Matt Gaetz pick for AG causes consternation

From Hayatop Fox News Headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kilmead. Hi, everyone. Welcome to the latest moments of the show. We have a lot coming on in Washington, D.C., a lot of focus there, a lot of nominees coming forward, Democrats licking their wounds.

We're watching the former president continue to fill out his roster after some dramatics yesterday with the customary showing up to greet the soon-to-be former president. This hour will be joined by Senator Tommy Tuberville and Senator James Lankford is standing by. And of course, take your calls 1-866-408-7669.

So let's get to the big three.

Now with the stories you need to know, it's Brian's big three. Number three. We're gonna defend the people of this city. His threat is not just towards new arrivals. and undocumented families.

His threats are also against black families. Yeah, what an idiot. This mayor of Chicago, the Trump Resistance forming, and governors are taking the lead, in that case, a mayor. We discussed whether the tone, deafness, of the Dems truly get the message that the people have spoken through this election. Number two, Wawa.

I kind of wonder whether he could actually get confirmed even by the House Republican conference. We will consider this in the Senate and certainly will be in the Judiciary Committee. I don't happen to serve on that committee. Picking a starting lineup and ruffling a lot of feathers with one of the cabinet selections as could be boxed out, as Tulsi Gabbard, and Rubio get their slots. And Matt Gates mysteriously is named to a position he more than likely won't get confirmed for.

Attorney General, we'll forecast it. Number one. I'm not going to go into granular detail of what was discussed in the meeting. What I can say is that it was indeed very cordial, very gracious, and substantive. Wow, that's KJP talking about Trump and Biden.

A sweep. A Republican locks up the House. Republicans lock up the House. They pick their leadership in the Senate. And a great president-elect meet Donald Trump as he meets one-on-one with President Biden, who is one and done.

They met in the Oval. There's going to be massive change in Washington, and we just don't know how big the gap is going to be. For the Republicans in the House because they should have about a six-seat lead. But with Mike Waltz leaving his seat, In Florida, with now Matt Gates already resigned his seat in Florida and Elise Stefanik, that's three seats that they got to fill through special elections. Not that I think the outcome's in doubt, but it'll be at times in which they're going to be shorthanded.

Senator James Langford got elected to leadership yesterday. As a as vice chair. Of the Republican Conference. He is quite happy out of Oklahoma, and he joins us now. Senator, welcome back.

Hey, thanks, Brian. Good to be back with you again.

So why was it important to get the leadership position?

Well, just having the opportunity to be able to help drive some of the agenda, what we're trying to do, to be able to make sure that the voice of Common Sense Oklahomans are being heard, quite frankly, at the leadership table and to be able to say, what are we going to do? How are we going to get it done? How are we going to move an agenda that clearly the President has led and that American has spoken for? How are we going to get that done?

So it must be a different feel center than you've had, let's say, two years ago after election day, and certainly four. Mm-hmm. Yeah, very, very different feel than it was four years ago where we're all trying to be able to figure out how bad is this going to be. And then we've experienced over the last four years high inflation, all the challenges, all the crazy cultural stuff that they've tried to be able to ram down Americans' throat, the cutoff of energy opportunities. I mean, there's all the things that we've experienced that we thought four years ago would happen did happen.

And now we have a new opportunity that America's pushed back and said that's ridiculous policies. And so America set a new agenda, and Trump is actually leading that. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Here's the exchange yesterday between the two presidents. Cut three.

Well Mr. President, elect and former president and Donald, congratulations. Thank you. And looking forward to having a, like we said. smooth transition, do everything we can to make sure you're accommodating what you need.

And we're going to get a chance to talk about some of that today. It's a good welcome. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. And politics is tough.

And it's in many cases not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today, and I appreciate it very much. a transition that's so smooth it'll be As smooth as it can get and uh I very much appreciate that, Joe. You're welcome. Were you surprised? No, not surprised on it, other than that Joe Biden has said now for months to over a year that Donald Trump is a threat to all democracy and that we won't have a democracy or a constitution after he comes into office.

And he's been accused of being Hitler and a fascist. And then suddenly it was, well, welcome. We're working towards a smooth transition to make sure that you take the lead.

So he either didn't believe that. Or if he did believe it, now he suddenly changed his mind on it. It just was a very odd transition for him on that. It's not surprising to me for Donald Trump. He handled the same kind of transition before in the previous time.

I do have to tell you, just watching the video clip when I saw it, seeing Donald Trump sitting in, as you're facing it, that left chair rather than a right chair, does look odd because I'm so used to seeing him in the Oval Office sitting in the other chair where Joe Biden was sitting, where He will sit in after January the 20th. What committee is you going to be on?

So, still be on Homeland Security, still be on the Intelligence Committee, still be on the Finance Committee. We've got a lot of work to do to be able to write all the tax policy coming out of the Finance Committee. And so, there's still quite a bit of work to do. Senator, how important is it for you to be involved with border security? I mean, you've put a lot of work in there.

You know, that bipartisan bill that you guys worked on was front and center through this whole election cycle, and that's going to be the President's priority. What about what role will you play going forward? Yeah, still serving in leadership on the Homeland Security Committee, that bipartisan bill that we put forward had two sections of it. One section was compelling the President, President Biden, to do his job. He was cutting off funding until he actually put in place the policies that he could actually do right now that he just chose not to do.

The second part of it was fixing a loophole in the asylum process that's existed for decades.

So when I look at that bill now, and I've had folks that have asked me, you think President Trump's going to take that? I was like, well, half that bill is not needed anymore. anymore because half the bill was compelling the president to do his job. Clearly, President Trump is going to enforce the border, so half of it's not needed. The other half will still be important at some point.

But I would say, I think it's going to drop off the radar initially because we'll drop from 4,000 illegal crossings a day to 500 illegal crossings a day pretty rapidly when Trump becomes president. And so it'll go off the front page of the news. That last 500, we still got to be able to solve.

Well, why do you think he's going to drop that precipitously? That number will drop precipitously because 1,500 people a day are coming under the CBP One app that President Biden is doing. President Trump will end the use of that app the very first day. Another 1,000 are coming in under what's called the CHNV, the Cuba, Haitian, Nicaragua, Venezuelan program. That program will end immediately the first day.

So that's 2,500-plus people. Then they'll do greater enforcement and turnarounds, which will slow down the number of people paying cartels to come in, and will be back to a handful of what it was before.

So, yeah, the very first day, I think the numbers will drop dramatically just because of executive actions that the President can take to stop it. Senator Langford, what is left of the wall that was paid for in 2020 that was just laying in the desert? There are still some sections on that that are in Texas and a couple of other spots, so those can be installed. Interestingly enough, in the last few months, President Biden has actually started installing and closing some of those areas. I was down in Arizona just about three weeks ago along the border and saw some of the installation that's actually happening there.

So quietly, the Biden administration started actually doing that again.

So that's helpful. But he also, as you know, Biden also sold off some of the steel for just pennies on the dollar. And so some of that's going to have to be repurchased by the American people to be able to close other sections.

So, when it comes to these confirmations, it'll go through the Judiciary Committee first. That's not a committee you're on, right? It's not.

Well, it depends on what it is.

So, for instance, Tulsi Gabbard, uh, with what we call the ODNI, the officer uh Department of National Intelligence. That will actually come through the Intelligence Committee that I serve on. But like Matt Gates, he will go through the Judiciary Committee because that's actually the Committee of Jurisdiction for the Department of Justice. Here's what Senator Fetterman said about Matt Gage, Cut 15.

Well, I I've I've put out a I put out a tweet about it. I mean clearly Clearly, uh it's Just kind of like a god tier kind of trolling. just to trigger a meltdown. But really the Dems opinions on gates, that's not really what's interesting. What to me is interesting is is gonna those are good the good ones are gonna come by my colleagues on the other side, the GOP, on on how they can justify voting for that jerk.

So, I don't know how you feel about Matt Gates, but he doesn't really have the highest approval rating amongst your caucus. What do you think his chances are? Yeah, I think we're going to take them through the process just like we do everything else. We take President Trump's selection seriously. If he is picking someone and saying, hey, I want them on my team, we're going to take them through the process.

He'll go through that process like everybody else. Whether it's Marco Rubio that we work side by side on or whether it's Matt Gates, both of them were announced yesterday. The response to both of them is exactly the same. Let's get them through the confirmation process. Let's make sure they're getting a fair hearing as fast as we possibly can.

All right, so Tommy Senator Tommy Tuberville is going to be my guest in A little while. He said that the senators have no business voting against nominees from the president. Do you believe that? No, I think the Senate does have a constitutional responsibility called advice and consent. President Biden didn't get all of his nominees.

There were some Democrats that opposed his nominees as well and said, hey, this person we don't think is qualified. If you go back eight years ago, President Trump, there were a few nominees that Republicans, even in those first couple of years, looked at and said, hey, we're not sure this person's qualified. And then the President was able to put somebody in place. What we're not going to do is block the President from be able to get somebody in place and to be able to get the job done on that. That's the important part on it.

But the Senate still has a constitutional role to be able to play, and we should be able to engage to be able to do that. But quite frankly, the first responsibility is to get going. A lot of these nominations have taken forever. We should start this literally January the 3rd as soon as we're sworn in, immediately start meeting in the hearings and to start taking off to make sure it's ready for January 20th when the President's in place.

Well, I know that. Before I get to that, how do you feel about reconciliation appointments? Oh, about doing the recess appointments in between? Yeah, the recess appointments is a constitutional thing to do. But the Supreme Court spoke on this just 10 years ago because remember President Obama was trying to slide in a bunch of folks with recess appointments.

The Supreme Court stepped in and said, hey, you can't just randomly do this on a weekend kind of thing, saying Congress is not here for the weekend, so I'm going to put people in. There are boundaries to it. That is a sign that the Senate is not getting their job done. If you have to do a recess appointment thing, the Senate first should do its job and to actually speed up, make sure that we're staying longer hours, longer days to be able to actually make sure the work is getting done. Would you discourage the President from doing that?

Yeah, th the hard part with a recess appointment is they're always short term, uh they can they only last two years. And then that's all that they can actually get. And you're always going to have a legal challenge. Remember Chad Wolfe when he came in as the head of DHS. He was never confirmed in the process, was not actually walked through that process, and Democrats wouldn't do that.

So, the challenge that we had was several things that Chad Wolfe had ruled on then got kicked out in the courts later on, saying, Hey, there wasn't a confirmed nominee for that. Because he's acting because he's acting, that's right.

So, you've got to kind of balance these things out. You can try to move them in with speed, but they may be sitting in the chair but may not have the power that they need to really get things done.

So, how are things going to be different with Senator Thune, being that he works so closely with McCono? A lot of people feel as though McCono was getting in the way of the president's agenda. How are things going to be different with Thune? I would say Thune and McConnell are two different people. Yes, they both worked on the leadership team, but they are two very different people.

Thun has both served in the House. and in the Senate. He knows both bodies very well. He's done a bunch of different positions in leadership.

So this is kind of like somebody that owns a restaurant that's also worked as a waiter and a busboy and the cook. They kind of know every role there. He served as a committee chair. He knows how to move legislation. And people forget this.

