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Complicated.
This is Kurt Schlicker and I am the guest host now on an Ole Minneapolis day here at the UUIT show. That's the Suicide Commandos with their amazing rock and roll sensation Complicated Fun one of my favorite songs. I love it so much. This is great for me. I'm having a great time. What's the only thing that could make it better?
Why? Being joined by my pal Jim Garretty.
He is the senior political correspondent over at National Review Online.
Jim, Welcome to the Hue Hewitt Show.
Good afternoon, Kirk, Happy impending new year.
And I got to say, Suicide Commandos is my favorite James gunnfilm.
Nice Nice, oh man. Jim.
You and I have been good friends for a long time. We disagree on a lot of things about Donald Trump, but let me ask you something. You know, the vibe seems to be shifting here. And I wrote about this at town Hall the other day that the economic news is good, there are great things happening in foreign policy. We may very well see Maduro go down, followed by those sobs in Cuba, of which I have a personal
interest in seeing, swinging from a lamppost. And it looks like Iran, where the IRGC is now using live ammunition to try and hold onto power that may fall too. If all that falls, Trump's gonna be looking pretty good, right, Kurt.
Not only would he be looking pretty good, I would say he's the greatest neo conservative president of all time, taking mantle from George W. Bush Job semi seriously. I love Democrats and Republicans had said Iran must not have a nuclear program, and you know, year by year, decade by decade, the Iranians kept inching closer and closer, and what I think was probably one of the best decisions
the president made all year. We did the bombing operation and it's now been set back probably at least two years. And the Iranian nuclear program is under a giant file of rubble.
So there's that.
So I'll give credit and for all of this, you know, the if Maduro goes down by the way, the earlier this week, the Iranian Supreme Ayatola said that we were in a state of total war with them.
Kurt, had you noticed, oh well, I think I would have noticed a state of total war.
And I don't think it says.
Something if like Iran has not been in the news since the bombing operation about halfway through the year.
Every once in a while they come out and they rattle the saber and.
And all that stuff.
But really this is actually like, yeah, it is just an observation that they need to remind to the world. Oh no, we're still fighting the Great Satan. We haven't stopped that one bit. And you know, what we're seeing right now reminds me a bit of two thousand and nine, the Green Revolution, the uprising there.
The president of Alma did.
Not take a very particularly strong stance of and effectively save the Iranian regime.
I know Trump will not be doing the same.
I hope the Iranian people can topple rulers who have been abusing them for a very long time. I'm not gonna get my hopes too high about this. We've seen this sort of thing happened before. But boy, would not be a wonderful way to ring in twenty twenty six with.
Oh, I would love it. And frankly, the Iranians are building bridges to America right now. We have joined forces against Canada, which the Iranians just recently declared the Royal Canadian Navy to be a terrorist organization, So you know there's a shot at unity. But Jim, let me ask you some about this Somali fraud thing, because to me, it's the gift that on giving. It's a great big cactus thorn covered suppository for our Democrat friends going into twenty twenty six.
How do you think this is going to play?
Oh?
Well, first of all, the very first thing that I ever wrote about Tim Walls, in fact, I went and looked it up July twenty ninth, twenty twenty four, and I said that there was no way Kamala Harris was going to pick Tim Walls, because the entire Minnesota state government had had one egregiously embarrassing fraud scandal after another, and no one in their right mind would ever pick Tim Walls because he's such a he's nowhere near prepared to be the next president of the United States. At
heart a heartbeat away. Well, I completely erroneously botch that one. But Kurt, how much would you have been saying if I had said to you, by the time we get to the end of twenty twenty five on the Harris Walls campaign, Harris will be perceived as the smart one. Would you have taken that bet at any point in twenty.
Twenty four I would have left money on the table.
Jim Garrity of next Door Review on like, what's this strange new respect for Kamala Harris got maybe in comparison to Tim Walls, I don't understand it's leading a race.
Such as it.
Well, that's name recognition. I actually don't think that's a particularly a huge deal. One more point on Walls that I think was drastically undercovered, and it's not the biggest aspect of this, but I think it's a revealing one. Back in November, Minnesota's legislator has this thing called the Office of the Legislative Order, whose job is to audit state spending, and unsurprisingly it's one of the things that has found a bunch.
Of these fraud scandals.
Right, they did an audit of the offices of governor Walls, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, right from twenty twenty two to the end of last year of twenty twenty four, basically looking at all kinds of spending, all kinds of basics, right and unsurprisingly, they found a whole bunch of errors and a whole bunch of things that were not taken care of in very basic stuff like keeping track of receipts, time sheets, holidayly if lee payments, adventory, reimbursements, and payments
to vendors, all kinds stuff.
And somebody might be like, oh, who cares about that stuff.
That's you know, small potatoes compared to these billions of dollars.
And I'm not going to disbute that, but I'm.
Gonna observe, if you're the governor of Minnesota, how your office runs is one of the few things you absolutely control. This is not a matter of you have to work with the state legislature. This is the basic put it in terms he would understand. This is the basic blocking and tackling of management. And Tim Walls and his Lieutenant Governor Peggy flan again, who is running for Senate.
Both were terrible at this.
So it's not like, oh, we couldn't keep track of that stuff because you know, it was all in these office buildings far off of mini app.
They couldn't keep track of.
What was going on in their own office, which is like a demonstration. Like Tim Walsley, Boy, he's got that folkseness and he talks about how he knows how to fix the carburetor and all.
That kind of stuff. He can't manage.
And when I say he can't manage, I don't just mean he can't work with the legislature on running the executive branch. He can't manage things in his own office on Like, is everybody filling out their time sheets? Is everybody filling out the right paperwork for reimbursement?
Like this is.
Kurt, you're at a law firm. I am sure you had to do all this stuff. Yes, you were earning your law firm.
I did, and I matched not that any fraudulate daycare centers in my general location.
Right, Yeah, this is awesome.
I'm going to guess almost everybody who's ever worked in an office has had.
To do you know.
