transcript
Speaker 1:
[00:06] Hi, everyone, it's 4 o'clock in New York. The Marie Antoinette Presidency of Donald J. Trump has a decidedly grifty edge to it today. As economic pain multiplies from Donald Trump's war of choice in Iran, there are signs that suggest a select group of insiders are cashing in. Democrats on Capitol Hill today are sounding the alarm after Treasury Secretary Scott Besson floated the idea of economic support for the UAE, citing the country's close financial ties to the Trump family. New York Times reports that, It is not clear how big a lifeline the Emirates might need or even whether it needs one at all. What is clear, however, is the financial relationship between the UAE and the Trump family. Earlier this year, the brother of the UAE's president bought a 49% stake in the Trump family crypto company, World Liberty Financial. It's a company which one Trump supporter and investor said was a, quote, golden opportunity to leverage the Trump brand to profit through fraud. Said that in a lawsuit he filed against the company. Donald Trump's sons have cleaned up during the war with Iran with Donald Jr. personally benefiting from making investments in prediction markets, investments which have gone up tenfold in value since the start of Trump's second term as president. The AP reports this, quote, one of the biggest fee generators lately has been Trump's approach to the Iran war. Notably his two social posts on April 5th demanding the country, quote, open the effing strait. Trading on polymarkets soared with yes or no wagers on whether an invasion was imminent. That's according to one analysis firm only to be surpassed on April 7th by betting on another question, will there be a ceasefire? When Trump posted ominously that a, quote, old civilization will die tonight, the Trump administration has sued states that are trying to ban prediction markets. And of course, there's the whole category that is the other son, Eric Trump. He recently went on Fox News to champion a $24 million Pentagon contract that his robotics company won.
Speaker 2:
[02:22] I couldn't believe what I saw, you know, coming from hospitality, the uses are unlimited. When you go up and you interact with these robots and they fist bump you, they high five you, they follow your commands, you bring in AI economy, it's going to change industry, it's going to change military application, it's going to change hospitality.
Speaker 1:
[02:42] The interviewer, Eric Trump, talks about how robots can fist bump, will be with me forever. Well, the Trumps are making out like bandits with the Trump family's net worth up by nearly $3 billion since the second term began 15 months ago. The economic anxiety and the economic pain, the cost for everyone else in America is soaring, including for a whole bunch of Donald Trump's own voters and supporters who put him back in the White House, largely because he promised them he would lower the cost of everything. Remember, the groceries, everything. Now, the International Monetary Fund says that the war in Iran could trigger a global recession, and the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency says that we are facing the biggest energy security threat in history. Griff, for me, rising gas prices for the as Donald Trump's approach to running the White House is where we start today. Political analyst, former Senator Claire McCaskill joins us, also joining us Scott McFarland. He is now the chief Washington correspondent and host of Scott McFarland Reports for the Midas Touch, which I get in my email and I watch every day. You are absolutely killing it, my friend. And with me at the table for the hour, former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs during the Obama administration, MS Now political analyst, Rick Spangle. Claire, I know that everything has been shuffled in the time of Trump, but there are a couple things that voters have always absolutely loathed, absolutely hated, and it is stealing and grifting and self-enrichment, corruption. Trump is doing it in full view, and so are his kids. What is the political, you know, why haven't the laws of political gravity caught up with them?
Speaker 3:
[04:35] Well, the corruption has been swallowed whole by the chaos. And Trump kind of knows that. I mean, he is chaotic on purpose. I mean, even within one sentence, he is chaotic, much less the way he's trying to run the country. So, you know, it is, but it's fascinating to me because the Democrats are rightfully focused on cost, but it really is the three C's, is cost and chaos and corruption. And the corruption is by far, by far the most serious this country has ever seen. I mean, think back to the time that the Republicans were losing their, you know what, over Biden's son being on a board and selling some paintings. And look at what these sons are doing. It is outrageous that Eric Trump is getting contracts with the Pentagon. And somebody needs to be doing an investigation. If not now, then hopefully after we went in November as to whether or not that was a competitive bid. I bet you a buck it wasn't.
Speaker 1:
[05:47] And what about, I mean, Claire, what is sort of the, all the atrophied muscles in Congress certainly revealed themselves when Trump and his allies are enriching themselves on matters of war, where 13 US service members have died and lost their lives, 13 American families buried, sons and daughters, and a bunch of Trump cronies got rich on betting on which way the war would go?