Jon Thune voted with President Trump 91% of the time, if you go back to four years ago. He's one of the top people that voted for President Trump's agenda four years ago. They give him a hard time for some of the things that he might have said. Everybody has disagreements at different points. That's what leaders do.

They push on each other to be able to make each other better. But when you actually look at his voting record, he was overwhelmingly supportive of President Trump's agenda four years ago. And I think that's one of the big reasons that as soon as Thune was actually elected by our conference, President Trump put out that Truth Social post in strong support of Thune and said, hey, looking forward to us working together. Thun gets stuff done fast. And so there was a very strong statement there from the President of support for Thune.

So the thing is, the minority seems to slow things down. This way it was explained to me.

Well, we don't work Mondays, we don't work Fridays, and we might decide, well, you know, we're not going to really hear any nominees or until maybe the afternoon on Wednesday, and then how many nominees are you actually going to see? And then after you get the hearers, you got to vote on them, then you got to put them to the floor.

So there's ways the minority can slow you down. How do you overcome that?

Well, first things first, let's meet, let's get going on it. If they start trying to slow things down, then we can put our own pressure on the minority. That's the thing about the Senate: the Senate, most everything runs by consent. Both sides have got to look at each other, work out our differences like grown-ups, and then to be able to get stuff done.

So I fully expect Democrats will throw a fit on some of these different folks that are coming through the nomination process. They'll do what they can to be able to slow it down. But Thune, at that point, has the power to be able to control the schedule. And so he can just say, We're going to work through the weekends, we're going to work longer times, we're going to put up 20 nominations in a day. I mean, there are things that he can just be able to keep pressing us to be able to grind through it, to be able to get it done.

So you're convinced that how many could you get done by inauguration?

Well, we'll have to have the President inaugurated. We can do a lot of the hearings behind the scenes, but to actually start bringing them up and try to confirm them, we'll confirm them as soon as the President's actually in place.

So that gives us two weeks to do some of those nominations. There are about 1,200 people, Brian. There's a lot of people that have to go through the process on it.

So the priority will be things like Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, all your national security folks. Those will be the primary folks that will come up. And then we'll start working through the rest of the top cabinet people, then the deputies in the cabinet, and then you just take off and go from there. And as soon as we can get a gap, then we start working on judges. All right.

Senator, thanks so much for your time. I look forward to you making a real impact on the way in. And I see the President tweeted out congratulating all you guys on your leadership positions. Thanks so much. You bet.

Glad to do it. Let's get some work done. You got it. I think it's Truth Social. I got to be correct about that.

He put it on Truth Social. Hey, listen, I'll take some calls now. What is your opinion about the roster that's taking shape? 1-866-408-7669. Don't move.

Educating, entertaining, enlightening. You're with Brian Kilmead 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. The more you listen, the more you'll know. It's Brian Kilmead. So today, President Biden met with President-elect Trump for approximately two hours in the Oval Office. White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zains and incoming Chief of Staff Susie Wiles joined the meeting.

It was substantive meeting. And exchange of views. They discussed important national security and domestic policy issues facing the nation and the world.

Well, that was KJP. I'm somewhat s somewhat surprised that they seem to get along or talk about issues. And now President Biden's going to be going over to meet with President Xi of China. Maybe Trump said maybe ask Trump. What do you want me to relay to him?

I would love that. He said, listen, you got to continue to fund Ukraine. And I know they want to keep their whole all their climate projects together. They want America to write a trillion-dollar check every year to different climate projects. Forget it.

We're not doing it. Justin in New Mexico. Hey, Justin. How you doing? Good, we change your mind.

Well, so I like every pick that Donald Trump's made. You know, no one's perfect considering Matt Geigz, but you know, that's what happens when you get people in there that won't do what you ask them to do.

So you end up, you know, you got to get somebody that's going to do what you ask. But I just hope Donald Trump does. You know, the reason I voted for him for it is so he can get rid of income tax.

So that's what I'm pulling for.

So all these people, I hope they do what he wants.

Well, I'll tell you what, he's going to give additional tax breaks. I don't know if there's a plan in place to get rid of the income tax, but he's going to be. I love the fact that he's going to bring people in instead of cutting programs. Maybe he's got to do cutting programs, but I think he's going to bring people in to make it a more efficient government. And that's what we need.

He's going to unleash. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, I think that's going to help. And then you get growth with the energy sector and reinforcing the border, and you'd make this huge effort to bring manufacturing back. And on top of that, you get that corporate tax rate down to 15 if companies want to stay here and stay at 21 if they don't. Listen, that's a big incentive.

Remember, they were beginning to come back to this country before the pandemic, and then everything went on hold. Let's see what happens when that tax reform gets, I guess, re-upped. Brian Kilmey Show. Senator Tommy Tubberville next. If you're interested in it, Brian's talking about it.

You're with Brian Kilmead. Senator Tommy Tupperville, he said that senators have no business voting against nominees from the president. Do you believe that? No, I think the Senate does have a constitutional responsibility called advice and consent. President Biden didn't get all of his nominees.

There were some Democrats that opposed his nominees as well and said, hey, this person we don't think is qualified. If you go back eight years ago, President Trump, there were a few nominees. That Republicans, even in those first couple of years, looked at and said, Hey, we're not sure this person's qualified. And then the President was able to put somebody in place. What we're not gonna do is block the President from be able to get somebody in place.

and to be able to get the job done on that, that's the important part on it. Senator James Langford weighing in on okaying, and soon they're going to be confirming a lot of Donald Trump's picks, or at least certainly examining and questioning a lot of Donald Trump's picks, many of which are unconventional, all of which have huge upsides. The big controversial is Matt Gates, obviously. He has already resigned from the House.

Soon Mike Waltz is going to do the same thing. Elise Stefanik is not going to be able to serve. She's going to go. I'm sure he's going to get confirmed to be the UN ambassador. And now we have Matt Gates as another.

So we'll see where this goes. Senator Tommy Tuberville joins us now out of Alabama.

So Senator, I just wanted to do you not believe that they were you quoted correctly? Did you not believe that you could reject any nominee? Oh, you can reject it, but why would we? You know, the American people, Brian, give a mandate last week that, hey, we want to change our country back.

Now, I don't understand why any senator would vote on the Republican side against any nominee that President Trump has. He's got to change this country around. He's got to have help doing it. There hadn't been one vote since I've been here from the Democrats that voted against any of the nominees for President Biden. And if you look at Merrick Garland, you know, He was the worst AG ever, Brian.

Okay, listen to this. He weaponized the DOJ. He went after parents that wanted to control their kids in schools and not union teachers. He tried to arrest Donald Trump three times, and he okayed the raid in Mar-Largo. And we had twenty Republican senators.

including one you just had on the air. That said, oh, yeah, I'm voting for Merrick Garland. He was against the Constitution, he broke the law, and my God, what are these people thinking? One thing about Garland, though, I mean, he wouldn't be your pick, but he was qualified. It's just what it wouldn't be your pick to do it.

But if you look at his resume, he was qualified. Do you think Matt Geeks is qualified to be Attorney General? 100%. 100%. He's probably one of the better voices in the House.

He is. I've known him for more than the time that I've been up here. He is straight up American. He believes in the Constitution. He's going to fight for the Constitution.

He's going to fight for this country. And I want to challenge any of these people that have voted for any of these people on the left, and which there were a lot on the Republican side, to give their reasoning why they voted for some of these people that have absolutely tried to destroy our country. It makes no sense. It's time to take it back.

So one Republican senator, Granton Anonymity, told Fox News Digital he's not going to get confirmed. Another one said the same thing. Lisa Murkowski said he's not a serious candidate. Joni Ernst says he's got a lot of he's got his work cut out for him.

So you think he's got to start selling himself to these doubters? Yeah, well, he's going to need to come over and go through the Judiciary Committee. But you've got all these wannabes over here that think they know everything about what's going on. And look, A lot of these people have been up here for the last 15, 20 years, Brian. We're 36 trillion in debt.

Our country is in trouble, and they voted for most of these people that have made the changes with the Democratic Party to bring our country down. They need to check their whole card. They need to understand: wait a minute.

Now, I might be thinking the wrong way here. Exactly. Let's take our country back and help President Trump. He was elected. Let's give him his assistant coaches that he's going to need to get our country on the right track again because we are in trouble.

Have you ever seen him happier than he has been over the last week? No, I hadn't. I tell you, I was with him down there on the night he elected. I was the first senator who came out for him, and most of these people that you're talking to. Oh, he can't win.

Let's make sure we try to get somebody else. And of course, the closer he got, the better he got. The more popular he got. They saw he was going to win. They all jumped on the bandwagon.

So he's going to have problems. He's going to have problems from the House and from the Senate of getting people confirmed. But people got to make their voices heard. I mean, it just, you know, if you're going to vote for your opinion and not for people in your state, I voted. For Rick Scott to be leader of the Senate because I got hammered from the people of Alabama.

I represent them, I don't represent anybody else. I'm going to vote how they want me to vote. And they want President Trump to have his coaching staff in line here in the very near future to take this country back. Yeah, I just I just with with Matt I just I know I guess he's a friend of yours. I can't see him as the most qualified person to be attorney general.

I know the president's got to have someone watch his back, but think of Matt Whitaker. He's already done it, I mean, as acting Attorney General. Yeah, well, hey, let me tell you something. There's a lot of people that's qualified. But You know, President Trump, the head coach.

Kicked. Uh, Matt Gates. He picked Matt Gaetz. That's his prerogative to do that. He was elected president now.

I know a lot of those people that would have loved to have it. I know a lot of people on this list that I'm looking at right here, Republican senators, begging, please take me to be Attorney General. That ain't gonna happen. He's gonna pick somebody this time that's gonna stand behind him. Remember, the guy that I beat for this Senate seat, Jeff Sessions, was the guy he picked last time.

He's not gonna, and Jeff Sessions is a good guy, but he wasn't the strongest that would just step out there and say, no, we're not doing this. President Trump is going to need all the protection he can get from the outside swamp. Because it is going to be a fight. The Democrats aren't going to give up, and we don't need to be fighting him from the right. The Republicans don't need to be given that same fight.

Give him four years. That's all he's got. And let's get him out of here and see how he does. But if you're going to hold him back, you can't hold him accountable.

So I think that you've, as Pete Hagseth interviewed you before when he was on Fox? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I've known Pete for what, five years, six years now. See, if you look at his resume, It's pretty much exactly like the resume you need to change things in the Pentagon.

I mean, you have a guy that actually was in two war zones over at Gitmo as a National Guard in the middle of riots over in Washington, the George Floyd riots and the potential storming of the White House. And remember, the next day with St. John's Church that got burned, he was over there then.

So I think he's got experience. He also wrote a book about it. But in terms of. Uh straightening it out the Pentagon. What did now that you've seen it?

What do you really need to make the Pentagon more efficient, build ships quicker, build more of them, more ammunitions, widen our military base? Do you think Pete could do that? Oh, there's no doubt. I mean, I'm fired up about Pete. I'm on the Armed Services Committee.