Yeah, you gotta fill out your time sheet. Yeah, if you're a guy to leave, you gotta fill out the right kind of all this stuff is kind of basic, and none of this was taking care of that. You know, the report is out there, I'm posted on on state website, and it just is it just kind of struck me as an example of people who are on the left side of the spectrum have these grandiose desires of how
government can take care of health care. They want to do, you know, obviously a grand expansion of childcare.
Right.
The government should take on bigger and more extensive roles in governments to take care of things.
But they can't take care of the basics. And why are you asking.
For more money from me and more authority over me if you can't take care of these basics.
Yeah, I think it's uh. I mean, that's the purpose of the Democrat Party to generate money for its constituents so they stay loyal. Jim, we got out thirty seconds left right now, how do you think? How do you think twenty twenty six is gonna go in the mid terms. I'm kind of optimistic. I think if the economy's kicking, the Republicans could in fact increase their margin.
I think it's gonna be rough. Part of it is the high retirement rate, the redistricting wars might mitigate that a bit.
I think the Democrats may over interpret Mom Damie and nominate a bunch of you know, left wing nut jobs here and there.
But look, it's a midterm It very rarely goes well to the president's party. So well, I'm not as optimistic as you.
Bert Well, thank you, Jim Garrity. Happy new Year to you and your family. Always great to talk to my pal Jim here on the Hugh Quit Show.
And guess it is Kurt Schlickter. We'll be right back. Tell me Welcome back to the Huhuitt Show and guesso s.
Kurt Schlichter, author of the new book Panama Read the Ninth and mckelly turnbull People's Republic series of conservative action novels. People love it great ratings on Amazon. Go to Amazon get Panama Read. And by the way, that music, well, we're doing all Minneapolis Bumper music. Of course, that's the greatest band ever, Dwayne the Replacements with Unsatisfied, which is arguably their best song. It is a just terrific. If you want to not be unsatisfied, you've got to do
things for other people. Okay, material stuff that's not going to satisfy you. What's going to satisfy you is helping others. And I've done it.
I went out and I.
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You can do it too. Welcome back.
I am guest host Kurt Schlickter, and I am joined here on the Huewit Show by David Drucker, the senior political writer at The Dispatch.
You can follow him at David M.
Drucker. David, Welcome to Hugh Hewitt Show. Good to see it, Kurt, I am positively giddy over this smally fraud ring thing that's happening up in Mogadisha, I mean Minneapolis. It validates the Republicans on immigration, on government corruption, on the inability of Blue officials to adequately manage government. It is a win win win for Republicans. Do you think I'm overplaying it?
Well?
I mean, I think it depends on how you're looking at.
I mean, could it cause problems for Governor Walls in his re election in twenty twenty six. I mean, it's the kind of thing that should right. Whenever you're the chief executive in this level of corruption or fraud happens on your watch, you should be held.
Responsible, responsible by the voters. That doesn't always happen these days.
But we will see doesn't have legs beyond the many the Minnesota governor's race. I'm doubtful, but you know, we'll have to see.
Well, David Drucker, I'm feeling a vibe shift here. I wrote that at town Hall on my Monday column. We have a Trafalgar report out polling fifty percent approval forty four percent disapproval for Trump. The Morning Console just came out with a poll has the economic indicators that the most optimistic numbers in five years. Gas prices are down, egg prices are down, meat price is still high. I think things are getting better for the Republicans. Is Trump's economic policies get online again?
Am I lost? Am I misguided?
Well?
I don't know.
Any We're gonna have to see.
I mean, look, I'm polling.
I pay attention to the averages, not any particular poll, whether you know, whether you like the poll or hate the poll. I just wouldn't pay attention to any one particular poll. But the averages, the real clear politics average is something to pay attention to.
That's number one.
I think number two just we're going to have to see in the polling how people feel about the economy. The indicators are less important than how people feel. They're important in that if the indicators are good, then you know, theoretically eventually people will feel good about the economy. But we've often seen the macro indicators at odds with people's
you know, current lived experience. I mean that's that was true in twenty twenty four, when a lot of the macro indicators were good but people were unhappy about inflation, and that's one of the reasons why President Trump is back in the White House.
So we're just going to have to see.
I mean, from everything that we're seeing broadly, Democrats are still in a good position for the midterm elections, but it's very early. Things can change, and so let's see how voters feel about the president's handling of the economy, how they feel about the cost of living broadly, which is a bigger issue than just inflation and the price of groceries. It's been the biggest issue that they care about in every poll we've seen this year. But let's see how twenty twenty six looks.
Well, David Drucker, you know, personnel, everything starts with people. In twenty twenty six. In the midterms, it all starts with candidates. We have kind of an odd dynamic. We have a lot of Republicans, and not all of them, you know, the kind of soft establishment Republicans that drive me up a wall, but some harder ones are retiring.
We were in the process of selecting some candidates. Democrats are too, but you know, it doesn't look like you know, it looks like they just threw away the Texas opportunity. I mean, Jasmine Crockett gets crushed no matter who wins in the primary there. How do you think the Propublicans are going to do as things start getting better with candidates selection? And how do you think the Democrats are going to do when they have pressure from the left with this Mondamie fascination.
Yeah, look, you know from what we've seen so far, and here's what I would say. First of all, I wouldn't rule out James Tallerico in the Texas Democratic primary. He's definitely going to be more competitive than Jasmine Crockett. In my view, It's still a really tough race for Democrats. Whether the atmosphere is good for Democrats or bad for it's just a tough race for them in Texas. But Talla Rico certainly makes it a little bit more interesting.
So let's see how that primary plays out. There are a lot of primaries coming up, and I'd say both parties, you know, have some good candidates, they have some clunkers. Let's see who wins these primaries, and that's going to tell us a lot about some of these races. In twenty twenty six, the Democrats managed to nominate some really good candidates for governor in Virginia and New Jersey in twenty twenty five. Right, And Mam Donnie is this is this odd bird in that he was a perfect fit
for liberals in New York. We haven't yet seen replicas of him elsewhere. Both parties are going to face pressure from their wings. They always do, and so it's just, you know, it's just a matter of where these people win. Right, If you nominate somebody like Maundani in Virginia New Jersey, you have problems. If you nominate him in New York City, not a problem. And I could say that about you know,
center right candidates as well. There are certain red states or red districts where you can have everything as a you know, conservative or a populist that you ever wanted in somebody. But in a swing district you want somebody who's broad a repeal. We're just gonna have to see how it plays out.
