The Great America Show - March 07, 2023


AMB. ROBERT O’BRIEN SAYS THE WORLD SEES AMERICA UNDER BIDEN AS FUNDAMENTALLY WEAK, AND THAT COULD PROVOKE CHINA TO INVADE TAIWAN

Topics
hypersonics deployment
Hosted by
Lou Dobbs John Fawcett
Mentioned
Vladimir Putin Biden Donald Trump Obama Ronald Reagan Robert O'Brien Chris Ray Zelensky Rick Rinnell Larry Kudlow Donbass Hitler Keystone Pipeline George Washington Merrick Garland Jake Sullivan Tony Blinken Mike Pompeo Devin Nunes Xi Jinping and 13 more
AMERICANS NEED TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING AND WHAT IS BEING DONE TO THEM, SAYS ATTORNEY KURT OLSEN WASHINGTON D.C. IS “A CESSPOOL OF HATRED” SAYS ATTY MC BRIDE. REP TENNEY SAYS JOE BIDEN IS PROJECTING WEAKNESS TO OUR ENEMIES—PUTIN & XI

Episode Stats


Length

47 minutes

Words per minute

186.68

Word count

8,947

Sentence count

479

Harmful content

Toxicity

8

sentences flagged

Hate speech

49

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Ambassador Robert O'Brien, former presidential envoy for hostage affairs and National Security Adviser, joins the show to talk about the Ukraine crisis and what it means for the future of the country and the world. Lou Dobbs also talks about the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project and much more.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
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 Hello, everybody, and welcome to The Great America Show.
00:00:03.160 Lou Dobbs here.
00:00:04.400 It's great to have you with us.
00:00:06.240 The Marxists are marching.
00:00:08.400 More than 20 left-wing Antifa terrorists charged in Atlanta
00:00:11.800 after they violently clashed with police officers
00:00:15.180 charged for storming the Atlanta Law Enforcement Training Center.
00:00:20.160 The terrorists threw Molotov cocktails at the police.
00:00:23.100 They torched construction equipment.
00:00:25.320 The Daily Mail reports that among those arrested
00:00:27.700 was an attorney for the hard-left Southern Poverty Law Center
00:00:31.440 who is charged now with domestic terrorism.
00:00:35.000 There are other instances of violence that are raising questions
00:00:38.200 about who's behind months of protests
00:00:40.720 and attacks on the police training center there in Atlanta
00:00:44.260 and about who is shooting up power substations in all parts of the country
00:00:49.640 and burning down food processing plants as well.
00:00:53.660 No one's taken blame for the targeted violence,
00:00:56.420 at least not yet.
00:00:58.860 Attorney General Merrick Garland was in Western Ukraine over the weekend
00:01:02.480 there to replace yet another Ukrainian anti-corruption prosecutor.
00:01:08.140 Russia has launched a new offensive against Eastern Ukraine.
00:01:12.080 According to reports, Russia is throwing thousands more of its troops
00:01:15.860 into that assault now underway.
00:01:18.820 A Ukrainian military official telling Foreign Policy magazine
00:01:22.400 that Russia has moved up almost 3,000 artillery systems,
00:01:27.460 800 multi-rocket launchers, almost 2,000 tanks,
00:01:32.220 and 400 jet fighters all going into the fight
00:01:35.540 that is intensifying by the day.
00:01:38.280 A brutal war that is about to get even more brutal and deadly.
00:01:42.940 Our guest today is Ambassador Robert O'Brien.
00:01:45.960 He's former presidential envoy for hostage affairs.
00:01:49.160 He served as President Trump's national security advisor.
00:01:53.680 Ambassador O'Brien, great to have you with us.
00:01:56.060 Thanks for joining us.
00:01:57.180 Let's begin with Russia's escalation of its assault on Ukraine
00:02:01.280 and where Russia's more than one-year-long war on Ukraine goes from here.
00:02:07.080 Well, thanks, Sloan.
00:02:07.720 Again, congratulations with all the success of the podcast and the show.
00:02:11.620 It's great to listen to you,
00:02:13.000 and it's terrific to be on with you this morning.
00:02:14.940 So that's probably the number one question I get when I'm out speaking
00:02:18.820 and doing Q&A, and folks are really concerned about what's happening
00:02:23.120 and where we are with this war.
00:02:26.400 So I think to unpack it, it's important to talk about a couple of critical issues.
00:02:31.520 Number one, this is a war of aggression by Russia against Ukraine.
00:02:35.680 It's a war of conquest, of subjugation.
00:02:38.280 And it's something we really haven't seen since really World War I.
00:02:41.620 Of course, Hitler tried to do it in World War II. 0.94
00:02:45.640 But since World War I, the idea that an empire or a nation could conquer its neighbors
00:02:50.360 and, to use a real estate term, get good title to the property it conquered
00:02:55.800 has not been a thing in international law or international affairs.
00:03:00.260 But Putin has brought it back.
00:03:02.620 And so, you know, number one, we want to commend the brave Ukrainians
00:03:05.640 who are fighting for their freedom and their independence.
00:03:07.340 And I'd like to contrast them a little bit with the wars that we've seen recently
00:03:11.960 in Afghanistan or Iraq, where Americans were asked to do the fighting
00:03:15.760 for folks' freedom or liberty.
00:03:17.520 Here, the Ukrainians are just asking for our help and our supplies 1.00
00:03:20.980 and for us to be the arsenal of democracy.
00:03:23.560 But it's Ukrainians who are doing the fighting and dying. 1.00
00:03:25.540 And I commend them for that.
00:03:27.740 Number two is China's watching this.
00:03:30.200 I mean, everything that we deal with today, Louis, you know very well.
00:03:34.800 And you've been on this, you know, you were on China before most people
00:03:39.440 back in the TV days 20 years ago.
00:03:43.140 China is our existential threat. 1.00
00:03:45.000 And China is watching this to see if Russia can get away with Ukraine.
00:03:48.020 Because if it does, China will try and get away with taking Taiwan, 0.91
00:03:52.220 which would have devastating effects on the U.S.
00:03:54.780 And one can only think of Crimea and the taking of Crimea by Vladimir Putin in 2014
00:04:04.780 with President Obama in office.
00:04:08.040 There is always the suggestion that the Biden term is the third term
00:04:12.520 of the Obama administration.
00:04:14.380 This looks like a replay, does it not?
00:04:17.220 Well, look, it's the same folks staffing the administration for the most part.
00:04:20.660 So there is some, I guess, some truth to it.
00:04:23.280 Now, you know, Biden and Obama are different.
00:04:25.620 I think Obama was much weaker when it came to foreign policy.
00:04:29.900 And look, the Ukraine situation in 2014 was a real disaster.
00:04:36.080 We grew up, Lou, in the Ronald Reagan era of peace or strength.
00:04:39.900 And we can recall just a couple of years ago the America First era of Donald Trump
00:04:44.140 where our adversaries wouldn't dare take those kind of chances.
00:04:48.320 But what happened after Russia invaded Ukraine the first time in 2014
00:04:52.540 and took much of Donbass and Crimea?
00:04:55.940 Obama said on Gatorade and MREs and blankets.
