"FINISH IT!" Brian Kilmeade on the Strategic Victory Needed in Iran

By the time I hit my fifties, I'd learned a few things, like how family is precious. Work can always wait. And 99% of people over 50 already have the virus that causes shingles. Not everyone at risk will develop it, but I did. The painful, blistering rash disrupted my life for weeks.

Don't learn about your shingles risk the hard way. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist today, sponsored by GSK. From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmead. All right, from 48th and 6th in Midtown Manhattan, we have the Brian Kilmey Show threatening to close out the week strong.

Julian Epstein served as chief counsel of the House Judiciary Committee. Democrats, somewhat moderate. He has a message for other Democrats who are going to make their names known. Griff Jenkins is going to be here getting ready for Fox and Friends weekend. But we have a lot to discuss, including a lot of moving targets out there this morning.

It's a lot of news breaking from Israel.

So let's get to the big three. Number three. Tomorrow the Orion spacecraft will enter the Earth's atmosphere at approximately 25,000 miles per hour. That heat shield, the thermal protection system, which is built by American hands and American factories for materials designed to withstand temperatures that approach the surface of the sun will bear the full force of that re-entry.

So there we go. The NASA Associate Administrator speaking to us about Artemis II coming back to Earth but leaves the space program out of this world. Why I think this could be a new national unifier. Number two. The 25th Amendment must be invoked before it's too late.

Every member of Congress and senator must be calling for Trump's removal. Do I think Donald Trump should be impeached? Absolutely. Donald Trump, who I believe is suffering from dementia at this point, How would he know? He just watched the president for four years suffering dementia and you were in denial.

Just a joke. It's the same old tune, politics are plenty, as Dem try to make Trump the story again. And the 28 presidential Democratic contenders line up in New York City as we see a possible dark host on the Republican side in 28, fighting for it all in Virginia. Number one.

Well, the president has information that none of us have. There's something that is telling him this looks better than any of the other negotiations that he's been involved in and tell me what the Iranians did with the Obama administration. That's got to be a fact. Yep, that's what General Jack Keene told me one hour ago on Fox and Friends. Iran's ceasefire talks get underway, and it's world-defining.

It's going to be a defining moment for J.D. Vance. The impact of his career will be tremendous. Can he land this plane positive for us and for Trump, or will this whole thing blow up in his face and be a failed effort by the vice president, who reportedly was not on board to Begin with, and that's going to be key. JD Vance leading the delegation with Jared Kushner, as well as Steve Litkoff, face to face for the first time since 1978 with the Iranians, who we have no diplomatic relations with, but the foreign minister will be there.

Griff, are you optimistic these talks are going to yield anything?

Well, I hope so. And, you know, when I first learned that it was going to take place in Islamabad, I sort of stepped back and thought: is Pakistan a good place to do this? Are they good faith partners? Hopefully, it is. But at the end of the day, I think that you have to separate two things.

One is we have undeniably achieved a tactical victory on the battlefield in Iran.

Now we need the strategic victory. And those two things include, obviously, freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and a resolution to Iran's nuclear program. And there's no signs that that's near, but the administration is very optimistic. And obviously, the push. To finish this is is Paramount right now.

No doubt about it. And the strait right now is being blocked by uh by Iran, which gives them some leverage. For now, because we're choosing not to use our military to open it and take control of it, here's their foreign minister. Listen to this, cut one. Anybody who communicates With the Iranian authority has got permission from your survey.

Those technical restrictions are very much. Connected to the wartime condition, and it takes time to be removed.

So, safe passage is secure. We have maps, we have everything that we have to be careful that the safe passage of tankers and vessels and well-being of crews are actually met during this passage. What is it? Five boats, five ships got through the other day? I mean, you need a hundred.

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: It's a total of 10. A total of 10 have passed through in the 48 hours since President Trump demanded open and immediate 300 navigation. And at the end of the day, I think that you do have to look at, look, imagine if you were at a corporation, a big corporation that the CEO, the CFO, the executive team, the HR, everybody was wiped out all of a sudden. The new people have to take over. Perhaps there is a grace period of taking a while.

But also, the rhetoric you're seeing from Iranian officials that appear to be in charge are suggesting they're in control now. And this whole business about charging a toll, which President Trump is saying is. Is an absolute non-starter. But, you know, the control of the Strait of Horn moves has always been this sort of Domocles, if you will, hanging over the Middle East. Remember, only 2% of the tankers that come through that strait are bound for the U.S., more than 40% go to China.

A lot go to India.

So at the end of the day, we should stop China ships from moving through and say, no offense, but nothing's getting through until everybody's getting through. Yeah. And Jack Keene says, there's no reason. He spoke to Admiral Cooper. There's no reason.

That's just a political decision.

So we have to make that decision. I mean, there's no way to allow international waters to be controlled by any country, including us. Right. And you're already seeing, by the way, other countries like Qatar, Kuwait, and others look for alternative ways to move oil out of there to not go through the strait. That's kind of the future.

But if you do, and the U.S. gets involved and finishes this and has to. militarily open that strait, it's going to be c incumbent upon other countries, particularly Gulf states, to make sure that Iran never gets anything close to the control. I mean, here is here's what Here's what Jack Keene said about the straight-up Hermooz about an hour ago, cut eight. I know our forces can open up that strait and protect the ships going through it.

People are hand-wringing about a drone here and a missile there, and it's not going to take anything to stop it. They don't understand the plan, all right, and the details of the plan. The United States military can secure a defined space that's moving through the straits, put an absolute air cap and an air bubble around all of that. and make certain that anything that tries to penetrate it is going to be defeated. My God, we've been protecting our own ships against Iranians.

They've been firing on them for weeks. We can certainly do this. It's considerably more limited than that. But you think we're actually going to let anybody come close to that shoreline? We'll have Apache helicopters up, surveillance up.

There's over three thousand ships just stacked up. Waiting to go through. And you heard in Chairman Kane's press briefing that some 700 naval mines had already been taken out.

So it almost seems like they were laying the groundwork for this. And I don't understand why we're waiting. I mean, this is I don't do you think really anything's going to come out of this this weekend? I think they're waiting because President Trump genuinely believes that there is a path for diplomacy still yet with the new leaders in Iran. Remember, when we went and took Maduro, he didn't leave a power vacuum in the country leadership.

He found a willing partner in Dulcy Rodriguez. We'll see if that bears fruit. It seems to be going pretty well so far. He is now looking to Iran's new regime, new leaders, and there is a lot of criticism that they have ties to the old regime. But at the end of the day, I keep coming back to this, it is going to be, we can do this.

The question, and General Keene's so spot on, it would not be hard for us to do it. And to your point, Brian, why? Why don't we do it now? We should have done it yesterday. I think they're giving the Iranian new regime any last-minute hope to say, You want to be a partner?

We'll bring you in and we'll embrace you. Things like the sanctions relief, you're going to get that. But you open it up, you don't get control of the straight, and you don't get uranium.

Well, you're not going to get sanctions relief unless you get all the uranium out.

Some type of monitor system, as well as open up the straight, and you have zero control over it. There can't be any control, there can't be any Iranian fingerprints anywhere near it. And you gotta have 50 or 100 ships go through before anything takes place. Not control, but they're still a part of it. Remember, Carg Island, we've talked a lot about that.

We hit it a few days ago. We have not hit anything other than military targets in Carg Island. Carg Island's 90% of the crude oil comes through there. They're leaving that in place because to take it out would economically destroy that country. And I suspect China has been on the phone with Iranians' new regime saying, Cut a deal, do something.

You cannot allow the U.S. to take it out. But they're not control of the strait, but the operation of moving that crude oil would continue. You know, Iran can't have any control. You think that they can have any control of the strait?

Not control, but they can continue to operate through the strait, which would be governed by ultimately Gulf states. And it would not be the American control of the strait. That's not any control. And it doesn't affect us that much. But the Gulf states are looking, they're looking at all this thinking: wow, if we can remove that decades-long threat that Iran would try and control the strait, we're now there.

And so this is a very important moment, and this Pakistan meeting is very important too, because we're going to learn, I think, a lot of where they are in terms of the nuclear question is separate, but in terms of just the strait itself, we're going to learn a lot about that.

So the Prime Minister of England came out and compared Donald Trump to Vladimir Putin. And then we have the President of France saying, We don't support this American mission, and went up to Iran and said, We'd just like to be able to move our ships through, and France is moving ships through. Think about that. NATO allies. NATO allies.

I mean, this is an alliance very much in jeopardy, in my view. And what's crazy historically, because you write history books. No American president going back decades was willing to confront Iran and not just confront them, but to actually back the confrontation with military might. You know, what are we going to do? More sanctions?

That hasn't worked. It hasn't stopped their pursuit of a nuclear weapon. What are we going to do? Sign a JCPOA and do a new one and maybe give them a signing bonus of more pallets of cash so that they continue to build missile factories. President Trump has now brought them, compelled them to the negotiation table after a perfect history of never negotiating in good faith, sat them down and said, You got one shot.

One chance of good faith negotiations, and likely that starts this weekend.

So, not good news on the inflation front. Inflation soared to 3.3 percent, highest in two years, driven by rising gasoline costs.

Now, the president is very economically oriented as a politician, a person, and a business person. That's bothering him. And that's what I think is weighing over his head, understandably, with all these decisions. And the polls right now show American people are not wild about this war in Iran. And this inflation number, 3.3 percent, is terrible.

It's almost up 1 percent. But if you look into the numbers, I was just looking at them a moment ago, the core CPI is only up 0.2 percent, which is on par the same as what it's been for the last few months. That means that non-fuel-related categories of inflation are not rising. It's all about the price of oil. And if we get the straight-in-forward moose resolved, it won't happen overnight.

But three months from now, you could see gas go way down. And that's what President Trump's looking into. I tell people: don't look, all these polls about the American people. People aren't behind the war. That means nothing.

Zilch, particularly as it pertains to the midterms right now. Show me the poll in July, in August, after this trade is open, after there's a resolution with Iran, and that strategic victory on top of the tactical victory is chosen. That's where President Trump is looking. And those polls will be remarkably different, and inflation will be remarkably down because you won't have oil prices up. You'll have them down.

So, what was your take on Melania Trump's? Press conference yesterday where she basically ripped the press for linking her to Epstein. Cut 47. The lies linking me with the disgraceful Geoffrey Epstein. need to end today.

The individuals lying about me. Are devoid of ethical standards. She goes on. People in the White House evidently were caught by surprise. Number one, I didn't know what links she was talking about.

There were a few photos, but I'm not thinking. Milani at all, what were you thinking? There are very few things that truly shock me. In Washington, having covered that for more than thirty years. When I watched that live, because I was curious what she was going to talk about, remember, she just talked about the Take It Down Act and this major accomplishment that she's done as a very active First Lady.

