Episode 4198： Where We Stand With Trump's Nominees
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Summary
In this week's episode, we discuss the latest in the Trump administration, including the White House's new budget director, Russell Vogt, and what we should be paying attention to. We also discuss the Jack Smith scandal, and whether or not it should be investigated.
Transcript
00:00:00.000
I want to talk to you, though, about Russell Vogt.
00:00:03.860
OK, he wants to be the head of OMB, right, Office of Management, basically, and budget.
00:00:15.520
However, this guy has made it abundantly clear he wants to shrink the federal government
00:00:20.360
and give the president a lot more direct control over federal funding.
00:00:24.660
Given what this guy wants to do and is clearly broadcasted,
00:00:28.340
should we be paying a lot more attention to him?
00:00:34.360
Yeah, but like OMB director is not somebody that people are like, what's he up to today?
00:00:39.700
Peter Orszag made it pretty sexy back in the day.
00:00:42.440
I mean, only a former investment banker from Lazar would say that.
00:00:50.880
Look, I mean, how's he going to work with the great Elon Musk,
00:00:56.560
who's also focused on, and what if, you know, Vivek becomes senator of Ohio?
00:01:07.360
If Vivek goes and becomes a senator in Ohio, that's just Elon Musk realizing.
00:01:13.460
Yes, because nobody wants to be a co-head of anything.
00:01:23.260
I will say that this restaurant thing that you're mentioning, this OMB thing,
00:01:26.460
this is the actual point of where the people, we talk about Project 2025,
00:01:31.920
the really real changes that they want to make are coming through this guy.
00:01:38.480
That's what they call it, federal employees, and fire them for not being loyal enough.
00:01:45.720
some of the things that Trump has promised actually start to happen deep inside the government,
00:01:55.720
They have a vested interest in making sure that everything in those 900 and some odd pages
00:02:02.780
And the OMB, for people who've been in government and for political junkies,
00:02:06.620
OMB is an incredibly important position because line by line, budget item by budget item,
00:02:15.620
And that's where we have to focus a lot of our attention.
00:02:17.740
Let's just say Donald Trump gets all of these people through,
00:02:20.500
many of which might not be qualified for the jobs.
00:02:22.880
Then they're going to have to do these enormous jobs with huge responsibility
00:02:29.780
And beneath them are government employees who have been in these roles for decades and decades
00:02:35.900
And it'll be abundantly clear of all of these administration officials can do their jobs.
00:02:41.100
Well, frankly, I think this is what, you know, Vivek and Elon want to clear out.
00:02:46.740
I think Trump wants to clear out those decades-long employees who might thwart Pete Hegseth
00:02:53.300
from doing whatever the heck he wants to do or Pam Bondi from doing whatever the heck she
00:02:57.540
wants to do that she's really not qualified to do.
00:03:04.600
But they're going to make a lot of noise about trying to get rid of these people.
00:03:14.720
And wait until they say, we want to cut Medicare and we want to cut Medicaid and we want to
00:03:18.420
They're going to get their heads handed to them when they do that.
00:03:19.940
And all those congresspeople have to go back to their home districts and they're going
00:03:26.500
The president has said Jack Smith should go to jail.
00:03:39.200
It would be irresponsible of me to make a commitment regarding anything without, you're
00:03:46.360
a long practicing attorney, without looking at a file.
00:03:51.840
So you would need a factual, you would need a factual predicate to open an investigation
00:04:00.180
And not a summary by the president either, right?
00:04:05.020
So a summary by the president or his desire to investigate Jack Smith would not be enough
00:04:08.660
for you to open an investigation of Jack Smith.
00:04:11.700
I will look at the facts and evidence in any case.
00:04:16.360
You know, you know, and sitting here, sitting here, sitting here today, Senator, 72% of Americans
00:04:25.040
Sitting here today, sitting here today, are you aware of any factual predicate?
00:04:29.980
To investigate Jack Smith, sitting here today, yes or no?
00:04:33.380
Senator, I will look at the facts and the circumstances of anything brought to me.
00:04:39.980
There's no worry about divulging law enforcement sensitive information.
00:04:44.800
So just tell us, are you aware of a factual predicate to investigate Jack Smith, yes or
00:04:51.320
Senator, what I'm hearing on the news is horrible.
00:04:56.280
You seem reluctant to answer a simple question.
00:05:18.580
I know you try to do everything in the world to stop that, but you're not going to stop
00:05:22.800
And where do people like that go to share the big lie?
00:05:27.540
I wish in my soul, I wish that any of these people had a conscience.
00:05:32.920
Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose?
