Stay Free - Russel Brand - Woah! Dan Crenshaw REALLY HATES Tucker Carlson: Dan Explains Why – SF553

00:00:00.000 The End

00:02:29.000 Hello there, you awakening wonders.

00:02:34.000 Thanks for joining me for Stay Free with Russell Brand today.

00:02:36.000 We've got Congressman Dan Crenshaw on the show, and we're going to be talking about some of Tucker Carlson's reporting, as well as Tucker's relationship with Dan Crenshaw, which seems to be an unusual fisher.

00:02:47.000 We taped the conversation with Dan earlier in the week, or at least earlier in human history.

00:02:53.000 It's a pretty good conversation, and I think...

00:02:55.000 You will enjoy it.

00:02:56.000 Before we get into that, wherever you're watching us, X, YouTube, wherever, ultimately we want you to make your way to Rumble for Rumble are our friends.

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00:03:13.000 Ultimately, I suppose, what we're discussing these days is...

00:03:17.000 Maga, Maha, an improvement on the previous occupants of the institutions of power. 0.91

00:03:23.000 Let me know in the comments and chat what you think about that.

00:03:25.000 If you're watching us on Locals, thank you.

00:03:26.000 If you're watching us on Rumble Premium, thank you.

00:03:28.000 Wherever you're watching us, please make your way to Rumble and Rumble Premium.

00:03:31.000 Eventually and ultimately to support us.

00:03:35.000 Stan Crenshaw is going to be on the show a little later and he ain't no friend of Tucker Carlson.

00:03:41.000 Tucker Carlson, though, is perhaps one of the most important commentators in media.

00:03:47.000 Is he?

00:03:48.000 Who is the don of independent media spaces?

00:03:51.000 Is it Joe Rogan?

00:03:53.000 Is it Tucker Carlson?

00:03:54.000 Is it...

00:03:55.000 I don't know who else it really could be.

00:03:57.000 Is it Theo Von?

00:03:58.000 Like, who is it?

00:04:00.000 Ultimately, when it comes to making your way through the new media spaces, you have to spot coordinates and work out where you stand in relation to them.

00:04:09.000 Can we trust this Maga-Maha coalition, or do we inherit the same global and imperial powers that proceeded even in the new clothes of the Trump? 0.95

00:04:20.000 Tucker Carlson is talking to Chris Como here about the JFK files and about the nature of the deep state.

00:04:28.000 Deep state by very definition means that there are sets of powers that retain control regardless of who's officially in the White House or who ultimately wins elections.

00:04:40.000 You still get the deep state.

00:04:42.000 I have really enjoyed that conversation between Ian Carroll and Joe Rogan.

00:04:45.000 Where he said that the conspiracy theory that will remain clandestine is the Jeffrey Epstein files because it leads us to the true root of power, which by his diagnosis is Israel.

00:05:00.000 Let me know in the comments and chat what you think about that.

00:05:05.000 Here though, let's address not only the Ukraine-Russia war, not just the conflict and controversy in the Middle East.

00:05:13.000 But the deep state's defining conspiracy theory, the JFK files.

00:05:19.000 Here, Tucker Carlson talks to Chris Como about whether or not they'll be, whether or not they'll ever be revealed, whether or not they'll ever be revealed, and one Democrat senator who has consistently resisted their release.

00:05:32.000 Perhaps we can use this to chart a course through the new waters of power.

00:05:37.000 Dan Crenshaw coming up after this.

00:05:39.000 Stay with us.

00:05:40.000 From whatever group...

00:05:43.000 Has been able to keep these files secret for 62 years.

00:05:46.000 So my question to you is like, what is that?

00:05:47.000 Why have these been secret for so long?

00:05:49.000 Look, you know, the idea of the deep state to me is a convenience more than it is a reality.

00:05:56.000 It's a boogeyman.

00:05:58.000 Why don't they put it out?

00:06:00.000 Because institutions protect themselves, Tucker, as we both know.

00:06:03.000 Really?

00:06:03.000 And there is clearly information in those files that are going to make the CIA look bad.

00:06:08.000 Just the CIA. Well, whatever.

00:06:10.000 Different agencies.

00:06:11.000 No, no, no.

00:06:11.000 Whatever.

00:06:12.000 I mean, let's...

00:06:12.000 Well, I don't know because I haven't seen them.

00:06:14.000 But it could be the FBI. It could be the CIA. Okay, so I've always thought that.

00:06:18.000 And then in January, you know, there was a scramble over who's going to get what jobs in the new administration.

00:06:23.000 And at one point, there was someone who was being discussed for a job in the intel world and a member of the SSCI, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the Senate Intel Committee.

00:06:34.000 I went to the people making the decision and said, you cannot hire this person because this person will be certain to push for the release of the JFK files.

00:06:43.000 So this is in this effect.

00:06:45.000 So this is in 2025, less than two months ago, and you have a sitting member of the United States Senate whose main goal is to keep Those files secret.

00:06:57.000 And then you have to ask yourself, why?

00:06:59.000 Yeah.

00:06:59.000 Exactly.

00:07:00.000 Why?

00:07:01.000 Dan Crenshaw will be coming up later.

00:07:02.000 Dan Crenshaw is certainly no friend of Tucker Carlson's, who, you know, for the record and for plain truth, I really love and think he's a fantastic person.

00:07:10.000 And in this conversation with Chris Como, Tucker Carlson says that Tom Cotton, Democrat, Senator or Congressman, has been actively resisting the release of the JFK file, something which Tom Cotton...

00:07:22.000 Actually refutes.

00:07:24.000 This is false.

00:07:24.000 I have no problem releasing the JFK files.

00:07:26.000 Had Tucker Carlson asked me, I would have told him.

00:07:28.000 He's texted me multiple times in recent weeks so he knows how to reach me.

00:07:32.000 It's interesting, isn't it?

00:07:33.000 Because when you actually...

00:07:34.000 Love someone like I do, Tucker Carlson.

00:07:36.000 You just tend towards their side on loyalty.

00:07:39.000 Let alone when you're dealing with complex issues of national identity or racial identity, like the various conflicts in the world at the moment.

00:07:45.000 Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Palestine.

00:07:47.000 No wonder people can't chart a course through it.

00:07:50.000 Let's look at this conversation between Tucker Carlson and Chris Como and see what we learn about that kind of fealty, loyalty, and what the JFK files would tell us were they fully released.

00:08:01.000 Let me know in the comments and chat.

00:08:02.000 Whether you agree with Ian Carroll that the conspiracy theory that has to be protected at all costs is the Jeffrey Epstein Mossad one, or whether you think it goes deeper.

00:08:10.000 It does go deeper than that.

00:08:12.000 This is where I'm willing to venture into the supernatural and the paranormal in so much as I believe that there is evil organized power and it goes beyond human power.

00:08:23.000 That's where I suppose I have to tap into either the religious or the...

00:08:29.000 Either the religious or the more occultist or certainly more esoteric edges of even online spaces.

00:08:35.000 Let's have a look at this conversation.

00:08:36.000 Yeah.

00:08:37.000 Why?

00:08:37.000 And where's your boy Kash Patel?

00:08:39.000 I mean, he went in there to supposedly bust all this up.

00:08:42.000 I can't answer that.

00:08:42.000 He put out this weird tweet, you know, that was very general.

00:08:46.000 Like, you know, things are going to change and we're going to do this.

00:08:49.000 After we learn that someone under his control now, right?

00:08:53.000 Because he's the head of the FBI. In that office that's under him.

00:08:57.000 Why wasn't he there?

00:08:58.000 Why didn't he go there and say, give me the files.

00:09:00.000 Give them to me.

00:09:01.000 Weren't you just saying the deep state's not real?

00:09:03.000 I don't know.

00:09:03.000 I don't believe in the deep state as a boogeyman.

00:09:06.000 But look, they're his guys.

00:09:07.000 I'm just saying, why didn't he go there and say, give me the files?

00:09:10.000 So let's just use logic.

00:09:11.000 I can't answer that question.

00:09:12.000 I think it's a great question.

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00:10:34.000 But let's just use logic for one second.

00:10:38.000 Clearly...

00:10:38.000 If you watch this, in my case, for the same as you, 35 years, watching this stuff carefully, and somebody, you know, gets in office, I'm going to do this, that, and the other thing, and then, like, five days later, they're like, well, actually, someone has called that person to say, there's something you didn't know, here are the consequences of doing that.

00:10:55.000 Someone has applied very serious pressure on this person, pressure so serious that that person is willing to...

00:11:02.000 I reckon the reason people like Tucker Carlson is because of moments like that where he reasons his way through what might have happened.

00:11:09.000 None of us have direct...

00:11:11.000 And undiluted access to truth in so much as all of us have our own biases.

00:11:16.000 But I would say the new media climate and template requires that kind of personability.

00:11:22.000 And some people do it very naturally and beautifully like Tucker Carlson.

00:11:24.000 And probably everybody's trying to emulate or find their own version of this is my authentic take on these events.

00:11:30.000 Because now that centralized media, the kind of media that I used to work for, that Tucker used to work for, that Como used to work for has lost its credibility.

00:11:38.000 People are now just going to go to voices that they trust in that space.

00:11:43.000 It's difficult to think that Kash Patel might be a human being or FBI agents and workers are just human beings.

00:11:49.000 And I personally believe, of course, that there is organized evil power exerted through human institutions.

00:11:57.000 So that's where I depart from purely rational analysis.

00:11:59.000 But I reckon it's easier and probably more sensible to reach people on the level of that which can be measured.

00:12:04.000 For obvious reasons, if you can't corroborate it, it just sounds like crazy ranting.

00:12:09.000 A little late now, huh?

00:12:10.000 Humiliate himself.

00:12:11.000 So wait a minute.

00:12:11.000 Here's the part I don't understand.

00:12:12.000 So who's that person exerting the pressure?

00:12:14.000 But you are uniquely qualified to get this answer because one of us can call the President of the United States right now and ask him.

00:12:24.000 And the other one is me.

00:12:25.000 So why don't you know?

00:12:28.000 That's a great question.

00:12:29.000 It's the only kind I ask.

