The Ben Mulroney Show - Ben in the afternoon! Hot topics for our political panel

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

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Welcome to the Ben Mulruni show. Thank you so much. 5th of January 2026. And yes, if you're listening to the radio wondering why is Ben Mulroney on, I was expecting somebody else, the things change, hopefully for the better. And I hope that if you haven't heard our show before, that you want to stick around and listen and help share our content. We are on Instagram. We are on the IHeart radio app. We are on YouTube. We are on your radio. And we are a podcast on all major podcast platforms. And we thank you so much for joining us.

We've been talking about what's been going on in Venezuela and now consequently in the United States and the fallout and the what could be next. But we would be remiss if we kept our entire focus on that because last week the biggest story that we were following.

Oh, Intrepid producer, why don't you join me? The salacious... How many different ways can you describe that? The salacious Somali daycare grift, and I say that with a question mark, because I think it's still up in the air as to how much grift and how much corruption and how much money was allegedly stolen. In Minnesota. In Minnesota, but it doesn't look good. However, there was obviously there were two camps, right? There were those who thought, if there's smoke, there's fire.

And so, you know, we've got to burn the whole building down. and then on the other side you had people saying there is nothing to see here and anybody who suggests otherwise is racist and of course the governor of

Minnesota the great state of Minnesota Tim Walls who you'll remember ran for vice president with Kamala Harris he was probably the chief cheerleader

in charge of that second movement let's get an update of how things are going for Tim Walls today major breaking major breaking political news out of St. Paul, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Tim Walls will not seek re-election as governor,

and what a fall from grace this has been for him. There you go. Hey, he was, you know, a lesser-known governor, and then he became the vice presidential nominee. Yeah. And now he's not seeking re-election. Now, you know, there were some, there, we, we defended him last couple of weeks ago because people were taking to driving past his house and shouting terrible things.

There's, I'm, listen, I don't like the fact that certain words were, we were told we couldn't use them anymore. I thought some of it was silly. I, for me, personally, the use of the R word, uh, is not one I would do. For people with, uh, who are a mentally challenged. Yeah, yeah. Uh, that's not. one I would ever use.

And look, if a comedian wants to use it in, yeah, whatever. But I don't like people driving by his house and screaming that out. I found out that he had a son who was learning disabled or, or, or, yeah, he's verbal, he is actually nonverbal. Okay. So I don't know that if people knew that, but that's, that's just wrong, right? So we defended him there.

But he came out swinging against Nick Shirley, who was the young, 23-year-old, citizen journalist on YouTube who started this didn't start the whole ball rolling but he certainly added kerosene to the fire and he came out and he this guy's a racist this guy hates Somali's anti-Muslim

he's got to be Islamophobic as well I got to think if you've risen to the level of the governor of your state and all you have in the face of this guy's reporting and we can talk about the if there are any holes in the reporting and talk to real journalists as to whether or not this would hold up to scrutiny

in a real journalistic environment. But the fact that you can't engage with any of the reporting that he did of a 23-year-old on YouTube and you as the governor, call him a racist and Islamophobic and a rage beater, you have lost. You probably also lost the moral authority to govern. And it looks like some people probably told him that, which is why. he said, well, it's my opinion as to why. I mean, sure he's going to say he wants to spend more time with family.

But yeah. Or, if I may offer, there is more fire and smoke to the story than he may have suggested. Yeah, yeah. And he's getting out now. He's getting out now and he's going to try to cover his butt and protect himself. Yeah. Because there is this conspiracy out there that could be proven true or false that this was a cycle, a cycle of bringing in, you know, people from a different country and giving them incentives

to then do these things and vote Democrat. And it's a cycle of paying off new Americans and paying them off with taxpayer funds, some of it through various programs, and then having them return the favor by voting Democrat. I don't know if it's true. it kind of feels like it could be true. I mean, I've heard some terrible things about right-leaning politicians. So why can't, I mean, people are people. It doesn't matter if you're left or right.

