WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:04.200 And you're joined by Charles C. W. Cook and Stephen 2 00:00:04.200 --> 00:00:07.240 Hayward or at least or so I believe here. Let 3 00:00:07.320 --> 00:00:13.960 me let me check. Is am I right? Steven? Okay? 4 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:14.199 Uh? 5 00:00:14.599 --> 00:00:16.839 So we have Oh, it's just me and Charlie m 6 00:00:17.079 --> 00:00:21.039 m all right, redoing it all coming down three to one. 7 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:26.559 Ask not what your country can do for you, ask 8 00:00:26.679 --> 00:00:28.519 what you can do for your country. 9 00:00:29.239 --> 00:00:33.079 Mister Gurbu, you'll tear down this wall. 10 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:37.359 It's the Ricochet Podcast. I'm James Lollacks and we've got 11 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:39.880 Charles C. W. Cook with us as well. We're going 12 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:41.560 to be talking to Dennis Neil, host of the What's 13 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:43.600 Bugging Me Podcast, to talk about his new book on 14 00:00:44.359 --> 00:00:47.759 e Lawn Musk. So let's ever So it's a podcast. 15 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:52.200 Prior to the collision, the flight paths that were being 16 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:55.799 flown from the military and from American that was not 17 00:00:55.920 --> 00:01:00.280 unusual for what happens in the DC air space. And 18 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:03.520 as this investigation moves forward, we will be able to 19 00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:08.400 provide more information to you about the details of that statement. 20 00:01:09.480 --> 00:01:11.799 Welcome friends. It's the Ricochet Podcast and it is number 21 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:14.280 seven hundred and twenty six. If you're making hash marks 22 00:01:14.280 --> 00:01:17.439 on your cell wall, I'm James Lylyx here in Minneapolis, 23 00:01:17.480 --> 00:01:22.200 sitting across from a beautiful thirty one story skyscraper, which 24 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:24.359 is the tallest building built in the year two thousand 25 00:01:24.519 --> 00:01:27.079 in the United States of America. It sold a few 26 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:29.000 years ago for two hundred million dollars. It was sold 27 00:01:29.079 --> 00:01:33.640 yesterday for six million dollars. Such as the state of 28 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:36.840 things here in Florida, we have Charles C. W. Cook, Charlie, 29 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:37.519 how you doing. 30 00:01:37.799 --> 00:01:45.000 I'm doing well. Is the downtown Minneapolis really that troubled well? 31 00:01:45.959 --> 00:01:49.640 Kind of? Sort of? Yeah, it is. And what it's causing, 32 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:54.319 of course, is massive increases in property taxes for the homeowners. 33 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:56.400 So everybody got to go work from home, and that 34 00:01:56.439 --> 00:01:58.760 was absolutely fantastic. And who needs a city anyway? I 35 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:01.680 hate to commute, and the end result is an empty downtown. 36 00:02:02.840 --> 00:02:06.079 So it's remarkable because I passed through this building every 37 00:02:06.120 --> 00:02:09.680 day and I'm thinking it may be torn down. It 38 00:02:09.719 --> 00:02:12.719 may be at the thirty one story skyscraper demolished because 39 00:02:12.759 --> 00:02:14.840 it costs ten to twenty five million dollars a year 40 00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:16.800 to eat and cool the thing, and they're just simply 41 00:02:16.840 --> 00:02:18.919 no money to be hand in it. Or everybody says, 42 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:20.960 let's turn it into housing is if you can wave 43 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:22.960 a wand and all of a sudden, pipes and windows 44 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:26.719 are manifested everywhere. It doesn't work that way. We'll see anyway. 45 00:02:26.759 --> 00:02:29.120 It's been an interesting week. It's been ups and downs, 46 00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:35.759 it's been calamitous. Let us start with, well, there was 47 00:02:35.800 --> 00:02:40.280 a freeze and then there wasn't. You can talk about 48 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:44.240 the metrics, the performance, how it looked, the optics, the idea, 49 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:47.319 whether or not it was good or bad, or where 50 00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:50.360 the rest of it. I think the kerfluffle surrounding it 51 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:53.960 will be forgotten. But you hope that the enthusiasm for 52 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:57.520 a line by line examination of these programs and grants 53 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:00.120 is not That's the important thing to take away, isn't it. 54 00:03:01.159 --> 00:03:06.280 Yes, there may be some legal obstacles, but in many 55 