00:12:30.000 I'm the great question asker of all time.

00:12:33.000 I've been asking great questions forever.

00:12:36.000 Maybe not during the pandemic.

00:12:38.000 He said sorry for that.

00:12:40.000 You can't keep banging on.

00:12:41.000 At a member of the Senate Intel Committee, I'm not guessing, called over and said, you cannot appoint this person.

00:12:48.000 So why don't you expose that person, first of all, so we can start chasing after him.

00:12:51.000 Tom Cotton of Arkansas did that.

00:12:52.000 Tom Cotton?

00:12:53.000 Yes, correct.

00:12:54.000 And did you ask him?

00:12:55.000 I haven't.

00:12:55.000 No, I haven't asked him.

00:12:57.000 What the hell's going on with you?

00:12:58.000 I'd like to. 0.92

00:13:01.000 And...

00:13:02.000 Kind of makes people suspicious of you, by the way.

00:13:04.000 Go ahead.

00:13:05.000 Because if you know that Tom Cotton said, you can't pick this person because...

00:13:10.000 That is correct.

00:13:11.000 And then you didn't go to him and find out why?

00:13:14.000 Well, I need to sit down with him.

00:13:15.000 I'm not sure that he'll do an interview with me.

00:13:17.000 Okay, well, there you go.

00:13:19.000 That's the Tom Cotton crisp.

00:13:23.000 But stay with us, because now on the show, we've got arch-nemesis of Tucker Carlson, Dan Crenshaw.

00:13:30.000 Just to reiterate, Tucker Carlson's...

00:13:31.000 My friend.

00:13:32.000 So when assessing the deep state and its power, what information we have access to and what information we don't have access to, we have to look at several factors simultaneously.

00:13:41.000 As Tucker advocates for, rationally and logically, what could be happening?

00:13:45.000 Why are those files not being released?

00:13:47.000 Oh, someone has got some new information.

00:13:49.000 But then we have to look, I suppose, too, at the bigger picture.

00:13:53.000 And for me, the bigger picture is this.

00:13:55.000 There are...

00:13:57.000 Dark powers behind human powers that use human power to facilitate their ends. 0.53

00:14:04.000 I recognize that in saying that, I make myself sound like a crackpot, and many people would say that's a pot that cracked a long, long time ago.

00:14:13.000 But ultimately, what are the aims and interests of these elites?

00:14:18.000 Why do they work so hard to control information, to control resources, to control media, to shut down opponents?

00:14:26.000 What is it ultimately that drives them?

00:14:29.000 Surely it can't just be the unconscious pursuit of pleasure or money.

00:14:34.000 Surely there has to be some dark force at work.

00:14:37.000 I believe that only a religious and spiritual life help you to navigate these complex questions.

00:14:43.000 But that's just what I think.

00:14:44.000 Why don't you let me know what you think in the comments and the chat.

00:14:47.000 Remember, we stream four days a week on Rumble.

00:14:49.000 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

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00:14:54.000 Join us Mondays to Thursdays on Rumble.

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00:16:11.000 Time now to talk to Dan Crenshaw, controversial con...

00:16:15.000 Congressman and Navy SEAL veteran, as well as vocal opponent of Tucker Carlson, whom we were talking about at the beginning of the show.

00:16:25.000 Congressman Dan Crenshaw, thank you so much for joining us on Stay Free today.

00:16:30.000 Hey, thanks for having me.

00:16:31.000 It's awesome to be here in a conversation with you, Russell.

00:16:35.000 I feel that I should mention that I've got an Ash Wednesday cross. 0.85

00:16:39.000 On my head, and I'd also like to mention that when you arrived, you were wearing glasses over your patch, which I thought was a pretty good look, actually.

00:16:49.000 Yeah, there's a lot going on on the face.

00:16:54.000 Can't have too much stuff on the normal day.

00:16:57.000 I'd be able to address that, but, you know, I've got this stuff on, I've got the hat on.

00:17:01.000 There's a lot going on in my face.

00:17:03.000 Congressman, I wanted to talk initially about that time when...

00:17:07.000 It was a famous incident when you were on SNL, right?

00:17:12.000 After Pete Davidson, who's lost his dad in 9-11, just for anyone who doesn't know that.

00:17:22.000 You and he had that moment where he said, thanks for your service.

00:17:25.000 I thought, oh, that was a really good example of reconciliation, of left and right coming together, of respect, of service people.

00:17:34.000 Now, it's pretty clear that the left...

00:17:36.000 Owns a lot of cultural artifacts, among them SNL. These kind of legacy media instruments are completely owned by one side of the conversation.

00:17:47.000 Do you think that that kind of reconciliation that was achieved between you and Pete Davidson there, and I thought was kind of rather beautiful, could be achieved between you and some of your detractors, notably Tucker Carlson, who's my friend.

00:18:02.000 I love Tucker Carlson, just so you know, we've not met before.

00:18:05.000 But I also know that, like any public figure, you attract a lot of ire and criticism.

00:18:10.000 Do you see an opportunity for reconciliation?

00:18:14.000 Oh, a tuck.

00:18:14.000 Not a tuck.

00:18:15.000 You know, the Davidson...

00:18:18.000 It's so long ago.

00:18:20.000 It's crazy how long it's been.

00:18:22.000 You know, that was sort of a perfect storm in many ways, in the sense that there was a road map to reconciliation.

00:18:31.000 The Perfect Storm, there was a few factors involved in that.

00:18:34.000 One, it wasn't obvious that he meant what he said with real ill intent.

00:18:44.000 You could have looked at that clip and said, yeah, I kind of went off script a little bit.

00:18:51.000 It probably wasn't scripted.

00:18:54.000 After going on SNL, I know exactly how...

00:18:57.000 How much every word is actually carefully scripted.

00:19:00.000 To watch the rest of this interview, please click the link in the description.

00:19:04.000 Join us over on Rumble.

00:19:06.000 You know, do they go off script occasionally?

00:19:08.000 I'm sure they do.

00:19:09.000 It's hard to know.

00:19:10.000 But it felt like that.

00:19:12.000 Then there was a ton of outrage over it.

00:19:15.000 Like a ton.

00:19:16.000 Not for me, but just generally.

00:19:18.000 And so, then I had the ability to just say, you know, I think what I said was, look.

00:19:27.000 Try hard in life not to offend.

00:19:30.000 Try even harder not to be offended and that's how I'm going to treat this one.

00:19:33.000 And then they reached out trying to have me on and do some kind of reconciling on the air and it worked out and he was genuinely ready to apologize for what, again, could have been construed as simply a misstep.

00:19:51.000 And there's a huge difference between a misstep and I think, an open hostility.

00:20:00.000 And with somebody like Tucker, you know, what's the backstory behind this crazy hot bike story, which I obviously think is kind of the lamest story ever as far as supposed death threats go.

00:20:14.000 Of course, I'm not going to actually kill Tucker.

00:20:17.000 The thing is, is you got to go a few years back.

00:20:19.000 I mean, Tucker has been taking ill-intentioned swipes at me since about 2022, going far worse than Pete Davidson ever did.

00:20:28.000 I mean, this really started in the, I can't remember what the, well, the issue I think was probably Ukraine funding and him coming after me completely unprovoked.

00:20:39.000 I never mentioned Tucker's name ever before that.

00:20:42.000 And I actually continue never to mention his name publicly for maybe a year or two after that.

00:20:48.000 But he comes after me supposedly on a policy issue, but making it very personal, right?

00:20:52.000 Calling me, using my eye patch again as a way to insult me.

00:20:55.000 So using my war wounds to insult me, which is funny because Tucker was, of course, one of those people feigning outrage when Pete Davidson did what he did.

00:21:03.000 But of course, he's allowed to do it and actually go much further, call me a traitor.

00:21:07.000 He's called me sinister.

00:21:08.000 He's called me all sorts of slanderous names over the years.

00:21:12.000 So there's no...

00:21:15.000 It's hard to see space for reconciliation in this kind of environment where there's just a complete lack of mutual respect.

00:21:24.000 Yeah, you need mutual respect, I suppose, in any discourse.

00:21:28.000 You know, I've been part of the culture that...

00:21:32.000 Pete Davidson comes from, you know, he's a sort of a movie star and a comedy star and I think a pretty brilliant comic, actually.

00:21:41.000 And again, as I started by saying, I was touched that the reconciliation could be achieved, even with something that amounts to media spat, as Pete Davidson, while he might be an artifact that one could argue ultimately belongs to a particular political purview expressed through the culture, he's not a political...

00:22:01.000 I'm sure.

00:22:24.000 And I feel that...

00:22:26.000 Since being in your country, I've spent some time with vets.

00:22:30.000 You know, there's a lot of people, a lot of service.

00:22:31.000 You know, there are a lot of veterans, aren't there?

00:22:33.000 And I've got a different appreciation and understanding of American patriotism.

00:22:38.000 And just as an observer, what it appears to mean to people that have given, in some cases, limbs.

00:22:44.000 There's a couple of guys I met.

00:22:45.000 My mate Daniel lost a leg in Iraq.

00:22:49.000 And my friend Amos experienced injuries in Afghanistan that are not so visible, but like a bunch of skeletal as well as psychological stuff.

00:23:00.000 And because I agree with the veneration and valorization of veterans, I agree that if people have served their country, they ought to be afforded a level of respect that most people...

00:23:16.000 Can't claim because most of us aren't willing to sacrifice ourselves for our nation or for what we believe in.

00:23:22.000 A lot of people in our culture are pretty selfish.

00:23:25.000 So I suppose what that means is that a veteran is connected to and tied to sets of values that are...

00:23:32.000 Pretty profound and important, and as near to sacred as one might get in a secular conversation.

00:23:38.000 Now, I'm not being coy here.

00:23:40.000 I've not followed whatever you've said about Tucker or whatever Tucker said about you.

00:23:43.000 I just heard, oh, Dan Crenshaw, Tucker.

00:23:48.000 Tucker's one of them super famous people that I know, like Bobby Kennedy, where I feel like I've spent time with them, had good face time, and I feel like, oh, I love Tucker Carlson the same way I love Bobby Kennedy.

