The Brian Kilmeade Show

From high atop Fox News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kilmead. Hi, everyone.

So glad you're there. It's the Brian Kilmead show closing out a very, very busy week. We know the president had a big announcement last night about Trump RX discount drugs coming your way. Got a website for it. I know people are slow to understand it, but he's through an executive order.

He's bringing down the price of drugs. The guy does so much every day, it's hard to keep up. But there's also a lot going on, too. He's playing a role in almost every major story. Not going to the Super Bowl this year.

We'll talk a little bit about the Super Bowl today. Obviously, the big game on Sunday in San Francisco.

So before we get to our first guest, Congressman and a good friend of ours, Congressman August Fluger, the Republican Study Group Chair, who's got a big announcement about an agenda for 2026. Let's get to the big three. Number three. If we confront a situation where there's a DHS shutdown, it's because Republicans will basically have decided they don't want ICE to be held accountable. Oh, what's wrong with him?

Cruising to a shutdown. Why? Why I say no as the Dems make insane demands of ICE. I'm going to bring you the details. Number 10.

The President has obviously been quite clear in his demands of the Iranian regime. Zero nuclear capability is something he's been very explicit about, and he wants to see if a deal can be struck. High impact talks in Oman, Iran versus the U.S. Why I think we are a week away from an attack which will change the Middle East for generations. Number one.

We start to look at what the deadlines were in the note. First, I think was five o'clock today. And it had a second deadline after that.

So we are continuing in a normal kidnapping case. There would be contact by now. Search for Savannah Guthrie's mom is in critical hours. As it seems, the ransom letter sent to the TMZ is considered authentic. At least that's the way the investigators are handling it.

The problem is, there's no way to execute any type of deal. They just want the money. In terms of a proof of life, they don't seem receptive.

So we'll follow that story. The president has kindly weighed in and said anything you need, and the FBI is definitely helping out. Let's put that on hold for now and go to Congressman August Fluger. Welcome back, Congressman. Brian, great to be with you.

Thanks for having me this morning. First off, can I ask you about this whole shutdown? Can you break it down for us? You got five days to come up with some type of compromise on the Department of Homeland Security, yet The ICE and Border Patrol is funded substantially by the team. It's like $70 billion.

So, what could, what are Democrats? Cutting off.

Well, Democrats have they're not good faith actors on this. We left a week and a half ago with the deal, a negotiated bipartisan deal. By the way, the continuing resolution that we're operating under right now is actually more funding than they agreed to. Body cams was part of that agreement, and they kind of choose not to pick that. But look, they're saying the quiet part out loud.

They want to abolish ICE. They want to dox these agents. As you just played in your lead up to this conversation, they want to hold ICE accountable. I want to hold illegal immigrants accountable.

So they're in a dangerous spot. Obviously, The four years under Joe Biden were just horrific, letting millions of people in. But we're going to protect our ICE agents and prevent them from having to be doxxed and their kids and their families being threatened. The issue of masks is for their safety.

So, this is going to be, I think, a fight where we just fundamentally disagree with law and order. We saw that under Biden. It's playing out now in this deal. And we've got about a week and a half, as you mentioned, a little over a week to come up with a negotiation. Here's what Jeffrey said: Cut 19.

If we confront a situation where there's a DHS shutdown, It's because Republicans will basically have decided that they don't mind shutting down FEMA or Coast Guard or TSA. Because they don't want ICE to be held accountable, and they don't want ICE. To be forced to conduct themselves like every other law enforcement agency in the country.

So, I guess he wants the masks off. He wants their names on the uniforms. He wants a judicial warrant before any action is taken. These are just some of the things that, and body cameras.

So, and the judicial warrants are never going to happen. They could put numbers on. If you want to put an ID number on a uniform, maybe that could be done. But the masks are because of people like him who vilified ICE agents, and now they're getting doxxed and attacked as their families are being jeopardized. They're like they're from people like Governor Waltz, who says, go out into the streets and obstruct operations and take your cameras and your video cameras and film them and put them into databases, assuming that they're doing something illegal.

This all goes back to sanctuary cities not complying with the law, standing in the way of law and order. We have people on the Homeland Security Committee in the House of Representatives who have said they want to abolish ICE. That's the committee that is supposed to protect our country from another 9-11 attack, which is why I am there. That's the job I am there to do. And oh, by the way, Democrats shut down the government for nothing for 43 days.

So they're the ones that are going to impact TSA, air traffic control. It's not just ICE, it's border patrol, it's so many other functions throughout DHS. But at the end of the day, DHS is there to protect us. From another terrorist attack like we saw at 9-11, we're coming up on 25 years ago. Have we forgotten how horrific that was?

Also, have they forgotten, too, that you guys actually did things on regular order after that shutdown? You guys should be given tremendous credit for that. They knew it. You had compromises that came out of committees. The appropriations bills came out of the House.

They went into the Senate. And then after the shooting in Minneapolis, the second one, they decided to make the stand here. I just think that they're on some level, and I know this sounds terrible, Democrats know the only way to slow the economy down is to have another shutdown because we paid a price in our economic forecast, let alone the numbers that weren't produced. Do you think that they say to themselves that we could benefit in November if we shut them down in February? I think so.

This is the only tactic that they can stop the things that we are doing legislatively, what the president needs to get signed into law. And this is really their only avenue. Of course, they're going to take some arrows for it. But I think from their base, I mean, look at the New Jersey special election. They've got another socialist that's leading in those polls.

This is the kind of people that they're electing who want nothing more but to destroy the American dream. I want to see families succeed. Democrats want to use them as leverage. I want to see security and prosperity. Democrats want to give away free stuff and basically take from everybody else in the country.

So we just fundamentally don't agree with the far left. They're very far off from what this country was established to do.

So a lot of people ask me, okay, what are Republicans going to do that to have these slim majorities for at least another eight months, nine months?

So I know about the SAFE Act and trying to get our election integrity up to par, like, for example, with ID. But you're working on something else. Could you tell me about it?

Well, you bet. And I support the SAFE Act, and I support the SAFE America Act. I mean, we absolutely should have a citizenship requirement and voter ID when you go to the polls. You're kidding me. You can get a Venmo account with, you have to use ID for that, but you don't have to do it to go vote.

So, yes, I support all those, but I'm hopeful. The Reconciliation 2.0 Making the American Dream More Affordable Again plan that I've released through the Republican Study Committee centers on three things. It's healthcare, it's housing, and it's energy to lower those costs. We have good policy. It fits in with things like Trump RX, where you have transparency and competition direct to consumer.

You know exactly what the cost of that drug is, and you pay that cost. You know exactly what the cost of the plan is, and you pay that cost. No more insurance companies taking it away from you. Let's do things where we get more supply on the housing market. We lower the age of the first-time homebuyer from 41 years old, which is just a Just way too old.

Let's get that down to where a new family can buy a home.

So, anyways, it's exciting. We've got a lot of momentum behind this. It only requires 51 votes in the Senate. That is the key because it seems like Democrats are just dug in in a place where they want to shut down everything. This offers us the chance to expand on the success of what we did in one big, beautiful bill, which people are feeling those results right now.

They're seeing more money back in their pockets. We're going to keep it going.

So, give me an idea, for example, in this bill. How are you attacking housing? You're about 4 million houses short, right? Three. We've got a couple of ideas.

Number one, let's say you want to put a down payment on a house. You save, and that is tax-free into some sort of account that looks like an IRA where you're not hit with taxes on it, and you can use that for that down payment. Secondly, maybe you own some rental homes. You're 65 years old. You don't want to pay capital gains taxes.

Why don't we supercharge the economy and give a two or three year moratorium on capital gains taxes if you sell that to a first-time home buyer? There's a lot of ideas on how to make that marketplace more accessible and more affordable. And really, it is about affordability. Let's live the American dream. Let's take care of families.

That's what this bill is all about.

So, looking at what's happening in Texas when that state race was won by a Democrat first time in decades in a. In a race the president in a district the president won by 17 points. And you look at what's what's happening in Texas in particular. They say you're losing the Hispanic support, which was part of the reason why you did the gerrymandering. What can you do to win that back?

Or do you not believe the polls? But Brian, I think this was an anomaly, but communication is key. What Republicans have done. To secure our country and to put our economy onto a better glide path, we've done great work. There is more to do, and we have to communicate.

And I'll give the Democrats credit. You know, they'll find one issue and it's emotional, and they make up this story, and they're not afraid to, you know, just say outright lie about some of the issues that they're talking about. We have to do a better job of communicating. Our Hispanic population in Texas is conservative. They are pro-life.

They believe in the Second Amendment and they want freedom. We have to continue the gains of last year, especially in the economy, which is why making the American Dream affordable again, this reconciliation plan is so important. Let's do some good conservative work to get back into that economic space where we know we have a better policy. I'm talking to, by the way, Chairman August Fluger.

So, Congressman. Why don't you give me an idea?

So, for the longest time, we were told if you're tough on the border, the message to Hispanic is negative.

So, you should change the way Republicans message on the border. That turned out not to be true. In comes Donald Trump and blew that up. He got huge Hispanic support. Do you believe that Hispanic support is dropping because of the aggressive nature of ICE, which is begin to, you know, like Congressman Tony Gonzalez has indicated that, another Republican, do you believe that that was the case?

And that the president says we need to have a lighter touch there, will help the Hispanic support come back. I'm sure that it will help. I think what many of the Hispanic population, I'll speak to my district, they want it to be fair. They want it to be transparent. They don't want somebody to jump the line.

But we need to do more on immigration reform. We know we have a labor shortage in areas of our economy.

So let's get it back to where it's not so overburdensome. I think if the president and his team really focus on the criminals, the people that murder Jocelyn Nungere or others throughout our country, that that message is very well received in a lot of these communities. And they say, okay, there's a pathway here to do it right, to have a legal way to become a citizen, to be here correctly. And there's also a government who's looking out for the best interest in getting these criminals out of our country, 2,500 terrorists out of our country. I think that's important.

Congressman, I think it's interesting you brought up there are areas of immigration that aren't controversial for expanding the work visa program, correct? Making it easier for you to come to our country legally. That maybe isn't so cost prohibitive. And then they got the controversy with the USB visas, USB one visas, I guess to maybe keep our first round draft picks. We train them at Stanford, we let them go to Harvard, and then we send them home.

So I know some Republicans don't love that, but is this the time with the border sealed to do something on that? I really do think that this is the time. We've got an opportunity here. We haven't let a single illegal alien into the interior of the country in months. President Trump has done a phenomenal job of securing the border.

So now let's take this next step. Let's figure out who wants to come to this country, who loves being the thought of being an American and assimilating, not these populations of people who come here and yell death to America or hate our country. Let's get the ones who love our country and who want to be a part of it. And I think that there's a lot of room to make that process easier, to not incentivize criminal behavior. You know, there's a lot of room here to do this better.

