Canceled.
Not your favorite Republican influencer, the meeting between President Trump and President Putin that could have resolved the war between Russia and Ukraine. Owen's Pearson Sharp joins us in moments to analyze the situation in that ongoing conflict. Plus Schumer's government shutdown just became the second longest in history. We've got Azoria CEO James fishback here to explain how the markets are reacting and what to expect for the economic
future of a government in shutdown. And the left is freaking out about White House renovations?
Is that real?
Oen's chief White House correspondent, Daniel Baldwin will join us this hour to tell us about President Trump's plan to build a gilded ballroom for America's Golden Age. It's all next to the Matt Gates Show.
Let's do this shaking up Washington, d C. We're breaking the fever.
Do you ever watch this guy in television?
It's like a machine.
He's great Matt Gates.
As we join you this evening, our attention turns to the on going war between Russia and Ukraine. Russian forces have intensified drone and missile strikes on civilian energy infrastructure in northern Ukraine, killing at least four and leaving hundreds without water or power. I'm sorry, that's hundreds of thousands,
I should say. Meanwhile, European states like Ukraine are crafting a twelve point peace proposal that would freeze current battle lines and place a US chaired board under President Donald Trump to oversee the implementation of a peace plan. We have real questions about whether or not the United States wants to be the Homeowners' Association of Eastern Ukraine determining who can go where and plant what flag. Then there
is the meeting now that won't happen. President Trump indicated he was willing to meet with President Putin in Budapest in the coming weeks. The stage was set for Trump and Putin to meet, shake hands, and just maybe put a band aid on the bleeding mess that is the Russia Ukraine War. But then poof canceled faster than a bud Light sponsorship at a country music festival. Trump wanted to freeze the battle lines.
Putin refused.
Oh and Zone Pearson Sharp was recently at the front lines of this war in the Dominus region. He joins US now so Pearson. When I saw the Budapest meeting canceled, I'll admit I was discouraged because I believe that President Trump and President Putin have the ability to end this war. Why was Putin unwilling to accept Trump's terms for a meeting?
So I think that's kind of putting all the blame on Putin, and well, I am to be clear, well, of course, yeah, well not surprising, but to be fair, before we even start, we don't actually know what happened. We don't know what was said, we don't know what the terms were. And to be clear, I'm hearing from people in Russia that the deal is actually still on, the meeting is going to happen, and that all of this is disinformation in the West is trying to shut these meetings down.
And breaking some news for you to give credit to that.
Victor Orbun of Hungary said the meetings are still on and they're still going to have happened. The date hasn't been seid or, he hasn't announced a date anyway, but he said they're still ongoing.
Kil Dimitrio again, to be clear, you're you were recently in Russia, You're well sourced in Russia, and what you're saying is their officials who are close to the Russian government. There are media officials in Russia who still expect this to happen, Yes, and what they believe is actually there's some folks on the American side trying to get in.
The way of that piece, trying to stop.
But that archetype which you just described, I don't think is all that dissimilar to some of the tomfoolery we've seen in the Middle East, where President Trump is constantly trying to get the decision makers in the room to carve out peace, and there are people who want to continue violence.
We have warhawks who want to keep this going. But Kirol Dmitriev came out and said that this is still ongoing and don't believe the media.
So we'll see. I don't know what the facts are, but that's what's being said.
Okay, Well, then then my blame directed at Putin is this, I don't believe he has been sufficiently willing to work with Trump to be Trump's partner in this peace.
Plan, Like, why is this stupid war still going.
On because their terms haven't been met. What we're seeing right now is a one sided story. All we're getting is, well, you know, the West offered the olive branch and Putin refused. He wants war. We don't know that. The question is what kind of peace and on whose terms? Because Putin and Russia from the beginning have outlined what their requirements are for peace, and at this point they want a reduction of sanctions, They want recognition of the Donbass region as Russian.
I mean, at this point it would be like if the.
US had to give up Texas to solve a border war, like that may be realistic. That's not California, but well, yeah, okay, but from Russia's point of view, that's what they're looking at this like, they don't this is their territory.
Why should they have to give it up?
And to say okay, we're going to freeze the fighting right here wherever it is, doesn't give them the twenty five percent remaining of Donbass that they say is actually theirs. They want relief from sanctions, they want these security guarantees, and we have this image that Russia is constantly attacking. You know, if Trump offered piece yesterday and Russia is bombing Ukraine today, what we don't hear is Ukraine is also bombing Russia. They just attacked a school, They're bombing civilians.
That doesn't get reported. So it's all very one sided. Both sides are you know, their fingers are dirty at this point.
But we only ever hear one side of it.
But if Putin has a vision for peace in this circumstance, known't why doesn't he agree to the terms to get eyeball to eyeball with Trump to work those things out, Because, Frankly Pearson, I don't think this is about, you know, is the battle line a few kilometers this way or a few kilometers that way. I think what Russia actually needs is a security structure in Europe that.
They can live with. Yeah, and that includes a buffer.
And sometimes that buffer is going to be in the form of geography. But I think there are diplomatic buffers that can be provided to like not admitting Ukraine and a NATO would be a dimblematic great and see.
It, we're not offering them that, We're not offering them anything. We're just saying Trump put it on truth.