00:05:36.740
If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved.
00:05:56.480
Days of Thunder have, the preamble has started and magnificent performance so far.
00:06:06.420
Audience, you have done an amazing job of contacting people and making sure everybody
00:06:10.580
the sense on point to get these confirmations done.
00:06:13.800
But I have to tell you, I think the flood the zone strategy and I think the way that the
00:06:19.180
staff from Susie to the outside people like Mike Davis and others that prepped people and
00:06:24.660
got them ready, you have to say it's very, very impressive.
00:06:31.860
Pam Bondi yesterday, they put her through the ringer.
00:06:35.920
We could have played Pam Bondi's stuff for hours.
00:06:41.300
There's more, hopefully, play throughout the next couple of hours.
00:06:46.800
Boys, Marco Rubio made a transition from just a flat-out neoliberal neocon.
00:06:53.620
He wrote a book on populism a couple of years ago.
00:06:58.780
Not just simply America First, but America First with also a heavy emphasis on taking down
00:07:09.040
And Stephanie Ruhl, for the first time, kind of disappointed me, saying like OMB is a non-event
00:07:15.720
Well, if you're on the inside or if you're the War and Posse audience, OMB is absolutely
00:07:24.660
And actually, everything we have to have happen.
00:07:36.960
This is where I put up all my information since I'm banned on Twitter.
00:07:41.640
I guess they have formally come back and said I can join, but I have not.
00:07:45.700
When I say formally join a couple of weeks ago, they did it after being banned for many
00:07:49.840
years because of Dr. Fauci and Chris Wray in the election of 2020, things I'm proud of.
00:07:57.920
Pam Bondi saw the angle of attack yesterday on Bondi.
00:08:08.700
I don't know where half the questions either about cash or things related to cash and government
00:08:16.000
Still, if you want to know, and cash is going to come up, I don't think next week, but the
00:08:19.300
week after, they're obviously, they have focused on now, I think, that Cash Patel and Tulsi
00:08:26.280
Gabbard, if they're going to get any one, they're going to focus on those.
00:08:29.220
And I would want cash the most, since they're most concerned about the FBI.
00:08:34.040
But if you want to see, if you haven't read the book, and we make it, I think we make the
00:08:44.100
The film is, the only person we have in the film is Cash, as he walks you through government
00:08:49.260
gangsters, and he walks you through his punch list of the deep state.
00:08:55.280
I think you go to warroom.film, warroom.film, is that correct?
00:09:16.060
And Pam Bondi, in fact, can we pull the clip about her in the election of 2020?
00:09:26.960
They're not there really to kind of go through your philosophy.
00:09:31.920
Pam has been a, ran, she was Attorney General of Florida, which I believe is the third biggest
00:09:38.540
Attorney General office, only back in California and Texas.
00:09:42.060
So this is a massive operation with hundreds of lawyers doing everything from criminal prosecutions
00:09:48.580
to commercial in real estate, getting involved in commercial in real estate, enforcement of
00:10:01.840
It's one of the reasons we focus on Democrats here when we do these confirmation hearings.
00:10:05.580
We want you to see what the opposition's doing.
00:10:09.160
And we're really proud of the fact of how we've juggled this last couple of days with
00:10:13.880
It's not that easy to kind of cut in and out and try to get the best of bits.
00:10:24.380
Think how tough it is for, to be Attorney General.
00:10:26.540
Which I would argue is the most important, is the first among equals of cabinet positions
00:10:36.240
The job of the Attorney General, I don't know how they get to breathe.
00:10:41.260
They're going to be involved massively in immigration, massively in the, not just changing the laws,
00:10:48.000
but the deportations, the securing of the border.
00:10:51.340
They're involved, obviously, in everything in national security, law enforcement, all of it.
00:10:55.220
So, Pam, it's a 20-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week job.
00:10:59.080
But she's got a ton of energy and just represented her way there.
00:11:05.740
She doesn't come with that kind of Washington, you know, the veneer these people get here after they've been here
00:11:13.080
It's, you're getting, that's Florida right there, right?
00:11:18.700
Yesterday, you could have had, if we had not gone fixed bayonets with Pete Hegseth,
00:11:26.640
And I don't know, I don't think DeSantis went to University of Florida.
00:11:33.640
You would have had state defense and attorney general.
00:11:36.260
That's pretty, not, pretty impressive, Florida.
00:11:41.920
But Pam and the University of Florida, between Marco Rubio and Pam Bondi, represented, represented
00:11:53.320
Then I think Lee Zeldin is going to go here in a few minutes.
