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Speaker 1: And we are back with another edition of the Federalist

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Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittle, Senior Elections correspondent at the

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Federalist and your experienced Shirpa on today's quest for Knowledge.

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As always, you can email the show at radio at

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the Federalist dot com, follow us on x at FDRLST,

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make sure to subscribe wherever you download your podcast, and

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of course to the premium version of our website as well.

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Our guest today is Mark Lucas, executive vice president of

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the Article three Project. He served as an infantry officer

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in the Iowa Army National Guard and was awarded the

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Combat Infantry Badge and Bronze Star Medal in Afghanistan during

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the deadliest year of operation during Freedom. Mark knows well

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the man President elect Trump has nominated to be the

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next Secretary of Defense and he believes Pete Hegseth will

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make the Pentagon great again. Mark, thanks so much for

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joining us in this edition of the Federalist Radio are

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It's a real pleasure having you.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for having me on.

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Speaker 1: Lot said over the last several weeks about Pete Hegseeth

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A lot of stuff said by people who do not

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know him. That's politics in a nutshell, right. There a

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lot of people talking about things they don't necessarily know.

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You know, Pete Hegseth, you wrote a great piece recently

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for The Federalist titled exactly what we just mentioned that

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Pete Hegseth will make the Pentagon great again? Why do

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you believe so? And tell us about the real Pete

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Hegseth that the accomplice media, Democrats and some rhinos out

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there don't want necessarily I could have known about.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. So, I've known Pee for over a decade and

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we served together in the thirty fourth Infantry Division and

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I was in the Iowa National Guard, he was in Minnesota.

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It's the famous Red Bull Division or motto is attack Attack.

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And we also got to know each other through our

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share experience at Concerned Veterans for America. He was my

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predecessor and he helped build just an incredible organization, and

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I was in the state of Iowa running a group

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called Americans for Prosperity, and Pete and I would interact

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along the campaign trail. And when I was able to

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replace him as he went to Fox News, him and

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I started working closer even more on veteran policy. He

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was a really good friend to me because he handed

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me just an incredible organization, which you had mentioned earlier

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that people that didn't know him. There's also this New

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Yorker article that was sourced by people anonymously that made

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it sound like Concerned Veterans for America with some type

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of train wreck, but it was actually it was actually

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the complete opposite. CVA was well posture for success. So

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that's how I got to know Pete.

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Speaker 1: CVA is a great organization. And of course when you

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have political entities, machines again corporate media all lined up

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to take somebody down, you know that they're going to

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go after people that the target love respect, you know,

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have been friends with for some time, work for That's

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just the nature of this game. But what do you

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say to all of these allegations, and of course they're

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they're scandalous, they're salacious, and that's how these things are done.

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Is that the Pete Hegseith, you.

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Speaker 2: Know, absolutely not.

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Speaker 3: And I'd tell those people if they I think Pete

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Hegseth is such a threat to our country, if they

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believe that Pete will put people at risk because of

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his leadership, then you should go on the record, and

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not just go on the record to the media, but

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you can join me who by the way, I've volunteered

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to testify as a character witness in front of the

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Senate Armed Services Committee for Pete's confirmation, and you can

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put your hand up swear under oath that everything that

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you're saying is truthful. I'm willing to do that. If

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they think that he's such a great risk to our country,

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they should be willing to do the same.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you have done that. I mean, you have put

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your name on the line. I was curious, what have

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you been hearing from Senate offices, What have you been

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hearing from the usual suspects in the corporate media about

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your position, your stance, and your availability to testify on

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behalf of your friend.

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Speaker 3: Well, a lot of people were surprised that the narrative

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from the media was so wrong. I mean, at the

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initial launch of Pete's nomination, the announcement of his nomination,

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that New Yorker story came out. So I even went

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on Steve Bannon's war room and he was shocked to

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hear about how great of an organization Concerned Veterans for

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America was so a lot of people were thankful that

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somebody was willing to go on the record and tell

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their story. And I know that my story is the

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true story, because I don't think to date anybody has

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come out on the record to talk negatively about Pete's

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leadership of CVA. On the contrary, I've seen multiple people

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who have interacted with him, who have worked for him,

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may have been coalition partners in the vets community. They've

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all come out with very glowing assessments of Pete Hegseeth's record.

