Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-GA) was one of the few in the entire Congress who bothered to stand up against permanent Washington on behalf of his constituents. Rep. Gaetz is a hero in the conservative movement and a problem in the Democratic Party.
00:00:57.000We are live broadcasting out of our office in the Capitol complex in Washington, D.C.
00:01:03.000And I have a terrific interview with an American hero, a patriot.
00:01:08.000Air Force Master Sergeant Nick Cupper came and sat down and chatted with us moments ago
00:01:12.000about the way this vaccine mandate in the military is affecting military families.
00:01:18.000And we've even got updates regarding important court rulings giving some relief,
00:01:23.000particularly to those service members in the Air Force who did not have a fair evaluation of their request for religious exemptions to the vaccine.
00:01:34.000But first, just moments ago, House Democrats passed their abortion on demand legislation.
00:01:41.000And this goes far further than Roe versus Wade.
00:01:45.000It even would allow abortion up to the day of birth.
00:01:48.000And, gosh, if you gave the Virginia governor his own interpretation of the bill,
00:01:52.000maybe even abortion after the day of birth, which we actually call murder in this country.
00:01:57.000Or at least we should if we cared about humanity as much as we ought to.
00:02:02.000We had a very spirited debate in the House Judiciary Committee where Democrats were just like trying to rush through anything they could
00:02:09.000to facilitate snap abortions, elective abortions, abortions that would be a crime against humanity.
00:02:16.000I'd had enough of it and shot back pretty hard.
00:02:41.000And cannot in the Judiciary Committee sit and answer the questions on something as important as life or death when I control the time is outrageous.
00:03:22.000I want the answer on the record, Miss Bass.
00:03:24.000I want the answer for the American people.
00:03:26.000Because to all of us, my party that was impugned, we actually think that unborn life is a child and that there is a liberty interest there that is worthy of our defense and our protection and the values that undergird the American Constitution.
00:03:40.000I don't think that's too unreasonable.
00:03:42.000And by the way, if you use a phrase in this committee, you shouldn't have to have a senior member answer the questions for you.
00:03:49.000You should be able to answer those questions yourself.
00:03:52.000And if not, I think it speaks to the credibility of the debate that is offered.
00:04:44.000And what's crazy, just moments ago, alongside their legislation to allow abortions on demand, Democrats actually lowered tariffs on baby formula to get more baby formula into the country.
00:04:59.000I'm actually for our children and our babies being able to be appropriately nourished.
00:05:04.000But only Nancy Pelosi and her radical band of House Democrats would not appreciate the irony of, within moments of one another, passing a bill making it easier to feed babies and then passing a bill making it easier to kill babies.
00:05:21.000Fortunately, we have a pro-life Supreme Court, a pro-Constitution Supreme Court, thanks to the boldness of President Trump.
00:05:34.000I also want to chat a little bit today about the military vaccine mandate.
00:05:38.000Now, one of the ways we try to keep folks informed about what's going on in the country is actually to bring people forward who are experiencing the consequences of the decisions that we make in Washington, D.C.,
00:05:49.000and particularly some of the very damaging decisions made by the Biden administration.
00:05:54.000So several months ago, we had a number of active duty service members join us for a discussion about vaccine mandates in the military.
00:06:02.000They talked about the coercion, the threats, the regulations that were being violated.
00:06:08.000One of the service members who joined us then was Air Force Master Sergeant Nick Cupper.
00:06:15.000You know, Master Sergeant, one of the things that concerned me in an investigation that my office ran into the United States Navy is that when people submitted requests for religious accommodations,
00:06:28.000they were often met in response by a form letter, which to me indicated that an individual review of people's claim, how this decision was grounded in faith or scripture wasn't really made.
00:06:43.000Do you have any observations about the process of requesting a religious accommodation and how the Air Force looks at those?
00:06:56.000I've seen hundreds of denied religious accommodation requests to include denied appeal requests.
00:07:03.000I've seen a handful of the approved ones and all of them start with the premise that the government has such a strong interest in vaccinating us that while they determine all of our religious beliefs are to be sincerely held,
00:07:17.000they determine that even as strongly as our beliefs are, they're not as strong as the government's desire and need to vaccinate all of us.