Speaker 3:
[06:12] Well, first of all, this has got to stop. I mean, betting on war is really not an American value. Making money off predicting what government does without any kind of regulation. I mean, we're worried about members of Congress trading stock. Give me a break. They've got a, they've got a file really detailed financial disclosures every year. Isn't anybody worried about who's betting on these unregulated markets? You know, members of Congress and everybody in the Trump administration can make a boatload of money betting on these markets with insider information. And there's nobody policing it. It's frankly beyond outrageous. And there's so much work to be done if the Democrats do take majorities in the House and and or the Senate in terms of investigations. And at the top of the list, it needs to be this corruption because people need to make a stand that this is not going to be accepted in the future. This is not who we are as a country. It's not what the founding fathers envisioned, the way they set up our Constitution.
Speaker 1:
[07:20] Yeah, I mean, Scott, I'm not sure how much of this even needs a roll up your sleeves, old school, SDNY style, forensic accounting investigation. So much of it is happening in full view. Here's how Senator John Ossoff describes it.
Speaker 4:
[07:37] Well, let's call it what it would be, which is a bailout for the United Arab Emirates. The financial entanglement, the way that UAE money, Emirati money from Emirati Royals has compromised this White House is astonishing. It may be one of the most significant scandals in American history. Who are the president's two chief negotiators in the Middle East? Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. Witkoff and his family are partners. His son, Zach Witkoff, is the key partner in the Trump family crypto business, which has received vast sums of money from Emirati royalty. The spy chief, the national security advisor in the United Arab Emirates, acquired a 49 percent stake in that business. Before the United States agreed to grant the UAE access to our most sensitive AI chips, then you have Jared Kushner, his private equity firm, Affinity Partners, which in addition to receiving billions of dollars from Saudi Arabia, has received a lot of Emirati money. The people doing our diplomacy are at the same time doing personal business across the region that's enriching the first family. And meanwhile, my constituents in Georgia are paying $4 for gas, paying more for groceries, rent, power and a meal out at a restaurant than ever before in American history.
Speaker 1:
[09:10] I take Claire's point that the chaos and velocity of scandal make it difficult to focus in on one thing. But there is one thing that has never shielded from our eyes, and that's the fact that Jared Kushner, who is by his own description of himself, a businessman, a man who didn't hide his pursuit of Middle East millions, millions and millions, he got more than Steve Mnuchin got at the end of the first term, after not having really the same kind of record as an investor. He has made no secret of all of the millions and millions in Middle East money, he has under his direction, and he is the public face of American diplomacy at the time of war.
Speaker 5:
[09:56] I appreciate that Senator McCaskill is willing to wager a dollar. I will bet the whole farm Democrats launch an investigation into Eric Trump's contract, Jared Kushner's business dealings, if and when they get the majority back in January. You can make book on that right now, but I can't get past the domestic politics of all this. Money for the UAE because of the war in Iran, money for the Trump family or a contract for the Trump family, while clearly prices are the defining issue with roughly 150 days, Nicolle, till early voting starts. And I saw a number that was shared with me earlier today. A quarter of a billion dollars has been reserved by the House Majority Pact. They are to elect more Democrats in November. Listen to the states they're putting money in now. Tennessee, South Carolina and Alaska. So US. House races. This is like picking these economic issues for the Trump administration is like picking up a bunch of kryptonite and juggling it if you're Superman. You are begging for trouble.
Speaker 1:
[10:57] Yeah, I mean, Rick, maybe it's a lagging indicator, right? Maybe the country had to focus in on what a fraud the promises made by Donald Trump really were. And you've got Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson amplifying the fact that Trump was full of it. But the the grift has been a feature for a dozen years. I mean, doing all of the country's business at his hotel in the first term. I mean, David Barenbold, I think, won a Pulitzer for all the reporting on the emoluments clause. And you couldn't you couldn't you just couldn't sustain an argument. But I think I think Clarence Scott are both making the same point that the domestic politics have caught up with what is now the most brazen version of Donald Trump shoving fists full of money into his family coffers.
