The Dan Bongino Show - Tragedy on the Potomac (Ep. 2412)

Episode Date: January 30, 2025

In this episode, I investigate the horrific crash in the skies above Washington D.C., plus most notable moments of the RFK Jr. hearing, Trump's escalating war on illegal immigration, and more. GOP AGs warn Biden admin of 'catastrophic' consequences of FAA pushing DEI over merit-based hiring How Much Do Tariffs Matter? Test scores show schools further behind in reading, math Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Get ready to hear the truth about America on a show that's not immune to the facts with your host Dan Bongino. Folks, I hope you understand we're starting early today for a reason. Just a tragic situation last night. Everybody's worst fear. I have a fear of flying and have for a long time because of the lack of control. I mean, you're obviously not on a steering wheel

handling a stick shift, a gas pedal or a brake. Your life is in someone else's hands. Well, I've had this fear of flying for a long time. Just an unimaginable situation. And you know, I try to use my words carefully. Because in times of tragedy, I think it's important to when I say unimaginable, I mean it. I've flown in and out of Reagan, as many of you have. I mean, I think Michael just flew out of there a couple of weeks ago.

I don't know. Three, 400 times. I mean, it was our home airport and we were all agents in D.C. It's how we got pretty much everywhere. It was either that or Dulles. And I never imagined the situation where there would be a midair with a helicopter. It's a sensitive topic for me, obviously because of the tragic nature of it, but also because I've been involved in a number of helicopter flights in that exact same area. So I've seen both ends of it, the planes taking off and landing, having flown out of there,

and I've flown up the Potomac many times in these helos, in these birds, and it never even occurred to me that this would happen. So here's how we're gonna handle this. Number one, obviously we're gonna do it responsibly. I gotta tell you something right now. I love you all, the P1s and the listeners out there, and the Bonjino Army. You guys and ladies are the best in the business,

and you know why? Because you never get ahead of yourselves. I'm on X this morning, and Michael and I were chatting about it before. I mean a total show, and it rhymes with it. What a mess. People are ready with a thousand different theories. Why do we need to draw a concl- I don't understand why we need to do that. Not you, not you. I want to be absolutely clear not you. I don't understand why we're not even 24 hours out and everyone has the need to jump on clicks on X

to say, I definitely know what you, I promise you don't know what happened, I promise. It is okay to say that. It is also okay to ask questions. I have five open questions I wanna get to. We'll play the footage we have. And the reason we're starting early is Donald Trump is gonna speak, President Trump, excuse me, at 11 o'clock. And I want to take some of it live. We'll do our best to take as

much of it as we can. So we got you all covered today. Stand by folks, increase tariffs on our trade partners, tax cuts and regulation changes. Learn why gold is a viable diversification tactic now more than ever. The company I use Birch Gold is releasing its ultimate guide for gold in the Trump era with a forward by Donald Trump Jr. To get your free copy along with Birch Gold's free information kit on gold, text my name Dan to the number 989898. Here are the facts. The national debt continues to increase. Our interest payments on the national debt continue to increase. Gold is still one of your best hedges against the weakened dollar and Birch Gold is still the

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Message and data rates apply. You know what guys, I'm gonna skip the bell today. I don't usually do that, but given the tragic circumstances, that's usually more of a celebratory event for me, starting the show, but I'm not, this is gonna be deadly serious stuff today. So let me ask some open questions first.

If you're just waking up, getting the news, maybe you're out in the West Coast, Reagan Airport, there was a flight, it was descending, getting ready to land in what is unquestionably very congested airspace. There are a lot of programs, some I'm familiar with, we're obviously not gonna be talking about, that involve tracking a lot of these incoming

and outgoing aircraft. It's a very congested area. It is not a huge airport. It is a very tough place to land due to the congested space. Aircraft is landing. It is a flight from Wichita, Kansas, gets into a collision with a Black Hawk helicopter on an Army training mission, according to what Secretary Hegseth said, it doesn't appear at this point that there are any survivors. It appears it's going to be close to 60 plus souls lost, which is horrific, obviously. So some open questions first, which we'll address,

and we have some footage going on here too, that we're going to get to. And footage of the crash, which I warn you, you may not want to see it, but it's important that we cover it accurately. Number one is these aircraft, not so much the helicopter, but the airplane involved, they have this crash avoidance system built in, that if you've done anything with FAA, TRACON,

TFRs, ATISs, FRIZs, FRIZs, air security picture stuff, which we do. You're pretty familiar with how this works. I'm not a pilot. I'm not the Wikipedia pilot. I don't pretend to be a pilot. Just telling you things we've dealt with, haven't dealt with the air security picture often. Was that off when you get within a certain landing distance and a certain altitude?

Was it working? Was it off? Is it off automatically? Why didn't it go off? Was it, you know, was it working? Was it off? Is it off automatically? Why didn't it go off? Was it, when they get below a thousand feet, as I saw a couple of people commenting this morning, was that crash avoidance system not working or does it just go off

with a below that certain altitude? So that'll be an open question, because obviously that's what this system is designed to avoid, it crashed like what happened. Second, was it a case of target fixation where sometimes you'll talk to these? I will never forget one of the White House military aides was a was a helicopter pilot.