00:04:59.280 That was our response.
00:05:00.980 And so it's a little wonder that you see the Russians thinking that as soon as Biden took office
00:05:05.980 and canceled our Keystone Pipeline, but then gave them the go-ahead for the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline,
00:05:12.280 we had the humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan, and then, you know, the Russians were told
00:05:18.060 they could do a minor incursion in Ukraine.
00:05:19.800 That would be okay.
00:05:21.180 You know, why wouldn't the Russians assume, based on past history with the Obama administration,
00:05:26.660 that they could go in and take Ukraine?
00:05:28.620 And thank goodness in the Trump administration we got the Ukrainians the 600 Javelin missiles, 1.00
00:05:33.660 the anti-tank missiles, which blunted the armor attack, the initial attack.
00:05:37.380 And, look, I'll compliment the Biden administration on one thing.
00:05:40.400 They did rally, and they did, you know, get equipment and material and weapons to the Ukrainians
00:05:47.120 once after Zelensky turned down the offer of the helicopter right out of town
00:05:51.460 and said he was standing and fighting.
00:05:53.400 The Biden folks recalibrated, and they did get material and support to Ukraine,
00:05:57.940 and I compliment them on that.
00:05:59.580 But, again, we shouldn't take credit for what's happening in Ukraine
00:06:01.860 to see Ukrainians who get the credit for fighting off the Russians, you know, granted using our equipment. 0.71
00:06:07.380 And the major power conflict is coming into stark relief as well in the Russian war against,
00:06:16.920 as you call it, the war of conquest against Ukraine.
00:06:20.160 Now Xi Jinping is trying to play, at least on a stage, the part of an intermediary and mediator
00:06:28.200 in bringing together Ukraine and Russia around an idea of peace at some point.
00:06:39.240 We are, we, the Biden administration is actively trying to dissuade the UK, France, and Germany
00:06:48.420 of any participation and discussion with the Chinese on this issue.
00:06:53.420 This is, to me, again, an administration that is not agile.
00:07:00.140 It's not particularly talented when it comes to foreign policy.
00:07:04.620 That's just my judgment.
00:07:05.680 Well, look, it's a perception of weakness that the international community has of this administration.
00:07:11.340 It doesn't mean that America is fundamentally weak, and it doesn't even mean that the, you know,
00:07:15.920 some of the folks in the Biden administration are weak, but it's the appearance of weakness
00:07:19.640 that's so provocative.
00:07:21.080 And this Chinese peace deal is a classic example.
00:07:24.600 I mean, I was on the phone with Rick Rennell, our former director of national intelligence
00:07:29.300 and ambassador to Germany recently, and Rick and I were talking about how did we cede the peace
00:07:35.520 initiative to the Chinese?
00:07:37.820 The Chinese put together a peace initiative that's basically a surrender by Ukraine to
00:07:41.780 the Russians, so there's nothing good in it for Ukraine.
00:07:45.300 And so, you know, that Germany and the UK and France should not get involved in a Chinese 1.00
00:07:48.920 deal.
00:07:49.260 But why didn't the U.S. come out first with our principles for a peace deal?
00:07:53.680 And maybe the Russians wouldn't have accepted it.
00:07:55.460 They probably wouldn't have come to the table.
00:07:57.080 I don't think Putin's going to come to the table under any circumstances unless there's
00:08:00.360 an unconditional surrender at this point by Ukraine.
00:08:03.440 At some point, he will when he realizes his goals can't be accomplished and if the Ukrainians 1.00
00:08:08.440 get some advantage in the coming spring offensive.
00:08:11.080 But right now, he's not coming to the table.
00:08:13.500 But why wasn't the U.S. out first with our principles for a peace deal, take the initiative
00:08:18.720 and make it and set the agenda ourselves?
00:08:21.480 Instead, right now, we're playing to the Chinese agenda.
00:08:24.100 And although it's a fake offer and it's a fake peace deal, you know, the Chinese have 0.98
00:08:29.740 at least the world's attention.
00:08:31.680 And as you noted, they've got the initiative on the peace front.
00:08:35.300 And that's something that in the old days, America would have always been out there first. 0.75
00:08:39.200 So, again, you know, maybe if we had a do-over, and I'm sure the Biden folks feel this way,
00:08:45.400 they won't admit it, but I'm sure they feel if they had a do-over, they would have tried
00:08:48.340 to get out in front of the Chinese using our allies as leverage and at least laying down 0.90
00:08:53.080 our own marker rather than playing off the Chinese marker.
00:08:55.460 And the degree to which we're doing so is also, I think, if we look back on this, and I think
00:09:02.760 most people may not appreciate the fact that there was a run-up to this war that started
00:09:08.780 on February 24th, more than a year ago now.
00:09:13.940 The Biden administration knew what was happening.
00:09:18.480 Their own intelligence agencies were telling them what was in store.
00:09:24.100 Zelensky was telling the administration what was in store, and the Biden administration
00:09:30.400 did not respond.
00:09:32.200 And when you talk about putting forward markers, that was the ideal time to do it in the fall
00:09:37.880 of 2021.
00:09:41.980 Instead, this administration was hamstrung and slack-jawed.
00:09:48.180 They simply could not act or, for whatever reason, chose not to.
00:09:53.300 You're thinking about both of those issues.
00:09:57.960 Well, I think you're correct.
00:09:59.400 I also think there was some denial going on in Ukraine.
00:10:01.820 I don't think Zelensky actually believed that Putin would invade.
00:10:06.380 And so that was a miscalculation.
00:10:08.280 But they corrected that miscalculation quickly and really rallied in a very short period of
00:10:14.200 time to defend themselves against Russia.
00:10:16.520 On the diplomatic front, you're absolutely right, Lou.
00:10:18.900 I mean, one of the things we needed to do was deter the Russians. 1.00
00:10:22.040 I mean, the time to have stopped the war was before the war started.
00:10:25.740 It's much more difficult to disengage, to get the parties to disengage, to have a peace
00:10:30.040 process, to end a war than it is to stop a war from starting.
00:10:33.600 And, you know, our friend Larry Kudlow and a good friend of yours and mine, I went on
00:10:38.740 a show, and Larry and I talked about this about a month before the invasion, that one
00:10:42.920 of the things that would have probably deterred the Russians or at least caused them great 0.99
00:10:46.420 pause is if we came out and said, we are going to sanction the Russian Federation Central
00:10:51.120 Bank.
00:10:51.420 No transactions with the RF Central Bank whatsoever.
00:10:55.220 Oil and gas, no exclusions, commodities, farm equipment, farm, you know, agricultural
00:11:01.820 products, all the things that Russia exports, everything is going to be sanctioned.
