Judging Freedom - Matt Hoh: A Militaristic Inaugural

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

Matt Hoh: A Militaristic InauguralSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thank you. Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Tuesday, January 21st, 2025. Our dear friend Matt Ho joins us now. Matt, a pleasure. Thank you for joining us. You have written that you thought the inauguration yesterday was too white and too militaristic. What did you mean? Thanks for having me on, Judge. Yeah, I mean, if you were watching that inauguration, the piece in the rotunda in particular, although the piece that occurred at the Capital One Arena, from what I could tell, was not much different. You would think that the United States was 98 percent white, as well as the militarism that was on display. You're always going to have the pageantry. You're always going to have the military officers escorting people in, military bands. Of course, you're going to have that. What I'm talking about was when

the choir from the Naval Academy walked in, the centerpiece of the inauguration, and they sang Amazing Grace. And they sang the full song, including that, I believe it's the third verse, where they talk about Christ on the cross and the proselytizing that comes in those verses with such a militarist anthem, such as Amazing Grace. And then you have a president in his remarks who says that God saved him so that he could make America great again. This is all very dangerous, I think, foreboding of what we're in for, of a righteousness that is an imperial righteousness, of course, but also a personal one as well, not just embodied in the president,

but throughout those he's putting into office. And certainly we can go through his cabinet picks and others, as well as those who are ancillary, such as all the tech billionaires who were sitting right behind the president. And I heard somebody say the other somebody said this morning, the fact that you had three of the wealthiest people in the world sitting right behind the president tells you everything you need to know about the reality of the American government. So, I mean, the fact is, is that what we are facing, Judge, is an imperial presidency that may outdo the other presidencies of this century that everyone among them would be described as purely imperial. But this one, because of the righteousness, because the overtures, plus also to who is represented in this government, is putting us into a position, I think, where we may long for the days of a Bush or Obama or a Biden even. Well, you know, the Christian nationalism pervades in this government and in his appointees, perhaps in no one more pronounced than Mike Huckabee,

who is one of these Protestants who believes that God the Father gave the land of Israel to the Israelis 3,500 years ago, and they have owned, occupy, and occupied it ever since. Now, if you think I'm exaggerating, there he is. Cut number six. Do you believe that the two state solution is the future? No, I think we have to recognize there was a Palestinian state. It was called Gaza. Look how that turned out. You can't have a Palestinian state on top of the Israeli state if the Palestinians continue to believe that Israel shouldn't exist because the Palestinians

don't believe in a two state solution. They believe in a one-state solution, and their solution, and Israel disappears. That's no solution whatsoever. Israel has a right to its autonomous, indigenous homeland that they've had for 3,500 years since the days of Abraham. Since the days of Abraham on down to Netanyahu, the Israelis have owned that land. I mean, that is a blindness to 3,000, maybe 4,000 years of world history. The last time I checked, the nation of Israel didn't come into being until Menachem Begin and his militias began slaughtering people in 1947 and 48. Correct. Correct. The ahistorical nature of these people, Judge. And Huckabee's comments were echoed more or less near verbatim, if you will, by Elise Stefanik, who is going to be Trump's ambassador to the United Nations.

Certainly you see the words of Pete Hegseth or Marco Rubio, the prioritization of Israel. What you see with Huckabee, I think, Judge, is, you know, people recall after October 7th, the United States sent a three-star Marine Corps general right to Israel. And the idea of that being is not that this guy's going to give them advice. It's a direct line for Israel back to the United States that a three-star American general can call right back to the Pentagon, right back to the White House even, and say this is what's needed. I'm sure that three-star general had a direct line to Jake Sullivan. This is what's happening even in a more advanced way with Mike Huckabee going there. Mike Huckabee will have a direct line to the president. He will, of course,

have that relationship with the Israelis. And anything that the Israelis want or need, Huckabee will make sure they get. That's the importance of seeing somebody like Huckabee in that position, is that he's not their ally. He's just not their public relations person. He is the conduit through which that relationship is made real in terms of material, in terms of political, in terms of whatever else needs to be done for Israel. So certainly this idea that we are basing our policy upon a religious text from 3,000 years ago, I don't think anyone has to think too hard to understand why that's dangerous or why that's wrong. And of course, if we reflect back, Judge, and you would be the best person to do this if anyone I know, what would the founders have to

