The StoneZONE with Roger Stone - June 18, 2025


The Stone Zone ｜ 06-18-25

Topics
regime change in Iran remittances remittances and taxes artificial intelligence regulation missiles flying into Israel
Hosted by
Roger Stone Troy Smith Jake Novak
Mentioned
Donald Trump Roger J. Stone Jr. Jenna Griswold Joe Biden Ronald Reagan Tina Peters James Lankford Pete Flores John F. Kennedy Douglas McGregor Christopher Wray Robert Reich Barack Obama Steve Bannon Chris Pine Desjardins Godspeed Clinton Ryan Meta
Col. Douglas McGregor ｜ 06-16-25 The Stone Zone ｜ 06-19-25

Episode Stats


Length

38 minutes

Words per minute

152.22

Word count

5,878

Sentence count

367

Harmful content

Misogyny

3

sentences flagged

Toxicity

5

sentences flagged

Hate speech

15

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Trump has been consistent in his opposition to Iran's nuclear program, but what will he actually do about it? Will he be willing to use American power to get them to give up their nuclear weapons program? Is it possible that he will decide to attack Iran, and if so, will he be prepared to do so?

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.420 The Stone Zone, entertaining and informative on the Red Apple Podcast Network.
00:00:07.580 You are entering the Stone Zone.
00:00:10.080 Well, the only thing predictable about Donald J. Trump is that he is completely and totally unpredictable.
00:00:17.560 There is no doubt that at least 15 times during the campaign, as well as multiple times since then,
00:00:24.540 he has flatly stated that Iran will not be allowed to have a nuclear bomb.
00:00:30.620 On this, he has been completely consistent.
00:00:33.960 And whether he will choose to use American power to attack Iran to dismantle their nuclear capability
00:00:41.240 remains a question that only he at this juncture knows the answer to.
00:00:46.400 But those who say that he will be ending his presidency, that he will be destroying his legacy,
00:00:52.780 if he does make the choice to do so, I disagree with them.
00:00:57.080 I'm an anti-interventionist.
00:00:58.900 I'm anti-war.
00:01:00.800 But at the same time, I recognize the very serious threat posed by homicidal maniacs
00:01:06.920 who have made no secret of their intention to kill Americans and America. 0.80
00:01:12.660 Death to America is not just a slogan. 0.95
00:01:15.380 It is their philosophy.
00:01:17.080 You see, I believe that only if America got bogged down in a long, endless war, as we did in Afghanistan,
00:01:25.380 would his governing coalition be destroyed and his legacy be harmed.
00:01:30.560 But Donald Trump, frankly, is much too smart for that.
00:01:35.060 Is it about regime change?
00:01:36.960 No, I don't believe it is.
00:01:38.180 He made it very clear in Riyadh just 10, 12 days ago that foreign policy based on regime change
00:01:45.940 was no longer the standard in America.
00:01:49.240 The neocons who have dominated both parties that drove us to endless foreign wars
00:01:55.180 where our inherent national interests were not clear are no longer in control.
00:02:01.260 But the result in Iran could be regime change, only in that those heading the current brutal regime may all be dead.
00:02:13.620 For those who don't think that there is a legitimate resistance in Iran, that's false.
00:02:19.740 I met with two leaders of the resistance who visited from Paris who came to see me only two weeks ago.
00:02:28.000 There were supposed to be three of them, but one of the three gentlemen who came to meet me
00:02:33.060 was assassinated between the time the meeting was scheduled and the time they showed up.
00:02:38.920 But there is a viable resistance on the ground.
00:02:42.460 The alternative to the current brutal regime is not just the son of the Shah, 0.89
00:02:50.400 but we may get regime change by event rather than by design.
00:02:55.500 Trump's support for Israel cannot be doubted.
00:03:00.140 He is the only Republican president who pledged to move the Capitol to Jerusalem and then finally did so,
00:03:07.840 even though multiple Republican and Democrat presidents pledged to do so beforehand.
00:03:12.940 I think he's made himself very clear.
00:03:15.360 Here is the bottom line.
00:03:17.000 I trust Donald Trump with this decision and I will support his decision regardless of whether he decides
00:03:24.080 that it is America's interest to use our power or not.
00:03:28.000 Whether Israel could go it alone from a technological point of view is a legitimate question.
00:03:34.260 I believe that their nuclear weapons development facility is situated in such a way that the capabilities of the Israelis may be insufficient, 0.92
00:03:45.780 that it may take one of the 30,000-pound bunker-busting bombs to destroy it,
00:03:51.800 although Colonel Douglas McGregor on this show only days ago questioned whether even that technology would work.
00:04:00.980 So I will stick with Donald Trump on this and I will support whatever he decides,
