Dial it back, Zelenskyy: Ukrainian President insults Trump

From high atop Fox News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kilmead. Thanks so much for listening, everybody. Brian Killmeat Show, big hour. Daniel Hoffman will unwind U.S.-Ukraine and give us his perspective on what the Russians are thinking and are they sincerely negotiating.

Then, Michigan Police Chief Laura Fritzo and Indiana Detective Jeremy Ogden will be in the studio talking about a Fox Nation special, Love You to Death, the Kelly Cochrane story.

So that'll be interesting too.

So that'll be one of the features. Of course, Fox Nation was able to carry our show on Saturday night. We carried it live. It's now archived: History, Liberty, and Laughs. We are coming March 22nd to St.

Louis.

So I hope to see everyone at the factory. And of course, today, the last gasp effort, Cash Patel is about to become FBI director, but not before Dick Durbin says something to, I guess, make himself feel better, has a press conference to say Cash Patel should not get confirmed. I have news for you. He is. Big three.

Number three. There's none of the infighting. Everything's running like a very smooth, fine-tuned machine. And President Trump is delivering the greatest first month in presidential history that we've ever seen. 68 executive orders or actions.

He is certainly doing a lot. One month in, how is the Trump team shaping up in your eyes? That's it. Don't tell me what the experts think. I want to know what you think.

The biggest gains, biggest losses and where you think 47 should focus in Trump term two. Number two. I love Ukraine, but Zelensky has done a terrible job. A dictator without elections. Zelensky better move fast or he's not going to have a country left.

Dial it back, Zelensky. I'm a big Ukraine supporter, but the beleaguered leader did not help himself when he insulted President Trump for opening up talks with Russia and to predictable blowback insured from the current president. How both sides can fix the rift. Number I really want to emphasize to people that This is a very important point. If we don't solve the deficit, there won't be money for medical care.

There won't be money for Social Security. America will go bankrupt if this is not done. That's why I'm here. Doge Elon Musk, of course, making an impact and explaining their objective as Trump and Musk reveal their strategy and why I think it's the most important program in the country.

So let's get started. What is he talking about? $2 trillion deficit, $37 trillion overall, when you add in the increasing inflation rates. It was bad enough when it was 1% or 2%, but now it is 5% to 7%. If you add all that up, all the money goes to deficits and doesn't go to Medicare, doesn't go to Social Security, doesn't go to the Defense Department.

There's less and less discretionary spending. And then everyone gets angry. They feel robbed. Why am I working? I'm not getting the benefits I used to.

Elon Musk looked at that and said, I will volunteer to put together an efficiency committee.

Now he's fully defining why he's doing what he's doing. IRS, transportation, education, and now the Pentagon, welcomed in by Secretary Hegset, it is important. And that's what Musk went on to say. Here it is, cut for. I really want to emphasize to people that This is a very important point.

If we don't solve the deficit, there won't be money for medical care, there won't be money for Social Security. We either solve the deficit or all we'll be doing is paying debt. Nobody does. It's got to be solved, or there's no medical care, there's no social security, there's no nothing. It's got to be sold.

It's not optional. America will go bankrupt if this is not done. That's why I'm here. So, where are they going to find the $1 trillion? There's a lot of examples.

Wall Street Journal today, there's a, I think the number is pretty accurate. Here it is. Wall Street Journal. Analysis reveals the federal government misspends at least $100 billion a year. Find that.

How about this? We spent $451 billion in care for illegal immigrants and gotaways that have entered the U.S. unlawfully since 2021. How about that? How about a third of that back?

Already we watched the numbers go down. And if we tell people the spigot and the accommodations are off, that's going to be play into them coming or not. Let alone the fact that it's got harder to get in now, physically harder, and then not people are bu not many people are buying the excuse.

Now the Pentagon will cut military commands in Europe and the Middle East as well as several programs long deemed critical while preserving or increasing spending in seventeen priority areas. And Pete Haggs had said, please come into this building and help me out. I got seven hundred Thousand civilian employees. I don't know if anyone fully understands what most of them do. Here's Doug Bergham, Who started multiple businesses, ran North Dakota fantastically, now the Interior Secretary.

This is what Doge he hopes does for him at Interior. Cut 10. There's an opportunity here with the federal government to right-size it. And in the process, part of it is the federal government is so outdated on the technology. As you know, Brett, I spent 30 years in technology businesses before I got into this public service side of my life.

And we're decades and decades behind. And we've still got people that are absolutely pushing paper. We've got people that are taking faxes off fax machines and then doing the data entry. There's just basic things we can do. We can create more meaningful, more purposeful jobs for people that want to have a life of service.

And we can deliver lower cost, more efficient government for the citizens. We can do both. And look, they're trying to get the force down that is working for the federal government. And it's been brutal. I know some people doing a great job, looked up, and they can't log on to their computer.

Then get a call from their boss, they're fired. I'm not saying that that's good, but I'm just saying that we probably don't have a choice. But as Elon Musk did say. He is not perfect. They have let go some people and then asked them to come back, and maybe they have, and maybe they have not.

But their objective is necessary. That's what's clear to him.

So, it's a thankless job, no doubt about it. People are mad at him. There's no question about it. They're returning their Teslas, I guess, and refusing to look up when his rockets go in the air. I don't know.

Another way they could protest. We'll see.

So, I want to talk about the other major headline. You know, I'm firmly in the belief that Ukraine has exceeded expectations, fought spectacularly, and but they paid a heavy price. But they were invaded. It is all Russia's fault. They are the aggressive power and the most aggressive of the century so far, no doubt.

After 80 years of peace, it looks like if we're going to go to war, it's going to be Russia, China, and Iran that does it. And in Europe, it's all about Russia. But when Ukraine came out and they you know, Zelensky and Trump got along. But when Trump sent a delegation into Saudi Arabia to talk to Russia, it seemed to have just snapped something in Zelensky's head. And he's come out and been very critical.

of Trump. Here's one of the things that he said, Cut fifteen. Unfortunately, President Trump, with great respect for him as a leader of the people, which we respect very much, the American people who constantly support us, unfortunately lives in this disinformation space.

So That's insulting, guys. Whatever you want to say about Trump and how he came back, that's insulting. I'm in a disinformation space. Can you imagine that? You're trying to bring peace to an area of given a country billions of dollars, and they say you're in a disinformation space.

That and the fact that when Secretary Besant went over and offered him a deal on his rare earth in exchange for weapons. Stolensky said I can't sign this, that it's too lopsided.

So on true social, Trump puts out, think of it. A modestly successful comedian, Vladimir Zelensky, talked the United States of America into spending $350 billion to go into a war that couldn't be won. A dictator without elections, Zelensky better move faster. He's not going to have a country left. In the meantime, we're successfully negotiating an end to the war with Russia, something all admit only Trump and the Trump administration can do.

Biden never tried. Europe has failed to bring peace. Zelensky probably wants to keep the gravy train going. I love Ukraine, but Zelensky has done a terrible job. His country is shattered, and millions have unnecessarily died.

So it continues. Number one, they were invaded. Number two, they exceeded expectations. Number three, his ratings are good. He's got over 54% approval rating.

Boy, he made a mistake. He made a mistake when he traveled with the Biden administration to visit a weapons manufacturer in Pennsylvania. It made him look like a partisan. He admitted it. Number two, but you can blame it on his ambassador, and he made a mistake attacking Trump.

If you have a problem with Trump, go behind the scenes. I remember there was a report of the Washington Post that Joe Biden was yelling at Zelensky. And I don't know if it was confirmed or denied. But that's the type of thing that happens. Behind closed doors, the story leaks out that President Trump picked up the phone and let Zelensky have it.

When Zelensky comes out privately, publicly, Trump goes at you for the jugular. Ask Ron DeSantis, ask Ted Cruz, ask Marco Rubio, and he can't ask John McCain, but you remember how he went after John McCain. But of course, people are panicking. Donald Trump is blowing up relationships. He wants to kowtow to Russia.

Cut 21. It has been remarkable to watch Donald Trump line up with Putin so directly that it almost is if Putin writes his talking points. This feels like one of the, you know, the biggest kind of American surrender since Vietnam. The mental gymnastics that you see Republicans. Undertaking.

to somehow justify the unjustifiable Have power to change what Trump is doing if they can find their spines. And it may be the whole country's job to help them find it.

So this is part of it. Zelensky should not have panicked that Russia is having a meeting with the US. He called Zelensky right after the meeting. Today he's going to want to have a delegation meet with Zelensky, talk about the Russia's talking points, and then eventually they're going to meet face to face within a month. And I think it works to any in the beginning when Trump first said that, when he was running for President, I thought that's not going to happen.

But the more I think about it, the more everyone realizes it. We see we're at three years in. Nobody wants the war to continue, I don't think. Do you think? I don't think so.

So, Michael Waltz, I played that clip for him today on Fox and Friends, and this is what he said to me right after CUT 22. You know, I guess all of those Democrats were perfectly fine with seeing hundreds of thousands of people literally on a daily, weekly, monthly basis in a meat grinder of a war that has turned into an endless war under Joe Biden, who could not define success and basically said, As long as it takes, as much as it takes, no matter how many people die, no matter how much death and destruction, because I haven't heard any one of them actually present a plan to bring this war to an end. President Trump has done that, and we're going to execute it. Yeah, and I love this.

Somebody wrote up that Marco Rubio was taken to diplomatic school. He didn't do anything. Rubio and Waltz are as good as it gets, and Steve Witkoff's got great instincts on dealmaking. And you have General Kellogg in Ukraine working that end of it.

So listen. Nobody looks at Lavrov and says, finally, a truth teller. No one looks at Vladimir Putin and says, finally, someone we can deal with. You have to do people what are they what is it necessary for them to do? What is a what is the best possible deal of pushing them as far back out of Ukraine as possible while guaranteeing there's not going to be another incursion in eighteen months.

That's the key. Russia is not benefiting from this war. One of the first things they want is they want America to bring our oil companies back. I'm not in oil and gas for a living. I've had a chance to explore that and do a couple of features on it, so I'm not clueless like I was.

So I go to Midland, I know what goes into this. Uh to a degree? I'm not Trace Atkins, who spent the first half of my career doing it. But why do we would never want another company to come in here and print oil if there's sanctions on us? What they need, they can't drill their own oil.

Remember, in the 70s, they couldn't grow their own food.

So now they're asking all our oil companies to come back saying we could make a lot of money there. Thinking to myself, really? You don't have a drill? I would think that you could drill your own oil, You just couldn't get your oil out. and sell it, except for it's on the with ghost ships on the black market.

I want to give you a chance to talk. 1866-408-7669. Also write me, BrianKillme.com. And then you just click on this thing that says Ask for Brian on my website.

