WEBVTT - Trump's Cabinet of Curiosities 0:00:01.760 --> 0:00:07.920 Also media, welcome to it could happen here. Oh god, 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:11.760 we have survived another week, and I'm joined today by 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:15.800 Sophie and James to discuss Trump's cabinet picks and the 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:21.120 upcoming potential members of the Trump administration two point zero. 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:24.240 I'm sure some of you have been following the news 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:26.920 and there is some wacky picks in there. There keeps 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:30.800 being even more wacky ones like RFK, which I didn't 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:32.920 even have time to include because by the time he 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:36.440 was announced, I basically already wrote too much. RFK will 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:40.000 get his own future episode. But it's pretty it's pretty 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:43.120 safe to assume that RFK in control of Health and 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:45.920 Human Services is pretty bad. 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:48.760 You don't say you don't say yeah. 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:52.120 People are saying it not great to have the world's 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:56.320 weirdest conspiracy theorist of the Kennedy family in charge of 0:00:56.440 --> 0:00:59.280 you know, like vaccines and health mandates. And it's gonna 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.400 be bad enough that it's its own episode for the 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:06.000 rest of the nominations. Mostly like last week, right, this 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:07.920 is going to be covering all the nominations in the 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:11.440 week of the eleventh to the fifteenth of November. We're 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:14.080 going to kind of go through nomination by nomination and 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:16.880 do a brief overview of each of these guys and 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:21.000 why each one could be bad, and some of them 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:23.560 just kind of point to like more general like neocon 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:27.319 picks as well. Trump kind of started off with some 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:30.920 more ordinary picks, honestly, like you know, like Mark Rubio 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:33.399 a Secretary of State. This is this is kind of 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:36.080 a restrained pick for him. Now, Rubio is still kind 0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:38.640 of converted into being a Trump loyalist, like every single 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:41.080 other person we're going to be talking about, And it 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:43.919 is interesting that kind of among all of the Trump appointees, 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:46.520 he has been the most open about his criticisms of Trump, 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:49.800 especially during Trump's first term. The leaked five hundred and 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:52.320 fifty one page of VP vetting document produced by the 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:56.880 Trump campaign outlines Rubio's anti Putin comments, support for the 0:01:56.920 --> 0:02:00.000 Miller investigation, his acceptance of the twenty twenty election results, 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:03.440 past comments that Trump is too dangerous to be trusted 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.560 with nuclear codes, and his history of supporting NATO, support 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:10.280 of the Iraq War, and pro military intervention in Iran 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:13.920 and Syria. So some of these positions now kind of 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:16.959 bump up against what Trump's next term is going to 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:20.280 be kind of defined by and like more recently, Rubio 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:23.480 has moved on from his Tea Party free trade kind 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:26.200 of roots and now advocates for, you know, more tariffs 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:29.600 on China and calling the country quote the most advanced 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:33.720 adversary America has ever faced, unquote. Basically all of the 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:37.400 kind of foreign policy guys are really big on China. 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:39.799 They are all China hawks. That is kind of one 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:43.560 continuous through line throughout all these nominations. I guess, James, 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:46.600 do you have any thoughts on Mark Rubio for Secretary 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:47.000 of State? 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:50.480 Yeah, Marca Ribio, I don't have a lot's thoughts to 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:53.000 Marco Rubio. I always expect to get all to be 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:54.960 more along the lines of heck, thest like more to 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:59.239 be like culture war commentators. Yeah, Like at least Rubio, 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:02.160 I will say, like, I'd probably disagree with him on 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:05.800 almost everything, but he's he's not going to probably abandon 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:09.320 the YPG and the YPG and SDF in Syria, which 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:11.560 is a good things. He's pretty hawkish on that. He's 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:14.440 not a big out of one fan, so like that's 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:17.400 a good thing. I guess, Like I think as Secretary 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:20.320 of States under Trump, go like it could have been 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:22.440 fucking Tucker Carlson like that. That's not out of the 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:24.200 realm of possibility. 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:24.239 At this rate. 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:24.720 Yeah. 