Dem leaders shut down government, blame GOP

This show proudly sponsored by Real American Freestyle Wrestling. From high atop Fox News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kilmead. All right, everyone, so glad you're there. It's the Brian Kilmeat Show, rolling your direction.

Senator Joni Ernst is going to be with us this hour, and Rich Lowry has a great column about the revitalization of Mississippi's education system using phonics and more, leading people back when they're not ready to excel, not just pushing them forward. It's really a great story, and I also want to talk to him about the political landscape, a lot going on there. And by the way, if you ever missed the show, you can go to the Fox News Radio app, but always get the podcast on Brian Kilmeet Show, wherever you're comfortable getting podcasts. We're looking at a lot of things, including a 10 o'clock press conference with. Speaker Johnson, and I believe Senator Thune will be there talking about the lockdown, which is our number one story.

So let's get to the big three. Number three. I think Donald Trump is going through the stages of grief. I think the first stage was denial. that we could ever be on the precipice of winning this race.

I think the stage that he has now reached is somewhat of acceptance. Perhaps, and that is Zohran Mamdani. New York mayor's race and New Jersey governor's contest has national implications. Both races are intensifying, too. Zohran Mamdani, his party, has a full-blown socialist as its nominee.

How are they going to deal with that? They don't seem to know. And Mikey Sherrill challenges New Jersey blue state status because she is extremely vulnerable when she was sought to be a shoe-in and maybe a vice presidential nominee. We'll talk about it. Number two.

This is the biggest crowd Turning Point USA has ever pulled on a tour. There's over 6,500 people here today. A lot of people wait. until they're called to do something. before they stand up to defend something.

But Charlie didn't. That is Alex Clark, podcast host and Andy Biggs. Record crowded TP USA 6,000 plus. Returns to Utah weeks after Charlie's assassination. We bring you all the raw emotion and group's promising future.

Number one. We were hoping, praying that the Democrats would not take this dramatic step, and they have. Let's be clear what happened last night. 44 Senate Democrats rejected a clean, non-partisan, continuing resolution to keep the government operating. Government shutdown.

Now both sides scramble to explain their POV. The whole thing's embarrassing, and there are signs the Dems are about to break as three of the eight needed already have crossed to the GOP side. You got Angus King, and you have Senator Mastow. Cortez Masto also jumping to the other side. And we'll see, of course, Fetterman is a reasonable guy, says, I don't want to shut down the government.

We'll see if Gary Peters and some others do that and Chuck Schumer does lose his foundation. But so far, it's not happening. Senator Joni Ernst joins us now. Senator, can you believe seven years later we're in another lockdown? I cannot.

I cannot, Brian. And it is shameful on the part of the Democrats that did not join us to keep the government open. We know that this was a clean funding bill. This was a short-term extension. And what is really unreasonable is the fact that Democrats voted against.

A continuing resolution which is based on President Biden's numbers.

So we're still in the Biden fiscal year from last year, and yet they couldn't bring themselves to support it. Why? Because Donald Trump is now the President. And do you think because so much blowback from Schumer personally last time, because he said the responsible thing to do would be to not fight this battle in March and continuing to fund the government, and do you think now he's overcompensating for it? Yeah, I think you're absolutely correct, Brian.

He is very afraid of a primary from the far left. He's afraid of that group of his base. And so now he has to overplay it. And the unfortunate thing is, of course, there will be members of his party that suffer because of that. But most importantly, it's the people of the United States that are going to suffer during a shutdown.

And this is a Schumer shutdown. Let's not forget that, Brian. Here's what he said yesterday, COC 12. Their bill, they call it clean, we call it totally partisan. There was no input from Democrats.

Not a single line in their bill had input from Democrats. They never consulted us. Thun didn't consult me. Johnson didn't consult Hakeem. And the bottom line is that we had a partisan bill.

For number one, what's he talking about? What building? Continuing to resolute get the appropriations bills done and then we fund the government. What does that even make any sense? It makes no sense at all because again, Brian, it's so laughable.

He's talking about how this was partisan and there was no input from Democrats in this bill. Again, I'll remind everyone, this is their funding bill from this fiscal year. It was done under President Biden and the Democrats. This is their spending. And they decided not to renew it.

So again, it is laughable. It makes no sense at all. They're trying to confuse the American people. This was an extension of Biden's appropriations and Biden's budget, and they didn't do it. Again, I'm going to go back to it is because we have President Trump in office right now.

You are absolutely correct that he will be hit from the far left. He's got to fight this, fight this, fight this. But again, who's in the crosshairs? It's the American people. It is all of the government workers that try and do their jobs.

So this is really, really unfortunate for everyone. Schumer will try and mislead people, but we know what's going on. It is a Schumer shutdown.

So what I understand is, talking to our sources on Capitol Hill, is that Democrats have looked at everything, and they believe health care is the thing they want to run on in 26.

So they want to point out the subsidies that were in there for Medicaid during the pandemic. They want to point out the illegal immigrants that were getting health care. And they want to make sure the people working, the able-bodied, were not getting Medicaid when they shouldn't be eligible. They want to address all those things and say, when you cut those programs, you're cutting health care for Americans. And that's what they were bringing up.

Listen to what Senator Thune said. It's a little long, but I think it's important. Cut 17. I know you disagree with the premise of the ACA subsidies, how they were enacted, how they were extended, but the reality is you do have members whose constituents will suffer when those premiums spike.

So what are you going to do about it as leader?

Well, we're having the, we want to have that conversation. And I've made that very clear. I made it clear yesterday at the White House to both Schumer and Jeffries. And so, and we've got members, obviously they have members on their side, but we have members on our side too who are interested in the subject. I think the thing is, the one thing that we have to have is reforms because there are.

issues related to those to that program that are just rife with broad waste and abuse.

So he's open to having those talks. But you two-thirds of the budget go to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

So you are trying to rein in those programs, but the problem is that's a tough thing for politicians who want to get reelected when you cut back a program. That's fundamentally why our budget keeps growing, and we have a $37 trillion debt. Yes, and this is a really difficult area. It is very sensitive, Brian, but I do think it is something that we as leaders in Congress need to take a very, very close look at and really modernize our systems. We know that when we look at Medicare, just for example, Iowa, my home state, a very rural state, we get one of the lowest reimbursement rates when it comes to Medicare.

And this is really unfortunate because we end up paying our doctors the same as they're paying doctors in California because we have to lure them to our rural areas. But that's not accounted for in our Medicare reimbursements.

So we have to modernize these systems, but it will take leaders that are willing to take the slings and arrows because you're going to have people like Jeffries and Schumer saying that we're going to push grandma off of a cliff. Not so. We want to make sure that we're getting it right for our states, that the vulnerable people and our elderly are being cared for. It is going to take a very thoughtful approach. It's not going to be something that is solved by funding activities for illegal aliens.

It's not going to be solved by funding at COVID levels when we're no longer in COVID. We need to take a look at the entirety of these systems and get it right. A couple of things I still want to talk to you about. When it comes to farmers, which you know everything about in Iowa, evidently they're really hurting. I had a great crop this year, but China is just refusing to buy our soybeans.

Does that affect the people of Iowa? And why were they willing to pay more to go to other countries? while we're in the middle of negotiations with them. Could you enlighten me on this?

Well, this is really difficult because China is choosing to do contracts with Brazil and a number of other countries. They are paying more. They are pushing back and they are sticking it to the American farmer. Of course, we are in a trade showdown over tariffs and trade with China. China is trying to stick it to America.

And this is really unfortunate. This is the third year in a row we've seen declining farm revenue. And the subsidies that are brought in through the tariffs will be able to support our farmers for a while. Iowans, and I know other farmers across the nation feel the same way that we do. We want trade, not aid.

We do not want welfare checks. We want markets.

So, we have to find a way forward so our products, our commodities. can get into the hands of people in other countries. or expand our network domestically, the consumption domestically. But I will say right now, farmers are hurting. It is not good.

When I am traveling across the state of Iowa, there is a lot of despair right now because we have nowhere for our goods to go.

So I'll be working with the President on this issue. We spoke not that long ago about expanding markets here in the United States with our types of goods and products. We need to look to one another and solve this issue. China is refusing to play right now. We've got to find a way forward.

So have you expressed this to the President? Did he let you know where it's at? Because I know every two weeks we seem to be meeting with them. That would be something easy to sign off on. They need it, and we have it.

Do you see that they give you an idea of what the reluctance is as opposed to the rare earth, which kicked back in and some of the other things kicked back in? Right. Right now I think this is China just trying to flex their muscles, but they need our goods. They need our corn. They need our soybeans.

They need our beef. They need to feed their people. They cannot do that. I heard Australia is now supplying their beef. Yes, and so we are losing these markets.

So we need to come to a consensus very soon. We saw this in the first Trump Presidency with the tariffs. We lost some of our soybean market to China. We never gained that back. Other countries filled that need for China.

And so my farmers right now are very, very worried that if we don't secure those contracts, we will lose that market forever.

So I know that there's ongoing negotiations. We hope they wrap very soon.

So I understand that Marco Rubio and others, because we've been very aggressive with Venezuela, are looking for some type of regime change, which this President has really tried to avoid for obvious reasons. But Maduro is causing so many problems in the region as alliances with China as well as Russia and Iran. We know about the drug trade TDA that's come through our border.

So Rubio will raise the bounty on Maduro for arrest and conviction to $50 million. They say Stephen Miller and Radcliffe are pushing for escalating military presence there. You're on the Armed Services Committee. Senator Joni Ernst, what do you think about this? What could you tell us?

Well, I do think that the drugs that are flowing, not just from Venezuela, but from a number of these other South American countries and elsewhere, a lot of that will be funneled in from China as well. I think it does pose a threat to the United States of America. And so I'm glad that the President and Secretary Rubio are really escalating that level of discussion. They are forcing the issue, which has not been forced in a very long time.

So I'm glad that we are paying attention to the Western Hemisphere when it comes to threats against the United States of America, but we must never take our eye off of other regions. We know that China is our pacing threat. We need to make sure that we are building a military of tomorrow focused on the threat of China. We also need to realize that there are terrorist organizations. Organizations that will always reconstitute out there that pose a threat to the United States as well.

So while we are focusing on our southern hemisphere, western hemisphere, we also need to recognize we can't take the focus off of our pacing threat. China and those other terrorist organizations that pose a threat to the United States.

So do have we done anything yet to expand our industrial base to build missiles, rockets or defense systems quicker? We are, and I've had some interesting conversations even just in the last couple of days with various manufacturers that are heavily engaged in the defense industrial base and what they are doing to ramp up production in the United States. We've identified a number of choke points in the supply chain that we need to loosen up a little bit, but we are looking for ways that we can manufacture domestically and produce the inputs here domestically. As we're looking at rare earths, we need to do more of the mining and refining here in the United States. And if we don't have the capacity to do that, or the rare earths or minerals here in the United States, we need to be able to seek those from friends and allies, not from China.

