WEBVTT - Move Fast & Break Things! 0:00:01.880 --> 0:00:06.160 Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:10.760 Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty arm Strong 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:28.280 and Gattety and he Armstrong and Getty House things. So far, 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:31.680 it's running almost well. It's one hundred percent of people 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:35.400 I'm talking to who do or don't like Valentine's Day, 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:38.159 and everybody around here hates it. So I don't know, 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:40.120 maybe it's the kind of people to get into the 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:40.839 radio business. 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:41.400 I don't know. 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:44.960 There's some news to talk about. I already had things 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:46.760 I wanted to talk to Mike Lyons about, but there 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:48.240 are things in the news today that we need to 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:50.640 bring up. Mike Lions military analysts we regularly have on 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:54.720 You can follow him at maj Is in Major Mike 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:58.600 Lions because he was serving with various military organizations in 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:00.520 both the United States and Europe throughout it his career. 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:04.280 We love getting his perspective on things. Hey, Mike, welcome 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:04.720 to the show. 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:06.520 Hey guys, great to be back. 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:09.360 I guess we got to start with JD. Vance saying 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:12.200 in the Wall Street Journal that all options are on 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:15.320 the table, including US troops in Ukraine. 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:18.800 Yeah. I think a lot of that has to do 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:21.400 with kind of clean up on al five for what 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:23.759 the Secretary of Defense has said. Pete hegg Seth, who 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:28.280 you know, watching him closely, trying to see if he's, 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:30.080 you know, getting off to a good start or not. 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:33.640 He's not really, frankly, had a very good week. He's 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:38.120 trying to implement the intent of this president. Note you 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:40.480 know very clearly. But I think he got out over 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:43.560 skis when he talked to those European leaders, to the 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:47.560 NATO leaders with regard to the Ukraine's borders and all 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:50.400 the things that you normally don't see Defense Secretary doing. 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.720 You know, the last guy basically Lloyd Austin read quotes 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:56.000 off of the d D website and he never really 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:59.120 said anything. I think I think Pete heg Seth unfortunately 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:01.320 got out in front of himself a little bit. So 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:03.800 now JD. Vance comes in behind him in a little 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:05.760 bit of a cleanup pear to make sure that if 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:08.360 we're going to start this negotiation with Russia, that it 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.239 starts a little different than what pethics if I'd. 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:13.160 Say, okay, so we don't usually try to drag you 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:16.360 into the politics of things. You're a military expert, but 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:20.480 so from lots of people were saying, including us this week, 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:23.600 of why would you take anything off the table immediately 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:26.360 in a negotiation? And the Secretary of Defense did that. 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:29.640 Yeah, and again I want him to succeed. I think 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:33.320 there's lots of positive aspects of what he's done so far, 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:37.440 but defense secretaries usually don't make policy. Those are the 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:41.000 things for secretary of States. I'm concerned actually that the 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:43.480 President is deep in this as well, because he seems 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:46.720 to kind of go into these negotiations in one hand 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:48.640 and then if they start going south, they'll figure out 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:50.280 a way to separate himself from it. But this is 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:54.120 a serious series next few days coming on here with 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:57.240 what's going on in Ukraine and Russia, and I just 0:02:57.280 --> 0:02:59.680 hope that we're ready for it. I'm a little bit concerned, 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:03.320 for example, that General Kellogg has been somewhat stinline. They 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:05.040 left him on the tarmac or on the Delta sky 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:07.160 club someplace. I mean, he was supposed to be the 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:09.880 one that was involved with this, and he doesn't seem 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:12.200 to be involved. You heard the President talk yesterday that 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:16.000 he'd spoken to Vladimir Putin, so we're just not sure, 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:18.000 you know where this is all going. To go and 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:20.560 what's exactly going to look like. But again go back 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:24.359 to the Secretary of Defense. I want him to succeed, 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:27.200 but I think he's been a little bit out of 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:29.440 over Skis the last few days well. 