say? The founders would say the federal government has no business owning a cathedral. Washington National Cathedral, a Protestant cathedral, is owned by the federal government. It's in utter defiance of the First Amendment. Chris, do you have a picture of Bill Clinton at the inauguration yesterday? Now, do you see what that is behind him over his right shoulder? That is Miriam Adelson. That is Mossad. That's that super rich, by the way, Bill looks pretty good, super rich Miriam Adelson. You don't expect Trump to even mention the plight of the Gazans while she's there, do you? No, and I think a lot of us were surprised by his inaugural address

that he spent so little time on Palestine, so little time on Israel, and very little time taking credit for the ceasefire deal. I think most of us in the last week or so expected that this inauguration would be a celebration of the great things Donald Trump has done bringing peace to the Holy Land. And that would be the focus of his inaugural address. And in the rotunda, he skipped over it, spent two or three words. He spent more time talking about Panama than he did talking about Israel and Palestine. But then, Wayne, if you watched what occurred at the Capital One Arena,

where he gave another speech, and there were 20,000 people there, and they had marching bands and everything else, during that spectacle, the focus of that, the centerpiece of that spectacle was the marching onto stage of the families of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Of course, nothing is mentioned at all about what the Palestinians have endured since October 7th, and especially not before October 7th. But they're marched onto the stage, and they've all got these big yellow scarves on. And they are introduced, Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's envoy, who is credited with getting this deal through the Israelis, he gave a speech. And it was an obsequious, servile, sucking up speech like I've never heard before about how great Trump is. You understand why Witkoff got his job?

Now, of course, Witkoff seems to be incredibly competent, too, because he was able to push the Israelis into this. We're still trying to figure out what exactly happened there what the quib pro quo was I'm going to I'm going to play a clip about Trump where Trump is asked if he thinks the ceasefire will hold but first Chris put up Clinton again because I misidentified I don't know what she looks like I misidentified so this is not the woman over Bill's shoulder. It's the woman directly behind Hillary. Right. That's Miriam Adelson. Right.

Who does the Mossad's bidding, who gave $100 million to Trump Trump administration going along with the annexation of the West Bank. And certainly if you're watching today coinciding with the ceasefire, what we may be seeing for the Israelis is a shift turning from Gaza to the West Bank. The West Bank has always been the Israelis' priority, always been the priority. Right. Is this what you were talking about with the yellow scarves? Yes, exactly, Judge. Yes. So you see all the, they come up on the stage, they shake hands, and then they're kept there. What do those yellow scarves mean? Well, the yellow scarves are bring them home. When I was a kid, one of the first, I was born in 73,

right? So one of the first memories I have of the world was the hostage crisis in Iran. And I remember people tying the yellow ribbons around trees. I was six years old or whatever when that was occurring, seven years old. I remember around the old oak tree. Right, exactly. So yeah, I'm blanking on who's saying that. Tony Orlando? Tony Orlando.

Tony Orlando and Dawn. Yeah. But so what happens is they march these folks. They put their pain, their grief, their anguish on full display. They utilize them as the props, as you're seeing there. And then they're kept there. They weren't marched off. They were kept on stage.

Donald Trump came down from the dais, so his receipt got behind the podium. And 40, 45 minutes, these folks stand behind him as props. So centering the genocide, centering the war there. But of course, in a very pro-Israeli way, there's nothing mentioned at all about Palestine. And so they're even still standing there as Trump moves over to the side of the stage and starts signing executive orders. These Haas's families are still standing there. So the fact that I thought and I think many others that, wow, maybe I got this wrong about the ceasefire being essentially, as Chris Hedges called it, a presidential inauguration bombing pause. And it was all just one public relations propaganda stunt. Well, maybe I'm wrong about that. But now seeing it, of course, what occurred in Capitoline Arena, whether it was Witkoff speaking, the Hostess families being up there, and then Trump's words about it as well. Certainly, what we're seeing is, I think, the ceasefire deal, Judge, just to speak briefly about that, there's operational, strategic, and political benefits to the Israelis.

