1 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:21,719 We're back with another edition of The Federalist Radio Hour. I'm Emily Dashinski, 2 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:25,000 culture editor here at the Federalist. As always, you can email the show 3 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:29,920 at radio at the Federalist dot com, follow us on x at fdr LST, 4 00:00:30,359 --> 00:00:33,320 make sure to subscribe wherever you download your podcasts, and if you want 5 00:00:33,359 --> 00:00:36,359 to support our work, you can get an ad free version of our website 6 00:00:36,439 --> 00:00:41,159 at the Federalist dot com as well. Today I'm joined by my colleague Sean 7 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:45,159 Fleetwood. He's a staff writer with us at The Federalist. Covers the Pentagon 8 00:00:45,399 --> 00:00:50,200 and other broader military issues for us, in addition to many other things. 9 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:53,119 Sean, you're kind of a general list, but if you have a specialty, 10 00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:55,880 i'd say that's what it is, in addition to sports, and maybe 11 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:59,079 we can get into that a little bit too. Thanks for coming on the 12 00:00:59,079 --> 00:01:00,479 show, Sean, it's great to be here. Thank you for having me. 13 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:04,799 I think this is our first podcast together too, Yeah, I think 14 00:01:04,799 --> 00:01:08,920 it is. All the listeners have heard you host other conversations, especially on 15 00:01:10,159 --> 00:01:14,159 military issues, and I actually wanted to start with one of the biggest stories 16 00:01:14,239 --> 00:01:19,599 as we're looking back on twenty twenty three. You know, the Tuberville hold, 17 00:01:19,799 --> 00:01:23,400 which you covered better than so many people in the media, and you 18 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,519 covered, by the way, like from outside of DC, better than people 19 00:01:26,519 --> 00:01:34,079 who were sitting in the press gallery in the Senate for months watching this unfold. 20 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:38,079 This is one of the biggest stories of twenty twenty three. And if 21 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:42,280 you talk to people that are sort of leaders in the pro life movement in 22 00:01:42,359 --> 00:01:47,760 the conservative movement, they feel like what Tommy Tuberville did was a landmark not 23 00:01:47,959 --> 00:01:51,920 just in the post Doobs climate, but a landmark in the broader pro life 24 00:01:51,959 --> 00:01:56,879 movement in the last sort of half century of pro life politics, because it 25 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:01,239 was, you know, kind of a politic that comes from outside the religious 26 00:02:01,319 --> 00:02:06,159 right. You know, people didn't really know what to make of Tommy Tarberville 27 00:02:06,239 --> 00:02:09,520 when he stepped into Congress, but they certainly didn't expect him to go to 28 00:02:09,599 --> 00:02:16,879 the mat on the life isshield, and they certainly nobody expected anyone to sort 29 00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:24,639 of force this central question to ask the Republican Party elected Republican politicians to pass 30 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:32,879 this test, what will you prioritize Will you prioritize cultural conservatism or the Pentagon 31 00:02:34,479 --> 00:02:39,280 And a lot of elected Republicans failed that test. Miserably because Tommy Taberville sort 32 00:02:39,319 --> 00:02:46,599 of forced them to take the test and to say, listen, Democrats can 33 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:50,280 change this policy at any time. So is it more important to you to 34 00:02:50,319 --> 00:02:55,639 prioritize demanding that Democrats change this policy, demanding that the Pentagon changed this policy, 35 00:02:57,159 --> 00:03:00,960 or you know if or is it more important to you to defend your 36 00:03:00,039 --> 00:03:05,080 voter's positions on all of this. And people in the pro life movement are 37 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:09,000 really not used to seeing that from elected leaders, especially ones that aren't uplifted 38 00:03:09,039 --> 00:03:12,919 politically by the religious right. You know, Tommy Tarberville is just a really 39 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,439 popular football coach who ran, you know, a campaign in Alabama, a 40 00:03:16,439 --> 00:03:21,240 red state, and notice what it is. But to see this out of 41 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:24,360 him really interesting. So so, Sean, now that you started covering this 42 00:03:24,439 --> 00:03:29,840 in March, when the hold happened originally and it evolved into something much bigger, 43 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:32,560 now that you have some distance from it, the hole ended earlier this 44 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:38,080 month in December, what do you make looking back on that nine month hold. 45 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:44,000 Yeah, I was really surprised that he, of all people, would 46 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:46,400 have done it because coming in, like when he was first sworn in, 47 00:03:46,759 --> 00:03:50,120 you know, you kind of heard rumblings like, oh, he's just a 48 00:03:50,199 --> 00:03:54,000 squish. He's your typical milk toast Republican who's not really going to fight on 49 00:03:54,039 --> 00:03:59,560 the big issues. So when he first started initiating these holes against the Pentagon 50 00:03:59,599 --> 00:04:02,800 policy, I was genuinely surprised that he did that, and even more surprised 51 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:08,800 that he continued to do it as long as he did. I've never I'm 52 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:12,479 not someone who gets angry at politics. Just growing up in this era, 53 00:04:12,599 --> 00:04:17,759 you're always ready to be disappointed by the Republican Party. But I was genuinely 54 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:26,480 just infuriated at how his colleagues just kneecapped him. Republicans have such limited leverage 55 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:29,920 in Congress with Biden in the White House, and I mean they're in the 56 00:04:29,959 --> 00:04:33,519 minority in the Senate, but you have this power to initiate holds on these 57 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:38,199 individual nominations, and then that's what he did. He was using his legitimate 58 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:42,480 power, and he could have kept doing this, and I wish he would 59 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:46,000 have. But of course the Republicans in the Senate just get weak, need 60 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:51,959 they listened to these baseless theories and talking points put out by Chuck Schumer and 61 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:58,879 the Democrats and these Biden appointees and Pentagon officials talking about how this harms military 62 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:01,600 readiness. Well, if that was the case, then you would have dropped 63 00:05:01,639 --> 00:05:06,480 the policy months ago. Like if the military readiness and national security was actually 64 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:11,360 at stake here and the country was on the precipice of some gigantic war, 65 00:05:11,879 --> 00:05:14,959 you know, terrorists were going to attack the homeland. If this actually jeopardized 66 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,959 national security, you would have paused the abortion policy months ago. But of 67 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:23,279 course they didn't do that because the talking point about military readiness was complete bs 68 00:05:23,319 --> 00:05:28,160 from the start. It was an emergency. It was a five alarm fire 69 00:05:28,319 --> 00:05:32,360 if you listened to Chuck Schumer and then eventually Mitch McConnell Joni Ernst that Tommy 70 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:38,959 Tuberville had put a hold on sort of voting on these nominees on the Senate 71 00:05:38,959 --> 00:05:41,759 floor, even though, by the way, there were workarounds, and even 72 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:46,040 though the Pentagon would not be clear