Hegseth's Pentagon political purge draws attention to his incompetence, Trump's dereliction

0:00Soma Intimates presents Boop Therapy with model Candace Hot Fine. The biggest problem is no one's wearing the right size. For years I thought I'm a 38 WD, turns out I'm a 40 WD and it makes all the difference in the world. Get in your chat and be like ladies, when was the last time we all got like a fresh profit? It's time because it matters. And it might be like girl what's gotten into you lately and you're like my brawfits! I'm Candace Hot Fine and this was my Soma Boop Therapy session. Serious Ex-Emlesseners get an additional 20% off. Use code Serious20 in stores and Soma.com. If you're the type of person who wants data, not assumptions. Pre-new Vows Whole Body Scan gives you a deep understanding of your health. Screen for over 500 conditions, including many cancers, autoimmune disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, and more. Add blood panels to test over 80 biomarkers. And you've got information about your body you may never have had before. Book your scan at pre-newvo.com. That's P-R-E-N-U-V-O.com.

1:00You have to say there is a lot happening in our country right now. We are in the middle of a war. There's been a new foodborne illness outbreak nearly every week. No one knows what they can really eat anymore. Thank you RFK Junior for all of that. Everything from gas to health care to housing costs more. And we know that amid all of this, the President of the United States is well, little checked out. Sometimes even a little bit sleepy, you might say. That's putting it kind of kindly. But what about the people around him? What about the people Trump has tasked with helping him run the country? Well, here was the Vice President of the United States, the guy who's first in line to the presidency and definitely wants the job. Here's what he spent some of his time talking about this week. Do I think that we're in the end times? I don't know. I think that there are things about the world that make me feel like not shocked if the Antichrist was walking among us. But again, I try not to focus too much on it. Your Vice President, everyone, calming,

2:04warm, musing about whether or not the Antichrist walks among us while talking to a 22-year-old evangelical influencer. Here we are, everyone. Okay. What about the Secretary of Homeland Security? You know, the guy in charge of keeping American safe, the guy who was brought into rehab, the reputation of an agency responsible for some of the Trump administration's worst decisions, worst headlines, worst a lot of things. Well, he's been on the job for a little over five months. So how's that guy doing? Well, yeah. So the Democrats want to, they throw out all these fear mongols to try to make ice and present Trump's administration look as worse as possible. Okay. Listen, I'm not an English teacher. I was an English major. This one warrants a little bit of a recap, everyone. So again, to directly quote the Secretary of Homeland Security, member of the President's Cabinet, the Democrats throw out fear mongols is the word he

3:07used. I think he was trying for fear mongers there. And then he finishes his thought by conveying the intention is to quote, make the Trump administration look as worse as possible. I think in that one, he was going for as bad as possible. There you go, everyone. But the messenger like that, I'm sure Americans feel much more reassured that things over at DHS are well under control. All right. Who else you got? What about Treasury Secretary Scott Besson? The guy in charge of our economy at a time when more and more voters are expressing outrage about the way American capitalism has left them behind. Surely he has something to say to ease those voters concerns. When we look at the demographic of those voters, they are overeducated and under earning. Yes. And these are under achievers who are jealous of those who want to go and work every day. I mean, regardless of who he was talking about, they're all he really needed there. It was a

4:10top hat, maybe a monocle to come across as more dismissive. They'd be more out of touch with what people are going through. Surely there's got to be someone with a better approach for easing economic anxieties out there. Something front and center for people across the country. But what about Kelly Lothler? You know, the billionaire Trump put in charge of America's small business administration. Maybe she's got some great idea for how to save the small businesses struggling under the weight of Trump's tariffs. What does she have to say? So will you just put together a contest and the judges are? Mickey Minaj, Grant Cardone, Joe Gabby, and it'll be hosted by the great Dean Cain. I see. A shark tank rip off hosted by America's most megapiled celebrities, just what America's tariff burdened small businesses across the country we're hoping for. Look, we know that Trump has surrounded himself with holy and serious people, who's only qualification many of them for their jobs is undying loyalty to Donald Trump.

