The Brian Kilmeade Show

From India. Top Fox News headquarters in New York City. Always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Killmead. Hi, everyone.

So glad you're there. It's the Brian Killmead show moving through. Got a big hour coming your way. It's exciting. A lot of things, a lot of moving parts today.

Marco Rubio will be on Capitol Hill. We also know the Attorney General will be on Capitol Hill. Todd Blanch, we'll be covering some of that throughout the show today, pulling in some sound. Angela Earhart, a very big day for her. My co-host, my fantastic co-host, has a brand new book out.

It just opens today, America. I'm so glad you were born. She'll be up here shortly. We'll talk about everything. Ben Midgley is going to be on with us too.

He's a Republican candidate for governor in Maine. And he is a former multi-very successful businessman, former CEO and founder of Crunch. Those primaries are coming up next week.

So before we get to all those guests and those topics, let's get to the big three. Number three. Obviously the president is the negotiator in chief. He has negotiated an agreement that he wants. And he's focused on the final details to make sure that, among the most important things, Iran doesn't ever have a nuclear weapon.

That would occur this morning, Iran and Trump and Bibi, in intense talks, along with direct action as we wait to see if a deal can be done and the global energy prices rise. One thing is clear. Uh the ceasefire can hold much longer. Number two. We've seen what has happened with ICE across the country.

I won't let that unfold here. I'll keep pressing DHS to do better, to abide by our nation's constitution, and to close Delaney Hall down for good. It's not going to close, and ICE can't do any better. They're doing great. Governor Mikey Shierrill, new sheriff at the DHS, and it shows as Newark paid for protests, paid for protests, gets huge pushback.

And special thanks to New Jersey law enforcement for helping secure Delaney's illegal immigration facility called ICE. Number one. Susan Collins. I'm not really concerned about Maine. I think I've said this many times on this network.

I don't think it's going to be as big a deal as the Democrats and the Democratic-leaning media have tried to make it. Yeah, President is Matt Towery pollster. Primary day full of intrigue as a candidate in Maine, once thought to be a can't-miss star, is about to get kicked to the curb, I think. An upset brewing in Los Angeles, and we have all the news and intrigue in Iowa. And I think the Democrats really want to flip that state, and we'll see what happens as well as what.

Happening in New Jersey.

So let's talk a little bit about what's happening in California. Karen Bass is worried. She hasn't moved off 26%. Closing down is the left-wing candidate, as well as Spencer Pratt. Spencer Pratt sat down with Bill Maher.

I think Bill Maher was pretty impressed from what he heard. Here's a little of that: Cut 12. You have me at hello.

Okay. I'm just saying on this, I mean, on so many of these things, and you just have the exact right. I didn't know until I talked to you, honestly, today, but you have the exact right. Um impatience. With this it's very authentic.

You're impatient with it and you you know, you're just it's good. Just keep doing what you're doing. We'll see whether the chips fall. Yes, and are people fed up enough to do something about it? Doug Ellen, he's the creator of Entourage.

He had his house broken into. He's fed up. He's going to vote for Pratt. Cut 13. Five years ago, didn't lock a door here, but you know what happened?

Two animals invaded my house. And no, I'm not racist because they were wearing masks. Oh, Spencer Pratt has no experience, so how can we possibly think about this? What experience did Karen Bass have? And that's where we are in LA, and we want to fix this place.

Yeah, he does want to fix this place, and he's going to vote for him. How many other people are going to do it? And how many other people don't even know how to vote?

Well, worries Republicans is they got drive-by boxes where you just pick up and drop off a ballot. And then you drop off that ballot and then you find out, well, I don't know, is anyone going to collect it? What's going to happen with it? A lot of the stuff we got rid of through the pandemic, Los Angeles kept in the fray. Joining me right now in studio, willing to take the headsets that mess up your hair, which is interesting for a woman.

Oh, yeah. This is radio. I don't have to do TV anymore for a while. Oh, really? Is that okay?

Do you do outnumbered today? I'm doing outnumbered, but that's not until 12. I'm doing Sean's show tonight and Jimmy Phala, but you're first. Jimmy Phala's radio show. Yeah, his radio show.

Okay, great.

So, Ainsley, just before we get into your book, which is a big day, I already said at the top, just about what's happening in Los Angeles, Bill Maher says, you've sold me. You're in. Uh-huh. Then we have the CEO and the founder of Entourage, the writer for Entourage, says, I'm in. He was fed up.

So from what you know, because you hang out with a lot of celebrities and business people, do you think people are fed up to vote for a Republican enough in Los Angeles?

Well, he says he's not a Republican. He does admit that he voted for Trump, but he says, I'm not a Republican or a Democrat. I'm a Los Angelin, or what does he say? Los Angeles or whatever it's called. Yeah, he is a resident.

His house burned down. His parents' house burned down. He says he calls his mom. There's not a day that goes by that she hasn't cried. He said she's a mess.

She lost everything. I said baby pictures, everything, he said.

So, and then they lost some friends that lived in the neighborhood that burned to death in their houses. I mean, how horrible would that be?

So he's blaming Mirabas for this. And he said, I just decided I'm going to run for office. You know, I don't, I, he was the reality TV show host on the Hills, and now he's, he's just not a liar, Brian. I get the, I like him because he's honest. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, real quick, honestly, uh, that segment couldn't have gone better on Fox and Friends. We just had about two dozen kids, yeah, but under seven. We said to parents six to eight, so they were all six to eight. And I was checking IDs, I had to throw a few kids out and right into the city streets because they were just so cute, and they're still in school, so their parents were really nice to pull them out for the beginning of the day.

But yeah, they were on talking about this new book called America. I'm so glad you were born. Out today, celebrating the country we love because it's all about 250, and you got to get people pumped up for July 4th. Yes, and they're not learning enough about it in schools.

So, this is your catchphrase. Yes. And then, who came up to you to say, do a book?

Well, so my book, my last book, was I'm So Glad You Were Born. And that's a phrase my mom said to us on our birthdays. And we thought, here's America's birthday. What's even, you know, we wouldn't be here. We wouldn't have these amazing lives if it weren't for our founding fathers.

Right. It weren't for our country.

So, America, we're so glad you were born. And it's cute. It's, you know, that's. Say it's great for kids up until about six years old, but we're here to celebrate America. It talks about, it uses the same verse that I used in my last book: We'll plan a parade, big celebrations, that we'll blow the brass horn and shout to America, I'm so glad you were born.

And then at the end, the kids scream it, I'm so glad you were born.

So at the very end, we say, I'm so glad you were born with all the kids. It's really cute. But there are the floats. It teaches the kids about how we're a diverse country. We have different lands.

We're a beautiful country. It talks about how you can do anything if you work hard. You can dream big. When you live in America, your dreams come true. We talk about the great opportunities in America.

You can be anything you want to be. In God, we trust you can go worship wherever you want to worship. Freedom of speech, your ideas. I will share mine. You share yours.

And we don't always have to agree, but we have to respect one another. We talk about equality and how our rights are given to us by God. How we do. I love this page. The republic was founded a long time ago.

We declared independence. The king had to go. It's rules made by people just like you and me, created for life, love, and liberty. Nice. A little Dr.

Seussian. Yes, right? Is it very a little rhythmic? Yes. Hey, hold that up because, you know, we're like a TV show too now these days.

How great are these cameras? They find you. Right. Right. Who's running these?

Yeah. Nobody. God. Are they wherever there's movement? Yeah, they don't find you.

Wherever there's movement, robotic. More with Angeli Earhart because she's always asking to the radio show, say, sorry, Angeli, we're full. And I always say now he gets mad at me if I do anybody else's radio show. Because you always say no to me. I do not.

Yes, you do. But listen, the book is fantastic. America, I'm so glad you were born, celebrating the country we love. Also, instead of getting this book for fathers, hey, fathers, get this for your kids on Father's Day. Back in a moment.

Real talk, real guests, real insight. Where curiosity meets conversation. It's the Brian Kilmeat Show. Who says renting can't feel like home? Make your rental feel like yours.

It all starts with one scroll. Download TikTok to discover easy home decor ideas. Radio that makes you think. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. Hey, we are back in Ainsley Earharts in studio, Fox and Friends co-host, author of a brand new book out today, America.

I'm so glad you were born celebrating the country we love. Ainsley, in your book, you're trying to get children involved and get them excited about this country. And you know, because you have a child going through, still in grammar school, it's just not taught the way it used to be taught in our schools. The Pledge of Allegiance, not said all the time. I'm not sure it's said in your school.

It is in our school. And we just don't get that gradually incline, learning more and more. And I think the last year we had American history was in 11th grade. What about your school? What about when you went to school?

When I went to school down south, you know, we lived, I lived in South Carolina.

So we would go and visit a lot of the battlefields and we heard a lot of history. A lot of Civil War, too. Yes, I lived in the Capitol.

So we would, we heard about my family, was very involved. And, you know, I'm. My family goes back to Revolutionary War, and my mother was a history buff.

So she would have loved to have talked to you. She loved history.

So she would always tell us the history and things like she, she had, we had artifacts in our house that were that were passed down from generation to generation.

So it was really, for me, it was very sentimental because I knew that my great-grandparents that my mom had spent a lot of time with and her grandparents, she told me stories about them and the men that had fought in the war. My two grandfathers were in the Navy and my grandfathers told us, I interviewed one of them before he died and he told me all of his war stories.

So we did learn a lot about how to be, why to be proud to be an American. And in school, I remember I grew up in South Carolina and we would go to the battle at Cowpens. Do you remember that? Does that ring a bell?

So we would go to that historic land and there would be reenactments and things like that. But I hope that our children are learning it like we did. I know that my daughter is learning a lot about, she did a whole segment on New York history, which is foreign to me being from South Carolina. You know, it was, but they went to the Statue of Liberty, they learned about Central Park, they learned about the architecture of New York and a lot of the landmarks, which I thought was really amazing. Ellis Island.

Because you've got to be able to see and touch it. And if you do that, say this happened right here in your mind, you have that mindset.

Okay, why did the French give us this Statue of Liberty? You'll always have that. And that's what your book will do. It lays the foundation to ask more questions. The Daily Mail did this interesting story yesterday on Thomas Jefferson.

We're coming up on our 50th anniversary. He's 80-something years old, and he's saying, How many of us are left that signed the Declaration of Independence? The answer was three: he, John Adams. And there was one other guy. I didn't, I've never heard of him, just one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

But they were so proud of the country they formed. And to hear in real time, he's like, listen, I know I'm going to die soon, but I'm very proud of the country we formed and the celebration that was happening. That's a minute. How old was he when they signed the Declaration of Independence? I think he was 33.

Okay, and here he is 80, so 50 years later. Right, right, okay. And he had to make up his tombstone. And his tombstone, it says, father of the Declaration, out of everything he did, father of the Declaration of Independence. And many people say, well, we all contributed.

