The Truth with Lisa Boothe: Elise Stefanik on Iran War, Campus Radicalism & Why Americans Are Leaving Blue States
3/26/202630 mincomplete
0:00This is an iHeart Podcast.
0:02Guaranteed human. Welcome back to The Truth with Lisa Booth, where we get to the
0:06heart of the issues that matter to you.
0:09Today, we're joined by Congresswoman Elise Stefanik.
0:12She is the author of the new book, Poisoned IVs, the inside account of the
0:16academic and moral rot at America's elite universities.
0:20From her viral confrontation with Ivy League presidents over anti -Semitism to the deeper ideological
0:27capture of higher education, she pulls back the curtain on how America's most prestigious campuses
0:34have abandoned truth, merit, and basic moral clarity.
0:38We're also going to dive into some of the current headlines, including early polling on
0:44the Iran strikes. Also, her decisions to step away from both the New York gubernatorial
0:49race and her congressional re -election.
0:51What does that signal for this November?
0:54Should that bring concern? Also, we're going to talk about the exodus of higher earners
0:59from New York City and stay under Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Mamdani.
1:04Also, what does she think about the recent controversy surrounding Zoran Mamdani's wife, New York
1:11City's first lady, about some of these crazy tweets that she has liked?
1:16She's used the N -word, a lot of anti -Semitism.
1:18She's like posts saying that October 7th was a hoax and things like that.
1:22So what does she think about that?
1:24Stay tuned for all of that and more with Congresswoman Elise Stefanik.
1:33Well, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, first time on the show.
1:36Really appreciate you making the time.
1:38We ran into each other recently and I was like, I've got to get you
1:40on. So I appreciate you making the time for me.
1:43This was great to connect with you, Lisa, and excited to be on your podcast.
1:46Well, thank you so much.
1:48You know, Congresswoman, I wanted to start off before.
1:50I would definitely want to talk about your book.
1:52It's very important. But I want to start off on Iran right now.
1:56So, so far, at least early polling shows that the war is not popular.
2:02You know, why do you think the public backing is weaker than we've seen at
2:06the start of past conflicts like, you know, Iraq or even Korea and some of
2:12these other wars? Well, first of all, I don't think the president or the Congress
2:16should be making national security decisions based upon polling.
2:19They should be focused on national security threats.
2:22And if you look at Iran's record, not only of the past few months, but
2:26frankly, over decades, this is the largest state sponsor of terrorism.
2:30It has led to the deaths directly of Americans over the past decades.
2:36You know, I represent Fort Drum, home of the 10th Mountain Division, the most deployed
2:39division in the U .S.
2:40Army since now. When you think about the Iranian -backed militias in Iraq and the
2:46targeting of American soldiers, that's an example of Iran as a national security threat, the
2:50continued pursuit of nuclear weapons capability, ballistic missiles.
2:54As someone who sits on two national security committees, this is an area where I
2:58speak directly to my constituents about a lot because it impacts the military families in
3:02my district. And we've seen broad support, not only for the president, but also for
3:07protecting our national security. You know, I think that President Trump was correct when he
3:12said some things are, this is more important than polling.
3:15And I also really have faith and confidence in President Trump in, he took the
3:21correct action and it's been militarily extremely successful.
3:25And you've seen some of the public reporting, Lisa, in terms of looking to bring
3:29this to a close, while also focusing on domestic issues like lowering energy prices.
3:35And that's something that both the Secretary of Energy and, frankly, the Secretary of Treasury
3:39and the entire administration is focused on.
3:41If you look among Republican voters, there is extremely strong support for this.
3:46But again, national security should not be decided by polling.
3:50And, you know, that's always been my position in Congress.
3:55No, I agree with you.
3:56And I think that he made the right call.
3:59But, you know, voters want him to turn around the economy.
4:01And there's concern that this could, you know, it's going to drive up energy costs
4:06ahead of the midterm elections.