5:10It would be funny if these people didn't have very important responsibilities running the country. And the job with some of the most important responsibilities has gone to one of the least qualified and least serious people of all. Pete Hexeth, who somehow is still the secretary of defense overseeing the military during a time of war, has generated a lot of controversy over the past few weeks, well-earned controversy. I mean, just last night we learned that army secretary Dan Driscoll has taken the extraordinary step of resigning while the nation is at war after repeated clashes with Secretary Hexeth. Driscoll reportedly went to the White House to personally hand in his resignation to President Trump. And the resignation is just the latest in a wave of top military officials who have either been fired, pushed out or resigned during Hexeth's leadership. Look at that chart. That's the list of people. As the Atlantic notes, Hexeth's purge of the military has been so dramatic that the military's largest service is left without a top civilian leader,

6:12a Senate confirmed top general, a confirmed army general in charge of operations, or a confirmed commander of army troops in Europe. And the commander on chief doesn't seem to be tracking how bad all of this is. Given that just tonight, the president decided to try and shore up the dwindling ranks of America's top military leadership by formally nominating his acting secretary of the Navy to permanently fill the role. And I should note that Trump's choice for that important position is a failed Republican Senate candidate who once warned that the town of Monterey, California was being overtaken by witches. There's a place in Monterey, California called Lovers Point. The original name was Lovers of Christ Point. But now it's become, they took out the crisis, it's Lovers Point. And it's really Monterey is a very dark place now. The lot of witchcraft and the the the the the Wicken community has really taken over there. Great choice, Mr. President, only the best people. Now all of this comes of course as the war in

7:17Iran is once again ramping up. Tonight the United States launched a new round of strikes in Iran, one of which according to Iranian officials struck a wedding party and killed innocent civilians. U.S. Central Command confirmed it was aware of that report saying quote, the U.S. military never target civilians unlike the Iran's revolutionary guard, which I would note is not a denial. Iran has responded with its own wave of strikes earlier this evening targeting U.S. Gulf allies. And today the president is once again threatening war crimes against Iran saying that he could strike Iran so hard that when it is over there will be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Trump is once again escalating this war while Pete Hegg's Seth is purging its ranks of any dissenting voices and openly ignoring anyone who tells him this is all a bad idea. As the Washington Post reported Sunday several U.S. military leaders have advised Hegg Seth that prolonged large-scale operations against Iran is unsustainable and risks weakening their ability to confront threats elsewhere including the U.S. homeland.

8:19So now that those top leaders have openly voiced their disagreement with Pete Hegg's Seth strategy, how long do you think they'll get to keep their jobs? The president of the United States is supposed to surround himself with competent people, people who listen to the advice of experts and tell the president when he's staring the country toward catastrophe even though it's his choice to make. But Trump does not run that kind of White House. He surrounds himself with incompetent people who were hired to tell him only what he wants to hear. And at times like this, I often find myself wondering what the people who have managed other administrations think about the way this White House has run day to day. Iran manual has served in three different Democratic presidential administrations as a senior adviser to President Clinton as the chief of staff to President Obama. And as a diplomat, as ambassador to Japan for President Biden, he knows how President's cabinet is supposed to operate. How major decisions are supposed to be made. How military leaders are supposed to be listened to. Once he think of the way this White House is being run. Turning me now, as I mentioned with Chris's Robin Manu, he's the former White House Chief of Staff, former ambassador to Japan, former mayor of Chicago, former congressman, former chairman of the

9:22D-Tribal C. Also, my former boss two times over. It's great to see you. Nice to see you. Let me start by asking you about this purge. And we are seeing, I think we can call it an unprecedented purge of qualified, high-ranking Pentagon officials at a time when we're at war. And we try here not to freak out about everything Trump and the administration does because you'd be freaking out at all moments of the day. But what do you think of what we're seeing in Pentagon right now? Well, the key word he used is purge. And you are right about war, but you're also, if I can add the dimension, we have a critical role both in Europe and in the Indo-Pacific of projecting deterrence. If anything, and so you don't have a war or another military conflict, if anything, what is going on is degrading that deterrence, stopping a conflict. Specifically, in Indo-Pacific, we can go on a little longer. I was trying to right now while we're distracted in O'Lean Iran, but involved as you said, Jen, in this purge, they are aggressive against Japan, our key ally, the long pole of our Indo-Pacific strategy in the Senkaku Islands,

10:25pressuring Philippines a treaty ally in the Spratly Islands, just signed a military agreement into Indonesia, fired a nuclear capacity of a weapon to carry nuclear weapon in and around the ocean towards Australia. And then the President of the United States, to further, further degrade our deterrence, is actually canceling exercise of South Korea where we have 38,000 troops. Now, what of our deterrence strategy is working, because it's not working. The second is my count, if I'm doing this correctly, is 45 members of the Armed Forces, generals, admirals, vice-admiral, successors of all in fired. Lisa Francietti, when I was secretary, when I was ambassador to Japan, CNO of the Navy, highest ranking, was there ROTC, first woman on the joint cheese, but handled battleground groups, gets fired. For no reason at all, there's nothing in a record that you could point to. And there's just ahead of the army, not Drisco, but the former military leader, Randy,

