In short
Mark Carney’s walk-away from U.S. trade talks is framed as a strategic model for allies to resist Trump, plus a second segment arguing the U.S. is suppressing bad news about the Iran war and firing Pentagon-linked journalists; tariffs and war costs are said to be driving public dissatisfaction.
Guests/backgrounds
No formal guests. Hosts are Katty Kay and Anthony Scaramucci. The episode cites interviews with Christia Freeland (former Canadian deputy PM) and Jameson Greer (U.S. trade negotiator/Canada talks), and references a David French conversation.
Key claims
Carney “defied” Trump by refusing a deal at the last minute, staying firm on French-language labeling and pushing back on steel. Allies now assume White House statements are unreliable. Pentagon actions (firing Stars and Stripes staff) are portrayed as censorship amid military and economic strain.
Notable examples
“Quebec clause”/French labeling dispute; threatened 50% tariffs on Canadian cars/trucks and parts; USS Abraham Lincoln reporting changes; gas prices up 37%; Joshua Villas’ father detained despite military-family status.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOTrump Meets His Match
0:00 to 0:36
Discussion on Mark Carney's political maneuvers against Trump.
“Trump has finally met his match in Mark Carney.”
Trump Meets His Match
0:39 to 1:35
Discussion on Mark Carney's political maneuvers against Trump.
“It can all start just as the first line of a speech, but it sets in motion things that can reach far beyond Washington and unfold for years to come.”
Mark Carney's Unique Leadership
1:44 to 4:10
Exploration of Carney's stance against American trade negotiations.
“London's been apocalyptically hot for the last couple of months while I've been here.”
Canadian Trade Negotiations Explained
4:10 to 7:00
Detailed analysis of the failed trade negotiations with Canada.
“and Mark Carney ignored the bit about flattery.”
Political Dynamics of the Trade War
7:00 to 9:30
Discussion on the political implications of Carney's trade stance.
“You know, just trying to force the English language into Canada.”
U.S.-Canada Relations and Tariffs
9:30 to 12:20
Insights into the potential ramifications of proposed tariffs.
“I just think the politics of how Carney played this strategically were masterful.”
Carney's Influence on Global Politics
12:20 to 14:00
Reflection on Carney's role in shaping international political perceptions.
“He's echoing something everybody believes because that's what they keep doing.”
Mark Carney's Strategy Against Trump
14:00 to 15:00
Learn how Mark Carney is positioned to counter Trump's economic moves.
“Trump says he owns all the cards because he has a bigger economy, but Mark Carney knows that the administration will likely lose this court case in the imposition of the tariffs.”
The Global Response to Trump's Policies
15:00 to 18:40
Understand how other nations might react to Trump's administration.
“signs something close to what he had on offer.”
Carney as a Model for Political Strategy
18:40 to 21:42
Explore what politicians can learn from Mark Carney's approach.
“Oh, and by the way, what the hell are you doing and why are you doing it?”
Show all 16 chapters
State of U.S.-Iran Relations
21:42 to 23:40
Delve into the current tensions and policies affecting U.S.-Iran relations.
“So good job, Donald Trump, on making Mark Carney so popular.”
The Impact of Military Actions on Domestic Politics
23:40 to 26:01
Discover how military conflicts influence domestic approval ratings.
“So it hasn't stopped the Stars and Stripes from doing its jobs.”
Media Manipulation and Political Reality
26:01 to 28:00
Examine how the Trump administration manages media narratives and political realities.
“could have lost 15 bases in the Middle East permanently because of this war.”
Economic Challenges Facing Trump and the Republicans
28:00 to 31:40
Explore the economic difficulties for Trump and the Republicans as gas prices rise and public approval declines.
“that's a 37.5 % increase since the beginning of the war.”
The Impact of Immigration Policies on Military Families
31:40 to 34:20
Discuss the story of Joshua Villas and the repercussions of immigration policies on military personnel and their families.
“And that's the case of a guy called Joshua Villas who's been deployed on the USS Abraham Lincoln for nine months.”
Concerns About Military Leadership and Recruitment
34:20 to 36:13
Analyze the challenges facing military recruitment and leadership under current policies and societal attitudes.
“And this is a bright spot on the Hegseth situation.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Anthony Scaramucci:Trump has finally met his match in Mark Carney. The Canadian prime minister is leading the West in standing up to the president, refusing U.S. trade terms and accusing the White House of chaos and division.
0:12Katty Kay:But despite all that, Katty, there's going to be a deal. I think that deal comes very quickly and we will be explaining to you why.