So one of my talking points, one of my big three is simply as this. One month in. How is Trump's term going? How is it shaping up in your eyes? The biggest gains, the biggest losses after.

67 executive orders and actions. And where do you think 47 should focus on in term two? Brian, kill me too. Politics, current events, and news that affects you. Brian's got a lot more to say.

Stay with Brian Kilmead. Fox News Audio presents the Fox Nation Investigates podcast, Evil Next Door, exploring the life and crimes of five serial predators from across the United States. Follow and listen starting February 25th at FoxtrueCrime.com. The more you listen, the more you'll know. It's Brian Kilmead.

3.5 million people from the age 140 to 149 years old. 1.3 million people are on Social Security. From the age 150 to 159. And over 130,000 people Or on Social Security over the age of 160 years old, okay? Including 1,039 people, think of it, over 1,000 people between the ages of 220 to 229.

And one person between the age of 240 years old to 249, and the record topper. There is one person on Social Security. who's 360 years old. Which is approximately 110 years older than our country.

So that is President Trump going through those numbers. It's not clear that these people are getting checks or not, but they're on the listing. The whole thing's got to be revitalized. People panic. I'm not saying they're going to cut benefits.

I want to make sure it's more efficient.

Some people are being underpaid.

So that's not good either. I think you agree.

So, what do you think about the first 30 days in Jim in Ohio? Hey, Jim. Um Ms. Kilmer? It is a pleasure and a privilege.

The first 30 days have been fantastic. I couldn't wait to see him come back. Right, so he's through 30. What do you want him focusing on now after the first 30? You're done, and we're still under 100.

Yeah.

Well he At the interview that he had with Elon Musk, he pointed out one very specifically important thing. As much as the Doge is doing, they're probably not even going to scratch the surface with how much you need done.

So that's where the focus really needs to be. Saving money. In fact, What I was calling in specifically about. was last month, the federal government mistakenly did a huge, huge disservice to Social Security with that Social Security Fairness Act. And if you listen to every politician who voted for that, including Our vice president, who actually was a co-sponsor, and I can't believe somebody who wrote Hillbiliology, if he knew what he was doing, would have done what he did.

Are you familiar with windfall elimination and government pension offset? No. Mm-hmm.

Okay. Um Back in 83, When the government was taking people out of civil service and putting them into federal employee retirement. What this did is they started paying into Social Security as government employees.

Well, there's a handful of states that said, no, we're still not going to do that.

So their employees didn't pay taxes on Social Security while they were an employee of the state.

So When they filed for Social Security, because they got just 10 years' worth of work paying into Social Security, because that's all it takes. They were. They were looking like they were working poor. Because Social Security didn't get to see all of those messages they made.

Social Security skews their benefits greatly to benefit the working poor. Upwards to 90%.

So, what they do is they figure out your highest 35 years of earnings. Adjust it for today's dollars, and then they figure out. What was your average monthly wage? And if it was really low, your Social Security benefit could be as much as 90% of that. But if you're not the working poor, then it's going to be more like thirty percent.

That's a huge difference.

So, what windfall elimination did and government pension offset did is it said, We're really going to look at your real wages. What did you really make?

Okay, you're not the working form.

So we're not going to give you that windfall, that extra money that's skewed to the working corps. What Politicians were told And it's a complete lie, and it was pushed by the government pension union. Right, the government unions, AFGE and so forth. But what they were saying is, oh, our people are being punished because you're not allowed to have. A government pension and Social Security.

So they're taking away some of their Social Security. We gotcha. Jim, great detail. I learned a lot there. I hope everyone else picked it up.

But some of those subtleties can mean billions of dollars. Uh also, I think teach you a little thing. If you're rich, like Ken Langone, Said to me, I don't want my social security check. Keep my social security check.

So maybe if you have a certain threshold, you can just check a box and say, why don't you keep it? Put it back in. Uh and maybe get Social Security, give that all year long. Raise the ceiling. If you're interested in it, Brian's talking about it.

You're with Brian Kilmead. Could you call funny thing if I want to be a dictator as President Trump has?

Well, like I said, the President speaks for himself. I cannot agree that President Zielenski is to blame in any way. Thank you guys. President Trump would wait in a few days. I absolutely would not say that Zelensky started the war.

It is quite clear who started the war. It was absolutely Russia at Putin's directive. I don't think that there should be any confusion with that. Do you think that Putin can be trusted in these negotiations? No.

Yeah.

Putin is a war criminal and should be in jail for the rest of his life. if not executed. That is Roger Wicker, the last one from Tuesday. The others were yesterday, after President Trump erupted after what he thought and Zelensky coming out criticizing him, saying the President is suffering from disinformation, and then also saying that turning down our offer on rare earth minerals in order to pay for the the weapons we're going to be giving them and have given them in the past. Daniel Hoffman joins us now, former CIA station chief from Moscow, Iraq, Pakistan, South Asia and Europe.

Dan, welcome back. Your take on the fallout between these two allies.

Well, tensions are pretty high, Brian. Ukrainians are fighting and dying. For their country right now, and they're nervous about a potential peace deal that might not allow them. Yeah.

defend their country in the future. and they've spilled a lot of blood. for that to to keep their independence. And thwart Vladimir Putin's barbaric invasion. Remember, Putin, his goal was to topple the democratically elected government of Ukraine and install a puppet regime.

And Ukraine. didn't allow him to do it. And now as we look at the potential for a peace deal and Ukraine, the tension there, Ukraine not being at the table yet, whereas the United States is engaging with Russia, Yes, we're keeping Ukraine informed, but there's nervousness on the part of Ukraine. And I think for the Trump administration, it's a seriously difficult challenge to be in the middle of that. We're negotiating a deal.

And it's going to be Europe and Ukraine on the hook to fulfill whatever Terms are negotiated. I want you to hear what Lindsey Graham said yesterday. I just, I wasn't as taken aback by the fact that Saudi Arabia brokered a meeting between Russia and the U.S. I think you got to meet one at a time before you meet both together. He said, according to Mike Waltz, he said, we called Zonsky right after the meeting to tell him exactly what happened.

And both, and the American side is surprised by his answer. Where you? I know they're nervous, but were you? A little bit. I think you're right that there's going to be outreach to both sides independently, of course.

And that's there's nothing wrong with that. I think what drove Zelensky To a place where he was concerned was that he felt like the United States was making. Uh concessions. As preconditions to get Russia to the bargaining table.

So, no NATO membership ever for Ukraine. and no return to the twenty fourteen border. Putin doesn't want NATO troops in Ukraine at all. And so Putin was raising the price just of showing up to negotiate. And I think that caused Zelensky some concern.

Enough that he didn't feel like this mineral agreement was one that he was prepared to sign at this time, although. thinking about in the long term, having some U. S. skin in the game and Ukraine's post conflict reconstruction is probably a good thing, however, that gets negotiated. But you know, it's a difficult time for both sides, Brian.

It does fall to retired General Kellogg right now to kind of clean things up and keep us engaged with the Ukrainians in a productive way. And people listening right now, we have a lot of veterans who are listening, and they go to war for 18 months or two years. They come back and they're rattled. Look at Zelensky. He's basically been in a bunker for three years.

He's hearing about 20,000 baby Ukrainian babies, and he knows about all these widows at a war that he sent people to fight. And then he hasn't seen his family.

So we're getting to the point where we're going to get some type of end here. And you could see him being a degree of battle fatigue. Because he's not holding a gun, but he's doing just about everything else. He's seeing all that. Look, the night last couple of nights ago, Russia launched a massive attack on Odessa.

Just when their foreign minister was saying Russia never targets civilian infrastructure or civilians, Of course, that's a lie. The Russians hit Odessa targeting innocent civilians. But I think what also concerns Zelensky is that Ukraine has cut the Russian army down to size. Economy is an unbalanced wartime economy with 9% inflation over 20% interest rates. Hundreds of thousands of casualties.

It was Zelensky and his brave, courageous. Uh Soldiers who awakened Europe from their post-Cold War slumber.

Now, Finland and Sweden are NATO members. Europe is doing what President Trump wanted them to do during his first term, which is to take more responsibility for their defense, to deter Russia at the point of attack. And that's what's happening. And what Zelensky doesn't want is for Putin to snatch. victory from the jaws of defeat.

And that's what he's worried about. And if he's a little bit on edge, well, hey, yes, he's been fighting for three years, living in a bunker. And when you talk about elections, it's martial law. And Churchill didn't have elections either when he was leading his country against the Nazis. Um it's just not possible.

Moreover, Someday, when there are elections, it will take away from Ukraine's ability to fight because their manpower will be focused on the elections, and Russia will seek to interfere in those elections. I believe their constitution says they don't have elections during war. And the word he did not start a war to avoid being reelected. I think we all can agree on that, right? Mm-hmm.

Okay, Hugh Senator Tillis. Yeah, Houston or Tillis, cut 18. But make no mistake about it, that invasion was the responsibility of one human being on the face of this planet. It was Vladimir Putin in a calculation to go through Ukraine and not stop there, to go through Moldova, to go through the Balkans, to ultimately go to the Baltic states and send the signal to China that now is the time that they can take action in the South China Sea. That's what this is about, and that's what we as members have to communicate.

I didn't hear that. I'll let other people use their words. It's not a word I would have used. Right.

So the Republicans are not rallying. I don't know anybody who thinks, outside certain commentators that sadly are around the president that thinks that Ukraine is the bad guy or his equal brokers, that Russia is not 100% responsible.

So they're not going to have any, no one's budging on the Senate side. Yeah.

I mean, Putin is the KGB That's his formative experience with serving in the KGB. And all you have to do is go back to recent history when the Soviets imposed through force, their own sphere of influence in Eastern Europe. And that's what Putin wants to do. He want you know, he's got the Baltic states and Poland right in the crosshairs, obviously Moldova as well. That's why he invaded Georgia.

And NATO exists, I think, in our country sometimes People need to understand NATO exists to deter Russian aggression. Putin. Portrays NATO as a dangerous military alliance threatening him. He only does that because he wants us on our heels and not to provide support that would prevent him from invading other countries. Simple enough.

Without NATO, Putin would be in Tallinn, Estonia right now, and Riga, Latvia, and Vilnius, Lithuania, and there'd be Russian troops all over those countries. And again, threatening U.S. national security. That is a Significant threat to our national security, a critical threat, given the $1 trillion worth of trade we enjoy with Europe, aside from the moral and ethical implications. But I don't think you want to saddle up to the KGB operative in the Kremlin.

Let's throw our lot in with the Democrats, those who are committed to democracy. That's what scares Putin the most, honestly. And he's always regarded the United States as Russia's main enemy. It's Vladimir Petivnik. I heard it all the time when I was in Moscow.

