Rep. Randy Fine: 'I support a four-state solution for Britain!'

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1:00Hello and welcome back to the Americano show. My name is Freddie Gray. I am the deputy editor of The Spectator and the US editor. And I'm pleased to tell you that this is the 10th year of the Americano podcast. And I think it's fair to say it's been a fairly fascinating time in American politics, life, and culture. And that's what we talk about every episode on this podcast. So please keep listening and provide as much feedback as you like. Hello and welcome back to the Americano show. I'm joined today by Congressman Randy Fine who has called something of a stir on Twitter by posting the following. I support a four state solution from the river to the sea. Scotland Wales and Ireland will be free. This was in response to the news that today the leaders of Scotland Wales and Northern

2:01Ireland are meeting to discuss their roles within the Union and it is thought potentially work on some sort of cooperative alliance without England. Now Randy Fine that's obviously a very provocative statement. May I ask do you believe that at any level or are you simply trolling? I don't think I'm doing either. I think what I'm doing is I'm pointing out ridiculous logic and talking about how it can come home to roost of the UK, the current government of the UK has made a ridiculous statement that it believes that Israel should be broken into two parts, one run by terrorists. And so if the logic is good in that part of the world, if you've got a group of people who want to separate from the United Kingdom, why should they not be able to do that? And so what I'm pointing out is the ridiculousness of the logic. So trolling I think would mean sort of something pointless. I think pointing out the fallacy of the logic is something useful because it forces people

3:02to confront their own stupidity, which is why I think we're seeing the reaction that we're seeing. Yes, but you can understand that it's quite offensive is probably the wrong way to use. But it's quite annoying for a lot of British people to hear an American tradition say that. And do you not think it's annoying to many Jews around the world and people in Israel for some guy who doesn't know what he's doing in the UK in order to appeal to Muslim voters to propose breaking up Israel again. What I'm very good at is pointing out consistency and inconsistency. So if countries don't believe we should metal and break up other countries than they should act accordingly. Well, I can see that, but you are a representative of America, you are in the American Congress, and Israeli politicians, so it's not quite the same. Actually, it's exactly the same. The government of the UK is the government of the UK, not the government of Israel. Again, it's all about consistency. My interest in the UK being broken up is no different than the government of the UK's interest in Israel being broken up. They're identical.

4:03So you do have an interest in the UK being broken up? No, no, I actually don't. And I think from the river to the sea should point out that the notion that I'm kind of pointing out the logic. No, I think that should be up to the people of the UK. But my point is, if it is the UK's position that Israel should be able to be broken up for whatever reason in order to appeal to domestic politics, then the rules should be the same for the UK. And you think that's not... I'm trying to point out... Is that the position of a bigger politician than the UK policy? Is that the position of a bigger politician than the UK policy? And I think I've done it quite well to be perfectly honest. But I'm just saying, is that the position of a... Is that for an American politician to point out, or would it not be better to come from an Israeli politician to point out the... Why wouldn't... Would not... Wouldn't breaking up Israel be the... Be the responsibility of an Israeli politician? Not a British politician? What I'm forcing you to do is to acknowledge that either British positions as it relates to Israel are ridiculous. Or they're not. And then my position is perfectly fine. But you're forced to confront that difficult truth.

5:07It is no different for me to talk about breaking up the UK than it is for your foreign minister to talk about breaking up Israel. These are identical. The difference is, in mine, I'm pointing out the ridiculousness of your government's position in the UK, you all actually are serious about that ridiculous position. Well, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who's from Florida, where you are Congressman Full Florida, he was asked about the UK sanctions on Israel, and he gave rather a political response. He said, we have no position on it. Will you disappointed that Marco Rubio did not condemn the British government? I think that the Secretary of Rubio says certain things in public and certain things in private. And I suspect the comments in private were not duly supportive. But I would also note that it is the position of 38 states in the United States to boycott any British company that chooses to engage in the boycott that the British government has called for. Your economy is going to suffer catastrophic blows based on how Americans will have to deal with British companies

