WEBVTT - Erika Kirk SHUTS DOWN the Conspiracies 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:04.240 Erica Kirk finally hits back against the insane conspiracists who 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:08.320 are sowing massive discord on the American rights. Meanwhile, a 0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:11.719 tanker sees off the coast of Venezuela. Things are deeply 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.720 heating up here in this Western hemisphere. What doesn't mean for 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:16.880 a Trump foreign policy? All of that, much more in 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:25.160 today's episode of The Josh Hammer Show. Well Erica Kirk, 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:29.360 the widow of Charlie Kirk, finally breaking her silence and 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:37.320 smashing in no uncertain terms the unhinged conspiracists, the utter, mental, lunatic, insane, 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:40.879 asylum worthy loombacks who have been saying some of the 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:43.199 most backcraf crazy stuff imagine. But we're going to get 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:46.320 to all of that as well as Tyler Robinson, the 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:51.280 alleged likely assassin of Charlie Kirk, is now in court 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:54.240 for the first time today. All that and more momentarily, 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:56.960 but for now, just some news of the day. So, 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:01.640 a really high profile incident off the coast of Venezuela yesterday. 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:04.160 This is not the kind of thing that you see 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:07.920 every day. An oil tanker, an oil tanker, a full 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:10.800 fledged oil tanker, was seized by the United States Coast 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:13.240 Guard and by the United States Navy. Now, the way 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:16.920 that this worked is you had a war boat striker 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:20.840 group led by the USS Gerald Ford, which is a 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:24.160 major aircraft carrier. This is all sent down off the 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:27.119 coast of Venezuela to the Southern Caribbean area and US 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:29.880 Southern Command. This all happened over the past month, month 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:32.679 and a half or so. It is a historical, fairly 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:35.280 unprecedented show of force when it comes to the United 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:39.480 States of Americas, specifically talking about Venezuela and the way 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:42.840 this went down yesterday off the coast of Venezuela was 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:45.720 the seizure was led by the US Coast Guard with 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:49.880 support by the United States Navy. Even more granular details. 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:52.520 The literal way that this actually went down is you 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:55.520 had some Coast Guard members who were taken to this 0:01:55.680 --> 0:02:00.200 Venezuela and oil tanker by helicopter. The helicopter departing from 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:03.840 from the USS gerald are Ford. The Ford again arrived 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:06.880 just last month. In this trumpion show of force, all 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:10.320 orchestrated against Nicholas Medoro, who is barely hanging on to 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:13.880 his seat as the communist straw men there in Venezuela, 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:18.440 and the video shows that people the video is pretty crazy. Pambondi, 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:22.440 the Attorney General tweeting out showing that folks are fast roping. 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:26.160 They're roping down from the helicopters as a hover's just 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:30.400 feet off the deck and the seizure actually went fairly swimmingly. 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:32.240 For what is worth a little bit more about this 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:35.920 particular vessel, the US officials, who have spoken on the 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:39.200 condition of anonymity, have described this vessel as something that 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:42.720 they referred to only as the Skipper. Now, the Skipper 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:47.760 was previously known as the MPT Adisa according to ship 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:50.960 tracking data. There's all sorts of maritime experts who have 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:54.600 this sort of data in their databases. The Adisa was 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:57.320 previously sanctioned by the United States in the year twenty 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:00.359 twenty two, so just three years ago, over accusation that 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:03.799 the ship at that time belonged to a highly sophisticated 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:08.920 network of shadow maritime vessels that were involved in smuggling 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:12.200 crude oil on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Core, 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:15.919 which is part of the revolutionary Iranian regime as well 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:19.440 as Hezbola. We've talked about this in the show numerous times. 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:24.520 Is this insidious long standing decades long connection actually between 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:28.080 Hezbolah above all, as well as their patrons in Tehran 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:31.320 and a lot of the drug cartels in the in 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:33.840 the Americas, in Latin America. There's a problem that goes 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:36.160 back many, many, many decades. Is one of the many 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:40.280 reasons that Hezbolah for forty plus years now has been 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:43.480 the Irani regime single favorite proxy of all their terrorist 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:45.840 proxies is the way that Hesbola has been able to 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:50.160 insinuate themselves and develop really deep relations with a lot 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:53.440 of the cartels. This actually reached something of a breaking 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:57.000 point in the second Obama term about ten eleven years 0:03:57.040 --> 0:04:00.760 ago or so. Unfortunately, the Obama ministration ends up large quashing, 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:05.440 largely ends up burying that particular investigation. Politico did a 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:07.440 long story of it at the time. I think it 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:09.000 was actually in the first year of the Trump presidency 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:11.600 twenty and seventeen. Political had this story at the time. 