00:11:59.600
As you know, EPA is absolutely central to the deconstruction of the administrative state.
00:12:04.940
Lee, who's really been a specialist in, I think, in foreign affairs, he's done a lot on the EPA side.
00:12:11.840
Number one, I think it's a great pick because Lee is tough as boot leather.
00:12:20.000
Always remember, we had Rob Bluey on the other day from the Daily Signal, and they had done
00:12:24.460
this poll that showed that 50% of the apparatus, 50% of the bureaucrats, 50% of the senior executives
00:12:31.740
said, not only were they not going to go along, not only were they not just going to slow walk
00:12:36.960
things, they were going to be actively, have active resistance, active resistance to President
00:12:44.600
One of the ones that will be central to that is EPA.
00:12:47.740
These ones are maybe not the glamour positions or what they call the power, you know, the
00:12:52.680
power departments, which is Treasury, State, Defense, or kind of the big three, Attorney General,
00:13:03.260
But OMB, I tell people all the time, OMB, I think outside of Chief of Staff of the White
00:13:09.780
House, OMB is probably the most important part of the executive because everything comes
00:13:16.180
And this is where DOGE is going to be housed over the EOB.
00:13:24.460
The Hill newspaper has an article, and Grace, if you can put it, it's on my getter, but Grace,
00:13:28.800
I would like to put it out for everybody, and Carly, Bonet, if you can do it over at
00:13:32.660
your Telegram at Midnight Writer, I appreciate it.
00:13:39.220
It's an article on The Hill this morning that's quite perceptive.
00:13:44.720
It says in the hearing with Russ Vogt yesterday, you can understand and see where these vicious
00:13:52.780
and tough budget fights are going to come, that everything's going to be framed in that.
00:13:58.800
The House Freedom Caucus has just come out with a proposal.
00:14:05.440
I'm not terribly happy with it on another level, but we'll talk about it in a minute.
00:14:14.700
They're going to come at him hard on trade and tariffs, maybe the external revenue service,
00:14:19.280
the way that President Trump is reordining, rethinking through about where the cash comes
00:14:30.900
So it's going to be Pam Bondi, the last shot they get to her.
00:14:41.460
I'm so proud of the transition for just getting a great job and just representing.
00:14:46.180
I think it's smart to bump them until you're ready.
00:14:49.260
When you're ready, like Rubio, Hegseth, Pam Bondi, you're on point.
00:15:01.980
Now the work can finally start on the big issues facing the country.
00:15:05.560
One of the biggest is the national debt and the deficits that drive it.
00:15:13.100
We're just printing money to keep this house of cards going.
00:15:24.460
So many things are out of your control, out of the president's control.
00:15:28.580
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00:16:19.360
It's hard to say today, under oath, without reservation, that Donald Trump lost the presidential contest to Joe Biden in 2020.
00:16:26.500
Do you have any doubts that Joe Biden had the majority of votes, electoral votes, necessary to be elected president in 2020?
00:16:53.660
You know, Senator, all I can tell you as a prosecutor is from my firsthand experience.
00:17:02.600
I accept, of course, that Joe Biden is president of the United States.
00:17:05.960
But what I can tell you is what I saw firsthand when I went to Pennsylvania as an advocate for the campaign.
00:17:28.060
You know, no one from either side of the aisle should want there to be any issues with election integrity in our country.
00:17:37.440
We should all want our elections to be free and fair and the rules and the laws to be followed.
00:17:47.800
And I think the length of your answer is an indication that you weren't prepared to answer yes.
00:18:04.360
You know, this is why they make such a big deal about it.
00:18:19.780
On both sides of the aisle to tackle the most pressing issues facing our country.
00:18:24.560
I humbly sit before you nominated to serve as the 17th Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
00:18:32.160
The American people made their voices heard in November, giving President Trump a mandate to lead our nation to prosperity.
00:18:39.900
I'm grateful that the President-elect is giving me the opportunity to lead the EPA at this critical time.
00:18:52.060
We must do everything in our power to harness the greatness of American innovation with the greatness of American conservation and environmental stewardship.
00:19:03.080
We must ensure we are protecting the environment while also protecting our economy.
00:19:09.140
Throughout my life, I've been privileged to hold such titles as Congressman and State Senator and Lieutenant Colonel Butts.
00:19:16.620
None has meant more to me than husband, son, and father.
00:19:20.480
While one of my identical twin daughters, Ariana, is now back at college, I'm excited to be joined here today by my wife, Diana, and our daughter, Michaela, as well as my mother, Meryl.
00:19:35.260
The American people need leaders who can find common ground to solve the urgent issues we face.
00:19:40.840
I want my daughters, your loved ones, and every child across our country to thrive in a world with clean air, clean water, and boundless opportunity.
00:19:51.460
If confirmed, I pledge to enthusiastically uphold the EPA's mission.
00:19:56.200
I will foster a collaborative culture within the agency, supporting career staff who have dedicated themselves to this mission.
00:20:05.980
I strongly believe we have a moral responsibility to be good stewards of our environment for generations to come.
00:20:13.920
It's been so motivating to see the tremendous talent stepping up to serve in the EPA.
00:20:19.240
I couldn't be more excited to partner with our EPA team nationwide to exceptionally serve the American public.
00:20:28.720
I had the honor of working with many of you when I represented New York's first congressional district.
00:20:35.660
My district on the eastern end of Long Island was unique in that it was almost completely surrounded by water.
00:20:40.820
My constituents took environmental issues very seriously, and I developed a record in Congress fighting hard and with great success advancing their local priorities.
00:20:52.560
I worked across party lines to preserve the Long Island Sound and Plum Island.
00:20:57.580
I supported key legislation that became historic bipartisan success stories.
00:21:05.420
You know, he's tossing out there his bona fides is a good guy.
00:21:08.540
The engine room informs me that RFK is at the top of the scalp list they want.
00:21:16.280
I think if he took it, I'd actually beg to differ.
00:21:31.700
That's the reason I think it's going to be a tough scalp.
00:21:33.620
There are a couple, three Republicans that have a real problem with him, including Judas Pence.
00:21:41.180
Judas Pence put out a thing last night from his group saying they opposed Robert F. Kennedy.
00:21:46.880
We want all the president's picks to get across the goal line because the president wants his team.
00:21:55.480
We're going to get to Lee when they start getting some zingers in there.
00:21:58.520
It is very important for them to crush the EPA, the head of the EPA, because the EPA is central in kind of getting away from a lot of this environmental badness.
00:22:08.420
You see out in California, what's the result of that?
00:22:11.880
You do that year after year after year after year and, hey, ideas have consequences, folks.
00:22:21.740
We're going to try to – I'm working with Ben Burko.
00:22:23.520
I'm trying to put together a working group with those folks already making calls to people that are going to be in charge here in a couple of days to make sure that we set that right.
00:22:34.540
It makes – it's disgusting what's happened there.
00:22:38.520
And if you're back east now, it is bitter cold down there.
00:22:42.300
I think this is going to get to 6 degrees tonight or 6 degrees last night.
00:22:45.500
Those people are suffering, and we've got to come to their aid.
00:22:48.120
And, yes, the personal commitments people are making is absolutely extraordinary as usual with this audience and with the MAGA movement overall and the American people.
00:22:58.260
But this should not be just on private charity.
00:23:03.040
We have – you pay your taxes to make sure that they're in times of emergency, right?
00:23:12.460
I happen to think it's politics and Biden, right?
00:23:16.200
This regime – the Daily Mail, in fact, had yesterday – and if Grace could be so good because I'm going at 9,000 miles an hour.
00:23:24.720
If Grace could pull that – I'm not so sure I even put it up yesterday.
00:23:31.720
But the Daily Mail actually went through and talked about what we've been talking about, how Biden's been trying to thwart President Trump at every level, including this orders of succession, the spending of the money, how the money is financed.
00:23:46.380
They have been united in trying to make this the most difficult transition ever.
00:23:52.560
I think what they're doing in Ukraine – obviously, President Trump – President Trump has got this deal done in Gaza.
00:23:59.840
Now, you should know – it looks like the ceasefire is already kind of coming apart a little bit.
00:24:04.460
But I think from the Frank Gaffney's of the world, the different folks we have in the Victory Coalition and the guys and men and women that come on the show and talk about it, they're not happy about it.
00:24:17.600
They think it's a complete capitulation to Hamas.
00:24:21.480
They think the pressure was put on Netanyahu and it was not appropriate.
00:24:26.400
But, hey, they're huge supporters of President Trump.
00:24:30.100
He wanted things to calm down before he came to office and it looks like he tried to get it.
00:24:37.220
Witkoff, I think, was in Qatar and went to see Beebe and kind of laid down the law.
00:24:43.080
But as we see it right now, I think that's coming a little unwound.
00:24:50.280
Obviously, our advice in the war room from Ben Harnwell and everybody is that you have to come out, I think, on day one and lay down the law.
00:24:57.940
Otherwise, Kagan and these guys are showing you they're going to try to trap President Trump.
00:25:02.660
What they're saying is traps everywhere, traps in finance.
00:25:05.660
And you're going to see that with Scott Besson today.
00:25:11.380
In Russ Vogt, they're trying to trap him the entire time about spending, about cutting programs, about entitlements, all of it.
00:25:22.460
This is not like a transition where somebody won.
00:25:30.080
And the Biden executive, the executive branch in Biden has been the has been the worst of the worst.
00:25:42.900
Her yesterday was and she's going to get confirmed.
00:25:45.440
She was, I think, magnificent given the pressure she's under with Gates leaving.
00:25:50.280
Obviously, Gates has a different house style, much more aggressive, much more about the investigation.
00:25:56.440
Investigations of the TV rights for a Gates confirmation at at the Justice Department would have been, you know, top five viewing for the year.
00:26:05.260
Pam has a very different style, but it was fantastic.
00:26:08.140
I think she answered all the questions and she answered them in appropriate way.
00:26:14.280
And that's hard when you're sitting up there hour after hour and they're just pounding you and you're at that table alone because you really are.
00:26:21.260
It just shows you it shows you she did with a lot of class, a lot of style and kind of steel toughness, steel magnolia.
00:26:31.260
Not going to flinch, not going to let shifty shift get on her, not going to let she was barraged just like it was not as nasty as Hex says.
00:26:39.920
Hex says took on a personal animosity, but particularly the female Democratic senators.
00:26:45.440
They were kind of heritans that day just after him, after him.
00:26:51.420
I think it's one of the reasons Joni Ernst said, hey, I'm all in.
00:26:57.020
Besson, they've come up with this thing about his taxes.
00:27:05.440
And it's he's going to get pummeled by the Democrats on that.
00:27:10.260
They're going to come after him hard on tax and tariffs.
00:27:14.360
Lee Zeldin, they're going to get into the question.
00:27:16.820
We're going to cut back and forth from the wisdom of yours truly.
00:27:24.040
And what we saw, we got tremendous feedback from the audience.
00:27:29.480
It's important for the cadre and the boardroom posse to understand the angle of attack that the Senate is going to take.
00:27:35.280
Senate is obviously a major player, particularly in going forward.
00:27:38.500
And you see the Democrats and they're coming out.
00:27:47.420
If you want to get in back of Russ Vogt and the dilemma he's got and, you know, working through this budget, working through the spending cuts.
00:27:59.680
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00:30:10.120
The Hill article, the newspaper article, you're going to see this in Scott Besant today.
00:30:14.360
As I've said, we've kind of narrowed the range of alternatives for President Trump.
00:30:25.020
President Trump, let's go back to the three lines of work and the three ways he's going to attack it, right?
00:30:29.400
You have the three lines of work is, number one, the ending of the kinetic war.
00:30:34.080
You saw, just saying, President Trump's masterstroke in Israel.
00:30:39.500
I realize a lot of our colleagues and contributors are not happy.
00:30:48.180
They didn't remove Hamas from Judea and Samaria.
00:30:53.160
They didn't take care of all the combat battalions in southern Gaza.
00:31:00.060
I happen to think even if you come to a ceasefire, there's going to be, things are going to be reunited.
00:31:08.940
But President Trump wanted to cease fire, wanted the hostages returned.
00:31:11.820
He wanted that done before he got in office because I think he's sending a signal.
00:31:19.280
I'm not saying that's not going to happen because I don't know if this ceasefire will hold.
00:31:22.340
The biggest, most important he's got to do now on that on the Third World War kinetic front is Ukraine.
00:31:29.760
And I'm a huge advocate for the president to step up and to say on Monday and to lay out a framework and to really tell the Ukrainians, you know, we're going to get on with this because we're not going to be around forever.
00:31:45.820
We're not going to send troops on a security, you know, on a security mission.
00:31:51.820
You keep seeing this phrase security guarantee.
00:31:54.860
When you hear security guarantee, read American troops.
00:31:59.400
I know they're saying now it's going to be NATO.
00:32:05.280
And security guarantee, they want our unlimited cash for weapons and for arms and for rebuilding.
00:32:14.300
Well, people just have to look out to California.
00:32:17.000
We don't have the money to rebuild the world that that's gone.
00:32:21.140
And that is the framing yesterday in the OMB hearing with Russ vote.
00:32:25.580
Russ is very upfront and there's got to be some tough choices made.
00:32:31.580
And he he really came across, I think, fantastic.
00:32:39.860
We're essentially I don't know for a going concern as far as the financing of this, because you have an economic plan.
00:32:49.940
And that's quite frankly, you want to be as as close to hands off as possible and just let self organize around capitalism.
00:32:57.220
Yes, you do have to have some sort of, you know, regulatory apparatus.
00:33:01.820
I happen to think now that you have to the regulatory apparatus got to step in and start to break up this big tech situation.
00:33:08.200
And when Biden last night talks about oligarchs, they created them.
00:33:12.340
Let's not have a race history and talk about this now.
00:33:21.520
They're the ones that initiate this massive over the top spending.
00:33:44.760
They understand President Trump's economic philosophy and they can implement that.
00:33:54.500
Economics are kind of the doing of things, right?
00:33:57.540
The economy, economics, the goods and services, production, distribution, marketing, the animal
00:34:05.700
spirits, unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit of the American people.
00:34:11.220
The other finances, how we're actually going to pay for this.
00:34:20.580
Where are the sources of proceeds and where are the uses of proceeds?
00:34:23.760
One thing I ask you all the time is look around, $36 trillion, where'd it go?
00:34:38.800
That's the uses of proceeds, which has to get to be, we have to really start to rethink
00:34:43.900
that because we're spending a lot too much on operations and not enough on investment or
00:34:49.940
The sources of proceeds, and this is where President Trump, the masterstroke is to think
00:34:59.320
Internal revenue is just a mindset we got into at the beginning of the 20th century when
00:35:02.640
we went away from tariffs and went away from more of the, what's called the American system
00:35:07.000
that was developed and laid out by Alexander Hamilton.
00:35:11.020
Remember, we have three, I say, sacred documents that came from divine providence at the beginning,
00:35:17.040
the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, but also the report on manufacturers.
00:35:22.260
The report on manufacturers from Alexander Hamilton at the very beginning is inspired.
00:35:27.600
If you look there, that's as sophisticated as you could possibly get about how to build
00:35:37.680
And this is why I say Hamilton, with all his flaws, remember, he's a quite imperfect instrument.
00:35:53.460
Up until for the first 140 years, we financed it all from the outside.
00:35:56.320
President Trump with the External Revenue Service saying, hey, I realize, but all the
00:36:00.360
burden for this apparatus, and this apparatus provides so many benefits, not just to the
00:36:04.120
people in the United States, but throughout the world.
00:36:08.140
Why is it only the United States that pays for this?
00:36:09.900
Yes, allies throw some in and there's specific reason, but the way I think President Trump
00:36:14.480
looks at this is that, hey, it's a premium seating at a football game or a baseball game
00:36:20.940
The United States behind the golden door is the greatest, most lucrative market in the
00:36:28.500
Remember, you're the full faith and credit of the United States government.
00:36:40.900
One of the reasons inflation is not going to go away is the refinancing of this massive
00:36:46.740
We're just adding deficits onto it all the time.
00:36:48.900
But I think Scott Besson's got to, I think it's $7 trillion of government securities he's
00:36:56.160
And right now, as we told you, the 10-year Treasury, I think things backed off a little
00:36:59.780
But in England, they kind of got the bond vigilantes are in a vault.
00:37:03.620
The guilt is blowing up because they don't believe the business model of what the Brits
00:37:10.140
I mean, Starmer and the Labor Party is already, I think they're in the high 20s of popularity.
00:37:24.640
Let me know when he gives his opening statement.
00:37:32.400
Let me tell you, if Lee Zeldin's getting attacked by a Democrat, we'll jump in there.
00:37:36.020
We're going to try to juggle today and do all of this.
00:37:39.540
The Freedom Caucus, along those lines, the Freedom Caucus has put forth a proposal.
00:37:45.660
The proposal, it basically says they need offsets, but they've offered up a two-year relief on
00:37:59.720
I think the bid and the ask, I'm just saying, I think the ask is going to be four years,
00:38:09.840
He's going to want exactly what Biden got by McCarthy.
00:38:13.820
When McCarthy got turfed out by that, the Freedom Caucus.
00:38:18.020
It's not in front of me now, and I can't pull up my phone.
00:38:29.080
I mean, that's two, hey, don't want to say we called it, but we called it two trillion
00:38:36.580
They're asking for an increase in the, this is the Freedom Caucus.
00:38:41.800
Can my producer get it from Grace and send it back to me so it's the top of my feed?
00:38:50.340
And they want to have offsets, offsets against all this.
00:39:00.320
I said this at the political thing the other day.
00:39:04.780
When they come up with these budgets and all this stuff, and they're talking about, we
00:39:09.820
And I remember McCarthy, we have more conservative wins than we've ever had.
00:39:13.340
His people, some of his people around him called me up and said, you're missing the point.