00:04:06.860 but I do not think that he will commit us to a long, drawn-out, endless war.
00:04:11.700 I think he is way too smart for that.
00:04:14.240 You may remember yesterday we reported that the FBI turned over to Congress evidence that they knew at the FBI
00:04:25.400 that 20,000 fake driver's licenses had been shipped to the United States from China prior to the 2020 election,
00:04:35.620 but it seems like the previous leadership at the FBI, Christopher Wray and company, swept that under the carpet.
00:04:44.280 Wray testified to Congress that he knew of no attempted foreign interference in our 2020 presidential election.
00:04:53.900 That turns out to be completely and totally false.
00:04:59.120 Now we have a new report that tells us that the current administration, the U.S. Justice Department,
00:05:07.820 has ordered the Colorado Secretary of State, Jenna Griswold, to hand over all records related to the 2024 federal elections.
00:05:17.100 In a letter to Secretary of State Griswold, the Attorney General wrote,
00:05:21.400 The Department of Justice specifically said all statutes, regulations, written guidance, internal policies,
00:05:41.380 and database user manuals that set out the procedures Colorado has put in place to retain, must be retained and sent to the Justice Department.
00:05:52.680 Colorado Secretary of State, Jenna Griswold, responded to the order in a statement saying,
00:05:57.380 saying, typically, Donald Trump has weaponized his Department of Justice targeting his perceived enemies
00:06:03.880 and meddling in state cases to try and free those who supported his big election lie.
00:06:10.780 Griswold said, I will not follow the law, pardon me, I will always follow the law and protect our democracy
00:06:16.460 and won't be intimidated by this baseless inquiry.
00:06:20.320 Madam Secretary of State, just hand over the evidence. 1.00
00:06:23.840 If you're right, you'll be proven right.
00:06:25.820 I rather doubt that.
00:06:27.380 In March of last year, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously reversed Secretary of State Griswold's illegal decision
00:06:34.800 to remove President Donald Trump from the state's primary ballot.
00:06:39.060 And in that act, of course, Griswold's bias and her anti-Trump stance is completely and totally revealed.
00:06:48.360 Griswold again came under scrutiny after passwords to the state's voting systems were posted to her office's website, 0.92
00:06:56.380 immediately prior to the 2024 presidential election.
00:07:00.580 Yet it was Tina Peters, who is no stranger to those who spent any time in the Stone Zone,
00:07:07.640 the 69-year-old former Mesa County clerk that was prosecuted by the state of Colorado and sentenced to a nine-year sentence for, quote,
00:07:18.240 allowing unauthorized access to voting machines.
00:07:21.860 Recently, President Donald Trump said that Peters is an innocent political prisoner and urged the Department of Justice to secure her release.
00:07:31.180 Unfortunately, however, Peters, who has appeared on this show, is charged and convicted and incarcerated on state charges in the Department of Justice,
00:07:42.660 nor the federal courts have the authority to either pardon her or to order her release.
00:07:49.160 Because Griswold, in my opinion, has a lot to answer for, and she needs to turn over her records to the federal investigators immediately. 1.00
00:07:57.980 We're going to continue to follow the story right here in the Stone Zone.
00:08:02.840 Meanwhile, Donald Trump celebrates his personal project of raising two White House flagpoles.
00:08:08.500 President Trump was excited about the White House raising these two flagpoles earlier today.
00:08:13.400 It is my great honor to announce that I'll be putting up two beautiful flagpoles on both sides of the White House, north and south lawns,
00:08:22.720 President Trump said on a posting on Two Social.
00:08:25.440 It is a gift from me of something which was always missing from this magnificent place.
00:08:31.620 Now, there's a certain irony here, because those who will remember that after he bought the palatial Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach,
00:08:40.840 the president erected a huge flagpole and put up an American flag that exceeded the size of flags allowed by the county in their local regulations.
00:08:55.860 They ordered Trump to take the flag down.
00:08:58.880 Trump refused to take the flag down, so they fined him.
00:09:02.980 I believe the fine was $1,000 a day.
00:09:06.180 He continued to pay the fine until he ultimately prevailed in court in which he argued that the flag was protected by his First Amendment rights
00:09:18.380 and there was no good public purpose for limiting the size of it.
00:09:23.240 As you approach Mar-a-Lago from any direction, you can still see that magnificently large,
00:09:30.440 some would say huge, Trumpian-American flag today.
00:09:36.060 The two-flagg poles construction began at 7.30 this morning.
00:09:42.060 The flags were raised at about 11 o'clock.
