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Speaker 1: Welcome back to The Michael Cohen Show on our continued

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journey to two hundred and fifty thousand subscribers. Now's not

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the time to unsubscribe. It's the time to join communities

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like this, subscribe and share with friends so that you

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get my raw and unfiltered commentary on important daily issues.

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And I want to start by talking about some of

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the cabinet picks. And we're going to concentrate right now

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on Pete Hegseth. And why Pete Well, because after Matt

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Gates stepped down because he was look, let's be clear,

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he was unqualified to be the Attorney General, he had

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other sorts of issues. Everybody now again is focusing on

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Pete Heggseth. So first I want to show you an article.

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All right, The article says Trump encounters Senate GOP limits

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with failed Gates ag push. Then it goes on to

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say that President like Trump's ill fated nomination of former

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Representative Matt Gates to run the Justice Department, it marked

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an early sign of hisotential limits in moving his nominees

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and dealing with Senate Republicans, giving him less wiggle room

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to get his cabinet in place. Riding high off his

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electoral win. Earlier this month, Trump tap Gates to become

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Attorney General in what emerged as a quick test for

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Senate Republicans, with Trump expecting them to capitulate to him

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as they have numerous times over the years. Now, I

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want to go on to show you what Leslie Marshall

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had to say on Fox News about Matt Gates's withdrawal.

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Play the clip.

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Speaker 2: Look, there's only one man on Fox News, and I've

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been here seventeen years that shushed me on national television

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and told me he'd tell me when he could let

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me finish.

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Speaker 3: And that was Matt Gates.

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Speaker 2: So wanted to answer your question, though, Howie, it's a trifecta, hear.

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I think there was, you know, a sit down by

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the guy who you know nominated him the president elect.

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I think there was a phone call because fifteen minutes

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after that phone call from CNN, Hello, second allegation and

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then third you just got to look at the numbers.

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You don't have the votes, it.

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Speaker 1: Was, Yeah. So I want you to stay to the

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very end on this one because I think you're going

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to understand the twist that comes at the very end

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as it relates to Pete. But I also want you

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to remember that Pete heg Seth said that, for example,

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and this is what makes him so controversial, that women

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shouldn't be in combat. Play this clip.

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Speaker 3: I'm straight up just saying we should not have women

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in combat roles hasn't made us more effective, hasn't made

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us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated. We've all

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served with women, and they're great. It just our institutions

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don't have to incentivize that in places where traditionally, not

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traditionally over human history, men in those positions are more capable.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, again, probably not the way to express yourself. There

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are plenty of women who are incredible that I don't

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even know how to describe that sort of statement other

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than just being the anti woke kind of guy that

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Pete Hegseth wants to be. And then again, that's even

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if you acknowledge the term woke. But I wanted as

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to show you because I think she says it much better.

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Senator Tammy Duckworth, who lost her legs in combat. Here's

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what she had to say about this comment. Play the clip.

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Speaker 4: America's daughters are just as capable of defending liberty and

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freedom as her sons.

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Speaker 5: Having served in combat yourself, what do you think of

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the idea that women make fighting more complicated?

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Speaker 6: That was specifically what he focused on.

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Speaker 4: Well, it just shows his lack of understanding of where

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our military is. You know, he was a pretty low

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ranking guy in the military, and he never had a

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command position. He was a platoon leader, I think once

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or twice commanded a company. And so this is a

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man who is in orderly unqualified for the position. Remember

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that the Pentagon is three million servicemen and women and civilians.

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It is an over nine hundred billion dollar budget. He's

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never you know, run anything anywhere near to that size.

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And frankly, women actually make our military more effective. And

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I've personally found that I brought many insights to my

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job when I was a company commander, when I was

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a logistics officer that came from my own personal background

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that made things better. I took better care of my

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men for a.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, let me also be clear, when when you have

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three million people in total, as Sendator Duckworth was saying,

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what percentage of them thirty percent a third three of

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one million are women? What are you going to do?

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Send them letters and say thank you for your service

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to the country, but you're no longer needed because women

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aren't as confident and capable and they're not able to

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fight the way that men are able to fight. Again,

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technology has changed war, thank god a million times. But

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you're talking from a Senator Duckworth, Tommy Duckworth, who lost

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her legs in combat. Could you imagine the disrespect that

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this brings. I'm blown away that for a guy who

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is super intelligent, by the way, very educated all Ivy League,

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would make such a ridiculous comment like that. It's so

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offensive on so many levels. But I want to also

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show you as an example, he really can't make this up.

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I want to show you what Senator Eric Schmidt had

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to say about hag Seth. Play the clip, Millie.

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Speaker 6: This is a decision that President Trump made to bring

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in another disruptor, and I think if you look at

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this election, it was disruptor versus establishment. He ran on

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this and their needs needs to be reforming the Pentagon,

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whether it's procurement, whether it's getting rid of divisive DEI

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that's dividing our military by race. There's no place in

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our military. I think he's talked about eliminating that and

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then also making sure a focus is on our chief adversary, China.

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Speaker 7: Let me ask you, I guess big picture, Senator, You're

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on the Armed Services Committee and there's a known sexual

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assault problem in the military. Do you believe that Pete

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Hegseth is the right person to lead the military given

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all of that at this very moment.