about how many people after Dobbs. So 73 00:05:46,079 --> 00:05:50,720 the Dobb's decision comes down, the Pentagon says, just a slight refresher for 74 00:05:50,759 --> 00:05:55,920 everyone. The Pentagon says, we will pay for abortion travel. If one 75 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:59,680 of our employees needs an abortion in a red state, they have to travel 76 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:01,399 to al state to get it. We will pay for it. Now, 77 00:06:01,439 --> 00:06:08,079 there's a long standing rule against taxpayer funding for abortions, so they're saying it's 78 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:12,120 abortion travel, which is different than the abortion itself. But of course in 79 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:15,680 this case, there's no abortion without the abortion travel, so you could sort 80 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:19,439 of parse that distinction as much as you want. But the Pentagon would never 81 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:24,079 say how many people had actually benefited from this policy, since they sort of 82 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:28,680 did it by an administrative decree. After the Dobs decision came down, they 83 00:06:28,759 --> 00:06:33,199 acted like it was a five alarm buyer that these nominees weren't being confirmed because 84 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:39,000 Tommy Taberville had put a hold on over this policy. Meanwhile, they could 85 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:43,720 easily have just eliminated the policy. They wouldn't tell us how many people it 86 00:06:43,759 --> 00:06:47,279 was affecting because the number is clearly very, very small, and what they 87 00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:53,680 wanted to do instead was to force the hand of Republicans on this issue. 88 00:06:54,199 --> 00:06:56,680 I think, Sean, this is a theory off float to you. I'm 89 00:06:56,720 --> 00:07:01,199 curious about it. I think that they are increasingly worried about what they sort 90 00:07:01,199 --> 00:07:08,600 of pejoratively describe as isolationism, that's actually more just skepticism of the military industrial 91 00:07:08,639 --> 00:07:11,879 complex that they're not used to getting it from the right. They're used to 92 00:07:11,959 --> 00:07:15,920 having rubber stamps from the Republican Party. They're used to every Republican senator, 93 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:18,920 with the exception of maybe Rand Paul, conducting themselves like Mitch McConnell when it 94 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:24,439 comes to military issues. And they really, really really did not want to 95 00:07:24,519 --> 00:07:30,120 give in to an anti Pentagon policy by Republicans or an anti Pentagon stand that 96 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:35,120 Republicans were taking because it taps into this broader fear that they're losing control and 97 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:42,079 that they're losing this important bulwark of support from the Republican Party. And they 98 00:07:42,199 --> 00:07:45,079 kind of stood firm on this over that. I mean, obviously abortion politics 99 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:49,240 are important to the Biden administration and has broader progressive coalition. That's part of 100 00:07:49,279 --> 00:07:53,199 my theory, though I'm curious what you think of that. Yeah, I 101 00:07:53,199 --> 00:07:56,120 definitely agree with that. I think, you know, obviously they don't want 102 00:07:56,160 --> 00:08:00,240 the pr loss if they cave to it in loud tib world to continue doing 103 00:08:00,319 --> 00:08:03,920 this, but I think institutionally they didn't want the loss either, because if 104 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:07,319 Tuberville can do this with you know, this specific policy on this specific issue, 105 00:08:07,639 --> 00:08:11,079 then what else can Senate Republicans do in the future, you know, 106 00:08:11,199 --> 00:08:15,680 using this tactic, and they did not want to set that precedent. And 107 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:18,879 I don't even think, you know, the Mitch McConnell's, Dan Sullivan's people 108 00:08:18,959 --> 00:08:22,920 who were clearly in line with Chuck Schumer and against Tuberville. I didn't think 109 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:28,399 they want wanted that institutional change either. They love the status quo. They 110 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:31,960 love the I know, the terms overused, but the uniparty you know, 111 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:37,240 status of Washington, d C. Where you just ram everything through no second 112 00:08:37,279 --> 00:08:43,000 thought to what's actually in these omnibus massive spending bills, that they wanted to 113 00:08:43,039 --> 00:08:46,840 keep that in place. And I think Tuberville's office you mentioned, you know, 114 00:08:46,919 --> 00:08:50,120 like we don't exactly know the number, but I think Tuberville's office estimated 115 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:54,200 it was a couple of months ago roughly like a dozen service members that had 116 00:08:54,200 --> 00:09:00,279 actually used this policy. So again it's not even about about as it's not 117 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:05,320 even like a major number of people that were actually using it. But I 118 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:09,879 mean Tarberville was essentially backed into a corner where he was left with no good 119 00:09:09,919 --> 00:09:13,480 options. He could continue the policy and then his Senate Republican colleagues aside with 120 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:18,039 Democrats and changing the rules, which would set a really bad precedent for changing 121 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:22,879 Senate procedure just to allow for partisan nominations to be rammed through. Or he 122 00:09:22,919 --> 00:09:28,559 could do what he ultimately did, which has dropped the majority of his protests, 123 00:09:28,639 --> 00:09:31,519 and you know, essentially allow these nominations to go through and mass. 124 00:09:31,519 --> 00:09:35,320 And so you know, I don't blame him at the end of the day, 125 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:37,840 I don't think Republican voters should either. They should be directing their fire 126 00:09:37,919 --> 00:09:43,960 towards Senate Republican leadership and people like Dan Sullivan and Joni Earnst and Lindsay Graham 127 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:46,519 and the rest, because they're ultimately the ones who are responsible for what happened 128 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:50,559 a couple of weeks ago, right, And you know, the way that 129 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:56,679 it ended was entirely I mean, there's something about it, Like I actually, 130 00:09:58,399 --> 00:10:03,200 from what we report and what I've heard, there were very reasonable fears 131 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:09,279 about this ending in a precedent that would genuinely be bad for the way the 132 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:13,840 Senate operated. In order to get around at Schumer played his trump card and 133 00:10:13,879 --> 00:10:18,200 said, basically, we're going to change Senate precedent forever for confirmations, or 134 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:20,200 we're just going to change it on this. But then you know that does 135 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:24,440 obviously open the door up to other changes. It's sort of like the same 136 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:31,840 conversation about the filibuster. But anyway, so he exactly if Tumberville's backed into 137 00:10:31,879 --> 00:10:35,960 a corner, Conservatives who had supported Tuberville in the Senate are backed into a 138 00:10:35,039 --> 00:10:41,799 corner, and instead of having the support of Mitch McConnell and Joni Ernst, 139 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:46,879 that, in my mind, Sean really would have Dan Sullivan's another good example 140 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:52,360 that really would have sealed this if Mitch McConnell had said, we are you 141 00:10:52,399 --> 00:10:56,480 know, we know that this policy does not mean that much to you. 142 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:01,559 Lloyd Austin. We know that, and we urge you to change it. 143 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:07,879 We are standing with Tommy Taberville. I don't know. I think that would 144 00:11:07,919 --> 00:11:13,399 have kind of sealed the deal and would have given Tuberville the success that his 145 00:11:13,559 --> 00:11:18,759 voters wanted from him and that Republican voters in general would support. Because Sean, 146 00:11:18,039 --> 00:11:22,600 this also opens up something much bigger that you've covered very closely, which 147 00:11:22,639 --> 00:11:28,120 is the decline of well, let's say it like this, the rise of 148 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:33,600 mediocrity at the Pentagon. And that's what people really see this as about. 