The Brian Kilmeade Show

From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmead. Hi, everyone.

So glad you're there. It's the Brian Killmeat show. We're fresh off boxing friends, ready to go now. Zavika Klein is joining me in a matter of moments. He's the editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post.

Got the latest on the Middle East, as well as what's happened with Hezbollah. If we stop fighting Iran, do they stop Hezbollah with Hezbollah? I think the answer is no. And Tom Carrico is going to be joining us too. If anybody wants to know about our missile defense, about the FAAD missile system, the Patriots replenishing, what drone can do, he does that.

And guess what? The Gulf states have all bought billions of dollars worth of drone technology, brought drone equipment from us, excuse me, missile defense equipment from us, getting ready for a possible round two.

So before we get to Zavika Klein, let's get to the big three. Number three. You talk about California. We're the envy of the world. Since I've been governor, no other developed nation has outperformed our economy.

No other state has outperformed our economy. I think people feel that on the economy. They may not feel that in every way, shape, or form, but we dominate in every key industry. This guy just makes stuff up. Gavin Newsom, you are dreaming with your fictional view of the state of California as reality, a really good vetting begins for his replacement.

And a GOP sweep is possible as the next governor of California might just be a Republican. Number two. And here's the practical effect of what's going to happen. We are going to eliminate using race to draw these congressional lines. It means that, especially in these southern states, we are going to add maybe a dozen more Republicans to the United States Congress.

Yeah, Governor Greg Abbott weighs in. All things politics from gerrymandering madness to Dems handing over the party to Bernie Sanders and his disciples. Good luck with that. Number one.

So if the president is not satisfied and we have to strike, really the core of all of this is the IRGC.

So I would hope those strikes focus on them, their leadership, their facilities. Yup, that was Admiral Robert Harwood. He was over at CENTCOM for a long time. New deal on the strait. As we start to escort what I think is escort neutral ships, and Iran tries to get us into a deal.

But neither is cl that deal is not close. Time to go back to battle. That's my opinion. And of course, Donald Trump will decide all things. By the way, go to youtube.com right now at the Brian Kilmey Show.

I got my own YouTube channel, and you're going to love it with all special clips.

So we know what has changed since the last time we spoke. What has changed is the president says, I'm opening up the Gulf, and I'm going to open up the Strait of Hermuz, but the Oman side. And we're going to start making sure these ships get through unencumbered.

Now, there's reports that Iran blocked us from coming in. That's not true. I know that for a fact. They shot at one of the boats. That's not true.

I know that for a fact. So, what are they going to do? Are they going to send their Mosquito Navy, those fast boats, out after us? You do that. It is back on.

Do you really want? It's going. You really want to take on Israel and the US again. They got to ask themselves that, and this is in real time. This all could change somewhere in this show.

So I can give you a little bit more detail about it, but how has this resonated in the Middle East amongst the Israelis who have still been hitting Hezbollah? Lebanon and Israel are moving closer. Hezbollah is fighting for their lives, and they're still rocketing back and forth. But what's the reality on the ground? What's the feeling inside Israel?

Let's go to Zavika Klein, editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post. Zavika, thanks so much for joining us. Hey, Brian, how are you? I'm doing good. You're feeling this morning about our latest move to open up the Oman side of the strait?

So, I mean, it feels, as you said, like that during the time of your show, things can and probably will happen.

So it really looks like it's happening. I mean, as you mentioned, Iran claimed it attacked two American boats, which is untrue. There have been reports about them shooting UAE targets. And now the UAE is saying that they may shoot missiles, which is a big deal. Uh, because it hasn't really happened up until now.

You know, the UAE has. Has used defense mechanisms, but not actually attacked. During this war.

So, you know, it really seems like every hour or so, there are these updates coming through.

So Zavaka, they have to ask themselves. They could talk about all the bluster they want and say everything about, we know the reality. We know how much damage has been done, how many of their leaders have been assassinated. They know when they talk they could be marked and dead tomorrow. And in fact, by all reports and been confirmed to me, the Speaker and Foreign Minister are only alive because the Pakistanis requested so we have somebody to talk to that they looked at as reasonable.

Have you heard the same thing? Yeah, definitely. I mean, people in the highest-ranking people in the Israeli government and military have said that these individuals have been kept alive. I didn't hear the Pakistani side of things, but in order to get some sort of a deal, right? Like it was.

Feasible to target them up until now. It hasn't been done because there's some sort of hope that maybe they will be the ones to bring it through. Hasn't been looking very well up until now. And For some reason, I feel like today is. Is a day where there's going to be some sort of a turning point?

I do too. When it comes to America and Israel.

So, Zavika, this is what I'm getting now from somebody in the know. It's a massive operation. hundreds of manned and unmanned aircraft plus ground and sea base missile defense, conducting one of the most comprehensive air, land and maritime fast boat defense systems to protect a singular geographic location. It took time to convince the President that this can work.

Now he's convinced it can work.

Now, think about it. I know I'm talking to our general audience now. I know you do think about this. One of the main things that they have, even though they've been devastated, and the Western media likes to work and say things that are negative towards our operation, mean the U.S. and Israel, we know how effective it's been, right?

But what they've done is take this straight and made that the story. And they should. It's it's a lot of money. That's their only card at the moment. That's their only card.

Yeah, and they got the uranium that we need and they know we need to get that out.

So if we could open that up, while still repressing their oil from moving out. And let their, we're at the point if any of the reports are close to accurate, that those wells are, they have nowhere to store any of this oil, they're going to have to cap their wells soon.

So if that is indeed true, what do you hear?

So I'm seeing reports that from American sources saying that two ships have been able to go through the Strait of Hormuz, which is definitely without being harmed.

So that's definitely, if so, a success from the American side of things. And if America is able to secure the strait and secure the passage of boats and of maritime equipment, Through this trade, then Iran really does not have its leverage that it had up until now.

So in the big picture. And you have all your writers, your editors and all your reporters underneath you. Do you belie d was there a belief from amongst the U. S. and Israeli intelligence that this would be easier than it is to knock out Iran's government and to get their nuclear Asset.

I've seen contradicting reports on that. There were those that said, as you kind of insinuated, yes, we thought it would be easier. But there are those, I think, that I tend to listen to more who are saying. The public had this expectation of, you know, this amazing, you know, James Bond attack, and then that would allow toppling the regime. But like, it's a lot more complicated than that.

So, so the masses have been expecting this to happen, you know, with an operation, aerial operation or, you know, the opening act of U.S. and Israel on February 28th. But I think if you're realistic, I think people understood that it will take a while. You know, we're talking about decades of work here.

So, a couple of things. What I find maddening is: I thought some people would say, you know, I wouldn't have done the military operation, I would do the military operation. But not why. What do you mean, why? How many more examples do you need?

The 603 dead during the Iraq war, the thousands that were wounded during the Iraq war, the hostages that were taken, the barracks that were blown up. The the host the ones we paid to get out What they've done in the Middle East, the number one sponsor of terror. If you want to question why, go ahead. And you go ahead and do that. The fact that they admitted they were weaponized uranium, that they could have had 11 bombs.

Do you still? I don't get the why, but listen to Congressman Jason Crow. They just see pure politics. And this guy's a veteran, cut six. Cut eight, excuse me.

Well first of all, it's Iran that's blockading the Strait of Hormuz. We're blockading their blockade. I think the real question that we should all be asking is does America really want to continue to have conflict in the Middle East for another five, ten, twenty years? The problem is that we have confused as a nation tactics versus strategy. Most of the conversation around Iran is about tactics.

Should we blockade? How do we counter drones? Who is moving oil around where? What is our strategy? Can you answer him?

I think, first of all, I think President Trump, it's amazing how, you know, as journalists, we know that when Trump is a president, like we're always constantly publishing. These quotes of his because they're just always, you know, either funny, smart, annoying, whatever, right?

So, you know, I'll see these reports all, you know, and I think what he's doing is he's trying to, he's deceiving what his actual tactics are because he, you know, you'll hear him saying, oh, I think it's going to be over soon. Oh, I think it's this and that. But, but, like, it's all for a reason. And I think this is thought out very, you know, very clearly. And I think those that criticize this don't understand.

If this regime actually falls now, we're talking about a world that's going to be so much safer for the Western world, right? Forget about the Middle East. This is a regime that supports terror in so many countries, and including having representatives in the American higher education. Which is uh horrendous. And now it's just coming to light.

In the big picture. This is what when people who are read in to the intelligence and still have these statements like Senator Warner and others, that's what I find so disheartening. Because during that it's a partisan issue. Because Democrats are against, should be against everything that this regime stands for.

So this is what I suppose. There's no reason for them to, you know, I don't know. To me, this is not a war of choice. It's a president decides to address a problem. That everybody in the region, and by rocketing the Gulf states, they let everybody know Iran doesn't have any friends.

And any friends that they pretended to have, they rocketed.

So Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and especially UAE, they all have been targets of Iran.

So please tell me where the problem is. Here's the former vice president, as you know, who's been at odds with President Trump, but not here. He was with me last night, Cut 10. It had to happen. Iran has been at war with America and our most cherished ally, Israel, for 47 years.

They've claimed the lives of American service members all the way back to the attack on the Marine Corps barracks throughout the Iraq War through their proxies and I couldn't be more proud. Of President Donald Trump's decision to unleash the armed forces of the United States in Operation Epic Fury, taking the fight last year in Operation Midnight Hammer directly to the mullahs in Tehran for the first time. We've got them back on their heels. Yes. And I think let me ask you, Zaveka, what does your intelligence or your sources say might be the pushing point where the people of Iran rise up?

I know they're unarmed and that's and they're getting slaughtered, but are they close to feeling they could take their country back? It's very unclear. And I just saw a report today saying that the IRGC is going to extend the ban on Internet for another month. I will say the sources that of people within Iran that we were talking to are saying we're waiting for President Trump And Prime Minister Netanyahu to say, now is the time, or for the son of the Shah, the Crown Prince, tell us when. And because they initially went out and suffered from it.

And then the American and Israeli forces didn't come. It took a while.

So I think they're very cautious when it comes to that.

So it's very unclear. And I think when if President Trump Says that this is something that should happen. And if the message is brought out there, I think it would happen. They're not necessarily all armed, but there could also be a cue from within. You know, people from within, you know, the more the civil civil forces within Iran have ammunition.

