How To Make America Proud Again
31:37 Share

This episode is brought to you by Blink, an Amazon company. Think you're ready for Prime Day? With up to 50% off Blink smart security, you will be. With crisp HD video, real-time alerts, and two-way talk, you'll know the moment your packages arrive. Save big on Blink smart security, starting at just $19.99 with the Blink Mini 2 plug-in camera. Shop now at Amazon.com slash Blink.

I'm David Asman. I'm Janice Dean. I'm Jimmy Fallon. And this is the Fox News Rundown. Wednesday, July 2nd, 2025. I'm Chris Foster. Most Americans say they're proud of their country. A lot more Republicans say it now with President Trump in office. So I think what we're seeing is if your team is in, if your team is a winner in the presidential race, you feel good about the country. If your team is a loser, you feel bad about the country. We're speaking with Fox News Channel host Martha McCallum.

It's likely over with the man accused of killing four University of Idaho college students suddenly agreeing to plead guilty more than two and a half years after the murders. What's shocking to me is not the outcome, but the fact that they didn't properly prepare the next of kin, the victim's family, for this extraordinary outcome. And I'm Tommy Lahren. I've got the final word on the Fox News Rundown. America is back.

America is back. America is back. Something some Americans believed in 2021 when President Biden said it and others believe when President Trump said it this year. There's a new Fox poll out about national pride. Overall, 58% of Americans say they're proud of their country. That's 13 points higher than last year and the highest since the first time we asked the question in 2011, when it was 69%.

The pride now comes largely from Republicans, that 85%. They were at 36% last summer when President Biden was in office. Back then, 55% of Democrats said they were proud of America. They're at 36% now, with about 4 in 10 independents expressing pride both then and now. A new Gallup poll finds the same as the Fox poll. 58% of Americans overall are very or extremely proud of their country.

One of the things that I think is interesting, you go back to 2002 in the Gallup poll, and you had a 91 percent number of people who were proud to be American. Martha McCallum is the anchor and executive editor of The Story with Martha McCallum, weekdays, 3 p.m. Eastern on Fox News Channel. Her podcast is called The Untold Story. So I think what we're seeing is if your team is in, if your team is a winner in the presidential race, you feel good about the

country. If your team is a loser, you feel bad about the country. And I think it's sad. I think that we used to have a sense in this country, certainly when I was growing up and

going through college and all of that, it was that, you know, everybody was proud to be an American. But, you know, sometimes you're side won and sometimes you're side lost. And I think that, you know, President Trump is a very big factor here, but it's not the whole story. I mean, I think you see a number of underlying factors that are leading to what these numbers are revealing. I mean, one part of it's generational. In the Gallup poll, especially, there's almost a direct correlation between age and pride. Like,

people under whatever late 20s and younger, it's less than half say that they're very proud or extremely proud. And as you go up in the generations, people have more so. So something's clearly going on there. Absolutely. And I think you have to look to the education system, which unfortunately, over the past few decades has decided that it's going to indoctrinate even young children with their thinking on politics and on the country. And

I think that that has deteriorated the overall sense of pride. I also think, you know, I spend a lot of my time outside of work interviewing veterans from our wars, from Vietnam and from most recently Vietnam and from World War II, of course. And I've done some recent pieces on Korea as well. And I think that, you know, there's a lack of understanding of the history of our country, the sacrifices that have been made by civilians.

many people. And I thought it was very interesting in the upper age group for this, that number of American pride is also declining. And I don't know about you, but if you speak to, you know, I spoke to my dad about this when he was in his 90s.

They are worried about the country, older individuals, and they see what's happening. They see kids who don't even know, you know, what the Civil War was or don't understand what happened in Vietnam. Until we start really teaching kids our history, I think we're going to see these numbers continue to slide when they, you know, when everything comes from TikTok and social media and you've got a 20-second lesson on something, you know, they're just buying into it. They're not, a lot of them, sadly, digging into

deeper than that. So this is a huge problem in the country. And I think that's what's reflected in these numbers, maybe more than anything. That's one thing we were talking about when we were kicking this, this, the idea for this segment around and brainstorming on it was not just the attention span part of it, but just the constant negativity that,

Of the doom scrolling when you're looking at when you're looking at social media could, you know, could be a contributing factor. Absolutely. I mean, think about it. I'm not sure how much more we need to understand about TikTok than the fact that the Chinese government doesn't allow their young people to use it.

And instead, they're fed and we don't live in this kind of government, thankfully, in a communist leadership. But they're just fed information about communist China, about the great points about China and math and science.