149 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:39,440 A proxy war, not just over sort of culture versus military and what the 150 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:41,799 priorities of the Republican Party are. But for the Pentagon, this is doubling 151 00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:50,440 down on an ideological commitment that that exemplifies the ways in which they've sort of 152 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:54,240 declined in recent decades. Can you speak a little bit to maybe that dynamic 153 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:56,960 here, Yeah, I mean, I think you're the nail on the head. 154 00:11:58,039 --> 00:12:01,480 There's kind of been this sentiment within the Republican Party that, oh, 155 00:12:01,559 --> 00:12:05,039 we're for a strong military and therefore we have to fund it at all costs 156 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:09,840 without a second thought. But what we've been seeing in recent years, I 157 00:12:09,879 --> 00:12:13,480 would say, really started under the Obama administration, has really come to fruition 158 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:18,759 here in the Biden administration is this promotion of leftist ideologues throughout the military, 159 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:24,480 promoting them to high ranking positions. I mean, you look at the military 160 00:12:24,519 --> 00:12:30,480 leadership right now. Joe Biden nominated Charles Q. Brown is his name. 161 00:12:30,879 --> 00:12:33,120 He was from the Air Force. He is now the chair of the Joint 162 00:12:33,159 --> 00:12:37,000 Chiefs of Staff. This is a guy who, after the whole George Floyd 163 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:43,399 thing, was fully on board with the whole DEI diversity equity inclusion, which 164 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:46,320 is just like an offsheet of neo Marxism. You know, he's totally on 165 00:12:46,399 --> 00:12:50,440 board with that. He talked about you know, when he was the Chief 166 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:54,080 of Staff of the Air Force, he hired for diversity when staffing his office. 167 00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:56,960 This guy's now the chair of the Joint chiefs of Staff, one of 168 00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:01,720 the highest ranking positions within the military that was previously held by General Mark Milly, 169 00:13:01,759 --> 00:13:05,399 who we all know as a big fan of the communist Chinese and would 170 00:13:05,559 --> 00:13:11,440 willingly alert them to any military action the United States would take in the future. 171 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:16,360 But he's just one of like many examples I've been reporting on a lot 172 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:20,440 of different of these nominees that Biden's been putting forward. They just have these 173 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:26,519 horrendous track records of promoting electist politics, endorsing this dei ideology. And that's 174 00:13:26,519 --> 00:13:30,080 really I think having a trickle down effect. I think a lot of people 175 00:13:30,159 --> 00:13:33,039 are looking at the military now and are seeing that it's not the same institution 176 00:13:33,159 --> 00:13:37,919 that it was twenty thirty years ago. You have parents and grandparents who are 177 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:41,120 now saying, I don't want my kids to serve in this military. It's 178 00:13:41,159 --> 00:13:46,559 not the military that I served in or my dad served in. And that's 179 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:50,519 a really damning thing because for a long time. You know, the military 180 00:13:50,519 --> 00:13:54,559 has been a generational thing, right like my father served, my grandfather served, 181 00:13:54,559 --> 00:13:58,240 and so therefore I have an obligation to serve my country in the same 182 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:05,360 capacity. Leftism has become so embedded and entrenched in the upper rankings of the 183 00:14:05,399 --> 00:14:09,519 Pentagon, and it's trickling down into the rank and file that now you're just 184 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:15,360 dissuading people from even considering involving themselves in the military or enlisting. And we're 185 00:14:15,399 --> 00:14:22,440 seeing that play out the recruitment shortfalls that the military has been experiencing since Biden 186 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:26,639 took off. This has just been astounding. Every branch of the military, 187 00:14:26,639 --> 00:14:30,200 with the exception of the Marine Corps for the fiscal twenty twenty three year missed 188 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:33,000 their recruiting targets. For the Army, it was about ten thousand, the 189 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:37,120 Navy about six thousand, and I believe the Air Force was around three thousand 190 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:41,639 or something like that. But that's just how bad it's getting now. Obviously 191 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:46,639 there are more factors going into that. You know, the poor fitness and 192 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:52,159 overall health of gen Z and younger generations is obviously a big factor as well. 193 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:56,200 But I don't think you can discount the just purge of our military, 194 00:14:56,240 --> 00:15:03,559 of anybody who loves their or anybody who has a semblance of conservatism in their 195 00:15:03,559 --> 00:15:07,480 body, that they just don't want these people in the service. And I 196 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:13,320 think that's what you're seeing play out right now. Well, if you're a 197 00:15:13,399 --> 00:15:16,000 regular listener to this program, you know I talk a lot about the gaps 198 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:20,279 I feel like are in my knowledge from my public school education to my secular 199 00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:24,879 college education, things like history, economics, the great works of literature, 200 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:28,879 even the meaning of the US Constitution. Did you study these things in school? 201 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:31,720 In many cases you may not have, or if you're like me, 202 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:35,840 A you might need a refresher and b you just might not think your education 203 00:15:37,039 --> 00:15:39,919 was that good to begin with. 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I have a lot 227 00:17:27,839 --> 00:17:33,200 of questions about that and want to put one more point on the Tuberville conversation 228 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:41,720 before we dive into the sort of terrifying, deeper issues in the military. 