1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:03,600 Speaker 1: There really are no words, not in English, that are 2 00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:08,320 Speaker 1: adequate to describe the ascension of Pete hegseeth to be 3 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: the United States Secretary of Defense, to be atop the 4 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:18,080 Speaker 1: chain of command of five thousand plus nuclear warheads, the 5 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 1: ballistic missile submarines, the captains and the crews, the strategic bombers, 6 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 1: the United States Marine Corps, and the Army and the Navy, 7 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:32,839 Speaker 1: and the Coastguard and the Space Force. This is the warning. 8 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:39,080 Speaker 1: This is a moment of deep, deep shame and dishonor, 9 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:43,800 Speaker 1: and yes, collapse. The founders of this country envisions that 10 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 1: the Congress of bi cameral legislature made up of two houses, 11 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: upper and lower, one representatives of the people, the House 12 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:57,560 Speaker 1: of Representatives, the other the United States Senate, to whom 13 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: was given the responsibility of advice and giving their consent 14 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:07,399 Speaker 1: on the President's nominations, not as a subordinate branch of government, 15 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 1: but a coequal branch of government. Not so long ago, 16 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:15,199 Speaker 1: the United States Senate was known and admired all over 17 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 1: the world has its greatest deliberative body. Think about that, 18 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:22,520 Speaker 1: and then watch this clown from Oklahoma. 19 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:26,319 Speaker 2: Mark Wayne Mullen, the Senator from Virginia starts bringing up 20 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:28,640 Speaker 2: the fact that what if you showed up drunk to 21 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:32,640 Speaker 2: your job? How many Senators have showed up drunk to 22 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:37,640 Speaker 2: vote at night? Have any of you guys asked them 23 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:40,920 Speaker 2: to step down and resign for their job? And don't 24 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 2: tell me you haven't seen it, because I know you have. 25 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:45,759 Speaker 2: And then how many senators do you know have got 26 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:49,280 Speaker 2: a divorce before cheating on their wives? Did you ask 27 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 2: them to step down? 28 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 3: No? 29 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 2: But it's for show, you guys. Make sure you make 30 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 2: a big show and point out the hypocrisy because a 31 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:02,160 Speaker 2: man's made a mistake and you want to sit there 32 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:05,040 Speaker 2: and say that he's not qualified. Give me a joke. 33 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 1: He's a case study. Watch him talk about Matt Gates 34 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:13,360 Speaker 1: before Donald Trump laid his magic hand on him. 35 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 2: You got to think about this guy. This is a 36 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:18,280 Speaker 2: guy that didn't have that The media didn't give a 37 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:20,600 Speaker 2: time at day to after he was accused of sleeping 38 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,679 Speaker 2: with an underage girl. There's a reason why no one 39 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 2: in the conference came defended him because we had all 40 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:29,840 Speaker 2: seen the videos he was showing on the house floor 41 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 2: that all of us had walked away of the girls 42 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:33,799 Speaker 2: that he had slept with. He'd brag about how he 43 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 2: would crush ed medicine and chase it with with an 44 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 2: energy drink so he could go all night. 45 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:43,320 Speaker 1: And after he's. 46 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 3: Already heard from the lawyer, from some of the people 47 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 3: who did testify to the House Ethics Committee that he 48 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 3: had a client who testified that she had not only 49 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:56,679 Speaker 3: seen him pay for sex with women, but also engage 50 00:02:56,680 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 3: in sex with a seventeen year old woman at a 51 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 3: drug filled party. Is that something that concerns you? 52 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 2: Well, if it is true, and I mean I got 53 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 2: to say that that is true. 54 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:11,160 Speaker 1: Are you disturbed by it? Do you think it's funny? 55 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: Or can you comprehend that? It's the preface to catastrophe. 56 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:19,520 Speaker 1: It's the preface to the Pete Hegsath Era. Department of 57 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: Defense is a one trillion dollar government agency. The man 58 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: who is likely to lead it is unfit. He is 59 00:03:28,639 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 1: the exact type of person we spend billions in this 60 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: country trying to keep the officers of our armed forces 61 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:42,320 Speaker 1: from becoming He is the case study for the lack 62 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:48,040 Speaker 1: of character, judgment, probity, and rectitude the Cadets study. Pete 63 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:52,800 Speaker 1: Hegseth is a moral disaster. As a leader for the 64 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:58,120 Speaker 1: armed forces of the United States, Pete Hegsath showed pre confirmation, 65 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 1: pre installment, prepower, his sneering, abject contempt for America's democracy. 66 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:11,120 Speaker 1: For the United States Senators, what we witnessed yesterday was 67 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:15,320 Speaker 1: the abandonment of a central tenant of the American democracy, 68 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:20,040 Speaker 1: most spectacularly in the form of Jony Ernst. Jony Ernst 69 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:23,839 Speaker 1: claims herself to be a sexual assault survivor and a 70 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 1: combat veteran. Maybe so, but let's be clear, there will 71 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:30,680 Speaker 1: be more rapes in the military, and there are too 72 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: many already. Jony Ernst does not care about them. She 73 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:40,640 Speaker 1: gives absolutely zero and I mean zero fi Jony Ernst 74 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:43,800 Speaker 1: cares about one thing, Donald Trump and being in his 75 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 1: favor because Jony Ernst likes being told what to do, 76 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:51,800 Speaker 1: apparently not exercising independent judgment or thought. A woman who 77 00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: is elected in part on the basis of her service 78 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:58,920 Speaker 1: as a National Guard lieutenant colonel, a combat veteran, would 79 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:03,680 Speaker 1: dare to vote for Pete Hegseth to lead the American military. 80 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 1: It can be said at the instant the vote is 81 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:10,960 Speaker 1: made to confirm this low man that the Republic has 82 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:17,360 Speaker 1: fallen because the United States Senate has subordinated itself, stripped 83 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:22,840 Speaker 1: itself of power, has prostrated itself, laid down, and done 84 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:27,880 Speaker 1: nothing to exercise the constitutional power it has to prevent 85 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:32,360 Speaker 1: the catastrophe that Pete Hegseth will augur. And let's understand, 86 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 1: it is not just the perfidy of the MAGA senators, Yeah, Jeck, stupidity, 87 00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:42,840 Speaker 1: the imbecility of the apologists for the indefensible. It is 88 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:46,960 Speaker 1: beyond that. It is the utter fecklessness of the Chuck 89 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:51,839 Speaker 1: Schumer Democratic Senate. What is the plan to stop this? Chuck? 90 00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:56,560 Speaker 1: The answer is, like always, there is none. Empty postures 91 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: and hollow words from a silly man leading a political 92 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:05,440 Speaker 1: party broke it and corrupt enough that the American people 93 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:10,000 Speaker 1: chose this over them. Many of them believe they ran 94 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:13,720 Speaker 1: a flawless campaign. There are no words. This is a 95 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 1: moment of grave danger for this country. What happened in 96 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:21,880 Speaker 1: November is coming due. The inauguration is here, and it 97 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:25,800 Speaker 1: will be appalling. There is nothing standing in Donald Trump's 98 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:31,080 Speaker 1: way except the courts of law, democratic governors, state legislatures, 99 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:35,440 Speaker 1: and the most powerful interest group en force in the country, 100 00:06:35,839 --> 00:06:40,599 Speaker 1: which is the American people, who are historically slow to 101 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:44,560 Speaker 1: rise in anger, but they do rise in anger, the 102 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 1: anger of the American people, help put Donald Trump back 103 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:50,040 Speaker 1: in power, and I fear we will pay for it 104 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:54,200 Speaker 1: a very high price. Pete Heseeth isn't Defense Secretary yet, 105 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:56,880 Speaker 1: but it looks like soon he will be. And when 106 00:06:56,920 --> 00:07:00,720 Speaker 1: he becomes the most powerful defense minister in the world, 107 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:04,480 Speaker 1: it is right that you should feel a cold chill 108 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:08,280 Speaker 1: down your spine because you have been left unprotected by 109 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: America's political leaders, who would dare vote yes for this buffoon. 110 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:17,440 Speaker 1: They have a responsibility to America's fighting men and women, 111 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:23,080 Speaker 1: and the utterly, completely absolutely abandon it for politics. Pete 112 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:27,680 Speaker 1: Hag said is unfit. He is a moral and ethical chernobyl. 113 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:30,600 Speaker 1: He would be carried off of the bridge of a 114 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 1: ballistic missile submarine if he were the captain in a 115 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:39,480 Speaker 1: straight jacket. His drinking is disqualifying, His conduct is disqualifying. 116 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:46,320 Speaker 1: His judgment is disqualifying, His recklessness is disqualifying. His abject 117 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:53,000 Speaker 1: imbecility is disqualifying. His white nationalist tattoos are disqualifying. He's 118 00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: the most unfit and unqualified person ever to be nominated 119 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:02,400 Speaker 1: for a position of power in the United States Defense 120 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 1: establishment since its reorganization and establishment in nineteen forty seven. Appalling, disgraceful, dishonorable. 121 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:19,120 Speaker 1: There are no words. This is the warning. I'm Steve Schmidt. 122 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: This is the warning, and I invite you to join. 123 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 1: Subscribe on our substack, on our YouTube channel, follow us. 124 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:30,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to the community.