Talked to me often about flying at night, how it was difficult for him to operate at night without night vision. Also talked about things like target fixation, things like that, crowded battlefields. Did they, the helicopter pilots, were they fixated on an aircraft taking off and did they miss the one landing? That's a big miss, obviously a tragic one.

Were they fixed, were they fixated on the wrong target? Open question. Third question, was there night vision involved? Did it have anything to do with the closing of the visual field? I believe the night vision was available from what I'm hearing from early reports, but it's an open question. Cause until I get a conclusive answer, I'm applying the Bongino rule here. Fourth is the obvious one. Just how did this happen flight path wise?

This is a known flight corridor. That's very busy. How did this happen? Is it an altitude issue? Obviously, we're going to wait for some reporting on that and then fifth young comfortable question people have to ask I see it as highly unlikely I want to say that advance but it'd be irresponsible not to at least consider Was there a possibility that some of this was maybe not accidental? I just want to say in advance given from what I've heard from a number of pretty good sources and some media homework I've been doing that seems highly unlikely However, applying the Bonjino rule it works both ways Doesn't don't draw conclusions means don't draw conclusions

It doesn't mean don't ever ask a question ever for the rest of your life, then what's the purpose of this show? So those are five open questions I have right now. Let's check out the VO, the voiceover, sorry for using lingo, we'll talk over. You can see the video here on the screen right now. You see it right there. Obviously, it's not the greatest video, but you can see the aircraft on descent into the runway. And then you'll see at the end, obviously, flashing light. That's the crash between right there between the helicopter and the plane. Plane lands in the Potomac. It apparently inverted at some point is in

three pieces. Again, an unimaginable tragedy, and I use my words carefully. I have flown in and out of that airport so many times, as have many of you, it's nothing specific to me. I actually enjoy flying out of Reagan, it's very convenient, it's one of the reasons that DC lawmakers will do almost anything to keep that airport open and running. I don't know if you know this,

but there was some significant talk after 9-11 about closing that airport because of its proximity. Now, I would be inappropriate completely for me to comment on these matters, but I think it's a matter of public information out there. There are obviously programs to control and monitor the air traffic there because ladies and gentlemen, you make one wrong turn, you're on top of the White House, the Washington Monument, and the Capitol like that. There is really very little time

for contingency operations to take place. After 9-11, there was some talk about closing Reagan. However, the convenience of it, lawmakers use it. The talk about closing, it is now pretty much disappeared. There's the only talk now is how to expand it. So there is significant traffic that comes in and out of there. Secretary Hegseth issued a statement, Secretary Pete Hegseth, of course, Secretary Defense, Aisha Hosni reported on the statement on her Twitter feed.

She's a reporter from Fox, quote, this was an annual proficiency training flight. It was a fairly experienced crew that was doing a required annual night evaluation. They did have night vision goggles. We'll see if they were using them or not. That's why I'm going to leave that an open question. The 12th Aviation Battalion as of now was granted a 48-hour operational pause on contingency missions as what happened is reviewed. Obviously, Secretary Hegseth's a guy I trust. He's not going to lie to us. When we get some conclusions on what happens, I'm sure he'll be the one to tell us. Let me say as well, I have a lot of personal connections to the cabinet secretaries involved. They have been in office for less than a few days, including Secretary Hegseth, who just swore in. Secretary Duffy, Sean Duffy,

former congressman, another close personal friend. I mean, obviously the father of Evita, who's, I mean, it's just obvious, one of the hosts of our show here. So we have a lot of close personal ties. Secretary Duffy just swore in yesterday. Yesterday. So talk about, I mean, they won on a job. So his briefings have been as good as you can expect at this point, but he just got there. He just got there, dealing with this unimaginable tragedy.

I wanna play this. It's a clip from CNN. Disregard that it's CNN for a second. Sometimes on these matters, I just go to the commentators. This guy is a subject matter and expert, a guy named Pete Monteen. But this is a really, really informative clip where he's talking about. Again, I'm trying not to talk about this like I'm some kind of like new Wikipedia pilot.

I am not an expert on this. Let me say this in advance. I am not a pilot, but I have been on both of these aircraft, Blackhawks and obviously just flying into Reagan many times. If you've ever been on a Blackhawk, you'll notice right away that these helicopters are typically designed for air to ground missions. You know, they're not typically air to air. They're designed for air to ground missions,

especially these. So when you look at the visual field of the helicopter, it's hard to see up, but relatively easy to see down. I want you to listen to this guy, Pete Monteen on CNN, who explains pretty well, this clip's about a minute 30, but it's worth your time, about if there was a visual obstruction and this is just a catastrophic, we didn't see him and we crashed into each other, which we'll never know because it appears everybody's dead at this point. And the Blackhawk from what I know does not have a black box.

Obviously, the aircraft does, the airplane. point. And the Blackhawk from what I know does not have a black box. Obviously the aircraft does, the airplane. I want you to listen how the visual obstruction may have played into this. Check this out. If you can take me live for a second I can sort of demonstrate with my hands what the crews were and were not able to see. And so the helicopter, the Blackhawk helicopter, appeared to be coming from the right of the commercial flight that was descending into runway 33. It's a particularly perilous situation for pilots

because they can often not see very well below them as helicopter crews are often looking at the ground, flying primarily in reference to the ground, especially in a very critical phase of flying as a crew is descending, making that a final critical approach to landing. They are focused primarily on the runway and primarily on their instruments. They're not necessarily looking left and right scanning for other traffic. This may be something where the crew simply just did not have the ability to see the helicopter and the situation unfolding in front of them.

