The Culture War - Tim Pool - December 06, 2025


Venezuela Has Become A CRIMINAL STATE, Military Intervention Will Not Work w⧸ Rep. Eric Burlison

Topics
Venezuela criminal state terrorism on American soil
Hosted by
Tim Pool Phil Labonte Hannah Claire Brimelow
Mentioned
Marjorie Taylor Greene Jeffrey Epstein Thomas Massey Mark Kelly Representative Massey Sarah Beckstrom Eric Burleson Charlie Kirk Mike Johnson Andrew Wolfe Tom Cruise Van Halen Trump
Pentagon NUKES Biden Admin DEI Policies, Press Sec Kingsley Wilson Says MERIT IS BACK Rep. Burchett Slams the CIA & Joe Biden For Disastrous Immigration Policy, Americans Are Dying

Episode Stats


Length

16 minutes

Words per minute

174.86

Word count

2,958

Sentence count

195

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged

Hate speech

4

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, we interview Republican Congressman Eric Burleson of Missouri, who has been a long-time supporter of the administration's anti-drug smuggling efforts outside of Venezuela. He joins us to discuss what he thinks about the current administration's approach to combating drug smuggling, and what Congress should do about it.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Everything you've done has come to this.
00:00:03.000 The biggest and wildest mission yet is now streaming.
00:00:07.000 I need you to trust me.
00:00:09.000 One last time.
00:00:10.000 Tom Cruise, Mission Impossible, The Final Reckoning,
00:00:12.000 now streaming on Paramount+.
00:00:15.000 You have a country that is really kind of a foothold for China and Russia,
00:00:19.000 and they're doing a lot of illegal activity, a lot of criminal activity,
00:00:24.000 and they've basically become a criminal state.
00:00:28.000 Good afternoon, everybody.
00:00:30.000 I am Elad Eliyahu, the White House correspondent for TimCast,
00:00:33.000 but today we have a very special episode because we are in Congress
00:00:36.000 and we are interviewing different Republican congressmen,
00:00:38.000 and today we have Eric Burleson from Missouri taking time to interview with us.
00:00:43.000 Thank you so much for taking the time.
00:00:44.000 I wanted to hop in quickly because I know we are short on time.
00:00:47.000 It's one of the most pressing issues that I believe the White House is dealing with,
00:00:51.000 and that is the, I don't know if to call it a conflict
00:00:54.000 or fighting drug smuggling outside of Venezuela.
00:00:58.000 Yeah.
00:00:59.000 I guess we'll start with what do you think so far
00:01:01.000 of what the administration's actions outside of Venezuelan waters have been so far?
00:01:05.000 Yeah, I think that the priority should be not necessarily just regime change
00:01:09.000 for the sake of regime change because we've seen that play out before, right?
00:01:13.000 The Taliban, for example, now control Afghanistan.
00:01:19.000 If you don't fix the core problems, then you're going to end up with maybe sometimes even a worse outcome.
00:01:26.000 That's why I think we should focus on cutting off the money supply chain for the cartels
00:01:34.000 and trying to do whatever we can to cut off their political power and influence.
00:01:38.000 And then you'll see natural reform happen in countries like Venezuela.
00:01:43.000 Absolutely.
00:01:44.000 I know the administration is putting a lot of focus on this,
00:01:47.000 and I don't know if they clearly demonstrated as to why this is really in the average American's best interest.
00:01:53.000 I know we've been moving a lot of different military assets to the area.
00:01:57.000 I believe we have an aircraft carrier in the area.
00:02:00.000 Then we've also seen the shooting of these drug boats that's gotten some of the administration in some hot water.
00:02:06.000 I guess, what are our goals in Venezuela right now and why?
00:02:11.000 You have a country that is really kind of a foothold for China and Russia,
00:02:16.000 and they're doing a lot of illegal activity, a lot of criminal activity,
00:02:20.000 and they've basically become a criminal state.
00:02:24.000 And I get it.
00:02:26.000 We can't continue to let that sit and fester,
00:02:29.000 but I don't necessarily think that we have to go in with boots on the ground or a military conflict,
00:02:34.000 because I do think, regardless of what you do,
00:02:37.000 you're not going to change the corruption that exists in Venezuela overnight.
00:02:41.000 So I think that addressing the fact that politics is being fueled by cartel money and drug money
00:02:51.000 is something that we need to be working on in whatever way that we can,
00:02:55.000 whether that's through sanctions, whether it's through cutting off their supply chain to the United States.
00:03:03.000 Whatever it is that we can do, I think we should be working on.
00:03:06.000 Absolutely.
00:03:07.000 What is your reaction to the current plan of attacking these alleged drug boats?
00:03:12.000 And do you believe that Congress should have any role in approving these attacks before they're put out?
00:03:17.000 You know, I would like to have a briefing to verify what form of intelligence that they have on each of these boats.