You know, they received ammunition, so they can actually do something. They don't have airplanes, they don't have tanks, but it's a big country. And if they mobilize a huge amount of people, it could definitely assist and help. I mean, you took 90 people, 90 million people. And if they mobilize their army and it's clear, then they are also open to us to kill.

Uh and to how much damage is done to the paramilitary, the besiege. How much damage is done to them? The plain clothes operators arrive on motorcycles and kill and maim. We don't know. Right.

So, I mean, yeah, I mean, it's a good question. I don't have a total answer, but I think the besiege definitely, because it's so big, but it's also very diverse and it's citizens at the end of the day. You know, not everyone's happy and not everyone's seeing eye to eye with this regime. And there are talks about. You know, potentially some sort of a cue happening from that direction.

So, Vigo, last question. You're still operating against Hezbollah and they're still rocketing you guys?

So it's not as much rockets at the moment. It's UAVs that basically, you know, they call it suicide UAVs, and their only purpose is to explode in civilian areas.

So therefore, the IDF is operating, but in a very restrained way because of the request of President Trump and because of the ceasefire, we're being very cautious. That said, our citizens are being targeted and it's a problem. Yeah, and Hezbollah is a problem. And guess who feeds them? Weapons and money, Iran.

Zavika Khan, thanks so much, editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post. Appreciate you joining us today. Thank you, Brian. Back in a moment. Oh.

Politics, current events, and news that affects you. Brian's got a lot more to say. Stay with Brian Kilmead. Original! Close your eyes.

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See AHS.com slash contracts for coverage details including limited amounts, fees, limitations, and exclusions. Oh. Radio that makes you think. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. You talk about California with the Envy.

of the world. Since I've been governor, no other developed nation has outperformed our economy. No other state has outperformed the economy of state of California. They may not feel that in every way, shape, or form, but we dominate in every key industry. We dominate in manufacturing, agriculture, hunting jobs, forestry jobs.

More scientists, more Nobel laureates, more researchers, more higher system higher education, the finest in the world, more venture capital.

So he's full of crap. And he says it quickly, and Bill Maher did follow up a couple of times. But This is what and it's going to be up to Democrats to take him apart. You have successful governors like Bashir and Shapiro, whatever you think of them, they're successful. They have 60% approval rating in both their states.

He's got 45. And one of the reasons is. They have done the impossible. He buried the state in debt. They now have According to the California Department of Finance, recorded a zero point one four decline in population statewide as of January, or a net of loss of fifty four thousand.

The drop to thirty nine million total resident marks the first year of population loss after three consecutive years of population increases following the COVID-19 pandemic. 64,000 left Los Angeles County alone. He can talk as quick as he wants. But the taxes are too high. It's illegal immigrant first.

Homelessness is everywhere, rampant. People are making lactan money off of it. They've never addressed the problem. Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kill Me Joe.

President Trump's a war president.

Okay, this is not a business deal. This is war. And people get hurt in a war. I know it, and I know there's risk involved with it. But you've got to take that next step and finish the job.

Finish them off, whatever it's going to take. Put a provisional government on the ground in Carg Island, foment some type of dissent with either special operations or somebody on the ground in there to make sure they can go against the revolutionary guards. You're probably going to have to arm them. And hopefully the Army will take up arms to go against the Revolutionary Guards as well.

So we get to a point where we're going to finish this job once and for all, or we're going to see it again, not in our lifetimes, but in our kids' lifetimes. And you don't want to go there. It's true. And by the way, Democrats understand that too. And.

About those tactics, I'm not sure that's even on the table, but that's one way, and that's Lieutenant General. Keith Kellock, joining us now is Tom Caraco, Senior Fellow at the International Security Program. At the International Security Program and the director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Tom, what do you hope happens next? Yeah, look, as I've said probably a dozen times, there's a couple ways this could go.

The most likely, I think, and perhaps the worst outcome in the big picture of things is that there will be a ceasefire. The Iranians will then rebuild, and then we'll have to come do this all over again in a couple years. And so, yes, there is that. that short-term need For the straits to be open, for oil to be flowing, that is all true. But I also want to go back to the big objectives of the conflict, of what we're trying to do here, which is to make this problem go away, the nuclear problem, but also the missile problem.

And if the drone and missile problem is not absolutely dealt with, either in terms of the regime or by just the military capability itself, then again, I think we're going to have to be coming back and doing this all over again in a couple of years. And that's something, frankly, that neither the Israelis nor the United States can really afford to do. Right, especially politically, which is so disappointing is that Democrats know they're all on the record knowing the danger of Iran, what they've been doing, and what a problem they are in the Middle East, how much money can be saved if they weren't, and how much food will have to be fortified because they are.

So I thought this was interesting. Mideast arms sales, breakdown, Qatar is to pay $4 billion for Patriots. Israel, the UAE, and Qatar together will pay. 2.5 for advanced precision kill weapon systems.

So, and we know. The UAE understands the need for interceptors and I think anti-drone technology, too.

So how much are the Gulf States bulking up? And how much do you think they've done over the ceasefire period? Yeah, so actually, those are not sales, those are approvals. And so that's an approval for the sale to happen. When you buy $4 billion worth of Patriots, you don't just go to the Patriot warehouse and pull them out.

That is going to be an order that will be probably a couple years from now in terms of its delivery. But it's actually a little bit worse than that. And I actually just visited the facility where we make these Patriots in Camden, Arkansas last week. And it's going to take years and years to get back to the levels of Patriots and fads and all these other things. It's going to take years of production just to get back to where we were.

And what that means is that, frankly, our allies, they may be approved to have these sales. They may not get all of them, or at least they may not get them very soon, because, frankly, we're going to prioritize first. The United States military's replenishment.

So it's going to be a bit of a trust. Why does it take so long, Tom? I mean, it doesn't make any sense to me.

Well, these are pretty sophisticated objects. The seeker, for instance, on a Patriot has to be able to see with extraordinary precision an incoming object and then be able to go out and get it. It's a big solid rocket motor on the back that has to be cast and cured and all this sort of thing. It takes a good bit of time, but it's also the quantity that we're talking about here. We're going from producing last year about 650 Patriot Pack 3s, and we want to go to over 2,000, probably even more than that, certainly with all the demand signal, just the replenishment demand signal from our allies, our partners and allies.

News reports suggest that we just had to tell the Swiss that their orders of Pack 3s that it's going to be a while before they get that. And they probably weren't too happy about that. And uh Taiwan is still waiting on a lot of their packages, right? Sure. I think we have been prioritizing Taiwan relative to others, and that's all for the good.

But what this really speaks to, Brian, is the need for Congress to get after this. This is why you're hearing this discussion about A supplemental because you can't get these things on contract. Until you really have the appropriations. That had been passed. And that's why this discussion about a supplemental to cover the costs of the war, but also to get this munitions ramp underway.

All right, a couple of things. What about the cheaper anti-drone technology that the Ukrainians have pioneered and engineered? I mean, why can't aren't they been effective? The Ukrainians are really the world leaders now at counter-drone experience and operations and all that sort of stuff. The good news is that we're not just using Patriots.

The United States of America has a lot of counter-drone stuff that has been shooting down hundreds. hundreds and hundreds of shah heads over the past couple of months and actually quite a bit longer quite a bit longer than that. But you're speaking specifically to the Iranian stuff? Yes, to the Ukrainian stuff. I think that makes a whole lot of sense.

Shooting a slo low and slow moving Shit head cruise missile or some other kind of a drone. It's not the hardest thing in the world, and the way that you need exquisite seeker and exquisite divert on a Patriot. To get something coming in, it's much easier to do the killing of these things. But it is, however, a point defense.

So you have to have these defenses in a lot of places.

So talk about our hypersonics that we've brought into theater for the first time. What do they do? Could they even get into pickaxe? Uh and different Well-fortified facilities that maybe a bunker buster. won't be able to.

Yes, well, look, it is a little bit of a head scratcher. The short answer is I don't believe that, that would be the use case for it. I'm a little bit unclear on what it is. These are very sophisticated, maneuvering, high speed missile systems that we really built for the high end Chinese type of a threat. The fact that as the news was reported, the CENTCOM has requested some of the what are called Dark Eagle or long-range hypersonic weapon missiles that frankly just got fielded about five minutes ago.

The fact that we would be using those against Iran when we have already suppressed their air defenses, that is a bit of a head scratcher. And so, frankly, I don't think that look, they may be coming in super fast, but they're probably more likely to bounce off the granite than some of these bunker busters that you talked about.

So, unclear, not enough information in the news about what it's for exactly. The sort of thing that you would want that for is, for instance, a fleeting target, a time-critical target, and to be able to get there by penetrating air defenses. But we heard in mid-March from General Kane that we have Mostly suppress their air defenses and move to be able to operate with stand-in weapons as opposed to stand-off weapons.

So I'm frankly a little bit concerned about using those things unless there is a super high priority target, and it's unclear to me what that would be that we can't use some other means to get after. I would be concerned that we're not stewarding these things to deter Chinese aggression, for instance. Wow.

So you're just concerned. We don't have many.

So why are we using many methods? We do not. We do not. Unless they're concerned about, and you tell me you're the expert, Tom Carrico, because you're at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Uh but We're having trouble getting to the bottom of some of these facilities.

So, would they provide? a way to destroy pickaxe from above? It's, I guess, conceivable that there perhaps is an entrance or something like that that you need to get to, but it's hard to understand why a Tomahawk, a slow-moving Tomahawk cruise missile with a 500-pound warhead, wouldn't be able to get after that.

So here is Admiral Robert Horwood. Who was briefing yesterday? He was on the Sunday briefing yesterday, cut eight. Cut five.

So if the President is not satisfied and we have to strike, those military facilities are important, but more important and really the core of all of this is the IRGC.

So I would hope those strikes focus on them, their leadership, their facilities, and their business. You take care of that problem. All the missiles, the nuclear facilities, those are secondary.

So you've got to go at the core of these things. Do you agree with that? I think that's basically a version of what I was said at the top, which is you either have to effect a political change, which is the regime, the IRGC is essentially the regime at this point, and you have to degrade sufficiently low down until you get to somebody who is willing to say, okay, let's stop shooting, or you deal with what he just called the missile problem, which I was thinking is the military problem.

So it's the same thing, I would say. The question is. The challenge is rather that Iran is kind of built to resist this kind of a This kind of degradation. And so it's not easy, but yes, I think that's essentially the ultimate goal.

