And that is Mark weighing in and putting in perspective Putin's come to power and what his The way he acts. After Operation Spiderweb, where he was devastated, trains are blown up, bridges are blown up, and they've lost at least forty aircraft, some of which are irreplaceable. John Herps joins us now, former U.S.

Ambassador to Ukraine, Senior Director of Atlantic Council on Eurasia Center. Ambassador, welcome back. Operation Spiderweb, we talked on TV about it. It's pretty amazing what's been pulled off. It's a resounding success for Ukraine, but also for the United States, because Ukraine has.

substantially damage Moscow's bomber fleet, which actually carries nuclear weapons, which can target the United States.

So it definitely benefits us. Plus, when you're cutting down one of America's main adversaries, how could that be bad? No, that's correct. Russia is certainly the number two adversary for the United States after China, because Russia does not have the real economy of China. But Russia does have the best nuclear arsenal in the world after our own.

And Russia is the most aggressive of the two: China and Russia. Taking Russia down to size is very much in American interest, and the Ukrainians did that in great measure yesterday.

So this was, it took over a year to plan. It doesn't look like they told the U.S. drones hid 41 Russian heavy bombers and other warplanes in four separate airfields thousands of miles from Ukraine. The cost of the whole operation, about $70,000. The cost to the Russians, minimum, $7 billion.

Do you think we even know the scope of the damage yet? No, no, we don't. We do know that the damage or rather the impact on Russia's aggressive policy in Ukraine and also its aggressive policy towards us. goes beyond the the planes lost. Because the planes that remain are now more valuable, so the Russians will have to be very careful with those planes, which means they'll have to base them farther from Ukraine, which means they'll be doing less bombing of Ukrainian cities and murdering Ukrainian civilians and taking out energy and energy infrastructure and hospitals.

And they also have to be more careful with the use of those planes as they put them in the air to to have us in their nuclear sites.

So it's a huge and positive impact. And in addition, The Ukrainians apparently may have taken out the third of Russia's six AWAX-like Intelligence planes. They've already shot down two. Looks like they took down a third yesterday, which leaves Russia with only three, which will also. Reduce Russia's capability as they conduct their aggressive war in Ukraine.

What about the psyche of the country? You're in Ukraine right now, right? Yes, I've been here since Thursday of last week.

So, what about the sites you have? Certainly. Right. Look, the Ukrainians Despite what you'll hear from some fatuous observers who don't know Ukraine very well. or determined to fight this war to the bitter end because they know They're living under Russian occupation.

given the torture that takes place there, the sh severe repression of all Christians who do not belong to the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, a tool of the Kremlin, is dr is dismal. It's awful. American Proto excuse me, Protestants and either other excuse me, evangelicals of the Protestants are severely repressed by the Kremlin here in Ukraine.

So the Ukrainians will fight to the end. And they are concerned about especially military supply coming from the United States. They have enough to maintain their defense posture now. But unless more weapons flow from the United States by the end of the year, they could be in trouble. And it's uncertain what's going to happen.

I remain optimistic that the Trump administration will allow weapons to flow, maybe with someone else paying the bill, as opposed to an American gift, because to do anything else is to embolden. the US adversary, Russia, which is conducting this war in Ukraine, and to embolden the Chinese.

So it's very much in our interest to make sure Ukraine can fight this war. Anyway, so the mood was aroused, I wouldn't say grim, but determined and anxious a little bit. or up until up until yesterday's news. which demonstrated that even in the current situation with all the uncertainty, the Ukrainians delivered not a knockout blow, but a major blow to Moscow's conventional war in Ukraine and again, its ability to use nukes from their air force. Against all countries, including the United States.

Web celebration. Yeah, BBC Weapons Analyst said that because the drones were launched from inside Russia on trucks that would detonate to blow up after they released their drones, air defenses like the S-300 and S-400 had little time to react.

So it looks like at minimum 117 drones were lifted.

So listed.

So. Do you worry about The Russian retaliation in light of what they did with Putin did decades ago with Chechnya. No, because what he has been doing in Ukraine since the big invasion, right, which began over three years ago, is exactly what he did in Chechnya. The scorched earth policy has been in place now for over thirty six months.

So there's not much more that they can do in that area. And in fact, because of what happened to those bombers, their ability to conduct this operation has been diminished. only somewhat because they still have plenty of missiles and drones. but it has been diminished. Um you know, there are um Russian war bloggers, extreme nationalists, chauvinists, who are talking about the use of a tactical nuclear weapon.

But you know The Russians have taken several serious punches from the Ukrainians. Like for example, the counteroffensive of 2022. For example, the driving of the Russian Black Sea Fleet out of Sevastopol, out of Crimea, and they weren't. really ever going to use nukes then. They understand it would be catastrophic for them if they actually were to use a tactical nuclear weapon, and it would have little impact on the battlefield.

The Ukrainians would fight through it because they have no other choice Because, as a senior official in Kherson, a Ukrainian city occupied by the Russians. For a few months in 2022, told me: while it's bad to live under Russian bombs, it's infinitely worse to live under Russian occupation.

So let's talk about what do you expect to happen in the talks today. There's evidently, are there talks going on? Do you see reports of talks happening? Mm-hmm. All I know is that the talks, which began this afternoon local time, which is seven hours ahead of the east coast of the United States, have broken up.

I haven't heard reports of what happened there, but before yesterday's strike, I didn't expect anything. The Russians want these talks as a way to stall. They don't want to say yes to President Putin's. ceasefire proposals. They've turned them down multiple times when the Ukrainians have said yes.

