The Megyn Kelly Show - More Dems Push Biden to Go, and Haley Endorses Trump and RNC Day 2 Highlights, with Vivek Ramaswamy, Rep. Elise Stefanik, and Ruthless | Ep. 840

Episode Date: July 17, 2024

Megyn Kelly is live from the Republican National Convention, with Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the hosts of the Ruthless podcast, and Vivek Ramaswamy. She and Rep. Stefanik discuss Nikki Haley’s "strong" endorsement of Donald Trump at the RNC, her reasoning behind it, Ron DeSantis' speech at the convention, important moments from "everyday Americans" on night two, the state of antisemitism on college campuses in America today, how Stefanik handled the now-iconic Capitol Hill hearings with university presidents, new details emerging about the assassination attempt on Trump, what we know now about the shooter, and more. Then John Ashbrook, Michael Duncan, Josh Holmes, and Comfortably Smug, hosts of the Ruthless podcast, join to discuss Sen. Schumer reportedly asking President Biden to step aside, why the conversation is the "worst kept" secret at the RNC, what it means for Biden, what reportedly happened on a heated internal call between Joe Biden and Democrats on Saturday, how Biden’s memory and mobility problems are continuing to get worse, why foreign leaders can’t take Biden seriously, the contrast between him and Donald Trump’s strength and resilience, and more. Then Ramaswamy joins to talk about backlash he is getting from the media and left after his speech at the RNC, the appeal the GOP has to Gen Z voters and other demographics that typically vote Democrat, his history and friendship with J.D. Vance, why he thinks Joe Biden will be pushed aside as the Democratic nominee, what this means for Kamala Harris and the other Democratic names circulating, why he thinks Gavin Newsom has his sights set on 2028, Newsom's crazy policies taking over California, and more. Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKellyTwitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShowInstagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShowFacebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at: https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow

Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, live on Sirius XM Channel 111 every weekday at noon east. Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, coming to you live from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We will be here over the next couple of days, and during today's show, we're going to be joined on set by two of the big convention speakers, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik of New York and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. And we have a huge development involving the Democratic Party and its efforts to get rid of President Biden as their nominee for a second term. The guys from the Ruthless program, now they're already booked. They're also going to be here today. It's banner day. They're going to be joining us during this show, and they broke some major news on their show today. These guys, you may know them as the lovable pundits who have lots of smart thoughts on all things in the news,

but their day jobs are they work with Republicans to get them elected or reelected, and they've got a lot of good contacts on the Hill. They are reporting that they are hearing that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, when we know he recently went to President Biden's home in Delaware this weekend, that what he did while there was asked Mr. Biden to step aside as the party's nominee. If that's true, that's huge.

We have not heard anything putting it right on Schumer yet. We saw Pelosi's machinations about a week ago. Haven't heard this from Schumer so far. He was saying, I'm with Joe, I'm with Joe. Or is he? So we didn't with the president. And in the end, that wasn't received very well by the sitting president. Apparently he wasn't persuaded. But the fact that now Schumer is bringing it to him, at least according to our friends, is significant. We'll get into all of that. The guys will be here shortly. We'll go in depth. But back to what's happening here. This week's big theme has been unity in the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Trump. Some of his biggest GOP rivals have been here on hand to make it clear they are firmly, not a little, not sort of, firmly and enthusiastically on Team Trump and urging other Republicans and right-leaning independents to do the same.

Among them, former South Carolina Governor and U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and current Florida governor Ron DeSantis. While the GOP has come together in the days since Mr. Trump was nearly killed, the left just cannot help themselves. They cannot let go of their venom for the former president, even as he's literally still wearing a bandage, even just for a few days. Listen to the insanity spewed by tech journalist Kara Swisher and NYU professor Scott Galloway on their Pivot podcast yesterday. People on both sides of the political spectrum are sharing theories, the false flag claiming the picture was staged. He certainly was fast on his feet, so to speak. Yeah, it wasn't staged. Wow. There's ridiculous theories on both sides. The worst on the right. But I don't know if you heard, but right before Melania gave her public statement, she was heard yelling into a phone, you had one job.

Too soon? Too soon? I like a joke. My favorite joke was from someone where they said, let's hope it's not a time traveler from the future who can't shoot. It was something like that. Anyway. Oh, no. The truth is, I mean, probably the most likely conspiracy theory is the Democratic Party ordered a hit, but they used Teemu for it. They used Teemu. Oh.

All right. We'll stop with the jokes. So funny that our former president and the GOP nominee for president almost got killed. Such a topic full of levity. And then there's the media reaction to Trump supporters, the so-called everyday Americans, who stole the show last night as they detailed truly moving and at times very painful stories of loved ones who were killed. You looked at the audience reaction and you saw delegates out there, men and women, openly crying. And if you have a heart, you felt it too. Apparently, that's not how they felt over at MSNBC and in the mainstream media,

because of course, weak channels serve to see what they were saying about these moments. And apparently, MSNBC did not feel like any of this was worth their precious airtime. Among them, among those that they ignored, New York mother Madeline Brame. This woman lit up the stage. Her son, Sergeant Hassan Korea, was an Afghanistan war vet and married father of three. In 2018, he was beaten and stabbed in the heart back home by a gang of people he did not know. She raised this point. He survived service overseas. He came home, got killed in Harlem. Two of his four attackers were later given sweetheart plea deals by none other than Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg. Watch.

He received enemy fire from the Taliban, only to be murdered with a knife on the streets of New York City. The four assailants responsible for his death initially were facing justice, but that changed when District Attorney Alvin Bragg was elected. Suddenly, two of the homicidal maniacs responsible for my son's death had their gang assault and murder charges completely dismissed. And we need accountability for prosecutors who failed in their duty. The democratic party that poor minorities have been loyal to for decades, including myself. All right.

They betrayed us. They stabbed us in the back. But my eyes have been opened. Donald Trump shares our values. He's been a victim of the same corrupt system that I have been and my family has been. Trump was right when he said, they're after us. He's just standing in the way wow, I got chills just listening to her again and I've already heard it

what was MSNBC doing during her story? Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, Stephanie Ruhl and Joy Reid were at the desk and went to commercial break when they came back there was no mention of what was said, despite the huge reaction from the crowd. In fact, Rachel Maddow proceeded to talk about anti-Republican protesters who are outside the convention. You see, Black Lives Matter, unless they are lost at the hands of a criminal who then gets let off by Alvin Bragg, in which case we don't care. We don't care about that

man. We don't care about his grieving mom. We move on to commercial. And then there was the story of Rachel Marin, a mother of five who was raped and killed by a suspected illegal immigrant with a very violent history. Her brother spoke about her death and laid into the Biden administration's border policy. Open borders are often portrayed as compassionate and virtuous, but there is nothing compassionate about allowing violent criminals into our country and robbing children of their mother. Joe Biden and his designated border czar, Kamala Harris, opened our borders to him and others like him, empowering them to victimize the innocent. Yet, to this day, we have not heard from Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. Hmm. What was happening on MSNBC at the time? Chris Hayes was expressing how upset he was because these people who were speaking or called everyday Americans.

I just want to note that when it was coined, everyday American rubbed me the wrong way, but it seems to have taken off. Just want to note that everyday American, which is the title for the individual speaking right now, has seemed to work. I didn't think that had legs, but it has. Inhuman. Heaven forbid MSNBC give any airtime to people whose loved ones died, especially if they had any criticism for democratic policies. and create a ripple effect of transformation for generations to come. Change the world for good by putting others before yourself. Whether your pursuit involves a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree, GCU's online, on-campus, and hybrid learning environments are designed to help you achieve your unique academic, personal, and professional goals. With over 330 academic programs as of September, GCU meets you where you are and

provides a path to help you fulfill your dreams. The pursuit to serve others is yours. Let it flourish. Find your purpose at Grand Canyon University. Private. Christian. Affordable. Visit gcu.edu. Joining me now, one of the stars of last night alongside the everyday americans and that was congresswoman elise stefanik of new york's 21st congressional district she is chair of the house republican conference congresswoman great to have you here thanks for being here great to be with you megan can you believe that is the reaction to those testimonials we heard no it's unbelievable and these are everyday americans and they're feeling the impact of Joe Biden's catastrophic leadership. It was powerful. The American people are watching, and that's why you're seeing a growing Republican party and the unified support,

not just among registered Republican, Megan, but registered Democrats. President Trump, look at New York State. He is winning every single swing district in New York State. He is within single digits. Historic support among Hispanic voters, African-American voters, young voters. And the Democrats, what do they have? They attack these everyday Americans. It's disgraceful. It's why people no longer have faith in the mainstream media. That's why your show continues to grow, because people want to hear the real stories of how these policies are impacting their lives. God bless these everyday Americans for speaking out. It is not easy to get up and speak in front of a convention floor with tens of thousands of people,

but they feel so strongly about their family stories. I am proud of them. And I know as a member of Congress, it's my responsibility to represent the people in my district every single day. Yeah, exactly. I mean, we heard that mom, she's from New York, not your district, but she's from New York State. I'm from New York State, 50 years. Now I'm in Connecticut. You know why? The crazy schools. But this is a massive problem. And like the nerve for the media to turn away, they turn away every time it comes on. And that's why Democrats continue to feel it's not a problem. You know, it's humane to have an open border. You know, we've been too tough on criminals. We need to go the opposite direction because they're not being told these stories. And when they pop up,

they get ignored. It's infuriating. And what they do is the Democrats attack the victims. I've been in committee hearings when we have victims of heinous crimes testifying. You have mothers who have lost their adult children. You have spouses who are sharing their very heartfelt, tearful stories. And Democrat members of Congress, led by Joe Biden at the top of the Democrat Party, attack the victims. So they're not just pro-criminal, they're becoming anti-victim, anti-American. And those stories show every state in the country is a border state. The crime scourge and crime crisis, it's not just in big cities, Megan. We see it in upstate New York. We had a bank robbery over the past two years in Glens Falls, New York, a small city in upstate in the North Country known as

hometown USA. We've had smash and grabs in Saratoga Springs. These are cities where we did not have crime issues. We are now because of the failed policies of the defund the police Democrat party today. The reason all these folks were there last night is because the theme of the evening was make America safe again. And they were speaking about some of the problems that we need to address to do that. They also, on the theme of unity, had, as I mentioned, Nikki Haley was there. Ron DeSantis was there. And unlike, I think it was Ted Cruz in 16 with Trump who said, and I like Ted, but vote your conscience or however he said it.

It was not a ringing endorsement of Trump. They had fought tooth and nail. They're good now. And he spoke, was it last night? I watched it. Yeah, it was last night. He did a great job. But anyway, Nikki Haley came out and she did not half-ass it. She said, strong endorsement. Here's a bit. I'll start by making one thing perfectly clear. Donald Trump has my strong endorsement, period. We should acknowledge that there are some Americans who don't agree with Donald Trump 100% of the time. I happen to know some of them. And I want to speak to them tonight. My message to them is simple.

