The Megyn Kelly Show - Trump's Noem and Cornyn Decisions, Newsom's Meltdown, and Oprah's Shock Weight Loss, with Jesse Kelly and Mark Halperin ｜ Ep. 1267

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00:01:00.800 Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, live on Sirius XM Channel 111 every weekday at New East.

00:01:12.480 Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly.

00:01:14.140 Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show and happy Friday.

00:01:16.720 We have the flu going in our house.

00:01:18.460 Have you been hit by the flu?

00:01:20.240 Flu, flu bee. 0.96

00:01:21.780 It's so unpleasant.

00:01:22.780 You always forget our son has got it.

00:01:25.360 You forget it.

00:01:26.320 You know, like the little graphic online, like, do you feel like you got hit by a Mack truck?

00:01:30.320 No, it's not the flu.

00:01:32.040 Yes, it's the flu.

00:01:33.860 That's what we're going through.

00:01:34.920 I hope you guys are avoiding it.

00:01:36.320 It always seems to happen this time of year, late winter, just when you have like the whiff

00:01:40.060 of spring in the air and you're looking forward to like the, the blooms, we're seeing little

00:01:43.900 buds in our trees, which is so lovely.

00:01:46.440 And then whammo, some illness overtakes the household.

00:01:50.380 Anyway, sending you all happy, healthy vibes and hoping you don't have it.

00:01:54.700 In the meantime, not so happy California Governor Gavin Newsom.

00:01:59.220 He's continuing his media tour, apropos of nothing.

00:02:02.120 You know, he wrote this book just because he wanted to get to better know people and not

00:02:06.400 at all having to do with presidential aspirations, he had a meltdown over a simple question about

00:02:14.680 his political goals.

00:02:15.940 Think, picture AOC at that Munich conference when she was asked about our Taiwan, our Taiwan

00:02:22.640 policy.

00:02:23.580 That's what just happened to Gavin Newsom when just asked like about his political goals,

00:02:28.800 like what, what his hopes are for the country.

00:02:30.580 Wait until you see this tape.

00:02:32.220 And then he swung by Katie Couric.

00:02:34.240 And as you know, she used to be like at the pinnacle of elite media, the darling host of 1.00

00:02:41.140 the Today Show.

00:02:41.960 And then the female, first female to anchor the evening news broadcast alone over at CBS. 0.66

00:02:48.760 I mean, it was like, it was such a huge post, like hard hitting.

00:02:51.280 Remember how tough she went on Sarah Palin, you know, wouldn't relent.

00:02:56.120 And she's different now.

00:02:58.660 Um, I'm not sure exactly what happened, but basically the interview boiled down to you're 0.98

00:03:06.500 incredibly fucking hot. 0.95

00:03:08.060 You're, you're, you're hot, Gavin, and you might be too hot to win. 0.99

00:03:13.500 How hot are you?

00:03:14.380 Even hotter than I think you are.

00:03:15.780 It was embarrassing and we will discuss it.

00:03:18.260 But we begin with some major decisions from President Trump.

00:03:22.640 First is ouster of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem yesterday.

00:03:27.480 Some online were questioning whether this really was a firing.

00:03:30.900 It was a firing.

00:03:32.260 Fox News up and down the board reported it was a firing.

00:03:36.180 That's clear, by the way.

00:03:37.940 But in any event, just in case you doubted it, um, those closest to the president have all

00:03:42.200 said fired and ahead who he will endorse in the Texas GOP Senate primary.

00:03:48.560 Should he be getting involved at all?

00:03:50.300 Or should he let these two guys, Ken Paxton, the state AG and the sitting Republican Senator

00:03:56.180 John Cornyn hash it out amongst themselves.

00:03:59.000 We're going to have next up host Mark Halperin coming in the next hour, and he's got all the

00:04:03.260 dish on everything political.

00:04:04.500 He was with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday as the whole Iran announcement was happening.

00:04:11.580 So that'll be really interesting to hear the backdrop too.

00:04:14.480 But my first guest today has a very stark and direct warning for President Trump about

00:04:19.520 any possible endorsement plans in Texas.

00:04:23.220 That's because Jesse Kelly lives in Texas, is from Texas, and he's host of the Jesse Kelly

00:04:29.280 Show, cares about all the states, but a lot about Texas.

00:04:33.480 And you can hear Jesse's show right here on the Megyn Kelly channel, Sirius XM 111 every

00:04:37.640 weeknight at 6 p.m. Eastern.

00:04:39.480 Love having him as part of that lineup.

00:04:41.820 He also has a new book titled Jesse Kelly's Little Red Book, which you can get for free,

00:04:48.280 which I continue to tell him is not, it's not a great plan.

00:04:51.140 I don't think he's got a career as an author if he keeps giving them away for free, but

00:04:55.980 nonetheless, that's how much he loves you.

00:04:57.420 You can get it at jessikelly.com.

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00:06:12.520 Jesse, welcome back.

00:06:13.840 Megan, I appreciate you.

00:06:15.220 And I know it's a terrible business plan.

00:06:17.000 All my friends, including you in this business, are yelling at me about it.

00:06:20.260 I'm never doing it again. 0.99

00:06:21.160 I swear, but it's just, it's dumb. 0.99

00:06:23.600 I know it's dumb, but I'm a dumb person. 0.99

00:06:25.080 Like a nominal. 0.99

00:06:25.920 So I just get stuff out.

00:06:26.740 Even like $4, you know, something nominal, maybe.

00:06:29.880 I think people would want to support you.

00:06:31.880 Okay.

00:06:32.420 So let's talk, is this, I confess, I don't know that much about Ken Paxton.

00:06:37.320 He's the guy now who's in the runoff with John Cornyn, who's like establishment Republican,

00:06:42.640 capital E, establishment Republican.

00:06:44.620 And Cornyn's been there since 2002.

00:06:46.940 Um, but now Ken Paxton, who seems like a very colorful character and seems notwithstanding

00:06:53.200 some personal scandals to be pretty beloved by most Republicans.

00:06:57.160 He's kind of Trumpy.

00:06:58.340 He's fun.

00:06:58.960 He's fierce.

00:06:59.540 He's a fighter.

00:07:00.100 Um, but he's in this knockdown drag out with Cornyn.

00:07:04.000 And now it appears that Trump, who doesn't want to see a runoff between now, what is

00:07:08.960 it, March 6th today and the end of May, he doesn't want to see the Republican candidate

00:07:14.540 get all bloodied up before they have to face this incredibly woke, annoying Democrat who 0.51

00:07:20.860 just defeated Jasmine Crockett, Tallarico.

00:07:23.700 He wants the GOP candidate to be a little cleaner, you know, with not as many fist prints

00:07:28.920 all over him.

00:07:29.900 He seems to be getting ready to endorse.

00:07:32.300 And I think a lot of people are like, okay, we get it until he said the person he was going

00:07:35.820 to endorse is John Cornyn.

00:07:37.580 And a lot of the MAGA faithful did like a whiplash, like, wait, what?

00:07:41.460 Because they don't like John Cornyn, even though he's a Republican.

00:07:44.140 And you are one of them.

00:07:45.740 So explain to us why.

00:07:48.020 All right.

00:07:48.320 So John Cornyn, because this is really mostly about John Cornyn and frankly, the United States

00:07:53.180 Senate.

00:07:53.540 It's not even really a Texas story, although obviously Texas is part of it.

00:07:57.360 John Cornyn, I mean, everybody talks about rhinos and draining the swamp and Washington,

00:08:02.400 D.C. corruption.

00:08:03.460 I mean, John Cornyn is the face of all that.

00:08:05.500 John Cornyn, as a Texas senator, is an amnesty guy.

00:08:09.140 He's talked about it multiple times, how he wants to do an amnesty deal for illegals.

00:08:12.580 After that horrible Uvalde school shooting, John Cornyn was the one who worked with Democrats

00:08:18.340 to pass gun control legislation.

00:08:21.580 John Cornyn has screwed over the right time and time and time again.

00:08:25.800 But John Cornyn is insanely powerful.

00:08:29.480 He's a very high ranking Republican.

00:08:31.220 And he keeps the swamp full.

00:08:34.180 He keeps it as swampy as possible.

00:08:36.220 So along comes Ken Paxton.

00:08:38.440 He's currently Texas's attorney general.

00:08:40.820 He's won statewide races multiple times here.

00:08:43.260 He's well known.

00:08:44.820 It's one of the most difficult things in the world is to primary a sitting senator because

00:08:50.180 they raise so much money and they overwhelm you monetarily, as you know.

00:08:53.680 So it's very rare you can do this.

00:08:57.460 We have a very rare opportunity to send a message, not to John Cornyn, screw him, to

00:09:03.940 the rest of the GOP that we are done tolerating, you betraying us every chance.

00:09:09.600 These senators, they screw us over for four years. 1.00

00:09:11.800 And then the last two years when they're getting ready to run for re-election, they act like

00:09:15.020 I'm Mr. Trump guy and all those things like that.

00:09:17.700 John Cornyn does this.

00:09:18.800 We have an opportunity to send them a message that we're done taking that, that we're done

00:09:22.760 taking that.

00:09:23.240 And if you do that, we're going to primary you. 0.95

00:09:25.440 This is an opportunity to make the rest of the useless GOP afraid to screw us over.

00:09:31.300 This is an opportunity to actually drain the swamp because John Cornyn fills it up. 0.82

00:09:36.100 Donald Trump ran on draining the swamp, talks about draining the swamp, talks about these

00:09:40.340 things all the time.

00:09:41.880 If, if, and he hasn't done it yet to his credit, from my understanding, he's having hesitations

00:09:46.740 now, if Donald Trump steps in and kneecaps the effort to actually drain the swamp, it

00:09:53.520 will be by a mile the biggest betrayal of his base and the biggest mistake he has made

00:09:59.200 in his presidency. 0.99

00:10:00.680 He has some swampy loser dorks around him telling him that he should. 0.98

00:10:04.700 That's why he's even getting involved at all. 0.97

00:10:07.660 These people stand to make a lot of money if he gets involved and John Cornyn wins and

00:10:11.900 they're whispering in his ear that he should do this.

00:10:13.940 He doesn't have to do anything.

00:10:14.920 He doesn't have to endorse Paxi.

00:10:16.220 He doesn't have to do anything.

00:10:17.120 Just sit there and let us.

00:10:18.700 Yeah, you can stay out of it.

00:10:19.540 Yeah, just stay out of it. 0.97

00:10:20.820 It would be the dumbest own goal at a point where he's got a lot of things he's juggling. 0.91

00:10:25.840 It would be beyond belief to me that he does it. 0.99

00:10:28.420 And I really hope that cooler heads prevail. 0.99

00:10:32.340 Why do the swampy loser dorks want Cornyn? 1.00

00:10:35.280 Money. 0.99

00:10:36.460 John Cornyn has been there, like you said, since 2002.

00:10:39.760 And John Cornyn's one of these guys who keeps a lot of pockets full in D.C.

00:10:45.340 Of course, it's always taxpayer money.

00:10:47.160 He finds a way to get money spread around Washington, D.C.

00:10:51.640 Like so many of these long-established senators do.

00:10:54.460 And then miraculously, when he comes up for re-election, instead of having a normal war chest,

00:10:59.680 you know, United States Senate runs going to cost you $20, $30 million.

00:11:03.720 John Cornyn had $100 million to spend on the primary alone.

00:11:09.440 Why do you think they did that?

00:11:10.340 Because they love his winning personality?

00:11:12.220 They did that because the guy spent 20-plus years funneling money back to them.

00:11:16.860 And he's going to spend the next six doing the exact same thing.

00:11:19.360 And some people around President Trump, these political consultants who get 15% of all these

00:11:25.840 ad buys, $100 million, 15% of $100 million is a lot of cheddar cheese.

00:11:30.480 They stand to make a whole lot of money if John Cornyn keeps winning and keeps spending money.

00:11:35.400 It's all about money and power.

00:11:37.460 It's everything gross that grosses normal people out about politics is this exact race right here. 1.00

00:11:43.980 And we don't need Donald Trump kneecapping the efforts of decent people who want to drain the swamp.

00:11:49.580 Now, as I understand it, the argument against Paxton is he's less likely to win in the general.

00:11:56.300 There's a big dispute even among Republicans on this type of argument.

00:12:00.940 Like Ann Coulter, she maintains that if you don't nominate the candidate who enthuses Republicans,

00:12:08.420 you're going to lose.

00:12:09.400 Like it never works to go for the one who would play better with the general electorate.

00:12:13.140 And there are a lot of Republicans who feel that way.

00:12:14.680 Like there's going to be a pissed off contingent in Texas if it's not Paxton who refused to pull

00:12:21.260 the lever for Cornyn, which could hurt the Republicans.

00:12:23.460 But in any event, the theory behind go with Cornyn is the Texas electorate has sent him

00:12:29.820 back to the Senate time and time again, and he'll be more palatable to a Texas electorate

00:12:35.140 that, let's face it, over the past 10 years has gotten a little bit more purple than red.

00:12:40.020 Yeah, I've heard this argument, and it's a complete crappy argument, and I reject it all

00:12:44.860 the way.

00:12:45.180 First of all, I've been living in Texas for about 15 years now, a little less than that,

00:12:49.120 about 15 years now.

00:12:50.120 And ever since the day we walked into this state, I have been warned that Texas is turning

00:12:54.120 blue, and Texas is turning blue, and Texas is turning blue, and not a single Democrat

00:12:57.560 has won a statewide election since I got here.

00:12:59.620 Texas is not turning blue, that's one.

00:13:01.480 Two, that weird little fruitcake.

00:13:03.520 That's a relief to hear, by the way.

00:13:04.860 It's not turning blue.

00:13:05.620 This is nice to hear that there are still states towing the line.

00:13:08.300 Oh yeah, and not only that, we're getting redder.

00:13:10.160 Megan, people talk about why we don't want Californians moving to our state and stuff like that.

00:13:14.640 And with all due respect, the people who flee places like California and come to Texas,

00:13:18.660 we pull all these things here in Texas.

00:13:20.660 They're all Republicans.

00:13:21.640 We get redder when the Republicans move into Texas.

00:13:23.940 Texas isn't turning blue, that's one.

00:13:25.740 Two, that fruitcake the Democrats chose to nominate, that weirdo, James Tallarico, who

00:13:30.740 looks like he's never even had to shave a day in his life.

00:13:33.600 That guy is not going to appeal to red-blooded Texas voters.

00:13:36.880 He's on camera saying some of the kookiest, Dodd is non-binary and things like that, saying

00:13:43.300 the kookiest things in the world that are going to be all over the airwaves.

00:13:46.740 My dog could beat that guy running as a Republican in Texas.

00:13:49.620 That guy's not going to be elected United States senator.

00:13:52.240 I don't care who we nominate.

00:13:53.520 And three, this is the go-to trick that the swamp rat rhinos use every single time there 0.96

00:14:01.320 is a hardcore person who actually shares the values of the electorate.

00:14:05.220 They use the exact same trick, the same line.

00:14:07.460 I swear they just all have it memorized.

00:14:09.200 Well, he can't win the general.

00:14:10.340 Well, he's too far right to win the general.

00:14:11.780 This guy's too far right to win the general.