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Speaker 1: Why do you think it is mark that there is

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like and a decent attorney. I think I know the

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answer to this question because well, I've been alive long

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enough to know the answer, and I've followed American politics

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and covered it, particularly over these last eight plus years

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when things have gotten so viscerably mean and nasty. But

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why do you think so many people are going after

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Pete hag Seth's head simply because Donald Trump nominated a

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guy who is considered, so to speak, to be an outsider,

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even though his service record is impeccable, even though he

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has been, as you mentioned, a great advocate for veterans

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over the years. Why do you think so many people,

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a diverse group of people are trying to go after

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this man's political head.

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Speaker 2: There's two different reasons.

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Speaker 3: One of them is a more simple explanation, and that's

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Democrats that want to obstruct President Trump's nomination, and that

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makes perfect sense.

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Speaker 2: The second reason.

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Speaker 3: Is the immense threat that Pete Hegseth presents to the

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military industrial complex. You can see recently with the developments

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in Syria, President Trump came out very boldly and early

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saying that is not our problem, whereas President Joe Biden

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actually executed some airstrikes in the region. And so the

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military industrial complex, it seems to me, is trying to

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cash in as much as they can before President Trump

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is inaugurated and before Pete Hegseeth takes over the DoD

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So as a matter of incentives, the military industrial complex,

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which has been driving our foreign policy for a very

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long time, they're nervous about Pete and the military industrial complex.

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If you look at their record, they haven't won any wars,

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but they've made a lot of money. And I can

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tell you from serving in Afghanistan in twenty ten, nine

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years after the initial attacks during nine to eleven, the

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United States did not have a strategy to win the war,

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and I knew that in my twenties as a young

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infantry rifle platoonier. I was reading the press reports and

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also the Intel reports before I got on the ground.

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But shortly after my men arrived and we assumed command

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of the battle space, I knew that there was not

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a strategy to win. And now as I'm a forty

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two year old man with a wife and three kids,

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I understand that the objective was.

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Speaker 2: Never about winning.

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Speaker 3: If you look at Afghanistan or Iraq, the objective was

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maintaining a recurring revenue st for these big defense contractors.

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So the longer and the bloodier the war, the better

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for business. But that's the worst thing for the American warfighter.

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It's the worst thing for the reputation of the United

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States is the world power, and also the American people.

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They expect their nation's military to win wars. So that

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is also the big reason is that these the DC insiders,

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the people who have contracts with the military, they see

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that Pete Hegsett is going to be a disruptor, just

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like President Trump.

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Speaker 1: It's interesting to me to see some of the responses

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that we're seeing and you're absolutely right. I mean, take

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a look at what happened in Syria. You already have

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the military industrial complex just you know, frothing at the

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mouth of the potential for the money that outgoing acting

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President Joe Biden has promised, of course to deliver the

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so called freedom fighters in Syria. It's the same military

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industrial complex that Eisenhower warned us about so long ago

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that has made a lot of money, a fortune off

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of what's happening in Ukraine and so many other places

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around the world. So you get that the criticism that

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Pete haig Seth was. I believe he ended his military

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career as a major, if I'm not mistaken. So he's

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not you know, the usual stars and bars kind of guy, right,

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He's not their kind of guy. He's not you know,

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a general who is well is read once said in

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the Shawshank Redemption. He's not an institutionalized man, so to.

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Speaker 2: Speak, absolutely correct.

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Speaker 3: He's a junior officer, and he has that mentality which

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is way closer to the young enlisted soldiers than it

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is being a colonel or being a general officer. So

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he has that small unit mentality which in the army,

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I always took great pride in because that's when you're

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the closest to your men. It's also where you're the

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closest to the fight. And many of these colonels and

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general officers haven't actually been in the firefights that Pete

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Hegseth has been in, and so they want to have

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somebody that comes from their circles because they can influence them.

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I'd also say Pete Hegseth was a member of the

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National Guard, and this idea that a part time National

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Guard officer can come in and run the Pentagon has

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many of these general officers blood boiling. The Active Component

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isn't necessarily a big fan of the National Guard, although

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they taxed us heavily, they used our forces repeatedly on

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their forever wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They would always

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use the National Guard as an opportunity to push us

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to different forward locations that they didn't want to go to,

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and then when they were back in Washington, the Active

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Component always want to take our money away. So the

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idea that Pete Hegseth, as a National Guard soldier is

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going to run the Pentagon for me is incredible because

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he's a true citizen soldier. He's not one of these

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guys that was all focused on the military all of

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the time. He's got a wider breath of experience. He's

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also got an incredible academic pedigree. He didn't go to

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one of the military academies, but he did go to

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Princeton and he did go to Harvard. So he's got

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the aptitude, a much higher aptitude than most of the

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think tank policy wonks in Washington and the general officers

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and the people defense companies. He's going to be able

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to go in there and run circles around these guys.