Trump put on truth social that Ukraine wasn't going to join NATO. Trump was doing everything he can to end this war, and I look at Putin as somebody who you know, I wonder is he trying to externalize his own conflict.
I don't think we Again, I don't think we know what the details are. But the fact is that we've seen a lot of very good progress recently. Last week, Marco, Rubio and Lavrov had a great talk. Then we had Trump and Putin had a great talk. And after that talk it was so good in fact that Trump took Tomahawk missiles off the table for Ukraine.
So that would be a terrible idea about it.
Could just take a moment on that if we were to give Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, the risk of accidents, the risk of escalation.
Accident, Well, I don't think it would be an accident.
But what I mean is you could have a circumstance where Ukraine wasn't even launching Tomahawk missiles, but there could be an accident in an assessment there that would result in escalation, Like the fog of war can create accidents just in perception. And I think when you start injecting Tomahawk missiles into this fight, you don't make an end closer.
You make it more likely that this is going to be an escalatory environment, Like right now, is it a de escalatory environment, an escalatory environment, or does this just keep rolling on.
It's somewhere in the middle, because.
Why should Putin stop At this point, He's winning, They've gained three thousand square miles of territory just this year.
He is winning.
Ukraine is losing, and there's no reason for him to stop what he considers a matter of national security securing Ukraine's borders. And the other thing that I want to point out that nobody is talking about, Russia is in a position where the United States and NATO, which formed an ally to basically combat Russia a long time ago, we have over one hundred bases, military bases, airfields right
on Russia's border all through Europe. We have thousands, tens of thousands of troop military equipment, missiles pointed out Russia. The United States of America has over one hundred nuclear weapons in Europe pointed at Russia. Meanwhile, Russia doesn't have any basis on our borders. So who is actually being aggressive in this situation. Russia is trying to secure their national sovereignty and Ukraine is a big part of that.
And I think no one's discussing this. I want to answer the question, why should Russia stop because this is bad for business for them?
Right, Russia's end state should be re onboarding to the global financial love that.
Well, sure, but they have to stop shooting at Ukraine. We have to give them a reason to do that. Well.
By the way, that economic cooperation I think can be the bedmark of the reason. That's obviously how Trump views a lot of these foreign policy questions. He believes economic cooperation is step one to broader peace and broader just recognition of another entity's opportunity and right to exist.
They would love to open up at this point, but they're not hurting right now. The sanctions from my experience in there, have not affected the people. You ask anybody and they'll say what sanctions. Their economy is growing. Things look very good for them at this point. They're building ties with other people. We're pushing them away, they're establishing internal independence. So on top of that, they're gaining territory in Ukraine. They are achieving their objectives.
Do you think that Russia worries about further isolation from other allies? I look at Finland. You know, Finland was.
I was in a rocky relationship forever, but a rocky relationship.
But Finland was never considering joining NATO before this conflict. Now they're a member of NATO. I don't know that that makes Europe any safer. It it could create more of this encirclement dynamic that's led to violence. But I wonder if that's just the front end to the wave, and if there are concerns with Russia that other countries would be more willing to.
Isolate them, probably at some point, but again, this is a matter of national security and life and death for them. I don't think they're going to back down on this issue unless we give them these absolute guarantees that they've been asking for from the beginning. From the beginning, they've been asking for this.
I think it's going to take a meeting to get there. Piac Yeah, so if.
I'm concerned, you know this meeting's off. You're saying that there still is an appetite for it in Hungary and in Russia.
I know for a fact.
There's an appetite to get together and work this thing out on President Trump's behalf. So when do you think it will happen? What's the timeline and horizon you're looking at it.
I think within the next couple of weeks, I think we're still going to see a meeting.
And what's the key change in circumstance you think that brings us from where we are to that possibility.
Oh man, that's a great question.
Again, there's so much happening inside this that we don't see. I think Trump and Putin have a much greater understanding of each other and the situation than we appreciate from this perspective. But like this non paper that was apparently released by Russia, you know, we leaked that, and I think we leaked that intentionally to get the to get ahead of the messaging before Russia can put out their version. So all of this, I think is a propaganda war.
Russia is saying the meeting's still on, We're saying the meetings off, and I think it's everybody's sort of posturing to niggle behind the scenes to get what they want.
Well, it's worked on me because I'm admittedly annoyed that President Putin hasn't done more to meet President Trump at that end state that I think it looks like some sort of buffer for Russia, some sort of agreement that Russia is included in Europe's security strategy, not isolated as a consequence of it. And then cooperation in the areas where we can cooperate in the Arctic resource extraction, countering radical Islamic extremism.
Yeah, there are.
Obvious areas of cooperation, and I think it would benefit both of our countries. And I hope that the nitpicking you've kind of described comes to an end very soon. Pierson Sharp the best sourced man in what's going on in this part of the world.
I cannot wait.
You've got a big special coming up on One American News, and you're going to bring the viewer inside your trip to Russia, the incredible people you met, the incredible interdus. I can't wait for it. Pierson, Thanks Rap, thanks for being on the program. And coming up we will discuss the economics of the ongoing shutdown with James Fishback. He's been watching the markets and where to invest if this
thing keeps rolling along. As Chuck Schumer tries to bring himself back to some sense of logic or reason.