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:32.280 As far as bringing the war between Ukraine and Russia 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:35.800 to a close, even President zelenski Is said at some 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:38.480 point last year they may not be able to get 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:41.440 back all the territory they lost, so he's willing to 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:43.960 concede that. So say we come up with some sort 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:46.840 of deal where you and Russia has taken like twenty 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:51.280 percent of the country. Yeah, but say you call it 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:54.640 good here and everything like that. What sort of guarantees 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:58.720 can the world offer Ukraine that if you lay down 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:02.720 your arms and Russia attacks again, you know we got 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:05.400 your back. How could that work? 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:09.560 Exactly? In ninety three we gave them security back. Then 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:12.600 under President Clinton when they gave up their nuclear weapons, 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:15.920 and when Russia first went in in twenty fourteen, we 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:16.680 didn't back it up. 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:16.920 Then. 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:20.120 It only works when there are US troops there on 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:24.200 the ground actually working side by side with Ukrainian forces. 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:28.240 And there should never been any expectation that Ukraine on 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:32.880 itself could defeat Russia based on four times its side. 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:36.839 It's military capability that it has, so it's going to 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:39.719 need some kind of NATO alliance, which again I don't 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:41.880 think we've talked about this before. I still don't believe 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:46.000 that that U Fain will ever become part of NATO 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:49.120 just because it becomes this trip wire that will exist there. 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:52.280 So it is it's a precarious situation. And then you 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:56.039 heard Secretary Hexeth said, well, if you guys do want 0:04:56.080 --> 0:05:00.839 to get together and Europe should support Ukraine, United States 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:02.360 won't be part of that. And oh, by the way, 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:04.520 it won't be covered under Article five. So he kind 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:07.520 of muddied the waters with regard to any future security 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:10.080 situation that really didn't have to happen well before the 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:12.320 negotiation of this potential peace treaty. 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:14.560 Well, I guess I should flat out ask the question 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:17.280 I haven't yet. The news of the day, is there 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:20.960 any chance US troops end up in Ukraine fighting Russians? 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:26.120 Probably not now probability of that. The only way that 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:30.440 happens is if somehow there's an attack on a NATO country. 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:33.320 I think for a secretary hecxcept is right. Is Poland 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:36.360 being this incredible ally. Poland is an amazing NATO ally 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:38.040 right now in terms of what they spend money on 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:40.640 UH and I think you're going to see a brigade 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:43.280 US Army brigade rotate there, kind of like what we 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:46.320 saw what we see in Korea. We're going they're going 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:49.240 to see a large number of a bigger US presence 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:52.280 inside of Poland that's going to act as that deterrence there. 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:55.559 There are some people who believe that Russia won't stop, 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:58.360 that they if they get more of Ukraine and that 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:00.320 they get more than land masks, they will avent going 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:03.880 to the Baltics. But now you're into NATO countries itself. 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:06.400 So you see Finland now has joined NATO and so 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:09.039 the ring is around them. At this point, there's no 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:13.120 place else they can go. The the narcation line now 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:14.440 is clear to the country of Ukraine. 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:18.200 And for some positive news that has happened with sec 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:20.320 def Pete or because it's Trump, I don't know who 0:06:20.320 --> 0:06:22.400 gets the credit on this. I remember when we had 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:25.440 you on a while back, because the army recruiting had 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:28.080 hit all time lows. Well in December it hit a 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:30.080 twelve year high and in January it hit a fifteen 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:32.520 year high. And I saw some ads out today that 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:35.640 were really really cool, and some video of Pete Hegsith 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:37.800 doing pushups with troops and everything like that. You got 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:40.640 to be feeling good about the direction that's going. Yeah. 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:43.520 Absolutely, and again and Secretary hex pe Hexad is a 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:46.359 real politique guy. He's like, whatever the situation is in 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:48.480 the world and on the ground. He's not an idy log. 