The StoneZONE - Roger Stone - The Stone Zone | 04-09-25
Aired: 2025-04-10
Duration: 41:09


=== Protecting Patient Care (13:23) ===

[00:00:00]  Rural Americans deserve access to the best our nation has to offer, especially when it comes to health care.
[00:00:06]  Across every state and every community, America's rural hospitals are the first line of defense, protecting our families, neighbors, and loved ones.
[00:00:14]  No matter where you live, hospital care doesn't clock out.
[00:00:16]  They're there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
[00:00:21]  Each year, America's over 5,000 hospitals care for millions of patients, providing 24-7 emergency care, delivering babies, cancer treatments, and other life-saving care that patients rely on.
[00:00:33]  Behind every one of those patients are doctors, nurses, and caregivers working tirelessly to keep people healthy and safe.
[00:00:40]  Hospitals are our community's lifelines.
[00:00:43]  They employ our neighbors and keep our families health.
[00:00:46]  But now, some in Congress are threatening access to care.
[00:00:49]  Tell Congress, protect patient care to keep America strong.
[00:00:53]  Don't cut rural health care.
[00:00:55]  This is the Stone Zone with Roger Stone.
[00:01:09]  People love him and respect him.
[00:01:11]  Roger Stone.
[00:01:12]  Now, get him a zone.
[00:01:14]  It's the Stone Zone.
[00:01:16]  Here's Roger Stone.
[00:01:20]  Welcome into the Stone Zone.
[00:01:23]  Anybody who knows President Donald Trump, and I've known him 50 years, understands he is not a man to be trifled with.
[00:01:33]  I mean, I worked for former President Richard Nixon.
[00:01:36]  I also worked for Senator Bob Dole.
[00:01:38]  He would have been a great president.
[00:01:40]  They were both very, very tough guys, but neither one of them as tough as Donald Trump.
[00:01:46]  And he has a worldview, which is correct.
[00:01:49]  He's been saying it since the 80s.
[00:01:52]  I remember when I persuaded him to dip his toe in the water in 1988 with a potential presidential bid.
[00:02:02]  We made a trip to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
[00:02:05]  And he spoke to the Portsmouth, New Hampshire Chamber of Commerce, I believe it was.
[00:02:10]  It was really the first time I'd ever seen the electricity of Trump in a political context.
[00:02:16]  And of course, the fact that it was an election year, the fact that New Hampshire holds the first in the nation primary.
[00:02:23]  There was huge speculation that this trip was about exploring a presidential bid.
[00:02:31]  And he spoke in a speech that could be given today.
[00:02:35]  He talked about the inequities of our trade deals with countries around the world.
[00:02:42]  As he pointed out, when it comes to negotiations, they send killers and we send social workers.
[00:02:50]  Donald Trump's economic plan is not as simple as a tariff war.
[00:02:55]  That is but one leg of a three-legged stool.
[00:02:59]  Yes, he would like to go to zero tariffs everywhere.
[00:03:03]  You put no tariffs on us, we'll put no tariffs on you.
[00:03:06]  That's free trade.
[00:03:07]  That's fair trade.
[00:03:09]  But he will use tariffs as a cudgel to get a fair deal for the United States.
[00:03:15]  And then, of course, we have to renew the Trump tax cuts, which were not only the deepest across the board tax cuts in American history, but we must also cut our profligate spending.
[00:03:28]  If Elon Musk and Doge have done anything, they've demonstrated to the American people the not millions, not billions, but trillions of dollars that are being spent for God knows what, subsidizing all kinds of political causes and being paid to journalistic enterprises right here in the United States.
[00:03:51]  A massive waste of money.
[00:03:53]  I mean, $140 million to the New York Times?
[00:03:56]  That's a lot of subscriptions.
[00:03:59]  $90 million politico for what?
[00:04:02]  So after President Trump raised tariffs on China to 104% yesterday, China retaliated with an 84% tariff on U.S. products.
[00:04:13]  Contrast that with the Mexicans who announced that they were dropping their tariffs to zero, so we will now drop ours to zero.
[00:04:21]  See, I really don't think Donald Trump is a traditional conservative.
[00:04:25]  It's not that he loves tariffs, but he loves using them as a club to force other nations to give us a fair deal.
[00:04:32]  In fact, President Trump has responded by lowering tariffs for every nation except China, whose tariffs he raised even higher.
[00:04:41]  On True Social, President Trump said, based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the world's markets, I am hereby raising the tariff charged to China by the United States to 125%, effective immediately.
[00:04:55]  At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the United States of America are over.
