The Great America Show - September 16, 2022


ROBICHAUX SAYS OUR STATE DEPARTMENT IS OBSTRUCTING EFFORTS TO KEEP AMERICA’S PROMISE TO EXTRACT OUR ALLIES FROM AFGHANISTAN


Episode Stats

Length

37 minutes

Words per Minute

165.13713

Word Count

6,220

Sentence Count

354

Hate Speech Sentences

20


Summary

With less than two months until the mid-terms, we re watching the political landscape shift all across the country, and we ve got a lot to cover. President Biden s approval rating is in the tank, his student loan forgiveness plan is an albatross around his political neck, and a top FBI official is under investigation for business dealings with sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deriposky. We re also joined by Chad Robichaud, a decorated U.S. Marine Corps combat veteran, a best-selling author, a professional MMA champion, the founder and President of the Mighty Oaks Foundation, and the Co-Founder of Save Our Allies, a new book available for pre-order now.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hello, everybody. I'm Lou Dobbs, and welcome to The Great America Show.
00:00:04.400 We have a lot to cover as usual, and as usual, let's get right to it.
00:00:09.360 I believe the magnitude of the domestic threats our nation now faces
00:00:13.440 are the most dangerous and divisive since the Civil War almost 160 years ago.
00:00:21.140 53 days till Election Day, less than two months now till the midterms,
00:00:26.940 and we're watching the political landscape shift all across the country.
00:00:31.940 And forget, just forget what you're hearing from most media outlets.
00:00:36.680 It's all bull, and their polls are meant to depress and dissuade you, most voters, from voting.
00:00:43.080 In particular, you and me, Republicans, independents, and conservatives and libertarians.
00:00:49.220 So here's what you can rely on, in my opinion.
00:00:52.520 The polls I respect, and which have been either the most accurate over the last two election cycles
00:00:58.240 or near the top, those polls show President Biden is in real trouble.
00:01:04.200 They show that his overall approval rating is in the tank,
00:01:07.680 that his student loan forgiveness plan is an albatross around his political neck,
00:01:13.540 because middle-class families in this country are outraged
00:01:17.460 that they would have to pay down the massive school debt of Democrats.
00:01:22.320 And Democrats are upset they aren't getting even larger handouts
00:01:26.500 from Marxist Joe and our government.
00:01:29.380 Look what the Democrats are facing now.
00:01:32.200 Afghanistan, runaway inflation, authoritarian government,
00:01:36.240 President Biden's DOJ and FBI weaponized against his political rival,
00:01:41.160 against President Trump, against congressmen, and against private citizens, lies after lies.
00:01:47.940 This Biden administration is carrying out the biggest disinformation campaign
00:01:53.060 against Americans in our country's history,
00:01:56.700 shipping tens of billions of dollars to Ukraine,
00:01:59.540 some of which may be Biden's hush money for Zelensky,
00:02:03.100 and not a dime to protect the nation by securing our southern border.
00:02:07.260 Biden's border and immigration policies are now fully aligned
00:02:11.480 with the Mexican drug cartels, and all a disaster for America and Americans.
00:02:17.700 Senator Chuck Schumer acknowledges now that the Democrats are in big trouble in their House races.
00:02:24.020 And right now, I believe the Republicans will take back the House.
00:02:27.900 And if Schumer's this worried about the House,
00:02:30.800 then I think he knows he's in some trouble in the Senate as well.
00:02:34.720 At least that's how I read Schumer.
00:02:36.480 And today we learned of more controversy and perhaps more corruption and betrayal
00:02:41.480 in the scandal-ridden FBI.
00:02:44.080 The Daily Mail today reporting a top FBI official,
00:02:48.060 the former head of counterintelligence at the New York field office,
00:02:52.100 Charles McGonigal, is under investigation for business dealings
00:02:56.560 with a sanctioned Russian oligarch, Oleg Deriposky.
00:03:01.080 McGonigal was one of the lead FBI agents, of course,
00:03:04.460 investigating, that's right, President Trump and the Russia collusion hoax.
00:03:09.960 McGonigal isn't charged with a crime, but the Mail reports he is the target of a federal grand jury.
00:03:17.920 We'll keep you up to date on that case.
00:03:20.040 We're also pleased to bring you today a great American hero who is a frequent guest on the Great America show,
00:03:26.560 Chad Robichaud.
00:03:28.560 Chad is responsible for the largest civilian-led rescue mission ever.
00:03:33.480 He secured the rescue of over 17,000 people in Afghanistan as a result of Biden's botched withdrawal.