He'll have to come through our committee for a hearing to get confirmed. He's not one of these woke four-star generals. Brian, you know, I held back promotions for a year on all these four-star generals and three-stars. They came after me from right and left. We have forty-four.

Listen to this stat. We have forty-four four-star generals in the Pentagon. Each of them's budget's about $250 million a year with 2,000 people that work for each one of them.

Okay. And what do they do? Other than go over there and say, okay, let's think about something we can teach our soldiers when they get back in there. They've been out there and fighting for our country. How many DEI courses do they need to go through?

I mean, I am sick of it. We have a lot of good people in the military right now, Brian, but let me tell you something. We are as weak now. Overall, as a military, we've ever been, and we're looking down the barrel of a gun of World War III. And Pete will come in there, and he will go through that Pentagon, and we need to knock two sides off of it.

lower the money down that goes into that Pentagon and put it in the warfighter. Because if we don't, if we continue to go the way we're going, we're not going to have a military. We can't recruit anybody. Who wants to get in the military right now with all these woke DEI initiatives that they're pushing? Yeah, I know, and a lot of the family members who served through generations have backed out after Afghanistan.

Hopefully they'll see when Pete a fresh start. Here's El uh Elbridge Colby yesterday with Laura Ingram talking about what they need, Cut nineteen. It's really important that the platform that President Trump ran on puts reindustrialization, I believe, is the number two priority, and that's absolutely right. But that is going to take some time. And in the meantime, the threats are imminent.

And we've got to husband the resources that we do have with the acute consciousness that I think Pete Hagseth really has an attention to veterans, the possibility that people are going to be put into combat. And I mean, I don't think there's any kind of message that he would bring and that President Trump has run on than that we should take our service members' lives seriously and not throw them away on these kind of crusades.

So yeah, there's going to be a lot of huge decisions. And now you have President Biden with a meeting with President Xi. Do you know anything about the President-to-President meeting yesterday? No, I really don't. But go back to Pete real quick.

I'm on the VA committee too, so we'll work hand in hand. Our veterans need more and more. But, you know, President Trump, you know, came, I thought that was great. President Biden was very. Uh, I'm very happy to see him.

Uh, he looked happier than I've seen him in the last four years. Uh, And, you know, again, at the end of the day, a new sheriff's in town. And it's time to do something about this country that we've absolutely tried to flush down the toilet. And it's been helped from not just the Democrats, but also a lot of the Rhino Republicans. And it's time to give President Trump his team and let's go.

But, of course, we got a lot of know-it-alls up here that, boy, you know, it's just their feelings are hurt. You know, we should have had some input on this. Mac Gates is a bad dude. Come on. Come on.

Let's get back to our country and worry about the Democrats taking our border and knocking it down, and the crime in the streets and inflation, and people can't live off what their paychecks are. I mean, we got problems, but we can get it back. And President Trump's going to do it, Brian. He's going to get it done. Senator Thu now in charge over McConnell.

So, what changes?

Well, not a lot of much. You got to remember this, Brown. What does the leader of the Senate do? He's a spokesperson to the media, and he'll obviously communicate with President Trump to get his agenda through. I was for Rick Scott.

Again, both were business people. I know known Rick a long time. He was very successful, as President Trump was. Jonathan will be fine. He had a visit yesterday with President Trump.

They talked about it. And You know, there's a lot of pressure on Thun to get things pushed through. I mean, that's what you do as a leader. But I don't think he'll have the pushback like he did from Leader McConnell. Leader McConnell was dug in.

Real tight, and he fought back a lot on President Trump's agenda. We can't do it this time. He's got four years. Really, he's got two years. And so we're going to need to knock this out quick.

But I'm excited. You can tell I'm fired up. You've talked to me before, and I tell you what, I've never been dejected about the downcline of our country with these Democrats the last four years. But we have a chance now, Brian. We have a chance.

And let's don't get in the President's way.

So Senator, how do you get these conferen how do you get these nominees heard? How do you get their confirmation hearing so much quicker than last time? Even you guys are slowing down Republicans, Democrats and vice versa. The whole system is antiquated. But how do you move it how do you move them through in three weeks?

Well, again, you know, most of them, they're all got to go through committees, and we'll knock those out quick. We're going to be working late hours. We need to be up for seven days a week. We don't need to be working three days and going home. Time is of the essence.

And again, there's the recess appointments that could happen. Thun and Mike Johnson have to get together on that and really have to understand how to do it.

Now, again, those appointments only last two years when you do it that way, but that's fine. Let's get this going and not take any days off until we get all these people in place. President Trump's working 18 hours, 19 hours a day. I know how he works. We need to do the same thing and give the people in our country a day's work.

And I'm looking forward to it. All right, so the recess appointments, you said you're you're open to it. Oh yeah, yeah, there's no doubt recess appointments. should be there. It's in the Constitution.

It can be done. It's got to be done the right way. We're not going to break the Constitution like the Democrats. We're going to go by the rule of the law. The Democrats are going to fight us tooth and nail on everything that we're going to do.

They're going to try to hold everything up. Of course, we're going to have some in our side that's going to try to do the same thing because they got their feelings hurt. But at the end of the day, we're going to win out on this because American people are sick and tired of what's going on up here in this big government that's overbloated, spending money. We have half a trillion dollars a year stolen by fraud in this country. Nobody really cares, but they're getting ready to find out what's really happened up here, and a lot of eyes are going to be open.

So a lot of people have been up here for a long time on both sides. Better wake up and smell the roses because there's a new sheriff in town. I know we're talking about life and death in World War, but do you plan on without Joe Manchin as a partner tackling college football rules, this new payment system, the new NIL? They are desperate for some type of guardrails. Yeah, we got to do something, Brian.

It's out of control. Uh, again, I'm for players making money, but I'm also for players signing a contract for that money and staying with that contract instead of saying, Well, you know, I can go somewhere else next year for fifty thousand dollars. I don't like to coach. I don't like the offense. Fine, you can leave, but you've got to pay price.

You can't break that contract, or you got to pay it back, or you've got to set out a year when you go to another school. The transfer portal is killing college sports. Making money, I'm fine with that. But what's going to happen is we're going to ruin women's sports. We're going to ruin Olympic sports because there's not going to be any money.

for any of those because all of it's going to go to basketball and football players. And these poor kids that are going to school to play soccer or tennis or golf, they're going to look around going, oh, we're going to be a club sport now. We've got to pay $500 to play for a big university. That's wrong. Absolutely wrong.

Yeah, I mean, let's just get in. I can't believe they're asking for regulation, and you have the experience to do it. Hopefully, you'll get a partner. Senator Tommy Tumberville, thanks so much. All right, Brian, thank you.

God bless. You got it. Back at the moment, Brian Kilmicho. I see your calls up there, and we'll continue to look at the Trump team and where would they go from here. And you're not going to believe the team of resistance that's already forming against the Republicans.

Giving you everything you need to know. You're with Brian Kilmead. Radio that makes you think. This is the Brian Kill Me Joe. Matt Gates.

for Attorney General. Wow. I wonder, I don't know Mr. Gates, again he'll go through the process, but I kind of wonder whether he could actually get confirmed even by the House Republican conference based upon at least the stories for the last couple years. Yeah, and that's going to be the key.

It's going to be Gates. They'll try to give Pete Hakesett the hard time, but ultimately he's very good on his feet and he'll overcome. And he's got a lot of support on the Republican side. I don't know anyone on the Republican side that doesn't support him because most have been interviewed by him, both know him. You know, you've seen him before.

It's been the number one network. Twenty years? Pete's been a part of it for the last twelve. He's all over the channel.

So, I really don't think that if you just look at his background and you talk about what he's done already, I don't see him having a problem. The other thing I want to talk about is the resistance building against the president. Believe it or not, there is. These mayors get together: this Jared Polis getting together with Gavin Newsom, getting together with Pritzker. Then you got the whole push for these sanctuary cities.

America does not want sanctuary cities. Inner City doesn't want the sanctuary cities. The minorities don't want the sanctuary cities. But mayors like Brandon Johnson will stand in the way. And of course, sees race and everything.

Cut 33. We're going to stand up and we're going to protect undocumented individuals. We're going to protect black folks, brown folks, Asian folks. Listen, the anti-sentiment that exists in this political space right now is unconscionable and it's dangerous. Whether it's anti-black or anti-Semitic, we're going to protect people and we're going to invest in people.

The city of Chicago will be better, stronger, and safer despite who's in the White House. Despite you as mayor, I doubt it. George of Missouri. Hey, George. Hi, Brian.

Hi, Brian. I I believe if you look at the talent and ages of the appointees and the fact the age of JD Vance, Trump is assuring a dominant Continuous Republican presence for the next two decades. If they produce, right, George? They have talent. They have talent.

They have experience. The president does not mind sharing the spotlight, but if they produce successfully, you're absolutely right. And don't forget other guys still in the Senate, like Tom Cotton. Brian Kill Meat Show. From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show.

Brian. In Kill Mead. 48th and 6th of Midtown Manhattan, heard around the country, around the world, Brian Kilmicho. This hour we're going to be joined by Jackie Heinrich. She's going to bring us to the ladies from the White House, the aftermath of yesterday's very cordial meeting between the future president and the former president, who was a former president.

Andy McCarthy is standing by, Fox News contributor. We'll talk about the cases. Jack Smith is just winding it all down. Juan Mersant is holding it up. Uh at least for now it stays on ice and he stays I guess in the spotlight, and we just got to talk about the Attorney General pick.

So before we get to these guys, let's get to the big three.

Now with the stories you need to know, it's Brian's big three. Number three. We're gonna defend the people of this city. His threat is not just towards new arrivals. and undocumented families.

His threats are also against black families. What are you talking about? That is that embarrassing mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson. The Trump Resistance forming, and governors are taking the lead. We discuss whether the tone-deaf Dems truly get the message that the people have spoken through this election.

Number two, Wallop. I kind of wonder whether he could actually get confirmed even by the House Republican conference. We will consider this in the Senate and certainly will be in the Judiciary Committee. I don't happen to serve on that committee. That is Mark Warner and Shelly Moore Capito picking a starting lineup and ruffling a lot of feathers with out-of-the-box cabinet selections as Tulsi and Rubio get their slots and Matt Gates mysteriously is named to the Attorney General's slot.

Does he have a chance at getting confirmed? We do the forecasting. Number one. I'm not going to go into granular detail of what was discussed in the meeting. What I can say that it was indeed very cordial, very gracious and substantive.

Yes, KJP, a sweep. Republicans lock up the House last night, pick their leadership and great president-elect Donald Trump as he meets, and greed, I should say, Donald Trump as he meets one-on-one with the President Biden in the Oval, who's one and done. We'll talk about the massive change to Washington and that is coming because, you know, the President's filling up his roster quick. I think he's going to name a Treasury Secretary as early as today. I think Bergham's going to get interior and possibly energy, some type of overarching role.

He needs to have coordination between the two along with the EPA. And also, I think that you're going to see an HHS secretary named too, because it looks like.