4:09Does this sort of move the Republican Party further away from solving the affordability concerns
4:14of Americans? You know, absolutely not.
4:17If you look at where we were a year ago, in terms of or even
4:23more than a year ago when President Trump took office, look at the economic disaster
4:28that he inherited. And right now we're at a very important time.
4:32Americans are filing their taxes.
4:34It's tax season. And they're about to see the largest tax cut in history, particularly
4:39when I consider my constituents in New York who faced historically high taxes.
4:44And we raised that state and local tax deduction.
4:47That is incredibly important to put more money in hardworking families' pockets.
4:52And the overall economic confidence right now is very high compared to where it was
4:59during the Biden administration. I mean, the digging out of the inflation crisis, President Trump
5:04has been very successful at that.
5:06Look at the historically low energy prices.
5:09Yes, they have spiked in the past two weeks.
5:12But with the all of the above energy approach, we're going to see those energy
5:16prices come down, particularly as there's such a focus from the administration to make sure
5:21that people aren't feeling the pain in the pockets over the long term.
5:24term. You mentioned taxes. I'm sure you saw Governor Kathy Hochul begging wealthy individuals to
5:31return to New York to do their patriotic duty and pay taxes for, I guess,
5:36the illegal immigrants they've allowed into the state and city.
5:39Mayor Zoran Mamdani is intent on continuing to raise taxes.
5:44What does this like continued exodus of higher earners mean for New Yorkers?
5:48It's not just high earners that are leaving, Lisa.
5:51I mean, I represent a district where the median income for a family is about
5:55$45 ,000 to $50 ,000.
5:58And these high taxes are extraordinarily painful.
6:02They hurt the working class in New York.
6:05And you're going to continue to see a mass exodus.
6:07If you compare our state's budget to the state of Florida, it is abysmal that
6:12Medicaid alone, which is a totally poorly run program in New York state that's not
6:18serving the people who it should be serving well, let alone the tens of billions
6:22that are going towards illegals.
6:24That's larger than the entire budget of Florida.
6:27And Florida has a larger population than New York.
6:30Every day, Lisa, I get texts or calls from New Yorkers, whether they're constituents or
6:35people across New York, that they are leaving because of the policies.
6:39It's not because of the weather.
6:40It's not because they don't love New York.
6:42It's because of the economic policies that are running them out of the state.
6:46And you're going to continue to see a brain drain, not only of our entrepreneurs
6:51and our businesses and our young people, but seniors are leaving as well.
6:55And the fact that the only solution from whether it's Governor Kathy Hochul or Zoran
7:00Mamdami is to continue to raise taxes, it's only going to further exacerbate that mass
7:05exodus. And the impact federally is that means over time you lose congressional representation.
7:13You know, New York used to be one of the biggest delegations in the nation.
7:17And over the past few decades, that has winnowed down.
7:20We lost a congressional seat in the last round of redistricting.
7:23That's going to happen again, unfortunately, because people are leaving.
7:28And then I want to switch into anti -Semitism just one moment.
7:31But so you have now exited the commutatorial race for New York, as well as
7:37your congressional election. Should we as voters read into that about, you know, the writing
7:43on the wall for Republicans this November?
7:46No. You know, when I first ran Lisa, I was very clear that I don't
7:49think these positions were imagined by the founders to be lifelong, you know, running for
7:55the next office constantly. And I made a decision as, you know, personally, professionally and
8:00politically for me, I've been proud to keep my promises to my constituents to deliver
8:06significant results. But I also have a four -year -old and those are critical years.
8:10And as a mom, I made that decision.
8:13I also, you know, I do think politically the midterms are going to be very
8:17challenging. And in a blue state traditionally like New York, you have to have a
8:20pitch perfect situation politically in order to have a very strong path.
8:25I certainly know that we had the strongest path and certainly would have put the
8:29primary away. But I think that given the single -party Democrat rule and the entrenchment
8:35and even the lawfare that is conducted against Republicans, I made a decision that it
8:40was not the right time for my family.