Speaker 6:
[11:43] Yes. And to dot the I and cross the T, I would say that Democrats have to show there's a correlation between corruption and affordability. Because there are these people that are making billions, you know, exponentially more than anybody ever has in any kind of corruption scandal in the US. That's part of the reason that gas is high, that you can't afford your home, you can't afford your groceries. I mean, the irony of all of this too is that he has made America open for the corruption business, right? I mean, people look at what the UAE did, investing in the Trump family business, you know, pledging $1.3 trillion of investments, which is a fantasy. And then they get a break, that they get a break that America is going to wash their dollars for them and give them back dollars. By the way, when I was in the Obama administration, we did an anti-ISIS center with UAE. The UAE paid for it. You know, throughout our recent history, the Gulf States, you do deals with them and then they pay for things. Now they're asking for mercy. It's really strange. And by the way, they're getting it. They're getting it because they have corruptly contributed all of this money to the Trump family.
Speaker 1:
[12:52] What on the, I mean, you're right. I mean, the UAE has been a good partner in countering extremism around the world. But this is different. I just, I don't want to complete their conduct. They're now enriching the Trump family.
Speaker 6:
[13:05] Yes. They're enriching the Trump family because they have, you know, they have a corrupt family themselves. I mean, the Emirati royal family runs that country. I mean, 85% of the population of UAE are workers that pay, that do the labor for that 15% of the billionaire class. If you just look at their, you know, per capita income for the non-workers there, it's like $253,000, way more than the US and they're asking for a bailout.
Speaker 1:
[13:34] I want to show some more. I mean, some of this, just to own our piece of this, is the media's inability to sustain our attention on the corruption that happens in full view. So Scott, I'll make you sit in that with me for a minute. This is the Associated Press' reporting. Company backed by Trump's sons looks to sell drone interceptors to Gulf states being attacked by Iran. Quoted drone maker backed by Trump's two oldest sons trying to sell to Gulf countries while they're under attack by Iran and dependent on the US military led by their father. The sales driven by Florida-based PowerUs, which announced a deal last month to bring aboard Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. positions the company to potentially benefit from a war that their father began. PowerUs co-founder Brett Belikovitch told the Associated Press that the company is making sales pitches that include drone demonstrations in several Gulf countries to show how its defensive drone interceptors could help them ward off Iranian attacks. Just never thought I'd read two paragraphs that said any of those things.
Speaker 5:
[14:43] You also got to keep in mind, these things would land more. They'd pack a lot more punch, Nicolle. If the Department of Justice was not an extension of the White House, which at this unique moment it is, it is deeply politicized, it is sycophantic, it is an extension of the White House. So these headlines may get memory hold. People may let them slip because they know there's no stick at the end here. There's no way to leverage change. But I also think this is going to beg the question, how much more are we going to hear in the coming months over the next two and a half years about preemptive pardons? We've heard flirtations with that idea. We've heard a lot of what about-ism based on what happened January 19, 2025. I think that that's going to echo more as the weeks go on.
Speaker 1:
[15:31] Yeah, I think it's an important piece of this, Claire, right? We have to keep in mind that there isn't a functioning criminal justice system by design. Again, also something that happened in Phil Vue. His first day as president, Donald Trump pardons violent insurrectionists who carried out their crimes on national television. So the quiet acts of corruption are not going to be things people are held to account for while he's president. But why can't some of these actors see that this moment will end, this moment will pass?
Speaker 3:
[16:05] Well, I think Scott's probably right. I think you're all counting on pardons. We think he's pardoned a lot of people that have greased palms already. We know that. We know the pardon process is in shambles in terms of who is getting to the front of the line and how they get there. He's pardoning people that have been put in prison by his own Justice Department because of their writing checks to either his political organization or to his meme company or to his family, whatever. So I think everybody who's doing this bad stuff figures they're going to get away with it because of pardons. And, you know, you know what's really ironic about this is it's not just the DOJ that's sleeping here. It's also the Pentagon. I spent years, years going after some of the waste and fraud that happened in Iraq. Spent time in Qatar, you know, yelling at folks about non-compete bids. I don't know if you remember all the scandals in Iraq of all the contractors that were getting no-bid contracts. The Pentagon really did a much better job after Iraq of beginning to clean up and make sure that they were leading the world in anti-corruption. Corruption was all over Afghanistan. Corruption was all over Iraq. Corruption, I'm sure, is all over a lot of these countries in the Middle East. But America was always the country that wasn't going to put up with it, that we were going to ferret it out and go after it. And now we're like, got the flag in front of the corruption parade and saying, hey, come on board. You know, let UAE slip us some money and we'll take care of you. It is really a black mark, not just on DOJ, for saying nothing and doing nothing, not just on the members of the Senate that are Republicans that are saying and doing nothing, but also on the Department of Defense and the Pentagon, because they're letting this go on.
Speaker 1:
[18:00] Yeah, I mean, there's a child's book called Caps for Sale. And every time I read these stories, I think, you know, president for sale, president for sale, you know, stacks and stacks of deals to be done for a president who's for sale. A remarkable, remarkable moment. There's a lot more on the story to tell you about. That's ahead when we come back. We'll also turn to what's got foreshadowed, the domestic politics. A new poll from Donald Trump's favorite network of all places shows a stunning turnaround for Democrats, on which party now has an edge in the eyes of the American voter on the economy. Plus, in the middle of a blockade of Iranian ports, in the middle of a war that Donald Trump started, Donald Trump fired the secretary of the Navy. We'll talk about why and what it means and what it reveals about the chaos in Pete Hegseth's Pentagon and later in the broadcast, from quote, effing baffling to quote, he's not a moral man, the rumblings of anger and frustration and discontent, from the media personalities who made Donald Trump president again. We'll show them to you on the last why. All those stories and much more when Deadline White House continues after a quick break. Don't go anywhere.
Speaker 7:
[19:18] I mean, let's be, I mean, I don't, I disagree with him. I think he's, I don't know if he's gaslighting us or delusional, I don't know what it is, but yeah, that's not the truth, that's not the case.
Speaker 4:
[19:27] It's not the greatest economy in the historic country.
Speaker 8:
[19:30] It's not blowing out of the water.
Speaker 7:
[19:31] People are struggling, people are, people are struggling financially, and it's affecting people mentally. People are more aggressive, and I don't blame them, like the pressures of, you know, paying their bills, and so I get it.
Speaker 8:
[19:46] And how do you see it in your life, in your day-to-day?
Speaker 7:
[19:49] I mean, I'm having to work harder, breaking my back, definitely adding stress to my plate, but I just try to be positive and try to do the best I can. All I can do is work harder, and so I have nowhere back left at least.
Speaker 1:
[20:06] That was our colleague, Alex Tabot, reporting on how voters feel, talking to one frustrated voter in Florida who said she's just going to have to work harder, while Donald Trump's kids play in the prediction markets. Donald Trump's war in Iran isn't just tanking his approval ratings now, though. He's also bringing the entire Republican party down with him. A new poll from Fox News finds that Americans prefer Democrats over Republicans on the economy. It is the first time that's happened since the year 2010. We're back with Claire, Scott, and Rick. Wow.
Speaker 6:
[20:44] Yes. So, you know, the most dangerous thing for a politician to ever do is to tell the voter what he or she should be thinking or what he or she is feeling. So that woman who said it very articulately that people feel bad about the economy, that recent poll showed that more Americans think the country is going in the wrong direction than any time in 30 years. And Donald Trump is saying, this is the greatest economy in history. This is the greatest stock market in history. You know, oil prices are going to come down. I mean, there's nothing that makes voters think that someone is a liar to have someone contradict the evidence of their own lives. That's what they completely understand. And so, you know, the larger thing is that this sort of the Rahm Emanuel line, that the Democrats have to be the party of stability and the Republicans is the party of chaos. People like stability. You know, the economy like stability. Businesses like stability. And so the Republican Party has become the chaos party.
Speaker 1:
[21:40] Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Scott, this gets at the, I think, the domestic politics you were referring to. I think the other piece of it, though, is that when Donald Trump says, our country's hot, that's because the people that paid to join Mar-a-Lago so they could run into him in the Onlet Line, are the same people we started the broadcast talking about, the ones enriching themselves in the prediction markets, the ones leading the Trump boys to their corporate opportunities, if you will, to put it most generously. But Trump's political power was that, and I never thought it was real, but a lot of voters did, he seemed to speak the language of a person frustrated by a rigged system in the American economy. He has lost that capacity, he no longer cares to even try to understand that voter, and it seems to have left 75% of all Americans open and available to voting for somebody else.