Well, it looks like RFK Jr. is determined to get that slot rather than taking one that won't be confirmed by the Senate. I'm not sure if he's going to be able to get confirmed. He said a lot of controversial things in the past. I think he shoots sometimes runs into bears, leave them in Central Park.

Those types of stories are tough to outrun. Andy McCarthy joins us now. Andy, welcome back. Brian, I'm glad I'm not in that ringer. I wish RFK Jr.

well. I know. I just, you know, he's going to have some problems. But first off, on the Attorney General's selection, no one doubts that Matt Gates is good on his feet. No one doubts that he's a good conversationalist.

No one doubts that he's loyal to the president. I got it. But after that, what do you make of this election? It's an appalling pic. And it's really, I just don't understand it because I thought a number of the picks have been very.

Strong. And if you want a kind of an out-of-the-box. Pick that will disrupt things in a good way. I think our friend Pete Hegseth is perfect. Uh for that and I uh His pick, I thought, was an inspired choice.

This one is just a terrible choice. The guy has no judgment. He's got no experience. the legal positions he's adopted publicly. Uh the most no notable of them have been absurd.

And the only thing that recommends him for the role is that he's a complete loyalist which I have to think that President Trump. can get any number of people who will be loyal to him who will make sure that Unlike his first term, his own Justice Department doesn't end up getting a special counsel foisted on him and hamstringing the administration. For two years, he can get that. from someone without having to buy on to the to the gates baggage And it's to me, Brian, it's a waste of time.

So to talk much about this because I don't see how in the world he gets confirmed. Here's a senator of Warner and Republican Senator Capito, cut six. Wow. Kind of wonder whether he could actually get confirmed even by the House Republican conference. We will consider this in the Senate and certainly will be in the Judiciary Committee.

I don't happen to serve on that committee. And she went on, cut seven. What we have to look at is the experience that President-elect Trump has had with the Department of Justice. He has been prosecuted over and over again on some very flimsy terms and just sort of reworking the wheels of justice to be tilted away from him. And I think that's what he's reflecting in a pick that is sort of raising eyebrows across the nation in some ways.

So uh Obviously, she's trying to be diplomatic, but she's right. The President's been traumatized by the justice system, and he doesn't want to take any chances, Andy. Yeah, but the justice system is really important. It's actually more important than Donald Trump.

So I don't want the justice system to be traumatized by Mac Dates. And I think there's a a long way. There's a lot of Uh places that you could settle. Between President Trump's Very colorable. Worthy concerns about the Justice Department and the judicial system being turned against him.

And having somebody who's fit to run the Justice Department and will. Make sure that Donald Trump Is is immunized From frivolous legal attacks. I think there's a lot of people that you could pick other than Matt Gates who could get you there. I think so too. Uh I'm I'm not defending him.

Uh I thought he really s I thought he hurt the country. Forget about the Republicans. The whole House stopped for three weeks. He blows up Kev McCarthy. Thankfully, they have now passed a Nine vote thresholds when it comes to a move to vacate the chair and get rid of the speaker.

So that's good. And I think with President Trump will ultimately decide who if Johnson is that bad that has to be removed, he'll decide it. Kevin McCarthy would still be there.

So having said that, some people say this. His ethics committee was about to release their report any day. But the day he resigned, which was yesterday, they no longer are allowed to release that report. Does that have anything to do with it?

Well, I think it has a lot to do with his resignation. From Converse But It goes to show, Brian, I think. that this nomination Is counterproductive. Let's put aside that he stops President Trump's momentum, which I think the first bunch of uh appointments Uh helped along after the election. And let's put aside That he gives the Democrats who are reeling something to rally around in opposing gates.

Why he would do either of those things, I don't know. But If Gates is the nominee, Then he's going to be subjected to a Senate confirmation process in which all the stuff that's in the ethics report is going to come out.

So if he didn't want that to come out, why not? resign from the House. I can totally understand if that's his best way of burying that information and he wants it buried. And let's I want to be fair here. He was investigated.

He was not indicted. He hasn't been found guilty of anything. And we ought to. remember that he's presumed innocent. We get all that.

But If you really don't want this information to get out publicly, why would you? be involved in a situation where It's now going to get the kind of attention it never would have gotten otherwise in a confirmation process. I think it's a good point. The other thing would be. The other thing would be a recess appointment.

Do you see that? I don't see that. If President Trump can't force Congress to recess. And I don't think they will recess. You know, I've heard that.

And I have to say. You know, Republicans went nuts, and appropriately so, when Obama did this. And those cases ended up in the in the Supreme Court. Uh the president can't force Congress to go into recess. Um so I just think that's a non-starter.

And if he tries to do that, I think Republicans will fight him on it, as they should. What about acting? What if he name him acting?

So I have to go back over the acting rules, but my recollection is. that you have to be in the department or in the government in the executive branch. For that to work.

So, for example, I think. when um when Matt Whitaker Was put in as Acting Attorney General in President Trump's first term between sessions and bar. He was a U.S. attorney in, was it Iowa? I can't remember which district, but it was okay for him to get rotated to the Justice Department because he was already in the executive branch.

And he was in chief of state. He was chief of staff. Four sessions. Yeah, but yeah, I don't think you can bring somebody in from the outside. I could be wrong about that, but I don't think so.

All right, so we'll see how that goes and we'll see what it's going to take. And I just wonder on the rules, it's not necessarily your area, but Sumer was so effective in slowing down all these nominations. It really hurts the country. You can't get people in place to do the job. Other people stay in place or just bureaucrats run the department until their head gets in there.

Is there something they can do to pick up the pace on January 3rd when they come back from the holidays? Yes, they have actually. I understand that they've reduced That you used to be able to like uh hold something up for thirty hours.

Now I think you can hold it up for two hours. Which isn't good, but it's a lot better than 30.

So, you know, look, Capitol Hill works at its own. Snail's pace, and we're going to encounter things that we haven't even thought of yet. But I just think this is kind of an unforced. Yeah. Especially when there are so many other People, I mentioned Matt Whitaker.

He'd be an excellent attorney general, and I'm sure he'd be loyal in all the right ways. By the way, I'm not. I don't I'm not using uh loyalist. in the way that it often is used in connection with President Trump, which where it's like the functional equivalent of co conspirator. I'm not suggesting that there's anything wrong with being loyal to somebody who wants to do things that are lawful and good for the country.

Um But I think you would get that with somebody like Whitaker. Trump would be fully protected, and the Justice Department would be run by somebody who knows what he's doing.

So, Andy McCarthy, our guest, will watch. You can watch him on Skype. And Andy, so Juan Rashand, could you make sense of it for our audience? He yesterday looked at the New York case this week and said, What about the president and his sentencing after the conviction on 34 felony counts? Yeah, I think Brian, this is really...

Widely misunderstood. And I'm not a March on fan, as you know, from our conversations about him. But what Murchan did this week was done at the request of both President-elect Trump. and the district Attorney's Office. and what they're trying to wrestle with.

is whether Trump's election as president And The supremacy clause consequences of that under the Constitution, where state governments are not allowed to take action that would prevent the federal government from functioning. What does that portend? for Trump's case going forward, considering he's still got Post-trial motions, including the immunity motion on the table. He hasn't formally been convicted yet. He hasn't been sentenced yet.

And there's a long appeals process. But should that all go on while he's president?

So I think what they're wrestling with is. Does the case have to be dismissed? Or should it be suspended while Trump is in office, and then they can think about whether to get around to it or not? After four years from now, when he's 83 and a twice-elected president and all that. But I don't criticize Murchan for the one-week.

stay because both Trump and the And the district attorney asked for it. And the only thing that's going to happen next Tuesday. Is Alvin Bragg's office supposed to come forward with their vision for how the case should proceed from here? And the se you know, uh, if he lost. They would sentence him, right?

On Tuesday? I no, not on Tuesday. I don't know. He's The judge is not going to rule on the post-trial motion. On Tuesday.

The only thing that's going to happen Tuesday is Bragg is going to come in and say, This is what we think you need to do going forward. And that could be dismiss the case, it could be suspend the case, or it could be let's rule on the post-trial motion and proceed to sentencing, which I think will result in an appeal and A lot of other problems. But I anticipate that they're going to just suspend the proceedings till Trump is out of office.

So, Andy, just your opinion, because this kind of blends politics and legal. Why do you think they stopped calling him a felon? Biden called him a felon in June. They never called him a felon again. In all the attacks on him, they called him Hitler, a fascist.

They stopped calling him a felon. Why, in your opinion, did that label work, I believe, against Democrats? Yeah, I think what happened was the law fair campaign. was a flop. And it was worse than a flop, it was a counterproductive flop.

So I think Probably what the Democrats' internals told them. Was that when you talk about Trump as a convicted felon, it just reminds voters of the efforts that were made to. to sideline him by litigation. Rather than beat him. At the ballot box.

And I have to say, like, you know, Trump. Drew an inside straight on all this, but the most important development that happened. Was clearly the Supreme Court's. uh immunity decision because that really made it It made it, number one, practically impossible for any of the federal prosecutions to get to trial, and they were stronger cases. And then secondly, that means in the public mind.

The emblem of lawfare was Alvin Bragg's case, which was a joke.

So I think in most people's mind, this was just It's un-American to use the legal system to try to take out your political opponents, and people don't like it. I hate it, and I would hate it for Democrats too, enough. If it's Al Capone, you know, obviously, if it's John Gotti, clearly. Right. But if it's politicians, Enough.

Thanks so much, Andy McCarthy. Always great. Thanks, Brian. 1866-408-7669. I see the calls up there from Clifton, New Jersey, Pensacola Beach, Atlanta, and more.

We'll get to them in just a moment. Or you can write me, BrianKilmead.com. Just click on comments. You're listening to the Brian Kilmead Show. Coming to you on a need-to-know basis, because Mandy, you need to know.

It's Brian Kilmead. Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kill Me Show. And I just want to point out a couple of other things. Joe Biden named this woman, Tracy Stone Manning, to run the BLM at the Bureau of Land Management.

Greg, she had direct ties to an eco-terrorist organization. Then, after the October 7th attack, he nominated a lifetime federal judgeship to a guy named Adeal Mandy, who had hosted anti-Semitic groups on campus and defended cop killers. He had Sam Britton. Yes. Right?

Okay. The luggage thief, okay, to oversee nuclear waste disposal. Good thing he didn't steal any of that. I could go on and on, but the last one I would mention is Jen Grandholm. She literally invested in EV battery companies while serving as the energy secretary of the country.

So if you're going to be all up in arms about one nomination, just give Pete a chance. I think that he will do a great job. Yeah, that's true. That was before Matt Gates came out, which is put Pete, his headset to the side. I think he'll do a great job.

I think everyone that knows Pete is going to win him over. He's very eloquent. He knows how to talk. He's a broadcaster. And you got this military background that speaks for itself.

And talking about Secretary of Defense, Michael, you're in Georgia. Hey, Michael. Hey Brian, back in the day, nobody had a problem with Obama having a problem. Having a wingman in his A G Eric Holder And if there's anyone who needs a wingman in Washington, it's Donald Trump. Am I right?

