1 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:26,320 Speaker 1: And hello, how are you welcome to the Big Podcast 2 00:00:26,399 --> 00:00:31,280 on this Friday. Today's the eighth day of May, Year 3 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:34,759 of Our Lord, twenty twenty six. My name is Tom Sullivan, 4 00:00:35,079 --> 00:00:39,880 and busy Friday we've got we'll update you on what's 5 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:47,119 going on with the war and CEA Spires, which I'm 6 00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:49,600 scratching my head a lot on some of these topics. 7 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:51,640 We've got the jobs you poured out for the month 8 00:00:51,679 --> 00:00:56,119 of April. We'll go through that. Surprise in Virginia, the 9 00:00:56,280 --> 00:01:00,240 Supreme Court of the State of Virginia, Commonwealth of Virginia, 10 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:06,159 their local supreme court said that the redrawing of the 11 00:01:06,159 --> 00:01:08,319 maps that the people voted on a couple of weeks 12 00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:13,359 ago tossed out unconstitutional what they did. So we'll get 13 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:19,280 through all of that, and tariffs courts ruling again against tariffs. 14 00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:25,000 So let's oh, and billionaires, those nasty billionaires. AOC does 15 00:01:25,079 --> 00:01:26,879 not like them. But we'll get into all of that 16 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:30,040 as we go along. So we start with the war. 17 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:36,680 And the folks over at the Hill have a very 18 00:01:36,719 --> 00:01:39,359 interesting article today, and I thought I thought for a 19 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:42,560 while there recently I've been you know, I'm sure there's 20 00:01:42,599 --> 00:01:44,599 a lot of you that think I'm just an anti 21 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:50,840 Trump guy because I'm not I'm not understanding him. He 22 00:01:51,359 --> 00:01:55,079 doesn't well, he said, he doesn't like forever wars. He 23 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:58,040 doesn't seem like he's interested in war. But the headline 24 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:00,560 of the article in The Hill said, has trued lost 25 00:02:00,599 --> 00:02:04,319 his appetite for war? And this is what I've been asking, 26 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:10,080 because he keeps extending cease fires and then threatening, Oh man, 27 00:02:10,159 --> 00:02:12,639 he loves to talk tough and all threatening, we're gonna 28 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:17,680 bumb you to and then doesn't do anything. So the 29 00:02:17,759 --> 00:02:21,599 article on the Hill says President Trump's latest pushed for 30 00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:27,240 a relatively narrow peace deal has supporters and critics asking 31 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:32,599 if he's really prepared to resume major military operations, and 32 00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:35,719 that it's obvious to me that he doesn't want to. 33 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:38,879 He does not want to use the military to go 34 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:41,759 in and finish the job. They said it would take 35 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:45,000 them four to six weeks, and he stopped their effort 36 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:48,520 at the beginning of the fourth week, so there's still 37 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:53,639 military targets for them to go to. I was so 38 00:02:53,719 --> 00:02:56,319 I got some consolation in the fact that the Hill 39 00:02:56,400 --> 00:03:00,319 is even saying this, has he lost his appetite for war? 40 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:02,759 Did he start something that he wants out of I 41 00:03:02,759 --> 00:03:04,960 think he does. I think he wants out of this 42 00:03:05,039 --> 00:03:09,000 in the worst way. But he's in a pickle because 43 00:03:09,039 --> 00:03:13,520 he can't just walk away. I mean, what would what 44 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:18,479 would Saudi Arabia and UAE and Bahrain and all the 45 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:23,759 other neighbors in the Middle East. No, you can't do that. 46 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:30,360 And the other question is if this regime isn't taken out, 47 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:34,360 then the next president or the president after that or 48 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:37,599 the president after that, they're going to rebuild their nuclear 49 00:03:37,759 --> 00:03:43,879 system because they're fanatics, and if we don't stop them. 50 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:47,479 Now nobody has And that's why I was very proud 51 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:49,680 of President Trump stepping up and saying, all right, we're 52 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:52,759 going to finish this. We're going to stop them. Everybody 53 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:55,319 has said all the way back to Bill Clinton, you 54 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:56,919 know that we're not going to allow them to have 55 00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:00,360 a nuclear weapon, but nobody's done anything until President drump 56 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:04,159 and so I go, hey, hooray. I've been very supportive 57 00:04:04,199 --> 00:04:07,800 of when he went to war with Iran, but all 58 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:10,319 of a sudden, it looks like he's getting weak feet. 59 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:12,879 I don't know what to make of a guy Benson, 60 00:04:12,879 --> 00:04:15,599 an old friend of mine who works at Fox. He 61 00:04:15,759 --> 00:04:20,279 was even asked about it today. 62 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:21,519 Speaker 2: And we've never been dealing with a rational actor in 63 00:04:21,519 --> 00:04:24,759 the Iranian regime, and despite the decapitation at the top 64 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:28,040 of the regime, next man up level has been seemingly 65 00:04:28,519 --> 00:04:32,759 equally intractable and deranged. I mean, it's sort of confusing, 66 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:34,839 I think for a lot of Americans to see not 67 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:39,199 just the blockade continuing, but earlier in the United States, 68 00:04:39,199 --> 00:04:43,959 this was yesterday quote responded with self defense strikes against 69 00:04:43,959 --> 00:04:49,160 Iranian targets after they attacked our ships. So technically they're 70 00:04:49,199 --> 00:04:52,040 calling this the ceasefire still underway, but it doesn't really 71 00:04:52,319 --> 00:04:56,000 feel that way. And unless this regime out of nowhere 72 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:59,319 decides okay, we will agree to all of these crucial 73 00:04:59,319 --> 00:05:01,879 demands from the Unit United States, I would not be 74 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:06,279 surprised if we see a reignition of Operation Epic Fury, 75 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:07,600 at least on some level here. 76 00:05:07,879 --> 00:05:10,759 Speaker 1: Me too, I've been thinking that that's what he's going 77 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:12,480 to do. He's going to go back, because you've got 78 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:14,439 to finish him off. You've got to finish the job. 79 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:17,199 You can't walk away. You have to finish the job. 80 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:20,319 And it looks like he stopped and he doesn't know 81 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:23,560 what to do. But what Guy was referring to, was 82 00:05:23,639 --> 00:05:28,319 that both the US and Iran were creating fire. In 83 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:31,560 the last twenty four hours over the Strait of Removes, 84 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:35,480 Iran fired on three of our destroyers. If it wasn't 85 00:05:35,519 --> 00:05:38,639 for our anti missile defenses and things, so we would 86 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:42,000 have had some dead sailors. But they did not. They 87 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:46,360 were not able to damage one of our destroyers. And 88 00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:49,959 so is the cease fire. It doesn't. I'm with Guy, 89 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:53,040 It doesn't feel like a ceasefire to me. And so 90 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:59,360 what we did was we disabled two Iranian oil tankers 91 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:02,240 that were trying to run through the blockade, and then 92 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:04,639 when they fired on our ships, we fired at some 93 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:09,120 of their launching sites along the coast of Iran. So, 94 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:14,240 and the UAE has also seen missiles coming in from Iran. 95 00:06:14,879 --> 00:06:18,519 So this doesn't feel like a ceasefire to me either. 