Radio Show Hour 2 – 04/14/2025

[00:00:13] Broadcasting live from atop the Rocky Mountains, the crossroads of the West. You are listening to the Liberty Roundtable Radio Talk Show. All right. Happy to have you along, my fellow Americans. Sam Bushman live on your radio. Hard-hitting news that I refuse to use. No doubt continues now. We reject revolution unless it's a Jesus revolution. Then we're in because we follow the Prince of Peace. This is the broadcast for April the 14th in the year of our Lord, 2025, Hour 202.

[00:00:42] Lowell Nelson, CampaignForLiberty.org with me. RonPaulInstitute.org. Welcome back, sir. Good to be back, Sam. Thanks for having me. Have you seen The Chosen, the latest season? No, I haven't done that yet. I plan to. Oh, man. You got to check it out. It's the Last Supper season is what they're calling it. It's playing now. And all I can tell you, sir, is we need a Christ-centered religious revival. Hmm. Big time, don't we?

[00:01:12] Absolutely right about that. Yeah. All right. You know, I've been watching The Chosen on Netflix and on BYU TV. Is this something different? Is this just like the next season? Yeah, it's the next season. But what they do is they start the season and they air it in theaters at first. Oh. And then they basically, you know, bring it to where you're watching it and all that kind of stuff. It's a pay-it-forward kind of a model. And the reason I support it in the theaters is because I really want to support, you know,

[00:01:41] them being able to make money and them being able to, you know, do the pay-it-forward model and all that kind of stuff. And so there's three basically showings in the theater. There's part one, part two, part three. Part one's two episodes. Part two's two episodes. And I can't tell if part three is three episodes or they're just longer episodes. I'm not sure yet. But we need to go to part three. I mean, this is Holy Week, right? This is the opportunity to really kind of see that in theaters and support that.

[00:02:10] And anyway, I just mentioned it because I really think it's something worth seeing. And they got the word out before about these seasons and about it being in the theater. But, man, it just seems like no one's spreading the word enough this time. Yeah. Well, I didn't know most of what you just said there. So I appreciate the word. And we'll get that. We'll take a look at that. That's awesome. All right. Ron Paul's in the news. Great commentary as always, Lowell. Yes, sure is.

[00:02:39] In this column posted last Monday, he begins it by writing what the rest of us really have been thinking all along, you know, which is President Trump was elected in part because he promised to reduce prices and not drag the U.S. into foreign wars. But what has Trump done recently? Well, unfortunately, he's been bullying other countries with his threat of raising tariffs, which are just taxes, raising tariffs on imported goods.

[00:03:07] And then he's bullying Yemen with bombs. And he's threatening to bomb Iran. So plus he continues to support Israel's attack on Gaza. So I don't know. It just seems like he's going in the direction opposite of what he promised to do on the campaign trail. Trump criticized Biden for bombing Yemen. And now he's doing the same thing.

[00:03:29] He's bombing Yemen just because the Houthis are trying to stop the ships full of munitions bound for Israel, which are going to be used on Gazans, right? Yemen didn't want to see that happen. And so they're, you know, trying to stop those ships. In fact, they did stop about 85 percent of them. And because of that, Trump is bombing Yemen. Yemen, well, I was hoping he wouldn't take any offensive military action against anyone. But, you know, here we are.

[00:04:00] So the rest of the column, Ron Paul writes, deals with the tariff hikes and the likely implications of those hikes on us taxpayers. Seems that China is the only country that is raising their tariffs in response to our tariff hikes. And, of course, this column was written last Monday, as you know, and a lot has happened in the tariff world since then. But I think the general principle espoused here remains true. Ron Paul puts it this way, quote,

[00:04:27] U.S. consumers will suffer from increased prices for many products, both foreign and domestic. Manufacturing and other American businesses that rely on imported raw materials and other inputs from abroad will have to pay more for these inputs. And U.S. exporters will suffer from decreased demand for U.S. products in overseas markets, end of quote. But so far, Trump has been assuring us that things will work out OK. And I really do hope that's the case.

[00:04:56] If it is true that other countries such as China... But I'm going to stop you there, Lowell, and say it's not possible for it to be the case. And let me tell you why. Yeah. Congress has exclusive responsibility to deal with tariffs. The president doesn't have authority there. And Congress has no authority to, one, manipulate things all over the map, and, two, delegate their authority to somebody else, that this is flat-out unconstitutional. You can't get right with wrong, Lowell. You're spot on, Sam. I totally agree with you.

[00:05:24] In fact, Andrew Napolitano has a great column about that very topic. We'll be hitting that in a few minutes. Ron Paul ends his column with this prediction, quote.

[00:06:14] End of quote. Well, personally, Sam, I think his bombing of Yemen and his continuing to supply Israel with weapons to rain down on Gaza are more egregious than the higher tariffs. I wish he would just stop bombing and the killing of our brothers and sisters in foreign lands. I agree with that. Let's do this, though.