I mean, you know, we have given up a lot of our responsibility, I would say, to teach young people why they should, why should you love America? The story of this country, I'm working on a very big project right now, which I hope is going to just do a small part in helping our young people to understand our history. And I think it does change them when they know these stories. I do see kids, you know, I covered a

the anniversary of Normandy for the 75th anniversary, then the 80th anniversary. And there were families there, American families, who brought their kids for these events. And those kids, they understand the importance of Normandy. They understand Eisenhower. They understand World War II, only because their parents took the time to make sure that they took them to these places and explained it to them. You know, we have Civil War sites, obviously, in this country that can be visited over this

summer. People can go to Gettysburg, you know, go to the Memorial Day Parade, which is passed now, go to the Fourth of July parade, talk about the country in a positive way, regardless of your politics, because we are all blessed to live in this country, whether you are a Democrat or an independent or Republican. And I think these numbers need to be given some serious reflection in what we're spending time with, with our kids on.

Even people who are proud of the idea of America may not like who runs it. And this is pretty consistent in the Fox poll. Over, I think, a third of people-ish trust the federal government compared to two-thirds who distrust it. We've been asking this question since 2002, which was the only time a majority trusted the government. And that was like nine months after the 9-11 attacks when we were not long into the war in Afghanistan. So that is something that's pretty consistent. Whoever is in power across parties, just a lack of trust in federal government.

And I think that breakdown, you know, we've seen it in, uh,

our intelligence agencies. We've seen it in the military to some extent, although they tend to be the strongest number in most of these polls. We see it in the court system that people don't trust. And one of the things that I see time and time again is when something does go wrong or when there's a failure on the part of these agencies or these departments, no one ever stands up and says, you know, we made a mistake in

in this instance, and we are going to work to fix it. It's always excuses. It's always deflection. It's always, why am I being attacked? Instead of just

I think people really do respond when their government agencies say, we see what's happening. We see the waste in this agency and we're going to fix it. We're going to make sure we use your tax dollars well. And I think that there's lots of good reasons, sadly, that people have lost their confidence in federal agencies and the government. They've become extraordinarily self-serving and they've gobbled up a lot of our tax dollars and people don't feel like they're getting their money's worth from it. So I think that dissatisfaction is real, but

I honestly don't know if it's recoverable, but I think we need to see. I think Doge was an, you know,

Obviously, the Musk-Trump relationship is not in a great place, especially given what we heard from the president this morning on it. But the motivation was correct. And I think that if people see that that desire that Doge had is followed up on, I think that's the only thing in my eyes that can start to rebuild trust in these agencies and departments. And the generational part of it that is just economics and personal development.

Younger Americans are having fewer kids. They're not getting married. They can't imagine ever buying a home. And that has to play a factor in pride in your country, no matter which country you're in.

Yeah, you have to, people have to know that there's an ability to get ahead and to achieve the American dream. And I understand those concerns. You know, we live in the New York and New Jersey area. It's really tough for a young couple to buy their first home. And

you know, this is why you're seeing Mamdani, I think, get traction in New York, because a lot of them are not digging down to that next layer. They're not really paying attention to the, you know, socialism comments or even the comments that basically define communism in terms of, you know, garnering and controlling the means of production. That's a very clear communist sentiment that has come from him. But when you say, look, we're going to, you know, free buses and we're going to

Basically control your rent. I understand the appeal of that. And I think people are having a hard time getting ahead. But the other thing I will say is that, you know, when you look back in the course of our history, people did not...

young people, they got married and they had kids and they scraped by on what they had and they were building something for their future. I do think that there's a tendency on the part of some young people to say, well, I have to have this first. I have to have that first before I can do all that, before I can settle down. And I just think it's a very different mentality than what we saw from the people who built this country. I mean, look at the people who literally loaded up

their wagon with, you know, five children and went west. They had nothing, but they weren't saying, well, I'm not going to get married or I'm not going to have children. They knew that having, you know, generational aspiration was foundational to

achieving that dream. And I think that personal, you know, sacrifice or coming up with a different route is not the way of some young people. And I think this is regional, too. So I don't want to, you know, paint a broad brush on the country. We have a lot of amazing young people who are doing exactly this. And one other thing I would say on it is that

I do think that faith plays a big part in that kind of trust in the future and ability to get married and have kids and all of that. And I do see that faith is growing in the country and it is growing among young people, which I think is very encouraging.

Yeah, I mean, not that I mean, there's obviously always been thinking about people and, you know, wagon trains. There's always been struggle. There's always been poverty. There's always been obviously political differences, sometimes violent political differences. But but there was I do think there was more of a sense of we're all rowing in the same boat.