Do you think that there's a sentiment amongst Republicans? Because there's a, you know, even Charlie Kirk, I remember him telling me, I want everybody out. You know, the president said mass deportations, we should follow through on that. There's a big portion of that party, of your party, that just wants everybody out. And they don't even want to bring up other areas of immigration that need to be updated.

What do you do about that?

Well, I want everybody here legally, and that acknowledges that there there is room for legal immigration. I want people to get out of the shadows and not have this burden of living in the shadows for years because that's the case. That's what's going on. Especially in Texas. And it's true everywhere.

And the sanctuary cities have created these pockets all over the country where they're doing this and they're getting benefits that are taken away from Americans.

So I think that's the, we've got to write that ship and we've got to get that policy done correctly. And I think that just really brings up the value of being a citizen. It means something to be an American and to assimilate.

So we've got a lot of work to do on it. I'm not afraid of that. I think we can get there. But the president has done something that hadn't been done in decades, which is he literally shut down the border. Let's take the next step and let's help him and provide the tools to have folks here legally that are not in the shadows.

All right.

So we know there's an affordability bill that's going to work its way through in this Congress. And we look forward to coming from you, Chairman, your chairman of the Republican Study Committee, Congressman August Fluger. Thanks so much. Brian, thanks for having me. You got it.

Back in a moment. At the bottom of the arrow, we talk about America 250 from the historical stance and how we got to where we're at today with Dr. Patrick Spiro. You're listening to Brian Kilmeet Show. It's Brian Killmead.

This is Ainslie Earhart. Thank you for joining me for the 52-episode podcast series, The Life of Jesus. A listening experience that will provide hope, comfort, and understanding of the greatest story ever told. Listen and follow now at FoxNewsPodcasts.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. A radio show like no other.

It's Brian Killmead, Chuck Schumer Cult. Uh What Trump's trying to do with the elections. He called it Jim Crow 2.0. And what I guarded against, I said, you know, I've taken heat from the Democratic Party from time to time. You certainly have, you know, on numerous occasions.

And I said, don't get Trumpish. Don't engage in that kind of hyperbole because we're living in the year 2026. And when you start bringing up Jim Crow 2.0, you're trying to harken back to a time that most people recognize. No, we're not living in those times right now. Of course, we've got our troubles, but we're not doing, don't do that because that's playing right into Trump's hands.

And Stephen A. Smith is 100% right talking to Bill Maher on the podcast and just saying, it's not Jim Crow 2.0. What are you talking about? And what Senator Schumer is referring to and what Joe Biden did after Georgia passed its election reform. He says this is Jim Crow 2.0 because they limited the amount.

They did some things that just wanted to tighten up the elections. And guess what? They had bigger turnout than ever before. Nobody was claiming racial discrimination. Chuck Schumer calls that play again.

Why? Because of voter ID. The fact is, blacks and whites and Hispanics, everybody wants voter ID, except for Democrats. And what the president says, they don't want voter ID because they want to cheat.

So when you say, instead of just saying, well, we're not for the SAFE Act and here's why, they say it's racist, Jim Crow 2.0. It's it's absolutely not. And what Stephen A. Smith tried to say is, are you an idiot? You know, isn't it?

Don't you have enough examples to run against Donald Trump? You have to go make something up? That this is Jim Crow 2.0. Point out you want the federal government controlling national elections as Karl Rope did, federal elections, as Karl Rope did on our show. It doesn't have to be racist.

Everything is not racist. Plus, if you want to talk about Jim Crow 2.0, it's the Democratic Party that jammed that down everybody's throat. Not the Republicans. The more you listen, the more you'll know it's Brian Killmead. Politics and partisanship was just as heated in 1800 as it is today.

Maybe even more so. Washington was a new city. It was built on the banks of the Potomac River and when John and Abigail Adams moved in. But it was really just a squalid little town. There were very few buildings.

It was shabby. It was dirty. Washington, D.C. is mostly government workers, business people from the North, but you also have. African American enslaved human beings to do the brute labor.

that brought Washington, D.C. into being.

So, that is just an excerpt from a brand new show that a documentary that's on Fox Nation called The White House and looking at the history of the White House, not only that, because the president's making history by putting in a ballroom, took it out part of the East Wing.

Now he's getting permission to do it. Kind of a little bit backwards, but that doesn't diminish all that's happened there, how it was, how Washington, D.C., was picked as the permanent place of the White House when it became the White House. It's all part of this documentary. And one of the drivers of it, the host of it, is Dr. Patrick Spiro, an award-winning historian who specializes in the American Revolution.

And, Doctor, great to see you. Yeah, great to be here. And you used to run Mount Vernon. I was the director of the Presidential Library for George Washington outside of Alexandria. It was a spectacular place, spectacular job.

And that's still getting bigger, and they're still going through Washington's papers, right? Absolutely. And now I'm the CEO of the American Philosophical Society that was founded by Benjamin Franklin, and we have Franklin's papers, and we're doing the same thing, and we're making new discoveries every day still in Franklin's papers. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: So, wait a second. How does it get to the point where you're still going through a guy's papers who died in what, 1788?

Was it? Yeah, Franklin was 1790, maybe. But in any case, yeah, it's remarkable the amount of material that he had, but also with new technology, things that we can do that previous historians couldn't. Like, what do you mean?

So, for instance, we have Benjamin Franklin's postal books. We have a record of every piece of mail that arrived in Philadelphia. It records where it was sent from and who the recipient was. And previous historians looked at that and said, well, we can't really make sense of that. We've now digitized it, we've transcribed it, and we've run it through all of this social networking software to help us better understand how information flowed in early America.

And we've learned new things about who was important in Philadelphia, who received the most amount of mail, where they were getting mail from. It really is revealing new aspects of our early history.

So you just see the letters come in. You don't know what's in those letters. No, yeah, exactly. We know how much they weighed. Because what's interesting is in the early period, the recipient paid for the mail.

You didn't pay for it when you sent it. It's only if you received it.

So in doing this, and by the way, it's fascinating to think that Benjamin, so it's right near. It's right near We're in Philadelphia. We're right on Independence National Historic Park. There's Independence Hall, and we're right next to it. Is Independence Hall still closed?

No, it's reopened.

Okay, when did it reopen this year? Oh, yeah, it reopened a couple of weeks ago, I think. They did an entire renovation of it, restoring it to its original. Which is amazing. That's weird.

It's a big year for us, you know. Oh, yeah, in Philadelphia. Do you find that do you think the pace is going to pick up this year for people visiting? Not in this weather, but certainly.

Well, I hope so, because 2026 is an opportunity for all of us to remind ourselves of our first principles, the ideals and ideas that brought us together as a nation. And for me, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to have Americans think back on the past, but also realize how relevant it is for us still today. Are you concerned at all about the lack of focus on American history in schools? I absolutely am. I think historic literacy, civic literacy.

We talk about literacy all the time, and we usually mean reading. But when you look at the numbers, historic and civic literacy is all time lows. And frankly, we talk a lot about kids, which is So important. We need to lay a foundation. But when we do polls of adults, I gotta be honest, Brian.

Some of us are just as ignorant as our children. And for me, as a historian, one of the things I talk about is that adults have to continually remind themselves of the past. It's not something if you learn when you're 10 years old, when you're 40 years old, you're inherently going to remember it. I don't remember the periodic table in chemistry.

So I think all Americans have an obligation as a citizen to learn about their past. Especially if you grow up and you just, you know, we're not in a situation where you grow up in war. We're not in a situation when you're fighting for freedom.

So it's hard to appreciate what you always had. That's the way human nature is, understood. But the way you get that appreciation is find out what happened that got us to this point. Then you get that pride. You know, then people understand, well, now I understand why America is special.

Not everybody's got this rich history that we have. You know, we were in stripes. They say we were kicked out of every legitimate country in the world, came here. And they go on to say we're Mutts. Not one of the great speeches ever, but it's essentially saying we chose to come here as opposed to born here.

So when you put together this. Story of the White House. First off, tell us how it became, Washington became the place. It was a compromise. No, exactly.

And it was a compromise that happened here. This is, for those that know Hamilton, the room where it happened. You know, the idea was where was power going to be? Everybody knew that the nation's capital, with this young nation as it grew, the capital was going to be a seat of power. And obviously, those from Virginia were concerned about the North, possibly New York, or even Philadelphia might be the nation.

First White House was New York. Yeah, there were actually two. Washington lived in two different houses here in New York City for about a year. And then he moved down to Philadelphia, where he spent his entire term. Adam spent most of his term in Philadelphia as they built the nation's capital.

But the idea was something in the middle of the country that would be easier to access. It wouldn't give weight to either the North or even the South. It's not supposed to be its own state, right? No, no, exactly. It's key.

No, no. No, because the idea were that nobody would live there. That there would be Federal workers, but most people would be coming and going. And congressmen, they are residents of their home states and the like.

So statehood was not something they imagined. Right.

So it gets picked there, but it's all swamp. And mention in the voice over there when Adams goes in, the House is not great and the area is terrible.

So it was a compromise area between all these other states. How did it begin to build? Yeah, so first off, as the country's fragile foundations solidified, so too did D.C. As the government grew, as the nation grew, D.C. became that political capital of the country.

Now, I have to say, Adams was only in the White House for a few months, and then Jefferson took over. And as you probably know, Jefferson was a bachelor president, and the White House during his tenure was very much a bachelor's pad. And it really was Dolly Madison and James Madison who, I think, transformed the White House and made it, in some respects, the modern White House that it is today. She knew she had to entertain. She knew she had to have a sophistication.

And that's why I believe she was the first of our first families to be photographed, right? There's a picture, a legitimate picture of Dolly Madison. Yeah, she lived into her 90s, I believe. And, you know, unfortunately, she fell on hard times. She had to be bailed up by the country.

Yeah, yeah. And interestingly, she gifted the APS. James Madison was a member of the Philosophical Society, and she gifted us his diary.

So we have his mirror his farm diary at the APS. Wow. I mean, it's just so many of these guys. It's all or nothing, right? Monroe didn't have much money at the end.

Madison didn't have much money. Washington held, right? And Jefferson had all types of problems. Yeah, Jefferson was always in financial straits. Right.

And we kind of solved that problem.

So, as the White House begins to build, it becomes, they realize it's going to be an iconic place. Describe the growth and the evolution of the White House. Yeah, so in so many ways, I see the White House as mirroring America's history. As the nation grew, the White House evolved, and it's always evolved.

So, Dolly Madison, in some ways, created what we would think of as the modern White House, how it would be used. I think another transformative figure was Theodore Roosevelt at the early 20th century, as the United States had now become kind of this global economic, political power, not yet the sole superpower, but certainly a much larger player in the global affairs. And the country itself had expanded all the way to the Pacific. And so, he is the first person to create what we think of today as the modern East Wing and West Wing because he realized the White House didn't have enough space for his staff, for his family, for all these people. Yeah, exactly.

You know, he had six kids, I think.

So, that's where the East Wing and the West Wing came into play. Jefferson. Did create an East Wing in 1808, but it was torn down. And Roosevelt rebuilt it.

