August 13, 2025 • 30 mins
In this episode of The Sean Hannity Show, Sean discusses President Trump's upcoming meeting with Vladimir Putin, emphasizing Trump's unique approach to international diplomacy compared to past presidents. He critiques Joe Biden's handling of the Ukraine conflict, arguing that Trump's energy policies and military support for Ukraine could lead to a potential ceasefire. Hannity highlights the importance of political capital in negotiations and the need for strong leadership in addressing global threats.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, well, come in your city. I gets sane you
a conscious song, will be died Highland tell and if
you want a little bang in.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
The Union and come along. I'm going in to speak
to Vladimir Putin and I'm going to be telling him
you got end this war.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
You got to end it.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I like ConA. She's a fun line, but she was
her core consultantcy.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
It takes Freedom is back in style. Welcome to the Revolution.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Will coming.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
To your city, going away?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I get Arson, sane you a conscious.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Song, Sean Hennedy show more me. I'm in the scenes
information on freaking news and.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
More bold inspired solutions for America.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
All right, thank you, Scott Channon, Thanks to all of
you for being with us. Right down our toll free
telephone number. You want to be a part of this extravaganza,
It's eight hundred nine four one, Sean, if you want
to be a part of the program. We are looking forward.
We will be on the road. We will be in
Alaska tomorrow and Friday. The first interview post summit Trump
(01:34):
and Putin with President Trump will be with me immediately thereafter.
I assume it will be on. Hopefully the timing works
out right. We're planning on it. It'll be on Friday
Night's edition of Hannity. And to get his first initial
reaction to all of this is going to be interesting.
(01:55):
Let me tell you what I always like to manage expectations.
And when I look at this, I just compare Donald
Trump in every regard to past presidents, and we just
have never seen anybody like this guy. And it's not
(02:16):
because he's my friend, not because I supported him.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
It just is he's a force of nature.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
And what really delineates him and separates him from so
many other past presidents and other leaders is the idea
that he is willing to expend all of this political
capital for the purpose really of benefiting the world way
(02:46):
more than the United States and Europe and Ukraine and
everything in between. Says a lot about him because I
can tell you how it works with past presidents.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
It works.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Okay, they'll talk about the idea, and they'll get a
list of all they have all their advisors in front
of them, and they'll give them a list of upside
and the list of downside. And when they get finished
with the list of downside, then they'll ask themselves why
bother expending any political capital on something that may not
go perfectly there. I would say going into this, there's
(03:26):
a twenty five percent chance that President Trump's uh pulls
a Reagan and says yet and walks away from the
table like Reagan walked away from the table at Reikievik.
I don't think like in usually when there's a summit
of some kind, is usually a predetermined outcome that is expected.
(03:50):
I don't think that's the case here. I think a
lot of things have been discussed. I think the possibility exists.
I think the fact that the president, you know what
he's done so far in just the last eight months,
He's got he played a part in seven massive peace
(04:11):
deals that have taken place. I think you know two
of the biggest. They're Indian Pakistan. You know, tensions were
flaring up. He got involved and they helped simmer that down.
Israel Iran twelve days. I don't think anybody would have
thought that would have ended in twelve days. He was
active and involved in that too, and in the process
(04:31):
also took out their nuclear sites. Rwanda, the Congo, Serbia, Kosovo, Thailand, Cambodia.
You saw last week, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, and Ethiopia, and
the President's going here and look, you can say what
(04:51):
you want. He's this is this is Joe Biden's conflict.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
And we've gone over this earlier in the week.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Oh Biden allowed Vladimir Putin to a massed troops and
military might on the border with Ukraine. And I think
the worst part of the story is the president of
our country never picked up the phone and said, what
are you doing? Why is this happening, offered a potential solution,
(05:23):
offered to get involved, and then when asked about it,
you know, well it depends if it's a minor incursion,
and then asked in another case, don't him and him him,
and comm up don't.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Well he did.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
And you know a lot of people probably would like
President Trump to do what Biden did. And that's called
Vladimir Putin every name of the book. Now, if you
call him a murderer and a dictator and a thug,
that would be an accurate description from my perspective.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
And I'm not saying that.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Ukraine has handled all of this perfectly either. Dumbest thing
Ukraine ever did is give up the nuclear weapons program.
You know, thanks to Bill Clinton, that was dumb, because
I don't think they would be in the situation they
now find themselves in. But if you look at when
Crimea was annexed in twenty fourteen, that was under Obama
(06:20):
and Biden. If you look at this minor incursion which
now has taken over you know, significant portions of land.
You know, it's that this is not a minor incursion.
This is a full on war. But if you really
just stop and think about it, there are not many politicians,
and I'm talking worldwide now or former presidents that would
(06:43):
be willing to expend all of this political capital when
you would argue that the downside for the president could
be significant, but I don't really think it's as significant
as people think, because really the only the only thing
the president trust is offering here.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
And he was very clear this week.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
He said he thinks he'll know within two minutes whether
or not Vladimir is Sirius. He also thinks he also
had a conference call with NATO leaders, Western European leaders,
and Ukraine earlier today and you know, laid out what
I'm sure they all discussed, what their expectations are. You know,
(07:23):
a best case scenario would be to hopefully maybe put
a ceasefire in place. And in the lead up to this,
my take is there is a reason that Putin is
coming to the table, and I'm looking at three specific,
three specific things that Donald Trump that has brought him
to the table. Now, what has been funding his war
(07:45):
machine is energy. And you know, remember when go back
to what Angela Merkel was the chancellor of Germany and
is now a pretty famous story. He's told it a
couple of times when I interviewed him, meaning President Trump,
and that is once he handed her the white flag
of surrender and she goes, what's this and he goes,
(08:07):
that's the white flag of surrender. And that was after Germany.
