Trump's Finest Moment (Ep. 2460)

21:47Dan Bongino:It's Tyler Bauer. Here's some of them. I think that's Swazi. Here's a Democrat congressman from Long Island. I don't know what he's doing right there. He's got his face in his head. You're not interested? It's the State of the Union. It's not the State of the Republican Union. It's the State of the Union. There's Swazi. There's Ilhan Omar screaming next to Rashida Tlaib. There's Liz Warren. It looks like she's in the process of maybe she's been there too long. needed a bathroom, I don't know, next to Coons. This lady looks totally uninterested in what the hell's going on in this speech. I mean, these are the snapshots you want.

22:21Dan Bongino:Don't ask questions. You don't know the answer to. Folks, I'll address this with Congressman Crane coming up later, but this was an open book test. The State of the Union is the same thing every year, okay? Republicans don't like it when Joe Biden was up there and Barack Obama. Democrats don't like it when it was Trump or Bush. You just go. You go. they say, God bless America, you clap. It's an open book test. Do you understand how hard it is to F up the state of the union? You don't have to get up for everything. Republicans don't do it either. But if freaking Obama or Biden gives some applause line, like, you know, we love our troops or whatever, you get up, you clap because it's just the right thing to do.

23:02Dan Bongino:Nobody is going to remember you getting up and clapping for the troops because it's the right thing to do. It happens all the time however they will remember you sitting on your twinkie eating ass and doing absolutely nothing but like hey salute our troops uh this woman's child was murdered maybe we should uh you know a recognize her no i'm not gonna recognize it's an open book test you dipshits how do you screw this up this is where trump last night president trump absolutely dog walked the dems he set this easy trap. It wasn't even complicated. I'd love to tell you it was four-dimensional chess.

23:42Dan Bongino:It wasn't. It was no dimension. It was just so easy for them to pass this test. But President Trump knows that the Democrat TDS show your ass problem I discussed yesterday. Listen to yesterday's show if you want to detail what that is. It's so real that they can't even pass an open book test on grade one math. He freaking dog walked him last night Into a trap And I mean like a bear trap 20 feet away Painted black On all white snow With a sign that says This will hurt if you step in it And the Democrats are like Let me try that out It's like the Ren and Stimpy episode With the don't press the red button We haven't mentioned Ren and Stimpy In a long time And Stimps and Jay Cat He can't stop They can't stop They walked right in the trap Here's what I mean Here's President Trump He's asking a pretty simple question.

24:35Dan Bongino:Most sane Americans do not want to see men's penises in the women's room, and they don't want kids' bodies mutilated. It's pretty popular amongst Americans to stop that kind of stuff for obvious reasons. Walks them right in the trap. Hey, you guys want to stand if you support basically the integrity of children's bodies? Democrats are like, nah, we'll sit on our asses right here. This is not going to look good in campaign ads at all. Check this out.

25:00Eli Crane:No state can be allowed to rip children from their parents' arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents' will. Who would believe that we've been talking about it? We must ban it, and we must ban it immediately. Look, nobody stands up. These people are crazy, I'm telling you. They're crazy.

25:36Eli Crane:We're lucky we have a country. With people like this, Democrats are destroying our country, but we've stopped it just in the nick of time, didn't we?

25:46Dan Bongino:He just dog walked you. I'd say that with the deepest sense of sincerity, pulling myself out of the argument. Nobody wants men's penises in the women's room. Nobody wants kids cut up. You want to be an adult? You want to cut your body up? It's your choice. I don't think it's smart, but whatever, man. Do your thing. Nobody's supposed to. And what do you do? You sit on your wrist. This was a ground ball. He just dog walked you. Bear trap, 20 feet ahead. Don't step in it. Hold on. Let me test this out. Oh, shit. That hurt. He just dog walked you idiots. It's an open book test, man. And he did it over and over.

26:26Dan Bongino:Now, you may say, Dan, all right. But the Democrats are married to this trans thing. There are still some lunatics on the left, and you're not wrong, that actually support, you know, cutting off your unit and your nuts and throwing them in a jar somewhere. Some liberals love this stuff. They love nut cutting and slice them off, kids. That's their thing. So they're not going to stand up. All right, whatever. Well, then how do you explain this one? You've got the mother of Ms. Zarutska, who was tragically killed and murdered, on a bus in North Carolina. So they recognize the mom, who's obviously just still devastated over this brutal knifing.

27:11Dan Bongino:You all saw it on the bus. They bring the mother into the chamber, basically to say, we're going to do everything we can to bring justice. We're focused on public safety. You're living in a safer America now. Folks, on a very serious note, no messing around. not that we were before, but on this, this was a bunt. This was a bunt. There's nothing partisan about this. Only the craziest of absolute sociopathic lunatics on the left would be upset if you get up and just acknowledge that this woman's been through hell still. Nope. And I don't even, I'm going to tell you something. I don't even think this was any attempt to trap anyone.

28:03Dan Bongino:I don't. I really don't. I think President Trump was just acknowledging this woman's tragedy and expected just the Democrats. Well, this clearly they're not this crazy. No, they are. Check it out for yourself.

28:18Eli Crane:On that train, no one will ever forget the expression of terror on Irina's face as she looked up at her attacker in the last seconds of her life. She died instantly. She had escaped a brutal war only to be slain by a hardened criminal set free to kill in America. Came in through open borders. Mrs. Zaretska, tonight I promise you we will ensure justice for your magnificent daughter, Irina.

28:55Eli Crane:How do you not stand? How do you not stand?

28:59Dan Bongino:I'm asking this, Congress. What do you even say to that? And I want to applaud the president, too, for making sure the audience understands, listening at home, that these absolute slime bags didn't want to even get up and acknowledge the horror this poor woman's been through. How do you, it's an open book test I swear to you, I don't even think he was doing I think he was doing that to acknowledge that he's serious about crime And wanted to make sure, people think in stories and narratives That they saw an example of what can happen When national security and public safety breaks down I don't even think that was a trap That was a trap, that's even worse than the bear trap example That's the Democrats walking in the snow putting their own bear trap out and then stepping in their own trap.

29:54Dan Bongino:He didn't even put it out there.

29:59Dan Bongino:Can you screw this thing up anymore? Don't tell me. I don't. Listen, I'm going to play some reaction. In case you think, oh, gosh, you pretended to be objective. You're full of it. You love Trump, whatever. I'm going to play reaction from lefties. Axelrod, John Carl, activists and media people who had the same reaction I did, by the way. That, hey, man, like, maybe this was a pretty good moment for Trump and you probably should just let it go.

30:31Dan Bongino:This was definitely a trap. And of course, the dumbasses walked right in it. Contrast, contrast. This is a simple question. Easy, bunt, ground ball, man. President Trump knows they're going to sit on their asses and do nothing because they're the Democrats. When he gives applause lines, even basic applause lines. Hey, do you like America? Stand up. Democrat, screw it. This is another one. Stand up if you think it's your duty to protect American citizens over illegals. Folks, last time I checked, when I swore in to the FBI job and the Secret Service job, you swear to protect and defend the constitution of the united states i thought that was the oath like you swore to it right this is an easy one you've already given the oath correct am i crazy folks in the chat am i nuts pretty much everyone takes the same oath if you don't want to take the oath then don't take the freaking job this was a grounder but he set them up beautifully with this one.

31:40Dan Bongino:And these idiots walked right in it again. Stand up if it's your duty to protect the American citizens, just like you swore in your oath. Watch this.

31:47Eli Crane:I'm inviting every legislature to join with my administration in reaffirming a fundamental principle. If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support. The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.

32:13how do you pardon how do you fuck that up how just get up do a golf clap nobody's gonna remember it

32:24Dan Bongino:if someone says oh in a campaign ad in a primary for the democrats this is you golf clapping for president trump your response should be and i'm not giving democrats campaign advice listen i I swore an oath to protect the American citizens. I don't care if you're a Democrat, say I love illegals too, but my first duty is to the American citizen. There's an easy response. It's not hard, man. It was a freaking bunt. This is the ball on first and inches to get into the end zone, and you don't score a touchdown. You don't score a touchdown, and they're missing two players on the field due to injury.