So that, as I said before, we don't have to come back and do this again. If there's somebody that can be in charge that will say, okay, this isn't fun anymore, we're not going to do this.

So, Tom, one of their offers, and I got this confirmed, was 15 years, zero enrichment. And then after 15, they can go to 3% enrichment, limiting on ballistic missiles write-off. Those are some of the highlights of what they're talking about. And of course, we would never allow this trade-off for Moz to be controlled by Iran.

So let's just say. That's done. How would you feel about them giving 15 years no enrichment? It sounds really good. What I'm going to want to know about is the inspection and verification of that.

You can put anything you want on paper, but it's going to be: okay, what are the incredibly intrusive inspections? And are they also not just the enrichment? I want to make sure that they stop building missiles, for example. And there again, the enforcement of that, especially in the absence of a change of regime, of a change of the people in charge in some way who have a different outlook. They don't have to be Thomas Jefferson small D Democrats, but They need to not be kind of committed to this, you know, industrial-scale missile ray and industrial-scale export of terrorism.

So I know we learn from every conflict. Tom, what have you been able to ascertain about what worked and didn't work in protecting the Gulf States in particular? How damaged have our bases been? Yeah, so actually the news reports just came out, I guess, over the weekend about that. Probably pretty damaged, and I would expect that, without having seen the details, I expect a lot of that is going to be from the drone attacks.

Now, I expect that our ballistic missile defenses, based on certainly early numbers for the first month or so of the war, were very effective in terms of getting most of what was shot. Back to the drone defenses, it's not that it's. Bleeding edge rocket surgery to shoot down incoming drones, it's that you have to have the defenses everywhere. And so it's not possible to be everywhere all the time. And so you have to make hard choices about what is the priority defended assets as opposed to not.

And I would not be surprised if a lot of what was hit Had to do with Because we didn't have a defense there. How much do you think the Russians are helping with locations and logistics? Yes. Well, look, the news report certainly suggests that they're providing probably the Chinese as well at least targeting information so as to help the Iranians send these things to the appropriate places. Yeah, and uh your greatest concern right now.

The concern right now is twofold. One, that we really have used up a ton. Of our offensive strike missiles and our defensive interceptors, such that it invites Chinese aggression to essentially jump through the proverbial Davidson window. Because China's looking at us and saying, wow, the United States just degraded itself. It now has less deterrence, conventional deterrence capability than it did.

Three months ago.

So that would be concern one. And then concern two is that, as I said earlier, we don't finish the job and that we end up, we let the Iranians rebuild, and we have to do this all over again in a couple of years. Yeah, and this is the one president that took him on. And I'm not convinced the next president will. And that's, you know, we end up with North Korea.

Let them get a nuclear weapon and then see what happens. And then all hell breaks loose in the Middle East, which is volatile by nature. Tom Carrico, thanks so much. Appreciate your insight, and I echo your feelings. Finish the job.

I know economically it's tough. Open up the strait, relieve the pressure, and finish the job. Tom Carrico, thank you. Thank you. Back in a moment.

Where big stories meet bigger conversations. Stay informed and energized with the Brian Kilmead Show. The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmead. Have you seen the stats from California?

Good.

Well, are they going to say good about gas prices? Are they going to say good about how high the rents are?

So many people live. I mean, there's a whole litany. I mean, the train. Gavin, you got to get rid of the train. The train.

I say this as a friend. You got to let that train go. Let the train go. It's up to $231 billion. We put it back on track.

All the environmental work is behind us. We're actually laying the track. All the legal litigation, all the land issues are all behind us. We're actually making this project work. Unbelievable that they have billions of dollars.

We cut them off. The federal government cut them off. But Gavin Newsom just full of crap yesterday on his book tour on Friday, and it was re-aired on another network on Saturday and Sunday. Bill Mark kinda I guess he was just charmed by him, because usually he's pretty tough. He has some follow-up, but not nearly enough.

He's talking about Newsome. He pretends like everything's great. Gas prices have never been higher. Taxes have never been greater. Oil production has virtually stopped.

The ridiculous mandates when it comes to oil and gas cars is about to kick into 2030, I think, or 2035. It's going to be stuck on another mayor. Like in New York, they did it.

Now, this governor says, I can't live up to these mandates. But Bill Maher. And Gavin Newsom. Here's some more fiction. Cut 21.

You talk about California where the envy of the world. Since I've been governor, no other developed nation has outperformed our economy. No other state has outperformed the economy of state of the world. Do you think people feel that on the street? They may not feel that in every way, shape, or form, but we dominate in every key industry.

We dominate in manufacturing, agriculture, hunting jobs, forestry jobs. More scientists, more Nobel laureates, more researchers, more the higher system higher education, the finest in the world, more venture capital.

So that a lot almost all of that is volume. They have the volume. It's the biggest.

Okay, yeah. But what about your debt? What about the homeless situation? What about the money wasted? What about the rebuild of Pacific Palisades?

What have you done to prevent the next raging fire that they say is just part of the phenomenon or global warming, which we all know is not true? What have you done to stop oil from flowing into your state from offshore drilling? which the president put into play and then he went and stopped again. He stopped, as I mentioned, all refineries. And the other thing is, you have more people leaving California than coming in.

And then last year it happened again. 54,000 more left for the first time and maybe since California became part of the United States of America. His approval rate is at 45%. He's taken no responsibility for everything that's gone wrong in Los Angeles. Guess what else left?

The movie industry left. Here's even more. Cut 32. Twenty. Is there anything you're going to say California was too far left on?

Because I feel like if you don't, I think a lot of the country is not going to listen. Yeah, look, I mean, I think there's a lot of things that, you know, I've said this in the past, things I could have done better, more. I look back at COVID. We just put out a detail, over a thousand pages, what we did right and wrong during COVID as it relates to the issues of outdoor and beaches being shut down, schools being shut down for too long. I've made my point of view, no, as it relates to issues of sports and transports, which I just think is not being transphobic to make common sense.

Yeah, but he never comes out and says it. And he doesn't change anything about it. And the whole thing about if you have a kid that wants to be trans, you keep the secret in school and don't tell the parents, that's still in existence. In terms of the performance, it's been absolutely awful. The left-wing protests and pro-Palestinian protests out in all those universities running rampant.

There's pro-Palestinian teachers everywhere. That's him. From high atop Fox News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kilmead. Consequential Day here.

Thanks so much for listening. Hope you had a great weekend. We're back in action now from 48th and 6 in mid-town, Manhattan. Tim Stewart, yet latest on U.S. oil and gas.

Is there anything more for the common man than the price of gas? It's up about a dollar or so since the conflict started, and we might be doing that again. And just don't tell me that this was an unnecessary conflict. The president decided to do something other presidents refused to do instead of trying to take on a sworn enemy of America. If you don't believe it, the late Ayatollah said: death to America is not a slogan, it is a policy.

Coming up shortly, Miranda Devine, New York Post columnist, Fox News contributor, host of Pod Force One. We talk about how. With her, a great column today. The Democrats basically are Bernie Sanders party. Don't let anybody tell you different.

And if you think that's going to win in the general, I'm scared at what kind of country would elect some of these candidates. They certainly are willing to nominate them on the left.

So let's get to the big three. Number three. You talk about California. We're the envy of the world. Since I've been governor, no other developed nation has outperformed our economy.

No other state has outperformed people. I think people feel that on the economy. They may not feel that in every way, shape, or form, but we dominate in every key industry. That is just not true. Gavin Newsom, you are dreaming with your fictional view of the state of California as real vetting begins for his replacement and a GOP sweep is possible.

Number two. And here's the practical effect of what's going to happen. We are going to eliminate using race to draw these congressional lines. It means that, especially in these southern states, we are going to add maybe a dozen more Republicans to the United States Congress. Governor Greg Abbott, all things politics, from gerrymandering madness to Dems handing over their party to Bernie and his disciples.

Good luck with that. Number one.

So if the president is not satisfied and we have to strike, really the core of all of this is the IRGC.

So I would hope those strikes focus on them, their leadership, their facilities. Yep, New Deal in the Strait as we start to escort neutral ships and Iran tries to get us into a deal, but it's not even close. Time to get back to the battle. Sadly, right now we have a very extensive operation taking place and it's moving into it's moving, it's there now. I mean, it's going to be fully implemented today or as we speak because of the time difference.

But Essentially There's going to be uh it's a massive operation, hundreds of manned and unmanned craft plus ground sea base missile defense, conducting one of the most comprehensive air land and maritime Anti-fast boat defense systems to protect a singular geographical area.

So this is something the President is willing to up the ante. Why? Because as we deal with them, they can't have the straight closed. And the strait's got to be open.

So we're just going to flat out do it. Start on the Oman side. If they try to get in and interdict our ships. It's going to be back to the battle.

Meanwhile, Miranda Devine joins us now from the New York Post. Hey, Miranda, welcome back. Thanks so much, Brian.

So when you see what's happening out there today, When you see what's going on right now with this war and what it's doing to the economy, the president's not budging. They think that he's worried about the economy. Sure, he's worried, but he is determined because he knows this is the right thing to do.

So Yeah, absolutely. Look, I listened to Morning Joe this morning. I try to listen to them and Rachel Maddow just so that I know where we're heading, what the other side is saying, and the doom and gloom from these people is so dishonest. You know, it's a difficult situation, but as Scott Besson says, Operation Economic Epic Fury is hugely successful. Iran's only getting a pittance from the tolls it's trying to impose on ships through the Hormuz Strait.

The blockade is working really well. And Donald Trump, everyone underestimates him. First of all, they say, oh, he's a puppet of Israel. And then they say, oh, all he cares about is the midterms and he'll blink. He's shown utter resolve.

He knows he's been honest with the American people. He's explained every step of the way, which is contrary to what you hear on Morning Joe and Rachel Maddow. He's explained that, yes, oil prices are up, but... The upside is that the world will not be facing a nuclear-armed Iran. He's absolutely determined about that, and he has talked about this for decades.

And you know, Iran's been monstering the world for almost half a century, and this is the first time that they've been set back on their haunches. And the reason, as opposed to what you hear on Morning Joe, that the Iranians are not able to negotiate is because they're in utter disarray. Nobody is really in charge. Yeah, there is nobody in charge. And plus, they're radicals.

They're crazies.