I thought, What? Where is this coming from? And obviously, now we're all waiting to see if some bad story is coming out that she was trying to get ahead of. But in the communications world, particularly something as focused as any White House, let alone this one, which seems to be very organized and quite disciplined under Caroline Levitt. She gets huge credit for that.

If you're trying to get in front of a story, the White House press shop would have known it appears they were caught off guard. I don't know what prompted that, but I can tell you this: there was probably choice words between the president and the first lady about dropping that without notice, if indeed the president staff didn't see that coming. And the other time that happened is when she went to the border because of incidents about separating families in her first term, and she kind of did that on her own. But this put the Epstein thing back in the spotlight. Why?

Yeah. Who benefits from that? I mean, it didn't just bring it back. It breathed serious life into it because in those remarks, you note she also said that she wanted to have the victims, Epstein's victims, testify before Congress. Under oath.

Under oath. So every Democrat that's wanted to hang Epstein around Trump to bring him down was like, wow, what? Is it Christmas morning? And then you've got people like Nancy Mace and a few Republicans that are trying to keep lighting, breathing life into that. They're obviously happy about that.

It was very, very unusual. And unlike the border thing, I was at the border in Texas when she came down for that visit in McAllen, Texas, where she came. You know, a trip like that, while it looked like she just popped up out of nowhere, the communication shop knew. I mean, you can't. Put a first lady on an airplane, and people don't know that.

This appears to have really been, hey, let's not tell them. We're just going to do this thing. When they announced it, obviously, the White House shop, upper press, as they call it, would have said, What is this all about? It's unclear what the conversations were between the Caroline Levitt team and the First Lady's team, but one thing is for sure, she went further than I think they expected her to go. Yeah, we knew the press conference was there, we just didn't know what it was going to be about.

And I noticed nobody was carrying it. And all of a sudden, I see moments ago, and I'm watching MSNBC or CNN, one of those, and I think, why are they covering Melania? They always ignore Melania, and they're covering it because she brought up this.

So, Griff, who's going to be on real quick? 20 seconds? Look, we're doing Artemis. And by the way, one of those astronauts, Christina Koch, she is a huge surfer.

So I'm going to look a little deeper into that. Not enough people are talking about the astronauts in surfing.

So you're going to look to, you'll probably have that. That's right. She's a Philadelphia Eagles fan, so I'm not going to hold it against her. 6 to 10 Saturday and Sunday. That's right.

Griff Jenkins, thanks so much. Back in a moment, Brian Kilmead Show. Diving deep into today's top stories, it's Brian Kilmead. Uh A talk show that's real. This is the Brian Kill Me Show.

But I think more Democrats should listen to me and say, be on the right side of history and holding Iran accountable. And if you have to pick a side, pick our side. Pick civilization. Pick Israel. There was just a poll, I think it was today.

Pew pointed out 80% of Democrats view Israel negative. Like, that's insane. You know, that's our special ally. That's the only place in the region that has the kind of values and the kinds of way that we live and what we want here as a Democrat. How is that possible that eight out of 10 view Israel in a negative thing as Democrats?

Senator Fetterman gives me hope. Because he says I'm a Democrat. If he says I'm a good Republican, I'm switching parties. I'd have less impact. He said, no, no, I'm a Democrat.

I can't understand what my party's doing. We're actually rooting against your hatred, as Trump has us rooting against Trump, actually against Israel, who's siding with Iran, believing what Iran's saying, where they've been consistently lying, when every cat, as he said last week, Every candidate on the stage running for president last time Said Iran can't have a nuclear weapon. This president makes sure they don't. And now you have people saying this president's out of control, needs a 25th Amendment, we got to get rid of him. It's just insane.

Betterman is not, and I'm as surprised as you are. This guy's had a stroke, been through all of this, dresses like a gym teacher, but really talks like an experienced, savvy, pro-American politician. Julian Epstein next, another Democrat, Hussein. A radio show like no other. It is.

Brian Killmade. What an error, what a miscalculation this entire endeavor was. This is this classic Trump, right? I mean, he starts a war, backs down, and declares the victory for world peace. This war was not going well for us.

This is in no way a win. A commander-in-chief who is truly in control would never have gotten into this colossal mess. That is partisans, in my view, who seem to ignore the fact that. Iran has been a problem. That last guy you just heard, Senator Chuck Schumer, ripping Barack Obama's deal in 2008.

With Iran to have their nuclear program degraded but not removed. He was critical then.

Now you have a guy taking him on, and of course, because it's Donald Trump and he's desperate to hold his position. Widespread criticism of Trump outside Senator Fetterman, I don't know anybody not critical of President Trump to such a degree they're actually rooting, in my view, for Iran. You heard Senator Fetterman just say that. Joining us now is Julian Epstein, served as chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, staff director, the House Oversight Committee with the Democrats from 96 to 2001. Julian, it's not unusual to see partisan criticism of Trump, but not really cheering, but not to the point where they seem to be cheering for Iran.

Yeah, it's not unusual, Brian, for there to be partisan criticism. What's very unusual is for there to be uniform opposition. By the opposition party during a time of war. I mean, we've never seen this. When Obama, for example, went into Libya.

He at least had a fair amount of Republican support in 2011, 2012. And that is true of every conflict that we've had since World War II. Of course, there are differences, of course, there's criticism, but once you're in the middle of a war, To be sort of giving what is, in effect, aid and comfort to the enemy by. continually trying to uh to hamstring the United States and build up public opposition to the war. All you're doing is helping Iran at that point.

So, I don't think we've ever seen this kind of oppositionalism. I think this is sort of existential for the Democrats. It is critical for the Democrats that Trump not succeed here because if Trump succeeds, Then everything the Democrats stand for is out the window. They have you know, Democrats have had this position that they can make bad guys behave through diplomacy and negotiation.

Sort of their same philosophy on crime. Just be nice to the criminals and they'll eventually come around and behave well. The democratic philosophy on Iran has been give them a lot of money and treat them like a world citizen, and eventually they'll comply and become part of the international rules-based order. And that was the lie. That the Democrats and Obama told themselves during the JCP in 2013, and Iran plays the left as fools.

They think they're soft. Iran thinks they're weak and they can be manipulated. And Trump is the first person, as has been pointed out many times, to actually do something. And to do something to denuclearize Iran. And every time Democrats say to me, You know, well, you know, they have this objection or that objection in the war.

I keep saying to them: what is your plan? How do you propose to deal with a nuclear threat and a ballistic threat that Iran? Tell us what your plan is. There's no answer to that. Do you think it's also noteworthy that President Biden tried to get dialogue going with Iran for four years?

You would think a street-smart Iran would say, okay, I'm going to take advantage of this. They did two things: they told the Houthi rebels, you're no longer on the terror watch list. They told their arch rival Saudi Arabia, you're a pariah nation. And then they said, hey, Iran, now that Trump's gone, let's go back to that deal or a different deal. And they never even basically returned any of his calls.

Well, even after Obama signed the deal, the J the JCPOA. Iran proceeded to assassinate Americans to arm the Houthis, arm Hezbollah, arm Hamas. And to continue sponsoring terror all over the world and proceeding with their nuclear program. They developed advanced centrifuges.

So the JCPOA, the diplomatic approach with Iran has been a joke. And the left, the sort of the castratos on the global left have deluded themselves into believing that this would actually solve the problem, and it doesn't. And I think at this point, they know it doesn't solve the problem. They're applying to domestic audiences. You saw the Senate candidate in Michigan saying he didn't want to criticize.

He didn't want to criticize the bombing in the attempted attack in the Michigan synagogue because he would have upset. The pro-Iranian dearborn voters.

So there's part of the Democratic Party, part of what's going on is reflexive oppositionalism. Part of what's going on is the Islamification of American politics that is becoming stronger and stronger and seeping into the Democratic Party, this sort of socialist Islamic alliance where the Democratic leaders are scared to say anything that may upset these fringe voters because the party's shrinking.

So they can't afford to upset sort of the foreign voters. Where else do we see this? We see it in England. All through Europe. And we see it in France.

All through Europe. Yep. Not just England and France, Brian. We see it in Sweden. We see it in Spain.

We see it in Germany. We see it all through what we call old Europe. Um But so You know, if Trump is successful here, then then everything that the Democrats stand for, which is weak deterrence. and diplomacy can solve every problem. Everything is discredited.

So that's also part of the reason why the Democrats have to oppose here. And it's a shame because I think this war is going well. I think Iran has been largely disarmed. Um Israel this The Zionists have never had more friends in the Arab world. Most of the Guil states are lining up now with Israel.

And there are two things that are left to be solved. One is the Hormuz question and the other is the nuclear question. I think there's a solution on the nuclear question. And there are solutions on the Hormuz question. And my only hope here is that Trump doesn't pull the plug too soon because I think we're on the cusp of What will be a historic victory?

For world peace and for U.S. security. Absolutely. We just don't see the damage because they don't really have any internet. We're not able to get much information out of Iran the way it is right now.

I want to switch over to politics.

So, the President of the United States not only doesn't have fans on the left, now he has people that are calling for the 25th Amendment. Listen to all these leaders speaking out from Pritzker to Rokana to Seth Moulton. Cut 30. The 25th Amendment must be invoked before it's too late. Donald Trump is not fit to be commander-in-chief.

He needs to be removed. Including, but not limited to the 25th Amendment. Every member of Congress and Senator must be calling for Trump's removal. Do I think Donald Trump should be impeached? Absolutely.

What the president is doing is bad crazy. Donald Trump. Who I believe is suffering from dementia at this point. We should impeach him. We should find a way to get Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment.

You think that's happening? I think they're just competing with each other for the extreme audience and the online audience. Um Look, this is a joke. You and I had a conversation, Brian. I want to say it was 2023 or 2024 on Fox and Friends, where we were talking about Biden's mental health.

And, you know, I could give you a dozen dozens of examples where Biden couldn't remember. World leaders were calling on dead members of Congress, didn't know what happened in Afghanistan. Remember? You go on down the line, referring to the. Referring to presidents of different countries confusing Egypt and Mexico.

I mean, go on down the line. Donald Trump gives a press conference or press availability almost every day for hours. The Biden staff knew that they could not put Biden out for the most part in front of an unscripted. News media. Because they knew he would be exposed.

Everyone knew by 2024 that Biden was not capable of running the presidency. And none of them had the guts to stand up and say that he should not be president. None of them talked about the 25th Amendment. All of them told the lie that he was sharper than ever, the famous Gerald Scarborough line. You may agree, you may disagree with Trump.

on the war, that's fine. That's fair game, I suppose. I don't think you should be trying to attack and disable the President while he's in the middle of a war. But the notion that he doesn't know what he's doing or he's not capable or doesn't have His cognitive abilities. I mean, I think that's silly on its face.

I think most people will see that. As silly on its face. And the Democrats are doing the same thing they've done since 2015. It is 11 years now, and it's just maximalist rage. directed towards Donald Trump, and it has not worked.