And I'll tell you one other thing, Brian. I was in Moscow when The the the Obama administration was proposing a reset with Russia. And my comment at the time was: hey, the CIA doesn't do policy, so I'm not interfering in that, but I'm just telling you that they have troops in Georgia. They just invaded Georgia and they're mounting all sorts of operations against us, hybrid spy operations. They turned.

a defector into a human dirty bomb with a nuclear device, Polonium two hundred ten in London, I don't see reset here why we're resetting anything. This is Russia's dangerous. They're a threat to us, and we need to treat them that way and deter them from other action that threatens us. Yeah, I understood. I was shocked at this.

I can't wait to get your take. And I know you never take things on face value, but for the longest time, Obama, Bush 41, try to get Bush 43 and Putin together. And then when Obama takes over, let's reset. That was a disaster. He never respected Obama.

With Biden, they met and he invaded, so there was no respect there. And then Trump, we were nonstop with this fake Russia situation. It wouldn't enable anything to happen with our relationship. Four years go by. We know with Joe Biden's invasion.

And then Lavrov sits down and he says his goal is to improve relations with the U.S. I've never even heard that before, ever, from Lavrov. And he agreed to set up teams to look into restoring staffing at the U.S. and Russia embassies. He says Moscow and Washington have been decimated by a series of tip-for-tap dip mugs, exposions, expulsions, and he wanted to reverse that.

I've never heard that before from him.

So what do you take from that?

Well, he's actually, that is what he was saying during reset. It was the same kind of drivel where I can tell you, I was in Moscow, it was the same thing. Let's put a bunch of Consultative groups together to look at U.S.-Russia relations across a whole lot of issues. and expand our ties. And one of the things for sure that the Russians want to do is reopen their consulates in the United States so they can spy on us some more.

they get a lot of benefit out of doing that. And they also want to be relieved of being the global pariah that they deservedly are and escape some global isolation that they've suffered for this barbaric war on Ukraine that has cost tens of billions of dollars and just a human tragedy.

So Putin uses Labrov as his point man. to sound like the reasonable guy who just wants to reestablish U. S. Russian bilateral relations, but every word out of Lavrov's mouth is a lie. and we should take it as such.

Unless it's unless it helps them. And let me ask you something. Is there a chance when the doors close and they're in top secret meetings where they say, Our economy is such a mess. Our isolation and our junior partnership is so embarrassing with China. Our isolation i is so pervasive.

I mean, maybe we should. I mean, is there a part of them that says we should probably start getting something going with the U.S.? No, we're more of an enemy to them than China, North Korea, and Iran could ever be, even though both. at least two of those countries, Iran and China, are long term strategic competitors Putin has to throw his lot in with his fellow dictators, this axis of tyranny that we've seen result from Ukraine's war on Ukraine from Russia's war on Ukraine. There's no way we could ever be allies and partners, even though we talk a good game about the Second World War.

That was an alliance that Hitler caused. At the end of the day, it took the Nazis for us to engage with the Soviets. And remember, Stalin killed twenty five million of his own people and thus another roughly twenty five million in the war against Nazi Germany. Putin's the same way. Those numbers are just statistics to him.

He doesn't care how many hundreds of thousands of Russians are dead as a result of his war on Ukraine. But no, we're we don't have a chance for a real relationship with Russia until Putin is gone and there's someone else in the Kremlin who doesn't regard the United States as Russia's main enemy, it doesn't threaten Europe with hybrid operations, spying and military threats and attacks on their neighbors. I just don't see it with Putin. We need to take a page out of President Reagan's book, which was that we countered Russia in the war of ideas. Remember President Reagan at Brandenburg Gate saying, tear down this wall, Mr.

Gorbachev. His own advisers told President Reagan not to say that. Oh, it might cause a problem in our bilateral relationship. No, it actually resulted in some respect. Um That's kind of what we need.

That's what peaks through strength really is. And that's what I think we need right now going forward. Why do they need uh by the way, if if you think if Putin could do this again, you think he'd do the invasion? Even though there's cost to this, everything you just mentioned, Yeah, I think the alternative would have been worse for him. You just can't allow Ukraine.

To grow into a democracy Yeah. Commercial relationships with Western Europe and growing military ties. He looks out over at Estonia. and he sees this vibrant democracy, thriving economy. And his own people think, well, why can't we have that?

Oh, because in Russia, there's no such thing as the rule of law, which is the foundation for a democracy. And so Putin can't allow his neighborhood to look That good. I'll tell you something, Brian. Same with Taiwan and China. Does that impact too?

I was once I was meeting with a source, a Russian source of ours, an intelligence officer, was meeting me. and stealing secrets on our behalf. And he said, you know, Daniel. Um Here's the way it is. I if you live in a really nice house And Vladimir Putin lives in a disgusting burned-down building.

Uh What he's going to do is not try to get some ideas to build up his building, he's just going to go take. tear yours down and blow it up with his mercenary guys. Because he wants us all to live that way. That's his approach. I thought that was pretty accurate.

So, yeah, I guess we're going to find out how this goes from here. Because, in the end, when the fighting stops, how do we stop this from going down this road again? Where Russia reloads. rearms and just comes in 18 months only more prepared to move forward. I mean, the hardest thing to do is to negotiate with terrorists.

And right now, that's going on right now between Israel and Hamas. You could argue we shouldn't ever negotiate with terrorists, but we are, and Israel is. And President Trump is sort of negotiating indirectly with them. The second hardest thing, or equally as hard, is to negotiate with a dictator like Vladimir Putin. Extraordinarily difficult.

And if I look at what this Trump administration is trying to do, with those two crises, those two wars that are ongoing, Mm. That's ultimately the similarity in the two. It just makes it extraordinarily difficult for the national incoming national security team to take this one on. Fast same time, Daniel Hoffman. He's got the expertise.

He used to call Moscow home. Dan, thanks. I don't know if I called it O'Brien. You lived there. You did live there.

Yes, I did for a long time. Not too long. Dan, thanks so much. Back in a moment. Politics, current events, and news that affects you.

Brian's got a lot more to say. Stay with Brian Kilmead. Radio that makes you think. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. At 1:01 p.m.

today. The New York the US Department of Transportation emailed us a letter. I'm Secretary Duffy. announcing their attempt to end the congestion pricing program in the state of New York. At 1.58 p.m.

President Donald Trump. Tweeted Long live the king I'm here to say. York hasn't labored under a king in over 250 years. We are not. We sure as hell are not going to start now.

Right, exactly.

So rally, everybody, clap, because we want to pay more. I want to be able to drive through the city, and I want to have the freedom to pay $9 on demand. As opposed to somebody who says you don't have to. Please cheer for me, the one who says give me more money. of yours.

Well coming to Mike City. No, because we don't have enough money to keep the trains running on time and to get rid of traffic. We don't have money to repair the roads. I got to charge you more.

So I got to charge you to come through the tunnels and bridges. I got to charge you to park a ridiculous amount of money.

Now I got to charge you to go through the city. And the president wants to stop us from charging you congestion pricing. How dare he? And they totally played into his whole hail to the king attitude because now they play up the king thing. He's having fun with you.

He's actually mocking you. And you're acting like as if he really thinks he's the king. But he's doing the right thing. Congestion pricing's a calamity. They should get Doge.

Right through New York City, right through New York State, and see how much money is really being wasted. From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan. It's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian. In Kill Mead.

Thanks so much for being here, everybody. It's the Brian Killmeat Show. Got a big hour coming your way. Senator John Thune, the majority leader in the Senate, as powerful as guys are guests in Washington. Thankfully, I'm not saying majority leader's humor anymore.

I think he's terrible. Not great for New York either, by the way. If you want someone to stand up for New York, how about this? How about the. Jewish Americans who were beaten up by the pro-Palestinian protesters.

How about a Jewish senator who has no use and no time to tamp down the unrested Columbia, NYU, and City College? But now we have a majority leader in Senator John Thune standing by at the bottom of the hour. I got to get him to respond to President Trump kind of calling him out yesterday saying, stop with the two bills. I want one bill. Mark Thiessen standing by two.

We know two at this hour. Dick Durbin's having a temper tantrum because Cash Patel is about to become the next FBI director. Let's get to the big three. Number three. There's none of the infighting.

Everything's running like a very smooth, fine-tuned machine. And President Trump is delivering the greatest first month in presidential history that we've ever seen. Jason Miller, one month in. How is the president's team shaping up in your eyes? And the biggest gains, biggest losses, and where you think 47 should focus on Trump term two?

Number two. I love Ukraine, but Zelensky has done a terrible job. A dictator without elections. Zelensky better move fast or he's not going to have a country left. Wow, that is President Trump with a big 180 on Zelensky.

Dial it back. President Zelensky, I'm a big Ukraine supporter, but the beleaguered leader did not help himself when he insulted President Trump for agreeing to opening talks with Russia and rejecting his deal on natural resources. How both sides can fix the rift. Number one. I really want to emphasize to people that This is a very important point.

If we don't solve the deficit, there won't be money for medical care. There won't be money for Social Security. America will go bankrupt if this is not done. That's why I'm here. Exactly.

He's not having fun. He's sleeping on the floor in the Eisenhower building. Talking about Elon Musk, Doge, making an impact and explaining the objective as Trump and Musk reveal their strategy, why I think it's the most important program in the country. Let's bring in Mark Thiessen, speechwriter, columnist. A fellow, and he's a contributor.

Mark, welcome back. Good to be with you, Brian. First off, before we talk about Ukraine, I want to talk about Doge. How do you unwind the outrage to budget cutting?

Well, first of all, I don't know that there is that much outrage in budget cutting in the American people. I think there's outrage among professional Washington and the institutional interests. I think it's outrage among Democratic activists because they were sucking on the government teeth. The AID had become just a big taxpayer-funded philanthropy for left-wing groups all over the country. And now they're getting their funds cut off.

And so they're not happy about it. But I don't know. There was a study of the GAO that found that there were $238 billion in improper payments the previous year, including $175 billion in funds that were sent to either people who were dead or who no longer qualified for federal aid. And that's just the tip of the iceberg because that GAO didn't have the forensic accounting that Doge is putting, you know, AI-powered forensic accounting that they're applying to it. They're going to find even more than that.

I think most Americans think we shouldn't be paying dead people. I think most Americans think that we shouldn't be giving welfare to people who don't qualify for it anymore. And I don't think a lot of Americans don't think that we should be funding these left-wing NGOs to have transgender operas and all sorts of crazy stuff around the world. We should have foreign aid, but it should be tied to U.S. national interests and U.S.

foreign policy objectives. And so I don't know that there's outrage in the country over Doge. I think most people think it's great. Here's what Elon said: cut seven. You know who complained the loudest, the quickest and the loudest and with the most amount of righteous indignation?

The fraudsters. That's who complained first, loudest, and they would generally have this immense overreaction. That's how we knew there were the forces. That's how we knew. There's a tell.