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So he's close with the men. He can relate more

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to the average service member, and yet he can also

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go into the Pentagon and run the place really well.

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So I see him as a big threat. And I

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also see people in the Pentagon right now that I'm

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talking to off the record, they're saying that, man, we're

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really excited. There's some people that are very aligned with

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the America First vision and they are excited to have

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President Trump back, and they're excited to have Pete Hegseth

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as air SECTAF.

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Speaker 1: But the military industrial complex, the Deep States, you know,

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the internal Pentagon, you know that where we've seen and again,

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as you mentioned, there certainly are supporters of Pete Hegseeth

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within that building and supporters of the America First vision.

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But you know, the people that have done much to

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assist the military industrial complex, they're not as as you know,

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they're not so excited about this breath of fresh air

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coming through. And so there are all kinds of things

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that have been ginned up about Pete haig Seth, you know,

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to make his path denomination more difficult. And there are

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some Republican senators of course, who have been talking about deep,

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grave concerns and questions. You're an Iowa guy, so of

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course we've got to get to this very important part here.

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Senator in Iowa Jonie Ernst has been critical. She's not

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said no to his nomination, Pete heggss nomination, but she

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has certainly put it out there that she has concerns

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about Heggs's nomination. She was supposed to meet with the nominee,

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of course, on Monday. What have you heard so far

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from that front is is Jony Ernst coming around and

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is she concerned quite frankly about the political repercussions that

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she could face in twenty twenty six primary in deep

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red state Iowa, if she decides she's going to vote

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against and lobby for others to vote against Pete hagg Seth.

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Speaker 3: Well, at this point in the nomination process, there has

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not been a single Republican who's indicated there is no

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vote against Pete haig Seth, and that also includes Joni Ernst.

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I believe that this week Jooni will move to a yes.

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She's had several meetings with Pete over the last week.

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She's known him for years, and Pete had a great

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meeting this afternoon with her. He had very positive comments

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from the meeting. So I believe that she'll get to

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a yes, and then we can take that next step

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forward where we know that we've got the Republican support

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in the Senate Armed Services Committee and we just got

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to move through that process to the confirmation hearings and

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get him to a floor vote and get him sworn in.

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Speaker 1: But you hear from others like Lindsey Graham, and from

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what Joni Ernst has said, it sounds like they're really

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buying the story that we are being sold by the

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usual suspects in the accomplice media. And you know they

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have their motivations and interest, but how can anybody at

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this point And I'm not saying that you don't vet

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and you don't investigate nominees for these very important, powerful

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cabinet positions, but how often have we seen the accomplice

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media and their allies on the left absolutely lie to

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the American people. I think you can There's a case

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that comes instantly to your mind in my mind, and

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that is Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. How many times

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will people have to be burned, including Republican senators, before

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they get the idea that what they read in the

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papers not real true.

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Speaker 3: You're exactly right what we're seeing that this is Cavanaugh

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at two point zero, and the media understands that they

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have to try to kill this nomination before it actually

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gets to the confirmation process. So they're trying to litigate

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this in the media with anonymous sources with false accusations.

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I think the media ultimately understands that these accusations will

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not hold up to scrutiny, so they're trying to put

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the maximum amount of pressure on people like Jonie Ernst

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and try to leverage all of their media channels to

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build this sense of doubt with President Trump in his circle.

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But what we've seen is Trump has doubled down. He

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loves the way that Pete hegg Seth is fighting. Trump

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is not backing down, and Pete Heggseth isn't backing down.

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Speaker 2: So for these.

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Speaker 3: Accusers, they have to be willing to come forward. And

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what we learned during the Brett Kavanaugh process is that

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we cannot have a presumption of guilt in this process.

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We need to start with the presumption of innocence, and

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the accusers have to come forward and we have to

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validate whether.

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Speaker 2: Those are true or false.

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Speaker 3: My colleague get the Article three project is Mike Davis.

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He's a lifelong friend. He went to Iowa with me.

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He was on ground zero during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation.

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He was the chief counsel for nominations underneath Chuck Grassley

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when Grassley was the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, which

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by the way, Chuck Grassy will be the chair of

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the Judiciary again in twenty twenty five. And Mike saw

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all these fake accusers coming forward against Brett Kavanaugh. He

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saw the media jump on board and really try to

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elevate these accusations and Mike's whole point during that process.

