1 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: On this episode of news World, We're going to talk 2 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:11,399 Speaker 1: about the untold inside story of how progressive ideologus and 3 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:16,680 Speaker 1: democratic politicians abandoned the American tradition of strength, pride, and honor. 4 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:20,919 Speaker 1: I'm joined by New York Times bestselling author and United 5 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: States Senator from Arkansas, Tom Cotton. In his new book 6 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:29,320 Speaker 1: Only the Strong, Reversing the Left Plot to Sabotage American Power, 7 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:34,279 Speaker 1: he exposes the left decades long plot to sabotage American 8 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:37,360 Speaker 1: power and provides a behind the scenes look at the 9 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:42,040 Speaker 1: dangerous failures of Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden and 10 00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: explains what we must do to recover America's strength. So 11 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: I'm really pleased to welcome my guest, Senator Tom Cotton, 12 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:52,960 Speaker 1: representing the Great State of Arkansas. He is the best 13 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 1: selling author of Sacred Duty. He served in Iraq with 14 00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: one hundred and first Airborne Division in An Afghanistan with 15 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:04,399 Speaker 1: the Provincial Reconstruction Team. Between combat tours, he served with 16 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:08,959 Speaker 1: the third Infantry Regiment, the Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery. 17 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:14,319 Speaker 1: His military decorations include the Bronze Star, the Combat Infantryman Badge, 18 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,880 Speaker 1: and the Ranger Tab. He serves on the Senate Intelligence, 19 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:21,120 Speaker 1: Armed Services, and Judiciary committees, and I can tell you 20 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: having been with him many times, he is very, very smart, 21 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:37,720 Speaker 1: very energetic, and has a lot of courage. Tom, welcome 22 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,399 Speaker 1: and thank you for joining me on Newts World. Thank you, 23 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 1: Nut very much. It's great to be on with you. 24 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 1: I appreciate the kind introduction. Let's start with your credentials, 25 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:50,440 Speaker 1: because your military career was an impressive prelude to your 26 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 1: public service on the elected side. What happened and how 27 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:56,480 Speaker 1: did you end up in the military. Well, had an 28 00:01:56,520 --> 00:01:59,560 Speaker 1: unusual path into the military, nude. I'd gone to college 29 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:02,000 Speaker 1: and in law school and just started my third year 30 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:04,360 Speaker 1: of law school when the nine to eleven attacks happened, 31 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: and that made me want to serve. I wanted to 32 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:08,000 Speaker 1: rush out and join right away, as I describe in 33 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:10,400 Speaker 1: sacred Duty. But some of my friends who were in 34 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 1: the army or had served, recommended I finished my education 35 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: and try to repay my loans. So I did that, 36 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:18,359 Speaker 1: and a couple years later I enlisted. And it was 37 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:21,160 Speaker 1: really no different from what our forefathers had done, you know, 38 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 1: when they rushed out, for instance, to join the army 39 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:26,560 Speaker 1: after we were attacked at Pearl Harbor. Our country had 40 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 1: been attacked on nine to eleven, and I wanted to 41 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:30,799 Speaker 1: serve and to do my part. He went to both 42 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:33,639 Speaker 1: Ranger and airborne schools. That must have been a pretty 43 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 1: intense experience. You could say that again, nude. Yeah, my 44 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 1: year at Fort Benning, I wouldn't exactly call it fun, 45 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: but I certainly had a memorable time, and the Army 46 00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:44,920 Speaker 1: trained me very well for what lay ahead of me 47 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 1: in Iraq and Afghanistan. As one off, my Ranger school 48 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:50,639 Speaker 1: instructor said, we want to prepare you so that when 49 00:02:50,639 --> 00:02:53,440 Speaker 1: you're in Iraq next year, you wake up from a 50 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 1: nightmare thinking you were back in Ranger school and happy 51 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:00,919 Speaker 1: to discover you were only in Iraq. So, from your 52 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:05,120 Speaker 1: own experience, how do you think serving in the military 53 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:08,120 Speaker 1: changed you. Well, it certainly taught me a lot of 54 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:12,200 Speaker 1: lessons about leadership, about dedication to the mission, about putting 55 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: others before yourself. Those are reinforced lessons I'd learned from 56 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:17,600 Speaker 1: my own folks. You know, my dad had been an 57 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 1: infantryman himself in Vietnam, and we also learned some lessons 58 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:24,440 Speaker 1: from the front lines that are very applicable when it 59 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:27,119 Speaker 1: comes to Grand Strategy and my work in the Congress 60 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:29,640 Speaker 1: in the two thousand and six, it was obvious to 61 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:31,280 Speaker 1: me as it had been for a while. I rack 62 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:33,520 Speaker 1: that we didn't have enough troops on the ground to 63 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:37,760 Speaker 1: achieve our objectives, and that security always has to come first. 64 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:42,360 Speaker 1: That's still the case today, of course in the international relations. 65 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:44,840 Speaker 1: It's also the case in our own communities. You know, 66 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: you can't have economic growth, you can't have good education, 67 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:52,800 Speaker 1: you can't have driving communities without safe streets. Now, in 68 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: addition to your combat experience, which was significant, you ended 69 00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 1: up at the Old Guard, which is a remarkable institute 70 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:05,640 Speaker 1: in Washington, which protects Arlington Cemetery but also does almost 71 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:10,080 Speaker 1: all of the major activities in Washington. The require honorary guards. 72 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:13,840 Speaker 1: It's a voluntary unit. And yet you hadn't volunteers. So 73 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:17,280 Speaker 1: I gather that the Army volunteered you. Yeah, as we 74 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:19,359 Speaker 1: said in the Army, I was volunte told that I 75 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:21,360 Speaker 1: was going to go to the Old Guard at Arlington. 