And so far, now they're going to go into the Pentagon. They're hitting the IRS, education. Everybody wants them to come. Transportation said, please help me out here. And I think speed matters because the longer you wait and propose, that's when people get dug in with their own interests, Republicans and Democrats.

Just do it. Yeah, 100%. I mean, you had at EPA, you know, Lise Elden found out that there were people in the Biden administration at the end who literally said the words, we're throwing gold bricks off of the side of the Titanic. You know, those gold bricks. Are taxes that were paid to the federal government by waitresses working overtime, a cop on the beat, garbage man working to pick up your garbage, working long hours, teachers, people, those are hardworking Americans.

Put a lot of sweat into giving that money to their government, and they expect a return on their investment. And you're talking about dumping gold bricks off the side of the Titanic so you could spend it on your left-wing climate agenda? I mean, these people have no respect for the American people.

So, to spare me this idea that somehow Americans are outraged that we're putting a stop to it. Yeah, by the way, there was a Lise Elden found a program. Billions of dollars go into a Stacey Abrams-related climate program that he stopped in its tracks at the EPA.

So, this is going to be good, but it doesn't figure into the budget cutting that has to take place with what they're doing with two bills or one bill. And I'll ask Senator John Thune about that.

So, let's go to Ukraine and what President Trump said yesterday. He let from Air Force One, he let Zelensky have it, cut 13. You know, we'll see what happens, but I'm gonna resurrect it or things are not gonna make him too happy. And look. It's time for elections.

I haven't had an election in a long time. It's wonderful to say, you know, we can't have an election. But it's time for elections and it's also time to find out what happened with all the money.

So, what he misunderstood, I understand, is that Zelensky didn't say, I didn't know where the money is. All the money that's for the Ukraine doesn't go to Ukraine.

Some of it goes to Poland, some of it goes to transportation for goods and services and equipment from other countries and transportation to get there. That's what he was saying. Plus, Biden was not delivering the money that Congress was giving him. Yes, and also some of it goes to, for example, we surged U.S. troops in Poland to shore up our NATO allies so that Russia didn't go further, and that's part of the aid.

So there's all, you know, there's a gap between what Trump says we spend on Ukraine and what Zelensky says we spent in Ukraine. And the gap is a lot of stuff that we are spending that week is in order to support Ukraine, but it's not going to Ukraine. And those are legitimate expenses that we have. And so I think they're just talking past each other when it comes to the money. And most 90% of the money that we spend on Ukraine actually went to the U.S.

defense industry, creating jobs in the U.S. Because what we did was we gave the Ukrainians weapons, old weapons from our stockpiles. And then Congress funded money to replenish our stockpiles with new, more modern versions.

So it's actually helped us and it's helped Ukraine. Here's what Zelensky said that really ticked off Trump Cut 15. Unfortunately, President Trump, with great respect for him as a leader of the people, which we respect very much, the American people who constantly support us, unfortunately lives in this. disinformation space. Wow.

So that's not helpful. Yeah, I mean, Zelensky started this. You know, this was a dumb move on his part. He's opining about, you know, there are people in the Trump administration who don't support Ukraine and they don't know who is who and all the rest of it. Like, you know, sometimes you just got to shut up.

You know, and you know, the fact is, and he criticized Trump for not inviting him to Saudi Arabia to the talks. Look, the United States is a superpower. We haven't talked to Russia in years. Trump believes in personal diplomacy. He sent his team to have an initial meeting with the Russians, which is his right.

And he said before that Ukraine will absolutely be at the table and they'll have a role because it's their country in the final deal. And Zelensky sort of let him have it for having these two, not including them in the talks. Be quiet. Donald Trump is the best friend Ukraine has right now. He literally has promised that he's offering them a minerals deal.

That will literally make the US a partner with Ukraine for the next decades, going into business with them to mine all these great minerals for their benefit and for our benefit. What that means is the United States is committed to the long-term sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. And if Russia takes over, we don't get. $550 billion in minerals that we would that would the that the deal would give us. We don't get paid back for all the weapons that we gave Ukraine just to defend its sovereignty.

Because guess what? If Putin takes over, Putin's not going to pay us back for the weapons we gave Ukraine to kill the Russian soldiers.

So we're commit. This deal means we'd be committed to Ukraine's sovereignty and independence. He should be signing the deal. Yes. And do you think?

I think it's reminded me yesterday of a guy that's been at war for three years, and you have a quick temper, and you might overreact, and you might say to yourself, you know, 20,000 kids have been kidnapped. I got all these widows coming to see me saying, what happened to my family? You know, my son, my daughter, you see Keeve in shambles. You wonder the money, when the money's going to come, and sometimes you just snap. To me, he did not show great composure yesterday.

No, I agree with you. But also keep in mind that Zelensky, I mean, all the things you said, plus people don't realize it, Zelensky goes to the front lines every month. And sometimes several times a month.

So he's literally on the front lines with his troops. He's seeing the dead soldiers. He's seeing the maimed people. The Russians have almost killed him several times using drones. He's a very brave man and he's tired and the whole country is exhausted, which is why Trump is right.

The war has to come to an end. And the best chance they have of getting a good deal to end the war is Donald Trump.

So they've got to de he's got to de-escalate this thing and understand, don't react to everything Trump says, which Trump's a counterpuncher, right? You know, he didn't just attack Zelensky, he responded when Zelensky attacked him. And so he went after him. As soon as Zelensky stops and apologizes and moves on, Trump will Trump will be back to where he was. He likes Zelensky personally.

He wants he likes the Ukrainian people. He wants peace and he wants to help Ukraine. I know this because he's told me this. Right.

Here's what Mike Waltz told me today, cut 22. You know, I guess all of those Democrats were perfectly fine with seeing. Hundreds of thousands of people literally on a daily, weekly, monthly basis in a meat grinder of a war that has turned into an endless war under Joe Biden, who could not define success and basically said, As long as it takes, as much as it takes, no matter how many people die, no matter how much death and destruction, because I haven't heard any one of them actually present a plan to bring this war to an end. President Trump has done that, and we're going to execute it. And he was talking about the minions that jumped like Blumenthal and Company.

They just couldn't wait for a moment like this. And a lot of Republicans have the same thing. It's like, you know, we know who started the war. Let's let cooler heads prevail.

So we'll see what happens next. Your thoughts about the Russians' demeanor in the talks in Saudi Arabia?

Well, first of all, what Mike Waltz said is 100% correct. If Joe Biden had given the Ukrainians all the weapons he he dripped out over three years, had done it in 2022 when they were fleeing Kyiv after they failed to take Kyiv, they would have driven the Russians out and the war would have ended in 2022.

So this Joe Biden didn't want Ukraine to lose, but he didn't want Ukraine to win because he thought victory would be destabilizing. And so now Trump has inherited this mess. I think the Russians want to drag this out. One of the things I think the key thing you're going to see is Donald Trump, what he cares about is to stop the killing. He's looking at all the dead bodies.

He's looking at the intelligence, showing how many people have died. He wants the bloodshed to end, and the Russians don't. And what he's pushing for, which is correct at the negotiation table, is an immediate ceasefire. And then we negotiate while there's a ceasefire. And the Russians don't want to do that.

They just did carpet-bombed Kharkiv again. I mean, sorry, Kherson last night, killed a bunch of teenagers. Yeah.

Trump wants that to end and Putin doesn't. If he doesn't stop and agree to a ceasefire and stop the fighting, then he's going to get in trouble with Donald Trump. Right.

And we'll see because they've only picked up.

Some of them look at his weakness every time we went to talk, and we'll see how bad things are in Russia. That's still the story that has yet to be told. Mark, thanks so much. Take care, Brian. 1866-408-7669.

I'll take your calls. Keep in mind, most of you are coming in on this question. One month in, how is the Trump term shaping up in your eyes? And that's all I care about: the biggest gains, biggest losses, and where you think 47 should focus in Trump term, too. Back in a moment.

We're gonna win so much, you may even get tired of winning. Taking back America, the first 100 days. You'll say, please, please, it's too much winning. Stay with Brian Kilmead. Breaking news, unique opinions.

Hear it all on the Brian Kill Me Show. There's a lot of rich people out there. Yeah.

They should be caring more about the country. Because the reason you should be caring more about the country is if America falls, what do you think is going to happen to your business? What do you think? Do you think are we going to be okay if the ship of America sinks? Of course not.

Like What I'm doing here, what the president's doing, is It's just long-term thinking. The ship of America must be strong. The ship of America cannot sink. If it sinks, we all sink with it. And that's whose point is why he's volunteering.

That's Elon Musk explaining himself. I thought he came up very sincere. John, listening on the Fox News Radio app in California. Hey, John. Good morning, Brian.

I wanted to just say the biggest the biggest win for Trump and his administration, besides all the picks, Getting through and all the nominations and the pace and the pace of everything. I couldn't even believe how corrupt. And fraudulent, all these payments that are going out. I think this is a huge win, and it gives them a. for mistakes that may come up, like the what just happened with saying Zelensky was at blame you know, Ukraine's at blame for the invasion.

I think people realize that there's a lot of stuff going on in Trump's I mean, he's juggling 15 balls in the air at once. I mean, this guy is amazing, and I've always been a Trump supporter. You know that from calling in over the years. He's even amazing me in what he's getting accomplished right now.

So huge, huge wins. And compare that to what you got in California. You have Mayor Bass who says she's going to do it in Los Angeles. It's going to do an investigation on who told her to go to Ghana. Instead of staying back.

And taking care of the wildfires that everybody said were forecasted from that region. Here's Karen Bass, cut 43. I will tell you that I felt absolutely terrible not being here for my city and not being here for my family who was impacted by the fires as well. And so when I say it was a mistake, Absolutely, the idea that I was not present was very painful. But now she's going to do an investigation, Cut 42.

Two investigations are taking place, one internal to the city, and that's the fire commission, because that's mandated by the city charter.

So the commission will hire an outside entity to examine everything, the pre-deployment, you know, why were staffs, why were firefighters sent home, you know, all of that that should have taken place that didn't. And then also, the governor has contracted with the Fire Safety Research Institute, which is a national institute that investigated what happened in the fires in Maui.

So everything that happened, including that, needs to be examined. She's going to do an investigation on why she wasn't told. It didn't get to her level that the firefighters were spreading.

So then the Fire Department of California said, We told you, here are the emails to your office, to you, talking about how dangerous the firefighters were and how they needed more assets in place. How is she going to Ghana with that whole reservoir virtually empty or certainly? Sidelined with budget cuts to the fire department. She goes, I'm going to have an investigation on why I went to Ghana. I mean, and she's just learning, she says, she's learning so much.

Through this whole process.