He had done this, you know, one hundred plus billions
of dollars in an energy deal and the lifeblood of
their economy was going to be reliant on a bad actor.
That bad actor being Vladimir Putin. And remember it was
President Trump already has been able to more than double
(08:27):
the contributions of Western European countries as it relates to NATO.
Because after this incident with Ukraine, maybe they're all beginning
to realize that Vladimir Putin is a hostile actor on
the world stage. I'm not sure why it took this
to make them aware of it, But can you name
any European leader that would be able to go and
sit with Putin and possibly hammer out a ceasefire or
(08:52):
some type of negotiated peace with Ukraine. Now, nobody's going
to like the outcome of this. I can tell you
that ahead of time, I mean, had Joe Biden had
enough sense to maybe stop this and nip this in
the bud and have a negotiated settlement. For example, I
don't think the Dombas region is going back to Ukraine.
Why well, it's about seventy to eighty percent Russian nationals
(09:16):
to begin with. So I'll use Lindsey Graham's term, there
will be some type of land swap. And if I'm
Ukraine in this situation, you know what Joe Biden allowed
to have happened, and what he allowed to evolve in
this situation is that this became a proxy war. As
he was giving all of these weapons to Ukraine. It
(09:38):
became a proxy war between the US and Putin in Russia.
But Putin was still selling his oil to Western European countries.
And the three things that the president did that I
think have been game changing. If you look at the
trade deal that he made with the European Union, part
of that deal includes a trillion dollars in energy that
(09:59):
they will be buy from America because of his energy dominant.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Policies that he's put in place.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Well, that's money directly that was directly going to fund
Putin's war machine. Now also you've got a factor in
the Putin's economy has not been doing particularly well in
part because he's been funding his war machine. The fifty
percent tariff that the President just imposed on India. Also,
(10:28):
they're getting most of their energy from Vladimir Putin in Russia.
And what he's saying to India is no, you're not
going to do business with the US if you continue
to do that. And then I think the President did
one other very important thing that got Vladimir's attention, and
that is he's selling Unlike Joe Biden, he's not giving.
(10:48):
He's selling very sophisticated weaponry and technology that is needed
for Ukraine to fight their own conflict. And because Putin
has been you know, so stubborn, uh, he's like, Okay,
if this is what you want, if you want more
death than fine, We're not going to abandon Ukraine under
(11:12):
those circumstances. Now, if I'm Ukraine in this situation, you
have to recognize it that that there's going to be
a realignment in some capacity, part of which you're not
going to like. However, in exchange for that, if you
if you want to, if they want to stop the killing. Now,
(11:33):
the President was also clear that he's this decision ultimately
is going to be made by Ukraine and by Europe.
In the end, the US does not have to involve
itself in any of this. We really don't. But I
don't believe in isolationism. This would have the potential, I think,
over time, to spiral out of control and become part
(11:55):
of a wider conflict in Europe.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
We don't.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
I know that's not going to end well, it's not
good for anybody as part of the equation. So the
you know, but you know, all, how do you define
success here? I would say, Well, the president the fact
that he's willing to do that which no other leader
could do. Name one of the persons in your own mind, think,
(12:19):
who do you think would be capable of sitting across
from Vladimir Putin and saying you got to stop the killing.
This has to come to an end. What country has
the strength to impact Russia in significant ways, especially the
(12:39):
funding of their war machine. There's no country on the
face of the earth that has that power the way
the United States of America has it, And there's no
president that understands America's power more than President Trump. Now,
do I think there's a twenty five percent chance that
that President Trumps realizes Putin's full of crap? I mean,
(13:04):
but you know, Putin sent his message by you know,
bombing out innocent women and children in the last couple
of days. That was his message to say, oh, just
so you know, I could keep this war going on
in perpetuity, which everybody knew going in. But then why
is he wasting everybody's time and going to sit down
with President Trump? That's him in his mind. He thinks
(13:28):
he's showing strength to me. He's just showing that he's
a murdering, brutal dictator thug. And you know, one of
the things, if you look at how Israel fought fights
their conflicts and wars, they have purposely over the years
gone out of their way not to target, not to
have civilian targets. Hamas made it nearly impossible because they're
(13:49):
firing missiles from hospitals and schools and their you know,
terror tunnel network that they built out and the brutality.
I mean, we still have American hostages being held by
Hamas for crying out loud, and then we have Israeli
hostages being held. And you know, hopefully we now have
the foundation laid that can be an inevitable piece there.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
So, you know, with the President.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Now putting all of this on the line, the President
has said he thinks he'll know in two minutes. He
also thinks the ultimate decision is going to be Europe's
and it's going to be Ukraine's. He's also warned that
Russia will face very severe consequences if Putin continues the
Ukrainian War after this summit. He said, there'll be consequences.
(14:35):
I don't have to say what they are. There will
be severe, he said. Talking to reporters at the Kennedy Center,
he said that the summit is about setting the table
for a potential follow up meeting involving both Putin and Zelenski.
He said, there's a very good chance we're going to
have a second meeting that will be more productive than
the first, he said, because I'm not sure if the
(14:56):
two guys.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Can be in the same room.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
To be very honest, I really don't anyway, because the
first is I'm going to find out where we are
and what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
So I want to.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Manage everybody's expectations here. I'm not sure what people think
is going to happen.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Now.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Putin does have nuclear weapons. Out of factor that in
America doesn't want to have a nuclear war with Russia,
but Russia doesn't want to have one with us either,
And the one president he really doesn't want to mess
with is Donald Trump. So I could tell you the
next you know, by Friday, I mean, history will be made.