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:27.760 Yeah, and uh, it's well, he spends all his time 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:30.400 watching Fox News, right, Like, that's what we've heard that 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:32.840 he does. And it's not inconceivable that he thinks these 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:35.400 people are experts because they're presented that way, and that 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:38.440 is how he encounters and thus perceives the world. So, 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:42.520 I guess Rubio and even amongst these picks, he's probably 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:44.160 not the worst, which is wild to be saying. 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:46.840 So is the review and Mark Rubio could be worse. 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:48.560 I mean, I guess so. 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:51.240 I mean that's the review of Mark Rubio's life, isn't 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:53.520 it that that's pretty much how he's gone through the world. 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:54.120 Yeah. 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:55.960 I think his parents would agree with us. 0:03:56.080 --> 0:04:01.360 Out Rubio is no Pete haig Seth Secretary of Defense. Yeah, 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:04.400 which was one of the first picks that like really sharded, 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:05.600 raising some eyebrows. 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:08.160 Wild pick, wild pick. 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:11.520 Yeah, Yeah, what who does an a cog tattooed on 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:12.120 his bicep? 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:16.320 Stop sending us that photo over him without a shirt on? 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:17.560 Have seen it? 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.960 Yeah, never send us any cabinet member shirtless. I don't 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:23.520 care if he's RFK. I don't care if he's head set. 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:24.520 I don't want to see a nipple. 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:26.880 I thought I didn't like it. I don't need to 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:27.479 see it again. 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:30.000 Yank you so much. I feel like everyone's pretty well 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:34.440 aware now that he has some very questionable Christian nationalist tattoos, honey, 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:38.800 not not super uncommon. And you know in this for 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:40.960 like this type of like military guy he. 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:42.440 Got the more wasted we was out. He got them 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:43.479 in his late thirties. 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:47.400 That also makes sense. That feels like a very midlife crisis. 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:50.320 Oh no, I'm a Fox and Friends weekend host now 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:54.480 kind of move Yeah yeah, better up my molin larbae game. 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:55.040 Now. 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:57.279 There's a lot to be said about Pete heik Seth. 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:00.680 He's a Princeton and Harvard graduate who is also claimed 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:02.920 that germs are not real and he has never washed 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:08.560 his hands in the last ten years. Disgusting. Germs are 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:11.599 not real. I can't see them, therefore they're not real. 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:16.200 So that's lovely. 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:21.719 Gross, you can't. What a fucking idiot, but absolute moron. 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:26.080 God. He's advocated against divorce for families with kids until 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:28.680 he was caught cheating on his second wife with his producer, 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:31.240 fathered a child, and then divorced his wife to Mary, 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:31.919 his coworker. 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:33.360 Many such cases. 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:36.080 In general, he's just very chud codd right. He has 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:40.400 like he has like a grunt style fashion, Christian nationalist tattoos. 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:42.440 He looks like the type of guy that I would 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:45.440 have docked for fun as a teenager, except he just 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:49.760 serves on Fox and Friends' weekend hosting team. He served 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:53.400 in Guantanamo, Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan in the Army National Guard, 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:56.920 and has recently advocated that women should not serve in 0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:58.719 combat roles in the US military. 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:01.120 I'm straight up just saying we should not have women 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:04.600 in combat roles hasn't made us more effective, hasn't made 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:07.400 us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated. We've all 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:11.080 served with women, and they're great. It just our institutions 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:16.200 don't have to incentivize that in places where traditionally not 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:21.359 traditionally over human history, men in those positions are more capable. 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:22.960 Yes, and wild take, so much should be happening in 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:23.480 the military. 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:26.040 He sure does. I'm going to read a quote from 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:30.640 his book The War on Warriors, Big si Quototox say 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:34.760 the Republican Party by default has become the only party 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:38.720 of America. And if we don't crusade a holy war, 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:43.039 a righteous, holy war for freedom, we're not going to 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:47.880 save America. In general. A lot of his rhetoric kind 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:52.880 of is this similar Christian nationalist crusade holy war type stuff. 