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Speaker 6: Well, he's not in charge with anything, Chris. I think

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that's important. And so you read from a police report.

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I've not seen the police report, but again I'd like to.

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There's probably more documentation around this that would be interesting

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to see.

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Speaker 7: So I think that's what this compulation question.

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Speaker 6: Well, of course I'm going to have questions, but that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, again this is punting. Why not just come out

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with a statement and say, as I mean, I understand

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that he's a Republican from Missouri and so on, and

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he wants to stay in Trump's good graces. I get it,

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I really do. I get it better than anybody. But

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how could you not turn it? It's not one, it's

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not two. I believe that there are three three charges,

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and yes he has not been held criminally accountable or

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payoffs and whatever it might be. But is he really

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the right guy to run a Department of Defense? Really,

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it's only he got the job simply because he was

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the trumpiest trumper on Fox News on the weekend, and

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he showed his fealty and loyalty. So put him someplace else.

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But how do you put him in charge of a

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nine hundred billion dollar budget with three million plus people

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on the payroll when he's never had a payroll in

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his entire life. Now, I want to go on and

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show you what Senator Mark Wayne Mullin had to say

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with Dana Bash on CNN about Pete Hegseth. Play that

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clip and.

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Speaker 8: You argue that a police report that came out this

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week showed they were just two people flirting with each other.

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But I want to just make sure viewers know what

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that report said that The woman said that when she

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tried to leave Hegseth's hotel room, he blocked the door,

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ended up on top of her, and performed a sexual act.

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She also said that she don't remembered saying no to

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a lot.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, God, Dana, if we're going to get into that,

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let's talk about the whole police report.

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Speaker 9: Now.

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Speaker 5: I know if you read it, and I have definitely

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read it. First of all, the police report, if you

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look at it, it's very clear that what Pete was

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saying was his attorney was saying was accurate. There was

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no case here. He was falsely accused. If you go

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back and you read the report, there was two eyewitnesses

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said that she was being the aggressor. Pete wasn't even

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flirting with her. He was flirting with a different girl

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and the other girl was trying to flirt with Pete.

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The Jane Doe here that is unmentioned.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, oh boy. Nothing again to respond to that one,

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I get sticking up and trying to protect the President

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elect's choice. But seriously, seriously, finally, I want to show

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you what Senator Dan Sullivan had to say.

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Speaker 9: Play that clip, and you know, in my discussions with

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Pete Heggset, one of the things that I really like.

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And by the way, it's this national security team, not

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just Pete Hegset, but Marco Rubio as Secretary of State,

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Mike Waltz's national security advisor. This is a strong trio

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that the president has put forward. But here's the key

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thing from my perspective, trade we need to get back

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to the core mission of the Department of Defense. That's lethality,

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that's winning wars, that's peace through strength. You know, I

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just retired this year from the Marine Corps. I've been

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in for thirty years, so I saw firsthand some of

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the woke stuff that was happening. With regards to the

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Biden administration. You know, you had a Secretary of the Navy.

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It is more focused on climate change than shipbuilding. One

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of the President Biden's first executive orders that one or

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two days after his inauguration wasn't focused on lethality winning wars,

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was focus on transgender surgery for active duty troops. So, look,

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we need to get back to the mission of the Pentagon,

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which is to win our nation's wars and to create

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the most lethal force in the world to deter wars.

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And I think Pete Hegseth is very focused on that,

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and that is a refreshing change, a critical change that

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the American people want and we need in the Department

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of Defense.

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Speaker 1: Thank you. First of all, I wasn't aware that right

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now the United States is at war with anybody. I

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understand that we're assisting Ukraine in its war with Russia,

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and the United States is assisting with Israel our partner

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in terms of the Israel ramas War. I get that,

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but I wasn't aware suffice it to say, here's the

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part when at the beginning I explained to you the

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end is going to be somewhat different than what you think.

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President elect has every right to choose his cabinet. He

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is every right. I certainly am not going to be

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choosing it. You're certainly not going to be choosing it.

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The Biden administration certainly isn't Kamala Harris or the DNC.

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Donald Trump gets to pick and choose his own cabinet.

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The hope, the hope is that there were enough senators

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like there were with Matt Gates within which to say,

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with all due respect, mister President, Pete Hegseth is not

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the guy that we have confidence in to run the

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Department of Defense, or they capitulate, and then that is

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going to be who the secretary is who. It's just

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going to be plain and simple. You see, our superpower

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our the citizens is our ability to vote, and the

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plurality of Americans voted for Donald Trump. So of course

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he's gonna pick and choose who he wants. I just personally,

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I would like to see somebody who actually has the

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experience necessary in order to not screw up the DoD

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because that is what we rely upon for our national security.

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Who knows We all just need to take the temperature down.

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We need to sit there and just try try to

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make our voices heard, like through communities like this, which

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is why I say now is not the time to unsubscribe,

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to subscribe and share, because we need to build up

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a community large enough to ensure that if the Senate

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doesn't do what they should do, what makes perfect sense,

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that's where we step in and we make sure that

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our voices get heard. And as always, thanks for listening.

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Hey everyone, First of all, thanks for watching. I mean,

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we're going to be posting daily episodes with reactions and

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talking about politics. We'll be talking about everything in fact,

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so please like and subscribe join us on this journey