WEBVTT - Will Democracy Survive A 2nd Trump Presidency? | A Conversation with Paul Rieckhoff 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.279 Welcome to another edition of The Warning, and I'm thrilled 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:06.800 today to be joined by Paul Raikoff, who is President 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:11.840 of the Independent Veterans of America. Paul is a well 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:17.800 known and outspoken leader of this generation of veterans who 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:22.279 fought in the Iraq and Afghanistan. Wore somebody that I 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:25.880 deeply admire, and I'm thrilled to have him here today. 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:29.200 And I guess to start out, there's a good chance 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:31.840 we could be in the same cell block in political 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:34.960 prison together, right if they keep the rs and the 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:39.280 esses together alphabetically, so we may be seeing more of 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:40.200 each other soon. 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:44.239 Yeah, wild times, man, wild times. I mean, I hope not, 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:47.199 but it's definitely a time where critics are going to 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:50.640 be under fire and facing all kinds of headwinds we've 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:54.400 never seen before. Just one correction, I hadn't served in Afghanistan, 0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:57.080 just a rock. But a lot of the last couple 0:00:57.120 --> 0:00:59.279 of months has felt like all those things and then 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:02.200 some Right, I mean, we're in a new normal. And 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:04.600 your show is called The Warning. I think that's the 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:07.920 appropriate title for the times we're living in and what's 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:09.959 happening right now. And a lot of folks are ready to, 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:12.760 you know, focus on the holidays and take a break 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:15.920 or lick their wounds or just go to ground. I mean, 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:18.080 this is a time where we need to be especially 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:21.160 vigilant and stick together wherever we can. So yeah, I 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:24.640 hope we're not in getm together. But who knows what 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:26.440 the next couple of months is going to look like. 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:30.560 For anybody who's a critic of the president elect. 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:32.760 It's jerking around with a friend of mine, I said. 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:38.240 The difference between political prison and regular prison is generally speaking, 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:42.600 in so far as I can tell, right, it's not experiential. 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:46.200 But if you get a regular prison, right, your worst 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:48.960 day is your first day, right, and then it starts 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:49.600 to get better. 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:49.840 Right. 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:54.840 So the Menendez brothers, for example, right, they are involved 0:01:54.840 --> 0:02:00.000 in prison government, and one of them is a meditation tee. 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:00.280 Sure. 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:03.960 Political prison, on the other hand, tends to be a 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:08.359 situation where your best day is your first day and 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:11.600 then it deteriorates from there. So we'll have to we'll 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:16.520 have to wait and see, apparently, And I want to 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:19.880 talk to you about this in a in a serious manner. 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:20.799 When you. 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:27.680 Think about the great quotations and the phrases, right that 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:32.519 are part of our daily ritual, like I pledge allegiance 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:37.520 to the flag, right, or is I pledge allegius in 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:37.919 a flag? 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:38.120 Right? 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:40.600 It's like it's one, it's one blur. 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:41.000 Right. 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:45.160 These these words don't don't really have an impact. Right. 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:50.480 And so when you think about people who have had 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:57.280 enormous impacts in adjacent moments in time, Franklin Roosevelt time 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:01.800 of real panic. You think about Franklin Roosevelt taking command 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:06.600 as commander in chief, twenty five percent of the country 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:13.280 is unemployed, and he sat down, he wrote the speech himself. 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:15.880 There wasn't the phalanx of speech writers. He had a 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:19.200 couple of people. But like any time you go out 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:22.840 you say anything, right, you have military experience, you've commanded men, 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:28.120 you've commanded men in combat. You have to think about 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:32.480 what the first thing you're going to say is right? 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:35.280 But what am I going to lead off with here? 