Speaker 1: Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson
Speaker 1: with you, Senator, it's an international pod tonight, as you're
Speaker 1: across the pond.
Speaker 2: Well, that's right. This is our very first podcast that
Speaker 2: I have done from Paris, France. I am in Paris
Speaker 2: right now. I flew yesterday to Normandy to be here
Speaker 2: for the eightieth anniversary of D Day. I was at
Speaker 2: the celebration all day. I've got meetings the next couple
Speaker 2: of days here.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: And it was really an incredible time celebrating what was
Speaker 2: what was an historic landmark, a milestone that that changed
Speaker 2: the course of history. And the heroism, the courage that
Speaker 2: was shown by by by those American gis that that
Speaker 2: that that that landed on the coast of France, and
Speaker 2: and that that that invaded the continent to take take
Speaker 2: back the continent from the Nazis. It was incredibly dangerous,
Speaker 2: incredibly difficult, incredibly inspiring, and it changed the course of history.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is truly incredible. And there's also the politics
Speaker 1: that are now coming out with the Biden campaign as well.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 1: They're now trying to use D Day to advocate for
Speaker 1: funding with Ukraine that had to be shocking to you.
Speaker 2: Well, it's not surprising because everything they do is political.
Speaker 2: That that that's how that that's how they approach. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: day to day life is it's all politics all the time.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 2: But but I got to tell you that nothing can
Speaker 2: really diminish the experience of being here. It truly is extraordinary, uh,
Speaker 2: being with being with heroes, and and and and there
Speaker 2: were hundreds of World War Two veterans who came back
Speaker 2: for the eightieth anniversary of D Day. And these these
Speaker 2: guys are all you know, in their late nineties or
Speaker 2: in their hundreds. You know, if they were eighteen years
Speaker 2: old eighty years ago than they're ninety eight today. Now
Speaker 2: there's several of them that were even seventeen and sixteen
Speaker 2: and lied about their ages. So there are a couple
Speaker 2: that are younger, that are ninety six and ninety seven.
Speaker 2: But I visited today with with with one World War
Speaker 2: Two veteran. There was one hundred and four. And these
Speaker 2: guys are incredible euros And when you look at what
Speaker 2: they did, it was truly incredible. June fourth, nineteen forty four,
Speaker 2: Operation Overlord, which was the code name for the Allied
Speaker 2: invasion of Normandy France. More than one hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: thousand troops landed at D Day, and when they landed,
Speaker 2: they they landed into German machine gun fire. You had soldiers, had,
Speaker 2: you had barriers they'd put on the beach. And more
Speaker 2: than twenty nine thousand US servicemen members were either killed
Speaker 2: or injured during the norm of the operation, including more
Speaker 2: than six thousand on the very first day of the landing.
Speaker 2: And it is when you look at today. I stood
Speaker 2: at Omaha Beach and looked out and you imagine coming
Speaker 2: across that sand and coming into just machine gun fire.
Speaker 2: The bravery that was demonstrated on that day was just breathmaking.
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Speaker 1: thank you so much for being involved in fighting back
Speaker 1: against the radicals at Planned Parenthood. This adieth anniversary, and
Speaker 1: you mentioned hundreds came over, and there's so many veterans
Speaker 1: groups that just do amazing work fundraising and helping these veterans,
Speaker 1: these heroes war to even get to Normandy to D Day,
Speaker 1: and the way that they do it and the way
Speaker 1: that they give them such honor and respect from the
Speaker 1: moment that they get to the airport in the US
Speaker 1: until the moment this trip is over when they get
Speaker 1: back home. But this is a very significant year because
Speaker 1: it is the eightieth anniversary, and if you just do
Speaker 1: the math, a lot of these veterans that you got
Speaker 1: to be with literally today this will probably be their
Speaker 1: last time to go to Normandy, just because of age.