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Welcome back to the Matt Kaves Show, where government shutdowns are just another form of intermittent fasting for Washington, but instead of losing weight, we're just watching Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer lose his mind.
And Chuck Schumer is he's got I think he's mentally gone. He's been beat up by young radical lunatics.
The shutdown is costing about one hundred and forty million dollars a day in delayed pay and lost productivity. There could be real impacts from that. Wall Street, of course, is watching this like a Netflix drama. Markets dipped slightly early in the week, but we have seen rebounding once traders realize that the irs might be closed. They've already had like half of their employees furloughed. I guess nothing makes investors smile like the tax man taking a vacation.
The last time Washington shut down this long, Stock's actually rose three percent by the end of it.
So maybe the.
Real stimulus plan is just keeping Congress out of the building joining us. Now the CEO of Zoria James fishback. So James, how are markets going to react if this shutdown just keeps going along?
Well, if a tree falls in the forest and no one's there to hear it, Matt, did it really even make a noise? I mean, looking at the markets, there's no real evidence that the markets are in any way concerned about it. In fact, the markets may actually be celebrating the prospect of another round of doge, that President Trump is actually using this opportunity to once again streamline government.
And so all eyes are on the Friday CPI report, that's the inflation report that's coming out now, one week before the Fed meeting next Wednesday, where the markets have roughly an eighty percent probability that the Fed will deliver yet another twenty five basis point rate cut. Again too little, too late from a guy, of course, who goes by
too late. But the big picture, Matt, is no signs that the markets are concerned about the government shutdown, or that the average American is The average American keeps their head down, keeps working hard, keeps saving up, and is not going to let Washington, DC hold them back.
I get that President Trump has ameliorated a lot of the economic harm that could have come to the shutdown by ensuring that a lot of essential workers continue to be paid. Our military continues to be paid. Representative military district shutdowns were never fun because when the military is not getting paid, small businesses aren't seeing cash flow, and there starts to be some pressure on the lawmakers to
get it resolved. Do you think that any of these Democrat senators who continue to vote against opening the government will ever feel pressure at any point in time if President Trump's tools to ameliorate those those economic pressures are in any way kind of depleted over a term of days or weeks.
That's exactly right, Matt, And you know that you are well loved out in fl One. Egglin Air Force Base is just one example of the incredible, courageous service members who represent Northwest Florida. But to the big picture here, this is the only downside, of course, to President Trump coming up with novel solutions to dealing with the Schumer shutdown.
Will you bring up in particular, is using terror prevenue or using access funding to support our service members or to support women and infant children with a snap program. It does take away the accountability mechanism which is pissed off constituents all over our home state of Florida or anywhere in the country calling up their Democratic congressman saying, wait, why are you in bed with Chuck Schumer and AOC and Quem Sombrero Jeffries, Why aren't you voting to reopen
our government and to do right by the people. And so that is the only downside of President Trump's novel solutions of using tariff revenue and excess funds here and there is that it doesn't it's short circuits the full accountability mechanism that would come from pissed off constituents.
It does sound like you're saying a lot of the features of the shutdown are kind of baked into the market. But if someone believed that there wasn't really going to be a come to reason moment for Chuck Schumer and President Trump is certainly not going to be held hostage. As he said the other day, like, what are the things that you bet on? What are the stocks you pick if you're betting for the shutdown.
To go on, promont.
That's a great question, I think you. It's actually not what you necessarily pick, Matt, it's what you want to avoid. Anybody, like a government contractor a defense contractor that relies on the large ESTs and the abuse and the exploitation of the taxpayer by the appropriators, they're not going to be in good shape because they're not getting any money. And so it's less about what you would buy and more
about what you would avoid it. So you think of the big defense contractor names that for far too long have profited on these pointless foreign wars, they're going to be in big trouble at the shutdown continues, and they should be because they've profited for too long on taxpayer money being sent abroad for pointless reasons.
You mentioned the supercharged powers that the Office of Management and Budget has under a shutdown, and it does seem they've drawn a bead on some of those foreign expenditures.
But are there expenditures here at.
Home domestically that you would advise Russfode and Dan Bishop to take a real hard look at during this time when they've got the ability to end things that aren't working.
Absolutely, there are a range of programs. You think about USA and all the boondoggles that were sent ver Sias, but there are a range of domestic programs, whether it's for LGBT youth or phone lines for DEI, whatever it may be. If there is literally a dollar to be saved these riff reduction in force, whether it's actually going in and ripping up particular expenditures, they should absolutely do it.
And anything that could be contested, push for it. Let the courts rule on this, and we can take it all the way up to the top where you know, Matt, we've got that six to three majority because of President Trump's leadership in his first term and your stern support for good constitutional justices, and so I say push the
envelope here. But the Democrats have to own it. If they don't want to see their pet projects defunded, they've got to come to the table and at the end of the day, the public debate the marketplace of ideas. Let them defend whether it's the health insurance subsidies that apparently we're supposed to only be around for a year that are now getting extended into perpetuity. They have to actually own own up to that.
Let's talk about those healthcare subsidies. It does seem that's the principal demand of Democrats at this time.
But there are COVID era.