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:41.160 And for FDR was the only thing we have to 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:50.960 fear is fear itself. You look in nineteen eighty one, 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:55.920 new pope comes to be in nineteen seventy nine, and 0:03:56.000 --> 0:04:01.240 you know, for all the younger folks out there kind 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:05.080 of forget what the pope John Paul was like when 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:09.400 he first became pope. Right, this guy was movie star 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:15.680 good looking, he was really young, and he goes to 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:21.960 Warsaw at the height of Soviet dominance in the era 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:25.599 of solidarity, and he goes to a square in front 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:31.880 of a million people, and he says, do not be afraid. 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:32.920 And so. 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:43.000 You look in this moment, justin Trudeau, Trump lays out 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:49.200 the tariff. He jackasses down Tomorrow Lago to do the capitulation. 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:51.800 A couple of weeks later, his government is going to 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:57.799 fall as it should. Joe Scarborough Mika Brazinski, I think 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:04.560 the most brutally obvious of the examples out of corporate 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:11.320 media going down there and then justifying the capitulation. ABC 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:17.600 News Disney imposing a settlement on George Stephanopolis and on 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:21.080 the news division on a suit that they surely would 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:29.600 have won. Jeff Bezos at the Washington Post, Patrick Schong 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:38.000 at the La Times. So we're thirty four days out 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:44.480 from him taking power and whatever the first line of 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:51.720 resistance is going to be, it's that way we're retreating, right. 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:57.000 The opposition is disorganized, it is flat on its back. 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:03.120 It is completely delusional. I'm reading stories about is Kamala 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:06.279 Harris going to run for president again next or is 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:10.560 she going to be governor of California or maybe both 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:15.040 at once? Who knows? And I just how do you 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:25.760 process this moment thirty four days out as Trump appears 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:32.760 before the national media and basically says, well, I got 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:38.000 you tamed. They all nod back at him, and you 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:41.840 got to keep being nice. Gotta be nice, nice to Trump? 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:47.680 How do you assess the strategic landscape politically? 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:51.839 So we went from the Menendez brothers to the Pope 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:55.200 to Joe Scarborough and everything right and. 0:06:56.000 --> 0:07:00.400 Maybe not afraid being the key themat. 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:03.960 Maybe I think the question is the right one because 0:07:04.000 --> 0:07:06.440 one of my great mentors was a guy named lescal 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:08.920 who ran the Council on Foreign Relations, and he used 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:11.520 to say, strategy is hard. Most people can't do strategy. 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:14.000 And I think what you see right now is a 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:18.920 landscape that looks like an evolving battlefield, right, And you've 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:20.800 got a force that's on the offensive and it is 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:25.320 taking ground and got momentum and got energy, and you've 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:31.880 got a fragmented, disorganized, demoralized opposition and series of oppositions. 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:34.560 And I think for me, I go back to being 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:36.760 a dad, right, And when I send my boys off 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:38.520 to school, we have little sayings every day. I got 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:41.120 two little boys, they're nine and five, and we say 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.400 strong of body, strong of heart, strong of mind. Right, 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:46.840 And that's how I kind of steal them to think 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:49.600 about how they can be empowered to take on whatever 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:51.120 is going to come at their day. And I make 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:53.160 the brothers look at each other, tell them they love them, 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:55.560 and they go in together, right. And every day they're 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:58.840 going into the unknown in New York City public school. 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:01.280 But when my nine year old was a kindergartener, he 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:03.960 was going into COVID with a mask and a temperature 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:05.760 check and I couldn't even go in the room, right. 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:08.000 So I kind of bring it all back to that, Steve, 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:12.120 because I think the most important thing for people, especially Democrats, 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:15.760 to understand is it's on. It's been on for years 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:19.840 and now it's fully unfolding. And for these folks that 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:22.760 are licking their wounds or they're you know, doing with 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:24.320 what Democrats love to do, which is like a lot 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:30.160 of listening sessions and roundtables. Trump is pushing his advantage 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:33.040 very aggressively right now. He's not taking Christmas off to 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:35.800 handout presents to his grandkids, and he's going to try 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:38.600 to run up the score. So what's lacking is a 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:41.000 strategy to oppose him, right, And I think what's also 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:44.720 lacking is a strategic leader. There