Well, David Drucker, I'm actually a little concerned about one of the points that you raised. I don't think that the governor candidates in New Jersey or Virginia were particularly exceptional at all, and they just crushed the Republican was that part of the zeitgeist at the time. Was it that they face bad candidates? And I don't think the New Jersey candidate was bad. I think the Virginia candidate was bad. I'm kind of worried.
I was in New Jersey and then the Republican nominee there was a good candidate that the Republican nominee in Virginia was particularly weak. But I would say span Burger and Cheryl were both exceptional candidates who have a lot of real life skill. They talked about the number one thing that voters wanted to talk about, and that was affordability and their concerns and pressures about the cost of living.
They did a very good job.
Doesn't mean that they would make stellar presidential candidates, I don't know, but they were very good gubernatorial candidates.
I've covered them for quite a while.
I covered Spanburger's first race for the House of Representatives in twenty eighteen. A lot of good political instincts, a lot of broad appeal to swing voters and soft partisans. They ran really solid races. I had some criticisms of span Burger in terms of how she handled the trans trans women and women's sports issue, but they ended up running strategically the race they needed to run, and she didn't just win, she crushed. But I'd say that she
deserves some of the credit there. Cheryl deserves a lot of the credit. So don't feel that bad.
I guess that is what I'm saying.
Well, David M. Drunker, Happy New Year. It is always great to talk to you. When I Kurt Schlicker get to guest. Ho's here on the Hugh Hewitt Show. I want you to stick around. We have a lot more to come. Welcome back to Hugh Hewitt Show. I'm guest Hos Kurt Schlicker. Yeah, I was an Army colonel. I'm a senior commentence at town Hall dot com and the author of Panama Red, which you should go get at Amazon. And of course for about thirty years I was a
trial lawyer. But you know, when I had a First Amendment case, I wasn't going to take on myself.
Who did I call?
I called the best First Amendment best political lawyer I knew anywhere, and that's har Meat Dylan. Harmeat Dylan is now the Assistant Attorney General for so Rights and she's joining us on the Hugh Hewitt Show.
Hi, Harmy, how are you doing.
I'm great, Thanks for having me.
Kurt, Well, I have to ask you.
I keep seeing on Twitter all these people who have your wonderful knit caps, and I'm wondering what I have to do to get a Hermie Dylan nit cap. Don't say come work for me at Civil Rights Division.
Yeah, we could use some help at the Civil Rights Division, the top tier of leadership. They're all qualified for the nit hats, but I'll definitely put you in consideration for the list.
Oh excellent, And before we go on, you got tell us what tell us what the Civil Rights Division does and how you're reorienting it.
Well.
The Civil Rights Division is one of the most sizable and important parts of main justice, and we are responsible for administering all of the federal civil rights laws, very broadly construed to include, but not limited to, all the federal voting rights laws, disability to discrimination, discrimination in prisons and housing and employment, and gosh, you know a few other areas Voting Rights Act and some others, and some
obscure ones you haven't heard of. We are also responsible for hate crime prosecutions involving violence against people on the basis of protected characteristics, and this administration this has meant a very sizable uptick in work to protect religious liberties and fight against attacks on churches, synagogues, and other houses
of worship. And so, you know, normally in a Republican administration, Kurt, the Civil Rights Division just kind of tries to downshift the left wing nonsense that the prior administration has been doing and really just not have much of its own agenda. But what the President and the Attorney General asked me to do is really lead a activist civil rights division.
And so we, I think it's fair to say, in our mind not less than nine months in office, have been among the most if not the most active and filing cases and putting points on the board of any Republican administration in history in the Civil Rights Division.
Well, Armi Dylan, I've been so impressed at how how responsive you are in your division to things that are happening kind of in the social media world, things that have become visible and kind of irrupt, and then the DJ is on it.
You know, hey, we've discovered, you know, this place is.
Preventing, you know, allowing men in women's locker rooms, and you know it becomes it becomes a thing on social media, and then suddenly the DJ is there going, yes, we're aware of this, now we're investigating. That's kind of revolutionary to be that responsive.
Well, I think that's correct. I mean there are a couple of reasons for that. First of all, lawyers are kind of fuddy duddies about using the Internet and being engaged. And you know, you and I are among the few on the right who have been both successful lawyers and also very actively engaged on social media. It's usually one or the other.
And so I am. I have a.
Big social media following from before I joined the DJ and about one point five million plus followers online, and so I do find it a very valuable tool because you have to keep up, and so it is a way to find information today. I don't actually watch television very much. I'm not you know, I don't have the TV on in the background because TV is like twelve to twenty four hours behind what's really happening.
And when the.
Modern day journalist heroes who are the Nick Shirley's and you know, the Matt Tamy's and some of these others who you know, right or left, they're the ones who are getting the leads and sharing the stories in real time. Those are the ones I pay attention to and where we get our attention on something. Our libs of TikTok is also a great source for some of our issues involving schools or employment. We do open up investigations based
on Internet leads, and I am proud of that. And I got mocked a little bit by prior pearl clutching DOJ officials and even some former Republican members of Congress. I think it's quote unquote not serious to be online and engaging with the public. Well, I think it is serious. I think it is a public calling and a duty, and I'm pleased with how much work we've been able to do. And by the way, sometimes simply tweeting about something or writing a letter stops at dead in its tracks.
I've stopped a ridiculous DEI program at Asheville, North Carolina by reading about it online, responding to a internet journalist whistleblower, sending a letter in boom no no, no shots fired in court because they simply stopped what they were doing. And so that is really effectiveness and action, and that's what people should expect from their government officials.
Well, one of the problems that you've had, Harmeat Dylan, is a lot of the lawyers in your division simply quit. They chose to retire. They wouldn't work for you, and like the didn't like the new politics and didn't like the new direction.
So you guys are.
Being unbelievably active with a much smaller group.
