The StoneZONE with Roger Stone

00:00:00.000 Rural Americans deserve access to the best of what our nation has to offer, especially health care.

00:00:06.280 Across every state and every community, America's rural hospitals are the first line of defense,

00:00:12.120 protecting our families, neighbors, and loved ones.

00:00:15.020 No matter where you live, hospital care doesn't clock out.

00:00:18.100 They're there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

00:00:23.160 Each year, America's over 5,000 hospitals care for millions of patients,

00:00:28.540 providing 24-7 emergency care, delivering babies, cancer treatments, and other life-saving care that patients rely on.

00:00:35.920 Behind every one of those patients are doctors, nurses, and caregivers working tirelessly to keep people healthy and safe.

00:00:44.540 Hospitals are our community's lifelines.

00:00:46.660 They employ our neighbors and keep our families healthy.

00:00:49.240 But now, some in Congress are threatening access to care.

00:00:53.100 Tell Congress, protect patient care to keep America strong.

00:00:56.960 Don't. Cut. Rule. Health care.

00:01:01.000 The Stone Zone.

00:01:02.880 Entertaining and informative.

00:01:05.020 On the Red Apple Podcast Network.

00:01:08.160 And welcome, everybody.

00:01:09.380 I'm Jake Novak, in for Roger Stone tonight on The Stone Zone.

00:01:12.840 And let's get started right away with three pieces of breaking news.

00:01:17.840 Breaking news.

00:01:19.160 All right, first of all, we have this situation coming out of Cuba, and we have to have a disclaimer right off the start here of The Stone Zone.

00:01:27.940 The details are very sketchy, mostly because they're mostly coming from the Cuban government.

00:01:33.380 But get this, the Cuban government says that some people in a speedboat registered to the United States opened fire on some Cuban military personnel earlier today, and that the Cubans fired back and killed four people on that speedboat and wounded six others.

00:01:52.340 Now, where the speedboat came from, we know it was registered to the United States, or at least it seems that was the case.

00:01:59.340 But whether it originated from the United States this morning, we don't know.

00:02:04.300 Some people have been able to track down the registration of this boat, and it was a boat.

00:02:09.660 And I've looked at the pictures, and it looks like the SS Minnow from Gilligan's Island.

00:02:13.520 I don't know what we're talking about here, but it is a very sketchy situation.

00:02:18.980 Here's what we do know.

00:02:20.340 We do know that the Cuban government is very much teetering on the edge right now, folks.

00:02:25.960 They have been starved of oil and much of their financial support from Venezuela ever since the United States abducted, extradited, legally, Nicolás Maduro, the illegal dictator of Venezuela.

00:02:38.300 And we know that. We know that they've been basically kind of starving for supplies, for oil especially, and for cash.

00:02:45.060 And this would be the kind of thing that a regime that's teetering on the edge would do.

00:02:50.080 Claim that there was some kind of an attack from anyone who was connected to the United States in any way, and then claim it was some kind of self-defense operation.

00:02:57.960 For some wise words on this, let's go to the hardest working man in show business, Marco Rubio.

00:03:02.800 Here's what he had to say about the situation just a little while ago.

00:03:06.140 So this is not U.S. government personnel? There's no U.S. government operation?

00:03:10.240 No.

00:03:10.720 Have you spoken to any people about this?

00:03:14.080 No. We haven't spoken directly about this now?

00:03:16.840 No, I'm not going to comment about any conversations we've had on this topic.

00:03:19.780 Suffice it to say, what it's important to be out there and everyone needs to know is that we're going to have our own information on this,

00:03:26.200 and we're going to figure out exactly what happened.

00:03:27.760 And there are a number of things that could have happened here.

00:03:31.220 But I'm not even going to speculate as to what it could have been.

00:03:34.580 It's a wide range of things.

00:03:36.380 Suffice it to say, it is highly unusual to see shootouts in open sea like that.

00:03:41.640 It's not something that happens every day.

00:03:43.400 It's something, frankly, that hasn't happened with Cuba in a very long time.

00:03:47.480 Yeah, so that's our Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.

00:03:49.800 Obviously, we're going to find out what the heck happened here.

00:03:52.080 By the way, he also says that if Cuba was the aggressor in this situation,

00:03:56.100 there will be a response from the United States.

00:03:58.680 So that's one piece of breaking news.

00:04:00.580 Now we have another piece of breaking news to tell you about today.

00:04:03.320 Now there was a big FBI raid in three locations earlier today.

00:04:11.740 First, at the headquarters of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

00:04:16.280 This is their headquarters of all the public schools in Los Angeles.

00:04:19.680 Needless to say, the second largest public school system in the country.

00:04:24.000 A raid of their headquarters.

00:04:25.200 Then they raided the home of the superintendent.

00:04:27.800 That's the person in charge of the L.A. public schools.

00:04:31.200 His name is Alberto Carvalho.

00:04:33.520 He's a Portuguese-American.

00:04:36.360 He used to be the head of the Miami School District.

00:04:39.500 And so they raided his home that he owns also in the Florida area.

00:04:43.060 Needless to say, it's not looking too good for Alberto Carvalho.

00:04:47.160 But you know what?