[00:06:37] Let's finish the discussion on tariffs that Ron Paul and Judge Napolitano so well, I should say, tag-teamed this thing. And then we'll move to the war discussion after that. But Andrew Napolitano is speaking out just like Ron Paul is. Absolutely right. In fact, he begins by framing these tariffs in a brand-new light, which I hadn't thought of, but it's really true. Quote,

[00:06:58] President Donald Trump has recently imposed a national sales tax on nearly all goods emanating from outside the United States to be paid by the ultimate consumer. Thus, if you buy a Ford pickup in the United States, because it contains parts from Canada, Mexico, and South Korea, according to the Wall Street Journal anyway, will cost you an additional $3,000.

[00:07:19] The $3,000 was initially paid piecemeal by the foreign exporters of the parts to the U.S. Treasury as a condition for the parts entering the United States. When you pay the local Ford dealer, you are actually reimbursing the foreign exporters. End of quote. So there he gives that example. He also gives another example. And then turns to some history. And this is an important point here, Sam. In 1977, he writes, quote,

[00:07:46] Congress enacted the International Economic Emergency Powers Act. This law permitted, well, yeah, in his words, This law permitted the president to impose tariffs on goods emanating from outside the U.S. in the case of an economic emergency. The statute defined an emergency as a sudden and unexpected event that adversely affects U.S. national security or economic prosperity. End quote.

[00:08:15] Well, you know, I've been wondering, Sam, where the president got this so-called authority to change tariff rates, because I thought that was the responsibility of Congress. And it still is. Congress may not delegate its authority to the president. That 1977 act was unconstitutional. And that Congress was not only foolish, but also cavalier with their authority. The American voters should have unseated them in the very next election.

[00:08:45] Or their, what I'm going to call, malfeasance in office. Well, anyway, the Trump administration said, quote, The introduction of fentanyl into the United States by foreign persons was the emergency. When advisors related to the president that the tariffs he contemplated would affect dozens of foreign countries producing hundreds of goods and services, as to which there is no connection to fentanyl, the administration claimed the U.S. imbalance of trade.

[00:09:15] As the emergency trigger. End of quote. Well, Sam, you and I both know we have had this imbalance of trade since 1934. And so you can. Yeah. And it accelerated in the 90s. Ross Pro warned against it, but it accelerated in the 90s. Right. Yeah. But yeah, there's been going on. Many people say we were bankrupt in 1934 also. And so, you know, there's a lot to this. There's a rich history to discuss.

[00:09:42] But at the end of the day, though, what we're talking about is who has authority to do what. Right. Exactly right. And Napolitano was emphatic on this point. Quote, there is also no constitutional basis for the 1977 statute. The Constitution reposes the power to tax exclusively into the hands of Congress.

[00:10:03] The framers were so determined to keep that power there that they even required in the Constitution that all taxes emanate in the House of Representatives. Since this Trump sales tax emanated in the White House, it violates the Constitution. End of quote. So Judge Knapp then addresses this notion of delegation of authority.

[00:10:25] You know, addressing this question, can Congress delegate their taxing of authority to the president or to the judiciary or to the private corporation? Yeah, no way. He writes this, Sam. Go ahead and skip the break. Continue, Lowell. He writes, quote, Congress cannot give away any of its core functions. James Madison argued that the separation of powers, the Congress sets taxes, the president collects them.

[00:10:52] That separation of powers was written to preserve personal freedom by preventing the accumulation of too much power in any one of the three branches. His argument was followed 200 years later by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote that delegated core powers cannot be re-delegated to another branch. This is an example of why we have a life-tenured and unelected judiciary. I'm quoting Judge Napalotano still here. It is the anti-democratic branch of government.

[00:11:22] Its duty is not to reflect the will of the voters, rather to protect their lives, liberties, and properties from the popular branches when either of them exceeds the powers granted by the Constitution or tampers with its structure. Congress can no more allow the president to impose taxes than he can allow the judiciary to command troops in wartime. End of quote. Pretty emphatic, eh?

[00:11:49] I mean, Sam, you can't get much more emphatic about that. And so, bottom line, folks, this 1977 law is bogus, and Trump's levering taxes against other countries is bogus also. Congress used to set tariffs. I mean, they did this all the time. They look at the 1928 tariff abominations against the South, which was the primary reason several of the southern states peacefully withdrew from the Union. So Congress has been doing this throughout history.

[00:12:19] Well, it's also true that throughout history, Sam, tyrants claim an emergency to enhance or enlarge their own power. This is precisely, in my opinion, what Trump is doing, whether he realizes it or not. It is the duty of Congress to rein in the president. They could, tomorrow, Sam, they could, today, this afternoon, they could rescind that 1977 act if they had the guts. And so they really need to hear from us.

[00:12:46] So, folks, calling Congress is your homework assignment for today. Let's see how many members of Congress we can educate about this 1977 act. All right, let's go ahead and call Congress live on the air right now. Who do you want to call? Lowell. Lowell. Yeah, well, my rep, Mike Kennedy. All right, mine is Mike Kennedy, too. Let's call Mike Kennedy. Liz, can you put in the 202-225-3121? 202-225-3121.

