Bulwark Takes - BOMBSHELL: Trump Fires DHS Sec. Noem; Sen. Mullin Tapped as Replacement

Episode Date: March 5, 2026

JVL, Tim Miller and Andrew Egger are going live to cover Trump firing Kristi Noem....

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everybody. It is Tim Miller here with my buddy's, Andrew Egger, author of our Morning Shots newsletter, JVL, author of the Triad newsletter, and editor extraordinaire. We're here to discuss Christy Noem's defenestration. Christy Noem is out as the head of the Department of Homeland Security. The announcement has come as is one from Donald Trump on social media. He's bleated this, and he's bleated it while Christyneau is on stage in Nashville at some conference. Right now.
Starting point is 00:00:33 Yeah, we're going to have that here. Let's be able to pull it up and watch that. So you know that Christyneau's been fired. She doesn't know. We would presume that she's been fired. Maybe she's just keeping a straight face. There's no other way for a person. How would you know the difference, Tim?
Starting point is 00:00:50 I'm going to read the post from Donald Trump. I'm pleased to announce that highly respected United States Center from the great state of Oklahoma, Mark Wayne Mullen will become United States Secretary of Homeland Security, effective March 31. The current secretary, Christy Noem, who served us well, has had numerous and spectacular
Starting point is 00:01:06 affairs, I'm sorry, results, especially on the border, we'll be moving to special envoy for the shield of the Americas, blah, blah, blah. They're going to be announcing at Saturday in Dural. She thanks Christy. He thanks Christy for her service at Homeland. So there we go.
Starting point is 00:01:22 We've seen this coming for a bit now. why don't we give us our initial thoughts? Andrew, I noticed in the Slack, me and JVL being negative and always looking for ways things could get worse, I think, are not overwhelmed. I guess I don't want to speak for JVL. I'll speak next. I'm speaking for myself.
Starting point is 00:01:42 I'm not overwhelmed that things are going to get much better with this. But you had posted that you think that it is certain that her successor will be better than her. So let's hear. Yes. That's exactly what I said. is an absolute guarantee. Please write me letters when the eventual successor, Mark Wayne Mullen, the senator from Oklahoma, turns out to be a nightmare. You know, you can hold me personally accountable.
Starting point is 00:02:04 No, I did not say this. I did say that I do think that she has been uniquely bad in some respects. I mean, she is a force multiplier for obviously what Trump has wanted all along at the border. But she has added a lot of her own personal spin in ways that have been particularly embarrassing for the country and particularly hard on the people who, you know, are getting the brunt of all of this stuff, the way that she and Corey Lewandowski have run. Ice operations have, have been always with one eye on sort of throwing a lot of red meat content to the MAGA base in terms of, you know, slick, sizzle, real video of, you know, people marching onto deportation planes and chains and, you know, ice agents scuffling with protesters in the street and, you know, pepper spraying them. All these sorts of things
Starting point is 00:02:51 have been not out of character with the way that Trump has wanted all this to go, but a lot of it has flown just as a practical matter out of Noam and Lewandowski and the specific strategy that they have wanted to implement. And honestly, like, to bolster her personal brand, which is part of what's so funny about this is like that is ultimately the thing, not the, not any of ICE's, you know, horrible outrages that we've seen in recent months, but the thing that finally reporting suggests got Trump to finally say, you know, this is not the person for us, is the fact that she, she was in the Senate this week. And a senator, you know, John Kennedy, a Republican senator asked, what's the deal with all those, you know, the millions and millions and millions of dollars, DHS is spending running
Starting point is 00:03:37 these ads that, like, make you look like the architect of this deportation regime. And she said, well, you know, you know, the president thinks those ads are great. He signed off on him. Donald Trump hears about this. He says, I absolutely did not sign off on those ads. What's going on here, and that appears to have been, uh, ultimately the thing that, that, that broke it for, yeah, so not, not the murder of two American citizens. That wasn't what broke it for Christy Nome, but, uh, testifying that Donald Trump was involved with something that he doesn't want to be associated with. That makes, that makes sense. Um, correct. JBL, for you, for people, because folks are just kind of gathering in here, uh, the breaking news that Christy Nome has been
Starting point is 00:04:11 fired as head, as secretary of Homeland Security. Um, and it happened either right before, right as she began speaking, that's her, speaking to the Sergeant Benevolent Association, major cities conference in Nashville. And, you know, Trump loves to humiliate. He loves to humiliate. And whether or not she's in the dark right now, as we point and laugh, or whether or not she heard right before she came on, it is a humiliation ritual either way for Christy Knoam. And we have to at least enjoy that element of it. JVL, what's your top takeaway? It's delicious. And it is unlikely, here's my top takeaway, honestly, because I think Homeland Security is unlikely to get better. And we can talk about that a little more because that's substance.