00:04:47.600 They're not telling us what they were looking for, what this raid is involved.

00:04:51.180 And I understand that, and I respect the FBI's right to not give away all the details all the time.

00:04:56.360 I get it.

00:04:57.300 Hopefully we'll find out something soon from the FBI and the Justice Department.

00:05:00.300 But here's the thing.

00:05:02.520 Imagine you're a parent of a student in the L.A. Unified School District.

00:05:06.140 And there was something so bad connected to that school district that a very public and thorough raid of three locations took place today, including the headquarters of that school district.

00:05:19.860 And you're supposed to send your kid to the school just like nothing.

00:05:22.520 What if this has something to do with abusive children?

00:05:24.760 What does this have something to do with something dangerous that might be going on in the school otherwise?

00:05:29.060 No, just go ahead and send your kids there. 0.99

00:05:30.480 I mean, honestly, I understand the idea that they can't tip off everything.

00:05:33.640 There are legal issues here, but maybe they can make a statement saying there's nothing that will absolutely endanger your children to go to school tomorrow.

00:05:41.620 That kind of something along those lines.

00:05:42.900 I don't know if everyone would believe that.

00:05:45.240 But there you go.

00:05:46.300 I mean, that is another piece of breaking news.

00:05:48.060 We got a lot of talk about this evening.

00:05:49.480 I'm Jake Novak in for Roger Stone in the Stone Zone.

00:05:51.840 But I have yet another third piece of breaking news.

00:05:55.320 Breaking news.

00:05:58.860 All right.

00:05:59.380 This is something you're not likely to hear anywhere else.

00:06:01.600 So you're going to get this from me now from a number of my own sources, but some public sources as well.

00:06:06.800 I can tell you that all American naval vessels at the Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain have left the harbor.

00:06:13.720 This happened today.

00:06:15.620 They have left the harbor for open waters.

00:06:17.260 And there's a satellite imagery that I'm looking at right now.

00:06:19.480 And it's an empty harbor, folks.

00:06:21.460 Now, does that mean an attack on Iran is imminent?

00:06:24.880 Are they on their way to support an air attack of some kind?

00:06:28.020 Will they launch shells from those ships themselves?

00:06:31.700 Are they trying to get out of the harbor so it's not to be sitting ducks for some kind of Iranian counterattack if an attack on them begins from either the United States or Israel or someone else?

00:06:42.560 None of those.

00:06:43.100 Anyone who says they has the answer to those questions shouldn't either shouldn't be saying it because it's a secret or they don't know what they're talking about.

00:06:48.480 But what I can tell you is every American naval vessel docked at that Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, that harbor, have left the harbor for open waters.

00:06:59.220 So there you have it.

00:06:59.880 Three pieces of breaking news.

00:07:01.120 We have Cubans attacking an American speedboat that they say attacked them first, killing four people and wounding six others.

00:07:09.120 We don't know the nationalities of the wounded and dead.

00:07:11.640 And we certainly don't know a lot of the details around this, but that's what we know right now.

00:07:15.160 And we have Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying we're going to find out.

00:07:18.480 Second, we have a massive raid involving just about everything connected to the L.A.

00:07:23.800 Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Cavallo in Los Angeles, his home, the headquarters of the L.A.

00:07:29.920 USD and also his home in the Florida area.

00:07:32.120 So I'm not looking good for him, but we don't know the details of that either.

00:07:34.980 And this third piece of breaking news that we have this massive pullout of the harbor in Bahrain,

00:07:40.500 which is definitely within range of Iranian missiles and other types of weapons that they could use against American targets.

00:07:49.380 So that's definitely interesting there.

00:07:51.480 All right.

00:07:51.780 Obviously, the big talking points, though, other than these breaking news stories, which is certainly a mouthful, is what we saw last night.

00:08:00.100 And now I think more importantly, now let's move it.

00:08:02.400 Let's move it along now, because we're 23 hours away from when the State of the Union started last night.

00:08:07.660 So let's move on to what we need to talk about post State of the Union.

00:08:11.400 And I think last night, like a lot of you saw, we saw something not only dramatic from President Trump, but something very useful, an important tool.

00:08:21.680 I would call them marching orders orders.

00:08:25.020 This is the moment that I think needs to become the signature moment and not something that the Republicans just use in their commercials for the midterms and the primaries coming up and things like that.

00:08:34.220 No, this needs to become the rallying cry and the talking point that they talk about from now on.

00:08:41.960 And they shouldn't let this go after 24 hours.

00:08:43.820 And that, of course, was this moment from the State of the Union when President Trump asks the folks in the House chamber to do something.

00:08:51.580 This is cut one.

00:08:52.320 Listen to this.

00:08:53.940 So tonight I'm inviting every legislator to join with my administration in reaffirming a fundamental principle.

00:09:00.940 If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support.

00:09:07.180 The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens. 0.61

00:09:23.500 Okay, now, as you probably know by now, just about every Democrat refused to stand.

00:09:28.460 They sat sullen and angry.

00:09:29.920 And so after that applause break, President Trump calls them out.

00:09:33.800 This is cut two.

00:09:36.360 Isn't that a shame?

00:09:37.600 You should be ashamed of yourself not standing up.

00:09:41.000 You should be ashamed of yourself.