00:07:26.000Even in situations such as my own where I currently have no restrictions on me as an unvaccinated member at my location.
00:07:33.000I don't have to wear a mask. I don't have to weekly test. I don't have to do any social distancing.
00:07:38.000My life at my job is the exact same as any vaccinated members, and I'm not unique in that scenario right now.
00:07:46.000But the only approvals they've been doing that I've been able to see and that court documents have shown are for people who are already on terminal leave,
00:07:53.000already in their final months where they won't return to a base.
00:07:57.000In fact, the approval specifically says that they are only approving it because they will not return to a base.
00:08:03.000If the member's not returning to their duty station ever, that's not an accommodation. They're accommodating nothing.
00:08:10.000That really was one of my favorite episodes we've done.
00:08:13.000You can go back, listen to it, and get perspectives from other service members who are going through these challenges.
00:08:19.000Now, after that appearance on Firebrand, Tucker Carlson, who I'm pretty sure is a Firebrand viewer and listener,
00:08:26.000he reached out to Nick and had Nick on his show so that more of the American people could see what is happening.
00:08:33.000Take a listen to Nick's performance on Tucker.
00:08:36.000So, my theory is we ignore the big things in favor of obsessing over the little ones.
00:08:42.000So, destroying the U.S. military would qualify as a big thing.
00:08:44.000Do you not have a member of Congress? I mean, there are hundreds of Republicans holding federal office.
00:10:28.000And Nick, you know, we talked about some of the coercion and some of the concerns of a lot of our active duty military as a consequence of this VAX mandate.
00:10:38.000Can you share with folks what your current standing is with the military?
00:10:42.000We've just had this injunction issued that I think really works against the forces pushing for this mandate.
00:10:49.000Just share with folks kind of your circumstance.
00:10:53.000Yeah, so for me personally, right now I was issued a letter of reprimand first off for being on Tucker Carlson's show the other day.
00:11:02.000And we're dealing with that right now.
00:11:04.000And I was issued a separation package, which in the Air Force is their notification they want to separate you.
00:11:08.000And for a member like me who's been here for 19 years, it starts a process where I would go to a board where they can determine to retain me or not.
00:11:15.000If they choose not to, I'd be gone in about a week after that.
00:11:19.000So you spoke out about the circumstances that you were observing and experiencing regarding this mandate.
00:11:24.000And you did so with several other colleagues who were active duty.
00:11:46.000So I can't get into the specifics of it because they've marked it as such that I won't.
00:11:51.000But the long and short is they effectively say that I have hurt the government and hurt our country by going on Tucker, which is not accurate at all.
00:12:03.000Everything I spoke of was publicly available information.
00:12:05.000I didn't give my own personal opinion.
00:12:08.000I may have hurt some feelings, but everything I said was 100 percent of public available true number.
00:12:13.000And the separation package that's sort of the other feature of this.
00:12:18.000Now, we're aware of really breaking news on the legal front where a court has issued an injunction against some of the activities that the Air Force is engaged in regarding our airmen.
00:12:28.000Where does your separation package stand?
00:12:31.000So because of this injunction in the case Doster v. Kendall, which is specific to Air Force, unfortunately, I wish it was for everyone.
00:12:37.000And it's only specific to members who have sought a religious accommodation.
00:12:40.000We have a 14 day temporary injunction right now.
00:12:43.000The defense, the Air Force will have the chance to argue it.
00:12:47.000The plaintiffs have a chance to come back.
00:12:48.000And at the end of the 14 days, unless the judge is swayed, which I doubt he will be, we're going to have a permanent injunction until the end of that trial.
00:12:55.000So because of that, my separation package now has to go away.
00:12:58.000Everyone who was being punished in the military or in the Air Force specifically who had a religious accommodation at some point is now has a little breathing room.
00:13:09.000And, you know, I actually I flew in on Thursday and I took a quick nap at my friend's house.
00:13:14.000And during the nap is when the injunction came down.
00:13:17.000I said I would have come here and napped a long time ago if I would have known this would happen.
