Ep. #716: Sen. John Kennedy, Kasie Hunt, Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton

This podcast is sponsored by Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business. Businesses build big worlds. I'm Angus. My design studio created the Game of Thrones main title. We wanted it to feel like it was handmade, like it was a physical object. The whole process was a series of questions and solutions. The aha moment was to turn the globe inside out.

This thing starts to emerge that's just incredible. We put everything we had into it, and it's given so much back to us. For business world builders everywhere, the business card that gives back all you put in. Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business. Cards issued by JP Morgan Chase Bank, any member FDIC. Subject The official Game of Thrones podcast is back to break down the brand new HBO original.

Set one century before the events of Game of Thrones, this series tells the tale of a lowly hedge knight, Sir Duncan the Tall, and his squire Egg. I'm Greta Johnson. Together, we are your guides to Westeros unpacking every episode of this brand new series immediately after it airs on HBO Max. You can watch us on HBO Max or listen wherever you get your podcasts. From the HBO Late Night series, Real Time with B. Start the clock.

Welcome back. How are you? Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate you always coming back. I missed you too, including the guy who yells, woo! I missed all of you. We have been off since uh Thanksgiving and uh nothing much has happened He said sarcastically. Yes, I mean got a little dicey around Christmas, but we defeated Venezuela and we're free now. So that's Oh, also Iran. I know this is big I here in LA, big Iranian population here, uh largest protests ever there.

And uh you know, they think this might succeed this time, b overthrow that awful theocracy because Trump has promised to help. Iran is dealing with the protesters by killing him in the streets and Trump said, We are watching, mostly for pointers. No, these uh these images out of Minneapolis are just fucking ugly, are they not? I mean, wow.

I uh including this you see this one, the five year old boy who was just taken out of going to school. Uh but you know, if you looked at his penmanship, you can see he is the worst of the worst. Apparently Minneapolis only the beginning. You know where they're going into next? Ice Maine. That hotbed of crime, Maine. This is Trump's shitlist. Greenland, Maine, and Minnesota, the axis of hot chocolate.

Green that was the other big story. I uh Greenland I thought he forgot about it. Remember at the beginning of the term it was Greenland and then it was like, okay, you know, sometimes the bra brain farts pass and we But this week it the past week it was all we're gonna take it by force, by force. Pete Hegsath got so excited he droned a dog sled. I Okay.

But then three days ago Trump goes to Davos, Switzerland, you know, this is where the people who run the world have the big meeting every year. Uh and he gives this big speech. He kept saying gr Iceland when he meant Greenland. He kept confusing Greenland, which is So awkward when you're fucking one country and you yell out the name of another. Miracle of miracles. He said in the speech, no, actually we don't want to use force now.

Okay, great. No and not even the tariffs. He threatened that to No. All unneeded, because we are declaring victory for a problem that wasn't there until he made it. So it's it's like Like uh A little like when the dog throws up on the rug and then he eats it. You know, it's it took care of itself. I always let'em do it by the way. I was like, you know what, I could get up, but just yeah.

Uh but uh in this new Greenland deal he just says we have a a framework. It's d just a framework, uh just really a concept, no details, nothing written down. It's uh modeled after the healthcare plan. It's uh Uh we we get bases there in Greenland, we get to build new ones, we get to do mining, we have get to keep Russia out, all of which we had anyway. Uh but now everybody hates. What Fox News calls the art of the deal.

Here's something exciting at Davos President uh Trump, uh President I've got an idea, I call him. Uh he announced something very exciting, a new Board of Peace, the Board of Peace. Uh here's what we know about it. Step one, give him a billion dollars. I'm not making that up. That is step one. What, you gotta know everything about it? That's it, okay? Here's it. None of our traditional allies are getting on board with the Board of Peace.

Uh including Canada, the c prime minister there woo he got Trump mad. He made a speech and he said, You know, with America we're we're not in a transition here. This is a full on rupture. And then Trump got up and he said, You know what, Mock? Canada lives because of the US. Wow. And then Katie Perry said, Screw you both, I'm still fucking Justin Trudeau. Okay. We got a great show. We have Senator John Kennedy and Casey Hunt.

But first up, he is a retired U.S. Army Major General who's now senior advisor for Vote Vets and the Vet Voice Foundation. General Paul Eaton is here. Are you sir? Thank you. Okay.

Thank you, sir. Appreciate you being here. These are very serious times, so we needed a very serious person. But Kaisanat was busy, we got you. But uh just tell us your background. I mean I call you General, I know you probably like to be called Paul, but you you deserve that and when I say thank you for your service that is completely sincere. Peter But you've been everywhere. I mean you were you were a NATO soldier.

So in the beginning. Oh, yeah. Going that far back, yeah. No, I I grew up in the uh United States Air Force in a fighter pilot's house, and uh that's a special place to grow up. And I married a Marine's daughter. My dad was killed uh flying a B-57 over the uh Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. And I went to West Point and then I became an infantryman And those are the highlights.

But those are the uh things that uh have a obvious impact on uh outlooks. I mean, obviously you're here because the military is in your blood and now the military is in the street. This is what I want to ask you about first and foremost. Trump says he's sending the Pentagon is sending five fifteen hundred troops to Minneapolis.

Um you know, in your career, I'm guessing this idea of the military involved in civilian life was just always a non-issue. It's just something we never did. Am I wrong about that? You are correct. Except when there's a drama in a state and the governor asks for help. And from the Pentagon? From the Pentagon. That happened? From the Pentagon. So I went to Homestead, Florida, as a lieutenant colonel, as the operations officer for Army Forces.

And because the Army has excess capacity, we helped Florida recover from Hurricane Andrew. Okay, that's we fought fires in Wyoming at the uh in the park system in Wyoming, in Yellowstone National Park. So when our governors have a dilemma And it is out of their control. They've they're uh they're done uh rating their own resources, they can act to uh to go to Uncle Sam and ask for a little help. Yeah, but hurricanes and fires this is different than fighting the people.

You know, I I I mean I'm slightly different about this. I I feel like the mentality of the military and the police, even though there is a lot of crossover, I mean a lot of guys get out of the military and then they join law enforcement. But I feel like they are somewhat fundamentally different. I mean when I think about somebody joining the army

Or one of the branches after nine eleven. I think that's a supreme act of patriotism. I think about people joining the police. Not that there aren't many, many and probably most, we don't know the numbers, good police, but it's also when you give people a bad It's sort of an invitation to be a bully.

It's sort of like, okay, here's the your license to be an asshole if you want. It looks like fundamentally they made the mistake here with the ICE people of getting a lot of people here who just are there for the wrong reasons and just want to fuck with people. Is that your reading? May I tell a short story? Tell a long story. You're the boss. Yeah, yeah. So in Iraq. We're there in Iraq. It was a terrible decision going to Iraq, but we're there. And

The 82nd Airborne Division has a reputation for being the the macho powerful first in the fight division. Justified. But we had a situation develop in a small town outside of Fallujah. And uh I can't remember why the Iraqis were incensed, but they were because you're in their country, probably. That th that has a bearing. And so We have a battalion commander, a rifle battalion commander, surrounded by young men in uniform, in battle dress.

With their rifles and a load of ammunition. And the Iraqis are very upset, a whole lot of uh riot potential. They're moving on the American forces. The battalion commander directed that the men take a knee, put the barrel of their rifles in the dirt, and smile. They thought he was crazy. But in that stroke defused the situation, de-escalated the problem, and the Iraqis went, Well, all right, and nobody got hurt.

That's the quality of the men and women that we see going into the Armed Forces today who know how to tune themselves to the event.

But going into the streets of America, they didn't sign up for that. No, and people didn't vote for it. I mean I was talking about this uh almost a year ago when troop when when Trump started to s first send troops into Washington DC. my view was that this is dangerous just to have the military on the ground. Not that I would ever suspect him of trying to steal an election. But if you do, it's kind of handy to have those troops in place in American cities.

It's intimidating. It's my wife and I are uh we we spend a fair amount of time in Washington DC and we see these young men and women. They're in groups of four, they're carrying a sidearm, they're wearing a soft cap, no visible body armor, and uh My wife raised three soldiers and She talks to them like they're her son's her daughter and

How are you doing? Why are you here? Just the normal questions a mom who is also a veteran would ask young men and women doing something that They didn't sign up for the first time. but are doing because they're directed to do it and the two who were one killed, one hurt terribly, uh God bless those two and uh it is It is a direct result of going out there. That brings me to the other question that was a big issue while we were off. Um

Can soldiers refuse an order to go into battle? Now there's two senators, Mark Kelly is one of them, um I forget the other one, who who who Trump is going after because they have told the soldiers. This is after we fired on boats g outside of Venezuela, that it is your it is not your duty to follow a order that is is unconstitutional.

To me this is a bit of a slippery slope. I may not have been for those firings, but uh when you start to tell troops, kids, that they have it in their power not to obey orders, I don't know what happens to your military. What is your view on that? We are in the greatest civil military relations crisis our country has had, and it starts as an attack down from our civilian leadership.

In the past, we've had problems, MacArthur and Fallon and McChrystal, which was a bottom-up attack on civil leadership, on our civilian leadership. But this is coming from Project twenty twenty five and it's directed down. And the whole point of I will not go there. I didn't sign up for this. I had a soldier make that decision back when I I had to chop a unit uh change of operational control to the uh a a Finnish brigadier general before they were in NATO. He refused to wear the blue helmet.

conservative family in Texas, and he we laid it all out for him, and he got in trouble because he would not wear it. He said, I'll go, I'll be the best medic you ever want, but I can't do that. I had an Iraqi battalion refuse to serve in Fallujah as the outer ring, unlikely to have any contact, because we recruited our Iraqi soldiers. And we told them you will not have to fight your fellow Iraqi. You are here for fighting enemies from without. Greenland.

And I had a uh I served on a panel three days ago with forty Democratic caucus congressmen. And I made the comment if Mr Trump chooses to put forces into Greenland, you will have soldiers. It's going to happen when And it will be a terrible event for the Armed Forces of the United States. Well, luckily that's off the table now. He says we're not doing it. But Greenland is going to redecorate all gold.

No. All right. Sir, I thank you so much for making time for us. Your expertise is very valuable. Your service is most appreciated. General Eaton, ladies and gentlemen. All right, let's read our panel. How are you doing? Okay. Okay, she's the anchor of CNN's The Arena with Casey Hunt. Casey Hunt, of course.

He is a Republican senator from Louisiana and a very funny one, author of the number one best-selling book, How to Test Negative for Stupid and Why N Washington Never Will. John Kennedy, your book is very funny.

So I have a suggestion for the people in Minneapolis. How about this? It's so cold in this country, the this storm that happened. How about it's too cold to fight and use that as an excuse, face saving excuse for everybody just to go home. Ice, you made your point. You made your point. Okay. We we got into something with too many illegals. Yes, that happened under Biden.

Uh but these images, like I said, really ugly. I mean, when I think of some of these things that we've seen, oh there's some of them. You know, the guy Out in his underwear, no clothes on in the cold, the kid, this pepper spray in the face, the lady disabled lady being pulled out of her car. John, I'm just gonna say it to you. I'm not trying to pick a fight right away, but I did my prediction is this stuff, your party is gonna get the dog shit kicked out of you in the midterms.

Because this is not what people voted for and they're gonna hold the pr party as responsible as they should. Well I'm gonna give you my take on it, Bill. Um You you don't have to be Einstein's cousin or a senior at Caltech to know that uh illegal immigration is illegal. Uh the those of us who believe that no one is above the law have to concede that folks who are in our country illegally are not above the law either.

I I support enforcing our immigration laws. Now how you enforce them matters. That's the key. You you have to do it. You have to do it in accordance with with due process, equal protection, and Terry V, Ohio. Reasonable suspicion. It's okay to protest. It's not okay to protest violently. Uh violence undermines the morality that you say your movement is built upon. But that five year old was not being violent. I understand.

But but but protesting violently is is not only not only undermines your your movement It's a it's a twelve piece book. Somebody's gonna get hurt. But is anybody is anybody defending you you cover this. Is anybody defending the people who are throwing things at at the ICE agents? I don't think so. No. And I think if you listen to the president and the vice president just in the last couple of days. you can hear that they can read the poll. Right?

that Americans are not behind these tactics. And suddenly you have the president talking about how what happened to uh Renee Good was a tragedy. And he also talked about how her family were Trump supporters. JD Vance went to Minneapolis. A lot of his critics thought that that was provocative by itself, but he went there and he actually did say mistakes were made. The administration was not saying that in the beginning. And I think it underscores that they know that people are seeing these.

And they are not thinking this is what I voted for. They voted to secure the border. Well I can I can I can read a poll and and um the the polls tell me that the president's enforcement effort are polling right up there with with toenail fungus. I get it. But it's right. But is it the question is, is it is it going to change? And you know the president. Um I can't tell you it's going to change. That's why God made elections. But I know this: Donald Trump, like it or not, he's unrelenting.

He's like that. He's like that one one light in your hotel room that you can't turn off no matter how many buttons you push. I'm not gonna tell you he's gonna back up. But you know what? That's why God made election. But here's the thing, why if that's true? Do people say taco about President Trump? Trump always chickens out. He just changed on Greenland. What's keeping him from changing on this? Because he's seeing the poll.

I well I don't know. I have no inside information. Well he could. But but he could, but but I wouldn't faint with surprise. Okay. But it is a actually a good uh opportunity for him because he is that kind of guy. That is that is one of his strengths, I think, is that he it is a cult. I'm sorry, but manga is a bit of a cult. And cult Thank you. And when it is, um I mean th so is Taylor Swift, but okay. And they're in it, okay. And a cult leader can change on a dime, as he often does.

So he could be the one because he has been so awful on this issue with I mean, that woman, that was an execution in the street. I'm sorry, but it was. When I saw it, you know what I thought of? 'Cause we're old enough to remember this? I mean show the picture. Okay, that's it. Now I'm gonna describe this first because this is from the sixties. Remember Vietnam, the Tet Offensive, and that ugly picture that we saw after? Show the picture. This is everybody our age knows this.

That's the first thing that flashed in my mind. Just okay. So okay, we he made his point. He's the tough guy.

It gives him the opportunity now to be the guy who says, Okay, I'm actually gonna do comprehensive immigration reform because this has been on the t how long you been in the Senate? Ten years. In dog years it's about seventy. But and before Obama tried with a a grand bargain. But why can't why couldn't Trump be the one to get this done? You talk to him. I bet you you could uh put that bee in his bonnet. Well you know what the real answer is? The real answer is immigration reform.

That's the real answer. Well, we did that. We closed the border. No, no, no, I'm talking about not only for illegal immigration, but also for legal immigration. And the truth is, Bill, if you if you're honest and you are Uh we we admit more people into America legally every year than anyone in in the world because the whole world wants to come here.

Yeah. When's the last time you heard of somebody trying to sneak into China? I mean they want to come to America and and we do but we could do that better. If my Democratic friends would sit down and talk with us. But when we sit down to talk, the first thing they want amnesty, amnesty, amnesty. And and and and that that dog's not going to hunt right. Okay, but couldn't there be some sort of agreement on that? Because what people are saying, even people from your own party.

is that yes, we wanted to get rid of the criminals. We all were for that. And there are some. It's not like they have to be a few. But forty seven percent. Forty-seven percent? Yep. I saw numbers this morning. About 47%. Sounds bullshitty to me, but maybe. I mean, I don't know. No, no. I That seems high. It seems high. I mean Obama can we go just back to his policy? He was a badass. Was he not on on this couch? He was.

Th Democrats were very unhappy with the the rate of deportation under President Obama. It's actually absolutely true. And a lot of and a a lot of the people he deported did not have criminal records. I mean he did it too. He just did it without this ugliness. Okay, so it it it could be done.

Okay, let me ask but let's get off this for a second. Uh Trump said uh and I think if he would just stop voicing his interior monologue. We'd all breathe a lot easier. I know, but it just I uh like I I think sometimes it's great we actually know what he's thinking and then it's too much. He said, uh God is proud of the job I've done, talking about the end of his first year. What part? Because I I just wanna I said this to you backstage.

You you want to take that one, Casey? You can have that one. I do not have Trump derangement syndrome. I know he's gonna yell at me. He does it privately now, but I will get yelled at for this. You know, Trump derangement, you're with the left of lunatics, okay, all that. No, no, no. I don't judge everything just by Trump must be awful. Okay, there's some things he said even while we were off. He did an animal rights thing that all my Peter friends loved. He came out a pot

It's not a Schedule One anymore. Thank you. You know, I mean it's not like he came out and said, uh The Nick Fuentes wing of the party, we're not with you, we don't want you. So and Venezuela, do I love everything about it? No. But do I hate it? No. Do I hate it when we get rid of a a a merciless dictator who made a quarter of his country flee? and is inviting China and Russia and and Iran into the country? Do I do I uh should Exxon get the oil? Maybe not, but better than that asshole.

So I don't have Trump derangements in drunk. I know, but but you're you're to some extent Bill you're yelling at the wind. Trump is what just like you are who you are. I've known Trump duck President Trump for ten years. He he uh Mikey Murnaut, he exists loud. Um he he he grows anxious when he has an unexpressed thought. It's all unfiltered.

Now some people like that and some people don't. I would think the media would love that. He talks to the media more than any president I've ever seen. But the idea that that President Trump is not deciding

Which version hims of himself we're gonna see is absolutely wrong. I mean if you know and you interact with President Trump in private, I have over the course the first time I interviewed uh Donald Trump was back in twenty thirteen when he was just thinking about running for president and he has one setting when those cameras are on.

And one setting when those cameras are off. Right. And if he wanted to make a different decision about how to conduct himself in public, he is absolutely capable of doing it. He's not going to. But he is not going to. can criticize it. You can say what you want. Now, you know, he's not gonna like it. You might You might end up with a sombrero on your head. But but but he is but he is what he is. Okay, but but what some people who elected him.

And you know what? We're gonna have midterms and got that's why God said effects. But even before then, y we have a government now and you're in it, and you're and you're in his party. And what people are saying these days is like what when is enough enough?

I mean here's a question I would like to ask the people in your party. Sure. Iran. I mentioned it in the monologue. This is kind of a big thing. And I thought, you know, we've seen these demonstrations in Iran before, but this was bigger. and more people have died, but I think maybe more people have died because he said he was going to help. This looks like a bay of pigs to me. This looks like America's gonna come and help you.

Where is it? This remember the Kurds in ninety one when they thought they were gonna get help from America? Vietnam could make the same claim. I mean a lot of people have felt let down by us. I thought Trump was different. Where are you on his on on this?

Because all these bodies that I see, these body bags in Iran, uh I think a lot of those people went in the streets because they thought, Oh, he said he's got our back this time. Where's the help? Well the generals have told uh that short of sending in a massive number of troops Um it it will be another Iraq. Well then what did he mean when he said I don't know. But but but but if you look at it from a larger if you look at it from a larger perspective.

Because of Israel, this is one person's opinion. Because of Israel. And President Trump's backing his The Middle East is safer than it has been in twenty years. Absolutely. Hamas Hamas is on its knee. I gave him credit for that. Iran no longer looks invincible and you know and you know who is applauding us every step of the way, not out. But the Arab countries. Look, if every one of them if Venezuela and causes Cuba to fall.

If he if he somehow gets Venezuela, Cuba and Iran all to be not these horrible places they were He should get a Nobel Peace Prize. But the smartest people that are coming through that I'm talking to, uh usually in commercial breaks, will say this is the closest this Iranian regime has ever been. To falling. A big American concern is that over involvement on our part. Could help

And are the Israelis interested in seeing us go in or not? And right now it seems to be that they have, and correct me if I'm wrong, Senator, I'm sure you've been in these briefings. They want to push pause a little bit. Will this regime fall from the Uh my gut is it's gonna take a little bit longer than what we are seeing right now, that it's not gonna be precipitous, but I also think

President Trump has been uh relatively unpredictable. If he starts to talk about potentially doing something like this, I think we've all learned, you know. We got a lesson in it in the first

Trump term, right? And I think some people forgot in the second Trump term that, you know, we really should when he says he's gonna do something, actually listen. And now he's emboldened. Why couldn't he have just drone the Ayatollah's ass or something? You know, I mean it seem seemed like that's a good thing.

If you want Iran to fall, here's what you do: you sh cut off their cash flow, you double down on the sanctions, we're still letting them sell all to China, and this would be dangerous. You embargo their taxes. You embark just like we're doing in Venezuela. So why don't we do it? Now now now you better be prepared to suffer the or accept the consequences. If you pray for rain, you gotta be prepared to deal with the mud. We don't know what China will do.'Cause China buys a lot of that

Yeah. Not a problem. So his polls look like they're pretty down. Uh he I think he's suing the New York Times for reporting that. Interesting. Uh but I don't go by the polls. Polls can be right, polls can be wrong, polls can change. You know what I go by? There is a Trump store in Pennsylvania where they sell go mag up merchandise.

No, they do. They sell MAGA merchandise and this was doing gangbusters business. It's going out of business now. Okay, this to me is very indicative. They they s what the They sold things like uh 2028 Trump hats. You get it? 2020 uh Trump beef jerky, clocks, uh flags. So Their loss is your gain because

Going at a business sale, everything's got to go. We thought we'd show you some of the items you could pick up for a song, ladies and gentlemen, for very reasonable prices. For example, uh, you could get the uh JD. These colors don't wrong America First Eyeliner for only$2.99. That is a deal. Uh It's 17 hours somewhere. Wine glasses for$5.99. Very reasonable. Uh baby bib that says my diaper looks like Biden's presidency. Six dollars. Oh the uh, but definitely tread on people who aren't me, flag.

Uh the Chuck Schumer really burns my ass hot sauce,$3.99. Come on. Oh, a Christy gnome Barbie action figure with figurine is$3.99. These are deals. Uh the if global warming is real, why is there snow globe? Ten dollars. And best of all, the non-gay Skittles. Only red, white, and blue, 99 cents. All right. You uh you're definitely getting a sombrero, okay. No question You're gonna have a sombrero on your head. Please.

You make me n more nervous than a a long tailed cat in a room full of rockin' chairs. Nervous as a uh I thought I'd try to do one of you. My dad used to say nervous as a pregnant nun. Yeah.

So uh okay, so before we run out of time here in the second half of the show, let's talk about retribution because I know that when you uh voted for and I think you did Bondi for Attorney General and Cash Patel for the FBI. I feel like you thought you got promises that they would not indulge in retribution, political retribution. Do you think they kept your word so far their word to you? Really? They're not involving themselves in retribution? Yeah. Well here here's what

Here's what I said. Look, there are those on both the right and the left. Who think it is acceptable to believe that two wrongs don't make it right, but they do make it even. And and there are folks on both sides who think it's okay to prosecute a political opponent just because he's a political opponent. And I talked to him but To equal degree? And and I told them that this is not America. This is the sort of thing.

That happens in countries whose whose Powerball jackpot is two hundred and eighty-seven chickens and a goat. That's not America. Now, what has happened so been three prosecutions. Two of them the courts have thrown out. Uh James and Come. Uh we never saw any of the evidence, so I can't tell you whether they're legitimate. The third one is Bolton and and I just don't know enough about the allegations for Mr. Bolton.

I I do know um Mr. Bolton is one of the smartest people on the planet, if you don't believe me asking. And um but I can't I but other than that, there have been some investigations. I pushed back on the Powell investigation, very vociferous. Okay. This is we're talking about Jerome Powell, the head of the Fed, who okay, so you you're you're making the case that both sides do it equally. Uh Trump is going after him for redecorating.

See Trump Yes, he's he read am I wrong about that? You are not no you are not wrong for spending too much money apparently. You spent too much Okay. Redecorating. Tell me if I'm wrong, they have a new office building, the Fed. Okay. Now this see this is what I call b a bar fight. In a bar fight you pick up anything. That's Trump. He picks up anything. I uh you know, you've you got the mortgage form wrong.

That's the other one. He's going after people for filling out the mortgage form, for checking the wrong box, which everybody does, including lots of Republicans. Uh

So you can't quite make the case, can you, that it's equal I concede, but but step back a second. Concede. I concede those points. But it's undeniable. It's undeniable that President Biden started. What did he do? He not only prosecuted a former president, he prosecuted a former president who was his former opponent. He prosecuted a former president who was his former opponent and his current opponent. But don't you argue that unleashed

Spirits that he could not control. Is anyone surprised that Trump punches back? I'm not saying it's right. I was just gonna say you write in your book that two wrongs don't make a right, but they do make it even and you take them to task for it. Right? And I mean the facts you leave out around Uh Comey and Letitia James are that

The Justice Department couldn't find a career person in that office who looked at that evidence and thought, I'm gonna bring a case. They had to fire that person, put in someone else, Then it turns out that person actually is illegally appointed and now Pam Bondi is trying to figure out a way you know, putting out statements defending her. So are they not doing exactly what you warned them not to do when you questioned them in that hearing? Those are fair points.

The only prosecution that I see is Dr. Bolton. And I don't know enough. Democrats will admit as well that the Bolton business is. I don't know enough to know that's powered. The investigation of of Jerome Powell, I have have posed vociferously. Um b b because when you prosecute someone you not only have to have a federal crime and be able to prove it's beyond a reasonable doubt, you have to be able to show it's in the public interest.

Let's get out of the periphery here and go right to the heart of it because uh it's great we agree we shouldn't be prosecuted for redecorating. Uh I I'll I'll I'll give you this on the table. Uh I'll let me put this forward in a show of good faith. I don't think they should have prosecuted him over the There's a button here somewhere.

Yes. Uh I don't think they should prosecute him over the uh hush money to the to the porn store. Remember that one? I do. Okay. We could have let that one go. I mean, I'm sure you could make the case, blah blah blah. She wasn't worth it by the way. Just one person, Penny. Esc Eskimo cousins, are you? Uh huh. Um okay, but the big one. It's the one now Jack Smith, he's the one who was prosecuting Trump for crimes of trying to steal the twenty twenty election. Okay, that's the real

And I get your point that we don't want to go into this spiral of lawfare. That's what banana republics do. Nobody ever really wins an election. You win until the next people come along and and say, well you didn't and it wasn't fair and it wasn't right. Nobody ever believes the election. This is what made us so great for so long. We avoided all that bullshit. We had a peaceful transfer of power. So this only thank you. America looks beautiful.

But this only works if the person in office doesn't actually commit crimes that are egregious. You see what I'm saying? C should I read to you the the the quote from Georgia where he says, I just want to find Eleven thousand seven hundred votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state. I only need eleven hundred eleven thousand votes. Fellas, I need eleven thousand votes. Give me a break. This isn't worth looking into. This isn't something that you'd kinda have to take to court.

But when you have a a an able prosecutor, first of all a prosecutor, you need prosecutors who who uh who know who who who have prudential judgment and who know a law book And and a rule book from a J. Crew captain. And if they're fair, here's how here's the hi here's how they're gonna proceed. They're n they're gonna prosecute a federal crime, only if it's a federal crime.

Only if they can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, and only if it's in the public interest. If the prosecution, even though you don't have to agree with the conduct, But if the prosecution will undermine the fairness of the criminal justice system or the perceived fairness of it, you don't prosecute. And I'm just telling you: President Biden, for the first time in this country's history,

Prosecuted a former president, a former opponent, who was his current opponent. I understand. And he unleashed spirits he could not control. But again, he it was the first time we did that. It was also the first time that something prompted us to do that. No. Wait, wait, wait a minute. They allege I'm not defending the president or his conduct. You make your own judgment about it. But you can be worried you can be worried about the president.

and and and and and and not not uh uh uh defend the conduct. But wait, he there images that that President Trump defrauded the American people, okay? Well what does that mean? How how about how about when President Obama said if you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance?

Is that fraud? Not quite on the s no but is that fraud? Uh it wasn't the best thing he ever said, and it turned out to be not completely true. It's well within the realm of political How about the people around President Biden? Okay. Who hid studiously and successfully the fact that he had neurodegenerative disease. Should they be prosecuted? The twenty twenty election. Did he win that one? Uh here's the way here's what I see about The issue is not a little bit of a

The issue is not whether the 2020 election was manipulated. Well both sides. Both sides did everything they could. The issue is whether it made a difference. And the only way you can prove that it made a difference is to go in front of God, country, and a federal judge and prove it. And that hasn't been proven s proven so the election was legal. What is he saying now? You want me to repeat? No, no, I I want her to translate. I The center.

And many others have these parties. Casey, you can call me an ignorant slut if you want to. I am more polite than that. I was raised to be more polite than that. No, no. Look at that. You're hardly ignorant. So many layers here, okay? He is in a difficult position when that question is asked because of President Trump and the way he commands.

Loyalty from all of the Republicans in your party. I mean let's be real about that, right? But the reality is, I mean you were at the Capitol on January 6th. I was at the Capitol on January 6th. I looked out the window, I saw the mob, right? I mean the idea that, you know, the president and we were there for hours, right? I mean I I got into journalism because I thought it was public service, right? We're all in this democracy together. I wanted to play a little bit of a part in it.

There are people attacking the building. We find out later they've carved, killed the media, and other things. They're hunting Nancy Pelosi. They're yelling, hang Mike Pence. The president's at the White House, and for hours no one comes, right? Right? We find out later they were called, but then the president basically wouldn't let the call go through. It's a little more nuanced than that, but it's the basic facts of the case. The idea that then we're not gonna say, look around and say, Hey

How do we hold people accountable for that is kind of where we are now. And I will say that in terms of lawfare and the way the system You think he should be prosecuted for that? I well, I mean he was prosecuted like he was about to be and then he won an election. But if you were a prosecutor, would you prosecute him for that? I'm not a prosecutor, I'm not a lawyer, I'm a journalist, okay

I'm a TV host and I have to say that's all the time we have for the panel. Thank you very much. It's time for new rules. Okay, new rule. If you want to know why ice plays so rough, follow the money. Who's getting rich? It's obviously the autoglass industry. Stop asking Trump about the Proud Boys, we need to look into his connection to the Pep Boys. Thank you.

Uh neuro since foldable phones are all the rage, Apple must go in all in and make the next phone so flexible that Japanese kids can turn it into a swan. And by the way, if you're a young person who pays a thousand bucks for a new phone because it can bend in half, you must apologize to every old person you made fun of for still using one of these.

Uh new rule Emmanuel Macron has to come clean about wearing sunglasses everywhere this week at Davos. Just a bit it, man. Your wife is beating you up again, isn't she? Uh no, well, the folks who make motton bows jeans must admit that there's no such thing as anti-flat butt technology. If your butt is flat and then you put the jeans on and then it's round, that's not technology, that's padding.

The idea that denim can take you from flat buns to bedunkadunk is something they just pulled out of their ass. Uh New Rule, please don't make me feel sorry for Stephen Miller. The crew of the new Star Trek series features a cast of three lesbian performance artists prompting Miller to retweet an ex-post calling it trash. Unlike being a forty year old man tweeting about Star Trek. Although I must admit, when I was a teenager dreaming about space lesbians, this wasn't what I had in mind.

And finally, new rule, if you're still looking for a New Year's resolution, here's one. Get out of your media bubble. The most frustrating thing that happens to me whenever I'm off is people I run into want me to do my job, which I'm on vacation from. Privately in restaurants and at parties and well the bathhouse is a separate situation but but look I'm happy to share my opinions wherever except for this.

Everybody, left and right, is only half informed. So I'm constantly hearing, no, I didn't hear that part. Newsfeeds. They're like high-priced fetish escorts. They understand their whole job is to give it to you just how you like it. So to my Republican friends, you know this didn't have to happen. You know she wasn't trying to run the guy away.

You know, I always do my part and admit when the left has gone off track, yes, Biden let in too many immigrants. Yes, there are criminals among them, blah, blah, blah. But you never reciprocate and say, okay, this is where we went too far.

It's just my team fuck the truth. You're not intellectually honest, so stop asking me if I have the slightest interest in joining your side. I never did. You have no integrity. You went apeshit about the corruption of Hunter Biden. Which in the liberal bubble didn't exist at all, although yes, of course it really did, but on such a smaller scale than what Trump is doing.

Was it ridiculous that Hunter Biden got a job helping the Ukrainians look for natural gas? Of course, especially since he was looking for it in hookers. But the Trumps are so far and away more corrupt than that. Don Jr. owns a nightclub. In DC, for Christ's sakes. Really? A private club called the Executive Branch, where people pay a membership fee of half a million dollars because corruption now has valet parking. Tuesday nights, ladies bribe-free. Scarface is there on Wednesdays. Look.

In the old Watergate days, the refrain was follow the money. Well, now the money's in crypto, so you can't. Originally Trump hated crypto, said it was a scam, and then he remembered, I love scams. Hunter Biden made a few million. The Trump family has made at least two billion since he was elected as America's 47th and final president. And that can't all be from gold sneakers.

It's not. It's from shady people like crypto billionaire Justin Sun, who was being investigated for fraud by the SEC, but then he bought. $75 million in World Liberty Financial, and the case went away. What you ask is World Liberty Financial? Well, it's the Trump's private company, Wink Wink. And it sells crypto, that is monopoly money to guys who wear tracksuits on yacht.

Who buy it with real money, which gives them a friend in the Oval Office who can do them favors when they commit crimes and pardon them when they get caught. Trump isn't draining the swamp, he's bottling it. Everyone Everyone these days says he wants to be a king. No, not a king. He's a prince from Nigeria. I see now why he doesn't want to leave office. The money's too good. Carolyn Levitt says, neither the president nor his family have ever engaged or will ever engage in conflicts of interest.

And then her tiny cross pendant burst into flame. The Trump sons even launched a crypto mining operation, which Trump may not want to discuss while the Epstein scandal is ongoing, as he's very sensitive about any connection to miners. But Thank you. But yes, by all means, Fox News, please tell us more about the Biden crime family and nothing about how Trump once promised to put his business assets in a blind trust. Actually that's what you gave him, blind trust. Speaking of which

Now, let me tell you about the story that liberal algorithms locked out. Her name is Sia Weaver, and if you ask anyone in the blue sky bubble who that is, they'll look at you like a turkey looking up at the rain. Mm-hmm. But she's kind of important in New York, being Major Mondani's chief of the office to protect tenants, and since Momdani's big issue is the rent's too damn high, yes, he stole this guy's ass.

It's a very key appointment in the most important city in the country, which is also our financial center. It matters that the mayor stands by and I so I assume stands with. Someone who says things like, if you don't believe in the government's sacred right to seize private property, it's over. Seize private property. Home ownership is racist. Elect more communist.

Private property, especially home ownership, is a weapon of white supremacy. Really? Even among the twenty million black Americans who own their own home? These are the kind of utterances I might forgive as something a dumb white girl said while she was at Bryn Noir. Because it's the kind of privilege hating you can only learn for ninety-five thousand dollars a year. Thank you.

But these are statements made as an adult. Yes, for co-eds from elite private colleges, you're only a lesbian until graduation, but the communism lasts a lifetime. Democrats seem to be having this debate whether or not Mayor Mayor Mamdani is a socialist or a democratic socialist. Let me settle it. He's a straight up communist. How do I know this? Well, I'm reading between the lines when one of his major advisors says, elect more communists.

Which is fine. It's fine. It's a belief system. He's allowed to believe it, and people are allowed to vote for it. But if liberals deny it like he's just going through a goth phase, they're going to lose more elections. This is not a communist country. And this is the pendulum never lands in the middle problem I'm always bitching about. Really, the choices we get here are either the worst version of crony capitalism or communism.

Either a side deal for the Trump family every time he does business overseas, or the lady who says, impoverished the white middle class. Oh yeah, there's a great campaign slogan for ya. Honestly, as New York mayoral races go, I was less creeped out by Anthony Wiener's dick.

All right, that's our show. I want to thank my guest, Casey Hunt, Senator John Kennedy, and Major General Paul Eaton, Club Random. Back on every Monday. It's great. It drops on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcast. Now go watch overtime on YouTube. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Catch all new episodes. Log on to HBO.