The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 1.14 The Andrew Tate Ben Shapiro Problem Is Exposing A Lot, Big LA Fire Updates, & Pete Hegseth vs Dems

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

Subscribe for New shows every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday @ 6pm ET/3pm PST & watch more here: https://youtu.be/qy27PE-rRak?si=RZFpKuu_eg_bIM5-&list=PLHcsGizlfLMWpSg7i0b9wnUyEZWI-25N3 Just go to http://www.vessi.com/defranco for 15% off your first order. Get an exclusive NordVPN deal here https://nordvpn.com/phil It's risk-free with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee! ☕️ Get 50% OFF Your First Bags of WakeandMake.com Coffee right now! And maybe even join our international travel club! – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Conservative Infighting Grows Ahead of Inauguration 08:06 - Hospital Asks Wrong Family to Take Man Off Life Support 10:54 - Sponsored by Vessi 12:00 - As Fires Continue in LA, Questions About Aid and Causes Emerge 19:08 - Sponsored by NordVPN 20:20 - Pete Hegseth Gets Grilled at Confirmation Hearing 27:30 - Comment Commentary Hegseth Confirmation Hearing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwLLCRI8usM&list=PLHcsGizlfLMWpSg7i0b9wnUyEZWI-25N3 Molly Burke video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtW6wp4TWcE&list=PLHcsGizlfLMWpSg7i0b9wnUyEZWI-25N3 —————————— Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino ———————————— For more Philip DeFranco: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-philip-defranco-show/id1278424954 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ESemquRbz6f8XLVywdZ2V Twitter: https://x.com/PhillyD Instagram: https://instagram.com/PhillyDeFranco Newsletter: https://www.dailydip.co TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@philipdefranco?lang=en ———————————— #DeFranco #AndrewTate #PeteHegseth ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We need to talk about this wild growing conservative infighting that's been happening because it's exposing a lot and it has a new target, Andrew Tate. He's an online troll and he revels in precisely the evil conservatives hate. Now, obviously, Andrew Tate's been making headlines for years now and his whole alpha male anti-woke persona has led to him being lumped into and often embraced in right wing circles. And recently appeared on Benny Johnson's show alongside one of Trump's lawyers where we saw this interaction. Hi. Hello. Nice to meet you. I'm a big fan. Well, nice to meet you. Big fan.

I'm a fan. You're the one saving Trump. Also lately, we've seen things like Elon Musk sharing Tate's posts and responding positively to posts about him. And that also notably coming after Tate has suggested he has political ambitions, running a poll asking, should I enter politics and run for prime minister

of the UK? And even though that's not quite how electing a PM works over there, the option, yes, save Britain, spelled incorrectly, did win. And while with that, you know, that post wasn't taken too seriously by non-supporters, that it wasn't covered by tons of mainstream outlets, just today, you did have the Guardian publishing an opinion piece

saying that while his efforts look like a publicity stunt, it's important not to write off Tate's political ambitions as meaningless attention-seeking, adding it's highly unlikely Tate will ever be prime minister, sure, but trolls like him already have an oversized role in politics and their influence seems only to be growing. Which then brings us to people in conservative media who are taking Tate's influence seriously

and they're now pushing back against the right's decision to embrace it. For example, Ben Shapiro yesterday posting a video titled "'The Right Should Dump Andrew Tate'." With Shapiro there listing out the trafficking and assault allegations that have been made against Tate and arguing against the conservative platforming that he's received thus far. With him saying that he has no problem with conservative hosts interviewing Andrew Tate, saying there's nothing wrong with that in theory, but in practice,

no one is asking him the right questions. He rips off thousands of people with his scam hustlers university. He preaches the virtue of treating women in a way you would never, ever allow anyone to treat your wife or your daughter. No one is saying you can't have Andrew Tate on your show. It's a free country. You should do what you want. What I'm saying is that if you say you're conservative and then you have someone who truly is disgusting on and you proceed to tout them, praise them, not along to everything they say, cheer them, you're doing more than platforming. Shapiro is saying there's a line