It was made in Reikiya Vic when when President Reagan
(15:40):
walked away and said no deal, it hinged on the
issue of strategic defense SDI, and it ended up he
ended the Cold War in the end. It may be
a case like that where we don't see the benefit
of all of this until much later.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
But you got to say this President Trump, he's not
wringing his hands and he's not you know, asking his advisors.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Oh, what's the downside?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
He's just going in head first like he always does,
which to me is very courageous, which defines who he
is as president. Let me let me go back to
the summer one more quick time here, because what we
know about this, and it is as the President said,
he's going to allow Europe, He's going to allow Ukraine ultimately,
(16:28):
I mean Zelenski, we know, cannot make the ultimate decision
on his own. He's got to go to his legislature
and the way their government is formed, so is not
going to be a peace deal. The best maybe the
best case scenario you walk away with a ceasefire. And
but what frustrates me is all of these European leaders
(16:50):
that have, if you really look at it, not stepped
up to help their own continent. They have no It
was Joe Biden, America, American taxpayer dollars, America military might,
and Joe Biden foolishly gave it all away when Ukraine
could have paid for it. A separate issue, Donald Trump
(17:12):
is helping Ukraine. I think it made a big impact
in Putin's mind, the fact that he's now willing to
sell all of this weaponry to Ukraine's who he can
defend itself because he's given Putin every opportunity to go
for a ceasefire. I think putting the sanctions on India,
as I stated, I think that's a big, big factor
as well. I think the President making the trade deal
(17:34):
with the European Union, and they are going to stop
buying a lot of their energy from Vladimir Putin, the
lifeblood of their economy, and they're committing to nearly a
trillion dollars in American energy purchases. That is playing a
big deal. What frustrates me is the ever impotent European
Union and European countries and Western European countries. Is not
(17:57):
one of these leaders, not one could even possibly arrange
a sit down, a meeting with Vladimir Putin and have
a serious, significant, meaningful conversation about a potential piece in
this conflict. And they all want to tell Donald Trump
what to do. I mean, it's it's almost unbelievable to me. Anyway,
(18:21):
They're they're now telling, okay, we're only we only want
an enforcable ceasefire. There is no enforceable ceasefire. That would
be a great result. Nobody can guarantee it.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Today.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
We would Donald Trump can't redraw the map. Donald Trump
can't talk about land swaps. Donald Trump can't talk about
land for peace. Donald Trump can can't can can't, can't.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
And then you have one idiot European Union, you know,
wedded to their their unbelievable, pathetic appeasement policies. You know,
the same people that again funded his war machine. Oh,
Putin's got to be told he must respect international law.
He doesn't respect international law. He didn't give a damn
(19:06):
about international law. And the only one that showed any sense,
the only people that showed any sense in this were
the first people to make a trade deal with Donald Trump.
And that's our friends in Great Britain. Anyway, British officials
are telling these idiotic EU leaders to shut up and
stop being unhelpful with their never ending running commentary on
(19:28):
this looming Ukraine peace talks between Trump and Vladimir Putin,
especially when you factor in that none of them are
capable of making this happen on Friday again, no guarantee
of the result. We don't over promise an under deliver.
It could end the way Rekievik ended. And that is
(19:48):
I'm an American president standing up and saying no, yet
not happening. Ronald Reagan was not willing to give up
on strategic defense, and good thing he wasn't, because you know,
when the media made fun of strategic defense and called
its Star Wars, we've watched all of that play out
in real time. It's amazing if you go back and
(20:09):
look how realistic the media was mocking then President Reagan,
and they'd come up with these graphics where missiles were
being shot out of the sky and it was like
contempt and laughter. I think it probably is Reagan's greatest legacy.
You know, in the end, it won't happen in our lifetime,
(20:31):
but if the president gets the technology moving on a
golden dome, that might end up being his greatest legacy. So,
you know, let's see what the president's able to pull
off here. I do think that there are the conditions
are ripe, The conditions are right for Vladimir Putin to
(20:51):
maybe consider the alternative of peace and put an end
to the killing. There's no guarantees, there's no guarantees in life.
They'll be guarantees of life, but unlike every other political leader,
he can make it happen. Unlike other political leaders, he
is willing to expend political capital. So far it has
(21:11):
paid off big time with all the other piece deals
that he has been a part of. To his credit,
it's getting interesting watching the radical left in this country.
It's always interesting watching the radical left in this country.
So the National Republican Congressional Committee, the NRCC, has rolled
(21:33):
out a new ad tying the politics of radical Democrats
like New York City, you know a mayoral candidate Marxist
Mumdani to the future outlook of the Democratic Party. Now
they're targeting twenty five vulnerable house Democrats across the country.
What's really a somewhat modest ad buy, but it's sending
(21:56):
a message, are you going to let them?
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Now?
Speaker 3 (21:59):
This is a very very smart ad on behard on
the on the part of the Republicans, and everything they're
saying in this ad that Democrats want to do is
one hundred percent true. You only need to listen to
their leaders, and one of them now is the rising
star marxistmm Danni or Jasmine Crockett or AOC or Grandpap
(22:22):
Bernie who I mean, the suck up on fake news
CNN to Grandpa Bernie was beyond the pale, I never
heard anything like it, or Pokahontas is out there campaigning
with him and making them cry and everything. Is a
very touching moment. But they do plan to remake America.