Chris Putin thinks that the Trump administration will abandon Ukraine, stop allowing supplies to go there and they'll be able to win on the battlefield. I think that's making a bad bet, President Trump has said many times. He wants a durable peace. and he will punish the obstruction side to this. And of course, the obstructionist side is very clearly the Russian side.

It's pretty amazing what's going on. And I'll tell you: looking at the big picture, Ambassador, which I know you do, who is supplying Russia? China, North Korea, and Iran. What has Iran been doing? They lost a vehicle to transport that drone technology because they lost Syria, because Russia took their eye off the ball, you would argue, to focus on Ukraine.

And next thing you know, the insurgents go ahead and took the country that now we have a relationship with, I hope that works out. Who knows? But if Iran, who's in the crosshairs now of Israel, If Iran for some reason is unable to supply to uh the Russians. And North Korea, I don't know, you know, they got plenty of munitions, plenty of metal. They'll lose another ally on this.

At one point, Vladimir Putin's got to say: maybe I should take the Trump off-ramp. I I don't have any doubt. Zero doubt. that if we opened our weapons stores to Ukraine. Again, it doesn't have to be paid for by American taxpayers.

The Europeans can pay for it. We can do rent lease with Ukraine. Oh, and they he Putin sees those supply is flowing in. Certainly the Ukrainians are not Oh Being very careful with their supplies because they know they have more coming. And Russian advances, which are tiny.

becomes zero. And maybe even Ukraine pushes Russia back some. Putin then would have a reason to accept the compromise proposals that the Trump administration has put on the table and which Ukraine has accepted. But there is a very um naive Um crowd. uh and and amongst President Trump's supporters only so.

who say that no, the way to get Russia to negotiate is to offer them carrots. No. Russia's objective is to take effective control of Ukraine. To take a great deal more territory, which is inconsistent with Trump's own view of establishing a durable peace. For a sovereign Secure your current.

100%. Listen, you know, I'm in your camp. You know that. And I 100% see the good guys in this, and it's clearly Ukraine. They're a less than perfect democracy, but please point out the perfect one.

And the other thing is, just let me ask you this question flagrantly. They a lot of money flowed into Ukraine. How much do you think has gone to the right places? What percentage? Because there's all types of rumors that some people are pocketing and some people aren't and they're not buying what whatever.

How do you how do you view it?

Okay, first, let me point out that I've been working on Russia's war in Ukraine, and for that matter, on domestic reform in Ukraine for eleven years at the Atlantic Council. And we always annoyed the sitting President of Ukraine by pushing them on reform.

So we have not been easy on them on that. Corruption remains a serious problem in Ukraine, albeit Transparency International. moves them up like eighteen or twenty slots on its list of corrupt corruption in countries. Below one hundred. They're not the top one hundred, but they're close to one hundred.

Russia is farther much farther behind them. But we do know that the U. S. government had substantial controls over the assistance provided since the Russian big invasion three years ago.

Some money has been diverted. We are unaware of any large pockets of resources being diverted. And we know that we successfully fought World War two, providing major assistance to countries around the world, and not all of that money, not all those resources went to the right place.

So yes, we have to pay attention to this. Yes, the market in Ukraine is not perfect, But it's very much in our interest that Russia lose this war. The resources we provide have been essential to that. And a very small percentage of those resources have been diverted. And those who talk about corruption have zero evidence that major resources have in fact gone into the wrong hands.

You don't think Zelensky has gotten rich off this? I think Zelensky was a fairly rich man before this because he was a successful businessman/slash comedian. And I've seen no evidence that he has enriched himself as a result of this war. I know they're crazy, and I use that adjective precisely. Stuff on X about all the money going to Islansky's pocket.

But again, it's hot air. It's hot air. I hear you.

Some of the loudest voices on X regarding Ukrainian corruption never talk about the massively documented Putin and other senior Russian corruption. One of the reasons why Moscow has done so poorly with the big invasion was that big defense buildup, the resources for that, a fair of that went into the pockets of defense ministers and generals and Putin himself. And that money is sitting in the West. Yep, great point. Ambassador, stay safe.

Ambassador John Herbst, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, now in Ukraine. He's also director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center. Thanks, John. Thank you, Brian.

Back in a moment. Diving deep into today's top stories. It's Brian Kilmead. The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmead.

Maybe it's time for us to be a little meaner. Maybe it's time for us to be a little more fierce. Because We have to ferociously push back on this. And again, I'll speak to my teacher colleagues in here. The thing that bothers a teacher more than anything is to watch a bully, to watch this bully, and to stop it.

And when it's a child, You talk to them and you tell them why bullying's wrong. But when it's an adult like Donald Trump, you bully the out of him back. Right, big tough guy, Governor Tim Waltz, giving a lot of speeches, getting a good-sized crowd, going to the blue states. I hope you go put your money behind Tim Waltz.

So now he thinks being meaner works. It doesn't work. Ideas work. You know, this whole thing, you know, the uh cr I'm pretty sure It'll come to me. They have this book out now that two Democrats wrote that just talk about everything the Democrats could be doing.

Number one, can you start building up on the border? Number two, can you talk about growth and stop talking about restrictions? Can you get off the green menace and everything being about green and clamp down and stop with the whole cancel culture? These are just some of the things that Democrats could do if they wanted to be a positive force. But instead, we're going to fight a bully.

We're going to fight.

Well, how are you going to fight? You're going to talk mean? You're going to use the F word? What are you doing? How are you fighting?

People go, wow, he's tough. I think I want to hire him to do what? You don't fight it's not the UFC So what are you what are you going to be doing about it? Wes Moore spoke over the weekend. He says the one thing you can learn from Trump is that he's in a rush and he wants to get things done.

Let's lose patience like Trump lost patience. But he points out all the mean things he did.