33:00Dan Bongino:How do you mess this up? How do you mess this up? He gave it to you. The silver platter. Get up. Golf club. Talk about the biggest colossal F-up. Snapshots, sound bites, contrast. If you're looking at politics any other way, you're doing it wrong.

33:27Dan Bongino:Here is another unbelievable moment. And I bring up this yesterday in light of yesterday's show as well. Erica Kirk, obviously Charlie's wife, was at the State of the Union yesterday, recognized by President Trump. And I never miss an opportunity to recognize both Erica and Charlie. God rest his beautiful soul. I never miss an opportunity to recognize his contributions to the movement. I don't want you to ever forget, folks. a lot of people knew Charlie a lot of people had a piece of Charlie's life Charlie was very generous with his time with people Charlie didn't like making enemies Charlie preferred to build bridges it's going to be missed the bridge is gone and it's going to take a lot of effort and I know you know I said this I was at the Arizona memorial service for Charlie and I was talking to a friend of mine in the cabinet and I was talking to Pete, I mean, for what it's worth but Pete agreed I said to him you know, there are some figures that are not replaceable and unfortunately I've seen this twice having taken over Rush Limbaugh's spot on the radio on many of the stations, I acknowledge from day one, guys, if you're waiting for Rush Limbaugh the sequel, like tune out because I'm not it, I'm no Rush Limbaugh and I'm no Charlie either there was no more effective communicator out there on college campuses and to get in on news you know I remember saying him once talking to him about we had this big long conversation about socials and stuff and he said I can't get off we were talking about a website he was I can't get because a lot of young kids find us there to him it wasn't about the money or anything like that he won't be replaced and I said to Pete that day I said we shouldn't talk like that because and he agreed yeah because a lot of people were saying oh we're gonna have to find someone.

35:25Dan Bongino:There's no replacing him. There's none. It's going to take collective efforts from a bunch of people to try to build that bridge again. It was President Trump recognizing Erica last night.

35:35Eli Crane:My great friend, Charlie Kirk, a great guy. Great man.

35:48Eli Crane:So last year, Charlie was violently murdered by an assassin and martyred, really martyred for his beliefs. His wonderful wife, Erica, is with us tonight. Erica, please stand.

36:23Dan Bongino:Thank you, Erica. And I get it. I get it. You're going to get a bunch of assholes and losers today. I don't like what she wore. She didn't cry enough. She cried too much. The angle of her chin was off. She should have done this. Really? Was your husband shot in the neck? How did you respond, you fucking piece of shit?

36:45Dan Bongino:They're a textbook for that? I'm unaware. If it's a textbook for that, I don't want to read it. Her ear was dipped at a slight angle, and I analyzed it with my complete lack of any behavioral analytical skills at all. Ah, shut the fuck up. woman lost her husband he was shot in the neck for the entire world to see in all of its disgusting horrifying detail the outfit was black but it should have been a darker black because oh shut your fucking pie hole man stupid ass Israel the Jews I get it I understand You think it's my first rodeo with you dipshits? I know exactly what you're doing. So tired of it, man.

37:40Dan Bongino:And I'm glad to see yesterday was a unified stance against this continued bullshit. Just insanity. And thank you, President Trump, for taking a stand and bringing Miss Erica Kirk to the State of the Union. I've got a couple more clips from this, but I want to get to this because this is the most important part of the show. I've got one more from the speech. There were a number of great moments, by the way. You saw the Olympic team. You saw National Guardsman Wolf get his medal. Just amazing moments. These are incredible. They're worth your time, but you've probably seen them a lot. I want to get to one more clip I thought was really important because, again, it just highlights the contrast.

38:21Dan Bongino:And then I want to get the most important part of the show, which is the reaction. Because even hardcore Democrats, Axelrod, John Carl, these are activists. They pretend to be media people and analysts, not Axelrod. But they're kind of acknowledging the same thing. Hey, man, this was a really good moment for Trump. And maybe the Democrats just should shut up, let him have his moment, because you're not going to win and not fail the open book test and then move on. People forget about everything, even great speeches. They couldn't do it. They couldn't do it. They shit the bed last night. All right, quick break.

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41:49Dan Bongino:And the freak out on the left was apparent. He was President Trump last night, absolutely roasting the Democrats in the behavior, in the chamber, excuse me, by painting the contrast himself. This is genius. It wasn't just the bear trap he set that these idiots walked in despite the warning. Here's a bear trap, don't step in it. you have to paint contrast contrast matter they make the same thing seem that much same diamond seem more lustrous on a different background so here's what he does here he talks about his policies but then he roasts the democrats to their face talking about what he saved you from in the prior biden-led democrat administration this is what americans need to hear check this

42:28Eli Crane:out decades before i came along we had the exact opposite from trade to health care from energy to immigration. Everything was stolen and rigged in order to drain the wealth out of the productive, hardworking people who make our country great, who make our country run. Under Biden and his corrupt partners in Congress and beyond, it reached a breaking point with the Green News scam, open borders for everyone. They poured in by the millions and millions from prisons, from mental institutions. They were murderers. 11 ,888 murderers. They came into our country. You allowed that to happen. And record-setting inflation that cost the typical family$34 ,000 in just a speck of time.

43:17Eli Crane:Now the same people in this chamber who voted for those disasters suddenly used the word affordability, a word. They just used it. Somebody gave it to them, knowing full well that they caused and created the increased prices that all of our citizens had to endure. You caused that problem.

43:39Dan Bongino:You caused that problem. We were at 9 % inflation, 10 million people crossing the border illegally. Street crime was not out of control, was coming down, but was not anywhere near the levels of control Donald Trump implemented. The economy wasn't growing. There was government red tape left and right. You had DEI in locker rooms. You had men swinging their units around in women's locker rooms. And lefties like, yeah, this is freaking great. You have to remind them where we came from. That's how you create contrast. Nobody understands this better than this White House messaging machine. Nobody. Nobody's done it like this guy.

44:16Dan Bongino:No one. You think you've done better? Show me. Tell me a president and the Republican side in the last 40 years who scored these kind of wins with the minority community in traditionally Democratic states. He won Pennsylvania. He won Rust Belt states. This stuff doesn't happen on a regular basis, except with President Trump, because the messaging is just better. Reaction. How do you know the speech was a success? Because you measure it by the opponent's reaction. That is always the way to gauge a successful political, political uh whatever speech event whatever it was here's representative robin kelly on this panel on a podcast here talking about last night and you want to talk about just i don't want to call this a meltdown that's like a democrat thing sometimes there is a meltdown we use it in the title too when they but this was just like how do i downplay President Trump celebrating National Guardsman Wolf and others, these military heroes.

45:23Dan Bongino:You saw a bunch of medals given. This is the kind of thing Representative Robin Kelly apparently doesn't get. You just say, hey, listen, I mean, a dem, obviously. You come out and you say, hey, I don't like President Trump, whatever it may be, his policies, maybe make some, you know, a mention of the military or whatever. But we love our military was a nice moment. You move on. How do you fail this test? Here's how you fail it. She starts making fun of these military medals. It's like, Oprah, you get a medal, you get a medal. Total, complete loser stuff right here. He, again, just dog walked him right into this.

46:00Dan Bongino:The answer was easy. Check this out.

46:02Eli Crane:I was there and it was as horrific as I thought it would be. Did you leave early? Absolutely. It was like an award show. You get a medal, you get a medal, you get a medal. So that's literally Mo just said, you get a car, you get a car. Y 'all are on the same page.

46:21Dan Bongino:That was what state of the people show. If that's the state of the people, good luck. Good luck on the other side of the aisle. That's your message. It's like Oprah Winfrey giving away cars. The guardsman was almost was almost murdered. And his partner was. It was a ground ball, man. All you had to do was thank them for their service and move on. You couldn't even do that. Now, what is the key capstone project for Democrats' stupidity every single time? Whenever you hear the racist card come out, you know they effed up. Because it's the only thing they have. Now, if you're listening to this, go, no way.