What will happen? Democrats just voted for the largest tax
(22:46):
increase in history and voted against the largest tax cut
in history. They voted against working men and women. You know,
because the one big beautiful bill out non tax on
tips are so social security or overtime. They voted against
all of that. And none of these so called democratic leaders,
(23:07):
none of them are willing to take on the likes
of Mamdani AOC the squad, none of them. They won't
say a bad word about him, Hakeem Jeffreys, Chuckie Schumer.
They're only quote leaders, minority leaders in name only, anyway,
And what would happen with the border. They would open
the border, they would have mass amnesty. I think they
(23:29):
would probably follow the advice of people like James carvill.
I do think they'd look for DC statehood, Puerto Rico's statehood.
I do think they'd like to pack the courts. I
think there's a lot of stake. They'd impeach Trump, a
thousand million times if they absolutely could. You know, my
Mamdani now is centering his campaign on going all over
(23:50):
New York City and surrounding boroughs in New York and
you know, making this an election about President Trump. It's
actually very clever on his part. In a place like
New York City that is so radically left, running against
Donald Trump is not a bad idea. And as others,
(24:10):
you know, desperately try to get some attention and some
traction anyway it prevents focus on his privilege is inexperience.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
What we talked about yesterday.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
This guy has a rent stabilized apartment which is designed
for working men and women and for low income and
for four people. I meanwhile, you know him and his
wife make a couple of hundred grand a year. And
you know, Andrew Cmo is not wrong in saying that
he ought to give the apartment back. He's not going
to do it. But it is the vanity of the left.
(24:43):
This is now the modern extreme radical Democratic Party. This
guy is winning. His new poll has him at forty
four percent. Andrew Cmo is at twenty five percent. He's
up nineteen points. Adams is only at seven. My friend
Curtis Slee was at twelve. But this is this this,
(25:07):
I mean, you can make the argument politically speaking that
Ma'm Donnie winning in Fatah, in Minneapoli is winning and
this being the new direction of the radicalized Democratic Party
is not going to hurt Republicans or Gavin Newsom's screaming
about fight fire with fire. This is your last chance.
(25:27):
It's none of It's gonna work when the Democrats and
and JB. Pritzker and all these other people that have
ambitions to run for president in twenty twenty eight, I
don't think it's gonna work. Michael Moore shaming, disgusting Democrats
for not supporting Mam Donnie, begging to lose more races.
(25:48):
You keep going, Michael, don't stop. You're doing great. I'm
Donnie pressed on his pledge to be Trump's worst nightmare.
By the way, we have we have Hannity taped tonight.
We sent one of our reporters out and they confronted
Mamdani not once, but twice today and will air that tonight. Anyway,
(26:11):
the Republican National Congressional Committee, the NRCC, rolling out this
new ad, I think is a good idea, and I
think it's definitely going to be impactful. I think it's
going to be pretty powerful. These horrible tariffs of Donald
Trump are now projected to generate one point three trillion
(26:31):
dollars in government revenue in the next couple of years. Oh,
I thought they were terrible. I mean, the President keeps
signing deal after deal after deal that's a win after
win after win, and we're not paying you this. We've
been abused and taken advantage of. In a way, you
can kind of argue that the script is flipped, and
(26:54):
now these countries that have taken advantage of us, now
they're paying the tariff and we're not paying any tariffs.
And in the process, as a result of all this,
we have over fifteen trillion dollars in committed manufacturing investments
in automobiles, semiconductor chips, rare earths, pharmaceuticals.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
And I mean, it's working out great.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
And you know, speaking of this mass migration out of
places like New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and California, you
look at the state controller controller of New York is
now sounding the alarm about the state's cash shortfall. Apparently
it's the worst it's been in like decades and decades,
(27:41):
and they knew trouble was coming. But the legislature quit
for the year, having given Governor Hokel the power to
cut as needed and anyway. She now is asking state
agencies to find seven hundred and fifty million dollars in
savings in the current year budget. But next year, the
you know that nut jumps to three billion. Long term,
(28:04):
the state is facing their worst short fall since the
Great Recession, thirty four point three billion dollars in red
ink in New York. And this guy's gonna come in
and he's going to threaten at tax corporations. Good luck,
that's not going to end well for them. It is,
you know, fake news. CNN was reading the economic statistics
(28:26):
and like, wow, this is amazing. You know, Oh the
expert's wrong again. Implation didn't go up. It remains steady
below expectations. Whoopsie daisy. Trump's terrors jumped to twenty five
billion dollars a month and play as inflation holds steady
and you know, never mind the president's other success. Look,
(28:47):
if you actually look at the numbers, I have an
article here somewhere in front of me in my as
Rush used to say, stack of stuff in my big
pile of junk. But if the CPI report that came
out yesterday, it showed that inflation beat market expectations. Tariffs
are raking in billions of dollars. Small business optimism is
(29:09):
now at a five month high, and real wages are rising.
Inflation is down since Donald Trump took office one point
nine percent. If you look at the price of gasoline,
it's down a whopping ten percent. That's a lot of
money in people's pockets.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
You know.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
The price of eggs is down twenty percent, the price
of phones down fourteen point seven percent, Internet services down,
energy commodities are down nine percent. Don't mean everything's perfect.
Real average weekly earnings increased in July. America's real wages
are up one point three percent over last year and
(29:46):
have increased each month since Donald Trump took office. Wage
growth for American workers is beating inflation, which is good.
So inflation comes down, people pay less. If you look
at the sentiment a small businesses Bloomberg reporting, it climbed
to a five month high in July as owners grow
(30:06):
more upbeat about the economic outlook, fueling a pickup and
expansion plans. If you look at the you know, fifteen
trillion dollars in expected manufacturing expenditures. You know, there's something
in that big beautiful bill that nobody pays attention to.
