On this episode of The Stone Zone with Roger Stone, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn joins us to discuss a recent report that the U.S. has authorized the use of missiles that we have provided to NATO to strike targets deep within Russia. This seems to be a provocative act by the United States and Russia that could spark World War III. Join us as we discuss this latest development and how it could impact our national security and our ability to achieve peace in the world. Roger Stone has served as a senior campaign aide to three Republican presidents. He is a New York Times bestselling author, and a longtime friend and advisor of President Donald Trump. As an outspoken libertarian, Stone has appeared on thousands of broadcasts, spoken at countless venues, and lectured before the prestigious Oxford Political Union and the Cambridge Union Society. Roger Stone is a regular contributor to conservative publications and media outlets, and has been described as a "pop culture icon." He has been featured on CNN, Fox News, CBS, NPR, and NPR, among other media outlets. He is the author of several books, and is a frequent contributor to The Weekly Standard, The Daily Caller, and The Hill, and the Wall Street Journal, among many other publications. Roger has a regular presence on social media platforms, including The Hill and The Huffington Post, and he is one of the most influential men in the conservative media outlets in the country. The Daily Beast, The Hill s newest podcast. and The Daily Wire. - click here to read out loud and clear about all things Roger Stone. Thank you for listening to The Stone's newest podcast, "The Stone Zone" and much more! - Roger Stone's latest book: "The Devil's Guide to the White House: A Guide to Trump's Most Powerful Man." , The Secret Life of Trump's White House, The Essential Roger Stone: From Stone's Most Influenced by Trump's Secret Service Agent: The President's Guide To The White House? is out on the road with a trip to Moscow, Moscow, Russia's Most Meme of the President s Most Influential Man in the Oval Office, by the President's Most Successful Man on the Road, by Roger Stone and Michael Flynn, Jr., Jr., and more than anyone else in the Middle East, by John McCain, and much, more. , Roger Stone joins us from the road, to discuss all things Trump's new book, "Trump's New Years Eve Trip.
00:00:54.720Here's the headline from the New York Times.
00:00:56.980The Biden administration has authorized the use of long-range U.S. missiles that we have provided to NATO to strike targets deep within Russia.
00:01:09.340This seems to be a provocation for World War III.
00:01:13.260This comes on the heel only weeks ago, after the election, when Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that they would ship as many dollars out the door to Ukraine as they possibly could before Donald Trump assumed the presidency.
00:01:29.400There is no one better to help us break this down than former National Security Advisor and America's General, my good friend, General Michael Flynn.
00:01:55.360You are a patriot, and you're always on the road for America.
00:02:00.080Yeah, and so I just want to add, before I jump into the answering and addressing this issue, because it's a really critical, vital national security issue,
00:02:08.040I just want to tell your audience, once again, thank you, Roger Stone, for getting and convincing Donald J. Trump to run for president years ago.
00:02:19.600And what a struggle it has been for every single one of us that have joined his camp, but I just want to personally thank you.
00:02:28.680And I don't know if you get enough thanks, to be honest with you, for that specific reason, because had it not been for you, I don't think Donald Trump would have really given it serious thought.
00:02:39.780So let me jump to your question, Roger, because it is a really critical question, and I've been paying attention to Russia's response, mainly Putin's response.
00:02:51.700And Putin is going to take this very seriously, the way that the Russians will look at this, because the Ukrainians have no capability, and I mean zero capability to operate these weapon systems.
00:03:07.520The weapon systems require satellite tracking, targeting acquisition, and range findings, so they're going to require massive satellite intelligence and operational capabilities that the Ukrainians have no capability of.
00:03:23.940And so that capability either has to come from the United States of America or a combination of NATO and the United States of America.
00:03:32.080And the European Union, if somebody says, well, the European Union is behind some of this, the European Union is not supposed to be a military alliance, even though there are parts of the European Union that do have a military structure to them.
00:03:46.100So this is a really dangerous phase that the United States of America, because these ATACMS, long-range missile capabilities, are clearly designed for offensive purposes.