00:09:43.600 All right.

00:09:44.260 So that clip where the very simple, basic principle of governance that you protect your own people above those of illegal aliens. 0.98

00:09:53.420 I mean, this is Thomas Hobbes, Hobbesian, Leviathan type stuff.

00:09:57.200 I mean, crazy state of nature things.

00:09:59.060 When I was learning about learning about monarchs and other leaders when I was in college who didn't want to even protect their own people and didn't even care about that.

00:10:07.340 I thought that was just like political theory.

00:10:09.280 Well, here we have it in my lifetime.

00:10:10.700 I mean, I'm not happy to see it, but boy, at least I'm glad I learned about it.

00:10:13.320 And now I see that it wasn't make believe.

00:10:14.740 Now, everyone's comment, and I would even call it almost a midwit comment saying, well, that's going to be on my Republican commercials and the ads.

00:10:22.220 That's great, but it can't wait until then.

00:10:26.540 This needs to be a moment as similar to read my lips, no new taxes, or I mean, I am not a crook or I did not have sex with that woman. 0.71

00:10:34.740 This needs to be a quote and a moment in politics that is never forgotten, and the Republicans need to pound the table on this all day.

00:10:44.380 How can you possibly vote for a party that won't say that they prioritize American citizens over illegal aliens? 0.99

00:10:51.720 It makes no sense.

00:10:52.880 But if you want gravy on top, if you want chocolate fudge on top, you also have some other great moments that the Republicans need to take advantage of.

00:11:04.160 Rashida Tlaib, as they introduced the USA men's hockey team, instead of yelling USA like everyone else was chanting, she chants KKK.

00:11:13.140 What?

00:11:13.580 I mean, this is this is political suicide level stuff emboldened by the hatred of Donald Trump by a number of people,

00:11:22.020 obviously mostly Democrats.

00:11:24.280 The Republicans must take advantage of this.

00:11:26.300 And again, not just for a commercial in a couple of months when the primaries roll around.

00:11:30.120 This has to be everything they talk about from now.

00:11:32.700 I know that everyone says everyone.

00:11:34.120 Oh, the economy.

00:11:34.780 It's the economy.

00:11:35.820 The economy.

00:11:36.700 Economic messaging from politicians doesn't work.

00:11:40.500 What works is whether the economy is doing well or not.

00:11:43.020 If the if the economy is what's going to this election is going to hinge on, then keep working on the economy.

00:11:48.740 Americans are about to get, for example, much larger tax returns than they're used to.

00:11:53.300 The Republicans can talk about that when that happens.

00:11:56.180 There's a number of things from the one big, beautiful bill that are going to help the economy.

00:11:59.240 They should talk about that when they see more evidence of that.

00:12:02.780 The polls show that actually Americans are more Americans are feeling good about their own personal economic state than we've seen in more than two years.

00:12:10.560 They don't think that the overall economy is doing well, but they think they're in a little bit of a better place.

00:12:14.960 So I don't think that the Republicans telling them that things are great is going to make a difference.

00:12:19.940 What's going to make a difference is that they make it clear that they are the party of common sense, that you cannot vote for a party that won't stand up for citizens over illegal aliens.

00:12:27.800 It's as simple, as simple as that.

00:12:30.900 Now, there was another moment in the State of the Union address that you might have heard that was a direct mention of the former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

00:12:37.740 You're going to hear her response to that and more when we come back on The Stone Zone.

00:12:42.020 Keep it here.

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00:14:10.720 The Stone Zone.

00:14:12.680 Entertaining and informative.

00:14:14.660 On the Red Apple Podcast Network.

00:14:18.220 And welcome to The Stone Zone.

00:14:19.600 I'm Jake Novak filling in for The Great Roger Stone this evening, and we're doing the show live from New York.

00:14:24.540 But don't worry.

00:14:25.580 I've lived all over this country.

00:14:26.820 I'm not going to give you just the New York-centric view.

00:14:31.060 That said, I'm looking at the entire country and a very big economic story that you haven't heard because the mainstream media,

00:14:38.440 and even the so-called right-wing media hasn't covered it, and at about 35 after the hour, I'm going to give that to you.

00:14:44.820 But let's get back to another moment from the State of the Union address that, again, you may not have missed because this is a follow-up.

00:14:51.020 Now, you know, President Trump called out a number of people during the State of the Union address.

00:14:56.040 One of them was Nancy Pelosi in this comment.

00:14:59.100 Check this out.

00:15:00.260 As we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market, let's also ensure that members of Congress cannot corruptly profit from using insider information.

00:15:12.780 They stood up for that.

00:15:34.740 I can't believe it.

00:15:35.560 I can't believe it.

00:15:41.120 Did Nancy Pelosi stand up if she's here?

00:15:45.740 Doubt it.

00:15:47.840 Pass the Stop Insider Trading Act without delay.

00:15:52.620 Now, earlier today on CNN, they asked Nancy Pelosi to respond to that, and if you can't see it because it's on, you know, obviously video and you're just going to hear the audio, trust me, she stumbles.

00:16:05.560 Listen to this.

00:16:06.460 There was one moment, Madam Speaker, where he called you out specifically around, of course, congressional stock trading.