Is Ben elected twice? His numbers, you know, his numbers have slipped, but his numbers are still well ahead of where the Democratic Party is. And the Democrats all they bring up politics of rage and oppositionalism, which is not a good plan. And then, on the policy level, all the Democrats have to offer today, for the most part, are identity politics and growing the welfare state. They don't stand for anything else the way they used to.

So, these Democrats went to Al Sharpton's conference for the last two days. Anyone wants to be a presidential contender? You got J.B. Pritzker, you have Wes Moore, Josh Shapiro, Mayor Pete, you have Kamala Harris all showing up. Here's a little of J.B.

Pritzker Cut 33. The agenda. It's gonna lead to a Democrat, you say. in the White House in 28. Are you going to be that Democrat?

I feel like I'm on price is right. People are yelling out the answer, you know. Look, we have a A pretty good bench. In fact, you've invited so many of them to come right here, and they've been on this stage, or they're going to be.

So that's my answer. My answer is. I don't know what I'll be doing after. I hope I win reelection after, but I can tell you this. I'm going to fight like hell to elect a Democrat in 2028.

So you obviously think he's running, right?

So, Wes Moore, do you think he's running? Josh Shapiro, good year. I think Shapiro is running. Shapiro is running. I think Bashir is running.

I don't think Westmore. I think Westmore's got some problems. He's not running. But Again, none of these. Party candidates.

Any of them. Um or offering anything other than rage. growing the welfare state and identity politics. And all three of those things are unpopular.

So until the Democrats get back to building. I don't think they're going to be viable in the 2020 election.

Okay, so you say building, building what? I'll give you two examples. The public school system is a disaster in this country. The reading proficiencies rates are, you know, maybe about a third of students are math and reading proficient. And you can see this when you do these sort of man in the street interviews about do people know what's going on in Iran, do people understand anything about what's going on in the world?

Our proficiency in basic civics. is just plummeting. And you see this because of a failed school system. That basically the public unions are kicking back funds to the Democrats, and it's becoming. you know, one giant sort of kleptocracy.

Uh that is misserving the students.

Okay, so Democrats could fix the school system. They could start training workers for the AI disruption that's coming. You don't hear him talking about any of those things. All you hear him talking about is how bad Donald Trump is. Who is the latest depressed?

Part you know, group. that needs the government to come in as their, you know, as their lord. And how do we grow a welfare state, which we're seeing from some of the reporting? Chris Ruffo has done some really good reporting in California. But the fraud kickback scheme is going on all over the country.

So in Elijah. I just want you to hear this because we're up against the break. This Nelia Mejia, the Democrat looking to get Mikey Sherrill's seat, is way to the left, an extremist to the tenth degree. Listen to this. Cut thirty-eight.

We don't need armed thugs running around our streets shooting American people just for exercising their First Amendment rights. This is not logical. Q goes on, cut 39. I want you to remember, Joe Hathaway voted for Donald Trump three times. Republicans like himself and Donald Trump three times Trump supporter, Donald Trump, Donald Trump.

Donald Trump voted three times for Donald Trump. He sounds like a Trump, and he'll just be more Trump. I will fight, frankly, Donald Trump. She says she's with Mondami, endorsed by AOC, endorsed by Bernie Sanders, and she basically wants nothing to do with any moderate lane that you might be in, Julian. That's correct.

And that's where the party is headed. And that's why I think the party is. Moving towards becoming a permanent minority party. This is. This is a party that, again, is offering nothing, Brian, other than opposition to Trump and open borders.

Right. Think of anything can you can you think of and I ask people this all the time, name me three positive things that the Democrats actually stand for that where they want to build for the people that is popular. Nobody can name one. All they can do is tell you it's like this rage. You know, when you go into a fit of rage, which is where the Democratic Party is today, it's just oppositionalism and rage.

You stop thinking about what's true and false. You just start thinking about who's on my team and who's on the other team. You stop thinking rationally, you stop thinking about how to build. And that's where the Democrats are today. They're just filled with rage.

filled with oppositionalism and they can't Think outside of that box. to get to where the voters are, which they voters want to see Two parties work together to build for the future. Democrats don't want any part of that. All they want to talk tell you is how terrible Trump is. How oppressed The West is making certain identity groups, and how we need a bigger welfare state.

Those things are are very, very difficult to sell. To an American population, 70% of which is moderate or conservative. Yep, keep spending. Keep spending. Don't reduce taxes.

Blame the wealthy or blame the most successful. Julian Epstein, thanks so much. Thanks, Brian. All right, we'll come back. We'll be able to give update you on Artemis II.

It's going to be splashing down tonight. Why the country, the country, not Republicans or Democrats, seem to be rallying around this mission. We'll explain. Both sides, all opinions. It's Brian Killmead.

The more you listen, the more you'll know. It's Brian Kilmead. When the budget was released, I was shocked to find out that Prime Minister Kearney is cutting $7 billion between Indigenous Services Canada and Crown Indigenous Relations. They provided zero dollars. To deal with the ongoing genocide of MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA Plus.

This is abhorrent. And I've been saying this. Eric, how long have I been saying this? What is Canada doing with the murderers? I was asked about this and I almost didn't get hired because I had to do it.

And that's why I would never have moved to Canada, because they do not give enough respect to M M I W G two S L G B T Q Q I A It's important. Plus. I'm sorry.

Sorry about that. Please, Brian. For everyone I have offended, I didn't say plus. Um give me a minus. Take some say go above.

So this is what it means. You ready? Missing and murdered indigenous women, girls, two-spirit. What does that mean? What is two-spirit?

Your guess is as good as that. Like Indians, American Indians? I would think it has something to do with the indigenous population in Canada. Indigenous? Are you afraid of saying American?

Oh, Canadian Indians. I'm just using her word. I don't want to.

Okay. Lesbian, gay. Those are the good old days when we used to just say that. Bisexual? Isn't that too spirit?

Can you be a two-spirited bisexual? In a sense, sure. Transgender again? We're b we're blending. Lot of blending.

Queer? That's a little Limiting Right. Not really. I mean And then there's questioning. Is this the double Q?

I guess that's the queer question. I guess that's if you can't pick any of the above your questioning. Right. And can you question someone questioning? Like for example, if I question And then I go, What do you mean?

They go, How dare you judge me? I think that's against the rules. I don't think you can question them. Can you Pete, do you want to weigh in on that? Are you just going to let Eric have the absolute authority?

I'll give him the authoritarian, because this is totally out there. I love this. Inter two sex. Again, there's not one. Like we did the good old days was Gay?

Were a homosexual And lesbian. And now I'm beginning to really have trouble. really have trouble, but maybe I'm the only one. And then there's asexual people. That could be anybody.

And you're ending. with anybody. 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. We're here at 48th and 6th in Midtown Manhattan or around the country, around the world, where we have found out that for 250, our celebration on July 4th, we'll have a ball drop like New Year's Eve.

However, the mayor is not letting us gather around to cheer the ball to go down.

So the question is, if the ball drops in Times Square and nobody's there, does it make a noise? Do we make a noise? It's crazy. I mean, it's just one crazy policy after another with this socialist mayor. He doesn't want big crowds.

I think the reason is because of we have a lack of cops. We're 6,000 down. Yes.

So when you are down cops, but have the candidates, you know what a lot of people do? They have Academies And they put it with candidates, and then they become cops. And you've had all this time to do it. And they haven't. Also, on special occasions, you have other cops from other places come by.

So, just another reason to just shake your head. I think a lot of people don't want to celebrate the country's anniversary birthday. I'm not one of them. Josh Crash Hauer is going to be joining us shortly. And Lieutenant Colonel Dan Rooney, who's running for Congress, will be with us in just a moment.

But first, let's get to the big three. Number three. Tomorrow the Orion spacecraft will enter the Earth's atmosphere at approximately 25,000 miles per hour. That heat shield, the thermal protection system, which is built by American hands and American factories, where materials designed to withstand temperatures that approach the surface of the sun will bear the full force of that re-entry. Yup, Artemis II is coming back down to Earth, but leaves the space program out of this world in a good way.

Why? I think this could be a new national unifier. Number 10. The 25th Amendment must be invoked before it's too late. Every member of Congress and senator must be calling for Trump's removal.

Do I think Donald Trump should be impeached? Absolutely. Donald Trump, who I believe is suffering from dementia at this point, Yeah, like Gerald Nadler should be talking about anything. Prior politics are plenty. As Dems try and make Trump the story again and the 28 presidential Democratic contenders line up in New York City as we see a possible dark horse for Republicans in 28 seems to be getting his ducks in a row.

I'll tell you who I think it is. Number one.

Well, the president has information that none of us have. There's something there that's telling him this looks better than any of the other negotiations that he's been involved in and tell me what the Iranians did with the Obama administration. That's got to be a fact. Yes, that's true. General Jack Keen weighing in with me on Fox and Friends.

Iran sees fire talks get underway in Pakistan and it's world defined. It's going to be defining where we go from here. The impact and career, by the way, of J.D. Vance is also on the line. If he's effective as leading this delegation, it's going to line him up perfectly for 28.

If he isn't, then I think people are really going to say this guy's vulnerable and I'm going to run, let alone what he's going to do as vice president, because we know he's not. Not all in on any of this and hasn't been in in Venezuela, was not in here, was not in for the Houthi attacks. That was revealed in the signal chats. But let's bring in Lieutenant Colonel Dan Rooney, founder of Folds of Honor, former F-16 pilot, and a Republican candidate for Oklahoma's first congressional district. And if you want to find out what's going on with our Air Force, he's also where to go.

Kevin Hearn is going to be running for Senate in Oklahoma. He's going to be abandoning that congressional district. And I think Lieutenant Colonel will be a perfect candidate for it. Dan, welcome back. Wow, blessed to be here and happy Friday.

Yeah. Hey, let me before we tap into why you want to get into Congress, I want to tap into what you've done for decades, and that's be a pilot. During this time, over this two-week period, people talk about getting the Air Force, which all the pressures on the Air Force. Getting them ready, getting them a chance to maintenance the equipment, and getting everyone a breather. How important is that?

Oh, you know, so important. Like, people do not understand the ops tempo that we have been running over in Iran 24-7 around the clock. Ceasefire tactically for us is a great reset point. But I'm going to go back to what you said. Like, the fact that President Trump, our dear brother, Pete Hagstaff, Sekwar, Raisin Kane, we have a capable military right now.

And what we have invested and what President Trump has invested in us, and I'm still serving in the Oklahoma Air Guard, it was falling apart under Biden. We could not go do this without the investment beforehand. And man, guys are doing such a great job. Obviously, the Easter miracle with the rescue of the two F-15E crew members. What an unbelievable testament to our armed forces and our commander-in-chief that has us trained up.

As we say, stay ready so you don't have to get ready.

So, Dan, tell me right now with the F-15s. Though we're using F 16s and F 33s, why are we still using F 15s?

So it's interesting. People don't understand this either.

