Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome in his verdict with Center. Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson
with you in today's show. We've got a lot of
big news. It all revolves around Russia, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump,
and the big meeting in Alaska Centater. What's even more
amazing about this story is how Democrats are obsessed with
hating Trump almost as much as they hate Vladimir Putin
and hoping that this conversation is a failure. Even Hillary
(00:26):
Clinton saying well, if you can get a deal done,
I'll nominate him for Noel Peace Prize, but saying it
away that was pretty clear she thinks this is never
gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, this was a major meeting that happened in Alaska.
It was a one on one meeting between President Trump
and Vladimir Putin. The proof will be in the pudding.
We will see what results. But my hope and my
belief is this is going to result in a peace
agreement in ending the war in Ukraine, and then that's
(00:55):
an outcome that needs to happen. Well, we're going to
do on this podcast is we're going to break down
what exactly happened in Alaska. What we know what President
Trump said, what Vladimir Putin said, and what's likely to
happen next. What are the consequences for ending.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
The war in Ukraine. We're going to give you all
the details on today's pod.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
We're also going to talk about a story that you
may not have seen, but it is consequential, which is
that I've been calling for the recognition of a new
nation in Africa, Somaliland, and I'm the chairman of the
Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa, and the Chinese Communist
Party is very very unhappy with me for doing so,
(01:34):
and so they have been blasting me this week for
daring to stand up to China and Africa.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Well, here's a spoiler alert. I'm going to keep standing
up to them.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
But we're gonna explain that issue to you because it's
important and it's another arena in which we are contesting
Communist China.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah, it really is an important story that no one's
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Speaker 3 (03:44):
All right, So.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
Let's start at the beginning of this meeting.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
The first thing that made people lose their minds was
the fact that Donald Trump shook hands with Vladimir Putin
and they smiled at one another. And that was when,
like the entire media just erupted with I can't even
believe that they're touching each other and shaking hands. It
is true, incredible to watch the meltdown.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
You know, it is astonishing how the corporate media and
the Democrats are rooting for America to fail.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
They want the president to fail.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
They hate President Trump so much that actually seeing him
succeed in ending this war would be intolerable to the
left that hates him so much. And listen, I don't
know if he will succeed. This is not easy. This
was courageous to go and do this meeting. There is
a risk of failure. But if we know anything about
(04:31):
President Trump is that he is afraid of very little
unplanet Earth, and and he's not afraid of Vladimir Putin.
And so he went, He invited him to come to Alaska.
He went and met one on one. He looked him
in the eyes, and he made very clear of this
war needs to come to an end. I want you
to give a listen to what President Trump said about
(04:53):
his meeting with Putin.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
We were together almost three hours and it was very
extensive and we agreed her a lot of points. I
mean a lot of points we're agreeing on, but there's
not that much is you know, one or two pretty
significant items, but I think they can be reached. Now
it's really up to Presidents Olynsky to get it done.
And I would also say the European nations they have
(05:16):
to get involved a little bit, but it's up to
Presidents Olynsky. I think we are and if they'd like,
I'll be at that next meeting. They're going to set
up a meeting now between Presidents Olynsky and President Putin
and myself. I guess you know, I didn't even I
didn't ask about it. Not that I want to be there,
but I want to make sure it gets done, and
we have a pretty good chance of getting it done.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
If he described as a pretty good chance of getting
it done. Part of this is the economics, and that's
something centered that a lot of people have not been
talking about. This war is costing Russia a lot of money,
and they are a country that is very poor at
this point, they're teetering somewhat safe economically, and so there
(05:57):
is a real chance that Vladimir who needs to get
out of this from a financial standpoint. That's part of
what I think the President clearly was talking to him
about as well.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I think that's right, and I believe the Ukraine War
will end, and it will end this year. That was
clearly something President Trump campaigned on. He was explicit to
the American people that he intended to end this war.
And listen, President Zelensky has been reluctant to reach a
piece deal because he wants to recover every square inch
(06:31):
of Ukraine.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Now now I understand why he does.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
You and I, if we were president of Ukraine, we
probably want the same thing. But President Trump has been
cleared the United States is out of the business of
funding the war. That we have sent billions and billions
of dollars to Ukraine and the cash spigot has stopped,
and I think that is a powerful incentive to President
(06:56):
Zelensky to reach an agreement. You were right that the
war has been incredibly costly on Russia. They have poured
in enormous money and material and manpower and soldiers who've
been lost.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
And what I've.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Verged, the president is number one in the war, but
number two end it in a way that is a
clear and discernible loss for Putin. Putin is not our friend.