You were like the writer, but he wrote it, and in it, he abolished, he called for the abolishment of slavery. They went in there and crossed it off. Wow.

So, things about Williams. You know, I was born in 1976, and I don't really say that out loud because you're told not to, you know, talk about your age. I don't really care, though. But I think that's cool. That was the 200.

And now here we are, 250, and my daughter's alive for that.

So I remember I was in fifth or sixth grade in 1976. It was huge. Was it? I'm getting the sense we're getting some momentum now with this. But when you were talking to those kids to get them ready and you handed out your book, which is out, it is out today.

It is America. I'm so glad you were born, celebrating the country we love. What was their reaction? Because some of these kids had unbelievable answers to the question: you know, what do you like about America? Yes, Lawrence asked one little boy, his name was Christian, and he talked about God.

He talked about his freedoms, being able to worship where he wants to worship. I was so impressed. We handed out the book, and first of all, they were excited. They were getting a free book, and they were getting to take that home. But what I'm proud about is that this will start conversations with the young ones.

Right. You know, in 10 years old, like, I'm teaching my daughter about the Founding Fathers. I'm teaching her about the wars. And you can watch, you can go on YouTube and find small little clippets that are made for children that teach them about all of these different wars. And our Founding Fathers, you can find anything that is family-friendly.

It's just a few minutes that help them understand it and break it all down. In fact, you should do that as a book. You should do chapter by chapter for like a 10-year-old or a 12-year-old.

So it keeps them interested. But at this level, this is just an entrance to. For what ages? I would say about four, five, six, seven, and eight, probably for this book. Because it just.

They love all the colors. And I remember when I was little, I would read Curious George books. And I lived in South Carolina. I was so. Just, I loved New York City and I wanted to come to New York City.

I felt like Curious George was always in Central Park. They were always at those sprinklers in the middle of the park, and you could look at the skyscrapers and you could look in the apartment buildings, and you would see parents in the kitchen of this window cooking for their child. In this window up here, the child getting ready for bed, in this little window, a teenager doing their homework or something like that, or talking on the phone. And I would just look at all the different pictures.

So I talked this over with the illustrator. We wanted it to be a lot going on on all the pages so that every child had their own story. We made it really diverse.

So you have children of all walks of life. You have someone, a child in a wheelchair, children of all different colors. And see, like this one, if you look, it has this is the land of opportunity.

So you can be anything you want to be. This says doctor, and this is our little doctor. This says president. This says, you know, architect, artist. This little one's handing out.

Pamphlets on Land of the Opportunity. This is a chef.

So every page is really neat. The illustrator, Kim Barnes, did my last book, and she did this one too.

So just allows the conversation to start in the classroom or at home. Right. And the best thing would be is to get that in the library. That would be key. Yeah.

Right. So I'm sure that'll happen. But the other thing was that tell everyone the phrase where that comes from. I'm glad you were born.

So my mom used to say that when we were born, or when we were born, and then also our birthdays. I'm so glad you were born. That book, By the Grace of God, by all of our amazing loyal fans and people who wake up with us every morning and listen to Fox, they bought a lot of these books. They were giving them to their kids when they were born, or they were giving them as baby shower gifts, or grandparents were reading them to their grandchildren. And my mom's phrase, my mom was sick at the time, and she got to see the success of the book before she passed away.

And her voice now is carried on in all of these homes all across America and all across the world.

So now her phrase, We have added the word America because America's 250 and it's America's birthday.

So, America, we're so glad you were born. Could I mention a little jealous? Because that's your phrase that you're always going to be remembered by. Mine is get dressed. And yours is much more glorious and with a deep tradition.

I just think people should get dressed.

Well, you know what? I'm glad we're born, but I'm also glad we have clothes. Right. I'm glad we get dressed. Yours is equally important.

Have you thought about paying the rights fee to use my term, get dressed, and doing a book just on people getting dressed? I've thought about that. Yes. I haven't done it yet, but maybe I will. What about your other phrase?

Oh, stay within yourself. Stay within yourself. Right. Would you want to try a book on that if you want to pay? How would that book go?

It would be a bunch of people not doing too much, just doing what they're good at, right? Like you said, you have an architect in your book.

Okay, right. You want to be a doctor? Yes. I don't want the doctor sketching out my shed. Correct.

Right, right. And I don't want you to want the doctor building your two-story house. Right. It will collapse.

So maybe the spin-off from I'm so glad you were born would be stay within yourself. Or else. The only problem, okay, stay within yourself is good, but it's like stay in your lane. Like, that's good for my dancing skills. Right.

Like, don't, yeah, just stay within that little box. Right, right. Because I'm not a good dancer. But, like, is that encouraging or discouraging children from challenging themselves, Brian? Just stay within your box.

Little self.

So don't try anything new.

So here's the thing. That's a very good point.

So for the people who say reach for the stars, I say don't. But if you fall. Right. What's the phrase? Reach for the moon.

And if you fall, you land among the stars. Oh, really? I never heard that. I never heard that, but I would like to adopt that. But see, if you reach for the stars and fall, don't blame me.

Because I told you not to. But I don't want to digress.

Now you sound like my dad. Like when the police officer would call, why is she at this party and she's 15? Dad's like. You got yourself in this mess, so arrest her, police officer. Yeah, I want to see the fingerprint.

I want to see the ink marks. Hey, America, I'm so glad you were born, celebrating the country we love. Her second favorite radio show, Jimmy Failer's show, delivered it later on today, and then Sean Hannity tonight. That's right. Thank you, Brian.

Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kill Me Show. It's exactly the type of thing you want to see. You want to see someone successful in business or successful in life, and then say, okay, my way of giving back, I could start a foundation, and that's fantastic. I'd start a nonprofit, that would be great.

I could donate. Or I could go serve, use some of my expertise, and go serve in some way, shape, or form. State race, governor. Congress, Senate, and who knows, be like the former presid, the current president and run for president and win. Ben Midgley is a Republican candidate for governor, the founder and CEO of Crunch Fitness, and a very successful businessman his entire life, and decides: okay, I'm going to sell those things and I'm going to try to run my state and fix what needs to be fixed.

And there's a lot that needs to be fixed in Maine. Ben joins me right now. Ben, welcome. Hey, good morning, Brian. Thank you very much for having me again.

Primary day is June 9th. It's a crowded field, seven, seven, right, June 9th, crowded field, seven Republicans. How's it going? What separates you? Good.

Yeah, we started with nine.

So, I mean, what separates me is, you know, I grew up here in Maine. I was raised here. My wife was raised here. All three of our kids grew up here, went to the same high school I did. We still have one in school.

So we're very familiar with this change of academics to social-emotional learning, which you're hearing about all across the country. It's having a devastating effect on our test results in the state. Yeah, I've had a different path than I think any of the other candidates. I had some tough times in my life. I've been on unemployment, been on food stamps.

Never made it out of college, but dug in, worked my way off the system, and then eventually ended up becoming the president of Planet Fitness and left there. And, like you mentioned, started another company, Crunch Fitness Franchising, and grew that to the number one fitness franchise in the country. Had 500 locations in 46 states, six countries. 3 million members, a billion dollars in revenue, and I created 15,000 jobs across the country building that company.

So it's a different set of experience than anybody else has in the race. And it gives me the ability to look at things from a completely different angle than I think other folks have. And Maine has a huge problem right now with over 400,000 people, 30% of our population on state support.

So you have got to get Maine out of being a welfare state, make things prosperous for people again. We got great plans around that. What about fraud? I mean, isn't it, aren't you guys in mini Minnesota, less people, a lot of land, and a lot of corruption? Yeah, we only have 1.4 million people in the state, and we're trending towards being the second largest.

Fraud issue beyond Minnesota. And what you find in the state is a lot of the companies that are set up here fraudulently actually have Minnesota phone numbers, Minnesota connections.

So there's some kind of link going on between the groups in here and the groups in Minnesota. But the biggest challenge in our state is the fraud is easy to stop. And the state culturally has created this environment where they're just not going to stop it, right? They fully know the data that's coming in, the inflated bills, services that aren't being rendered, providers that aren't going through the proper checks and balances to become certified providers, and they're allowing it to happen.

So when you take over as governor, it will be easy to stop that. You just need a governor that cares about the taxpayers' money in the state. What about the Somali population? The role they have in Minneapolis, well documented. What about in Maine?

We have concentrations of that in certain cities, and you do see fraud concentrated in home health care, autism services around those areas as well. The greater challenge, though, is just fraud in general and the effect it has on the most vulnerable in the state. An example: there was just an article this morning on autism fraud in the Wall Street Journal. I don't know if you saw that. It's exploded across the country in terms of being a big gap for fraudsters to go in and take advantage of.

And in Maine, over the last three years, I'll give you an example. We were servicing about 3,300 people in what's called a waiver 21 program. That's for specific autism services and therapies. And over the last three years, that population has decreased by 100 to 3,200 people being serviced, but our cost to service those people has gone up $104 million. Incredible.

Ben Midgley, our guest, as you know, he was a president of Planet Fitness. He was CEO and founder of Crunch Fitness. And now he says, hey, I'm going to put all that on hold. I'm going to try to fix Maine, the state he grew up in. I want you to, one of your competitors is Jonathan Bush, older brother, I think older brother, of Billy Bush.

Yeah, I see him around all the time. Yeah, Cut 20, fellow Republican. And again, you know, according to our insights and intuitively, When you're in a crisis where the bureaucracy's gotten out of control and you can't do anything without a lawyer on speed dial. You want an outsider, you want a business guy who's been Effective at building thousands of jobs in your community. And not a lobbyist to kind of work the inside straight.

So as people reveal Uh who the two leaders are, I think they'll go my way. I think they are.

Sounds like when he looks for a businessman, I thought he was talking about you. How do you match up to his business experience?

Well, I like Jonathan. We see each other on the trail quite a bit. Great guy, wonderful wife, and fun guy to be around. But from a business standpoint, look, the business I created operated in 46 states, six countries. And like I said, created 15,000 jobs.

So created more jobs than all the Republican candidates put together on not just our side, but if you had in the independent candidates and the Democrat candidates, created more jobs than any of them.

So great focus on economic growth. Jonathan's a good business guy, good person. But I think with our main roots, the experiences we've had, we can do a more effective job in the government.

So to be a staunch Republican, a true hardcore conservative, would not be successful in Maine. It just wouldn't be. I mean, people say Susan Collins should vote with the president more.

Well, yeah, she probably wouldn't get elected. If she did. And she's the last one in the Northeast. What makes you think that running as a Republican, Ben, you could buck that trend and break out? and maybe take this uh bring the state somewhat center right.

Yeah, I'm glad you asked that question.

So a few things on that. One, Maine has a higher registration of Democrats and Republicans. We have 40,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans.

So you can't win the governor's office mathematically unless you bring unenrolled or independent voters over onto the Republican side.

