The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 1.30 Trump's D.C. Plane Crash Problem is Bad & Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, & RFK Jr Confirmation Hearings

Episode Date: January 30, 2025

New https://BeautifulBastard.com Shirts, Crews, & Hoodies went live this week. Grab some! Support the show  Go to https://sundaysfordogs.com/phil to get 50% off your first order of Sundays for Dogs! Subscribe for New shows every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday @ 6pm ET/3pm PST & watch more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuDg7xuiW2A&list=PLHcsGizlfLMWpSg7i0b9wnUyEZWI-25N3&index=1&t=98s – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Trump Ties DEI Initiatives to Plane & Helicopter Crash Over Potomac River  10:18 - Father Faces Backlash After Posting Video Using Baby to Wipe Snow off Car  11:42 - Nurse Arrested For Twerking On Patients’ Heads  12:42 - Sponsored by Sundays 13:42 - RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, & Kash Patel Face Senate Hearings  26:39 - New Beautiful Bastard Shirts, Crews, & Hoodies 27:10 - Trump Says He Will Send 30,000 Migrants to Guantanamo Bay  34:12 - Trump Issues Swath of Education-Focused Executive Orders 39:10 - Cable News Ratings Soar After Trump’s Inauguration  41:58 - Comment Commentary  RFK Jr. hearing: https://www.youtube.com/live/0jgjsz8oEX4?si=p4jDGe_pkZKgO-eT  Tulsi Gabbard hearing: https://www.youtube.com/live/3NuF96Cr-1c?si=l31LQtjxvf_DRzms  Kash Patel hearing: https://www.youtube.com/live/0YPoHEUlFNw?si=8hIac54gIo3V_Qav  ——————————   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 #Blackhawk #DonaldTrump ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump's now blaming DEI, Obama, and Biden over last night's tragic crash between an American Airlines flight and a Blackhawk helicopter. RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Kash Patel had their confirmation hearings today, and once again, we saw some fireworks. Trump's new patriotic education

and indoctrination executive orders have sparked new concerns. And what's really going on with Trump's Guantanamo Bay migrant plan? We're talking about all that and much more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco show. You daily dive into the news, how it's being covered, and how people are reacting to it. And unfortunately, the first thing that we have to talk about today is that tragedy struck late last night in Washington, D.C. after an

American Airlines flight and an Army Blackhawk helicopter collided near Reagan International Airport. Right. Well, information is still coming in. What we do know is that both crafts crashed in the Potomac River and there are no survivors in that, despite there initially being reports that some bodies were recovered and rushed to the hospital, but even if they survived the crash, the issue was the river itself. It's currently like 36 degrees and you don't need to be in there very long

to die of hypothermia. And with that, as of recording, I'll say recovery efforts are still ongoing and we don't know a ton about the victims. Now there, President Trump did say in a press conference this morning that a full list will eventually be released. But until then, all we really know

is that members of US figure skating were on board. With it also believed that Russian figure skaters were among the victims. And we're still trying to piece together exactly what happened, but here's what we know so far. Released audio shows that just 30 seconds before the crash, air traffic control asked the helicopter. With CRG there being the American Airlines flight, and then they were asked again before the Black Hawk responded. But then just after that, the two collided right over the Potomac with the Black Hawk being right in the flight path of the airline trying to land. Now why the helicopter was over the approach to a runway,

that is unclear, although army helicopters near Reagan are fairly common as past footage from the airport shows. The area is also used by the army for training with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth saying, it was a fairly experienced crew that was doing an annual required night evaluation, adding they did have night vision goggles. And now, because of this incident,

we're seeing that the entire 12th Aviation Battalion will have their operations paused until an investigation is finished. One thing we saw a lot of people mentioning is that the anti-collision mechanisms commercial aircraft have didn't seem to help. It's called TCAS, and the issue is is that it turns itself off below 1,000 feet

right around the altitude helicopters operate. Right, and that because at that height, the plane will always be close to something dangerous and the notifications that TCAS provides pilots, it would just be distracting when trying to land or take off. Also with this, of course, one of the big questions is, who is at fault?

And with that, President Trump paradoxically gave two answers today. On the one hand, he said that the investigation needs to take place and that it needs to be done quickly to figure out exactly what happened. But then he also went on to say, 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. And that is where things kind of just went off the rails.

Because despite saying that an investigation needs to happen, it also looked like he already jumped to conclusions and seemingly blamed the Blackhawk pilots, DEI initiatives and air traffic control to varying degrees. Like for example, in a single train of thought, Trump hit both the helicopter pilots and ATC. For some reason, he had a helicopter that was at the same height, obviously when they hit, but pretty much the same height,

and going at an angle that was unbelievably bad. When the air traffic controller said, do you see? He was talking about, do you see him? But there was very little time left when that was stated. And then also he said, follow him in. And then follow him in. That means like everything's fine. Follow him in.

You had a pilot problem from the standpoint of the helicopter. I mean, because it was visual. It was a very clear night. But we had a situation where you had a helicopter that had the ability to stop. I have helicopters. You can stop a helicopter very quickly. It had the ability to turn. And the turn it made was not the correct term, obviously. And it did somewhat the opposite of what it was told. We don't know that that would have been the difference because the timing was so tight. But then the thing that Donald Trump and other officials who spoke at the conference touched on the most was the DEI. Trump spoke multiple times about it and seemingly suggested it was at least partially linked when he said, 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. 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's ever seen because this was the lowest level. We also then saw transportation secretary Sean Duffy spending most of his time also talking about DEI. When we deal with safety, we can only accept the best and the brightest, the most intelligent coming into these spaces. We commit to them that we are going to get to the bottom of this investigation,

not in three years, not in four years, but as quickly as possible. What happened yesterday shouldn't have happened. It should not have happened. And when Americans take off in airplanes, they should expect to land at their destination. Right. And then Hegseth did the same. I think the president is right. There was some sort of an elevation issue that we have immediately begun investigating. But I want to echo what the Transportation Secretary and you, Mr. President, said, because it pertains to the DOD as well.