You don't have to agree with Trump 100% of the time to vote for him. I'm here tonight because we have a country to save. I thought that was a very important moment for Trump in this election. What did you think? I thought it was an important moment. I thought this unity, this excitement, it's historic. And I've been a part of many conventions over the years. I've never felt a Republican Party more unified. And I think the fact that Nikki Haley, Ron DeStantis, Ted Cruz, you know, potential challengers of President Trump in the past, both in 2016 and 2024, stepped up and talked about the stakes of this election. And she was spot on. The state of our country, we need to save our country. And we know that President Trump is going to fire Joe Biden with the support of the American people and save our country,

who we are as a very nation. If they can put the differences they had in the, you know, primary campaign behind them, she's basically telegraphing to her supporters. So can you. You know, we have a country to save. This is the stakes are too high to not get this one right. Ron DeSantis came out with, you know with a very strong message on DEI and the Democrats policies when it comes to that stuff and also said the following. Watch. They stand for DEI, which really means division, exclusion and indoctrination. And it is wrong. They mandated that you show proof of a COVID vaccine to go to a restaurant, but they oppose requiring proof of citizenship to cast a vote. They can't even define what a woman is.

Now Donald Trump stands in their way and he stands up for America. Donald Trump has been demonized, he's been sued, he's been prosecuted, and he nearly lost his life. We cannot let him down and we cannot let America down. afford four more years of another of a weekend at Bernie's presidency, which let's face it, many of us have used that line. I know it's not nice and not polite, but the point is, we don't feel he's running the show that Joe Biden's running. And the American people understand exactly what that line means, because it's what we see every single day. It's what the mainstream media has tried to cover up. It's what the entire Democratic ecosystem has tried to cover up for two years. Remember, any Republican, because I was one of them that spoke out and said Joe Biden is unfit for the

presidency, is unfit to be commander in chief. We were smeared saying we're lying conspiracy theorists. It is the truth. And after the debate, 50 million Americans saw that in a crisp way. And what's so concerning is the rest of the world saw that as well. But I want to go back to the Ron DeSantis clip. I'm glad you played that clip. I was sitting in the president's box with President Trump during that speech. And that exact line that DEI is division, exclusion and indoctrination. I remember thinking to myself, that is a great line. That is exactly what it is. This is exactly what the agenda of the left is. And that has to do with a lot of work that I've been doing on college campuses where the root of DEI is very much a part of this root of antisemitism, dividing, indoctrinating, and it's morally bankrupt. So I thought Ron did a great job and it's just was a unifying moment.

And I was so proud to sit there with President Trump. Yes. So the DEI, I mean, like you've been such a great fighter on this. And when we saw you cross-examine those, as you put it last night, now former college presidents, it was a thing of beauty. Instead, I want to show them. Let's just take a quick walk down memory lane with Elise Stefanik and the presidents at the time of Harvard, Stanford. And what was the other one? Harvard, MIT, and Penn. Then we had Columbia later. Columbia came later.

Okay, watch. Dr. Kornbluth, at MIT, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate MIT's code of conduct or rules regarding bullying and harassment? Yes or no? If targeted at individuals not making public statements. Yes or no? Calling for the genocide of Jews does not constitute bullying and harassment I have not heard only for the genocide for Jews on our campus but you've heard chance for intifada I've heard chance

which can be anti-semitic depending on the context when calling for the elimination of the Jewish people Specifically calling for the genocide of Jews, does that constitute bullying or harassment? If it is directed and severe or pervasive, it is harassment. So the answer is yes. It is a context-dependent decision. So the answer is yes, that calling for the genocide of Jews

violates Harvard Code of Conduct, correct. Again, it depends on the context. It does not depend on the context. The answer is yes, and this is why you should resign. These are unacceptable answers across the board. That was so powerful. We were all cheering you at these heartless people who showed up there like it was some sort of advanced physics exam instead of calling for mass genocide of the Jewish people.

So can I just ask you, like, what's in your background? Like, did you start off as a prosecutor? Forgive me, I should know this. I'm not a lawyer. You look like a lawyer. I went to Harvard undergrad. I'm not a lawyer. I've been in Congress for 10 years.

And what's interesting about that question, Megan, is it was the last question of the hearing. It was the most junior member who yielded me the last three minutes. I hadn't prepared that question. I thought, how can I ask them in a straightforward moral way to box them in to answer it correctly? And my follow-up was going to be what disciplinary action has been taken against students who have violated the code of conduct. So I wrote it down in pencil literally two minutes beforehand, started with MIT thinking this is a technical school. They're not as far gone as Harvard and Penn. And then it was shocking to me real time that they said basically verbatim, it depends on the context. And the interesting thing about the hearing was there was no media in there. That's the C-SPAN clip. And they stood up, they left. It was the last question. They didn't think there was anything

wrong. And then in a week week a billion people saw that. Because of the moral bankruptcy of their answers, it is now the most viewed testimony in the history of the United States Congress, more than Watergate, more than any other congressional hearing, because, again, they're so out of touch with everyday Americans. You put up three constituents in my district, a farmer, a suburban mom, a manufacturing worker, they know how to answer the question. It is a disgrace that the

presidents of our so-called elite universities, one of which is my alma mater, I graduated from Harvard as the first member of my immediate family to have that opportunity. It was not like that when I was there 20 years ago. So it took 48 hours for the Penn president to be forced out. It took a month for the Harvard president to be forced out. It took a month for the Harvard president to be forced out. The MIT president is clinging on. We have since seen the Columbia president's catastrophic testimony as well. This is pervasive in higher ed. We have worked on this investigation.

If you think the hearing was bad, Megan, we're going to have to talk about all the documents that have been turned over because of our subpoena. We'll put out a report later this year. That's even more bombshell material in there. It's a disgrace what's happening at these universities. The sad part is, among many sad parts of this, is it's not just the top, the presidents.

It goes deep. It's these offices of DEI. It's the administrators. It's 95% of the tenured faculty who supported the presidents and didn't speak out on behalf of what's morally correct, that you condemn calling for the genocide of Jews and it violates the code of conduct. Can I tell you something? These are the same people who lecture us every other day about empathy. No, we really just need to be more empathetic. And what they mean by that is we need

to support DEI. We need to promote or dismiss people based on the color of their skin, based on their gender, based on their sexual preferences. That's what's empathetic, no matter who gets screwed as a result of these insane policies. And in that same category would be Kara Swisher. And I like Scott Galloway. I'm shocked to hear him talk like this with her. I know it was a joke. It's inappropriate. The man, a man was killed.

Two people are still fighting for their lives. And President Trump dodged a bullet within an inch of his life and was grazed by it. I hadn't heard that until you played it at the start of this show, and I was appalled listening to it. I cannot believe that these are media personalities who are spewing this hate, who are essentially making light of an assassination attempt. And you're right, a 50-year-old former fire chief who is a dad, a husband, who died as a result of this assassin. So it is a disgrace what the media is doing. They have fueled this hate towards President Trump, but it's really a hate of Americans who support President Trump, which is a diverse group of Americans. It is a disgrace. And this is about

unity. This is about saving who we are as America. So this is an exciting historic moment at this convention. You see a stark contrast with the hate on the left versus the unity that we have in the Republican Party. If you can't be empathetic after the man gets shot at, right? The ear, a man is dead. You can't be empathetic, period. Like, don't ask me for empathy when I don't favor quotas and hiring. And yet I can see the man's humanity and you cannot. She said in that clip we played in the intro, he was awfully fast on his feet about President Trump. Like, that's unbelievable. I talked with a Secret Service agent just the other day who we talked about how they do train them to go down and that he was being yelled at by the Secret Service, get down, and that they train them. There's armor behind those lecterns. So that's what you do, right,

to save your life. She thinks it's suspicious. And she's not the only one. There's plenty of crackpots out there I could bring before you and say, look at this nutcase. Michael Steele, Michael Steele, the former head of the RNC. He's now one of those never Trump Republicans, or maybe he's one of those never more Republicans. Listen to him. It's been three days going on four since this horrific event occurred. A person lost their life to have been severely injured. And yet we've not received a medical report from the hospital, nor have we received a medical report from the campaign or from the Trump organization about the extent of the damage to his ear. If he was shot by a high caliber bullet, there's probably be very little ear there.

And so we'd like to know that. Is there cosmetic surgery involved? What is the prognosis for recovery? Were there stitches? What is the extent and nature of the damage to his ear? Was it caused by a bullet as opposed to some reports from those on the scene, other reporters, saying that it was actually shards of glass from the teleprompter itself, not the bullet? So there are a lot of questions around that ear. Michael Steele is correct. While there is a certain amount of time that could be understandable for any medical scenario, the calls around the current president's medical condition, the questions around his capacity, right, are also the same questions you have in a medical event like this. Certainly the public would want to know as much as possible about both incidents,

and the Trump campaign has not been the most transparent. So I think medical records and briefing on that at some point would be appropriate. That's what journalists often ask. I don't watch MSDNC. You shouldn't. So I'm seeing these clips for the first time. This is appalling. The questions I have is how is this security lapse even happen? We need to get an answer to that. How is this assassin able to get on the roof in being able to take a clean shot at the President of the United States? Those are the questions we are asking to make sure this never happens again to any president and just make sure of any party you need to stand up for the safety and security of the president no matter who it is. It is

a disgrace. And yet the media calls us conspiracy theorists. That conspiracy theory that I just heard spewed is despicable. And it is tearing this country apart. We stand strongly with President Trump. The American people understand that he is a grandfather. He is a father. He's a former president of the United States, and he's going to be the next president of the United States. So that is a disgrace. What we're focused on as members of Congress is asking those very important questions of the Secret Service, making sure we get all the information possible as to how this possibly is starting. Okay, can you talk about that? Because I think a lot of us are shocked that the head of the Secret Service has not tendered her resignation. She went on the record and said the reason we didn't have somebody on that roof where the shooter was, was it's sloped. And so

there's a safety concern. She's on camera saying it. There's no question she said it, which had people like Rob O'Neill who shot bin Laden saying, you know, sure, sure. Glad the roof there wasn't sloped. You know, bin Laden still be, it's absurd. The two positions from which the counter snipers were firing were sloped more so than the roof that the shooter was on. So that doesn't make any sense. It's an obvious lie to cover up what was at best for them now, gross negligence. So why is she not fired? And what do you think we're going to learn at these hearings? Well, we will have our first call this afternoon. We had an initial briefing from the sergeant at arms about the security posture here. Today, we'll have the deputy director of

the FBI as well as her deputy of the Secret Service. I don't anticipate getting a lot of transparent and fulsome answers, but we will have our first hearing next week by the House Oversight Committee. And what is really important in these cases, Megan, these agencies can't drag on turning over documentation, turning over the full truth. We need 100% transparency on the front. We will not hesitate to use our subpoena power and hold these people accountable so this never happens again.