Well, I talked to somebody in Jake Steinfeld yesterday, and he says, You would not believe the lack of information and counter messages that we keep getting. You have to scrape your property, you can't scrape your property. You need an environmental test before you can do it to find out what types of chemicals are there before you put it into a dumpster. And before you do that, you need a green seal. And one day the green seal is there, the next day it is gone.

You go up to get your property scraped, and guess what? They say, We're not allowed to do it. There's no seal here. They call up the EPA, they can't get any answers there. This is the worst run city.

So you have one guy taking thoroughly responsibility for everything, and then you have a mayor who says she can't wait to investigate why she went to Africa. Basically. The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmead. Everyone knows there's waste in government and should be cut.

But Doge is using a meat axe, and they're cutting things that are efficient and effective. If you want to make cuts, Then you do it through a debate in Congress, not lawlessly by just implementing them. Lawlessly, well, that's an interesting term, turn of phrase. Senate Majority Leader John Thune joins us now. That was the minority leader in the Senate.

Senator Thune, welcome back. All right, there you go. It's good. There we go. I got you.

Good to be with you, Brian. Thanks. Did you hear Senator Schumer? He says, lawlessly, Doge is cutting things from the budget. Lawlessly?

Yeah, they are grasping right now, let's put it that way. This is a sort of a An act of desperation on the part of the Democrats, who have never been willing to cut a penny out of any government program. And in every budget fight, are always trying to spend more and more and more.

So it's not surprising that they are acting this way. It is, I think, fairly predictable, but unfortunate again that the Democrats seem unwilling to. To allow any review or scrutiny of government programs that could be run a lot more efficiently. And I think that's what Doge is all about. Do you agree with this, Khatfur?

I really want to emphasize to people that This is a very important point. If we don't solve the deficit, there won't be money for medical care, there won't be money for Social Security. We either solve the deficit or all we'll be doing is paying debt. Nobody does. So it's got to be solved, or there's no medical care, there's no social security, there's no nothing.

It's got to be solved. It's not optional. America will go bankrupt if this is not done. That's why I'm here. Do you see it that way?

Well, I think it's the question is how soon that happens. But yeah, it's an inevitable. That is the track that we are on. And we've got to change that trajectory, Brian, because if you continue to spend more and more to finance the debt, and now we spend more on interest on the debt than we do on national security, on defense, if you can imagine that.

So he's right. It's a matter of time. And we've got to start bending the spending curve. in the right direction. We start doing that, we good get good growth in the economy, we can get back on a more sustainable fiscal path.

But at the moment, there is no question that unless we're willing to make some hard decisions that have been postponed and put off for way too long, we are headed it's a That is a dead end we are headed into, and not good for the country. And so that's why this exercise is necessary. Senator Thun, do you have any problem with the way they are approaching things so far, being that so much of this is unprecedented? No, I mean, I think that, you know, there's a lot of obviously from the Democrats in particular and some of the media, criticism of the who's who's in charge of all this. But honestly, in some ways, I think you need people from the outside who have expertise in this field because The government is in many ways just incredibly antiquated.

The systems that are used, the bureaucracy built upon bureaucracy, the red tape, the silos in which things are done instead of creating an integrated, efficient, taxpayer-friendly and technology-driven government instead of this old paper-driven bureaucracy that's existed for years and years and decades and decades.

So, in a lot of ways, it'd be great if you could fix it from within. But I think, frankly, you need some eyes that bring fresh perspective and are willing to take on some of the stereotypes that have existed for way too long.

So far, with every nominee that President Trump has put forward, they've gotten through. Matt Gates was withdrawn after a couple of weeks. I never thought that was serious anyway. But when everyone got through and Cash Patel is on deck, right now, if you look at where the other presidents were at this point, in 2009, Obama pre-presided. Impressive 17.

In 2017, Trump had 14. In 2021, Biden had 7. And now you have shepherded 18 through. And now today Cash Patel could be nineteen, correct? Right, cash will be 19, and we'll get that one done this afternoon.

And then, of course, we've got Linda McMahon teed up, obviously, next. And then we've got James Greer, who's the U.S. trade rep, is also a 30-hour. And, you know, and remember, Brian, the thing about this is the Democrats aren't playing ball on any of this. I mean, they are blocking, delaying, using every dilatory tactic that they can to try and prevent President Trump from getting his people in place.

So we're having to work around that. And I think we have effectively done that to the point that we are ahead of pace relative to anything we've seen going back to about 2001. But you just have to grind them down. And, you know, it's unfortunate that that's what it takes, but that's the kind of political environment we're in right now. And these Democrats have so much Trump derangement syndrome that they can't see straight.

And you hear that rhetoric on the floor every day. And anyway, it is a process, but we're going to keep at it. And there's a lot more we have to get done and a lot more nominees we need to get through.

Well, yeah, I mean, it's a heck of a pace. You guys stayed a couple of weekends. That certainly makes a difference. You can't get anything done if you don't have a team in place. And even though Trump likes to put his hands on things, he's got to have cabinet secretaries working in that direction.

Now you've got to get ambassadors seated. Like, for example, in Israel, that's not a ceremonial position. That matters a lot, correct? That is. And Mike Huckabee is a great nominee for that position.

In fact, he's the perfect nomination nominee for Ambassador to Israel. Of course, Ambassador to China, also a critically important one right now given what's going on in the world.

So those are all teed up. And the thing is, and I guess, Brian, I think maybe a lot of people don't realize this, but the Senate, by virtue of the Constitution, Article I, with advice and consent, we literally spend two-thirds of our time on personnel. I mean, we have to do not only all the judges, all the judiciary comes through the Senate for confirmation, the federal judiciary, but you also have 1,100 executive branch nominees positions. That are subject to Senate confirmation, meaning that we have to do 1,100 of these. And unfortunately, what happens too often, and an administration gets to office and some of their people don't get in place until the third year of their four-year term, which is ridiculous.

So I'm a big believer that we've got to figure out how to streamline and expedite that process. But in the meantime, we're going to do everything we can the old-fashioned way to just keep putting them through and getting them in their position so they can implement the President's agenda. If you don't mind, take a step back. Fundamentally, you're looking at a big debate between the House and Senate, both Republican majorities. The House, Speaker Johnson, has been insistent: I need one bill.

If I have to break up this thing into two bills, I'll never get my whole caucus together. And you went ahead, and Senator Lindsey Graham also right by your side and said, I'm doing two bills. And now there's going to be a voter rama, I think, today where people can put amendments to one bill. What would that one bill consist of? And what would the second bill consist of, and why not just do one?

Yeah.

Well, I think we're I'm game, and if the House can execute on getting one done, more power to them. I think at the moment, what we're trying to do is preserve optionality for the President. The President has campaigned on and said his number one priority is securing the border. And this bill that we're doing today is heavily focused on giving the President the resources he needs to secure the border. It also helps rebuild our military, which is something that desperately we have fallen farther and farther behind in terms of making sure that in a dangerous world our men and women in uniform have the weaponry, the technology, the training to do the job that we ask them to do.

And then it's focused on energy and restoring energy dominance for this country.

So there are three priorities addressed in this bill. We know the tax piece has to be done, but we also have until the end of the year to do that. The current tax law doesn't expire until December 31 of this year. And that's going to take a little while longer. But we're on the same track.

And I tell people, you know, we have a bicameral system in this country. A House and a Senate. They're structured differently, procedurally. They operate and function very differently. But we're headed to the same goal.

And so we'll get there. And I'm hopeful. I tell people I'm encouraging and supportive of everything the House is able to do, but we want to, and the Senate, do our part too and make sure that we're prepared to address what I think are the really urgent needs right now, starting with border security, which again was the President's number one campaign promise.

So yesterday it came out, put on Truth Social that President Trump said, hey, you know what? I want one bill. Lindsey Graham said the House approach was preferable because it implements my full agenda, he said, instead of Lindsey Graham's approach, everything, not just part of it. He said he wanted all of his legislative priorities advanced in a single big bill. You came back and said, well, that called me.

That caught me by surprise.

So in what way did it catch you by surprise? You said I didn't see that one coming.

Well, that's the anchorman line. I did not see that one coming. But I think the yeah, I mean, the President obviously has weighed in at different times. In many cases, he does that in our in the context of meetings with him that happen in a more private setting. He actually went out and said something publicly yesterday.

But what I can tell you, Brian, is that we coordinate closely with him and his team. And J.D. Vance, the Vice President, was up here at our lunch yesterday, took a bunch of questions on this subject. And what's clear to me at least is the, again, that I believe the President, although he's always said he favors one big, beautiful bill, which is fine, we can get that done, more power to him. But I think that the one thing that doesn't include it isn't included in the House bill, obviously, and that's permanency for the tax pieces.

And that's one of the things the President wants. And so that bill is going to have to be changed or modified if it comes out of the House, when it comes over here to the Senate, too.

So I guess what I'm saying is this is a process, it's a long process. And I think the President and his team, as we have had conversations with them about this subject for some time now, realize with the narrow margin in the House, the challenges that they're going to have in getting this done. If they can, great, more power to them. We will work with them to get all the pieces of a reconciliation bill across the finish line. But in the meantime, the Senate, we're able to, and we're here today and we're prepared to execute on addressing those three immediate needs that I mentioned earlier.

And I believe that preserves optionality for the President. And it always encourages the House to move. I think it creates forward momentum. And so we want to do our part and be good partners in getting, as I said, all of this across the finish line so the President has what he needs to get the job done for the American people. All right.

So right now, you and Speaker Johnson are speaking? Oh yeah, yeah. I mean we communicate regularly, I'm you know, every day, almost every day anyway. Yesterday, it was clear the President of the United States was really ticked off that Vladimir Zelensky said this after he met with the Russian delegation Cut 15. Unfortunately, President Trump, with great respect for him as a leader of the people, which we respect very much, the American people who constantly support us, unfortunately lives in this disinformation space.

So he feels like President Trump's in a disinformation space. That is not something that's going to win the President over. He blasted Zelensky, says he's got low approval rating, has to have elections, and he's a bad leader.

So obviously, this reminds me very similar to the campaign, even when he's going against Republicans. Your thoughts about where we stand right now in the Ukraine-Russia war?

Well, I think everybody and President Zelensky certainly everybody needs to take a deep breath. And I know that President Trump wants peace in Ukraine. We all do.

Next week marks three years of this horrific war beginning, and the Administration is working hard to end it. And as we've seen in the past, the President has been instrumental in getting our European allies to contribute more to defense spending. He's been working with both Ukraine and Russia to end this horrible war. And I think you've got to give him some space to do that. Again, the rhetoric has been a little hot, but I think at the moment, at least, let's see where this lands.

But wouldn't it be great if we could finally get to a peaceful resolution here? And I think that's what everybody wants to see happen. But it is, again, it's a process that takes a little bit of time, and so we just got to be kind of patient. But there's a faction within the Republican Party that does not want to finance this war anymore. And you know it.

