The Big Weekend Pod

Welcome to today's podcast sponsored by Hillsdale College, All Things Hillsdale at Hillsdale dot ed or I encourage you to take advantage of the many free online courses there, and of course I'll listen to the Hillsdale Dialogue all of them at Hugh for Hillsdale dot com or just Google, Apple, iTunes and Hillsdale Morning. Glauria and Indian Grace. Welcome to

That's Flanders on my character, comparing me to those Cambridge spies. No, I was in Canada engaged in high stakes diplomacy. Hugh went to Toronto Wednesday evening, spent a whole twenty four hours there with our northern neighbor.

Touchdown in Ottawa.

Briefly on my back to DC, and I can report the following Canada is not happy with President Trump and his rhetoric on Greenland or the fifty first state.

And so my job there was.

To explain what Trump is up to in shaping the world in order to create kind of the sinews, restore the sinews of Western civilization in preparation for the competition with China. I'd like to think I convinced a few of my Canadian friends, but it was tough going.

You need to sit down with Mark Kearney. Have you listened to the Mark Kearney address at Davos yet?

Oh?

Yes, you know that speech was the talk of the chattering class here in d C almost as soon as it was delivered. And so ever curious, I went and I looked it up. I watched the speech, and I have to say, I don't know what all the fuss was about.

Hugh Oh, I think it's one of them. More we have anti American speeches because it's cowardly. He never mentioned America or Donald Trump, but he talks about the Hedgemonds, meaning that China and US are alike, and then he runs through I'll just give you some of the highlights. Cut number four.

We placed the sign in the window, We participated in the rituals, and we largely avoided calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality. This bargain no longer works. Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture.

Not a transition, all right, Matt, A rupture. They are not protected from the world without us. They depend upon our nuclear umbrella, our military. They have four submarines, sixty eight thousand soldiers. They spend less than two percent of their GDP on national defense, and the oil they send abroad is only because we maintain freedom of the seas. If we didn't, they'd have to sell it all to us.

No, I don't think you're wrong.

I think there are two main problems with this speech that Prime Minister carneg gave. The first one is there was no action item. It was all rhetoric. It's all quotations from Thucydides and Bossil of Hovel. But he never said what he was going to do except have this liberal, pluralistic society that he is oversees he governs in Canada. But that what does that mean? Is he actually going

You know, the Canadian economy.

America has opened up a tremendous gap in per capita GDP and productivity with Canada. Canada has real domestic issues that the United States did not cause, Canada caused them,

Thank you, Because at that meeting with Jijenping, he said, we're entering into an alliance. And I thought, oh, the Whiggers will love that. And I thought, Jimmy laies in a prison cell, and I thought, to what, Taiwan is being threatened every day, and that Hong Kong has been crushed. And he talks in this speech about the hedgemon. It's clearly China enough that I don't really really know how to absorb this other than he is of the It's

Well, you're right about the banking class and the financial elite. But I think there's another thing at work here, Hugh, and that is domestic Canadian politics.

Not true.

You know, the thing about nationalism is every nation has it, and so we have American nationalism through President Trump, but sometime he's awaken nationalism in India and in China traditionally allies of ours, and so Carney was playing through a domestic audience as well, and I can report it's way he liked it.

When we come back, I'm talking with Matt during the break about the new superstar of American of repartee, Scott Fassen. And then when we turn back on the other day, Jack Trump Wiltennet, I'm back with Matt Connetty to play from at two pieces of Scott Bessant and Davos if you may have missed it. First of all, here's Scott Bessant talking about Gavin Newsom and Davos on Tuesday cut number eleven. I think it's very, very.

Ironic that you know Governor Newsom, who strikes me as Patrick Bateman Sparkle beach Ken maybe the only California.

Enough good enough. And then cut number eight.

We've seen the.

Lack of energy security from this manic push for net zero, which I think we've seen in some recent scientific journals, has been pushed back. Even Bill Gates is saying the one degree, two degrees, three degrees.

I'm not sure it matters.

If you look at what he's doing with his own money, it looks like he believes we're going to innovate our way out of any perceived climate problem.

So I think that's on one side. And then again I think this.

I think we almost reached a Saturday Night Live moment a few years ago when it was you're not going to own anything, You're going to eat insects.

I mean it was just the inmates were running the asylum at that well.

I can tell you, after a few days of Swiss German food, I may switch to bugs.

Got Eddy who knew that gott Besson was going to be up there with Marco Rubio for verbal dexterity?

Yes, you know, Q.

As soon as we finished last week's interview where we were talking about some of the great communicators in Donald Trump's cabinet, I slapped my forehead and said I left out Scott Besson and sure enough, he showed why he's one of the more effective communicators in this The other thing about Besson is he established a profile in financial markets long before the Trump era began, and like Donald Trump,

Indeed, it's going to leave on Mark sparkle Ken is going to leave on Mark Matt Continey. We've talked about Joseph Epstein before, the soul of wit and written word. How do you know when you when you have wit? Because obviously Scott Besson has wit. We got we got a minute. What is wit?