So the air war has switched, right? We went from a strategic stealth strike, knocking out communications to what we call hunter and killer missions with non-stealth aircraft.

So F-15Es, A-10s, F-18s. And the issue is China and Russia both have provided Iran with IR manpads.

So these are heat-seeking IR missiles. And as a fighter pilot, you have no ability to detect these with your onboard warning systems.

So as we get low, we're daylight. We are very vulnerable. I'm not surprised someone got shot down. I don't think this is the first time or the last time this is going to happen. And people got to understand that this war, as we push in to take out these individual targets, our pilots are very vulnerable to being shot down.

Shot down by these IR missiles, as I said. And Russia and China have huge blood on their hands on this latest shoot-down.

Well, the shoulder-fired missiles are an effective anti- Air Force strategy? How come we only got hit if that if it's that commonplace and we've been hitting so often with so many different targets? Uh how c how have they only gotten lucky once?

Well, we call it the golden BB in our business. We know the threat is there. There's a lot that has to go right to take someone down. But we know these IR man pads are prolific, and it's one guy on his shoulder. And yeah, it is absolutely, it's a Hail Mary.

But we saw it does happen. Great credit. I think we've flown like over 16,000 sorties. We've had one airplane knocked out of the sky. But as this war matriculates into what we call this knife fight in a phone booth, right?

Low altitude, non-stealth aircraft, we are going to be vulnerable to these attacks.

So, Dan, you're saying to yourself here that out of everything you've done in your career, you're still serving in the National Guard, you're a professional golfer, a golfer pro, and also you're a fighter pilot, as I mentioned, and founder of Folds of Honor, which all of these are full-time jobs in many respects.

So, what makes you want to run for Congress? You know, number one, I wasn't going to do it. And then I had a long discussion with Jack Nicholas, who's really become my stand-in dad. And I was so humble. Jack said, Daniel, you have to do this.

You've been put in service before self your whole life. And we need combat veterans. We need faith-based people in Washington, D.C. And that was really the turning point for me. And as I started examining it, when we look at Oklahoma, we've had three combat veterans since World War II serve in Congress.

And as that relates to what's happening in Iran, the decisions that are made in Washington, D.C., whether it's going to combat, whether it is for my day job at Folds of Honor, all of these policies affecting the families of fallen or critically wounded military as well. And it just, man, added up to me, and it just feels. Like a continuation of service on behalf of veterans and the great state of Oklahoma. We got five military bases here. Nobody has a seat at the armed service table.

And I said, you know, if God willing, if Oklahoma wants to send me, I'll take the oath for the second time in my life. I took the first one, joining the Air Force in 1998. We'll take it again on behalf of God Country and Oklahoma. But we got to have combat vets up there, Brian. We got 31 currently post-9-11 combat veterans in Washington, D.C.

And our voice is valuable, and we've got to have it up there.

So June 16th, the Republican primary, you got Jackson LaMeyer and Ron Durbin, who are also running. What do you know about them, and why do you feel as though you're a better choice? I just think, I mean, there are a lot of good candidates. I'm a better choice because, number one, I've spent my life putting service before self, and that's the thing we get most disappointed in when we send politicians up there. They put their self before service.

You know what you get with me. And also, I just think my connections up there, not coming up to be a junior congressman, the relationships with SecWar, the president, the ability to make Oklahoma proud on great news stations like Fox with you guys or getting on the radio show, being a voice of unity and common sense on behalf of veterans. And obviously, we don't do it without energy, man, and we're in the energy belt here in Oklahoma. We're not kicking button Iran without it. We don't win World War II.

There's nothing more fundamental to national security than our energy independence here in the U.S.

So for me, it's not doing anything different, man. It's just doing it in a different place. Understood. Here's what you're going to be doing. You're going to be involved in a lot of partisanship.

And when you talk about the president taking on Iran, if you asked anybody who's been alive for the last 30 years, oh, what's your number one enemy of America? Iran would be their top three list on everybody's card. Top one in almost every president's card. No doubt about it. But yet we get this: Cut 15.

What an error. What a miscalculation this entire endeavor was. This is just classic Trump, right? I mean, he starts a war, backs down, then declares a victory for world peace. This war was not going well for us.

This is in no way a win. A commander-in-chief who is truly in control would never have gotten into this colossal mess. It's cartoonish-type reviews, but that's what you're going to be a part of. What are your thoughts about Chris Murphy, Jake Oshensaus, Seth Moulton, and Chuck Schumer? Number one, like they've never sat in a cockpit.

They don't get it. They call it war for a reason. It is hard. It is unpredictable. It's so clear, right?

This is such a clear thing. Like, the Strait of Hormuz has to be stable for the globe to be stable. And I look at it in relation to kind of my Congress run. If not you, then who? President Trump went in and did something that has needed to be done for decades.

for our families, for the global security, for energy. And everybody's you know, they sit on the sideline and they don't understand that you need to be there as long as it takes.

So Iran can never play this card again. And the stomach, I get it, long wars, people don't have the stomach for it, but we're talking weeks. not years. And I know he will stay the course, and I know Pete and Raisin Kane will stay the course until that strait is secure. And Iran and this new regime isn't cooking nuclear weapons in the future, and the next generation would never consider it because they know what happens.

Understood. So, Dan, if people want to support your candidacy for the first districts over in Oklahoma, how do they do it? You mean it's just as far as a run of the campaign over here? Yes, exactly. You're raising funds, raising awareness.

People want to volunteer. Yeah, so it's key. Then go to danrooney.com and donate. And, you know, that's the battle, right? We got to raise funds to get the word out, volunteer opportunities.

And again, man, it's simple. I love God. I love my country. I love Oklahoma. If you want to see somebody up there who's going to put service before self, because we've been doing it our whole lives, it's not a campaign slogan.

It's the life that we've lived. We need you in the fight. And it's just been extraordinary, Brian. The people coming to us. With hope that we'll get somebody up there that truly represents the voice of Oklahoma and our veterans and the values that we hold dear.

Because my day job is awesome, but we're willing to go serve and fight in Congress if Tulsa wants to send us. Trevor Burrus So, if Old of Honor, you'll put somebody in charge to keep it going. My question is: what's going to keep your golf game going if you're going to have to be in two separate places working full-time as a Congressman? Are you willing to let your golf game suffer?

Well, it's funny. I was with Jack Nicholas on Wednesday, and he said, you realize how much golf you're going to play with President Trump if you get elected.

So I'm hopeful I'll become a great golf buddy of the president, and we'll get a lot of stuff done on the course. And if nothing else, I'll be the best golfer to ever serve in Congress.

So a lot of hay in that barn. But yeah, there's a lot of sacrifice, but we're willing to make it if people want to send us up there. Absolutely. Lieutenant Colonel Dan Rooney, former, current, he's still serving the National Guard, is a fighter pilot, Folds of Honor founder, and now wants to be your next Congressman over in Oklahoma.

So thanks so much, Colonel. Best of luck the rest of the way. I can't imagine you not being victorious because you joined your endorsement, Brian. You got my endorsement. Do I have your endorsement?

Absolutely. By the power vested in me. Yes.

So we're winning, brother. God bless. Have a great Friday. Thank you so much for your advocacy, your support of Folds, and just being one of the greatest Americans I've ever met in my life.

Well, that's an honor for you to say that. But I just can't wait to see you serving on Armed Services. That'll be a great for America. Dan Rooney, thanks so much. Thanks.

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. If you're interested in it, Brian's talking about it. You're with Brian Kilmead.

Every system we've demonstrated over the past nine days, life support, navigation, propulsion, communications, all of it depends on the final minutes of flight. We have high confidence in the system and the heat shield and the parachutes and the recovery systems we put together. The engineering supports it, the Artemis 1 flight data supports it, all of our ground tests supports it, our analysis supports it, and tomorrow the crew's going to put their lives behind that confidence. Until then, the flight control team, the engineering team, the recovery forces in the Pacific, to every engineer, every technician that's touched this machine, tomorrow belongs to you. The crew has done their part.

Now we have to do ours.

So we know today is a day. Splashdown is going to be Eastern time, Friday night at 8.07. This morning... We're going to see them begin their day at 11.35 today. They're going to be sleeping.

Reed Weissman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen. At 1.50, the astronauts will be working to configure the capsule's cramped cabin for re-entry. They'll get all buckled up. 2.53, NASA then scheduled a final trajectory course correction. And then at 3.20, the crew will resume configuring integrity cabin for re-entry, make sure everything's set.

five hundred five, the astronauts will begin working their entry list, beginning the final work to return to Earth. It includes things like climbing into their biggest their bright orange and blue launch and entry suits known as the Onion Crew Survival System. They can survive those suits for up to six days, it's reached. At 6:30, NASA's own broadcast coverage begins. We'll be dipping into that, I'm sure, on the network.

7.15, NASA's Mission Control will switch over communications with the Orion Integrity Capsule from the deep space network of radio dishes based along the globe. The NASA will use the deeps, the DSN for sure, to communicate with Orion through the Artemises 2's transit to the moon and back system. At 7.20, the capsule will ditch its bulky service module at about 42 minutes before splashdown. At 7.33, the Orion capsule crew module Looks like a gumdrop, they say. We'll separate from the cylinder European service module built by the ESA, the European Space Agency.

Didn't actually know they had one. 737 AI, approximately 737, the Orion Castle will perform a quick burn to maneuver into the right position and attitude for an altitude for re-entry and splashdown. Seven fifty three the Orion enters Earth's upper atmosphere. 400,000 feet above the surface. At 8.02, about nine minutes into the descent, the spacecraft will be traveling just under the speed of sound at around 35,000 feet.

803 The drogue deployment will occur at about 10 minutes in. Yeah. That's when they want to splash down just off the coast of San Diego.

Sounds like it's going to be fun. I think America will be watching. Radio that makes you think. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. I really wish I could be cloned, and I'd send my clone on a driving tour to diners in 30 states and ask people, what do you think about all this?

Because there's no doubt in my mind that whether they're Bernie Sanders people or MAGA people or just regular people, most Americans would just scratch their heads at how much attention this is giving, how expensive it is, and what the risk and reward is.

Now, at the same time, The president's job is to do what he thinks right for America. And so other presidents have focused a lot of resources on this country just in a different way. But it's not a winner. It's not a winner with voters. And even if this ends spectacularly well, and I think it still could, I don't think voters are going to care much about it because it is, as you say, just so remote from their lives.

Well, I just think it's going to be, if it is remote from their lives, it's up to the president to explain why it isn't. Number two is foreign policy has always been like that. You know, unless it's uh 9-11 where it hit everybody and you think about it. That's the issue with foreign policy. That's why so many people say, you know, focus on the economy, which is true.

But the President didn't feel as though he had that luxury with the killing between 30 and 41,000 people in cold blood, and knowing that they were reconstituting their Their nuclear enrichment program, and that we're still missing about a thousand pounds of uranium. It's somewhere in the bottom or constructed or located in. Uh located in Um uh their destroyed or disabled nuclear program.