So even if they, the matter, if they pointed to the Supreme Leader and he was healthy, which he's not, might not be alive, but probably is, but damaged, these people have a warped view of what kind of options they have.

So, my sense is we got about 10 days left of targets. Maybe we could do it in five. I think that by opening up the spray, we're going to invite being targeted, at which time I think the ceasefire might, in fact, be over. But I want to talk about politics. Your column was really insightful today.

This is really Bernie Sanders' party, isn't it? When I talk about the Democratic Party and I talk about nominees with momentum, these are all about Bernie Sanders.

Well, I mean, look, by comparison to some of the candidates they're putting up, Bernie Sanders is tame. But yes, in the fact that they're socialists, they're communists, in fact, this Graham Plattner with the Nazi tattoo has called himself a communist and an antifar super soldier. You've got Hassan Pika that Democrats are falling over themselves to appear with on the campaign trail. And he's this far-left ghoul. I mean, he calls Jews inbred and pigs.

He said it doesn't matter if effing rapes happen on October 7. And Democrats are normalizing this. You've got the New York Times doing glowing profiles of these people. You have Democrats thinking that Hassan Pika is the left-wing Joe Rogan. They are, Graham Plattner has now been endorsed by none other than Chuck Schumer, the elder statesman of the Democrat Party, God forbid.

and the party apparatus as their anointed candidate in Maine for the Senate, now that Janet Mills has dropped out.

So that's who they've normalized. That's who they're embracing. Nazis, communists, people who, like Graham Plattner, endorse violence. They think violence is fine. You look at polls.

There was a poll just after Charlie Kirk was assassinated in which you have liberals, a majority of them, saying it's quite okay to murder Trump or Elon Musk if you need to.

So, if you talk about Graham Plattner, people say, Well, he's exciting. He's deliberate. And, you know, he said some crazy things, but he has PTSD. Are you kidding me? What an insult that is to people with PTSD.

You become a Nazi, leftist, Antifa-loving idiot because you have PTSD.

So basically, you unmask him. You point out that this guy grew up with a dad who was a lawyer, whose grandfather was an elite architect. He, as a kid, went to a prep school that was $75,000 a year.

So don't act like he's some everyman. His oyster farm was was basically a mirage. And when he comes out and says things, he called cops bastards, he defends rapists. And he says, as you mentioned on our show just now, and write about, he's an Antifa super soldier and says, at this point in my life, I'm a communist.

So how the heck can this guy be ahead of Susan Collins in Maine? Yeah, yeah.

Well, I really don't think that will happen. I mean, I hope not. The problem is the Democrats' primary voters are insane. They are so Trump-deranged that they will vote for the devil if it's not Donald Trump. They will vote for a serial killer just to stick it to Donald Trump.

So, but, you know, in the general election, I think these candidates, well, I hope these candidates are just unpalatable, that even people with Trump derangement will overlook it to ensure that they don't impose someone like that on the electorate, on the party, on Congress. I mean, imagine having this Nazi tattooed, you know, foul-mouthed, fake champagne socialist in the Senate. What an embarrassment. And as you say, what an insult to other war veterans who don't come back and just hate America and do what they can to tear this country apart and to start a revolution. Graham Plattner is dangerous, but there are many more like him in the party.

And, you know, now AOC, who we thought was like the fringe, she is regarded by the new Democrat lefty base as being suspect. She's too moderate.

So that's what's happened to that party because cowards like Hakeem Jeffries, like Chuck Schumer and the rest of them, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, the rest of them, they just caved to the left. They caved to the squad. They allowed their party to be hijacked, driving away people who have been lifelong Democrats like Alan Dershowitz. You know, he had the Democratic Party in his DNA. He loved it.

He joined the Democrats when he was a teenager and he's just left them because, well, he says they left him. But he had to abandon the party because they've just gone. Insane, and it's not good for the country to have one party that's sane and one that isn't. And anti-Israel, too. The Democrats, it seems like they're afraid to admit that they support Israel.

They won't get any nomination. And look at this clown over in Michigan, Abdul El-Said. He was talking in Detroit yesterday. Listen to what he said about the war and Israel, cut seven. Benjamin Nathaniel.

Who has been searching for 40 years? To find a president dumb enough to go to war with Iran. And he finally found one in the form of Donald J. Trump. But ask yourself why.

A foreign Prime Minister. gets to dictate The foreign policy Of the richest, most powerful country in the whole world, there is one. Reason why. A super PAC called APAC. That is getting ready to drop 20 million dollars on this race to try and dictate.

A world where that keeps happening.

So, listen, that crowd agrees with this clown.

So, number one, nothing could be further from the truth. But that's what they're running on. And that's the policy of Bernie Sanders, too. Yeah, unfortunately it is. They're really, they're dancing with the devil.

And, you know, this is the candidate who campaigned with Hassan Pika, who tortured his dog live on air. He's a despicable person. And anybody who shares a platform with him willingly is equally despicable, Ro Khana. I mean, these people in the Democratic Party that we thought were halfway normal turn out to be such cowards that they will throw their lot in with the worst of the worst. You know, how bad do you, like to sell your soul, how desperate do you have to be to stay in power?

It's really sickening. And all we can hope is that the American people, the electorate, shows them the door. And really, that's the only way the Democratic Party will be reformed. Doesn't matter how much you and I rant and rave and rail against them and show them... Them up to be hypocrites and ghouls, it will be down to their losing power.

If it doesn't work for them electorally, they'll stop it. Every time I say, That Bashir is a moderate and Shapiro is a moderate. I get besieged by people who say, no, you have to live in Kentucky and Pennsylvania. They're not. But let's just say they're more moderate than the people you just mentioned.

Why do you project? I'm not saying what you would do, Miranda, but do you project they stand up and say, what's going on in Michigan, what's going on in Maine? I can't support that. Yeah, I mean, wouldn't that be good? That would show someone who's principled, and I actually think that somebody, a Democrat who did that, a leader who did that, would put themselves in a very good position for 2028.

Someone who's willing to draw a line in the sand and say, you know, no matter what we think of Donald Trump, he can be the devil incarnate. We are not going to become what we profess to hate, because that's what they have done. And, you know, the Southern Poverty Law Center is a perfect example. That's the ideological arm of the Democrat Party. And what's it been doing?

It's been funding by the tune of millions of dollars the very neo-Nazi groups that it feigned to be opposing.

So that's what's happened to the Democratic Party. It's welcomed in the evil that it professes to hate.

So, why is it that socialism is merging with the Democratic Party? Why is it that Islamic extremism seems comfortable with the Democratic Party?

Well, it's all about power. It's all about the brainwashing of young people. You now have a whole youth contingent who's been taught at school from the earliest age because of the long march through the institutions, the capture of the teaching profession and the colleges and the universities and academia. They've been taught to hate America. They've been taught that capitalism is evil and that the only way forward that's just and fair is socialism, really communism.

And they haven't been taught the evils of communism. They haven't been taught about the blood-soaked battlefields of the 20th century. They've just been told lies and they've been, I don't know, radicalized. You saw the other day for the May Day protest, so-called, had just tens of thousands of kids out of school for the day to rampage protesting through the streets. Streets holding all custom-made signs, anti-ICE, anti-Trump, basically pro-Nazi.

They pretend they're anti-Nazi, but they're pro. And for Graham Platinet to say, oh, how can you call me a Nazi and a communist? They're the opposite. No, they're the same sides of the same rotten coin. Extremists.

Thanks so much. Miranda, always enjoy your columns and your podcast. Check it out. It's called Pod Force One. Miranda, thank you very much.

Thanks, Brian. You got it. Back in a moment. Both sides, all opinions. It's Brian Killmead.

The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmead. And now, another critical decision that was made the end of last week is this operation that's unfolding that you're just demonstrating. And that is to clear the minds for a lane, which has been done, and that lane hugs. the uh country of Oman.

and it's got a couple of other parts to it. It's a layered defense that goes scores of miles out from the Straits of Amuz, with hundreds of aircraft, both manned and unmanned, in an air defense posture. to defeat missiles, anti-ship missiles and drones coming to hit a target in the Straits of Amuz.

So there's going to be that kind of dome over the Straits to protect it in terms of terminal defense. There's a detailed plan that's being put into place. The forest, the unaffiliated, the Iranian. News service says that they took a shot at one of our ships. No damage was done.

But we're opening up the strait. Believe me, they're going to try to act. But they know if they act strongly, the ceasefire is over and they're going to be destroyed.

So we're going to reopen the strait and it's going to relieve all the pressure on this operation. Believe me.

Now, it's going to cost money to keep our troops there. Our goal is to do it.

Now, they have a plan in place. The admiral has a plan in place to do it. The general just was telling you about it. He's read in on it. I hope he was able to advise on it.

And it's going to open up the strait. And I think it's going to get these hundreds of boats. It might be 900 tankers in and out of there. You know who's not going to go in and out? Iran.

And that'll cut him off at the knees. When we come back, oil and gas. And what is needed? Tim Stewart's next. He is the Oil and Gas Association president.

News of the Brian Killmeat Show. Don't move. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin. It's Brian Kilmeade. We've been relatively lesser impacted by the direct effects of the conflict than some others in the Gulf region.

And the real issue relative to the global market, Maria, is that the energy system remains under extreme stress. The world consumes about 100 million barrels of oil every day. Roughly 20% of that flows through the Strait of Hormuz, so it's the single largest artery for flows into the global market. 20% of global LNG flows through that same strait. And as that has been shut down, those supplies are not coming to the market.

Now, there's some that can get out through the Red Sea, but not nearly as much as has been. Has been shut in. And so the world's short on supply. In the early days, weeks, and first couple of months here, the world's been able to pull on inventories that are held in various places, on land, in tanks, some excess inventories that were in ships, on the water, and strategic inventories that are held by countries around the world for the case of an emergency. All of those are flowing into the market, but there's not enough.

So uh that is That is the head of Sevron, the CEO of Severon, Mike Worth, talking about the need to get some supply in. But we are benefiting because a lot of people, a lot of the tankers, are coming over to us. Tim Stewart joins us now, U. S. Oil and Gas Association President.

Tim, welcome. Brian, it's good to be with you. It's been too long. I know. But, man, you were the perfect guest for today.

It looks like the President's making moves to open up the straight ourselves.