[00:05:02]  In other countries, it is no longer sustainable or acceptable.
[00:05:08]  Conversely, and based on the fact that more than 75 countries have called representatives of the United States, including the Department of Commerce, the Treasury, and the United States Trade Representative, to open negotiations for a solution to the subject being discussed relative to trade, trade barriers, tariffs, currency manipulation, and non-monetary tariffs, and that these countries have not, at my strong suggestion,
[00:05:36]  retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States, I have authorized a 90-day pause and a substantially lowered reciprocal tariff during this period, a mere 10%, also effective immediately.
[00:05:49]  Thank you for your attention to this matter.
[00:05:52]  I always can tell when the president's posting himself late at night, there's a lot of capitalized words and all capital words and occasionally even a misspelling because, you know, sometimes your mind works faster than your fingers.
[00:06:08]  Bregg, I always tell when it's him, it's not some junior staffer.
[00:06:12]  The Dow Jones and the stock market responded at 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time by shooting upwards almost 2,000 points.
[00:06:22]  So much for the Panicons.
[00:06:25]  That's the name that President Trump has given those who don't have the courage to see this reset of the American economy through.
[00:06:36]  Yesterday's show, I suggested that the enormous sell-off and the panic in the stock market be investigated because I think most of those dumping huge amounts of stock are institutional investors, maybe in some cases, even foreign countries.
[00:06:53]  I'm not sure that if they look closely, and the SEC can do this, that you will find that it is the mom and pop investors who are selling off.
[00:07:05]  The stock market is only a measure of our economy when the Democrats want it to be.
[00:07:11]  When we had record a stock market under President's first term, the Democrats insisted that it meant nothing.
[00:07:18]  I don't think it's a good long-term barometer of the health of the American economy.
[00:07:26]  Barry Habib, one of the leading experts in the country when it comes to mortgages and housing, but also candidly, economically across the board, one of the smartest guys I know is going to join us in a little bit to talk about this.
[00:07:41]  President Trump's tariffs began last Wednesday and have created massively successful results so far.
[00:07:47]  You wouldn't know that by watching CNN or MSNBC and several of the others, but those aren't really news outlets, folks.
[00:07:55]  Those are propaganda fronts.
[00:07:58]  Don't go looking there for the truth.
[00:08:00]  Go looking here at the Red Apple audio networks and the programming we have, particularly, pardon me if I'm biased, the Stone Zone.
[00:08:09]  The European Union and Taiwan already offered the United States a flat deal of zero tariffs for zero tariffs across many industries.
[00:08:17]  White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt, she's a firecracker, by the way, said that since the Liberation Day announcement, nearly 70 countries have reached out to the president to begin a negotiation.
[00:08:31]  Regarding China, Trump fulfilled his earlier promise when he said China issued retaliatory tariffs at 34% on top of their already record-setting tariffs, non-monetary tariffs, illegal subsidization of companies, and massive long-term currency manipulation.
[00:08:50]  Despite my warnings that any country that retaliates against the United States by adding additional tariffs above and beyond their existing long-term tariff abuse or nation will be immediately met with new and substantially higher tariffs above and beyond those initially set.
[00:09:06]  Therefore, if China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long-term trade abuses by tomorrow, the United States will impose an additional tariff of 50% effective April 9th.
[00:09:19]  And Donald Trump is a man who says what he means and means what he says.
[00:09:24]  He has done exactly that.
[00:09:26]  Remember, folks, President Trump is correcting a decades-long problem with our economy.
[00:09:35]  He is not a man to be trifled with.
[00:09:37]  He will stay at the course.
[00:09:39]  And I really still continue to believe in him and believe this has been a long time necessary and that he's going to lead us into a golden age of peace, prosperity, security, justice, and law and order.
[00:09:56]  The Supreme Court also delivered an incredible victory to President Trump yesterday and upheld the mass firing of tens of thousands of probationary federal employees, granting a request for an emergency administrative stay on a blatantly unconstitutional ruling from a lower court ordering, blocking the order of the firings.
[00:10:20]  The idea that the Supreme Court or that a lower court, pardon me, can suspend the executive power of the presidency is, well, unconstitutional.
[00:10:32]  The majority of the Supreme Court ruled 72 that the plaintiffs, nine nonprofit organizations who had sued to reinstate the employees, lacked standing to sue.
[00:10:43]  Even the liberal justice Elena Kagan ruled for the Trump administration.
[00:10:48]  The legal battle here stems from the termination of an estimated 1,600 probationary federal employees, prompting a wave of lawsuits from Democrat-led states and former workers.
[00:11:04]  Justice Department lawyers have warned that forcing the government to rehire these employees would create chaos across federal agencies.
