The Brian Kilmeade Show

Top Fox News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kilmeade. Good. Day. This is the Brian Kilmeade show.

I am Griff Jenkins, pinch hitting for Brian Kilmeade. He has the day off. It's great to be back with you. The greatest radio show in the country on Fox News Radio. And I was just filling in for Brian on the morning show, and I want to take, I want to start the day to just talk to our listeners, as I was with our viewers.

Tomorrow is our 30th anniversary of Fox News. And there isn't an employee at this network that you won't talk to that won't tell you a story about how special this place is. How we are a lean band of hungry warriors that support each other. We often talk of Fox as a family, and when you look at the Fox News Channel, thirty years later, sometimes tripling, often regularly doubling our competition in the ratings. But it's really the story of Fox News that I have said.

Is the greatest story ever told in broadcast media? Because from the very beginning, I've been here twenty-five years. I'll talk more about myself later, but I want to talk about the story of Fox News from the very beginning. The critics said it'll never work. There's no way this ever happens.

They even one critic. I looked it up and looked at some of the criticism in the very beginning launching days, and someone said that it was laughably. Inept gave it zero chance, and what have we done since? Prove them wrong in a way that the story of Fox News will be told in business and broadcast and journalism classes for the foreseeable future. Perhaps even fifty to a hundred years, they'll still tell this story in Fox News radio as well.

The same success, remarkable story. When we launched the radio network, I was a part of that. At the time, I was producing Tony Snow, the great late Tony Snow, White House press secretary for George W. Bush. Before that, he was the original Fox News Sunday anchor and had a show on Fox News Channel as well on Saturdays.

And of course, we all remember his great radio show, the Tony Snow radio show, for which that is the honorary plaque in Washington D.C. In the radio studio, there I am in New York, coming from Kilmead Store Studio up here. But I remember, you know, just to tell a story that I am not sure I've ever actually told. I was doing Tony Snow's thing, and then we had that we were going to carry the the inauguration, of course. But then we were carrying the State of the Union.

It was the first time. Shortly after we launched Fox News Radio, we were going to carry the the President George W. Bush's State of the Union. And we thought we had it all figured out, and I was running the the board. I was doing the the technical side of things and trying to produce this.

And we were getting closer and closer throughout the day. And we realized that as we were going to take the feed of the president's speech off of the TV channel, we were worried that it might not be secure enough. And so we literally were running cables. You know the story. We were literally connecting XLR cables.

Running it down the hall from the TV control room into the radio booth, and you know what? It went off without a hitch, and the whole country riding around listening to Fox News Radio got that. And it's just a a small snapshot, a story I like to tell because it's the can-do attitude of this network and the people that work here that that are so much of the story, and also of our viewers and our listeners. It is because of you. We are here.

It is because of you, people like me, a guy that came is a radio producer to Fox News and a producer for Lieutenant Colonel Ollie North's war stories, military history documentary series that aired on Sundays. I am now here behind this microphone for a kid that started in talk radio with Colonel North in the '90s. If you would have told me that I'd be here talking to you today, I would have said there's no chance. I just couldn't even fathom it, but I can fathom it now because of so many great, amazing people that have helped me along the way, that believed in me, that took a chance on this low IQ kid from Memphis, Tennessee, that's got a little bit of grit and moxie, and they just raised me up and supported me. And that's what—if you talk to any employees here at Fox News, you're going to get similar stories.

And it's a remarkable one.

So that's. I'll get off my soapbox. I just getting a microphone and an opportunity to talk about you know things near and dear to me. That is one that I wanted to say and say congratulations to Fox News thirty years. And I think we'll have to dig up the old Al Pacino line from *Scent of a Woman*.

In some ways, I feel like we are Al Pacino saying, "I'm just getting warmed up here" because we have got a bright future ahead of us. And Brian Kilmeade. As well, one of the original OGs, the the video of him and Fox and Friends in the early days, a young man, fantastic. And I remember Brian first filling in for Tony Snow and and on the radio and and working with him. It's just it's it's such a special thing, a special thing for all of us here at Fox News.

At the end of the day, it is the viewers and the listeners that we owe it all to.

So thank you for that.

Now enough about that, and I digress. Let's get to. It is the conventional wisdom that the Republicans are going to get their butts kicked in the midterms. The House a foregone conclusion. The Senate, well, it was close, but now it looks like the Democrats are going to get it.

Governorships now, all of a sudden, people are talking about well, Democrats may take a majority of governorships. That's a significant thing. All they need is a net gain of two, and there are thirty six governor races out there. Eighteen are held by Republican. Eighteen.

Held by Democrats, we'll see where that goes. But one guy who is not going to sit by and just buy the conventional wisdom that it is a foregone conclusion is President Trump, who is literally campaigning like there is no tomorrow. I don't know where he gets that energy, but yet he is going out there everywhere, and he's going to some places that might seem unlikely: Texas, Oklahoma, yesterday in Nebraska, because he doesn't want to take any. Anything for granted, and he wants to double down on the successes of his administration from closing the border for sixteen straight months of of zero. People coming across the border and being released into the country.

Four straight months of manufacturing jobs growing. He wants that message out there to paint the contrast with Democrats. Many of them, these Democratic socialists out there, and of course, the war in Iran is a criticism. That, to be fair, a lot of conservative voices are even making. And he's not.

He's not shying away from his decision to do what no U.S. president has ever done, which is to. Confront directly Iran, who for forty-seven years has been killing Americans with American soldiers' blood on their hands. President Trump stood up. That is factoring in to these midterms.

Democrats think that's a winning hand for them. President Trump in Nebraska yesterday talking a little bit about that. Cut one. Go. You know.

By the way, we're kicking Iran's ass. You do know that, right? And then it ends soon. It's going to end one way or the other. It's going to end very soon, and your prices are going to come tumbling.

All your prices have been tumbling down. In fact, oil is less than it was under Biden. Just so you understand, and we are saving this country from a problem, and the Middle East, and Israel, and everybody. We're saving the world from what could be one of the worst tragedies ever. And he's not wrong.

And when you look at what is at play in Iran. And I know there are a lot of criticisms about this war in Iran, particularly because we're feeling the gas prices that people associate that with. But when you look at what is happening economically within Iran, we have a situation where President Trump, who is willing to negotiate with anybody, has tried and tried and tried to negotiate with Iran. But when he's talking to the ministers and the Parliament Speaker over there, they are. Not negotiating in good faith, they go right back to attacking us.

They think they've controlled the trade reform moves. Turns out that's quite not the case, actually. But it is the IRGC, these hardliners who will not budge. That have no intention of changing their ways. Ahmad Vahidi, the first guy that the former Ayatollah, its current Ayatollah's father, put in place to stand up the Kudz Force, which was tasked with exporting.

Terrorism like Hamas, Hezbollah, in the Houthis, Ahmad Vahidi was the very first one. He then handed it off to Kassem Soleimani, who President Trump has since killed. But it is Vahidi and the IRGC hardliners that are not going to budge.

So what do we do? President Trump realizes that ultimately, if he can economically break Iran, it ultimately will force the IRGC's hand because while the IR RGC reports are he they roughly control forty to fifty percent of Iran's entire GDP, entire economy.

Well, guess what? At some point, with up an operation economic fury that is crippling the the currency, that is crippling the country from a financial standpoint. Forty to fifty percent of nothing is exactly nothing. And that's why President Trump is staying focused on that. Another thing to come back to: President Trump being the campaigner in chief.

No one does it quite like he does. That's why he said weeks ago, "Campaign like I am on the ticket." He is campaigning as if he were on the ticket, and he's drawing the contrast because. When you meet voters where they are at their kitchen table, the chaos at the kitchen table is real. Is families trying to figure out their family budgets because the pain at the pump is real, the pain in the pantry is real. But President Trump says that you can't right the ship overnight, and that's why the things he has put in place—one big, beautiful bill, tax cuts, and so many other things—you're seeing already.

He's trying to bring down diesel with an executive order. Yesterday, that is going to be the only and smartest way to solve these problems, to alleviate the pain at the kitchen table, at the pump, in the pantry, because it is built around free market capitalism, not big government socialism, which is what Abdul Al Sayed, which is what so many of these Democrats are pushing, and he's saying there is a real choice. This choice is important. Because you're talking about in the case of Democratic Socialists of America, what's their top thing? You hear about abolishing ICE, abolishing prisons, but the one you should look at is that they are all in, no questions asked, full steam ahead, foot on the gas, no breaks on Medicare for all.

That is socialism in action. Aside from literally taking your health care that you have now to making it worse, which is what it will do, and we have a precedent in history of showing that. Will happen. It is going to add, according to the White House Economic Council, some forty-seven trillion dollars. Our current national debt is forty trillion.

Now, what common sense logic? Tells you that if we have a forty trillion dollar deficit, adding nearly fifty trillion more wouldn't anyway alleviate American families' financial challenges. There's no way you get there. President Trump talked about whether or not you're going to vote for this radical socialist agenda or continue to support him on the free market capitalism side. This is cut two.

Listen here.

So the choice in this election is very. You could vote for the radical left, Democrat, communist to loot your wealth, raise your taxes by five trillion dollars, annihilate your borders, crush Nebraska farmers and ranches, mutilate your children, and give 25 million illegal aliens amnesty and the right to vote. That's what they want to do. They're letting them in so they can get amnesty and the right to vote. That's the only reason they're letting them in.

Or you could defeat the Democrat, communist, and vote for more money. In your pockets, bigger paychecks for your families, lower taxes, less crime, a roaring Nebraska farm industry, and no amnesty for illegal aliens. You must vote Republican. In just a couple of days ago, it was the three-year anniversary of remember the thousands of legal aliens that stormed violently the border patrol in El Paso, Texas. That was just one memory of how open that border was.

And now he is reminding voters of that. This election matters. This there is a lot at stake here, perhaps in ways historically we don't even know yet.

So we have a lot more of that coming up. I. I'm Griff Jenkins, pinch hitting for the great Brian Kilmeade on the Brian Kilmeade Show. We got a whole lot more. Are you finished, Mr.

Slade? No, I'm just getting warmed up. Keeping you informed, engaged, and always a step ahead. It's the Brian Kilmeade Show. From his mouth to your ears, it's Brian Kilmeade.

This is the Brian Kilmeade Show. Griff Jenkins, your humble DC correspondent, pinch hitting for Brian today. He has the day off. And I want to pick up just a little bit.