[00:13:13] And let's see if we can get Mike Kennedy's office on the line here. It might be hard to do because you have to, you know, press numbers. Yeah, and while she's doing that, Sam, let's just remind ourselves that these statesmen, I mean, these politicians, they swore an oath to God to support and defend the Constitution.

[00:13:37] And I feel like this Congress that passed this 1977 act were unconstitutional. They were derelict in their duty. But I would submit every Congress since. Say again. Yep, go ahead. Please say the name of the United States Senator or Representative. Michael Kennedy of Utah. Styling.

[00:14:04] Thank you for calling the Washington, D.C., office of Congressman Mike Kennedy, representing Utah's 3rd Congressional District. If you are a congressional staff member in another office, please press 1. If you are a constituent and would like to leave a message for the congressman, please press 2. If you have a group that would like to schedule a meeting with the congressman or a member of our staff, please email Kennedy.Scheduling at mail.house.gov.

[00:14:35] If you have already emailed Kennedy.Scheduling at mail.house.gov and still need help, please press 3. If you are a constituent and would like help booking a tour of the U.S. Capitol or White House, please visit our website and fill out the tour request form located under the services tab. If you are currently on a tour of the U.S. Capitol and would like gallery passes. Can you press 1, Liz?

[00:15:04] All right, let's see if we can talk to somebody here. We're contacting Congressman Mike Kennedy's office. How can I help you? Yeah, I don't really know how to respond. You're live on the radio, by the way. And I don't know how to respond because I'm trying to call my congressman, but it just says press 2 and leave a voice message if you're a constituent. But if I'm a staffer, I can press 1 and get somebody, right? What's up with that?

[00:15:34] I'm not familiar with that. So you're saying you can't get through? Well, have you ever called your office before? I'm an intern here, so I answer phones all the time. I understand. But just so you know, if you call the Capitol switchboard, 202-225-3121, and then you ask for Mike Kennedy's office, it brings you to a voicemail that says press 1 if you're a staffer from another office,

[00:15:59] press 2 to leave a voicemail, or press 3 to go ahead and schedule an appointment to tour the Capitol or whatever. But you can't get a hold of anybody unless you press 1. I've got to pretend I'm a staffer. Okay, well, I'll let my phone coordinator familiar with that. Yeah, if you could pass that along. To me, there should be a way to get you guys for the average public. I mean, you work for us, not for other staffers, right? Oh, yeah, absolutely. That's part of my job here is to consider. I appreciate it. Pass that along. So here's the next question for you.

[00:16:31] In 1977, Congress enacted the, quote, International Economic Emergency Powers Act, which gives the president the ability to go ahead and, you know, call out whatever tariffs he wants. But in the Constitution, it's really a congressional responsibility. You know, is Mike pushing to return that to the Congress? Well, I can't speak on behalf of the congressman, but I'm more than happy. So my job here is with correspondence.

[00:16:57] So I will take, essentially, issues from constituents both in writing and through the phone, and then we relay those messages and we get policy creation done that way. All right. Is there anybody to talk to more about this that could respond a little more or no? I don't believe so. Is there something in particular I can help you with? I mean, that's important. You know, we love to hear from constituents. Primarily my goal is to say, listen,

[00:17:25] Congress has no constitutional authority to delegate tariff decisions to the president. Go look at your constitution. It's a congressional responsibility. And so I'm calling to politely advocate for Congress to step up and do their duty and say, President, you don't have authority to do this, and for Congress to appropriately set the tariffs. Tariffs are a good thing when they're in the hands of Congress, as the founders documented in the contract with America called the Constitution.

[00:17:54] Yeah, well, I'm more than happy to pass that along to the congressman. All right. Anything you want to add, Lowell? To get our phone tree uptreated, huh? Well, so I'm Lowell Nelson. I'm on the phone call here with Sam as well. And we appreciate you taking this call. But the only thing I would add is that the framers were pretty emphatic about reposing in Congress, in fact, specifically the U.S. House, the power to tax, right?

[00:18:22] Because all taxes emanate from the U.S. House. They can't start in the Senate, as you know. They can't start in a president. They can't start in the Supreme Court of the United States, right? Only the U.S. House has the authority to tax. And yet Trump last week imposed a national sales tax by hiking tariff rates, right, by hiking the rates of tariffs on goods coming from other countries. And that's simply unconstitutional. And, you know, Congress needs to take back their power.

[00:18:50] They need to step up and grow a backbone. And they need to take this power back. And they need to put the president back in his place. The president should not be exercising this power to set and change the rates of tariffs. Now, this 1977 law is bogus. It was unconstitutional. It's time it was passed. And obviously 1977 is probably before your time. So I'm certainly not blaming you.

[00:19:16] But I appreciate your, you know, you're relaying this message on to our U.S. Representative Michael Kennedy. And maybe he can get something done in this corner. You know, we need to repeal that 1977 act yesterday because it's not constitutional. Yeah, go ahead. The takeaway is we support tariffs. We don't support the president single-handedly dealing with tariffs because he does not have constitutional authority to do so.