00:14:13.680 Karl Rove and these goobers have been trotting out that line for as long as I've been alive. 1.00

00:14:19.940 Anybody who won't keep their pockets lined and keep the swamp swampy is too far right

00:14:25.740 and won't be able to win the general. 0.99

00:14:27.080 I'm so tired of hearing that crap. 0.97

00:14:29.040 Any Republican who wins, Cornyn or Paxton, any Republican who wins the primary is going 0.99

00:14:33.860 to be the next senator from Texas, and everybody knows it.

00:14:37.860 All right.

00:14:38.460 Now there's reports that there might be a deal in the works whereby Cornyn will be the nominee.

00:14:48.200 Paxton will drop out.

00:14:49.720 But Paxton could make an announcement saying, I'll drop out if you get the SAVE Act a vote

00:14:56.960 on the floor of the U.S. Senate, you know, the act that would require ID and citizenship

00:15:03.840 verification before people can register to vote.

00:15:06.780 And Paxton, you know, if he wants a long future in Republican politics, he doesn't want to cross Trump.

00:15:12.820 So it's possible, the theory goes, that he might agree to that.

00:15:17.320 Now, having said that, this is what he said to Just the News and our pal John Solomon,

00:15:21.960 his organization, just two days ago on Wednesday.

00:15:25.360 Here's thought one.

00:15:26.620 And what message do you want to send to the Republican base day?

00:15:29.580 President Trump said he's going to make an endorsement.

00:15:31.680 Whoever he does endorse should drop out.

00:15:33.480 I have a funny feeling you don't drop out under any circumstance.

00:15:36.620 No, I'm staying in this race.

00:15:37.880 I owe it to the people of Texas.

00:15:39.060 I've spent a year of my life campaigning for against John Cornyn because John has not represented

00:15:46.020 the people of Texas.

00:15:46.940 Well, he's been against Trump in both of his elections, said he shouldn't run last time.

00:15:51.240 His day had passed.

00:15:53.560 OK, so he's saying no.

00:15:55.440 And then just wanted to add this, Jesse.

00:16:00.060 OK, Trump gave an interview just by phone to Dana Bash of CNN this morning.

00:16:06.240 And there was a question about whether he's about to endorse Cornyn.

00:16:11.020 She reports as follows.

00:16:12.600 I'm quoting.

00:16:13.700 The president says his top priority other than the war is the Save America Act, which he now

00:16:19.160 wants to include trans issues, banning surgeries on kids and procedures and boys and girls sports.

00:16:27.100 He told me this in response to my question about endorsing Cornyn.

00:16:30.260 Quote, I'm making a decision fairly shortly, but I want and then I feel very strongly that

00:16:36.880 we have to have the full and complete Save America Act.

00:16:39.860 OK, I want the Save America Act.

00:16:42.800 It's more important than everything else we're working on other than the war, he told Dana Bash.

00:16:46.840 Quote, I've got to have the assurance of you have a big story here, come to think of it.

00:16:51.740 But I'm just telling you, I like John Cornyn.

00:16:54.960 Get along with him very well.

00:16:56.800 Get along with both of them very well.

00:16:58.400 But we have to go in with the Save America Act, which I don't know.

00:17:04.640 That sounds to me, Jesse, like it's along the lines of what I was just asking you.

00:17:08.980 Are they cutting a deal behind the scenes where they keep Cornyn?

00:17:13.540 They get a vote on Save America.

00:17:15.740 They somehow I mean, I don't know how they're going to get a vote on the Save America Act

00:17:19.480 if they don't get rid of the filibuster.

00:17:20.760 But in any event, and that's how the president avoids this bruising primary and gets rid of

00:17:24.660 Ken Paxton by having Ken saying he did it for the good of the nation to get the Save Act.

00:17:28.400 Yeah, I think Donald Trump is being very clear there.

00:17:34.560 And frankly, Ken Paxman is being clear as well.

00:17:37.420 Get the Save.

00:17:38.020 If you want John Cornyn, I need the Save Act.

00:17:40.040 Obviously, it's a political deal that's being cut. 1.00

00:17:42.840 Donald Trump is not a moron, as many of the people on the left seem to think he is. 1.00

00:17:46.860 He's not a moron at all. 0.99

00:17:48.260 And he has heard the loud screaming from people who are his most loyal supporters over the 0.97

00:17:53.760 last 48 hours at the thought of him endorsing Cornyn.

00:17:56.840 So if you're going to do something unpopular, and he knows it would be extremely unpopular,

00:18:01.720 Donald Trump's a very transactional man, always has been.

00:18:04.780 He wants something for it.

00:18:05.900 He believes the Save Act is necessary.

00:18:07.880 And I believe it as well.

00:18:08.720 It's necessary to win elections, to keep Democrats from cheating in elections.

00:18:13.200 He wants the Save Act passed.

00:18:14.640 So that's the deal.

00:18:15.840 I'll back John Cornyn if you give me the Save Act.

00:18:19.020 There is a major problem, though.

00:18:21.020 You say it would involve ending the filibuster.

00:18:23.120 And of course it would.

00:18:24.260 But even if you ended the filibuster right now, we still can't pass the Save Act.

00:18:27.840 And John Cornyn has no control of that whatsoever.

00:18:30.140 John Cornyn is already a yes on the Save Act.

00:18:32.220 Our problems are that loser John Curtis from Utah, the senator, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, 0.99

00:18:38.560 and probably most importantly, Mitch McConnell, who just wants to screw Trump one more time 0.94

00:18:43.860 on his way out the door as he gets wheelchaired around the United States Senate.

00:18:47.960 The people holding up the Save Act, none of them are named John Cornyn at this point in time.

00:18:53.580 So how's John Cornyn going to make that happen?

00:18:56.460 He's not going to be able to make that happen.

00:18:57.840 I don't know.

00:18:58.160 I don't understand the logic.

00:19:00.020 Well, the logic is simple.

00:19:01.680 In my opinion, this is my opinion because I'm not inside the man's head and I don't

00:19:06.000 have Donald Trump's cell phone number and no most of the president, I'm not asking for

00:19:09.180 it.

00:19:09.620 In my opinion, Donald Trump is asking for something he knows they can't deliver.

00:19:14.740 John Thune, we know this because John Thune has admitted it.

00:19:17.740 John Thune has been in Donald Trump's back pocket for a very long time begging him to endorse

00:19:23.440 John Cornyn and Donald Trump has refused to do so.

00:19:26.820 I think this is Donald Trump firing back after the last 48 hours of anger and saying, OK,

00:19:33.280 you've been begging.

00:19:34.420 You want John Cornyn?

00:19:36.180 Give me my law.

00:19:37.440 I want a law passed.

00:19:38.680 And if you can't do it, I think this is more about John Thune than anything else.

00:19:42.400 If you can't whip the votes to pass the Save Act and screw John Cornyn, he can go run on his own.

00:19:47.080 In my opinion, that's what Donald Trump is doing.

00:19:49.080 And if it is, I applaud him for it.

00:19:50.500 Good for him.

00:19:51.880 Wow.

00:19:52.440 It's getting tricky.

00:19:53.760 All right.

00:19:53.980 Well, that's something that we need to watch.

00:19:55.620 In the meantime, whoever it is, Paxton or Cornyn, will have to run against this Tallarico,

00:20:00.500 who already is the gift that just keeps on giving.

00:20:05.560 I don't even know where to begin.

00:20:06.720 We didn't get to a lot of these yesterday, but here's here's one.

00:20:09.920 This is sadly, this is the Nancy Pelosi theory as well.

00:20:12.700 There are a lot of liberal Democrats who feel this way, who happen to be Catholic.

00:20:15.480 Here he is in Sop 4.

00:20:18.240 Being Christian.

00:20:20.900 And being pro-choice are absolutely consistent because Christianity is a feminist religion.

00:20:28.680 That Jesus Christ himself was a radical feminist. 0.52

00:20:33.920 I don't plan to know what Jesus thought about abortion.

00:20:37.160 He never mentions it either, which maybe that should tell us something right there.

00:20:41.380 But what I do know is that Jesus believed a woman is a full person.

00:20:46.100 And that's the definition of feminist. 1.00

00:20:51.640 Jesus Christ was a radical feminist and he has no idea how he felt about abortion, Jesse. 0.55

00:20:58.540 Megan.

00:20:59.280 All right.

00:20:59.960 So, sorry, I'm about to filibuster on your show.

00:21:03.660 Just shout at me and cut me off if I go on too long.

00:21:06.060 Go for it.

00:21:06.100 But I have to lay this out for people.

00:21:07.800 So, in the Soviet Union, after the Bolsheviks took over, the Soviet Union was obviously Russia 0.68

00:21:13.380 before that.

00:21:14.280 And their Orthodox Christianity was the religion of Russia at the time. 1.00

00:21:19.300 And of course, communists are demonic beasts. 0.98

00:21:21.520 And so, immediately, they start doing what they do everywhere they take over. 1.00

00:21:24.700 They started killing the pastors and raping the nuns and doing the worst things in the 0.99

00:21:28.140 history of the world and burning down the churches. 0.99

00:21:30.220 But they ran into a problem.

00:21:31.920 The problem was the people themselves had such a tradition with the Orthodox Church that

00:21:38.940 they couldn't just get rid of all of them.

00:21:40.640 They figured out, we have to leave them some church. 0.99

00:21:44.800 And so, what they figured out they had to do was, yes, you're going to kill some pastors 0.99

00:21:48.480 and stuff like that. 0.99

00:21:49.240 That's just what you do. 1.00

00:21:50.040 You're a dirty communist, but you co-opt the others. 0.98

00:21:53.760 So, eventually, you will get pastors standing in front of the pulpit telling the Russian 0.99

00:21:58.000 people about the glory of the state and how Lenin is guiding us.

00:22:02.220 And of course, Jesus said as much.

00:22:04.120 And this is a common communist tactic.

00:22:07.240 They have employed this tactic over and over and over and over and over again.

00:22:11.080 And here in the state of Texas, Tallarico is doing that thing where he knows Texas is

00:22:16.260 red.

00:22:16.620 He knows, by and large, a lot of Texans do go to church.

00:22:20.040 And so, he's doing something that happens often in the United States of America with

00:22:23.700 these tranny pastors. 1.00

00:22:25.300 This happens a lot in these black liberation theology churches where they're not preaching 0.99

00:22:29.380 the gospel.

00:22:30.160 They're preaching communist revolution and cloaking it in the gospel.

00:22:34.640 And Tallarico has been doing this on camera for a very, very, very long time. 0.94

00:22:39.480 And it's why he is so insanely screwed in this general election.

00:22:42.740 He has co-opted, pretending to be a pastor, telling everybody that Jesus would want the 0.96

00:22:48.660 communist revolution, trying to use this verse and that verse.

00:22:52.740 And it's very obvious to anybody with brain cells more than an amoeba what he's doing.

00:22:57.540 And it is not going to land well.

00:22:59.680 It may land in some fruity blue district in the state of Texas statewide.

00:23:04.380 Oh, my gosh.

00:23:05.220 He's going to get, well, if you'll pardon the pun, he's going to get crucified for that. 0.95

00:23:09.080 Mm-hmm.

00:23:10.500 I mean, I would respect him so much more if he just came out and said, obviously, abortion 1.00

00:23:15.060 is a sin.

00:23:16.440 Obviously, Jesus wasn't pro-abortion.

00:23:20.140 People are going to do what they're going to do.

00:23:21.960 And then I beg you to seek forgiveness.

00:23:23.800 I mean, like that would at least be honest.

00:23:26.120 But this notion of like, gee, we have no idea how Jesus felt about abortion.

00:23:30.500 Maybe that tells us something.

00:23:31.820 What?

00:23:32.420 The nonsense. 0.69

00:23:33.640 Jesus was a radical feminist. 0.99

00:23:35.160 And then there was this on Joe Rogan in SOT 2.

00:23:39.080 I say all this in terms of, in context of abortion, because before God comes over Mary 0.93

00:23:46.820 and we have the incarnation, God asks for Mary's consent, which is remarkable.

00:23:55.200 I mean, go back and read this in Luke.

00:23:58.280 I mean, the angel comes down and asks Mary if this is something she wants to do.

00:24:04.500 And she says, if it is God's will, let it be done.

00:24:07.700 Let it be.

00:24:08.520 Let it happen.

00:24:09.720 So to me, that is an affirmation in one of our most central stories that creation has

00:24:15.340 to be done with consent.

00:24:16.680 You cannot force someone to create.

00:24:18.660 Creation is one of the most sacred acts that we engage in as human beings.

00:24:24.100 But that has to be done with consent.

00:24:25.900 It has to be done with freedom.

00:24:27.000 And like God did with Mary.

00:24:29.920 Yeah.

00:24:30.820 Yeah. 0.94

00:24:31.360 James Tallarico is going to burn in hell if he doesn't repent.

00:24:34.520 And I hate to say that because it's not my, not my, not my role to send anybody to hell.

00:24:39.940 But there are, I mean, look, it doesn't exactly take a Rhodes Scholar to read the Bible and see

00:24:44.700 the endless warnings from Jesus Christ himself of what is going to happen to religious leaders

00:24:50.000 who pervert the gospel and lead the flock astray.

00:24:53.380 James Tallarico has problems that extend well beyond losing a Senate race in Texas,

00:24:58.220 which he's going to do. 0.98

00:24:59.740 If he does not stop doing what he is doing in that video, he is going to burn in hell 0.98

00:25:04.700 and it's going to be freaking hot. 0.66

00:25:06.520 It's way more than a political game he is playing.

00:25:09.560 I hope somebody in his life will pull him aside and let him know that you are playing with fire,

00:25:14.940 son.

00:25:15.200 And it ends very, very, very badly.

00:25:17.600 Very badly.

00:25:18.800 It does.

00:25:19.520 It does seem to me the pastor thing is not for you.

00:25:21.420 It's not for you, James.

00:25:22.240 This is not your gig.

00:25:23.680 You've grossly misinterpreted literally everything about Christianity.

00:25:28.440 It doesn't get much better if you, staying in Texas, look over to what's happening in

00:25:33.460 Jasmine Crockett's House seat.

00:25:36.080 All right.

00:25:36.280 So her district was redistricted with what Texas did and it was changed radically.

00:25:42.920 But since she left the House seat to run for Senate, which now she's lost, there's going 1.00

00:25:48.620 to be a contest to see who fills it.

00:25:50.200 And whoever the Democrat nominee is, is going to win because it happens to be a heavily blue

00:25:55.580 district, the particular seat that's up.

00:25:58.360 And they have their nominee.

00:26:00.420 It is a guy named Frederick Haynes, who was her, or I guess is her pastor.

00:26:06.360 He's her, yeah, pastor.

00:26:09.040 Frederick Haynes III.

00:26:09.920 He announced his bid to take over her seat shortly after she announced her now failed

00:26:13.540 bid for U.S.

00:26:14.200 Senate.

00:26:15.520 And he won the primary.

00:26:17.520 And here is a dose of what we're getting with Pastor Haynes in Sot 5.

00:26:23.340 This is him in the Sunday sermon after Charlie Kirk was assassinated.