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He told senators who are getting wobbly, he said, if

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these accusations aren't true, you have to move forward. So

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for Pete Hegseth in his background of maybe he drank

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a lot of alcohol, he had problems with some marriages,

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that history does not disqualify Pete Hegseth as a nominee

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to be the Secretary of Defense. If that's the case,

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If Congress wants to start saying that womanizing and drinking

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is a disqualification for public service, I think we're gonna

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have a lot of politicians out of a job.

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Speaker 1: I think you're absolutely right.

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Speaker 4: The IRS wants to do your tax returns. The Watched

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Out on Wall Street podcast with Chris Markowski. Today, Chris

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helps unpack the connection between politics and the economy and

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how it affects your wallet. The IRS now has a

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one hundred and fourteen million dollar budget to expand their

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direct file program. Filing with the IRS is like playing

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poker with mirrored sunglasses.

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Speaker 2: Don't show your cards.

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Speaker 4: Whether it's happening in DC or down on Wall Street,

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it's affecting you financially.

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Speaker 1: Be informed.

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Speaker 4: Check out the Watchdot on Wall Street Podcast with Chris

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Markowski on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast.

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Speaker 1: Our guest today is Mark Lucas, executive vice president of

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the Article three Project. He's joining us to talk about

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his friend, a guy he's known for a long time,

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served in the most dangerous places in the world, with

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Pete Hegseth, President elect Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense. Now,

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you raise a very good point, and that's why all

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of this pearl clutching, And let's be honest, perhaps it's

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not an issue that's bio ones want to get into.

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But you know, Joni Ernst has some issues in her past.

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We know through a divorce decree. In those court filings

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and documents, their allegations some pretty silacious allegations there involving

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the Senator. So I don't understand all this pearl clutching.

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I mean, if there are real assaults going on, that's

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one thing, but there's been no evidence substantiated to show that.

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And as you say, if that's the standard that someone

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had some rough nights drinking in their youth or had

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a broken marriage, there would be a lot of folks

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in the swamp out of jobs right now. No doubt

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about it. But why do these people keep believing this

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stuff and keep this whole pretentious notion that they're upholding

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some sort of moral code in Washington, d C of

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all plays.

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Speaker 2: Well.

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Speaker 3: I grew up in smalltown Iowa, and I moved to

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DC for five years, and I could not believe how

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many conservatives in Washington would read the Washington Post, would

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watch CNN, and would read the New York Times. And

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there's this bubble in Washington, and these conservatives they're stuck

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in his echo chamber, and it starts to rub off

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on them. They start to buy into this conventional wisdom

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that these narratives are true, and the media knows this

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and they can apply maximum pressure. However, the grass roots,

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the conservative grass roots, like in the state of Iowa

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that delivered Trump a historic re election all across the

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country where President Trump won every single major state. Not

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only does President Trump have a mandate, but the grass

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roots has a mandate, and they'll be voting in primaries,

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in voting in elections in twenty twenty six. So for

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these Republicans, they have to get smart. If you look

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at the Democrats, they vote in line on every single nominee,

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and they even pick up Republicans. I can't believe the

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amount of Republicans that vote for America Garland and Secretary

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of Defense Lloyd Austin and Christopher Wray. So you know,

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I'm not saying that you just avoid the facts. I

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do believe that the Senate has advice and consent responsibilities.

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But we cannot continue to be cowed by the media.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 3: They need to start listening to the voters, and they

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need if they were politically adept, they'd understand President Trump

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has got some major cotails and America First isn't going anywhere.

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There's a complete realignment in the Republican Party that's moving

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towards populism, as moving towards Trump's vision of disruption of

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the government, and I hope the dismantling of the administrative state,

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returning to the rule of law and being more in

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touch with regular people.

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Speaker 1: Well, Mark, I hate to be a dead horse, but

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you know Joni Earnst for a long time, you know,

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and she has you know, military career service, and obviously

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she has done a number of things on that front

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for veterans of ACKed service members. You know her record,

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But why why would she push this right now. Has

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she been reading the Des Moines Registers pre polling of

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the election. She's been reading Anne Selzer's polls and just

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didn't didn't take a closer look. I remember Anne Selzer,

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of course, the gold standard, so to speak, of polling

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in Iowa for years for the Des Moines Register right

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before the election predicted based on her polling that Kamala

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Harris would beat Donald Trump in Iowa or she at

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least she led by three percentage points. Donald Trump ended

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up winning by thirteen percentage points in deep red Iowa.

