Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Walz's Minnesota Billion-Dollar Fraud Dance plus Tom Cotton ‘All Were Valid Targets’

Transcript

Walz's Minnesota Billion-Dollar Fraud Dance plus Tom Cotton ‘All Were Valid Targets’ · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: There is a scandal that is brewing in Minnesota that
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: is costing taxpayers hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: It involves a man that the Democratic Party said should
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: be the Vice President of the United States of America,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Tim Waltz. This scandal is now involving, as I mentioned,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: hundreds of millions of dollars that were stolen from a
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: federally funded nutrition program, and him now may starve the
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Minnesota governor's chances of a political future. The Hill newspaper
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: is reporting this weekend the controversy involving Minnesota's influential Smalley
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: community focuses on millions and millions of dollars stolen from
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the program and has led to more than fifty convictions.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: This was a massive fraud. Federal prosecutors are now accusing
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: dozens of people of stealing funds from a government program
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: that was to feed children during the coronavirus pandemic. What
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: happened in reality anything but that. Even The New York
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Times put the story on the radar of legacy media
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: outlets on November twenty ninth, with a report that federal
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: prosecutors said as much as one billion dollars. I'm gonna
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: say that again, as much as one billion dollars. This
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: is all taxpayer money may have been stolen in separate
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: fraudulent schemes. Longtime allies are reportedly wondering if the governor
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: should walk away from a reelection attempt for a third
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: term as governor. That according to DC political news outlet
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: The Hill. The Hill also reporting it this way, quote,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: the governor I think has done a very respectable job,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: a good job in Minnesota for the years that he's
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: been there. But he clearly is vulnerable, and in my view,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: he is riskier than any Democratic candidate that might run.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: That is what a former Minnesota Democratic state senator and
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: a political analyst in the state said. There was another
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: one that also said fraud happened on his watch and
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: that Waltz can't erase that, while another political analyst said
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: the governor is taking steps to rectify it, including audits.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Those investigations will probably uncover more what more of your
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: tax dollars being stolen? Now, All of these Minnesota analysts
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: said the issue is the headlines in Minnesota nearly every
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: other day are coming up with more money that has
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: been stolen from taxpayers, and they are now predicting the
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: issue will quote continue to surface through the next year.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's a very good chance that this could
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: be a massive amount of waste, fraud and abuse, corruption
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: that has caught rusting taxpayers. Not millions, not tens of millions,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: not hundreds of millions, but billions of dollars literally, And
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: this is just in one state. All of this happening
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: under the leadership of former VP candidate and Governor Tim Woltz.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: That's what people need to understand. On Saturday, by the way,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: a small business Administration, the SBA Secretary Kerry Lawfler posted
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: on Exit the SBA was also uncovering fraud and accused
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: the governor of using his quote best efforts to obstruct
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: the investigation. I'm going to read for you her exact
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: tweet so you understand exactly what was said, because this
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: goes back to just how corrupt the state is. Numerous
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Kelly Laffer put individuals and nonprofits indicted in the one
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: billion dollar Minnesota COVID fraud scandal, including Feeding our Future,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: received SBA PPP loans in addition to other state and
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: federal funding. Today, I have ordered an investigation into the
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: network of Somali organizations and executives implicated in these schemes.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Despite Governor Walt's best efforts to obstruct SBA continues to
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: work to expose abuse and hold the purpetutors accountable full stop. Now,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: this is I would argue a national emergency. I also
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: think the federal government should cut off all funding to
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the state of Minnesota until the state can prove there
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: is no more fraud. I mean it when I say
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: they should actually cut it off. Why would you send
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: federal tax dollars there knowing now what we know. The
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: bottom line is simple, you follow the money and until
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: there's accountability, you don't give them any more money. Now,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: another longtime ally of Governor Waltz told The Hill that
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: the controversy could not only sink his gouvernentor re election
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: for a third term, but likely a presidential bid that
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: he's been obsessing over as well. The challenges are the
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: men are that Minnesota has a very low tolerance for fraud, waste,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: and abuse. It's a very low threshold, and that's one
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: of the reasons the state has worked so well for
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: so long. The unnamed ally said, it's clearly a real vulnerability.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Nearly five hundred. By the way, employees in Minnesota state's
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: government say that Governor Waltz deliberately ignored their constant warnings
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: about the massive fraud by Somali's in the state's aid programs,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: also alleging that his allies punished whistleblowers for raising the alarms.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: Waltz's sixty one He was introduced into the national political
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: spotlight sixteen months ago when then Vice President Kamala Harris
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: chose the I guess you could call him an animated
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: governor as her running mate. Quote. I think we all
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: had our high hopes for him, but I don't think
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: he's a very effective running mate at the end of
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: the day. That's what one top Democrats strategist said to
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: The Hill. It never seems like he was comfortable in
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: that role beyond his roll out. Now you go back
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: to those that were screaming about the waste, fraud, and abuse,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: and this goes back to Governor Waltz's leadership. Nearly five
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: hundred and the majority of them, I'm being told we're Democrats,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: registered Democrats. Nearly five hundred employees in Minnesota's state government
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: say the Democratic governor Tim Waltz ignored their constant warnings
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: about massive fraud by Somali's of the state aid program.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: The staffers in the state Department of Health Services also
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: say that Waltz retaliated against them for exposing the corruption
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: in the States Somali community. Why because he didn't want
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: to lose a Somali vote. The group of state employees
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: have been operating an x account for several years where
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: they warned the public of cases of fraud and theft
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: that they are finding in the aid programs. It's all there,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: you can go read it. In the years pass they
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: warned the former Democratic presidential candidate that the citizens of
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Minnesota and the Democratic Party needed to understand the widespread
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: issues that they were uncovering. But in a new post,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: the group is saying that not only has Waltz ignored
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: their warnings, he has punished them for raising the alarm. Quote.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Tim Waltz is one hundred percent responsible for massive fraud
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: in Minnesota, the group said in November twenty ninth posts,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: referencing the New York Times article on the crimes. We
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: let Tim Waltz know of the fraud early on, hoping
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: for a partnership and stopping fraud. But no, we got
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: the opposite response. They added Walt's thematically retaliated against the whistleblowers,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: using monitoring threats, repression, and did his best to discredit
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: fraud reports. Instead of a partnership, we got the full
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: weight of retaliation by Tim Watts, certain DFL members and
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: an indifferent mainstream media. It's scary, isolating, and left us
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: wondering who can we turn to now we know it's
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: costing us more than a billion dollars. I want you
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: to just pause what you're doing for the next sixty seconds,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: and I want you to imagine Lucy, a seven year old.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Her stomach often aches with hunger, her small hands instead
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: of holding crayons, No, only the struggle of survival on
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: dusty streets. School is a distant dream, medical care forgotten hope.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: Lucy's potential is overshadowed, her future is dim. But what
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: if someone stepped in? What if there was a way
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: to ignite hope for children just like Lucy? Well there is,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: and that is with Compassion International partners in the local
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: churches that provide children holistic support. More than just food.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: They receive critical medical care, life changing education, vital skills,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: training and spiritual development, all in Jesus's name, and you
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: can empower a child just like Lucy to break free
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: from poverty. I want you to do what I've done
• 9:23
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• 9:28
  Speaker 1: That's Compassion dot Com. I want to move to Senator
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Tom Cotton into another story that's also extremely important, and
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: it deals with the mainstream media trying to push a
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: narrative that are men and women in uniform of somehow
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: should be court martial, should be put in jail, should
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: be imprisoned, that they are murderers. Why because they said
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: that if you go after those on a drug boat
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: who are carrying drugs, who are narco terrorists and you
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: shoot them, that apparently that's an execut The Democrats and
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: the media have teamed together. They have partnered with one
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: another to try to undermine the present keeping us safe
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: from narco terras who are bringing countless amounts of fetanyl
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: in pills into this country. There are many days where
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: upwards of three hundred people die from accidental fetanyl overdoses.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: I want you to think about that these narco terrasts
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: are killing hundreds of Americans every day, and what is
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: the media doing to hurt Donald Trump and to try
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: to attack him. They're trying to say, oh, drug boats
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: are not in fact valid targets. The Washington Post even
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: ran an insane story saying that there were fishermen that
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: were targeted that were actually on a drug boat. Anything
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: to undermine President Trump. Senator Tom Cotton went on Meet
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: the Press and was asked about the quote, as NBC
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: News allege drug boats even though you can see the
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: drugs on the boat, they want to put doubt in
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: the American people's minds. And I want you to listen
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: carefully to what he had to say.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: And joining me now is the chairman of the Senate
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: Intelligence Committee who was in those briefings this week, Republican
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Senator Cotton, welcome back to Meet
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: the Press. Thanks for having me on, Christen, thank you
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: so much for being here after a very big week.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: I want to ask you about our new reporting. NBC
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: News is reporting this morning the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseith
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: his order was to kill all eleven individuals on that
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: boat because they were on a list of Narco terrorists
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: who intelligence and military officials determined could be legally targeted.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: Was Secretary Hegsis's order to kill everyone on the boat
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: because they were on this target list.
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: Senator the ordered, like the entire operation Kristen, is to
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: destroy these drug boats which are running drugs under our
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: country from foreign drug cartels and traffickers that are killing
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: hundreds of our Canons every year and hundreds of thousands
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: of Americans. Now, of course, before our military conducts such
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: a strike, they have multiple sources of intelligence. They give
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: high confidence that everyone on that boat is a foreign
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: drug trafficker, not an innocent civilian who's being human trafficked,
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: for instance. And therefore Secretary Hegseeth said, and I agree,
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: they're all valid targets. Now, this controversy, let's remember, all
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: started with a Washington Post story about nine days ago
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: that said after the first strike there were two survivors
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: that were helpless, and then they were ordered to kill
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: these helpless survivors. That is simply not the case. They
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: were not floating in the ocean on a wooden plane
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: or in life jackets. They were on the capsized vessel.
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: They were not incapacitated in any way. It was entirely
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: appropriate to strike the boat again to make sure that
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: it cargo was destroyed. It is in no way violation
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: of the law of war. And I think the Washington
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: Post O Secretary Hexath and especially Admiral Mitch Bradley, a
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: highly decorated career Navy seal, an apology for that slander.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Now you hear Tom Cotton correct the record. This is
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: the man that served his country. He explains the reality
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: of the situation. This is a reality that NBC News
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: already knows. I want you to listen how Christian Welker
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: responds on Meet the Press to what was just said,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: and listen to her pushback.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: Okay, and we're going to get to what you saw
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: in the video momentarily. But I just want to be
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: very clear because what you're saying is significant. Senator, it
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: sounds like you're confirming. Did Admiral Bradley brief lawmakers that,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: in fact, all of the people on that boat were
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: on a military target list.
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: I did not hear him personally say anything about a
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: military target list. Now, he had several briefings the day.
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: I wasn't in the briefing, for instance, with Mark Warner,
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: my counterpart in the Senate Intelligence Committee. I can only
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: say what he told me. He said they had high confidence,
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: based on multiple sources of intelligence, that everyone on that
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: boat was part of a foreign or foreign terrorist organization
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: and been designated by the US.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Government, so they could be legally targeted. They could be
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: officially and legally targeted. Be argued, yes, okay.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: Both before the first strike and after the first strike.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Was Admiral Bradley acting on Secretary Hexas orders.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: Senator, Well, anytime you have an operation like this, there's
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: an operation order. It's written down, it's got very detailed instructions.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: I think because this was the first strike, Secretary Hegseth
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: and Admiral Bradley both wanted to be present and be
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: making the decision. As you heard Secretary Hegseth in the
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: opening say, he initiated the first strike. You've seen the video.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: There's a lot of smoke. It takes a long time
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: to clear. I'm sure Secretary Hecsath had many other matters
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: that he had to attend to, and he trust Admiral Bradley.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: Once the smoker clear, once cloud covered cleared, it was
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: clear that the first strike had not destroyed the boat
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: or Admiral Bradley made a decision for the second strike.
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: Now in subsequent strike since then, because there's been more
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: than twenty obviously it's no longer a Secretary, Hesath or
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: even four star generals making that decision, nor should it be.
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: But on the first strike, I believe they both wanted
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: to be present and be observing it.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Let me ask you about the aftermath of that first strike,
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: the Pentagon's Law of War manual, which you're familiar by.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: The way, let's just stop there and let's just talk
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: about this for a second. You have the Senate Intelligence
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: Committee chairman saying that all the people on a Venezuelan
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: drug boat were subject to the Trump administration cracked down
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: the Caribbean where quote valid targets quote unquote, Welker says,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: I want to ask you about our new reporting NBC
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: WWOS reporting this morning that defend Secretary Pete his order
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: was to kill all eleven individuals on the boat because
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: they were on a list of narco terras who intelligence
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: and military officials determined could be legally targeted. Was Secretary
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Heads ordered to kill everyone on the boat because as
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: they were on the target list, And Cotton said the
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: order like the entire operation, Kristen is to destroy these
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: drug boats which are running drugs in her country from
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: foreign drug cartels and traffickers that are killing hundreds of
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: our Kansas that's the state he represents every year and
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: killing hundreds of thousands of Americans. That's a fact of course.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Before a military conducts such a strike, they have multiple
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: sources of intelligence. They give high confidence everyone in the
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: boat is a foreign drug trafficker, not an innocent civilian
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: who's being human trafficked for instance. Secretary of Headseth and
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: I agree, they're all valid targets. You understand that when
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: you hear this story, this should be the end of it.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Why did the media run with this story because they
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: hate Donald Trump and they want to put somebody in
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: jail in his administration. I'm going to state again, they
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: want to put somebody in jail in his administration. That
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: is what this is really all about. And they want
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: people in our military. And this was just what two
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: weeks after they put out that video saying you can
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: defy orders. Remember that you can defy the president's orders,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: they were calling for a military coup, slash insurrection. That
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: is what they were calling for and now they're saying,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: if you are a part of this, you deserve to
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: go to jail, that you are some sort of war criminal.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Another example of this. It is totally insane. I cannot
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: tell you how frustrating it is to watch how un
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: American these men and women in law enforcement actually are.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to watch
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: these men and women who hide behind keyboards and say,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: I'm a journalist who clearly are there putting out propaganda
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: to destroy our men and women in uniform by the cartels.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: You've got to ask yourself this question, who are they
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: really working for? I'm going to say that again, who
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: are they really working for? Are the journalists working for
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: the cartels? It's a question at this point everyone should
• 18:24
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• 21:00
  Speaker 1: but with members of his cabinet. What made you decide
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: to write this book, When did you decide to write it,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: and how did you approach the president to be involved
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: in it?
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: Well, thanks Ben for having me on and thanks for
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: your endorsement. I was watching the President's inaugural address in
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: January and he used his phrase a revolution of common
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: sense and I turned to Van Jones on the set
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: and I said, that would make a really great book title.
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: So I've never written a book. I've been thinking about it,
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: and that title spoke to me. That phrase spoke to
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: me because it kind of summed up what Trump had
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: been branding his political movement. And so in early February
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: I went talked to President about it and got him
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: to agree to cooperate. And as you said, I've sat
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: down with him, I traveled with him, I observed him
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: in meetings. I talked to the cabinet, I talked to
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: the White House senior staff, and I sort of melded
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: those conversations and observations with what I was doing on
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: CNN and some of the big issues of the first
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: you know, one hundred hundred and twenty days. So it's
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: really a story about how Trump stormed back into Washington
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: and sort of overwhelmed the bureaucracy and the Democrats and
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: the media in order to get a lot of things
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: done right out of the gate.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: One of the things that I think is really cool
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: in this book, and for everybody listening again, you can
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: grab on Amazon orherever you get your books, it's say
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Revolution of common sense, how Donald Trump stormed Washington and
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: fought for Western civilization. Scott, is you set down with
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: cabinet members, I think this cabinet is going to go
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: down in history, is one of the most loyal cabinets
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: to a president that their job was to really, I
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: think they understood it early on, was to execute the
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: will of the voters, the will of the people, and
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: the will of what got Donald Trump elected. They understood
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: going in that they needed to be a cabinet that
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: was united. They need to be a cabinet that was
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: really I think the best way to describe as being
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: tight lipped and not leaking to the press. This cabinet
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: is insanely different than President Trump's cabinet he picked in
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: twenty sixteen that I do not believe served him well
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: at all. When you set down with these cabinet members,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: did you get that feeling as well, that this was
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: just going to be different.
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think everything you said is absolutely true, And
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: I'll just throw one more thing on there. They are
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: all the kinds of people who work well with President
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: Trump's management and leadership style. The book is also about
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: how Trump leads and how he manages the government it's
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: very hands on. He expects immediate action. If he tells
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: one of them to do something, you know, he expects
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: him to go do it. You know, with Donald Trump,
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: you get the cabinet secretary told me. You can say, oh,
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: we're working on it one time, you get white at
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: that apple, but you don't get you don't get a second.
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: He expects results, and so I think last time around,
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: as you pointed out, the cabinet was a little bit
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: of a mismatch for him. This time they're loyal, they're dedicated,
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: but they know how to work within his leadership style
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: and structure. This has allowed them to move so fast.
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: As you and I have talked about and done some
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: commentary on television together, these folks have moved I think,
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: faster than any Republican, any supporter could have imagined. They've
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: gotten more things done this year than anybody could have imagined.
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: Everybody I know is beyond thrilled with the pace of
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: results from this Trump administration. A lot of it has
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: to do with the way that cabinet works with him
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: in his management style.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Let's also talk about transparency. You got to sit down
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: with the President multiple times. He really seems to enjoy
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: talking to the press. He seems to enjoy having these
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: open dialogue and conversations cabinet meetings that are lasting two,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: three four hours. That's something Even when you were in
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: the Bush administration, and I worked in the Bush administration
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: in the campaign, we didn't see that. And George Bush
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: was a pretty transparent guy, but you never saw this
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: type of access that I can remember in my lifetime
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: in any administration. The president loves sitting down and talking
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: with different people. I actually think that's probably one of
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: the x factors that is making this administration just so
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: successful so far.
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: I agree with you. He's very transparent and he's very accessible.
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: My observations of him is that he really enjoys listening
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: to people debate issues. And I watched him, you know,
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: sort of set up debates among cabinet members and advisors.
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: You know, what should we do about this topic? You
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: get some in the room debate. He asks good questions.
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: He is a really good listener. He listens to these
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: you know, backs and forth, he engages in them. But
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: he's also very decisive, and I think this is a
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: big difference between him and Biden. Biden was famously absent
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: and when he was president, he was very indecisive. Trump listens,
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: he takes in information, he forms an opinion, he makes
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: a decision, and then everybody salutes, and they go and execute.
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: I mean, that's pretty much what we elect a president
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: to do, and that's exactly what I observed.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: Let's also talk about where we are politically right now.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: We're seeing a lot of attacks on this president. We're
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: saying kind of same playbook. You've got a media that
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: looks the other way when more than a billion dollars
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: of fraud is found in Governor Timwalt state that now
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: literally could be the undoing of his entire career. If
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: it was Republican, I think the governor would have already
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: had to resigned. And then meanwhile, you look at you
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: got guys like Tom Cotton coming out this morning on
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Meet the Press saying everyone on that drug boat was
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: a valid target The Washington Post it was a slander
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: of our military and a BS story about us killing
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: like innocent people that the media ran with you and
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: I have to defend this a lot. You do it
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: every day on CNN as well, and yet we see
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: the same playbook happening to try to undermine this president.
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know something about the book, and this is
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: a retrospective sort of analysis that I've made, is that
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: when you're a Republican president, and especially this one, you
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: face several entrenched and colluding institutions and interests in Washington
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: that are trying to destroy it. You have Democrats that
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: are trying to destroy you, you have the media trunk
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: to destroy you. You have federal bureaucrats trying to destroy you,
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: and in the case of Trump, increasingly radical federal judges.
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: So he's got these four aligned interests that are trying
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: to destroy him every day, and they lie about you.
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: You know, they give you bogus court rulings. You know,
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: they shut down the government, they tell the military to
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: stop following orders. I mean, you name it. And they're
• 27:23
  Speaker 4: throwing everything at him to try to overwhelm you. And
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: one of the decisions Trump made early on, and they're
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: planning for this term, was I'm not going to be overwhelmed.
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: We are going to overwhelm them. And they largely succeeded
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: at that. Obviously, these institutions haven't stopped, as you just
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: pointed out, but that's what a Republican faces when they're
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: the president, these groups of people and these institutions that
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: collude to try to suck you under. They try to
• 27:46
  Speaker 4: overwhelm you and drown you basically, and Trump, I think
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: it happened to him then somewhat in the first term.
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: They learn from that and they were just determined not
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: to let it happen again.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: My guests with me Scott Jennings his new book out.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: You should grab it for Christmas and grab it for
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: a great stocking stuff for as well a revolution of
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: common sense, how Donald Trump stormed Washington fought for Western civilization.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: When you sit down with the president, one of the
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: one of the X factors here, I do think is
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: you can go in and and go hard, and that
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: that first hundred days is obviously sending everybody kind of
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: hyper focus on They don't focus here as much on
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: the next hundred days or the next hundred days, and
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: then you kind of get in the mundane side of it.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Do you think they can keep up this level of
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: pressure of getting things done? Based on your conversations with
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: him and also the cabinet members you.
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: Met with, I think the first hundred days were about
• 28:36
  Speaker 4: tackling so many of the issues that got him elected.
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: Some of them were, you know, reversing just very dangerous
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: and wrong headed Biden administrative actions, regulatory actions and executive actions,
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: and of course Trump, uh, you know, put in motion
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: a number of executive orders on day one and in
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: the days following. You know, the next little phase for
• 28:56
  Speaker 4: them was to pass the big beautiful bill that got
• 28:58
  Speaker 4: done by July the fourth. I think the rest of
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: the year they kind of spent on foreign affairs. You know,
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: Trump's been really successful in solving conflicts overseas. You obviously
• 29:06
  Speaker 4: had the tariff agenda that he was not just implementing,
• 29:09
  Speaker 4: but also they were negotiating trade deals with other countries.
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: To me, now, yes, they're still in the process of governing.
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: They have problems to solve, the healthcare issue to something
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: that's coming up at the end of the year. But
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: some of this ben is just now, you've got to
• 29:23
  Speaker 4: go sell people, here's what we've done, Here's what the
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: Democrats did to you, and what they would do to
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: you again. And that's the argument. He's going to have
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: to lead for the midterm. And so they have problems
• 29:35
  Speaker 4: to solve. There's no doubt about that. They have work
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: to do. But part of the work is political. He's
• 29:39
  Speaker 4: got to hit the road, and I understand that he's
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: going to and start talking to the American people about
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: the bright lines that exist between the parties and really
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: the issues that put him in the White House in
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: the first place. It feels like democrats and people in
• 29:52
  Speaker 4: the media have forgotten who took prices to the moon.
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: Affordability didn't just start today, It was happening during the
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: Biden years. They seem to it for man, but someone
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: needs to remind them.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: It's yeah. I couldn't agree with you more. It's an
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: awesome book. Grab it wherever you want to get your
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: books again. A Revolution of common Sense How Donald Trump
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: stormed Washington and fought for Western Civilization by Scott Jennings. Scott,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: I'll say it again because I mean it. I love
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: getting to play TV with you at CNN. You do
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: an amazing job there, you and I getting to fight
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: comies is just way too much fun sometimes. But keep
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: up the great book. Congrats on the book. It is
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: a best seller that was also I forgot to mention
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: that earlier. And if you want to grab an autograph
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: copy of it as well, you can do it at
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Premiere Collectibles Dot com. I'm a big autograph book guy.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: I like giving them as gifts, so you can do
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: that as well. At Premiere Collectibles dot com you can
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: grab you a Scott Jennings book there that is autograph.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: That's also cool. And if people want to find out
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: where you're doing book signings, how can they find that quickly?
• 30:50
  Speaker 4: Just follow me on social media at Scott Jennings Ky
• 30:53
  Speaker 4: on the X platform. I try to keep all my
• 30:56
  Speaker 4: appearances posted there and the ones that are open events,
• 30:59
  Speaker 4: so on the socials and we'll get it out. And Ben,
• 31:02
  Speaker 4: you're a great friend, and I can't thank you enough
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: for the endorsement of the book. And I look forward
• 31:05
  Speaker 4: to us getting back in the TV studio sometime in
• 31:07
  Speaker 4: the near future so we can crack a few skulls.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: I love it.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Grab the book my friends, wherever you get your books again.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: A Revolution of common sense How Donald Trump storm Washington
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: and fought for Western civilization by Scott Jennings. Scott, be
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: safe on the road. I'll see you suit. Don't forget
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: to share this podcast, by the way, with your family
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: and your friends on social media wherever you can hit
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: that subscribe or auto download button and I'll talk to
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: you again tomorrow.