Putin is our enemy. And we do not want our
enemy getting stronger. We want our enemies getting weaker. And
so my hope is the resolution, there's going to be
some kind of negotiated settlement.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
I think it will be reached later this year.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
The follow up on Monday today, President Zelenski is scheduled
to be in Washington and meet with President Trump.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
That that'll be the next step.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
And then the objective is to get Zelenski and Putin
together with President Trump and see if we can make
real progress to a resolution. That is not going to
be easy because Zelenski has no wanted to give anything up,
and Putin generally doesn't want to give anything up either,
And so you've got two people that are pretty dug
(08:08):
in in their positions. But I think President Trump is
trying to move heaven and earth to stop the war,
to stop the shooting and stop the bloodshed.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
You talk about the next steps, and let's just go
to that meeting with Zelensky.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
I think it's pretty clear.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
And a lot of people criticize in the media also
Democrats that Zelensky quote wasn't invited to this meeting, and
they wanted to hit the president on that. Look, Donald
Trump clearly need to get in the room with Vladimir Putin,
talk to Putin and probably be able to say some
things of Vladimir Putin without Zelensky in the room. Yeah,
there was no indication by the way that Vladimir Putin
(08:44):
wanted to meet with Zolensky, And if you look historically
at these deals, usually the person the country that brokers
the deal has a meeting with one side, first, has
a meeting with the other side, then they have that
follow up meeting that the President talked about that has
been standing entered practice for decades and decades and decades,
maybe even centuries around the world. And yet people wanted
(09:07):
to criticize the President for using this strategy, which has
been proven to work. Well, I think the President was
smart here. You go to this meeting with Zolensky, I'm
assuming he's going to treat it very much the same
way he treated this meeting with Vladimir Putin, except there
is a difference. One's going to be at the White
House and one's in Alaska. So I think that also
plays out well in the President's favor, with Zelenski saying, hey,
(09:30):
I'm showing your respect. I want to get this deal done.
You need to stop the killing for your people that's
coming in. I think with a smart idea and strategy,
your reaction.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Well, look, President Trump, before the meeting in Alaska, he
was explicit. He said he wanted to see if Putin
is willing to make a deal to reach a resolution.
And he was also explicit and he said if if
Putin is not, Trump was perfectly prepared to get up
and leave. And and remember that that's what President Reagan
did when he met with Mickel Gorbachev in Raykevic, and Gorbachev.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Was not willing to reach a deal.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
In particular, Gorbachev wanted Reagan to give up SDI, the
Strategic Defense Initiative, which was Star Wars, it was missile defense,
and Reagan was not willing to give it up. And
Reagan got up from the table and left and walked out.
And I'll tell you his leaving that negotiation was a
critical element of winning the Cold War because the Soviet
(10:27):
Union they did not have the economy to support the
military build up. They needed to keep up with SDI
to keep up with our military, and we ultimately won
the Cold War without firing a shot. I think President
Trump did a good job of setting expectations. And I
wasn't in the room with with Trump and and Putin,
but I assume he looked at him flat out and said, listen,
(10:48):
are you willing to reach a deal or not? And
the answer was satisfactory enough that Trump stayed and continued
the meeting. I think that's a step forward. It's a
positive step forward. And you know the left is contemptuous.
But I want you to listen to this exchange with
Brett Baar.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
We asked her, asked Trump about Hillary Clinton, give a listen.
Speaker 6 (11:10):
In fact, did you see that Hillary Clinton yesterday said
that if you got this deal done and not capitulate
to Putin, that she would nominate you for the Nobel
Peace Price.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
If President Trump were the architect of that, I'd nominate
him for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Well, that was very nice.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
I may have to start liking her again.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
That one just made me laugh like when I watched it,
because I think he was even like really like Hillary
Clinton noticed she had a caveat in there. If it's
without capitulating, right, if there's always a caveat with Dems.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Well, and that's their wiggle language, she said, and not
capitulate to Putin. So whatever the deal is, if Putin
gets anything at all, Hillary will say nope, nope, that
was capitulating.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
So I didn't mean it. I'm not nominating him.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
But that may be quote that that that she and
the other Democrats come back to regret because I think
there's going to be a deal.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
And if there is a deal, uh, you can be
assured that quote is going to be played multiple times
and and and and if if the President negotiates the deal,
she'll try to walk away from it. One hundred percent.
She tries to walk away from it. But but but
it shows you know, she's rooting for failure, and and
and the other Democrats are are rooting for failure. But
(12:29):
in a significant part of the reason, understand, this war
in Ukraine should never have happened. It was unnecessary. This
war in Ukraine was caused by two things. It was
caused by number one, Joe Biden's disastrous withdraw in Afghanistan.