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:50.440 He talked about that yesterday when it came down to 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:54.080 we need weapons and that values in terms of defeating 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:57.279 our enemies. But recruiting numbers are lag indicators, and so 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:00.599 that tells me that this thing actually arded back in 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:04.080 November sixty days ago when the when the president got elected. 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:06.880 So that's the key there. It's not it's not just 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:10.240 that people started, you know, going to enlistment centers here 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:13.280 in January when Trump took over. That's a lag indicator 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:15.120 of stuff that happened a few months ago. And I 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:17.720 think that's that's going to be positive going forward. No question. 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:23.720 He knows President Trump's intent. Lethality a better fit military, 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:27.960 a better fit army in particular, and DEI is being 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:30.600 taken out of the military by branch by root. I 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:33.280 could tell you that from experience, as I watch these 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:38.160 military installations get rid of any aspects of that meritocracy 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:40.080 has returned. I'm glad. I'm glad to see it, and 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:41.680 I think you'll see a better military for it. 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:45.680 Well, I know the the doge guys Elon and his 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:48.040 and his and his crew are going to turn their 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:51.000 attention toward the Pentagon here soon. Do you think there's 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:53.440 plenty of places to look for cutting money in the Pentagon? 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:58.960 Well, likely at the macro level, and it's really the defense, 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:02.800 you know, industrial complexes where that's likely coming from. The 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:06.360 question I'm going to have for this administration is looking 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:08.680 over the horizon. I don't think, for example, that the 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:11.320 Trump's idea of an iron dome for the United States 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:13.920 makes sense. I do think we you know, we've got 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:16.679 to we've got to put these in different buckets of land, 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:20.720 of sea and space and air. These different domains is 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:22.840 where focus has got to be. With more focus towards 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:25.119 probably space and air at this point as that drone 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:27.520 technology becomes. But we're never going to be able to 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:29.600 create an iron dome system to protect us that you 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:31.800 go back to the eighties, it feels very nineteen eighty 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:34.160 right about now too, Guys, like you know, it's like 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:36.120 the military is a good time to be in the military. 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:38.319 I think for the next ten years that's going to happen. Well, 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:41.080 Reagan had that SDI initiative back then. It was designed 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:44.160 really to bankrupt the Soviet Union at the time, because 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:46.480 we didn't really have that technology either. Well, it would 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:49.559 be an unrealistic expectation to think that we're going to 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:52.920 protect our homeland from missiles defense because the iron dome 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:55.640 technology in above itself is more or less a tactical 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:58.760 close in defense system, and that something that's going to 0:08:58.760 --> 0:08:59.800 protect our whole coastline. 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:03.960 Anyway, interesting back to Russia Ukraine because I'm just looking 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:06.559 above both TV screens and it's a big thing in 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:10.520 the news right now. First of all, some of the 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:13.320 numbers you look at as we next week will be 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:16.320 the three year anniversary of the beginning of this nightmare. 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:20.120 Some of the numbers of how many people have died 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:25.480 or been injured, whether civilians are from a strictly military standpoint, 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:29.400 the number of soldiers taken off the battlefield, particularly on 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:31.880 the Russian side, it's just insane. 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:34.199 Yeah, And the fact that they've had to bring mercenaries 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.880 in from North Korea and they're being killed. It's just 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:42.800 Russia though, because it has the population, it has the resources, 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:46.480 they can continue to throw bodies at it and Ukraine 0:09:46.520 --> 0:09:48.640 can't do that, which is again, look in history, this 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:52.640 is why countries that have greater industrial capabilities win these 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:56.120 wars of attrition, which is why from Trump's perspective, he 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:58.400 just wants it to be over, which is why he'll 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:01.200 do anything and can see anything in order for that 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:05.720 to happen. But the security you know, those security agreements 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:08.040 have got to go forward or Russia will clearly do 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:10.319 this again inside of the Ukraine. They'll try to take 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:12.480 all of Ukraine at some point at least while Vlatimer 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:13.000 Putin is a. 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:16.480 Lot So you think Putin hasn't learned a lesson, damn it, 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:19.080 I'm not doing that again. We come to some sort 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:21.960 of conclusion here, we draw some lines. You think he 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:23.120 would try to take more. 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:26.240 Yeah, and that's because he's not just looking at the US. 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:29.160 He's looking at Donald Trump's behavior and his willing to negotiate, 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:30.840 and he looks at the rest of Europe and says 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:32.960 they're still not in the game, right, which they you know, 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:37.559 the UK, the Germans. The Germans are moving towards de industrializing, 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:41.000 the Germans in the French and the traditional countries that 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:44.360 should be stepping up and doing more with regard to defense, 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:46.360 they're not doing it. And the reason why they're not 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:48.480 doing it is because they can't afford it either. What 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:49.760 are they going to do? They're going to go tax 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:52.920 their populations for more money. Part of the reasons that 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:54.960 you know they don't have the military they can't get 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:57.320 to five percent of their GDP is because they don't 0:10:57.360 --> 0:10:59.079 have the money to do it, the industrial base to 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:02.520 do it, and so they're in a real pickle themselves. 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:05.000 So I think Putin looks at that. Putin looks at 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:06.439 the fact that the United States doesn't want to have 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:09.000 any part of it anymore, which is why I think 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:12.920 deep down over the horizon he's still would likely if 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:16.440 this agreement is not strong enough, that he'll rearm and 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:18.520 refit in the next few years and try it again. 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:22.000 He still is on a war footing somewhat inside of Russia, 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:25.240 and he has more capability, and we haven't pulled all 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:28.880 the economic levers, and he still has China, North Korea, Iran, 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:31.280 and other countries on his side, so that's why he 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:33.680 gets the power he gets from Interesting. 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:35.439 I'm glad we had you on today. It was a 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:37.439 perfect day to talk to you. Mike Lyons. You can 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:39.480 follow him on Twitter. I do have some big news 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:42.920 story breaks at m aj Mike Lions. Thanks for your 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:43.559 time today, Mike. 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:45.120 Great, guys, that's for me. 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:50.800 That is interesting that it was the vice president coming 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.880 out and saying, Hey, what Pete Hegsath said the other day, No, 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:58.320 let's let's start over again. Nothing is off the table. Well, 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:02.400 that explains it. Joe going on about why would you 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:05.959 take these things? Why would you take away any bargating 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:08.440 position before you even start, And I hadn't heard anybody 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:10.240 come up with an explanation really for that. Well it 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:12.720 turns out he shouldn't have. And now we're starting at 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:17.360 square one, including jd Vance saying it's not off the 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:19.720 it's not out of the question to have US troops 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:23.760 in Ukraine. I don't think that'll happen save some real 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.720 craziness of an attack on a NATO country or something 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:31.400 like that. I'm gonna tell that Valentine's Day story, and 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:33.079 we've got some other stuff we need to get to 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:34.520 so stick around please. 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:40.640 Taco Bell has announced that will offer a wedding package 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:44.560 and it's Las Vegas Bulevard location. Then inclus in Elvis impersonator. Okay, 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:47.280 but is it a real Elvis impersonator or just a 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:49.680 Taco Bell customer who died on the toilet? 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:56.959 Oh my god. Valentine's Day gets way too much attention, 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:00.839 just all the way through, and it's all by people 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:02.400 trying to figure out how to make a dollar off 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:05.320 of you. It's not actually about romance and love and 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:07.960 commitment and all the things that you know matter and 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:10.839 we care about anyway. So to this story, which I've 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:15.080 teased a whole bunch of times, uh, and I heard 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:17.480 this first time long ago, and I got permission to 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:20.760 uh to tell the story, but I will be vague. 