47:12Dan Bongino:They tied fake racism charges? What about the speech could have possibly be perceived as racist? It doesn't matter. This is Representative Janelle Bynum. Here she is commenting on the speech. This is how you know he won last night. They got to dig up phantom charges of racism because they just don't have anything else. This is always, always the exclamation point on we screwed up last night. Check this out.

47:43Eli Crane:What do you think about that moment when the president was asking Democrats to stand up for American citizens during that part of speech when he was talking about immigration and immigration enforcement efforts? I think you can agree with the what, like standing up for American citizens, but I disagree with the how. And so it's always about how do we bring our country together but not stand on the backs of others. There's thinly veiled racist language, anti-immigrant language in what he was asking. and that was uncomfortable.

48:15Dan Bongino:It was... She was uncomfortable, fellas. She wasn't uncomfortable. She's making that up. That is it. Telltale sign. Bookmark it. Whenever you hear... You know it. You know they dropped the L. Big time L. You may say, okay, let's hear some... This is a... David Axelrod is a hardcore political activist. If you don't know Axelrod or Axe as they call him, Axelrod was basically President Obama's and Senator Obama before he was president. He's his consigliere. This guy was his political strategist. It's his right-hand man. Whenever Axelrod or Axe is talking, you can assume it's Obama like a puppet with the marionette with the puppet strings.

49:05Dan Bongino:This is really, whenever he's talking, Obama's talking. Here's Axelrod himself. You're not going to meet a more hardcore, like, pro-Obama guy. I mean, not totally capitulating, but being pretty candid that, eh, you know what? A pretty good speech. Again, is it going to be transformative? Are we going to win, you know, 350 seats in the House? No. But if I'm picking a team after last night, I sure as shit want to be on Trump's team and not the Democrats' F-Ice Pins team. Check this out.

49:37Eli Crane:He also basically kept control of himself, which I think will be a great relief to his strategists and aides there.

49:47Dan Bongino:But the question, I mean, and I think he did well from their perspective for the reasons that you say, John, and he used the gallery very skillfully to kind of simulate empathy, which is a thing that he's been lacking.

50:02Eli Crane:And that's sort of a surrogate for that. The question is, he started off the speech by saying, this is the turnaround for the ages. And as you know, because you're traveling around the country, people don't think the direction is right. And I don't think this cured that. So we'll see.

50:19Dan Bongino:But I don't think a lot of the people who needed to be persuaded probably were watching this speech. I didn't want to be accused of taking him out of context like they do for us. So I left a piece in at the end where he's critical as well. He's like, well, it wasn't so much of a turnaround. Well, obviously, I disagree. If you watched yesterday's show, even the New York Times hit piece on President Trump had to acknowledge that everything he said about inflation, immigration and crime and the economy is correct. The jobs numbers. You just don't like it. But I want you to remember something about politics because Axelrod's right.

50:51Dan Bongino:You don't have to like him. And I certainly don't like his politics. I think that's pretty fair assessment. Correct. He's not wrong. Politics is about telling a story. And the reason Obama was so effective and really, I mean, decimated our country, his political effectiveness, folks, you can't deny it. His policies were a freaking disaster, ruined the place, set up the whole DEI bullshit, the destruction of our military. I mean, economic takeover by the G. I mean, just a mess. But Axelrod always told Obama, make it about a story. Politics are about a story. And he's right. He used the chamber to tell the American people a story.

51:31Dan Bongino:Folks, anybody can get up there with spreadsheets. Like Mom Domi did when he wanted to raise your taxes and he's looking to raise your taxes in New York. He's there's here's a spreadsheet of expenses. Listen, I'm going to tell you something. Spreadsheets can actually be effective if they're part of a larger story. I knew a candidate in Maryland that used one really well, but he would pull out this spreadsheet and he wouldn't read you the spreadsheet. It was a spreadsheet of Maryland finances, but he would explain to you how with simple math we could win. He made it part of a story. Trump did that masterfully yesterday, and it's why the Democrats are reacting the way they did.

52:12Dan Bongino:Here's pretend journalist John Carl, because they're not really journalists. They're opinion guys. Let's get over it. Just admit your opinion, guys. Not that personal. It just is the way it is. Here's John Carl, though, from the other side, in case you think I'm full of shit. You're just overly optimistic about President Trump's speech lesson. I'm just telling you what the other side's saying, too. Here's John Carl, ABC, saying, hey, man, you know what? Pretty effective. Did a good job. Listen to their perspective on it. Check this out.

52:39Eli Crane:This had the makings of a, you know, they had real high moments of patriotism. Great stories he told. He gave out two Congressional Medals of Honor. He gave out a Medal of Freedom. him. He gave out two Purple Hearts.

52:54Dan Bongino:He gave out a legion of merit. He had great stories to tell

52:58Eli Crane:when he recognized people like Buddy Tackert, who's going to turn 100 on the 4th of July.

53:07Dan Bongino:Carl is correct. If you ever run for office or you're an activist, people think in narratives, make sure you tell a story. Tell a story. Come in there with an overarching narrative where the chapters fit in with the theme of the book and you'll win if you go in there and you're just completely disjointed pulling out spreadsheets talking about math all the time you're probably going to lose the debate now i don't know about you but i like to hear from voters too so here's a panel they put together you're going to hear this michigan voter and here's how regular normal everyday people reacted again proving the point i brought up in the beginning of the show Snapshots, soundbites, contrast.

53:51Dan Bongino:That's it. That's how most of America is going to see last night's speech. If you don't understand that, get out of the politics game. It's not for you. Here's a regular on the ground voter in Michigan talking about how, man, I can't believe they didn't get up. Like, this was an open book test. You totally flunked. I told you, man, this was a mess for the Democrats last night. They asked a question they did not know the answer to. Check this out.

54:15Eli Crane:Part of the speech that's probably going to live on for most Republicans is when he asked the Congress, stand up if you think your duty is first to American citizens before illegal aliens. Republicans stood up. It gave him his most sustained applause for the night. I suspect, man, you're going to see this in a lot of campaign ads that Democrats wouldn't stand up. What did you all think of the showmanship of that or of sort of the spectacle of trying to get Democrats to stand up for that?

54:42Dan Bongino:Well, I think the point, I think that, you know, it may have gotten a little muddled, but, you know, in the showmanship, but I think his point is valid. Everybody in that room represents the citizens in this country. And are you doing your job? He should, you know, the governor ask, is Trump doing his job? Trump ask, are all of you doing your job? that's just a regular voter man on a cnn panel like hey guys you work for us is that really the look you want out there one final contrast and i want to get to uh i want to move on to another really important topic the democrat clown car you'll see what i mean i'm not my well yes it is a clown car but it's not my terminology it's not mine it's going to be important in a second so don't miss this but here's the biggest contrast of all contrasting presidents with presidents I saw this on X yesterday I gotta tell you I don't even know if this was real hat tip the great Miguel Fornia had this up there I don't even know if this is real this was one of the prior State of the Union addresses by a prior president and even this is a test if you're watching live on Rumble right now you'll know right away obviously but if you're listening on Apple and Spotify Even if I were just to change the voice here, you would know exactly who this was.

56:13Dan Bongino:Here is a prior State of the Union. Talk about a contrast, a diamond on a black background. Imagine listening to this again. Check this out.

56:20Eli Crane:My predecessor came to office determined to see Roe v. Wade overturned.

56:24Dan Bongino:He's the reason he was overturned. And he brags about it. Look at the chaos that has resulted. What? What the hell was that? What is that even English? What is that? Swahili or something? That was spaghetti brains. Biden the last time. He came to office determined to see Roe Wade overturned. He's the reason to overturn. And he brags about it. Play the beginning again? Wait. Play it again. Play it again one more time. I wonder. My predecessor came to office determined to see Roe Wade overturned. Okay. I think I got it. And he brags about it. Did he say my predecessor came to office to see if Roe v.