Don't you think that Whitaker could do the same thing without the baggage of blowing up the Senate and beating up Grand Stander with ethics violations coming streaming out? Don't you think there's other people that like Trump that are in the legal profession? And he was assistant attorney general under Clinton, so he did have the skill set. Yeah, well, what if this is a way to give Matt a good friend a way out of his situation, and it's just a straw man nomination? You're a smart guy, Michael.

You're right. You're right. If that's a way of paying back a friend, it's okay. I just don't think he's the best nominee. And the thing is, how do you expect me to have credibility when I tell you Pete's right?

and pretend that Matt is right too, because he's not. The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmead. like Come a further thank you. Bound.

Congratulations. And uh looking forward to having a like we said Smooth transition. Do everything we can to make sure you're accommodating what you need. Whenever you get a chance to talk about some of that today, it's good. Welcome.

Welcome back. and thank you very much and Uh politics is tough. And it's uh In many cases, not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today, and I appreciate it very much. a transition that's so smooth it'll be As smooth as it can get and uh I very much appreciate that too. You're welcome.

And that was all the exchange that we got yesterday in the Oval Office as President Biden and President-elect Trump met. And they evidently, instead of an hour, you know, tentatively said it was going to be an hour. There was nothing backstopping President Trump's meeting. And it went to. What really happened behind the scenes?

In a quote to the New York Post, if I were to summarize it, very cordial. They talked about foreign affairs, they talked about the Middle East. And now President Biden's off to talk go over to President Xi in China. I wonder if he had a message to give to him from Trump. Jackie Heinrich joins us now.

Fox News is senior White House correspondent. Jackie, welcome back. Were you surprised how cordial both seemed yesterday? You know, bruh. Brian, I was shocked as anyone to see the big smiles on Biden's face.

Especially when he was with Jill, you know, those photos of the White House circulated, the two of them walking down the colonnade and then, you know, posing on the south lawn together. That was just a really stunning image. And, you know, to have posed for White House photographers, not even in front of the press, this was additional to the Oval Office spray that we got. That was just really something. I think that Biden is going out of his way to.

Make sure that he upholds all the democratic traditions. That he did not receive in 2020. Maybe a little bit of a needle with that at Trump. But I think also he wants to. Set his legacy in place, and this is how he wants to build it out.

But yeah, it was a really stunning, uh, stunning day yesterday. History, really. Yeah, and then when you talk about the New York Post, he did talk to the New York Post, and he came out and said some said some nice things about their exchange. He said it was my, as you know, it was my great honor to have a chance to walk through. And he gave all his statements right after.

And they talked about, he said Joe Biden came back and said he had some very direct questions about what was going on.

So I think that the country benefits when things like normal happen. When things go back to protocol. And I think that now President Biden, to me, just as a human being, I just notice he looks relieved. You see him much more than I do. Do you feel the same way?

I do. In a lot of ways, he is vindicated, although he would never admit it because his party pushed him aside. And remember, these were the same people that did not help him when he was at the top of the ticket, did not help him win election in twenty twenty, passed him over for Hillary. The the Obamas of the world, the David Plus, the Missing as the uh you know Pod, Save America, bros, those people. And also Obama, who he'd so desperately wanted his approval.

And you can see in their interactions when they have them in front of cameras, he still does. I mean, the way he looks at Obama is just really interesting to me. But I think he's vindicated in that he's the only person who has beat Donald Trump. He believed that he would be the only person who could, and now that was proven right. I also, though, think he's a little bit sad because a lot of what his.

You know, legacy would have been, would have been better, it would have been, its feature would have been better ensured if Harris were to have won. Where his foreign policy goes, I think that that was probably a major, major focus of his conversation with Trump because.

So much of Biden's priorities have been focused on Ukraine and Trump. Future aid to Ukraine under Trump is a question mark. You know, Mike Johnson. Reportedly, he said something yesterday along the lines of we're not going to fund Ukraine anymore, or was asked a question if he would. indicated that that might not happen.

Um so I'm sure that Ukraine was a big Topic of discussion. And I also know that the White House has been trying to figure out ways to position Ukraine.

So that when, if future US support you know dwindles. That they'll have European allies backing them up and/or be in a better position to negotiate an end without. negotiating away any territories. We said there was no schedule for the Vice President to be there. But there is no schedule right now for her to tour J.D.

Vance around the observatory, right? No. In fact, I'm hearing word she's going on vacation in Hawaii. I wonder why. How about the reports about these?

Celebrities in the $500,000 to Al Sharpton's group and the million dollars or something like that to Harpo Productions for the big set to Oprik an interviewer. And who knows? We don't know yet about Eminem. We don't know yet about Beyonce and Megan the Stallion. That's a to me, I'm stunned.

I was just stunned by this. Yeah, I was too. And I have an early look at some of those numbers. I mean, we're going to get the report for the October spending, I think. Later on this month, it was, you know, I heard from one of the donors that it wasn't just six figures for the Call Her Daddy podcast, that it was.

You know, that's So much so much money. When you're paying Oprah a million dollars for a fee, you know, you roll out all these celebrities, and the problem that these donors and sort of people who are not. In a In the room making the final decision on spending, but have sort of given their thoughts, they were all like, Look, this is an old tired playbook. You're running Harris like you ran Obama, and she is not Obama. Are we reaching the people we need to reach by having So-and-so come out and speak, Beyonce, you know, Christina Aguilera, whatever, Lady Gaga, rather.

It's, you know. Not going to pull over the voters whose support we are struggling to retain. And I think. What's happening now is they have lost Every sub-demographic in such a way that it's clear there's not one singular reason that they lost, but they have to sort of re-examine everything. And when you take in a record amount of money, when you raise a billion dollars and you lose that badly, I it's an indictment of the Stephanie Cutters of the world.

David Pluffs of the World, who ran this playbook for Obama and are running this playbook. For Harris, as though she were the same candidate, when the party has changed, the candidate has changed, and the issues have changed. And it's not a good use of your funding anymore. And donors are going to have a difficult time ponying up. I was also reading about the debt that they're in.

You know, it's at least $20 million. It might be more. They're going to have a hard time pulling out of that. And it could have ramifications in the midterms. That was an issue for Hillary in 2016.

Yeah, I mean, it seems like the DNC is always in a problem. And this guy, Jamie Harrison, was walking around with a documentarian with him everywhere as if he's making history. I'm sure they're going to want to burn that film.

So Akeem Jeffries addressed his caucus yesterday and he said, wuss, we're not going to get the majority. That's done, even though there's some races yet to be determined. He took responsibility for it. I got the sense in Washington, but you lived there, that it was a faith to come play for a long time. It looked like the Republicans were not going to hold the House.

When did that change? You know, I think Yeah. When after the DNC, because you had everything sort of set up for Democrats to sweep. There the energy, the momentum was there. And then Harris fumbled and she fumbled so badly that I think it impacted all these down ballot races.

You did have, when Biden was still at the top of the ticket, concern that especially on the Senate side, some of these Democrats were, you know, polling better than he was, and that the top of the ticket was going to drag down the bottom of the ticket. And then at the DNC, everyone was very excited. They turned it around. The money was coming in. You know, the media is all over her.

Things are changing. And then she. She went into hiding for weeks. And didn't take any interviews, didn't seize that momentum. And then when she came out, she fumbled every interview she did.

She had a terrible time staking out her policy positions. She had a terrible time articulating how it was that she became this new moderate figure of her former self. Um it it was not believable. And I think people just started to see that it was a facade, and then they got really spooked. You did have the Democrats outraising the Republicans, and I think that in many of the House races, they were pretty comfortable about that.

But when you look at those swing states where the top of the ticket was really going to matter, they were spooked there. And that is where you ended up having these losses. We're talking to Jackie Heinrich, White House correspondent. I think that, Jackie, what do you expect to happen overseas with the President Swansong overseas visit? I mean, he's going to be meeting with impactful countries.

Blinkens having big meetings too. What do you think he's going to try to get done there? And do you think that Trump gave him a message, or did he ask for one? You know I think that they were probably talking about Ukraine. There was something that Trump said, and I forget where I read this, but it was basically we're going to tell Putin to end this war, and we've got some leverage because We could end up changing the policy on long-range weapons and we're going to force them to come to the table and that's how we're going to get it done.

I had been hearing actually that the Biden administration was considering rethinking that policy as a way to box Trump in because they don't want to have when Biden leaves office, new administration come in and then have Ukraine be forced to give up territory or negotiate away their land. I think that that was actually an area that they both maybe agree on or are talking about using. You do have some opposition from, I believe, it's the UK and Germany. Don't quote me on that, but there are a couple of other nations, partners and allies, that still have the same policy as the US. I believe France had.

Cleared the scalp missiles for use. Don't quote me on that. I got to pull up my notes. But I think this is a conversation that once the US does it, other countries are going to need to do that too.

So that's probably a big focus at the G20. As it goes with China, you know, this is something Biden has always talked about. Hundreds of thousands of miles that he traveled and all the hours he's talked to. I think this is going to be just sort of a final chapter in his. career and he wants to have that conversation.

So, Jackie, what's going to happen? What do you do? Do you wait for the new White House to take over? What do you think you'll be doing next? I divide my brain and do both.

You do? You got both you got both the incoming and outgoing. Yeah. Yeah, we're trying. You know, it's it's tough to sort of wrap your head around, but It's not at the same time.

Many of the issues remain the same. You're just dealing with different people. I think once we have the full Trump incoming cabinet sort of fleshed out and a few more puzzle pieces get in place, we will be dealing with them more. And as Biden finishes his his last foreign trip and then goes into sort of holiday party season, that will wind down. I think this week and next week, we're probably trying to straddle the line and do both, which is a little bit challenging.

But you're going to see me and Peter rotating, going down to Florida during the transition to report from there while we also cover the White House. We'll see. I I think that, you know, the confirmations talk is sort of dominating the news this week, who we who might end up coming in, who might not, and what the administration incoming administration is going to look like and what that might mean for any policy shifts ahead. All right. There we go.

Jackie Heinrich, thanks so much. Thanks, Brian. Appreciate it. Jackie, you're giving us a hand on a day off. Randy in Yorktown, Virginia.

Hey, Randy. Brian, thank you very much for taking my call. What an honor it is to speak to you.

Well, thanks for getting online. I know you're in Virginia. We're very happy to have so many listeners in Virginia, Randy.

So you think Matt Gates was a good move?

Well, I thi no, I think it says Strategic move is what I'm thinking, Brian. Because I'll be honest, when I first heard the news, I was like. Kind of shocked because I'd been going through the list of all of his appointees and I was thinking, yes, yes, yes, yes. And then the Gates one hit, and although I liked Matt Gates, I was like, what? And I didn't really get it.

And then I thought, well, As you were talking with Andy McCarthy about this, it kind of came to me that maybe what this is, because it seems like Matt has an issue with the Justice Department just like Trump has an issue with the Justice Department. And I'm wondering if this is Trump giving him the opportunity to go in and clean house at the Justice Department, knowing he'll never get confirmed, but then he'll go on to some other position. And he's taking one for the team here. He's going in to clean house. That's kind of what came to me, and I was wondering what he's doing.