I believe that the Ukraine are the good guys in this. If they had their drothers, they would just be a westernized nation prospering the best they can with an imperfect democracy. It's Russia that is the problem. But what do you do with people in your own party that said, I'm done with this?

Well, I mean, I think there's that strong sentiment out there, and of course, I hear it. And I think that, frankly, I know there's any question about this, Putin and Russia are very clearly the aggressor in this conflict. That's just a fact. But I also think that at the end of the day, the U.S. support and assistance, much of which helped rebuild our own industrial base here, our military industrial base, because a lot of the weaponry that we sell to or support the Ukrainians with is creating jobs in this country too.

But it also, I think, is probably limited in the end. I mean, there's a place where American support and the support of the American people is limited. And so that's why I think it's important that they try and wind this down, figure out a way to achieve an outcome that retains Ukraine's sovereignty and hopefully Puts them and our European allies in the region in a better position relative to the aggressive posture that Russia has taken. And I think that's what we all want to achieve there, Brian.

So, Rahm Emanuel teeing off on Trump for saying essentially that Putin has all the cards, cut 27. Russia's always wanted to negotiate with the United States because that gives them their superstar, superpowered status. That was their objective, one of the strategic objectives. We did a China deal, quote unquote. There's no increase in a single soy being China bought.

And Trump called it the greatest trade deal. Kim got no military exercise between the United States and the Republic of Korea. for nothing. Yeah, Trump is the worst negotiator because his only goal is vanity. Your reaction to that.

Well, I think that um I disagree with that, obviously. I just think that at the end of the day, what the President is always trying to achieve is a result, is an outcome. And he has a capacity, I think, and you've got to let him use it to make deals and to find areas of agreement where others have tried and failed. And in this circumstance, at least, I think this is where this is a three-year war, which nobody has been able to resolve. It's a puzzle.

It's been very complicated. And I think you're going to have to have all the actors at the table to get it resolved in the end. Yeah, you have a vote around it today, just to close this out. And is this a backup plan? Is this one of two bills a backup plan if the House doesn't get it across the finish line?

Well, it is I don't like to refer to it as a backup plan, but it's an option. And I can as I said earlier, I think it preserves optionality for the President and addresses some of his most immediate concerns. And we had Tom Holman and Russ Volk come up and speak to the Republican Senators last week and say we have got to have, if we're going to do the job secure in the border, we have got to have what you've included in this bill.

So we think that it addresses an immediate need. The other pieces of this are going to come and will come later, whether that comes in the version of a House passed resolution sometime next week or in the weeks subsequent to that, one way or the other, in the end, we'll get these merged up and put something on the President's desk that hopefully gets things done. But We've said this all along, Brian, and I think it makes all the sense in the world. The most immediate needs are national security, border security and energy development. And I think those are addressed in this bill.

So if the President wants to move forward with this, he's got an option to do it. Gotcha. Senator Majority Leader, John Thune, busy day today. Thanks so much for the quality time for all of you. And Senator, best of luck.

Thanks, Brian. Appreciate that. And I won't tell you who my emergency contact is. I'm going to tell everybody what that means right after the break. Yeah, all right.

All right.

Sounds good. It's Brian Killmeade. The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Killmead. He gets so many random people calling him.

It is insane how many people call him. He does not pick up a phone call unless it's from someone that he knows. My emergency contact is my mom because if Lil Lise were to ever call Jason, he would pick up the phone without question. I have full faith. I would have it be Jason if I thought he was going to answer the phone.

So That of course is referencing to The Kelseys. Kelsey said, I would not put Kelsey, Jason Kelsey's wife said, I would not put my husband, Kelsey, whatever her name is, would not put my husband as my emergency contact. And I don't think Dawn would put me, Dawn, my wife, on emergency contact. That was the debate. From high atop Fox News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division.

It's Brian Killmead. Hi, everyone.

So glad you're here. Brian Kill Me Cho coming your way. 1-866-408-7669. Michael Dorgan will be joining us this hour. He's a reporter with Fox News Digital.

He's got an excellent report on what's going on with the Obama library. He not only built it in the wrong place in Chicago, denying a working-class area any type of influx of capital as promised, but this DEI demand for construction companies has this thing in basically a stall, costing millions more than anyone thought. And as usual, Barack Obama gets a total pass. Michael Dorgan, original reporting on that, and Julian Epstein on the Democrats and where they go from here.

So let's get to the big three. Number three. There's none of the infighting. Everything's running like a very smooth, fine-tuned machine. And President Trump is delivering the greatest first month in presidential history that we've ever seen.

Really? Jason Miller, one month in. How is the Trump team shaping up in your eyes? Biggest gains, biggest losses, and where you think 47 should focus on Trump turn two now. Number two.

I love Ukraine, but Zelensky has done a terrible job. A dictator without elections. Zelensky better move fast or he's not going to have a country left. Dial it back, Zelensky. I'm a big Ukraine supporter and Zelensky believer, but the beleaguered leader lost it and did some insulting things to President Trump.

Not a good move, and it only boosts Russia. Number one. This is a very important point. If we don't solve the deficit, there won't be money for medical care. There won't be money for Social Security.

America will go bankrupt if this is not done. That's why I'm here. That is true. Doge making an impact and explaining their objective as Trump and Musk reveal their strategy, why I think it's the most important program in this country that's going on right now. And I think we got probably a year and a half for him to implement and recommend massive restructuring issues.

First off, one thing he did is there is something like $4.7 trillion worth of outgoing. Checks that have no subject line, to put it in simple layman's terms, which I live my life in that lane.

So they now have to tell us where the money is going. Isn't that an improvement? And then justify all of it in every department. And instead of department heads trying to hoard Their staff And their money, you have Sean Duffy. You have Pete Hagseth.

You have Scott Bessett all saying, come please, take a look, got the place. As well as Doug Bergham on Interior. Tell me what's going on. And I think that that is the key to be successful.

So Elon Musk weighed in last night and he said: look, I made some mistakes, but we're fixing them. Cut six. You know what's better than saying trust me? It's just full transparency.

So what we're doing with the Doge, Doge.com, just go to Doge.gov. You can see every single action that's being taken. And I want to be clear, we are going to make some mistakes. We're not going to be perfect. Nobody bats 1,000.

But we're going to fix the mistakes very quickly. That's what matters. Not that you don't make mistakes, but that you fix the mistakes very fast. Right.

And the goal is big. And the goal is to get the revenue up and get the expenditure down. And what I love too, and I'm being sarcastic. is they say, well, Donald Trump spent so much money. Look at how much he spent in the first term.

Well, number one, just factor out the pandemic and understand the goal was to drill down on taxes, reform. Oh, just reduce, reform, and then wait for the rubber band pulled back, let it for the revenue to flow in, then the pandemic hit. But having said that, maybe you could have spent less. The fact that he's spending, he's cutting back now. That makes it less valuable, what he decides to do.

I mean, he's cutting everywhere. And what they're trying to do is now blaming Trump for the plane accidents in Canada. Yes, the Delta plane flips on its side. S luckily, everybody survives. You saw what happened with the Black Hawk in DC.

And some other problems in the air. Sean Duffy all over it. And quickly everyone wants to blame Trump. Even Ed Bastion, who's the Delta Airlines CEO, could easily have said the FAA is overworked. He said, no, you can't blame Trump for this.

Cut nine. Do those cuts worry you, and do you think that impacts the safety? I know you just said it's the safest way to travel, but after looking at all these mishaps, a lot of people are very nervous. Do these cuts affect you? The cuts do not affect us scale.

I've been in close communication with the Secretary of Transportation. I understand that the cuts at this time are something that are raising questions, but the reality is there's over 50,000 people that work at the FAA, and the cuts, I understand, were 300 people, and they were in non-critical safety functions. Yes, of course you cannot blame him for a Minnesota plane, a Delta, that flips on its head and lands in the ice. All right? I'm pretty sure that goes without saying.

So now they want to vilify Elon Musk and Donald Trump. His approval rating is between 47 and 52 percent. Congress's approval rating among Republicans is 53%, 5% for Democrats. If you factor in independents, they have 29% approval.

Sounds terrible, but not really if you consider how low Congress has been rated of late. Let's see if they can get something done. Passing through the first bill earlier at a different hour. Jon Thune said we got one bill through. Kind of surprised that Trump wants them to do both bills at once, like the House wants to do, instead of breaking up into two.

They're doing a Votorama today. He said, well, I didn't see that one coming because they had talked about it before. But now they're going to go forward with two bills. They'll have it as a backup should the House be unable to produce one. The biggest story yesterday had to be the falling out between Trump and Zelensky.

And when Trump gets mad, he goes for the juggular. He doesn't pull back.

So when Zelensky came back and said, I'm not really going for that rare earth deal that Scott Bessett brought over, and then said I'm really upset that Trump is listening to Russia, Here's what Trump said, cut 13. You know, we'll see what happens, but I'm gonna resurrect it, or things are not gonna make him too happy. And look. It's time for elections. I haven't had an election in a long time.

It's wonderful to say, you know, we can't have an election. But it's time for elections and it's also time to find out what happened with all the money.

Well, what happened is a lot of the money, a lot of the money doesn't get to Ukraine. It goes to supporting refugees in Poland and transporting tanks from Germany.

So that's what he was referring to. But again, translation not helpful. But Zelensky coming out saying some stuff doesn't help either. Here is A little back and forth between Jump and Zelensky cut twelve. I love Ukraine, but Zelensky has done a terrible job.

President Zelensky talked the United States of America into spending three hundred fifty billion dollars to go into a war that basically couldn't be one. A dictator without elections, Zelensky better move fast or he's not going to have a country left. Yeah.

And then Zelensky came back and said Trump lives in the era or this vortex of disinformation. That only got Trump angrier. But you can't say that Zelensky is not doing a good job. He's got fifty four percent approval rating or fifty six percent in his country. The reason he doesn't have an election is because the Constitution doesn't allow it.

And they they fought valiantly and they do every single day. Senator Kennedy cut seventeen. To the extent that the White House said that Ukraine started the war. I disagree. I think Vietnam reputed started the war.

I also believe through bitter experience that Vladimir Putin is a gangster. He's a gangster with a black heart. He makes Jeffrey Dahmer look like Mother Teresa. He has Stalin's taste for blood. And as I've said in another context, I wouldn't.

I trust this guy like I trust gas stations sushi. Yeah.

I actually have gas station sushi. That's the sad part. Or I have it at Penn Station when I go there. Uh, because I I watch him cook it. I I watch him not cook it.

I watch him make it right in front of me.