Subsidies like they when they were put in place, the notion that they were going to live forever wasn't really part of the promise. Now they're suggesting that, like healthcare in America itself, is going to crumble if we don't have an extension of COVID subsidies and Obamacare subsidies. Do you think that they're like, when does the market start to react to the piling up debt and deficits from the spending demands that are coming principally from Democrats.
That is the million dollar question. Perhaps it's even the thirty seven trillion dollar question, if we want to get pecific to the national debt figures.
Matt.
What's amazing, though, is there's nothing more permanent. And you've seen it on the inside, you know how the sausage is made. There is nothing more permanent in DC than in a temporary emergency government subsidy. These were COVID era healthcare emergency subsidies that might have made reasonable sense at the time, given how little we knew in the first couple of weeks, it very became quickly clear that this is not what we thought it was or what the
Democrats wanted to push on us, the alarmists. But how are we the unreasonable ones for pushing back on it, for saying, no, we don't need to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to prop up the failed Obamacare regime. And at the end of the day, what I think Centerpublicans have proposes a great step forward is Democrats reopen the government, stop voting for the shutdown, and then we can have a separate debate, a separate vote on these
health insurance subsidies. And if you actually have the merit and the evidence behind your argument, then you can win in the court of public opinion and translate that support and sentiment into votes on the House and Senate floor, and so they stop holding the government hostage. That is the real problem. Let's have an open and separate debate about healthcare substanies, which we know we're going to win that, but don't hold our service members at gunpoint over this government shutdown fiasco.
Yeah, I mean like they're taking the position that the air traffic controllers shouldn't be paid so that they could argue how long a COVID subsidy lasts.
That makes sense.
And again you're right at the when you said at the beginning of our discussion that a lot of Americans are still going about their lives, the economies humming along because President Trump just hasn't stopped. But if you really look at the medium and long term impacts of what the Democrats are doing, I actually think it could have a pretty significant impact.
And it would be.
Really sick if that was the point of all this, if they actually want to see negative economic impact, because so many of the policies that you've been advocating for that we talk about of President Trump are working. James Fishback, CEO of Zoria, thanks for coming on and explaining your position on this.
We always appreciate your expertise.
Thanks Matt, and coming up, we'll check in on the state of democracy. It turns out there are a number of liberals whining that democracy isn't really democracy if it results in figures on the right winning elections. Alan Baccari has been following the matter closely for the Foundation for Freedom.
Online, and he's here next.
Hey, did you know that One America News Network has launched a twenty four to seven Twitter like social media replacement. We're calling it free Talk forty five. So why is it branded free Talk forty five? Well, free talk because you will not be censored for expressing your opinion there, and forty five because forty five is a really lucky number. So join us at free Talk forty five and express
yourself with no fear of cancelation. Ever, Hey, if your cable provider doesn't offer One America News Network, you should give them a call and kindly demand that they carryan. Now, you're the customer, and without your feedback, your cable provider will not know that there is a strong demand across this country for One America News Network. So please call your cable company today and kindly ask or demand that they ADDANN to their channel lineup. Hey, everyone, here's a
question for you. What does Roku TV, Apple TV, and Amazon fireTV all have in common? The answer is that all three platforms offer you the ability to live stream One America News Network from your Roku TV, Apple TV, or Amazon Fire device. Simply go to the app store search out foran, then enjoy all the great programming offered by ON, including my show Real America. Viewers are always asking me how can they watch OAN live? The solution is simple. It's a streaming platform called cloud tv now
it's spelled klowd TV. Simply go to cloudtv dot com and subscribe to watch twenty four to seven live feeds of OAN. The live package is only two dollars and fifty cents per month for all you can watch. Again, simply go to cloud tv com and do it today.
Last evening, we learned from Congressman Jim Jordan that the House Judiciary Committee is referring Obama CIA director John Brennan for criminal prosecution based on lies he told when I was questioning him.
You're not supposed to lie, but you're definitely not supposed to lie when you're under oath in front of the United States Congress. And it looks like that's exactly what John Brennan did. And one of the individuals he lied to is the host of the Matt Gays Show. When you asked him, I thought a great question about the dossier, and he said, I had no involvement with the dossier. He told the committee that he didn't want the dossier in any way referenced in the Intelligence Community assessment.
But guess what.
Tulsey Gabberd released the classified version she declassified the Hipsie report, and it says just the opposite. It says Brennan was up to his eyeballs with the dossier that.
He actually put in writing. He wanted it in the report.
And the best one was when another CIA official came to mister Brennan and said, you know, mister Brennan, there's no intelligence to support the dossier. It's ridiculous. It shouldn't be in this report. He says, yeah, but doesn't it ring true, which I think got to his motive. He was out to get the president.
Okay, So clearly what Jim Jordan just described, there is an attack on democracy that occurred as democrats, we're accusing us of attacking democracy, But some are asking what the state of democracy even looks like in twenty twenty five. If it looks like this, I'm probably out.
So this is what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like. This is what democracy.
Looks what.
That is what alone and sad looks like.
A new article published by the Foundation for Freedom Online analyzes liberal pundits arguing that when populist leaders are overwhelmingly elected, somehow that isn't democracy. We aren't so sure about that.