57:04Dan Bongino:Wade was overturned? Is that what he... I had a... I don't know. Andy's inside. Like, I don't freaking know. Justin's got the... Justin's got this sweater. He never takes the... Are you cold? Are you dying? Do you have like influenza? I'm actually okay right now, but you keep it at 65 in here, man. I do. It is cold. He's right. I do keep it at 65. It is. It's freezing. Cold inside, cold outside. 89 ,000 in the chat today. Yes. Yes. Bongino Army. You guys, I didn't even notice that. I didn't look at the chat in a few minutes. I'm sorry. Democrat clown car. Not my words, although I agree. You think we got a bunch of problems?

57:39Dan Bongino:Listen, I'm going to bring this up with Congressman Eli Crane in about 25 minutes. Great congressman. It's going to be a really good interview. I'm going to ask him about the military presence over in the Gulf and in the Red Sea and a potential attack in Iran. Why? Because it's really important we as Republicans, you know, can openly debate this stuff. However, you know, there's a lot of schisms on our side. And sometimes we tend to think, oh, my gosh, it's total chaos. It's not total chaos. When you poll the Republican Party, Donald Trump has upwards of 90 plus percent support. It's not chaos.

58:14Dan Bongino:All these people and doomers go, Trump is finished if he doesn't do what I want. He's never going to do what everybody wants all the time because everybody wants different things. The debate is healthy. That's a good thing. I only bring this up because, please, do not think for a second that this is like siloed in a Republican Party. The Democrats are a total, complete mess. Donald Trump, there's unified support for him. 90 plus percent. You're never going to get a better number. You always ask a kid in school, like, you know, who wants homework? One kid always raises his head. You're never going to get 100 percent of anything.

58:50Dan Bongino:90 percent is amazing. The Democrats are only three years away Actually two years away Probably less in campaign season terms From a presidential election primary season And the Democrats have no idea who they even want They have a bunch of garbage candidates Kamala Harris who just got her ass handed to her In the election by Trump Gavin Newsom who runs California Enough said Boot edge edge Who couldn't even run the transportation department These are their candidates AOC, who is the queen of word salads. What do you think about Taiwan?

59:31Dan Bongino:Where'd I get the clown car line from? CNN, not me. They did a poll of Democrats. They're not unified. They're all fractured. They don't know where the hell they're going to go in this next election. Check this out. This is just a downright clown car at this point on the Democratic side. I mean, just take a look here. Top choices for the 2028 Demprez nominee.

59:51Eli Crane:You have a leader, but it's not really a clear leader.

59:54Dan Bongino:It's within the margin of error. You have Newsom at 19%. Then you have former Vice President Kamala Harris at 18%. Quite a weak number for her, given that, of course, she was the nominee last time around. Pete Buttigieg, who, of course, has run before 13%. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at 12%. This is just a total clown car. It is a total mess. There is no clear frontrunner at this particular point on the Democratic side. Who the heck knows who the nominee is going to be in three, two years? Now we're at 91.5. So nice. It's good to have you all back. Gosh, I love you all. It's not my words. It's Harry Anton, the pollster guy at CNN.

1:00:31Dan Bongino:Imagine the CNN audience hearing this, thinking, oh, the Republicans are in chaos. We're not in chaos. Republicans have different ideas on taxes. We all like low taxes, correct? But people have different ideas. Someone wants, president likes no tax on tips. Some people like a flat tax. Some people like a fair tax. You ever want to start a fight on X I'll give you a tip I haven't run for office a couple times Go out there on Twitter And say I prefer the flat tax over the fair tax I prefer the fair tax However, watch how many people There are people who are really passionate about this It doesn't mean they hate Donald Trump It just means within our tent We're not all freaking robots The Democrats all agree on the same thing Cut kids nuts off Put men's penises in the women's room Confiscatory wealth taxes Steal people's money Government controls your health care Defund the police Cut military funding It's unified It's unified and stupid However, they have such poor messengers They can't even decide You're going to run Gavin Newsom?

1:01:30Dan Bongino:Are you freaking serious? You're going to run Gavin Newsom? The guy ran California into the ground You're going to run Kamala Harris again? I'm not telling you who to vote for, man But that is one awful candidate She could not get out of her own way She was handed a billion dollars And the nomination She had no primary at all and got absolutely freaking smoked. Smoked.

1:01:59Dan Bongino:Buttigieg? That's your guy? He's the king of word salads. AOC is the queen of neologisms. He makes up words, AOC. And that video the other day, her talking, it looks like she was on a bender with someone snoring in the back. I was like, what is going on here? This lady have a big meal before. I'd be like, what is going on? And I'm like, oh, it's a guy snoring. Really? That's your candidate?

1:02:32Dan Bongino:We've got this insanely good bench of probably five to ten people who could run. Not telling you anything's going to be an easy win. It's not. The midterms are going to be tough. I'm just telling you again, I'd rather be on this side of the fence than theirs. All right, this is an important clip. I do these timeline cleanse videos once in a while because Jasmine likes them. But no, because I like them too. We do a lot on this show, but I don't do a lot of culture stuff. However, when something catches my eye, I want to put it out there. And I put it out there when it affects me too. Folks, we talk about politics on this political show all the time and how new media, how mastering Twitter and Snapchat and TikTok and everything from Reddit forums and elsewhere, learning how to process this information matters.

1:03:26Dan Bongino:If you don't understand snapshots and soundbites, you're going to lose. And you have to understand new media. However, new media, it's great, democratizes information. The downside to it is we're all married to our phones all the time. Folks, I'm on this, matter of fact, Haley's show, scrolling, she puts up her screen time. It's like 23 and a half hours. I don't know when she sleeps. that's the name of our show. I'm on a lot. I average about nine hours a day. Because I have to. I don't want to miss anything. I have the fear of missing out, little FOMO. I don't want to miss a good story. I just don't.

1:03:59Dan Bongino:These guys know. I send them. We have an email for them. I almost just sent it live email. We have a show prep email. I almost just outed it. We get a thousand emails. I'm sending them stuff at 11 o 'clock at night on a Saturday sometimes because I don't like to miss stuff. But I'm going to tell you, as a dad, I've fallen a little short on this. Sometimes a lot short. Man, you gotta get your face out of this phone. And I'm talking to me too. This is not me trying to be anyone's sociologist here or family therapist. I do this too, especially with young kids. They need to see your face. So I saw this tweet the other day and it was about a study they had done with a mother staring at a child's face and how that face-to-face eye contact for babies and even I would say toddlers and young children, that matters.

1:04:53Dan Bongino:Your attention matters to them. Watch this quick video. And listen, this is for me too. Again, I'm not trying to be anyone's family therapist. I have made this mistake as well. Your kids are the most important thing in your life. They're a gift from God. When they're talking to you, I've made it a concerted effort to drop that phone. Look at the difference when the mom isn't staring. Check this out.

1:05:14Eli Crane:She gives a greeting to the baby. The baby gives a greeting back to her. This baby starts pointing at different places in the world, and the mother's trying to engage her and play with her. They're working to coordinate their emotions and their intentions. And then we ask the mother to not respond to the baby. The baby very quickly picks up on this and then she uses all of her abilities to try and get the mother back. She smiles at the mother. She points because she's used to the mother looking where she points. The baby puts both hands up in front of her and says, what's happening here? She makes that screechy sound at the mother, like, come on, why aren't we doing this?

1:06:15Eli Crane:Even in this two minutes, when they don't get the normal reaction, they react with negative emotions. They turn away, they feel the stress of it. They actually may lose control of their posture because of the stress that they're experiencing.

1:06:36Dan Bongino:gosh, that's so sad to watch. I've had two young children. They're older now. But I just throw that out there because, me, that's for me. And hopefully it helps a few people too because you know we do. We live busy lives. We're like, oh, I'm just going to look at this thing while they're talking to us. Just put it down. I'm going to try better myself. I've been guilty of this. Really guilty of it. And you watch that video. Tell me that doesn't sting. That's like a tattoo on the brain you won't forget. So I thought I'd throw that out there. And now that we've extended the show, I'm able to do more things.