I think that any.
Young lawyer, any lawyer in their first ten year or even after, would benefit immeasurably for coming and working in your organization.
What do you have?
You know, how easy is it to come in and work for you if you're a qualified lawyer who wants to go and make a real difference.
Well that's a great question. So yes, I think it's a mixed bag because two thirds of the lawyers or so maybe even seventy five percent quit because it did not like our direction, which was directed towards the White House's priorities. So in a way it's good because they
got out of the way. But we do need to replace those people with patriots for willing to do the work, and a lot of the work we do is a political kurt enforcing our Americans with Disabilities Act or Housing violations or protecting our veterans and our service members from discrimination. This should not be very controversial, or my goodness, working on anti semitism issues. And so we are actually hiring quite a few people in both the beginnings of their
careers and the ends of their careers. And you know, I'm really proud of that. And so quite a few lawyers have come to us who are late in their careers and they are you able to work to achieve things that they couldn't do in private practice and just finish off their careers with a bang, closing down out of date consent decrees and things like that. And so you know, we will take people of all backgrounds, all levels of their careers. We just are looking to hire
good lawyers. They're going to get great experience, they will be making a difference because the work that we're doing is literally in the headlines every single day, and as part of this administration's priorities.
Well, I got to tell you if I now, I have not built a single hour of law in over a year, and I am so excited about that.
I'm moving on to other things.
But if I was still a name partner at a firm and somebody walked in with your experience on the resume. I work for har Meat Dylan at Civil Rights Holy Cow. I swoop them up trial experience, negotiation experience.
I mean that is golden stuff.
So if you know a lawyer out there audience, a young lawyer who wants who wants to build experience, contact Harmony Dylan, get out there and get hired. How does someone do that, har Meat.
Well, they go to USA Jobs dot gov and then search for Civil Rights. We're hiring for all different levels and all different kinds of lawyers. We have particular needs, and our election litigation is extremely busy. Our DEI dismantling programs in both employment and in other areas like government
contracting and education are very busy. I've personally negotiated almost half a billion dollars of settlements with American universities that we're engaged in DEI and that that work is going to continue next year, and you can take a leadership role. And the work is so important that we're doing. We go to the White House frequently for meetings and the
top leadership and we are actively engaged. I mean, on any given week, I'm talking to Cabinet members about different issues and working collaboratively with them and their general counsels to solve problems for all Americans. And we consider that to be our charge. We work for all Americans, not just sort of the woke few who are getting their AX scored for the last few decades. And that is revolutionary.
I mean, the idea that we're treating white men as protected under our civil rights laws is anathema to the people who plit and there.
Thank you, Harmony Dylan. I got to tell you, if.
You're a young lawyer you want to work for Harmony, it ain't going to be easy. It's going to be hard, and you're gonna love every mind of it. I'm guess host Kurt Schlichter. Stick around. We're back on the UWIT Show. I'm guest host Kurt Schlichter, senior calmnist town Hall dot Com, former trial lawyer, retired.
United States Army colonel.
I'm joined by doctor Michael worn who's the founder of the Israel Advocacy Group and the go to guy for everything Israel here on the UUAGE Show.
Doctor Rorn, welcome, good.
To be with the Kurt Hey and happy New Year.
Well, happy New Year to you too.
It seems like you're always the perfect guy to talk to because there's always something happening, uh in the Middle East. And obviously, uh, you know, I thought yesterday the big the big deal was going to be Netanyahu meeting with Trump, turns out to be Iran and uh, the latest threat to the Mullas.
How do you assess that? And what what should Israel and the United States rule be?
Okay, good, two good questions. What's happening has happened before. There have been uprises in the past, but never under circumstances so dire for the regime. The value of the Iranian currencies down sixty percent, there's no electricity, there's no water. It is quite dire. Corruption is rampant, and and certainly the American and international sanctions have exacerbated that situation.
So the regime is in bad shape. It's been in bad shape before, going back to.
Two thousand and nine, June two thousand and nine, there was the Green Revolution remember.
That one, yep.
And after that there was the Women's Revolution in twenty twenty two. So there have been times that had a revolution. Every time the Iranian regime pulls out the stops, they have these thugs called the besiege who go out there with you know, truncheons and bash people's head in or simply kill them in the streets, and they're what they're going to do that this time.
The big question is, you say, Curtis, what's the United States going to do? What is Israel going to do?
Where Israel is always backed these revolution in back the Green Revolution in two thousand and nine, Arab back the Women's Resolution in twenty twenty two, the big question is the United States Back in two thousand and nine, President Obama said I'm.
Not going to help these people.
He was trying to reach a nuclear deal with the regime, and President Biden didn't help them either. So the big question is will Donald Trump, in view of what he said yesterday that he is.
Really putting down a red line for Iran. It's saying that Iran would.
Face a green light in the United States for Israel tact to graded Iran should he run try to rebuild its missile capability, to certainly its nuclear program. And the United States is keeping on the table a credible military response, call a military threat, that's extraordinary, and believe me, the Runians are take that very very seriously, I think the United States and Israel should give their support.
Maybe not active support.
But say, listen, if there's a change of regime in Tehran, nothing can make us happier.
Well, doctor Roran, I'm looking at the courses of action brief for the president. One is to tamp this down. That's the one that Biden and Obama took. The other is kind of stay the core, see what happens. Then there's covert support for the revolutionaries. Then there's overt support. I could see taking down the IRGC buildings. I could see taking tactical sites for the CG, these internal security gestapo types. Do you think there's any room for that kind of aggressive support.
I think keeping it under the radar is the best right now.
I tell you why that if you strike national institutions, even if they're hated national institutions, it tends to rally the people around the government, and we saw that for a period after the June War our last summer. So I would keep it low profile right now, but certainly keep it substantial and let the people in the street know that they're not alone. Then I States has their backs, and I said it did not have their back during previous revolutions.
Well, when you say have their back, there's a lot of different There's a difference between moral support and actual material support. Do you think the United States, through its covert forces should introduce weapons into Iran to allow them to actually confront these guys? There is our reports that the RGC is using live ammunition against people. I think it might be hard for America to sit back if you know freedom marchers are being butchered in the streets by these seventh century savages.