The operational necessity of having a pause, of refitting their forces, doing maintenance, restructuring, resupply, letting their guys get rest, as well as if they are shifting to this is where we begin the annexation of West Bank, which I think is what's occurring particularly today as we see them launch Operation Iron Wall. And people, of course, familiar with the history of Zionism know the importance of that term, Iron Wall. You know, in Jenin, you know, this may be the beginning of the annexation. So moving from this effort in Gaza to destroy Hamas, degrade any danger coming out of Gaza and not have to have their forces stationed there to maybe focusing on the West Bank and getting back to this idea of that. The West Bank has always been the priority for the Israelis. I mean, God help me for saying it, but Gaza, if you look at it, I think from the Israeli lens, Gaza, the genocide in Gaza was always just a supporting effort leading towards

the main effort of annexation of the West Bank. Well, before I play the president's opinion of Gaza, which seems to be tailored from his years as a real estate developer rather than his first term and now his second term in the White House. At the risk of sounding naive, why are the human beings released by Hamas called hostages, and the human beings released by the Israelis called prisoners. Because that's the narrative that this falls under, Judge. It's the narrative that's been going on for decades that goes back to the creation of Israel. And it's replete through our political, our entertainment, our media voices. You hear this refrain of civilization versus barbarism.

I mean, this doesn't just apply to Israel, of course, and the Palestine, but it frames the entire context of the American empire. Certainly when we went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, there was that civilization versus barbarism motif. So that construct is there, that these people, the Israelis, have to be hostages. They haven't done anything wrong. They're on our side. They're civilized. They're white. We can get into that as well, right? As opposed to the Palestinians, who are the barbarians. They're subhuman. They're animals. And if they're prisoners, they must have done something wrong. must have been terrorists and you see that phrase used a lot too you'll see that in the media and among our politicians that uh palestinians are terrorists uh anything you know a boy a 13 year old boy uh being held in israeli prisons and there are several of them uh who were whose

crime was to throw a stone on an Israeli truck, is a terrorist. Well, how about a baby that was born there because when the mother was arrested, she was pregnant? Is that baby a terrorist? A prisoner? That's in the narrative construct of Israel versus Palestine, again, that are political, are entertainment, are news media, the way it's explained is, yes, that they are fruit of the poison tree, if you will. Right. I mean, that they are no good. And you've seen this said by the by Americans, such as the American ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, who just a couple of weeks ago when he was giving an interview about what has occurred in Gaza, went on to the bemoan how the news media got it wrong, how they'd say it was 100 people killed. But it turned out to only be 35 people killed. Right. Just him trying to, like, you know, make something up about it. But then he went even farther, Ambassador Liu, and said, and then it turns out that they were all Hamas fighters. And then when he was pushed back on about what about the children? Well, they were the children of Hamas fighters. So, right? If so facto, they deserve to die. And so that's the

framing of all this. It's very simple, manicheing good versus evil, right? I mean, so that's the framing of all this. It's very simple, manichean, good versus evil, right? I mean, so that's why, whether it's the Times, the Post, CNN, whoever, it's Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners. And if you find anything about the Palestinian prisoners, if you're reading the Times or you're reading the Post or watching a CNN bit, the aspect of the Palestinian hostages is always at the end. The New York Times piece I read on this, I don't know how many paragraphs I should have counted, at least 10 paragraphs I had to read through until I got to a mention of the Palestinians being released. And you just felt this tone in this article where the editors did not want this expressed at all. Can we get away with not even saying anything? So it's Palestinian prisoners. And then probably only half the time, they actually referenced that it's women and children being released. And they don't even use the term, the Times doesn't even use the term children. It calls them people under 18 or calls them minors, right? And certainly, you know, so there is the language and all this, something we've seen throughout this genocide, the language used

by the American media to support the genocidal effort has been clear and consistent. How do you think these people with the yellow scarves felt when they saw Elon Musk do a Hitler salute at the same event? I mean, you can't make this up. No, you can't. You can't make it up. It's the fact, too, that, again, we were talking about the Christian nationalism. So Huckabee, Hegseth, Stefanik, Rubio, none of those folks are Jewish, right? They are coming from a Christian nationalist perspective.