We will have the best and brightest in every position possible. As you said in your inaugural, it is colorblind and merit-based. The era of DEI is gone at the Defense Department, and we need the best and brightest, whether it's in our air traffic control or whether it's in our generals. I mean, it even got to a point where reporters in the room were confused about why so much focus was being placed on DEI with questions like, Are you saying this crash was somehow caused and the result of diversity hiring? And what evidence have you seen to support these claims? It just could have been.

Are you many feeling that it was very odd that Trump would say that an investigation needs to happen, right? We need to get the answers, but then seemingly giving concrete answers about what occurred, which led to one reporter asking. You are blaming Democrats and DEI policies and air traffic control and seemingly the member of the US military who was flying that Black Hawk helicopter. Don't you think you're getting ahead of the investigation right now? No, I don't think so at all. But is then also seeing. Blamed the diversity elements, but then told us that you weren't sure that the controllers made any mistakes. And then said, perhaps the helicopter pilots were the ones who made the mistake. It's all under investigation.

I understand that. That's why I'm trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash. Because I have common sense, okay? And unfortunately, a lot of people don't. And it kind of appeared that only Vice President J.D. Vann seemed to realize that Trump's earlier comments very much sounded like he was saying that DEI was somehow related to the traffic controller in this incident.

And so we saw him try to back up a bit and say. Something the president said that I think bears reemphasizing, which is that when you don't have the best standards in who you're hiring, it means on the one hand, you're not getting the best people in government, but on the other hand, it puts stresses on the people who are already there. And I think that is a core part of what President Trump is going to bring and has already brought to Washington, D.C., is we want to hire the best people because we want the best people at air traffic control. And we want to make sure we have enough people at air traffic control who are actually competent to do the job. Now, with everything that we've talked about and shown, you might think that DEI programs may have affected who was hired to be an air traffic controller.

But to be clear, from everything we can see, DEI programs at the FAA do not affect who was hired to be an air traffic controller, despite Trump making it seem like the FAA was letting people with intellectual disabilities apply. We're talking about a job that requires a ton of classes and exams to be passed in order to get the role. Then on top of that, you generally need to work

in the field for years before getting assigned to a major airport like Reagan. None of those requirements change because of any DEI related criteria. I mean, I generally need to work in the field for years before getting assigned to a major airport like Reagan. None of those requirements change because of any DEI related criteria. I mean, I don't know how much the general public knows about this space, but it is not uncommon for entire classes to fail the exam sometimes. And it is considered one of the hardest gigs to get into

both in the private and public sectors. And that's probably because one fuck up leads to dozens or even more deaths. Right, and so TLDR here, if you are an air traffic controller, it's either because you passed a hard as fuck exam and course, or you have years of experience because of a job in the military and then still had to pass a hard-as-fuck exam. It's such a tough field to get into that the FAA actually has a major shortage of air traffic controllers right

now. And actually, this incident may end up being a prime example of that. But it's now seeing the FAA releasing a report that there were staffing issues at the control tower last night that possibly led to the controller doing the job of two people at once. Also with everything here, we saw a lot of people reacting to the idea that the FAA somehow got worse under Biden, and that included former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. You know, it made sense that he had something to say

beyond just being the guy who used to be in charge, right? I mean, Trump explicitly said. He's just got a good line of bullshit. And while he runs it, 45,000 people, and he's run it right into the ground with his diversity. And to all that, we saw Buttigieg right. Despicable, as families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying.

We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew air traffic control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch. And adding, President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe.

Time for the president to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again. And Buttigieg is absolutely right about the crash stats. This is the first major accident like this in like 16 years. And with everything going on, I'm sure there's gonna be more jabs back and forth with the DEI stuff as the investigation goes on,

especially as it is very clear that the Trump administration is hyper-focused on that angle right now. Though there you have some saying it's to be expected to attack and try to deflect, especially in an effort to keep people from blaming him for the reasons Pete Buttigieg mentioned. But in the meantime, we're going to have to wait to see what comes from the investigations and see who is at fault here and what other information comes out. But then to give you something different, let's talk about some what the fuck news that is not on the international or national stage, but more specific, individuals.

And I've got two for you, but I'll start with this first one. Because there are a lot of fun things you can do with a baby. You can dress it up like Tom Cruise. You can play peekaboo. Oh, I disappeared. No, I didn't.

That crushes. You know, there are a lot of fun things you can do with a baby. You can dress it up as Tom Cruise. You can play a game of peekaboo. I disappeared. No, I didn't. That crushes.

But not everyone's laughing right now about what this 25-year-old guy did with a baby for a viral TikTok. And that, because as you can see laughing right now about what this 25 year old guy did with a baby for a viral TikTok. And that because as you can see, he's wiping off a car's windshield using what? A baby. And granted, while the baby is bundled up and face up,

he still had a lot of people pissed, especially around him going lighter and faster with the baby at one point. With one attorney, for example, telling KFDM News that he was outraged when he saw the video and he immediately called the police department in Port Arthur, Texas, where the footage was reportedly shot.

