The Daily Signal - Democrat Leadership Vanishes as Message Splits, Trump & Vought Talk Fed. Firings | Oct. 3, 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 At Desjardin, we speak business. We speak equipment modernization. We're fluent in data digitization and expansion into foreign markets. And we can talk all day about streamlining manufacturing processes. Because at Desjardin business, we speak the same language you do. Business. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us. And contact Desjardin today.

Starting point is 00:00:25 We'd love to talk. Business. Democrat leadership goes from dozens of media appearances a day into hiding as the left splits into dozens of takes on the shutdown. President Trump, Russ Vote, and Tom Holman move forward with federal cuts, the border wall, and the White House ballroom. Our senior reporter Virginia Allen chimes in from Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. I'm Tony Kennett, host of the Daily Signals Tony Kennett cast, syndicated nationally at 7 p.m. Eastern. It is Friday, October 3rd, 2025. This is the Daily Signals. Top News in 10.

Starting point is 00:01:05 After a series of backtracks, missteps, and blunders from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on the government shut down its cause and what it would take to get things moving again, both of those senior congressional leaders on the left side of the aisle have been largely absent from televised media. in contrast to previously 6, 7, 8 media hits a day each. This has left a sizable vacuum along the halls of Congress and many Democrat officials around the country, resulting in two things. Number one, a series of wildly varying takes on the cause of the shutdown, how involved the health care system is with illegal immigrant funding, and what it will take to negotiate reopening the government with the Republicans. For example, Democrat Representative,

Starting point is 00:01:56 Rokana of California stated that, yes, there's illegal immigrant funding in contrast to what Jeffries and Schumer had said previously, but it's really only about 5 or 10 percent of the funding that Democrats are asking for. In terms of health care, the reality is they're just not being honest. The amount of money that actually is going towards people who are undocumented is such a small portion of the Medicaid cuts or the Affordable Care Act, if at all. And so we can argue that point, but the reality that even the vice president would acknowledge that anyone who looks at the numbers will acknowledge is 90 to 95 percent of the funding we're talking about is talking about

Starting point is 00:02:38 funding for American citizens. Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, on the other hand, says that it's about Americans reaching a health care cliff and that Obamacare is no longer doing what it was promised to do. People are literally standing on a health care cliff right now. For members of our caucus, when the Republicans, a whole bunch of them didn't show up and vote last week. What did our people do? We went out and we met with the people in our state.

Starting point is 00:03:07 We met with doctors and nurses. We went to rural hospitals. We talked to people that can barely hold on right now. It's what one farmer called a perfect storm of ugly. The infighting over. a lack of cohesive messaging whatsoever has spilled onto network television in real time. For example, Democrat representative Jared Golden of Maine was suggesting over on X that the Democrats have moved far too too much to the left over the last couple of years and that that

Starting point is 00:03:38 was causing some significant issues now, which Democrat Senator Ruben Gallego from Arizona then called gibberish. Senator, I'm interested to know what you say to your colleague in the House, Jared Golden Democrat from Maine. He says that this government shutdown is the result of hardball politics driven by demands of far-left groups that they're making on Democratic Party leaders to make a show of their opposition to President Trump. The shutdown is hurting Americans in our economy. The irony is that it has handed more power to the president. Now, he says this fight is ostensibly about health care, and he notes that he opposes the Medicaid cuts, wants to extend the tax credits.

Starting point is 00:04:15 But then he says some of my colleagues in the majority party have reasonable concerns going to high-income households. Normal policy disagreements, though, are no reason to subject our constituents to the continued harm of this shutdown. Do you think he's wrong? That's a whole lot of gibberish. The most important thing, again, is that what I know for a fact, 24 million Americans are going to have their premiums increasing starting to the first.

Starting point is 00:04:39 You think that this is the result of hardball politics driven by demands of far-left groups. That's gibberish? I think that whole conversation, everything you just said to me doesn't really matter. Meanwhile, former House Speaker Democrat Nancy Pelosi is upset over Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez getting too much attention, then flips around to calling her a team player. It was a thought from the Republicans that AOC is directing this, and she said that senators are welcome to go to her office directly. Is she driving that? Why are you saying such a ridiculous thing? I'm just quoting what AOC said.