[00:19:46] And if you don't believe us, go look at the Constitution. That's what we want to pass along. Yeah. Yeah. Well, our office is very much so important for us to conduct oversight and be in alignment with the Constitution. So we appreciate hearing from you all. And I'm more than happy to get that through to you. All right. Last question for you, sir. There is a pro-life piece of legislation to defund Planned Parenthood. I think it's H.R. 7 in the House. Do you know, is Mike Kennedy a co-sponsor of that bill? I am not familiar, no.

[00:20:15] We have a lot of bills that come in and out through here, and we meet with a lot of constituents every day. I understand. Is there anybody you can find out to see if he's on that bill? I believe you can go to congress.gov, and you can check the co-sponsors there for that specific bill. Any bill that's been introduced. As far as I can see, he's not a co-sponsor. Unless it's just not been updated properly. So I'm hoping that you can also finally say we would like him to sponsor that bill to defund Planned Parenthood.

[00:20:46] Yeah. And which bill was it? You said HR. I think it's HR 7, if I'm not mistaken. HR 7. Isn't it? HR 7? Yeah. I think it's HR 7. Anyway, we really want that, too, because we've got to stop sending money to the murderers that are committing abortions with our tax dollars. Did you know your tax dollars were going through abortions? I did not, no. Yeah. We've got to stop that yesterday, sir. Yeah.

[00:21:14] Well, I've got all this noted here, and I'm more than happy to get this message through to the congressman. I appreciate it, sir. I do appreciate it, yeah. Have a wonderful day. Thanks for your time. You too. Bye-bye. You bet. Thank you. Bye-bye. If I just type in HR 7 to Google, lull, just so you kind of know. Yeah, I did the same thing. No taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood for abortions. Yeah. Yeah. And Mike's not on the list yet. He's not a co-sponsor yet. So I'm glad you mentioned that. Why?

[00:21:44] What the heck's going on? I mean, come on. If all the things that you need to spend your time on, the only last question I have, and I don't know who to call about this, when does Congress start today? Are they starting like at 3 or 4 in the afternoon like usual? I think they go Monday through Thursday. Normal business hours, Monday through Thursday. Yeah. I don't think they do any work until like 3. They start voting and stuff, you know? They just spend the rest of their time twisting arms in the back rooms before that and stuff. Yeah, could be. It gets a little crazy. All right. Anyway, we've done our due diligence there, and we really encourage everyone to call their

[00:22:14] congressmen and senators. And tell them two things. One, this 1977 act is bogus. Okay? It's got to stop. Okay? We don't have authority to do that. It's unconstitutional. It's got to stop. Call your congressmen and senators. Tell them to please stop it. And then also call and advocate for the passage of H.R. 7 to defund Planned Parenthood.

[00:22:42] What better way than to stop murder and to put the proper role of government in the hands of those who were delegated that responsibility by we the people? Lowell? Yeah. No better way. We need to stop the killing. Stop the... You know, we talk all the time about stopping the killing of our brothers and sisters in foreign lands. Let's also stop the killing of our brothers and sisters right here in our own country by, you know, stopping abortion.

[00:23:11] Now, back in the day in 1977, they should have basically made these congressmen who passed this 1977 unconstitutional bill delegating their authority to somebody else, which they had no authority to do. We should have impeached those people. We should have basically removed them next election cycle for their malfeasance. Lowell? Oh, absolutely right, Sam. In fact, that was a slippery slope. Because of that type of thing, Congress began to delegate all kinds of power.

[00:23:39] You know, to the president. Specifically, I'm thinking about the authorization for the use of military force, AUMS, right? Because that's the excuse they gave for allowing the president to start bombing Iraq and Afghanistan. And it's a slippery slope, Sam. And the 1977 act, I don't know if that's when it started, but it could have been. Well, it's been sliding for a long time, ladies and gentlemen.

[00:24:06] But we, the people, are the ones that can bring it back. You simply tell your representatives, you know what? You better get this on track or I'll find somebody else who will. And the election cycles are only two years apart. We can get rid of all 435 every election cycle until they start getting it right. All it takes is a little mojo, if you will, from we, the people. Moon of Alabama. You say, what? That's right. Moon of Alabama.org. Hang tight. We'll talk about it with Lowell Nelson.

[00:24:34] Campaign for Liberty.org on your radio. How would you like to help this program reach more people and earn silver at the same time? Call or text 801-669-2211 for complete details. News this hour from townhall.com. I'm Rich Thomason.

[00:25:04] Police say the man who broke into the Pennsylvania governor's mansion in Harrisburg and set a fire early yesterday morning harbors a strong hatred of Governor Josh Shapiro, although it's not clear why. Shapiro vows to stay the course. I refuse to let anyone who had evil intentions like that stop me from doing the work that I love. Stop me from being a leader of this commonwealth and looking out for all Pennsylvanians.