between having a conversation with someone and becoming a means to spread their propaganda. With him then further arguing that Tate's persona, it doesn't even actually fall in line with conservative ideas. Saying that even though Tate is seen as a champion of masculinity. Masculinity has good iterations

and it also has really, really ugly iterations. And the iteration that Andrew Tate pushes is not a responsible masculinity. With him then adding that just because someone is anti-left, that doesn't make them a sustainable conservative figurehead. And this is Shapiro noted himself that he is not the only conservative to call Tate out. And actually, if you go to his comments, you have a lot of people supporting Shapiro's takedown of Tate. But that also doesn't mean that support for him is going anywhere. And we actually saw that today in response to news that a Romanian court had lifted the house arrest

Tate has been under since August, which means that he can now leave his house, though he's been placed under judicial control, which means he still cannot leave Romania. He has to check in regularly with police and cannot contact suspects or witnesses tied to an investigation into him. And so with that, while obviously Tate was celebrating the news, he was not alone, right? His supporters were very happy and they were abundant. That said, this specific Andrew Tate, Ben Shapiro situation, it's not this outlier. In fact, it brings us to more news regarding general conservative infighting. Most of these, they deal less with the influencer space and more with the directly political space. For example, just a week

until the inauguration, things in Trump world get intense. You had VP-elect J.D. Vance causing a bit of a stir over the weekend for comments that he made to Fox News about which people that are serving time for January 6th should receive or should not receive pardons from Trump. Look, if you protested peacefully on January the 6th and you've had Merrick Garland's Department of Justice treat you like a gang member, you should be pardoned. If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn't be pardoned. And there's a little bit of a gray area there, but we're very much committed to seeing the equal administration of law. And there are a lot of people we think in the wake of January the 6th who were prosecuted unfairly. We need to rectify that.

And those remarks from Vance are super significant because they go much further than anything Trump has said when questioned about pardons for violent offenders. Where Trump has kind of long evaded giving a direct answer about who among the 1,500 who have been charged in connection with the insurrection will receive the pardons that he has long promised as one of his first acts in office. Though, in the past, he has said that there might be exceptions if quote, somebody was radical, crazy. But then just last week when asked whether he was planning to pardon Jay Sixers charge with violent offenses, Trump responded, we'll be looking at the whole thing, but I'll be making major pardons. Yes. So Vance's latest remarks, they've spurred a good deal of backlash online from Trump supporters. With a seeing among other things, an ex-account claiming to represent Jake Lang,

who is awaiting trial on charges of beating police officers at the Capitol, making a lengthy post and sharing a video message condemning Vance's remarks. With that account writing, the J6 hostages families have been crushed by the mixed messaging coming from the White House on the J6 pardon process recently,

and saying, we are utterly confused. With them then going on to falsely claim that all rioters charged were protesting peacefully, but were set up and entrapped by the FBI and had unfair trials in a corrupt justice system. With them adding, how can J6ers be condemned slash left behind and some be deemed worthy of leaving this hellhole torture when all have been railroaded in a two-tiered persecution? With them then concluding by calling for everyone charged in the insurrection to be pardoned. With it also being echoed by another user who claimed to be a January 6th survivor who posted, telling your own supporters that the election was stolen

and then not giving them a pardon or commutation after you sent them into what you call a fedsurrection and trap is a betrayal. All of the J6 defendants must be saved. J.D. Vance is wrong and I hope Trump will save his own supporters. With it then seeming like the backlash got so bad that Vance himself actually responded to a post

by the Hodge twins saying that he donated to the January 6th political prisoner fund and has been defending these guys for years. With the men claiming that there were federal informants in the crowd who shouldn't get a pardon and arguing that he wasn't walking back Trump's claims. And adding, I assure you, we care about people unjustly locked up.

