We've got three big stories that we're going to start with today on the show. Number one, fireworks from the Democrats really dropping to a disgusting and vile level of personal attacks against Pete Headgseth.
We're going to deal with that.
Also, this came out of nowhere and the reasons behind it are disgusting and even more sinister than you could imagine. Joe Biden has moved to lift the state sponsor of terrorism designation for Cuba, and he's blaming it on the prisoners that he wants to free. I'll explain that to you as well. And Also, Democrats uniting today apparently there's nothing that they will do in a bipartisan manner with Republicans, including protecting women in girls sports. The House passed to bill banning men from competing girls sports and schools that receive federal funding, and two hundred and six Democrats voted against it. Democrats who apparently hate women's rights and girls' rights in our schools. I'll break that down for you as well. But first let's get to the fireworks and the substance of what went on during the confirmation hearing for Pete Edgseth to become the man in charge of the Pentagon.
There were a couple of.
Things that I want to highlight because the media is going to want you to see the back and forth with the Democrats and the leaders and how nasty their attacks were, and I'll place some of that for you. But there were actually, I think much more important moments that came out of this when it came to accountability and the size of the DoD and our government and the number of people that just make money off of being at the Pentagon and hooking their friends up with massive government contracts. He talked about bureaucracy is out of control with the Pentagon, and we don't need size of leadership that we have right now. And all of these people they just continue to fall forward and get promotions because they stay in forever. And he talked about the lack of accountability with the people at the top, for example generals, saying those days are over.
Take a listen, because everybody in this room knows.
If you're a rifleman and you lose.
Your rifle, they're throwing the book at you. But if you're a general who loses a war, you get a promotion that's not going to happen in Donald Trump's Kentagon. It will be real standards for success. Everyone from the top, from the most senior general to the most lowly private, will ensure that they're treated fairly. Men and women inside that system.
Now, that is why the system is so scared of Pete because of the quote that he just gave. If you're a rifleman and you lose your rifle, they're throwing the book at you.
That is correct.
He's totally accurate, Like that's the easiest way to get kicked out of military basis. If you're a general and you lose a war, you get a promotion. He is totally accurate in saying it the way that he just did. He then went on and was asked another question about like, well, what types of changes do you see here, And one of the questions that he was asked about was the treatment of prisoners, if we grab prisoners and Geneva Convention getm you know, the waterboarding of terrorists, all of those types of things. And I want you to hear what Pete says in response and listen to, I think really carefully how he words his answer.
Senator, how we treat our wounded, How we treat our prisoners. The applications of the Juvina Conventions are incredibly important, but we would all have to acknowledge.
That the way we fought our wars.
Back when the Geneva Conventions were written are a lot different than the asymmetric, non conventional environment of counterinsurgency that I confronted in Iraq and Afghanistan. I was the senior counterinsurgency instructor in Afghanistan. My job was to understand how the Taliban and Al Kaida opted so that NATO units coming in could be informed of what was happening. They knew our rules of engagement and when they were more restrictive, they took advantage of them, and it put our men and women in a more dangerous and difficult place.
You believe, for future wars we fight.
We need to have someone atop the pentagon, Sir, who understands how those ripple effects.
I just want to understand your position. Your position is torture is okay? Is that correct? Waterboarding? Torture is no longer prohibited given the circumstances of whatever war we're in. Is that correct?
Enator? That is not what I said.
I've never been party to torture. We are a country that fights by the rule of law, and our men and women always do, and yet we have too many people here in air conditioned offices that like to point fingers at the guys in dark and dangerous places, the gals in helicopters in un enemy territory who are doing things that people in Washington, d c. Would never dare to do.
By the way, I couldn't agree with him more than what he just said. There we have too many people here in air condition offices that like to point the finger at the guys in darkened, dangerous places, and helicopters in any territory who are doing things people in DC would never dare to do. He is absolutely right. I have a different opinion, by the way, on waterboarding. I have no problem with waterboarding. If someone like Khalid Sheik Muhammad, the mastermind of nine to eleven, unlike the current president, they want to give him a deal and spare his life.
That's what democrats want to do.