00:03:58.960They were put in place not too long ago, and now we have out of the State Department, out of the Department of Defense, and out of the White House itself, a statement of fact that really says, we're going to allow these missiles to be used by Ukraine to target deep into Russia.
00:04:21.660So obviously, Putin is going to have a response.
00:04:51.640I believe that that's going to have to be something that Putin is going to have to examine, and the displacement and moving around of some of those capabilities is something that now the United States of America is going to have to pay very close attention to.
00:05:04.280So these are very dangerous steps that the U.S. is now engaging in after a very successful election for a president that is going to be fighting for peace and not for more war.
00:05:15.240General Flynn, isn't it kind of logical to think that with both Zelensky of Ukraine and Putin signaling to Trump that they're ready to sit down, they've been ready to sit down.
00:05:28.760The only reason there have been no peace negotiations, no settlement talks, is because the current administration favors war.
00:05:37.380Don't you think at this juncture that both Ukrainians and the Russians might utilize restraint in the hopes that they could avoid a nuclear holocaust?
00:05:48.660Absolutely, and there is a good peace deal on the table, and I think it's very, very much worth consideration.
00:05:58.480I know that Trump has some ideas about how this thing can be calmed down, and we can achieve a conversation and a political discourse to basically get a rebalancing of the geopolitical front in Eastern Europe.
00:06:17.060We have to have that we cannot continue down this path, because it's going to draw us into something that we do not want to be part of, and we don't want to get drawn into.
00:06:27.260We certainly don't want the consequences of some type of global outbreak here.
00:06:34.340And remember that what this administration, the Biden-Harris administration, has done is they have pushed Putin closer to China, to Xi,
00:06:42.600and now we also have the indicators that there are North Koreans that are on the battlefield of Russia now.
00:06:50.720So there is a good peace deal on the table.
00:12:10.040We're going to be watching this issue very carefully.
00:12:12.900Meanwhile, the Trump transition is moving forward with a series of high-level appointments.
00:12:19.580As you know, Secretary of State has been designated as Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.
00:12:27.120The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, a combat veteran who currently is an analyst and commentator at Fox.
00:12:37.880Tulsi Gabbard, my favorite appointment as the National Director of Intelligence.
00:12:42.960former Congressman John Ratcliffe as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency.
00:12:51.960Upstate North Florida Congressman Mike Waltz, a military hero and veteran, as the National Security Advisor.
00:13:00.500To my surprise, Congressman Matt Gaetz, a true fire brand as our next Attorney General.
00:13:07.400The question, of course, is that whether the Congress and the RINOs in Congress will cooperate in getting confirmation of any of these and other appointments.
00:13:20.340Now, confirmation is required by the Senate.
00:13:24.520However, if the Senate and the House are out of session, this would allow the President to make what are called recess appointments.
00:13:33.400Those are appointments in which those appointees could take office and begin fulfilling their duties.
00:13:41.320Mitch McConnell was rolled out yesterday.
00:15:07.280I think we may get recess appointments.
00:15:09.800All of the president's appointments are controversial.
00:15:14.240That's because they're for America First.
00:15:17.620More than ever before, Donald Trump is threatening business as usual in Washington.
00:15:23.180And you now see the difference between Donald Trump circa 2017 and Donald Trump today.
00:15:30.360He's much, much wiser to the tricks of the permanent establishment and the deep state.
00:15:35.480And he is committed to appointing people who understand that their job is not to dilute his agenda, to delay his agenda, or to derail his agenda.
00:15:48.540Every one of these appointees understands that their job is to implement the president's America First agenda, not to substitute their own agenda.
00:15:57.980Here's a video that I really have to show because it's extraordinary.
00:16:02.320Jon Stewart, not one of my favorite people, interviewing Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks.
00:16:09.460The level of arrogance in this interview is something I want the Stone Zone viewers to see.
00:16:17.660There is a lot of waste, fraud, and abuse within a system.
00:16:22.200Audits and waste, fraud, and abuse are not the same thing.
00:16:25.200So let's decompose these things for a moment.
00:16:26.960Then please educate me on what the difference is.
00:16:28.840Sure. So an audit is exactly what you just described, which is, do I know what was delivered to which place?
00:17:15.260But if you can't tell me where it went, then what am I supposed to think?
00:17:20.300And when there has been reporting, I mean, this is not, look, I'm not saying this is on you and that you caused this.
00:17:27.580But I think it's, it's a tough argument to make that an $850 billion budget to an organization that can't pass an audit and tell you where that money went.
00:17:40.780Like, I think most people would consider that somewhere in the realm of waste, fraud, or abuse.
00:17:46.920Because they would wonder why that money isn't well accounted for.
00:17:52.480And especially when they see food insecurity on military bases and they see.
00:18:34.540Now, I may not understand exactly the ins and outs and, and the incredible magic of an audit.
00:18:41.560But I'm a human being who lives on the earth and can't figure out how $850 billion to a department means that the rank and file still have to be on food stamps.
00:18:53.580Like to me, that's fucking corruption.
00:18:57.140And if like, if that blows your mind and if you think like, that's like a crazy agenda for me to have, I really think that that's institutional thinking and that it's not looking at the day to day reality of the people that you call the greatest fighting force in the world.
00:19:17.040And so I just, again, I get back to this idea of like, I'm not looking to pick a fight with you, but I am surprised at that the reaction to these questions are, you don't know what an audit is, bucko.
00:19:32.660The level of arrogance there is really something to behold.
00:19:38.420There's another issue in the news that I want to address, and that is the bankruptcy auction of the assets of InfoWars.
00:19:47.660InfoWars, of course, the platform by my good friend, Alex Jones.
00:19:52.620Now, the bankruptcy court has ruled that Jones must sell off all of the assets of InfoWars.
00:20:01.360They're still fighting also to seize and sell off his intellectual property.
00:20:06.460In other words, his Twitter handle, his Twitter feed, for example.
00:20:12.520They really seek to stop him from using his own name, which is crazy.
00:20:17.400Now, late last week, there were reports that the bankruptcy trustee had chosen a bid by the owners of The Onion, a satirical website, over the bid that I put together with a group of others that was a cash bid.
00:20:36.760Believe me, friends, I only have in sweat equity, and I have a very small part of the deal.
00:20:41.980But I hope to bring together investors who do have real money, and there was a pre-qualifying requirement.
00:20:49.880You had to show that you had the cash necessary immediately to fund your offer.
00:20:55.920Incredibly, the bankruptcy trustee took a bid from the owners of The Onion that utilizes future cash payments from Alex Jones that would be received based on the bankruptcy judgments against him.
00:21:19.680Now, a judge has halted that transaction, and then Elon Musk has filed a notice of appearance before the bankruptcy court to be heard in this matter.
00:21:32.900I'm not sure if that means that he's particularly interested in thwarting their efforts to take away Alex Jones's Twitter presence,
00:21:43.120his handle and his profile on Twitter, now known as X, or whether there's something deeper here, and perhaps there will be a new auction.
00:22:02.100We will keep you up to date on those developments.
00:22:06.060All right, joining us now is the chief executive officer of Archangel Films in L.A., who has worked as an executive producer, producer, unit production manager, line producer, actress.
00:22:21.480But today, she's here in a different capacity.
00:22:24.740She is a national elder rights activist and the founder of Elderly Lives Matter USA.
00:22:32.340I had her on my 77 WABC radio show a few weeks ago.
00:22:37.660It was one of the most popular segments we've ever had.
00:22:53.480You have a very interesting and important issue here that I think most Americans are not fully aware of, but they need to be.
00:23:01.600There's approximately 345 million people living in America in 2024.
00:23:07.620The last reported estimate in 2022, there were 57.8 million elderly people in America.
00:23:15.320The elderly represent 17.3% of the population as of 2022.
00:23:20.840There are approximately 1.3 million adult conservatorships and guardianships in the United States and an estimated $50 billion in assets under control of those conservatorships and guardianship arrangements.
00:23:37.84085% of these Americans are over 65 and are in abusive and restrictive conservatorships and guardianships where they die without their human, civil, constitutional, or ADA rights.
00:23:53.400This is a national scandal, and I give you enormous credit for doing something about it.
00:24:02.680Tell us about some of your personal experiences, some of them with people who are in these conservatorships or guardianships who are extraordinarily well-known.
00:24:13.520Many Americans are familiar with the controversy surrounding Britney Spears.
00:24:17.620That is, pardon me, the tip of the spear when you see what's going on here.
00:24:44.000I got into this unfortunate sector of life due to someone that I care about very much.
00:24:55.420Nichelle Nichols was my second mother.
00:24:59.000She played Lieutenant Uhura on original Star Trek.
00:25:02.480And what I saw happen to her is something that I will never be able to unsee.
00:25:08.760And I'd like to say that, you know, the activists in my community do not become activists because they want to.
00:25:18.540It is because they have seen their mother, their father, their grandmother, their grandfather, their aunt, their uncle, their next-door neighbor, their good friends fall into an abusive conservatorship or guardianship.
00:25:32.900This happens in all 50 states, and additionally, it happens all over the world.
00:25:40.160But I'd like to focus on what's really going on in America.
00:25:44.300So conservatorships and guardianships are basically an extremely restrictive control that the government has over the elderly, where, for example, someone is slightly sick, someone slightly sick enough to go to the hospital, right?
00:26:04.820And so they go to the hospital, which is not feeling that well.
00:26:08.820You go and you sit in front of the doctor, right?
00:27:56.860And this conservator or guardian is at your front door, has a sheriff there with them and or police and say that you have to come with them.
00:28:33.920But we all have to be real, too, that there are some people in families that do not have their best interests out for certain individuals they might be estranged from.
00:28:43.000So sometimes family members come in who, you know, end up just wanting the money or wanting the land or wanting the estate will come in and put their mother or father into use of conservatorship or guardianship.
00:28:56.700And what brought me to this world is, like I said, is Nichelle Nichols.
00:29:41.680She made me a second under her power of attorney, her manager being first.
00:29:48.100I cannot say that I agree with any of the parties within Nichelle's situation, neither her son nor the manager, because I was standing up for human and civil rights.
00:30:00.380So she ended up living years, you know, doing film, doing TV, winning awards.
00:30:07.700And then she ended up, her son put her into a conservatorship in 2018.
00:31:30.540So I fought for her with all of my heart.
00:31:32.940And I want to thank the Free Britney movement as well, because I worked with the Free Britney movement on the ground, closing down streets, rallying, speaking.
00:31:42.880And the Free Britney movement really stood up for Nichelle Nichols.
00:31:47.860And I think that as young people, they really, really showed what they had within them, their love for Britney Spears as an artist, but also their desire to end what the injustice that is occurring in our nation.
00:33:13.780Yes. The one law that we just recently passed with Carrie Kasem, Carrie Kasem helped me with my case, as well as she helped Kelly Rooney with her father's case, Mickey Rooney.
00:33:25.440And by the way, if people don't know that Mickey was a veteran, he actually served in Patton's army.
00:33:30.600And he's on record stating, I don't want to be in a conservatorship.
00:33:34.940Nichelle Nichols stated she also didn't want to be in a conservatorship.
00:33:37.780And the judge went against their wishes anyway.
00:33:41.900So the law that we just passed in the state of California is now called the Kasem Nichols Rooney law, SB 1106.
00:33:51.240The governor signed it into law about a month or so ago.
00:33:57.340But that is a visitation law so that when people are suffering and they're trying to visit their parent, but their parent is stuck in a conservatorship and there's a conservator or people guarding that person so they can't see him, just like your instance you just shared with Mickey Rooney.
00:34:12.560They said you can't talk to him. You can't talk to him.
00:34:14.780Now, Mickey Rooney probably would have said hello, you know, and wanted to talk to him.
00:34:18.440But these people, these gatekeepers that are very, tend to be abusive, isolating, which is against the law as well, they will stop you from seeing those people.
00:34:29.580So the Kasem Nichols Rooney law gives people, children and activists, the ability to utilize that law in order to be able to absolutely get to see their parent.
00:34:40.620When their parent is being negligently isolated by a conservator, an attorney, a court-appointed attorney, another son, another daughter, whomever.