76 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:24,359 Speaker 1: I was in my final weeks in Iraq when I 77 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:27,760 Speaker 1: got orders directing me to Arlington saying my application had 78 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 1: been accepted. And as I write, you know, I went 79 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:33,320 Speaker 1: up to the call trailer and called the personnel officer, 80 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:37,320 Speaker 1: and he explained that they had selected me and six 81 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:39,840 Speaker 1: others to come join. So at first I thought it 82 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:42,080 Speaker 1: must have been because of my superior performance as a 83 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:45,159 Speaker 1: new lieutenant. Only later did I learned that he only 84 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:47,679 Speaker 1: chose me and the others because we were the tallest 85 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:51,479 Speaker 1: eligible infantry officers available at the second lieutenant rank. Since 86 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 1: I'm six foot five, So was your superior performance had 87 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 1: been tall? Yeah, exactly. Well what was that like? I mean, 88 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:03,600 Speaker 1: that's hallowed around and a remarkable place in terms of 89 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,599 Speaker 1: connecting you to the heart of American history. What was 90 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:11,440 Speaker 1: your feeling as you served there? It truly is hallowed ground. 91 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:13,600 Speaker 1: You know, it goes back not just to Robert E. 92 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:16,479 Speaker 1: Lee in the Civil War when the Union Army used 93 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 1: as an encampment after the Leaf family fled, but of 94 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:22,039 Speaker 1: course Robert E. Lee was married to the daughter of 95 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 1: a man who was George and Martha Washington's grandson, so 96 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: it goes all the way back to Washington. It seems 97 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: almost predestined by providence to become our national cemetery. And 98 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:34,720 Speaker 1: it was a great honor to be able to later 99 00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:38,279 Speaker 1: rest and to honor and to commemorate our heroes in 100 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:41,279 Speaker 1: Arlington on its sacred ground. You know, if I couldn't 101 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 1: be leading troops down range in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan, 102 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:46,920 Speaker 1: I think there's no other job I would have preferred 103 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:50,200 Speaker 1: doing in the army. Do you serve both in Iraq 104 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:53,920 Speaker 1: and Afghanistan? How would you compare the two experiences? There 105 00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: were very different experiences. Partly it was due to the 106 00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:58,760 Speaker 1: different nature of my units and my missions, but partly 107 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:02,000 Speaker 1: different from the country as well. Iraq for decades had 108 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 1: lived in tyranny one funded by Petro dollars, whereas Afghanistan 109 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:10,760 Speaker 1: had lived in anarchy for decades. So just a very 110 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 1: different kind of impact it has on the people's You know, 111 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:17,040 Speaker 1: in Afghanistan people were always used to fending for themselves, 112 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 1: providing for themselves, relying only on themselves and their families, 113 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 1: their clans and tribes, or as Iraq because of the 114 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:27,520 Speaker 1: totalitarian nature of their Petro dictatorship, you know, the Iraqi 115 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:30,359 Speaker 1: people were used to having things provided for them. It 116 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:34,280 Speaker 1: was just a very different perspective on the way failures 117 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:37,160 Speaker 1: of government at one extreme or the other can influence 118 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 1: a society. When you came back from Afghanistan. You ultimately 119 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: left the army. What led you to decide to run 120 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: for the House. Well, I got out of the army 121 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:50,640 Speaker 1: in two thousand and nine. I spent a couple of 122 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:53,080 Speaker 1: years in business. I was thinking at the time in 123 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:56,840 Speaker 1: twenty eleven about starting my own business or making a 124 00:06:56,880 --> 00:06:59,120 Speaker 1: move to a business where I could once again be 125 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:01,920 Speaker 1: in charge of leading people. I had a few opportunities there, 126 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: but as luck would have it, and that's often the 127 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:06,880 Speaker 1: case in politics, just a matter of fortune and timing. 128 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:11,120 Speaker 1: In the redistricting in Arkansas, the Democrats, who then still 129 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:13,680 Speaker 1: were in charge of the legislature moved my home into 130 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:16,440 Speaker 1: the last Democratic held district after we had just had 131 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:18,960 Speaker 1: a big victory in Arkansas in twenty and ten, like 132 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:21,640 Speaker 1: we'd had all across the country. So I was very 133 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:24,280 Speaker 1: worried with the direction that Barack Obama and Joe Biden 134 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:26,160 Speaker 1: were taking the country. Then I thought that, you know, 135 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:28,200 Speaker 1: I could spend a year on the campaign trail, and 136 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: if I won, I'd have a chance to make a 137 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:32,200 Speaker 1: difference and served by country once again. And if I lost, 138 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:34,080 Speaker 1: you know, the worst thing that would have happened is 139 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:35,640 Speaker 1: I spent a year of meeting a great bunch of 140 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:38,160 Speaker 1: great Arkansans, and who knew what kind of opportunity I'd have, 141 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:41,239 Speaker 1: And of course you ended up winning, and then shortly 142 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:43,800 Speaker 1: after that you ended up running for the Senate. I did. 143 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 1: I love my time in the House. I still got 144 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:47,520 Speaker 1: great friends in the House of Representatives. But one thing 145 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:50,520 Speaker 1: I saw, as you probably saw oftentimes in your time 146 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 1: in the House, that we had a Republican House. But 147 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:55,680 Speaker 1: the problem was with the Senate under Democratic control of 148 00:07:55,760 --> 00:08:00,480 Speaker 1: Harry Reid and Senator McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, reached 149 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 1: out to me early after my election to the House, 150 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:05,360 Speaker 1: encouraged me to consider thinking about the run for the Senate, 151 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:07,360 Speaker 1: and a lot of my supporters across the state did 152 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:10,240 Speaker 1: as well. And again, just kind of as things shook out, 153 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 