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:10.439 cases this power has been delegated to the president and 56 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:13.879 to the various agencies which work for the president, and 57 00:03:14.039 --> 00:03:18.919 so a freeze is permissible. There will be exceptions. I'm 58 00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:24.919 sure there will be litigation, and that's fine. But the 59 00:03:24.919 --> 00:03:28.080 White House has been tasked by Congress with an enormous 60 00:03:28.120 --> 00:03:32.479 amount of the legwork in determining where these funds go, 61 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:37.240 fact finding and so forth. It seems a little odd 62 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:41.159 to say, you're not allowed to pause before you make 63 00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:46.120 your next decision, You're not allowed to audit, you're not 64 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:52.400 allowed to reconsider based on your political reevaluation of the landscape. 65 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:56.240 So I do expect in the long run, this project 66 00:03:56.280 --> 00:03:58.080 will be continued. 67 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:02.039 Right York Times had a list of two thousand, six 68 00:04:02.120 --> 00:04:05.680 hundred grants which were in danger and one could peruse them, 69 00:04:06.280 --> 00:04:09.199 and that was a nice public service. I'm glad they 70 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:11.800 did that. I kept scrolling down and scrolling down on 71 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:14.840 my browser, struggled to keep up with the number of 72 00:04:14.919 --> 00:04:17.480 programs that it was loading constantly until I got to 73 00:04:17.480 --> 00:04:19.439 the bottom. And you can look through some of them 74 00:04:19.480 --> 00:04:22.000 and say, well, I think that's a legitimate expenditure for government. 75 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:23.720 But then you can look at others and say, I 76 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:27.199 have no idea whatsoever why we are doing this other 77 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:29.759 than we did it last year and ergo must do 78 00:04:29.800 --> 00:04:32.680 it next. Somebody online and I can't remember the name 79 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:34.600 of the person alas I'll try to find it for 80 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:39.519 the comments Twitter user small r Republican. I think is 81 00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:41.759 what it is is a data crunch or extraordinary and 82 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:44.720 built a database into which you can plug any keyword 83 00:04:44.759 --> 00:04:47.079 and it will tell you the government programs that are 84 00:04:47.399 --> 00:04:52.439 perhaps spending money on that. Somebody put in yarn and 85 00:04:52.600 --> 00:04:55.079 came up with a whole variety of programs that the 86 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:59.040 government is funding to encourage knitting in underserved communities. I 87 00:04:59.079 --> 00:05:02.759 put in coffee, and I've found a six hundred thousand 88 00:05:02.759 --> 00:05:06.680 dollars grant to another country to encourage sustainable farming on 89 00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:10.759 some plot in some indigenous land in the back of 90 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:16.480 the country of whatever. It's remarkable how much we pump 91 00:05:16.519 --> 00:05:20.319 out in terms of large ass and how little we 92 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:22.399 seem to be able to know how to get our 93 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:27.759 hands around it. Do you think, however, that Doge and 94 00:05:27.800 --> 00:05:30.399 I just love the fact that it's named after a 95 00:05:30.439 --> 00:05:34.560 mispronunciation of an animal and a coin is actually going 96 00:05:34.600 --> 00:05:37.000 to be able to do something of this. Because the 97 00:05:37.040 --> 00:05:39.399 reason that I was saying the freeze is good, I 98 00:05:39.399 --> 00:05:41.680 think the freeze was done wrong. I think and across 99 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:44.600 the board freezes they did announcing it and then having 100 00:05:44.600 --> 00:05:47.480 to explain it and say no, these things are exempt. 101 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:50.680 I think it's easier to just say to come out 102 00:05:50.680 --> 00:05:53.800 and say here is a trench of programs that we 103 00:05:53.839 --> 00:05:55.240 are freezing, and we're going to look, but there has 104 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:57.000 nothing to do with anything else that the government does. 105 00:05:57.040 --> 00:06:01.360 These are twenty six hundred non essential or perhaps essential things. 106 00:06:01.480 --> 00:06:03.759 We're going to look at these and then go through 107 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:05.439 them line and freeze them line by line, because we 108 00:06:05.480 --> 00:06:07.560 all know when we have these blue ribbon panels and 109 00:06:07.560 --> 00:06:10.079 commissions that issue a white paper about what to do, 110 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:13.680 nothing is ever done ever. So this seemed to be 111 00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:16.240 a good way to do it. But do you think 112 00:06:16.439 --> 00:06:20.360 then that after we do have the freeze and evaluation, 113 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:22.560 do you actually think there's going to be an appetite 114 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:26.120 to knock them off? Because I don't think it's performative. 115 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:28.000 I think they actually are serious about doing this. 116 00:06:28.759 --> 00:06:30.480 I think they are. I think this is the one 117 00:06:30.519 --> 00:06:35.279 area where DOGE will be useful. So the way that 118 00:06:35.399 --> 00:06:40.759 this has been sold is typical of the Republicans in 119 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:45.839 that it is exclusive of the real drivers of our 120 00:06:45.879 --> 00:06:52.079 debt and deficits, which are entitlements and interest on the debt. 121 00:06:53.480 --> 00:06:56.399 Can't touch those because the public doesn't want to, the 122 00:06:56.399 --> 00:06:59.959 President doesn't want to, and Congress doesn't want to. Because 123 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:04.600 you can't touch those, you can't reduce the debt, and 124 00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:07.519 you can't not pay your debts because otherwise you default. 125 00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:11.000 You cause all sorts of other problems, so we aren't 126 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:17.560 serious about cutting spending. But there are two areas that 127 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:21.680 were identified in that initial DOGE report that you really 128 00:07:21.720 --> 00:07:24.639 can do something about. One of them is this, which 129 00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:30.040 is discretionary grants determined by the executive branch. And the 130 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:34.199 other is fraud. And there is a lot of fraud 131 00:07:34.279 --> 00:07:37.519 in Medicare, and there's a lot of fraud in Medicaid. 132 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:39.959 I could be wrong. I think the number in the 133 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:43.439 report was two hundred billion dollars. Now relative to the 134 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:46.639 overall budget, that's not going to fix our issues, but 135 00:07:46.680 --> 00:07:48.480 it would still be good to have that two hundred 136 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:50.800 billion dollars in the treasury or. 137 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:52.879 Two hundred billion here, at two hundred billion there. Eventually 138 00:07:52.920 --> 00:07:53.600 you're talking a lot of. 139 00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:59.279 Money exactly, So, providing they get the right people in yeah, 140 00:07:59.399 --> 00:08:02.920 I think this would be useful. I also think as 141 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:05.680 a rule that it is really good for any organization, 142 00:08:05.879 --> 00:08:08.600 especially those that take money from the public by force, 143 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:10.639 to reevaluate every few years. 144 00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:11.279 What is doing. 145 00:08:11.879 --> 00:08:15.000 I do it with my finances. I look through my 146 00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:18.160 credit card bell and think do I need that? Do 147 00:08:18.199 --> 00:08:21.000 I need this? Was that a good use of money? 148 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:25.759 I was fifteen years ago dating this girl whose grandparents 149 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:31.879 lived in a really nice part of Michigan that is 150 00:08:32.600 --> 00:08:36.240 full of enormous houses. And I was absolutely astonished at 151 00:08:36.279 --> 00:08:39.960 the time by their house and their many cars and 152 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:45.559 clothes and so on. And one morning the grandmother drove 153 00:08:46.519 --> 00:08:49.720 sixteen miles to find gas that was thirty cents cheaper. 154 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:54.639 And I thought, hang on a minute. You have champagne 155 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:58.080 at dinner, you have this massive house, you have this 156 00:08:58.440 --> 00:09:05.080 Lincoln cars, and you're doing that. But then it occurred 157 00:09:05.080 --> 00:09:08.120 to me, well, that's a habit, and that habit is 158 00:09:08.120 --> 00:09:10.080 one of the reasons they have all of that stuff 159 00:09:10.440 --> 00:09:14.320 is that they have gone through and looked at where 160 00:09:14.360 --> 00:09:18.120 to save money as a matter of course, for probably 161 00:09:18.120 --> 00:09:22.080 fifty years. And the federal government is the opposite of that. 162 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:25.320 It hasn't done this for probably fifty years. There are 163 00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:28.720 probably line items in there that started at some point 164 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:34.720 and may have completely transmuted themselves from the original intent. 165 00:09:34.919 --> 00:09:37.240 I don't want to be too harsh on the New 166 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:39.960 York Times. I'm sure that resource is usedful, but it's 167 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.279 also probable that whatever The New York Times is explaining 168 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:48.519 a given programmers doing may not be exactly what it 169 00:09:48.600 --> 00:09:51.559 does in practice, or if it does do it, it 170 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:53.519 perhaps doesn't do it efficiently or on the way that 171 00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:54.960 we would want. And the only way that you could 172 00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:57.000 find that acts to conduct an audit. So I think 173 00:09:57.000 --> 00:09:59.679 this is really really good, providing that we don't kid 174 00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:03.200 ourselves that it is going to solve our issue, which 175 00:10:03.240 --> 00:10:06.600 is that every year, deliberately and with the blessing of 176 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:09.320 the American public, we spend about a trillion or more 177 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:10.759 dollars more than we take in. 178 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:13.240 Right, well, I mean yes, if they put that in 179 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:15.519 the sense that we're going to do an audit and 180 00:10:15.559 --> 00:10:18.159 figure out, you know, we're paying both for Acorn streaming 181 00:10:18.200 --> 00:10:21.279 service and britt Box, we can probably get just one 182 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:23.279 and people would you know, put those in at least 183 00:10:23.320 --> 00:10:26.200 it would be explainable to the people who are addicted 184 00:10:26.200 --> 00:10:28.759 to British crime shows, of which I happen to happen 185 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:31.360 to be one of them watching something and watching something 186 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:36.440 now called Cormorant Strike, which is apparently a very famous 187 00:10:36.679 --> 00:10:40.320 Private Eye series, and JK. Rowlings is the executive producer. 188 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:42.320 So I'm amazed at gut on the air without a 189 00:10:42.519 --> 00:10:46.519 people protesting outside Netflix headquarters. But the second thing is this, 190 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:51.159 when you mentioned entitlements, is it not the time perhaps 191 00:10:51.279 --> 00:10:54.440 for somebody with Trump's megaphone and bowl in the China 192 00:10:54.519 --> 00:10:57.480 shop here, and I'm breaking reputation to say, hey, we're 193 00:10:57.480 --> 00:10:59.639 not going to touch anything from anybody for anybody who 194 00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:02.519 is below this age. But if you are above this age. 195 00:11:02.519 --> 00:11:04.159 But if you are below this age, we're going to 196 00:11:04.200 --> 00:11:07.200 give you option to quit, to opt out of it, 197 00:11:07.559 --> 00:11:10.480 to put your money into some you know, I mean 198 00:11:10.919 --> 00:11:13.039 various ways to do it. Say you have to invest 199 00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:14.679 in the stock market, you have to have a four 200 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:16.480 oh one k, or you have to have something to 201 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:20.519 supplement Medigaid or Medicare or Social Security. But just you don't. 202 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:22.759 If you don't want to, you don't have to be Now. 203 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:25.799 I know that the system depends on younger people coming 204 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:28.679 up the chain and paying into it. That's the Ponzi 205 00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:31.080 scheme nature of it. But we're going to be stuck 206 00:11:31.080 --> 00:11:35.159 paying this entirely forever unless we figure out a different 207 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:37.840 way to run Social Security. Or is that just too 208 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:38.919 much of the plate for the moment. 