[00:11:12]  They also maintain that the firings were tied to poor performance, an allegation dismissed employees strongly disputed.
[00:11:21]  Now, this is the second major win for the Supreme Court that the Supreme Court has handed the Trump administration, actually.
[00:11:28]  On Monday, the Supreme Court granted President Trump's request to vacate a lower court's ruling barring the administration from deporting Venezuelan nationals under the Aliens Enemies Act, including alleged members of the Trendi Argua gang.
[00:11:47]  In other words, we had a federal judge in D.C., Judge Jed Bosberg, the same judge, by the way, who allowed the FISA courts to illegally spy on Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
[00:12:01]  The same judge who showed up minus his robe for Donald Trump's indictment by special counsel Jack Mueller until the court decided that Mr. Pardon me, Jack Smith, until the court decided that Mr. Smith's appointment was in itself unconstitutional.
[00:12:19]  It's because Mr. Smith had never been confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and there is no law creating his position, even though Merrick Garland gave him sweeping prosecutorial powers.
[00:12:34]  While the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to grant the administration's request to lift the blatantly unconstitutional stay, Judge Amy Coney Barrett ruled with the other three liberal women on the court to block President Trump's deportation of criminal illegal aliens.
[00:12:53]  Think how different history would be if President Donald Trump had listened to me when I suggested that he not appoint Amy Conan Barrett to the court, but instead appoint Judge Andrew Napolitano.
[00:13:08]  Even Chief Justice Roberts recognized the obvious constitutionality of President Trump's actions and the incredible overreach of the leftist activist Judge Boesberg.
[00:13:20]  Big, big news out of Texas.

=== Texas Senate Race (04:39) ===

[00:13:24]  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced he's running for the Senate against incumbent John Cornyn.
[00:13:30]  The Texas Attorney General Paxton says he's in the race, often called a Republican in name only or rhino.
[00:13:37]  Cornyn has held the U.S. Senate seat from Texas since 2002, while Paxton has been active in Texas politics since he ascended to the Attorney General's office in 2015.
[00:13:49]  In his announcement, Paxton said the state needs a new senator to stand up for Republican values.
[00:13:56]  He announced he was running for the U.S. Senate.
[00:13:58]  This is going to be one of the hottest races in the country.
[00:14:02]  We're going to be following it here extensively in the Stone Zone.
[00:14:06]  Cornyn is running for his fifth six-year term.
[00:14:11]  If ever there was an argument for term limits, well, it's right there with John Cornyn in Texas.
[00:14:17]  If you're just tuning in, this is the Stone Zone on the Red Auto, the Red Apple Audio Networks.
[00:14:24]  And whatever you do, don't touch that dial because we'll be right back.
[00:14:28]  This is the Stone Zone with Roger Stone.
[00:14:32]  The Stone Zone.
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[00:15:02]  Graduate ready to lead, not just work.
[00:15:04]  Take the next step at manhattan.edu slash graduate.
[00:15:08]  Manhattan University, lead the future.
[00:15:21]  This is the Stone Zone with Roger Stone.
[00:15:25]  They went after a guy named Roger Stone who's sitting in the office.
[00:15:28]  And I'll say this in front of Roger.
[00:15:30]  He's no baby.
[00:15:31]  And right now, he's cleaner than anybody in this place.
[00:15:35]  No, they treated him very unfairly.
[00:15:37]  Now, get in the zone.
[00:15:39]  It's the stone zone.
[00:15:41]  Here's Roger Stone.
[00:15:45]  And we're back in zone.
[00:15:47]  Remember when Governor Ronald Reagan was running for president and he told us that Qing control of the Panama Canal would be an egregious mistake to the United States?
[00:15:57]  Reagan said, we built it, we paid, and it's ours.
[00:16:03]  Unfortunately, President Gerald Ford furthered the effort to sell the Panama Canal for the princely dollar, although it was under President Jimmy Carter that the deal was finally consummated.
[00:16:17]  Now, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, recognizing that the Panama Canal has fallen under the control of the communist Chinese, said that the U.S. will take back the Panama Canal from China's influence as Washington seeks to reassert control over this major trade route.
[00:16:36]  This is not just a question of commercial trade.
[00:16:39]  It is also a security issue.
[00:16:42]  Otherwise, of course, military or commercial vehicles would have to go all the way around the continent to get to the other ocean.
[00:16:51]  The United States of America will not allow communist China or any other country to threaten the canal's operations or integrity, Hegseth said.
[00:17:00]  To this end, the United States and Panama have done more in recent weeks to strengthen our defense and security cooperation than we've done in decades.