00:13:19.000Well, and I hope that this is an opportunity DOD wide to really analyze the effect of these mandates on our service members, not just in the Air Force, but really throughout our military.
00:13:31.000And also to to maybe reflect, you know, so often in government we don't exercise the humility to say maybe a decision we made was rash.
00:13:40.000Maybe it wasn't fully informed by the evidence or the science.
00:13:43.000And so I call on Secretary Austin on the DOD to really think hard about what this injunction means, what the analysis is that undergirds this injunction.
00:13:54.000And maybe this will be the opportunity for us to get away from pitting our military against the heroes and patriots who are offering to serve in that military.
00:14:04.000And to that end, Nick, you know, I just sort of want to ask you what what drove you to make this decision that that I didn't make that so many Americans don't make to put on that uniform and to be willing to stand up for your country and defender.
00:14:17.000So I was young, you know, straight out of high school. Actually, I hadn't even graduated yet, of course, when I decided.
00:14:22.000And I wasn't 100% sure I want to do but the military was an attractive option and has been for such a long time for so many members.
00:14:29.000And one, it was a way to take care of myself. But another, it was a way to give back to my country.
00:14:35.000You know, my dad had served in the Army. He had been to Vietnam.
00:14:39.000My uncle earned a Bronze Star in Vietnam.
00:14:42.000You know, I kind of wanted to, you know, honor that.
00:14:46.000And and so family was a big part of it was definitely a big part of it.
00:14:49.000And, you know, bigger than just why I initially joined.
00:14:52.000I was a young man, you know, maybe didn't think through everything.
00:14:54.000The reason I've reenlisted multiple times and I'm almost at 20 years now is because I care about doing the hard things so I can take care of others.
00:15:01.000You know, not everyone can do this. Not this is not for everybody.
00:15:05.000I am happy to serve so that someone else doesn't have to.
00:15:08.000You know, I'm willing to put my life, my family stability at risk because I honestly just care.
00:15:14.000And I think more people need to just care.
00:15:16.000Well, and I think that the depth of that care is multigenerational for a lot of our service members.
00:15:24.000We've had experts from DOD come and testify to us that while we face these intense challenges in recruiting,
00:15:30.000our best recruiters are moms and dads and aunts and uncles and grandmothers and grandfathers who have served,
00:15:37.000who want to build that family tradition of patriotism and service to country.
00:15:41.000Are you concerned that some of these vaccine mandates might cause some people in the country to reflect differently with their children and grandchildren and nieces and nephews about just how the military experience goes in one's life?
00:15:59.000I do. I think that the vaccine mandates, the way it's being handled, I would say, and a lot of the other newer policies that have come along later in my career now have definitely changed how people want to what people want to advise their children to do.
00:16:15.000And like I said, when I was on your show last time, you know, at this point for me, I don't want my children serving not in the current military that's here.
00:16:22.000And people may not like that. But, you know, that's a personal decision for me and my family.
00:16:26.000And it's factual. You know what I have seen. I don't want for my children.
00:16:31.000You know, I want to defend this country. I would love my children to defend this country, but not at the stake of all of their rights being, you know, thrown away on a whim.
00:16:41.000You know, Nick, my office did an analysis and we're going to put it out with the show about the readiness costs of these vaccine mandates.
00:16:49.000And we calculated easily that the United States is essentially surrendering about four billion dollars worth of training investment with just the separations that we're able to see above the surface.
00:17:01.000And you gave us a lot of information about separations that are occurring that might not be officially designated as a vaccine separation, but maybe it's somebody who just doesn't want to go through the fight.
00:17:11.000Maybe they can go work somewhere else. And, you know, they weren't they weren't serving in the Air Force or the Army or the Navy or, you know, to get rich.
00:17:19.000They were doing it out of love of country. But there might be other economic opportunities that are better.
00:17:24.000And and so at a minimum, it's a four billion dollar loss in our training investment.
00:17:29.000But what I think you're telling me right now is that there's a readiness impact that we're not going to feel today, that we're going to feel 10, 20 years down the road, potentially,
00:17:39.000if the moms and dads who serve who are part of that robust recruiting for the next generation aren't doing that.
