Can Trump Remake US Foreign Policy？ ｜ Guest： Riley Lewis ｜ 5⧸16⧸25
Episode Stats
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Summary
In this episode of The Oren McIntyre Show, host Oren McInnes is joined by the host of The Real Story, Riley Lewis, to talk about Trump's foreign policy. They discuss Iran, the Middle East, and much more.
Transcript
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Hey, everybody. How's it going? Thanks for joining me this afternoon.
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I've got a great stream with a great guest that I think you're really going to enjoy.
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We're just past the first 100 days of Trump's presidency.
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And I think along with border security, the most important issue for most Trump voters was ending foreign conflicts as much as possible.
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We know that ultimately war is a reality in the world and every great nation is going to have to involve itself in one at some point.
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But what Americans are tired of is relentless foreign intervention in what seems like the interests of other countries.
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They never seem to benefit the United States or the people here.
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So I wanted to talk a little bit after this 100 days of how Trump has been handling the foreign policy situation.
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Joining me today to talk about Trump's foreign policy is Riley Lewis.
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And of course, you've been kind enough to have me on yours several times.
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So it's going to be great to have a extended conversation today about Trump's foreign policy.
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But before we dive into it, guys, let's hear from today's sponsor.
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This episode of The Oren McIntyre Show is proudly sponsored by Consumers Research.
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So, Riley, Trump has made a trip over to the Middle East.
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and he was making remarks about the United States and its foreign policy.
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Interestingly, he made a strong statement for Iran that it needs to play ball
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or may find itself in tough financial situations again.
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But the more interesting remarks that he made during that speech
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were really a denouncement of neoconservative American foreign policy,
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saying that it's been the interventionists and the state builders
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that have ultimately destroyed much of the stability in the Middle East and other regions,
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and that it's been this constant need to meddle in the affairs of foreign countries going to war,
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attempting to build nations, that has ultimately led the United States to have terrible relationships
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He talked a lot about fostering relationships and letting people govern themselves as they see fit
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in order to advance relationships with these different nations.
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What do you think about that opening response from Trump?
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there have been so many foreign policy failures on the world stage,
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basically for my whole adult life in Iraq and Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, beyond,
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some that we don't even really know about, at least we didn't until recently.
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And the neocons and the uniparty in Washington convinced Americans and people beyond America
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that there would be no consequences for any of these foreign policy failures.
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What we're seeing with Iran today, among others, these are the consequences of those failures.
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And so Trump has a real mess on his hands, and this country does.
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I don't know if his approach to solving these issues that we're involved in is perfect, necessarily.
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How did we get here? Why are we here? Who put us here?
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The neocons, the Democrats, this uniparty establishment that thinks America last,
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I think that's very suspicious, by the way, and I want to follow up on that later.
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But it's those foreign policy failures we've seen in the 90s, 2000s, and 2010s
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And that's the problem that is largely being overlooked and overshadowed.
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Well, let's address that now, and then we'll get to Trump's actions here in a second,
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because it sounds like that origin story is very important to then judge how Trump has performed.
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So as you pointed out, there has been a willingness to engage in extreme foreign policy action
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with very little concern about possible downsides.
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There's been this idea that basically, like, we're the world's hegemon, we take action, and, you know, whatever.
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And, you know, if that was in service of the American people, that would be one thing, right?
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It would be okay if my leaders were spurning the international community to serve the interests of my neighbor.
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But what we see instead is that the U.S. is forging an international community more or less around going into random countries
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and knocking them down and spending a large amount of money rebuilding them, a lot of tax dollars,
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going to military corporations that manufacture arms, rebuild countries, these kind of things.
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I have friends, personally, who, like, their job in the military was to go around and bribe warlords
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So, like, I'm very, very personally familiar with the way that this operates.
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And when you have a foreign policy like this, people start to get suspicious.
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Why are we not able to use our own military to protect the United States border,
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but we can use it to protect the border of every other country, Ukraine, Israel, any other country that we see fit?