So, what are we going to do about that? Josh Krashauer joins us now, Fox News Radio political analyst, editor-in-chief of the Jewish Insider. Josh, for the most part, is Mark Halperin right? It's not resonating in great numbers with the American people, this conflict, whether they view it justified or not.

Well look That's a question about the politics, and I agree. And I think we've talked about this in the run-up to the war, that typically presidents give a big address before the nation before launching a military operation or a war. Typically, there is working with Congress to at least get some buy-in and to keep people who could come out against you in the future to let them know what the objectives are, to let them know what the goals are. This is a very, very just conflict against Iran. Iran has been attacking the U.S.

and attacking U.S. personnel and killing hundreds, being a malign threat in the region. I mean, we've been hearing this from President, as Trump likes to remind us, Presidents dating back to George H.W. Bush, you know, the Bush administration, have been warning about Iran.

So, you know, there's a lot to be said. I don't know if Trump used the bully pulpit as effectively as he could have in the run-up to the conflict. And that's why a lot of people, I think you ask a lot of people, average voters who don't have time to follow all the details, to watch the news all the time, they don't know all the history. History. They don't know the context.

They don't fully appreciate what's at stake here.

So that's the challenge. I think Trump could have easily done a better job of presenting the threats that Iran posed, laying it out to the public, getting a little bit more buy-in from Congress. I mean, it's easy to do those things and to actually win over persuadable voters and persuadable members of Congress, even though there's a lot of moderate Democrats that actually have been warning about Iran as well. But when things, you know, when gas prices go up and there's some political pressures, you're going to need to rely on and get some insurance from some of that public support, from some of the political buy-in that you would have gotten before. And that's where I think, you know, what Mark is talking about.

I think that's where things are getting a little dicey for the White House. But ultimately, I think it's still unclear what the, you know, we have JD Vance now in Pakistan with a lot of top Trump officials. These stakes are, these negotiations are going to be quite important, but I still think there's a lot of lack of clarity on what the goals are. Like, what is the mission on the U.S. side to get out of the negotiations?

To get out of Iran and where things are going to be going from here.

So I think there's a lot of unknowns. We'll see what comes out of the negotiations. But as far as the politics go, I think there are a lot of people, to Mark Halperin's point, that are just a little confused. And I think it would have been helpful to have more public communication about what was at stake at the war and what continues to be at stake in terms of these negotiations. Right.

So here is Senator Ted Cruz, cut 11. Perfect. The long-standing rules for the conduct of war makes clear that civilian power generation is a legitimate target, a military target, is a long-standing military target. And the reason the president named power plants and bridges is because the obvious target is the oil facilities, the refineries and the terminal on Karg Island. But if that were destroyed, Iran would lose its long-term revenue.

And the objective here is stop Iran from being a threat, remove the military threat, stop them from killing Americans, and then that economic revenue from oil sales can rebuild the country, not with American taxpayers. We're not going to rebuild the country. But the revenue from Iran with a peaceful government can rebuild the country. And that's what he wants to do. But when the president came out over the weekend and said we're going to take away take away, basically eradicate the civilization, that's when Democrats lost their minds.

Yeah, look, Trump is can be his own worst enemy when he posts on on Truth Social and says, you know, I I think Ted Cruz sort of explained effectively on what he was talking about, but I think a lot of people think nuclear bar you know, they think the worst. They don't they don't know what when you use that kind of intemperate language and and and and I think that was a sort of a bargaining tool, that was a way to try to force Iran to the table, but clearly I don't think that worked. That the straight of war moves still still closed. There's still no no real consensus on on what this agreement or what the negotiations are gonna going to lead to. I don't think Iran has made any real significant concessions, even though there were some signs that they might earlier in the process.

But yeah, I mean, that's the kind of that's the risk you take. I mean, I think saying what Ted Cruz said would have gone a long way in alleviated a lot of the political problems that Trump faced, and frankly, the pressure he ended up facing having to back down in the wake of the backlash to the.

So they've talked about the 25th Amendment, that Donald Trump has got to be Scott.

Okay. We're going to stop funding the war. All right.

So I looked at Victor Davis Hanson, a military historian. Truman ordered all bridges blown up and hydroelectric plants blown up in the Korean War. George H.W. Bush was bombing out roads and bridges in the First Persian Gulf War. Senator Kelly might have even been part of that in 91.

He was a fighter pilot in Serbia. Clinton blew up bridges on the Danube and he took out the power for 1 million people. Obama targeted 500 people and killed them with droning them. I believe they weren't read their Miranda rights in Libya. He blew up civilian power plants, ports.

And TV stations, while having a seven-month war without any War Powers Act being invoked.

So there's a little bit of a problem with people saying that Donald Trump has lost his mind.

Well, you also have to just look at Obama's war against ISIS, where we used a lot of air power, a lot of force, and that did a lot of damage to civilians. But it also had a clear military purpose, to defang and defeat ISIS. And that's generally been supported and approved of. And I think it's clear, as Senator Cruz was saying, that if taking out a bridge means that you're not transporting missiles that are going to be used against Israel or against Saudi Arabia. I mean, that has a clear military, a lot of that infrastructure has a clear military purpose.

These are not mainly, I mean, obviously they can be used for civilian purposes, but if they're being used to transport weapons and other weapons that are being used to attack the Gulf and Israel, then clearly there's a clear purpose in taking this infrastructure out. I wish Trump said that. I think it would have avoided a lot of what would happen in the last 48 hours. But look, I think his goal in his mind was making the biggest threat possible, hoping that the Iran kind of comes to the table or backs down or opens a straight-up home moves. I don't think they really did.

And now we're kind of, I think, we've made some concessions without getting anything from Iran in return.

So I think if it ends now, you're right. What I think's going to happen, Josh, and I'd be very curious to see what you think, being that you do understand the Middle East. And understand what's at stake with Israel and whatever because of the expansion of Abraham Accords. But I sense we're going to be back opening up the strait ourselves. And then it's going to be much clearer who won.

And then the other thing would be going to get the uranium ourselves. and be much clearer who who is one. And allow Israel to go out and do more of the assassinations that they were asked to stop. Yeah, no, I think you're right, Brian. And I honestly, like, there have been times we've talked about the conflict even before the war started, and I was sort of skeptical about Trump's intention to use force, and he ended up doing so.

Going back to the 12-day war, where he was sending mixed signals and ultimately realized that Iran was not intransigent and ended up using force every time they would not come to the table and make any meaningful concessions.

So we could see a replay of that. We could be seeing what happens with another two weeks of negotiations. We'll see what Vice President Vance and his team are going to get out of negotiations in Islamabad. But the Pakistanis and the Chinese, not exactly the strongest U.S. allies with them involved, I'm a little skeptical, but we'll see what happens.

And if Iran does what they've always done, not just with the Trump administration, but with previous presidents, and don't really do a lot of talk, but don't really concede anything, then I think it's very, very possible Trump could once again use force to try to get Iran to actually make concessions. But look, I do think that. The higher gas prices, the domestic political pressures back home really did have an impact on the president. And I think that the. you know, the cost perhaps politically of getting back into the war and and and and starting things up again, at least right now, uh, may be a little too high at the moment.

Trevor Burrus Because inflation's at three, core inflation not as high, but it really is over gas prices, which We'll go back to probably $70 a barrel when this is over. Because the strait will never be left in Iran's hands. There's no scenario where the president would leave. Any international waters in any country's hands. I mean, think about the precedent that that would bring.

Yeah, I mean, the long-term or even the medium-term politics of leaving the Strait of Hormuz subjected to Iranian tolls or from whatever they're doing and not having it open for free shipping would be very, very, very problematic, to put it mildly. And, you know, and I also think that the other two big goals, I think the operation, which has been going on for six weeks or went on for six weeks, significantly degraded Iran's missile capacity, but maybe not to the extent that the White House and the Israeli officials were hoping for. And we still, as you said, Brian, we still haven't gotten rid of some of that nuclear material that's been a major goal of this operation.

So I think you need this declared mission accomplished or declared victory. I think you need to at least get one or two of those operational goals, which have been the real reasons that we went to war against Iran and very noble reasons. But they haven't been laid out very clearly, and I think they still need to be accomplished. They're still very much incomplete right now.

So think about this. JD Vance is really in a career-defining moment. We all know he was not for this. We all know he wasn't from Venezuela. We all know that he wasn't even for bombing the Houthis.

So he's in there to lead a delegation to land this plane. If he walks out and shrugs his shoulders with this miscommunication, or the final product embarrasses the president and he's got to get back involved. Or he goes in there and gets the uranium and a deal on the straighter for Moose. This is career-defining for him. Am I overstating it in your mind, Josh?

I mean, this I think I think you're right that J.D. Vance has been in the back burner since the war began. He clearly opposed the war. We learned that from at least the New York Times account of the internal deliberations inside the White House.

Now he's got a chance to. be the front person in the negotiating team. He doesn't have a lot of experience, by the way, doing these type of high-profile international negotiations. But here's his chance in the spotlight to get a deal, to try to, for once, get Iran to make concessions after six weeks of intense bombardment. If that doesn't happen, if Iran continues to play him like they played a lot of other American officials over time, it's not going to be a good feather in the cap for the Vice President.

But we'll see what he can do. We all hope that he can strike a good deal and get some concessions from the Iranians. But I think the most important thing is sometimes you got to walk away. If they're not offering concessions, you don't want to make a deal that would jeopardize American security and security in the Gulf region. Yes.

And if Trump starts hearing the negativity he's hearing right now after J.D. Vance emerges, which he thinks is a good deal, the President will have not hesitated to say can't send J.D. again. Uh, because I Steve Witkoff is a friend of his, they're really tight, but he has not produced anything. The guy that saved the Gaza deal was Jared Kushner.

And since that time, you're asking them to do Ukraine, you're asking them to do the Iranian negotiations, you're asking them to do Hamas, of course, everything. And to me, it makes no sense. I'm all for being unorthodox. That's the president operates. But I do think you need an expertise, don't you think?

Well, where's Marco Rubio? I mean, I think Rubio would have been the logical person as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor to send. He clearly has experience with the Middle East brief. He clearly has been someone who stood by the President's side, has been a very loyal and, I think, helpful advisor in all these tough challenges. And I'm surprised that he's not in the region as part of the negotiations.

Very good point. Lastly, Glenn Youncken has really been very aggressive of late, saying I'm chomping at the bid to do something.

So if Trump doesn't call his number, do you think that he's lining up and seeing if there's a path for him to run in 28? Yeah. I mean, we always hear the former governor's name a whole lot. Look, I think he has a good record to run on. And Virginia, as a native Virginian, I think his job approval at the end of his term is higher than Governor Spanberger's, the Democrat, is after only a month in office.

So I think that speaks to the fact that he was governing a purple state and dealt with the Democratic legislature and ultimately did a lot of things that were pretty popular.