Yeah, we got the raw material, but we don't know that the refinery capacity and the environmental regulations really hinder us when it comes to the mining. Part of it.

So, hopefully, we'll loosen that up with this administration and EPA director in place. Senator, thanks so much, Senator. A lot to talk about, and so far, the shutdown continues. Absolutely. And let's get it solved, Brian.

Let's get some more Democrats that are reasonable human beings that actually want to work for our citizens. Yep, let's see if you can get some more. They're all your friends. Senator Joni Earns, thanks so much. Back in a moment.

Learning something new every day on the Brian Kilmead Show. It's Will Kane Country. Watch it live at noon Eastern Monday through Thursday at FoxNews.com or on the Fox News YouTube channel. And don't miss the show. Listen and follow the podcast five days a week at FoxnewsPodcasts.com or wherever you download your favorite podcasts.

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It's tiring to look out at combat formations or really any formation. And see fat troops. Likewise, it's completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon. And leading commands around the country and the world. It's a bad look.

So that was part of the message about 45 minutes in length from Pete Hagseth as he calls in the generals to get themselves in shape just because you're not in battle or you don't have to go through PT.

Now he wants to do it. He wants to set a tone and tenor. I love the message that, you know, famously the Russians know what's going on in our country and the Chinese are great at spying and North Korea's got this cyber infiltration. You don't need it. Just listen.

If you're going to tell me that they're not must be concerned that America has got out of their woke coma and is now talking about the best fighting the best and now not worried about political correctness, environmental and green worries, this is exactly what we need. You could do what you want in society, but if you want your Army, your Navy, your Marines, your Space Force. Uh to win wars Let them do everything possible and don't suck them into the political correctness that was infecting our society that we're now getting rid of. That was the message yesterday. I understand the generals did have a chance, and admirals to talk to each other about different challenges they have, establish a relationship, do some eye contact.

So, a big win, I think. This week on the Fox True Crime Podcast, I'm joined by retired FBI Special Agent Stacey Perkins as she discusses the Bureau's Innocent Images initiative and the many child predators she has helped to bring down. Listen and follow now at FoxtrueCrime.com. A radio show like no other. It's Brian Killmeade.

I think Charlie Kirk was a hate monger. I take no joy. in the killing of anyone, no matter what they said. But if you ask me what the truth of his life was You know, um in truth of his public life I would have to tell you it's hate. I would tell you, I'd have to tell you it is the usage of hate and the harnessing of hate.

towards political ends. Then let me flip that question actually a bit. Why are we losing? Huh. That's a little of the back and forth yesterday with Tahesi Coates yesterday, and Ezra Klein.

on a podcast, and he looked at Charlie Kirk's life and his statements and thinks he's hate. I mean, it's unbelievable that this guy, who everyone on the left for a while thought walked on water, and everyone, you know, from President Obama on down, thought he was the philosopher of a generation, that's his conclusion about Charlie Kirk. Not I disagree with him, but he was hate. The guy never stopped smiling, never stopped moving forward. He just happened to be a conservative.

He translates that to hate. Rich Lowry joins us now from National Review. Rich, got a lot to talk about, but first comment on that if you would. Yeah, it doesn't surprise me coming from Tonahese Coates, who has a pretty hateful agenda himself, even though he hurls that charge. At others, look, it's uh put everything else aside, just What you probably did is spread the gospel, right?

It's no answer. That is widow. His murderer, right? Because that's what they believe in that the morrow of their. their bones.

So that's not hatred, it's the complete opposite. And yeah, look, he was controversial, but that's part of the point. Controversy is good in our society. It stir stirs up debate. But um you look at the insulting, you know, y y these trans kids come up there.

And he has sympathy with them. Uh try to make explain it. Yeah, no fault. Yes, Rich, we'll try to get to a better line. We'll try to fix out that line for a second.

But at home, while we do that, I want you to hear Congresswoman Elon Omar, same thing, not backing down for her ridiculous assessment of Charlie's life and legacy, cut twenty four. It is a tragedy. That Charlie Kirk was killed in that way. But there is no legacy to honor. It was a legacy filled with bigotry, hatred, and white supremacy.

Not white supremacy. What he was saying is treat everyone equal. Don't tell me you don't have an equal shot. Don't tell me, tell me a better country to provide more opportunity for the many. Get back to meritocracy on campus.

Do not live a life of excuses. Make sure you spend a year. You should be reading 50 books a year. Uh as we find out later, he took 33 courses at Hillsdale, and he was constantly learning. We found out from the the professor at uh Hillsdale that he was constantly interacting with him, constantly going over things with his pastor on religion.

So, Rich, it's it's unbelievable that someone can look at that's the same thing, very similar to the say things about Rush, Limbaugh, when he passed. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they can't just say, Look, I I don't mean it. The pain. Path to kit for his cause.

I appreciate how the way it went. Yeah, we're losing Yeah, Rich, we're losing you.

So we'll try to get you back.

So let's just try to one more time, try to get him in a better area. Rich Lowry is talking about. not only what's going on with What's going on with some of the hate in Charlie's legacy? Yesterday, I don't know if you heard, but TPUSA had another event in Utah, two hours from where Charlie was assassinated, different college. And they attracted an all-time record close to 7,000 people into that hall.

And amongst the speakers was Jason Chafez, Governor Cox, Spencer Cox. And they had some of the young up-and-coming spokespeople from TPUSA. I like when the high-profile politicians go and the governor show up. But what's going to drive TPUSA are younger people, whether it's the 20-somethings in college serving as officers, chapter leaders, or it's the 30-somethings that went through the program that are now helping to launch and keep it going, let alone TPUSA action, that's the one that actually gets the vote out.

So those are some of the things we're looking at.

So as we turn the page there, also Rich Larry wrote about something else that was pretty important. And that is what's going on with this current lockdown. He wrote a column about the National Review about the anti-Trump terror, excuse me, the anti-Trump terror. Attitude.

Now, we all were kind of hardened. I was kind of surprised. In 2024, when the president got reelected, I just thought it was going to be another. Women all women rally. Remember the Women Rally, Rally for Women, as if Trump ran against women.

So they had a big rally there and there was all these protests. Wherever he went, they were protesting his Secretary of Education, the Betsy De Deva DeVos. And then all of a sudden They had the Russia investigation.

So, wherever he went, he had questions about Russia. He still managed to have a really good first term in office. This time, he gets reelected and there was really no protest. It was cold, I get it, and he was indoors, I understand it, but there was not a lot of protests. But now it seems to be really ramping up, and that's what Charlie excuse me, what Rich wrote about in his National Review column.

So, we're going to try him again. We'll try to clean him in.

So, Rich, you wrote in your column just about how the anti-Trump Campaign is ramping up. It didn't start off strong, but it's getting stronger in terms of his opposition. Yeah, there's a so-called vibe shift at the beginning where the reaction wasn't as fierce as it was the first time around. But I think we basically had a low-level anti-Trump terror campaign. all this year.

What what was uh happened against Tesla. You know, vandalism, burning down dealerships and cars, and shooting up dealerships is violence in pursuit of a political goal. Which is terrorism.

Now you have these anti-ICE actions, some of them quite serious. One of them down in Texas. Besides the latest shooting, was a no-kidding ambush by like 10 anti-fascist so-called. Activists, and that's terrorism as well.

So it's not ISIS, thank God, but this is a low-level terror campaign. We need to call it what it is. And I hope that people realize they got to back off from it now. But now we have the lockdown that's probably only going to inflame people to begin with. As you look at this lockdown, I want to get to your column today about Mississippi, but as you look to this lockout, That sounds like baseball.

Shutdown. Shutdown. What are your thoughts? I had J.D. Vance on Fox and Friends a half hour ago, and he says, Look, there's nothing to negotiate.

Continuing resolution, you want to talk about healthcare? We'll do it, but not under these circumstances. You've seen a lot of this play out. The last time we had one was seven years ago. How do you see this now?

I think Democrats will lose Over time. I just think they're talking about healthcare spending, but that's really pre-textual. It's going to shut down the government because they fear and hate the President of the United States. And eventually they'll be worn down and So I don't know what the timing is, Brian. You know, it may take a couple of weeks, may take a month.

But eventually they'll they'll come around and vote to r to reopen the government system. Yes, J.D. Vance said the Vice President said I'm interesting to us in the break. He said that they already have three Democratic senators voting with them. They got to get total to eight.

That's five more.

So Chuck Schumer could be holding a line and one by one, the Democrats go, No, I'm just I'm not going to screw up my career, my reelection. I'm getting off. Gary Peters has nowhere to go. He's retiring. Janine Shaheen is retiring.

So the word is that they're going to jump ship soon. And I imagine anybody in a tight election that doesn't want to see as someone responsible for putting on furlough seven hundred fifty thousand people might do the same thing. I want to bring you to your column in Mississippi. They are they are traditionally ranked at the bottom on the education rankings of all fifty states. What have they done to change that?

Well, it's a major conference they've emphasized the basics, emphasize behind sounding out the word. Which is the best way for kids. Uh to learn to read, not the so approach that the For decades.

So they have slightly trained teachers in that because they're not learning it in the education. schools. They send literary coaches to to schools where there are problems and they exact accountability. If if a a third grader is not ready to advance, the third grader doesn't advance. And that gets everyone's attention, gets the teacher's attention, gets the parents' attention, gets the kids' attention, research It was really amazing.

And Rich, thanks so much. I appreciate it. He was in a tough spot, but he's still dedicated to the show. I wanted to call in. They use phonics, they use accountability.

They also say this. Illiteracy is a policy choice.

So if you have a third or fourth grader that's not able to read, fourth, fifth grader not able to read, they're staying. Why? Because I'm responsible. Think to yourself: I am the elementary school teacher. Do you want to put someone into mid-middle school?

And not be able to read, not be able to do basic math. And they're not. They tell the parents: if the kid's not ready, they're being left back. You might be embarrassed, it's not my problem. They might have issues, we'll get them special services.

Money's not gonna be an issue, but performance is. And that's why they are rising up the ranks and they are getting results. It is indeed possible. I also love the nationwide push to keep phones out of schools. You know what they're finding too?

That when you keep the phones out of schools, do you know where attendance is up? Libraries Because if you guys go on your phone and look something up, you go on your phone and read a book, go on your phone and read your textbook, you find yourself on your phone all day, but while you're reading, you're getting text messages, Instagram alerts, and you're flipping back and forth. But if you don't have your phone. You go to the library to do your own research. And a lot of times that could be electronic too.

But it's just a good trend. What I like to do, I think the kids are liking it after the first few weeks. Sadly, I think this mayor in New York City actually doesn't. I don't know why socialists would not want to ban phones for a school day, but evidently it's just maybe because it it's it's helping the kid and they they want to make sure no charter schools and no phones. All right, you listen to the Brian Kill Meet Show.