I just don't know how he gets in there, Randy. Right now, I don't think he could change his background enough to convince the people in the Judiciary Committee to push him through the jet for a general vote. I'd be shocked if he did. Maybe Trump's got even more. Does Trump want to spend all of his leverage and capital on getting Matt Gates in?

Well, I don't know. If he would, if he got a recess appointment.

So that's, I thought I had heard that that was kind of on the table with the whole speaker thing. Maybe I'm wrong. I'll be honest. I wish I could spend more time listening to you so I would know more. But yeah, that's my thought, and I'm thinking maybe that's the plan.

If not, I'm with you. I don't know if you're going to. But they'll be legally challenged by, do they want to have a legal challenge to their attorney general's election when they want to do things so quickly? Randy, thanks so much. Listen, when we come back, I'll be able to take some calls, also your emails.

And we're going to take a look at the resistance. Yes, the Democratic resistance is forming. Learning something new every day on the Brian Killmeat Show. The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmead.

He also picked. You ready? Co-host of Fox and Friends Weekend. Not even like regular. Weekend.

Pete? Hegscurp. Pete Hexeth. And he's picked him to be U.S. Secretary of Defense.

Now, MAGA supporters and detractors are trying to figure out. What? Because of this pic. Uh how hard is it to say Heg Seth? Come on, it's the easiest thing in the world.

No, they know how to do it. That is just terrible on their part. And by the way, it's like he's only the weekday. It has nothing to do with his resume, Secretary of Defense. Eight hours, what he does on the weekend.

So she did absolutely no research to find out who he is. And people were surprised by it, but not many people are against it. I mean, there are people on other channels that are against it, but you look at the resume and you see him in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Gitmo, and you see how many years he's been in it. Then you go, okay, he's just a warfighter. No, Harvard and Princeton.

Hmm.

Well, he's a community. What has he done? While serving in the National Guard, he's still on Fox News, number one network.

Well, how's his show? Number one. Uh how's his series, uh Warriors? No top series on Fox Nation. What about his book, About the Pentagon?

Was number one for four or five weeks.

So, I mean You might say it surprised you. But you can't say, well, this this person's not worthy. Steve in Pensacola. Hey, Steve. Brian, you know, you asked why they quit calling him a felon, and you and I spoke about this.

I served with Conrad Black in federal prison, and you and I spoke about why they quit calling him a felon. It's because they were alienating almost 70% of their constituency within the black community, and that's one of the reasons they did. Please. It's very heartful for us in Pensacola Beach to have both. Joe Scarborough, uh Saying that he was a congressman here.

And I think the whole Gates thing was just a setup to help him get out of his situation, which is, you know, politics, if you will, but he's in no way qualified. I want congressmen to start doing what they're supposed to be doing: getting my roads built, getting bridges built, getting that infrastructure money going, instead of sitting out there on TV cameras all the time talking about what is good for somebody. They're almost like the celebrities that went and endorsed. These people for president. Yeah, I mean, you got two different.

Scott, Steve, I 100% agree with you. You got Michael Walsh talking substance and policy, and the other one's just trying to get famous. Huge difference. Brian Kilmicha. From high atop Fox News headquarters in New York City.

Always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kill Me. Thanks so much for listening, everybody. It's the Brian Kill Me Show.

So glad you're here. Yes, ALR dramatics is president meets president. And now things have come down somewhat. I expect to get a Treasury Secretary nominee soon. One Energy possibly.

Doug Bergam's going to probably be there today. And then you have Scott Bessing, who's a great friend of our show, just on Fox and Friends today. And he really feels, and he should, that he's a finalist to be Treasury Secretary. In fact, I saw some odds on it. It's about 89%.

The guy in charge, Howard Luttnick, who's in charge of screening everybody, suddenly put his own name in for Treasury Secretary. I find that a little bit surprising.

So. A little like Dick Cheney, I interviewed everyone for vice president, and I choose me.

So Howard Lucknick, good friends with the President, but more of a sales guy. He understands finance. And it's good to be a sales guy, be out there generally and talk about this number and this number and do what some people in different administrations have done. I think Kevin Hassett's a great salesperson for what's going on in the economy. But I don't think they compare to Scott Besson, we'll say.

So let's get to the big three.

Now, with the stories you need to know, it's Brian's big three. Number three. We're gonna defend the people of this city. His threat is not just towards new arrivals. and undocumented families.

His threats are also against black families. Mm-hmm. Of course, you have to see black and white all the time if you're that mayor from Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson. But it's called a sanctuary city that hurts people in your city that actually pay taxes. The Trump Resistance is forming, and governors and mayors are taking the lead.

We'll discuss what their angle is and why they're so tone-deaf to the election results. Number two, wow. I kind of wonder whether he could actually get confirmed even by the House Republican conference. We will consider this in the Senate and certainly will be in the Judiciary Committee. I don't happen to serve on that committee.

Right. The picking a starting lineup has been really strong. The President's been doing it really quick. It shows his people have been very organized. But Attorney General Matt Gates is creating the greatest, I guess, dust cloud.

We'll see. As Tulsi Gabbrick has director of national intelligence, I think she'll be fantastic. And Pete Hegzeth, the Secretary of Defense. Look forward to the other positions being filled and the nominations being looked at. Number one.

I'm not going to go into granular detail of what was discussed in the meeting. What I can say that it was indeed very cordial, very gracious and substantive. Good job, KJP, and I know that pains you to say it, but it looks like both presidents got along in the oval. They talk policy. In fact, that's where we'll begin.

Talking policy. This is really what they said. President Trump revealed exclusively to the New York Post what he and Biden talked about. He says, you know, it's been a long, long slog. It's been a lot of work on both sides, and he did a very good job with respect to campaigning and everything else.

We really had a really good meeting. I wanted, I asked for his views, and he gave them to me. Also, we talked very much about the Middle East. Likewise, I wanted us to know his views on what we are. And where we are and what he thinks, and he gave them to me.

He was very gracious.

So he said they expect to see each other again before the inauguration. He said the Oval Office is so beautiful. I do certainly look forward to coming back. We'll have that very, very nice meeting that takes place between the Presidents something sometime prior, you know, that takes place just prior to going in.

So going into the inauguration. And this is going to be the theme After Christmas. President's going to have the biggest crowds. I'm sure he's not going to talk about it like last time, but he's going to make sure he has the biggest crowds. And I'll tell you, there's so many people that are so relieved that this president has won because of the policies in, and so terrible, I think, for the country.

Joe Biden's policies were: jamming down new green deals, the whole DEI, the whole political correctness, the whole pronoun era. It is done. And that's what people are done with. Done being anti-American. Done with all that.

I think he's going to get the biggest crowd. Marco Rubio, as Secretary of State, couldn't be better. I really don't think he could be better. Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence, yes, she doesn't have that typical background, but she's got military experience, extremely bright, been in Congress, has questioned And studied and gotten these briefings at the highest level for, I think, at least three terms. I think she'll be great at that, and she'll make people accountable.

And she'd be quick to see if people behind the scenes are out there stabbing in the back. And Andy McCabe in the CIA, somebody in the FBI. Also, she'll probably have some input who the FBI director is.

So you got Michael Waltz, Security Advisor, Elise Stevanek, UN Ambassador, Huckabee, Israeli Ambassador, Lise Eldon, EPA Administrator, Tom Holman, Border Czar, Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, William McGinley, White House Counsel, Tulsi Gabbard, as I mentioned, Gates has been nominated for Attorney General, the great Pete Hagseth, Secretary of Defense. One person that can't figure out Pete Hagseth or how to say his name or why he's there is the extremely not well read. Whoopi Goldberg, Cub 44. He also picked. You ready?

Co-host of Fox and Friends Weekend. Not even like regular. Weekend Pete. Hexeth. Hexeth.

Hexeth? Yeah. Okay, Pete Hexeth. And he's picked him to be U.S. Secretary of Defense.

Now MAGA supporters and detractors are trying to figure out. What? Because of this pic. Well, there's other people he could have picked, but he wants somebody in there that understands the military that's going to set the tone. It's going to be really important for him to pick a deputy with a lot of experience that's trustworthy and a chief of staff.

You staff up, figure out the bureaucracy, let him know the halls, where it works, where to go. And I think Pete will be great. Also, he's got to improve recruiting right away. It's going to improve attitude. It'll help recruiting by his presence.

He's going to set the tone. He'll go out there and talk to people, talk to schools, and let them know you have great pride in serving. And also, look, Taiwan is under a lot of pressure. They've ordered a lot of stuff from us. It's not been delivered.

We've got to expand the industrial base. I think that's great. As a Treasury Secretary, Scott Besant, who's on here a lot. He was on with me today on television and talked about why he wants to go in and get this job. Listen.

So, your thoughts about President Trump's vision for the economy and where you might fit in.

Well, you know, the good thing, Brian, is everyone asked me, what do you tell President Trump he should do? I don't have to tell Donald Trump he should do anything. He's done it. We had a great economy under Trump 1.0, 2016 to just. We hit the wall in COVID was one of the greatest periods in American history.

I think under Donald Trump, we could have a golden age for the next four years. We can bring back the manufacturing, we could have energy dominance. Have you already seen what's happening with everyone's laying down their weapons thanks to President Trump? We're going to have peace and we're going to have this technology boom.

Well I don't know if they're laying on their weapons, but they're indicating they want to come to the table. You have a boss calling up, and Netanyahu speaking three times, and Zelensky speaking once, and Vladimir Putin reportedly calling last Thursday.

So people are reaching out more than just saying hello. These are hotspots. Um, and Scott Besson, look, he's not there to wow you, he's not Anthony Robbins. What he is is somebody he said, we very interesting timeline. I said, Scott, how did you grow up?

He goes in South Carolina. I go, But how did you grow up? Were you rich? He said, Yes. Initially, Then my dad lost everything.

We had to all go out and get a job. At nine years old, he got his first job, never stopped working. He said that he got into Harvard. Or Yale, one of those, Harvard or Yale. And they couldn't afford it.

So he took two jobs. And he took out loans all four years. He had $24,000 worth of student debt and just worked and paid it the whole thing off. And I asked him, What's your greatest concern? And his greatest concern, he says, is the wealth gap.

So wow. Isn't that interesting, to be a Wall Street guy, hang out with all rich people? Try to win over a billionaire, and most biggest concern is a wealth gap. That means that he not only doesn't just care, but he knows the rich will be fine. But he wants to make sure the middle class gets bigger and the working class has hope.

So that's interesting. Listen, also, Jon Thune spoke today for the first time as majority leader, won the vote yesterday. Here's a little of his message on how he'll be different from Mitch McConnell and how he sees his job. Cut 45. We have a lot of brilliant people in the Republican Conference brimming with ideas and knowledge.

And it will be my job to make sure that they have the chance to use those ideas and that knowledge to strengthen our country. and to make life better for the American people. That's what I focused on as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. It's what I focused on. as whip.

And it's what I plan to do. as leader. Nice.

So I think he'll be out there. I think he'll be vocal. Know what I think? I know you guys probably don't think this is a negative, but I just know the president likes people that look the part. This guy looks the part.