Starting point is 00:04:58 It to me is fitting, and I think it's important for people to look at Christy Knomes, so they understand what it is they're signing up for. This woman has dedicated her entire, like the last decade plus of her life to climbing into Donald Trump's shadow. She's done everything he asked for. She may have broken the law for him in addition to humiliate. Even before she had to say she ran those ads about how great he was doing. That's like South Dakota was running ads. I'm going to put him on the, you know, Mount Rushmore and that stuff. And her thanks for that is that he absolutely humiliates her.
Starting point is 00:05:40 There are ways to do this perfectly normally, right? Do it on a Friday afternoon with how you let her. her announced that she she's, you know, talked with the president and she's stepping back because she wants to spend more time with her special advisors. And, uh, but he doesn't do that.
Starting point is 00:05:59 He waits till she's on stage to announce this. And I did have a question because he announces that she's moving into this other role. I do wonder if he got her buy-in beforehand. Yeah, maybe. Or, or if he just is saying she's doing.
Starting point is 00:06:16 this and now she can't even say no to it. Right. So she can't even like she actually has to do this other job now that he said. Special envoy for the shield of the America. Yeah. It's a so you know, like if you're signing up for Trump, like you you should understand that this is what you're signing up for. Yeah. This is reminiscent for me of the tarmac firing of my former boss, Ryan's previous. Yes. And you know, in that case, that showed like the cowardly names. nature of Trump who has this your fired element, but he doesn't like to actually fire people. You know, it's those kind of rudeness in the debates like you had insult Jeb's wife on stage and then offstage, be like, how are you doing, buddy? Like, that's just Trump's, just a non-confrontational
Starting point is 00:07:04 nature when actually faced with a threat, kind of like when the bird and the eagle was next to him, you get scared. The little birds coming for him. And on the Wright situation, Wright's told me this, that he was like he had called Trump. They're on the phone together and they were like planning something. Like 20 minutes before, you know, like while he's in the car waiting to get on the plane. And they finished the call. He does like another call and he gets off to get on the plane. And it's like, no, sorry, you don't need to get on the plane.
Starting point is 00:07:36 Trump just fired you by tweet. And it's like they were literally just talking, his chief of staff. He wouldn't do it. So I don't think you can put it past him how embarrassing it is. Andrew referenced the video that put the exchange from the hearing that put the final nail in the coffin for Christ, you know. Why don't we watch that? We've got the video of John Kennedy, my senator, questioning her about how they're spending their money on ads. The president approved ahead of time, you spending $220 million running TV ads across the country in which you are featured,
Starting point is 00:08:13 Yes, sir, we went through the legal processes. Did it correct? Did the president know you were going to do this? Yes. He did? Yes. Okay. And one thing, Senator, I think, would be helpful to know is how effective that communications has been.
Starting point is 00:08:29 Well, they were effective in your name recognition. I mean, I personally just, I mean, to me it puts the president in a terribly awkward spot. And it, and I just, I'm not saying you're not telling the truth. It's just hard for me to believe, you know. And the president, as I do that you said, Mr. President, here's some ads I've cut and I'm going to spend $220 million running them that he would have agreed to that. It's crazy. Like this is always how it's JVIL, you're always on this. That it's like, you know, the, it can never be the game.
Starting point is 00:09:11 the head of the gang that was wrong. You know, he's always, like, wrong is always done by him. He's never done wrong. And I just want to read- Comrade Stalin only knew. Yeah, exactly. He would never have allowed this. He would never put me in the gulag.
Starting point is 00:09:25 But this, I mean, this is the Cardinal sin from Trump's perspective. We have seen this over and over and over again. He doesn't care if you kill people. He doesn't care if you steal or attempts to have a coup. the one unforgivable thing is making money off of him. And the way he views this, the federal budget is his money. That belongs to Donald Trump and Donald Trump's family. If you are spending that money to get something over for yourself, you know, to get your beak wet,
Starting point is 00:09:59 then you're stealing from him. And he doesn't countenance that. That's right. Andrew, because it isn't really the spending. I mean, maybe that matters to Kennedy. but I just want to pull this up. I mean, her spending was profligate and insane. And it's not, and I think that this is more about the affront to Trump, as JBL says,
Starting point is 00:10:16 not like any sort of fiscal responsibility. I just want to read through some of these line items. $220 million for the ad campaign, including some subcontract to that was maybe a sub-subcontract was to a firm that was our old spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin's husband was involved in. 172 million for the private jets, two and a half million for gold detailed ice vehicles. She thought Trump would like that. There would be gold on it. Another, you know, six figures for Mustangs and for some tricked out ice trucks.