I also want to get to the bottom of the fact that President Trump's campaign had requested additional Secret Service requests because of the heightened threats. And he gets more threats probably than anyone, probably more than anyone in the world, Megan. And I believe that was denied. I want to know the answers to that question and why that decision was made. And you know, I'm sure a spokesperson says it wasn't denied, but he's been a little cagey in his language. They always try to, they answer it in a way to try to protect and-

He gave resources. Well, what does that mean? He got new laptops? That's why it's important to ask the right questions. And you know, I do my oversight like I did for the university presidents. We are going to do that to make sure that we hold these folks accountable again

so it doesn't happen again. And so we have safety and security for presidents of the United States and candidates for federal office. Do you think that Kim Cheadle should be forced to resign? She should tender her resignation? You know, I believe that, yes. I want to see how this call goes.

I do not have optimism that we're going to get a lot of information on this call. But the buck stops with you. When you're head of these agencies, the buck stops with you. So I'm very concerned when I see finger pointing in other directions. So I would lean towards yes. I do want to have one opportunity to ask direct questions because I don't hesitate to call for people to resign if they don't know how to answer the questions. In that clip, we had an MSNBC anchor comparing President Trump's ear information to Joe Biden's cognitive decline as like, you know, the same thing we're entitled to. OK, President Trump did put out a statement saying that the bullet grazed his ear.

They just don't believe it. They want it as if any of it matters. I mean, it's it's absurd. We saw it's on camera. A man is dead. So it's absolutely insane. OK, but anyway, I got to end with this. On the subject of Biden's cognitive decline, we broke the news at the top from our friends who are in politics, the guys who host this ruthless program, which we love, that Schumer actually did go to Biden over the weekend and ask him to step down as the nominee. And that, according to our friends who are up next, many news organizations know this and haven't yet reported

it. I think they're probably looking to shore up the sources because there are only two men in the room. But if that is true, how significant is that in the wave to get Biden to step aside? You know, that's very significant. I will have to tell you, Megan, I'm not surprised. At the highest levels, there is sheer panic because they see the polling and Leader Schumer sees the polling bottoming out. We are going to flip the Senate and he's no longer going to be the majority leader of the United States Senate. But that will be a bombshell. But I don't think, regardless of what Schumer, Pelosi and Jeffrey says, I think Joe Biden is in it for, he is going to be on the

ballot. He was elected by the Democrat primary voters. I think they are dug in as a family and we're going to defeat Joe Biden this November because I believe the Democratic Party is, we see this in the House, it's so fractured. They are anything but unified. And imagine the infighting. Imagine with Kamala Harris. So I don't think he steps down. But for Schumer to make that call and the media not reporting it, they need to put that reporting out there instead of covering up for them. It doesn't surprise me. Should have had a primary. It's too late now. It is too late now. And because they cover people knew about this cognitive and physical decline, and yet they forced it through. This goes back to 2021. He campaigned from his basement. Remember, the media protected him

campaigning from his basement. The Democrat ecosystem protected him. And yet we see just a significant decline. Wow. What a day. This has been quite a week for Republicans. Some shocking things happened. Some very positive things happened. The lawfare against President Trump collapsed. And we're only on. Is it Wednesday? It's Wednesday. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Great to be with you, Megan. Great to see you. To be continued. All right. And up next, the guys from Ruthless will ask them all about their big scoop. Do you ever think, how can I work this hard and still be in debt? The piles of overdue bills, the threatening phone calls, never having money to do anything. If you are trapped in debt,

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for free. What do you have to lose except your debt? Go to donewithdebt.com. That's donewithdebt.com. That's done with debt.com. I got my sunglasses on now and you'll see why in one second. Live from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where we have some major breaking news from the guys of the Ruthless program involving President Biden's re-election campaign. Joining me now on set, Josh Holmes, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook, and the man known to his minions as Comfortably Smug. We've all gone smug. We've all gone the full smug. It's great.

It's a good look. It's nice. It is rather sunny, so why not? If you can't beat them, join them. That's a beautiful day here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All right, so I want to get to your news on Schumer first, but I do want to tell the audience this is just in. Okay, this is from Fox News about the shooter in the attempted assassination of President Trump via Fox News. Thomas Matthew Crook's parents were looking for him on Saturday in the hours leading up to the Trump shooting

and eventually called law enforcement to indicate he was missing and they were worried. It is unclear what his parents told authorities, but the call happened on Saturday before crooks later opened fire at Trump during the rally. The parents are being cooperative with authorities and the FBI is still trying to determine a motive for the attack. I mean, that to me says that you don't call the cops on your 20 year old son when you just can't find him for the morning. Oh, totally. He left a note. So there's going to be something. Yeah. They they they had reason to believe he was up to no good. That's my assumption based on what we just read. Yeah, I mean, something short of like a schizophrenic break. There has to be signs, right?

There has to be something somebody knew. Clearly, they were worried if they called the authorities. Just a huge malfunction here overall. And now it's in the news as we knew it would be. He did indeed have mental health problems, according to some of the friends who knew him. It wasn't just odd. He seemed to be off. Something changed in him. And it's no accident he was 20. We see this a lot with young male shooters

when they're around 19 or they're 20 years old. There can be a mental break. This is not any sort of an excuse, but it's just we've seen it a million times. We'll find out. We don't know whether that's what happened here, but the fact that the parents knew law enforcement needed to be called about this kid is huge. So is your news about Schumer. Who wants to take that one? Let's start with Smashdown on the end. He's kind of our Washington correspondent.

You look so grown up. I kind of can't get over it. He fakes it super well. One of the things we all know about the Washington media is that they don't report everything they know. But often there are rumors that circulate among them that they cannot put in the newspaper because they don't want to burn their bosses, their Democrat sources. What we understand is that Chuck Schumer drove himself or was driven to Delaware to have a personal one-one meeting with Joe Biden to make his appeal that Biden should not be the nominee. They're trying to steal the nomination from this old man. Arm wrestling away. And it apparently didn't go over well.

It didn't. Josh has the details on the meeting. What a shock. Yeah, well, I mean, so look, I think knowing Schumer, we speculate what he does, but I'm sure that he had poll numbers and all kinds of things indicating it was a huge problem for the party down ballot, obviously. And this is the moment, right? Biden said, I'll resign if somebody shows me that I can't win. So he goes in with polls. I think he took advantage of it and had this conversation, ultimately didn't get the answer that he wanted. When he came out of the meeting, he said, good meeting, which to me immediately was a huge sign, right? If you're meeting with a nominee of your party 100 days before an election and you don't say, I fully support Joe Biden.

And you know he's twisting in the wind. Yeah, I fully support him. Our conference supports him. We can't wait to vote for him in November. Something short of that indicates there's something else that happened. And then what we found out when we got to Milwaukee, it's the worst kept secret. Every single journalist, whether it's, you know, you name the publication, we've talked to them over the last few days.

Every single person knows exactly what happened, but they ask Chuck Schumer and it's a one-on-one meeting and he denies it. So they're not reporting. Well, I mean, obviously he's spoken and so is Biden to others

and that's how these reporters get it. And, you know, they always report things that are not, you don't get from the direct source. So this is kind of sketchy to me. There's a reason. Well, it's about a Democrat, Megan. But now the press has turned on him.

So they want this out, probably. And so the interesting thing is, as soon as we bring this up, I check my Twitter after we put it out there and Schumer's press secretary starts following me. Yeah, he's not a huge fan, not a known fan of country. I appreciate him confirming that.

Be like, well, I got to keep an eye on these guys because somehow they hear it. Maybe he wants to DM you something exciting. Be like, hey, can you please get this guy off the ballot? We don't know how to do it. Well, speaking of that, I checked Drudge before we came to air. And the headlines are Adam Schiff warning big Democrat losses if Biden stays on the ballot. And then they're citing this poll by Blue Labs Analysis, I guess is a Democrat pollster firm. They had to have Jonathan Martin

of Politico, which is where the article was from, just showing that every single other possible candidate outperforms Joe Biden versus Donald Trump, every single one of them. You name it. It's not hard to come to that conclusion. I mean, there's an AP poll out today that stunned me because it shows two-thirds of Democrats. Democrats want their nominee to not be the nominee right now. That is an astounding—we're 100 days out. This is a Republican National Convention. We're just weeks away from a Democrat National Convention. Not only are they not unified behind an incumbent president of the United States,

they're actively trying to push him out in the waning days before they actually are stuck with him. Right now they have until August 7th, unless they move that online vote. They moved their nomination process up to a virtual thing on August 7th because of some weird Ohio rule. But then the Ohio rule got changed so they don't have to do it on August 7th. All these House Dems are saying, then don't. I mean, that's the incredible thing is, again, you've got the head of the DNC fighting with progressive activists saying that, oh, you know, our hands are tied. And everyone is telling him, look, we know you're lying to us. This is not the case.

You can still replace him. And he's like, well, here's what we're going to do is we're going to secretly online just make him the nominee. That's how democracy is. Just be quiet. Yeah. But, you know, it is funny. I was saying this last week, but it's like the Republicans, the MAGA supporters are completely aligned with the Joe Biden diehards.

Yeah. Democracy. You chose him. It's very wrong to deprive his voters of their vote. I think there is more support in this convention hall for Joe Biden than there will be in Chicago. Did you guys notice last night and a little bit on Monday, too? I heard Kamala Harris's name a lot more than I would expect to. Like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's policies.

This they keep like they're they're hedging. They're smart. They know she might be coming. Yeah, I mean, Duncan, we've talked about this. This is, like, something that somewhere along the way you get the impression that this is, they're going to have to do something drastic or they're going to lose by a lot here. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if you guys have noticed this, but after. Is it Duncan or is it J.D. Vance? It's J.D.

This means it's J.D. All right. It's Michael Clark Duncan. Michael Clark Duncan. But if you've noticed, like after, you know, the shooting on Saturday, the White House put out a bunch of photos of Joe Biden meeting with, you know, security, Intel, all of these. And Kamala Harris was in all of those photos sitting next to him, which is sort of rare. Yeah. Situations.

And unnecessary. And unnecessary. And unnecessary. You saw him say, when he was asked about Kamala Harris in this one interview, like, was it Lester? I can't remember who it was. He's done a few lately. And he was like, yeah, the reason I made her my vice president, she could be president. She would be a great president. Like, even he's starting to allow a little window there.