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:23.520 So here we go. Katie picture all this. This is 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:27.400 a cute fourth grade girl, all right, gets a call 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:35.760 at home night before Valentine's Day and Dad answers the 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:41.560 phone and little boy says, is I need a name? Madison? 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:44.199 There's a very generic girl name is Madison? 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:44.440 Home? 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:50.760 Sure? Who's this? This is Tucker H Madison. Tucker's on 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.080 the phone for you for some reason, Madison talks to Tucker, 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:54.640 and Tucker just says, are you going to be at 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:57.960 school tomorrow? It's the night before Valentine's Day? And uh, 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:01.160 and Madison says yeah, and and they hang up. And 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:03.520 then but Dad is not happy that a boy called 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:07.160 the house, right, and why is a boy calling the house? 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:10.120 And like some real questioning on that, and stay with 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:12.800 you boys, and you're in fourth grade and I don't 0:14:12.800 --> 0:14:15.319 know if I like this and blah blah blah. Anyways, 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:16.920 she get that plays into the story. You got to 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:20.960 keep that in mind. Next day, Valentine's Day, in front 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:23.520 of the whole class, when they're doing the Valentine's Day 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:26.520 like handing out cards and stuff like that, Tucker walks 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:31.040 up to Madison with bouquet of flowers, a little bear 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:34.960 in a card like full on, I got a crush 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:39.560 on you. You're my thing, you know, child version of 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:44.280 I love you? Okay. She takes them, walks over to 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:46.640 the trash can in front of the whole class, and 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:51.480 throws them in the trash can. Oh boy, He turns. 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:54.560 Red goes, sits down at his desk, head and hands 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:59.920 and starts sobbing in front of the whole classroom, the teacher, 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:02.360 and eventually then all the kids get back in their 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:04.680 desks and they're getting back to school. Kid is still sobbing. 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:09.280 Everybody knows he's sobbing. Teacher has to go grab the kid, 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:11.160 pull him aside and try to talk him down and 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:14.880 saying it'll be okay and everything like that. The bear 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:18.720 the flowers in the card stay in the trash can 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:21.080 next to the teacher's desk the rest of the day 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:25.240 for everyone to see, while the kid continues to sob 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:26.520 all day long. 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:31.120 Oh my gosh, oh this is so packed. 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:34.960 I know the poor little boy, I know it. And 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:37.480 you know, being a first of all, the first time 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:39.400 in your life you ever have the guts to like 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:43.360 declare I like you. Then you get rejected in public, 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:46.360 and then you're crying because you can't control it, and 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:48.600 then crying in front of your classmates. Fourth grade is 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:51.640 an age where you're you know, you're really really self conscious, 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.360 so you'd be horrified by that and what everybody's thinking 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:56.680 of you anyway, and the debris and the. 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:59.480 Trash can all day in front of the cl right sit. 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:04.440 I mentioned this earlier. She and she had a long, bad, 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:08.320 failed marriage. She could change anything in her life. It 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:10.560 wouldn't be not marrying that guy. It would be going 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:12.280 back to fourth grade and not throwing that little boy 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:14.360 stuff in the trash can, because she's been tortured by 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:16.720 it her whole life, partially because the kid goes on 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:19.120 to a life of crime and spends fifteen years in prison. 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:23.080 Fifteen years fifteen years in prison, life of crime, and 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:26.960 she's certain that that rejection is what set him off 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:29.280 on his life of crime. Oh, it's totally her fault. 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:33.480 Oh, she she damaged that boy. 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:35.840 This is a hundred percent true story, by the way, 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:38.080 one hundred percent true. When I first heard it, I 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:40.480 was like, mouth open as I heard the story. That's 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:43.480 what I am right now. I can't believe this. Oh 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:45.680 you threw it in the trash right in front of him. 