SCOTUS Nixes Tariffs, Trump Adds New Ones, USA Hockey 1st Gold Since Miracle, And SOTU Predictions

And we're live. Welcome back to the LOOPcast. It's Tom, Erika, and Josh. We have a great show prepared for you today. Snowy. Lots of people in the chat talking about their snow. The winter activity is, of course, fun. If I could do this entire show about the men's U.S. hockey team, and, of course, our ladies, too. We gave them a shout-out. They're pretty good. I would love to see streaming numbers on Miracle, the movie, last night, because as soon as I put the kids down, I said, you know.

Darling, I'm about to show you a movie, and it might change your sports fandom, but... Actually, Brian Birch, now Ambassador to the Vatican, used to cut clips. I told her that beforehand. I was like, Brian used to show us clips of Miracle. He loved the movie. And so, during when we were watching, she was like, did Brian cut this up for you? Like, yeah, Brian cut that one up for us. The great moment speech. So awesome. So, anyway, we have a great show.

We promised we're going to do tariff talk, and now we have an update because I saw Trump was like, we're doing it up, man. We're kicking him up. You say I can't do tariffs. I'm going to do more. Tariff's very Trump-y. In a tariff harder. So, refunds, lots of questions on that. I had Erika, of course, give us all the coverage on that. By the way, I got to jump in here. As a native of Minnesota, of course, even though I live in Michigan now, I got to give my props to Minnesota for Olympic hockey, and obviously, her broke some Minnesota original and won us in 1980.

46 years, it took us to win us the Olympic gold again, but there's a tiny little town. Called War Road, Minnesota, and Northern Minnesota, 2,000 people, that's all they got, and yet... We have never comprised a gold-winning U.S. Olympic hockey men's team without someone from Minnesota. 1960, 1980, and now, 2026. This town delivers. That is impressive. And then, speaking of Minnesota, before we go on, if you guys want to be first of the first, we've got the Tom Across America YouTube channel.

It's up. Here's me and another Minnesota native, Paul Bunyan. Thank you. He's actually a Maine native, but that's all right. All right, well, you know, he resides in Minnesota. Born in Maine, raised in Minnesota. There you go, there you go. And funny enough, this is actually just a normal-sized guy. This is actually how short I am in real life.

Short kings, short kings. So, yeah, Brandon, Minnesota, you know, a cool negative seven in the morning for the day of the competition. Crisp. And here I am, here's Simon and I in action. And then final, of course, you betcha. And a nice you betcha hat from good old Minnesota. So, shout out to Minnesota. If you guys want to be the first, we are actually going to be releasing that episode tomorrow, so go ahead and you can subscribe on the Time Across America YouTube channel.

We'll put it in the chat. We'll put it in the description. You can just look up Time Across America on YouTube. We're still having a hard time coming up because we don't have video up. I'm going to have an intro video ready for you guys today. Hopefully, I'll be uploading. You're building the tees. I like that, though. You're building the tees. You're building the tees. I'm trying. I learned from the best, Josh. You got hook, line, and sink. Oh, I still got it.

Okay, so, yes, and so tariffs we're going to get into. The second, a really crazy situation going on in Mexico right now. A member of the cartel, an infamous, maybe one of the most powerful cartel members, was killed when he was being taken in by the Mexican government. So, the U.S. provided intel. There are now tourists stranded in a lot of parts of Mexico. The footage coming out is really crazy, so we're going to be covering that as well. Good news, of course, then I get to talk about hockey because, man, what an amazing story.

And then, Twilight Zone, as we always have, so. And then, I think we have a little State of the Union prep, Josh. We want to pick your brain on what Trump is going to say, what Trump should say. And my friend has a good idea for something, so... Okay. Yeah. Okay, can't wait. Part of the tease, as you say. Yeah, that's it. Okay, so let's get into it. Erika, what are we looking at? We'll get an Oracle endorsement. We'll see. I don't know.

We're going to find out. Okay, okay. Stay tuned. What are we getting into for tariffs? Stay tuned. We are into tariffs. So, this ruling dropped on Friday, right before the show, and like Tom said, we promised we will deliver. So, on Friday, we got a 6-3 ruling, the alignment of the justices. We'll get into that the president cannot, in fact, impose sweeping tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which I will refer to as AIPA going forward, because how much fun is that to say?

Very fun. Just a reminder, so this was the act that was used to justify the tariffs that imposed back last April, April 2nd, also known as Liberation Day, for 150 countries around the world. And the negotiations... Back and forth, there was moderation, there was some, you know, tariff wars over the summer, but the emergency, the IEPA, was what Trump had used to say, this is justified for me to do without Congress involved.

Back in November, we had the oral arguments for this case. It was not going great for the government side. We were kind of like, eh, this could go either way, and in fact, the Supreme Court has struck down the AYIPA as justification for the tear. Just two seconds. Here we go, Josh. We don't know how it's going to go. I knew this was coming. But it's like, we always knew that the three, you know, communists on the court, how they're going to vote against it.

We knew what they would say. No matter what. Yes, yeah. So, the question, of course, was, what will Roberts, Gorsuch, and Barrett do? And they, in fact, went with the three liberal, quote-unquote, justices, and we got Clarence Thomas, Alito, and Kavanaugh holding the line and saying, in fact, IEPA was fine to use. But we'll get into that in a second. So, bottom line— Sorry, another clarification, Erika. Sorry to do this to you, but it was narrow. IEPA— It's pretty narrow, because it was under the justification that Trump used to utilize IEPA, because he's now throwing on new tariffs.

So, what was the justification? Because I feel like that actually is a legitimate question, part of the story. Right. So, Trump had argued that we were undergoing two national emergencies when he took office. The first being the mass importation of drugs across the U.S. border, and the second being a trade deficit. Which was to the United States detriment and constituted an economic crisis. So, he said, in fact, we are in an emergency, so I am going to use IEPA to authorize these tariffs.

And the court, in fact, said that no, tariffs are exercises of Congress's taxing authority and require clear statutory permission, not broad claims of emergency power. IEPA does not actually use the term tariff in the act. But it says regulatory, so we'll get into that in just a second. So, I want to go through Robert's opinion here. He was the one who wrote it, Chief Justice. Really am interested in keeping the court's, I don't know, public persona.

Clean, whatever have you, you can interpret it as you will. But his opinion stressed that the tariff power is constitutionally vested in Congress, the legislative branch. IEPA, as I said, contains no explicit reference to tariffs or duties, and that courts expect, quote, clear congressional authorization for major economic action, like the Liberation Day tariffs. He rejected the administration's reading of IEPA as Too expansive.

Signaling limits on executive emergency powers when they intersect with Congress's core Article I authority over taxation and commerce. He pointed to the Federalist Papers. He pointed to McCullough v. Maryland as precedents for this, an originalist sort of reading on the thing. He said that the framers gave Congress alone access to the pockets of the people. Tariffs are, quite clearly, taxes. Therefore, The framers never would have intended for the executive branch to have such sweeping power over tariffs. He did make another comment that even if tariffs were mentioned by Congress in the IEPA, we are not currently at war.

And so that, to him, is the reason for his. I know. Yeah, well, let me just go through it. Amy Coney Barrett had a concurrence. But she departed from Gorsuch's concurrence and a little bit from Chief Justice Roberts, but she also went to a very strict reading of Article I powers given to Congress.

She likened her decision to reject the IEPA justification to her opinion in Biden v. Nebraska. That was when SCOTUS struck down Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan. Right. She also likened it to the striking down of OSHA's nationwide COVID vax mandate and striking down the CDC's nationwide eviction moratorium also during COVID. So, she's saying this is in line with those precedents to put a check on the executive power by a more strict interpretation of acts such as, in this case, the AIPA.