They want to give the terrorists lawyers that you and I pay for. And when you mastermind nine to eleven, I'm sorry if you need to be waterboarded for me to get intel out of you that could save other people's lives, and some people's lives from another nine to eleven. I don't have an issue with that. There are others that will discover me, and that's fine. I don't think that what you heard there from Pete is him advocating for waterboarding. What I'm saying is the world that the left wants us to live in because they wanted to score points. And if you go back to the waterboarding controversy and you understand politics, you understand and Democrats really weren't that angry about waterboarding terrorists. They needed a wedge issue to make themselves look better. They needed an issue that would give them the moral high ground and make conservatives look bad, to make people around Bush look bad. Remember when John Carey used that to his advantage when he's like, you know, and then there was the you know, we don't torture moments that we heard, and there was all these people in the media, They're like, we don'twn torture, we don't torture. That's not what we were better. We were better than that, waight, And it's not what we do. You grab me a kaleide shake Muhammad and Osama bin lad and they have information about an imminent threat. I don't believe that you give them a lawyer. I believe that you extract that information out of them, and I think there should be a lot of ways to do that. I don't have a problem with waterboarding a high level person and a terrorist organization, and there are some people there to be Like Ben, I cannot believe that you just said that I did. I believe that, by the way, for quite some time. I'm not shy about it. Did I say that every enemy combat in you waterboard. No, But if you grab the guys at the top and there's an active threat and they know what they're doing and what they're planning, yeah, Like I do believe that there are too many people in air conditioning offices that like to point fingers of the guys in dark and dangerous places and helicopters and enemy territory who are doing things people in DC would never dare to do. I agree with that statement from Pete there. It is a very accurate statement. I also want you to hear what was said on another issue, and this was back and forth from Senator Mark Mullen and Democrats really went after Pete for being divorced and having gotten remarried and having a young child, and there was a nasty exchange with Tim Kane. Now, Tim Kanan is a guy that wanted to throw down in a very, very vile way. It was one of the worst moments I would say today in all of this was Tim Kane basically saying you're a scumbag, Pete. And during Pete's confirmation hearing Senner came shared his moral outrage as he described over head Says' previous relationships. He also suggested he wouldn't vote for Pete's confirmation because of his infidelity. Well, if he does believe this the way that he was acting like today, then my question would be, why did you just six months ago, why did you film a giddy video with a second gentleman, Doug im Hoff. If you're going to talk about this issue, then you need to remember that the second husband, right, Doug Enhoff, cheated on his first wife by getting his children's nanny pregnant. He's also accused of smacking one of his previous girl friends in the face. Im Hoff cheated on his first wife by getting his children's nanny pregnant.
Okay, that's that's a fact.
So let me just remind you of what Tim kan sounded like six months ago, and then I want you to hear what he had to say today.
Hey, folks, Tim Kaine here, second gentleman Doug M. Hoff Here.
We are in Annandale, Virginia, where the Biden Harris campaign just opened the first coordinating campaign office in Virginia.
And we are going to one win this election.
Senator Kane is going to go back to the Senate and we're all going to do this thing together.
Now, that was six months ago, So what where was the outrage?
Right?
Hey, I can't support this guy to be the first present, the first man, right, I can't. I can't support him because he, you know, again, cheated on his wife by getting his children's nanny pregnant, also accuse of smacking one of his previous girlfriends in the face. So where is that Tim Kaine today? Well, let me let you hear what he sounded like today.
You had just fathered a child two months before by a woman that was not your wife. I am shocked that you would stand here and say you.
Are completely cleared.
Can you so casually cheat on a second wife and cheat on the mother of a child who had been born two months before, and you tell us you are completely cleared. So how is that a complete clear Senator.
Her child's name is Gwendolen Hope Hegseeth, and she's a child of God, and she's seven years old. And you cheated on the mother of that child less than two months after that daughter was born, didn't you.
The part here that I think is the most disgusting by the Democrats is they have no problem at all endorsing, advocating, or supporting people in their own party that have done things that they're now saying disqualify you from being in charge of the Pentagon. Look, I would love if Pete had a perfect record. How I love if every person had a perfect record on our side. That's not reality. People are centers. People make mistakes. Everybody I know, including me, have made mistakes in their life. I don't think you judge someone based on a mistake. I think you judge people based on their body of work. Let me also say this, I'm not electing the gout to be the pope or the pastor of my church. What I am doing is saying, I think this guy understands the military. He served in the military, and I think he's way more qualified for that job than the majority of the people in the United States Senate for their jobs on both sides of the aisle. And there was another senator that made this point, and this audio today when I was watching it, genuinely made me smile because Senator Mullan came out and just went off the rails after he witnessed. And I didn't play for you all of the back and forth with Tim Kane because it was just so disgusting, but you got the gist of it, and I want you to hear what Senator Mullen had to say about the other senators in the room. And it was a very interesting moment because Democrats got real quiet. They got real quiet because he was very close to I think, naming names and shooting a shout across the bow of all these self rightous senators.
And this is what he said.
You know, there's a lot.
Of talk going about talking about qualifications and then about us hiring him if we are the board. But there's a lot of senators here I wouldn't have on my board because there is no qualifications.
Except your age.
And you've got to be living in the state and you're a citizen of the United States to be a senator other than the fact we got to convince a lot of people to vote force. And then when we start talking about qualifications for if you're qualified for it, could the chairman tell me what the qualifications are for the Secretary of Defense? This chairman, could you tell me what the qualifications are for the Secretary Defense, I'd be happy forward. I'll read it for you to t me out me. Let me read it for you because I was getting some advice from second in command. Yeah, but I'm just making a point because there's a lot about qualifications, and I think it's so hypocritical of senators, especially on the other side. I'll be talking about his qualifications not going to lead the secretary or be the Secretary of Defense. And yet your qualifications aren't any better. You guys aren't any more qualified to be the Senator than I'm qualified to be the center.
Except we're lucky enough to be here.
But let me read you what the qualifications of the Secretary of Defense is because I googled it, and I googled it and went through a lot of different sites, and really it's hard to see. But in general, the US Secretary of Defense position is filled by a civilian.
That's it.
If you have served in the US Army Forces, and I've been in the service for you have to be retired for at least seven years, and Congress can weigh that. And then there's questions that that the senator from from Massachusetts brought up about serving on a on a board inside the military industry, and yet your own secretary that you all voted for Secretary of Austin. We had to vote on a waiver because he stepped out the border raytheon. But I guess that's okay because that's a Democrat Secretary of Defense. But we so quickly forget about that. And then Senator Kane or I guess I better use the senator from Virginia starts bringing up the fact that what if you showed up drunk.
To your job?
How many Senators have showed up drunk to vote at night?
By the way, you hear the laughter in the room. This happens, and I've witnessed it multiple times in my career. Multiple times I have been out at dinner, by the way, with senators who then have to go back and vote and I have witnessed senators who are hammered go to the floor of the Senate and vote. Listen to the laughing in the background. These are staffers. They know it's true. They know it's true.
The senator from Virginia starts bringing up the fact that what if you showed.
Up drunk to your job?
How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night?
Heavy?
You hear the laughter like they're all laughing because they know that it's true. And to put the drinking part of context, one of the senators went after Pete for drinking in the past. He is gone sober now and she started to belittle him and attack him for well and wanting a demand that he say that he would resign for the d D if he ever had a drink while working at the d D. Now he said very clearly he will not drink while he's in charge of the Pentagon. And she's like, well, if you do, if you have a zip of champagne, if if you crack open a celebratory beer after we kill a terrorist or whatever the scenario may be, you will you commit to resigning immediately. And so what Senator Mullen is saying here is like, dude, like, you guys are such scumbags, Like I've seen you out drinking. I've seen you casting votes drunk. I've seen it, by the way, and you could tell that the senators on the Democratic side got really awkward because I think they were afraid that he was going to bring it up. So I'm going to play that part one more time. Listen to the laughter, and then listen to his closing moment here.
I guess I better use the senator from Virginia. It starts bringing up the fact that what if you showed up drunk to your job? How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night? Have any of you guys asked him to step down and resign for their job? And don't tell me you haven't seen it, because I know you have. And then how many senators do you know have got a divorce before cheating on their wives?
Did you ask them just tap down? No? But it's for show, you guys.
Make sure you make a big show and point out the hypocrisy because a man's made a mistake and you want to sit there and say that he's not qualified.
Give me a joke.
It is so ridiculous that you guys hold yourself as this higher standard and you forget you got a big plank in your eye. We've all made mistakes. I've made mistakes, and Jennifer, thank you for loving him through that mistake, because the only reason why I'm here and not in prison is because my wife loved me too. I have changed, but I'm not perfect, but I found somebody that thought I was perfect. And for whatever reason, you love Pete and I don't know why, but just like our Lord and Savior forgave me, my wife's had to forgive me more than once two and I'm sure you've had to forgive him too.
I love that exchange there, and I love how human it was. And I also love that there was a senator man enough to say, like, you think we're a perfect body because democrats like, well, we're the board of the company here and we've got to hire you. And he's like, I wouldn't hire any one of us for this job based on you guys coming to work and drinking and making a voting late at night drunk. By the way it happens, He's not exaggerating. There are dozens of senators that I have seen that have come to work at night drunk. There are tons of congressmen, by the way, I've seen do the same thing, especially during government shutdowns when I lived in DC. In fact, I was at dinner with congressmen from both sides out who were drinking and then went and voted, and then went and voted. Let me just close with this one final thing about Pete Number one. I do think he's going to make it, and I think he's going to do a damn good job at being in charge Pendagon. I also think the way he handled himself with the Armed Services Committee and the way that he handled the attacks from people like Elizabeth Warren were spot on. And I actually give him credit for surviving this confirmation hearing because of one thing that he did that allowed him to make it through, and that was actually working TV, you know, working at Fox and working in TV. I got better at my job by working at CNN. I actually think it was the best blessing of my career, was doing seven years in hell at CNN because it prepared me to deal with these types of yahoos.
And I think Pete has.
Had to deal with these people in a different way where when people attack you, you don't let it bother you as much. I'll give you a great example of this, and this is the reason why I think he's going to be confirmed easily. Elizabeth Warren did her best to rough him up, and there was a twenty second moment that I'm going to play for you, and again the committee room laughed at Senator Elizabeth Warren's.
You're quite sure that every general who serves should not go directly into the defense industry for ten years? Are you're not willing to make that same pledge.
I'm not a general senator.
To you, I'm not a general senator. He smiled when he did it. It was a checkmate moment. They did everything they could to him today to try to destroy him everything they could. And one final thing that I'll say about Pete today, and this is the reason why I think he's the right man for the job, is because when he was making his comments about why he wanted the job, it was about accountability. And this is exactly why so many Democrats are trying to stop him. He said, there has been no accountability for our disasters, including Afghanistan's withdrawal.
Listen, there's been no accountability for the disaster of the withdrawal in Afghanistan, and precisely why we're here today, shoes is that leadership now it's been unwilling to take accountability. It's the time to restore that to our most senior ranks.
You shouldn't get a promotion when you do what they did in Afghanistan.
And that is the point that he said.
Leadership has been unwilling to take accountability for its problems. It's failures, and it's time to restore that to our most senior ranks. This is why Democrats hate him. This is why Democrats are trying to get rid of him. I don't think it's going to work. I think he is going to be confirmed and that is good for our men and women in uniform. Now, let's get to something else that's happening while everybody's been obsessed with this, and it's disgusting. You want to talk about a threat to our country. It ain't Pete head seth.
It is.
However, the Democrats and Joe Biden not having the knees to do this while he was running for president or when he thought he was up for reelection. But now that he's gone, well screw it, and everybody else around decision. Joe Biden has now moved to lift the state sponsor of terrorism designation for Cuba, and he's saying he has no choice but to do it because of the hostage agreement He's getting done. Biden has officially removed pro Hamas has blowed tied Cuba from the state Sponsor of Terrorism list, which is going to change their economy drastically and help them have better relationships with China, with Russia and with terrorist groups in the Middle East. The President announced he would remove Cuba from the State Department's list of state sponsor of terrorism, leaving only Iran, Syria, and North Korea on that list. Biden claimed in his declaration that Cuba had not sponsored terrorism for quote six months, So in other words, you can sponsor as much terrorism as you want, but in the democratic world, as long as you're a good actor for six months will take you off the list. Apparently that's enough to remove you from this list. He's admitting that six months ago they were sponsoring terrorism, but they said in the last six months they haven't, so therefore they don't need to be on the list. You want to know how long Cuba has been on the list. You want to know how ridiculous this whole conversation is we're having right now. Cuba has been on the list for most of the years between nineteen eighty two and twenty twenty five. You want to know when they were taking off the list, with the exception of six years between twenty fifteen and twenty twenty one, after President Barack Obama, whom Biden served as a vice president, removed the communist regime from a list as part of a quote larger package of concessions to Havana. The Obama concession policy resulted in a dramatic increase in political and religious persecution on the island that has been documented and served also to in bolden Cuba to forge deeper relationships with global terror terror entities such as Hesbolah Hamas and the government directly of Iran. So after Joe Biden and Barack Obama did that, Resident Elect Donald Trump restored Cuba of the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism in twenty twenty one on the grounds of the cast Or regime maintains relationships with several jihadist terror entities as well as narco terrorists militias such as the Revolutionary Army Forces of Columbia known as FARK in Latin America. The state sponsor of Terrorism label comes with hefty economic sanctions, that's why Joe Biden's helping them out right, and diplomatic limitations. According to the State Department, state sponsors of terrorism, reading directly from their wording face quote, restrictions on US foreign assistants, a ban on defense exports and sales, certain controls over exports of dual use items, and miscellaneous financial and other restrictions. Now you may say, all right, well he's going to do this and immediately Trump's going to undo it.
So what's the big deal.
Everybody that's got their money tied up right now, everybody's got their money that they can't get because of a American sanctions, and then being on this list, we'll be able to grab and get all their money instantly when this is lifted, and then if you put it back on, they're going to be like, we don't care because we got our money out. This is going to fund terrorism, This is going to fund narco terrorism, This is going to fund cartels, drug dealers, and the terrorists in the Middle East instantly with this decision. Now, yeah, Trump's going to be inaugurated and to a second term as present on Monday. The Biden administration made the decision less than a week of its tenure remaining, and announced it the day before Trump's choice to lead the State Department. Cuban American Senator Marco Rubio is scheduled to appear before Congress for confirmation. You need to understand that was done on purpose, disregarding the substantial evidence that communist Cuba enables terrorists activity around the world. Biden said in his official certification removing the country from the list that Cuba had promised not to do so again in the future because they haven't been involved in terror.
He says that at least the last six months. This is not a joke quote.
The government of Cuba has not provided any support for international terrorism.
During the preceding six month period.
The government of Cuba has provided assurance says that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future. Oh okay, well that's good to know. So why are they doing it? For one reason and one reason only. They wanted to give a big win to the left. They wanted to give a win to the terrorists. They wanted to give a win to Cuba, and they wanted, for whatever reason behind the scenes, to do a deal and hook them up. That's what this is about. It also undermines Donald Trump when he comes into office, and it's another way to screw with Marco Rubio right before his confirmation hearing you combine all this, you put all this together, and this is what you get.
Now, one final.
Thing I want to say, and I mentioned this earlier about the vote today that happened. It should not have been a controversial vote. This should be a bipartisan vote on protecting girls and boys sports. Unfortunately, Democrats said, screw it, We're going to screw over women yet again. The House passed a bill banning men from competing in girls' sports, specifically in schools that receive federal funding.
This is huge.
There were two hundred and six Democrats that vote against it. Democrats clearly hate women and girls by mandating that men who identify as a woman can play in their events. So when they tell you that they are, oh, we're in favor of girls and women, and we're all in favor of women in or you know, women's sports and women succeeding in life.
No, they're not. They would rather push this woke ideology.
On your daughter and have men in the in the locker rooms changing in front of them.
The list goes on and on.
There have been so many women whose lives have been affected by men in the locker room. There have been women that have been forced to change in front of men. There have been women that have been attacked a sexually assaulted because of men. But you also have to remember something and this actually goes back to Pete head Seth. For a second, Democrat Jack Reid said head Seth isn't qualified for the job.
You want to know who.
Jack voted for to confirm in the Biden administration a dude, Okay, a dude who thinks he's a chick. They voted to confirm multiple men in the military and positions of power who actually think that they are dudes that are somehow chicks. Never forget that is the Democratic Party. Make sure you share this podcast with your fan family and your friends, and I will see you back here tomorrow.