Well, little d I know I saw Wes Moore at the Army and Navy game. You know who was waiting outside the suite to talk to President Trump? Wesmore. I don't know if he ever got in. I hope they did let him in, Governor of Maryland.

But he's the type of guy, outsider. We'll have to run on his record, but you can't say that he's associated with Joe Biden. You could say he saw him when that bridge collapsed.

So, what are they going to do? How are they going to acknowledge the four years? They're going to say Joe Biden was fine when you saw them. Wait until it becomes, we start finding out the facts behind what was used as an auto pen and what wasn't. And can Jobite even answer the question who was pardoned?

By the thousands. The other thing I want to do is hear from that doctor, Dr. O'Connor, who never gave him a cognitive test. And from the bomb to believe the Biden family has not had PSA tests until 2014, but now he's got. of the final stage cancer.

Cut 43. We also are bringing in Dr. O'Connor. Dr. O'Connor was a physician.

Ronnie Jackson did a great job talking about the holes in his analysis that he made public versus the reality of the health situation that Joe Biden was really in. And if you'll remember, Maria, back during the Biden influence peddling investigation, Dr. O'Connor's name came up in one of the schemes with Jim Biden with AmeriCorps Health. And that was a scheme that Jim Biden and Joe Biden were involved in. That's interesting.

I did not know that.

So Kevin O'Connor and Ortho uh An osteopath Who has no governmental experience, but is a family doctor of Biden's, gets to be the sole doctor. I thought it was someone said you can no longer have one doctor treat the president.

Now you need a counter doctor to make sure some doctor isn't, I'm so close with the president, I can't tell everybody that he's failing or that he's got cancer because it's gonna, you have to have two doctors in there.

So let them destroy both their reputations. I mean, Kevin O'Connor looks like a clown. He doesn't look reassured that he's a doctor that really knows what he's doing. And now he's gonna have to figure out if he wants to go to jail because if you're gonna put Steve Bannon in jail, And Uh and other Trump people in jail. For not complying with the subpoena, do you want to put him in jail?

And that's what they should do. 'Cause we've got to find out if the president was asleep at the switch and if it's ever going to happen again. You know, it's so interesting. Any time you go to a history class and they always talk about certain things that FTR was in a wheelchair and that No one ever knew about the press, kind of covered up for him that JFK had all these affairs. And they'll always point to Woodrow Wilson and saying he had a stroke.

His wife took over the country, never told anybody.

Now they're going to be telling this story in your lifetime. Joe Biden became president and hasn't really been functioning effectively since 2015. From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian. In Killmead.

Hi, everyone.

So glad you're there. Brian Kill Meet Show coming your way. Busy weekend. I'm so glad you watched. Everybody, watch One Nation, I'm sure, at 10 o'clock.

So you're ready for your week. That's Eastern time, of course, and I cannot wait. But it's coming up now that we're in June, June 2nd, coming up on the 21st. I'm going to be in Dayton, Ohio on the 21st. I believe it's the Victoria Theater.

And it's going to go to BriankillMe.com. History, Liberty, and Laughs, done with conjunction with Fox Nation, but on stage, interacting with the audience, bringing history to life through my seven history books, and then bringing motivational, inspirational through the two sports books. And of course, there's a lot of unscripted things going on. This hour will be joined by Claire Morrell, a fellow at the. Ethics and Public Center, and director of its technology and human flourishing project, author of a brand new book, The Tech Exit: A Practical Guide to Freeing Kids and Teens from Smartphones.

They just passed a law in or signed by the governor of Virginia to ban smartphones from schools. Awesome. Big three. Number three. Russia's calling it a terrorist attack inside Moscow.

On the morning news in Moscow, there was very little reporting, if none, of this because the Russians will be licking their wounds. Game-changing. Ukraine pulls up a brilliant covert attack on Russia, wiping out billions in aircraft, collapsing at least two bridges and trains, substantially damaging the Russian Air Force and more. Number two. Remember, in this big beautiful bill, the reason we call it that is because there's benefits for everybody.

It's geared for hardworking Americans, lower and middle-income Americans. There's so many benefits and features in this bill, and it's going to allow everybody to do better. It's the Senate Cell on the Big Beautiful Bill. We'll find out what they're going to do and how Republicans have to first explain what's in it. Don't assume we know it.

It's a thousand pages. Number one. Witnesses are reporting that the subject used a makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary device into the crowd. The suspect was heard to yell Free Palestine during the attack. Uh, that is another horrific terror attack against uh Jewish targets, pro-Israel, a march for those 600 for those uh two dozen hostages still thought to be alive over 600 days.

Same mantra: Free Palestine. This illegal immigrant from Egypt overstaying his visa after coming in here illegally is the perpetrator, throws himself on the ground, says it was me, and he's proud of it. Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery joins us now, retired senior director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation for Freedom and Defense of Democracies. Admiral, I'm just gonna, just on the news of the day, you're no stranger, anywhere in the military, Islamic extremism. Have we closed the book on that too soon?

You know, I think we have, and especially when it comes to, you know, these kind of domestic anti-Semitism, anti-Zionist attacks, you know, we you can see the anger in those in the protests, and then you can see that these these activists become weaponized online and then go do crazy things, whether it's the assassination of the two staffers outside from the Israeli embassy in DC or this attack in Colorado. Yeah. I I think every parade, every get together has to be looked at. I know in New York City, they're putting out security forces in all the synagogues in the area. You just have to do it.

I don't know how much it w no matter how much it costs.

So let's talk about, if we can, what's happened with this Russia attack. This looks brilliant. In fact, it was brought up to me that maybe it's akin to the Pager explosions that took place a few months ago with Hezbollah paying such a price. But yesterday, we understand 117 drones, at least, it looks like more, took off from various locations inside Russia and blew up dozens of aircraft, blew up two bridges as well as derailed trains. And it looks like the damage is still being assessed.