I'm going to come back and take some calls, 1-866-408-7669. In about 15 minutes, we're going to get to see a press conference. We're not going to carry it live, but I'll give you the highlights of it that Speaker Johnson will run. And I think they're going to have something similar roughly at the same time with Democrats. They're trying to get the upper hand.

But tomorrow is a Jewish holiday for Republicans. If they can't reopen today, they're going to keep it closed until at least Monday when they come back to work. You listen to the Brian Kill Me show. Politics, current events, and news that affects you. Brian's got a lot more to say.

Stay with Brian Kilmead. Recently, we asked some people about sharing their New York Times accounts. I would be very interested in having separate logins for a shared subscription. I'm 35 years old. I still share my parents' New York Times subscription.

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Please help. Having our own accounts would be amazing. My mom could save her own recipes. My friends could save their recipes. I want to get the weekly newsletter, but they seem to always go to my husband and then he doesn't forward them to me.

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It's Brian Kilmead. Why is he obsessed with fat? I don't understand how that was supposed to be an uplifting message for our military. He was referring to Colonel Sanders. It was really a bizarre thing.

I don't understand the sort of hypocrisy of firing these people. having all these people meet together and then denigrating that He's not denigrating them. He's denigrating people if they have the mindset of previous regimes. Like the one from four years ago and eight years of President Obama, the political correctness, the ones that wanted to have. Transgender personnel that pretended as if men and women, there was no difference when it came to physically performing in special operations.

Operations or units. And he said, get yourself in shape. That's the way you talk in the military.

Now, none of them would have any clue to that. I don't even know if any of them even play one to gym. But when you have a coach, when you want to get a maximum productivity off a team, when you're in the military, you're in the warfighting business. That is the whole reason why Secretary Hagseth was brought in. I thought it was a great message, unbelievably delivered.

You want to debate whether they spent millions of dollars to come in? You could do that. But I did speak to a three-star general last night that did not get a fourth star, and then he should have, in my view, but said, I love it. He goes, we finally feel like we're unleashed to use our initiative and be aggressive. And I said, how many other people feel like this?

He says, I'm probably in the top 2% of aggressive generals.

So I love it. I imagine most everybody else does. And I said, what about the buses and the trips and the hotels when you were talking to other guys without cameras who trust you? And he said, most are really happy about it. But here's the key.

The President the Secretary of War says, I'm going to give those people that have that attitude the promotions that they need, the support that they need. What the President what the Secretary has to do is identify those people And I hope it's people without a political bent that are going to give him real good information, loyal to him, unbelievable warfighters, great strategists. And willing to understand what is going to be successful of the next conflict.

Now we know the big conflict. All right, China, are we ready?

Well, that's going to be a lot of strategic planning, and it's going to be a lot of intelligence. And, you know, I don't really see that being fought with bayonets. But there's other low-tech battles that we're fighting. I mean, the growth of terrorism and Islamic extremism in Africa is real. We never know when there's going to be a next flurry in the Middle East, how Iran's going to look to extract some type of revenge for bombing out their nuclear program.

And what about Venezuela? I mean, there's a story today that Marco Rubio, who the president really respects in every way, National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, says it's in our interest to make sure Maduro is gone.

So he upped the bounty on his head. He is now getting intelligence to blow up his drug ships as they leave their shore. And he is doing the best they can to back the other government of the woman who actually won the election last time against Maduro.

So, what is it going to take to be successful there? Is this going to be another noriega type operation? You have to have nerves of steel, be able to plan and act under pressure. And to do that, you got to be mentally fit and you got to be physically fit. And the people giving you orders have to do the same thing, even if you're in your sixties.

You're going for your fourth star, it's most likely taking a while. I know a couple of generals retired, and they look like they could run triathlons. I don't really see a lot of out-of-shape generals. Mark Milley was a mess. I mean, he's never in shape that I ever saw.

So, you know.

Well you know, basically Might have been wearing, you know, um He's got a huge uniform, too. He was way out of shape. I'm not sure what the problem was there, but he doesn't want that. I liked it. Cut 35.

No more identity months. DEI offices. Dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship. No more division, distraction, or gender delusions.

We are done with that s ⁇ . The era of unprofessional appearance is over. No more beardos. It's tiring to look out at combat formations or really any formation. And see fat troops.

Likewise, it's completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon. And leading commands around the country and the world. It's a bad look.

I agree. And I have no problem with it. And I do want to see the other thing, and Senator Roger Wicker put this together, he's chairman of armed services. Uh Pete and everybody else. We get the troops in shape, and I think we can do it.

I think that message is clear. But we have to get cutting edge in terms of a drone shield, in terms of drone technology and production. Ukraine is the best. Let them help us with it. We'll pay them whatever it takes.

Get them the drones. We'll replicate them here. Number one, number two, we got to expand our industrial base, regular munitions, be able to sell it to our people. Mass production on the Patriots. They're the best in the business.

They've always been the best since the First Persian Gulf War. We found out about the Patriots and they've accelerated since. They're the gold standard. But we got to get more of them to our allies, whether it's Finland or whether it's Estonia. Or whether it's Poland, Germany, they're all building up their defenses.

As we said, it would be the perfect storm of goodness. They want to build up their defense. We want to sell it to them. We're the number one distributor of military hardware, but we're not delivering stuff on time. The nuclear submarines that were supposed to go to Australia have still not been built and delivered yet.

And I believe that Taiwan is still waiting on stuff they ordered from years ago.

So that has to be a focus. It's not the sexiest conversation to say, I want to expand our industrial base. But I do think, and I'm not telling anything that Pete Hakesup doesn't know already, but Roger Wicker, the senator. has the plan already.

So let's do it. And we're not talking about a gift or a government subsidy. We're talking about a full blown capitalist venture to make weapons to keep America safe. And I don't do that to go to war, but when it becomes clear we're ready to win a war, we won't have a war. I thoroughly believe that.

And you just got to explain to the American people, I'm building up our military to the point where everyone will know. We're too big to fight. What do you think? Go to brainkillme.com. Tell me what you think.

Just click on comments and I'll read some of them next hour. You're listening to the Brain Kill Me Show.

So glad you're there. History of Liberty and Labs, November 1st. Potchtown, Pennsylvania. From the Fox News Radio. studio in Midtown Manhattan.

It's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmead. Hi, everyone.

So glad you're there. It's the Brian Kilming Show moving forward. We have a lot going on. I come to you from 48th and 6th in Midtown Manhattan. The most intriguing mayor's race in the country is happening right now.

And also speaking, we're monitoring it. Bring it to you when it happens, but when something significant is said. But Speaker Johnson is now addressing the shutdown of our government, first time in seven years. And we have a Jewish holiday tomorrow, Yom Kippur, and a lot of these lawmakers are heading home.

So I'm not sure if there's an end in sight. Andrew Gruhl is going to be joining us, the opinionated chef, founder of the popular Slapfish restaurant chain, will be in the studio, fresh off his appearance on Gutfeld.

So before we bring you the latest from Johnson and others, by the way, Senator Thune, the majority leader, is also there with Steve Scale, Senator Barroso, as well as Senator Tom Cotton.

So leadership is there addressing what they think is the reason for the lockout. Let's go to the big three. Number three. I think Donald Trump is going through the stages of grief. I think the first stage was denial.

that we could ever be on the precipice of winning this race. I think the stage that he has now reached is somewhat of acceptance. New York Mayor's Race and New Jersey governor's contest has a national feel. Both races intensify. Zohram Amdani exits his Leads his party as a full-blown socialist, and Mikey Sherrill challenges New Jersey's blue state status as Jack Chittarelli chips away at her lead.

Number two. This is the biggest crowd Turning Point USA has ever pulled on a tour. There's over 6,500 people here today. A lot of people wait. until they're called to do something.

before they stand up to defend something. But Charlie didn't. That is true. Alex Clark weighing in. And as well as Jason Chaffetz and Andy Biggs.

Record crowd at TPUSA as Charlie Kirk's group returns to Utah just two weeks after Charlie's assassination. We bring you all the raw motion and the group's promising future. Number one. We were hoping, praying that the Democrats would not take this dramatic step, and they have. Let's be clear what happened last night.

44 Senate Democrats rejected a clean, nonpartisan, continuing resolution to keep the government operating. Government shutdown is happening. Both sides scramble to explain their POV. The whole thing's embarrassing, and there are signs that Dems are about to break as three of the eight needed to cross the line to get the government back on have already done so. We have the latest.

So essentially, what Democrats want, they want health care, these health care contingencies refinanced. They also brought up USAID. They don't really bring that up much now. They want to make this about health care. And because they won't negotiate, because the Republicans say, what am I negotiating?

We're supposed to go through a budget. I'm not asking for any legislation. Just go through a budget extension until we can all go through the committee process. We don't want to do an omnibus again. Here's J.D.

Vance, cut two. The far left faction of Senate Democrats shut down the government because we wouldn't give them hundreds of billions of dollars for health care benefits for illegal aliens. It's actually not even all Senate Democrats. I was really gratified to see that a few of the moderate Senate Democrats voted with Senate Republicans last night to keep the government open. This is basically Chuck Schumer.

Chuck Schumer, he's worried he's going to get a primary challenge from AOC. And so he's shutting down the people's government to give in to sort of the left-wing coalition and their party. And it's craziness, and people are going to suffer because of it. Huh. This is true.

And by the way, I never like, I see these lockouts, and I always see both sides kind of losing on each other. Republicans are kind of exasperated. It's almost as if a guy's really mad at you, and you're not mad, and you know it's serious, but you can't get as mad as that person. The speaker is trying to say, What am I negotiating? These are the Joe Biden spending levels, which we thought were too high.

But now to continue it, you want me to undo portions of the Big Beautiful Bill. That's what it sounds like to me. Cut four. Are you hearing there could be other Democrats who don't want to go through this before the weekend? And vote with you?

Yeah, Brian, I think that there will be. And if you look, frankly, when I talked to the president and our legislative team yesterday afternoon, I thought we would get 53, 54 votes. We got 55 votes because, again, that moderate faction of the Senate Democrats recognizes this is just an unreasonable position. You're not going to shut down the government because you disagree about a funding program that doesn't even expire for another few months.

So I think what's going to happen is that as the political pressure builds and as we continue to have these negotiations, you're going to see more and more Democrats come to the side of reason and reopen the government. And I almost feel, I feel like I've done this so many times before, the brinksmanship and the actual closure. But I'll just tell you: 750,000 Federal employees will be placed on furlough. I will tell you that some of the groups that are involved are significant. It could be TSA.

They're definitely not the post office, but you have the other non-essential government workers. It's a lot.

So Smithsonian, the museums, the libraries, they're going to go home. You know, not the privately owned, like Mount Vernon. Uh or the Hermitage. But others will be told, just go home.

Now, look, you're going to get your money back. It's going to be a lump sum. But if you live paycheck to paycheck, it's a problem.

So hopefully they'll understand too that Russ Vote's not saying much now, but he's OMB director. And Russ Vogt is saying that I'm going to use this opportunity to not only cut programs to move money around, I'm going to get rid of programs. I'm not going to delay them. I'm going to X them out.