00:26:28.180 A white Christian gets killed, murdered, not assassinated. 0.57

00:26:38.060 We're going to tell the whole truth today. 0.95

00:26:41.340 Martin King got assassinated.

00:26:44.320 Malcolm X got assassinated.

00:26:46.800 Medgar X got assassinated.

00:26:49.000 Don't compare Kirk to King.

00:26:51.640 Ain't no such comparison now.

00:26:55.020 What Kirk said was dangerous. 0.99

00:26:57.600 What Kirk said was racist, rooted in white supremacy, nasty, and hate-filled. 0.97

00:27:05.860 But he still should be alive. 0.98

00:27:08.760 Oh, thank you.

00:27:09.980 Threw us a bone there at the end.

00:27:11.540 I'm not sure.

00:27:12.040 I think I might have preferred Jasmine Crockett.

00:27:13.980 I'm already starting to miss her.

00:27:15.440 Well, first of all, Megan, I swear on my life, I didn't know you were getting ready to play

00:27:19.580 that Sot when I talked about the black liberation theology pastors doing the exact same thing

00:27:24.220 James Tallarico does, perverting the gospel to push the communist revolution.

00:27:27.900 I didn't even know you were going to play that.

00:27:29.180 But, well, thank you, Megan.

00:27:30.400 There it is.

00:27:31.100 It's laid out for you.

00:27:32.360 You know, Jesus.

00:27:33.460 Thank you for teeing it up. 1.00

00:27:34.620 To smite Republicans, all this ridiculous crap these people say. 0.99

00:27:38.300 And what's worse is my girl Jasmine Crockett lost. 1.00

00:27:42.920 Megan, I'm so heartbroken.

00:27:44.120 In general, because I'm just a radio and TV host, I don't ever endorse candidates.

00:27:48.740 It's just not something I do.

00:27:50.060 But Jasmine Crockett got my full-throated endorsement in that Democrat primary. 1.00

00:27:55.720 I was pulling for her so hard, but sadly, she was not able to overcome James Tallarico.

00:28:01.340 But the good news is it looks like we're going to replace her with the male version of it. 1.00

00:28:05.120 And the ugly truth beyond all the joking is that we don't like that the United States

00:28:10.680 House of Representatives oftentimes accurately represents the district.

00:28:15.460 That's the fact. 0.96

00:28:16.300 I mean, we can rage against people like Ilhan Omar and AOC and all these other losers in 0.97

00:28:21.220 the United States House of the Representatives. 0.96

00:28:22.820 But the truth is those people accurately represent the losers in their district. 1.00

00:28:27.140 And Jasmine Crockett's district is full of scumbags. 1.00

00:28:29.640 That's why they elected a scumbag before, and that's why they'll elect a scumbag again this 1.00

00:28:34.020 time. 1.00

00:28:34.460 And we don't like that because no one likes to look in the mirror and see a pimple.

00:28:37.720 But that's the fact. 1.00

00:28:38.520 We have a lot of places in this country are full of scumbags, and they elect scumbags. 1.00

00:28:41.980 Even in the great state of Texas, we've got scumbags and swampy loser dorks. 1.00

00:28:46.760 So that's not that's not ideal. 1.00

00:28:48.720 I expected better of our Texas brethren.

00:28:52.380 He's likely headed to Congress and he'll find a lot of other loons to hang out with.

00:28:56.380 But I have to say, now having just gotten introduced to Tallarico, I think he's worse

00:29:01.160 than Jasmine Crockett. 0.98

00:29:01.920 I really think the Republicans should be thrilled that this guy got the nomination because,

00:29:06.460 first of all, a black woman running on the Democratic ticket does tend to inspire Democrats

00:29:11.540 to make sure they get out to vote.

00:29:13.560 You know, that's their core constituency.

00:29:15.280 Not as much with the white, effete male who's saying Jesus may have loved abortion.

00:29:23.800 Like, I don't—Texas is still God-fearing country.

00:29:26.960 I don't know whether this guy's going to play.

00:29:28.580 I don't think he will.

00:29:29.420 And I think they took a real risk here.

00:29:30.920 She had the name ID as well.

00:29:32.860 He doesn't.

00:29:34.380 I feel stronger than ever that the Republicans are looking good in that Senate race.

00:29:38.300 And now I think the more interesting contest is what's going to happen over on the other

00:29:42.680 side.

00:29:43.200 This business of, like, whether Charlie was assassinated, by the way, this is becoming

00:29:47.600 a thing on the left.

00:29:49.080 We saw some loon in Florida standing up and railing about this.

00:29:51.880 They think it was in Florida. 0.96

00:29:53.240 Like, again—and it was a black woman. 1.00

00:29:56.060 I don't know if she was into the, you know, same liberation theology.

00:29:59.300 But she was—she also took issue, like, taking issue with the use of the term assassinated

00:30:05.520 because they think it elevates his murder beyond a point that they're comfortable with

00:30:11.280 because he wasn't a reverend, because he wasn't an elected leader, but he was a leader.

00:30:16.940 He was a thought leader.

00:30:18.020 He was a leader of a movement, a faith movement.

00:30:20.680 Do we have it, Deb?

00:30:21.800 Do we find it?

00:30:22.640 Yeah, we have it.

00:30:23.160 Here she is.

00:30:23.620 Watch it.

00:30:23.860 I'm pretty sure this is Florida.

00:30:24.760 I'll get you the information on it.

00:30:26.100 Watch.

00:30:26.340 We want to talk about exercising free speech.

00:30:29.200 Let's ball.

00:30:30.480 So, the First Amendment protects free speech. 0.98

00:30:32.720 We don't need this day of remembrance for a man that was mediocre and racist. 0.96

00:30:36.660 And I say mediocre at best.

00:30:38.540 When we hear assassination, that's typically related to a person and a political position.

00:30:45.400 Charlie Kirk died from gun violence, okay?

00:30:49.220 We continuously advocate for gun policy legislation that would ensure that people that probably

00:30:55.560 shouldn't have a gun don't have a gun.

00:30:58.240 So, was his passing tragic for those who love him?

00:31:02.320 Absolutely.

00:31:03.560 There is no denying that.

00:31:05.140 But he was not assassinated.

00:31:06.720 And words being accurate matters.

00:31:09.280 It was a death by gun violence.

00:31:11.040 That is an issue here in the country that we should all be on the same page with addressing.

00:31:16.560 And if we want to talk about free speech, you know, a lot of people say that was some white-on-white

00:31:22.640 crime.

00:31:23.180 Why are we addressing it in that regard?

00:31:25.420 What are we doing about white-on-white crime? 0.57

00:31:28.880 Unbelievable.

00:31:29.660 This is Florida State Representative Gantt, G-A-N-N-T.

00:31:33.900 By the way, she said, words being accurate matters.

00:31:39.940 I'm pretty sure we're going to say words matters.

00:31:43.360 We should actually live up to that and have subject-verb agreement, Representative Gantt.

00:31:48.260 But obsessed with, it's not an assassination.

00:31:51.700 It's about white-on-white crime and gun violence. 0.60

00:31:56.460 Jesse.

00:31:56.680 Do you remember when Joe Biden gave his State of the Union address and Marjorie Taylor Greene

00:32:01.720 was heckling him so bad that he got flustered as he got flustered from time to time?

00:32:05.900 He ended up calling an illegal immigrant an illegal.

00:32:08.320 He actually used that word illegal.

00:32:10.000 Joe Biden was then the President of the United States of America, and he had to go on a media

00:32:14.760 apology tour for using the term illegal.

00:32:19.860 Words are weapons to communists.

00:32:21.900 They always have been.

00:32:22.820 They always will be.

00:32:23.760 They carefully select their words.

00:32:26.820 They select their words because they're trying to always deceive.

00:32:30.160 They're always trying to cloak what is true.

00:32:32.820 Their words are hand-selected.

00:32:35.420 They poll test them.

00:32:36.660 They select them on purpose.

00:32:38.280 And then after they select the words, then they carefully police everybody, including the

00:32:43.700 President of the United States, Joe Biden.

00:32:45.680 They carefully police everybody and demand everybody use those exact words because the words have

00:32:52.460 been carefully selected to deceive people.

00:32:55.920 Charlie Kirk was obviously a political leader and a wonderful martyr, and God bless his freaking 0.98

00:33:02.020 widow and their kids. 0.96

00:33:03.820 It just, my heart breaks when I think about those people.

00:33:06.260 And of course, communists hated Charlie Kirk because Charlie Kirk was insanely successful at

00:33:11.100 waking young people up to what is true in this country.

00:33:14.900 And he spoke unapologetically about politics, about Jesus, about everything else.

00:33:19.780 He was wonderful, and he was assassinated. 0.97

00:33:21.740 But for the communists, dirtbags like these people, you can't use that word. 0.95

00:33:26.220 Don't use that word. 0.94

00:33:27.420 You have to use this word instead.

00:33:29.580 Always a red flag, by the way, when someone's trying to police you with what language you are

00:33:33.480 and aren't allowed to use.

00:33:34.680 They're always trying to control you, always trying to put you in a little box.

00:33:37.520 Mm-hmm.

00:33:39.100 So, by the way, Merriam-Webster defines assassination as murder by sudden or secret attack,

00:33:46.880 often for political reasons, the act or instance of assassinating someone such as a prominent

00:33:52.620 political leader.

00:33:54.000 How is Charlie anything other than that?

00:33:56.320 You don't have to be an elected political leader.

00:33:58.880 Reverend King wasn't.

00:34:00.860 Charlie was the leader of a faith movement that continues in full swing post his assassination.

00:34:07.520 He was the leader of a political movement that delivered the youth vote to a president

00:34:12.420 in numbers we hadn't seen in recent history.

00:34:15.540 They just don't like it because it elevates him in their weird, bizarre worldview. 0.87

00:34:20.000 It's—this is very sick, the way they are.

00:34:21.680 I mean, these are, like, not well people, and it's worth keeping a spotlight on them just

00:34:26.560 so we can laugh at them.

00:34:28.020 That's important.

00:34:28.720 It's important to mock and laugh true insanity when we see it.

00:34:32.260 All right, let's keep going.

00:34:33.140 While we're on the politics front, I do want to play that Gavin Newsom soundbite for you.

00:34:37.280 Okay?

00:34:38.520 He was on the Adam Friedland Show.

00:34:41.440 I'm not familiar, but I'm assuming it's a left-wing podcast.

00:34:44.520 And he was asked a very simple question that any politician should be able to answer.

00:34:51.100 Look at how that went, SOT16.

00:34:54.000 What is your defined political project?

00:34:56.180 Like, what—throughout your career and, like, right now, like, what is the thing you want

00:35:00.420 to, like—you want to accomplish, like, politically?

00:35:03.140 You know, I don't have—in your life.

00:35:04.800 I don't have, like, a brand.

00:35:06.280 I don't have a tag, Make America Great, or, you know, the Great Society, or, you know,

00:35:10.320 something like Medicare for all the billionaires. 0.96

00:35:12.360 But I—you know, but for me, no bullshit.

00:35:14.580 It's just standing up for ideals, striking out against injustice.

00:35:16.980 It defines my why in every way, shape, form.

00:35:19.780 Stand up for ideals, strike out against injustice.

00:35:21.560 I'm a Sarge Shriver Democrat.

00:35:22.700 I mean, in that whole 60s, the vernacular of the 60s, solving for ignorance and poverty

00:35:27.000 and disease, and the spirit of the 60s, and the spirit of King, and, you know, and how

00:35:32.100 the non-violent movement, and Gandhi, and, you know, Havel, and, you know, Mandela, that

00:35:36.680 whole—that moral authority, that whole space.

00:35:39.600 That's the zeitgeist.

00:35:40.780 Yeah.

00:35:41.040 And that's—so that's me.

00:35:43.080 That's my dad.

00:35:43.840 That's my mom. 0.99

00:35:44.680 That's the book.

00:35:45.660 And that's my why.

00:35:46.960 So if you had to define it, like, what for me and you get X?

00:35:51.940 You tell me.

00:35:52.720 You're better at this.

00:35:53.620 I don't know.

00:35:54.160 I don't know who you—

00:35:54.960 I just gave you my why, but how do you translate that into human?

00:35:58.120 What?

00:35:58.740 So if you say, like, make it appeal to a voter, right?

00:36:01.840 Say, if you vote for me, you get X.

00:36:03.920 Yeah.

00:36:04.600 What in a kind of concise, tangible sense—talking to a regular guy.

00:36:10.120 Yeah, no, no.

00:36:10.780 What is that odd?

00:36:12.000 I've struggled with being able to communicate.

00:36:13.460 I told you what my why is and why I'm here, and I mean that.

00:36:16.620 And that's a grain in every aspect of my life, and it connects a dot.

00:36:21.940 You tell—you do it. 1.00

00:36:26.800 I don't know what your shit is. 0.99

00:36:29.120 But Gandhi and Nelson Mandela and Sard Schreiber and Zeitgeist, and I'm not good at this. 0.99

00:36:37.980 Jesse.

00:36:38.940 Megan, I—

00:36:39.620 It's not going well.

00:36:41.220 See, this is the thing.

00:36:42.480 I can't put myself in the mind of a Democrat.

00:36:45.320 I have tried before—the Democrat voter.

00:36:48.180 I mean, I've tried before, and I just—I guess if I thought, like, one, I would be one.

00:36:52.700 I can't decide if Gavin Newsom is somebody who we should be afraid of, because this guy could easily win the White House,

00:37:00.620 or if he just is too slick and too rehearsed and too—just what you just played right there.

00:37:08.380 It's like, Gandhi, man.

00:37:10.160 Is that really appealing to people? 1.00

00:37:13.780 I mean, obviously, I find it to be so gross and stupid. 1.00

00:37:17.460 And, like, I mean, you're laughing. 1.00

00:37:19.060 Me, too.

00:37:19.580 I couldn't stop laughing.

00:37:20.460 I'm sorry.

00:37:20.800 I was laughing over your clip. 0.96

00:37:21.800 It's so hilarious and dumb, but oftentimes, Democrat voters like that kind of thing. 0.98

00:37:28.860 I don't know what to say. 0.97

00:37:30.440 To me, I look at this guy, and I think—I think he's failing to launch.

00:37:34.800 I don't think he is taking off, and he's going to be the nominee the way so many, myself included, thought he probably was maybe six months ago.

00:37:42.400 I'm watching this podcast circuit, and he comes off as too cute by half.

00:37:46.300 He never says anything with the hand motions, and it's like Gandhi and King, man.

00:37:51.200 And he used the word zeitgeist who talks like this.

00:37:55.960 You know who he reminds me of?

00:37:57.500 I've told this story before, but there was a woman that they hired at Fox News who shall remain nameless.

00:38:02.740 Stunning.

00:38:03.500 Absolutely stunning.

00:38:04.320 Very, very beautiful woman.

00:38:06.200 And she didn't have the reporting chops to be hired at Fox, but she was gorgeous.

00:38:11.280 And she was on the air one time, and she referred to Greg Jarrett, who she was introducing.

00:38:16.480 And she was supposed to say—and it was in the prompter—defense attorney, like Fox News anchor and defense attorney, Greg Jarrett.

00:38:25.100 And instead, she said, Secretary of Defense Greg Jarrett, which, no, he isn't, and he never has been.