0:20Anthony Scaramucci:And speaking of disastrous wars, the U.S. is trapped in the Iran war and the Pentagon seems to be panicking. Just look at those fired journalists refusing to believe the lies that are coming out of the White House as America entered a new era of military censorship.
0:36Katty Kay:This episode is brought to you by eToro.
0:39Anthony Scaramucci:A tariff, a spending plan, a regulatory change. It can all start just as the first line of a speech, but it sets in motion things that can reach far beyond Washington and unfold for years to come.
0:51Katty Kay:That's right, Katty. Markets move on expectations, not just events. investors are constantly weighing what a decision could mean for company sectors and the wider economy.
1:04Anthony Scaramucci:So eToro is an investing platform where you can access a wide range of markets and explore how political and economic developments could affect them.
1:13Katty Kay:You could also learn from the global community of investors and see how people around the world are interpreting the same news.
1:22Anthony Scaramucci:As with all investing, your capital is at risk. See etoro.com forward slash trip US for full terms.
1:35Anthony Scaramucci:Welcome to The Rest is Politics US. I'm Katty Kay.
1:38Katty Kay:I'm Anthony Scaramucci. Welcome back, Katty Kay. How was your vacation?
1:42Anthony Scaramucci:It was super nice, Anthony. I disappeared the very far north of Scotland. London's been apocalyptically hot for the last couple of months while I've been here. The far north of Scotland was pretty chilly. But I left my phone behind in London, as you know, because you tried to call me very sweetly. But I hadn't got my phone with me. It was so nice. We were in Jacksonville. My wife said that she missed you on the trip. I thought we'd FaceTime you to no avail. I said, hey, she's probably having a great time. Well, good for you that you left your phone at home. It was good. Do you remember, I remember the governor of Utah once saying to the kids, leave your phone behind, get outside and touch the grass.
2:17Anthony Scaramucci:And I feel like that's what I've done for the last week. It's a great piece of advice. I want to talk about this trade war for a second. I believe that Mark Carney has done something very unique and it doesn't come without political risk, but I think he is, and I put this out on Twitter or X over the weekend, I think he is now
2:38Katty Kay:the new leader of the Western world. And hear me out for a second. He is basically telling people, he said it in January, you cannot rely on the Americans anymore. This administration wants to decouple from the West. This administration wants to bully its allies unnecessarily, and a result of which us middle powers have to realign and think about things very differently. And I think him walking away, and I've got some really good color on this because, you know, the enemy within the administration are normal people. There's still some normal people inside MAGA who will feed you information about what Howard Lutnick did, which caused Mark Carney to pull out.
3:24But what are your thoughts on Carney here? And then we can get into the TikTok of what actually happened.
3:30Anthony Scaramucci:So I think you're right that he has done something clearly that no European leader and no British leader has done. They were locked in these trade negotiations that have been going on for weeks. And at the very last minute, as we were kind of ticking down to midnight on Friday, Carney says to his team, okay, we're done. Get out. There is no trade deal to be had here. It is better to walk away from this. And I think that in doing that, he kind of defied some of the rules of the things that other leaders have felt they had to do. I reached out to one senior European diplomat who said to me, the rules of dealing with Trump are flatter, be firm, and think of the future.
4:19Anthony Scaramucci:and Mark Carney ignored the bit about flattery. He just went straight to firm and he has been gearing up for the future by trying to develop other trade partnerships. He's signed 20 trade deals in the last year. So he's trying to position himself and you're right, there could be economic blowback. But I spoke to Christia Friedland, the former deputy prime minister of Canada this morning, and I said, is this the rule book that other Europeans should be following? Is this what America's allies in Mexico, in South Korea, in Japan, and all across the West should be following? And she said, absolutely, it's long overdue.
4:56Anthony Scaramucci:And if they had done this from the beginning, if they had said to President Trump on Liberation Day, we are friends, we want to work together, we can be allies, but we are not taking this, we are not accepting this behavior, then maybe we wouldn't be in the position we're in now where he's able to carry on bullying countries. So it was really interesting hearing that from her. I guess the question for Carney, Anthony, and you understand the economics of this better than me, is what happens if inflation goes up dramatically, unemployment goes up in Canada, and Canadian businesses start failing because of this, right?
5:35Anthony Scaramucci:That must be the risk, isn't it? Yeah, but you don't fight with people that live in the cold weather, okay? Napoleon learned that about the Russians, and the Americans are going to learn that about the Canadians because they're pissed. They have a big hockey stick, and they're prepared to wield it. They have boycotted our whiskey. They boycotted our wine. They're not showing up in Florida. You've knocked$20 billion,$20 billion U.S. dollars off of Canadian tourism, and that's filtering out into other parts of the world. It's just not coming here to the United States. And Mark Carney's a very astute politician.