So our focus from the very beginning has been to go out there and not be the Republican who's just waving their hand around and saying, Look, I think this is broken. Don't you think this is broken? We need to change that. Don't you think we need to change that? And we focused on providing specific answers on over 25 different issues for folks in the state.

So since August, we've been driving around the state, meeting with everybody. We put almost 68,000 miles on my truck, driving all over Maine to meet people. And people really love when you get in front of them and tell them the actual solutions to the problems, not just there is a problem, we should fix it. Secondly, Maine is broken up into two distinct districts. You have a very heavy Republican district in northern Maine, which is fantastic and thank goodness for that.

And in southern Maine, you've got a much greater blend of more liberal Democratic focus. I'm from District 1. My wife and my family grew up here. You've got to get 39% in this district to win. We can certainly pull that.

And then we have taken the approach with folks that we just want to get things back to the middle.

so we can solve the solutions that are the challenges that are affecting everybody bring your cost of living down get the schools straightened out we're still in the top 10 for drug overdoses and drug deaths nationally we lost our nephew to a drug overdose we've got a lot of problems with you know gender ideology boys and girls sports zero job growth forecasting in maine through 2029 you can't do that bad even if you're trying to do that bad and you know we've positioned ourselves to draw people into the republican side without creating a lot of controversy and we're getting tremendous momentum ben midley uh with us right now ben you're the ultimate entrepreneur as you mentioned you did not no one handed you anything you fortunate Way up, you didn't hit the ground running, you started off struggling. made you appreciate your success. Why do you think so many in their twenties are going gravitating towards socialism and not trying to make it in free enterprise. I never even thought social I thought socialism was a joke or communism was a joke when I was twenty one, twenty two. It's not even a problem.

I'm going to go compete. What happened to that competitive fire that people had accepting our system? Why are they trying to change the system instead of trying to compete in our system? You hit the nail on the head, and it's honestly a really puzzling question because when you look through the whole socialism proposition, there's no. Good outcome in in any way shape or form success is frowned upon doing better for yourself doing better for your family is frowned upon So I think honestly just the rise of social media the ability for folks to tune into folks that don't have high priority their priorities straight and you know Can get their message across in ways that they could in the past has certainly in the past certainly affected it also it's the easier path right people always want to take the easier path like if you're working out and I know you're a workout guy right it's challenging to get in the gym and keep you know yourself healthy on a regular basis so if you can take an easier path and you think that sounds good a lot of people take it but all I think that needs Is someone out in front explaining to people how they can do better for themselves, families can do better for themselves by having a more prosperous and supportive economic system than what they're used to right now?

So a part of it is education, and I understand since 2013. Whether it's Maine or New York, Our numbers in terms of outcomes have been going in the reverse. In 2013, we said to hit a peak from English to verbal to SAT scores. Everything is going down. Is it the advent of the iPhone or is there something else going on?

In the state of Maine, it's definitely something else. And look, kids get a little distracted with their phones, and Maine just initiated a cell phone ban like some other states, but that's not it. We changed our economic focus. The Commissioner of Education went in front of the state committees and said, We are. putting academics in the back seat.

and going forward with social-emotional learning.

So once you do that, you're walking away from the fundamental skills you need to teach people. And over the last seven years, we've had a 71% increased investment. And now Maine has some of the lowest test scores in the country.

So, you've got to get back to high evidence-based, high-quality instructional materials, focus on early literacy, even phonics, reading, writing, arithmetic, science, get back to the fundamentals, and then you're going to start to bring those test scores up and prepare kids to get a good education. In Maine, we have a big problem. As soon as folks graduate, they leave the state.

So, we've got to prepare our kids for better success so they stay here and we build Maine's economy back up. Ben Midgley, my guest, he's running for the Republican ticket first to win his primary next week and be the Republican nominee and try to get that state back to a governor who's way to the left, famously sparred with President Trump about women in sports, boys and girls' sports. Obviously, you can't have a trans male competing against a girl in sports and say that's fairness. Where do you stand with that, Ben?

Well, obviously, I stand with women, and you can't have men in women's sports. And we have a Secretary of State, Shanna Bellas, who made national news taking Trump off the ballot on her own. And then that got overruled unanimously by the Supreme Court.

So she is the one that went through the process and got this ballot initiative off of our main ballot right now. We had a tremendous amount of folks doing great work to get it on the ballot. And now she has taking it off the ballot, which is a big controversy issue in the state. The polls show that almost 70% of Mainers don't want that. Similar to the national level, right?

So this is an issue that never should have come up. It's about safety. fairness, women's opportunities, and it has to be right-sided. Graham Plattner making a lot of noise for the wrong reason, for his questionable background. He served in the military great, walked out with the Nazi tattoo, not good.

Sexting now is his newest scandal constantly on one of those unsavory websites. We know that he had negative things to say about women. We also know that he had a fellow Army guy who said should have been killed against the Taliban, was almost rooting for that to happen.

Now he's trying to get away from his secting scandal and coming up to D.C. to Try to win back or hold on to, I guess, what's going to be the Democratic seat to run against Susan Collins. Listen to what his explanation is about the sexting, which appeared in the Wall Street Journal, said by his wife, and the New York Times cut 18. But the stories are true, right? About the texts?

No. No, this is the amazing part. The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times ran stories without any evidence besides the gossip from a former staffer. I'm sorry, that's uh That's, frankly, journalistic malpractice. A couple of things.

It turns out it's not. There's pictures on his other devices.

So this is going to blow up in his face. What do you say to people who say people in Maine don't care about that?

Well, I mean, this is an anomaly of the worst kind right now. I mean, you drive by a lot of folks' front yard in the state of Maine now, and you'll see a grand platinum sign. You honestly think to yourself, what are you thinking? How can you do that? And there's a high level of hypocrisy because at this point, everything the guy represents is what's wrong with.

Society at this point, right? And it's certainly things that Republicans have been chastised over for a small percentage of what he's done. And they have elevated this guy to the point that he can't do any wrong.

So it's disappointing on many levels. But at the end of the day, I'll tell you, he's not going to beat Susan Collins. There's no chance for that to happen. She's a rock in Maine politics, does a tremendous amount for the state.

So, yeah, we'll see if he comes out of this Senate meeting, still in the race or not. I have doubts on that, but in any case, Susan Collins will definitely win that race. All right. Ben, best of luck. Bain couldn't make a better choice than to pick you.

You would do a fantastic job, and you're in for the right reasons. Ben Midgland, Republican candidate for governor in Maine. Ben, thanks so much. Best of luck in the back. Thanks again, Brian.

You got it. All right. You take care. Take a short time out and come back. Brian, Kilmicho.

It's Brian Kilmeade. The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmead. You see a homeless person here, a homeless person there, on the boulevard, but you do not see the big encampments. And you know, and I'm very, very happy that we have gotten thousands of people off the street over these last few years and not just move them from one neighborhood to the next.

but got them off the street into housing. They're talking about 43,000 people on the street, and she says she got people into housing. What was she waiting for? The small portion, that's not a program. That's billions of dollars wasted by the governor and a totally ineffectual mayor.

And now she's gonna sprag about getting some people off the streets? Drop in the ocean. Unbelievable. But I'm really intrigued. Out of all the primaries today, I got the one in Iowa, which is really going to be impactful.

The Democrats think they can flip that seat. Plattner goes up to Capitol Hill to try to meet with Democratic leaders and make sure they don't abandon him and his candidacy. And they should really. I'm not sure what they're going to do because 25,000 votes have already been in for the Democratic primary, which is next week. But I think by far the most interesting is the mayor's race.

I played Bill Maher earlier about why he is sold on him. He said, You had me at hello. I also am intrigued by just some of the things he said and how desperate Karen Bass is getting. She has not gotten improved anything at all. of her fortunes Uh because she's still at 26%.

That has not budged. Here's the final thoughts from all three, the final statements from all three yesterday. And I'm sure they're going to have some rallies today, cut through. No time for amateurs. No time for people who've been there and haven't gotten done what they said they wanted to get done.

A lot of people say, oh, he doesn't have any experience, but we all have the experience living in this city. We know. We know what needs to be changed. I share a lot of the frustrations that Angelinos have about the direction of Los Angeles, and I know that it can be better. Yeah.

Of course it can be better, but it's not better.

So the former Trump campaign national coalition director, Ashley Hayek, Wade in from Los Angeles, cut 11. The only thing Karen Bass cares about is the homeless, protecting the homeless industrial complex GRIFT that she has running. The city of LA is one of the most expensive bureaucracies in the country. And what do the people of LA get for a return on their investment? Dirty streets, like parks that are destroyed, feces all over the sidewalks, a massive homeless crisis.

It's a disaster. And you know, I will say, I think the polls are completely misreading the situation. This is not a race about Republicans and Democrats. This is a race for moms. It's a race for Southside of LA.

It's a race for the people of LA to have something different. Los Angeles has absolutely nothing to lose. I agree. I agree. And if he was just a guy just making noise and saying, we got to make things better, I'd go, all right, you're out.

But he actually has some plans. I think he's going to surround himself with some good people. And I think he's in there for the right reasons. And I say that after having met him, spent him a half hour before his appearance and then came on again afterwards. And we might be catching up with him next week when I go to Los Angeles for the first game of the World Cup.

You listen to the Brian Kill Meet Show.

So glad you're there. From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmead. From 486 in Midtown Manhattan, Brian Kilmey Joe coming your way.

So glad you're here. By the way, good news. We have a YouTube channel now. I want you on it. YouTube.com/slash at the Brian Kilmecho.

Get original material, a lot of highlights from this show and other things I'm doing around the network. Also, you can always use the Fox News app to watch the show right now. Many of our guests are kind enough to Zoom. In fact, all three of our guests, two of our guests this hour will be on Zoom. You'll see me at Simulcast with Stuart Varney and then with Admiral.

Our Rear Admiral now retired. Mark Montgomery will be zooming. Stuart Varney, you'll see me on FBN. And Dennis Ross is standing by.

So we have a lot to go over today. Marco Rubio has just arrived on Capitol Hill. He's going to be grilled, and he's willing to defend himself and more than capable about what's going on overseas, as well as, you know, they're going to bring up USAID and everything like that.

So let's get to the big three. Number three. Obviously the President is the negotiator in chief. He has negotiated an agreement that he wants, and he's focused on the final details to make sure that among the most important things that Iran doesn't ever have a nuclear weapon. NATO General Secretary, Ambassador, I should say, Matt Whitaker, Iran and Trump BB in intense talks, along with direct action, as we wait to see if a deal is to be had as global energy prices rise.

It's at $91 a barrel right now. Number two. We've seen what has happened with ICE across the country. I won't let that unfold here. I'll keep pressing DHS to do better.

Abide by our nation's constitution, to close Delaney Hall down for good. It's not going to happen. Governor Mikey Sherrill of New Jersey, new sheriff in town at DHS, and it shows as new as Newark paid for protests get huge pushback. And special thanks to New Jersey law enforcement for helping to secure Delaney ICE Center. Good job, guys.