00:38:32.840 And then a makeup artist once told me a story about how she was getting ready in the makeup room one time, getting ready for a show.

00:38:40.840 And they were overwhelmed with the amount of paper that they were bringing her to read.

00:38:43.960 She was kind of in a panic.

00:38:45.360 And my makeup artist was like, sweetheart, you give me those papers.

00:38:48.860 We are putting those papers down.

00:38:50.160 You don't look at those papers.

00:38:51.780 You just go out there.

00:38:53.540 You be you.

00:38:54.700 You look great, and you charm everybody.

00:38:58.940 And it was great advice.

00:38:59.980 Honestly, hair and makeup, they're a bunch of geniuses.

00:39:01.920 They know.

00:39:02.340 They're the best producers in the industry.

00:39:04.300 And they knew.

00:39:05.160 Like, she wasn't ready for prime time.

00:39:07.220 That's not why Fox hired her, by the way.

00:39:09.060 She was there to read the prompter and not to do in-depth interviews or try to really provide smart analysis.

00:39:15.560 Perfectly lovely person, by the way.

00:39:17.940 And that's the vibe I get off of Gavin Newsom.

00:39:20.920 Sweetheart, you give me those papers. 0.88

00:39:22.560 You just keep saying Zeitgeist.

00:39:26.020 You went on the wrong podcast, and your team should have better served you.

00:39:29.980 One thing, I mean, there is something that I do know that applies to everybody, Democrats and Republicans.

00:39:36.060 I understand politicians try to not really – they try to not have to take a position on anything.

00:39:41.760 You don't want to put something bad on camera.

00:39:43.820 You don't want to turn people off.

00:39:45.300 You don't want to put something bad on camera.

00:39:46.740 Your opponent's going to run in commercials.

00:39:48.180 I got that.

00:39:48.980 I get the game.

00:39:49.600 Everyone here listening gets the game.

00:39:51.280 And we all understand the way the game is played.

00:39:53.240 At the same time, though, you do have to – you have to give the people something that makes them inspired.

00:40:02.080 You know, Donald Trump.

00:40:03.160 Donald Trump's actually a great example of this.

00:40:04.960 You knew.

00:40:05.800 You knew you were going to get deportations with Donald Trump.

00:40:08.420 He never played any games with that.

00:40:12.480 He stood up at every single rally.

00:40:14.220 We're going to get mass deportations.

00:40:15.760 We're going to get mass deportations.

00:40:17.040 We're going to get mass deportations over and over and over and over again.

00:40:20.740 He may have been a little wishy-washy on this issue or that issue, but every voter in the United States of America knew people were going to get deported if Donald Trump was elected.

00:40:29.260 Everybody knew that whole thing.

00:40:30.740 You have to take a stance on something or nothing inspires people to go vote for you.

00:40:36.440 You're not running on Zeitgeist and Gandhi and walking into the White House.

00:40:40.700 It's not going to happen because your opponent's going to probably be J.D. Vance, and he's going to be standing up there talking about manufacturing jobs and deporting foreigners and things like that, and you're going to be, hey, Gandhi, man, and it's just not going to work.

00:40:52.760 Oh, my God.

00:40:54.100 It's so great.

00:40:55.040 I mean, it's lovely to see these previews of how things are going to go for us over the next couple of years.

00:40:59.080 That's why it's interesting to watch.

00:41:00.640 Here's a little bit more on his book tour, and this is the best one.

00:41:03.820 This is the best.

00:41:04.540 First, he sits down with Katie Couric, and this, I mentioned at the top of the show, and she used to be one of our most respected journalists in America.

00:41:14.380 She was the anchor of the CBS Evening News back when that mattered for five years.

00:41:19.360 She was the darling of the Today Show, and things have changed.

00:41:23.620 Here she is across from Gavin on Thursday.

00:41:26.920 Do you have a Zoolander problem?

00:41:28.680 No, I do.

00:41:29.420 Jesus.

00:41:30.060 Yeah, Zoolander.

00:41:30.800 Are you just ridiculously good-looking, as folks said?

00:41:36.140 No, seriously, what do you do about that? 0.97

00:41:38.580 You don't do anything about it, because if you're going to do something about it, then you're bullshitting people.

00:41:43.560 You know what?

00:41:44.040 I am who I am, and it's fine.

00:41:46.440 You don't have to like me, or maybe you like a slick person.

00:41:49.080 I don't know.

00:41:49.880 Whatever.

00:41:50.300 It's okay.

00:41:51.580 The reason why I brought it up is because you talked about being authentic, and I think it sometimes works against you.

00:41:58.060 Yeah.

00:41:58.660 It's just who I am.

00:41:59.480 It's just who I am.

00:42:05.200 It's just who he is, Jesse.

00:42:07.820 He's just too ridiculously good-looking.

00:42:10.800 Maybe he stumbled upon his slogan.

00:42:13.780 Maybe that could be the thing that is what you want to accomplish, your defined political project.

00:42:19.580 Too good-looking to run.

00:42:20.900 Yeah, he did the job interview thing, Megan, where the boss asks you when you're trying to get the job, you know, tell me something negative about you.

00:42:28.620 And you're like, I just care too much.

00:42:30.220 You know, I work too hard.

00:42:31.500 Maybe that's the thing.

00:42:33.800 But you know what's wild, Megan?

00:42:36.380 Think about this.

00:42:37.080 He's doing the commie podcast circuit now, where he could be more frank about things.

00:42:43.240 Because this is a long race.

00:42:45.140 It's a couple years until 2028.

00:42:47.560 Now is the time where you could be frank about this or that or whatever your policy positions, whatever you're going for.

00:42:54.040 And even now, you can't drill the guy down on anything whatsoever.

00:42:59.860 I don't understand the strategy.

00:43:02.400 I don't see how it works.

00:43:04.500 You tell me, because I feel like any normal man would know how to answer that question, which is you should be self-deprecating. 0.92

00:43:14.520 You should say something modest about yourself to make yourself not seem like an arrogant, vain prick, which is how a lot of people view him. 0.94

00:43:25.660 But instead, he went with, it's just who I am. 0.97

00:43:32.440 Not it.

00:43:33.420 I'm just going to.

00:43:34.440 How would Jesse Kelly?

00:43:35.540 Well, Jesse Kelly compliments himself jokingly all the time.

00:43:39.160 But this is part of your shtick.

00:43:40.740 This is not a part of a Gavin Newsom shtick.

00:43:43.040 How would you have advised Gavin Newsom to answer that question?

00:43:46.520 I would advise Gavin Newsom that he's not going to win Pennsylvania, Michigan, or Wisconsin if the normal guy who's not a Republican, he's not a Democrat, he's just a normal dude, watches football on Saturday.

00:43:59.020 If normal guy can't relate to you at all and doesn't find you appealing at all, you have no chance whatsoever.

00:44:07.300 Donald Trump throwing on a hard hat or a McDonald's apron and handing out fries.

00:44:11.900 These may be a bit ham-fisted political stunts, but they made normies, normal people in critical swing states, feel like, okay, at least he cares enough to pretend to be a little bit like me.

00:44:24.420 Gavin Newsom is going to have to drop the hair gel.

00:44:27.020 He's going to have to drop this slick California style, and he's going to have to spend a lot of time in the Midwest.

00:44:33.780 And look, I love being in California, too.

00:44:36.020 The weather's beautiful.

00:44:36.960 The food is great.

00:44:38.080 But you're going to have to leave, and you're going to have to spend some time in Iowa and get dirtied up a little bit.

00:44:43.780 I'll put it that way, Megan, because this is not going to work.

00:44:46.220 These kind of podcasts, interviews, well, I'm just too ravishing.

00:44:50.140 I don't know what you want me to do about it.

00:44:51.520 This is the kind of thing that is going to turn people off.

00:44:55.620 It's the kind of thing that's appealing to the voters who are already voting for Gavin Newsom.

00:45:00.260 The young 25-year-old mentally ill woman on Adderall, she's already voting for Gavin Newsom.

00:45:05.760 He already has her in his back pocket.

00:45:07.080 She's not going anywhere.

00:45:08.100 He doesn't need to win her over.

00:45:09.420 He has two years to win over those Rust Belt swing voters, the guys who eat out of a lunch pail, and that ain't going to work.

00:45:15.480 You don't like hot Gandhi as an approach to one's presidential campaign?

00:45:23.280 I love it.

00:45:25.400 So far, he's been the gift that keeps on giving.

00:45:27.440 So I say, Gavin, you stay out there.

00:45:29.660 You keep talking.

00:45:30.440 We appreciate it greatly.

00:45:32.860 Okay, there's more to do.

00:45:34.920 I've been interested to get your take on the Iran war.

00:45:37.420 I saw you the other day, and you seemed kind of concerned but open-minded.

00:45:43.540 Where would you say you are on the Iran war?

00:45:46.460 I'm cautious is how I would describe it right now, cautious.

00:45:49.760 And here's what I mean.

00:45:51.500 Everybody is enjoying this part of it, myself included, especially now because we all have a cell phone and we all get to wake up.

00:45:58.240 I mean, we got to wake up and we got to see an American submarine torpedo an Iranian ship and sink it to the bottom.

00:46:05.320 Who doesn't cheer for that kind of stuff?

00:46:07.000 And right now, because we're American.

00:46:08.660 And you're a veteran, I want to point out.

00:46:10.680 Yeah, and we're America because we are militarily superior and because nobody likes the Ayatollah or the dirtballs who run Iran. 1.00

00:46:18.500 Right now is the feel-good portion of this whole thing. 0.97

00:46:21.320 We're bombing them into smithereens. 0.97

00:46:23.500 We're taking out the Ayatollah. 1.00

00:46:25.220 Anyone else who has any authority there now is the feel-good portion of that.

00:46:29.420 And look, I'm swept up in that myself.

00:46:31.240 I get that as well.

00:46:32.860 Now, the problem is it's easy for us, a military like ours, to break things.

00:46:40.000 This is the easy part of it.

00:46:41.820 And I say that with all due respect.

00:46:43.740 I realize we already lost some soldiers in this.

00:46:45.900 But this is the easy part in it for the United States military.

00:46:49.080 The hard part is going to be making things.

00:46:52.460 Breaking things is easy.

00:46:53.640 Making things is difficult.

00:46:54.600 Who is going to run Iran that will, A, serve our interests because we're the ones expending all this stuff over here. 0.77

00:47:03.580 And, B, that will be acceptable to the people of Iran.

00:47:08.120 And I don't know the answer to that question. 1.00

00:47:09.720 And the Trump administration is not full of morons. 1.00

00:47:12.160 They're asking that question. 1.00

00:47:13.440 They're talking about it already.

00:47:15.300 Right now it's the fun part.

00:47:16.480 The less fun part is trying to install a government that's friendly to you and acceptable to the people.

00:47:22.780 And this is why regime change is a very, very dangerous game to play.

00:47:27.940 That it can work out and it can go sideways on you in a real, real, real big hurry.

00:47:33.580 And look, I'll just put it this way.

00:47:35.660 No matter what, whoever ends up sitting in the throne, if we're going to call it that over there,

00:47:40.100 they're going to do so with our backing.

00:47:42.300 And they're going to be on video having killed people. 1.00

00:47:45.300 You're going to have to kill people to take the throne. 1.00

00:47:48.460 That's the way it works. 0.99

00:47:49.380 There's going to be internet video out there.

00:47:50.960 Whoever the guy is who ends up being in charge, there's going to be internet video out there

00:47:54.640 of him firing a bullet in the back of someone's head on the side of an Iranian road.

00:47:59.760 How's that going to land?

00:48:01.440 How's that going to work?

00:48:02.740 Right now is the fun part of my point.

00:48:04.420 Right now, you know what we're doing, Megan?

00:48:05.780 We knocked off work on a Friday.

00:48:07.600 We stopped by the bar and we're empty stomach drinking whiskey.

00:48:10.880 I got to know this is not whiskey, but we got a cup full of whiskey and it's going down good.

00:48:15.080 And I'm feeling warm and tingly.

00:48:16.680 And I think I'll go dance with my wife by the jukebox.

00:48:19.700 Now's the fun part.

00:48:21.560 Tomorrow morning when I wake up, since I'm 44 now and no longer 24, it might not be quite as fun.

00:48:29.440 Right now it's whiskey time.

00:48:30.800 Yeah, yeah.

00:48:31.620 Hangover time is gone.

00:48:32.480 I appreciate getting the window into your planned evening ahead.

00:48:34.960 I just said this to Matthew Kachuk, who is part of our Olympic gold winning men's hockey team.

00:48:41.080 There is a product called Party Smart, which my friend Nancy loves this thing.

00:48:46.300 If I go over to her house, we have dinner and we have a couple glasses of wine.

00:48:49.080 She'll give you one of these.

00:48:50.220 You get it on Amazon.

00:48:51.860 And I'm telling you, it actually does make you feel totally fine the next day.

00:48:55.660 Now, I've never had more than two glasses of wine, but I mean, I have, but not in recent years.

00:49:01.900 But if you have two glasses of something, you don't feel anything the next day, even at our advanced age.

00:49:07.420 If you have one of these little Party Smarts.

00:49:09.320 So there you go.

00:49:09.880 You can have that with your empty stomach whiskey later today.

00:49:12.700 One other quick question on Trump and our foreign affairs, because he gave that interview to Dana Bash and he said something about Cuba.

00:49:22.140 We've been keeping one eye on Cuba and this is what it was.

00:49:25.260 This is Dana reporting it earlier to 27B.

00:49:28.940 He quickly turned to Cuba.

00:49:31.240 He said, without being asked, Cuba is going to fall pretty soon, by the way.

00:49:36.240 But Cuba is going to fall.

00:49:38.080 They want to make a deal so badly.

00:49:39.960 And I asked how so he said they want to make a deal.

00:49:43.200 So I'm going to put Marco over there and we'll see how that works.

00:49:46.860 But we're really focused on this one now, meaning Iran.

00:49:49.740 We've got plenty of time on Cuba.

00:49:54.060 OK, she didn't say anything about military intervention there, so that's good.

00:49:57.780 But what do you make of that?

00:49:59.520 I like it.

00:50:01.000 They're 90 miles off our shore.

00:50:02.780 If we're going to reassert the Monroe Doctrine and Donald Trump has talked openly about that, where we control our hemisphere.

00:50:08.120 Cuba has to be part of that.

00:50:09.320 We can't have a hostile country 90 miles from our border.

00:50:12.520 We are running into a problem and they've spoken about this.

00:50:15.100 We don't know, again, the similar to Iran.

00:50:17.180 We don't know who's taking over.

00:50:18.400 It's one thing to break things.

00:50:20.000 It's another thing to make things.

00:50:21.240 But economically, they're collapsing.

00:50:23.280 They're isolated.

00:50:24.200 So something's going to happen in Cuba.

00:50:25.820 Probably something spicy.

00:50:27.020 I'm not talking about the sandwiches.

00:50:28.660 It could be Marco.

00:50:29.280 He could probably handle it, actually.

00:50:30.500 He's doing great.

00:50:32.240 Yes, he's spread thin, but he could potentially do it.

00:50:35.360 I'll tell you something else.