Yes, that includes people provoked and it includes people who got a garbage trial. But then also that wasn't the only recent battle in Trump world, because there's also now a lot of coverage around recent remarks made by Steve Bannon, who of course was one of the architects of Trump's 2016 campaign, who served as a close advisor. And man, we saw Bannon absolutely tearing into Elon Musk

in a recent interview with an Italian newspaper and vowing to oust him from Trump's orbit, saying, he is a truly evil guy, a very bad guy. I made it my personal thing to take this guy down. And then adding, I will have Elon Musk run out of here by inauguration day. Also among the other things he said, Bannon went as far as to say that Musk should go back to South Africa where he was born and continuing. Why do we have South Africans, the most racist people on earth, white South Africans, we have them making any comments at all on what goes on in the United

States. Right, and notably here, these comments at all on what goes on in the United States. Right, and notably here, these comments come after Bannon and Musk also recently had another high profile battle over a visa program that allows foreigners with technical skills to work in the US for up to six years. With Bannon, along with many other anti-immigration Trump supporters condemning Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy,

and other so-called tech bros for supporting those visas, arguing that they take jobs away from US workers. With then, Musk and Ramaswamy essentially hitting back by arguing that there are not enough good American workers for those jobs. And also with this, I wanna say it has been very notable the differences in the ways that media outlets have been reporting on Bannon's latest remarks.

Because on one end of the spectrum, you have more left-leaning outlets kind of painting this as a significant moment of infighting among key Trump allies that represent a broader rift between two different factions of Trump supporters. With outlets like the Washington Post writing, while previous battles were mostly between the old Republican establishment and MAGA, the new ones are largely between various sectors of the MAGA movement jostling for influence. With the New York Times also echoing

that and saying that Bannon's remarks reflect broader tension on the right in the United States about the direction of the movement that Mr. Trump has championed and fears that Mr. Musk could use his influence to sideline powerful figures within that movement to promote his own agenda. But then when you look at kind of more right-leaning outlets, they generally more painted this as a one-off situation between Musk and Bannon rather than a broader issue. With some even trying to paint Bannon

as a sort of loose cannon lashing out and the New York Post publishing a headline that read, Steve Bannon goes berserk on Elon Musk. But for now, we're gonna have to see how all this plays out on all these different fronts and kind of just more generally. And so with that, I'd love any of your thoughts and opinions in those comments down below.

And while you do that, or you just continue listening to me while you're eating your food, let me say welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. You daily dive into the news, how it's being covered and reactions to it with new shows every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. And today we've got a lot more news to break down, starting with

next up, this crazy Mike Beeler and David Wells situation. And don't worry, there's no reason you should know who they are. They're two roommates in their 60s. Well, one day in Washington State, back in 2021, they were having dinner in their apartment when David reportedly choked on a piece of steak. With Mike later recalling, "'He fell over a chair. "'I thought he was dead then.'" And so an ambulance rushes David unconscious and not breathing to a hospital in Vancouver.

And it turned out that Mike was kind of right because the staff there put David on life support and then reached out to his family to then present them with the choice of taking him off of it. Except here's the problem and the reason we're talking about this today. Instead of calling his family,

allegedly somewhere along the line, someone made a terrible mistake. They incorrectly identified David as Mike, his roommate. So they reportedly called Mike's sister, Debbie Danielson, who later recalled to KGW News. They said he's basically brain dead. Do you want us to keep him on life support or do you want to pull the plug? So our decision was to tell him to take him off life support or do you want to pull the plug? So our decision was to tell him to take him off life support. And so with the consent of Mike's family, the hospital reportedly pulled the plug on David.

Meaning David's family doesn't even know that he's now dead and Mike's family is grieving even though he's completely fine. And then apparently nobody caught this mistake or at least no one spoke up if they did as the hospital then reported the death to the county medical examiner and a local paper ran a death notice for Mike.

Meanwhile, a funeral home receives David's body, reportedly believing that it was Mike, and then asked Mike's family about final wishes, cremation, and organ donation. With Mike's brother-in-law recalling, "'When we went to the funeral director, I was like, "'Don't we need to identify him? "'No, we'll just take it from here.'"

And so reportedly they're making all these arrangements, mourning their loss, delivering the tragic news to people on their lives for a full week before Mike apparently rose from the dead in their eyes, beating Jesus's record of three days. With him reportedly just casually calling his sister Debbie out of the blue, just concerned because his cell phone account had been shut down.