So just because it happens to be at a Unorthodox location doesn't mean I'm against gas station sushi, but that's just it. You have to understand: can we not stop pretending that we don't know Donald Trump? He gets angry, just like he does at DeSantis, just like he does at Ted Cruz, just like he did at Marco Rubio, just like he did with John McCain. He goes for the jugular, and then when it's over, it's over. And that's why I think Zelensky is meeting with Kellogg today, and at one point he's going to call Trump, and things are going to settle down.

If Russia thinks that they are now going to win this war because of the war of words between these two, you have not, you're not really a KGB agent, Vladimir Putin. You don't get it. And I do.

So, I'm not going to overreact to it. The one person that did get it, and I wanted to share this with you, was. Um Byron York. Yuri was on with special report last night. He heard this, everyone's overreacting, he wasn't.

Cut 29. This is kind of a classic Trump controversy here, in which a lot of his adversaries are talking about all the terrible things that might happen if he does this. And the fact is, we don't seem to know what is in the president's plan. In your interview with the Treasury Secretary yesterday, Scott Besson really praised the plan to the skies, but he didn't tell you what it was.

So we'll have to see.

Now, look, the fact is, Russia invaded Ukraine. That's just the fact here. Why is the President saying otherwise? My feeling is it is part of his plan. I do not know what he intends to do, but he clearly, this is the kind of thing that Trump does to irritate some parties while he is appealing to others.

That is true, and that's worth repeating. 1-866-408-7669. The one thing I did with the big three is I just want you to tell me what you think. 30 days in, you know, we're inside 100. You have 67 executive orders or actions.

Now you have legislation humming through the Senate, and it's out of committee in the House.

So you can't even say that everyone's gummed up. I know the margins are slim. What do you think about where we're at right now? Brian Kilmicho, don't move. You're with Brian Kilmead.

He's so busy, he'll make your head spin. It's Brian Kilmead. So, the number one issue, and I think the biggest story of the first 30 days is Doge. The outrage and also what they found and what they're about to find with the Pentagon, hopefully Medicare, Social Security, with the fraud and abuse, and maybe just ineptness. A lot of it.

And now people are going in looking at the books and people are outraged 'cause we're looking at the books. And one of the smartest people in America is looking at the books with no personal gain. Really? Y a lot of people think, well, he wants to make X better. He wants to make SpaceX more successful.

Starlink? Sandra, you're in New Jersey, first thirty days, Sandra, what do you think so far? Oh, hi, Brian. I want to say I'm loving your show every day. I'm learning a lot.

Thank you. I want to say that I'm very upset about how comfortable the left is sending out information that's so wrong. For instance, in 2014, the FAA made DEI hiring. They gave up the merit-based way of hiring and they went DEI. They didn't want to hire white people.

They wanted to make it racial. And they did a questionnaire and they based it on that to hire people.

So when Donald Trump says he wants to cut down on the FAA hiring, he doesn't mean pilots and controllers. He means jobs that have nothing to do with safety.

So it irritates me when they distort the truth and try to blame Donald Trump of all people for this. Yeah, I mean, for example, they were trying to blame him for Delta in Canada. I mean, that's what Eric Swalwell was doing. Oh, God. Yeah.

It's pathetic. It's pathetic. So, what do you want to see him work, Sandra? What do you want to see him working on now? From 30 to 100, what's next?

Um I just want him to do everything that he's do. I like the way he's doing things.

So, I don't even want to comment on how he can do better. He's doing so great. Go get him, Sandra. Tony in Clifton, New Jersey. Listen on WABC.

Tony. I wanted to talk to you, switch topics on Ukraine, because I think. To me, Ukraine is quintessential. I think what's going on in the world is a priority because internally we have so many problems that we need to get a handle-on behavior in our country. Ukraine needs to, we need to focus with Steve Wydkoff and all those who are leading whatever negotiations are moving forward, that Ukraine has land that belonged to it.

And just like the United States wants to expand, we want the same. you know, for our fellow people who we support, our fellow countries that we support. We don't want Ukraine to lose land. Neither do I, but how are we going to back Russia out?

Well, the first thing that we need to do is to sit down at the table, and that's what they're trying to do, and get along with each other. Behavior has been a big problem in all these negotiations in our country and out. And that's why I like JD Vance. He gets right to the point, Brian. We don't have time for temperaments and personalities.

We need to move forward and let people have the sovereignty that we want United States to have. Right.

I think we're going to get to something quick, but that's why you can't have Zelensky flying off the handle, because Trump will hit right back. But it doesn't mean that Russia gains the upper hand. Tony, I see it as you see it. Lee in Salt Lake City. Hey, Lee.

I just wanted to go over why Trump might have said that Lewinsky started the war. And I think it's because they were building up troops along the border, if you remember. They hadn't invaded. They were just building up troops. And then the Biden administration let it leak out that they were going to try to let them join NATO.

Well, you know, that Russia doesn't want them to join NATO. All or UNC had to do is sit down at the table with Russia and sign a pat contract or a treaty that he would never join NATO. If we had someone trying to go along our Mexican border that was a dire enemy of ours. Hey, Lee, it's not a good example. They are an oppressive country infiltrating all their neighbors.

They are a communist country who has no use for us. They were going to do an invasion. They thought they could march right to Kyiv, and they have 700,000 casualties later. They have exposed themselves to the third-rate power with nuclear weapons. And I'm telling you right now, George Bush brought up NATO.

NATO was brought up constantly, and there's no reason for that invasion. They were upset that the stooges they put in office was voted out of office. Charles in Oregon. Hey, Charles. Brian, thank you for taking my call, sir.

I wanted to say that. Yeah.

This 30 days is absolutely the most fabulous 30 days any presidency I've ever seen in my life. the Democrats are having a a hissy fit, and all the naysaying and lies is because they that Trump and Doji, thanks to Elon, finding the progressive leftist money machine of US AID. And number three is that We have seen now that the Russian soldiers that have attacked, like you said, you were absolutely right. They thought they could sneak in and attack. And if you look at their early and all the videos of their equipment, I am telling you, sir, after watching hours of it, that their stuff is so disused, so out of use, that that's I'm telling you, we can end this, and I know that Trump can do it by making the deal.

I'll tell you what, I'm all for an honest assessment and don't think America walks on water. I think that's good, it's healthy. But to think that something Ukraine did warranted that invasion is insane. That Vladimir Putin has no interest in in in anything but expansion. He does not want Ukraine to thrive, just like China doesn't want Taiwan to s thrive, because a free market democracy makes them look terrible and imperils their leadership.

Hank in Virginia. Hey, Hank. Ryan, how you doing? Those two ladies from Jersey did did a great job with their call. In twenty fourteen, we had that FAA disaster, but that's still the same year that Obama was President when they invaded Crimea.

Remember that. And the people of Ukraine, what they want is guarantees they don't want another Budapest memorandum. Because if you remember, that was a nightmare for them.

So, I have family that live in Ukraine and they just want peace. And as far as the Trump Is this presidency? He's moving at mock speed. I've never seen nothing like it. And that's what happens when you take the smartest, the most.

Genuine person in the world and match him up with the greatest president we've had since Reagan and Lincoln.

So you're happy. The other thing is, it's organized. It's not, hey, give me that piece of paper. Let me write stuff down. This is if I say this is my analogy.

Bill Walsh with the San Francisco 49ers in the 80s. He used to script the first three or four drives, regardless of who the opponent was. This is the president's script.

Soon he's going to be reacting in real time to what's going on in the world along with his script. Information you want, truth you demand. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. Which drives me crazy is the way sometimes Democrats talk. It drives me insane.

It's like we're in a PhD thesis on political academia, which is not how you win elections. I mean, Democrats, we love people to know that we're smart. And that we got our PhD, and here we're ready to show you our thesis. And it comes across not only that it's a self-enclosed conversation, it is tremendously dismissive of them. the audience.

We're actually talking to ourselves about how important, how smart we are. rather than how to make sure that they understand Wow, that is Rahm Emmanuel talking about how bad Democrats are, and they're out of touch, and they can't even get their feet. This just in. Senator Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving party leader in Senate history, is set to announce he will not run for re-election. This is not a surprise.

He's in failing health. Add to that, he left leadership. The announcement makes it official. He's 83 and has battled a number of health issues in recent years. Game on in Kentucky.

Remember, you'd think it's a Republican state, but they got a Democratic governor and a Democratic attorney general.

So. We'll see where we go from there. That's open. Mark Peters announced he's not running again in the midterms. It will be an intern.

And by the way, he doesn't dominate in Kentucky.

So he always has to come back in order to win. We'll see who can emerge on the right or the left and compete. If they want to take the Senate back, they need that seat. Julian Epstein served as Chief Counsel for the House Judiciary Committee and Staff Director for the House Oversight Committee for the Democrats from 96 to 2001.

So, Julian, not a surprise. That seat is now officially open in Kentucky. And do you think they're a Bashir as a contender for that? 'Cause he's got two years left as a term limited governor.

Well, I think it's a red state, and he is a popular governor. He's been a good governor. He's the kind of Democrat that I like because he's centrist. There are very few of Bashirs left in the Democratic Party. But sure, I think he's got a shot on it, but I think it's a red state, and I think it'll stay red.

So what do you think about what Jen Socky said about Democrats always want to impress you with the vocabulary and as if they came just right from a PhD course and a PhD course somewhere? I take that with a grain of salt. I think a lot of these democratic consultant types are trying to look smart. After the election, and say, Oh, there are things that are wrong with the Democratic Party, and they themselves are sort of self-serving when they do that. You know, where were they during the fall election?

Where were they last year when the Democrats were making all kinds of mistakes and they were just nothing but cheerleaders for the groupthink that led to Kamala Harris, who was a disaster as a candidate, and for the Democratic Party that was promoting what I would call a cultural revolution? that was extremely unpopular. I don't think it's so much that the Democrats are trying to sound smart all the time, although I think that is that problem. I think the problem is that they are trying to impose on the public a cultural revolution on clean energy, green energy, on DEI, on critical gender, on open borders that the public doesn't want by a factor of 70, 80%. And then when people object to it within the party, Or anywhere else for that matter, they give the moral condescension bit: you're a bad person.

And they call people names, they call people fascists and Hitler. and all that kind of stuff. And I think what people are tired of Is not the self-aggrandizing intellectualism which Democrats suffer from, but I think what they're tired of is the moral condescension. Over Policies is sort of what I call a cultural revolution that the public doesn't want, and that doesn't really withstand. any scrutiny under any kind of empirical uh any kind of empirical test.

So that's the problem. The party has got to you know, people Are diagnosing what's wrong with the party. You and I have talked about this, I think, for two years now. The party has to move to the political center. and they have to rid themselves from this moral superiority and name-calling.

And they're still doing they're doing with Doge right now. You know, they're defending the indefensible on Doge, and then they're calling Musk and they're calling Vance. Hitlerian and Autocrats and all every bad name you can think of. And what I think JD Vance did in Europe with the in Munich was very, very important.