And people are people. And if you've, corruption knows no political stripes. So anyway, the FBI is investigating and we'll see where it goes. But Nick Shirley's video at this point has been viewed well over 100 million times. And anybody, I mean, anybody who's sitting. at CBS and Fox and they're looking at those numbers saying, I wish we could get those numbers. That's how far and wide that video has gone.

But today is not all, in our show, if you're new to it, we don't just talk about the heavy politics. And every now and then you need a pallet cleanser. And we, listen, we've told you before. This is not the place for deep analysis in sports. But, you know, we are casual sports fans. And I think all of us, even if you were, You weren't a fan.

You got caught up in the romance and the excitement of the Blue Jays coming to within a three outs of winning the World Series. That was exciting. They went from worst to first. And in this off season, as everyone's saying, unless they keep pace with the Dodgers, they could go from first back down to something else. And I don't think there's a single fan in this country that wants that to have been a one-off. They're hoping this is the beginning of the domination of the Blue J. And there have been some off-season moves that have been really exciting. Lots of money spent.

Lots of money spent. But we want to focus on Toronto, a third basement from Japan, Kazuma Okamoto. I love that name. They call them the little general, or young general. I think it's going to be, I don't know, it's exciting. He knows how to hit dingers and he's an infielder. Now, people are worried about what that means for the recess. sounding of Beau Bichette.

But apparently we're still in it. Apparently, we're still in it. It's exciting because people long have said Toronto had a hard time getting free agents because it's Canada and nobody wanted a player. That's not true anymore at all. And they're also saying, well, Toronto's not going to spend the money because, you know, years ago they had an owner. Toronto Blue J's ownership, they're the second richest in all of Major League Baseball.

Yeah. To the Dodgers ownership group. Yeah. But so long as they – Rogers has deep pockets. They have deep pockets, but do they want – They don't want to spend it on a losing enterprise. And I think the Rogers group, I think what they've witnessed here is how the halo effect of, you know, if the Blue Jays brand is ascendant, then so too will the Rogers brand.

How much did they make during the playoffs, all those extra games, all the merchandise, not just, and it's not Toronto. You're talking, it's Canada's team is what the market the people. And they did a great job marketing it that way. Yeah. They did a great job. So I think they realized, well, we kind of like this. Let's keep it going. Well, speak of the merchandise, the Canada World Junior. So we lost at Chechia again.

I still don't understand the whole Chechia. Listen, I like to get, I like to, yeah, I miss Chechia. I just missed Chechia? Chechia. No, Chechia? I think it's Chechia. It's not Chechia, Chechia. I missed Chechia.

It just popped up one day. I know. It just popped up one day. So that's sad. We lost to them for the third year in a row. But I want to go out on a high note. because Hockey Canada has, I don't know if you've seen this, but it's significant partnership with OVO.

They've designed the merch. OVO, it's October's very own. It's Drake's company. It's owned by Drake, yeah. And so they did all sorts of gear for the national hockey teams, including this collection for 2026 World Juniors, hoodies, jackets. They're like really retro, 80s retro stuff.

It's cool AF, as the kids might say. and good on two great brands getting together. I think it's exactly what they needed to do. Up next, we're going to talk about what's next for Venezuela. And the fact is, it seems like a simple question, but depending on who you ask, you're going to get two completely different realities. So we're going to dig in next right here on the Ben Milrini show.

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Get better answers to tough questions. BlueJ AI for tax experts You are listening to the Ben Mulroney show All conversation, no cancellations I really do hope that takes off I hope people like it You know, listen, I know

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I hope you enjoy it From our text line, and we're talking about Nicholas Maduro, the former leader, illegitimate or not, of Venezuela, who now finds himself in custody in a New York jail awaiting his trial. He's, our text line said, hopefully the new mayor of New York doesn't let him out on bail. Yeah, that's good. That's really good. Hey, just for context, we're talking about Zoran Mamdani, who has a proud and self-avowed socialist. Here's what he said, I mean, I can't believe this is real.

