Susan Page knows all about politics, does it every day. Award-winning Washington Bureau Chief of USA Today, best-selling author with a brand new book out. We'll talk about The Queen and the President's The Hidden Hand that shaped American history. Susan, welcome back. Hey, Brian, it's great to be back with you on your great show.
Oh, great.
So, thank you for saying that. First off, on what's going on, have you ever seen? Two back-to-back shutdowns, lockouts, unfunding, funding problems that we had in the fall and now we had in the winter that's bleeding into the spring. This shutdown of DHS, the partial shutdown, sets a record every single day. It's already the longest on record.
And I gotta say, even though the Senate has managed to patch something together. I don't think there's, I think no one in Washington has any confidence that we see a light at the end of this tunnel. But it's a partial shutdown. It's not funding all of DHS. It's just ICE and Border Patrol, right?
Yes, and you know the fact that it's a partial shutdown and we don't have social security checks in danger and the whole government isn't at risk, I think is one reason it keeps the dispute keeps trailing on and on and on because it doesn't really hit home except for the TSA. And if we begin to see problems again with those incredibly long lines at airports, that is what I think might put pressure on Congress to finally pass something.
So do you believe that any speaker Would be able to, period, through time through who you've worked with, be able to deal with this slim a majority and get things like this passed.
Well, it's definitely a tough task. I mean, the majority could not be narrower.
Now, I will say that. Nancy Pelosi did have A very disciplined caucus when she was speaker, sometimes with a narrow majority, but not one as narrow as this.
So definitely you gotta feel for Mike Johnson every day, getting up, trying to hold his people together. And as we're hurtling toward the November midterms, which has, believe me, the focus of every member of Congress.
So that's where we're at right now. And the other big story is the Virginia story. They passed the gerrymandering map that would tilt it blue. A judge steps in and says, Hold it. Might be unconstitutional.
We're going to wait. How do you see this fight playing out?
Well, we'll see what the Virginia Supreme Court does. But this was a victory for Democrats. For sure. You know, this was a bill that was a measure that was unpopular with independents and a lot of people like Governor Spanberger and Barack Obama, who had opposed gerrymandering in the past. But for Democrats, you know, it was seen as a way to fight back against the efforts Republicans have made in Texas and elsewhere to gerrymander.
So I don't know what the Supreme Court in Virginia will decide, but this is, have you seen the map in Virginia? It looks, it's like all roads lead to Fairfax County. You know, we have five districts taking Votes out of Fairfax County, which is mostly Democratic, and just one congressional district there at the bottom of Virginia that still has a Republican majority. That is a feat of mathematics because Virginia is not a 90% Democratic state. It's been trending Democratic, but they have taken advantage.
in this map of every single Democratic vote. Right, and kind of marginalizing the rural community, farmers. They must feel like that they don't have a voice now if this map is approved. What are the chances from what you know about the Virginia Supreme Court? Of them stepping in and certifying the map, the new map.
You know, Brian, of the many things I don't know anything about, I would put the Virginia Supreme Court on that list. I just always thought you knew everything.
So, Susan, tell me about your book. First off, where'd you get the idea about the Queen? I know she has such a long life. I mean, Uh and and she's ruled for so long. That that'll be one reason why she'd be eligible.
When did you realize there was a story there? She died. She died, and I was reading the Obits. This was in 2022, and the Obits all said. And she met with 13 sitting American presidents, which seemed like a lot.
uh but they never said what happened like did they just make Chit chat. You know, what happened in sessions with 13 sitting American presidents, more presidents than anyone else from any country has ever met with, by the way, and a record that's unlikely to ever be broken.
So the idea for the book was to figure out. What happened in those interactions with U.S. presidents? Did she make a difference? And I concluded that she did.
And did the presidents have an impact on her because I found that that was true also.
So a couple of things. You say that you build the book off of, and what The Queen was about was what Winston Churchill has said: stay close to the Americans, right? Yes. Whatever you think of Republican Democrats, stay close to the Americans. And she actually lived that.