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Why is it so important to constantly involve ourselves in these kind of endless wars
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without any kind of firm goal that ends up benefiting the American people?
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Now, a lot of people suspect, and I think there's some truth to this, that along with immigration,
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the reason that foreign policy is the thing that Trump is most hated on is because these are the projects that keep the money flowing.
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These are the things that keep the establishment in charge.
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I think there's some angle of here, of the situation, that is certainly ideological.
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But all of them certainly have the through line of war turning into a business.
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And that's the whole problem is you've, you're, you're, we found ourselves in a place where D.C.,
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this foreign policy machine is interested in perpetuating bloodshed and destruction instead of ending it or staying out of it
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and perpetuating it beyond situations that would be beneficial for the American people.
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Because like you, I would agree if there was some material benefit for us to be involved in any of these conflicts,
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then you can make a case for it morally, politically.
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But when you start drifting into lands where it's like, why are we even fighting these people?
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Why, why are we pushing for Iran to go to war with them?
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Why are we provoking Russia, the world's largest country?
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And yet we are provoking them in a pointless war that has led to the destruction of this entire European country, Ukraine.
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Really sad, by the way, there's just bloodshed, chaos, destruction, innocent people being slaughtered
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because the foreign policy machine sees some goal that has nothing to do with protecting this country,
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advancing the interests of Americans, gaining access to resources.
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And it shows that there's so much corruption in this government.
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But that's the whole thing is Trump is one man and he's got less than four years at this point.
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But you have to pick your battles very wisely and realize you can only make so much headway.
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So what I'm really concerned about is looking forward, 28, 2032, what's going to happen when he's out of office?
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Are we going to fall right back into the cycle of endless wars?
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Or will there be a real programmatic shift in the way we think about foreign policy?
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No, it's a great point because as you say, this is a behemoth.
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And so when you're trying to turn that ship around, obviously it is a huge project that could take many, many years.
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And so what you hope is that Trump starts a trend, but ultimately that this shift in focus carries generationally through the right.
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I think we're seeing a revolt against the neoconservative consensus inside the Republican Party.
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I think generations of people like yourself and myself who are younger than probably the average Republican politician, they are no longer interested in this kind of policy.
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And so seeing Trump blaze a trail towards that direction allows, I think, a lot of these young guys to come behind, maybe a J.D. Vance or someone like that to follow in those footsteps and continue that understanding.
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Because like you, I sit there listening to guys like Mitch McConnell or Dan Crenshaw or Lindsey Graham talking about how we should just be killing every Russian until we're out of Ukrainians because it's basically a free pass to murder a bunch of people.
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And that's really what it's all about. Look, I'm not beyond defeating enemies of my own country.
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Like I am not constitutionally anti-war in the way that maybe some libertarians are.
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But I think both of us recognize that the party that we would naturally be aligned with, this Republican Party, has very little interest in fighting the wars that would actually benefit the United States.
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We're not going into Mexico to get rid of drug cartels. We're not defending our border here.
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We're going to foreign places. You know, some of my best friends are active duty military, very, you know, all of them brave, all of them incredibly competent, but tired of watching their friends die.
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I mean, I had one friend who was in Afghanistan while they had these Bachi Bazi boys going on and just watching the fact that the United States facilitated that behavior.
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The sexual predation on young boys was something that the United States was not just aware of, but complicit in.
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That is not something that any honorable U.S. military servicemen should ever have to have on their conscience.
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That is horrific. And so the fact that that is a reality for our troops, I think we are all done with that.
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We are ready to move on to a place where the U.S. military is used to serve the U.S. people.
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Yes, I think it's a question of survival for this country at this point.
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I firmly believe that, especially, Warren, since we're almost 37 trillion dollars in debt.
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They are destroying the value of the currency to fund these forever wars that get Americans killed.
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And with Afghanistan specifically, by the way, the problem for me is not just your your goal,
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but the fact that there's no accountability for those failures that come with consequences.
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13 U.S. service members killed in a terrorist attack that could have been prevented.
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You put the Taliban back into power after two decades of fighting them.
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Then they turned our guns against us and our money.