00:39:16.920
These are more conservative wins than we ever had.
00:39:20.820
Remember that debacle on the, on the 1500 page CR?
00:39:27.640
When they use the phrase conservative wins, they're selling you smoke and mirrors.
00:39:33.380
As soon as that phrase crosses their lips, just shut down and go, no, screw you.
00:39:38.520
I don't want to hear it because they're trying to sell you more spending.
00:39:43.580
Now on the freedom caucus, when they talk about a debt ceiling lift, and these are the most
00:39:51.820
President Trump's not going to say, okay, two years for trade.
00:39:59.920
He's not going to want to, he's not going to want to constrain.
00:40:03.380
But they're offering up two years and $4 trillion.
00:40:09.120
That means $2 trillion deficit the first two years.
00:40:18.560
And I want to get back to just process and critical passes, audiences up to speed so you're smart, so that you've got the information and you're going to be engaged in this fight.
00:40:32.460
March is the government runs out of money again, almost halfway through the fiscal year.
00:40:40.420
Don't have an appropriations that we promised and committed that we're going to do, but for every reason, we don't have it.
00:40:49.200
Note to self, March 20th is 60 days from Monday.
00:40:56.000
And we want single subject appropriations bills to go through it, you know, chapter and verse.
00:41:03.400
The Doge cuts can only come from an appropriations process.
00:41:07.720
Other than that, it's just an exercise in writing a white paper.
00:41:14.040
If Doge is to have impact, and that's why it's an advisor to, guess what, OMB, right?
00:41:19.340
In that, they can really put in the deconstruction of the administrative state, what they want to do, okay?
00:41:31.480
And their promise, when they made the $2 trillion cut, it was on the $6.5 trillion of annual federal spending.
00:41:40.300
They may not realize it at the time, but they were talking $2 trillion.
00:41:43.860
And President Trump's mind, that was $2 trillion of the $6.5.
00:41:50.680
We want Doge to work in the biggest way possible.
00:41:53.040
That's the way you deconstruct the administrative state.
00:41:54.940
You put a brilliant team of very smart people that are entrepreneurs outside the system.
00:42:01.840
And it's not going to come from waste, fraud, and abuse.
00:42:05.800
When somebody says waste, fraud, and abuse, they're also selling you something.
00:42:24.260
And even cutting bodies is not – you've got to cut programs.
00:42:26.600
It's programs and billets, programs and billets, programs and billets.
00:42:30.840
That's what you have to be focused on before you get to the entitlements.
00:42:36.860
You've got to get there eventually, but you have to have buy-in by the American people.
00:42:43.660
But for Medicare and Social Security, if you're going to make any change at all, the American people have to buy into this.
00:42:47.920
The only way they're going to buy into it is see the political class actually do their job.
00:42:56.140
The reason we're winning on the confirmations, number one, they're prepared.
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To need you at the ramparts, we can't have you have angst or anxiety or be – your focus be taken off.
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That is a – that is a existential threat to you.
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That's why we have the hearing, to get his views.
00:45:22.120
And today, we are honored to have our good friend and colleague and now the new Budget Committee
00:45:28.000
Chairman, Senator Lindsey Graham, to help introduce the nominee.
00:45:32.880
Welcome, Senator Graham, from the state of the great state of South Carolina.
00:45:40.260
And I'll turn it over to you to introduce Mr. Besant.
00:45:44.000
Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and ranking member to all my colleagues.
00:45:50.700
This is my first appearance in the Finance Committee, probably last.
00:45:54.300
Y'all work on complicated stuff, and I'm glad you like this stuff.
00:46:00.120
Seems kind of boring to me, but it's important what you do.
00:46:03.980
And I respect the intellect of the people on this committee, because our economy needs the
00:46:09.400
best minds that we can find on the Finance Committee.
00:46:13.820
And we need a Secretary of Treasury that knows what he's doing, has the trust of the President,
00:46:29.640
He's academically gifted and real-world tested.
00:46:37.060
When he told me that, I said, hmm, I don't know about that.
00:46:40.100
But anyway, he's really, really smart, and this is a complicated area.
00:46:58.600
And when he talked about the Secretary of Treasury, I'm not the normal person you would go to
00:47:06.400
ask about, because this is not so much my portfolio.
00:47:10.820
But when he mentioned Scott, I said, oh, my God, home run, from my point of view.
00:47:18.120
I mean, you're talking about somebody who's academically gifted, understands the world.
00:47:24.500
Scott, like any Republican president, would pick Scott.
00:47:28.220
I mean, he really understands the president and what the president wants to do.
