The Great America Show - TOO MANY GENERALS, NOT ENOUGH LEADERS

00:00:00.000 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Great America Podcast with Lou Dobbs,

00:00:04.200 always in the fight for truth, justice, and yes, our American way of life.

00:00:09.220 And now, here he is, the Peabody award-winning voice of truth, the great Lou Dobbs.

00:00:14.240 Welcome back to the Great America Show. We'll be talking in this episode of the Great America

00:00:19.000 Show about our great political divide, what has become a yawning chasm of deep partisanship,

00:00:25.320 a divide that in modern times has never been whiter or nastier, and it gets uglier, it seems,

00:00:32.240 by the day. Seven out of ten Americans say we're headed in the wrong direction,

00:00:37.220 that we've lost respect for our society's institutions, that we don't respect our

00:00:41.420 trust government or politicians. We sure don't respect our media, who report on violence in

00:00:47.260 our streets and homes and corruption everywhere we turn, City Hall, Wall Street, schools, police

00:00:53.180 departments. We still respect our military, but not as much as we used to. Our politics reflect

00:01:00.400 all of this, the conflict, the distrust, the corruption. Why would good people even think

00:01:06.960 of running for office? Well, we're about to find out. Our guest is one of the good guys running for

00:01:13.120 office this year, and while young, he already has a great life story. Welcome to the Great America

00:01:20.160 Show, Jake Beckett. He's running for Senate in the great state of Arkansas, and Jake, we're delighted

00:01:25.760 to have you with us here on the Great America Show, and we want to talk to you about, obviously,

00:01:32.760 all of the politics involved in your candidacy, how your candidacy came to be, but we also think

00:01:40.500 you have such an extraordinary life story for a young man in particular, that I just think the

00:01:48.880 audience would love to hear more about you and how this moment came to be. So let's start with

00:01:56.060 the beginning, and I guess the beginning wasn't you playing football at the University of Arkansas.

00:02:03.940 Tell us a little bit how you first, you got to the University of Arkansas.

00:02:09.020 Well, first of all, Lou, it's great to be on with you. Thank you for having me on your show,

00:02:12.420 your program. Yeah, I do come from a football family. It was a family affair for me at the

00:02:18.540 University of Arkansas. My grandfather started the Beckett Legacy at the University of Arkansas

00:02:24.340 football team in the mid-1950s. He was the first in his family to go to college. It was a big leap

00:02:31.740 for him to leave his family in the St. Louis area of Missouri and go to college, but he was a risk

00:02:39.440 taker and a striver and someone who really changed our family tree, and I'm forever grateful to him

00:02:46.280 for starting that family legacy. And then his two of his sons, his two sons, my dad and my uncle,

00:02:55.020 Jay, and Chris Beckett both followed in his footsteps and played football at the University of Arkansas in

00:03:00.200 the late 70s and 1980s under Coach Lou Holtz, a great American. Absolutely. And a great football coach

00:03:10.520 as well. And then I was very blessed to follow in their footsteps. I guess I like to joke I didn't

00:03:15.480 have a choice, really. That sounds right. Yeah, I just, you know, I'm a third generation Razorback,

00:03:22.900 the fourth consecutive man in my family to play football at the University of Arkansas. And

00:03:27.740 I just didn't want to be the first Beckett in 60 years to screw it up. But I was blessed to get up

00:03:34.820 there to earn a scholarship. I was not very highly recruited. I was very lucky to earn a scholarship

00:03:39.680 offer to Arkansas. And so I always had that chip on my shoulder. I was never going to allow myself

00:03:45.240 to be outworked and out hustled. And I was very blessed to be a part of some great Razorback football

00:03:50.920 teams and be a two-time team captain up there on the Hill and just continue on that Razorback family

00:03:58.620 legacy. You did an outstanding job of doing just that, carrying on that legacy. The role

00:04:07.920 of football, obviously, large in your family. How did your early years, were you raised in

00:04:19.400 the city, the country? What was your upbringing like?

00:04:25.440 Well, I was raised here in Little Rock, Arkansas, born and raised. And Little Rock is right smack dab

00:04:32.220 in the middle of Arkansas, but you're never too far from the duck woods, the great outdoors.

00:04:36.560 Arkansas is a tremendous state. Farming is a huge part of our state economy. And there are many

00:04:42.480 Arkansans who have a great reverence for the outdoors and for conservation, obviously, for the

00:04:49.340 Second Amendment. It's something we take very seriously here in Arkansas. And I was very blessed to grow up in

00:04:54.940 the natural state. And Arkansas is, it's God's country. It's truly a special place. You know,

00:05:01.260 we have a strong Southern culture, a strong family atmosphere. We're very proud of our sports teams.

00:05:07.180 The Arkansas Razorbacks are kind of like the professional team here in Arkansas. So everyone's

00:05:13.140 a big Razorback fan. And, you know, I was just very blessed to represent the state that I love so much,

00:05:17.720 and it's done so much for me and my family up there with the Razorbacks. Because I always did,

00:05:22.360 it was, it was, I took a lot of pride in wearing that Razorback on my helmet and representing the

00:05:26.840 entire state of Arkansas. And, you know, I think in a way, you know, that love for the state has

00:05:31.180 never left me. And I want to represent the state of Arkansas on the national stage as well.

00:05:35.420 Yeah, that, that, that, that big old hog on the side of the helmet is, I think one of the, 1.00

00:05:41.760 I, it's certainly iconic as a logo and football in this country, a great tradition and great,

00:05:51.080 great coaches and players there throughout the years and including yourself. Now you were,

00:05:57.900 you were drafted out of college by the new England Patriots, right?

00:06:02.520 I was, yeah, I was a third round draft pick by the new England Patriots.

00:06:06.700 Again, it was just an amazing privilege to, to be selected by coach Belichick and be a small part

00:06:11.800 of that amazing dynasty. I mean, the, the Patriots, the, the legacy in that team, it,

00:06:16.360 it speaks for itself, but, you know, I, I had the, the honor of learning from some of the all-time

00:06:21.660 great players and coaches, Tom Brady, Vince Wilfork, Gerard Mayo, Matthew Slater. And of

00:06:28.000 course, you know, coach Belichick's leadership. I learned so much, not just about X's and O's in

00:06:33.000 the game of football, but about leadership, about organizational management, about, you know,

00:06:37.740 setting a standard and getting a very diverse and disparate group of young men to, to come

00:06:43.260 together and march to the beat of the same drum and strive towards a common goal. It's something

00:06:47.740 that's rare in college sports and even more rare in professional sports to instill that type of a

00:06:54.460 professional culture. Uh, when there's so many high paid, uh, ego driven individuals, uh, you know,

00:07:01.240 in, in one organization, but coach Belichick and Tom Brady, they deserve a lot of credit. And of course,

00:07:06.640 Robert Kraft, the owner for instilling that culture, you know, that the Patriot way, as we always called

00:07:11.900 it. And it's really no secret. It's no surprise really that they've had so much great success.

00:07:17.200 And I was very honored to be a small part of that. Well, and how long did you play, uh, in the NFL?