I said, you can't be alive, you're dead. He goes, no, I'm not. I'm quite alive. Well, yeah, this discovery came as a relief. They also then had to contend with the fact that they made the decision to end the life of someone they didn't even know. Speaking of which, David's family was still in the dark

about all this. So when the police found out, they told the medical examiner who notified David's son, Sean. But according to Sean, they left out the crucial detail that his father had been misidentified and pulled off life support by someone else. With him telling KGW,

"'They basically told me there was a medical emergency "'regarding my father and he had been pronounced dead.'" And he claims that he didn't actually learn the truth for another two years when a reporter reached out to him about the story. And so now Sean, Mike, and Debbie, they're all suing the hospital, the ambulance service, the funeral home, and the medical examiner. And so with all of this insanity playing out, I guess there is a lesson to be learned. It is not a new lesson, but it's pretty much be skeptical of everything. And then I guess also more specifically, if you think someone is dead, definitely identify the body and or try calling their phone. Worst case scenario,

I guess you just hear their voice again on their voicemail. Best case, not actually dead. And then we'll get back to the news in just a moment. But you know, as someone who's always been on the move between meetings, gym sessions, and weekend adventures, finding the perfect all-weather shoe, I mean, it was like finding gold. You know, those rainy, slushy days

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for existing fires to spread and for new ones to start. And in fact, we saw a new fire breakout near Auto Center Drive in the city of Ventura, which is around 60 miles from downtown LA. Though luckily, it does appear that firefighters have that one handled so far, but also it does serve as another unfortunate reminder for just how ripe the conditions are for sparks to fly.

Especially because as expected, the winds have been picking up throughout the area and officials have warned that the risk of new fires forming or existing ones spreading, that'll be especially high for at least today going into tomorrow. With the same LA and Ventura counties remaining under red flag warnings for extreme fire danger

and what's been referred to as two smaller areas under particularly dangerous situation red flag warnings for extreme fire danger, and what's been referred to as two smaller areas under particularly dangerous situation red flag warnings. And the reason I say what's been described as smaller is those smaller areas, we're still talking about areas that are home to roughly 13 million people. And also when I say particularly dangerous, I'm talking about what the National Weather Service itself

has described as the extreme of the extreme fire weather scenarios. With them literally saying, in other words, this setup is about as bad as it gets. And you know, with all these fires, understandably there's been a lot of focus on how big they are, where they could be going, how people can be safe,

but also more and more people have been asking, well, how did these fires start? And I do wanna be clear here. We do not know for sure yet, especially regarding all the individual fires. But I will say regarding the Palisades fire, one of the leading theories right now is that it was actually a flare-up of a fire that happened on New Year's,

with there even being the suspicion that the first fire was caused by people celebrating with fireworks. And then as far as the Eaton fire, well, a lot of people suspect that it could be traced back to some sort of issue with electric utility infrastructure, with a lot of attention specifically

being on an electrical transmission tower where some videos and images have been going around suggesting that the fire originally started there. And with that, the authorities have reportedly zeroed in on the site in their investigation. But a big thing I will say with that is they have not yet made any official determination. We've seen experts saying that it is too soon

to draw any conclusions. But also despite that, four lawsuits have already been reportedly filed against the company that owns a transmission tower, Southern California Edison. With these lawsuits accusing the power company of sparking the Eaton fire, which is also the deadliest of the ongoing blazes

and actually one of the deadliest in California's history. And what we're seeing is that the lawsuits have been filed on behalf of homeowners, renters, business owners, and others with properties destroyed by the fire. And I'll say a big key thing is that these could just be the first of hundreds or even thousands of legal claims that we see getting made in the coming days, weeks, and months.

