Russian Air Strikes Move Closer to NATO Territory

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Visit Samsung.com to learn more about Galaxy Z Fold 4. Live from the Fox News Radio Studios in New York City, fresh off the set of Fox and Friends, it's America's receptive voice. Brian Killmeade. Hey, this is Jason Chaffetz. I'm actually filling in for Brian.

Honored to do so. There's so much happening. Glad you could join us. We're going to have a lot of fun. We got Sean Duffy home for us on the line, but before I do that, hey, we just have to.

Welcome, uh uh uh Sedalia. Is joining us. Sedali is newsletter there in Missouri, AM 1050 KSIS. Thanks for joining the Killmead. Crew and being one of the affiliates there in the wonderful state of Missouri.

My mom was actually born in St. Joseph, Missouri.

So I got some ties out there. And thanks for joining us and broadcasting the Brian Kilmead show out there in Sedalia.

So glad we're doing that. And lots happening in the news.

So I don't want to. Mess around. I want to bring in my former colleague, somebody I served with in the United States Congress, Sean Duffy. It was the Congressman from Wisconsin. He's a Fox News contributor.

He's also a co-author of the book All-American Christmas, which was way up there in the New York Times. I think it was number one.

So, Sean Duffy, thanks for joining us this morning. Hey, Jason, it's great to be with you. I gotta tell you, I don't know if you have this, and you mentioned the state. I always think of the members of Congress from that state.

So I'm like, oh, Billy Long. Uh Jason Smith. This old habit we have of who serves in that state? Yes, or Vicki Hertzler. Yes, exactly.

And that's kind of the way you view the whole state: you just kind of think of a delegation, and then who are the members from that state, like Jason Smith, like you said. That's funny. When I think of Wisconsin, when I think of lumberjacking, I think only of you.

So glad you're joining us. Hey, I want to get your take on Russia and particularly this story coming out that Russia is asking China for. For help. I want to play Jake Sullivan. He was on CNN.

Let's play Clip 17. Then I want to get to your response, thoughts on that. Would you sanction China if they did? Help out Russia? I'm not going to sit here publicly and brandish threats, but what I will tell you.

is that we are communicating directly, privately to Beijing. that there will absolutely be consequences for large-scale sanctions, evasion efforts, or support to Russia to backfill them. We will not allow that to go forward and allow there to be a lifeline to Russia from these economic sanctions from any country anywhere in the world. And what's interesting, Sean, is that supposedly I believe Jake Sullivan is meeting with the with China's top diplomat today. But the idea of bringing China into this fight and engaged and involved and supportive in any way, shape or form Uh that can't be good.

Well, a couple of thoughts on that. Number one is Obviously, this is American intelligence that must have picked up this conversation or this request from the Russians to the Chinese. And instead of holding that close to the best, The Biden administration puts it out there for the world to see. And again, I don't disagree with that move. But is this a way to actually embarrass the Russians?

To tell the world how poorly it's going for them in Ukraine, that they actually have to ask the Chinese for assistance. That Russia now is viewed as the younger brother of the greater China. This is an embarrassing ask for the world to know about. It was probably. Meant to be done in private.

But now American intelligence has exposed it.

So one, I think this is incredibly embarrassing for Putin. But the second thought I have, Jason, is it brings me back to Donald Trump. President Trump was like, listen, we got to put America first. China's not our ally. China's not our friend.

We make way too much stuff in China. We gotta get out. We gotta bring our manufacturing back home, but if not home to America. Go to India, go to Vietnam, go somewhere else, anywhere but China. And it seems like Joe Biden, whether it was in the State of the Union address, which was stolen right out of the playbook of Donald Trump, he's going to secure the borders and he's going to fund the police and we're going to make things in America again.

But here again, you start going, hump. President Trump was probably right to go, China is the greatest threat we face in this country. And if we rely on China, Like Russia relies on the rest of the world for everything. You see the power that Russia has given the West. whether through banking, through their credit card transactions, Um They we basically are able to shut them down because they rely on us.

We should think about that as well. If we have some conflict with China, China can shut us down because we get everything from China. We should see over the horizon right now and go, get out, get out now. Yeah, that message for those that have just not heated it. It's just been, hey, let's take the cheap labor.

Hey, let's take the inexpensive goods. But also our national debt. I mean, it makes it, you know, we're so beholden to the Chinese buying our national debt and how much debt they hold. But let's go back to Putin and the way things are going. Because, I mean, by most accounts, things are not going as smoothly as Russia may have predicted and wanted them to go, and that everything was just going to fall like dominoes pretty quickly.

But it's also the fog of war. It's also difficult to tell what is actually going on. But let's listen to the President Zelensky cut two in his take. If they kill all of us, then they will enter Kyiv. If this is the goal, then let them enter.

But they will end up leaving. Living alone on this land. Certainly, without us, they will not find friends among us. I mean, this is a country of, what, forty five million people or so and the i i I mean, Ukrainians are showing to be a very tough lot who are not just going to cede and roll over and let the Russians come in and take over their land. And Putin might have misread the the Ukrainians when he took Crimea.

He basically took it without much of a fight. He basically annexed it, and Ukraine didn't do much about it. This is completely different. This is their liberty, their freedom. We'll call them a democracy, but if their democracy is at stake, they would be a subjected state of Russia, and they're not going to stand for it.

And I get I'm incredibly Um Impressed with how well they fought. They're willing to give their life and their treasure to defend. Yeah, you know, it's I don't think that Putin oh go ahead.

Well, it's interesting, though, that supposedly, you know, the U.S. is feeling like, oh, my goodness, well, you know, Russia might come to the negotiating table. I was on the panel for Fox News Sunday, and one of the guests there that Brett Baer interviewed was Wendy Sherman from the State Department. Let's listen to cut four and her take on Russia. And the second is to put enormous pressure on Vladimir Putin to try to change his calculus, to end this war, to get a ceasefire in the first instance, to get humanitarian corridors, and to end this invasion.

That pressure is beginning to have some effect. We are seeing some signs of a willingness to have real serious negotiations. But I have to say, as your reporter said so far, it appears that Vladimir Putin is intent. on destroying Ukraine. We need to help Ukrainians in every way we can.

So, my question, Sean Duffy, is about negotiations because we've kind of seen this before.

Well, I was in Congress, I went to Georgia, where Russia had come in and basically took over 25% of the state of Georgia, and not Atlanta, Georgia, but Georgia there in their neighborhood. And And then they signed some documents saying that they would withdraw. And then they never withdrew. I mean, that's the concern, is that they're just going to hoodwink everybody saying, Oh, lay down your arms, let's be quiet, you know, don't worry about it, we'll get out of here, and then they never leave. Right.

Well, they're not known for honesty, right? Jason, you know, they lie, they treat and they steal. We should expect that. But to the clip you played, I think the sanctions are one thing, but do the sanctions really impact Putin himself? Not really.

They're impacting the people in Russia significantly. Maybe some of the oligarchs could which could be a threat to Putin's leadership in Russia. I think Putin understands strength. Putin understands that. Um if if Ukraine continues to fight back, if we arm Ukraine with Missiles.

If they get the MiGs, if they're able to fight back and inflict major damage on Putin, he understands that. And then, once you get Putin to that point, you have to allow him to save faith. And anything that we've done, and we know this from politics. Even though you might have beat someone in a negotiation, you have to let them Say face and claim a victory, especially when you have a guy who has nuclear weapons pointed at the U.S., you let him say face. But that's not going to happen until.

There's a a shift in the war. that actually there's a l the Ukraine stops the advancement of the Russians. The Russians, though it's taking longer, they continue to continue to take territory, they continue to advance, they continue to effectuate their mission on Ukraine.

So that has to stop and they have to get rolled back before I think Putin comes to the table. And to let that happen, We actually have to arm the Ukrainians. And it goes back to this other point that I know you've made numerous times. Why did Joe Biden do this? over the last year.

right? And my wife Rachel made this point earlier. Liberals are like, oh no. Donald Trump threatened to take away some of the the armaments he was giving to the Ukrainians if they didn't come clean on Hunter Biden.

Well, the point behind that is he could take armaments away because he was actually giving weapons to Ukraine. You can take weapons away if you've given them to them, right? Joe Biden gave $120 million over the course of his presidency. twenty million last summer, one hundred million in December, I think it was November, when the Russians were stacking their troops at the Ukrainian border. Why wasn't a couple billion dollars spent?

Again, sending them the arms to make sure they could defend themselves, that might have made Putin reconsider whether he invades or not. Yeah, I I I don't understand why this wasn't done well in advance, making sure that they had what is proving to be a very effective weapon in those stingers and other types of weapons. And the sanctions I thought were an absolute joke because they kept saying, Oh, the sanctions, sanctions, sanctions are going to be a deterrent. Only to have Joe Biden say, well, nobody seriously thought that those sanctions would ever be a deterrent. And then, how is it that we still have sanctions in our.

in our repertoire that we could actually go out and use. Why are we unleashing every single sanction we can possibly do, particularly as it relates to American energy? I just don't understand that. I don't understand that either, but I would tell you what, I'm very concerned about the sanctions that we're using, that we've kicked Russia out of SWIFT. Everyone in the world is able to use Swift for the most part.

And once you kick out Russia, you have other countries, whether it's China. Um, other rogue nations that might not want to be subject to the west, you're going to see an alternate. System set up of people who don't want to be part of SWIFT because that gives too much power to the West. That can threaten the reserve currency status of the dollar. Everyone trades in dollars right now.

If you're going between Brazil and Sweden, they don't do that transaction in their home currencies. They do it in dollars.

So there's a demand for dollars. If they trade those dollars in, there's trillions of them out there. You tank our currency and you tank our economy. This could be cataclysmic for the country, which doesn't make sense why we would play that card. I think when it has such a potential Downdraft for the American dollar and the American economy.

And I might be a minority view on that, Jason. But uh when you have a risk to the US that says that that's so great from our reserve currency status that could be lost. I don't think it was worth playing that card. And what impact does it really have on the Russians? I don't know, not a whole lot.