Number one, Susan Collins. I'm not really concerned about Nain. I think I've said this many times on this network. I don't think it's going to be as big a deal as the Democrats and the Democratic leading media have tried to make it. Matt Towery, pollster, primary day full of intrigue as candidates in Maine, once thought to be a can't-miss star, is about to be kicked to the curb, I think, as he goes to Capitol Hill to plead his case.

An upset brewing in Los Angeles as the mayor race heats up in the primary and then towards the general. We have it all include from Iowa to New Jersey.

So let's bring in Ambassador Dennis Ross and shift overseas. Ambassador, I am not happy with the direction of these talks right now between the president and who's ever leading Iran. What about you?

Well, I'm uneasy. Why don't I put it that way? I'm uneasy because Right now, the Iranians are acting as if basically they can dictate the terms. And the fact that they said we're suspending talks unless you stop. Effectively stop the Israelis in Lebanon is not a good sign because when they link Lebanon to this, this is also their way of sending a signal to the region.

We are going to stay influential in the region. We are going to stick with our proxy forces. We're going to continue to support them. And the message within Lebanon is that Iran is one of the arbiters of what is going to be the future within Lebanon.

Well, that's a disaster for the future of Lebanon. Hezbollah has turned Lebanon into close to being a failed state. We shouldn't want that for the future for Lebanon. We certainly shouldn't want it as a sign for the future of the region.

So, the linkage here is a very troubling one. And put aside the question of Israel and Hezbollah. From an American standpoint, That linkage is something that ends up increasing the perception of Iran emerging from this war. With a kind of strategic change that benefits them, that should be the last thing that is the outcome of this war. Right.

So, what the president says, reopen the strait, there's no tolls. Do that right away. Of course, you're not going to have a nuclear weapon, and we need the thousand pounds of uranium. They're really not talking about ballistic missiles, but that's got to be included in an ultimate deal.

So, they say we want unfrozen funds back right away. We want to continue to control the strait along with Oman.

So, I mean, I don't see any give there. And somehow, after 13,000 strikes from the U.S., 8,000 plus by the Iranians, the killing of about 80% of the people. Officials inside Iran, they think they have the upper hand. What am I missing? You're not missing anything.

A, we start with the fact that those who are making the decision, dominated by the IRGC, Ahmed Lahidi, who by the way is on a red notice, Uh because he's You know, he was responsible for the blowing up the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires in 1994. This is a guy who's the lead decision maker, along with the supreme leader, Mochtaba Khameni, who is obviously wounded but is clearly leading through some kind of consensus. They're ideologically driven, number one. They don't care about the consequences to the Republic, number two. They are convinced that they can outlast the United States and President Trump.

The problem at this point is inflicting more pain on them doesn't necessarily get them to change their position. There is a paradox, Brian. The paradox is when this war is over, Their capacity to deal with the inner contradictions of that system will be very limited, unless, of course, we. Relieve so many sanctions and offer some kind of reconstruction fund that gives them an economic lifeline. The last thing that we should be doing is giving them an economic lifeline because the contradictions in the system are going to come to the fore again.

I predict that within a matter of months, it won't be immediately, but within a matter of months, you can't rebuild what has been destroyed. And we have destroyed probably 90%. We in the Israelis have destroyed 90% of the defense industrial base. To rebuild that, to rebuild their forces, will take a huge amount of resources. And at the same time, they have to deal with the inability to provide water, the inability to provide electricity, a currency that has no value.

Something will give over time. The irony for them is they have an excuse not to deal with any of that so long as the war goes on. Interesting.

So it creates an incentive for them to kind of hold out. It does create an incentive for us to find a way to end it, but we can't end it in a way that gives them an economic lifeline because that will prolong the life of this regime.

So Axios reports that Donald Trump had a heated phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and no one's walked it back and said it's not true. The call comes after Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Netanyahu reportedly told Trump that Israel would proceed with its original plan to strike Beirut if Hezbollah does not halt its attacks. Trump said he spoke with Netanyahu and claimed Israel would not send troops into Beirut. Trump said negotiations involving Iran are moving at a rapid pace.

Then, according to Israeli media reports, the conversation became tense. Trump claimed they also spoke with Hezbollah and representatives and said they agreed all the shootings should stop. Trump evidently said, summarizing, He said, You are effing crazy. You'd be in prison, BB, if it weren't for me. I'm saving your ass.

Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this. A second source briefed on the call said Trump was pissed. At one point, yelled at Etanyahu, what the F are you doing? Kind of backing up that first phrase.

So, your thoughts, knowing the history between these two, they do fight. And they are friends. Your thoughts. Um I think there's a reality here that for President Trump, he wants to find a way to end the war. And the Iranians are making a condition for ending the war, the ceasefire in Lebanon.

And that works against Bibi's interests. for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is even after the President's declaration there was a ceasefire, there were twenty rockets and drones fired into northern Israel by Hezbollah.

So BB is in a position before the whole the opposition left to right. Those who are his supporters and those who are his opponents were saying, you have become, one of them said you've become a puppet of the United States. It's not a sustainable position for him. The president will have to deliver on the ceasefire, that's for sure. Hezbollah has to stop.

And I have to look, there's some of the President's frustration is clear, at least from one standpoint to me, quite apart from the, as I made it clear, Brian, there should be no linking between Iran and Hezbollah, Iran and Lebanon. That has undermined our interests in the region and sends the wrong kind of messages. But it is also fair to ask Netanyahu, what is your strategy for the use of force? Israel retook Beaufort Castle, something they had in the mid-1980s. That's not going to stop the drones.

These fiber octave drones are actually inflicting casualties and fatalities on the IDF. I understand that that's something that has to stop, but there has to be some explanation of what is the Israeli strategy. You use military force not as an end, but as a means. It's not clear to me what the strategy is. It is fair for the president to ask Bibi what is the strategy.

It is also fair for Bibi to say, look, you can't give Iran a kind of leverage on the question of Lebanon. That is going to end up strengthening them and weakening your collective friends. But I will give you an answer to that. They know that the northern part of their Israel can't be populated as long as Hezbollah continues to rocket them and they know where they're coming from. And they feel as though the further they can push them back and establish a buffer zone until they further destroy their arsenal, the more safe their people will be.

Isn't that the strategy?

Well, that's a response to the immediate threat. The question is. The Israelis are in a negotiation with the Lebanese government. What they should be asking the Lebanese government. Tell us what are the military means that need to be weakened on the Hezbollah side so that you can then go ahead and disarm them.

There should be, this is what I'm saying, by a political military strategy. What you're saying is absolutely they have a right and a need. to try to stop Hezbollah from threatening northern Israel. But they also need to put that in the context of you can stop it now, but if you're going to just if you're postponing it for a later date, that's not a real strategy.

So the real strategy has to be a political-military one where the Lebanese government is sufficiently feels sufficiently empowered and strengthened that the Lebanese army then goes and plays the role that it needs to play.

So what is it Israel needs to be going after in terms of Hezbollah's capabilities that would weaken them to the point where they become vulnerable to the Lebanese army? That should be the struct of the strategy. I'm shocked that Hezbollah, after the pounding that Israel did on them, the beepers, the pagers. Uh everything they did I'm surprised they got they seem to have gotten restocked. How have they gotten restocked?

Well, I'll tell you, the ceasefire allows them to restock, and the Iranians have found a way to get material to them. That you have a new Syrian regime which is trying, to be fair, they're trying to prevent. arms from going through Syria, but I think the Iranians have found different ways to get arms there. and support there.

So they use the ceasefire to their advantage. Uh and and they learn lessons as well. The the drone that they're using can't be jammed. because they're using fiber optic. And they can direct these, and the Israelis have not come up with a good answer.

at this point. And what's interesting is they should be the Israelis should be turning to the Ukrainians more because the Ukrainian, no one has more experience dealing with what are Iranian drones. than the Ukrainians. Israel has a very good answer for drones from a distance. But these drones that are that are fired from a relatively short range with almost no warning time.

That's where the vulnerability is. And the and the Ukrainians had to deal with that for quite a while.

So I mean, here's again, we should be thinking about Wh who's our collective here? We all have the same basic interests.

So how do we take advantage of the means of each of those who can be part of what is a coalition? This is a coalition that is not only about the Middle East, it's more general. What you Ukraine is part of a larger structure that is dealing with those who represent the forces of instability and aggression. Ambassador Dennis Ross might have as much knowledge in this region as anybody in the country. He certainly has the experience in years.

He's William Davidson Institute Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, best-selling author. Ambassador, I was just stunned to read this morning that the Russians have reestablished their base in Syria. And that to me is a total It's a total self-inflicted wound. We should have demanded the Russians have zero presence there if we give them any aid. Can we push that back and fix that?

Well, I think one of the things we should be doing with President Oshara, who has seen the president, who came to the White House, no Syrian leader. had ever been welcomed at the White House.

So he's the first one. And we should have made we are we lifted all the sanctions. We are facilitating uh financial assistance from the Emiratis and the Saudis. we should be creating a condition here. The condition is you don't bring the Russians back in.

I understand part of the reason from the Syrian standpoint, from Al-Shara's standpoint, is. You know, these were guys who provided all the weapons in the past. But there has to be some understanding there's a cost that if you're You know, you you can't have this kind of a relationship with us. And at the same time, have the equivalent of a relationship with Putin, who after all was responsible for devastating Aleppo. One of the things the Russians were doing in the Syrian war They were given the coordinates of where medical facilities were with the express purpose of making sure those were not bombed, and the Russians used that to bomb those sites.

So there's a legacy here, the destruction of Aleppo, you know, the civil war in Syria that cost probably 600,000 dead. And the Russians have a huge responsibility for that. That shouldn't be forgotten. It shouldn't be. That's why Iran was kicked out of Syria.

There was no doubt about it. There was a gray area with Russia, and I don't know why. They invented the barrel bomb, I believe.

So here we go. Ambassador, always great to talk to you. Let's keep in touch. Hopefully, the president says we'll get something in a week. Your final thought about whether you think he will?

I think it's touch and go because I think right now the Iranians feel they can manage this. and they feel that we're giving in more. I think it's, you know, when the president, when the president becomes more quiet on this subject, it's better. The less he says, it's better. I think the less he says, it can make them nervous.

I would rather make them nervous than the more he says we're close to a deal, the message it sends to them is they don't have to do a thing. Ambassador Dennis Ross, thanks so much. Appreciate it. My pleasure. Take care.

All right, we expand the conversation when we get back. Bottom of the air, we talk to Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery about the blowing up at least forty of those so-called Mosquito Navy fastboats, like Boston Whalers, that are doing so much damage in the Strait. Don't move. Where big stories meet bigger conversations. Stay informed and energized with the Brian Kilmeet Show.

The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmead. If you could go back in a time machine and do it all over again, would you have encouraged him maybe to not run again? You know, as I look back, would I want to put Joe through the hurt and the pain that we felt during that time? Never.

Never. I mean, it was so hurtful. And so it sounds like you're saying if you could do it all over again, you probably would have encouraged him to be a one-term president. But it had to be his decision, Craig. It had to be his decision alone because he had to live with that decision the rest of his life.

I couldn't say, Joe, do this or Joe do that. It was his decision to run in the first place, only his, even though the family had their input, especially the grandchildren. you know, it was his decision to get out.

So what what are you saying? Everyone's focused too much on the debate. They just keep saying, well, the debate he failed. And, you know, afterwards, he should. Stop the debate.

The debate was just the final straw. Am I the only one not shocked that he fell flat on his face? We saw certain days when he made a few conversations, other days where he was literally catatonic, like he was in awakenings with Robin Williams. You know, when these guys were in comas and they came out of it and then they went back into comas? That's literally what was happening.

And people, it's now she's saying it had to be his decision. But no, no. It was a medical situation. His decision is his poll numbers down. A medical situation.

Unable to do the job, couldn't hold cabinet meetings, couldn't recognize his general, forgot who Lloyd Austin's name was. You were running the cabinet meetings. Had to be his decision? Please. He also said in 2024, Biden would have beat Trump.

No way. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin. It's Brian Killmeade. For several weeks now, the Iranians have been conducting attacks in the vicinity of the Straits of Moose and also against our U.S. bases and Gulf allies, all in violation of the ceasefire.

Drone attacks are trying to go after shipping, ballistic missile attacks going after bases, and we have defensively acted against those. What the President does, the way this works, he is giving full authority. To Admiral Cooper, the Central Command Commander, he doesn't have to add permission to shoot at Iran because they're doing something aggressive or offensive. He has full authority to respond to that within the means that he wants to apply because they trust him. And that's the way President Trump has always worked with his military commanders.

So, yeah, he has respect for the military, but he's got the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is indifferent not indifferent, but was on the fence about doing this, and I'm being kind. Admiral Cooper doesn't seem to be in on the Decisions whether to start this war up again or not. I don't know why. The Vice President seems to be against it. Secretary of State will support what the President wants to support.

Pete Hegseth seems to be all in about renewing strikes. That's some of the details that we hear coming out of the administration. And these are big decisions. And I'm not saying I am privy to all the risks and how much progress was legitimately done in the first weeks of the war, where we hit 13,000 separate targets and Israel hit about 8,000. They killed at least 80 higher ups.

Let's bring in Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery, Senior Director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation for Freedom of Defense of Democracies. Admiral, welcome back. Hey, thank you for having me, Brian. Good. Admiral, right now in the Gulf, the Iranians are still controlling it.

They want to continue to toll it. And we're pushing back on Oman and saying you better make a decision. Either you're with us or you're with Iran. And if you're with Iran, you're going to pay a price. What's the state of the strait?

So, I think it's fair to say that both we and the Iranians both have the ability to shut it down. And so, our blockade is effectively stopping their seaborne transit of their fossil fuels, which is a significant part of their economy. They can still do some trucking, a few other things through Pakistan, things like that, but we really shut it down. Conversely, they have stopped the shipments of oil, liquefied natural gas, and fertilizer from Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE that need the straits to get through. As you know, Saudi Arabia and UAE also have pipelines to get some of the believe me, they're going to grow that fast, really fast, both of them, over time.

Uh so right now You know, that by geography. Iran can control the Straits of Hormuz. By naval power, the United States can control the Straits of Hormuz. For either one to open it with the other one not present, they can't stop us from blockading them. We could probably I believe we could open the Strait.

I don't know to a degree of risk management that the U. S. Navy is willing to take to have ships go back and forth, but I don't know that we can open it to a degree of risk management that the ship company the companies that own the vessels are willing to take the risk of coming through.

So right now, we understand we are at a low level, not publicizing it too much, we are blowing up some of the Mosquito Navy. Every time we see a ship, we're just taking it out. And number two, we disabled a merchant ship that was not listening to us. We took out their engine room. And the last one was they took out one in international waters, they took out one of our very expensive Predator drones, and then they tried to rocket our bases in Kuwait.

They had some success doing it over the weekend. What do you think the Iranians are up to? Do you think the Iranians want us to fight them again? No, so I think the Iranians are responding the only way they know how. In other words, they're firing drones at our ships and to no success, right?

They're getting shot down.

So their other choice is to fire short range ballistic missiles at Land targets in Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, but I mean mostly Kuwait and UAE, United Arab Emirates. And then Jack Keene had it just right. Brad Cooper has permission to do a proportionate response. Not escalatory, but proportionate. And proportionate usually means you attack the place from whence the threat came.

So we're going at the launch sites, the stowage sites of drones and ballistic missiles. And the president has also given him permission to shoot any small boat that he sees as a threat, which I think at this point means pretty much any small boat that pushes off from Iranian shores and heads into the Gulf. Because you have to presume it's either going to mine or attempt a fast attack attack, a fast attack boat attack.

So there's a story out today that Iran is digging out from some of the damage we did. And they got 33 of 33 law, 30 of 33 launchers out, and they got 70% of their underground facilities dug out. The satellites reveal that. But I haven't seen the satellites. I'm not a professional satellite examiner.

You probably are much better. I know you are much better at me, and you have great contacts. How much lasting damage do we do, and how much has Iran used this time to get themselves ready to fight again?

So I break this up. The defense industrial base, the factories and the secondary and tertiary supply chain that do the factories for ballistic missiles and drones and maritime gear, those have been destroyed, and they're going to be very hard to recover. Those were not twenty feet deep. Those were on the surface and were destroyed. A few were slightly buried, but people don't ex protect their defense industrial base like they do their weapon systems.

So this is a big deal for them. That means they're at the number they're at. Minus whole cloth deliveries from Russia or China. They're not going to get that from Russia, who has their own defense industrial base challenges right now. They need the weapons they're producing.

And we can work with China to make sure that's not delivered. I believe we seized a Chinese ship delivering those exact kinds of ballistic missile parts early in the blockade.

Now, to the specifics of weapon systems, you know, launchers and missiles, launchers can survive the roof getting rubbized a little bit. Missiles, which are kind of high-tech and have form for specific flight forms and things, we'll see how many of those missiles actually are pulled out in a serviceable condition over time. But the reports of 80% of their missiles are retained. I think that's like there's a left and right limit of 20% and 80%. I mean, most people would not invest their money based on a, hey, it could be 20% successful, it could be 80% successful, you know, but the mainstream media is grabbing that 80% and saying, look, we were no good.

You know, people who really support what we're doing with President Trump say it's the 20% number. Probably somewhere in between. But I wouldn't make any bets on this yet. Let's see what happens. And by the way, when you pull this stuff out, get it set up, you are helping us.

You know, attack round number two will be more successful if you've taken the effort to kind of pull things out and set them up and take a look at them. You know, now we can go strike them.

So I do think that they have some missile, you know, they have ballistic missile capability, but I think it's now. it will decay away as they fire these at Israel, at the Arab states. There is not a replacement from their own defense industrial base, and we need to do a good job making sure Russia and China don't help. We found out that Russia has reinvigorated their bases in Syria, and we should demand that that end tomorrow, considering the great risk the President did in allowing him to come to the White House and acknowledging him and trying to give them aid. Why do we allow that?

So, both Syria and both the United States and Israel have been nothing but kind to the leadership and open and forgiving to the leadership of Syria. Absolutely insane. It's not that Russia offers Syria anything of value. I mean, trade with Russia is not going to make the Syrian bank, right? It's trade with the United States, trade with Europe, trade with U.S.-Arab partners.

That's what's going to make Syria whole again. And they're going to need a lot of help from the United States and Israel over the next few years. This is just, it is unacceptable, and the United States should lean hard into it. Tom Barack or somebody should be over there right now, kind of leaning hard on the leadership, saying, hey, this is not acceptable behavior.

So, Admiral, I'm just going to give you roughly what the Iranians are asking for. They say we want to continue to toll and control the Strait. We want unfrozen funds, number two. We want reparations for the damage that we did, okay, number three. And number four, we're going to they have no interest in giving us the 1,000 pounds of uranium.

We want the 1,000 pounds of uranium. We want to pledge no nuclear program, open up the strait toll-free. And We didn't even bring up funding proxies, even though that's got to be part of it.

So that's where the impasse is. And the IRGC seems to be the negotiation.

So I don't see this going anywhere, do you? Yeah. I mean, my answers are those are no, maybe, no, heck no, right? I mean, so though that's not a great negotiating position for the President to be in. Look, can he use some of the money we've held of theirs, the $25 billion, as a sweetener on a deal?

Yes. But can he can we agree to reparations? Oh, heck no. I mean, how about reparations for the damage they've done in the Middle East for the last 47 years and the thousand dead American soldiers they've killed over the last since Beirut? No, no reparations.

No tolling. Possibly we could share some of the 25 billion because in theory it was their money to begin with. But we're holding it for them. And then finally, on the nuclear thing, we do need to negotiate. I think there's a solution in there where it's held by, it's diluted and then held by China or Russia.

Yeah. And believe it or not, Russia, in this context only. Has been a reasonable partner in the past, right? In this context, has been a reasonable partner.

Well, if they're a nuclear nation, they can have their nuclear uranium, so whatever it is. Always great to talk to you, Admiral. We always learn a lot. Admiral Mark Montgomery, thanks so much. Thanks, Brian.

You got it. We'll do a simulcast with Stuart Varney next. Marco Rubio's testifying. We'll bring you some of that soon, too. Host of the Brian Kilmet Show.

A lot of moving parts today. Don't move. Now, the Brian Kilmead Show joins Fox Business's Varney and Company with Stuart Varney. Live on your radio and on Fox Business. Here's Brian Kilmead.

Couldn't believe it, Senator Chris Murphy talking to Secretary of State Marco Rubio with respect, ask good questions. You know, considering he's nothing but a firebrand, put out a book and wants to be president. I really, that was surprising, but hopefully they're going to make progress today. And also, with Marco Rubio, this is their colleague. They know how knowledgeable he is.

How much are you going to, you're really going to harangue him and expect to catch him on doing something unsavory? Is doing something unsavory. That's not going to happen. He's too competent.

So let's listen into Stuart Varney now. He's going to bring me on TFT. It's time for Brian Kilmead. All right, Brian, many Democrats are trying to bash the America 250 Party. They're bashing it.

The View co-host, Anna Navarro, says President Trump should be cut out of the anniversary celebrations. Watch this. As King Charles reminded us just a few weeks ago when he was here, we are a young country. And, you know, that there's not a moment like this that can bring us and unify us, that can bring us together, that we are, that at our 250th anniversary, we are seeing the cruelty and inhumanity and the attempts to curb voting, to rig elections, to threaten democracy, that we have a guy as we celebrate our democracy who likes to act like a monarch. It's really kind of disturbing to my soul.