96 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:21,319 This is what the President said about it, which is 97 00:06:21,399 --> 00:06:22,560 also a HITD scratcher. 98 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:27,360 Speaker 3: They trifled with us today we blew them away. They trifled. 99 00:06:27,399 --> 00:06:29,519 I call that a trifle. I'll let you know, when 100 00:06:29,519 --> 00:06:32,240 there's no seats, you won't have to know. If there's 101 00:06:32,319 --> 00:06:34,279 no ceasefire, you're not gonna have to know. You're just 102 00:06:34,319 --> 00:06:37,040 gonna have to look at one big glow coming out 103 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:39,959 of Iran, and they better sign their agreement fast. 104 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:42,839 Speaker 1: Again, really tough talk. There's going to be a glow 105 00:06:42,959 --> 00:06:46,120 coming out if there's no if the ceasefire ends, and 106 00:06:46,279 --> 00:06:51,160 we trifled with them, we fired missiles into their three 107 00:06:51,199 --> 00:06:55,399 different bases that they have. I this doesn't feel like 108 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:59,720 a ceasefire in any way, shape or form. I don't 109 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:02,720 know what you think about it, but I find this 110 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:05,879 very very confusing. And he also talked about the fact 111 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:09,600 they better sign their agreement very fast. He keeps talking 112 00:07:09,639 --> 00:07:14,600 about they've agreed to all these things, and I'm thinking 113 00:07:15,199 --> 00:07:18,680 that's something that he again into that world of his 114 00:07:19,199 --> 00:07:22,319 where he wishes that they had signed an agreement. Here's 115 00:07:22,439 --> 00:07:27,920 more from the president. It's the one page offer. Well, 116 00:07:27,959 --> 00:07:29,279 it's more than a one page offer. 117 00:07:29,319 --> 00:07:32,199 Speaker 4: It's an offer that basically said they will not have 118 00:07:32,319 --> 00:07:34,279 no clear weapons. They're going to hand us the new 119 00:07:34,319 --> 00:07:39,600 clear dust and many other things that we want. Yeah, 120 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:42,720 when they agree, it doesn't mean much because the next 121 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:46,160 day they forget. They forgot they agree, and you know, 122 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:48,040 we're dealing with different sets of leaders. 123 00:07:48,199 --> 00:07:50,399 Speaker 5: How often you say that you are to deal right 124 00:07:50,439 --> 00:07:51,319 now with a lot. 125 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:52,839 Speaker 6: Could happen any day. 126 00:07:53,319 --> 00:07:55,879 Speaker 3: Could and it might not happen, but it could happen 127 00:07:55,959 --> 00:07:56,439 any day. 128 00:07:56,839 --> 00:07:59,720 Speaker 1: I believe they want to deal more than I do. Yeah, 129 00:08:00,079 --> 00:08:02,399 sure about that. I think he wants a deal more 130 00:08:02,399 --> 00:08:04,879 than they do. I think they're hunkered in and they're 131 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:08,920 just waiting. Going to Americans will not fulfill the rest 132 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:10,879 of the work that they said they were going to do. 133 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:13,600 And so he talked about all the things that they've 134 00:08:13,639 --> 00:08:16,160 agreed to, but they haven't said that they've agreed to that. 135 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:19,040 The President's the only one who says they've agreed to this. 136 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:22,480 They've agreed to that, and they better sign it real fast. 137 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:26,519 And I'm going they need to agree to their agreement. Well, 138 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:30,000 if they've already had an agreement, what see this? It 139 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:32,279 just goes in circles and doesn't make any sense to me. 140 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:36,639 All Right, let's get down to some analysts behind all 141 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:41,039 of this. How about Michael Allen, former national security guy. 142 00:08:41,399 --> 00:08:43,360 Speaker 7: Well, I think they'll get back to us, but I'm 143 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:46,639 not sure that we should expect that it will reflect 144 00:08:46,679 --> 00:08:50,039 the kind of concessions, the kind of compromises that President 145 00:08:50,039 --> 00:08:54,080 Trump says he needs. I think President Trump's blockade of 146 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:57,159 Iranian ports is the right thing to do, but it 147 00:08:57,200 --> 00:09:00,279 has a shorter it has a longer fuse. It's a 148 00:09:00,399 --> 00:09:03,559 slow burn, and I think what the President ought to 149 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:07,120 do is resume what he was doing Monday, which is 150 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:11,879 helping by way of the US military commercial vessels to 151 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:15,600 get through the Strait of Hormuz. It will be costly, 152 00:09:15,679 --> 00:09:18,960 it won't be costless anyway, and it is more risky, 153 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:23,200 but it is the most direct way to negate the 154 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:27,279 power that Iran has over us right now by way 155 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:31,240 of being able to threaten and dominate this international passage 156 00:09:31,279 --> 00:09:34,440 way of commerce and oil. So I think we've got 157 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:37,120 to go back to that what we did earlier this 158 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:39,120 week and break the straight open. 159 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:42,879 Speaker 1: He's talking about Project Freedom. It lasted less than forty 160 00:09:42,919 --> 00:09:47,360 eight hours. Why did the President stop Project Freedom? He 161 00:09:47,399 --> 00:09:50,039 announced it on one day and two days later he 162 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:54,440 said it's over. See. This is the most confusioned in 163 00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:58,639 the history of warfare. This one's a doozy. It's not 164 00:09:58,759 --> 00:10:03,360 like any other conflict. Ever, how about let's check in 165 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:06,080 with Brian Hook He used the State Department guy, former 166 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:06,960 State Department guy. 167 00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:10,039 Speaker 8: Well, it seems like Iran is testing the limits of 168 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:14,399 this ceasefire, and President Trump, I think is showing a 169 00:10:14,519 --> 00:10:19,840 discipline deterrence. He is made very clear that if Iran, 170 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:23,200 like Secretary Rubio just said, if Iran is going to 171 00:10:23,200 --> 00:10:26,320 be firing on the US, there is going to be 172 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:30,679 a price to pay. And so I think that's the dynamic. 