Triggered - Donald Trump Jr - The Hunt for Solutions: Interview with Rep Wesley Hunt | TRIGGERED Ep.246

00:06:23.000 Hey guys, welcome to another huge episode of Triggered.

00:06:26.000 So glad you're tuning in tonight.

00:06:28.000 Tonight we'll be joined in studio, live, by my good friend, Texas Congressman Wesley Hunt.

00:06:36.000 He was an Apache helicopter, a West Point graduate, comes from a family of West Point graduates, a great American, a good friend.

00:06:45.000 He's one tough fighter, and he's taken that fighter mentality to the United States House of Representatives.

00:06:52.000 We've had him on the show a couple of times.

00:06:54.000 It's always a fun interview.

00:06:56.000 We always get a little carried away, so it's going to be lively and a lot of fun, so I'm really looking forward to this one.

00:07:02.000 Remember, guys, to like, to share, to subscribe so you never miss one of these major episodes.

00:07:08.000 Download the Rumble app on your smart TV.

00:07:11.000 Let's keep getting the message out.

00:07:14.000 Remember, if you missed the show here, If you have friends that get their podcasts that way, make sure they download it.

00:07:22.000 Subscribe.

00:07:23.000 Check it out.

00:07:24.000 That's how we break the algorithm.

00:07:25.000 That's how we get the truth out there.

00:07:27.000 So keep doing it.

00:07:28.000 For all of the top headlines that we cover here on the show, check out my news app, MXM News, where you can get the mainstream news without the mainstream bias.

00:07:37.000 And of course, remember to check out our brave sponsors who have the guts to support this program.

00:07:44.000 And then...

00:07:50.000 Now, like I always say, we're cleaning out the waste inside the IRS.

00:07:55.000 But if you are still overwhelmed with back taxes or unfiled returns, Tax Network USA is here to help.

00:08:04.000 Tax Network USA is the nation's premier tax relief firm and has negotiated over $1 billion in tax relief for their clients.

00:08:12.000 Their services include penalty forgiveness, hardship programs, compromise solutions for lump sum settlements.

00:08:17.000 So whether you owe $10,000 or $10 million, their experts are ready to assist you.

00:08:24.000 To schedule a complimentary consultation, visit TNUSA.com slash Don Jr.

00:08:30.000 That's TN like tax network, TNUSA.com slash Don Jr.

00:08:36.000 It's a complimentary consultation.

00:08:38.000 You have nothing to lose.

00:08:39.000 If you have stuff outstanding, Don't take any chances.

00:08:43.000 Don't try to deal with the IRS alone.

00:08:45.000 Speak to the guys at Tax Network USA.

00:08:48.000 That's why I've partnered with Berna, a leader in self-defense, as an alternative to lethal force.

00:08:54.000 It was created by an avid group of gun owners.

00:08:57.000 Berna provides civilians, law enforcement officers, and security professionals with a safe, reliable, and effective non-lethal alternative to traditional firearms.

00:09:08.000 Here's one right here, okay?

00:09:10.000 The Burna launchers are effective, easy to use, and legal in all 50 states.

00:09:16.000 And most importantly, they will stop a threat when it matters most.

00:09:20.000 And with no background checks and the ability to ship directly to your doorstep, Burna ensures that safety is never out of reach.

00:09:28.000 Burna is American-made in Fort Wayne, Indiana, so have peace of mind and protect yourself.

00:09:34.000 Visit Burna, B-Y-R-N-A dot com. 1.00

00:09:38.000 Slash Don Jr., D-O-N-J-R, and receive 10% off the Burna bundles.

00:09:43.000 Again, that's B-Y-R-N-A dot com slash D-O-N-J-R. 1.00

00:09:48.000 Prepare for the future and diversify your savings with the Birch Gold Group.

00:09:52.000 Look, in the new year, with my father back in office, you're going to have a lot more money in your paycheck, and that means you're going to have a lot more opportunity to plan for the years and the decades ahead.

00:10:02.000 One way you can do that is by diversifying your portfolio into gold.

00:10:06.000 For over 20 years, Birch Gold Group has helped thousands of Americans protect their savings by converting an IRA or a 401k into an IRA in physical gold.

00:10:15.000 You can do that tax and penalty free, which is a big deal.

00:10:18.000 So to learn more, text DONJR to the number 989898 and claim your free, no obligation info kit on gold.

00:10:29.000 That's DONJR to the number 989898.

00:10:33.000 What do you have to lose?

00:10:34.000 Educate yourself.

00:10:35.000 Check it out.

00:10:36.000 Well, guys, joining me now, my good friend, Army veteran, Apache helicopter pilot, badass in Congress, Wesley Hunt.

00:10:46.000 Thank you for having me on, man.

00:10:46.000 How's it going, buddy?

00:10:47.000 Always happy to be here.

00:10:50.000 Wesley's one of the guests that I often get into a little bit of trouble with.

00:10:54.000 Here we go.

00:10:55.000 It's already started.

00:10:57.000 As a white man, there's certain things that's a little harder to say these days.

00:11:00.000 And we go off on these tangents, I'm like, you know what?

00:11:03.000 Dave Chappelle may or may not come up.

00:11:05.000 Yeah, Dave Chappelle came up a few minutes ago.

00:11:08.000 But listen, hey, I think the brothers of the GOP are doing pretty good right now.

00:11:08.000 We talk about that.

00:11:15.000 We're hanging in there.

00:11:16.000 Listen, you guys are fighting, keeping it real.

00:11:20.000 Listen, I think demographically in the last election, a lot of others kind of were like, okay, we get it now.

00:11:27.000 Enough of the BS.

00:11:28.000 Yes.

00:11:29.000 It's been a big deal.

00:11:30.000 I know Byron Donald's down here running for governor seems to be crushing it.

00:11:33.000 I was with him last week at the Bitcoin conference in Vegas.

00:11:37.000 I mean, he's working the rounds.

00:11:39.000 Yeah, we're proud of him.

00:11:39.000 He's doing great.

00:11:40.000 And so, you know, it's interesting because I'm watching some of the, you, Byron, actual real fighters.

00:11:48.000 It's so refreshing to see.

00:11:50.000 Do you see more of that talent being nurtured?

00:11:52.000 Do you see more people stepping in and willing to get in the game?

00:11:55.000 You know, not just supportive, but being, you know, getting...

00:11:59.000 I see it all the time.

00:12:00.000 I get asked this question a lot because people have seen us lead by example and they realize that we cannot let our country go by the wayside.

00:12:08.000 We have got to have fighters for this country.

00:12:10.000 And let me tell you something.

00:12:11.000 You bring up Byron and me and John James and Burgess.

00:12:14.000 We are the fearsome four.

00:12:16.000 But I will tell you that we are proud Americans first.

00:12:19.000 This is not about race, religion, color, or creed.

00:12:21.000 We are proud Americans.

00:12:22.000 And one in three black men voted for your father that last election.

00:12:27.000 One in three black men.

00:12:28.000 Why does that happen?

00:12:29.000 Well, you know, I imagine Hey, there's things you can say that are going to have more efficacy than if I say it.

00:12:43.000 You know, when Byron says it.

00:12:45.000 I mean, you're right.

00:12:46.000 You know, John James and Burgess.

00:12:48.000 Burgess, who's great.

00:12:49.000 I mean, I campaigned with him when he ran over in Utah, you know, originally. 0.99

00:12:52.000 He's a badass, and he just got it, and he was sick of this crap. 0.93

00:12:55.000 I imagine a lot of that community doesn't want to be displaced. 0.98

00:13:00.000 They see their kids.

00:13:02.000 They want them to have jobs.

00:13:03.000 They don't want them to be displaced by illegals. 0.99

00:13:04.000 They don't want other people getting all the free crap when they have to actually pay for it, not just for themselves, but for others. 0.96

00:13:10.000 They probably aren't a huge fan of men playing women's sports. 0.98

00:13:14.000 I know Burgess, that's a big one for him as someone who was literally a world-class athlete.

00:13:19.000 I imagine all those things are And that's what this movement is all about.

00:13:24.000 It's actually about common sense.

00:13:26.000 And what black people, not just black people, what all people want, what all fathers want, what all men want, they want their children to be protected.