Well, some isolations United States may say just that this is not our business, so why should we get involved in? This is too dangerous. But there are many different types of aid you can give to groups like this. There's communication, there are everything from walkie talkies to a training exercises. You don't necessarily have to provide them with weapons. I assume at some point the big hope in Iran is
the army. It's the army against the IRGC. You can get the army to rise up against these thugs, then there's actually a change, chance for a serious regime change in Iran.
If Iran falls, and when I mean Iran falls, I mean the government of the Mulla fall and it becomes a more secularized, less you know, prophetic Jahadest government that asserts itself around the world. That completely resets the strategic se chess board, not only in the Middle East but around the world. I mean that is a massive development.
Is it element First of all, as you said, around the world.
I mean, the Iranians provide the Russians with the drones and long range missile to kill Ukrainians, and the Chinese received most of.
Their oil from Iran.
So it certainly reshuffles the global chess board, but it really reverts to Middle East to what it was back in nineteen seventy nine before the Iranian revolution, asue.
Had excellra relations with Iran. I can't tell how.
Many Iranians, how many these reralings I know who grew up in Tehran because their fathers worked in Iran. So we can go back to that situation and we create a completely different dynamic in the Middle East where we could have peace between Israel Lebanon because his Bulah will wither on the voy. We could have peace with Israel in Syria, peace with Israel in Saudi Arabia through Saudi Arabia, peace with the entire sunny world and the Middle East could look profoundly, profoundly.
Different in another year than it looks right just now, ye, right now.
Well, look, and you were involved with Israeli government, so I wouldn't expect your comment on it. But it's pretty obvious that the long term strategic goal of Israel is to bring down the Malas. And if it isn't a long term strategic goal of the United States, it damn well should be to bring down the Mallas. These guys have killed thousands of Americans and they have been a threat to world peace, and they.
Need to pay.
How does the Middle East look if the Malas are gone and Iran becomes the great and prosperous country that it frankly should be.
I think what I just said, We could have peace between Israel and all these different countries. You could have a swath of peace that extends from the Mediterranean all the way to India, and what had been, you know, the hot spot in the world, the great crucible of conflicts in the world, could be actually the.
Meadow of peace in the Middle Egue put it that way, and it could be very different.
Now, I don't want to be Polyadish there are many, many steps that have to occur, and you're still going to have to deal with Islamic extremism of.
The Sunny Stripe.
You have to deal with al Qaeda and ISIS and the.
Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. They're still around.
And they're being support by other people, other countries other than Iran. You're still going to have your challenges, but it could be an amazing major breakthrough.
Yesterday, Donald Trump said to Hamas, you're going to disarm. You're either going to do it yourself or it's going to be done for you. Does Israel understand that to mean American forces participating or is this backing Israel in going and finishing the job that frankly, I think Israel should have been allowed to do in the first place.
Well, I think Israel understands that the President Trump has said unequivocally no boots on the ground and doesn't want American boots on the ground. That's why you have an Israel there, so you don't have to have American boots on the ground. And if Hamas is going to be disarmed militarily, kinetically, there's another country in the world that's going to do it.
Except for Israel. That's the end. No one else is going to die for Hamas.
No one else is going to die so frankly, for Israel, it's our troops who have to go out there and defend our homes, defend our families, our neighborhoods, and you do that by taking out hamas well.
What Israel has done in h Gaza is magnificent. I understand a little about that. For my time in the military, I know what they've done. I'm afraid other people don't fully appreciate it. But thank you doctor Michael Warren for coming on the Hugh Hewitt Show sharing your experience. It is always good to hear from you because you know what's happening. And if you want to listen to the Hugh Hewitt Show and watch on the Salem News Channel,
you'll know what's happening. I'm guess ho's Kurt Schlector and there's a lot more happening to come.
We are back.
You can you believe.
That nineteen ninety nine was like twenty six years ago. I'm I'm freaking out here a little bit, folks here at the Hugh Hewitt Show. I'm guess its church Lickter, and it is my distinct pleasure to bring in the chairman of the Trump Kennedy Center, the guy that Donald Trump sends when there's a problem. He's got Rick Grennell on speed dial. Hi, Rick, Welcome to the showy Kurt.
Thanks thanks for having me. Great to see you. Happy New Year to you.
Hey, Happy New Year to you too.
And I know Arena sends her regards to I was just wondering, are you guys. I know you guys are having some problem with artists over there. May I suggest a revival of the best Little Smally daycare in Minnesota for the Trump Kennedy Center.
Woes that work out?
OK?
I think what's happening is is that they're proving our point because when I arrived at the Kennedy Center, we we're paying staff with debt reserves. We had no money in the bank, and the shows were so woke that people weren't responding. And so now that you have new management and we're cleaning up the place and we're getting more corporate donors and other donors.
Than we've ever had.
We've raised one hundred and thirty million dollars in one months for the pot.
Wait did you say it crazy.
Did you say one hundred's that's Somali daycare money?
One hundred and thirty million, that's incredible.
Yeah.
Look, and all these stories that the media keep attacking us on, they never talk about how much money we're raising because we've fixed programming and corporate America is coming back. Look, the reality is is you're never going to be able to run in our institutions with just ticket sales alone. Ticket sales for every single art institution across to America for the last seven to.
Eight years have been in the tank.
The only way that you can get to revenue neutral is to have donors and corporations who believe in the programming who write the check to make up the difference.
Look the New York Times, which I never quote, Kurt.
You know me, I never quote them, But about two and a half months ago, the New York Times did a front page story that said Broadway is dying. Ticket sales are in the tank, no one is coming out to live shows. We've seen that since COVID, and so the idea that these political reporters in Washington somehow want to pretend like the Kennedy Center, which also like every arts institution has ticket sale issues. Is somehow different is just not true. What is different about us is that
we've fixed our problems. We've never been in better financial shape, and that's because when you have big programming, you actually have the corporate support. What we've seen now is shows that were booked under the previous regime saying we don't want to be a part of something that has Donald Trump's name on it. Fine, if you can't perform for conservatives, I don't really think you're an artist. I think artists perform for everyone, regardless of how they believe and who they vote for.