One thing the president said about Scott Besant, who's an 89% chance of being named, according to the betting lines, as Treasury Secretary. Does he good person? Good looking guy.

So uh and the other thing is, you know, the president's got the first Hawaiian uh D and I, you know, he's got first Cuban Secretary of uh State. You know how I found that out? I looked at the resume. The president doesn't say, I have a woman, I have a lesbian, I got a black man, I have an Indian, I have enough. We're done with that.

He's setting up a diverse cabinet of qualified people. He's not looking to check a box, and that is a relief because you out there in your business, we can pull back from that. Just hire the best person. Give people the best opportunity.

So we'll take your calls in a second. 1-866-408-7669. But I just know, you know, there's some pushback on some of these guys. Tom Holman will have a tough time, but he doesn't need to get any confirmation. Not needing confirmation.

I think Lee Zeldon will be in there. Not need for confirmation. He will need confirmation, I should say. But he'll know these are all his friends. I think that'll be fine.

They're going to make sure that he understands that there's climate challenges. He'll admit that, but he's not going to want to sign it to the Paris Accord or whatever they're calling it now. Stewart in Orange County, California. Stewart. All right, Glenn in Dayton, Ohio.

Glenn. Right, huh? Hey, Brian, happy belated birthday. Thank you as many brother.

Well, I'm talking about uh Marine Corps birthday. Oh, okay. I think that's a good idea. I do like your previous caller. I believe that Trump's appointment of Gates was strategic.

But I believe it's because He can see from the timeline of how things happen. Thun gets appointed as the leader of the Senate. Earlier in the day. And I believe he's smoking them out. He wants to see from the jump Who's going to support his agenda?

And who's not? And I I will shy towards Cubberville more than it would Langford or the others. Right. Langford didn't come out and says he's going to get his vote. Lindsey Graham says they're going to get a vote.

They have a chance. They should be heard.

So the one person that said, That doesn't think he has a shot is Burkowski. But no one's going to be surprised. Glenn, if Mukowski and Collins are giving President Trump a hard time. But they're from districts they believe. that is not very conservative, moderates.

Well, he's had four years to think about it. He's had four years to think about those people that say they're for him. But then when the time comes. They didn't support him. And I think he's been thinking about how do I make sure that they do not get in my way, in the way of the American people.

They can either share the c political capital that he clearly has or they can become pariahs. And I believe he wants to fetter them out immediately from the very beginning and put pressure on them. Maybe we'll find out. We can speculate, but I just don't think he's got a shot at getting confirmed traditionally.

So I don't know what he could possibly do to change anybody's mind. Because he's not that likable. He's smart. Uh he's good on his feet. But he's not likable.

And his track record is impossible to explain. 182, but he was loyal to President Trump. And there'll be nobody going after President Trump when he's there, and he won't recuse himself. That's pretty clear. Listen, I don't want to take all this time from the next segment, so I'll be sure to get your calls just around the other bend.

We're also going to talk about, I want to tell you what the resistance is forming on the left, which to me shows they're so tone-deaf. And then Mark Thiessen at the bottom of the hour. Let's go, let's take a short time out and come back. Brian Kilmicho. Expanding your knowledge base.

It's the Brian Kill Meet Show. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin. It's Brian Killmead. We have an embarrassment of riches here. The Republican Conference is full of talented people who are extraordinary leaders and have great expertise.

And everyone in this Congress, in this conference, could serve in a leadership position in the administration. But I have begged and pleaded with the new president enough already. But because our numbers are small, we are going to have the majority. We're celebrating that. I think it could be as high as a five-seat margin.

But we'll have some of these vacancies open as we begin the year. We'll fill them as quickly as possible.

Now, there are others here who President Trump has interest in serving in other positions. And I said, please, sir, no. And he took Gates anyway.

So he took Gates, Waltz, Stefanik, and. He took another.

So we'll see where it goes.

So he said I could take two. He's already taken three.

So The other thing, the resistance, as I was telling you, is falling. The de facto blue state resistance is Illinois and Colorado governors. They announced the creation of the Governor Safeguarding Democracy Organization, the nonpartisan alliance providing a playbook for other governors seeking to push back on a second Trump term. Isn't that nice? Instead of trying to work even pretending to work with him, they're organizing against him.

The big picture, Democratic state officials across the nation are wary of another Trump presidency and pledge to play an adversarial role. When he says you have the state's rights to handle things like the pandemic, Gavin Gavin Newsom had a special legislative session December 2nd. Safeguarding California was the theme. The Attorney General Washington State studied Trump's campaign promises, see how he could push back on it. The Arizona Attorney General Chris Meyer said, can't imagine a single Democratic Attorney General in the country that won't be involved in fighting unconstitutional behavior.

Well, getting rid of sanctuary cities, arresting up illegal aliens, scooping them up and making sure they're not committing crimes. I hope that they understand that the American public is with the President on this. Brian, listening in North Dakota. Hey, Brian. Yeah.

Hey, how are you doing, Brian? Great. I'll see you later.

Well, I'd like to have your, this is a theory, and I'd like to have your opinion on it because I believe there's always a plan that's going on, unlike the Democratic side when you ask them, hey, you know, who do you want to be president? What will you do when you'd be president?

Well, I'll follow Biden. But anyway, so here's an idea of what the plan is. You put Goetz up there, let him run. It exposes to the public intangible assets of the weaponization against both of the gentlemen, and Trump and Goetz. And even if he doesn't pass then and pass the test, that information is out there so that the next person that they bring in, they're going to be tired of fighting over it.

They'll go ahead and nominate him. Yeah, there's got to be a strategy because he's not going to get through. And they want to see, you know, loyalty test perhaps. But when you start seeing some of the things in his background, he's probably the last person that should be nominated. The less.

Well, there's you got to have the loyalty because I'm not much of a Thun fan coming from South Dakota. And um uh I've I've seen his rise, he's pretty much a rhino to me. Eastern State Rhino. They think Todd Blanch is going to be deputy AG to somebody. And he was his long-term attorney.

So get some loyalists in there. I understand to watch your back. Matt Whitaker could do the same thing, I think. But maybe you don't think so. I understand that.

Lara, listening over in Louisville, Kentucky. Hey, Lara. Hi.

Well, he kind of stole my thunder, but uh that's c I wanted to say that, you know, Matt gets, that was coming out of left field.

So there has to be a strategy. And Strump, you know, because Trump's thinking strategy of how he'll have to go around these people that are going to be fighting. But I was just curious what you thought about what his strategy was, because there's got to be one. Yeah, there is. Put it out there.

I think it's something to avoid his ethics complaint that now goes, unless it's leaked out, we're not going to really see any details, although she read a ton about it. Not good. Drugs and teenage girls.

So not usually a good combination for a sitting congressman, but he keeps winning in a very Republican district.

So he puts it out there. He goes out there and he then plays some type of advisor role for the president. But he's out of Congress. He resigned for Congress.

So even if he doesn't get the nomination, he ran. Kevin McCarthy put up money for his opponent, Republican opponent in the primary, but he won. Mark Thiessen's next. He has some advice for the president. He also analyzes where his cabinet is right now.

Goes to the Brian Kilmichev. Information you want, truth you demand. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. It is clear that the American people did make clear that they want Donald Trump in the White House, and there is power that comes with that. And of course, these latest nominations, I think, are a clear sign of how aggressive Trump plans to be.

Also, just how quickly all of these nominations have been rolling out is another very clear sign that Trump is not going to waste any time. He is going to step into the Oval Office, and he is going to get moving quickly. And that is Steph Knight of Axios, noticing the velocity of picks. And I expect the Treasury Secretary, Energy Secretary to come out quick, too. Mark Thiessen joins us now.

Washington Post, speechwriter for Bush, Fox News contributor. Mark, welcome back. You got to be impressed with the speed. They seem organized. Would you agree with that?

Well, first of all, I think the vast majority of the picks are outstanding. I think Mike Waltz for National Security Advisor is outstanding. Rubio at State is terrific. I'm really excited about Pete Hegseth. I think Pete is a, you know, it's interesting.

Everyone's saying, well, he's only 44. You know, he's not qualified to be Secretary of Defense. It's like, I'm sorry, Don Rumsold was 43 the first time he was nominated to be Secretary of Defense.

So Pete will not be the youngest Secretary of Defense in American history if he's confirmed.

So these are all great picks. The Matt Gates pick, not so much. I think that's Donald Trump's first unforced error of the transition. And it's a sign that maybe he's going a little too fast. I think you got our yeah, the that something like that seems to it sounds like it was hatched on on Trump Force One with a small group of people and just not vetted, not planned.

And I don't think Gates has a chance in hell of getting confirmed in the U.S. Senate. Right. Here's Congressman Max Miller. About that, a Republican from Ohio cut 10.

I just think it's silly. The President is smart enough and his team is smart enough to know that Mr. Gates will never get confirmed by the Senate, whatsoever.

So, this is a Republican. He's not going to vote on his House, but that's just the sentiment. He's the most unpopular person in Congress, I think. Yeah. So, I mean, first of all, nobody is happier than Speaker Johnson and his House colleagues that he's resigned.

He didn't have to resign from the Congress in order to pursue this nomination. He did because in two days there's an ethics committee report coming out about him that he wanted to preclude. But guess what? I think every element of that ethics committee report will be demanded by the Senate in his confirmation hearings, and they'll call the members of that committee to testify on what they found.

So it's not like it's not going to come out. The best thing he could do is just resign and go away. Uh but he's not. Uh at least he's gonna could he be a recess appointment? That's good.

It's complicated because so there's this whole.

So, first of all, you have to have a recess to have a recess appointment. There's this whole controversy about whether Trump wants to. use this for article two section three of the constitution which has never been used To put adjourn Congress and then install his entire cabinet through recess appointments, which would allow them to serve for two years through the term of Congress. That's never been tried before. And I think that's a really, really, really bad idea because keep in mind.

We've got a 53-seat majority in the Senate. A bunch of guys were just elected for six years. They're going to outlast Donald Trump. Chuck Grassley is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He's 91.

He's never running again. Trump has no leverage over him. There's a whole bunch of people who might just decide: you know, my seat's up in four years. I'm not running again. I'm going to do it.

He doesn't have the control over the Senate that he might have over the House. And this endangers the rest of his agenda because if he does a power move on the Senate, And trying to ram through a whole bunch of nominees, including people he doesn't like. He's got things that there are a lot of Republicans who aren't comfortable with, like the idea of no taxes on Social Security income. Right. That's something that could, you know, some a lot of Republicans look at that and say, that could bankrupt Social Security.

I don't think that's a good way. If Social Security is already headed towards bankruptcy, why would we do that? He's going to have to do he's going to have to win people over for some of these nontraditional positions he's taken. And why would he endanger his agenda by alienating members of the Senate who jealously guard the Senate's prerogatives? Yeah, you don't want to spend your capital there.

I just said maybe they didn't really think about it. I want to spend capital on Matt Gates. I mean, truly, when there's so many, by the way, there is a plethora of brilliant conservative lawyers who have been absolutely loyal to him, defended him, been on the airwaves, fighting the legal fight. There's so many people he could pick to shake up the Justice Department. Why Matt Gates?