We're all rowing in something together. Fourth of July is coming up, a time when a lot of people who may not ever think about patriotism, you know, do bust out the red, white, and blue. Are you a big Fourth of July celebrator? Yes, I'm a big Fourth of July celebrator. I love parades.

And I love what they recognize about the country. You know, I would encourage people across the country to find your local parade. It does get kids excited about the country. They love to wave flags and, you know, put streamers in their bikes and ride around. And it is a very old fashioned feel when you go to a Fourth of July parade. And so I would really encourage people to get up in the morning and go do that with their family. I just think it's a

a great way to celebrate the day and to remind people what it's all about. I also would say that, you know, a dose of understanding

I think 1776 is a really good movie. I love shows. When my kids were little, we always showed them these kind of movies just to get them talking about history and talking about the country and teaching them lessons, honestly, of history that they weren't necessarily getting at school. So I would recommend that, too, especially if you get a rainy day. Martha McCallum, anchor and executive editor of The Story, weekdays, 3 p.m. Eastern on Fox News Channel, podcast The Untold Story. Martha, thanks.

Thank you. Take care.

Every weekday, it's your go-to source for staying informed and entertained. The Fox News Primetime Highlights Podcast. The Ingram Angle, Jesse Waters Primetime, Hannity, and Gutfeld. Listen and follow now at foxnewspodcasts.com. This is Tomi Lahren with your Fox News commentary coming up.

It's been more than two and a half years since University of Idaho students Kaylee Gonzalez, Zanna Cronodal, Ethan Chapin, and Madison Mogan were murdered, stabbed to death while sleeping in an off-campus apartment. Madison and Kaylee were best friends. Zanna and Ethan were a couple. Steve Gonzalez was vocal in the days following his daughter's murder as law enforcement looked for the killer. He appeared on Fox News asking for help in December of 2022. The story's going cold. There's less people coming to Moscow.

I'm not going to go sleep in my bed knowing that I could get up and I could go to town and I could do something. And then Brian Koberger was arrested December 30th, more than a month after the murders, across the country in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, at his parents' house. First Assistant District Attorney Mike Mancuso spoke of the arrest at the time, saying they executed three search warrants. One was for the person of Mr. Koberger.

collecting DNA and photographs, that sort of thing. One was for the white Elantra vehicle.

And one was for the address, the residence itself that he was living in. Since then, there have been many court hearings establishing the evidence against Koberger, who was a criminology Ph.D. student at the nearby Washington State University. His attorney, Ann Taylor, said in court recently. We're here because the state has alleged that a single piece of evidence ties Mr. Koberger to this case.

They've alleged that there's a knife sheet that has DNA that they allege matches Brian Koberger. He's now been incarcerated for two years facing capital murder. Now, though, just five weeks before trial was scheduled for Moscow, Idaho and Latah County, Koberger's attorney offers to accept a plea. He's due in court today.

Santa Cronutal's aunt doesn't want the deal. Kaylee Gonsalves' father told one outlet Idaho prosecutors failed them. Her sister says Koberger will be able to live, form relationships, and communicate while her loved one is silenced forever. The family members of Ethan Chapin and Madison Mogan have expressed potential support for a deal in which Koberger pleads guilty and avoids the death penalty.

I expect the deal to go forward. The judge is going to accept the state's recommendation. The defense is ready to plead. What's shocking to me is not the outcome, but the fact that they didn't properly prepare the next of kin, the victim's family, for this extraordinary outcome.

Mark Eichelarsch is a former prosecutor and current criminal defense attorney. His law firm's website is speaktomark.com. They were shocked. They were unprepared. That is traumatic for them. And they've been through enough.

It does sound like at least two families did not feel properly consulted about this decision. What is typical in discussions between attorneys, prosecutors and family members before a deal or decision like this is reached in a capital case?

Nothing has changed since I was a prosecutor 33 years ago. Your number one concern is to make sure that the victims are counseled on every plea offer. Every baby prosecutor learns that in county court on a fender bender on a case like this where they've been traumatized by that monster.

The last thing they need is to feel betrayed and suffer additional trauma by the state, by the prosecutors who are supposed to help them by sandbagging them like this. It was really unfortunate. And yet the technicality here is that legally this will likely go forward. Why? Is it because even if you don't like it as a family member, those are the breaks?

Correct. That's the second issue, right? The second issue is what's appropriate for the case, right? First issue, which prosecutors cannot get around, is the horrible way that they treated them and blindsiding them. But it's not the state of Florida versus the victims.