Now we understand in Russia, every truck is looked at suspiciously. Every driver is looked at suspiciously because the Ukrainians were able to get inside Russia, leave their cars, leave their trucks, and get out. The trucks would open up, drones would fly out, and the attacks would take place. Could you put in perspective how cutting-edge this attack was?

Well, look, I think whoever told you that it's akin to the Israeli strike is correct. It had the creativity and ingenuity of the beeper and walkie-talkie attack. And in fact, in some ways, it was executed better. The Israelis would tell you they could have done a lot more if the timing had gone right for them.

So, this really was a well-planned, well-executed. The Israeli one was a little better in the sense that it took four years almost of like supply chain manipulation to get to where they had it.

So, these are both creative attacks, you know, equally successful, I think. What's key about this one is they held. The Russian bomber fleet accountable. For its usage over the last three years and conducting attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.

So, this really was holding the right.

Sources accountable with an attack that was heavily oriented at a military infrastructure. Unlike the Russians who go for civilian infrastructure in an invasion, they perpetuated unnecessarily. They made up some ridiculous thing, but they still go for apartment buildings. They go for hospitals. They're not even aiming for military sites.

I want you to hear what President Zelensky said through a translator. I just heard the report by the chief of the security service of Ukraine. The brilliant operation was conducted on the enemy's territory against military targets only, against equipment that was used to deliver strikes on Ukraine. The operation was prepared for more than a year and a half. 117 drones were used in the operation, and a respective number of drone pilots were involved.

34% of strategic carriers of cruise missiles on their home airfields were hit.

So cruise missiles, the targets, they beat the missile defense. And now we understand everything's ground to a halt. People are freaked out in Russia. They don't know where the next attack's going to come. They don't know what to trust.

No, you're exactly right. And look, this is a big deal.

So they hit 40 bombers and an A-50, which is a very important command and control aircraft. I don't think all 41 of those aircraft will be destroyed, but they're all going to have damage. And I got to tell you, this is hard damage to repair. These Tupolev 22 and Tupolev 95 bombers, they're not being built anymore. This is a loss.

And it was 34% of the force, but I'd say probably half of the active force.

So this really is going to impact them. And it's getting at the exact aircraft that are used to deliver those cruise missiles, as you said, that routinely strike civilian infrastructure and routinely kill civilians. In fact, in the week leading up to it, there were three nights of strikes that killed more than 20 Ukrainian civilians because the Russians just launched haphazardly. They have no understanding of collateral damage or no concern for collateral damage.

So I think this is a big deal. And if I could pick up on one of your other points, you're exactly right. This is going to paralyze Russian critical infrastructure because you don't know anytime there's a Truck or a car stopped on the road now, it's gonna be preparation for an incident. You know what I mean? It's gonna slow down their emergency responders, it's gonna slow down their military.

I love that Russia, that Ukraine is imposing dilemmas on the Russian population and the Russian security forces. Yeah, alone with pulling 800,000 off the battlefield through casualties, and they went through drones. They basically cleared out the Black Sea so they can deliver their agriculture to all their customers around the world and people don't starve to death and they actually could get their economy going. My hope is that they're going to find a way to get some American weapons.

So Vladimir Putin knows the end is not near. If you're going to keep fighting, so are the Ukrainians. How do we get that message across to the point where it actually affects the talks taking place? You know, I think the most important thing is, look, I love that President Trump is starting to say, I mean, he's been doing it too long. He said, I'm going to hold him accountable if he doesn't make significant concessions at the table.

Putin's not going to do that.

So President Trump eventually is going to need to hold him accountable. And there's three ways he does it. First, do exactly what you said. Continue to allow the Ukrainians and the Europeans to purchase from our defense industrial base the Patriot missiles and the AMRAM missiles they need to defend themselves, the 155 millimeter artillery they need. You know, these are the things that only the U.S.

defense industrial base can do.

So first, let that happen. Second, continue to share intel information with them so they have warning about these attacks. The reason that Russia can launch 500 drones three nights ago and the vast, vast majority be shot down by the Ukrainians as they have good intelligence and warning and the U.S. helps with that. And then the third thing is really sanction the Russian shadow fleet so that Vladimir Putin can't get the money he needs from the sale of fossil fuels to finance this military aggression.

It would be great. $300 billion, unfreeze it, give it to the Ukrainians. I know it means a lot for the world financial markets and could further destabilize the dollar who want to get off it, but whatever it takes, at the very least, the interest. And that would be an incentive, you would think, for Vladimir Putin to do some type of peace agreement, but it doesn't seem to be enough. I want to talk about your other area of expertise, and that's what's happened with the Houthi rebels.

At this point, they said they were going to stop hitting U.S. targets. Have they?

So I think they've stopped firing. At what they believe are US ships out in the Red Sea. That's different than firing into the Red Sea, or more importantly, firing into Israel, our close ally. I think probably if we could go back in time, you might make a deal with the Houthis that includes don't fire into Israel. Because in the end, that's a U.S.

TAD battery trying to engage in a U.S. TAD battery underneath the debris field, and a U.S. TAD battery that could be targeted. Those are U.S.

soldiers in Israel working alongside the Arrow missile system, the Israeli system funded by the United States and built with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.

So these are U.S. systems with sometimes U.S. personnel under them. There's a U.S. radar system there.

Absolutely, the Houthis are firing at Americans. And as you know, there's a lot of American citizens in Israel.

So, we're not done with the Houthis yet. I think President Trump did this to kind of put them on the side.