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I say all of that by way of asking the question,

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doesn't Senator Ernst know what the grassroots really is in

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Milwaukee Milwaukee in Iowa and the impact that they will

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have coming up in twenty twenty six?

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Speaker 2: Oh, she absolutely does.

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Speaker 3: And the one thing I'll say with Jonie Ernst is

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she was a victim of sexual assault. So she has

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a very strong feeling about this topic. And she's also

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addressed it within the military. We call it sharp sexual harassment,

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assault response and prevention. So she has a very strong

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feeling on this issue, and it's taking her a little

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bit of time to talk with Pete and on this issue,

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and I think a couple of other issues. So I

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do have a lot of sympathy for the survivors of

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sexual harassment and and that's why Brett Kavanaugh as well

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with some members of Congress, you know, they were they

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were very cautious. But what we have to do is

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as quickly as possible, look at those accusations, put them

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through the paces, find out they're valid or they're invalid,

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and then move on, because then if we give credence

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to these fake accusations, it just hurts, you know, real

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sexual assault survivors. So I do believe that Joni and

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Ernest is going to get to a Yes, I've gotten

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indications that she's supporting Cash Patel and some of these

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other great Trump America First nominees, and she's just taking

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a little bit more time on Pete and I believe

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she'll write to the right decision.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I've heard that she's very enthusiastic about many of

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the other nominees. You know, it's just I guess it

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goes back to and boils down to why would any

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of Why would any Republican politician, And I don't care

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if you're a politician from Maine or Alaska Senator from

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Mayne or Alaska. Why do you keep believing the stuff

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that is pushed out there when we know what the

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left in this country and their public relations agents in

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the corporate media have tried to do with Donald Trump

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and the Americans who support in America First Vision. Now

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let's turn our focus though to the guy that you know,

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Pete Hegseth, as a military leader. What are the kinds

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of qualities? And I think we're all learning more about

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his very courageous, valiant record to go along with yours.

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But what kind of leader would Pete Hegseth be in

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the Pentagon as Secretary of Defense.

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Speaker 2: Well, Pete was.

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Speaker 3: An infantry officer, and just like me, we were both

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infantry platoon leaders in combat. He was in Iraq and

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in Afghanistan, and warfighters, we don't have the luxury of

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being distracted by frivolous matters.

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Speaker 2: Right when you're in combat.

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Speaker 3: You have to be very focused, and guys like Pete

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and I would focus on what I called the big four, Shoot, Move, communicate,

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and stop bleeding. Whenever my men had white space on

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their calendar, I always said, we need to train on shoot, Move, Communicate, stop,

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bleeding right, because that those are the key for skill

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sets they're going to keep us alive. And in that

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Big four it might surprise you, but transgender surgeries and

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understanding white rage they didn't quite make the list.

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Speaker 2: So Pte's going to go into the Pentagon and he's

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going to.

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Speaker 3: Refocus our military on the basics, the fundamentals. We're going

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to cut out DEI. We're going to cut out all

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of this crap that doesn't help our military become a

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more lethal fighting force. That's what Donald Trump expects, that's

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what the American people wants, And you're starting to see

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the world is starting to understand that we're going in

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a different direction. So as a leader, he's got the

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vision to get back to the basics. Also, he's got

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an incredible aptitude. I mean I mentioned earlier. He went

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to Harvard, he went to Princeton. He's been researching and

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reading and observing foreign policy his entire life. And you

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can see how he's evolved like I did when I

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was younger. After nine to eleven, I couldn't wait to

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get at Afghanistan. We wanted to deploy, We wanted to

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take the fight to the enemy. But Pete and I

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both arrived at the same conclusion that after years away

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from combat, looking back on it as older men with

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wives and families, wasn't quite worth it. We didn't have

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a strategic objective. Winning was never a part of it.

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So he's also going to reorient our foreign policy in

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the mold of President Trump.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I can tell you this, it hits home.

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It hits home for you as a father, and I'm

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sure it hit home for your parents too, growing up

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in Southeast Iowa. And that is you know, you want

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the best for your children, and the best for your

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children if they decide to go into a into military service,

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whether that's for a tour of duty or you know,

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as a career. And I can tell you my son

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is weighing that right now as a senior in high

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school very seriously. You want to make sure that if

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they're putting their lives on the line, that the chief

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officers in that Pentagon who are making decisions about putting

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their lives on the line have their best interest in mind.

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And you lived it, and Pete Hegseth lived it, and

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you explained it before there were a lot of people

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in the Pentagon and in Washington DC that simply did

479
00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:19,119
not have the best interests not only of those young

480
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:23,119
men and women serving in dangerous places in mind, but

481
00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:26,400
the American people as well in general.

482
00:31:28,119 --> 00:31:31,240
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I look forward to the policy vision that Pete

483
00:31:31,279 --> 00:31:34,279
will bring to the DoD and as a young people

484
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:38,119
that are looking at a career in the military. I've

485
00:31:38,119 --> 00:31:41,119
heard that the enlistment numbers are up. I hear people

486
00:31:41,119 --> 00:31:44,200
are very optimistic about the direction of the army, and

487
00:31:44,279 --> 00:31:47,400
I think that Pete Hegseth is going to return the

488
00:31:47,519 --> 00:31:51,440
long needed respect that the military deserves because we've had

489
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:55,680
some really bad leadership from Joe Biden, Secretary Defense Lloyd Austin,

490
00:31:56,519 --> 00:31:59,920
the former Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milly.

491
00:31:59,799 --> 00:32:03,920
These guys have embarrassed our country. They abandoned our service

492
00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:07,759
members in Afghanistan on a boshwa' row, they kicked out

493
00:32:07,799 --> 00:32:12,119
so many people due to the COVID nonsense. And Pete,

494
00:32:12,359 --> 00:32:14,720
along with President Trump, is going to restore the respect

495
00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:15,519
to our military.

496
00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:21,400
Speaker 1: It has taking a beating the reputation of the US

497
00:32:21,519 --> 00:32:25,319
military around the world, and I think you can see

498
00:32:25,359 --> 00:32:31,880
it as the transition period kicks into higher gear that

499
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:34,680
the world is indeed watching of course they were watching

500
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:38,720
on November fifth. They've been watching some time, and you

501
00:32:38,759 --> 00:32:41,759
can see that dynamic shift. You can see what's happening

502
00:32:41,799 --> 00:32:44,359
in the Middle East, and you can see what's happening

503
00:32:44,519 --> 00:32:49,920
in Russia and Ukraine. But this country has given a

504
00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:56,319
lot of tax payer money to these endless wars across

505
00:32:56,640 --> 00:33:02,000
the country. Does that change day one with Pete Haig

506
00:33:02,079 --> 00:33:04,799
Sith as Secretary of Defense.

507
00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:08,519
Speaker 3: It does, and we're going to return to a peace

508
00:33:08,559 --> 00:33:12,319
and prosperity agenda. I saw this first hand with President

509
00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:16,240
Trump when he was Commander in chief. I volunteered to

510
00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:19,480
deploy to South Korea at the height of the crisis

511
00:33:19,519 --> 00:33:24,319
with Kim Jong un, and President Trump brought a completely

512
00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:29,200
different strategy to Korea. He did not listen to these

513
00:33:29,319 --> 00:33:33,920
career military people or these policy wongs from Washington, DC

514
00:33:34,119 --> 00:33:36,440
think tanks who said you should not talk to Kim

515
00:33:36,519 --> 00:33:40,039
Jong un. President Trump said, well, I think it's good

516
00:33:40,119 --> 00:33:43,079
to talk to people and become friends with people who

517
00:33:43,079 --> 00:33:46,039
have nuclear weapons. I think it's good to have a dialogue.

518
00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:49,160
And so when I got to Korea, I thought that

519
00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:53,039
war was imminent. I remember reporting the work every day

520
00:33:53,119 --> 00:33:57,119
in an underground bunker. I'd review satellite imagery that I

521
00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:01,039
could see the faces of North Korean soldiers. But President

522
00:34:01,079 --> 00:34:05,559
Trump and his leadership and his innovative approach to foreign

523
00:34:05,559 --> 00:34:11,199
policy completely changed the dynamic on the Korean peninsula. Pete

524
00:34:11,199 --> 00:34:15,480
Hegseth shares that same vision. He's going to be very,

525
00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:20,000
very cautious before he commits troops anywhere in the world.

526
00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:23,719
And that's going to benefit the American people, our sons,

527
00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:26,519
our daughters, but it's going to benefit the world.

528
00:34:26,679 --> 00:34:28,400
Speaker 2: These forever wars have killed.