It's the state of Florida versus that monster Koberger. And prosecutors use victims input as something that they consider, but it's not binding the same way. If the families got together and said, we want 20 years for him, state would say, no, that's not appropriate. Similarly, if they come up with a resolution that they think is in the best interest of the people of the state of Idaho, then they're going to resolve it the way they see fit.

Let's talk a little bit about how we got here. You know, the same day this plea deal was announced, Monday,

There was a hearing in Pennsylvania, not Idaho, in which a judge was telling potential witnesses, you will have to appear for Mr. Koberger. You knew him when he was a teenager. However you knew him, you will appear in Idaho at this trial. It sounds like this deal was reached before that Monday hearing. What do you think sort of happened for the defense to say, you know what, let's let's do this?

Of course, it was reached way before or at least discussed way before. I had a very similar case and I litigated for four years. I had equivalent evidence like they did, like DNA on the sheath of the knife. I didn't have a knife in my case, but the equivalent, right? Where you knew you likely couldn't prevail at trial. Then the focus of the case came about

really just focusing on trying to save my client's life. And I think that's exactly what they did here. There was one attorney who was to handle the death portion of the case after conviction, and she did everything that she could to

create a reasonable doubt, at least in the prosecutors, that they would ever get the death penalty. Because in Idaho, all 12 have to agree to the death penalty. If one person says, no, I think that autism thing, you know, my kid has autism, I relate, I don't think we should execute him. That's all it takes. Then you don't get the death penalty. So I know that prosecutors were thinking about it for quite some time. And I know the defense was trying to get this outcome for quite some time.

You know, the resistance of those who had met or interacted with Brian Koberger when he was younger against testifying for him, it did make you wonder, and maybe this was just too premature, but it did make you wonder, who did this defense have to sort of testify to his character, back him up? Were they going to call his parents? Like, right, as a defense attorney, you need those character witnesses. I've been there. Whenever you're trying to save someone's life,

you find out everyone has ever said God bless you to and you call them. I don't literally mean that, but I mean any person who walked across the street. Anything could be a mitigating factor and you certainly won't have regret by calling every single person. I don't

care if they don't want to testify. I've had many people who said, I don't want to help your client. It doesn't matter. Look up the definition of subpoena. You are coming. And these people knew they'd get crucified in the media for being there because people wouldn't respect the fact that they were forced to be there. Rather, it looks like they're trying to help them.

Let me ask you about the evidence here. It sounds like we're going to hear about people inside this house noticing a man with bushy eyebrows. Brian Koberger's Amazon purchase of the particular knife that was found at the scene. As you already noted, the DNA evidence, the defense was pushing back on really how attorneys and investigators ended up linking that DNA evidence to Brian Koberger. But still, all of this was to be allowed in, right?

Of course it was coming in. Look, it's the defense's job to file motions to suppress, to say that that evidence should not come in. And then listen, 98% of the time, judges rule that that stuff is coming in. It's part of what makes our system great. Evidence is challenged. You can't argue that he didn't get a fair due process. He didn't get a fair look at the evidence and the challenge of the evidence. And then ultimately, once they know that all this evidence is coming in, while it is a, quote,

circumstantial evidence case, that word used to make people comment, well, it might not be strong. It was a very strong circumstantial evidence case. There was really only one person that the evidence pointed to.

Wow. And let me ask you as an attorney about the importance here of cameras, surveillance. Would we even, I don't know, would we even have found this person if cameras hadn't been placed throughout this neighborhood, you know, picking up that white Elantra driving by at such an odd hour and then being able to track that all the way to Pennsylvania from Idaho? That seems extremely significant here. And I just, I know it's a little bit outside the conversation topic, but just in the course of doing your job, what do you think?

How significant is it that the role that cameras now play? I would use the word colossal. You know, we, you know, our job is to create reasonable doubt.

And yet we're up against, you know, a picture is worth a thousand words. So when you've got video and you've got images that, you know, in the basic DUI case shows that your client is, you know, slurring their words, which I call speaking in cursive, you know, it's hard to argue the alternative. It's very difficult to allege that your client wasn't there when you see it in video or photo form.

Mark, when you hear about the evidence the defense wanted to introduce, like about the possible alternate suspect, right, or the alternative theories, that was not going to be allowed in. And then you get this admission of guilt, right? It reminds us of

I mean, it reminds me of like what defense attorneys are supposed to do here. Can you kind of walk us through that? Because this can feel a little bit infuriating, right? Like a giant waste of time, resources and energy over two and a half years to end with a willingness to plead.