So it's interesting, too, and you're skipping over a little bit, but the burning of the White House. I mean, if you think how close our country came to total annihilation, you want proof? Think about 1814, right? Yep, exactly. That's what happened.

Well, that's the War of 1812. The British occupy D.C. Of course, this is a great humiliation to have the foreign power, the British, no less, retake your capital. And of course, in a symbolic act, they burned the White House, the Center for the Power. Oh, yeah, you know, really D.C.

itself, they just pillaged. And Dolly Madison famously helped escort out the painting, the Lansdowne portrait of George Washington. And it was rebuilt. And the Monroes live in it in 1817. It's also completely rebuilt by Truman.

By Truman's era, the White House, all the buildings. It was falling apart. Yeah, exactly. So they put in steel beams and the like, but also this is Cold War era. And that's why it's interesting to think about the White House.

And how it parallels history. I mean, this is the Cold War, and so they have to reinforce it in a whole range of different ways that would just would not be sufficient. That's so interesting. A couple of things. I found out one of their freed slaves, James Madison, Dolly Madison's freed slaves, were the ones who she pointed to to roll up the Washington portrait, and he wrote about it in a book later on, which is amazing.

He's like, no, no, I'm the one who did it. Yep, no, that's exactly right. And so that's why when you asked me, I said she helped remove Lansdowne because she ordered it to be done. But there are a whole group of people, including that individual who helped remove it.

So when you find out about the White House, why do you think people should watch this special? Like, what do we learn from seeing this special? Yeah, well, I think there are two things. First off, again, the White House evolved with American history.

So if you want to learn about American history writ large, study the White House. When was the first telephone installed? When was the first The first plumbing installed, Thomas Jefferson. Really interesting, but what we're studying is the evolution of technology alongside the White House, the evolution of American society, but also, I think, more importantly, the history of the country. And this is where the decisions were made that shaped the future of our country and the future of the globe.

So we have Under the Roof, I love Friends Disunited.

So you're talking about, you know, people talk about Donald Trump did not show up with a handover of power. You're right, but he wasn't the first. In fact, both Adams. John Adams loses an election. He's bitter.

He doesn't even wait to hand the keys over. He leaves. John Adams. Four in the morning, they say. And John Quincy Adams did the same thing because of Jackson, right?

Yeah. Yeah, no, the Adams are really fascinating characters. And of course, yeah, John Quincy Adams is just. Jackson is the anathema. He can't stand Jackson.

He's humiliated. His father is the same. I mean, it's a fascinating historical story to study the Adams and their experiences in the presidency. And episode 7 is the British Are Coming. That's when they were in the White House.

Friends Disunited, I just went over. Stuck in the middle. Thomas Jefferson assumes a presidency, but political blackmail Simmers. Is that in the play, the Hamilton play? I think?

Yeah. I forget if that is.

So tell me about this.

Well, no, so Jefferson is, you know, he's the first president, and there's so much intrigue that's surrounding the White House during his presidency. This is the Burr conspiracy. As I'm sure you know, Burr is his vice president. And, you know, Burrs always has his fingers on other areas, other interests. He's trying to start an insurrection.

Exactly. And what's interesting is Burr, this pattern goes back to the 1790s. George Washington faced the first potential similar insurrection. A group of Kentuckians tried to seize New Orleans without his permission. And it would have thrown the United States headlong into a war with Great Britain that could have completely undermined the Republic.

So Burr is just a part of that pattern. Right.

And then New Orleans would get turned over to the French, who would eventually sell it to us. And the British were not happy about that. And that's what they had in mind, too, in the War of 1812, correct? No, we'll get that back. Yeah, no, exactly.

Well, the British always were hoping that they'd get us back one way or another in that period of time.

So what I find interesting is with the Louisiana Purchase, there were a lot of people in America that didn't want to be big. They wanted to be the size of a European country. And they said, what do we want? We don't want all this wild land. It's going to devalue my land.

And I don't want this ungoverned area. I don't really have control of who's going to come and be on that land. Yeah. And this actually gets back to almost the Hamilton-Jefferson debate. What is the future of the United States?

You know, and Hamiltonians generally saw it as an Eastern, mercantile, very much. Like a European country model, you know, build up the cities, build up trade. That's the future of the United States along the East Coast. And then Jefferson had a much different vision. He believed in what was called a yeoman republic, that the way to sustain a republic and its values was to extend property ownership, have widespread ownership, have a diverse economy that's based in large part on agriculture.

And that's why Jefferson has this ongoing fascination with the West. Going back to the 1780s, he's trying to do a Lewis and Clark expedition. He's trying to fund it. And it takes him the purchase of Louisiana to finally get it underway. Which was a lot bigger than he set out to get.

Monroe walked in with this big deal. Dr. Patrick Spear, our guest, outstanding historian.

So, a couple of things. As we. As Jefferson takes office, one thing he wanted to do, I guess, is he put restrictions, but did an embargo on trade. And when he did that, he thought it would help for America to grow and deny the Europeans of our products, but instead it really hurt us economically. But didn't it create bitterness in the North towards the South?

And when the War of 1812 started, the North goes, listen, this is your fight, not mine. Yeah, that's true. But it's interesting. There's a contrarian take on the embargo where some historians argue that even though the embargo created short-term economic pain, it did spur American manufacturing and industry.

So there's a contrarian take on it, that yes, it was unpopular. Yes, there was economic suffering at the time, but it did force Americans to look inward and invest in their own infrastructure. We should go, I want to go visit you. Is it possible for people to visit the Franklin Library? Yeah, we have an incredible exhibition opening in April.

We are going to have, I believe, 19 early printings of the Declaration of Independence, including Thomas Jefferson's handwritten draft of the Declaration, the only known extant Dunlap, the first printing on parchment to exist, and all the other major first printings. We don't think there's ever been this many declarations on display at one time before. You think Elon Musk is smart? I put Benjamin Franklin right there. Oh, yeah.

No.

Well, you know, and the thing is, the good thing about in the 18th century, you didn't have the internet to distract you, you know? Distract you or help you. That's right. Thanks so much. Patrick Spear, it's been a pleasure and so great that you are featured in this series on Fox Nation called The White House.

It's available today. Check it out. Thanks, Patrick. Great. Thanks, Brian.

Learning something new every day on the Brian Killmead Show. Uh If you're interested in it, Brian's talking about it. You're with Brian Kilmead. Hey, welcome back. And by the way, just a note, I'm going to be live on Sunday, 10 o'clock Eastern Time.

So we expect the Super Bowl to end on average about 10.10 at night Eastern. But we'll be doing other stuff. I'll be talking to Ambassador Whitaker to the NATO. I'm going to be talking to Andrew Colhurt, Colvet. He is running Turning Point USA.

Got Sid Rosenberg coming in to do what's going on in New York City and St. John's University. And Emily Austin's going to be there. And we have a lot.

So we have a lot going on. And Daryl Johnston, three-time Super Bowl champ, Fox sports analyst, he's going to be wrapping up and recapping the Super Bowl 60, which I think both teams are really good teams. And they're emerging teams. I don't think they're great teams. They're not like, oh, it does not remind me of a typical Super Bowl.

Both teams, in my view, earned it. They didn't get shit and no one took any shortcuts. But I actually think both teams are going to be better next year and the year after.

So it just, I don't think it was a great team this year. That doesn't mean it's not going to be a great Super Bowl. Find out what Daryl Johnson has to say, Moose. Listen to the Brian Kilmey Show. Don't forget on the 14th, I'm going to be live in beautiful Fort Myers, Florida.

Get tickets at BrianKilmey.com, streamed on Fox Nation. Don't move. From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmead. Hi, everyone.

So glad you're here from 48th and 6th in Midtown Manhattan, heard around the country, around the world. It's the Brian Kill Me Show. This hour, Shannon Bream's going to be joining me, and it's going to be great. We're following this new news coming out of Washington right now. The Justice Department announced they arrested one of the suspects involved in the Benghazi hit that killed Americans.

It just goes to show you this FBI is relentless. They're pulling up America's most wanted and the world's most wanted, and they're bringing them to justice. We're not going to forget, and that's what it is. Cash Patel has made it clear. The Attorney General has made it clear.

They're there to fight crime and there to be cops, and that's what they're doing. I'll have more on that in a second, but it's my privilege to bring onto the show for the first time ever, the First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump, whose documentary I saw last night. I was going to see it eventually, but when I found out that the First Lady was going to come on today, I said, I'm going to the theater. I woke my son and wife. The place was packed, and we loved it.

And joining us.

Now, the first lady. Melania, thanks so much for being with us. Good morning. You look so natural in front of the camera. I'm just wondering what led to you saying to yourself, because a lot of people have so many questions about you, what made you say to yourself, I'll do this.

I'm going to show 20 days leading up to this historic inauguration. Whose idea was that? Yeah. It was my idea. After I solidified my creative concept, my agent pitched the idea to all of the platforms from Amazon, MGM, Disney, Paramount, Netflix.

And I decided and selected MGM because of several reasons, including but not limited in the fact that the company was willing to launch my film in theaters only.

So we have a great success and very proud of it. You should be. And I loved it too. And my wife really loved it. And especially in the beginning, you'll talk a lot of fashion.

You talked about the detail needed. And you know, you talked not only about how you want the first lady to look great. But also because you think it's important for America. To have this type of detail when it comes to an historic event like the inauguration. Could you explain that mindset?

Yeah. Well, in the film, it's unprecedented and historic and cinematic. And I'm proud to share those never seen seen before moments from my life, including my family and business, during the time frame of twenty days leading up to the US Presidential inauguration. It is historic event. I believe Americans and people all over the world should witness the incredible amount of planning and work Required me doing it and to become from private citizen to become a First Lady.

Your husband put out the biggest upset in election history the first time around. And that was sudden. Can you explain the build up to the first inauguration as opposed to this one as you become the most experienced First Lady from obviously something brand new to you in this world, in the political world? It was very different the first time than now the second time. I was never in politics the first time.

I always was interested in politics in private and I followed the world news and what's going on in the world, but I was never in the politics. The second time now, we already know what position I need to take and hire the people to work for my East Wing office because they're working for me, but they also work for American people. I'm very action-oriented. This time around, I have a mission, and we had a great success for the last year already in my office. As I championed for Take it Down Act, it was signed into a new law that enhanced federal online protections for children from online deep fakes.

I had I led executive order on fostering the future for foster children as well as presidential artificial intelligence challenge. a secured thirty million for uh foster children Um and housing for them. I also reunified children from Ukraine, from Russia and bring children and families together. I'm prou very proud of my work. Should be.

Um Monia growing up. Did you always want to come to this country? What was your view of America when you were in Eastern Europe? And what is your view of it once you got here? Establish yourself here and now go to the highest office in the country.

Could you tell us what you thought America was and what you know it is now? When I grew up, I always look into America as a a prosperous country and a country of freedom. And I had a beautiful childhood, but my career brought me here. I lived in Milan and Paris. and I arrived in New York in nineteen ninety six and loved it from the minute I arrived.