529
00:34:28,159 --> 00:34:31,480
Speaker 3: So many people, and now you look at Ukraine and

530
00:34:31,519 --> 00:34:34,760
the thousands of lives lost and the billions of dollars

531
00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:38,039
of money waste, and now you look at Syria. The

532
00:34:38,079 --> 00:34:42,559
world desperately needs President Trump and sect F Pete Hegseth,

533
00:34:43,119 --> 00:34:46,320
because they're going to return our world back to a

534
00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:47,480
more stable footing.

535
00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:52,159
Speaker 1: How much do you think President Trump has learned from

536
00:34:52,199 --> 00:34:55,679
his first administration? And I think he was able to

537
00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:59,840
accomplish a lot under duress, extreme duress of course through

538
00:35:00,199 --> 00:35:04,079
most of it, but you know he was. He listened

539
00:35:04,119 --> 00:35:05,960
to a lot of people. I think that he would

540
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:09,519
tell you now he wouldn't listen to again. In fact,

541
00:35:09,559 --> 00:35:12,599
they're not people in his life anymore, and certainly not

542
00:35:12,639 --> 00:35:14,840
in his sphere of influence. How much do you think

543
00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:19,280
the president learned about the deep state from his first

544
00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:23,159
term and what kind of lessons will he apply moving forward?

545
00:35:24,159 --> 00:35:28,159
Speaker 3: Well, Donald Trump was never supposed to win in twenty sixteen,

546
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:31,719
and I was an early Trump supporter. I caucused for

547
00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:37,199
him in twenty sixteen. His trajectory as a first time

548
00:35:37,519 --> 00:35:40,800
candidate for office was to become the president of the

549
00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:44,320
United States. His first time running for office wasn't city

550
00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:48,800
council or congress or governor. He went straight from being

551
00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:53,000
a private businessman to the President of the United States.

552
00:35:53,239 --> 00:35:56,159
And when he went to Washington, he had to trust

553
00:35:56,159 --> 00:35:58,639
a lot of people because he never knew Washington. He

554
00:35:58,679 --> 00:36:01,840
didn't spend a whole lot of time there. He's coming

555
00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:06,280
back better. He knows who's loyal, he knows who shares

556
00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:09,559
his policy vision. And I see the difference already with

557
00:36:09,639 --> 00:36:13,079
the type of people he's nominating, people like Pete Hegseth

558
00:36:13,599 --> 00:36:18,119
Cash Pattel for FBI director, looking at Tulci, Gabbert and

559
00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:22,159
rfks building a new coalition. So Trump two point zero

560
00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:26,840
is going to be even more successful than his first term, which,

561
00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:30,239
by the way was one of the most successful four

562
00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:34,920
years at any Republican president has ever had. It was

563
00:36:35,039 --> 00:36:38,280
quite the run from twenty sixteen to twenty twenty, in

564
00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:40,239
twenty twenty four and even better.

565
00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:45,639
Speaker 1: And there is at least some confidence in knowing that

566
00:36:45,719 --> 00:36:50,519
you have a Republican majority in the House and now

567
00:36:50,599 --> 00:36:55,199
in the Senate, and it is I would imagine less

568
00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:58,719
much less likely that he'll have to deal with impeachments

569
00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:01,039
at least in the first two years years of his

570
00:37:01,239 --> 00:37:03,960
time in office. You know that that's a weapon that

571
00:37:04,039 --> 00:37:08,119
the Left tried to use over and over again among

572
00:37:08,239 --> 00:37:12,920
many final question for you, you have been now with the

573
00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:18,039
Article three Project, a very important organization doing great work

574
00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:21,840
on the jurisprudence front in America. Tell us a little

575
00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:24,920
bit more about the organization and what you see ahead

576
00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:29,639
for the Article three Project as it relates to the

577
00:37:29,679 --> 00:37:30,519
new administration.

578
00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:35,440
Speaker 3: Yes, the Article three Project was founded by Mike Davis,

579
00:37:36,119 --> 00:37:40,000
who clerked for Neil Gorsich on the Supreme Court. He

580
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:43,880
helped Neil Gorsich get selected as the nominee for the

581
00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:47,920
Supreme Court, and then after that he went into the

582
00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:51,400
Senate and helped confirm a record number of judges for

583
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:55,159
President Trump, and the Article three project is helping now

584
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:59,440
in twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five of confirming

585
00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:04,239
Trump's nowees, starting with Cash Patel and Pete Hegseth, and

586
00:38:04,639 --> 00:38:08,079
helping President Trump build out a Department of Justice that

587
00:38:08,159 --> 00:38:10,639
will focus on the rule of law. So we are

588
00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:15,920
really focused on this confirmation process and really dismantling this

589
00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:20,000
administrative state, returning our country back to respect to the

590
00:38:20,079 --> 00:38:23,400
rule of law, fighting back against the leftist lawfare, which

591
00:38:23,719 --> 00:38:28,320
Mike Davis was so effective he did over two thousand

592
00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:32,920
media hits defending President Trump after the infamous Mara Lago raid.