I think, to your point, energy is the key. produce American energy, drive down the cost, take money out of Putin's pocket. Yeah, you bring a big a very good point about SWIFT, because I think the Chinese and the Russians do share a goal, and that is to get the world economy away from the dollar. Everything is pegged to the dollar. But if they could create, because of necessity, a drive towards something else that they could be more in control of and not allow the United States to be a leader, I think that is a very real threat to us.

the energy sector. I mean, how many times are we going to have to talk about the need to develop, you know, and be energy self sufficient, but also be able to be the backstop for Europe so that they can buy a viable um you know, energy product from the United States without having to be held be be held into Russia. And I think you and I were both in Congress together when we passed the bill, it was right before you left to allow exports of LNG. We started to build terminals in the southern part of the country so we could export LNG to places like Germany who actually need it. But I don't think, Jason, that the Democrats, that the Green New Deal.

Wing of the Democrat Party, which is the most vocal and most powerful wing of their party, are ever going to come back around to believing that we need to produce energy in America. They would rather outsource that to countries that hate us, that produce their energy with no rules or regulations.

So they do it in a more dirty fashion. All of this is disastrous for the economy, but also for the environment. And so the only way they get the message is through elections. And you have one coming up in November. I think Democrats, we're going to have a big loss.

I thought that four months ago. Today, I think it's going to be even greater. When I came in, Republicans picked up, what, 64 seats that gave you the majority. You got to Congress before me. I think.

The Republicans are going to pick up. You know, 35 seats, which Democrats only have a, what, a five-seat majority right now.

So a 35-seat pickup means Republicans have a 30-seat majority. That is massive. It is massive. And energy will be a major driver in those decisions. Former Congressman from Wisconsin, Sean Duffy, thank you so much for joining us on the Brian Kilmey Show.

We do appreciate it. Great talking, Jason. Have a great day. Stay with us. We'll be back with more of the Brian Kilmead Show.

Diving deep into today's top stories. It's Brian Kilmead. Precise, personal, powerful. Is America's weather team in the palm of your hands? Get Fox Weather updates throughout your busy day, every day.

Subscribe and listen now at FoxnewsPodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts. From the Fox News Podcasts Network. I'm Ben Dominich, Fox News contributor and editor of the Transom.com daily newsletter. And I'm inviting you to join a conversation every week. It's the Ben Dominich Podcast.

Subscribe and listen now by going to FoxNewsPodcasts.com. A talk show that's real. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. We also see once again the fact that they lack a real non-commissioned officer corps and not much initiative at the lower levels either. In fact, one reason that we're seeing senior officers killed fairly regularly is presumably because they're getting out of their vehicles, having to go forward and find out, you know, why have you guys stopped?

Why aren't you dispersing off the road? Why are we parked in the open? and so forth.

So, really, quite an underwhelming performance. They have failed to integrate their ground maneuver and their air assets, something we thought they would use to great effect. That's really the essence of Blitzkrieg going all the way back to, say, 1939. And they haven't been able to achieve combined arms effects. In other words, using armor together with infantry, with engineers, with indirect fire, mortars, artillery, drones, and all the rest of that.

You just have not seen any. of those kinds of operations. That was General David Petraeus. He was on with Brian Killmeat on One Nation over the weekend. General Petraeus, you could say a lot of things about him, but he certainly has a lot of experience and understanding of military, military tactics, and being underwhelmed by what's going on in Russia.

Now, make no mistake, these Russians are ruthless. They're using some weapons that, boy, a lot of people think are just out of bounds. The human toll that they've been taking, seeing that attack on a hospital, other types of attacks. Let's not ever sell Russia short in their Tenacity and how vile they can be in the The world of war. I think there's a tendency to say, wow, okay, there's a lot of great strength from the Ukrainians.

Ukraine is a big-sized country. There is a lot of territory to cover. We hope and pray, I guess, that the Ukrainians are able to fight back street by street and road by road and neighborhood by neighborhood. But the brutality of war, the millions of people that are having to be displaced, that are leaving their homes to. To have to take whatever you have, imagine doing that.

Imagine having to take what you have. With your own possessions and having to walk or try to get on a bus or some sort of train or something. And then go to a country that you're just not as familiar with. The toll here is absolutely devastating. There's no reason for it.

I hope the world will continue to look at this and understand that Vladimir Putin is a thug. He is just absolutely one of the worst dictators on the face of the planet. And he's ruthless in all that he does. May God bless the people of. Of Ukraine, and the dates may not spin out of even more control than it is.

Stay with us. This is the Brian Kilmeet Show. From the Fox News Podcasts Network, in these ever-changing times, you can rely on Fox News for hourly updates for the very latest news and information on your time. Listen and download now at FoxNewsPodcasts.com or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. A radio show like no other.

It's Brian Killmead. Hey, this is actually Jason Chapins. And I got to tell you, it's a lot of fun. I really appreciate Brian Comey letting me sit in his seat every once in a while and doing so today. I'd love talking about policy.

I love talking about the issues. I just love talking about the world and what's happening and doing something in the United States of America that you can't do in a lot of places, which is have that discussion. And I just find radio to be such a great format. You know, don't get lost in 140 characters and the back and forth. And you actually get to dive in and go a little deeper on issues.

And, you know, I served in the United States Congress for eight and a half years.

So just thrilled and honored to do so. And along the way, you meet some people that you probably wouldn't meet otherwise. And thrilled to have on Congressman Doug Collins from the great state of Georgia. He's joining us. He served with me in the United States Congress.

We were both on the Judiciary Committee. He was the former ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee. Committee. He's host of the Doug Collins podcast and author of The Clock and the Calendar: a front row look at the Democrats' obsession with Donald Trump. And he's just an all-around good guy, Doug Collins.

Thanks for joining us on the Brian Killmead Show. Hey, Jason, it's good to be with you there. Sitting in Brian's chair this morning. Got it going. Yeah, you know, it's, I've just kind of settled in here and.

Yeah, he kicks me out pretty quick, but I I really do have a lot of fun with it. And Doug, you know, uh one of the things I enjoyed and as I got to know you through the years is just um You have a love and a passion of the country. You have a military background. You've represented for a long time the good people there in Georgia who are about as patriotic and pro-military as you can possibly be. Um.

Mm-hmm. And so I know you'd be pained, and I'm pained when I hear that there is an American journalist who was out there serving, you know, trying to bring the story back home. And he was killed. And nobody wants to see that. Let's listen to Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor.

He was on CBS, and let's get his take on this. Cut nine. I do want to ask you about these reports that U.S. journalists have been killed in Ukraine by Russian forces. Do we know what the consequence would be for Russia killing an American?

Well, this is obviously shocking and horrifying, and I've just learned about it as I came onto air here, so I will be consulting with my colleagues. We'll be consulting with the Ukrainians to determine how this happened and then to measure and execute appropriate consequences as a result of it. I don't know what the right answer to that is. You have somebody in the theater of war get shot. I don't know all the details, haven't seen a video, don't understand what happened or didn't happen, but nobody wants to see an American, nobody wants to see a Ukrainian, for that matter, have to lose their life unnecessarily.

What's your take on all this, Doug?

Well, a two-fold take, Jason. I think the concern I have is Jake Sullivan and the rest. I mean, you and I could talk about Jake Sullivan in other contexts that really caused me to have concern about him being in the position he is in, which is sort of scary if you look at it. But I get his answer there, but his answer was very concerning in the sense of it was too, have we went back to this too diplomatic of an approach? Putin invaded a country.

Putin has committed a war crime. His soldiers have killed on all accounts and all reports of what happened from another reporter who was there. Shot and killed an American journalist. All right, listen, we passed that by. He was a journalist in the Colin of War Zone, fog of war, we get that.

But my next question is: is they yesterday Russia bombed 10 miles away from the Polish border? Where at what point will this administration get to a point where not involving ourselves in the middle of a groundwork, but be ready to respond when Putin or the forces actually incur outside of the Ukraine? Or when does it get to the point where Putin feels any pushback from an administration that seemingly is just Letting others lead. And I think that's my concern right now. They have seen what this administration will do, and they're acting upon what the administration is allowing them to do.

Well, l let's listen to General Jack Keene. He was on the next revolution last night on Fox News. Really appreciate his expert analysis. But let's go to Cut 12. That's been a pattern of behavior here for some time.

I mean, going back to 2021, when Putin put 70,000 troops on the Ukraine border, we had a shipment going in there that same month, March and April, that was scheduled from the Trump administration of arms and ammunition. And the Biden administration delayed it to August. Then, when they showed up in the fall after the Afghanistan fiasco with 170,000 troops, we delayed another shipment. And the stated reason for delaying both shipments were we did not want to provoke Putin into attacking. It's outrageous what happens to this administration.

Opposite effect, right? Maybe she'd have gotten in those before so that Putin would have been. I mean, they looked at that. Seems like it was absolutely backwards, Doug. It is backwards.

I mean, look, there's two things that I want to make sure. And General King, he actually hit it pretty well there. And a third part. But the first two is this. Number one is the weakening of America's energy dependence.

I think that's number one. We've talked about that a great deal. Number two, the Afghanistan. He mentioned this. The Afghanistan withdrawal gave the world's dictators a look into really what is the incomplete looking soul, so to speak, of this administration that was willing to turn people away 60 feet away, were willing to walk away and leave them after promising to take care of them.

They saw that happen. Then, my third question, Jason, initially, as you said, you were talking about long form of a little bit of radio. Let me ask you this. didn't the Democrats want to impeach Donald Trump? for legally holding up A what they perceived was a a shipment of arms to the Ukraine.

And there we have the Biden administration holding up two in a time in which there was a known threat of the Russians on the border. This is, I mean, you cannot get any more hypocritical unless, you know, I just, this is the part that scares me right now. And I think there's another part, Jack, I'd love to hear, you know, we talk about this, is I don't think that the Russian, I mean, the Iranian strike in northern Iraq. was a mistake. I think it w uh if anything, I think it was probably Coordinated or at least approved upon just to see what America will do.

And you notice, I haven't heard a lot of response from the administration over that attack. Does that surprise you as well? Yeah, I mean, what I've heard is: well, we're not sure it was an attack on the actual consulate. I mean, there were only, what, six plus. Missiles that just happened to fly from Iran into Iraq, that we just happen to, and we are in the midst of these negotiations.

Now, Doug Collins, explain to me why in the world we would rely on the Russians to do the negotiating at the table with Iran. What? Yeah.