It's called bonus depreciation for manufacturing. Now, what does that mean.
That means they can build out a manufacturing center, if
(30:30):
you build it out in a year, you can deduct
the entire project in terms of business taxes. And that's
going to incentivize these businesses to move that much faster
Well, well, come in your city. I gets sane you
a conscious song, will be died Highland tell and if
you want a little bang in.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
The Union and come along. I'm going in to speak
to Vladimir Putin and I'm going to be telling him
you got end this war.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
You got to end it.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I like ConA. She's a fun line, but she was
her core consultantcy.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
It takes Freedom is back in style. Welcome to the Revolution.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Will coming.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
To your city, going away?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I get Arson, sane you a conscious.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Song, Sean Hennedy show more me. I'm in the scenes
information on freaking news and.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
More bold inspired solutions for America.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
All right, thank you, Scott Channon, Thanks to all of
you for being with us. Right down our toll free
telephone number. You want to be a part of this extravaganza,
It's eight hundred nine four one, Sean, if you want
to be a part of the program. We are looking forward.
We will be on the road. We will be in
Alaska tomorrow and Friday. The first interview post summit Trump
(01:34):
and Putin with President Trump will be with me immediately thereafter.
I assume it will be on. Hopefully the timing works
out right. We're planning on it. It'll be on Friday
Night's edition of Hannity. And to get his first initial
reaction to all of this is going to be interesting.
(01:55):
Let me tell you what I always like to manage expectations.
And when I look at this, I just compare Donald
Trump in every regard to past presidents, and we just
have never seen anybody like this guy. And it's not
(02:16):
because he's my friend, not because I supported him.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
It just is he's a force of nature.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
And what really delineates him and separates him from so
many other past presidents and other leaders is the idea
that he is willing to expend all of this political
capital for the purpose really of benefiting the world way
(02:46):
more than the United States and Europe and Ukraine and
everything in between. Says a lot about him because I
can tell you how it works with past presidents.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
It works.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Okay, they'll talk about the idea, and they'll get a
list of all they have all their advisors in front
of them, and they'll give them a list of upside
and the list of downside. And when they get finished
with the list of downside, then they'll ask themselves why
bother expending any political capital on something that may not
go perfectly there. I would say going into this, there's
(03:26):
a twenty five percent chance that President Trump's uh pulls
a Reagan and says yet and walks away from the
table like Reagan walked away from the table at Reikievik.
I don't think like in usually when there's a summit
of some kind, is usually a predetermined outcome that is expected.
(03:50):
I don't think that's the case here. I think a
lot of things have been discussed. I think the possibility exists.
I think the fact that the president, you know what
he's done so far in just the last eight months,
He's got he played a part in seven massive peace
(04:11):
deals that have taken place. I think you know two
of the biggest. They're Indian Pakistan. You know, tensions were
flaring up. He got involved and they helped simmer that down.
Israel Iran twelve days. I don't think anybody would have
thought that would have ended in twelve days. He was
active and involved in that too, and in the process
(04:31):
also took out their nuclear sites. Rwanda, the Congo, Serbia, Kosovo, Thailand, Cambodia.
You saw last week, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, and Ethiopia, and
the President's going here and look, you can say what
(04:51):
you want. He's this is this is Joe Biden's conflict.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
And we've gone over this earlier in the week.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Oh Biden allowed Vladimir Putin to a massed troops and
military might on the border with Ukraine. And I think
the worst part of the story is the president of
our country never picked up the phone and said, what
are you doing? Why is this happening, offered a potential solution,
(05:23):
offered to get involved, and then when asked about it,
you know, well it depends if it's a minor incursion,
and then asked in another case, don't him and him him,
and comm up don't.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Well he did.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
And you know a lot of people probably would like
President Trump to do what Biden did. And that's called
Vladimir Putin every name of the book. Now, if you
call him a murderer and a dictator and a thug,
that would be an accurate description from my perspective.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
And I'm not saying that.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Ukraine has handled all of this perfectly either. Dumbest thing
Ukraine ever did is give up the nuclear weapons program.
You know, thanks to Bill Clinton, that was dumb, because
I don't think they would be in the situation they
now find themselves in. But if you look at when
Crimea was annexed in twenty fourteen, that was under Obama
(06:20):
and Biden. If you look at this minor incursion which
now has taken over you know, significant portions of land.
You know, it's that this is not a minor incursion.
This is a full on war. But if you really
just stop and think about it, there are not many politicians,
and I'm talking worldwide now or former presidents that would
(06:43):
be willing to expend all of this political capital when
you would argue that the downside for the president could
be significant, but I don't really think it's as significant
as people think, because really the only the only thing
the president trust is offering here.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
And he was very clear this week.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
He said he thinks he'll know within two minutes whether
or not Vladimir is Sirius. He also thinks he also
had a conference call with NATO leaders, Western European leaders,
and Ukraine earlier today and you know, laid out what
I'm sure they all discussed, what their expectations are. You know,
(07:23):
a best case scenario would be to hopefully maybe put
a ceasefire in place. And in the lead up to this,
my take is there is a reason that Putin is
coming to the table, and I'm looking at three specific,
three specific things that Donald Trump that has brought him
to the table. Now, what has been funding his war
(07:45):
machine is energy. And you know, remember when go back
to what Angela Merkel was the chancellor of Germany and
is now a pretty famous story. He's told it a
couple of times when I interviewed him, meaning President Trump,
and that is once he handed her the white flag
of surrender and she goes, what's this and he goes,
(08:07):
that's the white flag of surrender. And that was after Germany.
He had done this, you know, one hundred plus billions
of dollars in an energy deal and the lifeblood of
their economy was going to be reliant on a bad actor.