6:10as a result of this ridiculous policy. Well, there does seem to be a growing antipathy among certain parts of the Republican party towards the British government. And a lot of it stems from Operation Epic Fury and the perception that Britain did not help in the early phases of that war. Is that something you feel and do you feel like a lingering animosity about that? By the way, it's not only it's a perception. I think that's an objectively factual statement. American taxpayers have spent trillions of dollars since the end of World War II protecting Europe when it came to protecting our interests, all of the sudden it wasn't reciprocated. But my frustration is as much of that as it is that Britain's overwhelming welcoming of its own Islamification which is going to doom the country to destruction. I think what we're seeing with this ridiculous foreign policy as it relates to Israel is it's simply a political move to try to appeal to voters who never should have been in the country in the first place. And so that's what bothers me, frankly, even more than the Iran conflict issues.

7:15But could you see why the British government might have felt first of all a bit blindsided on Operation Epic Fury, why they might have thought this war might not work, which it doesn't seem to be working at the moment, and why, therefore, they did not get as involved as perhaps they might have done? Well, I'd actually challenge the premise of your question. I think the conflict is working very, very well. The economy of Iran is in crisis, it is in free fall, and it is close to collapsing. And so you don't end a 47-year war overnight. I think it's crazy that European leaders weren't more involved because what we've learned since this conflict began that Iran has weapons that could hit you. It doesn't have weapons that could hit us. So it just kind of shows the suicidal tendencies of Western European nations to stick their heads in the sand and not deal with the threats as they exist in the world. Donald Trump was trying to resolve a 47-year conflict with a nation that's been focused on building nuclear weapons that it absolutely would use if they had them.

8:17And I think it's actually going quite well. Do I wish it was over in two days or two weeks? I certainly do, but eventually that economy will collapse that people will rise up and they will take over. Before we go on a word from our sponsors, monetary metals, what if your gold can actually earn more gold without you ever selling it? That's the idea behind monetary metals, a company changing the way investors think about gold ownership. For decades, owning gold meant paying storage fees and hoping the price went up. But monetary metals let you put your gold to productive use through their gold leasing marketplace, earning up to 4% yield on gold paid in actual gold ounces, not dollars more gold. So you maintain exposure to gold's long-term purchasing power while increasing the amount of metal you own over time. In a world dealing with inflation, debt expansion, and financial instability,

9:18that's a very different approach to wealth preservation. Thousands of investors are no longer relying solely on gold price appreciation. They've become monetary metals clients to accumulate more ounces of gold. Learn how to earn yield on gold paid in gold at monetaryhifenmetals.com forward slash Americano. Donald Trump said at the beginning of the war that it would be four to six weeks, it's been a lot longer than that. The price of oil is over $100 of a barrel. The midterms are coming up. Things are looking a bit dicey for the Republican party as a result, are they not? Look, the British government thought if it gave territory to Adolf Hitler World War II wouldn't happen. I mean, sometimes you make decisions that don't turn out to be the case. I think the president was optimistic on that four to six weeks, but you never know how things are going to gone. Maybe had our European allies stepped up and helped us, it would be over sooner. And President Trump's had to carry the burden in large part for much of the world.

10:20But this was a problem that was clear and present. Iran was reaching a point where we would no longer be able to control their ability to get a nuclear weapon. We stepped in, we did the right thing. I think it has changed Iran's perception in the world part of the big win here is that the other Islamic countries that surround Iran now know that Iran will attack it at will. And now we'll have longstanding effects in the region. But I do think we're ultimately going to prevail. And I think we'll prevail without boots on the ground, which will be an extraordinary achievement for the president. There's a certain contradiction there in what you're saying, isn't there? Because you're saying the war is going great. You're winning Iran's losing and so on. And yet you're saying we could have done with European help to win it. Well, I said sooner, quicker. I mean, we are winning, but it's been a few months longer. And I don't know that by the way, had Europe helped, it would have been over faster. But sometimes things take a little bit of time.