Well eight. It is amazing, and you had a huge part to play in this, but it was only a few, uh, it's only a few people, and it was about a movie from Egypt that calls Benghazi. You know, I mean, come on, give me a break. This is the same bunch of people that will use anything that they can. There's what bothers me is: why are they so desperate to strike a deal with Iran?

And again, To go back to allowing them for the nuclear forces. And China and Russia both said within the last 10 days, we're shocked that America has allowed some of the concessions that they have. What is it about the Biden administration or the Obama going back to the Obama administration that is so enamored with Iran? I just don't get that. That's a country that hates us, number one, but does not even recognize Israel's right to exist.

I mean, I don't get why I would rather I would rather deal with almost anything else, like our our own supplies of oil, than go to Iran and beg hat in hand. There was two tours in Democratic administrations in the last 15 years. The first one is the Obama apology tour to the world. The second one is going on right now and it's the Biden hat in hand tour to people in the world to get them to give us oil. No, it's I mean to suggest that we have to g send people down to Venezuela to open that up.

All right, wait, I don't want to let go of this Iran nuclear deal. I was on the panel, as I mentioned earlier, on Fox News Sunday when Brett Baer was interviewing Wendy Sherman from the State Department. Let's go to Cut 24 and get her take on what's going on there.

Well, I think it's close, and we would like all of the parties, including Russia, which has indicated it's got some concerns, to bring this to a close. You know, we are very concerned about what Iran is doing, but imagine these Iranians with a nuclear weapon. We need to get that off the table so we can address their malign behavior in the Middle East. And we will do all of the above. But first, we've got to get this deal, and it is not yet closed.

Doug Collins, what's your take? Are you kidding me? Jason, when you were you and I both were in Congress when this was going on, this there's nothing about the Iranian deal that keeps them from developing nuclear weapons. This is a lie. All it does at best is slow it down.

And they've been speeding up and breaking this protocol ever since the first one was done. How does a reporter who's interviewing Wendy Sherman actually sit there and say, Okay, well, here's a follow-up question.

Well, this nowhere in this agreement does it say they can't have a nuclear weapon. It doesn't say that. And yet, this is how they sell it. And now, sitting there, what amazes me too is they say, Well, the Russians are here helping to negotiate. It's like I'm sitting with somebody who I know is down the street attacking my cousin's home, so to speak, and spreading genocide three streets over.

But I'm going to sit here and talk about him and talk civilly with him about this issue. I don't it it's it's it's beyond fathomable, I think, to most Americans right now.

Well, the goal is supposedly not to allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. That we can all agree on. But to your point, that's not there has to be a way to verify, to actually go in and check. And you know, when this first Iran nuclear deal was put in place, I was chairman of the Oversight Committee, so I went to the State Department and said, Hey, all right, well, I want to go to Iran and have a look. And they said, they just laughed, like, are you kidding me?

Nobody's going to Iran.

Well, then, how do we verify what's going on there?

So, don't we have people going? Look, if we have Americans going in to verify and check out these facilities, then I want to go too. Why can't Congress have a look? Oh, no, no, nobody's going in. I mean, they just blew me off.

Like, are you kidding me? There's no possible way we're going to allow you to even talk about that. But it is one of the greatest threats that's going on to the world today. And to suggest that Russia and China are going to be party to coming up with the negotiation here, I just don't understand it. I just don't understand.

Well, we don't. And I think you hit it in there perfectly. There's one thing, though, that is true, and I've never had anybody, media or the previous administration or this one. The one thing that was true is centrifuges were still spending in Iran and have been for the last 10, 12 years. All they did was they put it behind closed doors, they slowed it up.

I mean, we didn't even enforce the travel restrictions until Donald Trump did. I mean, their folks were traveling, the ones who were supposed to be banned were still traveling the world. I mean, it's just a joke. All right, well last take here uh Congressman or Doug, I'd like to just call you Doug. I hope you're all right.

Yeah, Doug. We're good. Mike Pompeo. He was on Sunday Morning Futures, the former Secretary of State, somebody we both served with in the Congress. On his expectations about President Xi and whether or not they'll go into Taiwan.

Cut 20. Xi Jinping is determined. He's made clear his intention to, quote, reunify, end of quote, with Taiwan. What tools, what tactics, what timing is difficult to know. I only know this.

It is not predetermined that he'll be successful at that. He'll be successful at that if we're scared, if we think that taking action to support the Taiwanese people is provocative to Xi Jinping. It's not. This is an independent nation. They know it.

The world knows it. We ought to behave as such, and we ought to provide them the tools they need to maintain their own sovereignty. This is important, Maria, for the whole world and for the central idea that has allowed Western civilization to advance in the way it has these last years. We can't walk away from that. Is that the right public policy?

Are we all in if they go into Taiwan?

Well, I think the world would be all in. I think I disagree just a little bit. I know that there is this assumption that Taiwan, you know, that China is looking to make their move on Taiwan, probably the best time that they could do it right now. But I'm still looking at it. Xi is very.

Uh, also looking at it from an economic world perspective, Taiwan is much different than most any others. Uh, if he does, though, I would say that you know there's a good probability that uh You and I both know. A quick first strike from China. Uh Taiwan is gone. in a very short amount of time.

The question would be is how quick the world would react to it and would they push them back out? I'm not sure what Biden administration would do right now. I mean, again, we're still waiting for a response about missiles coming from Iran into our near our base in Iraq.

So but it is concerning. The world Jason, I don't know about you, but for me, this is about as concerning a time as I've seen it. Even probably since the Cuban Missile Crisis, we have two or three areas that are all tender boxes for what would drag us into a war with peer-to-peer power. And if someone in the Air Force still, that concerns me, it's something we've ignored for a long time. And that's the part that concerns me the most.

And with an administration, the Commander in Chief that does not seem to have a good clue about leading from up front, but leading from behind. Yeah, I think that's it. I think it's the lack of American leadership, the ability to rally the world. I just totally believe, as I know you do, in Peace Through Strength, that from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump, we had leaders out there that were saying, hey, you know what? The United States of military is the biggest, baddest military on the face of the planet.

We don't apologize for it. It's what's going to keep the peace. But we don't act like it right now. And that's when you send Kamala Harris as the vice president over to do your bidding on her second trip to Europe. That ain't getting it done.

Doug Collins, thanks for joining us, former ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, host of the Doug Collins podcast, and author of The Clock in the Calendar, a front-row look at the Democrats' obsession with Donald Trump. An all-around good guy, Congressman, former Congressman from Georgia, Doug Collins. Thanks for joining us on the Brian Kilmead Show. And Jason, take care. Look forward to seeing you again soon.

Take care. All right, we'll be right back. Stay with us. Expanding your knowledge base. It's the Brian Kill Meet Show.

Hey, it's Will Kane, co-host of Fox and Friends Weekend. Join me as I share my thoughts on a wide range of topics from sports and pop culture to politics and business. The Will Kane Podcast. Subscribe and listen now at FoxNewsPodcasts.com. The more you Listen, the more you'll know, it's Brian Kilmead.

Well, almost Brian Killby. This is Jason Javis. I'm filling in for Brian today and I've had some good lively discussion. You know, there's a lot going on in the United States, a lot that may be weighing on your minds. not only the heels of COVID, but uh war raging in Europe.

We've got inflationary problems, energy problems, uh cost of food's going up. I mean, life is just much more expensive and much more uh taking a toll on on on people. But You know what? Here's the good news. One of the great American traditions.

It starts tomorrow. And I want to make sure that you're paying attention. Not only did you have to move your clocks forward this past Sunday, which. Except for those good people in Arizona, everybody had to go move their clocks forward. Uh, you know what?

March madness is upon us. And I don't you know Close your ears here for a second if you don't if you don't want to know who's going to win. But you got to fill out those brackets. You got to get that thing prepared. And I tell you, I've had more fun with college sports this year.

I thought college football just really had a great time with college football this year, probably as much as any year in recent memory. It's good to see it back and people in the stands. But there's nothing like March Madness. Those rocking arenas, I think, is going to be so fun with the COVID kind of in the rearview mirror here. I'm a big Gonzaga fan.

I got to tell you, I think they're going to go all the way. If I had to, you saw my bracket, they would be at the top of the heap. They're going to go all the way. But you know what? Root for your team.

Have fun with it. Fill out that bracket. You start paying attention to games that you've never paid attention to in the past. It's a great American tradition. It brings the country together for a couple of weeks.

Cinderella stories. Who's it going to be? But at the end of the day... It's going to be those good people at Konzaga that are actually going to get to the finish line, bring home that national championship, and we're going to have fun watching it every single step of the way.

So enjoy the March Madness. And from the Brian Kilmeat show, sorry to tell you who's going to win, but they're going to win. From the Fox News Radio Studios in New York City, giving you opinions and facts with a positive approach. It's Brian Kilmead. All right, welcome to the Brian Kilmead Show.

I'm Jason Chapitz. I'm filling in for Brian. Honored and pleased to do so. We got a great hour, lots to talk about.

So many things happening in the news, but we want to start off by welcoming 92.7 WMAY Springfield's news and talk to the Brian Kilmead show and network. And glad they're an affiliate there in Springfield, Illinois. Welcome, WMAY 92.7. You're going to love it. Brian puts together a great show, and we got great guests today.

And we're going to kick things off right away with Michael Goodwin, New York Post columnist, Fox News contributor. And I got to tell you, if the New York Post, if you want to read a column, You know Day in and day out. You want to read something that really has something to say, who's going to give you a perspective. There's nobody better than Michael Goodwin. Thanks so much for joining us here on the Brian Kill Meet Show, Michael.

My pleasure, Jason, thank you. Oh no, I I love chatting with you, so that's a good opportunity to kind of dive a little deeper. But I I love the way you write and what you write, and uh you got an interesting one out here. Biden is letting Putin run the Iran nuclear talks. What could go wrong there, Michael?

Well, you know, that's what struck me when I stumbled on this. I I as I say in the column, um I saw this several weeks back, uh maybe even uh a month or so, and it was that uh Mm-hmm. The United States had effectively designated Russia to be the broker with Iran on the nuclear talks. And this is because Iran will not meet with the Americans directly. There had to be a go-between.