11:28he just got fired. And this is, you use the word purge, this is a cheap knockoff of what she's doing in China. And he's thrown his military into disarray, we should not be doing this either in war in a projection of deterrence. And I also want to call the couple bull entities, the Republicans in the Senate. You're a senator, not a supplicant. You have a responsibility. Now, you know this, because we're afraid. I have two kids that are, one was active duty Navy. He's now a reservist, another one, my daughter is a Navy reservist. You have a responsibility as a commander in chief, 1.2 million people, the true 1% of America signed up. And you got a guy that used to have a drinking problem running around purging people for political reasons. Now, I personally haven't studied this and worked with a number of people. As I said, Lisa French, I didn't see it. We set up a college scholarship in her name in Chicago for kids out of the ROTC from our high school, because this is absolutely wrong. And the other thing is, in this effort here, the fact is, if you go down to

12:34history, the armed forces after Vietnam was a mess. The greatest single turnaround in the United States history is our armed forces. I have seen incredible people of backgrounds who are diplomats, politically agile. They're strategic thinkers, they're leaders, they take care of the men and women they're responsible for, they set high standards. This is what we should be proud of. And it's the one thing that America stills an institution bipartisanly agrees with supports, and they're degrading it. I wonder, I mean, there are, there are, Trump is also purging the Department of Justice, right? And you can draw through line as to why he's doing that. Purging the military makes him look weak in the world, as you've just noted, it weakens the perception of the United States, even of his own power. Why do you think he's doing it? Let me go, you know, look, I've seen it in, well, with President Obama, when we were looking at Afghanistan, whether to have the surge, we had 14 separate meetings. I saw the head of the Joint Chiefs Mike Mullin, Secretary Gates,

13:40Secretary of Defense Gates, those David Petrius, those were crystal. We went through a rigorous analysis. I cannot, because President wanted to do X, they thought why. The only decision that goes into the situation room and into the Oval Office is bad and worse. Good and bad, the chief of staff will handle. Bad and worse is what the Oval Office and the situation here. You need people, and I did this myself multiple times to the credit of both President Obama, President Clinton, they wanted strong people, independent voices that would challenge them, because it's not easy. You need judgment and character. You need to learn from mistakes. They had their view, and they're both President welcomed people that disagreed with them. Now, when they made a decision, the debate was over. And everybody understood that. This is not a President that's secure enough to have people with contrary views. And in that Washington Post article that you cited from Sunday, it is clear

14:40that they have told them the challenges that the military faces. You have obviously the Middle East, but you have the credibility of our deterrence with these gray zone attacks against Russia that's committed against Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Poland as an example. And then you have what's happened to our allies there. This chaos in the Pentagon, the degradation of our weapons and drawdown of key strategic weapons is actually undermining the credibility of our deterrence. And this, you don't need a Secretary of Defense who is running through the Pentagon and the Armed Forces with a political axe to grind based on his own insecurities, the best I can tell, because you would never get rid of Lisa Franchetti. You would not get rid of the former head of the Army. And there's also, Donald Lee, the guy from the seventh fleet. This is all just a political purge and it's a cheap knockoff of what she's doing in China. It's also, Putin is 4 and a half year old or why? Because he's got a bunch of military people that are a bunch of Jesuits that

15:43never stood up to him and said this is crazy. It's a model. I want to ask you about Republicans. You mentioned Republicans. You've worked with a number of them. I mean, when you were in Congress, when you were the chief of staff, when you were the mayor, what is the loss of voice, the loss of backbone? What is it about fear? Look, I mean, all of them are different, but I will say this, you saw it a number of times. I can't tell you how many times in the old loft, I would walk in in a day, three, four times a day and say, no, this is the cost. You can't do this. If you do this, here's what the price tried this alternative. That was a staff person. I was hired help. You're a US Senator, independently elected. You become a subluchant. What is the idea of having becoming a Senator if you can't speak up? And I'm sorry, you confirmed Exeth and every one of them knew it was wrong. Every one of them knew. And I can tell you that firsthand. Because you've talked to them. Yes, they knew that this, you have a country of 350 million. That's the best we can