is no Churchill, there 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:47.880 is no FDR, and no one has yet emerged to 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:50.760 be that person for the Democrats or for America. And 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:52.800 I've been talking to folks as I'm sure you have, 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:54.360 who are trying to figure out what to do next 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:56.360 to get my read and I say, look, part of 0:08:56.400 --> 0:08:59.559 it is about betting on leaders, whether you're betting on 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:02.560 Steve Schmidt, or you're betting on AOC, or you're betting 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:06.480 on Dan Osborne who ran as an independent for Senate 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:09.320 in Nebraska and almost one. It's not a time where 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:13.000 the existing organizations are nimble, dynamic, or even capable enough 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:15.440 to respond to this threat. And I view it as 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:17.520 a threat. I still view it as a national security 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:20.560 threat more than anything else. And the Trump movement now 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:23.199 is very close to having the keys to the entire castle. 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:26.800 But none of it is normal, none of it is acceptable, 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:28.840 and none of it is inevitable. And what we're lacking 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:31.080 because we don't have strategic leaders, and we don't have 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:34.800 a national strategy or even enclaves of strategies to oppose him. 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:37.840 Is we're lacking priorities, so people don't know where to focus, 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.400 and that's to Trump's advantage. He wants to overwhelm the zone. 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:43.600 He throws hegseth at you right after Gates and here 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:46.920 comes Tulca Gabbard and RFK Jr. And nobody's even paying 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:49.040 attention to the fact that he nominated a guy for 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:51.280 Secretary of the Navy who's never served in the Navy, 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:53.280 or that he's got a very radical pick at the 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:56.440 Department of Veterans Affairs that's way below the radar and 0:09:56.480 --> 0:09:59.800 getting no coverage or even oversight. So that the strategy 0:09:59.840 --> 0:10:03.800 is to overwhelm the country, overwhelm the press, overwhelm the government, 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:07.080 and get as much ground as he can so that 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:10.959 the midterms become irrelevant. Right people are stacking their chips 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:13.720 for the midterms for four years from now. I'm saying 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:16.199 it's about the next thirty five days, and right now 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:21.480 I think the most urgent priority is hegset because he 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:25.000 is the biggest move at the biggest agency in the 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:28.040 federal government, and he's not inevitable We saw that with Gates, 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:30.480 and I think Hegseth is the same situation. But if 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:33.800 you're Trump and you're going for your breaking into the house, okay, 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:35.960 whether it was your house or someone else's house, the 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:38.520 first thing you go for is the gun closet. You 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:40.920 go for the gun closet because it's the most dangerous, 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:45.280 it's the most valuable, it's got all the symbolic reasons, right, 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:48.040 And he knows that the Pentagon stopped him last time, 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:51.640 so he's taken a long shot. He's picking the most political, 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:55.800 the most extreme, the most not just unqualified but disqualified 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:59.920 person to take over the largest federal agency in the government, 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.480 not just because it has and the most significant, not 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:05.000 just because it has two point seven million employees and 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:08.800 a seven hundred billion dollar budget, but because it's the 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:11.960 most powerful thing that stopped him last time. Right. So 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:14.600 if you want to talk about things like federalizing the 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:18.880 National Guard to rip migrant kids out of schools, if 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:22.640 you want to talk about owning the military leadership so 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:24.560 they don't oppose you when you want to do any 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:27.199 number of crazy things, the first thing you do is 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.079 hit the Pentagon. And that's what he's doing. Pete Hegseth 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:33.920 is like a political nuke strike. And if he goes through, 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:37.280 which I don't think has got to happen, everything else 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:41.360 is easy, right va is cake education, no problem. You 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:42.880 can even you know, even if he does go down, 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:45.880 you can put up somebody like DeSantis and he sails through. 