This is something that aviation experts have warned me about over and over since the start of 2023 when we saw these commercial flight, near collisions take off in the United States. Many of them became under the watchful eye of the National Transportation Safety Board and were the result of very sweeping probes. Those situations never involved an actual collision. What we are seeing now is the result of the warnings. It very much is the worst case scenario.

So there's a lot in that clip. Obviously, I would prefer you listening to experts who are actual transportation, aerial transportation experts, aviation experts on visuals and how it works because it's not my specific area of expertise. But what he's saying there is accurate from someone who's flown on these many times. And in why I was in that area, I'll have to leave for another day. But I've flown up and down the Potomac many, many times on Blackhawks, many times. The visuals are not great, especially what he just described.

Pilots looking at the ground, very difficult in the helicopter to see up. I'm not telling you that's what the reason is or the only reason. I'm just telling you, you should consider it. What he's saying there is not inaccurate. Also, at the end, there have been consistent problems with the FAA for a long time. The left's first impulse here, disgustingly, has been to politicize this. Let me just tell you in advance, it's a shame I have to cover this the way I will. We'll take President Trump when he's live in a few minutes.

However, the media are disgusting. They're going to make cheap politics out of a situation that has been ongoing for a long time. I have to fight back. That is my job, ladies and gentlemen. I'm not going to let you be misled by communist media propaganda. Let me take a quick break. We started early today at 10 45.

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Great product, can vouch. These statements of products have not been evaluated by the FDA, not attended to the diagnosis, to cure or prevent any disease. It's not a substitute or alternative for care from a healthcare provider. Thank you, we appreciate it. Again, folks, we're, Michael and Guy are keeping their eye

on President Trump. When he speaks, we're going to try to take as much as we can of it live. Probably not going to take the whole thing because it gets, sometimes he takes some questions at the end, this is a live stream, but a lot of people watch it on demand as well. I have to address this, it's sad, it's gross,

it's disgusting, but folks, there is an impulse with our communist media as always, as I said to you yesterday, especially with the liberal media to lie, to mislead, to propagandize, to play dumb or just in fact, be dumb. The problems, I fly a lot. I wish I didn't, but I do. It's not something to brag about. It's not a badge of honor. However, just in the last six months, we have probably been on about 20 flights back and

forth, which for me is a lot. We fly for business We have family all over the country. I've got four or five flights scheduled in the next few weeks alone We are constantly dealing with this. We flew out of Teterboro recently. We had a massive delay. Why? FAA why FAA flight control why FAA these problems at the FAA have been going on a long time flight control. Why FAA? These problems at the FAA have been going on a long time. In case liberal media people and the dumb ass producers missed it, the guy in charge for the last four years, his name is Joe Biden. And his transportation secretary was not Sean Duffy, who was sworn in literally yesterday. Okay. It was Pete boot edge edge. Okay.

Boot edge edge who seemed more focused on DEI over actually fixing the FAA. Did that have anything to do with this? I have absolutely no idea and I'm not going to speculate. However, put up the Fox News piece if you would. This is a real problem. You can see it yourself. Look at the date, February of 2024. It's now almost February of 2025. Republican attorneys general warned the Biden administration of catastrophic consequences of the FAA pushing DEI over merit-based hiring. Again, did that have anything to do with this? I wouldn't dare say so this early because I apply my own Bon Gino rule. However, I find it fascinating that the dumb ass people in the liberal media are already blaming Donald Trump or implying somehow Donald Trump who's been in office

what 10 days now had anything to do with this flight disaster that happened yesterday. This is disgusting. Here is Mika Brzezinski doing what they do best, pushing propaganda and lying to people. Check this out. Interesting, especially when you look at RFK and what the job is he's nominated for, or Cash Patel, or Pete Hegseth, who has gotten through. But you look at a situation like the breaking news that we're covering right now,

put the politics aside, it's the expertise that matters. And some are concerned about the expertise of these nominees. We'll be following those here. Is this for real? Is that, did that just happen? The former Department of Transportation secretary was the mayor of South Bend, Indiana,

a lovely city, I love. But you're gonna claim he had special expertise unlike a multi-term congressman and lawyer who was a news commentator, a prosecutor, and who's been in the public eye dealing with these situations in congress for years, you're really, you're really going to go there. That pothole Pete, p pot hole Pete was the pinnacle of expertise. Mika Brzezinski is a disgusting human being. Disgusting. She kissed Trump's ass to get back into White House. This is why presidents should never take a meeting

with these idiots ever. She's a disgusting human being. Pot hole Pete and your sight in expertise over a bronze Star winning military officer with an Ivy League education and Pete Hegseth over cash Patel a DoD and DOJ trained professional worked at the highest levels of the Trump White House over Sean Duffy a Skilled lawyer prosecutor and multi-term congressman out of a swing state and you're citing expertise? Are you shitting me, man? Ladies and gentlemen, however much you hate the media, you don't hate them enough. They deserve every ounce of this.