[00:25:31] I will not be deterred in my work, and I will not be afraid to do that work. A 38-year-old Harrisburg man is under arrest. Shapiro, his family, and visitors were asleep at the time of the overnight fire. Earlier, they had celebrated a Passover Seder. Though he's exempted electronics from 145% China tariffs, President Trump says additional levies are on the way for semiconductors and such.

[00:25:56] Like we did with steel, like we did with automobiles, like we did with aluminum, which are now fully on. We'll be doing that with semiconductors, with chips, and numerous other things. And that will take place in the very near future. And later today, the president meets with his Salvadoran counterpart at the White House. Salvadoran President Bukele's visit comes at a time when his country is accepting hundreds of deported immigrants from the United States.

[00:26:23] He's been amazing. We have some very bad people in that prison, people that should have never been allowed into our country. Talking with reporters on Air Force One, the president dismissed any concerns about human rights conditions at the maximum security prison in El Salvador. Greg Clugston at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. Despite ongoing uncertainty over tariffs and trade, Wall Street has been higher so far this morning.

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[00:30:13] Broadcasting live from atop the Rocky Mountains, the crossroads of the West, you are listening to the Liberty Roundtable Radio Talk Show. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. Hi, this is Lowell Nelson riding shotgun this morning with your host Sam Bushman here on Liberty Roundtable Live. Moon of Alabama wrote a great article posted at ronpaulinstitute.org entitled,

[00:30:42] War with Iran? Well, yeah, this is a big question mark right now. Some people believe a war with Iran is likely. Others don't think Trump would make such a big mistake and risk his legacy getting embroiled in such a conflict. Well, Trump has demanded three things of Iran. He's probably making these demands at the behest of Israel's Netanyahu, by the way. Number one is to end all nuclear programs. Number two is destroy medium-range missiles that can reach Israel.

[00:31:12] And number three, stop support for resistant movements in the Middle East. Well, Iran will, of course, reject those demands, writes Moon of Alabama. By the way, let me stop you, though. They will rightly reject those. They're a sovereign country. They don't have to obey that, right? Right. Where do we get authority to make these demands in the first place? Exactly. I mean, we should be hands-off, right? We should be friends with all countries and have alliances with none of them. And yet, here we are.

[00:31:42] And so Moon of Alabama writes it, meaning Iran, is willing to put its nuclear program back into the parameters of the JCPOA nuclear agreement. That's JCPOA, Stanford Joint Commission on the, let's see, where is that? Anyway, we'll talk about the JCPOA later. But anyway, the agreement from 2015, which Trump previously discarded, if sanctions against it are lifted.

[00:32:09] And so, in other words, Moon of Alabama is saying, look, Iran will, is willing to restrict its activities, according to the 2015 agreement, if sanctions against it are lifted. It is also willing to do lucrative business with the United States. But that's about it. Anyway, that's what he wrote. But meanwhile, the U.S. has moved a couple of aircraft carriers into the Middle East, along with some B-2 bombers, along with defensive munitions to Israel.

[00:32:38] And Trump's ultimatum to Iran appears to be moving the United States down a path to where war is the only outcome, which is what occurred in 1914, by the way, an outcome which ultimately triggered World War I. And so, in the end of the day, he said, if Iran does not make a deal, there will be bombing. It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before, end of quote.

[00:33:07] But, oh, man, I just hate that bluster. I hate the threat that he makes. But that's his style, I guess. I hope his statements are only bluster. And I hope this movement of military assets is just a show of force and not part of some concrete plan to fire on Iran. I mean, there's only – I mean, these military assets, by the way, are simply not enough. Even if we were to fire on Iran, they would not be enough to defeat Iran.

[00:33:38] Now, Moon of Alabama thinks that if Trump cares about his legacy, he will avoid a war with Iran. And I tend to agree. But MAGA voters across the United States need to encourage Trump not to go to war with Iran. Bottom line for me, Sam, is that if Iran and the United States will agree to the JCPOA nuclear agreement, then begin trading with each other, that would be a good thing.

[00:34:07] I mean, I've heard that we're goods cross borders. Armies do not. And so if we can, you know, establish robust trading relations with Iran, I mean, that would be a good thing, in my opinion. So – That's right. So the question is, what is JCPOA? And that's something that you brought up. It's an acronym that means Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. And basically it involves seven different countries that are involved in it.

[00:34:37] Iran, of course, China, France, Germany, Russia, the U.S. – or I'm sorry, the United Kingdom, and the United States. And I look at this and I just go, see, why do we have all these entangling alliances everywhere? Everywhere you turn. You've got the U.N. You've got the – whatever this thing is. You've got – I mean, it just doesn't end. And these alliances are what are the real problem because every faction has their agenda they want to push, and we're stuck with that agenda.

[00:35:07] We're stuck with that push from whoever because of the agreements we've supposedly made. And I think they violate our sovereignty. They say the agreement is that Iran will reduce its stockpile of uranium by 98 percent and will keep its level of uranium enrichment at 3.67 percent. But they're not going to do all this. Why would they open themselves up to international inspections? Why would they – you know, when was the last time we opened ourselves up to international inspections?