Starting point is 00:10:46 You know, not exactly a Doge type operation over there. Can I say one more thing on the Kennedy element of this? Because this has been a fascinating thing to me. One of the big, like, throughline Trump critiques of Joe Biden was like this idea that, you know, his staff was really running the show. And, you know, he didn't know what was going on. he wasn't calling the shots. This looks to me very much like a Trump world version of that exact same thing. Christine O'm has had so many enemies that she has made all throughout this administration. There are constantly leaks coming out of DHS, you know, especially in the wake of
Starting point is 00:11:20 Minneapolis, basically trying to scapegoat her as like the prime mover of everything bad that's ever happened at DHS in this first year of Trump too. And then in addition to that, she made a real enemy of Stephen Miller as this was all coming out because she tried to foist it all off on him and, you know, had reporting in Axios basically saying, I was only ever doing anything Stephen Miller told me to do here. And so when you see a line like this from Kennedy, Kennedy is not some loose canon. Kennedy is not some like heterodox Republican in there. He is an administration ally. He is doing this in some respect to lay the predicate for this in the administration. But it does not appear as though he was doing this as a predicate like that Trump himself had put him up to it, right?
Starting point is 00:12:04 because he is creating the video content that Trump is going to see, Trump is going to react to with this kind of hostility, and then Trump is going to pull the plug. So it's like, it's like this, this bizarre thing where the White House is planning this with Kennedy in order to, like, trick Donald Trump all case. Can I ask you guys? Because I looked at this and I couldn't tell you why, but to me, I thought, oh, Stephen Miller did this. This whole thing was choreographed from Stephen Miller. office. They went to Kennedy. They set Kennedy up for the, you know, you do this. This is how you phrase it. This is the question. Then we'll get it in front of the big guy. And then we'll drop the hammer. This just felt like a Stephen Miller operation to me. Is that crazy?
Starting point is 00:12:50 No, I don't think so. And Steve Miller's always operated this way. You know, I mean, say what you want about Stephen Miller. And I've said all the worst things in the world. He is behind the scenes of an excellent operator, you know, and he works Javanka. You know, like Ivanka was like this, you know, person I was trying to put the softer face on Trump 1.0 and Stephen Miller was the hammer and yet he still like stayed in her good graces right like he he does this he works both sides of the street. A couple of the Q&A's we have from our for our commenters on subsecond super chat Kevin Harrington asked if uh does this mean perjury for her can we go after her for perjury if Trump didn't improve the hands I don't think that's very likely I like that I bet Pam bonnie's
Starting point is 00:13:27 going to look seriously into that I bet she will as well um are we going to have uh here's another question. Are we going to have a special election in Oklahoma? That's from Andrew Hartley. Yes, is obviously the answer to that. I think that it's not as if that really adds another seat to the table for Democrats. Oklahoma is still Oklahoma. But the timing, like, it's notable that Trump picked a senator in this sense, right? It's like he has very narrow. He doesn't fucking care about Congress. The Congress people to him are just like other characters and his show. show that he can just move around the set. Because if you are a traditional president and you were like trying to think about how you're going to get your agenda passed in year or two coming into the midterms,
Starting point is 00:14:14 you wouldn't want another vacancy in the narrow Senate where you're giving more power to Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins. I just think that goes to show just how far away we are from that kind of traditional type of politics. Like Trump just, like Congress is really just an ornament over the there that can be used or abused for his own means. What are they going to have to vote on? What part of his agenda?
Starting point is 00:14:38 Funding for the Iran War and funding for Merk Wayne Mullen's DHS. Are we going to have to vote on either of those things? I don't know. This was another interesting thing, by the way, that was coming out of, you know, the Kennedy hearing is this is some reporting Sam Stein had, that there was some chatter among Democrats that Republicans were floating this as like the trade. Like, well, what if we got Christy Noam? that shake you guys loose on DHS funding? And as we have discussed, that would be an insane trade for
Starting point is 00:15:05 Democrats to take. Democrats have given no indication that they want to or that they find that plausible at all. They're sticking to their guns on DHS funding. But it does kind of add another interesting layer to this. Like maybe some of these Republicans were hearing that something like this was coming. And they're like, maybe we can kill two birds with one stone. Maybe we can shake some Democrats loose on this, you know, while Donald Trump shiv's, no, but I guess that moment has kind of... Yeah. And I guess actually, I'm correct. We're doing this live. I guess Kevin Stick could appoint a temporary person. That's also interesting politically because he's been like the one governor, Republican
Starting point is 00:15:37 Governor Trump has butted heads with because Stitt has spoken out against Trump. So it's, you know, again, you're kind of leaving this in his hands. He could appoint somebody at least temporarily that is, that's not with Trump on D.A. Because Stitt isn't with Trump on DHS. One weird. Can I give you one weird quirk of that? Yeah, sure. In Oklahoma, the governor will appoint a replacement.