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:47.760 And it was all because she was horrified, like if 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:49.560 he's not supposed to call my house, I'm not supposed 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:51.840 to receive stuff from a boy at school. That's what 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:55.160 drove it. Not a it sounded like a mean girl thing, right, 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:57.000 but well that's but he didn't know any of the 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:01.520 backstory either way. It was mean. Oh my god, Oh, 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:08.080 she created a criminal on Valentine's Day. Oh so your 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:11.840 Valentine Today's gonna be better than that one, almost guarantee, 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:12.680 give it. 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:15.800 Everybody hope Armstrong and Getty. 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:20.040 Jobs are going to go up and prices could go 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:22.760 up somewhat short term, but prices will also go down. 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:25.880 See what happens. Nobody really knows what's. 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:28.359 Gonna happen, other than we know that jobs are going 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:30.679 to be produced at levels that we haven't seen before. 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:34.200 There's President Trump talking about the whole terriff situation the 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:36.760 economy and asked about inflation and whatever. I was just 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:41.520 reading Mark Alprin's newsletter for today, and there are so 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:47.640 many big moving pieces happening at the same time. It's 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:52.679 impossible for the media to keep up with them. To like, 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:55.439 even if you're just trying to be like an honest, 0:17:55.520 --> 0:17:59.520 fair arbiter of what's happening, it's really hard to wrap 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:02.359 your handwright all these different pieces. You know, we're gonna 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:06.400 take over Gaza, We're gonna force a piece in Ukraine, 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:09.000 tariffs in all these different countries, some of our friends, 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:13.000 some of our enemies, all the different stuff, the firings, 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:15.240 lots of people, lots of people in government getting letters 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:17.399 finding out their fire today and which I have no 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:20.280 problem with. But all this and it's just anyway, trying 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:22.280 to wrap your head around it is amazing. Let's bring 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:24.280 onto the show Tim Clark. Tim Clark, you might remember 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:26.600 we talked to him years ago. Tim Clark was a 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:30.119 guy who was an expert in strategic communications and public 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:32.920 affairs and government relations and stuff like that. Got brought 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:36.800 into the Trump campaign back in twenty sixteen when Trump 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:39.200 got elected for his first term. Knows a lot about 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:42.080 the way Trump operates and way government operates because he 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:47.600 was involved in HHS, was White House liaison to the 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.560 US Department of Health and Human Services back in the day. Anyway, 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:52.800 Tim Clark, welcome back to the Armstrong and Getty Show. 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:54.960 Hey, thanks for having me on. 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:57.639 You bet you sent me a text yesterday saying, Hey, 0:18:57.680 --> 0:18:59.160 would you like me to come on to talk about 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:04.720 RFK Junior's confirmation. But before we get to that, just 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:08.359 in general your old boss and the way he's just 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:12.800 got so many plates spinning the same time. What's your 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:15.320 observation of everything that's going on in the first We're 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:17.120 not even at a month yet. 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:22.159 No, Well, obviously the US government is bigger than any corporation. 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:26.679 And President Trump is a CEO first and foremost. And 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:28.600 when I work for him in the White House, he 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:33.440 wanted results. He wanted results quick. It wasn't a I'll 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:35.439 give you this plan in thirty days, it was a 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:37.679 I'll give you this plan in two days. That's just 0:19:37.680 --> 0:19:41.080 who he is. He demands excellence. And that's going to 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:43.320 be a really healthy process for the thing that we 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:46.280 call the US government, which is bloated and cost too 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:48.960 much and takes too long to do things and waste 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:51.160 a lot of money. And you've got a CEO now 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:53.080 that says I'm going to clean this thing up, and 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:56.560 you partner that up with Elon Musk, and great things 0:19:56.560 --> 0:19:57.920 are happening back there right now. 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:04.000 Yeah, that's it's interesting to have the expectation of speed. 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:06.879 If you've spent your whole life in government, you wouldn't 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:09.320 have that expectation because you expect everything to play out 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:12.879 over months or many years. That's correct. 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:15.560 So I was part of the Domestic Policy Council in 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:18.760 the in the Executive Office of the President, and one 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:21.240 day the head of the Domestic Policy Council, Joe Rogan 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:24.040