1: it became clear that I would be the front runner 154 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:15,120 Speaker 1: for the Republican nominee, and in fact it ended up 155 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 1: not even having an opponent. Things would have been very different, 156 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:19,480 Speaker 1: you know, five years later, as Arkansas became a more 157 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:22,040 Speaker 1: Republican state, there might have been ten people in that 158 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:25,000 Speaker 1: primary league to run five years earlier, it might not 159 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 1: have been possible to win as a Republican. There are 160 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:31,120 Speaker 1: moments in your life when if you Shakespeare Road the Caesar, 161 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:34,440 Speaker 1: there are tides which taken at the cresh lead on 162 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:37,400 Speaker 1: to victory, and omitted never recurred. You were there at 163 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:41,440 Speaker 1: the moment for the tide. I was, and I'm grateful 164 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: the people of Arkansas for the opportunity to have joined 165 00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:47,280 Speaker 1: the tide and rided along all these years, serving them 166 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 1: and the people serving them, first in the House and 167 00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:51,280 Speaker 1: then in the Senate. You were elected to the House 168 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 1: as a bachelor, but you got to the Senate as 169 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:57,120 Speaker 1: a family man. Tell us about Anna for a minute. Yeah, 170 00:08:57,120 --> 00:08:59,679 Speaker 1: twenty fourteen was quite the amazing year. We got married, 171 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:02,880 Speaker 1: we got pregnant, we got elected. My wife, who definitely 172 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:05,920 Speaker 1: makes me look like the milktoast moderate of the family, 173 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:10,040 Speaker 1: is a wonderful girl. Grew up in farm country in Nebraska. 174 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 1: She had started out as an actress out in Hollywood, 175 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:16,120 Speaker 1: but shifted gears and became a lawyer and worked out 176 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:18,920 Speaker 1: in the Rocky Mountain West, first in Montana and then 177 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:22,160 Speaker 1: in Wyoming as a US attorney and then in private practice. 178 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 1: And then she was hired by the CIA, so she 179 00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:27,520 Speaker 1: was in Washington working at the CIA when I met 180 00:09:27,559 --> 00:09:31,520 Speaker 1: her in twenty thirteen, shortly after my election to the House. 181 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:33,880 Speaker 1: We fell in love promptly, or at least I did, 182 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:35,840 Speaker 1: since the first time I declared my love for her, 183 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: all she said was thank you, and she came around and, 184 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:42,080 Speaker 1: like I said, got married in twenty fourteen and had 185 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:44,719 Speaker 1: her first son, Gabriel, shortly after the election, and our 186 00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:47,960 Speaker 1: next son about eighteen months later. So you're sort of 187 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:51,560 Speaker 1: a national security family. I mean, with her CIA background 188 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:53,920 Speaker 1: in your army background, you can say that she takes 189 00:09:53,960 --> 00:10:11,840 Speaker 1: these matters very seriously as well. You got directly involved 190 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:15,000 Speaker 1: in the disaster that Biden created in Afghanistan and the 191 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:18,400 Speaker 1: way he withdrew and you were actively trying to help 192 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:20,599 Speaker 1: people get away from the Taliban. Can you talk a 193 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:24,360 Speaker 1: little bit about that. That's a remarkable personal involvement. Yeah. 194 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:27,679 Speaker 1: You know, last year I saw firsthand the Armed Services 195 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:32,560 Speaker 1: and intelligence committees the deterioration of conditions in Afghanistan. I'd 196 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:35,720 Speaker 1: always believe that the kind of precipitous and hasty withdrawal 197 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:39,880 Speaker 1: that Biden directed was likely to harm our interests. The 198 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:44,040 Speaker 1: rapid deterioration, I think surprised even members of our military 199 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:46,559 Speaker 1: and the intelligence community. It certainly when Joe Biden said 200 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,600 Speaker 1: in early July that you'd see nothing like we saw 201 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:53,839 Speaker 1: in Saigon as helicopters lifted off the embassy rooftop in 202 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:56,720 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy five. I didn't know what he was saying, 203 00:10:56,960 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 1: but even I didn't appreciate the full scale of the fiasco. 204 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:05,480 Speaker 1: You know, the State Department is responsible for evacuating non combatants. 205 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:08,720 Speaker 1: The military and our intelligence agencies had done a pretty 206 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:11,360 Speaker 1: good job of getting their own people out in an 207 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:14,680 Speaker 1: orderly fashion, but the State Department had completely dropped the 208 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:18,360 Speaker 1: ball on getting all other Americans out of Afghanistan. So 209 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:20,920 Speaker 1: just a few hours after Cobble fell, I got a 210 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:23,640 Speaker 1: call from my father, as I explained, and only the strong, 211 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:26,000 Speaker 1: and there was someone just down the road in Yell County, 212 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:29,520 Speaker 1: Arkansas who was stuck behind Taliban lines. I just couldn't 213 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:32,480 Speaker 1: believe it. And if someone from rural Arkansas was there, 214 00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:34,439 Speaker 1: I can only imagine how many people were. And as 215 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 1: we now know, there were probably tens of thousands of 216 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: people that needed to be evacuated that were not. As 217 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:42,880 Speaker 1: it happens, we were Cobble collapse in August, and as 218 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:45,480 Speaker 1: you know, August is a slow time in the Congress 219 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:48,080 Speaker 1: because I was home, and all the other members of 220 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:50,440 Speaker 1: Congress from home, so I was able to ask my 221 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:53,440 Speaker 1: staff to work full time setting up an emergency hotline 222 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:57,200 Speaker 1: so our fellow Americans trapped in Afghanistan I could have 223 00:11:57,240 --> 00:11:59,040 Speaker 1: at least a human being to reach as a post 224 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:02,240 Speaker 1: and automated system at the State Department. We were also 225 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:06,040 Speaker 1: fortunate that one of my young aides was a reservist 226 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:08,559 Speaker 1: and she was mobilized at the time, and she was 227 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:11,319 Speaker 1: actually present at the Kabble Airport to provide us the 228 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:14,560 Speaker 1: latest information there about what gates were the safest, and 229 00:12:14,679 --> 00:12:17,240 Speaker 1: also to even kind of meet up and walk in 230 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:20,040 Speaker 1: some of the Americans that we directed to the airport. 