Now you might say a rescission package was so tough to pass. $9 billion. You got rid of USAID, you got rid of PAPBS and a few other things, and that was tough. But you don't need a rescission package if the money isn't appropriated yet. That's the key.

Newt Gingrich, cut eighteen. The simpler way to describe it is, this is insanity. We we know from the work we do at America's New Majority Project. That there are two things the American people feel about this shutdown. One, they do not want increased spending.

Two, they do not want the government closed.

So what do you have? You have the Schumer shutdown where Chuck gets up and says, I'm going to close the government. to get more money.

Now that means he's on the wrong side of both issues.

So I'm not really sure. I'm not really sure how you give a face-saving measure to this. But maybe it's a promise. To look at healthcare.

So, John Thune said it. You know, you're bringing up, these are the points that mean a lot to you. Let me really examine them. Because some of the things that you want to get that we got rid of, it's not because we don't like Medicaid or Medicare, is that people were able bodied people were getting it when they shouldn't, and illegal aliens were getting it and they shouldn't. As well as They inflated the cost and the subsidies for the pandemic era, and the money never went away.

It just stayed there. And some of which no one even claimed because they didn't know it was there for them, I know.

So here's the Democrats, and Jessica Tarlov said this to me last night on the panel. With Brett Baer.

Now, these Republicans said they were funding illegal immigrants. But what they wouldn't turn out and say, hey, here's a pile of money, go give it to illegal immigrants. What they would do is, Give money to hospitals that are forced to treat anyone that comes to their doors.

So there's a heavy illegal immigrant population in this town.

So, you give that hospital more money to subsidize their medical treatment, whatever it is. Also, the mass parole of illegals. They come across the border during the Biden years. They're given papers and a desk appearance for six years.

So they're giving so they're given somewhat legal status while they wait for their day in court. That gives them eligibility for benefits, but yet they're not American citizens. They haven't paid into our system. They can't get a job.

So that's how they're paid.

So when people ask you on the street saying, well, that's not true that illegal immigrants are being paid by democratic programs, now you have the answer. The answer is: yes, they are.

So the CR was 55.45. The other thing I think is important to talk about today is TPUSA. It continues to thrive. They continue their comeback tour. They have another stop just two hours from where Charlie Kirk was assassinated.

And they had some great speakers, including Spencer Cox, who was featured on 60 Minutes because, you know, he goes, I'm a conservative, but I don't hate the other side. But he's still traumatized for having seen and heard and having to tell the president that Charlie Kirk is dead. And tell the White House, as well as all these other people, because he is the governor of Utah, Cut 22. My first thought was: just please don't die. Like, please, just, just, we gotta keep him alive.

And then I knew about Charlie's wife, I knew we had two little kids, and That's the humanity of all of this, right? And I think it changed all of us. Because what I realized very quickly is this was an attack on Charlie Kirk. because of his political beliefs. And we knew that.

And it was a political assassination and people were afraid to say that. And then he went on, but I also want to bring in Jason Chaffetz.

Now, Jason Chaffetz in the audience because he's from Utah and his kids wanted to go. His kids are in their 20s. And They have kids. He's grandfather, even though he looks like he's about 40.

So he said, you know, I stand he stood over to the right and they stood over in the middle and the shots went down and Jason witnessed all of it, cut twenty. He called and he said, how you doing? I've seen you on on T V. And this is hard, isn't it? Near the end of the conversation, I said, Mr.

President, How are you doing? You knew Charlie? He said, yeah, this one, this one really hurts. He said that. He said, I don't know that I would be.

The President of the United States without Charlie Kirk. I really don't know. And he is like a family member. No joke. I mean, he was in the White House all the time, not to ask for favors, but to inform them on what's going on in college campuses, to try to get different people, VIPs in the White House to speak at his various events.

And he was always working. He was on the trip. Charlie Kirk was on the trip to Greenland. It was, I think, his idea to get Don Jr. let's go visit, because the President says we want to go take it.

So by the way, I mentioned to you that Speaker Johnson had a mini press conference about fifteen minutes. He I was texting with him yesterday and he said after the press or we're going to give you a chance for leadership to speak, but we're probably going to go home until Monday.

Now, the Jewish holiday, we don't work on Fridays. We don't work in Washington on Fridays. We're probably going to leave. which is bad for the 750,000 federal workers. I get it.

Um here's what he said. Almost two weeks ago the house did our job. In the House, we passed a common sense. nonpartisan bill to keep the government open. Republicans did our job.

We had one Democrat join us there, so it was bipartisan. But every other Democrat in the House voted to shut the government down, and last night, 44 Democrats in the Senate did the same thing. This is a clean resolution. It would simply buy Congress a few more weeks, seven weeks, to finish the job. Why do we need that time?

So that appropriators in both parties. can finish their work. They've been restoring regular order. They've passed 12 separate bills out of committee in the House, and the Senate has done its work as well. Three bills.

of the twelve passed in each chamber. They don't line up exactly, so there's a conference committee constituted, the first time in years that that's happened. Yeah, but they still didn't get it done. They only got three or 12, and the House got everything done, but they didn't have a vote on all their appropriations bills.

So they even needed more time. And then, in theory, they'd have conferences. I'm wondering, is it better to give them off in July and have them work in August? Because the reason why they're not done, they took three weeks off. I know they're not totally off, and they used a lot of these on their time away from Washington to go to overseas trips, establish relationships, go back to their districts, make sure they can get reelected, and of course, find out what people care about.

Let alone a few days off, I'm not saying that job's easy. Would they get paid a ton? If they're honest, they're not. I mean, considering the travel and the taxes, I think they get two seventy five when money comes out. If they're not on committee chairmanships, if they're not making a ton of money, you're not supposed to be doing it for the money anyway.

So here's Hakeem Jeffries. Donald Trump and Republicans have shut down the federal government. Because they don't want to provide health care to working class Americans. We also need a credible negotiating partner. Donald Trump is behaving in the most erratic an unserious fashion.

I happen to know for sure. That for the most part, leadership in the House and the Senate. want to handle it themselves. They'd rather not have President involved. He's got so much going on.

The play-by-play of all the legislation. I think it needs to be handled by people that do it every day. And they didn't even. I believe they didn't even really want that meeting in the White House, the one meeting.

So don't marry about unserious. The President knows it's not in your this is not a negotiation. because he just wants to continue to fund the government at the current rate. That's why I think fundamentally he didn't feel compelled to get involved. But now that the government shut down, it could hurt his the performance of his economy.

That will really bother him. But I think it's important to let Thune and Johnson lead the way here. They got the experience. They're no longer inexperienced guys. They get it.

And not only that, even when they weren't in leadership, they experienced it and they know what frustrated them when they were amongst the minions. All right, you listen to the Brian Kill Me Chow. When we come back, I'll take some calls. 1-866. 408-7669, then Andrew Gruel with the bottom of the hour, don't move.

It's Brian Killmade. If you're interested in it, Brian's talking about it. You're with Brian Kilmead. New Yorkers have stood up for a city they can afford. We'll freeze the rental, make buses fast and free, and deliver universal child care.

We're going to make this city want working people in love. Uh that is uh Zoramam Dani and his Campaign He is worried to a degree, I think, because now it looks like Governor Cuomo might be getting the endorsement of Eric Adams. He's considering putting burying the hatchet. And Cuomo said some nice things about him. And I think Curtis Lee also thinks he has a shot at Eric Adams' vote, but they are looking to get whatever influence he has, and certainly in the machine and maybe any type of list that can help.

Right now, he's up by about seventeen points. Zoe Ram Mdani, yet he still doesn't answer the question about his past comments about cops being racist. And answer the question about his his pro his anti-Israel behavior. He doesn't really answer anything. He doesn't say, well, you know, that was me, and I was acting hyperbolic, and I don't believe that now.

He doesn't even say that.

So if he doesn't say it during the campaign, what's he going to do when he's in office? John Lissey on the Fox News Radio app in California. Hey, John. Good morning. Ryan.

Uh I just wanted to bring up what the you were talking about earlier with the uh Illegals getting paid health care for health care. I'm here in California, and I live in a very dense area where there's a lot of farming and so forth. And my mom was sick last year, so I was in and out of hospitals and doctors and nursing and everything for about a year. And uh every time I would uh go to the emergency room was packed with what I would assume were people, not none of them spoke English or anything. And I would bring up to a doctor and a nursing and stuff.

Who's paying for all this stuff? And they every one of them told me that they're all getting paid by the state who gets reimbursed. From the gov federal governments, and that's how they're doing it.

So everything this Democrats are saying are lies. They are getting it in California anyway, in this area.

So that's an experience that I wanted to show with the audience. I mean, an example, John, for what I've just mentioned to you when they got the mass parole, when those literally millions of people came across, if you got a desk appearance, they consider yourself not illegal. And I consider them illegal. They crossed, they have a story. Most of those stories are not good enough for asylum, but since we're so backlogged, they get to stay until they have their day in court.

I don't think that they belong in a free health care system. Nobody else does. But they can honestly do Democrats turn around, not illegal. Of course, they're illegal.

So I get it, and you see it, and you understand it. And these hospital workers, these hospitals lose money because they treat everybody that walks in.

So, they think they're helping the hospital system by providing insurance for people that are going to walk in and get their basic and serious health care in emergency rooms. But unless things unle you just keep on putting Uh band-aids on this system. It's eventually going to break anyway. because we can't afford to put twenty million people on uh on health care. For free, while everybody else pays the premiums for them and are not happy with the size of their deductible.

and the quality of their care.

So that's what's got to be brought up. You don't have to yell. You don't have to scream. You don't have to threaten. The reason why Obamacare got inflated was because of the pandemic.

Let's just say well-intentioned. Pandemic's over. Personal r there's a rationalization for taking that money away. I'll talk about that and more with Andrew Gould when we come back, also get a West Coast perspective as Governor Newsom feels as though he is now the front runner for the nominee. Is that a good thing?

Radio that makes you think. This is the Brian Kill Me Joe. ICE, unmasked. What are you afraid of? Masked men jumping out of unmarked cars, people disappearing, no due process.

People ask: well, is authoritarianism you're being hyperbolic? Bull, we're being hyperbolic. If you're a black and brown community, it's here in this country. It's no longer the rule of law, it's increasingly the rule of Don. What an abomination.

What an embarrassment. What a fraud. Facts don't matter anymore, it's narrative. Illusion rules. If you've looked at my social media, you could see I am leaning into a different paradigm.

Oh, fuck it.

So that is Governor Newsom. He tried the bipartisan thing doing podcasts where he listened to people like Charlie Kirk, and he said it wasn't getting any traction, and now he's trying to heckle Donald Trump. What I think that he is totally missing, Governor Newsom, is that he's done a terrible job as governor. And number two is Donald Trump should not be your nemesis. Because Donald Trump, there's no scenario where you're running against him next.