I established my life here, met my husband and step by step, you never know where the life will take you. But we are all very positive and hardworking people. I knew my husband was very passionate about this country. And here we are, the second time in the White House. And when you think about people talk about what the president went through, but what about you?

One minute they're raiding your house, the next minute they're putting your husband on trial, they're indicting him, they convicted him once. While he's going through that, he says, you know what? I'm going to run for president again. What is the First Lady thinking when the President says we're going to I'm going to try to get back there? What are you thinking that whole time?

They were very challenging it was very challenging years, of course. We went through a lot as a family, and you need to handle a lot. You need to be very strong and focused. And but I supported him. He wanted to run again, and I know that the country the last four years was in very bad shape.

I know what he wants to do. And look at it's where we are now. After one year, the country is much more prosperous. And he brought it son back into the country. And everybody, we have a lot of support.

And he's doing an incredible job.

Okay. Yeah, I had a chance to speak to him quickly this morning, too, and he's pumped up every day. Neither of you need much sleep. Talking to Melania Trump, First Lady of the United States, about her movie that's out. You got to go check it out this weekend.

If you're looking for something to see that's going to inspire you, this is where to go. There's two things that stand out with me. Number one, How much the president listens to you, how much mutual respect you have for each other. I think it's a goal that everybody should have for their relationship. Number one, number two is.

He has a humanitarian streak, but so are you. Before you actually took office, you had a chance to meet with an Israeli, former Israeli hostage who was trying to get her husband out. You also went out of your way to let Vladimir Putin know you know he stole those children and you want him to give them back. To describe why you decided to insert yourself in both situations. You know, being a First Lady, it's a unique and impactful role.

So I want to provide what I can and influence and behind the scene even what I can to for people to have a better life.

So that is what I'm passionate about as well. And it's very important that those people have my support. That's why I decided to write a letter to President Putin, and he Yeah. He wrote back right away and we are still in communication regarding reunifying more children. I hope we will have success soon.

And as well as the hostages, I was behind the scenes, met Aviva in January 2025. It was a very emotional meeting, and we had a great success. All of the hostages are out, and I talk with my husband often, and I give him my advice. And as I said before, sometimes he listens, sometimes he doesn't. But it's very important that you have open communication in the relationship.

I know. Absolutely. You always see First Ladies from Dolly Madison, people talking about the role she played as being the first one to really take over the White House and bring a sophistication to it. People talk about Nancy Reagan, her enormous influence with Ronald Reagan. They'll talk about you too.

I have one contention. You're about to walk out for the inaugural. You're seeing all the coverage. and you look over to the right. And you have C and N on.

Watching Jake Tapper talk about your family and who's there. Is that Joe Biden's doing? Because he was officially still the president then. Should I be mad at him or should I be mad at the Trump team for not having Fox on at that moment? Oh, I watched a lot of news.

I don't watch only one channel. I like to be informed what every station is saying. When I have time, I like to be informed. And I know everybody has their own perspective. But at that moment, CNN was on.

I feel like every station was covering the inauguration.

So I it was not really in my mind. I was focused on the other stuff. But I like to read a lot of newspapers, all different sta watching all different stations. I like to be informed around the world as well. I like to watch other stations to see what's going on around the world.

I hear you. I flip around too. As long as we uh as long as according to certain reports that we might be your favorite station, I don't know for sure. And hopefully this ends up being your favorite radio show. But listen, between your book being a bestseller and your documentary being a big hit and the enthusiasm which you're embracing this role, life is good for the First Lady Melania Trump.

Would you say so? Life is good, life is busy, we're doing a lot of fantastic stuff, and we just want to keep focus and be mission-oriented and taking care of our beautiful country and our incredible people. All right.

Mulani, go check it out in theaters. It's out there now. I did last night. First Lady, thanks so much. Have a great day.

I appreciate the time.

So does our audience. Thank you so much. You got it. Melania Trump. Back in a moment.

The headlines, the stories behind them, and the people who make them only on the Brian Kill Me Show. I don't know what they are. Radio that makes you think. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. Negotiating with the Iran and making the deal throws them a lifeline and extends the regime.

They're going to want sanction relief, solely condition-based. And what are we doing? We're going to have this regime around for another 10 years. The historic opportunity in front of us is we can take this regime down by a combined attack of Israel and the United States, comprehensive done, much bigger than what took place during the 12-day war, and put this regime on the pathway to collapse and destruction. I mean, that is absolutely physically possible.

And he believes the plan is up. I think I got a pretty good Uh sources show me there's two plans right now uh if they need to attack. And both have risk. Listen, there's going to be risk. And the minute you have casualties, you open yourself up.

And before the midterm elections, and you don't want casualties, let alone those families. I get it. But we've been so adept and so fantastic with the Houthi rebels, with what happened with Midnight Hammer, with Iran, and then Venezuela. I mean, it's been pretty amazing what's happened. You know, while knocking rockets out of the sky, ballistic missiles out of the sky, they were aiming towards Israel.

But in Iran, you have a nemesis of Iris in nineteen seventy nine. No greater enemy. Yes, Russia and the Soviet Union were a more potent enemy, but no greater enemy than Iran, who threatened to kill our leaders still to this day. And threaten us all over the region while creating havoc in the region through their proxies. I think it's worth the risk, especially when you know that 90% of the people absolutely hate their government and are powerless to change it.

Maybe thirty thousand people were killed in cold blood standing up, speaking out and reaching out. Here is Harley Lippmann at the stakes. He is the former U. S. a former U.

S. Commission member in the Middle East. Cut eleven. I think we have to recognize that the Iranians' intent is to manipulate the United States. They'll act tough in the negotiations, but in the end, they have no intention of honoring it.

They never did. This is a regime that uses negotiations simply as a tactic to delay so they could continue on their goal, which they tell us all the time, is to destroy America.

So we know that in Oman right now there's indirect talk. I guess they're indirect. We're still not sitting in the same room with them, which is farcical. But they have a brand new person in a brand new division negotiating with us. The name is virtually irresponsible, but they're talking about getting rid of their nuclear weapons.

That's all. Then Axio says they might be talking about more than that.

So Ballistic missiles, they can't make any. Intercontinental missiles, which they're trying to demonstrate that they can hit when they aim towards Siberia and Russia, a friendly target, which would target practice, war games-esque. But I don't know why we're negotiating a nuclear program. We already destroyed it. If they build it again, which they are, it seems, we'll just take it out again.

But what we need is the we need this government to stop funding terror aimed at us. Chris, you're listening on WABC in the Cat skills. Hey, Chris. Hey. Good morning, Brian.

There's a recent poll that came out that Kathy Holkel is up like it's 64 to 18 over Lieutenant Governor Delgado. And she's up by like a similar margin over Bruce Blake. About 20 points. Yeah. Yeah, I thought it they said it was going to be more than that, but um Delgado is going to receive the Working Families Party endorsement, and he just hired a new person that's very adept and experienced at running social media.

And now, with Kathy Hokle, apparently, is getting ready to receive Makdami's endorsement. And the Dinapoli race is going to be a four-way race. I'm going to a fundraiser in Kingston for Dinapoli that's being hosted by.

Some area politicians in the Kingston area. And where do you see the Dinopoly race playing out? And do you think Delgado has any kind of chance at all? Zero chance, Delgado. I don't know anything about the Dinopoly race.

I don't really focus that much in state elections, but I will say this: in the governor's race, I look for Bruce Blakeman to close the gap. There's no doubt about it. If he gets close, he could win it. Number one, the problem is Hokul sold her soul to the socialist. She's already, you know, after if she wins, she's going to raise taxes because he wants her to.

And that's what he already got. He got free daycare for everybody in New York City, funded by Kathy Hochul. That was what he ran on that she said was unaffordable. I listen, I'm all for daycare being something people should aspire to make affordable. It affects everybody, Republicans, Democrats, working class, middle class.

I got that. I understand that. But to give it away and think it's going to be quality is crazy to burden taxpayers with it who are already overburdened as much as any state in the union. I think Bruce Blakeman has an opportunity. Not only is he a really good candidate with extreme experience and a lot to run on in Nassau County, but I think Kathy Hochul's decisions make her vulnerable.

There's a template to success. Governor Pataki should be used as a resource. And Zeldin's election shows you all you have to do is get there's a way to maximize support in New York City. You're never going to win it. But to maximize support there, and she is Kathy Hokul, is hated on Long Island, hated even by Democrats.

And she's, by the way, the accidental governor, totally incompetent.

So, and then by saying, instead of saying I'm moderate and I want to get everybody involved, what upstate New York would like. Instead, she goes, I'm with the socialists, and he just endorsed me.

So that's where Bruce Blakeman should go. And by the way, but she'll have no problem in the primary, especially because the socialists just endorsed her. Breaking news. Unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kill Me Show.

Today, I'm proud to announce that the FBI has arrested one of the key participants behind the Benghazi attack. Zubar Albacosh. Landed at Andrews Air Force Base at 3 a.m. this morning. He is in our custody.

He was greeted by Director Patel and U. S. Attorney Jeanine Pirot.

So that's pretty significant. We're talking about 2012, September 11th, 2012. They got at least one of the guys that perpetrated that murder of four. Shannon Bream joins us now, anchor of Fox News Sunday, author of the upcoming book, Nothing is Impossible with God. Shannon, I wasn't expecting this, but it's welcome news.

I wasn't either. When we saw that this press conference was scheduled for this morning, of course, you immediately started trying to figure out what it's going to be about with these heavy hitters. And this is not something I would have had on my bingo card at all, but this guy now is facing charges, murder, terrorism, arson, some other things. And the message this morning seemed to be, you know, Americans don't forget, and we are going to continue to run down justice. And in this case, maybe it will finally be served.

Yeah, you got the Attorney General and the FBI director hunting down as many people as possible. And of course, crime is at record lows. And there's a lot of different reasons for it. One of which is we're getting a lot of legal immigrant criminals out. I think there's 2.2 million have self-deported, and they're scooped up 600 criminals.

And over the last few weeks in Minnesota alone, they say 4,000 in all. I think there was a big sweep through West Virginia, too.

So they're making some progress. I think all of that helps. It does. And that's one thing that it seems like everybody agrees on is you want the worst out. Worst go first was the saying, you know, with the immigration authorities.

If we're talking about people who are sex offenders against children or adults or murderers or whatever, nobody should want them in their community. And I think if, as Tom Homan has laid out, you can go into the jails, you can cooperate with county sheriffs and say, when you've got a bad guy and you're going to let him loose and ICE has a detainer, just let us know. Don't have to hold them extra. Just let us come get them. And it's hard to imagine why people wouldn't be for that because it keeps the roving patrols and the bigger groups out of the neighborhoods and it really is targeted at the worst of the worst.