00:16:13.600 What do you say back to him?

00:16:14.660 I say back to him, as that's what members said, look at your own self.

00:16:21.160 The inference he wants to draw is there was something wrong with that, which there wasn't.

00:16:25.580 And if there was, people get prosecuted for it.

00:16:28.640 For a long time now, we've been trying to pass this law.

00:16:32.200 It doesn't have.

00:16:33.540 Now it has more support than it had before.

00:16:37.640 What are you talking about?

00:16:38.900 What do you mean people get prosecuted for it?

00:16:40.360 That's the whole point.

00:16:41.180 Members of Congress can basically conduct insider trading.

00:16:45.760 They should call it Pelosi's law because, as many people have noted for many, many years, she's had an unusually good and strong string of winning stock picks. 0.60

00:16:56.660 Not just for her, of course, but mostly through the estate of her husband, Paul Pelosi.

00:17:01.480 And people have actually, this isn't a joke.

00:17:04.060 There's actually a stock fund that you can invest in that mirrors Nancy Pelosi's investments.

00:17:08.980 And it does really well.

00:17:11.120 It outpaces the S&P 500 every single time.

00:17:15.300 It's my second favorite stock fund.

00:17:17.020 The other one that's my real favorite one is the do the opposite of Jim Cramer on CNBC stock fund.

00:17:23.280 Full disclosure, he's actually a pretty nice guy.

00:17:25.980 But he makes so many bad choices that if you bet, if you make the investment just the opposite of what he's doing, if he's long one stock, you go short.

00:17:33.440 If he goes short, you go long.

00:17:34.860 That fund does really well, too.

00:17:36.400 And there are some years that that even outpaces Nancy Pelosi. 0.53

00:17:40.140 But, I mean, the idea that that someone would have been prosecuted, that's the whole point, Nancy.

00:17:46.420 You can get away with this.

00:17:49.140 Again, as you heard in the audio, she's stumbling a little.

00:17:51.740 There's a lot of nonsense that came out of her mouth, so you could hear that.

00:17:54.320 But if you see the video, which I urge you to do, you can find it on a lot of social media platforms.

00:17:59.380 She's really fumfering there. 1.00

00:18:01.960 And, you know, it's just amazing.

00:18:05.100 We have a lot of people who believe that the big divide politically in America is between the right and the left.

00:18:11.080 And, sure, that's bad, but the real divide is between the political class and the rest of us.

00:18:17.040 And it isn't just a difference of opinion about how government should be conducted.

00:18:21.020 It's the arrogance.

00:18:23.100 And I would say sometimes even the downright hatred of the average voter and average American that the political class exhibits.

00:18:30.220 That is where some of this refusal to stand up for American citizens versus illegal aliens comes from. 0.99

00:18:36.480 Like the old aristocrats and lords and barons of the old days, they appreciated and liked the serfs much better than the merchants and what was ever sort of the burgeoning middle class or free citizens of Europe in the Middle Ages.

00:18:51.680 Because those people had a voice.

00:18:53.820 The serfs and the slaves, they didn't. 0.74

00:18:55.900 And as you'll hear me say many times on all the platforms where I speak and filling in here for Roger Stone, I can tell you, one thing to remember is this.

00:19:06.260 Illegal immigration is slavery. 1.00

00:19:09.800 It's exactly that.

00:19:11.580 And just like the Confederates of the 19th century, the people who are profiting and promoting illegal immigration are just like the slavers of the 1860s. 0.69

00:19:20.560 We're going to be right back on The Stone Zone.

00:19:21.980 I'm Jake Novak filling in for Roger Stone.

00:19:24.060 We'll be right back.

00:19:25.900 The Stone Zone, entertaining and informative on the Red Apple Podcast Network.

00:19:41.140 And welcome to The Stone Zone.

00:19:42.640 I'm Jake Novak filling in again for Roger Stone.

00:19:45.480 Thank you so much for joining us this evening.

00:19:48.780 I don't know if I've been through hell like Roger Stone has, but I've been through some hell.

00:19:52.140 So maybe that's an intro for me, too.

00:19:53.880 So in about, oh, at 55 after the hour, 56 after the hour, I'm going to have a bold prediction for you that no one else will tell you about.

00:20:04.740 But it's actually an important prediction about a very big part of our American culture.

00:20:09.660 It has to do with cars and trucks and SUVs.

00:20:12.420 So stay tuned for that.

00:20:14.420 Hey, let's talk a little bit about the economy specifically, not what you heard in speeches as much as President Trump did lay out a lot of good points about the economy.

00:20:22.600 A couple of things that you should know, especially in the volatile moments that we've been going through lately.

00:20:28.220 First one I want to talk about is the Dow, the Dow Jones.

00:20:31.200 It may not be the best index to tell you how all your stock market is going.

00:20:35.220 And no, Wall Street is not Main Street.

00:20:37.800 Wall Street is not the economy, but it is an important part of our economy, certainly an important part of the financial lifeblood of this country.

00:20:47.060 And I know there's been a lot of volatility lately.

00:20:48.980 And because the mainstream media and also sometimes the right-wing media only reports on Wall Street when there's a big sell-off like we had on Monday.