173 00:10:30,799 --> 00:10:36,279 While we await the Iranian regime's response to the Pakistan diplomacy, 174 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:40,600 what I think the President is doing is again building 175 00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:44,159 up the economic and military deterrence that's going to be 176 00:10:44,279 --> 00:10:47,000 required to get the kind of a deal that ends 177 00:10:47,039 --> 00:10:51,279 Iran's nuclear program, takes care of the highly enriched uranium 178 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:54,440 in the country, and gets the Strait of Hormuz open 179 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:58,840 without the Iranian regime running the Tehran tollbooth that would 180 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:01,600 net them a hundred twenty five million dollars a day. 181 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:05,799 So this is going to be very difficult diplomacy. This 182 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:09,399 was never going to be easy given this regime. What 183 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:11,159 I would just say is that if this is how 184 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:15,919 the Iranian regime behaves without a nuclear weapon, it's an 185 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:18,000 entirely different world if they were to have one. 186 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:19,919 Speaker 1: No, he is a State Department guy, and he's in 187 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:23,000 the diplomacy and all that. We're not talking about diplomacy. 188 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:26,039 I mean, he's talking about diplomacy, but you can't talk 189 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:28,799 about you can't use the word diplomacy in the same 190 00:11:28,919 --> 00:11:34,120 paragraph with the regime in Tehran. They're not into diplomacy, 191 00:11:34,799 --> 00:11:39,799 not at all. And are they testing President Trump, Yes, 192 00:11:40,159 --> 00:11:43,120 of course, but they're hunkered down and waiting to see. 193 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:45,759 They don't care what he does. They don't care what 194 00:11:45,799 --> 00:11:48,679 he does. We're going to have to and he well, 195 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:50,200 at least Brian Hook said they're going to have to 196 00:11:50,279 --> 00:11:54,919 use economic and military I don't know what the word 197 00:11:54,960 --> 00:11:58,720 he use, procedures, so he did talk about using the military. 198 00:11:59,279 --> 00:12:01,000 The military's going to have to go in and take 199 00:12:01,039 --> 00:12:05,480 the regime out. It's nothing. Anything short of that is 200 00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:10,039 a loss, total loss. It has a little bit of 201 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:14,879 a Vietnam deja vu effect that the politicians in Washington 202 00:12:14,919 --> 00:12:17,559 are calling your shots on the war rather than turning 203 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:20,159 it over to the military and let them go in 204 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:24,679 and win. But they did not do that. In Lyndon 205 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:27,720 Johnson was controlling what the army could do in Vietnam, 206 00:12:27,759 --> 00:12:30,519 and now we've got Donald Trump controlling what we will 207 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:33,000 or will not do regarding the military. I mean, he's 208 00:12:33,039 --> 00:12:35,679 the commander in chief, I get that, but if you're 209 00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:38,879 going to go to war, use them. And Brian Hook 210 00:12:38,919 --> 00:12:43,240 mentioned Rubio. Marco Rubio is still in Italy and he 211 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:46,200 was asked about the fact that we were firing on 212 00:12:46,279 --> 00:12:48,720 them and they're firing on us. This is his response. 213 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:50,639 Speaker 9: Of course, we fired back at them. They were shooting 214 00:12:50,639 --> 00:12:52,960 at us. That's what I would expect to do. Only 215 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:55,279 stupid countries don't shoot back when you're shot at, and 216 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:57,600 we're not a stupid country. They threaten Americans, they're going 217 00:12:57,639 --> 00:13:00,000 to get blown up. I mean, that's how much clear 218 00:13:00,159 --> 00:13:00,759 can you be then that? 219 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:05,039 Speaker 1: Yeah, Rubillo is very straightforward. They're going to if they 220 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:07,559 shoot it you, you shoot back at him, no question about it. 221 00:13:08,519 --> 00:13:12,639 Stedrick Lytton, the retired colonel, the big consultant on Middle 222 00:13:12,679 --> 00:13:15,000 East military affairs, this is his view. 223 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:18,679 Speaker 10: I think it is jocking for diplomatic advantage, and that's 224 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:22,480 basically what's going on here. The Iranians are, of course 225 00:13:22,559 --> 00:13:26,879 masters of delay, masters of continuing discussions without any result. 226 00:13:27,519 --> 00:13:30,080 So what we may be seeing here is, in spite 227 00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:34,320 of the efforts by the US administration, the Iranians are 228 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:38,320 in essence drawing things out. They're taking their time examining 229 00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:41,960 the US proposal, and they may or may not be 230 00:13:42,039 --> 00:13:45,919 delivering their response today. As Secretary Rubio mentioned, So one 231 00:13:45,919 --> 00:13:48,240 of the key things here, you know what happens during 232 00:13:48,279 --> 00:13:51,759 this period and if there are any provocations, how does 233 00:13:51,799 --> 00:13:53,879 either side react to those provocations? 234 00:13:54,519 --> 00:14:01,759 Speaker 1: Well, he said, we trifled with them. Again, make that 235 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:06,399 out of however you want. Nick Robertson, he is in 236 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:11,879 Islamabad trying to keep one eye on the Pakistani people 237 00:14:11,919 --> 00:14:14,159 that are trying to work some deal out. Again, I 238 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:16,919 think this whole thing about diplomacy is a waste of time. 239 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:20,600 The people in Iran are not going to do diplomatic 240 00:14:20,679 --> 00:14:23,440 anything other than just use it to string out the war. 241 00:14:23,879 --> 00:14:24,919 Here's Nick Robertson. 242 00:14:25,879 --> 00:14:28,440 Speaker 6: Yeah, And the reality here seems to be that Iran 243 00:14:28,559 --> 00:14:30,399 does seem to think that it can weigh this out 244 00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:33,600 that sort of TikTok of how quickly things have gone. 245 00:14:33,639 --> 00:14:36,480 They've really slowed down the pace of talks and diplomacy. 246 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:39,240 At the moment, the Iranians are suggesting that the United 247 00:14:39,279 --> 00:14:42,240 States always does something just when there's diplomacy is on 248 00:14:42,279 --> 00:14:45,720 the table, either under pressure or just a bad move. 249 00:14:46,039 --> 00:14:49,320 But I think the picture at the moment is Iran 250 00:14:49,519 --> 00:14:52,480 is not moving quickly. Part of that may have to 251 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:54,679 do with what we heard from President Trump. There some 252 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:56,360 of those things that is saying that need to be 253 00:14:56,399 --> 00:14:59,120 in their response. They're already saying they're not going to 254 00:14:59,159 --> 00:15:02,200 do hand over the the highly enriched uranium, the nuclear does, 255 00:15:02,519 --> 00:15:05,679 stop that nuclear ritiment towards the balm. These are things 256 00:15:05,679 --> 00:15:08,120 that they're refusing to commit to. This may be why 257 00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:09,080 it's going so slowly. 