Now I know you don't get into military military maneuvers, but this would be significant. And the Iranians are going to resist it. But while we talk, this would be a great way to get leverage and start easing some of the pressure, because there were tons of tankers right off the coast. Absolutely. You know, in the early days of this, Lloyds of London, there was criticism there that they had jacked up their war premiums, then completely pulled them.

And with the President's move this morning, it's one thing to be insured by Lloyds of London, but it's another to have guaranteed transit by the U.S. Navy. That's a wholly different animal. And I was just reading there: two ships had already transited, and we've been able to get the U.S. military assets in place.

So, this is actually going to be a game changer. I'd watch oil prices over the next couple of days because I think they're going to start to level off here.

So, what worries you most, and what have we learned so far? I'm reading the Wall Street Journal today, and it was just a fascinating account of what has happened compared to the 80s and 90s and 70s, really, when this took place. And essentially, the Philippines had four-day work weeks, and Pakistan's got some rolling blackouts. But for the most part, it's been a very resilient world market, that resourceful world market that has gradually been redirecting from the Middle East for years, and now they may be benefiting from this. Did you think it would be worse if I told you that Strait was going to be shut down?

I think all of us have been watching this closely, and Brian, there's this generational change that's underway. What you're going to see going forward is this change as to how and where crude is produced, how it gets to market, and who sets the price. And that's the most interesting thing. The Gulf producers have been taking steps slowly and quietly, but now they've ramped up additional pipelines, rail transit, truck, et cetera, et cetera. And then the UAE's move last week to be able to decouple itself from OPEC, which is essentially decoupling itself from Russia's needs and Iran's survival, that's had a sort of a seismic impact as well.

We're really in an interesting situation here. And to President Trump's credit, we have this sort of North American fortress, energy fortress around us. Again, we've been insulated, we're not isolated, but we're in a much better position than we would have been in 1979 or 1987, for example. How fortuitously. I'm sorry, go ahead, Tim.

I thought you would. No, go ahead. I was going to say Venezuelan getting online too. Has that been an impact? Yeah, it's had a huge impact.

If you think about it, again, this was the world's different January versus now. That Venezuelan crude was going to China at a significant discount. China was the beneficiary. The Venezuelan government, theoretically, the Marxists were the beneficiaries. That Venezuelan crude is now coming to the United States where it is refined and being shipped to U.S.

cities. It's being shipped to European allies. It's being shipped to Central America as a refined product. That's completely different than anything it was four months ago. And it seems like the administration sort of has a plan.

And it seems like that plan is starting to really gel with regards to breaking the stranglehold that OPEC has had on the globe. breaking China's free basically incredibly discounted energy supply and re reposition the United States as the global arb global arbitrator of how and where energy is distributed.

So If we think about The fact is something can emerge from this, and that is In international waters, what the Strait of Hormuz is, we cannot allow any country, Iran specifically, to charge tolls. That would be a terrible precedent, which will affect. Prices permanently. I know we would not let that stand, but Tim Stewart, why don't you tell me what that would mean?

Well, I mean, obviously, that would put any sort of tinpan dictatorship in any straight across the world in a position, if they could, to shut off transit. And nobody wants that. President Trump is trying to demonstrate to the rest of the world that the United States will not stand for disruption based on an Islamic fundamentalist approach. What he's done, I think, is actually sent a clear message to everybody that is free transit across the globe. But he's also sent a message to China as well.

As you've seen some of these agreements that have been coming in place over the last couple of weeks with the Strait of Gibraltar, for example, or the Malacca Strait. He's sending the message to China, which is: look, you want to cut off our supply of critical minerals. We have the ability to cut off your supply of crude. And let's work together on this from here on out. Again, it's this global reordering.

The Don Rowe Doctrine is in place. It's been really fascinating to watch. It is.

So, what's going to get the price of oil and gas down while this continues? Uh you know, gas is basically up uh 100% since this started. It's in the $4 range. If you're in California, much more because of the taxes they have in there.

So what is going to get that price down? But if this is ongoing, if this conflict continues. Yeah, I get asked that a hundred times a day, Brian, and I wish I had a really, really good answer for everybody. There's a couple of things at stake here. It was mentioned earlier, we're now looking at a 500 million barrel shortfall globally.

That's obviously had its impact. The U.S. production, we are now at really record levels, and our refining capacity is running about 90%. And so we're bumping up against the ceiling. The most immediate impact that could have on prices, like we started off this conversation, is a resolution in the strait and opening that up and getting the global crude to start flowing.

And that sort of is the release valve, which will bring prices down. But we've had some... Over the last week or so, it's been a particular challenge in the fact that you have this pressure on global crude prices. But in the Midwest, particularly, we had some refining issues. We had a refining shutdown of our power supply, which they immediately got back up online in Indiana and in the upper Midwest.

And the problem is that we also had planned spring maintenance in some of the refineries, and that was in place. Again, the refines would fix it fast, but the math on the supply and the price is a little unforgiving right now. I think we're probably going to see high prices, obviously, for the next 60. To 90 days before things really start to come down. But hopefully, by the end of the summer, we'll be in a much better position.

So, for the layman, tell me what it means that UAE is no longer an OPEC. For example, if they decide they want to up production, they can. If they decide they want to lessen, they can. Can they charge what they want? Or is it still a global market?

It is still a global market, but you just laid it out really well, which is the UAE has an extra million and a half barrels a day of production capacity, and they've been preparing for that. But their OPEC quotas have held them at 3.5 million barrels a day, and they are subject to the OPEC pricing mechanism. What they've announced is that we're leaving OPEC, we're going to start operating more like an oil company than an oil country. We're going to find our own market, we're going to find our own customers, we're going to set our own pricing, and we're going to set our own production. That's going to have a big impact.

And that's an extra million and a half barrels a day into the market over the next few months, and particularly if they can get it to market. And that's going to have a downward pressure on prices, which will be good. Again, and I think that's sort of breaking that cartel pricing mechanism.

So, what did they lose by leaving OPEC? What do they no longer have? It's like if someone broke off when the UK said, but did Brexit, I don't want to be part of the EU, I want to call my own shots, have my own foreign policy. There was upside and downside. Is there a downside to the UAE from their perspective?

Is there a risk? Yeah, there's a little bit of a risk. You know, it's again, they have there's sort of strength in numbers, for example. But I do think that they have made that calculated decision that it's better for them to look westward and to align themselves with Western interests than it is to be aligning themselves with, again, what's good for Russia or what's good for Iran survival.

So the downside is they probably don't have quite the pricing ability that they had that they could ride behind. But it also means they can open up their customers. The other really interesting thing, Brian, is they have about $30 billion in $29 to $30 billion in. In anticipated investment in US energy projects. That's what they have announced.

So they're coupling themselves, frankly, to the US production side of things versus the OPEC side of things. That's a definite upside, in my opinion. When you talk about the Saudis, I heard that they've redirected their oil, and it's almost at the same Rate Capacity that they had before the conflict, and they just redirected towards the Red Sea. Yeah, they have that east-west pipeline. And to their credit, you know, that was my point earlier, which is we're seeing this generational shift in how crude is getting to market.

The Saudis are still about 3 million barrels a day down. Yeah, they've got 7 million barrels that they're getting to market right now through that East-West pipeline.

So do they feel that? I mean, at that rate, is that enough to? Uh to stop any type of panic, is that enough? Yeah, it's interesting because you got this balance. If you're down 3 million barrels, but if you're up at $112 versus $90 or $80, then that sort of balances out on their spreadsheet there.

Obviously, the globe needs their maximum production capacity, particularly to get us out of this hole that we've found ourselves in as supplies have been drawn down. Again, I think it's, you know, oil prices are really interesting with regards to there's basically two markets: there's the global market and there's the U.S. market. I think the Saudis are taking advantage of the high prices. That's why OPEC announced last week a modest increase of 180,000 barrels a day production, which is nothing.

They're taking advantage of the high-price climate while they can. It's terrible because they should understand the national security and the risk America is taking. And the rest of the Western world, as we try to get rid of their enemy, Uh as much. But Tim. Can you explain to us why suspending the Jones Act helps us?

Okay. Yeah, you know, the Jones Act is that archaic old maritime law which required flagged American vessels to serve flagged American ports. And the result of that has been 70 years of shrinking merchant marine. We simply don't have the number of vessels to move product from one place to another. By suspending the Jones Act, we're able to take the Gulf refineries and put them on either U.S.

or non-U.S. flagships and take that refined product, particularly up to the East Coast, to the New England market, where that has been able to keep prices down just a little bit. That Jones Act, again, is something that needs to be updated, but it's a tough thing to do because of the union pressure on members of Congress who don't want to To update that Jones Act. It's a union jobs situation.

Now, look, if we had a much more robust shipbuilding industry in the United States, that would change.

So I suppose that we, you know, if we start building much, many more tugs, many more tankers, et cetera, they would change that we wouldn't need the Jones Act suspension. But we're in a situation right now where we just don't have the delivery mechanisms to get the product to market under the current law. It's a little bit out of your league, but why don't we just go to South Korea? They're an ally and they can build ships rapidly, almost as quick as China. Why don't we just buy them from them?

No, that's a great point. And actually, you know, a couple of companies I work with who are developing floating LNG, which is groundbreaking for us in the future, they're using the South Koreans as their shipbuilders for those floating vessels.

So if we're lack of manufacturing opportunity in the United States, let's find it with some allies like South Korea. I've got no problem with that. Yeah, I mean, we're going to pay anyway, and we're starting to revitalize our shipbuilding. But while that gets online, South Korea, I think, and Japan are helping us rebuild our shipping.

So, while shipbuilding.

So, while we're doing that, why not just make the purchase? I don't worry about any listening devices the South Koreans are going to put in because they're more worried about China than we are. I think we have mutual interests there. Absolutely. And again, these are just massive, massive investments.

These floating LNG vessels are billion dollar vessels. They're incredibly huge. They're incredibly technologically advanced. To be able to have them and have the U. S.

operators using them again will be a continuous game changer on the LNG markets globally.

So Tim, do you think the green fever is broken, that extremist attitude that vilified guys like Tim Stewart in U.S. Oil and Gas? Is it broken or is it just on hold until Democrats get back in power? I think they're like circadas. They're on this rhythm, right?

They have to go underground for a couple of years until the environment's right for them to come back out. I think they're very well financed. They're particularly on things like LNG, data center AI, natural gas are used to power data centers. I think they're being funded by By overseas interests, you know, who don't want the U.S. to win the AI race.