Speaker 2: Well, that's right. And I had the opportunity to go
Speaker 2: to the seventy fifth anniversary five years ago and I
Speaker 2: didn't go. I had a scheduling conflict and I had
Speaker 2: something else I had to do, and I have regretted
Speaker 2: it every day since then. I should have fixed the
Speaker 2: scheduling conflict. That I was mad at myself that I
Speaker 2: didn't just just push aside the scheduling conflict and go
Speaker 2: for the seventy fifth. So for the eightieth anniversary, you're right,
Speaker 2: there's a very good chance that the next one that
Speaker 2: happens that we're not going to have World War Two
Speaker 2: veterans still with us, or if we do, it's going
Speaker 2: to be very very few. And actually the news broke
Speaker 2: today the one of the World War two veterans who
Speaker 2: was one hundred and two actually died traveling to France
Speaker 2: to come to this and and it's just, you know,
Speaker 2: they're they're at the age now where they all understand
Speaker 2: that this is the you know, the the the the
Speaker 2: end of their passage. But but it was incredible. I
Speaker 2: spent a lot of the day shaking hands with with
Speaker 2: with these men, thanking them. And you know, it's interesting
Speaker 2: then that there's a consistency in that, one after the
Speaker 2: other after the other. When you thank them for their bravery, bravery,
Speaker 2: they'll say, look, I I just did my job. If
Speaker 2: you call them a hero, they'll argue with you. They'll say,
Speaker 2: I wasn't a hero. Uh. The the heroes are buried
Speaker 2: behind us. And and I got to say, when you
Speaker 2: you stand in the cemetery and you just see the
Speaker 2: line after line of white crosses and white stars of David,
Speaker 2: of servicemen and women, when you walk through that cemetery
Speaker 2: and you read name after name after name, and they're
Speaker 2: all so young. They're all eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty one
Speaker 2: years old, and so many of them they came off
Speaker 2: and amphibious ship and were shot and killed right on
Speaker 2: the beach. And it's incredible.
Speaker 1: You know, my grandfather fought in War two and he
Speaker 1: talked about when they all just went and signed up,
Speaker 1: and the story that he wanted his grandsons to know
Speaker 1: was how many young men signed up And you mentioned
Speaker 1: their age. Many of them lied about their age to
Speaker 1: serve their country. They were seventeen and even sixteen, and
Speaker 1: they lied. And the people, some of the people, he said,
Speaker 1: knew they were lying, and they went with it everyway
Speaker 1: because it went with it anyway, because everybody was new
Speaker 1: that this was a moment in history that you had
Speaker 1: to stand up and fight the Nazis or the world
Speaker 1: could fall.
Speaker 2: Yeah, including George Herbert Walker Bush, who, if I remember correctly,
Speaker 2: was seventeen when when he signed up to go fight
Speaker 2: in World War two. I mean, and that was you know,
Speaker 2: you had had young Americans stepping forward saying We're going
Speaker 2: to defend the world from tyranny and you know, particularly
Speaker 2: after Pearl Harbor and the attack on Pearl Harbor, when
Speaker 2: America was thrust into the war, you had just just
Speaker 2: ordinary people who did extraordinary things. And imagine how different
Speaker 2: the course of history would have been if the Nazis
Speaker 2: had prevailed. Yeah, Adolf Hitler lived his life as the
Speaker 2: dictator of Europe. The Nazis were unmitigated evil. We now
Speaker 2: know and many didn't know at the time about the
Speaker 2: concentration camps where they murdered over six million Jews. It
Speaker 2: was there are wars where both sides are in the
Speaker 2: right and both sides are in the wrong. World War
Speaker 2: two is not one of us the Nazis. The world
Speaker 2: would have been fundamentally different had the Allies not prevailed.
Speaker 2: And D Day, look, Dinna was not guaranteed to be
Speaker 2: a success. It was one of the most difficult military
Speaker 2: assaults ever planned, ever executed. And when you look at
Speaker 2: when you look at the cliffs they climbed, when you
Speaker 2: looked at look at the elevation they had to scale,
Speaker 2: and you imagine doing it with hand grenades and machine
Speaker 2: gun fire coming down at you, not to mention uh,
Speaker 2: incoming fire from from airplanes and and I mean it
Speaker 2: is extraordinary.
Speaker 1: My grandfather and my grandfather told me about D Day.
Speaker 1: He said, it was a day that we all knew
Speaker 1: that many of our friends were going to die, and
Speaker 1: that was accepted. It was just how many were going
Speaker 1: to die?
Speaker 2: Well, look and if you were, if you were in
Speaker 2: the first wave of the boats, almost all of those
Speaker 2: soldiers died. Uh and it h there there was The
Speaker 2: stakes were enormous. And what our country did without America
Speaker 2: in that war. Germany wins and and we came in
Speaker 2: and it was a moment that changed the course of history.
Speaker 1: Sinner. I want to talk about just the reaction first
Speaker 1: to Americans in France and and being at this ceremony,
Speaker 1: how how are you and and the rest of the
Speaker 1: people that are there, especially the veterans, how are they
Speaker 1: received by the people in France? And then I want
Speaker 1: to talk about just you, even the logistics and getting
Speaker 1: to this event and how all this came about.