229 00:17:41,839 --> 00:17:45,480 But one final thought on Turberville is that if you talk to people sort of 230 00:17:45,559 --> 00:17:53,880 with knowledge of his motivations from March until December when the NDA controversy popped up. 231 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:56,559 And by the way, I also think maybe the media was wrong to 232 00:17:56,559 --> 00:18:00,839 say tuberville hold is gone. It's true that you know, the vast majority 233 00:18:00,839 --> 00:18:03,160 of these nominations are now going to go through, but some of the most 234 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:08,079 important ones that are four star generals, Democrats are gonna have to use a 235 00:18:08,079 --> 00:18:12,640 workaround to confirm them because the hold. Tuberville did not release the hold on 236 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:18,160 some of these most important nominations. And that gets to this point about Republicans 237 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:26,079 letting the media set the tone of this entire debacle, of this entire conflict 238 00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:30,960 that Mitch McConnell's of the world still do not realize that if he had taken 239 00:18:32,319 --> 00:18:36,640 this easy and obvious step, not just of ignoring the Tuberville controversy for a 240 00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:40,000 little bit, but of you know, saying, the media is going to 241 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:44,599 make this position really unpopular. They're going to say Republicans are harming military readiness, 242 00:18:44,599 --> 00:18:47,920 et cetera, et cetera. But if we go out there sort of 243 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:52,079 boldly and challenge that narrative and stand with Tommy Tubberville and get the Pentagon to 244 00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:56,000 relent on this woke priority, we can easily win this fight. We can 245 00:18:56,079 --> 00:18:59,000 endear ourselves to voters, we can improve the military, and we can make 246 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:03,400 a really important point. They still haven't learned that they still cling to these 247 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:07,079 these narratives. And when you talk to people you sort of know about what 248 00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:14,559 Tuberville was thinking, they'll say it made him dig his heels in harder that 249 00:19:14,839 --> 00:19:18,359 he was being attacked by the media and then by other Republicans because it was 250 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:23,880 so ridiculous. And that's clearly somebody who comes from the world of like athletic 251 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:30,799 competition on the highest level, who is deeply irked to come to DC and 252 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:37,640 learn how contemptuous Republicans are to their own base, and it made him, 253 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:41,440 It made it stiffened his spine, it stealed his spine. And if a 254 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:45,400 whole lot of other Republicans acted like this, it would be a very very 255 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:49,519 different party, at least on the Senate side. Yeah, I mean his 256 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:53,079 is basically the message was, you know, guys, it doesn't have to 257 00:19:53,079 --> 00:19:56,160 be like this, like here's what we can actually do, here's how we 258 00:19:56,200 --> 00:20:02,079 can actually fight. But again, Republican are more interested in the status quote. 259 00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:07,519 They do not actually care about these big culture war issues. What's remarkable 260 00:20:07,519 --> 00:20:11,200 to me is people like Joony Arst going to the Senate floor and being like, 261 00:20:11,319 --> 00:20:15,519 oh my gosh, Biden's Pentagon policy is so radical, so dangerous. 262 00:20:17,039 --> 00:20:19,640 But I'm also going to side with Democrats if you know, they put up 263 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:25,319 this rules change. But also at the same time in pro life, none 264 00:20:25,359 --> 00:20:30,400 of those things actually comport together. But it just goes to show that they're 265 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:33,160 just a party of talking points. And I wrote an article about this a 266 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:36,839 couple of weeks ago. They're just a pattempt and political party. They go 267 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:41,599 out to their voters and gin up this. But the Democrats rhetoric right because 268 00:20:41,359 --> 00:20:45,480 they know that Republican voters are not going to vote for Democrats, so they 269 00:20:45,599 --> 00:20:51,119 play up this notion that the Democrats are so evil, just keep the focus 270 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:53,519 on them instead of our failures as a party, and that's how we get 271 00:20:53,559 --> 00:20:56,440 reelected. And they do this every two to four years when they're up for 272 00:20:56,519 --> 00:21:02,759 reelection, and Republican voters basically left in a hostage situation, like, I 273 00:21:02,799 --> 00:21:04,880 mean, you can't vote for Democrats because they'll destroy the country, or you 274 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:10,440 can vote for Republicans, which are basically just Democrat party light, which is 275 00:21:10,559 --> 00:21:15,400 just slower decline, which says, you know, another thing about Republican voters 276 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:19,200 needing to get involved in GOP primaries. But that's a whole nother conversation. 277 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:23,920 But yeah, we reversed by the way on the left, the activists are 278 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:30,519 the hostages and the party is The activists are the hostage takers. The basis 279 00:21:30,519 --> 00:21:36,400 the hostage taker, and the party is the hostage. They're sort of held 280 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:40,839 hostage to these a the sort of radicals in the media and the radicals in 281 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:45,000 their base who demand that the Pentagon pay for abortion travel, and some of 282 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:48,920 those id lugs are now in fact in positions of power in the administrative state 283 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:52,960 in places like the Pentagon, so they're broadly held hostage to that, even 284 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:59,440 though it doesn't represent the like American public in any way whatsoever. It's a 285 00:21:59,559 --> 00:22:06,079 very small, narrow, unrepresentative slice of the American population. Yeah, and 286 00:22:06,279 --> 00:22:08,279 I just to add one more thing on the whole Tubberville thing. I have 287 00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:12,359 it on good authority that you know, Tommy Tubberville, when they were doing 288 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:18,960 the National Defense Authorization at negotiations the House past version of this bill, the 289 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:25,960 original past version included a provision that nuked the Pentagon policy, and it got 290 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:30,359 to the Senate and it was in negotiations and deliberations with the Senate version, 291 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:36,160 and Tubberville actually I have it on authority that he had the votes to actually 292 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:41,359 include that provision in the Senate version, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and 293 00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:45,640 the Senate leadership came in and basically just completely ruined the whole thing and ncapped 294 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:49,400 it. But I think that goes to your point, like they are more 295 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:56,799 concerned with placating the radical activists in their base, contrasted with the Republican Party, 296 00:22:56,799 --> 00:23:00,440 who is not interested in fulfilling any of the or wishes of their own 297 00:23:00,519 --> 00:23:04,759 voters. So I think that shows the dynamic that we see play out in 298 00:23:04,839 --> 00:23:10,440 Washington on a regular basis, where Democrats are just destroying the country and Republicans 299 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:14,480 are just standing there and watching it and in some cases helping further it along. 300 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:19,640 It's amazing, Like what establishment Republicans care about? Like I get this 301 00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:22,920 question sometimes, especially from people on the left. You know, why would 302 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:29,920 establishment Republicans be concerned to see the Dobbs decision come down when you know generally 303 00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:33,119 they the pro life. You know, they might not care about it enough, 304 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:36,599 but you know they they're pro life, So what would be the problem? 