So, so much for the opinion. She's right. Yeah, like, to me, that sounded pretty solid coming from Amy. I liked her justification better than the others. Well, I just don't think, I think, you don't have to be at war to exercise emergency powers, though. That's why I think Robert, I'm not, like, disagreeing with Robert's main part, just that one point. I thought that seemed off. Yeah, it seemed like a stranger justification anyway, but I think Amy Coney Barrett drawing those parallels to very recent decisions.

To constrict executive power. That spoke to my heart. I like it when we constrict Biden's power, so why not Trump, too? But anyway, going along, so the dissent, though, and you always want to listen when Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, and, you know, when they agree on something, I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt. The first dissent came, though, from Justice Kavanaugh. He argued that the majority of the court was drawing an argument against him, and he argued that the majority of the court was drawing an argument Artificial distinction.

He said it makes no sense or little sense to allow the president to block imports outright, but forbid imposing tariffs on them. He warned that the ruling would create uncertainty, potentially requiring billions of dollars in refunds. This was one of the government's primary arguments for not doing it. And in Kavanaugh's argument, longstanding statutory practice and historical understanding support broader presidential authority. In regulating imports during national emergencies. So, he said, when you look at the text, you look at the meaning and the precedent, it all points to tariffs being okay under IEPA.

And, Josh, I just kind of... Well, I mean, real quick on Kavanaugh, very rare that he comes down on this different than Roberts. Yeah. Very, very rare that those two split. And to me, the distinction between saying no trade with this country, you know... I would think if the law allows for it. I mean, that's the whole point. If the law doesn't really allow for tariffs, but allows you to cut off a country completely and embargo them, well, then that would be the distinction.

Yeah. That he thinks it's artificial. It's like, well, what does the law say? Mm-hmm. So, I mean, anyway. Yeah. And Josh, if you want some fun reading this week in the evenings, perhaps as a snowy evening read, you should go read Clarence Thomas' dissent, because he just goes through the history of tariffs from 1790. Through Nixon, through Ford. I mean, obviously, he dissented. His conclusions were different from Amy Coney Barrett's, but it's a good read if you want to have a little historical view of the tariff.

But the response coming from— Yeah, so Trump loved this, right? Before we get into that, I want to get into Gorsuch real quick, because I thought this—I mean, I actually like tariffs a lot. As a way to protect domestic industry, to make sure that Chinese isn't flooding us with cheap goods, there's reasons why I like tariffs, actually. So, I'm inclined to like them, but that doesn't mean I think that... Trump's use of it was correct. Does that make sense? I think many people feel that way.

Gorsuch wrote, he goes, for those who think it's important for the nation to impose more tariffs, I understand that today's decision will be disappointing. All I can offer them is that most major decisions affecting the rights and responsibilities of the American people, including the duty to pay taxes and tariffs, are funneled through the legislative process for a reason. Yes, legislating can be hard and take time, and yes, it can be tempting to bypass Congress when some pressing problem arises, but the deliberative nature of the legislative process was the whole point of its design.

Through that process, the nation can tap the combined wisdom of the people's elected representatives, not just that of one faction of one man. There, deliberation tempers impulse, and compromise hammers disagreements into working solutions. And because laws must earn broad support to survive the legislative process, they tend to endure, allowing ordinary people to plan their lives in ways they cannot when the rules shift from day to day. In all, the legislative process helps... For some today, the weight of those virtues is apparent.

For others, it may not seem so obvious, but if history is any guide, the tables will turn, and the day will come when they'll be disappointed by today's results. We'll appreciate the legislative process for the bulwark of liberty that it is. So, I just want to give a shout out to Gorsuch on this one, because you almost never hear anything good said about the legislative process, because in many ways, it's been broken down and has been dysfunctional so much over the last few decades.

But the idea of a legislative body, where you're supposed to incorporate all the different things, like, okay, well, how is this going to affect the people who grow sugar beets in Louisiana, and how is it going to affect the Oh, Josh is gone. He was having a brilliant moment, too. Yeah, and I think, oh, there he is. There he is. Okay. Wait, I would like, no, I think you're making a good point, but would you, so you're saying in principle, you like the...

The highlight of the legislative branch being the third branch of government and being effective and equal in some ways to the traditional executive. Not equal. I do not believe in three co-equal branches of government. I believe, I'm sort of Hamiltonian. I like the energy in the executive, and then you've got the legislative branch, and then the judiciary is very, very tertiary. It should not be, they're not coherent. Okay, so, but I think you would acknowledge that that's not the case right now?

No, of course I agree that that's not the case. Right, and then also that Trump is largely governed through executive order, which we can say is a better force. I mean, there's no doubt on that. So, you're just making it like an in-principle argument that you would like the legislative branch to return to its prior glory. Instead of having it have to go be so executive-focused and so judicial-focused.

I do, and I, you know, what's going to end up happening, I think, because of this, is that Trump is going to find more laws. I mean, here's the thing you don't understand, people don't understand about this. There are laws in the books that are, in some cases, hundreds of years old that you can deploy. Yeah. So, I would not be surprised if, you know, there's a bunch of nerds at the Justice working overtime. Full-time job, looking for loopholes. Yeah, I mean, not loopholes, but like old law.

Right. Over the weekend, we already got that signaling from Scott Besant that... It is not that the tariffs are going away. They are just going to reissue that. I mean, Trump rebranded. Yeah, rebranding, right. Trump was on Friday like, okay, I am going to issue 10% on this section, what was it, section 232, and then he upped it to 15, and then this morning we got more. But, yeah, Trump was not happy. Trump, not thrilled. Yeah, he was tweeting up a storm.

Yeah. Some of them longer than others. I mean, here's the thing that, I mean, we do have to examine, of course, the constitutional issues at bay here, but we also live, you know, in a political environment, in which case.

Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement was given the thumbs up by John Roberts and the Supreme Court, and the chief landmark economic agenda of Donald Trump here is given the thumbs down. Well, you can make the case that both are completely fair by the reading of the Constitution, and that may be true, but that may not be how voters interpret this. I am just saying. Yeah. Yeah. We'll see. Now, we could also get a thing where Trump enlists other tariffs, you know, through other laws, and then the court gives the okay to that later on.

That might be what happens. That seems to be what's happening, and I guess the big question, Erika, I'm not sure how much you've looked into it, is the refund question, because we now have billions of dollars in the Treasury Department that, I guess, can't be kept by the Treasury Department. It has to be sent back. How would it get sent back? Who would it get sent back to? Like, what would that even look like? It all, it's all a big question mark at the moment, and one of Trump's big complaints at his press conference on Friday was that the court gave no indication, they didn't even really address the issue of what would- Why would he complain?

I don't know, because now he can decide, and then- Yes, it would be worse if he said, no, you have to give the money back. That would be terrible. That would be terrible. That would be terrible, but he used it as a complaint. I know, I know. But what will happen is they will end up in court for the rest of his presidency. This will all be litigated in court. We already have firms that, prior to the ruling, have filed. We have hundreds of tariff refund cases since last April.

We've got J.Crew, Illumina, Dole, Diageo, Costco, Essilor, Luxottica, Revlon. I use Revlon, so yeah, I'm invested. No, it's okay. But a lot of these have already entered the court system, and they're just going to be litigated to up the wazoo. There's also some smaller firms, and of course, there's going to be a rushed trial. You know how to get rid of the litigation on that?

Send it out? What's wrong? That's right. Send it to the American people. Send it to the head of the IRS and say, cut a check to every American for $2,000 by Friday. Yeah. Boom. And be done with it. It would help with the midterms, too.

If people remember, but yeah. Spend it. Spend it, then you don't have it. But that's part of, that's definitely a big question mark, Tom, and not a lot of answers there at the moment. But as you said, there's probably some nerds with full-time jobs on how to, they just got hired. Well, even if you get new tariffs, even if you get new tariffs and those are justified, you still have the question about the money that was brought in from something that was, the court ruled unconstitutional.