And so we're getting.
Rid of all these people that want to have some sort of a litmus test to say I'm only going to perform for people who believe like me.
Well, Rick Granell, I'm looking at some of these acts that have ostentatiously told you we will not perform a place of filliad with Donald Trump. Something called The Cookers has sold sixty of five hundred tickets. Whoever Chuck read is sixty three out of two hundred for a free show. These guys are they're doing you a favor?
Yeah, they are, because we're saving money. Look, the reality is if we book somebody and who somebody was booked under previous regime, we expect that they fulfill their contract.
Otherwise we have a whole bunch of costs.
So with Chuck Read, he came out and he said, I'm not performing because Donald Trump's name is on the place now. The reality is is that a lot of people expect to have a show. They had dinner reservations, they booked a car service. We have nineteen unions at the Kennedy Center, so I can't turn those plans off. There's a cost to that. And so what we've said is if you do this because of political reasons, then we will sue.
You to get our money back.
And so we're suing Chuck Red for one million dollars because he decided that he couldn't perform for Republicans and he canceled at the last minute. And there's a cost to that within the industry. If somebody cancels and they claim it for some other reason, We're not going after every single person who cancels. Matter of fact, as you point out, sometimes when people cancel, it's because they are seeing ticket sales not doing well and they can't find
corporate donors and they don't have individual donors. And what I've said to these individuals, you're going to be on the hook if you come here with the show and you can't get to revenue neutral. You got to come up with the difference. There must be a rich person or corporation that believes in your artistry enough to support you. If you can't find someone to pay the bills for your artistry, then I would say that that's a basic
principle of economics. You shouldn't ask people to go into debt to watch you look.
Next year is a two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the United States of America. I assume that the Trump Caddy Center is going to honor that. What are your plans for twenty twenty six, Rick, Right now.
We have got massive programming coming.
Some of the best things that we've been able to book haven't been able to book in years. I'm not going to get in front of it because we want to make sure that we have our marketing materials ready. But you're going to see a couple of big announcements and we're really excited about it. I think that people will see that we are going to bring back big, common sense programming. We've already had the stut Guard Ballet.
We're bringing the the Vienna Philharmonic, which hasn't been back to the Kennedy Center in decades, probably the world's greatest symphony. And so we have the big acts coming. People want to come. We just had in December Miranda Lambert, Brooks and Dunn Guards, Brooks, Cheap Trick, all celebrating kiss.
I Love Cheap Trick. Oh my god, I totally showed up.
They reunited at the Kennedy Center. We're getting the big names. Yeah, we're getting the big names. We just you know, we want to be responsible with the money that we've been given, and we're we've never been in better financial shape, but clearly the left is unhappy. They'd like us to be in worse financial shape and keep funding some of these woke programs.
Well, look what you're doing, Rick Renell, is you're going out and you're appealing to all Americans, whether they're woke, whether they're not woke. Where they like country music, where are they like classical, because that's what this center is. Thank you, Rick Renell. Always great to see you. Mary, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Hope, to see you in the next couple months and stick around here on the Hugh Hewett Show.
I'm guess so schurchlicker.
Christmas shopping time. Are you feeling a little bit pinched? Well, if you make a switch to Consumer Cellular, you may add some stretch to your budget. Consumer Sellular dot Com slash Hugh one eight hundred and four to one forty four fifty four. Now listen, do not fall for the phone on us Big Wireless offer.
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Welcome back to h HWET Show. I'm guest host Kurt Schlicker. I'm joined now by Andrew Clovit. He's he's now the producer of The Charlie. He is a senior official with TPUSA, and he is part of a generation that's showing the hell out of mind. I mean, Andrew, why is your generation making my generation look so damn bad?
What?
It's good to see a Kurt.
It's fun to be on the other side of things. Usually, you know, I'm interviewing you, but yeah, listen, I think you know, I think you're right. Our generation has gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to the compact that a government makes with its people. And we you know, young people in America, they have been put by the wayside. They've been told they're toxically masculine, they've been told to sit down and shut up, stop complaining.
And you know, Meanwhile, foreigners have gotten free debit cards filled with cash, free airplane tickets anywhere in the interior they want. And you know, eventually the frustration gets to a point where you know you want real action taken on behalf of your community, your generation, and Americans more broadly. So I think, listen, we have a memory of what America is supposed to be like, what America should be like.
We've been told from our parents what it was like when they were growing up, and we realized there's an incongruence there, and we want what was ours. We want our birthright, and so we're gonna stand up and fight for it. That's what I think.
Well, Andrew, look, I was there during the golden Age of America. I was about your age then, and it's all true. I feel like I'm han Solo in that terrible seek Star Star Wars sequel. Now it is all true, and it rips me up that your generation does not have the same opportunities I have.
But you guys aren't quitting.
I mean, Charlie Kirk showed us a great example of someone who refuses to quit. We got Nick Shirley in Minnesota, who is making a whole my generations, regime media reporters look like clowns because he's going out and doing the real work. I've got a lot of you know, and I led your generation as a soldier. I think you guys are great, and I'm I'm very happy that your generation's coming along.
Well.
I think you guys also had some structural disadvantages as far as getting the truth. I mean, I think the Internet has democratized in some ways negatively. We've seen that too, Kurt, but there aren't the gatekeepers that are keeping people like Charlie Kirk on the sidelines. I mean, Charlie was able to build the Charlie Kirk Show build Turning Point from scratch, largely thanks to social media, largely thanks to the ability to get the message out in a you know, decentralized,
democratized way. And we saw that, you know, especially with Charlie and TikTok when they took the breaks.
Off of his account on TikTok.
We've got billions and billions of views and helped win the White House in twenty twenty four because listen, with a level playing and decentralized.
Media pipes and.
Electrical laid right, we were able to get our message out far and wide.
And so so you guys didn't have that.
You had the old school legacy news media, you know, Fox News in a box, CNN in a box, and that was about it. And even you go back further and it was Walter Cronkite and that was that was it.