00:17:46.000Right. If if patriots and heroes like you aren't pushing it on the next generation, like, who do we expect to do it? Right.
00:17:52.000Right. And if if that's happening, it creates a really long gestation period for that impact on readiness.
00:17:58.000I mean, oh, absolutely. It's a lagging indicator. Right. Right.
00:18:01.000Right. Because let's say I'm gone today, but they've recruited somebody to replace me.
00:18:06.000Someone who comes in today doesn't have 19 years of experience.
00:18:09.000You know, they don't have what I have. They can't directly replace me.
00:18:12.000And it's take it takes years and years and years to build that person up.
00:18:16.000And on top of the fact that that's just trying to replace one of us.
00:18:20.000The fact that we're not getting the members in to replace us and the numbers that that they're putting out there.
00:18:24.000I mean, like I mentioned on Tucker, you know, at the DoD zone website right now, they're listing over two hundred and ninety thousand members that are only partially vaccinated.
00:18:31.000That doesn't include all of us who are unvaccinated and all every deadline has passed.
00:18:36.000So you're kind of seeing it on both ends from a potential readiness issue where you have a potential mass exodus of the DoD zone making.
00:18:44.000And then you have very little, you know, at anyone coming in any sessions. Right.
00:18:50.000I mean, what did the army put out the other day of their own numbers?
00:18:53.000They said they were at 40 percent of their goal with three months left in this fiscal year.
00:18:57.000So how are you going to get 60 percent in three months when you could only get 40 in nine?
00:19:02.000I used to recruit for years and and this is not the recruiting environment that I worked in.
00:19:06.000I didn't know you you did a recruiting work as part of your service.
00:19:09.000I have to ask when you were doing that, what were the things that you would put before potential recruits that you really felt motivated them?
00:19:18.000You know, the funny thing is you didn't have to do much to motivate them.
00:19:21.000It was like if you go to a car lot to buy a car. Right.
00:19:25.000You don't go there unless you're ready to buy because you don't want to be sold to.
00:19:28.000Almost everyone who comes into a recruiting offices is ready to be sold.
00:19:32.000They're just not coming in anymore because they're not ready.
00:19:34.000You know what I would do when I would talk to them is I would I would be honest.
00:19:38.000And that's what worked really well for me.
00:19:39.000I would say you're in here for a reason.
00:19:41.000There's something you think you can get out of here.
00:21:54.000And then in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, it's further emboldened.
00:21:58.000But what has happened here is you have an order that lower, from my perspective, lower level commanders are implementing incorrectly.
00:22:07.000And they're at the point where they're not approving religious accommodations.
00:22:11.000Well, in my own investigation of my own constituents, I would see these detailed expressions of faith, citing chapter and verse to scripture,
00:22:22.000aligning that scripture with personal faith experiences and moments of salvation.
00:22:27.000And then I would see form letters sent back from the military to my constituents.
00:22:35.000The law requires an individual assessment of each claim for a religious exemption or a medical exemption.
00:22:41.000And then to be able to hold up the letters back, you know, to a lamp and see that the letters line right up.
00:22:47.000It shows that people weren't being given the opportunity to have their exemption claim assessed so much as they were just being processed through a system.
00:23:10.000And, you know, they have a policy in place across the DOD to only grant religious accommodations to members who are already on their final leave or in a skill bridge program, which is like an internship.
00:23:20.000Either way, I read one just the other day.
00:23:22.000It says it's conditionally approved as long as you never return to a DOD facility.
00:31:39.000And there are a great many of them, and I'm glad that there was a brave judge willing to step forward and issue this injunction.
00:31:45.000We hope that this spurs more momentum, frankly, than we've seen, and let's make sure that we all do our part to ensure that that momentum is seized.
00:31:54.000I know you have, and I want to thank you for having the courage to express your experience that you've gone through,
00:32:00.000but also really to be representative of so many others who call our office, who email us,
00:32:06.000who might not want to have such a public discussion like this, but who are very proud of you
00:32:11.000and are very proud of those of you who have had the opportunity to step forward and say,
00:32:15.000we love our country, and we want our country to be the best version of herself.