Speaker 2: Well, look, the veterans are embraced and people are applauding
Speaker 2: and saying thank you, and I mean there's just an
Speaker 2: enormous amount of love and and look President McCrone was there,
Speaker 2: and and he was he was very gracious and and
Speaker 2: and he said quite rightly that that that the the
Speaker 2: American invasion at the day, and it was all the Allies,
Speaker 2: but it was the Americans leading it. Uh that that
Speaker 2: that that it liberated Frankis that that that France had
Speaker 2: been honkerd by Thenazis and and it's uh, the reaction
Speaker 2: in seeing these these heroes, most of them now are
Speaker 2: in wheelchairs and they just have a line of people
Speaker 2: coming up saying thank you and wanting to take pictures
Speaker 2: with them and shake their hands, and they're just, uh,
Speaker 2: you know, there's an enormous amount of appreciation when.
Speaker 1: When when you got this obviously the invite to go,
Speaker 1: how does this work? Who all got to go on
Speaker 1: this trip to obviously honor our men and women that
Speaker 1: gave the ultimate sacrifice or young boys. But you're going
Speaker 1: to honor uh and represent the United States of America.
Speaker 1: What do the logistics even look like?
Speaker 2: Well? Sure, so this is what's called a codel, which
Speaker 2: is a congressional delegation and and and it's official travel
Speaker 2: by members of Congress. And there are lots of codels
Speaker 2: that this is part of the job that you travel,
Speaker 2: You travel to other countries and you meet with military leaders,
Speaker 2: you meet with foreign leaders that that is a very
Speaker 2: important part of doing the job. I'm going to send
Speaker 2: it foreign Relations Committee, and so traveling to other countries,
Speaker 2: meeting with other leaders, understanding that this situation is very important.
Speaker 2: This codell. Typically codels are organized by one or two senators.
Speaker 2: This codell was organized by Richard Blomenthal, the Democrats from Connecticut,
Speaker 2: and John Boseman, a Republican from Arkansas. And this was
Speaker 2: a big codell. This was larger than normal. Often codels
Speaker 2: are in the Senate or three or four or five
Speaker 2: senators is a typical codell. This one, I think the
Speaker 2: council was nineteen, so you had a lot of Senators
Speaker 2: that came, and then there were a bunch of House
Speaker 2: members that came. I actually don't know how many House members,
Speaker 2: but I'd say twenty or thirty. It was a big
Speaker 2: group of House members that were here. And so the
Speaker 2: the logistically, the way this one worked is that we
Speaker 2: met at the Capitol and then we went over to
Speaker 2: Andrew's Air Force Base and we flew from Andrews Air
Speaker 2: Force Base to France on Air Force planes. So it's
Speaker 2: what's called mill Air Military air and so the Air
Speaker 2: Force maintains a number of planes that are used for
Speaker 2: official travel. And so we left on Wednesday late afternoons.
Speaker 2: We flew all night. We tried to sleep on the
Speaker 2: plane as much as we could, although you know, according
Speaker 2: to my are a ring tracker, I've had a total
Speaker 2: of fifty one minute sleep last night.
Speaker 1: So I've got to know you and I sleep as
Speaker 1: well on planes. I can't do it no matter what,
Speaker 1: even overseas. I've never been able to sleep on planes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just hard to sleep in an airplane. Plane.
Speaker 2: I got fifty one minutes that I've passed out, but
Speaker 2: it just I find it really tough to sleep in
Speaker 2: an airplane plane seats. But so we landed. We landed
Speaker 2: early in the morning today, so today is Thursday. We
Speaker 2: landed early in the morning at about six thirty in
Speaker 2: the morning, and we all uh disembarked the plane and
Speaker 2: changed clothes, so you know, I mean we traveled in
Speaker 2: jeans and traveling clothes, but then we changed to put
Speaker 2: on put on a suit and put on business business attire. Uh,
Speaker 2: And then we all got in buses to head to
Speaker 2: the ceremony. And there were there were two ceremonies today.
Speaker 2: There was one the American ceremony, uh. And that's that
Speaker 2: the American Cemetery, and that both Joe Biden and Macron
Speaker 2: both spoke there and and that had a lot of
Speaker 2: time honoring uh the World War Two veterans who were there.
Speaker 2: And then after that there was an international ceremony uh
Speaker 2: that featured a number of heads of state and and
Speaker 2: Justin Trudeau from Canada was there, and Prince Terry from
Speaker 2: the UK was there and and and it was that
Speaker 2: was predominantly driven by the French. So the international event
Speaker 2: was was very different from the American event. I attended both.
Speaker 2: And then after the events, Uh, now we're we're up
Speaker 2: in Normandy and and the rest of the trip is
Speaker 2: in Paris. So we uh we got on Blackhawk helicopters
Speaker 2: and went from Normandy to Paris. And how long is
Speaker 2: that fly?