00:23:57.000 So I can't imagine that Tucker Carlson would be mean.

00:24:00.000 I just don't think that about him.

00:24:02.000 So I figure that it's probably stuff that's to do with politics and money and the military-industrial complex and that sort of stuff.

00:24:09.000 And if it's, like, what I suppose my sense is that you, just based on your answer, that you've been generally supportive of Ukraine.

00:24:16.000 So I wonder, then, what your perspective is on...

00:24:20.000 Can I say a couple of things about what you...

00:24:21.000 Of course!

00:24:22.000 Yeah, absolutely.

00:24:23.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:24:24.000 We can talk about Ukraine in a minute.

00:24:26.000 But, like, there's a couple of things.

00:24:27.000 And you'll appreciate this as a comedian.

00:24:29.000 So going back to Pete Davidson.

00:24:31.000 One of the reasons it didn't work was because it wasn't funny.

00:24:35.000 Because, you know, the joke he made about me just before that, he's like, Dan Crenshaw looks kind of like a hitman in a porno.

00:24:43.000 I got to admit that's kind of funny.

00:24:46.000 And so you could view that as disrespectful because the only reason I look like a hitman in a porno, I guess, is because of the eye patch.

00:24:53.000 The only reason I have an eye patch is because I lost an eye in combat.

00:24:56.000 We're not above making...

00:24:58.000 People making fun of us.

00:25:01.000 The worst possible jokes, but also perhaps the funniest, are the ones that come from my best friends who I serve with.

00:25:07.000 I'm actually flying back to San Diego tonight for a SEAL graduation.

00:25:12.000 I'm still very close with the SEAL teams and the veteran community.

00:25:16.000 They will say things about my wounds that you just get in so much trouble publicly.

00:25:23.000 But it's different because we're part of the same community.

00:25:25.000 And you know what?

00:25:26.000 It's funny.

00:25:29.000 In comedy, and you know this, if the joke lands, it can be offensive.

00:25:34.000 And that's what good comedy is.

00:25:36.000 So that's a problem.

00:25:37.000 With Tucker, there's never any attempt to be funny.

00:25:39.000 And the last thing I want to say about that is the reason there's such animosity from me towards him is because he's never made a policy argument.

00:25:48.000 People will actually ask me, why does Tucker hate you?

00:25:51.000 And I'll be like, well, the fact that you have to even ask that question tells you everything you need to know.

00:25:55.000 The fact that he doesn't actually have an explanation from a policy perspective, because this is supposedly a policy debate, and he just smears me personally, accuses me of crimes, accuses me of being sinister, accuses me of being liberal, despite my voting record and everything I do being completely the opposite.

00:26:13.000 You know, it's just slanderous and it's ill-intentioned and that's why we just, that's how the reconciliation just won't happen.

00:26:20.000 You won't talk about Ukraine, but the thing is, like, Tucker has never really made the arguments against my stances.

00:26:26.000 He just calls me a horrible person, which isn't, it's childish.

00:26:31.000 That surprises me because, like, when I first met Tucker, I went on, like, Fox News and I'd been schooled that... 0.99

00:26:38.000 You are not going to like Tucker Carlson, he's a racist, he's a Nazi, he's the worst person in the world. 0.96

00:26:42.000 Then I met him and he was... 0.79

00:26:44.000 So sweet and charming, and I've subsequently got to know him well, and I think he understands American politics really well, and I think sort of out of the independent media, of course there's really few people that can compare to Joe Rogan, but Joe Rogan, if you were going to compare him to anyone in the culture, he's like Oprah Winfrey, I figure, like sort of congenerate other stars.

00:27:03.000 He's like a galaxy-generating media figure.

00:27:06.000 You don't get Theo Vaughn or maybe Huberman, maybe even in my new incarnation, my career has been him.

00:27:13.000 Influenced and impacted by the sort of ability and position of Rogan.

00:27:18.000 Where I figure that Tucker is distinct is he comes out of legacy media.

00:27:22.000 He's obviously Republican.

00:27:24.000 He's Christian now.

00:27:25.000 He's conservative.

00:27:26.000 And when I've done live things with him, what I recognize is that Tucker somehow understands and speaks for and to American people in a way that I can appreciate.

00:27:37.000 I feel like he loves America.

00:27:38.000 I feel like he loves your country.

00:27:39.000 I feel like he loves veterans.

00:27:41.000 I feel like he's really respectful of pretty old-school conservative American values and part of my personal change.

00:27:47.000 Like, as a person that would have been, you know, I hosted SNL, like, only one time.

00:27:52.000 It was only once!

00:27:53.000 I just did SNL once!

00:27:54.000 Like, as if it's a drug.

00:27:55.000 I just did it once, so I'll never do it again.

00:27:57.000 I can handle it.

00:27:58.000 I won't get caught up in doing it five times.

00:27:59.000 But, like, I come from that culture, comedy, movies, liberalism, all that kind of thing.

00:28:06.000 And, like, I started to recognise it was disingenuous and hollow and empty, never meant...

00:28:12.000 It didn't mean people couldn't back up the virtues they espoused with sacrifice and action.

00:28:18.000 That's why my particular position when it comes to veterans is one of, as I've said, reverence because of that.

00:28:24.000 That don't mean I wouldn't make jokes.

00:28:25.000 If I knew you...

00:28:26.000 Better, and I felt that there was good faith, and that you'd be able to discern that my jokes were coming from a position of love.

00:28:34.000 I would do some jokes, but I don't feel I've earned that, and because I'm trying to talk about things that are somewhat delicate and complex, I wouldn't go there.

00:28:43.000 So, like, um, so...

00:28:44.000 What I feel like is, I'm just guessing, I'm guessing that Tucker must think that there's some sort of financial impropriety connection to military industrial complex companies that are at odds with what you represent in the culture.

00:28:57.000 Because I feel like in that SNL moment with Dan Crenshaw, I thought what Dan Crenshaw represents is...

00:29:02.000 Decency of congressmen and veterans.

00:29:06.000 And in a way that, say, something like Hegsef might now represent, oh, like, even if the left hates this dude, Hegsef, and makes allegations against him or claims there are allegations against him sexually, and Lord alone knows I know what that's like.

00:29:20.000 He, ordinary vets, like when I met with them guys recently in DC, they all love him and were, like, well into him.

00:29:26.000 So, and I feel like if we're in a moment, congressman, where we're trying to bring about reconciliation, Well, that'd be nice.

00:29:48.000 Unfortunately, the incentive structures in modern American politics aren't geared that way.

00:29:55.000 Tucker's incentives are not to have any kind of...

00:30:00.000 Good relationship or reconciliation.

00:30:02.000 Tucker's incentives are monetary in nature.

00:30:05.000 And cornering a market which I think is based in outrage and based in this idea that the establishment is always against you.

00:30:14.000 I know he's coming after you.

00:30:15.000 And then you got to that a little bit when you talked about his ideas on military-industrial complex.

00:30:20.000 And so it become, for him, it's very much a single-variable analysis.

00:30:23.000 And you're a critical thinker.

00:30:24.000 I mean, is single-variable analysis critical thinking?

00:30:26.000 Of course not.

00:30:29.000 But that's effectively what he's doing.

00:30:30.000 Okay, so I guess the narrative goes, well, okay, if you support this policy, then you must be somehow captured by this nebulous military-industrial complex.

00:30:42.000 Captured how?

00:30:43.000 He doesn't say.

00:30:44.000 Well, he does say, actually.

00:30:45.000 I mean, he makes radical, insane claims.

00:30:49.000 He made a bunch of them when he was on Rogan.

00:30:52.000 God, was it last year?

00:30:54.000 One of the claims was that those of us who serve on the Intelligence Committee, I serve on the Intelligence Committee, are consistently blackmailed and threatened by organizations like the CIA, and that's how they get us to keep funding their activities.

00:31:11.000 And he says, well, you know, members have told me this.

00:31:14.000 Well, then name them.

00:31:16.000 Then say it.

00:31:17.000 Offer some proof for what you're saying.

00:31:19.000 Because even somebody who knows a little bit about civics and how our government works would know that the incentive, like, that just, that doesn't make sense even on the surface.

00:31:29.000 Because our particular committee has, this is very different than the UK, for instance, and actually most parliamentary systems.

00:31:36.000 We have a very serious set of checks and balances in our government.

00:31:40.000 We actually control the authorities and the budget of those agencies.

00:31:44.000 So, in fact, the power dynamic that Tucker is describing is exactly the opposite as he describes it.

00:31:50.000 They have very much an incentive to be scared of us, not the other way around.

00:31:54.000 This idea that we're being blackmailed by them is just utterly insane.

00:31:59.000 He also claimed in that particular interview that aliens are living underwater and we have all the evidence and they want I mean, it's just stuff like that that you're like, what are we talking about?

00:32:09.000 Is this entertainment?

00:32:11.000 Or are we trying to give people news and interesting insights?

00:32:15.000 Or is it just entertainment for the sake of clicks?

00:32:18.000 And this is what I mean by incentive structures that have unfortunately percolated in a massive way, and it's largely because of social media.

00:32:25.000 And you're not putting that cap back in the bag, so it is what it is.

00:32:28.000 But it has created a different set of incentives around politics where you gain power by engagement and you gain engagement by outrage porn.

00:32:41.000 That's what gains engagement.

00:32:42.000 I give people this test all the time.

00:32:44.000 I'm like, and especially conservatives, because I'm like, conservatives especially, because of the way we're sort of wired, we tend to look, we tend to be skeptical.

00:32:55.000 But skepticism can turn into paranoia, can turn into conspiratorialism pretty quickly.

00:33:00.000 But you're skeptical of government.

00:33:02.000 You're skeptical of authority.

00:33:03.000 You're skeptical of adding more regulations to something.

00:33:07.000 You don't think it'll do what it's supposed to do.

00:33:09.000 That's a typical conservative way of looking at things.

00:33:12.000 But that can devolve if you don't have a good mental framework with which to assess problems in front of you.

00:33:19.000 That can devolve quickly into paranoia.

00:33:21.000 And one of the things conservatives do, almost like a sport, It's trying to find the enemies in their own midst.