This is why they suck. This is why nobody believes them and whereas we can start this show fairly and say, yes, we're in charge now and we have to fix this. It's our job. Here are open questions. I don't have the answers. Notice how they've already drawn a conclusion. Disgusting. Here's CNN again, implication here that somehow Donald Trump, although he's been in office

10 days, the left has done nothing but obstruct the nomination process to get people in there is somehow blaming the nomination and confirmation process that they delayed, by the way, for not having people in. I mean, this is really just gross. Check this out. Mary, I have one more question for you. Look, it's January 29th. We are just nine days out from a presidential transition, an administrative transition. The FAA administrator resigned at the end of the Biden administration.

So there is no permanent confirmed FAA administrator right now. This is gonna be a time when there's gonna be a lot of public communication and a lot of investigation of what happened here. What do you anticipate this transition period is going to mean for what happens today and tomorrow and in the coming days as we find out what happened here? Again, CNN and MSNBC by implication pretending the Biden administration wasn't in charge for four years with pothole peed at the DOT,

Department of Transportation. Folks these FAA problems have been known about forever. This is not new. Folks in the chat, and again we started early today, sorry to folks if you missed me, please watch the beginning of the show on demand where we cover some open questions, which I'm gonna get to again as we wait for President Trump to speak. We're gonna try to take as much as we can of it live.

I don't wanna steal from you any of the content you came here for. That's why we started early. I hope you all understand. Folks, if you fly, folks in the chat, confirm this story for me. You know for a fact, there have been since COVID significant problems staffing the FAA. I'm telling you, I just flew out of New Jersey on a three, four hour delay, not that long

ago on a flight that shouldn't have had a delay and the reason clear skies and everything staffing issues FAA. It happens all the time. Now, Secretary Duffy is going to get it fixed. So is President Trump. But it's up to me to be honest with you and not BS you, okay? It's not going to happen overnight, folks.

Joe Biden buried us in a four-year hole. Secretary Pete, all of his losers in the Biden cabinet, they destroyed the Pentagon and elsewhere. It's not going to be rebuilt overnight. Secretary Duffy has been the secretary for barely, not even 24 hours yet. It's gonna take a long time to unscrew. This is why again, however much you hate the media, it's not enough. There's a lot going on today.

We got Cash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard up on Capitol Hill. This is really one of those triage days where it's my responsibility to make sure I get to you everything in digestible nuggets. So just bear with me. I just want to end where I began about this tragic story. Over Reagan Airport in D.C. The crash avoidance system, what happened with it is an altitude issue

that it turned off automatically. Those are open questions. I'm going to leave to aviation experts at this point. Was it a situation of target fixation where the pilot from the helicopter just did not see that specific aircraft because remember there's another aircraft you can see it all over the place was taking off did they happen to see that if they were flying with night vision? Folks if you ever use night vision anyone in the chat This is what I just find hard to believe and I don't want to jump to any conclusions.

Bongino rule definitely applies here. However, if you're flying with the night vision on, those lights on the plane are really, really, really bright. That's what night vision does. Depending on which specific version of it you're using, either one, it doesn't matter. The lights are even harder to miss. Now it does close off your visual field a little bit.

Why were these flight paths intersecting? Was it an altitude issue, what was it? And again, was it an intentional act? Was it an accident? I strongly believe this was probably an accident. However, I'm not jumping to any conclusions on it. Okay, we're getting ready for President Trump to speak on it.

However, there is a ton of breaking news today. Cash Patel is up on Capitol Hill right now in case you all missed the open. The Democrats, of course, are doing what they always do. Are you a conspiracy theorist? Why did you appear on this show, that show, this show? Cash is doing just fine. I'm asking you a personal favor about this. We got Secretary Heg set through. Secretary Duffy

sailed through with no problem. I'm hoping it's soon to be Attorney General. Pam Bondi sails through no problem. I don't see any issues there. But I need a favor from you and the Bongino Army. We're the most powerful force out there. We just are. The numbers don't lie. I need you to send a respectfully worded email, if you could, please. Okay, yeah, just kidding. Let me keep my eyes on it.

To your Senator, your home state Senator today, I don't care if it's a Democrat or a Republican, and just say, we strongly support Cash Patel for FBI director. I'm telling you, he's the right guy, and I can prove it to you. Just go on X and look at the deep state liberal accounts hiding behind like phony avatars and everything

who are doing everything they can to keep cash out of there. Ask yourself a question, why? Okay? Always, always gauge the effectiveness of a cabinet appointee or a personnel decision, a law, a piece of legislation, whatever it may be, by how your enemies and the deep state liberal accounts pretending to be us, they absolutely hate Cash Patel and have sacrificed

any human dignity to try to keep this guy out because they know, they know with certainty he is going to go and take those rocks and turn them over. Okay, folks, what a time to be alive. I mean, I've never seen anything like this. There was another hearing yesterday. It is really important to me again to triage the news cycle so I give you all the news nuggets that are interesting, but we can't forget what happened yesterday either. Bobby Kennedy, who has been nominated to be secretary of HHS,

was up on Capitol Hill at a hearing. And there were a lot of things that happened up there that are important for us to understand the political environment at the time. This is an amazing time to be alive. Michael, you ever seen anything like this, where we're watching the role reversal of the two parties in live time?