You know, because remember, Winston Churchill understood that the British Empire was in decline. The US role in the world was expanding, was going to take the big central role in redefining a new world order after World War II. And for Britain to continue to have a voice. It needed to have a best friend. In the United States.
And for decades now, that has been the case under a lot of strain today, that special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom. But it was that relationship. that Queen Elizabeth took as her mission. to protect.
So tell me about some of the relationships. Number one, I know the president. Really wanted, uh, cared about the queen, cared, still does, as the king gets ready to come here. Wanted to win the queen over, did he, President Trump? You know, he.
I interviewed President Trump for the book. I'm grateful that he gave me some time. And he said they had the most. Wonderful conversation at the state dinner she hosted for him in 2019. He said he was in the groove.
And he came away from that feeling that they had Forged a real connection. And this was important to President Trump because he told me that one of his first childhood memories. was sitting next to his mother, who was born in Scotland. On the couch in their home in Queens, New York, watching Elizabeth's coronation.
Okay, what about Reagan? and Queen Elizabeth. You know, I'm actually I spoke last night at the Reagan Library. I'm actually out here in Simme Valley this morning. And after doing this book, I concluded that Reagan was in fact the President who was the closest to a friend.
of the queen. They had two things in common. They both Loved movies. She had seen Reagan as a princess. She had seen Reagan in movies before he ever got into politics.
And they both loved horses. And it was a huge Bond between them. And I'm sure everybody remembers, or remembers at least the pictures. of the Queen and Reagan riding horses at Windsor Park. when he made that first trip as president to England.
And uh and Bill Clinton.
So Brooklyn had this very complicated relationship with the queen. You you remember their first uh When Clinton was running for president against George H.W. Bush, The British government looked for dirt. On Clinton in their office files to see if, as a Rhodes Scholar, at the time of the Vietnam War protests, he had ever done anything that might be embarrassing for him. And when I interviewed President Clinton and also Hillary Clinton for this book.
They both recalled that. I mean, it was not the best way. to start out a relationship. On the other hand, on the other hand, you know, Bill Clinton did engineer the Good Friday Agreement. And while the Brits were suspicious of this during the process, when it was done.
I think they saw it as a positive thing that Bill Clinton had delivered. And of course, Northern Ireland. That's talking about Northern Ireland.
So, Susan, but what kind of role did she play? She built relationships and she was, by almost all accounts, just a great person. But what do you think she's accomplished politically? on the world stage. With our pressure.
Yes, with our presidents, there are a couple things. You know, her very first trip to Washington as Queen. Was in 1956. And this was right after the Suez Crisis, where relations between the United States and the United Kingdom had been torn apart when Britain. Defied President Eisenhower and tried to engineer a takeover of the Suez Canal, which, by the way, didn't work.
And the Americans. Officials were no longer like taking the calls from British officials. That's how angry they were.
So they sent this young queen over. And of course, she knew Eisenhower from World War II. And she smoothed those waters. And by the time she left, She didn't negotiate Suez. She just built a relationship with Eisenhower.
She was a reminder of the ties between the two countries that had been so important. And by the time she left, Britons were back on the good side of that administration. And that was only one of several times where she played that kind of role. And you know what, Brian? It reminds me of what King Charles faces next week.
It's his first trip to the United States as king, and he faces his own troubles in the relationship over the war in Iran and over the future of NATO. No question, because there's Iraqi relations right now, especially with the prime minister and the president, Susan Page, our guest, and her book is now out, The Queen and Her Presidents: The Hidden Hand That Shaped History. Do you project, in your opinion, from what you know, that King Charles will do something besides shake hands? Will he say, Hey, hope you guys get together? Or would you think he'll try to heal the rift?
So I I I'm assuming he'll learn lessons from his mother. And that means that when he speaks to the joint meeting of Congress, he's not going to address. Whether British troops should be deployed at the Strait of Hormuz or exactly what the United States should be doing in NATO. He'll take. a bigger view, a longer view, talking about the relationship, the long relationship, the shared values, the shared language between the two countries and why that matters.