So freedom of speech. Freedom of speech and the Europeans are clamping down on you. You have all of these thought crimes that people are being prosecuted for if you go against. The sort of decrees of the bureaucrats over there. What he said was very, very important.

And the fact that Martha Grannon at CBS. and the others don't understand what he was trying to communicate just shows right You know, for all of the intellectualism of the left, it's pretty anti-intellectual.

So let's move on and talk to what Trump did yesterday. He said, enough with the congestion pricing in New York City. He said, the White House on congestion pricing, long live the king. He says, as Hokka, Hoka says, we'll see you in court. But he essentially says, congestion pricing is dead in Manhattan.

All of New York is saved. Long live the king. And then she came back with this: cut 35. At 1.01 p.m. today.

The New York the U. S. Department of Transportation Emailed us a letter. From Secretary Duffy. announcing their attempt to end the congestion pricing program in the state of New York.

At 1:58 p.m. President Donald Trump. Tweeted Long live the king. Yeah.

I'm here to say York hasn't labored under a king in over 250 years. We are not. We sure as hell are not going to start now. So, your thought about her fighting for the right to charge New Yorkers more to drive. I think she's going to be a little bit more.

Lose a fight. I mean, the one thing you can say about congestion pricing in New York is it has eased congestion. but it is having a big, big hit. On small and medium-sized businesses. And it is you know, it is not popular.

So I think this is again, the one thing the one consistent thread that you see in the first thirty days of the Trump presidency is he's picking the right fights And Democrats are falling for the trap. They're taking the bait. What a smart opposition party does is it doesn't shoot at every target. It figures out which targets are good targets to shoot at and shoots at those. But Democrats are shooting at every single target that Trump Lays out for them.

And on most of the issues, I think including congestion pricing when we get done with the debate. He's going to have the upper hand.

So in California, basically so much of this, the richest areas in the country were burned to the ground. We know about the reservoirs being disabled, being under repair. We know that the mayor was in another country.

So the mayor sat down for a one-on-one with Fox Eleven. And you're not going to believe what she says. She wants to do an investigation on why she was traveling. Cut 39. We know that there was warnings about the weather before you went and you still went.

What was the thought process behind going to Ghana?

So let me just tell you a couple of things. First of all, when the White House called and asked me if I would represent the President, I said yes. It was going to be a very, very short trip. over a weekend and two business days. We need to look at everything about the preparation and all of that for the fires because I think when we evaluate that, we will find that although there were warnings that I frankly wasn't aware of, although there were warnings, I think our preparation wasn't what it typically is.

So does he feel better?

So she went on to say she didn't do an investigation on why she wasn't told about the fires.

So the fire department put out a bunch of statements saying: look at all the bulletins we sent you directly. She says, I was in Ghana, and I want to do an investigation why I'm in Ghana. You can't look at that as leadership. Uh, I mean, you can't look at that and not cringe. I mean this is I mean She has become a cartoon.

from her explanations about why she was in Kana, to her explanations about how they didn't and the governor didn't have warning that this type of thing was very possible. They've had warnings not just this year and last year. They've had warnings for ten years about this. and they haven't done the necessary things to protect the residents in Los Angeles that they needed to. This is a larger problem for Democrats.

It's a problem of Democratic competence. I mean, one of the things about Biden and the Democratic Party in the last four years was that the public didn't believe it was competent. to manage anything. It wasn't competent in foreign affairs. It wasn't competent in the economy.

And it wasn't competent even on things like we had an infrastructure bill passed. They didn't wire a single home. With $42 billion, they didn't wire a single home in three years. They got about 37 charging stations with a $7 billion package in the infrastructure bill. You look at what's happening in all the Um Throughout the country, Democrats haven't been able to build anything.

It's not just me saying this. You see, liberal commentators like Ezra Klein and others. Out there saying that this is just a sort of a continual theme for the Democratic Party. It's so interesting that Elon Musk picked up on this. He said, well, he was sitting next to President Trump, he said, you know, people sign, you're signing these executive orders, and I'm noticing people aren't doing them.

So he said, with my unit, I was following up saying you have to do what he said.

So President Biden thinks he's done because he signed the bill. But he had no follow-up to make sure they were actually building the terminals, connecting rural communities to the internet.

So he's like, why aren't people happier? Because no one's doing what we're paying for.

Well, that's the problem with a Democratic Party: people don't think that they are able to deliver. on basic things Like keeping the residents in Los Angeles safe. building broadband lines. managing the economy. managing what's happening in Israel or Ukraine.

They just don't think it's a party of competence. They think it's a party of the cultural revolution and moral condescension, to come back to our earlier theme. And this is why if you look at the party's approval rate right now, it's thirty one percent. And if you look at the approval rate amongst men, it's twenty percent. And the So until the party gets away from the The moral condescension, the name-calling.

You know, every other day we hear Trump is a fascist, every other day we hear Trump is Hitler. And until they get away from that stuff and start to build, They're going to continue to be in the dumps. I mean, Doge is a perfect example. Right.

I want you to before we go, we're up against the break. I want you to hear what James Carville recommended. We got your recommendation. What about this? This is happening all around the country.

So the question is, how should Democratic politicians respond to this? And what I think they should do is what we call in rural America play possum. Just let it go. Don't get in the way of it.

So, what are your thoughts? Play possum? I think it's too simplistic. I think what the party should be doing is saying, we will work with you, Elon Musk. We will work with you, Donald Trump, on trying to get rid of the bad programs like drag queen story hours and pronouns in Sri Lanka, teaching reporters about pronouns in Sri Lanka.

We will get rid of the bad things and let's work with you to save the good things like feeding starving children in the sedan. And if the Democratic Party went in good faith and said, we will work with you to cut back this bureaucracy in a more meaningful way, I think they could make some progress and restore some public faith in some of these programs. Right now, public faith not just in foreign aid, but institutions in general is down to about thirty percent. Seventy percent of the public thinks our political institutions are broken and in need of major reform.

So Democrats are defending institutions and the worst the most unpopular institutions When they should be talking about rebuilding, they don't do it because most Democrats, the truth is, Brian, have never worked in the private sector. They don't know anything about building. Yeah, there's too many politicians who don't bother. And when the businessmen come in, they get so defensive. Julian Epstein, thanks so much.

Brian, thanks for having me. You got it. When we come back, I see the calls up there. Let me see. Logan, Utah, Missouri, Westchester County, New York, Montreal, West Palm Beach.

We'll get to them all, I hope, by the Brian Kill Me Show. In-depth analysis, insightful commentary, probing questions. What's a furry again? I'll tell you. Thinks they're an animal?

Sure. It's Brian Kilmead. From his mouth to your ears, it's Brian Killmead. Hey, we are back. Just quick announcement coming up.

It's more quicker than you think. March 22nd, I'm going to be in St. Louis at the factory, BrianKilme.com, History of Liberty, and Laughs, BAP opportunities, get like a pre-show preview and get a chance to talk to you about everything that's going on in Trump's 100 days and what you think the future of the Democratic Party is whatever's on your mind is cool. And most of the time, people bring up things like we brought up today on Fox and Friends, and that is, would my wife ever put me on as a emergency contact because I tend to write cryptic text messages and not pick up my phone? And that is off what Travis Kelsey and his brother Jason said about what their wives, wives and girlfriends, said about them.

So we'll see. But I hope to see everyone in person. Also, we have another date in Dayton, Ohio for WHIO listeners. That is going to be great, and we're going to be doing that. Uh June twenty first.

So that'll be great. I look forward to seeing everything at BrianKillMe dot com. Tony, you're in Montreal, Canada. Big hockey game tonight. U.

S. against Canada for it all in Boston. Can you imagine that, Brian, two of the greatest countries on the planet, two of the most uh democratic and Good b basic Lunch bucket people are going to enjoy a hockey fest tonight, maybe commensurate about the 1972 Summit Series or that. Philadelphia brawl that the Flyers had against Dynamo or the Red Army when they wouldn't come out in the third period until they got their lunch money. And the flyers beat them into the ice.

I expect, you know, a lot of people in Canada think the USA is going to win because they have some amazing talent and great goaltending. And I just want to say one thing, Brian. I listened to you about Ukraine. You're bang on about the parameters of who did what to whom. My background is my mother's Ukrainian and my dad's Italian, and we're one generation from that immigration into Canada.

And if you know anything, and I know you're a historian, and I know I follow you. No, most of the people don't know the history of a thousand years that the Russian Navy has been landlocked in the Sea of Azov, the frozen sea.

So they need to get through the Straits of Dardanelle, where Turkey controls the Dardanelles, and they got to get to a warm water port.

Now, that's been a desire since the Tsarist Alexanders and Social Skim Ukraine? And yeah, and they need those warm water ports. Unfortunately, they killed so many people. And the Russian oligarch Putin, he also killed 700,000 of his own people that didn't even know they were going to war. And it's amazing.

It's cousin against cousin because Ukrainian language is the basic language, the genesis language of the Russian language. And I'm a historian also, and I studied Russian history.

So I look forward to these guys getting together. And you have to realize, too, Trump's not going to put up with disrespect. And if Putin doesn't come to the table or starts lying, he's going to get blasted too.

So I don't want to overreact to every single day. The tensions are extremely high, but please don't say Ukraine started it because they didn't. Thanks so much for the call. Just a quick announcement, too. I'm going to be live at the community.

A community located in Community beer.

Okay, that's missing. Why have a commun we don't want to put that in the thing? It's right there. It says we're going to be community beer company in Dallas on next week, on the 26th. If you look at the verbiage, though.

Join us for evening Fox and Friends and Brian Killmead Radio Show at Community. brewery Uh located in Dallas. On the I-35 North Stemmins Freeway and a Commonwealth featuring full kitchen, craft beer and cocktails. Going to have a great night. It's going to be from 6 p.m.

to 8 p.m. local time, and hopefully people will drive into the area of Dallas. If you're not there, anyone listening to the show is welcome. And we appreciate that.

So I hope to see everybody there in person, see everyone in Dayton, and then I'll be saving everyone in St. Louis.

And I'll see everybody Saturday night, Sunday night now at 10 p.m. on One Nation. And amongst our guests this Sunday, Kid Rock, Tom Cotton, David Sachs. It's going to be great. And Chris DiStefano, one of the finest comedians in the country.

What a lineup. Brian Kilmicho. I'm Dana Perino. This week on Perino on Politics, I'm joined by former GOP strategist and host of the Rich Zioli Show, Rich Zioli. Available now on FoxNewsPodcast.com or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

Must listen to podcasts from Fox News Audio. Listen to the show ad-free on Fox News Podcast Plus, on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music with your Prime membership, or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Hmm.