For a while it was Finland, I believe. But there have been various go-betweens, and somehow it became Russia.

Now that never makes any sense when you line up Russia's alliance with Iran in Syria and elsewhere, they are partners. They're strategic and military partners. And so why in the world would we assume that they could broker, be an honest broker in this deal? But then you fast forward to what's happened in Ukraine. And you say, well, okay, even if the Biden administration thought Russia could deliver an around deal last year, what about this year?

What about when Putin starts massing the troops on the on the Ukraine border and starts making all kinds of threats. That doesn't say to Biden and Tony Blinken and Jake Sullivan, the National Security Director, hey, you know, maybe this arrangement with Russia on Iran isn't that good of an idea now given that Putin is about to invade an ally of ours. Even when Putin doesn't invade, even when he starts slaughtering civilians and turning Ukrainian cities into rubble, creating mass refugees not seen in Europe since World War II, they don't rethink it. They continue to let it go. And as I say in the column, in January, in the third week of January, the confluence of events is amazing.

NATO is mobilizing against Putin, and Tony Blinken, the Secretary of State, is publicly encouraging the Russians to give the Iranians a sense of urgency about completing the Iran nuclear deal. And then fast forward to last week when They say the deal is all but done, it's ready to go. And the Russian negotiator, our supposed honest broker, is on a video saying, boy, the Iranians really got a great deal here. They got more than we could expect. They fought for everything.

They got it. Oh, and our friends, the Chinese, were very helpful too.

So there you have it. Russia, Iran, and China on one side negotiating the nuclear deal, which we are just happy to have done. It makes no sense in the world. And as I write, you know, my head is like sometimes you get these stories that you scratch your head. Other times you feel like you want to pull out your hair.

This one makes your head explode. How in the world could they go through with this? And what kind of deal could possibly emerge that would make it worthwhile to work with Putin, whom we have called a war criminal? I mean, it's simply unbelievable that this is happening. Before our eyes.

Well, there and there's absolutely no reason, no history, no reason that we would ever trust a Vladimir Putin. I mean, I don't know how you say that, believe that, and then say, Well, but go ahead and negotiate on our behalf. And and you know, I I on Fox News Sunday, um, Brett Baer was able to interview the Deputy Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. I was on the panel of that show. Um But listen to her on cut 23.

And uh I want to get your take on it. If Iran has a nuclear weapon. Its ability to project power into the Middle East and to deter us, our allies and partners, is enormous.

So President Biden believes very strongly, as does Secretary Blink and as do I, that we need to make sure that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon. And then we also need to deal with their malign behavior in the region. But first, we've got to make sure that they cannot obtain a nuclear weapon. You know, it it strikes me, Michael, that they d so desperately want a piece of paper um that that may be worthless. Um, it certainly if it prohibits or does not allow for a way to verify and to go kick the tires and actually see what's actually going on here.

I thought the first nuclear deal was just an embarrassment. I don't I can't imagine that the second one would be better. No, and I think it's also revealing what she said there. And then we've got to deal with their malign behavior. Jason, in sports, there's an old line that you play like you practice.

Meaning, what you're doing today is what you're going to do on Sunday if it's the NFL, et cetera.

Well, right now, the Biden administration is doing nothing to counter the malign behavior of Iran. But we're supposed to believe that once they have that piece of paper, then they'll take out go on Iran's malign behavior. Look, of course, we don't want them to have a nuclear weapon, but if we If they're going to continue to behave as they behave even under the deal now, if they continue to pursue terrorism throughout the region, attack our allies, Saudis and the others, what good is this piece of paper? And so I think, however, you look at it, you would have to say that this has come kind of a fantasy foreign policy that this piece of paper will constrain Iran.

Well, who's going to enforce the piece of paper? If not, the United States. I mean, so this whole thing was misbegotten. It started in 2015 with the Obama administration and John Kerry, who continued to advise Iran after Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement. And then the reality too is we've got Iran on its heels.

Only China and probably Russia will deal with it economically and buy its oil, that sort of thing.

So why should we let them off the mat as long as they continue to behave as they continue? I mean, this firing of missiles into Iraq over the weekend, maybe it wasn't aimed at our consulate, but who was it aimed at? And why should we just excuse this kind of behavior? Yeah, I'm sure it was just an accident, you know, when you have multiple missiles fired that just happened to land right near our consulate. We don't have a whole lot of consulates there in Iraq.

Let's listen to the same Wendy Sherman on Fox News Sunday, the Deputy Secretary of State, talking about that attack that went from Iran into Iraq. 21. This was a very concerning attack, as General Keene pointed out. Indeed, we do not believe that the consulate was actually the target of this missile attack. We are very glad that our facilities are secure, that everybody's accounted for, that no one has been hurt or killed.

But all of that said, this is great concern. There will indeed be a statement, I'm sure, coming out shortly, as well as calls in. This was an attack on Iraq's sovereignty, among other things, and of great concern to all of us. But, Michael, I think as you pointed out in her first quote, um You know, then they will deal with their malign behavior only after they deal with this other thing. This is the problem with the Biden administration.

They're so tepid. They don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. Don't want to come out too strongly against them because, well, we want them to sign this nuclear deal. But there's a very real threat right now that's going on attacking and sending missiles with great proximity to the consulate. And you bring up a good point.

If they're not attacking the consulate, if they're not trying to fire in on consulate or send warning shots, then what were they doing? Right.

Well, and look, I think there's a word for this, and it's not one we should use lightly, but this is a form of appeasement. This is that we're going to let them fire missiles. We're going to let them dissend terror squads into Saudi Arabia. We're going to let them do all kinds of things around the world. But then once we get the agreement, we're going to stop their malign behavior.

Why would Iran ever stop its malign behavior until the United States enforces Some rules of the road on it.

So we don't have to make an agreement to enforce those.

So the idea that we're going to enforce some rules later just doesn't bear any scrutiny. There's no history of it. There's no example of it. This is a perfect moment that even supposedly when it's about to enter into this agreement, Iran can fires missiles into Iraq. And yet, we're supposed to believe that that agreement will change everything.

I mean, it just defies common sense. But I think it is the Biden administration's, just as it was the Obama administration's, way of coddling Iran. And if you go back, Jason, There were some really interesting things written about what Obama was up to with Iran and the views of Iran. It was basically not just to bring Iran in from the cold. It was essentially to make them the counterweight to the Arab nations, to Saudis, to the UAE, to our allies and to Israel.

So you have Iran on one side, probably nuclear armed before too many years pass, and you have our allies on the other side. I mean, why would we want to encourage someone who is not our ally? There's no promise, no real hope of it ever being our ally in the foreseeable future, but we're going to treat them like a friend. We're going to treat them like an ally. We're going to give them the benefits.

We're going to give them all the money, unfreeze all that money that Obama did, send them cash on pallets and airplanes. None of it makes any coherent sense, especially when you look at what's going on with Russia. You coddle these rogues like this, and one day, they wake up and they want to bite you. Yeah, I'm glad you're illuminating this in your article. It's called Biden is Letting Putin Run the Iran Nuclear Talks.

It really is stunning if you think about it. The other way that I want people to make sure they understand that we have empowered Iran is the high price of gasoline. The Democrats in large part have pushed for higher fuel prices because it fits their narrative with the Green New Deal to justify the development of a lot of these alternative forms of energy. And hey, look, I'm all about, hey, let's go ahead and develop all forms of energy, all of the above kind of approach. But When the price of gas is up over $110 a barrel, the Iranians and the Russians make a lot of money.

That's how they feel their future. One of the things that Donald Trump did is help starve these nations is the fact that the price of gas was so low.

So energy independence for the United States of America is more imperative than ever, and it does play a role in Iran as well. Absolutely. And you look at Trump's taking out Soleimani in Iraq, the Iranian terror master, Joe Biden said he would not have done that.

So Joe Biden also, of course, would not have gone after Osama bin Laden, as he said at one point before changing his story.

So I mean, you could not get a more stark comparison To how do you deal with these rogue nations? Henry Kissinger said years ago about Iran, it has to decide whether it wants to be a country or a cause. And to judge from its behavior, you would have to say it's still a cause. Iran is still a cause. It's not really a country that is going to abide by treaties, it's going to behave in ways that we would expect of allies or even people under agreement.

They are a cause, and that cause is the radic is the export of radical Islam. And as long as they continue to do that, why should we treat it as though it's just another country?

Well, you bring up a huge, great point. There's so much to talk about. It is a complex issue. But Michael Goodwin, New York Post columnist and Fox News contributor, thanks so much for joining us on the Brian Kilmead Show today. We do appreciate it.

Thank you, Jason. My pleasure. All right, Michael Goodwin. Thank you. Stay with us.

We'll be back with more of the Brian Killmead Show right after this. Coming to you on a need-to-know basis, because Mandy, you need to know. It's Brian Killmead. If you're interested in it, Brian's Talking About It. You're with Brian Kilmead.

Hey, this is actually Jason Chapitz. Honored to fill in for Brian Killmead. You know, I served eight and a half years in the United States Congress, and I wanted to bring up something here briefly before we go to the next commercial break that happened last week. And that is the Democrats passed out, and with the Republican help, a $1.5 trillion. By the way, if you spend a million dollars a day every day, it'd take you nearly 3,000 years to get to $1 trillion.

That's how much money they're talking about. We're $30 trillion in debt. A bill was introduced at 1:30 in the morning. It was more than 2,700 pages. And then they voted on that night.

There is absolutely nobody that actually read the bill.

Now, if you're in the majority, you could probably try to make the argument that, hey, you know, we knew it was going to go in it, but the minority never had a chance to read it. And my guess is the overwhelming majority, almost all of the people, didn't have the light of day. I thought Republicans blew an opportunity to actually highlight this and say, no, we're going to vote no on a bill that has only had the light of day less than 24 hours, especially if you're spending $1.5 trillion.

Now, there are hundreds of pages and hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks that are also in here. When I first came to Congress back in two thousand nine, we were fighting against earmarks, and fortunately we won that fight. Earmarks were taken out.

Some would argue that earmarks are the congressional prerogative to try to make a case that the congressionally directed spending is the way that you should do things. But if you're a purist, then you'd say that all of that is congressionally directed spending, and you would have even more earmarks. But this is just the medicine that this is the sugar that makes the medicine go down. You want to go try to buy votes. You want to go make sure things happen.