You know?

It's a quickness, it's the comeback. It's being able to turn a phrase on a dime in response to something somebody has said or something that occurs. Joseph Epstein has, Scott Besen has it. Of course, in my view, the founder of American Conservatism, William F. Buckley grow is the exemplar of wit because he was able to come up with a one liner really just at the drop of a hat.

It's a superpower. Trump, by the way, recognizes wit, but he doesn't practice it very often. He can get off a good one liner once in a while, but he recognizes it always as a good entertainer. Next Jack Smith, after the break, stay tuned, Welcome back to and you do it? Maat Cottonetty is with me, of course. Matt is with the Wall Street Journal, way right a column. He's also head of Domestic policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and our special envoy to Canada. Uh Matt

I think it showed that he was the wrong man for the job. He wasn't prepared for these questions, and there are real questions. I mean, there are questions about his approach to the First Amendment and whether Trump's actions surrounding January sixth are exercise as a free speech, which I think there were. He showed lack of judgment on immunity, taking the case all the way to the Supreme Court

As a potential flight risk.

Now there's one thing I know about Kevin McCarthy.

He's not a flight risk.

No, he's not a flight risk.

And then you know, you think about you think about Smith's resume and his case against Bob McDonnell, which was then thrown out by the Supreme Court. So you have here a kind of a pattern on the part of Jack Smith. And he is a relentless prosecutor. But I think one who is so determined to indict that he is ready to kind of walk all over the Constitution in the process.

I keep referencing Javert from Lea Mease, and I wonder my question is did Merrick Garland know that and want that, or did he make a mistake. I know that Eileen Cannon's opinion needs to be revisited by everyone. She held his appointment is unconstitutional because he had never been confirmed as a prosecutor, for example, as the US Attorney would

He must have known. I mean, Merrick Garland has been around Washington, d C. For a very long time. He knows about Jack Smith, and he knows about his relationships with Komee and Fitzgerald and that whole crew. So I think he had a sense of what was going to happen, and it backfired. And we know that primary reason Donald Trump as president today, not just the total collapse of the Biden administration, not just Donald Trump's own extraordinary resilience

I asked, if there's my chance.

To weigh in, Well, there are ten of them. Did you see any of the ten out now? I've only seen one of the ten, and that's f one me too. I did not see in the theater and I thoroughly enjoyed.

So as soon as you said that earlier this week, I said, Okay, I'm rooting for f one to win the Picture of the Year now.

But I want to ask you about the most important question in the world, and it really is should Donald Trump hit Iran harder than it's ever been hit? As he pledged in me, if they would kill people? And do you think he will?

He needs to take action. You know, he drew a line there. He has called for new leadership.

He has sent this signal of force by sending the aircraft carrier group back into the region, and he's told the Iranian people that help is on the way.

So action needs to be taken.

You know, they've stepped up sanctions, they've stepped up the

Now there's a question which requires a little bit of prophecy. Barack Obama will never escape erasing the red Line. Joe Biden will never escape the collapse in Afghanistan. Donald Trump has already done the world a great thing by obliterating a nuclear program and by grabbing Maduro. But we're walking back from the threat of force. Here be a lasting mark on his legacy. As the historians assessed the Trump presidency.

I think Trump's goal should be that there are new governments in Venezuela, Iran, and Cuba by the time he leaves office. And what a blow for freedom it would be if that was the case. He's removed Maduro from Venezuela and he is working with the regime now, but clearly there will be pressure as there should be, to transition to democracy in Venezuela. He has made this pledge

And now we have news that.

He's going to really ramp up the pressure on Cuba, which is you know, in kind of the final end state the communist government there. So I think on all three fronts, he should continue the strategy he's been pursuing, with the ultimate goal of visiting free capitals in all three nations when he leaves office or shortly thereafter.

And one minute Matt In March of twenty eighty three, Ronald Reagan gave an SDI speech which was mocked, I mean really mocked, mercilessly mocked as Star Wars and Israel had the Iron dram as a result. Do you think the Greenland gambit for Golden Dome will look forty years from now like a very smart move or will not be remembered.

No, I will be a smart move. I mean, greenland strategic importance is clear. It's obvious to everybody. It's obvious to Russia and China. That's why Trump has made this play for it now. I think he rattled a lot of cages when he wouldn't rule out the use of force, and that's why it was important this week that he

Always good to talk with you, Matt Continetty. Follow Matt Continetty read him in the Wall Street Journal on exit just at Cottonady, and we'll get the latest update from our special envoys from Canada next week. Don't go anywhere America. I stay tuned.