6:08He knows how pissed they are. But I think what is being missed here a little bit in the reporting, and I'm going to talk about Jameson Greer in a second, because I actually feel bad for Jameson Greer. As belligerent as he is, he had a deal. He had a deal. And then deus ex machina, Howard Lutnick came into the deal and said, well, no, we're going to do this and that and the other thing. And then they tried to attack the culture. and I'm calling it the Quebec clause, Caddy. And so for people to understand what he wanted in the deal was the United States is shipping a good into Canada. Currently, it has to label it with French language and English language when it ships into Canada, which is what goes on for all of Canadian importation.
6:57And Howard Lutnick said, no, we don't want to do that anymore. You know, just trying to force the English language into Canada.
7:05Anthony Scaramucci:Well, they've got a million bottles of wine, as you suggested, sitting in warehouses, waiting to get the labels pulled off them from French into English. That's what they want to do, right? Exactly. And so that was number one. And then the second thing is he pushed very hard on the Steele situation. And Jameson Greer was like, we already have the deal. Trump tweeted out that he had a deal. Now he doesn't have a deal. and it took Trump almost 24 hours to say Canada wants to be a state without a state because he's
7:38Katty Kay:he was out of the loop here.
7:40Anthony Scaramucci:And in terms of what Trump has said initially he just put out that fairly lame truth social post but just in the last few minutes Anthony he has actually posted on Canada again and is threatening 50 % tariffs on all Canadian cars and trucks. On January 1st 2027, he's writing, tariffs on all cars, trucks, both large and small, automotive parts and steel will be increased to 50%. He goes on to say, build in the US and there are zero tariffs. Canada will be treated like a state no longer. So where do you think it goes, Anthony?
8:15Katty Kay:Here's my prediction, Caddy. They're going to get a deal done in the next two weeks because he is getting pressure on him from these Northern states and he's got a midterm election coming and he's going to taco on this situation as he always does.
8:28Anthony Scaramucci:So I agree with you. I think that's the kind of most likely scenario. But what is interesting in that is they go back to the negotiating table, they get a deal, but Carney has had a massive political victory. His skill wasn't in walking away from the trade deal. It was in choosing the moment and picking the French language packaging as the hill that he was prepared to die on. So he gets right up to the almost midnight, pulls out. The Canadians wake up the next morning absolutely furious, totally united. You've got conservatives endorsing what he did. You've got political opponents endorsing what he did.
9:07Anthony Scaramucci:And the Americans seem to have been left flat-footed. The White House had no response except President Trump's truth social post, which was pretty mild-mannered by Trumpian standards. And Sean Duffy, the transport secretary, who goes on the Sunday shows saying, oh, well, Canada hasn't got a military and has high euthanasia rates. And that was the best that the White House could do. I just think the politics of how Carney played this strategically were masterful. That was a masterclass in how to do your timing, get your country rallied behind you, and leave the opposition with no real answer. Well, he had Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, away from him.
9:52Boom, he's together with him. I guess Alberta is the only one that's still a little bit recalcitrant, but Quebec is with him. I mean, the deal didn't die over steel, Caddy. Let's be clear about that. It died over French labels on cereal boxes.
10:07Anthony Scaramucci:Which made it sound like a kind of colonial play by the Americans trying to change Canadian culture. We start a trade war over the bilingual languaging on a cornflakes package. Okay, so you got to think about how ridiculous this is. And also, it's a rounding error. We're talking about$20 billion of trade on goods where there's$280 billion of overall trade. So this is ridiculous. But I want to go to Jameson Greer because this is important. This morning, I listened to his interview. Joe Kernan interviewed him on Squawk Box. and he said it collapsed because Canada wanted more. Okay, Mr. Greer, what more did Canada want?
10:51Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I couldn't say it. He had no idea what more Canada wants. It was actually embarrassing. And Kernan is actually, you know, friendly to the administration. It was literally serving softballs up to Greer and Greer was whiffing on softballs. Okay. But you know, the real question, Kearney didn't ask him this, but sir, you had a deal midweek.
11:14Katty Kay:The president tweeted out about it. When you were going to finalization, you guys flipped the table over on Kearney. You're really not pushing back on that. You're just not telling us what more Kearney wanted. Okay. So, so Katty, let me ask you a question. If you had to trust the words of the following three people, okay. Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trade Representative Ambassador Jameson Greer, or Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, which of those three people would you say is probably telling the most truth?