593
00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:36,079
So the Article three project is growing our Grasper's army,

594
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:40,280
and we look forward to deploying these Graspers activists all

595
00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:44,360
across the country to contact their US Senators to say

596
00:38:44,519 --> 00:38:49,079
confirm President Trump's nominees, to reach out to members of

597
00:38:49,119 --> 00:38:51,639
Congress and people back in their home states to say,

598
00:38:51,679 --> 00:38:53,360
let's return to a rule of law.

599
00:38:53,920 --> 00:38:56,639
Speaker 1: Now long we know our senator in Iowa has certainly

600
00:38:56,679 --> 00:38:59,039
had enough of the people who are very instrumental in

601
00:38:59,079 --> 00:39:01,400
that raid of Marrow Law Go, among other things, and

602
00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:06,079
putting out a letter of absolute no confidence US Senator

603
00:39:06,159 --> 00:39:08,840
Chuck Grassley putting out a letter this week of absolute

604
00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:12,800
no confidence in Christopher Ray, the guy who is supposed

605
00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:16,719
to come in replace James Comey and clean up the

606
00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:20,960
FBI of all of its abuses. Instead, he absolutely doubled down.

607
00:39:21,039 --> 00:39:27,679
And so understandably, the guy who effectively ultimately authorized the

608
00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:31,880
raid of President Trump's home in a very abusive investigation

609
00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:36,239
will be sent packing very shortly. That's all part of it,

610
00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:38,840
I mean. And that's what the Article three Project has

611
00:39:38,880 --> 00:39:41,760
said over and over again this past election. And where

612
00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:47,039
we stand in America today is you know about whether

613
00:39:47,239 --> 00:39:51,840
this republic can exist as it has for nearly two

614
00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:54,280
hundred and fifty years. That's the bottom line, is it.

615
00:39:54,199 --> 00:39:58,960
Speaker 3: Not absolutely If we don't have a rule of law,

616
00:39:59,519 --> 00:40:03,960
if we i don't have three strong, yet separate branches

617
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:09,079
of government, we won't survive. Our founding fathers were so

618
00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:13,280
well informed of the history of government and of tyranny,

619
00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:19,159
and they understood how precarious our freedom can become. They

620
00:40:19,239 --> 00:40:22,679
wanted to develop this constitution to be able to have

621
00:40:22,719 --> 00:40:26,239
something that government that had staying power, a government that

622
00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:29,000
was responsive to the will of the people. And the

623
00:40:29,079 --> 00:40:32,960
Article three Project and President Trump and Pete Hegseth, and

624
00:40:33,239 --> 00:40:37,039
this new movement, the America First Movement, is going to

625
00:40:37,039 --> 00:40:39,639
put us back on the right direction and return our

626
00:40:39,679 --> 00:40:41,000
country back to the fundamentals.

627
00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:44,039
Speaker 1: Well's the mission at the end of the day. That mission,

628
00:40:44,079 --> 00:40:48,159
of course is to at this time save and secure

629
00:40:48,199 --> 00:40:51,400
the Republic. And that happens, of course, the work that

630
00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:54,320
you're doing with the Article three Project. It certainly happens

631
00:40:54,880 --> 00:41:00,800
in the Department of Defense and the Trump administration set

632
00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:04,440
to take office in a matter of weeks. Thank you

633
00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:06,760
so much for joining us today. I really do appreciate it.

634
00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:09,679
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me on you bent.

635
00:41:10,119 --> 00:41:13,639
Speaker 1: Thanks to my guest today, Mark Lucas, executive vice president

636
00:41:14,079 --> 00:41:17,480
of the Article three Project. You've been listening to another

637
00:41:17,599 --> 00:41:20,599
edition of The Federalist Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittle, senior

638
00:41:20,639 --> 00:41:24,119
correspondent at the Federalist. We'll be back soon with more.

639
00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:28,480
Until then, stay lovers of freedom and anxious for the fray.

640
00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:34,119
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