258 00:15:09,639 --> 00:15:12,559 Speaker 1: Right, did you hear what Nick Robertson said. They refuse 259 00:15:12,639 --> 00:15:16,879 to hand over the nuclear enriched uranium, they refuse to 260 00:15:16,919 --> 00:15:20,559 get out of the nuclear business, and they refuse all 261 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:23,440 those things which the President thinks that they've agreed to. 262 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:28,840 So either Nick Robertson is wrong or the president is wrong. 263 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:34,000 Which one do you think President thinks they've agreed to 264 00:15:34,039 --> 00:15:37,639 give out, give up all of their nuclear ambitions and 265 00:15:37,679 --> 00:15:42,159 also turn over the enriched uranium. Robertson says they haven't 266 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:44,840 agreed to that. In fact, they're fighting it tooth and nail. 267 00:15:45,679 --> 00:15:48,519 So on top of all of this, we find out 268 00:15:48,559 --> 00:15:56,519 this afternoon that Russia is now helping Iran in their 269 00:15:56,519 --> 00:16:02,159 military efforts toward US. Russia is apparently sending drones five 270 00:16:02,639 --> 00:16:08,000 thousand of them, and also some training that goes with 271 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:12,759 operating the drones. But the drones, they're fiber optic drones 272 00:16:13,039 --> 00:16:16,679 rather than radio controlled dones drones, and the reason for 273 00:16:16,759 --> 00:16:22,200 that is because the radio controlled drones we can intercept. 274 00:16:22,279 --> 00:16:25,799 We use their radio signals to intercept them. The fiber 275 00:16:25,879 --> 00:16:30,279 optic drones there is no radio signal. So there's five 276 00:16:30,399 --> 00:16:35,200 thousand of those. Plus they're sending long range drones an 277 00:16:35,279 --> 00:16:39,879 unknown number of those. So Dan Hoffmann, former station chief 278 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:43,399 in Moscow for the CIA, reacts, well, there are a 279 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:44,919 lot of unanswered questions. 280 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:48,000 Speaker 11: It's a report that the economists obtained, we don't know 281 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:51,600 from whom or when, and it's purported to be an 282 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:56,120 intelligence report from Russia's military intelligence. The gru about how 283 00:16:56,200 --> 00:17:00,279 Russia would support Iran by providing them with drone owes 284 00:17:00,879 --> 00:17:04,160 that we would be unable to jam. So Russians are 285 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:06,799 trying to have been using those in Ukraine to great effect, 286 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:09,559 and that would create problems for US if they're not 287 00:17:09,599 --> 00:17:11,759 giving out radio signals that we might be able to 288 00:17:11,839 --> 00:17:15,920 jam that and tactical intelligence would enhance Iran's war effort 289 00:17:16,039 --> 00:17:20,160 against US. Now, the report indicated the time the economists 290 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:22,599 indicated that the report might have been obtained around the 291 00:17:22,599 --> 00:17:27,920 time that the Trump administration was contemplating mounting a ground 292 00:17:27,960 --> 00:17:31,359 incursion of card Island, and so the Russian response may 293 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:34,759 have been designed to counter that sort. 294 00:17:34,559 --> 00:17:36,960 Speaker 1: Of an attack by the Trump administration. 295 00:17:37,039 --> 00:17:39,400 Speaker 11: But look, in spite of what we don't know about 296 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:43,119 this report, it's absolutely consistent with the way Vladimir Putin 297 00:17:43,119 --> 00:17:46,279 would behave towards the United States in the Middle East. 298 00:17:46,319 --> 00:17:49,720 We saw it in Afghanistan, where Russia provided material support 299 00:17:49,759 --> 00:17:52,720 to the Taliban to help their effort against US. 300 00:17:53,039 --> 00:17:56,640 Speaker 1: So apparently no surprise from people like Dan Hoffman who 301 00:17:56,759 --> 00:17:59,400 keep an eye on things in the CIA. 302 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:03,200 Speaker 11: I think we've already been factoring this into our strategy. Look, 303 00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:06,599 the Russians have been unable to deter the United States 304 00:18:06,839 --> 00:18:10,880 from launching the attacks on Iran. Russia was unable to 305 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:14,839 do anything when their ally, Bashar al Assad was toppled 306 00:18:14,839 --> 00:18:17,599 from power. He's now living in Moscow. I'm quite sure 307 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:20,160 that the Iranians have been asking the Russians for help, 308 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:23,880 and I'm sure we're detecting that, collecting on that through 309 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:30,039 our intelligence sources from CIA and other agencies. So I 310 00:18:30,039 --> 00:18:32,119 don't think This would be much of a surprise to 311 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:36,279 Director Ratcliffe as well as President Trump. And as far 312 00:18:36,279 --> 00:18:39,680 as how we counteract this, I think we need to 313 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:42,599 be prepared for it, and perhaps we may seek to 314 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:47,680 interdict any shipments from Russia and carry on with our 315 00:18:47,759 --> 00:18:53,319 policy means denying Iran any nuclear enrichment, staying with our 316 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:56,079 strategic objectives. I don't think that these drones are a 317 00:18:56,079 --> 00:18:59,799 game breaker. We have the military capability to deal with them. 318 00:19:00,079 --> 00:19:01,559 Speaker 1: This is one of the problems is that when you 319 00:19:01,599 --> 00:19:03,880 start a war, you don't know what's going to happen. 320 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:07,079 And now Russia is very much involved. And next week, 321 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:10,799 by next Friday, the President will be in Beijing. All 322 00:19:10,839 --> 00:19:13,960 eyes will be on the capital of China. President's going 323 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:17,720 to meet with President She and today the President was 324 00:19:17,759 --> 00:19:19,359 asked about that meeting. 325 00:19:19,839 --> 00:19:23,359 Speaker 12: Mister President, is your trip with China's still going ahead? 326 00:19:23,559 --> 00:19:24,680 Speaker 1: Which companies you are? 327 00:19:25,039 --> 00:19:27,839 Speaker 13: You have a very good relationship with President She. We've 328 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:30,400 had a great economic time. China has been great for 329 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:35,119 us economically, but not for other presidents. But we've done 330 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:37,599 very well with China. We're going to have a meeting 331 00:19:37,759 --> 00:19:41,240 with President She is going to be I think quite amazing. 332 00:19:41,559 --> 00:19:44,240 Speaker 1: So you can find how great the economy has been 333 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:48,279 with China. However you want. The trade deficit with China 334 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:52,440 is lower than it used to be. Used to run 335 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:55,000 into three hundred million a year that they bought more 336 00:19:55,079 --> 00:19:57,400 of We bought more of their stuff than they bought 337 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:00,839 of ours. It's now running. Last year it was two 338 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:03,799 hundred and two million, and it's running about the same 339 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:07,920 this year. So the trade deficit is still heavily in 340 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:12,960 favor of China. We still buy a lot more goods 341 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:16,559 from them and versus what they buy from us, but 342 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:21,640 it's better than it was earlier before Trump two point zero. 343 00:20:22,039 --> 00:20:27,839 And in political news today, the Virginia Supreme Court. Remember 344 00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:29,519 it was just a few weeks ago that the people 345 00:20:29,599 --> 00:20:33,599 of Virginia voted on their new map and they voted 346 00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:37,319 in favor. It was pretty close, but they voted in favor. 