00:11:06.260 That would have given the Russians pause.
00:11:08.520 And yet, even now, Lou, a year into the invasion, we still haven't sanctioned the Russian Federation
00:11:14.480 Central Bank on oil, gas extraction, minerals, agricultural products.
00:11:19.400 So if you're not going to sanction the Russians on the things they actually sell, there's 0.80
00:11:25.060 no penalty.
00:11:26.480 And that was a chance to get ahead of this thing.
00:11:30.320 And yet, we didn't do it because there was a fear.
00:11:33.500 And again, I don't think this is necessarily Jake Sullivan or even Tony Blinken, but I think
00:11:37.180 there are folks in the Biden administration that are so afraid of, quote, provoking Putin
00:11:42.160 or provoking Xi.
00:11:43.860 Now, this is an Obama administration mantra, you know, don't provoke our adversaries.
00:11:49.400 Because then they might do something terrible to us.
00:11:52.140 The problem is, is if you're, if you're weak, that's what's provocative.
00:11:55.880 That's what causes them to think that they can, they can make a move.
00:11:59.280 And so, strength deters it.
00:12:01.560 We didn't show any strength before the invasion.
00:12:03.440 We didn't lay out what the sanctions would be.
00:12:05.940 And even now, a year into the invasion, you know, we've, we've been, got, got very light
00:12:10.580 on the sanctions.
00:12:11.560 In fact, what was concerning not too long ago, Lou, there was a Chinese think tank that 0.58
00:12:17.520 did a study because they were trying to figure what, what will happen if we go into Taiwan?
00:12:21.440 What will the sanctions be?
00:12:22.740 And as part of their study, they, they found out that Putin personally and Russia as a nation
00:12:27.780 has actually made money on the Ukraine invasion because of the run-up in oil prices.
00:12:32.360 So, notwithstanding the sanctions that have been placed on the Russian Federation, and
00:12:36.540 they are significant, but they're half measures, notwithstanding those sanctions, Russia has
00:12:41.480 actually done well and Putin has actually increased his personal net worth based on his purported
00:12:45.920 10% only, you know, holdings in every oil deal that takes place as a result of the war.
00:12:51.460 So, there's been no deterrence, at least on the economic front, with the Russians.
00:12:56.900 And that's sending a message to the Chinese, which has a much bigger, China has a much bigger 0.99
00:13:00.700 economy than Russia, is maybe if they invade Taiwan, maybe they'll just get the half measure 0.82
00:13:04.840 sanctions as well, and it won't really affect them, and they can accomplish their goals without
00:13:08.780 too much pain.
00:13:10.120 And again, that, that, that's, that's worrisome.
00:13:15.680 It is worrisome.
00:13:16.640 And I think it's also, perhaps some on the left would say this is unfair, but this is
00:13:22.060 Biden's war in Ukraine, because Biden had a, almost a six-month run-up in which he could
00:13:28.080 have acted to prevent it.
00:13:29.760 This is also a war, as, as you're, as you're depicting it, that has been a half measure in
00:13:38.760 response on the part of the United States.
00:13:41.160 At every point, their, their recalcitrance, their reluctance to take a step, a firm step
00:13:48.600 in blocking Putin's aspirations and ambitions to take over Ukraine, it became all the more
00:13:56.140 difficult with each succeeding month to, to stop this.
00:14:00.220 And now we are here more than a year from the time they invaded.
00:14:04.500 And Russia has suffered immense, immense casualties by all, all reckonings, and at the same time
00:14:14.120 have no strategy to win other than a full-on frontal war of attrition that is costing Russia 0.71
00:14:21.140 even more dearly.
00:14:22.620 Where does Putin go from here now?
00:14:27.280 Well, look, I think Putin's a student of history and, you know, his history doesn't always repeat
00:14:32.500 itself, but it rhymes, and I think Putin's hoping that history rhymes here, that when
00:14:36.740 you think about the, the great wars that Russia's been involved in over the centuries, whether
00:14:41.000 it was Sweden invading the Kingdom of Sweden when it was at the apex of its power, Napoleon,
00:14:46.680 Hitler with Germany, the Russians always suffered grievous defeats early on, and that certainly 0.98
00:14:51.680 has been the case with the Ukraine.
00:14:52.780 I mean, the, the, the entire Russian conventional force is, it's high-end, sophisticated military
00:15:00.080 has been wiped out.
00:15:00.940 I mean, it's paratroopers, it's Spenton's forces, it's, uh, the high-end armor, uh, they've
00:15:06.380 lost over a hundred thousand men.
00:15:08.000 I mean, Russia today, Lou, is really not even a conventional threat to Europe anymore, right?
00:15:12.280 They're still a great nuclear threat, so don't get me wrong that they're not a, and as a 0.89
00:15:16.520 result remain a great power because of their four or five thousand nuclear weapons.
00:15:20.500 But on, on the conventional front, they're no longer a threat to Poland and won't be for 1.00
00:15:24.880 five or ten years.
00:15:25.720 And, and so that's good for NATO, and it's good for the West, and ultimately that will
00:15:29.340 allow us to move our, uh, many of our troops, which we try to do in the Trump administration,
00:15:33.820 and hopefully the next Republican, you know, Congress, uh, Congress and, uh, and President
00:15:38.340 will do this.
00:15:39.160 We can move more of our troops to places like Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands and Palau and
00:15:44.460 Micronesia and Guam to, to protect ourselves against the Chinese because the Russian threat 1.00
00:15:50.760 has been, at least a conventional threat, has been, you know, that drastically reduced
00:15:55.220 because of this war in Ukraine.
00:15:56.780 So on that, on that front, it was a big miscalculation for, for Putin, and Xi can't be happy about
00:16:02.120 it, uh, knowing, knowing how this is going to play out.
00:16:05.380 But, but getting to your bigger question, uh, so, so I think in some ways, you know, I,
00:16:10.100 I kind of think about, uh, the, the old stories about Augustus walking around after the
00:16:14.820 Tutenberg forest massacre of the legions, and he is, it was reported to walk around 0.70
00:16:19.060 his palace saying, far as far as, you know, where are my legions, and you wonder if Putin's
00:16:23.540 doing the same thing in his palaces in, uh, in the Kremlin or down in, in Sochi, but
00:16:28.540 going to your, your, your second question, how does it end?
00:16:32.420 Right now, Putin thinks he can do what Russian leaders have done in the past, and that's just
00:16:35.980 throw men and materiel into the meat grinder.
00:16:38.520 If I didn't see the, you know, I mean, we have to understand that these, these Russians, 1.00
00:16:43.240 these conscripts, I mean, my heart goes out to them.
00:16:45.460 They're, they're getting used as cannon fodder, uh, for, for Putin's ambitions to be Peter
00:16:51.180 the Great, and, you know, these poor Russian kids who are 17, 18, 19 years old, they're 1.00