You want to make sure that Chuck Schumer gets the money that he wants in his district, that Nancy Pelosi gets the tens of millions of dollars that she got for her district. Then guess what? You reinstitute earmarks. You pay off these members of Congress by getting them special little pork for their district, and then you end up with a bloated budget. That's where we're at.

The other thing I would highlight is we didn't have a budget this year. Democrats in the House and the Senate never even introduced a budget, and yet we went ahead and passed $1.5 trillion. Is it a. mystery is why we're thirty trillion dollars in debt. You couldn't do that at your work, you couldn't do that at home, but only the federal government, which can continue to print money and go to the Fed and say, print more, buy more, do more.

That's why we're in the mess that we're at. Should have gotten a lot more attention. I know there's war in Europe, but let's pay attention at home and continue to be the economic superpower. Stay with us. Radio that makes you think.

This is the Brian Kill Me Show. I hope that China. Is looking very carefully at what's happening. We have a united world with very grave and very consequential sanctions on Russia. We understand and support a one-China policy, but we don't believe that China ought to take Taiwan by force, and we will do everything we can to deter that effort by the PRC.

And I think they're watching very closely. In fact, I think they made that statement, Brett. Because they've seen what's happened and they're trying to go on the offense knowing that they ought to be on the defense. That was Wendy Sherman, Deputy Secretary of State on Fox News Sunday, talking to Brett Baer. I'm Jason Chaffins.

I'm filling in for Brian Kilmead. But we also have joining us on the line now somebody who is wicked smart on these types of issues, Alex Gray. He served as the deputy assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the White House National Security Council from 2019 to 2021, there during the Trump administration. Alex Gray is also a candidate for the United States Senate, the U.S. Senate, there in Oklahoma.

They have a special election because of retirement. And Alex Gray, thanks for joining us on the Brian Kilmead show. Thanks for having me, Jason. You know, I I've always learned something. The more I talk to you, the more I learn about the the world and and you had a special bird's eye view.

I mean, your work on foreign policy and and foreign affairs is uh is truly amazing. But then being the chief of staff to the National Security Council, you get to see so much intelligence and whatnot going on. Help us understand that the China role here because China you know news out now that Russia is leaning on China, asking them for assistance. China is supposedly involved in the Iran nuclear deal that we are negotiating. We talked about this we've talked about this a lot that somehow, some way we're negotiating an Iran nuclear deal with Russia as being the moderator.

I just physically don't understand that. But There's so much that China is involved and engaged with, and the concern is that You know, they're looking at the way Russia is handling Ukraine and What lessons are they learning and not learning? And certainly they learned a lot with what we we did and didn't do in Afghanistan.

So it's a very complex situation. Help us break it down.

Well, thanks, Jason. I think the thing to start with is First of all, you had that comment from Wendy Sherman. I think it's important for people to remember that Wendy Sherman was one of the main architects of the disastrous Iran nuclear deal under President Obama. And so that's. That's the lens that she comes with when we're thinking about this situation.

The second thing is. Only at the U.S. State Department would it be considered logical to sanction the Russians, try and cut them off from the global financial system, which we should be doing, while at the same time working with those same Russian diplomats to try and get the disastrous Iran nuclear deal back on the table.

So talk about an exercise in futility. Um you know the other thing I think it's worth Pointing out is the intelligence community shortly before the Russian invasion of Ukraine came out and said, Oh, we've been wrong for many years, and Russia and China are actually collaborating and working very closely together across any number of areas. A lot of us knew that and pointed that out, but had been told for years by the intelligence community that really there was nothing to see here. They had separate interests, they weren't truly collaborators in the sense that's obvious now that they are. The thing that the United States has to really be careful of and to be watching, Jason, is every step that we make globally has repercussions elsewhere in the world.

It means that when you have a disastrous, misguided, poorly executed withdrawal from Afghanistan, that has implications in Ukraine. When you fail to deter in Ukraine, when you fail to take the type of actions President Trump took during his four years in office to strengthen Ukraine, the results of that are an emboldening. China and emboldened Iran, and we're even seeing an emboldened Venezuela in the Western Hemisphere.

So, all of these things are interconnected. And I think we need to be very, very careful. And this is one of the lessons of President Trump's presidency: that weakness is provocative. Strength deters. And when you had four years of strength followed by a year of weakness, you've seen some of the worst national security disasters of the last.

half century in such a short period of time because of the change in policy we've seen under President Biden. Yeah, I think it's you know, going back to Ronald Reagan and certainly Donald Trump, the idea of peace through strength and the projection of strength. And it's it's amazing how quickly that can be lost and given up and that the bullies of the world can feel emboldened to go ahead and make movement and do things. I don't think it's a coincidence that this movement into Ukraine happened. during the Biden administration didn't happen during the Trump administration.

No, and there's as President Trump has pointed out and a lot of us who worked for him have pointed out, the specific policies that President Trump undertook on Russia were the toughest policies that any President has taken since the end of the Cold War. He sanctioned more Russian individuals and oligarchs than any President up to that point. He provided the javelin anti-tank missiles that we're seeing at work now to the Ukrainian army. He provided a number of excess defense articles, key U. S.

systems that were needed by the Ukrainians, sent those over in large quantities. And he tried to take down the Nord Stream two pipeline and came very close to doing so. until the Biden administration reversed it after taking office.

So you look at that record and you contrast it with the little over a year of President Biden, and you see what we've gotten. Afghanistan overrun by the Taliban, Ukraine invaded, energy independence squandered. It's really a textbook example of how to take a winning foreign policy and turn it into a catastrophe in short order.

Now, Alex Gray, you are running for the United States Senate there in Oklahoma, but obviously I you know the Oklahomans I understand and that I've known are about as patriotic and military they care about our military as much as anything. And it's amazing when you got I the few times I've been out on some of our warships, the USS Eisenhower, the San Jacinto, some of these just amazing experiences. And you find people from all over the country. you know, you don't have to be from uh You know, from a Florida or a California to be in the Navy, obviously, you got a lot of people that are from Oklahoma and whatnot that are out there on these ships, but I I've heard you talk about the need to develop and you worked very closely with Ambassador Robert O'Brien, who was the National Security Advisor. Robert O'Brien's been a real leader on saying, look, our United States Navy really needs to be built up.

Explain to us why that has to happen. And contrast that, if you will, on the march that Ch that China is doing, because they're building up their navy about as fast as can possibly be done.

Well, it's an important point. And of course, Ambassador O'Brien has been a leader on this for decade and a half, and certainly worked very hard with President Trump on it. President Trump instinctively understood why a powerful Navy matters, the same way Ronald Reagan did when he built 600 ships. You look at what the Chinese are doing, right? They're building at one point this year, they built three ships.

They commissioned three Chinese Navy ships in a single day. We're basically on track to build six or seven or so in the entire year. They're now the world's largest Navy. Quantity has a quality all of its own. The United States Navy remains the world's technological leader, and it's going to remain that way for a long time.

But when you start building the quantity of ships that the Chinese are doing, it becomes very, very challenging even to a Navy as sophisticated as ours. It matters to every American, whether you're in Oklahoma, whether you're in California, whether you're in Florida. It matters because that's the global system, the supply chain that we're watching really strain in the last couple of years during COVID. All of that is upheld by the power of the U.S. Navy.

And without that Navy, we see what happens. The Chinese, the Russians, the Iranians in the Straits of Hormuz, global piracy off the coast of Africa. You watch all of this, and without the U.S. Navy, So much of what we take for granted economically and in terms of supply chain resilience is at risk.

So I think one of the things that President Trump did that was so insightful and really gave his successor a great starting point to build on was to say we're going to build a three hundred fifty five ship Navy. We're going to grow back on a track much higher than that over the course of time. And we're going to get our Navy back to a preeminent position unchallengeable by any power in the world. And unfortunately, again, we have not seen the investment that President Trump started continue under his successor. It's such an important point.

And as we look forward, look at what's going on and all eyes are focused on Ukraine. The United States of America has got to be able to fight and be able to pay attention on multiple fronts.

So there's a lot of discussion about will China, should China, when will China do what it's going to do on Taiwan? These are types of things that needed to be d debated and whatnot. But we've also got to pay attention to what Russia is doing. And I guess one of the biggest concerns is that the situation with Russia just spins out of control. Here they've got rockets flying that are very close to the Polish border.

It just takes one. Errant missile here or there, and then suddenly you've got to respond, and then you know, will it spiral out of control? One of the big concerns, I think, because of their history, is that Russia would ultimately use a a biological attack. Listen to John Kirby, the the Pentagon spokesperson on ABC, talking about the possibility of a chemical or biological attack. What I want to be careful we don't get into intelligence assessments here.

We continue to watch this very, very closely. It is of the Russian playbook that that which they accuse you of, they're planning to do.

Now, again, we haven't seen anything that indicates some sort of imminent chemical or biological attack right now, but we're watching this very, very closely. I mean, this is a reality, right? Because, I mean, th look at what they've done in Syria, look at what they've done in their own people.

Well, Advil Kirby is certainly correct in the sense that the Russians often accuse their opponents of doing exactly what they've done or they're about to do.

So it's that's there's no doubt about that. I think what the United States has to be thinking about is Every time we choose to accept The next Step up the escalation ladder, whether it's from Russia, whether it's from Iran, whether it's from North Korea. You know, we've now seen this in Afghanistan, we've seen it in Ukraine. We're continuing to send this signal of weakness.

Now, no one's talking about going and intervening militarily in this conflict. And I think that would be a disaster from the standpoint of focusing on what the preeminent threat of this century is, which is China. The United States getting bogged down in the Middle East again or in Eastern Europe is a terrible, terrible thing. Not just the human cost for the American soldiers, the economic cost for the American people, but strategically, it would be a disaster for us that would take decades to recover from. That being said, this is where deterrence is so important.