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:54.240 This is like a lot of what he talks about 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:58.200 on podcasts and TV appearances where he is not throwing 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:01.520 a double sided acts at the pedus of a West 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:03.000 Point drummer are live TV. 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:05.960 It was incredible. It was indirect fire. He arcd it 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:08.800 over the target straight to the dick and balls of 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:09.760 the West Point drama. 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:13.080 I just feel like, if he's gonna like somebody tell 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:15.520 him what a microscope is, Somebody just tell him what 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:16.480 a microscope is. 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:19.360 He must have used binoculars at some point in his service, 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:22.280 or some kind of magnified optic right to learn to 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:25.520 see things. I mean, he has a magnified optic tattooed 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:28.480 on his bicep. Actually he should does good. 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:30.360 I mean, like, if you're going to be Secretary of Defense, 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:34.800 at least like, oh, sir, wash your hands. 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:39.920 Arguably, the most worrying part about Pete as Secretary of 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:44.600 Defense is not the anti handwashing beliefs or the poor 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:48.680 aim for ax throwing. It's that he's basically a lobbyist 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:51.560 for war criminals. Yes, and was a big part of 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:55.880 the campaign to push Trump to pardon several convicted war criminals, 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:59.920 people who like tortured and murdered prisoners and ordered soul 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:04.240 to shoot and kill random unarmed civilians. Yeah. So, especially 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:07.800 with this Secretary of Defense role, that's not great. That 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:11.680 he's essentially pro war criminal and justifies it by saying, like, 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:15.000 people don't really understand what it's like to serve in combat. 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:16.800 Sometimes you have to make decisions and blah blah blah, 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:20.280 blah blah, all this random stuff not good. Sources within 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:23.480 the government have called him the most unqualified person ever 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:26.480 appointed to this position, which I do I do believe 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:28.640 because this is just a guy that Trump sees on TV. 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:30.520 This is just a TV host. Yeah, this is one 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:33.480 of the more shocking nominations. Yeah, let's move on to 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:40.760 Secretary of Homeland Security. Ugh, this is another odd pick. 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:45.760 Christy Nome, the non border state governor of South Dakota, 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:48.800 who has no experience in the DHS, has never worked 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:54.040 in law enforcement, though she does possess one trademark cop trait. 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:58.640 Oh yes, oh, yes she does. And what would that be. 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:01.160 Here, which is shooting they get killing dogs? 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:02.640 Yep, awful person. 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:05.200 So that is one thing she might bond with our 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:06.840 law enforcement community over. 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:09.679 Which we all know about because she wrote about it 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:12.880 in her own fucking book girl. 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:15.559 Yeah, incriminating herself another cop. 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:16.800 Trait, so true, so true. 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:19.800 She did deploy the South Dakota National Guard to the border, 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:22.640 and I think they used they received private financing for 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:25.600 it if I remember correctly. Yeah. See, like that's her engagement. 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:30.160 That one again is troubling. So much power at the DHS. 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:31.680 It's such an odd pick. 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:34.000 All of these picks where I'm talking about, some of 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:36.760 them do seem odd, but not from the point of 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:40.240 view that Trump is basically picking people that one are 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:42.480 like in his constant orbit, like a guy on TV, 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:45.000 but also people that are not like institutionalists. 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:45.280 Right. 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:47.360 These aren't like people who like work their way up 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:50.440 through these government departments to prove their like effectiveness, to 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:53.920 prove their legitimacy. They are people that have proven their 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:57.280 personal loyalty to Trump. Right. Trump's first campaign was kind 0:09:57.320 --> 0:10:00.559 of defined by a whole bunch of people defecting him, right, 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:04.200 everyone he's appointed eventually gotten to beefs with him. People 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:06.880 you know left wrote books about how bad Trump is. 