So I think that's a record that he would run on. I think the negative, though, is that. I think Vance is heir apparent if Trump gave him his blessing. Maybe not. The way things have been going, Vanson's political stock has certainly been dropping.

But if it wasn't Vance, you would think Rubio would be a natural success. I think the path for Juncken would probably be if people wanted a total change from Trump, that someone who's an outsider who was a governor could come in. But I don't know if that's where things look right now, but who knows in 2028, there may be an opportunity for an outsider who's not served in the Trump administration to have some political impact. Yeah, I think that somehow DeSantis and Young can end up with Trump in the last two years somewhere in his administration. They're just too good and competent to not utilize him.

And at the most part, they've been very loyal. DeSantis and he have healed their rift.

So I look for the president, regardless of the midterms, somehow folding them in. Josh Krausschauer, interesting times to do your job. Fox News Political Analyst and Editor-in-Chief of Jewish Insider. Thanks, Josh. Thanks, Brian.

All right.

We'll be back in a moment. Coming to you on a need-to-know basis because, man, do you need to know? It's Brian Kilmead. Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kill Me Show.

talking out of both sides of their mouth, knowing that they're pushing for something that'll never happen. Meaning invoking the 25th Amendment, that ain't gonna happen. As long as he's alive and breathing, Donald Trump's gonna be the president. Until The end of the year 2028. It's just a fact.

Stop it. All you're showing is how useless. You are. And what Stephen A. Smith is saying makes total sense.

Even if you're a Democrat, he's saying, you're worried about Donald Trump, 25th Amendment, that's got to come from within. Number two, you want to go impeach him? That's going to shelve your entire agenda and let everybody know you don't care about affordability or whatever you think the priorities of Democrats are. And that's very much in question because you're going after Donald Trump, who is term-limited out. At one point, Josh Shapiro is 100% right, although arcadily put.

All you're talking about doing, you got to do talk fan for something except for being against Donald Trump. And what I'm watching in New York City, Al Sharpton pretends to be a power broker, and perhaps he is. In the Democratic side, which is a sad state of Democratic politics, and Barack Obama elevated him to a place he never doesn't belong. But he has said, if you are interested as a candidate, come to my convention. And you got Wesmore, Pete Buda, Judge.

You have Governor Pritzker. You have. And you also have Kamala Harris. Show up. And basically pretend like they're not candidates by saying basically they're candidates.

And when you do that, What do you stand for? You got Governor Pritzker and all these guys, oh, Donald Trump's terrible, he's awful, he's lost his money. You've always said that. You've said that since 2015 when he became a candidate.

So, I mean, if you think that that's going to do anything, and the numbers show the American people don't really think anything of the Democratic Party, the first man or woman that comes forward and said, here's my agenda, don't even bring up Trump, that's going to be the frontrunner. The guy closest to doing it is actually Rahm Emmanuel. From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest-growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmead. Hi, everyone, from 40th and 6th of Midtown Manhattan, heard around the country, around the world.

Brian Kilmead Joe. Frank Forrell is going to be with us today, author of the book, As You Know, How Soccer Explains the World, an Unlikely Theory of Globalization, updated for the World Cup that's coming here in a couple of months. Frank will be here talking about the chances of the U.S. doing something in the World Cup and so much more. I'll be covering it.

I'll be out there for game one for the U.S. gunbatten Los Angeles, hopefully Seattle back to Los Angeles. And then they'll get through, hopefully in first place. And then maybe we'll get to get some real excitement going for the World Cup, which is basically sold out already. Joe Hathaway is going to be with us too.

He is running for Congress in New Jersey's 11th district to fill Mikey Sherrill's seat. You have a radical leftist who's running for this seat, someone who'll go right from that seat to the squad. I mean, that's where she's endorsed by AOC. She doesn't really believe in the Holocaust, questions it, basically deserved it.

Some of the things that she said in the past, let alone to fund ICE, which is a path to nowhere for Democrats. I thought they would be smarter than that.

So we'll talk to Joe Hathaway about that, a so-called moderate New Jersey. Can you actually survive in New Jersey these days as a Republican?

So let's get to the big three. Number three. Tomorrow the Orion spacecraft will enter the Earth's atmosphere at approximately 25,000 miles per hour. That heat shield, the thermal protection system, which is built by American hands and American factories, for materials designed to withstand temperatures that approach the surface of the sun, will bear the full force of that re-entry. Artemis II is coming back to Earth, and I think the space program is on another level out of this world.

Why I think this could be a national unifier. Number 10. The 25th Amendment must be invoked before it's too late. Every member of Congress and senator must be calling for Trump's removal. Do I think Donald Trump should be impeached?

Absolutely. Donald Trump, who I believe is suffering from dementia at this point, Yeah, General Nadler, people listen to that guy. Politics are plenty. Stems try and make Trump the story again. And 28 presidential Democratic contenders come to New York City to audition as we see a possible dark horse for Republicans emerge.

I'll tell you who I think it is. Number one.

Well, the president has information that none of us have. There's something there that's telling him this looks better than any of the other negotiations that he's been involved in. And tell me what the Iranians did with the Obama administration. That's got to be a fact. Here we go.

High stakes for J.D. Vance leading a delegation to land this plane in this war with Iran. They got to do two things. Give us all the uranium, open up the strait, don't even think of militarizing it or taking tolls to conduct operations there. Both things are going to be a tough pull, but when you blow up everything that they hold dear, kill a lot of their leaders in cold blood, maybe they're beginning to get the message after they wipe out between 30 and 41,000 protesters because they hate their ridiculous, oppressive, evil regime.

So, what is Iran hoping to do? Iran's hoping to use the Strait of Vermuz that has 3,000 ships on the outskirts, no longer allowed to transit to dump off and pick up oil. How are they going to do that? They're going to take two million per ship to cut to as it told come through. That cannot stand.

Listen to the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, Cut One. anybody who communicates With the Iranian authority has got permission from your survey. Those technical restrictions are very much. Uh connected to the uh wartime condition, and it takes time to be removed.

So safe passage is secure. We have maps, we have everything that you know we have to be careful that you know the safe passage of tankers and vessels and well-being of crews are actually met during this uh this passage. Right. Uh they're pretending it's open. I think five ships got through yesterday.

On average, you need about a hundred a day. 100 and things get back to normal. Right now, the market's hesitant, down 130 points, not much, still at 48,000, but at core inflation, excuse me, not core, but inflation is up to 3% on all oil and gas prices because this is a longtime nemesis. The president's choosing, making a tough decision to take on. And I think it is going to be the right decision, depending on how this ends.

Basically, we're on the five-yard line, Mr. President. Go ahead and win. Here's what General Jack Keene said, who's very friendly with almost everyone in command here, militarily and politically. Cut five.

Well, the president has information that none of us have. There's something that's telling him this looks better than any of the other negotiations that he's been involved in and tell me what the Iranians did with the Obama administration.

So that's got to be a fact.

So, with the President put on Truth Social about the Hormuz Strait, these are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Strait. They better not, and if they are, they better stop it. I don't think they are going to stop, Mr. President. Also, we posted Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable, some say, of allowing oil to go through the Strait of Ramuz.

This is not the agreement that we have. That puts pressure on I think it's going to be a career-defining moment for the Vice President of the United States. Can he get with those two things that we need? Give us the uranium, open up the strait. You have no say in where it's going.

The latest from Iran, we're going to conduct. All traffic in the strait along with the country of Oman. No, don't think so. Here's General Kellogg cut nine. When we go into negotiations, this is not equals talking to equals at all.

This is the United States of America going in and saying, this is the way it's going to be. History has proven that we are the dominant power. We can do that in the future. We're going to make sure you understand that. If you want to play games with us, in two weeks you're going to be lucky to survive as a regime at all.

And we can do that. We can follow up with what we want to do. We can demand anything we want right now. And that's what the president's got to do. But the problem is, the president knows the economy is making his party pay the price because it's all about affordability.

Affordability comes down to gas and oil. And when that was high, this is roughly where Joe Biden was. The president had it down at $1.10, $1.20. That's what added to the inflation. When inflation goes up, that stops rates from coming down.

So see how all these things are related. President knows this better than anybody, anybody. Better than his Treasury Secretary. but looked at this and says finish it off. If I could end this now, we could finish it off later after the midterm elections.

I understand the stakes, mister President, but you understand too, people who understand what you're doing will appreciate this in the long run. Also, I think they'll appreciate what you've done for the space program, which has been very inspiring. The Israeli Ambassador to the US, Leiter, will lead a negotiation with Israel in the US with Lebanon, not Hezbollah. Because they want to see if the Lebanese can take back their country. That would be good for everybody involved.

But Democrats just hate all of this. Pretending as if Iran is not the problem. Listen to Chris Murphy, Congressman Atkinschloss, Seth Moulton, Chuck Schumer, Cut 15. What an error. What a miscalculation this entire endeavor was.

This is just classic Trump, right? I mean, he starts a war, backs down, then declares a victory for world peace. This war was not going well for us. This is in no way a win. A commander-in-chief who is truly in control would never have gotten into this colossal mess.

Now, real leaders would never be critical of what the military has done in Iran, which everyone's thought about, planned about. contemplated but this president actually made the decision built up the military and they performed beautifully i don't know what this congressman who's a marine moulton is all invested in destroying our own military inaccurately portraying if you don't like the tactics if he said we should have had a plan in place to protect the strait okay But to say it's going badly. When you don't like maybe the tone of the negotiations, because we're dealing with lunatics, literally, lunatics.

So here's a, and I'll play this. I want to get to Joe Hathaway. Who's running for Congress in New Jersey? But I want people to understand there are reasonable Democrats out there, and here's one of them: cut 14. Cut 16.

But I think more Democrats should listen to me and say be on the right side of history and holding Iran accountable. And if you have to pick a side, pick our side, pick civilization, pick Israel. There was just a poll, I think it was today, Pew pointed out 80% of Democrats view Israel negative. Like, that's insane. You know, that's our special ally.

That's the only place in the region that has the kind of values and the kinds of way that we live and what we want here as a Democrat. How is that possible that eight out of 10 view Israel in a negative thing as Democrats? It doesn't make sense if you told me two years ago, but it makes sense because I'm getting used to the anti-Israel. Anti-Jewish. Certainly anti-Trump push.

When we come back, we're going to be joined by Joe Hathaway. Does he have a shot of pulling it upset and flipping a seat in New Jersey? We'll discuss that in a moment. Brian Kilmeet show. It's Brian Kilmade.

The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmead. Welcome back. By the way, when Mikey Sherrill won as governor, that was surprising me. She became the next governor of New Jersey.

It opened up the District 11th seat.

So that is a runoff, and it's coming up. The voting is actually on Thursday, April 16th. It's bizarre. This Thursday. I've never heard of voting on a Thursday, but they are.