00:33:27.000 Democrats don't go dino hunting, right?

00:33:29.000 But Republicans love to go rhino hunting.

00:33:32.000 There's nothing more satisfying than finding out that somebody you loved and respected is actually part of the deep state.

00:33:38.000 Now, the person claiming that, like, say, Tucker, can offer zero evidence for it.

00:33:43.000 Zero evidence.

00:33:45.000 But we've created this culture where it's like, it's just...

00:33:49.000 It's like a gravitational pull to believe something that someone has betrayed you that you formerly respected.

00:33:55.000 And it just gets you engagement.

00:33:57.000 And my name is Clickbait.

00:34:00.000 Some other random congressman could have been hot-miked on the Tucker thing, and it wouldn't have made waves.

00:34:04.000 But I have a really particular ability, I think, to make a certain segment of Twitter very, very angry.

00:34:12.000 It's quite astonishing.

00:34:14.000 I suppose I'm flattered by it to an extent, but it's also silly and exhausting, and it detracts from, I think, a lot of the serious work we're trying to do.

00:34:22.000 That's the unfortunate incentive structures that we see in our political spectrum right now.

00:34:28.000 It's not healthy.

00:34:30.000 And the test I gave, I said I was going to give a test.

00:34:32.000 So I'll tell voters, look, what are you more likely to click on?

00:34:36.000 Headline number one, Biden can't speak again at the podium.

00:34:40.000 Headline number two, Democrats wasteful spending, blah, blah, blah, blah.

00:34:46.000 Headline number three, five reasons why Dan Crenshaw is a globalist that you need to know.

00:34:51.000 Which one are you going to click on?

00:34:52.000 You're going to click on the third one.

00:34:54.000 You're going to click on this guy you respected, you thought was your guy.

00:34:59.000 Actually, here's five reasons why he's a globalist, whatever the hell that means.

00:35:02.000 I mean, it's something I deal with.

00:35:06.000 It's something we have to deal with as politicians.

00:35:07.000 It's fine.

00:35:08.000 It is what it is.

00:35:09.000 But I also want people to be clear-eyed on who's telling you this and what their incentive structures are for doing so.

00:35:18.000 It's difficult to argue with the idea that those of us that occupy a space in the independent media world over time become kind of acclimatized and schooled in what you could refer to, and fairly so as well, as clickbait, because I know that when you title a video or you thumbnail a video or you have to consider a way of presenting it, probably when we pull a video from this conversation, we all...

00:35:43.000 Use the idea that we're talking about Tucker Carlson rather than saying we talked about the deep state in a general way because, yeah, for exactly the reasons you've described.

00:35:53.000 But with Trump's success being founded both in 2016 and now in 2025, somewhat on that kind of cynicism that you began your argument with, Congressman, do...

00:36:03.000 And I hear what you said about, in particular, the Intelligence Committee that you sat on and their relationship with the CIA. Isn't so much of the sort of current MAGA, MAHA movement built on the idea, think, for example, of Doge or the way that Trump has handled Zelensky, on the idea, and to your point about globalism and what you mean, what I mean when I say globalism is that...

00:36:24.000 It doesn't matter if you vote for the Republican Party or the Democrat Party.

00:36:28.000 There are within state institutions, figures and individuals that have relationships with global entities that could be NATO, could be the WHO, could be WEF, that mean that they stay within a purview and guardrails of a set of agenda that are not in alignment with the democratic will of the Republic of America.

00:36:48.000 That's what I mean by globalism, this kind of...

00:36:51.000 Capture.

00:36:51.000 But I also know what it's like to be a famous person and to have people sort of collapse and conflate.

00:36:55.000 Oh, Russell's got this 33 tattoo on his arm.

00:36:59.000 That means he's in the Masons or he's Illuminati.

00:37:01.000 This is because Jesus died when he was 33. 33 vertebrae in your neck for a minute.

00:37:05.000 I thought it was my lucky number back in the days when I believed in things like luck.

00:37:09.000 So I know it's like when stuff sort of gets...

00:37:11.000 Out of control.

00:37:13.000 And I reckon all rhetoric can escalate in exactly the way you described to sort of create, you know, controversy and therefore clicks and ultimately sort of revenue.

00:37:22.000 But what my feeling is when it comes to more broadly the argument about mistrust of...

00:37:28.000 The state, and in particular the deep state, is I say with the CIA in particular, like, I know that there are, I don't know, I heard and believe that there are CIA carve-outs that funded Ukrainian media outlets that claimed that I was a Russian asset, and I'm like, I know that I'm not a Russian asset.

00:37:48.000 Like, I know that I've never had a conversation with or money from, and I know that I don't think that Putin's a great guy.

00:37:54.000 I just sort of query the origins of that conflict and NATO's involved.

00:38:00.000 And all those arguments that come out of the kind of the sceptical position on the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

00:38:09.000 In case you care, like my sort of general position is, it's terrible that people keep dying in this war, and there seems to be some complexity in its origins, particularly when you listen to people like Mearsheimer, Sachs, or even recently a brilliant argument from Matlock, the dude Matlock that worked for Reagan and actually translated some of the discourse between Kennedy and Khrushchev, and then was present for James Baker's negotiations with Gorbachev, where he said that how Trump's handling this conflict is good.

00:38:38.000 That's a long-winded way of saying that with Trump being, in a sense, the chief beneficiary of much of that cynicism around the deep state, and with Tucker almost being the sort of public face of that, the media face of that aspect of Trump's success and popularity, do you feel that there is legitimacy to the arguments that the Ukraine conflict is somewhat...

00:39:05.000 Perpetuated because of the agenda of organizations like Raytheon, Norfolk, Grumman, or what we would loosely term the military-industrial complex.

00:39:12.000 Okay, lots to tackle there.

00:39:14.000 I want to wrap up even talking about Tucker.

00:39:17.000 I think he's such a waste of time to talk about.

00:39:19.000 In a way, though, it's gone broader.

00:39:20.000 It's gone broader now.

00:39:21.000 We're in deep state and war funding.

00:39:23.000 I know.

00:39:23.000 I want to wrap that up and then move on to a lot of other things.

00:39:29.000 You know, I don't think Tucker deserves to be the face of that Trump movement, right?

00:39:34.000 I think these are two separate things.

00:39:35.000 I do think Trump rightfully represents that skepticism.

00:39:38.000 And, you know, actions speak louder than words.

00:39:42.000 We're doing it as we speak.

00:39:44.000 We're rooting out some of these things that I think Americans are rightfully skeptical about.

00:39:49.000 Again, skepticism can turn into conspicuousism, but skepticism is good.

00:39:54.000 And there should be skeptical of how I would define the deep state.

00:39:58.000 It's not too different from how you define it.

00:40:01.000 I would leave out the global organizations necessarily.

00:40:05.000 I think the deep state is really, it's people.

00:40:09.000 It is people who have biases.

00:40:11.000 And there are people with biases in every organization.

00:40:13.000 Now, the difference between a bureaucracy and a private organization is a private organization, all those biases, they don't matter all that much because you're profit-oriented.

00:40:22.000 And so there's an effect there that you don't have to control for.

00:40:27.000 With a bureaucracy, you better damn well control for it because biases, well, what's the mission?

00:40:32.000 It's not profit for bureaucracy.

00:40:33.000 The mission is helping people, right?

00:40:37.000 So whatever the bureaucracy is, the mission is helping people in some sort of way, whether it's a healthcare or the EPA or whatever.

00:40:44.000 But of course, there's a large spectrum on the political belief systems on what it means to help people.

00:40:51.000 And that's where the biases comes in.

00:40:53.000 That's where deep state comes in.

00:40:54.000 And somebody in the right position can either sign something or not sign something, check the box or not check the box, because they're in that position of power.

00:41:02.000 And rooting that out is a real key goal of this administration.

00:41:06.000 It's a key goal of Republicans, I think, generally.

00:41:09.000 One that I violently agree with.

00:41:14.000 I just don't put Tucker in that same category simply because...

00:41:17.000 To me, just knowing his history, he's the epitome of the DC insider.

00:41:23.000 You know what's on the Hunter Biden laptops?

00:41:26.000 Emails from Tucker Carlson to Hunter Biden asking Hunter Biden for help to get his son into Georgetown.

00:41:31.000 You can just Google that.

00:41:34.000 That's well-documented.

00:41:36.000 This guy's been part of this system for so long.

00:41:40.000 So it always just strikes me as just disingenuous.

00:41:43.000 What I'm being accused, as somebody who's done nothing but serve this country, I'm being accused of being a multimillionaire.

00:41:49.000 None of this is true.

00:41:50.000 I will show you my brokerage account on my phone.

00:41:53.000 It's probably less now because these tariff announcements have crushed the market.

00:41:57.000 So I'd probably have like $22,000 in there.

00:42:00.000 And that's normal for the past six years that I've been in.

00:42:03.000 It's about $22,000, $24,000.

00:42:07.000 That's the big reveal on Dan Crenshaw Insider Trading.

00:42:12.000 It's just all lies.

00:42:13.000 It's just constant lies.

00:42:15.000 And people like Tucker know their lies, but say them anyway.

00:42:18.000 So let's wrap that up.

00:42:20.000 I would leave Tucker out of it.

00:42:21.000 Let's go back to your general statements on Deep State.

00:42:24.000 Yeah.

00:42:25.000 Now, do companies like Raytheon and Lockheed, this is a common question, a common belief.

00:42:31.000 Do these companies, Somehow influence policymaker decisions to get into whatever conflict.

00:42:39.000 And the answer is I just see zero evidence of it.

00:42:42.000 Zero evidence of it.

00:42:43.000 These companies are going to survive just fine, whether there's a conflict or not a conflict.

00:42:49.000 Again, it's single variable analysis.

00:42:52.000 Just because there's a profit to be made, does it therefore mean that the profit incentive is the sole cause of the policy decision, or is it possible?

00:43:01.000 That there's actually a whole lot of other reasons why policymakers might make the decisions they make.

00:43:06.000 And I'll just give you a quick synopsis on campaign finance.

00:43:10.000 There is no way for you to be bought off by a defense contractor.