Here's what he said during his inauguration over the weekend. We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism. That is one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. It's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. This is a guy. Rugged individualism built America. Rugged individualism is a recognition, the fostering of it and the celebration of it and creating institutions around that are what made America what it is. And various countries have adopted their own versions of that. Canada doesn't have as much of that, but we were built in a different way.

So it makes sense. But I don't know that the mayor of that city has the right to do that. but I guess maybe he thinks he does. And look, if I'm a socialist in New York, I'm thinking to myself, well, you know, there are a lot of root causes to crime. And the criminal is not responsible for the crime. Society is.

So how did society fail, Nicholas Maduro? Well, that country has been dealing with poverty on a scale never seen before with hyperinflation. So perhaps his criminal activity, alleged, is due to the crime. Now, sure, he caused the crime. He caused the hyperinflation, which caused the crime. But, you know, we're living in a time where there is very little accountability for the individual

and far too much accountability for the society that created the conditions for that person to become a criminal. So that's it. Now, there were people out in full force in New York. who were oh we don't have that one okay that's all okay i was trying to figure out what's going on over here there's a lot of panic you guys don't see it i'm trying to be i'm trying to be the rudder on a ship here and i look over at my team who are looking like chickens with their heads cut off looking like a panic and i'm being told not to do things and i don't know because they're not speaking directly to me but we got to pull back the veil every now and then so what appears to be

incompetence on my end is actually incompetence elsewhere i'm kidding they're not incompetent they're fantastic people oh now we have it okay good So we were going to talk about that not everybody is happy with this arrest of Nicholas Maduro and his wife. And there were a whole bunch of people out in New York City protesting this decision act. They were very pro Maduro. So let's listen to one of these protesters to figure out like, what got him off the couch? What got him off the couch to go out there and protest the arrest of Nicholas Maduro? What do you know about Nicholas Maduro?

I don't know much, bro, but I'm here with Central CSO, and we fight against all this with, like, the, with Trump, the Trump administration, ICE, police brutality. So we're just hearing support of all that right now. And what is, what does Maduro have to do with all that? Yeah, it goes on. It goes, it goes on. And look, they found him, there's no way he was by, by no means the only one. Like there's a whole bunch of people and we've seen it protests all over North America

that there's so many of these people they're not representative of anything except a highly focused and very small group of very loud people who have, in a lot of cases they are single issue activists and this guy is clearly one of them too.

But what's... And a lot of them are paid. Yeah, a lot of them are going to... A lot of them are paid, absolutely. They are. But what's going to happen? with Venezuela now and with this the vice president is delsi Rodriguez and she was talking tough right she was talking tough but I think I think what happened is word got to her that America is not

finished with with Venezuela like if you don't if you don't do what we want here which is the establishment of a democratic rule and free and fair elections we're going to we're going to bring you back to America as quickly and as comfortably as we brought your predecessor. And she started speaking in a more conciliatory tone. And there are people out there who are worried that this is going to require boots on the ground by the Americans. And I'm not prepared to say that yet. It feels to me that they are going to put a team of advisors. Yes, there'll probably be some military there to protect certain people. But by and large, these are just going to be people like standing over, shadowing key decision makers

and every single one of them knows that at any point they could get rendition to the United States to face trial. So I do believe that you're going to have a lot of people who now that they've seen what happened to Maduro they believe it could happen to them and I think a lot of them are going to fall in line

pretty quickly. Let's listen to Marco Rubio who really was spearheading this event. He's a secretary of state in the United States. He was on with George Stephanopoulos. President said that you spoke with the Vice President Rodriguez and that she promised to do whatever the United States needs. But in her televised statement, she was pretty defiant saying that Maduro is still president and that the Venezuelan people will no longer be slaves or the colony of an empire. That's a quote. What exactly did she say to you and what comes next? Well, we're not going to judge moving forward based simply on what said in press conferences.