347 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:45,119 They have eleven congressional districts in Virginia. It was six Democrat, 348 00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:52,920 five Republican. With the new map it's ten Democrat, one Republican. 349 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:58,279 So it's really changed Virginia into mostly a very Democrat state. 350 00:20:58,359 --> 00:21:02,039 Even to the state the voters are mixed, but the 351 00:21:02,079 --> 00:21:06,359 congressional representation according to the new map would be heavily 352 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:10,640 skewed to Democrat. Well, went to the court, and the 353 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,359 court and some of the Republicans appealed and went to 354 00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:16,799 the court, and then they kicked it up to the 355 00:21:16,839 --> 00:21:20,759 State Supreme Court, and the State Supreme Court today ruled 356 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:25,839 that the redrawing of the map was unconstitutional. They tossed 357 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:30,880 it out, so it's back to six Democrats five Republicans. 358 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:35,200 Shannon Bream, who is a lawyer and lives in Virginia. 359 00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:38,759 Speaker 14: Explain, it sounds like it because this was an issue 360 00:21:38,799 --> 00:21:41,920 of the Virginia Constitution. It was a state law issue, 361 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:44,839 and critics of this referendum have said from the beginning 362 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:47,839 that Democrats were on thin ice because they did not 363 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:51,680 follow procedures as outlined by state law and state constitution. 364 00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:54,119 And what the court ended up saying here is that 365 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:58,599 violation irreparably undermined the integrity of the entire voting referendum, 366 00:21:58,759 --> 00:22:01,519 so it makes it null and void. And for that reason, 367 00:22:01,519 --> 00:22:04,079 they say the congressional district maps issued by the court 368 00:22:04,079 --> 00:22:06,240 in twenty twenty one, the old maps are the ones 369 00:22:06,279 --> 00:22:09,079 that they've got to use for the upcoming congressional election. Now, 370 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:12,079 this was a state matter, of Virginia's Supreme Court, the 371 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:15,519 highest court in that state. It's a commonwealthfill remind you 372 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:18,599 made this decision. Now, it's not out of the realm 373 00:22:18,599 --> 00:22:22,680 of possibility that challengers to this decision would try to 374 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:25,000 find some federal hook for it, to try to get 375 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:26,599 to the Supreme Court to say that there is some 376 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:30,640 US constitutional violation in the way that this ruling was made. 377 00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:34,039 It's a very tough ask, but I wouldn't be surprised 378 00:22:34,039 --> 00:22:35,400 if they try to do it, because what have you 379 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:36,400 got to lose at this point. 380 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:38,960 Speaker 1: It's a far reach. So it looks like the Virginia 381 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:41,440 map will go back to the one that they've been using. 382 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:46,440 Six republic six Democrats, five Republicans, and they're going to 383 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:48,960 have to go back and foddle the procedures that's outlined 384 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:54,559 in the Virginia Constitution. So this whole redistricting mess is 385 00:22:56,119 --> 00:22:59,279 just keeps getting messeries as we go along. And speaking 386 00:22:59,319 --> 00:23:04,359 of courts, the tariffs, remember the Supreme Court said to 387 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:08,400 the President back in February that his tariffs he was 388 00:23:09,039 --> 00:23:12,160 he was not allowed to do that. It's up to 389 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:16,440 the Congress, not to the executive. The president cannot issue 390 00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:19,519 the tariffs the way he did, so they tossed those 391 00:23:19,559 --> 00:23:21,720 out and they're in the middle of trying to figure 392 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:25,440 out how to do the rebates on especially the big 393 00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:28,759 companies that have paid millions, tens of millions of about hundreds 394 00:23:28,799 --> 00:23:33,920 of millions of dollars in tariffs. So there's They came 395 00:23:34,039 --> 00:23:36,200 up with another idea at the White House where they 396 00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:39,720 would come up with different types of tariffs and the 397 00:23:39,759 --> 00:23:44,880 Trade Court, which handles tariff matters. They threw that out yesterday. 398 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:50,519 These are the ten percent tariffs that the White House 399 00:23:50,599 --> 00:23:55,160 came up with to kind of replace the Liberation Day 400 00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:58,000 tariffs which were thrown out by the Supreme Court. So 401 00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:02,039 this was they invoked Section one two of the Trade Act, 402 00:24:02,799 --> 00:24:05,920 which allows the President to impose tariffs for up to 403 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:09,319 one hundred and fifty days to address large and serious 404 00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:14,200 balance of payment deficits. Well, the Trade Court found that 405 00:24:14,279 --> 00:24:17,640 the President wrongly invoked the law, further scaling back his 406 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:22,319 ability to carry out his trade policies. So this gets 407 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:25,559 a little awkward because the President has already said to 408 00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:29,160 the European Union that they have a deadline of July 409 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:33,440 fourth to comply with the trade deal that he imposed 410 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:37,359 on them. And now the courts have said you can't 411 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:42,839 do that. So now we wait and see what the 412 00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:44,960 White House is going to come up with next on 413 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:49,759 their trade policy, or more rightly, their their tariff policy, 414 00:24:50,039 --> 00:24:53,359 because they've tried twice and both times have been thrown out. 415 00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:59,160 So today Moody's chief economist came out and said that 416 00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:03,519 the tariffs had done significant damage to the US economy, 417 00:25:04,079 --> 00:25:06,000 been more than a year's worth of data that they 418 00:25:06,039 --> 00:25:11,039 went over since Liberation Day, and according to the chief 419 00:25:11,079 --> 00:25:15,000 economists that Moody's quoting, since that day, job growth has 420 00:25:15,039 --> 00:25:18,839 come to a standstill, with only the non traded healthcare 421 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:24,279 industry adding meaningfully. Also, since that day, inflation has accelerated. 