Shannon Bream, our guests. Shannon, are we looking at another shutdown? Are we cruising to a shutdown? We've almost did everything as regular order with the appropriations bills, but after the death of a second person in Minneapolis, now they want to do massive reforms, they say, to ICE. Do you think they're angling for a shutdown?

What's your gut tell you?

Well, nobody felt like they won from the last shutdown. Both parties took a lot of heat over that. It seems that Democrats are better with the messaging generally. Republicans get blamed with the shutdowns. But that one was long and it was painful.

And for a lot of people, remember the airports and TSA and all the stuff that was happening. I mean, people were not happy about that. Not to mention federal workers and military folks and people not getting paid. I mean, it was a mess. I don't think that they want to go down that path, but I'm increasingly hearing from Republicans, they are willing to kind of run the table and make Democrats take some difficult votes.

ISIS Fund, we know that from the One Big Beautiful bill. There are tens of billions of dollars in there.

So Republicans are going to try to message, okay, if we go into a shutdown, you're going to end up voting to shut down TSA. FEMA, we're in the middle of all these winter storms and real struggles for people. I mean, there are people in Mississippi who still don't have power and don't know when they're going to get it. There are people suffering.

So I think Republicans are saying to Democrats, all right, if you guys want to push this, we'll go. There, but this list of 10 things you came out with yesterday, no way Republicans are agreeing to most of that. Yeah, I know.

So that would know what's going to happen. Plus, isn't ICE funded anyway? Yeah, they are. I mean, they have their funding through one big, beautiful bill. If Republicans can clearly message that and say, listen, you guys aren't doing anything to stop ICE.

This is performative. It's a messaging bill, which both sides do. They're going to have to do a good job of getting that communicated very clearly because otherwise, you know, even before the last shutdown, this little mini thing we just had, you had Schumer and those guys out there saying it's the Thune shutdown, it's the Johnson shutdown. You know, they know how to tell the story, and they're very good at making people see their way of thinking when it comes to these shutdowns. Yeah, ICE has an annual budget of $10 billion, but it got more than $75 billion to spend over the course of four years in the bill that passed, hiring agents, doing more that we're seeing now.

And we know there's somewhat of a de-escalation in Minneapolis with $700 going.

So we'll see where there goes. The minority leader, this, according to John Barrasso, thinks he has leveraged it to fund law enforcement. He said he's wrong because we funded it already.

So if they do that, we'll see. No one's going to agree to a judicial warrant before any action. No one's going to agree to take the masks off as long as they're being threatened.

So they're not going to put their names on their uniforms, but maybe they could put their numbers on. Here's the president: President thinks he's on the right side of this, but he feels as though, as you mentioned, Shannon, the best PR is on the left, cut 17. What happens is that I think we do a phenomenal job. But I don't think we're good at public relations. What does that mean?

You've said that a couple times now. What do you mean by that? We don't sell the great job that we're doing. Look, we have the safest. Are you your staff?

Are those your staff? Excuse me. People from your persuasion, somewhat left. to a job, a job on numbers. It just came out that in 125 years, we have the safest country.

The best crime numbers since the year 1900. That's a stat, yeah. We know way before my father was born, right? Think of that. And yet Then you talk about crime or you talk about this or you talk about that.

And the poll numbers aren't that good. People, we don't do a good public relations job. That's why I'm doing the interview with you today. We appreciate it. Trying to help my people.

You know, PR. Public relations. Can you believe it? I mean, that's a little bit different than Terry Moran on ABC wouldn't let him finish a single sentence and was next thing you know, they had huge controversy. He's gone.

I thought this guy did a pretty fair job. But on the substance of what he said, do you think he's right about that? Yeah. Yeah, I think that the president's very frustrated about the messaging. Just look at the GDP number.

Wages are up. I mean, there are all kinds of things that show positive things happening. And I think the White House gets very frustrated that it doesn't get the attention, that the headlines are all, you know, GOP crumbling under affordability crisis, that kind of thing. When, you know, he'll look around too and say, like, look, I've stopped eight wars. I'm making progress on these other big things.

And they really want to get out there. That's why, you know, Susie Weil says they're going to act like this year is a campaign year with the president on the ballot. He's going to do more of what you saw him do in Iowa a few days ago. He's going to be out there campaigning because they feel like they need to get the message out that things are turning a corner. And they're also going to emphasize what they came into office with.

Like, hey, everything wasn't perfect. We had to turn this around. You saw that with Secretary Besson this week when he was getting into it with House members and senators and Democrats this week saying, you know, you guys want to point to all these financial problems, but here's what happened. Here's the data under the Biden administration.

So I think they very much feel like they've got a message to sell. And that the media, mainstream media, is never going to help them with that. Shannon, I thought it was interesting. Kimberly Straslow's column in the Wall Street Journal today. And I always, you know, you just hear the rhetoric on the other side.

Donald Trump has up the deficit. Donald Trump has not cut spending. He's increased spending. And I'm thinking to myself, no, he hasn't. How could that be?

Because of what they've done through rescission, what they did with $250 billion that was cut by Elon Musk. And we see the other budget cuts with those programs. And it turns out he has cut. He says you go year-by-year spending. He slashed the deficit projections.

Those wins come with a combination of tax and entitlement reform, which means people are going to be getting more refunds, and wholesale deregulation, the administration's disruption of the calcified budget process. That's what I mean by rescission. And some spending leadership in Congress. They give OMB Director Russ Vogt the credit. He defunded all government, as the left said he would, but he's made progress towards.

He hasn't defunded all government, but he's made progress towards shifting the paradigms.

So they say the budgetary process points to $13 trillion in improvements. It estimates $2 trillion over 10 years in savings to mandatory spending in Medicaid, student loans and food stamps.

So we're actually going in the right direction with interest rates falling. That's going to help everybody. Yeah, it does take time. And those kinds of things don't move on a dime. Just like, you know, every administration before them has found this out, too, which is why you often get hurt in the midterms.

Because even if you can say to people this stuff is coming, if they don't feel it when they go to the grocery or the gas pump or pay their rent or their mortgage, they still feel like, and you know, our Fox polling that was out last week, people still feel like things aren't good for them personally on the economy.

So you can throw all the data you want to at them, but their perception is their reality.

So, you know, there's an uphill battle for the administration to point out all of those things, and they say that's what they're going to do wall to wall for these midterms and try to defy history. And the president's not going to go to the Super Bowl, but he did the Super Bowl interview already, so he could actually enjoy himself in Florida. Shannon, who do you have coming up on Fox News Sunday this week?

Well, you're going to hear from both sides of the aisle. We've got Senator Mark Warner, Democrat, the top-ranking Dem on Senate Intel. We're going to talk about these talks with Iran, the talks with Russia and Ukraine, the Russia nuclear treaty issue. Like, we've got a lot of foreign policy with him. He's also very upset.

And saying things like the president's going to sort of, I don't know the word overthrow, but he is going to mess with the midterm elections so they aren't free and fair.

So we'll talk to him about that. And we've also got Senator Haggerty from the other side of the aisle to talk about those same issues. And this, you know, curiosity, this big dispute over why Tulsi Gabbard was in Fulton County with the ballots and all of the stuff that's going down there in Georgia. We'll try to unpack all of that, too. Yeah, what do you think about that?

Well, I mean, she says that she has a role as the director of all the national intelligence agencies. There's a role in overseeing electoral integrity and those kinds of things, and she was down there at the request of the president.

So she says she's communicated, OD and I, that, you know, National Intelligence Office has communicated with Senator Warner. He doesn't think it's been adequate, so we'll try to unpack that. But, you know, that, and we're just going to be waiting for your big show on Sunday night. Sunday night will be live after the Super Bowl. And we'll see if that's the only big story.

We're going to put on like a sort of alternate halftime show with the dancing duo. We are going to talk to Andrew Culvert, who is helping put together the turning point halftime show.

So that'll be good. We talked to Kid Rockets. Do you have your outfit changes? Everything is all. Do you know Brett Eldridge?

I go to his mantra. I never met a dance before that did me any good.

So I try to live by that phrase. I think it's biblical. I feel like it's the opposite. Like, dance floor would do you good. Right.

And it'd be good for the show.

So, if you would just consider as I ask each week, and I'll join you. If you decide to add it to the show, I'll come. I got a mean 1980s robot. When I know, robot, okay, when I know you're in New York, that's when I'll add it.

Okay. All right.

Shannon Bream, I'll go, by the way, pre-order a book. Nothing is impossible with God. Thanks so much, Shannon. You got it. Back in a moment.

Never met a dance floor that ever did me any good. Diving deep into today's top stories, it's Brian Kilmead. The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmead. Last week, President Trump said, quote.

We have the groceries going down. Did grocery prices drop in 2025? Numerous prices have. Did grocery prices. Prices drop in 2025.

Numerous grocery prices have gone down. I'm sorry. I don't know if you can't hear me. Did grocery prices drop in 2025? Numerous grocery prices have gone down.

Some are. In fact, we have seen inflation at 2.1% for the past. This is some of the idiocy that's gone on with one of the most sophisticated, brightest people in Washington, Treasury Secretary Scott Besson, going against Elizabeth Warren. She, by the way, she goes, have grocery prices gone down? He goes, yes, many have gone down.

That's a good answer. That's 100% right. If he said all the prices have gone down, that would have been inaccurate. But prices have gone down. That is totally true.

What is confusing about that? That is 100% true, but all she does wants to do is fight. And I just thought Scott Besson sparring with her was fantastic.

So that's on grocery prices. Here is about Donald Trump, affordability, and some of the disingenuous exchanges, cut 25. Donald Trump has called affordability, I want to get this right. A hoax? He's called it a scam.

He's called it a conjob. You're the Secretary of Treasury. You know the numbers. Is affordability a hoax, a scam? or a conjob.

Yeah. Senator, it may be a bit nuanced for you, but what President Trump is referring to is the media saying that the affordability crisis was generated by this administration when it was you and President Biden who destroyed the buying power of the American people.

So there is an affordability crisis, and you were front and center in it.

So let me make sure that I understand. Donald Trump is not saying that affordability, what's happening to families right now, is a hoax. He is saying that trying to lay the blame at this administration rather than the Biden-Warren economy is a hoax.

Okay, so it all happened before he got it. And everything that's happened since then, nothing is a hoax here. 21.5% cumulative inflation. He's answering every question perfectly. To her credit, she let him answer this time.

But you've got to be horrified because everybody, by the way, everybody who speaks Trump, which is every American and soon everywhere the world, understands what exactly he was saying. If you walk in and you buy a banana and $6 instead of $3, he doesn't say that's a hoax. He's saying that I jacked up the prices, that's a hoax. If you want to say the tariffs did that, that's a good conversation to have. And the president does not feel that way at all.

And what Scott Besson said when he was a civilian running a hedge fund, he said, tariffs are inflationary. And he says, when I got here and I see how we're doing it, implementing it and see the results of it, he goes, I was wrong.

So you could say that all day. But if you have your Treasury Secretary there and you really disagree with some of the things the President's doing, even before the Supreme Court weighs in on the sanctity of the tariffs, that would be a good time to do it.

