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Guardians of the Republic: Israel, Cuba and Trump's Decisions · Palafox Media Network

• Jonathan Cole: Happy Tuesday everyone. Welcome back to Guardians of the Republic. It's another week and we're going to break down what's transpired since the last time we talked about what transpired. So with me as always is Tony Hughes. How are you tonight, Tony? Tony Hughes: I'm great Jonathan, good to see you. Jonathan Cole: You too. Maybe not quite as momentous as the events we talked about last week, but still a lot of ongoing things. Tony Hughes: Yeah, always. We're in the same level of hell we were in last Tuesday or last Thursday. So we haven't descended any further, I don't think, but I don't think we've really climbed out yet either. So. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Yeah. No, no, it's actually, we're kind of back into wallowing in the same trap we were in the early sixties. So, actually, that was a statement Trump made this today that he's not afraid of a Vietnam style ground war. what part of failure did you not get out of that Tony Hughes: What part of 50,000 Americans killed did you not get out of that? Well, of course now, he did get five deferments from having to go to Vietnam, so it wasn't that big of a deal to him. my leg! no, it's the right leg. ⁓ my other leg! ⁓ Jonathan Cole: Thank Yep. Bunspurs. Yep. That's kind of interesting. Yeah. So, of course they established right away that Baron's not eligible because he's too tall. ⁓ Tony Hughes: Too tall, that's right, he's too tall. Too tall. You know, I happen to think about the, and I haven't gone back and double checked this, but what was the name of the, there was a famous Dallas Cowboy player who went to the Air Force Academy. And this is gonna be back probably in the 90s, 80s or 90s. Anyway, he was tall. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. You Tony Hughes: he was almost, was technically too tall to become a pilot, but because he was famous and I the Force let him defer his service for, I can't remember the details ⁓ and if you said name I would know it immediately, but I just don't recall it right now. The reason I know is because I have a good friend who, ⁓ retired as a colonel from the Air Force and he was this guy's roommate at the academy. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Tony Hughes: And he was also tall, also played football. They both played football at the academy. That's how they were, that's why they were roommates. But he was so, he was so renowned and well known that the Air Force granted him a waiver to get into a cockpit because he wanted to be a pilot. And they decided it not look good if they just had him sitting as a famous football star sitting behind a radar screen or something like that. Jonathan Cole: Interesting. I'll have to look that in. Tony Hughes: that are pumping gas in airplanes. So they waived his height requirement so he could be a pilot. So course, know, Baron hasn't even tried to join and Baron never would join. ⁓ all know that. ⁓ None of the other sons joined either. And I didn't serve either. So I really have nothing ⁓ complain about there, but. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. No. Well, the. ⁓ Well, it's not that it's just you're talking about drafting people, it's a different story. ⁓ know, we've all volunteer military since 73, 74, you ⁓ know, so, but now he's talking about pulling them up. But actually the ultimate example was David Robinson, the basketball player. was seven foot ⁓ and to be on submarines, which, you know, they're not the little tin cans they were during World War II, but. Tony Hughes: Yeah. Yeah. Yep, that's right, the lady. The lady. Jonathan Cole: which I've busted my head and knees touring in Alabama and other locations. But still served his hitch in the Navy ⁓ seven foot. yeah, all the usual, but it's just... Tony Hughes: Hahaha Yep. Yep, yep. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: I mean, why can't it be in the space force? They're not really shooting people up in the capsules. And you're not carrying a gun in the space force, because even the security forces at the space force bases are manned by Air Force personnel. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Yeah, I'm not sure, but you know, but it just seems that. Tony Hughes: Rules for thee, not for me. Jonathan Cole: Exactly. But it just seems now that he know what's going on. This didn't turn out like he thought and he doesn't know how to end the game, you know, so. ⁓ Tony Hughes: Well, look at this issue he's having with trying to form a coalition the shooting started. At least in my lifetime, I'm not aware, and even in studying history, ⁓ even back to the Civil War, the South trying to build allies. Jonathan Cole: Thank Tony Hughes: in Europe were some of their major trading partners so they could get weapons to fight against the Union because they recognized that they did not have an industrial base to build cannons and muskets and mini balls and the things that you have to have to fight a war. So even back in the 1850s, the was to build alliances with other countries to assist them when they went to war. Certainly with Jonathan Cole: All right. Tony Hughes: You know, World War I and World War II, had a lot of allies that we fought with. The Korean War was technically the United Nations. You know, you think about Vietnam was a one-off where we just sort of went in on our own, but. Jonathan Cole: Thank Actually, we were engaged with CETO during Vietnam Australia, New Zealand and South Korea sent troops ⁓ And then ⁓ Tony Hughes: Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that's true. That's true. But then certainly Gulf War I, Gulf War II, there were alliances and coalitions and of course congressional approval before we went in there. Jonathan Cole: Right. Well, and actually in its long history, Gulf War II was the first NATO military action ever, but it was, you know, they blew up, they blew up both towers and the Pentagon. so we had been attacked. Tony Hughes: Yep, that's right, that's right, that's right. Yep. We claim what is Article 5. We claim Article 5 and NATO and they sent troops. Jonathan Cole: Yep. And everybody was in agreement, you know, about the only exception. Tony Hughes: And they fought and they fought and they fought and died. Trump has completely forgotten about all that as well. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. went into combat the first time since 1945 in Afghanistan. ⁓ Now, they back the Iraq ⁓ maneuver, that's because, you know, France and both like, we don't see any evidence of weapons of mass destruction. If you find someone, let us know, but we're not helping, you know? And so, of course, and Britain just does whatever we ask usually. Tony Hughes: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Jonathan Cole: But, yeah, just, ⁓ yeah, Tony Hughes: Not this time though. think that just shows how fractured has made our allies, ⁓ our strongest allies, how he's fractured these relationships to where, I mean, you can't get great Britain to go along with you. That's pretty That's pretty sad. ⁓ Jonathan Cole: He's something's wrong. You know, it's, you know, well, I mean, but, it goes back to, as talk about constantly people that worship Trump ramifications, every action an equal and opposite reaction. Well, you just threatened Norway and Denmark about Greenland and possibly season it. You know, I've got the most powerful military. just could take it. And now you're begging for their help. Where is that covered in the art of the deal? Tony Hughes: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, if we land, well, The Art of the Deal, did you ever read it? Did you ever read the book? Okay. I will give you the Cliff Note one probably one sentence Cliff Note version of Art of the Deal. Jonathan Cole: No, but Trump hasn't either. yeah. Tony Hughes: Are the deal is all about getting advantage over the other party working until ⁓ they mean, that, and, and that's why that's the, that's the only negotiating tactic that Trump knows ⁓ it's brute And as long he's got the strength, the United States government to go in the United States of America to go to back him. Then, okay, well that's, that's a great negotiating skill. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: I just pulverize you into submission, but there's no really negotiation there. mean, you wind up making more enemies than you do friends. In fact, you turn friends into enemies as we have seen with the tariffs and whatnot. now this, ⁓ know, yeah, now we need your help. And you don't, if you don't help us, Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Yeah. But now we need your help and forget everything I said before. Tony Hughes: We're gonna remember, we've got long memories. So it's again, it's the threat. it's not gonna get anywhere. I don't another country is going to put their troops, their equipment, their treasure jeopardy over... Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: a war of choice again by one man. this is, I mean, think this is this. Jonathan Cole: We do have one ally, Israel, really, I think, kind of started this. ⁓ Tony Hughes: You know, and you know, that's like, and I'll probably get in trouble for saying this. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: to the extent that some of my friends who know me watch this podcast. you know, there's really no place in scripture where Christ told Gentile Christians, let the Jewish nation do whatever they want to do. I mean, there's just nothing scriptural about that. Yes, in the Old Testament. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Tony Hughes: And I don't want to get into too deep into the theological background, but okay, the children of Israel were God's chosen people. But that also didn't mean they all went to heaven. That didn't mean that they were not punished for disobedience. mean, the Old Testament is just one constant of obedience, disobedience, punishment, repentance, obedience, disobedience, punishment. I mean, it's just these iterations took place over centuries. there was, and God punished. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: to the extent that the children of Israel were being obedient to him, he certainly punished enemies with military victories and with conquest of land and et cetera, et But when Christ came to earth, Christ was the fulfillment of all that law. He did not come to change the law, he came to fulfill the law, but that law became a different, it became a different thing after that. ⁓ Jonathan Cole: Mm-hmm. Right. Well, as he said, I'm here to hear a Passover, I'm starting a new covenant with you. I was taught, when Christ died, there was an earthquake and the curtain into the most holy compartment of the temple was ripped into ⁓ and the fact that Tony Hughes: Exactly. Ripped in half, that's right. Jonathan Cole: They'd been lying to them forever and the Ark of Covenant was not in there, hadn't been since 607, whenever the Babylonians took it, you know. But the point was at that point, yes, Jesus fulfilled the covenant. The physical descendants of Abraham were no longer God's chosen people. And when you look at the Revelation prophecies talking about a new Jerusalem, it says it comes down from heaven, not ⁓ you know. Tony Hughes: Sure. Jonathan Cole: it. Tony Hughes: And that is where the Ark of the Covenant is, I believe. It is in heaven because I saw the Jerusalem, I saw the Ark. And that's in Revelation. Jonathan Cole: it Yeah. So, so, so yeah, so, always baffled me for forever in this country. We hate on a racial level, we hate Jews, but on a spiritual level, we feel like we, we to cater to them. You know, Tony Hughes: Well, know, think, you know, and I'll just say as a child of the 60s because I was born in 1959, so I was born, you know, you know. Jonathan Cole: Hmm. Tony Hughes: not a long time after World War II, but certainly after World War II, after Israel became a nation, after they were able to, and was like the reward. This is like, here's what gonna do to you, ⁓ do for because we allowed, we as the world allowed the Holocaust to take place. We're going to give you back your promised land, your biblical promised land to you, and ⁓ let and been successful as a nation. Jonathan Cole: Mm-hmm. Tony Hughes: They have certainly fought off all the Arabs because it is a very deep rooted feud that goes back literally hundreds of centuries probably always will. ⁓ And I don't know that, and while on one hand I can see that we should let, Jonathan Cole: you Thank Yep. Tony Hughes: mean Israel is a democracy and as the leader of the free world we should be that banner carrier for democracies. in the entire world. saw what happened with Germany. We saw what happened with the Soviet Union. should be there at the forefront to help democracies protect their democracy. That's why I was always personally in of our involvement with Ukraine, because Ukraine is a democracy. Is it a perfect democracy? ⁓ Hey, we're not a perfect democracy. As say, democracy is the ⁓ worst of government except for all the others. ⁓ Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Yeah. Tony Hughes: So protecting Israel to me is more of a protecting democracy, not so much because they're the protected children of God, because these protected children of God rejected the Savior. I mean, they are... They may be Jewish by race, but most of them are still Jewish by faith, which means they have rejected God's Son. They are not Christians. They're still Jews of the Jewish faith. So, so. Jonathan Cole: Right. Well, a lot of southerners who lynched them would call them Christ killers. Tony Hughes: Well, know, that. I that is what I mean, that certainly you go back and look at what Hitler's did as far as trying to exterminate them. That was kind of part of his his rationale as well. Well, well, they murdered Christ. So therefore, but you know, that's but that's not biblical either because, you know, vengeance is not ours. Vengeance is God's. There will be a judgment for each one of us at some point in time in our life in future. And we to stand before him and stand upon whether we've accepted his plan or not. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Yeah. Right. Tony Hughes: do believe that. do believe there's a hell. I believe there's punishment. That's where Satan's gonna get cast one day. And I'm gonna start getting into an evangelical speech here, ⁓ but I'm saying ⁓ that I not that it is incumbent upon us to do whatever bids of ⁓ Now, Jonathan Cole: ⁓ Right. Tony Hughes: Iran should not ever have a nuclear weapon. I do believe that if Iran ever got a nuclear weapon, the first one's gonna go into Tel Aviv. The first one's gonna go into Jerusalem. Not where temple mound is, where the Muslim temple is, they're gonna blow up, they would definitely have blown up Israel. But to give Israel the munitions and the technology and the intelligence for them to go fight that war, Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: I'm all about it. Just like we did when they fought against Egypt in the war in 1967 and they fought Egypt again. But now they're kind of buddies with Egypt and it seems like a lot of them, guess just money has kind of smoothed over lot of the things with them being rich. It's like, well, let's don't ruin a good thing here except for the Iran's and the Saddam Hussein's and that group. Jonathan Cole: Mm-hmm. Yeah. out of here. one of the few things Jimmy Carter did right. Tony Hughes: Yeah, but you don't go in there and say, well, we're protecting Israel because they're protected nation of God. That is just total, there's just nothing scriptural about that from Christ forward because that a new covenant. And those Jews, the extent that they maintain whatever faith they have, Jonathan Cole: Right. Hmm Tony Hughes: You know, they've got to answer to God for themselves. That's not for me to judge, but it's certainly not for our nation to another nation simply of their religious beliefs. ⁓ That's just wrong. That's just wrong. Jonathan Cole: Right. Exactly. My feelings have always kind of been the same. yes, Israel is our most reliable ally in the Middle East. ⁓ are democracy, but it doesn't mean we write a blank check. You know, they've gotten away with a lot of things that are questionable. ⁓ still tell people, I still believe Gaza was a land grab. Instead bulldozers, let's just blow up all the buildings and we'll build luxury condos. ⁓ Tony Hughes: No, exactly. Yep. ⁓ yeah. Jonathan Cole: what it looks like to me. Yeah. ⁓ Tony Hughes: Yeah. Well, you heard Trump even say that, you know, going to, we're going to develop it. It's a real estate deal for me now. Jonathan Cole: Yep, exactly. So he's already planning for out office, but, know, the, so there's just this whole, every, we see looks like Trump jumped into this at the behest, you know, the Israelis. And, this well, there was an imminent threat. It's in the same little box as the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. you know. Tony Hughes: Well, know, even worse than that though, Jonathan, because he's already gone on record saying, I had a feeling. You know, I had a feeling they were going to attack us first. So preempted their attack on us first. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Right. Tony Hughes: And I still, I don't believe he still ever completely the way why the nuclear program was completely obliterated back in June or whenever they did the strike and eight months later, you know, well, we've got to stop them. Now we've ⁓ to destroy the entire country. ⁓ mean... Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Well, again, took office, not this time, but the first time there was a treaty in place and he just ripped it up just because it had Obama's name on it. You know, all we had to do was enforce it, ⁓ know, but now I'm going to rip it up and I'm going to have a bigger treaty with my name on it. And after seven, six years, maybe he hasn't come close to negotiating one. So. Tony Hughes: Yeah. Yep. No, he's not interested negotiating anything. He is only, because his only negotiating skill is brute ⁓ It's blunt And to the that can bring his emperor-like authority ⁓ as United States president bear on... ⁓ Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Yeah. you Yeah. Tony Hughes: whoever it is he's trying to negotiate with. know, the bully the schoolyard is always going to collect the kids lunches. ⁓ mean, until somebody stops the bully or a bigger bully. But there's when the school bully comes in and says, I want your lunch. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: There's a negotiation there and all that that's all Trump's doing. That's his only, and it's what is in the art of the deal. ⁓ just, mean, mean, it's been a long time since I read it, but I remember reading it, gosh, back when I was probably in college. And I'm like, this the great negotiation, know, gain it advantage milk it until you can't milk it any further. And then you to Jonathan Cole: No. Yeah. you Yeah. Tony Hughes: how he handles other countries in the world like China, I do think he's talked several times on the terror issues with China, with Putin and Russia, because I can't see that anything gone in favor as far as Russia's concerned. I mean, in fact, Russia is making out like a fricking bandit right now. ⁓ I mean, Jonathan Cole: Definitely. Well, actually, it's all going in the rest of this favor because... Exactly. Tony Hughes: the oil that they couldn't sell, which was in place before Trump got in there, now they can sell it, and ⁓ yeah, instead of getting $60 a barrel, they're getting $100 a barrel for it. And that money's going right against the war against Ukraine. So. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. at inflated prices. Exactly. But then the Russians turn around and give the Iranians intel on what we're doing. And there's no outrage, there's no don't do that, or we're going to... Tony Hughes: Yeah, yeah. No, Jonathan, we asked them about that and they told us they weren't doing that. We take them at their word. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Yeah, well, while we're talking about Russia, you know, I knew Iran and Venezuela wasn't enough. So now Trump's threatening Cuba. Well, today the Russians says don't do that. So yeah, yeah, they're like. ⁓ Tony Hughes: ⁓ really? I hadn't heard that yet. Yeah, well that'll stop that then. Jonathan Cole: because obviously they were a Soviet satellite and the Soviet Union went away, but they're still trade partners and it's actually their largest source of sugar and some other agricultural products. And it's also an outlet for whatever durable goods Russians make. I never figured that part out because I always tell people why China and not Russia? like, well, Russia's three biggest exports. our porn mail order brides and vodka. Where do we have a beneficial trade agreement with people like that? But no, they're basically was saying hands off Cuba. So nothing's changed in 70 years now on that issue. Tony Hughes: Hmm. You know, I have to say about Cuba and I have followed Cuba a little bit mostly because of my banking career in Florida and not so much, we certainly didn't do any business with Cuba, but Cuba's obviously 80 miles from Key West, so. And guy who was the head of the Florida Bankers Association is a CEO of our our trade association his were born in Cuba and so he certainly still very strong feelings about very negative feelings about Fidel Castro because of the ⁓ torture ⁓ the poor conditions that and the harsh rule that he imposed upon his people and and and obviously I had been Jonathan Cole: Right. Tony Hughes: shocked that ever since I mean I would have thought I would have thought Cuba would have fallen you know as soon as Fidel Castro got sick much when he died but they somehow found a way to keep themselves afloat all these years then even in Rouse the the brothers gone now so I'm not even sure he didn't runs Cuba anymore but ⁓ it's just Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Well... Tony Hughes: And we kind of vacillated going back, I think it was during Obama, actually kind of opened things up with Cuba, and then I think Trump shut them back down. Yeah, yeah, so. Jonathan Cole: because it was an Obama thing, we can't do that. Even when I watched the exhibition baseball game with the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban All-Star team, was excited about that possibility. have a guy I met years ago, he was part of a Christian mission, but he was also an orthopedic surgeon at the Andrews Institute and Rotary Club. He came in and did a slideshow, but once a year they would go to... Tony Hughes: Yeah. Jonathan Cole: Cuba part of a mission, ⁓ they would also, he would do for surgery that no one in Cuba could possibly do. ⁓ He even did Tommy John surgery on a Cuban baseball pitcher ⁓ extended his career. in Cuba, you get $50 a week playing baseball, ⁓ still that's a lot of money for Cuba. And so he was happy with that, but he just said Tony Hughes: Mm-hmm. Hmm. Yeah, yeah. Jonathan Cole: If we normalize relations with Cuba and try to make it the tourist mecca it was before Castro, he said it's impossible. The infrastructure not changed in that ⁓ period. said Halliburton would have to come in and completely rebuild the island before you consider tourism. think of all that money and ⁓ And else would topple that government quicker than Cuban people ⁓ Tony Hughes: Yeah. Jonathan Cole: a little prosperity. ⁓ So that was what Obama was trying do. Tony Hughes: Mm-hmm. Well, that was Obama's point. Let's show them a little bit what capitalism looks like and then they'll want that. But at the same time, which here's the thing I'm afraid of though, and that is that there's a lot of similarities between Cuba and Puerto Rico. And we have just... Jonathan Cole: Yeah, yeah, and then it would have fallen out. Tony Hughes: thoroughly abused Puerto, I mean, it's a Hispanic population. Spanish is the predominant language. a beautiful island, potential for great, I mean, there are some really, really nice resorts on Puerto Rico as there could be in Cuba. But you know, going to Puerto Rico is like going to a third world nation. I mean, it is definitely the stepchild of the United States. ⁓ Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Right. Well, I think the difference is Cuba an independent nation for me and still it still is. ⁓ Tony Hughes: I'm just saying that people that are there, to the extent they see what we do in Puerto Rico, it's like, if we become aligned with you, we'll a little slightly better off, but to extent that people are gonna come in ⁓ and take of us. The power grid Puerto Rico is horrible, the roads are terrible. ⁓ Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Right. ⁓ Also, I'm the infrastructure would have to be totally rebuilt, but that would be to their benefit as well. Now, my dad told me that, you know, his dad, passed away when I was four, ⁓ remembering, but he was a businessman in Orlando. And he said business trips were to Cuba. You know, in the fifties, he said that you could go to Miami and get a, a, seaplane to Havana for like $25. ⁓ Tony Hughes: Yeah. ⁓ yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Jonathan Cole: And then everything was cheaper in Havana, it was also, at least where Americans went, little more luxuriant. know, there were luxury hotels, Copacabana, and you could entertain business partners or potential clients on the cheap, but pretty well. ⁓ Tony Hughes: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And they're still driving those same 1950s automobiles over there too still. Jonathan Cole: It's 50 times longer than those limbs the Soviets gave them. Yeah. But, you know, it's like, if you want to get into nation building, why not do it on our doorstep? mean, there's benefits to, know, Cuba does have products we could use, especially cigars. Tony Hughes: Exactly. ⁓ yeah. Jonathan Cole: gets Cubans wherever I can find them, which is usually when I'm on a cruise ship in the Caribbean on another island. But they're still one the world's largest sugar producers. make all the same rum ⁓ that we see now at Ron Rico, except the old original factories are still there. instead of being, let's just face it, the Tony Hughes: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Jonathan Cole: The embargo has never worked. We never brought them to their knees. never broadcast her down. So do something different. ⁓ American investing in Cuba could be winner, but with the person charge now, it's not going to happen. ⁓ Tony Hughes: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jonathan Cole: Unless it benefited him, you know, nobody whispered it. Hey, we could build a Trump Tower in Havana. ⁓ I had this great idea. Let's go, you know, let's rebuild Cuba. Tony Hughes: Hahaha Well, you know, remember back when Obama was the president and they opened up and we started opening up some things to Cuba. And I remember Alex, was the guy who was head of the Florida Bankers Association, said that one of his dreams was that one day we would have the Florida Bankers annual conference at the brand new beachside Hilton Hotel in Havana. to say, Cuba's now rejoining the world. And it would be, mean, you think about the people that have taken the long way Jonathan Cole: Mm-hmm. Tony Hughes: around to get into Cuba just because it is kind that forbidden territory for Americans to travel to. And if could open it up and you had nice places to go, and especially the cruise ships started visiting and whatnot, that tourism would explode. ⁓ It would be Bahamas on steroids. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. And that would be. ⁓ ⁓ it would, the Bahamas, there's nothing we could compare it to really, because it is one of the largest islands and one of the largest populations in the Caribbean, so. Tony Hughes: Yeah. and we already have a military base there. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. So it's, I don't know. Like I said, you know, when you, when you're present as a petulant child and disrupts processes because he didn't it and he didn't get credit for it. This is what we end up with. Tony Hughes: Well, know, kind of on that vein to kind of bring it back into what we're dealing with with the war and what our country is going to be experiencing economically right now. You know, it's, I'm sorry, but for me, it is still just too much power for one man to control. Not only has he declared war, Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: Not only did he, course, the force of the Supreme Court has reversed all this, but he imposed these ridiculous tariff taxes on the American consumer, which disrupted world trade with everyone. And now because of this war, this excursion, as he calls it, into Iran with the strait being shut down, did you see the clip of Hexas saying, Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Tony Hughes: The strait is open for transit. It's just rain is shooting at the boats. That's the only problem. And course that took him 15 minutes to say that. But ⁓ it a total word salad. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: by a buffoon to make it sound like it's open. I guess in the sense that there's not, I don't know, barricade across it or something that you can't go across. But if you're getting a shot at, it's not open. And that's 20 % of the oil. You think about all the money that the oil companies in our country are making because what they were selling for 60, they're selling for 100 right now. Just boom, just like that. That is just, that's billions and billions of dollars coming out of our pocket. And just because the overall demand in the world has been shrunk 20 % because of this war. Who thought that? And I our military. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Tony Hughes: I know that our military told Trump, these are the risks. is an excellent chance, and of course, who knows if the reporting is correct. I think I saw the Washington Journal reported that... General Cain, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the chiefs had warned this would happen, but Trump's position was, we're gonna hit Iran so hard they will surrender, they will capitulate before they ever shut down the strait. And he said, how many times, have we ever gotten it right when we come to... Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: radicalized Islamic people. We don't understand them. They do not think like us. They don't think rationally like capitalists. They are driven by something else. And don't intend to offend any of my Muslim friends, but the Ayatollahs are radical Islamists. They murderers. They are torturers. They are bad people. Jonathan Cole: Mm-hmm. Tony Hughes: They don't think like us. Jonathan Cole: And the threat of death means nothing to them because that's their goal. Exactly. know, get all those blessings. Tony Hughes: And the threat, there's 72, 72 virgins is waiting for him if they, they martyred themselves. And that's all he's done is created a bunch of, he's created, they're just creating martyrs left and right right now. And. Jonathan Cole: Exactly. But the point of their martyrs is they want to take as many of our martyrs with them as possible. that's, you know, and it's, think after, ⁓ we didn't get into foreign wars, well, maybe the Barbary coast raids in the early 1800s our first ⁓ foreign But ⁓ we ⁓ always for the most part. Tony Hughes: Yeah, yeah. You Jonathan Cole: Maybe, know, World War II, maybe not so much, but we miscalculated in Korea. Tony Hughes: Well, stayed out of it until we were actually attacked. ⁓ even when we were attacked, we went to Europe before we to the Pacific ⁓ because ⁓ was perceived as a greater threat than Japan was at the time. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Yeah, but yeah, but there was an end game and we got there and then you got Korea or no, we fought for three years and we're right back where we started. Yeah, it still is technically. Yeah, well, Korea War is still really ⁓ effect. We've just had a ceasefire for all these years. Tony Hughes: Yeah. a political war, was a political war, we didn't, because we weren't prepared to take on China. Yeah, yeah, it's just a ceasefire, yeah. Jonathan Cole: And then Vietnam, sent, we had up to 500, 600,000 troops in that country at any given time, you know, cracking walnuts with sledgehammers, but there were too many walnuts and the American public got tired of it. You know, it's just never changed. Tony Hughes: Well, we had politicians picking military targets and we made the military fight with both hands tied behind their back. And even though they were being supported by China and Russia, fought limited war. And it's except for the 50,000 Americans that died in it. ⁓ Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Yeah, Tony Hughes: And I mean, we went into Afghanistan and we had to go get a sum of the law. No, there's any question about that. ⁓ Did we need to... Jonathan Cole: Yeah, I know. Tony Hughes: Regime change Afghanistan. I don't know that I mean we could have gone in and done our thing once we decide he wasn't there We could have left we could have left right then Yes, he might have come right back. I don't know. I don't know I know we were in Afghanistan way too long We left we left Afghanistan before the fight was still half done to go into Iraq Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: And that was, you know, at the time, like everybody else, you know, you're, you're looking at Saddam Hussein, who's a bad guy. you looked at the intelligence that they had that said, yeah, he's got chemical weapons and he's prepared to use them. And, and we need to, if we can't verify it, we need to go take him out. So of course it turns out he never, he didn't have any. ⁓ was was that. Jonathan Cole: No, well, only like this. Tony Hughes: I I don't think that was Malfeasance on the part of like George Bush and Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell. they just got bad intel. maybe the intel people were telling them what they thought they wanted them to hear. Gosh, that would never happen today with Donald Trump, would it? Telling him things that he wants to hear? Jonathan Cole: Well... Well, I think that's exactly what happened because all our allies except Britain, the French and the Germans were like, we don't see what you're seeing. don't, we're not going to send troops into this. And remember everybody was upset. You can't call them French fries. can't shop at Tarjay, you know, but in the end they were vindicated. And I still have a MAGA person now that argues that point. I'm like, look, if there'd been weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Tony Hughes: Yeah. Freedom fires. Yeah, yeah. Jonathan Cole: Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter would have dug them up with their fingernails because, know, they'd gone on a limb saying they were there and they weren't. So, but now, you know, now, you know, I had a feeling we were going to be attacked. Well, how was Iran going to attack us? mean, launch a single. Tony Hughes: Yeah, for real. Yeah, exactly. Well, right now, well, my pickup truck runs off diesel and right now I'm paying $4.90 a gallon for diesel fuel. Now... Jonathan Cole: Well, it's up to $3.50 here, so that's dollar more than one. Yeah, that's gas gas, yeah. Tony Hughes: Well, that's probably, and that's gas, that's just gas. But I'm fixing to hit the diesel piece of it though, because the truck drivers that delivering, that are carrying ourself across the country, they're paying that same $5 a gallon instead of paying $3.50. And so it's up a buck 50 a gallon. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Yeah. Well. I'm already hearing it from restaurant owners that food prices are going up. Why? Because... Tony Hughes: Food prices are going up, airline tickets are going up, food right now, I mean this is the spring. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: farmers out there trying to plow their fields. Gee, what do the tractors run off of diesel fuel? And yes, they buy off-road diesel, and that saves them some money, but off-road diesel's still over $4 a gallon. mean, the difference between the two is about 70 cents here. so you're going from $5 to $4.30 a gallon. It's still frickin' expensive. And these are big tractors. Jonathan Cole: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Definitely. Tony Hughes: as you plow the field, then you have to plant the field, and that's more tractors, then it's gonna grow, it's gonna take three or four months to grow, and then it's gonna be time to harvest. ⁓ so you start finding up a combine, that's more diesel fuel. So the farming industry heavily, heavily relied upon fuel. ⁓ you can't run these things on cyber trucks, they don't into anything. You gotta have diesel fuel. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Tony Hughes: And so we got food, we got transportation. I mean, we're fixing to have a massive surge of inflation. you'll say, well, yes, it's food and energy. Those are two most volatile. Yes, they're volatile, but it's still inflation. It's still affordability. It's still going to hit American consumers right the pocketbook. And did... Did Trump think this through? know, obviously not. Obviously not. Jonathan Cole: No, obviously not. Unless he was planning on his buddies in the oil business profiteering because they did raise prices before the actual cost of a barrel went up. That was documented. Okay, you can anticipate, but no, he did not think. Tony Hughes: Well, you know. We know this and this has so many, because you've got the course. think we've talked about necessarily. We might've talked about it on previous episode or two ago, but you know, the, the, the federal court, the federal judge has squashed the subpoenas for the fed against Ron Powell in that bogus criminal investigation. Although, although Jane Pirro has said going to appeal it now because that's not what, it's not what Trump wants. Jonathan Cole: Yeah Mm-hmm. Exactly. Tony Hughes: And then Tom Tillis has said, we're not gonna process Kevin Warsh's nomination until this ridiculous. this ridiculous investigation goes away and he's in position to block nomination in the Senate. So that's kind of factoring into all this. Fed's got a meeting coming up I think next week. It's gonna be interesting to They probably won't do anything, but wouldn't it be a hell of a note? Interest rates have gone up, the 10-year treasury's up, mortgage rates are up. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: because of this expectation of inflation. And the market is driving the interest rates up already. Even though the stock market's down and used that that's a sign for rates to come down, but because the expectations are so high, that's made interest rates go up a little bit. What's the Fed gonna do? I think there's this meeting and maybe one more meeting with Powell as the chairman. Jonathan Cole: Yep. Yeah. Tony Hughes: But also interesting is that is also chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve, and already been named as that chairman for the entire year. So if decides to keep his seat, he doesn't have to resign from the Fed. He's just no longer the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, but he will still be the chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee, which is really where the operations of the in controlling interest rates Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Right. Tony Hughes: rates actually take place. Not so much a policy making as much as the Federal Reserve Board is concerned. But Powell's still gonna have his fingerprint on this and just because Kevin Warsh comes in doesn't that hey, rates are gonna drop by 300 basis points like Trump wants it to. So ⁓ it's be really interesting and some really serious ramifications I think for the nation's economy. A lot of economists are now predicting that we'll probably dip into a little recession. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: in the second quarter just because of this to the American consumer ⁓ at gas tank because right now it's spring break. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: summertime's coming up and you can't afford to drive and you can't afford to fly, so you're sitting home for vacation, what's happening to all the resorts? What's happened to the restaurants? I mean, is going to have a really, really big, and I'm telling you, Republicans should be really nervous right now, really nervous because this people are starting to think about the midterms coming up in November and we could be having bad news economically. Jonathan Cole: But, you know. Tony Hughes: the time this election comes up. ⁓ Jonathan Cole: And that's been, mean, to be honest too, though, this inflation didn't start with Iran. It started with stupid tariffs. know, like so, so, you know, all this winning we've been doing, yeah, we're not winning. So anything worse, ⁓ then it's to get much worse if things don't change. Now, there's another little interesting story today about Tony Hughes: ⁓ yeah, absolutely, absolutely. No we're not. Jonathan Cole: Trump, has he seen all or is he just the pathological liar or both? But like three different times he's gone on record and said he's spoken to one of the former presidents as he supports what he did and wished he could have done it. And all four of the ones that are still alive are like, I don't know what the hell this fool is talking about, you know? Unless he's having conversations with Abraham Lincoln in the bedroom there. Tony Hughes: Yeah. Yeah. And talk to him. Yeah. Yeah. I heard a commentator say that maybe he perhaps he hallucinated, uh, you know, Ronald, uh, Jimmy Carter. Jonathan Cole: Or Nixon or somebody. Tony Hughes: Well, Iran wasn't a problem for them, but the last president that had a real problem with Iran was Carter. So, it was probably the downfall of his presidency. So can see maybe Carter coming back to him in dream. Jonathan Cole: All right. Yeah, but that's because we No, no, definitely. mean, it was far. ⁓ you know, that's because the Iranians a had an election, they elected a guy. The CIA went with a coup and we installed a despotic dictator. As much as we say we advocate democracy, we always put dictators in place. You had Somoza and... Tony Hughes: You Yeah. Jonathan Cole: And what was else? The Dominican Republic and he had what's his face in Cuba and All you know, Linda and Chile. It was So, you know, so we put this very corrupt shot in place that the people didn't really like and we empowered him and so yeah I was gonna blow up in our face at some point and Carter happened to be the guy there when it happened. So You know and then I Don't know but but yeah Tony Hughes: you Yep. Jonathan Cole: Like, who was it? Peter Deucey's like, can we guess which president is? ⁓ I'm pretty sure, know, it is, it's, know, somebody that likes me and I respect and like, well, I don't know who fits that bill. Yeah. And then, you know, everybody. ⁓ Tony Hughes: That would be zero. That'd be nobody. Well, we know George Bush doesn't like him because hell, Trump was not even a Republican during George Bush's presidency. He was a Democrat the whole time. And so we know. Jonathan Cole: No. Yeah. Well, I remember you guys making faces during the inauguration. Tony Hughes: Yeah, yeah. So now he carries he carried on with Bush at funeral. because he sat right next to Obama at Carl's funeral and he he home with Obama. But Obama was kind of like, you you're at a party and somebody's come and talk to you and you really want to talk to them. So you're just trying to, yeah, okay. And you're trying to like, somebody please come save me. And I mean, I got that definite that was Obama's body language the whole time that Trump was trying to engage him. And Trump is probably narcissistic enough to believe that because Obama Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Tony Hughes: was nice, was not rude, that that must mean that, you know, despite all the terrible things I've said about you and your birth certificate and your presidency, ⁓ must really like me. We know he didn't talk to Biden. We're probably pretty sure he didn't talk to Hillary, although he kind of likes Hillary now, I guess. And he spoke very nicely of Hillary just before her deposition on the Epstein thing. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Tony Hughes: So, he said, and he talked about Bill, he said, well, yeah, I think Bill gets me. Remember that? So. ⁓ Jonathan Cole: Well, if Jeffrey Epstein's brother was correct, Trump got a lot of Bill. ⁓ funny. But I mean, again, are you just making stuff up or do you think HW still alive and you talk to him or Reagan or Carter? Tony Hughes: Yep, won't go there though. who knows? Jonathan Cole: Who the hell are you talking about? Tony Hughes: No, Trump throws so much shit against the wall and he knows that MAGA is just soaking it up. They everything he says up. They take it at face value and nobody ever ⁓ to question what he says, what he does, because if he said it, it's true. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Tony Hughes: And I can guarantee you that % of MAGA out there that heard what he said believed it. ⁓ actually thinking the and the, or I should say the illogic behind it, ⁓ they take it to be true. You nobody, you know, he talks in such hyperbole anyway. It's, nobody's ever seen anything like it. Jonathan Cole: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Tony Hughes: It's the greatest it's ever been. Everything is absolutely the best. It's always over the top. Everything touches is over top. And they all that crap. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Yeah. I read a book in the, think came out right at the beginning of Obama's first term called the President's Club. And it talked about the relationship former presidents with the occupant of 1600 Avenue, going back to Eisenhower and Truman. But how... It's a club and even no matter their ideology, they get each other because nobody else on earth can understand what being president United States is. So there's kind of a brotherhood for lack of a better word, but how that's why, know, uh, Reagan Bush, but Clinton use. Tony Hughes: Yeah. Jonathan Cole: Jimmy Carter is an envoy because of whatever his other friends present. He was a damn good negotiator. And then Bill Clinton would always pick Reagan's brain and brain on things. And it just kept going on and on. Now there's an annotated version of that book. This club wants nothing to do with the buffoon in the White House right now. And from one. Tony Hughes: Yeah. Yeah. Jonathan Cole: All right, look, yeah, you might be sitting in that chair, but you don't have a clue. Even ⁓ Bush Sr. and Kent became buddies over time. And ⁓ W. and Michelle Obama are like buddies. ⁓ They're hanging out, the events, like ⁓ joking everything. it's like they don't want anything to do with him. Tony Hughes: Well, I will... Yeah. Mm-hmm. Jonathan Cole: And you don't anything to do with them really, but so there. Tony Hughes: Yeah. Well, I will give Donald Trump one thing. I will give this to him. We have never had a president in our history like Donald Trump, but that's not a good thing. You know, you you think about the presidents, we've the good presidents we've had and even some of the bad ones we had. they're, they still, they've been known for the use of restraint. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. No. Tony Hughes: it is a very powerful position. Most presidents feel the enormity and the responsibility that goes along with that position. Now all ⁓ a little narcissistic. I think you'd have to be kind of narcissistic to think that ⁓ alone am of leading this entire country of 300 plus million people. ⁓ That of narcissism, you gotta admit. Trump takes it to a whole new level, but for now, let's talk about the normal level of narcissism involved in even ⁓ Jonathan Cole: Mm-hmm. inactively to get to that point in life. Yeah. Tony Hughes: wanted to be president, believing, to look somebody in the eye to say, I am the answer this nation has for its leadership. That's a of a tall, that's a tall order to begin with. And Trump has just taken it, he's taken that power, that thirst for power, that addiction to power to such a negative level. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. And it's in season. Tony Hughes: Yeah, I just hope that whoever we elect next it back down to the normal level of power ⁓ he care. He doesn't what the courts say. He doesn't care. Roberts today in a speech said, and he didn't name Trump by name, but he didn't have to because we all know who he's talking about. Jonathan Cole: No. Yeah. Tony Hughes: that the idea that you go after judges on a personal level has got to stop. I mean, that is the of the Supreme Court having to make a statement like that. mean... Jonathan Cole: Yeah. the thing that I've got tried to argue with people since before ⁓ was elected the first time is like, George Washington ⁓ accomplish much in his eight years, except he established all the precedents for how to comport yourself as a president. And then the of the there's a term for it, act presidential. There's this thing called decorum. And most every president has it. to the, maybe not to the letter, but they get to the edge of the cliff and they'll stop on some things. He does nothing like that. I mean he uses foul language in public. He says simple sentences that make no sense. He trashes people publicly. He weaponizes things because just because people didn't do what he liked. And you know, it's like, you know, the... the state of the union. mean, he kind of like for the first 30 minutes, I think was like, well, he's kind of maybe he's no, we're back. know, yeah, yes, or bad liberals are bad. They run in the country. That's terrible. They're trader. It's like, ⁓ Tony Hughes: No, no, we're back. We're right back. We're right back. They're crazy, they're crazy. They're pathetic. Jonathan Cole: You know, then there's Republicans, there are just the other rhinos, you know, and it's like he can't even complete sentences. But his worshipers it up. And it's like, these are people that... Tony Hughes: They do, they do. and part it I get, I I do think there's ⁓ certain level of anger in this country, especially by white people and people who were conservative because they have, because of, know, because of, you know, and there was certainly a level of wokeness in the country and certainly a level of, you know, trying to redefine the success of our country to say, we're not really as good as we really have been. And yeah, we're not perfect. mean, people need to understand we are a very imperfect nation. We're just better than all the rest of them. And yeah, know, racism is terrible. still around. Slavery was horrible, but it's gone. You know, our country abolished slavery. We fought a civil war and lost, you know, hundreds of thousands of people over a civil war to fight over slavery. we won it and that was 250 Jonathan Cole: Mm-hmm. Tony Hughes: plus years ago. So some extent we just need to kind of get over ourselves a little bit ⁓ I think there's that anger that that facts of the population just that Trump has tapped into. And they like to see him being a bully. They like to see him people call ⁓ names. They to see him denigrating Chuck Schumer and Gavin Newsom and in Ilion and all the other really radical left Democrats that that are also out of touch with the country. I think. But yeah, they like that. just suck. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Yeah. Tony Hughes: looking at this like, yeah. It's like, and I kind of like Rush Limbaugh, some aspects of Rush Limbaugh, but the thing that I think Rush tapped into with his audience was that he was able to say, he had a platform to say things that a lot of Americans wish they could say in a public, now of course this is before social media was as big as it is today. I think there's one reason why he was so popular. I think Trump has tapped into that. Jonathan Cole: You Tony Hughes: And so he can, he can name call, he can belittle, he can denigrate, he can act with zero class. there's group of people that like, hell yeah, give them hell Donald Trump. We don't care what you do, just go give them hell. And ⁓ that's today. Jonathan Cole: Definitely. Yeah. Well, But the bad part about that is there was a similar bully in early 1930s that did the same thing in Germany. Because didn't create ⁓ he tapped into it. He didn't create... Tony Hughes: Yep. Yep. Well. Yeah. Jonathan Cole: homophobia, he tapped into it. didn't, you know, all those things were already there. And then also the shame of losing World War I and the whole thing. Well, the Jews stabbed us in the back on the home front. That's why we lost. He tapped in on that, you know. Tony Hughes: Yeah. Trump this week, I think it was this past weekend, sent out a, his PAC, his political action committee, sent out a fundraising email that used a picture of Trump in his USA ball cap at the dignified transfer of those six soldiers that we lost that were killed in Kuwait. yeah, by the way, he was also selling seats to his national security briefing, which I thought was... Jonathan Cole: anything? Yeah, I smell that. Tony Hughes: Kind of unusual. ⁓ know, very limited number of seats will get my national security briefing. Really? mean, classified? So, but know, that's just totally lost. you know, I had a very friend of mine who was a Ghost Star Fowler on Facebook, won't mention his but his son was killed in Afghanistan. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Apparently not. Tony Hughes: called me out. I reposted something Facebook about when Fox News broadcast the footage of a transfer from Trump's first term where he was not wearing a ball cap and not the pictures of him at the current transfer wearing a cap and keeping his hat on ⁓ as the flag-draped cases of those six Americans went by him. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: And this guy called me out said, well, I think you're politicizing that. I said, well, no, I'm, cause he basically was saying it was fake news, number one. And I said, no, I said Fox News has already acknowledged that they made a mistake. saying it was an honest mistake. Okay. their word for it. But ⁓ in event, and he come back and apologize. Said, okay, well, I didn't know that. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: But at the same time, I don't think it's right, because his son, he has been too dover, too identified transfer for his son coming off one of those airplanes. So this is a tender subject for me and for him. And I was aware of that before, because I know he's on my Facebook as one of my friends, and I was cognizant of that. And so then when this fundraiser came out, I reposted it. Jonathan Cole: Right. Mm-hmm. Tony Hughes: And, I, and ⁓ tagged him. said, are you okay with this? Cause this was like politicizing it to me. And, he back, yep. And ⁓ it of me a bag. was like, okay, I didn't think he was that far MAGA. And I said, okay, you just confused me. Are you saying this is actually okay? And he said, no, my sarcasm did not come through. This is terrible. ⁓ so, ⁓ and though a defender of the president. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: But he's now seeing the president and of course then when he's asked about it on Air Force One You know he said well, I didn't see it. I don't think about it. just see it. You know it's slightly when he posted when he posted the Obama's as apes Well, I didn't see it. I didn't do it. You know these things And it's because he does so much other shit that nobody even thinks twice about it anymore Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Yeah, right. Tony Hughes: I mean, it even causes a ripple in terms of the, you know, if Obama had done that, if George Bush had done that, ⁓ my God, it would have been a nationwide meltdown. ⁓ because it's Trump, because we've just gotten so numb to ⁓ shenanigans that nobody pays any attention to it anymore. Jonathan Cole: Nope. You know, were joking a while back about that the right so desperate for anything to lambast Obama about. Do you remember the huge scandal him wearing tan suit? Tony Hughes: yeah. Jonathan Cole: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm wait a minute. And I pulled up two different pictures of Ronald Wagan wearing tan suits. And then you're like, ⁓ well, he uses a teleprompter. That's just terrible. president since Lyndon Johnson has used a teleprompter, dude. mean, ⁓ this point, you're just trying to, how do I discredit the black president? That's all. ⁓ I'm not racist. Yes, you are, because there's other. ⁓ Tony Hughes: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah. Trump would be so it's better off he would stay on the teleprompter. He can't stay on it though. He's got to add a little bit. Jonathan Cole: No, no. Oh yeah, it's like I said, it was so crazy how night and day difference the first 30 minutes of the State of the Union and then the last hour and a half or whatever of rambling went. And I'll go back to what I've said. Donald Trump has one great superpower. That's marketing Donald Trump. And I've watched it since the 80s. Tony Hughes: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Jonathan Cole: I watched him blow up an entire football league, ruin a whole bunch of businesses, then ditch wife and marry a mistress. But in the he made he was on entertainment, him and Ivana, every night pretty much. And you think, well, why is this billionaire? I'm thinking he was positioning himself way back then. And then, Tony Hughes: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jonathan Cole: He kind of went quiet after, I always call it his flush. know, tanked my businesses, ditched my wife, married my mistress, go quiet for a while, then come back. He did that during the early 2000s and the same thing, everything went tanked. And so he ditched Ivanka for Melania and went quiet for a while, but then he came back and then, you know, turned a reality show into the... springboard for presidency. That's how bad of a situation this is. And the fact that there were 16 people, no, 19 people running against him in the primaries who had terrible things to say about him, but now almost every single one of them is bowing at his feet. It's, yeah, I know. Tony Hughes: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they've all bent the knee. And I know we're running late, but what's your prediction of the Save America Act coming up this week? Jonathan Cole: well, I'm hearing, you know, I don't know. I've got to see what Doon's going to do. I mean, he's the leader of the majority party. he says he's not going to be bullied, but I've heard that before. and you and it's still, we're back to the fact that you need to read the law and realize this isn't just about showing an ID. This is about this and franchise owners. It's not much difference from the literacy test and the poll taxes. Tony Hughes: It's way more than that. Jonathan Cole: you know, back in the early days, you know, it's, you're qualifying voting and the constitution doesn't allow that. You know, so don't know on that one. But also I think the other prediction is when are we putting boots on the ground in Iran? Tony Hughes: Yeah, I'll tell you the, you know, there's a serious problem with airports right now with TSA. You know, TSA, they're quitting, they're showing up. know, rate of is through the roof right now with TSA people and understandably so not getting paid. Jonathan Cole: Thank you. Tony Hughes: And, you know, as I understand the Democrats did put legislation on the floor to fund the Coast Guard to fund TSA and the cybersecurity and the Republicans blocked that because it was it was not the entire DHS budget. You know, I I ⁓ heard talking to Brett Hume on Fox News earlier this afternoon and he had a pretty extended interview about that. And he said Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Right. Tony Hughes: They just don't have the votes to override the filibuster. He said that right now there's a majority of Republicans that would not override the filibuster because they know that one the Democrats will be in control and they don't want the Democrats to pull this on them. So they're at least honoring that 60 vote margin requirement. And he said right now, I mean, they have started debate. have started debate on it. I a little bit on C-SPAN this So I saw a Democrat was speaking, one of the senators from California, I think, was speaking at the time. it is ⁓ voter disenfranchisement. If an voter you move and you change your address, Jonathan Cole: Not sure. Tony Hughes: and you're 70 years old, if you don't have a passport, do know what your certificate is? How long is it going take you get your birth certificate? How much is it going to cost? Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: You know, it's just, is an impediment to voting. You know, if that law would change or that proposed legislation would change to say, okay, when you register to vote, the first time going forward, you must prove citizenship. I'm all for that. You must show a picture ID at the poll to vote. I'm all for that. Now, I think you should still have mail-in votes. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: I think that that just makes sense. think that that still, you know, there's so many ways to get around that anyway. You know, well, I'm on a business trip. I'm sick. You know, I'm traveling, you know, which they supposedly would still allow. Okay, I'm going to be on a trip. I need to vote by mail, you know, but there's still ways. Jonathan Cole: ⁓ What about all the AOI votes? All the military overseas. ⁓ can't vote now because they're not in the country. Tony Hughes: Sure, all that's my mail. know, but it's just, and I still say it affects the lower income people worse because they rent, lower income people tend to rent more than homeowners do. They move more than homeowners do, generally speaking. And you're moving, it's hard to keep up with your paperwork. half the doesn't have passports already. Half the voters don't have passports. Jonathan Cole: No. Tony Hughes: So I just think it's a terrible, it's a terrible. I asked Chet's GPT the other day, how many illegal voters have we caught? In the 2020 election, we had 100 out of what, 150 billion votes? We had 101,00. Jonathan Cole: Well... Mm-hmm. Yeah. I didn't finance the election. Yeah. Tony Hughes: We had one zero zero people. We had about 100 in the 2020 election. And since going back to 1979, there was one news report that said we'd had 1,357 out of how many elections we've had since 1979 that were illegal. It's a solution in search of a problem, is what it boils down to. But it's feeding us, lost the 2020 election because of fraud. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Well, I mean, but... ⁓ But it's also, rigging the vote because ⁓ you said, it's targeting people who typically vote Democratic. Now, the other thing that they still say, ⁓ it's not going to do that, but that's the way it looks in the bill. if have to use your birth certificate as your proof, well, it says if doesn't match your name on your current picture ID, you're not eligible to vote. Well, you know. Tony Hughes: Yeah! Exactly. Jonathan Cole: what woman that ever got married has the same name that's on her birth certificate. It's, it's, yeah, exactly. So. Tony Hughes: Yeah. And if you've been married a couple of times, you know, then what? There was, there was, I was watching one of the news stations today and they were talking about it. And one of the ladies on there said, you know, my birth certificate has one name, my passport has another name, and my driver's license has a third name. So she's got three different things and they all got different names right now. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. What about people in the witness protection program that have legal name changes? I mean, that's what I'm saying is you're creating a whole lot of problems to a problem that's not there. But. Tony Hughes: Yeah, exactly. But see, but the poll just says, are you in favor of voter ID? Yes. Okay, well, guess technically just based on that one single question, I'm part of that 90 % that the polls say are in favor of voter ID. But it's just, that's not all that's in the bill. There's more than that in the bill. Jonathan Cole: No, it's not. I we already have voter ID. Every time I voted, I had to show my driver's license. When was the last time you did? Tony Hughes: You know, and it's already against the law for a non-citizen to vote in an election. Already against the law. That's already against the law. I posted something about the Save America Act on my Facebook page. And one of my friends said something about, well, egos should not be allowed to vote. And I said, it's already against the law. And I actually cited the US statute. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: to show we're non-citizens not allowed to vote. And they said, we need to pass this to enforce it. I well, wait a second. This is a federal law. Pam Bondi is the attorney general. Are you saying that Pam Bondi, the attorney general, is not capable of enforcing existing federal law? We've got to pass another law to enforce a law that's already on the books? Bullshit. Jonathan Cole: Well, here's. Well, here's the other issue that I don't understand in your Reagan Republican. Why is the federal government interfering in the process that the Constitution gives to the states? You know, there is no provision for the federal government to intervene in election period. Not there. It's all the states. Every state has their election laws. Tony Hughes: Well, I will tell you from a Reagan Republican standpoint, there is a national issue as far as Jonathan Cole: huh. Tony Hughes: should should we is kinda like interstate commerce you know we don't know if states individually regulating interstate commerce you know nebraska should have to different set of rules and kansas does as far as stuff that comes across the interstate and i would say that from a national standpoint only citizens should vote in elections And I have no problem with that being a federal law that says only U.S. citizens should vote in elections. I really have no problem either with saying that states should ensure that newly registered I mean, right now you still have to say you have to just basically make a statement that you're a You have to swear an oath that you're an American citizen to register to vote today. So if you are not a citizen and you say you aren't, you registered, then you've basically perjured yourself and that's a crime. okay, it's against the law already. Jonathan Cole: Mm-hmm. Right. Tony Hughes: And I really don't have a problem with saying, well today, if you registered to vote, because it's mostly going to be 18 year olds, hopefully, and they probably, their parents probably still have access to their birth certificate, so they can get them pretty quickly. You have to your birth certificate to get your real ID driver's license now. You have to have a birth certificate to get a passport. So while it's fresh on your mind, so to speak, before you've moved 10 times and you're not 60 years old, get your birth certificate out. But after that, grandfather everybody else in. And yeah, as we old folks eventually die off and the new folks have shown their birth certificates to register to vote, that problem will go away. If it even is a problem, I personally don't think it's even a problem. Jonathan Cole: It's not a problem, Well... Tony Hughes: because I just don't think that, you know, if I was living in another country, we've talked about this before, if I was living in another country illegally, the last thing I want to do is stick my head up and say, voting, I'm not allowed to. You know, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna give you my name, my address, my fake social security number, and I'm just gonna invite you to kick me out of the country. Jonathan Cole: So... Two years ago, was in Belize city during the middle of parliamentary elections. How do you think I could have interjected my vote in that? It's just, again, goes back to the whole fact that he can't admit that he lost the election. ⁓ Tony Hughes: Exactly. That's all this is. This is all the election. Jonathan Cole: And I mean, and the answer is simple. A lot of people just stayed home in 2016 because they thought what harm could Donald Trump do? Well, in four years later, well, yeah, he can do a hell of a lot of harm. And they turned out en masse and voted him out. then after four years of him not being around, a lot of them forgot how terrible he was. they're like, oh, what harm can he do? And they stayed home and voted for him. Tony Hughes: Well, and you're in a better position to comment on this than I am, but I got the impression that a lot of the Democrats were just so disenfranchised from Joe Biden and then from Kamala, Kamala how this election was just sort of given over, the nomination was given to her ⁓ after, did really fire the base up to just say, man, I can't wait to come vote for Harris. Jonathan Cole: Well... It wasn't that because there were a lot of Republicans at the time were saying it's illegal what they're doing. Well, no, it's not. mean, it used to historically be presidential nominees were not chosen by primaries. They were chosen in the convention. Usually took hundreds of ballots to get somewhere. So legally it would happen. Yeah. So it was a sticky wicket because Tony Hughes: at a convention, yeah. All the power, and all the power brokers picked him. Power brokers picked him. Jonathan Cole: Joe was slipping, Kamala wasn't. I don't I don't know, but it's. ⁓ Tony Hughes: Joe had already slipped, buddy. Joe had already slipped. ⁓ He went off that mountain. He went off that mountain three years earlier. ⁓ Jonathan Cole: Yeah, but I mean, Kamala wasn't the choice. was just, there was no other way. know, we didn't have time to do a whole set of primaries to try to pick somebody. It was just the choice we got. And even then I'm still going to record, right? So now Kamala Harris would be a better president right now than what we've got. Tony Hughes: Yeah. Yeah, I would say that's true too. I mean, at this point in time, what Trump has done to this country through the tariff taxes, through the war in Iran, just being an I to go along with you. mean, it's... Jonathan Cole: you know, because the worst you can get is incompetence. Yeah. The worst you would have gotten is some incompetence, also there was restraint, would be restraint because the opposition houses in Congress. But now we've got a daily attack on our constitution by a guy that Congress won't say no to. So, you know, literally every day we're wondering, what, you know, why are we here? And how much longer can the court system hold out? Tony Hughes: Yeah, that's true. Jonathan Cole: Because on a regular basis, he's appointing more more judges to the lower courts. It's just, can we survive till the end of this term? And then, hot mic moment, the other day he said at a fundraiser, we have to have the save actor. We're not going to win the midterms. So he's saying it's a weapon. It's not about saving elections integrity. Tony Hughes: Yep. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. No. Not at all. Jonathan Cole: It's about positioning them in. And then we've got the wholesale gerrymandering going on in every state. You know, it's like... Tony Hughes: And you know, and well, there's just no way that the states would be prepared, whatever the changes in the Save America Act are, no way they could get them implemented between now and November. mean, is eight months away, seven months away? Jonathan Cole: Well, mean, candidate qualifications are coming up, what, next month? Early, yeah, early March, May. ⁓ So, yeah, and you know, the election happens in August. That's less than six months away. And then in November is not much further. So yeah. Tony Hughes: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's just impossible. You know, I listened to James Carville's podcast and I'm not a huge fan of James Carville, he, some of the bitch makes me laugh. I'll have to say that. He is one crazy Cajun. But his last podcast was that he thinks that Trump's gonna quit next year because once he loses the House and the Senate and he knows that his days will be filled with nothing but impeachment hearings left and right, and he can't get anything done, can't get anything passed, cause Congress is gonna be coming down. Jonathan Cole: you ⁓ no, well, ⁓ Tony Hughes: the Trump system, go, quit, go home. Jonathan Cole: Only if Vance will give him a pardon on the way out. Tony Hughes: ⁓ yeah, Trump will pardon himself. Jonathan Cole: Well, still a debatable tactic, but ⁓ ⁓ he could get one from Vance. ⁓ Tony Hughes: Just like he said that he could withdraw from NATO without Congress' approval. And he may be right about that. He may be right about that. Again, these are things that are so unthought of that nobody ever thought to pass a law. Jonathan Cole: Yeah. Tony Hughes: You know, the Senate has to approve treaties, but can the Senate, does the Senate have to approve breaking a treaty? If the President breaks the treaty, does the Senate have to concur in that? that's been tried before. So. ⁓ Jonathan Cole: And as we're sending out to the press, we have to go pray to Christ. Well, but I mean, we've been breaking treaties for 200-something years. I mean, the most current one is what you mentioned earlier. Tony Hughes: Withdrawing from NATO would be a big one though. Jonathan Cole: No, no, no. Well, I mean, but we had a treaty in place that we have yet to honor, but we were supposed to go to Ukraine's aid if they were attacked. That was an exchange for them giving up their nuclear weapons, which they did. We've not honored that agreement, you know? So, let's even get into the whole Native American history. ⁓ Tony Hughes: Yeah, Greg's already gonna be mad at us because we've run way late. Greg's already gonna be mad at us. He'll figure it out. He'll figure it out. Jonathan Cole: I know, but it's, uh, he can pop them up in the different segments. Yeah, but it is probably it's time to sign off. Uh, so yeah, I appreciate everyone tuning in again. Uh, again, if you, if you like what you, you, you're hearing like us on YouTube or other platforms, uh, hit the bell as they say, and, definitely tune in again next week because there's still gonna be plenty to talk about. So yeah. Tony Hughes: We play to talk about. Jonathan Cole: So Tony, appreciate it as always. yep, everyone have a great evening and we'll see you next time. Thanks. Tony Hughes: Thanks, Jonathan. Have a good week. See you next week. Thank you.