It is in Hewig show.

Oh, Ben Dominis did come just in time for me to announce Mark Kearney, Ben, how are you?

I I'm doing well. I apologize. Megan woke up, so she now has the baby.

Oh that's okay. Young fathers don't have to ever apologize for any And.

There was no way I tried. I tried, I could not.

If you had better get to the store before the snow comes, because I have.

I have spent approximately seven thousand dollars good good, good good orders in the last Yeah.

Don't show, it doesn't matter. Don't hurt your back. You've got the baby.

Oh no, no, I have two different kinds of ice melting assault. So I'm good.

I want to focus on Mark Kearney. Did you listen to his speech at Davos?

Not only did I listen to it, I let off with it on the Big Ben Show. I know it and I found I found it refreshingly honest. I don't know what your opinion of Oh.

I hated it. I think he's cowardly and hypocritical. So well we have a difference of opinion.

Yeah, no, that's okay. What I also thought, though, is that this is not something that he's going to bye by in any real way. It's not something that he truly in on a on a Hypocritical is a good word for him, because this is something that I think a smart person recognizes, but then he takes the wrong lesson from it, meaning that I think that this, this whole you know, admission that like, oh we were actually just depending on the Americans all along, is honest and

Do it though, Ben, this was fact. This is fact free posturing. I don't think so. Because they've got forty two million people, their GDP is two point four trillion dollars. They're spending a grand total of eighty two million dollars over the next five years to get to two percent. He said in the course of this speak, I've got submarines.

You know.

He got four submarines. Four Yes, one was built in twenty fifteen, the other three were built in two thousand and three, in two thousand. He's got no. Sixty eight thousand active duty troops, twenty seven thousand reserve. He's not Finland.

By the way. The funniest thing about the Greenland deployment that I said to a friend of mine, and that friend with Lucas Tomlinson, by the way, it was I was like, oh, so that's what fifty percent of their force. Yeah, they're venting the Greenland.

But what really, what really gets my goat is when he talks about the Hedgemonds, like we're the same thing, all right. He can sell oil to China because we protect freedom of the seas. If there isn't freedom of the season, China's not buying. He can only sell his oil to us, don't.

You think, But don't you think it's useful to at least have someone get up on that stage who isn't Donald Trump and say we cannot continue this fiction that we are all living in. This this the system of a rules based international order where you know, we are all, you know, sort of existing underneath some type of inner national law and agreement. We're all sort of in the room together, kumbaya.

There are two ways to say it. The way you just said it, or the way and by the way. The reason we aren't is because China got into the WTO and cheated. They steal intellectual property, they do dumping, they don't care about the environment, they use dirty coal, and they've imprisoned a million week.

Nineties China policy just like the worst things, like the biggest mistake that we made and will and I will say we because I was totally I mean, I mean so is I. I was in favor of it, and I thought I thought this was the way to go, you know, bring them in. You know, have have have most favorite nation status, have to have you know, trade have that you know, be something that increases alliances with the West, and instead it's about exporting their values and not importing ours.

And that just you know, you're going to read a book to your little boy one day called Willie the Wimp, because every little four year old loves it. Have you have you seen it? It's a gorilla analy and chimpanzee and and Willy the whimp, and the chimpanzee is his giant chimpanzee, and the giant chimpanzee takes care of the little monkey. And that's what we are. We're the giant gorilla and they are the little monkey. And I'm glad that they're a nice little monkey.

I like them.

But you don't go around with a bunch of bankers. And you know, he's the only guy that got a standing ovation at Davos. He got a standing ovation.

Look, I think I think that one of the things that is so funny about Davos is that it's it's just everything is posturing and behind the scenes, they're all going to the same you know, things together and they're all i mean, Gavin Newsome met with Donald Trump apparently, you know, like it's it's one of these things where you know, it's just so deeply corrupt and one of the things that I do appreciate about this particular moment as it relates to the Greenland situation, is that the

Wall You know, I followed Lucas on Special Report last night. He's on Greenland, and I think we had a breakthrough this week because now everyone agrees Greenland is necessary for Golden Dum and it's just the details.

That's the break's details. And the breakthrough too is that, as I have argued, as my friend Josh Raphino has argued in multiple essays, including a Wall Street Journal, there is a sovereignty solution here that is right in front of you, and it just, you know, basically requires that that type of movement in our direction. It does not require an invasion, it does not require us to spend an enormous amount of money buying it, but it requires America to have a sovereign footprint there that is in

To unless they can go to a place in posture like Carney did. I'm going to come right back with Ben during the break because we've got to talk about the Big Ben podcast this week and about his expert from UVA on cell phones. If you haven't listened to it, Big Ben Podcast on the Fox Podcast Network. He's editor at Large at The Spectator. His sub stack is the Transom. But this is a great podcast with Tricia McLachlan basically doing what JD Vance did in Minneapolis yesterday. But the

I think this thing is really a lot more simple than people seem to be making it. Like there's been, you know, this whole public conversation around it. You know, the work that Jonathan Height has done, and everyone else who's who's kind of you know, I don't know, they just they've developed a whole conversation within the space. I

Well, he went further when he said, no cell phones at night in the bedroom because they lose sleep, and of course the boys are looking for body pictures. And number two in school, computers are overrated. That we learn by doing things.