00:43:17.000 There's just no way to do it because of our campaign finance limitations.

00:43:22.000 I mean, you just can't do it.

00:43:24.000 And I've never seen a case, by the way.

00:43:26.000 I could be wrong, but I've never seen it, never heard of it.

00:43:29.000 And it's the kind of thing that if it was revealed, one, it's revealable because if you make a super...

00:43:35.000 So Raytheon, in theory, could create a super PAC. In theory, they could do that.

00:43:39.000 But they still have to report where that money is coming from.

00:43:43.000 And in reality, the way our super PAC system works, the way campaign finance works in America...

00:43:48.000 You know, people have a lot of heartburn over it.

00:43:50.000 You know, they call it dark money.

00:43:52.000 They call it this.

00:43:52.000 It's not really dark money.

00:43:54.000 You still have to report who's supporting what.

00:43:56.000 And in the end, it's never going to change because of our First Amendment.

00:44:00.000 You have a right to spend money and whoever you are and make your voice heard.

00:44:05.000 But I've never even seen a case where the defense contractors are actually doing an open advocation for this war in particular or any war for that matter.

00:44:16.000 We just don't see it.

00:44:17.000 And I certainly, I can say at least from my own experience, there's zero pressure, zero, for your policy stance to match whatever we perceive their desires to be.

00:44:30.000 And again, I use the word perceive their desires to be because they don't even make them apparent.

00:44:37.000 They're much more paranoid about I think a lot of people realize.

00:44:59.000 Lobbying, by its very nature, is competitive.

00:45:05.000 There's a thousand different industries represented.

00:45:07.000 I don't care who you work for.

00:45:09.000 You're represented by a lobbyist in Washington.

00:45:11.000 It doesn't matter what you do for a living.

00:45:12.000 Somebody is representing you.

00:45:14.000 Those are competing factions.

00:45:16.000 This goes back to the Federalist Papers.

00:45:17.000 How does a Federalist system survive over time?

00:45:22.000 Well, it survives by competing factions that are freely allowed to yell at one another, compete with one another, and exercise their First Amendment right to lobby.

00:45:32.000 They're congressional representatives on what they want.

00:45:35.000 And then it's up to you, the congressional representative, to ascertain who's bullshitting you and who isn't.

00:45:41.000 And then really just go back to your own personal judgment based on what you ran on and told your constituents you would be for them.

00:45:48.000 And that's what I've done.

00:45:50.000 I say, hey, when I run an election, I say, this is who I am.

00:45:53.000 This is how I make judgment calls.

00:45:55.000 This is how my mental framework works.

00:45:58.000 It's within a box of conservative values.

00:46:01.000 This is how I process new problems.

00:46:03.000 I can't tell you exactly how I'm going to vote on X, Y, or Z because we haven't seen it yet.

00:46:07.000 But I can tell you how I think.

00:46:09.000 And that's what representation is supposed to be.

00:46:11.000 And if people don't like that, they can vote you out in two years.

00:46:13.000 We have a pretty quick turnaround up here.

00:46:16.000 I don't know if that answers your question.

00:46:18.000 So many questions.

00:46:19.000 Thank you, Dan.

00:46:21.000 It answers loads of questions.

00:46:23.000 When I think about what you said about lobbying and donors, sometimes I recognize that when you're inside of an institution, you're of course going to be granted insights that are not available when you have a broad sense that, oh, well, I get my information from a variety of independent media sources, but after a while I... Kind of tend towards figures that have been actually heroic in another sense.

00:46:49.000 For example, Assange and Snowden, men that have made sacrifices in order to bring information to the public that's influenced the way that we see these kind of institutions.

00:46:58.000 And I recognise that there's a lot of generalisation that goes on, maybe even in, presumably, even in my own reporting when talking about the Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon.

00:47:09.000 And I recognise these organisations do a lot outside of...

00:47:13.000 But it's difficult for me just instinctively as an outsider not to think that the whole business of lobbying and...

00:47:20.000 Party political donations, certainly at the scale of whole political parties rather than individuals, about which obviously you know a lot more than I do, doesn't have an impact because obviously that's why they're doing it.

00:47:31.000 And when I pivot to something that I feel a little more comfortable talking about, because I don't know a whole bunch about anything, but certainly not about military-industrial complex or the impact of those organisations on war, but when I think about how the pandemic was litigated, how it was managed globally, and the...

00:47:49.000 The way in which organisations like Pfizer and Moderna benefited, the way in which big tech and social media companies censored, and the way that...

00:47:58.000 Political movements, in particular democratically elected political parties in my country and yours, behaved.

00:48:04.000 I can see what your great comedian George Carlin meant when he said, when interests converge, no conspiracy is required.

00:48:13.000 I'm talking now sort of in a general way about the pandemic rather than the military-industrial complex.

00:48:18.000 You and I are going to have a lot of agreement on pandemic stuff, I'm sure.

00:48:24.000 So, and I suppose that when it comes to that, because I don't know the details in the same way with the Euraphians, Lockheed Martin, etc., what I saw, and I think what a lot of people saw during the pandemic era is, oh, look at how the state, the media, big tech...

00:48:40.000 And Big Pharma and the apparently objective regulatory bodies around Big Pharma, the FDA, CDC, NIH, appear to have been influenced financially in ways that dilutes and even corrupts, frankly, their apparent objectivity and undermines their duty, and in so doing, our faith in those institutions.

00:49:00.000 I'm not an American.

00:49:01.000 I'm a guest and a visitor.

00:49:03.000 In your country.

00:49:04.000 But I feel like that what we learned in the pandemic kind of confirmed what a lot of people had long suspected.

00:49:12.000 And someone like Nancy Pelosi, I really appreciate your transparency.

00:49:16.000 It's like $22,000.

00:49:17.000 It just sort of puts things into a totally different perspective.

00:49:19.000 When you say a number, you think, oh, my God, who's going to begrudge that?

00:49:22.000 But when...

00:49:23.000 Yeah.

00:49:25.000 Well, the insider trader thing, I'm like, you know, to be an insider trader, I have to be trading.

00:49:32.000 Last time I bought stocks for 10,000 bucks, literally 10,000.

00:49:36.000 I mean, it was three, four years ago.

00:49:40.000 Those accusations against me are so absurd, and it just almost made me laugh at this point.

00:49:44.000 Sorry, I didn't interrupt you.

00:49:46.000 I understand that.

00:49:46.000 I was talking about Nancy Pelosi.

00:49:47.000 So, like, people have, whether it's true or not, people have a sense that Nancy Pelosi is escalating an accumulative wealth during a... 1.00

00:49:56.000 Period of time where she's been in lawmaking is an indication that she gleans information from the various committees she sits on and her husband, you know, and this is like mostly unusual whales reporting on Exit, I'm talking about here, and I think there's some sense that people feel that that's true.

00:50:11.000 So when things are generally true, i.e.

00:50:13.000 in the pandemic, it seemed like Big Pharma was able to influence regulatory body, it seems that the government's legislation, or if not legislation, guidelines and governing benefited both The pandemic was really bad,

00:50:43.000 really bad for experts, for the public health sector, because they were knowingly giving out, I don't think ill intentions, but...

00:50:52.000 But bad information.

00:50:53.000 And I might have different blame than you do, even though we agree on the general awfulness of how that was conducted.

00:51:04.000 I mean, but okay, so let's talk about the vaccines getting expedited, right, through FDA approval.

00:51:14.000 There's no evidence to suggest that, I mean, well, so obviously the company...

00:51:18.000 Making the vaccine has an interest in getting it expedited.

00:51:21.000 But that's always going to be true with any FDA approval, no matter what.

00:51:25.000 That just makes sense.

00:51:27.000 Operation Warp Speed is what did it.

00:51:30.000 And that was President Trump's Operation Warp Speed.

00:51:33.000 Now, he doesn't talk about that much anymore because the vaccines have become so unpopular.

00:51:40.000 But he wasn't influenced by money.

00:51:45.000 He was doing what he...

00:51:47.000 You know, if we're defending Trump here, I think he's doing it with the best information he had at the time in a moment where people were demanding action.

00:51:57.000 And so I think the blame, this is where I would at least share blame, is, look, when we were doing polls, I mean, I was out on a limb because I never wavered.

00:52:08.000 I was out on a limb, unpopular limb, with saying lockdowns are bad, vaccine mandates are bad.

00:52:16.000 And I'm not even sure that this obsession with testing is going to get you where you want to be because by the time you test, you're already infected.

00:52:26.000 It's just everything they said I had a problem with.

00:52:31.000 You can't take the hydroxychloroquine or whatever.

00:52:37.000 What's the one Joe Rogan got famous for taking?

00:52:39.000 Ivermectin.

00:52:41.000 Ivan, we can't take it.

00:52:42.000 And it's like, okay, maybe it won't work.

00:52:44.000 Maybe they're right that it really doesn't have a good effect.

00:52:46.000 But it also doesn't have a bad effect.

00:52:49.000 So leave people alone.

00:52:54.000 Everybody's biology is a little different.

00:52:55.000 Some people respond to medications just differently than others.

00:52:58.000 Who knows?

00:53:00.000 It was so far beyond the scope of common sense, especially the lockdown stuff.

00:53:05.000 The lockdowns are ultimately what caused massive global inflation, because what are you doing?

00:53:10.000 You're constricting supply, and then on purpose, constricting supply.

00:53:14.000 And then Democrats take power, Joe Biden takes power, and they immediately implement the American Rescue Plan and the IRA, which were basically massive injections of free money demand.

00:53:23.000 So what happens when you have high demand and low supply?

00:53:26.000 You have sky-high prices.

00:53:27.000 You get inflation.

00:53:29.000 You know, these things had terrible effects.

00:53:32.000 And then all the data, in hindsight, although I was making this claim at the time, the data shows that lockdowns just don't work.

00:53:38.000 And that the best thing you can do in a situation like this, we don't need to relitigate all this.

00:53:41.000 I mean, we agree on this.

00:53:43.000 And I think most people do.

00:53:44.000 But we were going out on a limb trying to make that.

00:53:47.000 And, like, I'm on the health subcommittee.

00:53:49.000 Let me just say that.