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:48.160 So I really think it's important that people understand that 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:51.640 Pete Hegseth was built for this moment. He was built 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:54.720 as a culture warrior, funded by the Koch brothers, empowered 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:57.480 with a spot on Fox News, and we never thought 0:11:57.679 --> 0:11:59.720 that he would actually get nominated because we knew his 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:02.160 personal life was messy. I figured he was going to 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:04.880 be chief of staff or maybe press secretary. But Trump 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:09.480 is literally saying, and he's saying you, he's I'm gonna 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:11.840 roll you. I'm gonna put this guy up. And he 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:14.520 is a culture warrior, and he's got you know, tattoos 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:17.920 that might be associated white nationalism, and he's got three divorces, 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:21.560 and he's openly talked about, you know, having sex with 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:23.719 other people's wives. I mean, this is all out in 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:26.160 the open. And if he can get hag set through, 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:29.960 then the Democrats are gonna just get rolled and I 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:32.680 really think that's why, you know, I continue to bring 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:37.480 focus towards strategic leaders that aren't political, someone like Admiral Straviti's, 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:40.920 or maybe it's a retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:43.319 like Mike Mullen. Maybe someone else will emerge. And I 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:45.400 don't have an answer for you, but I do think 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:49.440 that independent Americans, especially people who do put country first, 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:53.240 people who took off the uniform, especially veterans who want 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:55.800 to continue to serve but don't necessarily want to get 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:58.960 in politics. This is a time for true patriots to 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:02.160 step up and and our values. Whether you're a school 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:04.679 teacher that has to represent yourself at the school board, 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:07.040 or you're somebody who's been thinking about running for Senate, 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:09.319 you know, maybe this is your time. But at the 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:12.920 end of the day, he wants to roll everybody. And 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:15.320 I think that's the most important point about December twenty 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:18.240 twenty four going into January, is he wants to come 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:20.479 out with a head of steam. This is like a blitzkree. 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.079 He's putting it all up front. He wants to push 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:25.360 it through because once he gets the keys to not 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:27.840 just the gun closet, but the kitchen and the security 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:30.960 system and everything else. Then everything else becomes easier. So 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:32.640 I think it's really important that you lay out that 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:36.240 landscape where we can't count on the Democrats. I've never 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:38.280 been been counting on the Democrats. I don't think you 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:39.959 have either. But I think it's kind of a wake 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:42.360 up moment for America to go, hey, they're not going 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:44.600 to fucking save you here, and we have to look 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.520 to other leaders and other structures and other tactics and 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:51.000 to have a strategy on a very basic level to 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:54.240 defend our values, defend our constitution. And let's start with 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:56.920 defending our military from a guy who says he doesn't 0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:59.280 want women in combat when we've got two hundred thousand 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:02.319 women in combat, and as all this other shit, let's 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:04.880 start with focusing on Pete Hag Seth and not all 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:07.520 the other shiny stuff, because this is a very important fight, 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:09.839 and it's the fight that is right in front of us, 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:12.520 and we'll dictate. I think the pays for everything else 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:13.240 for years to come. 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:15.800 I want to talk about Pete hag Sath. 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:17.360 That was a lot to throw at you when we. 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:21.320 Say no, no, indeed, I and and I agree, I agree, 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:26.800 I agree with you obviously he is unfit at such 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:30.880 a profound and deep level. It's tough to find the words. 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:34.080 I'm gonna do my best as we get, as we get, 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:36.440 as we get into it. But but I want to 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:43.600 I want to play Devil's advocate to you about something 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:47.080 that I think is fundamental that we we got to 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:51.120 put on the table and talk about more in the country, 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:56.400 which is an honest reckoning about how we have arrived 0:14:56.560 --> 0:15:00.480 at this situation. In the military, as you you know, 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:04.640 after every action, there's gonna be an after action review. Uh, 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:09.960 it's important to have an appreciation right of how it 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:16.920 is they arrived at whatever situation one finds oneself in 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:20.600 in order to get out of it right and and 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:25.360 and so in that sense, let me ask you a 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:31.960 couple kind of couple things. Is it possible that Pete 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:37.720 Hegseth could be worse in that position than Donald Drumsfeld 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:40.000 and Robert McNamara were. 