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:11.440 Eventually Trump faced all these prosecutions. Trump's main concern is 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:14.480 like loyalty right now, So he's picking people that just 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:18.000 have proven their own loyalty, and from that point of view, 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:21.120 all of his picks makes sense. Almost everyone picked here 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:24.720 at least at some point appeared on screen with Trump 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:28.520 in his like twenty twenty four campaign six part documentary 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:31.520 Like all of these guys so like they were around 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:35.000 Trump's orbit from pretty early on in his campaign now. 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:38.679 According to Politico, Christinom was recommended by twenty sixteen campaign 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:43.840 chief Corey Lewandowski, and his incoming borders are Tom Homan 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:45.880 Lewandowski sucks. 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:50.559 Yes, gonna give him a honorary You suck, Lewandowski. 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:55.160 Her appointment is evidence of Trump's centralizing power and departmental 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:59.600 influence tightly within the White House. Mark Krekorian, executive director 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:03.040 of the far right Center for Immigration Studies, has postulated 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:06.280 that the immigration branches of DHS will largely be puppeteered 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:08.520 by Stephen Miller and the new borderzar, who has a 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:12.080 lot of DHS experience, while Nome could be more focused 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:16.520 on overseeing FEMA, TSA and Secret Service. Another aspect of 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:20.600 Trump just appointing these wildly incompetent people is that more 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:23.280 of these departments can just be run out of the 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:26.559 White House, specifically by his senior advisors and Steven Miller, 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:28.200 right like, those are the types of people that are 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:30.520 going to be largely overseeing the direction of these departments, 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:34.000 while basically these figureheads just to do their bidding. 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:34.680 Yeah. 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:37.600 I had worried that he would appoint Stephen Miller directly 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:38.360 into the AHS. 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:40.760 I understand that fear. I think part of the fear 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:41.800 is that he just doesn't have to. 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:43.640 Yes, yeah, No, you're right. 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:46.560 In fact, Steven Miller can have more power by having 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:49.280 his myths in more departments in his current role, which 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:52.320 we will get to later. But first let's talk about 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:59.640 Tulci Gabbard, the appointed Director of National Intelligence, which is 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:05.240 crazy crazy Yeah. Now, like Nome, Gabert is shockingly unqualified, 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:09.000 and she would be overseeing eighteen intelligence agencies, having never 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:12.479 worked in the intelligence field or served on a Congressional 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:16.559 intelligence committee. Her nomination was first announced by Roger Stone 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.520 on Info Wars now owned by the Onion. 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:20.960 Owned by the Onion. 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:23.760 Ha ha. But that was like, that was how this 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.560 news broke. That kind of also tells you, like what 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:30.040 information channels are getting like funneled down from Trump's team. 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:32.959 If Roger Stone was the first guy to announce it 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:36.120 before Trump even announced it in his like truth social ing, 0:12:36.440 --> 0:12:36.839 it just. 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:39.360 Is She's such a conspiracy theorist that it just it 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:40.720 does kind of make sense. 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:43.520 She is an anti vaccine conspiracy theorist with a history 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:47.120 of spreading Russian and disinformation propaganda during the invasion of Ukraine. 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:50.199 Y Gabert was also openly pro ASAD in twenty fifteen, 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:52.959 secretly met with ASAD in twenty seventeen, and then a 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:56.840 year later, Gabert peddled Syrian war crime denial, saying that 0:12:56.840 --> 0:12:59.920 she was quote unquote skeptical of intelligence findings that assaw 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.240 to carry out chemical weapons attacks. While parenting Russian talking 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:05.920 points in February twenty twenty two, she blamed Joe Biden 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:08.640 for the war in Ukraine for not alleviating Russia's fear 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:12.480 of Ukraine possibly joining NATO. I'm going to quote from 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:16.199 NBC News quote during her twenty twenty presidential bid, Russian 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:19.959 state propaganda often portrayed Gabbard favorably while it demigrated the 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:23.439 other Democratic candidates, including Joe Biden. According to research from 0:13:23.440 --> 0:13:26.480 the Foreign Policy Research Institute of Philadelphia based think tank, 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:28.880 less than a month into her presidential campaign, there were 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:32.840 at least twenty Gabbard stories on three major Moscow based 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:37.280 English language websites affiliated or supportive of the Russian government, 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:40.280 all of which celebrated her candidacy. Unquote. 