You could be running against ideas, but I also fundamentally think you should be for something. With me right now, if you're watching on the stream, you notice him fresh off his appearance on Gutfeld, Andrew Gruhl, chef, founder of the popular slapfish restaurant chain, and now the author of the Gruhl Family cookbook that's still out and host of a weekly cooking show called American Gravy. And get this: Andrew is now the newest member of the Huntington Beach City Council. It's a 7-0 Republican City Council, right? In Huntington Beach, California.

Yeah, people. Congratulations. Thank you so much. You know, I always say there is sanity in California, but you got to look for it. You've never said that.

Actually, did you say there is sanity in California? I mean, I used to live out there. I never really thought politics. I really didn't. Like, I was there in the 90s.

And, you know, you knew we were, I think we had a Republican governor at the time, and there were mayors. Reardon was a Republican. He was mayor for a while. But all hell has broken loose since.

So when you hear Gavin Newsom make an enemy of ice, you're somebody that. Is affected by illegal immigration because they go to hospitality, they go to restaurants. What are your thoughts about what the reality is on the ground when it comes to illegal immigration?

Well, first of all, Newsom doesn't talk about his lack of any action over the past 15 years in regards to undocumented workers in California, right? He's throwing a fit right now, but I got to tell you, and I know this because we had people that came and worked at the restaurant and then ultimately ended up going back to Mexico, El Salvador, wherever they were from, because they came to California, the doors they thought were open, and they tried to get their documentation. They tried to work with the state, they tried to work with local governments, every single avenue they could. And it was all virtue by Newsom. There was nobody there to help them.

All these people that are screaming right now about ICE did nothing to try and help these people previously. And the lion's share of them, the good people, they actually went back to Mexico or other countries because they didn't feel like dealing with what was ultimately going to be coming down.

So I think that there's, once again, self-deportation. They said over a million people. Yeah, that's true. That is 100% true. Yeah.

And actually, some people did go and have come back with visas. You know, we've had people, you know, who have come and said, look, I got a visa, I got a work visa, you've got to go back to Mexico, et cetera. And that's how it should be done. But no one's talking about that.

So this is what Newsom constantly does: he uses these national topics. Many times they're cultural, to create just a means by which he can put himself on the pedestal or the sockle, but then he never presents any. Pragmatic policy by which we can actually solve these problems. Right. I think it's also important to bring out that he really has no ideas, but the last thing he wants to talk about is his own track record.

Can you give everybody an idea? I know his approval rate is like 42% or 43% in California. What kind of governor has he been for the last seven years? It's been awful. And the reason it's been awful is because he hasn't attempted to pull together some sort of a bipartisan majority, right?

And by that, I mean a bipartisan majority. He's basically accepted the fact that there's this galvanized supermajority amongst the Democrats, and he's used that to try and collect more and more power and pass through all of these insane bills, which has actually destroyed California.

So, you know, he wants to talk to the other side, and he's gone on these podcasts. I mean, that's all conjecture. He's not really legislating in that manner. He's not listening to his constituents. Right.

In terms of the homelessness, it's been. I mean, yeah, you can go down the list. I mean, it's the homelessness, it's the crime. I mean, right now, and then we obviously. We pass a new proposition in which they get rid of Prop 47.

He says, Oh, we don't have enough money to fund it. It's going to take $300 million, but yet now he's funding. What is Prop 47?

Well, Prop 47 was where they said that anything under $900, if you stole anything $900 or under, it would be a misdemeanor and not a felony. You deny that was taking place, by the way. Yes, and that is what was ultimately the catalyst behind the explosion of crime in California. And then he took away a lot of power from all the local jurisdictions to be able to put people in jail, right? He let everybody out of the jails.

This is a fact. He shut private prisons down. And then, furthermore, when it came to the homeless epidemic in California, he disallowed cities to be able to take homeless people off the streets. He created all these layers of regulations so that you actually couldn't clean your cities up unless you were incredibly creative or you had some sort of a majority like we do to be able to clean up homelessness. And then that ultimately perpetuates crime.

It's the broken windows theory. Right now, there is no homeless problem in Huntington Beach. Why? Two reasons.

Well, a couple reasons, actually, beyond two, but primarily, number one, we built a shelter within the city because, by state law, you can't just throw people off the streets unless you have a place to put them.

So we built a shelter called the NAV Center in Huntington Beach where we can get people in there and try and cycle them through recovery or get them into county facilities so that then they can perpetuate that recovery. In the event they end up back on the streets, then you are allowed to arrest them and put them into another shelter outside of the city, number one.

So we took it upon ourselves to create that solution. And then, number two, we passed various city ordinances disallowing people from camping on streets, sleeping on sidewalks, sleeping in parks, because we all came together and that's what the residents want. And in many cases, we had pushback by the state on so many things that we're doing within the city. We're getting pushed back by the state and being sued on multiple fronts. But the thing is, we're doing it, we're pushing forward.

And because of that, homelessness has dropped by 95 percent. Crime is down to virtually nothing. And we've got a clean, safe, good-looking city.

So it's just interesting, too, because the other backdrop. It's been over a year since the fires. uh where uh it turns out Los Angeles never thought they would need water. and an effective fire chief and a mayor that wasn't in Ghana. And it seems as though they're using the ICE, the the ICE operations in the city to whitewash that.

But what's the reality for the people of the Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Altadena? The reality is that they're still destroyed financially and obviously physically. You can go and look at the photos. None of the money that they claim they have raised to help these people have been distributed to the people, which is classic California, right? Tons of money comes in, and it's like a game of Plinko.

What can actually distill down to the people who need it? Virtually nothing. And then the fraud. I mean, Spencer Pratt's been out there talking about this every single day. The fraud that went into these situations where, like, fire aid is just one example, right?

Hundreds of millions of dollars. Nobody actually got it. The recovery, not happening. You mean they did that fire aid. They did that big concert with the who's who of celebrities and musicians and the money, we can't find it.

Yeah, it's all vanity. That's what it comes down to. Nobody's actually there to help. And that's why what we did was we said within the first three days of the fire, we go, we know that the government's not going to be there to help, so we're going to step up to do that when we partner with the Dream Center. We ended up raising over $700,000, and you know what?

We gave away $800,000.

So we actually went above and beyond what we ultimately raised.

Now, a lot of that was also in food and supplies, goods, and services through the Dream Center. But the private industry. Is much better and more efficient at helping people. The government just doesn't care, and people need to realize that. Charlie Kirk, did you know him?

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, just by virtue of being on his show, I didn't know him really well. Your thought when you were looking at. The thousands they gathered, they said over 200,000 in and around the stadium where they usually host Super Bowls in the aftermath since you made your event last night.

Well, I think that this is a testament to how deep his influence was, especially on the younger generation. The younger generation of engaged citizens are actually good at pulling people together, older generations as well. And I think that's what's important: nobody realized how deep his influence was and the effect that this was going to have. And, you know, to use the cliché, this is a turning point, and we're seeing it. And I think that a lot of people on the left are actually afraid of this because they don't realize that this isn't going away.

It's only getting stronger, and people have woken up. And people, that whole word woke, that they woke up. I think that the policies of the left have helped fuel Charlie Kirk's movement because people hated the cancel culture, that woke philosophy, that sense that the gender lack of identity on gender or acknowledgement to the differences.

So he passes away, and there's a few people that just can't turn off the hate and the mischaracterization, one of which is Tahisi Coates. Listen to him on the Ezra Klein Show. I believe it was yesterday, Cut 23. Charlie Kirk was a hate monger. I take no joy.

in the killing of anyone, no matter what they said. But if you asked me what the truth of his life was, You know, um and the truth of his public life I would have to tell you it's hate. I would tell you, I'd have to tell you it is the usage of hate and the harnessing of hate. towards political ends. Then let me flip that question actually a bit.

Why are we losing? And he goes on from there. Ezra Klein wrote that book about how to basically recalibrate the left and how they basically all they want to do is complain and they don't have any programs for a different time. But does that surprise you? It doesn't surprise me because, as you said, all they're operating from is a position of hate.

He has no examples by which he can prove that point. These are all just kind of worthless virtues that he throws out there. And they're not even virtuous at all, but they consider them to be virtuous. He says that he was a hate monger, but all he spoke about, everything that he talked about, came through the prism of his faith, right? Thousands and thousands of years of biblical evidence proving the love that he was actually promoting.

But he was having conversations which could be difficult because they buck against the norm. But he was using objective facts to make his points. There was no way in which he was targeting somebody's personal being in order to hurt them or to kind of hurt their movement. It was just about facts. But they don't operate from that perspective.

And that's why he couldn't give any examples there. In addition, the fact that Klein didn't even give him any pushback. Right. And he didn't. And if I want to listen to the whole thing, but for the most part, he walks on water, does Coates, because they feel as though he's the deep thinker of the next generation who believes America, the 1619 Project, is his ethos.

Thankfully, we move past that. Don't you feel like we always talk about the things that are disheartening? But Andrew, you've been coming on the show for a few years now. I mean, if you were to come in 2022, we weren't seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with this political correctness. What is a woman?

We almost laugh about it now. But now, huge pushback about trans people in women's sports. In fact, you have now Minnesota being sued by the federal government for ignoring that proclamation. It used to be the other way around. How dare you not let that trans guy into the locker room to get dressed in front of your daughter?

That's where we're at. Yeah, I've always had faith in the American people and kind of their inherent pragmatism.

So I knew that ultimately the pendulum was going to swing. It just took some time. And it took some big, bold voices to just stand up and say, guys, really? Are we going to let this happen? And then people felt more comfortable coming out of the woodwork and saying, yeah, it's insane.

You know, but it took those bold voices. And there are many of those bold voices that were perhaps considered a little bit on the left or kind of in that moderate lane who have come out and said, yeah, this is nuts. I mean, J.K. Rowling, even coming out and saying this.

Now, I'm not saying that she's some virtuoso voice on the right anymore. I mean, she's probably still considered to be somewhat on the left. But the thing is, she came out with that reality, that reason. And we're not using logic and reason. Logic and reason actually dispels politics.

And sometimes we do need to step off of that spectrum and just look at things through a reasonable lens. I always say it's not conservative, liberal, it's sense against nonsense. It's common sense against nonsense. And Bill Maury even said it over the weekend. And when you talk about liberals, like, why can you, if you have a great liberal mind, you just say, well, that person, I don't agree with him, but man, good thinker.

I know they want to back up their school of thought. I don't know who you want to use as an example, but Bill Maher sits down for, I think, two hours with Charlie Kirk. He said, I found the guy really interesting, doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, extremely God-fearing. Bill Maher is a famous. Uh atheist.

And he's like, I like the guy. And it's just a tragedy. I just don't understand why other people can't see this as a tragedy. Unfortunately, they don't have that moral compass against which they kind of guide themselves. That's really what it's come down to.