Pete Hegsteth has himself adorned with tattoos, nothing wrong with tattoos, of course, but crusader tattoos, right? Christian militarist tattoos. And the whole idea that when he was being, you know, this gets to another point, right? Where when he was being questioned by Tom Cotton, who is now the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who also has put forward, there's Elon, who has also put forward. Let me just stop you for a minute. Chris, do we have the video where he touches the heart and then does the salute? Okay, go ahead. Yeah. So Tom Cotton, who I actually knew in Afghanistan, but so Senator Cotton, who is now chair of the Senate Intelligence

Committee, he's put forward a bill to have the United States officially recognize the West Bank as Judea and Samaria, which is the Israeli definition or name for the West Bank. And of course, ties into what you had that clip of Huckabee saying that there's biblical fact to establish the ownership of the West Bank by the Israelis. I mean, so this isn't just in the executive, but as we know, all throughout the government, including the legislature. So, I mean, when you had this questioning by Cotton of Hegseth, he brings up this idea of being a Christian Zionist. And, you know, there are tens of millions of Christian Zionists in the United States. There's more Christian Zionists in the United States than there are Jews in the world. And so I think one of the aspects of this is we have this continual conversation over which is coming first, which is paramount, which drives it.

Is it the needs of the American empire or is it the needs of the Israelis and what's driving policy there? And there's different ways to look at it. But certainly this religious understanding in the U.S. of Israel as a necessity to usher in the second coming, it's nothing that should be scoffed at or laughed at because there are tens of millions of people who really do believe this. And so for the hostage families to be up there with Elon, you know, to have witnessed Elon Musk do that, and then be up there with a man who has put into power Christian nationalists whose views of Israel are through the Christian nationalist lens, whose desires for Israel are these eschatological end of days apocalypse type visions. That's what Hegseth is interested in. That's what Huckabee is interested in, right? The end of days. And of course, what happened to the Jews at the end of the end of

days, according to the Christian Zionists? Well, essentially, they're told to convert or they're sent to hell. So how really good of friends are these Christian Zionists? I want to play. Chris has been, while you've been talking, Chris has been playing. I didn't even realize that there was more than one Hitler salute. I thought he did it just once. This is unbelievable. And this is behind the great seal of the president of the United States. Yeah. I want you to react to this clip where President Trump is asked, do you think the ceasefire will hold? No surprise. He says no. But I wonder if he means Hamas or Netanyahu will break it. Chris, number seven.

How confident are you, Mr. President, that you can keep the ceasefire in Gaza and conclude the three phases of the deal. I'm not confident. This is not our war. It's their war. But I'm not confident. But I think they're very weakened on the other side. Gaza, where I looked at a picture of Gaza, Gaza is like a massive demolition site. That place is it's really got to be rebuilt in a different way. Were you meant to help rebuilding Gaza? My mind. You know, Gaza's interesting.

It's a phenomenal location. On the sea, best weather. You know, everything's good. It's like some beautiful things could be done with it, but it's very interesting. But some fantastic things could be done with Gaza. How do you see the future in governance for Gaza? Well, it depends. I can't imagine you could have, well, you certainly can't have the people that were there. most of them are dead.

Most of them are dead. He didn't seem to have any sympathy whatsoever for the slaughter that went on. I'll give you the last word on this. NBC News report over the weekend where an anonymous transition official told NBC News that this administration is looking at places to send the Palestinians to. Oh, yeah. The latest rumor was Indonesia, according to Ambassador Freeman. Like, the Indonesians would want that. Like, there's an international law that would permit that. This is absurd. And even if I encourage people to go and read that NBC News story, because it is not condemning that idea at all. It actually says something really ridiculous along the lines, like some Palestinians are opposed to that relocation because they feel it might be the first step

in removing them from their land, right? I mean, something completely absurd like that, right? Of course, it's ethnic cleansing. And so the fear, of course, is that the support that the media gave to Joe Biden in America's role in this genocide going forward, they're going to provide that same support to the Trump administration going forward, whether it's a restart of the genocide in Gaza, whether it's an annexation of the West Bank with aspects of genocide in that, of course, all of it, of course, being under the idea of ethnic cleansing. But the fact that you have people in the Trump administration openly saying to NBC News, yeah, we think it's a good idea if we can get these people on boats and send them halfway around the world. I think that that is a very good indication of what's coming for Palestine in the next couple of years.

Very sad. Matt, thank you for your courageous and insightful analysis. It's always a pleasure, no matter what we're talking about. You have a great week. We'll look forward to seeing you next week, my friend. All right. Thanks, Judge. Of course. Coming up at three o'clock this afternoon, Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski, Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. Thanks for watching!