And so with that, you have the cops saying they reported the case to Child Protective Services and they opened an investigation of their own with the police chief there saying, it's a sad situation. I know a lot of people go to social media and they are looking for clicks, but this is not a deal where you should put a baby on the windshield. Now with that, reportedly they identified the man, they visited his apartment and they checked on the baby, which they said was okay. But I'm also adding that it is three months old, in case you were wondering. So now where we're at is that the cops are saying that they're putting together a case

and hope to charge the man with child endangerment. And this also is two other women, one of whom is believed to be the mother, were reportedly with him while he turned the baby into a windshield wiper. And so it's unclear whether they're gonna be culpable too. But you know, with all that, I gotta pass the question off to you.

What are your thoughts here? Because depending on where you go on the internet, very, very different reactions. Also, while we're talking about people using other human beings as props for TikToks, we should talk about this woman who turned a disabled man into her dance floor. And to this woman, she's a 19-year-old healthcare worker in Georgia and in a video posted online, you see her wearing navy scrubs and a stethoscope as well as there being a disabled man reported to be an in-home patient of hers.

With a man sitting in a chair and her standing above him dancing as many have referred to it as provocatively or in clearer terms, basically twerking in this dude's face. And just like the man with the baby, this woman's video caught the attention of the authorities who reportedly arrested and charged her with exploitation of a disabled person. With us then seeing the local police chief saying, I was appalled and disgusted that anyone would create

such a video featuring a disabled person. As police officers, our highest duty is to protect those who cannot protect themselves. And my detectives worked as swiftly as possible to bring charges in this incident." But apparently that's not where this ends because he told USA Today that investigators found a second video.

Right, and in this one, it reportedly showed the woman standing on a bathtub, dancing over another person sitting inside of it. And so it appears that this was maybe not a one-off thing and rather a trend. So with either of those stories, I'd love to know your thoughts as well as if you want to nominate a douchebag of the day.

And then we'll get to more news in just a moment. But first, you know, just like we prioritize our health, our furry family members shouldn't be overlooked. And as our dogs get older, they deal with the same stuff we do. Slower metabolism, less energy, the works. And what I love about today's sponsor, Sundaes, is their ingredients, right?

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or scan the QR code to get 50% off your first order of sundaes. That is 50% off your first order of dog food with human grade ingredients. Sundaysfordogs.com slash phil. Your dog will be happy you did. But then to move on to some other just massive news today, three of Trump's most contentious nominees were all on the Hill today having confirmation hearings. You've got RFK Jr. right back for a second hearing before the Senate Health Committee. And Tulsi Gabbard sitting before

the Senate Intelligence Committee, which will decide whether to advance her nomination for Director of National Intelligence. And finally, Kash Patel, who Trump has tapped to lead the FBI. He's being questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee. And with that, I'm gonna be hitting on important moments and key highlights,

but if you wanna watch the full videos, links in the description. But to start things off, I'll say RFK's hearing today was much tougher than the one yesterday before the Senate Finance Committee. Where yesterday, he was able to turn to softer issues that he's strong on, like chronic disease and nutrition. But today, it appeared a lot harder for him

to shift the discussion away from vaccines, which he again claimed he supported, arguing that he is not in fact anti-vax, but he just wants to harmlessly question science. And also, unlike yesterday, we saw Republicans joining Democrats to push back and question those beliefs, with his most notably, including the chairman of the committee,

Senator Bill Cassidy. And Cassidy, who is a doctor, gave by far the strongest criticism of RFK that we've seen from GOP senators. With us seeing Cassidy opening the hearing by telling a story about an 18-year-old girl who needed a liver transplant because of a hepatitis B infection

that could have been prevented with a childhood vaccine. And that was an inflection point in my career. And since then, I've tried to do everything I can to make sure I never have to speak to another parent about their child dying due to a vaccine-preventable disease. With Cassidy then going on to say, Now, Bobby, I've learned you've got a tremendous following.

My phone blows up with people who really follow you. And there are many who trust you more than they trust their own physician. And so the question I need to have answered is, what will you do with that trust? Whether it's justified or not, and you may not want this to be the case, but I have constituents who partly credit you for their decision to not vaccinate their child. And we also saw him hitting on that again in his closing statement, saying that he is unsure how he will vote.

Does a 70-year-old man, 71, 71 year old man who spent decades criticizing vaccines and who's financially vested in finding fault with vaccines, can he change his attitudes and approach now that he'll have the most important position influencing vaccine policy in the United States. Will you continue what you have been, or will you overturn a new leaf at age 70? I recognize, man, if you come out unequivocally, vaccines are safe, it does not cause autism, that would have an incredible impact. That's your power. So what's it going to be? And notably here, Cassidy was not the only Republican who cast doubt on whether they would vote for Kennedy's confirmation. But we also saw Senator Lisa Murkowski raising similar points about how Kennedy has a massive platform, one, that will only get bigger if he

is confirmed, and expressing concerns about how he will use that incredible power. So we can't be going backwards with our vaccinations that will allow for this level of prevention and protection. So I'm asking you, you are clearly an influencer. You are clearly an influencer. You would not be in this position today. But you can see how your podium, your platform, your voice can influence so many. So I am asking you on the issue of vaccines specifically to please convey, convey with a level of authority and science, but also with a level of conviction and free of conflict and free of political bias, that these are measures that we should be proud of as a country. And Murkowski here is going to be an important one to watch because she is one of two Republicans who's known for kind of bucking the party here and there. Or with the other being Senator Susan