The Democrats previously claimed, claimed, it's important, to be the party of tolerance, the working man, coexistence, attacking Big Pharma, to watch this role reversal in lifetime where the Democrats attack the working man, engage in full blown lack of coexistence and tolerance by claiming if you're white, if you're Jewish, if you're Asian, you're not one of us, you're white adjacent. But if you meet these criteria, I mean the most racist people possible is the modern liberal, right? Have you ever seen a role reversal like this?

Democrats attacking tech companies, supporting big pharma. I've never seen anything like this. And I don't use that term big pharma as a pejorative. They're just big companies. I know the Democrats do. I thank God we have pharmaceutical companies that, you know, they kept me alive after I got cancer. They've created modern medicine. Thank God. However, you know, there are obviously issues with how they operate and Bobby Kennedy is going to be looking into that. So I want you liberals out there who are watching my show because I know you do because this was important.

I want you to tell me what is exactly is untrue and be specific in my chat if you there like the Joe Ragu clown yesterday. Tell me exactly you what you disagree with and what's untrue about what RFK said in his opening yesterday about why the hell is the richest country on earth so freaking unhealthy? What beef could you possibly have with this? Check this out. I want to say something about what you first said. When I launched my campaign

it was about uniting Americans, Democrats, Republicans. There's no issue that should unite us more than this chronic health epidemic. There's no such thing as Republican children or Democratic children. These are our kids. 66% of them are damaged. I know what a healthy kid looks like, because I had so many of them in my family. I didn't know anybody with a food allergy growing up, peanut allergy. Why do five of my kids have allergies?

Why are we seeing these explosions, and diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, neurological diseases, depression, all these things that are related to toxicity in the environment. Why can't we just agree with each other to put differences about so many issues, intractable issues, aside and say, we're going to end this.

I don't think anybody is going to be able to do this like I have because of my peculiar experience, because I've litigated against these agencies, when you litigate against them, you get a PhD in corporate capture and how to unravel it. What do you disagree with there? What? I'm not suggesting that me and RFK, RFK was a Democrat and I have, I share very little in common with him on his past with environmentalism, which I believe is used as a proxy.

I've come into this with an open mind, however, what did RFK say there you disagree with? Folks, listen, I'm not here to give you sob stories, but I was a really ridiculously unhealthy kid. I was, you don unhealthy kid. I was. You don't need my life story because I'm not going to bore you to death. However, you name some malady, I had it. Asthma, eczema, whatever it was. I went through a lot growing up. Who really cares? I was told by medical professionals, I'm not knocking doctors or anything like

that in stereotypes, but it's true. Oh, it's this, it's that. He needs to put cortisone on or he needs to stop eating this and stop eating that. Folks, I largely disregarded that and started doing this crazy thing called eating healthy, eating homegrown stuff, eating meats and vegetables and healthy fats. And I'm going to tell you something. The advice I got about cortisone and all this other stuff, I'm just telling you for me, I'm not your doctor, do not take medical advice from me, was wrong.

I started cleaning my skin with a, with a, got the staph out from under the fingernails. And I never had to deal with any of these problems ever again. I have not thanked, thank God, thank you Jesus, and I'm not using his name in vain, I have not had an asthma attack in 30 years. I am taking no medication for it at all. I don't even have one of those inhalers anymore. I probably should in case there's an, but I don't. Probably not, I don't because I'm just so not used to it anymore.

What is going on here? If all the standard nutrition and medical advice in the day we used to get, eat rice cakes, all was so accurate, then why are we so unhealthy? Why? You don't want a guy at Health and Human Services, Health, the HHS liberal stands for Health and Human Services, asking questions about health and human services. What is your beef with this guy?

And to the Democrat frauds, whereas us Republicans out there, especially thank you, Anita, for putting up how to email your senators in the chat there. For those in our chat and elsewhere, and the liberals listening to the show, most of my listeners can get past the fact that RFK has a political past they don't necessarily agree with, because we are outcome based. And if RFK is going to HHS to answer these questions, like why we're so

unhealthy, my listeners are like, that sounds like a good outcome for me. Why can't Democrats do the same? Democrats loved RFK forever until RFK said, I think Donald Trump is a better guy to make America healthy again. And then what happened? These fake phony frauds were like, that guy's Hitler, fascist, a Nazi. It shows you one side stands on principle and outcomes while the other side is completely full of crap.

Here, check out RFK and why the Democrats all of a sudden can't stand them. Check this out. All these Democrats are opposed to me for partisan issues. They used to be my friends. Agreed with me on all the environmental issues I've been working on for my whole career. Now they're against me because anything that President Trump does, any decision he makes has to be lampooned, derided, discredited, marginalized, vilified. Folks, this is my, I've discussed this often on the show,

it's the Dan Bongino show your ass theory, okay? What does that mean? I haven't brought it up in a while. It's this impulse amongst Democrats, and Michael said it right, this is political politician Democrats. The average rank and file Democrats still loves RFK, okay? This is how detached these people are on Capitol Hill

from reality and these bureaucrats and bureaucratic class out there. The show you're asked theory is this, the Democrats to show allegiance to their donors and the crazy class which financed the party, one guy will say, Trump's a racist. The other guy who then doesn't get a donation because he didn't say it harsh enough,

the other guy go, well, that didn't raise money. So I learned from this guy, I'm gonna say something worse. No, he's a Nazi. And it's like, oh, I got a donation. And the other guy's saying, well, donors are like, you gotta up the ante. So they all have to show their ass and say increasingly crazy things.