16:44produce. Really? Because they're worried about Trump and the prime arena. They were worried about and a number of them having been loyal soldiers still got the knife in the back from the president. It's a one way street of loyalty. But that said, you owe it. Here's the thing, your US Senator, you have members of your state who have volunteered for the Armed Forces to execute the national security of the United States of America. That is a true 1%. Not the people of wealth, the people of service. You have an obligation to them. And you've abandoned that obligation. And you know beforehand because some quote unquote, we're struggling with their vote. That this was the wrong vote. And now these are the consequences. You owe a debt to the American people for what you've approved. Here we are. Let me ask you about some of the things. I mean, you've spent so many years of your career thinking about every scenario that could happen. Leading up to an election. And right now, we're in a place where you have a president and administration willing to use government resources

17:46in ways they should not be used. And today, the DHS Secretary, Mark Wain-Millen, said there were no plans for us to be at the polls at the midterm elections. He didn't rule it out. We've heard about National Guard being at the polls. We've heard about military being center of the polls. Is this something you're worried about? People should be worried about? So, you know, it's interesting, one before I get to being worried. I know you're worried at fair amount. But yes, you have to think of all the negative endowings sites in prepare for them because denial is a river in Egypt. It's not a strategy. But here's a good, you know, here's an administration that had a plan for redistricting mid-cycle than nobody's ever done. They had a plan for mail-in ballots. They've had a plan for voter intimation. I wish they had a plan for Iran. They went to war and I ran without a plan. Six months later, all of a sudden, our Secretary of Treasury thinks he's auditioning for Eisenhower with D-Day rhetoric, which was like a pop gun. And then they actually thought through the election. Now, I'm not for anything they're

18:50doing, but they clearly had a plan. We went to war without a plan. Talk about a dereliction of duty. Everything you outlined that you get worried about. Now, I do want to say what I don't look. The outlines of this election is like a wave election. I've seen six of them. Massive turnout by the voters out of power. 12 and a half million Democrats have voted in primary only eight and a half million Republicans. Real depressed turnout by the party in power. We've seen that happen. We're 12 for 12 and all state-wights and flip 36 out of 36 specials. And independence are breaking two to one for the Democrats. That outlines in the structure of this race with an unpopular war, a unpopular president, a corrupt administration. Rising gas prices is eerily similar to O-6, eerily similar. What I have not seen ever is when you have this kind of crypto money and this AI money and that cash, this is a managed. And it's a nearer field. And then you play around with things like mail and balloting that a lot of people have

19:53gotten used to post COVID. That is different from a tactical and operational capacity. But the grand architecture is a wave election. I gotta take a break. I have a lot more questions about all the sex and stuff. I have a lot more answers. I know you've been some other things. I know you've also said recently you're thinking about running for president. So we gotta talk about that too. We'll take a break. We'll be right back. Here's something you may not know. Only 14% of cancers in the US are caught through routine screenings. Prenewvos' whole body MRI may help close that gap. Screening for over 500 conditions, including most solid tumors, all in under an hour. Prenewvos' body panels also test over 80 biomarkers for a deeper understanding of your health. No radiation, no contrast. Book your scan at prenewvo.com. That's P-R-E-N-U-V-O. Com. Parents, have you heard your kids say, I'm not a math kid? Well, with Mathnasium,

20:57every kid can be a math kid. They customize their math instructions so kids who are struggling are able to catch up and get ahead. And advanced kids are challenged to reach higher. Mathnasium makes math fun, so kids learn to love it. Parents say that Mathnasium has not only improved their kids' grades, it's given them a new level of confidence. In math and in school overall, visit Mathnasium.com to find a location near you. We're back with former White House Chief of Staff, former ambassador to Japan, former D.C. R.P.L.C. Chair. Rahm Emanuel, before the break, we were talking a little bit about how,

21:58in your words, this could be a wave election. It's looking like it could be a wave election. There are factors that are hard to include in here. I wanted to play something. We're seeing a lot of intimidation tactics, efforts to suppress voters, to scare voters, to make them think they can vote by mail. I wanted to play something that Mike Johnson said. I think it's quite telling, but I wanted to get your thoughts on it. This is going to be a midterm unlike any other. The question that voters across the nation have to answer this fall is whether we're going to turn the greatest nation in the history of the world over to communism and big government socialism as radical left Democrats insist. The barbarians are now inside the gate. By our count, there's almost 40 openly avowed Marxist communists, socialists. They're all in the same camp. This seems to be part of what they've settled on on their message. They've done this against campaigns. You've worked on White House's UNI have both worked in. What does that tell you?

22:58Are you worried that some of this could work in some parts of the country? Well, two things. One is this is a referendum on them. When one party controls the microphone and the gavel, both sides of Pennsylvania, it's a referendum election. 1994, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2018. There is a law of physics that's it. What that tells me is very worried about it. They know it. They're hearing exactly and seeing the same data. They have to basically the Hail Mary is everybody is a communist or as he said or a Marxist, etc. They're going to bring up some stuff from the past on the cultural wars. You've known I'm very clear about that. I think the cultural wars are a mistake for the Democrats. But there are things like there's a great woman in Omaha, Nebraska, Denise Powell running a fabulous race, Open Seat, one of the only seats in the country, Kamala Harris won but had a Republican congressman, Tom Bacon. They're calling her DSA Denise. That's why I think for our party, this is a whole mistake is because they only have one

24:00John, they're one in Johnny note. That's it. That's all they have. There's a one trick for voting. The Republicans are. Yeah. And you, we should not, we, anything that get distracts from, this is a judgment about your stewardship and what you did, Donald Trump and the SuppleKinson Congress who are a rubber stamp. Anything that distracts for that is negative in my view to what we have to do. Now they're going to do that. And my view is to take the first and foremost rule number one, you take the case to them. You put their stewardship, their leadership on trial. Because that's what this election about. The contours of the election, the theme of the election is Republican leadership. And the reason people are negative on the president, negative about the direction of country. That's why it's a referendum election. As long as I've known you've had your super fans, you've had your detractors. You've always worked with a range of different people because that's what you kind of have to do in the big tent of the Democratic Party. You said this weekend, I don't consider Democratic Socialist part of the Democratic Party. Did you mean that?

25:01Yeah. Look, there's a progressive wing and a pragmatic wing. Well, I'm a good thrashing. We both all agree. The system is rigged against people with paycheck to paycheck. You'll be from Medicare for all. I'm for early retirees buying into Medicare. Well, work that out. What we believe in making sure health care is a piece of mine, not a nightmare. Now, the Democratic Socialists four weeks ago in Chicago had a party convention. They're a platform committee. They had a party convention. Not a caucus meeting. A party convention. They're a separate party. They're for defunding the police, open borders, open prisons, and eliminating the Pentagon. That's not our position as Democrats. My view is if you're so confident people want this, I'll see you in November. Now, the second thing is you want to join us. Get rid of your positions. Our positions are not for defunding the police. Our positions are for a strong border. Our position is not for eliminating the Pentagon, but the professionalism, as we were talking at the earlier part of this show, John, that is shown by the men and women,

26:04the true one percent who volunteered to defend and uphold the Constitution of the United States and execute our national security interests. Those are not our party positions. And so therefore, you're a separate party. That's okay. Go run in November. We'll see it. Now, not there too. Having studied politics, as you said, there are seven states, 500,000 voters across those seven states that have decided the last three presidents 2016, 2020, and 2024. If Roy Cooper North Carolina wants a socialist come down, I'll pay travel and launching. If also wants a socialist to come to Georgia, I'll pay travel and launching. If that's true, and Aaron Ford running for, they're turning general, and Nevada is running for governor, if he wants a socialist, I'll pay travel and launching. And then none of these swing states, do they want any of these people there? And I don't think we should put an extra burden on people in marginal swing districts that will determine the presidency with a set of policies that we,

27:07as Democrats, do not agree on. But don't. We do not support defunding the police. Well, that will not support open borders. And we don't support letting murders or rapists or people with violent backgrounds back out on the streets. The majority of people in the country don't support that either. Okay. The reason I ask this is because there's the DSA platform. And then there are people like AOC or Mayor Mamdani who have affiliated with DSA, consider themselves members, but they're part of the Democratic Party, aren't they? No, so here's a yes, they're part of the party, but there are core principles. Now, like AOC said the other day, she walked away from those positions. It's exactly what I'm saying. She reaffirmed members of the DSA, but she said, well, maybe I heard it wrong. I thought, woke 1.0 was no longer good. Well, that's the way. Jen, you're asking me, we have positions. As I said, we agree on health

28:08care coverage for people. Will we, as somebody that fought for President Obama and helped pass AOC, rather ACA, so people with pre-existing conditions get coverage? Somebody that was in the room negotiating, so 10 million kids whose parents work full time, got health care. I did that for President Clinton. We'll have different policies, but not different principles. Defunding the police is a open borders. These are principled positions and principled differences with us. That is my view. People that have decided to change AOC said, oh, that was wacky. Okay, great. That was wacky. I agree. I agree. I asked. And guess what? I didn't need an election to know it was wacky back then. I asked because you've always had your strong views. You've never been quiet about them, but you've also always included a lot of people in a big tent of a party, right? And the people get to determine what the positions are. That's right. In our party's position, well, let me ask you a question. You know what you have on this show. Hundreds of leaders at the

29:10Democratic Party. Pull up who wants to run on defunding the police and believes that's a party position. Tell me the last 10 guests you had that said that. Tell me which of the last 10 guests, Jen, that said we should open up the borders. Which of the last 10 guests said get rid of the Pentagon? Now, there are days as a former House member. I always used to say the Senate was a constitutional mistake. So I kind of got, I'm kind of warm on that one. Maybe you're a little bit sick. No, we can move on. I asked because I think this is going to be a debate. Perhaps not leading up to November, we're right in these swing states, but there is for the presidential primary. These looks saying this. You want somebody that kind of moves around? I ain't that guy. I'm a wartime consulator. Not a peacetime. I'm not going in on the burden. Those are our positions. I help President Clinton put Operation Gaper on the border of San Diego, Operation Safeguard and Nicola Sarasona. I ensure that we had a criminal justice policy that was more police on the street and kids guns and gangs off the street. I don't believe as somebody that has two kids that

30:13joined the armed forces and the people I worked on as ambassadors, Chief of Staff or a senior advisor. Our armed forces are some of the best of the best of America from all parts of America. I don't believe in getting rid of the Pentagon. I think it's wrong. I think it's a bad policy and it's not what the Democratic Party believes. And also, if you go back to just pure politics, forget principle. If you want to win those seven states and have a president who will nominate the next Supreme Court justice, those are not the policies that's going to get you the majority of the electoral web. Before I let you go, I got to ask you before I let you go. Before I let you go. Well, this is my show. We have a range of people on this show. Before I let you go, I know you've said that you are going to make a decision after the midterm elections. Make sense. That's what everybody's focused on. And you're going to talk to your family. Make sense. You know, you three are your Amy always goes, I'm here. Yeah, I'm here. Let's have a conversation. You wouldn't be even contemplating this if you didn't think you brought something

31:14into the discussion, into the debate, into the run that other people didn't bring. So what do you bring? That I believe this president has to know the family rooms of America, the classrooms of America, the situation room, the break room, and the boardroom. The problem for our country is both parties. One has been stuck in the bathroom and the other one's been stuck in the bedroom. We got a country to build in the future to have. We've had two presidents back to back. Both parties trying to restore a past setting comment. I'm interested in building a future. I think we're at a critical juncture as a country. We either start working on that future where everybody can get across together and make it stronger and better. Because one thing I will tell you is an ambassador from Japan. Loved it. Learned a lot about the end of Pacific. The country I learned the most about is the United States of America. Looking at it from perspective, a country that built on the ethos. Failures is not an option. We have allowed 50% of our kids not to

32:18read at grade level and we've accepted it. China doesn't decide that. We have allowed a president and a country to give up the leadership we have on life sciences and our energy future, etc. We've become complacent with failure. I think this country is the son of an immigrant. I think I won the lottery ticket of life being an American. And that is slipping away from us. Do I think I, my experience, I know what happens between bad and worse for a president? The judgment. I'll make my mistakes as I have in other offices. But both the character and the judgment to point to a future that brings people together to actually build it. Well, Emmanuel, sounds like you've been doing some actual real thinking about this. That's why I swam on my own in the morning. There you go. A lot of stress. There you go. Get that stress out. Thank you for being here. Thanks, yeah. Appreciate the conversation. Okay, coming up. We have some breaking news on a story. We have been following very closely on this show after nine grueling months at sea. The USS Lincoln is about to reach land. We're going to take you live to Thailand when we come back.

33:26Here's something you may not know. Only 14% of cancers in the US are caught through routine screenings. Prenovos, whole body MRI may help close that gap. Screening for over 500 conditions, including most solid tumors, all in under an hour. Prenovos body panels also test over 80 biomarkers for a deeper understanding of your health, no radiation, no contrast, book your scan at prenovo.com. That's P-R-E-N-U-V-O. Parents, have you heard your kids say, I'm not a math kid. Well, with Mathnasium, every kid can be a math kid. They customize their math instructions so kids who are struggling are able to catch up and get ahead. An advanced kids are challenged to reach higher. Mathnasium makes math fun, so kids learn to love it. Parents say that Mathnasium has not only improved their kids' grades, it's given them a new level of confidence. In Math and in school overall, visit Mathnasium.com to find a location near you.

34:27The CERTA Labor Day sales event is here. It's the unofficial end of summer, which means shorter days and longer nights. So fill them with perfect sleep night after night. Save up to 800 dollars on CERTA perfect sleeper ex mattresses and adjustable base sets. See how the Q4 support system helps relieve aches and back pain. Limited time offer. Visit CERTA.com to find a retailer near you. Perfect sleeper, perfect sleep night after night. Tonight after nine months at sea without any days off and at times without enough food to eat, while fending off incoming Iranian missile and drone attacks from much of that time, the 5,000 American sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are finally about to be able to step on dry land. For 200 and eight consecutive days, a modern error record, I would note, those service members could not leave that aircraft carrier. And thanks in large part to the

35:31tireless and intrepid reporting by MSNAS Pentagon reporter Prius Riefer, we now know how dire the impacts have been. During their record long time away from shore, all the while not knowing how they would have to stay out there, multiple sailors on the USS Lincoln reportedly attempted to jump overboard. And thanks to Prius reporting, we now know that one of those sailors who did jump is facing disciplinary charges for doing so. As the Lincoln repairs to dock off the east coast of Thailand near the city of Puthaya, the question that hangs over the Pentagon is how to prevent such a disastrous deployment from ever happening again. Joining me now from Puthaya City, Thailand is MSNAS now Pentagon reporter Prius Shreether, who's done so much of the excellent reporting we've been talking about the last several weeks. Priya, I know it's very early where you are. So thank you so much for being with us. I know you've been doing a ton of reporting and are still waiting for the Lincoln to come to port. But what have you learned so far? And what are you hoping to learn if you're able to speak directly with the sailors? Yeah, Jen. So we did spot the USS Abraham Lincoln making

36:35its way to land. We're expecting that it's going to port any moment now really, probably within the next hour or so. And as you mentioned, this is the first time after a grueling nine and a half month deployment that these 5,000 sailors and Marines on that ship will be able to step on solid land. They left San Diego last November, briefly stopped in Guam in December and then didn't make another stop until they did a quick overnight in Oman on July 7th. But in each of those occasions, they were not allowed to really go beyond the dock of the ship. So this is their first opportunity to get a little bit of very much needed and much deserved rest and relaxation, especially as you noted, they have been deployed to this war in Iran from the very beginning in February when the air strikes first began. And according to Admiral Brad Cooper, of course, the sent-com commander, this ship actually intercepted 200 IRGC drones in the Strait of Hormuz that he says were threatening

37:37commercial ships and US forces in the region. It also was responsible for launching hundreds of air strikes on strategic sites inside of Iran. And Admiral Cooper said that the guided missile destroyers that were part of the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group were engaged in the most intense naval combat that the United States Navy has seen since World War II. So if you can imagine this, these guys and gals have been doing 12 to 14 hour days for several months straight. Many of them with no days off. And as you mentioned, they were facing a lot of deteriorating conditions, food shortages, supply shortages when it came to basic hygienic products like toothpaste and soap. And that was a result of Iranian missiles hitting Navy's fifth fleet headquarters of Bahrain at the very beginning. And then in addition to all of that, they thought that they were going back to San Diego in May only to discover that their deployment kept getting extended and extended with no end in sight. So Jen, you know, I've been speaking to a lot of the family members of the

38:40service members on that ship. And they were telling me that they were very concerned about morale, mental health and physical exhaustion. Well, I have been talking to them once again about what they're hoping for with this port call. And they say that their sons and daughters and spouses are looking forward to the very simple things that perhaps you and I take for granted, a warm meal being able to sleep on a bed that's a little bit bigger than the one that they've been experiencing inside of the carrier, hopefully getting some rest and relaxation at the beach, a little bit of shopping their own shower, for example. But I can tell you that the Thai officials here have been bracing for the fact that they're about to receive about 5,000 American service members. They say that they're excited about this because they have actually been seeing a little bit of a downturn with their tourism here as a result of the war in Iran. Most of the Europeans who come to Thailand for their beach vacations have to fly through Gulf cities. The airfare has skyrocketed. So they're really hoping that these service members are going to give a little boost to the local

39:43economy. Now I have been talking to my sources and they have told me that the commanding officer of the ship, as you can imagine, has set some really strict ground rules as far as what they are and are not allowed to do. They will have a curfew. They of course are not, you know, supposed to be engaging in any sort of prostitution or marijuana use. They're not allowed to go to Bangkok and there's certain areas of the city that are also off limits to them. So I think everyone is just hoping this is going to be a relaxing and safe port call for these folks as they head into their final weeks going back to San Diego to see their loved ones, Jen. Priya, Treetor, you have done such incredible, intrepid reporting, bringing so many of these stories and these families to life. We have used it so much. Thank you for being here with us again and for everything you do. Again, we'll look forward to continuing our conversation with you. Okay, coming up, we have good news and bad news about concerns surrounding Donald Trump sending troops to the polls in November. Well, we'll break back. We'll talk about that.

40:55The good news is the top general in the United States military says there are no plans to deploy troops to any polling places this November and we know that because Senator Lissa Slack and sent the top general in the country a letter asking him if there were any plans to send troops to the polls and if he would refuse an unlawful order to send them to the polls if asked. And General Dan Cain said that he is not received and he does not anticipate receiving, we'll see any unlawful orders concerning the role of the military in the midterm elections. And he wrote that every member of the US Armed Forces takes an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States and that the joint forces which he commands will continue to act in accordance with the Constitution and the law. That last part is the particularly good news. The bad news is that he isn't the only one who got that letter. He's just the only one who responded. Senator Slack can also send a letter to Trump Secretary of Defense Pete Higgs F and ask him specifically if he would refuse an unlawful order by Trump to send troops to the polls if Trump were to issue that order. She gave him a deadline of last Friday to respond to and according to her office,

41:58he never did. And that's kind of bad news. Joining me now is combat veteran and Democrat Democratic Congressman Pat Ryan, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee. A lot to talk to you about, but first of all, what do you make of Secretary Higgs that's not responding to that at all? Should we read into that? Should we not read into that? What do you think? Oh, we should definitely read into it. We should be concerned. I and several other colleagues in the House have asked him and senior appointees the same question. The military officers to their credit give clear direct answers as General Candid. None of the political appointees, all of these cronies, are willing to even essentially just validate what the Constitution says and what federal law says, which is it is a federal crime to deploy troops to or around polling sites. And they won't even confirm that in public testimony. So we have to be concerned. And we are taking this very seriously in our contingency planning. We have to be clear right about it. No question. And they're the ones who will be asked. I talked about this a little bit earlier in the show and I suspect you have some thoughts

43:02on this because last night we learned of the resignation of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. He is, of course, the latest in a long, long, long, we showed a graphic of an earlier list of top military leaders who have left to been forced out under Secretary Hegsess leadership. What kind of impact does that hollowing out have on really the ability of the military to function? We're in time of war, but even beyond that. Yeah, it is devastating. For those that haven't served, I think it's actually hard to fully appreciate how just catastrophic and corrosive this is to the culture. So there are immediate impacts. Like we are six months into a war that was supposed to be a few weeks. And we've lost troops and all of us are paying at the pump. And he's purging all of the people that actually know what the heck they're doing, both civilian leaders like Secretary Driscoll, who is one of the relatively reasonable actors of integrity here, which is a big part of life in Q. Hegs pushed out like General George, like so many of these other

44:03leaders. So you're firing, imagine taking your best player off the field in the Super Bowl. That is essentially what they're doing. But on the long term, they're going directly at this foundational principle for 250 years that the military answers not to a president, but to the Constitution. And he is so hegsess has made his personal mission to destroy that. And that will take generations to rebuild. I almost think I could, well, I could answer this myself, but I'm more interested in your your thought. I mean, it's we're six months into this war. It seems like the only person who hasn't been fired has peaked Hegseth. Why do you think that is? This is the question that actually legit keeps me up at night, which is why do you keep around? A totally incompetent, clueless clown, frankly. And like there aren't many good reasons to do that. There are some really scary reasons that allude to your question about troops being deployed in under the insurrection act or God forbid around election. So that's what really scares me.

45:08Not only are we losing this war, which pains me to say that, but we have to be honest that we are. But he's keeping around this guy, I think, for really dangerous on-American contingencies. And so we have to just up the pressure now because there are there's no one left that can be a filter between Hegseth and Trump. Congressman Ryan, I always love talking to you because you've actually served. You've been there. You never hold back and you keep pressing for answers. And that is something I think everybody needs and so many people watching are grateful for. We are. We've got a lot of work to do when we take the majority to hold them accountable. And between now and the election too, thank you for being here. Thanks. We'll be right back. That does it for me tonight. You can catch the show Tuesday through Friday at 9 p.m. Eastern on MS now. And don't forget to follow the show on Blue Sky, Instagram, and TikTok. Real talent is defined by what people can do, not where they learn to do it.

46:12So by stopping at the education section of a resume, you might throw away the perfect hire. Skills First Hiring helps you see town others miss. Like more than 70 million stars, skill through alternative routes. Let their story unfold and gain a competitive advantage because hiring managers who start with skills are 60% more likely to find a successful hire. Hire Skills First. Learn why at tetherpapershealing.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the