[00:35:37] I mean, it's just insane. You're exactly right, Sam. This deal that Obama made in 2015 is what Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018. So, you know, we just swing like a pendulum back and forth, it seems like. Anyway, he did that in retaliation for the U.S. departure and for deadly attacks on permanent Iranians in 2020, including one by the United States, right?

[00:36:04] Remember when we bombed Soleimani, I think was his name? Killed him. And so, anyway, it's – Iran, you know, they should be able to develop whatever they want to develop, right? As long as they don't infringe on the liberties and the properties of other sovereign nations. And yet here we are. Now, they say they agreed to all these – you know, the agreement was all these different things.

[00:36:29] They say in exchange for billions of dollars worth of, quote, sanction relief. So we're just going to literally steal from the U.S. taxpayers, spend that money around the world, pretend it's relief when it's really stopping the abuse we've heaped upon them. I just don't see how we're the saints in this thing. You're exactly right, Sam.

[00:36:54] So, man, we would be so much better off if we had followed the advice of our founding fathers, which is specifically don't engage in entangling alliances. Be friends with all the nations. Trade with them. Be friendly. But don't make agreements that entangle you with other countries. And yet we – like you said, we got them all over the place.

[00:37:19] And by the way, Sam, it turns out that because some of these new countries like Estonia and Latvia and so forth attached themselves into NATO, they became part of NATO, what it does is it allows their leadership to bluster against Russia in this case. You're talking about Estonia.

[00:37:40] They can – whereas if they weren't part of NATO, they wouldn't be so vociferous in their accusations against Russia. But because they are part of NATO and because they think that the U.S., the big bully U.S. will protect them from the big dog Russia, they are coming out and making cavalier and misguided statements about Russia. Belligerent statements. Yeah. They also don't have the same laws we do.

[00:38:08] They don't have the same agenda or focus that we do at all. And so it's just disaster, folks. And I'm telling you right now, I've asked this question many times on the radio, and I'm going to keep asking it. Are they going to turn Trump into a wartime president, Lowell? Yeah. They're doing it right now, Sam, before I – They're going to get this done, aren't they? And poor Trump's legacy is going to be the wartime president. Yep. Yep. I don't want it. Okay. But I'm afraid that's the case.

[00:38:35] He's being literally bullied into it as far as I can tell, and he should be wise enough to stand down, step back, and assess this and say, look, we're not going to do these foreign intangibles. We're not going to war. There's no reason to go into war. We're going to lead by example. We're going to let Congress handle tariffs. We're going to abolish the IRS because now Congress realizes tariffs are where they should be driving their money in the first place. You know, we could go about this all properly, but everything Donald's doing I half agree with and half disagree with every single thing.

[00:39:02] It's like every single item is splitting hairs and dividing the conservatives, it seems to me, Lowell. Yeah. That could be the case. But, you know, it seems like he takes advice from the last person he talks to. And we just need more people talking sense into him and his close advisors. He does have several. He has a handful of good people up there, and he just needs to listen to them more.

[00:39:28] But the munitions, armaments, industry, right, military, industrial, congressional complex is huge. And, unfortunately, he's gotten a lot of campaign contributions from Netanyahu and the Israel component, right, that AIPAC. That alone is a problem. Huge problem because he seems to be doing the bidding of Israel.

[00:39:50] And, you know, at the behest, I think, of Netanyahu, I call him Nutten-Yahu, who wants Iran shut down. And so they're asking big dog, the U.S. bully, to go shut down Iran. And it's just not our place. We shouldn't be doing that. We should reject these funds.

[00:40:10] And we've got congressmen who accept campaign donations from the Israeli PAC as well as the president, receive huge, I mean, millions of dollars from him. And so he's beholden to him. Well, you shouldn't be accepting money from these guys because then you get in these entangling alliances and you start killing people. It's just wrong, Sam, absolutely wrong. Amen to that. And the problem is that, you know, I think there's some good people in the Trump administration, but the more I hear about them, the more I kind of wonder.

[00:40:40] I mean, even Cash Patel now has literally let this clown serve Stephen Jensen, this guy that literally engineered J6. He's now put him in a position. He's the assistant director in charge of the Washington field office at the FBI now. This Jensen guy that should be in prison. Oh, didn't I know that? Yeah. So there you go. You know, Cash Patel let that happen. Everybody's critical of it. Dan Bongino says, just be patient. Just be patient. Trust us.

[00:41:09] It's very hard to do when you let people like that get, you know, instead of being prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and going to jail, that guy got promoted. And so I'm just starting to get to where, man. OK, for example, do you support tariffs? Well, yes, Sam, I support tariffs. They're constitutional. OK, so you support Trump then, right? Well, not really, because tariffs aren't his responsibility, but he's doing it. I mean, every single thing that we stand on takes like 10 years of explanation to get through the nuances of it all. It's so complicated.