Collins, who really didn't dig into RFK much in her questions today, but who experts still say to keep an eye on as a vote that could flip. But then on the complete opposite side of the coin, we also saw Republicans appearing to use their time to spread vaccine misinformation and cast doubt on their effectiveness. In fact, so much so that we saw a rare shouting match between two Republicans, Cassidy and Senator Rand Paul,

who scuffled over the hepatitis vaccine. You also then had Senator Mark Wayne Mullen actively suggesting that vaccines cause autism, which is a claim that Kennedy repeatedly refused to deny outright, including in this exchange with Senator Bernie Sanders. Vaccines do not cause autism. Do you agree with that? As I said, I'm not going to go into HHS with any preordain. I ask you a simple question, Bobby. Studies all over the world say it does not. What do you think? Senator, if you show me those studies, I will absolutely, as I promised to Chairman Cassidy, I will apologize. That is a very troubling response. And then the last moment that

I want to hit on with RFK is this clip that's gone viral now of questioning from Senator Angela also Brooks. You said the following, and I quote, we should not be giving black people the same vaccine schedule that's given to whites because their immune system is better than ours. Can you please explain what you meant? There's a series of studies, I think most of them by Poland that show that the particular antigens that blacks have a much stronger reaction. There's differences in reaction to different products by different races. So I have 17 seconds. Let me just ask you then. So what different vaccine schedule would you say I should have received? What different vaccine schedule should I receive? I mean, the Pollan article suggests that blacks need fewer antigens. This is so dangerous. So you get the same measles vaccine.

Mr. Kennedy, with all due respect, that is so dangerous. Your voice would be a voice that parents would listen to. That is so dangerous. So that was Kennedy, but then let's talk about Gabbard, right? And her appointment has been especially controversial with experts saying that out of all the three nominees and hearings today, she actually has the hardest path to making it out of committee and to the floor for a full vote. And that because there are concerns across the aisle about some very questionable statements she's made and actions she has taken in the past, especially regarding remarks she made that are sympathetic to Russia, which prompted allegations that she is a Russian asset.

I mean, hell, you even had right-leaning outlets like the New York Post taking aim at those statements' writing. Gabbard has repeatedly echoed Russian propaganda used to justify the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine and criticize Ukrainian President Zelensky as a corrupt autocrat. Then one of the most notable examples there being the debunked conspiracy theory pushed by Russian media that the U.S. was funding a secret dangerous bioweapons lab in Ukraine before the war.

Also beyond that, she received bipartisan criticism for her repeated praise of Edward Snowden, right? The former NSA contractor who fled to Russia after being charged for illegally exposing government surveillance tools. And then of course there is the repeated backlash she's gotten for visiting the recently deposed Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in 2017.

With many accusing her of legitimizing a dictatorship and then slamming her for further questioning whether Assad had used chemical weapons in the civil war despite US authorities and independent analysts repeatedly concluding that he had. Which is seemingly why right out of the gate, Gabbard attempted to address the concerns about her connection to Assad.

I have no love for Assad or Gaddafi or any dictator. I just hate Al-Qaeda. Gabbard was also repeatedly questioned by members of both parties about her previous support for Snowden. And while she did condemn his actions, saying that he broke the law and exposed illegal and unconstitutional programs, she repeatedly refused to call him a traitor when asked by both sides of the aisle.

Was Edward Snowden a traitor? Senator, my heart is with my commitment to our constitution and our nation's security. I'm committed, if confirmed, as director of national intelligence to join you in making sure that there is no future Snowden type leak. Was he a traitor at the time when he took America's secrets, released them in public, and then ran to China and became a Russian citizen? Senator, I'm focused on the future and how we can prevent something like this from happening again. Do you believe, as the chairman of this committee believes, as the vast majority of members of our intelligence agencies believe, that Edward Snowden was a traitor to the United States of America.

Senator, I've confirmed as director of National Intelligence, I will work with you to make sure that there is not another Snowden-like leak. Is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America? That is not a hard question to answer. There, you also had Senator Bennett pressing her on previous comments she made about Russia and Ukraine. Are you aware that your comments about proxy wars and Russia's legitimate, legitimate security concerns, to quote your own words, are in alignment with what the Russians have said to justify their invasion of Ukraine. Truck month is on at Chevrolet. Get 0% financing for up to 72

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has you covered. Download the Instacart app and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Yes or no? Senator, I don't pay attention to Russian propaganda. My goal is to speak the truth regardless of whether you like it or not. I'll take it. That's fine. And then when Republican Senator Jerry Moran asked if Russia would get a pass in her mind, hard or policy recommendation, she said, Senator, I'm offended by the question because my sole focus, commitment and responsibility

is about our own nation, our own security and the interests of the American people in carrying out the responsibilities of the director of national intelligence, if confirmed, no country, group, or individual will get a pass. But then finally, to try to make this consumable, that brings us to Patel. Now with that, I do want to stress his hearing is actually still going on as I'm recording this show and it's getting finalized. So it is still developing. I'm going to want to hit on some key things, but again, I'm going to link to the full thing in the description, right?

And so first, a bit about Patel is that he is a Trump loyalist that we've also seen widely criticized for embracing conspiracy theories and using inflammatory rhetoric, especially on right-wing podcasts. And the fact that he is a loyalist, while not surprising,

is very notable for this specific position because as the New York Times explains, his selection has upended the post-Watergate tradition of picking nonpartisan directors and saying, if confirmed, Mr. Patel could provide Mr. Trump with a direct line into the FBI, eliminating guardrails meant to insulate the Bureau from White House interference. And there are a long list of his views and comments that many say are alarming. But for the context of this hearing today, the most notable included his repeated attacks on the FBI itself. And that

because he reportedly has continuously undermined the work of the agency that he's been tapped to lead, including the prosecution of those charged in connection with the insurrection, which is also something he claimed was planned by the FBI and tried to blame on Nancy Pelosi. He's also repeatedly railed against the FBI as an institution, painting it as corrupt, vowing to reshape the agency with firings, promising to shut down the FBI's DC headquarters, and saying that he will go after Trump's enemies. And to that point, Democrats questioned him about a list of 60 names of people he deemed members of the executive branch Deep State in his book titled,

"'Government Gangsters, the Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy." With many critics here arguing that this list should be taken as a list of enemies, enemies that he could go after as FBI director. But today when asked during the hearing, we saw him deny that the appendix was a list of political opponents.