Now, just to finish this off, listen to how he was treated the day before, I believe it was Wednesday, at the House. Scott Besant. French Hill Uh Gregory Meeks, listen. Reclaiming my time in my time, Mr. Chair, we let it know.

Housing Culliford. 10 and 20 million immigrants to the housing stock of working Americans, and can you maintain some level of data? General Labor's time has expired. No, my time has not expired.

So I'm asking you to do your responsibility as Secretary of the Treasury. Stop covering for the President. Stop being his flunky. Work for the American people. Don't be a cover-up for a mob.

So he pointed out a little bit later, Gregory Meeks, who can't control himself, should grow up. Gregory Meeks, who went and met with Hugo Chavez to try to cut a deal. And he didn't like when Besson brought that up because we all remember Hugo Chavez was the communist criminal that was a disciple of Fidel Castro, who guess who visited? Karen Bass, the terrible mayor of Los Angeles. People like Gregory Meeks worship the socialist outgrowth in South, Central, and South America.

And you know that Scott Besson doesn't walk out there without doing some research. Please. Quick note, we had a chance to interview the first lady of the United States live, Melania Trump. You'll hear that interview for the entire segment. You can get it online.

You'll eventually get it on my Twitter, but you're also going to get it on our website, and soon you're going to get it on YouTube.

So I think you're going to like that. I had a chance to see the documentary.

So I was able to talk about what exactly she experienced and the role she plays. Also, we got a brand new YouTube page. All of you are running to it. I don't even think, I think it's wiping out all the other pages, and I feel bad. It's called YouTube.

It's go to youtube.com slash at the Brian Killmeat Show, which will predominantly be highlights of the radio show, which has turned into a TV show with everybody, all my guests zooming in or in studio. But also, clips of other things I'm doing at Fox. For example, I'm hosting Will Kane's show at 4 o'clock today. We'll put some of that on.

So we'll see where that goes. Also, I want you to know I'm going to be on the 14th. I'm going to be on stage in Fort Myers, Florida. It is a hotbed for, I guess, Fox viewers. Hopefully, you'll watch the stream on Fox Nation or see me in person.

There's some balcony seats left. Let's sell this place out. And I can't wait to meet all of you. VIP opportunities remain. Just go to BrianKillmee.com.

That's the 14th. And then on May 30th, I'm going to go to Reno, Nevada, about 2,500 miles away. See you there. From high atop. Fox News headquarters in New York City.

Always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Killmey. Thanks so much for being here. It's the Brian Killmee Show. Thanks for being with us all week long.

Very busy week, unique week. This hour with me, joined by Daryl Moose Johnston, three-time Super Bowl cham, Fox sports analyst, outstanding fullback. He's going to be with us too. A guy that did not play fullback in the NFL, but probably could have been a wide receiver or a power forward. Mark Thiessen, the man is huge.

Fox News contributor, speed, former speechwriter George W. Bush. He's got a way in which Donald Trump can be historic. Wrote a great column in the Washington Post, one of the few left working there. And with me in studio is Kennedy, host of the Kennedy Saves the World podcast.

That's right. And what Kennedy likes to do, which know what, I don't give anyone permission to do it. I'm with Kennedy. Before we even say hello formally, informally, we have. Let's do the big three together.

Let's do it, Brian. You do color comedy. Let's get fired up. Let's go, big three. Number three.

If we confront a situation where there's a DHS shutdown, it's because Republicans will basically have decided they don't want ICE to be held accountable. Really? Cruising to a shutdown. Why I say no, the Dems are not going to do it? Because their insane demands make no sense.

The last shutdown was very hard for them reputationally. And if they want to make some headway in the big midterm fight, I don't think this is the way to do it. Wow, what a think-tank-ish type statement. That's pretty good. That's what they pay me for, Brian.

Number two. Number two. The president has obviously been quite clear in his demands of the Iranian regime. Zero nuclear capability is something he's been very explicit about, and he wants to see if a deal can be struck. High impact talks in Oman, Iran versus the U.S.

Why I think we're weeks away from an attack on this country that's been coming after us since 1979. It will change the Middle East for generations, and you feel? I feel that I stand with the freedom fighters, the Iranian people who have risked their lives and taken to the streets. They understand the sacrifice and they understand the stakes and this regime must be toppled from within. Toppled?

Number one. We start to look at what the deadlines were in the note. First, I think was five o'clock today. It had a second deadline after that.

So we are continuing, in a normal kidnapping case, there would be contact by now. But nothing's normal about this. Search for Savannah Guthrie's mom in critical hours now, as it seems the ransom letter sent to TMZ and a local affiliate in the area, CBS, is authentic. The problem is there's no way to execute this type of deal, and to get proof of life seems to be impossible. They want payment through Bitcoin, we understand.

Kennedy, I know you've been doing this a lot. And I've gotten a text message from somebody who really respects this investigator that says you can track Bitcoin.

So if just because they say it's the site in cyber currency You don't, it's impossible. Cryptocurrency, I should say. It's impossible. They said that they told me it's not true. But this guy, we assume, wants money.

but has no follow-up communication. By Monday, they say it's over. Your thoughts. This is just terrible, terrible. It's absolutely horrific.

And. I don't know if the person behind the ransom is legitimate. I know that a copycat ransom letter sender has already been arrested, and rightly so. This is just this psychological manipulation, it's just horrific. And I don't know if it has anything to do with Savannah Guthrie, but it's like it's an 83-year-old woman.

What are you doing? Like, leave the woman alone. And people need to stop. Blaming Savannah and her brother and sister because the mom lives alone. Maybe the mom wants to live alone.

Right.

You know, maybe she chooses to live that way for whatever reason.

So you don't, no one knows the inner workings of a family, but people are very quick to judge.

So let's just pump the brakes until there's some resolution, and then people can make all sorts of judgmental statements.

So TMC got the letter, called up, and then they call back and they go, listen, this sounds pretty real. They said some locations about the Apple Watch and other things you could only have in the floodlight that you could only know if you were actually in the house. And they seem like whoever came in, they claim did not break in. Number one, there was no forced entry, I should say. But that was one of the first things that the Pima County Sheriff said was that there was forced entry.

Right.

And then he said, I don't know why you said that. Listen, he seems like a nice man. I've never heard him say something and thought, wow, that's insightful. Harvey Levin said this with Sean last night. Sean Hannity cut five.

I will say that there are real reasons, based on what's written there, that I believe that. This person is in the in the radius of the Tucson area. And there's something very specific in there, and I'm sure the FBI keyed in on this A while ago. And it makes me think that whoever did this Um If whoever wrote this letter is in that Tucson area. And I think it's one of the reasons, too, that they sent the same email to one of the local stations in Tucson.

This person is familiar with the Tucson television market, and based on the way it's written, I believe that this is somebody in that wide Tucson area.

So, Kennedy, I just thought it was interesting because he got the letter. He's been analyzing the letter, talking to the FBI. And The other people who are speaking, they're fine, but you don't know this case.

So everyone's just speculating. I thought Harvey Levin. That's some interesting insight there. They said the letter was written perfect English. If you were grading it, you wouldn't have had any red lines through it.

So and it was very complete. They said it was layered. I'm not sure what he meant by that, but your thoughts? Maybe that means that uh the letter itself was Longer instead of being shorter, and there were logical points that led from one to the next. That's a good one.

Your hat matches your sweatshirt. What's the one with stripes? On purpose? Yes. Yeah, I'm a big fan of coordinating color.

And this is also often the outfit that I'm wearing when I fly. Did you? Are you flying today? Nope. No?

It's just comfy, cozy.

Sorry. It's a little cold outside. Seemed like a logical follow-up. Did you put the hat on first or the sweatshirt? Hat, yep.

Put the hat on first. And then scrambled for a sweatshirt. I knew exactly that I was going to wear. I knew where the sweatshirt was. You knew it was.

Folded up in the closet. Do you have to put stuff out the night before? When I fly early in the morning, yes. If I have to get up at like 3:30 for a 6 o'clock flight, I will put things out. But again, you're not flying.

No, right. Didn't have to put things out. You keep on referring to it as like, I guess you fly a lot. I do fly a lot. I so I last year got diamond status on Delta and platinum on United.

That's how much I fly.

So It's great. I want to talk about where you would fly, California.

So my friend went out there, sent me pictures, and he doesn't follow the news like you. You're not really into the news, except when you're on television. Yeah. Occupational hazard. Right.

Because you get depressed sometimes. Because some of the news is negative, and you tend to be positive. I like to watch sports. Right.

Yeah. Which could be controversial too.

Sometimes Can be halftime shows. Littered with controversy. Absolutely. Your friend, California. You said, you live it, you have a house out there that's been condemned.

But he said, I can't believe it. Nothing's being done. And he's apolitical annoyed. I go, Yeah, that's what everyone's been saying. 16% are permits, 16% of the permits have been handed out.

Only 16% of the people who've been devastated. And nothing's being redone. The land is scraped. That's it.

So I spoke with an SBA officer the other day because a lot of people have secured SBA loans, but it doesn't matter because you can't get funding on the loan until you have exhausted your settlement from the insurance company.

So people cannot draw on their SBA loans until they reach a settlement with the insurance company. They didn't do that with Sandy. And the SBA is operating differently. I would say it's more efficient. But the problem is, all of these insurance companies are slow walking everything.

And when they're not slow walking, they're. Just uh flat out denying. Or lowballing.

So I hope Lee Zeldon can do something about this. He will. And he was with Alexis McAdams, one of our reporters here at Fox News, and they were walking around some of the fire-ravaged areas yesterday. And he said one of the things he's going to tackle, in addition to the permitting process, is the insurance companies. And there is a lot of fraud happening out in the open with these insurance companies.

And I've told you, like, I got Geico Insurance because I thought it would be trustworthy. I know we're well insured. And all the things that we are insured for. They will not give us money to remediate to basically clean the house. And our next-door neighbors, same thing.

Their house is standing, but it's filled with ash, soot, lead, and arsenic. And and all you want is to Take the things out that cannot be cleaned. and safely throw those things away and then rebuild like i don't want to rebuild a mansion I just want a functioning house where I can go and be with my family. That's all I want. Sheetrock.

You want sheetrock? You need new installation. I need some spackle, Brian. I know that you've got. A nice personal history and spackling.

Right.

So I wouldn't say nice, just good. I'm just good. That kind of work experience is invaluable here. Are you trying to tell me something? You might need a lot of people.

Come on out. Kenny, so to Karen Bass, this came out yesterday, the LA Times all over the story that she had two people, confidants, come out, tell the L.A. Times that she changed the report written by her people, written by the state government, city government, that said how susceptible they were, how vulnerable they were, how poor they acted in times of crisis, from the water to fire engines to the positioning, everything, everything, let alone sheep being in Ghana and all this stuff. And they said, well, it's not going to be good.