00:16:56.440 getting two or three months of training, and they're getting fed into a, a warfare situation
00:17:01.440 where the Ukrainians have become very hardened, very well trained, uh, very efficient at, at, 0.88
00:17:06.580 uh, fighting, and these kids are getting wiped out by Putin, but I, you know, he's got
00:17:10.720 a, a much bigger supply of them than Ukraine does.
00:17:12.860 He's got about 140 to 150 million people, you know, Ukraine's somewhere between 35 and
00:17:17.360 40 million people.
00:17:18.340 So, uh, I think he's going to keep feeding folks into the meat grinder until he realizes
00:17:23.560 that strategy that doesn't work.
00:17:25.000 And hopefully Ukraine can hang on until Putin comes to the realization that, that, you know,
00:17:29.620 his, the, the, the old Russian way of warfare is not going to work here, and he's got to 0.91
00:17:34.560 come to the table and, and come to a resolution.
00:17:36.520 So, uh, the, the, the intelligence assessments that, that we hear about, that Ukraine has
00:17:44.620 lost through either casualties to this war or displacement of its citizens, uh, somewhere,
00:17:51.280 anywhere from, uh, 10 to 15 million Ukrainians have been displaced.
00:17:55.360 And the numbers that we're hearing about the casualties, those killed in action, uh, don't
00:18:02.800 add up, uh, in point of fact.
00:18:04.840 And understandably the Ukrainians don't want us to know those, but the, the human cost here 1.00
00:18:10.000 has been devastating to Ukraine by any measure.
00:18:12.760 Uh, the same is true of Russia, uh, yet the Ukrainians fight on and every military expert I've talked
00:18:21.100 with was just stupefied when suddenly we were talking about six months, uh, into the war and
00:18:27.200 the Ukrainians were, uh, having their way with the, before this war, the much feared and much
00:18:35.780 respected Russian military.
00:18:38.420 They looked like a paper tiger, uh, in every sense.
00:18:42.240 And I would think that she has to be wondering if he is not managing a paper tiger himself
00:18:48.220 because his troops haven't been tested.
00:18:51.140 Ours have under, uh, unfortunately, uh, whether it's Afghanistan, whether it's Iraq, uh, in
00:18:58.380 Persian Gulf war, uh, your thoughts on the capacity of, of China and the willingness of 0.98
00:19:06.060 Xi to support his so-called strategic partner who looks like an inept fool right now. 0.95
00:19:12.240 Well, look, well, that's a terrific insight that most folks haven't, uh, gained from this. 0.97
00:19:20.220 And that is how, how strong is the Chinese army?
00:19:23.300 Now, let me go back to the Russian army for a moment.
00:19:25.960 When I was in office as president Trump's national security advisor, we were briefed on the, the, the tremendous capacity and ability of the Russian army that Putin had modernized the Russian forces that they slimmed it down and.
00:19:38.680 And they had 250 to 300,000 frontline troops that were much like the U.S. Marine Corps, very efficient and look, there was some evidence for that because the Russians have been successful in Georgia.
00:19:47.980 They've been successful in the, in the 1st Ukraine operation that where they took.
00:19:51.760 Parts of Donbass and Crimea, they'd been successful in Syria.
00:19:55.240 And so there was this feeling that the Russians were state of the art.
00:19:59.460 And what we found out is beyond, you know, the, uh, uh, the, the shock troops and, and the, the, the special operators that were used in some of those operations, there really was not a lot of depth to the Russian army.
00:20:11.160 And, and, and most of that was because of corruption.
00:20:13.120 I mean, we had, you know, Russian trucks that the, the tires were flat and couldn't, you know, and were, uh, crumbling under the weight of the trucks.
00:20:22.540 The GPS systems had all been ripped out of the, uh, uh, uh, the, the tanks and the airplanes and, and had been, you know, sold off the, uh, the, you know, the Russian units were undermanned.
00:20:32.740 If they had a unit that was supposed to have a thousand soldiers, it might have 500 soldiers because the, the commander and the sergeant major of the unit were reporting a thousand soldiers, getting payroll for a thousand soldiers, but only paying 500 and pocketing the rest and skimming it, which is, you know, that's an old, uh, army trick going back to the Roman times.
00:20:50.840 So, you know, it was, it's a very corrupt society and the, and the, the military reflected the corruption.
00:20:56.000 We just didn't see it.
00:20:57.300 And so when you, you, you bring up the point about she, and the PLA people's liberation army, they haven't fired a shot in anger since 1978 in the, the Vietnam conflict, the border conflict.
00:21:09.280 And, uh, that didn't go very well for the Chinese and I guess we shouldn't take too much pleasure, you know, out of that because it didn't go very well for us in Vietnam either.
00:21:17.220 But the point is that the Chinese were looking at the Russians as the state of the art force.
00:21:22.100 And over the past 5 to 10 years, they've been doing these massive military exercises with the Russians.
00:21:26.720 learning Russian techniques, tactics, procedures, and hoping that that would give them an edge in a future conflict because that was how they were going to get the experience that you noted correctly that they don't have compared to the U.S.
00:21:40.000 which has been in Somalia and in the Sahel and Iraq and Afghanistan and, and on the front lines in Europe, uh, highly skilled soldiers, airmen, Marines, sailors, Coast Guard men, uh, in our forces.
00:21:52.700 And so I think the Chinese were hoping that the Russians would give them the edge.
00:21:56.540 I think she's looking at the war as you point out and saying, hey, the Russians aren't doing too well.
00:22:01.100 We've, we've incorporated their, their tactics.
00:22:03.980 You know, are we going to do any better with their tactics than they're doing?
00:22:07.180 And then number 2 on that point is most of the, the Chinese equipment, not all of it, but I guess some of it's been stolen and copied from us, but most of it is either former Soviet or Russian designed equipment.
00:22:18.460 Uh, in some cases, the Chinese stole it from the Russians, just like they stole from us, but you know, they've got to be wondering, looking at that kit that's not performing very well versus, you know, modern Western weaponry and wondering, not only are their soldiers well trained, is their equipment going to work? 0.97
00:22:33.460 And, uh, so I, I, I think in some ways that this invasion is probably given G a little bit of pause.
00:22:38.460 Uh, as he's wondering, as you suggest, how will his forces perform under similar circumstances?
00:22:45.460 Now, hopefully the Taiwanese have the backbone that the, uh, that the Ukrainians have shown. 1.00
00:22:50.460 I think they do, because I think they saw what happened to the Uyghurs in Xinjiang and the Tibetans and the Hong Kongers and are kind of realizing at this point that there is no one country, two systems.
00:23:00.460 If the Chinese take over, it's curtains for us. 1.00