305 00:23:36,759 --> 00:23:41,039 Well, because their priority, and it's very easy to understand how somebody 306 00:23:41,079 --> 00:23:45,960 who's in DC for a long time comes down with this ideology. Their priority 307 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:49,079 is power. And if you are on the good side of the military industrial 308 00:23:49,079 --> 00:23:53,079 complex machine, and I'm talking about lobbyists, I'm talking about the Pentagon itself. 309 00:23:53,799 --> 00:23:56,400 These are lobbies with a lot, a lot, a lot of money, 310 00:23:56,759 --> 00:24:02,400 the revolving door is intense, and so if you're on the right side 311 00:24:02,799 --> 00:24:08,240 of them, you feel as though you're perpetuating your party's power. And obviously, 312 00:24:08,319 --> 00:24:12,319 Sean we know, you know, kind of coming from outside the elite 313 00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:18,359 Republican circles that they use their power basically for nothing because they're so worried about 314 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:22,079 losing their power that they won't take tough stands, and they won't you know, 315 00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:26,000 they won't do things like actually, to his credit, rond de Santis, 316 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:27,559 if you are pro life, if you believe life begins at conception, 317 00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:33,640 then you bring a six week bill like Rondosantis did in Florida. But other 318 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:40,000 Republican politicians are so anxious about losing their power that they don't actually use their 319 00:24:40,039 --> 00:24:45,279 power. That's the I think insight, you know, having been in DC 320 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:48,480 for a while now, that's I guess the best way to explain why they 321 00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:52,319 see things the way that they see them. And that's what explains, you 322 00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:56,440 know, why ostensibly pro life politicians want to be on the side of the 323 00:24:56,480 --> 00:25:02,559 Pentagon and the defense lobbyists and their friends in the media. That on that 324 00:25:02,599 --> 00:25:10,160 point is because they ultimately are easily persuaded to taking stands that protect their power 325 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:15,200 as opposed to potentially challenging their power. I mean, Republicans are focused on 326 00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:21,279 winning the next election and Democrats are focused on winning the next generation. I 327 00:25:21,319 --> 00:25:25,319 think you really saw this kickstarted with the Obama administration. I mean, you 328 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:30,599 go back to Bill Clinton's presidency that first midterm where Republicans just came in and 329 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:36,480 wiped the floor in that first midterm, and Bill Clinton kind of pivoted back 330 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:37,960 to the center. He said, you know, we're just going to not 331 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:41,480 go as far to the left. We're going to work with Republicans. And 332 00:25:41,759 --> 00:25:45,480 I mean, ultimately he ended up getting re elected, but I think that 333 00:25:45,519 --> 00:25:49,200 showed wilfulness among the Democrat Party that we care about elections too, we care 334 00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:53,759 about maintaining our power as well. You know, after every election. When 335 00:25:53,759 --> 00:25:57,759 Obama came to power, it was a whole different ballgame because it was really 336 00:25:57,799 --> 00:26:03,200 the first time you saw this radical Marxists take power and a lot of these 337 00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:07,440 people were infiltrating and occupying high positions within the White House and within the administration, 338 00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:12,440 and that mentality changed. It wasn't you know, we need to you 339 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:17,759 know, pivot back to the center after the twenty ten elections and work with 340 00:26:17,839 --> 00:26:21,359 Republicans. It was, no, we're going to double down on radical leftism. 341 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:23,400 We're going to put our foot to the gas pedal and keep going and 342 00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:29,359 going. And you saw this after the twenty fourteen midterm elections where Democrats lost 343 00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:33,920 the Senate, they continued to go further and further to the left, and 344 00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:37,039 they didn't care ultimately. I mean, obviously they hate Donald Trump, but 345 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:42,680 I think in the long term, they don't see elections anymore as I would 346 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:48,000 say, you know, these major cataclysmic losses as they used to. They 347 00:26:48,039 --> 00:26:52,759 see it as a temporary setback because they know the pendulum will ultimately swing back 348 00:26:52,799 --> 00:26:56,319 to the other side. That sure, Republicans may have the White House or 349 00:26:56,759 --> 00:27:00,079 a Chamber of Congress now, but in a couple of years it's going to 350 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:02,440 come back to us. And when we get power, we're going to do 351 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:04,759 the same thing we did under Obama. We're just going to ram through every 352 00:27:04,839 --> 00:27:08,920 radical policy imaginable because at the end of the day, they're not focused on 353 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:15,200 winning the next election. They're focused on securing power permanently going forward in the 354 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:18,720 future of this country. And that's what you're seeing play out now under the 355 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:22,519 Biden administration. Just every radical policy you can think of, whether it's the 356 00:27:22,559 --> 00:27:26,759 open border, the co opting of our military, the weaponization of the doj 357 00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:32,160 and FBI to go after anyone who's not a leftist, and in top leading 358 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:37,400 political candidates of the opposition. It's all an attempt to further and solidify power 359 00:27:37,799 --> 00:27:42,160 permanently, and that's the end game here. And I don't think Republicans are 360 00:27:42,559 --> 00:27:47,119 smart enough in Congress to recognize that that's what's happening. And if they do 361 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:51,319 recognize that, they just don't care to do anything about it. And this 362 00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:59,480 is also something that explains why you have these hardened military leaders, people who 363 00:27:59,519 --> 00:28:06,079 have seen war making an alliance with sort of what people used to kind of 364 00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:11,640 dismiss as like the hippie left, because they also saw their sort of cultural 365 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:15,039 conservatism as a threat to their power. They read the writing on the wall 366 00:28:15,119 --> 00:28:18,000 because you know, they actually have some people in their own ranks. Now 367 00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:22,640 there's the infamous like CIA recruitment videos that are absolutely hilarious, and some of 368 00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:30,640 the military recruitment videos too recently that have taken a woke turn. It's yeah, 369 00:28:30,799 --> 00:28:33,960 putting it to put it lightly, and maybe you can talk to us 370 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:36,960 a little bit about just what we've seen in the last year. You have 371 00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:42,440 she Din Pang reportedly telling Joe Biden that he hopes to take Taiwan peacefully. 