231 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:24,040 Speaker 1: It's a sad commentary on Joe Biden's failures that it 232 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:27,280 Speaker 1: took a Senate office like mine, or other Senate offices, 233 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:30,840 Speaker 1: or a lot of very generous nonprofit groups and philanthropists 234 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:33,240 Speaker 1: and veterans all working together to get out so many 235 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:36,040 Speaker 1: Americans who should have been evacuated well before the fall 236 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:38,840 Speaker 1: of Cobble. You wrote in your book that I'm quoting you. 237 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:43,480 Speaker 1: Joe Biden's Afghanistan fiasco will live an infamy as a 238 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:46,719 Speaker 1: strategic blunder of the first order, explain what you mean 239 00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:50,000 Speaker 1: with that. Yeah, it's very similar to what happened in 240 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:53,440 Speaker 1: Vietnam in nineteen seventy five, when democrats like a young 241 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:56,080 Speaker 1: Joe Biden in the Senate voted to cut off support 242 00:12:56,160 --> 00:12:59,840 Speaker 1: for the South Vietnamese government. It's not just a humiliation 243 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:04,000 Speaker 1: in the moment, it's a signal to our adversaries around 244 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:07,360 Speaker 1: the world that America lacks the strength and resolved to 245 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:11,360 Speaker 1: protect our interests and stand by our friends. And after 246 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:14,720 Speaker 1: the collapse of Saigon in nineteen seventy five, you saw 247 00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:19,199 Speaker 1: Soviet Communism on the march all around the globe, whether 248 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:22,840 Speaker 1: it was in Latin America or Africa. The invasion of 249 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:26,480 Speaker 1: Afghanistan in nineteen seventy nine, and I'm afraid that we're 250 00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:29,319 Speaker 1: going to be living with a similar Afghan effect as 251 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:31,719 Speaker 1: we lived with the Vietnam syndrome for at least as 252 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:34,720 Speaker 1: long as Joe Biden as president. So, for instance, it's 253 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:37,360 Speaker 1: not a coincidence, as I say, and only the strong 254 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:41,400 Speaker 1: that Vladimir Putin began to martial forces on Ukraine's border 255 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:44,640 Speaker 1: just a few weeks after the collapse of Afghanistan. In 256 00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:48,360 Speaker 1: addition to Joe Biden's many concessions to Vladimir Putin throughout 257 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:52,240 Speaker 1: the early days of his presidency. Our hasty collapse in 258 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:56,400 Speaker 1: Afghanistan enticed or tempted Vladimir Putin to do what he 259 00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:57,880 Speaker 1: had always wanted to do, which was go for the 260 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:01,760 Speaker 1: jugular in Ukraine. Assume the part of what you capture 261 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:05,080 Speaker 1: in your book is the degree to which people like 262 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:09,400 Speaker 1: Biden just literally don't understand the world. I like your phrase. 263 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:12,559 Speaker 1: You call him Biden a dove, a hawk, and an Ostrich. 264 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:16,160 Speaker 1: I think Ostrich may actually be a pretty good explanation 265 00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:18,960 Speaker 1: of a lot of the left's foreign policy. But walk 266 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:23,280 Speaker 1: us through the dove hawk Ostrich model. Sure, so as 267 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 1: I explained only the strong that you know, the progressive temperament, 268 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:29,720 Speaker 1: going back to Woodrow Wilson kind of results in two 269 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 1: different postures towards the world is what you might call 270 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:35,760 Speaker 1: liberal internationalism. You saw this in World War One when 271 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:38,720 Speaker 1: Woodrow Wilson took us to war, not in his words 272 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:40,960 Speaker 1: or any Bidal interests, not to avenge the depths of 273 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:44,440 Speaker 1: Americans on the Lusitania, Not to defend our border since 274 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:48,400 Speaker 1: Germany was conspiring with Mexico to seize American territory. Not 275 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:52,800 Speaker 1: to protect shipping as Germany started unrestricted submarine warfare, but 276 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:55,880 Speaker 1: rather to go to war on behalf of abstract ideals, 277 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:59,440 Speaker 1: much like say Madeline Albright and others wanted to put 278 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:02,720 Speaker 1: on the ground in the Balkan Wars in the nineteen nineties, 279 00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:06,440 Speaker 1: as did Joe Biden. How much like Bill Clinton's misadventure 280 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:10,000 Speaker 1: in Mogadishu in nineteen ninety three or Barack Obama's decision 281 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: to overthrow the Libyan government in twenty eleven. That's the 282 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:17,560 Speaker 1: hawkish side of the progressive mindset. The dubbish side is 283 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:20,240 Speaker 1: the blame America first mindset you see in the Vietnam 284 00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:22,840 Speaker 1: War era and coming forward to today with people like 285 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:26,120 Speaker 1: the Squad in the sixteen nineteen project. They believe that 286 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:29,680 Speaker 1: America can't redeem ourselves. If we, you know, we'll try 287 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:32,640 Speaker 1: to improve the social and moral and political conditions of 288 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:35,840 Speaker 1: other people's and defend abstract ideals with forces necessary. But 289 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:38,640 Speaker 1: rather than America is so flawed, it's so sinful that 290 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:40,960 Speaker 1: there's nothing that we can do to redeem ourselves. All 291 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:43,000 Speaker 1: we need to do is atone for our sins and 292 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:45,880 Speaker 1: pull in our horns. And bidenus has reflected both of 293 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:49,080 Speaker 1: those temperaments. You know, he came into Congress as a 294 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:52,680 Speaker 1: kind of typical blame America first Democrat. Between the first 295 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:55,560 Speaker 1: Golf four and the second War with Iraq, he became 296 00:15:55,600 --> 00:15:58,400 Speaker 1: this kind of avenging liberal hawk, wanting to put troops, 297 00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:00,880 Speaker 1: as I said, into the Balkan Wars, condeming Clinton in 298 00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:03,960 Speaker 1: Europe for not doing so, regretting that we didn't already 299 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:06,760 Speaker 1: overthrow Sadam Who's saying, of course he's been flip flopped 300 00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:09,280 Speaker 1: after the Iraq Wars. He was preparing to run for president. 