00:09:46.380 The president described them, the flagpoles that is, as tall, tapered, rust-proof,
00:09:52.740 with the rope inside the pole and of the highest quality.
00:09:57.780 Hopefully, they will proudly stand on both sides of the White House for many years to come.
00:10:04.040 Now, these two flagpoles on the North Lawn and one on the South Lawn cost Trump about $50,000 each to complete,
00:10:12.140 all of it paid for out of his own pocket as a gift to the American people.
00:10:17.920 Only if you're in construction is this exciting, Trump said this morning.
00:10:22.860 Speaking of the construction of the poles, you see you have to get it perfectly straight,
00:10:26.460 and once it's perfect, they pour in the sand, and it can be there for 100 years.
00:10:32.860 Trump has taken interest in talking to the construction crews doing innovation this morning.
00:10:37.140 You can see it on television.
00:10:38.840 He was spotted several times in the past weeks making the rounds and discussing the projects with workers.
00:10:45.060 This reminds me of the Donald Trump that I first met in the 80s,
00:10:48.300 who would go to his construction sites when they were a little more than a metal framework.
00:10:52.400 In the Trump organization, it was always a rule that any employee, no matter their level of employment,
00:11:00.040 could get an appointment with Donald Trump.
00:11:01.900 If they knew of a better way to do something in their construction area,
00:11:06.320 or if they had a complaint about the quality of the construction materials,
00:11:11.420 anybody could get in to see the boss.
00:11:13.920 He had an open-door policy.
00:11:16.220 This is why I think he was such a great businessman and such an icon in the real estate industry.
00:11:23.240 I don't know about the workers, he said, but I love these poles. 1.00
00:11:27.160 I would bet all those who voted for Trump, every one of these guys.
00:11:31.480 I've got to get these guys back to work.
00:11:33.780 They're making a fortune, he laughed,
00:11:35.780 as he walked away from the construction of the flagpole he was on television talking about.
00:11:42.880 Trump first announced this 100-foot flagpole project would be erected back in April,
00:11:48.880 adding to his other projects, including renovating the Rose Garden by creating a concrete platform,
00:11:54.660 building a ballroom, and redecorating the Oval Office to make it more opulent.
00:11:59.880 The construction projects are personally interesting to the real estate mogul.
00:12:04.120 He's been envisioning how he would reform the White House for many years.
00:12:08.420 It is also notable that in the Oval Office,
00:12:13.000 he replaced a number of the portraits there that had been placed by his predecessor, Joe Biden.
00:12:19.780 And often when you see him on television,
00:12:22.840 you will see the oil portrait of one of our greatest presidents, Ronald Reagan,
00:12:29.220 that is right behind the sofas in the Oval Office.
00:12:35.060 He also includes portraits of other presidents,
00:12:40.080 but just his taking the Reagan portrait from the National Archives
00:12:44.920 and restoring it to the Oval Office tells you that Donald Trump shares my view
00:12:51.080 and many of those here in the Stone Zone,
00:12:53.660 that Ronald Reagan was one of the greatest presidents in our lifetime,
00:12:57.220 and that the historians and academics and others in the liberal media 0.98
00:13:02.020 who seek to downplay or denigrate his presidency are fools. 0.98
00:13:07.400 He rebuilt confidence in America. 0.99
00:13:10.320 He rebuilt our military strength.
00:13:13.280 And it was Ronald Reagan who ultimately put in the policies
00:13:17.580 which brought down the Iron Curtain
00:13:19.960 and ended the brutal rule of the Soviet regime forever.
00:13:26.360 I'm Roger Stone.
00:13:27.480 You're in the Stone Zone.
00:13:28.700 Whatever you do, don't touch that dial because we'll be right back.
00:13:33.080 The Stone Zone.
00:13:35.060 Entertaining and informative.
00:13:37.220 On the Red Apple Podcast Network.
00:13:41.760 If you're looking to create, grow, and sustain your wealth,
00:13:45.540 download and subscribe to the Pain Points of Wealth podcast
00:13:48.560 at BeBullish.com
00:13:50.400 with Bob, Ryan, and Chris Payne.
00:13:52.840 It's your podcast for market insights, money tips, and real talk on the economy.
00:13:57.120 Download and subscribe at BeBullish.com
00:14:00.500 The Stone Zone.
00:14:04.540 Entertaining and informative.
00:14:06.720 On the Red Apple Podcast Network.
00:14:09.740 Welcome back into the Stone Zone.
00:14:12.460 If you didn't believe that America was in for radical change under Donald Trump,
00:14:16.560 well, here it is.
00:14:17.760 The Border Patrol agents did not release a single migrant into the United States last month.
00:14:23.160 A staggering drop after Biden's administration allowed 62,000 illegal alien border crossers
00:14:29.960 into the country in the month of May.