So I need you to soften the edges. And she kept it until they softened the edges. The guy resigned that did it. And these two confidants said they're going to go under oath. Uh, to say, totally, you should not do this.

This is illegal. You should not do it. Again, that's fraud. She's got to go. Yes.

I mean, this has got to be currently the day after the wildfire. Like, she and Kevin Newsome should have resigned. Like, this, and this is only one aspect of her failure.

So, I was reading about one of the, I don't think it was a chief, but an LAPD. He is in the administration, very high up, and he was talking about how Skid Row in downtown LA, every single block, is run by a different gang. And if you want to put a tent on Skid Bro, you either have to sell drugs for them or let them use your tent for prostitution. And Karen Bath is fine with that. And so, you know, this is the kind of mayor who's like, well, you know, there's nothing we can do about it.

And it reminds me of Alejandro Mallorkes, who said, you know, we're doing as much as we can. The border is secure. And then someone else comes in and actually secures the border and renders them idiotic and foolish. Right.

And that's the fact that she was ever elected in an executive position because she was a legislator before. And and now, like, she has failed utterly. People have died, people's lives have completely crumbled, and that's in the Palisades and Altadina. That's not to mention the people that she has just thrown away Who are being raped and trafficked in downtown LA? Right.

And Gavin Newsome shows up and goes, Yeah, I'm upset too. How did this happen? As if he doesn't, he's not the governor of California. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought Los Angeles was the biggest city in the state.

Right.

I thought so too. It seems like something that you would want to keep tabs on.

Southern California notoriously hates Gavin Newsom. Please Save this country from Gavin Newsom because evidently he's winning in most of the polls. And he had such a hard upbringing going from the Getty's house to Nancy Pelosi. Wonder bread and mac and cheese. Right.

Just left on his own like a lowly urchin to go out there and busk for nickels. Hmm. That or is extremely wealthy. I forgot which one it was. Oh, no, he's he's very wealthy and had a great deal of seed money in order to start his barn restaurant enterprise.

We're going to be back with Kennedy in just a moment. We have other stuff to talk about and stuff that we have in common. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. Ryan Kill Me Show. Illuminating, intriguing, inculcating.

I know some of these words. It's Brian Kilmead. Uh The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmead, Chuck Schumer Call. Oh What Trump's trying to do with the elections, he called it Jim Crow 2.0.

And what I guarded against, I said, you know, I've taken heat from the Democratic Party from time to time. You certainly have, you know, on numerous occasions. And I said, don't get Trumpish. Don't engage in that kind of hyperbole because we're living in the year 2026. And when you start bringing up Jim Crow 2.0, you're trying to harken back to a time that most people recognize.

No, we're not living in those times right now. Of course, we've got our troubles, but we're not doing, don't do that because that's playing right into Trump's hands. And plus, he's talking about having ID to vote. What is Jim Crow-ish about that? And if you see the polls, Kennedy, by the way, you're the same one who hosts the podcast, Kennedy Saves the World.

That's right. Right.

Award-winning, Brian. Right.

So many. Do you know how many awards he won? It's really, you know, it's like I'm pretty good at math, but not that good. Right.

Yeah. Yeah. You're not paid to add. No, I had to get a trophy room in my house. Right.

Is there any? You're not saying there's anything in it. You're just saying you need to get a trophy room. I'm going to leave it at that. Right.

Okay, that's fine.

So, just to follow up, I could not believe it. 76% of the country want an ID to vote. He's saying it's Jim Crow 2.0. What's going on here?

Okay, so. A couple of things. Every time there's an election. Liberals tell us this is the most important election of our lifetime. And if we don't vote their way, Democracy will die.

We will plunge into civil war. Yes. And the United States, as you know it, will no longer exist. That's how important this election is.

So if the stakes are that high, Don't you want voter integrity? Like wouldn't you want to make sure that everyone who's voting is a legitimate voter?

Well, what if I told you I'm going to have voter ID, but my problem is I got this friend Kennedy. And she is not going to know what that means. No, because I can't find the DMD. You can't find it. You can't get ID.

You don't even know who you are personally. I mean, that's and that video. Can you be so insulted? I think his name is Ari, and he. Went to, it was either Harlem or the South Bronx.

And because these liberal women at Berkeley were like, Black people don't know how to use computers and they don't know where the DMV is. And he went to a predominantly black neighborhood and was asking people, like, Do you know where the DMV is? And they're looking at him like he's crazy. Like, yeah, it's like five blocks down the street. Take it right.

And then, other things, like, well, do you have a driver's license? Like, of course, I have a driver's license. Right.

So, if this is an easy one, and by the way, this is one of those things when, if you're looking to get something done, you wheel and deal on that.

So racist. Chuck Schumer walks in and just says, Hey, Mr. President, I know you want to do that.

So, what could you give me? This is when we used to do deals like that. Like, look.

So, And the thing is, the president says, well, the only person who doesn't want to do something like that is somebody who wants to cheat at elections. A lot of people just say, I don't want you to cancel my vote with your illegal you with your illegal vote.

So they just I want to know that my vote counts. You just want to get it right. I don't care who wins. Just get it right.

So someone said, what if President Trump. Promised every person who is either a dreamer or here on asylum, I will give you citizenship if you register Republican for the next 10 years. And if you change your voter registration, you will lose citizenship. See, even the premise is very MSNBC-ish. There's a story today about AOC.

But then, don't you think Democrats would be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, enough of these illegals destroying our country. That would be a tricky thing to do.

So, AOC, they're trying to say that she is trying to be middle of the road. She's supporting a bunch of moderate candidates, including the one in Alaska, taking off all her socialist friends, positioning herself, they believe for sure, to run for president while taking on J.D. Vance. Big story in the New York Times today. I mean, they would, you know, how much money she earned.

Do you think that we're going to watch this remake of AOC? No longer socialist. Yes, no longer moving away from M. Donnie. There's a couple of things.

One, everyone knows, everyone who lives in New York and works in media here, they know just from the snowstorm that Mom Donnie sucks. He doesn't want to be mayor. It's too much work. It's exhausting. Let's do TikTok videos.

Like, being there is so much work. He's not a guy who likes work. He's never really had a job. He had one job at TikTok. Yeah, and so people like anyone but him.

If AOC becomes moderate, she's our gal because they also hate Gavin Newsom.

So she kills two birds with one stone and the establishment's mine. Shapiro, Bashir, Kamala. She beats all of them? She beats Kamala very handily. Bashir and Shapiro give her a real tough time.

Right.

And the problem is she has no track record of doing anything. And she'd be horrible on a debate stage with other Democrats. Bye, Kennedy. Bye. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin.

It's Brian Killmead. Yes, it's historic, but also, Brian, the strategic implications of getting Iran off the board in the Middle East and putting the Middle East on a pathway to enduring peace would actually define President Trump's legacy as a president and foreign policy. It would be extraordinary to do something like that. And that opportunity is right here.

So you hear the power in General Jack Keene's voice, and he's known as steady, and he is steady as a rock. But he knows since 1979 more than anybody else, probably, what Iran has done with our foreign policy, how many people they have killed, how many people they have threatened assassination attempts that have caused people like Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, President Trump to worry about their life.

So uh and Brian Hook. I mean, that's when you kill Salome, when you take our hostages, when you kill so many of our guys in Iraq while working under and for sending Irani militias into Iraq to fuel an insurgency. You know, we have problems in Iraq, yes, and we could have planned for the day after the invasion better, and we can go over that a different time. But you would have had a much easier time had we not had Iran take advantage of the situation and have EFPs, which are IEDs on steroids, that kill a lot of our guys. And now they're being called out big time.

But their nuclear program's been bombed out. And they gotta go. But there is risk with that. Let's bring in Mark Thiessen, Washington Post Commons, Fox News contributor, deep thinker, AEI guy, think tanker. Mark, you write that the President could make history and be an historic President If he makes the right decision here.

100%. Look, but think about this. Barack Obama Told Syria that if they used chemical weapons, he would use military action, and then he failed to enforce his red line. Joe Biden, after the Abbey Gade bombing, said that we will hunt you down and we'll bring you to justice. And he went for three years and left the presidency without doing it.

Barack Obama also said that he would deliver justice for the people who were killed in Benghazi and never did it. Donald Trump enforced the red lines of all of his weak predecessors. He bombed Syria twice. He got the terrorists behind the Abbey Gade bombing, and he just got the guy behind Benghazi.

Now, if he's enforcing Obama and Biden's red lines, do you think he's not going to enforce his own? Yeah. And right now, Iran is, of course, you know the answer, what I think is going to happen. But you never know.

So I know right now we're meeting with the In Oman. And it's unclear if there's anything on the table besides the nuclear program which they're either trying to rebuild or do an inventory because there's a roof over all the bomb sites. I see the front page of the New York Times today with the satellite photos. It looks like they're rebuilding to me.

So Would you play this out how you see this going?

So, first of all, if we were to get a nuclear deal, getting a nuclear deal In exchange for not carrying out this operation, it would be worse than just not carrying out the operation. Why is that? Because, first of all, it's exactly what Obama did in Syria, right?

So he threatens military action if they use chemical weapons on their people and kill thousands of people. They do it, they defy him, and then instead of enforcing his red line, he gets a chemical weapons deal brokered by Russia for them to disarm their chemical weapons and they cheat, right?

So they would, one, it would be a repeat of Obama. Second, if you have a nuclear deal, you have to give them something. There's going to have to be sanctions relief. If they agree to give up their nuclear program, they're going to have to get something in return for that. And that means we're actually going to financially reward them for massacring tens of thousands of Iranians in the streets, the worst massacre of civilians in modern times.

I mean, we can't do that. You can't you we can't we can't cut a deal with them at this point. The model for Donald Trump here is Venezuela. Do you think he would have gotten the deals that he's getting right now with Maduro in terms of oil and everything else? No, go and knock off this regime, tell the Iranian people to rise up and take it back.

There will be some sort of transitional government. And you tell that government exactly what he told Del C. Rodriguez. If you don't do what I tell you, I'll do it again, and it'll be worse for you. And and they'll we we own Venezuela right now.

I mean, Delphi Rodriguez is Donald Trump's is Donald Trump's, you know, uh you know, per pur she'll do whatever he says because she has no choice. It's the same thing with the Iranian regime after we eliminate the if we after we decapitate them.

So negotiate our nuclear deal with that. And then and then help it transition and get rid of you know, the reason we're stuck in the Middle East spending tens of billions of dollars in military deployments is because of Iran. I mean, how many Presidents have said we got to pivot away from the Middle East and go and focus on China? This is how you do it. This is how you get rid of the threat.

You eliminate the threat and take it out and then we can pivot to China and focus on our hemisphere and do all the other things, good things that Donald Trump wants to do. Play it out. Not only if Iran has a new regime and we do something similar to as the people rise up and their government takes shape, we say we'll control your output of your oil for now. And that's why I don't think we'll use the oil refineries as a target. Guess who else gets hurt?