We're running into that as well. I think they what they do is they go dormant until there's a new opportunity and then they pop back up. But yet we already know what they're selling is snake oil. That you know, there's a responsibility to the environment, and then there's There's an extremist attitude that doesn't add up. I mean, and on that point, they can't resell that.

I mean, Al Gore is now talking about an ice age instead of global warming. Yeah, I mean, look, it's an industry. Big green is as much of an industry as big oil or big farm or anything else. It is well funded and it's been in place for 50 years now. It's not going to go away overnight just because of an election result.

They just sit back and recalibrate and find a new crisis to manufacture and a new crisis to send pannikins off on.

So, again, Brian, I've dealt with this for many, many years now, and I just see it's a different playbook's the same, it's just the message is slightly different. Hopefully, the audience wised up and is not afraid to speak up and don't get yelled at because we're right. There's a responsibility, but oil and gas drives this country. And this administration realizes it. Hopefully, most of America does.

Tim Stewart, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Great to be with you. Thanks. You got it, 1866-408-7669.

I'll try to squeeze in some calls and more. Brian Killmeat Show. From breaking news to big name guests, Brian brings you insight you won't hear anywhere else. You're listening to the Brian Kill Meat Show. Uh Information you want, truth you demand.

This is the Brian Kill Me Show. Well, first of all, I think it's important to understand what's behind all of this. Why did President Trump begin the redistricting wars? Why is the Supreme Court, which is no longer a conservative court, it's merely a partisan court? A conservative court would have some respect for precedent.

They don't. Why did they bring that voting rights case to begin with? And it's because their agenda is so deeply unpopular. They feel they're going to lose their majority unless they can gerrymander the districts, unless they can affirmatively use race to disenfranchise people. That is so wrong, and he's a lawyer, and he should know better.

And the Supreme Court didn't really. Were they partisan when they blew up Donald Trump's tariffs, when they preserved Obamacare? And to continue to say illegitimate court.

Now, look, President Trump got criticism for criticizing the court, but they say it's illegitimate conservative court, not arbitrary. Come on, you can't have it both ways. Uh meanwhile And they're talking about what happened last week when they said: no longer can you gerrymander on basis of race. What's wrong with that? By the way, go to Briankillme.com.

I get to see you in person, Rena, Nevada, in just a couple of weeks. Bartley Ranch, you'll be streamed on Fox Nation 2. Then July 11th in Pensacola, Florida. And then Renbank, New Jersey on my Uniting the States tour.

Next day, Wettsbury, New York. From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmead. So glad you're here. Thanks so much for listening.

I'm in New York, New York City, with my ridiculous mayor. Who last night there was this big thing at Brooklyn Hospital where there was an illegal immigrant that was picked up from Nigeria. He's out in Nigeria here illegally. He overstayed his visa. He was known for assault.

He wanted for dealing drugs. And he resisted arrest. And afterwards, he was complaining about being injured.

So they brought him to the hospital, at which time he resisted again, going into the hospital. And then 200 protesters showed up, and there would be a massive confrontation. And the mayor, Condemns ice. What an embarrassment, that the mayor of Seattle. What is going on with the Democratic Party?

Why do they put these guys in power? And what about New York City's Liberal cities? They're getting what they voted for. Unfortunately, we're in the crossfire. Rebecca Heinrichs is going to be with us, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute.

Let's get to the big three. Number three. You talk about California, we're the envy of the world. Since I've been governor, no other developed nation has outperformed our economy. No other state has outperformed California.

They may not feel that in every way, shape, or form, but we dominate in every key industry. That is just not true. Governor Gavin Newsom spouting fiction. Pure fiction on HBO's Bill Maher show. The state of California is a mess.

Now they're running for governor, and guess what? In the jungle primary process, early voting has started, and the two frontrunners, both Republicans, Mm-hmm. Number two. And here's the practical effect of what's going to happen. We are going to eliminate using race to draw these congressional lines.

It means that especially in these southern states, we are going to add maybe a dozen more Republicans to the United States Congress. That is Greg Abbott, governor of Texas. All things possible. Gerrymandering, it's madness.

Now it looks like every state is in play. For Dems handing over their party, they're essentially going, Bernie Sanders, whatever you say, goes. And his disciples are doing great, which is scary for the country and for the Democrats. Number one.

But if the president is not satisfied and we have to strike, really the core of all of this is the IRGC.

So I would hope those strikes focus on them, their leadership, their facilities. Ambassador, excuse me, Admiral Robert Harwood used to be at CENCOM, New Deal in the Strait. As we start to escort neutral ships and open up the Oman side of the strait, this is titanic. This is huge because Iran is likely to enter back with force, at which time we will crush them.

However, with these small boats that are armed, they are challenging. And we're going to have to attack them the way we attack the boats in Venezuela. There's going to be more. They got a lot. We got 22 of their 28.

We got 22 of their 28 bombs. I don't know what they're called. Bomb to. Mines. They drop bombs.

There's 28 ships that they have to drop mines. We killed off 22 of them.

So there's six more out there to drop mines, but we are pushing to open up that straight. No longer urging, no longer talking. We're opening up ourselves. And then we'll see how sincere they are with their talks. Evidently, they came back.

I got it confirmed from the president himself. I talked to him today. They said, We're going to give you 15-year zero enrichment. After 15, we'd like to go to 3.2%. They also, we said, you got to limit your ballistic missiles and we need all the uranium.

They said, well, down blend it. I'm not sure. I'll let the experts talk about downblending and who does it. Then there's going to be monitoring. But two offers in three days.

That shows that this. Blockade of the blockade is working.

Now, we forcibly open up that straight. They lose all leverage period. And if they go after our ships, All hell is going to break loose. Here's General Jack Keene. On on he's gonna talk he talked about the ship owners and merchant ships.

They got to start sailing through. And there's a number of ships that once we're able to achieve security, and the lane is already clear. and we feel comfortable about the defense I just described being in place. There are ship merchants and owners who are willing to move their ships through the straits. We'll see if that actually happens.

The Iranians, of course, are going to be doing what they can to stop that from happening, talking to them, intimidating them, coercing them. And the Iranians, if once we do start moving ships through, will retaliate. It's likely they're going to try to penetrate. If they are unable to penetrate, and we think we're pretty comfortable that that'll be kept to a minimum. They'll likely go someplace else.

To retaliate, U.S. bases, possibly our allies and partners, take some kind of action because, believe me, this is a center of gravity for them that they achieved when they shut down the Straits of Amuz. They always knew it was in their plan. They never thought it would be as successful as it is.

So After we said we're going to open it up again. Their head of parliament, National Security and Foreign Policy Committee. warned us, any American interference in the new maritime regime of the Strait of Hermuz will be considered a violation of the ceasefire. The Strait and the Persian Gulf would not be managed by Trump's delusional posts. No one would believe blame game scenarios.

Bottom line is, I don't care if you believe. He does not care if you believe. We got the firepower. We actually bulked up since we were last fighting you directly. We're about to destroy you.

And now we've had a chance to analyze what's been effective, what hasn't been effective. And you've been limited.

Now you don't have an Air Force, you're missing a lot of launchers, you had to start digging out, and we're able to see what you found. Here's more from Jack Keen.

So does China understand we've expended a lot and what would happen in the Indo-Pacific region? Does that give them, in their minds, a decided advantage? I don't think so. Why? You've seen the demonstration of American power here.

And so have they. They can't do the degree that we can. Oceans away and deliver that kind of capability, as focused as it is and sustained as it is for days, to take a march systematically everything our country values. They have never done it. The last time they ever fought anybody was the North Vietnamese, and they had to turn their tail and leave.

They have wanted to replicate the United States' capability to do joint operations. They've copied our methods. They've copied our organizations, Dana, but they are unproven. Are they a formidable threat? You betcha.

Do they exceed any other threat? that the United States is facing in the world today? Absolutely. So this is a massive operation, involves hundreds of manned and unmanned aircraft. They are going to be there's going to be a sea-based missile defense, conducting one of the most comprehensive air, land, and maritime fast boats defense systems to protect a singular geographical area.

They're going to use warthogs and they're going to use fast boats and they're going to use drones and they're going to use Uh air uh jet fighter jets. It took time to convince the President to do this. But he is now going to do it. If they shoot at us at the strait, which is fully expected, this will not cause combat operations. But when they shoot beyond and go for our bases, that would reinitiate Uh total total uh Battle, I guess.

I do want to go over what's going on in politics. And we know the gerrymandering madness is taking place, the redistricting that's happening. And we know that the courts have ruled that you cannot redistrict by color, which I think is. Uh pretty much overdue, wouldn't you think?

So When you Uh when you have a When you have a chance to When you have a chance to redistrict, you're going to do it. If it's going to give you an advantage, who started it?

Well, if you talk to. If you talk to Republicans, Um if you talk to Republicans, they say it started with New York. And we'll see. And if you talk to Democrats, they say it started with Texas. And we'll see what happens then.

Um but If you listen to what the court said, it's going to open up Missouri, it's going to open up North Carolina, it is going to possibly open up Mississippi if Missouri chooses, but it's definitely going to open up, as we know, Louisiana, because that's where the court actually took place. Here's more from Greg Abbott, CUD 14. And here's the practical effect of what's going to happen. Because we are going to eliminate using race to draw these congressional lines, it means that especially in these southern states, we are going to add maybe a dozen more Republicans to the United States Congress. Texas is going to add five Republican seats.

Florida's going to add four Republican seats. There will be many more in other southern states. And we will finally make those districts look a whole lot more compact. Yeah, I mean, we're going to see what's going to happen. And this is going to be a fight to the death and the political death.

It is not going to be a fight, physical shooting fight. And let's make that clear. They're going to go compete in all these areas. And I think what's going to happen in years to come, all this is going to be nullified because I know that Tim Scott would win an election against the whitest guy in the world, the most Hispanic guy in the world. He's the best choice in South Carolina.

I know that Byron Donalds, most likely, is going to be the next governor of Florida, not because he's black, not because he's not white, because he's the best choice for Florida. That's where we're at in 2026. You could listen to all these people talk about the 60s and 1865, and they were right. And there was segregation, it was terrible. But in 2026, thankfully, we could put that to bed.