301 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:11,960 Speaker 1: He's returned to his dubbish roots. But there's also this 302 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:16,840 Speaker 1: Ostrich tendency, especially as it relates to Russia and China, 303 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:21,720 Speaker 1: where Joe Biden just seems habitually incapable of acknowledging that 304 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:26,520 Speaker 1: these are aggressive nationalist dictators who want to undermine America. 305 00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:28,560 Speaker 1: You know, he denied for much of the Cold War 306 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:31,400 Speaker 1: that we actually were in a Cold war. If he did, 307 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:34,080 Speaker 1: he said it was Ronald Reagan's fault, just like still 308 00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:37,320 Speaker 1: today he keeps denying that we seek a Cold war. Well, 309 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:39,400 Speaker 1: I don't seek a Cold war either. We didn't seek 310 00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:41,720 Speaker 1: one in the Cold War itself. But if China is 311 00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:44,440 Speaker 1: waging one against us, we don't have much choice other 312 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:46,480 Speaker 1: than to win it or to lose it. I tell 313 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:50,480 Speaker 1: audiences regularly that the challenge of liberalism is that they 314 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:54,480 Speaker 1: saw The Lion King and they thought it was a documentary, 315 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:58,000 Speaker 1: and they actually believe the lions and zebras sing and 316 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:01,400 Speaker 1: dance together. And we try to vincent that actually lions 317 00:17:01,440 --> 00:17:03,400 Speaker 1: eat zebras, and they go, no, no, didn't you see 318 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:06,119 Speaker 1: the movie? Don't you realize? So, whether it's Putin or 319 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:09,320 Speaker 1: Jiji and Ping, or Kim Jong un in North Korea, 320 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:13,919 Speaker 1: or the Mullahs in Iran, they somehow always try to 321 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:17,440 Speaker 1: reinterpret them as though they were Disney characters, and somehow 322 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:20,480 Speaker 1: they can be friends. And I think it's kind of scary. 323 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:23,239 Speaker 1: It is, as I say, and only the strong. You know, 324 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:25,840 Speaker 1: one day the meek will inherit the earth, but until 325 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:28,560 Speaker 1: then the strong will have to guard it. And one 326 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:31,000 Speaker 1: day the lion may lie down with the lamb. But 327 00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:33,600 Speaker 1: even when that happens, I would still rather be the 328 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:36,600 Speaker 1: lion than the lamb. It's not just that they're weak. 329 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:41,879 Speaker 1: They actually have been actively undermining and sabotaging American power. 330 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:44,600 Speaker 1: And you make that case as well as anybody I've seen, 331 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:47,959 Speaker 1: Can you just walk us through how you came to 332 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:50,760 Speaker 1: that and the examples you can give of the way 333 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:53,960 Speaker 1: in which the left has literally been undermining American power 334 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:56,440 Speaker 1: in the world. Sure, And I think the reason why 335 00:17:56,960 --> 00:18:00,560 Speaker 1: Democrats like Joe Biden simply can't stand up only for 336 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:05,400 Speaker 1: America's interests is that they are at best ambivalent about America. 337 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:08,000 Speaker 1: And many on the left are openly hostile to America. 338 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:11,040 Speaker 1: You know the squad in the sixteen nineteen crowd, for instance. 339 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,159 Speaker 1: But if you're ambivalent about America, then you're going to 340 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:18,520 Speaker 1: be naturally hostile and averse to the source and the 341 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:22,320 Speaker 1: exercise of American power, whether it's our military or a 342 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:26,439 Speaker 1: strong prosperous economy, sovereign borders and freedom of action in 343 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:30,040 Speaker 1: the world, and American energy production and so forth. I 344 00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:33,919 Speaker 1: trace this story back to Woodrow Wilson. Woodrow Wilson was 345 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:36,679 Speaker 1: a professor before he was the president. He is the 346 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:40,320 Speaker 1: patron saint of the modern progressive movement, the first politician 347 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:44,800 Speaker 1: to openly repudiate the Declaration and the Constitution, saying that 348 00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:48,879 Speaker 1: they were obsolete, they were outmoded, they didn't understand the 349 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,560 Speaker 1: lights of modern science, and we had now understood how 350 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:55,520 Speaker 1: to master nature, to include human nature, which can become perfectable, 351 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:58,119 Speaker 1: and therefore we could achieve utopia, we could return to 352 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:01,440 Speaker 1: the garden. This side of this is all influenced by 353 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:05,280 Speaker 1: German romantic philosophy, and you see that in the world 354 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:08,600 Speaker 1: as when progressivism meets the world with whatever one is. 355 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:11,639 Speaker 1: We're discussing earlier about this idea that it would be 356 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:16,120 Speaker 1: selfish or grimy or ignoble to use American power to 357 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:19,680 Speaker 1: defend America's interest. That's more enlightened, to use it to 358 00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:23,200 Speaker 1: improve the political and social and economic conditions of other people, 359 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:26,040 Speaker 1: or to defend some kind of abstract ideals you know, 360 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:28,880 Speaker 1: best embodied by the Treaty of Versailles in the League 361 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:33,760 Speaker 1: of Nations. But once you repudiate America's founding, the moral 362 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:36,520 Speaker 1: basis of our nation, as outlined in our Declaration and 363 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:40,520 Speaker 1: our Constitution, then it's a pretty short step to repudiating 364 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:43,639 Speaker 1: America itself. And that's what the new Left did in 365 00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:48,480 Speaker 1: the Vietnam era, when you had thousands of liberals burning 366 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:53,200 Speaker 1: their draft cards, evading the draft, not just protesting the war, 367 00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:57,919 Speaker 1: but fire bombing police stations and United States capital and 368 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:01,000 Speaker 1: you still see those tendencies today as we discussed earlier 369 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:04,600 Speaker 1: as well, Liberals who think that America could somehow redeem 370 00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:07,560 Speaker 1: ourselves of our sins if we'll only exercise our power 371 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:11,840 Speaker 1: on behalf of anyone but Americans, or that America is 372 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:14,840 Speaker 1: so sinful and so fallen that all we really need 373 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:17,720 Speaker 1: to do is to atone for our sins and apologize. 