[00:41:40] And now we're threatening Mexico, Lowell. Yeah, that's the headline really caught my attention, Sam. Bomb Mexico, question mark? We just talked about bombing Iran. Are you kidding me right now? And now the United States is considering bombing Mexico? I mean, that seems like unthinkable. And yet, here we are. And here's the notion, Sam, in black and white. How could the U.S. possibly justify the bombing of Mexico? Are trading partners in the South?

[00:42:09] Well, here's the answer. By conflating the war on terror with the war on drugs. That's the answer. Right? The U.S. regime is purportedly fighting the war on drugs when they talk about dropping bombs in Mexico. They would do so to kill drug cartel leaders, ostensibly. Anyway, U.S. officials have been pressuring Mexico's president, Claudia Scheinbaum, into agreeing to the bombing campaign.

[00:42:37] But she has resisted so far, thankfully. Now, Jacob G. Hornberger is the author of this column. And he writes, quote, Scheinbaum has already gone to tremendous length in an effort to appease President Trump. She has agreed to surveillance over Mexican skies by U.S. government drones. So we're in their airspace, in other words. She has sent Mexican drug dealers to Trump, meaning, you know, to be imprisoned, to be punished.

[00:43:06] She has sent 10,000 Mexican troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in an ostensible effort to help Trump enforce the U.S. drug war and U.S. immigration controls. And she has had her own drug warriors bust several Mexican drug dealing operations. But that's as far as she has gone for now. Oh, that was in the quote, by the way, there. She has not agreed to let the U.S. drop bombs on Mexico. But we've got to watch what's happening here.

[00:43:34] And, Sam, I think this is an incredibly insightful observation by Jacob G. Hornberger. Because he's saying that, look, the powers that be want to conflate the war on drugs with the war on terror. And now we're going to learn why the bad guys want this to happen. Here's the answer. There is a big difference between the war on drugs and the war on terror.

[00:44:03] However, the violation of drug laws is a domestic criminal justice matter. Right? Which means that the people who are accused. And, by the way, it's a matter for the states, though. Anything to do with, you know, there's very few crimes that are relegated to the general government level. Drugs or drug trafficking or drug use is not one of them. They're states' discussions, right? That's exactly right.

[00:44:28] And at the state level, even if you're a drug lord, you have the protection of due process, right? You have to be indicted, prosecuted, and convicted before you get punished. But the military doesn't have those restraints on it, right?

[00:44:47] And so if the U.S. can engage military force in the war on drugs, then this, quote, empowers them to treat drug war violators as illegal enemy combatants who don't wear uniforms. End of quote. Well, that's not good. Let's recall where the war on terror has taken us. It was declared after 9-11 in 2001. And Hornberger writes this.

[00:45:13] He says, quote, the terrorists replaced the communists as America's official enemy. And the war on terrorism replaced the Cold War's war on communists. The terrorists are coming replaced. The Reds are coming to keep Americans afraid and eager to trade their liberty for the pretense of security. And that's how we got the Patriot Act, the TSA, the illegal mass surveillance, and other destructions of American liberty and privacy. Continuing his quote,

[00:45:40] The war on terrorism exposed vast omnipotent powers that had long been wielded by the U.S. national security state. Kidnappings, military custody, torture, indefinite detention, extrajudicial execution, mass secret surveillance, and state-sponsored assassinations. All to keep us, quote, unquote, safe, of course. While many fear-filled Americans were excited about the fact that their government was wielding such powers against the terrorists,

[00:46:08] and against the Muslims, what they did not notice in their fear was that the government could now legally wield omnipotent powers against American citizens as well. Throughout the war on drugs, however, it was always assumed that the drug war would be operating independently of the war on terrorism. After all, drug prohibition is strictly a criminal justice matter, one that involves a process of arrest, indictment, prosecution, and possible punishment.

[00:46:38] It's also a matter that involves constitutional procedural protections, such as due process of law, trial by jury, the right to counsel, and the presumption of innocence. Well, thanks to the principle of posse comitatus, it also means that the military is absolutely prohibited from involving itself in the drug war. That's because the American people do not want the military to be involved in matters relating to criminal justice.

[00:47:07] They want regular law enforcement personnel to enforce criminal laws, and they want the regular criminal justice system to handle violations of criminal laws. And Sam, I'm continuing this quote because it's so essential. He lays this out so very well. He says, quote,

[00:47:29] The Trump administration has now conflated the war on drugs and the war on terrorism by designating drug cartels or drug gangs as terrorist organizations. That enables U.S. officials to now use the military and wartime military powers against violators of drug laws. End of quote. And Sam, this is what's so sobering about this. This really ought to cause American patriots great concern.

[00:47:57] Quote, of course, if they get away with bombing Mexican drug war violators under the rubric of the war on terrorism, there is nothing to prevent them from doing whatever is necessary to kill and destroy drug war violators right here in the United States under the same war on terrorism rubric, including assassinating them or sending them to Guantanamo Bay or El Salvador for torture and indefinite detention.