00:50:36.060 This morning on NPR's Up First, I listened so you don't have to, there was a positively jubilant report about how well it's going in Venezuela now, how happy the people are there, how trade is opening up, and they see promise for the first time without Maduro.

00:50:53.200 I mean, like, it was very promising development, so I'm very open-minded on what could potentially happen in Cuba.

00:50:59.320 Jesse, great to see you.

00:51:00.560 Megan, you're the best.

00:51:01.660 Appreciate it.

00:51:02.620 What a guy.

00:51:03.580 Mark Halpern's here next.

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00:53:10.640 Next up, host Mark Halperin is with me now.

00:53:13.160 He happened to be at Mar-a-Lago during the Iran bombing campaign,

00:53:17.620 which President Trump was spearheading from his Florida residence.

00:53:20.680 That is, when it happened, on Saturday.

00:53:23.180 Go and subscribe to Next Up on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts for free.

00:53:27.840 NextUpHalperin.com has the links to everything you need.

00:53:32.000 And Mark also hosts the morning meeting on SiriusXM on the Megyn Kelly channel, 111.

00:53:37.460 You can listen to it live every morning at 10 a.m.

00:53:40.800 Mark actually just interviewed Gavin Newsom on Tuesday.

00:53:43.480 So he's all over the subjects that we're discussing today.

00:53:46.320 Mark Halperin, great to see you again, my friend.

00:53:48.580 So what was that like on Saturday?

00:53:50.940 I mean, I assume the president did not give you any more of a heads up than he gave the rest of the nation.

00:53:55.740 But when you realized you were right in the middle of the biggest news story in the world, what went through your head?

00:54:02.800 Well, as you know, Mar-a-Lago can be kind of a weird place.

00:54:06.020 It's like a cross between Klaus Witt's drama and a Fellini film because there's so much going on, even when there's a matter of national security.

00:54:13.680 So I was there for lunch and then back for dinner.

00:54:16.620 And at dinner, there was a massive wedding in the ballroom and on the lawn.

00:54:21.180 The president was doing a fundraiser for his super PAC.

00:54:23.420 He was going in and out of the makeshift situation room and the regular members were there having dinner.

00:54:29.680 So it was kind of a four ring circus.

00:54:31.380 And there were lots of familiar faces, both from the national security team and the political team all around the club.

00:54:37.060 And just a fascinating look at a president, unlike anyone I've ever known or covered.

00:54:41.980 He was he toggled back and forth between all those things, just with calm and equanimity and energy.

00:54:49.360 Well, yeah.

00:54:49.900 What kind of mood was he in?

00:54:52.040 Somber but upbeat and, you know, stopped and chatted with club members about, you know, all manners of things.

00:54:57.420 But there was a somberness to it.

00:54:59.120 But it was not he was not sort of like distracted or just completely consumed with dealing with the war.

00:55:04.600 As I said, he went to a long meeting of his political action of a political action committee, where his political team was talking to some of the donors there.

00:55:12.460 And he talked to club members.

00:55:13.960 I don't know that he went by the wedding.

00:55:15.560 He usually if there's a wedding in Mar-a-Lago, he usually goes by and was a daughter of a member.

00:55:19.940 I'm not sure he did that, but he tended to the other three pretty dutifully.

00:55:24.360 That's pretty sweet.

00:55:25.240 I mean, imagine getting married there and having the president of the United States swing by to say hello if it happens to be one of the weekends he's there.

00:55:31.060 Sure. We'll get back to Iran in a minute, but I want to start with Mullen and Noem.

00:55:37.560 Kristi Noem's out.

00:55:39.820 Fox News, many others reporting that she was fired from the position.

00:55:44.240 She was demoted basically to another position.

00:55:46.340 And Trump, to his credit, gave her a soft landing.

00:55:48.460 She had been loyal to him, so he didn't just fire her unceremoniously out of the position.

00:55:52.960 But some online today, his diehard fans saying she wasn't fired, he didn't fire her.

00:55:58.020 Was she terminated from the position or not, Mark?

00:56:00.460 Yeah, she made it clear that she was not going to be allowed to stay in that job. 0.76

00:56:05.020 And as you said, pretty generous of him to let her have a soft landing.

00:56:08.900 It's amazing to me, given that she was picked for a job that many people at the time said she wasn't qualified for,

00:56:15.620 how many enemies she and Corey Lewandowski, her top concierge, how many enemies they had at the highest levels of Team Trump.

00:56:23.320 These were not kind of like low-level snipers.

00:56:25.620 These were some of the most senior people in the president's orbit who didn't want the two of them around.

00:56:29.520 And all the mistakes that she made, it's amazing she lasted as long as she did.

00:56:33.680 So I sort of twist the question on his head.

00:56:35.580 How did she get fired all of a sudden? 0.78

00:56:37.660 Again, testament to Corey Lewandowski and Secretary Noem that she survived as long as she did.

00:56:42.640 What were the reasons?

00:56:45.480 Because I know he was mad about her saying he blessed that $220 million ad campaign she starred in.

00:56:52.320 But this had to go beyond that.

00:56:55.000 To me, that was the final straw.

00:56:57.300 But many reports that he was unhappy with her well prior to that and didn't want it,

00:57:02.720 especially after Minneapolis, didn't want it to look like he was giving the left a scalp.

00:57:06.300 But what do you think it actually was that turned Trump on her?

00:57:10.140 Well, I think it's the drumbeat of negative coverage, right?

00:57:12.720 He doesn't like negative coverage of his team.

00:57:15.460 He doesn't like negative coverage that obscures what he wants to get done.

00:57:19.700 And as you know, objectively—

00:57:22.400 But they all—none of them has good coverage.

00:57:25.220 The media hates Pete.

00:57:26.320 They hate RFKJ.

00:57:27.500 They hate her.

00:57:28.080 Her negative coverage was directly getting in the way of his getting credit for the accomplishment,

00:57:35.760 for instance, of shutting down the border or of going into these blue cities and saying to the blue cities,

00:57:41.080 we're going to—there's a different operation going on in here,

00:57:43.900 and we're going to deport people from your blue city.

00:57:46.500 Her performance was blamed by the president and people around the president for distracting from that.

00:57:52.760 In addition, he doesn't like when his team loses a congressional hearing,

00:57:58.400 particularly when the Republicans gang up on his team.

00:58:02.000 And so you see other cabinet officials like Pam Bondi,

00:58:05.420 who has some detractors in the administration as well,

00:58:08.080 going to the Hill and owning the libs, right,

00:58:11.720 doing a really good job theatrically of standing up to the Democrats

00:58:14.740 and getting favorable questions from the Republicans.

00:58:17.760 She did not perform well in back-to-back hearings,

00:58:19.980 both on the issue of those paid ads,

00:58:24.000 also on the allegations regarding her personal life.

00:58:26.280 And I think the president just—he just doesn't like that.

00:58:29.060 He doesn't like to see his team lose in a congressional hearing.

00:58:31.460 And it was compounded by the fact that some of the hardest questions came from Republicans

00:58:35.160 and not just from Tom Tillis,

00:58:37.060 who now habitually goes after Trump administration policies,

00:58:40.520 but from Senator Kennedy of Louisiana.

00:58:42.320 Just knowing the president,

00:58:44.360 I just—he doesn't like to see that kind of performance.

00:58:47.020 I actually wondered whether the Senator Kennedy questions came from the White House.

00:58:55.440 I mean, it certainly could have come from allies of Senator Kennedy

00:59:00.020 who are not as friendly to Senator Noem, for sure,

00:59:04.100 because I just can't emphasize enough for—even before she took office,

00:59:10.700 the number of people at a high level in the Trump orbit who do not like Corey Lewandowski at all

00:59:15.920 is quite something.

00:59:17.820 And again, I'll say it's testament to the bond he has with the president

00:59:21.440 because he was the one arguing she should stay on for several weeks,

00:59:25.620 even after the president was clearly looking to make a change.

00:59:28.660 The bond he has with the president is strong,

00:59:30.820 and his ability to convince the president of things is strong.

00:59:33.900 And these people, they did their best to get them out by leaking stories

00:59:38.560 to the Wall Street Journal and others, to Daily Mail and others.

00:59:41.740 And it finally culminated, again, in something that even Corey Lewandowski

00:59:46.000 could not turn the president on.

00:59:49.740 Here is Harry Enten on the Noem termination

00:59:53.840 with some actual numbers around what she was doing for the president. 0.99

00:59:58.720 Sot 12b.

01:00:00.020 And the American people wanted her fired. 1.00

01:00:01.860 They wanted her removed. 0.92

01:00:02.820 She was a political nightmare for the president of the United States. 1.00

01:00:06.920 I mean, just take a look at this.

01:00:08.360 Wanted Noem removed as DHS secretary.

01:00:10.560 Overall, last month, Quinnipiac University found the majority of Americans,

01:00:14.020 58 percent, wanted her to be adios amigos, goodbye, see you later.

01:00:18.020 Among independents, you can see it right here,

01:00:20.220 62 percent of independents, we're talking more than three in five independents,

01:00:24.760 wanted her to kick to the curb.

01:00:25.980 So Donald Trump here making the politically popular move

01:00:28.480 because Americans were simply put sick of Kristi Noem.

01:00:31.360 Kristi Noem's net popularity rating during Donald Trump's term, positive in none, zero,

01:00:36.780 nada, none of the polls did she have a positive net approval rating.

01:00:40.680 In all the polls, she was underwater, swimming in the deep blue sea.

01:00:46.200 She had a negative net popularity rating in every single poll conducted during Donald Trump's second term.

01:00:53.180 Simply put, Americans did not like the job that she was doing as DHS secretary.

01:00:58.660 Okay, now I have a point I want to make and then I want to give it to you.

01:01:03.100 If you could absolutely say that same thing about RFKJ and Pete Hegseth,

01:01:07.420 both of whom have had universally negative coverage, universally, absolutely no positive coverage.

01:01:13.260 I mean, on Fox, of course, and independent media, but I'm talking about mainstream so-called media.

01:01:17.500 But they're doing their thing.

01:01:22.280 RFKJ is getting things done at HHS.

01:01:24.740 Obviously, Pete Hegseth is too in terms of what the president wants from him.

01:01:29.480 And their negatives are not so great and their news coverage so big that they are hurting him.

01:01:36.740 I think she hurt him with the behavior in Minneapolis, you know, calling Alex Preddy a domestic terrorist and saying he went there to try to, like, you know, interfere with law enforcement and, like, overstating.

01:01:49.280 What he did was bad enough.

01:01:50.980 It was clear he interfered with law enforcement and that's why he wound up dead.

01:01:53.740 But she overstated it and made ICE, as a result, look bad. 0.52

01:01:57.940 And that turned into a negative story around Trump.

01:02:00.560 And sure enough, Trump's numbers went down after Minneapolis.

01:02:03.400 And that's the reason why he pulled her and put Holman in there.

01:02:06.600 So I think she started to creep into his numbers.

01:02:09.260 And then that thing with Senator Kennedy was just, like, the final example of it.

01:02:13.800 Even if Trump had approved that ad campaign, and I believe him that he didn't, he did want her to do ads and photo ops calling attention to the deportations.

01:02:22.180 I do.

01:02:22.520 I've been told that.

01:02:23.360 But 220 million, probably not.

01:02:26.120 But even if he had approved it, Mark, the underling doesn't say, yes, the president told me to do it.

01:02:32.880 The underling says, no, it was my call, Senator Kennedy.

01:02:38.260 Like, or they dodge and just say, the decision was mine.

01:02:41.160 I'm the one.

01:02:41.620 Like, they protect the president.

01:02:43.520 And she didn't.

01:02:44.740 So just to me, it seems like a whole slide of, like, she didn't protect the president.

01:02:47.920 She was a problem for the president. 0.99

01:02:49.200 Her negatives hurt him.

01:02:50.400 And we see that still in his numbers.

01:02:52.260 And therefore, she had to go.

01:02:54.240 I agree with everything you said.

01:02:55.520 I'd only had two things.

01:02:56.700 One, my friend Harry talks awfully loud on TV.

01:02:59.680 I'm not sure who's, what producer's in his ear.

01:03:02.940 But man, I have dinner with Harry.

01:03:04.660 He doesn't talk that loud.

01:03:05.220 So entertaining.

01:03:05.780 Yeah.

01:03:06.140 It's a shtick.

01:03:07.840 Love the accent.

01:03:08.720 I agree with everything you said.

01:03:09.840 All I'd add is this.

01:03:11.500 Like, Bobby Kennedy is really important for MAGA for the midterms and Maha for the midterms, rather.

01:03:18.840 Pete Hexist is in the midst of a war and has done a lot of the things the president wants done regarding reforming the culture of the military.

01:03:25.400 And doesn't, neither of them have the kind of scandals and controversies that Secretary Noem has in this respect.

01:03:36.240 There's relentless coverage of her and her decisions about contract approvals, about those ads, about her personal life.

01:03:43.840 And then it all came into sharp focus at the hearing.

01:03:46.380 The other two have controversies, but they've avoided having these kind of very high-profile set-piece moments.

01:03:55.040 The president thinks of his life as a movie with big scenes and characters.

01:03:59.200 He's the main character, other characters.

01:04:01.280 She had a horrible day in two straight days in the news cycle.

01:04:04.120 And I think, although he was having questions about her previously, it's just too relentlessly downside negative about her, as you said, affecting him on one of his signature issues.

01:04:17.540 And as I said also, Secretary Kennedy, Secretary Hexist, they have detractors in the administration, but not like she has, not like Corey Lewandowski has.

01:04:26.920 Kennedy had this scandal with, you know, the reporter.

01:04:32.040 He did, but he never got asked about it.

01:04:34.620 He never got asked about it, and she didn't work for him. 1.00

01:04:37.520 Like, the reason that Democrat felt comfortable bringing it up with Noem is that Lewandowski works for Noem.

01:04:43.780 Yeah.

01:04:44.260 And so this is somebody who's on the public dollar, you know, reportedly living with her.

01:04:49.740 I mean, the reports are that they basically live together in that apartment.

01:04:52.580 And so that's what made it fair game.

01:04:54.220 It would have felt really sleazy to bring it up, just ad hominem at some Kennedy hearing where there's HHS oversight to Congress.

01:05:01.660 Totally agree.

01:05:03.040 And the Democrats, I think, did a good job of explaining why it was relevant.

01:05:06.900 Yeah, I know.

01:05:07.620 She was clever to put that in.

01:05:09.280 And then Noem was all over the board.

01:05:10.400 It's like, Noem, look, I think we all believe it's 100% true.

01:05:16.500 So she was in a tough spot because she, I'm sure she did not want to lie under oath. 0.98

01:05:21.140 So she went with the, this tabloid garbage. 0.98

01:05:24.220 I'm shocked you would allow this. 0.99

01:05:25.720 And Trump, of course, saw through that in two seconds.

01:05:28.660 And Trump, trust me, and I know you know this too, he knows all the gossip of his administration.

01:05:33.000 Yes, he does.

01:05:33.420 All of it.

01:05:34.040 Yes, he does.

01:05:34.400 There isn't anybody better informed on what's happening than Trump is.

01:05:37.900 So he 100% knows about this.