But in any case, besides what's being cited as photos and video evidence, some of the lawsuits have been citing data from an electrical monitoring company by the name of Whisker Labs. And with that, you had their CEO telling NBC News that his company's data shows evidence of many electrical faults in the areas near the fires,

including in Eaton Canyon, likely caused by trees hitting power lines. With them then also adding that the homes and communities in the immediate proximity to where the fire started remained powered. And the reason that is notable is because, one, SoCal Edison and other power companies claimed that they followed official guidelines and preemptively turned power off during the height of the fire. And two, the company claimed to have conducted an analysis showing that there were no interruptions or operational or electrical anomalies around the time the fire started. But with that, you also had the CEO of Edison International admitting in an interview with ABC yesterday that, quote, you can't rule anything out until you get your eyes on the

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That said, we have not been able to get up close to the equipment yet because firefighters have not deemed the area safe for entry. So as soon as we can get close to it, we'll inspect and we'll be transparent with the public. But you know, with all that, another thing that's worth noting is you have places like the New York Times reporting that many of California's most destructive fires have actually been caused by power lines.

And in fact, when you look at the numbers, SoCal Edison alone has reportedly paid hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements related to at least seven wildfires in recent years. With that, including for example, an $80 million settlement with the federal government after the DOJ filed a lawsuit alleging that the company owned, maintained, at least seven wildfires in recent years. With that, including for example, an $80 million settlement with the federal government after the DOJ filed a lawsuit alleging

that the company owned, maintained, and operated power lines that ignited the 2017 Thomas fire. But then also as everything plays out, we got to talk about one more thing connected to the LA fires that I think a lot of people wish wasn't, politics. And while we've been seeing that play out everywhere, one specific thing that's been getting a lot of attention

are Republicans saying that they want to put conditions on wildfire aid to California. Though notably, this isn't coming out of nowhere. I mean, during his campaign, for example, Donald Trump actually threatened to withhold federal aid from California unless the state changed how it approached water management. And now we're seeing Trump among those blaming California Governor Gavin Newsom for an alleged water shortage that they claim had contributed to the fire's devastation. Though a very big thing is that water policy experts have disputed claims of water shortage in Southern California. Instead saying that these fires are due to a combination

of lack of rain and severe wind. And this is other people and officials have said that no water system in the world could have kept up with the demand created by these fires. But with that, to be clear, right? That is not the same as saying there is nothing that local or state officials could have done better. Because we're seeing things like for example,

the consensus of experts interviewed by CNN saying, you know, the combination of winds, unseasonably dry conditions, and multiple fires breaking out almost all at once made widespread destruction inevitable. But then they also said that inconsistent vegetation management, aging infrastructure in homes, and a lack of planning

likely contributed to the destruction. But in any case here, right, the idea that democratic policies are at fault and they need to be changed seems to be how the idea of conditioning aid began. Right on Sunday, for example, you had Senator John Barrasso blaming the fires devastating outcome

on what he called the policies of the liberal administration out there. And he supported the idea of conditioning aid on CBS's Face the Nation. I expect that there will be strings attached to money that is ultimately approved. And it has to do with being ready the next time because this was a gross failure this time.

But then that evening, nearly two dozen House Republicans attended a dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, and they reportedly talked about tying wildfire aid to a debt ceiling increase, which you know obviously has nothing to do with being ready next time like Barrasso claimed. And then with that yesterday,

you had Speaker Mike Johnson confirming that there's been some discussion of tying California wildfire aid to a debt limit increase. So then he also repeated the claim that officials in the Democratic-led state were to blame for mismanaging water resources and forests in the LA area. It appears to us that state and local leaders

were derelict in their duty in many respects. So that's something that has to be factored in. I think there should probably be conditions on that aid. That's my personal view. We'll see what the consensus is. And it will be interesting to see what that consensus is. Especially because, you know, for one, Democrats are pushing back on this idea with, for example,

Representative Robert Garcia warning that the move here could set a really dangerous precedent and saying, "'Whether it's wildfires in California "'or hurricanes and tornadoes in Louisiana, "'we should never condition aid to disaster victims.'" You also had House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar saying it would be crazy and ridiculous and would completely upend Congress.