The incompetence, the debacle that unfolded every enemy of America
(12:50):
took a measure of President Biden and determined that the
commander in chief was weak and ineffective. That was a
major reason Putin invaded Ukraine. And it was caused second
by Joe Biden waiving sanctions on Nordstream two. Nordstream two
is the undersea pipeline that Putin built from Russia to Germany,
and the reason he built that pipeline to carry natural
(13:12):
gas was to circumvent Ukraine, because right now Russia's natural
gas goes through Ukraine on pipelines, and the purpose of
Nordstream two was so that he didn't need to go
through Ukraine and he could invade Ukraine. In the first term,
I authored sanctions legislation, crushing sanctioned legislation to shut down
(13:32):
Nordstream two. It passed the Senate with bipartisan support, It
passed the House with bipartisan support. President Trump signed my
sanctions legislation into law, and Ben Putin stopped construction of
Nordstream two literally the day President Trump signed my sanctioned
legislation into law. That legislation stopped the invasion, prevented the invasion,
(13:58):
and had the same actions remained in place, we would
not have a war in Ukraine. But Joe Biden came
in and waived the sanctions. He gave a multi billion
dollar gift to Putin finished Northstream two, and almost immediately
thereafter invaded. And by the way, it's not just me
saying this, give a listen to to Putin saying the
(14:19):
same point, which is that the war in Ukraine would
never have happened if Trump had been president in twenty
twenty one, give a listen.
Speaker 7 (14:27):
I'd like to remind you that in twenty twenty two,
during the last contact with the previous administration, I tried
to convince my previous American colleague we should not the
situation should not be brought to the point of no
return when it would come to hostilities. And I said
(14:49):
it quite directly back then. That is a big mistake
President Trump today. When President Trump saying that if he
was the president back then, there will be no war,
I'm quite sure that it would indeed be so, and
I can't confirm that. I think that overall, me and
President Trump have built very good, business like and trustworthy
(15:12):
contact and have every reason to believe that moving down
this path, we can come and suited better to the
end of the conflict in Ukraine.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
I mean he said it there.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
I also think you said it because he's probably messing
with our media a little bit, which I love. It's like,
you guys are idiots, and you're wrong, and if you
knew what was actually going on, you tell the truth.
It's pretty bad when even Putin knows how to just
call out the media.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yeah, look and and and.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
The media actually behaves like Prova, behaves like the Soviet media,
except they they pitched the hard left pullet Burrow line,
and and so as a result, they blame everything on
President Trump. But I'm understand Joe Biden. The Democrats caused wars.
They caused the war in Ukraine, and I believe Biden's
(16:06):
weakness caused the war in Gaza caused October seventh. And
the world is safer. We have fewer wars when we
have a strong commander in chief and President Trump is working,
I think, very hard to end this war. Now, one
big question is is Zelenski willing to make a deal.
(16:28):
And President Trump had some very straightforward advice to President Zelensky.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Give a listen, what's your advice is to make a deal.
Make the deal.
Speaker 5 (16:38):
Got to make a deal.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
Look, Russia is a very big power, and they're not
They're great soldiers that they have, great but you know
they also had the best equipment. You know, they had
our equipment, and I gave them javelins. If you remember
my first term, in fact, it was a statement I
gave javelins. You remember the statement I gave javelins and
Obama gave because it was Obama at that time. Obama
(17:00):
gave them sheets, and that's true. I gave javelins, and
a lot of tanks were knocked out because of the
javelins and javelins incredible weapon.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
That said tank.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
You know, you look at this big, powerful tank, it
ends up being a ball of metal lying on the
ground and burn it.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
I'd never say anything like it.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
We have the greatest military equipment in the world, but
they did have courage in fighting, and you know, they're
fighting a big war machine. And we I think are
close to a deal, but I won't. I don't like
saying it. I always say, if I'm really close, I
say fifty to.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
Fifty, fifty to fifty, right. I love how he says that.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yep, yeah, Look, and this was President Trump also made
clear that that Biden is the one who screwed this up,
and he's coming in now and he's trying to fix
the mess that Joe Biden, the Democrats weakness caused.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Here's how the President put it.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
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All right, take a listen to Donald Trump in Anchorage,
vladimirpruiting right next to him and talking about how Joe
Biden screwed all this up and he inherited this mess.