I know. But you mentioned Saturday night. I wanted to show you this. It's been on my mind. We saw President Trump now in this famous moment, right, with the blood and the fight. Iconic. That night when Joe Biden flew back to D.C. from his weekend vacation home, there was this moment on CNN when he walked up the stairs of Air Force One. I want to show it to you.

Look at this. He looked so feeble, guys. Just look at it. Just watch this. Man, it's just... Watch him. It's like you're like, oh, God, don't... You don't hit your head.

Careful. Yeah, don't... Look at that. All the steps. And the split screen. Right. It's like this is what America's feeling in their heart and their gut. No matter what these. I don't care about.

It's the story of the election, Megan. It's a contrast between the weakness we have in the White House right now or the strength that a real commander in chief is projecting at this convention this week, what Donald Trump did Saturday when he raised his fist and he told people to fight was he sent a message not just to our country, but to the entire world that he is back, that America is back. And all of a sudden, I'm sure you notice this. I know we notice this more and more people, these suburban voters, they are slowly coming out and saying, you know what, Trump's doing the right thing. Might be the right guy at the right time. Right. I mean, we talked a lot about this the last couple of days and that regardless of what you thought about Trump for

the last eight years, when you look at what happened on Saturday and you look at the contrast, as John just said, of strength, both in policy and how you run a country in a White House and the sort of feeling that you have as an American was just sort of iconically embodied by that moment when he raised his fist and said, fight, fight, fight, with blood dripping down his face. And it's, now is the time, right? Now is the time. We didn't know how depressed we actually were

until we saw somebody just want to fight for us. And that was a moment that you just crossed party lines. Huge amount of people beginning to entertain the unthinkable for us. And that was a moment that you just crossed party lines. Huge amount of people beginning to entertain the unthinkable for them. You see him in a different light. It's like the guy who did all the controversial stuff had to be that way because he's that way. Like they go together. It's right. It's just you can't get one without the other. And we really want that one. We really we need that one. That's why after Afghanistan, a lot of us were saying, there's just no way President Trump would have allowed this.

Even though he proposed the Afghanistan withdrawal plan, you knew in your gut he wouldn't have allowed it to go that badly, give up Bagram Air Force Base, because he is such a fighter. When things start going south, his instinct is to fight harder, not to cave. Now over on the Joe Biden side. Oh, actually, wait, before I do that, did you see by chance the Michael Steele clip

that I played with Elise Stefanik? That might be worth a Rerack control room team. Let's take it. Michael Steele, is he, maybe you guys can tell me, is he officially out of the Republican Party? Is he one of those like Joe Scarborough, I have a big announcement, I'm now an independent. Oh, we're shocked.

I think he might still be technically a member of the party that's celebrating its nominee. I don't know. Megan, I don't know. It feels like Serpico. He's been so deep undercover for so long. Yes.

I mean, he went even deeper, Duncan. He flipped. He went another level. Okay, look at this. It's been three days going on four since this horrific event occurred. A person lost their life to have been severely injured. And yet we've not received a medical report from the hospital, nor have we received a medical report from the campaign. Or from the Trump organization about the extent of the damage to his ear.

If he was shot by a high caliber bullet uh there should probably be very little ear there um and so we'd like to know that is there cosmetic surgery involved what is the uh the prognosis for recovery were there stitches what what is the extent and nature of the damage to his ear was it caused by a bullet as opposed to some reports from those on the scene, other reporters, saying that it was actually shards of glass from the teleprompter itself, not the bullet? So there are a lot of questions around that ear. Are there? You've got to forget Ari Melbert. We already played him.

Can you believe that? No. I'm shocked. Ballistics expert Michael Steele. Right. What are you doing, dude? Your ear would be gone. I'm shocked. Ballistics expert Michael Steele. Right. What are you doing, dude? Your ear would be gone. We saw it. Right. Like, is he suggesting that it was all a deep

fake? He's doing the homage to the online left or something there, where it's like all a big conspiracy. Well, Oberman's been going off on this for days. Was he shot by a bullet, or was it the theory is that the teleprompter,

which was there, was shot and the glass hit Trump's ear. Who gives a flying fig? Who cares? And so here's the thing is, they know they are so cooked. They want to find,

no matter how minimal, any way to undermine the courage and strength that Donald Trump showed in that moment. That theory, that harebrained theory about the teleprompter was disproven within minutes by reporters on the scene

who saw every single teleprompter was intact. And it's been already reported that it was a bullet that pierced his ear. Yeah, and the president has said it was a bullet, but Donald Trump has said, I was hit by a bullet. There's been nothing to contradict that, but I couldn't care less. I saw him get hit with something, and a man is dead, and two others are fighting for their lives right now. What I don't understand is why is it always the former Republicans who go so hard left?

Yes, did you see the Lincoln Project today? It's insane. Well, we saw six of their trucks that somebody paid for lined up and parked outside that nobody's looking at, which, you know. People still donate money to them. It's hard to believe. They're today comparing him to Hitler. No way.

Today. They're insane lunatics. So why institutionalize? Yes. Oh, here it is. Look, Hitler's power wasn't taken. It was given. And once he had control, he enacted his horrifying dictatorial agenda.

The same dynamic as at play with Trump with a picture of Adolf Hitler. And you know what? This is very much on purpose because there is a very significant portion of the Democrat Party, which is that kind of brain damaged to think these things that, oh, it was a shot of glass or no, it was a blood pack. This is all a setup. This is fake. And those people want someone to voice their insanity and they're happy to voice it to take money from it. Yes. And we started the show with Kara Swisher out there saying, well, I wrote down... Disgusting. He was pretty fast on his feet

pointing out Trump got up fast. And so she's suspicious. And then they were making jokes about assassination. They were making jokes, her and Scott Galloway, about it. Should we say jokes about it for a while? Yeah, sure. They thought it was hilarious. And then he goes too soon. I got an answer for you. Yes, it's too soon. It actually is too soon.

There are a lot of people who are really rattled by that, not only because they love Trump, but even if you're not in love with Trump, you're in love with the country. And you realize that in that split second, it could have exploded the country. The country would be burning right now if President Trump's head had blown up. I mean, it's unthinkable. Right. It's unthinkable. And also for these people not to realize what a fragile state we're in just as a country overall.

I mean, things are polarized. Things are tough. What we saw out of President Trump was really a unifying moment. I thought what we heard last night from all the speeches were exceptional. There was a point to each of them. There was a constituency, not just within the Republican Party, but well into the center, right, center, left of potential voters that was directly delivered by Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis. I thought Ramaswamy did an incredible job. Outstanding. Right. They just sort of figured

out how to have this unifying message. And meanwhile, you got that nonsense from the left. I mean, they look insane. Right. Really, like genuinely insane. Openly speculating. I mean, suggesting that this didn't happen, that it was some sort of a fake. I mean, tell it to the fire chief's widow. Exactly.

That was the point we made yesterday. I'm sure they have a different opinion about the realness of the impact of all that. Right. Like, how dare she go out there and make fun of the situation when people haven't even had funerals yet? And there's two people right now who we don't know how they're going to, we hope they're going to come through, but they're not the only ones. You guys know Daily Kos, right? Is that still around?

Yes, it's still around. That went the way of the Lincoln Project intern. It's still around. Oh my god. Did you say Lincoln Project intern? Program, yeah. Okay, yeah. Here's from Daily Kos.

This is just this morning. Unfortunately, this is looking like they will need to be stopped no matter what, and that will require having an uncomfortable conversation about how certain things are not unconditionally evil. And how collective self-defense in the name of liberty is not the same and never has been the same

as domestic terrorism in the name of oppression. And then another post. Somebody else. The official policy of the United States toward the GOP should be identical to the policies Germany has against the Nazis. What? These are all leftists saying how they really feel, that too bad he missed, there was nothing

wrong with what he did, Trump does need to be taken out, and maybe the whole thing was false to make him look good, let's see the damn ear. By the way, not for nothing, but Eric Trump apparently just put out the fact that the ear is not in stitches, but he has a, quote, nice flesh wound. We know because we saw. We saw. We watched it. It's all on camera.

It's not like this happened in a dark room, a smoky back room. Or off cam, like where nobody could see. It just happened. It was there. Everybody saw it with their eyes. We also know the impact. Like you mentioned the firefighter. Like none of this stuff is a secret. These are crazy people. that nobody could see. It just happened. It was there. Everybody saw it with their eyes. We also know the impact. Like you mentioned the firefighter.

Like none of this stuff is a secret. These are crazy people. They should be... Let me just say about that kind of thing. It is absolutely essential that if Secret Service is doing their job, they go visit people like that. 100%. Yes.

Go on Daily Kos. Go on, check the comments. You'll be there all day. If those people don't get a knock on the door, they're not doing their job. That's basic. Buddy, the problem isn't limited to Daily Kos commenters. There were people who have jobs in the federal government

who were tweeting memes about Trump should have died, about how it should have been different. In the federal government, there's an employee of the FBI. Everybody was tweeting about this over the weekend. It is, it's horrifying. I mean, there's an employee of the FBI. Everybody was tweeting about this over the weekend. It is, it's horrifying. I mean, he's a leader. He's an American leader for crying out loud. Agree with his politics or not agree with his politics.

That doesn't matter. Well, look at the outpouring from across the world. I mean, there were world leaders everywhere that put out statements. Right. And that should tell you right away the significance that he has to our country. They see him. Do you see that video today with those kids in Uganda doing like a reenactment of it? And they were they were like celebrating his fight, fight moment. It was actually pretty extraordinary. But that it's had a worldwide

impact. Standby, quick break. So much more to get to with the fellas. Don't go anywhere. Do you think America is heading in the right direction? Unfortunately, the next generation does not understand the values that have made America the greatest nation on earth. But PragerU, love PragerU, is helping to counter that. PragerU is a conservative nonprofit that promotes American values through educational videos that are highly entertaining, that reach millions of young people every single day. Right now, PragerU has an amazing opportunity. If you donate any amount, even just $1, they will send you PragerU American flag socks made in the USA as a thank you gift. Make sure to go to PragerU.com slash socks to make your donation. That's fun.

And while you're there, nose around in some videos and see why I love it so much. You can support a great organization and express your love of American values in style while doing it. Your donation will help PragerU reach more people with their videos, which is needed now more than ever. Make a 100% tax deductible donation. If you want to make it more than a dollar, I'm sure they'd love it at PragerU.com slash socks and get your socks today. It's Trump dancing for the podcast listeners in Sirius XM. The best. This montage is fantastic. That's the same dance I do when Mr. Brightside comes on at a wedding.

That's a standard dance, I when Mr. Brightside comes on at a wedding. Yeah. You know? That's a standard dance, I guess. Those are his moves. Well, at some point, we all get to have one move. Yeah. Just the fist. All right, that's enough of that. They played this, by the way, as Trump came out last night.