Well, they dealt with all the other issues he has in the Middle East. But at some point, we're going to have to come back and resolve this issue, probably sitting down with the UAE and Saudi Arabia, who have their own long-standing grievances with the Houthis and the Israelis and solving this issue once and for all. And we foolishly made Saudi Arabia a pariah nation, and we told the Houthis you're off the terror list, the exact opposite of what any clear-thinking person would do, or somebody who talked to military people in the region, even though Saudi Arabia is less than perfect, but they're still our preferred ally in the region with any type of strength who's an adversary of Iran. Here's my big problem. Admiral, I want to get to the Pacific and what Pete Hagseth said over the weekend about China, but just real quick: I think the talks are useless.

They're worthless. Because even if they decide to use uranium, enrich uranium outside the country, it's only going to be temporary until they prove that they're going to get rid of all their centrifuges and the infrastructure that we don't even know. A lot of which we don't even know specifically what it is. They're just going to use the fact that we're off, we've released the sanctions to fortify Hamas and Hezbollah and the Houthis again and cause havoc.

So while still allowing ballistic missiles to take place, which could always be nuclear tipped.

So I don't see any way for this Iranian government to ever be in a trusted family network. Do you? I don't. I think that the deal you have to have would encompass Support to their, you know, to their IRGC and all the other extremist groups. It would have to include the ballistic missile program.

It would have to include the nuclear enrichment program. And I just don't think the Iranian government is going to make that kind of deal.

So I think it's really incumbent on the U.S. and Israel to be working closely together to be ready to conduct the kind of strike that you'd conduct instead of diplomacy. And I think it's going to take both of us. I think the Israelis could do a lot of damage on their own. But in the end, there's some unique capabilities that the U.S.

Air Force brings that are going to be necessary to destroy and significantly set back the Iranian nuclear program. And our troops in Syria and troops in Iraq ought to be protected ahead of time, obviously, because they'll be targeted immediately.

So when Pete Hagseth goes into the Southeast Asia, I think Malaysia, and says, guys, get ready. China is tough and they've got to try to take Taiwan. And we've got to understand the ramifications if that happens. A lot of people, a lot of people in the Pacific Rim country said, I really don't want to make a choice yet. Mm-hmm.

Between the US and China, because they live in the Chinese neighborhood and they're not sure if the US will have their back.

So I I divide the heat first of all. Pete Hesett gave a great speech. I thought so too. That was fantastic. He hit all the right moments.

He nailed the Chinese. And the Chinese no-showed.

So, Pete had Secretary Hayseth had the run, and he did a great job with it.

Now, I divide our allies and partners into two groups in Asia. They're the ones that do understand. We are the security and economic partner of choice, and we need to work closely with them and treat them appropriately. That's Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, and Australia, and New Zealand to a lesser degree. But those ones, particularly the first ones I mentioned, are the key ones.

We've got to very rapidly solve our economic security issues with them, tariffs and things like that, so that we can get into the real business of deterring China through strong partnerships with Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, particularly.

Now, look, the other ones, you're right, the Malaysia, Indonesia, they're still struggling to understand who's their economic and security partner of choice. I think they know the answers us. I think our inconsistent performance over the last four years has left them less than enthralled, particularly in the economic realm. We need to be that partner of choice, both economic security with them. There's a lot of money to be made for U.S.

companies there. But those other ones, those Northeast Asian ones in Australia, I think they're completely in with us. And we need to treat them that way. And I think Secretary Hicks has started that process of treating them appropriately, working close with them. And I expect good things to come out of his swing through Asia.

And I'll tell you what, Admiral Amar Mark Gumridge with us. I love the fact that Germany and Japan, World War II adversaries, are going to bulk up their military. And a lot of them are going to buy from our stuff. And we know the Chancellor's coming here this week because we need them strong. Because we can't be everywhere.

And I love the fact that Vietnam, believe it or not, could really be a linchpin in that area. It could be a big help. You're absolutely right, and I think Japan's really stretched it up. They always kind of, it was hard to tell exactly how much they were spending, but whatever it was, they've doubled it. And I got to tell you, they buy from us.

They are a mini-me. They're about a 20% version of us. They operate really well. They have Aegis destroyers. They have F-15s.

They have F-35s. They have all the things you recognize as American fighting vehicles. They have Gimlers. They have ATAC'ems. They have Tomahawk missiles.

They are us. And that we are heavily integrated with them through 20 years of work with our four deployed forces. Korea is the same way. Taiwan, only, we're the only country that sells Taiwan weapons. And Australia is another one.

I mean, F-35s, F-18s, you know, all our Aegis weapon systems, they are us. These countries buy from us. They make us wealthy, and they are our partners, and we help make them secure. This is a wonderful alliance structure we have, and we've got to invest in it. I think the same is true for Germany, although it's a little bit farther behind those Asian partners.

Well, at least there's a willingness, perhaps. Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery, very educational. Thanks so much, Admiral. Appreciate your time. Thank you for having me, Brian.

All right, listen, we have a few more minutes when we get back. Bottom of the hour, we talk about your kids and those phones. Back in a moment. You're with Brian Kilmead. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin.

It's Brian Killmead. You published in the New England Journal of Medicine on May 20th, in that report you referenced, you listed pregnancy as an underlying medical condition that increases a person's risk for severe COVID. You said that.

So then, seven days later, you joined in this video announcement saying you should drop the recommendation for the COVID vaccine in healthy pregnant women.

So, what changed in this? In the New England Journal of Medicine, we simply list what the CDC has traditionally defined as high risk, and we're just saying decide with your doctor. We're not saying one way or the other. And the randomization. And the data and information as well from you and your.