00:20:56.760 Well, first of all, we've had two nice rallies since then.

00:20:59.620 And second of all, barring a crazy moment in the next couple of days, the Dow is on pace for its 10th month of gains in a row.

00:21:08.060 OK, so if you kept your money, this is yet again another piece of evidence that's been true since the beginning of the markets itself at the end of the 18th century.

00:21:17.380 If you're slow and steady and invest in the American stock markets, you will come out ahead.

00:21:24.680 You just have to realize that there's noise here and there.

00:21:28.040 You might want to make some changes when you're about to retire and things like that, but you will come out ahead 10 months in a row.

00:21:33.680 Now, a piece of information they haven't told you about in the economy that happened this week that I think is really important.

00:21:40.440 Mortgage rates in the U.S., obviously, if you have good credit, 30-year mortgage rates dipped below that 6% level.

00:21:47.380 5.99%.

00:21:48.560 As I've been saying for a couple of years, it will be a very big psychological boost for folks trying to buy that first home to see something other than a 6% handle on the darn mortgage rate that they're getting.

00:22:02.240 Now, I know a lot of you listening have a between 2% and 3% mortgage that you got maybe 6, 7 years ago.

00:22:07.880 So, God bless you.

00:22:09.960 I had one of those, too.

00:22:11.460 I don't have a mortgage now at all, so that's great.

00:22:13.680 So, fantastic for you.

00:22:15.660 And I know that if you look at 5.99%, you think, oh, my God, that's still way too high.

00:22:20.020 But for people who are just getting into this market, who were seeing well over 7% in the height of the Biden years, and now they're seeing something sub-6%, that's a big story.

00:22:29.240 That should have been a very big story on all the news channels that you watch and all the websites that you check.

00:22:34.360 And, of course, probably none of them mentioned it.

00:22:37.880 And that has a lot to do with the biggest bias there ever was in news.

00:22:41.960 It's not the left-wing bias.

00:22:43.440 That's in there.

00:22:44.060 That's one of the top three.

00:22:45.560 But the biggest one ever is negativity.

00:22:47.920 They don't know how to report what is good news.

00:22:50.380 They just don't.

00:22:52.380 And in the case of having, and when there's a Republican president or a Donald Trump as president, they don't want to report the good news.

00:22:58.260 But this is good news.

00:22:59.360 Do we want the mortgage rates to get lower?

00:23:00.940 Yes.

00:23:01.140 Do we want home prices to go down because there's great new supply in the market?

00:23:04.900 Yes, yes, yes.

00:23:05.560 This is a huge concern of mine personally for our economy.

00:23:09.480 But if you can't cheer or at least acknowledge a big event like this, moving down that below, it's psychological.

00:23:18.000 I know 5.99% mathematically isn't really that much different than 6.1%, but the psychological aspect of it is huge.

00:23:25.500 It's huge, folks.

00:23:28.420 So please, make a note of this.

00:23:30.680 If you're in the market to buy a home or sell a home, see where these new mortgage rates put you with your monthly payments.

00:23:36.940 Or if you can avoid a mortgage altogether, that's fine.

00:23:39.300 But if you can't, check it out.

00:23:41.440 Check it out.

00:23:41.800 That's important.

00:23:42.480 And I wanted everyone to understand the importance of all of that.

00:23:45.360 Now, we also got some interesting new members of what I call the Epstein Files graveyard. 0.73

00:23:53.420 Because the Epstein Files and the release of them, such as they are, have really, there's a casualty list that keeps growing. 0.80

00:24:00.660 And two names that were early in the Epstein Files release that were casualties, really, we learned some of the major, major results for them.

00:24:10.600 First, and these are two people who 30 years ago, 25 years ago, were absolutely at the pinnacle of American society, not only in their power, but pretty much in their reputations, with few exceptions.

00:24:24.120 The first one is Bill Gates.

00:24:25.680 Now, I know Bill Gates has been not a very popular guy, especially for listeners of programs like this one, for a long time.

00:24:33.380 But if you can think back to the early 90s, if you can think back to the mid-90s, when even if people didn't like him personally, he was just considered to be this amazing genius and another example of American know-how.

00:24:46.600 And he and Steve Jobs were held up to us as the great new American minds.

00:24:52.640 Well, how the mighty have fallen.

00:24:55.680 The Epstein Files show that he not only was using his associations with Jeffrey Epstein to have affairs with Russian prostitutes, but he was contracting sexually transmitted diseases.

00:25:08.400 And he was asking Epstein for how he could help hide it from his wife.

00:25:11.560 I mean, all kinds of just really embarrassing stuff.

00:25:14.220 Now, if Bill Gates were just the CEO, still the CEO of Microsoft, then he would probably be forced to step down or something like that.

00:25:22.360 But what he is now is the head of the Gates Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

00:25:26.040 They've been divorced for some time, but it's still called that.

00:25:28.820 And we are supposed to respect everything he says about vaccines and agricultural stuff and green energy and things like that.

00:25:35.320 But the guy has no personal good judgment and that he's supposed to be the paragon of virtue.

00:25:41.680 Behold, our moral and intellectual superiors, someone who doesn't know how to protect himself.