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:43.000 That's very funny because twenty Gabbard stories is probably the 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:46.319 net totals that the entire US media wrote throughout her run. 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:49.679 Like, it is widely speculated that Gabbard is a de 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:52.480 facto Russian agent, or at the very least is very 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:56.800 comfortable just spreading Russian propaganda and spreading like pro Putin 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:58.520 and pro Russian talking points. 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:00.200 Yeah, it could be one of those things where she's 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:03.760 not actually she's like too fucking glowing to be an agent, 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:06.360 and she's in fact just doing this shit voluntarily by accident. 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:09.280 Like it's certainly possible. I mean, the Syrian war crime 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:10.760 denial and meeting with the SOD stuff. 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:12.679 Yeah, that stuff is pretty glowing. 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:16.040 And Russia certainly has a vested interest in promoting Gabbard right, 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:18.560 so at the very least even assistant intentional on her part, 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:21.800 Russia is very willing to jump on this and the 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:23.400 fact that she's now going to be the head of 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:28.920 all of our spy agency programs. Okay, cool, sounds great cool. 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:31.400 She also comes from a family of anti gay activists 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:33.720 and is tied to an anti Muslim and anti gay 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:37.000 cult called the Science of Identity. The leader has called 0:14:37.120 --> 0:14:41.000 Muslims and f Ssler's quote unquote demons. In two thousand 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:44.080 and four, Tulsi herself accused the newspaper The Honolulu of 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:49.160 being the mouthpiece for quote unquote homosexual extremists. Insert joke 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:54.080 about mouthpiece homosexual anyway now. Tulsia's family and campaign staff 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:56.560 were all active members of the cult during her twenty 0:14:56.600 --> 0:15:00.320 twenty presidential campaign, during which she also produced a list 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:06.320 of enemies that named prominent journalists who were against Tulsia's 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:07.920 own history of war crime denial. 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:11.760 Amazing, Oh boy, yeah, sorry we got snubbed there. 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:14.320 Hey, I mean it was twenty nineteen, right, you. 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:16.840 Know, yeah, I can dream of making. 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:18.200 We still have a chance to be put on their 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:19.000 list of enemies. 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:22.040 You know what, Garrison, if we are accused of crimes, 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:24.840 how will we fund defense. 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:38.360 Through these products and services that support this podcast. That's correct, Okay, 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:40.760 we are back. It's time to talk about who might 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:44.640 be prosecuting a list of political enemies, and that would 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:50.120 be the possible new Attorney General, Matt Gates. So boy, So, 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:52.320 Matt Gates is one of these Congress people who has 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:55.720 built an outsized reputation through television appearances and TV news 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:57.880 to soundbites. He's always quick to jump to the defense 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:00.640 of Trump and advocate for extreme positions with in the party. 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:04.000 His behavior displays a desperate need for attention and willingness 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:07.920 to sacrifice his own effectiveness as a congressman for simply 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:11.600 going viral. This performative nature is made a little bit 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:15.360 more uncanny by the bizarre fact that Gates grew up 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:18.600 in the house from the Truman Show, which his family 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:19.720 still owns. 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:21.960 That's in you. I did not know that. 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:25.480 I did not know that, But that is what. 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:28.680 It makes so much sense though. Look at all of 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:32.320 his gambits and bits in Congress, and if you frame 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:35.120 that within someone who was raised in the Truman Show house, 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:36.800 it makes perfect sense. 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:37.320 Wow. 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:41.280 Yeah, he is not necessarily a popular pick among kind 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:45.080 of again like institutionalists in the Republican Party. Sure, the 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:49.480 famously liberal Wall Street Journal ran the headline quote, Matt 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:51.960 Gates is a bad choice for attorney general. He's a 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:54.240 nominee for those who want the law to be used 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:58.200 for political revenge, and it won't end well. Unquote. Now. 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:02.440 Hours after this announcement, Yates suddenly resigned from the House, 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:05.000 and Speaker Johnson said that he hopes to work with 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:08.280 Governor DeSantis to fast track a special election to get 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:10.639 the seat filled as early as January. 