11:48Anthony Scaramucci:So I'm going with your leader of the free world on this one. For 100 points, I'm going with your leader of the free world. And I think that gets to what everybody is thinking, and I'm recording this from London. But that's the assumption now amongst America's allies is that you don't trust anything that the White House says. So if the White House says, no, it was the Canadians, guess what? America's allies are going to believe that it was the Americans and not the Canadians. And Mark Carney got to that when he said, you know, the American signature is written in pencil. He's echoing something everybody believes because that's what they keep doing.
12:24Anthony Scaramucci:They'll do one thing, say there's a deal and then change the goalpost. This is a familiar pattern. People know this by now. He's done it with Iran. He's done it in the Middle East. He's done it all over Europe. He's not an unfamiliar pattern. And I think what Carney did, the other thing I thought that was so genius politically about what Carney did was he leaned into that disunity. In that press conference, he called out the Americans. He kept saying, look, the Canadian negotiating side was unified. The American side was not unified. So he is doing a divide and conquer right there. And when he was asked, well, was Howard Lucknick unhelpful in the final days of the negotiations before this blew up he just kind of shrugged and laughed i mean he didn't even need to answer it he was very clear right yeah look at the org chart he basically was telling you that they were the keystone cops and the gang that wouldn't shoot straight but but i want to i want to explain something to our viewers and listeners about where we are right now because someone should be asking the question well didn't the supreme court say that these tariffs and the imposition of them are illegal and the answer to that is yes and so what the administration is trying to do now is they're trying to use something
13:33Katty Kay:called Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, it lets the president unilaterally impose tariffs after the USTR, the trade representative, investigates that a foreign country is using unfair or unreasonable trade mechanisms that would burden US commerce. Now, the problem with this is that it's not clear that this is relevant to what's going on with Canada. So Mark Carney is no dummy. Trump says he owns all the cards because he has a bigger economy, but Mark Carney knows that the administration will likely lose this court case in the imposition of the tariffs. But the flip side is Carney has the goods.
14:19Katty Kay:He can impose these tariffs. And just to remind everybody, what are tariffs? They're actually taxes on the Canadian residents if Mark Carney imposes them and their taxes on the Americans if the president imposes them. So it's very hard to say if these tariffs would actually stick in an American court. And of course, there'll be lawsuits related to them. And by the way, I just want to point out to everybody, Mark Carney currently leading the free world understands that caddy.
14:51Anthony Scaramucci:Yeah, he does. Okay. I have another question for you. So I think we're both on the same page. we think that Canada goes back to the table and in a couple of weeks or a month, signs something close to what he had on offer. And in the meantime, by the way, banks this big political win that he's just had. And he's already at 66 % approval ratings, which is massive if you look at the approval ratings of other Western leaders. So he is riding pretty at the moment. He played this super well for his home audience. There is always the risk that the tariffs stand and that he gets penalized in some way.
15:23Anthony Scaramucci:And this, hurts the Canadian economy and they don't manage to reach some kind of a deal and inflation goes up and jobs are lost. Does this now become the beginning of a Don LaMonnaud effect in how other countries start dealing with the United States, with this White House and this administration? Because clearly that's what Chrystia Freeland is thinking. And I spoke to a European official, an EU official last night who said, look, we are all going to be watching this very carefully to see how this pans out. And it hasn't been the way that other countries have dealt with him, but do they now? No.
15:56I mean, the other countries said, hey, let's flatter Donald Trump. Let's say nice things about him and then he'll be conciliatory to us and we'll get our way. And then the Brits actually did that, right? Stormer actually got in there first and he got a 10 % deal.
16:12Katty Kay:And so people said, oh, okay, that's the way to do things.
16:15Anthony Scaramucci:Do the flattery, bring the state visit invitation. Yeah, well, that's what happened. See, Trump wanted that state visit. See, so he's enamored by the king and he's enamored by the monarchy. And so those cards were played very well by the UK government and they got that deal. But that was the wrong signal, Caddy. It was the wrong signal for the rest of the world because I think that was unique to the UK. So I think Carney's got the playbook. And I've said this on this program repeatedly, Carney is the one that handles him the best. He's a good four checker. He gets him into the corner, use that hockey analogy, and knocks him into the boards and doesn't care.
Read the full transcript
16:52Moreover, Carney also knows that the Republicans in the Congress are putting huge heat on the president. They're on the phone saying, hey, you're killing the auto industry in Michigan. You're going to have El Syed win in Michigan because of this.
17:06Anthony Scaramucci:Michigan doesn't like it. Maine doesn't like it. Ohio doesn't like it. Guess what? They are all important states in the midterm elections. Exactly. One more question for you, right? Go ahead. That's the global look. How should other countries respond? Can they respond like that? Can the European Union come back with a bit more balls and stand up to Trump, right? I love my country and I want my country to do well economically. But when my country puts itself in a bullying position, I don't like that. It looks very bad for the American people.