But listen to Raphael Warnock not missing a chance to claim racism. Cut sixteen. on this redistricting arms race. To be clear, you support redistricting that your party is carrying out. I I do because Uh Donald Trump.

who is better at dividing us than anybody I know. Instituted an arms race and redistricting. But I actually hate. Partisan gerrymandering. I don't like gerrymandering, but we could not unilaterally disarm.

He's the one who called Texas and said: literally, give me six more seats. All right. And he went on to say that because that district with district was black and assumed to be a Democratic vote, that's what is no longer allowed. And I think that's fundamentally okay. You know what's going to solve this?

Because after a while, you can't assume the Hispanic vote is going to go to Democrats, and you're not going to be able to assume that 100% of the votes, black votes, are going to go to Democrats. It's going to mix everything up. Just like, for example, Republicans dominated with the black vote up until the 1960s. That all changed. The other thing we want to talk about politics is California.

Bill Maher had Gavin Newsome on. He clearly likes him. You know, I think Bill Maher's done an invaluable service as being a staunch liberal by talking logical and just pointing out some of the craziness on the left. It gave me a sense that people on the left and Democrats are still out there that don't want to destroy the country. And don't hate Israel.

So Here he is with Gavin Newsom, and he confronted him, but for the most part, let him get away with nothing but tales about what his record is in California, Cut 20. Have you seen the stats from California? Good.

Yeah.

Well, for the largest economy, let's go.

Well, are they going to say good about gas prices? Are they going to say good about how high the rents are?

So many people live. I mean, there's a whole litany. I mean, the train. Gavin, you've got to get rid of the train. The train.

I say this as a friend. You've got to let that train go. Let the train go. It's up to $231 billion. We put it back on track.

All the environmental work is behind us. We're actually laying the track. All the legal litigation, all the land issues are all behind us. We're actually making... this project work.

Well, the federal government has cut you off, so I don't know what you're going to use. Your own piggy bank? We'll see what's going to happen. But he should be embarrassed by that. Any Democrat running against him, Shapiro, Bashir, AOC, who's ever running against him, who doesn't point out his terrible record in his own state, the homelessness, more people leaving than coming.

Again, 54,000 more left than came in. The state that offers so much from open land, farmland, you could go ski and live a winter life. You could be in the middle of the desert in Palm Beach and everything. That California offers, there's no state that can offer what it offers. And he still managed to ruin it.

Here's more. Cut 21. You talk about California where the envy. of the world. Since I've been governor, no other developed nation has outperformed our economy.

No other state has outperformed the economy of state of the world. I think people feel that on the world. They may not feel that in every way, shape, or form, but we dominate in every key industry. We dominate in manufacturing, agriculture, hunting jobs, forestry jobs. More scientists, more Nobel laureates, more researchers, more the higher system of higher education, the finest in the world, more mentors.

I can't even listen anymore. There are very wealthy people that live there, but they're leaving. And the wealth tax, which by the way, to his credit he does not back, is forcing other high-profile billionaires just to leave. They're not from David Sachs to Mark Zuckerberg to Bill Gates, they're gone. Steven Spielberg, gone.

The movie industry dissipated. Gone. As the mayor's race, also significant in Los Angeles. Here's Spencer Pratt. Who is a reality show guy who is really where he's had it?

His house burned down, Pacific Palisades is stuck in the mud. He sees the homelessness everywhere. He sees the deficit. He sees how the city is going down before his eyes. Here's his ad, cut 24.

This is where Mayor Bass lives. You notice something? This is where I live. They let my home burn down. I know what the consequences of failed leadership are.

And they show Mayor Bass in a beautiful home, and they showed him nothing except to approve a handful of contracts a year and a half later. Here's Mayor Bass, cut 25. Honestly, before this, I had never heard of Spencer Bratt. The thing I am concerned and feel about him is that I feel like he's exploiting the grief of people in the Palisades, and I think that's reprehensible. That's the main thing.

And I think he is about his own celebrity. Are you crazy? Listen to him with Joe Rogan. He goes three and a half hours into policy. Number two.

He's not exploiting the grief. He lost his house. He's talking about his grief. and frustration. Roger in St.

Louis. Hey, Roger. Good after good morning, I guess it is still here. I am calling because you just had a guest on about the fuel problems, the oil problems. About 12, I'm sorry, 1.2 billion bushels of grain, including about 300 or 400 million bushels of soybeans.

It is stuck. It is owned by farmers, and the Chinese stuck us with it when they stopped buying our grain starting in 2023 by burning down rainforests and growing there. We need to turn that into biodiesel. I'm trying to start a farm co-op and 501c3 to work on doing this, and I'm looking to make it a crypto coin for investment. I'd love to have people get in touch.

FFBcoin.org. All right. Roger, thanks so much. But you've got to buy a commercial if you want to do that. I heard they are buying our soya beans again.

I'm very curious if that's not indeed true. I have to go by farmers' words on that. This is the first time I heard they're not buying it. I heard they are buying it. 1-866-408-7669.

I'll be getting to St. Pete. I'll be talking, going around going to Long Island, making those stops and those calls line up right now. Brian Kilmeet Show. Politics, current events, and news that affects you.

Brian's got a lot more to say. Stay with Brian Kilmead. From his mouth to your ears, it's Brian Killmead. Hey, welcome back. Let's go out to Dan in Long Island.

Hey, Dan. Hey Brian, how's it going today? Good, what's on your mind? Hey, listen, I keep churning over this crude oil pricing issue, world versus USA. And Yo, your speaker that you had on just a half hour ago or so said China's getting a discounted rate.

from Iran previ pre was, correct. Previously, Venezuela was giving favorable rates to Cuba. Why is it United States companies cannot give United States preferable rates? And the way I understand it, Dan, is they're doing this stuff they're doing this against international law. We're just looking the other way while we let them get below market money rates.

For Venezuelan, Iranian crude. And we were just looking the other way because, and they were using ghost ships, shutting off their transponders to get it delivered. But we would understand this was happening, but we had no control of it because communist to communist. They were just dealing with it. Or, you know, we let the Russians deliver oil to Cuba, but still, that's just about gone by now.

And little by little, Dan, you have to see the president's big picture. He could sit there and protest, or he could take action against our enemies. And meanwhile, Letting China know. We're ready for the challenge in any way. And whether it's going to be energy, it's going to be influence, we're ready.

A talk show that's real. This is the Brian Killmeat Show. And now, another critical decision that was made the end of last week is this operation that's unfolding that you're just demonstrating, and that is to clear the mines for a lane, which has been done, and that lane hugs. the country of Oman. and it's got a couple of other parts to it.

It's a layered defense that goes scores of miles out from the Straits of Amuz, with hundreds of aircraft, both manned and unmanned, in an air defense posture. to defeat missiles, anti-ship missiles and drones coming to hit a target in the Straits of Amuz.

So there's going to be that kind of dome over the Straits to protect it in terms of terminal defense. Big move. We're trying to reopen the straight Oman side first. Rebecca Heinrich joins a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. Rebecca, this is a great move.

I think it's a bold move.

So was the first blockade. This zeroes in even more. Yeah, it does. And also, Brian, I mean, it demonstrates that the United States is not going to rely on the words of the Iranians for whether or not the strait is open.

So this is really important. I mean, anytime you see that we're attempting some kind of diplomatic outreach or something like that, we still do not trust the Iranians if they say the strait's open or it's not. It has to be done through American military capabilities.

So this is exactly the right move, I think, on the President's part. And it also demonstrates American leadership. Really, we're the only military that can do this, even though we do need allies to help us. It's got to start with us. Right.

The UAE says they got a few rockets that they intercepted from Iran. We expect Iran to try to shoot at our ships. And if they do, uh ceasefire over. And that might be the worst decision. And they've made a lot of bad decisions.

That might be the worst decision they ever made. What are your thoughts about what this can lead? Because this is bold. I mean, Iran has got to you got to think, judging by the way they act and they were so worried about insults, If they're going to continue to say we control the strait and then we actually control the strait, they're going to act militarily. And that would that would end the ceasefire.

Oh yeah. I mean you can imagine if they shoot at an American Navy ship. I mean, that is that ship is going to defend itself, and then you're going to have the full force of American power coming down hard on those IRGC militia that are still operating along the coast. And if they have the ability to hit one of our Larger Navy ships, it would almost certainly mean that you've got other countries helping the Iranians target. We've seen some reports about Russia helping with targeting.

That would be a huge strategic error on the part of the Russians.

So we really do have the upper hand, the advantage here in opening the strait. But I agree with you, Brian. If the Iranians do try to strike out at these ships, then that's the end of the ceasefire and the United States will come down on them with an enormous amount of military power. Rebecca, it seems to me something's going on because bravado aside, they went from a 14-point plan, all of which are ridiculous, and then they came back with And I talked to the President this morning. They said for 15 years we'll do zero enrichment.

We'll downblend what we have. And we'll go to 3.2 after 15 years. and we're going to restrict ballistic missile production.

So I'm sure there's more to it, but that's what we just. I asked them what was in it, and that was in it. That shows a change. I mean, that shows that they understand, they're feeling some type of pressure, don't you think? Oh my goodness, yes.

I mean, this idea you hear from critics of the war saying that the Iranians are in a stronger position, that, you know, that they're able to essentially get what the JCPOA, remember that was the Obama nuclear deal, that's our good, it's ridiculous. I mean, not only is, first of all, any kind of deal, you know, I trust no deal, but let's say any kind of deal is still going to be dramatically different because the United States, because of President Trump's decision, has already completely degraded their nuclear program.

So their nuclear scientists who know how to build a nuclear weapon have been almost entirely eliminated.

So they're already set way back.

Now it's just a matter of how do we make sure that they permanently can never have a nuclear weapon. But definitely the fact that these Iranian rump regime politicians continue to make more concessions shows that they are really struggling to they can't even pay these IRGC militia at this point because their economy is just struggling so much they do not have oil which they need for the regime to survive. Yeah.

So I want to literally hear more from Jack Keene because I think. He's in a really strong position with the White House. I think this is very specific to what's happening. Let's listen. And there's a number of ships that, once we're able to achieve security, and the lane is already clear.

and we feel comfortable about the defense I just described being in place, there are ship merchants and owners who are willing to move their ships through the straits. We'll see if that actually happens. The Iranians, of course, are going to be doing what they can to stop that from happening, talking to them, intimidating them, coercing them. And the Iranians, once we do start moving ships through, will retaliate. It's likely they're going to try to penetrate.