8:43And I'm very happy with the decision for us.
8:46I know that many New Yorkers have reached out.
8:49And what they'll say to me, Lisa, is we're happy for you as a family.
8:53And we, you know, are so we're going to miss you so much, Lisa, as
8:57a member of Congress. But, you know, we understand.
9:00And unfortunately, I think there's frustration broadly among New York Republicans that there's just a
9:06lack of apparatus. And we, you know, I had a seat.
9:08People forget Lisa. I flipped my seat.
9:10It was a seat that was held by a Democrat.
9:12And we put up some of the largest margins in the Northeast.
9:15It was the right time for my family.
9:19And I'm very grateful for my constituents, for their encouragement and support as we've made
9:23this decision. And I'm going to continue speaking out and leading on issues that are
9:27important to me and important to New York.
9:29No, of course. No, I mean, you've got to do what's best for your family.
9:31It's just it's, you know, a tough loss for the Republican Party to lose, you
9:35know, someone so young and promising in politics.
9:37But there's there's more to life than it.
9:39Got to take a quick commercial break.
9:41More with Congresswoman Elise Stefanik.
9:46You know, so I want to get your book about Poisoned Ivies, the inside account
9:50of the academic and moral rod at America's elite institutions.
9:54How challenging is it to push for change within these institutions when you look at
10:01places like New York City, and you've got Mom Donnie's own wife, who has, you
10:06know, liked things about October 7, and either described the Hamas attacks as, you know,
10:12breaking the walls of apartheid or collective liberation or who has reportedly liked content characterizing
10:19the reports of sexual violence during October 7 and rapes as a hoax or has
10:25used the N word. You know, like it's how how do we get change of
10:28these institutions when you've got, you know, the rot is also within these politicians and
10:34at the top? Yes. Well, first of all, isn't it very just disturbing that the
10:39mainstream media refuses to even ask Mom Donnie about his spouses, his wife's horrific comments?
10:47It's just a very poor reflection of the state of affairs of the...
10:52media, you know, the quote -unquote elite media in New York that is just so
10:56out of touch and just is so biased in favor of these radical socialists.
11:01So first of all, you don't get Azora Mamdami without what happened at Columbia.
11:06Literally the same individuals, Mahmoud Khalil is an example.
11:10He was one of the foreign leaders on campus who led these pro -Hamas encampments.
11:14And he was just in Gracie Mansion having dinner with Mamdami and his wife.
11:20So literally there is a direct correlation.
11:22I also go in depth in one of the chapters where I do a deep
11:24dive on Columbia. Mamdami really came out of the petri dish of this far -left
11:29radical anti -American academia. The fact that his father has been an apologist for suicide
11:36bombers that has a record of anti -Semitism, anti -Americanism compared Abraham Lincoln to Hitler.
11:43It is inexcusable. And, you know, Mamdami has said that he has been shaped by
11:49his parents, that that's the most important guidepost.
11:52And we can look at what that record of academic work was for his father
11:58at Columbia. So the book, it's interesting.
12:01This was the hearing heard around the world.
12:03I've been in a lot of high -profile congressional hearings.
12:05I've been in impeachment hearings.
12:06I've had, you know, cabinet secretaries, major CEOs in front of me under oath at
12:10Congress. I've never been in a hearing that resonated and really captured the public's attention
12:16like this one. And it was because it was so clear that these institutions, it
12:20was Harvard, Penn and MIT at first, were so out of touch when I asked
12:25them the direct question, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your university's code
12:29of conduct? And they all said about, you know, it depends on the context.
12:34And in a week, it was a billion views.
12:36It set off an earthquake in higher education that continues to roil through.
12:40We saw the Department of Justice in the Trump administration just correctly sued Harvard for
12:45their failure to protect civil rights protections for Jewish students on campus.
12:49And there's just a litany of examples.
12:51And the book does a deep dive.
12:53This didn't happen overnight. This has been a long downward slide and slide to the
12:57left in academia. It goes into Harvard.
13:01It goes into Penn. There's a Columbia chapter.
13:03There is a chapter on sort of other schools like Northwestern, Brown, Yale, MIT.
13:09And then it importantly puts forth schools that are getting it right.
13:12So that are going in the right direction in terms of showing moral leadership, really
13:18focusing on academic exceptionalism and not political indoctrination.
13:22Some of those examples are Vanderbilt, University of Florida.
13:25Dartmouth is really the sole ivy that has not followed the crowd, the herd on
13:31this. And then it puts forth policy solutions.
13:33But it's a watershed moment.
13:34And in order to understand what's happening with these anti -American socialists that are pro
13:40-Hamas, pro -terrorist, you need to look at what's happening at the schools.
13:44You know, you'd mentioned the exchange with Ivy League presidents that went viral, your short
13:50questioning of them. Why was it so hard for them to just call out anti
13:55-Semitism? What's behind that? You know, Lisa, I that wasn't even a prepared question.
14:01And it was the last question of the hearing.
14:03I thought, how can I ask this in the most straightforward, non -political way to
14:09force them to answer yes?
14:10And I was planning my follow -up was going to be about what disciplinary action
14:15they had taken against students or faculty that violated the rules.
14:19And to my astonishment, they I couldn't even get to the follow -up because they
14:24answered the first question that was very direct is calling for the genocide of Jews,
14:29violate your university's rules. That should have been a yes answer without hesitation.
14:34You ask a constituent of mine, they know how to answer that question.
14:38You ask sort of a typical working American, they know how to answer that question
14:43correctly. And the fact that these university presidents were so out of touch, I think
14:49it encapsulated just what's so wrong with higher education.
14:54And of course, if you add on to that, the fact that tuition is sky
14:58high prices, graduates are struggling to get jobs in today's workforce, we really need to
15:04do a deep dive, go back to the founding mission of these schools and return
15:09to the founding mission. I mean, I'm a big believer in going back and studying
15:13history. These schools were founded on amazing principles, veritas, truth, moral truth at Harvard.
15:22And it was, you know, part of the inspiration for the American Revolution.
15:25A lot of these schools predated the founding of our country, yet they've strayed so
15:29far away. But people are voting with their feet.
15:32Parents and students are voting with their feet and their tuition dollars, and they're going
15:36elsewhere if you look at the matriculation rates.
15:39What do you think is the driving force behind the anti -Semitism on college campuses?
15:44Is it is it these university presidents or are they responding to pressure from faculty
15:50and students or kind of like what's driving it, do you think?
15:53So the book talks about this.
15:54It's multifaceted. So number one, if you look at the faculty ideological bent and the
16:00faculty tenure, it is a self -selection process that continues to move further and further
16:05to the left. It's something like 80 to one at these schools now in the
16:10humanities departments of those that identify as extremely liberal.
16:14You know, for every 80, there's one, if there is one, who is a faculty
16:19member that And so that residence level has the two.
16:19So what do you want to do with these options today and the university needs
16:19a very different tool to adapt to our kinds ofнет -oms down?
16:19self -describes as a conservative.
16:22That didn't used to be the case.
16:23If you look decades ago, surprisingly, it was one -to -one at some of these
16:27schools. So that's how much that has shifted.
16:30So faculty tenure, we have to figure out a way to address that academic laziness,
16:36I say, in academic monoculture and groupthink.
16:39The second piece is the foreign dollars.
16:41I think the American people are surprised when you consider the amount of foreign dollars
16:46flowing to these universities. Last year alone, Qatar had $1 .2 billion going to U
16:51.S. higher ed institutions. And we've seen in the case in Northwestern, for example, where
16:56they have a formal agreement.
16:58They limited the school in terms of how they talked about October 7th because of
17:04that financial agreement. That needs to stop.
17:07These are American institutions. They should not be propped up by foreign dollars.
17:11Qatar is number one. China is number two.
17:14If you look at the record of China investing in Confucius Institutes, which we banned
17:19a few years ago. But, you know, China has tried to find loopholes.
17:23That's a piece as well.
17:25Also, the percentage of foreign students.
17:27People would be surprised that, for example, in the case of Colombia, you have upwards
17:31of 40 percent of students who are foreign.
17:34Again, these are American institutions.
17:36They should be focused on giving those coveted slots to American students who are well,
17:42more than well qualified to apply and get accepted to these universities.
17:47And if you look at many of the kind of leaders of the pro -Hamas
17:51encampment and riots in the case of Colombia, many of them were those foreign students
17:55on foreign visas. So you have to address that as well.
17:59In these universities, you also have the growing administrative states through the offices of DEI,
18:05which are inherently anti -Semitic.
18:07We saw that in the case of Harvard, that the office of DEI refused to
18:11even respond when Jewish students reached out raising issues of anti -Semitism.
18:15So the book goes into not only what is driving this, but also potential solutions.
18:21It has been a sea change dealing with and working with the Trump administration, which
18:25took this seriously, not only on the campaign trail, it was a major focus of
18:29President Trump. It's an issue that I've worked with him directly on.
18:32I mean, I don't know if people realize how closely he watched the hearings, but
18:35he would always be the first call or text after the hearing or as these
18:39college president resignations happen. I knew without fail, as my phone was ringing or the
18:44text sound went off, it was typically President Trump.
18:47The executive actions on day one, as well as these important investigations from the Department
18:52of Education, those have been incredibly important to create this shift that's going to take
18:57a long time to dig out of.
18:59No, I'm glad you mentioned the foreign money.
19:01That's something I've been concerned with as well.
19:03But why don't we hear about it as much?
19:05Because you would think that that would be like an obvious point of concern for
19:09Americans that we're importing these students who hate the West, who, you know, will get
19:13educated here, but they hate our country and they hate our values, or that we're
19:17taking money from, you know, countries that house terrorists, if you're Qatar or China, an
19:23enemy, right? Like, it's like, you would think that would be more concerning, but we
19:27don't hear about it very often.
19:29We didn't hear about it because there were loopholes in the law.
19:32So one part of the hearing that did not get as much media coverage, but
19:36I knew in the moment was an important question because I can see the witnesses
19:39sort of body language and how they responded.
19:42I actually asked the president of Harvard, former President Claudine Gay, about the sources of
19:46foreign dollars. And she sort of clammed up in the hearing and said, you know,
19:50we have generous donors from all over the world.
19:52She wouldn't say countries. I knew at that moment I was hit on something because
19:56these schools, number one, were finding loopholes and not being fully transparent.
20:01So what we did in Congress was we passed what's called the Deterrent Act.
20:05Previously, foreign dollars could flow into centers and not directly to the university or professors
20:11and not directly to the university writ large.
20:16Those were not disclosed as part of the requirement for foreign dollars.
20:20That loophole has now been closed up.
20:23And that's why you saw this recent report from the Department of Education was so
20:27jaw dropping because it included all those dollars together.
20:32And this is an area where my office has led.
20:35This book focuses on this.
20:37And the more we talk about that, bringing this transparency is going to wake up
20:42the American people and policymakers to say we should not allow this to be happening.
20:48You know, you've mentioned this, but the Trump administration has tied federal funding to some
20:53accountability. How successful has he been with that?
20:56And then do we worry that the next Democrat president will, you know, do the
21:00same in terms of trying to shape some of these universities and college campuses?
21:05Well, it's what I found is after the hearing, these schools had an opportunity to
21:10fix themselves and they completely failed to do that.
21:13They just continued to dig deeper and deeper.
21:15So to me, the biggest tool we have is taxpayer dollars.
21:19These schools rely on, in some cases, over a billion dollars annually of hard -earned
21:24U .S. taxpayer dollars. They are not entitled to those funds.