We have to be in a position, and this is where the administration, unfortunately, has not spoken clearly and confidently about what its intentions are from a Deterrent standpoint. We waited too long to supply the Ukrainians, as President Trump did, with the weapons they needed to be a real deterrent force, to give the Russians safe. Second thoughts about going in. If the Russians had understood what the Ukrainian army was capable of doing, I think there maybe would have been a recalculation about this invasion. And part of that recalculation would have been a greater signal from the U.S.

and the European Union that we were willing to do the financial sanctions that we've ultimately done and that we were willing to continue supplying javelins and stingers and other weaponry to the Ukrainians. I think that would have changed the calculus.

So we have to, when we think about where Putin's headed next, both in terms of other countries or other tactics he might use, The administration has to speak very strongly about what its escalation points are, where it views where it views the red lines. And unlike President Obama and Syria, it has to be what willing to enforce those red lines. President Trump did this over and over and over again. He did it with North Korea. He did it with Iran.

He did it with China. He made very clear what was unacceptable to the United States. And no one ever doubted when Donald Trump said this was a red line to not cross. No one ever doubted that you should not cross that. Yeah, instead you have President Biden who keeps telling the world what he won't do instead of being able to say, here are the lines, let's not make any mistakes, folks, because here's what's going to trigger some severe action.

And I don't think there was anybody Anybody would have doubted the idea that Donald Trump would have actually followed through on it. I think that's what helps the peace and being able to use the strength of the United States of America. But I could talk to you all day about this. One of the best minds out there. You can see why Alex Gray ascended to become the chief of staff to the White House National Security Council.

He's a candidate for the United States Senate from the great state of Oklahoma. But Alex Gray, thank you so much for joining us today on the Brian Killmeat Show. Thanks for having me, Jason. All right, we'll be back with more of the Brian Kill Me Show right after this. Educating, entertaining, enlightening.

You're with Brian Kilmead. Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kill Me Show.

So you've seen some of that data on a fourth dose, a second booster shot. You think it will be necessary? It is necessary, a fourth booster. right now, the protection what you're getting from the third. It is good enough.

Actually, quite good for hospitalizations and deaths. It's not that good against infections, but doesn't last very long. But we are just submitting those data. to the FDA and then we will see what the experts also will say outside Pfizer.

Well, that's the Pfizer CEO. No conflict of interest there. Hey, you're going to need a fourth booster shot. Listen, let me be really clear. This is just my own personal opinion.

Don't listen to some dude on the radio tell you whether or not you should get. a booster shot. That's between you and your medical professional, your doctor. You can make these decisions with your medical professional given your set of circumstances. I got to tell you, I watched that State of the Union, and weren't we all amazed how the science on masks and mask mandates changed within 24 hours of the State of the Union?

It was absolutely miraculous how the science just lined up, and the idea was that you didn't need a mask mandate before this, and then suddenly they had the State of the Union. It was absolutely, what a coincidence that is.

So there you have Nancy Pelosi, Vice President Kamala Harris. You have the President of the United States, and then you have all the members from all over the Congress. They're gathered together, you know, shaking hands, hugging each other, close proximity, no six-foot distancing rules anymore. But guess what? If you did what I did yesterday, I would I was in Washington, D.C.

for the Fox News Sunday program, and then I got on an airplane. And guess what? I had to mask up.

So, you know, hey. Don't need it if you're in the United States Congress. Don't need it if you're the President. Don't need it if you're Nancy Pelosi. But oh yeah, if you get on an airplane, you better darn well have a mask.

And that four-year-old traveling from Atlanta to Los Angeles better mask up. I'm so sick of these mask mandates. And in New York, the Brooklyn Nets, you can't play in the basketball game, but you can go sit next to your teammate and not have to wear a mask. It is absolutely ridiculous. These politicians are just being politicians.

It's not right. Time to get rid of the mask mandate. Make decisions yourself with your medical professional. I'm Jason Chaffins. Live from the Fox News Radio Studios in New York City, fresh off the set of Fox and Friends, it's America's receptive voice.

Brian Killmead. Hey, this is Jason Chapitz. I'm filling in for Brian Kilmead. I used to serve in the Congress once upon a time, now Fox News contributor, and I live out west. And out west, we deal with a lot of energy products.

We actually produce the energy that America consumes and the world consumes. We uh we deal with energy and the development of energy on a regular basis and Thanks for joining us on the Brian Kilmead show because we got a lot to talk about, but Probably the thing that touches every single American that you're going to feel at one point uh or another probably this week is going to be at the gas pump. It's affecting inflation. It's affecting uh It's uh has an effect on your pocket book and boy, you start to see how high those prices are gone and how much it takes to fill up your truck or Car or whatever you might be driving.

So, I want to bring in somebody I've known for years, one of the smartest minds as it comes to taxes, and that is Grover Norquist. He's the president of Americans for Tax Reform. And, Grover, thanks for joining us on the Brian Killmee Show. Jason, Grace, delighted to be with you. No, glad to have you because, sure enough, true to color, the progressives there in the United States Congress, they want to make a bad situation worse because for all the talk and supposed rhetoric about, oh, we want to help by releasing some of the strategic petroleum reserve to help drive down the cost of gas, that'll help for like six, seven hours, but it's really not going to have an effect.

But some of the things that these folks that they're trying to do out there from Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and others want to do, it's going to make the situation worse, not better, isn't it? It is. Here's the trap. The point of all of what Biden and the Democrats are doing is to drive up the cost of real energy, natural gas, oil. And therefore, then when you look over at the subsidized energy, wind, which only works when it's windy, and solar, which only works From the sun, and therefore they can be part of something, but they can never be it.

And they want to drive up the cost of real energy by taxing it, by constricting supply, by not letting people produce it. And then, hey, look, solar is not that much more expensive than what we've done to oil and natural gas.

So let's do this other thing. And the challenge is they want higher energy prices. Remember when the Secretary of Energy, the former lady governor of Michigan, was asked, What are you going to do to get prices down? She laughed in the face of the journalist. Because she's never heard such a ridiculous question.

Their goal is to raise the costs of energy so people will drive less and fly less. And the ALC doesn't think we should fly less. Why? And what's bothered them is that somehow the American people noticed. How what they were doing.

And the new NBC poll has. What do you think of the President on energy costs, on gas seventy, thirty against him? What do you think about inflation? Seventy, thirty against him. You know, 30 is what Richard Nixon had the last couple of days of his presidency.

So, this is killing them, and they want to talk about anything else. Remember the first one? Businesses are greedy. That's what it is.

So during the Trump four years, businesses were not greedy. That was interesting. And as soon as Trump got elected, businesses got greedy and wanted to make money. Hot cellular oil and natural gas.

Well, that That didn't even move the needle. That didn't fool anybody. It's kind of stupid. And now they've got something even stupider. This is Elizabeth Warren, who actually used to be a Republican and used to understand economics.

Until she went into academics and decided there was a living the other way. You could make $400,000 as a professor working a couple hours a week. Free market doesn't offer those. Judge like that. She says we're going to have a windfall profits tax.

Well, that's the sort of thing as if somebody had a bunch of oil. In their backyard, and the price doubled overnight. You go, Well, he didn't do that. That was a windfall for people buy oil today and then they sell it next week. The oil prices have been going up this year under Biden.

She wants to have a 22. Dollar tax. per barrel of crude because Prices are higher.

Well, prices are higher because costs are higher. Excellent is not making a lot of money because. Biden's inflation. And so She what her pro what she would do, $23 tax per barrel, would just raise the price of energy for everybody.

So here she goes, we must punish them and we will make your life miserable. This is not going to be in bill form. They're not going to vote on it. It's too stupid for words. It's just to get you to talk about something other than.

How she and President Biden and the Democrats have been purposely driving up the cost of energy.

So the the peasants We'll stop driving on their highways. Yeah, the economics is actually accurate, but it is the goal and has been the goal of these greenies to say, hey, look, we want the price of gas and oil to go higher. And they got that. They got it at record levels, and it's rising really quickly because of the other inflationary pressure, because they cut off supplies to be able to develop things. You know, there's so many lies that go out there.

It really do drive me nuts. But let's remember what Joe Biden did on day one, right? Day one, got rid of Anwar, what is it, 19 million acres up there in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Nord Stream, or the Keystone Pipeline. We've talked about that and shutting that down. And then the inability to develop products there on public lands.

Now, I come from a public land state in the state of Utah, but if you look at Wyoming, Nevada, Utah. New Mexico, that places like this, where we have literally millions of acres that can be developed. It's not just that you have a lease, then you've got to go get permitting. And the other thing that happens, and Grover, I know you know about this, is these environmentally sensitive governance ESGs, where banks and others are being pushed by the Federal Reserve and others to score how good you are on climate change. And they're afraid to do financing and other things for petroleum-based products for fear of getting a bad score on their ESGs.

Well, of course, this is just the left-wing agenda, and they say you should invest in this, not in that. Mm-hmm. But um Governments that want to take over More power, want to run the airwaves. And you saw the Biden administration with his build back better, he was going to subsidize. Reporters and writers for news stories, and so on.

So you would have all the press. Directly on the payroll, as opposed to just seems like they're on the payroll. You read their stuff, they're getting paid. I don't know whether this is a thank you note for helping the president get elected and for all the work they've done for the Democrats in the past, or whether this is a bribe in anticipation of continued good, gentle behavior by reporters who will do what they're told and report what they're told. But they also want to control the capital.

They hate that capital, meaning investment, flows to what Americans want. If Americans want more Bread, the money will go into making more bread. And if they want more avocados, people will plant more avocado trees. And Washington doesn't get to tell you. How to invest your money in this bank.

And so they constantly come up with different rules and games.

So that they can come, oh, we think certain neighborhoods should have investment. We want you to do this. They want to control the flow of capital because that's central to government control of the economy and people's lives. And our answer should be: no, this is just one more. Check.

about how to have the government say, before you make that loan, let's us take a look at that. Yeah, this is look, we're talking with Grover Norquist. He's the president of Americans for Tax Reform. And Grover, part of what's happening here is there's trying to be some revisionist history and trying to spin this as only the White House can spin this. I want you to listen.

This is last Wednesday. This is Jen Saki talking about the broad problem of inflation. And look at how she kind of weaves in the idea of gas and gas prices and what was really causing the gas prices to go up, even before, by the way, that Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. Jen Saki from last week. We don't have the data at this point yet, but as we're looking ahead, we certainly assess that we expect to see a high headline and headline inflation in tomorrow's February inflation data.