What is the standard move, Josh? Well, everybody has one. What is it? I kind of have like a Deion Sanders type skip, but that's all I can do. I've got one move. And if you see it, you're like, wow, that guy can dance. And that's it. Really? And that's the only thing I can do. Can I tell you, I have a dear, dear friend who is a very

successful choreographer. And she teaches amazing dance. And I watch these young women and I'm like, Joelle, you've got to teach me some of those moves. And this is all she gave me. That's it. I'm like, Joelle, you've got to teach me some of those moves. And this is all she gave me. That's it. I'm like, Joelle. Is that like a serpentine?

What must you think of me? It's like a Guns N' Roses serpentine. That's all I get. Axl Rose. Went to the right tune. You can really make that work. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's a versatile move.

If you're drunk enough, I look good. So that was Trump. All I could think when I watched it last night, guys, was can you imagine the Democratic staffers trying to put together something fun like that for Biden? An air convention? I watched that video earlier of him getting on Air Force One. I counted five steps to get through

the doorway. And then you've got a guy dancing on stage. It couldn't be clearer. I know. Democrats are putting the old Lang Syne sort of montage together for this guy ushering him out the back door.

Hey, it's been real. Great experiences in the past. Well, you know, it's like my old agent who I've told the story before, but she came to a speech I gave at which I bombed.

I emceed. I wasn't speeching. I emceed with Bob Costas. I tried to joke, and you can't joke with Washington crowds. Anyway, she comes up to me at the end, and I'm like, it didn't seem to go very well. And she goes, onward. That needs to be their theme.

That should be the theme of the Dem convention. I like how she prefaced it with former agent. It's a whole other story. At least I have to pump my tires a little bit. So we've got to talk about Joe Biden because in the wake of Saturday's huge news with President Trump,

some important news got lost and namely President Biden was having a meltdown on internal calls between Democrats, like with fellow Democrats. And hold on. I thought I heard. Yes, I do. Okay. So first there was a report that Democrats are talking to him about, you know, like, these are bad polls for you, Mr. President.

And he was absolutely yelling at them. And they said that he was the debate Joe Biden. Hold on. Oh, God. Wait, I've got to find it. This is going to be cool. He was like doing the get off my lawn routine.

Am I going to be able to do it? If my team finds this before I do, tell me what page this is on because there's so many good things. But he started yelling at them and was like bullying and the Democrats were not responding well to it and congressional progressives

couldn't believe like his behavior. Is this the Bronze Star thing? No, I'm getting to that, too. Oh, shit. My team will get it to me. I was in the AM update. Wait, is it is it just is the AM update just the Bronze Star one? Yeah.

OK. All right. So we'll get to the Bronze Star and then I'll backfill on that other one because I want you to know what I'm talking about. So on this rambling call, per Puck News, there were moderate, not progressive, congressional Democrats on and they said it was even worse than the debate. Yes, this is it, okay.

It was less than an hour before the assassination attempt which is why it didn't make news. One person on the call, the call was even worse than the debate. He was rambling. He would start an answer, then lose his train of thought, then would just say, whatever.

We've seen. Anyway, anyway, that's his new crutch. I've lost a ton of respect for him. Had the assassination attempt, another one said, not occurred an hour later, I think 50 people on that Zoom were ready to come out publicly against him. And then there was this notable exchange with Representative Jason Crowe, Democrat from Colorado, who received a bronze star as an Army Ranger fighting for us in Iraq. And here's that exchange. Okay. He writes, or the reporting from Puck is as follows. The Biden campaign did not dispute this next part about Crowe and his bronze star. In a video of the Zoom that I was able

to view, writes the reporter, you can hear Biden chastising Crow, who asked about the importance of national security to voters. First of all, I think you're dead wrong on national security, the president says. You have to imagine it much more slow and slurry. Emotion at times, garbling his words. You saw what happened in the meeting we had with NATO. I put NATO together. Name me a foreign leader who thinks I'm not the most effective leader in the world on foreign policy. Tell me. Tell me who the hell that is. Tell me who put NATO back together. Tell me who enlarged NATO. Tell me who did the Pacific Basin. Tell me who did something that you've never done with your bronze star like my son. And I'm proud of your

leadership. But guess what? What's happening? We've got Korea and Japan working together. I put a coos together anyway. Anyway, things are in chaos, and I'm bringing some order to it. And again, find me a world leader who's an ally of ours who doesn't think I'm the most respected person they've ever. Response from Crow. It's not breaking through, Mr. President. To our voters. You ought to talk about it. The reenactment is the best part.

So good. On national security, nobody's been a better president than I've been. Name me one. Name me one. So I don't want to hear that crap. Now go cut in the overflow room. Number one, we need to have Megan do like a dramatic radio theater reading of this entire Zoom call. I'll do it.

Yeah, I'll do it. Also, if the reporter's able to get their hands on the video, why aren't we seeing the video? Yeah, where is the video? Where's the video? I mean, we know that her video must be a disaster, which we're still waiting to see. We've got the transcript, and you did an admirable job of reenacting it, but I want to actually see the video

where everything that President Trump has been accused of, that he's a megalomaniac. This guy says, everyone in the world knows I'm the best. You know, I'm the best. What have you done with your Bronze Star? That's crazy. You just attacked someone.

Is that Suckers and Losers? Is that Suckers and Losers? There you go, Duncan. It does like it. And I do want to see the video because you just know, as he's gone downhill, Biden has this new,

like, sort of pained look in his face at all times, mouth agape. Well, it's like he stretched a balloon over a skeleton. Yeah, it's just horrible. I mean, it's... There is an image. It kind of is, though, right? It is. I mean, it's... There is an image. It kind of is, though, right?

It is. I mean, it's just tough. Also, just speaking on behalf of all Republicans, let's bury the video. Keep that thing in. Let's not talk about it anymore. We're all set. Nothing to hasten his departure, you're saying. He doesn't sound like the kind of guy who's interested in going anywhere.

I mean, it seems like he's digging in and digging in every single day. It doesn't matter who's talking. So my team queued this video up. I haven't seen it, but they said this just came in from an interview he gave to BET, suggesting maybe there's a glimmer of. Well, let's let's listen. If there is some medical condition that emerged, if somebody if doctors came and said, you got this problem, that problem. But I made a serious mistake in the whole debate. And look, when I originally ran, you may remember it, I said I was going to be a transitional candidate.

I thought that I'd be able to move from this to pass it on to someone else. But I didn't anticipate things getting so, so, so divided. And quite frankly, I think the only thing age brings is a little bit of wisdom. And I think I've demonstrated that I know how to get things done for the country, in spite of the fact that we couldn't get it done. But there's more to do, and I'm reluctant to walk away from that. So you heard at the top though, if my team came to me with a medical condition,

that's new. The whole thing makes me super sad because like, look, we don't know what medical condition, there's all kinds of speculation out there. But most of us know what this looks like. It's just old age, right? I mean, we've had parents, we've had grandparents. At best. We watch this. Every single person listening to

this show, watching the show, has experienced this at some level. It's like there's something beyond the partisanship that just bothers me about Democrats now having to frame all this thing of, well, I've made a serious mistake and I have, you know, I screwed this up. No, Joe, you're just really old, you know? And it's sad that there isn't anybody around him to say like, look, this isn't a great job. You know, if you're a Democrat, you think he's done a great job, but like, let's, let's move on. Cause this is embarrassing. Someone with influence, someone who loves him and who he loves. You can't unpack the toothpaste is not going back into that tube. Tomorrow will be worse than the day before. The day after that will be worse than that day. It's just,

it's progression. it's life. We all know it, but apparently they're trying to like push the sun back up in the sky for one more day and it just doesn't work. But it does feel like he's trying to give himself a little bit of an escape hatch. And you remember the reporting last week after the debate, Jill Biden being like, that can't be his swan song. And it feels like they're sort of in it still to fight for his legacy. Like, I'm the greatest, I'm the greatest, the greatest, the greatest. Right, more than the election itself. And that's the disconnect between rank-and-file Democrats

and sort of the Biden family, I think. Well, it's not just rank-and-file Democrats who have skin in the game here. Unsaid in all of this Democrat backdrop are the 2028 candidates, the Gretchen Whitmers, the Gavin Newsom, the Wes Moores of the world, who would be perfectly comfortable with Donald Trump beating Joe Biden. And then they start their rise in 2028. I mean, they don't care. Oh, they're so cynical. They'll be willing to do whatever they need. And what actually happens, you know, to the Democrats and their nominations, the second greatest mystery that we've all followed this entire year. It is the second greatest mystery.

And I got to tell you, I don't know what's going to happen. Democrats don't know what's going to happen, which is the best part about it. Yeah, they don't have a plan. How about this? Name me a foreign leader who thinks I'm not the most effective leader in the world on foreign policy. Well, that Italian gal didn't seem too pleased, did she? Sure, sure. I saw her face.

She didn't look like she was. I mean, you know, I feel like if we weren't funding Zelensky to the tune of tens of billions every other month, he might have an issue because I think he might not have gotten invaded if it hadn't been for you. Or called President Putin. Well, yeah. It's a very tough situation around the world. If you're trying to say that I'm the most respected leader and interview after interview shows you don't know what you're talking about, your own country, because the entire world is watching. Everyone is seeing not just how terrible a job Biden's doing, but the comparison. They know an election's coming.

They see this moment of strength, resilience, and hope when Donald Trump raises his fist. And meanwhile, you have someone clearly fighting only for themselves to hold their power for themselves. And how he said that I would step aside if a doctor told me to. I think the problem is a doctor is telling him to stay in, and that's Dr. Jill Biden. He's not the best doctor to be given that advice. All right, so now he's getting really desperate because you saw the news yesterday that now he's soon going to be announcing proposed big changes to the U.S. Supreme Court. And while it's not packing the court yet,

yet with additional seats, it's imposing term limits and also mandating ethical rules, yet with additional seats. It's imposing term limits and also mandating ethical rules which is like, it's a violation of the separation of powers. That's not going to happen. He has no constitutional authority to do any of it. It's all just nonsense.

It's street talk is what we talked about when I was a kid, right? It's like somebody who has absolutely no idea the way things work and they just talk as though they do. There's no chance that you could ever do that. Now, if Democrats had a codlock on government, like if Joe Biden got reelected, Democrats took the House, and Democrats somehow added to a majority in the Senate, that is a real thing. All of those people would do radical, radical things. He's going to say we need a constitutional amendment that imposes term limits on the Supreme Court. Do you know what you have to do to get a constitutional amendment that imposes term limits on the Supreme Court.