And I said, hallelujah that that point is actually the more critical point from my perspective. So first off the no phones in the in the in the room. To me, that's the same as no TVs in the room. But you don't, you don't, you don't. You shouldn't be allowing that. I mean, come on, it's a distraction. It's bad, it's and it's bad for you, by the way, as an adult too. It's not just bads so but my other, my other, I actually think that TVs should be you

We're not going to do that.

Yeah, we're just not going to do that because that's not the way that people learn.

But I was glad to hear you say, is that it's become a source of a program. If you are in a restaurant and you give the kid the phone, because it is I always I cast an I cast a glance like that thirty seconds Ben. How often do you get that look?

Uh?

For? For me? Uh?

I have quite honestly, I have never opened my phone and shown my kids of the restaurants. Never I will. I will say that I've been at table where other people have done that and my kids have watched, and I have not objected. But I have never done that with my phone, and I don't never intend to, because I think that is an admission of failure.

Yeah, but I do believe that they are permissible on long car rides and airplanes.

Lights. That's fine, it's a long time rights and airplanes. Maybe it's the same thing that everybody else is doing, you know, so I don't have a problem with that. You can bring a certain amount of games and entertainment, but eventually they're going to move from the plate out to just need to watch those things.

Coming back with Ben on Jack Smith, don't go anywhere. I am back with Ben Dominich, host of the Big Ben podcast on the Fox Podcast Network. You can read him in the Spectator, you can read his substack at the Transom, and you can follow him on x at b Dominich. Ben, I want to give you four uninterrupted moments for your comments on Jack Smith and what we take away from this, because I've already said my piece three or four times.

Well, first off, I'll just say I don't I'm not sure that I have seen a person who has occupied a role as important as Jack Smith be in a position in front of a congressional hearing where he was more where anyone that I know of, was more dismissive, disrespectful, and you know, quite frankly full of hubris about everything that he did in his role. Ever in front of the Congress, and keep in mind, we've seen Anthony Fauci justified.

You can't just Jackson, when he was Attorney General, gave a very famous speech about the power of the prosecutor and why you've got to be very careful. He went rogue, he went javert, and I think Eileen Cannon's ruling that his appointment was unconstitutional bears up very well because he had never you can appoint a US attorney to be a special counsel. And that's fine. They've got the right temperament, the right judgment. They've passed through Senate confirmation. This guy is a fanatic and.

Therefore it's obscene. I mean, it's you say, when Javert, Javert had the honor to jump off the bridge.

So I don't want him doing that. I just wanted to go away, just to be clear.

But I'm just saying there was a moment of clarity

So the key question is did Merrick Garland get what he wanted or did he just get punked by someone making a recommendation.

You know, that is a big question and I don't know the answer to it. I would incline more towards the latter, but that's only because I think I think Garland is not particularly bright, because he kind of half was right. Yeah, yeah, I just that is my impression of him, based on limited interaction. But I think that that is not I don't. I think he got jobbed in this right.

Last question, of the ten movies nominated for Best Picture, how many of them have you seen?

Oh?

I've seen about half of them.

Oh you are You're the outlier.

You're the sixth person, Hugh, I have, Hugh, I have seen. I saw twenty seven movies last year, and of the nine were kids movies. Okay, And the best movie of the that I saw last year in theaters was f One whichever.

Yeah, well that's the only other one that anyone's seen, and I agree it was it was great. But you actually saw Sinner?

Yes, No, I mean I liked it. It was good.

You're the only one.

Okay, great movie.

We're not going here for movie recommendations anytime soon.

Well look, look, look, I will I will tell you the movie that I saw that I enjoyed the most last year was Weapons, And I also really liked Eddington, which everyone hated, but everyone me and John Fedortz.

At least you've seen them though.

At least Ben, I think it's good to go back to movies.

Be dominants.