209 00:11:39.879 --> 00:11:41.840 It's time for Trump to do that if he wants 210 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:45.840 his approval writing to be twenty five percent. I completely 211 00:11:45.879 --> 00:11:49.320 agree with you. I think Paul Ryan was correct about this. 212 00:11:50.279 --> 00:11:54.200 I say this, but I'm allowed to be, perhaps even 213 00:11:54.279 --> 00:11:59.639 enthusiastic about being unpopular. Trump is not Obama writer. I 214 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:01.840 can this. I do spend a lot of my time 215 00:12:01.879 --> 00:12:03.919 saying things that I know that people reading me won't like, 216 00:12:03.960 --> 00:12:05.799 because I think they're true, and I think I owe 217 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:08.360 it to the few people who do read me to 218 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:11.320 tell them what I think is true. And if they 219 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:13.480 don't want to read anymore, that's fine. But I'm certainly 220 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:16.320 not going to bend a public opinion because I'm not 221 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:18.720 a politician, but Trump is, and that's a more complicated 222 00:12:18.759 --> 00:12:22.080 relationship without going into Edmund Burke and all of the 223 00:12:22.120 --> 00:12:24.720 debates over whether you're supposed to lead or follow as 224 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:29.279 a politician in a democratic society. Donald Trump understands and 225 00:12:29.399 --> 00:12:33.600 is correct in his assumption that the American public does 226 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:36.759 not want to do entitlement reform, and he knows that 227 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:40.559 if he touches this, and I should say I don't 228 00:12:40.600 --> 00:12:42.480 think he wants to. I don't think this is Trump's 229 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:45.279 political view, but he knows that if he touches this, 230 00:12:46.039 --> 00:12:49.440 he will be demogogued in every direction. It will get 231 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:51.279 in the the way of all the other things he 232 00:12:51.320 --> 00:12:55.240 wants to do. In his brief time, probably two years 233 00:12:55.240 --> 00:12:58.039 before he loses the House, certainly four years before he's 234 00:12:58.519 --> 00:13:02.080 unable to be president anymore. Well, he knows it will 235 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:06.279 destroy his presidency. And I don't like the fact that 236 00:13:06.279 --> 00:13:08.559 both parties have alighted on this view and that this 237 00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:10.360 is where we got to. It's a country, And I 238 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:12.559 don't like the fact that we were willing to talk 239 00:13:12.600 --> 00:13:14.960 about it at least sixteen years ago in a way 240 00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:18.000 we're not now. But I also do understand that from Republicans, 241 00:13:18.039 --> 00:13:22.600 and I ultimately blame the left side of the Aisle 242 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:27.320 for the total unwillingness to even discuss this that leads 243 00:13:27.320 --> 00:13:31.240 to Republicans having to essentially give up on it because 244 00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:35.519 when we did talk like adults, we were crushed for it. 245 00:13:36.519 --> 00:13:38.519 So what have they done. They've decided that they'd rather 246 00:13:38.600 --> 00:13:41.360 get all the other things on their list done and 247 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:43.519 this will just have to collapse of its own volition. 248 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:48.639 Quite right, Panhead or phillipswear screwed. But you, of course, 249 00:13:48.679 --> 00:13:51.360 are part of the National Review monolith that does nothing 250 00:13:51.399 --> 00:13:54.000 but praise Trump. According to mattter Lass, who I guess 251 00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:57.360 isn't it hasn't scrolled down below the the site or 252 00:13:57.399 --> 00:14:00.200 opened up the magazine in some time. Nevertheless, I can 253 00:14:00.200 --> 00:14:04.000 imagine that somebody at NR or NRO doing a little 254 00:14:04.039 --> 00:14:07.960 research over the freeze and the programs and the rest 255 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:10.559 of it might have thought, I wonder what the OMB 256 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:13.600 website is saying about this? And this has been a 257 00:14:13.639 --> 00:14:16.320 bugaboo of mine for the last week, and nobody seems 258 00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:20.399 to care. Nobody seems to care that there isn't a 259 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:24.960 website for the OMB. There used to be that is 260 00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:30.399 that true? Not anymore? Because my wife, who works in 261 00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:32.279 healthcare and finance and the rest of it, when this 262 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:36.720 all dropped, everybody was, you know, chickens, heads on fire, 263 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:39.879 whatever metaphors you want to construct. Frankenstein like was going 264 00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:42.279 to the OMB website for guidance. And if you type 265 00:14:42.279 --> 00:14:45.360 in oh, you know OMB dot whatever permutation you do, 266 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:48.559 it goes right to White House dot gov, right to 267 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:51.360 a picture a President Trump filling the whole screen pointing 268 00:14:51.639 --> 00:14:54.320 at somebody, and there is no OMB. Try it. Maybe 269 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:57.799 they fixed it now. In the past OMB opposite Management 270 00:14:57.799 --> 00:15:00.480 and Budget dot gov has always defaulted to the white page. 271 00:15:00.519 --> 00:15:03.559 But it's the subdirectory OMB, and therein you will find 272 00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:06.399 all kinds of stuff. I went back into archive dot 273 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:09.960 org's wayback machine and was able to find countless screen 274 00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:13.120 grabs of a discrete site that the OMB had with 275 00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:16.039 a variety of links to programs and resources. They're not 276 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:21.080 there anymore, and they stopped being there on an inauguration day. Now, 277 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:23.120 I was reading the Hill because the Hill was talking 278 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:26.919 about the Trump administration taking down all these sites, okay, 279 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:29.840 and I thought, well, that's interesting. I can understand this. 280 00:15:29.960 --> 00:15:32.679 I can understand that. And the Hill said that the 281 00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:36.759 Trump administration had taken down a site about the Constitution 282 00:15:36.919 --> 00:15:39.600 which was up during Joe Biden's years. Now, what would 283 00:15:39.639 --> 00:15:42.200 you take away from that, Charles, What was that? What 284 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:44.559 impression would you get from that? Why? 285 00:15:44.559 --> 00:15:44.919 I don't know. 286 00:15:44.919 --> 00:15:47.639 What did the site say? Well, that's just it. It 287 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:49.879 was about the Constitution. It explained what the Bill of 288 00:15:49.960 --> 00:15:52.519 Rights were, explained the ratification process. It didn't have an 289 00:15:52.519 --> 00:15:54.559 actual copy of the Constitution, but it did have the 290 00:15:54.600 --> 00:15:57.000 Bill of Rights, et cetera. But the idea was was, 291 00:15:57.039 --> 00:16:00.159 you know, during Joe Biden's administration, Whitehouse, dot Gov talk 292 00:16:00.200 --> 00:16:05.159 about the Constitution. Trump comes in and he takes it away. Well, actually, no, 293 00:16:05.559 --> 00:16:07.960 what happened was there was a sub section of the 294 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:10.399 site called our founding Documents or something like that, and 295 00:16:10.440 --> 00:16:13.840 they nuked that, and the Constitution side happened to be 296 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:16.840 one of them. The Constitution and the founding document sites 297 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:20.240 were actually put up during the Trump administration, and then 298 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:23.679 we're just sitting there during the Biden administration. So the 299 00:16:23.720 --> 00:16:26.240 impression that the Hill gives you is that, well, Biden 300 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:28.600 was keen on putting the Constitution up there and Trump 301 00:16:28.679 --> 00:16:31.000 took it down. It's not true. The Constitution could be 302 00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:33.120 founded at the National Archives, it could be fund at 303 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:35.759 the Senate pages anyway. So I know that somebody came 304 00:16:35.799 --> 00:16:38.200 in and just nuked a whole bunch of subdirectories, and 305 00:16:38.279 --> 00:16:42.440 OMB was one of them. But we don't have a 306 00:16:42.679 --> 00:16:46.200 of all times not to have an OMB resource. This 307 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:49.279 would seem to be one that you want to be 308 00:16:49.320 --> 00:16:51.399 able to go to that page and you can't. And 309 00:16:51.480 --> 00:16:53.960 I called them up, and I called their chatbots and 310 00:16:54.200 --> 00:16:55.799 I asked where the page was, and all they could 311 00:16:55.799 --> 00:16:58.320 tell me is the OMB website is not available at 312 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:01.360 this time. He seems to care about this, and I 313 00:17:01.399 --> 00:17:06.960 think it's a really strange thing. I mean, never ascribe 314 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:09.640 to malice what you can do in competence, but it's 315 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:11.960 like I've spent my week trying to get people to say, 316 00:17:12.039 --> 00:17:14.039 did you know there's actually no website anymore for the 317 00:17:14.119 --> 00:17:16.680 OMB during a time when we're talking about I don't know, 318 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:18.759 management and budget, it seems, but that's just. 319 00:17:18.759 --> 00:17:22.079 Me probable this will get fixed because Trump's OMB guy 320 00:17:22.119 --> 00:17:25.720 is pretty good. He's the same guy had last time, 321 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:30.599 and he's one of his best appointments. I think he's 322 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:32.720 already got through the Senate. If not, he's going to 323 00:17:32.759 --> 00:17:33.720 sell through the Senate. 