00:14:34.080 That's 62,000 in May alone.
00:14:37.120 Federal agents caught 8,725 migrants crossing illegally at our southern border last month.
00:14:43.520 That is a 93% decrease from May of 2024 when there were 117,905 people arrested crossing illegally.
00:14:56.620 The acting, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Pete Flores said that it is as a result of the
00:15:02.680 Trump administration's tough border policies.
00:15:05.660 Remember when Joe Biden told us that he was powerless to stop the flow of illegals into the country 1.00
00:15:11.320 because the Congress would not enact new laws?
00:15:14.640 Remember when Senator James Lankford from Oklahoma put together a so-called bipartisan
00:15:20.480 immigration bill that actually grandfathered 2 million illegals into the country?
00:15:27.100 And where most of the money appropriated the bill was for the processing of those illegals?
00:15:31.840 And they told us that we were against sealing the border because we were against this monstrosity
00:15:37.640 of a bill.
00:15:39.020 Well, Trump was right and Lankford was wrong.
00:15:43.040 One of the most monumental policy changes made by Trump has been the reversal of Biden's catch and
00:15:48.700 release, which results in millions of illegal aliens being allowed to cross into the country.
00:15:55.420 What is that number?
00:15:56.700 Is it 10 million?
00:15:57.880 Is it 20 million?
00:15:59.060 Some sources I trust tell me it may be as much as 30 million.
00:16:02.560 And that doesn't count the fentanyl or doesn't count the weapons.
00:16:06.860 It doesn't count the other contraband, not to mention the disease and other things they
00:16:12.140 brought with them.
00:16:13.360 Under the leadership of this administration, the Border Patrol has received historic support
00:16:19.280 from the administration, resulting in a 93% decrease in illegal crossings, according
00:16:24.400 to Director Flores.
00:16:25.820 Boarding numbers continue to trend downward to historic lows, reinforcing the sustained success
00:16:31.480 of President's efforts at our southern border.
00:16:35.860 Border patrol agents are nearing their gain of getting full operational control of the southern
00:16:40.240 border with the massive drop in illegal crossings.
00:16:43.920 Under the Biden administration, agents were pulled off the line.
00:16:47.280 They were all busy doing processing, detaining, transporting, and essentially babysitting those
00:16:52.440 who came here illegally.
00:16:53.580 It was unsecure and dangerous, but Biden insisted it had to be that way.
00:16:59.700 President Donald Trump has kept faith with the American people.
00:17:03.520 This has been his highest priority.
00:17:06.080 And now he goes about detaining the most dangerous, the most criminal of the illegals who are in 1.00
00:17:13.400 our country.
00:17:14.480 Courts have sought to act him through judicial tyranny, but the president continues to fight
00:17:19.000 to secure America.
00:17:20.640 You're listening to The Stone Zone.
00:17:22.120 We'll be right back with Troy Smith.
00:17:24.260 He is the editor and publisher of Slingshot.news.
00:17:27.760 He's going to talk to us about a stunning report that he has compiled that shows that millions
00:17:32.780 of dollars are being remitted out of the country with the American taxpayers getting nothing.
00:17:38.800 We'll be right back.
00:17:40.040 The Stone Zone.
00:17:42.700 Entertaining and informative.
00:17:44.840 On the Red Apple Podcast Network.
00:17:51.000 The Stone Zone.
00:17:53.280 Entertaining and informative.
00:17:55.420 On the Red Apple Podcast Network.
00:17:57.760 Welcome back into The Stone Zone on the Red Apple Audio Networks.
00:18:03.400 We talk politics, news, history, style, fashion, food, you name it.
00:18:09.760 And joining me now is Troy Smith.
00:18:12.240 He is a media entrepreneur.
00:18:14.280 He's the editor and publisher of Slingshot News.
00:18:17.160 He has written an extraordinary new report regarding the issue of remittances.
00:18:24.880 Troy Smith, welcome to The Stone Zone.
00:18:28.120 Roger, it's always an honor to join you.
00:18:30.340 Congratulations on your great success here on WABC.
00:18:33.300 The shows can't miss.
00:18:34.240 Really the best in the business.
00:18:35.460 All right.
00:18:35.760 Many, many thanks, Troy.
00:18:36.780 So you've uncovered that IRS records that there's a minimum of $150 billion transferred
00:18:45.700 outside of the United States each year through remittances or payments sent by immigrants in the United States to people,
00:18:56.340 mostly relatives, but Elroves and others outside the United States.
00:19:00.640 But you say that number is actually much higher.
00:19:03.860 What can you tell us?
00:19:06.180 Well, Roger, this is an issue that I think the American people are probably going to be astounded to learn about.
00:19:11.580 There is a total, Roger, of $300 billion that flows out of our economy here in the United States every single year through remittances.