[00:48:26] End of quote. Whew. So, Sam, it's super dire. This is very sobering, this development. And I had no idea of this conflation. And at first glance, and I was even kind of guilty of this, I'll have to admit on the radio, at first glance, I'm like, yeah, let's call the drug cartels criminal organizations. Let's stop them. Let's say they're terrorist organizations. And at first I was kind of for that. But now that I kind of look into it, I'm kind of going, maybe not so fast, right? Yeah.

[00:48:56] Bottom line, Sam, if the U.S. can successfully conflate the war on drugs with the war on terror, then they can use military force against drug traffickers, which until now have been protected by due process, thankfully, in our criminal justice system, which means the further loss of our liberties because drug traffickers would not have the protection of criminal justice system, but the military could summarily kill or detain such people without the benefit of due process.

[00:49:24] And how long will it be until they bring the environmental war or discussion, the green discussion in on this? They've already threatened to arrest people who don't agree with global warming, right? Yeah. So how long will it be until we conscribe that into it, too? And then pretty soon anybody that disagrees is part of the, you know, war on terror, and they're considered enemy combatants. And this is a slippery slope, to say the least, folks. And we're warning you right now.

[00:49:52] Jacob Hornberger, spot on with an incredible article. Final article of the hour, though. Trump is making the case for bricks, writes Larry Johnson. Lowell? That's right. Bricks, as you know, is an alternative to the dollar hegemony around the world, right? Bricks is, right, Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa,

[00:50:15] agreement to use a different monetary system to record, you know, global trade, right? And so, you know, what Trump's been doing with the tariffs, you know, everybody thinks that he's getting an agreement from like 70 countries, he claims, called up the United States begging to make trade deals with the United States. They didn't want these tariffs imposed on him.

[00:50:43] And but whether he acknowledges it or not, writes Larry Johnson, Trump made a great case for why nations should align themselves with bricks rather than be economic hostages of fickle hegemon. End of quote. Now, can he say that even or will he be considered part of the war on terror if he says that? Yeah, he may. See, it's a serious question because you're taking on the president directly and throwing people into the arms of bricks. Well, bricks is backed by all kinds of terrorist groups, right?

[00:51:12] Well, yeah, I mean, I think that's the case. You've got a lot of countries that are wanting to move out from underneath the dollar. It's losing its status as the world reserve currency. And bricks is a very competitive and viable alternative to the hegemony of the dollar. And so Trump, I'm sorry, Johnson devotes the rest of his column to China.

[00:51:40] Basically, Trump thinks the U.S. has a stronger hand. But Johnson thinks China will not blink because China, he writes, can blame their price inflation on the United States. But Trump, who initiated this trade war, cannot place the blame on China. And so he writes that Trump will, quote, face the wrath of consumers if the prices of electronic and pharmaceutical goods rapidly inflate. And, quote, turns out that 78 percent of our smartphones and laptops come from China. And Trump knows this.

[00:52:10] That's why he's already caved and given kind of a pass to electronics, a temporary one, he claims. And then people like me in the media try to bring up what we think is the case. Then Trump gets mad at us because we don't have the facts right. I don't even know what the facts are anymore, lol. Do you?

[00:52:26] Well, I do know that Trump and his advisors made a huge mistake when they disclosed this Trump hike policy to Congress because they were using, instead of using actual trade, what was it, trade deficits, they were using some other figure, some other statistic.

[00:52:54] And so they don't even know what the facts are. And Trump, unfortunately, is making these big decisions based on bad data. And who was it? What's his name that worked in the Reagan administration for years, the Office of Management and Budget? I mean, he pointed this out in his column, which we don't have time to get into. But Trump's advisors making a big mistake when they impose these tariffs.

[00:53:21] So basically, we've been talking about war and we've been talking about trade this morning, Sam. And we need to curtail both of those. The last paragraph of Johnson's column is, quote, Trump and his advisors appear to be betting that this move will help convince Russia that China is not a reliable economic partner and that Russia will abandon China. He says, I think Trump's tariff tirade will have the opposite effect.

[00:53:49] In other words, it will cement Russian and Chinese relations on all fronts and spur them to move quicker on making BRICS a solid alternative to a financial order based on the U.S. dollar. And even Vivek Ramaswami made some of those points as well. We're throwing Russia into the arms of the communist Chinese as we speak. And it's dangerous. What we need to do is avoid all foreign entanglements. Let me tell you what we really need to do, ladies and gentlemen. We need to turn to God Almighty. And we, the people, need to repent.

[00:54:16] And if we do, he promises us that he will heal our land and protect us. You've got to dig that. That's a hope-filled message, to say the least. Lowell Nelson, CampaignForLiberty.org. Thank you, brother. You're welcome, my friend. Hard-hitting talk on your radio always. I'm just telling you right now, Campaign for Liberty. Young Americans for Liberty doing a phenomenal job. CampaignForLiberty.org. Ron Paul Institute.org. God save the Republic of the United States of America.