A key reason, as you touched on, are energy prices. We've seen the price of gas increase, as I noted, 75 cents since the beginning of the year as Putin built up his military near Ukraine and took increasingly aggressive measures that were felt in the markets. Yeah.

It was because Putin was in you know, building up his forces on the border of Ukraine that suddenly American energy prices started to to to jump at record levels. Uh They really want to blame everybody but themselves. We talked earlier. They want to blame American businessmen. When the government prints money and makes it worth less, so to buy the same thing costs $2 instead of $1.50, that's not the fault of the business guy who made the widget.

That's the fault of the people who printed too much money, who spent too much and had too much debt in the government. And governments always like, oh, we need to have wage and price controls. That'll stop prices from going up. They're going up because of the printing of the money, not because of anything else. Governments They do not take responsibility for failure very well.

And Biden's had a series from the exit from Kabul from not dissuading the Soviet Union from invading Ukraine to telling the Germans it's okay if they have a pipeline from Russia that goes around Ukraine. Why did you know they could now invade Ukraine? Because now they've got a pipeline that goes around Ukraine. Without that, the Russians couldn't have done this invasion, and Biden made it easy. Yeah, there's so many factors here.

The fundamental principle, I think, should be that America should be energy independent and it should be in a position to be able to export those energy products to backfill what Europe needs. But when that goes away and America can't provide an alternative energy source, alternative, and I mean in terms of getting it from Russia, guess what? Then they're beholden to Russia and Russia knows it. And by the way, the rapid rise in the price of a barrel of gasoline only goes to empower Russia and it goes to empower Iran. That's how these countries feel their future.

It's what I call Russian blood oil. That's what it is.

Remember when they had diamonds and they said, hey, let's not buy any blood diamonds because they're using child labor, slave labor?

Well, you go out and buy Russian oil. Guess what? You're fueling. The fight. in the Ukraine for Russia.

Yeah, it this is a disastrous presidency. And the failure on economics, the inflation, the spending too much money, the paying people not to work. All of these have made us weaker, and that includes an international level when we're not producing enough energy for America and Europe. We provided the oil for the whole world during World War II, and that allowed us to win World War II. The people who want to restrict America's capacity to produce energy at a reasonable cost And I mean the real cost.

I mean, they'll tell, oh, this is the cost of of wind or solar. No, there's a subsidy there. The real cost is what you charge plus what you take from us in taxes and pretend we're not spending on your subsidized Take. Real energy. It's a challenge.

Grover, I've only got about 45 seconds here. What's your take on these states that want to have a temporary suspension of their local gas tax? Yeah.

Ah, it's ridiculous. It doesn't solve the problem. They should work to make it easier for people to. produce energy, that brings the cost down. It does.

It does. It does bring the cost down and look, um We've got to rethink in this country how we fund roads, bridges, and infrastructure. There is a better, smarter way to do that. But that will have to stay for another day, Grover. I hate to tease you with that.

We've been talking with Grover Marquist. He's the president of Americans for Tax Reform and an exceptionally bright mind on all things taxes.

So, thanks so much for joining us on the Brian Kilmead Show. We'll be back right after this. Giving you everything you need to know. You're with Brian Kilmead. The fastest three hours in radio.

You're with Brian Kilmead. Are you guys just gonna start blaming Putin? For everything? Until the midterms?

Well, we've seen the price of gas go up at least 75 cents since President Putin lined up troops on the border of Ukraine. Last month, the statement didn't mention the Putin price hike. It mentioned inflation because of the pandemic. Why is that?

Well, Peter, last year, last two years, there was a global pandemic. Everyone who's global economists have all agreed that that has been the biggest contributor to date of inflation because of the impact on the supply chain. Obviously, global events impact the economy, the global economy, as well as global inflation. And the price hikes as a result that have escalated over the course of time of President Putin's further invasion, of the impact on the global oil markets, are, of course, having an impact.

Well, that's Jen Saki talking and bantering back and forth with Fox News' Peter Doocy over what is the true cause of inflation. Let's go back to Milton Friedman. Let's go back to the economists who understand that the definition of inflation is too much money chasing too few goods. And it is the Federal Reserve and the federal government that will dictate the supply of money in the marketplace. Let's understand that the massive run-up in spending is by the trillions of dollars injected into the economy such that now almost 25 cents out of every dollar spent in this country is spent by your federal government.

Now, think about how stunning that number is. A lot of people believe that that number should be maybe 19, even 20% of our GDP, our gross domestic product. But when you start to get it up in the 25% range, when you accumulate a national debt that is $30 trillion, and remember, if you spend $1 million a day every day, it takes you nearly 3,000 years to get to $1 trillion. And when you have $30 trillion in debt and the interest rate is near zero, guess what? Ah then you know what happens.

You have to spend a billion dollars a day in interest payments. We get nothing for that. But that money's got to be out there and got to be spent and injected back into these institutions or those that lent the money. Much of that is going overseas. And.

It you also simultaneously cut off the supply levels Not just immediately, but into the future, the markets will look at this and say, mmm, there's more money, but there's less supply. What happens when there's less supply? Guess what? The prices are going to go up because there is that demand, this insatiable demand by the federal government to go out and spend so much money.

Now, the economy was doing quite well under Donald Trump. It was zooming along. If he just did nothing, it would have taken care of itself and we would have had this continued prosperity. But to continue to try to say, well, it was the buildup of troops on the border of Ukraine that started to drive up the rapid flow of energy, no. Maybe it had something to do with you cut off Anwar, you cut off the Keystone Pipeline, maybe it had to do with the curbing of development of energy products on federal lands, and you have a Green New Deal agenda that is going to try to fundamentally change the economy and get us going into directions that we haven't gone before.

Nothing wrong with doing part of that, but don't do it at the exclusion of things that we're already working. That's my take on it. I'm Jason Schaffets, filling in for Brian Kilmead. Stay with us. We've got General Keith Kellogg coming up next.

The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmeid. What is happening in Ukraine today will happen in Europe tomorrow. In order to prevent it, everyone should fight. for themselves, fight here.

in whatever way they can. That is uh President Zelensky. Um Predicting what's going to happen and getting people trying to rally the world to his support as Russia continues its march and its destruction and all-out attack there on Ukraine. We're pleased to have. I'm Jason Chaffins, by the way, filling it for Brian Killmead, but we're pleased to have retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, a Fox News contributor, former National Security Advisor to Vice President Pence, former chief of staff of the National Security Council in the Trump administration, and author of a book called War by Other Means: A General in the Trump White House.

General Kellogg, thank you so much for joining us on the Killmead Show. Hey, Jason, thanks for having me. Good to be with you. No, I really do appreciate it because uh the Ukrainians are are taking um They're taking the brunt of it. And boy, by by what's your take of it?

Because sitting here on the sidelines, you know, it seemed like at the beginning of this war that Putin had the military capability with the one hundred plus thousand troops and the military might of Russia, they could just march right into keep, but that's not the way it's gone down. Yeah, Jason, you know, here's what's interesting to watch because all of us thought this would be over pretty quickly. In fact, General Milley, the chairman of the Drone Chiefs of Staff, said that uh you know the russians would take kyiv within three days well now we're you know sixteen days sixteen seventeen And I think what happened, they initially tried to fight like the Russians normally fight. They used their air assault units, their what they call their V D V, their airborne forces, tried to take an airport right outside of Kyiv, smashed their way in, and they got hammered. They they lost it.

And I don't think Vladimir Putin had a plan B. And now he's trying to figure out what his plan B is. And Ukrainians are fighting incredibly courageously, incredibly well, but they're also led by a very charismatic leader who a lot of people thought would run and and move somewhere other than Kyiv. Instead, he looked at Putin and he said, you know, when you come, you're not going to see our back, you're going to see our face. And and that counts for a lot.

You know, there's an old Napoleonic saying that the morale to the physical is three is to one. And what it means by that is when you've got a f uh you know, a force that fights really well, um it and it counts for a lot of of uh uh ability that that maybe the other side has. And the Russians are coming in with about an eight to one advantage. My dad told me years ago, it's not the size of the dog and the fight that counts, it's the size of the fight and the dog. And I think it's true.

So he's having enormous problems. And now he's kind of stuck. And if this was a prize fight, Right now the points Ukraine's ahead on points. And I'm my concern is what does Putin do next? Because if he stalls out with the enormity of the forces he's got, He's going to have to do something.

And the tell is this. And I was watching this over the weekend and said, oh boy, this is interesting. If the Russians have to say, I want to bring in Syrian fighters. That's tell number one. And tell number two is if he goes to China and he says I need some military support, that's telling me he's got some real problems, either in command and control or the fighting ability or the numbers he's got.

because he's currently in the the area he's at in Ukraine right now That is predominantly Russian speaking, not Russian supporting, but speaking. We when you move to the West on the on the western side of the Dnieper River, that drops to about ten percent.

So now you're in truly, as they say in the business, you're in Indian territory. And I think he's got a problem. I you know, he I don't know if he can close the deal. If he doesn't close the deal, I'd double up my bodyguard of Vladimir Putin. Interesting take on that.

You know, there is on Fox News Sunday, the Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said that Russia appears to be serious about potential negotiations. But then you have Congressman Michael Waltz, Green Beret, who's serving. He was on the next revolution last night on Fox News, and he doesn't think he's serious about negotiations. Let's listen to clip five: Congressman Michael Waltz. I don't think Putin has ever been serious about negotiations.

At this point, his grip on power depends on victory here. I do think Zelensky has made somewhat of a concession in saying he's rethinking NATO, but that's not enough for Putin. He wants at least the Black Sea, Kyiv, a change in government, and the eastern part of Ukraine at a minimum, and he is all in. What we need to be doing is to quit dithering and wringing our hands. Provide him the MiGs, provide him the S-300.

Russian air defense systems and provide them a lot more arms than what we're doing. General Kellogg, what's your take on what Congressman Waltz said there? I I think Mike was right on the money. Look, If I was if I was the Ukrainians, I would say before you start to negotiate with the Russians. read a book on the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

When the Hungarians who were actually doing quite well and actually held on to Budapest. The Russians brought them in for negotiations and killed them all. I said, I wouldn't negotiate with the Russians. I think the Ukrainians are doing fine. I think Congressman Walsh is right.