00:03:41.800 He's also been on the front lines in Ukraine,
00:03:43.880 where he focused on the training and communications and evacuations of the people and military of Ukraine.
00:03:51.100 And I'm glad to tell you he risked his life numerous times to rescue Americans and others caught in the Ukraine war.
00:03:58.320 And yes, sometimes to recover their bodies.
00:04:00.900 We're always proud to have Chad with us, a decorated U.S. Marine Force Recon veteran,
00:04:06.740 eight deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, best-selling author, a professional MMA champion,
00:04:13.380 the founder and president of the Mighty Oaks Foundation,
00:04:16.460 and he is also the co-founder of Save Our Allies,
00:04:19.920 and he has a new book available for pre-order right now.
00:04:23.080 It's called Saving Aziz, How the Mission to Help One Became a Calling to Rescue Thousands from the Taliban.
00:04:29.720 As you can tell, Chad is a great American, and Chad, it's great to have you with us.
00:04:34.660 Please tell us what you and your Mighty Oaks Foundation and your organizations are doing right now.
00:04:41.060 Yeah, well, Mighty Oaks Foundation is the foundation I run,
00:04:44.540 partnered with Sarah Verardo from the Independence Fund.
00:04:48.080 We came together and brought an incredible effort together called Save Our Allies,
00:04:51.440 and we originally, it all started with me wanting to go get Aziz,
00:04:57.040 who was my interpreter of eight deployments to Afghanistan,
00:04:59.720 when I was assigned that Joint Special Operations Command.
00:05:03.560 We went there to, we were there in the early 2000s.
00:05:09.140 Aziz and I served together on eight, those eight deployments.
00:05:11.980 He saved my life multiple times.
00:05:13.960 Just an incredible human being and became not just my teammate, but my friend.
00:05:19.760 A lot of our operations were just he and I.
00:05:22.780 Like I said, he's multiple times saved my life, seen him save the lives of other service members.
00:05:26.680 When he went out operating somewhere, I was at his home, not away on base,
00:05:30.440 and got to see his first two kids be born, Mashoud and Mashouda, held them with her when they were babies.
00:05:38.480 I mean, these people were very close to me.
00:05:39.940 So as President Biden made the announcement that he was going to do this withdrawal,
00:05:45.380 I was already at the end of six years of trying to get Aziz and his wife and kids here on the SIV visas,
00:05:51.740 which is the special immigrant visas, which, by the way, in 2009,
00:05:55.780 we promised our interpreters that for their service to us, we would get them a nine-month process.
00:06:01.400 Clearly, Aziz was way over nine months and six years.
00:06:04.960 It was no end in sight to get him his visa, and his wife and him and his wife and six kids were in life or death danger.
00:06:13.380 I mean, if we didn't get them out, they would have certainly been killed.
00:06:16.660 And so I knew I had to go get my friend.
00:06:19.340 Again, Sarah Verardo and I came together, pulled together Tim Kennedy and Nick Pomachano
00:06:26.320 and some other great guys that we served with in the special operations community,
00:06:29.740 put together a team of about 12 people to go get Aziz, his wife and six kids.
00:06:34.180 But in doing so, just this miraculous thing happened.
00:06:37.280 There's no way I know to describe it, Lou, besides it was just divine,
00:06:41.140 because I'm not smart enough or I don't think our team was capable enough to pull this together.
00:06:44.760 But in just a matter of days, we didn't just pull together our team,
00:06:48.720 but the incredible support of so many Americans who wanted to do the right thing when the government wouldn't.
00:06:54.020 People like Glenn Beck from Mercury One who brought in planes and millions of dollars in resources.
00:07:02.260 Countries like the UAE who met with us and said,
00:07:04.540 we want to help and we'll give you two C-17 planes.
00:07:07.280 We'll open up here at Manitarian Center.
00:07:10.400 There was a Jewish organization that wanted to donate a million dollars for a plane,
00:07:14.700 but they said $1.5 million for two planes, actually.
00:07:18.000 And they said, hey, you're a Christian organization.
00:07:20.000 Like, we can't do that because we're a Jewish organization.
00:07:23.080 I said, okay, well, you know we're saving Muslims, right?
00:07:25.760 And we kind of laughed and all came together and just made this happen.
00:07:30.440 And so, you know, again, it started with Aziz, but as the subtitle of the book goes,
00:07:35.260 the mission to save one turned into calling to rescue thousands.
00:07:38.260 Early on in those days, we knew that this was bigger than Aziz,
00:07:42.260 and we made a decision to help as many Americans, SIV interpreters, women, children that were vulnerable,
00:07:48.540 Christians that were persecuted, to get them out of that country into safety.