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And then we left them behind with tens of billions of dollars of military equipment.
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On top of it all, we got people sending the State Department, you know, internal messages saying,
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we don't think that the Afghan National Army is ready.
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As Biden or whoever was really calling the shots does anyway, they say, we'll pull out
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the military first, go back for civilians later.
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So I know people look at this new DOD and they have some questions.
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But one thing I think we can all agree on is that the DOD we've seen, the behavior we've
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seen from them in previous administrations, with all due respect, I have a lot of respect
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So I just I look at Afghanistan as the perfect epitome of everything that's wrong with our
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And I think that's where the America first foreign policy strategy comes into play, because
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that's the only solution that I see to this glaring problem that's been manufactured and
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in a way that's very profitable, by the way, for our ruling class.
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Yeah, you look at it and you say, is this a fourth graders work?
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Let's just start with a simple question, because I'm not an expert.
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I can speculate all day long, but what are we even trying to do in all of these different
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And I don't think they know, honestly, in many ways, it feels like we've got a war plan
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that's been, you know, drawn up on a cocktail nap and at some D.C.
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fundraiser and has has no connection to any any idea of benefiting the United States or
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But that lays, I think, the groundwork for the discussion.
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So we can move into how Trump is himself doing what a report card is on Trump.
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It's a it's a little bit of a softball to praise Trump.
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It wasn't on the radar before he got elected, but still good job.
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So tell me a little bit about the India and Pakistan situation.
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Are you were you surprised that Trump was able to help broker a peace deal as quickly
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Yes, actually, two neighboring states, both with nukes, long, long backstory and context
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I'm still learning a lot and I don't know exactly what happened, but I am I will say I'm
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pretty I'm pleased and impressed and pleasantly surprised by by the fact that there was a cease
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fire and largely it's held since it was agreed to just days ago.
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But that is an area where I was kind of surprised.
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And I think that probably plays into the fact that we're just close with India and Modi and
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Trump have a relationship and that gives Trump some leverage.
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So maybe it's just a matter of using leverage where we have it and for good, not for bad.
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I mean, as you point out, this is a generational conflict, obviously, since India was, you
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know, was broken apart and you got Pakistan and what would later become Bengal.
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Obviously, these countries have been at each other's throats.
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You know, it's it's the classic, you know, the people who hate each other the most are
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the people who were forced to live next to each other.
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And so with the Muslim and Hindu partitioning of these nations, they've been in constant
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And like you said, they both are armed with very dangerous weapons.
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So obviously, we don't want to see any of that escalate.
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I'm sure that ultimately they knew they couldn't escalate it.
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But India didn't want to let that terrorist attack stand ultimately.
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And so it needed to exact some kind of price from Pakistan.
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I think that was kind of the the maneuver there.
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But ultimately, great that that was not allowed to spiral out of control.
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Largely, it seems due to Donald Trump getting involved.
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This is something that Trump said, OK, I'll fix this on day one.
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I'm going to end the war in Ukraine and Russia on day one.
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Now, I think most people who are familiar with Trump know you take him seriously, but
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He was obviously going to make that a top priority, but he probably wasn't going to
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That said, ending the war was, I think, an important promise that Trump made.
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And I'll be honest, a little confusing as to why that has had the level of difficulty
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Now, obviously, as you point out, this is a tragic conflict.
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The U.S. politicians have funded this basically explicitly with the interest of wiping out as
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many Russian men as long as all they lose is Ukrainian men.
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And now there's literally generations of Ukrainian men that have been hollowed out like World War
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One, like you're going to go to French villages and just not find anyone anymore, like no adult men
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in those villages because of the number of people who have been drawn into this conflict.
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Right. And again, as you put yourself in that situation, you're Ukrainian, you see Vladimir
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Putin invading, I take nothing away from brave men willing to stand and defend their country
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So this is not a snub on any Ukrainian men fighting there.
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But ultimately, this is a war that just Ukraine could never win.
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They couldn't even stand up without the United States.