That bad actor being Vladimir Putin. And remember it was
President Trump already has been able to more than double
(08:27):
the contributions of Western European countries as it relates to NATO.
Because after this incident with Ukraine, maybe they're all beginning
to realize that Vladimir Putin is a hostile actor on
the world stage. I'm not sure why it took this
to make them aware of it, But can you name
any European leader that would be able to go and
sit with Putin and possibly hammer out a ceasefire or
(08:52):
some type of negotiated peace with Ukraine. Now, nobody's going
to like the outcome of this. I can tell you
that ahead of time, I mean, had Joe Biden had
enough sense to maybe stop this and nip this in
the bud and have a negotiated settlement. For example, I
don't think the Dombas region is going back to Ukraine.
Why well, it's about seventy to eighty percent Russian nationals
(09:16):
to begin with. So I'll use Lindsey Graham's term, there
will be some type of land swap. And if I'm
Ukraine in this situation, you know what Joe Biden allowed
to have happened, and what he allowed to evolve in
this situation is that this became a proxy war. As
he was giving all of these weapons to Ukraine. It
(09:38):
became a proxy war between the US and Putin in Russia.
But Putin was still selling his oil to Western European countries.
And the three things that the president did that I
think have been game changing. If you look at the
trade deal that he made with the European Union, part
of that deal includes a trillion dollars in energy that
(09:59):
they will be buy from America because of his energy dominant.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Policies that he's put in place.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Well, that's money directly that was directly going to fund
Putin's war machine. Now also you've got a factor in
the Putin's economy has not been doing particularly well in
part because he's been funding his war machine. The fifty
percent tariff that the President just imposed on India. Also,
(10:28):
they're getting most of their energy from Vladimir Putin in Russia.
And what he's saying to India is no, you're not
going to do business with the US if you continue
to do that. And then I think the President did
one other very important thing that got Vladimir's attention, and
that is he's selling Unlike Joe Biden, he's not giving.
(10:48):
He's selling very sophisticated weaponry and technology that is needed
for Ukraine to fight their own conflict. And because Putin
has been you know, so stubborn, uh, he's like, Okay,
if this is what you want, if you want more
death than fine, We're not going to abandon Ukraine under
(11:12):
those circumstances. Now, if I'm Ukraine in this situation, you
have to recognize it that that there's going to be
a realignment in some capacity, part of which you're not
going to like. However, in exchange for that, if you
if you want to, if they want to stop the killing. Now,
(11:33):
the President was also clear that he's this decision ultimately
is going to be made by Ukraine and by Europe.
In the end, the US does not have to involve
itself in any of this. We really don't. But I
don't believe in isolationism. This would have the potential, I think,
over time, to spiral out of control and become part
(11:55):
of a wider conflict in Europe.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
We don't.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
I know that's not going to end well, it's not
good for anybody as part of the equation. So the
you know, but you know, all, how do you define
success here? I would say, Well, the president the fact
that he's willing to do that which no other leader
could do. Name one of the persons in your own mind, think,
(12:19):
who do you think would be capable of sitting across
from Vladimir Putin and saying you got to stop the killing.
This has to come to an end. What country has
the strength to impact Russia in significant ways, especially the
(12:39):
funding of their war machine. There's no country on the
face of the earth that has that power the way
the United States of America has it, And there's no
president that understands America's power more than President Trump. Now,
do I think there's a twenty five percent chance that
that President Trumps realizes Putin's full of crap? I mean,
(13:04):
but you know, Putin sent his message by you know,
bombing out innocent women and children in the last couple
of days. That was his message to say, oh, just
so you know, I could keep this war going on
in perpetuity, which everybody knew going in. But then why
is he wasting everybody's time and going to sit down
with President Trump? That's him in his mind. He thinks
(13:28):
he's showing strength to me. He's just showing that he's
a murdering, brutal dictator thug. And you know, one of
the things, if you look at how Israel fought fights
their conflicts and wars, they have purposely over the years
gone out of their way not to target, not to
have civilian targets. Hamas made it nearly impossible because they're
(13:49):
firing missiles from hospitals and schools and their you know,
terror tunnel network that they built out and the brutality.
I mean, we still have American hostages being held by
Hamas for crying out loud, and then we have Israeli
hostages being held. And you know, hopefully we now have
the foundation laid that can be an inevitable piece there.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
So, you know, with the President.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Now putting all of this on the line, the President
has said he thinks he'll know in two minutes. He
also thinks the ultimate decision is going to be Europe's
and it's going to be Ukraine's. He's also warned that
Russia will face very severe consequences if Putin continues the
Ukrainian War after this summit. He said, there'll be consequences.
(14:35):
I don't have to say what they are. There will
be severe, he said. Talking to reporters at the Kennedy Center,
he said that the summit is about setting the table
for a potential follow up meeting involving both Putin and Zelenski.
He said, there's a very good chance we're going to
have a second meeting that will be more productive than
the first, he said, because I'm not sure if the
(14:56):
two guys.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Can be in the same room.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
To be very honest, I really don't anyway, because the
first is I'm going to find out where we are
and what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
So I want to.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Manage everybody's expectations here. I'm not sure what people think
is going to happen.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Now.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Putin does have nuclear weapons. Out of factor that in
America doesn't want to have a nuclear war with Russia,
but Russia doesn't want to have one with us either,
And the one president he really doesn't want to mess
with is Donald Trump. So I could tell you the
next you know, by Friday, I mean, history will be made.