17:37Katty Kay:It's not in the interest of the American people.
17:40Anthony Scaramucci:Doing a great job for the American economy at the moment. No, it's terrible.
17:43Katty Kay:It's just a stupidity and it's unnecessary and it's actually economically illogical. But then again, if I was a KGB agent and I was being handled by the president of Russia and I said, okay, here's what I'd like you to do. I'd like you to bust up the alliances and I would like you to threaten NATO and I'd like you to take your closest ally and I'd like you to have an atom bomb go off between you guys economically, then I would say the guy's doing a great job. Yeah. Now, I'm not saying that he's that. I'm not saying that. This is just a hypothetical, Catecane. This is just a hypothetical. Just a supposition or a possibility.
18:25Katty Kay:Once in a while, we have to talk academically about hypotheticals. We like to role play on the program. What the hell are you doing? What the hell are you doing and why are you doing it, Mr. Trump? You see, Jameson Greer won't go on a tough question session. Kerner didn't ask him the questions. What more do the Canadians want? Blah, blah, blah. Can't really tell you. Oh, and by the way, what the hell are you doing and why are you doing it?
18:51Anthony Scaramucci:Which, by the way, is the other reason you believe Mark Carney, because he went into that press conference armed with very specific things, right? He told us exactly what it was that he couldn't say yes to. And even if you were just listening to those two accounts, which one would you believe? You'd believe the one that actually had the substance and the facts to back it up. Okay, one other question for you. If you are the strategist for Gavin Newsom, John Ossoff, Andy Beshear, J.B. Pritzker, are you telling them to sit up late at night and binge watch videos of Mark Carney? Because it seems to me that there you have somebody who has managed without hyperbole, without being kind of crazy hyperbolic or rude, has managed to push back against Donald Trump in a way that is calm and authoritative and credible.
19:40Anthony Scaramucci:And if I was their advisor, I'd just say, listen, turn on YouTube, sit up late at night with the popcorn, don't take your eyes off this. But you know what the problem is with all those guys? Okay. Mark Carney, 13 years at Goldman Sachs before the Bank of Canada. He was also then ran the Bank of England. He has an economics degree,
20:02Katty Kay:class of 1988 from Harvard. He was the backup goalie on the hockey team, so he's a tough FSOB. He then has a doctorate from Oxford, both in philosophy and economics. So I don't know. These guys don't have this man's skill set. What I would stipulate, if Mark Carney was an American citizen, he would be the de facto front runner of the Democratic Party right now. No question. They'd be like, okay, give him the keys. He'll figure it out. He's not woke. He's practical, like a Mike Bloomberg, where he served on the board there at Bloomberg. Yeah, he's known as a very tough negotiator. But to me, those guys don't have the riz, Caddy Kay.
20:43Katty Kay:Not like this. This is a different type of riz. This is like nerdy, but I'm tougher than steel sort of riz. It's not just pablum. And those politicians that you just mentioned, they're a little bit like Secretary Clinton. They're searching for the answer. Don't search for the answer. Go to first principles. This is how you deal with bullies. This is the first principle. But Katty, I know we got to go to the break, but I question back to you, who has the stomach for a fight? Do the Canadians can hold on longer than the Americans or can the Americans hold on longer than the Canadians?
21:20Anthony Scaramucci:I mean, if you look at the unity, you look at his 66 % approval ratings, and a lot of that comes down to the way he's handled Donald Trump. I mean, this wasn't, you know, the reason that Mark Carney is so popular, he has every, the person he has to thank for that, one DJT sitting in the White House. Yeah. That's why he was elected in the first place and it's why he's Maintained his popularity. So good job, Donald Trump, on making Mark Carney so popular.
21:47Katty Kay:And remember, guys, you don't fight with people that live in cold weather. Remember where the attack came from in the Game of Thrones. It came from the north. Came from the north. It comes from the north. These people, they don't care. They'll eat snow. They don't care.
22:01Anthony Scaramucci:That's why you don't go after Greenland. Okay. We'll take a break. Be right back.
22:13Katty Kay:Welcome back to The Rest of Politics US with me, Anthony Scaramucci and Caddy Kay. Caddy, I don't know, doesn't seem like it's going well, despite defeating Iran 47 times, wiping out their navy, wiping out everything about Iran. Seems like they control the Strait of Hormuz. Not going well. But the Pentagon has decided that they're going to fire the editor-in-chief of Stars and Stripes and also the Middle East reporter. So Eric Slavin and Mark Letterer are gone now from the Pentagon. They said that they're woke, Addy, but you know what they really are? They're good accountants. They were counting the numbers and reporting the numbers.