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:14.320 It was really one of the great undercovered scandals in 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:16.880 recent American history. The lengths to which the Obama administration 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:20.839 went to totally quash and to bury this story about 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:24.839 the extent of coronation between Hesballa and the drug Cartels Maduro, 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:27.920 the Cashro, Regimia, cuball all the various bad actors in 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:31.440 the Western Hemisphere. They oftentimes have hes Ball specifically and 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:36.360 ultimately Iranian regime support. So this tanker has been on 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:39.760 the US radar for a while now, and they went 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:43.279 ahead and actually just seized it yesterday Pambondi who tweeted 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:46.720 out this really remarkable video of the actual US Coast 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:50.039 Guard Coach's guardsmen getting off the chopper going down to 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:52.960 the vessel known as the Skipper. And here's what Attorney 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:56.760 General Pam Bondi says talking about the legal justification of 0:04:56.800 --> 0:05:00.000 what happened off the coast of Venezuela yesterday. Pampbondi put 0:04:59.880 --> 0:05:03.919 in on X yesterday quote today, the FBI, the Homeland 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:06.920 Security Investigations, and the US Coast Guard, with support from 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:09.760 the Department of War, executed a seizure war and for 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:13.040 a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:15.680 Venezuela and Iran. So there again as the Iran has 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:18.760 Bola connection. For multiple years, the oil tanker has been 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:21.440 sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:27.479 an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations. This seizure, 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:30.760 completed off the coast of Venezuela, was conducted safely and 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:34.680 securely in our investigation alongside the Department of Homeland Security 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:38.680 to prevent the transport of sanctioned oil continues. So this 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:42.240 is sanctioned oil. It is Irani and Hasbola oil, it 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:46.039 is Venezuela and oil. All this is sanctioned at this point, 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:50.000 and ultimately this really is part of the now extended 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:54.679 months long pressure campaign from the truministration. The narco terrorist 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:57.120 boat strikes very much a part of this. By the way, 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:00.440 when it comes to this amplification of press sure on 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:03.880 the Maduro regime, trying to essentially force regime change without 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:07.680 actually having to fire a single bloody shot at Maduro. 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:09.800 That's really what's actually going on here. As far as 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:12.799 what happens to the oil, the actual oil on that boat, 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:15.400 Donald J. Trump, as he often does, had a pretty 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:17.000 humorous answer, go ahead and watch this. 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:25.960 Ship. Well we keep it. I guess when you have 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:28.440 to follow the tanker. You know here a good judgment. 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:32.360 Just follow the tanker, follow follow it. Good. A helicopter 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:36.000 followed the tanker. We're going to get assume we're going 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:37.520 to keep the I. 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:39.880 Mean, I mean, sometimes, how do you not love this man? 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:42.840 I I mean sometimes I just laughed so hard at 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:44.640 Donald Trump. But I've said this so many times of 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:47.200 the years. It is one of Donald Trump's great political 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:49.560 gifts is the fact that he is just a slapstick, 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:52.680 slap your knee kind of funny man. He says of humor. 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:56.640 Is is something that that politically sustains him from voter 0:06:56.760 --> 0:06:59.520 to voter, and frankly, he's been doing this now for 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:01.839 the better hard of fifty fifty five years in the 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:04.600 tabloids when not there, it's really what sustains him oftentimes 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:07.600 from generation to generation as well. Meanwhile, the Department of 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:11.000 Homeland Security, the head the secretary there, Chrissy Noam, also 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:13.720 had this essay on Fox News about the Venezuelan tanker 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:14.600 seizure and what was. 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:17.800 DHS's involvement in the seizing of that oil tanker of 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:18.920 Venezuela yesterday. 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:21.760 It was a Coast Guard light operation, so they worked 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:24.960 very closely with the Department of War and Department Justice FBI. 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:27.320 We're thankful that we have an opportunity to push back 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:27.600 on that. 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:30.200 Regime, all right, so she's talking there about the regime, 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:33.720 the regime being the Maduro regime. Now who is Nicholas 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:36.600 Mudua Now Nicholas Mudurero is Some folks to call him 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:38.600 a socialist. I preferred to his call him a communist, 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:41.360 a dirty commedy. He is the successor to Ugo Chappez, 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:45.640 his predecessor, who was a Castro esque, a close Castro ally, 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:49.560 a deeply horrific socialist communist leader there in Venezuela. Hugo 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:54.200 Chapas overseeing the plummeting the descent of Venezuela from one 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:58.280 of the wealthiest Latin American countries. Venezuela blessed with tremendous 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:02.120 natural resources. Natural resources is that no other Latin American 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:06.560 country really has really none of them, Peru, Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:09.520 you name it, none, None of them have the oil 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:14.200 reserves that Venezuela has there right off the coast. It 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:17.320 is a remarkable blessing for the people of Venezuela, or 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:19.920 at least it should be. It should be unlessoned until 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:23.560 communism takes holt. And that is why Venezuela now has 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:28.360 become a Third World. Horrific poverty, state, overrun by the cartels, 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:32.080 overrun by by foreign influence, overrun by China, has bala Aran. 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:36.160 The people are are totally skinny. You see the photos there, 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:38.960 they are emaciated. They're all skin and bones. You see 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:42.199 the rib cages they're they're eating dog and eating all 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:44.080 sorts of other stuff there. They can't even get enough 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:45.960 foods to actually put food on the table to feed 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:49.320 their family. It is yet another lesson, as if you 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:52.480 need it, as to why socials and communism are just 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:56.840 complete and utter nonstarters when it comes to to how 0:08:56.880 --> 0:09:01.520 to structure an economy, A complete and utter nonstarter because 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:04.800 there is no one who suffers more from socialists and 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:07.959 communist utopian schemes actually implemented into reality. There was no 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:10.480 one who suffers more than the actual people themselves. I've 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:12.199 never been to it as well. I actually have been 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:16.040 to Cuba. I was in Cuba actually in twenty nineteen. 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:19.880 I kind of reluctantly went and I saw it, and 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:23.240 I couldn't believe sometimes what I saw the level of 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:28.440 communist propaganda, like literal highway billboard style propaganda, social sl 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:31.920 foot threro, socialism, the fees, the future, these images of 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:35.600 chay Gavara, and again just the poverty I mean, the dilapidated 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:38.120 buildings at the time in Havana, just the people just 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:41.400 homeless and searching for food everywhere that can find it, 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:45.280 the stray dogs, I mean, just awful, just awful, awful stuff. 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:49.080 And then as well of it very much is another 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:50.040 example of that. 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:50.480 Now. 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:54.720 The actual reason though that Trump and the administration cares 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:57.440 so much about the Maduro regime and trying to have 0:09:57.480 --> 0:10:00.640 this pressure campaign trying to get the Maduro regime ultimately 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:03.520 step down, ideally to abdicate without having to fire an 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.960 actual single shot. The reason for that is not necessarily 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:13.400 because they are Samantha Power esque liberal internationalist humanitarians. To 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:16.079 be clear, we all care when people around the world 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:18.720 are suffering, and Donald Trump has said some wonderful things 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:21.880 about the plights of Christians who are currently being genocided 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:24.800 by Boko Haram and various other islamust actors there in 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:28.400 Nigeria in Western Africa. So there's I'm not downplaying the 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:33.000 basic human emotion that comes with seeing other people suffering, 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:36.240 but the main reason just calling it like I see, 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:39.240 I mean, the main objective reason why the truministration cares 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:42.800 about what's happening in Venezuela is not necessarily for human rights 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:46.160 or humanitarian reasons. Rather, it is because of pressing national 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:49.840 security reasons. And that's because everything from Iran and has Bola, 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:52.920 as we just discussed, to the Chinese Communist Party via 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:56.680 their Belt and Roate initiative, which is this sprawling twenty 0:10:56.720 --> 0:11:00.360 first century geopolitical framework by which the Chinese Communist Party 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:04.160 is seeking to increase its clout, increases clout and influence 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:08.520 all throughout the world, everywhere from China through Central Asia 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:11.240 into Europe. That's kind of the older Marco Polo Silk Road, 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:14.280 all the way to the Horn of Africa. China building 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:17.400 a naval base in Djibouti in the Horne of Africa, 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:20.160 right near Eeritrea and Ethiopia. And yes, they are very 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:22.520 deeply heavily involved in our own hemisphere as well. The 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:27.040 Chinese Communist Party has made major major investments in ports 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:30.920 and other maritime naval infrastructure in countries such as Peru 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:34.160 on the Pacific coast of South America. They are extremely 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:37.480 extremely cozy, as you might expect with the Communist regime. 