So the official narrative was the official narrative.
And I think what.
You've seen is that this new generation is not putting up with the official narrative.
This new generation wants more, they want.
Deeper truth, and they've they've become convinced that their elites are lying to them. They've been convinced that the institutions are selling them out, and they're not.
Going to put up with it anymore.
And hopefully what we get on the backside of all of this, Tunnult, all this chaos is a more honest institutional establishment in this country, a more conservative institutional establishment in this country.
But also we get some.
Sanity, right, So I think we've got to we got to find a way to marry the too. That's one of the reasons why I love having you on the Charlie Kirk Show, Kurt is because you you have a healthy distrust of the elite in the experts, so called experts. But you also have common sense insanity, and you've got to marry the two of those. So hopefully we take the best of both. We chew the meat and spit out the bones, and we come out in a better place, that's more honest.
Well, look, a lot of a lot of people are very worried about TPUSA, very concerned that it's going to be able to continue after the terrible murder of Charlie Kirk. How is TPSA doing.
Yeah, TPUSA, turning point USA is you know, obviously we're reeling. There's there's no sugarcoating that we lost Charlie in the most horrific type of way, and.
You know that that's.
Going to take years of processing, of grieving. You know, I've told people, I don't know that we're ever going to get over that. I don't know that you're supposed to get over something like that. But as far as the organization is considered, I mean, Charlie's legacy is so giant and so enormous and so incredible and historic that you know, we're blessed by what he's left us, and that is a momentum that you couldn't have possibly imagine.
I mean, Kurt, we're.
Still opening fifty new Turning Point chapters at college and high schools across the country every single day, and you don't really appreciate what a herculean task that is.
Until you've started a chapter.
You got to to become a registered student organization. You got to get a sponsor, you got to fill out paperwork, you got to get a core group of kids that are all in alignment. You got to get parental involvement a lot of times at these high schools. And then you've got to meet with the committees and meet with the faculty, and so it's a multi step process.
And our team that's spread out across the.
Country is really good at that, thankfully, and they're making historic progress. I mean, any grassroots organization in the country can tell you that starting fifty new chapters of their organization.
A day is hurt. It's historic.
And so we're still drinking through a fire hose trying to get through the backlog of all these new chapter requests and inquiries.
And the other thing that.
I'll tell you is that it's not just that we're starting a chapter. These chapters are swelling in size. I mean it used to be that we'd have chapters with like five six students at them, and maybe the meetings would have twenty at them. Now we have core groups of like fifty and the meetings have hundreds at them. So even just the interest organic at the chapter level is tremendous. The social media engagement has remained robusted, extremely high. And you know, you saw Amfest. We had thirty one
thousand people at Amfest and that was obviously historical. We had to turn off ticketing and it drove the news cycle just before Christmas every day basically, And I will tell you we're also launching a pick up the Mic Campus tour in the spring.
We're going to be doing the proven me Wrong, so we're going.
To be doing the arenas and the indoor events at night as well, and we're going to do the another piece of it where we're calling it the Make Heaven Crowded Tour, which is kind of this revival style TPUSA faith event that we're taking on the road all across the country. So the organization is strong, I mean, the interest is incredible and the grassroots support is unprecedented. So on the one hand, we're never gonna get over Charlie.
But on the other hand, you know, he's left us with such a momentum that we are honor bound, duty bound to continue and see that mission through.
Well look my feeling watching Erica Kirk and her grace in the days after that terrible that terrible murder. I thought, these guys don't know what they've unleashed. They don't know what they've unleashed. The question the audience has because you know the audience, this AUDIENCECWS a little older, is you know, we know that it was the young people who swung the last election for Donald Trump, which was a shock.
We did not expect it.
You probably expected it because you're much more in touch with them than we are. What is TPUSA going to do for the twenty twenty six election cycle.
Yeah, I mean, listen, we are going to continue messaging and we're going to keep having those debates. I mean, there's no replacing Charlie's ability to do that. But I will tell you that even Charlie was warning that this was temporary. The gains that we have with young people, it was wet cement. It was not locked in stone by by any means Kurt, and we need to raise that alarm bell. Charlie was raising that alarm bell actively.
He was, you know, he didn't like the way that Epstein situation was handled, he didn't like the way that some of the foreign policy issues were handled, and he was, you know, sounding the alarm bell.
About the affordability crisis.
Young people can't afford to own homes, they can't afford to get married.
We have a whole.
Economic system and from a policy position as well, that favors the incumbents, the economic incumbents the people probably more in this audience. And that's no disgrace to the people in this audience. It's just saying, when we're making economic policy, when we're making housing policy, when we're doing these things, we have to be thinking about how do these young people get on that first rung of the ladder of economic progress.
And you know, right now, many of them feel blocked out.
They feel like the American dream is priced out of their ability to pay. And so Charlie was saying, and I agree that we need an economic moonshop for gen Z. So yeah, we could message, yeah, we can hit social media, but ultimately we have to have something that's believable to sell, Kurt.
And so if the promises that we're made in the campaign don't come to fruition, or if they can't see ample progress that you know, affordability is being dealt with, or that jobs are being dealt with, or that they're housing crisis is being dealt with, then guess what, then we're going to have a hell of a time trying to sell that through. But if in twenty twenty six, if what Scott Besson is saying a treasury that you know twenty twenty five was setting the table, twenty twenty
six is the banquet, it's the feast. If that's true, even sixty percent true, I think we've got a great message to to get out to the American people into gen Z and if they can feel real relief, they're going to be in a much better place.
Andrew Corvette of TP USA Turning Point USA, thank you so much for coming on the Hugh Hewit Show. Frankly, it was Charlie Kirk who turned me on to what's happening with young people in a way I hadn't thought of before. And Andrew's right, we need to focus on that guys.
In my generation.
We need to make sure we're not pulling the ladder up behind us. Listen to Andrew, he knows what's up. I'm Kurt Schlickter, guest hosing here for the Great Hugh Hewitt. We are back on the Hugh Hewit Show. I'm guest host Kurt Schlickter. We're joined by.