22:52Katty Kay:And they were also explaining the debacle that was happening on the USS Abraham Lincoln. The Pentagon did not like the truth there, so they jettisoned those two guys.
23:02Anthony Scaramucci:And a third reporter, too. That was like, it's been like a click. And by the way, the Stars and Stripes, just for those who don't know, I have always found it an excellent publication. It is accountable to Congress. It is partly funded by the Pentagon and partly funded by Congress. It has a reach of about 1.4 million people who read it on a regular basis, mostly many of them service members and service members' families. and despite the fact that they've just logged their editor-in-chief, their Middle East reporter and their publisher because the White House doesn't like the way they've been reporting conditions on the USS Lincoln, conditions for troops abroad, the digging that they've been doing.
23:41Anthony Scaramucci:Guess what? Today, the Stars and Stripes is still out with reporting breaking news about how service members posted to Iran and their families have been told to find long-term housing because they've been evacuated from Bahrain and no one knows when they're going back. So it hasn't stopped the Stars and Stripes from doing its jobs. Kudos to them. Well, Caddy, it's economic D-Day time though.
24:02Katty Kay:Scott Bissette is going to come out and he's, we're going to do everything we can to cut off the economic life that is sustaining Iran. Okay. So China last week said, hey, that's not going to solve this crisis in economic warfare, but you've got the danger now is you're going to put the Chinese right in the crosshairs. They happen to be the biggest trading partner for Iran. You're going to put them right in the crosshairs of these US sanctions. So, you know, I see desperation here by the Americans, not strength. And the Iranians are out giving speeches. The foreign minister said, hey, we're middle power.
24:42Katty Kay:We beat up on the Americans. All we had to do is outlast five months of their ammunition. We control the Strait of Hormuz. Oh, did you not know that we're pumping oil and we're shipping it to China by rail? We're trucking it to China. And once in a while, we're letting our own boats get out of the Strait of Hormuz because we control it. And the president, by the way, I don't know. I guess he thinks he's doing well. Reporters push back on him. He calls them fake news, but the numbers don't look good for the president. Okay. He has net negative numbers. You reported that this morning on Morning Joe.
25:16Katty Kay:And I don't know, he's got a 32 % approval rating. So tell me what's going on, Katty, between the reality distortion in the White House and the reality that's going on in the world.
25:26Anthony Scaramucci:So I was talking to David French, who's a great conservative columnist at the New York Times, and he had a really good phrase on this. This was this morning on the show. And he said, this is the personalization of the state. And what they did, they went out of office for four years and they figured out how to rearrange all the mechanisms and organs of government and the state in one man's favor to make Donald Trump look good. And then Donald Trump launches a war, and we spoke about the tariff war in the first half, and then he launches another war, the war against Iran, and it's not going well.
26:00Anthony Scaramucci:You saw that Barry McCaffrey, former general, is saying the US could have lost 15 bases in the Middle East permanently because of this war. They've lost munitions. More people have been hurt than they actually want to report at the Pentagon. They're trying to fiddle the numbers. The economy is not doing well because of the tariffs and the economy is not doing well because of Iran. And so what are they, you know, the kind of Machiavellian thing that they do in the White House is they think, okay, well, it's not going well, but we can't have anyone reporting that it's not going well. So we can't fire the Wall Street Journal reporters.
26:35Anthony Scaramucci:We can't fire the New York Times recorders. We can't fire the BBC reporters, but we do have power over this one outlet. So we are going to use that power wherever we can to make Donald Trump look good. So when Donald Trump is looking bad and is embarrassed because of the conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln, or because of the lack of munitions, or because his plane doesn't work from the Qataris, what do they do? They try to use anything they can, any lever of power that they can, including firing these journalists to try and make Donald Trump look good. I think that's what's happening here. I think you're right.
27:10Anthony Scaramucci:When they do this, it's a sign that things aren't going well because they don't have other resources to make it go better. And so they have to do something to try and pretend it's the sort of emperor has no clothes thing, right? It's not going well, but we can fix the reporting and make it look like it's going well. It's not going well. We're going to withhold the casualty numbers for as long as possible. Turns out we have 757 wounded, 18 people were killed, but let's hold back on that as long as possible. It's not going well militarily. Rather than us saying that, we're now going to have an economic war because we can't figure out a way to do this militarily.