That's what I would expect to hear. And Also, in the private meetings with Trump, with President Trump, it's always possible. He'll bring up whatever is on his mind.
So maybe in their meetings, they will have those kind of substantive discussions. But maybe not. President Trump likes King Charles. I mean, he loved his mother. But he's gotten to feel, I think, warm relations with King Charles as well.
I think he made a choice without asking over Harry. He he chose the family. Over what Harry split off and came here, I think that's pretty clear. And Susan, When you look at your career, How many stories you must have written? How many times you hopped on a Sunday show, and the number one topic was Iran, right?
The number one topic is Iran: hostages, talks, nuclear weapons, proxy, whatever it is, whoever the president is. Where we're at right now is almost unprecedented. First, the hit in 2015, we know that that did some damage to their program, obliterated it, but buried it. But now we're trying to get into pickaxe. It's going to be tough to do.
That new facility that I'm just finding out about in detail that's going to be might be impenetrable. What do you think is going to be happening here? What do you think is going to be happening next as we're in this tenuous ceasefire? And we're having trouble finding out who we're negotiating with as Iran is realizing how many of their leaders are dead. You know, Brian, you're so right.
You know, the first campaign Presidential Kampania covered was an 80, which was all about the Iranian hostages. It's hugely damaging for President Carter's effort to win another term. And we know from reports that. President Trump has mentioned Carter's experience with some concern as he looks at what to do in Iran. It is the question of the day.
What comes next? Who negotiates for Iran? Who can deliver? That is not at all clear. And what will Iran take?
To give the United States an exit ramp, which is clearly what President Trump. Is looking for. You know, the Iranians have a great advantage over the Americans, which is they do not have to care about their public opinion. They can defy the mood of their public about this war. But President Trump does care about public opinion.
And that is something that the public, we know from every poll that's been taken, the public is opposed to this war. Wants it to end. Yeah, I mean, I think that if it ends the right way with uranium out. Observers in to make sure no program kicks in. The straight is open.
I would love for the Iranian people to have a say in their government for the first time in my adult life. I watched the way they were tortured, killed in cold blood, charging the parents to go pick up their children and for the bullets used to kill their children. I mean, this is just as horrific as it gets. But if it ends the right way, it could be a huge positive. If it ends the wrong way, it's debatable.
Should we have done it? My sense is that I think there's going to be another chapter to the military confrontation. What about you? I think we are not nearly at the end of the Iran story, and that whatever happens. This day, this week, that you and I will be talking about Iran until our last day on the air.
And we used to think it was Iraq. It used to be Iraq, and now it's Iran. And of course, it's very interesting to not talk about Israel as the problem. Uh And even the Gulf states are not doing that. The one thing I would say, Susan.
Is this the first time, too, that you look in the Arab world and see they care more about their economy than it seems to be their theocracy? And they seem more in our corner. And they definitely see Iran as we see them, as the problem in the Middle East. Yeah. You know, and I think that may have always been true, but they were unwilling to say so.
But yes, I think we've seen such a shift in the region, in some ways a positive one, as the one you're mentioning. Actually, I think we're in a pivot point in the world. We've had this this infrastructure, this global infrastructure that was forged after World War II. And that's you know, things don't stay the same. And I think we are in the midst of a kind of reconfiguration.
of global power centers and of traditional alliances. And Iran is part of that. Yeah, in fact, you're in AI, and everything's changed. Susan, Paige, thanks so much. One consistent has always been the queen.
You write about it, the queen and our presidents, the hidden hand that shaped history. Susan, thanks so much. Congratulations. Hey Brian, thank you. I'm Dana Perino.
This week on Perino on Politics, I'm joined by Fox News congressional correspondent Bill Melusian. Listen and follow now at Fox Newspodcast.com or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Must listen to podcasts from Fox News Audio.