Speaker 6 (20:02):
Nineteen eighty six, Reagan walks away from Raykevic with Gorbachev,
and it was his strong moment. I mean, you could
foresee if it goes down a bad path. You get
up and walk away.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
I'm not doing it based on history, based on anything else.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
I'm doing it based on a deal. If we make
a deal, great.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
If I see that there's no hope of making a deal,
I'm out of there.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
It's over.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
I'm out of there.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
This isn't my war, this is Biden's war.
Speaker 5 (20:29):
This is Biden screwed this up, just like he did
with Afghanistan, with that horrible retreat and the way he
did it.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
I'll never forget it. He'll never forget it.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Yeah, and neither will the soldiers and sailors and airmen
and marines who fought in Afghanistan, who bled, who lost
brothers and sisters there, Every veteran of that war. Biden's
disastrous with retreat is in del marked under their conscious.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Final question for you on this, if you were meeting
with Zolensky about getting this deal done, what would you
say to him?
Speaker 4 (21:09):
What would your advice be?
Speaker 1 (21:11):
And and and how would you see this thing ending
if you could do it your way?
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Well, look, my advice would be the same as as
what President Trump's was, which is make a deal. It's
got to be a negotiated settlement. So Lincy's not going
to get everything he wants UH, but it is important
that that Ukraine have an outcome where their security is
is protected. And and and that's one thing that that
that's one thing that is striking. Putin acknowledged that that
(21:39):
was a real concession that Putin said there needs to
be an outcome where Ukraine's security is protected. I also
think it is important that that that the resolution of
this UH continues to leave nord Stream to shut down.
When I'm meeting with with our European allies, and I
do so frequently, a question I posed to them over
(22:01):
and over again, as I say, listen, when the war
in Ukraine ends, who are you going to buy your
energy from? Are you going to buy your energy from
Russia or are you going to buy it from the
United States? Because I would like to see a resolution
to this war that is America first, that puts America first.
I'd like to see Europe buying their energy from US
and not enriching Putin. And so that's an outcome that
(22:23):
I think is very much in America's view. But I
want you to listen to Putin. I want you to
listen to Putin acknowledging the importance of an outcome that
protects the security of Ukraine. Give a listen, and I agree.
Speaker 7 (22:37):
With President Trump as he has said today. Naturally, the
security of Ukraine should be insured as well. Naturally we're
prepared to welcome that. I like to hope that the
agreement that we've reached together will help us bring close
to that goal and will pay the path towards peace
from Ukraine. We expect that Kiev and European capitals perceive
(23:00):
that constructively and that they won't throw a wrench in
the words.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Two things there. One, he says it clearly, the security
of Ukraine should be ensure. Now I think this goes
back to trust but verify, right, But at least he's
saying that.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Absolutely, we should not take Putin at his word for that.
But it's better that he says it then than he doesn't.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
And then you hear him at the end.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
It does seem to be that he's is talking in
a way you would talk if you're winding things down.
I think you have to read into that a little
bit and say, okay, this is not a bad thing either.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Look, if he was hell bent on continuing the war,
and trying to conquer all of Ukraine. He wouldn't say
we need to ensure that the security of Ukraine is
protected now. He also said and that the European shouldn't
throw a wrench into it. And one of the real
questions is is there have been some in Europe, and
(23:58):
there have been a number of Democrats who've advocated that
Ukraine be a member of NATO. I think that would
be a real mistake. I've been vocal opposing that. President
Trump has been explicit he opposes that. And the reason
is NATO. Under Article five of NATO, when a country
becomes a member of NATO, the other members take an
obligation to defend it in the case of war. And
(24:21):
I have zero interest in putting American troops in harm's
way defending Ukraine. And so I think inviting Ukraine to
NATO would be a bad mistake. President Trump has made
that clear, and I think that's what Putin was saying
there as well, is that that would do real damage
to the prospects of peace. And so I'm glad that
(24:44):
President Trump has taken that off the table.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
I want to move to.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
This other story, and it's one realistically that probably ninety
nine percent of this audience doesn't even know about this
because no one's covering it. It doesn't mean that it's
not an extreme important story. It is you calling out China.
It's an epic fight over creating a new country in Africa.
(25:08):
This reminds me of that story we were talking about
not that long ago, about China creating an island in
the middle of the ocean based of nowhere that we
helped give them air superiority. If there was a massive
world event that took place, another World war, it would
give them the ability to reach places they currently cannot reach.
And now we're hearing that they're looking at creating a
(25:31):
new country in Africa. You're trying to bring that to
light and also stop it. Well, that's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
So I am the chairman of the Africa Subcommittee of
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and so I've been sharing
a number of hearings, in particular focusing on the growing
influence of communist China and Africa. Africa has become a
major battleground where China is trying to gain influence, trying
to gain power and do so at the expense of America.