Speaker 1: Out of curiosity? How long is that? And and and
Speaker 1: and and taking off from Normandy in a Blackhawk, that
Speaker 1: to me just seems really I don't know, touching historically.
Speaker 1: I mean you're taking the same flight that that many
Speaker 1: people were, you know, coming in and parachuting in.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, it was really head cool, like there's no
Speaker 2: other way like as the helicopters taking off, and you're
Speaker 2: like looking at the beach and you're envisioning. When you're
Speaker 2: looking at the beach, you're envisioning just one hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty thousand gis landing on that beach. You're envisioning the
Speaker 2: smoke and the screens and the blood and the machine guns,
Speaker 2: and you're envisioning the ships as far as the eye
Speaker 2: can see, and the paratroopers raining down from on high
Speaker 2: and it was just kind of amazing. And for a
Speaker 2: chunk of it, we flew along the coast before we
Speaker 2: cut in to go to Paris, and so it was
Speaker 2: really you're flying over the French countryside and seeing the
Speaker 2: countryside and seeing the coast. That was very cool.
Speaker 4: And it.
Speaker 2: Ended up. I mean, it's now what time is it now?
Speaker 2: It is eleven oh eight pm. So this has been
Speaker 2: a very long day. We landed at Frances six point
Speaker 2: thirty in the morning and just got to the hotel
Speaker 2: room at eleven o'clock at night, so it has been
Speaker 2: a full day, but it was And then tomorrow I'm
Speaker 2: up early and a meeting with with the US embassy
Speaker 2: and doing the briefing with military briefing, and we've got
Speaker 2: a whole series of of meetings on issues impacting France
Speaker 2: and Europe that that that that I'll be attending. And
Speaker 2: then also on Saturday, we're going to go back to
Speaker 2: Normandy and do a tour of the battlefield and have
Speaker 2: an historical tour, which I'm really looking forward to as well.
Speaker 2: Today was the ceremony itself, but I'm looking forward to
Speaker 2: to to getting into some of the some of the
Speaker 2: real details of how how the invasion unfolded and what happened.
Speaker 1: I was watching Biden on on TV and and there
Speaker 1: was two faces that I noticed sitting there close to
Speaker 1: the front, two men that you got to meet today,
Speaker 1: and and and there's certain people and and moments where
Speaker 1: you meet a person in the context of some of
Speaker 1: their greatest work and it excites you.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 1: Two of those people you met today with Steven Spielberg
Speaker 1: and Tom Hanks, these are, as you described them, two
Speaker 1: master storytellers who've done a beautiful job chronicling the incredible
Speaker 1: heroism of the Greatest Generation. I could not agree with
Speaker 1: you more. What was it like to be there in
Speaker 1: Normandy with them and all that they have done to
Speaker 1: really raise awareness of the Greatest Generation and the Ultimate Sacrifice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was really cool. Like I had not met
Speaker 2: either one of them before, and they were both just
Speaker 2: kind of standing around before the ceremony started. They were
Speaker 2: talking to various people and and so I came up
Speaker 2: and introduced myself. I a conversation with both of them.
Speaker 2: With Spielberg, it was, you know, I said, you know,
Speaker 2: I told he's an amazing movie maker, and I love
Speaker 2: you know this, I love movies. I'm a diehard movie buff,
Speaker 2: and I just, you know, telling story as is incredibly important.
Speaker 2: And I actually I relate a story to him. So
Speaker 2: Saving Private Ryan, my uncle was a Vietnam vest and
Speaker 2: he worked for years as a counselor at the VA
Speaker 2: dealing with veterans who had mental health issues. And my
Speaker 2: uncle told me that when Saving Private Ryan came out,
Speaker 2: you know, the first twenty thirty minutes of it, where
Speaker 2: they're landing, I mean, it's as intense a war scene
Speaker 2: as I think there's ever been in a movie. And
Speaker 2: what I told Spielberg is, I said, my uncle told
Speaker 2: me that he had a lot of vets coming in
Speaker 2: were really triggered by that scene, and what they told
Speaker 2: him is that it got the sounds right. And they
Speaker 2: said it was the first war movie that got the
Speaker 2: sounds of combat exactly right, and it was bringing bet
Speaker 2: back like being back in in combat. So he was
Speaker 2: a therapist helping them work through that, and it was interesting.