This is how you get to the point where RFK, a career Democrat, who Trump is approaching this as some kind of team of former rivals approach, but people who are loyal this time, this is why Democrats discredit themselves in the eyes of the public. Here's another clip from yesterday, folks. This Make America Healthy Again thing is, listen, can I talk to you straight? Yesterday's hearing is one of the most important things you can, if you can watch it in total, I recommend you do even in lieu of my own show.

Folks I'm a guy who's been through a lot. Cancer horrible childhood nonsense, you know, what 19 orthopedic surgeries so far. I've not been a healthy guy my whole life. Don't miss, I'm saying this seriously. I don't mean, this isn't clown show time. Don't mistake a lot of the show muscles and all this stuff. I've been through a lot. My body is pretty broken down.

If you're not healthy, you have nothing. You do not wanna look your kids in the face like I had at one time and say, kids, your father has cancer and have no aunt, you don't. This is serious, literal life or death stuff. And Bobby Kennedy is asking questions that we should all be asking. Absolutely regardless of your political ideology. Here's another clip right here. Asking again, simple questions.

How are we the richest country on earth and we're plagued with diabetes and all these other problems? Are we poisoning ourselves? Seems like we are. Listen to this. The same chemicals that kill fish make people sick also. Today Americans overall health is in grievous condition. Over 70% of adults and a third of children are overweight or obese.

Diabetes is 10 times more prevalent than it was during the 1960s. Cancer among young people is rising by 1% or 2% a year. Autoimmune diseases, neurodevelopmental disorders, Alzheimer's, asthma, ADHD, depression, addiction, and a host of other physical and mental health conditions are all on the rise, some of them exponentially.

The United States has worse health than any other developed nation, yet we spend more on healthcare, at least double, and in some cases triple as other countries. Last year we spent $4.8 trillion not counting the indirect costs of missed work. That's almost a fifth of GDP. It's tantamount to a 20% tax on the entire economy. All right, President Trump's getting ready to come out and speak. I want to address some of what RFK said.

So we're going to take some of this live. You guys can... Okay. Let me see if I can... Can you get me to hear it too? I want to hear what he has to say. Okay. A moment of silence for the victims and their families, please.

Thank you very much. I speak to you this morning in an hour of anguish for our nation. Just before 9 p.m. last night, an American Airlines regional jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew collided with an Army Blackhawk helicopter carrying three military service members over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., while on final approach to Reagan National Airport. Both aircraft crashed instantly and were immediately submerged into the icy waters of the Potomac. A real tragedy. The massive search and rescue mission was underway throughout the night, leveraging every asset at our disposal and I have to say the local, state, federal, military, including the United States

Coast Guard in particular, they've done a phenomenal job. So quick, so fast, it was mobilized immediately. The work has now shifted to a recovery mission. Sadly, there are no survivors. This was a dark and excruciating night in our nation's capital and in our nation's history and a tragedy of terrible proportions. As one nation, we grieve for every precious soul that has been taken from us so suddenly and we are a country of of really we are in mourning. This is really shaking a lot of people, including people very sadly from other nations who are on the flight.

For the family members back in Wichita, Kansas, here in Washington, DC and throughout the United States and in Russia, we have a Russia contingent, some very talented people, unfortunately, we're on that plane. Very, very, very sorry about that. Whose loved ones were aboard the passenger jet, we can only begin to imagine the agony that you're all feeling. Nothing worse. On behalf of the First Lady, myself, and 340 million Americans, our hearts are shattered

alongside yours and our prayers are with you now. And in the days to come, we'll be working very, very diligently in the days to come. We're here for you to wipe away the tears and to offer you our devotion, our love and our support. There's great support. In moments like this, the differences between Americans fade to nothing compared to the bonds of affection and loyalty that unite us all, both as Americans and even as nations. We are one family, and today we are all heartbroken. We're all searching for answers. That icy, icy Potomac, it was a cold, cold night, cold water. We're all overcome with the grief for many who have so tragically perished, will no longer be with us. Together

we take solace in the knowledge that their journey ended not in the cold waters of the Potomac, but in the warm embrace of a loving God. We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and I think we'll probably state those opinions now. Because over the years, I've watched as things like this happen, and they say, well, we're always investigating. And then the investigation, three years later, they announce it. We think we have some pretty good ideas. But we'll find out how this disaster occurred and we'll ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. The FAA and the NTSB and the U.S. military will be carrying out a systematic and comprehensive investigation.

Our new Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, is day on the job. When that happened, it's a rough one. We'll be working tirelessly. He's a great gentleman. Whole group is, these are great people and they are working tirelessly to figure out exactly what happened. We will state certain opinions, however, I'm also immediately appointing an acting commissioner to the FAA, Christopher Rochelieu, a 22-year veteran of the agency, highly respected. Christopher, thank you very much. Appreciate it. We must have only the highest standards for those who work in our aviation system.

I changed the Obama standards from very mediocre at best to extraordinary. You remember that. Only the highest aptitude, they have to be the highest intellect and psychologically superior people were allowed to qualify for air traffic controllers. That was not so prior to getting there. When I arrived in 2016, I made that change very early on because I always felt this was a job that, and other jobs too, but this was a job that had to be superior intelligence. And we didn't really have that and we had it. And then when I left office and Biden took over, he changed them back to lower than ever

before. I put safety first, Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobody has ever seen because this was the lowest level. Their policy was horrible and their politics was even worse. So as you know, last week, long before the crash, I signed an executive order restoring our highest standards for air traffic controllers and other important jobs throughout the country. So it was very interesting. About a week ago, almost upon entering office,

I signed something last week that was an executive order, very powerful on restoring the highest standards of air traffic controllers and others, by the way. Then my administration will set the highest possible bar for aviation safety. We have to have our smartest people. It doesn't matter what they look like, how they speak, who they are. It matters intellect, talent, the word talent.

You have to be talented, naturally talented geniuses. You can't have regular people doing that job. They won't be able to do it. But we'll restore faith in American air travel. I'll have more to say about that. I do want to point out that various articles that appeared prior to my entering office, and here's one. The FAA's diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric The next one is the next one. The next one is the next one. The next one is the next one. The next one is the next one.

The next one is the next one. The next one is the next one. The next one is the next one. The next one is the next one. They can be air traffic controllers. I don't think so. This was in January 14th, so that was a week before I entered office. They put a big push to put diversity into the FAA's program. Then another article, the Federal Aviation Administration. This was before I got to office, recently, second term. The FAA is actively

recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency's website. Can you imagine? These are people that are, I mean, actually their lives are shortened because of the stress that they have. Brilliant people have to be in those positions and their lives are actually shortened, very substantially shortened because of the stress

where you have many, many planes coming into one target and you need a very special talent and a very special genius to be able to do it. Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring. The FAA's website states they include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability, and dwarfism all qualify for the position of a controller of airplanes pouring into our country, pouring into a little spot, a little dot on the map, a little runway.

The initiative is part of the FAA's diversity and inclusion hiring plan. Think of that. The initiative is part of the FAA's diversity and inclusion hiring plan, which says diversity is integral to achieving FAA's mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel. I don't think so. I don't think so. I think it's just the opposite.

The FAA website shows that the agency's guidance on diversity hiring were last updated on March 23rd of 22. They wanted to make it even more so. And then I came in and I assume maybe this is the reason, the FAA, which is overseen by Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a real winner. That guy's a real winner. Do you know how badly everything's run since he's run the Department of Transportation? He's a disaster. He was a disaster as a mayor. He ran his city into the ground, and he's a disaster now. He's just got a good line of bullshit.

The Department of Transportation, his government agency charged with regulating civil aviation. Well, he runs it, 45,000 people, and he's run it right into the ground with his diversity. All right, folks. I took as much of Donald Trump's statement there as going to be some Q&A. Obviously, you're free to watch it. You're free to watch the rest of it. I just want to make sure we got Donald Trump's statement

in there, because there are a couple of takeaways from there where I would be remiss if I did not repeat them, because they were important. Number one, he's appointing immediately an acting FAA commissioner. Obviously a good idea right now, given that the FAA commissioner under Pete Buttigieg and the Biden administration had since resigned.

That's big news. He emphasized, I saw some of you in the chat disagree. Again, I don't, I have no problem with Trump's communication style. I'm from Queens, New York, like he is. Some of you do, fair enough. Some of you thought that maybe he should have been a little bit more emotional.

Fair enough. I'm just telling you that transactional Donald Trump is always transactional Donald Trump. And he keeps re-emphasizing and saying this over and over about how this doesn't make sense, common sense, how this aircraft and this aircraft were in the exact same altitude, because he doesn't get it as a transactional guy. How the hell did this happen? And that's what he's asking his people. He just happens to air that. That's just how he is and how he communicates.

And I think another takeaway, if you saw me taking notes during it, was his mention of the fact we got Secretary Duffy up there taking some questions now as well, of tapes. He says he's seen or heard some tapes. He wasn't really specific. He said he saw the Kennedy Center tapes. But he also, I think, mentioned some point. I've seen or heard these tapes.

I'm assuming he's talking about air traffic control. My guess is he knows something about the FAA stuff. And again, if the media is gonna politicize this right away and blame Donald Trump as a transactional guy, he's gonna say, well, here's the problems I'm trying to fix. I don't have an issue with it. I know some of you may, and that's fair enough,

but I don't. I don't have any issue with it at all. I want a transactional guy in there. I want to solve this problem. This has been a major disaster and we need some answers and I believe he's the guy to get him along with Secretary Duffy. All right, quick break.

We're gonna get back to some more of the show that I have prepared for you because some important things happened yesterday as well. You know, seeing my dad over the holidays was really special. We're all gathered around the table, talking, sharing some stories, talking about our time at Yankee games growing up.

But you know, that was a while. Millions of Americans over the age of 65 started to lose their hearing, including my father. So it's hard to hear, especially in a loud room for him. My father was one of them. So I gave him some MD hearing aids. So let me tell you, they are a game changer. The year was completely different.

Everything's engaging with them now. He hears better, especially in groups of people. MD hearing really brought the family conversations back to life. This podcast is brought to you by MD Hearing. FDA registered and rechargeable. You won't even know they're there. They fit right inside your ear.

Plus, MD Hearing just launched their smallest model yet, the NEO XS. Try it out. Get the high quality, affordable hearing aids you deserve with MD Hearing just launched their smallest model yet, the Neo XS. Try it out. Get the high quality, affordable hearing aids you deserve with MD Hearing. Go to shopmdhearing.com, use promo code PATRIOT, get a pair of hearing aids for just $297, plus they're adding a free extra charging case at $100 value just for my listeners. That's shopmdhearing.com, use our promo code PATRIOT, and get a pair of hearing aids for just $297.

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Microdermabrasion treatment absolutely free every orders upgraded to free priority shipping. That's genucel.com slash Dan Genucel.com slash Dan. Thank you to all of our sponsors. We appreciate it Thank you to all of our sponsors. We appreciate it. Let's get back to the show. So a couple of other things happened yesterday during the hearing as well. This use of the pejorative conspiracy theorist to reference Bobby Kennedy. Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to disregard that completely. It is nothing but a slap in the face designed to discredit a guy who has asked some questions,

some questions he's been right about, some he may be wrong about, we'll see. But Bobby Kennedy addressed this yesterday, and this is exactly how you answer this question. Check this out. Yeah, that's right. Are you a conspiracy theorist? That is a pejorative, Senator, that's applied to me,

mainly to keep me from asking difficult questions of powerful interest. I was told that I was a conspiracy theorist. That label was applied to me because I said that the vaccines, the COVID vaccine, didn't prevent transmission and it wouldn't prevent infection. When the government was telling people, Americans, that it would, I was saying that because I was looking

at the monkey studies in May of 2020. I was called a, now everybody admits it. I was called a conspiracy theorist because I said red dye caused cancer, and now FDA has acknowledged that and banned it. I was called a conspiracy theorist because I said, fluoride lowered IQ. Last week, JAMA published a meta review of 87 studies

saying that there's a direct inverse correlation between IQ loss. All right, so I'm gonna assume a lot of this. I could go on for about a week. Folks, that's exactly how you answer that question every single time. Are you a conspiracy theorist? Well, tell me which one of these is conspiracy number one and which one's theoretical, because

I seem to have been accurate about all of these. Here's another one. It's my last one from the HHS hearing yesterday. Folks, if we can't make America healthy again, we're not going to have much of a country. If we don't have a healthy country that can defend itself, we don't have a country, we have a suggestion of one. You should never fall prey to this. I want to hat tip Rand Paul last night who was on the Ingram angle on Fox.

And for the first time ever that I've heard, I'm not saying it hasn't happened, answered this question the right way, which Senator Paul always does. Folks, when you talk about healthcare as a right, a capital R right, you are creating an obligation for someone else. We are a country of negative rights. In other words, what the government, the Constitution, is what the government can't do to you. Can't invade your home, take your private property, can't take your business papers, it can infringe on your free speech. We are the governing documents are largely documents of negative rights, what the government can't do to you

to take away your rights. To declare something a positive right that the government has the right to declare healthcare right creates an obligation for someone else. Rand Paul knocked it out of the park last night on the Ingram angle on this. I have used, I've spoken about this a thousand times. Bernie Sanders does this all thousand times. Bernie Sanders

does this all the time. He did it to Bobby Kennedy yesterday. Folks, healthcare is not a right and we should be clear about that. It is an obligation for us as a moral people to find a way to get good quality healthcare. Declaring it a right, a right legally, a big all right, that's what that is, means you can walk into a doctor's office ahead of every well-said, I'm here to declare my right. Is that what you want? This is how you turn around. He asked Bobby Kennedy this yesterday, they do this all the time, check this out.

Senator, I can't give you a yes or no answer to that question. Healthcare or human right? Is healthcare a human right? In the way that free speech is a human right? In the way that free speech, the human right, I would say it's different because if with free speech doesn't cost anybody anything, but in healthcare, if you smoke cigarettes for 20 years and you get cancer, you are now taking from the pool.

So are you guaranteed the same? I'm sorry. I'd love to talk for an hour with you. We got a few minutes left here. All right Every other country knows says health care whether you're poor or rich younger role to human right. I'm not hearing you say that All right folks given all that's going on today I think it's important that we covered what happened at the HHS hearing yesterday. If you're not healthy, there's no point in having a show because you're not going to be here to listen to it and I'm not going to be here to broadcast it.

I thought Bobby Kennedy did a fine job. I hope his confirmation process is not derailed. But again, they're going to ask you that question all the time. When someone asks you if something is a right, you should ask them, have you thought about the obligations that confer on other people when you declare things rights? Because the communists did that all the time, and people starved to death. Millions of people, when they declared

other people's food their right. Going to exit the show a little early today, given the news cycle going on. We started way early, so we're actually over on a little bit of time here. But I hope you understand. I will be on the radio show in just a few minutes. If you want to watch it on Rumble, rumble.com slash upon Gino.

Please download the Rumble app. Give us a follow. Follow us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify as well. Forgive me for the schedule today, but I think given everything that happened, you guys all understand. Thank you very much for tuning in. Really appreciate it. See you on the radio show here in Rumble a little that happened, you guys all understand. Thank you very much for tuning in.

Really appreciate it. See you on the radio show here in Rumble a little bit back here tomorrow at 11 a.m. See you then. You just heard the Dan Bongino Show.