(25:59):
And so what this last week, I wrote a letter
to President Trump urging the President to recognize a new
country in Africa. I'm going to read you the letter.
Dear President Trump, I write to urge your administration to
formally recognize the Republic of Somaliland as an independent state
with sovereignty within its nineteen sixty borders. Somaliland first gained
(26:22):
independence and international recognition in nineteen sixty before voluntarily uniting
with Somalia later that year. Since moving to reclaim its
independence in nineteen ninety one, it has functioned as a stable,
self governing, democratic nation. It has held several peaceful elections
(26:42):
since two thousand and three, marked by strong voter turnout
and peaceful transitions of power. Somaliland has emerged as a
critical security and diplomatic partner for the United States, helping
America advance our national security interest in the whole born
of Africa and beyond. It is strategically located on the
(27:04):
Gulf of Aden, putting it near one of the world's
busiest maritime corridors. It possesses capable armed forces and contributes
to regional counter terrorism and piracy operations. It has enabled
the opening of a Taiwanese Representative Office in the capital
of Hargisa sought to strengthen ties with Israel and voice
(27:29):
support for the Abraham Accords. It has proposed hosting a
US military presence near the Red Sea along the Gulf
of Aden, and is open to critical minerals agreements that
would support our supply chain resilience. The US Somaliland partnership
(27:51):
is robust and it is deepening. Somaliland faces mounting pressure
from adversaries, so small part to its role as a
partner for the United States and our allies. The Chinese
Communist Party is using economic and diplomatic coercion to punish
Somaliland for its support for Taiwan, as well as to
(28:15):
undermine that support. The Government of Somalia has played an
unfortunate role in these efforts. In April twenty twenty five,
the CCP arranged for Somalia to bar Taiwanese passport holders
from transiting into Somaliland, and Chinese support to Somalia is
(28:35):
benefiting anti Somaliland groups working to erode its sovereignty. Despite
these threats, Somaliland remains committed to forging closer ties with
the US and is actively engaged in enhancing military cooperation,
counter terrorism efforts, and economy and trade partnerships. To do
(28:56):
so to the greatest effect and the greatest benefit to
American national security interest, it requires the status of a state.
I urge you to grant it that recognition. This is
obviously significant. What are the chances that this could move
forward this way?
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Look, I'm optimistic.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
I think there's a real chance the President will recognize Somaliland.
As I said, they've been an ally to US. UH,
they've been an ally. This is a Muslim country and
in a very dangerous part of Africa. And they've shown
real courage. They've shown real courage standing with the United States.
They've shown real courage standing up to China. They've they've
shown real courage siding with Taiwan, which infuriates communist China.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
UH.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
They they've shown real courage embracing Israel and the Abraham Accords.
I think Somaliland would would eagerly join the Abraham Accords,
and and and so it is in America's national security interest.
I believe to recognize Somaliland, and and and and probably
(29:59):
the best comp information of that is this week China
put out a public release blasting me absolutely furious that
I made this public call to recognize Somaliland. And here's
what China put out as their statement. They said, quote
(30:20):
a US senator in a letter boasting of so called
US recognition of Somaliland region launched baseless attacks against China
and China Somalia relations. The Chinese Embassy in Somalia firmly
opposes this misconduct. This coursive letter constitutes serious interference in
(30:42):
the internal affairs of Somalia and further exposes the hegemonic
and bullying attitude of certain US politicians to the Somali people.
Respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and non interference in
each other's internal affairs are enshrined in the UN chart
as basic norms governing international relations for safeguarding world peace
(31:05):
and stability. China never interferes in other countries' internal affairs
and absolutely does not accept meddling in its own internal
affairs by any countries. Taiwan is an inalienable part of
China's territory. This is history and this is reality. China
(31:27):
firmly opposes taiwan independent separatism and external interference, and possesses
the legitimate right to take measures to defend national sovereignty
and territorial integrity. The fact that China is freaking out,
the fact that they are this pissed off from my perspective,
(31:48):
confirms that that I was exactly right and as yet
another argument why President Trump should should recognize Somaliland as
an ally to America and as a country in Africa
willing to stand up to communist China.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:04):
Great point.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
We're going to keep you updated on this story because
it's an important one and we will have movement on it,
I have no doubt. So make sure you download this
show Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Hitt that subscriber auto download
button wherever you get your podcast so you don't miss
a single episode, and the senter and I will see
you back here on Wednesday morning.