Speaker 2: Spielbert was telling me. He said, look, they went to
Speaker 2: great lengths, you know, they they took all the different
Speaker 2: weapons and they fired them and had the microphones to
Speaker 2: to number one record the sounds of them. But they
Speaker 2: also he said, fired them into in decide to beat
Speaker 2: to get the like sound of them hitting a body
Speaker 2: and breaking bone and flesh. But and I took my
Speaker 2: uncle said also the sounds of bricichet and water with
Speaker 2: the bullets. That that in particular was an aspect that
Speaker 2: was really hope. You know. I also talked to him
Speaker 2: about Schindler's List, which was another incredible movie, And I
Speaker 2: was talking to you about how moved I was by
Speaker 2: the scene at the end where you know, Oscar Schindler's
Speaker 2: is sitting there after having saved so many people from
Speaker 2: concentration camp, saying, you know, he looks at his gold
Speaker 2: watch and says, you know, my god, I could have
Speaker 2: saved three people with that. How do I have a
Speaker 2: watch and three people are dead like that. The guilt
Speaker 2: he felt that as much as he did, he could
Speaker 2: have done more. And it was that was at nique
Speaker 2: conversation to have with Spielberg.
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Speaker 1: want to talk about the speech and and and I
Speaker 1: was watching and.
Speaker 2: Actually before before that let's not skip a Tom Hanks.
Speaker 2: So Hanks was there too, and so I got chatted
Speaker 2: with him too. Now, interestingly enough, Tom Hanks is actually
Speaker 2: pretty tall, which I yeah, Uh, it's when I met him.
Speaker 2: He's I don't know, maybe he's sixty two or six three.
Speaker 2: He was at least on five to eleven. He was
Speaker 2: at least three inches tallar I am, which which I
Speaker 2: didn't expect. Uh. And he's kind of skinny. He was
Speaker 2: tall and kind of skinny, which is not. Yeah, he's
Speaker 2: taller than he appears in movies that he was very
Speaker 2: charting and and and we chatted a little bit and
Speaker 2: and uh and you know he said, uh, you know
Speaker 2: he said he said something along the lines of, you know,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm not going to vote for you. And
Speaker 2: I kind of laughed and said, well, you're not going
Speaker 2: to vote for me yet. You know, I'm suffered enough.
Speaker 2: I haven't given up on I'm convincing of that. But
Speaker 2: it was, you know, he did it in a way
Speaker 2: that was not of not just looked both Philberg and
Speaker 2: Hanks or democrats. They're very vocal Democrats. But you know
Speaker 2: that's we were not there talking politics that day where
Speaker 2: I mean and you look at whether it's Saving Private
Speaker 2: Ryan or you, or or it is Band of Brothers
Speaker 2: and The Pacific, both of which are just incredible series.
Speaker 2: I've watched both of them, and they do such a
Speaker 2: powerful job of recounting World War Two, both in Europe
Speaker 2: and and and the Pacific, and and you know the
Speaker 2: heart that each of them has for telling those stories.
Speaker 2: And I was talking with Stilbert more than Hanks, but
Speaker 2: I was talking about how important it was to tell
Speaker 2: the stories of these veterans. You know, we're losing them
Speaker 2: every day, we're losing them. We're coming to the end
Speaker 2: that when we're going to have them with us and
Speaker 2: telling their stories so they're not forgotten, I think is
Speaker 2: really really really important.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's vitally important. I want to go to the
Speaker 1: president's speech. Lloyd Austin spoke and then the President spoke
Speaker 1: and and I actually played some of that on my show,
Speaker 1: and I said this at the beginning. I said, I
Speaker 1: always root for the President of the United States of
Speaker 1: America on moments like this, on today's like this to
Speaker 1: have an amazing speech. And I root for the president always,
Speaker 1: my president always when it comes to national security issues,
Speaker 1: especially and when it comes to honoring our men and
Speaker 1: women in uniform. And the President gave a speech, and
Speaker 1: I was why it. With the best of intentions, I
Speaker 1: wanted to root for this speech, but there were some
Speaker 1: moments in that speech that caught me a little bit
Speaker 1: by surprise, and I wanted to know your thoughts on this.
Speaker 1: There was a couple points where Biden tried to invoke Ukraine,
Speaker 1: and he also said this, which the media even picked
Speaker 1: up on. Here's what he had to say during the
Speaker 1: speech about democracy in America.
Speaker 3: Now, the question for us is in our our trial,
Speaker 3: will we do ours? We're living at a time when
Speaker 3: democracy had more risk across the world than a point
Speaker 3: since the end of World War II, since these beaches
Speaker 3: were stormed in nineteen forty four. Now we have to
Speaker 3: ask ourselves, will we stand against tyranny, against evil, against
Speaker 3: crushing brutality of the iron fist, when we stand for freedom,
Speaker 3: when we defend democracy, we stand together? My answer is yes,
Speaker 3: all we can be yes.