00:07:53.640 And we just had so much favor.
00:07:57.500 We were able to get on that HKIA airport, Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
00:08:02.660 The military led us on there.
00:08:04.260 We were able to send teams off outside of the wire to coordinate and grab people and get them on base
00:08:10.620 and then get them on the airport and fly them to Abu Dhabi.
00:08:15.880 And ultimately, in that first week, we got 12,000 people out.
00:08:18.820 We decided to stay, got another 5,000 people out, and continue to do efforts there, you know, since.
00:08:25.300 Well, good on you and good on all of the heroes who work with you, who did all of that.
00:08:33.260 And I know there's much more to be done.
00:08:36.880 Give us a sense of how many more of our allies, if the special immigrant status folks who were promised so much,
00:08:49.080 how many more are there?
00:08:51.040 Well, in July 18th, the State Department released a number, and that number was 74,242 SIV,
00:09:01.400 qualified SIV applicants that are still in Afghanistan.
00:09:04.540 You've got to think, like Aziz, you know, these people to the Taliban or the enemy.
00:09:10.360 They're traitors in the Taliban's eyes.
00:09:13.900 They're infidels, and their only way to deal with them, if you look at, you know, the ideology of the Taliban,
00:09:18.440 only to deal with them is to kill them and their family members.
00:09:21.840 So not only are these 74,000 qualified to come, but their family members by contract that they have with the United States
00:09:28.500 qualifies them to come.
00:09:29.900 Average about four family members per SIV, and we're talking 330,000 people that we made a contractual obligation to,
00:09:38.960 and we left them behind to be killed and slaughtered by the Taliban.
00:09:41.960 And we know that the Taliban is hunting them down, persecuting them, and killing them and executing them in some cases.
00:09:48.520 So that's what we have left behind.
00:09:52.380 Now, the State Department will say they'll brag that they're moving 200 people out per week,
00:09:57.600 mostly from the lily pad places like Abu Dhabi, where it moved people out.
00:10:03.700 And they might be bragging and seem impressed by 200 a week.
00:10:07.360 But if you do the math on that with 330,000, they'll be done in 140 years.
00:10:12.880 So they're really not even making a dent in this.
00:10:16.040 And, you know, it's really heartbreaking because I could just think of the image of Aziz
00:10:21.360 and how much faith and trust they had in us to help eradicate terrorism in the Taliban and their country,
00:10:29.520 and now they're being left behind there to deal with the problem that we've put on them.
00:10:34.500 You know, I think about this, and forgive me for being so, I guess I'm crass about it.
00:10:41.480 But the fact that we made a promise to do that suggests to me that we didn't have much confidence a decade ago
00:10:51.600 that we're going to win that war.
00:10:53.860 Am I seeing things upside down in some way?
00:10:57.500 You know, I think, I don't think it was ever a war to win.
00:11:03.320 I think it was a, for me, Afghanistan was keeping terrorism at bay where it belongs,
00:11:10.220 and that's in the mountains of Afghanistan, not in an American soul, not in a Western land.
00:11:14.420 Whether or not we were going to ever lead Afghanistan to be, you know, a free and westernized democracy,
00:11:21.500 you know, is, you know, not anything that I ever had hopes for.
00:11:25.320 But what I did have hopes for was that we could always maintain a presence there
00:11:30.220 to keep terrorism where it belongs, and it's outside of our backyards.
00:11:33.960 And today, unfortunately, we can't say that.
00:11:36.380 You know, one of the big things that President Biden and the mainstream media pushed
00:11:39.820 for years as, you know, as campaign talking points is we were in this endless war.
00:11:44.840 We're in 20 years.
00:11:46.020 It's just that we have to get out.
00:11:47.520 We can't spill any more blood of American sons and daughters.
00:11:51.200 That was all a lie.
00:11:52.160 And I think we heard it so much that all of us kind of believed it a little bit.
00:11:54.900 And maybe even I, with the information I had, even questioned, like, should we leave or not?
00:11:59.300 Look, we had 2,500 troops there at one point.
00:12:02.760 4,000 troops at the time we withdrew.
00:12:05.420 We still have 80,000 troops in Japan, 30,000 in Germany, 40,000 in South Korea since the World War II and Korean wars.
00:12:14.020 Like, why were we in such a hurry and so hasty to get 4,000 troops out of Afghanistan
00:12:19.380 when the entire international community was participating in an international effort that was the way it should be to keep terrorism at bay?
00:12:26.860 We controlled the most strategic place in the current world's globe, which is Bagram Air Force Base, between Iraq, Iran, Russia, and China.