And so, he should still kick this money out. Get it out. Yeah, there's controversy right now because Howard Lutnick's sons took over his trading firm or whatever, and they put out something. I don't know if it's like an options. I don't even really understand. I'm not in the mind space to be able to make money off of tariff refunds, but- There's so much controversy. Inconclusive. Inconclusive, but sketchy. But that's part of the thing here.

This is so annoying about the finance people. It's like they found a way to somehow make money off of the theoretical option of it being ruled unconstitutional, and then you have to return it, but they would make money potentially on returning it. It's just like, how are you even in the mind space of being able to do that? Okay, so a lot of inconclusive there, but if we move on, we have a full show. We have, wow, cartel. A lot going on there.

Mexican army killed the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. I'll be referring to them as the JNGC. So, Al Mencho, as he is known, on Sunday, decapitating what had become Mexico's most powerful drug cartel and thrusting swaths of the nation into chaos. I have some of the footage coming out. It's really, I mean, shocking stuff. It occurred on Sunday, February 22nd, during a Mexican army operation about two hours southwest of Guadalajara. The operation aimed just to capture him. The U.S.

government actually had a $15 million bounty on his head, I think, to have him brought in alive. But he was wounded in a shootout with the troops and died en route to Mexico City for medical treatment. He was 59 years old. He founded and led the CJNG around 2009. The cartel has been a major player in trafficking fentanyl, meth, cocaine, and other drugs into the United States. Highly aggressive, using tactics like drone explosives, attacks on military assets, and extreme violence. The U.S.

designated the CJNG a foreign terrorist organization in 2025 and offered a $15 million reward as a set-first capture. He faced multiple U.S. indictments for drug trafficking and firearms offenses. In the raid, four CJNG members were killed at the scene. Others were wounded or arrested, and items seized included armored vehicles, rocket launchers, and weapons. Three Mexican soldiers were wounded. The U.S. provided intelligence support for the operation. There was a lot floating around, like, was the U.S. involved with this? I'll just read straight from what the press secretary had to say.

The U.S. provided intelligence support for the Mexican government in order to assist with an operation in Talpalpa, Jalisco, Mexico, in which... Al Mencho, an infamous drug lord and leader within the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, was eliminated. He was a top target for the Mexican and United States government as one of the top traffickers of fentanyl into our homeland. Last year, President Trump rightfully designated the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as a foreign terrorist organization because that's exactly what it is. In this operation, three additional cartel members were killed, three were wounded, and two were arrested.

President Trump has been very clear the United States will ensure narco-terrorists sending deadly drugs To our homeland, our force to face the wrath of justice they have long deserved. The Trump administration also commends and thanks Mexican military for their cooperation and successful execution of this operation. A little read between the lines based on what I was reading up on.

There's been a lot of pressure on the Mexican government to address the cartel problem with serious force. There's been a lot of allegations that they're somewhat cozy, shall I say, with a lot of the cartels. And so, the Trump administration was basically threatening, hey, I've even seen reports of potentially sending Delta Force into Mexico to do some targeted operations and just take out cartel members. And they're like, hey, we're going to do this unless you take this seriously. So, I'm seeing a lot of the language coming from the United States now, the press secretary of.

We commend Mexico. Good job, Mexico. This is what we're looking for, because clearly, the problem has not been taken care of. Now, of course, this leads to lots of tests. In other words, more of this good. More of this good, and I was looking into the background on this guy. So, he was born in 1966 in a small town in Mexico, grew up in poverty, crossed into the U.S. illegally as a teenager, lived in San Francisco, arrested at 19 for stolen property and carrying a loaded gun.

Deported to Mexico, came back to the U.S. again, arrested in 1992 on drug charges, pled guilty, spent three years in a federal U.S. prison, deported back to Mexico, joined the local police, became an avocado farmer on the side, then joined the Millennial Cartel, worked under drug lord Nacho Coronel. Coronel gets killed in 2010. El Mencho sees the opening, co-founds the Jalisco New Generation Cartel around 2007-2009, initially worked under the Sonola Cartel. Then split off and went to war with them, built CJNG into the fastest growing cartel in Mexico.

DEA called them as powerful as the Sonola cartel, present in all 50 U.S. states, trafficking fentanyl, meth, cocaine, heroin, earning billions, pioneered using drones to drop explosives, planted landmines, shot down military helicopters. In 2020, his cartel tried to assassinate Mexico City's police chief with grenades and rifles in broad daylight. 15 million U.S. bounty on his head. No recent photos of him have existed for years.

Nobody could find him. His brother, Tony Montana, arrested in 2022. His son-in-law faked his own death to hide in California. Al Mencho helped cover it up. Trump administration designates him as a foreign terrorist organization. So, all of that before we designate him as a... Crazy, man. Just so crazy. Should have stuck to avocado farming.

No, actually, I couldn't help but kind of giggle a little bit, because I was thinking to myself, how would the Washington Post headline look? Avocado farmer, religious zealot. Well, there was actually, many people are going back to headlines of, like, Canadians saying that Mexico is safer for... Canada. So, Canada was like, Mexico is safer for Canadians than the United States is. And then, I mean, we're clearly seeing, unfortunately, some of the fallout of that. I mean, this is really actually scary footage.

So, right after this happened. Over 250 roadblocks have been set up with burned-out vehicles in at least 20 states and Mexico. Attacks included torching cars, buses, convenience stores, supermarkets, other businesses, clashes with security forces, and targeted killings. If you want to take a look, I mean, some of this footage is, like, shocking. It's just right outside of a lot of hotel balconies. They're burning down at Costco and Puerto Vallarta.

Here's footage of that. Whoa, going after a Costco. Yeah, going after Costco. Come on, now. Here's a panoramic view. Like, if you take a look at this, this is a panoramic from a hotel. I mean, that's a lot of smoke.

I gotta say, like, to me, vacationing in Mexico, you know, or Puerto Rico, or whatever, and I'm like, I'd rather just be... Puerto Rico's America, but... I know that, but... My friend, my brother went to Puerto Rico and they lost electricity, you know, like, I don't understand. Like, if you want warm weather, like, just be in the Gulf of America, bro. Stay in Texas or Florida or somewhere like that. So, the crazy thing, there's footage of chaos at the Puerto Vallarta airport that the cartel actually came in and took over the airport so that tourists couldn't leave.

Um, really, really scary stuff. Um, yeah. Not good. Not good. Not good at all. So, the U.S. State Department has urged citizens in effective states to shelter in place. Canada advised a low profile in Jalisco and sheltering in some areas.

Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum called for calm and praised the operation the White House commended Mexico's efforts, as I said. But for context, I've seen one of the biggest blows against the Mexican cartels in years compared to El Chapo's recapture a decade ago. But unfortunately, as we're seeing, more instability, retaliation, and then, of course, now other cartels are seeing an opportunity here, Sonola cartel in particular, to capture on this weakness. I mean, they just cut the head off of a rival cartel.

In my mind. I would prefer us not to go to war with Iran, and I am not saying I would rather go to war with Mexico. I am not saying that they are still an ally, but I would really love it if we could get the Mexican government to clamp down on this stuff in a more significant way. We just did. I mean, this is the most I have ever seen in my entire life.

So, I mean, I guess no one, firstly, no one said that this would not cause arrests. Everyone knew. I mean, the grip that they have on Mexican society is clearly strong. It's terrifying to see it come out in the open like that. But I'm glad that we're willing to partner with the Mexican government and try to do something about it. Yeah. It's crazy to see, like, a lot of people are sharing footage of Mexican cartel, like, what they share out of themselves, and they have armored vehicles.

Like, they said what was taken in this were rocket launchers, armored vehicles. You know, heavy weaponry, heavy, heavy, like stuff that you would just not be able to get by yourself. I don't know where it comes from. There's like lots of allegations of like the CIA somewhat being involved, or maybe they take over what we give to the Mexicans. I don't know, but it's crazy how heavily armored they are. I don't even know how that happens, but yeah, pray for Mexico.