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:41.320 The Castro regimes to this day still in Cuba, very 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:44.480 close to where I am currently speaking here in South Florida. 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:47.040 China is all over and they are very very very 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:50.840 close with the Maduro regime in Venezuela as well. In fact, 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:54.640 a recent phone call that she Jimpang, the Chinese Communist Party, 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:57.200 had Hancho, the recent phone call that she had with 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:00.760 Maduro in Venezuela, basically doubling down and saying that, bro, 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:03.840 We've got your back. Essentially no matter what, so China 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:06.280 has has doubled down on this port from Madero. Lamar 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:08.840 Putin incidentally has done the exact same thing from his 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:12.360 perch over and over in the Kremlin. And that is 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:15.679 why the trumpministration comes in there and says, no, I'm 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:20.040 actually not gonna support this, This is not okay. This 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:22.280 has actually been part of the doctrine of this second 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:25.080 trumministration since the get go. Think about the fact that 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:28.800 Marco Rubio himself is the Secretary of State, Marca Rubio, 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:31.880 who rose to political prominence right here in South Florida 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:34.319 where I now live, Marca Rubio, who is himself the 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:38.800 son of Cuban refugees, someone who has a very very 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:41.440 keen set of eyes and ears when it comes to 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:46.520 Latin America more broadly, if you're called to January. This 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:51.640 past January, Rubio's first overseas trip was actually to Latin America. 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:54.400 The Waltree Journal had a whole op at the time 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:58.920 from their Lantin affairs columnist Anastasio Grady. She had a 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:01.960 whole column talking about how this is the reassertion of 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:05.000 the Monroe doctrine for the twenty first century when it 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:07.640 comes to Trump with Mark Rubio, the son of Cuban 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:11.079 refugees and a fluent Spanish language speaker there as kind 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:14.760 of the symbolic and figurative head of this. So what 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:17.960 exactly is Monroe doctrine and how does it relate to 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:19.960 what we are now seeing play out with the Trump 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:22.599 ministration and their approach to Latin America more broadly and 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:26.000 also to Venezuela specifically. So the Monroe doctrine takes his 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:29.000 name from James Monroe, who was the early nineteenth century 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:32.680 president and a pretty good one of that and underappreciated president, 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:35.840 I would argue by some historians, and he essentially argued 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:39.679 that when a foreign state intervenes in the political affairs 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.760 of the Americas more broadly North and South America. When 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:44.880 there is a foreign state, which at the time really 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:48.880 meant Europe, when there is a foreign aka European political 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:52.199 intervention meddling in the internal affairs of the Americas, then 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:55.600 that should be viewed as a potentially hostile act against 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:59.839 the United States, a potentially hostile act against the United States. Now, 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:03.320 that is that was followed, that was expanded upon in 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:07.840 nineteen oh four during the Teddy Roosevelt administration with a 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:11.320 doctrine that is known as the Roosevelt corollary. So the 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:14.880 Roosevelt Corollary, prolengated by President Teddy Roosevelt in nineteen oh four, 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:21.080 says that the United States could legitimately directly intervene directly 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:25.120 intervene in the internal affairs of Latin American countries if 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:28.160 they do not do enough to prevent foreign aggression, which 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:31.560 at the time again means European aggression. But by the 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:34.120 same logic, this could extend to any kind of aggression. 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:39.120 Today that would be Russia, China, and Iran namely above all. Now, 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:41.680 the most interesting kind of update for this is is 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:43.800 this we haven't actually get covered on the show. So 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:47.720 the trudministration just recently put out their brand new National 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:51.200 Security Strategy. So administrations, whether it's on an annual or 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:55.320 sometimes a biennial basis, they will periodically produce what is 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:58.960 known as a National Security Strategy, which is a fairly systemic, 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:02.840 thirty forty fifty document just laying out how the presidential 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:05.960 administration views the world, how they view foreign policy, how 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:09.240 they view national security, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:11.960 There are a lot of good footprints from folks in 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:15.080 the state departments on this most recent document. I know 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:17.360 some of the folks involved, and I won't say names, 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:19.080 but I think pretty highly of these folks there, so 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:22.200 that there's a lot to like about this National Security 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:25.480 Strategy document that just came out from the Trump ministration. 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:28.920 There are some reasons, at least to be somewhat skeptical. 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:32.560 There is something of a bolstering of the legitimacy of 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:34.880 the Chinese Communist Party when it comes to having their 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:39.480 own purported, legitimate sphere of influence. I could do without that, frankly, 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:41.440 and I could do with a little more of trying 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:44.400 to bolster or actual analyze in the Indo Pacific. When 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:48.080 it comes to Japan, Philippines, Taiwan to you know, extra 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:50.640 playing even further places like India and Australia. 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:53.120 Let's table that for now. 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:55.600 We'll have more on the Chinese Communist Party and NVIDI 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:58.040 and all that on tomorrow's show, I think, but for 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:01.040 now I want to focus on this. In the recent 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:06.440 Trump National Security Strategy, they explicitly introduce what they refer 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:09.680 to as the Trump corollary to the Munroe doctrines. So 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.760 we're actually no longer just talking about the Roosevelt corollary, 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:16.960 the eponymous corollary of President Teddy Roosevelt from nineteen oh four. Now, 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:20.560 per the National Security strategies, brand new language, and this 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:22.440 just came out within the past like week and a half, 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:26.000 two weeks, they're referring actually explicitly now, so they're kind 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:30.680 of retroactively justifying these series of Pete heggsth led narco 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:34.120 strikes and now presumably also this brand new Venezuelan oil 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:38.000 tanker seizure. They're justifying this on the Trump corollary. So 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:42.520 here's how the Trump ministrations National Security Strategy talks about 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:44.960 the Trump corollary to the Monroe doctrine. 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:46.720 It says as follows. 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:50.400 Quote after years of neglect, the United States will reassert 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:54.600 and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American pre eminence 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:57.640 in the Western Hemisphere and to protect our homeland and 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:01.600 our access to key Ggosh graphies throughout the region. We 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:05.600 will deny non hemispheric competitors. Note that language. This is 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:09.520 aside from me non hemispheric competitors. So that's on the 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:13.199 twenty first century update to the original Munroe doctrins emphasis 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:16.560 on European. So we're talking here about non hemispheric. That 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:20.840 means not just European, that means also Iranian, Russian, Chinese, 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:23.680 and so forth. Okay, back to the security strategy quote, 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:27.359 we will deny non hemispheric competitors the ability to position 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:31.440 forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:35.480 strategically vital assets in our hemisphere. The Trump corollary to 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:39.159 the Monroe doctrine is a common sense and potent restoration 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:43.840 of American power and priorities consistent with American security interest. 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:46.320 So there's a lot to like here. There is a 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:49.160 lot to like about this. The most basic reason why 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:52.320 the Monroe doctrine, the Rosevel corollary, and now the Trump corollary, 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:55.280 The most basic reason why this makes sense is because 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:58.080 it's just really freaking intuitive. You don't have to have 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:01.679 a PhD in international fairs or public diplomacy to understand 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:04.320 then when it comes to our own backyard, like our 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:07.320 literal own hemisphere, yeah, we should probably care a little 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:10.760 bit more and taking a more hyperactive, more aggressive approach 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:14.720 to preventing hostile foreign intrusion. It's often been said that 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:17.520 America is blessed with geography, and so we are from 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:19.960 seat to shining sea. We have major bodies of water, 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:24.760 gargantuan global oceans on both our west coast and our 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:28.840 east coast. That's amazing. We have a failed Narco state, however, 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:32.480 to our south, and there are plenty of other failed 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:36.800 or deeply troubled states even further to Mexico south, and 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:40.639 we have a reason for reasons of basic proximity and 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:43.800 geography when it comes to the international human trafficking rings, 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:45.480 when it comes to the drug cartels, when it comes 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:49.040 to the transnational shipping of fentanyl and cocaine, the de 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:52.520 facto chemical warfare flowing into the United States, killing untold, 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:57.280 untold thousands or millions by now millions and millions, and 0:18:57.320 --> 0:19:00.840 millions of Americans there. We absolutely ought to care more 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:03.280 about what is happening south of're a border in this 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:05.000 own hemisphere for the most part of than what is 0:19:05.040 --> 0:19:07.159 happening halfway or fully around the world. I am a 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:10.640 longtime proponent of the Monroe doctrine and these various corollaries 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:13.560 for the very simple reason that it just makes sense, 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:17.760 and that broadly is how the administration views this as well. 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:21.120 They are they are talking out about the Trump corollary. Now, 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:22.760 how long is this going to go on? 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:23.360 That? 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:27.280 That's kind of my question. I'm very supportive of the strategy. 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:30.320 I've got no qualms whatsoever with this oil tanker seizure. 0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:33.280 Is it an escalatory action? Yeah, I mean it's definitely 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:36.080 not de escalatory. Do I support it? Hecky, I support it. 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:38.760 I mean, this ship was already sanctioned three years ago. 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:43.040 There was legal justification there. It was a swift, smooth operation. 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:46.120 There were there were there were no there were no casualties, 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:47.239 no tragedies anything like that. 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:47.400 There. 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:50.520 It is deeply humilitating for Nicholas Muduro. It is deeply 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:53.400 humiliating for all of his allies from China to Hezbola 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:55.680 and so forth. There and yeah, as President Trump says, 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:57.680 we got the oil, which is always nice to try 0:19:57.680 --> 0:19:59.919 to reduce prices from a good old fashioned econ one 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:01.680 one supplied demand curve as well. 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:03.240 So there's a lot to like about this. 0:20:03.320 --> 0:20:06.240 My only question is how much longer is this cat 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:08.199 and mouse game gonna go on when it comes to 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:11.760 President Trump and Nicholas Maduro. Maduro, for what it's worth, 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:14.679 doesn't seem to particularly care too much about all this 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:17.399 pressure that Donald Trump is putting on him. There is 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:20.360 this utterly hilarious new video that I was looking out 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:23.400 this morning and just frankly just laughing my butt off 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:27.440 to myself with Madua wearing this really funny like old 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:30.879 man straw hat and he starts speaking of Spanish, and 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:34.159 then he starts speaking in English. Don't worry be happy, 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:37.439 like trying to conjure up the best of Bob Marley, 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:41.000 Try trying to tell his you know he deeply oppressed 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:46.320 dog eating constituents. You need if you even call them constituents, 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:50.000 they are subjects in a communist tyranny. Try and tell 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:51.840 them like, don't worry, be happy. So I mean, he 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:55.520 clearly is unfazed. He clearly does not or at least publicly. 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:57.600 He doesn't really give a crab about what's happening there. 0:20:57.960 --> 0:21:01.800 He's very much struggling at home. I do hear secondhand 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:04.320 from a lot of folks who are veterans of the DEA, 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:07.280 the Drugonforce, and agency groups like that, that they are 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:10.880 not entirely sure exactly what is President Trump's endgame here 0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:13.240 when it comes to Venezuela. Now, if you take the 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:17.240 Monroe Doctrine and the Roosevelt Corrollarry at face value, it 0:21:17.320 --> 0:21:21.000 is worth noting that at face value they do justify 0:21:21.160 --> 0:21:23.960 up to an including actual military action. I guess the 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:26.320 point would be this is that, mister President, I'm not 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:31.280 entirely sure that this is exactly what your voters voted for. 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:31.680 Either. 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:35.439 I'm not entirely sure that supporting the attempt to topple 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:39.199 another corrupt Latin American regime is exactly what a lot 0:21:39.200 --> 0:21:42.159 of Trump's voters supported. Now, on the one hand, we 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:44.639 are robust supporters here of the Monroe doctri We are 0:21:44.760 --> 0:21:47.639 robust supporters of the notion of caring more about the 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:50.800 Western hemisphere than virtually any other place around the world 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:54.960 for obvious intuitive reasons. I'm just not entirely sure that 0:21:55.200 --> 0:21:59.400 if push comes to shove, if another Bay of Pigs 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:03.159 invasion in style operation is necessary, is necessarily something that 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:04.919