I don't think the turnout is going to be great. Joe Hathaway is with us right now in studio. He's on the Republican ticket. He's running for Congress to flip that seat. Anna Leela, Amihia, who, just so you know, I mean, her positions are so radical, she'll be to the left of the squad and certainly a member of the squad, should she be victorious as a Democrat.

Joe, welcome. Hey, Brian, thanks for having me.

So you really have somebody who's a stark contrast to you.

Some of the things: Medicare for all, free public college, $25 minimum wage. She's pretty much avoiding debate. She had one debate with you, but she is forward to funding ICE. And you say she has a backdrop of defunding the police. Oh, 100%.

And look, I think the reason she backed out of five debates before she got kind of caught lying about why she didn't want to debate, and her own Democrat Party pushed her to debate. But you know what? She didn't want to come on because she didn't want to have to defend these radical positions in a district that doesn't believe that stuff. More Democrats than Republicans in this district, though, right? Yeah, more Democrats than Republicans.

But I think this district has a history of being a very moderate district. And when you see a politician running on this radical ideology on one side and you have a common sense, practical local leader on the other side, the choice is clear no matter what party you're from, quite frankly, Brian. And she makes it pretty clear when it comes to Israel. She said Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. She got a little bit of backlash from that.

But how does the Jewish community feel about that in New Jersey? I don't think the Jewish community feels safe at all with a potential representative Mejia going down to Washington. I mean, that's why I've seen so many members of the Jewish community and the Democrat Party, even across the board, be open to the idea of a Republican for the first time in a very long time because she is that dangerous for our district.

So here's what Carl Rove said about this race next Thursday, Cut 41. You know, special elections advantage, you know, the hardcore political party. And, you know, the bigger the turnout, the better the shot he would have. But in a primary, in a special election like this, it's going to be tough because the hardcore partisans on both sides are going to come out. And there are a lot more hardcore partisan Democrats in this district than Republicans.

But if there's an upset, he's got the right message, which is I'm a responsible person who's looking to go down and represent you and get things done to make your life better. She is a left-wing ideologue. And you've read just part of the list. I mean, she wants Medicare for all. In essence, free health care.

For everybody, including illegal aliens.

So, you know, she is a rabid left-winger. Your thoughts about his analysis. Oh, I think he's spot on in the candidate contrast, of course. But I do think we will probably see the most engaged voters come out, right? It's not going to be a huge turnout.

But I think voters who are paying attention in this district, I think they know how radical her positions are. And when they see someone who they know is going to go down, like Carl said, to represent the people, to put the people first, right, ahead of really anything else. It's about the district. I think people will actually choose that because of how dangerous her position is.

So Annalia Mejia said this about ICE, CUT 38. We don't need armed thugs running around our streets shooting American people just for exercising their First Amendment rights. This is not logical. I want you to remember, Joe Hathaway voted for Donald Trump three times. Republicans like himself and Donald Trump three times Trump supporter, Donald Trump Donald Trump.

Donald Trump voted three times for Donald Trump. He sounds like a Trump and he'll just be more Trump. I will fight frankly Donald Trump. Right. She is obsessed with him.

She also went on to say, abolish ICE now because you can't reform it.

So what are your thoughts about when she says you are Donald Trump?

Well, listen, I think it was pretty dizzying to hear it like that, but you're right. And look, people in this district know we've been talking about from the beginning. I think the most important job of a representative is to do that, to represent the district, right, and to do things that are good for the district first. And I think the president and our party have done a lot of good things, especially on putting money back in people's pockets, whether it's the salt deduction increase that we saw, whether it's stronger borders, right? Fentanyl deaths being reduced as much as they have.

That's huge for our district.

So I think our party does a lot of good things, and I support that. But look, if the president of the party is going to do something that isn't in the best interest of my district, like say, you know, the Gateway Tunnel Project and holding up from there, then it's my job as a project. He was mad at what's going on with Chuck Schumer, and he said, we're going to hold up the Gateway Project, which connects New York and New Jersey. Right. And I get that, but my job as the representative is to stand up for the people of NJ11 and holding up funding for that project and the jobs that come with it, but also the commuters that come in from our district, right?

It wasn't good for our district.

So, you know, look, we're willing to stand up for the people we represent. I think that is what voters want in this race. And her rhetoric or her attempts to just try to make it a MAGA issue or something is lost on people.

So, what about Ice? Where do you stand?

Well, listen, ICE has an incredibly important job to do. We need to make sure that they are able to get illegal criminals that are on our streets, out of our streets, and out of our country, period.

Now, look, if we can do things to help them operate better, I think that's great. And I'm all for more training, for more technology, giving them better resources to do that. But also, don't forget, too, in New Jersey, we have these sanctuary city laws that mean our local police can't do anything to help American citizens while this stuff is going on, which is completely backwards. And when you have a candidate like Mejia who just pushes abolish ICE and defund police at every level, that's not what families in our district want.

So, but we watched Jack Chitterelli. I thought he was a really good candidate, but he lost substantially by what, eight, ten points. Does that discourage you as a Republican running in this district? Because he's known as a moderate. Yeah, well, I don't think it discouraged me because, listen, you know, you have to remember, too, this candidates matter.

Candidates matter, their positions matter. When voters in this district see the choice between a common sense, practical, independent leader and the radical rhetoric that Mejia pushes, because if Mikey Sherl, you know, didn't push that. Kind of rhetoric. Mejia is way too far out here for the regular people in NJ11. That's the key difference.

So, what do you tell me about your pathway to this candidacy, Joe Hathaway? Yeah, sure.

So, you know, look, I've been a leader at the local level for the past four years. I served as mayor in our town. I've been a councilman as well. And I believe we need to take that kind of mayor's mindset about getting things done, about fixing challenges, knowing the local issues. If we had a representative in Washington who had that mindset, we'd get a whole lot done and we'd bring back a lot more resources for our district.

So, what do you do right now to get the Homeland Security funded again? Oh, look, I think at some point you get the job. Yeah, look, we got to be able to come to the table, right? If we and be willing to work with people that we don't agree with all the time and have differences on, fine. But we got to find a way to get DHS funded again.

If we have to give a little, take a little, that's the job of Congress. And look, this is too important. This is protecting American lives. And, you know, God forbid we see something that happens because Congress can't get its act together. That's on us.

So it's our job to come to the table and make something happen to protect the American people.

So, what did Governor Chris Christie is a two-term Republican governor? What could you learn from his candidacy and what he did in a Democratic state?

Well, I think, you know, under the Christie administration, number one, you saw that was probably the last time we had any sort of financial response, fiscal responsibility in New Jersey. Our budget since then has ballooned, basically doubling. But look, I think in those years, you saw what a practical Republican leadership meant and the ability in New Jersey, certainly, to have to work with people who you don't agree with all the time, but getting good things done fiscally and for the safety of our people. All right, Joe Hathaway, if people want to support you in this final week, especially, where do they go? Yeah, they can visit us at joehathaway4congress.com.

We need all Republicans to come out and support us on the 16th. And you need some Democrats on your side, too, right? Where the water's just fine on our side, Brian. Everyone can come on in. All right, Joe Hathaway, best of luck.

It's so great when people like you want to be part of this process because you don't do it to get rich, you're doing it to make an impact. Thanks so much. Thank you. All right.

Listen, we're going to talk about World Cup. That's going to affect New Jersey, too. Back in a moment. The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmead.

Hey, we are back, everybody. Thanks so much for listening. We close out the final half hour by talking about something that's going to be capturing the headlines shortly as we get set to the spring/slash summer, beginning in June and ending in July. In the middle of that, we celebrate our 250th birthday, and that is the World Cup. A guy that does not need an explanation or a calendar to figure out what's happening is the author of How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization.

It's got a brand new preface covering the 2026 World Cup. Franklin Four, author, joins us now. Franklin, welcome. Hey, great to be here. All right, first off, are you pumped up for the World Cup as a fan?

Are you so dug into each team and what they bring to the table you can't take a step back? No, of course. I mean, this is mana for heaven for a soccer fan. It's going to be an interesting tournament because it's a much bigger field than they normally have for a World Cup. They've expanded it.

It's spread across three countries. But You know, it's for me, this is a spectacle that transfixes me every four years. I do everything I can to avoid having to do my day job so that I can consume as much as possible. Because, you know, as I wrote about in the book, the stakes are high, right? It's not just about the game on the field.

There's always some other subtext in the rivalries where politics and history come into it, or subtext within individual countries. We could talk about Iran, for instance, which is a fascinating story. I wrote about in my book, and it extends up and through the president. We aren't even sure if Iran is coming. To this World Cup.

But if they do, you know, fans back home in Iran are watching, you know, presumably, hopefully, you know, God willing, they'll have access to the internet and access to televisions to be able to watch these games. And the Iranian soccer team represents something other than the Islamic Republic. It represents a tradition of nationalism that goes back, that's much more secular. And every time Iran has entered the World Cup, there tends to be protests that take place that are, you know, because the whole world is watching, and because fans have this safety in a stadium, you have diaspora fans from Los Angeles who presumably will be coming in to watch these games. They'll be able to hold up signs.

There's a sense of solidarity with the outside world. And that's just one example. To me, of how as somebody who is interested in both politics and soccer, there's this tapestry on display that I just can't resist. Absolutely, Franklin.

So, first off, if Iran says no, did we have another team slide in there? Because right now, they said they're not coming if they have to play in the U.S. and only go to Mexico or Canada. As you know, we're sharing the World Cup with those two countries. But if they're out, they're just not going to leave a hole in a group, right?

I mean, I don't know. I mean, I there's there's a meeting that FIFA has, I think, coming up at the end of the month to discuss this. But but FIFA has said Iran has to play in the United States if they're going to play. There's no sliding them into Canada or Mexico.

So I was really disappointed with the results from the U.S. I know they're friendly games and you're playing your whole roster and they had 10 subs, but losing 5-2 to Belgium and then losing the net two days later in Atlanta, Franklin, I think for America to love this sport, the men got to get to the final eight, final four of my, I mean. We have international players now that are starting on leading clubs. This should not be a problem. What is missing?

You know, and we have a great coach right now. We have Mauricio Pachacino, a coach for Tottenham, who was very successful, took a team to the finals of the Champions League, and he knows what he's doing. And my hope is that we're able to generate some home field advantage. You know, historically, host nations managed to go much further than they deserve to go in the course of the World Cup. But I think if we don't go to the Final Eight here, there's some real questions that need to be asked about the underlying structure of the way that we teach the game and we bring people in.

It's not a question about athletic talent. It's not like we're losing players to these other sports. There are real athletes on this team. And this is supposedly a golden generation for U.S.

soccer. I don't know who you're, you know, if they're players that you have particular attachment to, Brian. But, you know, you look at somebody like Pulisic, Christian Pulisic, who we've, you know, who's grown up. In our eyes, and we've we've been this great hope for the game, and he is an excellent player. Um, AC Milant starting and making a huge impact, guy scores.