00:23:02.460 So we're going to have to fight.
00:23:03.460 We're going to have to fight.
00:23:04.460 So hopefully they show the same panache and boldness and, and will that the, the Ukrainians are showing if they are attacked by the Chinese. 0.94
00:23:11.460 Give us a, if you will, your, your perspective on U.S. readiness, U.S. forces, U.S. technology and capability for what, uh, 25 years.
00:23:24.460 The army, uh, the U.S. military operating under, uh, the Petraeus doctrine of the long war, which is, uh, to me has always been, uh, a mindless, uh, ironic doctrine to, to chisel in granite, uh, for the U.S. military.
00:23:43.460 Because, uh, you don't have to be much above a, uh, you know, a, a corporal, uh, in any one of the branches to know that the longer you fight, uh, the better the odds are for your opponent.
00:23:55.460 Why in the world we chose that, I think is pretty clearly it's a mistake now, but why is something that I think probably should be studied at all the academies.
00:24:04.460 Your sense of the strategy that's in place right now for U.S., the U.S. military, uh, obviously the controversies in the defense part, but the entire military over the woke policies, the mindless nonsense that has been spewed by the left and, uh, inculcated, uh, into, of all places, the United States military, uh, the inability to recruit and meet recruitment goals for all of the branches.
00:24:32.460 Uh, it's, it's, it's to me deeply disturbing your thoughts.
00:24:36.460 Well, look, the, the, the wokeness thing is really unfortunate.
00:24:40.460 I mean, I've talked to commanders who say they're spending more time on training on, on HR videos and, uh, you know, social justice type things.
00:24:50.460 And they aren't training on their, their soldiers on how to shoot their weapons and how to use their systems. 0.90
00:24:54.460 And, and that's ridiculous.
00:24:55.460 We, we can, we just can't have that in the military that we have to understand the purpose of the military. 0.51
00:25:00.460 And this is not politically correct.
00:25:02.460 It's to kill people and break things in the defense of our country.
00:25:05.460 And, and, and hopefully if you have a strong enough military, and this is the old Reagan doctrine of peace through strength.
00:25:11.460 It was George Washington's doctrine is that your military is so strong that your adversaries don't, don't attack you.
00:25:18.460 And that's why in, in, in the Reagan years, we didn't have a new war Louis, as you recall, and we've had the grenade operation with us.
00:25:25.460 There's really a kind of a, uh, you know, an expanded hostage rescue operation for the medical students in Grenada.
00:25:31.460 But, but we didn't have a major war under Reagan.
00:25:34.460 You know what the next, who the next president was where we didn't have a major war.
00:25:37.460 Donald J. Trump, because our adversaries understood that we wouldn't countenance nonsense, but we also started rebuilding the military.
00:25:46.460 The, the, the biggest thing that I found as national security advisor, even coming in 2 years into the administration, 2 years plus in the administration is the damage that was done during the Obama years with defense sequestration.
00:25:57.460 It wasn't a decimation that would have been great because I would have only applied to 10% cut in our military.
00:26:03.460 Our, our, our stocks, our supplies, our ammunition, our missiles, uh, our, our, our reserves were, were.
00:26:10.460 Desperately low, and it took really 4 years of the Trump administration just to rebuild our, our military to where it was and where it needed to be to defend our country.
00:26:19.460 And so that our war fighters can defend themselves.
00:26:21.460 And then there were things like hypersonics.
00:26:23.460 We, we were the world leader in hypersonics.
00:26:25.460 These are missiles that go Mach 5 plus really no defense to them.
00:26:30.460 Uh, although we're, we're developing some, some, you know, very ingenious ways to deal with them.
00:26:35.460 But during, during the Obama years and, and the early part of the Trump years, the, the Russians and Chinese raced ahead of us. 0.78
00:26:42.460 They, they stole our technology.
00:26:43.460 Some of it, they got just for free from academic papers here.
00:26:46.460 They figured out how to build hypersonics and they started deploying them.
00:26:49.460 And my number one priority as national security advisor was to make sure that we had hypersonics to, to fight a modern war, uh, especially against the Chinese and the Russians. 0.75
00:27:01.460 And we moved out very quickly.
00:27:02.460 We were in some opposition with the office of the secretary of defense who didn't understand the issue and didn't understand the, what, what an advantage our opponents had achieved during the eight years of Obama and a couple of years of the early part of the Trump administration where we weren't focused on that.
00:27:16.460 But we're now deploying this year, next year, uh, the hypersonics air force army Navy are all deploying hypersonic weapons systems that will deter the Chinese from using theirs against us because we'll, we'll return it in kind. 0.96
00:27:29.460 So, so again, rebuilding the military. 0.95
00:27:32.460 And putting ourselves in a position to, to defend ourselves and, and to inflict damage and, and kill our adversaries if they're foolish enough to attack America.
00:27:41.460 Is is absolutely critical and I'm glad to see that most of the programs remained in place during the, the Biden administration. We've had a big plus up.
00:27:49.460 Uh, not as big as you'd want it to be because of inflation as a terrible tax, you know, it's a 10% immediate cut on the defense budget, but we had a plus up this year.
00:27:58.460 With the NDA with, and the Republicans in the house, I think are committed to, to making sure that goes forward. So I think our readiness is pretty good now, Lou. I mean, our technology is terrific.
00:28:08.460 I wouldn't trade our technology for, for the Chinese technology or Russian technology any day.
00:28:13.460 But what we are seeing is where we used to have a 10 or 15 or 20 year lead on technology against the Chinese that's shrunk to two, three, four or five years. 0.98
00:28:22.460 So the Chinese are catching up, they're catching up fast. 0.99
00:28:25.460 And the other thing that they have, Lou, which we, which we don't have, and you, you pointed this out with the recruitment front, but it's not just soldiers and sailors.
00:28:33.460 We don't have the warships we need. We need a 355 ship Navy minimum, and we're about 287.
00:28:39.460 Uh, we've got, we can't get, we can't maintain our ships.
00:28:42.460 The Navy is trying to retire ships that are, have lots of ship life left in them because we can't maintain them and we can't, we can't crew them.
00:28:48.460 And at some point, no matter how good our technology is and how great our tactics are and how spirited are, are fighting men and women are.
00:28:56.460 And I truly believe they're the best in the world, but, uh, Stalin used to say quantity has a quality all of its own and our adversaries, especially the Chinese have a tremendous quantitative advantage over us. 0.97