Thank you, my friend, Jonathan Williams, tax economist at alex American Legislative Exchange Company. Welcome back in America. I'm Hugh Hewittt on the weekend broadcast. Eli Lake joins us. He is, of course the host of the Breaking History podcast, a

It's a really good question. I don't think anybody kind of put it like that, and I think that's exactly how we should think about it. But that said, this is the end of the Obama delusion. I have not heard from European capitals that there is a sense or an expectation that there will be new negotiations with Iran over you know, whatever remains of its nuclear program, and eventually we will knit Iran into the global order by investing in that country as long as that regime stays

They did not invite. They ended up disinviting the Foreign Ministry of Iran. That's but they have not designated the IRGC is a terrorist organization at the EU, which is a bad move. The most important question in the world right now, and I think by a lot, I've been on a Canada rant already today because the Mark Carney disgusting address or so cowardly in two faced, But the most important question remains, should Donald Trump hit Iran hard? And Willie what do you think Eli like, I.

Think he absolutely should. I don't see how I mean, listen, nobody can bring to what's going on with Donald Trump. His messaging has been pretty consistent, and I think he tried to kind of create his own way out by saying that they had they had canceled the execution of I think he has a very specific number eight hundred and thirty seven people in the hangings, which he's talked about. We saw today that one of the senior kind of judges in Iran said that is not true and that

My wary is though that.

I would have liked to have seen something, and I understand military assets have to be in place. I also understand that, according to a lot of reporting, and I've heard this too in my reporting, that Trump really does

What do you think of that?

There's a lot of reasons maybe why you don't hit carg Island. You could also cause an oil shock that would do terrible things to the price of energy, which has been relatively stable and low, and that would have an effect in terms of inflation. So Trump's got to

Like carg Island is all that money goes to the IERGC. Canada is ramping up it's export of oil. It's at sixty dollars a barrel. Seventy dollars a barrel is not that big of a deal, and it can be we can overproduce. We are just about to hit full American production. But Eli, before I go, I got to ask you the Carnie speech and many of the other Europeans seem to take for granted that the United States will always

I would say this, it's empty rhetoric. Canada and Europe do not have the military, do not have the means to protect themselves. That is by our design, and there are good reasons for that. So I wanted to say, I don't want to give Trump a total path. I think that some of the things that he said were outrageous, and the way that he went about the Greenland thing, I think can have but it's not the end of the world, because there is no alternative right now to

But they're going to sell a lot of oil to China, which is fine because we have freedom of the seas guaranteed by the United States Navy YEP. And if that ends, they can only sell it to US, and they only. They don't even spend two percent of their GDP on defense. Eli he talked about his submarine. I have four submarines, the most recent one which was built in twenty fifteen.

Listen, I agree, and that some of this is exposing things. I mean, listen, some of what Trump is saying is I disagree with a lot of it is true. When we were fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yes, it's true when they say the British did fight, especially on the special operations side, absolutely valiance and.

The Canadians lost one hundred and fifty eight people and also true.

But I'm just saying the Italians and the Germans, we couldn't trust them to secure areas. They didn't they There are cultural issues there that are really deep. It's not just about spending more of your GDP. There's not the kind of military culture that we have in America right now. So those are deep things that our generations are going to be playing out over a generation. But like, let's

How many times ago to Davos. I'm in the Killed Davos Forever club. But what do you think they like? Thirty seconds?

I agree with Davos is a is a debating society of the plutocratic.

Self pleasuring of the banking class. And I'm sick of it. Thank you, Eli Lake. Follow him on ex at Eli Lake. I'll be right back. America, stay tuned, Good morning, Glory and even grace America, Bones or High Canada. The weekend broadcast is underway, as it usually is, with John Ellis, founder and editor in chief of News Items which you can find by googling John Ellison news items. It's the

Altilateral institutions on which the Middle powers have relied and the question for middle powers like Canada argue the middle powers must act together because if we're not at the table, we're on the menu. Middle powers do not. What does it mean for middle powers to live the truth when middle powers criticize economic intimidation? For this is the task of the middle power, all right, So.

You get it, John, He's a middle Canada's a middle power between hegemons and I guess we're on the same scale with China. He mentioned the hedgemons. I'm insulted by this. He just got back from China, that genocide of the Wigers. Uh, Jimmy Lyon in prison, Taiwan, threatened, Hong Kong crushed, and he's lecturing us because of you don't like Donald Trump?

Well, I mean I think that he You know, Carney came to power because of Donald Trump. The Conservative Party in Canada was leading the elections, the national elections leading up to election day by twenty five points. And then Trump was inaugurated and there was talking of a next in Canada, and the tariffs were announced on Canadian products

Well, he made himself something of a paria to me. A couple other things, he said, one of my favorites, absolutely, my favorite cut number six.

Our commitment to NATO's Article five is unwavering. So we're working with our NATO allies, including the Nordic Vault Gate, to further secure the Alliance's northern and western flanks, including through Canada's unprecedented investments in over the horizon radar, in submarines, in aircraft.