China. China's getting this super discount oil. And guess who's helping get? I know they've gotten the patent, I guess, but the Shahid drones that are being delivered to Russia.

So this is all a ripple effect. I know it's not simple. I'm not saying it is. I know that there's a huge risk of casualties. I understand that.

And we don't know what Iran is actually capable of at this point, but one thing is clear: they have never been weaker. More from Jack Keene, Cut 14. Negotiating with the Iran and making the deal throws them a lifeline and extends the regime. They're going to want sanction relief, solely condition based. And what are we doing?

We're going to have this regime around for another ten years? The historic opportunity in front of us is we can take this regime down by a combined attack of Israel and the United States, comprehensive done, much bigger than what took place during the 12-day war, and put this regime on the pathway to collapse and destruction. I mean, that is absolutely physically possible. So, and he says, and the general believes that they already have two attack plans ready to go. And I think Israel can be invaluable.

I think his to think that if you take out the the general told me today, if you think if you take out the Ayatollah, the IRGC is the answer, that would be a mistake too, wouldn't it? Yeah, but uh we take out the RGC too. I mean, we can take out anything we want. We have no air defenses left. They've still got missiles.

They can still retaliate. I'm sure they've come up with some kind of a counterattack. Military action always requires risk, but there's also risk to inaction. If you don't enforce your red line, one, the Iranian regime survives, it's going to rebuild its air defenses, going to rebuild its biscuitic missile capability. It's going to rebuild its nuclear capability over time.

They're going to cheat on whatever deal we would get. And the threat will grow. This regime has been in place since 1979. No president has been given the opportunity. To eliminate this threat the way Donald Trump has just been given the opportunity because they've never been weaker.

They've never been more vulnerable. It's not without risk, but the risk of not doing it outweighs the risk of doing it. You're right. Trump faces a stark choice. He can either give the Iranian regime a lifeline or put it on the path to destruction.

He can repeat the mistakes of Biden and Obama or take his place along Ronald Reagan and FDR as one of the few presidents whose decisive leadership transformed the world. And I'm going to just amend one thing you said. He's been given an opportunity. Actually, the president kind of earned that opportunity, taking out Salamani, taking out Salimani and then following up, taking out their nuclear program. And who knows what sophisticated support or sophisticated support we were able to give Israel prior to this?

I should have sent the column to you before I published it so you could edit it. If you don't mind, I mean, I have a lot on my plate. I'll do that with the next one. Yeah. Yeah.

If I have a lot on my plate, but I would think that that would be important.

So tell me, you did that. You're right. That's my bad. Also, I think it's also important to point out, too. that uh in Iraq The militias that are functioning in Iraq, preventing Iraq from being totally free, Iraq is doing elections and they're getting it right, but they cannot get free of the Iranian web and yoke.

This would allow that. You decapitate the snake. It can slither around for a little while, but eventually it dies. And so the Iraqi militias can't survive without Iran as their funder. Hamas can't survive without Iran as their funder.

Hezbollah cannot survive without Iran as their funder. All of the tentacles will die along with the body. I know that's a mixed metaphor, but work with me here. This will end the threat that Iran poses to the region.

So Ronald Reagan brought down the Berlin Wall and transformed and trans and the Soviet Union and transformed the world. FDR brought down Nazi Germany and transformed the world. Donald Trump has the opportunity to bring down the Iranian regime ahead of the snake and transform the world. These are the moments through which history are made. These are the decisions where you choose infamy or taking your place in the pantheon of the greatest leaders in the history of the country.

That's the stark choice President Trump faces. I have confidence in him that he's going to choose to make history because that's literally the, and it's not just the most important foreign policy decision of his presidency. It's the most important foreign policy decision any president has made in the last half century. And I just have absolute confidence in him to make the right decision. You got us to this point to make this decision, as you mentioned, when you amend the column.

You'll put that. When I fix the column, I'll send the edit into the post right away. I was like, kill me to have an edit that I missed. I apologize.

Well, do me a favor. And I just want to get invited to one think tank. You're invited to all of them.

So just can you bring a what can I be your plus one? You can be my plus one. Absolutely. I would love to have you. Come join us.

You got it. Thanks so much, Mark. Mark Thiessen, read his column today. I hope the President does, or someone reads it to him, because I know he's busy. Thanks so much, Mark.

Take care. All right.

And by the way, just keep a quick note: just online, June 11th, Evansville, Indiana, the History Liberty and Laughs Tours, stops down at Victoria Theater, BrianKilmead.com. You will love it. It's going to be streamed on Fox Nation. Reno, Nevada, May 30th. And of course, the next one is February 14th on stage in Fort Myers, Florida.

Almost sold out. Go to BrianKilmead.com. Back in a moment. Where big stories meet bigger conversations. Stay informed and energized with the Brian Killmeat Show.

Information you want, truth you demand. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. First of all, it feels really good. You know, definitely the time off has helped a little bit. But, yeah, I think I'm always just going to take it one step at a time.

You know, do my rehab, do everything I need to do to make sure it feels great going into practice and going into the game, obviously, on Sunday. But yeah, it feels great. And, you know, but again, it's just one thing to add to the routine. And I think making sure I keep the routine the same as I would if we were in Seattle, just practicing on a day-to-day basis here in the hotel is going to be very important this week. Sam Darnold making his debut in the Super Bowl after being the number two pick overall, went to the New York Jets, went to the Panthers, really didn't do much.

Goes over to San Francisco as a backup. He'll goes to Minnesota, starts, plays great up until the last few games, and then just takes command in Seattle. And they find themselves in the Super Bowl. But he does have an oblique injury, at least had one, prior to the AFC championship game, to the NFC championship game, rather. And joining us now to talk about the role that could play, what the game is going to be like.

At 6:15 when they kick Eastern time, when they kick off in San Francisco, here's Darrell Johnson, who's won three Super Bowls before with the Dallas Cowboys, longtime Fox sports analyst, Fox NFL analyst. Daryl, welcome back. Good to see you, Brian. Hey, so do you think the oblique injury matters? If it didn't really matter that much, at least we didn't think it did.

Uh matter that much in the championship game? Yeah, I didn't see Sam affected by it in the championship games.

So now you've got an extra couple of weeks here to get to work on it. It's amazing what the athletic trainers are able to do through some of the rehab and some of the stuff when you've got those little nicks and bruises coming down towards the tail end of the season.

So I don't think it's going to be an issue. The one I am worried about, though, is Nick Eaman Wari, the nickelback on the defensive side that's frayed an ankle during the course of the practice this week. That could be an issue if he's not 100%. I don't know how many... Did you get a chance to do any Seattle games this year?

Yeah, we did too. Did you too? Did you see a Super Bowl team out there when you were watching them? Early on, when you went back and watched the film, they were one of the teams that I think should have been included in the top of the NFL, and they were for a long time during the course of the season. I don't know if they were Super Bowl caliber yet, but as the season wore on, I think the big turning point was week 16 when Sam Darnold, down 16 points in the fourth quarter, was able to rally Seattle back against the Rams, who have been his nemesis.

You mentioned it last year in Minnesota, nine sacks in the playoff game. The first matchup this year, four interceptions and a loss to the Rams. If he was going to lose that game again in week 16, that really starts to get into your head. And all these talks about him fighting his demons in the past game, maybe there is some relevance to that. But with him coming back and leading Seattle to a victory in week 16 against the Rams, I think that he's played a different style of football since that time.

And they've definitely become a Super Bowl caliber team.

So did Sam Darnold get better or does he just have better people around him? Got better people around him. He's some of the best people that you could have around him. And that's one of the big things in the NFL. I think he saw it.

And it's never a knock on the previous staff or another coach. It's a compliment to the staff that excels in this area. And there's a couple of them that are really, really good at it.

So for Sam Darnold, and you talked about this as he went through his career, a little bit of time with Kyle Shanahan. Kyle is phenomenal. And you saw that this year. There's a lot of people that think he should be coach of the year for what he did with that team with all the injuries. A lot of that comes down to that quarterback play.

And you see how Mac Jones was prepared and how much different Mac Jones looked from his time, whether it was in New England or in Jacksonville. Kyle's just really, really good at developing the quarterback. And then you go to Minnesota and you're with Kevin O'Connell. And that group that's on the offensive side of the ball working with the quarterbacks, I don't think there's anybody better. You know, it doesn't matter who you talk to.

The guys that have rolled through Minnesota, had a chance to play for Kyle Shanahan, had a chance to play for Sean McVay. There's something different about that group and how they get that quarterback ready to play. You know, what's so interesting is that the one thing about Sam Darnold, if things, let's say he has a bad half, let's say he throws two interceptions, they could go for a touchdown. This makeup is I've been through it before. No matter what it is, I'll get over it.

He's not going to panic and say, oh my God, I'm blowing it.

Well, he's already been through that with the Jets. Felt like, you know, traded away as a bust. And Carolina, unable to get that job. And then in San Francisco, let me be the backup and I'll spell him when I can. And then Minnesota, he just looked great for most of the time there.

So I feel like he's almost been there before because of what he's been through.

Okay. Probably the coaches that we talked about, probably the culture. That they establish is the biggest reason where, if he was to have a start like that and have some mistakes. He's going to keep, he's going to keep. He's going to keep playing and competing.

And I think it's one of the phrases you hear, whether Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan, Kevin O'Connell, all those guys that come from that same tree, just keep ripping it. I believe in you. And they'll say that, you know, that's one of the few phrases that they use that's really important for these guys to hear. I trust you. I believe in you.

Just go rip it. Go rip it and have fun. We'll figure it out. The great thing about Seattle is they got a great defense. If you do make that mistake, even in your end of the field, a lot of times that defense is so good, they can bail you out.

Darryl Johnson, our guest. He's streaming if you're watching online. And if you're listening, just know he looks really good. He looks ready to go. Darrell, the other thing is looking at the other side of the ball, I will tell you that nobody had a four-win New England Patriots team in the Super Bowl.

Mike Vrabel, they thought, could turn it around, not this quick. How do you explain it? I think it was a great job by everybody in the offseason. When you shift the team that much, so not just 4 and 13 last year, but 4 and 13 the year before.

Now you've won 16 of your last 17 games going into the Super Bowl.

So Elliott Wolfe and the personnel department did a fantastic job. There was a lot of cap money for the New England Patriots to take advantage of, but we see a lot of teams that have that same opportunity and they don't get the right guys in. That was the most important thing. They got the right guys into the lineup. And I think there's nine of their 22 starters or drafted players.

Or free agents.

So it's quite a substantial number of guys that came in this year just under Mike Verabel's leadership that are going to be a part of this game on the show. Darrell, we're going to talk on One Nation after the game, but how do you see it going real quick? 20 seconds? Yeah, I like Seattle. You mentioned they're the best team.

I think you look at all three phases. They're really, really good. But I think New England's going to keep it competitive. It'll all depend on the start. If Drake May can get off to a great start, that could make for a much better game.

All right, but he does say Seattle. Daryl Moose Johnson, thanks so much.