00:12:34.380 And we abandoned it without any consultation with the international community, without consultation with even the Afghan government.
00:12:41.640 The only person that people in the United States negotiated with was the Taliban, which is the enemy terrorist organization.
00:12:48.820 And this Doha agreement that was signed to the peace, the Taliban peace deal is just such a joke.
00:12:54.300 I mean, the agreement says that you're going to sign a deal to not allow terrorism in Afghanistan with a terrorist organization.
00:13:02.520 The Taliban, we can't forget, is a terrorist organization.
00:13:05.880 And so to be in a situation we're at right now should be no surprise to anyone.
00:13:10.200 The world is a much more dangerous place, and we've seen that recently with al-Zahiri walking around Kabul freely.
00:13:16.740 It was so frustrating for me to hear this administration brag about, hey, we killed al-Zahiri.
00:13:22.840 It would be like if you lit my house on fire and threw a glass of water on it and wanted me to say thank you.
00:13:29.040 Like killing al-Zahiri and Kabul is because you created a scenario for a safe haven of terrorism and al-Qaeda to feel free that they could walk around Kabul.
00:13:37.880 And so the world is a much more dangerous place today because of it.
00:13:39.940 This administration, to be clear, is not blessed with great geopolitical foreign policy acumen or talent.
00:13:51.340 It is a pathetic thing to watch.
00:13:53.720 Right now, most Americans don't even know who the National Security Advisor is, the Secretary of State or the Department of Defense Secretary.
00:14:02.700 I mean, when you talk about Lloyd Austin and Tony Blinken and Jake Sullivan and President Joe Biden, they're all missing from the White House right now and not speaking to any of these issues.
00:14:17.860 They're holding their head down.
00:14:19.240 They don't want to remind anyone that a year ago they created the greatest stain on this country's reputation in the modern era in foreign policy and in the failure to keep promises.
00:14:33.180 You know, Chad, when I think about what you've gone through, Saving Aziz, the title of your new book, it'll be out in January, folks, and we recommend it to you highly.
00:14:41.960 I think, when did America quit keeping its promises?
00:14:46.420 When did America start thinking, like, we'll keep the terrorists, you know, hold up somewhere in the remote regions of a faraway country like Afghanistan?
00:14:58.000 There was a time when this country went out and killed those who meant to do us harm and made damn certain that the rest of the world knew all about it.
00:15:07.220 I can't think of anything in the modern era that compares to the doctrine, thank you, David Petraeus, General David Petraeus, the doctrine of the long war.
00:15:19.560 Why in the hell did the United States ever quit thinking about killing its enemies and instead letting its allies be killed
00:15:28.880 and to allow our soldiers, our Marines, our service members to be on harm's way for 21 years?
00:15:39.700 There certainly isn't any forward thinking going on right now, Lucas.
00:15:42.920 I mean, how could, with this reputation of doing this, how could America ever gain the trust in the future war of local nationals?
00:15:51.700 Wars are won by relationships with the local nationals.
00:15:55.420 And we know this from, you know, just history shows that if we can't have relationships with local nationals as we move into future wars,
00:16:02.540 because America always will be defending its freedom and freedom around the world,
00:16:08.060 how could we ever be successful in future wars when we have a reputation like this?
00:16:11.780 Right now in Ukraine, I've made great friends with some of the Ukrainian soldiers.
00:16:16.800 And when you make great friends with people and especially the personality of the Ukrainians,
00:16:20.380 you do a little jabbing at each other and have a little fun picking at each other.
00:16:24.820 And there's been a lot of that on the road as we spend, you know, many days and nights traveling around Ukraine.
00:16:29.020 And one of the things that we get made fun of the most is how embarrassing the leadership is in America.
00:16:35.960 And it's, you know, all in good fun and picking, but the truth is, it stings and it's embarrassing because I'm proud of our country.
00:16:43.280 I'm a patriot to the core.
00:16:45.940 And to know that, hey, I can't really defend that, they're right.
00:16:49.640 You know, it really hurts to hear to know that other people around the world who used to respect us, who used to look up to us,
00:16:56.320 think we're a joke.
00:16:57.780 And that's not a political, like, angle as a pundit or anything like that.
00:17:01.700 That's just the truth.
00:17:02.420 This is our reputation in the world right now.
00:17:06.180 It's our reputation.
00:17:08.220 It is also a strong statement as to what and who we've become.
00:17:13.700 What I think about, as I just said, our national security apparatus and the national security team, whether it's defense or state.
00:17:24.200 I've got a question because you have you have been throughout a hero to our allies, to Americans, to your your comrades at arms in the services of the United States.