Many devotees of MAGA, you themselves is supremely committed to democracy and democratic self government, and the Republican Party in Alabama, which is mega dominated, achieved sixty seventy percent results. I think this goes to a bigger question that we haven't really addressed as to whether democracy itself is a desirable at least unfiltered, uncut democracy is a desirable form of government.
Joining us now Managing director of the Foundation for Freedom Online, Alan Bacari so Alim, it seems that after spending years lecturing us about democracy, democrats and other liberals may not be so into it after they've lost elections.
What are we to make of it?
So yeah, we have this new report of the Foundation for Freedom Online about the VP of Freedom House, which was a US government back nonprofit. They get the majority of their funding from the State Department eighty million dollars in government grants in twenty twenty three alone, actually according to the figures from that year, And one of their vps was on a live stream a couple of months before the twenty twenty four election that was literally titled
is democracy a democratic form of government? And you know, you even watch the videos and our report, all the panelists, including this VP, are saying, well, it's a huge problem that populist are succeeding around the world. We need to do something about this, We need to empower judges. The VP of Freedom House himself talks about how populism is
dangerous and majoritarian and ethnically nationalists. And keep in mind, this is a nonprofit whose sole purpose is to go around the world country by country, putting countries on lists and whether whether on the basis of whether they're democratic
or not. You know, this is a non profit that talks about how El Salvador is democratically backsliding because it clean up crime, or that Victor Auban's Hungary is democratically backsliding because despite winning huge majorities, they kicked out George Soros's ngngos. And here they are questioning, you know, with literally our livestream saying is democracy, a democratic form of government. You can't make this stuff up.
I did not enjoy watching Stanford beat Florida State University in football, but when I left the game, I didn't say I wasn't watching football, right, I mean, we are watching democracy in places like El Salvador and in Hungary. They are producing results that some elites in America may not like. But in those countries those leaders are very popular and that's why they keep winning. So we just played this clip from the VP who says, we can't
have uncut democracy. So what is like what democracy look like to them?
Yeah, they use that phrase, they use unfiltered democracy. They use the phrase guard rails guard rails as a particular favorite term for them, and they use guardrails to this product. There needs to be guardrails on democracy. You'll hear them talk about them with social media as well. They need to be guardrails on social media. They need to be
guard rails or artificial intelligence. And all they're talking about is what can we do to ensure that our ideology triumphs regardless of what the voters say, regardless of what results electors turn up. And in the other clips you'll hear them talking about how to empower judges to overturn the will of the people in these countries where they're not getting the election results they want. And this has been a theme we've seen from these sorts of people,
these democracy experts. You know, how can we give more power to judges to block what democratically elected governments do. This is obviously the strategy they used at the start of the Trump administration to block some of his big moves, and they want to do it in on the concrees as well. So that's what they mean by god rails, that's what they mean by cutt and uncut democracy. They're just talking about how they can dilute the results of these elections.
Typically you put up guard rails to stop a car from going off the road, but in this case, they just don't like the fact that what is driving the car.
Is the will of the people.
And we've observed frequently that the judiciary is like the last bastion of what the elites control. What we've shown is you can elect a populist congressman, you can elect a populist US senator. We've even elected a populist United States president, but it's very hard to get populist judges, because the mechanism by which one becomes a federal judge or an appellate judge is typically you know, you're the
head of the local bar association. Both of your senators agreed to not issue a blue slip, and there's a credentialing process there that is often out of reach of populist legal minds. Is is that something that needs reform in order to get in front of some of the barriers to democracy that some of these some of these like fascists masquerading as democratic promoters would would have us believe.
I think so they do have a massive advantage here just in terms of recruitment, just because you know, the whole system is so heavily tilted towards especially the education system as well. Right law schools they just churn out liberal judges and liberal lawyers, and there are these huge nonprofits that exist as well to support liberal, liberal justices. It's very part of them is very heavily weighted in one direction. And I think I agree that that is
that that is a massive problem. It's it's kind of but the positive thing is it's sort of the last straw that they're grasping at because they know they've lost the democratic argument. They know they don't have the dominance of the legacy media anymore to promote their narrative. Who set the agenda, because that's been that's been a whittled way by independent media like OAAN, by social media, by podcasters,
by so many other things. So you know, this reliance on judges is kind of a last straw for them, and it can only work so far when they don't when they don't control the information environen.
I wonder what populists on the left are thinking about this. I am often criticized when I take positions that sometimes are contrarian to the Republican zeitgeist, and people will say, oh, well, like you're against surveillance, you're on the same side as ilhan O mar or you know you're for banning congressionals
dock trading. That's something AOC believes. I never minded working with left wing populists to achieve the objectives that I wanted to achieve, But in this case, like the way the Democratic Party is moving, is definitely away from the Chuck Schumer types and more toward the Zoron Mamdani archetype.
Are leftist populists.
Going to accept this viewpoint that the real democracy is a democracy where the voting is really just a recommendation and at the end of the day, the elites get to make the operative decisions.
Well, look, I think leftist populist would be a disaster in many ways. I think Zoram Mandam would be a disaster for New York. I think Jeremy Corbyn would have been a disaster in the United Kingdom. But there's no doubt that a lot of these tactics that have been used to shut up and thwart the populist right when they've been successful in elections have also been used against the populist left. Or just thinking about Jeremy Corbyn, and again he would have been a terrible prime minister in
my opinion. But you take an organization like the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which was used to promote censorship in the United States on social media, including of RFK Junior. They put him on a list of disinformation agents during COVID. They were set up actually to go after Jeremy Corbyn and the populist left in the UK, and that's how that's their origin story. And then they then turn their attentions to the populist right in the US, and obviously
you know there are other cases. Bernie Sanders famously famously screwed over by the DNC on many, many occasions, despite the fact that he was so popular, probably the single most popular candidate in some of these contests. So you see, you see the same attempts to thwart democracy against the populist left as well. So it's something and online censorship as well. Like I said, the Center for Countering Digital Hate in the UK initially went after Jeremy Corbyn, so it really is used against both.
Science there seems to be a lot of skepticism about centralized power among young people on the political left and on the political right. As you analyze the right and the left in the United States, which movement do you think centralizes power most and which is democratizing power most.
It's hard to say, really, but I mean, because you have you have this deep steak right, A lot of the pressure for online censorship came from government agencies, and most of that was frankly targeted against the first Trump administration. That's when all of this arose. In fact, some of the research on this you look at how often government grants cite disinformation as their reason for existing, and it
basically doesn't exist before twenty sixteen. But after twenty sixteen you see hundreds and hundreds of government grants with disinformation or misinformation in the name. So all of this pressure for online censorship to blunt populist movements happened because Trump won that election. So there's definitely a partisan's sense of it, because the populist right has been more successful at winning elections.
That's what the censorship industry, that's what the democracy experts who want to thought democracy have focused on.
You begin this discussion by pointing to the fact that the entities that we're talking about, you know, how to sand the populist edges off of actual democracy, had received government funding. You know, we now are in this shutdown. It seems the Office of Management and Budget has supercharged powers to be able to terminally end some of the things that cost taxpayers a lot of money over time.
How would you assess the Trump administration's approach to rooting out the funding of the censorship industrial complex.
Well, they came in on day one and pasted an executive order saying government money can no longer go to entities that promote online censorship, whether it's through disinformation studies
or anything else. And Freedom House is another great example because this is a nonprofit that was set up off the World War Two basically by the government and has been primarily funded by the State Department throughout its entire existence, and its entire existence owed to the fact that that's an arm of US influence because it help it's help perpots to pinpoint and condemn other countries that aren't aren't to toeing the line, as it were, and they're the
countries that get called anti democratic. They're the countries that get called accused of democratic backsliding. And like I said, El Salvador's at least example of this, but they lost a lot of their funding because Donald Trump cut USAID at the start of his administration and a lot of their funding came from there.
Yeah, it's so interesting that they like in places like El Salvador, where the people show up and are just genuinely overwhelmingly happy with the leadership of President bukel A and his party, they continue to vote for him, and yet you hear this criticism as a consequence of result. And there's a certain there's a certain tag. They use illiberal democracy, right, that's well, that might be a democracy, but it's an illiberal democracy.
And that's the slight.
And I guess the vision for democracy that they would present is what is it? Is it more like what we see in the UK, where you do have hate speech laws and empowered judges. Like the folks that hold these views, what is the kreme delacrame of democracy in their mind? If the people showing up and overwhelmingly voting for President Trump or President Bucelly somehow offends their sensibilities on democracy.
Oh that certainly love hate speech laws, no doubt. I will say one thing about the UK. Judges are actually not very powerful in the UK because Parliament is sovereign and Parliament has the ability to completely reform the judiciary
if it wants to. In fact, one of the proposals from Reform UK, which is the new insurgent populist party in the UK, that is really troubling this faction, this anti democratic faction, is the fact that on one of their first actions is going to be to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, and that is the European law which has empowered judges in the UK to
block things like deportations. But because the judiciary is not actually an independent third branch in the UK as it is in the US, Parliament can do that as long as the House of Common passes a law saying we're withdrawing from this where reforming the judiciary, there's nothing that can really stop that. So that's the other thing I'll
say there. Not every country is the same in terms of the balance of powers between the judiciary and the legislature, and I'm saying the UK it's actually chilted quite heavily in favor of the legislature.
Yeah, it seems though the commentators that we're critiquing now just want to tilt it in favor of the judges and away from the actual vote of the people. Aliabapari Foundation for Freedom Online. Thank you so much for joining us and sharing your perspective.
Thanks Matt.
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ten percent. Again, that's All Family Pharmacy dot com forward slash Matt code Matt ten. And coming up, President Trump has big plans for the East Room. There's going to be a ballroom that will outlast the Trump presidency. Daniel Baldwin will explain why the media is going crazy about it.
Next.
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Ever.
Now, for one hundred and fifty years, they've wanted a ballroom here.
We don't have a ballroom. We have a little cocktail area.
I said, if I do this again, I'm gonna get a ballroom built in. We're putting up our own money with the government just paying for nothing. You probably hear the beautiful sound of construction to the back. You hear that sound, Oh that's music to my ears.
I love that sound. Other people don't like it.
I love it, Josh. I think when I hear that sound, it reminds me of money. In this case, it reminds me of lack of money because I'm paying for it.
So it's the appissore.
He's the ballroom builder in chief. That man knows how to build a ballroom. I actually had my first date with my wife in President Trump's ballroom, got engaged to my wife right there outside the ballroom. So if anyone's going to build ao a ballroom in the East Wing, I'm glad it's President Trump. He's touting his plan for this bold renovation at the White House. They're demolishing the East Wing to build this magnificent ballroom that would serve
as a beautiful place for elegance date dinners. President Trump is hardly the first president to propose or execute renovations at the White House, but the Democrats and members of the mainstream press have just gone into total meltdown over this. Gavin News posted on X Ripping apart the White House is just like he's ripping apart the Constitution. Hillary Clinton piled on saying, quote, it's not his house, it's your house, and he's destroying it.
Again.
This from the same Hillary Clinton that was a part of the administration that was renting out the Lincoln Bedroom to donors. Trump's goal is to make this planned ballroom classy, decked out with signature Trump touches like gold chandeliers, marble floors, and maybe even an iPad so he can dj a view of few events himself.
Critics will whine about.
History history the East wings just like an add on from the nineteen forties. It's not like he's painting over Mount Rushmore for a parking lot.
So what's all the hub ub about joining us now?
One American News chief White House correspondent Daniel Baldwin. So, Daniel tell us about the plans for the new ballroom, Well.
Matt, I think there's a lot of fake outrage over this from liberal media outlets and people who generally just dislike the President and don't enjoy anything. I can tell you from a reporter perspective, many reporters are actually happy out of the ballroom, considering there's been a lot of different space issues for covering President Trump's event. I can tell you firsthand. There was one event back in August where President Trump decided to federalize the DC Police Force
and crack down on crime. Here in Washington, DC. The President held a press conference in the James Brady Press Briefing Room, and in order to get a decent spot, I actually had to show up at six point thirty in the morning, about four hours in advance of that specific press briefing, just to get a decent shot at
asking the President a question. I succeeded but I had to stand in place for a better part of five to six hours, and I've never seen a room that crowded before even the presidents that I've never seen the briefing room this crowded. Considering the vast amount of media interest there is and covering the White House under this administration, there's been many people saying that we need bigger spaces to hold events. Even the East Room is not big enough.
That's when the functionality of a ballroom that's allegedly going to be ninety thousand square feet and have a capacity of six hundred and fifty people, that's where something like that was actually prove to be very functional. Matt and of course the President, he's very much in his respective zone or element here when it comes to constructing and touching things up. We've seen it in the Oval Office, We've seen it inside the Palm Room doors where he's
replaced tile. We've seen it with the Rose Garden. This is just the latest piece of evidence with that, and it's another opportunity that Democrats are taking to try to attack the president shamelessly.
Daniel Baldwin will get there at midnight if you need him to to get the Scoop That's why we Love You. On One American News, Daniel talk about the utility of this space to enhance America's soft power when hosting major state dinners and bringing in global leaders.
Well, the Press Secretary has talked about this a little bit, Caroline Levitt, emphasizing that sometimes when you want to have events here at the White House, you need to rent out this massive, ugly white tent and you got to put it over the south lawn and you've got to hope for good weather. This eliminates any type of issue
with that. When the President wants to have a event bringing forth a lot of different people, he can now once this ballroom, this majestic ballroom befitting a president of the United States, the elegance and the opulence befitting the world's biggest superpower gets put up, the president can have events where he invites three hundred, four hundred, five hundred
people and appropriately allow the media to cover it. It's just incredibly functional when you think about it, Matt, because when there are events here at the White House, you know you've been here for some of them. Space is at a premium. It is undoubtedly a tight it's a tight space here. And you know it may not seem that way for people who are watching on TV, but the press briefing room is tight.
The east room is tight.
Just areas when you walk around, you got to get very comfortable being shoulder to shoulder with other media members standing for long periods of time. This ballroom is incredibly functional, not only for the president when it comes to event planning and logistics, but it's also functional for the media when it comes to being able to comfortably cover presidential events.
Matt, Yeah, and this is not some big aggrandizement to Trump. The ballroom is principally going to be used by the presidents who come after President Trump, and they will get the benefit of it. And hopefully we don't have any more who have such small crowds. They have to draw those circles in the ballroom and have everyone eight feet apart.
But what is the estimated time for a completion.
There's no exact estimated time at the moment, but the White House I think is hoping to get this done before President Trump's term is up. Obviously that's very optimistic, but you know, I don't think we've ever had a president who quite understands construction like President Trump does give in his background as a real estate developer in New
York City. Matt, So, as you know, the President is very focused on making sure that the White House is properly renovated and it looks the part, and it feels the part, and I think he's going to do everything he can to make sure that this is up and this is part of the lasting legacy that Donald J. Trump leaves in the White House for years to come.
And I just think there might be a little bit of this that is trolling Chuck Schumer because as Schumer is trying to bring the government to a shutdown here, Trump is out working on peace deals around the world and even announcing new construction projects. There is an optimism and an energy and an activity that just that won't be shut down by anyone. Chief White House Correspondent Daniel Baldwin,
thanks for being on the story, my friend. Thanks Matt, and coming up in New York City, there is this demand now to somehow get everybody to fall in line behind Cuomo. We're not here for it, and neither is our next guest Toefinal Forte of the New York and Republican club, don't go anywhere.
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platform called cloud tv. Now it's spelled klowd TV. Simply go to cloudtv dot com and subscribe to watch twenty four to seven live feeds of OAN. The live package is only two dollars and fifty cents per month for all you can watch. Again, simply go to cloudtv dot com and do it today. Hey, did you know that One America News Network has launched a twenty four to seven Twitter like social media replacement. We're calling it free
Talk for so why is it branded free talk forty five? Well, free talk because you will not be censored for expressing your opinion there, and forty five because forty five is a really lucky number. So join us at free Talk forty five and express yourself with no fear of cancelation. Ever, Hey, if your cable provider doesn't offer one America News Network, you should give them a call and kindly demand that
they CARRYAN. Now you're the customer, and without your feedback, your cable provider will not know that there is a strong demand across this country for one America News Network. So please call your cable company today and kindly ask or demand that they ADDANN to their channel lineup.
We've noticed a trend online.
People started to wake up up to some of the New York City mayoral canon. It's Zoron Mandami's actual views, and they say, if you don't vote for Cuomo or basically for a communist, I reject that frame. Zoron is gonna be elected. Maybe the people of New York deserve him. He will probably fail, but so will Cuomo. Cuoma's already failed. It's loser talk to suggest that it's better to help Cuomo keep it close than it is to ride with a more authentic Republican. Joining us to discuss the state
of the race. New York and Republican Club President Stefano Forte. So Stefano, tell us, have people just given up to the sense that Mamdani is gonna win? He's going to be your mayor and everybody just gets to cast their protest vote for either Sliwa or Cuomo.
First off, thank you for having me on, Matt.
I don't think that it's a protest vote at this point. I think a lot of people are a bit dooming gloom. I think that all the campaigns could be doing better and trying to make themselves viable against Mom Donnie. But look, Mam Donnie has an energy behind him and this young socialist movement that's trying to push him to the finish line.
But look, we're going to be doing everything we can to get city council people elected in districts that can hold Mamdannie accountable if he becomes mayor, and we're really hoping that he does not. But Congress can step in and act as well. In the New York Republican Club put together a legal memo outlining how Mam Donnie could be kicked off the ballot this November or denied entry into Gracie Mansion. So these are all things that we can do to stop Mam Donnie, I don't think New York is done yet.
Well, I don't think you have a candidate that's going to stop him from winning the election. And it seems that your strategy, and it's a smart one, is to say, okay, well, what are the things we can do to ameliorate or mitigate some of the worst features of his policy proposals, and trying to constrain him legally and trying to get good people in the city council.
Those are effective strategies.
But like, the reason I wanted you on the program, stefan O, is that you came on earlier and you said, look, I'm not buying into this whole. We have to all fall in line behind Cuomo if we're going to lose, like I'd at least rather lose with someone who's a conservative rather than the people the guy who was killing
grandmothers when he was governor. And it got me thinking, is this why, other than maybe Lee Zelden, we haven't had really promising campaigns come out of New York because there's such a willingness to just like go with the least worst option, and we haven't carved out the type of like iconic Teddy Roosevelt type characters that have made the Empire State famous in politics for some time.
Yeah.
Look, I mean I don't want to say that we've kind of been settling.
I do love Curtis.
Curtis is a friend.
Of mine and he is truly an iconic New York figure. I think you could place a lot of the blame on the party apparatus itself. We need a better party apparatus in New York. We need a party apparatus that is going to invest in New York City. Saying that we're just going to leave the cities, that we're not going to try to be competitive in New York City, that's utter nonsense. This is the mecca, the epi center of culture in the United States. We cannot just abandon
New York City. And you know, I do believe that next cycle we can have a very viable governor candidate if we have great minds on the campaign that are willing to be brave and courageous and do what's necessary to actually win. And to your point on Andrew Cuomo, exactly, I'm I'm not going Andrew Cuomo has done nothing to try to earn my vote and there is a kind of sentiment among Republicans where it's like, you're Andrew Cuomo, You're not entitled to our vote. You're not entitled to
anything here. You've got to come to us and try to make a deal of some kind, and he hasn't. So if he's not looking to do that, then we're not going to be holding water for Andrew Cuomo. We owe him nothing.
I worry that New York may be the front end of the wave. We're starting to see these democrat socialist candidates in places like Minneapolis and elsewhere emerge. What warning would you give a city that might be the next to have a rising socialist to emerge as a front runner from mayor?
You know, I'm going to go even farther than just cities. I'm going to go for some of these rural towns as well. This is a message truly to the entirety of the United States. They are coming for everything. The barbarians are at the gate. They will not stop at New York City, they will not stop at Minneapolis. They are going to go and slowly march through the entirety of the United States. They want it all. They're not
stopping here that's all. We need to fight now and win now to stop them from coming after so many beautiful cities and towns in the United States.
Stephano Forte, president of the New York Young Republic Club, thanks for the warning, best of luck, Thank you. That's all the time we have.
We'll be back tomorrow, nine Eastern six specific Make sure to sign up for the o AN Live app if you haven't already, Just go to O a n n dot com, follow me on X at Mattgates, email us the Matt Gates Show at o a n n dot com and stay right here.
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