The cartel needs to be rooted out and demilitarized and remove root and branch. Yeah, let me share. I saw a... Actually, Catholic priests in Jalisco climbed up on their church roof and brought the monstrance. Yeah, that was intense. Pretty amazing stuff, yeah. Let me see if I share that. It's like, this is just kind of a part of life down there.

Yeah, here's the bells. Yeah, he's blessing the city with the monstrance. He's holding it up. Crazy. Yeah. Definitely pray for our lady for a little bit for the people of Mexico. Definitely. All right, bring me up. What do we got? Good news. All right. Well, one of my good news is going to go with the hockey, I think. But then one is just the bones of St. Francis are now on display in Assisi for the first time in history.

They exhumed the bones because that is what Catholics do. We are like, how are we going to celebrate 800 years since the life? I know. We'll dig up his bones and put them under a glass case, and you can go look at them now. Look at that. Those are the bones of Francis of Assisi just happening right there. So, again, this is just my little good news. We're Catholic. We do weird things. Like, look at bones to celebrate our saints. I love it.

Someone clip that. Someone clip that. We're Catholics. We do weird things. That would apply to quite a bit. That is true. So, if you are in Assisi this year, lucky you. Go check it out. Wow. Sick. So cool. 800 years. That is a long time.

Right. Yeah. And, yeah, yours is going to be U.S. hockey related. Okay, mine is hockey related. This is like Erika's spin on U.S. hockey. How much I love this, but apparently, so someone asked Jack Hughes what they were going to bring to the Olympics and all that, so it turns out that Jack Hughes, who made the winning shot, he's a big reader, and in October, he and his brother announced the launch of their Hughes Brothers Pucks and Pages program, so he and Luke.

Ben Luke had a program to get kids to read better literature, and the book he brought to the games in his bag, his duffel, is The Odyssey, Homer's Odyssey. Do you think it was the new version, the new version put out by the feminist author? Oh, gosh, I hope not. Probably not. No, not Jack. No, that's like, hockey bros don't read The Feminist Odyssey. Oh, man. Are you excited for the, do you think the Christopher Nolan one is going to be good, Erika, or are you going to be able to handle it?

I mean... I hope so. I like Matt Damon. He seems a little old for the role, but I guess Odysseus would have been old. Anne Hathaway, though, I just, I don't enjoy, I think of Devil Wears Prada when I see Anne Hathaway. I don't think of Penelope. You don't think of Batman?

Oh, a Catwoman thing? Oh, gosh, no, I don't. I don't think of that. Or, no, I think of Fontaine from Les Mis. Oh, gosh, that was, yeah, that was intense. She was good. She was good. Maybe her most memorable. I don't know if I've seen that many movies with her at all. I mean, it's largely forgettable. Les Mis was, I mean, they did the movie version of that, and I saw it, but typically you would see, like, the stage play. Josh, you don't strike me as a stage play guy.

The musical guy? Yeah. I pretty much violently hate musicals. All right, Josh, do you have any good news? I do like one musical. Fiddler on the Roof. I did like that one. Even though the daughters all rebel and abandon their family. See, this is the funny thing. This is so I can learn a little bit of insight into my life. My own mother loves musicals, and she loved Fiddler on the Roof for the exact reason that she agreed with all the kids.

And dad was like, hey, don't you get it? And I'm like, no, I'm rooting for the dad. I'm feeling, oh my gosh, this is terrible. It's a tragedy. You're marrying someone out of the faith. You're marrying a communist.

It's like watching King Lear. It's terrible. My mom and I like it for the exact opposite reasons, you know, because she's, you know, a radical. God bless her. Okay. Good news. Things that you actually like, as opposed to things that you hate. Well, I'm going to let you take care of your good news. Yes, dude, thank you. Come back. Come back. I mean, come on, USA Hockey.

First gold for the U.S. men's hockey team in 46 years, to the day. To America's Miracle on Ice, upset over the Soviet Union. And on George Washington's birthday. And on G-Dub's birthday. Very fun. I mean... It doesn't get better. It doesn't get better than this. It doesn't get better than this. So, I went and watched the movie. Afterwards, of course, I was talking to my wife about this. It's like the meme of the guy, like, arm around a girl, clearly not paying attention.

I'm like, so you see, the Soviets weren't allowed in the NHL at the time, so that's why this rivalry was actually extra special, and there's all this controversy because they were invading Afghanistan at the time, so I was giving her, like, way more detail than she actually wanted. God bless her. And then I was talking about the... Yeah, like the sign in the Raptors, get the puck out of Afghanistan. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you see... Josh, have you heard of the Soviet 5?

I mean, from the original Red Machine team? That's right. That's right. I don't know. I couldn't tell their names, but, I mean, the thing is, like, that... Sergei Fedorov's team in 1980 was so good. They had the best goalie on planet Earth, and then when they stud them out for the backup, he was the second best goalie on the planet. Yep, and then they look over at the bench, and it's like, hey, they just sat down the best goalie in the world, and then you get that moment with the team, like, yeah, we got him.

It's awesome, dude. But yeah, anyway, the Russian Five, actually kind of really tragic. They were the first starting five of Russians to win a Stanley Cup, and they won it for the Red Wings. So, we look on that kind of affectionately, but to kind of point out the point to my wife, I'm like, that's how deep and mysterious the Russians were to us. I mean, they were the best team in the world for over a decade, and we almost didn't even understand them because they weren't playing in the NHL.

They would come over every once in a while and kick our butts. Like, they would beat the all-star team routinely, and it was like, who are these mysterious ice people that are so good at hockey? So, anyway, flash forward to now. That was their job. They were in the Army, and all they did all day was hockey. Yeah. They were a hardened people, still are. So, yeah, here's the boy, Jack Hughes. I mean, hang this picture. Doesn't get any more hockey than this, losing a tooth, chipping a tooth.

En route to winning, the Olympics are so annoying about footage, but basically, during the game, he had a high stick come up and hit him in the face hard, clearly, because it knocked out his tooth, and he ended up coming back and scoring the winning goal in overtime, golden goal, ended the game. Of course, everyone runs out there, but here is a hilarious line from him on that. I'm lucky I'm from the best country in the world, and we've got great dentists there, too.

So, I'm lucky I'm American, and they're going to fix me right up. Yeah, I'm from the best country in the world. Are you kidding me? He should just go to every bar in America and just show us, you know, Mr. Truth. He's never going to pay for another beer in his life. Oh, never, never. He's like, yeah, they'll fix me right up. It's very hockey.

Scored the winning goal. Super awesome. Of course, everyone draped in flags. So, I've got to give a shout-out to the goalie, too, Connor Hellebuck. Unbelievable. A Michigander, shout out to Michigan, saved 41 shots in an all-time great performance. He had this insane, I think I have a clip of the block. I don't know if we can show the clip though, right? No, just the picture. Here's how close this puck was. It only goes right here in the blue area. I'm going to show it on the screen and not just tell you about it.

So, here it is. And this doesn't even do it justice, because he stuck his stick out at the last second, and here's Jonathan Taylor. And it caught the bottom half of the stick. And it shot out to the right and just missed. Hard right turn, but missed the pipe. Yeah. If this goes in, it's game over. We don't go to overtime, and we're done. 99 times out of 100, that guy makes that, that Canadian makes that goal. Oh, yeah. I mean, Canada outshot us the whole game.

I mean, we scored pretty quickly. Pretty awesome move. I can't show, but, and then you get from the White House. Well, Trump called in, of course, and he's like, that was an all right performance from the goalie. I've seen better, and everyone's laughing. Here's the bald eagle. Over the Goose, and then it's, of course, a quote tweet on, you can't take our country, and you can't take our game, from Justin Trudeau, who is both simultaneously not the Prime Minister right now, and not the recipient of the gold medal.