Over the past, I think, 10 or 20 years, there's been this slow destruction of any kind of norm from a fundamental perspective in which we operate, right? As I say it again, that North Star, that moral North Star, that's gone away. And it's gone away because of the incrementalism. People are like, oh, we're just going to make this little change. It's no big deal.

All these little changes have added up and ripped people away from kind of the roots that America was built upon hundreds of years ago. Yeah, so I guess we'll see where this goes because we come up in year 250. I think America's ready to celebrate it, although I'm not too thrilled with they just ousted their leader who used to work here, who is going to organize all these things. Evidently, it's a bipartisan council, which is heavily Biden-oriented. As you look at this, as you look at this lockout, when you go back to work 3,000 miles away, is this going to affect you at all?

750,000 federal workers. I mean, I don't know because we hear about these shutdowns, it feels like every couple months now. And what's ultimately the effect? I mean, when they shut it down, when Obama was in office, they made a big deal about it, but we didn't really see anything.

Now, I do feel for the people who are stressing out right now who work for the federal government. That's an honest reality. We've got the Pacific Air Show coming up in Huntington Beach this weekend, and are we going to not be able to have the full litany of planes because of the federal Blue Angels or what have you that are ultimately under the federal purview?

So there's going to be a lot of ways in which this is affected. But I think that the. Congresspeople and senators, they should lose pay during this shutdown. Senator Rick Scott proposed that bill. They should not get paid during the lockdown.

They're going to get it back. Everyone's going to get their pay. There's going to be back pay. And it's going to be a vacation. Your real life and your thoughts about inflation when you go to buy your food.

Are you raising your prices still or at a slower rate? We are at a slower rate. In California, we are going to raise them a little bit higher than if I was in Florida, for example, because of a lot of the state-mandated labor changes. But no one was talking, but you were. What is it per hour now?

Well, they are pushing now in Los Angeles, it is going to be $25, $26 an hour for hotel and hospitality workers during the Olympics. For us in Huntington Beach, it is $17 an hour mandatory as the minimum. But keep in mind, that's even for tipped workers.

So if you are making another $70 an hour in tips and you are making $87 an hour, the restaurant is paying full payroll taxes on those tips, as is the team member. In San Diego now, it is $25 an hour.

So even local city councils are pushing it all the way up to $25 an hour. And that's not realistic. And actually, even if you are arguing for the living wage, if you look at the MIT living wage calculator, sometimes it is lower, and you don't even take into consideration, once again, the tips that they are making and the fact that we are paying full taxes on the tips.

So as for inflation, no, I'm not worried about it because it has come down. In 2021 and 2022, it was upwards around 25%. It ultimately dropped down into the single digits. But we were getting hit so hard that actually purveyors were increasing their prices in the 50% range, thinking it was going to go up another 20% year on year.

So we've seen them come down.

So it's kind of balancing. It's still going up, but it's balancing. Right. And we'll see where we go because we got to get our farmers taken care of too. Andrew Gruhl, chef founder of Slapfish and also Huntington Beach City Council member while raising four children in California.

You like challenges. Andrew, thanks so much. Great to see you. Thanks for having me. Back in a moment.

Don't go anywhere. and Kilmead will be right back. I'm Dana Perino. This week on Perino on Politics, I am joined by Executive Vice President at Targeted Victory, Matt Gorman. Listen and follow now at FoxNewsPodcast.com or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kill Me Show. It is not normal to shut down the government when we don't get what we want. If the government shuts down, it will be average Americans who suffer most. A government shutdown means seniors who rely on Social Security could be thrown into chaos.

Families will be hurt. Farmers will be hurt. It's the service members who will work without a paycheck. It's the firefighters who will be furloughed. This shutdown, you know who's gonna feel the pain?

You know who it hurts? You, everyday people, and the most vulnerable. seniors, veterans, working families, hungry kids, y'all. That is the loop that's running in front of Speaker Johnson's office of Democrats in the past trying to blame Republicans for. shutdown.

And that we're in the middle of a shutdown, they have an exact opposite. Point of view. We'll see what's going to happen. I think it's going to be shut down at least through the weekend until they come back on Monday. Although the vice president did tell us this morning on Fox and Friends that he said that there's a chance that this thing doesn't last through the weekend because they might come back and have a vote to start things up again.

Remember, it already passed through the House, so it was up to the Senate to get 60 votes just to fund the government until I think November 21st. I'm pretty sure that's the date. At which time they're supposed to do things regular order. Uh we'll see. Unfortunately, this is the storyline.

I mean, we've done so many shows like this. We'll bring you the latest and talk about how the president might take advantage of this, only having an executive branch that's working. You listen to the Brian Kilme show. Go to BrianKilme.com, find out how to get tickets to see me in Potts Town, Pennsylvania. From Hia Top, Fox News Headquarters.

in New York. York City. Always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kilmer. Hey, over there, it's the Brian Kilmy Joe coming to you from 48th and 6th in Midtown Manhattan.

This hour, we're going to be joined by Carl Rove. He's just about ready to join us. Michael Wadley, the GOP North Carolina Senate candidate. He ran the GOP, did a fantastic job by all accounts. I know his temperament was perfect and his plan was great.

And now he wants to take his talents, borrowing LeBron's term, to North Carolina. And it's going to be a tough race against a Democratic governor who's. Roy Cooper, who's semi-popular.

So we'll see how that goes. And we're following events in Washington as we're in the middle of another government shutdown. We had a press conference from Republican leadership and also with Democratic leadership. I know the Republicans are going to leave town, I think, tonight.

So I don't think we're going to get anything reopened unless somebody breaks until Monday, the earliest.

So let's get to the big three. Number three. I think Donald Trump is going through the stages of grief. I think the first stage was denial. that we could ever be on the precipice of winning this race.

I think the stage that he has now reached is somewhat of acceptance. That is Zoran Mamdani, New York Mayor's race, and New Jersey's governor's contest has a national need and feel to it. Both races are intensifying. Zoran Mamdani leads this party, but it looks like they could be consolidating around one of his opponents.

Meanwhile, on the left in New Jersey, Mikey Sheryl's running into a myriad of roadblocks as she thought she'd coast to winning the governorships not so fast. Number two. This is the biggest crowd Turning Point USA has ever pulled on a tour. There's over 6,500 people here today. A lot of people wait.

until they're called to do something. before they stand up to defend something. But Charlie didn't. That was Alex Clark and Congressman Andy Biggs. The record crowd at TPUSA, almost 7,000, as Charlie Kirk's group returns to Utah about two hours from where he was assassinated.

We'll talk about it. Number one. We were hoping, praying that the Democrats would not take this dramatic step, and they have. Let's be clear what happened last night. 44 Senate Democrats rejected a clean, nonpartisan, continuing resolution to keep the government operating.

Yep, and that is what happened. And it looks like they only got 55 votes that they needed, 60. Government shutdown.

Now, both sides scrambled to explain their points of view. Let's bring in Carl Rove. Carl, when you were with President. Bush, during those eight years, how many shutdowns did you guys have? Uh None of any consequence that I can remember.

I mean, we really only had in the history of the country three government shutdowns. that lasted more than a couple of hours or maybe a day. And uh this one's gonna last. I mean uh The Democrats are stuck. They're stuck for the wrong reason.

After proclaiming for years we ought to pass clean, continuing resolutions to keep the government open, they're now saying no, we can't because we hate Donald Trump. But that's not a good reason. Right. And they keep talking about, well, we need health care. We need to restore these benefits on health care that's coming up not into November, December.

But that's part of the Big Beautiful bill that passed, trying to bring back some of those subsidies during the pandemic and trying to make sure people are qualified in order to get Medicaid and Medicare.

So they're trying to make that the issue they're running on in the midterms. Can you see that plan in place?

Well, look, let's be clear. Clear about this. These were. Subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, that we did in the middle of COVID. because we had a national emergency and we wanted to make certain that people had access to health care.

and health insurance. And the subsidies The Democrats could have done, you know, with Biden in office, they could have sought to continue them beyond the legislatively mandated end to those COVID. Uh era uh a subsidies, which is the end of this year, but they didn't.

So well first of all, COVID's gone. And can we afford three hundred fifty billion dollars of additional subsidies for the Affordable Care Act that were not envisioned in the original Act and which were passed by a Democrat Congress and a Democratic President or excuse me, a Republican President and a And the Congress in the middle of COVID as an emergency measure. Look, I mean, these people want any excuse to keep spending money we don't have. And Uh not only that, but they don't these several Subsidies do not expire until the end of the year. What the Republicans said was Pass the continuing resolution to keep the government open and will negotiate with you on whether or not to extend some or all of these subsidies.

And there are some Republicans, particularly from rural areas in the Midwest, who think these are important to the maintenance of their local hospitals.

So rather than try and sit down and discuss with their colleagues a compromise, they said, Hell no, we want it our way or it's the highway, and the highway leads directly to a government shutdown. I hear you. Here's what Chuck Schumer said: cut 12. Their bill, they call it clean, we call it totally partisan. There was no input from Democrats.

Not a single line in their bill had input from Democrats. They never consulted us. Thun didn't consult me. Johnson didn't consult Hakeem. And the bottom line is that we had a partisan bill.

Is this maddening? The continuing resolutions of partisan bill? Yay! Chuck Jr. Hypocrite.

You you passed Continuing resolution after continuing resolution that was, quote, clean. That is to say, you didn't take any input from the Republicans. And the Republicans, some of them voted for the continuing resolution to keep the government open. Stop being a hypocrite. We know why you're doing this.

You're doing this because you're worried about a primary challenge in 2028 from AOC, and you're getting heat from the far left-wing groups in your party. But, buddy, things are starting to work against you. You had three Democrats vote with the Republicans to keep the government open, and you got three other Democrats who are retiring-you know, Peters of Michigan, Shaheen. You know, you got three more Democrat senators who are leaving the Congress and who may say, you know what, I'm going to put my country above Chuck Schumer's favorable rating with left-wing groups. I mean, come on, buddy.

Do what's right for the country. You know what's interesting, Carl?

Sometimes people have vitriolic personalities, abrasive personalities, and they might be good leaders. You have two leaders on the Republican side, and they're just measured. They might be people more from business. They're not going to yell, they're not going to scream, they're not going to accuse. And it's hard to put them in a box of being irresponsible or irrational.

That's just not the way Thorne and Johnson present themselves. Don't you think that helps the Republican cause? Yes, absolutely. Both of them are sensible, reasonable people. Thun has said more than once, happy to sit down and negotiate with you, but we're not going to do it with a gun to our head that you're going to vote against keeping the government open.

And just one correction. In the intro, you said Congress is leaving town. The House is leaving town. The Senate is staying in because the House has passed a clean, continuing resolution. The Senate can take it up, continue to take it up.

And I think Thune is right to say, you know what? We're going to periodically, during this period where the government is closed, we're going to call the Senate into order and we're going to vote again to see if people really want to do, you know, see the damage being done to our government and to our reputation for financial excellence by having the government, our U.S. government, is the biggest government. Company, if you think about it, in the world, the biggest enterprise in the world. And we do not have a budget in place by the beginning of our fiscal year.