372 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:47,920 It's just basically him saying that he hopes to take Taiwan, and you know, 373 00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:52,680 there's basically no way that you can invade Taiwan peacefully without you know, 374 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:59,880 I think reasonably triggering a military reaction from the United States, potentially from Australia 375 00:29:00,039 --> 00:29:04,000 other places. You have what a record highs just in the week before Christmas 376 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:08,880 of people crossing of migrant encounters on the border, so about thirteen thousand people 377 00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:11,839 in one day. That followed a day the week before where there were twelve 378 00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:18,519 thousand people in one day. Truly stunning numbers. And basically you have vast 379 00:29:18,599 --> 00:29:26,039 walls of territory controlled by cartels on our border. You have a hot war 380 00:29:26,839 --> 00:29:33,440 in Ukraine, a hot war in Gaza, and our military is in the 381 00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:37,599 shape that it's in right now. It has made this alliance with a coalition 382 00:29:37,759 --> 00:29:41,880 in order to preserve its own power. As we were just talking about Republican 383 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:45,000 seeing this in the same way, it's sort of the self looking ice cream 384 00:29:45,039 --> 00:29:49,079 cone. They've made this alliance, and it's really in addition to all of 385 00:29:49,079 --> 00:29:56,039 the sort of corruption and decadence and excesses of our military right now, has 386 00:29:56,119 --> 00:30:00,559 contributed to the weakening of our ability to defend ourselves and Sean, maybe you 387 00:30:00,599 --> 00:30:06,880 can talk a little bit about that. I like Matt Stoller's point that mergers 388 00:30:07,039 --> 00:30:11,799 have really heard our military, that consolidation among defense contractors has really heard our 389 00:30:11,839 --> 00:30:15,039 military. But talk to us a little bit about from your perspective, what 390 00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:19,440 some of the top line problems looking back on what's happened over the course of 391 00:30:19,559 --> 00:30:26,240 last year. What can we know about how harmed or how much you know, 392 00:30:26,319 --> 00:30:30,400 how many impediments there are to our ability now to defend ourselves. There's 393 00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:33,960 so many avenues that could go off on them, but I'll try and keep 394 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:38,160 it con That was a big one, Yeah, I mean I mentioned the 395 00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:44,160 recruiting crisis earlier. Obviously that's a big problem. I think it was the 396 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:47,200 New York Times that put out an article maybe it was a couple of years 397 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:51,599 ago where they analyzed, like where the US Army draws the majority of its 398 00:30:51,599 --> 00:30:56,480 recruits, and it's unsurprisingly found out that they draw a large number from the 399 00:30:56,519 --> 00:31:00,880 South, which is predominantly conservative. What was really telling to me, and 400 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:06,160 I think you kind of saw this among some other conservative thought leaders of people 401 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:10,960 like Jesse Kelly have put this forward a couple of years ago when the Defense 402 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:17,640 Department initiated a COVID vaccine mandate for service members. To date, I believe 403 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:22,359 it's roughly eighty four hundred or so service members were fired or removed from service 404 00:31:22,519 --> 00:31:26,240 because they did not want to get the COVID shot. I think that was 405 00:31:26,319 --> 00:31:33,039 really an indication there that the Biden administration was more interested in kind of purging 406 00:31:33,079 --> 00:31:37,039 the military of people who not just love their country, but who would question 407 00:31:37,759 --> 00:31:42,720 kind of unethical, immoral orders. And obviously, when you join the military, 408 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:45,079 you know you give up a certain number of your freedoms, you know 409 00:31:45,079 --> 00:31:51,720 you're going to have to follow orders. But there's always been this respectability and 410 00:31:51,839 --> 00:31:56,400 devotion to country and constitution to protect the country from enemies for and and domestic. 411 00:31:56,519 --> 00:32:01,119 And I think, you know, people like Lloyd Austin, Joe Biden's 412 00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:07,240 administration, the Marxists running it, they saw an opportunity not just to get 413 00:32:07,279 --> 00:32:10,599 rid of these people, but make an example out of them that you're not 414 00:32:10,759 --> 00:32:15,240 welcome here in our military. And I think that part of the element, 415 00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:21,119 an element of this DEI type promotion, this kind of racialist nonsense that's coming 416 00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:27,000 out of the Pentagon, this celebration of LGBT pride and all of this stuff. 417 00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:31,559 It's really to dissuade a lot of these people, these conservative leaning people, 418 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:37,759 America loving patriots, from enlisting in the armed services. They aren't destroying 419 00:32:37,759 --> 00:32:42,279 the military, they're creating a new one. They just want compliant leftists who 420 00:32:42,279 --> 00:32:45,200 are just going to listen to whatever they say. And I think you're seeing 421 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:50,079 this in some of the recruiting efforts that they're doing the Navy. A couple 422 00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:55,160 months ago, The Daily Caller revealed that the Navy had hired this Navy sailor 423 00:32:55,559 --> 00:33:00,160 who was an enlisted drag queen to be a digital and ambassador to work on 424 00:33:00,319 --> 00:33:06,960 digital recruitment for the Navy. And as I mentioned earlier, yeah, as 425 00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:09,119 I mentioned earlier, the Navy, you missed their recruiting target, so obviously 426 00:33:09,160 --> 00:33:14,519 it didn't work out so well. But that's just really what they're going for 427 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:17,599 that they're not interested so much in the national security element of it all. 428 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:22,799 They're not interested in preserving American hegemony and projecting strength on the world stage. 429 00:33:22,839 --> 00:33:30,319 They're more concerned with treating the United States conservative as a bigger enemy than the 430 00:33:30,359 --> 00:33:35,799 communist Chinese, or the Russians or the Iranians or whoever it is. And 431 00:33:35,799 --> 00:33:37,599 that's I think what you're really seeing play out right now. I just want 432 00:33:37,599 --> 00:33:42,599 to ask a question about that to someone who follows this. A lot of 433 00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:47,680 people would look at it and say, if it's true that our sort of 434 00:33:50,279 --> 00:33:53,920 military, let's call it the blob, let's use that terminology. If it's 435 00:33:53,960 --> 00:34:01,079 true that the blob is a bunch of warmongerers who, for example, were 436 00:34:01,359 --> 00:34:07,680 eager for hot conflict in Ukraine because you know, it's good for their bottom 437 00:34:07,759 --> 00:34:12,199 lines. There have been leaked conversations from the people at some of these defense 438 00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:15,719 contractors admitting as much that it's good for their bottom lines. You don't need 439 00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:17,920 to see them admitting it as much to you know, see the figures about 440 00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:22,519 how it's good for their bottom line. So if that's true, why also 441 00:34:23,159 --> 00:34:28,360 would they want to weaken? Like just square the circle for me, Sean, 442 00:34:28,559 --> 00:34:31,079 because I know you we all have theories on this, but square the 443 00:34:31,079 --> 00:34:36,360 circle for me on how the Hawks are also you know the Hawks that are 444 00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:40,639 also kind of seem eager for a hot conflict over Taiwan, seem eager for 445 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:46,079 the hot conflict in Ukraine. How are they also kind of trying to denigrate 446 00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:50,519 the military, Like how do these two things. How do these two pieces 447 00:34:50,559 --> 00:34:53,800 of the puzzle fit. Well, I don't necessarily, that's the thing, 448 00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:57,440 Like, I don't even know if they do. I think that they just 449 00:34:57,599 --> 00:35:00,960 see objectives and they go for them. They want the takeover the military. 