And then finally, you had Representative Sidney Kamlager-Dove putting it kind of the most bluntly, saying people have lost their lives, homes, and livelihoods. I have zero tolerance for partisan bullshit right now. In all of this, as it's not clear yet whether this idea has the full support among Republicans, which is important because they have a very slim majority. With us seeing GOP representative, Young Kim,

for example, telling Axios, "'If aid is needed, we need to deliver.'" But then also we've seen people like Republican Senator Mike Rounds kind of trying to reposition this idea. With him saying that the whole tying the debt limit increase to disaster aid, that it's not meant as some sort of penalty, instead saying,

"'I think it will have to be "'because we simply can't provide the assistance "'unless we have the ability to borrow the money to do so. But for now, we're going to have to wait to see what happens there, especially because it's going to be one of the first real tests of what the state of play is going to look like in Congress for the next two years. And then we'll get back to the news in just a moment. But you know, it's 2025. And I know that you care about accessing free internet safely and keeping your digital life secure. But why? Why do you not have a VPN yet? I mean, do not ignore this. And we can talk about the specific reasons you need a VPN. And also I

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we need to talk about Pete Hegseth, of course, Donald Trump's pick for Secretary of Defense because he just had his confirmation hearing and there were fireworks. You know, that was kind of expected given Pete's background. Repeat Hegseth is a former Fox News host and decorated National Guard veteran. He did two tours, one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.

And even in the get go, Hegseth was what the Washington Post called an unconventional pick, considering his relative youth and inexperience managing people at the scale needed for the job. But then also after being nominated, a whole slew of allegations have come out against him, which called his suitability for the role into question.

With this, including a story in the New Yorker, which reported that former employees of two veterans groups Hegseth worked with, accused him of financial mismanagement, excessive drinking and sexism., when I say excessive drinking, I mean he's been accused of getting so shit-faced at work events that he had to be carried back to his room. Though with that, he has reportedly promised not to drink the entire time he is serving as secretary, if he is confirmed. But then there's also the payment of an undisclosed amount to a woman who accused him

of sexual assault in a police report back in 2017, which you know Hegseth has acknowledged, though he has maintained his innocence and no criminal charges were ever filed. With his attorney also saying that the payment and the NDA that came with it, they were in response to the woman threatening a lawsuit. Right, and then also in addition to that, you have people concerned about comments

that he's made in the past. With this, including among other things, about women in the military having previously said that women simply shouldn't be in combat roles. But with that, some have said that he's walked back those comments since his nomination. Others, including himself, saying that his comments about women have been misconstrued.

But you know, throughout all that, you've had Trump sticking by Hegseth, with him even saying on Truth Social this morning before the hearing that Hegseth has his complete and total support. Beyond that, there have also been several Senate Republicans who have thrown their support behind Hegseth's appointment. However, all weren't initially convinced about him. So with that, he's reportedly spent the last several weeks attending countless meetings with the Republicans

on the Armed Services Committee, trying to win them over. And right now, it does seem to have worked, with CBS reporting that many Republicans have rallied around him. And in fact, Senate Majority Leader John Thune reportedly told Trump that he believes Hegseth will have enough votes to be confirmed. And then, as far as the Democrats, you have the Washington Post reporting that Hegseth has declined to meet with any Democrats on the committee except Rhode Island's Jack Reed. But with that, Reed told the Post that the meeting did not go well, saying, "'Today's meeting did not relieve my concerns

"'about Mr. Hegseth's lack of qualifications "'and raised more questions than answers.'" And so unsurprisingly, Reed immediately jumped on those concerns during the hearing today. A variety of sources, including your own writings, implicate you with disregarding the laws of war, financial mismanagement, racist and sexist remarks about men and women in uniform, alcohol abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and other troubling issues. Indeed, the totality of your own writings and alleged conduct would disqualify any service member from holding any

leadership position in the military, much less being confirmed as a Secretary of Defense. Also, another big moment questioning Hegseth's character came from Senator Tim Kaine, with us seeing Kaine here specifically pointing to allegations that Hegseth cheated on his wife. And you had just fathered a child by a woman who would later become your third wife, correct? Senator, I was falsely charged, fully investigated and completely cleared. So you think you are completely cleared because you committed no crime. That's your definition of cleared? I am shocked that you would stand here and say you're completely cleared.

Can you so casually cheat on a second wife and cheat on the mother of a child that had been born two months before, and you tell us you are completely cleared. How is that a complete clear? Senator, her child's name is Gwendolyn Hope Hegseth, and she's a child of God, and she's seven years old. And you cheated on the mother of that child less than two months after that daughter was born, didn't you? Those were false charges.

It was fully investigated, and that was completely cleared. We then also saw several senators taking aim at him over his comments about women in the military. With Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, for example, telling him that in order to be an effective secretary of defense, he's going to have to change the way that he views women. We also saw in this hearing Hegseth maintaining

that he doesn't disagree with the repeal of don't ask, don't tell. Though there, you had people noting that he previously said that allowing gay people to serve in the military is, quote, social engineering and Marxist. But then we also saw the questions going beyond just Hegseth's controversial decisions and past opinions, right? He was also asked about the war in Gaza by Senator Tom Cotton. I support Israel's existential war in Gaza. I assume, like me and President Trump,

you support that war as well, don't you? Senator, I do. I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas. Hexeth was also asked whether or not he would use military force to take over Greenland, where he notably kind of didn't give a straight answer. Senator, one of the things that President Trump is so good at is never strategically tipping his hand. And so I would never in this public forum give one way or another direct what orders the president would give me in any context. That sounds to me that you would contemplate carrying out such an order to basically invade Greenland. But then in addition to all that,

we saw other Democratic senators kind of going more broad with their concern regarding Hegseth's qualification. For example, Senator Tammy Duckworth, who's also an Army combat vet, repeatedly questioning Hegseth. What is the highest level of international negotiations that you have engaged in, that you've led in?

Because the Secretary of Defense does lead international security negotiations. There are three main ones that the Secretary of Defense leads and signs. Can you name at least one of them? Could you repeat the question, Senator? Sure. And when she does, Hegseth responds with... I have not been involved in international security arrangements because I have not been in government other than serving in the military. So my job has been to lead men and women in combat.

So no, the answer is, can you name one of the three main ones that the Secretary of Defense signs? You're talking about defense arrangements. I mean, NATO might be one that you're referring to. We then saw Duckworth quizzing Hegseth on knowledge of ASEAN, which stands for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which is an organization the U.S. works closely with

on security and defense issues in the area. Can you name the importance of at least one of the nations in ASEAN and what type of agreement we have with at least one of those nations? And how many nations are in ASEAN, by the way? I couldn't tell you the exact amount of nations in that. But I know we have allies in South Korea and Japan and in AUKUS with Australia and trying to work on submarines with them. Mr. Hexseth, none of those countries are in ASEAN.

None of those three countries that you've mentioned are in ASEAN. I suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations. Now also notably in this hearing, there were those that came to Hegseth's defense. And among those, you had Republican Senator Mark Wayne Mullen who said that Democrats were being hypocritical. How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night?

Have any of you guys asked them to step down and resign for their job? And don't tell me you haven't seen it because I know you have. And then how many senators do you know have got a divorce before cheating on their wives? Did you ask them to step down? No. But it's for show. You guys, make sure you make a big show and point out the hypocrisy because the man's made a mistake. And you want to sit there and say that he's not qualified? Give me a joke. Now, with all this, I want to stress that these are just a couple of moments from an hours-long hearing. And if you want to watch the whole thing or jump around and see a few things, I'm going to link to it down below in the description. And all of this as it's far from over, right?

Today was just the beginning. And that because even if this committee approves him, the full Senate still has to vote to confirm it. Though again, Thune thinks they have the vote. So for now, we're gonna have to wait to see. And of course, in the meantime, I'd love to know your thoughts. Then finally today,

let's talk about yesterday in some comment commentary. And as far as the comments, you had people touching on, you know, individual stories, but the most popular comment on the show read, I'd like to cancel my trial of 2025, thank you. But unfortunately, my friend, I have to confirm some of the replies to that comment, starting with the fact that you missed the seven-day cancellation period, and it looks like we ran into an issue while processing your unsubscribe request. For more assistance, please call our support line. Though again, a lot of the comments had to do with the updates

around the LA fire. Some trying to give advice saying, "'For everyone sitting at home, "'stressed and waiting for a potential evacuation, "'take a video or photo of everything in your house. "'Open every drawer, closet, box, et cetera. "'Back it up to something not on your phone. "'This will save a lot of headache