Speaker 1: That was an interesting point for me because he said
Speaker 1: democracy is more at risk now than at any point since
Speaker 1: World War Two. He talked about it on a domestic side,
Speaker 1: which was implying I think Donald Trump is a threat
Speaker 1: to democracy, and then he implied it with obviously Russia
Speaker 1: and Ukraine, and I wanted your reaction to that.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm going to say, this is an interesting
Speaker 2: example of having a different reaction to something when you're
Speaker 2: physically there versus watching it on TV here or watching
Speaker 2: it on Twitter. Look, I know, on the way after
Speaker 2: the speech, like looking at Twitter and people's reactions, I
Speaker 2: know people are upset that they viewed Biden as politicizing here.
Speaker 2: I got to say, it didn't feel that political being
Speaker 2: there in person, and maybe it's because frankly, you're paying
Speaker 2: attention to the veteran and the heroes you're in front of,
Speaker 2: and it's so dominated things that you know what Biden said,
Speaker 2: he barely paid attention to it, like it was not
Speaker 2: it wasn't the dominant events of the day. And you know,
Speaker 2: it was fine, he said, Okay, you know what was
Speaker 2: actually stood out much more to me than anything Biden said.
Speaker 4: Who was that was?
Speaker 2: But prone did something that was really cool, which is
Speaker 2: he awarded the French Legion of Honor too. It was
Speaker 2: about eight or ten American gis and and he, you know,
Speaker 2: he and each of them, they were almost all the wheelchairs.
Speaker 2: Each of them would stand for it, and they're teetering
Speaker 2: and they'd have someone helping them, but they wanted to
Speaker 2: stand and he would pin on their chest the French
Speaker 2: legion of Honor that I wasn't expecting, and that was
Speaker 2: just powerful. That was just like he was literally and
Speaker 2: then it was funny. Macrow would lean in and he
Speaker 2: would kiss them on both cheeks as the French way.
Speaker 2: You could kind of see these old dudes be like, hey,
Speaker 2: why is this frenchy KidSing? But you know it's your
Speaker 2: big awarded, the French legion of honor. That's a pretty
Speaker 2: damn big deal. And you think about it for someone
Speaker 2: who was nineteen and and was right there, I mean, understand,
Speaker 2: we're doing this like right next to the beaches where
Speaker 2: they saw their friends die, right next to the beaches
Speaker 2: where I'm going to have to assume that was the
Speaker 2: most hellish day they've ever experienced. There was certainly one
Speaker 2: of them, although those that continue to fight in the
Speaker 2: war there may have been others that rivaled it. But
Speaker 2: you know, you think about it, imagine being one hundred
Speaker 2: years old and the president of France thanking you and
Speaker 2: for liberating France. And pinning the legion of honor on
Speaker 2: your chest. It was I look, most of us had
Speaker 2: tears in our eyes during this.
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Speaker 1: for twenty percent off your first order. Anthony Blincoln came
Speaker 1: out afterwards. He did an interview from Normandy with the
Speaker 1: backdrop behind him of many of the heroes and the
Speaker 1: crosses of those tombstones of somebody that lost their lives.
Speaker 1: He had this to say, marking the eightieth anniversary of
Speaker 1: D Day, and I want to get your reaction.
Speaker 5: And joining us now from Normandy, the United States Secretary
Speaker 5: of State, Anthony Blincoln, thank you very much for joining
Speaker 5: us here on morning.
Speaker 4: Joe.
Speaker 5: What should our allies and enemies take away from the
Speaker 5: President's speech this morning in Normandy?
Speaker 6: The same result, all that the extraordinary men and women
Speaker 6: that were celebrating today showed, then he's showing now because
Speaker 6: they did what they did. We're here today and we
Speaker 6: not only have responsibility to honor what they did. But
Speaker 6: the real way to honor it is to make sure
Speaker 6: that we're good in our time, in our moment, in
Speaker 6: standing up to the challenges that we face. And one
Speaker 6: of those we see now is aggression from Russia, not
Speaker 6: only against Ukraine, but against the very principles at the
Speaker 6: heart of the international system that were put in place
Speaker 6: after World War Two to try to make sure that
Speaker 6: we didn't have another World war, that we maintained peace
Speaker 6: and security. And presidents determined to make sure we're standing
Speaker 6: up today just as they stood up eighty years ago.