00:03:24.000 But, I mean, let's be real.
00:03:27.000 These are not poor Venezuela fishermen in half a million dollar speed boats, right?
00:03:33.000 They're clearly drug runners.
00:03:35.000 But I'm sure that our intelligence community has much more information on how they know who's on the boat,
00:03:42.000 what the activity of the boat is.
00:03:44.000 They probably know where the origin was, where it's going.
00:03:49.000 So I'm sure that there's a lot of information that makes them have a high level of confidence that they truly are drug runners.
00:03:57.000 Some of their actions outside of Venezuelan waters have allegedly gotten them in some trouble.
00:04:02.000 So I'm referencing some recent Washington Post reporting about how a boat was struck and then, you know,
00:04:08.000 it was no longer a threat and then struck again.
00:04:11.000 There are some Democrat senators who allege that this could potentially be a war crime if true.
00:04:16.000 So I believe it was Senator Van Hollen from Connecticut and Senator Mark Kelly from Arizona
00:04:21.000 who implied that if the Washington Post reporting was true that this could potentially be a war crime.
00:04:27.000 What do you think of that alleged reporting?
00:04:30.000 And if the reporting is true, do you think that constitutes a war crime?
00:04:35.000 I don't know.
00:04:36.000 I'd have to do the research on what would constitute a war crime.
00:04:39.000 I fall back on, at the end of the day, show us your work, right?
00:04:45.000 Congress needs to see the intelligence and the evidence that caused them to make those decisions.
00:04:52.000 I believe it was Senator Mark Kelly who was encouraging soldiers to not follow orders that they believe to be illegal or illegitimate.
00:04:59.000 I don't remember his exact phrasing.
00:05:01.000 Have you heard this stuff?
00:05:02.000 And what's your reaction to that?
00:05:04.000 And what do you think the downstream consequences for our soldiers who are being put in, you know,
00:05:08.000 places where they need to make split-second decisions?
00:05:11.000 Where does that leave them?
00:05:12.000 Yeah, I think that's really dangerous ground to kind of be sowing the seeds of sedition in our military.
00:05:19.000 I think that, you know, Senator Kelly knows better, and I question his motives.
00:05:27.000 I think that that was probably a foolish endeavor.
00:05:31.000 And I bet you if you've talked to those Democrats privately, they would probably all admit that they've made a mistake.
00:05:38.000 Absolutely.
00:05:39.000 I wanted to shift gears a little bit to terrorism that we're seeing in our country.
00:05:44.000 I feel like I'd be remiss if I didn't mention it, so I believe it was about a week ago, right before Thanksgiving,
00:05:49.000 where we saw the two National Guardsmen outside D.C. get shot.
00:05:54.000 One was murdered, one is in critical condition by an Afghan refugee. 1.00
00:05:59.000 I just wanted to name both of the National Guardsmen very quickly.
00:06:02.000 Sarah Beckstrom was the woman who was killed, only 20 years old, and I believe Andrew Wolf's in critical condition.
00:06:08.000 He's 22.
00:06:10.000 What's your reaction to this sort of terrorism on American soil?
00:06:15.000 It seems as though people who are right-wing coded or are law enforcement are constantly being placed under threat.
00:06:20.000 I know there are different threats towards ICE agents.
00:06:22.000 We're coming off the heels of Charlie Kirk's very murder.
00:06:26.000 News of that was everywhere.
00:06:28.000 So, I don't know.
00:06:29.000 How should Americans feel, and what's your reaction to this?
00:06:31.000 This is a really dangerous place.
00:06:32.000 I mean, the fact that these fans are being flamed by people like Senator Kelly and then that video,
00:06:43.000 that only really emboldens some of this terrorist activity to continue.
00:06:48.000 And I think that has to end.
00:06:51.000 We need to be focused, and our intelligence community needs to be focused on identifying, because they know who came over.
00:07:00.000 They weren't vetted, but they know a lot of them and who they are and where they are.
00:07:04.000 And I think that we need to have a thorough process and prioritize.
00:07:08.000 If you're going to be deporting people, try prioritizing the terrorists who hate this country who got here without being vetted.
00:07:18.000 This Afghani American was allegedly actually a collaborator with American intelligence against the Taliban,
00:07:24.000 and that I guess we felt like we owed them something and brought them over as a refugee.
00:07:30.000 Do we have any obligation to collaborators who work with Americans and help make American service members' lives easier
00:07:37.000 when we're fighting our wars abroad?
00:07:39.000 I know this is a complicated issue.
00:07:40.000 I mean, look, these people, the CIA works with some very unsavorable people,
00:07:47.000 some really nefarious people that we wouldn't necessarily want into our country.
00:07:53.000 And so, now, what's not being said as well is, you know, should we help them?