It's not an enemy's list, that is a total mischaracterization. Notably, he also refused to say whether he would use his position as FBI director to investigate people on that list, saying only that he wouldn't go backwards when asked if he would probe Trump's perceived enemies. Also, that wasn't the only question he did not answer.

He repeatedly refused to say that Biden had won the 2020 election when asked by multiple senators and pressed extensively. Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 presidential election? Yes or no? President Biden's election was certified. He was sworn in and he served as the president of the United States. But what's so hard about just saying that Biden won the 2020 election? What's hard about that? Senator, as I've said before, that President Biden was certified and sworn in and he was the president. I don't know how else to say it. Well, the other way to say it is he won.

He was the president. The other way to say it is he won. You understand what I'm asking you. Can you say the words Joe Biden won the 2020 election? Joe Biden was the president of the United States. We also saw many Democrats pressing Patel on his past controversial statements on podcasts and social media, including his support for conspiracy theories. But there, Patel largely brushed them off,

saying that he didn't remember past statements that senators had flagged and claiming that they were taking his remarks out of context. If the best attacks on me are gonna be false accusations and grotesque mischaracterizations, the only thing this body is doing is defeating the credibility of the men and women at the FBI.

I stood with them here in this country. In every theater of war we have, I was on the ground in service of this nation. And any accusations leveled against me that I would somehow put political bias before the Constitution are grotesquely unfair. With Patel even claiming at one point that he only went on controversial far-right podcasts

to debunk rather than endorse false claims, despite hours of content to the contrary. But in general here, I will say we saw Republicans backing Patel, making it likely that he will be confirmed. And so for now, we're gonna have to wait to see how the confirmation votes go for all three of these nominees.

And in the meantime, I'll pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? And then we'll get to more news in just a moment, but really quick, if you'd like to support this show, especially these extra large ones, one of the best ways to do it is get yourself some awesome stuff at beautifulbastard.com. Where in addition to new recent releases

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you'll get 50% off those fan favorite candles. Check it out, wear your feelings, get anything and everything you want over at beautifulbastard.com. But then shifting gears, we need to talk about how Donald Trump's now building a massive detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to hold tens of thousands of migrants.

Or another way of saying it, how we've seen a number of people saying it online is that Donald Trump might be building his first concentration camp. At least, you know, according to the dictionary. Because you have folks pointing to different definitions, including a place where large numbers of people are kept as prisoners in extremely bad conditions, especially for political reasons. As well as the confinement of persons, quote, as a result of their membership

in a group the government has identified as dangerous or undesirable. With other key characteristics mentioned, including being for reasons of state security in a relatively small area with inadequate facilities and without hearings or without trial. But with all that and people saying what they're saying, I think you should also just take a listen to what Trump said yourself. We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people. Some of them are so bad we don't even trust the countries to hold them because we don't want them coming back. So we're gonna send them out to Guantanamo. This will double our capacity immediately, right? And tough, that's a tough place to get out of.

Today's signings bring us one step closer to eradicating the scourge of migrant crime in our communities once and for all. And so with this, I really wanna unpack why the idea of all of this is so alarming to so many people. And we're going to start there with a brief history of Guantanamo Bay. Because while you might know the gist, specifically, you know, it's a naval base in a part of southeastern Cuba seized by the American military in 1898, within 45 square miles, later being indefinitely leased to the United States

government for only about $4,000 a year. But despite the crazy low rent, it is incredibly costly, in part because it's home to what's been described as the most expensive prison on earth. But with that being the Guantanamo Bay Military Prison, which opened in 2002 and has long held detainees taken into custody after the 9-11 attacks. Many of whom had reportedly been tortured

before being brought there with them then suffering conditions at Guantanamo that have been described as cruel and humane and degrading. And while with that, you know, many aren't gonna shed a tear for them, it's important to say that nearly 800 people have been detained and most of them were never charged. With that including nine men who died in prison,

six by suspected suicide, and now only 15 remain, including the alleged mastermind of 9-11. But with that, and this is a key thing, what less people know about Guantanamo is that separate from the military prison, it has actually long been used to hold migrants. In fact, it's a practice going back decades through both Democratic and Republican administrations.

And specifically, this has taken place in a facility known as the Guantanamo Migrant Operations Center, with a facility primarily holding migrants who have been picked up at sea. And in the 1990s, for example, when it started, it held more than 45,000 people fleeing crises in both Haiti and Cuba. Though I will say, more recently,

the numbers have been much smaller, with the Times, for example, reporting that just 37 migrants were held there from 2020 to 2023. But in any case, with all that regarding the numbers, you also had the International Refugee Assistance Project releasing a scathing report on refugee detention in Guantanamo last year, with them accusing the United States of detaining migrants fleeing Haiti, Cuba, and other Caribbean countries indefinitely in prison-like conditions without access to the outside world and trapped in a punitive system with little to no transparency or accountability,

with them then going on to highlight a multitude of health and human rights violations, including substandard living conditions, abusive guards, and forced medical procedures, including forcibly administering birth control. And also with this, last year, you had the ACLU suing the US government for information after the Biden administration responded to a freedom of information request by claiming,

the center is not a detention facility and none of the migrants there are detained. However, you have the Trump administration now saying the planned expanded facility is very much intended to be a detention facility and none of the migrants there are detained. However, you have the Trump administration now saying the planned expanded facility is very much intended to be a detention center. And if it actually holds as many as Trump promised, it would far exceed the capacity of existing ICE facilities with the largest of those having about 2000 beds.