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So if Donald Trump is president and we control, you know, both houses of the legislature as
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conservatives, how is there still even a war going on?
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I think in some respects, Trump is dealing with two opposition parties.
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And so in some ways, not to diminish the point here, because he did come out very aggressively
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But I do think he downplayed how much time it's going to take and the complexity of it,
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because you have two world leaders, Zelensky and Putin.
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In fact, I would say they hate each other and they don't know their war or something.
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Yeah. And and of course, the Biden administration was fully behind Ukraine, very gung ho, high
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Mars missiles, whatever you need, all the rhetoric, of course, the game of information warfare that
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goes along with any other kind of real warfare on the battlefield.
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And of course, they call Trump a Putin puppet from the beginning for even wanting peace.
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Seeing him at least have contact between people like Steve Wyckoff and Russian officials
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meeting with Zelensky in Rome at St. Peter's Basilica for the Pope's funeral.
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Having said that, the management has been a little confusing and the timeline's a little
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And the biggest thing to me is even addressing the fact that you have irreconcilable differences,
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I have no idea what the perfect solution is, but he's in a bit of a bind because Putin's
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not just going to let go of things that he's gained control over.
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Zelensky doesn't seem interested in sacrificing that territory or losing it permanently.
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And I don't I don't know if he understands how to navigate that.
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I understand he wants peace, but you can't rush it.
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It's going to take time, especially with people like this who are very, very hostile
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I mean, Zelensky is calling Putin out on Twitter on X almost on a daily basis.
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So these are two people who clearly hate each other very much and he's getting pulled.
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So he's he's kind of walking a tightrope because both sides want him to take a side.
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He doesn't want to take a side, it seems, but he also doesn't know how to bring them together.
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And when they do get together, it's a lot of, OK, maybe ceasefire, maybe peace, sure.
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But then the next day, there's more shelling or more fighting.
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And it's not that I'm losing hope, but I am wondering if maybe he needs to be more aggressive
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or just completely change his approach, because I think there's been a placation of both sides.
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And I don't know if he understands exactly what to do with that pickle.
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And for Wyckoff and for Hegseth and everyone else in this administration who genuinely seems
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I'm cautiously optimistic and I just don't know what to expect.
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And that brings us to Thursday's meeting in Istanbul.
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I don't know if there's going to be a trilateral meeting, but Trump's in Saudi Arabia now.
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Putin is apparently getting ready to visit Iran.
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I'm hoping what we'll see is a trilateral meeting to get a real peace agreement on the
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They may not agree to it, but at least get solid terms that everyone can agree to as
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the basis for further negotiations and a ceasefire.
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Yeah, I mean, you understand, I guess, as insufferable as Zelensky has been through all of this,
00:22:48.420
But the thing that has, I think, made a lot of Americans sour on Zelensky and the cause
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he represents is really the indignation with which he treats the American people as if,
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you know, and you get it like this guy was installed by CIA cover revolution like he's
00:23:03.360
a comedian, probably didn't really expect to run a country at any given point, got elevated
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because of kind of like the NATO connections and the desire to have him in charge instead.
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And so he kind of expected he was kind of elevated by the Uniparty in the global ruling
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class, and he expected their help in perpetuity.
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Like, hey, you guys put me in here to do the job.
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Of course, you know, I can act like this because that's why you put me here, right?
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Like, I'm here to to talk this way and to to lobby the American people and get all the
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He feels very entitled because he was put there to be entitled.
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And so when you sit down in that meeting with Trump advance in the Oval Office and you
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Like, that's pretty that's pretty it feels good.
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It's nice to have, you know, the guy kind of slapped around a little bit again, not
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not not to take sides one way or another, ultimately, in the Ukrainian conflict, but
00:24:00.940
just because this guy is basically our client and yet is so arrogant about it.
00:24:08.420
Like, you know, you yes, I've received, you know, hundreds of billions of dollars at
00:24:14.080
Like and I'm going to continue to ask as act as if this is my money and these are my
00:24:18.900
military assets and you're just withholding them from me.
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And I think that's where a lot of people ended up souring on this.