If they are unable to penetrate, and we think we're pretty comfortable that that'll be kept to a minimum. They'll likely go someplace else. To retaliate, U.S. bases, possibly our allies and partners, take some kind of action because, believe me, this is a center of gravity for them that they achieved when they shut down the Straits of Amuz. They always knew it was in their plan.

They never thought it would be as successful as it is.

And we're going to break it. It seems the President is determined to break it while talking to him. It gives him additional leverage. And they game planned it out. How would you game plan it out, Rebecca?

So first of all, this is really important what the general just said too. You know, our side always knew that this was going to be the play for the Iranians. And it's important to keep in mind that the Iranians were able to keep a latent nuclear program because they would terrorize stronger, more militarily powerful countries by threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz.

So this is why it's essential to finally to end Epic Fury on terms that nobody can dispute are on terms that are good for the United States of America. We have to break the Iranians' ability to terrorize the Strait. And so yes, they're going to do everything they can because this is really the only card they have is terrorizing the Strait.

So I agree. You know, we're going to have to, I think, I still think we're going to have to resume military operations. I do think the Iranians are not going to have the self-control not to break the ceasefire. And then the United States will come down hard against all of these IRGC militia that are operating along the coastline in these caves. And then, of course, you never...

We have to anticipate that they will try to strike elsewhere, but the Gulf states are so angry at the Iranians at this point. And I would assume that during the ceasefire, we have been regrouping with the Gulf states. And by the way, our Europeans have been very quietly because their politicians are not supportive of the war, but the militaries have been working with the Gulf states for air defenses, etc. We better be in a better position now because I do think there's going to be some Iranian retaliation towards those. I will tell you this: the CENTCOM has just confirmed that two U.S.

flag vessels have sailed through the strait. That's great news. We also know that the UAE has been rocketed by the Iranians and they knocked him out of the sky.

So these were rockets, not drones, it looks like.

So this is a subtle violation. I mean, to the. I almost saying, do you really want, is Iran thinking this through? Are they actually acting in thirty one separate headquarters with thirty one separate thirty one separate provinces, which we heard about the so called Mosaic defense where you can't chop off the head because there's so many heads?

So this is a big problem. Part of it is something that we cause because we're trying to weaken and splinter the regime sufficiently so that the Iranian people, once we're done with these military options, can finally over time take back their own country. And I really do think that the regime is really on its deathbed, but it's not quite there yet.

So it is splintered. There's different IRGC militia that are making decisions apart from the politicians. And so we've destroyed their command and control. They're not listening to each other.

So I would almost take it to the bank that you're going to have some Islamic revolutionary who doesn't mind martyrdom militiaman who's going to try to take aim at American warships. And I mean, we should assume that they will. And when that happens, again, you know, that's when I think the Navy is extremely capable. They'll defend themselves. But that doesn't mean they'll only defend themselves.

They'll go on the offense and shoot the archer and they'll take out whatever threat that was that took aim at them.

So I want to bring you to NATO before I let you get on to the rest of your busy day. And we know I've I'm the first one. I know the president comes out with some provocative statements and could be dismissive of MATO. And you know how firmly I'm in Ukraine's court and the president is not. And I'm.

I'm usually I'm the first one to say, wow, we could have done without that truth social.

However, I blame this latest fallout firmly on Chancellor Mertz, who was just in the White House a month ago. He talks up to the President all the time, came out and said the President has no plan and is being humiliated by Iran. President came out and said, Good, 5,000 troops are out. What are we doing there? You really feel that way.

We're going to really revisit this alliance. And Mertz came out yesterday to lower the temperature, telling public broadcaster ARD, quote, I have to accept that the American president has a different view of these issues than we do, but that does not change the fact that I'm still convinced that the Americans are an important partner for us. That's as close to, I shouldn't have said that. I mean, I just think it was just such an irresponsible statement. And and so pol diplomatically dumb.

for him to say that. Yeah.

So I think what happens, Brian, is some of these politics, so a couple of things keep in mind. These politicians, first, Mertz is no Angela Merkel, so we should be very thankful for Chancellor Mertz. I mean, so even that was a terrible statement that he made, but the guy is very supportive of Trump's, you know, pushing NATO countries to get to 5% of GDP. He's the biggest supplier of weapons to Ukraine and economic aid to Ukraine.

So by the way, we are operating regularly and freely out of Germany for Epic Fury.

So the Germans have provided, they've not had any restrictions on our ability to do anything out of Germany. But Mertz's statement was stupid. And I think he just got lazy and thought that when he was speaking that it was a private conversation of this group and it wouldn't be filmed and it wouldn't get out to the wider world. It was just terrible. And I think that he would be wise to make a beggar effort to call President Trump and apologize for that.

But I do think that, you know, while President Trump may want to ding the the Germans back at that. I don't think that American troop withdrawals is the correct punishment because those troops in Germany actually they're helping us.

So it's, you know, I see it as a, I want the United States to be the strongest power in the world. I want us to be able to project power from anywhere we want. And so I want free access to Germany.

So it's not a great punishment, I think, against the Germans. And my hope is that the President's advisors give him some other options if he wants to ding the Europeans for things like this. Yeah, I mean, I'm pro-NATO. I saw the Polish Prime Minister come out and said the greatest threat to the transatlantic community. are not its external enemies, but the ongoing disintegration of our alliance.

Put that, he said, we must all do what it takes to reverse this disastrous trend.

So If I could just, one last point on that. Secretary Rubio's speech that he gave in Munich was just world class, amazing. I mean, and I think that that's where we have to keep reminding ourselves, that's where we want to be, which is that we want NATO to be strong and robust so that the United States can share the burden with our allies. And if we want to be a global superpower, it does mean that we've got to be able to stretch out and have these corridors where we can fly around in Europe to project power. Remember, we are deployed in Europe because we're taking out Boko Haram and ISIS in Africa.

We're doing strikes in the Middle East. And we're collaborating with our allies to create deterrence against the Russians so they don't stretch the war beyond Ukraine's borders.

So we get annoyed with the Europeans as Americans. Check, 100%. But we got to make sure that we got to make that alliance stronger because it makes us safer here at home. And Rebecca, Ukraine hit a key Russian oil loading port and three Shadow Fleet tankers. We know they were blowing up refineries last year.

week. And they have not lost a kilometer in a few weeks. And things are, in fact, they're gaining some ground. Because a lot has to do with Starlink no longer servicing the Russians, which is huge. Yeah.

Well, this is kind of amazing. The Russians figured out so Starlink was never supposed to be servicing the Russians. You know, it was supposed to be there just to help Ukraine. But the Russians basically figured out how to use it, and that has since been addressed. And Musk has not talked about that publicly, but clearly that is a decision that he made, and good on him for making that decision.

So the Ukrainians are holding their ground. They're even taking back some territory. They've gotten so proficient in their own, not just their air defenses, but in maneuvering on the ground and making some really smart strikes against the Russians. It's pretty remarkable because remember, the Russians are also getting a little bit distracted here by supporting to some degree, we know from public reporting, the Iranians. And they've been meeting with the I mean, I saw that the Iranians wouldn't meet with JD Vance, but they would fly to Russia and met with the Russians during the ceasefire.

So the Russians are supporting the Iranians and they're busy trying to beat back the Ukrainians. But so far, the Ukrainians have been just doing amazing. And if they didn't invade Ukraine, they wouldn't have taken their eye off Syria. Syria wouldn't have had their revolution. And now we have, you know, keep our eyes wide open.

We somehow have an ally in Syria, and Israel, for the moment, does not have an enemy in Syria because Russia thought, why don't I just go take Ukraine? That has not worked out for them. Thanks so much, Rebecca. Appreciate it. Rebecca Heinrich, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, trying to make sense of a world and how close things are going to go our way.

When we come back, I'll squeeze in some calls. You listen to the brain, kill me, Joe. Where big stories meet bigger conversations. Stay informed and energized with the Brian Kilmeet Show. A radio show like no other is Brian Killmead.

Sponsored by Previgen. Previgen made for your brain. They're lost, dude. Like, they're lost. Dude, it's so bad.

They're lost. You're the Democratic equivalent of a MAGA loyalist. Who has come out with wildly controversial positions? They should be, again, Viewing this as a Rosetta Stone that can help them translate.

So that was Jon Stewart, I think, totally missing on Graham Plattner, who was his guest, saying the Democratic Party is lost. They are lost, and here's why. They have no idea what they stand for, what their candidates look like. They thought a governor from Maine was going to get through. She's 100 years old and no experience on the national level outside being the governor.

The only time she served as governor, that's fine. She has no appeal. She's weak. And Graham Plattner comes out of nowhere. He says he's an oyster farmer, rural guy.

They look into his background. They find out he declared himself a communist. He was for defend, he defended rapists. He says all cops are bastards. He called himself a communist.

Then he called himself a Antifa super soldier. I mean, this is a joke, right? This is somebody, if you found out any of this, it'd be done at your job, at your office. Let alone you gotta make this guy a senator? And then they go, well, he is a sorry served in the Marines and he had PTSD when he came back.

What an insult that is to people who have PTSD. You got a Nazi tattoo, communist, because he had PTSD, please. How about the fact that he says he's a rural guy just trying to make a living? Rural guy? He called rural people mostly racists, by the way.

He went to a prep school that cost $75,000 a year. He didn't grow up poor. His dad was a very successful lawyer. His grandfather was a famous architect. And he declares himself a socialist, at the very least.

He says I'm a socialist. AOC is a socialist. The mayor of New York City is a socialist. Seattle mayor is a socialist. The Senate candidate in Michigan, I think, is leading by a point or two, is an avowed socialist.

What is going on? These are Bernie Sanders-inspired people. And Bernie Sanders was once fringed to be marginalized, to be feared by Democrats, couldn't win a national.

Now he's got the power, he's got the money behind him. And I would love to see that account and see how much foreign money is coming through. By the way, I can't wait to see you in person, BrianKilmead.com, coming up on May 3rd at 300, Nevada. Spread the word. And then, of course, on July 11th at Pensacola, Florida, BrianKilmey.com there.

And then in the fall with the Uniting the States tour, I'll be in the 16th in Clearwater, the 17th in Beautiful Westbury, Long Island, and then in St. Louis, Missouri. Find out when and how, Briankilmead.com.