Which then would also mean that it almost doubles ICE's detention capacity of 40,000 people currently. Right, and so with all that, the Trump administration will reportedly ask Congress to fund the expansion of the existing facility as part of a Republican spending bill that's in the works. So I will say it is unclear how much that facility would cost and when it would be completed. And so given the history of Guantanamo and given what many have seen from Donald Trump regarding immigration and the increased ICE raids and

everything that's happening right now. That's why we're seeing so many people right now concerned and why there's been so much backlash. I mean even had the Cuban president chiming in describing the plan as an active brutality in an illegally occupied territory, with the men emphasizing the proposed site would be next to the well-known prisons of torture and illegal detention. You also had the ACLU saying

this would be a disastrous mistake and adding, "'Sending scores of immigrants "'to an inaccessible military base in Cuba "'could enable the government to deprive them "'of basic human rights, far from lawyers, "'the press, and congressional oversight.'" Then adding, unfortunately, that appears to be the point. A point that notably was also made by a lawyer who actually sued the government for the indefinite detention of Haitian refugees

at Guantanamo back in the 90s. With him saying, Guantanamo is a black hole designed to escape scrutiny and with a dark history of inhumane conditions. And claiming it as a transparent attempt to avoid legal oversight that will fail. And then finally in this string of responses, you had people like the head of the Center for Constitutional Rights saying, President Trump's decision to use Guantanamo, global symbol and site of lawlessness, torture, and racism to house immigrants should horrify us all. And saying, like many of Trump's authoritarian attacks

on human rights, this one has shameful precedents in US history. Saying, the order sends a clear message. Migrants and asylum seekers are being cast as the new terrorist threat, deserving to be discarded in an island prison removed from legal and social services and supports. Now, with all that said, as far as on the other side, we've seen the newly appointed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seemingly trying to offer some reassurances, with him emphasizing that migrant detainees would not

be held in the military prison and also claiming that migrants would not be held indefinitely. This is not the camps. You're not putting criminals in camps where ISIS and other criminals. This's a, this is a temporary transit, which is already the mission of Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, where we can plus up thousands and tens of thousands if necessary to humanely move illegals out of our country where they do not belong back to the countries where they came from in proper process. But with all that, right, if we go back to Trump's announcement, you have people saying Trump seemingly is open

to indefinite detention, noting that he said, Some of them are so bad, we don't even trust the countries to hold them because we don't want them coming back. So we're gonna send them out to Guantanamo. And in fact, Trump has in the past pushed for policies to allow the indefinite detention of migrant families and children.

And then, you know, as far as the whole thing that this would be about going after criminals, well, I mean, that was also supposed to be true with the ICE raids. But on this last Sunday, you know, as far as the whole thing that this would be about going after criminals, well, I mean, that was also supposed to be true with the ICE raids. But on this last Sunday, for example, only about half of the 1,179 arrests that were made were considered criminal arrests. And then, I mean, we've even seen US citizens

getting caught up in some cases. And of course, all of this is Trump has expanded a process known as expedited removal, which some say enables the deportation of migrants without due process. And so with all of that combined, it brings us back to the people who have said that Trump's mass deportation plan,

it echoes concentration camp history, even before this Guantanamo order. And also I'll add here that this announcement isn't the only immigration update that we have today. And that because one, the Guantanamo announcement came as Trump signed the Lake and Riley Act into law, which is a law that will now require undocumented immigrants who are arrested for theft or violent crimes

to be held in jail pending trial, which is something that critics have said violates immigrants' basic rights by allowing them to be detained even if they haven't been charged with wrongdoing, much less convicted. Two, Trump has now ended Biden's extension of temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants. And here, we've seen Kristi Noem, the new DHS secretary, announcing the decision on Fox and saying, People of this country want these dirtbags out. They want their communities to be safe. With all that said, I gotta pass the question off to you.

What are your thoughts here? Do aspects of the whole thing feel just egregious and wrong or no, it makes sense? Is it just somewhere concerning for you? What camp are you landing in? But then moving on from that, we need to talk about Donald Trump's new executive orders for what he called patriotic education,

as well as the indoctrination of our kids. Because Trump is trying to make some big changes to education in the US. And specifically here, he signed three controversial executive orders. And we'll start with the first one entitled Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling. Although there, we've seen people saying it should be called Starting Conservative Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling. And so specifically, the order claims that parents have witnessed schools indoctrinate their children in radical anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight. With it then going on to argue that in many cases,

innocent children are compelled to adopt identities as either victims or oppressors solely based on their skin color and other immutable characteristics. But then finally suggesting that young men and women are made to question whether they were born in the wrong body and whether to view their parents and their reality as enemies to be blamed.

And so then with all that, the order threatens to withhold federal funding in order to prevent schools from recognizing transgender identities or teaching about concepts such as structural racism, white privilege, and unconscious bias. And then beyond that, the order reestablishes the President's Advisory 1776

Commission with the aim of promoting patriotic education, which is something defined as a presentation of the history of America, grounded in, for example, an accurate, honest, unifying, inspiring, and ennobling characterization of America's founding and foundational principles, as well as the ideas that the US has, quote,