00:53:50.000 Like, I'm on the health care subcommittee for energy and commerce.

00:53:53.000 I meet with lobbyists from the health care industry all the time.

00:53:56.000 So, obviously, whatever influence they had on me didn't make me say any of the things that you would think they want me to say.

00:54:04.000 But I'll tell you what, they never wanted me to say them.

00:54:07.000 Like, it's just not true.

00:54:10.000 Never, ever would I ever get a letter from Pfizer or Moderna saying, hey, I mean, these vaccines are good.

00:54:17.000 Like, never. 1.00

00:54:19.000 You know, the only reason I ever got a vaccine personally was because I had to visit the fucking UK, and the only way I could get into the fucking country was to get this stupid vaccine. 1.00

00:54:29.000 And I was pissed because I'd already had COVID. I still couldn't smell. 1.00

00:54:35.000 And I'm not even sure I've totally regained that sense.

00:54:39.000 Although that has its benefits, I'll tell you what.

00:54:41.000 Not smelling certain things has its benefits, especially when you're raising a small child, as I am.

00:54:48.000 Although, sometimes I'd rather smell the poop than have to feel for it.

00:54:51.000 Yes, yes.

00:54:53.000 Too much CMI. The sense to engage with a baby's diaper is definitely the sense of smell.

00:55:00.000 You don't want to be using the tactile senses or listening for it.

00:55:05.000 Get in there.

00:55:06.000 And I can't see that well, so it's like I'm already screwed as far as senses go.

00:55:10.000 I'd rather just have my sense of smell back.

00:55:12.000 Anyway, too much information.

00:55:15.000 The point is, you know, It's a little bit more nuanced and harder to say why people are doing the things they are doing than I think a lot of people want to believe.

00:55:26.000 I think a lot of the public, when they see problems, too many people look for easy buttons to press.

00:55:31.000 Well, I see this, so it must be this person's fault.

00:55:33.000 It's so much easier to blame a specific entity, whatever that entity is, because it just makes your problem solving simpler.

00:55:41.000 And I always feel the maybe stupid need because it'd be much easier in my political life if I just simply agreed with everybody.

00:55:49.000 But I have to point out sometimes like, ah, your rights, but also there's other things at play here. 0.93

00:55:54.000 And there were things at play during COVID were massive amounts of public opinion that were like, do something now.

00:56:00.000 We want something done now.

00:56:01.000 Trump was under a lot of pressure to do something all the time.

00:56:07.000 And, you know, in hindsight, it probably went too far for the likes of some of us.

00:56:11.000 I remember pressuring my own governor, Governor Abbott.

00:56:13.000 I was like, we didn't lock down a whole lot.

00:56:16.000 I remember we closed down gyms and bars, and I would get on the phone with him and be like, you need to reopen.

00:56:22.000 Like, you need to reopen.

00:56:23.000 This has no effect.

00:56:24.000 The people going to gyms are not the ones who are going to die from COVID. And our hospitals are not at the capacity.

00:56:31.000 Like, I would be putting out constant messaging on, like, what's our actual hospital capacity?

00:56:36.000 Because that's a factor.

00:56:37.000 For some countries, I understand why they lock down a little harder, because they simply don't have the hospital capacity.

00:56:43.000 But, man, this is like bringing back 2020 vibes.

00:56:46.000 We haven't talked about this stuff in forever.

00:56:49.000 So, you know, a public opinion had a lot to do with that.

00:56:52.000 And people need to be less fearful and more critical thinkers.

00:56:57.000 Less emotion in your brain.

00:56:59.000 I think the reason we ended up discussing it is because it was epochal, and there's no question that I imagine that after the pandemic, there was an evolution and change in the political perspectives in your country that have been at the end led to...

00:57:17.000 Bobby Kennedy being part of the MAGA movement.

00:57:21.000 I reckon that's one of the indicators that you don't have an unbiased media because legacy media could have assessed that particular alliance as well as Tulsi Gabbard's new position of prominence as an indication that MAGA 2025 is not Trump 2016. And those conversations aren't taking place because there isn't an objective media upon which those conversations can happen.

00:57:44.000 Now, I wonder what you feel about Trump's top line appointments, whether it's Kash Patel, our very own from Rumble, Dan Bongino at the FBI, or Bobby Kennedy at the HHS.

00:57:54.000 And I wonder what you feel about Trump's public diplomacy on the international stage, in so much as the way that he campaigned, he appears to be governing in the way that he campaigned.

00:58:07.000 And with, for example, his bellicosity and belligerence and overtness, when it comes to, say, dealing with Zelensky, do you feel, as I do, that what Trump does publicly, political figures have often done in more clandestine and discreet ways?

00:58:21.000 And do you feel that when it comes to the Ukraine-Russia conflict in particular, Trump's style of diplomacy is going to bring about peace?

00:58:28.000 And what do you, in general, think, Congressman, about his position when it comes to making deals where American aid is undergirded by Ukrainian resources?

00:58:39.000 And perhaps you can speak for a while on that basis about the Russia-Ukraine conflict and how, in general, the Republican movement has not been supportive of ongoing aid to Ukraine.

00:58:52.000 you Yeah, okay.

00:58:53.000 Lots of impact there.

00:58:54.000 Okay, so first start with his appointments.

00:58:56.000 I mean, that's the easiest one.

00:58:57.000 I'm ready to work with all of them.

00:58:59.000 You mentioned a couple names.

00:59:01.000 At least I know Kash Patel.

00:59:03.000 Not too well, but we have friends in common, and we were at the same wedding a couple years ago.

00:59:09.000 So he's a smart guy.

00:59:11.000 He's been in some positions that I think make him well-qualified.

00:59:16.000 Pete Hegsteth, Pete Hegsteth is the only one I really went out and supported.

00:59:20.000 I stayed silent on this.

00:59:22.000 I'm not a senator, right?

00:59:23.000 Senators do the confirmations.

00:59:25.000 Us lowly House members, we watch, and we gain nothing by trying to instigate anything.

00:59:32.000 So why do it?

00:59:33.000 I think Kennedy's interesting you know We'll see how he...

00:59:41.000 It manages an organization like HHS that does a heck of a lot more than just public health.

00:59:48.000 It actually does very little in the sense of developing what you should do to keep yourself healthy.

00:59:56.000 But I like where he's going with it.

00:59:57.000 I guess I like his messaging.

01:00:00.000 And, you know, just a simple idea that we want to make America more healthy and talk about things like, I don't know, modern nutrition and exercise.

01:00:08.000 That's pretty crazy stuff.

01:00:10.000 It's stuff that most of us already know because, you know, like, I care about my longevity.

01:00:18.000 And so, like, some of the stuff he says about this or that, like, I'm like, yeah, I mean, I thought that was common knowledge.

01:00:24.000 Some of it I'm like, I don't really know.

01:00:26.000 Some of it needs to be studied.

01:00:27.000 And I think he's done a good job of, like, Admitting that.

01:00:31.000 Like, you know, I just want truth.

01:00:33.000 You know, he often said that during his hearings.

01:00:35.000 I just want the truth to come out.

01:00:37.000 You know, I'm not against this necessarily.

01:00:39.000 I just want the facts.

01:00:41.000 This is where, like, somebody like Anthony Fauci really screwed us. 1.00

01:00:45.000 He treated people too stupidly. 1.00

01:00:47.000 And that was a real problem. 1.00

01:00:49.000 And that created massive distrust because you just can't. 0.98

01:00:53.000 Like, we're not that dumb. 0.96

01:00:54.000 Like, we know that.

01:00:56.000 Look, you can tell me ivermectin might not work, and I'll believe you, because I don't see any studies that show it does.

01:01:02.000 However, you can't tell me it's dangerous either, because I know the studies say it's not.

01:01:09.000 Maybe a banana will work or maybe it won't, but it's not going to hurt me. 1.00

01:01:12.000 It's a fucking banana. 0.99

01:01:15.000 So let's just calm down. 1.00

01:01:17.000 And of course, there's more reports of him actually saying that.

01:01:20.000 We have to scare the public to get them to do what we want.

01:01:25.000 You really screwed what is a necessary institution, which is public health.

01:01:30.000 Public health should be trusted.

01:01:31.000 And if you can't trust it, it could have massively bad consequences for whatever the next pandemic is.

01:01:37.000 I don't want to...

01:01:38.000 Talk about that anymore.

01:01:39.000 Okay, so we'll try to answer your questions on them.

01:01:42.000 So anyway, I'm standing ready to work with anybody in the Trump administration.

01:01:46.000 I'm excited about what we're doing.

01:01:48.000 My focus is on cartels mostly.

01:01:51.000 So, you know, we haven't yet figured out who's going to be in charge of that in this administration.

01:01:56.000 I'm looking at standing up a select committee here in the House so we can focus our efforts on cartels in Mexico.

01:02:02.000 That's a major, major, major priority of mine.

01:02:04.000 Has been for years.

01:02:08.000 We can talk about that after if you want, but I'll answer your questions on Ukraine and how Trump's dealing with it.

01:02:13.000 Look, I think this was the necessary evolution of steps with Ukraine.

01:02:17.000 I think it was necessary to beat our chest and stop Putin in his tracks initially.

01:02:22.000 Why is that necessary?

01:02:24.000 Because wars of conquest are bad.

01:02:26.000 Wars of conquest are indicative of a return to history, as I would call it.

01:02:30.000 So a return to what history?

01:02:31.000 The pre-World War II history.

01:02:33.000 That was human existence prior to World War II. Major turning points for civilization.

01:02:40.000 I think the birth of Jesus being the primary one.

01:02:44.000 I know you're going to like that one.

01:02:47.000 By the way, I've really enjoyed watching you.

01:02:50.000 You're very articulate on matters of faith and religion.

01:02:56.000 Your awakening to that has been really interesting to watch.

01:03:03.000 Enough with the...

01:03:06.000 Kind words.

01:03:07.000 Let's move on to business here.

01:03:09.000 The Jesus Christ birth is a major one for Western civilization for a lot of reasons.

01:03:15.000 I mean, I think the primary of which is it is what created true equality.

01:03:21.000 It is what created true individual empowerment.