So, here's the data on pregnant women: a randomized control trial was set up and it was closed without any explanation. We wanted to see that trial complete so women can have information that in a Randomized controlled trial, which is the gold standard. This is what the data shows. We don't have those data. All right.

It is still unclear what pregnant women now should do until they get the data that you promised. They talk to their doctor. When do they get the data you're promising? All these controlled studies. In the absence of data, they should talk to their doctor, and their doctor will use their best wisdom and judgment.

FDA Commissioner, thank you for trying to help clear this up. And she was brutal in the break, evidently, just raging in the break. She is such an embarrassment, Margaret Brennan. And here's the thing: this woman wants you wearing 10 masks, staying home from school, and not doing anything. Pregnant women, little kids, all getting shots.

Nobody backset up. The American people are done with it. The world is done with it. Marty McCary's not going to go along with it. And it drives her crazy.

Tough. That's the whole pandemic mindset. The Cuomo mindset, the Fauci mindset that almost destroyed the country. We're still trying to recover from. Information you want, truth you demand.

This is the Brian Kill Me Show. We can change something that needs to be changed, and that is. to find freedom. Freedom from cell phones. This legislation ensures that every school division adopts.

full bell-to-bell policy that removes cell phones from classrooms. and creating a distraction-free learning environment. And that is Governor Glenn Young, one of the best governors in the country, in my view, announcing in Virginia they're trying to get school phones out of schools. And it's happening a lot in a lot of cities, if not the states. With us right now is Claire Morrell.

Couldn't be happier about this new trend. She's a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and director of his technology and human flourishing project and author of this book out tomorrow called The Tech Exit: A Practical Guide to Freeing Kids and Teens from Smartphones. Claire, welcome. Thank you so much for having me on, Brian. What is your reaction to what the governor did of Friday?

This is fantastic. I mean, Virginia has been leading the way. It's one of the states out there from the beginning, saying we need to get these phones out of the hands of kids, particularly protecting the school day from them.

So, this law is codifying an executive order that Governor Yunken signed a year ago, trying to push schools in this direction. But now, signing it into law means all the schools across the state of Virginia, bell-to-bell, phones are out of schools.

So, not just classroom time, but the entire School day, which protects the lunch periods, passing periods. It means the whole school day, learning, and social environment for kids is free of smartphones and social media. All right, so I think that's a great thing, but what made you believe this is the right thing? Because of the effects that we've been seeing of smartphones, what the effects are having on kids. I mean, you just think about the academic environment.

They're incredibly distracting. And studies have even shown, even if the phone is in the backpack, it's mentally distracting to a kid because they're thinking about what notifications are on there, who's texted me, what's happened on my phone. And so it's actually draining their available cognitive capacity because they're exerting self-control to not check the phone.

So even if they're not on it, just having the presence of a smartphone in the classroom in a backpack takes students' attention away from the task.

So how you harvest the phone matters.

So you want to go into a phone locker.

So you might think, who's a big deal? Where you go to, but number one, it's privacy. Number two, it's like you should be able to, if you have to walk to school with a Phone, you need to put it somewhere, right? That's exactly right. Studies have shown the further away the phone is from the student, the better.

So, they've even done studies to show like the schools that ban phones from the entire school day that don't even allow them during passing periods or lunchtime, it's in a phone locker or it's in like a yonder pouch, these like synthetic rubber pouches, so the student can't unlock it and take it out. The more impossible it is for the student to access the phone, the better the results in terms of academic improvement and then also mental health effects. Studies have shown that getting phones out of the school day actually increases students' mental well-being.

So, what exactly is the problem? Is it the fear of missing out, parties you're not invited to, taunting that could happen in the playground, but now it could happen anonymously? What really bothers you about phone use with today's youth? Yeah, I think the problem is that it is it acts on a developing brain. Children's brains aren't fully developed, like a highly addictive drug.

The effects that we're seeing from the constant. Dopamine hits that they're getting through the phone every time they get a new like or a text or a follower. It elicits this dopamine response in the brain, which creates this constant craving to go back for more. And so, what happens is we just see addiction to the phones. It's impossible for a child to not be drawn back to the phone constantly.

And so, what you see then is kids are hunched down, looking at their phones, not talking to their friends. They're not interacting in person. And so, there's a huge opportunity cost to the phones. They're not developing the in-life, in-person skills that they really need to be successful as adults. And so, it's a complete just detriment to their development and their ability to thrive, especially in adult life.

So, do you find that educating kids? Because we talked about social dilemma the first time, I really knew phones would be a bad move. I didn't think it was ever going to come out. I just thought it was progress that just happened. But then, when you see how companies go out of their way to manipulate it and manipulate you and addict you, people get to look at their backup.

Screw that. You're not going to do that to me if I'm aware of. I'm not going to let it happen. No, absolutely. And the families I spoke to in writing this book, you know, they had these tech restrictions.

They decided proactively we're not giving smartphones and social media to our kids, but they wanted to help their kids understand the rationale behind their decisions. And so they took the time to educate them on the harms, showing them films like the social dilemma, because no teenager wants to be manipulated. But how do you feel about families? For example, well, Cindy gets to keep a phone. Why can't I have a phone?

So what do you say to parents, especially new parents like that? They don't want their kids to feel ostracized or not to fit in. And that's been the whole problem is that the phones have changed the whole social environment for kids. There is this fear of missing out. I don't want to be the only one not on social media or not on a phone.

And so what I encourage parents to do in the book is you have to find other families. You need to talk to your friends in your neighborhood, your school, your community, and opt out together. And a big message of the book is that parents, it is happening. There are movements growing of this smartphone for each house. Childhood, where communities are coming together.

And honestly, the schools passing the bans really helps because you get it out of the school day.

Well, a lot of the private schools, you have school choice. A lot of parents go, I don't need a place that's going to lock away the phones. Yeah. I'm talking to Claire Morrell. She's the author of The Tech Exit Out Tomorrow, a practical guide to freeing kids from teens, teens from smartphones.

So you mentioned there's different types of phones out there that could allow you to get in touch with your kid, but allow them to stay off TikTok and other social media. Yes.

And I try to tell parents everywhere I go that the big thing is that yes, your child may need to get in touch with you, but there are so many other options available. Handing them the smartphone is like handing them a supercomputer in their pocket 24/7. It's impossible for parents to completely lock down and protect their kids from all the harms and dangers that come through social media apps, the internet.

So there are phones like the Bark phone, Gab phone, Light Phone, Wise Phone, which all allow a parent to stay in touch with their child. Even text their friends, but there's no internet browser, no social media apps, and no addictive gaming apps, things that suck a child away from the real world.

So, what are the metas of the world? TikTok is evil, it should be banned anyway, but what are the metas and the Googles of the world think about this movement to free kids from social media and from tech phones? Oh, I mean, they're fighting it at every possible moment. I mean, I don't know if you recently saw it-popular to fight it, though, is it? Oh, sign.

Do you think it's popular for Meta to stand up and say, don't do that, parents?

So I would say what Meta is doing is a softer approach. They keep trying to put out that they have more parental controls available.

Now they're making teen accounts.

Okay, so that you have to kind of dig down into the details, though, and say, well, what exactly is this doing? It is not changing their underlying business model whatsoever. It is not giving parents real control over what's in a child's feed or who they're friending or who they're talking to. It maybe just lets parents set more time limits. And so they're not actually trying to change the problem.

They're trying to look like they're doing something about it while all the same time keeping their business model the same. And that's because teenagers is the future of their business. They recognize if they get children using their products young, they'll stick with that product throughout the rest of their lives. And so it's important to them that they don't want to lose this demographic of teenagers.

So. Right now the trend is to take the The phones away from kids or wait as long as you can to give them. But the parents will come back and say, Well, in case of emergency, I need to know with school shootings in this country, I need to be able to contact my kid and I need that kid to be able to say, I got a shooter in this building. You saw what happened with Uvalde and all these other places.

So, your thoughts about that. Yeah, and I mean, these are tragic events. I understand parents absolutely want to protect their kids. But what I've seen over and over in the research, and school safety experts will tell you, is that kids are actually safest without phones on them. That having access to phones, if every child in the class has access to a phone during an active shooter event, I mean, those phones can be going off, making noises, alerting the shooter to where they are.

Or kids are just texting their parents, they're distracted, they're not listening to instructions from law enforcement or their teacher. And so, I think parents and schools' goals are aligned. We all want to protect our kids, but I think parents' gut reaction is: I want to just be able to get in touch with my child, but what's actually safest for them is to not have access to individual phones.

So, Claire, what do the stats say? You know, it's training. To locking the phones out of schools and waiting, kids, waiting, parents get older. And in fairness to the parents, nobody knew what we were getting into. No.

Because I remember when cell phones started, we were fascinated with the Coraphone. I remember when cell phones started, we had Blackberries. And people are like, well, you know, I'm never going to be able to watch a video on a Blackberry, so don't worry about that. And we couldn't. It was bad.

Remember, Barack Obama didn't want to give his up when he became president, called it a Crackberry. All right. Now, those days, when you bring up Blackberry, it's like bringing up the Etzel. They're like, what are you talking about, Blackberry?

So now we gradually got more and more social media.

Now it's the video on my phone is as good as what I watch on my television.

So I don't blame parents for getting us here, but now this is the first time in the last 18 months, I think, or two years, where I feel like, okay, now our eyes are open.

Now there's no excuse to not make good decisions. Do you agree? Absolutely. And I don't blame parents either because it was like this huge wave of technology just hit them. But now the research continues to come.

It becomes AI. Oh, in AI. And so I keep telling parents, I'm like, listen, this tech exit, this retreat from smartphones and social media for kids has never been more urgent because AI is now getting integrated into all of these technologies. And it's only going to make it more immersive and addictive for a child because it will be highly personalized to them. And children will have a very hard time discerning between what's real and what's not because the AI will feel like a real person to them.

Well, let me tell you something. I'm watching real pictures of stuff online with my coworkers here, you know, because we're on camera all the time. And it looks real. I mean, everything looks real. I can't tell you, I'm getting text messages about my marriage.

I'm getting text messages about my co-hosts getting married, all this. And I'm going, and I look at this, I go, that looks absolutely real. The pictures look real, but it never happened. No, it is, it's really disturbing. And so I just try to tell parents in this book: like, listen, it's not too late to reverse course.

Even if you've already given your children smartphones or social media, it is possible to detox from them. In fact, summer is a great time. Do you have it? You said summer would be a good time because you're out of school. Exactly.

You don't have to be on the screens for school. I walk parents through step-by-step in the book. Start with 30 days. Block off 30 days on your calendar and say, we're not doing screens, we're not doing video games, we're not doing tablets or smartphones for 30 days. And you could even start by going on a vacation together and leave the technology behind.

Well, you have one problem. And that is a lot of people give homework. The summer on the computers on iPads. And you can't, yeah.

So, I mean, do you count? I mean, I would say the exception would be a school-related screen, but try to just take away the smartphone, the video games, any screen entertainment for 30 days. And what you will see is that your children, their habits are actually reshaped. They can actually reset their brain to not have this strong compulsion towards the screen. And getting them outside, interacting with real people, serving other people in the family.