1:07:11Dan Bongino:And I'm really proud of that interviews and other stuff. I'm really enjoying the new length and format of the show. Congressman Eli Crane coming up in about 10 minutes. But let me get back to business right now. Folks, what's the greatest superpower in the world? I've said this over and over. Those P1s in the chat, Bongino Army folks, what is the greatest superpower in the world? That's achievable. I'm not talking about like Cyclops laser vision out of the eyes. The greatest superpower in the world is not the ability to squat 800 pounds. The greatest superpower in the world is not the ability to bend metal.

1:07:40Dan Bongino:The greatest superpower in the world is the ability to command attention. It's why Donald Trump, even in the 45 to 47 break when he was a former, was still the most powerful Republican on the planet. And he will be even in the post-presidency because he has an ability a lot of politicians don't. I don't know how to describe it. The French call it the je ne sais quoi. He's got this I don't know ability to command attention. Listen to me. I'm not messing around. It is the greatest superpower in the world. The reason I bring it up a lot is when I agreed to go in the government to serve for the year, I had to be quiet.

1:08:19Dan Bongino:I brought this up a couple times about things because it's not about you. It's about the administration. You got to just shut up and do your job. And I was proud to do it. but when you've been in the business of a microphone for 10 years where you have the attention of people and you want to speak out i gotta tell you man it rips at your soul sometimes and you realize you the power of it hits you that much contrast right right back to beginning show microphone no mic you see the contrast right there the greatest superpower in the world is the ability to command attention. Nobody understands this better than not just a President Trump, but the people he surrounds himself with.

1:09:02Dan Bongino:President Trump has got some messengers there who I'm telling you have just nailed this attention economy. They've nailed it. They pick people who understand how to grab people, grab their emotions, command their attention. They know it's the greatest superpower in the world. It's an even bigger superpower than a super majority on both sides. Here's what I'm talking about. Did you see this new ad released by the White House? These guys are just kicking ass and racking up W's. This is just great. We played the ICE ad the other day. Here's another banger. Check this one out.

1:09:39Eli Crane:Two and a half million illegal immigrants leaving the U.S. over the past year. Nearly 600 ,000 arrests. Over 600 ,000 deportations. nearly 2 million voluntary self-deportations, and give this eight months of zero releases at the border. President Trump's border policies are serving as a deterrent at the U.S. southern border as illegal crossings have hit another record low.

1:10:02Dan Bongino:It is an undeniable fact that illegal crossings at the southern border have plummeted, a staggering decline.

1:10:10Eli Crane:ICE says they can finally do their jobs. This is truly an extraordinary turnaround at the U.S.-Mexico border. Because President Trump is sitting in the Oval Office, every American put their head on the pillow tonight, knowing that border patrols on that border, stopping all threats coming across the most secure border in the history of this nation. ICE agents and FBI agents are working 24-7, 365, every hour of every day, taking public safety threats and national security threats off our streets. Sleep well, America, because we're keeping America safe. If you think we're doing good now, you just wait until this coming year.

1:10:46Dan Bongino:Every time, every time, it's like one banger after another. It's like an album with a hundred hits on it. It's like Pink Floyd, The Wall, before Roger Waters went crazy. It's comfortably numb, man. It still gets me. They just get it. Notice on that, I'm not going to play it again, but if you're watching on Rumble VOD Video On Demand later, obviously not live now, rewind the tape and watch it again. Notice the imagery. Pause it every few seconds. Notice how the images were carefully selected because they understand the snapshot and soundbite culture better than anyone. No one's done it like this.

1:11:24Dan Bongino:Nobody. Donald Trump is not running for re-election, but he wants the American people to understand the taxpayer, what their government is doing in their name now. And I applaud them for doing it. These videos are not expensive to produce, by the way. It just requires a good eye for snapshots and soundbites, and nobody does it better than them. Because they've got the results to speak about. What they're saying about the border, you heard Homan at the end, this is just the beginning, is accurate. The border is effectively shut down for the first time in, gosh, I don't know, 50 years, maybe more?

1:12:01Dan Bongino:Here, don't take my word for it, because you may think, oh, you've got a vested interest in this. You served in the FBI. Of course you're going to talk about crime lower than that. Yeah, of course I've got a vested interest I'm also an American citizen Who doesn't want to get dead I want some lunatics showing up to mug me Outside of the studio here Knifing me in the kidneys either But don't take my word for it I pulled this clip off, it went viral yesterday I saw it on social media This is Claremont County, Ohio This is the sheriff out there This is him, it's not me Talking about the massive effort President Trump on down To support law enforcement through federal support, state support, local support, help them all at every level.

1:12:42Dan Bongino:Here he's talking about overdose deaths. It's a quick clip, but I want you to listen to the numbers here. And he's telling you himself the difference between the Biden years and now. These numbers don't lie. Check this out.

1:12:54Eli Crane:Joe Biden's first term, we experienced 74 drug overdoses. In 2025, after President Trump took office, we had 14. so in our county that was historically low um we're off to one possibly two this year so it's continuing to decrease they're just numbers folks they're just numbers but they're not just numbers they're lives they're not just numbers they're lives you can crap on president trump's record

1:13:29Dan Bongino:all you want, but those people are alive right now because of him. I'm going to tell you what the second greatest superpower in the world is. I don't think I mentioned this before. And a lot of us fail at this. This is tough. Any guesses out there in the chat? No, not money. Money's pretty powerful, but that's not it. The second greatest superpower in the world that's attainable for anyone with enough skill is surrounding yourself with a network of good people. Oh, that's too... No, no, I'm serious. Folks, it is really, really hard to do that because good people don't have a scarlet letter on their head that says...

1:14:14Dan Bongino:Scarlet letters were... I should say bad people don't wear this. That's probably a better way to phrase it. They don't have like a B on their forehead, Esther Prynne style. Look, I'm bad. Bad people never tell you they're bad people. And some bad people with sociopathic tendencies, as I told you in the beginning of the show, talking about my experience interviewing lunatics who would threaten the president, are really damn good at hiding their bad people. Even the best, most intelligent people in the world sometimes pick a bad football coach. And I was watching this show about the Cowboys in honor of producer Jim, who loves the Cowboys.

1:14:52Dan Bongino:And Jerry Jones was talking about how he just sometimes got it wrong with the whole coach situation. Jerry Jones made a lot of money in business Sometimes you just screw up I told you Adore when I was doing this show before I left I told you That the benefit of a Trump 47 Term when the election was going on Between him and Kamala Harris Is the fact that it's his last term And he's not going to be constrained by any pressure To get reelected and I said second Do you guys remember this you P1's out there I said another thing is I know he learned a lot of lessons From 45 his 45 term where he tried to be kind of a team of rivals let me you know bring in Tillerson and others and people who and it just didn't work out but he learned from that and in his second term he picked the freaking Avengers and went out there and that's how this stuff got done and got done quick because he got people and put people in positions who were going to do it here he is talking to on a sports show podcast about exactly that how this knack for picking good people is so important.

1:15:58Dan Bongino:This is the second greatest superpower in the world. And a lot of us have a tough time with this one. Check this out. I hired thousands of people in the business world. You've vetted people for cabinet positions, but you've sat across from them like we're doing right now. What do you look for in someone to know, that's the characteristic I want. That's a guy or that's a girl I want on my team.

1:16:16Eli Crane:Well, I have it a little bit now in myself. I have a great staff. I have, you know, really good people working for me. I would say first time I had never done it before. I won, you know, I came out of business and I had some very good people, but I had some people that I wouldn't have chosen had I had a little more experience. Once I got all that experience, now we have an unbelievable cabinet and you know, experience really helps. You see people under fire when you go in there and you don't have that feel, not good, but there's a great deal of experience. I think there's also an instinct. I've had a good instinct for people.

1:16:47Eli Crane:I think I've had a good instinct for athletes, for athletes, but Herschel's a special guy. I think Herschel did really well. he tried really hard with his run, his Senate run. I think he did really well. He got some, I think he got some unfair treatment, frankly.

1:17:04Dan Bongino:It's hard, man. That's really, really difficult. I told you, given my, where I just came from, people don't advertise if they're bad actors. You have to find, investigate, take action. It's not always easy to do. No one comes in and advertises, is, hey, I'm part of the weaponized portion of the place. No one does that. They do their best to hide it. And not everybody was eager to help.

1:17:32Dan Bongino:All right, I got Congressman Eli Crane coming up. Navy SEAL, represents Arizona District 2. I had him on as a guest because he's a really good guy, but I'm not in the good guy business. One of the things that stuck out about him is when I was over there working for you all, there were people who would actually reach out to us. And there were others, we'd reach out to them and it would take forever to get, but someone just ignore us. Congressman Crane would reach out all the time. How can I help on this? How can I help on national security threats? How can I help on drones? How can I help on the 764?

1:18:03Dan Bongino:If you don't know about 764 and the network trying to get at your kids, we're going to talk to him about that too. His office was great on that. So that's coming up in a minute. But I just want to remind you again, the Rumble Shorts, please download or update the Rumble app. You will get shorts in there. You'll see right here, Rumble Shorts. It is basically a free speech TikTok. You know Rumble's always supported free speech. That's why I love it. People come on the platform, love me, hate me. It's not about me. It's about free speech, having an opinion. I get to respond back. That's what's great about the marketplace of ideas.

1:18:35Dan Bongino:Rumble Shorts, you can see, gives you these short, digestible short videos like TikTok style. It's taken off tens of thousands of views on a lot of these videos and enables you to share segments from the show if you want. If you don't, that's fine. but without clipping them yourself. Rumble Shorts, please go and download or update the Rumble app. Also, if you want to watch the show on TV, Rumble has on your smart TV an app available. Just search the apps on your TV, Rumble, download, and you can watch on your TV. A lot of people choose to watch it that way. So we really appreciate it. All right, great interview with Congressman Eli Crane, the 764 threat and other things, including drones.

1:19:10Dan Bongino:You know, I'm obsessed with this because folks, it's going to happen. And when it happens here, every single person's life is going to change. You're going to walk out of your house And anytime you hear a buzz Everybody's going to go like this It's a very serious threat Whether it's my time working in the government Or getting back behind the microphone One thing that keeps me going Is a quality good night of sleep You need sleep The restorative properties of sleep are unmatched Not only for mental clarity But physical health as well That's why I rely on Helix mattresses H-E-L-I-X Paul and I have had a Helix mattress for years now I've had a couple of them actually.

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1:22:00Dan Bongino:Welcome to the show today, a congressman who has worked extensively with me, the FBI, and the government national security apparatus on all the pressing issues at the time. Great guy, American patriot, Navy SEAL, represents Arizona Congressional District 2, Congressman Eli Crane. Welcome to the show. Good to have you. Hey, Dan. Thanks for having me on. Yeah. Hey, listen, I wanted to have you on in the first month on the air because you and I had the opportunity to work together in the federal government. I'm going to get to the State of the Union in a minute, but one of the things, you came in early and you reached out to us.

1:22:35Dan Bongino:I want people to understand there are some congressmen up there that are there for the parties and the lobbyists and whatever, the tea and crumpets. You're not one of them. You actually reached out early and said, Dan, this drone problem, it's a really, really pressing big deal. How can I help? I said, do you want to come on over? You said, I'm there. And I think you came over the next week. We met over in the FBI headquarters building. This is a real threat. You were a Navy SEAL. It presents really obvious issues. It's the tactical high ground. Human beings can't fly. They're tough to intercept.

1:23:06Dan Bongino:The technology's evolving. I'm really worried about this. How many colleagues of yours up on the Hill understand the problem like you do and are ready to do something about it?

1:23:15Eli Crane:Well, thanks, Dan. I think it that it's growing. The awareness is growing thanks to, you know, efforts from many of us to beat this drum and sound the alarm. I remember I went to Iraq three times as a as a SEAL. And you don't have to be a SEAL to know this. any Marine or army guy, you know, that was in country knew that the easiest way for us to get killed was with IEDs, improvised explosive devices. And I remember coming back to the States and I would tell anybody that would listen, you know, because I understand terrorists. I understand, you know, that they consider us the great Satan. They would love to destroy us and install a global caliphate around the world.

1:24:01Eli Crane:And they'll do anything they can to take down the West, the United States. And so I would tell anyone that would listen, Dan, friends, family members, anyone that IEDs were going to be a problem, just because I saw overseas how destructive they were and how hard it was, you know, for us to deal with them, even with all the technology and weaponry that we have. And I remember, you know, it wasn't long after that, where you had the Boston bombings, You know, we're, you know, a couple individuals that were radicalized, you know, used, you know, some little microwave, you know, mini ovens to blow up a bunch of just peaceful folks that wanted to run in a marathon or watch a marathon.

1:24:41Eli Crane:And I saw something similar. And it doesn't take rocket science to see this, but I saw what was going on as warfare was advancing overseas, primarily in Ukraine, you know, with the drones, the battlefield has changed forever. And I knew that that was going to come to the states. And so, you know, I wanted to do everything that I could to make sure that, you know, my colleagues in Congress understood that that was going to be a very real threat in the future. And, you know, I started reaching out to anybody and anybody, everybody that would take a meeting with me. And I'm grateful to you and Cash, you know, at the FBI, you guys always were great about letting members come in and talk to you guys.

1:25:22Eli Crane:And, you know, I remember telling you that story when I came over to the FBI. and it wasn't lost on me that you were very well aware of it and you had a team of guys that you brought in that was dedicated to this threat and so we talked through you know the the different threats you know tethered drones you know our mitigation efforts you even told me you had somebody from the NFL in the week before to talk about what they're doing about it so I knew that you were on top of it but I also know that a lot of times in Congress Daniel even if somebody's interested in an issue or they're concerned about it, it kind of stays siloed.

1:25:56Eli Crane:And there's not a lot of reach out. There's not a lot of team effort. And so I wanted to do everything in my power to, you know, ask you what I could do to help you guys keep the country safe. And you guys gave me some things that you were struggling with. And unfortunately, like many of the problems that we have in this country, the problem is right here in Congress and members of Congress just not understanding the threats or, you know, getting in little political fights over something or bipartisanship to where we're not focused on these threats that are coming to the United States. And we've seen them already come.

1:26:31Eli Crane:You know, you saw a major airport, you know, have to shut down a couple of weeks ago because of, you know, drones. It's just a matter of time. And you brought up, you know, one of the things that I was pushing for, and I brought this up to you, was that, you know, if we're going to have these FIFA World Cup games, you know, and we had the committees of jurisdiction come before Homeland Security, let's try and have all these events in a dome. Because if you're in a dome that, you know, that mitigates almost 95 % of the drone threat right there. They can't just fly these things into drone into domes.

1:27:04Eli Crane:You know, unfortunately, I found out that probably wasn't a reality because these games have been planned so long in advance. But, you know, do everything you can. That's what the people who sent me to Washington expect me to do. Do everything I can to keep them safe, to put them first. And, you know, that's what it's all about.

1:27:21Dan Bongino:Well, I really appreciate you taking the bull by the horns on that and some initiative because the threat is real. And you're right. You know, you're a warfighter. Many members of Congress are, but many aren't. And this is not the kind of thing you want to wake up on a Saturday morning after a Friday night drone attack and go, hey, man, we didn't see it coming. You did see it coming. Everybody saw it coming. It's or it's not the future. It's here now. So I'll get back to the national security picture in a minute, given your expertise in the space. But the State of the Union last night, I chose to take a different route earlier in the show in my coverage.

1:27:59Dan Bongino:It was an enormously powerful speech by President Trump. Listen, on my show, I'm not pretending to be objective. I'm obviously a MAGA supporter, but in my best attempt to be objective, I've seen quite a few of these, you have as well. I thought it was his best performance. I thought it laid out what I consider the golden year of politics for President Trump, but I covered a different angle of it, that you can always gauge the success in politics of whatever you did, a speech, an event, by your opponent's reaction. If they ignore it, you generally kind of flopped because they just want the story to keep going.

1:28:35Dan Bongino:So they let the media cycle run with it. They couldn't. They had counter events on the lawn. I think like 12 people showed up. They had frog shows. They had people with F ice pins on. You had Al Green get thrown out for some ridiculous racist sign up there. I mean, what a disaster for the Democrats in an environment of snapshots and soundbites. It's just this did not look good by any objective measure.

1:29:03Eli Crane:No, it didn't, Dan. And, you know, there were a lot of members from the Democrat Party that didn't show up. And they'll sit there and tell you that the reason that they didn't show up is because President Trump is a racist or he's this or he's that. The bottom line is, Dan, many of them are very smart and they know they know that nobody does a better job of exposing how crazy they are than President Trump. So they know that they're going to be a room for in an in a room that's being watched by 20 or 30 million Americans for an hour and a half. And President Trump is going to put them in the hot seat multiple times as he talks about his vision, what you know, what this administration has done.

1:29:42Eli Crane:And then he's going to make he's going to make them either stand or sit. Right. And that's what he did a masterful job of last night was once again, Democrats, Dan, you and I both know Democrats don't need any help being crazy or looking crazy. Nobody exposes them like President Trump. And that's exactly what he did last night. So the ones the Democrats that did show up, they put themselves in the hot seat. You know, they were the ones that, you know, supported all these policies, like the open border policies, the trans policies, mutilating children. And so they had a choice last night. They could stand up and clap for, you know, President Trump, you know, awarding, you know, the Congressional Medal of Honor or, you know, acknowledging a gold star mom who was in the audience or even asking them, you know, hey, stand up if you think that it's the government's primary responsibility to prioritize the safety of Americans over illegal immigrants.

1:30:39Eli Crane:It was brilliant. And none of them stood up for that one. I think that was one of the first ones he did. And he just did a masterful job in exposing to the American people who these people really are.

1:30:51Dan Bongino:Congressman, we're talking to Congressman Eli Crane. If you're listening on Apple or Spotify, he is running for reelection. Fantastic Congressman, Arizona, Congressional District 2. Please get out and support him. Congressman, what's your website, by the way, if you want to look you up? Just want to make sure you get that in there.

1:31:07Eli Crane:Yeah, they can find me crane.house.gov on the official side. You know, if they want to find me on social media, you know, Congressman Crane, you know, Eli Crane, CEO, any of those ways will get you to me.

1:31:21Dan Bongino:check them out so congressman having dealt with the uh the democrats for a long time whether this is a candidate myself at one point or having seen various administrations come and go i'll give them this their their message is always wrong you know high taxes government controlled health care open board we get it we all we all know what's wrong but their messaging listen they win they win a lot they don't win all the time thank the lord um but they win a lot because their messaging is good but their message always sucks. They know the way to frame an argument. They got the liberal media on their side.

1:31:54Dan Bongino:They are usually better at this. You just brought up a key point. Last night was such an open book test. You couldn't have possibly flunked this. You've got this poor woman, Ms. Zerutska's mother, lost her daughter in a brutal caught on camera murder. This is a ground ball. This is a bunt. You get up, you acknowledge the tragedy of the situation. They're playing it now on the screen. You know, Congressman, no one is ever I don't understand what when you're weighing the pros and cons. What is the con, the downside of just getting up and acknowledging what this poor women woman want to? It's almost like you just said, like Trump flipped the stupid switch in these people and they just can't transition back to sanity.

1:32:35Eli Crane:Yeah, well, the con for them, Dan, is, you know, if they do get up and clap like actually John Fetterman, a lot of you know, this is something that I witnessed just being in, you know, on the House floor last night, John Fetterman actually got up a lot and clapped for the president. And he was one of the only ones who would have thought that John Fetterman would be the most, you know, sane Democrat, you know, three years ago. But the downside for them is if they get up and clap, then their radical base flips out and goes nuts. You know, that, you know, they showed some type of public support for any policy of the president because he did a masterful job in tying all of those things to you know the policy decisions and agenda of this administration and so that's the downside for them as you can see last night once again they failed miserably and showing the american

1:33:23Dan Bongino:people what exactly they do stand for talking to congressman eli crane c-r-a-n-e look him up Give him a follow. Arizona Congressional District 2. Congressman, I know the filibuster is obviously on the Senate side. You're on the House side. However, you represent a substantial portion of the great state of Arizona. Your opinion matters. The SAVE Act. I don't think we're going to be able to save the country's electoral process without an integrated system of voter ID. It's just, again, the same thing to do. Upwards of 80 percent of voters across demographics and across parties support voter ID because it just makes sense.

1:34:02Dan Bongino:We all saw the joke with Mamdami. You need two forms of ID to shovel snow, literally. But he doesn't want ID to vote. That's absurd. Where do you stand? I know you support the Save Act, obviously, but where do you stand on pushing it through with either enforcing a talking filibuster? Again, I know it's on the other side or scrapping the filibuster altogether.

1:34:22Eli Crane:I'm in support of that, Dan. If we're going to save this country, we've got to play offense for far too long. I think one of the biggest problems on Capitol Hill is because you've got, you know, a bunch of Republicans who their primary responsibility has just been to manage the decline of this country. Right. We're this is no longer the old Democrat Party. You know, the old politics in the United States, big taxes versus little taxes. These people are trying to destroy the country. They would say fundamentally transform it. But when you look at where they come from and, you know, with their socialistic tendencies and policies, you know, their Marxist policies, right, even you've got communists within their ranks.

1:35:02Eli Crane:And, you know, now they're aligning themselves with Islamists, jihadists, you know, you got to choose where you're at. Do you want to help save this country or do you not? And if you do, you've got to go on offense. And I will remind your audience, I know that they know this, Dan, you know, because, you know, they're a very well-informed audience. But it wasn't long ago that the Democrats were in control of Washington, D.C., and they tried to get rid of the filibuster. And the only two people that stopped them were Joe Pichon and Chris Sinema. And those people are gone now. So I'm going to tell you again, Republicans right now, they are going to do this the moment that they get back in power.

1:35:41Eli Crane:And if you don't beat them to the punch, you are a complete fool. If you don't do everything possible, if we don't do everything possible to push for the SAVE Act and voter ID, you know, this country is going to continue to decline and go go the way of a lot of these third world hell holes that people are fleeing from every single day to come to the United States from. That's just a fact. Yeah.

1:36:06Dan Bongino:Congressman, that is a fact. And I wish people would make that argument like you just did. It's not about what's what's good or bad. OK, that it's about what's worse or worser or worstest making up words. There's no good call here. Yes, I agree. Dumping the filibuster is going to make the Democrats who love bigger programs and more government. It's going to make it easier for them. However, that's not the choice we have. The choice is can we preemptively do something about it before they do that and enact our own limited government agenda? I couldn't agree more. I wanted to switch gears a little bit.

1:36:39Dan Bongino:And again, given your space in national security, this is something we took very seriously in the FBI. It's a growing threat. I've been warning parents about it over and over and over again using the show, social media. And your office could not have been more helpful. You've got an amazing staff. This 764 threat is this group of semi-organized, sometimes very organized, sometimes loosely organized group of animals. They go and they target kids in these chat rooms, gaming chat rooms and online. They get these kids. They groom them. They get them to do disgusting things. Congressman, I know you've seen some of the stuff.

1:37:13Dan Bongino:I'm actually hesitant to even talk about it. So gross, cutting themselves, doing horrible things to animals. And it's probably really shocking to the public to hear this, but there's actually not a good solid menagerie of federal laws to stop this stuff. There's actually stronger laws against torturing animals than there are getting kids to go and do these things to themselves. But your office has been really great. And this is a very real threat. all right, we got to protect the kids.

1:37:40Eli Crane:Yeah, Dan, you know, I'm going to commit right now to work with you and anybody else to get some of these stronger laws on the books right now. You know, I didn't get a chance to, but I also want to give you a shout out. You know, the president brought it up last night in his speech, you know, as he went through, you know, the differences between the Biden administration and the Trump administration. Crime and, you know, murder, the murder rates being down 20%, that did, that did not just magically happen. Okay. That happened. And I've heard you and cash talk about it before, you know, by bringing in people who are willing to let law enforcement and cops be cops, right.

1:38:19Eli Crane:And do the job that Americans expect them to do. And so, you know, I want to applaud you for that. I want to applaud the, uh, the Trump administration for that, that that's massive. That's going to save so many lives, you know, and we got to see some of the families that were have been affected last night at the State of the Union, you know, some of whom the Democrats wouldn't even get up and clap for because they know deep down that they caused these very problems. But I will commit to you to work with you on on this issue. You know, as somebody who worked exclusively, you know, in law enforcement, I'm always down to, you know, take advice from those that are professionals in a field.

1:38:58Eli Crane:And I have heard about this, you know, 764, you know, threat and what goes on in there. I won't claim to be an expert on it, but I will commit to work with you on this to try and get and beat that drum so that we can make sure our kids are safe.

1:39:14Dan Bongino:That's just fantastic to hear. I'll take you up on that, Congressman. I really appreciate it. And I just want to give a quick shout out to the passionate group of online folks on Twitter and elsewhere who have been highlighting the magnitude of this horrifying problem and doing a ton of legwork on it. You all know who you are. I've got limited time with the congressman. I mentioned you all by name, but you all know who you are. Congressman, last question for you. Again, you have an extensive array of experience in the national security space. There's an armada in the Middle East right now sending a don't mess around message from President Trump after he disabled the Iranian nuclear program.

1:39:54Dan Bongino:President Trump has always sought diplomacy first. He you know, he's not the kind of, you know, shoot now, ask questions later president. He's just not. He's trying diplomacy. Diplomacy with the Iranians has never really been very successful. You know, they're the death to America crowd. You don't deploy those kind of assets into the Middle East, you know, air assets, waterborne assets and else and more. You don't deploy those kind of assets without the intent to use them if the Iranians don't move on this program.

1:40:30Eli Crane:Yeah, Dan, you know, this is something that, you know, I tend to be a little cautious on. And I'll tell you why. As somebody who went overseas, lost a lot of friends and then looks back on that situation. I know we spent a lot of blood and treasure overseas, primarily in the Middle East over the last couple of decades. You know, I take these things very seriously because of how many gold star mothers that I personally know, how many friends of mine that didn't come home. You know, I'm very cautious, you know, when when it looks like there's a chance for us to go to war. I want to make sure that we've exhausted all options.

1:41:05Eli Crane:You know, and our primary focus was on, you know, handling it any diplomatic way that we can. But if we do use action against Iran, you know, I want to I hope it's as surgical as possible. I hope that we do not make a foolish mistake and get into some long, you know, drawn out war where we're losing, you know, you know, thousands, hundreds or thousands of young Americans with their futures in front of them spending money that we don't have. And so that that that is my message that needs to be the last you know, that needs to be the last chip that we play. If we have to play it, I hope and I pray that we don't have to play that chip because, you know, I've seen and, you know, there's a lot of people watching your show that lost a loved one in Afghanistan or Iraq.

1:41:53Eli Crane:And when I look back, when I look at where those places are now, you know, and that that has to be something that's factored into the decision making. OK, you take out a regime. What's next? Right. We do not have a good track record in the United States of America, you know, regime change. And then, you know, that said country, you know, becoming some beacon of freedom, you know, that's no longer a threat to the United States. So we have to be level headed about this. You know, I know the president's been presented many plans. We have to pray for his wisdom and discernment in making these very tough decisions.

1:42:29Eli Crane:I hope it doesn't go there, Dan. But if it does, I hope it's surgical. You know, something like, you know, we saw in Venezuela. I don't those are two completely different battle sets and battle problems there. Iran has no Venezuela. Let's make no mistake about that. But, you know, I just I want us to be as careful as possible to make sure we don't get in some extended, drawn out. you know, World War III, you know, in Iran or anywhere else.

1:42:58Dan Bongino:You know, Congressman, that's why I asked you the question. I, you know, I have tremendous respect for you. And this is a healthy debate within the Republican Party. This is a debate that needs to happen. Unlike the Democrats that act like a bunch of robots and automatons. We're talking about something you just said. You know, it gets me emotionally sometimes. we're talking about human lives, young men and women who are going to go over there and potentially risk their own lives. That you're right, all avenues should be exhausted. And this has to be a deliberate process. But it's easy for guys like me who never served.

1:43:35Dan Bongino:And I didn't, in a different capacity, but it's not the same. And I appreciate everybody who says, I did not serve like you did. I'm not even close. If you haven't seen combat, your opinion's valuable. It's a republic. We all should express an opinion. but it doesn't carry as much weight as someone who's seen the scars of combat. And that's why what you said, I think is going to resonate with my audience. And that's why I wanted to end with that question. I want to thank you for your service, not just to the Navy SEALs, Congressman, but also in the last year. Again, you were one of the few guys, a handful of guys that reached out directly.

1:44:11Dan Bongino:I'm going to impugn others. We reached out to others and they got back to us, but you were very proactive. What can I do? How can I help? And I just want the audience to know that, that not everybody's up there, you know, sitting on their ass drinking Sanka. There are people out there doing the work of the people and you were one of them. So I really appreciate it. Thank you for joining us today. We really appreciate it.

1:44:30Eli Crane:Dan, thanks for having me on and thanks for being willing to go back into service. I know it's I know it's not easy, you know, to come back into, you know, one of the most swampy, wicked places on Earth in certain countries. But I appreciate you doing it, brother. I'm glad you're back on the airwaves. I want to give a shout out to Rochelle Martin, who's a massive Dan Bongino fan in Arizona.

1:44:53Dan Bongino:God bless you, brother. Love you, Rochelle. Thanks, Congressman. Talk to you soon. That was Congressman Eli Crane. Yeah, definitely one of the good guys, folks. I try to bring you a wide array of folks from the Senate, House side, political figures, thought leaders, and others. And I think so far, we're doing a pretty good job. We had a pretty good guest list, and we're working on some more coming forward. Got some big names. We're getting ready to line up for you. Thank you again for joining us live, folks. Again, I reminded you earlier in the show, I remind you again, please update or download the Rumble app.

1:45:24Dan Bongino:We launched Rumble Shorts just the other day. The Rumble app is live now on iOS and the Google App Store. You'll see this is what Shorts looks like. Again, I showed you before. That's the Rumble web presence. You'll see the Shorts tab right there. What is Rumble Shorts? It's like TikTok, but with free speech. So it's taken off the views on these things. Some of you like to share small snippets of the show. You don't have to do clipping or cutting. You can just go to Rumble Shorts and share from there. So download the Rumble app or just update the Rumble app you have now. And if you'd like to watch the show on TV, on your television, you can.

1:46:02Dan Bongino:There's a Rumble app for your smart TV too. You can watch the show every day. Tune in live at 10 a.m. Rumble.com slash Bongino on your TV or on the Rumble app. It is free. if you wouldn't mind click that subscribe button it is free as well we've been adding tens of thousands of new followers yesterday's show did bonkers numbers really appreciate it and make sure you check out haley and vince at noon and 8 a.m vince colon ace on rumble and then haley at noon as well i will see you back here tomorrow and before i go again thank you very much for all the amazing support yesterday i uh don't want to leave today without telling you that i don't think you guys know how much that meant to me.

1:46:43Dan Bongino:I really appreciate it. Bongino Army, man. Loyal for life. Thank you all. See you back here tomorrow.

1:47:10We'll be right back.