It was made in Reikiya Vic when when President Reagan
(15:40):
walked away and said no deal, it hinged on the
issue of strategic defense SDI, and it ended up he
ended the Cold War in the end. It may be
a case like that where we don't see the benefit
of all of this until much later.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
But you got to say this President Trump, he's not
wringing his hands and he's not you know, asking his advisors.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Oh, what's the downside?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
He's just going in head first like he always does,
which to me is very courageous, which defines who he
is as president. Let me let me go back to
the summer one more quick time here, because what we
know about this, and it is as the President said,
he's going to allow Europe, He's going to allow Ukraine ultimately,
(16:28):
I mean Zelenski, we know, cannot make the ultimate decision
on his own. He's got to go to his legislature
and the way their government is formed, so is not
going to be a peace deal. The best maybe the
best case scenario you walk away with a ceasefire. And
but what frustrates me is all of these European leaders
(16:50):
that have, if you really look at it, not stepped
up to help their own continent. They have no It
was Joe Biden, America, American taxpayer dollars, America military might,
and Joe Biden foolishly gave it all away when Ukraine
could have paid for it. A separate issue, Donald Trump
(17:12):
is helping Ukraine. I think it made a big impact
in Putin's mind, the fact that he's now willing to
sell all of this weaponry to Ukraine's who he can
defend itself because he's given Putin every opportunity to go
for a ceasefire. I think putting the sanctions on India,
as I stated, I think that's a big, big factor
as well. I think the President making the trade deal
(17:34):
with the European Union, and they are going to stop
buying a lot of their energy from Vladimir Putin, the
lifeblood of their economy, and they're committing to nearly a
trillion dollars in American energy purchases. That is playing a
big deal. What frustrates me is the ever impotent European
Union and European countries and Western European countries. Is not
(17:57):
one of these leaders, not one could even possibly arrange
a sit down, a meeting with Vladimir Putin and have
a serious, significant, meaningful conversation about a potential piece in
this conflict. And they all want to tell Donald Trump
what to do. I mean, it's it's almost unbelievable to me. Anyway,
(18:21):
They're they're now telling, okay, we're only we only want
an enforcable ceasefire. There is no enforceable ceasefire. That would
be a great result. Nobody can guarantee it.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Today.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
We would Donald Trump can't redraw the map. Donald Trump
can't talk about land swaps. Donald Trump can't talk about
land for peace. Donald Trump can can't can can't, can't.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
And then you have one idiot European Union, you know,
wedded to their their unbelievable, pathetic appeasement policies. You know,
the same people that again funded his war machine. Oh,
Putin's got to be told he must respect international law.
He doesn't respect international law. He didn't give a damn
(19:06):
about international law. And the only one that showed any sense,
the only people that showed any sense in this were
the first people to make a trade deal with Donald Trump.
And that's our friends in Great Britain. Anyway, British officials
are telling these idiotic EU leaders to shut up and
stop being unhelpful with their never ending running commentary on
(19:28):
this looming Ukraine peace talks between Trump and Vladimir Putin,
especially when you factor in that none of them are
capable of making this happen on Friday again, no guarantee
of the result. We don't over promise an under deliver.
It could end the way Rekievik ended. And that is
(19:48):
I'm an American president standing up and saying no, yet
not happening. Ronald Reagan was not willing to give up
on strategic defense, and good thing he wasn't, because you know,
when the media made fun of strategic defense and called
its Star Wars, we've watched all of that play out
in real time. It's amazing if you go back and
(20:09):
look how realistic the media was mocking then President Reagan,
and they'd come up with these graphics where missiles were
being shot out of the sky and it was like
contempt and laughter. I think it probably is Reagan's greatest legacy.
You know, in the end, it won't happen in our lifetime,
(20:31):
but if the president gets the technology moving on a
golden dome, that might end up being his greatest legacy. So,
you know, let's see what the president's able to pull
off here. I do think that there are the conditions
are ripe, The conditions are right for Vladimir Putin to
(20:51):
maybe consider the alternative of peace and put an end
to the killing. There's no guarantees, there's no guarantees in life.
They'll be guarantees of life, but unlike every other political leader,
he can make it happen. Unlike other political leaders, he
is willing to expend political capital. So far it has
(21:11):
paid off big time with all the other piece deals
that he has been a part of. To his credit,
it's getting interesting watching the radical left in this country.
It's always interesting watching the radical left in this country.
So the National Republican Congressional Committee, the NRCC, has rolled
(21:33):
out a new ad tying the politics of radical Democrats
like New York City, you know a mayoral candidate Marxist
Mumdani to the future outlook of the Democratic Party. Now
they're targeting twenty five vulnerable house Democrats across the country.
What's really a somewhat modest ad buy, but it's sending
(21:56):
a message, are you going to let them?
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Now?
Speaker 3 (21:59):
This is a very very smart ad on behard on
the on the part of the Republicans, and everything they're
saying in this ad that Democrats want to do is
one hundred percent true. You only need to listen to
their leaders, and one of them now is the rising
star marxistmm Danni or Jasmine Crockett or AOC or Grandpap
(22:22):
Bernie who I mean, the suck up on fake news
CNN to Grandpa Bernie was beyond the pale, I never
heard anything like it, or Pokahontas is out there campaigning
with him and making them cry and everything. Is a
very touching moment. But they do plan to remake America.
What will happen? Democrats just voted for the largest tax
(22:46):
increase in history and voted against the largest tax cut
in history. They voted against working men and women. You know,
because the one big beautiful bill out non tax on
tips are so social security or overtime. They voted against
all of that. And none of these so called democratic leaders,
(23:07):
none of them are willing to take on the likes
of Mamdani AOC the squad, none of them. They won't
say a bad word about him, Hakeem Jeffreys, Chuckie Schumer.