So, so I'm talking about this contrast, and I would argue to offer a little constructive criticism to Republican candidates across the country. They really didn't do a strong enough job painting the contrast between the free market capitalism and the democratic socialism that's on the ballot across the country. And it's a very fascinating thing to watch. But I'll. I'll tell you, you know, President Trump follows, and we've got Fox polls, which we are constantly talking about and putting out there, and a lot of other polls.

President Trump talks about one specific pollster that he really pays attention to, and that is John McLaughlin's polling. And I was looking just a week or so ago when John McLaughlin put out some of his polling, and he put out a data point in his polling that I thought was really significant. That showed that perhaps GOP candidates have not met the mark in what they should be doing to paint a contrast, and that is because he asked his. American voters, whether or not they had a favorable view of free market capitalism versus big government socialism, and back in July, in the dead of summer, it was about thirteen percent difference that favored free market capitalism. In September, that had gone down from thirteen percent difference to four.

His numbers said forty-five percent favored free market capitalism, forty-one percent favored democratic socialism, and that tells me that not only did not GOP candidates do a good enough job in painting the contrast. It tells me that you have politicians like Abdul Al-Sayyad and others that are effective communicators that. Ultimately, trying to pull the wool over Americans' eyes on exactly what they intend to do and how it will fundamentally realign not only our economy but also our lives when it comes to having things like socialist healthcare with Medicare for all. And I was struck by an interview with former Chicago mayor, and of course, he worked as a as a chief of staff, I believe, in the Bill Clinton administration. Rahm Emanuel it sat down with Hannity on his podcast, and he's he's ultimately trying to carve this centrist lane because he understands.

I think he recognizes that as the guy that was successful with the Clinton years. That we've got to get back centrist. Here is Ramon Manuel trying to distance himself from the DSA. Listen, there is a progressive and a pragmatic wing of the party. We'll have a healthy debate.

That's what we should have. I have been upfront. I don't believe the social center wing. I think they are a separate party.

Okay, they believe in defunding police, which is not the party position. They believe in open borders and open prisons. That's not the party's position. When you switch that, we can talk. That said.

And if you think people are so confident in what you are selling, we'll see in November.

Now, I happen to think we'll have that a good debate about that, and we will see what happens in November because in places like Michigan, with Abdul Sayed on the ballot, it's going to be something to keep your eye on. I am Griff Jenkins, filling in for the great Brian Kilmeade show, with a whole lot more coming up. A talk show that's real. This is the Brian Kilmeade Show. This is the Brian Kilmeade Show.

Your D.C. humble correspondent, Griff Jenkins, pinch hitting for Brian today, who has a day off. And without further ado, we get to bring in a guy that I've known for a number of years. First, when he was a congressman from Florida.

Now he's down in Texas. He's a Texan and is the executive director for American Constitutional Rights Union. Lieutenant Colonel Allen West. Colonel, it's always great when I get to fill in and I get to have a conversation with. You, well, Griff.

Are you all right? We go back a long ways. It's great to hear from you, and you're a fantastic pinch hitter.

So I'm sure you're going to knock a home run. Hey, there you go. They called in the the the relief pitcher and see if he they can get it done. Clearly, they might have used me on the Yankees yesterday. I thought for sure the Yankees were going to bounce back.

That didn't happen. Hey, so it'll happen. It'll happen. Hopefully, my Braves can hang in there with the Dodgers. Oh man, they're looking good.

They're looking good. That's indeed.

Well, I digress. Otherwise, you're not going to talk about baseball for the rest of the hour. Let's talk politics because there is. I mean, look. You know, there's people have said for years, going back to Ben O'Rourke days, the tickers like Texas is going blue, Texas going blue, and it never pans out.

In fact, it doesn't even look like it was going to ever pan out, but yet all the hype.

However, now, you know, as we are being honest and real with voters, there's a real concern in Texas, and Talerico seems to be doing a pretty good job of managing. His campaign, despite the fact that he's just said so many damn weird things, and of course, this is the guy that was a vegan before he found ribs because he wanted to get elected, and thinks there's, you know, God is non-binary. But that hasn't stuck to him because he's grown in the polls, and now Ken Paxton has a real fight on his hands, and it's not clear that he's doing a great job. I do watch when I watch CNN, I occasionally catch that guy. Harry Enten, the data guru, there, and he is really leading into this race.

I want to play a cut from from Harry Enten, and then get your thoughts on all this. Cut fifteen. What if James Talerico actually does the impossible and turns Texas blue? What does it mean for twenty twenty six? How does he do it, and what does it mean going forward?

Well, if James Talerico actually wins in Texas, get this—he gives Democrats a seventy eight percent chance of winning the United States Senate. Basically, they would be very, very close to doing so. But why? Why would it be the case that Democrats would be so close to doing so if James Tarico wins in Texas and turns Texas blue?

Well, just take a look here.

Okay, the most likely seat to determine control of the United States Senate, it's Texas. It's Texas because Democrats need to flip four seats. They need to flip four seats, and guess which seat is number four most likely to flip? It's Texas. It's Texas.

So I want to get your reaction, Colonel West, to that. And just to be clear, so that, so that, and I don't think he intended to kind of mislead it. They they need to do more than win just four races. They need a net gain of four seats to take the majority. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, absolutely right, and it's it's pretty interesting because you know here's James Talarico who probably was riding around on a scooter, and next thing you know, he's renting a Ford F one fifty for commercials and things of that nature. I forgot. Yeah, yeah, that was that was another good one. You know, you have to go back, and again, you brought up the Robert Francis O'Rourke, Beto O'Rourke race with Ted Cruz. That was two thousand eighteen.

Ted Cruz ended up winning that by two point three percent. And then you fast forward it, and just Two years ago, Donald Trump wins Texas by almost you know twenty points. I think over fifteen points against Kamala Harris, and then of course Ted Cruz in his re-election race against Colin Allred, he wins by almost ten percentage points. I think what has happened here in Texas is that as you have gone out and asked for more businesses and corporations to move from these failed blue states, they have brought an employment base that is tending to lean. Still, toward you know, voting blue, and you see that in the major urban population centers.

That's definitely going to help James Talarico. And I think another thing that is a factor in this is the "quote unquote" Cornyn GOP establishment, Bush Row cabal, whatever you want to call it. Will they come out and support Attorney General Paxton in this race? I mean, that's the wild card. But even still, you have to be concerned because.

Jasmine Crockett has not come out and supported James Talarico, so he is still struggling with the the black population here in in Texas.

So I think that without a doubt, either way, Talarico or Paxton, it will be close. It will probably be within that you know two percent margin either either way. But I think that Paxton will end up pulling it out once again.

So you mentioned the black vote, and Jasmine Crockett got my mind thinking. What about the Latino vote. I mean that that that is not just in Texas. I think the where the Latino vote goes in so many of these races is is is possibly the game changer.

Well, I think again, this is where the Republicans. I'll be honest, you know, they're horrible messengers. You know, right now, you think about the fact that two years ago, Donald Trump flipped twelve or fourteen South Texas border counties, and and for for someone to come along and tell me that those counties are now going to flip back, I just don't don't find that feasible. And especially now, when you have this illegal immigrant caravan of some six hundred whatever making his way toward the Texas border, I think that's one of the issues we got to remind people. Not just here in Texas, but all across the country, what it was like those four years under the Biden administration, what it would be like.

And James Talarico, when he there in the state house, he fully supported open borders. He can try to remake himself all he wants, but he is on he is on tape. His voting record shows that.

So again, I think that's a critical issue that we should bring up: border security, safety and security, educational and educate and economic opportunities. In those Hispanic communities, as well as the Black communities. You know, I was just telling our listeners a few minutes ago about. I remember it was, and I saw this on social media, and you are seeing people remembering how things were. It was just a couple of days ago that it was a third anniversary of when we saw thousands of migrants, many of them dangerous criminal migrants.

You were down there, yeah, in El Paso, saw it firsthand. They were storming the border, and and that was. How far they let it get out of control, and now you've had what sixteen straight months of not a single legal alien being released into the U.S. And where are the GOP candidates driving that message in painting that contrast? You're absolutely right.

If you go back and you remember President Trump's State of Union address after he won, he said that it proves that we did not need new laws; you just needed a new president. And I think that's such an important thing to to President. Once again, is that you want to see the Senate flip? You want to see the House flip? You want to go back to this?

You want to have the policies that the Trump administration has really stymied the the border invasion that we saw? And you're right. From El Paso to Del Rio to Eagle Pass, all the way over to you know to Brownsville, we don't want to go back to that. To 1,249 miles of border is what Texas shares with Mexico, and I think that's an important message. You know, Ken Paxton needs to be on the border.

He needs to you know do an ad down there on the border. He needs to get down in South Texas. And the Republicans need to continue to talk about that issue because every town is a border town. If we allow that open borders to happen once again, you're spot on. Kent Paxton needs to get down to those border communities, and there is real concern.

And and you probably see a lot more than even just what I read from afar about these border communities flipping to Trump. That in places like Brownsville and McAllen, that were Democrats or blue for decades, and of course he. Flipped. Those are at real risk of being flipped. But Ken Paxton, why isn't he there?

You know, look, our listeners all do his campaign. Yeah, I don't know. I honestly, you know, I think it's fair to say that if Tulareco ends up winning, they're going to look back the Republican Party and say we had a candidate quality issue because Ken Paxton, who President Trump loves to point out, is the greatest state attorney general that he's. Ever seen? He has made a handful of mistakes, and you know, I was stunned on Fourth of July.

He was like over in London or something, Iceland, right, with his girlfriend. It's like, what are you doing? Get to forty different barbecues on Fourth of July, right? I mean, it's and by the way, you know, just let me go farther in knocking him a little bit. As long as you know, we're being honest with viewers.

Yeah, the thing I could not believe.

So he has gone through this. Incredibly messy divorce with his wife, and then instead of dropping the ad at the border, which you wisely would advise them, he's got his wife, ex-wife Angela Paxton, doing a political ad, and voters that support him are like, "What the hell is this?" Listen, I'm gonna play a little clip for our listeners if they haven't seen it. Cut sixteen. I'm Texas Senator Angela Paxton. People have asked my thoughts about this election, and turns out I.