422 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:28,599 Then Bank of America's chief economists came out and said, 423 00:25:28,599 --> 00:25:32,680 supply shocks are inflationary because they shift the supply curve 424 00:25:33,079 --> 00:25:38,559 upward and consumers respond by spending less in real terms 425 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:44,279 and saving less. So this is getting blasted by the 426 00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:47,440 tariff policy is being blasted by Bank of America and 427 00:25:47,519 --> 00:25:52,200 also by Moody's, the chief economists in both operations. And 428 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:57,000 while we're talking about the economy, gas prices today triple a. Hey, 429 00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:03,839 go ahead, news, I guess gas prices went down. What 430 00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:08,119 was it? It was it's four dollars and fifty five cents. 431 00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:11,640 Today it was four dollars and fifty six cents, down 432 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:16,440 a penny on the average price according to the cheap stuff. 433 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:20,559 According to Triple A, even for you truckers and farmers, 434 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:24,160 diesel prices went down a penny to five dollars and 435 00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:29,559 sixty six cents. So still exceedingly expensive, but first time 436 00:26:29,599 --> 00:26:32,039 in a long time I've seen it actually drop. And 437 00:26:32,079 --> 00:26:37,200 then there's this. AOC was on a podcast being interviewed, 438 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:41,680 and the person that was interviewing her went right along 439 00:26:41,799 --> 00:26:47,000 agreed with their billionaires. They're terrible people, they are. I'll 440 00:26:47,079 --> 00:26:51,039 let her explain how terrible billionaires are. You can't earn 441 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:53,279 a billion dollars. 442 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:57,599 Speaker 14: That's right, You just can't earn that. That's exactly correct. 443 00:26:57,759 --> 00:27:04,160 Speaker 12: You can, you can get market power, you can break rules, 444 00:27:04,279 --> 00:27:07,119 you can do all sorts of things, you can abuse 445 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:10,599 labor laws, you can pay people less than what they're worth. 446 00:27:11,079 --> 00:27:14,960 But you can't earn that, right, and so you have 447 00:27:15,039 --> 00:27:20,720 to create a myth that, since you didn't earn that, 448 00:27:20,799 --> 00:27:22,960 you have to create a myth of earning it. 449 00:27:23,799 --> 00:27:26,960 Speaker 1: Wow, that's really it. Shows where her mind is. And 450 00:27:27,759 --> 00:27:30,400 it's very easy to refute because when you say you 451 00:27:30,559 --> 00:27:33,119 can't earn a billion dollars, well, just yesterday we were 452 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:37,519 talking about Ted Turner, the late Ted Turner, and Ted 453 00:27:37,599 --> 00:27:42,960 Turner a big liberal guy his whole life devoted very 454 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:46,440 proud liberal. He wasn't wishy washy about it, but he 455 00:27:46,599 --> 00:27:50,920 worked his tail off and he started with a on 456 00:27:51,039 --> 00:27:55,759 a billboard company and went to bought the Atlanta Braves 457 00:27:55,799 --> 00:27:59,880 and bought the a little television station in Atlanta, and 458 00:28:00,079 --> 00:28:03,240 then figured out how to connect it to satellites and 459 00:28:03,319 --> 00:28:07,480 presto changer. The next thing you know, he created twenty 460 00:28:07,519 --> 00:28:10,839 four to seven news channel, the first one, created something 461 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:14,759 that never existed before, and then many years later he 462 00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:19,079 sold it for eight billion dollars to Time Warner. So 463 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:22,559 he was very much a billionaire. And I don't know, 464 00:28:22,599 --> 00:28:25,799 maybe AOC would disagree with you, but I think he 465 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:30,279 earned that eight billion. He put hard, sweat and blood 466 00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:37,519 into creating CNN, and when he got older, he sold 467 00:28:37,559 --> 00:28:40,240 it and made eight billion dollars, So I think he 468 00:28:40,319 --> 00:28:44,000 did earn it. I'll tell you somebody else who's a 469 00:28:44,039 --> 00:28:51,039 big lefty who earned her money. She has worked her 470 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:55,480 tail off as well. I'm talking about Oprah Winfrey. Oprah 471 00:28:55,640 --> 00:29:00,240 is smart as a whip. She created was as a 472 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:05,160 television host in Baltimore, and she built that into the 473 00:29:05,279 --> 00:29:08,559 enterprise that she has and it just it just took off. 474 00:29:08,599 --> 00:29:11,039 And all the products everything else that she does. She's 475 00:29:11,079 --> 00:29:16,440 extremely smart. I think she earned her billions. She's a billionaire. 476 00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:20,880 I mean, I look at I don't know. I mean, 477 00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:24,960 you could say JB. Pritzker, the governor of Illinois. He 478 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:29,960 part of the Pritzker family, which which owns the Hyatt 479 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:37,319 hotel chain. Maybe he inherited his I'm not sure. George Sorows, 480 00:29:37,359 --> 00:29:38,440 good old George. 481 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:39,519 Speaker 6: He was a. 482 00:29:41,359 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 1: Hedge fund manager and was really good at it. He 483 00:29:46,599 --> 00:29:52,519 specialized in trading currencies, and he was right a lot 484 00:29:52,559 --> 00:29:56,759 more than he was wrong. Had made billions. I think 485 00:29:56,839 --> 00:30:02,799 George Soros earned his billions. Tom Steyer, another hedge fund manager, 486 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:07,160 the guy, the crazy guy running for governor in California, 487 00:30:08,279 --> 00:30:11,200 hedge fund manager. I think I think Tom Steyer earned 488 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:15,640 his billions. I mean Bill Bill and Melinda Gates. Bill 489 00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:18,480 had He came from a well to do family. His 490 00:30:18,559 --> 00:30:22,960 dad was a lawyer in Seattle, but he started on 491 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:28,240 his own. He created Microsoft on his own from scratch. 492 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:32,680 I mean he bought a little company in Albuquerque that 493 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:36,559 was doing nothing and wound up building it into Microsoft. 494 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:40,359 I think he's earned his money. I mean, I could 495 00:30:40,359 --> 00:30:45,279 go on, but these are people that I don't understand 496 00:30:45,279 --> 00:30:49,000 what she's talking about. I don't think Carl Rove does either. Well, 497 00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:50,759 there are a couple of things, sir. First of all, yes, 498 00:30:50,839 --> 00:30:51,160 you can. 499 00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:54,880 Speaker 5: You can come up with a new idea like let's 500 00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:57,960 make a computing power and put it in the power 501 00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:00,960 of the individual, rather than having to go to a big, 502 00:31:01,079 --> 00:31:05,039 gigantic computer company like IBM. We're going to put computing 503 00:31:05,079 --> 00:31:08,079 power in the hands of every ordinary American. That was 504 00:31:08,119 --> 00:31:10,559 called Microsoft started out with a little company with about 505 00:31:10,559 --> 00:31:13,640 a dozen people in Albuquerque, New Mexico. You can come 506 00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:16,480 up with a brilliant idea like, oh, let's have a 507 00:31:16,599 --> 00:31:19,640 thing called a iPhone in which you can put the 508 00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:22,240 Internet in your in the pocket of your hand. Steve 509 00:31:22,319 --> 00:31:25,759 Jobs became a very wealthy man because he and the 510 00:31:25,839 --> 00:31:28,759 company that he built, Apple Computer, came up with that 511 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:30,079 notion in that concept. 