And then we shut it down because Chuck Schumer, after being an advocate for clean, continuing resolutions, now is against clean, continuing resolutions. It's just. Sickening how he's treating our country. All right, I'm an outsider. I look at this and I say, okay, you got to get this done by September.

You have to get all your appropriations done, 12, and then you got to put them up for a vote, like through committees, right? Then you got to put them up for a vote, and you hopefully wait for the Senate in committee.

So they passed almost all of them. Three passed through a joint session. The Senate's only done three.

So obviously, they don't have enough time. That's why they need the continuing resolution. I I know these guys need days off, but why are they taking August off? If you have a if you have a budget due in September, there's got to be some way to restructure your calendar. Am I right?

Yeah. Yes, yes, and no. Yes, they they everybody wants to get out of Washington in August. But the real issue is not August. The real issue is January, February, March, April, May, June, July.

And that is the time during which the appropriations process ought to work.

Now, Tom Cole, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, has done an outstanding job of trying to keep things moving in regular order. And the Senate appropriations chairman has been attempting to do the same. But the Democrats have been dragging their heels all year long. And the normal, all of the calcification of the system that has taken decades to come into place just doesn't, you know, means it's a very tough process. But You're right.

Three big bills got passed. They got passed on big bipartisan votes. They included things like the military, but the rest of the budget did not get done. Uh uh th they're but the but the problem is That the answer to that is not making the process more difficult, more partisan, and more dangerous to our country's economic health. I want to talk about what's happening in the New Jersey race for a governor.

Mikey Sherrill seems to have one major problem after another. Where did you get the $7 million worth of investment since you sat on armed services and invested in defense stocks? Charlemagne the God asks her. She has no answer. And then, when it turns out, she graduated from Military Academy, which is great and it's laudable.

It shows you had good grades and dedication. She didn't walk. Why? She's involved in a cheating scandal. Won't tell us why.

And then we know that Democrats, when Governor Christie was there, their energies were overflowing with oil and gas. They've changed all that by being a part of this consortium.

So Mikey Sherrill's asked about rising utility costs. Listen to her explanation: Cut 28. We're going to massively increase power generation in the state so we can drive down costs for families. We're going to update and modernize our natural gas infrastructure so we can get. More production.

From natural gas that also drive down carbon emissions. We're going to massively invest in solar. And battery storage, so that we can also prime in some of the cheapest power into our grid. But This is all democratic inflicted by Governor Murphy to keep them away from receiving what Pennsylvania and Ohio are receiving. Massachusetts and New York did the same thing.

Don't tell me you're going to freeze this stuff. You're just going to destroy the business. Yeah. Uh has she said openly You know, it was a mistake for our state to not have a pipeline to get low-cost natural gas from Pennsylvania that would power our power plants and allow utility costs to drop. No, she hasn't.

I don't know exactly, it sounds like she may be open to that, but that's not exactly what she said. And until the people of New Jersey understand that they will have access to a reliable, low-cost supply of natural gas from their neighbor. Then utility prices are not going to drop. The rest of this stuff is going to cost money. Does she think that solar and battery technology, which is in its infancy, is somehow going to solve the problem quickly?

I'll tell you what will solve it quickly, and that is getting a pipeline to the natural gas fields in Pennsylvania into New Jersey so that there's cheap charges. Cheaper natural gas available. And talk about that has been the thing that has been driving down. Carbon emissions in the United States. We're the only major industrialized country in the world which has reduced carbon emissions virtually every year, and we do it not by starving our economy, but we're relying upon clean natural gas in order to power our power plants.

So, do you think that Jack Chitterelli, they say it's an A-point lead? Emerson says a flat-footed tie, Fox says it's an A-point advantage for Cheryl. What are the percentages that you think he has of winning?

Well, I don't know because this is an off-year election, and the tendency in off-year elections. is for the party out of power, that is to say the party not having the White House, tends to get greater turnout among its supporters. And that's going to probably be even more problematic this year because the parties now have switched positions. It used to be. If you were a college-educated voter, you are more likely to be Republican.

and a non-college educated voter was likely to be a Democrat. That's now shifted. And now that that means that in the selection The new Republican coalition is less likely to turn out to vote because it is more dependent upon non-college educated voters. The question is whether the Republican gubernatorial candidate is running a campaign that recognizes this and is taking the steps to try and maximize turnout among the Republican base. I assume that he is.

He's been through this drill before and came damn close. Uh four years ago and uh The polls last time around didn't catch it. Did they has everybody adjusted their methodology to take that into account this time around? I don't know, but I suspect they have. It's going to be An uphill climb, but it's certainly not out of the question.

It's a lot to bite off in 90 seconds, but I'm going to try. Ambassador Khalazad, who worked with you guys, former born in Afghanistan, I think really screwed up the Doha agreement under Trump, outlined a pretty bad deal. But I like him as a guy. He just put this out on Twitter: Although Hamas cultivates a culture of martyrdom, its leaders very much want to survive the current war that they initiated and declare victory. Therefore, it is very likely they will accept the Trump peace plan.

Your thoughts about the 20 points that were released, the fact that Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan are among the Arab nations signed on to it. Your thoughts? Yeah, well, uh look, if it if If a boss doesn't accept it, th th th they're gonna things are going to get really difficult for them because I think Trump's President Trump's attitude is I've I've wasted a lot of time and energy and effort on it. You better agree. And look, you read the 20 points.

If he can pull this off, it will be one of the great steps forward in bringing about a more peaceful and prosperous Middle East. and and a a brighter future for the for the the people of Gaza. Because it will mean that they will be led not by people who are looking at them as fodder for terrorist attacks on. On uh on Israel and as and as you know basically a shield To protect them, the Hamas fighters, but they will be governed by people who want to have a more prosperous. any more free and more open.

Um Okay. life for them in Gaza. Yeah, I mean, it's very complicated. We could have two hours and still not cover it all. But, Carl, you had to deal with it back then.

You were there when they had the vote, and they voted Hamas to lead the Palestinians, and that was their biggest mistake ever. Gave them a shot.

So it's. It's hard to believe how much history you and I have had a chance to talk through. Carl Rolf, thanks so much. You bet. You got it.

All the best. Carl Rove, coming to us from Texas. Back in a moment. Wherever you are, I want to hear from you. And then Michael Watley at the bottom of the hour.

Big hour.

So glad you're here. Illuminating, intriguing, inculcating. I know some of these words. It's Brian Kilmead. The fastest three hours in radio.

You're with Brian Kilmead. We know that he's been on the phone with Andrew Cuomo. We know that he's been looking at polling. We know that this is of immense interest to him. And it's precisely of interest because he understands that while we may share a similarity in having diagnosed the crisis of a cost of living for working class Americans, what separates us is that we will actually deliver on our promises.

And that contrast will be one that is too great for Donald Trump to bear. That's a joke. And not only do I not believe that, as he's an avowed socialist who hates capitalism, he's going to freeze rents. When you freeze rents, does he ever have does he have a of a pen handy? When you freeze rents, well, who's going to pay the utility bill on that building?

Do you think they're gouging people on their rents? Do you think there's an unnatural profit to it? If you could turn around and say, these landlords are making, you know, they have these luxury apartments or they have these projects and they're charging people an arm and a leg for the people can't get in. But there's no proof that any of these landlords are making any type of exorbitant profits.

So when you do that, you're just going to drive them out of business or maybe. have those cities take over buildings. And we know that's a total disaster. And if you don't believe me, The head of the Democratic Committee. In New York.

Said, I agree that there's a problem with affordability, but I don't agree on how to fix it. And he says, I'm not a socialist, so I can't sign off on this stuff.

So that's why it came to Jeffreys and Senator Schumer. But this is going to be interesting because if Cuomo gets Eric Adams and Sleewa to back him, I'm not sure he does, or if Sleewood gets Eric Adams to back him, if they start chipping into that lead, because all the problematic things about Zorim Amdani, he is not solving any of them. He's not making people feel better about any of them, especially police officers. You got to basically beg people to go into the academy if this guy takes charge. Michael Watley, next.

The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmead. Donald Trump. and Republicans have shut down the federal government. Because they don't want to provide health care to working class Americans.

We also need a credible negotiating partner. Donald Trump is behaving in the most erratic an unserious fashion. That is Hakeem Jeffries. They've had one meeting. Uh um and I thought You know, they said they were very direct.

I didn't hear the fireworks that were around the Nancy Pelosi meeting from a few years ago in his first term famously with Chuck Schumer when they blew up at each other, I think, a couple of times in the Oval Office. But I guess they didn't like one of the social media posts that were out there. But for the most part, I think leadership. wants to handle this and they like to keep the Oval Office out of it. They feel as though this could be done on the On a different level.

Michael Watley joins us now. He ran the GOP, all that success in 2024. And now he wants to be the next senator and keep Tom Tillis' seat over in North Carolina. He is back. Michael, welcome.

It's good to be on with you, Brian. Michael, I know it's not your problem right now. Maybe it wasn't even when you're heading the RNC, but for the most part, we're in a government lockdown. Overall, this is embarrassing. But when you look at how this plays out politically, who's got the advantage?

Well, look, I think the fact that the Democrats have shut down the government versus a clean CR that the administration and Senate Republicans, House Republicans are trying to get done is absolutely ludicrous. The fact that they are actually shutting down the government right now because Republicans won't give illegal aliens health care is absolutely ludicrous. You know, $1.5 trillion in additional spending that the Democrats are demanding. They are holding hostage our soldiers. The men and women who are protecting our borders, the men and women who are working at veterans' fairs and taking care of our country right now are not getting paid because of a political stunt by the Democrats is shameless and reckless.

So, when you're now on the ground in North Carolina, one of the biggest stories a couple of weeks ago was that horrific story on mass transit when that criminal stood up after 14 separate convictions and stabbed that Ukrainian woman in the neck. Or stabbed her and she killed her in cold blood. What has happened since then in North Carolina? And how do you address that in your campaign?

Well, it's an absolute travesty that this guy was even on that car or on the streets of North Carolina. My opponent, Roy Cooper, when he was the governor, signed an executive order saying we need to reimagine law enforcement in North Carolina and setting up a cashless bail system, which allowed this guy to be on the streets after he had been arrested 14 different times. He should have never been on that car. He should not have been in a position to kill that young lady who all she did wrong was get on the wrong car and sit in the wrong seat. I called for the legislature to immediately go into session and pass legislation to roll back Roy Cooper's soft-on-crime policies.

And fortunately, they did. Within just two days, they were able to pass legislation. It is now sitting on Josh Stein's desk waiting for his signature. But we need to make sure that we're not going to have Roy Cooper's soft-on-crime policies that are letting violent criminals back on the streets. But Michael, if you're a senator, do you really have control with these city councils?

I mean, that's the frustration they have in New York.