00:47:36.140
And the reason I vote for almost everybody, for every president, is I believe, colleagues,
00:47:44.360
that every president deserves a cabinet that they know and trust and can rely upon.
00:47:49.520
If I had to vote for people based on agreeing with them, I wouldn't vote for anybody y'all picked.
00:47:59.040
I vote for people who I disagree with because I think they're qualified.
00:48:03.320
So I would just ask the committee to think, is this man qualified?
00:48:07.520
Does he have the background and the intelligence and the character to serve President Trump and our nation's Secretary of Treasury?
00:48:16.900
I think by any reasonable test of qualifications, he excels beyond the bare minimum to the highest level of excellence.
00:48:30.100
So my goal here today is to tell you a little bit about him.
00:48:35.080
You've heard from the chairman about his success in the financial world, about his academic qualifications.
00:49:01.640
Well, this is somewhere between Conway and Myrtle Beach.
00:49:05.740
At nine years old, his first job was to set up beach chairs and umbrellas in North Myrtle Beach.
00:49:11.800
And apparently you did well there, because North Myrtle Beach is thriving.
00:49:18.140
He went to North Myrtle Beach High School, and he was voted most likely to succeed in 1980.
00:49:34.340
Someone who really is talented and works hard and just a good person.
00:49:43.160
The type of people that you think are going to succeed, but you hope succeed.
00:49:48.780
So he lives in Charleston in a really nice place.
00:49:55.480
Going from Little River to Charleston is about a two-and-a-half-hour drive, but it's a real change.
00:50:00.720
Since I represent South Carolina, I like them both very much.
00:50:09.640
And they have two kids, Carolina and Cole, and they're absolutely adorable.
00:50:14.740
And from a South Carolina point of view, we're really proud of Scott.
00:50:18.260
I was over-the-top happy when President Trump picked him, because I know him.
00:50:28.180
The rich and powerful don't live in Little River.
00:50:34.660
This man has been successful at everything he's ever tried to do.
00:50:47.080
Because he believes that President Trump's economic agenda is good for this country, and
00:50:52.480
he wants to help President Trump be successful.
00:50:58.640
I think it's the melding of economic policy with national security.
00:51:03.300
Economic policy and national security are now indispensable, and Donald Trump understands
00:51:09.820
So I'm here to tell you, folks, I agree with that.
00:51:13.140
If we don't have energy independence, we're less safe.
00:51:16.740
If we don't get our debt in order, we're less safe.
00:51:19.900
I am known around here as kind of a national security guy, but I do understand economic policy
00:51:27.860
If you want to clean up the environment, a carbon fee seems to be a good way to do it,
00:51:32.540
to punish China and India for bad carbon practices.
00:51:43.920
I'm here today because Scott lives in South Carolina.
00:51:48.920
I'm here today to tell you, if you use qualifications as your test, this is the easiest vote you'll ever
00:51:58.260
If your goal is to play like the election didn't happen, then I guess you'll vote no.
00:52:08.380
When you lose an election, you get up and dust yourself off and you get ready for the next
00:52:13.260
But I was honored when he asked me to introduce him.
00:52:20.260
And America will be in good hands if he's our Secretary of Treasurer.
00:52:30.260
And President Trump, thank you for picking him on behalf of all of us in South Carolina.
00:52:36.260
We're extremely proud of you and we wish you well.
00:52:39.260
I want to warn you of a huge change that could be coming to our money and our bank accounts.
00:52:44.260
First, think back to 9-11, shortly after the government pushed through the Patriot Act.
00:52:48.260
This gave the government power to spy on innocent Americans by monitoring our phone and email
00:52:56.260
Now, Jim Rickards, editor of the independent financial newsletter Strategic Intelligence and
00:53:02.260
New York Times bestselling author, is warning about a coming event that could elevate this
00:53:07.260
governmental surveillance to a terrifying new level.
00:53:10.260
In fact, some of the guests I've had on The War Room believe that the government will soon
00:53:17.260
If we say the wrong things on social media, donate to the wrong causes, buy firearms,
00:53:23.260
or even vote MAGA, the government may be able to shut us out of our bank accounts.
00:53:28.260
I can't say for sure if this will happen, but it's an interesting and dire warning.
00:53:34.260
Fortunately, Jim Rickards, an American patriot and friend of mine, has made it his mission
00:53:38.260
to educate us on what he believes is coming and how to protect yourself from the possibility
00:53:46.260
Watch Jim's warning video now before it's censored like I've been in the past.
00:53:54.260
That's RickardsWarRoom.com now to see the video.
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