Speaker 5:
[22:42] I spent the day speaking with Senator McCaskill's old friend and old colleague, Sherrod Brown, who was trying to grind out votes in places like Steubenville, Toledo, Dayton right now, and the senator said, How is it not being discussed in Washington by Trump and team, the issue with data centers, the issue with utility costs, which are paying for your electric, and of course, what you pay every Saturday morning for food, leaving all this opportunity there for Democratic challengers to own those issues. If you go through the headlines of regional, local, small town newspapers, you see data centers are driving the agenda. It's a big issue in local communities. Trump's not talking about it. And he's not talking about how we're going to get prices lower. Instead, we're talking about money for the UAE. For a Republican Party, which is now on the verge of campaigning on America First, trying to ride those coattails of Trump, what version of America First is money for the UAE when gas prices and food prices are what they are? What kind of bad movie sequel, Caddyshack 2, New Coke version of America First is this going to be if they try to argue prices are just fine?
Speaker 1:
[23:51] Yeah, I mean, Claire, it is so interesting that the Republicans have nothing except the aggressive sycophantic posture of a party that still acts like it's afraid of Donald Trump. Why?
Speaker 3:
[24:06] Well, first of all, if you look at all the polling, he has dropped with non-MAGA Republicans significantly. But his number is still pretty strong with MAGA Republicans. And there's a lot of folks in that group that are struggling, that are having difficulty paying their bills. So they may be saying to pollsters, we're not giving up on this guy because we've staked so much of what we believe in around his personality, but they're living a life that they know is not what he promised. So I think the Democrats get that. And the one thing I want to start stressing when I have an opportunity to speak on this network is people need to start paying attention to places like Iowa and Alaska. And obviously for my friend Sherrod in Ohio, yes, we have some rock stars running that have gotten a lot of attention. But how many people watching this program know the woman who's running for the Senate in Alaska? How many know about the great candidates we have running for the Senate in Iowa where we have a real chance because the Republican governor there is so unpopular? It wasn't that long ago that we had Democrats from those states representing folks in the Senate. And I just don't think everybody realizes this map has gotten bigger. So pay attention. And we're not going to have all that dark money behind the curtain that Donald Trump's going to be able to put together from all the people that are making his family rich or the people who are getting pardons. But we do have people that give 10, 15 bucks a month. And I just hope everybody pays attention and starts helping some of those candidates that really have a chance in places that we weren't even talking about a year ago.
Speaker 1:
[25:46] Well, Claire, I mean, you're here, I'm here. Why don't we have... I mean, your point is that the candidates for the Senate in Alaska and Iowa aren't getting national attention. And we can do something about that. Let's have them on together on Monday.
Speaker 3:
[26:00] I think that's a great idea. I'll be in studio Monday so we can do it.
Speaker 1:
[26:04] Okay, all right. Well, what's today? I don't count days if it's Wednesday. We will try to do it before that. But if you're gonna be here Monday, we'll reach out to them today and see if we can talk to them together on Monday. I love it when a plan comes together like this on live TV. And I've got all these witnesses. So it'll be the one thing on my to-do list that I don't forget about by the time I get home. Claire McCaskill, Scott McFarland, thank you both for starting us off today. Scott, I do love, I love, I love your content. Keep doing your great work. Rick sticks around a little bit longer after the break. In the middle of a war and a naval blockade of Iranian ports, there is more chaos to tell you about at the Pentagon. As the top official at the Navy is ousted, we'll bring you that reporting next. With the United States of America actively engaged in a naval blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, like that is our military strategy right now as a country at war. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth decided that now would be a great time to fire the Secretary of the Navy, person named John Phelan. Three people familiar with internal discussions tell The Wall Street Journal that Phelan's firing comes after a rocky tenure under Hegseth, which included tension over Phelan's close relationship with Donald Trump. Quote, Phelan regularly chats with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club just down the street from his own Florida home and told lawmakers last year that he exchanges texts with the president about shipbuilding in the middle of the night, as one does. It is just the latest removal of a senior military officer by Pete Hegseth and it comes after he forced out the Army's top uniformed officer, General Randy George. The New York Times is reporting that the timing of firing could have consequences. Quote, the tumult could make it harder for the Navy to replenish its stock of Tomahawk missiles and high-end air defense systems, which have been in heavy use in Iran. Phelan has been replaced by Hung Kao, who has been a key ally of Pete Hegseth inside the Pentagon. I want to bring in Politico Pentagon reporter Paul McCleary, also joining us retired US. Army Brigadier General Steve Anderson. Let me start with you, Paul, and your reporting on this.