Starting point is 00:05:12 She said go to her office directly. Do you think there's any credibility to that? She is not directing this. She's wonderful. She's a real. team player and the rest of that. You started by saying Republicans say that she's directing this. She is not how King Jeffries is. It's just a lot of chaos. Meanwhile, President Trump stirred up quite the nest of bees yesterday in an interview on OAN, suggesting that they would be

Starting point is 00:05:40 moving forward in the Trump administration with executive cuts, firings, and reducing the size of the federal government and spending opportunities amid the shutdown. What changed? Why won't they vote for it this time? Well, it's politics and they're doing things and asking for things that you wouldn't want and most people that are sane wouldn't want and patriots wouldn't want. Then the president really stoked the flames by posting on true social, quote, I have a meeting today with Russ Vote. Key of Project 2025 fame. To determine which of the many Democrat agencies, most of which are a political scam, he recommends to be cut. And whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent. I can't believe the radical left Democrats gave me this

Starting point is 00:06:20 unprecedented opportunity. They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to quietly and quickly make America great again. And lastly, we spoke to Virginia Allen, our senior reporter as she moves around Eastern Europe and Scandinavia amid growing tensions between the Russian Federation and its allies against Eastern European, Scandinavian and NATO forces. Well, let's dig right into it. You've been in Poland. You've been in Sweden. There's a lot of discussion. I hear you've also spoken with officials from Estonia. Things are getting a little bit hairy over on the Europe-Russian border with other NATO border countries, Poland getting a little antsier with Russian drone flights. Of course, the drone situation in Denmark. Tell us what you know. I think more than ever,

Starting point is 00:07:05 European allies are feeling the extreme pressure and threat. They have known, obviously, but Russia is always a threat. And of course, since Russia chose to invade Ukraine three and a half years ago, that threat has been heightened, but it's different now. The level of intensity, specifically following those drone incursions, everyone is kind of on edge just regarding that defense and security space. So Sweden is actually, where I am right now, is actually the newest NATO country. They only joined NATO just over a year ago. There was lots of talk that they would never joined for the longest time of Sweden said we will never join NATO. But after Russia invaded Ukraine, they decided, no, we have to be part of NATO. We have to be part of that security alliance.

Starting point is 00:07:51 So I spoke today with the defense minister. And he said that they have just really, really rapidly up there in the past four years. They've up their defense spending here in Sweden by 50%. They're going to meet President Trump's, the goal that he laid out for NATO and got NATO to agree to on that 5% defense spending by 2035. They're going to meet that early. And their focus as a small European country, as a small NATO country, is really to be the model and the standard for, hey, all European countries can do this, can provide this support. And I've heard it multiple times from leaders here in Sweden saying, we recognize that this is a European fight, that Russia's fight with Ukraine, yes, we will take whatever help we can get from the United States.

Starting point is 00:08:39 At the end of the day, this is Europe's fight. And at least here in Sweden, they are fully committed to that fight. And I saw something very similar in Poland. Poland is also a really outstanding NATO member, very aggressive on defense spending, and having a border that they are so close, they're so close to Russia, they are even more aggressive about ensuring their own safety and protection, of course, on their home front given most recently that drone incursion by the Russians into Poland airspace. But I want to pivot over to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Baltics.

Starting point is 00:09:13 I know you spoke to an official from Estonia very briefly. There's a lot of concern because those were the last three Soviet satellite states to, you know, break away right at the outset of that final coup and collapse of the Soviet Union, that there's some concern, and especially Estonia, that Putin might decide to throw a couple of drones towards Estonia's way. What are you hearing from the Estonian government? Yeah, so I spoke with the Estonian defense minister, and he said, yes, there certainly is a lot of concern. They have the protection of being a part of NATO, and that gives them some confidence. But they're aware of the fact that Putin is highly unpredictable and has become increasingly predictive, unpredictable, and quite frankly, looks for weakness and then exploits that weakness. And so one of the things that I found most interesting in my conversation with the Estonian defense minister is just their understanding, and I wrote a piece for the Daily Signal on this, but is their understanding of Putin's psyche that they watched as, you know, as Russia was struggling really domestically, that that was part of the reason why Putin has really chosen many ways to not only make war with Ukraine, but to, of course, agitate all. of Europe and the West, is that you kind of need a common and shared enemy. And so a tactic for Putin

Starting point is 00:10:39 is, all right, my country internally is struggling. We need to look outside for the people of Russia to find a common enemy in order to unite and in order to ensure power, power for the Kremlin, and specifically power for Putin. And I thought this was such an astute point. And even furthermore, the areas that Russia has been so strategically targeting in Ukraine, Ukrainian territory, those are regions that in Russia, the Russian government has formally, within their constitution, claimed to belong to them. So they have taken formal steps to say, this is our territory. In other words, Putin is not going to quickly kind of go back to leaders in Russia and say, oh, guys, we made a mistake. Actually, that territory is not ours. So this

Starting point is 00:11:28 all leads to that main point of the pressure both militarily and economically has to be so extreme on Russia and on Putin in order to get them to the negotiating table. And that's why full cooperation on part of NATO members is so critical because every single component and aspect is needed in order to truly bring in sincerity Putin to that negotiating table to be willing to end this war. It has to cost him and it has to cost him dearly. Before you go, head down to the description and make sure you're subscribed to the Tony Kinnett cast and join us tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern for a roundup of the day's news and nonsense. I'm Tony Kinnett, and this has been The Daily Signals Top News in 10. Take care.

The Daily Signal - Democrat Leadership Vanishes as Message Splits, Trump & Vought Talk Fed. Firings | Oct. 3, 2025

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.