01:03:24.000 Because before that, the power of access to God, whatever God you worshipped, was not through you, but through the priest class.

01:03:34.000 Or an elder system.

01:03:35.000 Something like that.

01:03:37.000 Jesus turned all that on its head.

01:03:38.000 And that's what eventually gave birth to what I think the basic tenets of Western civilization.

01:03:44.000 Western civilization is something worth protecting.

01:03:47.000 Another major day, there might be a lot more that I'm missing, but let me skip over like a thousand years or two of history and go to D-Day.

01:03:54.000 D-Day.

01:03:55.000 When America decided that we were going to stop a tyrannical...

01:04:00.000 Psychopath in Europe from just destroying Europe and aligning with Japan, eventually destroying us, and making The Man in High Castle, that series on Netflix, the reality. 0.91

01:04:14.000 After 80% of people decided we weren't going to do it, we eventually did it.

01:04:19.000 A huge sacrifice that, in hindsight, could have been less sacrifice had we acted earlier.

01:04:24.000 That's only known in hindsight.

01:04:27.000 It happened, nevertheless, in the 80 years since then have been a very, very different history, one that humankind has never really had and certainly doesn't seem to appreciate very much right now and is now only recently being threatened.

01:04:42.000 State-on-state wars of conquest have not happened since World War II. And people might be like, wow, you invaded Iraq, invaded Afghanistan.

01:04:52.000 Yeah, but we immediately, and maybe almost too soon, tried to hold elections and hand over power back to them. 0.83

01:04:56.000 We kick ourselves out because they vote on it.

01:04:59.000 I mean, I'm not sure if that's conquest.

01:05:01.000 That's a pretty crappy conquest.

01:05:05.000 And when you allow history to go back to those kind of moments, I mean, you get world wars.

01:05:10.000 You get tens of millions of dead.

01:05:11.000 You get disruptions to a global economy that we all benefit from massively.

01:05:16.000 For me, this has never been about Ukraine specifically.

01:05:19.000 It's about Russia and Russian actions and their propensity to invade what are considered by everyone to be sovereign states.

01:05:28.000 And we could argue back and forth about whether they had to or they felt they need to or they felt threatened by NATO. And we can disagree on that all day.

01:05:35.000 I'm not even sure it's worth it because in the end, they did it.

01:05:38.000 In the end, there's a decision that has to be made once they do it.

01:05:41.000 Do you allow this?

01:05:42.000 And do you allow a situation where if we had done nothing, if we give them no weapons to begin with, well, they'd end up with their entire army still intact, crush Ukraine, subjugate it, take all the resources and be on the border of four more NATO countries. 0.73

01:05:58.000 With a message from NATO, which is, you know, we don't really, we say we're going to defend our allies, because we told, we killed Ukraine without the security assertances back when they gave up their nuclear weapons in the mid-90s.

01:06:08.000 But of course, Putin doesn't believe we're going to actually defend our allies anymore.

01:06:12.000 And you actually set yourself up for a potentially catastrophic miscalculation from both sides, where Putin says, you know, they probably won't defend the Baltics.

01:06:20.000 And the Baltics are definitely next on my list.

01:06:22.000 Moldova as well.

01:06:24.000 Creating a land bridge between Russia proper, which would now include Ukraine, according to them, and Kaliningrad.

01:06:30.000 Why not just try it?

01:06:32.000 Because they didn't do anything last time.

01:06:34.000 That's how the domino effect happens.

01:06:36.000 Preventing that was a good policy.

01:06:39.000 And we've successfully prevented it and turned it into a stalemate, which has been very bad for Russia.

01:06:45.000 People, it's somewhat beneficial for the US. Contrary to popular belief about our military-industrial complex, the reality is it's been largely decimated over the last two decades because our primary focus has been counterterrorism, not big power competition.

01:07:02.000 And so we haven't been making things.

01:07:05.000 We haven't been making the exquisite weaponry that would be required to deter China from invading Taiwan.

01:07:10.000 And when you don't make things on a production line, Well, the millions, maybe not millions, but certainly thousands of small businesses that create the little wicket that goes into that particular missile, well, they start to go out of business, and the people start to retire because they're not getting orders anymore.

01:07:27.000 So there's been this atrophy, actually, in the military-industrial complex that the Ukraine war has helped awaken.

01:07:33.000 It's also...

01:07:34.000 Given a lot more insight into how we might fight wars of the future, specifically with cheaper drones.

01:07:39.000 And so it's really given us amazing insight into how we might protect Taiwan, ideally deter Taiwan, because I don't think anybody wants to go to war over Taiwan.

01:07:46.000 Certainly not me.

01:07:49.000 So that's that.

01:07:51.000 But that doesn't mean that you just keep doing that forever either.

01:07:55.000 And Trump's election was the perfect timing for this because Biden had escalated, probably too late in my opinion, but he had escalated at least to allow American weapons to be used inside Russia.

01:08:05.000 He tightened a little bit of screws on sanctions, although there's a lot further we could go against Russia on that if, for instance, they want to embarrass Trump and not come to the table, which is still a possibility.

01:08:18.000 There's still a lot more we can do.

01:08:19.000 But it certainly is the time, as President Trump has dictated, it's the time to just start talking and see what happens.

01:08:27.000 And so I think we're definitely supportive of his goals there.

01:08:32.000 And I want him to be successful.

01:08:35.000 So, you know, he's cutting off Ukraine aid.

01:08:38.000 Well, it's only temporary.

01:08:40.000 It's a way to get Zelensky to the table.

01:08:42.000 You know what it did?

01:08:42.000 It immediately got him back.

01:08:44.000 He should be here on Tuesday.

01:08:45.000 To sign that minerals deal.

01:08:46.000 So what do I think of the minerals deal?

01:08:47.000 That was one of your questions.

01:08:48.000 It's a great deal.

01:08:49.000 It's a fantastic deal.

01:08:51.000 It's a good deal for Ukraine. 0.60

01:08:52.000 It's a great deal for us.

01:08:54.000 The critical minerals problem, that's a whole different subject, but it's a real problem because we've let the Chinese corner that market to an amazing degree. 1.00

01:09:02.000 And it's not because...

01:09:05.000 They have special access to anything.

01:09:06.000 It's just that they're willing to engage in practices that we aren't.

01:09:10.000 And we need to be willing to engage in that.

01:09:12.000 We need to be willing to mine our own critical minerals and then process them.

01:09:15.000 Processing is a dirty business.

01:09:17.000 It requires a lot of chemicals.

01:09:18.000 It requires a lot of power and energy, which is CO2 emissions, which the left freaks out about.

01:09:22.000 It's like, guys, your civilization sort of depends on these things, so maybe we should make them.

01:09:27.000 And not rely on China to make all of them.

01:09:30.000 And Ukraine happens to have a ton of resources.

01:09:33.000 This is why Russia wants it so bad.

01:09:36.000 So I think the way Trump is doing this is everything with him is a little outside the box.

01:09:45.000 But he's right in that you're not going to get Putin to the table.

01:09:50.000 If you continue the chest thumping, right?

01:09:52.000 You got to be nice.

01:09:53.000 You got to do flattery.

01:09:54.000 Now, the way this would work best is if Europeans were actually scary for once and were on the back end kind of playing bad cop. 1.00

01:10:00.000 Now, the English and the French are at least thinking about that.

01:10:06.000 And I think an ultimate deal would have to have security guarantees that include European forces actually securing those because you can never trust Putin.

01:10:15.000 You're just never going to trust him.

01:10:16.000 But you don't need to if you have a good deal, right?

01:10:18.000 You have a deal that just works.

01:10:19.000 And ultimately, that's what Trump wants.

01:10:21.000 And ultimately, even if you get a deal that, you know, Ukrainians don't like, well, you know what? 0.91

01:10:25.000 Russians aren't going to like it either because you know what Russians wanted? 0.99

01:10:27.000 They wanted the whole country and eventually more.

01:10:30.000 And if we can stop that in its tracks, then American strategic interests are actually met.

01:10:35.000 And because what's our strategic interest here?

01:10:38.000 Deterrence for the long term.

01:10:39.000 That's our strategic interest.

01:10:40.000 That's why I say it's never been about Ukraine specifically or our love for Ukraine or whatever.

01:10:44.000 I'm not going to defend Zelensky.

01:10:46.000 Made me mad at that White House meeting because I think he just did not read the room correctly and started to try and litigate, you know, past injustices of diplomacy by Putin.

01:10:56.000 It's like, dude, you might be totally right.

01:10:59.000 It doesn't matter.

01:11:00.000 This isn't the time.

01:11:01.000 This isn't the time.

01:11:02.000 You're here to have lunch and sign some papers and save your country.

01:11:05.000 Like, that's what you're here to do.

01:11:06.000 So let's do that.

01:11:08.000 Let's not litigate.

01:11:09.000 Now, I think that's a mismatch culturally because Eastern, you know, you're from Europe.

01:11:12.000 You probably understand this by the most.

01:11:14.000 Eastern Europeans have a way of talking.

01:11:16.000 They want you to see their points.

01:11:18.000 They don't see it as argumentative.

01:11:19.000 To them, it's just talking.

01:11:21.000 To us, it's kind of offensive.

01:11:23.000 And especially at that moment, in that setting.

01:11:26.000 And so even I was blasting Zelensky for that.

01:11:31.000 I've supported them.

01:11:33.000 But I was appalled by what I saw.

01:11:36.000 I'm glad it's coming to a resolution.

01:11:38.000 I think Trump has been the bigger man on this.

01:11:43.000 Look, the guy wants to make a deal.

01:11:44.000 This is his thing.

01:11:46.000 And he promised...

01:11:48.000 If there's one thing you can say about Trump, he will make good on his campaign promises.

01:11:52.000 And so being surprised by that is surprising in and of itself.

01:11:57.000 Long-winded answer, but it was a lot of questions you asked, so I tried to answer them as best I could.

01:12:02.000 You've got a good memory, Congressman, on top of everything else.

01:12:06.000 I wonder then, on that note...

01:12:09.000 What you particularly wanted to talk to us about regarding cartels and the border, which seems to be an area of your interest and concern.