00:29:10.460 And, and no matter how good we are, at some point, we can be overwhelmed by quantity if we don't stay, stay in the game.
00:29:16.460 And so we need to rebuild, continue to rebuild the military. We need it. We need a 355 ship.
00:29:20.460 Maybe not to keep the global commons open and not to be the world's policeman, but to defend America and our key allies and, and our, and defend our way of life because the Chinese are on their way to a 500 ship, maybe. 1.00
00:29:31.460 And, uh, they, they can be a little ahead of us and we can, we can narrow that gap with, with excellent tactics and, and better tech.
00:29:38.460 But at some point we, you know, there, there's a potential for us being overwhelmed and we can never have that happen.
00:29:43.460 And then lastly, on the, on the wokeness thing, it's just, there's no place for that in the military.
00:29:47.460 You know, we, I've got, I've got 2 daughters who are officers in the, in the army and the air force. I couldn't be more proud of them, but.
00:29:54.460 But most of the folks who are coming into the military, they're men and they're young men and they're from rural America. They're African Americans from the inner cities. They're Hispanic Americans.
00:30:05.460 Asian American men, these guys aren't woke. They're, they're going to the military because they want to defend our country. They want to defend our way of life.
00:30:11.460 They're tough and they're, they, they, they better be tough because they're gonna have to, you know, defeat our adversaries and, and turning them into social justice warriors instead of war fighters is, is not a good idea for the country.
00:30:22.460 Well, whatever your politics are.
00:30:24.460 Not a good idea, but it is also the, the policy right now of the Biden administration, the Biden defense department, the civilian leadership are absolutely committed to it.
00:30:36.460 Uh, we listened to General Milley, uh, the senior advisor to the president of the United States from the U S military, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.
00:30:45.460 Uh, he's talking blithering nonsense. He is a, he is a clown in the eyes of the very people that he is leading. 0.98
00:30:52.460 They are not going to say that, but I will, uh, I haven't met a single person from the U S military or talked with them who does not think that this is an, uh, the senior leadership of the military are, are just driving, uh, our military, uh, to a place that they do not want to go. 0.89
00:31:11.460 And the nation cannot afford the journey, uh, any further, uh, so I, I, I cheer you for your assessment.
00:31:19.460 And I just wish, uh, frankly, that we were talking in the second term of, uh, the Trump administration, instead of waiting the, the next term in 2024.
00:31:30.460 I wonder, as we, as we look at this, uh, in terms of high, hypersonic, uh, weaponry, uh, it is one of the fastest turns I've ever seen.
00:31:42.560 Uh, it, it does my heart good to see what we were able to accomplish in this country, uh, in the span of about three years.
00:31:50.500 Uh, now with this new stealth bomber, uh, that is in prototype, uh, with a capacity of 10 times,
00:31:59.860 the speed of sound, a mock 10 hypersonic aircraft, it is stunning to contemplate.
00:32:07.260 Uh, and I don't know the level of production that we'll be able to reach, uh, in the near horizon, but it is, uh, it's, it's nice to see us back in the lead, uh, on a, such an important front as, uh, the air force.
00:32:21.820 Well, we did it quickly, Lou.
00:32:23.480 It was, uh, it was my number one defense priority as national security advisor was get our hypersonic program.
00:32:29.860 Uh, back in shape and, and, and, and to get the weapons deployed, not just to do the research, not to have the exquisite technology, but not, not be able to give our warfighters the tools they needed.
00:32:39.460 And, and to their credit, the, uh, once the president, you may recall this, uh, I briefed the president on this.
00:32:46.140 We were getting pushback from DOD and, and, and some folks that, uh.
00:32:50.160 Uh, they just didn't think it was important.
00:32:52.240 And, uh, and the president came out one of the rallies and talked about a super duper missiles and, uh, he, he got a lot of blowback for talking about a super duper missiles, but, uh, he was referring to hypersonics.
00:33:03.160 And, and that really got the, uh, got the attention of folks and that they understood the commander in chief wanted this done.
00:33:08.420 And, and again, we've got great scientists, we've got, uh, uh, great, uh, engineers and, and we turned it around and we've got, we've got it.
00:33:16.400 Not just one, but about three or four different programs on the hypersonics are coming out.
00:33:19.960 Uh, and then you're referring to a couple of things in the air force, our air force fleet is, uh, is really a, uh, in bad shape.
00:33:29.000 Now, it's not that it's not, it's better than our adversaries, but we don't have enough aircraft and the age of the aircraft, except for the F 35 and the F 22 is really getting up there.
00:33:38.940 And our maintainers have done a super job keeping the B 52 is flying the F 14, the F 15s and 16s and 18s, uh, but we need, we need to get new modern aircraft and, uh, and we're going to have some rolling out soon.
00:33:51.760 The, the B 21 Raider from Northrop, which is going to replace the B two and the B 52.
00:33:56.400 If we buy it in quantity, we need a hundred of them loop.
00:33:59.520 I hope that the program doesn't get cut and we end up buying 20 or 22 or 24, like we did with the, the B two bomber, but that's a terrific aircraft.
00:34:07.740 It's on budget. It's on time. It's rolling out. That's going to give our pilots a tremendous advantage and keep our nuclear triad really, really strong and modern.
00:34:16.840 And then you were referring to the, the NEGAD, the next generation air defense fighter and, and, and some, some of the abilities it's going to have are science fiction.
00:34:26.340 I mean, you, you know, you can't believe it. It's going to have drones flying with it as wingmen. It's going to, I don't want me to be careful about what I say.
00:34:32.700 I'll just talk about what's been in popular mechanics. Uh, uh, you know, put, it's going to have both, uh,
00:34:37.740 manned and unmanned capabilities. It's, it's, it's fast. It's going to be, uh, it's stealthy. Uh, it's going to have sensor platforms that, that, you know, can see the entire battlefield for hundreds and hundreds of miles.
00:34:49.920 So, so we're doing some amazing things as a country, but the key is we've got to make sure we get them deployed.
00:34:55.740 We can't just have them on the drawing board. We, we, we, we've got to get them built and deployed and get them to our pilots, our great, you know, Air Force pilots and Navy pilots and get them what they need so they can get out and defend ourselves, themselves, our, our country and defeat our adversaries.
00:35:10.060 And because trust me, the Chinese and they're clever, they're hardworking as, as can be, they, they're relentless. They're honest on all fronts. And, and one of the fronts that are on us is, uh, uh, new weapons development.
00:35:21.860 They, they don't sleep. And so we, we've got to stay ahead of them and we're going to have to redouble our efforts to do so.
00:35:27.200 To that point, you were talking about the, the, the, the, the gap between the United States and communist China has been winnowed down to something like two to three years.
00:35:39.380 Uh, and the fact is they're stealing hundreds of billions of dollars a year from us.
00:35:46.660 Uh, they have closed that gap by stealth, by spying, uh, thievery, uh, whatever ingenious way they can.
00:35:56.940 Getting our intellectual capital, whether it comes from the private sector or from the U S military, we, it seems have done absolutely nothing.
00:36:06.320 I mean, we could invest trillions, but as we're going to continue to simply hand it over to the thieving Chinese, uh, we're never going to have the adequate, uh, deterrence power that we should. 1.00
00:36:21.300 Well, Lou, you make a great point and it's a point that FBI director Chris Ray made, uh, in a speech that we, we had a series of four speeches that you recall Mike Pompeo, myself, Bill Barr and Chris Ray gave a series of speeches in the summer of 2020 to try and wake the American people up to the threat that was coming at us from the Chinese. 1.00
00:36:39.300 And we each took a different topic. Chris Ray's topic was, this was exactly what you're talking about. The theft of our IP, the theft of our inventions. It's not just on the military front. It's on the commercial front and Chris Ray said it was the biggest transfer of wealth in human history.
00:36:54.300 It is the theft of of our IP, our intellectual property, our inventions for America and taken to China. And it's so pernicious Lou, because I mean, think about this. You're, you're an inventor. You invent something here. You get a patent, or you, you've got to, you keep it as a trade secret.
00:37:08.300 The Chinese steal it. So in the first instance, you're losing the, the licensing fees, the revenue from your invention, the fruits of your labor. 1.00
00:37:15.300 But then the Chinese take it and they, they start manufacturing it cheaper in China than we're selling it here and they dump it here and they put your business out of business.
00:37:24.300 And so now your business has gone under and the Chinese are the only ones manufacturing the item. 0.90
00:37:29.300 Uh, and, and they've got a monopoly and it's coming and we're dependent on China for something that was now that was invented in America.
00:37:35.300 I mean, this, this is how they hollowed out to the Midwest of our country. 0.94
00:37:39.300 This is how they took our manufacturing and, and, and carted it off. Just like, like a Romans carting, you know, Luke from Dacia after the invasion and bringing it back to Rome. 0.94
00:37:48.300 That's basically what the Chinese have done to us, but they've done it using cyber and, and that sort of thing and dishonesty and theft and spying. 1.00
00:37:57.300 Now, one of the things that we did and bill bar did this in the Trump administration.
00:38:02.300 As he set up a special unit in the, in the DOJ and the FBI to go after Chinese espionage, especially on the industrial front.
00:38:10.300 Unfortunately, the Biden administration shut it down when they got here and said it was racist and unfairly targeted Chinese professors and Chinese students and that sort of thing.
00:38:19.300 Uh, and again, it, it's not racist. It's not anti Chinese. We love the Chinese. We've got the greatest immigrants in the world here.
00:38:28.300 Uh, and they contributed massively. We love the Chinese people. I mean, they're, they're great. What we don't like is the Chinese communist party.
00:38:35.300 That's engaged in this espionage and intellectual property theft. And we've got to use every tool we've got, including the FBI and the DOJ to root that out and stop it and protect ourselves and maintain our, our qualitative advantage.
00:38:47.300 Because heaven help us. And we don't, we've seen what they do. We've seen what they do to people that they subjugate. We've seen how it worked in Tibet and Hong Kong and, and Xinjiang with the Uyghurs. 1.00
00:38:56.300 We don't want to be those people.
00:38:58.300 Uh, we have never seen an experiment with communism, Marxism of any kind to succeed, uh, except in China, because of, uh, really the, the, the perception of, of Americans, uh, American leadership, uh, the mindlessness of allowing someone to call us, uh, racist because we do not want communists stealing our technology, our intellectual property.
00:39:24.300 Uh, is, uh, is, is as absurd as saying that we are racist because we do not want people entering this country from Mexico who are being sent here by the Mexican drug cartels and with them, sex trafficking, uh, human smuggling, uh, as well as, uh, tons of deadly drugs that are killing more than a hundred thousand Americans every year.
00:39:48.300 Yet we have a president who's focused on Ukraine, but won't in any way protect the Southern border.
00:39:54.300 I have never seen in my life, nor have I ever read about an American president who is as imperial, uh, and imperious, uh, and absolutely delusional about his powers to the point that he could think that an American president can act as he is here.
00:40:13.300 And without protest from the Republican party, without protest from his own party.
00:40:18.300 And in fact, instead, uh, conformity and unity around him to do exactly as he pleases.
00:40:26.300 And he looks perfectly aligned with the Marxist Dems, whether they be in China, uh, whether they be in Venezuela, your thoughts.
00:40:36.300 Well, look, it's when you don't have a media that's going to question the presidency when the fourth estate, you know, and there are folks like you, Lou and others, and, and, uh, you've got to have a press that keeps the administration honest.
00:40:48.300 But unfortunately we do not have a mainstream press any longer that keeps the administration honest.
00:40:53.300 If, if they're Democrats and, and it's, it's, we've got a regime media and, and.
00:40:58.300 Yeah, that's really unfortunate.
00:41:00.300 So that, that hurts and that's actually bad for the president.
00:41:03.300 I mean, they may not, I'm sure they like it, but when you don't have any, any, anyone question what you're doing, you know, you can make mistakes.
00:41:12.300 And so it's not good for the president.
00:41:14.300 The 2nd thing is the Democrats have total party unity and they, they, they don't, you know, put up with any nonsense from anybody in the party who's going to dissent on anything, whether it's abortion or immigration or manufacturing, whatever.
00:41:26.300 Uh, on our Republican side, we're not, we're not as well organized and we're not, uh, we don't have the party discipline that the Democrats have and we need to.
00:41:34.300 So we need more Republicans because we're always going to have folks even on the, the far right or the far left of the party that are going to.
00:41:40.300 You know, get off the, you know, the train and, and, and, and not, uh, not help. So we need a big Republican majority. We don't have that. Now we're going to need to get it in 2024.
00:41:48.300 You know, when it comes to this whole issue of Ukraine in the border.
00:41:51.300 You know, I understand that the concern and then some of my friends on the, uh, on our side on the, the, the, the, you know, make America great again for the American 1st piece of strength world say, well, why are we, why are we fighting for Ukraine's borders and giving them what they need and leaving our borders open.
00:42:08.300 But it's not an either or decision, because here's the problem that this administration has decided that the southern border is not a problem. That's not an issue. And they're welcoming these illegal aliens in as, as, you know, as fast as they can come. 0.98
00:42:20.300 And it undermines American jobs, but it also undermines our security because we all came here as immigrants. I'm, I'm Irish American. People come here for better jobs and a better life.
00:42:30.300 But with this wide open border, as you point out, we've got these fentanyl traffickers and keep in mind, the fentanyl originates, the precursor drugs originate in China.
00:42:38.300 I mean, this is China declaring war on us, sending the fentanyl into Mexico, and then having to smuggle into the, you know, finished off as a finished product and smuggled into the US.
00:42:47.300 But it's, it's the smuggling of antiquities. It's a smuggling of people. It's sex trafficking. It's labor trafficking. It's despicable what's happening and the borders wide open. But look, it doesn't. We can still help the Ukrainians and keep the border secure.
00:43:02.300 It's not an either or point, but, but this administration, even if we shut down our aid to Ukraine, they're still going to leave the border open. The only way we're gonna get the border closed.
00:43:11.300 We're gonna get the border closed and get border security for this country is to elect a Republican House and Senate in 2024 and a Republican president.
00:43:18.300 I mean, that's just the fact of the matter. If it doesn't happen, the borders can remain open. That's, and it is what it is. And as you point out, there are great powers in the presidency.
00:43:26.300 The president can be checked by the media. It can be checked by the Supreme Court and by the court system. And some of that's happening, but that takes time. And so in the meantime, we've got a president who's, who's, you know, they complained when President Trump signed executive orders or President Bush signed executive orders.
00:43:44.300 But I think we've had more executive orders by this administration than we've ever seen in history. So look, folks on our side need to wake up and realize that this is a time to roll up our sleeves and elect Republicans in 2024 if we want real change in the country.
00:43:59.300 I would absolutely second your statement, affirm it. So long as Republicans are America first, they want to make America great. But we cannot afford, frankly, any more of the so-called liberal Republican, the rhinos who have been as devastating as they could possibly be.
00:44:23.580 And I can give everyone names if they want. I think everyone knows who I'm speaking of, and many of them are in the U.S. Senate. In fact, one, the minority leader there. Inexcusable, they hamstrung a house that should have had control of their budget for this fiscal year, but did not because of the omnibus bill that was supported by the liberal Republicans of the Senate, much to their shame and discredit.
00:44:50.260 We always give our guests here, Robert, full opportunity for the last word. We even insist on it. So if you would, Mr. Ambassador, I want to just say as we go into this, it's great to have you with us. I've enjoyed our talk immensely. I know the audience has as well. If you will, your concluding thoughts.
00:45:11.500 Well, first of all, Lou, thanks again for having me on. And you've been in this fight for a long time. I've been a big fan long before I was in government watching your show on TV and for years and years and years. So thanks for staying in the fight. And the podcast is great.
00:45:26.920 Look, I want to end with the, you know, there's a lot of bad news out there. We can talk about Iran. We can talk about Russia and China. And we face a lot of threats as a country. But look, I'm still very optimistic about America and our future and our role in the world.
00:45:40.780 I think Ronald Reagan had it right when he said we're the last best hope of mankind. And I kind of expand that to womankind on Earth. And we need to be that shining city on the hill. We need to be a beacon to the Chinese people that they can look to us just like the Soviet citizens looked at us and saw a brighter future over the seas.
00:45:58.440 And that communism didn't have to be there and totalitarianism didn't have to be their way of life. So, you know, I would never bet against America. I think we're going to do great.
00:46:09.280 But we have to roll up our sleeves and we have to win and we have to make sure that our values and rebuilding our military and peace or strength, at least the national security front and ending the wokeism and division in this country that's being spewed by the left happens sooner rather than later.
00:46:25.580 But if we can get things right in this country, we can have a really glorious future. And I think our best days are ahead of us.
00:46:33.140 But this coming election in 2024 is going to be critical. And we've got to win it and get back to the Reagan-Trump doctrines of peace or strength and America first.
00:46:43.880 And if we do, not only will America be safer and more secure and freer, but the entire world will be.
00:46:50.000 And we'll give these dictators, the Xi Jinping's and Vladimir Putin's and Ayatollah's, we'll teach them a lesson.
00:46:58.080 And the lesson is that freedom works and America is going to remain the leader of the free world.
00:47:04.140 And we're going to do it in a way that we're not going to be the policeman of the world.
00:47:08.980 We're not going to let people take a free ride, but we're going to lead our allies.
00:47:11.560 We're going to contribute and we're going to ask them to contribute greatly to make sure that the world stays free and our way of life is protected.
00:47:17.440 And so thanks for having me on, Lou.
00:47:20.480 And God bless you and God bless the United States of America.
00:47:23.840 Thanks so much, Mr. Ambassador.
00:47:24.980 We appreciate it.
00:47:25.820 God bless you as well.
00:47:27.260 Ambassador Robert O'Brien, great American.
00:47:30.160 And thank you, everybody, for being with us today.
00:47:32.300 Please follow me on Truth Social and Twitter at Lou Dobbs.
00:47:35.960 That's at Lou Dobbs on Truth Social and Twitter.
00:47:39.300 Here tomorrow, coincidentally, our guest will be Devin Nunes, CEO of Trump Media and Technology Group, which includes Truth Social and Rumble.
00:47:49.340 Please join us here tomorrow.
00:47:51.040 Till then, thank you.
00:47:52.840 God bless you.
00:47:53.900 And God bless America.
00:47:55.320 Thank you.
00:47:55.580 God bless America.