Speaker 5: And the President talked about Ukraine as one of the
Speaker 5: current challenges that exemplify the fight against dark forces that
Speaker 5: never fade, and he made another, yet another commitment. He
Speaker 5: reinforced the commitment to Ukraine. And by the way, if
Speaker 5: I may, we're watching live pictures right now of President
Speaker 5: Biden and the First Lady walking through the cemetery in Normandy, France.
Speaker 5: And as we look at these pictures which really symbolize
Speaker 5: the losses eighty years ago on d Day, and talk
Speaker 5: about the losses that Ukraine is incurring right now from
Speaker 5: the same type of aggression. The President did say that
Speaker 5: the support for Ukraine would continue, that we will be
Speaker 5: there for Ukraine. How does that parallel with some of
Speaker 5: the reticents we have seen in Washington that actually delayed
Speaker 5: the much needed aid Ukraine needed to push back against
Speaker 5: Russian aggression.
Speaker 6: Well, you don't make it that age should have gotten
Speaker 6: there a long time ago. But I'm glad it's there
Speaker 6: now and it's making a difference every single day. We're
Speaker 6: pushing it out to the front lines, making sure the
Speaker 6: Ukrainians who need it against this Russian aggression have it
Speaker 6: and can use it. But you know, there's a really
Speaker 6: powerful parallel too between what we're commemorating today and what
Speaker 6: we're doing now. Back then, it wasn't just the United
Speaker 6: States here in Normandy. Twelve countries came together, one hundred
Speaker 6: and sixty thousand men coming to this beach, coming to
Speaker 6: start the final fight that ultimately, eleven months later, led
Speaker 6: to victory in World War Two.
Speaker 2: In Ukraine, we have more than.
Speaker 6: Fifty countries standing up, standing together making sure that Ukraine
Speaker 6: has what it needs to defend itself and to push
Speaker 6: back this aggression. And that's the power of our alliances.
Speaker 6: And that's the biggest difference maker we have in the world.
Speaker 6: Our adversaries are competitors. They don't have the same kind
Speaker 6: of voluntary alliances. Yeah, sometimes they course countries into helping them,
Speaker 6: or maybe they pay them off. Here we have country
Speaker 6: after country that volunteers to stand together, stand together in
Speaker 6: defensive principles that we share and no need defending. We're
Speaker 6: seeing that in Ukraine. We saw that eighty years ago
Speaker 6: here in Normandy.
Speaker 1: You listen to that. It was very clear that NBC
Speaker 1: was wanting to make that and and B. Lincoln wanted
Speaker 1: to make that connection. And this deals with the reality
Speaker 1: of Foreign policy Center. He said, it is exact quote,
Speaker 1: there's a really powerful parallel between D Day and the
Speaker 1: Ukraine War.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, there's no. That's Look, this White House does
Speaker 2: all politics all the time. It's what they do. They spin, spin, spin,
Speaker 2: and the two are fundamentally different. You know. I wish
Speaker 2: they would treat a solemn commemoration like this for what
Speaker 2: it is, a solemn commemoration, and not treated as another
Speaker 2: day in politics. Now, I will say President Zolensky was there,
Speaker 2: He was at the events, and so that did add
Speaker 2: some of the focus to it. And actually, I think
Speaker 2: tomorrow we're maybe sitting down a meeting with President's Elynky
Speaker 2: and listen, I agree that we want Russia to loose,
Speaker 2: that Russia is our enemy. Now, Vladimir Putin is not
Speaker 2: Adolf Hitler. He's our enemy, but he doesn't have concentration
Speaker 2: cancer where he's murdering six million people right now. He
Speaker 2: is our enemy and he does not wish us well.
Speaker 2: And so I think Vladimir Putin is a KG because
Speaker 2: it's an America's interest for Russia to lose. But and
Speaker 2: we've talked about this at great length on the pods,
Speaker 2: it is Joe Biden's fault and Tony Lincoln's fault. The
Speaker 2: Ukraine War happened in the first place. Joe Biden gave
Speaker 2: multi billion dollar gifts, says Vladimir Putin when he weighs
Speaker 2: sanctions on the North String two pipeline sanctions that I authored.
Speaker 2: I wrote the legislation, wrote them into law, and Putin
Speaker 2: stopped building that pipeline the day President Trump signed my
Speaker 2: sanctioned legislation in the law. If Biden had not weighed
Speaker 2: those sanctions, the war in Ukraine would not have happened.
Speaker 2: If Donald Trump were still in the White House. The
Speaker 2: war in Ukraine would not have happened. It's Joe Biden's
Speaker 2: weakness that caused the war in Ukraine. And by the way,
Speaker 2: as much as Biden and Blincoln want to see themselves
Speaker 2: as Churchill and Sdr, if there isn't, If there is
Speaker 2: a World War two analogy, then Biden is Neville Chamberlain.