512 00:31:30,079 --> 00:31:31,319 Speaker 1: So, yes, you can earn it. 513 00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:34,160 Speaker 5: What do we really want the government to say, We're 514 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:36,119 in charge of deciding when you earn it and when 515 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:38,559 you don't earn it, because there's a point of which 516 00:31:38,599 --> 00:31:43,720 you metaphorically can't be credited with having earned that additional dollar. 517 00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:47,279 This is beloney. And her comment What really got me 518 00:31:47,319 --> 00:31:49,759 in her interview was when she talked about rural America 519 00:31:49,799 --> 00:31:53,000 and said, these people are oppressed. There is a sentiment 520 00:31:53,079 --> 00:31:55,359 inside part of the left wing of the Democratic Party 521 00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:58,880 that says, if you're in rural America and you're voting Republican, 522 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:01,640 you're stupid because you ought to be voting for the 523 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:05,240 for not only just liberal Democrats, but democratic socialists. 524 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:08,599 Speaker 1: And that's that. You know that, and that that idea. 525 00:32:08,599 --> 00:32:10,680 Speaker 5: That people on the coast of the United States, like 526 00:32:10,759 --> 00:32:13,599 AOC is looked down on the people who live in 527 00:32:13,599 --> 00:32:16,599 middle America is one of the reasons why the Democratic 528 00:32:16,599 --> 00:32:19,440 Party is less popular than the Republican Party and less 529 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:23,920 popular than Donald Trump. I encourage her keep saying these 530 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:24,519 stupid things. 531 00:32:24,559 --> 00:32:27,640 Speaker 1: Yeah, people talking about AOC has this big, promising future, 532 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:30,240 maybe running for president. She comes up with some of 533 00:32:30,279 --> 00:32:34,799 these dooties on an irregular basis that you just go, Okay, 534 00:32:34,839 --> 00:32:38,759 she's not very she's not she's not very smart in 535 00:32:38,799 --> 00:32:44,279 any case. So today jobs report came out. That's let's 536 00:32:44,279 --> 00:32:47,119 see what we got. Oh and speaking of the economy, 537 00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:53,720 consumer Sentiment Index the University of Michigan forty eight point two. 538 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:58,640 That is a record low as far as consumer sentiment 539 00:32:59,119 --> 00:33:05,440 going back to the early nineteen fifties, record low forty 540 00:33:05,519 --> 00:33:09,319 eight point two. They asked two basic questions, what do 541 00:33:09,359 --> 00:33:12,480 you think about the current economy? That was forty seven 542 00:33:12,519 --> 00:33:15,119 point eight, That was down nine percent. Easily don't see 543 00:33:15,799 --> 00:33:19,400 even a one percent change in this index. Down nine percent? 544 00:33:19,559 --> 00:33:24,559 People are that bummed about the current economic situation. And 545 00:33:24,599 --> 00:33:26,079 what do you think the economy is going to be 546 00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:28,519 six months down the road? That was forty eight point five. 547 00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:32,960 So overall the index record low forty eight point two. 548 00:33:33,839 --> 00:33:41,160 What is being blamed? High energy prices, broader price shocks, inflation. 549 00:33:42,319 --> 00:33:47,720 It has apparently impacted consumer confidence across all income and 550 00:33:47,839 --> 00:33:53,440 age demographics. They expected when they asked people about things, 551 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:55,400 they said, well, what do you think inflation's going to do? 552 00:33:55,519 --> 00:33:59,920 And the number that was average response was inflation will 553 00:34:00,119 --> 00:34:04,599 grow to four point seven percent this year. So this 554 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:07,920 consumer sentiment index, like I said, record low, it's been 555 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:10,000 coming down. It was down in March, it was down 556 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:12,880 in April, it was now down in May. So it's 557 00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:16,119 a trend that's going that direction. As far as the 558 00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:21,960 jobs report today, I've been somewhat shaking my head, going wait, wait, 559 00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:24,159 did I just hear them say, oh, this is a 560 00:34:24,159 --> 00:34:28,719 great job report today. They're talking about how it's how 561 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:31,920 it's so strong, and I'm going to the jobs report 562 00:34:32,239 --> 00:34:38,239 for years has been producing somewhere around two hundred thousand 563 00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:40,840 plus dead a little over two to three hundred thousand 564 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:45,079 payrolls per month, and instead they came out with the 565 00:34:45,199 --> 00:34:50,320 jobs report. It was one hundred and fifteen thousand, substantially 566 00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:55,840 lower than what we have been expecting usually. But in 567 00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:58,719 the month of April, economists did think that it was 568 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:01,119 going to be worse than one fifteen. They were looking 569 00:35:01,159 --> 00:35:06,639 at something worse. As far as a revision, they revised 570 00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:14,480 March up to one hundred and eighty five thousand. Manufacturing jobs, 571 00:35:14,559 --> 00:35:18,880 which the President keeps talking about manufacturing jobs are doing, 572 00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:20,960 are going to be strong. Oh they're going to be 573 00:35:21,039 --> 00:35:23,440 doing because of the tariffs all but people are going 574 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:29,000 to be manufacturing here. Manufacturing is continuing to drop, losing jobs, 575 00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:33,119 and so far in April, another drop of two thousand. 576 00:35:33,719 --> 00:35:37,079 The bright side behind this, though, as construction jobs were up, 577 00:35:37,639 --> 00:35:39,960 and the construction jobs may have a lot to do 578 00:35:40,039 --> 00:35:44,400 with building factories, so that the manufacturing jobs will grow 579 00:35:44,559 --> 00:35:50,000 after they get these factories built. That's one theory. Average 580 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:54,400 hourly earnings lighter than expected three point six percent, so 581 00:35:55,079 --> 00:36:01,039 we're back to that problem of average hourly earnings lower 582 00:36:01,079 --> 00:36:05,239 than the inflation rate, so your paycheck is not keeping up. 583 00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:09,360 The unemployment rate kind of stuck in this area. Four 584 00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:15,360 point three percent, participation rate sixty one point eight. That 585 00:36:15,599 --> 00:36:20,199 was down the lowest that we've seen in the participation rate. 586 00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:23,280 How many people are actually working, that's the lowest we've 587 00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:28,960 seen since twenty twenty one. And a real strange little 588 00:36:29,199 --> 00:36:33,000 factoid in all of this is the number of men. 589 00:36:33,039 --> 00:36:38,920 Can Men usually dominate the working sector, but young and 590 00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:43,920 old men are leaving the labor force at record rates. 