374 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:20,280 Speaker 1: Now you get someone like Barack Obama, who's the most 375 00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: progressive president since Woodrow Wilson, and he's a shrewd politician, 376 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:26,800 Speaker 1: though he's not going to say that openly in the 377 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:29,720 Speaker 1: way Wilson did, but sometimes the mask slips. I mean, 378 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,720 Speaker 1: this is a man remember that didn't just happen to 379 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:35,360 Speaker 1: sit in the pews of Jeremiah Wright's church. I mean 380 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:38,639 Speaker 1: he sought out Jeremiah Right as his pastor sat in 381 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:42,280 Speaker 1: his church for years. Had Jeremiah Right officiate his wedding 382 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:46,800 Speaker 1: to Michelle Obama. Remember Jeremiah Rights, the pastor who said 383 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,560 Speaker 1: God didn't bless America, that damned America, that nine eleven 384 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:52,280 Speaker 1: was America's chickens coming home to Ruce had to very 385 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:55,480 Speaker 1: blame America first viewpoint. Or you know, Barack Obama, once 386 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:58,080 Speaker 1: a notoris that said that he believed in American exceptionalism 387 00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:01,680 Speaker 1: in the same way that Greeks even Greek exceptionalism, which 388 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:04,960 Speaker 1: is to say, it's really kind of outmoded and embarrassing 389 00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:07,680 Speaker 1: chauvinism for one's own. We should all just get over 390 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:11,359 Speaker 1: and transient and become one global community, a citizen of 391 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:14,199 Speaker 1: the world, as he said in this Berlin speech, and 392 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:18,320 Speaker 1: kind of submit ourselves to a globalist government of professors 393 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:23,800 Speaker 1: and lawyers and journalists. All these things bespeak lack of 394 00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:28,159 Speaker 1: confidence in America, hesitations and doubts about the exercise of 395 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:31,159 Speaker 1: American power in defense of our interests and in the 396 00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:34,560 Speaker 1: defense of a free world order. I think this is 397 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:36,440 Speaker 1: sort of central and one of the things that Trump 398 00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:39,880 Speaker 1: was getting at in his whole effort to explain America 399 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:42,560 Speaker 1: first and his speech more so and at the UN 400 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:46,080 Speaker 1: that if you're not a country, and if you don't 401 00:21:46,119 --> 00:21:48,880 Speaker 1: believe in your own country, you're not in a position 402 00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:52,240 Speaker 1: to be very effective in the world. Yeah. I mean, 403 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:55,480 Speaker 1: we have to have a strong country and a sovereign nation, 404 00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:58,960 Speaker 1: and it's better for America when we have strong allies 405 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:01,840 Speaker 1: as well. That was part of President Trump's point in 406 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:05,280 Speaker 1: his Warsaw speech. And it's also good for us, you know, 407 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:09,040 Speaker 1: as I write and only the Strong. President Reagan esteemed 408 00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:13,240 Speaker 1: the solidarity movement in Poland, he esteemed the freedom fighters 409 00:22:13,359 --> 00:22:15,920 Speaker 1: in Nicaragua. He supported them as much as he could. 410 00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:18,399 Speaker 1: He did that in part because he wanted them to 411 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:21,200 Speaker 1: live in freedom. He did that, though, mostly because it 412 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:45,280 Speaker 1: was good for America's struggle against Soviet Communism. When you 413 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:50,240 Speaker 1: think about all that, the process of undermining America and 414 00:22:50,359 --> 00:22:53,679 Speaker 1: of not believing in America, I think probably shows itself 415 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:57,439 Speaker 1: as as vividly in their unwillingness to control the border 416 00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:01,879 Speaker 1: as any policy they have. You write very strongly about this, 417 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:05,280 Speaker 1: and I think you legitimately feel very strongly, But can 418 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:08,880 Speaker 1: you understand why they want a totally open border with 419 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:13,119 Speaker 1: fentanyl and drug cartels and human trafficking and all the 420 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:16,240 Speaker 1: different things that that implies. Borders are one of the 421 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:19,199 Speaker 1: most inherent properties of any nation, and you can't have 422 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:23,040 Speaker 1: a country if you don't have borders. And because Democrats 423 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:27,680 Speaker 1: are so doubtful about America, because they want to undermine 424 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:31,560 Speaker 1: American sovereignty so badly, as I write and only the Strong, 425 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:36,200 Speaker 1: they are incapable of protecting our borders. If the consequence 426 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:40,080 Speaker 1: of that open border policy is five million illegal aliens, 427 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:44,920 Speaker 1: plus our streets flooded with fentanyl and MS thirteen gang members. Well, 428 00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:48,800 Speaker 1: that's unfortunately just a small price to pay for our 429 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:54,640 Speaker 1: move towards a more enlightened post national globalist order. They 430 00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:57,359 Speaker 1: just view that as the eggs you have to break 431 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:00,440 Speaker 1: to get to the omelet of the globalist world order. 432 00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:04,600 Speaker 1: They pursue to compound all this as they are undermining 433 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:08,439 Speaker 1: our ability to function effectively. You point out correctly in 434 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:12,280 Speaker 1: your book that the rise of China is an enormous 435 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:16,040 Speaker 1: challenge to our ability to survive as a free country, 436 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:19,400 Speaker 1: and that the Chinese are really good at the kind 437 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:24,360 Speaker 1: of infiltration and manipulation that we're not particularly good at stopping. Yeah, 438 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:26,439 Speaker 1: I conclude only the strong by saying, it's really a 439 00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:29,040 Speaker 1: choice that we face. Do we want to continue to 440 00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:32,600 Speaker 1: live as a safe, free, prosperous nation in a world 441 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:36,400 Speaker 1: order that's dominated by America, or do we want to 442 00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:41,480 Speaker 1: submit to China. Now, maybe China won't conquer America directly 443 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:47,040 Speaker 1: and impose a kind of techno totalitarian dystopia where we 444 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:50,480 Speaker 1: renounce God and give up our free government. But maybe 445 00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:53,760 Speaker 1: they will. But even short of that China may be 446 00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:57,160 Speaker 1: in a position of such strategic advantage worldwide that they 447 00:24:57,200 --> 00:25:00,240 Speaker 1: call the shots, they get to run the show, and 448 00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:03,800 Speaker 1: we have to dance to their tune. Most Americans don't 449 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:07,560 Speaker 1: want to live in such a world. But for thirty years, 450 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:11,640 Speaker 1: our policy has enabled China's rise to point that this 451 00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:14,680 Speaker 1: is the most dangerous adversary we've ever faced. We've never 452 00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:19,399 Speaker 1: faced country with an economy as large as ours, with 453 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:22,439 Speaker 1: a military that is our peers. We certainly didn't have 454 00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:26,439 Speaker 1: the same kind of economic entanglement with Soviet Russia that 455 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:30,320 Speaker 1: we do with Chinese communists. And as you say, they 456 00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:37,360 Speaker 1: are extremely effective and insinuating their influence into America's public debates. 