01:05:39.660 Yeah.

01:05:39.740 And I'm sure it's like, you can keep it quiet and keep it out of my business, not a headache

01:05:45.340 of mine, fine.

01:05:46.500 If it's my headache, I'm going to deal with it.

01:05:48.580 Okay, so now we have Mark Wayne Mullen.

01:05:51.220 Yeah.

01:05:51.540 I was just going to say, it builds on the point you just made.

01:05:54.380 He knows all the gossip, but he's got a game respects game thing.

01:05:57.860 If you've got dirty laundry, he wants you to be able to handle it the way he does.

01:06:02.000 Like, I bet he thinks it's awesome that Bobby Kennedy has never had to answer questions.

01:06:05.700 She put herself in a situation where she had to answer them and then answer them in a way

01:06:10.860 that everybody thought was not good.

01:06:13.580 And he's fine with people having messy lives.

01:06:17.100 He just thinks you got to have the skill to handle it and not let that messiness splatter

01:06:21.200 onto him.

01:06:22.680 Yeah.

01:06:23.140 And maybe be somewhat discreet about it.

01:06:25.900 Yeah, that too.

01:06:28.080 So Mark Wayne Mullen is now the new nominee to take over Homeland Security.

01:06:33.960 This is what a lot of people remember Mark Wayne Mullen for.

01:06:37.740 He's from Oklahoma.

01:06:38.680 He's a former MMA fighter and wrestler.

01:06:43.020 And he had this infamous exchange with the Teamsters president, Sean O'Brien, who wound

01:06:48.040 up, remember, not endorsing, which was a huge deal because the Teamsters and the unions

01:06:53.080 always go for the Dem.

01:06:54.200 But this guy clearly liked Trump.

01:06:55.640 And he came on the show and was a great interview.

01:06:58.200 In any event, these two didn't get along then.

01:07:00.460 Reportedly, they do now.

01:07:01.380 But here was November 14th, 2023 in the U.S. Senate at a hearing chaired by Bernie Sanders

01:07:07.380 thought 11.

01:07:08.600 I sure remember working pretty hard in long hours.

01:07:11.900 Pretends like he's self-made. 0.99

01:07:13.700 What a clown. 1.00

01:07:15.300 Fraud. 1.00

01:07:16.340 Always has been.

01:07:17.860 Always will be.

01:07:19.920 Quit the tough guy act in these Senate hearings.

01:07:23.040 You know where to find me.

01:07:24.620 Any place.

01:07:25.700 Any time.

01:07:26.600 Cowboy.

01:07:27.000 Sir, this is a time.

01:07:29.780 This is a place.

01:07:30.940 If you want to run your mouth, we can be two consenting adults.

01:07:33.720 We can finish it here.

01:07:34.900 OK, that's fine.

01:07:35.700 Perfect.

01:07:36.320 You want to do it now?

01:07:37.080 I'd love to do it right now. 0.98

01:07:38.120 Well, stand your butt up then. 0.99

01:07:39.280 You stand your butt up. 0.99

01:07:40.400 Oh, hold it. 0.99

01:07:40.820 Oh, stop it.

01:07:42.060 Is that your solution?

01:07:42.820 Every problem.

01:07:43.720 No, no, sit down.

01:07:44.600 I'm sorry, Eric.

01:07:45.000 Sit down.

01:07:45.460 OK.

01:07:45.820 No, no, you're a United States senator.

01:07:47.680 Sit down.

01:07:48.000 Actively.

01:07:48.380 OK.

01:07:48.880 Sit down, please.

01:07:49.800 All right.

01:07:50.140 Can I respond?

01:07:51.040 Hold it.

01:07:51.780 Hold it.

01:07:52.180 So, he's a fighter.

01:07:57.740 Trump would like that.

01:07:58.720 I did see Ann Coulter's not happy.

01:08:01.340 She wrote as follows.

01:08:02.560 She pulled a headline about Mullen that reads,

01:08:04.780 there is possible conversation about legalizing some who are in the U.S. illegally.

01:08:11.400 Her comment was great.

01:08:12.620 There are 47 people who would have been better to lead Homeland Security.

01:08:16.820 Hard to avoid the impression that Trump doesn't care about immigration at all.

01:08:19.680 That's, of course, her number one issue.

01:08:20.840 Everybody is judged through that.

01:08:22.320 But this, I mean, he is heading up HHS.

01:08:24.260 So, sorry.

01:08:25.700 DHS.

01:08:26.680 So, it does matter.

01:08:27.680 His position's on immigration.

01:08:29.280 What do we make of the choice and his chances of getting confirmed?

01:08:32.840 Well, he's good on TV and he can be confirmed by his colleagues,

01:08:36.720 even if he doesn't get a ton of Democratic votes.

01:08:38.580 I think he'll get some.

01:08:40.420 And he's available now.

01:08:42.900 And he's got a good leadership quality to him that a lot of people respect.

01:08:48.680 He doesn't have a ton of experience in this.

01:08:51.120 But being a cabinet secretary in the Trump administration,

01:08:53.900 a lot of it is about messaging and about leadership and about running the department

01:08:58.180 as opposed to being a super policy expert.

01:09:00.280 So, I suspect he'll be confirmed.

01:09:02.200 I suspect he'll get at least some Democratic votes.

01:09:04.840 And, you know, for the sake of the security of the country,

01:09:07.520 I hope he throws himself into this and does a really good job.

01:09:10.140 But he's not going to have the same number of enemies because he's very well liked

01:09:14.480 as the incumbent in the office has.

01:09:17.840 And I think he's going to have an opportunity to build on the successes that she did have

01:09:22.500 and correct some of the problems that she had running the department.

01:09:26.360 He is taking shots from the elite media because he doesn't have a bachelor's degree.

01:09:34.920 He's the only senator without a bachelor's degree.

01:09:37.780 Meanwhile, here's his actual resume.

01:09:40.480 He attended Missouri Valley College on a wrestling scholarship.

01:09:44.700 He later dropped out of school at the age of 20 after his father, Jim, fell ill

01:09:49.580 and he needed to help the family with their plumbing business.

01:09:53.580 He went back to school in 2018, eventually achieving an associate's degree

01:09:57.980 in applied science and construction technology from Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology.

01:10:03.780 He has a wife of nearly 30 years.

01:10:06.660 They have a family business.

01:10:08.820 He was an undefeated MMA fighter.

01:10:11.340 He was inducted into the Oklahoma Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2016.

01:10:14.840 And they have six children, which I think your average American would stand up and cheer for that resume, Mark.

01:10:21.820 I think the media's, they're off.

01:10:24.680 They're off.

01:10:25.400 They're off beat.

01:10:26.360 They don't have their finger on the pulse of what Republicans want or regular working class Americans want.

01:10:31.800 And no one, literally no one, is asking, does he have a bachelor's degree?

01:10:36.680 I don't know if he'll be good at it, but he could be.

01:10:39.420 And regarding immigration, Ann Coulter doesn't think the president's tough enough on immigration.

01:10:44.000 So I don't know that her fight's really going to be with the new secretary if he's confirmed, but it's really more with the president.

01:10:49.420 I find him to be a very charismatic and impressive guy.

01:10:51.940 His colleagues in both parties like him.

01:10:54.180 And like I said, I don't know that he'll be good.

01:10:56.240 He's never been a cabinet secretary.

01:10:57.520 He's never run anything this size.

01:10:59.920 It's larger than his plumbing business by a factor of many hundreds.

01:11:04.000 But I think he'll be confirmed, and I hope he does a great job for the sake of the country.

01:11:09.480 I like him, too.

01:11:10.520 I've watched him in some of these confirmation hearings, and he's always entertaining.

01:11:13.640 He's reasonable.

01:11:14.880 And he seems like in command of himself, notwithstanding that moment with the Teamsters president.

01:11:18.720 But you kind of got to respect that.

01:11:20.180 I don't know.

01:11:21.560 I like to see a little testosterone.

01:11:23.860 You know, it's in short supply in D.C. these days.

01:11:25.840 He's got a little more than a little.

01:11:28.540 Yeah.

01:11:29.100 Here he is with Bernie Sanders in a different exchange.

01:11:32.700 This is February 25th.

01:11:35.220 Saten.

01:11:36.140 Well, we can agree that it is absolutely not affordable.

01:11:39.300 100% not affordable.

01:11:40.980 Yet it was supposed to be affordable.

01:11:42.860 That's what we sold by Obamacare. 0.96

01:11:45.340 So how about we work together and say, hey, scrap ACA, admit it doesn't work, admit you guys made a mistake,

01:11:50.340 and let's work at something with President Trump to make affordable health care healthy and affordable for everybody.

01:11:55.540 But there's zero chance you guys could do that.

01:11:58.240 Zero chance.

01:11:59.120 Yet everybody we bring up here, you guys chastise for trying to make changes.

01:12:02.120 God forbid we change and go after us and try to fix our broken system.

01:12:07.940 Anyways, I ranted too long.

01:12:09.680 Let's talk about some.

01:12:10.540 Yes, you did.

01:12:11.060 I'm sorry, I didn't ask your opinion on that.

01:12:14.040 And if I cared about your opinion, I would ask you.

01:12:15.920 But I don't care about your opinion.

01:12:17.300 You're part of the system.

01:12:18.360 You're part of the problem.

01:12:19.400 You've been sitting here longer than I've even been alive.

01:12:22.000 This is your problem.

01:12:23.020 You should have fixed this a long time ago.

01:12:24.400 You've been rel on it so long.

01:12:25.640 What have you been doing?

01:12:26.100 I've decided not to run for Surgeon General.

01:12:29.600 You're the nominee.

01:12:30.620 I've decided not to accept that nominee.

01:12:32.960 That is definitely something we would never accept.

01:12:36.140 This is at the Surgeon General confirmation hearings for Casey Means.

01:12:39.120 That was amazing.

01:12:41.000 Trump likes that, Mark.

01:12:42.540 Yeah, I mean, he's a really nice, relaxed guy, except when he's not.

01:12:47.900 And, you know, he's going to be a very energetic presence in the job.

01:12:54.780 And I agree with you.

01:12:55.280 The president would look at that and think that's awesome.

01:12:58.020 Yes.

01:12:58.400 And then he was also the one who, at the State of the Union, pulled that sign out of Representative

01:13:05.060 Al Green's hands.

01:13:07.000 Al Green showed up with a sign that said something like, 0.66

01:13:09.280 black people aren't apes, which everyone knows that.

01:13:13.580 And President Trump didn't say anything to the contrary, but he was trying to impute it to

01:13:18.300 President Trump because of that video controversy where that picture of the Obamas as apes

01:13:24.060 auto ran at the end of a reel that President Trump had promoted.

01:13:28.680 And it was Mark Wayne Mullen who pulled it.

01:13:31.100 He pulled it out of his hands.

01:13:32.260 We're trying to get it queued up and we'll show it.

01:13:33.720 But he tried.

01:13:35.120 He tried to grab it.

01:13:36.700 And ultimately, it was Steve Scalise who got it.

01:13:38.640 But that's exactly how you get the notice of the president.

01:13:41.620 And frankly, he loves fighters.

01:13:44.580 President Trump loves fighters, physical, actual fighters like he loves UFC.

01:13:49.360 He likes MMA.

01:13:50.640 And this certainly would not inure in any way other than to his benefit as Trump was evaluating

01:13:56.540 who's worthy of being in his cabinet.

01:13:58.620 You have to be a fighter.

01:13:59.660 They're going to come for you all day, every day, especially in this position.

01:14:02.880 The president likes people, as he says, from central casting.

01:14:06.740 And this guy from central casting to be the head of Homeland Security.

01:14:10.100 Now, do you feel that Gavin Newsom is from central casting?

01:14:15.260 Because you talked to him on Tuesday.

01:14:16.980 I mean, for a certain category of people, I will say you showed earlier in the program

01:14:20.360 that clip with Katie Couric.

01:14:22.920 Sometimes I'll see something in the media and my first reaction will be, oh, Megan's

01:14:26.340 going to play that on her show.

01:14:27.480 And as soon as I saw the Katie Couric thing, I said, yeah, Megan's going to play that on 1.00

01:14:30.700 her show.

01:14:32.460 Such a dereliction.

01:14:33.540 Yeah, Gavin Newsom is an interesting guy in a lot of ways.

01:14:39.280 And the book is an attempt, I think, that he wrote is an attempt to give people more

01:14:43.540 of a view of him that he thinks is accurate.

01:14:46.380 I get such a big reaction when I interview him, when I talk about him.

01:14:52.080 People across the country, across the spectrum, he really, not the Trump level, because there's

01:14:57.880 nobody at that level, but as much as any Democrat around today, more than AOC, more than

01:15:03.400 Chuck Schumer, more than anybody, people really react to the topic of Gavin Newsom.

01:15:08.700 So I don't know that he's from Central Casting for anything germane to this conversation,

01:15:13.660 but in terms of people responding to him positively and negatively, he's as a hot button as anybody

01:15:22.320 else I know of and I talk about.

01:15:25.320 Okay, so you mentioned the Katie Couric exchange.

01:15:27.500 I'm sure you saw the other one, which we have to play again, because you and I have got

01:15:30.820 to dissect this like a patient on the table.

01:15:33.400 Um, this, again, is the Adam Friedland show.

01:15:37.720 Let's take it in together, because we all enjoyed it so much the first time.

01:15:40.760 Sat 16.

01:15:41.800 What is your defined political project?

01:15:43.960 Like, what, throughout your career and like right now?

01:15:46.180 Like, what is, what is the thing you want to, like, you want to accomplish, like, politically?

01:15:51.220 You know, I don't have, in your life.

01:15:52.640 I don't have, like, a brand.

01:15:54.120 I don't have a tag, Make America Great, or I don't, you know, the Great Society, or, you

01:15:57.920 know, something like Medicare for all the billionaires. 0.96

01:16:00.080 But I, you know, but for me, no bullshit.

01:16:02.420 It's just standing up for ideals, striking out against injustice.

01:16:04.820 It defines my why in every way, shape, form.

01:16:07.640 Stand up for ideals, strike out against injustice.

01:16:09.400 I'm a Sarge Shriver Democrat.

01:16:10.940 I'm into that whole 60s, the vernacular of the 60s, solving for ignorance and poverty and

01:16:14.980 disease.

01:16:15.340 And the spirit of the 60s, and the spirit of King, and, you know, and how the nonviolent

01:16:20.520 movement, and Gandhi, and, you know, Havel, and, you know, Mandela, that whole, that moral

01:16:25.560 authority, that whole space, that's the zeitgeist.

01:16:28.600 Yeah.

01:16:28.860 And that's, so that's me.

01:16:30.920 That's my dad.

01:16:31.680 That's my mom. 0.99

01:16:32.520 That's the book.

01:16:33.480 And that's my why.

01:16:34.800 So if you had to define it, like, I need your help to define it.

01:16:38.640 And you get X.

01:16:39.760 Well, you tell me.

01:16:40.540 You're better at this.

01:16:41.420 I don't know. 1.00

01:16:41.980 I don't know who you, what your shit is. 0.99

01:16:42.780 I just gave you my why, but how do you translate that into human? 1.00

01:16:46.000 What?