00:07:23.160 I played four years from 2012 to 2015. Um, you know, I was on and off the active roster. I spent

00:07:29.260 my last year on injured reserve. I got hurt my last season, but it was, you know, it was, it was a

00:07:34.460 blessing to be there. And, you know, all those lessons that I just described, you know, I carried those

00:07:39.000 with me into my military career and I've carried them with me into this campaign, because like I

00:07:44.800 said, it's not just about X's and O's in the game, the football it's, these are true lessons of

00:07:48.580 leadership that I think the entire country would do well to learn. And, uh, and by the way, Jake is,

00:07:55.560 uh, also, he has a Superbowl ring as well. Uh, you didn't mention that you're too, you're too modest,

00:08:02.520 Jake. Yeah. Well, I was, uh, like I said, I was a very small part of that, of that franchise and

00:08:08.700 that dynasty, but, you know, again, I was, I was able to learn from the very best and you, you know,

00:08:13.480 I always love to be around, you know, people who are the very best in their professions, whatever it

00:08:17.760 may be. And, um, you know, it was, it was an absolute privilege to see someone like Tom Brady

00:08:22.160 work at his craft. Um, and of course coach Belichick and the rest. And, um, yeah, being a small part of

00:08:27.760 that, that Superbowl 49 championship team, that was the, that was the Seattle Seahawks game, the, the

00:08:32.260 famous Malcolm Butler interception. And, you know, that, I think that's just a, a lesson in and of

00:08:38.600 itself of the genius of coach Belichick and the Patriot way. You know, we, we worked on that exact

00:08:44.860 play multiple times throughout the week leading up to the Superbowl. We knew that if the Seahawks,

00:08:51.140 if they lined up in that shotgun formation on the goal line going in with two receivers split out wide,

00:08:56.980 they were going to run this little pick play, this little screen play out to the wide receiver.

00:09:00.920 And so since we had rehearsed it, since coach Belichick and his staff had identified that

00:09:05.560 play and that set as a likely situation where they would run that particular play, you know,

00:09:11.100 we were able, you know, Malcolm was able to do his job and make that interception. And

00:09:14.340 you know, the rest is history. You know, my first reaction to watching that, and I'm, I'm an issue,

00:09:20.320 my guess, an avid football fan that, uh, whether college or the NFL, but when Butler went for the

00:09:28.660 ball, he looked like he was the, uh, the target he slammed into that receiver and that took possession

00:09:36.360 of that ball, like he had owned it. And, uh, he was going to take it home, which is exactly what he

00:09:42.060 did. That was a, an amazing play at the goal line. I just first, the play call itself, uh, that's just

00:09:50.360 Pete Carroll. I'm sure he still has nightmares about that decision, but to find out you guys have been

00:09:57.840 practicing that very play, looking for those very keys. Uh, it's just, uh, as you say, I mean,

00:10:05.360 it's a testament to the, to Belichick as a coach and, uh, and, and beyond. And you're, you know,

00:10:12.780 your modesty, by the way, uh, in being a small part, you know, uh, you know, big things are made up

00:10:18.720 for lots of small parts and, uh, for every team, for every country, uh, everything that we do as,

00:10:28.080 uh, as human beings, uh, we organize around a task and the more successful we are in organizing

00:10:36.260 and being aware of our importance within that group, uh, is, is the key to success. No matter

00:10:44.220 what, uh, you've got some big players, you've got some small players, you've got fast and you got

00:10:48.860 slow, big and small, but men in football, when you see a team, uh, working, it's just a thing of

00:10:56.740 beauty. It really is. You know, football is, you know, I think it's the greatest game because as you

00:11:01.980 said, you've got, you've got 11 men on the field at the same time doing, uh, you know, very different

00:11:07.960 tasks, different jobs, every single play. And you're only as strong as your weakest link. And,

00:11:12.160 you know, that's why, um, you know, I think that game it's, it's physically demanding. It's,

00:11:16.680 uh, it can be brutally tough in some ways, but, you know, it's also the best demonstration of

00:11:21.540 leadership and especially at the highest levels. Um, you know, it was just an honor and a privilege

00:11:26.680 to play it in college and professionally with the Patriots. Well, I want to turn to some politics,

00:11:32.320 uh, uh, move from, uh, uh, first from football to, to the military, because I think people may be

00:11:39.840 surprised to learn that from your next step from the NFL was to join the, uh, the military,

00:11:46.220 the U S army. Tell us about that decision. Well, I, I felt the call, I guess I felt it for

00:11:53.160 in some way my entire life, but it, it became more and more pronounced when I was in new England,

00:11:58.700 we had a, um, you know, a person who was a big part of the organization. He was a former Navy seal

00:12:05.020 in new England, you know, coach Belichick, he he's got a special reverence for our military. His,

00:12:09.780 uh, his dad, uh, Steve Belichick, um, actually coached at the Naval Academy for a number of years.

00:12:16.060 And so bill grew up around the Academy and, um, you know, has a, has a very, uh, high amount of

00:12:20.900 respect for, for our military. And so we had this former Navy seal who was around us. And I found

00:12:25.060 myself always really picking his brain about his time in the military. And that really decided it. I,

00:12:29.900 I knew that, you know, my NFL career wasn't going to last forever. I knew that,

00:12:33.580 you know, whether I play for two or three or four more years, I was still going to be a young,

00:12:37.040 uh, healthy individual with the opportunity to serve. And that's what I did. I decided to,

00:12:42.180 to enlist in the army, uh, through the officer candidate school program. I went to basic training,

00:12:46.920 uh, commissioned as an infantry Lieutenant volunteered and graduated from the U S army

00:12:51.180 ranger school, and then deployed to Iraq with the 101st airborne division. And it was truly the

00:12:56.700 honor of my life to wear the uniform. Um, you know, that was, I've always had a great amount of

00:13:01.040 respect for the soldiers and, and statesmen in our country who decided to serve, who decided to

00:13:05.860 fight and stand up for their beliefs. And, and I, I believe that I was, uh, simply following in,

00:13:11.220 in their footsteps, the great men, women who have come before us, who have worn the uniform.

00:13:14.620 Um, and I wanted that to be a part of my story and I wanted to serve.

00:13:18.600 At ranger school, for those who don't know is, uh, it is one of the most demanding, uh, and exacting

00:13:26.620 of all military, uh, training in the U S military. It is just, uh, it's an elite group, uh, airborne,

00:13:36.440 uh, much the same. And you were not taking the easy way at any turn, uh, in joining the army,

00:13:43.360 were you?

00:13:43.940 No, I wanted to serve in the infantry. You know, I wanted to be with the grunts. I wanted to be a 0.50

00:13:48.980 infantry platoon leader and, you know, I wanted to wear that ranger tab and graduate from,

00:13:53.000 from army ranger school. And as you said, it's, it's very tough, but you know, you, that that's

00:13:57.080 where great leaders are forged. And, you know, I wanted to stand before my infantry platoon. Uh,

00:14:02.800 so they would know they were being led by someone, you know, who had been qualified by the toughest

00:14:06.860 leadership school the army has to offer. So it was a, it was a great, uh, task to do that.

00:14:12.440 You know, it was a little bit different from, uh, you know, football two days, but I think I had

00:14:16.280 a great preparation, um, you know, a great preparation for the military life was, was football. You know,

00:14:22.100 there, I think there's some striking similarities there. You know, it's, you have, uh, you know,

00:14:26.000 people coming together from different backgrounds, uh, you know, different creeds, whatever it may

00:14:30.780 be, but, you know, you, you make those personal sacrifices to be a part of a team, you know,

00:14:35.340 part of an elite unit that's striving towards a common goal to accomplish a mission. Um, you know,

00:14:40.120 and just that, that type of collective action, I think is, you know, what's the best about our

00:14:44.020 military was the best about sports. I think that's why in the American culture, we have such a,

00:14:49.260 such a reverence and a respect for, you know, great athletes and great warriors. You know,

00:14:53.840 it's, I think it speaks to, it speaks volumes about, um, you know, the, the greatness of American

00:14:58.420 culture. And, you know, I was, I was, you know, it was tough. I mean, I think I lost about 45 pounds

00:15:03.900 during those 62 days of ranger school, but it was worth it in the end. And, uh, and, and from, uh,

00:15:11.100 from, uh, airborne on your, your, your first posting, where was that?

00:15:16.580 So at Fort Campbell, Kentucky with the 101st airborne division, I wasn't, I wasn't there

00:15:22.560 at Fort Campbell for long. My, my, uh, brigade was deploying to Iraq, um, right about the time

00:15:27.940 that I arrived there. Um, I followed them a couple of months later, but I spent, um, spent some time

00:15:33.700 in Iraq in 2019. Um, you know, and it was, uh, you know, it was, uh, an interesting deployment

00:15:40.200 to say the least. We were, we were stationed, uh, we were posted in Northern Iraq and Kurdistan

00:15:45.500 in Mosul. Uh, we were co-located with, uh, some, you know, some Marine raiders and some,

00:15:51.120 uh, it was really a, a three-star core level command of the Iraqi army. Um, really our main

00:15:56.540 job was to, uh, coordinate airstrikes, uh, taking out ISIS fighters when they presented themselves,

00:16:01.860 but also to engage with, with local political, uh, and military leaders in Northern Iraq. But,

00:16:07.580 um, you know, it was good to have the opportunity to deploy, um, and, and, you know, go over there

00:16:12.580 with such a storied unit as a hundred and first airborne division. Well, a hundred first airborne,

00:16:17.380 as you say, storied, a legendary hundred and first, uh, uh, airborne, uh, how long were you

00:16:24.900 in Iraq and, uh, and give us just a, if you will, just a quick brief on, uh, on your military,

00:16:32.120 uh, career. Yeah. So I was, I was in Iraq for about five and a half, six months, uh, in 2019.

00:16:39.240 And as you said, I mean, it was an absolute privilege to, to deploy and wear that screaming

00:16:44.540 eagle patch of the hundred and first airborne division. And we all know the story. I'm sure

00:16:48.760 that so many of your, of your listeners and fans have seen band of brothers, um, you know,

00:16:53.380 read the, you know, read the book by Steven Ambrose at the same game. Um, you know, it's a,

00:16:58.280 it's a proud division and, you know, to be, to be an infantryman, you know, to be a platoon leader

00:17:03.660 in the hundred and first airborne was, was an absolute privilege and an honor. Um, and I was,

00:17:08.540 I was proud to wear that patch down range in Iraq. And as I said, you know, we were,

00:17:13.720 we were taking out ISIS fighters through airstrikes when they presented themselves. Um,

00:17:18.400 you know, but really our, our mission in Iraq was also, uh, it was also political and diplomatic

00:17:23.560 in a way. Um, you know, we were gathering intelligence. We were trying to, um, you know,

00:17:28.820 transfer command of that portion of the country over to the Iraqis themselves with, 0.57

00:17:34.460 with mixed results. Um, but you know, that was really our, our mission in that part of Iraq at

00:17:39.560 that time. And I, and you, and your decision to, to, to leave the army. Yeah. So I returned to,

00:17:49.220 you know, stateside to Fort Campbell in, in late 2019. And that was really around the time that

00:17:57.440 everything started to unravel in our country with, with the pandemic. And of course the,

00:18:02.580 the violence in our streets, the looting, the suppression of our economy, you know,

00:18:06.820 really everything that's happening. Uh, you know, some might say that the great reset that

00:18:11.140 the left is trying to instill in this country started happening in 2020. And, you know, I realized

00:18:16.340 that, you know, I, I, I, I served in the army to make an impact, to stand up and fight for my

00:18:21.140 beliefs. But I really, I realized at that time last year that the, the fight really was no longer

00:18:27.100 on a distant battlefield in Iraq or Afghanistan. The fight was right here. It was domestic. It's

00:18:31.880 political. And that fight is, is happening. And I think what, what mainly motivated me to get into

00:18:38.660 politics and get into this race is that too many Republicans don't understand the nature of the

00:18:44.820 fight that is at hand. This is, in my opinion, an existential, a fundamental fight over what type of

00:18:50.880 country, what kind of a country we're going to be, you know, the, the, the Democrats and the radical

00:18:55.960 left have gone, they they've shifted the needle, the over to the windows so far to the left on so

00:19:01.620 many issues that, you know, really there's just, there's not much middle ground, but unfortunately

00:19:06.820 there's too many establishment invisible rhinos, Republicans who are still trying to compromise

00:19:12.880 with these Democrats, with these radicals. And it's that type of mindset, I believe that has led us

00:19:19.300 to this current predicament. And, you know, we've got to have real conservative warriors, wartime

00:19:24.160 conservatives who understand the nature of the fight that we're in, first of all, and second of

00:19:29.200 all, know how to fix it. And that's why I'm in this race. Wonderful reasons. And let me say I'm amongst

00:19:36.120 those who are absolutely delighted that you've made the choice to, to go, go into politics and to,

00:19:45.620 to seek election. Uh, and I wish you all the very best of luck. I want to, I want to take up some of

00:19:51.900 the philosophy that's going to guide you through this, uh, uh, uh, campaign and what you're, what

00:19:58.820 you're expecting. Uh, at this point, have you received the support you thought, uh, and have you

00:20:05.480 also received, uh, any incoming, I'll put it that way, uh, uh, for your choice?

00:20:12.380 Well, yes. I mean, we've received an amazing amount of support here in Arkansas and around

00:20:17.800 the country, to be quite honest. Um, you know, since we launched the campaign in mid-July, um,

00:20:23.100 we've outraised every other primary challenger, uh, campaign in the entire country. We're number

00:20:28.120 one. We've had an amazing amount of support from fundraising, from, from earned media. There's

00:20:32.820 been a great amount of media attention, which has been fantastic because I think people are

00:20:36.660 excited. They understand that we need a new generation of leaders. If we're going to turn

00:20:41.360 this ship around, if we're going to, if we're going to turn around, if we're going to turn

00:20:44.820 this country around and save America. Um, and so I think it gives people hope, uh, to see a,

00:20:50.940 you know, young conservative America first veteran who believes what they believe, um, and who's able

00:20:56.620 to, to move the needle and rally others to our cause. Um, and so I think that's one of the

00:21:00.920 reasons why we've seen so much enthusiasm, but, you know, as always, when you're attacking the

00:21:05.540 political establishment, you, you are going to take some income, but incoming, but I take pride

00:21:10.340 in that Lou. You know, I've always said, if you're not taking flack, you're not over the target.

00:21:14.240 And, you know, I welcome that. And I, I think it's, it's been encouraging to see more and more,

00:21:19.300 you know, young conservatives and, and young leaders rising up who I believe know how to deal

00:21:25.060 with, with media attacks and attacks from the political establishment. Um, you know,

00:21:29.780 growing up in the age of social media and, you know, online message boards, you know,

00:21:34.040 it was a blessing in my sports career. You know, I learned how to deal with criticism,

00:21:38.180 you know, the keyboard warriors from a very young age. And, you know, once you kind of get over the

00:21:43.180 fact that, Hey, there's going to be people out there in the, in the Twitter sphere or online or

00:21:47.600 in the newspapers who attack you, once you kind of make your peace with that and understand that

00:21:52.100 as long as you're grounded foundationally and ideologically, and you're not going to let

00:21:56.360 anything shake you, then, you know, great things are possible. And I've always had that mindset.

00:22:00.320 I'm going to continue that, uh, you know, in this campaign and in my political career,

00:22:04.340 and I'm not looking back. Good for you. And, uh, I, I, I always, uh, believe that if you know

00:22:12.580 who you are, you can take care of everything else. Uh, and that is the most important thing. And

00:22:19.060 you've been tested, you have a challenge yourself in so many ways, uh, as you also, uh, sought to,

00:22:26.180 to serve. And, you know, that's, uh, that's wonderful judgment. That is wonderful instinct.

00:22:32.360 And it's a wonderful nature and character that, uh, we need more of, as I said, in the U S Senate,

00:22:38.560 uh, in the, uh, the house of representatives, indeed, uh, throughout the country. Uh, so let's,

00:22:46.400 let's talk if we may about, uh, what your, uh, what your next steps are, what you, what do you

00:22:54.420 think is most important for you to, to win your race for the U S Senate from the great state of

00:22:59.840 Arkansas? Well, the, the next U S Senator from Arkansas is going to be the hardest working

00:23:05.140 candidate, the candidate who is able to connect with the people of Arkansas because look, conservatives

00:23:11.060 and patriots in the state of Arkansas, you know, for, for too often, especially, you know, with this

00:23:16.200 seat, with the incumbent, their interests have not been represented. And I think we're seeing that

00:23:20.220 nationwide. We see a lot of, you know, patriotic Americans, real Americans, conservative Americans,

00:23:25.260 even, you know, moderate and more independent minded Americans, their interests are not being

00:23:30.200 represented in Washington, DC. We have too many politicians who have an R next to their name,

00:23:35.960 who don't really believe what their constituents believe. And I think that fundamental truth,

00:23:42.100 Donald Trump helped expose that reality. Um, and I think more and more people are becoming aware of

00:23:47.580 that the media, you know, as you know, Lou, they, they had this Trojan horse strategy for decades where

00:23:53.580 they would, they would subtly, you know, move the needle further and further left. But really ever since

00:23:58.520 president Trump came onto the scene, they've, they've just started storming the gates and frontal

00:24:03.260 assaults. And it's been hard for anyone to, uh, you know, to ignore the fact that, uh, or ignore the

00:24:10.780 truth about the mainstream media, the corporate media in this country to ignore the truth about

00:24:15.160 the radical left, but also, and most importantly, to ignore the truth about these invisible establishment

00:24:20.720 Republicans who don't actually believe what their constituents believe. They memorize talking points,

00:24:26.660 they regurgitate them. They have these consultants around them who tell them what to say,

00:24:30.940 and they're not really interested in fighting back because, I mean, that's really the essence

00:24:35.360 of leadership in my mind. You've got to stand up and lead from the front. You've got to rally others

00:24:39.440 to our cause. You've got to say and do the things that normal people can't do, right? You've got to,

00:24:45.220 it's got to be a sacrifice, you know, our, the, our founding generation, they understood that to them,

00:24:49.760 leadership service in politics, you know, service in the military, it was a real sacrifice for them.

00:24:55.000 They were, they were pledging their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. That was,

00:24:59.440 you know, one of the closing sentences of the Declaration of Independence. We've got to get

00:25:04.460 back to that mindset. And it's inspiring to me because I see other candidates nationwide who

00:25:08.420 believe the same thing. You know, everything you say gladdens my heart because one of the great sins,

00:25:15.000 I think, are those rhinos who have an R after their name serving in Congress or the Senate who are 1.00

00:25:23.360 actually closer to, to the Democratic Party, to perhaps the radical Dems or even the neo-Marxists

00:25:31.320 than they are to the tenets of conservatism and, and the Republican Party. And the shame is that many

00:25:38.760 of those rhinos are actually leading the party, whether they be at the Republican National Committee 1.00

00:25:46.000 or be Senate majority leader or be Senate, excuse me, House minority leader. It's, it's stunning to me

00:25:56.900 that for the most part, Washington right now is peopled by a lot of very old folks about my age,

00:26:07.080 making decisions about the future that they probably are not going to know much and who do not have

00:26:16.680 children of their own. When they talk about education, who don't have families at this point

00:26:22.800 in their lives, there is a need for a generational change in politics. There is, that has always been

00:26:30.380 the case. And what we are seeing now is a nation with some of the oldest office holders in our history

00:26:38.040 in our national government. When you talk about a new generation, I tell you, Jake, it excites my heart

00:26:46.900 to think that the Republican Party will have that opportunity in 2022.

00:26:54.660 I certainly agree because I think we will, we all saw the tea leaves. We all see the way the

00:27:00.000 winds are shifting after the results in Virginia, New Jersey, and all over the country last month

00:27:06.220 with those, with those off year elections. I think we all understand that 2022 is going to be a wave

00:27:11.940 election. It's going to be a change election. But the crucial point that I would, the case that I'm

00:27:17.160 making to Arkansas and the case that's being made around the country is that if we retake slim

00:27:21.660 majorities with the same old, same old rhinos, nothing is going to change. We have to send

00:27:28.080 wartime conservatives and we have the opportunity to send a real conservative warrior to the House

00:27:33.900 of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and at state level elections, we have to take that opportunity

00:27:38.940 or else nothing is going to change. Yeah, I think you're exactly right. I want to get just quickly

00:27:45.700 here, and I do appreciate your time. I want to get your sense, first of all, of the radical Biden

00:27:52.600 agenda and what should be the Republican response to it. Well, we have to use the leverage that we

00:27:59.760 have. It was so disappointing to see us capitulate again on the debt limit fight. You know, we have to

00:28:07.460 squeeze these Democrats when we have the opportunity. We have to force them to come to terms and get rid

00:28:14.740 of some of these woke, radical, insane policies like these mandates. And one thing, Lou, we spoke about the

00:28:21.480 military, something that's near and dear to my heart. We saw the news yesterday. The first members of our

00:28:26.760 military, it was 27 members of the U.S. Air Force, were discharged for refusing to take the vaccine.

00:28:34.480 And, you know, this is, to me, this is, it's a watershed moment in the history of our military. I really

00:28:40.220 believe that you can't overstate the importance of this because not only is it a soft purge of some of

00:28:46.540 our best and most promising and most experienced war fighters, but this also has a chilling effect,

00:28:53.280 a chilling effect on military recruiting, because there's a lot of, you know, young and bold,

00:28:59.540 patriotic American, young adults, young men and women who would be great, they would be tremendous

00:29:05.280 additions to our military, but now they're going to be, you know, they're going to be disallowed from

00:29:10.320 joining because they don't want or don't need the vaccine. They have natural immunity. They're young

00:29:15.200 and healthy. You know, this virus statistically poses no danger to them. And so I think the consequences

00:29:21.520 of this policy, if it's not reversed, is going to be incredibly damaging for our military. It's going to

00:29:28.100 make America weaker. I think America got weaker yesterday when we had this soft purge of Air Force

00:29:33.280 personnel, and it's just going to reverberate throughout the different branches of our military, and it is

00:29:37.960 incredibly dangerous. It is dangerous, and it is, and frankly, it is, it speaks to the quality of

00:29:44.860 general leadership and general staff leadership in the military. We have for too long, in my opinion,

00:29:53.700 Jake, been listening to this long war doctrine put forward by General David Petraeus at one point,

00:30:01.880 and we have a whole generation of senior military officers, and I'm talking about generals and admirals,

00:30:07.540 generals at the Pentagon, who have made no sense out of the conflict that they have been engaged in for

00:30:16.020 in the case of Afghanistan for 20 years. In Iraq, you can, it's an arbitrary number, because that 0.91

00:30:23.640 conflict has lasted so long. It's, we've got to have new thinking, we've got to have new spirit,

00:30:29.360 and we've got to have new leadership. And it worries me that we're not getting that kind of urgency

00:30:37.000 within our military academies, and I speak primarily of West Point, where young warriors are not being

00:30:44.680 taught the cost of failure and how to avoid it. Not studying failure, they're studying battles,

00:30:51.320 but not the ones that we lost. And I think that's a terrible mistake, just among some of the issues.

00:30:57.740 And so many, I'll call it the, you know, diversity meetings, sensitivity sessions,

00:31:05.500 instead of how to kill the enemy, and to save the Republic.

00:31:10.700 You're exactly right. I mean, the mission of the US military is simple, it's inviolable,

00:31:15.900 as General Douglas MacArthur said, is to fight and win our nation's wars. There is no other mission for

00:31:21.900 our military than that. But unfortunately, as you said, you know, mostly through the the expansion,

00:31:27.180 I mean, here, here's a stat that I think a lot of people might not be aware of, you know,

00:31:31.980 on a per capita basis, the United States military has 300% more flag officers today than we did at

00:31:39.500 the height of World War Two. So we're talking about essentially what is, you know, welfare for

00:31:44.780 three and four star generals, we have all these overlapping commands, when no one is in,

00:31:49.180 when when everyone's in charge, no one's in charge. That's the situation. But you're exactly

00:31:54.380 right. I mean, can you I pause this question to Americans everywhere, you know, can you imagine

00:31:59.340 a General Douglas MacArthur or a General George S. Patton making it to high command in today's

00:32:04.860 military? I mean, or an admirable Halsey? I mean, that's just, it's laughable to think about,

00:32:10.140 because, you know, the existing command structure and incentive structure, you know, prevents people

00:32:16.700 like that from rising to the flag officer level. I mean, a lot of the most talented and promising

00:32:21.820 young officers, NCOs, they get at they get out after their initial commitment, because, you know,

00:32:27.500 they just they understand that, you know, hey, I'm not going to be able to play this bureaucratic game

00:32:31.180 for 25 and 30 years and, and just live this risk free political lifestyle to make it to three and

00:32:37.820 four stars. And so we have to change, we have to attack the incentive structure, and we have to get rid of

00:32:43.340 these politicians in uniform. And you're exactly right, we have to reform these military academies,

00:32:48.860 we have to get real, you know, real war fighters instructing, you know, our future officers,

00:32:54.620 learning the correct lessons, learning the correct, you know, anecdotes throughout history. And,

00:33:01.260 and, you know, learning, you know, not these diversity, equity and inclusion modules, but,

00:33:06.380 you know, actually how to fight and win our nation's wars and do it the right way. So,

00:33:09.740 you know, we have to have politicians and Washington political leaders who understand this,

00:33:14.140 you know, we have to have people on the armed services committees who understand this understand

00:33:17.740 the danger posed by the current status quo, and you have the courage to actually stand up and say,

00:33:22.780 I'm going to reform this. And, and we're learning something about the greatness of America,

00:33:31.500 America, when we accept the fact that we have a duty to be, to be all that we can be in serving this

00:33:41.260 nation, a servant of the values of this great nation. Instead, we have too many people who clearly,

00:33:52.220 clearly think that there is some sort of higher force that they should be attending to other than

00:33:58.780 God and country and family. They are badly mistaken. Jake, I just want to say it's been great,

00:34:07.740 great to listen to you and to hear your story and to hear your, your dreams and your, and your purpose.

00:34:15.980 I support you in, in achieving all of your goals. And I think that the people of Arkansas will be

00:34:23.740 doing exactly the same thing. And you've certainly established how you got to be a, an academic,

00:34:31.260 all American. You're a smart fellow, Jake. And it's nice to see it show when a man talks about

00:34:38.300 serving the United States in the United States Senate. I wish you well, I enjoyed talking with

00:34:45.180 you. Hope you'll come back soon. And as always, thank you for your service. And thank you for what you

00:34:52.540 will be doing for this country in the years ahead. Well, thank you, Lou. It was an honor to be on your

00:34:57.980 show. Thank you for everything you're doing for this country. And I look forward to speaking with

00:35:01.980 you again soon. Thank you, Jake. Appreciate it. Jake Beckett running for the U S Senate from the great

00:35:09.020 state of Arkansas. We will continue in just one moment. Stay with us. Our focus today is the unraveling

00:35:18.780 of the Biden foreign policy within less than a year has demonstrated what former Secretary of Defense

00:35:25.900 Bob Gates said about Joe Biden long ago, which is that Biden hasn't been right on a single foreign

00:35:32.700 policy issue in 40 years. President Biden lifted some of the sanctions against Iran. He said, trying to

00:35:40.300 begin diplomatic talks on the Iranian nuclear deal. But now he's telling his national security team to

00:35:46.460 prepare for a tougher stance on Iran, because Iran has done nothing to reward his lifting of sanctions

00:35:54.700 and moving ever closer to having a nuclear weapon. How close are they? Well, Israel's military has been

00:36:01.500 ordered to prepare for action against Iran should the Biden approach fail and the Iranians threaten the 0.69

00:36:07.740 region. And then President Biden is also contending, of course, with communist China, Vladimir Putin,

00:36:14.460 and his massing of troops on the Ukraine border. Joining us now is Fred flights, former chief of

00:36:20.860 staff of the National Security Council, deputy assistant to President Trump. Fred served for 25 years

00:36:27.180 with the CIA, the DIA, State Department and House Intelligence Committee staff. Fred, great to have you

00:36:33.660 with us here on the Great America show. Great to be here, Lou. Let's start with Iran, Israel preparing for a 0.70

00:36:40.860 military option against Iran. Do you believe the United States to be doing exactly the same thing? 0.65

00:36:48.540 Well, we all know that Biden's approach to Iran was exactly backwards. He came in trying to revive Obama's

00:36:56.860 terrible nuclear deal. And he was ready to make any appeasement necessary to get the Iranians to go 0.97

00:37:03.500 along. And the Iranians are just so crazy, they wouldn't agree that they won't even agree to meet 1.00

00:37:08.700 without diplomats. And before the recent round of talks into Vienna began, Iran and Iranian official

00:37:15.820 reminded the world that it still wants to wipe Israel off the map. And it turned out that not only was the 0.89

00:37:21.660 IAEA not the Iran not cooperating with the IAEA, Iran was physically harassing female Iranian inspectors.

00:37:29.500 So the situation is so bad. And with the surgeons nuclear program so bad, we're now we're hearing reports that

00:37:36.220 Israel's thinking of attacking. And I'm really hoping, Lou, that by Biden will finally walk away from these talks

00:37:43.180 and take an approach of tough sanctions. Well, it sounds like he's preparing to do something. But with Biden,

00:37:51.260 that's always the problem. The ambiguity and the potentiality of everything he talks about,

00:37:57.260 you can never put a timeframe on it, nor a shape to it, or anything that is approaching specificity.

00:38:05.820 And he sort of lets things drift forward. I just don't trust a responsible action by this president,

00:38:16.860 because of what you have said. I mean, he basically has been carrying the Obama water here,

00:38:22.140 trying to reconstitute part of his, Obama's haggard legacy in foreign policy.

00:38:30.220 You know, that's right. And as recently as last month, Biden officials were talking to the Israelis about

00:38:37.380 a partial nuclear deal with Iran in which we would give it some sanctions relief, and Iran would freeze part of its

00:38:44.140 program. The Israelis were appalled. They said this is appeasement. This is giving in to nuclear blackmail.

00:38:51.020 Well, it's mad. It's madness is what it is. It is. But, you know, Iran's behaved so badly. 1.00

00:38:56.620 There's new reports. It may start enriching uranium to weapons grade. That's 90 percent uranium 235.

00:39:02.780 Right. I'm thinking that they're going to eventually push Biden so far that even he can't agree to appease

00:39:11.980 Iran. I'm just praying that we'll get to that point. Well, this is what I find hard to comprehend. 1.00

00:39:20.860 Frankly, it's why our foreign policy, national security stalwarts with so much experience with Iran.

00:39:30.860 This isn't 1979. This is the 21st century. We're two decades into it. We should know what Iran is and how 0.98

00:39:41.420 to deal with them. And yet it appears we've learned nothing. This shouldn't be a Democrat or Republican

00:39:47.340 issue. It should be a U.S. national security position that is hard and absolutely directed

00:39:56.140 toward the national interest. But I swear to you, Tony Blinken, who is he and what is he thinking?

00:40:02.780 What is this president thinking? Tony Blinken, the Secretary of State, and Jake

00:40:07.580 Solomon, the national security advisor, aren't even B-team level experts. And they're supporting a

00:40:12.700 president who is clearly senile. They're obsessed with getting back into the nuclear deal because

00:40:17.660 they're angry that President Trump rightly got out of it. And they have this idea that

00:40:24.460 now that Biden's president, Trump is not, Iran will cooperate. But see, the problem is,

00:40:28.780 Lou, Iran hates us no matter who's in the White House. They hate our system of government. They are 0.99

00:40:35.100 a radical Islamist state. They hate modern society. They don't care that Biden's president. That doesn't 0.91

00:40:40.540 make us like the United States or make them want to cooperate with the United States.

00:40:46.140 And the Iranians persist in, as you say, refining the uranium. We know that now they have a tremendous 0.98

00:40:55.500 stockpile that has advanced to 60 percent and above in Richmond, putting them within striking distance

00:41:02.620 of the 90 percent threshold, as you point out, for the weapons-grade material. This is just not

00:41:13.260 acceptable. It can't be tolerated by not only the United States and Israel, but all of Western Europe. 0.72

00:41:21.260 They would have to be mad to put up with this. I know Europe's getting to that point. When they heard

00:41:27.580 about the 60 percent in Richmond, possibly weapons-grade in Richmond, and now there's new reports

00:41:33.020 that Iran may conduct a space launch. And these space launches were really tests of ICBMs. I think

00:41:40.540 the Europeans are close to being over the brink and that they will finally pull out. And I'm hoping 1.00

00:41:46.700 Biden will get there too. It would be nice, would it not, for the Europeans to join Western civilization 0.97

00:41:55.020 again and actually not be inert and passive and oblivious to the threats that surround them? I

00:42:04.380 believe that Vladimir Putin is also helping in that regard, Fred, with 175 to 200,000 troops now massed on

00:42:12.940 the eastern border of Ukraine with their tanks and rifles pointed directly at

00:42:20.460 the Ukraine. What do you make of it? And is Biden doing enough?

00:42:27.980 I'm not sure Putin plans to invade or not. I don't know whether this troop build-up is to get leverage

00:42:34.060 to divide NATO, but it is dividing NATO. I don't know if you heard that Biden said last week that he told

00:42:41.100 Putin that he'll have meetings with Russia with three or four other NATO members to talk about Russia's

00:42:47.820 differences with NATO. Well, Lou, we know what Russia's differences with NATO is. They don't

00:42:51.980 want it to exist. It exists to stop its expansion into Western Europe. To talk about how we're going

00:42:59.180 to negotiate its mandate is just absolutely silly. And it's frightening. The states are on the Russian 0.97

00:43:06.780 border who desperately need us to stand strong against what appears to be Russian preparation to

00:43:14.060 invade at least parts of Ukraine. NATO now at least is saying that there will be quote-unquote grave consequences

00:43:21.580 if Vladimir Putin invades Ukraine. That is completely unacceptable. It's idiotic to hear these warnings when

00:43:32.540 you've got a nuclear power with 200,000 of its troops. The only purpose, in my opinion, of which would be to

00:43:41.420 take advantage of an opportunity, exploit it, and invade Ukraine. We watched the same process with 0.95

00:43:48.540 Crimea, and not a single, single power, Western power raised a finger, for that matter, no one else,

00:43:56.220 and certainly in Europe, the most proximate potential victims of Russian aggression. I am absolutely

00:44:05.180 skeptical that there is any likelihood that the United States, Europe, will outwit Vladimir Putin

00:44:13.740 on the issue of Ukraine. What do you think? Well, you know, that's exactly right. When Russia invaded

00:44:20.700 Ukraine during the Obama administration, there were all kinds of threats against Russia. Where is it now?

00:44:26.220 It's now facing the same kind of threats. And I got to tell you, countries like Germany cannot afford

00:44:32.700 to stop receiving Russian gas because they shut down their nuclear plants. They've shut down their coal

00:44:38.140 plants. Winter's coming. Let's see what Germany is going to do when there's an invasion of Eastern 0.98

00:44:43.420 Ukraine. Are they really going to say no to that gas? I don't think so. Does NATO have the

00:44:49.740 the combined forces to actually stand up to Putin? I mean, if those tanks roll from Russia into Ukraine,

00:45:02.700 it's over. There is not time to have silly meetings, listen to another General Assembly and National

00:45:10.460 Security Council meeting at the United Nations. This will be over in the blink of an eye, and not a single

00:45:17.660 country, not a single defense alliance, NATO, is prepared for it. Vladimir Putin is prepared. Why

00:45:25.900 would he not? That becomes the question. I think that's right. But this touches on another issue.

00:45:31.980 I do not want to go to war with Russia over Ukraine. I don't want American troops in Ukraine.

00:45:37.020 We feel badly about what's going on in Ukraine, but we do not have strategic interest there. I'm an

00:45:40.860 America first guy, Lou, and I know you are too. We need to handle this carefully,

00:45:45.740 but not to say we will intervene militarily in a country that we know is in Russia's sphere of

00:45:52.060 influence. We need to pressure them not to invade it, but we should not be sending in American troops.

00:45:57.580 I couldn't agree with you more on that point, troops. But at the same time, to have no one leading,

00:46:07.100 you know, the leader of the free world is now for crying out loud, it's unbelievable as I even say this,

00:46:12.780 is Joe Biden. Do we really expect, you said he's senile. I think that he's just intellectually limited

00:46:21.820 and certainly has no inkling of what in the world our foreign policy should be or what our national

00:46:29.180 interest is. I can't imagine him saying to the NATO nations, you know, let's be sensible,

00:46:37.980 let's get organized and get around this. We will provide you and support you in every way possible.

00:46:44.620 But where are your troops and what are you doing and what is the plan if those tanks roll, gentlemen,

00:46:50.380 ladies? I just can't see that conversation happening because, first of all, they would probably laugh him 1.00

00:46:57.980 off the phone. It's amazing. He has not been president a year and his reputation and credibility

00:47:05.820 has been undermined to a level I don't think we've ever seen in an American president. And it's not

00:47:10.940 just Afghanistan. Every time he gives a public speech, every time he appears with a foreign leader,

00:47:16.460 he makes a fool of himself, Lou. He's undermining his credibility. And I mean, that's why he has G21

00:47:22.620 meetings. A lot of nations just don't show up because they have no interest in meeting with

00:47:27.980 the president of the United States. And I just think that is astounding. Yeah. They don't need

00:47:33.020 to be sharing in the embarrassment that he is sure to bring with him wherever he goes. So with that,

00:47:42.620 I think that right now Europe is frankly a sitting duck for Vladimir Putin and his military.

00:47:53.180 And I just can't imagine why he would move that many troops, that much equipment,

00:47:58.540 heavy equipment into position and not use it. I don't know. I also think he's a bit of a poker

00:48:07.500 player. He wants to see what he can extort from the United States and Western Europe. And he's already

00:48:13.740 doing that. He's already dividing NATO. And look, Biden has made statements to the Ukrainian government

00:48:20.860 to negotiate with Russia that are not in the Ukrainian government's interest that would

00:48:24.860 essentially seed these areas of Eastern Ukraine that that Russia has occupied Russian for pro-Russian

00:48:31.340 force of occupied that they basically would vote to break away. Biden doesn't understand what he's

00:48:36.700 saying in these discussions with these foreign leaders. Yeah. Perhaps he doesn't know that

00:48:43.180 that that that Eastern Ukraine is not unlike Crimea, that is Russian speakers, Russian culture,

00:48:51.100 Russo population, in point of fact, that would not be entirely, you know, against the idea of being a,

00:49:01.180 let's put it this way, a province of Russia. So, so where do we go from there? We've got

00:49:08.380 this man in the White House. He's ours.

00:49:10.380 What what happens to Europe? What happens to Poland? What happens to Ukraine? Maybe it's 0.94

00:49:17.660 pointless to hope for this, but I really wish that senior Democrats would pressure Biden to bring in

00:49:23.900 some competent foreign policy advisors, get rid of Blinken, get rid of Sullivan, put people in place

00:49:29.500 who would give him some sensible advice and stand up to him when he simply says things that make no sense,

00:49:35.100 because it's, you know, he's gonna be president for three more years. And if he leaves early,

00:49:40.220 my God, what would happen if Kamala Harris was there? I just think our influence is going to

00:49:46.540 fall and fall and fall under this president and our enemies are watching. They see historic

00:49:51.900 opportunities to do things in Taiwan, with Iran, with terrorist groups concerning Russia that they

00:49:58.700 would never do in other circumstances because of Biden.

00:50:01.100 Well, where are the generals who are criticizing Donald Trump at every step? Where is the Pentagon?

00:50:07.900 I mean, you're talking about a group. Those generals are a gaggle of louts who seem to be more interested

00:50:17.260 in politics and social issues than in taking our military to the level that we are prepared for any

00:50:27.260 any threat from any quarter. I feel no more confident of the, frankly, of the military

00:50:33.340 leadership than I do the civilian leadership at 1600 Pennsylvania. That's why I talk about the

00:50:39.500 foreign policy establishment. It's their Republican and Democratic administrations. It's what people want

00:50:45.820 to be part of so they feel credible and liked. And it's a real problem for this country. But Donald Trump

00:50:53.260 found out it was a real problem for him because people he thought he brought in who were legitimate

00:50:57.580 foreign policy experts, you know, they're, they're actually on the other side of the aisle. They're

00:51:01.900 not going to support anything he does. So that's why we're not seeing any protests on what Biden is

00:51:07.020 doing now. And they were happy to protest good policy by President Trump because of their, their,

00:51:12.380 their ideology.

00:51:12.780 When you say that they, you're talking about the military leadership.

00:51:15.580 I'm talking about the foreign policy establishment, the military.

00:51:18.060 Well, no, no, no, no. I want to, I want to focus. I want to focus on the military here for a minute,

00:51:21.820 Fred, if we may. Sure. I mean, the defense secretary, the chairman of the joint chiefs,

00:51:27.340 the staff right down the line, this, these generals have, have been abysmal in their military leadership.

00:51:35.180 They have not succeeded in missions. They have not, by the way, and I do give a great weight to the

00:51:42.140 fact that they have had some terrible leadership at the, at the White House. But that said,

00:51:48.300 these generals have not made any sense whatsoever of the past 20 years. And they've come up with

00:51:54.300 long war doctrines, which is exactly the opposite of what any, you know, it's, it's like saying,

00:51:59.820 why not just say failure, defeat, surrender, rather than long, long, the long doctrine.

00:52:08.860 And suddenly under Biden, they're just as quiet as church mice.

00:52:13.820 We need a culture change in the Pentagon. We know very well that these generals, their purpose in

00:52:20.860 life is to get jobs with Harvard or the Ford Foundation when they retire. They want the New

00:52:25.900 York Times to write nice things about them. They want to leak to important liberal newspapers,

00:52:30.780 so they'll be, they'll be well regarded. Don't forget the part about working for corporate America

00:52:36.540 and Wall Street so that they can put a few dollars in their pocket. I'm afraid that's right.

00:52:42.620 So let's, let's turn now to, you know, the number one. Now it's taken years. It's taken

00:52:49.260 Donald Trump being president of the United States. But finally, there is an understanding in this

00:52:54.940 country at, in every, I think, in every part of our society, that communist China is the number

00:53:02.460 one threat against the United States. But it took Donald Trump pounding his fist on a lectern

00:53:09.180 for several years before that was, well, even began to be comprehended by so many of our globalist

00:53:18.540 elites. And yet now with Joe Biden in the White House, they are doing exactly what Xi Jinping tells

00:53:28.540 them. And that includes taking dominion over the South China Sea. It means that Taiwan is under

00:53:35.980 constant threat. And the United States doesn't have an obvious policy in which any American citizen

00:53:42.700 could look over toward the east and say, in Washington, D.C., we know exactly what our leaders

00:53:51.580 would do. They would defend Taiwan. These would be the responses. There is this great cloud of

00:53:57.980 ambiguity once again and denial in Washington, D.C.

00:54:04.700 You know, the Chinese feared Donald Trump. They feared him because they knew he would take action.

00:54:10.380 He wasn't going to hesitate. He put sanctions and tariffs on them as often as he possibly could. You

00:54:16.300 know, he put a thousand sanctions on Iran. I divert a little bit. But I mean, Trump was a man of action.

00:54:21.820 There's no serious China policy for Joe Biden other than climate change. And the Chinese are 1.00

00:54:27.420 laughing at us when we send climate czar John Kerry to talk about climate change instead of the

00:54:35.180 persecution of the Uyghurs or Taiwan or Hong Kong. The Chinese know weakness and they know that this 1.00

00:54:41.820 is a time that they can exploit it. Well, one area where foreign policy, and this has been under

00:54:48.220 several presidents, has been strong. And that is in the seeming persecution of Julian Assange.

00:54:57.580 It now looks as though he will be coming back to the United States under some guarantees of his

00:55:06.140 treatment negotiated. But they're not apparently very strong guarantees. Your thoughts about Julian Assange,

00:55:14.700 why there has been this effort to crush this man? Well, Mike Pompeo described Julian Assange as a

00:55:21.900 non-state hostile intelligence service and said that it's clear that Assange has ties to Russia and he's

00:55:28.700 condemned him for his vindictive leaking against the U.S. military, refusing to redact names and the things he's leaked.

00:55:35.580 He's caused the deaths of many American soldiers. And he just leaks stuff. When a journalist gets

00:55:41.980 classified information and that they decide to publish it, they first have to decide is the release

00:55:47.100 of the information, is that more important than the damage it could do to national security or human

00:55:52.460 life? Assange is not a journalist because he's never made the determination. And that's why I want to see

00:55:57.420 him prosecuted. Okay. But what has been the point of the way in which the United States and our

00:56:05.740 allies in every way, the United Kingdom, you know, it's just been a mess. And no one seems to be to

00:56:12.860 have the guts to unravel this mess and say, Julian Assange, you are charged with this, this, this,

00:56:19.260 and this and the deaths of these agents, these Americans, and here are the facts and say it to the

00:56:25.260 American people. Instead, it's been an operation that was more, more akin to something that would be

00:56:32.300 carried out by the Soviet Union in its heyday. It's authoritarian. It is, it's despicable the way

00:56:40.540 in which he's been, in my judgment, held, persecuted, and attacked. Now, let me say this. If it is proved

00:56:49.260 that he did any of the things you just said, then we have a different situation. But there is a matter

00:56:54.700 of due process here. He, this is the United States. We're not some two bit, well, we didn't

00:57:01.980 used to be some two bit authoritarian state. No, I think you're right. I don't understand

00:57:08.220 the way this man has, has been accused and indicted and, and, and held. It seems to me it's, it's,

00:57:15.900 it has been a mess. I'm hoping that we're now coming to conclusion that there'll be some clear

00:57:20.700 charges. He'll be tried in a, in a, in a open trial. He'll have a chance to defend himself and then

00:57:27.260 we'll be done with it. But this has dragged out too long. And I don't think either Republican or

00:57:31.420 Democratic administrations had any clear strategy on how to deal with Assange. Yeah. You know, it,

00:57:38.460 sometimes it doesn't take a strategy. It's not that fancy a deal. Sometimes just doing the right thing,

00:57:44.860 the American thing is the way to operate. And all of that has been lost here. And I think it is, 0.64

00:57:53.580 it is certainly a slur on these administrations that have participated in it and our allies so-called

00:58:02.860 who have not been particularly helpful in getting to the, to the truth of the matter.

00:58:08.700 By the way, it's interesting that our, our brilliant journalistic class has not been particularly

00:58:16.620 intelligent either, or ambitious in telling his story. It's a sad story for him. And I do believe

00:58:23.420 for the country because of the way in which so many of our leaders have handled this with respect

00:58:29.180 to Mike Pompeo, you know, words are cheap. Doing the right thing is the requisite to be a leader of

00:58:36.940 the CIA or the state department posts that he held and could have been extremely helpful to the public's

00:58:45.340 right to know. Instead, it was quite the inverse. We have, as you know, the policy here of the last

00:58:53.260 word and you get it, Fred, the last word on this episode of the great America show.

00:59:00.780 Well, I'm really hoping that the Biden administration will realize it's time to walk away from these

00:59:06.460 nuclear toxic talks with Iran and return to President Trump's successful maximum pressure

00:59:12.300 strategy on Iran. It's the only way. I don't want a war with Iran, but I don't want talks that's going

00:59:17.740 to lead to appeasement. And my hope is that the Biden administration will recognize this as soon as

00:59:21.820 possible. Yeah. You know, what we have proved is that these leaders are not very good at war.

00:59:28.220 Uh, and the, and the shame of it is neither are those generals who are responsible for the,

00:59:36.060 the long war, uh, that, uh, was carried out for two decades in Afghanistan. With that said,

00:59:42.940 I appreciate, uh, as always your, your thoughtful analysis and your insight and, uh, come back soon,

00:59:49.660 Fred, if you would please. Okay. Good to be here. Thanks Lou. Fred flights, a great American.

00:59:55.100 Join us again tomorrow for the great America podcast. Stay in the fight. Truth,

01:00:00.140 justice, and the American way will prevail against all enemies, against all odds.

The Great America Show - January 06, 2022

TOO MANY GENERALS, NOT ENOUGH LEADERS

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