Do you know what you have to do to get a constitutional amendment? You've got to go find 36 states for starters. Right. Do you think three-fourths of the states are going to get behind that? So here's the thing is I think it's interesting you brought up that, you know, this isn't packing the court yet. If I had to try to understand what thinking his team has behind him, because he doesn't know this policy,

it's all the leftists who are calling the shots there. They want to try to pass a bill that says, oh, well, you know, all of a sudden Congress can impose rules over the Supreme Court. It'll get to the Supreme Court. They'll say this is unconstitutional and say, wow, the Supreme Court, they're out of pocket. I'm going to have to pack the court. This is proof, everybody. It is, but it's also a total political move dealing with, and you see this over the last two months when you're dealing with student loans, you're dealing with all these sort of fringe issues that the mainstream part of the electorate is like, what the hell are you doing here? The problem for Joe Biden is his numbers are like 43, right? I mean,

it's just dead low for somebody on the ballot as an incumbent president. And the biggest missing gap in the coalition that he put together in 2020 is the progressive left. It's the young progressive left. They're just totally unenthused. And so all of these little moves are just, they're trying to pull every trigger they can to figure out if there is a way to get them back on board in the way they were in 2020. And the problem is it's mutually exclusive, right? The majority making, the people that get you to 270 electoral votes are the ones in the middle looking at that stuff and being like, what the hell is this? And every day, I mean, he's going to cap rents on any apartment owned by a corporate landlord. Making it up. What? And apparently he misspoke and he was like, we're going to cap the rents.

And his cockamamie policy would cap them at no more than 5% increase in a year. And he said to the group, he's like, we're going to cap it at $55. He's like, back in my day, you could buy a house for that much. That's amazing.

I want it. I'm in. It's like, that's the man who has the nuclear codes. It's terrifying. You know, you talk about the old age. My mom, I may have told this story, but she's so funny. My mom's 83 this month, and she's having some of these name and memory issues. She's not like Biden, but she's never been particularly good on names.

And for a while there, we had a longtime housekeeper in our family who we absolutely loved, Carla. And for a while there, we had a temporary babysitter whose name was Kiana. And my mom could not remember their names at all. And Carla was with us for over a decade. My mom could not, she can't remember anybody's name. And so one day our, okay. One day she was there and she kept calling Kiana, Jenna, Jenna, Jenna, Jenna, Jenna. I'm like, mom, it's, it's Kiana. It's Kiana. It's Kiana. So finally Kiana's leaving one day and my mom goes, bye Kiana. I'm like, ma, you got it. How'd you get it? And she goes, Carmen helped me. She got the other one.

That is so good. And so my point is, she's Joe Biden's contemporary. She doesn't have the nuclear code, so it's funny. And she can make fun of herself. She's very good humored about it. She'll forget a word here or there. And she'll say, help me with my word. He just did that the other day.

What was the word I'm looking for? Somebody who served in Afghanistan or whatever. Yeah, veteran. Veteran. I mean, that's not one that escapes a president. No. It's just not. All right, let me shift gears before you guys go and ask you quickly about this, the investigation into the Trump assassination attempt. Do we trust anybody who's investigating? And what do you guys make? Because we played the

lunacy on the left. Now, I know that many people on the right think this is all a government plan to assassinate Donald Trump. And that is also deemed a conspiracy theory. I don't personally believe that. I don't think our government tried to take out the former president. But I do think there's enough problems here that we actually do need these hearings. Oh, yeah. Because every day we're hearing more and more disturbing things. Dan Bongino went on Don Jr.'s podcast. Tucker was also there.

It was an explosive exchange. And listen to... Dan Bonagino's talking here about how they had staffed that building at which the shooter got on the roof. They had staffed somebody to go there and be on the roof. And that while the head of the Secret Service now is saying, oh, it has sloped roof,

so we didn't put anybody up there. We just put them in the building. He's saying that's bullshit. Which makes sense because it sounds like bullshit. Here's Dan. I was just showing Tucker some material from an unimpeachable source, let's just say, on the matter. That post, according to my source, that roof, was supposed to be a police post. It was supposed to be someone there. They're now making up excuses, saying the pitch or the roof.

My source says to me, no one knows why the post didn't show up. So that's a nonsense story they're putting out in the media. And I was also told that the Secret Service director has been given instructions from the administration and the DHS secretary, you want to keep your job, you'll keep your mouth shut about this. They're not putting that out there, But if you get those site post logs and those police instructions and there was a post on there and they didn't show up and no one checked, someone could have got your dad killed within millimeters.

Yeah. I mean, I think it's particularly meaningful from Dan Bongino, who, of course, had a career in the Secret Service before he became a famous media guy. And there are a lot of questions. And I think that when you have a government that's staffed with people who are willing to publicly post memes about the death of President Trump and make light of it, then people are going to have questions. They're going to have suspicions. And it is up to the government to show people that that's not what happened. It's incumbent upon them, really. I mean, if you are going to have lunatics staffing these organizations, then part of the consequence of that is you're going to have to answer the questions that people have when they don't understand why. We had Democratic congressmen

calling to strip Donald Trump of his Secret Service protection. Exactly. Yeah. Benny Thompson. Yeah. Why would you do that unless you have no problem with him being in danger? Exactly. Yeah, I think, I mean, look, you take it at face value. Obviously, it's a manifest failure. Obviously. The question is why, right? And we don't know the answer to that yet.

We have to figure it out. But there is no planet that that is not. I mean, just look at everybody's seen the pictures, right? You're 130 yards away on an elevated surface, the only elevated surface anywhere within proximity of the stage. That's not something you keep an eye on, right? And they did say, I saw in the report that it was supposed to be staffed and that there were actually not just local police, as it was first talked about. It was, you know, there was potentially secret service there too. And so I wonder, you know, when you see the video of the sniper that ultimately got, you know, the counter sniper team that ultimately got the would-be assassin,

there was a hesitation there. And I wonder if they thought, well, is this our guy or is this not our guy? CNN's reporting, John Miller, they're reporting over there who does, you know, national security and this type of reporting, was saying that they actually looked at each other. The sniper was looking through his, forgive me, I don't remember what you call it. Scope. Yeah.

And range finder. There we go. And that, did you say that? And the shooter was looking through his range finder at the same time. Wow. They were looking at each other. Chilling. And I think what was happening on the ground was they had noticed this guy.

He'd been deemed suspicious. They saw that he had a rangefinder, but he didn't have a gun. And then what they reported is he left the secured area and they let him go out of their sight. They were like, okay, he's no longer our problem. He left the secure area. And, I mean, one of the basic problems here is why was the secured area so small? Yeah, right. Why wasn't that building in the secured area? And why did you then pretend that it was nothing to worry about and that local law enforcement could handle

it and not, you know, you'd had a suspicious guy called in at least 30 minutes beforehand. They're saying potentially longer than that. According to some reports, you have the people jumping up and down saying he's on top of the roof right there. You have the one cop who gets up, who sees him. And then they say he had to go back down because he can't grab your gun and hold yourself up on a rooftop with the other hand. That makes some sense to me. But why was it just that guy? Why, you know, why wasn't there an immediate radio to the Secret Service of the snake up on the roof? New. Where's the comms? Yeah. Anyway, do you trust we're going to get to the bottom of this? Or do you think something's going to be hidden?

Look, I think the House Oversight Committee in particular has done some really good work at getting to a whole lot of things that the Biden administration didn't want to talk about over the last couple of years. Right? We wouldn't know anything about all the LLCs or the Chinese payments or the Ukrainian payments or anything to do with Hunter Biden at all. First of all, he wouldn't have been prosecuted without all of that coming out. So I think that Jamie Comer and that committee

is going to do good work here, just like they've done in the past. And my sense is getting to a half answer isn't going to be enough for anybody. Yeah, that's right. And in this particular case, the Biden administration cannot look like they want to slow roll it.

There's no executive privilege to assert like it's all going to be coming out unless it's getting burned. I don't know. Just the whole thing makes me feel uncomfortable. It's just a tragic situation. Why is the head of the Secret Service lying to us? Because she's definitely lying about that sloped roof.

There's just it's obvious. She ain't good at her job. I know that. I mean, what I am afraid of is that has this been another example of, you know, there's been discussion of is this DEI policy that was put in place and could that have compromised the integrity of the secret service to be able to execute the job of protecting these people? Clearly, clearly there's a problem if someone is allowed to take that shot. Yeah. So it's clear something needs to be done about it. We need like a 9-11 style. Yes. Who did the planning? Who did the perimeter? I think the communications thing is going to be key because remember after 9-11 style. Yes. Who did the planning? Who did the perimeter? I think the communications thing is going to be key.

Because remember after 9-11, we realized there was a real lack of communication between like the CIA and the FBI, for example. And I'm curious if we're having that same breakdown of communication between Secret Service and the local, you know, police who are sort of part of the security. Yeah, well, if someone didn't know, if they encountered this guy and they didn't know. Yeah, Trump supporters being like, this guy's on the roof. You know that like now, if this happened today, they'd have a much different reaction. I feel like they let their guard down. You know, it could very well have been incompetence driven by the guard was down. They didn't think anything would happen.

They weren't taking the threat seriously enough. All right. I got to leave it there because I have Vivek Ramaswamy in the room. Hey, all right. Guys, thanks so much for being here. Such a fun time together. Always. I found out during the break why they have their sunglasses on.

Let's just say the fellas have been enjoying. Are you selling us out? My wife's listening to this. To be continued. Thanks, Megan. Some Americans enjoy using their credit cards because it can be a hassle-free and secure way to pay. But our sponsor, the American Payments Coalition, says that some D.C. politicians want to change that with the Durbin Marshall credit card bill. They say the bill lets corporate megastores pick how your credit card is processed, allowing them to use untested payment networks that jeopardize your data security and rewards.

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this time last year i was a candidate forS. president, and I'm proud to say that I achieved the impossible, which is that most of you actually know how to say my name by now. So thank you for that. Vivek Ramaswamy, welcome back to The Megyn Kelly Show. That was former 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who took the stage last night and killed. He did so well. Jokes aside, he also came out swinging on the topic of immigration, sharing how his personal story shaped his view and his solution to fixing the crime stemming from the border crisis in our country. Our message to every legal immigrant in this country is this. You're like my parents.

You deserve the opportunity to secure a better life for your children in America. But our message to illegal immigrants is also this. We will return you to your country of origin. Not because you're all bad people, but because you broke the law. And the United States of America was founded on the rule of law. Powerful words. But over on CNN, former Biden White House communications director Kate

Bedingfield had this tone deaf reaction. There was a lot in there about rule of law. There was this like constant hammering of rule of law, and he talked about the border, and if you break the law, we're sending you back, rule of law, rule of law. That is an incredibly rich message coming from a party that has spent the last year essentially tearing down the justice system in this country,

saying it's politicized, saying Trump should be above the law has really been their argument. So I think there is a fundamental. Plus the insurrection. Plus the insurrection. So I actually think there's a fundamental tension there in that argument. It's not particularly well delivered from Vivek there, but also I think it's going to be a problem for Republicans if that's where they're hanging their hat.