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:49.440 Yes, okay, absolutely, totally and completely. How because on a 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:54.280 very basic level, you may have disagreed with McNamara or 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:58.960 Rumsfeld on policy right like whether to bomb Cambodia, whether 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:03.520 to stay in I Rock. This is compromising the entire 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:07.440 integrity of the establishment. It's it's making it a political 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:10.400 wing of Trump's agenda. And I think that's why this 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:13.160 is very important, right, because everything that Trump wants to 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:18.520 get done on everything from migrants to banning trans people, right, 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:22.880 the entire spectrum of his agenda will start with Pete 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:26.280 Hegseth at the Pentagon. Right, So let's use an example that, 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:29.400 you know, maybe not a great one, but maybe like 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:33.440 trans people's rights. Right day one, at the Pentagon, they 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:36.440 flip the switch. There's a trans band. Anybody who's trans 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:38.400 gets pulled out of a unit, you get kicked out 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:42.040 of the military, you get processed out, and we start there. Right. 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:44.400 It is going to be easier at the Pentagon than 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:47.680 the Department of Justice or the Department of Labor, or 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:51.400 at education or at home. The Depentagon is going to 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:54.080 be the full crumb for everything because it will be 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:57.800 presented as a position on national security. If we don't 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:00.800 do this, the Chinese will have an advance. If we 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:03.920 don't do this, our enemies will be at an advantage. Right. 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:06.359 That's going to be true for trans bands, that's going 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:09.159 to be true for activating the national card. 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:13.840 I want to say that as a political argument. Okay, 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:18.680 if you lead with, we have to protect national security 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:24.040 by opposing Trump's trans band on day one, right, this 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:26.680 is this is the first thing we're running at. 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:29.360 I'm using that as an example because it's because it's 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:32.320 the easiest one for him, right, And it's what he 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:34.320 ran on, right, it's what he ran on, it's what 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:36.600 he weaponized, it's what he used as as kind of 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:38.119 a boogeyman, right to me. 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:43.720 Right, you Trump is going to impose a ban on 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:48.720 all transgender service members. They're going to be honorably discharged. 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:52.639 And there's nothing not honorably not that anybody can do 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:56.879 to stop that. Well, they'll be generally generally discharged. 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:59.520 They'll probably dishonorably discharge or at least general discharge. They 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:03.280 probably won't get benefits. And this is why it's important, right, 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:05.600 because in some ways you could argue the trans people 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:09.120 are the most vulnerable, or the weakest or the most politicized. Right, 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:12.399 So you start with them, right. And so when you 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:15.000 want to do something like take women out of combat, 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:18.720 which is bigger than it seems, because what it is 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:22.119 is it's saying women are not equal, Right, women are 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:23.800 not equally That's the bottom line, you can't do the 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:26.080 same things that we do, and therefore you will not 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:29.600 have the same opportunities rights, etc. So if you succeed 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:32.639 in achieving a lack of equality for women depending on 0:18:33.280 --> 0:18:37.440 abortion rights, everything else is a downhill slide from there. 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:39.560 So when you ask me, is he more dangerous than 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:44.800 McNamara or Rumsfeld, you know yes, because the agenda is 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:47.639 much more extreme. I would argue that you could at 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:51.119 least count on Rumsfeld on some levels to put country 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:54.119 over a party. Right. He may have agreed with his 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:56.760 allegiances or his politics, but I think on a basic 0:18:56.840 --> 0:18:59.439 level there was some kind of integrity there around the 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:03.120 institution and the world wasn't as dangerous Steve. I mean, 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:05.280 we've got, you know, a land war in Eastern Europe, 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:07.960 We've got the Chinese threat of Taiwan. We've got all 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:11.520 these other threats that are real but also in a 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:15.000 position to be exaggerated, not just by Trump but by Hegseth, 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:18.320 who I think too many Democrats dismissed these people. Hegseth 