Bulwark Takes - GOP Governors Are Putting Trump First and You LAST

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

Tim Miller slams Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry for sending National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. to support Trump’s latest “law and order” stunt, even as Louisiana faces its own crime, jailbreaks, and looming hurricanes. Get 10% off your first month of therapy with BetterHelp at https://BetterHelp.com/BULWARKTAKES #sponsored

Hey, everybody, Tim Miller from the Bulwark here. I want to ask you to indulge me as I focus on a Louisiana angle of a national news story and a national outrage. Because yesterday, my governor, Jeff Landry, announced to you sending 135 Louisiana National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., to keep our streets safe in the nation's capital, apparently. He's joined by a bunch of other Red State governors who are doing this. This decision to send National Guard troops from other states to D.C. is an outrage. Um, it does not, uh, do anything to advance public safety. Um, it is an affront to the soldiers that are being sent there to work on this fecocta mission. It is an insult to the citizens of the states that they're being sent from where there are real, um, uh, issues that could be addressed by

National Guard or by other, um, you know, resources provided by the state. Um, this does nothing to help public safety. All this does is serve, you know, Donald Trump's desire to militarize the nation's capital and to gain power for himself. It does absolutely nothing for the citizens of Louisiana or any of these other states. I want to walk through what Jeff Landry's statement was and then explain how ridiculous it is on a point by point basis. He writes this. I approve the deployment of 135 Louisiana National Guard soldiers to Washington, D.C., to assist in President Trump's mission of restoring safety and peace in our nation's capital. We are a nation of law and order. Our capital is a reflection of our nation's respect, beauty, and standards. We cannot allow our

cities to be overcome by violence and lawlessness. I am proud to support this mission to return sanity and safety to Washington, D.C., and cities all across our country, including right here in Louisiana, Louisiana National Guard said in a statement that, as directed by the President of the United States, it was sending 135 members to D.C. to, quote, protect federal buildings, national monuments, and other federal properties. What, what, why would Louisiana National Guard soldiers be needed to protect national monuments, the Washington Monument, and federal buildings? This is absolutely preposterous and offensive.

And no matter what your political leanings are, if you live in Louisiana or one of the other states where National Guard troops are being sent to D.C., you should be offended and insulted. Let me just go through a couple of these things. Crime, this notion that the D.C. crime is so bad that we need to send Louisiana troops there. The homicide rate is higher in New Orleans than it is in Washington, D.C., the homicide rate is higher in Baton Rouge than it is in Washington, D.C. The homicide rate is higher in Shreveport than it is in Washington, D.C. If we were concerned, as Jeff Landry said, by the need for more safety and peace in our cities and we really needed military troops in the streets to help with that, which I'm quite suspect it will do, then send him to Shreveport, get Mike Johnson to sign off on it.

That's his district. Send Louisiana National Guard troops up to Shreveport and start roaming those streets or, you know, send them around Tiger Stadium. Go Tigers to. protect people tailgating this fall. Like, it is absurd to think that Louisiana National Guard troops who are going to be unarmed will do better, will do more for safety and security standing outside the Georgetown Cupcake and outside Union Station and outside the Lincoln Memorial than they would do standing guard outside similarly important monuments and buildings and areas that we prize right here in Louisiana. It's absurd and it should be laughed out of the room as a suggestion that we should spend our resources and our manpower protecting, you know,

DuPont Circle. Great. Insane. Insane. Also, while we were talking to crime, I just would like to throw this out as you're trying to think about, well, if you're the governor of the state of Louisiana, you're trying to figure out where to prioritize your resources when it comes to crime prevention. Some of you outside the state might not know this. The Orleans Justice Center had the largest jailbreak in America in a century just a couple months ago. Ten people, murderers, violent criminals got out of our prison. There were no National Guard troops guarding that prison.

One of the two main orchestrators of that, Derek Groves, is still on the lamb. So the guy that organized One of the largest jail breaks In American history Right here in Louisiana Is out there somewhere And we're using our resources Of restoring safety and peace and law and order

To guard M Street In Georgetown in Washington, D.C. instead Again, like this, It makes no sense. There's so many priorities here that, when it comes to crime and law and order, that Governor Landry should be focused on. Why? Would we waste resources or time or even a second thinking about protecting the national

mall? It's ridiculous. And obviously, the National Guard doesn't do, you know, search of jailbreak coordinators, right? It's not CSI, Louisiana National Guard. But like, there are things that the National Guard actually does that might be useful here in Louisiana. This is an ad by better help. These days, it feels like there's advice for everything. Cold plunges, gratitude journals, screen detoxes, but how do you know what actually works for you? With the internet and information overload about mental health and wellness, it can be a struggle to know what's true and what actions

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Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com slash bulwark takes. That's BetterHELP.com slash bulwark takes. How about let's start with this? Governor Jeff Landry himself announced earlier this year that he's placing the governor's office of Homeland Security and emergency preparedness under the Louisiana National Guard. So let's talk about Homeland Security. We had a terrorist attack in Louisiana this year.

Not in Washington. Not on 14th Street outside Le Diplomat. There was not a terrorist attack this year. There was one on Bourbon Street. Now, I'm not personally. I'm not for Louisiana National Guard troops guarding Bourbon Street. I prefer to live in a free country where we don't have. have, you know, dudes in military fatigues, you know, monitoring, public gathering places.

But if you're the kind of person who thinks we do need that, we need National Guard troops, we need other federal agents, and we need other, we need more police gathering in places of public interest that are subject to crime, that are subject to terrorist attacks, Well, why wouldn't you start on the place where we had a terrorist attack this year? Governors of Office Homeland Security wasn't really on the ball on that one when a guy killed 15 people on Bourbon Street because the bollards were removed allowing the car to get into an area that had been for, had been protecting pedestrians. Ballards were down because they were, you know, sent and shit up for the Super Bowl. So where was Jeff Landry on that?

Like the National Guard supposed to, by his own words, be focused on Homeland Security initiatives. We had a terrorist attack here this year. Why are we sending 135 National Guardsmen who ostensibly should be called into duty to help protect in those situations, across the country to sit outside Union Station

doing nothing. I mean, again, I think that these guys should be able to live their lives. National Guard is a volunteer time. It's not a full-time thing in most of these cases. But if we're going to have National Guardsmen sit outside somewhere, probably Bourbon Street. A better bet if they're Louisiana National Guardsmen.

There's another thing, Louisiana National Guard's works on. I mentioned emergency preparedness. The Louisiana National Guard provides critical support during hurricanes, assisting with search and rescue, distributing supplies, and providing security and other vital services. They work with local and state agencies and often collaborate with other National Guard units from across the nation utilizing the emergency management assistance compact EMAC. So, we're in hurricane season. I know that the head of FEMA did not realize that there was such a thing of it was a hurricane season. But you would think that Jeff Landry, who is from Louisiana,

would know about hurricane season. We're in hurricane season right now. The Louisiana National Guard provides critical support when hurricanes hit. There's an Atlantic hurricane that's developing right now. No imminent threat to the Gulf. But why would we send over 100 National Guardsmen across the country during hurricane season for totally uncritical duties you know

like what are they going to do exactly they're going to guard our monuments again maybe they should be at home helping prepare in case we have another big hurricane this year like that seems to be something that should be much higher in the priority of the governor of Louisiana

than worrying about whether they're dudes in fatigues roaming the national mall also I just want to reiterate people in the National Guard are real people with real jobs like they they work in other industries in Louisiana we're taking away from their businesses. We're taking them away from their families during back to school to send them to sit outside the Georgetown Cupcake. This is ridiculous. It is fucking offensive to the people that are volunteering to work in the National Guard to protect us and to be called into duty when there are actual emergencies like the terrorist attack that we had this year in January right here in Louisiana. And like in the fall out from hurricanes, which we will probably have to

deal with in the weeks and months ahead. Let them be with their families, let them work their day jobs if there's no actual imminent need for them to do anything else. Right. Like, again, if Mississippi had a major hurricane or a terrorist attack, sure, like send the National Guard in for Louisiana to help. You know, obviously everybody, you know, we want to help our neighbors. You care about people from other states. I'm not totally biopic about this. But sending people, to D.C. for show because Jeff Landry wants Daddy Trump to pat him on the head?

That is fucking offensive. That is offensive. Jeff Landry, you go to D.C. And put on fatigues and march around them all like a tough guy. I, send your family to D.C.

Why are you sending other like Louisianaans who are volunteering to serve the state in the country on a fecocta mission to advance your political career, which is going nowhere, by the way. I mean, you're the governor, so it's ending there. The whole thing is offensive.

And I feel like people are beaten down by what is happening out there. And it's just, you know, they roll their eyes at this sort of stuff and it's typical politics and all that. But like, this isn't typical politics. These are real people's lives that have been upended to go sit.

outside D.C. and be, you know, characters in this military stage play that Donald Trump and Jeff Landry are putting on. All right. And they're people that provide real value to Louisiana in their private lives, whether, you know, it be, you know, their contributions to the economy, whether it be their families, their churches, their schools, or communities are being taken away from that. And the other thing they do is they're here in case there are actual emergency. with our need to call in to help. And we've had plenty of those. So this, this, this is, this is, this is nasty business.

It is not based on any actual threat. It's not based on any actual need. If Donald Trump wants to dress up FBI agents and DEA agents and whatever and have them run around D.C., I'm against that too, but that's his problem. There's no reason that people from Louisiana and other states around the country should be sent to get involved in this because, you know, the governors of the states want to make their Orange Daddy happy. It's BS. It should speak out about it. If you live in Louisiana, if you live in one of the other states that they're sending their National Guard troops, write and call your governors and let them know that you're pissed because they need to hear about it.

subscribe to the feed much more to come today i'm i'm on one i'm up i'm back i'm in louisiana i'm in my hole and um i'm fired up so you got more videos to come stick around tell your friends go tigers we'll see you all soon