457 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:40,399 Speaker 1: You see it everywhere. Look at what happened when the 458 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:44,520 Speaker 1: Houston Rockets general manager merely retweeted a show of support 459 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:49,119 Speaker 1: for Hong Kong protesters. Fellow NBA executives and Lebron James 460 00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: came down on in like a ton of bricks. Why 461 00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:54,919 Speaker 1: Because the NBA's biggest market is in China. Lebron James, 462 00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:58,200 Speaker 1: like everyone involved in Hollywood, won't say anything bad about 463 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:02,440 Speaker 1: China because they want access to Chinese movie studios. Wall 464 00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:05,639 Speaker 1: Street and corporate firms want access to the Chinese markets 465 00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:08,840 Speaker 1: and have factories in China. Comes from strange places as 466 00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:13,120 Speaker 1: well too. Not many people would expect governors and state 467 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:16,560 Speaker 1: legislators and county officials, or for that matter, of universities 468 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:20,680 Speaker 1: to be in effect lobbying for Chinese interests, but they 469 00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:24,240 Speaker 1: often are because those state officials and county officials are 470 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:28,400 Speaker 1: courting Chinese investments in their states and communities, and university 471 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:32,560 Speaker 1: officials are often relying on full freight tuition paying Chinese nationals. 472 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:35,720 Speaker 1: So only the strong I try to expose what I 473 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:39,040 Speaker 1: call the China lobby, so Americans will be on guard 474 00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:42,320 Speaker 1: for that kind of pervasive Chinese communist influence in our 475 00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:47,160 Speaker 1: public debates. It's kind of remarkable how much the Chinese 476 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,720 Speaker 1: who penetrated our system, and how many billionaires are prepared 477 00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:54,040 Speaker 1: to basically sell out America for the next big paycheck. 478 00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:57,479 Speaker 1: Then the pressures against us doing the right kind of 479 00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:00,399 Speaker 1: things when faced with that kind of a co editor. 480 00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:05,760 Speaker 1: But in addition to the kind of psychological and diplomatic approaches, 481 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:09,159 Speaker 1: there's also the objective reality of the Chinese military buildup, 482 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:11,560 Speaker 1: and you point out strongly in your book that we 483 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:15,080 Speaker 1: have to have the kind of military power that will 484 00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:18,080 Speaker 1: convince the Chinese not to take us on. And of 485 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:20,480 Speaker 1: course you're serving on two of the Committee's Intelligence and 486 00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:24,000 Speaker 1: Armed Services, that gives you an intimate knowledge of that. 487 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:29,040 Speaker 1: How seriously are you worried that we have just steadily 488 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:35,159 Speaker 1: downgraded our military capability. I'm very worried because Democrats like 489 00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:38,560 Speaker 1: Joe Biden, Barack Obama, mil Clinton have consistently cut our 490 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:42,679 Speaker 1: defense budgets. It's almost like birds migrating south for the winner. 491 00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:45,160 Speaker 1: Every time a Democrat takes the White House, they start 492 00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:47,359 Speaker 1: cutting defense. I mean, you remember from your time in 493 00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:50,680 Speaker 1: Congress with Bill Clinton as president how badly he cut 494 00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:53,119 Speaker 1: the defense budget down to the bone. It got to 495 00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:57,280 Speaker 1: its lowest level since before World War Two. So we've 496 00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:02,560 Speaker 1: had some small increases thanks to publican insistence in Congress 497 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:05,600 Speaker 1: in the last couple years over what Joe Biden proposed, 498 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:08,760 Speaker 1: but even those are largely eaten up by inflation. We 499 00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:12,320 Speaker 1: need substantial growth in our defensive budget year over year, 500 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:15,159 Speaker 1: and we need to be investing in the kinds of 501 00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:17,800 Speaker 1: weapons they're going to help us prevent a war with 502 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:20,399 Speaker 1: China in the Western Pacific, and when a war, if 503 00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:23,720 Speaker 1: it comes to that some of those are relatively low 504 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:27,560 Speaker 1: tech communitions. You know, we need many more missiles than 505 00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:29,159 Speaker 1: we have now. We need to produce them at a 506 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:31,720 Speaker 1: much higher rate. We need to have them stored in 507 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:35,359 Speaker 1: effective and deterable ways in the Western Pacific. We need 508 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:39,520 Speaker 1: to supply them to Taiwan. We need more undersea warfare, 509 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:46,080 Speaker 1: specifically attack submarines, more ability to interfere with China's satellite communications, 510 00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:49,160 Speaker 1: and protect our own given the distances in the Pacific Ocean. 