Yeah, tell you what, Justin, you can take Katy Perry and win the gold medal. That's a fine trade. I'm good. So, there's so many cool stories in this game, too, because... I mean, how about they give the silver medal to the Canadians, and they give them like a... The little plushie doll? The little stoat. And here's the stoat. What is this? Like, that's the most emasculating thing I could ever imagine. That was tough. And you don't want to be rude to someone giving you a gift.

You're like, what the heck is this? Thanks. That was tough, and I felt extra bad for Canada because they lose, and they're all sitting on the bench looking sad, and they have to wait around. They can't go to the locker room because the medal ceremony is right after. So, they just had to sit and watch. The United States have the time of their lives, just throwing gloves, hugging each other. Anyway, another story I want to bring up and pray for the repose of his soul, Johnny Goudreau.

Johnny Hockey, as he's known, had one of the most, it's really hard to even fathom, but like him and his brother, they're big-time hockey players, really beloved. Him and his brother were on a bike ride before his sister's wedding and got struck by a drunk driver and died. Both the brothers died the night before, or maybe even the morning of the wedding, and just hard to even imagine what that put you in, and he had a three-year-old daughter, Noah, and a two-year-old son, Johnny Jr.

And this is just like one of those, this is just so bigger than sports, but of course, they brought out the jersey, and they brought out the daughter on the ice. Family was there. Family, baby. Hockey's family. I cried. She was so awesome. I cried. And then here's the picture they have. They got Johnny Jr. in it over here. Johnny Jr. and Noah. Johnny Jr. was not impressed. Noah was, like, smiling for the camera. They have, like, six medals for cross-country, you know, skiing, and they only have one medal for hockey.

But, like, come on, man. Like, I would trade seven golds and something else for a gold in hockey. Oh, yeah. And so, yeah, we got 12 gold medals this year. That is the United States' best of all time, so shout out to the Olympians.

And then this is maybe my favorite thing I saw from the whole thing. Someone dressed up as Herb Brooks at a Philly bar. Come on. And gave the speech. Herb, here tonight. One game. One overtime. If we play them ten times, they might win nine. But not this game. Not tonight.

Tonight, we skate with them. Tonight, we stay with them, and we shut them down because we can. That is awesome. Even the commitment to the bit, he's got the pants, too. I mean, it's good, although he still sounded too East Coast. He needed to dial up the Minnesota accent. The Minnesota, yeah. But I'll forgive it. I'll forgive it. Maybe we can have, you know how we have like Civil War reenactors and Revolutionary War reenactments? Now we can have like American hockey reenactments, complete with her Brooks speech.

That would be great. Go for it. Yeah, and I will just say as well, final closing thoughts on this. So, I watched Miracle right after, and of course, thinking about it, and they really dialed up the fact that we were in the Cold War at the time, and the coach was protecting the players, because they were just college kids, from having to speak on that. And they kind of ramped it up to the end, where it's like, this is more than the game.

Like, even Herb himself was trying to downplay it. He's like, it's not really up to you. This is about more than the game. This is about your country. And I loved watching the players afterwards, draped in the flags, talking about how much they love the country, how happy they were to represent the country, and because it is a win for everyone. You know, there's like a lot of crazy things going on right now, but especially now is as good a time as ever to like.

For national pride, and we can come together and accomplish something great. The girl who won the figure skating medal, she got the gold, and a lot of people were like, yeah, this is awesome, even conservatives, and the liberals were like, you know she's totally woke and totally left-wing. I'm like, that's fine. I don't care. Sports are unifying, and she said great things, and she said she loved her country. Why wouldn't I cheer for her? Like, that's the whole point. Like, we'd cheer together, and the left thinks politics should trump.

Everything. That's where they're a little diseased. Yeah. It makes life less fun. And just quick pause on good news. Cash Patel was partying with the team afterwards. I was hoping we could get through this without Cash. I ended good news. Cash Patel. If everyone was like, and the funny thing about it, because he was drinking beer and kind of being juvenile, which is like, it's fine. You want to have fun, fine. But, if he was doing a great job, no one would care about this.

Because he's doing a terrible job, the president just sent an attempt on his life, Mexico's on fire, and the Epstein Files are still not out. It's like, really, dog? Maybe we could have skipped out on the private jet ride out to Milan to go party with the boys. I'm glad he had a good time, but I just have to say it.

I didn't love seeing my FBI director doing that. That's all I've got to say. I'll end on that. Life choices. Let's talk about it. Life choices. There you go. All right, State of the Union, we've got a big address coming up. Ooh, tomorrow night. Tomorrow night. After you watch Tom Across America, you can go watch Trump Address America.

What's the polymarking on how long it'll be? I'm taking the over. Yep, he's going to break his own record. Because he's going to bring the hockey boys. He will, which is awesome. I'm not going to lie, it's awesome, and I'm happy that they'll be there.

Let's see, yeah, what's the cow shoe of the polymarket on that? I'll take a look, but Josh, what should Trump say? Okay, you know what, let's say this. What do you think Trump will say at the State of the Union? What do you think Trump should say at the State of the Union? Well, he's certainly going to brag about how the border has been shut down.

And he's going to talk about how, you know, that problem has been solved in a major way, and that we're, you know, and he's going to talk about all the many criminals. He'll probably go into details with some of the criminals he's released and the havoc that they've raised, you know, impacted on Americans. You know, so-and-so murderer, so-and-so rapist. I've brought, you know, missing children. This many missing children have been returned because of this. So, I think he's going to do all that.

So, that is going to touch on not just the security of the southern border, but the internal enforcement to try to win back that argument. And he is going to brag about Tom Holman, and maybe not talk about how he made this massive course correction, but signal that things are under control and things are good. So, I think he will talk about that. I think he will also talk about...

I hope he does like how the Vice President mentioned when I put on that clip for the last episode where, you know, we dug ourselves into a big hole over the last four years under the Biden administration, and now we're trying to dig ourselves out of this hole, and wages are up, and it's taken a while to get there, but things are definitely improving. So, I'm surely going to, you know, talk about that. Like, stock market's going great, wages are up, all that kind of stuff, but there's still going to be, okay, but what's next?

Because the thing is, all people are like this, all humor is like this, like, okay, what have you done for me lately? You know, like, they want to know what is the next thing you're going to do. And so, this is where we need some initiatives. We need some policies, some plans that President Trump is going to call on the Congress to enact this summer as we get another reconciliation bill. Something that can be done that will be good. Like, last year, we...

We increased the child tax credit. We renewed the Trump tax cuts for 2017, and we did a federal school choice plan. That is good, but we need something else, and my good friend Terry Schilling has a plan he recommended, and he has mentioned it to the Trump team, and it is going to get the official Oracle endorsement today. Wow.

So, Terry Schilling's plan... We should make stickers. Yeah. Oracle endorsed. His idea is... I mean, what Terry identified, what's going on right now in housing, is very accurate. We have a lot of baby boomers who aren't selling. They're at like 3%. They're starting to a little bit over the last six months, but still. A lot of them are not, and they locked in these great rates. I mean, I don't blame them for doing so. I get it. They locked in these interest rates at like 3% or something like that.

They're not selling, and the young aren't able to afford to buy it just yet, and so we're looking at a very big problem here, where the average age of a person buying a home is going way north. Yeah, it's over 35 now, right? It's over 40. It's crazy, over 40.

What Terry's plan was, what if we had home savings accounts where you would allow people to stash away $5,000 or marry couples $10,000 per year? Pre-tax into an account, like a health savings account, except it would be for a home, and it could grow in there. It could grow tax-free, so you could put in some sort of a mutual fund or something like that, indexed to the S&P 500 or something like that, and then that money could then be used for a down payment or to pay down the principal of a starter home, and I think this is a great idea.

Now, I will say this, it is not a fix-all. We still need to work on... So, reducing regulations. Donald Trump has done some of that with regards to, you know, but we need legislation, ultimately. We do need Congress. Congress came up with some things, you know, a little bit on that. We need more of it. We need more cost-saving standardizations, regulations to make things more efficient, to make the building of houses to be cheaper. So, we need to work on the cost side, that side of it.