00:13:33.000 They want to go home and feel safe.

00:13:35.000 They want their border to be protected.

00:13:36.000 And that has nothing to do with race.

00:13:38.000 And what I love about this movement and what we're seeing is this is the most diverse movement that we have seen in the history of this country.

00:13:45.000 Now, liberals, woke liberals will never admit that.

00:13:48.000 They'll never say it.

00:13:49.000 But at the end of the day, when you look at the exit polling and where the country is today and how the progress of this country is going, Most people are actually very satisfied with the direction of the country right now.

00:13:58.000 You know, I would think so.

00:13:59.000 I mean, I want to get into some of that because I do feel, you know, there seems to be this sentiment that, you know, hey, Congress itself, I know not you, but like, you know, it's still a body of 535 people, right?

00:14:12.000 Like, it's a lot.

00:14:14.000 Isn't doing enough.

00:14:15.000 You know, I know, you know, the White House is sort of asking about, you know.

00:14:19.000 Getting Congress to actually codify the doge cuts.

00:14:22.000 The doge cuts are incredibly popular.

00:14:24.000 No one wants to see that kind of waste, especially once it's been exposed.

00:14:28.000 But we can't talk about that.

00:14:30.000 And again, some of the stuff, I get it.

00:14:31.000 What people don't understand, some of it's discretionary spending.

00:14:34.000 You can do that.

00:14:35.000 Some of it, that's not necessarily in the bill right now because that's about the spending that's already sort of budgeted.

00:14:43.000 They're two different things.

00:14:44.000 So some people are missing.

00:14:45.000 The nuance, and of course the media and the Democrats are going to say, see, they're not doing anything.

00:14:49.000 So it's not entirely true, but talk about those spending cuts, and how do we get, not just the doge cuts, but some of the other things actually codified into law, right?

00:15:00.000 You can do it with an executive order, but that's not enough.

00:15:02.000 I don't want someone else to be able to stroke those away with a pen.

00:15:05.000 We've got to lock this stuff in.

00:15:06.000 Well, the first thing you brought up in this conversation was fighters.

00:15:09.000 We have to be willing to fight for this stuff, and no one's going to give us anything.

00:15:13.000 And with the right now three or four seat majority, a very slim margin, I understand it's very, very tough to get stuff passed and get stuff done.

00:15:20.000 But that doesn't mean that we don't fight to do it.

00:15:22.000 That doesn't mean that we don't show up to work every single week.

00:15:25.000 Let's bring it to the floor.

00:15:26.000 Let's see who descends it.

00:15:28.000 How do we whip these votes?

00:15:29.000 How do we get them on board to be on board with 77 million people who voted just for this?

00:15:35.000 One of my favorite things that I see on social media is whenever BJT does something, somebody literally goes up and they said, This is what I voted for.

00:15:44.000 Liberals come out and attack something.

00:15:45.000 What do they say?

00:15:46.000 Oh no, you can't attack this.

00:15:47.000 This is exactly what I voted for.

00:15:49.000 These deportations, this is exactly what I wanted. 1.00

00:15:51.000 So guess what?

00:15:52.000 We in Congress have got to reflect the American people and the sentiment of the American public.

00:15:56.000 We have to give the people what they want.

00:15:59.000 We work for them, not the other way around.

00:16:01.000 And so in order to get this done, we have got to have fighters and people that don't want to stand by the America First agenda because that's why we have the majority in the House.

00:16:09.000 That's why we have the Senate and the presidency. 0.96

00:16:10.000 Because of those principles, we've got to stick to it.

00:16:13.000 So what's taking so many of them so long?

00:16:16.000 I mean, because I see it as the kind of thing, hey, midterms are coming up.

00:16:19.000 Basically, we're in them, right?

00:16:21.000 Even if we're 18 months out, we're in them.

00:16:26.000 If the American people don't see people actually fighting for these things, if they're just like, oh, well, you know, it's fine.

00:16:31.000 We can preach to you about it when we're in the little room in Texas or wherever it may be.

00:16:36.000 But once we get to D.C., we don't actually do anything to effectuate that real change.

00:16:50.000 You know, I'll go do congressional testimony out there.

00:16:54.000 At this point, it's like Tuesday.

00:16:58.000 It's like my average day.

00:16:58.000 You know what I mean?

00:16:59.000 But people want to actually see that progress being made, not wasted on, you know, whatever contrived investigations they'll come up with, you know, as amplified by the media.

00:17:08.000 So this goes back to my point, too, about us.

00:17:12.000 I get it.

00:17:13.000 A slim majority.

00:17:14.000 You have people that are in swing districts-ish.

00:17:16.000 We have some members in California and New York that need something here to help them get re-elected.

00:17:22.000 I understand that.

00:17:23.000 I am not a crazy person.

00:17:25.000 But at the end of the day...

00:17:33.000 End of discussion.

00:17:34.000 If you don't get to the primaries, then you're not getting through the general election.

00:17:38.000 And keep in mind that a lot of people say, well, this agenda is not very popular.

00:17:42.000 That's not true.

00:17:43.000 It is wildly popular.

00:17:44.000 You have to turn off the TV and stop listening to disenfranchised liberals. 0.98

00:17:49.000 And stick to the script.

00:17:50.000 This is what the people want.

00:17:52.000 And we've got to put pressure on some of my colleagues, quite frankly, that they're squishy on this stuff.

00:17:57.000 Like, no, no, no.

00:17:58.000 We are here because of this.

00:18:00.000 We've got to work together.

00:18:01.000 So with the slim majority that you have, can you talk about that dynamic and that process of actually getting those things done?

00:18:07.000 Because you do see it.

00:18:08.000 It's like, well, I control the vote, so I'm going to start sticking all this pork in these things.

00:18:12.000 All the things that we don't really want.

00:18:15.000 As a voting populace, right?

00:18:16.000 The people don't want to see those things in there, the random payoffs and kickbacks.

00:18:20.000 Correct.

00:18:21.000 Even if it's for the benefit of people in that district, how do you stop that with a three-person majority?

00:18:26.000 Well, the beauty of what we've seen in the last two CRs that have gotten passed, the big, beautiful bill that got passed, and I think Mike Johnson is doing a good job with a slim majority.

00:18:35.000 Hats off to him at this time in history, one of the slimmest that we've ever seen in the history of this country.

00:18:40.000 It also helps when your father's the president.

00:18:42.000 Yeah.

00:18:43.000 So when he is able to whip votes and he is able to call people into the Oval Office and he is able to have these substantive conversations with members, it does move the needle.

00:18:52.000 And that's how we've gotten this far.

00:18:54.000 People are flummoxed.

00:18:55.000 They are completely flabbergasted at all that we've been able to get through.

00:18:59.000 And I'm here to tell you, I've sat in some of these meetings where your father would walk into conference and say, this is how it is.

00:19:06.000 We really need your vote.

00:19:07.000 I understand if maybe two of you are not going to, but if two aren't, we need everybody else.

00:19:13.000 And lo and behold, it happened.

00:19:15.000 We're living through historic times here, but that's because of strong leadership.

00:19:20.000 And so I think this trend is going to continue throughout the year, but you are right, as we approach the midterms, that's when we need to actually come together even more to support the agenda and not go rogue, just because you may be in a bit of a swing district.

00:19:33.000 We need all hands on deck.

00:19:35.000 So my father wasn't afraid to call out, you know, institutions like Harvard and some of the other universities It's about time.

00:19:44.000 I mean, do you agree that that was sort of a – obviously you do – that it's sort of a much-needed wake-up call to these universities who are basically pushing a globalist, often foreign-funded sort of agenda of indoctrination as opposed to providing basically sound pro-American education.

00:20:03.000 Things that make sense.

00:20:05.000 No more of the underwater basket weaving degrees and then people say, I want you to pay off my half a million dollar loan.

00:20:11.000 Make a plumber pay for it. 0.91

00:20:14.000 It doesn't seem right.

00:20:15.000 I mean, you went to West Point.

00:20:16.000 I mean, some of the stuff I hear out of even there.

00:20:18.000 It's like, it's the United States Military Academy.

00:20:22.000 And yet that was going on there.

00:20:24.000 What message should we be taking away from this stance?