511 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:52,040 Speaker 1: These are all things that we need to substantially increase 512 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:55,240 Speaker 1: our investment in if we want to maintain the balance 513 00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:58,280 Speaker 1: of power favorable to the United States. Well, are you 514 00:28:58,360 --> 00:29:01,400 Speaker 1: comfortable that even if we don the money that the 515 00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:05,080 Speaker 1: current Pentagon is capable of spending it effectively? The current 516 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:09,160 Speaker 1: Pentagon I have concerns about newt a future Pentagon, though 517 00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:12,200 Speaker 1: I think ken I mean Bob Gates showed in his 518 00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:16,360 Speaker 1: time both under George Bush and Barack Obama, the ability 519 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:19,400 Speaker 1: of a strong secretary to ring savings out of the 520 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:22,960 Speaker 1: Pentagon bureaucracy. You have to be willing to break a 521 00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:26,120 Speaker 1: little China. But that's what Bob Gates did. Unfortunately, under 522 00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:29,040 Speaker 1: Barack Obama he was double crossed, and that money was 523 00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:32,479 Speaker 1: not reinvested into weapons for the future, but rather taken 524 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:36,080 Speaker 1: for other kinds of domestic spending, which again is a priority. 525 00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:39,280 Speaker 1: You see with democratic presidents, I say, and only the strong, 526 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:44,240 Speaker 1: they always prioritize their domestic objectives over the most fundamental 527 00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:47,240 Speaker 1: object of the government, which is to keep America safe 528 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:49,920 Speaker 1: with a strong military. But now I think with a 529 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:53,000 Speaker 1: strong president and a strong Secretary Defense who are cleared 530 00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:56,520 Speaker 1: eyed about the way we need to expand their military, 531 00:29:56,640 --> 00:29:58,400 Speaker 1: you can get what we had in the nineteen eighties 532 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:01,200 Speaker 1: under Grant A. Reagan and Capline. The other thing you 533 00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:04,040 Speaker 1: talked about in your book, which is I think really important, 534 00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:06,120 Speaker 1: and of course one of the big factors in the 535 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:10,240 Speaker 1: election this year, is the whole issue of energy security, 536 00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:13,800 Speaker 1: in getting back to national energy independence. I mean, it's 537 00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:17,480 Speaker 1: been amazing to me to watch an administration do almost 538 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:20,400 Speaker 1: every single thing wrong. I mean, it's almost like that 539 00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:23,400 Speaker 1: a checklist of can we screw this up? Don't you 540 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:25,920 Speaker 1: think actually, with the right policies, we would get back 541 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:30,520 Speaker 1: to American energy independence with remarkable speed. There's no question 542 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:33,920 Speaker 1: about it. Nude and probably energy independence is the single 543 00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:38,040 Speaker 1: clearest issue where you see the Democrats' efforts to sabotage 544 00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:41,720 Speaker 1: American power. It's not bad luck, it's not misfortune that 545 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:43,720 Speaker 1: we have four or five dollars a gallon of gas 546 00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:48,000 Speaker 1: right now. It is the intended consequence of the Democratic Party. 547 00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:50,880 Speaker 1: You know, Joe Biden and all those other Democrats on 548 00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:53,680 Speaker 1: the campaign tral in twenty twenty promise that they would 549 00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:57,320 Speaker 1: eliminate fossil fuel production in America. If you're call In 550 00:30:57,320 --> 00:31:00,200 Speaker 1: the two thousand and eight campaign, Barack Obama said that 551 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:03,920 Speaker 1: he was going to bankrupt coal miners and he was 552 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:08,160 Speaker 1: going to necessarily increase the price of your electricity bills 553 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:11,960 Speaker 1: because of his energy plans. The Democrats have an ideological 554 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:17,320 Speaker 1: campaign against American fossil fuel production, which is terrible for 555 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:21,800 Speaker 1: American families and businesses because of the costume imposes on them. 556 00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,600 Speaker 1: It's bad for our allies and partners around the world, 557 00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:28,040 Speaker 1: who would be better off getting energy from America rather 558 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:31,680 Speaker 1: than countries like Russia. And it's bad for the environment 559 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:35,120 Speaker 1: because we have the best, most environmental friendly ways to 560 00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:37,960 Speaker 1: produce oil and gas and coldness country, much more so 561 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:40,960 Speaker 1: than places like Venezuela and Iran. But it again gets 562 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:45,200 Speaker 1: back to the Democrats intentional sabotage of this critical source 563 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:48,480 Speaker 1: of American power. I mean it literally powers our economy. 564 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:52,000 Speaker 1: It's astonishing. I want to thank you for joining me. 565 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:56,560 Speaker 1: Your new book, Only This Strong, Reversing the Less Plot 566 00:31:56,560 --> 00:32:00,920 Speaker 1: to Sabotage American Power provides a formidable, an urgent roadmap 567 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:02,880 Speaker 1: to restore American strength, and we're going to link to 568 00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:05,200 Speaker 1: it on our show page and encourage all of our 569 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:08,120 Speaker 1: listeners to get a copy. I think you're really doing 570 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:12,560 Speaker 1: important patriotic work in the Senate, and your leadership really matters. 571 00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:14,800 Speaker 1: I want to thank you for joining me on newts 572 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:18,800 Speaker 1: World and sharing your ideas and your insights with us. Well. 573 00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:21,040 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me on, and thanks 574 00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:24,120 Speaker 1: for your many years of service to America and the 575 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:32,360 Speaker 1: way you promote the battle for conservative ideas. Thank you 576 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:34,920 Speaker 1: to my guest, Senator Tom Cotton. You can get a 577 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:38,760 Speaker 1: link to buy his new book, Only the Strong Reversing 578 00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:42,200 Speaker 1: the Left Plot to Sabotage American Power on our show 579 00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:45,840 Speaker 1: page at newtsworld dot com. News World is produced by 580 00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:51,080 Speaker 1: Genguistreet sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Garnsey Slump. 581 00:32:51,320 --> 00:32:56,240 Speaker 1: Our producer is Rebecca Howe and our researcher is Rachel Peterson. 582 00:32:56,760 --> 00:33:00,160 Speaker 1: The artwork for the show was created by Steve Penley. 583 00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:03,680 Speaker 1: Special thanks to the team at Gingwidge three sixty. If 584 00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:06,440 Speaker 1: you've been enjoying Newtsworld, I hope you'll go to Apple 585 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:09,760 Speaker 1: Podcasts and both rate us with five stars and give 586 00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:12,600 Speaker 1: us a review so others can learn what it's all about. 587 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:16,160 Speaker 1: Right now, listeners of Newtsworld can sign up for my 588 00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:20,280 Speaker 1: three free weekly columns at Gingwich three sixty dot com 589 00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:24,680 Speaker 1: slash newsletter. I'm Newt Gingridge. This is Newtsworld.