591 00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:48,280 According to the Labor Department, the share of men working 592 00:36:48,519 --> 00:36:52,079 or searching for a job hit the lowest level since 593 00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:58,280 nineteen forty eight. So this is from the Labor Department today, 594 00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:00,880 So one in three American men are not working or 595 00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:04,599 looking for a job. So there's some quirky stuff about this. 596 00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:08,119 I wouldn't call this a great report at all, but 597 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:13,400 it's it's not terrible, but it wasn't anything that I 598 00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:17,719 was doing handstands about. So let's look at the stock market, 599 00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:21,800 which I also have been meaning to tell you that 600 00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:26,880 all these stock market records that we're getting. One of 601 00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:32,039 the cautions about this is that it's about five percent 602 00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:38,199 of the S and P five hundred are setting new records, 603 00:37:38,679 --> 00:37:43,920 about five percent ninety five percent are not, So it 604 00:37:44,039 --> 00:37:47,320 really is the Magnificent seven the tech sector things like 605 00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:50,199 that that are just knocking it out of the park. 606 00:37:50,599 --> 00:37:53,320 Corporate earnings are our way up. We're in a cycle 607 00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:56,199 of strong corporate earnings. But as far as setting all 608 00:37:56,199 --> 00:38:01,360 these new records, it's mostly related to roughly five percent 609 00:38:01,960 --> 00:38:04,639 of the stock market. So before we get to the 610 00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:07,159 closing numbers for today, let me get some of the 611 00:38:07,199 --> 00:38:09,800 emails that have come in. And a fan sends me 612 00:38:10,159 --> 00:38:14,199 a note and he said, interesting listening to your show 613 00:38:14,239 --> 00:38:16,559 concerning Ted Turner, and he goes on talking about the 614 00:38:16,599 --> 00:38:19,079 background there. I was talking about the fact that I've 615 00:38:19,119 --> 00:38:21,199 always tried to figure out where was it when we 616 00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:24,480 became such a divided country, And you can go back 617 00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:29,360 and like he said. He says, you can go back 618 00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:33,079 to all kinds of things. He says, yeah, Ted Turner, 619 00:38:33,239 --> 00:38:36,840 But he also said that Rush used to be on 620 00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:40,039 Bill Clinton's case and I was a dem then, so 621 00:38:40,159 --> 00:38:43,159 that would make me mad. Then Obama, then the Tea Party. 622 00:38:43,719 --> 00:38:46,119 So things were divided before Trump. But I believe Trump 623 00:38:46,199 --> 00:38:49,559 put the cherry on top of it all. But anyway, 624 00:38:49,599 --> 00:38:52,480 great podcast, Thank you and a fan. Yeah, but I 625 00:38:52,519 --> 00:38:58,679 think we're really really began was prior to cable news. 626 00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:03,960 There wasn't any news on cable We relied upon Chet 627 00:39:04,039 --> 00:39:09,559 Huntley and David Brinkley and Walter Cronkite, and I don't 628 00:39:09,559 --> 00:39:13,239 remember them being biased. Maybe they were, but whatever it was, 629 00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:16,119 it was one message. We all got it. And all 630 00:39:16,119 --> 00:39:18,599 of a sudden, Ted Turner, who just so happened to 631 00:39:18,639 --> 00:39:22,079 be a big liberal guy, started CNN, and that created 632 00:39:22,199 --> 00:39:28,480 liberal news, and it was it was until Fox started 633 00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:31,119 in nineteen ninety six that there was a conservative voice 634 00:39:31,159 --> 00:39:34,760 on cable news. And I think ever since Ted Turner 635 00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:41,840 started CNN, we've had divided messaging and a more divided country. 636 00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:45,400 And if also writes he said, playing it out, I've 637 00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:47,400 been trying to think when and how this singing Roan 638 00:39:47,480 --> 00:39:50,079 will finally come to an end. I keep seeing people 639 00:39:50,119 --> 00:39:52,800 on TV, mainly from the Trump administration, looking at this 640 00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:56,320 with incredibly rose colored glasses. I've been hearing the next 641 00:39:56,320 --> 00:39:59,159 two to three weeks for about two months. So what's 642 00:39:59,159 --> 00:40:03,400 going to happen because of ego or just basic survival instinct? 643 00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:05,440 Neither Trump orr I Ron is going to end this. 644 00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:09,480 Then they will. He went on to talk about the 645 00:40:09,519 --> 00:40:12,000 Dems will take over in November. They will control the 646 00:40:12,079 --> 00:40:15,239 levels of government. I don't really think looking at the 647 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:17,760 construction of the party now that they will mind cutting 648 00:40:17,840 --> 00:40:20,440 the losses and running so to speak. Well, I'm not 649 00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:24,159 sure that's gonna wait for the Democrats. I wouldn't be 650 00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:27,760 surprised to see the current administration doing that same thing. 651 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:36,239 Paul Skag sends me email, says Iran nuclear material won't 652 00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:39,159 be surprised if Iran is willing to give Pakistan their 653 00:40:39,199 --> 00:40:46,480 nuclear materials since they are soony Muslims. Okay, and he 654 00:40:46,559 --> 00:40:49,760 goes on he says, seems like a Vietnam type escape. 655 00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:52,360 Seems like you could have said the same thing about 656 00:40:52,400 --> 00:40:55,920 the tremendous success in Vietnam. True, I really think there's 657 00:40:55,960 --> 00:40:59,960 some some comparisons that are worthy, and then truck and 658 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:02,559 the Mudgeon gives us an update on the trucking business 659 00:41:02,599 --> 00:41:05,800 out theories as many owner operators don't know their numbers, 660 00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:10,159 and they're still pushing loads for about two miles true 661 00:41:10,239 --> 00:41:13,719 dollars per mile or less. I refuse to compete with 662 00:41:13,800 --> 00:41:17,039 the bottom feeders in a race to the basement. This 663 00:41:17,119 --> 00:41:19,599 is a recurring cycle, and the bottom feeders typically go 664 00:41:19,679 --> 00:41:22,159 out of business as soon as they have their first 665 00:41:22,159 --> 00:41:29,000 big repair job. So yeap, trucking is trucking. Curmudgeon's been 666 00:41:29,039 --> 00:41:31,880 in a long time. He knows he's seen these cycles before. 667 00:41:32,679 --> 00:41:35,440 All right, Wall Street today, let's see what the closing 668 00:41:35,519 --> 00:41:40,599 numbers are. The Dow wiggled into a little bit of 669 00:41:40,639 --> 00:41:44,360 a gain. It started off positive, then went negative, then 670 00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:47,440 went positive, then went negative, in fact very negative up 671 00:41:47,519 --> 00:41:50,400 until about a half an hour before the market closed, 672 00:41:50,719 --> 00:41:54,760 turned around and finished with a twelve point game. We'll 673 00:41:54,800 --> 00:41:58,960 take it up twelve. The Dow at forty nine thousand 674 00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:01,840 and six oh nine. The S and P five hundred, 675 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:08,400 up sixty one the NASDAC. Those textocs again started off 676 00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:11,800 positive and kept on climbing up four hundred and forty. 677 00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:14,320 The price of gold went up twenty three dollars to 678 00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:18,679 four thousand and seven thirty three. And oil it was 679 00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:22,440 again kind of bouncing around between do you think this 680 00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:25,400 thing's going to come to a peace agreement or not. 681 00:42:26,119 --> 00:42:30,719 Oil ended up less than a penny higher at ninety 682 00:42:30,719 --> 00:42:34,920 five dollars for a barrel of oil. So that's that's 683 00:42:34,960 --> 00:42:38,599 it for today. Thank you for coming by, Enjoy your Friday, 684 00:42:38,719 --> 00:42:43,639 enjoy your weekend. A happy Mother's Day to all you moms, 685 00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:54,199 and we'll see you back here on Monday.