I have some. Let's talk about the elephant in the room. In a general election, it's not as much about the individual players on the team. It's about getting the whole team across the finish line. Either we hold every Republican seat, or we hand the future of Texas to the other team.

That's why I'm voting for the Republican ticket on November 3rd. Let's hold the line together. What the hell, Angela Paxson? This is like bonfire the vanities on steroids. You hate his guts, and you're putting out an ad that talks.

An elephant in the room, and you support him. It it seems like bad messaging, as far as I'm concerned. What do you think? Yeah, that's a very strange moment. I mean, my wife and I were sitting here, and we watched that ad, and we just kind of went, you know, scratching our heads.

But you know, again, it would be better if you saw Ken Paxton at the border. It would be better if you saw Ken Paxton out in the Permian Basin in West Texas, talking about James Talarico and how he's all for the Green New Deal and undermining our oil and gas industry, which helps to make America energy independent. That's what you. To do and and I think that you know also again you brought up a great point. Here is the 250th anniversary of this incredible nation, and you're not here.

Okay, what does that tell people?

So I think that without a doubt, if I could lend any type of advice, get out there, be seen, show remorse for the things that we know about, because you have enough baggage to fill a C seventeen cargo aircraft, and and maybe you need to you know put a cargo parachute and start to you know kick some of that stuff out. But you got to be out there. You got to be seen. And when James Talerico challenges you to a debate on on Fox News, to be hosted by Bret Baier, you should need to come back and say, "Bring it, man. I'm ready." Yeah, exactly.

And you know, you talk about the parachute. Look, you know, I don't believe everything I read. Although there was reporting from Politico or Axios, some of us saw yesterday or the day before about Paxton caught on a hot mic again. This time, not bashing the midterms as he. Was in the previous example, but this time saying something to the effect about how he has no control over his campaign anymore; it's being run out of D.C.

and that took me aback a little bit. And not to be a conspiracy theorist, it tells me that he's already trying to figure out who to blame for a loss. Yeah, yeah, and you don't want that. Look, you know, you went back and you said that you know here is a guy's a great attorney general here in the state of Texas, and you know we can talk about candidate quality. There've been a lot of young men who've been great quarterbacks in college football, and they try to go to pro football and they fell flat on their face.

And so sometimes you just have to understand that you are limited in your talents and your skill and your capabilities and capacities, and you should operate within those limits and within those realms. And so. I think that. If it does happen that Texas loses statewide race for United States Senate, there's going to be a whole lot of prognostication about that. I think that'll be the big story come the fourth of November and probably for the rest of the week.

Yeah, and you and I will be talking about it. Are you and Brian certainly will? Hey, real quick before we run out of time, because I did want to ask you. I was talking, I was filling in for Brian on Fox and Friends, and we talked about Nadal Hassan is now going to be ex. Executed by firing squad.

We remember. I figured that's where you're going to go. And of course, this is. Remember the 2009 horrific attack at Fort Hood. 13 people lost their lives.

32 others were injured. But this is interestingly, when I looked it up, the the U.S. military has not executed someone by firing squad since November of 1945. Literally going back to post World War II. I want to get your thoughts on it.

Well, first of all, there is also Sergeant Hassan of the 101st Airborne Division who opened fire and threw hand grenades into the tent of his commanding brigade back in in Iraq. I mean, in Kuwait as well. And they should consider the same for him. Look, my last duty time was Florida, Texas. I remember that incident and that out-processing, in-processing building that that he committed that act.

I know that building very well.

So yes, it is about time that justice be served for those people that lost their lives and who will be forever scarred. And how awful it is that you would have someone wearing the uniform of the United States soldier that would turn fire on United States soldiers and and civilians that were there.

So I think this is a fitting and due punishment and justice is going. To finally be served. Lastly, just a few seconds left. But is there anything unique to the military code of justice that would possibly give him some appellate reason to try and get out of this firing? No, no.

This is the United States. This our uniform code of military justice. And in times of war, is what we saw. This is the right type of response. And look, even Bo Bergdahl and what Bo Bergdahl did, and you had the fact that there were soldiers that lost their lives.

Out there trying to look for him in Afghanistan, he should not have gotten the treatment that he got from the Obama administration. And I'd like to know where is Bo Bergdahl today? That's a good question, indeed. Lieutenant Colonel Allen West, always great to get your insight, my friend. We'll be watching that race down there in Texas.

Yes, and always good to talk to you. Thank you, sir. My pleasure. Thank you, Griff. All right, this is the Brian Kilmeade Show.

I am Griff Jenkins, filling in for Brian Kilmeade. More coming up. Diving deep into today's top stories, it's Brian Kilmeade. A radio show like no other. It's Brian.

Killmead. This is the great Brian Kilmeade show. You can go to Brian Kilmeade Show dot com. Get all sorts of other exciting things. Today, you get Griff Jenkins, your humble DC correspondent, pinch hitting for Brian.

Always an honor to do so, and a great interview with Colonel Allen West. There, sort of walking us through the what's really happening down there in Texas with this race with Tellerico and whether or not Ken Paxton can save. A campaign that seems to, shall we say, have a few bumps in the road and hurdles. But again, you know there are so many races that really are being watched. It's not just in Texas.

You've also got El Sayed and Mike Rogers out in Michigan. That seems to be a barn burner. Then you've got it in Iowa of all places, and then we're still watching. Don't forget about what's happening up in Maine with. Susan Collins and Troy Jackson, a socialist, by the way, and proud about it.

President Trump trying to salvage things. You know, one of the smartest guys when it comes to analyzing politics at this network that has been here since the beginning. He's a OG, thirty-year guy, and that is the one and only Brett Hume. And what I love about Brett Hume is when he goes on with Brett Baer and analyzes something, you are going to get the no-holds-barred, straight. You know, analysis of it, no matter which way it suggests things are going, and he was talking about President Trump that is surprising people by going to unlikely places.

For example, yesterday to Nebraska. Here's a little bit of Brett Hume analyzing the president on the trail. Listen here, cut seventeen. He's not going to to states where you know you'd consider battleground states normally. He's going to states that ought to be safe Republican.

In many cases, are not, and I think he has to do this, Brett. He's got to get the base turned out, got to get the base interested, because that's the core of the Republican support at this point. And it's such a great point that Brad Hume's making. Brad Hume also went on to say, but that. The other side of the coin here is that when President Trump goes out, it animates the Democrats as well.

So only time will tell what happens in November. I am Griff Jenkins on the Great Brian Kilmeade Show, bringing it to you all live around the world. This is Brian Kilmeade Show. From the Fox News Radio studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest-growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmeade.

This is the Brian Kilmeade Show. Your D.C. Humble correspondent, Griff Jenkins, pinch hitting for Brian, who has the day off. Today and no shortage of news. We are dealing with less than a month, four weeks now, exactly to the midterms.

So many races up in question, and of course there are so many other stories out there. And I want to get to some of them to include what's happening. At Cornell, but one story that I want to make sure we don't leave out of coverage is the now execution of Nidal Hasan, who in 2009 killed 13 people, injuring 32 others at Fort Hood, is now going. According to the president, has said he backs it, and it came from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. He's going to be executed by.

By firing squad, something that has not happened. The U.S. military has not executed anyone by firing squad since 1945, post World War II. Earlier today on Fox and Friends, filling in for Brian, I was able to get Jim Trusty, former Assistant U.S. Attorney, on with us, and he can join us on radio too.

Which, Jim, I can't stop talking about it because I think you know, for people that don't understand, this is really quite a significant. Thing, particularly because a it kind of came out of the blue. I'm not sure what prompted it, but b this we we just haven't seen this in in decades upon decades. What's your take on this? Yeah, I mean the same as yours, right?

I mean I was like Hassan Fort Hood. I can't believe we're talking about this. You know, 17 years later. I mean it it shows that in death penalty cases, even in a court martial proceeding as opposed to a regular civil trial. That there's a lengthy appellate process, and this thing took a long time to wind its way through the military court of appeals.

We lost probably about three years or three and a half years due to President Biden announcing a moratorium on death penalties, which essentially chilled this one from going forward. But you know, look, particularly in light of what's been happening in Tennessee in recent months with executions, as kind of old-fashioned as it sounds, the firing squad. Is probably the most humane way to carry it out, and it's distinctly military sounding as well.

So I think it's a I think it's a good day. This guy did terrible things, and killed thirteen people, wounded dozens, knew they were going to be unarmed, and did it all in the name of jihad.

So you know, to me, paying for him to spend a life in prison is not a great option. Does it send a message to not only those that would carry this out, as you mentioned, in the name of jihad? Remember, he screamed Al Qa'bar before going on this rampage. Does it send a message to those that would attack us, like Hassan did, but also to our enemies? I think it does.

I think it shows a steadfastness that you know we are not going to get bogged down and allow for kind of civil. Trial rights to destroy the ability to take out an enemy. I mean, again, court marshals are different birds, and they should be. You know, I think we've proven when you look at Guantanamo and how it's taken forever to get nowhere on prosecution of of terrorists in Guantanamo. That you know, there's just no great options other than military tribunal or military court martial.

Civil trials are getting bogged down with lawyering and appeals and challenges. And this took a long time, but I think the message is a good one, which is this: Secretary of War and this president recognize evil.

Now, I don't know that this is a huge, you know, beginning of an influx of cases. I mean, yeah, that's exactly. Yeah, I mean, I don't know that. I don't think we have that many Fort Hood stories to talk about. You know, where a guy in the U.S.

military takes it up. Upon himself to declare war, so I don't know that it's going to be a sea change, but I do think that the tone is right. And again, if if you're going to have the death penalty, this is a guy that should be on everybody's short list. Yeah, it will be very interesting. You know, we had a lieutenant colonel Alan West on the show as well, and he was talking about a case of a guy, of one of our troops that that in Kuwait killed some of our people.

It sounds like he's on death row. I don't know, really. I don't have any idea. I have to research how many cases are, you know, cases like this. But it it certainly wouldn't surprise me if there.

More cases and incidences, particularly if this is carried out. As I understand it, the Secretary of the Army now will choose the time and date of when this is going to be carried out. And you know, as an attorney, do you foresee any appeal for Hassan trying to, you know, in some way stop this or tie this up? I think there could. Be and frankly, it might not even be him.

You know, he represented himself, as we talked about earlier today, and and he probably feels like this is kind of a good ending for him in some bizarre way.