00:17:39.200 Has once the State Department, and I'm really curious about this, has once the State Department turned to you or the Department of Defense, please come.
00:17:50.600 Our senior officials, because they need to hear what's happening on the ground with a man who has been there representing the United States and in in combat and humanitarian missions.
00:18:07.900 Rescues, have either one, either the State Department or Department of Defense asked you to come to speak?
00:18:18.660 You know, the State Department has not, the State Department, in fact, you know, has been nothing but a an obstacle to doing, you know, doing the right thing.
00:18:27.620 I mean, I think a lot of when I say our efforts, I want to just take all credit for the NGO community, the non-government organization community of the United States really stepped up to where the government didn't in Afghanistan and embarrassed it embarrassed the State Department.
00:18:43.280 And rightfully so, because they were just a disaster.
00:18:46.120 They took over the NEO operation, which is non-combatant evacuation operation of Afghanistan.
00:18:50.560 I write a lot about that in the book so people could understand how much of a blunder that was for the White House to take that away from the DOD where it belongs and give it to the State Department, which is a total conflict of interest and costs lives, thousands and thousands of lives.
00:19:06.180 And so the State Department is embarrassed, so they're embarrassed by organizations like us.
00:19:09.680 So they have really worked against the migration of these SIV applicants to get them to the United States.
00:19:18.560 I mean, I know Glenn Beck and Mercury One is in constant battle with them as the State Department.
00:19:24.300 They try to move people to one country and the State Department will call ahead and tell that country not to take these SIV applicants into their country and really giving them no place to go, no place to move these people to.
00:19:36.200 So you mean the Department, the U.S. State Department, is insisting on breaking promises made to these SIVs, to our allies, to those who are shoulder to shoulder with our service members in combat and in conflict in Afghanistan.
00:19:56.080 They're not only not keeping promises, they're assuring that they are broken and that we are sealing off avenues of rescue and refuge for those very same people.
00:20:11.520 They absolutely are.
00:20:12.440 And as a motivation behind it that I can't understand because it's very aggressive, it's not passive at all.
00:20:18.020 They're very aggressive about making sure that NGOs are not able to move these people not only into the United States but from country to country.
00:20:29.400 So, you know, I mean, it would be no business of the United States if I was to get an Afghan refugee and move them to a, let's say, to Brazil.
00:20:39.660 Well, that has no interest to the United States, but they have shown over the last year that they will go out of their way to call that country and say do not take any of these Afghans into your country and they're not allowed visas for them.
00:20:55.340 In fact, in my book, I talked about a group that we brought to Albania.
00:21:00.220 We brought 300 Afghans to Albania and as we're bringing them to Albania with permission from the Albanian government, I was on my social media and I was saying I was in an undisclosed location.
00:21:10.360 And once people found out it was Albania, they're like, why did you say an undisclosed location?
00:21:14.860 That wasn't a dangerous place.
00:21:16.300 It wasn't dangerous for my personal safety.
00:21:18.440 What it was dangerous for is if the United States State Department would have knew we were taking 300 Afghans to Albania, they would have called the Albanian government and said, no, don't give visas to them.
00:21:28.960 We were having to work around our own State Department to help rescue these people.
00:21:33.760 The State Department is despicable in doing so.
00:21:38.840 There's no other word for it.
00:21:40.680 This administration that created this disaster in Kabul a year ago, the loss of 13 service members, it's just the ugliest moment I've seen in a long time.
00:21:57.660 The cowardice, the ignorance, the indifference of U.S. officials to do what they did.
00:22:04.880 This president, as commander in chief, made those decisions.
00:22:08.960 It is on him.
00:22:10.540 No one talks about it now, Chad.
00:22:12.520 No one says a word in the national left-wing corporatist media.
00:22:16.360 But this is – his name should be engraved next to every reference to Afghanistan because this is his doing.
00:22:26.640 Absolutely, and they're doing everything they can by putting him on vacation.
00:22:31.040 And during this time of – during this anniversary, you know, he's on vacation.
00:22:34.900 He can't answer questions.
00:22:36.760 Secretary Austin is not going to answer any questions, nor will Blinken answer any questions during this week.
00:22:43.360 And the American people have a right to know, but we know that this show will be censored.
00:22:49.400 We know that my book and any social media I do will be censored.
00:22:53.700 My book should have taken one month to go through the DOD review process to be reviewed and cleared.
00:23:00.700 It took five months to go through it, and it has been pretty heavily redacted.
00:23:04.360 But the five months that it took was just enough time to keep me from releasing it on our original release date of October 4th,
00:23:12.920 which would have got it out to the American people before the midterms.
