Speaker 1: Welcome to the Truth with Lisabooth, where we get to
Speaker 1: the heart of the issues that matter to you. So
Speaker 1: today we're joined by Jeremy Hunt. He's a West Point grad,
Speaker 1: a former Army intelligence captain, and he's also the chairman
Speaker 1: of Veterans on Duty. We'll dive into President Trump's plans
Speaker 1: to broker a Russia Ukraine peace steel, also a nuclear
Speaker 1: deal with Iran? Can he do it? Can he get
Speaker 1: it done? Can he achieve peace? Jeremy also shares insights
Speaker 1: on Ukraine's military pete. Heexas's role as Secretary of Defense,
Speaker 1: Those rising recruiting numbers. Why did he decide to go
Speaker 1: to West Point? What does he make of those numbers?
Speaker 1: We know that recruitment numbers are up under this administration.
Speaker 2: We'll also talk.
Speaker 1: About how President Trump has changed the way we all
Speaker 1: view the military and foreign policy. Plus we'll unpack Secretary
Speaker 1: of State Mark or Rubio's visa crackdown on Chinese students.
Speaker 1: It's shaking up US China relations. But doesn't it just
Speaker 1: make sense? Isn't it just common sense? Stay tuned for
Speaker 1: all of that and more with Jeremy Hunt. Well, Jeremy,
Speaker 1: it's great to have you on the show first time on,
Speaker 1: but we've done out Numbered together and actually ran into
Speaker 1: you in the Delta lounge after that day. I was like,
Speaker 1: I know him well, So I appreciate you making the time.
Speaker 1: So thank you for that.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, thanks for having me.
Speaker 3: I've been looking forward to joining your shows.
Speaker 2: I'm happy to join and talk talk about some things.
Speaker 3: A little bit and maybe going a little bit more
Speaker 3: depth today and I'm excited.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I will not be in your ear telling you
Speaker 1: that we've got to go to a commercial break, so
Speaker 1: I obviously we both love TV, but you know you've
Speaker 1: got those commercial breaks, so all right, Well, so I wanted.
Speaker 2: To talk to you.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously there's a lot going on in the world,
Speaker 1: and Joe Biden left everything a complete mess, so there's
Speaker 1: a lot of instability that President Trump's trying to address.
Speaker 1: He's also just trying to strike out of deals. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's been talking about trying to facilitate a deal between
Speaker 1: Russia and Ukraine and some sort of ceasefire and whatever
Speaker 1: that will look like. He's also trying to negotiate with
Speaker 1: Iran and come up with some sort of new nuclear deal. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, looking at both of those, do you do
Speaker 1: you think you'll get it done.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 3: You know, that's one of the things that a lot
Speaker 3: of these kind of talks, it's always, you know, a
Speaker 3: little unpredictable when you're dealing with people like Putin, who
Speaker 3: you know, did start this war, someone who is you
Speaker 3: know constantly, as President Trump said, you know he is
Speaker 3: he is not someone you can you're not someone who
Speaker 3: can trust. He's someone who you know, in the middle
Speaker 3: of these talks, you know, unleash is one of the
Speaker 3: worst air raids on Kiev that we've seen just since
Speaker 3: the beginning of this war. So, you know, it's a
Speaker 3: lot of times it is a little unpredictable. I think
Speaker 3: one thing we know about President Trump is that, you know,
Speaker 3: he wants peace, he wants to he wants to end
Speaker 3: the bloodshed, and his his kind of instinctive nature is
Speaker 3: is very you know, someone who wants to be a
Speaker 3: peacemaker around the world. And I think those instincts are
Speaker 3: really good, and I think that's why we're going to
Speaker 3: get different results than we did under President Biden, who was,
Speaker 3: as as you mentioned, was a total disaster on all
Speaker 3: these issues, and all and many and all these wars
Speaker 3: started under his watch. I think when it comes to
Speaker 3: Russia and Ukraine, the main thing is going to be
Speaker 3: a lot of times, you know, Putin sometimes he does
Speaker 3: not respond until he feels the pressure he feels, you know,
Speaker 3: when we start bringing on additional uh uh kind of
Speaker 3: sanctions upon upon his regime, When he starts feeling that
Speaker 3: economic tightness of everything, when he is when the rest
Speaker 3: of the world community shuts him out, that's when, you know,
Speaker 3: you start to see different results. But unfortunately, a lot
Speaker 3: of times when it's you know, just had a conversation
Speaker 3: with him and talking to him, you know, he will
Speaker 3: say one thing and then you know, as he's talking
Speaker 3: to you about peace, he is you know, uh, killing
Speaker 3: more and more.