450 00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:05,679 But at the same time, they're perfectly willing to send these people over to 451 00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:08,960 die and conflicts that have nothing to do with us, you know, places 452 00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:13,760 like Afghanistan. And you kind of saw this in the withdrawal right where we 453 00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:17,920 pull out and tragically over a dozen American service members get killed. You know, 454 00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:22,880 Joe Biden's checking his watch. These people don't actually care about human lives. 455 00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:25,880 They just care about power and money and if that means you know, 456 00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:30,840 you know, creating a new military in the process. They're completely willing to 457 00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:34,679 sacrifice these you know, leftists that they're bringing into the military. They don't 458 00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:38,119 care about human life or American life. They just care about money and power 459 00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:45,519 and greed and selfishness, you know, all the term they're exactly yeah, 460 00:35:45,599 --> 00:35:50,440 yeah, exactly. They're more interested in I guess the short term gain over 461 00:35:50,599 --> 00:35:54,000 like the long term consequences of what actually is going to happen to the United 462 00:35:54,039 --> 00:35:59,440 States. If this is the kind of military that you're projecting and the weakness 463 00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:04,000 that you're project acting on the world stage. You know, China they look 464 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:07,519 at us right now and they're laughing at us. Joe Biden, I mean, 465 00:36:07,719 --> 00:36:13,199 his family's kind of thought and paid for by the Chinese. But you 466 00:36:13,199 --> 00:36:15,159 know, the Biden White House, they don't care about that. Anthony Blincoln 467 00:36:15,159 --> 00:36:19,920 doesn't care about that, that the China sees us as weak. They just 468 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:22,719 care about, you know, securing their own power at home first, and 469 00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:29,519 then everything else globally is kind of secondary to that. And I also think 470 00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:32,239 maybe there's going to be I'm curious for your take on this looking ahead to 471 00:36:32,239 --> 00:36:38,239 twenty twenty four and beyond, they're going to increasingly panic. You know, 472 00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:43,920 we saw them actually change on the vaccine, and I think it is going 473 00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:46,440 to be true that some of the people, because of the short termism, 474 00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:52,880 that are just kind of itching for a conflict in Taiwan. And by the 475 00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:55,920 way, I'm not saying that to dismiss the reality that there are good reasons 476 00:36:57,320 --> 00:37:02,400 potentially for a hot conflict over Taiwan. If China invades, that's a huge 477 00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:09,599 detriment to our ability to support ourselves technologically, and you know, I think 478 00:37:09,639 --> 00:37:16,199 they're starting to realize that military readiness has been severely hampered by some of these 479 00:37:16,239 --> 00:37:21,199 goals. Sean, have you seen any signs of that? Do you think 480 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:23,320 that they're you know, whether or not it's successful, that there will be 481 00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:29,320 some sort of like internal effort to self correct. People said they put out 482 00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:31,920 the military put out a recruitment video recently of like a white guy. People 483 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:35,840 are like, you know, they're ready to go to war when I'm trying 484 00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:40,119 to recruit white men again. Do you see signs of a self correction afoot, 485 00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:45,079 perhaps because the sort of folly of the short termism has become increasingly apparent 486 00:37:45,079 --> 00:37:49,679 to folks. Yeah, to a certain extent, I think that's kind of 487 00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:53,800 true. I mean, the National Defense Authorization Act discussions, the bill that 488 00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:57,880 just got past, they really fought tooth and nail to keep a lot of 489 00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:04,000 the DEI kind of Marxist stuff allowed the Pentagon to continue doing that. So 490 00:38:04,039 --> 00:38:07,000 they're obviously still fighting on that to keep that stuff in there. But I 491 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:09,679 do think to your point, I think they're starting to come around that, 492 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:14,559 you know, if we want to continue to maintain our power here at home, 493 00:38:15,119 --> 00:38:17,360 we're going to still have to deter powers like China and Russia abroad, 494 00:38:19,159 --> 00:38:22,119 and so there's kind of I think a little bit of that pivot as you 495 00:38:22,159 --> 00:38:28,039 mentioned in the ad to kind of cater back towards some of these alienated people. 496 00:38:29,119 --> 00:38:30,840 But I also think you're seeing it play out in some of these military 497 00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:35,320 actions throughout the world. I mean, I think it was a couple months 498 00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:38,599 ago where that I think it was an F thirty five jet, which is 499 00:38:38,639 --> 00:38:44,559 like one of our most advanced fighter jets in the forces. It got lost, 500 00:38:44,679 --> 00:38:46,079 like we lost it. We couldn't find it for like a day or 501 00:38:46,119 --> 00:38:52,079 something. And this is like a very expensive piece of military equipment, like 502 00:38:52,119 --> 00:38:57,360 equipped with very sophisticated technology, and we lost it and we couldn't find it 503 00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:01,119 for like twenty four hours. That's and that's just one example. I mean 504 00:39:01,119 --> 00:39:07,280 there's several examples throughout the Forces that you can look at of just us just 505 00:39:07,719 --> 00:39:12,800 completely I guess screwing the pooch on. I mean, you look at major 506 00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:17,719 investments and in these heavy heavy duty artillery and and and uh, literal combat 507 00:39:17,719 --> 00:39:21,679 ships, which was supposed to be like you know, the next big thing 508 00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:27,079 of naval warfare and you know, can detect under sea minds. We spend 509 00:39:27,159 --> 00:39:30,360 hundreds of billions of dollars on them, and turns out they're a whole you 510 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:35,639 know, they're bust. They don't work as they were promised to, their 511 00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:39,000 constant need of repairs. So I think they're starting to slowly come around