00:08:01.000 You know, we're paying these people, right?
00:08:04.000 Often these people are being paid by the intelligence, by the CIA, for the information and for the help.
00:08:11.000 In no way, shape, or form owe them the right to be in this country.
00:08:15.000 Absolutely. Or maybe even the right to move to a different country, but maybe not necessarily bring them over here.
00:08:20.000 That's right.
00:08:21.000 But I did want to also get your reaction to what the president's response to this was,
00:08:24.000 and it was generally to clamp down on immigration from so-called third-world countries.
00:08:28.000 And I think he said he wanted to pause all visas from Afghanistan in particular.
00:08:31.000 In a Truth Social post, he said, I will permanently pause migration from all third-world countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover.
00:08:38.000 Only reverse migration can fully cure this situation.
00:08:42.000 Do you agree with the president on that?
00:08:44.000 I think that we need to recognize that we have a lot of people that are coming here that cannot sustain, cannot support themselves.
00:08:52.000 And we are, as a nation, you know, American people are having a hard time even going paying their grocery bills.
00:09:00.000 And we have an affordability crisis.
00:09:03.000 We don't really have, we're not in a situation to be open arms to everybody at this point in time.
00:09:10.000 People need to come here and be vetted, and they need to be able to sustain themselves.
00:09:16.000 Absolutely.
00:09:17.000 It seems as though many Americans, particularly in the MAGA base, are particularly concerned about immigration.
00:09:23.000 And not even just illegal immigration.
00:09:25.000 Legal immigration, it seems as though, is frustrating many within the MAGA base.
00:09:29.000 Right.
00:09:30.000 I also understand there's something like 700,000 H1B visa holders here who are here legally, but that Americans still believe undercut American workers and, you know, are still taking space here.
00:09:40.000 What do you think about that in the party base?
00:09:43.000 I think it's something that we have to address.
00:09:45.000 And I looked into this, and one of the things that disturbs me is that a lot of visa holders, for example, are not required to pay FICA tax.
00:09:54.000 You pay FICA, right?
00:09:56.000 Yes.
00:09:57.000 Would you like to stop paying FICA?
00:09:58.000 Yes.
00:09:59.000 Because it's a crappy retirement plan, Social Security.
00:10:04.000 But now, so an employer pays half of your FICA tax, but for these visa workers, they don't. 1.00
00:10:12.000 Right?
00:10:13.000 Because now the argument is they're not going to get Social Security, and that's fine.
00:10:17.000 But at the end of the day, they should be paying a tax that would make them at least financially the equivalent of a U.S. worker at the minimum.
00:10:27.000 I worked in the IT space and saw entire teams laid off and replaced by H1B visa holders. 1.00
00:10:36.000 And that is not something that we want to see in America.
00:10:39.000 I mean, I think that there's a place and argument to say that there are certain places where there's no amount of work that you can do.
00:10:50.000 There is no American worker that can meet those needs.
00:10:53.000 But if that's the case, pay the taxes and let them benefit the nation as a whole.
00:11:00.000 Absolutely.
00:11:01.000 So I think that there's a place there where we could have that kind of conversation.
00:11:04.000 Do you think, so I guess what is your position on immigration, both illegal and legal?
00:11:08.000 Are you a net zero immigration guy?
00:11:10.000 I spoke to a representative earlier who said I want negative immigration, re-immigration, so reverse immigration.
00:11:16.000 Yeah, I think at the end of the day, I don't want to cut off all immigration.
00:11:21.000 I think people that want to come to this country that can provide value and truly adopt our society, we need to have that process.
00:11:30.000 It should not be wide open.
00:11:32.000 The doors should not be completely wide open and we don't want to let our culture change rapidly.
00:11:37.000 So we need to do it in a thorough, in a slow process.
00:11:43.000 So I would be for reducing the number of people that are coming here legally and certainly eliminating and zeroing out the people that are coming here illegally. 0.97
00:11:54.000 Absolutely.
00:11:55.000 I know one of the president's biggest initiatives has been these mass deportations.
00:11:58.000 Are you satisfied with the current state of these mass deportations in our country?
00:12:02.000 Look, you can always do more.
00:12:04.000 I think we could always do more.
00:12:05.000 And sadly, the left has been fighting us on this.
00:12:10.000 And I was glad to see that the president gave a directive that when people are throwing bricks and rocks and assaulting our ICE agents or Homeland Security, arrest these people.
00:12:25.000 Right?
00:12:26.000 We need to return to kind of a form of civility.