27:49And by the way, our chairman
27:50Katty Kay:of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Cain, doesn't like it. He's been leaking that he wants out. Let's go to gas prices. The average gas price in the U.S. is$4.09 a gallon. that's a 37.5 % increase since the beginning of the war. This is not going well for Trump. It's not going well for the Republicans. And you also, you know this, okay, we have a supply depletion in our strategic reserves. So does Europe. At some point, if we get to the bottom of that, you're going to see$6,$7 worth of oil. So a lot going on here, Caddy, that's not good for the US. and yet the information is bad.
28:33Anthony Scaramucci:I don't see how they think this is going to help them. I mean, it's slightly Orbán-esque, this one. I mean, I don't like the comparisons with Hungary particularly. America's a much bigger, more complicated country, much bigger population, bigger and more robust news outlets. And I think by and large, the news outlets look at just the number of lawsuits he's got against news outlets. The news outlets are doing well in reporting the presidency and the New York Times is doing a great job. But if he thinks that by firing the leadership of the Stars and Stripes, he can hide the reality of the cost of this war, the number of the casualties, the cost in terms of gas prices, I think it's kind of smoking something.
29:16Anthony Scaramucci:And also these authoritarian, quasi kind of authoritarian adjacent moves, it turns out, aren't very popular. Viktor Orban is no longer actually the president of Hungary because people vote over their pockets and they don't like the corruption. And I think that's what you're seeing when those numbers that you cited. Okay, let's quickly run through them. This is the New Economist YouGov poll. Trump's approval rating, here you go, minus 22 in Texas, minus 27 in Michigan, minus 31 in Maine, minus 31 in Georgia. I think if you think that by getting rid of the top leadership of stars and stripes, you can turn around people's reality.
29:55Some say I'm the greatest president since George Washington. Some say that I'm certainly better than Abraham Lincoln.
30:01Anthony Scaramucci:Some people say.
30:02Katty Kay:And these journalists are looking at him like, you're crazy. And then he got hit with these inflation numbers. He's sitting in the Oval Office in the chair by the fireplace, and he got hit with the inflation numbers. He pushed back. He said, gas prices are lower. Mr. President, they're not lower. They're up 37%. Fake news, he said. Fake news, but it's not fake news. It's$1 ,200, Katya.
30:26Anthony Scaramucci:And those people in Texas and Michigan and Maine and Georgia, they know it, which is why the president is so unpopular. Yeah.
30:34Katty Kay:Nobody voted for that line item, okay? It's showing up at the pump and it's showing up in other places in the economy. The president didn't say in November or October of 2024, here, guys, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to blow up the global trade situation. So you're going to pay hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs, which is going to increase prices. I'm going to blow up the Middle East again. So we're going to go into another forever war. I am not going to disclose the Epstein files. And you remember this, when the Epstein files were hot before the war started, I said, nothing, nothing will happen with the Epstein files in this country because I know how this country works.
31:16Katty Kay:And so now you're sitting here and the light item per family caddy is$1 ,200 per family. They didn't sign up for that. The president is trying to pretend that it's not happening. And now look, he's a lucky guy. I'm not saying he isn't. Maybe things will break his way as we get towards the election, but it doesn't feel like it.
31:39Anthony Scaramucci:There's another story around all of this that I think ties into this, and it puts the human face on this, and it ties in all of the immigration stuff too. And that's the case of a guy called Joshua Villas who's been deployed on the USS Abraham Lincoln for nine months. And over the weekend, the Border Patrol detained his father, Luis Manuel Roa, at a traffic stop in Key West, Florida. He was Nicaraguan-born handyman. And his family says that he holds a license, a social security card and a work permit and is waiting for a green card and that he is in the country legally. Joshua, his son, who's been on the USS Lincoln, deployed for nine months and is doing 12-hour shifts, is distraught about this and says, listen, the conditions here are really tough.
32:29Anthony Scaramucci:I have been at sea for nine months fighting for this country and they've picked my dad up at a traffic stop. and they're going to hold him in detention. And the Department of Homeland Security's response to this is having a family member in the military doesn't protect you from deportation. I think this is a story, Anthony, that is going to get picked up because I think it is the human face of all of this, of what is happening with the Pentagon, of what is happening with these soldiers who are being deployed for a long time, of the fact that we're not getting the real information. And it just revives all of the case.
32:59Anthony Scaramucci:And the DHS's response, kind of a heartless response, honestly, when you've got your son who's been deployed fighting for the country for nine months, could come back to cause them problems. Did you pick up on that story? Did you hear it? I was wondering what you thought about that. Not only did I pick up on the story, that's the thing, if I was a political advisor to Newsom or to Pritzker or any of these other guys, Afsoff, I'd be hammering away at this because also you have to remember something. There's something called military parole in place. So what does that basically mean? I'm being recruited and the recruiter says, listen, we're going to help out your spouse.