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So obviously, Biden went into this, the idea that it was going to be the old war will be
00:24:32.160
And yet again, this model of American warfare just proves that it's not going to happen.
00:24:37.220
Now, we're not directly technically involved, obviously, but ultimately, this is an American
00:24:44.340
And so I think what most people just want to see is, OK, either Zelensky, you walk into this
00:24:50.080
meeting and make a deal and sorry, but that deal is probably going to mean turning over
00:24:53.320
the Russian speaking, ethnically Russian parts of your country to the Russians that have
00:24:59.360
already captured them or you just don't have funding anymore.
00:25:05.480
If the only reason that this military conflict is continuing is because the United States is
00:25:09.860
funding it, both providing ammunition and advisors and everything else, then that should
00:25:16.280
be a pretty easy thing to solve at the end of the day.
00:25:20.260
You should have a pretty big bargaining chip there.
00:25:23.380
Well, I think, you know, it's funny with that meeting.
00:25:26.180
This applies, I think, to so many other conflicts.
00:25:28.180
But with that meeting in particular, we've sent at that point billions and billions and
00:25:33.200
And yes, the politicians have said we have to do this and we have to defend democracies
00:25:40.920
I'm sure they'll have election at some point, you know.
00:25:49.860
I mean, five minutes before the war, New York Times was saying, oh, Ukraine is really corrupt
00:25:53.940
and the country is run by oligarchs and we just can't believe it.
00:25:56.480
And then the narrative just radically flips on a dime.
00:25:59.880
All of a sudden they all love neo-Nazis, everything else.
00:26:05.100
But the question, though, for the American people is, so you're investing all of this money
00:26:12.480
And that's, you know, to bring full circle back, how are we materially benefiting or
00:26:16.680
immaterially gaining anything from taking either side, Russia's or Ukraine's, in this
00:26:22.580
It's around the world physically, has nothing to do with us directly.
00:26:26.140
We don't have boots on the ground, at least so I'm told.
00:26:32.580
But even a political argument, how are we benefiting from it at all?
00:26:38.620
And yet we're expected to just go along with this endless conflict forever and ever, as
00:26:43.340
if we don't have problems of our own to solve and to fund.
00:26:46.360
So when you look at the debt clock just going up, literally as we're speaking, by the minute,
00:26:51.040
they're burning through a trillion dollars every hundred days.
00:26:53.780
So why is it imperative for us to fund foreign wars when we can't even get to a balanced budget?
00:27:00.280
And then on top of it all, where's the return on investment for us?
00:27:06.380
It's not easier to run a business or provide for a family.
00:27:09.080
So how exactly do I even factor into this equation at all?
00:27:16.580
I think it's largely a grift for them and a money laundering operation, not to downplay
00:27:21.680
the morality of this issue, but that's the question I have for any conflict.
00:27:29.640
Show me how I, as a taxpayer and a voter, materially benefit from that kind of behavior.
00:27:38.560
So along those lines, one of the things that has really been drilled into people is that
00:27:48.720
There's the conflict between Israel and Gaza, Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza.
00:27:55.540
And however you feel about that conflict, I think the position of the United States should
00:28:03.720
This is not an issue that we are involving ourselves in.
00:28:06.760
This is really, at this point, a many decades long blood feud that is not going to get resolved
00:28:16.980
So let them figure that out in whatever way they need to get it done.
00:28:21.000
That position, however, has been pretty unacceptable, unfortunately, to a lot of neoconservatives
00:28:28.420
And so what we've seen is this kind of drumbeat of war moving towards, we got to get involved
00:28:33.220
We got to get involved with Iran, take pressure off of Israel, these kind of things.
00:28:36.740
And more and more, it seems like while the Trump administration was being pushed that
00:28:47.160
Whitcoff, as you pointed out, is someone who obviously is not, is trying to keep the United
00:28:51.620
States, I think, out of larger conflicts in this area.