Speaker 9:
[28:23] Yeah, Phelan came into the Pentagon and as Secretary of the Navy without really any history with military or particularly the Navy, right? So, you know, he came in kind of blind and it's the Navy is hard. I mean, they've been struggling with shipbuilding and ship maintenance for two decades, at least now, right? So coming into a really difficult job at a really difficult time with no prior history or real knowledge of it is he started off behind the eight ball. And, you know, Phelan kind of bragging that he was exchanging texts with Trump about shipbuilding in the middle of the night, one part of his undoing here, right? Because he's the one who pushed this idea of this Trump class battleship, which could cost as much as $17 billion per ship. And it's not something that the DOD, Pete Hegseth or the Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg, want. I mean, it's a huge ship, costs a lot of money, hundreds of sailors aboard. When the Navy wants to go the opposite way, you have smaller, more smaller ships with fewer sailors and go more uncrewed system. So they were really unhappy, I know, at the Pentagon over this Trump class battleship. And I think that was part of it. And he was just unable to move the needle on shipbuilding, which is a tall task for anybody.
Speaker 1:
[29:38] Was there any role that he played in the war?
Speaker 9:
[29:42] He's not in the chain of command. I mean, that would be more the CNO, the chief naval officer and the central command commanders. I mean, the job of the secretary is the train and equip mission related to the Navy. So he's not in the chain of command, could have an effect somewhat, but he's not really moving ships around the map in the situation room.
Speaker 1:
[30:02] Okay. Well, that makes me feel a little better about the guy that replaces him. Let me show you him. This is Hung Cow.
Speaker 8:
[30:11] There's a place in Monterey, California, called Lovers Point. The original name was Lovers of Christ Point, but now it's become, they took out the Christ, it's Lovers Point. And it's really, Monterey is a very dark place now. A lot of witchcraft and the Wiccan community has really taken over there. And we can't let that happen in Virginia. Virginia is, I mean, especially down in Roanoke, where God-loving people, Richmond too, and Virginia Beach. And we just need to mobilize Christians across the nation.
Speaker 1:
[30:43] Paul, have you been to Monterey, California? I grew up a little bit north of there, and Monterey, California is not a dark place. There is no history of witchcraft and Wiccan community there. I mean, this guy sounds insane.
Speaker 9:
[31:01] Yeah, I think he aligns more with Pete Hegseth's vision of what the Pentagon and what the military should be, right? This kind of Christian-based organization in a lot of ways. And that's what he ran on. He ran for Congress. He hasn't obviously, as you saw in that clip, he hasn't shied away from that at all. So when it comes to culture issues, culture war issues, I think Hong Kong is probably more aligned with Hegseth than Phelan, whatever have been.
Speaker 1:
[31:27] General Anderson, what is your assessment of the caliber of people being appointed to leadership positions inside the Pentagon?
Speaker 10:
[31:36] Well, Paula, spot on, Nicolle. These people are totally unqualified, and John Phelan is another poster child of that. I mean, he's just a sycophant that sucked up the Donald Trump, a buddy of his from Mar-a-Lago, had absolutely no knowledge of the Navy, no experience, no service in the military. And so I shed absolutely no tears for his departure. You know, Hegseth, as Paul points out, was dissatisfied with the pace of Navy shipbuilding, which is a very, very difficult process, you know, heavily bureaucratic and slow and painful, and it doesn't happen overnight. And I would agree, there's been absolutely no operational impact. He's out of the chain of command. So is the CNO. This fight is being fought by Admiral Cooper and CENTCOM. And so rest assured that the war will continue to be as poorly run now as it was before he was fired. But I think that the firing points out, Nicolle, that there's a cancer of leadership growing within the Pentagon. I mean, Hegseth, he wants to surround himself with these Christian yes men. You know, he doesn't want any critical thinking. He doesn't want any opposing views. He doesn't want any diversity. I mean, he famously struck off some black and female officers from the promotion list. He's fired a litany of black and female personnel and senior leaders within the military. You know, and I think that this whole thing points out that in World War I, there was an expression, you know, you got lions being led by donkeys. And that's exactly what's going on right now. Our enemies know this. This is a national security risk at the highest level and Americans need to wake up.
Speaker 1:
[33:31] We'll turn to that purge. We have the, I think, a near complete list of the names that I think you're referring to. We'll put that up. We'll bring Rick into this conversation on the other side of a very short break. Don't go anywhere. We're back with Paul, General Anderson and Rick. So these are some of the leaders who've been purged from the Pentagon. So John Phelan is in the category, as he's been described by General Anderson and by Paul as being a Trump sycophant. But that's not the case with most of these individuals. General Randy George, General CQ. Brown, Admiral Lisa Franchetti. This is a lot of institutional expertise, reverence from the men and women who served under these individuals. And they've all been purged as part of that project that I think Paul and General Anderson have both described, turning the Pentagon into not just war fighting warriors, but cultural warriors.