33:36Katty Kay:We're going to help out your children and parents of active duty members and veterans get legal status from inside the country. Okay. I'm not saying that everybody qualifies for that. There are some visa overstays and you have to do follow the rules, but this man did follow the rules and he has a work permit. He has a driver's license.
33:56Anthony Scaramucci:And his son says that was a big reason he joined the military was to help his dad.
34:00Katty Kay:Because of that. But he has a work permit. He has a driver's license. Okay. And he has a social security card, which means he's making a tax contribution to the social security trust fund. So this is the stuff that really bothers me, Caddy, because this is indiscriminate. This is a very bad thing for them. And this is a bright spot on the Hegseth situation. Hegseth to me has been a terrible secretary of defense. He's been a ridiculous a sycophant, and he's generally a dummy, but he has been helpful on the recruiting side. Recruiting is up, okay? And people are going to be mad at me, but the woke nonsense that the Bidens and the Obamas put in the military, there's no place for that in the American military.
34:45Katty Kay:The minute he stopped doing some of that, now he went overboard. He fired qualified African-Americans and qualified Hispanics. And qualified women. And qualified women. And he said that they were DEI hires. That's absolutely ridiculous. There's some great leaders in the military that actually they got there despite their race or their ethnic background or even their sex. So that stuff was ridiculous. But he has improved the recruiting. This is a mortal blow to the recruit. Okay. So if this story doesn't get resolved quickly for them, this is a mortal blow to the recruiting. But again, this is that Orban stuff that you're talking about.
35:24Katty Kay:Disinformation, lots of hate going on, lots of division. And then how about self-aggrandizement and money-making for the family at the top? I mean, this guy's turned the country. The country's heading for Banana Republic. There are some people listening saying, no, no, you're in a Banana Republic now. I'm in denial about that because I'm 62 years old and I love my country and I have an unconditional love affair with the country, but we have to fix this. This is an emergency situation now for the country if we're going to let these bozos continue to do this. And by the way, Caddy, we have a full car lease to go of Donald Trump.
36:04Katty Kay:Okay. There's 27 months to go of this guy. And I predict he's going to get crazier. He's going to get crazier after the midterms.
36:13Anthony Scaramucci:Okay. Talking of crazy guys, We will be back on Wednesday with our episode for founding members. Lots of you want to know about the human printer, the woman who credits Trump with saving her life and is seemingly always at the president's side. We are going to be asking just how much influence Natalie Harp has and what it's like to be in Trump's inner circle, something, of course, Anthony knows very well. We're also going to be talking about J.D. Vance's Rust Belt rally and whether the latest senator considering a presidential run offers the Democrats some hope. You can hear all of that at the restispoliticsus.com to become a founding member.
36:50I've been called a Jersey Shore cast member. I've been called the Tony Soprano of the Potomac.
36:56Anthony Scaramucci:Oh, that was hard, wasn't it? But I have never been called a human printer, Katty.
37:00Katty Kay:I don't know. That's a psychological blow, Katty.
37:03Anthony Scaramucci:A human printer is tricky. I thought it was being called somebody in Trump's inner circle. That was a blow. But yeah, the human printer would be tough. Okay, you can join us for that episode late this week. And we will be back, of course, on Thursday with more of the day's news. See you then, guys.
37:16Katty Kay:See you guys.
37:21Anthony Scaramucci:Hello, everybody. We got some exciting news for you. That's right, Katty.
37:25Katty Kay:We are holding a summer sale on our founding member subscriptions.
37:29Anthony Scaramucci:From now until the end of August, you can get a year's membership to our show for a third off. I think that's a real bargain.
37:36Katty Kay:Okay, you just need to use the code SUMMER26 when you sign up for an annual membership and you'll unlock ad-free listening. You'll get our bonus episodes and of course, our exclusive mini series. We've got a series covering Marco Rubio, Elon Musk, Trump's health, and so much more, including these very popular caddy, these question and answer sessions.
38:00Anthony Scaramucci:So head to the restispoliticsus.com to claim this discount. We'd love to have have you with us in the club. We'll have plenty to talk about over the next few months, so make sure you don't miss out.
38:10Katty Kay:What more could our listeners want, Caddy K, than this uninterrupted sound of our voices? Maybe not my voice, but certainly your voice, Caddy. Okay, we want to accompany you on all your summer travels. So go to the code SUMMER26, rest is politics, us.com and sign up.
From the publisher
Why did the US-Canada trade talks really collapse? Will other countries follow Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, in standing up to Trump? And, are we entering a new era of military censorship?
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