00:28:54.360
Some of the successful things we've seen so far is that one hostage was released as a show
00:29:07.600
We also saw a negotiation with the Houthis to kind of end the military campaign against
00:29:14.940
In many ways, it seems in kind of opposition or ignoring perhaps some of the interests that
00:29:20.860
Israel might have in participating in those negotiations.
00:29:24.400
And so what a lot of people speculated on, and I've even seen reports that people like
00:29:28.980
Netanyahu have said this, is that the relationship between the United States and Israel is cooling.
00:29:34.120
And so what Israel is kind of figuring out is they need to go it alone.
00:29:38.980
They need to handle these things by themselves, not worry about the United States' participation
00:29:46.800
Like, I think that is a fantastic development because they are another country.
00:29:51.060
You know, I just did an episode about George Washington and his farewell address and his advice
00:29:56.240
about not favoring other nations because of the consequences that would come with giving
00:30:02.980
And so I think it's just best that Israel becomes another nation, right?
00:30:07.660
One that we can ally with temporarily if it's in our interest, but otherwise is not a part
00:30:13.200
of our wider foreign policy, not a part of our wider understanding of our geopolitical strategy.
00:30:20.040
Again, when opportunity arises and you can have some kind of working together on an issue
00:30:26.960
that is very clearly and explicitly benefiting the United States, okay.
00:30:32.860
And I think the fact that it looks like the Republicans or at least some of them, a few
00:30:38.560
select ones like Trump and some of the people surrounded him, the fact that they're finally
00:30:49.000
If the leaders of this country only spin their wheels on every other foreign country around
00:30:53.680
the world, we're not going to have a country for much longer.
00:30:58.880
And I also think there's a bifurcation to make.
00:31:01.440
There's an important point that gets lost a lot.
00:31:03.320
A lot of nuance in these conversations gets lost.
00:31:05.780
You can have empathy or sympathy or show some moral support for certain countries.
00:31:10.420
Maybe it's Israel and their battle against Hamas.
00:31:14.680
That doesn't necessarily have to translate into boots on the ground, money being spent,
00:31:18.480
us getting directly entangled because that does open Pandora's box to a whole other
00:31:23.240
world that a lot of Americans never signed up for.
00:31:26.040
So and that could be that could come back to bite us.
00:31:28.520
So that's my biggest concern is watching us create enemies, exacerbate conflicts, pour
00:31:33.720
gas on the fire, knowing one day that fire could spread to our house.
00:31:37.080
That's what I'm really worried about is just keeping this giant continental sized country
00:31:44.480
And so for me, some of this stuff, it just seems like a betrayal.
00:31:47.700
Honestly, Orrin, these politicians, Mitch McConnell being a great example, are so worried about
00:31:52.480
everybody but their own constituents, their own voters, the people that pay their salaries
00:31:58.540
I've had family in this country for more than 100 years.
00:32:01.860
I've had family in California for more than 100 years.
00:32:04.940
My great grandfather spent 31 years in the Marine Corps.
00:32:08.400
He worked his way up to Brigadier General, one star.
00:32:17.140
He was involved in four different wars, won many different awards for it.
00:32:23.560
But it was all in service of this country and materially benefiting and protecting the
00:32:29.780
So as noble as it was to serve in World War II, maybe to serve in Korea, beyond that,
00:32:34.280
to serve in the Cold War, Vietnam, it was all with one goal in mind.
00:32:41.620
And I'm starting to really think that at some point, somebody from some part of the world,
00:32:45.940
Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, whatever, is going to come and attack us directly because of
00:32:51.300
the things that this government has done by meddling in the internal affairs of all
00:32:55.700
these countries and without really explaining what the clear goal is.
00:32:59.660
And I think that's the frustration I've heard from veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
00:33:03.640
They just wondered, what was the clear objective?
00:33:08.560
Are we trying to build a whole democratic nation state around the world?
00:33:16.900
And I say that with nothing but respect for the people who are actually fighting these
00:33:21.880
And I would just wrap by saying the biggest advocates for peace I know that I've met personally,
00:33:27.000
people who want us to be cautious about getting involved, are the people who've either fought
00:33:31.620
in these battles in one way or another, or people who've lost friends and family in these
00:33:36.020
So the real kicker for me is that people like Lindsey Graham just call, let's just bomb Iran.