Who's infuriated? The system worked. The defense had two and a half years to challenge the case and do everything that they could. And that's a relatively short period of time. You know, my case went for, I think, four to five years. Most death penalty cases take that long. And it worked. I mean, I don't know who's upset, except the victim's family who didn't get what they wanted, two of the four. And I understand how upsetting that is. But

But when we move to the resolution, we can talk about the benefits to both sides by him pleading to a life sentence without parole.

So the process cannot be rushed. And if you do rush it, then there's a great argument down the road that he was denied due process because he didn't have effective assistance of counsel, meaning attorneys who do their homework and they can't get it done in two weeks, two and a half years. They busted their butt to get it ready in two and a half years. They should be commended. Finally, and to that point, you know, the prosecution in Idaho said, you know,

We cannot fathom the toll this has taken on you guys as family members, but this resolution is our sincere attempt to seek justice, that he will spend the rest of his life in prison and he won't be able to put you and families through decades of uncertainty of post-conviction appeals. I think that latter point is to your point. Can you speak to that, that this would likely have been dragged out?

Oh, it would have been. First of all, let's start, not that this is the most relevant thing, but the cost. In Florida alone, to seek the death penalty is six times more expensive than putting someone away for life. And I know it's significantly higher. Not that that matters really when you're seeking justice, but let's start there. It's a misnomer because the appeals go on and on and on and housing someone on death row is a lot more expensive. Number two, of

Of course, it's going to be appealed. Mandatory appeals for decades. And the only way to know for sure that someone is not going to get out of prison is by them pleading guilty and waiving their right to an appeal. He's done. Now, to the other side, by the way, the uncertainty of a trial, you don't know what certainty you're going to get a conviction. It only takes one to hang.

And then maybe there's a hung jury and then you got to retry the case and put them through it again. Then you move to the penalty phase if you do get a guilty verdict. And who's to say all 12 jurors are unanimously going to find that the mitigators are outweighed by the aggravators, meaning the reasons for death are stronger than the reasons against death.

That is pure speculation that all that's going to go the way the victim's families want. And so that's one thing. Now, the flip side is a family saying, I don't care. Life is too good. He'll live in the general population. He'll wake up every morning with a purpose. He'll have Wi-Fi. He'll have access to TV. He'll, you know, enjoy his life to some extent. So the family's pissed. And I'll throw in this two words, Menendez brothers.

Life in prison without parole all of a sudden now doesn't mean what it's supposed to mean. Maybe in 30 years something happens. Maybe someone in Idaho declares life without parole to be a violation of the Eighth Amendment, declaring it cruel and unusual punishment. Who knows? So the family, they want finality. I see both sides and, you know, my heart goes out to them.

Wow. Great stuff. Thank you, Mark Aglash, for that insight and expertise. We appreciate your time. My privilege. Thank you for letting me speak.

You know that one friend who somehow knows everything about money? Yeah, now imagine they live in your phone. Say hey to Experian, your big financial friend. It's the app that helps you check your FICO score, find ways to save, and basically feel like a financial genius. And guess what? It's totally free. So go on, download the Experian app. Trust me, having a BFF like this is a total game-changer.

I'm Dana Perino. This week on Perino on Politics, I am joined by former Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy. Listen and follow now at foxnewspodcast.com. Or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Must listen to podcasts from Fox News Audio. Rate and review the Fox News Rundown on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. It's time for your Fox News commentary. Tommy Lahren. What's on your mind?

Do you want to aid and abet criminal illegal aliens? Well, sadly, there's an app for that. Bleeding heart liberals have found another way to aid and abet criminal illegal aliens through a new app called Iceblock. Its creator, Joshua Aaron, created the app in response to the Trump administration actually, you know, enforcing immigration law. The

The app allows users to alert those nearby that ICE agents are in the area. It's supposed to be an early warning system for illegals to evade law enforcement. The platform even goes so far as to allow users to pinpoint on a map where agents are spotted, what they're wearing, and what vehicle they're driving. ICE Block currently has over 20,000 users.

This app isn't just treasonous, it's dangerous. Not only does it give criminal illegal aliens a heads up to escape arrest, it directly targets the men and women of ICE.

I'm Tommy Lahren, and you can watch my show, Tommy Lahren is Fearless, at Outkick.com. You've been listening to the Fox News Rundown. And now, stay up to date by subscribing to this podcast at foxnewspodcasts.com. Listen ad-free on Fox News Podcasts Plus on Apple Podcasts. And Prime members can listen to the show ad-free on Amazon Music. And for up-to-the-minute news, go to foxnews.com.

Thanks for listening. Do you like true crime podcasts? If so, check out Unsolved with James Patterson. Listen ad-free on Amazon Music or just say, Alexa, play the podcast Unsolved with James Patterson on Amazon Music.