Oh dear.

Meanwhile, a new Fox poll shows clear partisan divide when it comes to enthusiasm for the celebrations. 74% of Republicans excited, 35% of Democrats excited. All right, Brian, the left just doesn't like any celebration involving Trump. That's what it's all about, isn't it? Yeah, I think there's no doubt about it.

And I just don't get it. I don't even get these artists saying, I didn't know it was political. What's political? I mean, Trump wasn't going to introduce you. He was going to watch.

So I don't get it. I mean, no offense. I have no interest in hearing Brett Michaels or Vanella Ice, who's a nice guy. The Commodores, they were good in 1973. Congratulations on that.

I mean, the lineup was not great. And I was wondering why. I mean, I watched Jason Aldean at the RNC. I know he's got a Brian Kelly of Florida, Georgia line. Lee Bryce played for Turning Point at the alternate show.

We got Kid Rock is fantastic.

So I reached out to two or three promoters who have put different acts on Fox and Friends and on our channel, and they said they weren't asked. And one said they reached out to the administration, and after February, and they didn't hear back, they just moved on.

Now, this guy, one in particular, has probably five of the top 25 country artists. Country is the base of the president, even if you don't like the genre, I do. And they said if they reached out, they would have asked.

So the president wasn't stuck with vanilla ice, who's a nice guy. I don't mean to put him down, but he hasn't, you know, he's got two songs.

So we weren't stuck with these back, you know, poison's done. Does anyone want to hear heavy metal again? Please, is that to the general population?

So I don't know what's going on. Flowrider's fantastic. They never said they wouldn't show up, as far as I know.

So this was an awkward misstep, it seems to be, by like staffers at the White House. It's not Trump's fault, but I don't see the politics in 250. I just don't. But some artists, a lot of the artists, have dropped out. And I think they don't want any association with Donald Trump.

Again, it's back to dislike of Trump, keeping a distance from him. That's what seems to be motivating them. Why am I going wrong here? No, but what I'm saying is, I'm telling you, this is a, it seems from my research. And I just know three major promoters.

Their artists would have played had they got in touch with them early enough. But these guys took a year out. And I told you, my one guy waited until February, and the White House never got back to him. Is it incompetence then in the organization? That's what I think.

Whoever was executing this didn't get to the people. I'm telling you, you watch the president with these athletes. You know, people say Jackson Dart, the controversy. No, really? Do you have a controversy with Saquon Barkley?

No, Tiger Woods? Absolutely not. You know, Bryson DeChambeau, are you kidding? He's not radioactive. That's from 2018, 2017.

So I don't know what exactly is going on here, but people are jumping on this one item. We know Barack Obama was at 42% to 38%. Joe Biden was at 38%. You know, George Bush, even though he's at 60% now when he was in office, he was in his 40s. That's where Trump is.

When the Iran war is over, it'll go up to around 43, 44. That's all you could expect. Trump's not doing anything extreme. He's putting together his agenda and is ticking people off that he's back in office and defied all logic in being there and multiple court cases. And he continues to assert himself because he's got supreme self-confidence and he's got people that execute around him.

Unfortunately, not everyone executes on a high level on an everyday basis. It looks like it. Hey, Brian, thanks a lot for joining us. As always, a pleasure. We'll see you soon.

Yeah, and by the way, just to go back on that poll a little bit.

So Fox News says a poll, where would you prefer to live? They ask the Americans. 81% say the United States, 19% say another country. In 2005, 93% the United States, 6% another country. 2004, 93%.

Okay. This is what I say to you. If you don't like the country, nobody is keeping you here. But okay, that's the poll question. Fox News poll.

Extremely or very important to emphasize when describing the United States. 85% unity and shared values. 83% democratic principles. 77% multi-culturism uh and diversity. All right.

Americans are mostly, is a question, separated by different values, fifty eight percent, forty two percent bound by share values.

So more separates us than brings us together. Fox News poll, another one, describe the United States in one word. The top negative words mentioned Failing nine percent divided eight percent in trouble eight percent. 5% corrupt and 5% chaotic. And lastly, describe the United States in one word.

65% would use a negative word, 27% a positive word, 7% a neutral word. And all I can tell you is, you compare United States to another country And if you find that country that's better, no one's asking you to stay here. You can get a visa anywhere. Italy will do anything to get anybody. We have almost every European nation is dwindling in population.

China is looking for great people. They can't even fill up all their jobs. Russia is looking for great people. You might have to go into the army for a while, but you could always go there. Uh Brazil.

There's a lot of great places for you to live.

So, answer honestly, I appreciate that. You did a poll, I understand that. But if you have that feeling about the country on year 250, We're the number one economic and military power in the world, but more to offer an opportunity than anywhere else. If you still want to be critical, you should leave. I really believe that.

Goose in the brain, kill me, Joe. Double. From high atop Fox News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian.

So glad you're there. It's Brian Kilmichio coming your direction. Julian Epstein standing by. I got to talk to him about how concerned he would be, as Melissa DeRosa is, a former also a fellow Democrat, about the rise of socialism on the left. Hey, look, when I saw the Tea Party rise, I watched the Divided Republican Party, but it was kind of for good things.

You know, they were focusing on the economics and the spending and getting the deficit down and cutting back on social programs and giving people more control of their tax dollars. And they thought, you know, we're spending too much money on the military. And there was a difference. And they elected candidates.

Some were successful, like Ted Cruz. And others weren't. I can't even remember most of their names, you know, which had really troublesome backgrounds. But, you know, Mitch McConnell had to wait a while to get that majority in. But when I see what's happening with these socialists, I counted today.

30 or 40.

Socialists who are primary other Democrats, leading or primary sitting Democrats. Like this guy, Dan Goldman in New York, is as left-wing as he gets. He hates Trump. Just like just a. Just a fighter non-stop.

He's losing by 30 points. To a Mondami sycophant. Sky Lander. Thirty points. And you know what's killing Dan Goldman?

That he is pro-Israel. Not even pro net in Yahoo. He's pro-Israel. Think about that. You have a a Socialist Party on the left rising.

that hates Israel. And I guarantee you, we're going to see these moments on the debate stage for president. How many people here are for defunding Israel? And everyone's going to put their hand up. I'm talking about Mark Kelly, Pete Buddha Judge.

For certain Gavin Newsome and Kamala Harris. Who knows, maybe Elizabeth Warren? They're going to put Bashir and Shapiro. I don't know if Bashir and Shapiro will put their hand up. I don't think Shapiro would put his hands up.

I wouldn't think. But I'm just, I'm really concerned about the country. I'm not, you notice I'm not even talking about November.

So if that, I'm worried about those socialists, even though it might give the Republicans a leg up. I'm just worried about the country. I you know, when George H. W. Bush lost to Bill Clinton, we went from center right To center left.

Now we're going to I I was watching this yesterday. The Supreme Court. All these candidates, RoConnon on this, say everybody is going to add justices to the Supreme Court and put an age limit in. If you get rid of the filibuster and they do, they're going to look to do that once they if they get the presidency. I think it's terrible for the country.

If we don't like the country, let's change the institutions, not change something within the institution. Julian Epstein joins us now, served as Chief Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee and Staff Director of the House Oversight Committee for Democrats for five years. Julian, do you share when I was talking to Melissa DeRoso, who used to work with Governor Cuomo for years through his three runs as governor? About this rise of socialism and how prevalent it is, not niche to just. New York City?

Yeah, Melissa and I are in the same camp, and I agree with everything you said on your setup. I think the rise of socialism is a reflection. Of something even deeper that's happening inside the Democratic Party, which is most. Of the politicians, most of the activist class, the academic class, don't know anything about building. The way the old Democratic Party did, the way the Democratic Party did during the Clinton years.

So, if you don't know how to build, if you don't know how to If you don't know anything about how wealth is created, how prosperity is created, what you tend to sell is deconstructionism, tearing down. And I think what you're seeing with a lot of these movements on the left. is this notion that um We want to undermine Western exceptionalism because it's a cheap and easy thing to sell to voters. If you're frustrated, with something in your life, if you're not as happy that you you know your neighbor may have more Success than you do. Then We're going to sell you this lie, this conjob, that the system is unfair.

And that the only way to rectify the oppression of the system is through Destroying the system. And that's what I think is increasingly happening on the left. It's certainly in the activist class, it's certainly in the academic class. And those are the feeders, Brian, for the political class. And I share.

Your lament. I share your concern about what it means for the country.

So, Melissa told me yesterday she formed a super PAC you should join, pushing back against socialism in the Democratic Party. And that should be a part of what, because you always talk about that.

So, I want to bring you to another socialist slash, he called himself a communist, Graham Plattner, over in Maine. These are some of the things that he's done. made liberal use of slurs intended to demean homosexuals and mentally disabled, praised Hamas's raid that killed five Israelis, embraced political violence, Called rural Americans racist and stupid, Identified as communist and socialist, downplayed the seriousness of sexual assault and rape, mocked a Purple Heart soldier, said he should have died, and mocked the way he handled himself and ridiculed the Taliban for not killing him, which is unbelievable to me. And now he's got this secting scandal where he was in constant contact with eight women. Here he is yesterday, cut 18.

But the stories are true, right, about the texts? No. No, this is the amazing part. The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times ran stories without any evidence besides the gossip from a former staffer. I'm sorry, that's uh...

That's, frankly, journalistic malpractice. That staffer was told by his wife. When they were saying, before I start running, let me just tell you that he's got some problems because he's on these websites, these dating websites, unsavory dating websites, not conventional websites, while married. Is this going to be a problem? And that person came forward to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

So now he's in Washington pleading his case: don't abandon me. What do you think they're going to do?

Well, it's funny to watch the Democrats squirm on this. You know, there was just nothing but. Five, six, seven years of pearl clutching about every allegation that was made about Donald J. Trump, whether it was true or false. Um, and now you have all of this personal stuff coming out about Platiner.

It's not just the report I heard this morning was sexting. With 12 different after he was married. My bad. Uh the his account on Kick with that photo that I don't think is a very flattering photo. The discussion of prostitutes and masturbation and portigons and sort of all of these things, the mocking of the soldiers, all of this like weird psychopathic stuff that that paint a you know sort of a weird bizarre Personal profile of this guy.

But to watch Democrats sort of squirming. When they were so morally righteous about these issues, when it came to the other side, I just think it shows that the Democrats use. There's sort of Use Okay. Those issues as a way to gain power, and they don't really subscribe to them in a sincere way. But the real pornography, Brian.

I think that you pointed out was The fact that he makes common cause with terrorists. It's not just the Nazi tattoo, it's the fact that he has consistently championed Hamas, which is a terrorist, racist, ethno-nationalist movement. The closest thing to Nazism we've seen. That's what the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has said. The closest thing to modern-day Nazism we've seen.