All right, boots on the John. I looked it up. They have four submarines, the most recent one of which was commissioned in twenty thirteen. The other three or two thousand and three and two thousand and one. They spend less than two percent of their GDP on defense. They'll get to two percent by twenty thirty. Compared with Poland and Finland, which are at three point seven and four

Well, I think it makes Trump incredibly crazy, which of course is to Carney's at least short term benefit.

But all the points you make are certainly valid.

I mean, Canada, everybody, all of the so called Western countries benefit from the US umbrella, if you want to call it that. And so if you're going to be critical of the US, I think you also have an obligation to be appreciative of all of the advantages that you get from being aligned with US.

Yeah, that's all I would The thing that gets me the most in life, and I guess in international affairs is in gratitude. And Canada is not a middle power. It is an NX to the United States that's sovereign, but depends upon it. Let's go to your other pieces, because they make me happier. Let's talk about will Go VI and pilled form because this is a giant breakthrough from Erica and the world's health.

Right.

I think everybody's familiar with the weight loss drug wigov and the other ones. But the problem has been that you had to get will go BE as an injectable, right so you and as a result, it's much more expensive to manufacture. You have to put it in the refrigerator when you get it, you know, all that stuff.

All right, I think about the number of passengers who don't sit next to the plus sized passenger that's sort of in their seat. But do you think the United States ought to be encouraging people who are morbidly obey certainly, but even those they are packing fifty or more pounds or thirty or more pounds to go investigate this, that it's good for them. I think I think it.

I mean, you know, efficacy and safety obviously are the big concerns, but those concerns have been at least gotten the approval of the FDA. And you know, if you have high blood pressure, if you have diabetes, and if you're either obese or morbidly obese, this is a game changer. And it means for the you know, for taxpayers, it means less cost of you know, on Medicare and all

Well, because of my rant about Canada, we're running a little on time. And they're two very important pieces from news items that you sent me. Gen xers and millennials are set to inherit four point six trillion dollars from their elders, and open Ai maybe flaming out in either order that you want to do. That last one was kind of a sock in the eye for people who are invested in AI. Yeah, I mean, the open Ai story is that.

Open ai is spending vast amounts of money and taking in not very much revenue, and the question is whether that's sustainable. Where there will there be in twenty twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty twenty nine enough revenue to justify the investments that they're making now in data centers, so on

So that's a big question.

But the millennials are not going to run out of money. Well, this is the thing.

Okay, we got the whole the I mean, there's nothing more annoying than the affordability issue when it's raised by gen xers and millennials. Okay, because they're coming into four point six trillion dollars, is that right? Four points six yea, yeah, four point six trillion dollars, okay, inheriting the most any generation ever in the history of that kindness. And all they're talking about is the price of, you know, going out to dinner. I mean, come on, giving a lot of money here.

It's a massive wealth transfer over the next ten years, and two point or trillion of that is in property in the United States, so they'll get a stepped up basis. That's the amazing thing. The tax part to this that makes it an incredible windfall. But John ellis a great bit of news items today. I want to remind everyone Google news items and John Ellis it's the best newsletter.

Well, likewise, my friend, it's good to see you again.

Good to see you, and I hope you've got your snowshovel out. Are you ready?

Oh yeah, you know DC they freak out here with about an inch of snow. So this is going to be real this weekend. It's looking like now.

It's unfortunate that we've got a new governor. And now I'm Abagail Spanberger as well, and I want to go right to the fact and the first story I read about her, the very first story, is that there's a bill to put a death tax in Virginia. Hasn't everyone learned that people leave your state when you put a death tax in place, well.

You would think, I mean, this is pretty common sense stuff, Hugh.

I mean, we've had states all across the country looking at ways to get rid of their death taxes.

Even in places like New Jersey. When Chris Christie was governor.

As part of his deal he struck with the Democrat legislature, they begin to repeal some of their death tax that's on the book. So if even New Jersey is looking to part of their death tax, it's really a head scratcher that you have the left wing Democrats now in charge in Richmond looking to put one into place.

And that's not it.

As you probably saw on there are long laundry list of tax increases and bad ideas such as repealing right to work, and you can go down the line.

I mean, but this is pretty concerning you.

And I watched that race very closely with Winston Sears and Abigail Spamberger, and Abigail Spamberger ran all of her ads anyways, came across as a moderate Democrat that I'm.

Going to do the sensible thing. I'm a common sense person, and here we are. We'll see how long that lasts. Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to be long.

Turns out, Mom, Donnie in address, let's talk about the taxes there. There are a lot of states that are going to go off the good tax pass and there are a lot they're going to do good thing. Let's run through them. What else do they want to raise taxes on besides people dying in Virginia.

Well, I mean you name it, right, I mean, it's the old Reagan line.