00:25:47.460 From Russian hookers, someone who hangs out with a convicted sex offender. 0.94

00:25:55.700 So what did he have to do today?

00:25:58.380 We learned that he that he sent an email to everyone in his own foundation apologizing for lying, apologizing, apologizing, apologizing.

00:26:05.920 What are they going to do? Kick him out of his own foundation?

00:26:07.940 He's the he's given the money for this thing.

00:26:10.220 Now, technically, I'm sure there's a lot of lawyers listening who can tell me, well, there's a way that they can get him out, fiduciary this and that, and they can put in a new director.

00:26:19.300 Great.

00:26:20.240 The Bill Gates Foundation, without Bill Gates trying to get the power and influence that he gets from that and whatever good reputation he used to get from it, what's it going to be?

00:26:30.980 So, I mean, really, he's not going to be able to.

00:26:33.340 Again, if he were still the CEO of Microsoft, you could say, well, maybe he can start another company.

00:26:36.620 But what he's been in the business of for the last 20 years is reputation mining, trying to get influence and things like that.

00:26:45.360 Yeah, there's been a lot of people who pointed out he's made money on a lot of these so-called charitable ventures.

00:26:50.060 But he's also probably more important to him is to get the influence and the respect and the high reputation.

00:26:56.180 And that's gone for him.

00:26:58.600 Now, the other really big Epstein file casualty today was Larry Summers.

00:27:02.660 Larry Summers, the former Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton, very popular in that administration, popular with a lot of Republicans, too.

00:27:12.400 My friend Larry Kudlow talks about all the time how a lot of Bill Clinton's presidency was the third term for Ronald Reagan as far as economic policy was concerned.

00:27:20.520 And a lot of that was because of people like Robert Rubin and Larry Summers, who ran that economic policy for Bill Clinton.

00:27:27.140 So he was popular across the board.

00:27:30.460 Then he went back to Harvard University where he had been a prodigy, a young scholar there even before most people graduated.

00:27:37.860 And he went back to become the president of Harvard University.

00:27:40.240 And now he had his first fall from grace when I think he was unfairly treated for some comments that he made that were construed as being sexist.

00:27:47.800 Where he was saying, so far, the results are showing us that women don't perform as well in math as men.

00:27:54.340 He wasn't saying they don't have it in their DNA.

00:27:56.700 He was just saying they weren't performing well.

00:27:58.380 Didn't mean that they didn't have it in their constitution to be better at math.

00:28:02.440 He was just saying that's what the test scores show.

00:28:04.660 And they literally ran him out of the presidency there.

00:28:07.520 But they gave him something that a lot of people think is better than being a president of an Ivy League university.

00:28:12.620 They made him a university professor, which is just like being a super professor.

00:28:18.140 That's like the highest academic position you can get.

00:28:21.180 The very big deal, especially at Harvard University.

00:28:24.320 Well, the Epstein files have fixed that problem.

00:28:26.360 I mean, the things that Larry Summers was talking about with Jeffrey Epstein, asking for advice on how to hit on a much younger woman when, of course, he was married.

00:28:37.940 I mean, almost like a teenager, pathetic, lurid, embarrassing stuff.

00:28:42.460 And today he announced he's leaving the university completely.

00:28:45.020 There was a question about whether he would still be able to teach there.

00:28:47.700 As some of you may know, some of the tenured faculty, some, probably the majority of the famous professor tenured faculties at these schools don't teach anyway.

00:28:57.120 I'm proud to say that my father, who had a long career in academia, had endowed professorships with big name donors behind his.

00:29:03.420 He always taught at least two classes a semester.

00:29:06.340 His colleagues thought he was crazy, by the way.

00:29:08.340 But by the way, that's how you stay sharp.

00:29:09.740 Anyway, there was a question about, well, maybe he could stay there, write his books, do some lectures, but not teach.

00:29:15.600 Well, that's all moot now.

00:29:17.840 He's leaving the university.

00:29:19.580 And I got to tell you, stepping down as a university professor, just from what I know about academia, that's harder to do.

00:29:26.360 Than to step down as president of a university.

00:29:28.060 Because it's a much more distinguished position.

00:29:30.380 I'm not saying that every Tom, Dick, and Harry can be the president of an Ivy League university.

00:29:34.240 Although, if you've seen the congressional hearings lately, it sure as heck seems that way.

00:29:38.960 But to be a university professor at a Harvard, at a Princeton, or Columbia, I mean, that is the ultimate position for an academic.

00:29:47.080 That's like being a Supreme Court justice for a legal scholar.

00:29:50.040 It's a very big deal.

00:29:52.020 And you know it's very, very painful for him that he had to leave.

00:29:56.720 Now, you know what?

00:29:57.380 These stories about Bill Gates and Larry Summers, now, what do they have in common in addition to a lot of other things?

00:30:02.280 But note that these are people who never ran for public office, had a lot of power, but never ran for public office.

00:30:08.940 And in the case of Larry Summers, of course, he was a public official, but he never ran for public office.

00:30:12.640 And what's going on with the Epstein files and what's happened to Bill Gates and Larry Summers should be a little bit of a tutorial for all of you if you're wondering why people don't run for public office.

00:30:24.720 You know, this stuff about Bill Gates and Larry Summers, among people who knew them and in their circle, was known for a long time.

00:30:32.300 But the public didn't know about it because when you don't run for office, one of the things that you get to avoid is the oppo research.

00:30:39.500 If you run for office, the guys running against you, the women running against you, hire some of the best people out there to not only find out information like this, but find ways to get it out into the public domain.

00:30:52.520 You know, there's a lot of times where people have the goods on someone, but they can't either charge them in court or they can't publicly accuse them of it themselves or they'll get sued.

00:31:01.260 So these people not only are good at the oppo research people in the political world, in the voting world, in the elections world, they're not only good at digging up the dirt, they're good at getting it out there and leaked.

00:31:13.620 So I got to tell you, if Bill Gates or Larry Summers had ever run for office, this stuff would have gotten out a long time ago.

00:31:22.140 And we only found out about it because of the release of these Epstein files.

00:31:25.680 And it's a good example of why a lot of people don't run for office, because this is an unusual event in our history to have all these personal files of the very, very elite.

00:31:34.740 This is like watching a modern day episode, a version of Dangerous Liaisons.

00:31:40.100 Remember that movie with John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer?

00:31:42.760 And it's all about like the crazy things that the French aristocracy were doing just before the revolution.

00:31:47.300 You come out of that movie or if you saw the play on Broadway and you think to yourself, gee, no wonder they cut these people's heads off.

00:31:53.180 These people were decadent.

00:31:54.680 They were doing all kinds of weird stuff.

00:31:56.980 There were people starving.

00:31:58.800 And it's but this feels like it.

00:32:00.260 Like, I feel like I'm reading a modern day version of Dangerous Liaisons like, oh, this guy's doing this with this woman, this guy with that.

00:32:06.260 I mean, it's just crazy.

00:32:09.200 But these are the kinds of things that running for office. 1.00

00:32:12.420 For all of you who think politics is too nasty and it absolutely is.

00:32:17.020 Well, at least we find out about this kind of stuff more often because these oppo research people, the political consulting firms, they don't mess around.

00:32:27.240 They don't mess around at all, not even in the least bit.

00:32:30.920 So that is something to really consider here and hold that very closely.

00:32:35.860 Also, by the way, you know, Bill Gates and the fact that he has so much money and at one point was the richest man of the world and then decided to go.

00:32:48.560 I mean, there was just so many people who were suspicious of him going into the charity world, stepping away from the day to day operations at Microsoft, showing up at bridge tournaments with Warren Buffett.

00:32:57.560 And they act like a like that.

00:32:58.780 You know, you get the feeling that when Warren Buffett appears publicly with Bill Gates, or at least a few years ago, that Warren Buffett really wishes Bill Gates was his son and not his actual son.

00:33:07.160 I used to think that all the time when they showed up on CNBC together.

00:33:10.820 But you know what?

00:33:11.780 It was all an act.

00:33:12.720 These people have an incredible ability to put together some kind of PR version of themselves that.

00:33:19.440 Really holds up to scrutiny as long as long as you don't run for office.

00:33:25.020 And of course, Donald Trump is a great example of what happens when you start to run for office.

00:33:30.160 Suddenly this guy who was the darling of the Don Kings, the darling of the Jesse Jacksons, even Al Sharpton liked him.

00:33:36.400 Suddenly he's a racist because he ran for office.

00:33:38.280 When you run for office, you cross a certain line in America and suddenly they'll get you for everything.

00:33:44.460 And unless you have a generational like event like we've had with the release of the Epstein files, as long as you don't run for office, you'll probably not get in trouble.

00:33:55.200 All right.

00:33:55.420 When we come back, I'm going to have that bold prediction that no one else has the guts to make, but it's really a lot about America that you need to know.

00:34:01.800 I'll also have some other big stories for you.

00:34:03.800 I'm Jake Novak filling in for Roger Stone on the Stone Zone.

00:34:06.060 Thank you so much for joining us.

00:34:07.020 We'll be right back.

00:34:08.940 The Stone Zone, entertaining and informative on the Red Apple Podcast Network.

00:34:16.260 And I'm Jake Novak filling in for Roger Stone.

00:34:18.800 Thank you so much for sticking with me, replacing your regular schedule, your regularly scheduled host.

00:34:24.320 I'm going to make a bold prediction right now.

00:34:27.480 No one else has the guts to make this prediction, mostly because they have no idea about what I'm about to talk about.

00:34:32.880 But they should, because this is an important thing going on right now in America.

00:34:36.140 Within five years.

00:34:38.820 So I'm going to actually lessen that by 2030.

00:34:41.020 So when we get the final results of car and truck sales and SUV sales for 2030, I predict that there will be more vehicles sold that have off-road capability than pure EVs.

00:34:55.100 And I'm not talking about the hybrids. 0.98

00:34:57.100 I'm not talking about the plug-ins.

00:34:57.960 I mean actual full electric cars.

00:35:00.600 Because if you've been following what's been going on in America in the last couple of years, you'd be blind.

00:35:06.600 And you're into cars and trucks, you'd be blind not to see that off-road is the hot new thing.

00:35:13.620 And it's just like the electric car thing, which was artificial, generated by politicians, and they pushed it in every single class of car and truck.