We want to see action here at the end of the day. Rhetoric is one thing. You see rhetoric for a lot of different reasons. There's a lot of different reasons why people go on TV and say certain things in these countries. especially 15 hours or 12 hours after the person who used to be in charge of the regime is now in handcuffs and on his way to New York. I got a lot of time for Marco Rubio. I think he is, I haven't seen him do or say anything wrong that I can recall anytime soon. And I would not be surprised if upon the next election and there will be another election

and Donald Trump will not present himself, I would be shocked if the final two in line waiting for in line for the nomination are going to be Marco Rubio versus J.D. Vance. I would be shocked if those two weren't up there together at the end because both of them they both have

great qualities. But Marco Rubio is proving himself in battle each and every day. So he's doing a great job. Let's listen real quick to, there's a professor, Dr. Robert Pape, he's a professor of political science at University of Chicago. He thinks that there is the potential for

chaos in Venezuela. It is possible that the military may end up being a force that will try to unify the government. Don't be surprised if in the next week or two, the woman who's currently running Venezuela is not, not because she's going to be threatened by Donald Trump, who's just threatened to kill her on Air Force One. That's what he meant by a fate worse than Maduro. but also her own people and her own military, if she doesn't do what they want or is perceived, she's really caught between a rock and the hard place. So this is a very, very, this is not a situation that's going to lead to stability, to build oil, to provide resources to the local people.

This is a situation that is brought with chaos for as far as the I can see. Yeah, I wouldn't be as fatalistic as Dr. Robert Pape, who was on with my colleague from 640, Toronto Greg Brady this morning. Was that when? Yeah, that was. I'm not nearly as fatalistic as, as he was. But certainly not a straight line, but, but they are now on a road to a better place. And the Venezuelan people are happy about that.

And I believe the Americans are going to do what they can to help facilitate this. You help us, well, you show us that you're on the path to democracy. Money will start flowing. Aid will start flowing. You know, absolutely that's going to happen. Contracts to rebuild your oil industry. will start flowing. Jobs will be created. And this is not regime changed the way it's done,

the way it's been done in the past. They took out the head and they're telling everybody else, you better not think, better not think of replacing him in the way you have that. Because we have an aircraft carrier right off your coast and we've shown you we're willing to use it. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. And if you're new, welcome to the Ben Mulroney show in our new time slot.

This allows us to have a national conversation live all across the country. And I'm very happy to have our very first political panel of this new era for the show. But we're joined by two great and old friends of the show, Dmitri Soutis, former director of communication for Mr. Stephen Harper and Max Fawcett lead columnist for Canada's National Observer. Gentlemen, happy 2026. That's the last time, first and last time I'll say it. Happy New Year. Happy 2026. All right. So this, I mean, this little thing happened, the whole Venezuela Maduro thing. And I guess, look, there's so many ways to talk about this. So I'll ask you just to what are your personal thoughts in the here and now? Are you happy

about it? Are you concerned about it? Max will start with you. I'm concerned. I mean, I'm happy for the Venezuelan people. Obviously, they wanted this for a long time. I'm not sure this is the way they wanted it to happen. But I think we have to be mindful of the fact that these things tend to look best in the early days. You know, when the Americans went into Iraq, the Iraqis were overjoyed to be free of Saddam Hussein. You know, President Bush unfurled that mission accomplished banner and things kind of went sideways from there. So this is not a story about the first few. days. This is a story about how it unfolds from here. What does the execution look like? How do we restore democracy to the Venezuelan people? And how do we do it without strip mining them of the natural resources that belong to them? And I think that is where the tension is really going to show up here. I think that's fair. Demetri, your thoughts? I'm happy that it happened. A despotid dictator has been removed. I do share concerns that Max does. But I will dare think that democracies in Latin America

have been able to flourish much more successfully than in the Middle East when you look at Argentina when you look at Chile those are countries that have been able to transition from dictatorship

to a functioning democracy look to Panama I think the pan I'm hopeful that that's the model that's the blueprint for what they should be doing here the one thing that I have yet to understand

and is those organized rent a protester that went on the streets and protested against removing a dictator. I took my cue from hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, the diaspora for all over the world. I have yet to see a single Venezuelan say this was a bad thing. So I hope the future is bright. It is a weird thing that there's an entire wing of social justice warriors who, I mean, I would get behind them more. I would have more time for them if they didn't have this reflexive reaction to so many of these