00:34:53.980Because there's so many laws that need to, that are already in the books, but they're not being followed.
00:34:59.020So the federal laws, there are many solutions across the nation.
00:35:03.620It's like I said, I'm the, I, I, I handle, I founded Elderly Lives Matter USA, but there are many organizations across the nation, including Kasem Cares, including so many different organizations, judicial pedia and, and ugly judge and court victim all across the nation.
00:35:22.280One of the first things that we would like to implement is a judicial oversight committee.
00:35:26.760And that would be a committee that would be in each state, but it would be a federal committee so that when people are suffering in the courts, you have a judge not listening, not following the law, you know, not acknowledging the human, civil and constitutional rights of the elderly, right?
00:35:44.200You have that person not, not following the law.
00:35:46.560You have a judicial oversight committee where the individuals in the committee are not, they're not part of the judiciary.
00:35:57.300These are educated citizens who understand and know the law and that they can help the, they can help the process so that if a judge is making a wrong decision and they know it, then that judicial oversight committee has to come down on the judge because the judge is there for us.
00:36:15.500To, to, to help us, you know, gain justice and especially the elderly, the elderly are, you know, there's, there's groups for everyone, Roger, there's groups for children, there's groups for, for so many different people in the world and those groups are necessary, but we need to start looking out for our elderly.
00:36:31.820And if we don't realize it, I'm 54, right?
00:36:41.080So judicial oversight committee is one, so that the judges and whoever making the poor decisions, violating the rights of the elderly gets, has to be held accountable for it.
00:36:52.760And next, you just, another solution would be implementing supported decision-making into ADA law.
00:37:01.320Supported decision-making is a less restrictive way of, of helping the elderly.
00:37:09.060So instead of having this really angry conservator that's, you know, abusing them, beating them up, mentally abusing them, financially abusing them, you have a person who's more like a personal assistant, helping them figure out the computer, figure out what their next court date is, figure out what they want to eat for, for, for lunch and not lording it over them.
00:37:31.340That could be implemented into ADA laws, which is American with disabilities laws.
00:37:40.180Dementia and Alzheimer's fall under ADA laws.
00:37:44.420So if you are sick or say you're not sick before you get, you don't have dementia or Alzheimer's first, and you write your will or your trust, you do everything you need to do to be in order.
00:37:55.320And say you get dementia or Alzheimer's, that will is still in place.
00:38:52.560And that's, that's very important that I believe those RICO laws be prosecuted.
00:38:58.000Additionally, the activists and the children who fight for their parents, they are also retaliated against, slandered, libeled.
00:39:06.480And they're fighting for what's right.
00:39:08.040They're trying to stand up for their mom.
00:39:09.320My, my, you know, my second mom was a Shelly, you stand up for them, but you also pay for it too, right?
00:39:14.440And this is not right because we are standing as activists across the nation and we are not underground.
00:39:20.260We are standing up for the human civil rights and constitutional rights and ADA rights of people, elderly people across the nation.
00:39:27.280I know veterans who are sitting on the street right now because their whole life has been turned over by some conservator or guardian coming in to their life and taking everything they've got.
00:39:37.340There's a gentleman actually in Chicago right now on, in his car.
00:39:41.740And he can't even, he can't get out of it.
00:39:44.400He doesn't know where his wife is and we're all trying to help him.
00:39:47.440We have, it's just people across the nation.
00:39:50.060Another thing is, is that, you know, you may or may not know is that prisoners currently have more rights than the elderly.
00:39:56.160So if you're in jail and you have committed a crime, you have more rights than, than what the elderly have.
00:40:02.620So that things like that need to change.
00:40:05.460And then the judges need to have no immunity for, for, for committing crimes against the elderly.
00:40:10.140If you've sent a, an individual, an elderly individual to their death, you didn't, you didn't review the evidence.
00:40:17.440You didn't allow them to go to court when they asked to go to court, especially, you know, you've made a decision that can destroy it in their life.
00:40:26.160They need to have no immunity for the, for the, for the wrong decisions they've made.
00:40:31.560So those are just some of the decisions, but there's, or some of the solutions.