Speaker 6:
[34:37] Yeah, I mean, it's obvious the disproportionate percentage of the people that Hegseth has fired have been people of color and women. And I mean, I worked with the military the whole time I was in government. There's no more meritocratic institution in our society. And by the way, the women and the generals of color have to work even harder to get the same grades as everybody else. So I've never met a general who was incompetent, who couldn't do the thing that he was supposed to do. They have achieved beyond other people. But the other thing that is so flawed about what this administration is doing is this idea, a refuted idea in American history that businessmen can run government better than people who know how to run government. You know, we've known this since the Vietnam War. Robert McNamara came from the Ford Motor Company, got us even deeper and deeper in the war. These two guys at the Navy are from private equity. At least McNamara had run a business and knew how to make something, but these guys don't. And so part of the reason that they fail is that they don't even understand the way government works.
Speaker 1:
[35:45] You know, General, I wonder what you hear about the news of the chaos. Like, to your point that Phelan wasn't in the chain of command, it doesn't sound like anyone's going to miss him. But someone pointed out in trying to explain the impact of Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson's virulent attacks on the war in Iran, on the men and women of the military, that they don't live in a hermetically sealed silo. You know, they are consuming media and especially podcasts, which you can download and listen in your ears wherever you are around the world, wherever you are stationed, wherever you are deployed to, you can listen to Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson trash a president they supported 15 months ago and trash a war you've been deployed to fight in without any input or anyone asking. What is the impact psychologically to all of this churn, even if the people being fired and purged aren't people you interacted with?
Speaker 10:
[36:47] Nicolle, the impact is on morale. I've never seen or never heard of morale being lower than it is right now in our military. Why is that? It's because they believe that it's not fair. They want to see, everybody is competitive, you're in the type 8 personalities and all that kind of stuff. But when someone is indiscriminately fired because they're black or because they're female, it hurts the morale. Everybody suffers for it. Because I served with some incredible officers and I never once thought about what color they were, what political party they were or anything like that. To me, it shows that we're politicizing the military in ways that really are making us unsafe and is risking our national security. Morale has been suffering mildly because of the leadership or lack thereof of a guy like Pete Hegseth. He's got no business running that organization. He's totally unqualified and he's showing it every day. He just wants to surround himself with people that won't argue with him. And it's really, really sad and it's hurting our ability to withstand our, to meet our national security threats.
Speaker 1:
[37:59] General, if a young person came to you considering a career in the military, what would you tell him today?
Speaker 10:
[38:06] Well, I'd still think that it's an honorable place to serve. And hopefully, this is just a blip in our history. And that, you know, I would tell him, you know, continue to march to serve. You know, it's still a proud institution, highly regarded in America, and it's still a great place to get ahead. You know, I'm still bullish about the military. I'm not bullish about the military leadership that we have right now. I would ask young people to just wait it out and don't worry. Give us a couple of years and normalcy return, common sense for a return, and our national security will be stronger because we have the best and the brightest that will continue to serve.
Speaker 1:
[38:49] I love your optimism. Brigadier General Steve Anderson, Paul McCleary, thank you for joining us today. Rick Stengel, thank you for spending the whole hour with me. After the break for us, stunning new reporting on the Trump administration's gutting of the agencies responsible for keeping all Americans safe. There is brand new reporting to tell you about from Reuters that reveals that the gap between rhetoric and reality, always a tricky issue with Donald Trump, is bigger than you might think when it comes to matters of public safety. Reuters is reporting that the Trump administration has cut more than 4,000 positions from across federal agencies like the FBI, the DEA and the ATF. An alarming statistic for a country at war, the Justice Department's National Security Division, which handles intelligence and terrorism matters, has lost nearly 38% of its staff. Reuters also finds that the total number of employees at the FBI has dropped more than 7% since the 2024 fiscal year. The Drug Enforcement Administration, the DEA staff, has dropped by about 6% and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives lost about 14% of its workforce. We'll stay on top of that story. Coming up for us, a stunning new look at how the right-leaning podcast bros have turned on Trump over his war of choice and his plummeting approval rating. We'll bring you that story next.