things that originate with Donald Trump. I don't know what it is. Like the, you know, Donald Trump likes Israel. Israel doesn't like Iran. Israel bombs Iran. It's got to be bad. Well, the war didn't expand and we set them back 20 years in their nuclear potential. weaken them enough to hopefully be seeing what we're seeing on the streets we're on,

which we'll talk about later. But it's this weird, Max, it's this weird reflexive thing where it's automatic, it's knee-jerk. And I don't think they're using, I don't think they're using the critical thinking part of their brain. Well, let's use those critical thinking parts of our brain here. I mean, the, the mission that was conducted so successfully was flagrantly illegal under international law. He, you know, Trump came out and said that he was taking their oil. He was going to use their oil to basically pay Americans back. And of course, this opens the door for China to do similar things in Taiwan. It opens the door for Russia or certainly gives them permission to continue doing what they're doing in Ukraine. So, you know, I don't know about these

rent or protesters, but if you look at what was done here on the face of it, it is a potentially good outcome with potentially catastrophic consequences for a bunch of countries that we should care about. And listen, and everything you just brought up, I think, is for me, I'm going to go to the communications expert because for me, yes, everything that just happened, violation, but there's, there's a part of my brain says, you know what, like, it's, it's how you explain why you violated the law that's more important. I mean, I think, I think the execution of explaining why this had to be done and why it was unique and why you cannot compare it to the Taiwan's and to the, what happened with Putin, I think is going to be really essential.

Dimitri. Yeah, well, we're talking about executing basically a bounty that Joe Biden put on Maduro's head. Joe Biden put a $25 million bounty on Maduro's head because he is an international drug trafficker. He has somebody who has executed his political opponents, a young Venezuelans who went off and protested on the street, never to be found again. I won't make the exact same parallel, but Barack Obama ordered Navy SEALs into Pakistan without informing the government of Pakistan to kill Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Laden was a terrorist. Maduro was an international drug trafficker and a criminal. So again, it's all about what happens next. Let's let's put it bluntly. Donald Trump's problem is he doesn't speak like a normal human being. And that causes people concerned.

concern of thinking, you know, Denmark and so on and so forth. Yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. All right. Let's move on to another topic because it's nice to see that the issue with a low employment has not affected Christia Freeland, who's got more jobs than I think she can shake a stick at. So the MP for in downtown Toronto, left cabinet.

And next thing, you know, she's lining up all sorts of jobs. but this last one that was just announced is a curious one in that she was announced that she has been hired by Ukraine, by the government of Ukraine to be part of the team that focuses on its reconstruction.

And I think it's a little weird to take a job with one country when you still kind of have a job with another. And I'm sure she's going to resign any day now. She's issued a tweet actually. Oh, she did. Is that new?

Yes. So she's issued a tweet, Ben. The position she took with the Ukrainian government is a non-paid position. The real conflict here is that she is a Canadian member of parliament. A Canadian member of parliament cannot be advising any foreign government regardless of the cause. Yeah, I mean, I'm sorry that you could find yourself in a position of conflict where the advice that you're giving that leader runs contrary to the interests of Canada and its people. And even if she's resigning tomorrow, today she's in a conflict.

And that in and of itself is a problem. Max, am I making a mountain out of a molehill here? I mean, I think you are. We went over this the last time Christopher had a job announced that she was doing. Oh, this one's different. This one's different. I think she lives rent-free in a lot of heads the same way that the former prime minister did. You know, she was the minister of everything under the previous government. Maybe she's bored, doesn't, has a lot of time on her hands and needs something to occupy her. She clearly has a longstanding commitment to and passion for the Ukrainian cause. I can't really see how there's any conflict of interest between helping Ukraine and serving as a member of parliament in Canada.