00:40:34.860There's a lot of, a lot of additional solutions that we could, we could have, including court watchers.
00:40:40.400A lot of court hearings, everyone can't get in there to, to watch the court hearing.
00:40:46.340And so many of us activists are trying to log on, but they, the judges and the attorneys don't want us to see what's happening.
00:40:52.820And they don't want us to, to, to support the elderly person there, nor do they want us to support the activist or son or daughter who's standing up for their mother and father.
00:41:02.500They literally block us out and we're done.
00:41:05.680We're not going to allow this anymore.
00:41:46.980There are, you know, I could sit here and say, you know, like some people, you know, are afraid to say things.
00:41:52.880No, I've stood up against judges and it was free Britney movement.
00:41:56.740When that was going on, even the shells judge, I told her, you know, it's like, look, you know, this is not over.
00:42:04.040You don't just get to do this to people.
00:42:06.080If we allow judges, anyone to violate our human rights, our civil rights, our constitutional rights and ADA rights.
00:42:16.180If we allow anyone to violate our rights, our parents' rights, anyone rights, we create a precedence and it keeps on happening over and over and over again.
00:42:26.180It is absolutely all about the money because in the end, a lot of times the elderly are just put in a rest home and abused and is severely abused at that.
00:43:43.880Actually, we are not a 501c3 or 501c4.
00:43:48.580We are people who just really care about people, and we do it out of our hearts.
00:43:56.060Making the efforts to get to Washington, D.C., and actually share our stories is of utmost importance to all of us across the nation.
00:44:09.180We want federal laws to protect the elderly forever.
00:44:13.040Now, when it comes to funding, we don't do that.
00:44:16.420There are some organizations that do accept funding, and you can always contact me at elderlylivesmatterusa.org, and I can give you those organizations that do.
00:44:28.160But as far as my organization, and many, we stay up night and day, you know, texting, talking, trying to help people.
00:44:37.320You know, if it's an emergency, we're like, okay, we've got to take care of this person, that person.
00:44:42.160But I would love to talk to you further about that, because we have thousands of people, tens of thousands of people, who would be willing to go to Washington, D.C. and change these laws.
00:45:27.300She died in a rest home, and Mary, when she went to go find her mother, she found her under toiled soil at the local cemetery.
00:45:37.240Her mother's, all of her property was taken, everything she worked hard for.
00:45:41.240Everything was taken out from under her.
00:45:43.000You know, her husband was a veteran, and now they're coming after Mary, trying to put Mary in jail as an activist for standing up for the human civil ADA rights of her mother.
00:45:59.720She has stood up for so many people, I couldn't even tell you.
00:46:03.100She was even helping the January 6th people.
00:46:07.040She also helped a young Black man who was beaten up in the courtroom, and she stood up for his rights, and she got beat up in the courtroom, too.
00:46:19.540These are activists that stand up and fight every day.
00:46:22.640I have Bob Gettinger from Ugly Judge and Court Victim.
00:46:26.300You know, his mother died in an abusive conservatorship.
00:46:28.680Carrie Kasem, who's been an amazing friend and amazing fellow activist.
00:46:32.420She has written visitation laws in about 30 states, I think.
00:46:37.160Kelly Rooney, Travis Campbell, and Trudy Campbell were all on the board of Kasem Cares together.
00:49:20.600Now, the Democrats keep saying it's retribution or it's revenge.
00:49:24.820If John Brennan, who clearly asked British and New Zealand and Canadian intelligence to begin monitoring Trump friends and allies and supporters so that he would have deniability,
00:49:50.420why is the CIA director spying on friends of the Republican candidate for president?
00:49:58.860That's just the beginning, the Russian collusion hoax, the claim, for example, that the Russians hacked the DNC and that information somehow made its way to WikiLeaks is just false.
00:50:17.620In my own trial, the FBI admitted that they had never inspected the computer servers of the DNC, and they relied entirely on a report from a company called CrowdStrikes.
00:50:33.560The judge denied my defense a copy of their report in my trial, but it was later declassified, and the president of CrowdStrikes, Sean Henry, who just coincidentally happened to be Robert Mueller's deputy at the FBI, admitted under oath before the House Intelligence Committee that his report had no such proof, that there is no proof that the Russians hacked the DNC.