And he finds common cause with them. It's funny. Democrats go around calling people Nazis and fascists all the time that they can't even recognize. When Nazism and fascism is coming into their midst in a much more serious, significant way.

So, the number of contradictions and hypocrisy that's going on in the left here is extraordinary to me. And what it tells me is that Democrats don't have much of a bench. They are finding these people that have no experience, that have these bizarre backgrounds, and that the only thing that Takes to get in the gate. is to have this sort of anti-Western deconstructionist, let's bring revolution to the system. Um Uh Because of a criticism, a so-called criticism of the system that they don't themselves really understand.

You know, the West has done more for poor people and middle-class people than any civilization ever in the history of humankind. It has done more to secure the economic opportunity for all of its citizens. It's not perfect, and the individual liberty more than any system ever. And these clowns on the socialist left come out talking about the oppression of the system.

Well, like, as compared to what? Identify a system for me that has done more. To advance the economic opportunity of billions of people, literally billions throughout the world, and the individual liberty. There's no system ever that even comes close. There's nobody competing with Western exceptionalism.

But these clowns don't understand that, and they're selling. This oppression, oppression, oppressor. Press to pressor framework because they don't know anything else. They can't sell anything else. They've never built anything.

None of these clowns have ever been involved in building a business, meeting a payroll. They don't know how to build.

So all they sell to the voters is: you know, we're going to tap into whatever resentment you have and say it's the fault of the system. And it is, as you pointed out in your setup piece, Brian, it is really, really. Poisonous to what has been a magical. Experiment with American democracy.

So I want you to hear Bernie Sanders is not abandoning him. This guy, Senator Gary Peters says, I'm going to wait to see what he says. Adam Schiff says I won't endorse him. Corey Booker says he's got some explaining to do, but not Bernie, Cut 19.

So I think maybe we should be focusing on the important issues. facing working people throughout this country, not focusing on this marriage. And my understanding is that his wife, Amy, who I bet, indicated they love each other. But maybe we focus on the issues facing the American people, the people who need And not the marriage issues facing Grand Plan. But is sending sexually explicit messages, does that make you is that the right person for office?

Are you at all rethinking your endorsement? Oh, certainly not. Certainly not. Certainly not. So sticking with them, sticking with the socialists everywhere.

So, and you got about 40 primary sitting people right now. Is there any doubt in your mind, Julian, that when the Republicans, when the Democrats get on stage for the presidential debates, they're going to be asked how many people are for cutting off aid to Israel and every hand will go up, except maybe Josh Shapiro? I think that's right, Brian, the way that the Democrats were asked in the twenty twenty election, how many are of you are for decriminalizing border crossings. Yes, this is a it's a race to the bottom. Um I think this anti-Israel Movement is very adjacent to anti-Semitism.

Let's import. Let's import tens of millions from the third world and let's get rid of all the Jews. That's sort of the that's that seems to be what the left is hinting at right now. And I think you're going to see, Ryan, an exodus of not just Jews, But centrists from the Democratic Party. We've spoken before on this program about the realignment of the middle class.

We spoke about that in the days leading up to the 2024 election.

Well, I think you're going to see. A major Jewish defection. It's been about 70, 30 for Democrats.

So I think you're going to see a major Jewish defection. I think you're also going to see a defection of sort of centrist. Independent centrist Democrats who believe in national security, believe Israel is the most. Um uh uh pluralistic democracy that is uh that defends Human rights, you can criticize all you want about Gaza, but what Israel was doing in Gaza was taking out a terrorist network of 300 miles of underground networks. You know, the basic.

The basic truth is if Israel laid down its arms, Today All of Israel would be slaughtered. 10 million Israelis would be slaughtered. If Hamas laid down its arms, there would be peace.

So there's a complete lack of moral clarity, and I think it's going to translate into more political trouble for the Democrats. And I, for one, am certainly not going to support a Democratic Party that wants to defund Israel. And I think there's a lot of fellow travelers with me. Lastly, she's back. The Bidens are back to explain themselves, and they are absolutely clueless that the landscape has changed and nobody's covering their backside.

Here's Jill Biden trying to explain herself after the debate by keeping her husband in the race, cut 54. If you could go back in a time machine and do it all over again, would you have encouraged him maybe to not run again? You know, as I look back, would I want to put Joe through the hurt and the pain that we felt during that time? Never. Never.

I mean, it was so hurtful. So it sounds like you're saying if you could do it all over again, you probably would have encouraged him to be a one-term president. But it had to be his decision, Craig. It had to be his decision alone because he had to live with that decision the rest of his life. I couldn't say, Joe, do this or Joe, do that.

It was his decision to run in the first place, only his, even though the family had their input, especially the grandchildren. you know, it was his decision to get out.

So I have a few things to say, but Julian, what do you have to say about that? I mean, it's such a gaslight. Everyone knows she was pushing for him to run. Everyone knows she knew better than anyone else. about his decrepit mental state.

It's a con job on her part, but everyone expects that from her. She's sort of a villain, the villainess of the 2024 campaign. But what I find interesting, Brian, is all of these Democrats attacking her now, saying, you know, she was sort of part of the cover-up. They were part of the cover-up. The entire Democratic Party, we knew about Biden's state in 2021 in Afghanistan in August of 2021, and when you didn't know what his general's positions were.

So the fact that the Democrats are now covering their own asses and saying, oh, look how villainous Jill Biden is. The entire Democratic Party was part of this cover-up. I was arguing this, as you know, with you and others, that he should have, as early as 2022 and 2023, that he had no business running for re-election. The level of dishonesty, the layers of dishonesty here is just, you know, Job smack, jaw dropping. And Julian's going to get worse.

Just real. We only have 30 seconds, but Joe Biden's going to do his bio now. When that comes out, is this going to bring this whole thing up again? Is that a nightmare for Democrats? I think that most Democrats think wish he would get off the stage.

I don't know who's going to write his biography. I don't think it's going to be him. And I just think there is this. Thirst for redemption. And I think there is no redemption for the Democrats in 2024.

Yeah, we'll see what we'll see who's going to emerge. Julian Epstein, thanks so much. It's a big primary day. I can't believe how we're interested in June. Julian Epstein, thank you.

And I hope every socialist loses, by the way, on the Democratic side. And that would make it harder for Republicans. I don't care. It's better for the country. Don't move.

Keeping you informed, engaged, and always a step ahead. It's the Brian Kill Meat Show. Information you want, truth you demand. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. What I think the best thing that's happened at the detention center in New Jersey right now is the fact that state police finally was able to respond when the governor, Governor Sherrill, allowed them to.

And it wasn't that state police and local law enforcement didn't want to help. We just were told not to help. Um we see over and over again in these sanctuary cities and sanctuary states where law enforcement officers they want to do their job. That's why they signed up to do their job. But so often you have radical left leadership that doesn't allow them to do so.

So that was the great Homeland Security Secretary, Mark Wayne Mullen, getting some help from the governor of New Jersey for all the wrong reasons. She said it was outside people, and she wants to shut down the center, the ICE detention center over in Newark, New Jersey. But when she said, I saw ICE officials being hit by, she said ICE officials initially was instigating the violence, which is never true. Why would they? They're not to get illegal immigrants, not instigate violence with masses.

They're not even trained for crowd control.

Now, and I just really appreciate for whatever reason the governor let the state police do what they do because the state police in New Jersey are phenomenal, as well as local police, and they really took massive organized action. And these are all paid-for protesters. They're not outraged about ICE facilities. People have walked through and said they're absolutely fine and the meals. There's no maggots, all made up.

So I love the fact that the cops are able to do their job and therefore there is no problem. Did you notice that? No problem, people work together. From his mouth to your ears, it's Brian Kilmead. You're set on just basically a set choice on where you stand with trans athletes.

I am. It's the job of the governor to stand between danger and Californians and to protect them from all the malign influences in this world. And I'm so proud of you for what you're doing. Thank you. I'm so proud of you for succeeding, so proud of you for competing.

And I'm going to. Hope like heck that you don't just make state, but you do really well there. Really?

Well, if you're a guy and you're competing in women's sports, you should do well. That is Tom Steyer with a trans athlete. On the opposite of where the country is right now, where I thought even the Democrat Party was, they preferred not to talk about it, but ultimately, Guys like Rahm Emanuel say it's wrong and Gavin Newsom indicates it's not fair. But not Tom Steyer, who has spent $212 million while raising just $1 million in order to be in third place. In the governor's race, right now, third.

Let's hope he doesn't get to the finals. Riley Gaines joins us now, host of the Riley Gaines Show, outcome contributor and author of the new children's book, One, Two, Three, We Are Free. Riley, can you believe that we're still hearing these exchanges among candidates?

Well, Brian, always good to be on with you. Thank you. And you know what? Honestly, at this point, I can believe we're still here. If you would have asked me in November of 2024, if I would believe that we would be here at the current moment we're in, I would have said no.

I was really of the mind when we saw the red wave that we did following President Trump's election, of course, watching what we saw in the House and the Senate. I really believe that we would slowly start to see Democrats like. recant from their previous voting records or their positions or their stances or the viral media clips that have circulated online. But that's not at all what they've done. Really, they have only leaned into their radicalism, to their extremism.

And so I'm not surprised. Look at what's happening, of course, in Texas, where you have James Tallarico, who seems to be kind of like the Democrat darling at the moment. And he's as radical as they come, saying absurd things like God is non-binary and there's six sexes and, you know, I'm just a neighbor with a Uterus. I mean, these are crazy things. And so I'm really not surprised anymore, Brian.

The bar is really, really low for things that shock me now. I guess so, but they seem to stand out because they're not as prevalent. Here's another example of James Tallarico speaking out. This is a guy they say, and by the way, I think this is a backhand compliment, but Beta O'Rourke says he's the best ever. Here is James Tylerico in 2022, CUP 53.

I want to acknowledge that our trans community needs abortion care too. Defending trans Texans is something we have to do every day. at the state capitol. And you better believe I'll be getting sermons on that too. Exactly.

Let's focus on trans. Our trans community needs abortion cases. Yeah, you know what? I think the Democratic Party is really good at doing is just saying a conglomerate of random buzzwords and hoping that they stick and go totally unquestioned by people. And that's exactly what that is, right?

Saying, using trans and the whole gender ideology movement in conjunction with the abortion epidemic. He just is hoping it sticks. But I think the really concerning part about the things that he says there is, I'm going to continue giving sermons on this. Of course, alluding to his role as a pastor or a preacher or his time that he spent in seminary. That's the concerning part.

And I think oftentimes the problem that we see on the other side of the aisle is I think conservatives we often label them as stupid or crazy. And yes, certainly I think an argument can be made for those things. But someone like James Tallerico and honestly, even Gavin Newsom, hot take baby, but I actually don't think that they're stupid. I think that they're very smart. Yeah.