Well, you certainly don't have direct control, but the fact is that, that we have levers in the federal government, and we also have the ability to continue to push. Right now, what President Trump has done out in California, Trying to quell the riots, what he's done in Washington, D.C., him going into Oregon right now in Memphis. You know, those are things that I support of trying to make sure that we keep our kids and our communities safe. You know, it's not just this particular instance, but we need all across North Carolina to protect our kids and our communities. And there are a lot of federal tools that we can make sure are available for the local governments and the state governments to avail themselves of.

So now that you're on the ground and it's been a few months that you declared yourself a candidate and left running the GOP to do this, what have you found? Out there, out and about. Are you working with Senator Tom Tillesy, outgoing Senator, about what the people of North Carolina need? I know you have a history there. You were congressman there.

Well, so look, I think what we're doing is going to all 100 counties. We are meeting with families. We're meeting with small business owners and farmers and manufacturers and talking about what it is that they need. Republicans have won in North Carolina, which is a purple state, because we listen to the voters, we understand the issues that they care about, and we put solutions on the table.

So now that's exactly what we are doing as we're traveling across the state. And what are you finding? Are you finding a state that number one is still in some sections still recovering from a hurricane? Yeah, certainly we are. You know, we just had the one-year anniversary for Hurricane Helene.

I was able to attend a number of different events to be able to celebrate that. I also brought the FEMA Review Council, which I'm a member of, into Asheville to have a conversation about making sure that the relief that Western North Carolina needs is getting there. Donald Trump, as president, has brought over $6.5 billion in relief to Western North Carolina. He is not going to forget the region. I'm not going to forget the region.

When we talk about the state as a whole, we know that we need policies that are going to create jobs and raise wages. We need trade policies that are going to help our farmers, our manufacturers, our small business owners. We need to keep our kids and communities safe. And we also need to support our military. The fact is, we have more men and women in uniform and veterans than any other state in the country.

And this reckless shutdown right now by Democrat leaders is putting all of them at jeopardy. We need to go back and get. get this shutdown over with.

So you mentioned the military. Secretary of War, Pete Hagseth, speaking about the new mission and the new focus, now that he's had the job for seven, eight months. Here's a little of that. Cut thirty four. To ensure peace.

We must prepare for war. From this moment forward, the only mission of the newly restored Department of War is this. Warfighting. Preparing for war and preparing to win.

So unrelenting and uncompromising in that Pursuit. How did this speech, forty five minutes long, I think flawlessly delivered, resonate with the military men and women active and inactive in North Carolina? It definitely did. You know, in North Carolina, we are the tip of the spear when it comes to protecting America's interests and allies around the world. And as a senator, I'm going to work very closely with President Trump, with Secretary Hexeth, and make sure that our men and women get what they need to carry out their mission.

So, I guess that's one of the big stories.

So, Senator Tom Tillis famously was against the Big Beautiful bill. Why do you guys differ so much on that? What didn't he understand?

Well, look, what I understand is that this bill extended the Trump middle-class tax cuts. It put in place no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime. It also had energy security, border security, and national security provisions that are very important for North Carolina. My opponent, Roy Cooper, said that he would have voted against that bill. I absolutely would have voted for it.

I'm going to fight every single day in North Carolina for our families, for our communities. And this bill is really, truly the tip of that agenda. And we need to continue to move forward with that America first agenda and put North Carolina first. And lastly, where we started. There's over 700,000 people who are going to get furloughed as we begin this shutdown, the first full day of this shutdown of the federal government.

I want you to hear what President Trump said, cut one. We're not shutting it down. We don't want it to shut down because we have the greatest period of time ever. I told you, we have 17 trillion dollars being invested.

So the last person that wants it to shut down is us now. With that being said, We can do things during the shutdown. that are irreversible. that are bad for them and irreversible by them. Like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like.

So Do you look for that to happen with the OMB director?

Well, look, what I think is that this shutdown is absolutely reckless. I think it's absolutely irresponsible. President Trump right now is leading the most transformational term in American history. It is a shame that my opponent, Roy Cooper, supports Chuck Schumer in this shutdown and supports the Democratic agenda, which is going back to the same failed Agenda that they ran on in 2024, which is open borders, inflationary spending, and a weak America. What we need to do is put the government back to work and make sure that it is defending our interests, our allies, our kids, and our communities all across the country.

What's your plan, Michael? You got till next November, right? And that's when this is up.

So you got just over a year to go. What's your game plan?

Well, North Carolina is a very big state. We've got 100 counties. As the state party chair, I made sure to go to all 100 counties every year. We're going to continue that pace. We're going to get out there and have this conversation about the fact that I am going to be a conservative voice in the Senate.

I'm going to be an ally for President Trump in the Senate. And my opponent, Roy Cooper, has said that he will oppose President Trump at every turn. He will oppose the America First Agenda, and he will support Chuck Schumer as he is shutting down the government and taking steps every day against North Carolina's interests. Who's going to take your old job at the RNC? Who's running it now?

Yeah, Joe Gruyters, who is a former chair from Florida, an absolutely rock-solid state senator down there. He was the Florida chair and is absolutely 100% supportive of President Trump and his agenda. All right, Michael Wadley, best of luck. It's going to be a tough year, but I know you know a lot about tough fights. Thanks for your time today on a beautiful North Carolina day in the backdrop.

Yes, sir. Take care, Brian. I am jealous that you're outdoors. All right, we're going to come back and wrap up this hour and maybe squeeze it. Yeah, squeeze in some calls: 1-866-408-7669.

Don't move. It's Brian Killmeade. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin. It's Brian Killmead. The words that Donald Trump used today.

Enemy from within. That's Hitler-esque. That is right out of Nazi Germany. That is not constitutional speech. That is not the speech that we stand for in this country where we believe in the rule of law.

Uh and and the uh the uh the way that he talks about cities. that cities are full of his enemies. Why? Because they voted for Democrats. No, they didn't.

It's not that they voted for Democrats. Are you kidding me? That they're taking over cities. They're going after federal buildings. He's talking about Portland, Oregon.

That was a major a major general you never heard of. William Einart, it was on another channel. But again, I don't know why people feel as though they gotta use Nazi Germany to example for anything except for when you're doing a World War II documentary. It's crazy. It's amazing the perception.

Now, I was doing the show and the turn president's remarks, and it lasted a while, but I heard all Pete Hegset's remarks and nothing I love the I love the forget about political correctness, we gotta go win wars again. Ken, living in Brooksville, Florida. Hey, Ken. How you doing, Brian? Yeah, I just wanted to get the word out.

Tom Price, who was my congressman, the Sixth District of Georgia, he offered amendments to President Obama fifteen years ago to make Obamacare market competitive in every single county, every single city, every Great. All the masks I called talked to Price back in December. I'm trying to get the word to Speaker Johnson. My Congressman is Gus Billarragas. I'm trying to get the word out.

We've got to get Obamacare tuned up to be everything Tom Price was trying to do because it would have made it market competitive. It would have been great. They didn't want to have any year from it. And then Republicans just bowed out of it and tried to stop it and tried to rescind it. And now it's just a fact of life.

But the deductibles are way too high. The courage is not great. And so their answer is to flood more money into it, Ken. And anytime people want to try to straighten it out, like you're recommending we do in a fiscally responsible way, they say you're taking away health care from seniors or from people with disabilities.

So most Republicans go, Yeah, let's just leave this alone, not this president. And not these guys.

So that's why Democrats are going back to it. They're trying to say you don't care about people.

Well, you care because Trump's a billionaire.

So you only care about billionaires.

So we're going to go fight for people. And that's what they're going to run on. They're using the shutdown to do it. Good memory, though, on Tom Price. Sandra in New Jersey.

Hey, Sandra. Good. Almost afternoon, Brian. I just want you to know I love your show every Sunday night. Thank you.

You're welcome. You know, I'm building more resentment every day. I see people, more and more people in my neighborhood wearing. outfits where their faces are Totally covered except for their eyes. I understand that's for religious reasons, and I say it's okay.

When I see on T V riots going on and they're wearing masks, And then they give our ICE agents a hard time because they're wearing masks to protect their face, to protect their their families and and and they're doing what they're doing to help us safety. I mean, it's just I resent the double standard that they're putting on us. You just reminded me, too. I just don't understand. You heard Chip Roy yesterday.

He says there's different places in Texas where Sharia law is being implemented. That happened in London. I said it would never happen here. I had no idea it was that serious. I've seen different clips, but it's time for us to get on top of that.

Appreciate it, Sandra, for the heads up.

Meanwhile, I do want to talk about this before we go. You know, the President's battling with these Ivy League universities to straighten them out and stop with the anti-Semitism. The ultimate goal would be to diversify their faculty.

So kids in political science and history will get at least a point of view that doesn't hate America, that has a conservative, especially when it comes to politics. And so you're balancing out. Willingly, you don't want government picking out the teachers and professors, I know, but there's something radical has to be done.

So what he's doing is he's working out deals with all these Ivy League and these other institutions to take if you want your money back for any of these studies. Any your grants? You got to do certain things. I love the deal that's about to be done with Harvard. Get this.

Harvard has reached a tentative deal with the administration to restore their $2.4 billion in frozen federal funds in exchange for Harvard setting up putting $500 million aside to launch and operate trade schools. Ending the clash between the administration as well as the discrimination. I think that goes without saying. I love this because the other story which is in Politico today And I saw multiple places: Ford is told to expand their plants, and AI wants to expand their plants. You know what they don't have?

They don't have pipe fitters, they don't have plumbers, and they don't have electricians. These are traits.

Now I know people prove everyone told everyone to learn to code and program and no one really foresaw, I guess, on a big level the roll in of Uh the the AI trend, uh this boom that's happening. But I love this. This is a practice. Instead of saying, here's $500 million, give it back to the government. It's a fine.

I love saying we want to put this towards trade programs.

Now as they try to br land the plane in UCLA, I know there's people that want to do it. They want to work at a deal. I think they're asking for a billion dollars. Maybe they could do something very similar out in California. where a lot of first generation immigrants are great with their hands.

But what if you train others who don't really love the books, but now have a great school set up by, let's say, the California college system, a trade school, That you get the top-notch people, top-notch facilities, and then you begin to flood the market as we begin to bring manufacturing back. I love that idea. Listen to Trump, Cut 42.

Now this is something that we're close to finalizing, we haven't done it yet. But they'd put up $500 million. Interest and everything else would go to. that account, meaning go to the trade school. And it's a big investment in trade school, done by very smart people.

And then their sins are forgiven.

So we have a a good chance of getting that close. And I think it's going to happen. And this Secretary of Education, where I thought, Linda McMahon, it's kind of a job that they're going to look to get rid of and marginalize. You're probably not going to hear much from her. Man, is it totally opposite?

Whether they're helping to restore the American Indian names on schools and in sports teams, or whether it's trying to bring off and improve elementary education. And now we know what she's doing with higher education. And I love the way she stays steady. Not angry, not happy, this is the deal, get it done.