Yeah, and he's surrounded by some pretty good players. But you look at the talent pool, it's still not quite there to compete at the highest level, in my opinion.

So we had Laois in here. He's always in all the time. He's the Barclay of soccer. But is there one advantage that they had? is that there was nowhere else for the int to go.

So they used to play together constantly, you know, and there was no MLS.

So they had such a unity with that unit, even though we didn't have the great depth.

So a lot of times these guys come from elsewhere and frankly tell me if you buy into this. There's such a look, people look down their nose at American soccer. And when you go internationally, they begin to look down their nose at American soccer as they become part of the European or part of that mix. And when they come back, they almost feel a little arrogance towards it. And if that, in fact, is the case, this is the coach that has to ground them in the red, white, and blue.

Yeah. Uh totally true. Um that I think that when you go to Europe, there is um There is a snobbery that the Europeans have towards the American game. And there have been some extraordinary American coaches like Bob Bradley or Bruce Arena, who should have been coaching bottom, maybe not the top teams in the English Premier League, but they could be coaching like a Wolves or a Bournemouth or a team like that. And they never got the opportunity because there was never this faith that Americans could have mastered the game.

I think it's different now because these guys have grown up in academies. Like, you know, Pulisic has been abroad since he was in his early teens. Tim Weya, you know, born in the United States, but he's been through the Paris-Saint-Germain Academy. These guys. You know, I guess maybe the question that a lot of us is asking is: do they have any real connection to the badge is what they call it, or the flag.

And I don't think that that's true. I think that for, you know, these guys have been part of the structure so long, it's acculturated. The prestige associated with being part of a national team is so immense. I can't believe that they're not. Fighting and trying their hardest for this country.

All right, I think we're ranked 14 of the world or something like that. I think we've got to be something like that.

So we look at the top teams, and people are complaining now about the price of tickets, even though they're virtually sold out and there's a lottery to get them. Do they have a legitimate complaint? Yeah. You know, I think that there is some mystery to the way that the pricing is happening, which I think is, I find, annoying. Like, if there's a price for a ticket, I want to know what that price for the ticket is.

I don't like the dynamic pricing where there's some algorithm dictating what you're going to have to pay for a game. And so, that to me reeks of kind of unfairness. But, you know, it's a spectacle everybody wants a piece of. I don't think we can complain too much about ticket prices being hefty because there's market demand for it. Yeah, and plus comes back here first time since 94, and the last time was a runaway success.

So, when you look at what's happening here and people listening to us around the country on this show, we know the finals are going to be in New Jersey. Do you agree with this being the final stage and the choice? of uh of MetLife being the the venue. I mean, it's actually a classic soccer stadium in its way. I mean, you go back to the history of North American Soccer League in the 1970s, Pele played in that stadium.

I mean, New York City is, to me, kind of, you know, it is a capital of the world. It's a capital of North America in its way. I don't have any problem with it.

So, President, you point out one of your columns, Franklin Four, as our guest. President's into soccer. I mean, I was at the championship game, and you also point out that he did not leave the trophy ceremony. They collapsed around him. It was hysterical.

He didn't know what was going on, but he loved it. I got a chance to go and see his box and saw everyone surrounding him and was the who's who watching the club championship. And he loves the game. And I was actually at an event, at a game, and his brother, Robert, walked up to me and he says, Do you know that? The president's son, Baron, not the president, at that time he was apprentice.

He was hosting the apprentice. He goes, you know that Donald, you know, my brother's son, Baron, really good player in these academies. That's before he became 6'11 or whatever, 6'9, he is now. But the family loves soccer, and Sir Melania loves soccer.

So this is a legitimate passion.

Well, it's actually I mean I it's kind of there's a there's some irony involved here because I think that there's there's been arguments about kind of is soccer a foreign sport or what it but I think having um uh the President of the United States play this role kind of as a champion of the game is actually good for the game. I mean I think that it's going to it's gonna it's gonna play a role in helping Grow an audience for soccer. I think his passion for it, he went and he would watch games in the 1970s in Giant Stadium. And I think having Baron there kind of stoking his interest in it, he's had Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi into the Oval Office, which is something I'm not sure there's a president before him who's had the greatest soccer players in the world into the West Wing. Believe me, I spent my life.

So, for some reason, I chose soccer at five years old. I played all the way through college, right?

So, I was at Hofstra when the Cosmos were at Hofstra. Then they went to Randall's Island and Pele was there, and then to Giant Stadium.

So, I would be explaining to people all the time: well, when you play soccer, you're playing all year round, so I wasn't even playing other sports. And now to see the general public non-player. Like the sport, I feel like I'm, I'm, I never thought we should. Did you get to see Pele? Oh, yeah.

Did you see? Yeah, I saw him at Randall's Island. Where you saw dirt on the bumpy field. Yes.

And he couldn't have been nicer. This is another thing. I have no patience for superstars who don't like fans because I saw the world's most popular player at Randall's Island. And if people listen around the country, just know this is not a nice field. And he was talking to the, and this guy's world famous.

And he's signing until everybody was done. At at Randall's Island. And, you know, he was getting his million dollars either way, and he couldn't have been a nicer guy.

So that's the standard I always hold superstars to. Yeah. Well, and I'm sure that played a role in your feelings towards the game that you got to see players here of that high a quality in a time when it was kind of a much more niche, obscure sport. And being able to see a player of the quality, you know, the greatest of all time, really. I mean, I don't know if you would agree with me.

And Trump, President says the same thing, that Pele is the greatest of all time. I don't think that there's been a player who's matched his kind of creativity, his trickery. Is just overall genius.

So, a couple of things now. And we had Alan Rothenberg on my Sunday show, and Sunday at 10 o'clock, we're going to be live this Sunday at One Nation. Just talk about how we got the World Cup here and how he helped launch the MLS. But as we look at this now, give me the top five. How does soccer define the character?

The way a team plays to find the character of a country. Give me some examples of why you wrote the book the way you did.

Well, I mean, I was always fascinated that you have a country like England, for instance, which has this kind of very core identity. They invented, they believe they invented the game. They probably did invent the game. And that it's kind of been this expression of the stiff upper liftness of the English. And so even now, when they have all these coaches from foreign countries there, these players from four countries, they still, when push comes to shove and they're pushed back, they have a style of playing that is about that stiff upper lip.

They'll do the long ball. It's just like baked into the cultural DNA of the play.

Now, contrast that with Brazil. Contrast that with Brazil. Yeah, so Brazil has this history of being kind of this, it's this multira racial country that has this history of the Samba. It's a total cliche. I feel almost stupid telling you the Samba stalker.

But it is the truth. I mean, there is this way that players are taught to move their hips, this trickery. It goes back to Capoeira. You see it in the mixed martial arts. It is how they play.

Right. So, and that's when they, no matter what generation it is, you know what you're getting. And then to see those styles emerge with the champion, even though it's the same game, the same goal to score, the way they approach it is the character of their country. That's what I think gets people so enmeshed in the World Cup. It is something that I think as a soccer nation, the United States hasn't quite mastered.

Like what is our you know, when Lawless played, when Lawless played, there was an identity because it was like this kind of scrappy underdog were these Americans who were outsiders, were rock and roll, were rebels. And that kind of gave, I mean, Lawless, if you remember him as a player with the kind of long beard, long red hair, there was this swashbuckling approach that we had. We might not have been the most skilled, but we were going to work like crazy. With the best keepers in the country because we're great with our hands, right? Yeah, yeah, exactly.

In the world. Exactly. Exactly. So you wrote a new forward for this book. What your focus is on this cop, right?

It's on this cup, but it's also the way that the game has changed. I mean, so much, I mean, the game is this laboratory for looking at the world. And so you look at the way in which, in England, for instance, when I wrote the book more than 20 years ago, there were no owners from the Middle East. There weren't American private equity investors in the game. And I mean, I think one of the things that's so interesting about the game is that you can have all of these changes to the economics.

But it doesn't change people's relationships to their country or to their clubs. There is this fierce local attachment, this fierce patriotic attachment that people have that can't be conquered. And I will say this, Frank, when I, unfortunately, I got a bill, but I was there in 99 when the women had 101,000 at the Rose Bowl. I never thought we'd see that for a female sport, but it was just amazing. And the atmosphere was fantastic.

And the players were so approachable and likable. And that's going to be a generational change, the World Cup. And it's great to be the best. America loves you when you're the best. We have the best women.

Let's see if we can get contenders that are men. And Franklin, I guess you're going to go back to your day job, but thanks so much for doing what you're doing. You keep soccer great. It's so much fun to talk to you because as I'm talking to you, I'm learning about all these moments. We've touched soccer greatness, which is incredible.

Absolutely. Thank you. Franklin Ford, go pick up his book. I know you probably have gotten it already if you're a soccer fan, but it's got a brand new preface covering the 2026 World Cup: How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization. Franklin, go get him.

Thanks so much. All right.

Thank you. Back in a moment. Where big stories meet bigger conversations. Stay informed and energized with the Brian Kilmead Show. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin.

It's Brian Killmade. Sponsored by Previgen. Previgen made for your brain. Hey, we are back, and uh, just can't wait for One Nation Sunday at 10 o'clock. We'll be live for most of it, and I'm going to be up to date on what's happening with J.D.

Vance. It's 10 o'clock Eastern time. Of course, the Pakistan talks, the Strait of Hormuz. We never know when things are going to go off the rails.

So, be to respond live. Also, Artemis Lands tonight at 8:07. I want that to go well. We might be doing some NASA, so hopefully, you'll join me on the Fox News channel there. And I want you to check out all my events, including May 30th, the Reno, Nevada, July 11th in Pensacola, Florida.

And then, of course, we got Westbury Music Fair in October, along with Clearwater, Florida, Jacksonville, and St. Louis, all for Uniting the States. A new book that you could pre-order now talks about the consequential moments that forged the American miracle. I think you'll enjoy all six moments. They tell the story of the country, and I think it just fuels the patriotic fervor within us.

I want you to hear on a side note: remember when Corey Booker was running for president? You just know it. Remember, he just got married. Here's Alexis Booker talking about Corey Booker. Going for the filibuster record, sitting on stage for hours, just bloviating.

Listen to her. It's not super safe to stand for 25 hours. Like your body could kind of just like break down and if you fall over you could hit your head.

So like those are the things that were going through our head. Like yes, I wanted him to break the record, but I also wanted him to not die or like get injured. Wasn't gonna eat for a really long period of time. Like just being dehydrated alone was like worrying me. But by the way, why couldn't he take water?

Are you telling me he wasn't drinking any water? You thought he could die by speaking? Listen. I just want to, I really do want this. I want you as a Democrat to come up to me and tell me what you're going to do and don't talk about Trump.

All Corey Booker does is talk about Trump. The filibuster made no sense. I don't know anybody that benefited from that. Uh at least he's married and happy. You listen to the Brian, kill me, Joe.

Keep it here. BrainkillMe.com for those tickets I was telling you about.