But, you know, I agree that she probably should resign before she announces these jobs. You know, her heart is clearly elsewhere, but I'm guessing the prime minister isn't ready to call those by. elections yet and maybe there was a bit of a mix up here. Dimitri, the last 45 seconds to you. Not even. We cannot take this on a case by case basis. If you are a Canadian member of parliament,

your only loyalty is to the Canadian people. The moment you decide to take money of responsibility, paid or not to advise a foreign government, you need to cease being a Canadian member of parliament effective immediately. And it's not about questioning

Ms. Freelands. No. You know, the cause that she's doing. It's about one set of rules for all members of parliament. Her tweet said she will resign the next few weeks. It's probably best if she resigned today. I agree. Yeah, I want to echo.

I don't think she's, I'm happy that she's going to have such a successful post-political career. I'm very happy for her about that. And she seems to have found the right jobs. Resign first. I think that's just, resign first before you announce this stuff.

Have it all lined up. So you can announce it that. very next day. I just say it's not a good look and it does open the door for other politicians to be able to do it for other countries that we might not have as great relations with. All right. When we come back, we continue with our stellar conversation with our stellar panel. Don't go anywhere. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show and welcome back to our political panel joining us today, Dmitri Soutis and Max Fawcett. Guys, thanks so much for sticking around.

And let's circle back to the topic that started our last segment and Venezuela. But let's look at it through the Canadian angle because Venezuela's got a lot of what Canada's got, which is oil. And we know from the president's own words that a big chunk of this of doing this was for oil. talk to me, Max, you're in the heart of it. Talk to me about the potential downside for us here. Because there are people who are panicking today. I suspect it's a little premature, but there are people panic today. Yeah, I would say don't panic.

You know, the markets are, you know, everything's up in the market except for Canadian oil stocks today. So the market is worried. You know, Venezuelan oil is a good substitute for the Canadian oil that we export to the United States. The issue is that they don't actually have pipelines to get. get Venezuelan crude from the Gulf Coast up to the Midwest where most of our barrels get refined. So we're okay for the near term. I wouldn't panic. It's the longer term that I would start to look at a little more closely because number one, this means probably more production in the longer term. It's not just Venezuela. There's a huge offshore deposit in nearby Guyana that the

Venezuelan regime has been threatening. This may clear the decks for more production there. So that's bad for prices. And it may be bad for demand long term because Trump is creating such an obvious sort of narrative here around oil and Venezuela that it may encourage people to start pushing back. They couldn't do that during the Iraq war in the early 2000s because electric vehicles were basically nowhere. They're much less than nowhere now. You know, electric vehicles are vastly more competitive. And people could say, you know what, I don't want any part of this whole structure. I'm just going to replace my car, get an EV and, you know, have.

my own little act of resistance. So there's a lot of ways this could go, I think, badly for Alberta in the medium to long term, not the near term. Yeah. Dimitri, what are your thoughts? Well, there's also the flip side of the coin that China also declared war and not with missiles, but with lawyers. Because what Donald Trump is doing basically, he's displacing Chinese and Russian oil

interests in Venezuela and basically stepping in. So Chinese interests in Venezuela are actually protected by law. So they, China, announced something far more dangerous. They're going to make regime change uninsurable. And what analysts are saying today and what some analysts are saying is that this isn't about just $19 billion of loans. It's $1.3 trillion in Belt and Road debt across 150 countries. So every dollar to China.

Yeah, you're talking about the money that they invest. invested in infrastructure in return for access to that oil? You're saying that what they want that money back? Well, they will pursue international arbitration. They will invoke bilateral investment treaties and so on and so forth. Interesting. And listen, from what I heard, I read a few early analysis of what happened and why this sky was falling in Canada.

But then a little bit of pushback came on social media saying, look, their oil production has taken such a hit over the past a few years that to ramp it back up, you can't do overnight, that it's a two or three or four year process to get it back to a place where they could even be in a place to displace Canadian oil. I don't know if that's true, but I, you know, rather than panic and get to hit a keyboard, immediately I decide to wait and talk to find people like you who know more about this stuff than I. I would like to finish this up with a story that has not.

been covered nearly as much as it shouldn't certainly isn't being covered as much as uh as much as what's happening in venezuela and that's that's what's going on in iran and you know we've seen this before guys we've seen uh spontaneous uprisings uh in the past few years i don't think we've seen anything like this uh yet uh and it feels to me like uh as as um what's his name Seinfeld talked about a breakup. You don't do it all at once. It's like rocking a Coke machine back and forth. You've got to get moving before it'll ultimately fall over.