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:22.520 is a masterful communicator. He is brilliant at doing this, 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:26.720 at selling, at communicating, at motivating people, and he's a 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:29.479 multi sport athlete who can go on Joe Rogan, but 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:32.320 can host a show on Fox and also entangle with 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:35.359 the reporters on Capitol Hill and spin a weakness into 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:38.800 his strength. And that's why this is the playbook for 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:41.280 the rest of the administration. Right, it's the same kind 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:43.719 of skill set Tulsey Gabbert has. You could argue it's 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:45.639 the same kind of skill set other people in the 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:47.919 cabinet now, even like someone like a Christy Nome. But 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:51.080 they're good on TV. They're able to communicate to people, 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:55.000 you know, foreign and domestic, and they're good at this. 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:57.040 They're good at this thing. You may not like the thing, 0:19:57.520 --> 0:19:59.320 but they are very very good at it. And if 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:02.080 you have a Pete Hegg have controlling everything from our 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:07.520 nukes to who gets to join, right, that drives the 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:11.000 culture for the entire country. So if you don't understand 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:14.080 why Joe Rogan is important, you probably don't understand why 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:16.600 the Pentagon's so important. And that's the parallel that I 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:20.000 think Democrats and many liberals in this country are really 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:23.600 failing to understand. It's much bigger than about politics. It's 0:20:23.640 --> 0:20:28.760 about culture and manipulating American patriotism into something much more nefarious. 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:32.600 When banning women in combat seems like a patriotic thing 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:35.800 to do, deploying American troops in the streets seems like 0:20:35.840 --> 0:20:37.760 a patriotic thing to do, and they don't have to 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:38.400 get everybody. 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:40.639 Do you think that's gonna happen? Do you think we're 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:42.040 gonna see troops in the streets. 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:45.680 I think you will see Trump attempt to federalize the 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:50.520 National Guard, which is the first like critical cross road, 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:53.080 you know, might be January twentieth, he declares the state 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:55.840 of emergency, says, the migrant crisis is out of control. 0:20:55.960 --> 0:20:59.080 I'm federalizing all National Guard units. Now, what could happen 0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:03.280 is every report publican National Guard governor, every Republican governor 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:05.280 that is, the commander in chief of the National Guard says, 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:09.159 no problem. Here's Alabama, no problem, Here's Florida. Now what 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:13.359 happens in Illinois with Pritzker, What happens in Maryland with 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:16.840 Wes Moore? Do those governors say no, they say you 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:18.840 can't have my National Guard? Do they fight it out 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:20.720 in the courts and then take it all the way down? 0:21:21.040 --> 0:21:23.760 What happens to the National Guard soldiers. 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:28.160 If he federalizes it? Statutorily. Right, there's he's the commander 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:30.199 in chief, he's got them, he's federalized. 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:32.959 Take it the next step down. Now you say, okay, 0:21:33.160 --> 0:21:35.439 Maryland National Guard troops, you're going to be deployed to 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:38.399 round up let's say extreme example, like round up kids, 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:41.280 migrant kids. Some number of them are going to say no, 0:21:42.119 --> 0:21:43.840 some numbers them are gonna say this is I think 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:46.640 this is an unlawful order. I am not going I'll 0:21:46.640 --> 0:21:48.840 go to jail. So now you've got the military not 0:21:48.880 --> 0:21:51.920 only rounding up kids, but jailing a certain number of 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:55.359 their own people who are now in conflict with what 0:21:55.440 --> 0:21:58.000 Trump will argue is is a lawful order. They will 0:21:58.080 --> 0:21:59.480 argue it's not. And I bring it all back to 0:21:59.480 --> 0:22:03.080 this d because Ross Perrot once famously said something like 0:22:03.119 --> 0:22:05.520 he wanted a monument in front of the White House 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:08.320 that said, first commit the country, then commit the troops. 0:22:08.600 --> 0:22:11.879 If you thought Iraq divided people, imagine what it's like 0:22:11.920 --> 0:22:15.000 when you federalize National Guard troops on the migrant crisis. 0:22:15.200 --> 0:22:18.000 This is Kent State on steroids. And that's why when 0:22:18.000 --> 0:22:20.120 people say is there going to be a civil war? 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:22.119 I don't know. I think more importantly, there's going to 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:25.840 be a constitutional crisis around how and when to use 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:28.520 the military. And if you've got Pete hegsett there and 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:31.119 a bunch of undersecretaries who are willing to do it, 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:33.800 and you've got all the senior leadership gone because he's 0:22:33.840 --> 0:22:36.000 fired the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and everybody else 0:22:36.000 --> 0:22:38.639 who hasn't taken a loyalty test, you've got a steam 0:22:38.720 --> 0:22:40.720 roll that can start to move forward. 0:22:40.760 --> 0:22:42.639 This is this is really the heart of what I 0:22:42.840 --> 0:22:45.000