You think? Joining me now, Vivek Ramaswamy, former 2024 presidential candidate and host of The Truth podcast. Vivek, welcome back. Good to be here. So the Republicans, like you, you're not allowed to raise law and order anymore because you objected to what was done to President Trump with the lawfare. Yeah, well, the reality is that too is a violation of law and order, Megan. And one of the things I also said in this speech was addressing black Americans, where I think this issue actually does land, is that for a long time, Republicans were maybe a little tone deaf to black Americans who have said for a long time the justice system was unfair. Well, the reality is we don't want a justice system that's unfair, either on the

basis of your skin color or your political beliefs. So I think this culture of the abandonment of the rule of law actually runs deep. The same reason we have the southern border crisis is in many ways linked to the reason why we have an abandonment of the rule of law, when the people at the top of the chain themselves view the law as an inconvenience. People at the DOJ, people at even investigative agencies like the FBI, local prosecutors, like those who have abused the law to not only pursue lawfare against President Trump, but even countless other politically unsympathetic defendants. That is part of a cultural breakdown. And so, you know what, I disagree with her characterization that it's either or. They go together. And I think that's what we need to restore. Over on, I mean, I watch all the channels and I love seeing reactions to

all this stuff. Van Jones was saying, I don't think black people want to be patronized like Vivek did. So any outreach by a Republican to black voters saying, you know what, because you had a great part in your speech about that, that's patronizing that you're not allowed to do. It's better just to remain silent and not seek their vote, you see. Yeah. And so I think that AOC was reacting to my speech last night as well. She was rather frenetic about it. I think part of what's going on is the thing they're upset about is not actually Republican policies, because I think there's not a lot to be upset about. They're upset we're picking off their voters. That's actually what's going on.

Don't fish in our pond. There's a little bit of territorialism. We own these people. And I don't mean that in a loaded sense. I mean it in an accurate sense. They view this as our pond. The Democrats view it. Don't come over and invade our pond.

Actually, the way we look at it is every American ought to be persuaded based on the merits of what you're offering them. And a lot of black voters, a lot of Hispanic voters, a lot of gay voters are actually saying, you know what, the Republican Party isn't the one that it was portrayed to be in, in some sense, isn't the one that it was 20 years ago. So look, don't worry, because CNN did have on a Republican to defend you. It was Jonah Goldberg of the dispatch. Oh, really? I didn't. I missed that missed that. It was terrible. It was so mean. I was like, he clearly doesn't like you. I won't bore you with what he said. That's the defense.

This is the new CNN with the fair and balanced commentary in response to one of the stars at the convention. Somebody who hates him and somebody who hates him more. Part of me, last year, every time this would happen would take this as, the short term thing is a reactionary impulse, as a badge of honor, and it sort of is.

But it's also kind of sad in the country where I would love the country that I knew, where we could debate vigorously, like not in some sort of lighthearted kid gloves kind of way, but debate like hell, really disagree on the issues, but to still be friends at the end of it, or if not friends, at least have some level of mutual respect to say that we actually care about the country, but we have deeply differing visions. And I think much of what the modern left, particularly in the media, has become is to use the issue of labeling. Whether Trump was, you could say, insurrectionist to dictator to rapist, now Trump itself has become too popular that they're replacing it with fill in the blank, Project 2025, whatever you want to call it.

That's right. They have to have some label that affixes an emotional response to that label rather than actually engaging in just an underlying debate on the merits, which is too bad for the country. Yeah. Because I think the Republican Party would be better off if we were challenged by the best version of the other side. But we're not getting that today.

It's so true. It's too bad. It was, and again, it's not important, but it was a personal attack. It was his feelings about you and your ambition or whatever it was, but it was not on the merits. It did not take on the substance. Yeah. And of course, there's a reason for that.

It's just too bad. People don't, I just don't think the country's better off for that. The AOC tweet, which you refer to, reads as follows. Young people don't take well to bigoted leaders who attack LGBTQ rights, outlaw abortion, cozy up to gun manufacturers and oil execs, and support a rapist for a president. If you want to be cool so badly, try giving a damn about other people beyond yourself. Might open a few doors. So the problem here is the young people are taking well to Republicans. These are not things that Republicans stand for. So she's just pronouncing this is what they want.

And yet the polls are showing us something different this election. Absolutely. And that, I think, is just the beginning of a tidal wave that's coming. So she was responding to a section of my speech where I directly addressed Gen Z. And again, it's fishing in their pond that they're offended by. It had to be revolutionary. Absolutely. And I think the revolutionary thing right now is to say something maybe different than what you're expected to say on your college campus.

Call yourself a conservative is what I said. And I do think that that's the more rebellious move today. But nonetheless, one of the interesting things about the attack she took is she at least was a little bit more elegant than some of the CNN people trying to wrap it around a policy disagreement. Let's just double click on that for a second. She talks about gay rights. This is the Republican platform right now is the Republican platform as it exists today at this convention is not opposed to gay marriage. She points to abortion, women and their bodies. Literally, this has said it is a not a federal issue. Donald Trump, to myself, when I ran for president to now the Republican Party, opposes a federal ban on abortion. So part of their strategy now, Megan, seems to be there's

only four months left on the election, until the election. Just tell the voters something other than the Republican policies because the actual Republican policy platform is quite appealing to most Americans. So we can't compete on that. Just assume for the next four months we can tell them that the Republican platform

is something that is other than what it actually is and maybe most voters won't notice. And it might be their best bet, actually. If you think about it, winning on the merits in this short of a time with the numbers looking like what they are, instead, people get their news from different places. Just bet on the fact that enough Americans are going to think that Republicans support a federal ban.

Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have both said Donald Trump would sign a federal ban. That's false. In fact, he's taken heat from Republicans for saying that he's opposed to a federal ban. That's right. But their strategy now seems to be less on the merits and even less on the histrionics. It's one of the forks in the road for Biden, which I can come back to in a second. But the remaining strategy is just lie about what the Republicans actually believe and then just hope the voters don't notice between now and November. I definitely want to talk about what's happening with Biden.

And there's news breaking on that, which I will get to in one second. But I have to ask you, J.D. Vance is the big speaker tonight. He was the pick. I know you were in favor of it. I think this guy is absolutely just delightful. I said yesterday I have a soft spot in my heart for him. You've known him for a long time. Did not realize you were at Yale Law School at the same time.

We were classmates. Did not get that. Funny enough is we actually grew up. So I grew up in Southwest Ohio. I lived till kindergarten was probably 10, 15 minutes from where he grew up. Middletown? As well. So he was in Middletown.

I was in Westchester. Okay. Butler County. Right there in Southwest Ohio. So I moved to Evendale, which is 10 minutes away. But we grew up in the same part of Southwest Ohio. Went to Yale Law School. We only met when we were classmates in law school.

I didn't know he was a conservative, and he, I don't think, knew quite the same about me. We used to watch Bengals games because we were both from there. We were the lone students who were... Long-suffering Bengals. They were, I know. So we were toiling in dive bars in New Haven watching a pretty terrible football team at the time.

So what was your impression of him back then? You know, he was a smart guy, of course. I mean, he was surrounded by a lot of smart people, but he was earnest, actually. He was sincere. And one of the things that's been true about my relationship with him, of course. I mean, he was surrounded by a lot of smart people, but he was earnest, actually. He was sincere. And one of the things that's been true about my relationship with him, even dating back to then, but all the way back to even this Monday, this Monday morning, we were having text message exchanges before he even formally knew he was vice president.

Yeah, they just revealed. He just found out like a half an hour before. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Literally that morning, it seemed to me like it was going to be him, so I congratulated him. He's like, well, I don't know that it's going to be me. Yeah, of course. Yeah, but what I was going to say is even in that, even recently, it's been this case for a decade now, we agree on most things, but we actually spend a lot of time on areas where we disagree.

J.D. and I have some differences in our views for the correct policy, the correct direction for America First, and I think those are interesting. But what I love about my relationship with him is he's really intellectually interested, and he's open-minded. And I think he has pushed me to think about things differently than I would have. And I'd like to say the same in return. And I think that says something about him as the kind of leader he's going to be. He's already reached across the aisle.

Oh, absolutely. And it's a short term in the Senate. He doesn't care about these. He doesn't care so much about these silly partisan boundaries versus actually having an independent vision for America is pretty unique in politics. The one downside of picking him is that leaves an open Senate seat that the Republicans controlled in Ohio. Republican governor in Ohio, Mike DeWine. Now, the quick 411 is he's not going to pick Vivek Ramaswamy. He's more of an establishment guy.

He's not going to want like an America first guy there. No offense to you. Do you think that's a smart calculation? Less even about Governor DeWine, who I haven't had any conversations with about this topic. But, you know, even for myself, I'm reflecting on keeping a really open mind into what's the right way to drive impact in the country in the next chapter. As you all know, one of my top passions is to dismantle bureaucracy, dismantle the administrative state. There's definitely an executive angle there foremost, but there's also legislative angle to be able to really pave the way for that. And one of the things I thought was outstanding about J.D. in the Senate is he did have a clear-eyed view and vision for the country,

and he was smart and energetic and willing to engage with people who disagreed with him on some things, but to be able to still find common ground on others. We need more people like that in politics. You would be like that. But if asked, you would— I would have to consider it, right? If asked, I would have to consider it. If I was—imagine being a senator, I would have run for Senate.

There was two opportunities I had to do it, potentially in Ohio in 22 and 24. I chose not to. That being said, in the moment we live in, I think this is a historic moment to really revive the country. And we've got to each ask ourselves, how are we going to maximally have an impact and play a role in doing it? So if asked, I would definitely consider it. But I would also want to have a serious conversation with President Trump about-

I think it'd be crazy for him to go with somebody other than you. You're a local boy. They all love you. Your name recognition has never been greater. It's President Trump's party. He'd have to at least consider. So we'll see. I'll look forward to watching that story unfold. I'm respectful of his ability to make his decision, and if asked,

I would consider it, but I would also have to make mine. Yeah. You've got a lot going on. We know this. You have your businesses to run as well. Okay, I want to get to this news on, um, Biden's possibly stepping down, uh, there, it hasn't died this push to get him to step aside. It got quieted down a little bit in the wake of what happened to Trump. But today representative Adam Schiff is out via the LA times saying Biden needs to go. Yeah. Schiff says, quote, he, uh, that Biden has been one of the most consequential presidents in our nation's history and his lifetime of service as a senator, vice president, now as

president has made our country better. But our nation is at a crossroads. A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy. And I have serious concerns about whether the president can defeat Donald Trump in November. He said the choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden's alone, but he believes it's time for him to, quote, pass the torch and, quote, secure his legacy of leadership by allowing another Democrat to beat Trump. The calls are resuming in earnest. What's going to happen over there? Well, I think they're not only resuming.