01:16:46.560 So if you say, like, make it appeal to a voter, right?

01:16:49.660 Say, if you vote for me, you get X.

01:16:51.780 Yeah.

01:16:52.420 Like, what in a, in a, in a kind of concise, tangible sense, talking to a regular guy.

01:16:57.960 Yeah, no, no.

01:16:58.600 What is, what is that odd?

01:16:59.800 I've struggled with being able to communicate.

01:17:01.380 I told you what my why is and why I'm here, and I mean that.

01:17:04.420 And that's a grain in every aspect of my life, and it connects a dot.

01:17:09.260 Okay.

01:17:09.820 First of all, I hate how people are saying this.

01:17:12.360 That's my why.

01:17:13.540 That's, I really can't stand that.

01:17:15.160 It makes my skin kind of crawl.

01:17:17.100 It's my, that's my why.

01:17:18.580 And to have a politician.

01:17:20.720 The question, what do you want to accomplish?

01:17:25.320 Mark, we went through Gandhi, Mandela, King, his mom, his dad.

01:17:33.400 I need your help to define it.

01:17:35.660 You tell me you're better at this. 0.99

01:17:37.840 I don't know your shit, says, says the great Adam Friedland. 1.00

01:17:43.100 I want to play. 1.00

01:17:44.220 This is a fail.

01:17:45.060 If there's a play with Adam Friedland as a character, I want to portray him.

01:17:48.520 I think I could own that role.

01:17:49.920 Yes.

01:17:50.580 With the right wig.

01:17:51.260 We might have to take you up on that as part of our MK Media parody series.

01:17:55.860 I would love to play that guy.

01:17:57.060 Look, he talked way too fast.

01:17:58.460 The governor did.

01:17:59.820 And he's trying really hard on this book tour.

01:18:02.420 He did in his conversation with me to give people a sense who he is in a way that's not

01:18:06.940 superficial.

01:18:07.840 And I think for some people, ironically, he's having the exact opposite impact.

01:18:12.140 I put that's my why right up there with don't yuck my yum.

01:18:16.460 I just don't want to hear anybody ever say it.

01:18:18.120 I just don't want to hear anybody ever say it.

01:18:20.820 Or my truth.

01:18:21.640 Yeah.

01:18:21.960 Or my truth.

01:18:22.620 I don't want to hear any of it.

01:18:23.360 I don't want to hear my truth.

01:18:24.040 I don't want to hear that's my why.

01:18:25.920 It's so weird, crunchy.

01:18:27.800 I agree.

01:18:28.480 California.

01:18:29.020 I don't want to hear.

01:18:29.600 I don't want to hear any of that.

01:18:31.180 At the same time, in this very, very weak Democratic perspective, Democratic presidential

01:18:36.600 field that passes for an A game, by the way.

01:18:40.140 Oh, does it?

01:18:41.240 Yeah, it does.

01:18:42.980 It does.

01:18:43.620 Maybe not that moment, but in general.

01:18:45.140 I'm starting to take another look at Pete Buttigieg.

01:18:47.000 I am too.

01:18:47.820 We did a little real.

01:18:48.600 We posted it on Insta.

01:18:49.980 Yeah.

01:18:50.640 Yeah.

01:18:50.860 Right.

01:18:51.140 Because like now he's he's getting more masculine than Gavin Newsom.

01:18:54.440 Like that wouldn't that be ironic?

01:18:57.160 Because he's like kind of a feat, but not more so than Gavin.

01:19:01.320 Pete is openly gay.

01:19:02.760 Gavin is allegedly straight with a wife and children and second wife. 0.94

01:19:07.260 Now, his first wife is a pal of mine.

01:19:10.020 And Pete Buttigieg, like he can talk policy.

01:19:14.120 He can sell himself.

01:19:15.520 He can have a substantive conversation, not to mention somebody we haven't discussed

01:19:19.820 really much at all, Rahm Emanuel, who will run circles around this guy intellectually.

01:19:26.460 How is he going to win a primary, Gavin Newsom, next to people who actually they may not share

01:19:31.140 my own politics, but they're smart and they can stay substantive?

01:19:36.020 Well, a lot there.

01:19:37.800 First of all, Gavin Newsom is not dumb, and I'll take a bunch of heat for saying that.

01:19:41.780 But I know I've known him pretty well for a while. 0.78

01:19:43.820 He's not dumb. 0.84

01:19:47.280 He says he is. 0.90

01:19:48.600 I know, but he's not. 1.00

01:19:49.780 He plays dumb. 0.99

01:19:51.220 Okay, just for the record. 0.98

01:19:52.540 So I'm working on my next eight for 28 coming up next week on Next Up.

01:19:57.700 And it's very difficult to come up with eight slots these days because most everybody's moving down.

01:20:03.500 He's going to be almost certainly be number one by default.

01:20:07.240 I am moving Buttigieg up, but I will say this.

01:20:09.760 A lot of the people who are talked about are women, women of color, gay men, or Jewish men.

01:20:17.740 And I think it's going to be very difficult for the party to nominate anybody in any of those

01:20:21.680 categories.

01:20:23.180 And then I haven't even talked about short men, of which there are many, too.

01:20:26.840 And the two you named are both pretty short.

01:20:29.020 So these immutable characteristics, Jewish is, I guess, semi-immutable. 1.00

01:20:34.160 These are things that the Democratic Party normally would not reject.

01:20:39.640 A lot of Democrats would be offended if you'd said about their party, they're not going to

01:20:43.360 nominate anything but a straight white man, a Christian straight white man.

01:20:48.200 But I really do think there's a lot of sentiment in the party, including amongst women of color,

01:20:53.300 to say, we got to go safe.

01:20:55.460 And safe is heterosexual, white man who's a Christian. 0.71

01:20:59.360 And on my list of eight, there's nearly no one except for the governor of California who is those things.

01:21:06.780 How tall is he?

01:21:08.060 Tall enough.

01:21:08.800 I forget how tall he is.

01:21:09.580 Maybe 6'1", 6'2".

01:21:11.420 I forget.

01:21:12.600 All right.

01:21:13.080 But he's tall enough.

01:21:14.060 He's up there.

01:21:14.360 He's taller.

01:21:15.440 When you say those two men, all right, you're talking about Pete and Rahm.

01:21:18.440 They're not tall.

01:21:19.540 They're not tall. 0.87

01:21:20.260 And one's gay and one's Jewish. 0.91

01:21:22.500 And they're really not tall.

01:21:24.560 I forget how tall they are, but they've never been introduced to 6'0", let alone cleared it.

01:21:32.260 They're really not tall.

01:21:33.880 I've never heard it phrased quite that way.

01:21:36.260 But yes, you are right.

01:21:37.700 And it matters, right?

01:21:38.600 Haven't we always had tall presidents?

01:21:40.860 It is a thing.

01:21:41.460 The taller man, we've only had men win so far.

01:21:44.780 The taller man has won every time.

01:21:46.920 There's one exception.

01:21:48.140 I think Ford was taller than Carter by a little bit.

01:21:51.620 But otherwise, the taller guy typically wins in the TV age.

01:21:56.580 Meanwhile, you have J.B. Pritzker shooting himself up with Ozempic like three times a week because you also can't win if you're morbidly obese.

01:22:04.000 And that's also true.

01:22:05.200 I can't do anything about your height, but you can do something about your weight.

01:22:07.960 Yeah, but he's Jewish.

01:22:08.880 There's no question in my mind.

01:22:09.700 But he's Jewish too.

01:22:11.260 Pritzker?

01:22:11.700 Yeah.

01:22:12.320 Pritzker is?

01:22:12.860 Yeah.

01:22:13.580 Okay.

01:22:13.900 Yes.

01:22:14.740 But we say this because the Democrat Party is anti-Jewish now?

01:22:19.720 Like, what is the—why is the Jewish—like, Kamala said she couldn't pick a Jewish person.

01:22:23.760 It's a twofer.

01:22:24.400 One is the energy in the party is anti-Israel.

01:22:26.900 And even though all of these Jewish prospective candidates have taken positions at times in criticism of Israel, you know, it's going to be a challenge for them to get past the wing of the party that's really hostile to Israel.

01:22:40.640 And then second is just, you know, worried about prejudice, worried that you put your—you maximize your chances of winning in a nation that's got some anti-Semitism by not picking someone who's Jewish.

01:22:55.860 Mm-hmm.

01:22:56.860 They would say it's not that we're anti-Semites or we're homophobes.

01:23:01.200 Yeah.

01:23:01.540 It's that those evil independents we need to vote along with us are. 0.99

01:23:05.020 Yeah.

01:23:05.260 So we have to get somebody palatable to them.

01:23:07.840 It's not irrational because if you look at the sample space of presidents, there's never been a Jew.

01:23:12.120 There's never been an openly gay person.

01:23:14.460 There's only been one person of color, you know, so—

01:23:18.840 And there's never been a woman.

01:23:19.580 And there's never been a woman.

01:23:20.360 There's never been a short person, you know, particularly short person in the TV age.

01:23:23.740 So these are not irrational things.

01:23:25.800 So you were back to Gavin Newsom.

01:23:27.460 You need to be tall.

01:23:28.180 You need to be a male. 0.99

01:23:28.980 You need to be white. 0.99

01:23:29.700 You can't be Jewish. 1.00

01:23:30.540 You can't be gay. 1.00

01:23:31.800 Yeah. 0.91

01:23:32.080 I see by process of elimination how we—

01:23:34.160 That's a big—that's a preview of the next—for next up, the eight for 28, because you go down the list, almost everybody on the list is at least one of the three—or one of the five, I mean.

01:23:45.640 Hot Gandhi it is.

01:23:47.220 Could be hot Gandhi. 0.91

01:23:48.360 Could be—it could be the towering Christian heterosexual governor with the hell of good hair. 0.62

01:23:53.760 All right, Mark, I want to ask you about something that's not involving a presidential candidate, and that is, speaking of Ozempic, Oprah Winfrey.

01:24:05.620 I know you go on all these podcasts.

01:24:07.400 Everybody wants your political opinion because you're very genius when it comes to all things politics, but you and I need to talk about Oprah for a second here.

01:24:14.580 And then we'll take a break.

01:24:15.960 Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King arrived at Paris Fashion Week, Chloe's Paris Fashion Week show, and got filmed by—I don't know.

01:24:27.560 Who is it?

01:24:28.460 TikTok?

01:24:28.900 It's on TikTok.

01:24:29.560 I'm not sure whose tape this is.

01:24:30.860 Well, Paris Match.

01:24:33.160 Look at this.

01:24:36.260 Oprah is skinnier than I am now.

01:24:39.740 She looks like next to skin and bones, Mark Halperin.

01:24:44.420 Wow.

01:24:44.900 She is a Zempic too far. 1.00

01:24:49.900 And by the way, Gayle in the background is kind of similar, but I would not have recognized this as Oprah Winfrey if it were not labeled as such by the videotaker online.

01:24:58.960 Is that what you and the media call today video?

01:25:02.240 Yes, that's today video.

01:25:03.320 Yes, it is.

01:25:04.080 Wow.

01:25:04.520 And by the way, this comes on the heels of—did you see Demi Moore at whatever event that was last week where she was in the full leather with a little dog?

01:25:14.120 She looks like she weighs 90 pounds. 1.00

01:25:17.400 She looks like she could get blown away if a good spring breeze came through, not to mention what's happening with Kelly Osbourne, who is not even recognizable. 0.99

01:25:28.060 And I don't want to say Moore because I love Sharon Osbourne, and they've been dealing with a lot with the loss of Ozzy.

01:25:34.000 But you tell me your take, Mark, because I know you do keep your finger on the pulse of all things cultural, why people, so many people in the public eye cannot seem to manage their Ozempic to a point where they stay looking like a normal human as opposed to someone we need to have an intervention for.

01:25:52.200 I mean, I blame the doctors, too, but I don't get this.

01:25:58.700 I just think, you know, go to the gym a little bit more, lay off dessert for a while, don't drink wine.

01:26:04.540 Like, there are ways to lose weight.

01:26:06.360 Now, it's harder for some people than others, and Oprah and I are the same way.

01:26:09.540 Oprah and I run heavy.

01:26:11.100 But I just—I'm just amazed.

01:26:13.200 I wouldn't say you run quite as heavily as Oprah ever has.

01:26:17.340 Yeah, I have.

01:26:19.000 But I just—I mean, I see people around my neighborhood, same thing.

01:26:23.980 There's just these fallen faces.

01:26:26.400 Like, people ask—people tell me to do it.

01:26:29.000 And I'm like, why don't you tell me to, like, solder my eyes shut?

01:26:33.180 Like, this is not proven that this is a healthy way to live.

01:26:36.340 And you don't look good.

01:26:37.980 And I know—you know, I have a friend who's a ballet dancer who says, nothing tastes good as being thin feels.

01:26:44.900 And I—

01:26:45.940 Yeah, that's the Kate Moss thing. 1.00

01:26:46.880 Yeah, I get that.

01:26:48.220 I get that.

01:26:48.880 But, I mean, I just don't understand making this life choice for anybody, particularly if you're well-off enough to, you know, order in some healthy food.

01:26:58.300 You don't need to eat at Bojangles or McDonald's.

01:27:01.760 Order in some lean protein and some vegetables.

01:27:03.840 Do some portion control.

01:27:05.540 Go for a five-mile run.

01:27:07.100 And just work it out.

01:27:08.960 But to take these injectables, or now pills, if you're Oprah Winfrey, I just don't get it.

01:27:15.180 I just don't see how you possibly take that risk with your life.

01:27:18.360 I just don't at all.

01:27:19.780 I also feel like, okay, you're going to take it for your appetite control.

01:27:25.020 Great.

01:27:26.460 Why do you have to become anorexic?

01:27:28.560 Yeah.

01:27:28.760 Like, why they become—like, they look almost non-human.

01:27:33.760 Like, there's no fat in their face.

01:27:35.820 Although there's rumors that, like, Kelly Osbourne may have gotten that buccal fat, whatever, removal from her face. 1.00

01:27:41.960 But they're going full skeletal.

01:27:45.520 Yeah.

01:27:45.680 And I was looking at Oprah, who—she's not skeletal, but she's extremely thin for Oprah. 0.99

01:27:49.840 And I have to say, I miss heavy Oprah.

01:27:53.880 Yeah.

01:27:54.020 Like, not—I don't need 300-pound Oprah. 0.96

01:27:56.080 Yeah.

01:27:56.260 But I miss somebody with, like, a little weight on her body.

01:27:59.660 I don't know what this is.

01:28:00.640 Like, she's going for hot at 72.

01:28:03.220 Yeah.

01:28:03.440 Like, whatever, she—her whole thing was always, like, she was, like, a Mother Earth character who you could, like, hug and who would feel your pain and you could cry on her couch.

01:28:12.000 And now she's gone full, like, you know, Demi Moore. 1.00

01:28:16.920 Yeah.

01:28:17.100 Like, that's what she's going for now in her 70s with the tight braid. 1.00

01:28:20.220 Yeah.

01:28:20.520 And this super tight outfit.

01:28:21.780 Like, I don't like it.

01:28:22.840 Do you know the one that really bothers me is Meghan Trainor?

01:28:25.940 Because her biggest hit—

01:28:27.260 Yes.

01:28:27.520 Her biggest hit song, all about that bass.

01:28:30.220 Meghan, you've given up the bass.

01:28:31.500 You've gone all treble.

01:28:33.440 Like, you're not supposed to—you're not supposed to give up your theme song, but she has.

01:28:39.440 It was a lie.

01:28:40.720 It was a lie when she told it, and it remains a lie.

01:28:43.160 Yeah.

01:28:43.780 Okay.

01:28:44.280 Actually, let's just do Iran now.

01:28:45.380 We'll take a break afterward.

01:28:46.940 So, you were with the president on the day we launched the war in Iran.

01:28:52.260 Now, just today, we've had news break on that, thanks to Dana Bash, who spoke with Trump.

01:28:57.180 He told her, we're doing very well militarily, better than anyone could have dreamed.

01:29:01.220 He said on—because we have a report today of low unemployment numbers, lower than expected, job losses, and also rising gas prices.

01:29:11.400 Gas oil's going way up, and gas prices are going way up, too.

01:29:14.420 And the president said, that's all right.

01:29:15.920 It'll be short term.

01:29:17.360 It'll go way down very quickly.

01:29:18.740 When asked about the next leader of Iran, President Trump said, it's going to work like it did in Venezuela.

01:29:25.520 And when I asked if he's okay with having another religious leader, he said, I may be.

01:29:29.980 Yeah.

01:29:30.660 He added that the next leader needs to treat the United States and Israel well.

01:29:34.380 And we reported an AM update this morning that he said it's going to be somebody who he helps select because he doesn't want to have to keep going over there every five years.

01:29:42.460 So, how do you think the Iranian thing is playing politically and will play out over the next whatever, eight months, however it is, until we get to the November midterms?

01:29:53.480 I think how it's playing now politically is not germane because there's no election and because it's too soon, I think, for the American people to reach a conclusion about whether it was a good idea.

01:30:03.580 How it will play out depends on how long it lasts, what it does to the economy, what the loss of American life is, how much it costs.

01:30:11.780 I think it's pretty clear what the variables are that the American people will use to evaluate whether this is a good idea or not.

01:30:18.300 I think people are kind of lulled into a sense that the president is kind of now hostage to the situation.

01:30:26.220 He's really not, I don't think.

01:30:27.580 I think he could stop it today if he decided it was a bad idea for him politically or a bad idea for the country.

01:30:33.180 What he wants is the same thing he wants in Cuba and Venezuela and Greenland.

01:30:37.160 He wants the United States and Ukraine and Russia, really.

01:30:40.540 He wants the United States to get into business with everybody after bringing them to their knees politically.

01:30:45.560 And I think if he can do that with Iran, he'd love to.

01:30:49.080 He'd love to start taking some of that oil profit for the United States.

01:30:52.800 But if it can't be because the Iranian people don't rise up as he's urged from the first day to change the nature of the government,

01:30:59.360 and it ends up being a theocracy that's just as hostile to the United States but has been decimated in its capacity for nuclear, missile, terror, and naval,

01:31:09.060 he'll say, OK, well, that's what I said we were going to do.

01:31:11.540 And I think it would take a lot for him to fail on the very metrics of success that Caroline Leavitt laid out.

01:31:18.520 Caroline Leavitt didn't say it has to be someone friendly to the United States.

01:31:22.300 All she said, and these are big goals that previous presidents didn't accomplish, no nuclear, no missile, no terror networks, no Navy.

01:31:30.600 And I think just in a week's time, the United States has gotten pretty far down the road on all four of those.

01:31:35.800 Yeah, I mean, that's one of the reasons why I would love to see Trump declared a win and peace out of there very, very soon.

01:31:43.060 He could, though. He could.

01:31:43.940 Spare the lives of the American soldiers and cut the losses. 0.87

01:31:48.560 We did do a lot in one week's time.

01:31:50.520 I mean, I think there's an opportunity here for him.

01:31:53.640 I mentioned in the first hour, NPR is up first this morning, did a report on Venezuela

01:32:00.240 that you would have thought you were listening to Fox and Friends as you listened to it.

01:32:05.320 I had the team go back and pull it while you and I were chatting.

01:32:07.840 Listen to this.

01:32:09.180 What's it feel like to be in Venezuela?

01:32:11.240 It is absolutely surreal because you land at the airport and the signs are in Spanish, Russian, Arabic, and Chinese,

01:32:18.920 which tells you just where this country was facing a few months ago.

01:32:22.580 And then you go out on the streets and people here tell you that they feel like a weight has been lifted.

01:32:27.840 For the first time in a long time, there are street protests.

01:32:31.700 Opposition groups are holding public meetings.

01:32:34.320 I was at the Justice Department building yesterday,

01:32:37.380 and there was a group of protesters calling for all political prisoners to be released.

01:32:41.100 I mean, you and I both know what it would take to make up first, do a report like that.

01:32:47.740 It's time to declare the Venezuela situation a resounding success.

01:32:52.460 And if Trump could get to anything close to that between now and November on Iran,

01:32:58.720 then he would persuade even the doubters, I think, that this was the right thing to do.

01:33:02.840 Couldn't agree more.

01:33:03.980 Couldn't agree more.

01:33:04.660 And again, you go back to Trump's philosophy about this stuff.

01:33:08.740 I've talked about this on Next Up.

01:33:09.960 Now, the critics, I think it's incumbent upon them to say, what would you have done?

01:33:14.760 Joe Biden didn't want Maduro there.

01:33:16.660 Joe Biden didn't want Iran to be a menace in all those dimensions.

01:33:20.260 He didn't do anything about it.

01:33:22.120 He thought about it.

01:33:23.020 He talked about it.

01:33:23.800 He assigned Tony Blinken and others to work on it, but he didn't get it done.

01:33:28.440 And Trump's really into asymmetrical advantages,

01:33:31.240 where he, as a business person, had an asymmetrical advantage.

01:33:35.860 He would leverage that.

01:33:36.960 And he feels that way about the United States.

01:33:38.400 What's one of our asymmetrical capacities, advantages?

01:33:43.920 We have the best military ever, ever in the history of the world and better than anything on the planet today.

01:33:48.600 So if you can fix a problem in Venezuela or fix a problem in Iran,

01:33:54.300 use the American military in a way that doesn't involve nation building,

01:33:57.820 explicit regime change, quagmire, endless war, of course he's going to use it and use it with confidence and with some due diligence on the front end.

01:34:08.520 People think he does this haphazardly or with that thought.

01:34:11.700 No, he's gotten a lot of briefings about what the chances of success are, how to mitigate the negatives.

01:34:17.080 And what he did to get Maduro out was unorthodox.

01:34:20.680 Some people would say it was illegal, bothers the heck out of Rand Paul.

01:34:24.100 But Maduro is no longer running Venezuela.

01:34:26.780 And as that report suggests, the Venezuelan people and the United States at the same time seem to be better off for Trump having acted than they were before.

01:34:35.600 It doesn't mean there aren't risks.

01:34:37.320 It doesn't mean that there aren't tens of millions of Americans who don't like it.

01:34:40.140 But he was elected to get stuff done, and he's getting stuff done with the exact method you would expect from a guy who uses asymmetrical advantages.

01:34:49.120 Mm-hmm.

01:34:50.040 Well, I was not in support of the Iran action, but now that it's underway, I do feel it's my patriotic duty to support the troops and support the president and root for and very much hope for the best.

01:35:02.240 And so far, our troops are doing an amazing job over there.

01:35:04.300 Mark Halpern, how many layers are you wearing?

01:35:07.340 How cold is it where you're sitting?

01:35:08.900 In honor of the MAGA on MAGA fighting over Iran, I'm dressed like Steve Bannon today.

01:35:16.440 It's not Halloween, but this is my Steve Bannon costume, right?

01:35:19.880 Layer upon layer, topped by a vest.

01:35:22.240 Yeah.

01:35:22.860 And you can't see it, but I've got a three-day growth here.

01:35:26.580 And I'm trying to look wild-eyed.

01:35:30.420 Oh, like a little Pete Buttigieg action.

01:35:32.480 No, no, no, Bannon, just all Steve.

01:35:34.300 All Steve.

01:35:34.820 All Bannon.

01:35:35.320 All Steve today.

01:35:36.400 Multiple layers, layers, colors that don't really work together.

01:35:40.900 I got four layers.

01:35:42.780 You can't even see the fourth layer.

01:35:44.020 Very Bannon.

01:35:44.880 Very Bannon.

01:35:46.880 That's what's going on.

01:35:47.620 He's going to be thrilled that he is your fashion idol.

01:35:50.340 I hope so.

01:35:50.540 I'm going to text him as soon as we can.

01:35:51.520 I like, send him a still photo of this.

01:35:53.500 Don, send him a screen grab, because he'll appreciate the notion of the colors.

01:35:57.540 This is a big Bannon color.

01:35:58.920 There's people listening to the podcast.

01:36:00.500 I don't even know.

01:36:01.060 What is this?

01:36:01.440 This is like a orangey, I don't even know what color it is, but only Bannon would wear

01:36:05.520 this color.

01:36:05.880 It is orange.

01:36:06.660 Yeah, I don't know what it is.

01:36:07.580 Okay, I'm going to put that picture.

01:36:09.080 Yeah, there we go.

01:36:09.480 And always topped.

01:36:10.040 There we go.

01:36:10.660 Okay, I got it.

01:36:11.600 I'm going to text him.

01:36:11.880 Always topped by a vest.

01:36:12.900 And Steve will appreciate the homage.

01:36:15.560 I don't know how, I haven't left the house today, so I can't tell you what the temperature

01:36:18.520 is, this is too much.

01:36:19.840 I'm a little warm, but I had to, I'm going to a costume party later as Steve Bannon,

01:36:24.680 so I have to be practicing for the part.

01:36:27.220 All right, so we've gone from hot Gandhi to hot Bannon.

01:36:30.940 Warm Bannon.

01:36:31.580 We've run the full gamut, and I think that it's officially time for the weekend.

01:36:35.100 Thank you.

01:36:35.740 Thank you, Megan.

01:36:36.220 See you later.

01:36:36.400 Great to see you.

01:36:37.040 Have a great weekend.

01:36:37.680 Great to have you.

01:36:37.800 Bye-bye.

01:36:38.580 You too.

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01:39:45.060 Hey everyone, it's me, Megan Kelly.

01:39:48.440 I've got some exciting news.

01:39:50.660 I now have my very own channel on Sirius XM.

01:39:53.800 It's called the Megan Kelly Channel, and it is where you will hear the truth, unfiltered,

01:39:57.600 with no agenda, and no apologies.

01:39:59.940 Along with the Megan Kelly Show, you're going to hear from people like Mark Halperin,

01:40:03.300 Link Lauren, Maureen Callahan, Emily Drushinsky, Jesse Kelly, Real Clear Politics, and many more.

01:40:08.900 It's bold, no BS news.

01:40:11.280 Only on the Megan Kelly Channel, Sirius XM 111, and on the Sirius XM app.

01:40:15.960 Okay, I've got to talk to you about Megan Markle, because our pal, Britt Mayer, sent me Megan Markle merch.

01:40:28.920 She sent me this box of her chocolates.

01:40:33.340 This is what the bars look like.

01:40:35.660 Abby and I agree.

01:40:36.700 The packaging is pretty.

01:40:38.040 I have to give her that.

01:40:39.120 I like the flowers.

01:40:40.040 You know, that's her big thing.

01:40:42.200 You get to edible flowers on everything that, you know, may or may not actually be edible.

01:40:46.980 Don't try this at home.

01:40:48.580 And so the presentation on the chocolate bars was nice.

01:40:52.620 I did something that I never do when somebody gives me a gift, but I did it because it's a news story now. 0.99

01:40:57.400 And that is I looked up how much this shit costs. 0.99

01:41:00.000 And this pretty box with just four chocolate bars in it costs $62. 1.00

01:41:04.740 Britt, I'm so grateful that you thought of me, but $62 on this crap. 0.98

01:41:11.220 So I tried the raspberry spread sea salt dark chocolate first, and I'm not going to lie, it was disgusting. 0.99

01:41:18.420 Absolutely disgusting.

01:41:20.140 Cannot recommend you stay away from it more strongly than I do.

01:41:24.440 Then I went to shortbread cookies, bee pollen, milk chocolate.

01:41:30.120 I mean, shortbread cookie sounds good, right?

01:41:32.060 So I opened it up to see what this is all about.

01:41:35.420 So it's more chocolate with like some sort of orange spread on it.

01:41:41.240 I guess that's the bee pollen.

01:41:43.620 Also disgusting.

01:41:44.940 Don't recommend.

01:41:45.880 So thumbs down on the $62 chocolates.

01:41:49.440 Then Britt included two, count them, two as ever little jam packages here. 0.88

01:41:55.180 One is strawberry.

01:41:56.200 One is raspberry.

01:41:56.960 I know that our pal, Link Lauren, tried the apricot, I think, and thought it was disgusting.

01:42:03.880 I'm going to try.

01:42:05.100 I mean, it's not a very—look, this is the raspberry.

01:42:08.920 It's kind of gross.

01:42:09.720 It's coming out of the jar.

01:42:11.760 I'm going to try it, see if we like this.

01:42:15.580 Yeah, it's good.

01:42:16.660 It's your typical raspberry jam.

01:42:18.380 The problem is she's charging $12 a jar for this, and you can get jam that tastes just as good, if not better, for $4. 1.00

01:42:25.180 You're paying all that extra money, so you can get Meghan Markle to send you a stupid little card that reads, 0.99

01:42:32.500 enjoy in her lame little calligraphy on one side and as ever on the other with, I don't know what that is, 0.99

01:42:39.340 if it's a royal seal or what, but it's got a palm tree on it, so I'm guessing not.

01:42:42.520 Then there's the cheesy little packaging for the jams, which I have to tell you is in a very cheap little cardboard circular thing.

01:42:51.240 I guess she was trying to be fancy, but it was a fail.

01:42:55.380 And again, the as-ever thing, I've just got to say, it's so—it's used.

01:43:00.460 It's not clever.

01:43:01.760 It's not a play on words that you find fun.

01:43:04.500 It sounds like someone who's trying to offer this, like, ephemeral brand to, like, entice you into another world that doesn't get you there.

01:43:10.720 So, big thumbs up on Brit Mayer, not on Meghan Markle.

01:43:14.940 And sadly, Netflix has officially cut ties with Markle's polarizing lifestyle brand as ever, per page six.

01:43:22.040 We all agree.

01:43:23.200 Thanks for joining us.

01:43:24.000 Fact Monday.

01:43:24.660 Have a great week.

01:43:27.000 Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show. 0.94

01:43:29.320 No BS, no agenda, and no fear.

01:43:31.840 The Megyn Kelly Show.

01:44:02.080 988.

01:44:02.920 Ligne d'aide en cas de crise de suicide est financée par le gouvernement du Canada.

The Megyn Kelly Show - March 06, 2026

Trump's Noem and Cornyn Decisions, Newsom's Meltdown, and Oprah's Shock Weight Loss, with Jesse Kelly and Mark Halperin ｜ Ep. 1267

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