01:12:20.000 Oh, yeah.

01:12:21.000 I mean, look, I care about a lot of things around the world, but I divide threats just like a military guy does.

01:12:29.000 I divide threats into, you know, 5-meter targets and 25-meter targets.

01:12:33.000 And, yeah, we even say meters, you know, like you guys.

01:12:37.000 Not even sure why that is.

01:12:39.000 I guess there's some validity to that.

01:12:42.000 And, you know, our five-meter target, our short-term, near-term threat is fentanyl production from the Mexican drug cartels, right?

01:12:51.000 You know, we lose 2023, maybe 80,000 people a year.

01:12:56.000 Now that's gone down fairly significantly.

01:12:58.000 There's been some gains on that, personally.

01:13:02.000 We've gotten legislation through that allows us to actually collect intelligence on cartels.

01:13:07.000 You know, we tie our own hands behind our back, don't even let ourselves use some of our best capabilities to collect intelligence on certain cartel members or the Chinese companies that developed the precursors.

01:13:15.000 We fixed that about a year ago.

01:13:19.000 Although that was more contentious of a vote than you would initially think.

01:13:25.000 So that's why it's a big priority of mine.

01:13:27.000 You know, it really came to a head for me when we were passing HR2, when we had just taken the majority, and our flagship, you know, one of our first bills was HR2, and it was on the border, right?

01:13:42.000 It never got passed into law because Democrats had the Senate.

01:13:45.000 Biden was in the White House.

01:13:46.000 It was not a lawmaking exercise, but it was your sort of perfect.

01:13:49.000 It was your perfect.

01:13:50.000 If we could just be king for a day is what we would do to change certain asylum laws, immigration laws, things like that, that would fix the border.

01:13:58.000 And I noticed it had nothing to do with cartels, and that made me mad.

01:14:01.000 And so Kevin McCarthy, speaker at the time, placed me in charge of the cartel task force.

01:14:08.000 I spent the next year.

01:14:10.000 Interviewing, meeting with officials inside, outside of government, former cartel members, former Tijuana police officers, just trying to build as much expertise as possible on the cartels.

01:14:21.000 Developing a blue force picture, it's a military term, it just means developing a picture of who on our side is doing what.

01:14:27.000 Like, what's the DEA doing?

01:14:28.000 What's the FBI doing?

01:14:29.000 What's the CIA doing?

01:14:30.000 What's the DOD doing?

01:14:31.000 What is everyone doing?

01:14:33.000 Who's coordinating it?

01:14:34.000 The answer is no one's really coordinating it.

01:14:36.000 That's what I hope to change with this administration because they've made it clear it's a big priority of theirs.

01:14:41.000 I want to make sure that our efforts are aligned and synced up.

01:14:46.000 So there's another new opportunity, which is the new Mexican administration.

01:14:51.000 Claudia Scheinbaum and some of the people she has in charge on the security side are simply better to work with.

01:14:57.000 They've already shown that.

01:14:58.000 I think there's a lot to look forward to on this, but there's a lot of work to do.

01:15:02.000 And the biggest obstacle we face is really just Mexico letting us in.

01:15:06.000 I mean, they're very sensitive diplomatically and politically about American involvement in their country, more so than, say, the best side-by-side example would be Colombia.

01:15:23.000 I grew up in Colombia.

01:15:24.000 I went to high school in Bogota.

01:15:26.000 My dad was in oil and gas, so we would move from Houston to overseas.

01:15:29.000 I was born in the UK, actually.

01:15:31.000 I was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and then moved to Cairo.

01:15:34.000 And then I actually wasn't even in the U.S. until I was like four and five.

01:15:38.000 And so I grew up in Houston.

01:15:39.000 I don't have any memories of Aberdeen or Cairo, really.

01:15:42.000 But I grew up in Houston.

01:15:44.000 Then we moved to Ecuador.

01:15:44.000 We moved back to Houston.

01:15:45.000 Then I spent my entire high school in Bogota.

01:15:48.000 So that was from 98 to 2002. This is a massive civil war in Colombia at the time.

01:15:54.000 You know, this is post-Covid.

01:15:55.000 Cartel days, because the Escobar days are like early 90s.

01:16:00.000 So your Narcos series is really about the 90s.

01:16:04.000 And then that ends because the cartels were effectively decimated.

01:16:08.000 But that doesn't mean violence in Colombia just disappeared.

01:16:12.000 It just means the cartel headshed was really the power structures moved to Mexico, but the cocaine production, and of course the...

01:16:19.000 The Marxist guerrilla groups that have been at the Civil War there since the 60s still existed.

01:16:26.000 I mean, so you couldn't even leave the city.

01:16:28.000 There's car bombs going off.

01:16:29.000 This is the kind of Colombia that I knew growing up, and it's certainly not the Colombia that exists today.

01:16:32.000 It's a much better, safer place.

01:16:34.000 And that's mostly because of U.S. involvement and their willingness to allow U.S. resources into their country to help them.

01:16:41.000 It's actually a pretty massive foreign policy success over time.

01:16:45.000 You need to do the same thing in Mexico.

01:16:47.000 But Mexico remembers 1848 like it was yesterday.

01:16:51.000 They think Texas is theirs still.

01:16:54.000 Do they really think that?

01:16:55.000 No, but they kind of do.

01:16:59.000 Even growing up in Latin America, I didn't appreciate that until I really went down there multiple times over this past year.

01:17:08.000 I'll be back there in a week.

01:17:11.000 And really understood those political sensitivities and how we have to work through them diplomatically to get what we both want, which is to tackle a mutual enemy.

01:17:20.000 The mutual enemy destroys us with fentanyl production and supplies, but it's destroying Mexico in a much more profound way. 0.98

01:17:27.000 And I mean, to the point where, like, Mexico to me seems like Colombia in the early 90s, like at a true tipping point.

01:17:34.000 And it's scary as hell.

01:17:36.000 And if there's one thing America has to be focused on, it's our biggest trading partner right there to the south.

01:17:41.000 So this gets at the reasoning behind Trump's tariffs.

01:17:45.000 You know, I think people thought those were going away because Mexico was threatened with tariffs, right?

01:17:49.000 25% tariffs.

01:17:50.000 And Trump said, look, we want the border done.

01:17:52.000 And in Mexico, they put 10,000 troops on the border.

01:17:55.000 They were like, whatever you want.

01:17:58.000 But it wasn't enough.

01:18:00.000 Trump is now saying, and I've asked them to say this, so maybe this is my fault.

01:18:03.000 I don't know.

01:18:04.000 You know what?

01:18:05.000 I'll take credit.

01:18:06.000 Screw it.

01:18:07.000 Trump's new letter to them was, you're not doing enough on the cartels.

01:18:10.000 Now, we need to give them exact instructions on what we want them to do, and I can give them those instructions.

01:18:14.000 I want, in writing, a security cooperation agreement that looks like Plan Colombia.

01:18:20.000 You can't call it Plan Mexico because that's already a thing.

01:18:23.000 You know what I'm saying?

01:18:24.000 We need to be fighting a counterinsurgency, because that's what the cartels are.

01:18:28.000 They're a terrorist insurgency that is dominating Mexico at all levels of society.

01:18:32.000 That's definable what an insurgency is, and it makes it very difficult to fight. 0.84

01:18:38.000 Because people who don't know anything about this issue, they're like, well, you know, we'll just bomb them.

01:18:43.000 Oh, yeah? 0.96

01:18:44.000 Bomb who?

01:18:45.000 Where?

01:18:46.000 Like, you know, you bomb a neighborhood?

01:18:49.000 I mean, the cartels are integrated into the society.

01:18:52.000 It's not like they have bases and uniforms.

01:18:55.000 Some do.

01:18:56.000 They take pictures of them.

01:18:57.000 But it's mostly for show.

01:18:59.000 They're integrated very deeply into the society.

01:19:02.000 And it's going to take a massive whole-of-government approach and Mexican willingness to deal with it. 0.75

01:19:08.000 I'll leave it there.

01:19:09.000 Sorry.

01:19:10.000 Long-winded answers.

01:19:11.000 But it's a topic I care a lot about.

01:19:14.000 Well, Congressman, this is the type of conversation that's required where, in a sense, I'd like to, if it's possible, set out an area for us to discuss whether it's sort of seemingly personal or geopolitical or biographical.

01:19:30.000 And I think your last answer really helped me to understand why you would have that position given your peripatetic childhood there.

01:19:37.000 You're probably pretty lucky you don't remember Aberdeen, because if you did, that would be something I suggested you had bleached from your mind.

01:19:44.000 That's a very particular part of Scotland that you happen to have been born in.

01:19:49.000 Congressman Dan Crenshaw, thank you so much for joining us today.

01:19:53.000 Thank you for being so transparent and open to discussing difficult and complex topics.

01:19:58.000 Thank you for your devotion and your service to your country.

01:20:01.000 And thank you for making time for us today.

01:20:04.000 Hi.

01:20:06.000 Thank you, Russell.

01:20:07.000 It's been an honor.

01:20:08.000 I've been trying to connect with you for a while.

01:20:10.000 This was cool.

01:20:11.000 I appreciate it.

01:20:12.000 Let's talk whenever you want.

01:20:13.000 My email, I can have someone give my personal details to whoever facilitated this.

01:20:19.000 I really appreciate your time.

01:20:20.000 Well, thanks very much for joining us for the show today.

01:20:24.000 Thank you, Dan Crenshaw.

01:20:25.000 Thank you, Tucker Carlson.

01:20:26.000 Thank you, most of all, for joining us.

01:20:28.000 We're having a short break.

01:20:29.000 We're putting out content every day, but we will be back live streaming on these dates, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

01:20:36.000 Join us every day, if you can, for the live stream.

01:20:39.000 More important than that, though, if you can, please stay free.

01:20:41.000 Switch on, switch off, man.

01:20:44.000 Switch on.

01:20:47.000 Switch on.

01:20:50.000 Many switching, switch on, switch on.

Stay Free - Russel Brand - March 13, 2025

Woah! Dan Crenshaw REALLY HATES Tucker Carlson: Dan Explains Why – SF553

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