00:33:44.800
Their lives aren't the ones that are on the line.
00:33:49.420
And at some point, I guess you could say it's arguably treasonous.
00:33:53.400
If an alien came down and observed Lindsey Graham's behavior, do you think they'd be able
00:34:02.720
But yeah, I think that's a really important point.
00:34:04.520
You know, I look at some people who get very worked up about U.S. interventionism, and
00:34:10.300
sometimes they will have an attitude of, oh, well, I'm so much smarter because I didn't
00:34:21.080
And I think it's really important to remember that we are not the left.
00:34:24.860
We are not the anti-war left who is throwing rocks at troops and calling them baby killers.
00:34:35.380
Yes, we recognize and are concerned about the way that foreign policy has been approached,
00:34:41.220
but it is specifically because we care about these people.
00:34:44.700
As you say, I have many friends who were in the global war on terror, and I think there's
00:34:48.760
no accident that the guys who are now pushing back against it, many of these guys are veterans
00:34:54.920
of the global war on terror because they know exactly what you just said, that this has not
00:35:01.340
And it's not that these guys are not brave and they're not willing to fight, but they
00:35:07.680
And when you look, I mean, you know, the United States military, especially the forward combat
00:35:14.100
units, they are made up of guys from Appalachia and Texas, right?
00:35:22.380
They are people who have been spit on and treated as garbage and told that they are the reason
00:35:28.760
that America is falling apart and they're all racist and sexist and backwards and bigoted.
00:35:34.480
And they are tired of having their sons and daughters called up by a government that is
00:35:40.180
constantly telling them they are the worst people in the world to then go fight conflicts
00:35:45.000
on behalf of foreign peoples and never on behalf of the United States, even as they watch their
00:35:51.760
And that's ultimately what we're looking for here.
00:35:54.700
We are not looking to denigrate the United States.
00:35:57.200
We are not looking to blame troops or those involved.
00:36:01.420
These are heroic people doing the best they can in difficult situations.
00:36:05.300
What we want is to give our warrior class honor again.
00:36:09.520
We want these people to be able to serve in the name of something great and to be proud
00:36:13.860
of what they are doing and know that they are making a difference in the lives of the people
00:36:20.080
Not some far off group that never cares about them, hates them, and will come back and bomb
00:36:28.520
Look, I think that the whole picture is getting back to this America first, where maybe it
00:36:38.080
We should be the only priority, not just the top priority, but the only priority.
00:36:43.540
And I want to say it again to your point, Warren, because it's a really good point to make
00:36:52.300
I want the best for my fellow American citizens of all backgrounds and stripes.
00:37:01.460
I am deeply rooted in this country and I want to see America succeed.
00:37:05.620
And I just look at some of the missteps that have been made.
00:37:08.140
Regardless of what the intention was, the road to hell is paved with good intentions,
00:37:19.300
In some ways, it's been very productive and effective.
00:37:21.620
But either way, I resonate strongly with the idea that we have to change our ways.
00:37:28.980
And the only people who seem to be pushing back are those who derive a lot of benefit
00:37:34.020
And then the American people that get caught up in the crossfire directly or indirectly,
00:37:39.560
It doesn't seem like they're respected or honored in any real way.
00:37:51.820
We're losing American lives abroad in Afghanistan for the first time in a long time.
00:37:56.300
And it's just like, it's like Obama saying the guys that were lost in Benghazi,
00:38:04.740
It's really sickening and I would argue maybe a little demonic and evil.
00:38:11.320
But even thinking back to Benghazi, it just feels evil to me.
00:38:15.020
It's like you just get your own people slaughtered and you don't even feel any kind of remorse
00:38:22.840
Riley, I just wrote a piece and I would like to get your opinion on the premise here real
00:38:27.760
I'll go into more detail, obviously, when I do the show on it.