Starting point is 00:15:58 And then the replacement can't be the one who runs this fall. whoever gets replaced is barred from being the actual candidate in November. Bullwork Republican, David Holtz, the only good Republican mayor in the country, Mayor of Oklahoma City. Put him in there. Put him in there. Okay, let's do a little more Chadenfreude. The only reason Christenheim is on the screen for new viewers coming to the live stream is for
Starting point is 00:16:21 Schadenfreude, so we should all point and laugh and smile and enjoy. She either was told right before she walked out that she is being fired, or you know and she doesn't. Either way, very delicious. She's going to be so mad tonight, isn't she? Like, she'll privately, you know, keep the smile plastered on because she can't move her face. But by the time she gets home with just her and Corey, the battle's coming out. I mean, they're going to, she'll look like this and she might even, I don't know, shoot another dog. Watch out, Corey. Protect the crown jewels tonight.
Starting point is 00:16:54 Pegging happening tonight. You don't know where she's going. I want to play another video in the spirit of Chardonfreude. Then we'll do more real political analysis. And this was, some of you guys have seen it, but we all enjoy it so much. Let's just watch it one more time.
Starting point is 00:17:07 This is the Democratic Congresswoman from... Can't tell Tim, is that feat of her frozen? Great question. Just another joke. Literally. But literally, I had to stop and look at it for a second. I saw a head move down here. Nope, that's just her face.
Starting point is 00:17:21 Congresswoman from Los Angeles questioning Christy about her relationship. with her special boy, Corey Lewandowski. Had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski. Mr. Chairman, I am shocked that we're going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this committee today. And, ma'am, one thing that I would tell you is that he is a special government employee who works for the White House. There are thousands of them in the federal government. So reclaiming my time, secretary, it is okay for you to be offended by the question.
Starting point is 00:17:55 any decision. I was a little upset. We couldn't show the full screen there. That's Jared Moskowitz over her left shoulder, and he has a justice for cricket pin on, which is very, very cute. That's for Jared Moskowitz. Kudos to him. So it's a tough week for her. Her husband was in the audience there as she's getting quizzed about her special employee,
Starting point is 00:18:16 and then she's fired the next day. That's a bad week. Andrew, have you had a week that bad? I have only had a week that bad because all the stuff I want to write about keeps getting pushed back by having to write repeatedly about Christy Nome. But that's okay. You know, it's important stuff that's happening in the news. Let's talk about Anthropic.
Starting point is 00:18:34 It is amazing. I mean, like the Democrats in this House hearing, they went around and around on this yesterday with her. And it was really, really good because, of course, you know, she has denied this affair in the past. She can't deny it up there. She'll perjure herself, right? So, I mean, I guess that didn't really matter so much with the Trump approval business.
Starting point is 00:18:51 but but uh but you know so she has to talk around i can't believe that you would pedal you'd traffic in this disgusting tabloid garbage i can't believe how badly you think of conservative women i mean it's it really was kind of a masterclass in putting her on the spot up there quick walk off there that was the defenestrated department of homeland security secretary christie noem leaving the stage to find out that she's been fired um let's do a little real business here uh at the top Andrew made the case for why mark william mullin mullin must be an improvement over Kristianna because she was so awful. Let's see her the counter case. JVL, do you want to give that or would you like me to?
Starting point is 00:19:29 I mean, up to you. You're the host. I would say this. If I had asked you, Andrew, to find a United States senator with the exact same IQ as Kristineau, would Mark Wayne McMullen, would he have been your first choice? because I think it would be close. Like he would be in your top three picks because he is not a smart man.
Starting point is 00:20:02 No. He's just not a smart man. So we're going to get somebody who is not smart, who is utterly unprincipled and lies constantly, who has said terrible things about recently deceased American citizens who died at the hand of their government, who is fully and wholly committed to the Trump regime, who himself has threatened violence against witnesses testifying before the United States Senate
Starting point is 00:20:33 as he was sitting there and challenged people to a fistfight. And this guy, who by the way, John Federman already said he's going to vote for, to confirm, this guy is going to be running DHS. I was a little concerned that they would put somebody who is highly competent but quiet in the job and that it would be like what has happened in Minneapolis where Holman came in and changed tactics and basically the same sort of stuff is happening but they've they've tried to smooth it over and pretend that they retreated. I think that's not. Yeah. He is kind of the man, Christy, in some ways of Corey Lundowski was by some. sexual, he could just stay. You know, because they have a lot of similarities.
Starting point is 00:21:21 I want to put a little more meat on your bone there, JV. Can I protest to one quick thing there? Sure. About the man, Christy, I just think that he does not have this psycho belief that he's going to be able to run for president, which is unlike Christyome. Christy Gnome has thought she'd be a 2028 contender. Fair. And that has driven a lot of this stuff.
Starting point is 00:21:37 I sort of put a little more meat on the bone of JVL's point. Just like, let's look at the record of what Boland has said. After the killing of Alex Preti, it was on Fox. he called Predi, not the killer, but the dead, the deceased, a deranged individual who joined the protest to, quote, cause massive damage with a loaded pistol and an extra mag that was completely loaded. He blamed the Democrats for that. After Renee Good died, he said the fact is that Renee Good was interfering with police activity. There's no question about that right now. They had the right to defend themselves on the DHS funding shutdown. He said it was all political. theater. He says he's for it. He's for the masks. So, you know, he hasn't showed an inch of daylight. Like, at least John Kennedy, we don't know if it was Stephen Miller, you know, with his hand going up John Kennedy's butt, like moving him like a puppet there. And whether he was doing Stephen Miller's dirty work
Starting point is 00:22:35 or whether he really just doesn't like Christy Nell. The evidence on the latter is that a couple of times John Kennedy has been like, the administration's way out over their skis on this, right? So if he named John Kennedy, who's boobish in his own way, to run DHS, you'd be like, okay. Like, that's a sign that, like, you know, they're not going to Tim Miller's preferred immigration enforcement policy, but at least they're going to put somebody in who understands that there are excesses. There's no evidence that Mullen believes that there are excesses. And on top of that, here's my other thing that I'd be interested in your pushback to this, Andrew, is Mullen's going to have more money to work with than Nome did.
Starting point is 00:23:10 Like, even if they don't pass this budget, like, you know, it takes a while for them to, you know, kind of get a, get all the funding, disperse all the funding, you know, recruit the individuals, assuming he won't be spending as much money as Christy Noem was on her makeup kit and all the other stuff that she was doing. So like, it's not as if, you know, some of this is like kind of happening on its own. Like there's a inertia to this that like the agents of the DHS are going to be all out there in the streets.
Starting point is 00:23:43 and Mark Mullen William Mullen doesn't seem like the kind of person that's going to want to to dial that back. That would be my argument for it not giving much much back. And let me add one more thing.
Starting point is 00:23:51 At least Christy Nome had Corey Lewandowski who had a private relationship with Trump on his own. Which... Appadickey. Which could have possibly given her
Starting point is 00:24:05 a smidgen of independence from Stephen Miller. Mark Wayne Mullen, I keep saying McMullen. I don't know why. Mark Wayne Mullen. It's funny actually. I kind of want to keep doing it. Mark Wayne has no independent standing.
Starting point is 00:24:20 And so he enters in the totally subservient position to Miller. And so he will not have the ability to like go behind Miller's back and say like, Mr. President, I really think this is not a great idea for you. Like he's just going to have to do literally everything that Miller tells him to do. I think that's true. I think that's true. And I also think that every piece of reporting that we have seen about the way DHS has been run under Christyome is that Corey Lindowski did not need permission from Stephen Miller or Donald Trump to be like a tyrant and a psycho and to go on constant purges of people who he thought were, you know, like not sufficiently loyal to Trump. I think that there genuinely is a faction in DHS that thinks they are out over their skis, that thinks that there is, you know, the Minneapolis was a humongous blunder. There was so much. much reporting going to conservative outlets, you know, from, from people close to, you know, the top echelons of even ICE, you know, like, like Administrator Todd Lyons, you know, guys around him who are like, this is crazy and we can't do this anymore. It's going to be a disaster. It's
Starting point is 00:25:25 been a disaster. And Christy Noam is like kind of behind it all. Now, don't get me wrong. I do not think that anybody should look at this news and be like, oh, thank God, that's over, you know, mission accomplished. And I especially do not think that, you know, Senate Democrats should feel that way when it comes to this fight over D.A. funding. But I do think that you can look at the way that things have gone in the past year and just like look at the way that the labor department has been run. I don't know. Or like look at just any, any sort of like median, even like Pete Hegseth's defense department where like he is constantly imposing lunatic stuff, but like at least the sort of operation has been allowed to run in sort of a professional way further down. And imagine a future where maybe DHS looks a little bit more like that outside of the outside of the personal ambitions of Christy. and the like true tyranny of Corey Lewandowski. I could totally be wrong, but that's what, that's the way. I agree with you there is a faction at the top of it.
Starting point is 00:26:18 I worry at like the middle and lower level of the people implementing them, this stuff that they're insane too. So I think that's different than the military in that sense. The point that you make that it's most compelling to me is I do think that Christy felt like performative sadism kind of benefited her politically. And maybe Mark Bland won't feel as passionately about that. You mentioned Democrats in the confirmation. I think this is kind of obvious,
Starting point is 00:26:43 so we don't have to spend that much time on it, but there's no reason to think that that he will have trouble being confirmed, right? And I think all of the Republicans will support him and John Federman. And so I think, well, Federman, oh, look at that. John Federman has already said he's going to confirm him.
Starting point is 00:27:00 Yeah. Can I ask a question of you guys? Just as a per matter of politics. Should any Democrat vote to confirm this guy? Oh. Because, I mean, maybe I'm just a crazy person, but as a purely as a matter of politics, I think that any Democrat who votes to confirm this guy owns everything that happens under HHS for the next year or whatever. And, like, you would be an insane person. This is John Federman basically saying I'm not running for re-election.
Starting point is 00:27:34 It is. And this is a thing. It goes back to the period, you know, during the period. during the Trump one transition where there were some Democrats, I think a lot of people were like so shook by what happened. And it's just like, Jesus. Like if they're going to,
Starting point is 00:27:52 people are going to vote in fascism because our border policies are so bad, like we need to make some changes. And like it showed that we're going to meet them in the middle on stuff. Right. And the result of that was a, the Lake and Riley Act, which got passed with some Democratic votes.
Starting point is 00:28:08 And a Christine. No confirmation. Let me pull this up where there were seven Democrats four or five abstentions. Federman, Maggie Hassan, Tim Kaine. Poor Tim Kaine. What are you doing, Tim Kaine? Andy Kim, Gary Peters, Gene Shaheen, Alyssa Slokkin. So I don't, I think that's down to one this time, seven down to one. And I think that the Lake and Riley Act, I didn't pull that up, but whatever the number of senators have voted for that was, that would be down to one or two as well. And I think that there was a theory of the case that was not totally irrational, but that was just kind of wrong, right? That was like, we need to meet them in the middle on immigration because
Starting point is 00:28:42 immigration's been so bad for us. I think people that made that bet did not contemplate how bad the Trump immigration regime would be and how much people wouldn't like that either. And so, like, they were kind of moderating on the wrong thing, sort of. Like, the instinct was not wrong, but like the execution was very wrong. I think it seems like the Democrats have mostly learned from that besides Federman. I don't know, Andrew, what are you going to say about that? The next time a Democrat is elected president, they should absolutely have. in the back of their mind the ways that, you know, Joe Biden's specific executive failures sort of set the table on immigration for all this stuff. Fine. They should not think that they have like
Starting point is 00:29:18 carte blanche to, to, you know, replicate his immigration policy. Sure. But that has nothing to do with this moment. That has nothing to do with the fights that are going on right now in the Senate over whether they're going to give money to this agency as it has been sort of operationalized by this president. As you mentioned, Tim, like all of the sort of meatheads that they're have swollen the ranks of ICE and a border patrol with in the last six months with minimal training and then put them out on the streets. I mean, like, they should. And to their credit, everything we're seeing right now is that they are being very sanguine about what they need to do here. They're holding the line and they have not shown any weakness. And, you know, even, even all the
Starting point is 00:29:58 people, even all the Democrats who eventually voted and the last shutdown are totally in a block here about these demands. And that is as it should be. All right. I want to show a couple other of Mark Wayne Mullen clips for people to just get a sense of who's coming in. Then we go to your questions, your super chats, your comments on substack, and then I've got a little treat for everybody at the end. So let's pull up whatever we got of Mark Wayne, the highlight reel. The Tough Guy Act and these Senate hearings, you know where to find me. Any place, any time, cowboy. Sir, this is a time, this is a place.
Starting point is 00:30:37 If you want to run your mouth, we can be two consenting adults, we can finish it here. Okay, that's fine. Perfect. You want to do it now? I'd love to do it right now. Well, stand your butt up then. You stand your butt up. Oh, hold it. Oh, stop it. Is that your solution every public?
Starting point is 00:30:50 No, no, sit down. Sit down. You're a United States Senate on. Actively. Okay. Sit down, please. All right. Can I respond? Hold it. Hold it. Never loved Bernie more. honestly
Starting point is 00:31:04 um you know not exactly demonstrating the kind of judgment that you'd look for in a position of the importance of Department of Homeland Security but I don't know any other Mark Wayne thoughts
Starting point is 00:31:21 it's not the only time by the way he uh he put up a video where he kind of implied that if journalists and Senate and Congress people could have duels maybe there'd be less fake news. He did that. I think there was another fight threat.
Starting point is 00:31:37 So, I don't know. He is a Sorry, go ahead. Go ahead, JVL. Well, I was very interested in the Mark Wayne as MMA champ idea. And so I went looking. I was like, I'd like to go see, you know, I know a little bit about MMA. I like the sweet science.
Starting point is 00:31:53 And I could not find any video of him. So I went digging, like, so, okay, what did he do? So he fought three times. in something called the Extreme Fighting League. This is in 2006 and 2007. He fought the same guy, Clinton Bonds, in two of them,
Starting point is 00:32:14 and another guy named Bobby Kelly. So he, I mean, this is not even like a D-level UFC. This is a very, very, very, very, very junior grade semi-pro. It's like a guy who, liked to scrap and like did it three times for grand total of, I'm just looking at the time, a grand total of under five minutes. Hmm. We spent under five minutes total in the cage.
Starting point is 00:32:48 Anyway. I mean, I'm kind of an M.MA fighter at that level. I've had less than five minutes fighting. Well, like never has so much been made of so little. Yeah. Good Lord. Andrew, do you have something on that? I've got another interesting wrinkle about his confirmation.
Starting point is 00:33:06 No, the only other interesting Mark Wayne Mullen fact that I know is he's one of only a very small handful of people with some Native American ancestry in Congress. So, you know, he will bring an interesting perspective on heritage Americans to the Department of Homeland Security. No bachelor's degree, said there? No bachelor's degree. No. Failed out of college. Appreciate that, though. That's kind of the median Americans.
Starting point is 00:33:30 That's what we're looking for. Mark Wayne Mullen is hearing will happen at the Senate Homeland Security Committee. This is kind of interesting. Do you know who the chair is of that committee? Andrew, quick quiz. Rand Paul. Now, Rand Paul and Mark Wayne have a little history. Mullen called him a freaking snake.
Starting point is 00:33:53 And then, and also expressed sympathies for the neighbor who had attacked, physically attacked Rand Paul in 27. Let me read the full quote. I got the full quote here, actually. Bernie once again makes a cameo. This is the nominee for Secretary of Homeland Security, Mark Wayne Mullen. I respect Bernie Sanders because he's an open socialist. And you know that he's a communist,
Starting point is 00:34:18 so you know what you're getting. Ram Paul's a freaking snake. And I completely understand why his neighbor did what he did. And I told him that to his face. It stirred up people like Cheryl. who don't know the backstory. And then that night, Rand sends out a fun raising letter on it.
Starting point is 00:34:35 It's a gimmick. So that's an interesting subplot of the confirmation. I could see a little, and he still gets confirmed anyway, but you could see a trade where Rand is a no and Federman is a yes. Is the implication there, is the implication there that Rand Paul, like famously the most libertarian member of like the entire U.S. Senate is a secret communist?
Starting point is 00:34:58 Is that what I'm getting from that? No, I think it's that he. He pretends to support Trump, but he doesn't really support Trump. I think that's right. All right, let's go to your questions and comments and chats. May I have the privilege of asking the first question of you guys? For sure. What does this do to Christie 2020 and or Cory Lewandowski?
Starting point is 00:35:22 Corey Lewandowski, whenever he's been exiled before, has always been a good soldier. Yeah. Christie 20208 was never happening. that was happening only in her own head. Corey is a survivor. I mean, Corey was fired from the first campaign, came back. He was exiled after he hit on one of Trump's top donors' wives at an addiction awareness fundraiser at a Benny Hana.
Starting point is 00:35:46 While drunk. While drunk, he was exiled for a while. He got back into Trump's good graces. He ended up inside not only the Department of Homeland Security, but inside the dad. of the secretary. So I'm going to go A bedroom. Corey will find
Starting point is 00:36:06 away. Corey will find a way. Andrew, anything to add to that or should go to the viewer. No, it's just going to depend on how good of a job she does. As special envoy to the shield of the Americas. It says nice to our boy Andrew Haslitz, who's commented. Shield of the Americas is a new competitor podcast, actually, to Shield of the Republic. Christy will be host.
Starting point is 00:36:29 Christy and Corey will be hosting it versus Elliot and Eric. It's kind of like how Dan Crenshaw is going to be my new competitor in the podcast face. Anybody that gets out of the administration they try to come for us. I don't think it's going to work. Bradley asks, is Pam next? No.
Starting point is 00:36:47 She's fine. She's doing what they want. Sorry. I wish. Hard agree. Who do you have as a next? There's a lot of controversy in the Secretary of Labor. Have you been watching the story? Yes. It's a very sub-story She is having, I think, a lesbian affair with her bodyguard.
Starting point is 00:37:07 And there's like, this is all allegedly, I don't want to get sued. And then there's some random expenses. She has some random country. Her husband has also been banned from the premises because of supposed allegations of sexual harassment against different labor department staff. So it's all, it's a whole thing. It is a lot of happening at the Department of Labor. No transparent administration in America. I just put as a sleeper for getting kicked out next is
Starting point is 00:37:35 is Higgs-Sut. I think he's fine, but this war, man, you can imagine a situation where he ends up being a fall guy, where Marco and J.D., both kind of position themselves would be like, hey, Mr. Trump, I was with you. Yeah, I was with you. We was going to be nice and clean, but him over there, a clown. So Marco wanted to do it.
Starting point is 00:37:57 J.D. didn't want to do it. And so the compromise position for the two of them, if it goes wrong, is, well, it was Hegset's fault. It was Hegst's fault. And Hegsef has been happy to be the face of the operation. Like, he has put himself forward into that role where the others have not, and that will, if it goes badly, multiply. We never close a loop. A Riago, one of us close a loop on how many Dems we think we'll vote to confirm Mullen. I really think it's one.
Starting point is 00:38:22 I'd put the over under at one and a half. I could see one other person. Maybe I'd put the over under at one and a half, though. let's see grace g says she'd love to see christie go to sound but all this means is the same brutal ice with better optics this is what jviel said is concerned i share that but like i don't know mark wayne mullen out in the streets threatening to fight some protesters the optics i'm not sure the optics will be better i don't understand this reference jvils i think it's for you jason says jack swagger for dhs secretary i could see that jack swagger former uh very mid-wwee guy kind of has a Mark Wayne feel about him, but blonde. Vicky is happy to give the people of Minnesota credit for tossing Nome out. We'll take it. We'll give it to them.
Starting point is 00:39:09 Deserved. Adam asks if Lundowski's going to seduce Mullen now. We're on the same page. Hey Mama Warrior. No, we already did that one. And there we go. One more, Stephen. How does Susan Collins vote?
Starting point is 00:39:23 Oh, she votes to confirm. She'll confirm. She'll vote to confirm. Yeah. She might express a little concerned before she does so. Okay, I think that's the live stream. I do have, as mentioned, I do have the treat for everybody. And, you know, it's hard. It's kind of a happy trails to Corey Lewandowski.
Starting point is 00:39:43 He's brought us a lot of joy over the years. And frequent viewers of the channel know that I have particularly a favorite moment with Corey, not the time that he hip-checked me with his horrible breath in a debate spin room. That did happen. But at the time that when he was out in the wilderness, I was trying to make some scratch, was on cameo, I was trying to help the MAGA youth with a little problem they had. Let's watch Corey Lewandowski offering some fatherly advice to America's young. Hey, this message is from Mickey.
Starting point is 00:40:14 Mickey, your daddy, Papa Dickie reached out to me and told me that you're toilet training. You must be a very special little boy. But I hear that you're starting to use the big boy toilet. So congratulations. and you're doing a great job with your poopies. Congratulations. I know your mom is going to be so happy for you. And I want to thank you in advance
Starting point is 00:40:35 for being a Donald Trump supporter when you get older. All the best from your daddy, Papa Dickie. Well, Christy Noam wasn't doing a great job with her poopies in the end. And she's been asked to hit the road. Any final thoughts from you guys? Not that I can share this family podcast. We've already made Andrew blush thrice. So any more would be too much.
Starting point is 00:41:01 Thank you, everybody. Subscribe to the feed. Tell your friends, you aren't getting coverage of this defenestration like this on CNN. I'll tell you that. You know, you are not. Okay, so come where you're getting it straight. Comment, like.
Starting point is 00:41:14 We'll see you later.

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