21:27If they are not complying with civil rights laws, then they need to be defunded.
21:32And that, you know, I know there's been some criticism from the media and from
21:36these institutions to President Trump, but he made the correct decision with my office's encouragement
21:42that you have to use the federal dollars.
21:44That's the only way these schools are going to respond.
21:47And If you dig down to what these requirements are, Lisa, it's pretty straightforward.
21:51Focus on academic excellence, comply with civil rights laws, protect Jewish students on campus, focus
21:58on academic integrity. I mean, the book also goes into this moral rot, but let's
22:04talk about the academic rot as well.
22:06The former president of Harvard is a known plagiarist in terms of the plagiarism that
22:12came out as a result of the hearing and then increased scrutiny and transparency.
22:16Any student would be kicked out of campus, but somehow the Harvard Corporation Board kept
22:22the president of the university.
22:23So, you know, the Trump administration has been correct.
22:26My fear is the next administration, if it is a Democrat administration, whenever that happens
22:31down the line, is they can wipe those executive actions away.
22:34That's why it's very important for Congress to codify as many of these EOs as
22:39possible. We were able to do some of this in the reconciliation bill that we
22:44passed last year, but there needs to be more work on this issue.
22:47But why are we giving some of these elite institutions federal money, like, period?
22:52I mean, some of them are completely, or I think most of them are, you
22:55know, self -sufficient financially. They have big endowments.
22:58So it's like, why are they even getting federal taxpayer dollars, period?
23:02It's a great point. It's something that I believe we should absolutely consider clawing that
23:08back. These schools have some of the largest endowments.
23:11I mean, tens of billions of dollars in many cases.
23:15The interesting thing, and I talk about how they sort of put American students last,
23:19while they have these massive endowments, and on top of that, they're getting federal funds,
23:23the tuition rates continue to keep going up.
23:25I mean, the tuition rates are much, much higher than the median income for an
23:29entire family in my district.
23:30That is not only unaffordable, but they're focused on recruiting these foreign students who pay
23:36full -ticket price, which puts American students at a disadvantage.
23:40So I think that is something that should be considered, is not only in the
23:45short term clawing back those federal dollars, but really looking at what these endowments are.
23:51And also, by the way, they get special tax provisions.
23:54And because in the case of Columbia and most of these schools, they're nonprofits, they
23:58don't pay property taxes and become the largest landowners in key areas.
24:03That's the case for Harvard in the greater Boston area.
24:06Columbia is one of the largest landowners in terms of New York City.
24:09Something is not right. Many things are not right when you consider where higher education
24:13institutions are, what their endowments are.
24:16And yet they continue to, you know, screw the American taxpayers.
24:21Got to take a quick break.
24:22If you like what you're hearing, please share on social media or send it to
24:25your family and friends. You know, a lot of these universities, you know, they preach
24:32inclusion, but it seems to be like inclusion except for Jewish students.
24:39Except for Jewish students or conservative students or, again, common sense.
24:43You don't even have to be conservative to be out of the norm.
24:45Now it's like if you're common sense and independent and not a socialist, that makes
24:52you out of the norm at some of these institutions.
24:55And the only time they've very vociferously defended free speech, Lisa, was when it came
25:01to calling for the genocide of Jews.
25:02And I pointed out in Harvard's case, I was purged from Harvard's board of the
25:07Institute of Politics after January 6th based upon my floor speech.
25:11My floor speech, which talked about constitutional issues, condemned the violence on January 6th.
25:17And I stand by the floor speech.
25:19It was immediate and swift.
25:21And they got rid of the only person that voted for Trump, not once, not
25:26twice, but three times, both in 16, 20 and 24, not acceptable on a quote
25:31unquote bipartisan board. So, you know, these schools to say now, we support freedom of
25:36speech. Look at the conservative professors they've run out.
25:39Look at the conservative speakers they've silenced.
25:42Look at the conservative leaders.
25:44I mean, in Harvard's case, they were actually considering revoking degrees from Ted Cruz, Ron
25:49DeSantis and myself and Tom Cotton.
25:51That is insane. They actually like that's what the faculty was pressing the president of
25:57the university to do. Something is deeply, deeply amiss.
26:01But I will tell you, parents and students are very smart.
26:05They're going to schools like Vanderbilt, University of Florida.
26:08They are looking elsewhere. This new school at University at Austin, which was founded in
26:132021. Or they're looking at not going to the traditional four -year college and going
26:18right into the workplace. I mean, I've been inspired in the past couple of years
26:22in particular, the number of entrepreneurs that are starting billion -dollar companies, solving major national
26:28security issues, who were freshmen at MIT and said, you know what, this is not
26:33worth my time. I'd rather get to work, build an amazing American company.
26:37That's inspiring to me. And the Teal Fellowship Program is an example of a program
26:43that has been quite successful.
26:44But I think people are really scrutinizing their decisions now when it comes to education.
26:49And as my son is beginning his educational journey, I mean, he's only in pre
26:53-K four. We're very proud of him.
26:54He's doing great in school.
26:56We're going to think outside of the box to make sure that it is focused
27:00on academic excellence and not this politicization.
27:04You know, what role has DEI played in shaping these universities and how they, you
27:09know, they hire, they teach, and they discipline?
27:12A huge role. And if you look at the case...
27:15I mean, this is one of the driving issues that has led to the skyrocketing
27:18of anti -Semitism in the DEI regime, which frankly is unconstitutional when it comes to
27:25equal protection under the law.
27:27There is a prioritization of sort of checking the DEI boxes rather than the merit
27:32of the student. I think one of the bigger scandals, not just one of what
27:36happened at these schools post -October 7th, which was a huge scandal, is when we
27:40do a deep dive in the admissions office.
27:42We've seen a little bit of this in recent years with the Supreme Court ruling
27:46against Harvard because of their admissions processes.
27:50But if you look at the percentage of not only American students, but specifically American
27:55Jewish students, that has fallen off a cliff at these most, quote unquote, elite universities.
28:01I believe the admissions offices of some of these schools are not abiding by the
28:07Supreme Court decision, again, and sort of the race blind admissions process to have equal
28:14access and equal, you know, equality of opportunity, which is quintessentially American.
28:21But it's fallen so far away from that.
28:23And I go through examples in the book of how the offices of DEI would
28:28not respond to Jewish students because they didn't fit into the DEI regime.
28:33I believe DEI at its core is anti -Semitic.
28:36It's anti -American. And it's led to this shift away from merit -based opportunities.
28:43Absolutely. And then before we go, is there anything else you'd like to leave us
28:46with about your new book, Poisoned IAVs?
28:49It comes out April 14th.
28:50You can pre -order it at EliseStefanik .com.
28:54It's available at your local bookseller.
28:55It's my first book. Again, I look forward to writing books in the future.
28:59But if you watch that hearing, if you're concerned about American education, if you're a
29:02student, if you're a parent, this book really lays out what is happening at these,
29:07again, elite schools. And I went to one of them.
29:09It was not like this when I was an undergraduate at Harvard.
29:12But this slide over the past two decades, this needs to be fixed.
29:15It needs to be addressed.
29:16And it's very much tied into not only domestic politics, but also national security issues
29:21we're facing today. Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, Poisoned IAVs.
29:26Interesting stuff. Look forward to seeing what you do next.
29:29Really appreciate you making the time for the show.
29:31Thank you, Elise. That was Congresswoman Elise Stefanik on her new book, Poisoned IAVs.
29:36Appreciate her for making the time for the show.
29:38Appreciate you guys at home for listening every Tuesday and Thursday, but we can listen
29:41throughout the week. Also want to thank John Cassio, my producer, for putting the show
29:45together. Until next time.