00:38:30.600
But a lot of people have been talking about the Buchanan right.
00:38:35.340
A lot of people who are running around with the woke right and all these other slurs have
00:38:40.020
decided to talk about the Buchanan right as if that would be something terrible.
00:38:44.380
And of course, The Atlantic recently did a piece about how Pat Buchanan was the grandfather
00:38:50.160
of the woke right with his books like Suicide of a Superpower.
00:38:54.120
Now, I've read several of Pat Buchanan's books, including Suicide of a Superpower.
00:38:58.460
And I got to say, all that book does is tell me exactly what was going to happen in my
00:39:04.880
Pat Buchanan has been right my entire life, right?
00:39:10.680
And he was decried and he was deplatformed and he was slammed.
00:39:15.760
And I think it's time to build a statue in honor of Pat Buchanan.
00:39:26.600
I think it's time to raise money and erect a statue in honor of Pat Buchanan, because
00:39:31.560
without Pat Buchanan, we would not have Donald Trump.
00:39:34.440
Donald Trump is the realization of Pat Buchanan's platform.
00:39:37.620
He basically photocopied that thing, slapped a MAGA on it, and God bless him for it because
00:39:43.400
The American people, I think, are finally ready for the truths that Pat Buchanan was
00:39:49.400
And I think ultimately embracing this idea of the Buchanan right, of creating this as
00:39:55.620
the new center, the new focus, the non-ideological America first understanding of what we should
00:40:05.000
And I think there's no better place to start by cementing that legacy and making that the
00:40:10.500
way we understand the conservative tradition, other than honoring a man who fought for that
00:40:19.420
Even when it's unpopular, he still stood by his principles, which ended up being right,
00:40:24.460
That's the funny thing to me, is we could have saved ourselves so much trouble if we
00:40:28.200
had just not been so arrogant, if we just had not fed this hubris that you see all over
00:40:33.960
It's really sickening, actually, to think about it.
00:40:36.760
But that's the biggest challenge, honestly, is convincing people.
00:40:40.140
It's one thing to show someone they're wrong and to tell someone they're wrong, but to
00:40:45.460
And that's a whole other battle, and it's an uphill one, maybe.
00:40:51.220
And many wise men are just laughed off and decried and derailed.
00:40:56.960
Number two, to your bigger point, I do think this is a rebirth, maybe call it an awakening
00:41:01.700
And really just for this country, because you see...
00:41:21.460
No, but I just think that the hubris is a big thing to get around of.
00:41:23.840
And I think there's a little bit of grief in just admitting that the GOP's old ways have
00:41:31.660
But responsibly, we have to look at the future and we have to think about results.
00:41:40.400
And so I think that's where the wisdom of someone like Buchanan comes in.
00:41:43.340
And I think there will be a lot of resistance, of course, because telling the truth in a
00:41:47.460
time of constant propaganda is an act of revolution.
00:41:52.860
So what I hope to see is a complete paradigm shift on the right.
00:41:59.100
People like J.D. Vance could spearhead that movement.
00:42:04.100
He didn't start it, but he revived it and made it really popular.
00:42:08.800
But looking big picture to the future, we can't rely on one man in four years to fix all
00:42:18.980
I'm optimistic cautiously that the old right is falling apart.
00:42:23.020
There is a new America first, common sense, nationalist, patriotic right that's forming
00:42:27.760
that will finally make the American people feel seen and heard again.
00:42:35.580
I think the Democrat Party is collapsing entirely.
00:42:37.760
I think the old Republican Party is collapsing entirely.
00:42:39.980
And so this is like a golden opportunity to right the ship before it's too late for this
00:42:54.100
Tell people when that is and let them know if there are any other projects or places you
00:43:02.340
Eastern on OAN Live, DISH, Sling TV, some other smaller cable providers around the country.
00:43:07.860
You can follow me on any social media platform at RileyLewis760.
00:43:20.240
All right, guys, make sure that you're checking out Riley's work.
00:43:22.600
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00:43:29.940
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00:43:36.340
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00:43:40.480
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00:43:46.540
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