The equation. Not just always juice, you know, the demand side here, but. I think this is a good first step. I mean, why would we make tax savings accounts for healthcare and then not for housing? And in fact, actually, we already kind of already a little bit. So, if you notice your 401k, you can actually use $10,000 of that towards the purchase of a new home, but that's it, just $10,000. This would be a whole new separate account, and you could put five in or 10k in if you're a married couple every year and build it up to the point where you might be able to make a hefty.

Down payment. So, it is something. We will see. Interesting. I love it. Erika, are you looking forward to the counter-messaging? Yeah, right. Are you going to live out on this one? Yeah, so, I mean, if you remember last year, we had the Democrats as Al Green, like, stood up in the middle of the speech to Congress and, like, shook his cane, and all the Democrats had, like, little paddles with things like, Elon Musk is horrible, or something like that, little messages.

The women were white because of the war on women. So, the Democrats, they have to come up with, well, how are we going to make ourselves obnoxious this year? It seems like the messaging is, we shouldn't interrupt as much, because maybe it was a bad look for us. Oh, the paddles. I forgot about the paddles. Remember the paddles? Yeah, it was like the little messages, like no ice and all that. Yeah, so this year, they're going to hold moveon.org and a couple of other organizations are holding a counter-messaging program, alternative programming, People's State of the Union.

Ah, the People's State of the Union. The People's. Not the Trump State of the Union, because we are having a crisis. It is going to be on the National Mall. If anyone is down in D.C., you want to go check it out, near the Capitol Building, and multiple Democratic senators and congressmen. Your senator will be there, Erika? Yeah, Chris Murphy, my guy. He lives right up the hill, right over there.

Nice. Yeah, Chris Murphy said he was not there last year either, but now he has something to actually go to, I guess. So, he just, yeah. Wait, if Joy Reid is there, I'm there. Joy Reid is posting. They really pulled out the... Oh, okay. Yeah, so the Democrats are clearly moderating. They're going for the Ezra Klein abundance narrative, being sarcastic. No. No, they are going all in on their most progressive base for this counter-programming, and it's just kind of a snapshot of where we are as a country right now.

You know, there was a time, Josh. If I'm wrong, tell me. When, you know, you didn't like the president, but maybe, but people who were politically interested would watch the State of the Union to, like, hear the guy talk. Like, my parents watched Bill Clinton's State of the Union, mostly. And so, like, but now, if you don't like President Trump, you have to go to the counter program, and you're not even going to, like, listen to what he has to say.

It's pathetic and sad, but for those who care. I have the, for, I mean, now down to the important stuff, how we can make some money, how long the State of the Union will be on power. Okay, all right, let's do that. So, I'll have you take a guess. Here are your options. Under 60 minutes, 60 to 70 minutes, 70 to 80 minutes, 80 to 90 minutes, 90 minutes, 100 plus minutes. One is, has... The majority of percentage of people voting that will be that long.

Any guesses? I mean, the over-under is 100, really. Over 100. I don't know why we're doing these. 100 plus. Over 100. 40% at 100 plus right now. Yeah. Unbelievable. Well, last year, he broke the record. Again, I'm telling you, do not bet on this, by the way. I'm saying that totally sarcastically. I think that's degenerate. Do not do that, but that's where we're looking. No gambling. Right now. Yeah.

So, I think it'll be long. I think it'll probably have lots of spectacles. The only part I'm probably looking forward to is the hockey team. That also just took me back to Joe Biden. Could you imagine Joe Biden? Sorry, I don't know if this is mean, but I was imagining Joe Biden calling the U.S. hockey team and being like, Congrats on winning that soccer championship, guys. You know what I mean? I'm just trying to... And then also, his State of the Union, I remember there was that...

Everyone was just basically wondering, is he going to get through it, which was kind of a crazy part for the country. It was so beautiful. And then Marjorie Taylor Greene wore the Trump hat, and they kind of had a moment where they looked at each other, and both their faces were kind of like, whoa. It was always kind of a circus. I don't... I imagine this one will be a circus as well. I have no doubts.

I don't know about being a circus, but we will watch and report back. Twilight Zone, Erika, what do you got? Yeah, so just to briefly mention that there was a third assassination attempt on President Trump over the weekend, but you wouldn't know it to look at the headlines on mainstream media. I think National Review had a headline about it. I saw, obviously, Zeal covered it, but yeah, apparently assassination attempts are just normal. So, a man named Austin Tucker Martin, 21 years old, he was shot and killed by the Secret Service after he entered Mar-a-Lago.

At like 1.30 in the morning on Sunday, he appeared to have a shotgun and a can of fuel. He was confronted by the Secret Service, and instead of dropping his weapon, he raised it in like, I'm going to shoot gesture, and so they took him out.

So, pray for the repose of his soul. But also, like... People are still trying to assassinate the president. We had the near-miss at J.D. Vance's attempting to enter his home. The president and the first lady were not there, just like J.D. Vance was not at his home at the time the assassin tried to enter.

But this is ongoing. It's not gone. But again, you wouldn't know it to look around. Okay, but my actual Twilight Zone, Gavin Newsom. He's still making the rounds, and yeah, wow. Oh, boy. He had... Oh, boy. This is genuinely one of the craziest.

How does he keep doing it? It's stunning every time, and I followed this guy for a very long time. We have followed him for a long time. It's just every time he opens his mouth, it gets crazier. I'll just play it. Please don't even set it up. It's just so unbelievable.

I'm not, you know, I'm not trying to impress you. I'm just trying to impress upon you. I'm like you. I'm no better than you. You know, I'm a 960 SAT guy, and you know, and I'm not trying to offend anyone, you know, trying to act all there if you got 940, but literally a 960 SAT guy. I cannot, you've never seen me read a speech because I cannot read a speech.

Who is you, Erika? That is an assemblage of Black men and women in California. So, this was a Black History Month event that he spoke at. So, he's speaking specifically to a crowd of Black Americans, slowly, so they can understand him, apparently.

He's just like them. I'm just like you. I can't read. I can't read. Oh, my gosh. I'm a nice D.S.A.T. guy. That is the craziest thing you've ever seen. I've been waiting way for this. Give him the best possible presentation. All right, give him, please, give him a charitable. What he means by he can't read is he's dyslexic. You know, I don't think he's necessarily saying that everyone in the audience can't read. He's illiterate. Okay, thank you for that. Thank you for that.

Although, on Twitter, he was like, I think someone said that he couldn't read graphs, and then he's like, yeah, wow, you're stooping so low because I have dyslexia. It's like. No, no, no, no. Illiterate doesn't mean it. Ted Cruz called him historically illiterate, and he goes, oh, making fun of me for being dyslexic. He's like, I didn't know you were, and with a different concept altogether, what are you getting at here? Yeah, historical illiteracy. You're dumb.

Dyslexia. Dude, it's just every time he pops on my screen. Yeah. Crazy. I think dyslexia is Gavin Newsom's only victim status in the intersectionality war, so he's got to hold it out there all the time. True. Otherwise, he's pretty privileged. Yeah, and then we got this. Super wealthy kid. Yeah, super wealthy. Yeah. Getty Museum, the Getty family. His dad was the lawyer for them. Yeah, so CNN actually tried to put the screws on him this weekend about the cost of living in California, and again, I don't know how he is still alive politically, because this is just unbelievable as well.

One more. I do. Have you seen his hair, his breathtaking aura? The Vogue article seemed to be pretty descriptive about... Vogue is not really into his outfits. The Vogue on the economy ask about affordability, because yes, people are struggling all across the country. California has the highest cost of living in the nation. The state's prices are 11% higher than the national average. We were actually out to dinner here in Nashville last night. We met a couple from California. They moved out of California because they couldn't afford the rent or even to buy a home and also start a family.