00:20:27.000 And how do we actually achieve it?

00:20:29.000 Well, the good thing is the president put me on the West Point Board of Visitors.

00:20:33.000 Oh, very nice.

00:20:34.000 I will have some impact on the curriculum and what happens.

00:20:36.000 And my first meeting is on July the 11th, and I can't wait for that.

00:20:40.000 But when you look at some of these schools like Harvard, you have billions and billions of dollars in your endowment.

00:20:45.000 And then you're asking for federal funds to indoctrinate people, to teach people basically how to be anti-American.

00:20:51.000 You have, in some cases, virtual terrorists.

00:20:54.000 Sitting on campus, and we are paying you to do that, that's unacceptable.

00:20:58.000 So to finally have a White House that's willing to say, look, if you are going to use these funds to teach and to raise strong, smart Americans, and if you're going to spend on a bunch of BS, then guess what?

00:21:09.000 You're not getting any more money.

00:21:10.000 And by the way, this money for you is tax-free because it's a non-profit anyway.

00:21:15.000 Yeah, right.

00:21:16.000 Yeah, how do they have a $75 billion endowment, and then they're taking more money from the government.

00:21:21.000 They're doing research on stuff that no one needs research on.

00:21:24.000 None of it's actually verifiable.

00:21:25.000 I mean, it is...

00:21:31.000 Yes, and the fact that we are challenging this, this is why Elon was brought on board, this is why we have Doge.

00:21:36.000 We are finally looking at these things with a fine-tooth comb, and we're unveiling that a lot of this stuff has got to go, and the American public is here for it.

00:21:47.000 And this is the first time actually in the history of this country that we have seen something like this and actually seen somebody go through with it.

00:21:53.000 During the Obama years, they had that website up for a little while.

00:21:57.000 It was a Doge-like type program that they were trying to start.

00:22:00.000 That lasted all but for a cup of coffee because they didn't have the guts to see it through.

00:22:04.000 But the fact that we are actually looking at this and making cuts is very important for Congress to continue to codify these cuts because, again, this is what the American public wants.

00:22:15.000 We haven't done our job in 20 years, full disclosure.

00:22:18.000 Yeah.

00:22:19.000 We have not gotten to individual appropriations bills in 20 years.

00:22:23.000 And so this administration understands that.

00:22:26.000 We bring in Doge to actually go through what should be done, and then we as Congress have got to get back to voting on individual appropriations bills, codifying these cuts, and doing right by the American people.

00:22:36.000 So we've continually sort of seen these activist judges out there.

00:22:40.000 They're attempting to block common sense policies, things that people actually voted for, like with the Trump Liberation Day tariffs.

00:22:48.000 Again, that's a negotiating point, and it was very effective.

00:22:50.000 It brought people to the table.

00:22:51.000 These things actually make sense.

00:22:54.000 How do we ensure that the will of the people is reflected in my father's agenda and that you get these things done?

00:23:05.000 You know, that it isn't constantly thwarted by guys, you know, one of 600 and something judges around the country, all of a sudden assume more power than the president of the United States.

00:23:14.000 How do we stop these unelected judges from imposing their will, their politics into the agenda and into the future of America?

00:23:25.000 We have to continue to fight tooth and nail.

00:23:28.000 This America First agenda must continue, and we the people have an opportunity every two years to decide the direction of this country.

00:23:37.000 The midterms are coming.

00:23:39.000 We have President Trump for the next three years.

00:23:42.000 My guess is it says it's looking really good, too.

00:23:44.000 So at the end of the day, we the people who have spoken, got wrong.

00:23:49.000 Whoa, whoa.

00:23:50.000 I mean, yeah, yeah.

00:23:53.000 But of course.

00:23:55.000 Good answer, that was really, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:23:59.000 This could go one of two ways right now.

00:24:02.000 It could go really bad.

00:24:03.000 I'm down with that.

00:24:04.000 That would be awesome.

00:24:08.000 But I think as long as we continue to understand that We the people have an opportunity to continue what's going on.

00:24:17.000 And if you do not like the corruption that we have seen, if you don't like the hiding of all the money and all the funds and all of our money going to woke issues and indoctrination, then guess what?

00:24:27.000 We must, as a people, vote accordingly.

00:24:29.000 Now, it's our job.

00:24:30.000 It's our job to inform the people.

00:24:33.000 And this is where I feel like my colleagues, oftentimes, we don't speak up enough.

00:24:38.000 We don't fight hard enough.

00:24:40.000 We do not go out and spread the good word and tell the American public what's really going on, all of us, as a collective unit.

00:24:48.000 So this is where it's very, very important for us to understand that if we don't work together, then the American public is going to vote against it because we didn't get anything done.

00:24:56.000 We voted for this.

00:24:58.000 You know what?

00:24:58.000 They didn't do it.

00:24:59.000 To hell with them.

00:25:01.000 We've got to prevent that. 0.99

00:25:04.000 I know that you know that.

00:25:06.000 I know that.

00:25:07.000 I've been vocal about it for a long time.

00:25:09.000 I understand it's sort of an easy existence in Washington, D.C. to be a weak Republican.

00:25:14.000 You can be kind of Republican-like.

00:25:16.000 You can be like 90% Republican or conservative, but you don't face any consequences if you give up when it actually matters.

00:25:24.000 How is it that the left can make even, Defending MS-13.

00:25:33.000 And they have no problem going all in on that.

00:25:36.000 Whereas we do seem to still have a problem for a lot of your colleagues going all in on the 90-10 issues.

00:25:44.000 Yes.

00:25:44.000 Yes, so people are, it's very hard for people to try to walk a fine line and make a decision and stick with it and have the guts and the stones in the back.

00:25:54.000 to do it.

00:25:55.000 People have a hard time doing that and I understand that but also I will say this what we're seeing from the White House it's actually working.

00:26:01.000 You talk about the tariffs.

00:26:02.000 Presidents have been talking about this for decades but no one had the guts to actually take the short term loss for the long term gain.

00:26:13.000 When you show the American public that this actually is going to work, When we wake up in about a year from now, you see where the stock market is at.

00:26:21.000 And you see that we are in a better position from a manufacturing standpoint in this country.

00:26:25.000 You're going to look back at this tough leadership decision that had to be made.

00:26:28.000 You're going to say, it worked.

00:26:30.000 As opposed to having every run-of-the-mill politician that does this.

00:26:30.000 Thank you.

00:26:35.000 Oh, this bull said this.

00:26:37.000 Oh, this bull said that.

00:26:37.000 Go here.

00:26:38.000 Go this way, that way, this way, that way.

00:26:41.000 You're wishy-washy.

00:26:42.000 Then what happens?

00:26:43.000 Nothing.

00:26:44.000 So things are being enacted right now like Doge.

00:26:47.000 Like the tariffs.

00:26:48.000 Like what's happening on our southern border.

00:26:49.000 By the way, it's fixed.

00:26:51.000 You go to our southern border now, it's a fixed border.

00:26:55.000 We're trying really hard to do this.

00:26:56.000 Trump was able to do this in a month.

00:26:58.000 Just shut it down.

00:27:00.000 So the notion that, you know, What else could it possibly be?

00:27:07.000 Of course it was.

00:27:08.000 All they had to do was leave things alone.

00:27:10.000 Yes.

00:27:11.000 And I think the saying of we didn't need any more new laws.

00:27:15.000 We needed a new president.

00:27:17.000 No true has ever been spoken.

00:27:19.000 Do Americans understand, since we're talking a little bit about midterms, do they understand that even if there are some of these guys that are a little wishy-washy, that that's still more important than a Democrat?

00:27:29.000 Because that's what I'm worried about.

00:27:31.000 You see it in some of the special elections that have happened.

00:27:33.000 It's like, no, we got what we won and we're winning.

00:27:35.000 It's like, well, yeah, but you just lost the Wisconsin Supreme Court, so that's probably a state you lose when they redistricted and it's congressional seats that you lose because they will play every game imaginable with activist judges to do it.

00:27:44.000 But they were like, no, no, no, but we don't have to vote in that one.

00:27:46.000 It's not that important.

00:27:47.000 It's one seat.

00:27:49.000 Well, that one seat made a big difference.

00:27:50.000 How do we get that message out there that people understand that they still have to be engaged, they have to be involved, they can't rest on the laurels?

00:27:58.000 Hey, we won a presidential.

00:28:00.000 You win a presidential, you lose a House and Senate.

00:28:03.000 It's like none of it matters.

00:28:04.000 It's a two-year presidency, not a four-year presidency.

00:28:06.000 And the Democrats damn well know that.

00:28:07.000 That's a hell of a question.

00:28:08.000 This actually does kind of keep me up at night.

00:28:10.000 Because what we have to understand is a lot of people in this country, personally, me included, we didn't follow necessarily the Republican Party.

00:28:18.000 We followed President Trump.

00:28:19.000 We followed your father.

00:28:20.000 And so many people turned out to vote.

00:28:22.000 77 million people vote.

00:28:23.000 They didn't vote for the party.

00:28:25.000 They voted for the change that your father is enacting as we live and breathe.

00:28:31.000 And so we have to keep that fire going.

00:28:34.000 And it wasn't that long ago.

00:28:36.000 You are absolutely correct.

00:28:37.000 The midterms are upon us.

00:28:38.000 They are literally already here.

00:28:40.000 We're already having these conversations.

00:28:42.000 And so those same people that came out to vote in full force for MAGA have got to come out in full force again in the midterms.

00:28:50.000 And it's just hard to keep that fire burning, especially after, you know, honestly, it was one of the most amazing political years in the history of this country.

00:29:01.000 And it was an honor for me to even be a part of it and be able to campaign with your father and do all this stuff.

00:29:07.000 Yeah.

00:29:13.000 I want to see my dad in one of those boots that go up to here, the tighty-whities.

00:29:20.000 He'll never do it!

00:29:22.000 I'll never fully understand that one myself, but that's just me.

00:29:26.000 I'd rather be in the woods hunting and fishing, so it's a little different.

00:29:29.000 I'm okay with it.

00:29:30.000 But I was like, really?

00:29:32.000 But what is actually amazing, though, is during the campaign, and even now, you go to these places where you don't...

00:29:45.000 I mentioned I was in Vegas last week for the Bitcoin conference, and it's like, let's Las Vegas.

00:29:50.000 It's a big melting pot of people coming in from all over.

00:29:53.000 It's like, no negative to me.

00:29:57.000 Everyone's thumbs up.

00:29:58.000 I'm like, I almost wonder like, where is the Democrat Party?

00:30:01.000 Because you see these things and races are still close and whatever it may be, and yet I'm like, Well, the Democrats are also doing this solid because they are runnerless.

00:30:24.000 They have no leader.

00:30:26.000 It's the first time we've had a bench and they got, like, what do they got?

00:30:26.000 Yeah.

00:30:29.000 Like, they're like, come on, Harris will be a great president.

00:30:31.000 I'm like, really?

00:30:32.000 You're going to run that back.

00:30:33.000 AOC!

00:30:36.000 I'm writing them checks.

00:30:37.000 I'm like, you know...

00:30:40.000 bring them back please They don't have a bench.

00:30:45.000 They don't have a leader.

00:30:46.000 And now they're in trouble because they don't have anything to stand for.

00:30:50.000 They don't have anything to run for.

00:30:52.000 They can only run against our agenda.

00:30:54.000 And that's actually very helpful to us coming up in the midterms.

00:30:57.000 And I hope that they don't figure that out.

00:30:59.000 But that doesn't mean that we rest on our laurels and do nothing.

00:31:01.000 We have got to continue to deliver.

00:31:03.000 So, you know, over the last couple of weeks, obviously, you know, many Americans are rightly concerned about the How do we demand, how do we get transparency that the American people frankly deserve regarding the fitness of their commander-in-chief?

00:31:26.000 I mean, hell, you and I have been talking about this for four years, right?

00:31:29.000 But it was obvious that he wasn't there.

00:31:33.000 Well, who was in charge?

00:31:35.000 Who's controlling the auto pen?

00:31:37.000 It doesn't seem like that was actually anyone elected to actually do that job.

00:31:42.000 And now they're like, oh, oh, I didn't know.

00:31:44.000 My bad.

00:31:45.000 I'm like, well, you guys are in the room with them every day.

00:31:45.000 We had no idea.

00:31:48.000 How did you not know?

00:31:49.000 But I could watch on TV and in five minutes know, like, yeah, that ain't right.

00:31:53.000 How many White House press briefings were there?

00:31:56.000 Yeah.

00:31:56.000 How many times did Joe Biden Or get lost on a stage.

00:32:04.000 Or get lost on a Easter Bunny.

00:32:06.000 It was obvious to us what was going on.

00:32:08.000 The Easter Bunny won't.

00:32:09.000 I mean, if you guys don't remember that, I mean, it was literally the White House Easter Egg Roll.

00:32:13.000 I think it was last year.

00:32:14.000 And the Easter Bunny is grabbing me like, no, don't talk to me.

00:32:19.000 I mean, it was like, I mean.

00:32:20.000 We saw this.

00:32:22.000 With our own two eyes.

00:32:22.000 Yeah.

00:32:24.000 And people need to be held accountable for that.

00:32:24.000 Yeah.

00:32:27.000 Actually.

00:32:28.000 People have got to do that.

00:32:29.000 Does that actually happen?

00:32:30.000 It can happen when we're in charge.

00:32:33.000 Yeah.

00:32:33.000 But again, we have to fight for it.

00:32:35.000 And Democrats are going to say, you know, left and right, oh, no, it was toward the end.

00:32:39.000 We didn't know what was going on.

00:32:40.000 He was fine.

00:32:41.000 And if he was so fine, then why did Kamala Harris end up being the nominee?

00:32:45.000 Yeah.

00:32:46.000 Like, that's not that debate.

00:32:47.000 I mean, what are you talking about?

00:32:48.000 And, you know, you read all the stuff now about, you know, his cancer.

00:32:48.000 Well, of course.

00:32:51.000 And I don't wish cancer...

00:32:53.000 And they tried to...

00:32:57.000 Doesn't mean I like the guy, but I don't wish ill on anyone, really.

00:33:02.000 For the most part, yeah.

00:33:04.000 There's a couple, maybe.

00:33:06.000 There's always somebody, bro.

00:33:08.000 With him, it's almost hard.

00:33:10.000 His people did those things. 0.77

00:33:12.000 I don't think he's capable of even understanding it.

00:33:15.000 But that's part of the problem, right?

00:33:17.000 You see the cancer thing, and you're like, I mean, there's a blood test for that.

00:33:22.000 I got tested for prostate cancer this year because I hit an age where it makes sense to start looking at it.

00:33:29.000 It's like there's no way you can get to stage four and level nine on whatever the name of the test is and not know.

00:33:37.000 Yes.

00:33:37.000 And yet...

00:33:42.000 I mean, those things do go undiagnosed for people who can't afford any health care, don't give a shit, they don't bother. 0.98

00:33:47.000 I mean, this guy literally has his own team of doctors whose only job it is to make sure he's healthy. 0.97

00:33:53.000 How does that happen?

00:33:54.000 So this is, well, I think what's going to come out in the history books is this has been one of the largest cover-ups in American history.

00:34:00.000 Oh, it's got to be bigger than Watergate.

00:34:02.000 I mean, this makes Watergate look like kindergarten, right?

00:34:05.000 It's a choir boy compared to what we just saw for the last four years.

00:34:05.000 Absolutely.

00:34:08.000 And you asked a very poignant question.

00:34:11.000 Who was running our country?

00:34:13.000 Yeah.

00:34:14.000 And when you look at just how diametrically opposed the current administration is compared to, we know who's in charge now.

00:34:20.000 We know.

00:34:21.000 We know who's in charge.

00:34:30.000 You see, when you look at that contrast as to what we see now to then, again, it's up to us.

00:34:35.000 It's up to Jim Jordan.

00:34:37.000 It's up to our judiciary.

00:34:38.000 We cannot let this go, though.

00:34:40.000 And I'm going to push it to the best of my ability, to be honest with you, because this is borderline treasonous.

00:34:46.000 And we find out the people that did this, you lied to the American people.

00:34:50.000 For four years about the health of the president of the free world, that's unacceptable.

00:34:55.000 Yeah, I mean, even the media enablers who are now saying, hey, this is a really big scandal.

00:35:00.000 Fake Tapper was like, I'm like, what do you mean?

00:35:03.000 What are you talking about?

00:35:05.000 By the way, I don't mind it.

00:35:07.000 I hope they sort of go all in on the issue because I think a big part of preserving our democracy is actually eroding the credibility of the people who preach a lot about democracy but could not care less.

00:35:18.000 Yes.

00:35:19.000 And they preach about it, but see, now what you're finding out is, well, now they lost.

00:35:22.000 So now they get to come clean.

00:35:24.000 Yeah.

00:35:25.000 It's almost like the excuse, well, you know, Trump, he looked a little shaky there for half a second.

00:35:30.000 You know, it's almost like it's their excuse to go after him.

00:35:33.000 Like, remember, he walked down the, I think it was at the West Point graduation.

00:35:36.000 You know, he walked, it was raining, and he literally held on to the banister.

00:35:36.000 A couple years ago.

00:35:39.000 He's like, oh my God!

00:35:41.000 Look how slow he's going.

00:35:42.000 No, because he understands.

00:35:44.000 He's like, he doesn't want to wipe out on TV, unlike Joe Biden, who is totally comfortable.

00:35:47.000 He's like, I'm just not going to do it.

00:35:48.000 I don't mind holding the banister to not give them what they're looking for.

00:35:52.000 But when he did that, he was in the later stages of dementia and Alzheimer's combined, all sorts of other neurological issues.

00:36:01.000 It's like, I don't know, he just stood there and shook hands of every graduate going through there for three hours in the rain.

00:36:07.000 I imagine he's pretty capable, but that's the weakness you're going to pick up.

00:36:10.000 But you had no idea what was going on when Joe Biden froze mid-sentence for seven minutes and walked off a stage and got lost.

00:36:18.000 Or that debate.

00:36:19.000 Or the first debate.

00:36:21.000 Honestly, that was an interesting one.

00:36:23.000 I was with my daughter.

00:36:25.000 She's a big golfer. 1.00

00:36:26.000 I remember it very clearly because I was literally on a plane, jet blue, flying out west.

00:36:31.000 She was going to some golf tournament or clinic, whatever it was.

00:36:36.000 I'm watching this thing.

00:36:37.000 And at first I was like, yeah, yeah.

00:36:39.000 And then after I was like, man.

00:36:42.000 And again, given what they tried to do, it was like, I felt bad.

00:36:47.000 And then you start thinking about it even further and you're like, I feel bad for our country.

00:36:52.000 Because it's been rudderless.

00:36:54.000 And we saw what happened.

00:36:56.000 With weak leadership.

00:36:58.000 In four years, we went from a time of prosperity to a time of poverty.

00:37:02.000 We went from a time of peace to a time of war.

00:37:05.000 And it's like, when you look at what's going on, you know, Ukraine, right?

00:37:09.000 Like millions of people died for no reason, simply because America was a rudderless ship and we exuded weakness as opposed to strength.

00:37:15.000 And when you put it like that as a, as a warfighter.

00:37:22.000 You've been in the line of fire.

00:37:23.000 When you put it in those terms, it's a very somber thought.

00:37:28.000 It's a sobering feeling to think that because a few bureaucrats lied to the American people, millions of people died all over the world.

00:37:38.000 We had world peace.

00:37:39.000 We had the Abraham Accords. 0.99

00:37:41.000 I mean, we moved the embassy to Jerusalem and Israel.

00:37:43.000 So that means Hamas was like, hands off.

00:37:46.000 Iran was completely bankrupt.

00:37:48.000 We were doing everything right by leading from the front.

00:37:50.000 And you mean to tell me that in four years, all that goes to hell in a handbasket and people are dying because of feckless leadership?

00:37:58.000 That's a good point.

00:38:00.000 When you put in those terms, that actually gets me because it's unacceptable.

00:38:04.000 So when you take that further, we kind of touched on the auto pen a little bit, but, you know, the revelations about Biden's basically extensive use of auto pen, even, you know, for significant documents, you know, whether it's just pardons and you read the stories, you know, well, you know, Hunter was the guy that basically said to give himself a pardon and whatever it may be.

00:38:21.000 But I mean, this is, you know, I mean, even as detailed in like Yahoo News, like this isn't like...

00:38:26.000 conservatives people saying it.

00:38:28.000 I mean, Jake Tapper's doing the fake sort of like, oh my God, I can't believe we missed this.

00:38:32.000 It's a huge scandal.

00:38:33.000 Even those guys are saying it.

00:38:34.000 PBS is saying it.

00:38:36.000 I mean, it's deeply trouble, but doesn't this, you know, auto-penn presidency raise serious questions about who is actually in charge and bypass the accountability we expect from a No one knows about it.

00:38:58.000 There is no transparency.

00:39:01.000 That's perhaps even a bigger problem than the decline.

00:39:05.000 We had unelected officials that were running this country.

00:39:10.000 President Trump brings in Elon Musk's, and then the left freaks out and loses their mind because he's an unelected official.

00:39:18.000 But at least we know who's in charge and what he has been directed to do by the president and leader of the free world.

00:39:24.000 So the dichotomy here again is in America's face.

00:39:27.000 Here is the beauty of social media.

00:39:30.000 Here is the beauty of the lack of efficacy now for legacy media.

00:39:35.000 And that is, people are now seeing the truth.

00:39:38.000 Yeah, you needed four years.

00:39:40.000 I'm kind of glad.

00:39:40.000 That's my point.

00:39:41.000 Listen.

00:39:42.000 I'm glad we have that four years.

00:39:44.000 Not for those Russians that are dying.

00:39:46.000 Yeah, of course.

00:39:47.000 But for us, I'm glad that happened.

00:39:49.000 No one with a brain doesn't think we actually won 2020.

00:39:55.000 And I did countless hours of testimony because of it and all the stuff.

00:39:59.000 And the J6 committee, and I'm brought up because I'm apparently a terrorist insurrectionist and all these things.

00:40:04.000 I didn't know.

00:40:05.000 Listen, I'm a reasonable guy. 0.96

00:40:08.000 I may break balls a lot.

00:40:09.000 I don't know that I would air our private conversations on this. 0.97

00:40:14.000 Maybe not.

00:40:15.000 It's edgy.

00:40:19.000 It matters.

00:40:21.000 Does Congress have oversight here?

00:40:24.000 Do they have, you know, not just the ability to do it, but the will to actually get to the bottom of this?

00:40:29.000 Because I do feel like, Nailed it.

00:40:35.000 The ability, absolutely.

00:40:36.000 The will, that's the question.

00:40:38.000 Those are two different conversations.

00:40:40.000 I have the will.

00:40:41.000 I tell you that.

00:40:42.000 Me and my colleagues have the will.

00:40:44.000 I promise you that.

00:40:44.000 But this also translates to leadership.

00:40:48.000 And look, we have got to hold our leaders accountable as well.

00:40:53.000 This goes for Speaker Johnson on down the line.

00:40:55.000 This goes for Johnson.

00:40:56.000 This goes for Scalise.

00:40:57.000 This goes for Emmer.

00:40:58.000 This goes for everyone who's in leadership.

00:41:00.000 Look, this is what we want as well.

00:41:03.000 And I kind of have a general rule.

00:41:05.000 I don't like speaking ill of fellow Republicans and of leadership.

00:41:07.000 I'm a military guy.

00:41:08.000 I get it.

00:41:08.000 They are in charge.

00:41:10.000 But it's also up to them to lead us down this path to get this kind of stuff done, too.

00:41:16.000 Speaking of leadership, what do you see happening in the military right now?

00:41:20.000 I'm glad to hear you're back.

00:41:21.000 You're going to be on, I guess, the board at West Point.

00:41:25.000 I always laugh.

00:41:27.000 I see the pictures of Millie, and he's got awards like this.

00:41:30.000 Having never won a war, minor details.

00:41:32.000 And then you see Eisenhower, who won World War II, and he's got one little thing there.

00:41:39.000 What's happening in that?

00:41:40.000 Because it does seem, A, disgraceful.

00:41:43.000 And for so long, these people were beyond reproach because they were in the military.

00:41:48.000 respect someone's service, but also call out the nonsense or the activism that doesn't serve the objective of the United States military.

00:41:57.000 Obviously, like so many other things, the swamp there is pretty deep too.

00:42:02.000 Well, I think we're doing it as we speak.

00:42:07.000 I love the fact.

00:42:09.000 That we are talking about warfighting and getting back to warfighting and no more woke DEI stuff.

00:42:15.000 And like I said, I've been black for a very long time.

00:42:18.000 Really?

00:42:18.000 Like my whole life, dude.

00:42:20.000 Wait, wait.

00:42:21.000 Literally, like my whole life.

00:42:22.000 I wasn't sure if that was like that. 0.99

00:42:27.000 I'm going to get in so much fucking trouble. 0.99

00:42:31.000 You're good. 0.99

00:42:32.000 By the way, we should actually talk about the racing because it's like...

00:42:38.000 But then when someone else says, oh my god, Don Jr. said this to a black man, it was like, clearly we should be able to have those conversations. 0.73

00:42:47.000 That's what eliminates racism.

00:42:50.000 I'm not saying racism isn't still a problem.

00:42:53.000 In the country, it's just not the cause of and solution for all of life's problems.

00:42:57.000 This is camaraderie.

00:42:58.000 This is the military that I grew up in.

00:43:00.000 Yeah, we have fun.

00:43:01.000 Yeah, we're frank.

00:43:02.000 We're honest.

00:43:02.000 We can give each other a tough time without always being so damn offended all the time.

00:43:09.000 Well, because that's my rule, like with my friends, like, I'm like, yeah. 0.94

00:43:13.000 The second I stop breaking balls, that's when you're not my friend.

00:43:16.000 If I'm not breaking balls, that's when you actually have to start worrying that there's something amiss. 0.98

00:43:22.000 Yes. 0.57

00:43:23.000 And that's how we are as human beings.

00:43:25.000 And so our military, if you notice, the last few months, we're seeing a record of recruiting.

00:43:30.000 People are coming back to the military.

00:43:32.000 Young people wanting to serve. 0.99

00:43:33.000 Just in my district, I nominated 17 brave men and women to join the academies out of my district alone.

00:43:40.000 Just last week.

00:43:43.000 I'll talk to you about this later.

00:43:44.000 My son is actually, with the changes he's watching, he's thinking about doing that himself.

00:43:50.000 By the way, there was a time eight months ago.

00:43:56.000 I went to boarding school in central Pennsylvania, a place called the Hill School.

00:44:00.000 It was the number one feeder school to the Naval Academy and to West Point.

00:44:03.000 25% of my graduating class literally went to the Academy.

00:44:06.000 I know a lot of guys that did that.

00:44:07.000 I know a lot of guys that served.

00:44:10.000 And yet, eight months ago, I'd have said, no way.

00:44:14.000 Not because I don't love my country, but because I don't want you being led by a trans admiral who's only there because they're trans, not because they're actually leaders. 0.97

00:44:22.000 Like, I don't want my son's life.

00:44:25.000 Am I wrong?

00:44:26.000 You are so right.

00:44:27.000 No, you wouldn't do it.

00:44:28.000 You wouldn't have.

00:44:28.000 The conversations that we have behind closed doors with my friends.

00:44:31.000 Yeah, the amount of vets that I know that are fourth generation military, and they're like, I'd never let my kid do it.

00:44:37.000 You know, I think that's changing.

00:44:39.000 But that was a real thing, and it was as evidenced by the recruitment numbers.

00:44:44.000 Because people want to serve this country.

00:44:46.000 Young people want to serve this country. 0.98

00:44:48.000 If a leader sends you to war or sends you to go somewhere, it's for a damn good reason or for a damn good cause. 0.97

00:44:54.000 And you trust that. 0.55

00:44:55.000 But if we only need us, this is a break in case of emergency type scenario. 0.91

00:45:00.000 And by the time we are deployed, we are kicking ass and taking names. 0.82

00:45:05.000 That's the whole point of the military. 0.93

00:45:06.000 We have that posture again.

00:45:10.000 Patriotism.

00:45:11.000 I've noticed this last Memorial Day and over the course of the past few months, patriotism is cool again.

00:45:17.000 It was always cool.

00:45:19.000 It was always cool, but now it's back.

00:45:23.000 It's back in the sense of when I drive around and I have an American flag, especially every day on election year, I have a Ford F-250, and I have an American flag fly out the back of it, especially when we won.

00:45:36.000 And the people that are honking their horns.

00:45:38.000 People that are excited.

00:45:39.000 People are excited about no longer kneeling for the flag, standing up, believing in something.

00:45:44.000 You know, American exceptionalism.

00:45:46.000 Like, we are so back.

00:45:48.000 That sentiment.

00:45:49.000 That's why people are signing up to serve again.

00:45:51.000 And then I'll tell you this too.

00:45:52.000 The warfighting posture is changing.

00:45:55.000 The advent of Space Force.

00:45:57.000 Brilliant.

00:45:58.000 Because we're moving away from kinetic operations.

00:46:00.000 We're moving more to UAV.

00:46:03.000 We're moving more to cybersecurity and AI.

00:46:05.000 The fact that we are embracing this, we need young, smart people to lead the fight for the future.

00:46:10.000 And it's going to be far more cerebral than it was before.

00:46:13.000 This is why it's so important.

00:46:15.000 And I hope your boy, let me know.

00:46:16.000 I mean, he needs to go to West Point, too, by the way.

00:46:18.000 I don't know He was looking at Navy But I was like You don't want him going boating.

00:46:28.000 What are you doing?

00:46:30.000 You live in Florida.

00:46:31.000 You go boating every weekend.

00:46:33.000 Do something a little bit different.

00:46:34.000 Change it up.

00:46:36.000 Talk for a second about Pete Hegseth.

00:46:39.000 Because, I mean, man, you see the attacks on him, which means, obviously, you're over the target, right?

00:46:44.000 And I'm biased because he's a friend, and I've known him, you know.

00:46:47.000 For years, through New York and everything like that.

00:46:49.000 What do you see there?

00:46:50.000 So it's really...

00:46:52.000 So, this is obviously a shift from what we've seen traditionally from Secretary of Defenses.

00:46:57.000 And I'm here for it.

00:46:59.000 You have a guy that is a warfighter that is under the age of 111 years old, like most of these guys are.

00:47:06.000 He's young, and he is a person that understands the warfighter and what we need.

00:47:11.000 I love the fact that we're changing bases back to what they were called.

00:47:14.000 Who cares about what the name of a base is?

00:47:18.000 It's the history of the base.

00:47:20.000 And there's a reason why it's that way.

00:47:21.000 And by the way, guys like...

00:47:23.000 You've been for it, bragging for it, bragging again?

00:47:25.000 I didn't know what they even changed it to.

00:47:28.000 I still don't know what they changed it to.

00:47:29.000 I thought of the question.

00:47:30.000 I'm like, what was it? 0.99

00:47:30.000 Fort Liberty or some bullshit? 0.99

00:47:32.000 Fort Hood was funny. 0.99

00:47:36.000 This doesn't make sense.

00:47:37.000 And I used to shoot down there because I was a competitive shooter, so they'd have matches there with high power and all that stuff.

00:47:41.000 So I was like, Like, of course it's still for a break.

00:47:43.000 Correct.

00:47:44.000 Correct.

00:47:44.000 But you have a guy that's not a part of the swamp.

00:47:46.000 The best question was during his testimony that he gave when Elizabeth Warren asked him if he would, like the generals before him, would he go work for, we go lobby for the defense firm and he goes, well, I'm not a general.

00:48:01.000 Yeah.

00:48:02.000 She was flabbergasted.

00:48:03.000 She's like, oh my gosh. 0.85

00:48:04.000 This is a break from that tradition because when you're a three and a four star general, you know what you are?

00:48:10.000 You're also a politician.

00:48:11.000 By the way, you only get to that point.

00:48:13.000 The actual war fighters never get there because they're unwilling to play the game.

00:48:17.000 They'll speak their mind.

00:48:17.000 Exactly.

00:48:19.000 And then they go home.

00:48:20.000 To get there, you gotta be a politician, but when you have a strong president, we Four-star generals have a hard time doing that.

00:48:31.000 And therefore, they don't execute the agenda of the leader of the free world.

00:48:35.000 And I think that's what Pete is doing.

00:48:36.000 He is executing the agenda of the president, which is the whole point as the Secretary of Defense.

00:48:41.000 You mentioned UAVs, all the stuff.

00:48:44.000 You see some of these videos coming out of Russia, Ukraine with the drones.

00:48:47.000 You flew Apache helicopters.

00:48:48.000 I know guys that, you know, like whether I graduated high school from them Talk about drones.

00:48:57.000 Real men.

00:48:58.000 Some of these guys were like, hey man, if we flew over some of these airspaces, even in these $100 billion planes, we could be out of the air in 30 seconds.

00:49:08.000 Talk about the dynamic of the change in warfare.

00:49:12.000 Because I think a big part of what we need is to be prepared to do that, peace through strength.

00:49:16.000 But it does feel like...

00:49:20.000 He's like, well, he was a fighter pilot, so 30 years later he still loves planes and wants this, but they may not actually be as relevant.

00:49:26.000 When a $400 drone can take out a $100 million aircraft, that's a problem.

00:49:31.000 As a helicopter pilot, probably even worse because you don't even have the advantage of speed.

00:49:31.000 Yes.

00:49:35.000 You're not injecting.

00:49:36.000 By the way, you could.

00:49:36.000 You're not injecting.

00:49:37.000 You're going out, but you don't.

00:49:39.000 That was like the old Polish joke.

00:49:41.000 It was like a helicopter with an ejector.

00:49:43.000 You know what?

00:49:44.000 Probably not ideal.

00:49:46.000 Not ideal.

00:49:47.000 You know, what do you see changing in that?

00:49:48.000 Because, I mean, it is—you see some of these videos right now, and there's a soldier, he's unarmed, he's wounded, and he's lying on a field, and there's a drone hovering over him, and you know it's just a matter of time.

00:49:58.000 It's like having, you know, a thousand snipers on a battlefield in World War II.

00:50:03.000 You don't know who any of them are, but one of them has their crosshairs trained on you that whole time.

00:50:07.000 That's a big change.

00:50:08.000 Are we adapting fast enough?

00:50:10.000 Because it feels like the evolution of warfare in the last couple years over there.

00:50:14.000 Has changed entirely.

00:50:16.000 You know, a $300 drone is taking out 20 guys in a tank or armored personnel like that.

00:50:22.000 Are we adapting fast enough for this?

00:50:24.000 It's changed remarkably.

00:50:25.000 So keep in mind, I mean, I was in Iraq war, you know, almost 20 years ago.

00:50:30.000 Yeah.

00:50:30.000 And so from where it was, from where warfighting was then when I got to West Point to where it is now post-911, it's unbelievably different.

00:50:39.000 We can shift, and this country can do anything.

00:50:41.000 We are still the greatest fighting force in the world, but we have to prioritize the modernization.

00:50:47.000 Also, we have to understand this, too.

00:50:49.000 Having legacy pilots and having legacy practitioners that understand the ways of the old or how we get the ways of the new.

00:50:57.000 So you need to have a little bit of both, but there needs to be a decided turnover as to the direction of the military moving forward.

00:51:06.000 Right now, we're getting that leadership.

00:51:09.000 But before, we weren't getting that leadership.

00:51:11.000 You see, we would continue to pay Lockheed because, well, we had this contract for the F, fill in the blank, and we were promised that it's going to last for the next 20 years.

00:51:20.000 What if we don't need it anymore?

00:51:21.000 Well, now we have a Secretary of Defense and the President that's going to say, we don't need it anymore.

00:51:25.000 How can we best use those funds?

00:51:27.000 Well, at the same time, making sure that we stay trained up and ready to go, you know, if at a moment's notice, if need be.

00:51:35.000 But right now, the process is we've got to modernize our force to ensure that we can fight the battles of the future, and it's not like it was 20 years ago.

00:51:46.000 And so again, a lot of AI, the advent of Space Force, a lot of satellite data, a lot of quant.

00:51:55.000 These are the kinds of things that we have to start modernizing, and we have to be deliberate about it.

00:52:00.000 We can't be the guys that are just waiting for it to happen to us, or when you see what China does first, or stick our finger in the air. 0.65

00:52:07.000 We've got to lead from the front on this stuff, and we are doing it now.

00:52:10.000 I'm glad to hear that.

00:52:11.000 I've got to ask you about James Comey.

00:52:13.000 When he put up there the...

00:52:24.000 Fell into total alignment while on a romantic walk on the beach.

00:52:28.000 I mean, give me a break.

00:52:29.000 86-47.

00:52:31.000 I mean, it felt like an obvious, you know, whether attack or, you know, a sanctioning of a potential attack of someone who's, by the way, been shot, you know, already and, you know, had another sniper in a, you know, in a bush, you know, two assassination attempts.

00:52:47.000 But, you know, it felt like an obvious attack against a, you know, from a former disgruntled Who knows better?

00:52:56.000 This isn't someone that's like, oh, I've heard this term before.

00:52:58.000 This was the head of the FBI.

00:53:00.000 And as incompetent as he was in those roles, as corrupted as he was, as partisan as he was, that can't be the case, especially when you look at the history of what they tried to do to my father.

00:53:13.000 How should we deal with these individuals from the deep state who, even after leaving office, continue to sort of undermine Handcuffs.

00:53:25.000 Handcuffs.

00:53:27.000 And I say that with passion, and I'm not kidding, nor am I being hyperbolic when I say that, because that is unacceptable.

00:53:36.000 Because I don't care how you feel about the current president that is our president.

00:53:41.000 That is the leader of the free world.

00:53:43.000 And so when you demean him and you undermine and you usurp his authority as somebody that knows better, as somebody that was in a position of high authority, what do you signal to the entire world?

00:53:57.000 You, in essence, are weakening us and you are the former head of the FBI.

00:54:02.000 The consequences for you should be far greater than any layman on the street that does the same thing.

00:54:08.000 You are, by definition, held to a higher standard.

00:54:11.000 And by the way, he got called in.

00:54:13.000 I don't think they put handcuffs on him, but he deserves it.

00:54:16.000 And also, he needs to be made an example of, we don't behave that way.

00:54:21.000 And by the way, that goes for us too.

00:54:23.000 Well, by the way, I have a feeling if I did it or if you did it or if anyone on our side of the bench did it.

00:54:28.000 So now we're talking.

00:54:29.000 Yes.

00:54:33.000 I mean, the amount of people I know from, you know, January 6th who are peaceful, you know, they're standing inside the velvet ropes taking selfies.

00:54:38.000 It's like what happened to you.

00:54:40.000 Well, yeah, I don't even want to use myself as an example.

00:54:42.000 But it's true.

00:54:42.000 But, you know, we'd be in jail.

00:54:45.000 Yeah, they wanted to put me in jail for life and or the death penalty for Russia, Russia, Russia. 0.99

00:54:48.000 Everyone now knows it was bullshit. 1.00

00:54:50.000 Everyone knows. 0.99

00:54:50.000 But it didn't matter at the time. 0.99

00:54:51.000 And if they could get away with it, or if what they told Paul Manafort, which is basically, hey, if you give us Don Jr., you're out of trouble as long as we can put him in jail for 25 years.

00:55:01.000 We're playing a different game.

00:55:03.000 They have no moral compass, and they're willing to do anything to maintain power.

00:55:07.000 Bingo.

00:55:07.000 They have no moral compass.

00:55:09.000 we are principal, right?

00:55:10.000 We look at that and we say, well, we didn't win.

00:55:12.000 We lost.

00:55:15.000 We're winning it in four years.

00:55:16.000 We'll try again.

00:55:17.000 These people will cheat, they will maim, and they will steal to get whatever they want.

00:55:22.000 And so, look, I'm not saying that we stoop to their level.

00:55:24.000 You know, what's the saying?

00:55:25.000 If they go low, we go lower.

00:55:28.000 But sometimes you've got to fight fire with fire.

00:55:30.000 And this is something that my father taught me, one of the greatest men that I know.

00:55:35.000 My dad was always big on, look, you can put a smile on your face, you be a nice guy, you treat people kindly, but don't let anybody walk over you or else they will continue to do it in perpetuity.

00:55:45.000 So at some point, we have to fight back the exact same way that they would fight back against us.

00:55:50.000 So what is the role for the FBI and Congress in uncovering all of these scandals, really?

00:55:58.000 Whether it's this or, frankly, all of the other scandals that Comey was clearly the ringleader of before.

00:56:04.000 How do all of you guys work together to get to the bottom of what actually happened so that people understand and that there's actual accountability?

00:56:12.000 So, you know, the favorite word, Capitol Hill is investigation.

00:56:17.000 Yeah.

00:56:18.000 Investigation, investigation, investigation.

00:56:20.000 All you hear every day is we need more.

00:56:21.000 We need more investigations like we need a hole in our head.

00:56:24.000 What we need is we need results from said investigations.

00:56:29.000 Yeah.

00:56:29.000 We need transparency to the American people from said investigations.

00:56:33.000 Yeah, because the investigation is always just like a stall attack.

00:56:35.000 You do not have to deal with anything.

00:56:35.000 It just stops.

00:56:36.000 And then when I'm talking to Chris Ray on the House Judiciary Committee and he's lying to my face.

00:56:42.000 Basically lying to my face about the shooter that day in Butler.

00:56:46.000 And I'm listening.

00:56:47.000 I'm watching this guy literally sit there and lie to my face.

00:56:49.000 And the only thing he kept saying, well, is this under investigation?

00:56:51.000 We don't know.

00:56:52.000 I can't answer that question because it's under investigation.

00:56:52.000 Currently under investigation.

00:56:55.000 Yeah.

00:56:56.000 What are the results of the investigation?

00:56:58.000 And then what are the consequences?

00:57:00.000 Now, we can do that.

00:57:02.000 We can do that.

00:57:03.000 The issue that happens a lot of times is that we have these investigations.

00:57:06.000 It's filibustering.

00:57:07.000 Yeah.

00:57:08.000 And it goes through the midterms.

00:57:09.000 It goes through the next presidential cycle.

00:57:09.000 Yeah.

00:57:11.000 And then it switches hands from Republicans to Democrats and Democrats to Republicans, which is why we have to act now while we are in charge to get to the bottom of it.

00:57:21.000 And I'm not sure we could put them all in handcuffs.

00:57:23.000 What we can do is let the American public know the results of the investigation and let them decide.

00:57:29.000 Yeah.

00:57:29.000 And when you see Comey pitching a book and all these other guys getting on boards, you know, even if they're not walked out in handcuffs, I imagine there'd be a much more reluctance for these people to be promoted and given spots on.

00:57:49.000 You know, the pundits.

00:57:51.000 And then they do the opposite.

00:57:52.000 Other guys, like, it's like Brett Favre simply because he was willing to open his mouth.

00:57:56.000 And now he has nothing.

00:57:57.000 Now all of his endorsements are gone or this, that, and the third because maybe a few shady ideas, but the Court of Public Opinion spoke.

00:58:04.000 Because we got to the end of the investigation.

00:58:07.000 So I guess that's the same thing as it relates.

00:58:09.000 We touched on the border.

00:58:10.000 We've got it done.

00:58:11.000 But we're also dealing with Democrats.

00:58:15.000 We're dealing with the activist judges that are basically handcuffing ICE. 1.00

00:58:19.000 This was in the 70s.

00:58:23.000 As a political issue, a big deal. 0.99

00:58:24.000 People were like, no more of this border crap. 1.00

00:58:26.000 We want the criminals out. 1.00

00:58:27.000 They let in 13,000 murderers.

00:58:29.000 They let in 16,000 rapists.

00:58:31.000 You spread that out over.

00:58:32.000 You know, what, the 4,000 counties of America?

00:58:34.000 You know, hey, who doesn't want to, you know, five or six or ten, you know, rapists and murderers in their own county?

00:58:40.000 Like, how do we get that done, again, to make the legislative side enact this so that it's permanent?

00:58:47.000 Because, again, that's the problem, right?

00:58:48.000 The executive order's great. 1.00

00:58:50.000 Tom Homan's, like, central casting for this shit. 0.99

00:58:53.000 But, like, you know, you lose an election, like, they may just open it back up. 0.99

00:58:53.000 He's going to get done. 0.99

00:58:59.000 Against the will of the people because they can and because they're trying to stack elections for the future by bringing in dependents who aren't going to add value.

00:59:05.000 But we'll vote for the free stuff.

00:59:06.000 Correct.

00:59:07.000 And I'm in Texas.

00:59:08.000 So we felt the brunt of this.

00:59:11.000 And we saw what can happen when you just have a strong leader that signs a couple of executive orders and the border gets fixed.

00:59:17.000 You start seeing us being respected.

00:59:19.000 You start seeing us having a southern border.

00:59:22.000 But that shouldn't be political and it shouldn't be up to a president to do that.

00:59:25.000 It's got to be up to Congress and we've got to do our job.

00:59:28.000 Again, Congress hasn't been doing our job for decades, though, which is part of the problem.

00:59:32.000 And we have been running this country via executive fiat.

00:59:37.000 And now we have a president that's operating with common sense.

00:59:42.000 But what I'm discovering is that common sense is not so common depending on who the president is.

00:59:46.000 Or if you're even the president at all, we have no idea who's running the country.

00:59:49.000 So these are the conversations that I take to D.C. every single week.

00:59:53.000 And I just made a post about this a couple days ago about how do we codify what the president is doing now so they can't take it away from us in the future.

01:00:03.000 20 million people in our country illegally is absurd.

01:00:06.000 Enough fentanyl pouring into this country to kill every American five times is criminal. 0.92

01:00:11.000 It is absurd.

01:00:12.000 It's actually why they lost the election.

01:00:14.000 They don't want to admit that, but that's why.

01:00:16.000 But this shouldn't be about politics.

01:00:17.000 This is about American safety.

01:00:19.000 We as Congress have got to act codified.

01:00:22.000 And we can.

01:00:23.000 We can.

01:00:24.000 Get those other guys to do it, man.

01:00:27.000 Get it in there! 0.91

01:00:28.000 You ain't got to worry about me, brother.

01:00:29.000 How about this?

01:00:30.000 We're going to put you in a room with these guys one-on-one.

01:00:33.000 Do it like a celebrity boxing match in Congress.

01:00:35.000 You can beat some sense into them.

01:00:37.000 Byron and I will get it done at that point.

01:00:39.000 How do you see that all going?

01:00:41.000 I think Byron's doing pretty good.

01:00:42.000 I think Byron is doing great.

01:00:43.000 It really helps to have your dad's help.

01:00:45.000 He's such a great guy.

01:00:47.000 It's unbelievable.

01:00:48.000 Obviously, my dad endorsed Byron Donald for governor for Florida.

01:00:52.000 Huge help.

01:00:54.000 He is going to be one hell of a governor for Florida.

01:00:56.000 Well, Wesley, thanks for being here, man.

01:00:58.000 Thank you, brother.

01:00:59.000 Thank you for having me.

01:00:59.000 Great seeing you as always.

01:01:01.000 Get back to D.C. and get this thing done.

01:01:03.000 We've got to get it done.

01:01:04.000 Thank you very much for having me.

01:01:05.000 Always a pleasure.

01:01:06.000 Thank you.

01:01:07.000 Guys, thank you so much for tuning in.

01:01:10.000 I think that was awesome.

01:01:11.000 Wesley's a great guy.

01:01:12.000 Remember to like, to share, to subscribe.

01:01:15.000 Do it now.

01:01:15.000 It takes literally no time.

01:01:18.000 You can do it in less than a second.

01:01:20.000 Check us out on Apple or Spotify Podcasts if you get your podcasts that way, or if your friends do, make sure they know about.

01:01:26.000 Check out our sponsors down below and in the video description.

01:01:30.000 That's a big deal.

01:01:32.000 Support the guys who have the guts to support programming like this.

01:01:35.000 So thank you so much, guys.

Triggered - Donald Trump Jr - June 02, 2025

The Hunt for Solutions: Interview with Rep Wesley Hunt | TRIGGERED Ep.246

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript