The Daily Signal - The Daily Signal Presents "Problematic Women" - Government Shutdown Is Over, But the Pentagon’s Overhaul Is Just Getting Started

Episode Date: November 16, 2025

Woke is out at the Department of War, and higher fitness standards are back. Since being sworn in as secretary, Pete Hegseth has acted to “removed the distractions” from the department, including getting rid of “political correctness” and “DEI offices.”     “No more dudes in dresses,” Hegseth said during a recent speech, adding, “we are restoring a ruthless, dispassionate, and common-sense application of standards.”    Amid the Department of War's implementation of common-sense politics and higher fitness standards, more women have chosen to enlist in the U.S. military.     Over the summer, the Department of War, which was recently renamed from the Department of Defense, announced about 24,000 women were shipped off to basic training in fiscal year 2025, up from about 16,700 in 2024.     Women want to be held to high standards, and that includes in military fitness, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson says on this week’s edition of “Problematic Women.”    Wilson joins the show to pull back the curtain on life at the Pentagon under Hegseth’s leadership, and explain the departments aggressive strategy behind defeating narco-terrorists.     Also on this week's edition of “Problematic Women,” we discuss who “won” the government shutdown battle. Plus, is the culture shifting toward a celebration of the family, or is it only a trend among some celebrities?  00:00 Introduction 01:27 Pentagon's Anti-Drug Operations 11:36 Impact of the Shutdown on the Military 19:15 Changes at the Department of War 26:47 Women in the Military 28:47 Behind the Scenes with Secretary Hegseth 33:29 Is Hollywood Mainstreaming Parenthood? 41:59 Question of the Week and Conclusion Connect with our hosts on socials!   Elise McCue X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/   Virginia Allen: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=Virginia_Allen5 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginiaallenofficial/   Morgonn McMichael: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=morgonnm Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morgonnm/ Keep Up With The Daily Signal   Sign up for our email newsletters:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.dailysignal.com/email⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠     Subscribe to our other shows:    The Tony Kinnett Cast: ⁠https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL2284199939⁠ The Signal Sitdown: ⁠https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL2026390376⁠   Problematic Women:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL7765680741⁠   Victor Davis Hanson: ⁠https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL9809784327⁠     Follow The Daily Signal:    X:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=DailySignal⁠ Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/thedailysignal/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Facebook:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/TheDailySignalNews/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Truth Social:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://truthsocial.com/@DailySignal⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  YouTube:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1⁠    Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and never miss an episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get no frills delivered. Shop the same in-store prices online and enjoy unlimited delivery with PC Express Pass. Get your first year for $2.50 a month. Learn more at p.cexpress.ca. Hey, this is Virginia Allen, and I'm excited to share this episode of Problematic Women, one of the Daily Signals' other podcasts. Each episode, we navigate the biggest stories in politics and culture. And we have a lot of fun doing it, too.

If you like what you hear today, make sure to subscribe to Problematic Women for weekly episodes. Welcome back to Problematic Women. Everybody, the government shutdown is over. Cheers, hurrahs. So exciting. How did this happen? Who's responsible for it? How long will it last? And what does this mean for you, the average American? Also, in addition to the government shutdown being over and just the government being back, the Pentagon was really never gone. And thankfully, we have Kingsley Wilson, press secretary for the Pentagon. have gone here to talk about everything that you guys have been up to, everything that you might want to know. And so I'm like, inside info if you're willing to share. Plus, at the end of this episode, we have a very special announcement. So make sure you stay until the very end. This is

Problematic Women. Welcome back to Problematic Women. I'm Elise McHugh. I'm Morgan McMichael. I'm Virginia Allen. And Kingsley, Wilson. We are so. so honored and privileged to have you with us. Thanks for taking the time. Yeah, thanks for having me, guys. I really appreciate it. They let you out of the Pentagon today. They did. It's nice to come here and get a little bit of a breather from that five-walled building. Well, you guys have not slowed down. We have watched as the government shut down so much came to a screeching hall. But of course, the Pentagon is pretty essential. What you guys do, pretty important. You all have

been hard at work hitting the ground running. Secretary Hagseth has been literally all over the world. Oh, yes. In the past several weeks and months, so much travel. One of the biggest pieces of news, obviously, recently out of the Pentagon and one that I feel like I check Secretary Heggs S at X account almost every morning to see is, has there been another strike on drug votes from just even like take us into those conversations within the Pentagon with the secretary, as you all are, you know, making these decisions. What does that look like? Yeah. So, I mean, first off, you mentioned the shutdown. Our enemies obviously don't shut down. The narco terrorists don't shut down. So it's been really important for us to stay vigilant to

that threat. And it's been cool, I think, to work at a war department now, which is the new name, very excited about it, that really cares about protecting the homeland. Because I think we're so used to seeing a, you know, Department of War that focuses on nation building all across the world and using taxpayer resources for that sort of thing. Now we're using it to protect our homeland from deadly drugs. You hear the president say it all the time, you know, 25,000 lives are saved by every single boat that we take out. So that's really something that we're proud to be a part of as a department because at the end of the day, all of our troops signed up, they raised their right hand to protect the American people and keep the homeland safe. That's exactly what these

operations are about. So every time we find one of these boats, we spend a lot of time. Obviously, it can't go into a lot of the intelligence that we gather, but we spend a lot of time networking these individuals, making sure we know without a doubt, who they are, where they're going, what they're carrying, and then we're able to engage because the president designated them designated terrorist organizations. Once he did that, that's what really unlocked for us at the department, a lot of leeway, and we could engage in ways that we haven't before. So it's been really historic. We've got a lot of assets down there. We have a carrier going down there, which is a massive, huge ship. I mean, I can't remember the last time there's been a carrier

in the Caribbean. So it's pretty exciting. We're used to seeing those way out in the Middle East or way out in the Indo-Pacific. So now we're putting our hemisphere first. And I think that's something that speaks to what the president pledged on the campaign trail, right? He talks so much about protecting the homeland, making sure our borders are secure. That extends to our shores, right? We don't want deadly narco-terrorists trafficking drugs through our waterways into the American communities because it hurts our people. So we're really excited to be a part of this. It's a pretty historic decision that we've seen from the president and Secretary Heggseth. And I think what is so cool about this administration, everything that has happened is the focus

on protecting America. Because that's something that like the Pentagon, when you hear about previously Secretary of Defense, now Secretary of Four, you know, is more the international involvement and less about, you know, what are they doing to actually protect America? And so it's just seeing that happening. And it's funny that you mentioned that just the classification of their now terrorist gives you guys more leeway. I never even thought of that. I know this week Hegseth was out at an event and I think we have a clip about we just saw Hegseth say, do not get in a boat. And so we're going to take a look at that. We're also taking the fight on the deterrence front to cartels. My advice to foreign terrorist organizations do not get in a boat.

You hear everyone nervously. I know. I like that there was a pause. Can I clap? If you're trafficking guns to poison the American people and we know you're from a designated terrorist organization, you're a foreign terrorist and a trafficker, we will find you and we will kill you. No one is better. No one is better at tracking and networking and mapping and hunting than the American military, honing those skills for many decades in foreign lands.

Now we're doing it in defense of the American people with all the authorities, we got lawyers on lawyers, all the authorities necessary to do so, treating these terrorists like the Al-Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere. Absolutely incredible. I mean, I mean, yeah. I love the way that he put it, we're going to find you, we're going to kill you. I mean, Trump had the same messaging when he was talking about the cartels in Mexico. And he was like, you know what?

We don't need congressional approval if you're going to be a terrorist to our country. We're going to find you and you're going to be like dead. That's exactly what he said. And it's just like very cut and dry. No masquerading around like, oh, we're going to do all these things and like be very scared. Like they just say they're straight shooters. And that's what I love about this administration. He talks to a little bit there about the legality piece.

And for me, being like the press secretary, it's been really frustrated. to see the fake news talk about how these strikes are illegal. They're not. They are totally within the president's authority to conduct. But I think what we're seeing is we're seeing, unfortunately, a lot of journalists that would rather carry water for these narco-terrorists than protect the American homeland like President Trump is trying to do. So that's something that, you know, my team tries to battle and fight every day with the fake news. Unfortunately, they've been choosing to defend the terrorists instead of our own people. But it's really great to see leaders who are putting America first like you were talking about.

Well, as of the recording of this podcast, there have been 19 strikes that have been announced on these narco boats. And obviously, the goal and mission, like we've talked about, is totally eliminating the drugs that are coming across our borders and into the United States. And we saw, this was actually predicted even before Trump came into office. Everyone knew he's going to close the border. That's going to make it really, really hard for the cartels to bring drugs into the United States and specifically also to traffic people, which they was a huge part of their business model under the Biden administration. So it's like, all right, if they can't bring drugs across the land, they can't bring people across the land, they're going to bring drugs

via water and via ports. And so there's been just such a full force effort to address that on every level. We've seen that with the Coast Guard really cracking down. And of course, with the work that the Pentagon is doing to identify these are the threats. We're going to take them out even before they reach our borders and reach our ports. And I mean the fentanyl it still we we saw in 2021 and 22 over 100,000 deaths of Americans last year over 48,000. It's an epidemic. It's an epidemic. And still to this day for 18 to 44 year olds is the highest cause of death. Fental overdoses and poisonings. So it's such a critical when we talk about protecting the American people and that America first policy, what's more America first than saving lives. That's what I don't understand about the

left's narrative when they talk about like honestly not taking it drugs as seriously as you know we take terrorists from the Middle East like Mexican Hispanic terrorists that are coming by boat and selling these drugs in America I would say is arguably a bigger deal than just the terrorists that are in the Middle East because that is directly impacting our homeland every single day not you know the threat of there being a foreign terrorist attack but it's I don't understand why even like the left would even have the notion that this is illegal when, you know, why would the Pentagon be executing a job that is illegal? Right. Yeah. That doesn't make sense. We have a fantastic team of military and civilian lawyers. Many who have been at the Pentagon for

decades, right, between administrations. And up and down the chain, every single lawyer who has been involved in this decision-making process has said without a doubt, we have the authority to do this, to protect the homeland and the American people. And I can tell you, too, our troops are so excited to be defending their homeland because they're so used to defending other homelands, right? Like all across the world and other people and now they get to defend,

they get to know that when they're, you know, manning the southern border or when they're down in the Southcom region that at their back is their family. And that's who they're taking care of. I think it's so much more meaningful. And, you know, under the previous administration, they were frankly distracted

by a lot of ridiculous mission sets. They were focused, especially like in the Western Hemisphere, they were really focused on climate change. and that sort of stuff. And they weren't focused on warfighting. They weren't focused on lethality. So now they get to get back to doing their jobs that they signed up for. So our warfighters are also really excited to be a part of this effort.

And I wish the media would highlight that more. Well, actually, to your point about the media and just like the misinformation, how much of it is, do you think that they actually believe what's going on is illegal? Or they know it's not illegal, but they're pushing this narrative anyway because it's always never trump with most of the media. And how does that affect your day-to-day job? I think it's definitely a combination. But I would say TDS is the main driver behind most of this stuff, unfortunately. Yeah, they just can't. They hate to see the president win. Even I think back to other operations that we've done that have been successful like Operation Midnight Hammer in Iran when we took out the nuclear facilities there. And you saw the media immediately call into question the success of the B2 bombers and what they did. What they did was incredible. It was heroic. They trained 17 years for that mission. and they executed flawlessly.

And yet we saw the media question if they really did obliterate them or not. And the weapons were specifically designed to take out the fuckers. Yeah, we had absolute confidence that they did. Thanks to President Trump giving us the green light on that. So I think time and time again, we've seen that they just want the president to fail.

But what's upsetting about that is at the war department, it's very unique. Because when you politicize it, when you root against the president, you're rooting against the commander in chief and our troops. And ultimately, these are people, who signed up whatever president, whatever administration to protect the American people, and we should be valuing and honoring their work. And it's really disgraceful to see a lot of the

media call that into question, in my opinion. So that's something that you were saying my team. That is basically what we do all day long, battle them, make sure that they have all of the facts and are reporting them, not trying to spin narratives or try to, you know, push something that isn't true, that's a partisan agenda. So we work that every day with a lot of of our friends in the fake news and there's so many big changes that secretary heggseth is and has made to the pentagon and i want to talk about those in a second here but at least i got in my excitement as someone who covered border immigration i got a little ahead of myself was like just jumped into that but i do want to take a minute to talk about shutdown and post shutdown and uh you know as we're

talking about like putting america first in those policies there's so much that we saw from the Democrats of choosing to put America last and the American people last through this shutdown. And I think some of the big questions are like, who are the winners and losers coming out of this now? Will the American people remember? And also like what is funded now? We have another funny fight ahead. Well, it's interesting you mentioned winners and losers because I think on both sides of the aisle, everyone's sort of agreeing that Chuck Schumer is like the biggest loser in all of this because obviously we knew that from the start like he was vowing to not open the government demanding all these crazy Obamacare subsidies for illegal aliens and then lying about it.

But then obviously there are people who broke rank and voted with the GOP and people are calling on him to step down. Like you can't control your own party. And even between the beginning of the shutdown and the end, he just said so many crazy things. He said this is looking really good for us. And even in 2013, he was like, I would never shut down the government. That's really bad for Americans and that's cruel and vile. And then here he is letting it go on. for what, 41, 43 days?

43 days. The longest. That is my biggest loser because most people on both sides of the aisle are agreeing about that. What's pretty ironic too is the Democrats didn't win anything in this shutdown. Like, they didn't get their way. Sorry, Medicare-free illegal aliens isn't happening. We're not giving more SNAP benefits to illegal aliens. Like, none of what they were trying so hard to get taxpayer dollars to fund their radical policies.

So really, this 43-day shutdown was just a continuation of Democrats trying and trying and failing every single time again. And I mentioned the benefits because SNAP is now funded. So for everyone who is on benefits, they're funded all the way and through September of this next year, 43 million Americans utilize these benefits. And I know through the shutdown and a lot of people not receiving those benefits for almost a full month, there was a lot of controversy around this of. like, you know, do we need even more SNAP benefit overhaul? Should there be as much

government spending on the benefits? What does that look like? My personal opinion is, you know, maybe processed food shouldn't be on the benefit card. I think you should have to learn how to cook. But, you know, they obviously do bring a lot of families, food, and the resources that they need. Yeah, well, I mean, I think there's always going to be a place for it to some extent to be able to provide for people for a time period. But I do think we need to maha snap benefit. Like we should be honoring, we should be honoring Americans and playing the long game instead of feeding them food that is just going to give them more health problems that then blooms and feeds big pharma. I mean, it's all interconnected. Yeah. We'll have to rely on RFK for that. He came over to the Pentagon.

Gosh, what, probably three months ago now. And he did some a challenge, the Pete and Bobby challenge with a Secretary Ex-F, they did some push-ups, some pull-ups. And we've been really having, I think, a lot of success in talking with them and making sure that what our warfighters are getting is healthier food. So they have the nutrition. They need less processed food like you were talking about. I think that's really going to be important for the department going forward. And the lifestyle of our service members is something that unfortunately just never gets enough

love. But the secretaries made it a huge priority. We recently launched a Barracks Task Force that's. going to make our barracks cleaner nicer a lot better unfortunately you'll see pictures online there's like mold in barracks stuff's breaking ceilings are cracking totally unacceptable our warfighters are the best of the best they deserve the best so whether it's you know the nutrition that they're provided in their dining halls or the barracks that they live in we're really trying to do everything we can to make sure that they're living healthy lifestyles

i know a lot of our service members also utilize snap benefits to feed their families you know unfortunately our warfighters aren't paid a whole whole lot of money and so they rely a lot on these types of benefits so that their kids and their wives back home and or husbands are fed definitely and during the shutdown I think it was it was really difficult on a lot of our service members and their families there were a lot of stories out there about different food banks that were overwhelmed with our troops because so many of our troops like you said they number one don't make insane amount of money right though they're doing heroic incredible work every single day But many of them have large families, and they rely on a single income.

Many of them as well, because they get stationed all over the world so much, their wives actually have Department of War jobs or will get jobs on base, that sort of stuff. So a lot of wives were furloughed as well. So families were losing that extra income if they did have one, which makes things really difficult. I think, you know, close to 60K wives of our service members are employed by the federal government. So it was really difficult, I think, for a lot of our military families. and it was shameful to see the Democrats really just put them last and put this radical left agenda like you were talking about of, you know, health care for illegals before our warfighters

and their families. So we're certainly very excited. Of course, President Trump's great, right? He found a way to get the troops paid, but there were still consequences in terms of their lifestyle and their day to day. So we're really happy that they're going to get everything that they deserve. A hundred percent. Democrats love to put Americans last, I think, is what we have discovered over the last four to three days. That's for sure. Yeah. Well, I mean, you sort of come out of the whole thing and you're like, what on earth was that about? It was, yeah, like no one, the Democrats didn't get the very thing that they were arguing and keeping the government closed for for so-so long. Right. Well, I think they did get one thing and they didn't, they never said this. This is just me coming up with something.

But I think a lot of people can agree that the government shutdown did help out the mid, not midterm elections, the gubernatorial elections in Virginia, New Jersey, especially in Virginia. a lot of furloughed federal workers up in northern Virginia, mad that they don't have a job, let's vote for the person who's not attached to what we think is the root cause of it, which is Trump. So, biggest winner, Abigail Spanberger. Likely. I think it probably changed the percentage points maybe a little.

I still think it probably didn't change. Yeah. We won and lost, but it could have changed the percentages. Yeah. A little bit for sure. And one thing that I think is funny or just interesting to know is that this is a continuing resolution. Like I know we talked about on the show before,

so it wasn't even funding the government for like an additional like 12 months it literally is to it's like a few weeks essentially it's like the government will now because trump signed the continuing resolution through january 30th so now the question is are we going to be in this same situation the same predicament again in just a couple of months i've heard a lot of journalists already like strapping in mentally for a second shut down i certainly hope not it was i got to tell you guys even for me like of course it's it's worse for our service members right because they're actually putting their lives on the line every single day. But even for, you know, myself and my fellow political is not getting paid for

43 days sucks. That's a lot. A lot of people need to make rent. Um, card payments are accruing interest. Uh, so it's tough. So hopefully we won't have another one. I hope not. I just can't imagine how they could let it go on for another 43 days because they didn't get anything out of this one. So it just wouldn't look good for anyone, but especially not the Democrats. You mean Democrats won't learn their lesson? It's such a short time period. I'm like maybe they would if they have that memory, that short-term memory activated. We will hope, but I wouldn't hold your breath. But we've obviously been talking about some of the changes that already with, you know, things like food and really taking care of barracks, improvement. So there have been

so many changes that are happening at the Department of War that are being implemented. And some of those changes, Secretary Hexeth mentioned in a recent video. So let's go ahead and pull that up and see what he has to say about some of the new aspects that are coming to the Pentagon. Common sense means putting war fighting, lethality, as a senator mentioned, training, discipline, accountability, readiness at the forefront of everything we do at the Department of War. That means no more social justice, no more political correctness, no more toxic ideological garbage that infected the department. As I've said before, but we repeat and we repeat because, as a good old television host,

you know it takes a while for it to actually sink in. No more identity months, no more DEI offices, no more dudes in dresses. No more climate change. It actually was a thing. It actually was a thing. No more climate change worship, no more division, no more delusions, gender delusions or quotas, no more distraction. As the chairman of the Joint Chiefs puts it, Pete, you're clearing out the debris.

That's what it is. clearing out the debris from out front of NCOs and officers. We're done with that stuff. It doesn't take a Ph.D. to understand that sergeants don't need sensitivity training. But we're taking the next step. We're not just undoing damage. We're solidifying the way forward. We're taking concrete steps to ensure that common sense reigns going forward. We're restoring a ruthless, dispassionate, and common sense application of standards. standards are back got to love it woke is out i mean this is huge how is this being received at the pentagon oh so well our warfighters are so excited because they've been hamstrung by ideology

and by all this leftist woke garbage and they haven't been allowed to do their jobs they've been you know walking on eggshells like worried that they're going to use someone's incorrect pronoun right or worried of offending someone or not agreeing with the ideology hard enough or not being a strong enough foot soldier for leftist causes. Now they can just do the job they signed up to do. They can just be lethal war fighters and focused on being in the best shape they can be and make sure that they get their positions based on merit. I think that's really had the biggest impact is people knew under the previous administration that you might be the best qualified, but you might not get the position because you don't meet the quotas for race, for sex, for all of those stupid and mutable

characteristics that people should not be judged on. So now I think people are excited because because they know that if they work hard, they're gonna have the opportunity to be rewarded, to be promoted. It's going to truly be a merit-based military again. And that kind of culture shift, I think, has lasting impact. That's why you're seeing record-breaking recruiting.

It's a large part, obviously, because of President Trump. Everyone wants to serve under President Trump. He's the peace through strength president. He gets it. But at the same time, this culture shift that we're seeing across our military is inspiring young people because they want to be a part of a higher standard, right?

They wanna push themselves to the limit, see what they can accomplish and they want an attainable goal like that. And Secretary Heggseth is giving them that opportunity. And I think it's really fantastic to see across every single branch us just totally break recruiting records. We're really excited about that. And it's only going to continue, honestly. Yeah. It's huge. I hope every single department adopts these changes. And to me, it's crazy that in 2025 that Secretary Heggseth has to even say these out loud like in a public forum. Like, yeah, DEI is gone.

We're getting rid of the woke in the military. No more dudes in dresses. No more quotas. None of this garbage. Like, we are moving to a merit-based society in the Pentagon. And for our warfighters, like, arguably one of the most important departments, protecting America. Like, what took them so long? It just is mind-boggling, honestly, to me, that, like, this is the discussion, but it is so necessary.

And I hope that every single department. adopts this coming soon. My favorite part that he said and that was about we're no longer going to have dudes and dresses because it reminds me of this one TV show

I don't know if you guys have seen it is called MASH Yes, the 70s, yes I was obsessed with it in high school. Yeah, for those of you who are listening

which I guess a lot of you probably would know what this is but maybe not. It's a TV show about a medical unit in the Korean War. There was one character

I'm forgetting his name right now. Cleaner. Corpyl Clinger. Yes, and he would wear dresses because he wanted to be discharged

because he didn't want to be that's so funny. at war anymore. I forget what section that, like section, anyway, there's a certain section in like military code that you're declared crazy. It's crazy because that would get you discharged back then and then flash forward. You could get a promotion. You could get a promotion over a qualified person if he just applied during Biden. And for us, like you were saying, I hope every agency adopts this too. And I think thanks to the president's executive orders, you know, government-wide, we're making this a reality. But for us at the Department of War, it's even

more important because it's literally life or death. Like if we have, if you're a service member and you're out there in a hairy situation, you want to know that the person to your right and left is qualified to be there and not that they're there because they met some stupid quota or because, you know, they expressed the right view on climate change. We want warfighters who are trained, lethal, and equipped to protect the American people. So at the end of the day, I think Americans now seeing the changes that we're implementing can have confidence. Right. That we're going to be safe the homeland's going to be protected and we're going to be focusing on what matters because we only have so many resources i think as a military and we need to make sure that

we're focused number one on mission we don't want to focus on the stupid stuff the ideology the nation building all of that right we want to focus on our core mission and that's what we're doing every single day you hear the secretary talk about getting back to basics and that's what we're doing and we're starting at the very beginning too um he's talked a lot about this too i don't know if it was in this clip but um making basic training tough again yeah it's gotten really really really, really soft. Very soft. A lot of our recruits are super out of shape.

Just walking around the Pentagon, there are so many people that are out of shape. So we're making fitness a priority again. We're making sure that basic training's tough. We've, under the Biden administration, they got rid of a lot of the, you know, yelling in your face stuff. Oh, you can't flip their bunk anymore. You can't do all of that stuff. We're bringing all that back.

It's important to make sure that recruits have healthy fear and that they are built into the warriors that they need to beat. The most stressful situation they encounter should not be in basic training, right? It's going to be eventually a hairy situation. We want to make sure they're ready. I mean, these are our most elite fighters. And I don't think, actually, not even I think, I know that our foreign enemies do not care what we think on climate change.

And if a lesbian climate change loving woman who can't even lift a 200-pound man is out there on the front lines, like they're going to laugh in our faces. So actually having a secretary and the Pentagon having a military that is supporting American people and actually restoring just that toughness is so, so important. I mean, I can't even imagine the softness that was even put in by the Biden administration. Now I feel like we're just having to completely flip the bunk and rewire everything that was done. We are. And it's exciting to be a part of that, I think, culture shift.

And, you know, like we're all women here too. and the media loves to say that, oh, this is just an effort to push out women. Our female recruiting is the highest it's ever been. Wow. And I think people in the mainstream media ignore that because they would rather write the narrative that, oh, you know, the secretary hates women and he wants to push them out. No, we just want to hold them to the same standards as men. I think it's actually very pro-women for keeping the standards the same as what they were

because it's honestly a disservice, I think, to the women and the men, if you were to put a woman who is not qualified to be on that ground. Why do you think so many women are saying, I want to be a part of this mission? Because I think they want to serve, like you were kind of alluding to, they don't want to know every single day when I go to work. I have to prove myself because people know that I'm not qualified to be here because I had a lower standard of entrance, right? So now that they're being held to the same combat standard as men for our combat MOSs,

they can go in with her head held high every day and know I met the standard that all of my fellow co-workers did here today. I deserve to be here. And they don't have to prove themselves over and over again. So I actually think in many ways it's more empowering for them, though the left would never acknowledge that or write that publicly. But I think it's been really incredible to see and we're excited for that to continue at the department. And we just at the end of the day want to make sure that everything comes down to merit, right? You've got to meet the standard. You've got to be able to do the basics because when you're out there, you know, you're carrying a rucksack, it doesn't matter if you're a man or woman, you've got to be able to carry it.

The weight doesn't change depending on your gender, depending on your orientation, all of that stuff, right? Doesn't matter. It just comes down to, can you carry this? So we're reinvigorating those standards, which is really exciting and our women love it, our men love it, everybody loves it. Everyone wants to be a part of something incredible and wants to hold themselves to a higher standard. Except for the left wing media. Yes. Exactly. Unfortunately, maybe someday. Kingsley, take us a little bit behind the curtain, if you would. What is it like working for Pete Heggseth? Yeah, no, it's awesome.

I am. So I swore in inauguration day. So I've been at the War Department almost like 11 months now, right? Or 12 months now, which is crazy. And those first few months were chaotic because, you know, as a political, there's what they call a beachhead team. So you get in and it's only about 60 of you department-wide. Of course, the Pentagon is 30,000 people.

So we're very outnumbered political-wise. political to career to military. So it was a lot of work. It was like drinking from a fire hose for sure. But he got to it right out of the gate, went on a bunch of trips. He went to Europe, I believe, was his first trip. And he really just got to work implementing the president's agenda. I remember my first couple months there, in addition to all of the press stuff, he took a real interest in making sure that our public facing messaging was reflecting what the president wanted and what his executive orders laid out. Even the little things mattered to him.

Like, I remember I would flag for him, you know, that there were woke climate change signs on trash cans across the Pentagon. He thought that was ridiculous. We worked to take them down. We made sure that every single forward-facing thing reflected our new mission set, and nothing was too small. And I think that's a true testament to leadership, right? When you care about the big things.

Obviously, he spends most of his day dealing with the massive catastrophic decisions that I could never make myself. But he even has time for the little things to make sure that what our warfighters are seeing in their military installations on basis is reflective of what we're trying to do as a department. So it was really incredible, I think, to be with someone who was so intentional about what he was doing from day one. And that has really just reverberated across the building. And I think it's one reason why our politicals are able to function at such a high, fast-paced level, because we're all very clear about what we're supposed to be doing. We're supposed to be putting America first every single day, no matter. how hard it is. Now, it's pretty admirable just seeing how busy he is and how he has really

stayed on mission. I know we see him traveling. It feels like every single day, every week. I would love to see what Pete Hegsett's schedule looks like. It's crazy. But I know that you've also had the opportunity to travel alongside Secretary Hegseth. What has that been like for you? It's crazy. I know everyone says, you know, the president's schedule is impossible to keep up with. I think that's absolutely true. Secretary Hegseth definitely, though, would be close. He has a very, very, very busy schedule and those trips are a whirlwind. I mean, I don't know how he does it. I was, I mean, I'm, you know, much younger than him and I was absolutely exhausted on these trips. The biggest one I went on with the secretary was our first trip to the Indo-Pacific. So that was big for the

department because President Trump has been talking a lot about on the campaign trail and even now countering the Chinese threat. It's a threat that the Biden administration never took seriously And the Indo-Pacific is something that we're really focused on as a department. We're focused on making sure that we're postured to protect American interests out there. So that was a really important trip. We had a lot to communicate. We went all over, you know, from Japan to Korea, tons of different places, the Philippines. So it's incredible to see those parts of the world and to go to all of those different places

and meet with their defense ministers, their presidents in some instances, and go to palaces. It was really fantastic, but it's really cool, too, to see the secretary in action, even, you know, when the press isn't there behind closed doors. He always puts America first. He never waivers. He always makes sure that the president's viewpoint is represented. And I think it's easy. And I see this from a lot of, you know, previous individuals who have served, whether State Department or Department of War, it's easy to just kind of go along to get along to just say, oh, that's, you know, that's okay. we'll make it work, be nice.

He's not afraid to be tough and to draw the line and to say the American people and the president demand XYZ. And I think that's really a testament to who he is and how much he has just truly dedicated himself to serving President Trump in this country. So seeing all of that behind the scenes

with these world leaders is also really, really incredible. That's a really cool thing. I hope one day, and I'm sure you have you will tell us it, but I hope one day you write a book and just like to hear all those stories because it is like it is wow like such an honor to get to see those things be a part of truly history being made I think so much will be written about this time absolutely for our country and specifically you know what this administration has done when it comes to working with partners overseas it's absolutely incredible and just yeah

really really need to hear about but alice yes if you would take us away with our pop culture we have seen as always there's always lots of happening but I feel like it's more positive. It's actually more positive this week, which thank goodness, because if this whole conversation has proven anything, we are tired as Americans, but it's actually going to start out a little negative. But we'll start out at the bottom, get to the top. Let's actually just roll this one clip of Stevie Nix and her recent interview where she said some really shocking things. One might say human sacrifice. I got pregnant, and it was like, why? I have an IUD. I am totally protected. I have a great gynaecologist. I have a great gynaecologist. I have a great gynaecologist.

How come this has happened? So you took all the precautions. Yes. And I'm like, this can't be happening. Fleetwood Mac is three years in and it's big. And we're going into our third album. It was like, oh no, no, no, no, no, no. It would have destroyed Fleetwood Mac.

If you had a baby. Absolutely. Because many reasons. I would have tried my best to get through, you know, being in the studio every single day. expecting a child, but mostly having a child with Don Henley would not have gone over big in Fleetwood Mac with Lindsay and me, who we'd been broken up for two or three years. It would have been a nightmare scenario for me to live through.

It takes some courage to step into the waters of the abortion debate. Yes, it does. Why take the risk? Because everybody kept saying, well, somebody has to do something. something somebody has to say something and i'm like well i have a platform i tell a good story so maybe i should try to do something oh wow that clip when i first watched it it was so heartbreaking because she basically admits i had to kill my child for the success of my band which they write like weird hollywood movies about this kind of thing but it's happening right in front

of our eyes it happened back then and i just want to get your initial reactions to this i mean honestly just breaks my heart because Stevie Nix never went on to have any children of her own, but a lot of her other bandmates did have children of their own. And so to see, you know, the woman lead singer in Fleetwood Mac come out and say like, yeah, it would have destroyed the band. No, I actually think it could have made the band so much bigger and greater to maybe a value that no one would even know. Like they were already famous at this point. It's not like she was missing out on anything. And of course, children do take a lot of work, but that doesn't mean you have an abortion so that you can come out with your third album. It just really is sad to me.

Yeah, and I also just don't appreciate that she was acting like this is going to be the end of the band. She admits it was already big. She could have paid someone to be the nanny. She could have given it up for adoption, but you can just tell in her story and so many people's stories as just the sadness in their eyes, the coping that they're dealing with. And we're just so past that as a society, thank goodness, because this interview happened and the public reaction I saw to it was actually very negative. Even some people who are not staunch conservatives, conservative influencers, they're like, yikes, like the way that they put that was bad. And there's no good way to put that. But we compare this to another piece of media that came out recently. It's a

country song from Kelsey Ballerini. And it's called, I Sit in Parks. And instead of talking about, oh, I'm glad that I'm a country star because I don't have kids. She's talking about, like, hey, I'm country star, and did I miss out on stuff? So we actually are going to play a little bit of the song, and it has the lyrics up on the screen if you want to follow along on YouTube or Rumble. So let's play that. I hit the vape hallucinate a nursery with Noah's Ark. They lay on a blanket, and goddamn he loves her.

I wonder if she wants my freedom, like I want to be a mother. But Rolling Stone says I'm on the right road So I refilled my lex A pro Thinking Did I miss it? By now is it A lucid dream is it my fault For chasing things

A body clock doesn't wait for I did the damn tour It's what I wanted, what I got I spun around and then I stopped And wonder if I missed it. so yeah it's just a little clip have you heard that before i've listened to it today and it's like it does it just like speaks to your heart of like man she did what society told her to make her happy and i believe what she thought would make her happy and there's been joy i'm sure in that and it's like

oh that reality as a woman that's so deep in us for for family that doesn't go away just because you have a super successful career yeah and you know your name is in lights she's i looked it up she's worth about $6 million. Oh, that's why I. Yeah, she isn't that bad for herself. One thing I think that's really, I've really appreciated about working in the Trump administration is just how family first. Everybody is across the entire admin.

I mean, look at, you know, our Secretary of War has seven kids. So it's a total false narrative that you can't be successful. Like, it's an either or that you have to put off a family like Steve Nick's saying to make your band a success. That's absolutely untrue. Children are always a blessing. And it's been wonderful, I think, working with people at the Department of War and just across the Trump administration, so many young moms who understand that that is the true purpose. And that is the most beneficial and rewarding thing that we'll ever have in our lives.

And you, I would say that the Trump administration culturally, on a larger scale, has ushered in this very pro-family sentiment. Even if you're not very pro-life or conservative, I just think it's a lot more okay to say these things. It's a whole cultural shit. Timothy Shalmay recently said that fatherhood is on his. radar and then he said bragging about not having kids and how much time it afforded them to do other stuff oh my gosh that's bleak like that was kind of a big thing for him to say he's in the prime of his career and he's saying like I want to be a father and if you're talking about how good it is to be childless that's kind of scary and you also brought up something to me earlier about

Jennifer Lawrence she's also a mother starring in a movie you can have it all maybe not all at once exactly she returned to it yeah and thank you Trump for that cultural shift I love these comments from Jennifer Lawrence because she has a way of just kind of cutting right to the heart of things. I really appreciate her as an actress. But these comments are so great. I think like before you have kids, if you're like excited to have kids, you're just like, oh, and then we'll do this together and they'll make me feel like this. And I'm so excited how it's going to make me feel. And then the reality is it's extremely sacrificial. I mean, that's the best part is you have never cared about yourself less. You know, your whole heart is

over there. There's so much to, I don't know, digest. your existence is so different. And it honestly just makes me sad when you look at a celebrity like Jennifer Lawrence, who has had so much success, who is a mother compared to Kelsey Ballerini, who is divorced. She's 32. And, you know, she could have, I mean, obviously that marriage ended. But, you know, I think it goes back to the priority of just the American family. And we have seen over not just the last decade, but a few decades of the destabilization

of the American family. And the lies that are being sold, I think largely to women by, feminism that, you know, you have to chase the corporate ladder. You have to chase things that are fulfilling for you instead of being selfless and, you know, getting married, having children and pursuing what I think is the ultimate American dream that will bring you ultimate fulfillment is your family and God, not your Excel spreadsheet corporate job. Yeah. Yeah. Well, to that end, Morgan, you have some news. I do. I just shared this week, and I want to share with you guys, my husband and I are expecting our first child in the spring.

So we're super excited. So with all this pro-family, everything, we are loving that forward. And as my husband and I like to say, we are starting our very own militia. So you are. Part one is coming soon. This is so wonderful. Fantastic. Massive congrats.

It's huge. We have another problematic human. We don't have to girl or boy yet, but we'll be very excited. You're not going to let it choose. It will choose its gender Just kidding Oh fantastic All right well real quick before we let you guys go

Last week you all gave us some spicy answers For our question of the week when we asked you Why do you think Zora Mamdami Gained so much of the young female vote In New York City I mean you guys are just great You give such great responses Okay so Katie Frost

318 hey Katie She wrote because they don't know a walking red flagged flag she used the emoji i love that real so true um there was a lot of answers that were similar to this uh anyway i'll just read it uh lilliana roland said because liberal women are idiots you know maybe we don't call people idiots but you know there's there's a little bit of education which is too nice i sometimes i am too nice guys um so a lot of people said ignorance and naivete such as mon grace 32 uh misguided i think a lot of that is very, very true.

Most females react based on emotion rather than concrete facts coming from a female. That's from Amira Alley 143. And then Natty Eyes 2010 says, regardless, he is a smoke show, L.O.L. So our question of the week this week, drum roll, is, is the culture shifting to embrace family more as we are here on this show? Or is it a trend? Or is it just a trend? Is this a fad? And, you know, we're seeing people in Hollywood, give a nice nod to the family, but it's not here to stay, or is this a real shift? We want to hear from you guys. And Kingsley. Where can everyone find you? Keep up with the Department of War. Keep up with what you're doing. Keep up with what you're doing. Keep up with what you're doing. Thank you for joining today. Thank you so much for having you. This is a lot. We try to put out a ton of super fun content of all the cool stuff that we're doing. So definitely check us out and follow along. Thank you for joining today. Thank you so much for having you. This is a And in 10 years, I'm looking out for your book. Thank you guys. We'll see you right back here next week.