Speaker 2: He is the one who is weak. He is the appeaser.
Speaker 2: He is the one who gave billions to Russia. He
Speaker 2: is the one who gives billions to Iran. He's the
Speaker 2: one that constantly shows weakness to our enemies, which is
Speaker 2: why we went from peace and prosperity what he inherited
Speaker 2: three and a half years ago, to two simultaneous wars
Speaker 2: playing out across the face of the globe. And look,
Speaker 2: I'm glad. Biden says he stands for freedom against tyranny.
Speaker 2: He can't seem to figure that out in Israel because
Speaker 2: he blocking weapons going to Israel and at the same
Speaker 2: time blowing money to a ran that goes to Hamas.
Speaker 2: And so when it comes to freedom and tyranny, he
Speaker 2: manages to be on the wrong side of that an
Speaker 2: awful lot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt about it. I'm really thankful that you
Speaker 1: got to be there and we got to talk about
Speaker 1: this and honor our our, our amazing brave men who
Speaker 1: went and fought, and the women that were involved as well.
Speaker 2: By the way, you know who I met. I met
Speaker 2: the original.
Speaker 1: Rosie the Riveter No way, no way.
Speaker 2: That was really cool. She she's like one hundred years old,
Speaker 2: but she was the original Rosie the Riveter in in
Speaker 2: in those ads, you know, drumming up support for the military,
Speaker 2: and that was very cool.
Speaker 1: That's incredible. Well, what what a trip.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: My first question on the next pod is going to
Speaker 1: be about your meeting with with Ukraine's Zelenski, So I'm
Speaker 1: giving your heads up. That's what everybody listening is going
Speaker 1: to be like, how did that go and what was said?
Speaker 1: So I have a feeling we'll have that for you
Speaker 1: coming up on the next pod. I'm glad, what a
Speaker 1: great day in history, What an amazing day to remember
Speaker 1: and to honor those and I really am glad that
Speaker 1: we got to talk to you about it live from France.
Speaker 1: It's incredible.
Speaker 2: I want to close out with with actually a really
Speaker 2: cool thing. So at the International Ceremony, they had the
Speaker 2: International Ceremony of it, and there was a lot of
Speaker 2: a lot of music. They had young people singing, but
Speaker 2: that they had a military choir singing gory, gory, what
Speaker 2: a hell of a way to die, which is the
Speaker 2: formal name of it is Blood on the Risers, which
Speaker 2: is the America song by American paratroopers, and it's look,
Speaker 2: it's a gory song that they sung about what was happening.
Speaker 2: And it was amazing singing and singing it. So I
Speaker 2: want to close it by playing I just videoed on
Speaker 2: my iPhone the last two stanzas of it, and I
Speaker 2: want to close the pod by playing that because I
Speaker 2: got to say, in some ways it was dark, but
Speaker 2: in some ways it was beautiful. These are nineteen year
Speaker 2: old boys singing that they know they may be about
Speaker 2: to die, but they're going willingly into it. And so
Speaker 2: let's close. You know, Ben's wright, Subscribe to the pod,
Speaker 2: give us a five star review, sent it to all
Speaker 2: your friends. All that's true, But listen to this and
Speaker 2: just think about this is a military band, military choir
Speaker 2: in France singing this. But imagine the nineteen year old
Speaker 2: gis getting ready to get on the plane and knowing
Speaker 2: that they're going to be jumping out really close to
Speaker 2: the ground with massive machine gun fire, and they may
Speaker 2: not live another hour. And knowing what they were facing,
Speaker 2: they'd they get it with with eyes opened and in
Speaker 2: a heart full of love for America?
Speaker 7: Is everybody had to try?
Speaker 4: A sad looking out o here of Favid answer yes, and.
Speaker 7: And the story he tatory, I see us, It's time
Speaker 7: decline and hook.
Speaker 4: And he had cology. Oh holy, what the hell?
Speaker 2: A way to die?
Speaker 4: Gory ory one a hell the way to die? Carry on,
Speaker 4: hell the way to die. He hates COLOGI, No, it's lone,
Speaker 4: be found in lone.
Speaker 7: You waited, follow the shot, you sl you have the cold,
Speaker 7: you have the awful troll, the sit THRONI his missleves till.
Speaker 4: Oh rot trod.
Speaker 7: Is that.
Speaker 4: Cos O recall me? Will recalled re water the light die,
Speaker 4: Oh recalled Rene. He had cons