00:23:16.080 But now we have to release it after the midterms, and so we're waiting until July – January 17th.
00:23:22.280 You're saying the Secretary of Defense and the Department of Defense are politically motivated.
00:23:27.360 They're politicized and now weaponized to operate in behalf of their commander-in-chief, President Joe Biden?
00:23:37.560 They're all in campaign mode, in my opinion.
00:23:42.020 It's mine, too, but I had to ask it.
00:23:45.180 It is – by the way, this show won't be censored.
00:23:48.500 I guarantee you that.
00:23:50.120 And what I have to say about these people, these people are scurrilous, and what they have done to our service members, to our country, to the men and women,
00:24:05.700 the veterans who have served with such commitment over all these decades, and for what is the question.
00:24:14.020 And I have to say further, that Ukraine – what are we doing in Ukraine?
00:24:19.960 You know, I admire your heroism so much.
00:24:22.680 I tell everyone about you, Chad, and what you and your organizations are doing and what the other great patriots and most of them veterans are doing
00:24:33.820 to help the people in Afghanistan and others – excuse me – in Ukraine.
00:24:39.620 Ukraine, it is – it's just bewildering to me that we're watching this president pay off Ukraine for Zelensky's silence.
00:24:51.500 We are doing things – we could have stopped this invasion, in my opinion, and I believe that Biden had all of the foreknowledge to do so.
00:25:00.920 Our intelligence agencies aren't very good, but they're that good when they can see 200,000 Russian troops on the eastern border
00:25:08.840 of Ukraine massing.
00:25:13.220 They knew what was happening, and this president and his national security team did nothing.
00:25:19.140 But at various points, it looked like they were fomenting, urging on Putin to create a war.
00:25:27.080 Well, I mean, you know, there's a lot to gain from – financially for people, the corrupt people in Ukraine.
00:25:35.660 We know there's a lot of government corruption in Ukraine.
00:25:37.380 That's one of the criticisms I get for helping Ukraine.
00:25:39.780 You know, people are like, you know how corrupt the government is in Ukraine?
00:25:42.780 I said, yeah, it is.
00:25:43.520 And you know where else is corrupt?
00:25:45.020 There's Washington, D.C.
00:25:46.560 You better believe it.
00:25:47.100 Yeah, so we are as well.
00:25:48.640 And so when you have a war like this in Ukraine, this creates a lot of opportunity for people to make a lot of money, you know, politicians to make a lot of money.
00:25:59.400 And we're given over $60 billion now.
00:26:03.580 It's been committed from the United States to Ukraine.
00:26:05.880 And I can tell you, I've been there seven times now since February.
00:26:10.920 Last week, I was in – I spent 10 days in the red zones, the Russian-occupied red zones, in the very front lines.
00:26:19.040 I spent with six different units, a special operations unit, artillery unit, chemical warfare unit, and some engineers, all these amazing Ukrainian patriots fighting for their country and their freedoms and their families.
00:26:33.840 And they're not seeing that $60 billion.
00:26:37.280 And, you know, I don't know where it's going, but I know that we have committed that money with no congressional oversight, no oversight committee.
00:26:44.620 That money is just going out and being – you know, in hopes that it'll land in the right place.
00:26:49.620 And it's not landing in the right place because we're out there bringing medical supplies to them and helping equip the troops and bringing them things like, you know, audio Bible sticks and training them in mental and spiritual resiliency,
00:27:01.880 which is one of the things that Mighty Oaks Foundation does, and just helping equip them.
00:27:07.280 But they're not seeing this – all this billions of dollars that's being sent to Ukraine.
00:27:11.200 And I don't think they will see it.
00:27:14.220 I'm afraid that you're exactly right.
00:27:16.100 And just from my perspective, watching this money go out in tranches of $3 billion, $700 million, as the Biden administration is sprinkling money rather than bolstering the military effort of the Ukrainians with significant weaponry so that they can actually mount a strategic response.
00:27:41.340 They are – but I have to say, you were amongst the first to give the Ukrainians credit for their will to fight.
00:27:49.500 They are acquitting themselves in ways I think most military strategists, the so-called three-star experts, didn't foresee.
00:28:00.040 And I think it's a wonderful thing.
00:28:02.040 And I just worry that it's not enough, and it's too late for those brave warriors to prevail.
00:28:12.660 Your thoughts?
00:28:14.020 You know, it's really hard to go there and see what you see in the will of these people, the commitment of these people,
00:28:24.200 and see any sign of defeat in them.
00:28:29.100 They're willing to – and I heard this not from a soldier but from a chaplain who said, we're going to win.
00:28:35.040 And he said it was such confidence.
00:28:36.340 He said, how do you know you're going to win?
00:28:38.600 And we're sitting in a safe house in the middle of Ukraine.
00:28:41.100 The air sirens are going off.
00:28:42.840 And it was just – it was a really surreal moment.
00:28:46.820 And he said, because we won't give up one inch of one person, and we'll stay till the end.
00:28:53.420 They're going to fight till the end.
00:28:55.360 And that's something I've seen over the last 30 years of being involved in combat and being in places all over the world.
00:29:01.720 You could have the most technology and equipment and money, but it's the will of the people that – and the soldiers on the battlefield that typically determine the outcome.
00:29:12.120 The Ukrainian troops are fighting for their homes.
00:29:16.440 They're fighting for their families.
00:29:17.460 They're fighting for their freedom and their very lives.
00:29:19.620 The Russian troops that are there don't want to be there.
00:29:22.860 They don't even know why they're there.
00:29:24.340 And so there's a very low morale on one side and there's a will to – all-in will on the other side.
00:29:30.540 And I mean, look, I despise everything about the Taliban to the core.
00:29:36.160 They're evil, evil people.
00:29:37.780 They're evil ideology.
00:29:38.680 But after 20 years, they're still there.
00:29:42.640 Why?
00:29:42.940 Because of their mindset.
00:29:44.540 They're such a – they were so mentally – from a warped sense, mentally and spiritually determined.
00:29:51.220 But that's why they're still there after 20 years.
00:29:53.840 And I see that even more so in the Ukrainian people.
00:29:56.580 Only with them, they have the right motives.
00:30:01.640 How does it end in Ukraine?
00:30:03.800 You know, it depends – it's a hard question to answer because we don't know in the mind of a lunatic and Putin how far he's going to go.
00:30:14.700 The more you see the Ukrainians win and they're winning these – they're taking ground back.
00:30:19.940 And I've seen it firsthand.
00:30:20.660 I've been in places – I was in Kharkiv recently, and I was in Kharkiv.
00:30:25.700 100,000 apartment buildings were down to rubble.
00:30:29.880 And now the Ukrainians have that back.
00:30:32.340 So as they regain ground, Russia does something more radical.
00:30:36.900 Putin does something more radical out of his embarrassment for losing.
00:30:40.220 So we don't know how radical he'll become, and we don't know the response of the West because the West has no leader right now who should be leading as the president of the United States, who's the leaders of the free world.
00:30:49.680 And he should be uniting the European nations together to take a position and take a stance.
00:30:55.500 But there is no stance.
00:30:56.480 There is no position that's been announced.
00:30:58.800 There is no repercussions.
00:30:59.980 There is no repercussions to Putin for firing ballistic missiles into civilian populations, for launching chemical weapons in civilian populations, which we know for 100% certainty is happening.
00:31:13.000 These are war crimes and crimes against humanity.
00:31:16.020 I do not believe the United States should be jumping in every war around the world.
00:31:19.440 But this is a place that a line needs to be drawn.
00:31:22.300 And in the year 2022, in a civilized world, we should never allow a neighboring country, a world superpower, to march into a neighboring country and fire ballistic missiles into civilian populations to launch chemical weapons in civilian populations.
00:31:38.460 But we need a leader of the free world that will unite the world together and take a stand against Mr. Putin and say this is not okay.
00:31:44.500 And we don't have that right now.
00:31:45.680 So in that lack and absence of that, it's very hard to predict what is actually going to happen moving forward.
00:31:52.100 I do believe, however, my prediction is that there's going to be a border that's going to be settled and there's going to be a contentious, that contentious border for just like there has been for since 2014.
00:32:05.200 And, you know, I think that border is kind of shaping itself as we speak.
00:32:09.660 We see a kind of line, that red line of where red areas are.
00:32:13.680 You know, I can see that in my opinion from what I see now.
00:32:17.540 I can see that holding for the next one or two years of continued fighting there and that turning into a contested border for an indefinite amount of time.
00:32:25.980 You know, I was thinking as you were talking about with your compatriots in Ukraine and fellow warriors laughing about the U.S. leadership.
00:32:40.560 Is there laughter about the European leadership, which, by the way, in my opinion, are the ones who should be looking upon themselves as bastions and pillars of the free world?
00:32:51.420 And Germany and France and the U.K. can't muster the strength to respond as individual nations, let alone the European Union and all the geniuses, genius socialists in Brussels and the European Union without having it.
00:33:11.060 They're not responding at all.
00:33:13.320 They should be defending, in my judgment, Ukraine and providing great, great support and resources.
00:33:23.080 Yeah, absolutely.
00:33:23.920 You're so right.
00:33:24.760 I mean, look, if I was a leader in Europe, I wouldn't want I wouldn't want the buffer to be the Polish border.
00:33:31.080 I'd want the buffer to be Ukraine.
00:33:32.440 So let's let's keep that buffer in place there between between Russia and because, I mean, if they take Ukraine, they're not going to want to stop there.
00:33:40.820 So you think the European Union would be taking more of a leadership.
00:33:43.500 And I agree with you and you're 100 percent right.
00:33:46.580 However, I think the the thing to be seen from here is that the world looks to the United States.
00:33:54.200 The world has always looked to the United States since World War Two as the as as the person looked to.
00:34:00.000 I mean, they look for leadership from the United States and that's lacking right now.
00:34:04.040 Yeah, they're laughing and Americans are crying.
00:34:06.780 We have a puppet president doing the bidding of Marxist Dems who have taken control of the Democrat Party, along with the deep state.
00:34:14.940 They're embarrassing the nation.
00:34:17.360 They are depriving us of our rights daily and increasingly.
00:34:24.400 It is where they can attack this former president and raid his offices.
00:34:32.920 We have reached a new nadir in what America is and may be.
00:34:38.420 I personally believe, Chad, America is not the America that we grew up in and what it will become is going to depend on what we as patriots and and citizens unite to make certain occurs, which is to remove the corruption from Washington, D.C.
00:34:56.820 Nothing less will change the trajectory we're on, which is clearly decline.
00:35:03.480 We always give our guests, Chad, as you know, the last word.
00:35:07.840 We're going to be recommending your book strongly and frequently.
00:35:11.820 The book is Saving Aziz.
00:35:14.020 It's coming out in in January of twenty twenty three.
00:35:20.580 And again, we commend it to you highly.
00:35:23.100 It'll be available for preorder.
00:35:24.620 And with that, Chad, your concluding thoughts.
00:35:28.040 Well, I know we talked a lot about Ukraine and in Afghanistan.
00:35:31.700 But look, the world is in a place to where the United States needs to be strong.
00:35:37.040 We got Iran and their and their advancement in nuclear weaponry.
00:35:41.740 You got you got North Korea saying they're going to I mean, the difference in North Korea last year, they're saying they're going to launch a nuclear weapon test.
00:35:49.820 We have, you know, people all over the world, China.
00:35:53.320 Right. And China is going to I'm surprised that took Taiwan yet.
00:35:57.240 But then we have the cartels on the southern border and everything.
00:36:00.740 No one is intimidated by the United States right now.
00:36:03.400 And so, you know, this is a time where Americans need to stand up.
00:36:06.380 Our government's not doing the right thing.
00:36:07.860 People need to stand up.
00:36:09.920 You know, it doesn't mean you need to start an organization and go to Ukraine or Afghanistan like we did.
00:36:14.360 But, you know, get out there, get involved.
00:36:17.120 The midterms are coming up.
00:36:18.200 We have to take our country back.
00:36:19.640 And I don't mean I'm not saying that as a pundit for the right or left or Republican or Democrats.
00:36:24.100 I just mean Americans as conservatives, we need to take our country back and get rid of these get rid of these people out there that are self-serving interests and not willing to serve the constituents and the will and the goodwill of the American people.
00:36:39.940 So, Chad, it's always great to have you with us.
00:36:43.760 And thank you for those words.
00:36:45.620 Well said.
00:36:47.200 And Godspeed with all that you're doing for so many of us.
00:36:51.940 You're appreciated.
00:36:53.260 You're greatly respected.
00:36:54.620 And God bless you.
00:36:55.800 God bless you, Mr. Dobbs.
00:36:56.840 Thank you so much.
00:36:58.080 Chad Robichaux, you're a great American.
00:37:00.320 It's always an honor to have you on our show.
00:37:02.780 Again, Chad's book is available for preorder now.
00:37:06.200 It's called Saving Aziz, How the Mission to Help One Became a Calling to Rescue Thousands from the Taliban.
00:37:13.040 You can preorder it today at ludobbs.com or amazon.com.
00:37:18.420 Thank you all for being with us today.
00:37:20.280 We hope you have a great weekend.
00:37:22.240 Our guest Monday will be former FBI agent Greg Schaefer.
00:37:25.820 We'll be talking with Greg about how he feels about his once storied FBI that is now mired in corruption and scandal.
00:37:34.240 Please join us here Monday.
00:37:36.060 Until then, God bless you and may God bless America.