James Lilax, who I'm sure you. I'm sure you've got a.
Take or two on a Somali gate.
How you doing.
You know it's interesting you kick that off of the Mary Tyler theme show played in a little different style than the Sunny Curtis original because in the last few years of the marytittle Moore Show, she moved to this place called Cedar Square West, which is this big urban development that would combine Section eight with the highest of high and had a tall tower at the top of which would be the rich people looking down in the glittering city below, and then around it would have housing
for everybody.
I lived there for a while, I hated it.
That is the place now when you see the footage of them going into the Somali community to the big concrete complexes, see that they call a little Mogadishu.
That's where Marytotler Moore used to live. That's the place.
She doesn't live there anymore, and Minneapolis is a different place now. As to what's going on, well, there's nothing that I can add that a young kid with an iPhone showing up and knocking on doors hasn't been able to add. I will note this. The most interesting development to me today is that the sign of the Leering center apparently has been changed so it is now a learning center. And I kind of miss leering because that was a word that was going to enter the language.
I think, almost like kofev. It's just those misspellings that somehow sum things up. So the other part of this, though, that's interesting, is that the pushback now is that the kid didn't know what he was doing. Here's with the
errors of the statements. This is all overblown and it's really motivated by racism, and that's I think going to dominate a lot of the discussion, and frankly, that's a lot of what has kept the discussion from happening in the first place, is that the only objection you can have to fraud that is being revealed, whether it be autism, centers, whether it be adult care centers, whether it be childcare centers as well.
Why are you looking so? Why are you looking at them?
There's got to be some reason to it other than you're looking for fraud. So what happens after this?
I don't know.
Is it possible that Tim Waltz will suffer in an electoral defeat, entirely possible.
They've been pulling.
People all over the state and something like sixty percent of them say that fraud is yes, a major consideration, and they're voting.
They're already concerned about it. Imagine that.
But there's so many diehard absolutely pull the liver for a d no matter what, in the big metropolitan Aryan Minneapolis, that I can easily see Waltz is surviving this and becoming governor again.
I will tell you.
That the incuriosity of media is not because they have.
Some orders from on top to ignore these things. That's not the way it works.
You'll hear a lot of people who say, look the publisher, the publisher of the paper.
As a former Waltz guid yeah, it was now, I worked there. I worked there for thirty seven years.
Did I ever hear anything coming down from above telling me what to write. No, never, never, But I will tell you that you don't have to sometimes when the general atmosphere of the newsroom is is gosh, these you know, liberalism is the really the only, the only correct way for a proper person to think. When Waltz got the Deep nomination, I can't tell you the sort of squeeze
that went on. And you know, let's do a store Let's do a story about how he's really a gamer, he loves to play Madden Football.
Let's do a story about it, hunting and all the rest of it.
There was just our tim and I didn't go along with that, And that's not why I'm not there anymore. I retired, but I don't miss being in that bubble.
Well, James Lilax, I think part of it is they reside in the bubble. Part of it is well, humiliation and envy. I mean, this little twenty three year old whipper snapper with an iPhone came out and while it had been reported before, obviously those reports hadn't changed anything. This guy puts it on video, makes it viral. Everybody, As you point out, everybody knows what leering center is. One hundred and ten million views on YouTube's that's about two hundred and ten times what CNN gets.
It's extraordinary, it really is. Now, there might be some endy there, but I think it may be sublimated. And that's not forrobably the primary thing. I think a lot of it is just being flat footed as a news organization when things are changing so fast that yes, a kid with an iPhone can scoop you. There's a piece in the paper today, as a matter of fact, talking about how the Minnesota has now Minnesota's fraud story has entered the influence era.
It's not bad.
And I went to read it to say, you know, that's exactly what it is, because now, well we've had ever since the blogs came out, there have been competition of the paper, but now, yes, this is really something. And I couldn't get to the piece because it was paywalled.
And that's part of the problem. The old I mean, yes, we have to make money.
We got to figure out a way to keep the lights on and keep the journalist's salaries done. But that's part of the problem is that the old newspapers, I mean they the print is dying. So the idea that the news comes out once a day is long dead, but they still put out a paper. The idea that you have to be constantly on top of things and
constantly refreshing your website is dominant. But if it's paywalled and it's not that interesting and you don't have the staff and you don't have the inclination, yeah, the eyes are going to go elsewhere. So it's not maybe envy so much as it is this sort of gut wrenching rerealization that the old media dinosaurs are just being lapped and taken apart.
By new media and the various manifestations of it.
Well, you watch something like this, surely, and you have to wonder, what is the purpose of a traditional newsroom at a traditional paper. Obviously they're not printing it the same way they used to, but you would have thought it would have been the ability to have editorial oversight, the ability to finance investigative stuff, the ability to speak to a wide audience. I mean, and none of those are true anymore.
Well, and for variety of reasons. When you talk about those big.
Things, I mean, the newspapers still to this day, in order to chase that policer will come up with a big story, like the big enterprise pieces. They like to send people out and do these things. But the problem is you spend a lot of money on it, and what kind.
Of clicks to you get?
What kind of return do you get on if you're looking at how many eyeballs you get and how many of those people then converts to a subscription. I mean, you get one hundred thousand eyeballs and you get ten subscriptions out of it.
You just figure, what's the point of this.
So whereas yes, it used to be these large institutions had the money to do something and the audience that was looking forward to it because there weren't.
An awful lot about their opportunities, and that was a great age frankly. Now, yes it was a monoculture.
Yes it was always giving you standard received wisdom of your technocratic managerial class. But at the same time you did look the newspapers to do this sort of thing. And now people just simply don't expect that. What they want our sports scores, and they don't even want the comics anymore because they can get those online.
Well, you know, James Lilacs, I think one other thing that the newspapers are missing are guys like James Lilacs, or when I was growing up in the reading San Francisco Chronicle, herb came the individuals, the guy with a vision, the guy who was like, you couldn't hear anybody like him anywhere else, and that's what you got on the paper, and that's gone. James Lilacs at Substack, Go follow him, read everything he writes on Kurt Schlichter, this is thing you knew