I think they have an even more powerful case because before it rested on. And I say this as somebody who has been saying for a long time that Biden is unlikely to be the nominee, even back when this was in supposed conspiratorial land. I think we talked about that. Yeah, we might have talked about it. But regardless, right now it's become mainstreamed by the debate performance. But then that's the argument that, oh, it was just one night, and is it a matter of comparing performances at this NATO summit versus that debate? And that's a relatively thin basis, but there's actually something deeper now that's played out in the last week, which is that after Saturday's tragic event, and it was a tragedy, but it was a near national tragedy by a breadth of centimeters. What we've learned is

Biden now says that we need to tone down the political rhetoric, and yet his entire campaign message is about how Donald Trump is a threat to democracy with all the histrionics to go around it. So he's at a fork in the road. Either he's violating his own pledge to dial down political rhetoric, or he does not have a message left. Neither one ends in a good place for Biden, neither of which ends in a good place for the Democratic Party. So I think that has strengthened the case amongst Democrats, I'm saying, even in a deeper way to say, this is a man who's not only suffering from cognitive impairment, but more importantly, he lacks any case or message because the entire case he's been making against Donald Trump is now one that he has himself, if he sticks to his own principles, has to abdicate. So the question is, are there all kinds of mechanical issues we could

get into that's kind of boring as to why they might face some difficulties if they swap Biden out? They may be relevant. But I personally believe that they were not in a rush before the Republican convention. They wanted this to play out, let the VP nomination play out, let the celebratory convention. You mean Biden or his detractors? The Democratic machine. The Democratic machine wanted to let this, the collective machine, largely populated by detractors,

but the Democratic machine that's hopeful to eventually nudge them to one side, didn't see a particular rush to do that before this convention. Think about it in terms of business terms. You give the other side more information, they're able to make a better play. Instead, if you withhold your information until this time you have your own convention, I think what they're trying to set up for, and it's not some person in a smoke-filled back room, but I think the collective incentives are for them to wait till August.

You're within then a couple months of the election. There's always going to be a honeymoon phase when there's a new candidate. In this particular phase, it'd be like the equivalent of your attitude towards somebody who releases you from captivity. If you're a tortured prisoner, the first person you see you're going to fall in love with. It's going to last for a few months before the scrutiny phase begins. November comes around before that scrutiny even starts. And the media will help. Of course the media will help. And the media actually gets to wear the mantle of credibility.

Because right now they say, oh no, no, no. They've already turned on Biden. So when they prop up the new candidate, they get to do so with this artificial Yeah, we're tough on Democrats. Of course, yeah, but this is just us playing it fair. So I think the stars could, I think you have some people on the other side, certainly the smarter ones who may be thinking about the stars aligning right around August through November after this wave, post-convention, post-riding, this high plays out.

And I think the risk is people around here are getting to a place where we're celebrating like this election is over. Don't measure the drapes. Well, when in fact it may not have even started, really. Right, who's the candidate? Who the candidate actually is. So you still think they'll find a way? I think, so the way I come from this is not some sort of sources or whatever. I'm not in that world.

I don't think it matters anyway. I just look at these things in terms of what are the collective incentives on the chessboard? And, you know, I've been wrong about predicting a lot of things, but I've tended to be better on contrarian things than most. And this is the way, business-wise or in this landscape, one of my views is just analyze what everybody's incentives are. It's like an Occam's razor. More often than not, an organization or a movement or a person tends to behave according to its best incentives. Map that out. And I think that's where these incentives point. So most people believe that any sub would be a bad thing for the Republicans,

that Joe Biden would be the best candidate to run against. And because of the dynamic you just described, that the odds would go down for Trump. Not that he would be in a worse position overall, but that they would go down versus somebody other than Joe Biden. I think we have a way to insulate ourselves against that. I think we're seeing some of that happen here. Focus less on the other side. So I said in my speech last night as well, and focus more on who we are and what we stand for. And I think Donald Trump has, how could you not, have been affected by what happened. Any human being would be on what happened on Saturday. I think it's just his demeanor, the tenor, the restraint, but the restraint without compromise as well on his core principles and vision, I think set up for, I think what we're going to see in the next couple of days here, certainly on Thursday night, for a message that says, you know what, Joe Biden said he was going to unite the country.

So did a lot of other presidents. It hasn't happened yet. But I, in my second term, am going to be the one who actually unites this country, not through words, but through action. And in that way, whoever they put up, right, it takes the deflation, takes the air out of it. It deflates the air in their balloon before it could take off because there's really no space to claim them. They're going to be the ones for a message of national unity for somebody who just gets trotted out in August. It starts to look more artificial and cynical, which is what it will be. We've got like Gretchen Whitmer, who's big on abortion. But as you point out, Trump has already kind of taken a lot of the air out of that balloon. And a lot of the air is...

Look at the heat it took even at this convention. Yes, of course. That's credible for the general election audience. And by the way, it's completely the right policy to not have a federal abortion ban. Once you concede that that's even possible, then the Democrats will just make it a federal abortion free for all when they have power again. I'd agree with that. But anyway, the other possible name we hear, of course, in many circles is Gavin Newsom,

who literally yesterday, you saw what he did? He passed legislation, he signed into law legislation that will make it impossible for any school to ban secrets between teachers and the children when it comes to gender transition. So some of the more conservative districts in California were saying it's not appropriate if a kid goes by a girl, but he's actually a boy, that you keep that a secret from your parents. And he just made that an impossibility, saying you will keep the secret.

And social transitioning is very hard to undo. Once they go down that path, Vivek, they almost never come back. I don't think it could be Gavin. Gavin's playing for 2028. I think that seems pretty clear to me. I think he understands correctly. He's a smart guy. He understands that it couldn't possibly be this time because they have the Kamala Harris albatross issue. Right. So if you make your vice presidential nominee based on race and gender and don't take it from me or anybody else, that's literally what the Democrats were saying. The Democratic machine. Oh, yeah.

From even fellow contenders say this is our moment to put a woman of color on the ticket. Not my words, theirs. That's how Biden became the nominee. That's exactly how Kamala Harris then he made good on the promise. So that's just hard fact. But when that was their basis for appointing her, it makes it very difficult to pass her over unless it's for a candidate who checks the same boxes. And I come back to the collective incentives. If you're going to take your one shot, you're going to take the best option you possibly have. Somebody who checks those same boxes. And

Gavin Newsom doesn't do that. I have some ideas on who might, but I think that Gavin Newsom's plan for 2028. Michelle Obama. Yes. I know you've mentioned that, but we have to talk about that. She doesn't want to, but that assumes that that's her choice, which I think views this machine in the very wrong way. So San Antonio spurs, a sort of upside-down, distorted version of it. Are you making a sports reference? Stop it. People understand this, though. All I had was that Bengals comment.

Okay, got it. So the San Antonio Spurs are famous for it doesn't matter who the player is on the court. The coach, Greg Popovich, said it was a machine that ran, right? So it didn't matter who the point guard was. It didn't matter who the center was. The machine still worked. And so that's my point about how the modern Democratic Party works. Then why do they need her?

Because for the public, they still need her, right? They need it for their own ideology, tethered to race and gender. And they believe they need to take the best shot they possibly can in one final burst of energy. You really think she'll do it even though she hates politics and every statement is, I hate, hate, hate? I'm sure she hates it. I think that that makes her slightly more sympathetic. I think most people will truthfully see that this is a person who doesn't want to do it. I think that, you know, I think that that makes her slightly more sympathetic. I think most people will truthfully see that this is a person who doesn't want to do it. So there's all kinds of logistical reasons why that's about as crazy of a thing to say today as it would have

been for us to say that Biden was going to be ousted at this nominee a year ago, as I was saying. So we'll see. I don't know if I'm right about that specific prediction, but just understand the incentives are for the Democrats to let all of this pass, take their best shot. And what's the lesson for us? Two things. One is complacency is not an option. Why am I saying all of this? I'm saying all of this to warn people, you got to play like you're behind or else you soon will be. And number two is forget the other side. Actually, even in this conversation, as soon as it comes to convention or our own vision, this is our chance to define who we are and what we stand for. So why are we going to waste our own mental bandwidth focusing on what the other side is going to do

when we have a historic opportunity to do an even better job of defining how we're going to actually shut down the deep state, how we're going to end illegal immigration, how we're going to revive the economy. And by the way, those two things would automatically accomplish that. Go deep on that. Run to something rather than from something. And then I think we're good no matter who they put up. And that's where I want to be. Well, they may be putting up somebody else. This just breaking, Chad Pergram of Fox News. Fox is told that indeed, Senator Chuck Schumer, we started the show with this news that he had met with Biden and that he had personally urged him to step aside. This is not yet out there in

all of the reporting, but our friends from the Ruthless program, who are Republican, I don't want to call them operatives, but they work in Republican politics, reported it. Fox has told Schumer pushed the DNC to delay its virtual roll call of its presidential nominee. It was set for August 7th. Huh. Moreover, Fox has told Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries

both spoke and agreed to make the push that the DNC delay the balloting. So they don't want. It's begun. It was supposed to happen on August 7th. It's not going to happen. Yeah, it's begun. They need more time.

I think they want to wait to do this at the convention. I think it will have a dramatic flair. Later, the better. I think they can't do it much later than that. But the later, the better, because that's two and a half months from the time of the election. You're still in the honeymoon phase. Yeah. So it's again, when I say when I say that they want this, it's not that I'm implying that there are four or five actors in the smoke filled room that are this carefully plotted out. It looks like chaos because it is chaos. But the chaos has a direction to it. It's not they're not going to

willingly just lose the House, the Senate and the White House. You find that really hard to believe. And the people who butter the bread, the providers of the mother's milk of politics money, are now having a significant view on this as well. Because the donations dried up. Absolutely. The left used to be the ones that said that we want to keep mega money out of politics. They're actually the party that is far more controlled by mega money than even the Republican Party is today. But with that fact being what it is, I just have a hard time seeing they're going to put up a not only mentally frail candidate, but by demonstrably the weakest candidate without a message. And so I just think we have to be alert to that so that we don't fall into an otherwise trap that's been laid for us. So the Republicans are getting richer by the moment.

There was an announcement yesterday that Elon Musk is going to donate $45 million a month to helping Trump get reelected. So we'll watch it. We'll watch it all. Vivek, great to see you. Good seeing you. Can't wait to watch J.D. Vance tonight, and we'll have a full report on how that went tomorrow.

See you all then. Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear.