DeProgram with John Kiriakou and Ted Rall - Hegseth Only Wants Pretty Warfighters | DeProgram with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas

Episode Date: September 17, 2026

Conflict reporter/writer/cartoonist Ted Rall and political analyst Jamarl Thomas deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM ET.Today we discuss:• The Wall Street Journal reports that dapper Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth only wants attractive, masculine, troops who meet waist-to-height requirements and have “impeccable” grooming to attend his speeches. This comes after he encouraged troops to inject testosterone and Hegseth’s speech at Quantico Base, where he declared “no more beardos” or “fat generals.” A scantily-clad Hegseth likes to work out with ripped, buff, totally 100% straight soldiers on base.Hegseth, in Democratic crosshairs for investigations next year, ordered two US Air Force crewmen whose F-15E was shot down over Iran in April to take part in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” about their experience.• Trump set out to make it the 51st state. Instead, he has driven Canada into the arms of the European Union as an Associate Member, after antagonizing the Canadians for months, taunting the country’s prime minister and waging a relentless trade war. Trump threatened to respond with “serious tariffs” against Europe.MERCHANDISE: DeProgram.MySpreadShop.comLIVE ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@DeProgramShowLIVE ON RUMBLE: https://rumble.com/c/DeProgramShowhttps://x.com/tedrallhttps://x.com/JamarlThomas#tedrall #jamarlthomas #news #politics

Good morning. This is D-Program for Thursday, September 17th, 2026. D-Program with Ted Roll and Jamarlem. Thomas. Good morning, J.T. How are you? Good morning. How are you doing, Ted? I'm pretty good. So let me start out today's show with a story. So I had this friend who I've known since third grade in Kettering, Ohio. She was always a very, like, let's just say very masculine girl. We go way back. We're still friends. and she calls me one time from college. And she went to Ohio State. I went to Columbia. We talked to each other regularly every few days.

And she calls me and she said, Ted, I have something very serious to confide to you. And I was like, oh, God, is she suicidal or what's, you know, what's going on? And she's like, I'm like, spit it out. And she goes, I'm gay. And I'm like, Kim, everyone knows you're gay. I mean, I've always known you. gay and she's like you did and I go yeah she goes since when I go I don't know probably since

seventh grade and she goes well why did you tell me she really yeah she didn't know she didn't really know and she kind of probably would have appreciated it if I'd said hey by the way you you know you probably might try girls um I mean I mean it's kind of like if there's ever been a lesbian she was one right yeah and and so I was thinking this story came to mind this morning when I was reading about Pete Hague Seth. Pete Hague says, according to the Wall Street Journal in an exclusively reported piece, that he's a very dapper man, that he only wants very masculine, very attractive troops who meet strict weight to heist ratios and have impeccable grooming, that's a quote, to be at his speeches going forward.

Now, let's not forget, this is the same secretary of war who said that he wants troops to inject testosterone at government expense. He says we need to have, you know, very, very masculine guys. And also, he said that he wants no more beardos or fat generals. And don't forget, he likes to strip down to shirtless and work out with the troops when he visits. and you see him do this with totally ripped, very buff, totally 100% straight soldiers. So you can see why I was reminded of my friend. So it's like Pete, listen, part of me is angry at you because it's like this is a homophobic administration. I mean, they literally, you know, they kick trans people out of the military.

they are always talking about how gay people shouldn't be in the military and like, okay, but you're one. And like this is one of those things like my friend who I mentioned, she was also really homophobic too. Like that's how I kind of, it's a real phenomenon. Like it's a very Roy Cohn thing. She was like, oh, I think our English teacher is gay. I think she's gay.

And I was like, so what if she is? And she was like obsessed with it. And like it's actually a very common. kind of, you know, closeted role. Before you come out of the closet, if you come out of the closet, you start out being, like, obsessed with the gays and, you know, blah, blah, blah. And I guess it's curiosity. And it's also self-hatred.

And, you know, you're going up against societal, you know, strictures and norms and stuff. So, I mean, it's not uncommon. And I'm just like, Pete, if anyone's ever been gay, it's huge. And frankly, it's okay. Just come out as gay. You know, this whole thing like, oh, I have a wife and kids. It's like embarrassing.

Their beard. It's a beard. It's a revolutionary road situation. It's like totally like, look, live your best life, life. I'm really being serious here. I mean, life is short, Pete Hanks off. And like, you know, really truly, if you need to be with dudes, you should be with dudes.

And Lord knows you're surrounded by dudes. It's not like, look, you don't go into the military because you're trying to get, like, opposite sex tail. That's like, there is none, right? Like, you only, if you had a girlfriend, you'd only get to see her when you're on leave. Right. It's the wide stance thing. Yeah.

This is wide stance. And, you know, the guy in the stall, he says, I just have a wide stance. I wasn't trying to touch foot with the other guy so I can have sex with him in the case. Larry Craig. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, so, I mean, it's like a, so I'm just.

like, so I just thought of my friend. I was like, you know, it's kind of like, dude, it's like all the signs and all the, all the lights are blinking bright red or, or, you know, and and yellow and green and all the colors are the rainbow flag. And that's okay, Pete. I mean, seriously, like, he only wants attractive, cute, buff, pretty soldiers near him. And that's okay, you know, but like, but then don't discriminate against gay people or trans people. Like, like, Like stop that because it's wrong. I mean, it's wrong anyway, but it's also really wrong because you're a hypocrite, right? Yeah, he's going to stop putting regulations like men have to shade their chest and their legs.

It's like, what does this have to do with the military? It's like, arm hair must be trimmed to X amount. It's like, okay, dude. Our war fighters will move more quickly in battle. Right. Without that with that, with that if they're not smooth. It's like, pelvic area must be shaped. It's like, come on, man, cut this out.

This doesn't need to be military regulation. Yes, it does. Right. And I personally, Pekhas. Also, no more death metal in the tanks, only Broadway musical soundtracks. Right. Lassum and Nellie must be on the wall. Joan Crawford posters on the wall at the barracks.

Right. I mean, it's like, by the way, this could be, I mean, seriously, if he, openly gayifies the military. I mean, it would actually be good for society if you were to do that. But, I mean, first of all, I mean, the bases are going to be seriously, like, they're going to be pimped out. They're going to look great. You know, everything's going to be West Elm, at least. You know, I mean, it's going to be mid-century modern in like all the military bases. Everything's going to look great. That's like a military on the planet. The planes are going to look great. The planes are going to look great. You know, the paint jobs are going to be awesome.

While I accept that, I even had a friend that was that way, right? Where she was married, kids, and then at some point she started like experimenting. Sure. And she ends up leaving her husband. Just a chaos, like up until the point where she reoriented her life. And I would imagine she's happier because of it. Well, of course. I mean, obviously, like, you know, being true to yourself is really important in life.

I mean, I mean, even politically, you know, I mean, I look back and I'm like thinking, well, when I was active in Democratic Party politics as a young man in my 20s, I look back and I'm like, you know, I don't even really know whether I was just doing that because I thought I was supposed to. And I was denying the fact that, you know, I was a commie or not. But I'm certainly, I don't know. But I'm happier now that I can just say, like, I'm a commie. And like, that's who I am. I'm true to my. It's better to be true to yourself, really. I mean, it's a cliche for a reason.

The other part to this that is, I think, even more disturbing thing, except not just owning his truth. Is this idea of style over. reality. And this is a hallmark of the Trump administration all the way through. And, you know, but I end up falling asleep last night. And I think I left Lawrence O'Donnell one. Like he was just kind of, it was as the videos was scrolling. And he hit this thing on, how did it? How did he hit it? It was a news story that it hit. But I guess the main point is Donald Trump and all of his lackeys, as they're being called, I think Cory Booker calls somebody a lackey. This was the bestiality

comment with the guy after that Cory Booker comes in, it just loses his shit. It's going after and calling all these people lackeys. But the point that is being made, though, is like, it's coming from the top. Like Donald Trump's entire thing. Look at Trump Tower. Look at the gold. Look at the fashion. And yet, it was only his name on it. It wasn't even his properties, right? And even the glamour of Trump. He's like six bankruptcies. Right. He's failure all the way through his life. He's been given a golden spoon in his mouth and just ran with. It wasn't like he did anything in and of itself to make Donald Trump. Trump.

His family was Trump, even when it was like in Germany. And I think the same thing is true for Hex-F. I think Hex-F is that same energy that just falls straight down where it's not just, well, I need war fighters to go and be able to kill people. I need lethal fighters, right? I need to make them pretty. They need to show off their chests. They need to have hairless chests.

Their legs need to be shaved. They need to be, you know, buff. They can't be fat. They need to be, like, all of this stuff is optics. You're losing a war, dude. Right. Like your war fighters are losing war. Yeah.

And, you know, I mean, I would encourage Secretary Hengseth to look at photos of the American troops who won our most successful wars, right? With World War II, the young boys who, landed at Omaha Beach, right? I mean, they weren't pretty, okay? And certainly not by the time that, you know, they were in that shithole, you know. And so those guys, they really needed to, I mean, but they didn't need to be pretty. And like now you really don't need to be pretty because we're not fighting troops, you know,

we're not fighting wars with ground troops. And I guess there's no need for our troops to cause the local ladies and some of the local men to swoon when they arrived. I mean, it's kind of like, I mean, I think it's, I do think professionalism is good. I've always thought that, you know, our uniforms look like shit, for example. They're slovenly and like slumpy. And, I mean, so maybe that's my gay side talking. But, but I mean, it's not important. I mean, for the most part, to quote starship troopers, like, you know, who needs to learn how to throw knives in the middle of a nuke fight, right?

I mean, it's like this is a, I mean, this is a push button war. It's about drones. It's about radar. It's about, you know, aerial bombardment. It's not about, I mean, none of this shit matter. It doesn't matter if our generals are fat. What matters is there, are they fat in their brains, you know, if you're just talking about efficacy. I have a question for the two of you, and y'all are both very smart. But do we look pretty groomed, handsome? Well, incredibly so. And so what I wonder is, are we short-changing pHs? Have either one of you ever read the strategy geek on by Maurice, the Roman Emperor Maurice? No, I know what it is. I'm a short-changing peg-sef.

I just want to make sure you ask that for. Well, the reason I bring this up is because I think that maybe he's intellectual, because one of the things that the emperor Maurice talked about in his thesis was your frontline troops, especially your scouts should be masculine, they should be handsome, they should be courageous. And the reason is that way if they're captured, they'll be less likely be abused by the enemy because they're going to be looking. Or they might be abused in certain ways. Is that what he really thought that it is in his book?

Because it's like if you're in the front, especially if you're a scout, you should be handsome. You should be physically fit. You should know, you should be competent. You should be intelligent. And the reason about man doesn't get abused by the enemy. Because you, because you had impressed them just by your master. glenure or it's just like you got me yeah okay you don't hear i know what you're gonna do at all i don't think haggseth has read that and i don't think that's his theory i mean i think it's all i think

i'm on team i'm on team jt here i think it's optics hey Seth is a idiot look at the glamour oh i have the greatest white house in a history of white house the greatest crowds in a history of the american the american flag pocket protector i mean you yeah it's just it's it's his thing So the war is like, I'm going to name this the straight of America. Really? And then you put out these stupid videos of him putting like Lake Ontario and he put Lake America on top of it and start dancing.

It's like this is nonsense. You're losing a war. But these are all optics. This is who he is. And I think it's falling to the military. We want Superman. You know, we don't just want soldiers. Look, I mean,

you want the military Superman apart. Nazism had a very strong homoerotic component. to it also. You can just look at those posters of like the, or look at, you know, Olympiad, right, the Lenny Reefinstall film of the 1936 Berlin Olympics. I mean, it's, it's worshipping the, the human form, but particularly the young male form. She was obsessed with that. I mean, Nazi aesthetics were obsessed with that. Not to say that communists weren't into that shit, too, but like broad-chested Soviet workers moving boldly towards socialism.

But it's at a different level with far, far, far, far-right politics. Also in Germany, you have a minority, which is always a little off-putting to Americans. At least it was off-putting to me. Yeah. It's not bad. It's not right or wrong.

Oh, I'm all for it. It's just not the culture we live in. Yeah, exactly. I think it really the most damning indictment. I've been fighting with crappy Internet now for two days. And the issue is... Maybe if you were better dressed

and if you were captured by the internet, you'd be better treated if you fell into their clutches. Well, we are captured by the internet because we depend on the algorithm for our living. So they already own us. It doesn't matter how handsome you are.

Did you guys see, by the way, some meme that's going around the internet? How much would you have to be paid to give up this and that? Like, would you take $5 million to never go on vacation the rest of your life? Would you go? So would you pay 10, would you take $10 million to never be on the internet?

And I was like, this list is really easy, like the internet. I'd give that up in a second because my life wouldn't change. Does how you talk to me, G.G? I wouldn't give it up. In fact, I would tell you, when I first went on, when I first saw traveling and I was going for a long time, I ended up in, I was in Egypt, and I ended up in Daha up. And when I realized there was no internet service in Daha, I was like, I got to go. Like, it screwed with me.

It felt like I was had, it was almost like there was this invisible line going back to the U.S. That immediately was clipped the moment that it landed in the place. Well, that's because the internet is now the phone, right? And it's also radio and TV. But if you still had that infrastructure that the internet got rid of and disrupted, you wouldn't care as much. I don't know. But the thing that pisses me off is no, we're able to spend millions of dollars on war. We're able to spend millions of dollars on locking people into ice camps, which I know is going to surprise people because of my anti-immigration stance.

But we have, but we have no money at all to actually improve the infrastructure people need to live and work and be effective with what is that they're trying to do. Well, including the, it's completely, well, of course, I mean, that's all part of it. I mean, the telecommunications infrastructure, the roads, the bridges, the trains, air traffic control. How about airplanes that aren't 60 years old? There are things that this country really needs. And heck just is like, and it's for the record, I don't think the man has ever read the strategy econ. I'm not sure you can read.

But the point that I'm trying to make is, is that every administration, regardless if it's a Republican or a Democrat, the American, the American citizen always. always loses. There's never anything for us, not even the crumbs. $2.8 billion in bombs heading off to Israel, just the latest. Yep. I mean, that's the part that, I mean, I don't know why the populist movement left, right, together, separate. Why they can't get the American people to focus on that? Like, you know, like, okay, so whatever you think about, let's say Israel,

let's say you're on team Zionism, still, you know, fighting their wars it should be their expense. That should be on them, right? And like, that shouldn't be our business. And even if we're like, even if we're like, go team, go genocide. Yeah, but if there's a science. Go do that.

Go do that yourself, right? Leave us a liar. They're not going to think that. I mean, the entire point of Zionism is Israel comes first. Oh, yeah. I don't believe there's such a thing as an American patriot and a Zionist is one thing. I don't think those things can exist. No, they can't.

Yeah, I mean, they're, it's Israel overall a very clear point of wanting Israel first, and which means if the United States has fight its wars for it, because Israel is calling his squatters, what, nine million people, then the U.S. does. So I don't think they can call it tight. I mean, the guy who's walking through the Congress with an Israeli uniform on, that guy's a traitor. Let's be very clear. Yeah, Brian Masks for sure. I mean, he, yeah, he should, he should only have been jumped out of Congress. He should have been executed. I don't know what. Jesus Christ. Executed for what, Robbie? Where's the treason? Because I'm using J.C.'s words. Treason is the only offense in the U.S. Constitution that is punishable by death.

And so if you wear the uniform of another country as an elected representative to the Congress, to the people's house, you are sending a strong and Ted Cruz is in the same list. He said I was elected to represent Israel. Not the American people, not the state of Texas, Breitmas is the same exact

freaking thing. I'm sorry, if you go to the American Congress and your objective is to serve the interests of a foreign power. Illinois has foreign power, but that's not doesn't come under the definition of treason. though, right? The definition of treason is trying to overthrow the government, wage war against your

own country, give material help, aid, or comfort to your enemy. Material is the keyword, not symbolic, or spying. So question, so question, Ted. How many Americans, how many, how many Americans says Israel killed? Material means something tangible. Hold on. How many, how many Americans says Israel killed? How many Americans has Israel killed since the six-day war? Easily over 100,000. I submit to you that the United States is a war with Israel and we don't even realize it. And these people are paid whores. They actively shoot Americans in the head.

They bombed an American ship. They persecute American citizens every single freaking day. But yet we have people who are paid for. by the Israeli government wearing Israeli memorabilia in the form of a little lapel pen. In case of Brian Mast, the glove comes completely off, he's wearing an IDF uniform. Yeah. The man is a turd. The man is a turd, okay?

He's a traitor. He's a high turd. I just don't know if it crosses the line into treason. What would your grandfather had done to someone if they wore a German uniform into the French? I think a traitor. Treason is legal. It's the same thing. No, it's not.

It's a legal term. Explain it to me like I'm dumb. Because to me, in my dumb middle mind, traitor and treason is the same thing. You can't be a traitor without being treasonous. Well, he's not a traitor. He's a, he's a, he's a, he's disloyal to the United States. He's disloyal. Okay, fair enough.

I would say. That's more precise. Fair enough. So, I mean, he's like certainly in, he's in the neighborhood of treason. He's hanging out with treason. I don't know if he like goes to bed with treason or gets tree or fucks treason. But he's definitely treason adjacent, right? Does, does treason pay him?

Does treason maybe help him go on a nice vacation? Maybe give him some kind of a sweet little honey pot that he's able to go to it and rub his bald. Yeah, but that rate, anybody who's ever, you know, been a, you know, like at that rate, Hunter Biden is a traitor because he, you know, he had his no show job with Burisma. You know, he's not a traitor. He was a passing law. He's a jackhouse. He wasn't passing laws.

These two men are passing laws to the dushment of the American people for the benefit of a foreign power. That's what says material. That's material. Meaning if I am wearing an Israeli unit. I guess that's true. If he ever voted on anything concerning Israel, that would be. I agree with that.

Yeah, that's true. You're right. In the oath, I will serve the Constitution. I would enforce laws, blah, blah, blah, blah. But the key point to that is I will serve the Constitution. it's I will serve the Constitution, I will enemies foreign and domestic. It's like the famous oath that all of these guys have to take.

You're wearing an Israeli uniform, too. Right? And talk about conflict of interest. You're voting on your voting funds for Israel. Against our interests, I would argue. And for Israeli interests. Meaning at a certain point, it's like, okay, who are you doing this for?

And if it's not for us, is that not? Yeah, I think that, I think that a better, a better optic for a disloyal person would be, remember of Nancy Pelosi when the Z-Man was addressing Congress and they unfurled that Ukrainian flag? That was disloyal. That's not treason. That's the difference. One is, we love you, Zelensky.

Here, here's your flag. Thank you for, thank you for this wonderful gift from your Nazis that Hegg Seth would just absolutely love. That's disloyal. But they were passing laws the way. Well, they would argue that because we're allied with Ukraine, that's not disloyalty. And see, they were arguing they're allied with Hitchroll. And so the fact that they were. Exactly.

I guess my issue with it is. I mean, was it disloyal for the United States to, I don't know, send, you know, as part of the allies in World War II to send money to the free French? No. I mean, because they're allies. Well, of course not because you're at war with Germany. But, I mean, the point is, is, no, de Gaul did not have a lobby. of congressmen locked up. Actually, he had some, he had some lobby.

There were pro, there were pro pre-free French, free. But nothing along the lines of APEC. And also they have the governor of Texas and a bunch of other states saying that if, if you do not swear an oath to support Israel, then you cannot have any government contracts. Sorry, Ted. DeGall did not have that level of support. Well, you didn't have that.

Yeah, not for lack of trying. But yes, no, he did not. Well, back then, back then the United States is a real country. Now we're not. No, we're a colony. Jackson says. Ted, we should just, we should just Puerto Rico.

We should just what? We should make Puerto Rico the next state. Since it's run by the U.S., what are your thoughts, J.T. and Robbie. It's up to the people of Puerto Rico, as far as I'm concerned. Yeah. I don't know if the U.S. wants to make the mistake. I don't think they do want.

They're like a colony, so, I mean, an argument could be made that there should be made to state. But there are differences between a colony and a state. Yeah, have you been? I have. I have. Yeah, Puerto Rico is gorgeous. It is gorgeous. And it's definitely, like you can tell, it's like, okay, yeah, you can spend U.S. dollars and mail letters with U.S. stamps, but it's a colony. It's like a state of the infrastructure is pathetic, you know, even by American standards. Yeah. And we don't want to invest and put money into and have laws around and provide health care for and blah, blah. But didn't they, did the Puerto Ricans have a plebiscite and didn't they turn it down?

I don't know, to be honest. I don't. I think so. Because it became an issue at one point. I mean, it was an issue more than one point. Yeah. But I mean, it was stolen. It should be returned to Spain, really.

I guess, well, I don't know if it should be returned to Spain. Oh, okay. So I guess. There has been a number of referenda in the past. At least six that I can see. Most recently, 57 to 58 percent voted for statehood. Yes, that's what I thought. Okay.

So I guess they would vote for statehood. Yeah, they would prefer it. I mean, think of, like, we have presidential election. Their vote doesn't matter. We're ruling over them, but their vote doesn't matter. How does that work? They're a colony, right? But I guess my thing is if you're Puerto Rico, you may want to be able to influence the presidential election also.

And maybe when there's a hurricane, you'll get more than a roll of paper towels thrown at you. Exactly. Exactly. But I don't think the U.S. Why would they want the federal taxes, though? Because that's one big advantage that do have. Like, they'll have to pay all those federal taxes. Well, they've never made returns of being part of a country either. No.

I mean, obviously they voted for it. They're not stupid people. They know what's involved. You know, they just decided they think it's worth paying the taxes to get what's in return, which is, you know, for example, decent, half decent infrastructure, which really, Robbie, they don't have. Well, where in the United States has decent infrastructure, Ted? You have to go to Puerto Rico.

Then you'll see. I mean, seriously. I've never been there. I don't know. It's kind of ridiculous. I have been to a crap ton of small towns. I live in one and things are falling apart. So if waving the infrastructure carrot, I mean,

everything is, look, again, I will quote my Russian friends, everything that sucks can always get worse. That's true. And so there's always worse. Have we ever rebuilt the Francis Scott Keybridge in Baltimore? Is it still in the river? There's a word. Yeah, you drive around it now, right?

Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, they haven't built it. The best infrastructure America can buy. My favorite example of that kind of American lack of daring due was after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. And like, you know, all those highways buckled in Oakland, part of the Bay Bridge collapsed. And the Embarcadero Freeway along the northern coast of San Francisco along the Bay, it collapsed, right? And so it was going to cost a lot of money to rebuild.

And basically, they didn't have the money. It was during a recession. This was before the dot-com thing. So they were like, they're dithering and dithering. And finally, their workaround was, you know, we've always wanted access to the water. So they just didn't rebuild it. And, I mean, it's true. You do have access to the water now instead of having this highway blocking the view.

And maybe it's better. But the point is they didn't really make that decision because they, you know, they suddenly wanted waterfront access and beachfront, you know, restaurants. They did it because they were fucking too, they didn't have the money for it. And so now there's no replacement highway there. And, you know, it's like, you know, if you're trying to get from the peninsula

through San Francisco up to Marin County, it's kind of a nightmare. You get dumped on local roads to do it. It's something wrong with that. Like, when, how can I say this? If you have a political system or let's say an economic political system that can't,

marshal the resources necessary to do things that are necessary. There's something wrong with that. Like if it's always built to, well, I need to make a profit. Otherwise, this can't happen. Okay. I can think a lot of things aren't profitable. It should happen.

I don't want homeless people in Greece, for example. I want people to have health care, for example. There are certain things. There's just societal. There's infrastructure shit. Like, for example, there's this longstanding tunnel project that's supposed to go under New York Harbor that's supposed to connect Long Island

to. New Jersey, right? Ironically, there used to be a tunnel there. There was a tunnel there a hundred years ago, but it like fell into disrepair. And like, you know, basically Trump's been like, you know, using, you know, fucking around and playing games with the funding. And so they're not sure whether it'll ever get down or not. But that's an example of like, I was reading, I mean, it's kind of like, it's ridiculous. I was reading about the construction of the Moscow and the St. Petersburg Subways, right? The metros. And Stalin basically was like, there is no budget. It just needs to be built, built, make it nice. And like, that's basically certain things. It's like, it just needs to happen.

Just just do it, right? Well, I mean, for all the crap that people talk about China, you build infrastructure and they do it well. I mean, like, meaning some of those cities are just mind-blowing. Totally. Yeah, no. I mean, it's funny. too because they get made fun of by the right, like, oh, these are make work projects. And I'm like, no. They are. Some of them. And there's nothing.

By the way, what's wrong with that? Yeah, that's a good thing. People are working. You're building stuff that ideally you need. Okay. Matthew, I'm going to let Robbie come in and respond to this. Please stop letting Robbie talk. I feel dumber each time his mouth opens.

I have I have succeeded in making you Dumber I'm glad I was able to help you Go get yourself some coffee It will help you Speaking of coffee Oh yeah We will be having an affiliate

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Just remember Otto Scorzini, the number one hitman for the SS, went to Israel to teach the IDF, all the Nazi journey tricks in 1948. That's true. Oh my God, I've been reading up so much shit about, by the way, okay, so before 1948, according to Ben Moser's book, there were over 100,000 Jews living in Baghdad.

The Israelis really wanted, they needed Jews because they were fighting a demographic war and they're starting this new nation. So among the many other dastardly tricks they did, they had Mossad agents or proto-Masad agents blow up synagogues and other Jewish businesses in Baghdad to make the Jewish population. of Baghdad think that the Arabs were driving them out and terrorized them into leaving. And then they ultimately fled to Israel, where, wait for it, they were put in internment camps. Imagine the irony of Jews putting other Jews behind barbed wire three years after the end of World War II. And they were then sent off to do the shittiest worst jobs because they were considered

by the Zionists is to be Arab Jews, which is not a term that exists anymore. Wow. But Arab Jews were basically second class, third class citizens, and they were sent to do like the shittiest jobs, and they were abused and treated like shit by the Zionists. Which is insane because those were Semitic people. I mean, the Jewish population has been in what was then Babylon for 2,600 years, not some red-headed freak from Poland. The Iraq, and the, and the Iraqi, and the thing is, they were having all,

over the Muslim world, right? Like Jews were living in big numbers, peacefully. No must, no fuss, no problems. And so it was just this whole like, but we've got a, the Zionist project was we have to, you know, we have to put an end to that. Didn't that also happen in Morocco? I'm pretty sure it did. Yeah. Yeah. And it's all come out. I mean, the thing is that like it was suspected for a long time, but the Israeli archives have come loose over the years, and that's been revealed by historians. There's a whole movement called the new historians. John D. Cackefeller, I love this quote.

We are all dogs locked in God's hot car. That's a T-shirt. It's a total t-shirt. What is it? We are all dogs. We are all dogs locked in God's hot car. I mean, so when I was in high school, My friend and I, we were drunk, and we were driving around downtown Dayton, and there was a closed sun oil company station.

That's how old the station was. And it's Sonoco. And I spray-painted society is a carnivorous flower on the side of the Sonoco station. And it became kind of like famous local graffiti. And there was even a movement not to destroy it when they came to demolish the people loved it. And I was like, I was just drunk one night. I like this better. I think this is totally great.

That's your first artwork? Oh, not my first. I'd been doing it. But I'd already had cartoons published in the paper, but I love we are all dogs locked in God's odd car. Yeah, I love that one. Okay, P.W. Walker, USA blows up bridge. Iran fixes in a few months. USA has bridge collapsed.

Can't do shit for 10 years. By the way, I know you're on Team Hootie, so am I. Did you hear what the Houthis said yesterday about the East-West pipeline across Saudi Arabia? No. They said, oh, we're not going to attack that right now. What we're doing is we're waiting for them to fix it. And as soon as they fix it, we'll attack it again. Yeah.

Which, by the way, makes perfect sense, right? It does. There's no point attacking it now. It's out of commission. Which is the point. By the way, the satellite footage of that facility is like, holy shit. It looks like it was hit at three different points. Yeah.

Which is why people are saying, did Ansera actually do that? God, the Houthis are my heroes. Honest to God, they're like an AK-47 packing chihuahua who gives zero cares in this life at all, high on meth and just want someone to bite. I mean, that's a hoothy. I love them. It's just like, I see you, you're bigger, you have a bigger house, your dog house tonight. I'm going to crap on your couch. I'm going to eat holes in your

in your, I'm going to eat all your clothes. I'm going to chew on your pillow. I'm going to piss over your rug. That's the hoothies. I love them. God, I love the hooties. They are the Arab Rednecks. I fit right in.

I mean, Robert, so, I mean, he reminds me, they kind of remind me of the Chechens, like Robert Kagan, who the neocon, but he's also a pretty good historian, despite being a neocon. He did this book on warfare. And he was like one of the only peoples on the earth who've never really been successfully dominated is the Chechens. It's like not for any length of time.

He's like, there's just too fucking ferocious. They just like fighting and they like fighting and killing and dying too much. Did you ever read Stalingrad by, what is this, Bieber, Bieber? I did. Yeah. There's a part in that book. I think he even opens it. where he points out, he says, the soldiers that were on the East are different than Western

soldiers. And he basically was trying to make this point of saying, like, this idea of them, this idea of giving corner to the enemy just didn't exist. And that Western soldiers will fight up to a point and then raise their hands because the amount of fighting that they did is commensurate what they think is their responsibility to the state. And that that didn't exist. Right. That explains the Japanese in World War II. Yeah. It was like they just, they didn't think of it in those terms. It wasn't, okay, I'm fighting up to a point and then, okay, you can take me in.

It's, I'm fighting to death. Right. Which, and by the way, they didn't take of the USS Abraham Lincoln. Like, it's like, oh my God, I can't get my food, man. I can't get a cappuccino. Right. Now, when you see the way that American troops are outfitted, as I have seen at a couple of bases, including Bagram in Afghanistan during the U.S. occupation.

It's like, oh, you guys, speaking of, I mean, it almost makes me climb into bed with cute Pete Hegseth. I mean, it's like, I mean, it's ridiculous. They had like Starbucks and like Citibank ATM machine. I mean, it's like they're, I mean, I'm not saying it needs to be needlessly harsh, but it's kind of like you ever watch or read Black Hawk down? I mean, these guys are pinned down in battle in the mean streets of Mogadishu and they're like we're thirsty and like we need water and so then like a you know a chopper comes by and like drops them like a palette of of like water from Costco I'm like what if you had to really fight a war what would you do then I don't know you couldn't you couldn't win my uncle I think I think a point is it feels like

it's like it's a war right it's not a little rule America. And as you point out, it's, I don't want to be a dick. It's not like we're trying to say, hey, this should be difficult. But this feels lush. And it feels, I know what it is. It feels like, it feels very soft in comparison to chaos that they're causing. It's like, okay, you're, you've just murdered a bunch of kids. Maybe I don't want you to have Starbucks. Right. My uncle, he's a Gordo Canal, you know, during the campaign. Like he was there to help defend Harris. I feel like he was there for like, seven, like eight months. He was actually pro-harbour when he got bombed.

He's up Fort Island, thumb potatoes at zeros. It was a wild story. Because he couldn't get guns because all the lockers are locked up. But so the Japanese would come, like he was at Icchi-I-Chi charge, at the very first bonsai charge of the war. He said that these, and he called him fanatics. He said they were charge out against machine gun fires, just mowing them down.

And they were throwing green firecrackers saying, GI die tonight. GI die tonight. You're just getting slaughtered. I guess that's the difference, between the mentality of the U.S. military now versus then. Now it's just, you know, back then, you're, you know, you're in the dirt, you're in the jungle,

you're someplace that you do not want to be, but you had a reason to be there. In the trenches in Western Europe and World War I. Yeah, but you got a reason to be there. Now, why are we there in the first place? And about Mogadishu, here's a question. Well, that's why we keep losing, because we don't need to win.

We don't have to win. No, the Houthis have to win. The Iranians have to win. Oh, of course. This is just a side project for us. But like, no, for example, you mentioned Black Hawk Down. What would have happened if that had been a Russian plane? Do you think that the Russians would have gave two shits about how many Somalis they killed

or would they have deleted Mogadishu to save their men? I think the current war? The current war that they're waging. Well, it's a different. It's a different Russia now. But I mean, they did level Grozny, right? I mean, that's my point. No, when Putin first came into power, also, I think, I think,

think that part of the reason why Putin's thinking about being so gentle with Ukraine is that he thinks that this is more of a civil war. This is no more of a no, no, my people against your people. He would not have that kind of solidarity against the native population of Mogadishu. So if it was a Russian, like I said, if it was a Russian shopper went down and they sodomized the Russian soldier and jumping down the streets and yet survivors hell up in a building, do you think that Putin would have unleashed to dogs and turn Mogadishan to a crater to save his men. Maybe not to save his men, but like if he felt like it was needed to crush his opposition, maybe. I mean, certainly he's willing to do things to save his men, but he's not willing to.

It's not quite the American thing where we, you know, we'll go back for the dead bodies and risk making more dead bodies, which I think is ridiculous. If I was a soldier, I would tell my, I would ask my comrades, please do not come back for my dead corpse if it entails any risk whatsoever. You know, please do not. It's not worth it. I'm not, my dead corpse isn't worth anything at all, you know. Family it is. It's a, it's symbolic.

It's stupid. It's like there's my, I have a great. uncle who's at the bottom in a submarine at the bottom of the English Channel. And every now and then there's like from the evacuation at Dunkirk. And there's people in France who are like, oh, we should like raise that submarine and give those sailors a proper burial. They've had a proper burial. They're buried now at the bottom of the English Channel.

It's fine. Like we shouldn't be spending a single franc to go and get them. Okay. It's like stupid. It's like this, you know, it's just, it's like, it's so like. whatever. No, I get it, but I get it.

There are some people who put value once. Oh, no, I understand. But it's not worth a human life. I just think it's dumb. I mean, it's like I was, there was some lady during the 9-11, you know,

festivities last week, who was, who was talking, she was a, she worked for the coroner's office. And I don't want to belittle her experience because it sounds horrific. But she had to meet with the families, and she said she had like a picture of like basically a Xerox copy of a skeleton.

And she would draw on the skeleton for the family members. So we have this part and we have this part of your loved one. And, you know, do you want us to wait until we have more? I'm like, it's gristle. It's protoplasm. It's not your person. It's that you look. That person's gone.

This is just by, it's biomass. You know, and it's like, I understand like the symbolism of it means something to you, I guess. But like where I lived in for years in the Hamptons, they have a highway, Route 114. It's also called Lost at Sea Memorial Pike. And it's because there's, you know, all the fishermen who drowned over the years, over the centuries there. And, you know, they had to bury empty caskets because there were, you know, they never found the body. They're, they're fish food. And it's like, that's good enough.

I mean, there's your symbolism. You know, they have a grave marker. We didn't find the body. Who cares? People determine their symbolism. Yeah, well. I mean, I get it. Like, meaning from an atheistic perspective, I get it.

Right? Because from that perspective, it's like, well, there is nothing else. There's only the physical body. When the physical body dies, that's the end of all thing. So just going, but your life, it doesn't really matter. It doesn't. It doesn't. Everybody looks at it, though.

I know. But they're mistaken. But the atheist argument and the Christian argument are basically the same argument just in two opposite sides. In the other case, it's... Christians would say the soul is not in that body, right? Right. But for me, that's the key point. There's nothing in the body either way.

That's that point. This should not even be a subject of dispute among religious and non-religious people. Well, Christianity doesn't have... No longer... Oh, go ahead, J.T. Sorry. Well, I was just saying the person who you knew, meaning the person who you used to talk to and go get food... with and go to whatever with, they're not there either way. Yeah.

So I get your point. It's like, what's the point in wasting all of this energy for the body? I got to be honest, though. Like, I have stuff that's symbolic. I have a Pac-Man machine sitting right here. And it's like, okay, well, why do you have a Pac-Man machine? My dad used to play Pac-Man. That's the way I remember him.

I don't really have a relationship with him. But I didn't necessarily in life. He was a deadbeat. But for all intents' purposes, that's kind of a thing. You can say, what is the point of it? But it is symbolic. Yeah, this is my mom's letter opener. Exactly.

I always keep it. And that's a letter opener as opposed to a body that house the thing to which people used to engage and interact with. I don't begrudge people for wanting the body back, I guess that's my point. Yeah, I don't either. And this is probably surprising people. I agree with both of you. I mean, there's nothing in Christianity that puts anything special on the body. There's nothing about cleansing the body or it doesn't matter how you're buried.

The ocean is the largest graveyard in world history. Right. And, you know, and it just doesn't matter. We came from the sea. It seems symbolically resonant, you know. Yeah. The sea will go for dead one day. It doesn't matter. I mean, really the only thing in the Christian tradition, in the Christian tradition,

least the Protestant, I don't know how it's the Catholics, is a lot of times Christian headphones will face east because we believe that when Christ appears, he appears in the east. and so a lot of times headstones will face eastward but there's nothing that says you have to do that there's nothing that says you've got to be buried a certain way okay let's bang through some comments

and we've got to get to Canada okay so I also want to McElmore okay all right let's do McElmore too so quick comments Daniel we also need to remember that among those 58% who voted for statehood are U.S. settlers who have moved

into Puerto Rico true but now they're Puerto Rican too right I mean they live there I love they call us yet settlers. I guess that's right. They are settlers. It's true. Settler Colonials.

Manchild, I think that a 51st state would really fuck with the American flag design, so we shouldn't do it. There have been mock-ups of what it would look like, and I think it would be fine. We can let it open the room. Yeah, we'll figure it out. Okay, Robbie thought you'd like this one. Let's not talk about this for length of the length of time. Rahm Emanuel during the first Gulf War served in the SARL for two weeks, a civilian volunteer program. He served in a maintenance role at a supply base.

So he was like Radar O'Reilly. Let's see. If you served with foreign military, you should not be allowed to serve in U.S. government. Agree. Soviet-Afghan War was low-key, one of the most brutal wars ever, says Daniel B.T.S. Okay, Jackson, thanks for the fiber. Ted, are the Muslim leaders' traitors as Islamic. law says you have to attack a country if they wrong you, even if not in your country, as

Gaza is a Muslim majority. Okay, first of all, I'm not an expert on that aspect of Muslim law, Islamic law. So I don't know. But I will say that morally, I do feel that we'd be living in a better and more fair world if the Muslim countries always had solidarity against the West and were to defend each other, whether it's across the Sunnis-Sia divide or not. Certainly, Gaza would not have been leveled if they had that kind of solidarity. So Islamic law or not,

you know, I wish that had happened. Yeah. Okay. Okay, McElmore, then we'll do Canada. I've been getting, I've been seeing a lot of coming out. Markhamore just came out and say, I'm putting up a million dollars, and I, you know, offer Kraft to effectively do the same.

And explain what the million dollars was for because I was just reading out. Well, it was like some kind of Palestinian organization, Palestinian relief or something to that effect. Because Kraft's letter had the opportunity to read part of his letter. And he is being very reasonable in the way that talks about it and so forth. But it's like, you got this guy pulled from your stadium and more to the point, got a bunch of other billionaires to get together to pull from the other stadium because he was on stage saying free Palestine he was on stage making the argument for it and by the way the crowd was cheering him on it wasn't like the crowd like we don't want you to say the crowd is is the de facto most pop it's the majority opinion in the united states across every demographic yes and it's not like ed Sharon didn't know that this was macamore schick right so it's not like ed Sharon didn't know that this was going to take place over the course of the stage. The issue was Robert Kraft coming in and effectively pulling his card and Ed Shearing effectively bowing to the fact that he's putting his card. The issue

in this is Kraft. Now, Maclemore. True. Maclemore is not the issue. Maclemore is not the issue. Maclemore A has the agreement of the crowd. And I would even suspect, I don't, I don't even know Ed Sherence's point of view on this. Ed Sherin made low key agree with Maclemore, which is why he might have led him on a tour in the first place. I would think. Or at least whether he agreed or disagreed, he certainly didn't hate McElmore's politics enough to not invite him on the tour.

Yeah, agree. And so it's just, I don't know, man, it's interesting. I mean, because part of the interest on this is the public is making a particular point of view, meaning the public is taking a clear point of view on this. and even the people that were in the bands and everything else, even his Ed Sherr's own band pulled off tour to put effectively pressure on these guys saying,

look, we reject your point of view. We reject the fact that you've effectively done this. And this tactic. This is only amplified. Well, the thing about Kraft is, I mean, look, Kraft has just illustrated the dry sand effect. I don't think very many people even knew this tour was going on before this controversy.

I hadn't given a second thought to McElmore. and now we're talking about it and thinking about it. And I never gave any thought to Robert Kraft being a Zionist. And now I'm, that will always be, that'll be something we're all aware of. So, you know, I mean, look, Kraft had every legal right to do what he did. It probably just wasn't a brilliant move. But, you know, maybe from his point of view, it's a, it, he, he's, he has integrity,

even though, you know, he has, he has its own internal logic working for him. I mean, you do, you, dude, although I don't think history is going to judge Zionists, it's very kindly. I mean, dude is calling attention to the fact that they've murdered tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of women and children. Not to mention, if you point out men. Like, he's calling attention to a genocide, is my point. And it's like, we're going to pull the tour because you're calling attention to genocide. If this was the Nazis. because people often

miss that point. Like if this was hey, I don't like the fact that you're murdering Jews and somebody pulls the guy from stage for saying that. Right. Really? I don't think it's right that Hitler's been murdering Jews like this. And it's like, no, we don't like you saying and we're going to pull you off stage.

You're being, yeah, that's anti-German. That's deutrophobic. Right. Nobody would say that, right? In hindsight, looking at it. And yet when they're looking at this is like... Or if they did, they would. look today ridiculous. Yes. Yeah. I agree with you. History would not judge him kindly for this. All right. Let's move on Canada. So the EU has now offered and Canada is poised to accept the first ever associate membership into the European Union. Now, I'm not an expert on geography,

but I don't think Canada's in Europe, maybe at all. But although, Part of Europe is in Canada, kind of, right? St. Pierre and Michelin, those two French tiny little islands off the coast of Nova Scotia that are French colonies. Japan's not in the North Atlantic yet here we are. That's true too. So, yeah, so Canada, Trump has driven Canada out of North America into the arms, the sweet arms of the Europeans. I don't blame the Canadians at all. This was completely Trump's fault.

And I've got to say as an American, I'm kind of ashamed that none of us have, like, protested about this in favor of Canada. We really should have been like, I'm not even kidding. We should have all been like, we are all Canadian. We should have had Canadian flags out in the streets. We should have been protesting. I mean, the Canadians are, have never done anything wrong to us. They've always been at our side.

They fought and died next to us in countless wars. They are, fuck the UK. They are our closest ally. And they're temperamentally the same as us. This is bullshit. And, you know, it's so fucking shameful. I mean, I wish Democrats would promise like a list of things that Trump did that they will immediately undo on January 20th, 209.

And I would put this one on that very first day. Like, apology to Canada, we'll make it all right. refund all the tariffs. We're sorry. Yeah, I agree with you. I agree with everything you just said. I mean, it's outrageous. Like, he is starting a war, just the start of war. And I don't mean war. I just mean in an economic sense with our closest ally. Canada would have never done anything like this. Never. I mean, and they're really, they're really hurt, right? I mean, you can tell when you talk to Canadians, right? They're shocked by the whole thing. They're like, what the F?

What did we do? Right. Right. It's like, what the hell? It's like we're basically, we're an ally. We are literally landlocked with you. Yeah. And out of the blue, for no particular reason, you are trying to take advantage of that. Making this shit on us. Yeah. It's like you're trying to explicitly show a power dynamic between us in a way that is humiliating for us. There's no way we can accept that. Why are you behaving this way? Yeah. And Trump is now threatening the EU. Yes, he is. saying like, oh, I'll impose, super mega tariffs. I have a question for y'all. And maybe I'm giving Trump too much credit here. Maybe he knows he cannot break the United States out of NATO any other way than by becoming an enemy of Europe.

Maybe that's why he's trying to do. Like, Congress has never passed a lot. Well, you could have done that with the Greenland thing. Well, maybe. Maybe. But I mean, but who cares about Greenland? I mean, this is. He does.

Well, if the goal is to get a Saturnado, meaning if this is five-dimensional chess, and he's trying to get a side of NATO, attacking cream, would have did it. It's not five-dimensional chest. That guy, every time anybody thinks that he's working some crazy angle, it always turns out not to be true. I think it's just retarded. You realize, right? This was the CBS article that came out that filled in so many things.

They said that Donald Trump gets briefings in, like, video. Like, basically, he gets, like, a minute video. of everything that's going on in the world that ultimately amounts to things blown up. You give us 60 seconds. We'll give you the world. Yeah. And people are like, we don't think he's getting the information on the things that are taking

place around the world. It's like, no shit. Like you're giving them videos. Like a minute long. It's like my father when he told me that Reagan insisted that every memo be limited to one page. That would be, that's like an opus compared to a one

minute presidential briefing for everything that's going on. I mean, I've seen presidential briefings from that FDR got in the archives. And they, it was one country per sheet. And like, I can imagine. I mean, like the wild part is they said, Donald Trump would say, I don't understand why nudist media is repeating things that are different than what I'm understanding this to be. Because you don't know shit. Yeah. And you don't, and you don't want to know shit. He has access to the greatest minds in the, I mean, literally, if Donald Trump called anyone, anyone, and just said like, hey, you know, can you come into the White House and brief me about, you know, let's say in my case, Central Asia, of course, Mr. President, it would be my pleasure. I mean, everybody would do that. I mean, any expert, it's just ridiculous. Guys, we're out of time, but we're one last comment. Thanks for the fiber from P.W. Walker.

Gavin Newsom had two interviews in Canada and wouldn't commit to undoing Trump's tariffs. Seriously. That's why Democrats suck. That's pathetic. Yeah, it's fucking sad. Yeah, I apologize on behalf of Gavin Newsom. But don't worry. I don't think he's going to be president anyway. The Rumble feed is not live, so I cannot raid to Rumble. Oh, the Rumble on TMI.

Yeah. Huh. All right. Well, we got to go. We're out of time. Have a good one. All right. You have a good one. So, y'all just come over to YouTube right now, and then I will work on this on the back end. And I'll see you guys.

And we'll see you two tomorrow morning, Friday at 9 a.m. Eastern time. Bye. We'll be here. Bye-bye.