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:14.199 I think, out of deference to us, he issued his 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:19.639 resignation letter effective immediately of Congress. That caught us by 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:22.000 surprise a little bit, But I asked him what the 0:17:22.160 --> 0:17:24.840 reasoning was, and he said, well, you can't have too 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:27.480 many absences. So under Florida state law, there's about an 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:31.480 eight week period to select and fill in a vacancy. 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:34.560 People have asked me all day long, President Trump is 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:37.159 poaching all of your talent. Yes, well, we have an 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:39.879 embarrassment of riches here. The Republican conference is full of 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:44.240 talented people who are extraordinary leaders and have great expertise, 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:48.120 and everyone in this Congress, in this conference, could serve 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:50.280 in a leadership position in the administration. 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:54.000 It's so bizarre a little bit. But there's one little 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:59.199 curious fact about Gates a quick resignation well yes, is 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:03.600 that this happened just days before a House Ethics investigation 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:05.480 was set to vote on the release of a report 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:10.200 looking into the sex trafficking allegations against Matt Gates. According 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:12.280 to ABC News, the woman at the center of the 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:16.280 DOJ's probe of Representative Matt Gates testified to the House 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:20.080 Ethics Committee that the now former Florida congressman had sex 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:24.280 with her when she was seventeen years old, to quote 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:28.119 ABC quote. The woman's allegation regarding Gates became part of 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:31.840 the investigation following claims by former Seminole County tax collector 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:35.959 Joel Greenberg, a former friend of Gates who is currently 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.440 serving an eleven year prison sentence after reaching a deal 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:40.840 with investigators in May of twenty twenty one in which 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:43.840 he pleaded guilty to multiple federal crimes, including sex trafficking 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:46.800 of the woman when she was a minor and introducing 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:49.680 her to other quote unquote adult men who also had 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:52.240 sex with her when she was under age. The committee 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:55.560 also obtained a sworn written statement by Gates's ex girlfriend 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:58.280 where she lists the Florida congressman as one of the 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:01.760 attendees at a party in July twenty seventeen where drugs 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:04.400 were present and which was attended by the woman who 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:06.879 Gates allegedly has sex with when she was a minor. 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:13.040 Some witnesses show venmo payments that they allegedly received from gatesuote, So, 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:15.399 I guess the end goal of the QAnon movement is 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:19.120 just putting a pedophile in charge of the do Oja 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:23.320 serving as attorney general over the entire country. Also, Gates 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:25.720 made a really bad joke a few years ago, responding 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:28.399 to a Twitter post about how people can be like 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:32.040 beautiful at any age. Oh yeah, and Gates responded by 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:35.679 saying this should be Florida's state motto and that tweet 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:36.359 is still ugh. 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:38.400 Wasn't it sexy at any age? 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:39.840 It is sexy? 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:40.400 It was sex. 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:43.160 Oh my god, it's us. 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:46.760 Oh that's so bad. But no, Gates isn't super popular 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:50.280 even within like large parts of the party. It's reported 0:19:50.520 --> 0:19:52.679 from other congressmen that he would like walk up to 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:54.600 them and like show them sex tapes he made with 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:55.960 people he's like having sex with. 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:57.480 Is it fucking creep? 0:19:57.800 --> 0:19:58.840 He's really icky? 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:00.199 Youw Oh. 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:06.720 There's arguments that like maybe he won't get past like confirmation, right, yeah, yeah. 0:20:06.720 --> 0:20:09.760 And here's here's the thing he might not have to. 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:12.359 Trump is currently working with the Speaker of the House 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:15.440 as well as the new Senate majority leader to possibly 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:19.160 just close Congress and push all these guys through in 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:22.320 recess appointments, so they might not even have to get 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:25.639 past the confirmation process. Now, this still remains to be seen, 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:28.440 and as Matt Johnson said in the clip before, he's 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:31.960 a little worried that Trump just keeps picking congressman, which 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:36.600 is slowly eating away at the House's slim Republican majority. 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:39.920