If it moves tax, if it keeps moving regulated, if it stops moving subs. That's unfortunately what we're going to see in Virginia this session. And that's a high income earners tax. I mean they're looking to rival California with high income earner taxes. And so, whether that's that, it's hotel taxes, it's taxes on private clubs, you get on the list, and it is literally any idea you have on tax policy, on raising taxes, they're probably going to pursue it this year.

In Richmond, Now, I saw taxes on firearms. Now I think if that's a standalone bill, it's going to be unconstitutional. Is it a standalone bill or is it a general sales tax?

Well, I think I've seen it as a as a standalone, but I think it's very possible it gets looped together and as part of a budget as well. And you know, there's lots of ways that this can emerge as we

And it's as painful as it is as.

A Virginia resident to say that these are huge opportunities for those states to continue to make gains. Their states are already way ahead of Virginia in many cases in our rich states poor states index. And you know, this is dynamic competitive environment and we're going to see what

Capital and people are mobile. I will not live in a state with a death tax. I just want that's taxing your well twice, it's been taxed before, at least once. I will not do it a second. I'll just leave, and I think other people will. Washington, like Virginia, want to do a millionaire's tex Don't they realize that people can move? I mean not some, but many.

Well, the irony there in Washington State is they've been the reppient if so many people coming to Washington because they have been a no income.

Tax state forever.

Hugh and all the refugees, the tax refugees escaping places like California and other high tax states and going to Washington to take advantage of the fact that they were a no income tax state. As you know, we've talked about their state Supreme Court invented the right in their constitution to have a capital gains income tax and claimed it wasn't an income tax, and here we are, many of us warned that that would be the camel's nose under the tent and then'd be proposing other broad based

But it's not all bad news. You sent me good news as well. That will show up in rich Statespoorstates dot Com come April one. But let's talk about who's doing the right thing. South Carolina, by the way, sounds like a nice place to move to.

Well, they've been getting a lot of residents already, and the legislature has just put for a great plan to reduce income taxes. They've obviously had to compete with North Carolina that's been doing very good things for years, kind of see a no income tax state Florida, no income tax state.

Georgia has been cutting taxes and so they're looking.

At ways to get down to a one point nine to nine percent income tax. So incredible progress there from a state that has not cut taxes as aggressively in

Is quickly being left behind. They're tired of being middle of the pack.

And he's got an ambitious plan to go and repeal the personal ends income taxa Missouri. So a kudos to Governor Kehoe for really being a leader on that this session.

And ALEC keeps a great close side the American Legislative Exchange Council ALEC dot org SLASHU keeps an eye on the U haul growth Index inbound states you bought you haul's headed there number one, Texas, number two, Florida, number three, North Carolina, number four, Tennessee outbound states California, Illinois, New Jersey,

Well, brand new education freedom and economic freedom go hand in hand. The Sunshine State, the Free State of Florida number one once again this year in our index, Arizona number two, Arkansas number three. Incredible progress for the lone Star state, the biggest gainer this year after their major school choice expansion that we've talked about a billion dollars going to families and kids across the state of Texas.

So lots of great stories there at ALEC.

I don't see Ohio on this list, Jonathan, are you doing your Michigan things are? Because I don't think we'll follow up well. Fuck Jarlen William, CEO of al ALC dot org. Thank you friend. I'll be right back on the u U show.

Thank you very much, Larry. I'm going to start in French and then I'll switch back to English. Mercy, Larry, Thank you, Larry.

It is both the pleasure and the duty to be with you tonight, in this pivotal moment that Canada and the world.

Going through.

Today, I will talk about a rupture in the world order, the end of a pleasant fiction and the beginning of a harsh reality. What you politics were the large main power. Politics is submitted to no limits, no constraints. On the other end, I would like to tell you that the other countries, especially intermediate powers like Canada, are not powerless.

They have the capacity to build a new order that encompasses our values such as respect for human rights, sustainable development, solidarity, sovereignty.

And territorial integrity of the various states. The power of the less power starts with honesty.

It seems that every day we're reminded that we live in an era of great power rivalry, that the rules based order is fading, that the strong can do what they can and the weak must suffer what they must. And this aphorism of Thucidides is presented as inevitable as the natural logic of international relations reasserting itself. And faced with this logic, there is a strong tendency for countries to go along, to get along, to accommodate, to avoid trouble,

Now.

Canada was amongst the first to hear the wake up call leading us to fundamentally shift our strategic posture. Canadians know that our old comfortable assumptions that our geography and alliance memberships automatically conferred prosperity and security, that assumption is no longer valid, and our new approach rests on what Alexander Stubb, the President of Finland, has termed value based realism, or, to put another way, we aim to be both principled

Thank you very much.

Well, thank you Prime Minister.

I don't think I've seen many standing ovations.

At devils, so that was interesting. You said.

There was a phrase in your speech where you said, sovereignty now is the ability to withstand pressure. Isn't Canada almost uniquely vulnerable to pressure because of the extent of your trade dependence on the United States.

Well, the proof is that we have been able to withstand the pressure, and there has been considerable pressure. I'll give you a couple of facts. We've actually created more jobs since the tariffs were put on than the United States in absolute number, economies growing at the second fastest rate within the G seven. There are pockets of extreme pressure,

I was interested that you said basically, the old world's not coming back, so you're not seeing this as a period.

We just have to get through a normalcy. We'll return. I think that is what that is our view, and we regret it, but we're not going to sit around and mourn it. We're acting, and we're acting in a way both it's in our interests, but we believe in a way with others that's building imperfectly in steps a new system. I'll give you one example on handback, which is we're members of We are members of trade agreements that comprise already one point four billion people around the world,

And you talked about the need not to put the sign in the window anymore to pretend that things are still the same. Do you think to put it directly that the NATO Alliance is still doing that, still pretending it's the old Transatlantic partnership when it's.

Really kind of going. I think clearly NATO is experiencing a test right now, and the first response to that test has to be to respond in a way that ensures the security of the Arctic in a robust way for all possibilities. This is actually a point that we have been making in recent years. It's a point that I made at the NATO summit back in June, which seemed like a pledging some but also was a was

You also a big theme of your speech was the need for middle powers to work together. But you've just been to the other great power, to China, and I think people very intrigued by seeing that meeting. And some people say, kind of that's a mistake, really because you know you're going to make yourself more dependent on China. They're not that benign either. The US will be very annoyed. What's what's the defense of what you're doing and what do you have to get out of it?

Well, the first thing is to say, it's not a defense. It's an I know the way you frame the question, but it's offense, it's building out, it's something positive as opposed to against. We're for something as opposed to being against. The second is they're very clear guardrails in that relationship. I spoke of calibration of relationships in my remarks, that's

And it is an interest and reversal though because I think certainly during the Biden administration, there was this sense that the Western world was trying to decouple from China or the risk at least, and is now in this new world really going to go into reverse and de risking from China because there are other risks is less of a.

Thing you need. Again, many in this room, this is there live. You need a web of connections and to miss out in that web some of the largest ones United States, we already have that China, India, Mercers or European Union. That's a mistake. That's not managing your relationships properly. That makes you stronger, it makes you more resilient. And then on top of that, I'll give you again all appeal since it's in the headlines to the Nordics, Nordix

And you've got a round of applause when you said something strong about standing on principle on Greenland.

Do you think we can find an off ramp on that.

I mean, I'm sure you'll speak of it.

But put it this way.

If there isn't an off ramp, where does this cut.

I strongly believe that there is a bet there's a better outcome that come from the discussions that have been catalyzed in an unusual way. Mantley. But and we absolutely stand by the principles that I referenced. That solution starts with security, and a security yes of Greenland, but more broadly of the Arctic. Canada is four square contributing to that. We're at the start of a major ramp up above and beyond, so we will be a major contributor to that.

And when President Trump says, oh, you know, Greenland's on the threat from Russia, even from China, is that for real.

I would say that there are threat. Russia is without question a threat in the Arctic. Without question, Russia does lots of horrible things, and I'll take the opportunity to condemn their unjustified and horrific assault on Ukraine almost at its fourth year. They are a real threat in the Arctic, one against we need to protect, which is why we have two hundred sixty four five day air sea and

Another big issue that's going to come up this week is this Board of Peace that President Trump is keen on. I'm not sure whether it's for Gaza or for the entire world, but apparently Canada has been invited.

Are you going to join? We have been invited, and let me start by I think we should recognize the progress that has been made in at least getting to the towards the end of the first phase of this process and the activation if I can put it that way, of the process. To set up the border piece is the start of phase two. Our view is and that's to be welcomed and this is a positive vehicle. Our view is we need to work on the actual structure

There's a suggestion you can get permanent membership of the border piece by polling up a billion dollars.

You're going to write a check for that. We would write checks and deliver in kind to improve the welfare of the people of Palestine, but we want to see it delivered direct to those outcomes, those outcomes promoting peace and sower the mechanics and how it works that way. Okay, final question.

President Trump and a lot of people who agree with him condemn globalism a lot, and I suspect you know you would be the kind of epitome of a globalist. You know you work for Goldman Sachs. I believe you were at central banker. You know you're comfortable and lived in several countries. Is globalism first of all?

Is it a thing?

And is it over?

I think, well, look, understanding how the world works, having an appreciation for other cultures, understanding the connections, and being able to or at least appreciating ways that how we connect, whether it's through technology, trade, investment, culture can enrich our lives and that's a good thing. And also help solve problems being detached from where you live and the broader needs of society. There is an epithet for that. I don't know that the G word is the one, and

Okay, prominent, Thank you very much in day much

You