I don't know if this is the ultimate move that will make that Coke regime fall over. But it does feel like that country's on the precipice in a lot of ways. And I just want to know what you guys think. And, Dimitri, why don't we start with you? I agree with you. this time it may be different. The question here is, and back to Max's point initially on Venezuela earlier today, this is a total hot zone, which means what preparation has been made if the regime actually collapses.

Should it collapse? Yes, but have preparations been made in order to bring stability to Iran and not make things worse? Yeah. And that's, you know, I think the Americans in this case, they could, Max, they could play. a really positive role as opposed to always being the guys who at least

we perceive mucking up situations but if this is actually a spontaneous uprising by the people to shed the woke of this terrible regime

then there is a role for a country like the United States to play not necessarily as the tip of the sphere but in other ways they could be showing

support they could be I don't know what I'm not quite sure what those things are but you know they're in that country right we know

they're in that country There could be things they do, Max. Yeah, I mean, you know, you spoke earlier of not just reacting reflexively to Trump. And I think that's a good thing to have in mind here, which is, you know, so far from what I've seen, the Trump administration has been very good about creating attention for the Iranian regime saying, you have to let these people speak. And if you engage in any violence, there will be held to pay. And I think that's the right approach.

I mean, obviously, this is, I think, being led by Israel and maybe some of the other Gulf nations in terms of trying to overthrow this regime. It would be such an amazing thing. You know, the Iranian people have been abused, mistreated, have suffered under this regime for far too long. What a gift to democracy and just to the human family. It would be to see them get to their voice, get to finally be heard and have their freedom. I think there's a long way to go there yet. This regime will not go without a fight. But the Americans, you know, if they really want to put the pressure on keeping oil prices low, you know, sorry Alberta, but that is probably a really good lever to pull right now because the Iranian regime desperately depends on those

oil sales for their revenues. So maybe that's another angle that the Americans are going to pursue here. Yeah. And Max, I can't, I'm sorry, Demetra, I can't imagine, though, that the Americans are just going to sit there and say, hey, to the Mullahs, you better watch it. You got to let these people speak. they have there has to be something happening in the background that that can that where the Americans can quietly and maybe Israel as well quietly add some some I don't know some juice to these these guys because sitting back and watching it hoping as as I am as a spectator that this is the final rock to get it over there's too much vested in this being the time for for us to just leave it up to chance no right but at the same time this is still not

a full-fledged revolution it's it's sustained national unrest um one thing i'll say is in my 20 years of following what's happening in iran it's the first time that i see a leaked memo that talks about plans for the ayatollah to actually leave iran and and and go to go to russia oh wow um so you know fingers crossed this may be the time where this regime this totalitarian evil regime will fall, the absolute biggest concern is stabilizing that country with the Shah going back and so on and so forth. We only have about a minute left and I want to ask you, did you make any resolutions this year, Dimitri?

No, I didn't. Yeah, I didn't. Max, did you? I resolved not to make any resolution. So I'm doing really well. So the only thing I wanted to do was start out with some healthy changes about a month before the year so I could get that running start I needed that I wouldn't give up in January and it a lot of it had five days in I haven't lost steam yet but ask me again next week hey gentlemen thank you very

much I really look forward to seeing you and talking to you at this time every week but all the best to you happy new year and I'll see it and enjoy your week it's a pleasure My name is Jordan, and I'd like to invite you to join me on the Canadian Gothic, a podcast covering stories of Canadian crime, mystery, and the offbeat. The Canadian Gothic blends the spirit of late-night talk radio with the depth of a documentary film and applies that approach to both developing stories and historic. cases. So if you're drawn to the dark, mysterious, and offbeat, search for and subscribe to the Canadian Gothic wherever you find podcasts. You were listening to Canadian Gothic.