11:22The fact that we're winning doesn't mean that we have won. And I do think that we will, because we hold all the cards. Let's sort of step back and look at the conflict. We have destroyed, we have largely destroyed Iran's military. We have the ability to strike anything in Iran at any time, anywhere, any place. And there's nothing that they can do about it. Their economy is in freefall. They have been locked out from accessing the world markets through the straight of war moves. So the negatives to us, the negative to the United States is I looked it up a week or two ago. My constituents are paying about 90 cents more a gallon per, maybe a little different today. But it was 90 cents more per gallon of gas than they were a year ago. And that stinks. Don't get me wrong. That's the consequence of the United States. 90 cents more per gallon of gas. By the way, even with that, our gasoline costs much, much less than it does in your country. But that's still an irritant. And it's annoying if you're filling up your car and you have to pay an extra 20 or $30 for a tank of gas.

12:26That's the consequence to the United States. The consequence to Iran is no military, no economy. That's why we're winning and that's why they're losing. Well, President Trump, you appear to be in line with him somewhat on Ireland over the weekend. He said at a golf event, he said that Ireland should be united. He could be the person to do it. Do you support President Trump on that? Do you think Ireland should be united? And do you not see that for a lot of Protestants in Northern Ireland, that's quite a surprising shocking and perhaps offensive thing to say. Also bearing in mind that that's usually been the sort of democratic position through United Ireland. Yeah, look, I think that's really up to the Irish people to decide. And if that's what they want, I certainly would support it. But I think that's really up. I was in Ireland a number of years ago, not to Northern Ireland. I was sort of in the middle south, we kind of did a circle through the southern part of the country. It's an extraordinarily beautiful place. And I think that's really up to the people of Ireland. And another area that President Trump's been getting himself involved when recently is the Falklands.

13:27He's been talking a lot about the Falklands. And it seems that there's a quality of pressure on the US government from various places to support the Argentinian claim of sovereignty over the Falklands, over the British claim. And again, from the voices in the Republican Party that have been saying this, partly that's driven by an anger at the lack of support that Britain gave America at the beginning of Operation Epic Fury. Where do you stand on the Falklands? Well, look, I think what I stand is in that logical inconsistency. So Britain can own colonies around the world. And your country owns many around the world that are hundreds of years old. That's OK, apparently. But wants to lose its mind over what's going on in Israel. So my thoughts there would be, again, you've got to be consistent. Then you don't get to adopt to one form of outrage and anger when it comes to Israel as you colonize other places around the world. That would be my perspective. Well, that would make sense if the people being colonized were bitterly resisting their colonization.

14:30But the Falklanders have voted by very large majorities to be part of the United Kingdom. Do you still think that they should not be part of the United Kingdom? I think the vast majority of people in Israel are very content with how things are working today. It doesn't mean all of them are. And so, you know, the fact of the matter is, again, I think it's the logical consistency. And I guess I would make this similar argument. So if the overwhelming people, percentage of people in Northern Ireland or Scotland or Wales want to no longer be part of the United Kingdom, should they be able to do that? I think many of the people who are upset about the statement I made yesterday would disagree. I'm simply pointing out logical consistency and people occupying places that they're not from. Well, Raddy, fine. I'm not sure I follow your logic entirely, but I'm very grateful to you for coming on. And I admire your ability to wind up quite so many people with one tweet. You know, honestly, I'm surprised that people got as wound up as they did. It shocks me, but I think what I've learned in my life is when people are confronted

15:32with the fallacy of their own logic, what they generally tend to do is not realize they were wrong, they get angry about it. And I think that's what people are doing. They're being forced to confront why is it good for the goose, but not good for the gander? And I think people will continue to have to think about that in the days and weeks ahead. Raddy, fine. Thank you very much indeed. That's all for this episode of The Americano Show. I hope you enjoyed listening. I would like to solicit your feedback. So please contact us at americanoatspecta.co.uk as frequently as you like. Please keep the comments as polite as possible, but I don't mind criticism. I will leave this not much. Thank you to my brilliant production team. Keep listening and keep on trucking.

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