They're only quote leaders, minority leaders in name only, anyway,
And what would happen with the border. They would open
the border, they would have mass amnesty. I think they
(23:29):
would probably follow the advice of people like James carvill.
I do think they'd look for DC statehood, Puerto Rico's statehood.
I do think they'd like to pack the courts. I
think there's a lot of stake. They'd impeach Trump, a
thousand million times if they absolutely could. You know, my
Mamdani now is centering his campaign on going all over
(23:50):
New York City and surrounding boroughs in New York and
you know, making this an election about President Trump. It's
actually very clever on his part. In a place like
New York City that is so radically left, running against
Donald Trump is not a bad idea. And as others,
(24:10):
you know, desperately try to get some attention and some
traction anyway it prevents focus on his privilege is inexperience.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
What we talked about yesterday.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
This guy has a rent stabilized apartment which is designed
for working men and women and for low income and
for four people. I meanwhile, you know him and his
wife make a couple of hundred grand a year. And
you know, Andrew Cmo is not wrong in saying that
he ought to give the apartment back. He's not going
to do it. But it is the vanity of the left.
(24:43):
This is now the modern extreme radical Democratic Party. This
guy is winning. His new poll has him at forty
four percent. Andrew Cmo is at twenty five percent. He's
up nineteen points. Adams is only at seven. My friend
Curtis Slee was at twelve. But this is this this,
(25:07):
I mean, you can make the argument politically speaking that
Ma'm Donnie winning in Fatah, in Minneapoli is winning and
this being the new direction of the radicalized Democratic Party
is not going to hurt Republicans or Gavin Newsom's screaming
about fight fire with fire. This is your last chance.
(25:27):
It's none of It's gonna work when the Democrats and
and JB. Pritzker and all these other people that have
ambitions to run for president in twenty twenty eight, I
don't think it's gonna work. Michael Moore shaming, disgusting Democrats
for not supporting Mam Donnie, begging to lose more races.
(25:48):
You keep going, Michael, don't stop. You're doing great. I'm
Donnie pressed on his pledge to be Trump's worst nightmare.
By the way, we have we have Hannity taped tonight.
We sent one of our reporters out and they confronted
Mamdani not once, but twice today and will air that tonight. Anyway,
(26:11):
the Republican National Congressional Committee, the NRCC, rolling out this
new ad, I think is a good idea, and I
think it's definitely going to be impactful. I think it's
going to be pretty powerful. These horrible tariffs of Donald
Trump are now projected to generate one point three trillion
(26:31):
dollars in government revenue in the next couple of years. Oh,
I thought they were terrible. I mean, the President keeps
signing deal after deal after deal that's a win after
win after win, and we're not paying you this. We've
been abused and taken advantage of. In a way, you
can kind of argue that the script is flipped, and
(26:54):
now these countries that have taken advantage of us, now
they're paying the tariff and we're not paying any tariffs.
And in the process, as a result of all this,
we have over fifteen trillion dollars in committed manufacturing investments
in automobiles, semiconductor chips, rare earths, pharmaceuticals.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
And I mean, it's working out great.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
And you know, speaking of this mass migration out of
places like New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and California, you
look at the state controller controller of New York is
now sounding the alarm about the state's cash shortfall. Apparently
it's the worst it's been in like decades and decades,
(27:41):
and they knew trouble was coming. But the legislature quit
for the year, having given Governor Hokel the power to
cut as needed and anyway. She now is asking state
agencies to find seven hundred and fifty million dollars in
savings in the current year budget. But next year, the
you know that nut jumps to three billion. Long term,
(28:04):
the state is facing their worst short fall since the
Great Recession, thirty four point three billion dollars in red
ink in New York. And this guy's gonna come in
and he's going to threaten at tax corporations. Good luck,
that's not going to end well for them. It is,
you know, fake news. CNN was reading the economic statistics
(28:26):
and like, wow, this is amazing. You know, Oh the
expert's wrong again. Implation didn't go up. It remains steady
below expectations. Whoopsie daisy. Trump's terrors jumped to twenty five
billion dollars a month and play as inflation holds steady
and you know, never mind the president's other success. Look,
(28:47):
if you actually look at the numbers, I have an
article here somewhere in front of me in my as
Rush used to say, stack of stuff in my big
pile of junk. But if the CPI report that came
out yesterday, it showed that inflation beat market expectations. Tariffs
are raking in billions of dollars. Small business optimism is
(29:09):
now at a five month high, and real wages are rising.
Inflation is down since Donald Trump took office one point
nine percent. If you look at the price of gasoline,
it's down a whopping ten percent. That's a lot of
money in people's pockets.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
You know.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
The price of eggs is down twenty percent, the price
of phones down fourteen point seven percent, Internet services down,
energy commodities are down nine percent. Don't mean everything's perfect.
Real average weekly earnings increased in July. America's real wages
are up one point three percent over last year and
(29:46):
have increased each month since Donald Trump took office. Wage
growth for American workers is beating inflation, which is good.
So inflation comes down, people pay less. If you look
at the sentiment a small businesses Bloomberg reporting, it climbed
to a five month high in July as owners grow
(30:06):
more upbeat about the economic outlook, fueling a pickup and
expansion plans. If you look at the you know, fifteen
trillion dollars in expected manufacturing expenditures. You know, there's something
in that big beautiful bill that nobody pays attention to.
It's called bonus depreciation for manufacturing. Now, what does that mean.
That means they can build out a manufacturing center, if
(30:30):
you build it out in a year, you can deduct
the entire project in terms of business taxes. And that's
going to incentivize these businesses to move that much faster
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