Speaker 2: Ukrainian soldiers and literally kidnapping.
Speaker 3: I mean, the reports that have come out of Ukraine
Speaker 3: are horrendous about some of the war crimes that Putin
Speaker 3: and his and his and his armed forces have been
Speaker 3: committing against the Ukrainian people.
Speaker 2: And you know, I've been there.
Speaker 3: I was actually when I was an officer in the army,
Speaker 3: as you know, I was a former Army intelligence captain,
Speaker 3: and when I was in Ukraine, I was there for
Speaker 3: about six months and we were training the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Speaker 3: This was back in twenty sixteen, and so Putin had
Speaker 3: already invaded Crimea, but he was you know, back then,
Speaker 3: we were training for this hypothetical situation in which he
Speaker 3: might invade Ukraine.
Speaker 2: And you know, what was you know, just kind of
Speaker 2: this what was then just kind of a.
Speaker 3: What could be, you know, ended up being what happened obviously,
Speaker 3: And we were there training the Ukrainian armed forces, especially
Speaker 3: their intel systems, intel officers on NATO doctrine and so
Speaker 3: it was a great it was a great mission. And
Speaker 3: I saw that, you know, the many people, they have
Speaker 3: a will to fight. They they are not gonna, you know,
Speaker 3: give over their country. Many people thought that, you know,
Speaker 3: Putin would just roll right through Ukraine. I mean many
Speaker 3: are not self included.
Speaker 2: We didn't.
Speaker 3: We had, you know, very much concern about Ukraine's ability
Speaker 3: to defend themselves. But they've done, uh, they've had definitely
Speaker 3: a valiant effort. And so I think now it's time
Speaker 3: to get to peace. And I think you're seeing President
Speaker 3: Trump try to deliver.
Speaker 1: On that, yeah, because I mean my mentality has always
Speaker 1: been that, you know, obviously, you know, Russia was in
Speaker 1: the wrong to invade Ukraine. I mean that's just a given. Uh.
Speaker 1: But you know that being said, you know, I don't
Speaker 1: think Ukraine can win this thing on their own, and
Speaker 1: so we've already, you know, sent an endless bucket of
Speaker 1: cash to Ukraine. And it seems that absent of US
Speaker 1: and other countries putting boots on the ground and demonstrating
Speaker 1: a willingness to fight this war alongside them, like, they
Speaker 1: can't win it on their own, and so inevitably lends
Speaker 1: Ski is probably going to have.
Speaker 2: To seed some territory.
Speaker 1: You know. Obviously Russia has already invaded Crimean has had
Speaker 1: that territory for quite some time, as you pointed out.
Speaker 1: And then there's also like the Donbass region that Russia
Speaker 1: has invaded and it has occupied since the beginning of
Speaker 1: that invasion under Biden, you know, so it doesn't see
Speaker 1: him in terms of militarily, this war is winnable for
Speaker 1: Ukraine outside of some sort of World War type scenario.
Speaker 1: Is that an accurate assessment or I mean I.
Speaker 2: Think I think that first off, I mean there's no
Speaker 2: appetite too.
Speaker 3: I mean American troops are not put in boots on
Speaker 3: the ground at all, And I think that you know,
Speaker 3: as you said, we've sent you know, tons of aid
Speaker 3: over to Ukraine. I do think that President Biden sent
Speaker 3: uh you know, lethal lethal aid way too late, and
Speaker 3: we saw this build up on their border along you know,
Speaker 3: long before h and there's a lot of people who
Speaker 3: say that if he had moved quicker to give Ukraine
Speaker 3: the resources they need, that this would not have started
Speaker 3: in the first place. But that said that, I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, one thing that we've seen with President Trump
Speaker 3: is that a lot of NATO is stepping up their commitments.
Speaker 3: And that's something that we have not seen in a
Speaker 3: long time.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I mean, if they've.
Speaker 3: Ever come in increased their military spending at this level
Speaker 3: this rate in recent history. And so that is a
Speaker 3: testament to President Trump, you know, increasing the putting the
Speaker 3: putting the pressure on and saying, look, we want to
Speaker 3: get this war to an end. And you know, Americans,
Speaker 3: we we were you know, we did our part to support,
Speaker 3: but we need NATO and Eastern and Europe to to
Speaker 3: do their part too. And so I think, you know,
Speaker 3: with all that support, you know, Ukraine is going to
Speaker 3: as I said, they're gonna they're fighting for their homeland.
Speaker 3: So they're going to continue, you know, giving it all
Speaker 3: they can. I think that what you're going to see
Speaker 3: is is the and and hopefully the appetite in Russia
Speaker 3: and at home for this war will continue to wane
Speaker 3: and and then eventually, you know, we could see this
Speaker 3: come to an end.
Speaker 2: But I think that's what everybody is hoping for at
Speaker 2: this point.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it just seems sort of inevitable at this
Speaker 1: point that Zalenzi's going to have to see some territory
Speaker 1: to Russia. I mean, there doesn't seem like they're going
Speaker 1: to be able to expel them militarily, h you know,
Speaker 1: completely from their country. And if you're Russia, I highly
Speaker 1: doubt that Putin's going to get out unless he's you know,
Speaker 1: getting something from it, like getting something from that exit.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's no doubt going to try to get, you know,
Speaker 3: something out of this. He's he's looking for an off
Speaker 3: ramp to be able to say that, you know, this
Speaker 3: war was a success, but it was all worthwhile. You know,
Speaker 3: He's looking for some type of way to to try
Speaker 3: to claim victory here. And so you know, I am
Speaker 3: not a total experts. I have no idea how this
Speaker 3: is going to, you know, ultimately end. And I don't
Speaker 3: think anyone has a crystal ball to see how this
Speaker 3: is all going to play out. But I think that
Speaker 3: we are on I think we're on the right track
Speaker 3: with you know, a lot of President Trump's you know
Speaker 3: comments saying, look, we're we're here to make peace, and
Speaker 3: and he wants to make sure that there's that both
Speaker 3: sides are willing to do what it takes to get
Speaker 3: to the end. And so I think that's a positive development.
Speaker 1: We've got more with Jeremy. But first, folks, we're saying
Speaker 1: something truly disturbing. Anti Semitism is on the rise all
Speaker 1: around the world, and sadly right here in America. Jewish
Speaker 1: schools are being targeted, Synagogues are being threatened, Families are
Speaker 1: living in fear. It's something we hoped we'd never have
Speaker 1: to see again in our lifetime. And let me say this,
Speaker 1: silence is not an option. This is the moment to
Speaker 1: take a stand. That's why I want to tell you
Speaker 1: about the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews or IFCJ.
Speaker 1: They're on the front lines providing real help where it's
Speaker 1: needed most. They're giving food and shelter, to Jewish families
Speaker 1: under threat, building bomb shelters for children, helping survivors of
Speaker 1: hate rebuild their lives. And they don't just respond to
Speaker 1: a crisis, they work every day to prevent it. Your
Speaker 1: gift of only forty five dollars will help support their
Speaker 1: life saving work, help being to provide food, shelter, and
Speaker 1: so much more. The Bible says, I will bless those
Speaker 1: who bless you. Supporting IFCJ is a spiritual stand. It's
Speaker 1: showing up for God's people when it counts. So please
Speaker 1: call eight eight eight for a eight IFCJ. That's eight
Speaker 1: eight eight four eight eight four three two five, Or
Speaker 1: go to IDJ dot org. Every dollar helps. Don't wait
Speaker 1: be the difference is it ij dot org? Or call
Speaker 1: eight eight eight four a eight IFCJ.
Speaker 2: Now President Trump's just completely reshaped.
Speaker 1: I think how the Republican Party views foreign policy, like
Speaker 1: even being in the Middle East recently, just you know,
Speaker 1: the the what was it? The The future of the
Speaker 1: Middle East is commerce, not chaos, Like even sort of
Speaker 1: using his business acumen to try to forge those relationships
Speaker 1: through business development, which is also sort of like a
Speaker 1: mutually a mutual security guarantee as well like what he
Speaker 1: was trying to do in Ukraine with the mining as well.
Speaker 1: And also just you know, peace through strength, right that
Speaker 1: maybe we don't need to deploy our troops to still
Speaker 1: keep a world order and to still keep that respect
Speaker 1: and to still you know, be respected. Has he changed
Speaker 1: you know, you just mentioned you know you've served. Has
Speaker 1: he changed your perspective on how we engage troops and
Speaker 1: how we should use our military? And I know he's changed mind,
Speaker 1: but I also didn't serve, So just interested in your opinion.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think that I mean, peace to strength.
Speaker 2: I think he is.
Speaker 3: It's obviously something that that slogan that started even in
Speaker 3: the Reagan era, and for many of us, this isn't
Speaker 3: something that we've been you know, talking about for so
Speaker 3: long and hoping for that we would have a president
Speaker 3: like President Trump who would really actually you know, put
Speaker 3: teeth to that and uh. And so that's why, you know,
Speaker 3: I think that a lot of the actions that we're
Speaker 3: seeing and taken right now with President Trump saying look,
Speaker 3: you know, I'll give you a perfect example, and you
Speaker 3: mentioned in the Middle East, you know, the hoo Thi's
Speaker 3: were attacking American troops, they were attacking uh really vital
Speaker 3: shipping lanes.
Speaker 2: Uh in, uh in in that part of the world.
Speaker 3: And one of the issues that we're seeing is that
Speaker 3: even our prices on different products here at home were
Speaker 3: we are taking a hit because we can't get products,
Speaker 3: you know, through those through those key shipping routes. And
Speaker 3: so the hoo Thies were causing all sorts of issues
Speaker 3: for the United States, for Europe.
Speaker 2: And here we had President Trump come in and and say, look, actually.
Speaker 3: We're not doing this anymore, and you know, destroyed the
Speaker 3: hoo thieas and and we're seeing uh you know a lot.
Speaker 2: Of positive results at the end of that. So you know,
Speaker 2: he means action.
Speaker 3: And I think that when we invest in our military,
Speaker 3: give them the support they need. I love seeing the
Speaker 3: pay raises to the troops that are included uh in
Speaker 3: this this one big beautiful bill as it's called, that
Speaker 3: will hopefully be passed at the Senate, hopefully be.
Speaker 2: Passed here soon.
Speaker 3: But you know that's those are the kind of things
Speaker 3: that takes I think with the build up our military,
Speaker 3: invest in our military, uh so that we can keep
Speaker 3: apace with the threat I mean, and the threat is
Speaker 3: as serious we have China Russia, Iran, North Korea, all
Speaker 3: major powers that are are basically coming together. We're seeing
Speaker 3: they're kind of coalescing, working together to sow chaos and
Speaker 3: to and to really uh defeat the West in the
Speaker 3: United States. And so it's I think it's important now
Speaker 3: more than ever if you want to have peacely strengths
Speaker 3: to make sure that we are strengthening our military or
Speaker 3: investing in the and all the different AI and technology
Speaker 3: and the drone capabilities, we've got to look at cyber space.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's on so many different domains. Space
Speaker 3: is a major one. If you want our troops to
Speaker 3: have GPS signal when they're deployed, you know at anywhere
Speaker 3: in the world that GPS signal is often very weak
Speaker 3: and can be uh, you know, you can get hacked.
Speaker 3: I mean, there's just so many different levels of investment
Speaker 3: that we need, and so that's I think what's ultimately
Speaker 3: going to keep our enemies at bay is when we
Speaker 3: show that we have the capability to fight. And one
Speaker 3: thing one of my favorite moments with us, one of
Speaker 3: my favorite moments with President Trump was the unleastion the
Speaker 3: F forty seven, you know, the new airframe that he's
Speaker 3: releasing and that we're going to be producing here United States.
Speaker 3: Look that those are the kind of actions that I
Speaker 3: think our enemies are taking notes of. And so I
Speaker 3: think him and Secretary Hegseth are doing a great job
Speaker 3: in terms of showing the world to look, the United
Speaker 3: States is not playing around. You might have thought that
Speaker 3: the last four years under Biden that you know, we were,
Speaker 3: you know, just going to roll over and take whatever
Speaker 3: happens around the world.
Speaker 2: Is will just accept the status quo. But that that
Speaker 2: is over with President Trump in office.
Speaker 1: But I also think in order to be able to
Speaker 1: do that, you know, these other nations need to know
Speaker 1: that we're serious and that you know, you can't have
Speaker 1: peace or strength unless you have the strength, right And
Speaker 1: so like under Biden when he made these threads, like
Speaker 1: no one believed them obviously as evidence by you know,
Speaker 1: putin doing whatever you ones and Iran via Hamas doing
Speaker 1: whatever it wanted, or like even Obama when you draw
Speaker 1: all the red lines with Syria and Asad was like, okay, whatever,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. It's like you have to
Speaker 1: like it has to be believable. And like with Trump,
Speaker 1: when you know, when you start out of the gate
Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen, dropping the mother Ball bombs and you know,
Speaker 1: sending the Tomawk missiles to Syria, or like later in
Speaker 1: his presidency taking out cast some solemney Like these guys,
Speaker 1: like these bad actors know that like he's not effing
Speaker 1: around right, Like it's you know when he when he
Speaker 1: makes threats like he will do it.
Speaker 2: That's exactly right. You know.
Speaker 3: They they know that he is not someone who mince
Speaker 3: his words and that when he says something, he means it,
Speaker 3: and that is so important for America's credibility around the globe.
Speaker 1: No, we're saying, these military recruitment numbers have gone up
Speaker 1: under the Trump administration, which is great. You're a West
Speaker 1: Point guy, so you signed up to serve. Why did
Speaker 1: you sign up to serve? And then also, you know,
Speaker 1: why do you think those numbers are up? And how
Speaker 1: significant is that?
Speaker 3: Yeah, well it's very significant. I'll start with with my
Speaker 3: own story. I you know, I didn't grow up in
Speaker 3: in a military family so to speak. My grandparents served,
Speaker 3: but they passed away when I was really young, so
Speaker 3: I didn't really get a chance to talk to them
Speaker 3: about it. But you know, in my in the house
Speaker 3: that I grew up my parents they told me that
Speaker 3: the highest honor is to serve God and serve your country.
Speaker 3: And those are the things that I always took to heart.
Speaker 3: And so I knew when I was in high school
Speaker 3: and I joined j R. O t C the high
Speaker 3: school Junior OTC program, and you know, walking around our
Speaker 3: high school in uniforms of it. It was it was
Speaker 3: it was something that you know, my friends made fun
Speaker 3: of me for a little while until they realized I
Speaker 3: was really serious about this. And I ended up, you know,
Speaker 3: deciding I wanted to go to West Point and was
Speaker 3: thankful and I had people that worked with me and
Speaker 3: got in shape and I was went on to West
Speaker 3: Point and I was there for four years, graduated in
Speaker 3: twenty fifteen, UH, and I commissioned as an Army Intelligence Captain,
Speaker 3: well coachy Intelligence tenant and then rose to the rank
Speaker 3: of captain and UH. And you know, during that time,
Speaker 3: it was I wanted to first I knew that, you know,
Speaker 3: this country has given us.
Speaker 2: So many amazing privileges of freedom.
Speaker 3: I mean, just the freedom to be on this podcast
Speaker 3: with you, to say what we think and to be
Speaker 3: able to talk and UH, to talk about our government
Speaker 3: and not be you know, in fear of of of
Speaker 3: you know, being you know, taken off the air, thrown
Speaker 3: in jail. I mean, we take those freedoms for granted,
Speaker 3: but around the world that is just not the case.
Speaker 3: And I know, we know that freedom is not free there.
Speaker 3: We just you know, had Memorial Day, and obviously there
Speaker 3: are many people that that shed much blood for us
Speaker 3: to enjoy these freedoms. And so for me, I wanted
Speaker 3: to give back and serve my country, and it was
Speaker 3: it was really the privilege of a lifetime to do that.
Speaker 3: And and with the recruitment numbers, you know, as you
Speaker 3: pointed out the numbers under under President Biden, the numbers
Speaker 3: had so low. Every single branch was struggling with recruitment.
Speaker 3: And if you ask the Biden administration at the time,
Speaker 3: they would just say, oh, well, it's just you know,
Speaker 3: the environment unemployment rate is a little lower right now,
Speaker 3: so therefore people aren't you know, coming in military as much.
Speaker 3: It's just they had all these excuses, you know, the pool,
Speaker 3: I mean, and some of those you know, are factors perhaps,
Speaker 3: but it wasn't a total answer for how we for
Speaker 3: the first time since the advent of the all volunteer
Speaker 3: force in the seventies, uh, since we got rid of
Speaker 3: the draft. Basically, you know, we had all volunteer force.
Speaker 3: Why recrupment numbers were at an all time low since
Speaker 3: the advent of.
Speaker 2: The volunteer force, I mean decades low. And so.
Speaker 3: Really what we know is that a lot of folks
Speaker 3: at home when they're seeing you know, commercials for their
Speaker 3: military that are all about a social agenda and all
Speaker 3: about you know, you can experiment in any kind of
Speaker 3: you know, social agenda you want in the military.
Speaker 2: We will do your surgery if you want to. You know,
Speaker 2: if you're a transgender, we'll pay for your surgery. We'll
Speaker 2: do all this, you.
Speaker 3: Know, we we are also many people at home were
Speaker 3: told that the military is somehow racist. You know, if
Speaker 3: you recall on one of the first things that the
Speaker 3: Biden administration did Lloyd Austin, a Secretary of Defense, one
Speaker 3: of the first things he did was do us a
Speaker 3: force wide stand down to root out quote unquote white
Speaker 3: supremacy and root out extremism in the ranks. And of
Speaker 3: course they found nothing because it was a made up story.
Speaker 3: It was all for politics, all for you know, really
Speaker 3: just trying to virtue signal, I guess for the left,
Speaker 3: I mean.
Speaker 2: It was it was a total mess.
Speaker 3: And that's what I think is the real reason why
Speaker 3: we saw those numbers drop so low, is that who
Speaker 3: wants to join the military to be a part of
Speaker 3: a social experiment. You want to join the military to
Speaker 3: kill bad guys. And so now we're seeing the total
Speaker 3: shift under President Trump and Secretary Except if you even
Speaker 3: look at the commercial the ads you see now they're
Speaker 3: all about you know, our soldiers, men and women, you know,
Speaker 3: killing bad guys. You see our fighter jugey, you see
Speaker 3: the whole force of the American military, and it's inspiring.
Speaker 3: And I think that's why we're seeing a lot of
Speaker 3: the numbers bounce back. And so now a lot of
Speaker 3: those recruiting lolls have become a recruiting boom and so
Speaker 3: and that all that is under this this administration, so
Speaker 3: that it's it's very exciting. Many of us have been
Speaker 3: talking about this. I testified before the House Oversight Committee
Speaker 3: about this crisis.
Speaker 2: During the Biden administration.
Speaker 3: I was on the National Independent Panel from Military Service
Speaker 3: and Readiness that then Congressman Mike Waltson appointed me to
Speaker 3: and and and you know So we've been talking about
Speaker 3: this for a long time. As you know, I'm part
Speaker 3: of a group called Veterans on Duty. I'm chairman of
Speaker 3: the Board of Veterans on Duty, and we're a five
Speaker 3: O one C four policy advocacy organization made up of
Speaker 3: veterans who cared deeply about our military and about a
Speaker 3: lot of these issues. And this recruitment crisis was something
Speaker 3: that we talked about quite a bit, and so now
Speaker 3: that we're finally seeing positive results, it is very heartening
Speaker 3: for many of us who have been on the front
Speaker 3: lines of this effort.
Speaker 2: And what were your.
Speaker 1: Takeaways in the testimony, because you know, my understanding is
Speaker 1: it was getting so bad that like if we had
Speaker 1: another major war, like we might not have enough people,
Speaker 1: like you know what I mean, Like we're not prepared
Speaker 1: in terms of manpower. So you know, what kind of
Speaker 1: were your takeaways or that you had learned in the
Speaker 1: testimony that that people should know that we're concerning Oh.
Speaker 3: Man, I mean, and it's worse back in like you know,
Speaker 3: twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two, the the I'll give
Speaker 3: you an example, we were if you look at the army,
Speaker 3: just just the army and again, this was this was
Speaker 3: the crisis spread to all the branches. But I'll just
Speaker 3: zoom in on the Army, my branch for a second.
Speaker 3: If you look at the Army, the numbers were so low,
Speaker 3: we were at thousands of soldiers short. It would be
Speaker 3: the equivalent of missing an entire division. So I was
Speaker 3: I was third Infantry Division. I was stationed at Fort
Speaker 3: Stewart and near Savannah, Georgia, and that entire it would
Speaker 3: be like the equivalent of all of Third i D
Speaker 3: missing in action if we were to go into a major, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, major conflict.
Speaker 2: That is, it was a serious crisis.
Speaker 3: And of course, you know, the you know, the legacy
Speaker 3: media didn't want to talk about it, and you know,
Speaker 3: they made it sound like, you know, Republicans are just
Speaker 3: making up this crisis that we are just you know,
Speaker 3: looking for reasons to criticize Biden.
Speaker 2: But as we know, it's in the cover up a
Speaker 2: lot of things.
Speaker 3: And yeah, it was actually a very serious crisis that,
Speaker 3: thank god, we averted. And and now with President Trumpet office,
Speaker 3: we're seeing again all those numbers increasing and I think
Speaker 3: I think that's a trajectory that's going to continue because
Speaker 3: the Pentagon led by Secretary except is going.
Speaker 2: Is returning to lethality. That is the key that the
Speaker 2: purpose of the military is to deter fight and win
Speaker 2: our nation's wars. That's it. There's no other agenda.
Speaker 3: It's not about social experimentation, it's not about be all
Speaker 3: you can be, you know in terms of you know,
Speaker 3: diversity is our strength. It's about it's all about the
Speaker 3: term uh fighting and winning our nations wars. And so
Speaker 3: that is the key. I think that we're going to
Speaker 3: see it's gonna win, it's gonna it's really going to
Speaker 3: strengthen our military and ultimately to our adversaries going forward.
Speaker 1: Do you think he's doing a good job, Pete Hedges
Speaker 1: have secretary funds.
Speaker 2: I do. I do.
Speaker 3: He is someone who he's been, you know, very much
Speaker 3: focused on returning to lethality.
Speaker 2: He's made sure.