There's a big concern about it. And And I wouldn't you know, I'd trust the Russians as far as I throw the Empire State Building, which isn't very far. And I think they're doing quite well. And I think If the with the way the pressure is going, the more it's it's building on Putin, it's not building on Zelensky. 'Cause Zelensky has still got two-thirds of his country.

Pretty well intact. His forces in the f in the far eastern part of the country are doing quite well. all things considered, Russians are just winning by sheer numbers, but they're they're not having an easy day of it.

So I think Huggers and Waltz was right. I and I thi think we can apply pressures from the West And help them have a fighting start on this. And I think the ramifications of this, Jason, are stunning because if they fail in this, And they're already failing. What does this say to the rest of the world? What does that say about the Russian military?

You know, the Vaughn and Russian military. I mean, they're not he's committed almost. uh two hundred thousand of his troops. And these aren't these weren't slugs. These were the top troops he's got.

He's thrown his best people at it, and he's having problems.

So this is going to be kind of interesting to watch. to give him all the support we could. I'd you know, I'd give them the best rocks, you know, slings, shots. Anything they need, we'll give it to 'em and and let them fight it out 'cause I think they're doing quite well. You know, it's I think one of the lessons to be learned and one of the more Recent things in history is when we talk about negotiating with Putin, is what he did in Georgia.

When they went in and took 25% of that country, then they signed documents saying that they were going to withdraw, and then they never withdrew. I mean, I went to an observation point while I was in Congress there with the European Union to look at how they're fortifying those places still to this day in Georgia, as opposed to withdrawing, despite a document that was signed saying, oh, just give us a little bit of time and then we'll pull out of Georgia. They never did. Yeah.

Well, it's like they're saying: if you trust the Russians, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn, I'll sell you. And I wouldn't trust them at all. You know, because they're not going to do that. He's trying to. Set conditions, and he was trying to take the whole country.

And he's trying now, and I think his fallback is to have an east and west. Ukraine, sort of like the old East and West Germany. And Put and I think Zelensky is right, fight it out. And the longer this goes, the worse it is for Putin because it shows his vulnerabilities. And I'm serious.

I if I was Putin right about now, I'd start thinking about doubling up my bodyguards. Because he's He's already arrested people in his FSB, his intelligence services. His military probably isn't real happy with what's going on because it's showing how weak they are, weak and aren't even in command and control and how they fight. Because what's causing them problems isn't mass. It's their ability, in other words, putting stuff On the battlefield, their ability is they just don't know how to command and control it.

And it's really. I think I don't think you can find a middle military analyst right now. That would complement anything the Russians are doing militarily in Ukraine. Interesting. What's your take on the kind of the broadening of the target set?

Let's listen to clip six. This is John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, talking about what Russia is doing. We certainly noticed that these strikes were conducted overnight, early morning hours there, overnight here. We do know that there was some damage to the training facility, and we're still assessing and talking to Ukrainians about what else they've seen here. Look, this is the third now military facility or airfield that the Russians have struck in western Ukraine in just the last couple of days.

So clearly, at least from an airstrike perspective, they're broadening their target sets. What what what should we read from that?

Well, what he's trying to do, he I think he understands his concern is bringing in other assets into those airfields. And I think what he's trying to do is deny those airfields. to bring in humanitarian support or any kind of support. Um I think very candidly, I think we were a little bit, we the West, were a little bit behind. On supporting Um the Ukrainians on what they may have needed to protect those airfields like air defense systems or like for example, you could have used the S three hundred system, which is in NATO, and there's a Russian system bringing in And protect those airfields, give it to them.

In other words, you'll say, you know, free gratis here, you own this stuff. But I think what Putin is worried about is just reinforcing those airfields, and he's trying to eliminate the air at the airfield. Um Ukrainian Air Force, which is still flying at about two thirds of its original Force structures, trying to re eliminate that, and he's also trying to eliminate abilities to bring in supplies. But he doesn't control the roads.

So the yeah, I mean he's done that, but he's still got a problem. uh of denying them s battle space to resupply or bring things in.

So It's uh it's an understandable reach for what he was trying to do. Militarily I see what he's doing. But the gain on that is not real high.

So I kind of said, oh, okay, good, you hit the airfields. You you can repair a runway in about six hours.

So no big deal.

So Jerry gets heard about it. General Jack Keene, you know, is uh associated with Fox News. He was on the next revolution last night. He believes that part of the uh the the challenge here is the fear of consequence by the American Presidents. List l let's listen to uh clip thirteen.

It's the same thing, Steve, that happened with the Obama administration. They get paralyzed by the fear of adverse consequence. And in this case, it's escalation. And that is a fearsome term to them. Instead of meeting that and doing what we should be doing to assist the Ukrainians, being all in should be what we're doing.

And we should not let Putin drive escalation. What's your take on uh General Keynes? Yeah.

Jason's 100% right. Look, i we can l we're a little bit late to the game on supplying Ukrainians with what they probably needed. But it's right. to the Russians when we should be forcing them to react. Here, let me give you an example.

you know, when the Russians brought up their special combat readiness of raising their nuclear forces, to a level, you know, that and everybody kind of shuddered about that.

Well, we have what's called a d defense condition, one through five, where that's where you raise your levels on a nuclear threshold. We currently operate it to four. During nine eleven, we took it to a three. During the Cuban Investor Crisis, we took it to a two. You know, we should probably what if we just said, oh, really?

Well, you we're going to raise you by one. We're going to go to DEF CON 3. And that would have sent a signal too. Instead of saying instead of canceling like we did, A test of a nuclear system, I'm sorry, a test of an ICBM system. Which is a routine test, we canceled that for fear of sending the wrong message.

I would have reversed that. No, we want to send them a message. We wanna it's like when remember when Kim Jong-un told President Trump, he's got a red button, and Trump replied back, I've got a red button, and mine's bigger than yours. That's what we should have done. And that's how you handle this guy.

You don't and I think that's what General Keene's getting about. He's absolutely right. You don't you don't Wring your hands in a negative manner, you basically go all in with this guy. Like I tell him, look, look, Russia, you're a nuclear power. Got it.

By the way, we have three nuclear powers. We've got the the United States, The Brits and the French on our team. You want to go that way? And I think the Chinese will sit this one out because I think they're getting a little bit embarrassed by it. And uh and when when Putin's reaching out to the Chinese for help, I think the Chinese are saying, You're on your own, buddy.

Um I I I just think I just think the Ukrainians right now are head on points. I hope they pull it off. I think we supply them as much equipment as we can. We make them an unsinkable aircraft carrier. We should have done that.

months ago. When he started building up in December and November, he the the Russians, we should have been matching that every step along the way instead of waiting until right to the end. You know, we didn't even give him stingers. The air defense system till this fight had actually started, which is it's incredible to me that we didn't think about that. you know, four months ago, five months ago.

We should have given them that w a long time earlier. Yeah, it's out with initials. It does seem just as somebody who has not been in the military that we should have been giving their defensive weapons, the stingers, the javelins, those types of things in advance of it so that they had something to think about and why they didn't put sanctions, really, really stringent sanctions in place before the attack. That's, I mean, you even heard President Zielinski talk about that as well.

So listen, Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, retired, now a Fox News contributor, former National Security Advisor to Vice President Pence, former chief of staff to the National Security Council in the Trump administration, and author of the book is War by Other Means, a general in the Trump White House. General Kellogg, thank you so much for joining us on the Brian Kilmead Show. We do appreciate it. Thanks, Jason. Thanks for having me.

Thank you again, and stay with us. The Brian Kilmead Show will continue after this. Learning something new every day on the Brian Killmeat Show. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin. It's Brian Killmeade.

Michael Jordan, he came back. Muhammad Ali came back. Mike Tyson came back. Would you ever consider that? You know, I'm just gonna take things as they come.

I think that's the best way to put it. You know, you never say never. You know, at the same time, I know that I'm very, I feel very good about my decision.

So, you know, I try to make the best possible decision I can. in the moment which i did this last week and again i think it's not looking to you know, reverse course. I'm definitely not looking to do that. Yeah, well, he did.

So, a month later, the GOAT, Tom Brady, back in the game, deciding that he's going to rejoin the NFL, saying he's got a little bit of left, he's got some unfinished business there on the field. And you know what? It's just going to make that much more entertaining. The guy is absolutely amazing. And by the way, I saw on an airplane American Underdog, the story of Kurt Warner.

If you haven't seen that movie, can I just personally tell you, I think that is a great American story. And I hope a lot of Americans get to see it. I don't think there's really any swearing and other types of things in there, but it's just a great movie. There's some really good people involved. You know, we hear about all the garbage and all the stuff that's going on and the people who can't stand for the national anthem and things like that.

But then you have some really good people like a Kurt Warner and a Tom Brady who make the game fun and enjoyable. Two other things I want to touch base as we kind of wrap up. It's also my wife. Birthday. Talk about the goat.

The greatest of all time. My wife, Julie. Happy birthday to her. And she's just the greatest thing that ever happened in my life. And she's got a birthday today, so I got to give a shout out to her.

And the other thing that I wanted to mention, along with so a sport, since we were talking football, is March Madness. The Madness starts tomorrow. I hope you can be involved and engaged in it. Spoiler alert, I hate to tell you who's going to win, but the The reality is, it's Gonzaga. Gonzaga is going to go all the way.

I think they're going to take it this year. An amazing program year after year after year. And I think there's a reason why they're ranked number one because I think they're actually going to pull it off. But you know what? Root for your team.

Enjoy it. Watch those Cinderella stories. Fill out a bracket. You're going to be much more involved and engaged in it. You don't have to put money down on it, but you know, if you do, you do.

But if you don't, you still look and see who in the family can get the best bracket out there. But I'm going with Gonzaga. I love March Madness. College sports is still one of the best things out there. This has been the Brian Killmeat Show.

I'm Jason Chaffetz. Honored to fill in for Brian Kilmeet. Thanks for letting me sit in the seat. Brian. He'll be back before you know it.

This has been the Brian Kill Me Show. Have a great day. Put the power of over 100 meteorologists and the worldwide resources of Fox in your hands with the Fox Weather Podcast. Precise, personal, powerful. Subscribe and listen now at FoxNewsPodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts.