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How geopolitics impact American families and gas prices · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

• 0:07
  It's six Eastern.
• 0:08
  It's three o'clock Pacific.
• 0:10
  This is a president of action.
• 0:11
  Coast to coast and around the world from the America Out Loud Talk Radio Studios.
• 0:16
  If he says he's serious about something, he means it.
• 0:19
  It's time for The Truth Be Told with Booker Scott.
• 0:22
  As we start this Monday night, we have to consider we're only mere hours away from a deadline that Donald Trump put on the Iranian government this weekend.
• 0:32
  He said, open the Strait of Hormuz, and if you don't, I'm going to put out your lights.
• 0:37
  We wait for that here in the next few hours.
• 0:40
  I'm Booker Scott.
• 0:41
  This is The Truth Be Told.
• 0:43
  As always on Mondays, we have Matt Palumbo.
• 0:45
  And Matt joins the conversation every Monday night with Mondays with Matt.
• 0:49
  And Matt, it was a busy week last week.
• 0:52
  I think we're going to have more of the same coming up this week.
• 0:55
  It just seems to never stop.
• 0:56
  I think that's going to be every week for the next couple of years.
• 1:02
  Well, we're going to get into the Iranian situation.
• 1:05
  By the way, there are 12 Americans dead now in that conflict that's taking place over there.
• 1:10
  We're going to get into that in a few minutes, but I want to start the hour with the death of Robert Muller.
• 1:16
  He died over the weekend.
• 1:17
  He was 81 years old.
• 1:19
  And Donald Trump put this post out.
• 1:22
  I'll read this.
• 1:22
  I'll also have it in a clip here in just a few minutes as well.
• 1:26
  But this is what he said.
• 1:27
  He said Robert Muller just died.
• 1:30
  Good.
• 1:30
  I'm glad he's dead.
• 1:32
  He can no longer hurt innocent people.
• 1:35
  And that's from President Donald J.
• 1:37
  Trump.
• 1:38
  What do you think of that comment from Donald Trump over the weekend?
• 1:43
  There's few things that surprise me when Trump says something and the liberals are all freaking out.
• 1:48
  Like, can you believe he said this and that?
• 1:50
  And I'm like, well, have you seen the guy for the past 40 years, of course, who would say that.
• 1:54
  Um this is one of those rare exceptions where I even I was surprised he said it.
• 1:58
  Um and I'm wondering what changed where this is something he would say, because obviously it's not the first time one of his enemies has died.
• 2:06
  I I have a thought.
• 2:09
  You know, he was very, very close to Charlie Kirk, and he obviously probably saw thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, maybe but even that many of people celebrating his death and attacking his widow.
• 2:21
  And I'm wondering if that is what motivated it to some extent to say if you're going to do it to us, we're going to do it to you.
• 2:27
  Um, listen, I given how vicious the left is, I I can't say I care that much, but to be speaking objectively, it's not exactly the kind of behavior I want to see for my president.
• 2:39
  Yeah, I agree with that.
• 2:40
  But Robert Muller had a really good career when it came to Vietnam, and then he was the FBI director.
• 2:46
  There may be some questions there.
• 2:48
  I think the part that he has a problem with is the Russian hoax investigation, the Mueller investigation.
• 2:53
  Here is a clip from over the weekend with Scott Bassett, and this was on Face the Nations.
• 3:00
  By President Trump from yesterday responding to the death of former special counsel Robert Muller, he posted this quote, Robert Mueller just died.
• 3:10
  Good.
• 3:10
  I'm glad he's dead.
• 3:11
  He can no longer hurt innocent people.
• 3:14
  Do you think it's appropriate for the president of the United States to celebrate the death of an American citizen, someone who's a bronze star, Purple Heart recipient, and who served in Vietnam?
• 3:23
  Uh Kristen, I was with the president of Green Room at Davos, and there was a video playing of the uh what may have been an illegal raid on his home at Margo.
• 3:34
  They are going through his wife's wardrobe.
• 3:37
  And I watched the look in his eye, and I think that neither one of us can understand what has been done to the president and to his family.
• 3:45
  But to the question of the president's post.
• 3:49
  I mean, Robert Muller didn't order that raid.
• 3:51
  Is it appropriate for the president to celebrate the death of any American citizen secretary?
• 3:56
  I think that given what has been done to President Trump and his family, it is impossible for either of us to understand what he has been through.
• 4:05
  So you don't think that there's anything wrong with the post, saying she's gonna keep trying there, Matt, but she's gonna be unsuccessful.
• 4:13
  Yeah, she she gets nowhere with Scott Descent.
• 4:16
  And I would suggest that that is probably the reason why we're seeing what we're seeing from Donald Trump.
• 4:21
  We had that raid on Mar-a-Lago where they went through his wife's underwear.
• 4:26
  And I don't think that that's uh gonna be forgiven by Donald Trump any time ever.
• 4:31
  I really don't.
• 4:32
  And if you go back to Erica Kirk and uh when Charlie Kirk died, I remember Donald Trump saying this on the stage in his memorial that you know you're better at forgiving than I am.
• 4:42
  I it's just not something I would do.
• 4:44
  And I think we're seeing that in this.
• 4:47
  Yeah, and we have to remember too.
• 4:49
  I mean, I know I know 10 years ago and political years is like a million years, but they it did sort of overshadow his entire first term.
• 4:57
  Every single thing he did or said was reported on basically every network has had a Fox and and you know, uh I'm talking about TV particularly, at every other network as oh, this is to benefit the Russians, it has to do with Putin, blah, blah, blah.
• 5:10
  And it was just a number one talking vote against him, and also something they were trying to put him in jail over.
• 5:16
  And Robert Muller's report, you know, did basically end up exonerating him, but it was the process that was the punishment.
• 5:25
  It was you know, they tried to make Mueller into this like superhero Ted character with Avenadi, and it is hilarious, and Avenadi is now in jail, and and uh, you know, he was the one they thought was gonna was gonna put Trump in jail because he needed to find better heroes.
• 5:40
  But um the fact that Mueller's report ended up finding nothing and basically exonerating Trump.
• 5:47
  There was no narrative shift from the left to, oh dang, I guess we got that one wrong.
• 5:52
  We uh we put all our faith in this one guy and he disproved us.
• 5:55
  No, the myth continued.
• 5:57
  So the fact that his report ended up finding Trump did nothing wrong, it's kind of irrelevant.
• 6:01
  He still led, you know, helped further a witch hunt.
• 6:04
  And the left doesn't really talk about it that much anymore, but you still will see the uh you know memes or arguments that Trump's in bed with Putin and all that, and he's clearly not.
• 6:15
  Well, we knew when Robert Mueller was doing that investigation that his mind was gone a lot anyway at that point.
• 6:22
  Soon after it, he was put in memory care facility, so I think that we all knew what was going on, and he was put in that position.
• 6:30
  He really had nothing to do with it.
• 6:32
  It was Jack Smith and those attorneys that were doing things.
• 6:35
  Here's uh Devin Nunez.
• 6:37
  He was obviously a big member of the House of Representatives when all of that was going on.
• 6:42
  He's the CEO of Truth Social now.
• 6:44
  Here he is from the Wayback Machine.
• 6:47
  It wasn't just about all the corruption that they did to create and manufacture it's the Russia hoax.
• 6:52
  The Mueller investigation itself was a hoax and was illegal.
• 6:56
  When when Muller walked into that door, how many times did I say it?
• 7:00
  He said, Where are the Russians?
• 7:01
  Oh, sir, there are none.
• 7:02
  Why didn't Mueller leave?
• 7:03
  Why did all those people work for years?
• 7:05
  Why did they hide the information from Congress for so many years?
• 7:08
  I think you're going to find many of those top-level lawyers and FBI agents, as Cash said, did not conduct themselves in a professional manner.
• 7:18
  And I think uh if interviewed again, you could maybe get to the bottom of it.
• 7:21
  But look, you have two guys that want to get to the bottom of it.
• 7:24
  I have every faith that they will.
• 7:26
  And he is referencing their cash patel and Dan Bongino.
• 7:29
  Bon Gino, no longer with the FBI, but don't forget there is a grand jury in South Florida that is investigating this whole thing.
• 7:38
  Comey, Jim Comey was subpoenaed last week for that grand jury.
• 7:42
  Yeah, and hopefully something will stick with Comey this time.
• 7:45
  And unfortunately, we were uh I mean, I would say humiliated with the way the last charges went.
• 7:50
  Um to a Stevin Nunes.
• 7:52
  Fun fact, he's also running his own wine company.
• 7:57
  Yeah, that's excellent.
• 7:58
  Good to know.
• 7:59
  Matt brings all types of things.
• 8:01
  He um, I can't remember who reached out to me that worked for him years ago.
• 8:06
  They put me on some of the lists, so every every Christmas I get wine from Devin Nunes, and I'm like, oh yeah, I forgot about that guy.
• 8:11
  Cool.
• 8:11
  Well, we started this hour with what is coming in Iran.
• 8:15
  Donald Trump puts out a post over the weekend that says, if you don't open up the Strait of Whore Muse, we're gonna come and we're gonna bomb your energy.
• 8:24
  We're gonna come after you.
• 8:25
  And that's gonna put a lot of people in the dark in Iran.
• 8:28
  I don't know if that's good or bad.
• 8:29
  Here's my question, as I've been thinking about it over the weekend since this started.
• 8:33
  He put a 48-hour time limit.
• 8:35
  That time limit comes up Monday night around nine o'clock.
• 8:38
  If you're listening on a podcast, we're already past that, so maybe you already know what happened.
• 8:43
  If you're listening live, obviously we're still a few hours away from that.
• 8:46
  How do we know when the Strait of Hormuz is going to be open?
• 8:51
  Because the Strait of Hormuz is closed because of the proximity to the land of Iran where they can shoot drones and missiles into ships.
• 8:59
  It's not like there's a gate and they almost have no Navy left.
• 9:04
  So how are we going to know that that has taken place?
• 9:06
  Uh, I guess they have to tell us if they take their word for it.
• 9:09
  Uh well, they've already said they're not going to.
• 9:11
  They have to be a good thing.
• 9:12
  Well, that's the thing.
• 9:12
  If they were going to the only way, I um I mean, I'm not, I don't think uh bombing energy infrastructure is the right way going about it, just because there is gonna be mass panic in the markets in the in the aftermath, and um, I don't want to be spending twelve dollars a gallon for gas, even if it is a short lived thing.
• 9:30
  Um listen, I mean, we we've been doing pretty well in killing every single leader and person of power in the country.
• 9:37
  I think you can have very credible threats in that realm if you want to if you want to threaten these people.
• 9:42
  Well, they're running out of military targets.
• 9:45
  They are.
• 9:46
  They are down to about a hundred uh eighteen wheelers with missiles on them.
• 9:50
  Over the weekend, we found out that Iran lied again back on March 8th when the foreign minister said our missiles, our ballistic missiles cannot go over.
• 10:00
  2,000 kilometers, which is about 1,200 miles.
• 10:02
  Diego Garcia was bombed over the weekend, which is more like 2,500 miles, 4,000 kilometers.
• 10:10
  So that puts uh Europe and NATO in to the path of a possible ballistic missile coming from Iran.
• 10:16
  And then you have to wonder is that an imminent threat?
• 10:19
  Is there intelligence somewhere that Donald Trump had that said, hey, they have these missiles, they can go there.
• 10:26
  They have told us they have 60% enriched uranium and they have a lot of it.
• 10:31
  Who knows?
• 10:32
  Maybe they were only weeks away from having a nuclear weapon, and maybe that's why we're seeing what we're seeing.
• 10:38
  Uh, I think, yeah, our Intel must have found something.
• 10:41
  Although I think, you know, we might be answering the question of like, um, you know, who opened the strength of Harmooz and how will we know?
• 10:48
  I mean, if if they're close to being militarily decimated, uh, if we get to the point where they can't defend it, then that also is the same as opening it.
• 10:56
  Yeah, and I think there are a lot of lone wolves, guys in John boats and an outboard that are going around causing problems out there.
• 11:03
  And I say John boats, I their speed boats, their Navy is pretty much decimated at this point when it comes to ships and uh ships that would put mines out there.
• 11:12
  Those are sunk.
• 11:13
  They're at the bottom of the ocean there.
• 11:15
  Let's go to Margaret Brennan and let's get into the way the American people are feeling.
• 11:20
  You brought up paying $12 a gallon for gas.
• 11:23
  Nobody wants to do that, and most Americans are against this.
• 11:27
  Here at home, the most measurable thing seems to be the price at the gas pump.
• 11:32
  How are people feeling about the economy?
• 11:34
  They have noticed the increase in gas prices.
• 11:36
  Of course.
• 11:37
  Big, big number.
• 11:38
  See, now they've gone up.
• 11:40
  But it's the impact more broadly on the economy.
• 11:43
  They think the war is having both a short-term impact on gas prices and weakening the economy.
• 11:49
  But also, I asked about the long term, because you hear the argument out there well, it'll just take patience, and let's ride this out.
• 11:56
  But even in the long term, folks are not convinced that there's gonna be an improvement in the economy, and also that larger increase in gas prices.
• 12:06
  The other part of this too is they see this as a war of choice as opposed to necessity.
• 12:13
  And what that does is it comes back to this.
• 12:16
  Are you willing to have patients right now, at least as far as gas prices are concerned?
• 12:20
  Most people say they don't think Americans should be willing to pay higher prices for it.
• 12:25
  And Matt, I think most Americans feel that way, and I believe most Americans would feel that way, and the poll would come out the same way, regardless of what war it is.
• 12:34
  Americans just don't want any more war.
• 12:36
  We spent 20 years in the Middle East already.
• 12:38
  They don't differentiate this from that, do they?
• 12:42
  Uh, no, and the whole thing I've seen is basically two to one against it overall.
• 12:47
  Now, among NAGA Republicans, it's like basically 100% in support among Republicans who don't call themselves MAGA Republicans, it's about two-thirds support.
• 12:56
  But overall, uh, you know, so I should say, you know, we're probably not going to be losing Republican votes in the midterms over this, but you know, the rest of the country that is not Republican is very, very unpopular.
• 13:09
  And you know, at first, it was probably more popular just because there weren't any noticeable consequences.
• 13:16
  It was okay, cool.
• 13:17
  We took up the Ayatollah, great.
• 13:18
  Yeah.
• 13:19
  Um, now that there's a cost for it, and you know, we're seeing it at the pump.
• 13:22
  Uh, and and actually, you know it in the past episode too.
• 13:26
  You know, the costs are a bit premature, and that it should not, you know, the lag between um uh when oil prices go up and then when it translates to the pump, usually you know, can take weeks to months or it's four to six weeks.
• 13:41
  I I did research on this years ago.
• 13:42
  Yeah, it's four to six weeks.
• 13:50
  They are exploiting it to some extent, but it within a few weeks, it will become um, you know, uh quote, I say real price, whatever you want to call it.
• 13:59
  It's gonna be solidified.
• 14:00
  So uh, you know, I I do think it would be in the best interest to wrap this up relatively quickly and talk it up as a victory.
• 14:06
  Um, I don't know if this turns into like another Iraq or Afghanistan, it is going to be a stand on the presidency and and will cost us down the road.
• 14:13
  I had Lieutenant Colonel Dan Gaub, Darengalb.
• 14:17
  I'm sorry.
• 14:17
  He's been on the program five or six times.
• 14:19
  He was on last week, and he's a military planner, intelligence guy, and he was talking about boots on the ground.
• 14:25
  A lot of people are fearful of that.
• 14:27
  And he made a really good comment that I had not thought of, and you may not remember well, you're not going to remember it because you don't remember the first Gulf War, but in the first Gulf War, there was a huge buildup of troops.
• 14:38
  It took two months.
• 14:39
  We had half a million people in the desert in Saudi Arabia before we went into Kuwait to move Iraq and Saddam Hussein out of there.
• 14:48
  We're not seeing any of that.
• 14:50
  So that should come as a comfort to those people that believe there's going to be boots on the ground because I don't see that that's going to happen.
• 14:58
  Here's some sound from uh uh the weekend.
• 15:01
  Scott Bassant with Kristen Walker.
• 15:03
  NBC News is reporting that President Trump is considering sending troops into Iran.
• 15:07
  Will the administration use troops to secure the Strait of Hermoose or for any other reason, Mr.
• 15:14
  Secretary?
• 15:15
  Again, as President Trump said during the press break uh yesterday when he was going out to Marine One.
• 15:21
  Uh, he's not gonna give away what we're going to do.
• 15:24
  He's as President Trump always does.
• 15:26
  He's leaving all options on the on the table.
• 15:30
  Uh we had a very successful bombing campaign against the military installations of Carga Island, the nexus for all the Iranian oil supply.
• 15:39
  You know, what could happen with Carg Island?
• 15:41
  We'll see.
• 15:42
  Uh and again, just to be clear, the command and control system of the Iranian regime is in chaos.
• 15:50
  This is Hitler's bunker.
• 15:52
  Hitler's dead.
• 15:53
  Himler is dead, Goring is dead.
• 15:56
  The uh most of what you're seeing are lone wolf activities.
• 16:00
  This the uh mid-range ICVM that was shot off, these two missiles yesterday.
• 16:05
  That's out of desperation, Kristen.
• 16:07
  I see it that way too, Matt, that they are pretty desperate right now.
• 16:11
  Yeah, no, I see it that that way as well.
• 16:13
  Um then they also have to uh who's the guy they're now claiming is gay, so now they get a PR battle on their head.
• 16:20
  Yeah, the guy in charge.
• 16:22
  Who he was missing a leg.
• 16:23
  He's missing a leg or two.
• 16:25
  I'm looking track of all the leaders.
• 16:26
  We've gone through eight in a week.
• 16:28
  Um, yeah.
• 16:29
  So now not only are they decimated, they now have to uh evade some high school bullying and our on the media's behalf.
• 16:34
  So it's not good for them at all.
• 16:36
  Well, Scott Bissent is pretty sharp, I believe.
• 16:39
  Uh we didn't get another rate reduction from the Fed and you know, Jerome Powell's leaving pretty soon anyway, and that's a good thing.
• 16:47
  Another thing I want to bring up about Scott Bescent, something he said months ago that you and I talked about.
• 16:52
  I think we talked about it briefly on a program one night.
• 16:56
  I think we talked about it privately uh additionally, and that was the big tax returns that so many were anticipating were going to be so much higher.
• 17:05
  They kept talking about the you know, the the tax breaks in the big beautiful bills going to bring much bigger refunds.
• 17:11
  And I kind of pushed back at the time and said, well, the only people really are going to get a bigger tax refund are gonna be those that worked a lot of overtime, because there weren't additional tax cuts in the Big Beautiful bill, other than 200 child care, and that was pretty much it.
• 17:28
  You had no tax on tips, and that really doesn't affect a tax return or refund, and then you had uh no tax on overtime and social security.
• 17:37
  Those were really the three things that were different from what we had.
• 17:41
  And what I am seeing right now, I did some research on this last week, that I think that we were right, because right now the average refund is about 200 more than it was last year.
• 17:52
  And now the American people are having to spend that money on gasoline that we just said they have been gouging us on over the last three weeks.
• 18:01
  I got a little lucky this year.
• 18:02
  I got a little more than I was expecting, but it's because I forgot to account for the fact that I just have a kid, had a child, so I you know, have a dependent add-on.
• 18:09
  But um without that, yeah, I would say my tax are pretty much what they had been before, but yeah, I'm I'm not you know earning tips, unless I can figure out how to reclassify all my income as tips, which would be the most uh genius thing I could do.
• 18:22
  Probably would go to jail, but uh you will all like to figure that out.
• 18:27
  Yeah, we have more of the conversation coming up.
• 18:29
  We're gonna stay here with the Iran conflict when we come back.
• 18:33
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• 21:04
  Matt, let's get back to the conversation and Iran.
• 21:07
  Overall, I think that Donald Trump has to get out of there real quick.
• 21:11
  And I think he has to do it for the gas prices for the economy.
• 21:15
  And I think he has to do it for the midterm.
• 21:17
  This thing cannot drag on for a long period of time.
• 21:21
  Well, yeah, I mean, I think the midterms are we're going to be a challenge even before this, but this is just another layer on top of it.
• 21:28
  A the war, but then you know, B the one two punch of and also the gas races on top of it.
• 21:34
  Um, you know, when you rant when you run on cost of living, I I don't think you should be like it obviously looks discrediting or bad when gas rates are going up, even if it's only going to be a short-term thing.
• 21:45
  Um, but hopefully it is only a short-term thing.
• 21:47
  People need to understand that this is not because there isn't product.
• 21:52
  It's because the product can't get to where it's supposed to go.
• 21:56
  So if the Strait of Hormuse has opened up, the product's gonna get there.
• 22:00
  And the product is continuing to be brought out of the ground.
• 22:04
  And by the way, uh, I saw that uh the L and G uh production of one of the nations there.
• 22:09
  I don't remember which one it is in the Middle East.
• 22:12
  They got hit pretty good, and America is going to replace that production.
• 22:16
  So there's plenty of production of energy throughout the world.
• 22:19
  It's just a matter of getting it to where it needs to go.
• 22:22
  Kristen Walker, she was with Scott Bassett over the weekend.
• 22:25
  She talked about the Russian sanctions and the fact that the administration has lifted those sanctions so other countries can buy that oil.
• 22:33
  The administration did ease oil sanctions on Russia earlier this month.
• 22:37
  You had initially defended imposing uh those sanctions, calling Russian exports, quote, oil that funds the Russian war machine.
• 22:44
  If the point of the sanctions was to stop funding the Russian war machine, why is the administration effectively rewarding Russia?
• 22:51
  Again, Kristen, you're missing the point.
• 22:54
  Which is better.
• 22:56
  Does Russia get more money if oil goes to 150 and they get 70% of that?
• 23:02
  That's 105, or if oil stays below 100.
• 23:05
  So they're getting less money.
• 23:06
  Our analysis shows, our analysis shows that the maximum extra amount the Russia could get would be two billion dollars, which is what which is one day of the Russian Federation's budget.
• 23:20
  But understood, but they wouldn't have gotten any of that with the first time.
• 23:25
  Would they have done any of that in place?
• 23:27
  Whoever does your research, you should get rid of because they wouldn't they were getting it.
• 23:31
  It was going into China.
• 23:33
  China was buying over 90% of the Russian oil, and it was But what's the point of sanctions if not to punish Russia, if not to punish countries?
• 23:41
  I again the uh if we we we have no ability to do that to China if China if China wants to be a bad actor, uh, but we were substantially able to the uh degrade their Matt.
• 23:55
  I agree with him that whoever does her research is dumber than a box of rocks.
• 24:00
  I don't even know if they should be fired.
• 24:02
  I think that that's just the way they think.
• 24:04
  So because you put sanctions on Russian oil doesn't mean people quit buying it.
• 24:09
  Look at India.
• 24:10
  I think India is a good example.
• 24:11
  They didn't quit buying it.
• 24:13
  Then Trump said, I'm gonna put a higher tariff on you.
• 24:15
  They said we don't care, we're still gonna buy their oil because even with the tariff uh on the amount of trade we do together, it's cheaper for our people to have the cheaper oil from Russia.
• 24:25
  But I think Basent makes some really good points there.
• 24:28
  If the oil went up to 150 a barrel, then uh Russia's just gonna make more money because they're gonna sell their oil.
• 24:35
  And I uh for whatever reason NBC and Kristen Welker, they couldn't get it through their thick head on that.
• 24:40
  Yeah, no, that was really good.
• 24:42
  I can't even call it spin, it's just the fact.
• 24:44
  So that was actually a very smart answer.
• 24:46
  Um, and then plus the fact that you know, quantifying it as okay, it's only one day of their budget.
• 24:52
  It's what is like a quarter of a percent?
• 24:54
  It was funny that you came back with, well, it could be zero.
• 24:56
  And it's like it basically is.
• 24:58
  So fire yourself.
• 25:00
  Uh yeah, she is uh not very smart, I don't think.
• 25:03
  Um then we bring in the NATO stuff, the NATO countries, and you had those ICBMs that we talked about earlier.
• 25:11
  They went a long way.
• 25:12
  They could actually reach pansy ass Macron at this point.
• 25:16
  They could reach Spain, France, uh, Germany with those missiles.
• 25:21
  And now, do you think they're gonna change their tune and actually come help?
• 25:26
  I'm sorry, can you say uh France?
• 25:28
  I did say France, I said Germany, I said Spain, and of course, Spain, Spain is on their own anyway.
• 25:34
  But the point is that these missiles can reach Europe.
• 25:38
  Uh well, I mean, I think they should have from the beginning, and then B helping also with the shred of our Meuse and that they're you know, we're all sort of in this together.
• 25:45
  Um, but yes, I I think so.
• 25:47
  And uh it is bizarre we didn't know ahead of time that they were lying about their range on their missiles.
• 25:52
  I mean, maybe we did, but they didn't make it public.
• 25:53
  But I feel like uh it's odd we didn't know that in the first place.
• 25:56
  And another part about that lie is if they're lying about that and most of the things that we hear from them.
• 26:02
  What else are they lying about?
• 26:04
  Are they lying about nuclear weapons?
• 26:06
  You know, and then that it could be an imminent threat, which we always get back to the imminent threat because of the war powers act and that whole debate that's going on.
• 26:14
  Let's go to some sound here with uh Donald Trump on NATO.
• 26:18
  Very important thing he said here last Tuesday.
• 26:21
  I think NATO's making a very foolish mistake, and I I've long said that you know I wonder whether or not NATO would ever be there for us.
• 26:30
  So this is a this was a great test because we're in there.
• 26:33
  Well, what do you think, Matt?
• 26:35
  Is this a real test for NATO?
• 26:37
  Have they showed us who they really are at this point?
• 26:40
  Um, well, yes, and the fact that we're funding the whole deal.
• 26:43
  Uh well, we fund everything for NATO.
• 26:45
  I was expecting, yeah, some more uh some more help from them, some more solidarity.
• 26:50
  Well, we have 150,000 troops on the ground in Europe right now.
• 26:54
  Well, you know, we are their army, and we get into something like this that really protects them as well, and they're nowhere to be found.
• 27:02
  Uh they've all got CDS unfortunately.
• 27:05
  Well, let's go to Margaret Brennan.
• 27:07
  She had the head of NATO in there.
• 27:09
  Mark Root, who seems to be it maybe an ass kisser, but he seems to be very supportive of Donald Trump.
• 27:15
  I'm not sure which one it is.
• 27:16
  Maybe he was the same way with Joe Biden, but he's really positive on Donald Trump, and here's what that exchange was.
• 27:23
  Are you worried that this is going to hurt NATO's goals elsewhere?
• 27:28
  What I know is that we always come together.
• 27:30
  It was under President Trump's leadership that we had the extremely successful summit in the Hague.
• 27:35
  But we agreed uh to spend five percent of our GDPs on defense, and therefore equalizing for the first time since Eisenhower.
• 27:43
  So this is quite some time ago, sometime back in history, equalizing what the Europeans are spending, about Americans are spending, not only because it is fair that you all spend the same, and this was an wish from Trump 45 and now it was Trump 47.
• 27:56
  He got this done, but also because we need it, because of the Russian threat and our other extra.
• 28:01
  Then on Ukraine, there's again the US uh providing critical intention support and the weapons flow, working together with Europeans to secure Ukraine's fight against the Russians, making sure they have what they need.
• 28:13
  And now with Iran, I'm absolutely convinced.
• 28:17
  And I understand the president's frustration that it takes some time.
• 28:20
  But again, I also ask for some understanding because nations had to prepare for this, not knowing and for good reasons about the initial uh attack on on the round.
• 28:29
  But now coming together to make sure that we can be able uh to secure the straight of formation.
• 28:34
  We are three weeks into this, Matt, and it's taking them this long to activate and come help.
• 28:41
  That should be scary.
• 28:42
  Who is that guy talking?
• 28:44
  That's Mark Ruth, the head of the NATO.
• 28:46
  Oh, all right.
• 28:47
  He he I I he you saw in a good game.
• 28:49
  I I slightly resume my last comment.
• 28:52
  I uh it's nice to see Europeans like actually be appreciative for the fact that we're the only reason our countries can afford all their generous welfare programs because we really subsidized the hell out of them.
• 29:04
  And I don't know, maybe it's what I'm saying online, but I I feel like uh I don't know, they they talk down to us quite a bit.
• 29:10
  Well, he is very supportive of Donald Trump, and like I said, going into the clip.
• 29:14
  Maybe he's just kissing Donald Trump's ass.
• 29:17
  I'm not sure.
• 29:18
  Let's change gears now.
• 29:19
  Let's leave Iran there as we wait for some response from Donald Trump on Monday night, because the Strait of Hormuz is not open.
• 29:26
  We just sit and wait.
• 29:28
  What that response will be.
• 29:29
  Who knows?
• 29:30
  I guess Donald Trump knows when and where he will do it.
• 29:33
  And real quick, before we do leave Iran, I want to comment on, and I want your comment too, Matt, because I think there is too much expectation that Donald Trump and the administration should be telegraphing and telling people exactly what we are going to do.
• 29:48
  That is stupidity in war.
• 29:51
  You don't do that.
• 29:52
  Are you uh is that Pearl Harbor clip getting cued up?
• 29:55
  No, I don't even have it ready.
• 29:57
  No, all right.
• 29:58
  Well, uh, for the two people.
• 30:00
  Who haven't heard it?
• 30:02
  Trump was asshole.
• 30:03
  He was with the prime minister of Japan by a Japanese reporter.
• 30:07
  You know, basically along those lines of why aren't you talking more about uh like your plans in Iran and to which he comes back with, why don't you tip us off?
• 30:16
  Why didn't you tip us off about Pearl Harbor?
• 30:18
  Which was I don't know.
• 30:20
  One of the funniest things Trump has ever said is the Joe kind of bombed in front of who you know who's telling it to, but I thought it was one of his best lines ever.
• 30:27
  Yeah.
• 30:27
  But no, it is a common sense point in that no, we don't want the enemy to know what we're doing.
• 30:32
  Um, even certain senators should probably be excluded from certain meetings.
• 30:37
  Because the people like you know, Elizabeth Warren or probably any real Democrat would leak any information to the media or enemies um or enemies, I guess, indirectly to the media, but or maybe even directly, who the heck knows at this point.
• 30:50
  Um, and then even people like Joe Ken, I think we're gonna talk about soon.
• 30:53
  Yep, um, like we have leakers on both sides.
• 30:56
  So no, it is good that this information, this intel is being kept in a very small uh group of hands.
• 31:02
  Yeah, I agree.
• 31:03
  Let's leave Iran there.
• 31:04
  We'll come back to Joe Kent, Tucker Carlson here in just a little bit.
• 31:08
  Let's go to the government shutdown.
• 31:10
  We are about 40 days into this.
• 31:12
  People are going nuts over the weekend, it's spring break, they're standing in line for hours at airports.
• 31:18
  TSA people are calling in sick, they're calling in, they're not coming to work, they're about to miss another paycheck.
• 31:24
  Here is Democrat Jason Crow from Colorado.
• 31:27
  But as a Democrat, I mean, look at Denver Airport near your district, they're asking people to donate gift cards for TSA agents to make ends meet.
• 31:36
  The airport says, you know, this is a huge generator in terms of what the airport does for the region.
• 31:41
  This is hurting your community.
• 31:43
  How do you continue to defend the shutdown?
• 31:46
  I'm gonna be really clear that this is a Republican shutdown.
• 31:49
  Full stop.
• 31:50
  Republicans said just yesterday, just yesterday, the U.S.
• 31:54
  Senate held a vote.
• 31:56
  Uh and and Senate Democrats put up an authorization to fund everything except for ICE and CBP.
• 32:01
  That's Coast Guard, that's TSA, that's cybersecurity.
• 32:05
  Every single Senate Republican voted against it.
• 32:08
  Uh in the House, we actually have a bill, Rosa Delaro and Hakeem Jeffries.
• 32:12
  We have a clean bill that would force a vote to open up everything to fund everything except for ICE and CBP.
• 32:20
  Republicans are stopping it.
• 32:21
  They're not.
• 32:22
  Well, let me point out that ICE is already funded for the rest of the fiscal year of 2026.
• 32:27
  So I don't know what the Democrats are doing here.
• 32:29
  It's a political game that the American people just don't like, regardless of your politics, whether you're Republican or Democrat independent, there are people going without paychecks.
• 32:39
  We watch our government, we watch the chambers of Congress not be able to get things done for the American people.
• 32:46
  And it's frustrating.
• 32:47
  I think people are done with it all, Matt.
• 32:49
  Well, the frame was idiotic because it goes, it's a Republican shutdown.
• 32:53
  You know, we agreed to everything, except the part where, you know, except the part where we fund the whole reason Donald Trump got elected to remove tens of millions of criminals and murderers and illegal rapists out of our country.
• 33:06
  Besides that, we wanted to fund everything.
• 33:08
  Well, that's okay.
• 33:10
  So it's a Democrat shutdown then.
• 33:11
  Like it's just like it was bizarre to hear him say it's a Republican shutdown, and then describe in detail why it was the Democrats responsible.
• 33:19
  Right.
• 33:19
  All they have to do is pass it and everybody gets paid lines will shrink at the airports.
• 33:24
  Let's go to uh the Senate majority leader John Thune and some comments he made on this.
• 33:29
  Do you think that that's going to be enough pressure right now to get a deal done?
• 33:33
  Well, it should be.
• 33:33
  I mean, I think that Democrats, um, you know, for 35 days now have kept the department shut down.
• 33:40
  Uh the White House and Republicans have tried repeatedly, reached out, uh, sent them offer sheets, uh, one offer sheet, it took them 18 days to respond to.
• 33:49
  They don't seem serious.
• 33:50
  I think they think this is a political winner for him, but it's a losing issue for this country and for the American people.
• 33:56
  So there was a meeting yesterday.
• 33:58
  Uh Tom Holman showed up, and uh, you know, they they put all the issues on the table, and it's going to be up to Democrats now to see whether or not we're gonna find out whether they're serious real quick here, because if they don't respond today with some sort of a counter proposal or at least a willingness to get back at the table, uh, I think it suggests that they aren't they are they want to continue to play politics.
• 34:17
  And I hope that that's not the case.
• 34:19
  I hope the Democrats do come to the table and get this over with.
• 34:23
  Because Matt, this is what's happening across the country at airports.
• 34:28
  Scores of TSA workers have been calling out sick due to missed paychecks, and that has slowed things down.
• 34:35
  This is what it looked like at LaGrodia earlier this morning.
• 34:38
  Uh this is the pre-check line.
• 34:40
  This is supposed to be the easy security screening, snaking around Terminal B, and it's not just here.
• 34:47
  You can look at airports across the country.
• 34:49
  Because if you go somewhere, you gotta get back.
• 34:51
  You've got to get through the security line in Atlanta or Fort Lauderdale or Raleigh or Los Angeles flyers around the country have been dealing with wait times of up to two hours at some airports.
• 35:03
  So we saw and all those people in lines, Matt, they are Democrat Republicans, they are independents, they don't care.
• 35:10
  They want to get where they want to go, they want to do it safely, and they're tired of this whole government shutdown thing.
• 35:17
  Yeah, and you know, you were saying um before I I sort of accidentally spoke into the last clip.
• 35:22
  Well, you know, you hope Democrats do the right thing and they're not playing politics, and I I hope the same and have no evidence whatsoever for that hope for that.
• 35:32
  Yeah, and Matt, there's a bigger uh story here, I think that we need to talk about.
• 35:36
  And it's something I brought up a couple of times.
• 35:39
  I've written about it, and I hope that it's on the Republicans' radar, because this has to do with the midterm election.
• 35:46
  That if the Republicans are not working on the 27 fiscal year budget right now, getting it to a point of doing another reconciliation, like the big beautiful bill, so that they can pass it all together as an omnibus prior to September 30th, then that means another continuing resolution.
• 36:04
  That means another government shutdown, and it will last until the election in early November of this year.
• 36:10
  And it's gonna be just terrible for the Republicans.
• 36:13
  You mentioned earlier that it's an uphill battle anyway, already for the midterms.
• 36:18
  I see it that way too.
• 36:19
  If I had to put a number on it right now, I would say that the Republicans will probably lose 35 seats.
• 36:25
  Oh, easily.
• 36:26
  Yeah, that's it.
• 36:27
  That's where I see it, which would be the same that Ronald Reagan lost in 1982.
• 36:32
  But if the government is shut down, it could be worse than that.
• 36:35
  And you could also lose the Senate, which I really don't think the Republicans are gonna lose the Senate completely.
• 36:40
  They may lose a seat or two, but I don't think they're gonna lose power unless there is another government shutdown, more continuing resolutions.
• 36:48
  And if the Republicans do not get this done with another reconciliation, it's gonna be trouble.
• 36:54
  Uh I mean it's a fortune that I you know, unfortunately, I I have to agree, but yeah, no, that's pretty much what it's like now.
• 37:01
  We saw last election cycle.
• 37:03
  I mean, I don't know if it was just the government shutdown, but the Democrats did deliberately um let it bleed into November.
• 37:11
  Um, we saw a lot of blowout elections, all the Democrats favor, and um, you know, to have that set up again will be catastrophic.
• 37:19
  Uh, as for the Senate, I don't think we'll lose it, but it was the other day, like at 5050 and poly markets.
• 37:25
  So there are some people placing debts that it's like 50-50 odds that we lose it.
• 37:29
  Uh, I I think they'll be wrong, but we we could lose a seat or two, yeah.
• 37:32
  Yeah, I I agree with that.
• 37:34
  And I think we should probably explain to people what poly market and uh Calchi, these other ones, they are predictive markets.
• 37:42
  They're uh in explain how that works, Matt, because I think a lot of people don't really understand that it's not a bookie that you're betting, it's just what the what people are feeling.
• 37:54
  They and that's a little bit different than betting at Las Vegas.
• 37:58
  Yeah, so yeah, I mean, I should preface this by saying that I think you and I are the only two people left that are not getting paid to do advertising for them.
• 38:05
  So this is this is completely our own free will that we're explaining.
• 38:10
  They did pay me in full disclosure, they did pay me in November and December to do posts on uh social media.
• 38:16
  Oh, okay.
• 38:17
  So I'm the last one.
• 38:18
  I'm I'm doing this for free.
• 38:20
  You need to reach out to me.
• 38:21
  Um anyway, don't gamble.
• 38:23
  But uh the way the way it works is you can you know bet on, you know, you can pretty I think you can probably bet on the weather nowadays, you know, given how gambling is everywhere, which I think is actually a very bad thing.
• 38:35
  But one of the benefits is um that betting odds tend to be very predictive, and that um if you look on election day and you know, there are 10 candidates that have an 80% chance of winning.
• 38:50
  Um generally speaking, on a when you know, once the polls come back, probably eight of them will win.
• 38:55
  And it's because oh, you know, that the real reason, you know, the the explanation people would give a few years ago was well, when people put their money where the their mouths are, um, you know, people who are more knowledgeable are gonna be placing bats, so you have a very informed market and it makes it predictive.
• 39:12
  I think the real reason is because insider trading is legal in these types of markets.
• 39:17
  So, you know, the odds are always gonna be influenced by whales who have inside information.
• 39:22
  Um, the way the odds are calculated, it's basically just how much money is in favor of something versus against.
• 39:29
  So if there was a hundred dollars bet on a race and you know, ninety dollars is bet on you, ten dollars is bet on me.
• 39:36
  The the implied odds are that you've a 90% chance of winning, and I have a 10% chance of winning, and you know, you get paid out depending on how much money is bet on each side.
• 39:45
  So if you know, if you were taking the the bet that I would win and I've got a 10% chance, well, because there's nine times more money against it, you would win nine to one.
• 39:55
  So that's basically the overview.
• 39:57
  But there are just very useful markets to look.
• 40:00
  At um for for making predictions about the future.
• 40:04
  Yeah, and I don't I don't gamble on these uh myself.
• 40:07
  I actually I just have one potential bet that I might that I I might end up placing um that we talked about it um uh for like what was it the Democrat um vi uh presidential candidate.
• 40:19
  Yes, yeah, we were gonna bet I was gonna bet like make a long shot bet on Andy Bashir.
• 40:22
  But uh but I I you know I myself generally refrain from placing any deaths because you know in markets where insider trading is legal, you're pretty much guaranteed to lose to those people.
• 40:33
  But they're you know they're they're very useful in making predictions.
• 40:35
  And and because there are people that know things, you know, put you know, like um let's just sit back a second.
• 40:42
  You know, if you could bet that, you know, there's gonna be a strike on Iran the day it happened, and the odds went from one percent to you know 70 percent in an hour, it's probably because someone on the inside knows it's gonna happen and place the bet.
• 40:55
  Um and and you know, with with races, um, you know, maybe a campaign manager knows an October surprise is gonna come out.
• 41:03
  Maybe he has access to internal polling that other people haven't seen.
• 41:06
  So it's just a much more efficient way of looking and making predictions than traditional polls.
• 41:12
  But that being said, they're you know, they're also wrong all the time.
• 41:16
  It's just that they're more accurate in the polls.
• 41:18
  Well, we're up against a break.
• 41:20
  We're gonna get into that, and when we come back, we're gonna talk about Joe Kent, Tucker Carlson, Tulsi Gabbard, and we'll see where else the conversation goes.
• 41:28
  It's coming up right after the break.
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• 42:36
  And welcome back to the truth be told on a Monday night.
• 42:39
  I'm Booker Scott, alongside Matt Palumbo tonight.
• 42:42
  Let's get into the Joe Kent Tucker Carlson thing.
• 42:45
  Joe Kent was a big story last week, Matt.
• 42:48
  He out of nowhere resigns.
• 42:50
  But there's more to the story, I believe, and let's talk about it.
• 42:53
  Let's talk about him first being taken out of the Pentagon in classified information.
• 42:58
  That happened weeks ago.
• 43:00
  He was under investigation.
• 43:02
  He still is.
• 43:03
  And now he comes out and says he's against the Iranian war, and he sounds like he is Tucker Carlson.
• 43:09
  He sounds identical to him.
• 43:11
  What's going on here?
• 43:12
  Well, this happened, and I think we talked about this last week with Tucker.
• 43:15
  He was claiming that his texts were being read by the CEA, and maybe there's gonna be FARA charges with Joe Ken.
• 43:23
  It was odd to see him quit over the Iran strikes because even on his Twitter account, you can just search his name in Iran and find previous posts where he's talking about Iran as an imminent threat.
• 43:34
  Yeah.
• 43:34
  Um so it's just bizarre to see.
• 43:36
  So he resigns.
• 43:38
  Then we find out he's been accused of leaking classified information, but the accusations and the investigation to it goes back w well before he resigned.
• 43:47
  So it seems like he resigned in response to that.
• 43:50
  So you know, maybe he was leaking to Tucker.
• 43:53
  That could be possible.
• 43:54
  The one of the first things he did was go on Tucker's podcast.
• 43:58
  And he is I don't know, he he it's just odd to see him, Candace, um, this one woman who is a beauty pageant who was on the religious liberty commission who resigned.
• 44:10
  A lot of these people, they're just they all sound identical.
• 44:14
  Talking points they're making against Trump, where I don't know, they're trying to push this whole NAGA is dead narrative, and um or or or like I with Joe Kent, the weirdest part of his resignation letter was you know, he was claiming claiming Israeli influence in the Iran strike.
• 44:33
  And uh, you know, my position is more like in this specific case we had an aligned interest with Israel.
• 44:38
  It wasn't like Israel egging us on.
• 44:40
  But when Joe Kent was talking about his wife, um, who's a service member being murdered by ISIS, he said she was murdered in a war for Israel.
• 44:50
  And uh if I recall, I believe Israel cautioned us against going to war with Iraq.
• 44:56
  It was just a bizarre thing to then try to make ISIS about Israel.
• 45:01
  It it was I thought I don't know if these people are all being paid off, if they're if he realized the walls were coming in, so I'm gonna do the counter-signaling uh podcast circuit or what.
• 45:11
  But the a lot of these sort of right-wing influencer types are very noticeably gravitating towards this same sort of weird, almost third worldist uh ideology.
• 45:23
  And and I say that as someone who is, you know, I I think you're totally like I think it's fair to criticize Israel.
• 45:28
  I don't think it's inherently anti-Semitic, but these people who make every ill in the world about Israel and Jewish people are a plague on our cause, 100%.
• 45:37
  I agree uh 100% with you on that.
• 45:40
  And let's go back to Tucker Carlson real quick, because maybe the CIA was listening to him and and reading his messages, because if you remember, I saw this on social media.
• 45:52
  I have not there's no way to corroborate this yet.
• 45:55
  But Tucker Carlson was at the White House.
• 45:57
  There was a picture of uh Tucker and uh Donald Trump in the Oval Office, and that was just weeks before the bombing started.
• 46:05
  And then he leaves there, and what does he do?
• 46:08
  I don't know.
• 46:08
  Maybe he calls his uh um people over in the Middle East, and maybe that's what the CIA was listening for.
• 46:15
  So there may be more to the story, there may be more to Tucker Carlson than just registering as a foreign agent.
• 46:22
  There might be a little bit more there.
• 46:23
  We'll have to wait and see.
• 46:24
  Let's listen to Bill Maher.
• 46:26
  He's talking about this Joe Kent situation.
• 46:28
  You have now this guy, Joe Kent.
• 46:30
  He quit this week.
• 46:32
  It was a big story.
• 46:33
  I think he was the counterintelligence guy.
• 46:35
  And he said, I can't go along with this because you know what?
• 46:38
  He's he's been listening to too much Tucker Carlson.
• 46:41
  It's you know, the Jews made us do it.
• 46:44
  It's just another version of anti-Semitism that comes out.
• 46:48
  First, it was BDS, then it was their colonizers and genocide, which it wasn't, and all these other reasons, like you can't have a state in the world that's based on religion, even though there's like 46 Muslim countries that are based on religion, some have the name right in the title of the country.
• 47:03
  But whatever it is, you have all these.
• 47:05
  And now the big answer is uh no, Israel made us do it.
• 47:09
  We're Israel's bitch.
• 47:11
  Uh I don't think we're we're Israel's bitch.
• 47:14
  I think we're Israel's ally.
• 47:16
  But you know, if I have to be on one side of this magazine, either Trump or Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Nick Fuentes.
• 47:23
  I'll be with Trump on this one.
• 47:26
  Good points there, Matt.
• 47:28
  I think uh Bill Maher made some good ones there.
• 47:31
  Uh but especially about the anti-Semitism, because I am seeing Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, the names that he just mentioned there, they're anti-Semitic.
• 47:41
  Everything is hating the Jews just for being Jewish.
• 47:44
  Yeah, like listen, if if they were to say, hey, listen, you know, we're giving Israel three billion dollars a year, you know, is the intel really worth it.
• 47:52
  Do we really want foreign uh countries egging us on into these conflicts and influencing us?
• 47:57
  That's a fine debate to have.
• 47:59
  It's just you can then see every other thing they have to say, and somehow the Jews are behind it in some way, no matter how absurd.
• 48:07
  Like they'll like their um they'll talk about things like the USS Liberty incident, which was a mistake and attack by Israel on a US ship that Israel immediately acknowledged and apologized for and paid reparations for, but will like try to present it as some sort of like hidden history.
• 48:25
  Um, or will I mean well, I don't even have to really describe, you can just go on their fees and see it themselves.
• 48:30
  But other if they they used it as sort of like a getting the foot into the door for a thousand other conspiracy theories.
• 48:36
  Yeah, and I listen, I'm sure if we went through history, we could find a bunch of things Israel's done that we're uh totally not okay with.
• 48:44
  I just don't then conclude that uh, you know, there's they're pulling the strings in every possible thing that happens.
• 48:50
  Like the whole like um Jewish face lasers thing.
• 48:54
  I mean I'm coming to think they actually believe some of this stuff.
• 48:57
  I think they do believe it.
• 48:58
  I think that's how far they are gone.
• 49:01
  Let's stay here on Joe Kent, Tulsi Gabbard.
• 49:04
  She was in a hearing this week or last week, I should say, in uh Capitol Hill.
• 49:09
  This was in uh the House of Representatives, Alice Stefanik was asking the questions.
• 49:14
  I also wanted to ask this because this week there was a high profile resignation of uh director of National Counterterrorism Center.
• 49:21
  Now I want to be clear from the outset.
• 49:23
  I've communicated directly with President Trump, my support for Operation Epic Fury, and I was very um not only disappointed, but how inappropriate this letter was, and I want to read uh a statement that um and get your personal assessment, whether you agree or disagree with that, and that's this.
• 49:41
  Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran.
• 49:53
  This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed no imminent threat to the United States and that you should strike.
• 50:00
  Now there was a clear path to a swift victory.
• 50:02
  This was a lie, and it's the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into a disastrous Iraq war.
• 50:08
  Now, I cannot say how much I disagree with that statement.
• 50:13
  Do you agree or disagree with what this letter was put out by former director Kent?
• 50:18
  Uh he said a lot of things in the that letter ultimately.
• 50:22
  We have provided the president with the intelligence assessments, and the president is uh elected by the American people and makes his own decisions based on the information that's available to him.
• 50:34
  But do you agree with does that statement he made blaming Israel concern you?
• 50:38
  Yes.
• 50:39
  It should concern her, I think, Matt.
• 50:42
  And I have seen that Tulsi Gabbard may be resigning.
• 50:45
  I don't believe that.
• 50:46
  I think that's just um a rumor on social media, I believe.
• 50:50
  What do you make of Stefan's question there of Tulsi Gabbard?
• 50:54
  Well, obviously it's in an awkward position in that um, you know, she she was campaigning on no war with Iran and now is in a position where uh I guess she's either disagreeing with her own, or I guess it's disagreeing with the Intel community on their own assessment that she's in charge of.
• 51:11
  So um, yeah, it's definitely an awkward position she is in.
• 51:14
  I don't know how I would necessarily play that if I was her, but I I thought her response to that question was fine, and the whole Israel angle was absurd.
• 51:20
  And as you were playing it, I was just googling to double check what I said earlier.
• 51:24
  Um, and this is the headline Israel warned U.S.
• 51:27
  against Iraq invasion U.S.
• 51:29
  officials says this is back in 2007.
• 51:31
  So the tying the Iraq word Israel makes no sense.
• 51:34
  Yeah.
• 51:35
  Well, let's move on from Joe Kent, who was the counterintelligence person there underneath uh DNI director uh Tulsi Gabbard.
• 51:44
  Let's move on to someone else that Trump has appointed.
• 51:47
  By the way, I think Joe Kent was way over his head in that.
• 51:50
  I'm glad he's gone.
• 51:51
  Now we have Mark Wayne Mullen as a possible DHS director, and he's going to be replacing Christy Gnome if he gets confirmed.
• 52:00
  Maybe a problem here.
• 52:02
  Here's Rand Paul and Mark Wayne Mullen from a hearing this week for the confirmation.
• 52:08
  I think there are anger issues.
• 52:10
  I think there's a lack of contrition.
• 52:12
  Um really the violent episode he was involved in said a committee where he's told the media frankly that he doesn't regret it.
• 52:22
  He's also told the media there as he said it again today that there's historical precedent for violence.
• 52:26
  That caning and dueling happened all the time.
• 52:29
  And I pointed out, well, it was illegal 170, 200 years ago.
• 52:33
  They would actually flee and they would do it in areas they can find where the law didn't reach.
• 52:37
  Sometimes they would actually go to Canada, sometimes they'd go from one state to the other.
• 52:42
  But the mass of civilized uh response, even in the 1850s, 1830s was against doom.
• 52:49
  That's why dueling was made illegal.
• 52:51
  The fact that he can't bring himself to say that you know, really we shouldn't settle political questions with violence.
• 52:57
  I think that would be a terrible example for ICE and for our border patrol agents.
• 53:02
  And that's Rand Paul coming out of that hearing where he is not going to support Mark Wayne Mullen in that confirmation process.
• 53:09
  Who knows whether Mark Wayne Mullen will be um confirmed for that DHS position?
• 53:15
  But let's go back in history and understand why Rand Paul feels the way he does about Mark Wayne Mullen.
• 53:21
  The reason why is because when he was attacked, Rand Paul was attacked by his neighbor in Kentucky.
• 53:27
  Mark Wayne Mullen said he understood why the guy did it.
• 53:30
  Because he doesn't like Rand Paul.
• 53:32
  That was when Mark Wayne Mullen was actually in the House of Representatives.
• 53:35
  He is now a senator from Oklahoma.
• 53:37
  Here is the exchange in that hearing between the two.
• 53:41
  When the phone call was made, I made it to you, and I tried to talk to you.
• 53:45
  Um you didn't engage at all.
• 53:47
  In fact, you said get your paperwork in.
• 53:48
  It's got to be a three works, three days in between.
• 53:51
  You offered no apology.
• 53:52
  Sir.
• 53:53
  And you offer no apology today, and no regrets.
• 53:56
  Uh haven't heard the word apologize, haven't heard the word regret, haven't heard I misspoke, and it was heated and I made a mistake.
• 54:04
  I haven't heard any of those words.
• 54:06
  Sir, actually it wasn't heated, and I'm not apologizing for pointing out your character.
• 54:10
  Good.
• 54:11
  So you're you're jolly well fine, and you want the American public and the people up here to vote that may or may not vote for you to know that you supported the felonious violent attack on me from behind.
• 54:22
  I did not say I supported it.
• 54:24
  I said understood it.
• 54:26
  There's a difference.
• 54:28
  So that means you really didn't approve of it.
• 54:30
  Just completely understand it.
• 54:31
  What do you think about the thing?
• 54:32
  And let me just say right now, Mark Wayne Mullen is full of crap.
• 54:36
  I don't like the guy.
• 54:39
  Yeah, it is a politician's answer.
• 54:41
  Uh Mark Wayne Mullen is full of crap.
• 54:43
  He knew exactly what he said, why he said it.
• 54:45
  This is not going to be a good hire by Donald Trump.
• 54:48
  It's going to be another one.
• 54:49
  His liberty score, by the way, is 32 every year.
• 54:53
  Oklahoma has two bad senators.
• 54:55
  Mark Wayne Mullen is another one.
• 54:57
  At least he'll be out of the Senate.
• 54:59
  Hopefully, hopefully he'll do okay at DHS.
• 55:02
  I just don't see it.
• 55:03
  I think it's way over his head, and we're to the end of our hour, Matt.
• 55:07
  We covered a lot of ground this hour.
• 55:09
  I suspect we'll have more to cover uh next week because there is a lot happening.
• 55:14
  Always what do you look for this week?
• 55:17
  Uh the price of gas.
• 55:18
  I uh well, I was gonna I was just gonna end up with with uh Mark Wayne Mullen by saying, Yeah, Jess Secretary is one of those things where I actually wouldn't mind having kind of like a brawler type guy uh up there to be given given the type of job and the work you're doing.
• 55:32
  So um and it seems like Fetterman will be a yes vote.
• 55:35
  In fact, the only reason he got advanced out of committee was because of Fetterman.
• 55:38
  Without that, he was he would have failed.
• 55:40
  So uh and let me say this.
• 55:41
  Mark Wayne Mullen is a let me say this, Matt, because I came on a hard uh on Mark Wayne Mullen.
• 55:46
  He's a good family man.
• 55:48
  And I he I that should be said about him.
• 55:51
  He has that going for him, unlike Christy Gnome, who has Corey Lewandowski.
• 55:57
  And and too, there was uh Rand Paul mentioned this, but he like almost got in a fight with the president of the Teamsters like a few years ago.
• 56:04
  Yeah, they're friends now, they've gone on each other's podcast, so he he is capable of turning enemies into friends, so that the Rand Paul feud must be a bit deeper than uh we know.
• 56:14
  But but to answer your actual question.
• 56:16
  Uh, I guess I ran, I ran, I ran.
• 56:18
  Yeah.
• 56:19
  Uh government government shut down.
• 56:20
  I guess sort of the same as last week.
• 56:22
  Yeah, I agree.
• 56:23
  That's what we're gonna be looking for this week.
• 56:25
  I'm Booker Scott.
• 56:26
  That was Matt Palumbo.
• 56:28
  Thank you so much for joining us.
• 56:29
  And don't forget, you were told two thousand years ago that you are the salt of the earth and salt without flavor, it has no value.
• 56:36
  So whatever you do, keep being salty.
• 56:38
  Have a great night.
• 56:39
  There is only one truth.
• 56:41
  You've been listening to The Truth Be Told with Booker Scott on America Out Loud.