[00:17:09]  China did not build this canal.
[00:17:11]  China does not operate this canal, and China will not weaponize the canal.
[00:17:16]  Together, we will take back the canal from China's influence, said Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
[00:17:23]  Panama withdrew from its 2017 Belt and Road Initiative Agreements with the Chinese earlier this year.
[00:17:30]  That was a signal that Panama had chosen sides, and they were going with the United States and the Trump administration in this geopolitical spat.
[00:17:40]  Today, Hegseth, who I think is doing a great job, said that we will be signing a joint declaration with the Minister of Canal Affairs on the security and operations of the Panama Canal, which is a framework for U.S. warships and auxiliary ships to sail first and free through the Panama Canal.

=== Joint Declaration Signing (02:24) ===

[00:18:03]  In the meantime, the IRS has decided that they will provide illegal immigrants data to ICE under a new agreement.
[00:18:12]  The IRS reached this historic agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to share the personal information of illegal immigrants who have fixed, who have filed tax returns.
[00:18:25]  So Donald Trump is winning.
[00:18:26]  I, for one, am not yet tired of winning.
[00:18:29]  I think he's going to keep on winning.
[00:18:31]  Coming up next, I'll be joined by Barry Habib.
[00:18:34]  He is the chief executive officer of MBS Highways.
[00:18:38]  He's an American entrepreneur and a frequent source in the media on the economy, but he's much more than that.
[00:18:48]  He is widely viewed as the single most knowledgeable person in the country when it comes to mortgages and housing.
[00:18:55]  But in truth, he is an economic guru.
[00:19:00]  And he's going to tell us what the president's larger game plan is and why he believes that it's going to work.
[00:19:07]  So if you're tuned in to the stone zone here on the Red Apple Audio Networks, you're going to want to hear Barry Habib.
[00:19:15]  Whatever you do, don't go away, because we'll be all right.
[00:19:20]  This is The Stone Zone with Roger Stone.
[00:19:43]  They went after a guy named Roger Stone who's sitting in the office.
[00:19:46]  And I'll say this in front of Roger.
[00:19:48]  He's no baby.
[00:19:49]  And right now he's cleaner than anybody in this place.
[00:19:52]  Now they treated him very unfairly.
[00:19:55]  Now, get in the zone.
[00:19:57]  It's the stone zone.
[00:19:59]  Here's Roger Stone.
[00:20:03]  And you're back in the Stone Zone.
[00:20:05]  Joining us now, Barry Habib.
[00:20:07]  He is the chief executive officer of MBS Highway.
[00:20:11]  He's an American entrepreneur and a frequent media source when it comes to his expertise on mortgages and the housing market.
[00:20:20]  But I call him an economic guru because he is so much more than an expert on housing and mortgage.

=== Barry Habib's Economic Insight (15:33) ===

[00:20:28]  He is a finger on the pulse of the economy and how it really works.
[00:20:32]  And what I love about Barry is he's able to make complicated things understandable to the average citizen.
[00:20:38]  So, Barry, welcome back into the Stone Zone.
[00:20:42]  Thanks, Roger.
[00:20:43]  It's always wonderful to be with you.
[00:20:46]  So there's a lot of disinformation out there.
[00:20:50]  President Donald Trump moving ahead like the stalwart that he is on one of the prongs of his plan to revive the American middle class and return prosperity and jobs and opportunity to the country.
[00:21:04]  President Trump today announced he is temporarily lowering tariffs on every nation except for China, whose tariff he is raising.
[00:21:11]  How do you expect the American economy will respond to higher tariffs on China?
[00:21:17]  Well, if you go by the stock market as a gauge, the stock market really liked it.
[00:21:23]  We went from a stock market that was to the downside to finishing the day up on the Dow, you know, 2,962 points.
[00:21:32]  That's one of the biggest turnarounds and dollar and point changes that I can recall seeing.
[00:21:40]  So it's being cheered on by the marketplace, I guess, feeling that the economy will do very well.
[00:21:47]  You know, Roger, these tariffs, we've been seeing a lot of market movement back and forth as the headlines come out.
[00:21:53]  It's creating a lot of uncertainty.
[00:21:56]  And that's the main thing right now is just people are uncertain.
[00:22:00]  And the media plays checkers.
[00:22:02]  They don't play chess.
[00:22:04]  What I'd like to do with you is take a deeper look at this stuff and maybe what could be driving some of the reasons and rationale as to how these tariffs have been implemented.
[00:22:18]  Okay, well, so first off, when we take a look at tariffs, why are we doing this?
[00:22:25]  I think many people will agree that the path we were on was unsustainable.
[00:22:30]  To have the large amount of debts that we have, the large deficit that we have, over $2 trillion and $30 trillion plus in debt, greater than our GDP, more than 100% of GDP.
[00:22:45]  These things don't lead to good outcomes.
[00:22:49]  And we could have made changes, but those days are gone.
[00:22:52]  The Biden administration, they put us in a pretty big hole.
[00:22:57]  Now, it's unfortunate that we're here, but the key is, is how do we fix it?
[00:23:02]  So what are our options?
[00:23:04]  Option one, can we cut spending enough?
[00:23:07]  Well, when you think about the things that are kind of must spends, like you have to spend on military, the interest on the debt, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, when you take that, it's really the lion's share of what we spend.
[00:23:22]  The amount that's left for discretionary spending, while it is sizable, it's just you can't cut that much out of it to narrow the gap.
[00:23:31]  So, okay, what else can you do?
[00:23:33]  You can raise taxes.
[00:23:34]  But the top 10% are literally keeping our economy going right now.
[00:23:39]  They represent about 80% of economic activity.
[00:23:42]  And therefore, if you tax them, you will send the economy into a tailspin.
[00:23:48]  However, it's even if you took 100% of what they earned, you still wouldn't close the gap on what the deficit is.
[00:23:56]  The deficit is just that big.
[00:23:58]  So what else can you do?
[00:24:00]  Well, of that tax, like many people have in other countries.
[00:24:04]  If you've traveled, you've experienced that called value-added tax.
[00:24:07]  It's a tax on consumption.
[00:24:09]  When you buy something, it's like a sales tax, but to a greater extent.
[00:24:13]  Well, we don't, I don't think at this point in time, have the appetite for it, but this is a form of that on imported goods.
[00:24:21]  So in trying to do this, you're trying to raise revenue and take in revenue to reduce the deficit.
[00:24:28]  And you can do it in a sizable manner without having to go to extremes on taxing people to hurt the economy or cutting vital things that are things that we depend upon or cutting the military too thin.
[00:24:41]  So it's understandable.
[00:24:43]  However, it does have a downside because what happens now is imported goods could wind up costing more, but people don't understand how it works.
[00:24:52]  They see the headlines, they hear all this crap and the negative media bias and anything that Trump does, they want to criticize.
[00:25:00]  So it's easy to take pot shots, but let's take a little bit of a dive where people don't understand it.
[00:25:04]  So who pays this?
[00:25:06]  It is not paid by the country.
[00:25:08]  So if you put a tax on an import tax on Vietnam, Vietnam doesn't pay it.
[00:25:13]  So when they send something to us, it is the importer.
[00:25:16]  XYZ company wants to buy these shirts or clothing or dress or pants from Vietnam.
[00:25:22]  They buy it.
[00:25:23]  They pay the tax.
[00:25:24]  It's like when you go to a store and you pay a sales tax.
[00:25:26]  So that's what happens.
[00:25:27]  You make that tax payment from the importer.
[00:25:30]  Now the importer has a decision to make.
[00:25:32]  That item that used to cost $100 now might cost them, let's say it's a 20% tax, now cost them $120.
[00:25:38]  Do they have the power to go ahead and send that $20 increase on to their wholesaler or whomever they are selling it to?
[00:25:49]  Maybe they do.
[00:25:50]  But when they do now, that wholesaler makes a profit on top of it to the retailer.
[00:25:54]  Maybe, I don't know, that's 20%.
[00:25:57]  And then on top of that, the retailer might have 100% markup when they sell it.
[00:26:02]  So the wholesalers' profit, the retailer's profit are not tariffed.
[00:26:07]  They don't get tariffed.
[00:26:08]  So even if there's a 20% tariff, the consumer may only see something closer to 5%.
[00:26:14]  And I'm not saying 5% is insignificant, but it's important to understand this as to how much it should be.
[00:26:20]  Is it inflationary?
[00:26:22]  Only one time.
[00:26:23]  It's not like normal inflation, which is persistent.
[00:26:26]  It's a one-time price adjustment.
[00:26:28]  So now that we understand this, what's the idea here?
[00:26:31]  We did an analysis, Roger.
[00:26:33]  I sent it to you on every country's percentage of GDP that what they export to us.
[00:26:39]  And it is very significant.
[00:26:42]  So that's why a lot of countries want to come and make deals with us.
[00:26:45]  Now, it takes a little time for them to feel the pain, which is why what President Trump is trying to do is play tests here and not checkers.
[00:26:55]  Now, China is a different story.
[00:26:57]  And we are seeing an escalation in trade war come back and forth between the U.S. and China.
[00:27:03]  The one major card that could be played by the U.S. is, what if you delisted Chinese stocks and robbed them of the ability to have capital for their companies in China that comes from the U.S.?
[00:27:17]  That could be a major card.
[00:27:19]  Scott Bessant, when asked about this, said everything is on the table.
[00:27:24]  So that just kind of gives you an outline of where we are and what the mindset is.
[00:27:29]  Obviously, the undertone of this is, of course, we want a level and more fair playing field of trade because President Trump, and rightfully so, feels like there has not been fairness in trade.
[00:27:42]  So you could say, hey, look, I don't want to rock the boat.
[00:27:45]  Even though I'm getting screwed here, I don't want to go through any pain, but then you're on that unsustainable path.
[00:27:51]  Or you could say, let's make this more fair.
[00:27:53]  Let's raise some revenue.
[00:27:54]  It means we go under a little bit of pain here initially, but longer term it's fixed because if you don't do anything, it just gets worse and then you could have a crisis.
[00:28:04]  I watched Secretary Bessant did a press stand-up outside the White House not long ago, a couple hours ago.
[00:28:13]  I am really in awe at this guy's skills as a communicator.
[00:28:19]  I think he is a very reassuring voice of calm.
[00:28:24]  I mean, I know him.
[00:28:25]  I know him to be an outside-the-box thinker who is completely loyal to the president and completely committed to this plan.
[00:28:32]  The New Republic ran a totally baseless article the other day saying he was so upset by the president's economic plan that he was thinking of resigning.
[00:28:41]  I spoke to Besson myself Sunday night, whole cloth, nothing to it whatsoever.
[00:28:46]  He is deeply committed to the president's plan, and he gave me a number of reasons why he thought it would work in the long term.
[00:28:54]  But you're right, Trump is playing the long game.
[00:28:58]  Now, I also saw Secretary of Commerce Luttnick on the Sunday shows last Sunday.
[00:29:03]  My takeaway was not candidly as positive.
[00:29:08]  He was entertaining, but he didn't have the reassuring calm and confidence.
[00:29:15]  And actually, Besson's more like you, Barry.
[00:29:18]  He takes complicated issues and he makes them understandable to the average consumer and the average American.
[00:29:27]  That's a big, that's a very important key.
[00:29:30]  And I had the pleasure of spending about 15 minutes one-on-one with Scott Besson in no small part, thanks to the fact that he knows that you and I have a friendship and his high regard and respect for you allowed him to give me the time to spend with him.
[00:29:47]  I found him to be absolutely brilliant and the best Treasury Secretary that I have ever seen in the United States that has an understanding of the housing market, the mortgage market, the spreads between 30-year fixed-rate mortgages and treasuries, how to handle the treasury market issuance, which is very important.
[00:30:06]  He has a desire to bring long-term yields down, and I think he'll be very, very successful in doing so.
[00:30:14]  I was in awe at his vast knowledge of not just the things that normal treasury secretaries are looking at, but of even in other areas.
[00:30:24]  The guy, you know, his history is one of brilliance as a fund manager.
[00:30:29]  He worked with Stanley Drunken Miller.
[00:30:33]  He is someone who is extremely, extremely experienced and knowledgeable, and not just having experience, but having successful experience.
[00:30:43]  You know, I had a conversation with him months ago about the housing market and the fact that the lack of affordable housing is a gigantic problem in this country.
[00:30:56]  Robert F. Kennedy Jr., I think, deserves credit for really raising this during the most recent presidential campaign.
[00:31:03]  And I hadn't realized it the extent to which it's a problem.
[00:31:07]  It's not just a problem in any one section of the country.
[00:31:10]  It's a problem across the country.
[00:31:13]  I think that Bill Pulte, who the president appointed to the Federal Home Finance Administration, like Besson, another superstar, a guy who comes from the housing industry, Pulte Holmes, people may be familiar with the name, one of the largest home builders in the country.
[00:31:29]  Trump has an all-star team around him, particularly when it comes to the economy.
[00:31:36]  Now, the stock market shot up today, as you say, to a record high or a record gain.
[00:31:42]  Do you think, what do you think?
[00:31:44]  This may be an impossible question to answer.
[00:31:46]  What do you expect the stock market to do tomorrow?
[00:31:50]  I'm a little leery that these gains continue.
[00:31:52]  I think there could be some profit taking that happens.
[00:31:55]  You know, the last couple of days, I know you get our commentary.
[00:31:58]  We had thought that the stock market would have a turning point two days ago.
[00:32:02]  It did.
[00:32:02]  And yesterday, with the stock market up, I did not feel it would hold its gains.
[00:32:07]  And it was up 1,500 points.
[00:32:09]  And our commentary was that it would close to the downside.
[00:32:12]  And it did.
[00:32:13]  And then this morning, quite honestly, what I said is I have no freaking clue what it's going to do today because there's just a lot of uncertainty out there.
[00:32:21]  And we don't know which way the headlines are going to go.
[00:32:24]  But I think the stock market at these levels had such a strong close that it's quite possible that in the morning we see it open.
[00:32:34]  But I don't know if there is conviction, Roger, for this to continue throughout the day.
[00:32:41]  I'm looking at my charts here.
[00:32:43]  I think that we could see a little bit more of a move up in the morning, but it would not surprise me to see some of those gains relinquished.
[00:32:50]  And then you have a lot of trading that says, okay, well, before we see another down day, I want to get out.
[00:32:55]  And that's why you've seen so much momentum.
[00:32:57]  It happens so quickly because now with all the program trading, as soon as you start to see some profits gone, then it triggers selling and selling and selling, but gets more selling.
[00:33:05]  So I would not be surprised to see an upside open tomorrow, but I think that there's a reasonably good chance that a lot of experienced traders will use that as an exit period and get out while there's still so much uncertainty.
[00:33:22]  And therefore, I don't think we hold the games.
[00:33:24]  In my book published several years ago, Stone's Rules with forward by my good friend Tucker Carlson, I had two rules.
[00:33:32]  One was what goes up must come down.
[00:33:35]  The other one you'll like even more.
[00:33:37]  Whoever talks first loses.
[00:33:39]  And so it's going to be interesting to see what happens.
[00:33:42]  What do you expect the European Union to do?
[00:33:46]  Will they make a substantial concession to the United States in light of the president's strategy of isolating China?
[00:33:52]  Or is the EU going to work with China against American interests?
[00:33:56]  We have about two minutes here and then we'll go to commercial.
[00:34:00]  Well, as you know, the EU had just today voted to ratify their plan to come up with a plan which would have some retaliatory tariffs against the U.S.
[00:34:14]  But in light of what happened today, where we dropped it to just the 10% baseline, I would expect Europe to back off.
[00:34:21]  I don't think Europe wants to be in a situation where they're at odds with the U.S. Whether or not they trust the U.S. completely or not, I think they trust the U.S. more than they trust China.
[00:34:34]  And therefore, I don't see them trying to form alliances with China against the U.S.
[00:34:41]  I think that this move by President Trump today to reduce the tariffs to the 10% baseline will bring the European Union closer to trying to cut deals with us in fairness rather than move towards China.
[00:34:53]  Folks, if you're just tuning in, this is the Stone Zone on the Red Apple Audio Networks, and we're talking to Barry Habib.
[00:35:02]  I call him an economic guru because to say that he's just an expert on housings and mortgage would greatly understate his knowledge and his wisdom.
[00:35:11]  We're glad to have him because, well, as I think it was James Carville, my Democrat counterpart once said, it's the economy, stupid.
[00:35:19]  And indeed, it is the economy.
[00:35:23]  Here's what we know.
[00:35:23]  What we were doing under Joe Biden and Barack Obama was not working.
[00:35:29]  Did not work.
[00:35:30]  We reversed that trend when Trump was president in his first term.
[00:35:33]  Then Biden returned us to the policies of Obama and the economy suffered, particularly the middle-class working family and taxpayers.
[00:35:42]  Donald Trump has changed the political dynamic.
[00:35:45]  The Republican Party is now the party of working people, of the middle class, no longer the party of the elites, no longer the party of Wall Street, no longer the party of the millionaires and billionaires.
[00:35:56]  We'll be right back with more of Barry Habib.
[00:35:58]  So whatever you do, don't touch that dial.

=== Why Gold Shines (04:06) ===

[00:36:01]  This is the Stone Zone with Roger Stone.
[00:36:23]  This is the Stone Zone.
[00:36:26]  Now, get in the zone.
[00:36:28]  It's the stone zone.
[00:36:30]  Here's Roger Stone.
[00:36:34]  And we're back in the stone zone here on the Red Apple Audio Networks.
[00:36:39]  We're talking to Barry Abib, the chief executive officer of MBS Highway.
[00:36:45]  We just call him economic guru.
[00:36:46]  Here's a question for you, Barry, just a little off topic.
[00:36:50]  But how do you feel about acquiring precious metals like gold and silver in a tumultuous economic time like this?
[00:37:00]  Roger, we've talked about this several times.
[00:37:03]  And, you know, back about $800 in price ago in gold, you know, bullish and every time I've been giving you the same thing.
[00:37:10]  And here we are at these extraordinarily higher levels.
[00:37:14]  So our thoughts on gold, I know you agree, have been on and people that have heeded that advice have done exceedingly well in there.
[00:37:23]  I do think that in times of uncertainty, gold is a place that you can certainly hide.
[00:37:28]  Because here's what would happen.
[00:37:31]  The way the mechanics of the market, I just want to try and explain this to people.
[00:37:36]  So we had some unusual circumstances.
[00:37:38]  You saw stock prices decline this morning as well.
[00:37:43]  You saw at the same time, which means bond prices were selling off, stocks were selling off, and our dollar was weakening.
[00:37:51]  So what was happening?
[00:37:52]  What did people decide to do?
[00:37:54]  They didn't put it in Bitcoin.
[00:37:55]  Where did they go?
[00:37:56]  They went to probably summon cash, but gold was soaring.
[00:38:01]  So a lot of people put their money in gold.
[00:38:05]  So during times of volatility and uncertainty, gold seems to be the place to be.
[00:38:10]  And it was very interesting because as stocks rallied and came back and the bond market came back, so yields declined.
[00:38:17]  So people bought bonds.
[00:38:19]  They really bought stocks.
[00:38:21]  But what did they do?
[00:38:22]  They did not sell gold to do so.
[00:38:25]  They took it out of cash, which means that they said, hey, gold is a place I'm hiding if things get bad.
[00:38:32]  But even though that's money I'm hiding, I'm not parking it there.
[00:38:35]  I'm keeping it there because I'm comfortable with gold.
[00:38:38]  All this to try and answer your question and say, I think gold has more room to run, Roger, because I don't think that this move up in gold is temporary.
[00:38:46]  Because if it were, gold would have lost its gains when the stock market rallied back and people said, okay, I'm going to buy stocks with both fists.
[00:38:54]  Let me sell gold to do so.
[00:38:55]  No, they took it out of cash or they took it on margin.
[00:38:58]  And that's why.
[00:38:59]  Now, by the way, Roger, here's another thing that's very important about answering your question on gold.
[00:39:04]  When the stock market takes a sudden drop like it did, it's not that it declined, but that it declined suddenly.
[00:39:10]  That triggers margin calls.
[00:39:12]  So broker dealers say, hey, you have this on margin.
[00:39:15]  You've now come underneath your margin requirements.
[00:39:17]  You got to pay up and you got to pay up now.
[00:39:20]  So how do you raise cash?
[00:39:21]  One of the ways that they would do it is by selling other assets.
[00:39:24]  The old saying is you don't sell what you want.
[00:39:27]  You sell what you can.
[00:39:29]  And what you can sell are things that have value like from the bond market or gold.
[00:39:33]  They did not choose to sell gold.
[00:39:36]  They sold bonds.
[00:39:38]  They took it out in cash.
[00:39:39]  So what this tells you is that gold is someplace where people are investing money and they're not letting it go.
[00:39:45]  So that's my reasoning as to why I think gold will continue to do well for us, Roger.
[00:39:51]  All right.
[00:39:52]  I appreciate it.
[00:39:53]  I think we are unfortunately out of time.
[00:39:54]  I want to thank my guest, Barry Habib, the chief executive officer of MBS Iowa, but we just call him the guru, Barry, the economic guru.
[00:40:05]  Barry, thank you so much for joining us today in the Stone Zone and thanks.

=== Rural Hospitals: First Line of Defense (01:00) ===

[00:40:08]  And folks, until we meet again, God bless you and Godspeed.
[00:40:12]  Rural Americans deserve access to the best of what our country has to offer, especially health care.
[00:40:18]  Across every state, every community, America's rural hospitals are the first line of defense protecting our families, neighbors, and loved ones.
[00:40:27]  No matter where you live, hospital care doesn't clock out.
[00:40:30]  They're there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
[00:40:35]  Each year, America's over 5,000 hospitals care for millions of patients, providing 24-7 emergency care, delivering babies, cancer treatments, and other life-saving care that patients rely on.
[00:40:47]  Behind every one of those patients are doctors, nurses, and caregivers working tirelessly to keep people healthy and safe.
[00:40:55]  Hospitals are our community's lifelines.
[00:40:57]  They employ our neighbors and keep our families healthy.
[00:41:01]  But now, some in Congress are threatening access to care.
[00:41:04]  Tell Congress, protect patient care to keep America strong.