And that's more concerning because while not being stupid, I do think it's intentionally evil. And that's the really scary part, especially when you have someone, again, who is utilizing his role as a pastor. The Bible warns us of ravenous wolves and cheap clothing. And that is certainly what I believe James Tallarico to be. Have you ever introduced the president?

Say it again, sorry. Have you ever introduced President Trump at any event? There have been several times now, actually, my first time really meeting the president, I had spent a couple moments with him backstage at a CPAC event. This was back in 2022.

So I was really new to the political scene. It was one of the most surreal moments because you have pictured in your mind what the president is like, especially President Trump. And then he brings you back there and you talk to him just one-on-one in private. And he's exactly the person that you had conjured up in your mind. And so.

We spent probably 10-15 minutes chatting with one another, and he tells me, You know, I've got you a seat in the front row. I thought this is going to be amazing. I'm going to be able to witness him speaking live for the first time. And in his speech, he says, You know, Riley, come up on stage with me. And it was so funny.

I will never forget looking around because I mean, I'm a 22-year-old girl. It was a total shell-shock moment for me in front of thousands and thousands of people. But I just remember looking at Secret Service and watching them as they almost face-palmed, like, oh my gosh, the president just called a random patron from the crowd on stage with him. And so, I got to go on stage with him and the media frenzy that happened after the fact. Because, again, you have to imagine, like, I had never done anything like this.

I was a very nervous, shy, recently college-graduated girl. He brings me on stage and he kind of brings me in for like a side hug, maybe kiss on the cheek. And I had my arm kind of out, and the media took it and ran with it and said that I had stiff arm Trump, and he very clearly made me uncomfortable on stage. And of course, that is not. what happened at all.

So I bring that up because Jackson Dark, you know, they called the Giants and said, hey, we're going to be in Westchester County, Rockland County. Jackson lives. Would he be willing to come over and introduce the president? He said, absolutely. And he did.

And the backlash, the meetings in the locker room, Abdul Carter, his Muslim teammate, what are we doing here? And they have people crying, meeting. I don't know where that comes from. And then the ultimate, Joy Reed on the Giants quarterback introducing the president. Listen to this: cut 56.

I have to say, as somebody who grew up as a Giants fan, I was repulsed by Jackson Dart. And first of all, he didn't say he was happy, he said he was pleasured to meet the president. First of all, he's an idiot, okay? Where do you mean your pleasure to meet the president? Because the reality is, Donald Trump is not a normal president.

This isn't praising the presidency or praising the idea of America or an American president. Donald Trump is not an American president. Donald Trump is a wannabe king.

So there's so much idiotic about what she said. But Jackson Dart actually likes the president. He's not looking for an out. He never apologized. And his jersey sales went through the roof while are now like number one in the country on any sport.

But, Riley, some of that backlash, can you explain it? You know what? I think we're living in a totally different time. And I say that, you know, you compare 2026 to 2020, peak woke era, or even 2022, when I kind of first stepped out onto the scene. It's a totally different political, social, cultural moment that we're in.

And I think I feel confident in saying that because just as you alluded to, look at the response that Jackson Dart has received from the general public who feel now a lot of cover in being bold. It wasn't, I don't believe, the case in 2020. I think President Trump largely is to thank for that. When you have someone who is so bold himself in the Oval Office, it gives your everyday common sense American the willingness to be bold as well. But as you said, look, his jersey sells.

are skyrocketing. The response outside of your standard left-leaning media pundits and maybe left-leaning elected representation, it has been overwhelmingly positive. And so my advice to people who want to, or maybe are tinkering with the idea of saying the controversial thing, whatever it may be, if it's men can't be women, or abortion is not health care, whatever the controversial thing is, my advice to people that And and kind of I guess Finding that uh that faith or the confidence to take that initial leap of faith is that online is not real. It is not a real representation of people. Remember, it feels like now's a good time to remind everyone that President Donald Trump, he won the popular vote.

77 million people voted for President Trump.

So statistically, more than half the people in your life voted for the president, just statistically speaking. We are really, even still in the year 2026, the majority, but I think the response now is that people are more willing to say that out loud. Riley Gaines is with us now, Division I athlete, University of Pennsylvania. Am I right? Do I remember that correct?

Absolutely, right?

So I was at University of Kentucky, but the male athlete that competed against us was at Pennsylvania.

So they did this sports reform bill, and it's really, it's getting a lot of. Got to support, but they're being Dan CAA is lobbying against it. Evidently, they want the Wild West of Division I sports where there is no salary cap and there is no age limit.

Well, the new they put together a blue ribbon panel and they came up with some things. I want to see what you think about it because you're in a non-revenue sport.

Soccer, where I played, I'm in a non-revenue sport.

So, what are we supposed to just stop playing? What's going to happen to the Olympics or anything like that?

So, key provisions: there's going to be an age limit. You don't have one transfer without sitting out a year unless your coach changes teams. They are going to make sure there's a student, there's an education connection, unlike what we've been seeing lately. They talked about no super divisions, an ombudsman office for confidential advice for people. There's going to be an NIL structure.

There's going to be agent contracts and screening. And there's going to be a salary cap for sport and team. From what I just told you, and this gets complicated. I mean, there's many pages. Even the summaries are long.

How does that sound to you?

Well, look, I think the Wild West is a really good way to describe what's been happening in college sports. Certainly, over, I graduated, like I said, in 2022. And so I got to witness it firsthand, especially when we're talking about NIL. And again, there's a slew of issues that the NCAA really should tackle. And of course, they haven't, hence why the federal government is now getting involved.

But let's focus on NIL for a second. Going to the University of Kentucky, of course, this is historically known as a dominant basketball school. NIL really started on the tail end of my time at UK. I got to watch firsthand as millions and millions of dollars, car sponsorships and deals, all sorts of amazing opportunities. But let's focus on the money, the monetary compensation that these athletes were receiving.

You're handing millions of dollars to 17, maybe 18-year-olds who don't even know how to write a check. They have no financial literacy whatsoever. You can only imagine the problems that arise when something like that happens. It ruins the integrity and the competition of athletics as well. I think that's certainly something that we've experienced at University of Kentucky.

And not to mention, you have smaller schools. Let's take, for example, A school we often competed against at the University of Kentucky, at least in our swimming program, was Miami of Ohio. Guess what? They won't be able to compete against us or OSU in anything if they don't have the finances or the money that's coming in. And that's what it all comes down to.

All things come down to money. You have to hope that it will eventually correct themselves. But I think in where we are now, it will not correct itself without intervention. And so I think it has a real effect on non-revenue sports. I think it has a real effect on women's sports, on Olympic sports as well, which in that case, you're affecting the U.S.

pipeline of fantastic Olympic athletes if they're not able to compete at the collegiate level because their teams are being cut.

So I am all for reform and getting control of, as I think you really accurately described, the wild, wild west that is college sports at the moment. Yeah, I just hate to see the SCAA hasn't said a word. And we have the major interests, I guess, of the big college sports lobbying against. Against it. And, you know, when you got Nick Sabin involved and Randy Levine of the New York Yankees and all these higher-ups people, just selfless people, putting free, their free time to reform college sports.

Debate the merits of it, but don't stop it because you want to make money.

So I think it's just, I want to see if we can push this forward. Riley, thanks so much. By the way, just a quick thing: congratulations on your new children's book: 1, 2, 3, We Are Free. What are we getting at? Who's your target audience?

Well, I'm super duper excited. And as you know, Brian, I just had a little baby girl a few months ago now. And so when I think about her, and when I think about. The world that I want her to grow up in, the country that I want her to inherit, it is kind of antithetical to the ones that, again, I think especially we saw in peak woke era. We're seeing changes, but it takes a lot of time to reform the damage that was done in that 2020-20 era that was very anti-American.

It went against everything that the American dream was created on. And so that's what we're fighting for. That's what this book is. It's a little board book. And so it's, you know, teaching kids how to count one to 10, but also how to be patriotic, how to love God, how to love their country.

That's what I'm fighting for for our little, our precious babe. That is awesome.

So pick it up right now. Riley, do you have your books, or do you have your own website where people can pick it up? Yeah, you can go to BraveBooks.com. You can get my book. It's also, it's an America 250 bundle that we did with Brave Books.

And so you can also get a book from Dr. Ben Carson and Kirk Cameron in the America Wins bundle. Again, BraveBooks.com, just a fantastic resource. It's kind of like the alternative to Scholastic, which has gone super duper woke and is all in kids' schools, especially public education.

So highly recommend parents, grandparents checking out BraveBooks.com. Go get him. Riley Gaines. Always great to have you on. Congratulations on the Riley Gaines Show, too, an outcridge contributor and now an author, a brand new book, 123.

We are free. Riley Gaines, go get him. Thanks, Brian. Back in a moment. Where big stories meet bigger conversations.

Stay informed and energized with the Brian Kilmeet Show. A talk show that's real. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. Sponsored by Previgen. Previgen made for your brain.

The Democrats did well in the midterms. And in 2023, the Democratic Party was totally behind Joe. And people, everywhere I went, Joe's got to do it again. He's got to run. He's got to run.

And he was like, well, I don't know. You know, am I too old? I mean, it was the. Age question: no matter where we went.

So of course You know, we we heard that what people were saying, but then um Then people were doing polling, you know, who could beat Trump. And the only person that who polled that said they could beat Trump was Joe Biden. And um I Then So that's why Joe decided to continue on. A whoop hole. And that member Nancy Pelosi came out and said Put on your pollster, said You keep saying the polls that you're winning.

What polls are you looking at? And she made him, I forgot his name. It'll come to me.

So he hopped on the line and he cited some poll. And Nancy Bully said, You've got to be kidding me. That poll is not valid. Look at these polls.

So it's a joke. She wanted the power. She'd be the president of the United States. Her husband was not capable. I just, it's maddening.

I just want people. This guy, I don't really know the guy in the Today Show, but ask some legitimate follow-up questions. But her answers got worse the more you questioned her. I want to get back to, if I can, what's happening in Newark, New Jersey. They tried to make it a mini Minneapolis where ICE was left alone.

They didn't watch the perimeter and all hell broke loose. And all these activists went up and down and they set up their separate apps in order to anticipate and intersect and intercept the ICE operations before they happened and stop people from being taken. The difference now is there's a strategy to counter it. And when the violence kicked up, you had Secretary Mark Wayne Mowen push back. Cut thirty six.

When we first started calling, they were simply saying they didn't have the resources. And it's interesting to me that they finally found the resources and started clearing their streets. Uh we can control our billing. We can provide security for our own building, but if the city and state streets, that is their job to do. And you know what he did?

He said, if you don't get your state and kill local cops over here, which they want to do. We're going to start taking people out of customs at a Newark airport because we don't have enough people, and that's what's going to happen. Newark airport's going to get all backed up. Unless you change your tone. Hey, go to BrianKillme.com.

I want to see everybody in Pensacola, Florida, July 11th, and big dates in the fall. History of Liberty laughs on Fox Nation.