"'admirably' grown closer to its noble principles throughout its history, and that the concept, the celebration of America's greatness and history is proper." Right, and so with that, while many of Trump's supporters are loving what they're seeing, there's also a lot of people worried about the curriculum

that Trump and Republicans may be trying to promote. They're saying that it sounds like a whitewashed version of American history that downplays the country's greatest shames and ultimately leaves them less informed and worse off for it. Like I said, there was more than one. Moving on to the second order, that is titled Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families. And that is basically about expanding access to private school vouchers with the order calling for new guidance regarding how states can use federal formula funds to support K-12 educational choice initiatives, as well as talking about expanding opportunities for low-income working families, helping military families, and helping children eligible for Bureau of Indian Education schools. Right in there, you

know, you have school choice activists praising the move, but also others taking issue. For example, the president of the American Federation, a teacher, saying that this plan is likely illegal as well as a direct attack on all the parents and families hold dear. And then adding, this order hijacks federal money used to level the playing field for poor and disadvantaged kids and hands it directly to unaccountable private operators. And so with everything so far,

I wanna know that this is not a shock that it's happening. Both of these orders reflect trends that we've seen in conservative states over the past few years. In fact, more than 20 states have reportedly now restricted how race, gender, and American history can be talked about in schools. This also has state and local school boards have banned literally thousands of books.

And then on the school choice front, over just the past five years, the number of children using taxpayer money for private education or homeschooling hits doubled to 1 million. But I will say also at the same time, this is seemingly at odds with Trump's past calls for the federal government's role in education to be reduced,

which you might remember included a pledge to shut down the Department of Education. And then beyond all that, it's not clear what real world effect these new executive actions might have, right? States are already making these changes. They'll keep making them, but it's not going to be so easy elsewhere, right? And that is because one, it's generally understood that the states have the sole power to set curriculums, tests, teaching methods, and school choice policies, which again is something that conservatives are generally big on. And two, states and localities provide 90% of the funding for public education anyways,

meaning that Trump may not have all that much leverage. And then three, even if he did, the question of whether the president has the power to block spending that Congress has authorized, that's a fight we're likely gonna see play out through the judicial system and probably make its way up to the Supreme Court. And then also, you know,

the question on education specifically, what can the federal government do? What can it not do? That very likely will end up being litigated as well. Because with the Biden administration, it's not like they didn't get involved. They promoted diversity and equity as well as directed schools to respect transgender students' rights. But a notable difference is that they never tried to condition federal funding on what was taught in the classrooms. And so with that, we're seeing people like Jonathan Zimmerman, a UPenn professor who studies the history of education, saying,

whether the federal government can influence curriculum in this way is a completely open question. If they were actually able to compel school districts to alter their curriculum, that would be the first time the federal government had ever done that, ever. But then with all this, we gotta move on to the third and final executive order,

which is a bit disconnected from the other two because it's not just focused on K-12 education. This one is entitled, "'Additional Measures to Combat Antisemitism,' which says that it will now be the policy of the United States to quote, "'prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful

antisemitic harassment and violence.'" Which for many on its face sounds like it makes sense. It sounds like an anti-hate crime move. What is many worried is that there is a heated debate over what constitutes antisemitism. And with that, this order is seemingly targeting pro-Palestinian activists, including by paving the way for those who come from abroad

to have their student visas canceled, which is why we're seeing some saying this is a clear violation of free speech, though others, including the Anti-Defamation League, for example, have applauded the order as a key step in fighting what it described as rising antisemitism. Now with all that, looking into the details, it is currently against the law for students

to have their visas canceled for past or current beliefs or statements that are lawful, but the law also says foreign nationals who are associated with or endorsed terrorist groups could lose their visas. And so that is basically the legal basis that we would see used to justify this move. But like with so many things right now, especially with these executive orders, we're going to have to wait to see how things play out. Then moving on, I want to talk about Donald Trump and the mainstream liberal media. They have a very strange love-hate relationship.

Right? Officially, they despise each other. But in reality, he gives them content and they give them attention. And then caught in the middle, you got the viewers. Normies, people that are hate-watching and people who finally found it in themselves to stop crying and turn their televisions back on. And that is essentially what we're seeing from Nielsen, which just released January ratings numbers for the major cable news outlets.

And it showed that the post-election slump, it may be ending. Because you see, after Trump won in November, CNN and MSNBC, they both reportedly hemorrhaged roughly half their viewers. With in fact, about two thirds of American adults reportedly saying at the time that they felt the need to limit media consumption about politics and government

because of overload. But apparently Donald Trump and his administration's blitzkrieg through the US government, it's just too spectacular to resist. With us now seeing since the inauguration, MSNBC's weekday primetime viewership shot up 60% compared to the three weeks prior.

A reported 1.3 million total viewers tuning in each night, up from 800,000 the week before. And as for CNN, their primetime viewership shot up 60% compared to the three weeks prior. It reported 1.3 million total viewers tuning in each night, up from 800,000 the week before. And as for CNN, their primetime viewership jumped 56% from December. And the thing is, while 2025 feels like a unique situation, the same dip in recovery happened to them in 2016, as well as for Fox News in 2020. And what we appear to see is that these networks don't just deliver the news. They provide their viewership with a familiar face to help them to find order and hopes amidst the chaos and despair, which I mean, for a lot of people on the left right now, everything feels incredibly chaotic right now.

You've got the most executive orders we've ever seen this early into a presidency, the mass deportations, the spending freezes, the worker buyouts, the firings, the pardons, the appointee confirmations, the assault on birthright citizenship, the appeals to Greenland, the antics with Elon Musk, and all of that apparently was enough for Rachel Maddow to return to her 9 p.m. show five nights a week as opposed to just Monday nights like she'd been doing since 2022. Wendy's most important deal of the day has a fresh lineup.

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They're reportedly supposed to keep up that new schedule for the first 100 days of Trump's term. And if her viewership doesn't lag, the network's got a lot to look forward to. Because Maddow reportedly averaged 1.7 million viewers the first week and top 2 million on the best day. Though I will say, and this is a big thing, neither CNN nor MSNBC have fully recovered their pre-election viewership yet.

And as we've seen outlets like The Independent point out, their numbers are meager compared to those of Fox News, which reportedly just had the highest rated January ever in cable news history. Fox News had 2.8 million average primetime viewers. They reportedly grabbed nearly 70% of the entire cable news market. All of which ends up being kind of funny

or at the very least ironic because the so-called mainstream liberal media, they really just make up a minority. But with all that said, it is gonna be very interesting to see how all these trends play out over the next four years. Because yeah, the media industry enjoyed a boom in traffic during Trump's first term. And while exceptional outlets like the New York Times weathered the bust of Biden's term, most others, at least on the left,

they struggled to stay afloat. But also that's not to say there's going to be a repeat. Once again, 2025 feels more unique. There are also so far differences, COVID and lockdowns that drastically changed online consumption. We've also seen situations of Trump suing networks and there actually being settlements there. For now, we don't know how this is gonna play out and we'll have to wait to see. But then finally today, let's talk about yesterday's show in some comment commentary.

I'll start off right at the top to address all those comments people shocked and also happy about having a 47 minute show yesterday. And I just wanna say, you're welcome. I'm so glad you enjoyed it, but also no, do not get used to it. Yesterday's show kind of got away from us. You know, I really wanted to make sure that we hit on

a lot of really important things that matter. While we are capable of doing it, that thing is a bastard to turn around that fast. And not a beautiful one, just a straight up bastard. But that said, as far as the comments about actual news yesterday, a lot of y'all were sounding off on the controversy around free lunches for school kids. With the most like comment yesterday reading, I have no kids. I've

never had a problem obtaining food. I'm perfectly happy that my taxpayer dollars go to school lunches. And I think there's something deeply wrong with anyone who isn't. Or with many agreeing, and a lot of people going like, it's just such a simple thing. It's not even as complicated as all the millions of ways that you could try to combat poverty in general. With that damn crow replying to another comment saying dealing withDealing with poverty is not that simple.'" But adding, "'School lunches, on the other hand, are much easier "'and actually were the most effective social program

"'in US history.'" And while you had others saying things like, "'Does he really expect little kids to get jobs "'to pay for their own food? "'I'm just flabbergasted. "'Imagine seeing a five-year-old from a poor family "'and thinking, man, what a lazy piece of shit.'" And Matthew Shields adding,

"'Children are not freeloaders. "'It's our responsibility as a society to take care of them "'in hopes of a better future. You know, I will add here, I think this is something that makes sense from when you start school to the end of high school. Even if and when people are talking about middle schoolers and high schoolers, like, ah, well, you know,

they should work for their lunch. I'll repeat it again, I said it yesterday. I know a lot of you loved me kind of snapping for a second and sharing my opinion. Me working on and off the books since I was 10. It's a thing that I pride myself on and it gave me a lot of things in life as far as like who I am as a person. Because I did that, because I struggled, because I wasn't

in a great situation, that does not mean everyone else needs to go through it. I hate all that you have to suffer or struggle like I did mentality, the close the door behind me mentality. That's not a society I want to promote. And there, you know, some of you were even commenting on little parts of my mini rant here, noting that I said it doesn't make sense to be against kids getting free lunch unless your goal is to have a more malnourished, dumber public. With amusement labs asking, well, you see, Phil, if the public is nourished and smart, who will vote for him? Also, these two witches noting, fun fact, the saying, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, is actually an expression to describe yourself trying to do something that was impossible. Because you cannot pull yourself up by pulling on your bootstraps.

Which I will say, as a 39-year-old man, I now kind of hate myself for never realizing that about that statement. And I understand language changes based off of the use, but I'm also someone that hates how literally can also mean not literally now. But then also in addition to the conversation there, we saw a lot of people sounding off on the RFK Jr. confirmation hearing.

With some of y'all just laughing about the spectacle of everything, saying, laugh my ass off when Bernie yelled, are you supportive of these onesies? Meanwhile, you had some like Holmes saying, "'How can RFK be nominated "'for health secretary position in US? "'He seems barely alive when he's speaking.

"'What the fuck?' Which I will say two things here. One, he sounds the way that he does because he suffers from a medical condition that has no cure. So you're never gonna hear me dunking on him for that. I feel like that's kind of fucked. Two, I think that connects to another aspect

where the way someone looks or the way they sound or any of that shit, it should not matter for this position. And so I say that for home, as much as I say that for people that are like, well, this is the health guy that we want. Look, he's old and jacked. Neither of those things should matter

when we're talking about someone who's going to lead this fucking department. Qualifications, professionalism, mindset. Does this person have a history of lying and or just changing whichever the way the wind blows? Also in the comments there were a lot of people that appreciated us actually including the clips that kept getting referenced. Some also angry that they didn't play or could not play the clips at the actual hearing. Or people saying for someone who doesn't have time to deep dive into news this is awesome. We also seemingly had some in the health space commenting. Like with Rosa Fowler who wrote, thank you for the measles coverage.

I'm an epidemiologist in Georgia and we have already had our first measles outbreak of the year. The amount of manpower it takes to respond to a single case is astronomical. Every time we respond to a measles case, we often have to reach out to hundreds of people. The best thing you can do for yourself and your family is to vaccinate, which I will say, if you didn't watch all of yesterday's show, at least watch the last story. We kind of deep dive specifically into the potential ramifications of everything that might happen over the next few years. But that, my friends, is the end of your Thursday evening, Friday morning dive into the news. Remember, of course, I got a brand new show for you every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. But also outside of that, I post videos on these

socials. Definitely follow me there. I got links in the description. But for now, thank you for watching. I love your faces, and I'll see you right back here on Monday.