324 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:36.880 Well good, Well that's fine. All I know is that, 325 00:17:37.319 --> 00:17:39.799 you know, maybe they should hire some people who are 326 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:41.359 a little bitter when it comes to the website and 327 00:17:41.400 --> 00:17:43.519 getting it up there. And actually, if you're in the 328 00:17:43.559 --> 00:17:45.680 business of hiring somebody, you know, if you're a business 329 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:48.279 owner of such, you probably have felt, no doubt, totally 330 00:17:48.279 --> 00:17:51.440 lost when it comes to HR. 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See for yourself all 355 00:19:03.880 --> 00:19:06.160 that bamboo hr can do and how truly affordable it 356 00:19:06.200 --> 00:19:09.240 can be at bamboo hr dot com slash free demo 357 00:19:09.640 --> 00:19:14.039 bamboohr dot com slash free demo, and we thank bamboo 358 00:19:14.119 --> 00:19:17.920 Hr for sponsoring this The Brigachet Podcast and not of 359 00:19:17.960 --> 00:19:21.000 our guest, Dennis Neil, Award winning journalist who's worked as 360 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:24.039 a Fox News anchor, managing editor of Forbes, a senior 361 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:26.240 editor at The Wall Street Journal before starting the Dennis 362 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:29.160 Neil Media. He's the host of What's Bugging Me? A 363 00:19:29.240 --> 00:19:33.640 podcast available writer or maybe not so aggressively, What's bugging Me? 364 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:36.240 We'll have him tell you. It's a podcast available right 365 00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:38.279 here in the Ricochet Audio Network, and he is the 366 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:42.799 author of the just published The Leadership Genius of Elon Musk. 367 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:46.359 Dennis, welcome, Thanks so much, and it's so great to 368 00:19:46.359 --> 00:19:50.519 see you because I hear your voice James on my 369 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:55.119 podcast What's Bugging Me, a house ad that runs in 370 00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:58.880 virtually every episode. So I've had this person pictured in 371 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:01.880 mind this and man, I wish I had your voice. 372 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:03.920 It's a great voice, and it's great. 373 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:07.319 Do I match the vision because I'm on you know, 374 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:09.759 I'm Napoleonic in my statue, which is to say, not 375 00:20:09.839 --> 00:20:11.079 particularly tall. 376 00:20:11.079 --> 00:20:13.839 And your voice, your voice is twelve feet tall. It 377 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:17.359 is so rich and sonorous and the entire time. In 378 00:20:17.400 --> 00:20:21.640 my mind, I'm seeing Stephen Hayward. Actually that's kind of 379 00:20:22.119 --> 00:20:22.839 who I'm thinking. 380 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:27.039 Well, I'm here in my autumnal colors, in my special 381 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:29.400 color coordinated glasses. If you got me on another day, 382 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:30.720 i'd be in a suit and tie with the white 383 00:20:30.759 --> 00:20:33.119 glasses or the horn rims. I'm a chameleon. Actually, I'm 384 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:35.359 an absolute Cameleian. So whatever vision you have in your head, 385 00:20:35.400 --> 00:20:38.079 wipe it away, up end at your schedule. It'll be 386 00:20:38.119 --> 00:20:40.920 different tomorrow. But we've got you here now. We love 387 00:20:40.920 --> 00:20:44.960 your podcast, of course. And Elon Musk has gone from 388 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:47.920 being the darling of the left because he's the guy. 389 00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:50.960 He's an immigrant, he came here, he's high tech. He 390 00:20:51.319 --> 00:20:54.039 envisioned what the future of electric cars can be. God 391 00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:57.759 blessed this guy. And now he's a Nazi. And I 392 00:20:57.799 --> 00:20:59.400 was going back and trying to figure out the point 393 00:20:59.400 --> 00:21:01.920 of which things began to turn on him. And I 394 00:21:02.039 --> 00:21:05.359 actually think that the progressives began to turn on Elon 395 00:21:05.480 --> 00:21:08.799 Musk the moment that he launched a convertible sports car 396 00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:11.720 into space. I think that was the first moment that 397 00:21:11.759 --> 00:21:15.839 they realized that there was an American vibe to this guy, 398 00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:19.680 that they didn't like, but of course he's a Nazi. 399 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:23.039 It was surprising that he even started out with their 400 00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:26.160 support because the left, and by the way, we always 401 00:21:26.200 --> 00:21:29.640