to 512 00:39:39,039 --> 00:39:44,960 the idea that, you know, maybe what we're doing isn't exactly on par 513 00:39:45,119 --> 00:39:49,119 with what we need to do in order to secure America's security on the world 514 00:39:49,159 --> 00:39:52,800 stage. And uh, you know, it's panning out in the on the 515 00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:54,760 home front with respect to our troops, and it's also panning out in the 516 00:39:54,760 --> 00:40:01,400 technology that we're investing in with respect to the Pentagon's budget. Is there anything 517 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:07,000 else shown you think people should be aware about when it comes to these questions 518 00:40:07,119 --> 00:40:10,280 of our military's readiness. And you know, by the way, I actually 519 00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:14,639 think, as you know, dubvish, as people may think that I sound 520 00:40:14,679 --> 00:40:21,480 on things like Ukraine or Israel wherever, there's a really good case for the 521 00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:25,920 Reagan doctrine of building up your military. And obviously that has different, you 522 00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:29,519 know, implications for the deficit, and we could have that conversation, but 523 00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:37,599 building up your military just two huge heights for the sake of deterrence, and 524 00:40:37,679 --> 00:40:39,760 you know that can have some economic benefits as well, not the ones that 525 00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:45,760 you know, the Ukraine hawks say are just revitalizing the streets of hollowed out 526 00:40:45,840 --> 00:40:51,519 rust belt Ohio. Is the fun new line about what's happening in the military 527 00:40:51,599 --> 00:40:55,880 built up to manufacture munitions for Ukraine. But it's there are all kinds of 528 00:40:57,199 --> 00:41:01,800 benefits of having you know, a big military, a big military budget, 529 00:41:02,039 --> 00:41:09,880 and obviously a domestic onshore manufacturing operation when it comes to all of these technologies. 530 00:41:09,960 --> 00:41:15,320 So I actually think there might be a case for a higher Pentagon budget, 531 00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:19,079 maybe a Pentagon that can pass an audit first and then you can increase 532 00:41:19,079 --> 00:41:22,920 the Pentagon budget. But I think there's a serious case for that. That 533 00:41:23,119 --> 00:41:30,400 said, we are not in a position where the Pentagon can come close to 534 00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:34,960 passing an audit. We are not in a position where we should want to 535 00:41:35,039 --> 00:41:38,800 increase the resources given to some of these folks that seem to deserve nothing. 536 00:41:40,159 --> 00:41:45,239 And that's I think probably the worst part of the kind of tensions here. 537 00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:49,320 That tension is the worst part of the problems here. So with that kind 538 00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:52,320 of context, that's that's sort of my take on the thirty thousand foot view 539 00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:55,639 here, Sean, Is there anything else you think people should know about this 540 00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:01,119 problem as someone who studies a pretty close looking ahead into the new year, 541 00:42:02,519 --> 00:42:07,400 Yeah, I think. I think it was the NBC debate of the GOP 542 00:42:07,559 --> 00:42:12,519 presidential primary. I think the one with Hugh Hewitt, and it was kind 543 00:42:12,559 --> 00:42:15,480 of a question that kind of got tossed aside because it's not as interesting as 544 00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:19,519 culture, war issues or abortion. But he asked the candidates about the current 545 00:42:19,519 --> 00:42:22,920 state of the US Navy, which I was really excited about because I'm a 546 00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:25,440 nerd over this stuff. But the Navy, if you go back and look, 547 00:42:25,639 --> 00:42:30,400 it was really this premier force throughout American history. In his second address 548 00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:38,039 to Congress, President Teddy Roosevelt talked about how a strong navy isn't a declaration 549 00:42:38,119 --> 00:42:42,599 of war. It's a way to bring peace, a way to bring peace 550 00:42:42,639 --> 00:42:46,039 to the world and bring stability. And really that's what America's Navy has been 551 00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:51,440 for the past couple decades. We've brought peace and stability through strength and projecting 552 00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:54,039 strength. We've done that through building up our military, and really what you've 553 00:42:54,039 --> 00:42:59,719 seen in recent decades is a decline in the overall power and capacity of the 554 00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:05,599 name, we haven't hit our shipbuilding targets in over twenty years. The number 555 00:43:05,639 --> 00:43:12,440 of shipyards have just declined in recent decades. The budget of the Pentagon budget 556 00:43:12,639 --> 00:43:16,840 that gets debated by Congress every year because there's so much politicking over the NDAA 557 00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:22,440 private shipyards that we contract, they don't have. They aren't able to plan 558 00:43:22,519 --> 00:43:24,599 out in advance, you know, how they're going how many ships they're going 559 00:43:24,599 --> 00:43:28,679 to build over what period of time, how much money can we use on 560 00:43:28,719 --> 00:43:32,639 this part or this aspect of it. And because of those inconsistencies, you 561 00:43:32,639 --> 00:43:37,639 know, that's contributing to our failure to build a sizeable fleet. At the 562 00:43:37,719 --> 00:43:40,320 end of the Cold War nineteen ninety one, we had over five hundred ships 563 00:43:40,639 --> 00:43:45,400 and the navy less than About ten years later it was down to a little 564 00:43:45,400 --> 00:43:49,719 more than three hundred, and today we're covering anywhere between two hundred and ninety 565 00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:55,800 to three hundred. So our navy is just suffering massive problems. Personnel issues 566 00:43:55,800 --> 00:44:01,199 obviously a big one. Meanwhile, China is built up this massive naval force. 567 00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:05,599 They have the largest navy in the world. In terms of technology. 568 00:44:05,639 --> 00:44:08,400 We're still a little bit ahead of the game, but I mean our navy 569 00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:13,679 is in decline, and if you really want to have a stable geopolitical environment 570 00:44:13,719 --> 00:44:15,960 throughout not just the Indo Pacific, but the world, you need to have 571 00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:21,079 that strength and project that strength to our adversaries to let them know that, 572 00:44:21,199 --> 00:44:23,960 yes, we're committed to defending not just our interests but the interests of our 573 00:44:23,960 --> 00:44:29,159 allies, and we're not doing that. We're a nation in decline, We're 574 00:44:29,159 --> 00:44:32,920 a military in decline. And countries like China and Iran and North Korea and 575 00:44:32,960 --> 00:44:37,679 all the like, they're seeing that and their actions show that they are actively 576 00:44:37,719 --> 00:44:43,760 seeking to achieve their own objectives irrespective of what the United States is saying. 577 00:44:45,360 --> 00:44:50,000 Sean Fleetwood, staff writer at The Federalist. You can follow him on Twitter 578 00:44:50,159 --> 00:44:57,880 at Sean Fleetwood, but Seawan is spelled Shaw and the right way there you 579 00:44:57,960 --> 00:45:00,079 go. Thank you so much for joining the show, Sean. Thanks to 580 00:45:00,159 --> 00:45:04,519 Sinsk. You have a good Christmas, you too, You've been listening to 581 00:45:04,559 --> 00:45:07,480 another edition of The Federalist or Radio Hour. I'm Emily Dashinsky, culture editor 582 00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:10,599 here at the Federalist. As always, you can email the You can email 583 00:45:10,639 --> 00:45:14,199 the show at radio at the Federalist dot com, follow us on ex at 584 00:45:14,280 --> 00:45:16,920 FDR LST and we'll be back soon with more. Until then, be the 585 00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:32,239 lovers of freedom and anxious for the fray.