00:19:21.500 And people probably wonder why they see these money order stations and businesses pop up all over the country.
00:19:28.040 Well, it's a $300 billion industry.
00:19:31.000 And just so people understand that level of money, we're talking about $65 billion, Roger, being the total amount that the U.S. actually issues in foreign aid,
00:19:41.560 meaning that the amount of money that is sent out of this country each year in remittances more than triples the amount of foreign aid that the government hands out each year.
00:19:50.980 So we're not talking about a small figure.
00:19:53.640 And this is money that's being sent outside of the United States at a 0% tax rate.
00:20:00.040 Really unbelievable, Roger, that we don't tax this money being sent out at all.
00:20:05.560 Now, you mentioned $150 billion, $300 billion.
00:20:08.340 It boils down to this.
00:20:09.500 There's about $150 billion in remittances or money sent outside the country that we can track,
00:20:15.980 that the IRS is supposedly, although we're told the tracking is very poor and that these transfers are really rarely audited by the IRS,
00:20:25.340 we're told that $150 billion of it is accounted for and that at least 100% of that total is remitted each year without being tracked.
00:20:35.060 So $150 billion of this, Roger, is completely untracked.
00:20:37.820 The $150 billion is totaling $300 billion, leaving our shores with zero to show for the American people.
00:20:44.780 I see that many countries, including Mexico, create actually a significant amount of their own GDP through these monies transferred from the United States.
00:20:54.960 What percentage of Mexico's gross domestic product is purely through these remittances from the United States?
00:21:01.680 Well, Roger, a large percentage of the remittances that are sent from the United States end up in Mexico to the tune in 2023 of $63 to $67 billion.
00:21:14.240 That's 4% to 5% of their entire GDP there.
00:21:19.160 And you'll be interested to find, Roger, you go to many third world countries, whether it's Jamaica or other countries around the world,
00:21:27.860 you'll find that large percentage of their economies are made up of people in the United States sending money back, again, at 0% tax.
00:21:36.660 Considering that half of it is completely unaccounted for, Roger, you can see why people like the Mexican president are stepping up and saying it would be immoral to tax remittances
00:21:46.860 because these countries are really making bank off of the people of the United States and our economy in an under-the-table foreign aid program.
00:21:54.960 That's what I would call this.
00:21:55.980 It's really like an under-the-table foreign aid program to the tune of $65 billion a year to Mexico.
00:22:01.900 Just unbelievable.
00:22:03.240 Now, are there plans to tax remittances in the upcoming Big Beautiful Bill?
00:22:09.380 Well, Roger, there were plans to tax remittances pushed by the Trump administration in what I think was a fantastic move, a smart move.
00:22:18.780 But I think the figure was far too low.
00:22:21.120 The Trump administration in the original version of the Big Beautiful Bill argued that there should be a 5% tax on remittances.
00:22:30.640 Now, I'm told that the GOP Senate has objected to this, and they have instead suggested a 3.5%, and that's the current figure that sits in the Big Beautiful Bill.
00:22:40.620 But there is speculation, Roger, that it will be eliminated completely and that we will have a 0% tax on remittances stayed by rhino congressmen and people in the Senate that really don't stand for their own voters. 0.94
00:22:56.060 You know, this is a betrayal of these senators, and I think, Roger, we have to highlight many of them are very wealthy individuals.
00:23:02.580 $10 to $20 billion of the total $300 billion, Roger, ended up in tax havens like Switzerland and the Cayman Islands, places where wealthy individuals have been able to send out unlimited amounts of money at 0% tax.
00:23:18.500 I think that's playing a role here in why these people don't want to tax remittances.
00:23:22.020 That is an interesting aspect of it.
00:23:24.640 So this is not just immigrants in this country, say, working as a domestic or a gardener, sending money to their relatives back in their country of origin.
00:23:34.960 This is actually being used to move large amounts of money to avoid taxation.
00:23:41.220 Absolutely.
00:23:41.740 And I think that when we look at the – you have to ask, why would people within the Senate, within the House, within, say, even the White House, why would they want to lessen the amount of taxation?
00:23:55.680 We researched this for our piece, Roger.
00:23:57.360 The average American pays 33% of their annual earnings in taxes.
00:24:02.580 So can you explain to me why, when we're talking about taxes on money that's sent out of our economy, this is money that's earned here in American jobs and then taken and sent directly out of our economy to the benefit of other countries, and we're not saying that that's immoral or that's wrong.
00:24:19.900 We're saying it's wrong that we don't tax it at all.
00:24:23.000 And I think it's only fair that we should tax these kind of remittances exactly like how we tax the American people.
00:24:29.880 And there's arguments who say, oh, well, it's a double tax.
00:24:33.000 Well, I just told you that half of it is unaccounted for, $150 billion worth.
00:24:38.180 So no.
00:24:38.940 And not only that, but there's no IRS auditing of this.
00:24:41.480 We talked about this with several people, and the audits on remittances are at best poor.
00:24:47.900 I think we need to double down on monitoring the money that's being sent out, because who knows?
00:24:52.760 It could be even higher than $300 billion.
00:24:54.660 And we need to get serious about taxing and taxing highly, because it's my theory, Roger, that I don't think you would really have to have mass deportations if you ended the incentive for these people to come here, take money from our economy, and send it back home. 0.97
00:25:11.080 If you end that, I think you really end the incentive for immigration on whole without having to do a single thing other than change your policy.
00:25:17.560 You certainly would remove some of the incentive.
00:25:20.680 Look, I think there's a huge amount of disinformation regarding the Big Beautiful Bill.
00:25:25.620 The most important thing for people to understand is that if the bill is not passed, the result will be a 68% across-the-board federal income tax increase on all Americans.
00:25:37.480 No, not just the wealthy, but on all Americans.
00:25:40.320 The Trump tax cuts of his first term, which are being extended in the Big Beautiful Bill beginning in January, are the largest tax cuts in American history.
00:25:51.580 And leftists like Robert Reich, who was the secretary, I think he was the secretary of commerce in the Clinton administration.
00:26:00.640 I went to high school with him.
00:26:01.920 He was wrong then.
00:26:02.940 He's wrong today.
00:26:03.680 They continue to falsely insist that our deficits and our inflation is caused by tax reduction.
00:26:12.060 Yet the lesson of history is the exact opposite.
00:26:14.720 Every president, whether it is Donald Trump in his first term, whether it is Ronald Reagan, whether it was John F. Kennedy, who did an across-the-board federal income tax cut, experienced a spike in federal revenues caused by the increase in economic activity.
00:26:32.800 Obviously, our inflation and our $37 trillion deficit is caused by spending too much, not by taxing working Americans too little.
00:26:45.980 It is one of the great fallacies continued to be pushed by the far left.
00:26:51.100 Now, when you add to it the fact that the Big Beautiful Bill also does away with the tax on tips, which is a piece of policy genius thought up by Donald Trump himself after talking to a group of cocktail waitresses in Las Vegas when he was campaigning in the silver state.
00:27:08.920 It also does away with the tax on Social Security, provides a tax credit for those who buy a car or a truck that was made in America.
00:27:21.420 There's much good in the Big Beautiful Bill.
00:27:24.900 There's a few things in there I don't like.
00:27:26.760 I don't like this portion that says that the states cannot regulate artificial intelligence for 10 years.
00:27:34.080 I'd like to see that disappear in the Senate version of the bill or in conference if it passes both houses.
00:27:42.420 I think AI is extraordinarily dangerous.
00:27:45.620 You can go on True Social right now or X or even Instagram, Facebook, you'll see really incredible videos of me saying things that I never actually said.
00:27:59.220 You can see videos of Joe Biden and Barack Obama and Donald Trump saying things that they never actually said.
00:28:07.680 And without sophisticated AI detection software to the average person, they would actually believe what they see.
00:28:18.160 So I think there does need to be some regulation of artificial intelligence.
00:28:22.840 Troy, what do you think?
00:28:25.100 Well, Roger, artificial intelligence is quickly becoming the issue of our time.
00:28:29.140 And the issue is going to be that we're going to have a lot of jobs here that are going to be eliminated simply because they're going to be automated by AI.
00:28:38.280 And I think we have to make the decision as a society, do we prefer the comfort, the human experience over the advancement of, say, technology that we think might be detrimental to our success?
00:28:51.180 We have to be able to adapt these technologies to work for humankind and not against it.
00:28:57.920 I think that has a lot to do with the people in control of it.
00:29:01.260 People in big tech, Roger, they took your voice away.
00:29:03.940 They've taken a lot of people's voices away.
00:29:05.700 And I just don't happen to believe that a lot of them are suddenly good guys because they contributed to a certain political campaign or another.
00:29:13.740 I think that these people are malicious in a lot of ways.
00:29:16.520 And there has to be interference from the government as far as artificial intelligence is concerned because the technology is so dangerous and poises such a threat to our way of life.
00:29:27.600 It couldn't destroy the United States if not handled correctly.
00:29:30.780 I think there has to be intervention.
00:29:32.680 There has to be regulation.
00:29:34.380 They want to tell you you can't have a wood-burning stove.
00:29:37.320 Well, how about you stop the guys that are creating the doomsday machine that is AI?
00:29:41.540 Yeah, no, I could not agree more.
00:29:42.980 Back during the New Hampshire primary, somebody created an audio that was used in a robocall of Joe Biden urging people not to vote.
00:29:53.280 And to the untrained ear, you would have sworn it was really Joe, but it wasn't Joe at all.
00:29:59.160 It's a perfect example of the extreme dangers.
00:30:02.440 And what you say is true.
00:30:05.340 Every single day, somebody on X or on True Social points out to me yet another Roger Stone who pops up on those sites, who designs their page to look exactly like mine.
00:30:20.440 But it is not me.
00:30:22.720 And as I've said on the show, I was in a restaurant one night and a guy came up to me and said,
00:30:28.140 Hey, Stone, where's that crypto I bought from you on Facebook?
00:30:32.280 I said, pardon me?
00:30:33.320 He said, that crypto I paid you for.
00:30:34.740 I never got the crypto.
00:30:36.000 I said, friend, I'm not only not only not on Facebook, but I don't sell crypto.
00:30:40.980 So I have no idea what you're talking about.
00:30:43.020 And he was furious.
00:30:44.960 He flipped through his phone.
00:30:45.980 He showed me the messages between himself and somebody posing as Roger Stone on Facebook.
00:30:52.800 And I told him, look, you're out of luck, my friend.
00:30:55.100 I didn't sell you anything and I don't owe you anything.
00:30:58.140 When my lawyers contact Facebook or Meta, when they contact even X or Instagram, they're very slow to respond.
00:31:07.320 And then even when they do order the offenders to take down the faux Roger Stones, they pop up three days later with a slightly different iteration on my name.
00:31:18.400 So instead of being Roger J. Stone Jr., which is what I am on X, I'm now suddenly Roger J.J. Stone Jr., to give you an example.
00:31:27.120 So always be aware, look for the validated profile if you're following me on social media.
00:31:35.540 I think social media is a great thing, but it cannot substitute for real life.
00:31:42.260 It cannot substitute for spending time outdoors, spending time with your family, reading a book.
00:31:48.280 The human experience.
00:31:50.280 I think some people go into the world of social media and the Internet and they just never come out the other side.
00:31:58.280 They begin to believe it is real life in itself.
00:32:01.900 It is it is a great danger.
00:32:04.840 Talked about it yesterday on the show with Boone Cutler.
00:32:07.540 If you're just tuning in, we're talking to Troy Smith, the editor and publisher at Slingshot News.
00:32:13.900 I think you find them at slingshotnews.com.
00:32:17.840 We'll be back.
00:32:18.880 I want to get your take on the situation in Iran.
00:32:22.400 I do not believe that the president's legacy will be destroyed or that his governing coalition will be disrupted.
00:32:28.820 As long as America does not get into a prolonged quagmire like we did in Afghanistan.
00:32:35.820 And I also recognize the inherent evil and the actual intentions of the Iranian mullahs who chant death to America, death to Israel. 0.99
00:32:46.380 You're in the Stone Zone.
00:32:47.680 I'm Roger Stone.
00:32:48.600 We're talking to Troy Smith.
00:32:49.840 Whatever you do, please don't touch that dial because we'll be right back with more after these commercial messages.
00:32:57.840 The Stone Zone, entertaining and informative on the Red Apple Podcast Network.
00:33:06.740 At Desjardins, we speak business.
00:33:09.700 We speak startup funding and comprehensive game plans.
00:33:12.840 We've mastered made to measure growth and expansion advice.
00:33:15.560 And we can talk your ear off about transferring your business when the time comes.
00:33:20.120 Because at Desjardins Business, we speak the same language you do, business.
00:33:24.580 So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us and contact Desjardins today.
00:33:31.420 We'd love to talk business.
00:33:37.940 The Stone Zone.
00:33:39.880 Entertaining and informative.
00:33:42.020 On the Red Apple Podcast Network.
00:33:44.880 Welcome back.
00:33:46.120 We're in the Stone Zone.
00:33:47.280 We're talking to Troy Smith, a media entrepreneur.
00:33:50.780 He is the editor and publisher of Slingshot News.
00:33:55.560 And we just talked about his stunning report that indicates that almost $300 billion is shipped out of the country by immigrants living here to other countries, to individuals and institutions in other countries.
00:34:11.860 Yet, there's no benefit to the American people.
00:34:15.660 It's a stunning report.
00:34:17.320 Troy, where can people go see this report?
00:34:20.480 I want people to go to slingshot.news.
00:34:23.420 And when this airs, we'll have that right on the front page where everybody can check.
00:34:26.760 And it's free to share the links on any kind of social media or send to your friends, family, whoever.
00:34:31.300 We need to get the word out about this.
00:34:32.800 It's a hell of a story.
00:34:34.040 It is a stunning story.
00:34:36.220 We appreciate your breaking it here in the Stone Zone.
00:34:40.740 So the real question, we've only got about two and a half minutes, but the real question on the table, of course, is what will President Trump decide?
00:34:48.220 I've already said that I will support his decision regardless of what it is.
00:34:52.440 He has more information than I do.
00:34:54.480 I think that he ran as a peace candidate.
00:34:56.820 I think it is highly unlikely that he will mire America down in a prolonged foreign war, as we experienced in Afghanistan.
00:35:05.320 But he will always act to protect the interests of the United States as he perceives them.
00:35:11.140 And there can be no doubt about the malign intentions of the Iranian regime. 0.97
00:35:17.700 It's nice to say you're going to negotiate to keep nuclear power for the purposes of generating electricity.
00:35:24.300 But I think we both realize they have every intention of developing a bomb.
00:35:28.860 And whether they get it tomorrow or two years from now, we know who their target is.
00:35:34.280 At the same time, the Iranians are a client state of China.
00:35:39.900 China gets a huge amount of their oil from Iran.
00:35:43.640 They don't have oil production capabilities of their own.
00:35:47.160 I think it would be naive to think that the Chinese will do nothing if we end up attacking their client state. 0.95
00:35:56.000 And then, as you pointed out to me this morning, for some reason, Israel allows the Chinese to operate their largest port.
00:36:05.080 How or why could that be?
00:36:07.900 Well, Roger, it's just dumbfounding.
00:36:10.800 I mean, China has dumped billions of dollars into the Iranian economy.
00:36:14.740 They're the exact reason that missiles are flying.
00:36:17.520 If you want to know who's funding the missiles flying into Israel right now, it's the Chinese. 0.56
00:36:21.980 I mean, that's cut, plain, dry.
00:36:23.980 It's oil money that the Iranians have gotten from the Chinese. 0.80
00:36:27.780 And yet, when you look at Israel, there is China all over the place. 0.65
00:36:32.400 They operate their largest port.
00:36:33.940 And not only that, Roger, just this year, in March, it was announced that the Chinese are expanding their operations in Haifa.
00:36:39.880 And the Israelis have allowed that. 0.98
00:36:41.760 So I think from the United States perspective, in order for I and millions of other Americans to be supportive of some kind of support for Israel,
00:36:51.100 I think we need to see the Israelis take legitimate action to end their allegiance with the Chinese, 0.94
00:36:57.300 the people funding the missiles flying into their country.
00:37:00.260 And that would be a much more serious argument that I think a lot more people would listen to.
00:37:04.140 Yeah, I still don't believe some of the more draconian voices like Steve Bannon and others who say that it will be the end of the Trump presidency,
00:37:12.720 it will be the end of his legacy.
00:37:14.900 I think that would be true if he got us mired down in a long-term foreign war where our interests are not clear.
00:37:23.260 Our interests are abundantly clear here.
00:37:27.060 And the president is way too smart for that.
00:37:30.100 I'm going to wait for the president.
00:37:31.880 The signals are mixed.
00:37:33.660 You read many, many, many things on social media.
00:37:37.740 But until the president announces what he's going to do, I stand by the president.
00:37:42.940 I will support whatever decision he makes.
00:37:45.560 After all, I owe my life to him.
00:37:48.100 And I trust him.
00:37:49.420 He has information that neither you nor I have, Troy, or the American people.
00:37:55.120 I was encouraged to hear that he was going to do a televised address.
00:37:58.740 But now I see that they have not scheduled a specific time for that.
00:38:03.820 But when he does, when he makes his decision, I have every confidence that he will go before the American people and explain exactly why we are doing what we're doing.
00:38:14.440 He said 15 times during the campaign and multiple times since he was elected president that Iran cannot be and will not be allowed to have a nuclear bomb.
00:38:26.420 Donald Trump is a man who believes, says what he means and means what he says.
00:38:30.960 Thanks for joining us today in the Stone Zone.
00:38:33.780 Until tomorrow, God bless you and Godspeed.