Speaker 3: We've gotten rid of all the distractions, all the things
Speaker 3: that you know are just you know, when when I
Speaker 3: was in the military, you'd have all these ridiculous trainings
Speaker 3: and you've got you know, diversity training, You've got all
Speaker 3: these different trainings on all these on everything except for
Speaker 3: the core mission. And so we would run out of
Speaker 3: time when actually training our core, our core tasks and
Speaker 3: our military tasks and drills, because we were so focused
Speaker 3: on other types of you know, social campaigns that the
Speaker 3: you know, the President Biden and others you know, had
Speaker 3: had when I was in it was President Obama for
Speaker 3: most of that time, but and then President Trumpet towards
Speaker 3: the end. But you know, it was all about you know,
Speaker 3: these different you know, experimenting, you know, and so that
Speaker 3: kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: It was distracting.
Speaker 3: And I think we're seeing with Secretary of Headseth is
Speaker 3: returning to our core fundamentals and so and then I
Speaker 3: think also we're seeing we're getting rid of a lot
Speaker 3: of the civilian bloat that's been kind of plaguing the
Speaker 3: military the Pentagon for many years. We have so I mean,
Speaker 3: just thousands upon thousands, tens of thousands of DA's civilians
Speaker 3: and contractors and folks who you know, many of them
Speaker 3: are vital to our mission and were thankful for them,
Speaker 3: but a.
Speaker 2: Lot of them were not.
Speaker 3: And so we're seeing a lot of kind of relooking
Speaker 3: at how we're spending our funds, how we're spending resources,
Speaker 3: who you know.
Speaker 2: Needs, what we have redundancies.
Speaker 3: We can get rid of those he's making the Department
Speaker 3: offense much more efficient, and that's really important, and it
Speaker 3: starts with the top down. And he's also enabling commanders
Speaker 3: to do what they need to do to train their
Speaker 3: soldiers and to be prepared to deploy at a moment's notice.
Speaker 2: Before we go.
Speaker 1: Obviously, there was a big, big focus on legal immigration
Speaker 1: under the by administration, one of the top reasons President
Speaker 1: Trump won. But now we sort of have this broader
Speaker 1: focus on legal immigration, particularly visas and the revoking of
Speaker 1: you know, student visas and various visas. Secondary Mark or
Speaker 1: Rubio announced recently that we're going to aggressively revoke visas
Speaker 1: for Chinese students.
Speaker 2: I mean, doesn't that just make sense?
Speaker 1: Like why would we we know that there's been issues
Speaker 1: with like Chinese spies here in America, and by the way,
Speaker 1: like Russian spies we've had before, So like, what wouldn't
Speaker 1: we be very judicious about the individuals we let into
Speaker 1: this country from enemy nations or even individuals from countries
Speaker 1: and areas of the world that have hostile opinions and
Speaker 1: feelings towards America. Like that just to me seems like
Speaker 1: common sense.
Speaker 3: It is common sense, and I applaud Secretary of Rubio
Speaker 3: with this decision.
Speaker 2: It's been an issue that we've even at veterans on duty.
Speaker 3: We talked about this before, as there are a lot
Speaker 3: of students that are coming here on these Chinese visas
Speaker 3: who are literally many of them spying on behalf of
Speaker 3: the Chinese government. We saw that at different schools, even
Speaker 3: in places you wouldn't even suspect, and Whichita came against us,
Speaker 3: of all places where my wife's family is from. At
Speaker 3: certain colleges there there was evidence of literally Chinese students
Speaker 3: there who are agents on behalf of the CCP.
Speaker 2: And so now the left is going to try.
Speaker 3: To make this all about, oh, we're discriminating against you know,
Speaker 3: the Chinese people and all this stuff. Now we're dealing
Speaker 3: with specifically Chinese citizens and especially those who have ties
Speaker 3: to the CCP, who we are just allowing to work
Speaker 3: in our work in our universities, sprayed spread a lot
Speaker 3: of their you know, a lot of the CCP's talking points,
Speaker 3: and also collect information. And so I think it's a
Speaker 3: small choice, but remember, and it's not just this. China
Speaker 3: is moving on all fronts against our country. I'll give
Speaker 3: you a couple more examples right now, there are Chinese
Speaker 3: state sponsored so sponsored by the CCP that are these
Speaker 3: hackers that are literally able to access our own home
Speaker 3: Wi Fi routers. There's a Wi Fi router made by
Speaker 3: a company. By the way, all this is is public.
Speaker 3: You can see this on it's in several reports about
Speaker 3: The Wall Street Journal had an article about this, there
Speaker 3: was a congressional hearing about it. There's a company called
Speaker 3: tp Link that makes these Wi Fi rasuters and they
Speaker 3: are a Chinese founded company.
Speaker 2: Most of their operations are still in China. Uh they are.
Speaker 3: And what they are doing is they have these WiFi routers.
Speaker 3: So you go and you buy a router and you
Speaker 3: put in your home. You know nothing of it, and
Speaker 3: what they're able to do is to hack into your router.
Speaker 3: And of course it's not your home that they want.
Speaker 3: Their target is the United States infrastructure, transportation infrastructure. But
Speaker 3: what they're able to do is to shield themselves as
Speaker 3: if they and it will appear as just a normal
Speaker 3: American citizen home router, but actually they're using that to
Speaker 3: preposition themselves to attack American infrastructure, our transportation.
Speaker 2: Sector, our water sector, our telecommunications, you name it.
Speaker 3: So there are so many attacks on the United States
Speaker 3: that we aren't even seeing or paying attention to. So
Speaker 3: we're seeing it with a lot of Chinese students in
Speaker 3: the universities. We're seeing it in our in our infrastructure,
Speaker 3: with these routers with this teepe link, which, by the way,
Speaker 3: teep a link. If you go to Amazon, teepe link
Speaker 3: is often one of the first routers you see that
Speaker 3: are recommended that they have it. They're selling this the
Speaker 3: manufacturing get for cheap. And and by the way, reports
Speaker 3: are saying the Department of Justice. Trump's Department of Justice
Speaker 3: is now investigating this as well as the Department of
Speaker 3: Commerce because they're selling these routers for treat for cheap
Speaker 3: to make sure they take over the market, so that
Speaker 3: make sure that all the routers in that states are
Speaker 3: controlled by a Chinese commuist party. I mean, it's it's
Speaker 3: it's their it's their play. And then we saw it,
Speaker 3: you know, the spy base. Now they have spy bases
Speaker 3: ninety miles off the coast of Florida and in Cuba.
Speaker 3: They have seen them expand that of course everybody remembers
Speaker 3: the Chinese spy balloons. I mean, it is it's on
Speaker 3: all fronts agriculture. They are buying up American farm land,
Speaker 3: especially land that is near military bases. They want to
Speaker 3: control our food security here in the United States. They've
Speaker 3: actually now they want to control a lot of the
Speaker 3: inputs that our farmers rely on to grow their crops.
Speaker 3: One of the products they use is it's called glyc estate.
Speaker 3: They use it to attack weeds. It's a weed killer
Speaker 3: and it's and they use it at the major level.
Speaker 3: Commercial farmers use that to protect their crops. Well, now
Speaker 3: China wants to take over that entire industry, and now
Speaker 3: we've seen them do that, and now they're the majority
Speaker 3: of those key products, and our farmers need to grow
Speaker 3: our prop to grow crops for us here in the
Speaker 3: United States. Again controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. So
Speaker 3: it's it is a very dangerous time we're in and
Speaker 3: I'm so thankful that Secretary Rubio was taking action. We're
Speaker 3: seeing and we're seeing it all over government, I mean,
Speaker 3: Secretary of Homeland Security is looking at it. I mean,
Speaker 3: this is finally people are waking up to this and
Speaker 3: it's a significant threat and I think we're finally taking
Speaker 3: steps in.
Speaker 2: The right direction. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And then last thing before we go, What can
Speaker 1: you tell us about veterans on duty?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we are as I mentioned, we're five on
Speaker 3: one C four policy advocacy organization made up of veterans
Speaker 3: around the country. Most of us are veterans of the
Speaker 3: global war and terrorism, but we have veterans of all
Speaker 3: different eras as well, and many of us we care
Speaker 3: about these issues about having a strong national security, having
Speaker 3: a strong border, making sure our military has the fun
Speaker 3: that they need to fight our nation's wars and the
Speaker 3: resources they need to do that. We make sure that
Speaker 3: we are not as I've talked about doing running experiments
Speaker 3: with our military, but actually focusing on lethality and and
Speaker 3: so we care a lot about these issues and making
Speaker 3: sure that we are our America is strong, stronger than ever,
Speaker 3: and that is something we want. As we always say,
Speaker 3: you know, we didn't end our service when we took
Speaker 3: off our uniform for us. Our service continues and we
Speaker 3: do that through through advocacy and advocating for policies that
Speaker 3: we will will keep America safe.
Speaker 2: Strong and free.
Speaker 1: Jeremy Hunt, appreciate you making the time great to patch
Speaker 1: up and hope to see you soon.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Thanks for having me Lisa, that was Jeremy Hunt.
Speaker 1: We appreciate him for making the time for the show.
Speaker 1: Appreciate you guys at home for listening every Tuesday and Thursday,
Speaker 1: but you can listen throughout the week until next time.