I talked to a lot of families. They tried to teach their kids how to do a new chore each summer and help around the house. And what happens is these kids, when they start focusing on other people and serving others, they are amazingly freed from the anxiety that is so strongly induced by the self-focused screen.

So, if I'm a teacher and I have an app, okay, here's an app, I want you guys to download this because I'm going to be communicating with you. Are there ways to limit the screen to the apps that are just school-related? I mean, so what I would say is, a lot of these alternative phones. Have will allow certain apps that might be required by a school or a sports team.

So, I would really encourage parents, don't opt for the smartphone. I know, sports teams are now requiring this. And so, I asked a lot of these parents, I'm like, How did you navigate this when the apps were required for things? And they said they just didn't accept that their child needed a smartphone.

So, they would talk to the coach and the teacher: Is there a way for my child to complete in this team or do this assignment without a smartphone? And they were often able to find workarounds or accommodations. But then, nowadays, these phones like the Bark phone or the Wise Phone, they have an app store that you can get access to certain apps a kid might need, but no social media apps, no internet browser, and it's purely tools, not. Games or apps that will be addictive. And this is a tool, too.

Claire Morello has written it. It's called The Tech Exit Out Tomorrow: A Practical Guide to Freeing Kids and Teens from Smartphones. Get the book anywhere, right? Oh, yeah. Available where all books are sold.

You can pre-order it now. All right, Claire, thanks so much for what you're doing. Thank you for having me. All right, and check it out. Back in a moment, Brian Kilmicho.

Coming to you on a need-to-know basis, because Mandy, you need to know. It's Brian Kilmead. From his mouth to your ears, it's Brian Killmead. Sponsored by Previgen. Previgen made for your brain.

I'm going to spend a couple days with Rachel on the road. We're going to leave from the White House. I'll fly her back for Fox and Friends as I finish the trip back to Wisconsin. But the kids are excited and we're planning out that trip right now. Again, where we're going to go, what we're going to see.

I love a good road trip, but I always feel like because of the excitement and anticipation, it's always a heck of a lot better on the way there. 100%. The way there is so exciting. The way home, Sandra, you're right. It's like we're not stopping, we're driving through the night, we're going to get home right away.

I totally agree with that. I vaguely remember it was Brian Kilmead or Stuart Varney, somebody did a big Cross-country. He was killed me. He was killed mead, right? Yeah.

He ran into a barrier at a toll booth, is that I call. Great end of the vacation. Don't let Kilmy drive. Don't let Kilmy drive. I mean what the hell?

I heard something about this. I didn't know what context it was. I thought there was some term to refer to one of our shows.

So they were talking about the great cross-country trip for 250 years of America. And Sean Duffy is saying, I'm going to do it. Here's my great adventure. And then my venture comes up because I was given an RV to drive across country right in the middle of the pandemic. And the toll booths were built in 1930, not for these big RVs.

I've been driving it all of 10 miles, and I scraped the door shut. to the we couldn't open it, till my son had to jump out the side driver's side window, hang there because it was still a drop, drop and go around and open up which was like a screen door from the outside. To be I mean, don't like eighteen wheelers and tractor trailers go through toll bowls every single day, Brian? No. No.

Do they? I don't think so. I mean, the New Jersey turnpike, they're getting on and off. They're going through it. But you don't think that was like Secretary Duffy's warning for America?

Don't let Killmee drive. Don't let him drive your family, baby. That was it. And by the way, it was a total fail. Nothing against the RV.

But number one, I needed some training. Because it's easy in South Carolina. It's easy, you know, in Florida, it's no problem. Straight ahead. But when you're going through New Jersey and the t and the and the whole wind thing, when when a big car is coming up to you, when a big truck's coming up to you, it begins to push your.

RV. And so you think there's things like glued to the road. It's just the opposite. It pushes back and forth.

So, like, do you have to steer against it? I think you need a little bit of training. I mean, you did like jump into the deep end, like you're leaving out of Long Island, right, to then drive through like the city and New Jersey. And then you get to the flattest roads. I did not know you need a special app to keep you off the roads you don't belong in.

I never knew that either.

So as we're driving out, they're like, oh, don't use that app, use this app. And I'm like, use that app. I'm like, fine.

So instead of going straight down, let's in people in New York just know the bell parkway through Brooklyn, they send me up the Van Wick all the way around.

So I'm adding like an hour. And I'm going to these tiny roadways that haven't been paved since Robert Moses was in his prime. And I'm driving through it. And then I'm coming down right into Jersey and then hitting traffic. It was two big Great Pyrenees that had no interest in sitting in the back.

They tried to get into the front. They were scared to death. And I really got the. the the uh R V in order to bring the docks. I feel like we should get Dawn or Brian or Kirsten or Katie on the line to hear.

How much you were ranting and raving when you had to go all the way around. Oh, it was like, oh my God. But you know, I didn't want to like panic them, but I was panicking. You were so crazy. This is crazy.

And like, by the way, they sat In the kitchen.

So like they have it, it's like breakfast nook. Overlook in the oven.

So I'm like That's gonna be boring after a while, right? I mean, can you imagine sitting at a kitchen table for 16 hours? I mean you would Had two captain's chairs in front. I don't think there was a second row. And then you just had the kitchen and then you had the bed.

Well, did they watch a movie or something? Not that I think of. No. My one dog, my dog that passed away was blas deaf. Totally panicked.

So curse net, like lay with him. I'm like the bed to calm him down.

So it was. And then you knew you had to do it all again once you got to Florida to drive back in like a week. And that's all I thought about all week long. I'm like, oh my goodness, I had to drive back.

So it was crazy. But I don't see any reason for Sean Duffy, the Transportation Secretary, to call me out. Hey, I'm Trey Goutde, host of the Trey Gaddy 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. Mm-hmm.