00:12:28.000 And the fact that they're really willing to, you know, take arms and fight against, you know, law enforcement officials over this, you know, protecting the people that are here illegally, it's absurd.
00:12:42.000 I want to shift gears and quickly hit on one last topic, and it's a little bit of congressional politics.
00:12:47.000 So one of the most important things in the one big, beautiful bill that barely passed here was that they tripled, I believe, the funding towards ICE.
00:12:54.000 But there was one Republican who postured against it, Representative Thomas Massie, who the president was very upset with.
00:13:01.000 There was also recently, I believe, a handful of Republicans who forced the vote on the so-called Jeffrey Epstein files, including Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie.
00:13:10.000 They've drawn the ire of the president as a result of their actions here.
00:13:13.000 What do you think about how all of that stuff played out, and how should we think of these Republicans when you guys do have such a slim majority in the House?
00:13:20.000 I have a lot of respect for Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene, and I think that our party can't afford to be acting in a way where we're expelling people from the party.
00:13:31.000 And they have a place, they have a highly intelligent position that most of the time I agree with.
00:13:38.000 I mean, I'm mostly, I'm very close ideologically with Thomas Massie, and I was a co-sponsor of the bill to release the Epstein files.
00:13:47.000 I didn't, I wasn't going to sign the discharge petition until, unless I saw that in the oversight process, which I'm on, the oversight committee,
00:13:57.000 I saw if the administration was blocking information deliberately from the subpoenas that we were issuing,
00:14:04.000 then to me that would be the last step is to do the discharge petition.
00:14:09.000 But, I mean, I support the release of all of the Epstein information so long as it doesn't harm a victim.
00:14:16.000 I don't mean to cynically harp on this too much, but the president did call this a hoax and a huge distraction.
00:14:22.000 And then also, Representative Massie very cynically said, you know, those who are voting against this, I believe he said, are protecting pedophiles.
00:14:29.000 And he was saying, making that accusation of most of the Republican caucus at the time.
00:14:34.000 How should we think of that stuff?
00:14:36.000 Well, ultimately, nearly every person voted for it when it came to the vote.
00:14:42.000 And whenever I had opportunities and oversight to vote to subpoena the files, subpoena the Epstein estate, I voted for those and have been a part of that process.
00:14:56.000 And so, I think most all Republicans were supportive of releasing the files.
00:15:02.000 And a lot of us were really kind of puzzled with some of Trump's rhetoric.
00:15:08.000 The only explanation I've been given that makes sense is that Trump has gone down this road with disclosure of other things like the JFK files, the RFK files,
00:15:20.000 and really has discovered that it's one thing to say it and another thing to deliver it when you have an intelligence community that's fighting you tooth and nail.
00:15:29.000 Right. And so, you can say, if you're Trump, you know, I can try to release the files.
00:15:36.000 But at the end of the day, the American people, there's always going to be more that needs to be released.
00:15:41.000 And the American people will always suspect something.
00:15:43.000 Absolutely. Just, this will be my last follow up here, because I feel like it's extremely pertinent.
00:15:47.000 As a result of her posturing Marjorie Taylor Greene, she drew the ire of the president. 1.00
00:15:51.000 He said he would endorse a primary opponent.
00:15:53.000 And she ended up actually stepping down, as I understand, largely as a result of this.
00:15:58.000 This leaves the House of Republicans with an even slimmer majority.
00:16:01.000 She's not serving out her term.
00:16:03.000 It feels like a middle finger to Mike Johnson and the Republican voters who put her in office.
00:16:07.000 What do you think about her resigning and leaving Republicans in an even more vulnerable position?
00:16:12.000 And this is, of course, coming off the heels of the Jeffrey Epstein stuff, which the president already thought put him in the compromising position.
00:16:17.000 Look, I mean, serving in this role, a lot of times people don't, it's not exactly a glamorous role.
00:16:24.000 You make a lot of sacrifices.
00:16:26.000 And I can't really judge Marjorie for making that decision.
00:16:31.000 She knows what's best for her family.
00:16:33.000 I'm certain that her district is going to elect someone that is as conservative as Marjorie. 1.00
00:16:40.000 And so I think that at the end of the day, I'm not here to judge my colleagues and their actions.
00:16:47.000 Absolutely. Representative, thank you so much for your time.
00:16:49.000 Thank you.
00:16:50.000 And I hope to bring you on Timcast IRL soon.
00:16:52.000 That would be great.
00:16:53.000 Thank you so much for your time, Representative.
00:16:54.000 Thank you, guys.