00:35:22.780 I mean they even made a Ford F-150 electric.

00:35:25.400 I mean talk about sacrilege.

00:35:27.280 But this is much more organic.

00:35:29.380 This is the actual market wants this.

00:35:31.280 They want SUVs and trucks that can go off-road.

00:35:34.880 And every car maker, every big car company is scrambling to meet that demand in the market.

00:35:40.900 And every single day there are new reports of new projects for off-roads type stuff.

00:35:47.640 So we learned yesterday on Tuesday that Lincoln, the luxury line, the luxury brand for Ford, is going to take the Ford Bronco base model and luxury it up and turn that into a luxury off-road vehicle.

00:36:04.680 We learned today that the long-running talk at Mercedes about making what's known as the baby G-Class, those G-Class Mercedes, those big Mercedes SUVs that look absolutely like armored vehicles, you know what I'm talking about.

00:36:19.360 They run well over $100,000.

00:36:22.480 Well, there's been a long push at Mercedes to make a smaller, less expensive version of those vehicles that, of course, have great off-road capability.

00:36:30.260 They're like military vehicles, after all, and they're calling it the baby G-Class.

00:36:34.900 And we learned today that the talk about making the baby G-Class all electric, not so much.

00:36:40.680 Now they're at least going to offer it in hybrid.

00:36:42.340 I predict it will be offered with a gas-powered version as well by the time it comes out, probably going into production next year.

00:36:49.060 And it'll be cheaper because they've got to get, they've got to take advantage of this tremendous demand for off-roading.

00:36:55.040 Now, I don't get a chance to do a lot of off-roading in my life, but there's lots of states here in the United States where it's very easy to do that.

00:37:03.360 You can get to it, at least, if you have the right vehicle.

00:37:06.000 And people love camping, and people love all kinds of stuff like this.

00:37:10.420 So it's just, and it's a great, great moneymaker for these car companies because people are really, those vehicles sometimes get a little worn out.

00:37:20.980 If you do a lot of off-roading, you probably need to buy a new one every five years as opposed to maybe some of these other newer cars that you can keep for longer.

00:37:27.240 The point is, this is the new craze.

00:37:30.800 And you'll probably start noticing it.

00:37:32.480 I am noticing Ford Broncos in the fanciest neighborhoods around New York area lately.

00:37:37.560 People love the look of that car.

00:37:38.960 They've had a lot of recalls, by the way, so I don't know how that's working out for them.

00:37:41.860 But, hey, they probably can afford it.

00:37:43.580 I couldn't.

00:37:44.520 That's great news.

00:37:46.400 But people need to understand that.

00:37:48.080 Now, the last thing I want to say is, of course, you're going to hear in the news media and even in the industry the dishonest narrative that EVs are only failing because mean old President Donald Trump took away the $7,500 federal tax credit for everyone who buys an EV, which literally was basically poorer Americans paying for richer people to buy their electric car.

00:38:08.760 It was a disgrace.

00:38:10.320 I hate tax subsidies like that.

00:38:12.160 But it's a lie.

00:38:13.780 The demand for electric vehicles was falling off a cliff well before President Trump was reelected, well before this tax credit was ever going to go away.

00:38:23.700 That is an absolute fact.

00:38:25.920 And anyone who says otherwise is just lying to you.

00:38:28.280 And even Elon Musk isn't silly enough to think it's just about legislation.

00:38:32.860 If you've been paying attention in the last few months, Tesla's made it very clear that they are going to reduce the number of models they're going to be selling in the coming years.

00:38:41.680 They're going to become more of a humanoid robot company.

00:38:44.820 They're going to become more of a self-driving taxi company, which isn't the same thing as selling cars to people like you and me.

00:38:51.820 There's a difference between what the public wants and the market wants and what the government tries to make us want.

00:39:00.080 And I'm going to tell you something.

00:39:01.160 Off-roading is what the public wants, and that's what they're going to get.

00:39:05.340 EVs, not so much.

00:39:06.960 I'm Jake Novak.

00:39:07.620 Thanks for joining me on The Stone Zone.

00:39:09.540 See you later.

00:39:10.060 See you next time.

00:39:40.060 For a new episode, so you never have to wonder.

00:39:42.940 What the heck is going on here?

00:39:45.180 Rural Americans deserve access to the best of what our nation has to offer, especially health care.

00:39:50.940 Across every state and every community, America's rural hospitals are the first line of defense, protecting our families, neighbors, and loved ones.

00:40:00.020 No matter where you live, hospital care doesn't clock out.

00:40:03.100 They're there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

00:40:08.160 Each year, America's over 5,000 hospitals care for millions of patients, providing 24-7 emergency care, delivering babies, cancer treatments, and other life-saving care that patients rely on.

00:40:20.920 Behind every one of those patients are doctors, nurses, and caregivers working tirelessly to keep people healthy and safe.

00:40:29.540 Hospitals are our community's lifelines.

00:40:31.340 They employ our neighbors and keep our families healthy.

00:40:34.400 But now, some in Congress are threatening access to care.

00:40:38.080 Tell Congress, protect patient care to keep America strong.

00:40:42.100 Don't cut rural health care.

The Stone Zone ｜ 02-25-26

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