"'with your insurance company if you need to make a claim.'" Meanwhile, you had others just thankful. And that for a number of things, but this comment saying, "'I'm so grateful Canada and Mexico sent aid. "'That's incredible and I love that other countries helping us is making the news. I know others help us a lot more than we hear about,

and it's refreshing to see it acknowledged properly. Well, yeah, there was a lot of support for that comment. You also had a few people coming out from under rocks to write, but California is the third largest economy in the world, and now they need help from Mexico? Ha, ha, ha, ha. I mean, if there were ever just a decent example of a chronically online shithead

who's just disconnected from the human experience right there. It's people helping people. And for anyone to take joy in this and try and use it for political potshots, I think it's fucking stupid. Though I will say a lot of my favorite comments were recommendations

and also people sharing their own experiences. With one comment that exemplified that reading, a perspective on the LA fires I found to be incredibly thought provoking was Molly Burke talking about how she's experiencing the fires as a blind person on the LA fires I found to be incredibly thought-provoking was Molly Burke talking about how she's experiencing the fires as a blind person. The LA fires are horrifying for everyone. I can only imagine how much worse that is

for the disabled populace there and the amount that they have to rely on others to make evacuation and safety decisions on their behalf. Which on that note, yeah, I watched it. It was very eye-opening. I'll link to Molly Burke's video in the description. And then specifically regarding the incarcerated firefighters,

we saw comments like, my brother went to prison for 10 years. He became a firefighter and said it was his saving grace. He's completely turned his life around, though he added he sadly was not able to be a firefighter after, but it changed him and he's a welder now and happy. But then also separate from that,

you had people commenting on the potential TikTok ban that's looking like it's gonna happen on the 19th, with some just responding, honestly, when TikTok goes, I'm gonna take this as an opportunity to have a little less social media in my life. Twitch, I would say, as someone that is unfortunately addicted to their phone,

I'll believe it when I see it for more than one to two weeks. I'll be thinking, I'm gonna get a dumb phone and I'll be like planning this out for two hours and then two weeks later, I'm like, I had nine hours of phone time a day. Like, am I alone in that? Do you ever, are you ever consuming something online?

You're just scrolling and then you actively get angry at yourself. You're like, this is not good for me at all. Also, something I alone in that? Do you ever, are you ever consuming something online? You're just scrolling and then you actively get angry at yourself. You're like, this is not good for me at all. Also, something I'll say is interesting and it's kind of a highlight of this being an international show. Some people in the comments have actually already experienced a TikTok ban.

With some sharing, as someone who lives in India where TikTok was banned in 2020, Instagram reels has totally taken over. Which I will say it is completely possible that will be mimicked here. But at the end of the day, that's not a full on guarantee. Different cultures, different opinions

about the people that own those sites. Most big TikTok users that I've spoken to when they talk about Instagram Reels, like if it was a person, they would have no problem punching them in the back of the head repeatedly. There's just like a disgust there, it seems. The final thing that I'll say here is I am someone that will be disappointed if TikTok does go away.

And that's largely just because its algorithm is better than really anything else I've experienced on any other sites. You know, I'm most active here on YouTube with the main show as well as Shorts. Post on Reels. I'm going to try and post more on Blue Sky next. Well, you know, our YouTube Shorts, they can get sometimes millions of views. It is over a longer period of time and it's not great for what I do, which is more breaking news. Or, you know, at least something within a 12 to 36 hour period. On TikTok and even Reels to a slighter do, which is more breaking news. Or, you know, at least something within a 12 to 36 hour period. On TikTok and even Reels to a slighter degree, like a video can just pop off one to 4 million views

in one to two hours. Whereas for YouTube, it usually takes like a lot, lot longer. Like we don't know if a video is gonna do well until usually three days later, which you know, isn't the best for the news space. You know, hey, like everything in life, you only can control what you can control

and you navigate through the situation otherwise. You know what? We're gonna end today's show on something that sounds like it borders or is parallel to life advice. But that is the end of your Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning dive into the news. And remember, now that I'm fully back for 2025, I will see you every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,

and Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. Thank you for watching. I love your faces, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.