So I don't know that he personally would want to do it, but you always have advocacy groups that jump in to pretend it's a mental health crisis and not a jihad crisis.

So you could have some kind of last-second desperation here, but the process is very different. You know, they're not. Going to get a lot of luck in a military tribunal or a military court martial scenario. I don't see anybody getting traction trying to convince the Secretary of War or the Commander in Chief that this is a bad idea.

So you might see a little flurry of last second activity, but I don't think it's going to go anywhere. I think this is one that's going to take place in in pretty short order. And Griff, just to go back on some some history for a quick second, we I was one of the prosecutors initially on the D.C. sniper case. Which ended up getting shot shot down to Virginia, and John Muhammad, who was eventually executed, there was pretty believable information that he rolled a grenade into a tent of a commanding officer when he was in the U.S.

military.

So, you know, we do have these stories, but they're pretty. I hope and think that they're pretty few and far between. Boy, I remember the DC sniper and John Allen Muhammad. How about that? And so, listen, I do want to get to one other story, which is we've been following all this.

What has happened at Cornell and with Jane Doe, and there is even some vandalizing of one of the buildings there. That's kind of the latest as we all sort of wait and watch where this investigation goes. And you know, to be very clear, every time we start talking about this, we don't know. None of us know all of the. Facts.

It's clear that the then Attorney General, that chose not to prosecute based on what he was given, was not the full picture of what Jane Doe told the the investigators at the time. And so we're sorting through all of this. But one of the thing one of the things I thought was interesting was when Governor Kathy Hochul basically took this away from that Tompkins County prosecutor and gave it straight to. Kisha James, and here's a little bit of what she's had to say since she was put in the driver's seat. Listen to this, cut twenty-seven.

So let me just say, my heart goes out to the victim, the survivor, and I stand with her and all individuals who unfortunately have been the victims of sexual assault. And my job is to ensure that the rights of students and that the rights of survivors and that all individuals on campuses all throughout the state of New York are safe, and that Cornell University and other universities, SUNY universities, CUNY universities, private universities, all have protocols in place that they are in compliance with Title IX, and that they ensure that all of the students are safe on their campus. In addition to that, the Tompkins County District Attorney has reopened. This case, he's presenting this case to the grand jury, and there have been a lot of comments with respect to his handling of the case. And we look forward to the outcome and to ensure that, in fact, justice is served and there's accountability for the survivor.

So, Jim, you heard there at the beginning of her remarks, she says that her heart goes out to the victim, the survivor, and I stand with her. But this is going to clearly come down to, in many legal respects, to whether there was consent or not in the issue of consent and voluntary intoxication, which is a unique law to New York. But yet, is she prejudging the investigation that she's yet to lead? Absolutely, Griff. I mean, it's so frustrating to see prosecutors that are more intent on making political statements than actually seeking justice.

You know, she actually said even more pointed things to show that she thought that the Cornell young men were guilty in a Facebook post, and then immediately, when asked about it, said, "I'm not going to talk about Facebook posts." Somehow, she gets the benefit of throwing it out there on social media, but then. Acting like it's off limits to question her about her bias. Look, this was the most unethical prosecutor I've seen in many years. Maybe going back to the Mike Nafong Duke lacrosse situation, which we may be heading towards here. And you know, she announced she was going to go after President Trump.

She made all sorts of racial and anti-Trump comments to get into office. She is a politician masquerading as a prosecutor. She's not seeking justice. And look, you have to understand to the mild defense of the local prosecutor that started with this case. Sex offense cases are always challenging.

I mean, it's very rarely like a slam dunk, stranger in the bushes sexual assault case where you have great evidence. When you have delayed reporting, much less inconsistent reporting, when you have a civil suit, when you have text messages filed by or sent by the Plaintiff in that civil suit, the victim, to the young men the next day, that seemed to be copacetic. You know, when when she has apparently consented to a three way, as well as voluntarily intoxicating herself with, I think it was ketamine and with alcohol. These are daunting, daunting challenges for anybody to try to make a case. And I'm not saying that Cornell handled it right.

You know, they should either. You don't have people do book reports. You either fisher cut bait. You either Kick people out and say that they were involved in a sexual assault or not, but but I don't know that Letitia James. I don't know if there's anybody that could be much worse than her to jump in and give a fair assessment of this case.

And and again, Duke lacrosse is probably where we're heading here. You know, that prosecutor for political reasons knew that the young men were innocent. He had already developed the evidence to show that they were not guilty. They may be immoral. They may do terrible things, but that doesn't mean.

That they're guilty of crimes, and I think the same scenario could be boiling here, where people want to look at the case as a political statement of support for women, rather than looking at it in terms of can we prove this beyond a reasonable doubt. And right now, from the outside, with all the caveats you started with, because we don't know all the evidence, there's a lot of reasons to think this would be an extremely hard case to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. It's very interesting to follow, and nobody better to weigh in and give us that insight, Jim Trusty. Thank you for taking time. Great, right, Griff.

Good talking to you, man. All right, this is the Brian Kilmeade Show. I'm Griff Jenkins filling in for Brian. More when we come back. Learning something new every day on the Brian Kilmeade Show.

If you're interested in it, Brian's talking about it. You're with Brian Kilmeade. This is the Great Brian Kilmeade Show. Griff Jenkins pinch hitting for Brian, who has the day off, and we are joined now by a really smart guy with the Defense of Democracies. That's Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery.

And Admiral, I'm so excited to talk to you because you know I really follow what's happening in Iran, and I think that it's pretty clear that we're not going to get October surprise of anything happening in these next 28 days. I could be wrong; you never know. But I did think it was interesting, sir, when I saw us pulling the B one bombers out of the UK. Jack Keane, General Jack Keane, was on with Hemmer and Dana yesterday and talking a little bit about what he thinks that says. Listen here, cut twenty one.

I want to get your reaction. It is significant that we moved the B one bombers. There is no doubt about that. I mean, for us to do that, that means. That our leaders, who are controlling those resources, do believe there is a threat, and they're concerned about the ability to to safeguard against that threat.

Who wouldn't be concerned if the threat that is being advertised is real? Why are people who pose a threat not behind bars? What do you say, Admiral? You agree with Jackine? Yeah, obviously, neither Jack nor I are seeing the classified.

Threat brief, but I think we both are you know experienced enough to know that this is probably about a drone threat, and the you know United Kingdom actually, like the United States, has very limited drone defenses for our air bases right now. I mean, we kind of noticed that in in the forty day combat with Iran because if we'd had anything, we would have certainly had it forward at our air at our bases there, which were hit pretty hard by drones, not by ballistic missiles. They were shot down by Thad Bader, but by Drones. And so he's right. I agree with him, and I agree with Secretary Hegseth.

If there's a legitimate threat to the bases, and our assessment is, you know, that they that there's insufficient defense on those bases, you do the next best thing, which is gain strategic depth. You move those bombers to an area where they're less likely to be threatened by an Iranian drone, because we do a better job at keeping, you know, the kind of the Iranian drone capabilities out of our country. Or they're moved to Diego Garcia, where they definitely are away from Iranian drones.

So that makes sense to me. I think we did the right thing. Preserving the force is important. We have a limited number of B one bombers. I'd hate to lose any to any kind of ground impact like this.

Well, and you know, you're a great person to have on to sort of give us some insight into this because you do cover, among other things, the cyber and technology innovation for defensive democracies in. And so, you know, my question to you is: Knowing really the depth of your knowledge, are you surprised that this happened, or are you surprised it hasn't happened already? In fact, I spend a couple months a year in Ukraine training their military, so I see a lot of counter drone capabilities. And Ukraine has a lot. I mean, just I've observed at least twenty three different counter drone interceptors that are there.

So there is technology for intercepting drones, but I also see the thousands that come from Russia and impact Ukraine.

So you can see it.

So there is a real risk. Again, I think we did the right thing. You know, I'm I'm hoping that we're building up our capacity to defend our own air bases, and in the meantime, we'll use the geographic separation of being all the way in continental United States with these, you know, along with where the B-52s and B-2 bombers are. And by the way, this doesn't stop us from striking Iran. A B one can make a run from the United States.

It has to get refueled. B twos do it. B fifty twos do it. You know, there's a reason it's called the strategic bombing force. It can go anywhere around the world and deliver these weapons.

So we still have the capability and capacity to use them if needed. I'm not recommending we do that right now, but Secretary Hexe did not significantly reduce his ability to impact the Iranians. No, we know that stealth. B twos can leave White Men and strike nuclear sites in Iran and be incredibly successful at that. Let me just get your top line thoughts on where we stand with things in Iran.

It's clear the IRGC is not going to negotiate, but yet at the same time, it does seem that the U.S. has been very successful, particularly Secretary Besant, in choking, strangling Iran's economy. And I was making the point earlier on this show that eventually, even the IRGC Which controls some forty fifty percent of Iran's economy. Eventually, forty fifty percent of nothing is nothing.

So, is that the end game? One hundred percent. I've been saying for a couple months the economic strangulation is the way forward, and and I'd say there's two big components to it. Probably the biggest is the blockade being conducted by the U.S. Navy, with when when enhanced by the fact that the U.S.

Air Force and U.S. Navy have opened up a corridor for Arab oil or partner oil to get through to a degree now that the the total amount of oil coming through the Strait of Hormuz when added with Pipelines, and and you subtract Iranian oil from before February twenty eighth, we're now at the same level we were before the war.

So, Western oil getting through, Iranian oil getting cut off at like ninety five, ninety eight percent. Very critical is getting through. I love that even the New York Times finally is getting around to being honest about that and having to report it. Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery, great insight as always, my friend. Thank you for taking time.

Thanks for having me. All right, this is Griff Jenkins on the Brian Kilmeade Show with a whole lot more coming up. Radio that makes you think. This is the Brian Kilmeade Show. Oh, we're going to make you think.

All right, this is your humble DC correspondent, Griff Jenkins, pinch hitting for the great Brian Kilmeade on the Brian Kilmeade Show. And as they say, buckle up. We're about to giddy up because we've got Jimmy Fallon in the studio right now. Jimmy Fallon, and by the way, I got to plug your book, and that is the Cancel Culture Dictionary: An A to Z Guide to Winning the War on Fun. Yeah, listen, folks, if you like reading at a third grade level.

You are going to love this book. Are there pictures? If you like pop up, scratch, and sniff, it's all there. Good, but yes, Cancel Culture Dictionary somehow a New York Times bestseller. As a community college graduate, I might be the first guy to do that.

You know what I mean? Fantastic! Yeah, I mean that's a that's a big deal.

So good to be here, and I also want to thank you for something, Griff. You were the first person who's had me on in ten days who has not opened by asking me about the plague or AI killing us all. Which, again, both very fertile subjects for comedy. Don't get me wrong, but I get the plague, Griff. Everybody keeps talking to me about the plague.

I I don't know a lot about this, okay? But in terms of public health threats, I'd say it is like an eight on a scale of one. To Taco Bell lettuce.

So, if we survive the chalupas, we're going to handle the Russian plague. Feel good, everybody. Yeah, I mean, I didn't have plague on my bingo card either. But I will say that, look, we all lived through the hell that COVID was. If all of a sudden this is a gain of function lab leak, because this sort of feels a little bit like that, we'll see where it goes.

Then I am like literally, I am going to literally buy out the stock of Stella or. Trois and just hole up, and we're just gonna get a beach, bring my surfboard, my dog, and that's how we're gonna ride out the plague. But you know, you talk about also AI wiping out humanity. I have often, and I think I had Eric even pull it. Remember Space Odyssey two thousand one?

Yeah, of course. Open the pod bay doors, Hal. No, Dave, I can't do that. We saw this movie. We know how this crap's going to end.

It's not going to.

Well, so just embrace it, and it's going to come whenever it comes. Buy the ticket, take the ride. I believe it was Jim Morrison. He said in in Roadhouse Blues. I woke up this morning.

I got myself a beer. The future's uncertain, and the end is always near. There's an aspect of that in everything we do these days, and that's what I think we're supposed to do. Just lean in, man. Have fun, everybody.

I'm on board with that, indeed. All right.

So, you know, of all the years that I have had the honor of calling you a friend and hanging out, I. I don't actually know. Are you a Taylor Swift fan? You know, I take all kinds of grief for being the resident Swiftie. Which, by the way, I always disclaim.

So the reason why I'm a Taylor Swift Swiftie is because I have daughters, and one of them's 25, and it's really every 25 year old girl I think loves Taylor Swift because it was like Red Reputation, like it like peaked, and now she's like superstar. And you know, eventually, like broccoli, you get an acquired taste and you love it. And now I actually really. I like it, patience. Here, I like it.

Cleveland, that song kind of sucks. But are you a Swiftie fan? I mean, I look like I'm on the no-fly list at her concerts. Like, there's a picture of me, and security's like, if you see this guy buying a pair of floor seats, you can't let him in. I can abide Taylor Swift.

I'm not. I wouldn't put myself in the fan category. In that, I I could I know probably 50 songs, but I haven't downloaded one of them. Does that make sense?

So they're on the radio. I hear it. It's a vibe. I can kind of roll with. But I'm not going out of my way to play it.

I don't know what I don't know what that qualifies as, but the truth is I respect her as a creative because the one thing she's done. I always tell my son Lincoln about this is so many people hit it big and get lazy. They become a cover band of themselves. Like if someone were to play you or me any of the last five Coldplay albums, you wouldn't know which one you were listening to because they become a cover band of themselves. She has tried to evolve her art form and continues to write, and I.

I respect that. About I do respect that. The what you want to know what I don't respect?

Okay, she had a thirty million dollar wedding that allegedly included a buffet.

Now I love a buffet, but if you invited me to a thirty million dollar wedding, I wouldn't expect an afternoon at Golden Corral. That's all I'm trying to say. It's crazy. She literally shelled out. I have no idea how much she she spent in total.

I think it might have even been more than thirty million, but it was like a million a day just for Madison Square Garden, and hasn't done it.

So she stunned the Swifties out there by making a surprise cameo this past Saturday on SNL with that had Dakota Johnson. Who's in her patient zero video? And she popped up. Here's a little bit of how that went. Listen to this.

Some people leave concerts with merch, and I leave concerts with a two and a half year relationship. But I have really good friends. They don't judge me for dating these men. They're actually really supportive. Gentlemen, my literal therapist.

I'm not your therapist. Actually, you just you just show up once a week at my house with a empty bottle of wine and ask if I want some. Yeah, I have manners. And then you flop on my couch and overshare, and every so often I just say, "Damn, that's that's crazy." Is that not a therapist? And then I go, "Well, you know, oh, it's getting late.

I should probably go to bed." And and and then you say, "Remover, yay!" And then I give you a pedialyte, and my security drives you home.

So she's actually pretty good. I mean, she and you're right; she is reinventing or elevating her her art. But you know, she just knocked Ella Langley off the number one spot. Whoa! And she was inducted, I believe, this past year into the the Country Music Hall of Fame.

And and no, I'm glad. I'm glad to see things starting to pick up for her. You know, because I was going to start a. GoFundMe about two years ago, Griff. I was you know kicking the can around the building like we got to get this gal on her feet.

No, I listen. I'm really happy for her, and I like when artists like her do lean into the zeitgeist a little bit and go on shows like SNL and just have fun, you know. And she does a good job of that, so I like that. Like meaning she's not doing the Springsteen thing where you know Springsteen is having this No Kings rally populated by people who look like they were alive the last time we had a king. You know, you're not a revolutionary if you're, you know, charging two hundred dollars to watch you sing "Born to Walk." Yeah, okay, which is what he's doing.

So I like, I'll take Taylor over Bruce any day of the week. You know, you're right. She's leaning into zeitgeist, and actually, my favorite zeitgeist that she's leaning into is watching her at her now husband, Kansas City Chiefs, Travis Kelsey's football games. And we just had a couple weeks ago where Travis makes an awesome play, scores a touchdown, like fifty yards or some, and. And in in this capturing camera pointing at a ring going, that's my husband.

All right, I like that.

Well, also she is so mindful of the fact that everything she does in that booth is on TV. True, you know.

So that's a good job by her. In a weird way, Taylor Swift is like a more productive Senate hearing. You know, everybody shows up to a Senate hearing knowing they're going to get a thirty second soundbite out of it that's going to be on the news that night. She at least does something fun with it. No weird prop.

She doesn't accuse you of being in a basketball game you weren't at. You know we should be. We probably should be more appreciative of Taylor Swift. Get one of me over here. That is brilliant because as a guy that's covered a whole lot of Senate hearings, I would much prefer cover her in the.

You get nothing out of them. Hey, so let's talk politics because I got to get your take on this.

So. Steve Hilton is quite behind in the polls out there. I'm not sure it's going to work that well.ing Becerra had like the latest like 20 points or something. It's pretty bad. Is it really that bad?

Wow.

Well, in the latest, I think Fox News polling, it's you're not doing great. But he's actually pretty smooth, and they just had the debate out there, and he absolutely crushed them. Particularly when it came to the border. But then Hilton has done some some sort of surprising. Things he put out this ad called I think the theme they call it just try it.

So let me set the scene. You're you're looking at two young Gen Z women sitting in a dim room, you know, dark room, and there's a pride flag in the background. And the one woman says to the other one, you know, give me your hand. Oh man, close your eyes. Just try it.

And the idea is to get, I presume, young. Liberal women to consider voting Republican, although it feels a little lesbiany and weird. I mean, the way you're describing it just sounds like the first half of every video in my search history.

So I'm interested to see where this goes. Are you playing sound on this? Yeah, let's do it. Where's the sound? I can't believe I'm doing this.

Don't be nervous. It's not that bad. I've just never done anything like this before. Like, what if my dad finds out? Just try it.

Whoa. Give me your hand. Close your eyes. And I'll do all the work. Whoa.

I think. I think I liked it. Oh man, it's you know. Say what you will. It's just kind of weird.

Well, someone needs to tell the Hilden campaign this is not what they meant by getting up people's poll numbers. The good news is poll numbers went up. The bad news is you're trailing in the election. That was the with gap widened. But listen, this creative nature of campaigning, this is a new frontier.

Obviously, Spencer Pratt did this too, right? But I. I think California is this unique animal because they have these really wild, incredible campaign videos. But it's just such a one—it's just such a one-party state, man. And I'm shocked by it.

I was just there, as you know. I love California. I know you're a big fan. And I was driving up the PCH just through Malibu. Yeah.

The idea that that many houses—and these are the richest people in the world—they don't have to take anything, and they're taking everything. Meaning their government is absolutely filled. Them in this rebuild, and obviously their efforts against the fire, which they're still blaming on climate change. Two arson arrests later, yeah. But I mean, it's amazing to see that you know what kind of damage a one party state can inflict on themselves.

So it's like I love these ads, and they should be doing better than they are. But most people in California just like, no, no, we're voting liberal. This is like a Yankee Red Sox game. We root for this team. You root for that team.

It's great. I'm so glad you raised that, Jimmy, because as you remember, I was a reporter out there, and I was in damn. After day, more than a week out there in Malibu and Pacific Palisades, and still, you know, when you look back at it, I was reading a recent story on it, talking about how literally maybe one, no more than two percent of those structures have been rebuilt, right?

So, so you're talking about miles on the PCH of just leveled houses and no signs of a rebuild. There was over sixteen thousand. Thousand, I believe, total structures damaged in the fire, and like a hundred or two hundred at best have been rebuilt. And this, of course, harkens back to when Karen Bass, the mayor, was literally in Ghana after getting a PDS red flag warning and in the particularly dangerous situation red flag warning for fire threats. As you know, as a former Californian, is like being in Florida when they're going.

It's a Cat Five. Hurricane that's coming ahead. She leaves, and so she—I would say—you know—total abdication of her duty to stay. But whatever, she tries to parse the timing. But then the rebuild to be where they are, and yet Karen Bass is winning in the poll numbers out there.

It's like they're going to reelect the same leader that, to be fair, failed you in every regard in that moment. Yeah, it's it's it's so crazy. Crazy to me because we used to drive up the PCH and be like, "What's your favorite house?" Now we're literally like, "What's your favorite pair of stilts?" Because it's just stilts next to the ocean, and I'm just so shocked that they are taking it. But you know what? Pushing back would mean calling out their one party, and sadly, for a lot of people, and you know, I think you know this.

Politics is just a branding exercise now. They're not even looking at the particulars because they very rarely affect them. You know, they're looking more along the lines of like, "I like." What siding with this party says about my brand? Because they've brand themselves as the empathetic people and all of that jazz. But I saw last night, you know, Trump joking about Iran getting a nuke and taking out Los Angeles.

The one upside there is if if if Iran showed up to Los Angeles today, they would assume somebody took it out yesterday and they'd go home. They'd be like, "No, we're fine. Everybody's there. The stores are empty. Everybody's gone.

It's not good." But again, that is the danger of one-party rule. I do hope it gets turned around because California is a beautiful state. I love it out there. Yeah, I'll be out there October 24th. You know, I'm going to be.

I'm going to be in Santa Rosa in Wine Country. Ooh. Yeah. Well, you know what's funny? They booked the show during the day, and you know what?

That's because it's a radio event. That means they didn't trust me in Wine Country. I'm not even kidding. They're like, I was like noon. That was doing a standup show at noon.

They're like, oh, I get what this is. Yeah, yeah. So people listen to me, and they just assume that I don't know where this is going to go. Like, I'm out of. This I mean, this out of control ex cab driver is you know, but the complete opposite of what's going on here.

Like I know where it's going to go, not back to LaGuardia Airport with a mariachi band fighting in the back seat.

So I would have been fine at an APM show. Let the record show. Hey, so we're almost out of time, but do you want to? Where else are you going? Oh man, this weekend I'm listening.

Yeah, I know. I'm in going to be in Clearwater, Florida this weekend. Oh, there are we have two sold out shows. There's eight tickets left between the. Two shows, so they'll both sell out.

If you want to go, foxacrossamerica dot com. Then next week we're in Colorado Springs. Then we're in Santa Rosa. Then we're in Grand Junction. Then we're in Indy.

Then we're in Oklahoma City. Then we're in Concord, New Hampshire. But if you want to see me anywhere like this year for the remainder of the fall, foxacrossamerica dot com. Gonna catch that? Come on, that noon matinee special, Alex.

I love that. I love it, Jimmy Fallon. You're the best. Thank you for joining us, Bobby Griff. It's great to have you.

This is the Brian Kilmeade Show. Griff Jenkins trying. Pinch it for you. We'll be back with a whole lot more. Increasing your intelligence quotient.

What the hell did you just say? It's Brian Kilmeade. Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kilmeade Show. And again, remember.

Whether it's just artificial, it's a little bit high. It's a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe. They can take out a city. Let them take. Let it.

Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. That's this is a very small price to pay, and it's going to be over with very soon. It's essentially almost over with. That was President Trump in Nebraska saying, "Yeah, let him take out Los Angeles or San Diego." Obviously, is a comment that he is saying to get the left riled up and critics of his efforts to denuclearize Iran.

Jimmy Fallon, the great Jimmy Fallon, and I are talking. About that, and you know the reality of, and and Fidel raises such a great point. Literally, I think the Iranians would look at that three mile stretch of Malibu and the Pacific Palisades. It is just completely looking like a nuclear weapon did go off because that is how extensive the damage is. They would think the Iranians would be like, "What?

What are we going to? What the heck are we going to hit? There's no targets here because everything's gone." But it's interesting to me. To imagine if if you would have hypothetically told a resident in Malibu in California or anywhere for that matter and said, "Hey, so imagine that a massive raging fire burned every house down as far as the eye could see, and it was because the leader in charge was in a African country in this case Ghana when they likely knew that that damage was coming." Then, when they came back, pointing the fingers at everybody else other than themselves, and had insufficient preparation for said catastrophe, even a year later and more, not a single thing would be rebuilt because of the failed government leadership of said leader, and because of the crazy, insane regulation that has stopped the rebuilding from happening. In because of the blame being shifted not to what caused said catastrophe, but yet on climate change, which looks like a you know twelve year old that got caught doing something that's trying to blame everybody but themselves.

Would that Official easily be reelected in the next election to come down the pike. You would say in this hypothetical theory, not a chance, no way. But yet, that candidate in reality is Karen Bass. She is leading the polls, running against Nithya Ramen, who is trailing the only other option because Spencer Pratt didn't get in the top two, and she is a Self-identified socialists.

So people are saying, "Well, I guess I'll just stick with more of the same and hope it doesn't happen again." That's the best shot you've got. The best option. Give me a break. This is Griff Jenkins on the Brian Kilmeade Show. From high atop Fox News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division.

It's Brian Kilmeade. He is the most approachable radio host and morning TV host in the country, Brian Kilmeade, who has the day off. This is Griff Jenkins pinch hitting for Brian Kilmeade with a whole lot of news to get to. No shortage of politics. A month away from the midterms, what is going to happen?

And I can tell you, when you look at all the toss-ups and Fox's latest power rankings and polling, it's anybody's guess. Who knew we're going to cover more of that? Later, but I want to talk about obviously the war in Iran, which has been a factor in the midterms. Although President Trump has pretty consistently, really at every turn, decided that he is not going to be deterred in what he is trying to accomplish in denuclearizing Iran. We've talked often about how what he ultimately hopes to accomplish in Iran in the broader context could be quite a game changer.

For the wider Middle East and move it from a place of death and terrorism to a place of commerce, no longer in chaos. It's interesting, you know. President Trump at a rally out in Nebraska yesterday talked a little bit about how he sees things going right now in Iran. I want to play just a soundbite of that to kick things off. This is cut one.

You know, by the way. We're kicking Iran's ass. You do know that, right? It's going to end one way or the other. It's going to end very soon, and your prices are going to come tumbling.

All your prices have been tumbling down. In fact, oil is less than it was under Biden. Just so you understand, and we are saving. This country from a problem, and the Middle East, and Israel, and everybody—we're saving the world from what could be one of the worst tragedies ever. Joining us now on the Brian Kilmeade Show, Ambassador Dennis Ross, a guy that certainly knows these things inside and out.

Mister Ambassador, it's great to have you with us. I played that soundbite for our listeners just so they would hear what the president's saying, the latest thing. And a lot of people think that we're not winning because we are obviously sort of going back and forth between this negotiation, going to strike again. It's pretty clear that. The president could resume either before, likely after the midterms, more kinetic strikes.

But when you look at the economic strangulation of Iran's economy, and someone like you that fully understands that the IRGC, which has been the non-negotiating partner in all of this, eventually won't have any money. You know, they control some forty-plus percent of Iran's economy, but at some point. Forty percent of nothing is going to be nothing. What's your read on where things stand and where this heads? Really good question.

And I would say, first, you're right about the Revolutionary Guard in terms of how they see things. First point I would make is this is a group. The leadership, Raisi, Bahari, they have been together since the 1980s and the Iran Iraq War. And they remember that correctly, so as life was dramatically worse for Iranians than that it is today.

So that's their frame of reference, and their view is they can endure much more.

Now, of course, they're not the one suffering. The Iranian public is the one that's suffering. You're raising a question that is really crucial, and at this point, is still pretty hard to answer. Which is, at what point do does the loss? Their economic capability does it affect them?

Now, understand they have operated with a black market economy all along. You're right; they control about forty percent of the economy, but it's always been a shadow economy. It's an economy that has actually benefited from the sanctions because the regular economy couldn't operate. They built up a kind of shadow, parallel economy. How long it takes to put them in a position where they really begin to hurt?

That I think is not clear to me. I think it's unfortunately I think it's much longer than we would hope it to be. There's a secondary element, however, which is: at what point does the does the hurt within the country itself begin to affect governmental functions? At what point does the the loss for the public reach a state where the public itself isn't prepared to take it any longer and loses its fear, which is something we saw last December. When they, when this regime then killed forty thousand people in two days, amazing that that gets no particular attention internationally.

The question then becomes more on the domestic side: is there is there a point where we begin to see much more of a collapse?

Now, so far we're not seeing it. We're seeing some signs, some demonstrations right now. We're seeing. Definitely, people hurting. We're seeing the currency having absolutely no value.

You know, at one point a couple years ago, was 35,000 reals to the dollar.

Now it's 2.5 million to the dollar. Yeah, which means if you have a bank account, it means it's worth nothing.

So everybody is going to be feeling that. You have a revolutionary guard that basically still feels it's relatively immune to it. You have the head of parliament Gholiab, who came from the Revolutionary Guard. You have the president Peseskian, who seem to be much more sensitive to it, but they're not calling the shots.

So I think we we have to realize this is probably going to take more time than we would like, and the key becomes: Do we have the patience? Does the president have the patience? Because ultimately, in your intro, the real key: You're not going to see a change in Iran if we end up with a deal. With the Iranians, it's not going to transform the Middle East because the deal. If you look back at the MOU, the MOU was going to give them all sorts of sanctions relief.

It was going to give them promises of reconstruction that would have allowed them to have an economic lifeline to the regime. Ultimately, if you want a different Middle East, you have to have a different Iranian regime. The problem is pretty hard to destroy. Bring down a regime from the air. There's really no precedent for that.

Regimes fall sometimes from a kind of internal collapse. It's it's a little bit like corrosion. You never know the corrosion is going to destroy metal until the metal breaks. You can't see the corrosion. Here we could have corrosion that could bring this regime down in a year.

Could bring the regime down in three years.

So that's the only thing that really transforms the Middle East. The president is focused on on the nuclear issue. I think if there is a deal on the nuclear issue, we'll end up providing the economic lifeline. What was done last a year ago, June, the twelve days war that was the we came in the last day, we hit the the most important. Nuclear infrastructure sites.

The Israelis hit all of them except one, Fordo. Fordo was a site built into a mountain. We had developed the massive ordnance penetrator exclusively for that target. We didn't necessarily destroy everything that was in it, but we certainly buried it deep underground. The war that we fought before we we moved into this different phase, which is really sort of a no peace, no war.

That war, we didn't focus very much on the nuclear infrastructure because there wasn't much more we could do to it than was done last year.

Now, the president has referred to Pickaxe Mountain, which is actually next to one of the enrichment sites, and the Iranians have sought to dig tunnels there that go 100 meters underground, which is the depth beyond which the massive ordnance penetrator works. There is some. There's been some speculation. I know in Israel there's a view that some of the highly enriched uranium, that enriched to 60, was moved to Pickett's Mountain. The president has said from time to time that we would hit it.

My point is that we haven't done much more to the nuclear infrastructure than was done a year ago, June, because what was done maybe you know it wasn't all destroyed, but it was certainly extensively damaged. And in a way where we could pretty much monitor anything they might do if they were going to try to reconstruct or rebuild.

So we're at a point where we certainly have set back their their capability to threaten us in a nuclear way. We haven't ended that program, but hopefully we are in a position where whoever is in charge here. Is in a position to let the Iranians know. If we see any rebuilding, we can hit them so they can't proceed very far. That would exist even if there's no deal.

If there is a deal, a meaningful deal, I'm afraid will would require a different regime in Iran. It's such a great insight, Ambassador Dennis Ross, with us on the Brian Kilmeade show. And you know, Ambassador, I actually have tried to tell our listeners and viewers when I'm on TV about something you touched on, which I think is so important, which is to understand who you're dealing with. And you know, just in the case of the the guy really in charge of IRGC right now, a guy named Ahmad Vahidi. You mentioned him.

It's worth noting that. When the current Ayatollah Mostafa Khamenei's father, who we've since taken out, he back in the '90s really set up the Kudz Force to export terrorism to places like Hamas and Hezbollah, and he put a young general Ahmad Vahidi in charge of standing up that Kudz Force. He then moved on to become the Defense Minister of Iran and put Kassim Soleimani. Control. We, of course, obviously, President Trump took out Qasem Soleimani, but the fact that you've got this guy Ahmad Vahidi, and you look at the history, you wonder, Ambassador Russ, is there any deal that this guy's ever going to even do?

Well, he might do a deal. The problem is the kind of deal he would do would be one that requires us to surrender, not one that requires them to surrender. That's we're at a point right now where they, Vahidi and Rezaei were together. As I said before, during the Iran Iraq War, Rezaei was the longest serving head of the Revolutionary Guard. You're quite right about Vahidi.

Vahidi was someone who was responsible for the export of terror. He was responsible for setting up the proxy network. And and in a sense, arming it, financing it, training it. The reason for that. One of the reasons that they came up with that, especially Ali Khamenei, the the former supreme leader, not of blessed memory, he wanted to keep the fight away from Iran.

One of the things he learned was don't fight the United States directly because that could threaten the regime. He was president of Iran when. When Khomeini, the original leader, Ayatollah, original supreme leader, when he made the decision to end the Iran Iraq War, something he said he he would not do, and he the reason he did is because he had they then had a prime minister named Musavi and Rafsanjani, who was a senior figure. They came to Khomeini and they said. Look, we we can't fight directly the U.S.

That would threaten the survival of the regime. And Hamani was was present then. His view was okay.

So don't fight don't fight the Americans directly. Come up with proxies who can who can build leverage on every other regime, threaten every other regime in the region, but not expose us to the risk of a direct war with the United States.

Now he was taken out, as you said, in the first day of the war. He never closed the straits because he understood what that would mean.

Now, once the straits were closed, people like Bahiian, Bahi, Bahi wasn't the the head of the revolutionary guard. He was number two. He became number one when the leader was killed along with with Hamene.

So what you have are those who said we got. A, we got nothing to lose. B, once we we can the Straits can be a lever for us, and that's what they sought to do.

Now, the good news for us is we seem to increasingly be devaluing that lever for them because we're getting oil through the Straits. It's not a perfect situation. They're still they've been shooting at ships over the last week. The numbers, the amount of oil that's come out, has dropped over the last few days, but it's still substantially higher than it was earlier in the war.

So this, for them, as they lose a kind of trump card, as they lose that, and they and the blockade continues to squeeze them, and what we're doing in terms of sanction now, greater sanctions for them, it is squeezing them more and more. The problem is that the Hezbi and Rezae still think they can outlast us, and the key—I'll tell you what I believe. I believe the key is. If there is a resumption of fighting, the key for us is going to be to be able to take out as as much of the remaining stockpile of missiles, cruise missiles, and drones, as much of the remaining production capability, so they reach a point where they realize they don't even have a military option any longer. And I raise this because it's very interesting to me.

They have not; they have chosen not to hit Israel. And they and even after they threatened two weeks ago, they threatened to hit Israel if Israel went in and took out a huge Hezbollah command post underground under a ridge called the Ali Ta'her Ridge in in southern Lebanon. There were at least a dozen IRGC officers there in that underground facility. The Israelis went in, took it out, and Iran did nothing. And it tells you, okay, there are limits they're respecting because I think they're afraid.

Of losing what they have, that's left. They've been able to get about ten percent of their of their missiles through the defenses around the the most important energy infrastructure in the Gulf States. We don't want to lose that. The Gulf States don't want to lose that, and they have been holding that in reserve. But you reach a point where if you can reduce the numbers low enough, then that threat.

Becomes much less of a formidable, credible one, and I just I I can't tell you I don't know what our intelligence says today about what they have in reserve, but the fact that they're not hitting the Israelis tells me that they're afraid of those targets being hit in a way that could reduce their military option to the point where basically then they've really lost even the threat. That's the point at which they would begin. I think that even Bakhuti and Resai would look for a deal.

Now they're clearly not there right now, right? And I don't know. You know, I don't know. Are they? Do they have forty percent left?

Do they have thirty percent left? Yeah, if they were at ten or fifteen percent, we might be in a different ballgame.

Well, you and I don't know, but I'm guessing there's some intelligence and folks that do know, possibly including President Trump, Ambassador Dennis Ross. Great, great insight and knowledge as always. Thank you for taking time today. My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

All right, this is Griff Jenkins on the Brian Kilmeade Show. We will be back with a whole lot more. Where big stories meet bigger conversations. Stay informed and energized with the Brian Kilmeade Show, the fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmeade.

Traveling at the speed of sound. This is the Brian Kilmeade Show. Griff Jenkins filling in. See what I did there, Eric? Speed of sound.

You're listening to Radio Sound. Oh goodness gracious! Older I get, the worse the dead jokes get. But talking about a serious issue, that is the future of what's happening in Iran. And we just had a fantastic interview with Ambassador Dennis Ross.

That is so versed in the history of Iran and the. Trajectory of where this is headed and the sort of past lives of those that are in control now, the IRGC, and those that are that are really the ones that seem to think they can outlast President Trump. Certainly, thinking they can make it a mess for the midterms, but outlasting him. Here is General Jack Keen, by the way, talking about the front now that maybe be developing in Saudi Arabia as they target. The Houthis in Yemen.

Listen, the Houthis escalated significantly when they took control of the Bab al Mandab Straits. That's a waterway that is strategically as significant as the Straits of the Moz. And the Saudis, in terms of its impact on them and their economy, they can't let that stand. The Houthis took control of a portion of Of Yemen back in 2015, the capital Sana, and within 90 days, Saudi went to war with them.

So they they've been on and off again in a conflict for years. They've had peace agreements and then violations of it. It's not surprising that Saudi is going back into conflict operations on a permanent basis with the Houthis. The U.S. saying they will not join kinetic strikes, but we are helping the Saudis in other ways, likely intelligence and targeting.

But we're watching that front with the Houthis in Yemen. A new front in this conflict is not something that President Trump wants to entertain anytime soon. This is Griff Jenkins from the Brian Kilmeade Show. The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmeade.

Brian Kilmeade has the day off. This is Griff Jenkins filling in on the Great Brian Kilmeade Show, covering everything from politics to the war in Iran. And let me see if I can weave these two together because we've been talking with Ambassador Dennis Ross about the way forward and what's going to happen. And no one really knows how it's going to happen. Will President Trump go back into having military strikes against Iran?

Will there be a deal? And Will the president ultimately achieve is overall arching arching goal of denuclearizing Iran and protecting not only the United States, the Middle East, but the entire world from the threat that the IRGC poses in Iran? But one of the things that Iran gauged and bet on and realized they could bring pressure for President Trump in this. Scenario was the the domestic pressure for Americans being upset with wars with high gas prices. They knew that they would, for lack of a better term, have a Trump card.

They thought they could play, and no doubt, if we're being honest here, the Iran war is certainly become, particularly because of higher gas prices, become a a real. Factor in here, and Democrat candidates have seized upon this not because they feel entirely this moral opposition in their hearts against the war of any kind, but because they knew it's a problem for their Republican candidates, and they wanted to hang it around their candidates' neck and seek political gain. And there's few places that it has been more on display. Than that tight race for the Senate out there in Michigan with Abdul Al-Sayed and Mike Rogers and our colleague here Martha McCallum with a great interview with Abdul Al-Sayed yesterday, and she was doing a great job of really drilling down against the the contrast, painting the contrast that you have Republicans that are free market capitalists worried about big. Big government socialist and how that would fundamentally realign our economic stance.

Which, while in the face of gas prices, we have had so many successful things. You read the Wall Street Journal; they talk about the U.S. economy right now, America's economy. Its animal, economic animal spirits are alive and well, waiting to be unleashed. But yet, when Martha is pressuring.

Al Sayed on whether or not he is a capitalist, as he's said from time to time, or an actual socialist, which he know we know he is. Here's a little bit of that exchange. Listen to this.

He takes it, of course, right to the war in Iran. This is cut five. I'm a capitalist because I believe that we leave it to supply and demand, right, to allocate where capital ought to go and the goods that we produce. But I also believe that there's a basic amount of soil that we need. Good school, clean air, clean water, health care, child care—those are things that just are in the firmament.

Now, those are the basic foundations. It's not disturbing to me to think that government should be able to offer you those basic things, just like you got and I got. I'm so grateful for the amazing public schools that I got.

So much money for those services.

Well, the reason we pay so much money is because we end up fighting wars that we shouldn't be fighting. That's why we end up paying so much money, and because we cut loopholes for the richest people who pay a lower effective tax rate than we do.

So I would rather us not buy a whole bunch of wars, and I would rather us buy really good schools.

So. Say what you will about Abdul Sayed, he is a good politician, and he's trying to really thread the needle there, and he wants to turn things to the war in Iran. And you know, it's interesting too that he says that he is a capitalist, but he's railed against capitalism. And it's worth tracing back to the history of the entire rise of the DSA, Democratic Socialism, that we are seeing. And not only Michigan, but also in places like here in New York City, but then in Colorado, down in Florida, just a number of races where we had these candidates.

All traces back to 2016 when Bernie Sanders started to catch fire and started talking about many of these socialist light sort of approaches, if you will, with Medicare for All clearly being a centerpiece of it, and the. Democratic Socialists of America, which had less than ten thousand members, was like we can hitch our wagon to this guy. He could lead us, you know, to a greater foothold in Democrat Party politics. And today they have hundreds of thousands of members, and they've got real candidates on the ballot. Many of whom, like Claire Valdez, here in New York City, likely, highly likely to get elected.

We'll see if Abdul Sayed does indeed win in November. If he Then reembraces in a more firm way his socialistic leanings. I think what's interesting to tell here is that he has had his friend that campaigned with him that was at a pool party on election night in the primary when he beat Haley Stevens. El Sayed is with Hassan Piker, who is the most controversial socialist saying America deserved nine eleven. He's now trying.

To distance himself, and here is a great flashback montage that our producer Eric put together, so you remember. Remember, he's side by side campaigning with them until all of a sudden he didn't need him anymore. Listen, stop asking me about a streamer in California. He's a streamer. Sam Piker is a streamer.

This campaign is not about a streamer in California. A streamer in California. A streamer in California. A social media person in California. A social media person, California.

A Twitch streamer in California. Streamer in California. Streamer in California, a streamer in California, a Twitch streamer in California, Twitch streamers in California, streamers in California, Twitch streamer, a streamer in California, a streamer in California, a streamer in California. That's his line, and a great job putting that together. Because I wanted to illustrate, he is just trying to sell the voters that he's just this streaming streamer in California.

I don't know, you know, like anybody else. I don't really know him, but he is. Let's be honest, level with the American people. You are buddies with him. He is advising your campaign.

You brought him. You chose to bring him. You didn't just show up on. His streaming show, like any other radio or TV show, you brought him to your race on election night in the primary. I was really proud of Martha who pressed Al Sayed about this whole streamer in California nonsense.

Here is a little bit of that exchange. Cut sex. This campaign was never about a streamer in California. This campaign was always about the price of gas and groceries, whether or not you could see a doctor when you get sick in the United States. I.

Every time I have a conversation here, that he's going to come up, and the question is not about a relationship I got with a streamer in California. It's not a relationship. The reason I have a conversation with him is the same reason I have a conversation with you, because I want to talk to the folks out here who I want to have a conversation with. Yeah, that's not going to fly. And by the way, that streamer in California is a millionaire that lives in Los Angeles, all embracing the democratic socialism, really communism that he wants.

But interesting to me, when you talk to stars from the Democratic Party like James Carville, who say what you will about him, he is the raging Cajun with a long track, successful track record of. Knowing where the poll says, he says actually talking to Jesse, he thinks that Al Sayed will beat Mike Rogers pretty significantly. Listen to this, cut eleven. Abdul not looking so great, and this is like a CPR situation. You got Kamala, Barack, Bernie, flying into Michigan to help save this guy.

Is he worth saving?

Well, I don't think he needs saving. First of all, guys, he's got a PhD, and he's running against a two of big former, which I think he'll beat handily. I'm not at all concerned. Oh, you're calling for him beating him handily? I think he will.

I mean, but but but again, I'm not an election predictor. I'm an election effector, and I think that Rogers has got Trump hung around his neck, who's coming in, clocking in about thirty nine percent in Michigan. You can't win with that, Jesse. James Carville, I love James Carville. Always disclaims that he is not an election predictor, but then, of course, what he does go on to say oftentimes is the case.

But he made the point that I was trying to set up, which is he has got Trump hung around his neck and trying to tie it in cases like that one time I would play for you to the war in Iran, and I think that if you see. The the Abdul El Sayed campaign go on as Carvel points out to win, then you're going to have a lot of sort of post election talk from Democrat candidates to say, you know what, this is the way forward. This is what we need to do from now on. And when you consider people like Rahm Emanuel, who's wondering if there's a centrist lane still in the Democrat Party, which he argues there is. I think you're going to see more and more people like El Sayed say, "Nope, sorry, we're done with you.

That's old news. We're putting you out to pasture." And by the way, you can take the carvils of the world with you. I'm Griff Jenkins on the Brian Kilmeade Show. More coming up. The more you listen, the more you'll know.

It's Brian Kilmeade. Welcome back to the Brian Kilmeade Show. I'm Griff Jenkins, filling in for Brian, and this is the show.

Well, where the more you listen, the more you will know. And I got to tell you, boy, did I learn a lot from Martha McCallum, my colleague at 3 p.m. The story Martha did a fantastic job. Interview, pressing time and time again with Abdul Al Sayed out there in Michigan, and we've talked so much about this race, the stakes, what's at hand. And Martha really came prepared with the receipts in trying to press him because let's be honest here, Al Sayed is a pretty smooth politician.

He's a fairly effective communicator, and he was trying to find ways to talk. Around issues, whether it came moments when he was trying to distance himself from Hassan Piker, or whether it was the fact that he is a socialist and yet he wanted to say somehow that he was a capitalist. No, I love capitalists, and then he's out there campaigning, wanting to get money out of politics while campaigning with George Soros's son. Just unbelievable! I had a chance on Fox and Friends.

To sit down one-on-one in studio with Martha and talk about that interview. Listen here: the latest Fox News poll showing progressive Abdul El-Sayed leading Republican Mike Rogers by just one point, and the Democrat sitting down with our own Martha McCallum doubling down on his far-left agenda. Here's what El-Sayed had to say about taking donations from the Soros family, despite pledging to get corporate money out of politics. Watch. Chuck Schumer's PAC gave your campaign thirty million dollars.

Do you know where that money comes from? It comes from corporations.

So I mean, sooner or later, you're taking money that is linking back to, and and you don't think that those interests, those people, are going to circle back around to you in Washington and say, "So, Senator, we gave this much money." They won't. They won't. No, they won't. Because I've been very, very clear that I am not interested in doing the bidding of corporations. I will not sit down with a corporate.

And if they ever say, "Well, we got you elected," I'd be like, "Oh, you mean the seventy million dollars you spent against me in my primary?" Yeah, that—that's not the case. Here's the question: Ultimately, who's going to do something about it? Do you trust Mike Rogers, who is part parcel of this system, to do something about it, or do you trust me, who took it on the chin from the same corporations who ran against them this time too? Here's the truth of the matter. In my primary and in the general election, the same corporations are funding politicians, and this is the problem.

Both sides of the aisle funded by exactly the same corporations. That's what I want to end. Host and executive editor of the story, Martha McCallum, joining us now. Martha, good morning. Just a master class.

You did such a good job because he is a effective communicator, but you were prepared. You brought the receipts, and that was a remarkable exchange. You know, just watching that again, it's really interesting because his whole thing has been getting money out of politics. Right? We all understand that is very difficult to do, but you know, you say that out of one side of your mouth, and he even.

You know we need to get Democrat power brokers out of Democrat politics. But then he's standing next to one of the Soros brothers on the stage in Los Angeles, and the reason he was in New York was to spend more time, likely with billionaires on stages with AOC last night. I thought it was very interesting that video. He keeps looking at his feet while he's standing on that stage.

So you know this is sort of I guess what people have to do to suck it up to get into politics. But it's very very difficult message for him to put out there when he is. Clearly, being backed by these guys, the other person who really feels that he owns him to some extent is clearly Hassan Piker. When New York Magazine said, "You know, I'm not worried if he's trying to distance himself from me right now because I know that he will do the right thing on Israel and minimizing Israel in U.S. politics and isolating them," he's like, "When it comes time, he's mine.

He's trapped." He said. But you're seeing the picture here of him literally campaigning. I mean, it's clear, and he he said to you, he's like, "Hey, I'm talking to some Peckerer streamer, and I'm talking to you, Martha." But it's not the same. He's on a show with you, and you're interviewing him as a journalist. Whereas it's clear he's got him even at his victory party poolside on primary night.

Well, there's that picture right there. You know, it's pretty clear that reducing Funding and support for Israel is a huge part of what is going on here, and that's what Hassan Piker says he will hold his feet to the mat on. You know, he says I talk to Hassan Piker because he has three million viewers.

Well, that's who he wants to this message to resonate with. He also has a lot of anger towards corporations. I always think this is interesting because corporations, you know, small businesses are the biggest employers in the country, which he says he wants to be supportive of. But right after that is corporations, and he also talks about how he wants. More millionaires than billionaires, and then he went after Nvidia.

Nvidia has made so many millionaires; seventy-five percent of the people who work there became millionaires in recent months.

So we were talking about you know this prosperity, the incredible prosperity of the United States that has come all through capitalism. And I think a lot of people, you know, he says he's a capitalist, but most of what he said doesn't back any of that up whatsoever. No, and it's such a great point because I remember watching live when SpaceX rang the. The Wall Street Bell. Literally, when SpaceX went public, every single employee, down to the welder and the janitor, became overnight millionaires.

That's the story of America, and it's not clear that he backs that. By the way, Rahm Emanuel sat down with Sean Hannity. Rahm Emanuel is the centrist Democrat from the Bill Clinton mold that's trying to bring it back, and it's not even clear that a guy like that has a lane to even carve out in the Democrat Party. Watch the. I don't believe the socialist wing.

I think they are a separate party.

They believe in defunding police, which is not the party position. They believe in borders and open prisons. That's not the party's position. When you switch that, we can talk. And I don't think that's where the party is.

I think the party is in the pragmatic wing. You can see that in the governors of Virginia. You can see that in the governor of New Jersey, how they both won their primaries. And you can also see when you look at the primary process in Michigan or Wisconsin. Take the states.

Fifty percent of the vote was not. And what you call the most dominant voice? What do you think? Well, I think what he says there's really important when you look at Michigan because Haley Stevens and Al Sayed's race was much closer than anybody thought it was going to be. He squeaked out that primary race.

So the question is, when you get to the general, are those people, those Stevens supporters, Haley Stevens supporters, are they going to stay home or are they going to turn out for Abdul Al Sayed? And if they stay home, And maybe there's a lane for Rahm Emanuel if they all are in with Sayed. Then I think that tells you something about the races to come. Spot on. We will be watching, and also we'll be watching today.

You're going to outdo yourself from yesterday. Today you've got Mike Rogers on the story at three p.m. Absolutely, we can talk to Mike Rogers. We want to get all sides of these races across the country over the next four weeks. Amazing stuff there from that interview with Martha.

And by the way, we will let you hear tomorrow, hopefully, from Mike Rogers, who is sitting down with Martha today. A lot's going to come from that. It's going to be something you do not want to miss. I am Griff Jenkins, your humble D.C. correspondent, filling in for the great Brian Kilmeade on the Brian Kilmeade.

Meat Show.