Yeah, we've had... Hundreds of thousands of people move in California. The last two, three years, we've seen population growth. Not as many as moved out. We've moved from sixth to the fourth largest economy in the world, and we dominate now in every key industry, from AI, quantum, robotics. We dominate in ag. We dominate in forestry. People are struggling to afford things, like your mom was. And that's why we did $11 insulin. While we're on the economy. That was his only answer, and that's why we have $11.

Right, but you're coming at this the wrong way. Okay, explain to me, Tom. Because you're thinking that this is a logical conversation you have with another human being. That would be like, hey, ask a question. I'd like an answer to said question, and when you don't get an answer to said question, that's frustrating. But we're dealing with a politician here, and politicians answer the questions that they hear in their head that they want to answer, instead of answering said question.

You're much closer, but can I even go a step further? Go a step further, Josh. Take me there. Go a step further. CNN's like, you have... The ability to become the next president, but everyone's going to be worried about your number one liability, which is that everything is super expensive in California. No one can live there. They're all fleeing. So, CNN's like, please, please, please, please come up with some BS answer that will help make the voters happy enough that they'll vote for you.

Otherwise, we're going to have to go with somebody else. That's what that's all about. This is like the brain meme. He's just like trying to like. Please, give me a Clinton answer. That is absolutely what it was. This is the brain meme. It is like the normal brain, that the brain gets a little bigger, and then it is galaxy brain. You just hit galaxy brain there.

Dana Bash is like begging him to come up with the answer that would hit it out of the park. You know, there's probably a better, there's definitely a better answer than $11 insulin. Yeah, there's $11 insulin. So, if you're diabetic, you should move to California, is that what that was? But I'm just like you, I can't read. I'm just like you.

All right, so, I mean. Real quick, Twilight Zone. I mean, really bad weekend for Canada. Not only did they lose in the Olympic gold to the United States, both in the women's and in the men's hockey. But then the Toronto Globe and Mail came up with a new story saying, oh, guess what, guys? Out of nowhere, Canada has become poorer than Alabama. How is that possible?

Out of nowhere? What? Out of nowhere. You've committed suicide for the last 10, 15 years. And I don't like Alabama being used as a punchline here, because there's actually a lot of good space activity going on in Alabama. Like, that all goes out of... Isn't it Mobile? We have all our, like, rock scientists there. Huntsville, right? Yeah, Huntsville, yeah. Hey, their education stuff is, it's not a Mississippi miracle, but it's surpassing the booster. We're getting there. Well, that's the thing, is that everyone thinks about the Deep South as, yeah, look at how folks from Alabama now look at Canadians.

I love it. So, I mean, the idea here is, and I know about this growing up in Minnesota, people in Minnesota look down their noses at people from Texas or the South, like, oh, we're so much better than you, and Canadians are like that a thousand times over. That's why Minnesota is like Baja Canada, but the Canadians now, this idea that Alabama would be richer than them, like backwoods, hillbilly, redneck. And they're running circles around you economically. That's just, I love to see it, and I'm here for it.

I'm not in any way, make sure everyone listening, I love the good people of Alabama. Yeah, I was going to say. I absolutely love it that they're spiking the volleyball, or actually scoring the touchdown here in the end zone against the Canucks. This is great. Yeah, so there's, I mean, X after the United States wins anything in sports is just the best, because I think it was like, oh, we.

We snatched your sport chain. We beat you in our fourth most popular sport, and it is your only sport. Yeah, I mean, how many SEC championships has Canada won? I mean, none that I can think of. Zero. Come on, man. Crimson Tide, ever heard of it?

Actually, that is the point. In the whole Miracle coverage from 1980, that is what one of the sportscasters made the announcement. He was trying to explain it to the American audience. How is it possible that this group of college kids beat the Russian team? He is like, this would be the equivalent if you got a bunch of Canadian college kids played football against the Pittsburgh Steelers and beat them. It is the greatest upset of all time. All time. I do not think it will ever be beaten.

And then right after that, they allowed pros to play. So, it didn't even carry the same weight, you know? It's not quite the same. Herb Brooks, man. Let's see, you know, there's a consolation prize here in this. What is it? What's that? If Canada had been the 51st state, they would be gold medal champions right now.

Hey, you were warning me on that talk the other show. I know. You're engaging me. I'm teasing. Canadians, we love you. I want a strong Canadian nationalist movement. I want Canada to be full of pride. Get rid of this, you know, get rid of your, you know, euthanasia pods. Become a proud country once again. I would love that. I would love nothing more. I want Canada to be proud. I want Mexico to be proud. Yep. Y'all, it's big facts. Get it together.

All right, so this is the part of the episode where I typically toss a grenade and talk about something really controversial that everyone loves. And everyone agrees on. End of show. Time's up. Time's up. I saved it for the end. All right.

Listen, this is kind of my Super Bowl. Tucker Carlson interviewed Mike Huckabee, the long-awaited. Confrontation. You knew it was coming. Tucker was going around. Ambassador Huckabee. Ambassador Huckabee going around the Middle East, interviewing Palestinian Christians, stirring it up, and then I think Mike Huckabee responded on Twitter, like, you talk so much crap about Israel. Why don't you come here? Tucker said, say less. I'm going to come here. He goes, and then before the interview happens, it leaks out that Tucker's people got detained, and then all the Israel, like a lot of members of the Knesset were like, they didn't get detained.

This is standard. It was just such a he said, she said. I was like, at this point, just get it over with. This has all become such mean girls. Like, just do the interview, okay? I was so annoyed with all the stuff around it, so they did the interview.

Now, I watched the interview in full, and Eric and I were talking about it this morning. There were certain points in the interview where Tucker was being a little bit annoying, but that being said. Tucker is not the ambassador from the United States to another country. He is not. In that region. In that region. That's kind of... Now, say what you want about the whole situation. Let's just put this all in perspective. It is Mike Huckabee's job, Ambassador Huckabee's job, to represent the interests of the United States to a foreign country, in this case, Israel.

During the interview, I think Carlson rightfully pointed out, there's a verse from Genesis describing God's promise to Abraham as descendants, that he would give him the land stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates. For perspective, territory that would encompass much of modern Middle East, including much of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and even Saudi Arabia.

If people haven't been paying attention, it's a bit contentious in the Middle East right now between who owns what. So, here is the quote. Putting it mildly. Putting it very mildly. I am trying to be mild. Listen, I am trying to get above the fray here. I am trying to stay on the chain. Thank you. I am trying to do well. I am trying to do my best. I do not want to descend here.

Okay, here is the quote. You have said it three times that God gave this land to this people. Carlson told Huckabee, it is entirely fair for me to ask what land you are talking about. I just read Genesis 15. I think it says from the Nalatee to Euphrates, which is basically the entire Middle East. So, God gave that land to his people. The Jews, or he didn't? You're saying he did. What does that mean? Does Israel have a right to that land?

Reasonable question. Huckabee responded, it would be fine if they took it all. Dude. What is the opposite of diplomatic? He quickly, and listen, I'm going to try my best to soften that statement. I don't think there's a possible way to do it. He quickly added several times that Israel is not currently seeking to conquer neighboring countries and only aims to secure the territory it presently holds. That is his opinion, and that actually goes against certain members of the Knesset. I don't think in this particular day and time they're asking for it, he said.

Huckabee also said moments later in that interview, his statement that it would be fine for Israel to take over neighboring lands was kind of hyperbolic, you can say that again, and asked directly if it would be legitimate for Israel to demand the whole region. However, Huckabee did not give a definitive answer in the negative. I'm not sure that it would be, he said.

I just don't think he's in the right seat on the bus. And this, of course, was after he was asked about his, quote, off-the-books meeting with Jonathan Pollard, like, maybe the greatest traitor to America in my lifetime, maybe ever.

He doesn't have to be a greatest traitor, just to be a traitor. He was pretty bad. And then he said he didn't regret meeting with him at all, and that it was on the public books in the embassy, in Israel.

So, the meeting was insane, but that question, of course, of course, sparked every Middle Eastern state, was like, this is insane, I can't, is this the official policy of the United States? Right. Because Mike Huckabee holds strong religious views that I... I would... It used to be a fly on the wall when Rubio found out about this one. Oh, my gosh. That I and many other people vehemently disagree with, that they have some dispensationalist claim, the modern nation state of Israel...

Egypt has religious claim to the entire Middle East. I vehemently disagree with that. That's his personal belief, personal theological belief. I don't think that's the stated United States policy to the region. Of course not. It is not. And just for perspective. Trump's like, what?

Right. So, Egypt and Jordan are central to regional stability and our peace deals. Egypt controls access to the Suez Canal, which must remain open. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates. Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman are key energy producers that host our critical military bases across the region. Turkey is a NATO member and controls the access to the Black Sea. Pakistan is a nuclear power. Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim-majority democracy and our partner in the Indo-Pacific. If the U.S. loses cooperation with them, it would be catastrophic for our energy markets, military basing, counterterrorism, and global trade.

The reason I bring up all those people is because they immediately came out with statements being like... Is this the stated policy of the United States? And if so, we need a condemnation. Like, this is unacceptable, which of course it is. Like, could you imagine any other of those states being like, yeah, the entire Middle East is ours?

It would just be hilarious if some of these countries were like, all their statement was was, WTF? I mean, read between the lines here. Like, that's the one. And then I'll round it out here with... They've already kind of been flirting with this, which is frustrating, because the United States, J.D. Vance, has made it clear that Israel should not annex the West Bank. There's already a highly contentious, illegal, according to the international order, whatever you want to say about that.

Where Israel is having people return and then start settlements in the West Bank, and they essentially have roads that only those settlers can be on, and the Palestinians get swept out of their homes whenever people come to tour that land, and it's just not a good situation. It's just not going to end well. The U.S. doesn't support it. The Knesset is moving forward with annexing more of that land. That land, of course, belongs to Christians, like Christians that have been there for thousands of years.

Beyond anything else. So, I don't know. I think we got to address this, is all I got to say. I don't know where to begin, but. Erika, you had something you wanted to say. I don't even know what to say. No, I think I was just going to touch on the West Bank stuff, but how can an ambassador for the United States be so disconnected from the obvious preferences of the administration that he represents? We were talking about when Brian was nominated.

This was over a year ago. He came to the all-staff, and he was talking a little bit about what's going to be expected of him. This was over a year ago. What's going to be expected of him as an ambassador? And he's like, you know, I'm getting calls from people, from Catholics, being like, oh, can you talk to the Pope about this Catholic issue? Can you talk to the Pope about, like, you know, the Latin Mass or something? And he's like, no, no, no, no, no.

An ambassador's only job is to represent the administration. So, he's not there as Brian Birch. He's not there as, like, conservative Catholic. He's there to represent the administration. And for Mike Huckabee, To do this interview and be unprepared and off his guard, maybe he really thinks this is what Trump thinks? I don't... No, no, no. No, no, no. He doesn't care. But the disconnect is so... This was so... Just beyond what any ambassador should even think going into an interview, they're going to even...

He could have just said, I'm not going to entertain that question if he couldn't bring himself to state the Trump administration's goals, but it was a stunning interview to watch. I did. I watched 45 minutes of it, and then I had to turn it off because I was like... I mean, it's like Tucker Carlson is going to ask about this. Right. You knew this was coming, and you're just going to say, sure, the Nile to the Euphrates?

So, crazy. I mean, Trump's first international visit, his second term, was to Qatar, and to Jordan. Right. United Arab Emirates, yeah. It was, this was stunning. There's got to, yeah, to Odyssey Rubio's face. I see the meme in my head of him on the couch, right? He has to be the ambassador to Israel now. I'm the ambassador to Israel, right.

Oh my gosh. So, just to compound all of this, this frustrates me just as much. I'm going to do it. He shoots this tweet up after Jack Hughes, who no one knew was Jewish, by the way. Everyone loves him because he's an American that won us the gold medal, and isn't that the point? Yes. That in America, it doesn't matter your race, it doesn't matter your ethnicity, you can be an American, and you can do great things for the country, and what did Jack Hughes say after his goal?

He said, I love America so much. I love my country. I'm proud to be here. We have the best tennis in the world. Here we get Mike Huckabee. What? Question mark, question mark, question mark. The guy scoring the goal for the first USA gold medal in hockey since 1980 is a Jew? Oh, my. I'm sure the Jew haters will say Mossad was behind it. I say just celebrate the incredible victory for the USA and be grateful for Jack Hughes' love for the USA and his teammates.

Maybe it should have just ended on the last part you said. Yeah, like, skip the first graph. Like, this is deranged. Nobody even knew he was Jewish. Oh, my gosh. If he wanted to say that himself, fine. But why is he... Mike Huckabee's not Jewish either. Like, he's the ambassador to a foreign country, Israel. And this, of course, is stirring up. Like, no one needed to know this. That's so beside the point. So, we're talking about, like, a whole weekend for Mike Huckabee, a bad idea, jeans.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's time to, like, this would be a good time to go home. Someone just commented below that, like, weird post, bro. Someone take away the Twitter account, man. The Twitter fingers is crazy. Oh, my gosh, yeah. Okay, listen, I try my best. Listen, I think I've made myself abundantly clear. I'm frustrated with our relationship. Thank you. I'm frustrated with this relationship. We have this foreign country, and it cannot seem to make any progress on it, and then I think that this is an impediment to that, so I try my best.

No, I mean, some of the memes are great. It's like, you know, going into the doctor's office, do you have any history of mental illness? Well, my uncle's a dispensationalist, so. Oh, my gosh. Oh, man. Maybe dispensationalists should not be the ambassadors to Israel. Yeah. Going forward. Just a thought. In the interview, we should ask. I got a feeling that a president, J.D. Vance, will not make that mistake. No. Yeah, probably not. I've got other options. Probably not. Again, though, let's throw back in the chat, Tom Across America.

We are doing it tomorrow. I will have a video to greet you. Uh, it will be the ice fishing episode, but I'm also just doing kind of a description of what Simon and I got going. So, if we share that again in the chat. Where is that? I forgot it.

Selene, I'll grab it for you. Selene, grab it. Toss it in the chat. We'll have it in the description. Please go over and subscribe to the channel. Support what we've got going on. I really appreciate it. I think you're going to really like it. And I'd say what I especially enjoy about it is it feels very optimistic, very fresh, very... It gets me out of the frustrations that I have with ambassadors or what's going on. It's pure, man. It's pure. So, Simon had a great time.

It's going to be an awesome video. If you want to support me, go over and check out Time Across America. I'm super excited. If you want to support Zeal, that's where you can do it. We're looking to get reach on that. So, yeah, let me know what you think. So, all right, let's do daily prayer now. We're going to be doing the daily prayer for America 250, of course, is by Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, the man.

I pray in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. O Sacred Heart of Jesus, King of Heaven and Earth, I place today my nation, the United States of America, into your heart, pierced for love of us. On the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, I acknowledge that true liberty is your gift, and that our lasting homeland is the eternal kingdom of God.

Under the mantle of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas, and through my intercession of her Immaculate Heart, bless my homeland anew, purify her from sin, and guide her leaders in truth, justice, and peace, so that she may safeguard all human life, respect the integrity of marriage and the family, and honor the practice of religion. Reign in my home and in my nation. Draw every heart into community with you, that your love, truth, love, justice, mercy, and peace may triumph in America and throughout the world.

Amen. St. Thomas More, St. Fidelis, Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us. Especially pray for Mexico. Pray for peace. For Mexico, especially in my mind, seeing these videos. So, great episode, gang. We'll catch you guys on Wednesday, and then, yeah, Time Across America. Go check it out. It's going to come out on Tuesday. It's going to be awesome. See you then. Peace.