00:50:59.840In fact, I wanted to introduce expert testimony and forensic evidence, which I could have proved there was no online hack, but the judge, of course, would not allow that.
00:51:11.840So the point, I guess, is that I do think that Matt Gaetz, as Attorney General, is going to examine the role of certain high-level government officials in the Obama administration, such as John Brennan, such as James Comey, such as Susan Rice, as well as the actions of Adam Schiff.
00:51:33.120You see, unfortunately for Senator Schiff, no one is above the law, not even him.
00:51:38.400Mm-hmm. Let's go back a little bit, back onto Susie Wiles, because what you were talking about there and her relationship with Ron DeSantis is very interesting.
00:51:48.380The kind of reporting I've read is that there was some falling out between perhaps Casey DeSantis, Ron DeSantis' wife, and Susie Wiles.
00:51:56.840And that breakdown between DeSantis and Wiles ended up really hurting DeSantis, and Susie Wiles came out okay from it.
00:52:07.320Well, first of all, Susie has been very circumspect about the reason why Ron DeSantis went out of his way.
00:52:16.940He didn't just fire her. He tried to destroy her.
00:52:19.140I mean, he not only canceled her contract working for the Republican State Committee,
00:52:25.520He canceled her contract working for his political action committee.
00:52:32.000He persuaded then campaign manager Brad Parscale to cancel her contract working on the president's re-election.
00:52:42.660He pressured the lobbying firm that she worked for.
00:52:46.240And by the way, no, she's never, ever represented Pfizer or any pharmaceutical company.
00:52:53.560That's a canard that bounces around the United States.
00:52:57.620Susie, who is, you know, by nature, been a friend of mine for 30 years.
00:53:02.120We go back to the Reagan campaign together.
00:53:04.140We both worked for Jack Kemp, the legendary New York congressman.
00:53:08.860She's been very circumspect about that.
00:53:11.180Now, if you go back and look at the clippings, there's a piece on this, I think, in the Wall Street Journal that's incorrect.
00:53:19.240There was no one who would stand up and defend Susie Wiles at the time.
00:53:24.580No one, however, except for me, because she's a woman of enormous talent and enormous integrity.
00:53:31.680So, yeah, I do think that that gave her unique insights into the personalities of Ron and his rather overbearing and self-important wife.
00:53:45.100And I think that contributed to his ignominious defeat in the Iowa caucuses, the rest of the presidential process.
00:53:56.400Let's talk about Florida more broadly or generally or in historical terms, perhaps.
00:54:03.040We've seen perhaps Texas have such a big influence over Washington with the Bushes.
00:54:08.720Do you think that's a comparable situation to what is going on now with Florida in terms of the state exerting quite a lot of power over Washington?
00:54:17.000Well, I think it's really important to understand that Florida didn't even essentially have a Republican Party until the late 1950s.
00:54:47.820In 2022, DeSantis won a 22-point victory.
00:54:53.540But I argue to you, if we had not had a hurricane in the three weeks before the election, in which Governor DeSantis was able to command all media attention,
00:55:06.940and frankly, to give him credit, was, I think, very effective at moving state resources around quickly to help the state recover and rebuild bridges.
00:55:19.920But his opponent, Charlie Crist, who had been a Republican governor, then an independent Senate candidate, and then a Democrat congressman.
00:55:31.220One of my favorite jokes is a Republican, a Democrat, and an independent walked into a bar and the bartender said, hi, Charlie.
00:55:39.020Anyway, he is a great politician in his own right, but he was depending very much on free media coverage.
00:55:48.880And, of course, he got none because of the hurricane and DeSantis' role.
00:55:53.280So that big win, I thought, was an anomaly.
00:55:57.420In other words, I believed then that this is really a purple state.
00:56:02.440It's not as reliably Republican as people may think.
00:56:06.340This last election may have disproved that because Donald Trump now becomes the second statewide candidate to carry Miami-Dade County,
00:56:16.660which is, I still think, the largest county in the state.