It's just mind-boggling to me.

So, you wrote a column about the eight Democratic choices that paved the way for Trump's comeback. One, Uh Yeah. Number two, the border disaster. It's really hard to get all three. Number three, the catastrophe the Afghanistan withdrawal.

They broke their promise to unite the country. That he never even tried to unite the country, did he? No, he didn't. In fact, he did the opposite.

So this is a guy who his inaugural speech a lot of the roots of this defeat were in the first months of the of the Biden Harris administration. His inaugural promise was. I will put my whole soul into uniting the country. And he was more divisive than Trump. This is a guy who went to Atlanta and gave a speech.

Comparing Republicans who voted against him on the federal his partisan election law to confederate to Bull Connor and Jefferson Davis. Um they called them racists and traitors. Uh he this and in the final weeks, you know, said that the Trump supporters were garbage. A lot of voters looked at that and said, look, if both sides are slinging mud, at least I'll pick the guy who made my life better. You're not only slinging mud, but you've given me the worst inflation in four decades.

My groceries are a $100 basket of groceries costing me $125.

So if you're not going to be nicer and more and and unite the country, why on earth would I vote for you? Yeah, and that all leads to it. And the thing is, I really believe that Joe Biden thinks he was doing a great job.

So, yeah, I really do. That's why he's really befuddled that he was kicked out, which is part of his cognitive decline. It's part of the whole process.

So, does it surprise you? that the opposition is already combining and forming a operation of resistance with Gavin Newsome, with Polis and Pritzker, and they're trying to find out different areas they could push back against a Trump White House, especially when it comes to immigration. It it doesn't surprise me though. On the other hand, Gavin Newsom, you know, smartly went out and said, you know, I'm I'm you know, I want the president to succeed, I'm going to give him a chance to succeed. But the the it doesn't surprise me.

The go I mean, and Republican governors did did it to Biden. You know, there was a lot of a lot of the policies that were that were stopped in the courts were because the state attorney generals and the state governors enacted lawsuits. To block him. The reason why the immigration issue took off is because a Republican governor decided that Texas isn't going to be the only state that has illegal migrants and we're going to ship them to New York and Chicago and other places.

So it's not unexpected, but I think that the level of resilience, the tone, I think, is different now. If you go back, we all remember 2016, they were lighting limousines on fire during the inauguration. There were marches and protests, and they had the women's march with those pink hats. And the cry went up: Trump is not my president. He's a Russian stooge.

He was put in place by Vladimir Putin and blah, blah, blah, and all this other stuff. You're not seeing all that right now because the victory was so decisive. I mean, he you know, he won the popular vote as well as the Electoral College. He you know, he won every swing state. It's it's like I think right now the Democrats are sort of in they're licking their wounds and trying to figure out what the hell happened.

So I I'm surprised actually there's not more resistance.

Well, I tell you, there is a sense, you know, those red hats that they say is triggering.

Now I see them in New York City. I'm watching West Virginia play football. The guy made an interception. They do the Trump dance. They did uh Bosa in San Francisco, does the Trump dance after a sack?

And I'm saying to myself, well, what a difference. Everyone was saying take a knee during the national anthem, kind of blaming the President. Wherever he goes, he was getting protested. Of course, he always had his supporters. I think the American people have been won over And not all of them, obviously, but you don't win the popular votes, you don't get over three hundred electoral votes, and just okay.

I think things are changing before our eyes. Are you there yet? I think they are, but I think Trump's got to seize this moment to unite the country and do what Biden promised to do but didn't do. He's got a huge opportunity to be a transformational leader, but it's not by picking people like Matt Gates. To quote the Mendalorian, this is not the way.

Right, absolutely. Dana Perino pointed out how many crazy picks that Joe Biden had and turned out to be worse than we thought. Cut 22. And I just want to point out a couple of other things. Joe Biden named this woman, Tracy Stone Manning, to run the BLM at the Bureau of Land Management, Greg.

She had direct ties to an eco-terrorist organization. Then, after the October 7th attack, he nominated a lifetime federal judgeship to a guy named Adil Manji, who had hosted anti-Semitic groups on campus and defended cop killers. He had Sam Britton, right?

Okay, the luggage thief, okay, to oversee nuclear waste disposal. Good thing he didn't steal any of that. I could go on and on, but the last one I would mention is Jen Grandholm. She literally invested in EV battery companies while serving as the energy secretary of the country.

So if you're going to be all up in arms about one nomination, just give Pete a chance. I think that he will do a great job. So something worth pointing out. And lastly, President Biden's going to meet with President Xi. I'm wondering if President Trump gave him a message.

Or if he asked for one to relay, because it's not a speculation. He's taking over. And number two, the President's going to name an envoy to Ukraine and to Ukraine to work on this peace initiative. Who should it be? That's a really, really good question.

First of all, if Trump wants to nominate Matt Gates to the Bureau of Land Management, I could support that as a compromise. Go ahead. But, you know, I don't think that Donald Trump needs Joe Biden to be his emissary to Xi Jinping. I think that he's probably already talked to Xi Jinping, and I think Xi Jinping understands Donald Trump pretty well and that he's in for a new situation. I think also Donald Trump has an opportunity in Ukraine to do something that Teddy Roosevelt did with the Russo-Japanese War, which is end a war and create a lasting peace that would be worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize.

So I think the goal is to not just there's a lot of people in his circle who hate Ukraine, who just want to throw Ukraine under the bus. I don't think Trump feels that way. I think he really likes Zelensky. I think he wants to do something that is lasting. This is an opportunity to do something on par with the Abraham Accords.

And quite frankly, if he can do a lasting peace in Ukraine, combine that with more Abraham Accords in the Middle East. I think that it would be un he truly could win a Nobel Peace Prize at some point and certainly deserve it.

So I'd like to see him do something that is. That is success lasting and successful and outlives his presidency.

However, if. Barack Obama started a midnight basketball intramural league in Chicago. He would get it first. Yes, over peace in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. That is absolutely true.

So, Mark, outline how the president won. Mark breaks it down and talks about the eight things that the Democrats did to pave the way for President Trump, who took advantage of a lot of it. And lastly, Mark, I know you can communicate with the President. I communicate him a couple of times. I've just been watching him.

I have never, ever seen him so happy. Yeah. He's he's uh he's uh he seems joyful. Which is what we were promised. We were promised joy, and I think we've got it.

Right. But the woman that promised us joy is going to Hawaii on vacation. I hope she enjoys it. She's the new Michael Dukakis. I feel bad for Katie.

You know the scene in Naked Gun two and a half when Frank Drebin is in the blues bar ward drowning his sorrows and they pan across the pictures of the Hindenburg and the and the uh and the Titanic and the Chicago Fire and a big portrait of Michael Dukakis? If they did a remake Today Come Tomal Aris would be the picture in toys of Michael Ducock. I I love it. Uh, absolutely. I just feel bad for J.

D. Vance. The day one, he's gonna have to get a floor plan out. He's gonna have no idea where the kitchen is, the bathroom, because she's not gonna be around to tour him through. I know, it's very sad.

Mark Thiessen, thanks so much. Take care. 1-866-408-7669. When we come back, we'll find out if I indeed need to know more. Remember to check out Brian's show, One Nation, Saturdays at 9 p.m.

Eastern on Fox News Channel. If you already have plans, set up that DVR and watch when you get home. That's One Nation, Saturdays at 9 p.m. Eastern on Fox News Channel. Be there.

From his mouth to your ears, it's Brian Kilmead. Hi everyone, I'm just looking around and thinking to myself, I think you need to know more. More to know. Sponsored by Previgent. Previgent is the most recommended memory support brand by pharmacists.

While Patrick Mahomes has broken a silence about when his house was broken into Jason Kelsey's too, by the way, while he was playing football, here's what he said yesterday. Obviously, it's frustrating, it's disappointing. But I mean, I can't get into too many of the details because the investigation is still ongoing, but obviously something that you don't want to happen to really anybody, but obviously yourself. Were you or your family, were you guys home? Yeah, I can't speak too much about the details of everything, just with the investigation going on, but I'm sure at some point that will be talked about.

Meanwhile, he's got kids at home. He's got a one-year-old. He's got a two-year-old. His wife's pregnant. Kelsey lost $20,000 in cash.

Not good. Next. Cerrito's high school teacher allegedly leaves class after a student wears a MAGA shirt. He was too offended. It was just a student wearing a t-shirt, probably for some jokes at a student Securopadilla.

But the 2024 race for the White House has got this guy down that includes a MAGA clothing issue at Cerritos High School. According to a parent, the ABC Unified School District doesn't provide any specifics about the case, but said students can exercise their freedom of speech. But the teacher didn't find it funny. She allegedly posted a lengthy missive to her students, writing that it's unfair that students can wear political clothes in class.

So she left. It's different when teachers become the, because the, it's different with teachers because the teachers are the ones who are there to do a job, says an attorney. The ABC Unified School District says we encourage our amazing educators to use real-life issues like the recent elections to teach people. How about that? You can't storm out of your classroom.

Next. Working just one day a week slashes dementia by 25%. Man, I should never get dementia. It tracks over 10,000 students with 16 years, found that weekend warriors who exercise just once a week. Or twice per week had a 25% lower risk of developing mild dementia.

The discovery could be particularly meaningful for busy working adults who struggle to find time to exercise. But if you wanna, if you can remember, Workout.

Next, right to disconnect. 90% of workers want the law to save them from email anxiety similar to the recent legislation in Australia.

Now, it turns out emailtoolstester.com surveyed 1,100 American adults about their relationship with workplace digital communications. The findings, a troubling picture of workforce tethered to their devices. 51% spend three hours or more managing their digital workplace correspondence, dedicated to five or more hours a day after work dealing with it. They say it's a psychological toll, and in Australia, you're not allowed to email after a certain hour.

Well, you don't have to answer. I don't know how you stop people from emailing, but a barda man who lost his U.S. Naval Academy class ring on a Pennsylvania golf course was reunited with the ring. By a fellow golfer 54 years later, David Lorenzo said he lost his class of 1964 ring while golfing with his father at Uniontown Country Club. It survived combat, but it couldn't survive my golf game.

Michael Zento was golfing in the same club when he spotted a shiny object in the clay. Have been exposed by the recent rains near the fourth green. Congratulations. It must have been a great, great thing to see. And that's where now you know more.

Patrick, you're in Wisconsin, eh, Patrick? Good morning or good afternoon, Brian. You're happy that Pete Hag Seth is Secretary of Defense nominee? Oh. Mm-hmm.

I am thrilled. Mr P. came to our town About six years ago And I consider myself of Republic. And you like meeting him. He's a good guy.

He did a lot of diners, too. I think he was the first one to do the diners. And meet the people. And he'll be definitely out and about. Brian Kilmer.

The world of business moves fast. Stay on top of it with the Fox Business Rundown. Listen to the Fox Business Rundown every Monday and Friday at FoxbusinessPodcasts.com or wherever you download your favorite podcasts. Listen to the show at free on Fox News Podcast Plus, on Apple Podcast, Amazon Music with your Prime membership, or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Hmm.